Minor characters of Rome

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There are several minor but significant characters featured in the HBO television series Rome.

NOTE: Characters are listed in alphabetical order by character's first/only name

Contents 1 Noble characters 2 Commoners 3 Other 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Noble characters

• Alfidia (historically, Aufidia), portrayed by Deborah Moore. The mother of Livia, she is present in A Necessary Fiction when a married Livia catches the eye of young Octavian, and both women are pleased when he insists that Livia divorce her current husband to marry him. Later, in De Patre Vostro, Alfidia lightly questions Octavia's loyalty to her family at dinner, and is present when Atia of the Julii finally puts daughter-in-law Livia in her place.

• Caesarion (historically, Ptolemy XV of Egypt/Caesarion), seen in the last few minutes of the episode Caesarion as a newborn baby, he is the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. In the storyline it is implied that Caesarion may actually be the son of Titus Pullo. The character returns as a young boy (portrayed by Nicolò Brecci) in the episode Son of Hades, in which Cleopatra asks Mark Antony to declare him Caesar's son (though not his heir). Max Baldry assumes the role in Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (though he appears briefly in the background of a scene in A Necessary Fiction), in which Caesarion befriends Lucius Vorenus, who is serving Mark Antony in Egypt. Caesarion asks the soldier about his "father"; he of course means Julius Caesar, but Vorenus' answers seem to hint that he believes Pullo to be the boy's father. In the series finale De Patre Vostro (About Your Father), it is made clear that both Pullo and Vorenus believe this to be true, and Cleopatra herself later confirms that Pullo is the father. Vorenus manages to smuggle Caesarion out of the palace as Octavian takes over, knowing Octavian will murder the boy to cement his position as Caesar's heir. Pullo brings his son to Rome under the name Aeneas, and tells Octavian that he has murdered young Caesarion. The series ends with the indication that Pullo is about to tell the boy that he is in fact his father.

• Calpurnia (historically, Calpurnia Pisonis), played by Haydn Gwynne. The wife of Julius Caesar, she is seen in Stealing from Saturn, The Ram Has Touched the Wall, Kalends of February and Passover. In Shakespeare's and Plutarch's version, it is Calpurnia's dreams that almost stop Caesar on the Ides of March, cleverly alluded to by the flock of CGI birds in the shape of a skull in Kalends of February.

• Gaius Maecenas (historically, Gaius Maecenas), played by Alex Wyndham. Maecenas first appears in Testudo et Lepus; he is a poet and longtime friend of Gaius Octavian and Marcus Agrippa, and one of Octavian's chief advisors.

• Glabius (Latin name, fictional), played by Roberto Purvis. The now-deceased ex-husband of Octavia of the Julii — divorced by Atia's force of will, still loved by Octavia, and therefore killed by Timon on Atia's orders^[1]. He is seen in The Stolen Eagle, How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic, An Owl in a Thornbush, and Stealing from Saturn. Historically, Octavia Minor was six years older than her brother Gaius Octavian, and from c.54 to 40BC (the first season's timeframe was 51 to 41 BC) was the wife of Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor. Therefore she would have been in his household, not that of the Julii/Octavii, until his death in 40 and her remarriage to Mark Antony. Marcellus has been replaced by the fictional Glabius.

• Jocasta (fictional), played by Camilla Rutherford. Daughter of a wealthy merchant, and friend to Octavia; introduced in These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Atia later adds Jocasta's father to the list of nobles Octavian and Mark Antony kill to eliminate resistance and acquire wealth. In Death Mask, Atia arranges for Jocasta's marriage to Posca; Jocasta is delighted with the gifts Posca showers on her in A Necessary Fiction. In Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus Jocasta has joined her husband in his relocation with Mark Antony to Egypt, but both escape back to Rome on Atia and Octavia's ship when Posca realizes that war between Antony and Octavian is inevitable.

• Livia (historically, Livia Drusilla), played by Alice Henley. Young wife of Octavian; introduced in A Necessary Fiction.

• Pothinus (historically, Pothinus), played by Tony Guilfoyle, seen in the episode Caesarion. A eunuch who serves as regent to Ptolemy XIII.

• Ptolemy XIII (historically, Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator), Cleopatra's younger brother, played by Scott Chisholm. Seen in the episode Caesarion. Historically he was as young as is portrayed, and the character's "chubbiness" is a nice allusion to a family trait of the Ptolemaic dynasty as historically attested in their artistic representations, nicknames and in the literary record ^[2].

[edit] Commoners

The following are mostly the family, slaves and associates of Lucius Vorenus, Niobe and Titus Pullo:

• Evander Pulchio (Greek name, fictional), played by Enzo Cilenti. The now deceased husband of Lyde, brother-in-law of Niobe, and secretly the father of her son Lucius. Seen in An Owl in a Thornbush, Stealing from Saturn and The Ram Has Touched the Wall.

