4 Hours of Roman history on Time Line recorded from closed captuing.
This is about 70 pages long, if you want to keep it wait until it completely loads and save it to a file. I tried to remove all the ads but did not correct any thing.
This is the transcript of the beginning to the end of the Roman Empire.

Sun Jan 25 14:51:46 2004 

History international presents great empires: Rome. On world time line. The world's greatest empire. But it wasn't built in a day. The rise, the fall. The conquerers, the conquered. Rome! Hello, i'm joe mantegna. An ancient philosopher remarked all roads lead to rome. One time he was right. 2,000 years ago all highways led to the most powerful empire known to man. The story of the roman empire begins with the tumultuous founding of the city by romulus and remus. It continues with the rise of julius caesar, anthony and cleopatra, spartacus and others. Larger than life figures born into a civilization teeming with brilliance, bravery and sheer brutality. They were the most gifted men and women of their age. Powerful, passionate and unyielding. For more than a thousand years they ruled the western world conquering enemies, building opulent cities and living lives of decadent grandeur. The roman empire has long captured the fantasies of the modern world. Hollywood has recreated rome's pagan palaces and public revelry. Its cruel conquests and its insatiable lust for life. Remember, remember. I want you to forget me, please. Forget? How? I can never be more far away from you than this. The real roman empire could never be duplicated again. The ancient civilization stretched across three continents from britain down to north africa, across western europe to parts of asia, the middle east and beyond. It was an empire that set the standard for architecture, law, and military might. But it was the roman people themselves from countless countries and cultures who personified the power and glory of the once thriving empire. The origins of this lost civilization are steeped in myth and legend. Most romans believed their  ancestry began along the banks of the tiber river in a region now known as italy. In the 8th century b.C., The daughter of the latin king numitor bore twin sons named romulus and remus. But the king's brother feared the infants would cheat him out of the royal thrown. In a fit of rage, he tossed the twins into the frigid river. Legend says the brothers were eventually rescued by a she-wolf who suckled them to health. By 753 b.C., Romulus and remus were grown men. They set the foundation of a new city called rome. But the brotherly bonds didn't last for long. Romulus killed remus during a petty family quarrel making romulus the sole ruler of rome. The followers of romulus eventually settled on one of the seven hills that made up the new city. We're here at palatine overlooking the river, the tiber river, with the capital on hill to one side and the other behind us. And the site of rome is a function of the relationship between the river and between the various hills around it. The river controlled the crossing, any trade that was going north, south. The hills provided a naturally fortified place where people came together to put their communities up here on top of the hill. In ancient times italy was a region of cultural diversity. Tribes such as the greeks, saybines and latins eventually melted together to become one race of people: The romans. Early romans lived in small communities which grew into city states. Most of these primitive people lived together in the surviving grass huts and were ruled by kings from the wealthiest families. But 50 years after romulus founded his city, a growing tribe of people conquered the fractured communities and became the ruling monarch, these were the etruscans. The etruscans were sophisticated people who created exquisite paintings and pottery. They built elaborate burial tombs, for they believed in eternal life after death. But they were brutal rulers who reigned terror upon the other roman people. In 509 b.C., After over 200 years of hostile oppression, a group of roman aristocrats ousted the monarchy. In its place they created a new government, the roman republic. A republic that would grow beyond anyone's wildest dreams. It was the dawn of a new era. Gone were the days of tyrannical kings. The power was no longer in the hands of one person. The new government was run by two consuls. These magistrates shared power over the republic by making laws and overseeing legal cases. New consuls were elected each year by a committee of senators who made decisions on government policy. (Music) the roman republic had two classes of citizens. The plebeians, rome's general populous who were merchants, craftsmen and farmers, and the patricians, the elite class who held political power. Like so much else that the romans did, it was largely unplanned. There was no constitutional convention, there were no jefferson, madison or franklin, there was no written document. They overthrow the last etruscan king, meant that rome established a republic. But the ironic thing about that is the power of each of the consuls was modeled on that of the etruscan king whom they had overthrown. The differece was, that there were two. The plebeians complained that the new system of government was not much better than the old system. Although plebeians were allowed to vote, only the patricians were allowed to run for political office. In 471 b.C., The plebeians created a tribune in which ten men were elected to represent their class against any political oppression by the consuls or patricians. In 450 b.C., A system of laws called the 12 tables was set up to protect the rights of every citizen. Over the centuries, law became a prestigious profession. Cicero, a man from a modestly  wealthy family, became one of rome's most celebrated lawyers and orators. His parents were not noble, they were not in the senate. He's one of the few people who managed to attain that all on his own. He's is the finest orator in rome. He's the lawyer everyone wants, and in an age when everyone is being sued and litigated against for various reasons, cicero is the man you go to. This makes an extremely valuable and an ally of all sorts of powerful people. Like a modern lawyer, cicero was a crafty public defender who played up the drama in the courtroom. During one of his trials, he hired orphans off the streets to pose as the starving children of a woman he was defending against her husband. Cicero addressed the jury. I will focus only on my client's innocence today. And thus i will completely ignore the fact that the prosecutor in this case is an infamous philanderer who beats his wife and steals from innocent grandmothers. Hot shot attorneys demonstrated their merits by winning legal cases, but most roman men would demonstrate their worth on the battlefield. 

From the fifth to the second century b.C., Rome had expanded its influence beyond the borders of italy. Each of the two counsuls built up a powerful army, divided into legions of men from various classes. The roman legions evolved into the fiercest fighting machines the world had yet seen. In their initial quest to plunder territories,  of their wealth, these soldiers of fortune were on their way to romanizing the world. Over time, the territories they conquered became provinces of rome. As the roman empire expands, the provinces are always important because they bring in more booty. The roman system is not -- early on is not to conquer, to make people citizens and to tax them. It's to simply bleed the provinces for everything they possibly can and all this wealth ends up back in rome. By the second century b.C., The roman army had conquered most of the mediterranean basin, including greece, parts of north africa, spain, asia and the middle east. Over time the counsuls elected governors to oversee each province. Eventually most of the people within the provinces were allowed to become roman citizens. When the romans conquered an area, what they would do was let the citizens of these conquered areas participate in measured ways in further roman conquests. What the romans did not do, and this sets them apart from other people in the ancient world, was tax the people that they conquered. Instead what they asked these communities to give were their sons. They asked for a certain number of troops to be provided each year to fight along with the roman army under roman command. But it also allowed the conquered people to participate in the success of war, that is, soldiers going out from these communities came home after the victories with booty bringing new wealth in the community. Much of this wealth was brought back to rome, the capital of the empire. Among the booty were marble statues used to decorate the forum, the civic center of the city. By 100 b.C., The forum was flowing with activity and excitement. Orators made public speechs in front of the senate building. Citizens prayed and made sacrifices at the many public temples dedicated to their pagan gods such as jupiter, minerva and apollo. The forum blossomed into a monumental wonder, a true symbol of rome's growing power and wealth. As you walked through the forum you wouldn't see this sort of pristine white sober landscape. You would have seen a riot of color actually. We also have to remember rome was a vertical city, the romans invented the skyscraper it may have only been four or five stories tall,  but many people lived in tenements that were at least that tall. To build these powerful cities, rome needed man power. While many of the people from conquered lands became citizens, many more were auctioned off as slaves. Thousands of these slaves were educated in secure positions as philosophers, musicians, dancers and teachers. But tens of thousands more were forced into brutal manual labor. Standing in front of the quarries at syracuse, which are one of the largest stone quarries from the ancient world, the quarries were cut by the strokes of human hands, and each hand belonged to a slave. But the jobs most dangerous and no one else would do were the jobs that slaves had to do. These were places people worked and were worked to death. Whenever we think about classical antiquity, whenever we think about what was produced,  the wonderful buildings, and the literature, we must realize that all of this was based upon slave labor. And it's appropriate that in front of the quarries we have a capital carved from stone. So in one sense you can see the architectural glory of the classical world, but we must always remember it was based upon the labor of slaves. At times these slaves could have the whole might of the roman army focused on them. Of the many slave revolts of the time, the largest took place on the italian peninsula. The rebellion was instigated by a slave named spartacus who was forced to fight as a gladiator. A dangerous sport where slaves fought slaves to the death for the publics amusement. No longer willing to risk his life in the gladitorial arena, spartacus escaped and gradually assembled tens of thousands of slaves to join forces with him. For two years they held off the roman army and plundered the countryside. Spartacus's slave revolt i think is very important in the way that romans think about slaves. It was the most dangerous of the slave revolts. It took two or three roman legions to suppress it and it reminded the romans that those slaves who peopled their household, against who they past, rubbed shoulders in the street could and perhaps wanted to murder them in their beds. The spartacus slave revolt is an enormous trauma for republican rome, an enormous embarrassment and humiliation because the the idea of a slave army beating a roman army is unthinkable in rome. To save face, romes counsul sent two of their most celebrated commanders to hunt down the rebels. Crassus a wealthy seasoned general, and pompey a gifted warrior who's military conquests garnered him the title pompey the great. I think once you been named the great at the age of 25, i think that probably defines your character for the rest of your life. He was not a man who had any patience at all with the forums of the senate. He didn't come from a noble family so that he actually had to have friends make cheat books for him as to how the senate worked and the procedure. In 72 B.C.Crassus with the help of pompey commanded 40,000 men to hunt down spartacus and his renegade slaves. Within a year most of the slaves were cornered and killed. But spartacus and 6,000 slaves were taken prisoner and crucified. The crosses stretched for miles along the apian way. Rome's major thoroughfare. Crucifixion was a fairly common form of execution and it was quite clear people would indeed live in some time in this agony until eventually they effectively died of suffication. Because it was more difficult for them to make the necessary movements to keep breathing, so eventually they would sufficate and the bodies would be left there to decay by the roadside as a warning to others. The spartacus revolt marked the last epic slave war of the ancient world. Crassus and pompey were made consuls in rome. Their victory gave them enormous control of the senate. But in time pompy and crassus would eventually lose their power to a man who would rule the entire roman world. 
In the first century b.C. The roman empire would witness the rise of one of history's greatest leaders. It was said that in war no one surpassed him; in love no one matched him. And in time his name would come to symbolize absolute power. His birth name was guyas julius caesar. But he would eventually be known as dictator of the mediterranean world. He was born into a patrician family in 100 B.C. His parents were harsh disciplinarians who beat their son frequently as a way of whipping him into manhood. He grew up to be tall, muscular with nerves of steel. His physical vanity was openly expressed, as well as his insatiable drive to succeed. At age 18 caesar enlisted in the army and quickly rose to the rank of military commander. He was determined to make his mark on rome and the world. Julius caesar is driven by ambition pure and simple. This is a quest for power, this is a quest to out alexander the great. Alexander the great of course had conquered most of the known world by the time he was 30. There's a famous story of julius caesar in spain seeing a statue of alexander the great and bursting into tears saying i am only 25 and i have not yet conquered anything. I think it was this burning ambition not only to be as powerful as possible, but also in memory and history to stand above alexander the great. Julius caesar demanded unwaivering loyalty from his soldiers who were paid handsomely for their sevices. Caesar's first military conquest was capturing spain in 61 B.C. His brutal tactics on the battlefield made him a dangerous threat to the senate back in rome. The republican senators rewarded caesar by electing him as one of rome's co-consuls. But even this position didn't satisfy him. He wanted even more control over the senate who considered him a power hungry warlord. In 60 B.C., Caesar petitioned rome's former co-consuls pompey and crassus to form a three-way leadership within the republic. With crassus's money and pompey's military influence caesar was able to overthrow all senatorial opposition. The three men created rome's first triumvirate. Caesar sealed the deal by allowing pompey to marry his daughter, julia. Caesar proved to be as shrewd in the political arena as he had been on the battlefield. He positioned himself as man of the people going into the slum neighborhoods of rome to support the poor. This was less a virtuous act and more a political tool used against the conservative senators who still treated him as an outsider driven by his own self interests and not the interests of the republic. The citizens of rome i think played an important part in caesar's political ambitions. They along with the army were a significant element in the formation of his power base. He was always sure and certain that he wanted the support of the roman people and that he was always going to make sure that they were on his side. He spent some considerable effort, often through the organization of mob violence, to make sure that the city of rome was always backing him. The three rulers split up the empire equally. After their one-year term in office, crassus and pompey went their separate ways. But caesar now used his political clout to do as he pleased. He bribed the new co-consuls of rome to provide him with an army big enough to conquer the massive region of gaul, now modern france. For nine years between 58 and 50 b.C. Caesar led several legions into gaul crushing the opposition. Along the way, caesar and his army became extremely wealthy plundering gaul of its riches. But the toll and human suffering was enormous. Caesar was responsible for the death and enslavement of over a million persons. The romans had never been easy on defeated enemies, but caesar took it to a new scale. If we look at caesar as one of the great men, we must also consider him one of the great killers. Caesar's conquest of gaul was another pivotal moment in roman history. He now had the army and wealth from the spoils of war to defeat anyone opposing him, including his former partners crassus and pompey, who both envied his success. Crassus was eventually killed in the battle of keron fighting the partheons. His head was subsequently used in a greek play put on by the partheon king. Back in rome the two new co-consuls for the year 50 b. C. Were hostile to caesar. Pompy even distanced himself from caesar by supporting his opponents in the senate. The crisis came about in 49 when caesar wished to return to rome to run for office once again. His opponents would not allow him to run for office, he claimed this was a negation  of his rights. And in 49 he invaded italy. Caesar declared civil war on rome, he rode with his legions to the rubicon, the river that separated italy from gaul. There caesar addressed his men. Let us accept this as a sign from the gods and follow where they call in vengeance on our treacherous enemy. The dye is cast. (Music)  in 49 b.C. Caesar crossed the rubicon, and seized control of italy. Pompey had fled rome, and mobilized his men in greece. Caesar hunted down his former partner and waged a decisive attack. Pompy's men many of whom were intimidated by caesar's seasoned troops, deserted him in droves. After a vicious clash, caesar was victorious. (Music) pompy who survived the bloodbath quickly fled to egypt with caesar in pursuit. Upon his arrival in alexandra, egypt. Caesar was greeted by the ten year old king  who presented him with a gift, the head of pompy. A good will gesture from the citizens of egypt to the hero of rome. Egypt was an enormous wealthy place very, very much worth having, but in political anarchy. For many, many years the romans left it that way. They left it that way because they didn't trust any particular roman aristocrat to go out there and deal with egypt, it was too rich and too dangerous. Caesar when he got there saw what the situation was and decided that he would stabilize the country. Egypt was looking for military support from rome. But caesar was more interested in another kind of alliance. He would soon find himself in partnership with king ptolemy's sister. Her name was cleopatra. 
In 51 B.C., Julius caesar found himself in the middle of a family feud.  The egyptian king, ptolemy the 12th had willed his throne to his ten-year-old son ptolmey the 13th and his 18-year-old daughter cleopatra. Of egypt's cold rulers, cleopatra was the gifted one. She was a witty and highly educated woman for her time who felt comfortable in the company of powerful men. But deceit and deception loomed inside the palace walls. Ptolemy eventually had cleopatra exiled from the city in an attempt to seize total power. When cleopatra heard that caesar was in alexandria, she was determined to meet with him. The city was still in the hostile hands of her brother's supporters. So the queen smuggled herself back into alexandria wrapped in an oriental carpet. The 50 year old caesar was impressed by the 18-year-old queen who unraveled before him. The two formed an alliance and crushed ptolemy and his supporters. Caesar and cleopatra began a torrid love affair. They spent weeks taking romantic sunset cruises down the nile. Cleopatra soon became pregnant with caesar's son. Caesar was eventually forced to leave his egyptian mistress. Duty called him to another war in asia minor. In 47 B.C. Caesar's army's sacked at the battle of zella. It was there he cried out his famous creed. Veni, vidi, vichi. I came, I saw, i conquered. In 46 B.Cc julius caesar rode back to rome in a triumph. Cleopatra and their infant son she named cesarean accompanied him. The roman people made the 54-year-old war hero dictator of rome, a position citizens voted on only in times of civil war or other political crisis. But while caesar was being honored, his new mistress, cleopatra, was being looked upon with suspicion. Cleopatra was viewed as a threat to roman society because she opposed all the decent roman womanhood stood for. She was renowned for her sexual license and her sexual practices. It was as though the roman matron solidly in her domestic setting in rome were threatened by this eastern siren, cleopatra was bad news. This had not been the first time caesar had taken up a mistress. Although he was married to his third wife calpurnia, adultery was legal for men as long as the woman wasn't married, and caesar took  full advantage of his liberties. Julius ceasar apart from being a great politician, a great military man, a great administrator seems also to have also been a very great womanizer. His reputation for his affairs with women, for being a real lady's man was so great that in his last years there was a proposal that caesar be given the right, the privilege, the possibility of having a sexual relationship with any woman he chose, as many women as he chose. And this surely, even if the story isn't true, is a reflection on the reputation caesar had. I think caesar must have been a very sexy man. There are stories when he was on campaigns that the soldiers would sing a song as he was going into a town, and they would say, men, lock up your wives because caesar is on his way. I think a man who had such extraordinary power as caesar is an attractive proposition for many women. More than his love for women, caesar had an unyielding drive to show off his power. Bypassing senate approval, he launched numerous programs including the cancellation of farmers' debts. He instituted the julian calendar of 365 and 1/4th days. The month of july was even named in honor of his first name, julius. Rome's lower classes applauded his efforts to improve their lives. To them he could do no wrong. In 45 B.C., In an unprecedented show of gratitude, the roman citizens voted the 54-year-old caesar dictator for life. He was now an even bigger threat to the old roman establishment, namely the senators who feared he was wielding too much power. Once he becomes dictator, I think there is probably a change in his personality in a way. I think when a man attains that kind of glory and magnitude, i think he began to sort of look down on institutions like the senate and the republic. And thinking perhaps he does know best. Caesar's reckless use of power would eventually do him in. A group of senators led by cassius and caesar's close friend brutus plotted his demise. Caesar's wife, calpurnia, warned him about a dream she had that he would be assasinated. But he disregarded her warnings. On the ides of march in 44 b.C., Caesar strolled into the senate building. He casually entered the senate chambers unaware of his impending doom, then suddenly the assassins attacked. A mob of senators repeatedly stabbed caesar with their daggers. The violent act was frenzied and gruesome. After enduring 27 fatal blows, caesar finally covered his face with his toga so no one could see him die. News of caesar's assassination roused chaos in the streets of rome. The assassins came out of the senate chambers crying liberty, but many of his supporters were angered by his murder. Mark anthony made an emotional plea before the roman people to give their fallen leader a public burial. Mark anthony's speech was such that the crowd, when they saw caesar's body, rioted, grabbed his body and decided to cremate it themselves. So they took it down here to the other end of the forum and cremated the body right on the spot. Soon afterwards, a popular cult grew up around the spot where the body was cremated. A monument was raised, and if you walk in, we can see the remains of the alter, which to this day is venerated by romans or at least some romans. Flowers are placed on the grave, particularly celebrating the ides of march by monarchists who revered the memory of caesar the dictator. In death julius caesar became a roman icon despite his detractors. Temples were built in his name, where he remained chief priest or pontiff maximus. He was even declared by some to be a god. Caesar symbolizes I think one good thing and one bad thing. He symbolizes the new political state of the roman empire. The idea of an empire ruled by an emperor, and after all, all emperors will call themselves caesar. And julius caesar becomes something that is also very threatening to all subsequent roman empires. They remember that in that drive to become a monarch, julius caesar was brutally assasinated. That image hung like a dark cloud over emperors for the next six centuries. Caesar helped to romanize the world, but he also left the roman republic in turmoil. The infighting within the senate brought the government to a standstill. There was also the problem of how to handle the ever growing population of people. The republic was in desperate need of a new leader. 

