Rome: The World's First Superpower

PG2014•45m•6.5/10

Documentary

Ratings

🎬TMDb

6.5/10(6)

The history of Rome is a 1,000-year-long epic, filled with murder, ambition, betrayal and greed and encompassing such legendary characters as Rome’s Iron Age founders Romulus and Remus and its greatest general Julius Caesar. Larry is accompanied by some of Europe and America’s foremost classical experts who reveal the atmosphere of intrigue, conflict and violence at the places where the saga unfolded.

Open in PickFlick

Production

GroupM Motion Entertainment, 360 Entertainment

Language

Status

Ended

First Aired

October 24, 2014

Last Aired

November 14, 2014

Networks

Trailers & Videos

Where to Watch

Region US · Lang EN

No providers available for this region.

Available in Your Library

Seasons & Episodes

Select a season to view episodes. Reddit links may contain spoilers.

Season

Part 1: City of Blood

Air date: 2014-10-24

Actor Larry Lamb explores the 3,000-year-old story of the rise of the Roman Empire and how it shaped the way we live today, uncovering the intrigue, conflict, greed and violence that surrounded not only Rome, but Pompeii, Sicily, France and Tunisia as the Romans set out to conquer the world. With the help of historians and CGI representations, Larry begins his journey by focusing on the Italian capital of Rome. He takes a look at the role of legendary characters including the city's mythical Iron Age founders Romulus and Remus, and learns how thousands of labourers turned mud huts into a city of stone.

Part 2: Total War

Air date: 2014-10-31

Larry Lamb reveals how the Roman Empire became the dominant power in the Mediterranean. Beginning his quest at the Roma Termini train station in central Rome, he learns how the city was attacked by the Gauls in the Battle of the Allia, fought roughly 400 years BC. This three-year conflict inflicted great losses and damage, and left the Romans believing that attack was the best form of defence.

Part 3: Death of a Hero

Air date: 2014-11-07

During the mid-second century BC, Rome was enjoying the spoils after defeating Carthage in the Third Punic War, with slaves, treasure and art pouring into the republic. Larry Lamb examines how not everyone was reaping the benefit and reveals that resentment was mounting as the gap widened between the poor and the privileged. The actor traces the journey of Tiberius Gracchus, a man from the elite ruling classes who eventually came to champion the cause of the common citizen farmer, and learns about the development of the hypocaust, Rome's famous central-heating system.

Part 4: Caesar

Air date: 2014-11-14

Larry Lamb concludes his exploration of the Roman Empire by looking at the life and career of Julius Caesar. The actor traces the story of the great man's extraordinary transformation from a bankrupt junior public official to the seemingly invincible general who conquered Gaul, through to his infamous assassination in a debating chamber. Along the way, Larry discovers that money was often at the heart of the decisions Caesar made.