Just wait until this article hits 4chan or fark, and you'll get your Lady Gaga / Venus de Milo mashup.

I think the Rome TV show had lots of color all over the place, which appeared a first to me, compared to the classic peplum movies.

Didn't we simply copy what we thought was their fashion sense. If their statues or architecture came down to us in colour, we would have a preference for colourful statue and architecture. Just goes perhaps to show how much influence does culture have on ones perception of such things.