Amidst the chaos following julius caesar's assassination all of rome was anxious to find out who would become his successor. Cleopatra had bore caesar his only son, cesarean. Mark anthony, caesar's deputy, had positioned himself has rightful heir, but even in death caesar had his way on roman politics. In his will he is posthumusly adopted his sister's grandson. The unknown 19-year-old, octavius, was to become heir to caesar's estate and rome. He only found about his adoption when caesar was assasinated, because of the will. It took considerable courage to come to rome and claim his inheritance, but come to rome he did and he immediately began politicking, playing a double game against mark anthony on one hand and the conservatives on the other. So you have a fellow who began his career as a young demagogue, managed through the name alone to gain control of an army. Octavius, better known as octavian, was a physically weak and spoiled adolescent who was inexperienced when it came to matters of government. He faced immediate opposition from mark anthony, a brash military commander, who had proven his loyalty to caesar in several military, battles. But anthony also had a reckless side. Anthony had a tremendous reputation for very, very wild living. Wild orgys, drinking parties, all night revels, sexual activities with both men and women. We have a very violent attack against all aspects of anthony's private life as well as his public life, by the great orator and politician cicero, who calls anthony a drink soden, sex ridden wreck. One particular incident where anthony had a meeting, political meeting in the morning, he was so hung over by these excesss of the night before, that he actually attended the meeting still drunk, still hung over, and vomited up into his toga in the middle of the meeting. Octavian would one day use anthony's unruly behavior to his advantage. The teenager was ambitious and cunning. He realized he needed to form an alliance with mark anthony in order to seize total power over the empire. Octavian plotted his future, he created rome's second triumvirate. Sharing the power with marc anthony and marcus lepidus who had been a provincial governor. Lepidus soon fell out of the three-way coalition which left octavian and anthony to divide up the empire. Octavian took charge of the provinces  of the west which included spain, italy and gaul. Marc anthony commanded the eastern provinces of north africa and asia. Following in caesar's footsteps, anthony eventually formed an alliance with the egyptian queen cleopatra. The first great meeting between anthony and cleopatra is the famous one that took place in what is now the south coast of turkey. Cleopatra obviously by now, a much more experienced woman, not as when she first met caesar, sailing up the river in a great boat that was decorated with gold and purple drapes, she herself was dressed as the goddess venus. There were musicians and perfumes and that she sailed along the river to meet anthony, a great spectacle. Her rowers caressed the water with oars of silver which dipped in time to the music of the flute. Cleopatra was no longer grieving over the loss of julius caesar. The egyptian queen fell madly in love with the ambitious marc anthony. With her relationship with julius caesar cleopatra not only learned about love but also learned how to manipulate powerful roman generals. She learned a catalog of exercises, sexual and political, which enabled her to ensnare marc anthony. Of course, these things go both ways. The important thing about julius caesar, marc anthony and cleopatra is that they all knew precisely what they were doing. If they fell in love, if they went to bed together, they all did it knowingly. This was a relationship between powerful individuals who all knew what the game was. Well, the liason between anthony and cleopatra is one of the most celebrated relationships in all of history. But what's more interesting is that anthony left egypt after that, did not see cleopatra for four years. Obviously he wasn't pining away for her. In fact, he got married during that time to octavian's sister, octavia. Marc anthony had hoped that his marriage to octavia would assure loyalty from octavians. But anthony eventually left his wife and returned to alexandria to seal a political deal with cleopatra. The two lovers planned to oust the young octavian and rule the western world together. However, their partnership provided octavian with the opportunity he had been looking for. Octavian spearheaded a ruthless propaganda campaign. He told the roman people that cleopatra had cast a spell over anthony, that the two lovers spent their time having lavish banquets and orgys, that anthony was willing to give her half the roman world. Octavian's smear campaign worked. The roman citizens supported octavian's decision to declare war on anthony and cleopatra. In the battle of actium in 31 B.C., Octavian's military defeated anthony's and cleopatra's ships on the mediterranean sea. The two lovers managed to escape the naval battle unharmed and retreated to egypt. Anthony and cleopatra knew octavian's men would come after them. In his final act, anthony retired to his chambers, drew his sword, and stabbed himself in the chest. His suicidal death was slow, painful. When cleopatra learned that anthony had taken his life, she decided to end hers. The egyptian queen wrapped a poisonous snake around her arm and received a lethal bite. It was said both marc anthony and cleopatra commit suicide in order to preserve their reputations. It would have been much worse for them if, for example, they had appeared in octavian's triumph in rome. They both make the most noble exit from the political stage that they possibly can under the circumstances. With anthony and cleopatra dead, octavian's henchmen murdered caesar's only son, cesarean. Now no one stood in octavian's way. The roman republic had crumbled. In its place octavian helped establish a new government, the imperial roman empire. Octavian saw his dream come to fruition. He became rome's first emperor and sole ruler of the most powerful nation the ancient world had ever known. (Closed captioning provided by a&e television networks). (Closed captioning performed by bcs captioning, inc.) 

 Their names are legendary,  

SECOND HOUR
Sun Jan 25 16:00:56 2004
Join us now for rome, the age of the emperors on world time line. 

 The world's greatest empire, but it wasn't built in a day. The rise, the fall, the conquerors, the conquered, rome. 

 Hello, I'm joe mantegna. It was a magnificent empire where emperors wielded supreme power. Famous men like augustus, caligula, claudius and nero. They ruled an ancient civilization at its height of power and glory, a world of hedonism, drama and debauchery. Join us as we expose the public and private lives of these rulers. 

