History Series / Rome

** In Season 2 [[Cicero's dead hands]] are nailed to the Senate door. [[spoiler: Antony makes good on an early threat]].

* GoingNative : Lucius Vorenus is complimented in Egypt by Atia for totally averting this and staying properly Roman; the other Roman officials including triumvire Mark Antony did not, a thing would be used politically against him, as happened in RealLife.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Octavian and Caesar hide in a cupboard during one of Caesar's epileptic attacks. A servant hears moaning and the two exiting and assumes sex ensued. Atia discovers it and compliments his son for seducing the most powerful man of Rome [[ItsAllAboutMe and becoming a romantical rival to Servilia, her hatred enemy]].

* PraetorianGuard: Octavian (TropeCodifier in Real Life) surrounds himself with one. No doubt [[GenreSavvy Influenced by the fate of Caesar]].

* ViewersAreMorons: Done in-universe; Antony affably taunts Brutus for giving a speech "too cerebral for that kind of audience". ManipulativeBastard Antony instead delivers (offscreen) the other famous [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar Shakespearean speech]] full of energy, [[BastardlySpeech demagoguery]] and dramatic effect that [[RousingSpeech infuriates the masses against Caesar's assassins]].

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Caesar and Pompey were very close associates during the first triunvirate, when the series start that falls appart as Pompey's wife, daughter of Caesar dies and the Senate seduces Pompey against Caesar. Slightly hinted during the show, they share a mutual respect and Caesar is deeply affected by Pompey's fate.

* WorthyOpponent: Pompey, Cicero, sensible and reasonable men. Caesar, of noble-birth is one too for the senatorial-patricial side, despite they hate him and would never give him any credit, previous dictators like Sulla where very ruthless as opposed to Caesar.

One of its most innovative ideas was to focus on the lives of ordinary fictional Romans, rather than just historical figures like [[GaiusJuliusCaesar Caesar]] or [[EmperorAugustus Augustus]]. This had been explored before in literature and in {{Sit Com}}s, but ''Rome'' was the first television drama to do so. It was a great concept, though [[YourMileageMayVary opinions differ]] on whether it managed to pull it off well or not. The show had a tremendous ensemble cast, incredible production values and was both epic in scope and paid meticulous, loving attention to detail. [[TooGoodToLast It ended after its second series due to insufficient ratings to justify its massive expense.]]

Bruno Heller has [[http://www.mania.com/rome-moving-forward_article_121029.html announced]] a feature film to be based on the series.

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: [[spoiler: Mark Antony and Cleopatra]] during the Season Finale.

* HappinessInSlavery: Posca enjoys a trusted position as Caesar's slave and there is clearly considerable affection between the two, to the extent that Posca weeps bitterly over Caesar's death and Caesar explicitly freed him in his will.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: '''Spectacularly''' done by Cicero against Antony. VillainousBreakdown [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGd96SH57SA ensues.]]

** A senate motion against Caesar -only intended to show Caesar his relative isolation, making him less adventurous- becomes violent and Mark Antony, an inviolable tribune, gets assaulted. That gives Caesar a PretextForWar against them. Cue the CivilWar.

* [[PutOnABus Put on a Horse]]: [[spoiler: Timon leaves to live in Jerusalem after he fails to assassinate King Herod]].

* NeutralNoLonger: While Cicero is a senator with deep republican convictions but he is wise enough not to antagonize the caesarians in public and mantain a moderate status. His position gets untenable when his ArchEnemy Antony becomes the ruler of Rome and forces him into his side. Cicero instead openly confronts and insults Antony and unleashes Octavian against him.

-->Pullo: She still doesn't say much, but she can give such a look . . .

* BrokenPedestal: Brutus regards Caesar as a [[ParentalSubstitute father figure]] and starts as a WellDoneSonGuy. He is gradually manipulated by his mother Servilia and finally breaks with Caesar when Brutus is [[ReassignedToAntarctica appointed governor of a far-away province]] by a wary Caesar. Mutual suspicions arise and as Brutus puts it "Only tyrants need fear tyrant killers"

** Octavian and Pullo interrogate a man regarding Vorenus' grandson. Pullo hesitates and doesn't know what to do, pointing out that in the army there are {{TortureTechnician}}s. Finally is Octavian who suggest a successfull method.

