When Marge finds out Homer chose not to attend a seminar at work that could've gotten him promoted, she calls out his lack of ambition. A historian tells the Simpsons the tale of Obeseus.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Abe's ancient Rome counterpart was a poor farmer who used his son Obeseus as an ox to plow his farm. He later gets the money to buy a real ox...by selling Obeseus for slavery.
- Actor Allusion: The historian is voiced by Michael Palin, referring the historical documentaries he's hosted.
- All There in the Manual: Merchandise based on the episode list the names of Burns's and Lisa's Roman counterparts as "Emperor Montimus" and "Lisandra"
- Ambition Is Evil: Marjora’s Fatal Flaw. No matter how many sacrifices Obeseus make (even betraying his oath to free his slave friends and taking their merit for a invention that made him rich again), she was never satisfied and always wanted more power, which in turn didn’t stop his son Bartigula from becoming a terrible tyrant. This hunger for power ultimately cost the life of his husband and son as they kill each other in a bloody battle. Lampshaded by Homer:Homer: The moral of the story is: Marge is wrong and ambition is terrible.
- Animal Motifs: Due to his history as a farmer turned slave, Homer is given the epithet "The Ox" in reference to his strength and unskilled battle style.
- Alternate Aesop Interpretation: In-Universe, the family can't decide what the lesson of the story is. They can't tell if the lesson is that "Ambition is good and you should appreciate your accomplishments" or "Appreciate what you have because ambition is evil and you'll never be satisfied". It seems to be a mix of both: "Ambition is good as long as you know when to stop". Though then Neptune says the aesop is to worship the gods or else there would be consequences.
- Big "NO!": Marjora utters a big no after Obeseus strangles Bartigula to death.
- Composite Character: Bartigula is a fusion of two Roman emperors; Caligula (The insane Emperor who declared war on Poseidon) and Commodus (The emperor who fought in the arena for fun, damaged the fundamentals of Rome, and had delusions of Godhood).
- The Caligula: Bart's aptly named predecessor Bartigula after he becomes emperor.
- Comically Missing the Point: Obeseus says he can't be blamed for the way Bartigula turned out as he never spent any time with him at all.
- Continuity Nod:
- Obeseus' nickname in the arena is "Mr. Plow," which comes from his technique of dragging his opponents through the dirt like a plowing ox.
- The bouncing Ralph Wiggum head calls back "New Kids on the Blecch."
- Dumbass Has a Point: Marjora wants Obeseus to become emperor. Obeseus asks if she will ever be satisfied and their current standing on the social ladder is one rung from the top.
- End of an Era: This is the final episode to feature the Running Gag of Homer strangling Bart, which would be quietly retired after this point. Fittingly, it sees the joke taken to its logical conclusion, when Obeseus kills his son by strangling him to death in a Mutual Kill.
- Entitled Bastard: When Marge says they really could use the money and she can't be the only one in the family who wants more for them, Homer says he 'does' want more...he just wants it handed to him without doing anything to earn it.
- Fed to the Beast:
- After Obeseus kills the gladiator version of Rainer Wolfcastle, the Emperor has him thrown to the hippos.
- Bartigula condemns his father to be fed to the lions. Raphael comments "We're gonna need more lions."
- Follow the Bouncing Ball: The lyrics to "O Ascendimus Nos" appear on the bottom of the screen with a bouncing Ralph Wiggum head.
- A God Am I: After a series of failures as Emperor, Bartigula doesn't resign but instead promotes himself to God and promptly throws his father in prison for "blasphemy" when he attempts to resist.
- I Am Spartacus: When Marjora gets pregnant by Obeseus, her father demands to know which of the slaves did it. One by one, the other slaves declare "I had sexicus" to spare Obeseus. Obeseus accuses them all of having sex with the woman he loved inadvertently outing himself.
- Jerkass Gods: After killing Emperor Montimus, Marjora elects Bartigula as the successor. He first declares war on Neptune which only results in soldiers drowning by tidal wave. After his rule ruined Rome and put it in a financial crisis, he declares he is no longer their king. He is now their God. Also, in a mid-credits scene, the gods themselves are viewing the mortals like television viewers saying mortals have gone down hill and will likely be cancelled soon.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: While most of the present-day Simpsons discuss the story they just heard as a historical narrative with a moral about their own situation, Bart simply wonders, "Did anyone else think it was weird that Dad killed me?"Homer: Don't blame me, blame your mother!
- Logo Joke: The theme tune for The Roman Holidays plays over the Gracie Films logo. The last note of the theme song as it cuts after the 'In Association With' screen syncs up perfectly with the first note of the 20th Television fanfare.
- Meaningful Name: Homer's ancient Rome counterpart is named Obeseus. He's at first very fit having a Hercules like build with his years of plowing, but a life of luxury for impregnating Marjora (Marge's counterpart) gave him modern Homer's build. Turning into a senator made him twice as fat. Hence the name Obeseus, which is Latin for obese.
