Airdate: Rome: Empire Without Limit

SBS premieres a new 4 part series, Rome: Empire Without Limit as historian Mary Beard looks at the rise and fall of an empire.

Way before Brexit…

Travelling from Spain to Iran, Egypt to Scotland, Tunisia to Greece, historian and classicist Mary Beard explores the historical phenomenon that has fascinated people for centuries: the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

Moving from the ancient to the modern, from the big battles and big names of Roman history, and on to the stories of those who made it work; many of whom have left their own imprints alongside the Pompeys and Caesars, Hadrians and Constantine the Greats.

Mary examines its creation, its successes, its failures, and the legacy it left behind – not just its technology and buildings, its roads and laws – but also in the worlds that came after it.

Episode One:
Reaching back to the myths and legends of Rome’s origins, Mary gains an insight into the deep-rooted psyche of the people. Rome was a city born through fratricide and rape, but it was also an asylum for outcasts and exiles, allowing for a uniquely inclusive approach towards its neighbours and defeated enemies.

In Greece, Mary finds evidence of war methods akin to genocide. The creation and possession of an empire transformed the politics of Rome forever, creating the conditions for one-man rule, and ending the centuries-old Roman Republic.

Sunday, 10 July at 7.30pm on SBS.