 The early roman empire came to symbolize the fine art of governing producing such memorable leaders as pompey the great, julius caesar and marc antony, but in 31 B.C., The rebulican government in existence almost five centuries had been dismantled. It was the dawning of a golden age. Instead of distributing the leadership between two consuls as it had in the past, supreme power was now placed in the hands of one man who became known as ceasar augustus. 

 Ceasar augustus, son of a god, who shall establish the age of gold in latium, over fields which once were saturn's realm -- virgil. 

 In 27 b.C., Gaius octavius thurinus, better known as octavian, would become the empire's most celebrated leader. Born in 63 b.C., Octavian grew up in an italian aristocratic family. He was a spoiled and sickly youth, who overcompensated for his physical weakness by studying literature and mastering public speaking. In 44 B.C., Octavian's grand uncle, the roman dictator julius caesar, was assassinated. Ceasar had always been fond of the young and spirited octavian. Since he didn't have any legitimate heirs, in his will ceasar posthumously adopted octavian and willed him his estate. Against his parents' wishes, octavian traveled to rome to claim ceasar's estate and his name. Once there, octavian ran into opposition from marc antony, ceasar's former governor who felt the cocky teenager was unworthy of the inheritance. 

 You, boy, who owe everything to a name -- marc antony. 

 Ceasar's death and ceasar's legacy were a hot political item and for a young man of 19 with, as marc antony said, nothing but a name, it took considerable courage to come to rome. 

 He was called ceasar octavius. The magic of that name gave him great power over caesar's veterans. 

 Under the roman republic, octavian couldn't inherit ceasar's former position in rome, but as a blood heir octavian used the influence behind ceasar's name to establish a power base in rome. Over the next 17 years, he built up an army and defeated his rival marc antony, who subsequently committed suicide. After years of bloody civil war, octavian had restored peace and order to the empire. The roman people rewarded octavian with a new title, augustus, meaning semi-divine. With the new title, came other changes. 

 The change between octavian and augustus is a very, very important one. It's partly a matter of maturity and so from this almost youthful image of octavian, we move to a stern, mature, deliberately manly image of augustus. 

 Central, I think, to augustus's legitimacy of his regime was the idea that rome in some senses had been returned to a golden age, an age before sin. 

 Augustus became the first of a long succession of emperors who would rule the roman empire for the next 500 years. He was now sole ruler of the mediterranean world which encompassed italy, egypt, syria, spain, gaul and portions of asia minor. Settling into an office he would hold for life, augustus was given the right to appoint provincial governors, propose laws, preside at public ceremonies and control the senate. During the republican empire, the senate governed policies. Now under imperial rule, the senate was stripped of its previous power. They did little more than run the empire's treasury. 

 The roman people unanimously agreed that i should be elected overseer of laws and morals, without a colleague, and with the fullest power -- augustus. 

 Julius caesar may well have been the greatest roman military commander, but his adopted son would become rome's finest politician. Augustus was an educated man with a quick wit, who knew how to work the senate. Unlike julius caesar, augustus was frugal and cared nothing about his personal appearance. 

 He was so far from being particular about the dressing of his hair, that he would have several barbers working in a hurry at the same time and as for his beard, he now had it clipped and now shaved, while at the very same time he would either be reading or writing something -- seutonius. 

 Augustus was hardly a military leader. He cared less about foreign policy matters and more about the domestic issues at hand, namely pax romana, a policy of maintaining a peaceful empire. By the beginning of his reign in 27 B.C., The population of people throughout the empire had swelled into the millions. 

 One of the great strengths of the roman empire is roman citizenship. Unlike other empires or other societies, romans are very inclusive in offering citizenship to newly conquered provinces, newly conquered peoples. Citizenship made the roman empire a kind of melting pot. 

 Roman citizens were allowed certain rights. Only children from wealthy families could receive a primary education. But only boys from wealthy families could go on to secondary school, whereas the girls were usually forced into arranged marriages. 

 The roman family was a peculiar institution. The figure who held power in the family was called the pater familas, the father of the family, and he would hold all power, that is he would hold power over his sons, over his grandsons, over his great-grandsons in the male line. He would have power over his wife and he would have power over his unmarried daughters. He had the power to execute sons and daughters if he wanted to. He also had power to force his children to marry, he could force them to divorce. 

 Domestic squabbles were usually handled within the family. However, the private matter of marriage would soon become a public concern during the age of augustus.  

 During the imperial period, men were a prized commodity. Emperor augustus knew this all too well, as he was faced with a declining male population. Young men were needed to fortify the dwindling army and to fill governing posts. As a result the emperor instituted policies that encouraged upper class men to marry and procreate. 

 If we could survive without a wife, citizens of rome, all of us would do without that nuisance, but since nature has so decreed, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure -- augustus. 

 What he did as a result of this was regulate marriages so that if a roman senator married early and had children, children was the key, he would get certain dispensations, he could run for office earlier, he could inherit in an easier way. If you didn't have children at a certain age, there were certain penalties. You were not allowed to inherit the full amount that someone might give you. 

 Women were also provided with incentives to marry. If a wife bore three children or more, she was allowed to inherit her husband's or father's property upon his death. Before augustus took power, women had no property rights, nor were they allowed to live independently, but even with these incentives, having children was still a heavy burden. 

 Because giving birth was such a dangerous thing for a woman and because so many women died actually giving birth, birth control and abortion were practiced in both the lower classes and the upper classes. We're lucky to have surviving a work by a greek doctor from the first century who writes on these things. The methods of birth control, one of them was the rhythm method, but unfortunately, he got the rhythm wrong so it wouldn't have helped many women. As far as abortion goes, again, we have records of methods practiced. Some of them sound quite familiar, I think. They advised hot baths, they advised jumping up and down a lot, they advised lifting heavy objects, riding animals, things like that. 

 Augustus promoted marriage and family in an effort to reform what he believed were the failing morals of roman society. However, augustus would soon discover that his family values plan would cause a scandal within the imperial palace. For centuries romans freely indulged in their sexual pleasures and desires, partaking in lustful orgies or having clandestine love affairs, but in 2 B.C., Emperor augustus went on a crusade to clean up what he believed was immoral behavior. He instituted family values legislation, making adultery a crime. Extramarital affairs were no longer a private matter between husband and wife. They were a matter of the state. 

 If a woman was caught in adultery, she would not only lose a substantial amount of property, but she would be divorced by her husband, but she would be exiled to an island where she would live under unpleasant circumstances away from her family and most importantly, away from rome. 

 Roman men were allowed under law to kill their daughters or wives if they were caught performing an adulterous act. Women, however, were not granted the same legal privileges. 

 There's very definitely a double standard for men and women. When augustus introduced the laws on adultery, he himself was caught out in his own family. It seems that augustus himself committed adultery. This is referred to, probably more for political reasons than his interest in the women, that he wanted to find out what their husbands were up to. 

 Augustus excluded himself from any moral judgment, but he enforced his strict moral laws on all roman citizens, including his own family members. In 2 b.C. The emperor's daughter julia was caught in an adulterous act. Augustus himself sentenced her to spend the rest of her life on a secluded island. 

 Julia had a tremendous reputation of having wild orgies, of engaging in affairs with many of the upper class men of rome and augustus exiled her to an island. She was never recalled from exile. She died in exile. But one thing that is interesting, i think, is in the first imperial family, the julia claudian family, five emperors, six of the women are exiled for adultery, six of them. It's a way of getting rid of women who for some reason are dangerous. We don't know what the reasons are. There are sometimes suspicions that the men they're involved with are perhaps a threat to the stability of the government and so the reasons, although they're exiled for adultery, it's not just that. 

 Augustus' wife was one of the few aristocratic women who escaped moral scandal. Livia drusilla was married and pregnant when she met the 25-year-old augustus. She eventually divorced her husband and became augustus' third wife, but livia didn't sit quietly in the imperial palace. She was a shrewd, calculating first lady who wanted her son tiberius, to eventually take over the throne. 

 She's one of the very few women who was absolutely free from sexual scandal. There's not a hint ever made against livia's private life in that sense and in this way she's very different from the other women who were surrounded by scandals, by sexual scandals, by stories of orgies and things like that. 

 Although augustus was a philanderer, he remained married to livia until his death. The ancient author seutonius wrote that augustus loved and esteemed her to the end, without a rival.

By enforcing his moral legislation, emperor augustus was able to influence most aspects of the empire, including the arts, but in time, some of his harsh tools of governing would fall out of favor with the citizens of rome. 

 The roman empire produced some of the greatest literary minds in history. There was livy, who wrote 142 books on the history of rome. And virgil, the philosopher poet, who wrote the epic book aeneid. 

 One of the significant cultural ways in which augustus established his power was by funding, supporting and controlling a group of court poets who wrote the kind of poetry that celebrated augustus' moral revolution and the new golden age which augustus claimed to have brought to rome. These were poets who wrote for money, who wrote on the strict conditions of patronage. 

 Emperor augustus dictated what kinds of books roman authors could write, but not all writers abided by his decree. The poet ovid wrote a book called "the art of love" an instructional manual on how to seduce women, and more specifically, how to have an affair with a married woman. Augustus w was outraged by the contents of the book. As punishment, he exiled ovid from rome. 

 There's, of course, an appalling irony in all of this because one of the most immoral and disorganized, dysfunctional families in imperial rome is augustus', but the persistent rumors about the imperial family must have undermined augustus' own moral stance, must in some way have made him appear in public to be more of a hypocrite than he would have wished. 

 Augustus' morality laws proved to be unpopular and ineffective. The emperor found it increasingly difficult to enforce legislation that he himself disregarded. 

 Augustus gained more support for his efforts to promote religious worship throughout the empire. He did so by restoring pagan temples. He was also praised for reinvigorating the popular cult, the vestal virgins. 

 Vesta was the roman goddess of the hearth and home. Her cult consisted of six virgins called vestals. These virgins cloistered themselves inside a temple to care for the eternal flame of vesta. The opportunity to become a vestal priestess was a high honor. Girls six to ten years of age were chosen by the emperor. For 30 years the women would swear their virginity and devotion to the goddess. Violation of their chastity could mean imprisonment or death. 

 For the vestal who was vowed to chastity for her entire life, the punishment is quite awful. She's put on the funeral pyre and carried through the streets while her family mourns and tears their hair and then she's buried in a chamber underground with beans and water and left up to the goddess vesta whether she lives or dies. I think in every generation there seems to be a vestal virgin scandal. This is something that occurs every 30 or 40 years, within memory there had been vestals buried alive. 

 During his 40 years on the imperial throne, augustus put forward a litany of reforms that would uphold him as one of the empire's greatest emperors. He built massive roads and bridges, cleaned up city streets, and even instituted a fire department. He revitalized rome, making it the most opulent city in the world. 

 I left rome a city of marble, though i found it a city of bricks -- augustus. 

 In 14 a.D., Augustus suffered a stroke and was near death. The 74-year-old emperor pondered over whom he would name as his successor. 

 Succession remains a perpetual problem for all roman emperors. In a sense they not only have to establish their dynastic credentials, their relation to augustus, but they also have to show that they're the best citizen available to rule and those two things are often quite difficult to bring together. 

 Augustus had no sons to inherit the throne. While he lay near death, the roman empire waited in anxious anticipation to find out who would be the next emperor, a position inherited by a son or blood relative. Without a blood heir, augustus turned over his title to his stepson tiberius. Although his mother livia went to great lengths to persuade augustus to will him his throne, tiberius really didn't want the job. Assuming emperorship was a risky business. Hostile takeovers, revolts, and family intrigues would become a constant worry. Of the first 12 emperors, four would die peacefully, two would commit suicide, and six others would be assassinated. 

 Roman emperors knew that there was always a danger of violent death, perhaps on the battle field, but more likely through assassination, whether by one of their own officers or possibly by another roman politician. Other senators were often caught involved in plots against the life of the emperor. Some of these leading figures, indeed starting with julius caesar himself, were able to really take not much notice of this threat. Julius caesar famously said he would rather die once than constantly die, so to speak, through fearing the threat of assassination, but others seemed to become rather paranoid about the threat of plots to their lives. 

 Augustus himself had in-stated the praetorian guards. Like today's presidential secret servicemen, they were hired to protect the emperor at all costs. Anyone visiting the imperial palace was searched, but sometimes even the praetorian guards would eventually find it difficult to protect emperors from their own children, who often displayed unruly behavior. 

 They had dynasties, but usually younger princes, having been brought up in the imperial palace with very few social restraints, would be dangerously unpredictable as emperors. These are the sorts of figures who are depicted as mad. 

