Original subtitles

Rome. From a small republic, it grows

into the greatest empire ever known,

lasting for over 600

years. At its height, it stretches from

London to Baghdad, projecting its power

with the first professional army and

creating the model of Western

civilization.

And yet, when the empire begins to

falter, it collapses with shocking

speed. It takes only a 100red years for

the imperial edifice of Rome to vanish

like smoke, swept away by the barbarian

invasions. How did it happen?

It is late in the second century

BC, a 100red years before the

crucifixion of Christ, a decade before

the birth of Julius

Caesar. Rome is facing a

transition, one that will change its

fundamental character

forever. It comes at a time of conquest.

Rome has come off 150 years of really

successful foreign expansion. They've

defeated Carthage, their great enemy

across the Mediterranean Sea in Africa,

and they've begun to expand to the

north, and they've made big conquests

that are hard to keep in Spain.

But even as the Romans are carving out

their place in the world through brutal

conquest, the republic faces a

cataclysmic event that will eventually

force the Romans to abandon the rule of

the Senate for the absolute dictatorship

of an emperor.

It begins with the first barbarian

war. By 113 BC, Rome has become master

of the entire Mediterranean basin. But

with new lands come new

enemies. The Romans know that there are

more people farther away, especially to

the north, and that these people are, if

anything, even more formidable than the

armies they've defeated before. and

they're worried about those people

coming into Italy.

Beyond the borders of Roman

civilization, the soldiers face an

unfamiliar breed of warrior. They call

them barbarians, a word meaning foreign

and

crude.

Anybody that didn't follow classical

customs, speak classical languages,

Latin or Greek, was considered to be

very different, other barbarian. And

Rome simply regarded them as much less

capable, much less civilized than

themselves.

Only the rugged alpine mountain range

keeps the northern barbarians at bay.

The Alps mountain chain at the top of

Italy is like the cork in the bottle

that keeps the bad guys away from the

Roman point of view. And the Romans

don't control that cork. And so they

know that it could pop out at any time

and the enemy could come pouring into

Italy. Or at least that's their

[Music]

fear. Against this growing barbarian

menace stands the Roman army. A

volunteer militia which prides itself on

being wellordered, well-trained, and

wellarmed. An individual Roman soldier

would be wearing metal and leather

armor, a helmet, something to protect

his chest. All of this armor together

could weigh as much as 60 or 70 lb, half

his body weight.

The burden of Rome's expansion falls

squarely on the shoulders of these

battleh hardened men.

But back in the capital, it's the

wealthy government officials who reap

the benefits. Rome is not an empire yet,

but a republic ruled by the Senate. At

the top of the political ladder are two

elected officers known as consoles.

They were the highest civilian and

military officials in Rome. Above all,

their responsibility was to lead the

army because national security came

first. But they were also because of

their tremendous prominence very

important in setting the agenda for

politics, for legislation, for reform.

Though the Roman Republic embraces

democratic ideals, all men are not

created equal. Soldiers may win the

battles for Rome, but they dare not hope

to achieve the position of

[Music]

console. The highest office is reserved

for members of Rome's most important

families like Nais Papirius

Carbo. A very small number of families

dominated the elections to become

console. This is part of the belief that

Rome really needed the kind of honor

that came from a long distinguished

family

history. Now, as Rome expands, this

honor is no longer based on merit, but

on

money. What's happening in Rome is as

Rome conquers more territory, more

wealth is going to flow into the city.

And there's a sense that wealth is going

to demoralize the citizen body and the

aristocracy both. That as wealth becomes

more and more uh uh powerful in Roman

society, more and more enticing, that

this is going to infiltrate its way into

the political process.

By spreading around his wealth, Carbo

can buy his place as console.

In terms of campaigning, uh, one of the

things that you'll find as you go on

later in the republic is the system

becomes extremely corrupt. You have

people bestowing all sorts of laress,

any sort of little kind of gifts or

remuneration uh, in order to get your

your

vote. But in the north, a dangerous new

tribe, the Kimbry is on the move. From

their home in Northern Europe, they

journey south toward Roman territory.

[Music]

Completely univilized, the Kimry radiate

terror. According to the famous ancient

biographer

Plutarch, they were believed to be

German tribes based on their great size,

the light blue color of their eyes, and

the fact that their name, Kimri, is the

German nickname for plunderers.