* CoolChair: Cassius affirms that Caesar's chair at the senate (curule seat) it's a throne, but Brutus refutes it pointing out it's just too plain modest and chairlike to qualify... PeopleSitOnChairs indeed.

-->'''Cato:''' ''So in effect, this is not a humiliating defeat at all, but a rare species of victory?''
-->'''Cicero:''' '' 'Worms' is harsh. Worms cannot run away as speedily as we do.''
-->'''Posca:''' ''I was not aware irony had military uses.''
-->'''Brutus:''' ''Oh, Africa. Dear gods, we are fast running out of continents.''

-->'''Cassius:''' ''Our men at arms have secured the city. We've recieved representitives from all the best elements. The senate is with us, the knights are with us. '''Brutus:''' The pontifs, the urban cohorts, the lictors guild...''
-->'''Antony:''' ''Oh, the lictors guild, very good. Only rally the bakers and the flute players and you can put on a festival.'' [[hottip:*Note*: Brutus' actor visibly tries hard not to laugh and stay in character]]

** An in-universe ValuesDissonance example when a serious Cassius is brokering a political deal with a casual Asian ruler who is really interested in a form of bestiality that the Romans use as a punishment and not as an entertainment. Cassius complies without much objection anyway but he is subtly shocked.

* {{Fetish}}: The senatorial leaders in exile resort to an Asian ruler who casually request an [[InterspeciesRomance interspecies erotica]] show (baboon meets woman) as the condition for his help. The Romans akwardly seal the deal and comply. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llquJck7D-0 The scene]] serves as in-universe ValuesDissonance, Cassius points out it's not an enternainment but a punishment (used by Romans) and is subtly shocked by the requirement (but complies). [[hottip:*: And in a metasubversion nothing is staged or shown, DiscretionShot etc... with HBO anything goes but even them have standards.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Atia ignores the word empathy, everything she does gravitates around her self-centered schemes. [[spoiler: Subverted in her final scene where she realizes she is LonelyAtTheTop. (Implied by her face when she looks at Antony's dummy)]]

* TimeshiftedActor

** "I got a bit carried away". Antony "consoling" a Brutus who has to hastily retreat from Rome because Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral rises a very angry mob against the conspirators.

* BreadAndCircuses: Withholding shipments of grain is coldly used as a polital leverage, because shortages of bread (generously provided by the state) would make the ruler of Rome tumble thanks to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating internal unrest]].

** Octavio and Pullo interrogate a man regarding Vorenus' grandson. Pullo hesitates and doesn't know what to do, pointing out that in the army there are {{TortureTechnician}}s. Finally is Octavian who suggest a successfull method.
** [[spoiler:Servilia is tortured by Atia's men in Season Two. Torture methods included gang rape and partial flaying.]]

* CountryMatters: Many, many times. The most memorable is when Mark Antony's slave writes a letter to Caesar, saying "...and the Tribune's behavior was just as offensive as you thought". While the slave writes that, we hear Antony having rough sex in with Atia the background while roaring "JUNO'S '''CUNT'''!" (actually his CatchPhrase)

* LukeIAmYourFather: The show just ends when Pullo seems to be about to deliver the line to Caesarion.
-->'''Pullo''' Listen, about your father...

** After the demise of Caesar, Brutus stops further killings ("we are liberators not murderers") and spares the life of Antony (who already had escaped an attempt on his life). Days later Antony masterfully manipulates the masses during Caesar's funeral and that forces the conspirators to leave the city, Antony becomes the successor of Caesar and sole ruler of Rome.
** Cicero plays and empowers Octavian against Antony, who is the continuator of Caesar. Octavian lets Cicero think he is just a docile pawn of the Senate but eventually [[OutGambitted Cicero is outmaneuvered by an Octavian]] who now as Consul military occupies Rome and the Senate itself, something that not even Caesar dared to do..

** Antony and Octavian are GenreSavvy rulers; they avert Caesar's mistakes regarding clemency and thus purge a great amount of political enemies. Oh, and in an act of PragmaticVillainy some men who just happen to be very rich while the rulers have great expenses.

* ThanatosGambit: When Vorenus confronts Erastes Fulmen to find out his children's whereabouts, Erastes tells him that [[spoiler: he raped and murdered them, even though he actually sold them into slavery. Vorenus kills him in a fit of rage, and doesn't find out what really happened to his children until much later. Erastes knew that Vorenus would kill him either way, so he lied to prevent him from being able to rescue his children]].

