Primary Characters
| Character name | Portrayed by | Status | Historical basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notes | |||
| Lucius Vorenus | Kevin McKidd | Plebeian | Lucius Vorenus |
| Dedicated to his family and to traditional Roman values, he struggles to balance his personal beliefs, his duty to his superiors, and the needs of his family and friends. He is introduced as a veteran centurion of the 13th Legion to which he returns on promotion after commercial failures in civilian life. His rigid personality leads him to harsh treatment of his wife and children, which he subsequently regrets. | |||
| Titus Pullo | Ray Stevenson | Plebeian | Titus Pullo |
| Being the true definition of a rogue, Pullo is also humorous and faithful to his friends. He is introduced as a Roman soldier, serving under Vorenus | |||
| Gaius Julius Caesar | Ciarán Hinds | Patrician | Julius Caesar |
| A brilliant general, Caesar is also a subtle politician. Intelligent, charming and calculating, he accomplishes most of what he sets out to do, until reaching a sudden end. | |||
| Pompey Magnus | Kenneth Cranham | Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus | |
| An enemy of Caesar's who was once his ally and husband of his deceased daughter. Pompey is represented as a once successful general, who now past his prime falls into uneasy alliance with the conservative patrician element in the Senate. | |||
| Atia of the Julii | Polly Walker | Patrician | Atia Balba Caesonia |
| Manipulative and condescending, she is quite coitally adept. Atia is dedicated to promoting her own and her family's status and influence. She treats her daughter Octavia and son Octavian with a mixture of affection and insensitivity. | |||
| Mark Antony | James Purefoy | Plebeian | Mark Antony |
| Anthony is presented as a crass, hedonistic and arrogant soldier, but also as an efficient and loyal follower of Caesar. After Caesar's death he proves less effective when thrust into leadership himself. | |||
| Marcus Junius Brutus | Tobias Menzies | Patrician | Marcus Junius Brutus |
| Son of Servilia and filled with inner conflict. On the one hand he looks upon Caesar as a father, but he is also a descendant of a founder of the Republic. | |||
| Servilia of the Junii | Lindsay Duncan | Patrician | Servilia Caepionis |
| Servilla is a polished and charming member of one of the old Republican families but also Caesar's lover. Her longstanding feud with Atia ends in violence and death. | |||
| Niobe | Indira Varma | Plebeian | Fictional |
| Niobe is the wife of Vorenus. A strong character, who is left for eight years to bring up her two children while Vorenus is away on military service, Niobe is seduced by her brother in law and bears his child. Much of the tension of the first series arises from her need to conceal this from an often inflexible husband who is not skilled in human relationships. | |||
| Gaius Octavian | Max Pirkis/Simon Woods | Patrician | Caesar Augustus |
| Presented as a cold but exceptionally intelligent youth, Octavian is the son of Atia who alternatively pampers and patronises him. He is taken prisoner in Gaul while travelling to join his uncle Julius Caesar, but saved by Vorenus and Pullo. As a thoughtful student of power and politics he shows early signs of his future as first citizen (Emperor) of Rome. | |||
| Octavia of the Julii | Kerry Condon | Patrician | Octavia Thurina Minor |
| Octavia is the daughter of Atia who dominates and manipulates her. Although showing some of her brother Octavian's intelligence, Octavia's role is essentially that of a victim. | |||
| Quintus Pompey | Rick Warden | Patrician | Sextus Pompeius and Gnaeus Pompeius? |
| Filled with vindictive malice, he is the son of Pompey. A fictional character, Quintus Pompey is a violent and sadistic figure who shows little of his father's qualities. | |||
| Porcius Cato | Karl Johnson | Plebeian | Cato the Younger |
| A fiercely conservative leader of the Senate, Cato is as tough as he is old. For unexplained reasons he is the only member of the Senate to wear a black toga. More importantly he is an acerbic spokesman of conservatism and traditional interests, and an enemy to Caesar's faction. | |||
| Marcus Tullius Cicero | David Bamber | Plebeian | Marcus Tullius Cicero |
| A gifted orator, Cicero is the leader of the moderates in the Senate. He purports to stand for that which is principled and virtuous but increasingly becomes an opportunistic intriguer. | |||
| Timon | Lee Boardman | Jew | Fictional |
| While a loyal servant of Atia's family, Timon is essentially a thuggish horse trader who will accept payment in a variety of ways. | |||
| Marcus Agrippa | Allen Leech | Plebeian | Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa |
| Longtime friend of Gaius Octavian and Gaius Maecenas, Agrippa is one of the adult Octavian's chief advisors. | |||
Read more about this topic: List Of Rome Characters
Famous quotes containing the words primary and/or characters:
“A primary function of art and thought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit him to stand beyond it in an autonomy of perception and judgment.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)
“The Nature of Familiar Letters, written, as it were, to the Moment, while the Heart is agitated by Hopes and Fears, on Events undecided, must plead an Excuse for the Bulk of a Collection of this Kind. Mere Facts and Characters might be comprised in a much smaller Compass: But, would they be equally interesting?”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)