Um documentário que nos leva numa viagem por todo o antigo Império Romano, explorando a entidade política mais multicultural da história.
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00:00O Roman Empire é um dos mais famosos e influenciais em todo o mundo histórico,
00:07e a sua grande risa e desastruosa fall continua a nos ativar mais de 2,000 anos.
00:16Rôme's contribuições para art, arquitetura, law, linguagem, religião e cultura ainda nos acompanhá-nos.
00:23At its height, the Roman Empire covered 2.3 million square miles over three continents,
00:34stretching north to Britannia and south deep into Egypt.
00:39It's hard to imagine that it all started with a single city.
00:45I'm archaeologist Darius Arian, and in this series, we'll discover the contributions of Rome,
00:51its incredible monuments, beautiful landscapes, strategic organization, and its provinces and
00:59their resources. In this episode, we'll explore Spain from the Roman emperors to the Arab rulers
01:06of Al-Andalus, Croatia along the Adriatic, a kingdom of salt and sea, and Serbia along the Danube,
01:15truly a crucible of warriors.
01:21The rich fertile lands of the Iberian Peninsula, modern-day Spain, have been contested from antiquity
01:38to the European Renaissance, from the Celts, the Romans, the Arabs, and the various Christian kingdoms.
01:45But despite centuries of change that followed, Rome left an indelible mark on Hispania,
01:53and Hispania left its own mark on the Empire, boasting the rise of the first Roman emperors
01:58outside of Italy, coinciding with Spain's apex of urbanization, engineering, and exploitation
02:06of the lands, from gold mines to olive oil, antiquity's liquid gold.
02:12The emperors Trajan and Hadrian are two of the most well-known and influential rulers
02:18in the Roman Empire. Trajan expanded the empire to its greatest extent, and Hadrian legendarily
02:24traveled through it for much of his reign.
02:29Trajan pushed east, and he left behind many monumental structures in Rome, like his forum,
02:36his baths, and Trajan's column.
02:40Hadrian was not the great conqueror, but the great administrator, and he was famous for his
02:46intellectual curiosity, his fascination with Greek culture, and his travels throughout
02:51the empire, leaving behind, of course, great structures in Rome, like the Pantheon.
03:00Now, both of these emperors came from Hispania, and this was a very big deal, because for the
03:06first time, the emperor is not from Rome or even Italy. It opened up the floodgates to the notion
03:13that the emperor now could come from anywhere in the empire.
03:18Now, the fact that it's Hispania first, outside of Italy, made sense. They had been Romanized
03:25for a very long time. Very many communities were filled with Roman citizens.
03:30Then, at the end of the first century CE, Vespasian declared all the citizens living in Hispania
03:36citizens of Rome. And that really said to the rest of the empire that Hispania had a privileged
03:43position.
04:01Trajan was born here in Italica, and quite possibly Hadrian as well. The city was already important
04:07with a sizeable river port, but under the patronage of the emperors, the city grew to epic proportions,
04:14with massive, gigantic urban transformations that really took the city to another level.
04:22But when the Western empire fell, cities like Italica were literally picked apart. Still, it's an important
04:30example, like Merida, of a singular city that was under the patronage and the whims of the most important
04:39man in the Roman Empire.
04:40One of the most spectacular sites that's preserved in Italica is the Hadrianic amphitheater. It's enormous.
05:00It's one of the biggest in the Roman Empire. It held upwards to 25, even 30,000 spectators. It's 160 meters by 138.
05:10And you have a shrine of the gladiators dedicated to Nemesis, the goddess of retribution. The gladiators
05:18were down below in the hippogeum, waiting with the animals, being lifted up through a wooden floor
05:24to the delight of all the spectators. You can still see the cuttings for the planks of wood that would
05:29cover this massive void. And this structure is an example of an imperial enhanced, economically
05:38sustained structure. Anything is possible in the Roman Empire when the emperor is lending a hand.
05:46Now, the fortunes of Italica already began to change in the third century CE. That's when the river silted over,
06:00cutting off its access to commerce, cutting off its access to the coastline and the rest of the empire.
