The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

In 44 BCE, a brutal assassination ushers in Rome's first emperor, Augustus. Rome is on its way to becoming the greatest civilization in human history, but the Emperor now wields godlike authority, and soon cracks in the Empire begin to form.

Under Emperor Trajan and then Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire grows to the largest, and most powerful it has ever been. But in the 160s CE, disaster strikes: Germanic invasions, the plague and a new leader; Emperor Commodus, plunges Rome into chaos.