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Documentary, 8 Days That Made Rome S01E04 - Rome's First Emperor
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00:00Ancient Rome, one of the greatest superpowers in history, whose far-reaching legacy continues to shape our lives.
00:10For close on a thousand years, the Romans dominated the known world.
00:16Theirs was an extraordinary empire that heralded an age of unprecedented prosperity and stability,
00:23but that also ruled through violence and oppression.
00:28Rome's rise to greatness wasn't inevitable. Its epic history was often decided by single critical moments.
00:39In this series, I'm exploring eight key days that I believe help to explain Rome's remarkable success.
00:50To understand the full significance of these eight days, I'm travelling across the Roman world.
00:56It is an enormous treat to be here. I've never managed to get down here before.
01:00Examining remarkable finds.
01:02Brand new, cutting-edge research using NASA software tells us the Ovilus cast a shadow on significant days of the year.
01:11And investigating the complexities of what it was to be Roman.
01:16This is the day in 32 BC, when we're told an ambitious young senator called Octavian ordered the theft of the private will of his arch-rival, Mark Antony.
01:31And read its super-controversial contents to Rome's Senate.
01:36I, Mark Antony, declare that my wish upon my death is to be buried next to my one true love, Cleopatra, in the beautiful city of Alexandria.
01:44I think this is a key moment in the story of Rome. The day that Octavian made his devastating final move on Mark Antony, as the two of them struggled for mastery of a superpower.
01:58Octavian's eventual victory would see him hailed as Augustus, the name by which he would rule Rome as her first emperor.
02:07About 150 miles southeast of Rome, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, is the site of an extraordinary Roman villa.
02:27Buried for over 1,500 years, its secrets are still to be fully uncovered.
02:36I am incredibly lucky to get access to this archaeological site, because this gives us a completely unique glimpse of Rome at the height of its imperial power.
02:51The magnificence of this villa marks it out as exceptionally high status, with lavish reception rooms that revel in the fruits of an expansive empire.
03:02This wonderful site celebrates an era of unparalleled peace and prosperity, the legacy of a remarkable leader.
03:13All this is just spectacular, but there's actually another reason why this site is so exciting.
03:20There's still masses of excavation work to be done here, and some archaeologists think that buried underneath here, there's another villa that belonged to Rome's first and arguably greatest emperor, Augustus.
03:34who we know died somewhere close to here in a gorgeous house in 14 AD.
03:43Digging through the volcanic ash deposited by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, archaeologists are getting closer to tangible evidence from the age of a man who truly changed the world.
03:56I find this all so thrilling because Augustus is one of the world's greatest figures.
04:03The man who killed off the 450 year old Roman Republic to establish a dictatorship, an imperial system that endured for close on 1500 years.
04:14Augustus, this most brilliant and devious of politicians executed a political masterstroke on that day in 32 BC when he stole Mark Antony's will and read its contents to a scandalized Senate.
04:32This is a move that ultimately convinced Rome of Mark Antony's disloyalty, leading to the annihilation of Augustus' last significant rival.
04:45Rome had risen from being an Italian city-state to a Mediterranean superpower.
04:51It was a republic, led by an elected senate.
04:56But the republic's success on the battlefield gave rise to a new breed of powerful generals.
05:03Foremost amongst them, Julius Caesar.
05:08Caesar took on the republic.
05:10But while many people adored him, Rome's powerful elite saw only the rise of a tyrant.
05:17And on the Ides of March, a conspiring group of senators, led by Brutus and Cassius, stabbed Julius Caesar to death.
05:36The assassination of Julius Caesar, which happened right here, didn't solve anything.
05:42There was to be no return to the golden age of the republic.
05:47But in order to try to prevent more anarchy, more violence, an uneasy truce was declared between the two factions,
05:54with Caesar's assassins on one side and Caesar's supporters on the other.
05:59Then, into that delicate balance of power, stepped an enigmatic outsider, the 18-year-old great-nephew of Caesar, Augustus.
06:10Or, as he was still called then, Octavian.
06:15Junior Caesar had seen something in the nervy, awkward young man, who, alongside his good friend Agrippa,
06:22was completing his education in Illyria, modern-day Albania.
