Why do people set in Ancient Rome have English accents?

[Kilgore Trout]

good fukking question.

It blows my mind on game of thrones why most of them have english accents because the book creator and show producers are american.

Then only reason I can think of is because most of the cast is english and Peter Dinklige would feel silly talking in a american accent among all those brits.

And I agree when shows and movies take place in Ancient Rome they should have Italian accents.

Wow I had no idea the writer of Game of thrones was American, I've read the books and they used British vernacular.

Anyawys its because they didn't have an american accent during the dark ages/mid evil times which is when most of these fantasy stories were set in.

 

[Grand Conde]

Wow I had no idea the writer of Game of thrones was American, I've read the books and they used British vernacular.

Anyawys its because they didn't have an american accent during the dark ages/mid evil times which is when most of these fantasy stories were set in.

The entire book is 'inspired' by the War Of The Roses, a British civil war in the 1400s.

 

[Big Blue]

...because modern day Italian people speaking Italian in Italian accents would be more authentic?

You think

Assassins Creed 2 has Italian accents all through the game. It shouldn't be hard for a movie or show to do

Just skip all through this video for a example

Assassin's Creed took place in the 1500s, thousands of years after the fall of Rome.

 

[Chrishaune]

It's whatever....they don't know what ancient Romans sounded like......how their pronunciation sounded.

 

[Vandelay]

There is no one reason.

• No one really knows what Latin from Romans sounded like.
• Britain was a territory of Rome.
• In periods of antiquity, many pieces were traditionally acted out by many British actors.
• British accents are an older dialect and accent of English, and just sounds better to the ears. Wouldn't sound right if it was a deep south or Boston accent for a period piece set in ancient Rome.

Etc, etc

 

[Grand Conde]

You think

Assassin's Creed took place in the 1500s, thousands of years after the fall of Rome.

• British accents are an older dialect and accent of English, and just sounds better to the ears. Wouldn't sound right if it was a deep south or Boston accent for a period piece set in ancient Rome.

Etc, etc

Think this is the main thing. People connect these kinds of roles/characters with British accents. That's what the audience expects.

Anyway this authenticity thing is bizarre, modern day Italians don't speak Latin and there is absolutely zero chance their accents are similar.

 

[Kuwka_Atcha_Ratcha]

It's because they realize most people are lazy and don't want to be bothered with reading subtitles, so they use the English accent since it sounds foreign to Americans while people can still understand it. Plus how many actors out there speak Latin?

reading is fundemental, i didn't say it should be spoken in italian, i said in italian accents.

 

[Kuwka_Atcha_Ratcha]

I don't wanna hear a fukking boston accent or some shyt in a medieval drama,

huh? i didn't say use american im asking why not italian?

and the english accents they use are sometimes not even old english, sometimes they even use cockney accents smh

 

[Kuwka_Atcha_Ratcha]

...because modern day Italian people speaking Italian in Italian accents would be more authentic?

than english accents in italy.... yes, yes it would be more authentic.

 

[Kuwka_Atcha_Ratcha]

There is no one reason.

• No one really knows what Latin from Romans sounded like.
• Britain was a territory of Rome.
• In periods of antiquity, many pieces were traditionally acted out by many British actors.
• British accents are an older dialect and accent of English, and just sounds better to the ears. Wouldn't sound right if it was a deep south or Boston accent for a period piece set in ancient Rome.

Etc, etc

this doesn't explain why italian accents are not used in movies which are set in rome etc.

 

[Type Username Here]

Not to mention that most British accents are relatively new, some only a few hundred years old.

 

[The Guru]

It sounds vaguely ancient.

 

[RatherUnique]

Well Game of Thrones is basically medieval fantasy, a genre birthed by the god Tolkien and other British authors. The American GOT creater took a lot from the history, culture and mythology of the British isles for influence. (As well as Europe in general.)
It's based on the English War Of Roses.
House Stark = real life House York. House Lannister = real life House Lancaster.
British regional accents for different areas.
If you take a map of GOT Known world/Westeros, it's damn near an exact mirror of the British Isles.

 

[Kuwka_Atcha_Ratcha]

Well Game of Thrones is basically medieval fantasy, a genre birthed by the god Tolkien and other British authors. The American GOT creater took a lot from the history, culture and mythology of the British isles for influence. (As well as Europe in general.)
It's based on the English War Of Roses.
House Stark = real life House York. House Lannister = real life House Lancaster.
British regional accents for different areas.
If you take a map of GOT Known world/Westeros, it's damn near an exact mirror of the British Isles.

that clears up game of thrones, but what about tales set in rome

 

[ExodusNirvana]

Maybe with English you have the ability to show different dialect and different backgrounds.

For instance, someone highborn speaks the same language as someone lowborn by you can tell who is who from the way they speak.

Highborn - Yes My Lord

Lowborn - Yes M'Lord