Eirene (Rome character)

Eirene
	Rome character
First appearance	"An Owl in a Thornbush"
Last appearance	"A Necessary Fiction"
Portrayed by	Chiara Mastalli
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Title	Freedwoman
Spouse	Titus Pullo (husband)
Children	Unborn baby (deceased); Caesarion (stepson)

Eirene is a fictional character from the HBO/BBC/RAI original television series Rome, played by Chiara Mastalli. Her name is Greek for "peace".

In the first season of the mini series, the female characters were strong and well drawn. Their lives were depicted and grew while illustrating the woman of the time through society, religion and other parts of Roman life.[1]

Character history

Eirene is a slave of Germanic origin, kidnapped, brutalized, and tied to an ox-drawn wagon by soldiers fleeing the city of Rome, Eirene is rescued by Titus Pullo against the wishes of his superior officer and friend, Lucius Vorenus. After freeing her, Pullo discovers that the cart she was tied to contains the missing treasury gold stolen by Pompey's recruits.

Now the slave of a love-struck Pullo, Eirene immediately goes missing after a night of drunken debauchery. Finding her the next day, Vorenus must pay the drinking debt owed by Pullo to have her released. Knowing that he will be returning to the Legion, Pullo asks Vorenus to take her. After some convincing, Lucius takes Eirene to his wife, Niobe, who has been asking for more slaves. Niobe is suspicious of Eirene. Believing she may be spying on her for Pullo, she initially distrusts her.

When he returns from war, Pullo frees Eirene from slavery, planning to marry her but Pullo does not know she is in love with one of Niobe's other slaves, who is on the cusp of being freed. When he discovers this, Pullo kills the man on a jealous impulse by smashing his head into a column, while Eirene was changing into the dress Pullo gave her. She hates Pullo for the murder, even contemplating killing a convalescing Pullo in his bed. Niobe deters her, pointing out that a freedwoman killing her former master garners a predictable verdict from the courts. Time and Pullo's repentance quench her anger, and she marries him at the beginning of the second season. The couple leave Rome as things get tense, but return at Octavian begins marshaling his forces to reclaim his inheritance. After things settle down, Eirene moves to the Collegium with Pullo and Vorenus, and later becomes pregnant.

Threatened by Gaia's apparent interest in Pullo, Eirene confronts her in Death Mask and tells her to fetch wood. Gaia refuses and insults Eirene, who demands that Pullo beat the unruly slave. Pullo roughs Gaia up, but with her encouragement ends up having rough sex with her as well. Later, Gaia acquires abortion-inducing herbs, pointedly not buying an ingredient that would reduce blood loss. Gaia gives them to Eirene in a cup of tea in A Necessary Fiction; Eirene miscarries, and then dies of apparent blood loss. On her death bed, Eirene insists that Pullo bury her as is done in her country (rather than cremate her, as per Roman custom). During Pullo's eulogy her Germanic origins are vaguely revealed: her birth name was Adela (a Germanic name) and her homeland was somewhere "beyond the Rhine".

A few years later, Gaia finds herself on her own deathbed after a fight with one of Pullo's Collegiate rivals. She tearfully confesses that she was responsible for Eirene's death. Pullo avenges his wife by strangling Gaia and dumping her body in the gutter.

Trivia

Eirene remains pregnant for an impossibly long time given the historical events of the series. She first tells Pullo of her condition in Philippi which historical events occur around 42 B.C. She is still pregnant in Death Mask, an episode where Octavia marries Mark Antony, which happened in 40 B.C. And then finally dies in A Necessary Fiction, still pregnant, which must occur in 39 or 38 B.C. judging by other historical events, like the betrothal of Octavian and Livia. The timeline inconsistency occurred when the producers received word that Rome would be cancelled after the second season, thus necessitating rewriting the last few scripts to conclude the series.

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References

Monica Silveira Cyrino (25 March 2009). Rome Season One: History Makes Television. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 130–. ISBN 978-1-4443-0155-7.

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[Cyrino2009-1] Monica Silveira Cyrino (25 March 2009). Rome Season One: History Makes Television. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 130–. ISBN 978-1-4443-0155-7.