 As the empire grew in power and wealth, many royal princes would go to desperate measures to take over the imperial throne. Most emperors would soon realize the threat of assassination lurked within the palace walls and within the imperial family. 

Ceasar augustus may have invented the term dysfunctional family, but the emperors who succeeded him perfected it. After 23 years on the imperial throne, tiberius died. His successor was his grand-nephew, caligula, who many considered to be insane. Caligula was said to have suffered from epilepsy and insomnia. His sleep disorder provided him with plenty of time to plot the executions of his mother and brothers, as well as commit incest with his sisters. He was an animal lover of the oddest sort, who adored his race horse so much, that he threatened to make him a consul. But caligula's brutal governing tactics eventually got the best of him. In 41 A.D., He was assassinated by his senators. Caligula's uncle claudius was next in line to inherit the throne. When claudius heard his nephew had been murdered by assassins, he cowered behind a palace curtain fearing the assassins would also come after him. He was later discovered by the praetorian guards. Without a suitable replacement for caligula, the praetorians forced the roman people to make claudius their new leader, but for claudius, the image of caligula's murder would forever haunt him. 

 When he walked, his weak knees gave way under him and he had many disagreeable traits. He would foam at the mouth and trickle at the nose. He stammered besides and his head was very shaky at all times -- seutonius. 

 Claudius grew up a sickly child who was verbally abused by his family. His mother antonia, the daughter of marc antony, said her son was a monster of a man. As an adult, claudius became a recluse, co-dependent on drinking, sex and gambling. As emperor, claudius was always on the lookout for assassins, managing to dodge six plots against his life. Over the years, claudius' paranoia led to the executions of 35 senators and over 300 knights that he suspected might do him in. But little did claudius know that his assassin lurked within his own home. Claudius had married caligula's sister, aggripina; however, aggripina secretly wanted nero, her son from a previous marriage, to succeed to the throne. She plotted to murder claudius by serving him a dish of poisonous mushrooms. When the lethal vegetable dish didn't do the trick, aggripina had his physician sneak a drop of poison down his throat. With claudius's death in 54 a.D., His throne was left to his stepson, nero, who later confessed he had a hand in claudius' death. Nero glibly remarked over dinner one night that mushrooms were the food of the gods. For helping her son ascend to the royal throne, aggripina expected to be rewarded by being made co-ruler of rome, but nero had other ideas. 

 And then later on nero decided that his mother was rather overweening and had too much power over him, so he contrived to have her assassinated by some of his own soldiers and officials. So you can see from this example that there were sometimes very serious stresses within these imperial families which could lead to murder. 

 Of all the emperors before and after him, none received more negative press than the emperor nero, portrayed as a self-indulgent tyrant and madman. During his reign he murdered his mother, two wives and a stepbrother. He even castrated one of his male lovers. By day, nero got pleasure by executing and exiling countless men, women and children. By night, he prowled the streets of rome, getting cheap thrills from mugging women and stealing from stores. Nero betrayed friends and family alike. But the emperor also possessed a genteel side. He was a patron of the arts and dabbled in writing poetry, but his greatest passion was music. Never before had an emperor appeared on a roman stage to strum on a lyre or perform in a play. The roman nobles viewed his public appearances as scandalous, but no one dared to question his musical talents for fear of being tortured. 

 I have to confess that nero's one of my favorite emperors. Nero's one of my favorite emperors because he's nothing like as bad as he's portrayed. What's central to nero is the idea of acting, which of course is central to any form of politics, ancient or modern. Nero was a good actor, like any good american president, he acted his way through situations. For this, he was hated by the people who principally wrote the histories. For them he's a man who goes on embarrassing stage tours of greece, who sings while rome burns. 

 In 64 a.D., Nero faced a disaster, a raging fire swept through rome, destroying much of the city. Many roman people blamed the fire on nero, that he intentionally started the inferno in order to level the city, that he needed space to build his own amusement park. 

 There's no need to think that they're deliberately set or that nero was behind this one. In fact, the great fire in rome cleared a lot of slums in the center of the city and allowed nero to build his golden house, a fantastic pleasure park, a pleasure park which we should remember was open to roman citizens, was open to the inhabitants of the city. It's only again the aristocrats who rejected and objected to nero's populist policies that saw this as some kind of extravagance. But this, I think, was a kind of roman disneyland funded by the emperor, jollity for all, but hated by those aristocrats who thought they should have possession and control of the emperor. 

 After the great fire, nero's popularity had sunk to an all time low. His armies and provinces turned against him. Fearing assassination, the 30-year-old nero took his own life, stabbing himself in the neck with a dagger. Self-consumed to the end, according to his secretary, nero's last words were, "what an artist the world is losing." 

 In the year following nero's suicide, the empire went through three emperors, each one quickly meeting a violent death. By the end of 69 a.D., Vespasian became the empire's 9th emperor. Vespasian, an italian from a middle class background, was better liked than the three previous emperors who were from rome's upper class. Vespasian began to rebuild the burned down city of rome once again. In addition to the construction of temples and public buildings, a grand amphitheater was erected. The stone arena dominated the city skyline. It would become an imposing symbol of rome's power and eternal glory. 

 In 80 a.D., No other site in rome attracted more attention than the colosseum. An imperial landmark, an engineering masterpiece. The stone arena stood four stories high, supported by arched vaults, each decorated with stone statues of roman gods. Inside the colosseum long echoing corridors led into row after row of stone seats. Beneath the imposing structure was an underground maze of passageways and caged rooms. Commissioned by the emperor vespasian in 70 A.D., The colosseum was completed ten years later by his son, titus, who became rome's 10th emperor. On opening day 50,000 screaming spectators packed the theater to watch gladiatorial games where half naked men fought to the death using swords, tridents and hand-to-hand combat. Admission was free. The games were a gift from the emperor titus to the people of rome. The arena became a political tool, used by subsequent emperors to win support from the people. And for most citizens, nothing was more thrilling than the sport of killing. 

 I think it's interesting to try to imagine what opening day here was like. The roman citizens must have seen this enormous building rising up to the skies, for six or seven years, they must have watched the process of the building of this enormous construction. They must have known it was for them. It was their building given to them for the emperor. There must have been tremendous excitement, expectation, and then in the year 80, the emperor titus had great ceremonies. There must have been processions, there must have been music, fanfares, it was something that the emperor wanted the people to enjoy so that the people would respond to him, that they would support him and that they wouldn't rebel, they wouldn't cause riots, they wouldn't be difficult. 

 Some gladiators volunteered for this dangerous career. They trained in special schools, hoping to achieve fame and financial rewards. However, most gladiators were typically prisoners, convicted criminals and slaves. For them, the games were a way to win their freedom or a dangerous battle to stay alive. 

 Sometimes they'd be matched against each other so that you'd have the net man, who was agile because he wasn't weighed down by the heavy equipment, fighting a heavily armed gladiator and people would put money, they would back which one they thought would win. There's also evidence that at some few periods in roman history there were women gladiators. 

 The gladiator spectacles were not only about man fighting man. Wild, exotic animals were imported from north africa and asia. The day of an event, hundreds of tigers, lions and bears were kept in cages beneath the colosseum. A system of pulleys hoisted the cages up to the arena level when the animals were scheduled to fight. 

 There was a very set program for the games in the colosseum, which built up to a climax at the end of the day. In the morning there were animal fights, fights between animals where you'd have a smaller animal being attacked by a larger animal. This would then graduate to animal fighters coming in and fighting the animals. This then would graduate to another spectacle, perhaps one of the most horrendous of the spectacles, in the mid day session, the so-called mid day matinee, when criminals would be brought in to entertain the public and the criminals would simply be executed. 

 The colosseum was just one of the several venues that hosted these spectator sports. Since the days of spartacus in 80 B.C., Similar stone amphitheaters were constructed in almost every roman province. 

 I'm in the amphitheater at syracuse, which is an interesting place. This amphitheater, as we see it now, was built in about 200 A.D.. One of the things that the builders of amphitheaters had to think about was protecting the spectators. One of the ways in which the spectators were protected from the wild beasts was by having barriers put up and what we find frequently is that the barriers were round at the sides so that when the animals might try to jump up they would slip down. What we also find is these could be used for other purposes and here we have an inscription which tells us that this marked out the place, the seating element, the seating area which belonged to the family of statilius. This is the logo statilius, the place where the family had purchased their seating. 

 As the games grew in popularity, each emperor had to put on bigger and better shows to appease the public's lust for blood and violence. Sometimes the colosseum was flooded in order to stage mock naval battles. Years later in 107 a.D., The emperor trajan would host the largest slaughtering match, 10,000 gladiators and over 11,000 animals brutally killed. 

 It's clear, however, that human beings are fascinated by blood, by violence, by murder and in modern societies we can say that similar things we have, such as bull fights, dog fights, the violence that we have programmed now into television, but I think in the end, the difference between what we see on the television screen, the violence that modern people are fascinated by is a world apart from what took place here and that is the deliberate, the very deliberate massacre and slaughter of human beings exclusively for the entertainment of the public. 

 But the gladiator spectacles weren't the most popular games in ancient rome. Throughout the empire, frenetic fans jammed race tracks called circuses to watch their favorite chariot thunder to victory. Charioteers and their horses were divided into teams called reds, blues, greens and whites. Sometimes eight chariots would compete at one time for a cash prize and the sheer glory of winning. But the race was dangerous. In the fury, chariots often collided when turning corners. Any sudden collision could mean a loss of limbs or lives. While the roman people enjoyed public spectacles, not all of them involved violence. Citizens attended the theater to watch a play or music recital. They also sought relaxation by going to the public bath houses. Romans visited these ancient health spas on a daily basis to wash, exercise or even conduct business meetings. 

 Visiting the roman baths is a matter of going into a whole sequence of rooms, cold, warm, hot, which you may do in various different orders. Here, the great echoing room is the frigidarium, the cold room and at the end is the cold plunge, invigorating dip here and you're right up to your chin in water. The money and the interest that they put into baths showed the importance of bathing in roman social life. Let's go through from the cold room into next we reach a changing room and this room covered with stuccoes with figures of gods and men in  armor. Let's go this way and have a proper dip. This is almost like this is a thermal bath. Again, nearly six foot deep down the steps, so here i'm up to about my chest, but in the center of the bath is a heating mechanism, a very unusual heating mechanism made of bronze, a circle with another circle in the middle, and down below us there's another furnace and this would be continuously warm, sending up  warm water all around this pool. And you can imagine, you can easily get 30 people here together and it's that -- that fact of 30, 40 naked people together that raises for the romans is one of the moral worries about the baths. What happens when you're all just naked together and one way they deal with that is to say, well, at least let's keep men and women separate. Let's have separate baths for women and men because mixed naked bathing is too much to ask of any civilization. 

 Most romans didn't have the luxury of owning a bathtub or shower, nor did they have such amenities as soap. So citizens visited the baths often. They cleaned themselves by lathering oil on their skin and scraping it off with a curved metal instrument. In addition to bathing, the baths offered massages, body waxing, and hair plucking. 

 There's a marvelous description by the philosopher seneca of how horrible it was to have a flat near public baths because he says you could hear all the people squealing and shouting to each other, and the worst thing of all he says is when the underarm hair plucker gets to work and the squeals that come from people as they have their hair plucked. 

 The roman empire offered a variety of public pastimes for its citizens to enjoy. The rituals and traditions of daily life gave the roman people a sense of belonging. Established by augustus, the  first emperors created a cultural tradition that would last for centuries. They reminded citizens that they, too, were part of a thriving empire, the glorious empire of rome. "Closed captioning provided by a&e television networks" "closed captioning  


3RD HOUR
Sun Jan 25 17:00:22 2004
it was monumental, an empire encompassing most of europe and northern africa,it's expansionism made it stronger, as it consumed many regions and diverse cultures. Join us now as history international presents: Rome, building an empire, on world timeline. 

 Narrator: The world's greatest empire. But it wasn't built in a day. The rise; the fall. The conquerors. The conquered. Rome. 