• Gaia (fictional), played by Zuleikha Robinson. The former supervisor at a brothel who kept the customers in line, Gaia negotiates a similar job with better pay with Vorenus, now the leader of the Aventine. She becomes somewhat involved with Mascius, but also shows an opportunistic interest in both Vorenus and Pullo. Gaia makes an enemy of Pullo's wife Eirene, who compels Pullo to beat an insubordinate Gaia in Death Mask; he roughs her up, but with her encouragement ends up having rough sex with her as well. Later, Gaia acquires abortion-inducing herbs, which she administers surreptitiously to Eirene in her tea in A Necessary Fiction. Eirene miscarries, and then dies of apparent blood loss. In Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus, Gaia and Pullo have been in a relationship for a few years; she is mortally wounded saving him from an attack by Memmio, and on her deathbed admits that she killed Eirene. Pullo strangles her to death, and throws her body unceremoniously into the river. Gaia appeared in Son of Hades, These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Heroes of the Republic, Philippi, Death Mask and A Necessary Fiction.

• Lucius (fictional), played by Marco Pollack, Alessio Cuna and Stefan Brown^[3]. Son of Niobe and Evander Pulchio — a fact that was hidden from Lucius Vorenus until the Kalends of February. Until then, Vorenus was lead to believe the boy was his grandson by his eldest daughter Vorena the Elder. Appears in How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic, An Owl in a Thornbush, Stealing from Saturn, The Ram Has Touched the Wall, Egeria, Utica, and Kalends of February.

• Lyde (Greek name, fictional), played by Esther Hall. Sister of Niobe, widow of Evander Pulchio, and business partner with the Vorenus family in a very profitable joint-venture butcher shop. Seen in An Owl in a Thornbush, Stealing from Saturn, The Ram Has Touched the Wall, Egeria, Pharsalus and Utica.

• Mascius (fictional), played by Michael Nardone. An old comrade of Pullo and Vorenus, he comes to the Aventine in Son of Hades seeking work under Vorenus. He first appears in The Spoils, and later returns in Son of Hades, These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Testudo et Lepus (The Tortoise and the Hare) and Heroes of the Republic.

• Vorena the Elder (fictional), played by Coral Amiga. She is the first daughter of Lucius Vorenus and Niobe. Vorena is the feminine form for names in the Vorenii family. She is somewhat impulsive and, like her father Lucius Vorenus, has a bitter, unforgiving nature. However, she, as well as her siblings, forgive their father as he is dying. Seen in How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic, An Owl in a Thornbush, Stealing from Saturn, The Ram Has Touched the Wall, Egeria, Utica, Triumph, and Kalends of February.

• Vorena the Younger (fictional), played by Anna Fausta Primiano/Valery Usai. She is the second daughter of Lucius Vorenus and Niobe. Seen in How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic, An Owl in a Thornbush, Stealing from Saturn, The Ram Has Touched the Wall, Egeria, Utica, and Triumph.

[edit] Other

• Eleni (fictional), played by Suzanne Bertish, is Servilia's body-slave.

• Herod (historically, Herod the Great) is the Prince of Judea and Tetrarch of Galilee. He comes to Rome in Death Mask to offer Mark Antony a "gift" of gold in exchange for Rome's assistance in Herod's ascension to the throne of Judea.

• Levi (fictional), played by Nigel Lindsay. Brother of Timon, outspoken Levi comes to Rome from Jerusalem in Season 2, after getting himself into political trouble in Judea. Religious and resentful of the Romans, he soon helps a troubled and conflicted Timon rediscover his Judaism. Unfortunately, Levi's assassination attempt on Herod of Judea in Death Mask comes to a tragic end.

• Memmio (fictional). Captain of one of the largest underworld gangs, the Caelians; keeps an uneasy alliance with Vorenus, leader of the Aventine.

• Merula (fictional), played by Lydia Biondi, is Atia's body-slave.

• Newsreader (Senate Crier) (fictional), played by Ian McNeice. The closest Rome comes to a narrator, and the mouthpiece for all those otherwise tedious pieces of plot exposition, he reads the pronouncements of the Senate, public service announcements, and the current events of the Republic to the people in the Forum. All these would also — as portrayed in the series — be displayed in written form on the Senate-House door, for the literate few. The role is a more-or-less attested one in Ancient Greek and Roman society, as there was never any public gallery in the building where the government met and much of the population were illiterate. The Latin word is praeco, and in many old translations is translated as herald. Seen in The Stolen Eagle, How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic, Pharsalus,Caesarion, Utica, The Spoils, and Kalends of February.

• Omnipor (fictional). Works for Memmio of the Caelians; romances Vorena the Elder, daughter of Vorenus, with questionable intentions. After his treachery is revealed, he is seemingly killed by an axe thrown by Pullo in A Necessary Fiction.

• Vercingetorix (historically, Vercingetorix), played by Giovanni Calcagno. "King of the Gauls," he appears in The Stolen Eagle and Triumph.

[edit] See also

• Characters of Rome

[edit] References