06:06It also lost imperial patronage. So, when we move forward to late antiquity, that's when you get full
06:12abandonment of Italica. Now, what happens next is it becomes a quarry site for nearby Seville,
06:17and a lot of the area is dedicated to farmland. But that means, as a result, we have so much of this
06:24urban center untouched, pristine, giving us knowledge, a treasure trove of information of the birthplace of emperors.
06:33And it really is an extraordinary example of what imperial patronage could do to a single city.
06:40And we can enjoy that now as we see the excavated remains.
06:43There's gold in those hills right behind me, that incredible, beautiful, man-made panorama.
07:01And it was an important source of gold for the Roman state. I'm in Teroconensis province in the northwest,
07:08where there have been documented 250 gold mines in about 300 years in the imperial period,
07:14producing 250 tons of gold. But nowhere was more impressive than the work done here at Las Medulas,
07:23a world heritage site, producing 11 tons of gold, moving 3.3 billion cubic feet of sediment
07:32to extract gold. We can explore still today how they did it.
07:38It's incredible to wander through the galleries here at Las Medulas. You have to think about the labor
07:59that goes into producing these galleries that were infinite in number, cutting through with iron tools
08:06past this sediment, which consists of pebbles, rocks, and rather large boulders.
08:16It's an incredible amount of work to extract gold.
08:19It's engineering and the laborers, up to 10,000 housed in settlements all around the mines,
08:36probably initially mostly slaves, that stood behind every gold coin minted in Rome.
08:41The mining here gave a huge boost to the Spanish economy, and for the Roman economy, it created a
08:51truly gold standard.
09:04And it was this gold standard that led Rome to conquer Britain,
09:08which increased the wealth and power of the Roman Empire.
09:11Precious metals were highly valued by the Romans,
09:14and access to these resources could be used for trade and to fuel the Roman economy and military.
09:20Bringing Britain under Roman control helped regulate profit from this trade more effectively,
09:26and new territories brought prestige to Roman leaders and military commanders.
09:31But the influence of ancient Rome on the United Kingdom can be seen in many other areas.
09:36Urbanization, technology, agriculture, even networks of roads.
09:42Roman culture, including art and literature, was introduced to the indigenous Celtic peoples of Britain,
09:49and Christianity became the UK's dominant religion.
09:53The Romans also brought advanced engineering techniques using concrete, arches, and aqueducts.
09:59One of the most iconic stands as a testament to the power and ambition of ancient Rome.
10:05Hadrian's Wall, a defensive fortification spanning more than 70 miles.
10:11Constructed under the rule of Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century AD,
10:15it marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in Britain,
10:18and prevented enemy tribes from invading.
10:21Forts, mile castles, and watchtowers housed Roman soldiers who provided defense
10:27and surveillance along the frontier.
10:29Despite its imposing presence, Hadrian's Wall didn't stop all incursions. It underwent modifications
10:36and repairs over the centuries as the Roman Empire's fortunes fluctuated.
10:42Eventually, Roman forces withdrew from Britain in the early 5th century AD, and Hadrian's Wall was
10:49abandoned.
10:50Yet, it still stands as a reminder of the enduring legacy of the Roman Empire,
10:55and its impact on the landscape and history of Britain.
11:04Back in Spain, heading south, is the city of Cordoba.
11:08Originally an Iberian settlement conquered by the Romans in the Second Punic War,
11:12the city of Cordoba was founded by the Romans in 152 BCE, and it became the colony Colonia Patricchia.
11:19Then it was resettled by Augustus, and he made it the capital of the new province, Hispania Paetica.
11:28And you can look around the city today, and you can see a number of Roman ruins, scattered tombs
11:33through the city, one large central temple, and this impressive bridge, which spans the Guadalquivir River.
11:44The bridge today stands over 300 yards long. The Augustan Bridge probably replaced an earlier one
11:50of wood, an extension of the Via Augusta that ended at the coastal city Gaddis. It was mostly rebuilt
11:57from its ruins when the city was under Arab control in the early 8th century.
12:04Under the Almohads, the defensive Calahora Tower was added in the 12th century.
