Empires

Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the ancient world was ruled by Rome. And the Roman Empire was in turmoil. Civil war had engulfed the empire's capital city. Dictators seized power. The Roman future looked bleak. But under the leadership of Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire would survive the chaos and rise stronger and more dazzling than ever before. Episode 1, "Order From Chaos," describes the astonishing rise of Rome; and the astonishing characters -- both famous and uncelebrated -- that fueled its ascendance. Most notably, Caesar Augustus. The story of Augustan Rome is the story of greatness at a price. "Years of Trial" begins in the year 14, when Caesar Augustus died and the empire stood at a crossroad. Would Rome continue the course set by its first emperor... or would it fall into civil war? The tense period immediately following the death of Augustus brought a brutal army mutiny and intense political intrigue. A reluctant new emperor quickly inhabited the imperial palace and stability eventually prevailed. The new emperor was called Tiberius. He was Augustus' step-son and he was a dour, middle-aged man with limited vision. Tiberius' ultimate decline from ascetic ruler to reclusive despot ushered in one of the most notorious rulers of the ancient world: Caligula. As fear and conspiracy descended on Rome, crisis spread to the provinces. In Judaea, modern-day Israel, a charismatic religious leader named Jesus challenged the religious and political establishment. The local furor barely touched Rome, but the legacy of Jesus would one day engulf the empire itself.

In "Winds of Change," Claudius, the most unlikely member of the imperial family, becomes one of the greatest emperors of the Roman Empire...only to fall victim to a brutally ambitious wife. A principled philosopher named Seneca finds himself compromised as tutor to the erratic young Emperor Nero. In Britain, a warrior queen named Boudicca battles Roman legions...and from Judaea, a revolutionary named Paul begins spreading the words of Jesus across Roman lands. Back in the capital, Nero's disastrous rule shakes the empire to its foundation. Rome nearly burns to the ground. The empire is on the edge of disaster. In "Years of Eruption," with Nero's death, the dynasty of Augustus comes to an end. Rival generals fight for supremacy in the streets of Rome. A new dynasty brings another tyrant to the throne, and Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying Pompeii and thousands of people beneath a torrent of ash and mud. A teenager called Pliny the Younger survives the disaster and records the night of terror. But the Empire weathers the traumas. As the first century draws to a close, the Emperor Trajan sets the course for generations to come...and projects the collective voice of ancient Rome across the ages.