Minor Characters of Rome - Noble Characters

Noble Characters

• Antonia (historically, Antonia Major or Antonia Minor), daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia of the Julii born after Antony left Rome and raised by her mother alone. She could possibly be the daughter of Marcus Agrippa. Octavia complains of her being a disobedient child.

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

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

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

• Casca (historically, Servilius Casca), played by Peter Gevisser. a Roman senator and one of the assassins of Julius Caesar.

• Gaius Maecenas (historically, Gaius Maecenas), played by Alex Wyndham. Maecenas first appears in Testudo et Lepus; he is a poet and longtime friend of Gaius Octavian and Marcus Agrippa, and one of Octavian's chief advisers and speechwriters. Maecenas is cheerfully corrupt, at one point conspiring with Posca to steal a portion of Herod's bribe to Mark Antony. He frequently indulges in orgies and narcotics, attends to a cadre of spies, keeps pleasure slaves of both sexes, and shows no hesitance when faced with moral quandaries.

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

• Jocasta (fictional), played by Camilla Rutherford. Daughter of a wealthy merchant (and thus played as a 'Sloane Ranger' and treated as 'nouveau riche' and socially inferior by Atia), and friend to Octavia; introduced in These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Atia later adds Jocasta's father to the list of nobles Octavian and Mark Antony proscribe. Her entire family is murdered and it is implied she was sexually assaulted and/or raped before she was able to escape. In Death Mask, Atia arranges for Jocasta's marriage to Posca; Jocasta is delighted with the gifts Posca showers on her in A Necessary Fiction. In Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus Jocasta has joined her husband in his relocation with Mark Antony to Egypt, but both escape back to Rome on Atia and Octavia's ship when Posca realizes that war between Antony and Octavian is inevitable.

• Lepidus (historically, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus), played by Ronan Vibert. General under Mark Antony, one of the Second Triumvirate. He is given Africa when the Republic is divided amongst the triumvirs, and later falls out of prominence as his territories are annexed first by Mark Antony and later Octavian. The historical Lepidus initially intended to contest Octavian's claim to dominance, but was talked out of it - to his benefit, as he died of old age much, much later, having been unmolested during the transition from republic to empire.

• Livia (historically, Livia Drusilla), played by Alice Henley. Young wife of Octavian; introduced in A Necessary Fiction. Married to another man Claudius Nero (historically Tiberius Nero), Livia catches the eye of Octavian; she and her mother Alfidia are pleased when he insists that Livia divorce her current husband to marry him. Later Octavian explains that he has rough sexual tastes; in "Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus," Livia actively participates in mutually sadomasochistic sex with him. In De Patre Vostro, Octavian's mother Atia of the Julii puts social climber Livia in her place.

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

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