06:28On hearing of his great-uncle's murder, Octavian quickly returned to Italy.
06:36When he landed, he received unexpected and, frankly, amazing news.
06:41But, Caesar, his great-uncle, had no legitimate children of his own.
06:46And he declared Octavian his heir, as well as leaving him three-quarters of his giant fortune.
06:54Now, this was life-changing.
06:57With Caesar's wealth and his name, Octavian could now be a major player in Roman politics.
07:03But, claiming his fortune was no simple matter.
07:08In his way was Mark Antony, a hard-partying, charismatic and brilliant general.
07:16As one of Julius Caesar's favourite deputies, he'd been given Octavian's promised fortune for safekeeping.
07:24Freshly arrived in Rome, Octavian was a political nobody.
07:28And his first stop would be to meet with the great General Antony to ask for his inheritance.
07:37Show him in now and I'll get rid of him as quickly as possible.
07:41Come now!
07:47What can I do for you, young man?
07:49I learned recently Julius Caesar deposited a great deal of money and titles.
07:54With his trusted friend, you, Mark Antony, to hold until I was of a suitable age to acquire them.
07:59Come back when you are older, then?
08:02I'm 18 and ready to perform the duties as set out in Caesar's will.
08:07I can assure you, and my friends can attest to my maturity.
08:11You're clearly out of your mind and lack good judgement and decent friends,
08:14where you would not take up such a crushing burden in the succession of Caesar.
08:17Please, appreciate.
08:19Although this approach is made respectfully, it is not a childish request.
08:23Maybe I should bend over this table and let you have me.
08:29No, er...
08:32My...
08:34My intention is to befriend you.
08:35Get out.
08:37Get out now!
08:39Now!
08:44Those who didn't take Octavian seriously would have done well to consider this.
08:49Caesar had spotted something in him.
08:52A sharp brilliance, a ruthless cunning.
08:56And Rome would soon learn just how right he'd been.
09:05I'll put my hand in friendship. Never again.
09:09She's crazy. Nobody told me it was insane.
09:11The young Octavian knew that in order to force Mark Antony to hand over Caesar's estate,
09:17he'd need allies.
09:19Men on the inside who understood how Rome's politics worked.
09:23And so he approached Marcus Tullius Cicero,
09:27a respected statesman, the most renowned public speaker in Rome,
09:32and conveniently, an outspoken critic of Mark Antony.
09:36An arrangement between these two men would be of mutual advantage,
09:41as Cicero would gain the ammunition he needed to thwart Mark Antony from seizing absolute power.
09:48I told him I wanted to do what it said in Caesar's world.
09:51I definitely mentioned Caesar was a person that liked him and wanted me to have the money.
09:56Please, stop. Your incessant mumbling is hurting my head.
10:01Sit with me.
10:03I don't want to elevate myself with Buckmark Antony.
10:06That's not my intention. I just want what's mine, my money.
10:09Stop. Stop.
10:11What do you know of me?
10:17Well, everyone speaks highly of your speeches, the power of your speeches.
10:22I can't speak to Antony again. I need the Senate to intervene.
10:25Octavian, if you weren't fortunate enough to be allowed to address the Senate,
10:30you would ruin any chance of you getting a single denarius.
10:34When you speak to the Senate, you cannot consult little notes.
10:49Cicero will speak on your behalf.
10:53When I persuade the Senate to compel Mark Antony to give you your money and your titles,
10:59you must guarantee me not to forget, Cicero.
11:08Rome, still mourning the death of Julius Caesar, will not be prepared nor will it see you coming.
11:14You look so sweet and innocent.
11:22The talented wordsmith, Cicero, then set to work on behalf of the young Octavian.
11:26Copies of his speeches to the Senate have been stored here at Oxford University.
11:32For 2,000 years, Cicero's attacks on Mark Antony have been studied as masterpieces of political character assassination.
11:41And here talking about a moment when Antony got so drunk at a wedding that he was sick the next day.
11:47Or in Populi Romanius, in the ancient world, in Rome in particular, your success in politics really fundamentally depended on your ability to speak, to persuade, to explain policies and persuade the people or the Senate or various political groups to do what you wanted them to do.
