review of ancient rome: the rise and fall of an empire

I've been watching the BBC's Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire on VCD. US Amazon has the book of the TV series, but the DVD is as yet only availabe from UK Amazon. With Mary Beard as one of its historical advisors, we can be reasonably certain that the programmes at least get the basic facts right.

The series is supposed to take us from the defeat of Carthage to Alaric's capture of Rome in 6 50-minute episodes but are not in chronological order. The order is: Nero, Julius Caesar, Tiberius Gracchus, the Jewish revolt and Vespasian and Titus, Constantine, and Alaric's siege and sack of Rome. Since the series does not assume much knowledge on the part of viewers, I can't help but wonder whether this chronological hopping about might not confuse them.

Continue reading my full review.