12:10At the other bridgehead, in the 16th century, the Puerta de la Puente was created to commemorate
12:16the visit of King Philip II. Rebuilt in the Arab period, it's a reminder of just how important
12:23Cordoba remained post-Roman, first under the Visigoths, and then under Arab domination,
12:29when they designated the city as the provincial capital in 716, replacing Seville. That's when
12:36everything changed. The impressive Roman city provided an ample urban layout and starting point,
12:43as well as building materials for the centuries-long Arab occupation. Cordoba grew into a city of several
12:50over 100,000. And the sheer amount of mosques and palaces constructed over 200 years of prosperity
12:57and peace is impressive. But where did this impetus come from? The economy of Cordoba was based upon
13:04manufactured goods, from tiles to metalwork, leather goods and textiles, agricultural produce,
13:13silk, cotton. It was a political center. It was also a place of learning, boasting countless libraries
13:21and academies. And it had a specific knowledge of medicine, science, math and botany that made it the
13:29envy of all of Europe. Within this environment, Abd al-Rahman I built this enormous mosque at the end of the 8th
13:38century CE. And it's one of the greatest monuments of Western Islamic architecture. It has components
13:46of Visigoth, Roman and Islamic architecture. It's further expanded in the 10th century, so the mosque's
13:53becoming even larger, even more innate. And then under the Christian conquest, it's converted into a church
14:00with further embellishments in the 16th century. We can observe some of its unique details. Its height was
14:12daring for a mosque, second only in scale to the mosque of Mecca. It used for the first time a double
14:19arch to sustain the roof. This solution may have come from looking at the past architectural wonders of
14:25Spain, like the aqueduct of Merida. Same for the mixed building materials, here brick and stone, from Roman and
14:35Visigoth precedents. In summary, we can characterize its own style of Western Islamic art as experimental
14:45and ultimately influential on later Spanish art.
14:54Further south, I'm in Seville, ancient Hispalis. So close to Italica, this was the true river port of
15:02Hispania along the Guaracavir River, founded by Liberian settlers under Augustus. It truly thrived as
15:10as an important marketplace and industrialized center. In the fifth century, incursions pushed into
15:17Hispania. Hispalis was conquered first by the Germanic Vandals, then the Suebi, then the Visigoths.
15:25In 711, the city was conquered by the Umayyads. And briefly, they made Hispalis the capital of the new
15:33empire, Al-Andalus. And afterwards, the city remained an important commercial center. Then in 1248,
15:40the city was conquered by Ferdinando de Castilla, and the city became Christian, transforming it yet again.
15:48But still, the signs of Roman and Arab occupation are visible throughout the city.
15:54Roman occupation and the legacy of the Roman Empire can also be seen in Egypt, which became a Roman
16:07province following the defeat of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony by Octavian, later known as Augustus,
16:15in the Battle of Actium. Ancient Rome's influence on Egypt was significant and multifaceted.
16:21Roman architecture, language, and religion began to infiltrate Egyptian society. The Temple of Hathor
16:28at Dendra was expanded and modified during the Roman period, with Roman emperors depicted in its
16:34reliefs. In Alexandria, Pompey's pillar is a prominent Roman monument, as well as the Roman
16:41odium, a theater-like structure used for musical performances and public gatherings. Similarities can
16:48be seen in Rome's Theater of Marcellus. The Roman amphitheater, which accommodated
16:55thousands of spectators, was built by the Romans for entertainment. And while not identical in design
17:02or purpose, the Colosseum in Rome was also a venue for gladiatorial contests, animal hunts,
17:08and public spectacles. Christianity reached and spread throughout Egypt in the first century AD,
17:17and communities formed in Alexandria and other urban centers. Churches were constructed,
17:23Christian institutions were established, and Christian symbols and practices were integrated into
17:29public life. First Roman emperor to convert to Christianity was Constantine the Great. Ironically,
17:37it was the previous emperor Diocletian who became well known for persecuting Christians in the empire
17:43during his reign from 284 to 305 AD.
17:50Now let's travel from Egypt to Croatia, where Diocletian was born, along the Adriatic coast.