 Narrator: Hello. I'm joe mantegna. By the first century a.D., The roman empire had expanded its boundaries to the farthest reaches of the mediterranean world. The roman people became an exotic mix of cultures from such diverse  cities as athens, jerusalem, and pompeii. Despite their differences, these people had one thing in common. Together, they built the foundations of an empire. Monumental wonders, such as temples, aqueducts, bridges, and  roads. The roman empire was a cultural melting pot; a nation of diverse sights, sounds, and smells. By 80 A.D., The idea of being roman had spread across the  mediterranean world. The empire stretched from britain to syria, including countless territories, from the atlantic coast of portugal and the mountains  of central europe to the deserts of egypt, the middle east and  beyond. Rome was still capital of the world, a truly cosmopolitan city. But by the late first century A.D., There were 4,000 other rome,  cities within the provinces of the roman empire. Since the third century b.C., The roman empire's vast expansionism  was due to the strength and ingenuity of its government as well as its army. Heavily armed legions helped build the foundations of the mediterranean superpower, conquering foreign territories of  diverse customs, languages, and religious beliefs. When the romans took over a province, they sent in a group of  lawyers to try to blend in the local law codes with the roman law  codes. Provinces were then ruled by roman governors, chosen by the  emperor in office at the time. The provincial cities in turn elected their town councils to make  local decisions. 

 When I first came to rome, I came in search of the ancient  romans, and i was overwhelmed by the city of rome. But then slowly I started to move out of rome to explore the  length and breadth of the roman empire. And as i went through northern africa, greece, turkey, middle  east, places like syria, everywhere i went, there was evidence,  physical evidence, of the romans being there. Those places being part of an empire that in many ways was  unified, because you could always recognize roman buildings in  those places. 

 Narrator: For the most part, these roman territories were  allowed to maintain their personal identity. Each offering something unique to the empire. In syria, the city of palmyra became a crucial trade link between western europe and asia, exporting spices and silks to rome. The city of aphrodesias--located in modern turkey--was home to the most prestigious school of  sculpture in the empire. In bath, england, the springs and bathhouses became a popular  health resort for high society aristocrats in need of healing or relaxation. In time, however, the empire's architecture became a mixture of roman and provincial styles. The big cities throughout the provinces represented the public  side of the empire. But there were still other towns that reflected the private side  of roman life. In the province of italy, 150 miles due south of rome, was the  city of pompeii. Nestled near the great volcano vesuvius and the bay of naples,  pompeii became a resort town for rome's rich and famous. But while a few out-of-towners came to soak up the sun and breezes, the citizens of pompeii carried on a hectic and  prosperous life. 

 If we could transport back to antiquity, i think the first  thing that would strike us in the streets is no automobile, no motor car, and none of the  fumes that we associate. Instead, the horse-drawn chariot, or rather the mule-drawn  chariot, the noises associated with that, enormous great wheels  creaking along the streets, and then a whole series of smells that  we don't meet. For instance, from the fulleries, the smell of the urine in which  they washed the clothes, or from the food shops, the smell of the  exotic spices and so on. 

 Narrator: The citizens of pompeii strolled the narrow  sidewalks to window-shop for fabrics or foods. Crowds stood in line in bakeries like this one to purchase fresh  loaves of bread or biscuits they made especially for dogs. A citizen could stop for a snack at one of the many takeout food counters found on practically every street. Many of the poor lived on takeout food, since they had no  kitchens. 

 What we've got here is probably the best example in pompeii of  something that you found up and down the streets, lots and lots of  examples of counters with these holes in them. And what italian archaeologists call them is thermopolyea, which translates as hot food shops, like hot food takeaways. Frankly, they didn't have the idea of putting a hamburger in a roll  so that you could eat it in the streets. Ancient food doesn't work like that. But my guess is that these are containers for dry food like  grain, selling flour and beans, peas, all sorts of dry foods could  well have sold here. So i see it more as a sort of grocer's. 

 Narrator: Roman staples were typically bread, olives and  fruits. The upper classes added meats, like pork or mutton, to their diet. The city of pompeii was particularly famous for manufacturing a special fish sauce called garum. 

 Here we have a production of fish sauce, garum. It's one of the staples of roman cuisine. Almost every recipe has to have a little dash of fish sauce, and  you make it by putting cheap fish, mackerel and so on, in a great  jar and letting it ferment for weeks, even months. And these are the jars where the fish was left to ferment, an  extremely smelly business while it goes on, though the sauce that  comes out no longer smells of fish. It's got a very delicate, salty flavor, and people pay very high  prices for it. Down here, there are still tiny remains of the fish that was  fermenting here in 1879; this odd sawdust-like substance. It's full of tiny fish bones. You can still see them. 

 Narrator: Umbricius scaurus was one of pompeii's most famous producers of garum. Jars of fish sauce bearing his family name were sold in gourmet food shops throughout the empire. Umbricius scaurus became a wealthy man. When he died, his children carried on the family business for generations. In pompeii, as elsewhere, a roman's wealth was reflected in their occupation as well as the house in which they lived. The walls in upper-class homes were decorated with vibrant  frescoes that depicted scenes of roman society at its finest. The floors were finished with mosaics, thousands of miniature  cubes of tiles and stones cemented together like a puzzle to reveal a beautiful scene. Within these decorative spaces, romans slept, ate, and entertained guests. 

 Here we have the triclinium, the dining room of the house, and it's the most important space in the house for entertainment. And this was the most beautifully decorated. And in the privileged background, the rituals of dining take  place. A triclinium because you have three couches stretched out symmetrically, one, two, three, against the wall, and on each  couch three guests recline. They stretch out, leaning down on their left elbows and put their  right hands out to eat the food. The hollywood myth of the roman dinner is a great orgy, an  enormous banquet with dozens of bodies lying around, writhing  together, almost. I think the roman reality is something much more modest, because  of the small size of the room. Just room for nine people to eat together. And the food is brought in by slaves, of course, who mill around  this area and bring in a continuous succession of different  dishes, different tidbits and so on. Not a great animal, but dishes with small things which they --  finger food, which they can pick and eat. 

 Narrator: Romans typically skipped breakfast and lunch. But for the rich, dinner lingered on for hours. The gastronomic event was sometimes followed by entertaining such as dancing girls or acrobats. More cultured homes provided poetry readings, along with wine that flowed freely throughout the night. 

 Here is the engine room, so to speak, of this villa, where  they produce their wine. The great treading floor with two wine presses. They've reconstructed just one of them here. The enormous beam with a ram's head that crushes the grapes, and  the juice comes cascading out, tumbling down this channel  specially made down the side, and off into a series of vats containing many liters of wine each, and then round the corner,  dozens more. 

 Narrator: Roman men occasionally slipped away from their homes  to one of the many brothels operating in the city. At that time, prostitution was legal, although the brothel owners  were required to pay taxes. 

 Here, hidden away down a back street of pompeii, is the  brothel. The grand lupanare, a favorite for all tourists. The signs that it was a brothel are, first, the scenes around the  walls, pornographic scenes suggesting to customers what was  available inside. And then five rooms, -- one, two, three, four, five -- each with  a rather uncomfortable stone bed inside. There would have been curtains hung in front of the doors, candles burning inside. I hope it would have been a bit more enticing than it is now. And on the walls were dozens of graffiti recording the comments of satisfied customers. 

 Narrator: For centuries, pompeii was a thriving city. Then came that fateful day of august 24, 79 a.D. Mount vesuvius, the imposing volcano located next to the city, erupted. A uid cloud of gas, ash and rock engulfed pompeii, as well as  its sister city, herculaneum. 

 On mount vesuvius, broad sheets of fire and leaping flames  blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasized by the  darkness of night. Pliny the younger. 

 Narrator: A torrential rain of ash toppled buildings. A few of pompeii's 20,000 and herculaneum's 5,000 citizens managed  to escape alive, but most remained trapped, buried under 65 feet  of volcanic fallout. Large numbers of citizens died from inhaling the poisonous fumes. Pompeii became a city lost in time, its victims frozen in their  tracks. The disaster sent shock waves through rome. No one could believe the city by the bay had vanished. Titus, the reigning emperor, visited the devastated site and set up a disaster relief program for the survivors. 

 Pompeii's cut off at one particular moment, A.D. 79, when you  could say the roman empire is actually at a peak. This area of central italy has got vast wealth coming into it from  all around the roman world. So you've got a moment of economic explosion, so to speak. But at the same time, pompeii itself is in terrible trouble. 

 Narrator: The destruction of pompeii symbolized the empire's fragile mortality. The ancient civilization had been in existence for over a hundred  years, but the times were changing. The capital of rome still maintained power. However, the provinces would begin to exert their own influence within the empire. 

Narrator: The roman provinces exposed the old establishment in  rome to new ideas, and new blood. By the first century a.D., The roman government was no longer an  exclusive club for italians only. The empire became an equal opportunity employer. In 98 A.D., The roman general trajan became the first non-italian emperor. Born in italica, spain, trajan's proven track record as a military general and governor of upper germany prompted the former emperor  nerva to name him his successor. 

 At the end of the first century A.D., It's still very early  days for a provincial from somewhere as far away as spain to make  it very big in the roman empire. You do have individual instances of men from distant provinces who become senators in rome, but trajan makes it very big indeed, and  he's one of the first to do it. And there are all kinds of innate prejudices that he had to  overcome to achieve that much. 

 Narrator: Trajan quickly proved his skills as emperor. He was an aggressive soldier, deeply interested in foreign policy,  deeply interested in invading people. At the same time, trajan was also a philanthropist. He instituted a welfare program to help the poor, which lasted for  over 200 years. He also provided low-cost loans to farmers. Trajan was so well-liked that he was given the title "optimus princeps," the perfect prince. The roman citizens also respected trajan's wife, pompeia plotina,  born in gaul, which is now france. The non-italian first lady was less interested in pomp and  circumstance and more interested in the people of the empire. 

 How modest she is in her attire, how moderate in the number of  her attendants, how unassuming when she walks abroad. 

 Unlike his wife, trajan was known for his frivolous spending. He also had a weakness for wine and young boys. But for the most part, trajan concentrated on romanizing the territories he helped to conquer through art, architecture, and engineering. In turn, the provinces exported exotic foods and goods back to  rome, where they could be bought at various markets, including trajan's market, possibly the first and largest indoor shopping  mall in the world. 

 I think trajan's markets are probably one of the most  impressive and most complex works of roman architecture that have  survived to us. There is absolutely no real archaeological or literary evidence to prove they were markets; but on the other hand, we can see -- we  can imagine that they are very similar to a modern shopping  complex, and we can imagine people coming here, shopping at one level for foodstuffs, shopping at another level, here we are on the second level, for clothes, for something like that, going up  to a third level, perhaps furniture, perhaps jewelry. It must have been full of color and noise and smells, and all very exotic, I think, something that would have reflected very much the cosmopolitan nature of rome. 

 Narrator: Trajan enabled the import and export of goods by expanding the massive system of roman roads. By the fourth century a.D., Over 53,000 miles of roads spanned the empire. They were an intricate network of arteries that branched off from  the nerve center in rome. Without the modern conveniences of faxes and phones, roads became  an important communication link between rome and its provinces. 

 The roman army has, i think, a pretty well-deserved reputation for its engineering skills, and they did indeed construct a lot of the infrastructure of the roman empire. Most famously, of course, it was responsible for the great network  of trunk roads, which span the whole of the mediterranean basin. And these were built primarily for official purposes, for moving troops and for government intelligence services. 

 Narrator: These ancient highways were first built to help the roman army travel to the remote reaches of the provincial frontier  to battle enemies. Over time, the roads became the fastest way to transport goods,  either by chariot or horseback. Eventually, this delivery system evolved into the earliest postal  service. 

 Of course, rome's control of this enormous empire also meant  that she could import almost anything she wanted from the ends of  the earth to the city of rome, again, to make that statement that  rome was the center of imperial power. 

 By 100 a.D., All roads led to rome. These stone freeways enabled information to flow from the capital  to the empire, such as trends in architecture and city planning. One of the most coveted pieces of architecture in most roman  cities were the aqueducts. Like rome, most provincial cities needed water, and lots of it. As a result, the romans engineered massive aqueducts to carry  water from nearby springs along a series of channels, then through  lead pipes which fed the public fountains, bathhouses, and even  some wealthy homes. 

 Aqueducts worked purely on the basis of gravity, and this  shows you the tremendous skill in the engineering. Because you have to find sufficient water supplies to feed into  the given population of whatever town it is you're dealing with. But you've also got to find them from the right places, such that they're essentially flowing downhill. Without water, most of this lifestyle can't function, because  there are very few places which naturally have enough water to  support a population of a few thousand. 

 Narrator: The romans also created a sophisticated plumbing system. Only the rich had private latrines. Most citizens in the provinces used public lavatories, long, stone benches with a series of conspicuous holes. These outdoor bathrooms also became social gatherings, where citizens gossiped with each other while tending to their own  "personal business." During trajan's reign, the empire began to change. The capital of rome was becoming less and less important. Faster and more efficient transportation systems provided a  two-way flow of information and ideas across the empire. The provinces were becoming the centers of imperial power. 

