"Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire"
Revolution (2006)

Director:

Christopher Spencer

Writer:

Christopher Spencer (writer)

TV Series:

"Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire" (2006)

Original Air Date:

5 October 2006 (Season 1, Episode 3)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

132 BC tells the story of how a Roman politician nearly brought down the foundations of the Roman republic.

Plot Keywords:

Historical | Roman Empire | Emperor

Cast

James D'Arcy	...	Tiberius Gracchus
Greg Hicks	...	Aenilianus
David Hinton	...	Axius
Geraldine James	...	Cornelia
Tom Bell	...	Nasica
David Warner	...	Pulcher
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Brightwell	...	Pompeius
James Hillier	...	Octavius
David Kennedy	...	Matho
Sylvester Morand	...	Mancinus
Wendy Nottingham	...	Mother

Series Cast

These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?

Hugh Dixon	...	Seneca
Philip Jackson	...	Jovius

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Grachus v The Oligharcs

From the first four episodes I have seen I found this the less powerful. The story of young Tiberious Grachus heir to an illustrious father whose funerary fire we witness at the beginning of the episode and his career as a junior officer-the career pattern of young aristocrats until the First World War is the core of the episode. His rather improvised peace promise to the Numantines in Spain concluded by the authority that the name of his father carried in those regions, is his first act that makes him an enemy to that self-perpetuating assembly of rich people, the Senate. His attempt to empower politically the masses of the capital makes the Senators eager to to oppose him dynamically through the election of a former friend of him that has become a pawn of them in the body of the tribuni plebes, who blocks his attempts to reform the system through the application of the veto. I do not remember exactly how the system functioned but I remember the power of the veto of the tribunes especially against legislation deriving from the Senate, I suspect that this could happen against legislation deriving from their colleagues. Finally the Senators succeed in killing Grachus whose body is thrown to the river while the narrator says about the changes his efforts triggered. Whether this has been a comfort to Grachus himself we will never learn.