--->'''Atia'''I don't give a fuck what the priests say. I'll not let a vicious little trollop like you walk ahead of me. I go first. [...] I know who you are. I can see you. You're swearing now that someday you'll destroy me. Remember, far better women than you have sworn to do the same. [[BadassBoasts Go and look for them now]].

* BreadAndCircuses: Withholding shipments of grain is coldly used as a polital leverage, as the lack of bread (generously provided by the state) would make the ruler of Rome tumble thanks to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating internal unrest]].

* BrokenPedestal: Brutus regards Caesar as a [[ParentalSubstitute father figure]] and starts as a WellDoneSonGuy. He is gradually manipulated by his mother Servilia and finally breaks with Caesar when Brutus is [[ReassignedToAntarctica appointed governor of a far-away province]] by a wary Caesar. Mutual suspicions arise and as Brutus puts it "Only tyrants fear tyrant-killers"

* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler:Servilia is tortured by Atia's men in Season Two. Torture methods included gang rape and partial flaying.]]

-->'''Antony:''' ''Oh, the lictors guild, very good. Only rally the bakers and the flute players and you can put on a festival.'' [Note: Brutus' actor visibly tries hard not to laugh and stay in character]

** Caesar harbors vague suspicion against Brutus and thus [[ReassignedToAntarctica appoints him governor of a far-away province]], just in case. Brutus realizes he is practically being exiled, that gives him grounds for his own suspicion and makes him embrace the cause of the conspirators against Caesar: [[WhamLine "Only tyrants fear tyrant-killers"]]. The support of Brutus is they key-element to the plot, and until that moment Brutus was on-the fence at best
** After the demise of Caesar, Brutus stops further killings "We are tyrant-killers not murderers") and spares the life of Antony (who already had escaped and attempt on his life). Days later Antony masterfully manipulates the masses during Caesar's funeral and that forces the conspirators to leave the city, Antony becomes the successor of Caesar and sole ruler of Rome.

** Setting Pompey free leads Vorenus and Pullo to Egypt. Caesarion ensues. Years later, in the final episode [[spoiler: Vorenus is ''probably'' mortally wounded while defending Caesarion]]
* NiceGuy: Agrippa in the second season. In a cast of characters including [[AffablyEvil Antony]], [[TheChessmaster Octavian]], [[EvilMatriarch Atia, Servilia]], and [[JerkassWoobie Vorenus]], Agrippa's behavior is chivalrous by comparison, especially if it involves Octavia.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Octavian and Caesar hide in a cupboard during one of Caesar's epileptic attacks. A servant hears moaning and the two exiting and assumes sex ensued. Atia discovers it and compliments his son for seducing the most powerful of Rome [[ItsAllAboutMe and becoming a romantical rival to Servilia, her hatred enemy]].

** In the afermath of Caesar's demise, the conspirators start planning a purge but Brutus succesfully argues that they are [[WellIntentionedExtremist "tyrant killers, not murderers"]] and the planned whackings are halted.

* Seppuku: [[spoiler: Cato]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Brutus, his only goal is the preservation of a sacred Republic started by an ancient kin. He reluctanly joins politics and the plot to kill Caesar when he realizes that Caesar may be a threat to the constitutional order. Once Caesar is gone he stops further violence "we are tyrant killers, not murderers" and spares Antony, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero an action that turns against him]] when Antony manages to continue the legacy of Caesar and in the end he has to exile with the rest of the conspirators and embark in another civil war.

** Jocasta is raped and "socially ruined" due to Atia's machinations because she is a bad low-birth influence to Octavia and his father being purged for being very rich.

* BrokenPedestal: Brutus regards Caesar as a fatherly figure, but he is manipulated by his mother Servilia and finally breaks with Caesar when Brutus is [[ReassignedToAntarctica appointed governor of a far-away province]] by a wary Caesar. Mutual suspicions arise and as Brutus puts it "Only tyrants fear tyrant-killers"

** The initial narration states that Rome -- a Republic with many democratic traits -- cannot govern itself. Magistrates are elective but many of the characters work to avoid what they call ''rule of the mob'', consider elections as a formality, just a matter of bribes and demagoguery and some are deeply offended when the Senate becomes less restrictive and incorporates pleb citizens and non-roman ones. Nobody really believes in democracy anyway, everything is done behind the scenes by the oligarchy, although the caesarians are somehow [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populares the people's party]] as they draw a lot of their power from the plebs.

