Episode 2: Julius Caesar is probably the most famous Roman of them all – a maverick, a soldier of genius, charming, power-crazed, opportunistic and brilliant. What Caesar achieved, overthrowing a 500-year-old Republic and seizing power, is perhaps t…
Episode 2: Julius Caesar is probably the most famous Roman of them all – a maverick, a soldier of genius, charming, power-crazed, opportunistic and brilliant. What Caesar achieved, overthrowing a 500-year-old Republic and seizing power, is perhaps the single greatest turning point in the history of Rome.
Cast:
Mark Noble as Gaius Crastinus
Simon Dutton as Titus Labienus
Alex Ferns as Mark Antony
Sean Pertwee as Caesar
Crispin Redman as Cato
Karl Johnson as Marcellus
John Shrapnel as Pompey
Biliana Petrinsky as Cornelia
Douglas Reith as Lucius Metellus
Historical consultant: Mary Beard
Writers: James Wood & Jeremy Hylton Davies
Producer and director: Nick Green
Episode 3: https://www.bitchute.com/video/u5laB2LbKfIw/
Personal notes: I like that the majority of this episode is concentrated on the arm conflict between Caesar and Pompey. Showing also the battle of Dyrrhachium where Caesar was defeated, which is often ignored.
However, my eyes rolled back in my head @20:15, when I heard Caesar mocking Cato, because he "brushes his teeth in his own urine." I seriously doubt that Julius Caesar would have ever said that, for the simple reason that the ancient Romans did indeed use their urine to clean their teeth, Caesar included, I should think. The reason for that is very simple. The Romans were obsessed with the hygiene and loved white teeth also, but they didn’t have toothpastes or cleaning detergents. Urine contains ammonia, and ammonia is one of the best naturally occurring cleaning agents. In fact, it is good enough to be a major component of a number of cleaning agents that we use today. Ammonia is also a natural whitener, which means they were improving the whiteness of their teeth and it also helped to prevent them from getting cavities. The fact that urine contains such a strong cleaning agent meant that the ancient Romans could use it for a wide variety of purposes, such as for cleaning their clothes too. Although, not always and not only, water and soda was used too. They had a dedicated Laundromat, called "Fullonica", which was a very profitable commercial activity. So much so, that the Emperor Vespasian even imposed taxes on the urine.
There is some interesting stuff on the subject, in this blog, if you're curious about it. http://www.ancientpages.com/2017/12/10/ancient-romans-loved-white-teeth-means-acceptable-get-even-portuguese-urine/