- Mooning: How Obeseus "salutes" Bartigula at the arena.
- Mutual Kill: Bartigula stabs Obeseus in the neck, who then uses the last of his strength to strangle Bartugula to death.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After seeing how her desire for higher social standing and their benefits resulted in her son and husband dying, she drinks poison to kill herself.
- Offing the Offspring: Obeseus tries to persuade the citizens to overthrow his son Bartigula, only for Bartigula to declare him fed to the lions. While waiting in the slave cage, Bartigula's sister unlocks his cell while Obeseus spots some gladiator armor. He challenges Bartigula to a duel and successfully kills him but dies shortly afterwards. Bart lampshades how messed up it was that his own dad killed him.
- Sadly Mythtaken: Apollo is said to be the son of Juno, but he's traditionally the son of Jupiter and Latona, and Juno was his Wicked Stepmother who famously even tried to prevent his birth, as well as his mother's rival.note Added to that, while Apollo was worshipped by the Romans, and was one of the few Greek gods to retain his name within the Roman pantheon, he was often conflated with Sol, the personification of the sun.note
- Shout-Out:
- When Obeseus and his family move to a bigger home, a Latin version of the theme to The Jeffersons plays, entitled "O Ascendimus Nos."
- Emperor Quimby sings the theme to The Roman Holidays; the theme also plays at the end of the credits.
- When Emperor Bartigula blames foreigners for Rome's problems, the picture shown is of Asterix, Obelix and Hägar the Horrible.
- One of Marjora's outfits is an exact copy of a dress worn by Livia in the BBC miniseries I, Claudius, from which the episode takes its name.
- The ending, where Obeseus and Bartigula fight in the arena, spoofs the ending of Gladiator.
- Shown Their Work: The episode gets a LOT right about first century Rome, and is practically one giant Easter egg for history buffs.
- Obeseus' father is a farmer, and Obeseus himself grows up on a farm until he's sold into slavery. The majority of Roman citizens really did hold some kind of job involving agriculture, as it was common for victorious generals to settle their veterans on farmland.
- The physical depiction of Rome itself is weirdly accurate for a cartoon parody.
- Montimus calls himself the Emperor's "politically adopted son." Adoption was super common in first-century Rome, as many couples struggled with fecundity and this allowed for powerful Romans to both ensure the longevity of their family names as well as consolidate power by choosing their heirs.
- After obtaining his freedom in the arena, Obeseus enjoys a meteoric social rise. Such social mobility was incredibly common in Rome, and it wasn't unheard of for former slaves to become richer and more powerful than their former masters.
- Romans really did wash their clothes with urine, having figured out it contained ammonia. Emperor Vespasian famously imposed a pee collection tax to increase government revenue, issuing the declaration "money doesn't stink."
- Spoof Aesop: As the Simpsons fight at the end, the historian says "When will humanity learn... not to let stupid people into museums?"
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After over 30 years of the Running Gag of Homer cartoonishly and harmlessly strangling Bart, his Ancient Roman analogue, Obeseus, strangles his son Bartigula in the same fashion and actually kills him.
- Take That!: Bartigula blames his people's misfortunes on foreigners and has a wall built to keep them out. Where have we seen that as of late?
- Also an example of Truth in Television- beginning in the Second century, Rome dealt with constant refugee crises as Germans- either fleeing foreign invaders, civil war, or simply desirous of the prestige and economic opportunities that came from being a Roman citizen- flocked to the Empire, often ending up homeless and disenfranchised. It was ultimately one such refugee crisis that led to the fall of the Western Empire after the German warrior Alaric— angry at being denied citizenship for himself and his people despite having fought in the Roman army— invaded and sacked the city.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Marjora poisons Emperor Montimus's wine. Montimus had the good sense to have a taster (Smithers) drink it first; he ends up dying anyway when Smithers ends up knocking over a column on him while in his death throes.
- Toilet Humor: Obeseus made his fortune running a laundry, which in ancient Rome meant he used urine as bleach. Marjora gives him the idea to set up vases next to bars so the patrons could use them and collect their "deposits".
- An example of Truth in Television - to restabilize the Roman economy after the disastrous Year of the Four Emperors, Emperor Vespasian really did set up such containers and then charged a collection tax on them.
- Trumplica: Bartigula is this via The (Original) Caligula.Cletus: He was born rich, so he gotta be good at business.
- The Un-Favourite: When Marjora sees her husband and son dead, she declares her ambition has killed her entire family and drinks poison. When Lisandra asks her dying mother what about herself, Marjora tells Lisandra that "they never really clicked."
- Understatement: Lamenting the mistakes he's made over his lifetime, Obeseus (while holding his son's dead body after Offing the Offspring) describes himself as a "less-than-perfect father."
- White Sheep: Lisandra is the only family member who was never driven by power or greed and warns Obeseus of her brother Bartigula's corruption.
