[QUOTE=Captain Amazing]
That might help. Claudius is the son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antionia Minor (Antonia Jr. on the tree). Nero Claudius Drusus is the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. Antonia Minor is the daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia. So Claudius was both Augustus’s step-grandson and great nephew.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks to you too!
[QUOTE=Baker]
Thanks! Whoa, it was practically incest all around, huh? Cousins marrying and all.
[/QUOTE]
Could be worse - Athenians practiced uncle/niece marriage; Claudius had to change laws in order to marry Agrippina. Sorting out relations in Athenian court cases has been my biggest source of headache this quarter.
[QUOTE=drm]
I missed the name of the girl Octavian is about to marry, it wouldn’t be Livia Drusilla by any chance would it?
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know, but I hope the actress keeps her mouth shut more often.
I thought Keira Knightley had some scary choppers, but Livia is positively rodentoid.
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip]
I don’t know, but I hope the actress keeps her mouth shut more often.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve seen those teeth before, but can’t find a name at IMDB or at HBO’s website.
On the other hand, I’m always bitching about all the perfect-looking people on TV.
Am I the only one who doesn’t know how to translate the Roman numerals in the subject line? Is that today’s date? IV is 4, isn’t it? Where’s the 008? Lesson, please! 
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin]
He divorced Scribonia the same day she had their daughter, Julia, just to keep things legitimate. Then pretty much turned around and married Livia, who was several months pregnant at the time with Drusus. Suetonius: “The lucky ones have children in just three months.”
[/QUOTE]
The reason he gave for divorcing Scribonia was cyptic and terse and amusing in a way that’s very much in keeping with the way Octavian has been characterized on the HBO show.
His grounds for divorce: she was “annoying.”
Hell of an episode. And the wife was Livia. (So I was wrong in what I said in my
recent quiz question in MPSIMS – we have seen both grandmothers in the current series!)
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
Am I the only one who doesn’t know how to translate the Roman numerals in the subject line? Is that today’s date? IV is 4, isn’t it? Where’s the 008? Lesson, please!
[/QUOTE]
Don’t bother. Our friend alphaboi botched it anyways.
Basically it works like this, the year part of the date is represented by the “MMDCCLX A.U.C” portion of the title. A.U.C. basically means “years after the founding of Rome”. The Roman numerals, as I imagine you are familiar with, represent the number 2760, and with Rome being founded in 753 BCE it indicates the year 2007 CE.
Days of the month are a tricky concept in the Roman calendar. They didn’t use numbers which counted up from the start of the month, instead they used numbers which counted down to either the start of the month (Kalends), the 5th or 7th day depending on the month (Nones) and the 13th or 15th of the month (Ides).
Since this episode aired on March 11th and the Ides fall on the 15th in March, it should read “a.d. V Id. Mart.” meaning five days before the Ides of March. It’s 5 days instead of 4 because they counted inclusively.
The full correct date would be “a.d. V Id. Mart. MMDCCLX A.U.C”.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
The reason he gave for divorcing Scribonia was cyptic and terse and amusing in a way that’s very much in keeping with the way Octavian has been characterized on the HBO show.
His grounds for divorce: she was “annoying.”
[/QUOTE]
That’s hilarious. Where’s that from (I probably should know this, I was assigned 3 biographies of Augustus last week, but I’m sooo behind on my reading :o)
Rome’s a no-fault state anyways, though. 
In modern television, we are used to seeing every little loose end neatly tied up with a bow. In Rome however, we have come to learn that once Pullo starts swinging an axe, we can trust that all will be neatly sorted before next weeks episode begins. How refreshing!
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin]
That’s hilarious. Where’s that from (I probably should know this, I was assigned 3 biographies of Augustus last week, but I’m sooo behind on my reading :o)
Rome’s a no-fault state anyways, though.
[/QUOTE]
It’s from Suetonius, but I got the wife wrong. He said that about his first wife, Clodia (who was a stepdaughter of Antony’s), not about Scribonia. My mistake.
[QUOTE=silenus]
Correct, I admit. But Atia makes him sound like a peasant. Of course, that’s just the way they are portraying Atia, I suppose. But it was Agrippa that left Rome a city of marble instead of brick, not Octavian.
[/QUOTE]
Please, the man was a farmer out in the countryside. And the fact that he was an architect who “left Rome a city of marble instead of brick” is further proof. If he had been a gentleman, he certainly wouldn’t have known anything useful.
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing]
If he had been a gentleman, he certainly wouldn’t have known anything useful.
[/QUOTE]
A telling point, that.
I missed the previews for the next episode. How many episodes are left?
Is anybody else planning to watch I, Claudius immediately after this season is over? I remember that Marcus Agrippa and Octavia are in the first episode at least.
2 episodes left. 
[QUOTE=silenus]
2 episodes left. 
[/QUOTE]
Any word on another season?
Yes. There will be no more seasons.
Caligula was Octavian’s great grandson, right?
It also looks like Antony will not send for Atia. 
[QUOTE=ivylass]
Caligula was Octavian’s great grandson, right?
[/QUOTE]
Yes. Also his step-great grandson.
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
I’ve seen those teeth before, but can’t find a name at IMDB or at HBO’s website.
[/QUOTE]
Apparently the actress is Alice Henley. Not a lot of information about her, though—IMDb doesn’t show anything prior to “Rome.”
This site has her photo. (Don’t be afraid; she’s not smiling.)
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing]
Yes. Also his step-great grandson.
[/QUOTE]
How can he be both?
[QUOTE=ivylass]
It also looks like Antony will not send for Atia. 
[/QUOTE]
Their relationship puzzles me. For two seasons they act like friends with benefits and now we’re supposed to think they’re in love? Antony’s farewell and Atia’s “send for me” is the first sign of warmth I’ve seen from either of them.
Omni, thanks for the date explanation!