El corazón del Imperio

Documentary and fictitious series that relies heavily on overlong oral exhibitions and foul-moothed speeches by historians and dealing with the role of the female genre in the Roman Empire .However , showing a lot of violence , killings , nudism , sex scenes , sordidness , suggested love scenes and anything else . Dealing with important Roman characters such as: Fulvia , Cleopatra , Livia , Julia Mesa .

The series depicts the Roman woman , but the series is recreated with the most sordid aspects of Roman times including extreme sleazines , erotic scenes , violent events , murder, prostitution and all kinds of exploitation . The series is spoiled by long opinions and speeches by unfriendly female historians always giving the female point of view and speaking in vulgar and bad language including swearing and bad words. The six episodes are titled as follows : 1º Gladiadoras , 2º Cleopatra y Fulvia first part ,3º Cleopatra and Fulvia second part , 4º Livia , 5º Julia and Heliogabalo , 6º Bacantes and Vestales.

Especially concerning: ¨Fulvia¨, she remains an important figure in ancient Roman history due to her perseverance as a woman heavily involved in politics, as well as her role in the Perusian War 41-40 BC. Against Octavian (future Emperor Augustus). She played a major political role behind the scenes of all three of her marriages. Although she is most famous for her involvement in Antonio's career, and subsequent Ciceron's murder , as well as she was the first non-mythological Roman woman to appear on Roman coins. Of course , ¨Cleopatra¨ when Caesar rules over Egypt , he gives the throne to Cleopatra . After that , the out-of-wedlock son of Cleopatra with Caesar is seen to be a threat to his future leadership , then Caesar is killed , and Cleopatra marries Marcus Antonius , both of them are defeated by Augustus in Actium . ¨Livia Drusila¨, she was the daughter of Roman Senator Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and his wife Alfidia. She married Tiberius Claudius Nero around 43 BC, and they had two sons, Tiberius and Drusus. In 38 BC, she divorced Tiberius Claudius Nero and married the political leader Octavian. The Senate granted Octavian the title Augustus in 27 BC, effectively making him emperor. Livia then became the Roman empress. In this role, she served as an influential confidant of her husband and was rumored to have been responsible for the deaths of a number of Augustus' relatives, including his grandson Agrippa Postumus. Augustus eventually adopted her son Tiberius as his heir. After Augustus died in 14 AD, Tiberius became emperor. Livia continued to exert political influence as the mother of the emperor. She died in 29 AD. She was the great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula, grandmother of the emperor Claudius, and the great-great-grandmother of the emperor Nero. In 42 AD, Livia was deified by Claudius, who acknowledged her title of Augusta. ¨Julia Mesa and Heliogabalo¨ , as Julia married the Syrian nobleman Julius Avitus, with whom she had two daughters: Julia Soemias and Julia Mamea, both mothers of emperors. After the ascension to the throne of her brother-in-law, Septimius Severus, Julia Mesa moved to Rome to live with her sister. After the murder of her nephew Caracalla and the suicide of Julia Domna, she was forced to return to Syria. From Syria, she organized a plot to overthrow Macrinus and replace him with her grandson Heliogabalus, son of Julia Soemias. To legitimize this claim, mother and daughter spread the rumor that the boy was Caracalla's illegitimate son, and they succeeded, as Macrinus was of obscure origin, with no political connections. For the support provided, Elagabalus granted Julia Mesa the title of Augusta avia Augusti (Augusta, Augustus's grandmother). The new emperor turned out to be a disaster, offending the Romans with her sexual and religious scandals, so Julia Mesa decided to promote her other grandson, Alexander Severus. She first convinced Elagabalus to adopt Alexander, and soon after, the emperor was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, along with his mother. Both bodies were thrown into the Tiber, after being dragged through the streets. Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable but disagreeable .

First, I have to say that I am a fan of Anciant Roman History, so every bit of information about that period is very welcome. Secondly, this documentary series counts with "Santiago Posteguillo" a great Spanish writer, reading "Trajano Trilogy" is really something you should do, interesting and entertaining at every level, also, maybe crude and detailed in the depictions of violence and sex, but definetely worthwhile.

This documentary has a positive thing. The historical figures depicted are really interesting, also some theories about the "real vs propaganda historical-account debate" are interesting.

However there are 3 problems in my view:

1) Using latin is a good idea, but, maybe just my perception, as acting is not so good, actors seem to have learnt the dialogues by heart. They suffer to be articulate in latin... of course, I do not know like latin sounded at that time, but it seems "artificial" in the documentary, as if they were given a "latin class" to a group of students (beginner level).

2) The historians, mostly that I can remember (except the writer) are women. They try to give their opinions about everything. Like 90% opinion 10% facts/history. It is really annoying sometimes. In particular, when they insist on repeating again and again and yet again, how the women were treated as children, how hard their lives were, how much they were suffering as they were considered "children" all their lives. This is repeated episode after episode, several times. "Come on, I got it. It is good to know but... can we focus on the individual person depicted?" (Besides, they were rich women, with power and priviliges... sure slaves (men and women) have much more crappy lives.

3) Regarding the depiction of violence, sex and sordid scenes. I think 10% violence, 40% sex and 50% sordid scenes, including like several "give to birth" scenes in every single episode. Well, at least, after watching the series, you will learn that women, and no men, at that time, gave birth. I should have expected a "whipping scene" or a "execution scene" with all the details also or maybe some battle were men were also brutally treated or killed. In reality, I think 90% of all the these violent, sex, sordid scenes were gratious and unnecessary.

In summary an interesting tv show that I have watched fully as I like the subject, with no so good performances, latin "forced" inclusion, too many sordid, pointless and repetitive scenes, and too much opinion like trying to put in our brains a message rather than a piece of history.

I really would like that someone could make a movie or tv-series about one of the many Santiago Posteguillo books... really missing fresh different historical movies with other historical periods (I know it is really hard to create that universe, but they do House of the Dragon and other many fantasy worlds, why not a more real one?)