12:09What's Cicero aiming for? What does he hope is going to be the outcome of all of this?
12:15What Cicero essentially wants to do is neutralise Mark Antony.
12:20He wants Mark Antony to be identified as an enemy of Rome and for Roman armies to defeat him and destroy him.
12:27He wants to restore the Republic. He wants to do what the people who killed Caesar wanted to do, which is to go back to some older way of running things.
12:37Cicero did everything that Octavian could have hoped for.
12:41He ramped up his attacks on Mark Antony in the Senate, describing him as coarse and duplicitous, a monster, an enemy of the Republic.
12:51Of his new friend Octavian, however, he declared that he was the most brilliant example of traditional piety amongst our youth.
12:59And he even persuaded them to let him join the ranks of the Senate, despite the fact you normally had to be 30 to become a senator.
13:10Wielding his enormous influence in the Senate, Cicero ground Antony down until he had no choice but to release the money that Caesar had left to this young upstart.
13:21Octavian now had cash and he planned to use it to take on Mark Antony.
13:27This is a defining moment because it means that he can now bring people into his entourage.
13:36He can confer favours. He can fix things for people.
13:41But most importantly of all, it means that he can pay troops.
13:45No earthly reason why you would sign up to follow a 20 year old unless you actually believe that he had the money to pay the soldiers wages.
13:53With Octavian's private army in the wings, Cicero continued his attacks on Mark Antony and in 43 BC, he finally persuaded the Senate to declare him a public enemy.
14:07With this mandate and knowing it would increase his status in Rome, Octavian was happy to pose as the Senate's champion.
14:16He took his new army and marched off to bring Antony to heel.
14:20Rome was being dragged into a destructive civil war.
14:29Here at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is a remarkable cache of weapons from the site of a battle fought between supporters of Antony and Octavian.
14:37And it gives us an idea of just how savage this civil conflict must have been.
14:44These things are so mean, aren't they? I mean, they really are the bullets of the ancient world.
14:49Absolutely. So they would sit inside a leather sling like this and be whirled around someone's head and then let fire at quite extreme velocity.
15:00The impact of that is going to penetrate flesh, it's going to get through armour.
15:05I think David and Goliath, you know, it's all over again.
15:07Yeah. And it's got writing on it.
15:08It has. These would have been cast, some of them, with writing.
15:12And this particular example, you can see it says Octavi, so referring to Octavian.
15:17And then on the other side, we actually have a text that says the Latin word Fellas, which is very obscene and rude and means you suck Octavian.
15:26I mean, for them at this time, curses really mattered. They kind of felt that they were imbued with a kind of malign magic, didn't they?
15:32Yes. And the fact that these are official products of the Roman army, they were insults that are meant to undermine the morale and really hurt the opposition.
15:45In the civil war between Anthony and Octavian, neither side was able to win a decisive victory.
15:51For Octavian, this itself was a great achievement, being the equal on the battlefield to a masterful general.
15:58But it was Octavian's next step that I think shows what a dazzling strategist this young man truly was.
16:08He'd used Cicero to get this far.
16:11Now, he'd use Antony to help him take his next steps towards power.
16:17In a stunning about turn, he proposed an alliance with his arch enemy.
16:23His plan was to tempt Antony and his latest ally, General Lepidus, with a radical idea.
16:34This wouldn't be the first time enemies have come together for the greater good.
16:38Particularly when that greater good is avenging Caesar.
16:41Together, our enemies are numerous.
16:43We propose a solution.
16:44Give him the list to go about.
16:47Three hundred senators are marked for death on that list, along with some of their supporters.
17:04Anyone with the means or inclination to oppose us, whether here, at home or afar.
17:08Are you proposing we kill them all?
17:10Yes.
17:12It is achievable.
17:13And with their death, we would seize control of the Senate with ease.
17:19Three hundred senators.
17:22Add those who support them, and the list could be thousands.
17:24Antony, we could take all the money and land from the three hundred once they're dead.
17:30Can you see his friend Cicero anywhere on this list?
17:33If you vow today to stand with me in the time to come, you may add as many names as you deem fit.
17:48Mark Antony finally gave his support to Octavian's plan.
