The essential episodes of Rome

Watch these 15 in order and you've got Rome — each pick states its reason.

1. 01

   S01E01 · Pilot · August 28, 2005 · 1h

   The Stolen Eagle7.7

   52 B.C. Eager to return to Rome after eight long years of war, Gaius Julius Caesar ends his campaign with a big triumph in Gaul--and news of a shattering personal loss at home. When his army's gold standard is stolen, Caesar's cousin and commander Mark Antony enlists two soldiers, Centurion Lucius Vorenus and Legionnaire Titus Pullo, to track it down.

2. 02

   S01E05 · Top rated · September 25, 2005 · 1h

   The Ram Has Touched the Wall8.3

   Caesar contemplates Pompey's counteroffer. Vorenus continues to struggle as a businessman and must reevaluate his career choice. Atia schemes to come between Caesar and Servilia and Pullo seeks Octavian's help.

3. 03

   S01E07 · Top rated · October 9, 2005 · 1h

   Pharsalus8.4

   Marooned in the Adriatic Sea, Vorenus and Pullo try to survive. In Greece, Pompey decides to attack Caesar's depleted forces, whose lack of options turns into their greatest strength. The result finds Pompey seeking reinforcements. In Rome, Octavia is enlisted by Atia to ask another favor of Servilia.

4. 04

   S01E08 · Top rated · October 16, 2005 · 1h

   Caesarion8.1

   Caesar's fevered pursuit of Pompey takes him to Egypt, where he makes a terrible discovery. Determined to establish supremacy over the Egyptian court, he sends Pullo and Vorenus off in pursuit of a fugitive Cleopatra.

5. 05

   S01E09 · Top rated · October 30, 2005 · 1h

   Utica8.1

   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.

6. 06

   S01E11 · Top rated · November 13, 2005 · 1h

   The Spoils8.8

   While Pullo descends into Erastes' netherworld, Vorenus negotiates a severance for veteran soldiers on behalf of Caesar, who invites him and Niobe to one of Atia's parties. Cassius attempts to convince Brutus that the life and death of the Republic is indeed 'in your hands.'

7. 07

   S01E12 · Season 1 peak · November 20, 2005 · 1h

   Kalends of February8.9

   Pullo and Vorenus have become heroes, causing Caesar to reward those he normally would punish. Pullo's return to Vorenus's household is not appreciated by his former slave Eirene. Caesar overhauls the Senate by adding some unexpected new faces. Servilia crosses the final hurdle in her ambitious revenge plan, at Niobe's expense.

8. 08

   S02E01 · Season 2 peak · January 14, 2007 · 1h

   Passover8.7

   In the wake of Caesar's murder, a cauldron of contrary emotions bubbles across Rome. Narrowly escaping Quintus Pompey and his henchmen outside the Senate, Mark Antony decides to flee north to raise an army, and makes plans to leave the city with Atia, her children and Caesar's widow Calpurnia. Meanwhile, Vorenus issues a curse he soon regrets.

9. 09

   S02E02 · Top rated · January 21, 2007 · 1h

   Son of Hades8.7

   Even though his wife and children are avenged by the Erastes killing, Lucius Vorenus keeps mourning for over a month till Pullo gets Marc Antony who scolds him for Caesar's death and the continuing bloody Aventine gang riots that have resulted in the gangs wanting to fill the void left by Erastes sudden demise. Octavian is loosing patience with Marc Antony for payment of Caesar's inheritance. Meanwhile, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt arrives in Rome to pay her respects to Caesar and she also negotiates with Antony's military protection for her Pharaonic throne in exchange for valuable grain shipments. But she gets dismissed as a whore when she demands that her four-year-old son, Caesarion, be recognized as Caesar's legal son. Yet the uninvited pair of them is welcomed by Antony at Atia's party. Abusing a truce in the name of the goddess Concord and smashing up her statue, Vorenus imposes as 'son of Hades' on the gang captains a peace, paid off by Antony so trade and politics on and near the Aventine no longer get disrupted. After his mother Atia and sister Octavia tell him to accept Antony denying Caesar's legacy and laugh at his ambition to provide Rome the leadership it needs, Octavian borrows against his vast inheritance to buy popularity by paying for Caesar's lavish bequests to the populace; Antony violently refuses a political deal with him. Octavian then leaves home and retires to Campania with General Agrippa. Cicero and Brutus' mother, Servilia, hope this strife among the Julii clan will allow their party to return to Rome. Also, Timon's long-lost brother, Levi, arrives back in Rome wanting his help to make a new life for himself.

10. 10

    S02E03 · Top rated · January 28, 2007 · 1h

    These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero8.2

    Lucius Vorenus, the power-hungry "Son of Hades", controls the Aventine but practices a pointless, beastly reign of terror, coming down hard on gang captains for futilities, and nearly ruins his friendship with Pullo, whose efforts to calm things down are mistaken for disrespect and disobedience, even starts a fight once he learns the truth about Niobe; Pullio leaves Rome disgusted. After Atia convinces Marc Antony the governorship of ghastly Macedonia after his consulate would not only be unpleasant but leave him exposed to his dangerous enemies, he puts the heat on senatorial leader Cicero to give him Gaul instead, which once was the base for Julius Caesar's coup d'état. The slave Duro endures male prostitution but most arrogantly demands extra pay and even a kiss from Servilia as it will take more time to commit the planned murder in Atia's home. Marc promises Atia not to hurt Octavian, whose recruiting he calls a joke, after putting down his party's expected plot. Brutus has a hard time controlling himself while soliciting the Bithynian king's financial support to raise an army. Instead of proposing Antony for governor of Gaul, Cicero sends an extremely insulting speech and joins Octavian's growing army.