Led by the great

warlords, the horde leaves a smoking

trail of destruction in its

wake. They were characteristic Iron Age

peoples. We don't really know exactly

what it is they were after. They may

have been moving in order to attack and

invade uh provinces that were becoming

wealthy through trade with Rome. They

may have simply been coming to seek

their fortunes in what they perceived as

a richer land near the Mediterranean.

The Kimbry aren't the only ones lured by

Rome's growing wealth. On the way south,

two more barbarian tribes join them. The

Taton and

Ambronis. The combined barbarian armies

are heading straight for an alpine pass

into Roman territory guarded by the

simple villagers of Noriccom.

[Music]

Though Noricum is not a Roman territory,

its proximity to the Roman border ties

its people closely to the

republic. Norm is the area that we would

say today is essentially Austria. The

people who live there are the Noriki. Uh

and therefore they the territory is

named after them. The people there, the

Noriki controlled the alpine passes.

Romans also rely on the Noricans for

trade as their skills working in

precious metals and iron are well

known. What the Noricans actually have

available in the way of raw materials is

gold, silver and salt. Minable salt in

the Alps is is a major industry there.

So the Romans truly needed large

quantities of salt for preservative and

they had to have that and they had to

have it all the time.

The Nurean villages provide an

irresistible target to the merciless

Kimbry

warriors. Hungry for loot, they are

rapacious and heavily armed for the

raid. By the period we're talking about

the second and first centuries BC, the

Kimri had very effective swords, spears,

u shields, helmets are rarer, but they

were fully equipped with very able kinds

of weapons.

But the barbarians are after more than

the Norans

wealth. The northern barbarians who were

migrating, what they wanted above all

was

land. They weren't there to raid and

leave. if they wanted to live uh next to

the Romans.

The craftsmen of Noriccom stand no

chance against the warriors of the

north.

[Music]

The Noricans send an emissary to their

allies in the Roman Senate, begging for

help against the vicious Kimri invaders.

They seek out the aristocrat Carbo,

whose politicking has finally paid off.

He now holds the post of console, the

most prestigious office in Rome.

Carbo orders his aid to begin

preparations for war. He has just one

year to win the glory and riches that

come from

battle. We're talking about needing to

show the qualities of leadership through

a display of manliness. And a display of

manualists meant success on the

battlefield. Generals not only feathered

the nest of themselves and their

families, but of all their

[Music]

supporters. Carbo takes the challenge,

leading his troops to Norcom. Despite an

utter lack of experience in the ways of

war, he is eager to prove that he is

more than just a wealthy senator.

[Music]

He arrives in Noricum, backed by the men

of the Roman army. After a century of

victories, they exude

confidence. The Kimry claimed they

didn't know that they were in territory

that they shouldn't have been in. They

sent

ambassadors. The barbarians have never

seen such a welle equipped and

disciplined force.

The warlords tells Carbo his people only

wish to return home peacefully. Carbo

agrees to let them

go. But there is little glory in a

truce. The Roman general devises a plan

to force the victory he so badly needs.

Carbo pretended that he was going to

negotiate and then he sent his troops on

a shortcut to attack the Kimry before

the ambassadors could get

back. Thinking that his sneak attack

would work.

Carbo's plan

backfires. The Roman commander Carbo

outf foxed this group called the Kimbry,

but he did it in a way that smelled a

disgrace.

A few of the Kimrian ambassadors survive

to carry a tale of treachery back to the

barbarian

camp. Furious, the barbarians swear they

will never leave until they exact bloody

[Applause]

[Music]

revenge. In 113 BC, the Roman general

Carbo parlays for peace with violent

barbarians, the Kimbry. Then he turns

around and murders their

ambassadors. His treachery enrages the

barbarians who value honor above all

else. Vowing to avenge their fallen

comrades, the Kimbre strike back with

swift and sudden fury. classical

biographer Plutarch.

Their courage and daring were

irresistible. They rushed into battle

with the speed of a raging fire, nothing

could stand up to

them. Led by two warlords, Boys of the

Kimry and Tutabad of the Taton, the

barbarians advance in inexhaustible

waves.

