Lucius Vorenus

Portrayed by: Kevin McKidd

Dubbed by: Alexis Victor (European French)

One of our two protagonists, we first meet Vorenus as a centurion of the 13th Legion in Gaul who has not seen home nor his family for 8 years. After he returns, he is reunited with his family but finds himself caught up in the civil wars of Caesar and Pompey in order to provide for them.

A strict Stoic and Catonian, Vorenus believes in honor, honesty, and piety. But as the dissembling nature of Rome grows more and more clear, he finds himself more and more lost.

• 10-Minute Retirement: Happens soon after his return from Gaul. He ends up re-enlisting in the legions in order to provide, although he at least goes in as evocati, which has a bit more prestige and a better contract.
• Above the Influence: As part of his character development with his wife. Late in the first season, he's ordered by a female superior to make love to her, and goes to obey since he's a soldier who must obey or risk penalty. However, he finds himself unable to go through with it and tells her to punish him if he will, but he won't. The female superior promptly dismisses him, and he sends Pullo in to handle her instead.

• Arranged Marriage: He was engaged to Niobe from a young age, and they had two children before he had to leave for the Gaul campaign. While it's often rocky between them, they get better over time.
• Badass in Charge: Serves as this in the legions and later in Rome, as he's both respected as a leader and as a fighter.
• Bash Brothers: With Titus Pullo, both in the legions and in the streets when required. The two of them together can handle any threat.
• Beard of Sorrow: Grows one in the second season after things take a turn for the worse. Otherwise, keeps a strict shaven face as a good centurion should.
• Blasphemous Boast: "I AM THE SON OF HADES, I FUCK CONCORD IN HER ARSE!"
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Albeit an accidental version. Caesar promotes Vorenus to senator and orders the man to stay by his side while showing him the ropes, counting on his reputation to deter any assassination. The conspirators having found out the secret of his wife's infidelity, reveal the secret on the day of Caesar's assassination so he will rush home instead of following Caesar into the Senate house.
• Break the Haughty: His principles crumble when confronted by real problems the higher up he goes in the social ladder.
• Break Them by Talking: Does this to Cleopatra by pointing out the deal she's made with Octavian to keep her crown and her son by Caesar safe is worthless as Octavian won't keep his word.
  Cleopatra: I've made a pact with Octavian. I keep my crown and no harm will come to my people.
  Vorenus: Octavian may let you live...so he can parade you through the Forum in your crown. To Antony's children, he will show public mercy and kindness, but Caesarion? Another son of Caesar? Octavian will kill him!
  Cleopatra: [starting to panic] No! He's just a child!
  Vorenus: He'll die.
• Cannot Spit It Out: His philosophy of stoicism serves him well in war, but leaves him virtually unable to speak of softer things.
  Vorenus (to Niobe, sincerely but lamely): It saddens me that you are unhappy. Because I have deep affection for you.
• Celibate Hero: Devoted to his wife despite being separated for years on campaign. Becomes Downplayed after Niobe's death; he sleeps with Gaia (and insists she take money for it) and later with a prostitute in Egypt.
• Colonel Badass: As a centurio primus pilus, a "First Spear Centurion", his status and responsibilities approximate (though not completely, see Drill Sergeant Nasty below) roughly to that of a Lieutenant Colonel in a modern army. He's also Centurion of the Prime (or simply 1st) Cohort, a cohort that was double the size of an ordinary cohort, carried the legionary eagle, and was made up of the cream of the legion; to command one was considered the zenith of a common soldier's career and carried a great deal of prestige.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Has this often, as he's personally loyal to the ideals of the Republic but typically sworn to Mark Antony, who subverts Republican ideals every few minutes.
• Cosmic Plaything: Seems to think this of himself after a while.

  Vorenus: Fortune pisses on me.

• Creepy Souvenir: He carries a Germanic warrior's penis as a lucky charm. He also keeps Erastes Fulmen's head after decapitating him.
• Cultured Badass: He often cites examples from Roman history during his Honor Before Reason rants, sometimes talks about other cultures (eg. the Egyptian gods) as if he's read up about them and the reason he was sent on the mission to find Caesar's stolen eagle in the first place was because his superior officer thought he was clever. His badass qualifications are impeccable.
  • As he is on operations inside foreign countries, his position as centurio primus pilus and later Prefect would mean learning about enemy culture and traditions was part of his job.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Often shows this, as a roughly middle-class Roman man invested in perpetuating the system.
  • In his first scene, he recommends crucifying enemy prisoners until one gives some intelligence. While he's a little shocked by actually being asked to do it, he still does it.
  • When he suspects his wife of infidelity in the first episode he's incensed and calls her a whore despite not seeing her for years, and then embarrassedly brushes it off when he's told it's a grandchild, not hers.
  • He invested his money made in Gaul into slaves, and proudly plans to make a fortune selling them before a plague takes them. When he retains household slaves, he's not a cruel master but makes the boundary between slave and freedman very clear.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: One in the pilot, mellows in later episodes. As a centurio primus pilus the overall discipline of the legion would be one of his (many) responsibilities.
• Fiery Redhead: Romans call attention to his strawberry blond hair, which is fairly rare for a Roman. He admits that he looks Gaulish, but insists that he's a pure-born Roman. In spite of his stiff personality, he's very hot-blooded.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Pullo, and strangely enough with Mark Antony by the end of the series. Although Vorenus doesn't approve of Antony's hedonistic ways, he eventually realises they share the same self-destructive urges.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: In the second season, Mark Antony tasks him with managing Rome's disparate street gangs, which toe the line between organized crime and community law enforcement. Vorenus's experience as a centurion and a soldier make him very good at it.
• Heroic BSoD: Has one of these at the start of the second season. Mark Antony eventually snaps him out of it.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Pullo.
• Historical Domain Character: The surviving writings of the actual, historical Caesar mention one 'Lucius Vorenus', centurion. Very little else is known of him, although it's safe to assume his importance has been greatly exaggerated. The real Lucius Vorenus actually belonged to the 11th legion.
• Honor Before Reason: Central to his character. Vorenus is an honorable, upright man who believes the world works because other people are the same. But since his superiors are usually playing mind games, he's often disappointed by reality and struggling to know where he fits in it.
• Hypocrite: He's aghast at the thought of crossing the Rubicon with Caesar, but proudly recounts how his father "rode with Sulla." Sulla was the general and dictator who launched a Military Coup a generation before exactly like Caesar had done, and unlike Caesar subjected Rome to a Reign of Terror. This is a subtle way of showing that Vorenus's constitutional conservatism is highly contextual.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As much of a screwup as he is as a father, he does love his children, and does have some of his own personal morals.
• Kill Tally: At the series' start he's asked if he knows how many he's killed and responds with "three hundred and nine fighting men. I don't count civilians." He then adds that the priests of Mars ask you your count when you go to make an offering, and that after 100 they give you a discount.
• Last of His Kind: He mentions that he was allowed to marry as a legionary "under special dispensation." The most likely cause for such dispensation would be because he's the last of his family line and needed to have kids to continue his name in case he died on campaign. Considering that we never see any other Voreni, it's likely true.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's rather handsome (at least by modern standards), and gets a fair amount of shirtless scenes - though not on the same level as Mark Antony.
• My God, What Have I Done?: More than once in the second season after things go bad.
• Naïve Newcomer: Vorenus's campaign as magistrate exposes him to the dirty dealings behind Rome's supposed to be sacred political institutions.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: As a traditionally minded Roman male, Vorenus refuses have sex with Cleopatra when ordered to do so. She takes offense so he sends in Pullo to placate her, who has no such scruples.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: Vorenus lets Pompey escape after Pharsalus because he believes it's wrong to hand the once-great man over "like a slave." This lets Pompey escape to Egypt, where the old general is promptly betrayed and murdered by the Egyptians, while Caesar probably would have spared his life. Vorenus later expresses his remorse to Caesar for this.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Though rather than be above the silliness he started off above the corruption. Vorenus eventually goes from being a honorable soldier to the Godfather of Rome's criminal underworld.
  • He rolled his eyes for Pullo sleeping with prostitutes, once single he more or less will only sleep with prostitutes and is annoyed when Gaia refuses to take money.
• Odd Friendship: He and Pullo are almost complete opposites in personality, and Vorenus is his commanding officer besides, but the two form a close, if turbulent, friendship.
  Atia: Don't mind my saying it, but you two make unlikely friends.
• Officer and a Gentleman: It's amazingly funny to compare that to the dirtbags he serves, who would screw anything that moves.
• OOC Is Serious Business: Whenever Vorenus wants to drink it's a bad sign. Antony celebrates him chugging a glass of wine.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Will go to any lengths to get his children back in Season 2. Unfortunately they never forgive him for having got them into that situation in the first place.
  • When a drover's son appears to have impregnated Vorena the Elder (actually Niobe's child), he points out that this entitles him to legally slay the young man. Vorena pleads with him and he grudgingly concedes to their marriage.
• Parents as People: His character shows how parenting standards are very different in this era. He's keen for his daughters to make good marriages, maintain their homes, and be good children, and when he's present and happy he's warm, loving and consistent. But since Rome in this era is hardly a stable place and he's often gone as a soldier, he's usually absent and struggles to communicate healthily.
• The Patriarch: Played for drama; under Roman law he is the absolute authority in his family, and responsible for making sure they don't go astray. Much of what he does is in service of them, but it's shown frequently that he struggles to actually parent, and that Roman standards are not always allowing for complicated circumstances.
• Perpetual Frowner: Vorenus seems to frown even when he smiles.
• Pet the Dog: His treatment of Caesarion shows a soft side.
• Professional Killer: Erastes Fulmen hires him to be one, but Vorenus has trouble accepting it and quits. This is the origin of their conflict.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Delivers one to Cleopatra while making no attempt to disguise his disgust at the fact she induced Antony to commit suicide while dealing with Octavian behind his back.
  Cleopatra: I let you live because Antony was fond of you. Do not test me now!
  Vorenus: Kiss. My. ARSE!
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's stiff and honorable to a fault in contrast to Pullo's more lackadaisical and impulsive personality. In the second season, however, his deep-seated rage comes to the forefront, making Pullo seem more sedate by comparison.
• Real Men Love Jesus: A Roman version; Lucius always sets aside time to make offerings to the gods before major events or ventures, and makes sure his family does too.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Played for drama in the premiere. When he returns home, he discovers that the army told Niobe that he was dead a year ago, and cut off his pay to them. The consequences of this span the entire series.
• Returning War Vet: In the premiere. To his sorrow, he realizes violence is his only talent.
• Rock Bottom: Vorenus is disgraced after his failure to protect Caesar, but refuses to commit honorable suicide as he believes he deserves his torment after failing to protect his family as well. As it happens the death of Erastes Fulmen has thrown the city into chaos as rival gangs fight for supremacy, and Vorenus is just the man Marc Antony needs to fix the situation; disgraced, but still bound by oath to obey him. So he orders Vorenus to take Fulmen's place.
• Sanity Slippage: In the second season he is grappling with a lot and goes crazy for a bit.
• Social Climber: Over the course of the first season, as part of the commentary on Roman society. As a First Spear Centurion, his family is roughly middle-class and live in a street-adjacent apartment with a courtyard and three roughly joined rooms, but little more. By season's end, he's mixing with senators of Rome and his family has enough to buy four household slaves and fine clothing, and consider their daughter's marriage prospects competitive. However, they become less stable with Caesar's death.
• Uncertain Doom: It's never shown if he survives his wounds in the season 2 finale, due to the series being cancelled.
• Undying Loyalty: To his legion, to his city, to his friends - to the death. Lampshaded:
  Octavian: That man turns loyalty into a vice.
• Unstoppable Rage: More than once. But the stand-out example is when he slaughters Erastes Fulmen's entire gang.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Vorenus has an unfortunate amount of these. Lampshaded by one of his interactions with Mark Antony.
  • Vorenus himself has this reaction when Pullo killed one of his slaves just because said slave was in a relationship with the girl Pullo loves.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Not explicitly alluded to, but Vorenus's character arc (an upstanding Roman soldier who suffers from transitioning to civilian life—at the expense of his family and loved ones—eventually transitioning to someone who respectable Roman society despises) owes a lot to another Roman figure of legend: Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus—who William Shakespeare himself made a play out of. The key difference is that while Coriolanus seems to have willed himself to mechanical lack of sympathy, Vorenus's character is written to be very down to earth, whose flaws are very recognizable.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Is often perceived as this by Mark Antony and Ceasar, as he's very idealistic about the principles of the Republic and often blind to the subversion of such that they're doing.
• You, Get Me Coffee: The first time they are in Egypt, Vorenus has to remind Pullo to go form with the other soldiers. They are friends, but he still outranks him.
• You Owe Me: Antony demands loyalty until death from Vorenus in return for taking him back into the legions. He gets it, as Vorenus is the only man who stands with Antony until the end.

Titus Pullo

Portrayed by: Ray Stevenson

Dubbed by: Marc Alfos (European French)

The other protagonist of the series, Pullo is the image of a grizzled Roman soldier - he loves the legions, the ladies, and living while he can. In the premiere, he and Vorenus are thrown together on a mission, and after bonding with his family he becomes Vorenus's right hand and uncle to his children, allowing him to explore a softer side.

While Vorenus embodies the struggles of the middle-class Roman patriarch, Pullo embodies the struggles of the working class Roman who is two steps from poverty - barely able to think of the Republic in the struggle to keep himself alive. As the wars of Caesar continue, he finds himself desperate to protect his wife Eirene, and to stand by his promise to protect Lucius's family.

• The Alcoholic: Loves a good drink. In the pilot, he's introduced getting punished for breaking formation because he's been drinking too much.
• Anti-Hero: He's a murderer with a hair-trigger temper, but he's one of our heroes.
  Cleopatra: Is he a good man?
  Vorenus: ...Define "good."
• Apologetic Attacker: Every assassination victim should be lucky enough for someone like Pullo to show up at his door.
  Cicero: (trembling) Please... I... give me a few moments.
  Pullo: (sheathes his sword) Whenever you're ready.
  • When Cicero's finally ready, Pullo advises him to kneel down, so that Pullo can make it as quick and painless as possible. He also tells Cicero's distraught secretary, Tiro, that he might want to look away (to his credit, Tiro doesn't).
• Ascended Extra: The writings of Gaius Julius Caesar really do mention one 'Titus Pullo,' member of his legions. Although the historical Pullo was a centurion, not a foot soldier. The real Titus Pollo belonged to the 11th legion.
• Audience Surrogate: Part of his everyman persona is that he doesn't know most of the politics involved, and so needs them explained to him by others.
• Bash Brothers: With Vorenus. When the two set out, they're very hard to beat.
• Been There, Shaped History: Alongside Vorenus, he has his fair share of being involved in historic events without knowing about it. The most memetic is probably when he makes love to Cleopatra at her request in advance of meeting Caesar, so her odds of a Roman child she can say is Caesar's are stronger.

  Pullo: I was just following orders. Bloody good orders, too.

• Berserk Button: Insulting the 13th Legion, his "alma mater."
• Blood Knight: Tends to enjoy fighting when he does it, although he doesn't get arrogant about it.

  Pullo: Your best method for pleasing a woman is the warm beating heart of an enemy. I mean, women will say they don't like it, but they do.

• Badass in Distress: Gets hurt often, unsurprisingly, and needs to be nursed by others while he recovers.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A textbook definition, as his page quote shows.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: He's like a combination of a teddy bear and a grizzly bear.
• Catchphrase: Pullo likes bragging about his sexual conquests, real or imagined, almost always describing women as "Wet as October!"
• Character Development: He Took a Level in Kindness after marrying Eirene.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He loves women, but as shown when he tutors Vorenus on bonding with his wife, he's very good at making them like him.

  Pullo: Tell her she's beautiful all the time. Tell her she's beautiful every time you see her. Even when she's not.

• Cluster F-Bomb: On occasion.
• Cool Uncle: Serves as this for the Vorenus kids, as he's fun, cool, caring, and gentle with them.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: At his worst he's violently possessive of his own, though on only one occasion.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He mentions in passing that his mother was a slave who died when he was little and that he never knew his father, though he was likely a slave too. While he tries to look on the bright side, it's clear he doesn't enjoy coming from such humble circumstances and misses his mother.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: A font of this. While Vorenus presents this more from a familial angle, he presents it from a working man angle.
  • In the premiere, he's introduced getting flogged badly because he broke formation during a battle and endangered the line. While in lock-up as part of his punishment, he then mourns that he's going to miss all the good plundering and pillaging. He then prays to Mars that if he's let out early to go plunder, he'll sacrifice a healthy bull to him in thanks, which he manifestly abandons when he is freed early.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: His humble mother is one of the few things he's consistently respectful of, as he's very careful who he talks about her to and is always reverent towards her.
• Fire-Forged Friends: He and Vorenus are this, sticking together for the entire series and the entirety of the Roman civil wars.
• Foil: Most of his character traits stand in contrast to Vorenus. Where he is mutable, Vorenus is stiff. Where Pullo is a charmer, Vornenus is dour. Where Pullo is impulsive, Vorenus is responsible. While both are prone to destructive rages, Pullo is more prone to sudden violence, but also more likely to shrug something off.
• Friend to All Children: Is a natural with kids, and gets along well with them.
• From Camouflage to Criminal:
  • He works as a knifeman for Erastes Fulmen when he's low on coin and kicked out of the Vorenus household.
  • When Vorenus is entailed with controlling the Roman street gangs as a boss, he accompanies him and serves as his second-in-command/enforcer. He's unsurprisingly quite good at it.
• The Gambling Addict: As soldiers of all eras do, he likes to gamble on occasion, and gets in at least two spots of trouble because of it.
• Handsome Lech: He's a great lover of women, and when not in a relationship is frequently seen sleeping with prostitutes.
• Happily Married: Eventually in the second season to Eirene.
• Heroic BSoD: Pullo has one towards the end of Season One. And another in the second season.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Vorenus.
• Idiot Hero: As the son of slaves, he's had virtually no education and only learns something if it has immediate value for him. Vorenus frequently has to explain why some development is bad for them, and while he states that he can sign his name as well as any man, it's implied he can't do much more than that. This is shown as emblematic of how Caesar gains power, as someone with Pullo's context can only identify that he seems cool and is bucking the system, so why not support him?
• Interclass Friendship: His relationship with Vorenus is this, as Pullo is by Roman standards barely out of the gutter. As Vorenus is an officer with a healthy income and an established family name, he's several rungs higher on the ladder than him.
  • He also ends up like this with Octavian of the Julii, who will one day be known as Augustus.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Also with Octavian.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: With Gaia as they come close to a "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his extremely questionable morals and violent nature, he is very loyal and is very good with children. At least to children of his friends. He also acts as a mentor to Octavian, teaching him to behave more "like a man."
• Lovable Rogue: The definition of one. If he's on your side, he'll die for you. If you're not, he might kill you for being in his way.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: He has no moral stigma against having sex with any woman who is willing.
• Love at First Sight: To Eirene.
• Magnetic Hero: One of his great talents. He doesn't have much to his name, but he's extremely gregarious and good at getting people to like him.
• Major Injury Underreaction: He brushes off torture.
  You done with flogging me? I was just beginning to enjoy it...
• Male Frontal Nudity: In season two.
• The Mentor: Ends up being one to Octavian of the Julii, as he's hired to teach him soldiering and ends up forming a rough friendship.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: He is only able to marry Eirene after he kills her betrothed. But she only begins to come around after seeing that he regrets it.
• Nay-Theist: His attitude towards religion is very situational, as he invokes their name to bless him but doesn't do much more than that.
  • His character development is shown by this. In the premiere, he promises Mars a rich sacrifice if he saves him from his woes, then immediately ignores that as soon as he's free. Near season's end, he sacrifies a beetle - the only animal he can get to - and asks Jupiter to bless Vorenus's family, to show he's thinking of others now.
• Nominal Hero: An affable friend and ally who'd do anything for those he cares about. He's also capable of grotesque violence and murder without a second thought or a twinge of conscience. Lampshaded when Vorenus is asked to sum up his character.
  Cleopatra: Is he a good man?
  Vorenus: Define "good."
• Odd Couple: He and Vorenus are a study in opposites, but form an unbreakable friendship.
• Pet the Dog: Has many of these moments to balance out his tougher traits.
  • In an early episode, when Niobe complains about Vorenus to him, he unhesitatingly talks him up as someone who never cheated on her and spoke lovingly of her to the other soldiers. Niobe can tell he's lying since she knows he didn't know Vorenus that long, but points for trying.
  • He always stands up to defend the Voreni when someone threatens them.
  • He's a good mentor and father figure to Octavian of the Julii, who sorely needs someone like that.
  • Generally, he sticks to the right thing when it's expected of him, it's just that people have very few expectations of him.
• Professional Killer: Becomes one when Vorenus throws him out of his home. It's a Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Implies in the pilot that he enjoys a good bit of this, as part of his Deliberate Values Dissonance and Token Evil Teammate status. This was of course standard reward for soldiers in this era. In practice we never see him assaulting anyone, and he overwhelmingly prefers the company of prostitutes to someone non-consenting.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Is the red to Lucius's blue. He is more impulsive, but also more flexible. In the first season, he causes a lot of trouble, but in the second season, Vorenus's rigidity comes to the forefront.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Cicero attempts to buy Pullo when he is sent to assassinate him, but Pullo declines the offer and does the job, even though he admires the man and doesn't hide it. Though it's at least partly because it wouldn't be worth his own life to accept.
  Cicero: I have a great deal of money. I don't suppose...
  Pullo: Sorry. Normally I'd be tempted, but you're far too important. Imagine the fuss! I get back and I haven't done my job!
• Social Climber: It's more subtle than Lucius, since he has less of an idea of it in his mind, but he does this as well. He had to lie about his parents being slaves in order to enlist, since slaves can't be legionares. He attaches himself to Lucius in large part because Lucius himself is upwardly mobile. And in the second season he ends up entrusted with more and more authority from Octavian to oversee Rome during a famine, and is of course, on friendly terms with him, the most powerful man in the world. While he's less ambitious about it, it's clear he enjoys proximity to power, if only because it secures a little more something than he had before.
• Torture Technician: Subverted. On one occasion he's asked to torture someone, but balks at it at first and notes the 13th has its own specialists and that he's not keen on the idea. However, he gets into it after some prompting.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • He's very loyal to the 13th Legion, the legion he served in and that was his effective alma mater. Whenever he's out of the military, he's very hurt at being excluded from any legion activity, and he even inspires alumni to try rescuing him when he gets in trouble at the end of Season 1.
  • To Vorenus. There's really nothing Pullo wouldn't do for him. His wife even lampshades it, complaining that he loves Vorenus more than he loves her.
• Unstoppable Rage: Once you get him angry you will regret it.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Played for drama at the series' start as part of Been There, Shaped History. Mark Antony is desperate to reach the Senate and veto a contentious motion that will kick off civil war if passed. All he has to do is walk up the steps and vote no, surrounded by his soldiers. But Pullo is one of those, and on the steps, a man he got in a fight with last night spots him and attacks him, a brawl breaks out, Antony is forced to flee, and the civil war kicks off. All because Pullo got drunk and lost at dice.
  • The title of the episode is fittingly, "How Titus Pullo Brought Down The Republic."
• What Did I Do Last Night?: Has this happen a few times when he gets very drunk.

