3,000 years ago an extraordinary people rose from humble beginnings to force their will on the world. Larry Lamb, Rome: The World’s First Superpower: City of Blood, Channel 5 2014
They created the greatest empire mankind had ever seen – an empire that stretched from Britain to the Middle East. It lasted a thousand years and shaped the way we live today. ibid.
According to legend, Romulus and Remus were the semi-divine sons of Mars, the god of War. ibid.
Rome: founded on murder but not yet a city. ibid.
By 550 B.C., 200 years after the foundation, Rome’s population was around 30,000 people spread over 7 hills along the Tiber. It could now call itself a proper city. ibid.
The Romans were resourceful and ruthless. ibid.
Brutus was as good as his word – he and his followers drove Tarquin and his supporters out of Rome, and together gave birth to a new ideal – that no king would ever rule Rome again. ibid.
Ancient Rome was as unequal as any modern city. ibid.
The Etruscan civilisation was doomed. ibid.
400 B.C.: Rome is now 300 years old and a powerful city state. Larry Lamb, Rome: The World’s First Superpower II: Total War
The Carthaginian Empire had been built on the strength of its Navy. ibid.
Hannibal had finally crossed the Alps into Italy – an amazing feat. ibid.
Rome had won its world war. Carthage fell. ibid.
146 B.C.: A century of bitter warfare is about to reach its climax. Rome’s forces are poised outside the city walls of their greatest enemy: Carthage must be destroyed. Larry Lamb, Rome: The World’s First Superpower III: Death of a Hero
95% of the city’s population was crammed into places like this [high-rise blocks]. ibid.
49 B.C.: An Army stands on the banks of a river in northern Italy ... The general was Julius Caesar. Larry Lamb, Rome: The World’s First Superpower IV: Caesar
Caesar and his legions were very definitely on the make. ibid.
They turned to the one man who could restore calm – Pompeii. In desperation they made him sole console. ibid.
For ten days Caesar’s triumph flaunted the great power and wealth of the Roman republic. ibid.
Caesar was stabbed 23 times. ibid.
What he does in Gaul – modern day France – is the stuff of legend. Whether the threat to Rome is real or imagined, Caesar needs no encouragement to begin a vast campaign of conquest. He will defeat three hundred different tribes, he will destroy eight hundred cities, he will kill one million people. Rome Revealed: Killing Caesar s1e1
Caesar has increased the size of the empire by almost a third. His achievement is a match for Pompey’s. ibid.
A power-struggle that will determine the course of history ... Battles are fought in every Roman territory. ibid.
This is the story of the city that ruled the world. For five hundred years over as much as two million square miles Rome fought and reigned and got rich. Today experts are still trying to understand how. For Trajan, for his Empire, conquest is an economic necessity. Rome Revealed: Ancient Superpower s1e2
Their civilisation stands at its absolute peak. ibid.
Slavery like conquest was one of the pillars on which the Roman Superpower stood. ibid.
Trajan’s time was boom time in Rome. ibid.
With its tower blocks and public entertainment it’s a recognisably modern city. And its problems are modern. ibid.
Across the empire Roman communities take root. ibid.
The overwhelming concern is to keep the money rolling in. ibid.
Trajan was born here: he was Spanish. ibid.
Hadrian’s reign marks the beginning of a time of great peace. ibid.
His [Hadrian] Pantheon – arguably the most perfect of all Roman buildings – is just one of the fruits of his reign. ibid.
It’s been two hundred years since Romans fought a major battle on Italian soil. ibid.
Rome’s long decline has begun. In the 3rd century the Roman empire comes close to collapse ... A number of crises all hit at once, all on a grand scale. The borders of the empire are struggling to fend off hostile incursions; inside the Roman empire there is bloodshed and in-fighting. ibid.
In 410 A.D. a Visigoth army reaches the walls of Rome and lays siege. ibid.
The Roman empire will never recover from this attack. ibid.
This is the story of the power that made Rome great. The most disciplined and deadly force in the ancient world. The Roman Legions. Rome Revealed s1e6: Power of the Legion
They are about to face their bitterest defeat: it happens in the Teutoburg Forest, northern Germany. A simple military operation turns into a massacre. ibid.
It all but destroys the great emperor Augustus. ibid.
Segmented armour is a leap forward. The Romans have learnt the hard way. A legionary should be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. ibid.
At this time a Roman soldier signs up for a minimum of twenty years. He endures harsh discipline and physical hardness. But service brings him good pay, a good pension, and an honoured place in Roman society. ibid.
Britain is Rome’s newest province. A force of only 40,000 has marched through and conquered an entire country. ibid.
The entire British force is wiped out; it is said that Boudica commits suicide. The Romans have taken just hours to achieve their victory, but they take weeks to exact their revenge. ibid.
It is followed by some three hundred and fifty years of Roman rule as the men who came to conquer set up home. Slowly the legionary camps in Britain change from being military bases to being peacetime settlements. ibid.
Rome’s armies were never driven from Britain; they simply slipped away. ibid.
A mysterious pacifist cult born on its further fringes. Christianity should never have survived. Rome Revealed s1e8: Christianity Rising
Roman justice is about humiliation and maximum cruelty. ibid.
Up to one thousand Christians died in Rome. ibid.
In 31 B.C. the once magnificent Egyptian empire was about to fall into the hands of the most feared and ruthless warriors of the ancient world – the Romans. Queen Cleopatra - the last of the great pharaohs of Egypt – had been betrayed by treachery, her country devastated by civil war and famine. When the Romans took over the land of the Nile they turned one of the most inhospitable places on the planet into a thriving centre of trade. When Rome Ruled Egypt, 2008
The Romans wanted all the treasures of Egypt for themselves. ibid.
The Romans brought their superior engineering skills to bear. ibid.
To ensure a constant water supply they had to dig deep. ibid.
No-one knows exactly how many emeralds were mined here. But it must have been millions. The mountain is honeycombed with thousands of mine-shafts. ibid.
So for over five-hundred years the Roman merchants ... grew rich, and the Roman empire grew rich because everyone and everything in the empire had its price. Price paid in tariffs, taxes and tolls. ibid.
A journey across the eastern desert took anything up to two weeks depending on the size of the convoys. The convoys followed a well-established route. ibid.
It’s the year 100 A.D. and Rome is at the peak of its power. The Romans have conquered the whole of the Mediterranean and Great Britain; on the fringes the empire has been occupied by the legions for the past sixty years. Serge Tigneres, The Roman Empire: Rome’s Legionnaires, France 5 NHK A Gedeon Programmes
In a period of five hundred [years] the Roman military machine developed into an all-conquering and all-powerful beast, seemingly invincible. ibid.
The Romans dominated the whole of the Mediterranean basin. ibid.
For the soldiers the legion is their life. They endlessly repeat battle manoeuvres. ibid.
In the spring of 1973 Vindolanda’s archaeologists discover some wooden tablets that appear to be an exchange of mail. ibid.
They report exceptional occurrences in the Roman army: cases of mass desertion. ibid.