17:52Down there in the forum, lists were put up, publishing the names of two thousand of Rome's most prominent citizens, including half of the Senate.
18:03The bloodthirsty root and branch purge of Rome's political elite had begun.
18:12Being named on the list essentially put a bounty on your head.
18:16In the ancient world, this demand for a citizen's capture and murder was called a prescription.
18:22Prescriptions were a manoeuvre to get rid of their enemies, but also to get money.
18:28Money was absolutely crucial to support their armies, and the reason why prescriptions were effective was because if you gave someone up, you would get a cut of their estate.
18:39The consequence of that is that people were turned on by members of their family, and not just their slaves that you might well expect, but by those closest to them.
18:47These are moments of extraordinary horror.
18:54The climax of the prescriptions came with an attack on Cicero, who, receiving word that he'd been targeted, made a desperate attempt to escape.
19:03There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly.
19:11This betrayal reveals the level of Octavian's ruthlessness.
19:17Cicero's hands were displayed in the forum, while his head was presented to Fulvia, Mark Antony's wife.
19:25It was said that she spat in his face, and stabbed the tongue of the man who'd so eloquently vilified her husband.
19:39Octavian and Antony now had the cash to recruit a serious fighting force, and wipe out the last of their enemies.
19:48Octavian and Antony had the first place.
19:51Brutus and Cassius, the ringleaders of the assassination of Julius Caesar, had fled to Greece.
19:57Octavian and Antony pursued them there, and destroyed them in the momentous Battle of Philippi.
20:07Octavian and Antony were now the most powerful men in Rome, and served by an essentially toothless Senate,
20:14they proceeded to carve up the vast empire between them.
20:20Receiving the territories of Italy and Spain, Octavian did pretty well from the deal.
20:25But taking the wealthy provinces of the East as well as Gaul in the West, the lion's share went to Antony.
20:35Octavian returned to Rome, where he could use his skills as a political manipulator to start to undermine his supposed ally.
20:42The great general Antony, on the other hand, hoped to gain favour with the public.
20:49He looked to win further military victories, targeting the East.
20:53But he'd need funding to embark on a new campaign.
20:57Now, Antony had spent a ton of his money, but there was still a major player in the region that had plenty of ready cash.
21:03I'm still right in the heart of Rome, but this over here is a proof of who that was.
21:13This extraordinary tomb from the first century BC shows how obsessed Rome was with ancient Egypt.
21:18Perturbed by its alien culture, Romans also fetishised its exoticism and were seduced by its enormous wealth.
21:28So it made absolute sense that it was to Egypt that Antony turned to get troops and cash for his new venture.
21:36The entrance of the ruler of Egypt into this story would shift the balance of power.
21:46Antony was about to fall in love with one of the most formidable women of antiquity.
21:52Mark Antony sought funds for his new military campaign from the ruler of Egypt.
22:03A former lover of Julius Caesar, Queen Cleopatra understood the value of an alliance with those who held power in Rome.
22:11When do the guards leave?
22:15When I tell them to.
22:18So tell them.
22:21Patience is a virtue.
22:25We have many other virtues, I'm sure will satisfy you more.
22:30The last man to demonstrate such virtues made many promises.
22:37And when he got what my queen promised him, he reneged.
22:46Sit with me.
22:59I make my best promises in private, but keep them in public.
23:02We know you have many debts that you wish the queen to clear for you.
23:11I can give you much more than you need.
23:15However happy you make me, I guarantee I will make you happier.
23:23This was the beginning of an extraordinary romance.
23:36And in Cleopatra, Antony had secured the allegiance of someone with the wealth and resources to help him expand the empire.
23:46But Cleopatra wanted something in return.
23:50Her affair with Julius Caesar had produced a son, and she was determined that the boy should be recognised as Caesar's heir.
23:57To get her way, she used all the sensuous splendour of the East to dazzle Antony, as well as her own significant charms.
24:08She was obviously incredibly sexy, but she was also witty and super smart.
24:14She loved maths and philosophy and spoke a huge number of languages.
24:18Antony was almost immediately besotted.
24:24It was almost too easy.
24:27The two formed a powerful personal and political alliance.