* {{Fetish}}: The senatorial leaders in exile resort to an Asian ruler who casually request an [[InterspeciesRomance interspecies erotica]] show (baboon meets woman) as the final demmand for his help. The Romans akwardly seal the deal and comply. The scene plays as in-universe DeliberateValuesDissonance. And in a metasubversion nothing is staged or shown, discretion shot etc... with HBO anything goes but even them have standards.

** Caesar harbors vague suspicion against Brutus and thus [[ReassignedToAntarctica appoints him governor of a far-away province]], just in case. Brutus realizes he is practically being exiled, that gives him ground for his own suspicoin and makes him embrace the cause of the conspirators against Caesar: [[WhamLine "Only tyrants fear tyrant-killers"]]. The support of Brutus is they key-element to the plot, and until that moment Brutus was on-the fence at best
** After the demise of Caesar, Brutus stops further killings "We are tyran-killers not murderers") and spares the life of Antony (whose life had previoulsy been threatened). Days later Antony masterfully manipulates the masses during Caesar's funeral and that forces the conspirators to leave the city, Antony becomes the successor of Caesar and sole ruler of Rome.
** Cicero plays Octavian against Antony, who is the continuator of Caesar. Octavian lets Cicero think he is just a docile pawn of the Senate but eventually [[OutGambitted Cicero is outmaneuvered by an Octavian]] who now as Consul military occupies Rome and the Senate itself, something that not even Caesar dared to do..
** Sparing the life of Pompey leads Vorenus and Pullo to Egypt. Caesarion ensues. Years later, in the final episode [[spoiler: Vorenus is ''probably'' mortally wounded while defending Caesarion]]

One of its most innovative ideas was to focus on the lives of ordinary fictional Romans, rather than just historical figures like Caesar or Augustus. This had been explored before in literature and in {{Sit Com}}s, but ''Rome'' was the first television drama to do so. It was a great concept, though [[YourMileageMayVary opinions differ]] on whether it managed to pull it off well or not. The show had a tremendous ensemble cast, incredible production values and was both epic in scope and paid meticulous, loving attention to detail. [[TooGoodToLast It ended after its second series due to insufficient ratings to justify its massive expense.]]

* NiceJobBreakintItHero / NiceJobFixingItVillain: Several instances

* Outgambitted: Frequent, given the show is a massive gambit pileup. Lampshaded by Cicero

* BreadAndCircuses: Withholding shipments of grain is coldly used as a polital leverage, as the lack of bread (generously provided by the state) would make the ruler of Rome tumble thanks to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating internal unrest]].

* CosmicPlaything: Lucius "Fortune pisses on me again" Vorenus. The gods seem to take perverse pleasure in putting him into awful situations and having him escape by the skin of his teeth, only to wind up in another mess, and occasionally happiness is dangled before him, only to be snatched away. In the first series, he even gets offered [[spoiler: a position in the senate, no less!]] But once again, fate and patrician political machinations conspire to tear his life apart at a critical moment.

* GenreSavvy: Zigzagged with Caesar. He spared Vorenus and Pullo despite robbing the Roman treasure and letting Pompey escape because they both managed to [[PlotArmor survive unlikely things so must have the gods on their side]]. He also sent the two on an important mission to get Cleopatra. On the other hand, he ignored warnings of a bad omen dreamt by [[CassandraTruth Calpurnia]] which lead to his assassination. But, [[ItWasHisSled then again...]]

* ThePurge: Antony and Octavian are GenreSavvy rulers; they avert Caesar's mistakes regarding clemency and thus purge a great amount of political enemies. Oh, and in an act of PragmaticVillainy some men who just happen to be very rich while the rulers have great expenses.

** "I got a bit carried away". Antony "consoling" a Brutus who to hastily retreat from Rome because Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral rises a very angry mob against the conspirators.

** A relative rare female example in Atia's last dialogue "You're swearing now that someday you'll destroy me. Remember, far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go and look for them now".

* RememberTheAlamo: "THIRTEEN! THIRTEEN!" Also a CMOA.

** Jocasta is raped due to Atia's machinations because she was a bad low-birth influence to Octavia and his father was very rich.

* ProfessionalKiller: Vorenus and Pullo become thug enforcers after they are demobilized and without income. Eventually they are required to actually kill people. Vorenus however [[HitmanWithAHeart draws the line at murder]] and quits.

