The WORST episodes of Rome

Every episode of Rome ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Rome!

Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world. The Republic was founded on principals of shared power, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling...and two soldiers unwittingly become entwined in the historical events of ancient Rome. A drama of love and betrayal, masters and slaves, husbands and wives, Rome chronicles a turbulent era that saw the death of a republic and the birth of an empire.

Last Updated: 11/1/2024Network: HBOStatus: Ended
The Stolen Eagle
star
7.64
3722 votes

#1 - The Stolen Eagle

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/28/2005

Eager to return to Rome after eight long years of war, Gaius Julius Caesar ends his campaign with a resounding triumph in Gaul, and news of a shattering personal loss at home. In Rome, Caesar's old friend Pompey is counselled by the Senate, who worry about Caesar's growing popularity. Two soldiers are enlisted to find the army's stolen gold standard. Atia is careful to play both sides of an escalating power struggle.

Directors: Michael Apted
Writer: Bruno Heller
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Egeria
star
7.69
2405 votes

#2 - Egeria

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/2/2005

When Caeser finds himself outnumbered by Pompey's legions, he asks Antony to join the fight. Marc Antony is having fun in his new political life while he ponders a counter-offer from Pompey. Atia urges Octavian to take another step toward manhood. Vorenus and Niobe try to bring passion back to their marriage.

Directors: Alan Poul
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The Ram Has Touched the Wall
star
7.73
2580 votes

#3 - The Ram Has Touched the Wall

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/25/2005

Caesar weighs Pompey's counteroffer against Antony's recommendation to chase down Pompey's vulnerable army. Vorenus is forced to reconsider his career choices after a series of business setbacks leave him with little income to support his family. A jealous Atia concocts a clever scheme to separate Caesar from Servilia. Pullo is recruited to tutor Octavian in the art of soldiering, but ends up learning a lesson or two from the boy.

Directors: Allen Coulter
Writer: Bruno Heller
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An Owl in a Thornbush
star
7.77
2767 votes

#4 - An Owl in a Thornbush

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/11/2005

With Caesar quickly advancing toward Rome, Pompey begins ordering a retreat and forces his citizens to pick sides. Timon is forced to do Atia's dirty work and Vorenus cannot understand why no one is resisting while on a scouting mission.

Directors: Michael Apted
Writer: Bruno Heller
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Stealing from Saturn
star
7.77
2563 votes

#5 - Stealing from Saturn

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/18/2005

As Pompey "maneuvers" outside the city, Caesar seeks to consolidate his hold on Rome. Atia throws a party to welcome Caesar home, while Vorenus throws one of his own to usher in his new life as a citizen businessman. Pullo's run of luck continues when he delivers Quintus Pompey to Caesar, who in turn returns Quintus to his father's camp, with an offer of truce he knows Pompey will never accept.

Directors: Julian Farino
Writer: Bruno Heller
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Triumph
star
7.79
2073 votes

#6 - Triumph

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/6/2005

Unanimously proclaimed Dictator by the Senate, Caesar pronounces the war over, and prepares for five days of feasting and games honoring his "triumph." No longer an enlisted soldier, Pullo eyes a pastoral future with Eirene, while Vorenus runs for municipal magistrate, with Posca's help. Meanwhile, Octavian retrieves Octavia from her self-imposed exile. And Servilia invites a revenge-minded Quintus Pompey into her home, to Brutus' dismay.

Directors: Alan Taylor
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Pharsalus
star
7.83
2211 votes

#7 - Pharsalus

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/9/2005

Pompey attacks an outnumbered Caesar. Vorenus and Pullo are stranded at sea. Atia continues to seek out Servilla's friendship in order to ensure her protection, while Octavia and Servilla's bond grows.

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How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic
star
7.84
2952 votes

#8 - How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/4/2005

Anointed People's Tribune by Caesar, Mark Antony returns to Rome with Octavian's liberators, Vorenus and Pullo. After being feted by a grateful Atia, Vorenus heads home to his family, for the first time in eight years, while Pullo heads for the brothels. Pompey drafts an ultimatum stripping the general of his power.

Directors: Michael Apted
Writer: Bruno Heller
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These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero
star
7.85
2101 votes

#9 - These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/28/2007

Brutus and Cassius struggle to raise foreign armies to oppose the Cesarean party. Mark Antony's plans to change his post-consul proconsular governorship from Macedonia to Gaul are derailed when Cicero delivers an in-absentia message to the Senate, and throws his support behind Octavian. Vorenus struggles to contain an all-out gang war in the Aventine Collegium, of his own making,that he blames on Pullo. In the house of the Julii, Octavia passes the hours in a drug induced daze, while a duplicitous youth named Duro, planted amongst the Julii by Servilia, looks for the chance to set a deadly plan in motion.

Directors: Alan Poul
Writer: Scott Buck
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Utica
star
7.91
2203 votes

#10 - Utica

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 10/30/2005

With Scipio and Cato defeated, Caesar returns home to a hero's welcome. Vorenus and Pullo's showdown with local thug Erastes gets an unexpected reprieve from Caesar. Servilia's plan to use Octavia to unearth a secret about Caesar backfires.