Niobe of the Voreni

Portrayed by: Indira Varma

Dubbed by: Claire Guyot (European French)

Vorenus' wife through an Arranged Marriage and mother of two daughters, both named Vorena. At the start of the series she has been in charge of the Voreni household for eight years while her husband was at war in Gaul, and under the impression that he was dead for the last year, meaning they lacked his pay and were struggling.

Unbeknownst to Vorenus, she is carrying a dark secret - when she thought Vorenus was dead, and after her sister failed to give her husband Evander a child, Evander came over to her house and the two had relations, resulting in a son. In the present, Niobe has settled on passing the baby off as her eldest daughter's, conceived with a cattle driver boy she's dating, and enlisting her daughters' help to hide the truth from Vorenus. But as time goes on, the secret becomes harder and harder to keep.

Noble, dutiful, but torn by circumstance, Niobe represents the difficulties of being a matriarch in Roman society, and how its laws don't always hold up to complex reality...

• Accidental Adultery: Explored at length. Technically, she didn't cheat, as she fully thought Lucius was dead at the time. However, she did help her brother-in-law cheat on her sister, which her sister was extremely hurt by. The characters admit that it's conceivable Vorenus might forgive her considering the circumstances and if he was in a good enough mood. But they also are confident that even if things went very well, he'd feel very obligated to kill the boy - an illegitimate male heir is both humiliating and disastrous for familial succession - and they're not willing to risk his life like that.
• Aloof Big Sister: To Lyde.
• Arranged Marriage: Hers was, although it's been marred by their separation. In the present, she and Vorenus struggle to find a good equilibrium that satisfies them both.
• Driven to Suicide: After Vorenus discovers her secret in the first season finale.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: While she and her sister are united in wanting what's best for the children, the baby situation weighs heavily on them both and makes them argue several times.
• Gorgeous Period Dress: Even makes them herself.
• Housewife: The image of one, trying to juggle her children, run the house, be a good wife, and handle her husband's career with grace and wisdom.
• I Choose to Stay: When Erastes and his gang are coming to kill them, she sends her children away into the country but chooses to stay and share her husband's fate. Luckily, the visit of Julius Caeasar prevents any violence.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: The baby boy she has is hers, conceived with Evander after she thought Vorenus was dead and her sister had failed to have any children. At Vorenus's return in the pilot, she's committed to passing the baby off as Vorena the elder's. While this is in part to preserve the family's name, it's mostly to preserve the lives of the people involved, as the usual penalty for infidelity resulting in a child in Roman society was that the patriarch had authority to kill both the child and the offending wife.
• Married Too Young: She and Vorenus were married when she had "only thirteen summers." Vorenus himself brings it up while acknowledging that maybe they were too young to really know what they were doing. However, they still seem committed to trying to make it work, despite this obstacle.
• Meaningful Name: The mythical Niobe is famous for having all her children killed by Artemis and Apollo. Niobe similarly worries over keeping her children safe.
• Nouveau Riche: She and Vorenus rise in status throughout the show as he's promoted, and we see her both buying new slaves to tend the house and upgrading her wardrobe for a work dinner party.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: When Vorenus gets heckled during a speech, she jumps in and yells right back. On another occasion when Vorenus is being threatened by Erastes Fulmen, she resolves to stay there when he arrives, even if things are going to turn violent.

Eirene

Portrayed by: Chiara Mastalli

Dubbed by: Barbara Tissier (European French)

A Germanic slave that Vorenus and Pullo rescue from a band of Pompeian soldiers early in Season 1, Eirene is from then on employed as a slave - and later servant - of the Vorenus household. Soon after, she finds herself the object of Pullo's affections, and after a good while she consents to becomes his wife. Beautiful, reticent, and in very tough circumstances, she symbolizes the place of female slaves in Roman times, as her choices are limited by her very few options, her negligible skills, and the fact that her beauty makes her a target.

• Beautiful Slave Girl: Plays the part of one, as a beautiful female slave has more uses than a normal-looking one. While the Voreni aren't interested in her that way - Lucius is devoted to making his marriage work and Pullo does not (forcefully) compel his partners - it's implied that she's had a very hard time of it before coming into their service because a beautiful slave girl is the target of unwanted affection.
• Betty: To Gaia's Veronica in the second season as Gaia competes for Pullo's attention.
• Cute Mute: Doesn't speak much at first, since she doesn't speak much Latin. Over time she becomes more fluent.
• Damsel in Distress: How she is introduced. Pompey's men capture her for their own use, and Pullo frees her.
• Death by Childbirth: Dies as a result of blood loss when she miscarries. Invoked by Gaia secretly giving her silphium, a (now extinct) plant used to induce abortion back in ancient times.
• Longest Pregnancy Ever: Because of HBO's decision to cancel the show in the second season, the show compacted story lines, leading to Eirene remaining pregnant for two in-universe years. You're not likely to notice it.
• The Lost Lenore: Her fiancé ends up getting killed by Pullo in a fit of jealousy upon discovering he exists, and she's devastated in the moment.
• Morality Pet: She's one for Pullo from early on, as he finds her beautiful and likes having someone to dote on. However, this also inspires the worst thing he ever does in the series, showing the flip side of this.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: She eventually reveals that her real name is Adela, not Eirene. Eirene was a name given to her when she was enslaved.
• Questionable Consent: Has relations with Pullo at his request before they get together in a way that's hard to construe as entirely consensual:
  • On Pullo's end, he's obviously drunk and sad and pathetic and not in a violent mood, meaning it's hypothetical she could say no.
  • On the other end, it's clear that she knows he likes her and she has more to gain from doing what he says than denying him. And there is still a chance of things going wrong if she says no. And while she doesn't seem overly traumatized and certainly isn't being physically overwhelmed, the power dynamic is undeniable.
• Slave Liberation: Pullo secretly puts together enough money to free her and buys her from Lucius near the end of the first season. He unfortunately then learns she's not really interested in him in that way...
• Stringing the Hopeless Suitor Along: Near the end of the first season, it's revealed she's been doing this with Pullo. She accepts his positive attention and doesn't discourage it, but she is actually dating another slave who's closer in status to her, and doesn't perceive their dynamic the way he does. He does not take this well.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Her Germanic origins are not revealed until the last episode she's in.
• You No Take Candle: Learns to speak Latin but not perfectly.

Vorena the Elder, Vorena the Younger and Lucius.

The three alleged children of the house of Vorenus, with the Vorenas his alleged daughters and Lucius his alleged grandson. Unbeknownst to Vorenus, Lucius is actually Niobe's son by her brother-in-law Evander, conceived in a moment of weakness when Niobe thought he was dead. They have since settled on passing Lucius off as Vorena the Elder's child by a cattle drover in order to protect him.

At the series' start, Lucius returns to them after eight years and begins parenting again, encountering significant friction as he tries to get used to his wife and his family's needs. When the second season starts, they are abducted and sold into slavery for a time, which affects their lives disastrously.

Through them, Lucius's struggle to be a good Roman patriarch are embodied.

• Death Glare: Vorena the Younger develops one, according to Pullo, who compares it to “Medusa on the rag”.
• Defiled Forever: When Vorena the Elder is enslaved in the second season she's used as a prostitute, which both makes Lucius very upset but also makes it difficult for him to find a match for her, since he thinks that history will be found out and ruin a marriage.
• Family Theme Naming: As was custom at the time both of Vorenus' daughters were named for him (Vorena the Elder and Vorena the Younger). Baby Lucius has his grandfather's (actually stepfather's) first name and presumably cognomen as well.
• Like Father, Like Son: The elder Vorena is described as stubborn like her father is by Pullo.
• Made a Slave: The three are taken and sold by a rival of Lucius's in the aftermath of Caesar's assassination. The quest to rescue them comprises the first half of the second season.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Vorena the Elder collaborated before series' start to pass off baby Lucius as her own child instead of Niobe's, in order to protect her mother from the consequences of Lucius finding out. Since Vorena has a consistent boyfriend who is also willing to uphold the lie of having impregnated her, the lie passes, at least at first...
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Similarly to Eirene's issue, the second season protracting many years of history results in the kids staying the same age over thirteen years. You're not likely to notice this.
• One-Steve Limit: The Vorenas. This was very common back in Ancient Rome, women's name would be the feminine version of their father's.
• Parental Substitute:
  • Their aunt Lyde often serves as this to them.
  • Pullo parents them sometimes too, especially when their relationship with Vorenus is bad.
• The Quiet Ones: Only Vorena the Elder, played by British actress Coral Amiga, had real lines. The younger children were played by Italian actors that didn't know English, so the writers just made it so that they were quiet kids by nature who didn’t speak much.
• This Is Unforgivable!: None of them forgive Vorenus for killing their mother, though it's implied they reconcile at the end.

Lyde

Portrayed by: Esther Hall

Dubbed by: Edwige Lemoine (European French)

Niobe's younger sister and wife to Greek fishmonger Evander.

At series' start, she is helping hide the family's Dark Secret - her husband impregnated Niobe a year previously when Niobe thought Vorenus was dead and Lyde was failing to conceive children. In the present, they are all now complicit in hiding this secret from Vorenus to protect the life of the child and even Niobe if it's found out. However, the fact of her husband's betrayal weighs on her, and as time goes on she finds it harder to bear the lie...

• Despair Event Horizon: Is very hurt by her husband's death.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Is (quite reasonably) upset with Niobe. Over time she makes efforts to mend the relationship, but it's clear the betrayal of her husband and sister hurt a lot.
• In Vino Veritas: On one occasion she nearly spills the secret because she's drank too much. From then on she controls her intake.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Part of the source of her angst. She'd repeatedly failed to conceive any children with Evander, and then he had one with her sister in one try, suggesting that the issue was on her end.
• Made a Slave: By Erastes Fulmen in the second season.
• Sympathy for the Devil: She's the only one of Vorenus' family who has some sympathy for him and even defends him in front of his angry children, because she has been wronged by Niobe as much as Vorenus.
• Taking the Veil: Near the end of the series she ends up considering this, as becoming a priestess is one of the few paths for a woman without a family to secure long-term safety and stability.

Portrayed by: Enzo Cilenti

Dubbed by: Adrien Antoine (European French)

Lyde's husband, a Greek fish dealer. While he appears harmless on the outside, it's revealed that he had relations with Niobe a year prior when she thought Vorenus was dead, resulting in a child they have since passed off as Vorena the Elder's. While he's committed to perpetuating the lie to protect the baby, over time he finds it harder and harder to stick to it, and the pain of betraying his wife makes her more reluctant to protect him...

• Cold-Blooded Torture: When Pullo suspects the truth, he and Octavian kidnap him and torture him until he talks. It takes a long time and hurts a lot.
• Get It Over With: Faced with torture he immediately confesses to sleeping with Niobe and tells them to go ahead and kill him. Pullo is entirely willing to do so, but Octavian realises Pulchio is only saying this to avoid revealing something else under torture. Eventually he breaks and pleads with them to put him out of his misery.
• Infraction Distraction: He confesses to his affair with Niobe to protect his son. Unfortunately Octavian isn't fooled and insists that Pullo keep torturing him until he breaks.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Was failing to have children with Lyde and then went over and had relations with Niobe in a moment of weakness on her part. While he's happy keeping the lie to protect the child, over time it becomes clear that he still perceives the child as his and chafes at having to pretend otherwise...
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: His bastard child with Niobe is in his life near every day, but he's forced to act as if he isn't in order to protect Niobe, at least at first.
• Never Found the Body: Pullo and Octavian drop his body into a sewer after killing him, ensuring he'll float downstream and be lost. That he's never found actually worsens the outcome, as his body not being found extends the search for him enough that Lyde's reaction becomes much worse and at risk of exposing the secret.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Pullo briefly suspects that he forced Niobe to produce the baby, but turns out to be wrong.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Killed partway through the first season to show things are getting serious.
• This Is Unforgivable!: By Roman standards, his crime is not only sleeping with another man's wife (which would expose Vorenus to ridicule) but getting her pregnant with his own child. When he finally admits this, an outraged Pullo murders him on the spot.

Gaius Julius Caesar

Portrayed by: Ciarán Hinds

Dubbed by: José Luccioni (European French)

The famous Roman general and stateman turned dictator. At the series' start, he is poised to return to Rome after finally conquering Gaul, meaning his plans to take control of Rome are about to begin. He subsequently crosses the Rubicon and incites a civil war with Pompey that eventually ends with him victorious and crowned dictator for life. While he dies in the season finale, the second season is built around picking up the pieces of his rule, and his work casts a long shadow for the cast.

While he takes pains to appear unbothered, and judiciously avoids saying he wants to be supreme ruler in front of even his closest partners, this version of Caesar is driven entirely by ambition, bent entirely on twisting the apparatus of the Republic into something he controls utterly. While this involves upsetting the ruling nobles, it also involves uplifting the common plebians and soldiers, which frequently puts him into contact with Lucius and Pullo. Over the course of the series, the legacy of Caesar mirrors theirs, and by series' end both have settled into a rough equilibrium.