11. 11

    S02E04 · Top rated · February 4, 2007 · 1h

    Testudo Et Lepus (The Tortoise and the Hare)8.3

    Having learned that Vorenus' children are alive, Pullo sets off to find him in Gaul where he is again a serving soldier in Mark Antony's army. He had hoped to arrive before Octavian and Antony's armies meet in battle. Too late however, he is forced to find what is left of Antony's army in the mountains. He finds Vorenus alive and well, if somewhat battle worn, and they set off to find the children. The victorious Octavian plans his return to Rome. In Western Turkey, Brutus and Cassius amass their own army, now 9 Legions strong. In Rome, Servilia's attempt to kill Atia fails and Atia has her kidnapped tortured beyond what even her henchman Timon can stand.

12. 12

    S02E06 · Top rated · February 18, 2007 · 1h

    Philippi8.4

    Cicero is finally undone by his duplicity in the form of Titus Pullo, acting upon Octavian's request to assassinate all supporters of Brutus in Rome. Pullo and Vorenus enjoy a happy if counterfeit outing with their families in the countryside to hide their assassin mission. Vorena the Elder's dangerous dalliance with one of Mimeo's men continues, and the torrid affair between Octavia and Agrippa escalates. Atia's casual cruelty to ask for the assassination of people she doesn't like results in complete disaster for Octavia's friend Jocasta. Elsewhere, the headstrong Levi engages Timon in a plan to assassinate King Herod by recruiting in the synagogue where they worship. Disastrously out manned, Brutus and Cassius engage the combined legions of Mark Antony and Octavian, and confront their fates in the ferocious battle at Philippi.

13. 13

    S02E07 · Top rated · March 4, 2007 · 1h

    Death Mask8.2

    Inconsolable at the death of Brutus at Philippi, Servilia makes her final bid to gain the ultimate vengeance against Atia. Meanwhile, Eirene and Gaia have a major falling-out, prompting Eirene to demand that Pullo properly chastise the slave. When he does, the dynamic between the two of them changes in a violent and unexpected fashion. King Herod engages Mark Antony as a reluctant ally by offering a generous gift of 20,000 pounds of gold, and when Posca is excluded from sharing in the windfall, he engineers a move behind-the-scenes that will once again strain the uneasy truce between Octavian and Antony. Vorenus eldest daughter, Vorena, is blackmailed by Mascius into spying on her father after her tryst with one of his men is discovered. The end of two love affairs and a marriage in the house of Julii have major ramifications for life in the city and on the Aventine when Octavian insists on the courtship between Octavia and Mark Antony which irks both Atia and Agrippa. Also, a desperate move to assassinate Herod finishes the relationship between contentious siblings Timon and Levi when they have a falling out, and Levi gets killed by accident.

14. 14

    S02E08 · Top rated · March 11, 2007 · 1h

    A Necessary Fiction8.5

    Octavian takes a new bride, Livia, and then introduces her to his family in a startling way... by having her witness the punishment he metes out to Atia and Octavia, for secretly defying the social constraints established through the facade of Octavia's "marriage" to Mark Antony. The vengeful Gaia carries out her plan to poison Eirene, which produces most dire consequences for Pullo, and no one else is the wiser. Meanwhile, Octavian, Antony, Maecenas, and their associates barely maintain their relationships of congenial contempt and hypocrisy, as everyone tries to figure out who has duped whom with the disappearance of the gold that was Herod's 'gift.' Now forced by Octavian to leave Rome to serve as an 'ambassador' to Egypt, Antony defies the conditions of Atia's house arrest to bid her a bittersweet farewell. The same can be said of Agrippa, who learns some startling news as he severs his relationship with Octavia. Timon also decides to move with his family to Judia to start a new life over for themselves. With the theft of the gold, Lucius and Pullo suspect and accuse a badly-wounded Mascius of having engineered a double-cross, but the real traitor of Vorenus' gang comes to shocking light which is the eldest Vorena. Now having pinpointed Memmio as the real culprit, Pullo takes the group to meet for a parlay with the devious captain and his cohorts, resulting in swift and bloody retribution for the traitors. A despondent Vorenus, his family fractured once again, begs Antony to allow him to come to Egypt, and finds his offer grudgingly accepted. Antony returns to Egypt and is reunited with the seductive Cleopatra.

15. 15

    S02E10 · Series finale · March 25, 2007 · 1h

    De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)8.1

    With the defeat of the Egyptian fleet at Actium, Mark Antony and Cleopatra retreat to their palace and await their fate. Believing that Cleopatra has taken her life, Mark Antony decides follow her into the afterlife. She has other plans however and is quite prepared to negotiate with Octavian if there is any possibility her life and those of her children will be spared. Cleopatra asks Vorenus to take her son Caesarian to safety and Octavian sends Pullo after them. The old friends are soon together again but are waylaid by bandits. With Vorenus severely wounded, Pullo takes him back to Rome for what he hopes will be a happy reunion with his children.