Narrator: The city of rome had always wielded influence over  its provinces, but the provinces in turn influenced the imperial capital, making it one of the most culturally diverse cities the  world has ever seen. Since the early years of the roman republic, all roman people were obliged to worship the state religion. This meant they needed to occasionally visit a public temple and  make a sacrifice to a particular god, such as jupiter, the king of  the gods; bacchus, the god of wine and celebration; and apollo,  the god of the sun. Also central to roman religion was sacrifice to the guardian  spirit of the reigning emperor. Sacrifices came in the form of money, food, or slaughtering an  animal. But over the centuries, the citizens of rome were gradually  exposed to many religious customs and ideas pouring in from the  provinces. 

 We have to remember that the romans are not living this life thinking of another life. They're living this life strictly for itself. Chiefly, the role of the gods is to help you out in your career,  and the romans called this "i give so that you give." You keep the gods on your side, not in order to buy an afterlife,  but in order to have a good life here on earth. 

 By 100 a.D., Merchants, traders and slaves began transporting other mystical religions and cults throughout the empire. Many of these foreign beliefs became appealing to the roman  population at large. 

 The roman empire provided the channels through which such religions could move, much more easily than they could have at  other times. So, for example, the egyptian goddess isis, who was at the center  of another one of these so-called mystery cults, her worship  spreads not only to italy, to the center of the empire, but far  beyond that. That spreads to london, and we know there was a temple of isis in  london. 

 Narrator: Roman soldiers in particular became avid followers  of mithras, the persian god of good versus evil. His cult, symbolizing death and renewal, appealed to soldiers, who always faced their own mortality on the battlefield. The cult originated in the asian provinces, but by the first  century a.D., Mithraic temples were found in italy and as far  north as britain. Cults like this one exemplify the empire's religious diversity and toleration. 

 Generally speaking, the roman empire was characterized by religious toleration. It was generally a world of "live and let live," that for most  cults, they were tolerated by the roman empire so long as the  people who followed these cults were also happy to follow the roman state religion, because that was the way in which you  actually expressed your loyalty to the roman state. 

 Narrator: For the most part, trajan was tolerant of the many  religions being practiced throughout the empire. His fairness as a leader was held in high esteem by the roman  population as well as by the emperors who followed him. In 117 a.D., Trajan suffered a stroke and died. He and pompeia were childless, and trajan hadn't named a  successor. Pompeia allegedly forged adoption papers, making trajan's younger  cousin, hadrian, his legal son and heir to the throne. Trajan and pompeia had been hadrian's guardians since he lost his  father at age 10. Under trajan's tutelage, hadrian grew up to be a respected  military general and consul. At age 42, hadrian was made emperor. Born in rome and raised in spain, he was a restless man who had spent most of his young adult life wandering the roman provinces  as a student and as a soldier. He was a man who defied traditions. In ancient rome, body hair of any kind was seen as barbaric. Hadrian became the first emperor to wear a beard. 

 His hair curled on a comb, and with a full beard, which was  kept well trimmed. His eyes were supposedly bright and piercing. He could be pleasant to meet, and had a certain charm and he  mingled readily with his humble subjects, more of whom must have  seen him than any other emperor. The augustan histories. 

 Narrator: In celebration of his ascension to the throne, hadrian cast all unpaid debts and taxes onto a public bonfire. He quickly positioned himself as an emperor of the people. 

 The emperor hadrian has had a quite good press historically, especially in the west, as being a pacific and sensible roman  emperor who is not going around invading people all the time. He was somebody who was interested in the peace and prosperity of  the provinces. 

 Narrator: Hadrian brought foreign blood into the corrupt and crusty establishment in rome by appointing government officials from the provinces. While in office he put forth legal reforms. Citizens could no longer freely punish their slaves by castrating them or throwing them into a gladiatorial arena to be mauled to  death by wild animals. Slaves would now be tried before a court of law. In his private life, hadrian was married to a woman named sabina,  the great-niece of the emperor trajan. But it was a loveless marriage. Hadrian complained to friends that sabina was moody and difficult. Sabina swore she would never bear him children by publicly  announcing her use of contraceptives. Like many emperors before him, hadrian remained childless. Sabina's coldness toward her husband may have been due to his  infidelity. Hadrian was said to have passions for men rather than women. The ruler began an affair with an 18-year-old boy named antinous,  whom he met during his travels through bythnia, which is now  turkey. 

 In the roman world, the term "homosexual" didn't exist. And the concept didn't have the same ramifications that it has today. Sex with other men, as long as you were the active partner, was perfectly acceptable, and wealthy romans had around them not only  slave women, but also handsome young slave boys whom they would  use for their sexual pleasures. That was quite common. 

 Sexuality is often times an exchange of power. It's largely a question of which partner is on top. So that in a homosexual affair, it's the submissive partner who sort of loses status. This means that if a roman citizen were to have sex with a slave, there's no problem; you're using your property. However, if a roman citizen played a submissive role, this was a  loss of face and scandal. 

 Narrator: Beyond his love affair with antinous, hadrian possessed a reckless wanderlust. He was determined to tour the entire empire. For the first time, the people of the provinces would come to know  the face, as well as the name, of their emperor. 

 Narrator: In 121 A.D., The emperor hadrian began his first of  four grand tours of the roman empire, whose territories spanned  over two million square miles and included 4,000 cities and 44 provinces. A savvy politician, hadrian met with provincial governors of asia  minor, syria, and north africa. He sampled the local cuisines and soaked up the diverse cultures that he ruled as one. 

 The roman emperor was acutely aware of the need for the  peoples of the empire to know who he was, what his name was, and  also to have some idea what he looked like. This was not achieved, of course, through the media we have today. The romans had no equivalent of television or even really newspapers. So some emperors would actually travel around the empire, and the  most famous example of this would be the emperor hadrian. He spent much of his long reign touring around the provinces from  one part of the world to the next. For the political stability of the empire, it was very important  to the emperors that everybody should know who they were. 

 Narrator: Hadrian made his face known throughout the empire. Along the way, he distributed coins imprinted with his likeness. Almost every city he visited erected temples in honor of him. Of all the places he toured, hadrian was most impressed with the province of greece. In athens, he was overcome by the city's art and architectural beauty. Hadrian's fondness of greece became so well known that romans  began calling him "the greekling." 

 Hadrian wore a beard like greek philosophers, dressed like  greek intellectuals, wrote greek poetry, took a male lover. Almost a caricature of what was greek. Of course, those old aristocratic romans back in rome who objected even to hadrian going east said, "this is what happens when a  roman emperor goes greek." But ordinary people throughout the empire, i doubt really thought that there was anything particularly wrong or odd with this. The roman empire sexually, culturally, religiously, much more inclusive, much less judgmental than most of our modern 20th  century societies. Always worth remembering that. 

 Narrator: Hadrian was eager to bring greek culture back to  italy. In 125 a.D., He began construction on his imperial palace in tivoli, located just outside rome. The emperor's 300-acre estate included temples, fountains, and reflecting pools, all decorated with greek art and sculpture he  had pillaged from athens. Hadrian also had a taste for drama. He was a patron of the arts, and encouraged the building of  theaters throughout the empire. 

 Now, the whole idea of having theatrical productions and  having theaters was a greek idea. It was something that was initially foreign to the romans but something to which the romans began to adapt. These theaters became progressively more and more elaborate,that is they were decorated sometimes with marble columns. Hadrain's artistic passions were expressed in the buildings he errected. In 118 a.D. He commissioned the reconstruction of one of rome's  enduring wonders, the pantheon, dedicated to all the roman gods. Inside the domed temple, shafts of heavenly light streamed through  a round opening called an oculus. Many romans believed this symbolized the eye of the gods looking  down on them. Aside from his interests in art and architecture, hadrian remained  very much a warrior. As emperor, he maintained the empire's stronghold in the  provinces. In 122 a.D., Hadrian built his crowning achievement: A 73-mile stone wall across the northern country of britain. This defensive barrier was to protect the roman empire from the barbarian tribes to the north. Hadrian's wall became a symbolic dividing line, separating the  civilized world from the uncivilized. The wall still stands as a commemorative monument to some of the  men that built and defended hadrian's empire. After his tour through britain, hadrian continued on his quest, traveling across the mighty empire of rome. 

 Narrator: In 130 A.D., Hadrian began his third whirlwind tour  of the provinces. He first traveled through asia and then sailed west to egypt, the  country where he studied magic and astrology as a youth. Hadrian was a very superstitious man, intrigued by the egyptian cults of osiris and isis. The emperor traveled to egypt with a large entourage, which included his lover, antinous. Between his appointments with the provincial governor and  prominent citizens, the emperor decided to take a leisurely cruise  down the nile river, but during the journey, hadrian's lover  antinous slipped off the boat and drowned. Those who were present at the time said hadrian wept like a woman  when antinous drowned. He immediately deified his lover and named a city along the nile after him. Still mourning the loss of antinous, hadrian pushed forward on his tour of the empire. In 131 a.D., He entered judea, a province primarily comprised of jewish citizens. The empire had been relatively accepting of different religious beliefs, but the tides of religious tolerance were shifting. 

 The province of judea of course is the most troublesome  province in the roman empire, is the province most prone to revolt. And at the center of that resistance and that dissidence are the  jews. That's important, because it highlights why judaism is different  from any other religion in the roman empire, from other forms of  paganism. Judaism is a tight, ethnically-based religion with a long, deep  past, and a religion, too, based around a set of books. That made judaism a much tighter and more difficult resistance group to break than any other group in any other province in the  empire. 

 Narrator: At the time, the vast majority of people living  throughout the roman empire believed in many gods, including the  roman gods, whom citizens were required to worship by law. But this was not possible for the jews, who believed in one god,  and whose religious laws forbid them to worship other deities. At times, jews' refusal to worship the state religion caused  tension between the ruling emperor and the citizens of jerusalem,  the capital of judea. 

 The jewish people at the time certainly considered themselves  to be very different from the romans of italy. Of course, dietary habits and many details of their dress were  very distinctive then as they had been in more recent centuries,  and as many orthodox jews still are very different today. The real clashes between the jews and the romans came about as a  result of the -- particularly the romans failing to understand  the depth of jewish religious sensibilities. 

 Narrator: Rome's insensitivity to jewish religious practices  had escalated into a series of violent clashes. In 70 A.D., Roman soldiers went on a savage rampage through the streets of jerusalem. They butchered citizens and burned down the sacred jewish temple. The jewish writer, josephus, recalled the slaughter. 

 Pouring into the streets, swords in hand, they massacred indiscriminately all who fell in their way. Josephus. 

 Narrator: A small number of jews who survived the revolt fled jerusalem and settled in masada, a desert hilltop community  overlooking the dead sea. Built by king herod in 37 B.C., The imposing fortress city still wasn't safe from roman rule. From 67 to 73 A.D., The jews held off the roman army. In april of 73 a.D., Roman soldiers assaulted the citadel, using catapults and battering rams to break down the city walls. Fearing an inevitable fate, the jewish colony committed mass  suicide. When the soldiers finally broke through, they found 960 men, women  and children dead. Their martyrdom became a symbol of jewish solidarity against foreign imperialism. 

 In that sense, the siege of masada is a very efficient  operation for the romans, because it's the most wonderful public demonstration that no one can resist roman rule. Masada stands as a symbol of roman power, which i think also  echoes through the eastern mediterranean with the message, "do not  oppose the romans." There is, of course, some dispute of whether or not the jews in  masada were executed or committed suicide. I think it's pretty clear that they committed suicide. That's important, i think, in terms of how the story is told. It lends dignity to the jews as resistors against an imperial  power; without, as it were, taking away anything of the siege of  masada as an extraordinary exercise also in roman military might. 

 Narrator: Hadrian was aware of the hostility between the roman government and the people of judea. But he was determined to keep jerusalem a roman city. When entering jerusalem, hadrian declared that a roman temple be  built in honor of the god jupiter. To the jews' dismay, hadrian ordered that the new temple be  erected at the exact spot where the sacred jewish temple once stood before it was destroyed by roman soldiers. Hadrian further insulted the jews by denouncing their cultural  rituals. 

 Now, hadrian had a very good reputation for being a  peace-minded roman emperor, who, generally speaking, respected the  rights and the beliefs of the peoples of the empire as a whole. But he found it very difficult to tolerate some of the practices  of the jews, which he regarded as bizarre. 

 Narrator: The jews were outraged by hadrian's sacrilegious decree. In 132 a.D., In a massive show of defiance, thousands of jews  banded together to make a stand against the roman state. The rebels were led by simon bar kokhba, a passionate jewish  zealot. For almost four years, the jews fought off several roman legions. But in the end, the roman army overtook the city of jerusalem. Over a half million jews were massacred. Hadrian ordered the body of their fallen leader, bar kokhba, to be brought to him. 