* ThePurge: Antony and Octavian are GenreSavvy rulers; they avert Caesar's mistakes regarding clemency and thus purge a great amount of political enemies. Oh, and in an act of PragmaticVillany some men who just happen to be very rich while the rulers have great expenses.

* AncientRome: Of course.

* BritishAccents: A large portion of the main cast is British or Irish, but the accents used to represent wealth and status are the same as [[TheQueensLatin those used in modern Britain]].

* CatchPhrase: Antony's "By Juno's [[CountryMatters cunt]]!"

* CombatBreakdown: The Battle of Philippi starts out as a relatively orderly Roman vs Roman battle, with both sides fighting using the "fight for a few minutes, switch" approach, though it quickly degenerates into a chaotic melee.

* CountryMatters: Many, many times. The most memorable is when Mark Antony's slave writes a letter to Caesar, saying "...and the Tribune's behavior was just as offensive as you thought". While the slave writes that, we hear Antony having rough sex in with Atia the background while roaring "JUNO'S '''CUNT'''!"

* [[OneSteveLimit One Gaius Limit]]: Technically, Octavian would have been called "Gaius" by his family and close friends in RealLife. He's always referred to as "Octavian" to avoid confusion with his great uncle. Later he has MeaningfulRename as explained above.

* CombatByChampion: A surrounded Antony challenges Octavian to this kind of personal resolution, but he just laughs at the idea.

* DeadpanSnarker: Maecenas, Posca, Cicero, sometimes Cato. Antony too, when he is not throwing a tantrum.

* ManipulativeBastard: Atia and later Octavian.

** Brilliantly subverted for Antony's speech after Caesar's funeral (the one that became known as Shakespeare's famed, although entirely fictional, "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech). We see the results of his speech, and even have several characters describe what happened, but none of the actual speech is shown or heard.

* ViewersAreMorons: Done in-universe; Antony affably taunts Brutus for giving a speech "too cerebral for that kind of audience". Antony instead delivers (offscreen) the other famous [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar Shakespearean speech]] full of energy, [[BastardlySpeech demagoguery]] and efectism that [[RousingSpeech infuriates the masses against Caesar's assassins]].

* TheUnfairSex: Very much averted. There are plenty of ruthless female characters such as Atia, Servilia, Gaia and Cleopatra and even the more sympathetic women like Niobe and Octavia do some highly questionable things

* ViewersAreMorons: Done in-universe; Antony affably taunts Brutus for giving a speech "too cerebral for that kind of audience". Antony instead delivers (offscreen) the other famous [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar Shakespearean speech]] full of energy, [[BastardlySpeech demagoguery]] and efectism that [[RousingSpeech infuriates the masses against Caesar's assassins]].

-->'''Antony:''' ''Oh, the lictors guild, very good. Only rally the bakers and the flute players and you can put on a festival''

* AnachronismStew: Mostly averted, although there are a number of examples. Although early in the Roman Republic Plebeians generally did constitute a politically disenfranchised and poor lower class. By the time of the show however Plebeians had more or less formal political equality with Patricians, and there were enough instances of Plebeians becoming rich and Patricians becoming destitute that the title had little bearing on economic status. With the conflict in Rome at the time being mostly rich vs. poor, depicting the rivalry as being essentially Plebeians vs. Patricians is very attractive, but also very inaccurate. Many Republicans were in fact very wealthy Plebeians, most notably Cicero and Cato the Younger (the latter being depicted on the show as [[DidNotDoResearch regarding Plebeians as trash]]).

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* BadassBoast: simply, "I'm Titus Pullo, right!"

** "I am a son of HADES! I fuck Conchord in her ASS!"

* DrivenToSuicide: Many characters, most of them historical examples.

** The opening scene with Lucius Vorenus. He suggests, under duress, that the best way to find a thief among the conquered tribes would be to crucify members of each clan one by one until they talk. He shows no pleasure at this, even slightly pained by their screams, but still does it. When one gives him the information, he orders all of them to be taken down while lamenting his own situation (pretty rich for a guy at the foot of a currently occupied cross). This sets up the moral overtones of most of the series, and shows how honorbound Vorenus is.