17:56The Dalmatian coast is rugged, beautiful, dotted with a thousand islands, and the core of ancient
18:07Illyria, later called Dalmatia. His hard-fought land, finally conquered by Augustus and Tiberius,
18:16became an instrumental part of the Roman Empire, and in the late 3rd century it produced one of Rome's
18:22greatest emperors, Diocletian. His actions and decisions had important repercussions
18:29felt throughout the empire. His legacy was also beset by the rise of Christianity,
18:36the collapse of the empire, a rival of the Slavs.
18:39Who are the indigenous Illyrians? They lived in the western Balkans, they lived along the Adriatic,
18:51distinct from the Greeks, they spoke a language similar to the pre-Roman Veneti in northern Italy.
18:57And when they formed their kingdoms and a substantial navy, they became a threat to Rome,
19:03and it led to a series of wars, the Illyrian wars from 229 to 167 BCE, and as a result, Rome had a
19:11substantial victory. Ancient Illyria's coastline appeared like much of the Adriatic coast, but
19:18inland it was a difficult terrain to conquer. Rome controlled the coastlands through protected
19:24republics led by various tribes, but raids and piracy continued through the end of the republic.
19:29It was a land hard fought over two centuries. Continuous fighting led to the establishment
19:37of Roman towns like Salona, alongside Illyrian and Greek settlements. Many Italians made their
19:43presence felt. There was no going back. During his Civil War conquests, Julius Caesar fought against
19:51the Illyrians, and as a result, designated the city Salona as the provincial capital, adding his name to the
19:58city. This city is located along the Yadra River that still feeds into the Adriatic. The remains of
20:04the sprawling urban center is still visible today.
20:09But it was Augustus who crushed the Illyrian tribes to form a new province, Illyricum,
20:14with Salona as provincial capital by 27 BCE. Then, major uprisings led to further fighting a few decades
20:22later. Toward the end of his reign, Augustus sent Tiberius, who accomplished the definitive defeat of
20:28the revolting Illyrian tribes, like the Dalmatii, in the Belum Batonianum, the Batonian War, named after
20:36the rebel leaders. He then divided Illyricum into two distinct provinces, Dalmatia to the south,
20:42and Pannonia to the north, by modern-day Serbia.
21:01This stronghold remained always fundamental in the history of Dalmatia. First occupied by the Illyrians,
21:08then the Romans. They called it Anditrium in their historical chronicles. Later on it was called
21:13Quasura, and finally Cris. Everyone was here controlling that critical juncture, from the
21:20coastland to the inland, to the hinterland of Dalmatia. Most recently, it's figured prominently
21:26in Game of Thrones, as it really does have a rather otherworldly feel to it. It's totally unique.
21:38The city of Split is one of the most important in southern Croatia.
21:55Diocletian came to power in 284, after a long line, a succession of emperors that were short-lived,
22:01that couldn't get a real hold on what was going on with the empire. Unstable borders, incursions,
22:07revolts, political infighting. He brought stabilization to the empire that it hadn't seen
22:13after 50 years of crisis. And that stabilization brought peace and calm. Of course, it was a bloody
22:20effort to do so, but that's what the Pax Romana was all about, established by Augustus.
22:25But Diocletian's Roman Empire was a different time. He killed rivals, won important strategic wars,
22:33and set up a new system, ruling with subordinate co-emperors, not in the previous father-son
22:38arrangement, but with competent generals hand-selected and relocated to various new capitals,
22:44including Sirmium, Nicomedia, Milan, Trier. He tried to deal with the runaway inflation,
22:52through a new edict of prices, a noble attempt, and precious document, but without success.
22:59And of course, his great persecution of 303, to stave off the explosive growth of Christianity,
23:05which had long since taken root alongside other beliefs, it was a failed attempt, though bloody
23:10one, to preserve traditional Roman religious beliefs. When it was all said and done, and Diocletian
23:18had designated his heirs, he actually retired here, at this newly constructed seaside villa.
23:26You can see just how impressive the walls are that are still standing.