 If his god had not slain him, who could have overcome him? Hadrian. 

 Narrator: The bar kokhba revolt was the biggest military  battle during hadrian's reign. His army restored roman power in the province of judea. But the battle left bitter memories on both sides. 

 What I think is most significant here is there is no doubt  this was really a very small military problem for the romans. These people were not of any military significance at all. The reason for this is political, that the romans wanted everyone else in the middle east to see that they were not going to  tolerate any such resistance. 

 Narrator: In 135 A.D., Hadrian returned to rome. He had toured 38 of the empire's 44 provinces. In ill health, he spent the remaining year of his life in his  beautiful palace in tivoli. In 136 a.D., He died and was buried in a monument in rome  alongside his deceased wife sabina. It became an unfitting resting place for a man who never loved his  wife and spent most of his life living outside of rome. Hadrian's tours reflected a new reality. Many of the provinces became politically and economically  integrated into the roman empire. By the second century a.D., The seat of power was no longer in  rome. The power was in the provinces.  


4TH HOUR
Sun Jan 25 18:00:28 2004

the roman empire had become the symbol of culture and power throughout the world, but when religion began to fragment the population, the shape of the empire would change forever. Join us now as history international presents rome, the enduring legacy on world time line. 

 The world's greatest empire, but it wasn't built in a day. The rise, the fall, the conquerors, the conquered... Rome. 

 Hello, I'm joe mantegna. For over 600 years, rome was the most magnificent city in the ancient world, the capital of the mighty roman empire, but with the rise of emperor constantine the great, a second capital was built in the east that would soon sound the death knell for the eternal city. The empire was changing. Along the way a new faith was born, a religion that would conquer the empire and leave its mark on the world. This was the mystical land of jupiter, apollo and mars, mithras, isis and cybele. A world of astrologers, magicians and miracle workers. This was the roman empire, where people believed in many gods and many religions. But in the empire's middle eastern province of judea lived the jews who prayed to a single god, rejecting all others. Their religion was judaism. The jews believed that a messiah would appear and save them from their troubles, but many disagreed over when this messiah would come. By 30 B.C., A number of jewish teachers and visionaries were herald as the messiah. One of them was a jewish preacher named jesus. A self-proclaimed healer and miracle worker, jesus attracted many followers who were looking for a new religion, a faith that could comfort them from their miseries on earth and promise them a glorious afterlife. I think what we have to understand is that jesus is one of many religious leaders in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. Who have very similar stories told about them. The problem that a roman historian faces in dealing with jesus is that his claims to divinity and his miracle stories against the background of the first and second century are common place. They're not remarkable. They do not stand out. 

 At the time, not all the citizens of jerusalem believed jesus was their savior. Jewish religious leaders had publicly protested that jesus was breaking their laws, claiming to be the messiah and the son of god. In response to numerous complaints, jesus was arrested and brought before pontius pilate, the roman governor of the region. 

 The trial of jesus was clearly a matter of high importance in the immediate region in which it occurred. Pilate's principal concern, like that of any roman governor abroad, was to keep the lid on any explosive situation in his province because if it got out of hand, the governor, pilate in this case, was going to be the one whose head was going to roll for not maintaining stability and it was pilate in the end, there's no question, who delivered the judgment. Crucifixion is a roman penalty, it's not a jewish penalty. 

 Fearing possible political repercussions by the emperor tiberius back in rome, pontius pilate condemned jesus to death. He was forced to carry a heavy wooden cross through the streets of jerusalem and to a hill where he was bound and crucified, along with two other criminals of the state. 

 Let's get one thing about jesus christ absolutely straight, hardly anyone noticed that he was crucified when he was crucified. This was a moment which passed amidst the thousands of other executions going on of various criminals and renegades around the roman empire. What's overwhelming interesting about pontius pilate is that he's disinterested in jesus. He was another jew who claimed to be a messiah, to be leading another resistance movement. He was one of many with whom the roman authorities had to deal. 

 The crucifixion of jesus would have hardly made a ripple in the center of power which was rome. It wouldn't have made a great impact at all because judea was a far-off place, poor province, important in certain ways strategically, but not central to roman power. According to the bible the man named jesus died in 33 A.D., At the age of 33. But almost three centuries pass before his name, christos, became the name of a new faith, christianity, a religion that changed the course of roman history and the world. 

 Christianity became powerful over a long period of time. It begins as a type of jewish religion or jewish sect. It then expands out to non-jews and then christianity begins to separate itself from judaism and become a religion of its own. 

 One of the earliest christian missionaries was a greek jew, paul, who never actually met jesus. Decades after his crucifixion, paul embarked on an aggressive mission across the near eastern roman provinces and into greece. He spoke to jews and gentiles alike, encouraging them to convert to the new religion of christianity. With the persistence of missionaries like paul, small christian communities developed throughout the empire. 

 The rise of christianity, of course, is one of the major events of the roman imperial period. Why it actually happens is very hard to say and of course, it partly depends on one's own religious orientation. There were quite a lot of quite similar religious cults at the time which have features very similar to christianity. Not least, religions which gave a sense of why one is in the world and a promise of an afterlife. Why particularly christianity? It was perhaps to some extent in the right place at the right time. 

 For the most part, romans were allowed to practice any religion, so long as they, at the same time, worshipped the gods of the roman state, especially jupiter, the guardian spirit of the emperor. Roman christians and jews increasingly refused to participate in public sacrifices to the roman gods, but unlike the jews, the christians were aggressive in recruiting converts. By the end of the third century the christians had recruited members from a host of other religious groups, including those from within the jewish communities. They even recruited soldiers in the roman army. 

 What happened during the course of the third century was that there was civil war and anarchy and invasion, and the government, which had supported all of these urban centers, began to collapse. When that happened, the relative strength of these small christian organizations became greater. So the power of these christian churches during the course of the third century, as the government sank into anarchy, became stronger and stronger. 

 Over the centuries certain emperors became increasingly intolerant of other religions. In 202 a.D. Emperor septimius severus banned any roman citizen from converting to judaism or christianity. Those who disobeyed his decree were executed in the amphitheaters by soldiers or wild animals. 

 Their executions became sports events. They were covered with wild animal skins and torn apart by dogs. Tacitus. 

 One of the most rabid persecutors of christians was diocletian. Born in the province of dalmatia, the illiterate soldier fought for his empire and succeeded to the throne in the late third century. Over time diocletian no longer felt equipped to handle his empire which included 44 provinces of diverse cultures and beliefs. In 286 a.D., Diocletian created a tetriarchy whereby four emperors share leadership over the empire. Diocletian and galerius ruled the eastern provinces. The western provinces were controlled by maximian and constantius. 

 The roman empire had never really been one completely united whole in all senses. It was always divided into regions and there were two sort of super regions. There was the latin speaking west of italy and the western balkans and part of north africa, the whole of western europe on the one hand and then there was the greek east, included all greece, the eastern seaboard of the mediterranean world and all those other provinces at the end of the roman empire. So there were linguistic differences, so in a sense there was perhaps always a fault line between east and west. 

 Two of the four ruling emperors, diocletian and galerius, instigated an anti-christian movement. Christians were forbidden from worshipping publicly in groups. Bibles were outlawed. These emperors also imposed torture and death to any roman citizen who refused to honor the state gods. Thousands of christians were martyred during this ten-year movement. At the same time, thousands of others recanted their christian beliefs in order to save their lives. Despite the threat of persecution by emperors diocletian and galerius, the numbers of christians were growing. In 305 a.D., The original tetrarchy finally disbanded. Two of the emperors abdicated. Two of the others eventually died. Four new emperors became heirs to the throne, but each emperor would be ousted by one cunning man who would forever change the roman empire.

 In 310 A.D. Four new eerors ascended to the imperial throne, but one would eventually seize total power. His name was flavius valerius constantinus, better known as constantine the great. 

 For no one was comparable to him for grace and beauty of person, or height of stature and he so far surpassed his compeers in personal strength as to be a terror to them. Eusebius. 

 Constantine was born in 285 a.D. In nicomedia which is now northwestern turkey. His father, constantius i, had been chosen for the tetrarchy. The younger constantine was a bold and ruthless man, broad and stocky in appearance. With the death of his father, he took advantage of the loyalty to his father in britain to get himself proclaimed as one of rome's four emperors. Constantine co-ruled the western provinces with emperor maxentius. The eastern territories were ruled by emperors licinius and maximinus daia. From the beginning constantine had no interest in sharing the throne. He plotted to crush the other rulers one by one. In 312 a.D. He set out to destroy maxentius. The armies of both emperors met face-to-face near the milvian bridge near the city of rome. At the time, constantine had no strong feelings for christians one way or the other. He had always worshipped the roman sun god apollo, but his ideas about christianity were about to change. During the gruesome battle, the bridge collapsed under the weight of the soldiers. Masses of men drowned in the muddy river due to the weight of their armor. Constantine's army felt hopeless and near defeat when suddenly a strange phenomenon occurred. Constantine was overcome by a magnificent light in the sky. Constantine said the light was in the shape of the letters x and p, which in greek are the first letters of the word christ. Below the glowing symbol were the words, under this shalt thou conquer. A heavenly voice then ordered constantine to use this symbol in all future battles with his enemies. Constantine interpreted this as a sign from jesus christ. He instructed his men to paint their shields with this symbol. The next day his army went on to defeat maxentius, making him sole ruler of the western provinces. From that moment on, constantine professed his devotion to christianity. 

 By the time constantine comes to power in the early 4th century, christianity was a very powerful religion, and some historians claim that any emperor who was going to be powerful in the early 4th century would have to have played up in one way or another to the christians. Whether or not that was the case or whether or not constantine is the pivotal figure, who by using his influence and patronage as emperor shifted the tide towards christianity, is a question that's still hotly debated among historians. 

 It's important to remember that for constantine, there was nothing special about christianity. It could be used politically. To talk religion in this empire is to talk politics. To talk politics is to talk religion. 

 Constantine's conversion to christianity, whether it was due to divine intervention or political motivation, remains a mystery. But christianity quickly became his crusade. 

 Christianity achieves success as a roman religion because christianity is a religion of war. Constantine, as a christian, looks to the christian god as a god of battles. 

 In 311 A.D. Christianity was finally legalized throughout the empire. In 313 a.D. Constantine issued the edict of milan, which gave christians the right to worship the god that they wanted to worship. The ten-year persecution of christians had finally ceased. While constantine was gaining control of the west, emperor licinius had defeated his co-ruler maximinus daia in the east. The roman empire now only had two emperors. In a shrewd propoganda campaign, constantine turned the ever growing christian population against licinius. Backed by his christian coalition, constantine and his men crushed licinius' army. Constantine emerged as sole ruler of the roman empire. 

 I think what's important about understanding constantine's support to christianity is that it occurs within a civil war situation. It became a christian emperor prosecuting his religion ainst pagan persecutors. From that point of view, christianity was a godsend for constantine. 

 Because constantine was militarily successful, that demonstrated that his god had real power. He could deliver the goods and this is what constantine says in a letter that he writes to the king of persia. He says, look at my career, I start out in britain, i'm the ruler of the roman world. How's it happened? It's because i worship the true god. And constantine says, look, if you've got any sense, you should start worshipping this god, too. 

 Constantine's military victories gained him thousands of christian converts. As a result, the emperor pushed through his own political and religious reforms. In 324 a.D. He banned pagan sacrifices and pillaged pagan temples of their wealth. A merciless leader, he also passed strict laws of conduct. Jews were forbidden to own christian slaves. Elopement was illegal. Convicted rapists were burned alive. 

 Having gained control, he then sets about administering it in the way that suits him, suits his religious beliefs and he starts issuing a very important, very interesting series of christian laws. He becomes personally involved in matters of church organization and church discipline. He gives the christian church phenomenal wealth that transforms the status of christianity throughout the roman world. 

 But constantine himself was far from pious. In 324 a.D. He had his son, crispus, executed for allegedly committing adultery. Constantine later learned that his wife fausta had plotted crispus' death so that her sons from a previous marriage could become heirs to his throne. Enraged by his wife's scheme, constantine had her suffocated in her own bath. Constantine's mother, helen, a devout christian, told her son he must redeem himself for the murders against his family by building christian churches. Constantine obeyed his mother's request by erecting churches throughout the empire. Two of the grandest were the original st. Peter's church in rome and the church of the holy sepulcher in jerusalem. In time, constantine's building projects would take on a grander scale. Since the 3rd century a.D., The city of rome had been losing its power and influence within the empire. Past emperors had been spending most of their time leading battles into frontier provinces of the north and east. Constantine decided he needed a new residence and the empire needed another capital. 