** Atia unabashedly assigning a political oriented errand to a man the moment the two finish having sex.

** Octavian condescendingly telling Pullo that he's "a Roman citizen of noble birth" while he's hog-tied in the dirt, then calmly beating the snot out of one of his disabled captors and singlehandedly deducing Caesar's battle strategy--all in the two minutes after he's freed.

** Due to CharacterDevelopment, Vorenus has a new one in season 2 : "I am a son of HADES! I fuck Conchord in her ASS!"

** Vorenus and Pullo , naturally.

** Vorenus and Antony. Early in the show Vorenus deeply dislikes everything that Antony ''stands'' for, but he grows to like him as time passes. The two share moments of soul exploration and when Vorenus reluctanly leaves Antony, he even utters the famous parting words ItHasBeenAnHonor, much to Antony's surprise.
* FriendlyEnemy: Subverted.

* GenreSavvy: Zigzagged with Caesar. He spared Vorenus and Pullo despite robbing the Roman treasure and letting Pompey escape because they both managed to [[PlotArmor survive unlikely things so must have the gods on their side]]. He also sent the two on an important mission to get Cleopatra. On the other hand, he ignored warnings of a bad omen which lead to his assassination. But, [[ItWasHisSled then again...]]

* OddFriendship / OddCouple: Octavia and Servilia. Vorenus and Pullo, pointed by Atia ''you two make unlikely friends''.

* ThatsAnOrder: Pronounced many times as expected, the main characters are soldiers. One instance is particularly significative when Vorenus is reluctant to give his personal opinion about an insult (You are cowardly scum) to Antony, who has to resort to this phrase and yet they end up sharing a moment of mutual understanding.

--->'''Atia'''I don't give a fuck what the priests say. I'll not let a vicious little trollop like you walk ahead of me. I go first. [...] I know who you are. I can see you. You're swearing now that someday you'll destroy me. Remember, far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go and look for them now.

* WithDueRespect: Posca to Mark Antony when he threatens to forcefully move Calpurnia from Rome:
-->'''Posca:''' With all respect, sir, but until the will is ratified I am bound to serve the Julii and I must request that you not forcibly remove my mistress. With all respect

** Attia forcing her daughter to divorce the man she loves on the off chance that Pompey might marry her, then calling her a [[KickTheDog "torpid little she-cow"]] when the plan fails.

** A condensed triple one in the second episode. Rowdy Pullo makes a lewd remark, Vorenus commands him to show decency as he is under Rome's standard. Pullo talks back pointing at General Antony, who is fornicating a young sheperd while his column is made to wait -- they are marching towards Rome on the double, mind you -- . Legalist Vorenus replies that he (Antony) is not ''under'' the standard.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Pullo is sanguine, Antony choleric / sanguine, Caesar melancholic and Vorenus phlegmatic / melancholic. (Season 1 only)

* MeaningfulRename: To emphasize that he is the lawful heir to his uncle, Octavian changes his name to Gaius ''Caesar''. and finally to Caesar Augustus.

* OddCouple: Octavia and Servilia. Vorenus and Pullo, as pointed by Atia ''you two make unlikely friends''

* [[OneSteveLimit One Gaius Limit]]: Technically, Octavian would have been called "Gaius" by his family and close friends in RealLife. He's always referred to as "Octavian" to avoid confusion with his great uncle.

-->'''Pullo''' Well, if Triton can't keep me drier than this, he can suck my cock!

-->'''Vorenus:'''[[YouJustHadToSayIt Pullo, when will you learn to keep your fat mouth shut?!]]

** Servilia, she sets in motion the plot to assasinate Caesar purely out of spite from being rejected by him.
** Atia, oh gerrhae! Atia. All of the above happens thanks to her machinations. Plus humilliating her is Antony's final mistake, as after that she begs Octavian to destroy him. And by the end of the series she is maneuvering against her daughter-in-law who, from Atia's point of view robbed her of her son Octavian / Augustus and thus is an intolerable usurper to the "First Lady of Rome" dignity.
--->'''Atia''' You're swearing now that someday you'll destroy me. Remember, far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go and look for them now.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: '''Spetacularly''' done by Cicero against Antony. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGd96SH57SA Watch it here]]

* BerserkButton: Don't insult the Thirteenth Legion, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3kMY1Owypc just don't]]. Or cheat at dice, or be a Smug Snake (you might get your tongue bitten out), and, and, and... Pullo is basically a nice chap and possibly the most sane character of the series, but he definitely also has a temper on him and a ruthless streak as wide as the Via Appia.