• Accidental Hero: Accidentally rescues Vorenus's family by arriving right when gangsters were coming to attack.
• The Ace: When it comes to being a dictator anyway; none of his contemporaries or successors can match him in statecraft and warfare. While Octavian is a more ruthless statesman, he lacks any kind of military skill. While Antony is a soldier's soldier loved by his legions, he is crass, a terrible statesmen and hated by the Roman political elite.
• Affably Evil: His manipulative and ruthless moments are very easy to overlook thanks to his magnetic and soft-spoken charisma. Caesar is extremely good at not appearing hurtful.
• Antagonist in Mourning: When his long-term rival for leadership Pompey is finally killed, he's quite affected, as he was still a close peer and respected friend, and the ones who killed him undermined his power by doing so.
  Caesar: He was a consul of Rome!
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: At the start of the series, he's just finishing the conquest of Gaul, a feat for the annals of history. His already considerable power as proconsul and surviving triumvir combined with his renowned military genius allows him to become master of Rome in no time. His victory over former fellow triumvir Pompey in the civil war leads to Caesar being declared dictator for life, in practice a proto-emperor and king in all but name.
• Badass Cape: As per the uniform of a Roman general.
• Benevolent Boss: He cultivates this deeply with his soldiers and then regular citizenry upon becoming dictator, ensuring good spoils for the former and periodic cash payments for the latter. On a personal level, he treats his right-hand man and slave Posca like a beloved brother (merely laughing and smiling at Posca's snarky responses), tolerates Mark Antony's eccentricities, and works hard to reward loyalty and ability.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Caesar wasn't exactly nice per se, but he knew how to play the wise, forgiving leader in order to entice his opponents to make defections. He would also treat his own men generously and treated even his fallen enemies with respect. But when he was sufficiently angered, he could be terrifying.
  • When he learns that Vorenus and Pullo let Pompey escape, he begins to berate them, which leaves both of the seasoned veterans (who have faced down Gauls, thugs, and even other Roman soldiers without hesitation) flinching in fear.
  • Later, when he is informed of Pompey's demise, he loses his temper with the Egyptians. Even though it is only himself and Posca against the entire Egyptian court, Caesar's wrath puts the Egyptians in a state of terror.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He may be Affably Evil, but Caesar is a ruthless dictator who puts on a show of benevolence. He deliberately engineers a casus belli to seize power, and under his regime particularly loud or obstinate opponents are disappeared or murdered by his thugs.
• Blood on the Debate Floor: His famous death.
• The Casanova: The show downplays his historical lust and includes only some of his affairs,. While he's married to Calpurnia, he's left her in Rome while in Gaul, and when he returns to Rome he spends a fair amount of time canoodling with Servilia of the Junii, another long-term fling. When he goes to Egypt to pursue Pompey, he ends up allying with Cleopatra and sleeping with her to seal the deal, eventually having a son with her. This ends up biting him in the ass when he's required to dump Servilia for PR reasons, which leads to her holding a grudge and urging her son Brutus on to kill him.
• Chessmaster: Zig-zagged. He is capable and calculating both as a general and politician, but several times he underestimates his opponents to his detriment, and his Pragmatic Villainy and empathy also causes him to spare the lives of his eventual assassins. Those who follow in his footsteps do not make the same mistake.
• The Chosen One: He gains this status by bribing the Corrupt Church.
• Cold Ham: Caesar's solemnity is unmatched in Rome. His every sentence resembles a lecture, delivering paused wisdom without being smug, most of the time.
• Consummate Liar: He lies very convincingly, such as when he claims he had never heard of a political opponent he is revealed to have had murdered.
• Cultural Posturing: When he visits Egypt for a time, he makes a show of Rome's superiority over them during negotiations.
  Posca: This is law.
  Pothinus: Roman law.
  Caesar: Is there any other kind of law, you fatuous woman?
• Dark Secret: In one early episode, Octavian discovers that Caesar has epilepsy that he studiously hides with Posca's help. According to Roman tradition epilepsy was a result of having been cursed by the Gods, and the people would refuse to being led by a man subject to it.
• Didn't See That Coming: His calculated leniency towards his political enemies famously becomes Caesar's undoing when a plethora of his remaining antagonists successfully conspire to assassinate him.
• Easily Forgiven: Deliberately makes a choice of doing this with his high-status enemies during the civil war. Anyone that surrenders is welcomed back with open arms as citizens. When Brutus and Cicero surrender he hugs them, apologise to Brutus while kissing his cheek, and begs them to tell him that Pompey, an even bigger enemy, is still alive, before dragging them off to have food since it must have been awhile since they had a decent meal.
  • According to the DVD Commentary this was in part a way of humiliating his enemies, given Roman values (if he'd clapped Brutus and Cicero in chains, it would have shown them as Worthy Opponents).
  • He also forgives Vorenus and Pullo several times for blunders when he encounters them, as part of their Been There, Shaped History experience.
• Establishing Character Moment: Upon being informed of the death of his daughter in childbirth, he looks profoundly sad for a handful of moments but refuses to express any more than that. The very next words he says are, "Pompey will need a new wife". While he may be a warm human man, his entire being is subsumed to his ambition.
• Et Tu, Brute?: In this version, he does not say the words, but is able to communicate this with eyes in the moments before he passes.
• Fatal Flaw: His is Pride. He is supremely confident in his abilities as a statesman and a general, but this often leads him to underestimate how much his enemies are willing and able to fight him, resulting in sudden setbacks or reversals. Most of these times, he is skilled enough to re-assert control of the situation. The last time, however, he ends up stabbed to death on the Senate floor.
  It's only Hubris if I fail.
• Father to His Men: Cultivates this with his soldiers as part of his larger-than-life persona. While we don't see him do any Frontline General work, he's seen giving speeches to them often, and seems popular and respected.
• Four-Star Badass: One of history's most famous military commanders in fact. When the series begins, he is finishing the campaign that immortalizes him as the mighty conqueror of Gaul, and his military prestige increases even further during the civil war.
• Freudian Trio: Forms from the start of the show with Mark Antony and his slave Posca. They respectively make up the Id and Superego to Caesar's Ego.
• How They Treat the Help: He's friendly to his slave servants.
• Large Ham: Just occasionally, invoked as a part of his projected public persona, being overly theatrical in his endearment towards Brutus and Cicero and in his speeches.
  (discussing Pompey) Hoi polloi can understand a reason like that. He refuses to meet me face to face, man to man. [in mock anger] He refuses to meet me!
• Like a Son to Me: Cultivates this dynamic with Brutus, as part of keeping him close. To a lesser extent with Octavian as well, although he perhaps feels less pressure to do so since he already is blood in fact.
• The Man Behind the Man: When Pullo is captured after carrying out a contract killing for Erastes Fulmen, Caesar is suspected of being behind it because the man was a vocal opponent of Caesar and Pullo was a former member of his legion. It's eventually revealed that Caesar did in fact pay Erastes for the hit.
• Manly Tears: He cries while conducting Pompey's funeral.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Octavian helps him through an epileptic seizure while they're both hiding in a cupboard. Atia overhears and mistakenly thinks that Caesar is having a sexual affair with her teenage son. Octavian can't correct her because Caesar's condition has to be kept secret. She's thrilled at the idea of the power they'll wield because of it:
  Atia: "I am not clear it is decent, him being your great uncle, but who's to say what's decent in times like these? In any case, well done!"
• Necessarily Evil: Posca makes this argument in his favor more than once, and any questionable action he performs he studiously justifies as a necessary measure meant to safeguard Rome's stability, nothing eelse.
  Posca: The Roman people are not crying out for clean elections. They are crying out for jobs. They are crying out for clean water, for food, for stability and peace.
• Not So Stoic: Caesar often appears warm and genial but even that is just part of his image. He finally loses his cool when Vorenus informs him he refused to capture Pompey.
• Offscreen Villainy: Cato makes several allegations against Caesar in the first episode (illegal warfare, theft, bribery, and treason) that have already happened when the series start, leaving the audience wondering how much of that is true, and how much of it is trumped up by Caesar's enemies.
• Persona Non Grata: In the first episode, the civil war is kicked off when the Senate - by accident - declares him a public enemy, giving him the pretense to start a war as a maligned noble leader.
• Photo Op with the Dog: Near the end of the season, he deliberately arranges for Vorenus to be by his side often, since it both enhances his reputation to be seen with a non-noble war hero and provides him an on-site bodyguard that doesn't seem like one.
• Physical God: He begins to see himself as this, to Antony's discomfort.
• The Plan: To rule the Roman Republic as the most popular and powerful dictator to date.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Acts like one when the situation calls for it.
• Rousing Speech: Julius Caesar has to take his legion into Italy illegally. He uses a masterful Line in the Sand speech to make them follow him unanimously.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Caesar appoints Brutus governor of Macedonia, as Brutus "is in every wall with a knive at Caesar's throat". It doesn't sit well with Brutus, and the rest is history.
  Brutus: Only tyrants need to worry about tyrant killers!
• Slave to PR: Makes many decisions based on the PR optics, as he knows his success is dependent on being able to give noble justifications for selfish actions. On one occasion, we see him deliberately workshop how to refuse a peace offer that would end the war but undermine his goal of total domination, and settles on saying he rejects it as disrespectful because the offerer won't meet him face to face and the common folk "can understand that sort of thing."
• Sleazy Politician: Nothing too bad, barely par for the course. Caesar liberally bribes, spins the truth and manipulates people on his way to the top. He's not above the occasional murder by contract of his political opponents either.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: A tall, tanned Roman general who's a physically charming guy.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: Played with. Caesar becoming dictator for life is a nightmare for hardline Republicans and is the reason for his assassination, but the edict is greeted with indifference by ordinary citizens and the show itself doesn't paint Caesar in a bad, despotic light. The discussion whether he was a tyrant or not becomes a crucial point in the aftermath of his demise.
  Antony: Listen. Why so quiet? A tyrant is dead. Surely the people should be happy. Where is the cheering throng at your door? Where are the joyous cries of liberty? Well, some have turned against him, no doubt. It cannot be denied, he was something of a tyrant. But a great many people will worship Caesar until they die. A great many. And those people are mine now.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: How his actions are justified.

Gaius Octavian

Portrayed by: Simon Woods (young adult), Max Pirkis (teen)

Dubbed by: Yann Le Madic (European French, Season 1), Cédric Dumond (European French, Season 2)

One of the main protagonists, and future Emperor Augustus Julius Caesar, the first great Roman emperor. Over the course of this series, he starts out first as a young teenager and eventually a young man, well before most of his reign. Brilliant yet isolated, and with a very dysfunctional immediate family, he latches on to his uncle as a means of gaining influence and putting his ambitious brain to work, and eventually makes it to the top. While the real Augustus was lauded far and wide as a supremely virtuous and loving man, this rendition of the man is notably cold and detached, suggesting that even the most virtuous of Roman emperors must still needs be a tough and distant man.

• 0% Approval Rating: Is at risk of this in the later episodes when Mark Antony and Cleopatra cuts off Egyptian grain shipments to Rome, causing a famine. While Octavian would never do this, people don't believe Mark Antony would either and naturally fall to him as the cause.
• Break the Cutie: Happens on occasion. His mother, in particular, is focused on toughening him up in order to make a proper man, which has very mixed results.
• Break the Haughty: Introduced in the pilot as a patrician snob with little regard for the lower classes or even his household slaves. His subsequent experience of being kidnapped by Gauls and rescued by Vorenus and Pullo teaches him humility and the strength of the common soldier. From then on, he makes a point to stay on the soldiers' good side.
• Break Them by Talking: His off-putting disposition and blunt tendencies lead him to do this several times, sometimes without meaning to.
• Brutal Honesty: Uses this on occasion.
• The Chessmaster: Very good at this. He is better at it than his famous uncle, especially because he NEVER lets his empathy get in the way of his plans.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Defied. He knows that he is neither particularly charismatic nor militarily talented, and so he surrounds himself with loyal servants to compensate for these deficiencies. Unlike Antony, he does not alienate his supporters and indeed goes to great lengths to keep them on-side.
• Deadpan Snarker: Frequently engages in this as a child, since he has few ways to express himself otherwise.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Never truly likes his mother, but as an adult takes care to make sure she's safe and respected, if only because that's what a good Roman son should do.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • While he is perfectly willing to kill innocent people, he does hate adultery as a deplorable vice. Mainly because of his mother’s behavior.
  • Even after writing the proscription lists to murder off scores of possible political opponents and wealthy Romans, he utterly refuses to permit the murder of women, stating as much when he believed his mother wanted him to add Servilla to the lists.
  • He's also fiercely loyal to his friends, probably because he doesn't make friends easily.
• Fatal Flaw: His lack of charisma and poor social skills. While Octavian is extremely intelligent and a very astute politician and administrator his inability to inspire or persuade people constantly holds him back. One of the main advantages Antony has over Octavian is how much the Roman public and armies adore and respect him due to his sheer charisma. Even when Antony deliberately engineers a famine the people still prefer him to Octavian and would likely riot if he declared war on him.
  Pullo: ... well, it's Antony, innit? They've always loved him, and he's always loved to be loved. Whereas you... well you're you
  Octavian: Cold and heartless?
• Faux Affably Evil: Averted: he tries very hard to mimic the natural charisma, magnetism and appeal of people like Antony and Caesar which is so effective at convincing people to give into what they want, but always comes across as cold and threatening, and his cruelty and hunger for power always show through.
  Octavian: I was all sweetness and light with her. Charm itself.
  Maecenas: Yes. That is your most disheartening manner.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: At the beginning of the show he is not technically a "nobody", as he is a member of the powerful Roman aristocracy. Still, he is only the youngest member of one of the families that are vying for power in the last days of the Roman Republic. At the end he has outwitted, outmaneuvered or murdered all his opponents and has become the undisputed ruler of Rome. His triumphant smile during the final celebrations of his victories is chilling.
• Happily Arranged Marriage: Octavian and Livia seem to fit this trope, if a very twisted version of it.
• Historical Beauty Update: While Roman historians said he was handsome, the real Augustus was short, swarthy, and thin, had a few rotting teeth, and had a unibrow, according to Suetonius.
  'Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars: "[Augustus's] teeth were small, few, and decayed; his hair, light and rather curly; his eyebrows met above the nose; he had ears of moderate size, a nose projecting a little at the top and then bending inward, and a complexion intermediate between dark and fair. Julius Marathus, Augustus' freedman and recorder, makes his height 5 feet 7 inches; but this was an exaggeration, although, with body and limbs so beautifully proportioned, one did not realize how small a man he was, unless someone tall stood close to him."
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Unlike mainstream historical accounts who actually argued against proscriptions for weeks before reluctantly relenting, Octavian is the one who writes and proposes the proscription murder lists during his tenure in the Second Triumvirate with Lepidus and Antony much to their shock and comes off as much more callous and cruel than he is portrayed in historical accounts. He is also depicted doing various things, such as having sex with his sister and participating in the torture-murder of Evander, for which no historical evidence exists.
• I Lied: He reneges on his bargain with Cicero to follow his advice in all things. When Cicero protests, his response amounts to this.
  Cicero: My dear boy, this is not what we agreed.
  Octavian: It is not. Nevertheless, here we are.
• Infodump: A great deal of Roman politics are revealed through Octavian.
• Interclass Friendship: With Titus Pullo. Atia enlists Pullo as Octavian's mentor into manhood, but Octavian finds him more useful for other schemes. Despite their vastly different upbringings and stations, they become surprisingly close confidants.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Titus Pullo. An Odd Friendship too, since Pullo is impulsive and visceral, while Octavian is even more self-controlled and cerebral than Vorenus.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: With his wife Livia, which at first seems sinister but then becomes affectionate.
• Just the First Citizen: Justified for political reasons.
  Atia: My congratulations, you're good as king now.
  Octavian: Not king, merely First Citizen.
• Legacy Character: Sees himself as this after Caesar names him adoptive son and sole heir in his will.
• Living Lie Detector: Zig-zagged. His skill at reading people is such that he can confidently determine when Evander is lying or withholding information within minutes of meeting him for the first time. However, he does fail to realize Pullo lied about killing Caesarion, and possibly lied about Vorenus' dying as well, though this could've been a result of his friendship with Pullo overriding any suspicion.
• Lonely at the Top: Played with but essentially averted. His mother and sister pretty much hate him by the end of the series. He values his relationship with Pullo and Vorenus (especially the former) to a touching degree but it comes off as mostly one-sided. He does have a supportive wife and True Companions Maecenas and Agrippa by his side though.
• Love at First Sight: With Livia.
• Manipulative Bastard: One of the best of the series.
• Might Makes Right: He submits the Senate manu militari, entering the building itselft with his legions during a session.
• Mistaken for Gay: He helps Posca take Caesar into a closet to attend him while Caesar is having a seizure so nobody else sees it. Later, Atia is informed by the servants that Octavian and Caesar were overheard inside a closet, moaning, and she thinks that her son and uncle are having an affair... and she is delighted with the idea since it could provide her with more power.
  Atia: Let's see Servilia compete with a soft young boy like you!
• Non-Action Guy: Octavian just isn't fit to be a warrior, which admits himself. So he manipulates the warrior-types into killing each other.
• No Social Skills: Throughout the series he's shown to be awkward at best, unsettling at worst when it comes to interacting with people. This is a major weakness of his as unlike his uncle or Antony he cant sway people to his side by charisma alone he has to offer them something or threaten them. Notably Cleopatra decides to kill herself after one conversation with the man.
  Octavian: She betrayed Antony so that she might live why would she change her mind now?
  Maecenas You can have that effect on people
• No Sympathy: None towards anyone.
• Odd Friendship: The smooth, cold, calculating aristicratic Octavian becomes lifelong friends with the brutish, easygoing lowborn legionary Titus Pullo, with Titus becoming one of the few people he trusts without question.
• Parental Favoritism: Of a sort. With no sons of his own, Ceaser leaves Octavian as his sole heir. But this is not through affection alone. Ceaser is perceptive to work out Octavian's political strengths.
• The Patriarch: Turns into this when Caesar dies.
• Pet the Dog: As utterly ruthless as he became as a young adult, his soft spot for his True Companions never disappeared. When Agrippa admits that he has been in a relationship with Octavia during an incredibly tense dinner party, Octavian genuinely thanks him for his honesty and pretty much continues to treat Agrippa from then like his trusted Number Two with absolutely no awkwardness between them.
• Powerful People Are Subs: After warning Livia that he has sadistic tendencies he actually turns out to prefer to be slapped and choked by Livia.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Mark Antony's Red.
• Secret-Keeper: After he discovers that Caesar has epilepsy in the first season.
• Sibling Theme Naming: His sister is named Octavia. This was common Roman custom, as seen in the Voreni example listed before.
• Smart People Play Chess: Not chess because that didn't exist in Roman times, but Octavian is a Chessmaster who's occasionally seen playing a board game.
• Sole Survivor:
  • Consuls Hirtius and Pansa conveniently die in the war with Antony, leaving Octavius with the credit and in command of their forces.
  • As the victor of the civil wars, he is the only relevant politician standing by the end of the series.
• The Stoic: Rarely emotes and barely cracks a smile and talks in a complete monotone.*

• Took a Level in Badass: When he first makes his move into politics by borrowing against Julius Caesar's assets (which Antony is now using for himself) Antony is so furious he beats Octavian and they depart as enemies screaming abuse at each other. In Season 2, Octavian discovers that Antony's wife is cheating with one of his generals. He silences Atia with a single word, then when Antony goes to throttle him just looks him in the eye and dares him to do it, threatening to expose Antony to public ridicule if he doesn't leave Rome for Egypt. He then has his mother and sister placed under house arrest.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: By the time he returns to Rome as an adult, he appears to have transitioned into an unsympathetic villain.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Is always quite precociously intelligent and perceptive for his age, but shows a capacity for violence, torture, manipulation and cold cruelty even before the Time Skip.
• True Companions: With Maecenas and Agrippa.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: He puts the final nail in the coffin of Republic, submitting the Senate manu militari, becoming sole ruler after defeating Antony and completing the constitutional subversion started by Caesar. He's cold, ruthless, and a legal dictator, but then again, given the sorry state of the late Republic, he's not painted as particularly villainous by the standards of the show, and history will benignly remember his era as "Pax Augusta".
• Underestimating Badassery: The entire second season consists of people dismissing Octavian as a threat because of his 'youth and inexperience' only to find themselves outmaneuvered, marginalized, and often dead for understimating him.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Atia says that he was obedient and easy to manage as a child, with the implication that difficult kids can be good children at heart, while apparently pleasant children can grow up to be nightmares:
  Octavia: (scolding her daughter) "She doesn't listen to a word I say!"
  Atia: "She's a good girl, really. Just like you were at that age."
  Octavia:: "And I turned out so well?"
  Atia: "Your brother, on the other hand, was as biddable as a shepherd's dog. No trouble at all."
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He certainly appears sincere in his desire to reform Rome into a moral and orderly city, even if he has to establish a tyranny to do so.
• Who's Laughing Now?: As a young man, Octavian is belittled and laughed at by Atia, Octavia, and Antony, among others. By the end of the show, he has subdued or killed them all and seized control of Rome.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Even as a child, he had an almost frightening grasp of political strategies, despite being constantly underestimated and ignored by his elders.
• Young Conqueror: Played with in the civil wars. Octavian is a great statesman and politician, but he's not skilled at the military aspects, at least not compared to the greats, especially considering how young he is. However, he has the humility to realize this and simply recruits great generals to fight for him, to very good effect.
• Young Future Famous People: At the start of the series.

Mark Antony

Portrayed by: James Purefoy

Dubbed by: Edgar Givry (European French)

Julius Caesar's right hand man and theoretical successor, Mark Antony is a soldier's soldier - violent, skilled, vicious, and enjoying a good time. At the series' start he is poised to march on Rome with Ceasar and serve as his second-in-command for the coming regime, and ends up playing a key part in his eventual success. However, his position dissolves when Caesar is killed, and he finds himself thrown into another decade of civil war with Octavian Caesar in an attempt to claim the throne.

During this time, he periodically engages with Lucius Vorenus, one of his officers, and carries on an affair with Atia of the Julii, Caesar's cousin and effective head of the family besides him. While he eventually leaves for Egypt and meets his historical fate, he fulfills his role in history as a talented soldier who sought to grasp too much.

