Certainly not for the kids. There’s an arena scene toward the end of the first season that makes the film Gladiator look positively tame. But the show captures the reality of life in Rome better than anything I’ve ever seen. It brilliantly shows all the different strata of Roman society from patrician to slave and captures the squalor of the time. It’s clearly a labor of love and if you’re interested in the period it’s not to be missed.
There's no question that life in Rome was pretty darn gross. (Greece, too, but that's a different movie.) For me, it's less unpleasant reading about such things, rather than watching them.