The archaeology tells us that they had

very good weapons. not inferior to

Romans. It tells us that they had really

real military organization with infantry

troops with officer corps. So we can we

can tell quite a bit. Certainly we can

tell much more than the Romans seem to

understand until it was too

[Music]

late. Console Carbo suddenly finds

himself far from the comfort and

privilege of Roman politics. Here the

language of power is spoken in steel and

blood. as console chief war magistrate.

He fails miserably

because the chief war magistrate is only

out there for a year. It's very

frequently amateur hour out there on the

field of battle. Uh so you end up with

uh very frequently inept leadership uh

in a very important position and on

occasion results in disaster for the

Romans.

The battle for Noricum is such a

disaster. The Romans were in the end

saved from being pushed over the cliff

into the hell of utter destruction only

by a giant storm, lightning, thunder,

and

rain. Knocked from his horse, Carbo

struggles to flee from the deadly chaos.

He escapes the battle only to commit

suicide. For he has disgraced himself

and Rome in the eyes of the

gods. God saved the Romans, but only

just and only after many, many had been

killed. What did that mean? It meant the

gods were unhappy at the way the Romans

behaved.

And yet the Romans cling to the notion

that only the aristocrats can lead them

to victory.

The Romans believed that old meant good,

new meant dangerous. So they for their

politicians and their leaders, they

preferred people with a long

distinguished family

history. Over the next decade, a string

of nobles, all armed with more arrogance

than skill, lead armies north to protect

Rome's province in Gaul.

They meet the barbarians at Tulosa,

Berdigala, and finally Arasio, present

day Tulus, Bordeaux, and Orange,

[Music]

France. In each instance, the barbarians

completely route Rome's heralded

legions.

[Music]

The Romans had their particular formal

ways of fighting. If we think of the

beginning of the film Gladiator, that's

a perfect representation of how Rome

liked to fight. Take hours to set up

everything in the battle order and then

launch the attack.

In contrast, the barbarians

counterattack is unpredictable and

devastating to the Roman

lines. You have these lines of men and

if the person next to you goes down, the

person behind will step into that gap.

Uh and and death would be much much more

intimate.

[Music]

The death toll is staggering. At Arasio

alone, 80,000 Romans are massacred in a

single afternoon.

When an army lost its cohesiveness, then

the men were literally like fish in a

barrel to be picked off at leisure by

the other side. So when a side has been

defeated, then the victors, they just

slaughter them one by one with no danger

to the people doing the slaughtering.

It's not a battle anymore. It's a mass

execution.

[Music]

By 105 BC, the Kimri and their allies

desire much more than Roman blood and

booty. Some members of the clan want to

set down

roots. They were farming peoples. They

uh engaged in trade. Um they lived in

small villages. People were growing

wheat and barley, rye, oats, millet, a

whole variety of different kinds of

cereals. They were raising lentils and

peas and beans and other kinds of garden

crops. Cattle were extremely important.

Pigs, sheep, and goat were all being

raised.

This new domesticity alarms the Romans.

To their minds, the only thing more

threatening than a barbarian warrior is

a barbarian woman.

The presence of women is a standard

Roman way of communicating that this is

an

invasion for settlement. In other words,

this is a group that's coming

in to significantly alter the way we

live to threaten our basic values. If

it's just a raid, it's just a bunch of

teenage guys, we can deal with that. But

see, when we throw women into the

description, we have the migratory

feature. And there it's a permanency. It

requires a sterner and long-term

solution. It requires a general who can

beat the barbarians back once and for

all. The hero Rome so desperately needs

emerges on another hotly contested

borderland nearly a thousand miles away

in Numidia, part of present day

Algeria. For eight long years, the

Romans have tasted only defeat here

until

now. The name of their savior is Marius.

With guts and cunning, he crushes the

Namidian armies of the rogue king Juga.

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

Rome needed great soldiers and Marius

was the greatest Rome had yet seen. Both

because he was a great commander. Marius

could pick the right time and the right

place for a battle. but also because he

won his soldiers loyalty and affection

by getting down and digging ditches with

them by eating the same rough food by

being in better shape than even they

were and they were the best conditioned

soldiers in the

world. He comes by his common touch

naturally for Marius is no aristocrat.

Still he speaks of his humble background

with pride.