• Affably Evil: A hate-filled man of rapacious and self-aggrandizing instincts, but he's quite genial. His methods of intimidation, in particular, are always of the iron-fist-in-the-velvet-glove type.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Antony is a crude soldier at heart, and has a raw, animal magnetism that makes him extremely appealing to women.
• Anything That Moves: He's probably the person who has the most sex in the series, and in Roman fashion is open to sex with men as long as he's the one giving, not receiving.
• Appeal to Force: Antony tends to get his way by resorting to threats of physical coercion and violence, as seen in his "negotiation" with Caesar's assassins. Later Deconstructed, as his reliance on brute power winds up with him outmaneuvered by the weaker, but more politically savvy Octavian.
• Arch-Enemy: Antony is never short of rivals, but his feud with Cicero transcends beyond politics and becomes personal.
  Cicero's words read in the Senate: Antony. Please listen as if you... as if you... please listen, as if you were sober and intelligent, and not a drink-sodden, sex-addled wreck. You are certainly not without accomplishments: it is a rare man who can boast of becoming a bankrupt before even coming of age. You have brought upon us war, pestilence and destruction. You are Rome's Helen of Troy. But then... but then... a woman's role has always suited you best.
• Arranged Marriage: Marries Octavia to secure a partnership with Octavian.
• Badass Boast: Mark Antony buggers boys like Octavian for his morning snack, meaningfully understates his masterful speech as "I got a bit carried away" and "has an angry mob that will roast and eat your 'men of quality' in the ashes of the Senate House!"
• Beard of Sorrow: Mark Antony grows a beard after Octavian crushes his rebellion. According to historical account, this actually happened.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With both Atia and Cleopatra.
• Berserk Button: Too many to count. Telling him that "A woman's role always suited you best" is probably the one to avoid.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Famously commits suicide rather than be killed by Octavian.
• Blood Knight: Lampshaded by Caesar in his first scene, when Brutus asks why he keeps such a vulgar man around. "He likes to fight."
• Bread And Circus: Trying to invoke a 0% Approval Rating, he cuts off grain shipments from Egypt to Rome for pragmatic reasons, knowing the common people will blame Octavian for the lack of food.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: When he puts his mind to it, he can be almost as cunning, charismatic, and dominating as the next man, but he usually doesn't bother to try, preferring to indulge in some vice or another.
• But Not Too Bi: Mark Antony is said to have sex with men as well as women, but he is only shown to be intimate with women on-screen. In keeping with Roman standards, he's also open to sex with men but only if he's the giving partner, and is incensed when someone suggests he's the type who would receive.
• Byronic Hero: He has many admirable qualities — bravery, military skill, popularity and loves to party. Unfortunately he's also violent, fickle, selfish and loves to party.
• The Caligula: Downplayed for most of the series; Antony is a capable soldier and general, but his hot-headedness and generally dissolute personality limit him as a politician and a ruler. This is played fully straight when he sets up shop in Alexandria toward the end of the series, where he routinely kills courtiers and lives a debauched lifestyle with Cleopatra, sapping his skills further.
• Catchphrase: "Juno's cunt!"
• The Charmer: Emphasizes his exuberant charisma and wartime roguish charm to woo many females including the equally charming Cleopatra, inspire loyalty in his men, and maintain a level of popularity among the plebeians to point of having a personality cult.
• Da Chief: To Vorenus.
• Coitus Uninterruptus: Happens occasionally.
• Corrupt Politician: Antony unabashedly and unapologetically uses and abuses power as a tool for his own benefit.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Antony is an extremely skilled general, and naturally charismatic, but that's about it. He horribly mismanages his political situation and alienates almost his entire circle, save for the ever-loyal Vorenus.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Politically speaking to Brutus and his faction in the opening of season 2. He's able to turn the Roman people against them near effortlessly and despite them having control of the city by the beginning of the episode by the end they're fleeing for their lives with Antony as the sole and absoulte ruler of Rome.
• Dead Guy on Display: Along with Cleopatra during the series finale.* Deadpan Snarker: Antony can be very witty and flippant, and is fond of snide comments.
• Democracy Is Bad: Antony plays the elections card when negotiating the aftermath of Caesar's assassination. The conspirators are horrified as they would have to validate their taken for granted powers. They reach a compromise and no democracy is needed.
• Dissonant Serenity: During the Battle of Philippi, Octavian is peering into the dust kicked up by two virtually identical Roman armies slogging it out hand-to-hand.
  Octavian: What's going on?
  Antony: (casually munching on some bread) Noooo idea.
• The Dragon: To Caesar.
• Dragon Their Feet: The major remaining obstacle that the conjurors against Caesar have to overcome. After Caesar's assassination, Antony is still a consul commanding Caesar's powerbase, resources and influence.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Antony has been defeated in Actium, he's so drunk Vorenus can beat him in combat, and his ludicrous hope for single combat against Octavian is brushed off. All Antony can do is still party and when Vorenus starts heavily drinking, Antony is just proud.
• Duel to the Death: He challenges Octavian to one when he is surrounded in Alexandria, but it's portrayed as a pathetic last-ditch attempt to save himself and his cause, with even his supporters looking concerned for his sanity. Octavian, naturally, politely declines the offer.
• Dying as Yourself: In the final episodes, he insists in dying in Roman attire and by a proper Roman sword.
• Enemy Mine: Teams up with Octavian against the senatorial forces, despite the two loathing each other.
• Establishing Character Moment: Strolling into Caesar's tent covered in blood, bantering with Brutus, and then, when given a mission to accomplish on a strict budget, unabashedly stealing half the money anyway. One of his first outdoor activities has him forcibly fornicating with a peasant girl while his guards watch and his cohorts wait just when Caesar is about to enter Rome with an army. Here is a man who sets his appetites above everything else.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • As much of a depraved and horrid man he can be, he is blatantly disgusted with Atia for her selfish opportunism and her attempt to manipulate him into betraying Caesar and taking over Rome for her wishes. He scornfully calls her a "wicked old harpy" for this.
  • When Cleopatra urges him to murder Atia and Octavia, he also refuses.
  • By all accounts he was entirely sincere in his promise to Brutus that he wants nothing more than peace and stability after Caesars death and had no desire to see Brutus or his supporters harmed or mistreated. He is visibly absolutely furious at Atia when Octavian informs him of her plans to assassinate Servilia at a party he was hosting and he only moves against Brutus and Cassius when they've raised their own army to attack Rome.
• Evil Versus Evil: His conflict against Octavian.
• Face Death with Dignity: "It's a good place to die at any rate. Could've been a ditch in Gaul. Men that knew Alexander ... once stood here."
• Fatal Flaw: Of all his vices, the one that causes him the most harm is greed. His overreliance on Hypercompetent Sidekicks to do his dirty work, or indeed just his day job, always bites him when he gets greedy. He cuts Posca and Octavian out of Herod's gold gift and goes too far with his reliance on Cicerio, when he attempts to get Gaul for his next posting.
• Forgets to Eat: Noticeably averted in his case. It doesn't matter what other crazy shit is going down, what state he's in, how preoccupied he might be: if there's food and drink going, Antony will have a bite to eat and a mug of wine, and he'll even comment on the quality. He's not a Big Eater, but he never forgets to keep himself going.
• Four-Star Badass: The one thing he's good at is fighting. Unfortunately Octavian finds a better general.
• Going Native: In Egypt, with the pertinent debaucheries attached to the post. This is eventually used against him at length, as Octavian can then claim that he's a bad Roman who's abandoned Roman ways for idolatry and the love of a non-Roman woman.
• Gone Horribly Right: Antony tries to goad Octavian into declaring war on him first, in order to make Octavian look like the aggressor so he can return home to Rome as a liberator. And his plan works...but a combination of treating his legal wife so poorly in favor of Cleopatra, taking up Egyptian dress, and his deeply offensive will outrages the Roman people, turning them fully against Antony and towards Octavian.
• Guyliner: When he's in Egypt. This is presented as Excessive Evil Eyeshadow by the propagandists.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: As quite a few people find out the hard way.
• Handsome Lech: Good-looking, fit and unquestioningly virile.
• Has a Type: Rich ambitious bloodthirsty mothers. Although from different worlds Cleopatra is pretty similar to Atia.
• The Hedonist: Spend a great lot of his time indulging in drinking, having sex, partying and spending money with war being the only thing that can make him stop. Cicero and Octavian never hesitate to use this against him.
• Historical Villain Downgrade: In the show, while Antony goes along with the proscriptions it's shown to be Octavian's idea and he's rather shocked when it's first suggested. Most historical accounts suggest it was the other way round.
• Hot-Blooded: See Shoot the Messenger.
• Hunk
• I Banged Your Mom
  Octavian: I see you're still the same crude, arrogant lech you always were. (strides out)
  Antony: That's right, just the same. AND STILL FUCKING YOUR MOTHER!!
• Implied Death Threat: A Running Gag with the character.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Though outstanding in many ways, within a week after Caesar's death it's clear he's uncomfortable wearing the great man's shoes, either militarily or politically.
• It Has Been an Honor: In a bittersweet touch, Antony is surprised when Vorenus says goodbye to him with those parting words.
  Antony Has it?
• Love Epiphany: Offscreen but described by Antony to Octavia, that he knows Atia is awful, but he still loves her.
• Love Triangle: For all his infidelity, there is genuine love between him and Atia, and later Cleopatra. Unfortunately even Antony can't hold the affections of two determined and powerful women at the same time. He chooses Cleopatra over Atia (and his legal wife Octavia) giving Octavian the tool he needs to destroy his reputation.
• Male Frontal Nudity: A season one episode has Vorenus being summoned to speak to him while he (Antony) is being cleaned with oil, buck naked.
• Manipulative Bastard: While he usually prefers a blunt approach, he outmaneuvers everyone during the eulogies of Caesar and gets to control Rome in the aftermath.
• Mood-Swinger: Antony is rather mercurial, capable of switching from reflective to choleric in a heartbeat.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Playful example with Caesar. Atia tries to turn Antony into The Starscream but it backfires for her when Antony realizes out loud "what a wicked old harpy you (Atia) really are".
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Twice; one in the Roman Senate and another in Egypt. He doesn't stop until the offender is dead.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Gets one from Vorenus, of all people. In Egypt they talk about their byronesque/doomed shared nature:
  Vorenus: You're no coward, but you do have a strong disease in your soul. It will eat away at you until you die [...] I recognize the symptoms, I have the same sickness.
• The Purge: After he makes peace with Octavian, Mark Antony hands him a loooooong list of Roman citizens he wants slaughtered. The next day he comes up with more names, as he's got so many enemies it takes a while to remember them all.
• Really Gets Around: As he puts it, "I'm not rising from this bed until I've fucked someone." Atia demands that when they marry he will get rid of all slaves (male and female) he has bedded.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Octavian's Blue. Which is funny considering when they reluctantly choose to have an alliance (what is to be the Second Triumvirate), Octavian wears the standard red-and-gold Roman armor while Mark Antony wears custom blue-and-white armor.
• Rousing Speech: 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.
• Shoot the Messenger: Or beat his brains out with the scroll he was reading from.
• Sleazy Politician: The man has many vices and makes no secret of it either. Never a temperate man, by the time he's co-ruler of Egypt, Antony has go fully hedonistic, grotesquely extravagant and self-indulgent.
• Slouch of Villainy: He's visibly bored and laid-back when he's presiding over senatorial sessions.
• Snobs Vs Slobs: Antony is a boorish pleb, which puts him at odds with the temperate, stoic patricians.
• The Starscream: When Caesar is trapped in Greece and wants his help, Antony is shown delaying his response. Fortunately Atia overplays her hand.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: The man is a walking heartthrob and he coasts on his good looks, charm and animal magnetism, which balances out his many character flaws against all but his staunchest adversaries like Cicero or Octavian.
• Took a Level in Badass: Inverted after spending years in Egypt. Antony grows even more hedonistic and unhinged during his time in Alexandria and loses his edge as well, allowing Octavian to outmaneuver him politically and Agrippa to crush him militarily.
• Token Evil Teammate: Plays this role in any organization he' s a part of and relishes doing so, as it only enhances his reputation. Whatever party he's in, people know not to tick off Mark Antony.
  • Shown more literally in an early episode. When Julius is giving a bribe, he has Marc on hand to cheerfully warn the subject when the number's getting too high, since a cheerful warning from Marc is all you need.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: One of his first actions under the Second Triumvirate consist of purging his political rivals, and the list is huge.
  Posca: Mark Antony has many enemies. It takes time to remember them all.
• Underestimating Badassery: Has a habit of doing this. He dismisses Octavian as a boy throughout much of the series and he clearly ignores the threat Brutus and Cassius pose to him, sneeringly dismissing them as "those abject creatures" in one scene with Atia, but one episode later its revealed theyve raised an army 20 legions strong.
• Undying Loyalty: To Caesar. Antony gets furious when Atia suggests he switch to Pompeii's side when they think Caesar is going to lose. And he is even more furious when Caesar is murdered by Brutus and the others.
• The Un-Favourite: He led Caesar's armies, held Rome when he was away and became Consul in the Senate for Caesar. This counts for nothing and he is clearly hurt when he finds out that Caesar left everything to Octavian and nothing to him. The issue remains a sore point between him and Octavian.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's perceived as a man of the people, so when Antony cuts off the grain supplies to Rome, the people blame Octavian instead. Octavian has to engineer the circumstances that turn the people against him.
• What You Are in the Dark: Caesar calls for his help while on the verge of defeat in Greece, at the same time he gets an offer of amnesty from Pompey. Antony delays his response until Atia's naked ambition snaps him out of it. Ironically he loses his entire legion in a storm, but that's the closest he ever comes to betraying Caesar.

Portrayed by: Polly Walker

Dubbed by: Juliette Degenne (European French)

Niece of Julius, mother to Octavian, and long-time lover of Mark Antony, Atia of the Julii is closely positioned to the center of power in the era of Caesar. In contrast to the historical record, she is also violent, vain, promiscuous, egotistical, and selfish, stopping at nothing to uphold her family's position and wealth. At the series' start, she is Caesar's family member in the capital, which suits him well in holding court there. When the civil wars begin, she is kept safe as part of his family, and when he dies, she straddles the line between helping Mark Antony and helping her son in the struggle for power. A deliberate contradiction to every Roman womanly virtue, she stands as an antagonist for the other characters to strive against and sets in motion many schemes.

• Abusive Parents: Especially to Octavia, at first. She is always one to Octavian in favor of Antony which bites her back hard later on.
• Badass Boast: Besides the quote, there is also "By the five Furies, if I was not a gentle woman, I would have you flayed, and hung from a bracket at the door!"
• Bad Boss: Atia is very cruel to her slaves. In one scenes she's casually beating her slave Castor simply to vent her stress and irritation over Caesars rebellion.
• Bad Liar: Atia is an abysmal liar. For example, when Octavia asks if she's killed her husband her denial is incredibly false and theatrical.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Mark Antony.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Firm believer in this.
• Blood Bath: In the first episode Atia takes a shower in the blood pouring down from a slaughtered bull during a ritual to ensure the safe traveling of her son to Gaul.
• Break the Haughty: By the end of the series her son is the most powerful man in the known world and will remain that to the day he dies, in part because of her constant scheming and her upbringing of him. Yet the love of her life has abandoned her and then committed suicide, and Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Livia has surpassed her in influence over and respect from Octavian. Plus, Octavian himself now seems to take a sadistic pleasure in making his mother quietly suffer, and will no doubt ensure she lives by the standards of a proper Roman matron (i.e. his rules) from now on.
• Cassandra Truth: She warns Caesar that Brutus will betray him, because Servilia will compel Brutus to do it and wouldn't rest until Caesar is dead. Caesar dismisses the warning and just calls her a dramatist.
• The Chessmaster: She 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 Smug Snake.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Not that she doesn't know that Antony screws around, but goes into this mode whenever she thinks he might hook up with a serious rival for her affections.
• Coitus Uninterruptus: With Antony a few times.
• Composite Character: The historical consultant Jonathan Stamp stated that the character's main influence was a noblewoman named Clodia—a sister (and alleged lover) of one of Cicero's enemies. This Clodia who also had a reputation for promiscuity and general Alpha Bitch behavior. At the same time, her dalliance with Antony, continued usage of thugs to do her bidding and persistent attempts at becoming a power-broker also make her a facsimile of Antony's Real Life third wife, Fulvia—who had indeed a negative reputation and had a massive vested interest in making Antony the supreme power in Rome. Much of the justification this Atia gives to Antony to stay in Rome instead of following Caesar to his campaigns were the very same things Fulvia did in order to consolidate power after the assassination of Caesar.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Is special in that even for the times her behavior is excessive, it's just that no one's around to call her out on it in the home.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Inflicts this more than once in her quest to maintain dominance of her surroundings. It backfires at least once badly in the case of Servillia.
• Establishing Character Moment: Is introduced having sex with her henchman Timon as part of payment for his services, then sacrificing a bull to Jupiter for her son's safe conduct to Gaul, then forcing her daughter to divorce her loving husband so she can be open to marry Pompey to benefit Caesar's political manuevering.
• Evil Matriarch: She is undoubtedly the head of her household, but also a terrible one by all metrics, as she inspires neither love nor loyalty and frequently makes her children's lives worse with her standards.
• Evil Redhead: She has red hair.
• Faux Affably Evil: Atia can be incredibly charming and friendly to mortal enemies and people she is planning to torture and murder (namely Servilia). She can masterfully deliver lines such as "Die screaming, you pig-spawn trollop." in a pleasant manner, because to Atia, it would be a weakness to lose her temper in front of a foe. In private however, she is more passionate and genuine.
• Femme Fatale: Has no problem using sex and emotional manipulation to get her way.
• Fortune Save Us From The Queen: One has to conclude she'd be this, if Mark Antony had gone with her plan of marrying her and proclaiming himself king.
• Gorgeous Period Dress: Wears several of them.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Atia is portrayed as seductive, manipulative and evil. There's absolutely no historical evidence for this; Tacitus actually describes her as a pious, devoted mother and an ideal Roman matron. The meanest description is that another Roman source suggests that she was overbearing as she was more concerned for Octavian's well-being. Oh, and her enmity with Livia was invented by the series, too; by the time Octavian had met and married Livia, Atia had been dead for five years!
• It's All About Me: A Running Gag with the character. Antony turns up at her house having barely escaped assassination. First she's overjoyed her lover is alive, then moments later she's dropping snide comment about how he didn't stop Caesar's assassination despite being unarmed. She complaining about having to follow him Oop North where he can raise an army, but when Antony says she doesn't have to come she accuses him of intending to take one of his other girlfriends along.
• It's Personal: Her war with Servilia takes a nasty edge on finding that Servilia has seduced her daughter and tried to turn Octavia against her family.
• Jerkass: Albeit often played for Black Comedy.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: She has her ex-son-in-law murdered, a rich pleb girl's family killed and the girl herself gang-raped and reduced to poverty. There's no obvious punishment for this, thought she sort of gets her comeuppance when Octavian arranges for Antony to marry Octavia instead of her like she wanted.
• Karmic Nod: Atia angrily slaps Octavian for using her as a pawn in his game with Antony. He nods, and is obviously uncomfortable with what he has done, and offers to fulfill his promise to her.
• Lady Macbeth: Mostly to Mark Antony, but a rather ineffective one.
• Lonely at the Top: Atia ends the series as the mother of the most powerful man in the Roman Empire once Octavian becomes Emperor — but she's completely in his power, has lost all influence over him and his wife Livia clearly now has his ear. Her cruel personality has completely isolated everyone around her, including her children. The man she loved most spurned her for someone else and has committed suicide, leaving her completely alone in a luxurious but utterly meaningless existence.
• Manipulative Bitch: Hands down one of the best.
• Ms. Fanservice: Polly Walker has an amazing body, which is seen nude several times. Her first appearance has her emerging from a bath, showing off everything.
• My Beloved Smother: Towards both her children but fails to be this to Octavian once he's grown up.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Atia realizes towards the end of the second season what a cold-hearted and cruel monster Octavian has become, she spends the last episode reflecting on what a good honest boy he was when he was young. It finally sinks in to Atia that the manipulation and things she forced him to do throughout his life for her own selfish aims is what caused her son to become what he is now.
  Atia: He wasn't like that as child, he was a good honest boy. I don't know what happened....I'm to blame probably.
• Mysterious Veil: Is implied to be the veiled woman who publicly humiliates Servilia with a Traumatic Haircut.
• Obviously Evil: As nice as Polly Walker can be to the eyes, she plain looks evil when dressing as a Roman patrician woman.
• Pet the Dog: She does show genuine care for her children, even if she is always putting them in the middle of her petty schemes. She appears to be more sympathetic towards Octavia in the latter half of Season 2, during her Villainous Breakdown.
• Psychotic Man Child: Atia is incredibly bratty and childish, she's often seen weeping into Merula's arms like a toddler and throwing tantrums or childishly sulking when she doesn't get what she wants. While at the same time being one of the most sadistic characters on the entire show.
• Pyrrhic Victory: At the end of the show she has fulfilled her lifelong ambition to bring her household to preemincence in the Republic and to become the First Lady of Rome. But she has lost the only man that she (perhaps) has really loved. And, despite her Badass Boast, her position is far from secure. The ruler of Rome is the one man she cannot easily manipulate: a son who despises her and has no qualms about using her for his own goals. And her daughter-in-law clearly vies for her position and is as ruthless and unmerciful as her husband. The sad look on her face when the effigies of Mark Antony and Cleopatra pass during Octavian’s triumphal procession tells all.
• Rich Bitch: Fabulously wealthy, highborn, noble and well-connected, and accordingly a huge snob. She openly compares her daughter’s common best friend to actors and gladiators (no better than common prostitutes by Roman standards) right in front of the girl she’s talking about, and even looks down on the pharaonic house of Egypt, saying their large palace is “a sure sign of vulgarity”.
• The Rival: To Servilia, Livia, Calpurnia (arguable Unknown Rival in this case) and even Cleopatra herself. In short, Atia doesn't like any other woman that dares to seem capable of gaining prominence in the Julian household.
• Smug Snake: Leaving to the inevitable Break the Haughty. Notably every character with power throughout the series just treats her as an irritation.
• Spared by the Adaptation: The real-life Atia died only a year after her uncle, Julius Caesar.
• Stealth Insult: A Running Gag with the character, and lampshaded by her daughter. Atia can't seem to praise someone without putting them down in the same breath.
  Thank you, daughter. I really appreciate these little chats we have in between your drug binges.
• Stupid Evil: Atia has a penchant for taking the most violent, sadistic measure for dealing with any problem combined with her own extreme arrogance and ignorance. Notably she was planning in having Servilia abducted and murdered by her own men during a major diplomatic meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra with most of Romans elite being present. Even when her son calmly points out the uproar it would cause, possibly leading to civil war, Atia childishly insists she doesn't care, planning to do it anyway, and its only when a furious Antony intervenes she calls the assassination off.
• Too Clever by Half: She certainly has a talent for intrigue and is always scheming, to the point of being addicted to her own power plays, but she tends to overreach, often in situations where more diplomatic methods would work better. As a result, her plots tend to be easily thwarted by more powerful or better-positioned players.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her very public and very humiliating exposure of Caesar and Servilia's affair sets off the chain of events which results in Caesar's assassination.
• The Vamp: With her husband dead for years, an abundance of beauty, and a terrible attitude, Atia is fond of seducing partners but tends not to keep them. At series' start her longest-running relationship is with Mark Antony, who is gone for years at a time, and aside from that most of her beds are henchmen she's paying in sex or people she's trying to control. This is also shown to have a terrible effect on her kids, as they know it's happening and that it could endanger the family if it becomes common knowledge.
• Virgin-Shaming: In the first season she insists that Octavian must be taken to a brothel and lose his virginity since he's about that age now. Pullo - to be fair something of an expert in the field - takes him to a brothel and gets it done.
• Woman Scorned: She takes offense on Cleopatra for stealing Antony and pits Octavian against them (even more).
• Would Hurt a Child
  • Sends her own child on a dangerous mission to Gaul, then threatens a minion that if he doesn't come back safely she'll use the eyes of his children for beads.