23:30He's the local son who returned home near Salona. A few miles away from his birthplace,
23:37he set up shop here for the remaining years of his life. This was constructed between 295 and 305,
23:44and with this construction, everything changed.
23:57The villa is only about 200 by 200 yards, and its appearance has often been likened to a military
24:04cast room or fortification. Gone are the days of the palace on the Palatine Hill of the Emperor,
24:10next to the Circus Maximus. Instead, we have something new. We have a fortified villa,
24:16with imposing towers, gates, high walls. The thing is, a lot of it's just for show, because
24:24in the time of Diocletian, there was no hostile territory here, and he's not strategically locating
24:29the villa along the coast. There's something else going on here, and architectural historians have
24:35looked at certain elements, certain architectural elements that are derived from the palaces,
24:41not just of the Greek East, but of the Persian Sassanids, that Diocletian had fought against and
24:48defeated in the 290s. We can explore these elements today.
24:51You descend a few steps, and you're in the vestibule, still surrounded by granite columns and imported
25:06Greek marble columns, even sphinxes from Egypt. On the eastern side, you have the mausoleum of
25:12Diocletian. On the western side, you have the Temple of Jupiter, where you proceed south up a set of
25:17dual staircases, and past the Praetiron, which is a kind of temple-like facade, announcing that you're
25:25going to a place truly important, and you find yourself in a pantheon-like structure, which very
25:30well might have been the audience hall itself, for meeting the Emperor. And behind, a series of
25:38luxurious apartments, the living quarters of Diocletian himself overlooking the sea.
25:43And on the eastern side, this side here, you have the Mausoleum of Diocletian. So this is the man
25:53who really pushed to the extreme the concept of ruler living God. Diocletian dies in 311,
26:01and visitors knew, as they visited here, that he was going to be imminently immortalized, interred here
26:08in this mausoleum, forever. Diocletian died in 311, and he witnessed his tetrarchic system of ruling
26:17the Empire literally implode before his eyes, but he never fully reengaged to end all disagreements,
26:25squabbling, and infighting. I can't help but think of the irony of it all. I mean, here is Diocletian
26:33designing his dream villa for retirement, escaping all the the weight of being the Emperor, with the
26:40end goal to be immortalized, to be interred right here in his mausoleum. But in the 7th century,
26:47it's converted into the church of Saint Domnius, the patron saint of Salona. After the city was sacked
26:53by the Avars, the population moves here, builds the city, and this becomes the central cathedral.
26:59You have this great, impressive bell tower added in the 13th century. We can still look around inside
27:07and outside the mausoleum, converted into a cathedral. We can admire the original architecture
27:13of Diocletian's mausoleum on the exterior, but also the interior. The colonnades, the artistic carving,
27:23the architectural features. In fact, very contemporary, very similar to buildings built by Diocletian in Rome,
27:29itself, like the Baths of Diocletian. Diocletian's villa was used in imperial residence through
27:41antiquity. Then in the 7th century, when the Avars and the Slavs sacked and destroyed Salona, the refugees
27:49came here to this fortified villa, ready-made, as the nucleus of the city that became split.
27:56So it's an incredible legacy of the emperor Diocletian, the local boy who became emperor,
28:02who saved the empire, brought it back from the brink, but also an incredible engineering and
28:07architectural legacy of the entire villa, providing robust foundations for a new city, a new beginning
28:14in the Middle Ages.
28:25Heading south along the coast is Dubrovnik. Ancient Ragusa, with its intact circuit of walls,
28:31leaves little to the imagination. It was a successful naval power of the Adriatic.
28:36The city began like split as a place for refugees from the nearby Roman city, in this case,
28:42Ebedarum, pillaged by the invading Slavs in the 7th century CE.
28:48Ragusa linked up with the nearby local village by filling in a marshy river which led to the creation
28:55of the major thoroughfare, the 300-yard-long Stradun. Linking the western Pillai Gate to the eastern
29:06Ploji Gate, each gate is still marked by a 15th century fountain.