24:32Antony and Cleopatra became the ancient world's ultimate power couple.
24:37Back in Rome, Mark Antony's Eastern Alliance was seen as deeply controversial, and Octavian was keen to exploit it.
24:50Smearing his enemy was a tactic that he'd pursue relentlessly, until one day it would provide him with the key to the downfall of his sole remaining adversary.
25:00In order to get their rival political messages across, Antony and Octavian both turned to the most effective mass communication tool of the day.
25:13Coins.
25:15Now, coins circulated right across the empire, and in an age where 90% of the population was illiterate, the images on them were really easy to understand.
25:25If you like, these were the kind of social media of the day.
25:30On this coin, struck by Antony, he's representing himself as the god Dionysus or Bacchus, the god of wine and raw nature and sensual pleasure.
25:42Now, Octavian's coin is far more serious and sober.
25:46In 42 BC, Octavian had managed to get his adopted father, Julius Caesar, recognised as being a god.
25:53And he intended to milk this for all it was worth.
25:59It says, Divi F, Divi Filius, Caesar.
26:03Filius is son, so it's Octavian saying that he is the son, both of Caesar and of a god.
26:11So, with both these coins, we're getting the men representing themselves as having semi-divine status in order to legitimise their right to rule.
26:21Antony as a kind of Eastern-leaning god, and Octavian as the son of a deified Julius Caesar.
26:31Octavian doggedly exploited Antony's new allegiance to the East to drive a wedge between him and the Roman people that once loved him.
26:39And Antony's behaviour was giving Octavian all the ammunition he needed.
26:46Ever since Antony met Cleopatra, he seemed to care less and less about the damage to his reputation.
26:52In fact, one ancient author describes him as behaving a bit like an infatuated teenager around her.
27:00He waited for Cleopatra to come, and since she was slow in coming, he was mad with anxiety, immediately resorting to drinking.
27:09But in the midst of the drinking, he would often spring up to look around, until she finally put into port.
27:17With Antony so beguiled, Cleopatra was able to get what she needed to further her own ambitions.
27:25She would supply her lover with the cash and troops for his military campaigns, in return for his loyalty to Egypt and to her son.
27:32The product of her love affair with Julius Caesar.
27:38I prepared money and soldiers for you to have this very day.
27:43Double what you asked for in truth.
27:50There's so much more I want to give you, but I must ask you for one thing in return.
27:56Name it. Anything. If it is mine to give, I will give it in a heartbeat, and if it is not mine, I will take it from whomever has it and give it to you.
28:05I only want what you already offered.
28:11Then it is already yours.
28:15I want it written.
28:19To declare Caesarian, the son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, the true heir to the rule of Rome,
28:25Antony was directly opposing Octavian's claim to power.
28:31This was Antony's strategy, but his mistake was to agree to put this plan in writing.
28:39Hear me one and all.
28:41It is my honour to present to you the rightful heir of Julius Caesar.
28:46We are told in 34 BC, Mark Antony poured out everything into his will.
28:58That shocking document that would help to turn the fate of an empire.
29:02The will allegedly contained evidence, leading to a gobsmacking conclusion.
29:09Antony was now more loyal to Egypt than to Rome.
29:13Caesarian was Rome's true heir.
29:16After his death, Antony was to be buried in Egypt alongside Cleopatra,
29:20and worst of all, were he to be victorious against Octavian,
29:25he would make Alexandria the capital of his Roman Empire.
29:29For Romans that was horrifying because to be Roman was really strongly tied to a sense of place.
29:39Rome made Roman-ness possible.
29:42For Antony to simply want to move everything to Alexandria was a denial that being Roman was important.
29:48It was treachery.
29:50Initially, these scandalous contents were kept secret,
29:53but they would be dynamite for Octavian if he ever found out.
29:57The will was sent to Rome and stored here at the Temple of the Vestal Virgins in the very heart of the Forum.
30:04Secure, in theory at least, until the time of Mark Antony's death.
30:08Then, two years later, two senators, loyal to Antony in Alexandria, defected to Octavian.
30:19They revealed the existence of the will and its explosive contents.
30:24Octavian was quick to seize the moment.
30:27The chance to finally destroy his great rival.