Portrayed by: Kerry Condon

Dubbed by: Laura Préjean (European French)

Octavian's older sister and Woobie supreme of the series. Being the only woman of marrying age in the family makes her the perfect Unwitting Pawn of Atia and later Octavian to gain political influence.

• Accidental Pornomancer: Poor Octavia. First there's her arranged marriage to Glabius, which she initially didn't want, but she ends up liking him. Then she has to get divorced from Glabius so that she can be offered to Pompey, who (in the Roman manner) has pre-marital anal sex with her but ends up marrying someone else. Then she falls for Servilia and has sex with her, who then coerces her to have sex with her brother for information. In season two, much to her own surprise after being passed around so much, she falls for Agrippa but is forced to marry Mark Antony and bear his child. It's hinted in the finale that she and Agrippa might get back together.
• Arranged Marriage: Set up with Pompey and actually gone through with Antony.
• Big Sister Instinct: Most prominent when she rushes to comfort Octavian after he's choked by Antony, holding him while she screams at the older man and calls him an animal for his treatment of her brother. Sadly, it doesn't last, and by the end of the series she appears to despise him for his setting up of her and Atia to be humiliated by Antony.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Atia hilariously sees her as this.
  Octavia: Mother, I would rather it were not you who killed me. If you have no objections.
  Atia: Why ever not? You can't still be angry with me!
• Break the Cutie: Goes through one of the series' harshest, resulting in her becoming an apathetic Deadpan Snarker, no longer caring about politics or her family or even figuring out who fathered her daughter.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Servilia encourages her to do this in order to get Octavian to reveal secrets about Caesar. She does sleep with him but he sees right through the ruse.
• Butt-Monkey: of the Julii. She is manipulated by Servilia into having sex with her brother, her first husband is killed, addiction, self-harm (during her BSoD.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Subverted. When Octavia starts a relationship with Agrippa, Atia is completely on board, even though they both know Octavia and Agrippa can't get married because of their differing social classes.
• Deadpan Snarker: Becomes one by the end of the series. It runs in the family.
• Family Theme Naming: As was custom at the time. She and her brother Octavian had a father named Octavian. In season two her daughter's name is Antonia (though it's unclear if Antony is the father, or if Agrippa is).
• Happily Married: To Glabius. Atia of course has them divorced and ultimately Glabius killed.
• Heroic BSoD: More than once.
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Her brother, her mother's rival, and her brother's general who is too loyal to him to lie about the affair.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Her historical child by Mark Antony is heavily implied to have been fathered by Agrippa, though Octavia herself refuses to tell either man who it is, and with how both men are now treating her she doesn't really care who their father is.
• Morality Pet: To Servilia, who refuses to let her hired assassin kill Octavia even after their relationship has felt apart. For Octavian in Season One, but subverted because in Season 2 she ends up just a pawn in his schemes.
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: Increases in religious devotion the more upset and guilty she feels, spending hours in prayer at the household shrine. It gets bad enough that her mother notices:
  Atia: "You drive me insane with your wretched muttering! What is wrong that you must harass the gods so?"
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Agrippa
• Taking the Veil: Attempts to do this partway through her Break the Cutie and fails when Octavian bribes the priests to send her back to her family.
• Token Good Teammate: Consistently the most empathetic and sweet-tempered member of the Julii, although she becomes darker and more cynical as the show goes on.
• Took a Level in Cynic: By the end of the series she's gone from a sensitive, gentle, bright-eyed young woman to world-weary, sarcastic and apathetic due to what she's gone through at the hands of her family. Her mother lampshades it:
  Atia: "You've become very mean, you know. Mean and bitter."
  Octavia: "And you've become girlish and sentimental. It's disgusting, frankly."
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Octavia turns out to be indirectly responsible for the deaths of Julius Caesar and Niobe. Seduced by Servilia, Octavia asks Octavian to tell her some secret that she can pass to Servilia and the Pompeiian camp (they, of course, expecting it to be about Caesar) but all Octavian tells her is Vorenus' wife's affair. Servilia initially dismisses this piece of information but it becomes useful when Vorenus becomes Caesar's glorified bodyguard, and is used to drive him away from Caesar so Brutus and co. can kill him, unleashing the whole second round of war and political assassinations. Meanwhile, Vorenus confronts Niobe and she kills herself out of honor. It only gets worse. With Caesar dead, Vorenus is also vulnerable and Erastes Fulmen goes to his house to kill him. However, since Vorenus is out to bury his wife, he only finds his children and sister-in-law there, and he enslaves them to get back at Vorenus.

Portrayed by: Alice Henley

Dubbed by: Marie-Eugénie Maréchal (European French)

Octavian's wife, a smart, no-nonsense young patrician girl who has no fear of challenging Atia.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Appears in public as the perfect wife of a consul. Atia quickly and accurately pegs her as a power-hungry rival no different than herself.
• Brainy Brunette: In public events and even private dinners she seems somewhat ditzy. In private she is as clever as Octavian, quickly deducing his real goals and is even amused by his exploitation of his mother.
• Evil Counterpart: To Octavia. To her family (and especially her mother), Octavia is little more than a tool that can be used to forge political alliances and gain more power. Livia also marries for power, like Octavia, but it's her who decides to do so, and her mother does not control her in the least. Once married, Octavia is submissive and lets her husband decide what to do with her, while Livia soon reins Octavian in.
• Foil: While Cleopatra is accused of being a witch for being the more dominant partner in their relationship, everyone regards Livia as a nice lady when in private she is just as ruthless as Octavian.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Oh yes. Octavian warns her before their marriage that he will beat her for sexual pleasure. Turns out he gets even more turned on by her beating him.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Neither she nor Octavian are very nice, but they seem like a very good match. In real life, Livia and Octavian were seen as the model Roman couple.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She receives a brief but powerful one from Atia in the final scene, and you tell it hit the mark. See the Awesome page.
• The Rival: Takes Servilia's place as Atia's. It's a pity the series was cancelled early.

Portrayed by: Haydn Gwynne

Caesar's wife.

• Arranged Marriage: Perfectly normal for a Roman woman, particularly a noblewoman, but not great when your husband has a libido you could hold up a house with.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome. Calpurnia is seen last in the season 2 premiere. This tracks with history, as little to nothing is said of her in any records after the immediate aftermath of Caesar's murder.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Dreams of a flock of crows that form the shape of a skull. Caesar dismisses the omen, saying he's been having dreams like that for years.
• Honor Before Reason: Will not leave Rome until Caesar's will has been read even as people could very well be looking to kill her. Ironically the will turns out to be more important than everyone thinks.
• I Choose to Stay: Antony is entirely willing to force her to come with them, because it will look bad politically if he flees Rome but leaves Caesar's wife behind. Ironically Antony ends up staying anyway when Octavian explains why the smarter move would be to stay put and Atia backs him up.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: She senses danger as the Ides drew near. Her husband brushes off her warning.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Is the perfect Stay in the Kitchen wife of traditional Roman values. However when she puts her foot down, even Caesar and Antony have to go along.
• Spiteful Spit: Calpurnia spits at Servilia's face, twice, when they finally meet.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: When his affair becomes a public scandal she demands her husband divorce her or give up his mistress. Because it would be politically disastrous to get a divorce at that stage, Caesar violently drives away Servilia, causing her to turn against him in hate.

Portrayed by: Nicholas Woodeson

Dubbed by: Jacques Bouanich (European French)

An old, wise and educated Greek slave owned by Caesar, who he tutored when he was young. Nowadays he acts as his personal manservant, counselor and confident. He is free to speak his mind, which includes a lot of snark.

• Almighty Janitor:
  • To Caesar, being his slave but effectively acting as his personal confident, advisor and consigliere who handles Caesar's shady work such as distributing bribes or making deals with criminals so they will do Caesar's dirty work, thanks to his great intelligence and wisdom.
  • Under Antony's auctoritas, Posca holds no official title but acts as the de facto executive, given the triumvir's disinterest in the state's day-to-day administration.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: His loyalty to Caesar comes largely from Caesar treating and loving him like family, and him genuinely valuing his advices and services. He ends up turning on Antony, who treats him very poorly and never shows any gratitude or respect to him.
• The Confidant: To Caesar, serving as his Secret-Keeper about Caesar's epileptic crisis, and being the one Caesar confides in when talking about his goals and motives.
• The Consigliere: He plays this role for Caesar, being his counselor and also handling the shady work such as bribing priests and other officials or criminals to do things the way Caesar want. Continues to play this role to Antony even after Caesar dies and frees him in his will. He even tries to educate Vorenus in the political game.
• Corrupt Bureaucrat: As a freeman he quickly enriches himself selling political favors, though he's forced to leave his wealth behind when fleeing Egypt. However he puts himself in a position where Octavian owes him a huge political favor, so there's no doubt he'll soon get back on his feet.
• The Dog Bites Back: Unlike Caesar, Antony is particularly cruel to Posca when Posca achieves his freedom, even though he relies on Posca's administrative knowledge to run his portion of the empire. Tiring of Antony's moods. Posca steals his will and shares it with Octavian.
• Happiness in Slavery: In fairness he is a very well cared for slave. After Caesar is assassinated he sheds Manly Tears over his corpse, and risks his life taking the body to his widow's house.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Acts as Rome's de facto executive power under Antony, who is bored by most of the things related to statemanship.
• Non-Action Guy: As he puts it, it's not that he's a coward — if he died, who would look after his wife?
• Odd Friendship: Although they are two very different people, he develops a respect for the honest-to-a-fault Vorenus and urges him to flee Egypt as well. Vorenus refuses, but lets Posca and his wife get away when he could easily have stopped them, and even lies to his commander Mark Antony about their whereabouts.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Somewhat unexpectedly with Jocasta. Triples as Ugly Guy, Hot Wife and May–December Romance.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: When Atia and Octavia briefly show up in Egypt, he and Jocasta take the chance to quietly slip away to their boat and safely escape back home to Rome.
• Secret-Keeper: To Caesar. More importantly plotwise, to Mark Antony. When fleeing Egypt, Posca brings the last will and testament of Antony and Cleopatra, a politically explosive document that turns Rome against them.
• Servile Snarker: So very much.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Posca, a freed slave and mere plebian, steals Cleopatra's and Marc Antony's last will and testament and delivers it to Octavian after he gets fed up with Marc Antony. Octavian then exploits the damning information within it to utterly destroy Marc Antony and secure his path to becoming Emperor of Rome.
• Undying Loyalty: Just one word - "Domine!". When Caesar became furious at the Egyptians for murdering Pompey and desecrating his body, Posca, despite his lack of martial skills and weapon, comes between him and the Egyptians to shield him from any potential physical harm. But only to Caesar, as it turns out. Once a freeman, Posca eventually betrays Antony when he realises he can't win.
  • Posca is also seen desperately clutching to Caesar's legs just before the Battle of Pharsalus (where Caesar was outnumbered 2 to 1), and only let go when Caesar bade him goodbye.

Portrayed by: Allen Leech

Dubbed by: Fabrice Josso (European French)

A young, humble Roman general of rural origins and old friend to Octavian. He loves Octavia, but his loyalty to her brother will never let him pursue her.

• Anguished Declaration of Love
  Agrippa: I know you are kind, and full-hearted, and beautiful, and I would tear down the sky for you if you asked me to.
• Bad Liar: Is obviously anxious and uncomfortable while lying, and only gets away with it because most people don’t expect him to lie. He seems aware of his inability to lie convincingly because whenever someone asks him about something he’ll just bluntly state the plain truth upfront.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Agrippa is one of the kindest, most decent characters in the show. However, he's also the military powerhouse that paves the way for Octavian's victory.
• Blood Knight: Downplayed, but he clearly enjoys combat. When Mark Antony leads a cavalry charge at the Battle of Philippi, Agrippa watches the horsemen ride off longingly until Octavian notices and gives him leave to join the attack, much to Agrippa's glee.
• Foil: Agrippa and Brutus are forgiven for a past betrayal but Agrippa refuses to betray Octavian a second time, unlike Brutus did with Caesar.
• Four-Star Badass: Octavian's greatest general. Every victory Octavian had in the battlefield is thanks to Agrippa's prowess and incredible talent as a battle commander. While not established in detail in the series, historically it was Agrippa who absolutely crushed Antony and Cleopatra's forces in Battle of Actium and destroyed said alliance.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: In the only area that Octavian falls short - military skill.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Portrayed as more innocent and honest in comparison to his more corrupt and cynical friends.
• Love at First Sight: Falls in love with Octavia on seeing her playing a Harp of Femininity.
• Nice Guy: One of the nicest characters within the series. He detests unnecessary violence such as Antony's purge of senatorial enemies. He also instantly admits to having an affair with Octavian's sister once Octavian calls him out on it, and then promptly apologizes for doing so.
• Nouveau Riche: Wasn't born into money which is a source of insecurity for him.
• Number Two: To Octavian.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Maecenas’s blue, being more emotional, idealistic, straightforward, brave and blunt. Also tends to wear legionary red.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: with Octavia
• True Companions: With Octavian and Maecenas.
• Undying Loyalty: to Octavian.

Portrayed by: Alex Wyndham

Dubbed by: Alexandre Gillet (European French)

Another friend of Octavian and third in the trio of young men that give birth to the Roman Empire. In contrast to Agrippa, Maecenas is a politician from a wealthy urban family who has a talent for rhetoric and his own personal goals beyond those of Octavian.

• Non-Action Guy: While Agrippa leads Octavian's armies in the field, Maecenas fights Octavian's battles on a different scene. Basically he runs the whole PR machine.
• Pretty Boy: Slender, young, attractive in a delicate, androgynous way. He’s seen maintaining this look by having servants pluck his body hair.
• Really Gets Around: He was bisexual in real life and is implied to be fitting this trope very well in the series, though we never actually see him in bed with anyone.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Agrippa’s red, being more logical, controlled, sly and pragmatic. He also almost always wears blue.
• Satellite Character: Aside from an underhanded scheme he undertakes on his own, Maecenas has little narrative autonomy beyond being Octavius's administrative right-hand man and chief political advisor.
• Servile Snarker: While he isn't quite a servant Octavian outranks him and he still feels free to make witticisms at his expense. Noticeably he cant help but point out to his friend that it's probably his unsettling demeanor that convinced Cleopatra to kill herself.
  Octavian: I was all sweetness and light with her...charm itself.
  Maecenas: Yes. That is your most disheartening manner.
• Sleazy Politician: Takes full part in Octavian's corrupt schemes.
• The Smart Guy: Can hold his own against Octavian.
• Token Evil Teammate: Is the least morally scrupulous of the three. He also organizes a robbery which goes wrong when Mimeo keeps the gold.
• True Companions: With Agrippa and Octavian.

Portrayed by: Manfredi Aliquo

Head slave of the Julii Household.

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Grovels for mercy after he inadvertently lets a would-be assassin into the house, and only escapes gelding because Atia believes that eunuchs are not fashionable at the moment.
• Percussive Therapy: Atia is shown whipping him, not apparently because he's done anything wrong, but just to let off some steam.
• Undying Loyalty: Though he's never actually put to the test, so he could have just been diplomatic.
  Atia: And then you must kill yourself. Your survival would be most unsavory.
  Castor: I would not dream of living, domina.

Portrayed by: Lydia Biondi

Dubbed by: Joëlle Brover (European French)

An old female slave to the Julii, working mostly as a handmaiden to Atia.

• Even Evil Has Standards: As jaded and accustomed to her mistress' cruetly shes shown to be extremely disturbed and horrified by Servilias screams as shes tortured by Atias men.
• Evil Old Folks: In an unquestioning servant of her mistress' schemes.
• Happiness in Slavery: Very devoted to Atia.
• Ninja Maid: When Antony strikes her mistress, she quickly pulls a knife on him. Antony is naked and unarmed, so doesn't dispute the point.
• Undying Loyalty: Would kill (and die) for her mistress.

Portrayed by: Roberto Purvis

The first husband of Octavia.

• Buy Them Off: Tries to do this to Timon, who unfortunately is more loyal to Atia.
• Happily Married: To Octavia, until Atia forces a divorce on them so her daughter free to marry Pompeii. It's All for Nothing as Pompey was never interested in going through with it, marrying the daughter of a senator opposed to Caesar instead.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Or rather a random act of violence during a time of Civil War.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Even after Pompey marries, Atia refuses to allow Octavia to go back to Glabius, so her daughter will be free to marry someone else. When she discovers that her daughter is secretly visiting Glabius, she sends Timon to murder him.
• Pet the Dog: Asks for his slaves to be spared, but his killer has orders to Leave No Witnesses.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: He is Happily Married to Octavia, and they continue to see each other after they are forced to divorce, despite the further complication that he is a Pompeian and she is related to Caesar. Atia has him murdered, much to Octavia's sorrow.

Daughter of Caesar and the previous wife of Pompey.

• Death by Childbirth
• Morality Chain: Julia was the only who could keep the peace between father and her husband. Everything falls apart after she dies. This is Truth in Television.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Though she and Pompey married as an alliance between Caesar and Pompey, they eventually fell in love or at least grew to care for each other. According to historical records they were all over each other to the extent that it became a minor scandal.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Julia's death accelerates the decay of Caesar and Pompeii's friendship.