 In 324 A.D. Constantine began building a second imperial capital. He chose the city of byzantium, located between europe and asia in what is now turkey. In time this relatively unknown eastern city would become the new rome. 

 In 324 the city of byzantium became the eastern capital of the roman empire. The city was renamed constantinople after constantine himself. Chosen for its strategic location, byzantium was formerly a prosperous trading port bordering the mediterranean and black seas. Constantine instituted a major building program in constantinople. He wanted to make his new capital even more splendid than the city of rome. 

 We're standing in what would have been the acropolis, the fortified center of the greek city, originally greek city of byzantium. His purpose in choosing constantinople is its access to antonia and also its access to the river danube, the two areas where the biggest threats would come into for the roman empire. 

 Before constantinople no one had ever heard of byzantium. In founding constantinople, constantine is making an important statement. It's a new capital that makes the statement about power that constantine wants to make. It's a new capital away from the suffocating, snobbish pagan aristocracy of rome, a new capital where the new christian elite of constantine's empire could live. By 330 a.D. Constantinople was a christian city. Clergy, monks and nuns roamed the congested streets. Churches dominated its skyline. Constantine continued to build up his constituency of christians. The emperor even provided financial incentives, such as tax breaks to priests and bishops. Christianity had become the empire's dominant religion because of its political support from the emperor. But constantine's personal religious beliefs were full of contradictions. 

 Constantine, of course, continued to worship the sun god even after his conversion to christianity. That should not surprise us for a moment. Constantine's conversion to christianity is not a confirmation class. He doesn't embrace christianity like a modern pious churchgoing christian. Constantine continues, as many christians did with him, to worship the sun god apollo. 

 Like many romans, constantine had practiced christianity, as well as the traditional roman state religion, throughout his adult life. But in april of 337 A.D. The emperor became gravely ill. He requested a bishop to formally baptize him. When constantine died, his body was buried in a mausoleum in the church of the 12 apostles at constantinople where he claimed himself to be the 13th apostle. In death, constantine had formally become a christian. 

 An interesting thing about constantine is that, as we know, he didn't convert to christianity until he was on his death bed and the reason being that he could, as emperor, execute people without feeling guilty. He wasn't breaking any one of the ten commandments. 

 Constantine's legacy i think could be very simply put, without constantine christianity would not have become the dominant religion of the roman empire. He's chiefly responsible for that. Without his imperial backing, it's difficult to see how christianity could have flourished as effectively or as rapidly as it did. What we regard even in the protestant faith as the basic tenets of christian belief, our basic understanding of jesus christ is worked out under constantine, so he's very present, even in our modern thinking about christianity. 

 Almost 60 years after constantine's death christianity was still flourishing, but the empire had changed. In 395 a.D. The roman empire had formally split, dividing east and west. 

 The east, generally speaking, consisted of lands which for many centuries had had sophisticated cities, they were rich, they were very populous and in this again, they were quite different from many areas of the western empire, which was much more rural, fewer towns, more recently established towns. So it's not surprising, given their widely differing geographical distributions and their different natures, that perhaps there would be a tendency for the two halves to drift apart. 

 However, by the 6th century, the western empire no longer existed as it once had. Various barbarian tribes had ravaged and seized the provinces of western europe and north africa. They also sacked the eternal city of rome, the cradle of the roman empire, the place where it all began. 

 Rome has fallen, but it is not one hour since she was feeding from my hand. Procopius. 

 In my opinion, the real reason the western roman empire falls and the eastern roman empire survives is a question of luck, really, luck and geography, which means that constantinople has all its richest territories behind it, all its tax base. The same is not true of rome. All its taxation areas, the area from which it draws funds to pay for the army which obviously defends the territory, all of those lie in front of rome, in spain and in france, in other words, barbarians can get at them. 

 The western empire lost its imperial power, but the eastern empire remained intact. The roman state encompassed the countries of modern turkey, greece, egypt, syria and the territories up to the lower danube river. Many of the eastern provinces were partially protected by the sea. Unlike the fallen western provinces, whose frontiers directly bordered the barbarian peoples of northern and central europe. 

 The eastern half of the empire has annexed to itself the best revenue generating provinces. And this is quite an important factor in the long-term decline of the west and the collapse of the western empire. 

 The capital of constantinople was still the center of power. But after six centuries, one eastern emperor would stand last in the great line of imperial rulers. His name was justinian.

 In 527 A.D., Justin, the reigning emperor of the mediterranean world, passed away. He willed his throne to his nephew, justinian I. Justinian formally held the office of counsel in constantinople. He was intellectually astute and spent most of his life reaping the benefits of his uncle's power. Now justinian was in charge of all that remained of the roman empire. Justinian's loyal partner was his strong-willed wife theodora. The emperor was wildly in love with his empress, but the marriage shocked the nobility living in constantinople. Theodora had been a prostitute and a dancer in a circus troupe. What worried the city's aristocracy even more than her torrid past was the influence theodora had over her husband when it came to matters of the state. 

 Politically, of course, theodora was the power behind the throne. She was the nancy reagan at the court of constantinople in the middle of the 6th century. It was impossible to get to the emperor without going to theodora. She had a considerable influence on all of his policies. Perhaps one might properly say of theodora is that she did not stand behind justinian's throne, but right in front of it. 

 She had an attractive face and a good figure. She was in a great hurry to get into her bath and very unwilling to get out again. She would sleep for hours on end. And though she had strayed thus into every path of self-indulgence for so great a part of the day, she saw fit to run the whole of the roman empire. Procopius. 

 That horror is reflected in the secret history written by procopius, purporting to tell us of what actually happened behind the closed doors in the oval office of the imperial palace at constantinople. Here, theodora is criticized for her henpecking of her husband, justinian, her insatiable sexual appetites, but we don't have to believe that. There's an alternative vision of theodora as a good empress, as a pious empress who looked after the poor, who was concerned to prosecute christianity throughout the empire. 

 Justinian and theodora wielded absolute power and authority over the citizens of constantinople. Visitors to the imperial palace had to crawl on their hands and knees to the throne and kiss the shoes of the emperor. Justinian took on the daunting task of reorganizing the roman laws of the empire's past four centuries. The laws were recodified and published into a book called the digest of roman law. These publications were an effort to legally prosecute the lawless behavior in the city. Justinian targeted his tough on crime laws toward some of his unruly supporters who had been known to riot. The most catastrophic of these incidents occurred in the city's hippodrome theater. There, chariot races were held, the world cup soccer matches of the ancient world. Chariot teams typically competed for prizes and money, but in 532 A.D., The competition turned violent when the fans of the blue and green teams began quarreling with each other. 

 The blues accused the greens of organizing a series of mafia-style assassinations in the city. The greens retaliated by saying the blues had done the same thing, but they would be protected because the emperor justinian was a well-known supporter of the blues. 

 City officials tried to suppress the tension by ordering the immediate execution of seven criminals from both the blue and green factions. The accused were dragged into the arena, but the executions backfired. The nooses snapped and the men escaped. Rather than taming the crowd, the incident provoked a massive riot. Angry fans yelled out, nike, nike, which was the charioteers' victory cry. Mobs took to the streets and torched buildings until the city was a flaming inferno. The crowds still left in the hippodrome cried out for the execution of their emperor, justinian, who was sitting in his royal box with theodora. Justinian wanted to flee the city, but theodora held him back. 

 If now it is your wish to save yourself, oh, emperor, it is no problem. However, having saved yourself, consider the day will not come when you will exchange that security for death. As for myself, i appreciate a certain ancient saying that royalty is a good burial shroud. Theodora. 

 Theodora plays a key role in the nike riot. The moment at which a usurper is set up in the hippodrome, justinian wishes to flee the palace, to run from constantinople. It's theodora who forces him to stand his ground. Without theodora, justinian, i think at that moment, would have lost his throne. He owes 50 years more rule to her and her courage at that moment. 

 And so justinian decided at that particular time on a rather ingenuous way of solving the problem of the revolt of the people in the hippodrome. Quite simply he locked the gates. He sent his army in and 30,000 people were killed in cold blood, the supporters, and that was the end of the revolt. 

 The nike riot ended, but the violent incident left the city buried in ash and rubble. Rather than despair, justinian saw the destruction as an opportunity to rebuild constantinople to be even more magnificent than it had previously been. He authorized an expansive building project, including the reconstruction of the st. Sophia church, one of the architectural wonders of constantinople. 

 This church of sophia built by justinian and his wife theodora, took them five years to complete this. It's a remarkably short period of time for such a large structure. Looking at it you see what was the largest dome in antiquity. What i find fascinating about this building, however, is in the constantinople has been a wealthy capital for two centuries now and justinian capitalizes on that in beautifying the city in a much more securely christian way. 

 After rebuilding constantinople, justinian focused his attentions abroad. Since taking over the imperial throne, his dream had been to reclaim the western provinces that had fallen to the barbarians. In 527 a.D. Justinian set out to reunite the east and west. 

 Justinian possessed a burning desire to restore the roman empire to its former glory, a powerful empire which controlled the entire mediterranean basin and beyond. Sparing no expense, justinian ordered his army to reconquer the western empire, province by province. 

 Justinian has one single lifelong lasting ambition, and that's to reunite the roman empire. That's what lies behind his attempts to reconquer italy, to regain africa from the barbarian vandals. His lasting mission is to restore the mediterranean world to its former romanness, to break out of the eastern mediterranean, to move west, to recreate the empire of augustus. 

 Justinian is the last emperor who tries, who attempts and who nearly succeeds in reforging the roman empire. Under justinian, this is the last chance that a failing empire has to restore the territorial limits and the unity that went with the empire of augustus. 

 But while justinian's troops were off trying to reclaim the western empire, the eastern empire was being threatened by the persians, who bordered the eastern provinces. The eastern empire was now on the verge of collapse. Justinian's world was crumbling around him. In 548 a.D. His wife and soulmate, theodora, died. Withth her gone, justinian lost his will to live. 

 They were in love and it was a marriage i think importantly founded on a great degree of equality between the emperor and the empress. He was grief-stricken when she died of cancer in 548. If one was to think about how one might describe their relationship, there's a wonderful opening to a law of justinian's which says that marriage is founded on mutual affection, it doesn't require a dowry. I like to think of that as a description of their relationship. 

 Justinian found the inner strength to live on for 17 years after the death of his beloved wife, but the price paid to strengthen his empire had taken its toll on his people. Justinian had placed a heavy taxation on roman citizens to pay off foreigners from invading the empire, but his tax plan eventually bled the provinces dry of their resources. In 565 a.D. Justinian finally died. With him, the glorious days of the empire also passed away. Gone were the triumphant processions in the streets of rome and constantinople. Gone were the gladiatorial games and chariot races. However, after justinian's death, the territories of the eastern empire didn't die with him. They evolved and thrived for 800 years. 

 One of the abiding images we have of the roman empire is the idea that it declined and it fell. Roman imperial power disappeared in the west. We often tend to forget that the east continued. It becomes a state that we know as the byzantine empire, which goes on for many centuries thereafter. It's actually only extinguished finally in 1453 when the turks take constantinople. 

 The roman empire finally fell to the ottoman turks in 1453. These muslim people brought the religion of islam to the city of constantinople. Churches were eventually converted into mosques. The remnants of the once glorious empire were crumbling away. The roman empire was gone, but not forgotten. Its rich legacy still permeates today. Roman art and architecture can be seen in almost every city in the world. Roman literature, law, and language have been studied and adopted by many cultures across the globe. The religions of judaism, christianity and islam, which became part of this lost civilization, thrive to this day. Everywhere the spirit of rome lives on. 

 Part of the roman legacy is the classical tradition, the great works of greek culture, drama, epic, and greek traditions of political organization, democracy, the idea of liberty. These things get taken over into the roman empire, get  reshaped and preserved, which then influences us to this day. 

 It's through rome that that past is made present for us in the late 20th century. Hollywood epics need to be taken very seriously indeed. It's only in those magnificent hollywood recreations of color, of pomp, of circumstance, of triumph, of pageantry, that against the fragmentary ruins and remains of the roman empire that we can for a moment sense something of the sheer magnificence that was rome. We should watch hollywood movies because they capture for us the glory that was once rome. 

 The ancient romans then represent something unique for western culture. Unique because on the one hand they represent something familiar, on the other hand they represent something strange. Civic architecture, poetry and comedy are things that we all know from roman culture. On the other hand, strange things also were indicative of roman culture, slavery, which was ubiquitous in ancient rome, gladiatorial games, these things are odd to us, but perhaps it's this combination of the familiar on the one side and the strange on another which gives us a perspective to see ourselves.