Directors: Jeremy Podeswa
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Testudo et Lepus (The Tortoise and the Hare)
star
7.96
2020 votes

#11 - Testudo et Lepus (The Tortoise and the Hare)

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/4/2007

Pullo races to find Vorenus with news of his family's fate. Servilia's plans to eliminate a rival exact a high price from her. Cicero is astonished when Octavian sends word that his victorious legions are coming home to Rome. In Rome, Timon finally grows weary of Atia's bidding.

Directors: Adam Davidson
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Heroes of the Republic
star
7.97
2132 votes

#12 - Heroes of the Republic

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/11/2007

Despite Pullo's advice, Vorenus and his family return to the Collegium with his family who is reunited, and cleansed of their ordeal. Octavian is denied a triumph and urges Cicero to endorse his bid to be made Consul in exchange for an agreement to allow Cicero to veto his actions. Octavian takes both Cicero and the Senate by surprise with his first Consular act. Vorenus attempts' to make peace with Memmio and Cotta create suspicions that he has gone soft.

Directors: Alik Sakharov
Writer: Mere Smith
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Death Mask
star
8.00
2058 votes

#13 - Death Mask

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/4/2007

Antony's nature reasserts itself, and challenges his alliance with Octavian. Timon and Levi set themselves against Herod's plans. Servilia's public displays of grief leave Atia unsettled. Gaia uses Pullo's punishment as a weapon against him. His daughter's sudden interest in business matters arouses Vorenus' suspicions. Posca gets married.

Directors: John Maybury
Writer: Scott Buck
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Caesarion
star
8.04
2128 votes

#14 - Caesarion

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/16/2005

Having pursued Pompey into Egypt, Caesar arrives in Alexandria and meets the boy king Ptolemy XIII, who offers the general a surprise gift. Vorenus and Pullo play liberators again, freeing Ptolemy's incarcerated sister, Cleopatra. Caesar seeks payment from Egypt for past debts, and ends up forging a strategic union to ensure his legacy.

Directors: Steve Shill
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A Necessary Fiction
star
8.06
2041 votes

#15 - A Necessary Fiction

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/11/2007

Octavian proclaims a new era of virtue in Rome, a program that his family and subordinates find impossible to obey. Vorenus is sent on a mission after a missing shipment of gold to discover who mysteriously hijacked it on its way to the Roman treasury. Pullo's loss and rage are channeled against Memmio, Omnipor and their henchmen. Octavian pursues Livia as an "appropriate" bride, and issues Mark Antony an ultimatum he knows he can't refuse.

Directors: Carl Franklin
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Philippi
star
8.07
2030 votes

#16 - Philippi

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/18/2007

Vorenus receives orders to plunge Rome into a bloodbath the likes that have not been seen since the dictatorship of Sulla. Octavia reveals her secret to Atia, and the armies of the Liberators and the Caesarians clash for the last time, with the fate of Republic in the balance.

Directors: Roger Young
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Passover
star
8.09
2275 votes

#17 - Passover

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/14/2007

Things pick up shortly after Caesar's murder. Octavian wants to keep his family from fleeing the city so he devises a plan. News of this makes Antony happy so he tells Brutus. Vorenus mourns Niobe's death but casts aspersions upon his children.

Writer: Bruno Heller
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The Spoils
star
8.10
2096 votes

#18 - The Spoils

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/13/2005

Vorenus sees to it that veteran soldiers receives severance on behalf of Caesar, and is then invited along with Niobe to one of Atia's parties.

Directors: Mikael Salomon
Writer: Bruno Heller
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Son of Hades
star
8.13
1987 votes

#19 - Son of Hades

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/21/2007

Cleopatra arrives in Rome to pay her homage to Caesar, and to seek legitimization for Caesarion. Egypt's queen causes further complications between Anthony and Atia, who still struggles with Servilia. Timon's brother arrives from Jerusalem. The death of Erastes throws the underworld, and Rome's river commerce into chaos, and Pullo and Vorenus step into the gap. Octavian and Anthony begin a long and bitter rivalry with a dispute over Caesar's will and sharing of power.

Directors: Allen Coulter
Writer: Bruno Heller
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Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (No God Can Stop a Hungry Man)
star
8.14
2070 votes

#20 - Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (No God Can Stop a Hungry Man)

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/18/2007

The people of Rome are starving. There have been many grain shortages over the past few months, but things have gotten particularly bad. In hopes of keeping the people from openly rebelling, Octavian sends Atia and Octavia to Alexandria in order to negotiate a deal with Mark Antony, though his real reasons for their trip is soon revealed. Meanwhile, Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus must try to keep the peace amongst many of the mercenaries who are in Rome.

Directors: Steve Shill
Writer: Mere Smith
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Kalends of February
star
8.24
2235 votes

#21 - Kalends of February

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/20/2005

Pullo and Vorenus are now heroes in the eyes of the Roman rank and file because of their arena feats. This causes Caesar to bestow rewards to those he might normally punish.

Directors: Alan Taylor
Writer: Bruno Heller
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De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)
star
8.41
1926 votes

#22 - De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/25/2007

Following his naval defeat at Actium, Marc Antony returns to Egypt, where he and Cleopatra settle into a world of debauchery. Octavian tries to use Pullo as leverage to Vorenus to gain acess to the palace, but Vorenus stays loyal to Antony. Finally, it is Cleopatra who dupes Antony, saving her own life by sacrificing her honor. Ceasar Augustus triumphs in Rome.

Directors: John Maybury
Writer: Bruno Heller
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