Marcus Junius Brutus

Portrayed by: Tobias Menzies

Dubbed by: Antoine Nouel (European French)

A quiet and awkward young Patrician torn between doing what he believes it's right and what others expect of him - particularly his mother Servilia and his Parental Substitute, Julius Caesar.

• The Alcoholic: Hits the jar in the second season.
• All for Nothing: All of his opposition against Caesar was in the name of saving the Republic from tyranny. Not only did Caesar gain absolute power over Rome, but his assassinating Caesar just paved the way for worse tyrants like Octavian to put the final nail in the Republic’s coffin for good.
• Apologetic Attacker: Looks to be quite remorseful before delivering the killing blow to Caesar
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Starts off ignorant and uninterested in politics but when pushed too far he proves himself to be handy with a knife and capable of leading an army into battle.
• Culture Clash: While trying to recruit men for a campaign against Octavian he uses the fact that he was the man that gave the last stab that killed Caesar as a Badass Boast in order to impress some Anatolian princes and make them agree to provide his army. They are disgusted instead, finding that killing an already injured man that can't defend himself is cowardly and shameful.
• Deadpan Snarker: One of his trademarks.
• Defiant to the End: Brutus faces off by himself against an advancing army. He is overwhelmed but nowhere does he show fear.
• Did Not Think This Through: Brutus and the other conspirators were appointed by Caesar, but presenting him as a tyrant and his murder as a tyrannicide would make all his edicts and appointments null and void, and the conspirators would lose all their power. Brutus is thus unable to justify Caesar's death to the people so they turn against him.
  Antony: Surely you've thought this through? If Caesar was, as you insist, a tyrant, then all his acts and appointments are nullified. I am no longer consul, you're no longer praetor, you're no longer proconsul. Elections will have to be held... Messy things elections.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: After telling some Anatolian nobles of him dealing the death blow against Caesar, expecting to be hailed as a hero against tyranny, he is promptly laughed at by the nobles and labeled a coward for killing a man who was already fatally wounded.
• Et Tu, Brute?: He was the perpetrator of this trope towards Caesar, though the line is never used (except by him towards his own mother).
• Face Death with Dignity: Also a Dying Moment of Awesome and an Ironic Echo to how Caesar died.
• Family Business: Reluctantly enters politics, which has been the playfield of the Junii for the last 500 years.
• A Father to His Men: Invokes this while on the march to Philippi; while Cassius spends his time reading supply reports and complaining about the situation, Brutus prefers to while away the march talking and getting friendly with the soldiers.
  Brutus: [regarding soldiers] They're not such a bad lot, once you get to know them.
• Foil: Brutus loves Caesar but hates his politics.
• Generation Xerox: His ancestor established the Roman republic after killing Rome's tyrannical king. For this reason his mother and the other conspirators are pressuring him to turn against Caesar, in order to present his death as the overthrow of a tyrant. Brutus resists for a while but Caesar too is nervous about his past and tries to have him sent elsewhere — it proves the final straw.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Cassius.
• Honor Before Reason: Forcibly rejects the idea of poisoning Caesar and orders that Mark Antony not be killed (though the conspirators try behind his back). When Antony turns up at his house to arrange a truce and everyone else argues that it would be safer to kill him on the spot, he refuses to violate Sacred Hospitality.
• Idle Rich: At the start of the series, he's a patrician with little understanding or interest in politics, which is a blemish on the Junii family name.
• Ignored Epiphany: Sort of. In late season one he feels betrayed by Caesar and gives in to his mother, going along with the plot to kill the dictator. He goes through with it, but then Antony comes in and they share a look where Brutus' guilt is written all over his face. He then cries out in agony over what he's done. However he seems to get over it rather fast, and stays allied to Cassius to the very end.
• Informed Attribute: Due to his family history, those who oppose Caesar claim his support is needed to give legitimacy, especially during the assassination plot, and it’s suggested Caesar fosters a good relationship with Brutus for similar reasons. However, it’s never shown that he and his family name has particular influence over anyone. Indeed, the whole reason assassinating Caesar failed to save the republic was because much of the Roman people wasn’t swayed by him. One scene even has a random Roman mock his speech at Caesar’s funeral.
• Innocent Bigot: Like most of the upper class, he looks down on the lower class plebeians; though this is presented as non-malicious, and a product of his being the Idle Rich. He even starts lecturing about how they posses a fickle nature and crude sense of loyalty to Pompey, who is himself a man of lower birth. He does immediately apologize. Also, when Antony points out how the common people will react negatively to Caesar’s assassination, he also just assumes they’ll automatically take his side, because Caesar was a tyrant, without ever understanding their problems with the Republic (which was being exclusively run by wealthy nobles).
• Ironic Echo: "You too, Mother?" when Servilia suggests they should murder Antony.
• It Has Been an Honor: Invokes this when addressing the survivors of his army after his defeat at the Battle of Philippi, before telling them to save themselves.
  Brutus: It has been an honour and a privilege leading you, and I am sorry we could not do better.
• Karmic Death: At Philippi, he is surrounded by a regiment of Caesar's veterans and stabbed to death in a manner deliberately reminiscent of the assassination.
• Male Frontal Nudity: Hilariously became much more popular with the fanbase after he took a naked swim in season two.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: When Caesar appoints him governor of Macedonia, Brutus doesn't take being Reassigned to Antarctica and the perceived mistrust well, which leads to him joining the conjuration against Caesar.
• Momma's Boy: Is devastated by Servilia's rejection of him after he returns to Rome and refuses to go along with her schemes.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His desperation after Caesar's assassination is downright heartbreaking.
• Never Found the Body: Brutus's body lay among other soldiers. The only thing that indicates his identity is his ring but that gets stolen by a scavenger.
• Parental Substitute: Openly states to Caesar that he regards him as his father.
• Right Behind Me: Happens to him in "Pharsalus" while insulting Pompey. He doesn't mind.
• Tragic Hero: Is basically used as a pawn by his own mother, whose true motive is not preventing a tyranny but avenging her own rejection by Caesar.
• Underestimating Badassery: After Caesar is dead, while everyone warns him that he should kill Mark Antony, Brutus dismisses him as a self-destructive brute who is no real threat; severely underestimating his charisma and political savvy. Antony outmaneuvers him shortly after.
• Unwitting Pawn: In his introductory scene, Caesar is using him to convey false information to Pompey that his legions are on the verge of mutiny, so as to appear weak and provoke the Pompey faction into striking first.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Towards both Caesar and his mother.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Rejects safer alternatives to killing Caesar like poison or attacking him in his sleep, because such a tyrannicide is not just a common murder but an honorable act.

Portrayed by: Lindsay Duncan

Dubbed by: Anne Kerylen (European French)

Brutus' mother and long time mistress to Julius Caesar. Servilia is a bitter and evil woman, but her dangerousness always falls one level short of her main rival, Atia of the Julii.

• Antagonist in Mourning: If you look closely, when her son informs her that Caesar is dead she sheds a Single Tear. She then turns up in Widow's Weeds to view his body, despite being spat on by his widow. When she views the body however, her expression is carefully masked so we don't know if she's happy or regretful.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Plays the poor victim very well but often is just as vicious and manipulative as her enemies.
• Blatant Lies: When Brutus calls her out for stirring opposition against Caesar because he ended their relationship, she claims her efforts are purely to oppose tyranny, and aren’t personal at all.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Is subjected to this at the hands of Atia.
• Composite Character: Takes traits from Porcia Catonis, Brutus' wife who is omitted in the show.
• Curse: Throws a bunch at Caesar and Atia.
• Defiant to the End: When kidnapped by Atia in season 2 and faced with the certainity of death Servilia doesnt show any fear, even when Atia reveals shes planning to have her tortured and raped beforehand. Even after hours of agonizing torture her response to Atia demanding she beg for death is to spit in her face.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Caesar ends his relationship with her for political reasons, brutally striking her when she protests his motives. In payback she does everything she can to engineer the death of the ruler of the entire Roman Empire, plunging it into Civil War. Despite her claims to be stopping a would-be tyrant, she's entirely motivated by personal vengeance.
• Driven to Suicide: As a Thanatos Gambit.
• Dying Curse: Throws it to Atia during her last rant.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: As Antony puts it, now THAT's an exit.
• Evil Versus Evil: Her conflict with Atia.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Much like Atia. At least the historical character was really involved in Caesar's murder, if only incidentally.
• Hypocrite: She refuses to leave Rome with her son Brutus, knowing that Caesar is returning to her as well. However when Brutus returns to Rome having accepted Caesar's pardon, she treats him with contempt because she now hates Caesar.
• Kick the Dog: Perhaps her most unsympathetic moment is when she writes a series of pamphlets rebuking Caesar, in her sons name. Putting him in a situation were Caesar might have him executed. When Brutus points this out to her she merely contemptuously mocks him that he could pathetically beg for his life as he did before.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: In her rivalry with Atia no matter how cruel, selfish or manipulative she becomes throughout the series she never comes close to displaying her rivals sadism.
• Love Ruins the Realm: Caesar delays crushing Pompey's forces to dally in Rome with her. Atia gets wind of this and has her minions start a campaign of obscene graffiti mocking their relationship, forcing Caesar to break up with her and setting the tragic events in motion.
• Manipulative Bitch: Though not quite on par with Atia.
• The Mistress: To Caesar.
• My Beloved Smother: To Brutus.
• My God, What Have I Done??: Has this reaction after the death of Brutus, realising her schemes were a major reason for her own sons death, crying out to his death mask for forgiveness.
  Servilia: "I'm so sorry."
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: Her schemes cause the death of her own son, and only ensure that worse tyrants than Caesar come to rule.
• The Rival: To Atia.
• Smug Snake: Engages in Evil Gloating to Atia by personally informing her of Caesar's death.
• Thanatos Gambit / Taking You with Me: Certainly thought she was pulling one, as she killed herself as a human sacrifice to curse Atia. And Atia's fortunes do take a nosedive after that...
• Traumatic Haircut / Shameful Strip: She's attacked on the street by Timeon's thugs and stripped naked, while a veiled figure (likely Atia herself) cuts off her hair, in retaliation for getting Octavia to seduce Octavian.
• Villainous BSoD: Following Brutus' death.
• Wicked Witch: She certainly knows creepy rituals, but has no magic powers at all. Or does she?
• Woman Scorned: SO very much. Just read that quote.
• Worthy Opponent: Atia's final words on the series acknowledge her as this.

Portrayed by: Karl Johnson

Dubbed by: Pierre Baton (European French)

A stubborn, staunch traditionalist senator and defender of the Republic, and as a result, a declared enemy of Caesar. Also half-brother to Servilia and uncle to Brutus.

• Age Lift: The Real Life Cato was actually younger than Caesar.
• Alas, Poor Villain: He gains little to no sympathy in his intransigent feud against Caesar, fatally dragging friends and countrymen into civil war, yet his demise remains both pathetic and tragic.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He’s the most vocal in pushing the senate into open conflict with Caesar. Pompey unhappily congratulates him when a mob prevents Antony from vetoing a political stunt to declare Caesar an enemy of the Republic, and ensuring Civil War.
• Commander Contrarian: Makes a career out of it.
• Deadpan Snarker: Just see his quote above!
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: We must save the Republic by making sure those dirty plebs don't get their hands on the government!
• Democracy Is Bad: One of his biggest problems with Caesar.
• Driven to Suicide: Stabs himself with a bread knife.
• The Eeyore: You can always count on Cato to speak negatively, especially when matters are at their worst. He made this clear to Scipio as a short Shut Up, Kirk! speech.
  Scipio: Cheer up, we live. We live and where there's life, there's hope.
  Cato: I'm afraid if we've done anything old friend, we've disproved that proverb.
• Grumpy Old Man: Often shown through snark.
• Heroic BSoD: After losing the Battle of Thapsus, he kills himself as he no longer believes that victory is possible, yet is unwilling to submit to Caesar.
• Large Ham: He is vocally angry most of the time, always speaking in condemnatory, theatrical speeches, with his only subdued moments occurring when he is about to commit suicide.
• Limited Wardrobe: Stands out among the Senate by wearing always a simple black toga. The only time he averts this is when putting on armour. This is true to recorded history, where Cato's choice of dress was in symbolic mourning for the death of Republic he believed was occurring.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In the first episode, he makes a scathing attack against Caesar in the Senate that establishes them as mortal enemies.
  Why does he not come home? His illegal war is over. (jeering) Gaul is long since on its knees. Why does Caesar keep his brave soldiers from their families and friends? For eight long years, he has gorged himself like a wolf on the blood of Gaul, and thereby made himself monstrously rich.
  Why does he ply the mob with races and fights and gaudy feasts? Why has he paid the debts of every reprobate fool in this Senate house? Why?! I'll tell you why he does these things. He wants to buy himself a crown. He wants to destroy the Republic and rule Rome as a bloody tyrant!
  Therefore, I move that Caesar's governorship in Gaul be terminated immediately, that his armies be disbanded and that he be recalled to Rome to answer charges of illegal warfare, theft, bribery and treason!
• Toxic Friend Influence: Cato constantly gives Pompey bad and imposing advice. Cato's overbearing harmful intransigence is a direct cause of Pompey's downfall.
• Warhawk: Cato is the most consistent voice for war against Caesar in the optimate/Pompeian camp and refuses to accept any kind of settlement with the "tyrant." When Pompey has Caesar bottled up and starving in Greece, Cato pushes for Pompey to bring battle against Caesar's forces, which results in Caesar's crushing victory at Pharsalus.

Portrayed by: Guy Henry

Dubbed by: Gabriel Le Doze (European French)

Another fellow senator and close friend of Brutus. He masterminds Caesar's assassination.

• All for Nothing: He is one of the chief conspirators in Caesar’s assassination, and encourages Brutus into participating under the nominal justification of saving the republic from tyranny, but also in preventing the patrician class from losing power. Caesar’s assassination not only fails to save the republic from tyranny, but Octavian also makes sure to murder a large portion of the wealthy and patrician class before his ascension to eliminate the same threat they posed to Caesar.
• Cassandra Truth: Warns Brutus that Antony is too dangerous to live and must be killed regardless of honor. Brutus refuses to listen and Antony soon rouses the people against them, then defeats their forces in the subsequent Civil War.
• Died on Their Birthday: Just before commencing the Battle of Phillipi, Brutus remembers it's Cassius's birthday and wishes him a happy one. Cassius had honestly forgotten this, and good-naturedly forgives Brutus for the absence of a cake. When the battle turns against them, Cassius leads the reserve unit into the chaos, and is brought back mortally wounded.
  Brutus: Cassius, what happened?
  Cassius: (coughing) Not sure, to be honest. Hell of a birthday...
• Fatal Family Photo: Or "Fatal Promise of a Birthday Cake for Next Year".
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Brutus. In real life, part of their alliance was cemented on the fact that Cassius was married to Brutus' sister, but this is not mentioned in the show.
• Rich Bitch: Believes the Senate should be restricted to wealthy Romans. With Caesar promoting commoners and foreigners so as to load the Senate with his own lackeys, he believes the patrician class will soon be powerless.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Turns Brutus against Caesar.

Portrayed by: Suzanne Bertish

A slave property of Servilia.

• Happiness in Slavery: To Servilia, willingly assisting her in her vendetta against Caesar.
• Shipper on Deck: Assures Servilia that Caesar truly loves her until he demonstrates otherwise.
• Together in Death: After his mistress kills herself as a human sacrifice, she willingly follows suit.
• Undying Loyalty: To the point of committing suicide after her mistress does.

Portrayed by: Rafi Gavron

A man employed by Servilia to assassinate Atia by infiltrating her household.

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He weeps and attempts to bargain for his life with Timon, to no avail.
• Ambiguously Jewish: When he goes to Servilia for money he phrases it as "Shekels, queen, shekels," a term which Eleni has to explain to Servilia. Whether this is because he is Jewish, from somewhere else in the Roman east, or is just using it as slang is unclear and there is no other indication of his Judaism; "Duro" is hardly a Jewish name either.
• Asshole Victim: The only person who seems at all perturbed by his death is Timon, and that's more a consequence of his increasing disillusionment with violence in general.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Oh everyone agrees he's a Pretty Boy, but he is an assassin and a particularly pompous and lustful one at that.
• Forceful Kiss: He doesn't physically force Servilia to kiss him, but he does coerce her into doing so as part of his payment.
• Hate Sink: He's murderous, arrogant, lecherous, misogynistic, and cowardly. The boy is practically designed to be despised by as many people as possible.
• Honey Trap: His MO, seducing both Atia's house slave Castor and one of the kitchen slaves, Althea.

Gnaeus Pompey Magnus

Portrayed by: Kenneth Cranham

Dubbed by: Pierre Dourlens (European French)

Once a mighty conqueror and hero of the Republic, Pompey is a jaded Consul of Rome, living mostly on past glories by the time the show starts. When Caesar tries to seize power he sides with the Senate against him.