29:11Ragusa's power stemmed from the sea, and its wealth became a very important naval power like Venice,
29:24and it got its start after the end of the Roman Empire, after the end of the concept of Mare Nostrum,
29:30our Sea of the Romans. Then it had become the Mediterranean dominated by the Saracen pirates,
29:35and you had the rise of Italian cities that were naval powers like Venice and Genova, Pisa,
29:41and Kona. And so Ragusa started off negotiating with the Byzantine Empire, still in the west,
29:49in Ravenna, and then directly in Constantinople. Then afterwards it dealt with the Ottoman Empire
29:56for trade and access to goods, and ended up making an alliance with Ancona to counterbalance the great
30:04power Venice, that ultimately dominated Ragusa, mostly in the 13th and 14th centuries. But afterwards,
30:11Ragusa, again independent, got great wealth and success from the sea, and remained independent
30:18all the way to 1808.
30:25The city, its land route, and its port were protected by this wall of 1.2 miles,
30:31maintained from the 12th to the 18th centuries. It's one of the best preserved medieval wall circuits
30:37in the world.
30:42Dubrovnik today is thriving, alive, proud of its history and heritage, has its tie to the Roman Empire,
30:49to Byzantium, to Venice, to the Ottomans. Then it was devastated by the earthquake of 1667,
30:56it was devastated by the Napoleonic Wars, and became part of the Austrian Empire.
31:03But it's been heavily restored, and the history has been preserved. Bell towers have been re-erected,
31:09churches have been conserved, and its authenticity resonates around the world as it appears in so
31:16many films and shows like Game of Thrones. Today, it offers its visitors unique perspectives of its rich
31:23history and heritage. In addition to the walls, the city constructed a complex series of towers
31:30and exterior stand-alone forts, like St. Lauren's Fortress.
31:37Beyond the city, there was also a larger network and area controlled by Ragusa that we can still
31:43explore today.
31:54Along the coast, just nine miles from Dubrovnik, is modern-day Zatat. In antiquity, it was Epidaurum,
32:00already a Greek colony founded in the 6th century BCE. The Romans conquered it and changed its name to
32:07Epidaurum in 228 BCE, creating a new important city along the Adriatic part of the province of Dalmatia.
32:18Zatat, or ancient Epidaurum, as was noted, the beginning of ancient Ragusa. The people of this
32:24town fled and made their way up the coastline to a location that was admittedly more appropriate and
32:31defensible in more dangerous times after the fall of the Roman Empire. But besides Locrum and Zatat,
32:38Ragusa had many other lands and commodities that they controlled at great expense and effort.
32:47One such city was Stone, located on the Pelsac Peninsula.
32:51The Illyrians first controlled these lands, and here in particular, the local salt pans that still
33:03exist. Back in ancient Rome, its early start included the Via Salaria, the old salt road,
33:09to Osteantica at the mouth of the Tiber River. Salt was an important commodity to the Romans and was
33:16also one here for the Illyrians, Romans and Ragusans.
33:24This was a commodity to be defended. So the Ragusans built extensive walls up and down the
33:31Pelsac Peninsula to protect the salt pans already in the 14th century. And this underlines the fact
33:39that salt was a precious commodity that needed to be defended and would fetch a very high price
33:44throughout the Mediterranean at this time.
33:49The ancient Illyrians, alongside the colonizing Greeks, gave way to the Romans after a long,
33:54hard struggle. Through trade, communication routes, and urbanization, they became part of the empire.
34:01And in this rugged, beautiful environment that we can still enjoy today,
34:06this hardy folk produced countless soldiers over the centuries for the Roman empire, culminating
34:12with Diocletian and his legacy, his magnificent seaside villa that became the city split.
34:19A fragmented Roman empire finally yielded to the onslaught of the Avars and Slavs. And in that
34:32tumultuous time, amidst the ruins of Roman cities, there arose a new economic rival to Venice, Ragusa.
34:41First trading with the Byzantine empire, then the Ottomans. This was a land always tied to the sea,
34:48and salt, in stone. It takes us back to the Romans. It takes us back to the ancient Illyrians,
34:55always tied to the Dalmatian coast.
34:57From Croatia, we travel to modern-day Serbia, a region of the Roman empire that gave birth to more rulers
35:10than any other. Eighteen Roman emperors, including Aurelian, Jovian, and Justinian.
