In HBO Rome there's a scene where Lucius Vorens says that the stars are holes in the celestial spheres. Is it realistic that a common Roman would know about the aristotelian model of the cosmos?

by grapp
historynerd1865

Absolutely! Roman culture was heavily influenced by Greek thinking, to the point that several prominent Romans were openly critical of it since they felt that it made their young men more effeminate and less effective as warriors (kind of like the lamentations that you hear from every older generation talking about the younger one these days). This site has a much more in depth take on it http://www.ancient.eu/article/472/