S01E01 Hannibal's Last Stand
Examining the day in 202BC when Rome defeated the might of Carthage at the Battle of Zama. This decisive moment set Rome on the path to greatness.
8 Days That Made Rome
S01E03: Crossing the Rubicon
Rome had defeated her great rival Carthage and overcame a slave revolt led by Spartacus, but these victories came at a price. Army generals who could deliver foreign conquests accumulated enormous amounts of power. Julius Caesar, seeking glory, would challenge the very existence of the republic. Join historian Bettany Hughes in an exploration of the momentous day in 49 B.C. when Caesar crossed the Rubicon River, violated Roman law, and heralded the transformation of the Roman Republic into an empire ruled by a single man.
Overview
Bettany Hughes relives eight pivotal days that defined the Roman Empire and made it the world's first superpower.
Episodes
S01E02 The Spartacus Revolt
Bettany Hughes relates the events of 73BC when a Thracian gladiator started a slave revolt that so panicked the Roman elite that they offered power to a single man.
S01E03 Crossing the Rubicon
Rome had defeated her great rival Carthage and overcame a slave revolt led by Spartacus, but these victories came at a price. Army generals who could deliver foreign conquests accumulated enormous amounts of power. Julius...
S01E04 Rome's First Emperor
Upon Julius Caesar's death, his 18-year-old great nephew stepped into the delicate balance of power and became Rome's first emperor and a ruthless political operator. The 44-year reign of Octavian, also known as Augustus, was...
S01E05 Boudica's Revenge
It's 60 A.D. Seventeen years after the invasion of Britannia, Roman forces march into the settlement of the Iceni tribe, flog its queen, and abused her daughters. The attack sparked a retaliatory revolt that came...
S01E06 The Downfall of Nero
It's 54 A.D. and Nero just succeeded his stepfather Claudius to become the fifth emperor of Rome. What followed was 14 years of cruel behavior that would unite the empire against Nero and, on June...
S01E07 The Colosseum's Grand Opening
Out of the carnage of Emperor Nero's death and the civil war that followed, a new imperial dynasty was born, one that looked to win over the hearts of the people by building the largest...
S01E08 The Rebirth of Rome
After more than a century of steady Roman decline, one man restores order to the disintegrating empire, setting it on a new course with Christianity at its heart. Host Bettany Hughes examines the life of...
Cast
Marek Lichtenberg
Legionaire in Intro credits
James Sutton
Scipio
Bettany Hughes
Nathan Dean Williams
Mark Antony
Marcel Dorian
Legionaire
