Roman Empire in the first century A.D. |
Leader of the pack.
Daily life in ancient Rome.
What’s more, the social status of any citizen governed the life they led. While all Romans enjoyed the baths and made a feature of the evening meal, their clothes and food, homes and hobbies, were a product of their class. Those that tried to climb the ranks too quickly were savagely mocked by Petronius, just one of many Roman writers whose observation and wit still breathes life into a society long since dead.More than a city.
Petronius knew his city well, but Rome itself was much more than just one city. Its empire was a vast collection of states, backed up by force. It was not always peaceful. Enemies and rebels like Cleopatra and Boudicca revealed the Roman steel that lay behind its civilization. Even allowing for the occasional revolt, the empire was an enormous achievement. It was a huge marketplace in which citizens could trade and travel unhindered. This helped the spread of foreign religions like Judaism and early Christianity as far as Rome itself. Slowly, these religions encroached on traditional Roman spirits and gods. By the end of the first century AD, Rome was even ruled by a Spaniard, Trajan. He was the first of many foreign emperors that showed the Roman Empire to be a vast, multi-cultural melting pot that still has relevance, more than 2,000 years later. (Excerpt from pbs.org)The playlist bellow contains 4 episodes, each about 55 minutes long, in HD: Order from Chaos, Years of Trial, Winds of Change and Years of Eruption.
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