Films

Caesar II: Rome on Credit

A Mask in the Forum: Julia’s Funeral, 69 BC — Julia’s funeral, 69 BC: the forbidden face of Marius appears in the procession, and a young quaestor begins to speak.
By Night on the Capitol: The Statues of Marius — Night, 65 BC: Caesar, as aedile, carries the forbidden trophies of Marius up to the Capitol. At dawn Rome looks on, and Catulus shouts in the Senate.
Bona Dea: A Man Where No Man May Be — December 62 BC: a man at a festival open only to women. A floor plan of Caesar’s house.
Three Men: The Pact of 60 BC — 60 BC: Pompey, Crassus and Caesar strike a secret pact. Three portraits and three ambitions.
Seven Days: From Rome to the Rhône — March 58 BC: the Helvetii set out west, and Caesar rides from Rome to the Rhône in seven days. An animated map.

Caesar I: Fifty Talents

Kidnapped: A Night on the Aegean Sea — A night on the Aegean Sea: pirates seize a ship, and one of the captives starts to laugh.
Two Camps: Sulla, Marius and the Boy from the Subura — Rome, 88–⁠83 BC: Sulla, Marius, Cinna and a boy who lands in the very middle of the web.
Revenge on the Pirates: From Miletus to Pergamon — On a map of the eastern Mediterranean: how a freed captive went back for his kidnappers.

Caesar III: The Ides of March

Alesia: The Gallic Chieftain at Caesar’s Feet — In the autumn of 52 BC, the Gallic relief force scatters at Alesia. Vercingetorix rides out to the Roman camp and lays down his arms before Caesar.
Night at the Rubicon — January 49 BC: Caesar leaves Ravenna by night and reaches the Rubicon.
Pharsalus: The Tenth Legion — August 9, 48 BC: the battle of Pharsalus: Pompey’s cavalry against Caesar’s hidden fourth line.
The Ides of March: The Last Walk — March 15, 44 BC: Caesar’s last walk to the hall of assembly. The film ends before anything happens.

Caesar in a few minutes: from the Subura to Gaul — The youth of Julius Caesar in a hundred seconds: pirates, Marius and Sulla, proscriptions, Rhodes, Gades, debts and games, the First Triumvirate and the march into Gaul.

Nero: Artist on the Throne, Rome in Flames

Claudius’s mushrooms: murder or dinner? — October AD 54: Emperor Claudius eats his favorite mushrooms. Tacitus sees poison in them; some historians see the ordinary death of an old man.
Mother and son: power in a minute — Agrippina rules for her young son, and then Nero, step by step, takes away her lictors, guard, house and guests; in the end a ship awaits.
Bay of Naples, March AD 59: the ship’s course — On the map of the Bay of Naples: how Nero lured his mother onto a ship that was meant to fall apart, and how Agrippina survived that night.
Agrippina’s last night in 50 seconds — A villa on Lake Lucrine, March AD 59: Anicetus’s sailors come for Agrippina. The film ends before anything happens.

Octavian, Antony and Cleopatra: The War for the World

From Apollonia to Rome: An Eighteen-Year-Old Accepts His Inheritance — Caesar’s Heir: Apollonia, Brundisium, Rome (44 BC)
Philippi: Two Battles and the Division of the World — Philippi 42 BC: two battles and the division of the world.
Actium: September 2, 31 BC — Actium, September 2, 31 BC: the flight of Cleopatra and Antony.
Alexandria: The Tomb, the Window and the Ropes — Alexandria 30 BC: the tomb, the window and the ropes.

Augustus: He Found Rome Brick and Left It Marble

January, 27 BC: Octavian Gives Up Everything — January of 27 BC: Octavian stands before the Senate and lays down his power. In a few days he will receive the name Augustus.
The Frontiers of Augustus: A Map Through Time, 31 BC–AD 14 — How the empire of Augustus grew from 31 BC to AD 14: Egypt, Spain, the Alps, Germania and the retreat of the border to the Rhine.
The Empty Throne: Augustus’s Successors Vanish — Timeline of Augustus’s successors: Marcellus, Agrippa, Lucius and Gaius die one after another, and in AD 4 Tiberius remains.

Tiberius: Capri and Paranoia

Capri: the emperor who never returns — AD 26: Tiberius leaves Rome for Campania, settles on Capri and from there rules the state by letters.
Germanicus: from the Rhine to Antioch — From the mutiny of the legions on the Rhine in AD 14 to his death in Antioch in AD 19 and the return of his ashes to Rome.
The house of the Caesars after AD 23 — AD 23: Drusus, Tiberius’s son, dies, and in the emperor’s family the house of Germanicus rises, along with a man who wants to enter it.
October 18: the letter from Capri — October 18, AD 31: the Senate listens to Tiberius’s letter from Capri, and Sejanus, the second man in the state, does not know what awaits him.