** A full on fight breaks out in the senate when Pompey's supporters pass a motion that calls on Caesar to return and surrender or be labeled a traitor and condemned to death. Caesar's supporters don't take this well, as might be expected. A second fights ensues (but just outside the Senate House and not triggered by political reasons) before Antony attemps to enter the Senate to try to veto the motion again, as the previous session was resumed due to a technicality. The fights [[NiceJobBreakingItHero actually prevent Mark Antony from vetoing the motion, which was what Pompey wanted in the first place and make a perfect Casus Belli for the Civil War, as People's Tribune aree inviolable]] The motion was supposed to show Caesar he was alone, nothing more and was not expected nor wanted to be approved. Altough the die-hard optimates do in fact want to destroy Caesar bluntly so it is not a total blunder to everyone.

** Earlier on, Antony pretends to be appalled by this trope, but in his usual insincere but lovable fashion he os only using stealth puns and oblique insults.

* ButtMonkey: Lepidus, who is remembered primarily as the least important member of the Second Triumvirate, is treated as such on the show. His own army abandons him for Marc Antony, he's generally kept out of the loop and when he starts talking people usually just ignore him.

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: [[spoiler: Marc Antony and Cleopatra]] during the Season Finale.

* EasilyForgiven: Caesar can be ruthless but manages to fit this trope fairly well. He spares Vorenus and Pullo on one occasion (possibly more, but I can't remember) and his response to Brutus and Cicero trying to surrender is to hug them, apologise to Brutus while kissing his cheek, beg them to tell him that Pompey, an even bigger enemy, is still alive, and then, drag them off to have food since it must have been awhile since they had a decent meal. More than one character points out that forgiving people is Caesar's shtick, doing double duty as a way to be seen as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and to [[CruelMercy make people beholden to him]].

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Pullo is sanguine, Antony choleric / sanguine, Caesar melancholic and Vorenus phlegmatic / melancholic.

* {{Guyliner}}: On Marc Antony, when he's in Egypt. [[FetishFuel YUM.]]

--->'''Pullo''' Listen, about your father...

** [[HollywoodHomely Characters who are insane and/or have bad eyesight, apparently.]] (It's Kevin McKidd!!)

* UndyingLoyalty: Many of the body slaves to their masters.

* ThatsAnOrder: Pronounced many times as expected, the main characters are soldiers. One instance is particularly significative when Vorenus is reluctant to give his personal opinion to Antony, who has to resort to this phrase and yet they end up sharing a moment of mutual understanding.

** Vorenus has an unfortunate amount of these. Lampshaded by one of his interactions with DaChief Marc Anthony.

** Atia, oh gerrhae! Atia. All of the above happens thanks to her machinations. Plus humilliating her is Antony's final mistake, as after that she begs Octavian to destroy him. And by the end of the series she is maneuvering against her daughter-in-law who from Atia's point of view robbed her of her son Augustus and thus is an intolerable usurper to the "First Lady of Rome" dignity.

* BloodOnTheDebateFloor : A full on fight break out in the senate when Pompey's supporters passed a motion that called on Caesar to return and surrender or be labeled a traitor and condemned to death. Caesar's supporters did not take this well, as might be expected. A second fights ensues (but just outside the Senate House and not triggered by political reasons) before Antony tries to enter the Senate to try to veto the motion again, as the previous session was resumed due to a technicality. The fights [[NiceJobBreakingItHero actually prevented Mark Antony from vetoing the motion, which was what Pompey wanted in the first place and make a perfect Casus Belli for the Civil War, as People's Tribune were inviolable ]] The motion was supposed to show Caesar he was alone, nothing more and was not expected nor wanted to be approved. Altough the die-hard optimates did in fact wanted to destroy Caesar bluntly so it was not a total blunder to everyone.
** The show also depicted Caesar's assassination, of course. And there was a scene where Cicero sent a message to be read in the Senate in his absence, which turned out to be a scathing attack on Antony. Antony demanded that the clerk read out the whole thing and then [[ShootTheMessenger bludgeoned the poor bastard to death with the scroll]].
** Antony previously had pretended he was appalled by this trope, but in his usual insincere but lovable fashion he was only using stealth puns or indirect insults.
-->''"You boys play too rough for me. Knives in the Senate House? I didn't know you had it in you"''

* BreakTheCutie: Subverted with Lucius Vorenus. He is a dour straight man prone to flying off the handle at the slightest hint of dishonesty. He eventually [[BewareTheNiceOnes snaps]]. Octavia breaks, but eventually [[SnapBack snaps back]] into a less stressed version of herself.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Octavian and Octavia.