30:32Alexandria can never be Rome.
30:34Doesn't matter how many millions of Egyptians want it to be so,
30:37it simply cannot.
30:39Why would Mark Antony insist in writing on being buried there?
30:43Titius, compare Alexandria to Rome, please.
30:47I cannot. They are as different as night and day.
30:52Compare Caesarian to me.
30:54One is a bastard, the other a god.
31:07As Octavian sent his men to steal Mark Antony's will from the Temple of the Vestal Virgins,
31:12set in train his final bid for power.
31:18Turn!
31:19A political skullduggery of the highest order.
31:22By stealing Mark Antony's will, Octavian had trampled on ancient Roman customs.
31:28And now he was preparing to reveal its contents, or at least what he said were its contents, to the Senate itself.
31:35It was a gamble that could go either way.
31:39This could destroy Antony's reputation, or it could backfire spectacularly on Octavian.
31:47The Greek historian Plutarch tells us that on that fateful day, Octavian risked his hard-won reputation by reading the stolen will to the Senate.
32:00I, Mark Antony, declare that my wish upon my death is to be buried next to my one true love, Cleopatra, in the beautiful city of Alexandria.
32:19The stories are true.
32:22We all know countless examples of Cleopatra's sexual conquests.
32:26The warnings have always been there, like children's stories, and Mark Antony is no less vulnerable.
32:34My fellow senators, it is with a heavy heart that I come to you today to inform you of the hurtful intentions of Mark Antony.
32:42Here is the final proof that he has been corrupted by the great seductress of Egypt.
32:48But do not think all is lost.
32:51Are we not still standing?
32:53Are we not still united?
32:57Are we not still Rome?
32:59Alexandria is no more the new Rome, and that vile woman's son is the new Caesar!
33:04Romans were now in no doubt of Antony's treachery.
33:09This was a massive political gamble for Octavian, but we're told that the Senate and the people of Rome were so appalled, so outraged by what they learned of Antony's will, that Octavian's own bad behaviour just paled into insignificance.
33:27The gamble of reading the will to the Senate had paid off, and they gave him full support. Octavian knew this was his chance to become sole ruler.
33:38He made sure that Antony was stripped of his political titles and then pushed for all-out war with Egypt and Queen Cleopatra.
33:46Octavian's an amazing political operator because he declares the contents of the will that touches on the racist and sexist nerves of Roman society.
33:58And what we now have is civil war, but civil war constructed by Octavian as a war of the West against the East, of man against woman, of liberty against enslavement.
34:12Antony and Octavian would now face each other in a final showdown. The battle would be one of the most decisive in the story of Rome.
34:2731 BC, off Actium in Greece, Octavian took on Marc Antony for the last time in one of the greatest naval battles in Rome's history.
34:37But for reasons that are still unclear, Marc Antony fled with his lover Cleopatra and their joint forces while the battle was still raging.
34:52They retreated to Alexandria. With Octavian's forces closing in, Antony chose death over the humiliation of being taken alive.
35:01With her lover gone and fear in capture, Cleopatra followed in suicide.
35:10This is not what I wanted.
35:13Together, Antony and I were to be here. We were a team.
35:16My best days were with Antony at my side. We fought for Rome together. We planned together.
35:26If it was up to me, he'd be here with me now, proclaiming the death of a whore who painted herself into a queen.
35:33What do you think?
35:43Perfect. Very convincing.
35:52Is it him? Is it Cesarean?
35:54Finally, having hunted down the child of Caesar and Cleopatra, he dealt with the last threat to his rule.
36:04You are the one true heir to Rome.
36:08All those who'd stood between Octavian and Supreme Power had been eliminated.
36:26Half the senators of Rome.
36:28Caesar's assassins, Cleopatra's son, Caesar's biological heir, and finally, the only man still powerful enough to challenge him.
36:41Mark Antony.
36:43The Republic was dead in the water, and the Senate had no choice but to bend to Octavian's will and award him the title Princeps.
36:51Officially, he was Rome's first citizen, but in reality, this once nervous young man ruled Rome absolutely as its first emperor.
37:06For the people of Rome, this led, finally, to longed for calm and order.