35:16Forts like this popular reconstruction at Roman Viminacium were a common site in Roman Serbia,
35:32on the frontier between the Roman and so-called barbarian worlds at the fringe of the Roman empire.
35:41Unlike the lands along the Adriatic, up in the north, it was never as rich.
35:46Urbanization didn't come easy. The cities were mostly much smaller.
35:50And that's because the environs remained rather uncertain. In fact, for the Romans, it was mostly
35:55militarized. Now, they did extract items like grain and metals. And in the cities that we're going to
36:02explore, there were important trade and communication routes. But underlining this entire area,
36:07it was all about strategic defense, protection of the empire.
36:11The strategic position of the Danube river was significant in ancient times, particularly for
36:20the Roman empire. Stretching over 1,700 miles, running from Germany to the Black Sea,
36:26it served as a natural boundary between the Roman empire and various neighboring territories,
36:32like the Germanic tribes to the north. The Romans utilized the Danube as a defensive barrier,
36:38constructing forts, roads, and military outposts to guard against invasions. The river facilitated
36:45trade and transportation in the Roman empire and served as a vital artery for the movement of goods
36:51and troops between the eastern and western provinces. A shorter but equally vital frontier, the Rhine
36:59river marked the boundary of the Roman empire in the northwest, separating Roman territory from the
37:04lands inhabited by Germanic tribes. Unlike the Danube, the Rhine wasn't as long or extensive in its
37:11coverage of the Roman empire's borders. But it was strategically important due to its proximity to key
37:18Roman territories like Gaul, modern-day France, and Germania inferior, parts of modern-day Netherlands,
37:25Belgium, and Germany.
37:30The Rhine served as a natural line of defense for the Roman empire, with fortifications and military
37:35installations along its banks to protect against Germanic raids and invasion. Both the Danube and
37:42the Rhine played crucial roles in shaping the strategic defenses of the Roman empire. Some of Rome's
37:49greatest successes, as well as some of its greatest disasters, are tied to the Danube.
37:59In the first phase of Trajan's Dacian War from 101 to 102, his troops crossed over the river using a
38:06massive pontoon boat, as documented at the base of Trajan's column, chronicling the wars.
38:13On a later panel on the column, we see the bridge that Trajan had constructed in preparation for the
38:20Second Dacian War, waged between 105 and 106. It was constructed by his key architect,
38:26Apollodorus of Damascus, between 103 and 105. This was the longest bridge ever constructed by the Romans.
38:34This is so incredible. I'm here at Trajan's Bridge, probably the most famous bridge ever made by the
38:46Romans. It certainly was the longest. It extended from modern-day coastal Serbia to ancient Dacia,
38:53or today's Romania, four-fifths of a mile. That's extending over the Danube about a half a mile wide.
39:02And the piers that arose up out of the depths of the Danube were 65 feet high, 45 feet wide apiece.
39:10There were 20 of them extending across the Danube, massive constructions made out of Roman Opus
39:16Caimenticum, so the ancient cement that the Romans pioneered, hydraulic cement, including the use of
39:23pozzolana ash from Italy. And they're very resistant, and that's why we have some of them still here, visible today.
39:45The flat-open plains of Roman Serbia were an ideal location for staging grounds of military maneuvers
39:51of the Romans. And it was here in this location that the Romans created the fortification camp in Menachem.
39:58Now the city developed out of the camp, and it eventually became the provincial capital of Moesia
40:03Superior. With 40,000 inhabitants spread out over 1,100 acres, it was one of the largest cities in Roman
40:11Balkans. Just 5% of the site has been excavated today.
40:21Vemenachem started as a military fortification under Augustus. In the reign of Claudius in 52 CE,
40:27he moved the 7th Cloudia Legion here permanently to be in Moesia. Under the Emperor Hadrian,
40:35Vemenachem attained Municipium citizen status, and under Gordian, it obtained the status of a Colonia.
40:43And this was quite a large city. It had 6,000 troops stationed here, 30 to 40,000 inhabitants in the city.