* ChessMaster: Subverted with Julius Caesar, who lets his empathy get in the way. Octavian, however, manipulates everyone like a ruthless genius. Atia likes to ''think'' she's this but since her plans fail at least half the time and she seems to act on whim a lot she's more of a SmugSnake.

* DeadpanSnarker: Maecenas, Posca, Cicero, sometimes Cato.

** Attia chastises her teenage son for not having enough sex. She even forces him to eat sheep testicles to make him more virile, and eventually insists that he visit a brothel [[AManIsNotAVirgin so he won't dishonor his family by being a virgin]].

** In the initial narration it is stated that Rome -a Republic with many democratic traits- cannot govern itself. Magistrates are elective but many of the characters work to avoid what they call "rule of the mob", consider elections as a formality, just a matter of bribes and demagoguery and some are deeply offended when the Senate becomes less restrictive and incorporates pleb citizens and non-roman ones. Nobody really believes in democracy anyway, everything is done behind the scenes by the oligarchy, although the caesarians are somehow [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populares the people's party]] as they draw a lot of their power from the plebs.

** Antony plays the elections card when negotiating the aftermath of Caesar's assasination. ''Messy things elections'' The conspirators are horrified as they would have to validate their taken for granted powers. They reach a compromise and no democracy is needed.
** By the end of the show the city is ruled by a sole dictator, and the order is achieved. (In RealLife an unprecedented era of prosperity ensued, the Pax Augusta)

* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler: Antony, who abandons egyptiam style and returns to roman attire and weapons to commit suicide : "Tell the people I died well, I died Roman"]]

* GenreSavvy: Zigzagged with Caesar. He spared Vorenus and Pullo despite letting Pompey escape because they both managed to [[PlotArmor survive unlikely things]]. He also sent the two on an important mission to get Cleopatra. On the other hand, he ignored warnings of a bad omen which lead to his assassination. But, [[ItWasHisSled then again...]]

* NotSoStoic : Prophesied by Mark Antony but averted, Vorenus is the only one who does not fall into debauchery in the Aegyptian Palace and stays "true roman"

* OddCouple: Vorenus and Pullo, Octavia and Servilia.

* RedOniBlueOni: Octavian and Mark Antony fit this trope rather well in the second season.

* RousingSpeech: Many, but special mention to Julius Caesar's speech just before he marches on the walled capital Rome with only an armed gang. And wins. Brilliantly subverted for Antony's speech after Caesar's funeral (the one that became known as Shakespeare's famed, although entirely fictional, "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech). We see the results of his speech, and even have several characters describe what happened, but none of the actual speech is shown or heard.

* ShootTheMessenger: Or, if you're Marc Antony, beat his brains out with the scroll he was reading from.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Many, but most notably in one situation where Lucius Vorenus decides that the most ethical thing to do is kill a little boy. It's heartbreaking to see how torn he is between "doing the right thing" and killing his wife's bastard, and listening to his instinct to not kill a child. The series might just be the single best example for this trope ever to appear on TV. To establish the mood, the very first episode has one of the main characters crucifying prisoners of war. He's one of the (somewhat) good guys.

* DemocracyIsBad : In the initial narration it is stated that Rome -a Republic with many democratic traits- cannot govern itself. Magistrates are elective but many of the characters work to avoid what they call "rule of the mob", consider elections as a formality, just a matter of bribes and demagoguery and some are deeply offended when the Senate becomes less restrictive and incorporates pleb citizens and non-roman ones. Nobody really believes in democracy anyway, everything is done behind the scenes by the oligarchy, although the caesarians are somehow the people's party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populares) as they draw a lot of their power from the plebs.
** Staunch legalist Vorenus is disgusted when he discover the fraud about Roman democracy but Posca convinces him it's for the best.
--> ''"The people are not crying out for clean elections, they're crying out for stability and peace. They're crying out for jobs and food and clean water...You can do great things for your people"''
** Antony plays the elections card when negotiating the aftermath of Caesar's assasination.''"Messy things elections"'' The conspirators are horrified as they would have to validate their taken for granted powers. They reach a compromise and no democracy is needed.