• Alas, Poor Villain: Pompey is little worse than his rivals and more antagonistic than truly villainous, yet he succumbs to the prodding of the senatorial faction, turning against his former kin and friend, Caesar. His fall is both tragic and pitiable.
• Always Someone Better: He's a great general in his own right but ultimately can't hold a candle to Caesar. This bothers him a lot.
• Arranged Marriage: His marriage to Julia, daughter of Caesar, is specifically pointed as the only thing that makes the two get along. Her Death by Childbirth sets the show in motion. Later, an attempt to solve their conflict by making him marry Octavia falls through.
• Boring, but Practical: His solid strategy to defeat Caesar by attrition in Greece works perfectly, but the senators argue that it is not an adequate way of winning and convince Pompey that he must deliver the decisive blow in battle. This leads to their defeat at Pharsalus and the loss of the civil war.
• The Chains of Commanding: After a slave brings Pompey a message that Caesar has rejected his terms, he's faced with a decision: should he fight or flee? Pompey then talks of how envious he is of the slave, who has all his decisions made for him.
• Combat Pragmatist: Pompey could have beaten Caesar had he stuck to his original strategy of waiting him out until Caesar's army runs out of supplies. Instead, he is convinced to attack him head-on.
• Decapitation Presentation: Gets his head on a plate offered to Caesar by the Egyptians, who wish to ingratiate themselves with him. Caesar is supremely pissed.
• Dirty Old Man: The marriage was cancelled, but he made use of his "rights" with Octavia anyway. He's also shown leering at a rather lewd stage play.
• Due to the Dead: The Egyptian king Ptolmey XV tells Caesar that he planned to turn Pompey's corpse into a marionette, but the plans fell through, leaving only his preserved head to be presented. Circumstances make it difficult to know if his ministers were lying when they claim Pompey's body was cremated with full honors, and Caesar takes pains to ensure his head is at least shown given a proper funeral.
• Et Tu, Brute?: He gets offed by a former soldier of his, now working as a mercenary for the Egyptians.
• Fatal Flaw: Ego. His need to appear grandiose and to outshine Caesar allows the senatorial faction to manipulate him, causing Pompey to lose his advantage and edge, fatally.
• Glory Days: Clings to his.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: He's behind the idea of the motion to declare Caesar an enemy of the Republic, but doesn't want it to be actually passed as it's only meant as a warning to Caesar to make it clear his political isolation. It does pass when Antony is not able to veto it, thus forcing Caesar to civil war.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He is jealous of Caesar for "stealing the love of the people" from him.
• Heroic BSoD: After losing the Battle of Pharsalus. A legionary finds him muttering to himself, he doesn't react at the news of Caesar's men bearing down on them, and doesn't appear to have any fight left in him whatsoever: when his servants abandon him and his family he doesn't even bother to protest.
• Humiliation Conga: After losing at Pharsalus the Senate insist on traveling separately to Egypt, his soldiers desert him and he's forced to rely on a Greek guide who tries to sell him out. Fortunately Vorenus is an Honor Before Reason type, and seeing Pompey is a beaten man he elects not to turn him in. Pompey then escapes to Egypt only to be killed by a former centurion of his.
• King Incognito: After losing the Battle of Pharsalus, he escapes disguised as a Greek trader.
• The Magnificent: The last part of his name means "the Great."
• My Way or the Highway: Tells Cicero to either give him the support of the moderate senators, or he'll pack up his legions and sail for Spain, leaving them at the mercy of Caesar.
• Retired Badass: More or less. He hasn't retired everything but he's no longer leading armies at the start. That changes.
• Third-Person Person: In two notable instances, usually to highlight the glory of his past and the insecurity of his legacy against Caesar's rising star.
  • One (which is presumably how he usually does it) is to invoke that he is not surrendering to Caesar despite his tactical disadvantage (especially as it is in fact sound strategy). This does, however, kind of helps highlight how he's more of a Smug Snake past his prime, that he can't even get the Senators to put their faith in him.
    THIS IS NOT SURRENDER! POMPEY MAGNUS DOES NOT SURRENDER.
  • The second is more Played for Drama, as he eventually relents to Vorenus in telling how the Battle of Pharsalus went down. Notably, despite claiming to be a Greek trader, he's become so dejected he can't even maintain his alibi (slipping into first person). His reference to "Pompey Magnus" in third person here sounds more like he doesn't even consider himself worthy of the name anymore. The pathos of it convinces Vorenus to have mercy and let him go.
    Lucius Vorenus: Surely Pompey had Caesar at greater disadvantage.
    Pompey Magnus: He did... he did. It didn't seem possible to lose. That's always a bad sign. [Pompey begins to use a stick to draw the battlefield in the dirt] The battlefield was on a plain by a river at the foot of some low hills. Like this, you see. The lines met here. My men held their ground well, so I sent my horses at his right flank. Which is perfectly correct, you'll agree.
    Lucius Vorenus: I do.
    Pompey Magnus: Only the cowards were repulsed. Repulsed by a single cohort of reserves. Turned and fled, 200 horses. Crashed directly into my left flank. Rolled up my line like a carpet. Put the whole damn army to flight. And here I am. That's how Pompey Magnus was defeated. That's how the Republic died.
• Too Clever by Half:
  • He devises a shrewd political stratagem to thwart Caesar: a motion to declare Caesar an enemy of the Republic that would be nullified by Antony's veto, but is backed by two-thirds of the Senate, sending a very strong message against Caesar. Pompey's scheme fails spectacularily; the motion passes because Antony is initially politically slow (and a fight breaking out in the Senate prevents him from being heard by the Curial Magistrate) and later physically assaulted, as Pompey didn’t anticipate that events would take a violent turn in the ensuing turmoil—a situation Caesar is quick to exploit.
  • Pompey’s overestimation of his strategic and military prowess is one of the factors that allows Caesar to outfight him.
• Underestimating Badassery: Caesar thinks he's past it, but Pompeii shows he's still got a few tricks up his sleeve and comes close to defeating Caesar in Greece. Unfortunately his strategic skill isn't as good as Caesar's tactical skill on the battlefield.
• We Used to Be Friends: He has a solid alliance with his co-triumvir Caesar and close familial ties, being married to Caesar's daughter Julia, and still calls Caesar a friend at the beginning of the series. This changes quickly, however, as the Optimates convince him to take their side.
• With Friends Like These...: The senatorial faction (Cato, Scipio, Cicero) is constantly impugning his strategy and undermining his judgment in a dismissive way, leading to poor decision-making and ultimately their downfall.
• Worthy Adversary: There is no hatred or significant animosity between Caesar and Pompey, allies turned rivals. Despite being enemies in the civil war, and Pompey acting conceited when he thinks he has the upper hand, they maintain a certain level of personal and professional respect.

Portrayed by: Rick Warden

Dubbed by: Arnaud Arbessier (European French)

Pompey's son and a military leader in the Senate faction.

• Composite Character: He is loosely based on Pompey's two historical sons, Gnaeus Pompey the Younger and Sextus Pompey.
• Deadly Hug: After seeing Brutus publicly embrace Antony, he's confused when Antony makes a show of approaching him also with hand outstretched in friendship. Until Antony cuts his throat with the knife hidden in his other hand.
• The Dragon: To his father, who sends him to recover the missing Treasury gold. Unfortunately his hired thugs are less than reliable and he gets captured by Pullo and Vorenus.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Becomes one after his father's death and defeat. He quickly bounces back after Servilia takes him into her household and makes him her ally.
• Heroic Second Wind: Turns up starving, drunk and distraught outside Brutus' house Seeking Sanctuary, and when the servants throw him out starts shouting loudly at the man he thinks is inside for making peace with Caesar. Inside is Servilia, also at her lowest ebb after having been humiliated by Atia's thugs. She's about to order he be sent away when she listens to what Quintus is shouting and realises that here is someone who hates Caesar as much as she does. When Brutus comes home he finds a smug Quintus in residence, freshly bathed, fed, and an eager participant in his mother's schemes.
• In-Series Nickname: "Neptune's Scourge".
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: After he's captured instead of holding Quintus as a hostage against his father, Caesar has him released as a sign of magnanimity. Antony is so aghast he's reprimanded by Caesar for insubordination. He becomes one of the key conspirators in Caesar's assassination.
• Overzealous Underling: Or at least he's passed off at this after attempting to kill Mark Antony. No-one is fooled, least of all Antony.
• Refuge in Audacity: In revenge for Caesar's death and an earlier attempt on his life, Antony calmly walks up to him on the street and cuts his throat, leaving his thugs gaping in confusion.
• Token Evil Teammate: Has none of the moral qualms of Brutus, and tries to assassinate Mark Antony against his direct orders.
• Torture Technician: Serves as this for his father.

• Establishing Character Moment / Proper Lady: We first meet her accompanying her father to the theatre. She tactfully requests that he take her away when she realizes that the production includes tasteless nudity.
• The Promise: That she and her family will return. They never do.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: She and Pompey's children are last seen witnessing him getting killed. Historically she survived and lived out the rest of her life peacefully in Rome.

Portrayed by: Lorcan Cranitch

Dubbed by: Pierre Laurent (European French)

A ruthless businessman who controls Rome's most powerful criminal gang, the Aventine collegium, under a pretense of legality.

• All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks: Though he refuses to extend credit to Vorenus, citing this trope, he has no issue with using him as a paid enforcer to collect his own debts.
• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Erastes turns up with his gang at Vorenus' house to murder him, only to find Caesar's personal guard standing outside. He beats a hasty retreat. Unfortunately he doesn't forget his grudge and returns to the house after hearing of Caesar's death.
• Bad Boss: Erastes is furious that Vorenus slapped his man, because only he is allowed to chastise his own men, which he promptly demonstrates by breaking a vase over the man's head.
• Decapitation Presentation: An enraged Vorenus chops off his head and keeps it as a trophy.
• Didn't Think This Through: He evidently didn't consider the potential blowback of using one of Caesar's veterans to assassinate one of Caesar's political opponents, something Posca chides him for.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Vorenus slaps one of his men, so he demands Vorenus publically submit to him or he will kill him, rape his wife and daughters, and burn down his house. He's unable to carry out his threat, but after Caesar's death he returns to Vorenus home to get revenge, only to find his family there unprotected. Erastes has them sold into slavery.
• The Don: Rules the Aventine collegium in Season One.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Erastes threatens to disjoint any of his men who take part in the anarchy after Caesar's death, as it's supposed to be a time of mourning for a consul of Rome. He delivers this threat while in a room full of his men drinking and whoring.
  "We observe the fucking decencies!"
• Face Death with Dignity: Even after seeing how Vorenus and Pullo have massacred all his men, Erastes doesn't lose control to his fear. He takes a drink, taunts Vorenus over the death of his children, then calmly closes his eyes for the death blow.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's introduced as the guest of honor at Vorenus' feast to ensure a successful business, and keeps up the facade of a successful local businessman until he orders Vorenus to break a man's hand and then cut his throat. Vorenus walks out on his, which Erastes takes as an insult to his authority.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He was originally just a minor loan shark and crook, but after the collapse of Pompey's gangs he becomes the most powerful crime lord in Rome.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Assumes the grim, stoic Vorenus will make a useful enforcer, not understanding his pride and honor. He then underestimates just how dangerous Vorenus and Pullo are. Vorenus in turn thinks Erastes is just a successful businessman who wants a bodyguard, until he's asked to torture and kill a man.
• Ironic Name: 'Erastes' means 'lover' in Ancient Greek.
• I Shall Taunt You: Realising he's about to die, Erastes claims to have raped and murdered Vorenus' children. Vorenus cuts his head off on the spot, which was likely what he intended; better a quick execution than being tortured to death. It's also a final act of spite, as we later discover the children have been Made a Slave.
• Kneel Before Zod: Erastes orders Vorenus to kill a debtor who refuses to pay up. Vorenus refuses and leaves his organisation, which Erastes takes as an insult. When Vorenus stops his thugs from killing an indebted man in front of his shop (not for just killing him, mind you), Erastes demands Vorenus make a public apology and kiss his feet in public. If Vorenus refuses he'll be killed, but not before seeing his wife and daughters raped and his house burnt to the ground.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Fulmen hates slaves and foreigners.
• Underestimating Badassery: Erastes Fulmen threatens Vorenus, Vorenus' family and Pullo, thinking that he and his gang can kill two very dangerous elite soldiers of Caesar's armies. While he does make good on his threat to capture Vorenus' family, he and most of his gang do not survive Vorenus and Pullo's retribution.

Portrayed by: Zuleikha Robinson

Dubbed by: Olivia Luccioni (European French)

A former brothel supervisor tasked with keeping the customers on line, who is hired by Vorenus after he takes over Erastes Fulmen's gang. While technically a slave, Gaia is a tough and vindictive woman that stops at nothing to get what she wants.

• Action Girl: Can certainly hold her own in a fight and takes part in a mob war.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Tries it with Vorenus, and after not getting a response, with Pullo with more success.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: In a Dramatic Irony she's fatally stabbed after saving Pullo's life, only to be strangled by him on her deathbed.
• Deathbed Confession: After being wounded in battle, she confesses to Pullo that it was her who murdered Eirene. Pullo suffocates her and throws her body in the river. To the Ancient Romans, this was a way of damning someone. Without proper funeral rites, their soul would be unable to enter the underworld and they would be stuck in limbo for all eternity.
• Even Evil Has Standards: She genuinely loves Pullo, and her Deathbed Confession is motivated as much by guilt over how she's wronged him, as fear of retribution from the gods.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: She kills the heavily pregnant Eirene by putting an abortive solution in her tea and replaces her in Pullo's bed.
• "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: What happens when Pullo tries to 'punish' her.
• Quit Your Whining: To Pullo on her deathbed.
• The Rival: To Eirene.
• Veronica: To Eirene's Betty.

Portrayed by: Michael Nardone

Dubbed by: Emmanuel Jacomy (Season 1)/David Krüger (Season 2) (European French)

A former legionary of the Thirteenth. After returning from Gaul, Vorenus gets him and his other comrades lands in Germania but Mascius loses his concession playing dice. He then returns to Rome and joins the Aventine gang after hearing that Vorenus has taken over it.

• And Zoidberg: Vorenus makes him third-in-command beneath Pullo, much to his annoyance as Mascius used to outrank him.
  "Oh I get it, third fucking man and all that!"
• Bash Brothers: Read the quote.
• Don't Tell Mama: He asks Vorenus not to tell his family what he does for a living.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Does not take the fact that Vorenus returns to the original hierarchy of the gang after he and Pullo returns, especially as Mascius had been de facto leader of the gang while Vorenus had joined Antony on campaign.
• Every Man Has His Price: So he will convince Caesar's veterans to accept land in a faraway province, Vorenus offers him a bribe. He refuses at first, but when Vorenus makes it clear it's An Offer You Can't Refuse he folds. Caesar is surprised he sold out so cheaply.
• The Gambling Addict: He was given land after leaving the army like all retired soldiers, but lost it gambling.
• No-Respect Guy: Is loyal to Pullo and Vorenus but his needs always play second fiddle to their relationship. He ends the series a cripple, though still a member of their gang and the leader when Pullo and Vorenus are away.
• Old Friend: To Pullo and Vorenus.
• Rock Bottom: Becoming an underworld enforcer is an improvement for him, after losing his land to his gambling.
  Vorenus: This isn't the army, brother. We hear — we're pimps, knifemen, thieves. You sure you're sunk so low?
  Mascius: I walked here from Capua. I slept in ditches. And when I get here, they say a black-hearted villain has taken over the Aventine college. He's in league with the gods below, they say. And his name is Lucius Vorenus. Well I thought to myself, "Mascius, old boy, your luck has changed.".
• Undying Loyalty: To Vorenus and Pullo.
• Wrongly Accused: After the Aventine's secretive and illegal transport of gold for the Triumvirs goes awry and the gold is taken, the conclusion is that an inside man must have revealed knowledge of the mission, and both Vorenus and Pullo accuse Mascius who was in charge of said operation. He was innocent and was almost killed for it.

Portrayed by: Daniel Cerqueira

Dubbed by: Arnaud Arbessier (European French)

Captain of the Caelians gang and uneasy ally to Vorenus.

• Beard of Barbarism: After being locked in a cage and starved.
• The Dog Bites Back: He eventually escapes his cage and would have succeeded in killing Pullo if it weren't for Gaia.
• Humiliation Conga: Pullo bites off his tongue, keeps him in a cage and feeds him on scraps as a message for others.
• Lousy Lovers Are Losers: When Vorenus comes to see him about the theft of Herod's gold, Memmio is discovered in a back room taking a blindfolded and nude female slave from behind. He doesn't seem to be enjoying it much and neither apparently is she, and when his meeting is over he doesn't even go back to finish off, preferring to sit and drink with his men.
• Manipulative Bastard: Memmio has his man seduce elder Vorena, then he "discovers" them together and convinces her to spy on Vorenus for him.
• Smug Snake: Up to the moment he loses his tongue.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Erastes Fulmen.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Portrayed by: David Bamber

Dubbed by: Philippe Peythieu (European French)

The renowned Roman politician, intellectual and master orator, leader of the moderate faction in the Senate. Cicero distrusts Caesar's and later Mark Antony's actions but lacks the spine (and, to be fair, the military muscle) to take direct action against them.

• Arch-Enemy: To Mark Antony.
• Blackmail Backfire: Downplayed. He does tentatively float the possibility of paying his assassin a very generous amount of money to let him live, but is clearly not surprised when Pullo turns him down, as it wouldn't be worth it. It was clearly a last-ditch "might as well try" move rather than something Cicero was genuinely hoping would succeed.
• Compelling Voice: The orator of the ancient world, and arguably one of the greatest public speakers who has ever lived.
• Cowardly Lion: He's a Non-Action Guy and not physically brave, but in the end he stands up to Antony and faces his death with dignity.
• Didn't Think This Through: In the aftermath of the conspiracy, Antony throws it in his face that by declaring Caesar a tyrant, all his appointments will be nullified, and new, messy elections will have to be held, something very inconvenient that Cicero and the rest of the anti-Caesar party had not contemplated in the slightest.
• Face Death with Dignity: Very much so. Arguably the most dignified death in the series, because he sees it coming from a long way off and doesn't hesitate to do the right thing (i.e. write a letter to Brutus and Cassius warning them about Antony and Octavian joining forces) rather than try to escape. When his killer arrives, he doesn't panic; his main emotion appears to be regret that he has to die, but he offers his neck to the sword and earns the respect of his killer.
• Foreshadowing: Mark Antony threatens to have his hands cut off and nailed to the Senate's doors. Guess what happens years later.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Is one of the detonators of the civil war, as Pompey pushes him to support the Optimates' motion to declare Caesar an enemy of the Republic. It was meant as a political bluff, but the motion passes as Antony is not able to veto it.
  • After Caesar's death, he brings Octavian into the political fold and allows him to join the consuls Hirtius and Pansa to defeat Antony. Hirtius and Pansa were both loyal Caesarians and respected by the troops, and could have proven a check on Octavian's rise. However, both consuls die in the Battle of Mutina, and the loyalty of the victorious army (and the associated prestige) shifts immediately to Octavian.
  • Later, he helps elevate Octavian to the rank of consul, which allowed the young Caesar to strong-arm political control away from the Senate.
• How They Treat the Help: Cicero is shown to be kind to his slaves to the point where he must Shoo the Dog to get them away from his home when assassins are coming to murder him, because they are so loyal to him that they want to stay and risk death. He is even polite to his own assassin Pullo (though this is likely as much an attempt at diplomacy more than genuine warmth); while it's not enough to save his life, Pullo does note the respect he received and discusses him approvingly afterwards, commenting that "he wasn't stuck-up like some of them".
• Only Sane Man: A rare moderate and reasonable figure most of the time.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Not through sycophancy but as a survival tactic.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: One of the great masters of this trope. The one that he gives Mark Antony is an epic Take That! and quite possibly one of his biggest moments.
• Shoo the Dog: To his slaves the day of his own murder, so they won't be hurt.
• Sleazy Politician: He turns up to praise the conspirators for killing Caesar, claiming that they should have allowed him to join. Brutus politely implies that he might have sung a different tune if they had. Then Cicero discovers that Mark Antony is still alive and suddenly realises he has urgent business in the country. After praising them a final time, he goes to leave and bumps into Antony who has turned up to discuss a truce. Everyone enjoys his discomfiture.
• Smug Snake: As leader of the Senate, he overestimates his power and grossly underestimates Octavian's. He's also disdainful towards Antony and Caesar, but often only behind their backs. He's also rather weaselly, preferring to remain a Non-Action Guy while others do the dirty work.
• Worthy Opponent: Caesar respects him, but the feeling is not mutual.

Portrayed by: Paul Jesson

Dubbed by: Robert Darmel (European French)

A prominent general in the senate faction and member of the famous Scipio family. He becomes Pompey's father-in-law in the first episode.

• Driven to Suicide: Has his throat cut.
• The Pollyanna: Cato describes him as having a "tolerant spirit" and he stays hopeful for the Republican cause after everyone else on his side has died, surrendered to Caesar or given up hope. Cato's suicide finally breaks him.
• Satellite Character: He is an extension of Cato most of the time, with little narrative autonomy.
• Those Two Guys: In a way, with Cato.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Scipio mostly reverberates whatever Cato says or does, yet can be singled out as putting one of the final nails in the Republic’s coffin, as he is the one who convinces the on-the-fence Pompey to present a field battle to Caesar by appealing to his ego... a battle they lose at Pharsalus.
  You are Pompey Magnus. Conquer and crush your enemies as if they were insects. Anything less will disappoint the people.

Portrayed by: Camilla Rutherford

Dubbed by: Dorothée Pousséo (European French)

A young Plebeian woman, daughter of a rich merchant and close friend of Octavia.

• Brainless Beauty: Comes off as rather ditzy most of the time.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Bubbly and cheerful but very strange, prone to non-sequiturs and saying whatever pops into her head, which tends to be a bit random and peculiar even when she’s not very very stoned. She occasionally plays it up to get away with things.
• Defiled Forever: States this after her rape, and she's forced to marry lower-class Posca as a result. However she bounces back remarkably.
• Fallen Princess: Jocasta's parents are killed and their money stolen.
• Functional Addict: Smokes a lot of weed, and brings back "two sacks of it" from Greece, claiming it's better than the Italian kind.
• Going Native: After she moved to Egypt and becomes part of the royal court, she adopts Egyptian dress and hairstyles as Cleopatra “doesn’t like the Roman style on her women”, but admits “I rather like it now!”
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Likes smoking weed, doing hallucinogens and drinking wine at orgies.
• May–December Romance: Is significantly younger than her eventual husband Posca, being in her teens or twenties while he is in his sixties. They seem happy.
• Nouveau Riche: Why Atia hates her. She loses her families wealth in The Purge yet thanks to her husband's gift for corrupt deals she quickly has a lot of money to spend.
• Obfuscating Insanity: Despite being a lady at Cleopatra’s court, she has trouble picking up the Egyptian language which makes Cleopatra shout at her, but she cheerfully admits that “I just pretend I’m a bit mad, and she leaves off.”
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: To Posca, once he's gained liberty. She doesn’t seem to like him much at first, crying on her wedding day, but when they’re seen together later in the series they seem very affectionate, happy and well-suited.
• Sole Survivor: Atia has her entire family murdered and she sexually assaulted. All because she doesn't like her.
• The Stoner: Smokes a lot of weed, and brings back “two sacks of it” from Greece, claiming it’s better than the Italian kind.
• Talkative Loon: Is always a bit of a chatty, giggly kook, which is only exacerbated by her drug use and increased during her time in Egypt.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Is married off to Posca.

