S01E01 Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar turned military victories into political power. His ambition created a colossal empire, and he gave his name to the rulers who succeeded him. He has been a symbol of power and majesty for...
I, Caesar
S01E04: Hadrian
He overturned centuries-old policies, declaring an end to expansions and abandoning far-flung territories. Hadrian was an enthusiastic patron of the arts, a champion of the common Roman and a tireless diplomat who toured the entire Empire. But this “Golden Age” was not free from conflict – ancient accounts suggest that over half a million Jews were killed when Hadrian sent the army to quell an insurrection in Judea. From Hadrian’s Wall in northern England to the Pantheon in Rome, I, Caesar visits the most famous artefacts of the Roman Empire on the trail of Hadrian.
Overview
Detailing the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, I, Caesar takes a fascinating look at the public and private lives of six key men who ruled ancient Rome: Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Hadrian, Constantine and Justinian. Their careers were made up of bloody battles and tactical bribery, stunning innovation and profound corruption, dazzling rhetoric and vicious back-stabbing – and together they form a picture of the most sophisticated highs and most brutal lows of the Roman Empire’s inception, heyday and decline. Stretching at its peak, from the north of England to southern Egypt and from the west coast of Spain to Syria in the east, the Roman Empire included within its boundaries myriad people, cultures and climates.
Episodes
S01E02 Augustus
Julius Caesar’s military brilliance forged a new Rome, but it was Augustus’ political genius that made it an empire for the ages. Despite being Caesar’s nephew and adopted heir, Augustus struggled for thirteen years to...
S01E03 Nero
He was seventeen when he took the throne, and during his capricious, fourteen-year rule, Nero almost brought the Empire to ruin. He was unable to quell rebellions in Britain and Judea. He had many political...
S01E04 Hadrian
He overturned centuries-old policies, declaring an end to expansions and abandoning far-flung territories. Hadrian was an enthusiastic patron of the arts, a champion of the common Roman and a tireless diplomat who toured the entire...
S01E05 Constantine
Constantine revitalized a fading empire and built a glittering new capital that would stand for over 1,000 years. But his strongest legacy is religious; his conversion to Christianity put an end to hundreds of years...
S01E06 Justinian
Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus or Justinian I was one of the main rulers of the Byzantine Empire, stands out especially for his reform and compilation of laws and for the military expansion of the imperial...
