Come on, they were hardly ever crucified!
Hmm, feels like I’ve missed one…
Historical liberties (poetic license) that are shameful in any era is a bad choice. Good movies do it tastefully (SPR) or in such a way where it fits into a larger picture (Kelly’s Heroes) easily and convincingly. Xena (and Hercules) just throws it in your face and asks you to suck it down.
Which is not to say it’s not an enjoyable show, I watched it for about three seasons I guess (according to your Gabrielle costume/wonderbra timeline above) but it became a bit too sickening.
They never had any pretentions of depicting reality. Now, if you’re preaching some sort of historical sanctity and that all depictions of ancient history should be portrayed accurately and never with a smidge of humour, then sure, Xena is guilty, but I’d argue that there are much worse culprits who actually take themselves seriously with their portrayal of history.