Claudius: Found Behind a Curtain, Poisoned With Mushrooms?

Palatine Hill, January 24, AD 41: feet behind a curtain — On the Palatine on January 24, AD 41, a soldier drags the hidden Claudius out from behind a curtain and hails him as emperor.
The emperor’s expedition: from Ostia to Camulodunum, AD 43 — Claudius’s expedition to Britain in AD 43: from Ostia through Massilia and Gaul to Gesoriacum, the Channel crossing, the capture of Camulodunum and the return to Rome.
The family tree that decided the throne — Claudius’s four wives, his children and Nero’s adoption in AD 50.

Caligula: The Horse in the Senate

Silence for Incitatus — On the eve of the races in Rome: soldiers enforce silence, and the favorite horse of Emperor Caligula has a marble stable, purple blankets and dinners of his own.
Two days on the bridge of ships — Caligula has a bridge of ships built from Baiae to Puteoli and rides across it for two days: on horseback and in a chariot.
The Corridor on the Palatine, January 24, AD 41 — January 24, AD 41: Emperor Caligula walks through a covered corridor on the Palatine. The film ends before anything happens.

AD 69 I: You Don’t Buy Soldiers

Who Gave You the Order? — Rome, January 15, AD 69: that morning Emperor Galba makes a sacrifice on the Palatine while a mutiny breaks out in the Guard’s camp. The film ends before anything happens.
Four Armies, One Throne — January first, AD 69: whoever has an army can have the throne. The Rhine, the East and the Danube against the emperor in Rome.
Bedriacum: Wait or Strike? — Spring, AD 69: Vitellius’s armies come down from the Alps, and at Bedriacum Otho must decide: wait for the legions from the Danube or strike at once.
The Last Night at Brixellum — Brixellum on the Po, April, AD 69: Otho still has an army, but he decides to end the civil war.

AD 69 II: The Capitol in Flames

The Capitol Burns — Rome, December 19, AD 69: the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol burns while Emperor Vitellius watches the fire over his dinner.
In the Good Graces of Four Emperors — Lucius Vitellius, a master of flattery at the courts of Caligula and Claudius, and his son Aulus, to whom Galba gave the army on the Rhine.
The Night at Cremona — Autumn, AD 69: Primus’s legions come down from the Alps and begin a night battle with Vitellius’s army at Cremona.
Vitellius’s Last Day — December 20, AD 69: Rome falls into Flavian hands, and Vitellius lives through his last day. His route traced on a plan of the city.

Vespasian: Money Doesn’t Stink

The Prisoner from Jotapata — Galilee, AD 67: a prisoner in chains, Joseph son of Matthias, tells the Roman general Vespasian that he will become emperor.
Jerusalem, AD 70 — The siege of Jerusalem from spring to September AD 70 on an old view of the city: the camps, the walls, the Antonia, the Temple.
The Spoils of Jerusalem — Rome, AD 71: Vespasian and Titus ride in a joint triumph, and among the spoils they carry objects from the Temple in Jerusalem.
My Sons or No One — The Flavian family tree in AD 79: who in Vespasian’s family is still alive, and on whom the new dynasty rests.

Titus: A Cloud Like a Pine Tree

A Cloud Like a Pine Tree — Misenum, early afternoon: a pine-shaped cloud is rising over the bay, and Admiral Pliny the Elder sails out to meet it.
Pliny Sails Toward the Cloud — The route of Admiral Pliny the Elder from Misenum to Vesuvius and on to Stabiae during the eruption, and at Misenum his nephew with a book.
From Nero’s Lake to the Arena — On the site of the lake of Nero’s Golden House the Flavians build an amphitheater; in AD 80 Titus opens it with games lasting a hundred days.

Domitian: Lord and God

The Black Banquet — Night in Domitian’s palace: guests in a black room, slabs bearing their names, an emperor who talks only of death.
Rhine, Britain, Danube — Domitian’s three fronts: the Chatti across the Rhine, Agricola in Britain, the Dacians on the Danube and the revolt at Mogontiacum. Routes on the maps are approximate.
The Fifth Hour — Domitian’s last day: a foretold hour, the servants’ lie and a man with a bandaged arm.