40:51And when we take a look at a reconstruction model, we see the urban sprawl that was once here.
40:57Forum spaces, basilicas, porticos, and of course,
41:00so many bath complexes like this one, fed from a local aqueduct, it would have made anyone feel like
41:07they were in Rome, with all the creature comforts for the soldier, the citizen, and the foreigner.
41:15History certainly happened here. Trajan was headquartered here for part of the Dacian Wars.
41:20Marcus Aurelius was here for part of the Germanic Wars in the 170s.
41:24And the Emperor Septimius Severus acclaimed his son, recognizing him officially as his successor and
41:31Caesar in Vemenachem. It was a powerful statement in a strategic location.
41:38The Emperor Diocletian was headquartered here when he prepared to confront and defeat his early rival
41:44Carinus at the Battle of the Margus River a few miles away. And in 382,
41:50it was a meeting of the Emperor Theodosius and Gratian at the end of the devastating wars.
41:57Again, underlining the military and strategic importance of Vemenachem.
42:02But during the wars, the Illyrian wars, the Romans took over this strategic location,
42:08and on the hillside above, they created a castrum, and they called it Singedunum.
42:14To the north of Belgrade is one of the most important sites in Roman times, Sirmium.
42:20Ancient Sirmium is in the modern city, Shremska Mitrovica. And it was in ancient Pannonia,
42:2745 miles northwest of Belgrade, on the Savva River, the ancient Savvas River.
42:34And as early as the 4th century BCE, Illyrian tribes were here, then the Skordisky,
42:39and finally the Romans under Augustus. And it was determined to be the capital city of Lower Pannonia.
42:47And it grew into a city of 100,000 inhabitants at least because of its strategic location.
42:54Under Diocletian, when he co-opted rulers to form the Tetrarchy, he determined there to be four capitals
43:01of the Roman Empire, displacing the singularity of Rome forever. So it was Sirmium with Nicomedia,
43:08Milan, and Trier. And it became the primary residence of a number of important emperors,
43:14including Diocletian, Constantine the Great, Licinius, and Constantius II.
43:20Over the years, piecemeal discoveries have given us some insight into how great this city once was.
43:33And in particular, the accidental discovery of this structure really clues us into the
43:38greatness of Sirmium. It has this modern roof placed on top of it as of 2009. This is a portion
43:46of the palace of the emperors in Sirmium. Just think that history happened here. Trajan was based here,
43:54in this palace in Sirmium, when he waged the Dacian Wars. Marcus Aurelius, during a portion of the
44:02Germanic Wars, was based here. And it was here that he wrote his meditations. And quite possibly,
44:09on March 18, 180, Marcus Aurelius died here.
44:19But of all the layers of the history of Sirmium, it's the fact that at least 10 Roman emperors were
44:24born here or nearby in the third century CE. We may recall Dacius and his sons, Claudius II,
44:32who fought successfully against the Goths, and his brother Quintillus, and many more.
44:44Spread along one of the Roman Empire's most contested boundaries, the Danube River, Roman
44:50Serbia was a critical area of military and logistical enterprises for centuries,
44:54with centers like Viminacium, Singedunum and Sirmium, and Trajan's Bridge.
44:59Roman leadership, soldiers and organization are evident in the material remains.
45:06The harsh realities along the Roman frontier, the potential for invasion or attack,
45:11was a reality that bred a new type of emperor, a type that was required. Far from the sophisticated
45:19cultural centers of the Roman Empire, like Rome and Trier and Nicomedia and Italica,
45:26instead, it was all about the emperor on the frontier, tied to the army like never before,
45:32particularly in that age of crisis in the third century. And out of that difficult moment,
45:39there arose local generals that became emperors, Aurelian and Galerius, that brought in a new period
45:47of stabilization and prosperity in the Roman Empire. But here and throughout Serbia, despite the many
45:54changes over the empire's history, we still see the unmistakable signs of the presence of ancient Rome.
46:00From Rome to North Africa, the Middle East, Spain, and the Balkans, from the Adriatic to the Danube,
46:20Croatia to Serbia. We've only just begun to explore the legacy of ancient Rome.