The Making of an Emperor • 2016 • episode "S1E2" Roman Empire

Category: History | Subtitle:

The Germanic tribes strike as Marcus Aurelius succumbs to disease, leaving a skeptical Emperor Commodus to prosecute a war that doesn't interest him.

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

patreon.com

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

Roman Empire • 2016 - 2019 • 14 episodes •

Born in the Purple

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 Making of an Emperor

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

Enemy of the Senate

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

Rome is Burning

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

Fight for Glory

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

14 Days of Blood

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

The Triumvirate

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

The Great Conqueror

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

Crossing the Rubicon

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

Queen of the Nile

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

The Ides of March

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 Rightful Heir

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

A New Hope

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

In Search of an Heir

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

You might also like

The Age of Heroes

Alastair explores the surprising roots of Greek art, beginning his journey in Crete at the palace of Knossos, legendary home of the Minotaur. He travels to Santorini to the 'Greek Pompeii', and finds gold in the fabled stronghold of Mycenae and dazzling remains from Greece's Dark Ages. Alastair discovers the beginnings of a defining spirit in Greek art, embracing mythology, a passion for symmetry, and an obsession with the human body.

S1E1Treasures of Ancient Greece • 2015 • History

The Home Front

How the First World War transformed life on the home front, from a greater number of women in the workplace to increased government interference in everyday life.

S01E04The Great War in Numbers • 2017 • History

Christians against Christians

Corruption, loose morals, depravity – the German monk Martin Luther had enough of this and demanded a pure church and a pure faith. His goal was nothing less than a revolution: the Reformation of the church and the ousting of the "depraved" popes. Instead, the freedom within every Christian believer was to be expressed. The first example was the Peasants' Wars. Christianity once again became divided after the downfall of Byzantium: there were now Catholics, Lutherans and Reformed, for the rebels soon went their own way. The new longing for a purer Christianity soon led to the biggest catastrophe in Europe, the Thirty Years' War. It was not foremost a religious war, although it was easier to kill more mercilessly without a legitimation than have to worry about "eternal life." Europe lost half of its population during this period. The horror of the roving hordes of soldiers, the plunge into the most terrible atrocities that humans are capable of, caused the educated to doubt the beneficial power of religion. The separation of church and state is the result of the European experience of so-called religious wars. Outlining the provincial causes and ravaging effects of Europe's Thirty Years' War, this program illustrates the ability of religious fervor to inflame nationalism and drive the quest for power. With background on Martin Luther's split with the Catholic Church and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Dr. Helmut Neuhaus of Friedrich Alexander University offers detailed analysis of the Hapsburg-Bohemian conflict, the shifting alliances of Catholics and Protestants, and the mercenary campaigns of Wallenstein—leading to a comparison with large-scale natural disaster. The program clearly identifies the three-decade inferno as an inspiration for later divisions of church and state.

S1E2The Holy Wars: War and Religion • 2004 • History

Pirates

In pop culture, pirates are often depicted as booty-looting rogues, but their history is far more complicated. See how they became enemies of humanity.

S2E6Explained • 2019 • History

The Revelation of the Pyramids

Narrated by Brian Cox, Revelation of the Pyramids takes an in-depth look into one of Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Pyramids of Egypt. For centuries, the Great Pyramids have fascinated Mankind; every year brings a batch of new theories, from the plausible to the absolutely bizarre. One lone seeker, after more than thirty-seven years of study and research, has at last managed first to understand and then to prove what lies behind this greatest of archaeological mysteries: a message of paramount importance for all mankind, through time and space. Its key - and its heart - are the Great Pyramids of Egypt. From China to Peru, from Egypt to Mexico, throughout the Middle East - through the world's oldest, most enigmatic and often most beautiful sites - the director has spent six years of investigation, guided by his anonymous informant, verifying his discoveries one by one, and meeting the planet's most eminent scientific and technical specialists. The result will shake the history of mankind as it is taught to its very core, and revolutionize Egyptology entirely. A great odyssey along a breathtaking route rich in staggering imagery, an extraordinary scientific leap and finally a revelation as unexpected as it is spectacular: the message bequeathed to future generations by these mysterious builders.

2010 • History

The Rightful Heir

The young Caligula has a difficult childhood when his family members are either murdered or exiled at the hands of the emperor Tiberius.

S3E1Roman Empire • 2019 • History