37:11After a decade of civil war and bloodletting, people must have been worn out, desperate for peace.
37:22A strong leader, who seemed to offer unity of a kind, must have been an incredibly attractive proposition.
37:29In 27 BC, the Senate awarded him another new title.
37:33Octavian was now called Augustus, the revered one.
37:41The Republic was officially no more, and the Empire had come into being.
37:47Augustus immediately set about ensuring that his image would live up to this new title.
37:55In the Republic, Roman art was famous for its warts and all portraits, like this one of Augustus when he was still known as Octavian.
38:03But Augustus did away with that tradition.
38:07You can see him here, and now he's been immortalised as a kind of air-brushed image of perpetual youth, vigour and piety.
38:16And Augustus certainly put himself about a bit.
38:19In fact, there are more extant images of Augustus than of any other Roman ruler.
38:25Beginning with a new name, Augustus was pushing through a massive rebrand.
38:30And nothing expressed this more acutely than the magnificent altar of peace he commissioned in 13 BC and dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of peace.
38:42There's Augustus, or at least what's left of him.
38:46And he's leading a solemn procession of priests.
38:49Down here is his family, there's his children and grandchildren.
38:55And what's interesting is that they've ditched military uniform.
38:59Everyone's now wearing togas and modestly veiled and have got laurel wreaths in their hair.
39:04This image of Augustus as a pious man of the people, celebrating years of peace, would spring up in art all over Rome and across its expanding empire.
39:16It was a clever PR strategy and a crucial factor in his success.
39:25In 8 BC, the Senate even named the eighth month of the year after him, August.
39:312,000 years later, we're still discovering new ways in which the long shadow of Augustus's reign was cast.
39:46This giant red granite obelisk was brought to Rome from Egypt by Augustus to celebrate his suppression of Cleopatra's homeland.
39:53But it's not just a monument to that victory. There's something else going on.
40:00The obelisk originally cast a shadow that was 160 metres long and that hit the altar of peace.
40:07Now, brand new, cutting-edge research using NASA software tells us that that happened on particularly significant days of the year.
40:16This was Augustus taking control of the Roman calendar, taking control of time itself.
40:24On the inscription here, Augustus also makes it crystal clear just how much the Romans have got to thank him for.
40:32It celebrates his role as Pontifex Maximus, as the high priest, as the conqueror of Egypt and as Divi Filius, the son of a god.
40:41For me, this obelisk is an incarnation of the scale of Augustus's ambition.
40:51It's a reminder of just how far you can get when you push the boundaries of a system and when you tell the world that it is lucky to have you in charge.
41:02Augustus ruled for 44 years, the first and longest imperial reign in Roman history.
41:14He beautified the city, fashioning the image of Rome that we still recognise today.
41:20Augustus died peacefully, aged 77 in his villa in the countryside of Nola.
41:28Maybe, just maybe, within the walls of that villa discovered on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.
41:35As Octavian, he'd been a ruthless political operator and I'd argue that his masterstroke was that day in 32 BC when he stole Mark Antony's will from the centre of the city and revealed its contents to the people of Rome, securing his triumph and Antony's downfall.
41:57As the Emperor Augustus, he'd drafted the blueprint for imperial success.
42:04Military conquest, headline grabbing monuments, handouts to masses and blatant, meticulous image control.
42:13Forget the honest ideals of the Republic. A brassy, ballsy new empire had been born.
42:22Next time, Rome's empire reaches British shores.
42:35This land now belongs to Rome.
42:38A day when its greed and callousness sparks a devastating revolt.
42:48That's all that's left of the Ninth Legion.
42:50And gives birth to a legend.
42:56Boudicca.
43:20Boudicca.
43:21This in the world of Inmate Ismael in Boston.
43:25Boudicca.
43:26This is one of the best practices that are written in the history of North Korea,
43:27this is something that's left.
43:29It's a good idea.
43:30All this people that talk about was home is the best practices of the world of the world of the world of the world of the world.
43:31Still making fun to me.
43:33I'm so honored to be the best practices for the world of the world of the world of the world.
43:35And I hope that the world of the world is a great place.
43:36You have to be the best practices of this world.
43:40What's having a fantastic background on this land?
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