Lavish imperial games at the Colosseum are highlighted by the emperor's bloody victories, but his paranoid abuses of power lead to a final betrayal.
Fighting an implacable enemy in Germania, Marcus Aurelius trains his decadent son Commodus to succeed him, while rumor and intrigues brew back in Rome.
2016 • History
The Germanic tribes strike as Marcus Aurelius succumbs to disease, leaving a skeptical Emperor Commodus to prosecute a war that doesn't interest him.
2016 • History
Commodus rises to power as Rome's new emperor, but not everyone supports his ascent. Among those conspiring against him: his older sister Lucilla.
2016 • History
Commodus defeats his sister's coup but withdraws from governing, allowing others to amass power while he engages in an affair and banishes his wife.
2016 • History
A disastrous grain shortage reveals Cleander's treachery and leaves Commodus isolated, inspiring him to train as a gladiator in a bid to unite Rome.
2016 • History
Lavish imperial games at the Colosseum are highlighted by the emperor's bloody victories, but his paranoid abuses of power lead to a final betrayal.
2016 • History
After success in war makes Caesar a rising star, escalating tension between Rome's two most powerful men creates an opportunity for advancement.
2018 • History
Caesar's wealth grows as one-third of the triumvirate, but his brutal tactics make enemies, forcing him to remake his image as a military conqueror.
2018 • History
Caesar's hard-won victory over Gaul endears him to the Roman people but leads to a military showdown with the Senate and his former ally, Pompey.
2018 • History
Caesar pursues Pompey to Egypt, where he is received by king Ptolemy, who seeks an ally against his rival to the throne - his sister Cleopatra. Caesar finds good chemistry with Cleopatra, but problems in Rome require his return to Rome.
2018 • History
Caesar implements important reforms and grows more powerful and popular in Rome. He acts like a king and plans to become a dictator in perpetuity. To demonstrate his power, he plans to conquer Parthia. However, the Senate and Brutus in particular, are outraged.
2018 • History
The young Caligula has a difficult childhood when his family members are either murdered or exiled at the hands of the emperor Tiberius.
2019 • History
Roman Empire examines the life of Caligula from his days as co-heir of the Empire. He smothers Emperor TIberius to death with a pillow and nullifies his will instructing co-emperors. Caligula is made Emperor and works to win over the Senate by offering amnesty to those we sentences under Tiberius. He then wins over the people by putting on elaborate gladiatorial games. He searches out his exiled sisters and enjoys a life of debauchery. Later, he survives brain fever but the illness drives him mad and he kills his heir Gemellus.
2019 • History
Rome Empire looks at the increasingly deranged and paranoid reign of Emperor Caligula. He a kills his heir and forces his praetorian prefect to commit suicide. In search of a new heir to solidify his place as Emperor, Caligula begins affairs with his three sisters in order to have a child of royal blood. When his sister Drusilla dies, Caligula becomes deranged and the plot of three daggers surrounds him.
2019 • History
Roman Empire looks at the end of the reign of Caligula. His sisters Agrippina and Livilla plot against him after he marries. He later has them shipped to exile on an island in the Mediterranean. The derange emperor becomes even more debauched and begins to spend large amounts of money on monuments to himself. To raise money seizes property after accusing senators of treason and raises taxes. He later orders the invasion of Britain, but his distrustful soldiers refuse to go. Eventually, he is assassinated by the Praetorian Guard and his uncle Claudius is made Emperor.
2019 • History
Simon Sebag Montefiore charts the rocky course of Rome's rise to become the capital of western Christendom and its impact on the lives of its citizens, elites and high priests. Rome casts aside its pantheon of pagan gods and a radical new religion takes hold. Christianity was just a persecuted sect until Emperor Constantine took a huge leap of faith, promoting it as the religion of Empire. But would this divine gamble pay off?
2/3 • Rome: A History of the Eternal City • 2012 • History
On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 1.5 million Allied troops take part in the greatest invasion in history, but then bog down in the Norman hedgerows for weeks. Saipan proves the costliest Pacific battle to date, while back home dreaded telegrams from the War Department begin arriving at an inconceivable rate.
Civil war continues in Vietnam as President Richard Nixon resigns. After North Vietnamese troops regain control of Saigon and the war ends, people from all sides search for reconciliation.
S1E10 • The Vietnam War • 2017 • History
In a spectacular adventure, NOVA unlocks the mystery on the vast, grassy plains of Kazakhstan, where horses still roam free, and nomadic herders follow their traditional way of life. Investigating clues from archaeology and genetics, researchers reveal vivid evidence of the very first horsemen. They also discover warriors who swept across Europe and turn out to be the ancestors of millions today.
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot twice as he rode in an open-top limousine through Dallas, Texas. The assassination sent shockwaves across the world and begged the question: How could a United States president be murdered so easily? Now, thanks to new research, firsthand accounts, and unpublished CIA files, we uncover ten crucial errors—from ignored threats to intelligence breakdowns to major security failings—any one of which, if avoided, could have saved JFK's life…and changed history.
S1E2 • Ten Steps to Disaster • 2021 • History
Julius Caesar is the most famous Roman of them all: brutal conqueror, dictator and victim of a gruesome assassination on the Ides of March 44 BC. 2,000 years on, he still shapes the world. He has given us some political slogans we still use today (Crossing the Rubicon), his name lives on in the month of July, and there is nothing new about Vladmir Putin's carefully cultivated military image and no real novelty in Donald Trump's tweets and slogans. Mary Beard is on a mission to uncover the real Caesar, and to challenge public perception. She seeks the answers to some big questions. How did he become a one-man ruler of Rome? How did he use spin and PR on his way to the top? Why was he killed? And she asks some equally intriguing little questions. How did he conceal his bald patch? Did he really die, as William Shakespeare put it, with the words Et tu, Brute on his lips? Above all, Mary explores his surprising legacy right up to the present day. Like it or not, Caesar is still present in our everyday lives, our language, and our politics. Many dictators since, not to mention some other less autocratic leaders, have learned the tricks of their trade from Julius Caesar.
2018 • History