Portrayed by: Ronan Vibert

Dubbed by: Bernard Lanneau (European French)

A Roman General sent by the Senate to defeat Antony, only to have his entire army defect to him on the spot. He then switches sides too and ends up as Antony's second in command. He later becomes the least powerful of the Triumvirate formed with Antony and Octavian, but gets Africa for his troubles... for a while.

• Adaptational Wimp: In real life, Lepidus was one of Caesar's close allies and an able commander and politician in his own right, but had the misfortune of living at the same time as Antony and Octavian. Here, he is very clearly the Butt-Monkey to the other triumvirs.
• Butt-Monkey: To Antony and Octavian.
• A Father to His Men: Averted; which Antony suggests is why his troops were so willing to defect.
• General Failure: His entire army defects to Antony. Antony however just uses this to co-opt him to his side.
• Kicked Upstairs: Gets sent off to govern the province of Africa, far from the center of power in Rome.
• Number Two: To Antony after defection.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Lepidus hates Gauls.
• Put on a Bus: Disappears after Antony and Octavian give him Africa.

Portrayed by: Ian McNeice

Dubbed by: Michel Vocoret (European French)

A public servant that cries news and advertisements at the Forum in front of the Roman Senate.

• Bookends: He appears in both the pilot and the last episode making the same announcement, offering a reward for a missing slave, "runaway or stolen". It's used to show that despite the vast historical changes happened over the span of the series, the life of the average citizen remains the same.
• Catchphrase: Even he gets tired of saying, "True Roman bread, for true Romans."
• The Constant: Survives all the turmoil of civil wars and public strife.
• Kent Brockman News: In his defense his scripts are written by others.
• Large Ham: In fairness, it's part of his job. Whenever he flags in his efforts, it's only because it's been a long day.
• Milking the Giant Cow: Does this mainly to make the news seem slightly more interesting. Also, accurate for the time as the hand signals he uses to accompany his words would indeed be used by a man in his occupation.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: His job consists on screaming whatever propaganda the government of the time hands to him, and it changes as wildly and quickly as the composition of that government does. He never questions it and has read news both supportive and against most, if not all, of the major players of Rome's politics.
• No Name Given
• Product Placement: Another nice historical touch.
• Written by the Winners: All the news he reads. He always phrases words to make sure listeners will know who to root for.

Cleopatra VII

Portrayed by: Lyndsey Marshal

Dubbed by: Barbara Kelsch (European French)

The infamous last Hellenistic monarch of Egypt, a beautiful and ambitious woman that is well aware of her powers of seduction.

• 0% Approval Rating: By the Romans, who believe she's a sorceress who's swayed Mark Antony from decent Roman ways.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: As per all popular depictions of Cleopatra.
• Ambition Is Evil: Cleopatra isn't content with ruling Egypt and tries to take her son's legacy, with warring results.
• Aroused by Their Voice: Cleopatra purposely uses a higher pitched voice in order to seduce men. She's also just as capable as striking fear into her little brother and his lickspittles with her deeper voice, as well. The real Cleopatra was described to have a very charming and alluring voice, and it is said that this was one of her more attractive features rather than simply being incredibly beautiful.
• Arranged Marriage: To her younger brother Ptolemy, as per the Egyptian custom.
• Artistic License: The real court of Cleopatra had a strong Greek influence, due to Egypt being conquered by Alexander the Great. The producers went with The Theme Park Version version to make more clear the Culture Clash between Egyptian and Roman society that is later used against Antony.
• The Baby Trap: Her child is actually fathered by Pullo, having decided to hedge her bets by seducing another Roman before meeting Caesar, to ensure she'll have a child.
• Bad Boss: Kills one of her minions while discussing hunting with Antony, who at least was avoiding killing the man dressed up as a deer. Not that he was bothered either.
• Base on Wheels: Cleopatra operates her rebellion out of a litter carried by a dozen slaves because she is Too Important to Walk.
• Cradle of Loneliness: Does this with Antony's body when she sees through Octavian's lies.
• Dead Guy on Display: Her and Antony's corpses are paraded through Rome as part of Octavian's triumph parade.
• Defiant to the End: Uses her last bit of strength after poisoning herself with snake venom to literally stand up to Octavian and say that he has a rotten soul, before sitting back down on her throne and holding the deceased Antony's hand.
• Driven to Suicide: Once she realizes she can't control Octavian the way she could Antony and Caesar.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: She is incensed when Vorenus refuses to sleep with her.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Literally seconds away from dying from the snake's bite, she manages to stand up, stare down Octavian, and tell him off.
• Functional Addict: To opium.
• A God Am I: As in real life, Cleopatra believed herself to be the goddess Isis incarnate. This is used for religious propaganda, as her political ambitions make it look like she's planning to force the Romans to worship foreign gods.
• Irony: Before her death, she claims that Octavian has a "rotten soul," presumably for planning to kill her adolescent son. Cleopatra's not the nicest person herself, having quite similarly secured her own throne by trampling the body of another child, her own brother.
• Lady Macbeth: To Antony.
• Ms. Fanservice: Spends most of her time in see-through dresses and other skimpy outfits. Also appears naked a few times.
• Nubile Savage: In the Romans' eyes.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Is able to beat Atia of all people at this game.
• Power Hair: Has a boyish haircut (probably because the Egyptians prefer wigs).
• Prepare to Die: Achillas' assassins tell her this in her debut episode, "Caesarion". She gets better.
• Puppet Queen: She openly states her willingness to be one for Caesar, so he will back her claim to the throne. However she has no intention of staying that way, seeking to co-rule a Roman-Egyptian empire with Mark Antony.
• Really Gets Around: Beds three main characters.
• Sex for Services
  "If I must prostitute myself for the good of my country and my family, I will. But customer pays first, does he not?"
• Stripperific: In one scene she wears a gold bikini that Princess Leia would be proud of.
• Supermodel Strut: As a seductress, she sometimes walks with a deliberate strut that has a sway to her hips and shoulders.
• Together in Death: Subverted; after being told that Cleopatra has killed herself, Mark Antony follows suit. She then turns up very much alive to Vorenus's unconcealed contempt. However she quickly realises she can't influence Octavian like she did Caesar and Antony, and kills herself for real.
• Villainous Breakdown: She holds it together during her meeting with Octavian, but loses it at the palace once she realizes that Octavian means to murder her son. Or, she realizes that he won't let Cleopatra twist him around her little finger like the last two Roman rulers did.
  Cleopatra: [sobbing and talking to Antony's corpse] I'm sorry, my love. I was hungry to live...but you were right about that boy; he's a monster! He only wants me alive so he can parade me in chains for a mob to spit on!

Portrayed by: Scott Chisholm

The naïve child king of Egypt, younger brother and husband to Cleopatra.

• 13 Is Unlucky: Ptolemy XIII is the last Ptolemy to truly rule Eygpt (two others with the name were technically Pharaoh, his younger brother then Caesarion, whose real name was also Ptolemy, but both were Cleopatra's puppets).
• Adipose Rex: On the way to becoming one.
• Arranged Marriage: To Cleopatra.
• Asshole Victim: Given how much of a Royal Brat he is, it's hard to feel sorry for his fate.
• Boisterous Weakling: Insults Cleopatra but only behind her back.
• Character Death: After his forces are defeated in battle, he's shown drowned in the Nile.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Unfortunately as such he's easily intimidated by Caesar, despite commanding an army that vastly outnumbers his own.
• Culture Clash: He presents Pompey's head and brags about how they could have attached it to a marionette. Rather than being grateful, Caesar is outraged at this disrespect to a consul of Rome.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He expects nothing but to be worshipped. Caesar puts him quickly in his place.
• A God Am I: Expected, since he is a Pharaoh.
• Guyliner: Though due to cultural reasons.
• King Bob the Nth: The thirteenth Pharaoh called Ptolemy since the first, who was a general in service to Alexander the Great.
• Kneel Before Zod: Uses a minion as a footstool because he's too small for his throne.
• Oh, Crap!: When Cleopatra shows up in the palace in "Caesarion".
• Puppet King: And in complete denial about it. "Vassal? I am no vassal!"
• Royal Brat: As you'd expect from a child king who thinks he's a god.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He is a lot less powerful than he thinks he is. Caesar puts him in his place.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card:
  Pothinus: Behold Ptolemy! He of the two lands! He of sedge and bee! Behold Ptolemy! Son of Ra! Ptolemy the Divine!

Portrayed by: Nicolo Brecci and Maxim Baldry

Prince of Egypt, son of Cleopatra and (allegedly) Caesar.

• Appeal to Flattery: While fleeing Octavian as King Incognito, a Roman soldier makes him reveal himself by asking for his blessing in Egyptian. Consider that at no point did the Roman guards hide their identity.
• Baby Trap: Cleopatra has him so she can have a claim on Rome. To ensure having a child in the first place, she hedges her bets by having lots of sex with the nearest available Roman, who happens to be Pullo.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Caesarion was Titus Pullo's son and successfully escaped Octavian to live as a plebeian in Rome.
• Big Eater: He doesn't show it often. But he eats more than a black hole, despite being rail thin.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: In theory he's Pharaoh of Egypt though in practice he's a figurehead for his mother.
• A God Am I: Raised to believe this.
• Historical In-Joke: The show not so much implies but is clear that he is actually the son of Titus Pullo.
• Jabba Table Manners: As a side effect of being a Big Eater, he eats very sloppely and quickly, trying to get the most food in his mouth as quick as possible.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: He is actually the son of a common Roman pleb.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The show only ever calls him Caesarion, which was a nickname historically. His full name was Ptolemy XV Caesar.
• Parental Substitute: Vorenus becomes a substitute father to him until he's brought together with his real father, Pullo.
• Royal Brat: In fairness, he thinks he's the son of a goddess (and therefore a god himself) and the ruler of the most powerful empire in the known world.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Sometimes played for comedy.
• Tell Me About My Father: Caesarion asks this of Vorenus. He tells him about Pullo.
• Unknown Rival: Caesarion promises vengeance against Augustus. Augustus doesn't even know he's alive.

Portrayed by: Kathryn Hunter

A trusted slave in the service of Cleopatra.

• Brutal Honesty: Cleopatra hits her and can order her death at a whim, but she refuses to guard her tongue. It's obvious that they have the kind of relationship where she can get away with this honesty however.
• Foil: Charmian is the female Posca.
• Parental Substitute: To Cleopatra.
• Servile Snarker: As with Posca, her position enables her to get away with saying things that would get others executed.
• Third-Person Person: Due to court etiquette, as being a slave she cannot address her queen directly.
• Undying Loyalty: She keeps serving Cleopatra until she kills herself (with Charmian's help), then commits suicide in turn. This is according to custom, but it's clear that she sees no purpose in living beyond her queen.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Charmian has no problem trading verbal barbs with her most esteemed queen.
  Charmian: She knows how to beat her slaves well enough, but she cannot throw away that pipe, and she knows it.
  Cleopatra: Insolent dwarf, you know nothing! (Throws opium pipe out the window) Weak, am I?
• You No Take Candle: Speaks with a noticeable accent.

Portrayed by: Tony Guilfoyle

The Egyptian Prime Minister and regent to King Ptolemy. He goads the young monarch against his older sister-wife, Cleopatra. Played by Tony Guilfoyle.

• Ambiguously Gay: It might not be the case in the original version, but the Spanish dub makes him flamboyant. Wearing guyliner doesn't help, though that's entirely down to fashion.
• Bad Liar: And he thinks he can fool Caesar and Posca...
• Butt-Monkey: Is used a kicking boy during a game of blindman's bluff with his king. As such he doesn't notice Caesar and a Not Quite Dead Cleopatra entering the throne room behind him. He's then offered up as The Scapegoat for ordering Cleopatra's execution. He then tries to put the blame on Theodotus instead. Both of them end up on a spike.
• Culture Clash: He kills Pompey and presents his head to Caesar thinking that it will gain his trust. Caesar is enraged instead.
• Dirty Coward: When the consequences come looming, he blames others for his own mistakes.
• Eunuchs Are Evil: The Evil Chancellor version.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: To Ptolemy.
• Rule of Three: In an example of Black Comedy, he is decapitated after Theodotus and Pompey's executioner, and their heads put on spikes outside of the royal palace.

Portrayed by: David de Keyser

Ptolemy XIII's Greek rhetoric tutor.

• Bad Boss: Sends Septimius to deliver a message to Caesar identifying him as Pompey's killer.
• Death by Adaptation: Type II. In Real Life he escaped the war in Egypt and was murdered later in Asia Minor by Brutus. In the show, he is executed along with Pothinus.
• Guyliner: As per Egyptian fashion.
• It Will Never Catch On: What he thinks about Rome and its power.
• Smug Smiler: And it's a pleasure to see the expression wiped off his face when Caesar and Cleopatra turn up.
• Underestimating Badassery: As well as assuming the Roman Empire is at the point of collapse, he thinks Achillas can easily crush Caesar's small force with the 100,000 men at his command. After a long siege Caesar eventually defeats the Egyptians.

Portrayed by: Grant Masters

The commander of the Egyptian army loyal to Ptolemy XIII.

• Appeal to Flattery: He is reluctant to attack Caesar and gain Rome's wrath as a result. Theodotus makes him act by questioning his popularity.
• Doomed by Canon: His fate is unrevealed and the war against Caesar happens off-screen, but you know he won't prevail.^note In Real Life, he was murdered by Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe, who supported Ptolemy, and replaced as commander of the army by her lover, Ganymedes.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He's worried about Rome's military power, and as such is very relucdant to go against Caesar, knowing that killing Caesar would not be forgotten nor forgiven by the Romans. The other Egyptian leaders don't listen to him.
• Only Sane Man: He's more cautious and level-headed than Ptolemy's other advisors. When Theodotus suggests to him that he attacks and kill Caesar, Achillas is worried about Rome's reaction, knowing that Rome's military power is very formidable and that such an action would draw Rome's retaliation. And when Theodotus tells him to forget about Rome, saying that it's on the brinf of ruin and will be destroyed in ten years, he's visibly not buying it and says that even if it happens there would still be enough time for the Romans to retaliate against them. His worries are ignored by the others.
• The Quiet One: In comparison to the more verbose Pothinus and Theodotus.
• Real Men Wear Wigs and Face Paint

Portrayed by: David Kennedy

A Roman veteran serving as mercenary in the Egyptian Army.

• Bodyguard Betrayal: He murders Pompey (under whom he served) when he comes to Egypt seeking refuge.
• Death by Adaptation: The fate of the real Septimius is unknown.
• Decapitation Presentation: He beheads Pompey after killing him. And is in turn beheaded by Caesar.
• Forced to Watch: Kills Pompey within sight of his wife and children.
• Oh, Crap!: When he is exposed as Pompey's murderer.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: After Caesar demands Pompey's killer to kill him himself, Pothinus cons Septimius into surrendering himself.

Portrayed by: Lee Boardman

Dubbed by: Gilles Morvan (European French)

A largely secularized Jewish horse trader (at least when he is among non believers) who has lived for decades in Rome and often serves as a mercenary for Atia, be it as a hitman or a bodyguard. He also expresses a strong lust for her, preferring to be paid in sex rather than money. Played by Lee Boardman.

• Accidental Murder: Accidentally kills Levi during a knife struggle with him, in an effort to stop him from assassinating Herod.
• Beard of Evil: The goatee version.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: He finally breaks and attacks Atia when she tells him to mutilate Servilia.
• Bodyguard Crush: On Atia.
• The Brute: He is Atia's main henchman but by season 2 his violent and thankless work erodes his sanity (he had to kill Servilia's underage assassin and kill his own brother to stop the assassination of King Herod) so he turns back to his Jewish faith, snaps at Atia and takes his family back to Judea.
• Dragon-in-Chief: To Atia, he and his men are the only reason shes a threat to anyone.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Infidelity aside, he is devoted to his family, none of whom knows what he does for a living.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He looks ashamed when watching Servilia's Shameful Strip and Traumatic Haircut. On Yom Kipper Day, no less.
  • Standing up to Atia when she orders him to cut Servilia's face off after abducting and torturing her.
  • His brother's attempt to rekindle him with religion ends with planning a Zealot Suicide Attack on Herod during a visit to Rome. Timon backs down in the last moment because he realizes that it will accomplish nothing.
• Happily Married: For the most part. His wife seems somewhat aware of his infidelity with Atia and his violent actions but generally decides she's better off accepting him not talking about it. When last we see the two heading back to Judea she is reflecting she made a good choice.
• Heel–Faith Turn: Played with. He abandons his role as Atia's hitman in favor of reconnecting with his religion, but he ends up becoming a Zealot. Eventually played straight when he decided not to assassinate King Herod.
• Mook Lieutenant: Acts as leader whenever additional knife-and-hatchetmen are required by Atia.
• Professional Killer: Acts as Atia's hired muscle.
• Put on a Bus: Took the family back to the Holy Land.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!:
  • Glabius attempts to buy Timon when Atia sends him to kill the other. Timon refuses.
  • Shows again, but the other way around, when he has enough of Atia's shit.
• Torture Technician: Along with being Atias hitman he also serves as her torturer from time to time.
• Two-Faced: His personality takes a 180º turn when he serves Atia, as opposed to when he is with his family.
• Uptown Girl: Though entirely one-sided; Timon is genuinely smitten with Atia, but to her he's just a useful minion she controls with money and sex.

Portrayed by: Nigel Lindsay

Timon's brother, a zealot that moves to Rome in the second season after getting in trouble in Judea. He is actually in a suicide mission to kill King Herod during a visit to the city.

• Aborted Arc: It's obvious that Levi was meant to stay around for a whole season and that his death would have some influence on Timon's later development, given that the show was expected to explore Judea in a fifth season and that Timon is last seen travelling there.
• Big Brother Bully: Before his own Heel–Faith Turn. Timon still harbors resentment that his brother used to bully him, yet is now lecturing him on his lifestyle.
• The Fundamentalist: As a member of the Zealots, which makes him a declared enemy of King Herod because he is a Roman imposed puppet.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Tries to get his brother to rediscover his Judaism by joining him in killing Herod. Timon has doubts, they struggle, and Levi ends stabbed by the knife he planned to use to kill his enemy.
• Old Friend: Introduced in the second season after not being named in the first. Then again, Timon was not exactly a main character in the first season.
• You Can't Go Home Again: He comes to Rome to live with his brother because his opposition to Herod threatened his survival in Judea. Subverted: It's a cover to assasinate Herod who has also come to Rome to meet his Roman overlords.

Portrayed by: René Zagger

Yes that Herod, the client-King of Judea.

• Aborted Arc: As part of Timon and Levi's storyline in the second season, his involvement in this was cut to a minimum. Herod would probably have appeared again if the show had reached the five seasons envisioned by Heller, with the last one depicting Judea immediately before the birth of Christ.
• Puppet King: Of Judea, to the Romans.
• The Quisling: Herod has no desire to break with Rome and is quite effective at navigating Roman Politics as a subservient client-King. As a result of this subservience, he is targeted for assassination as a by Jewish fanatics.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Specifically, jewels in his hair and...
• Sleazy Politician: Travels to Rome to bribe his masters in person.
• Young Future Famous People: His appearance in the series predates the birth of Jesus by about 30 years.