I cannot point to my ancestors, but I

can show medals and other military

honors to say nothing of the scars on my

body. All of them in front. These are my

title of

nobility. Now, as the northern

barbarians close in, the Romans turned

to Marius, their last and best

hope. At the end of the 2nd century BC,

a violent barbarian tribe, the Kimri,

along with their allies, the Tatonis and

Ambronis, lay waste to the northern

frontier. A horrified Rome turns to its

greatest general and new console,

Marius. He's a proven military

commander, and you don't want to fool

around when you have uh Tuton and Kimry

who have defeated army after army. You

really want to take care of the problem

urgently and so you want to send a

capable leader out on the field.

But even the great Marius cannot lead

without men to follow him. Devastated by

a decade of war, Rome faces critical

troop shortages.

If you have uh as many men lost, the

German tribes in uh 113 and 109 and 107

uh and 106 and 105 as the Romans did.

That's going to traumatize Roman society

pretty severely.

Despite a vigorous recruitment campaign,

Marius cannot find enough qualified men,

landholders who are willing to serve.

to be in the Roman army in the high

republic, you had to have a property

qualification. You had to be a person of

means. Uh and uh and this causes some

problems for the Roman army because

there's a problem with

manpower. Marius's solution is as simple

as it is radical. He sends his

recruiters out to seek soldiers among

the landless poor.

You don't have to be a property holder

to be a Roman citizen. So why should you

have to be a property owner to be a

legionnaire? Many people wish to be

soldiers. It's a good job. Uh and it's

probably an exciting job. Opportunities

for

booty, wine women in song, chance to see

the world at government expense, etc. Uh

the same things that we see on our

recruitment posters.

Marius said anybody can be in the army.

This then gave the Romans a much greater

pool of men on which to draw to

strengthen their legions because in

Roman society there were many, many,

many more poor than there were middle

class. The old guard judges recruits by

their income. Marius judges his by their

fighting potential. Stand up against a

legionary and you can stand up to the

barbarians.

By extending the search for legionnaires

down into the plurlet, what that rather

quickly does is it makes the ordinary

soldier even more dependent upon the

success of the commander. The general is

expected to provide for his men and to

provide for them as soon as he can and

to be generous.

Lured by the promise of wealth, a new

breed of Roman soldier marches to war.

Marius pledges to give them all the

tools and skills they

need. I will teach you to strike down an

enemy. Fear nothing but disgrace, to

sleep on bare ground, and work hard on

an empty

stomach. In 104 BC, Marius and his army

set off for Gaul to meet the Kimbry. In

a stroke of good fortune for the Romans,

the barbarians choose that very moment

to leave Gaul and raid Hispa

instead. It is a tactical mistake that

buys Marius valuable

time. Marius molds his new army from the

ground up. He not only hardens them to

the rigors of a soldier's life, he makes

them love it.

Marius made lots of innovations in the

army. For example, he gave each legion

an eagle, a silver eagle as its

standard. He trained his men to carry

what they needed on campaign so they

could move faster. Um, but he weighed

them down so much that they called

themselves Marius's mules. Uh, Marius

didn't need pack animals for his army to

go on campaign. He already had his mules

and they only had two legs.

But they were more effective. They were

more

flexible. And it's the flexibility of

the legions that is enhanced by Marius's

military reforms, including the

standardization of equipment.

Well equipped and unified in spirit,

Marius's mules are transformed, but

untested. Two years pass with no sign of

the barbarians. Still, the fear they

inspire remains. Panicked, the Romans

ignore their own ancient traditions

about term limits and reelect Marius's

console, the chief magistrate of

war. I think part of the problem is to

deal with the threat from the north, you

have to give Marius this extraordinary

command where in 104, 103, 102, 101,

100, he's console. Boom, boom, boom,

boom, boom.

At last in 102 BC, the Phantom Menace

becomes

real. The Kimbry, Tatonis, and Ambronis

sweep out of the north and west on a

collision course with Rome. Marius

builds a fortress near Arasio. He sends

another army to guard

Nork. For above all else, the Alpine

passes into Italy must be protected.

Within weeks, half of the horde, the

Tatonese and Eronis, swarmed around

Marius's fort, a terrifying sight,

according to Plutarch.

Their numbers appeared to be infinite.

They were hideous to look at. Their

speech and their shouting were unlike

anything that anyone had ever heard

before.

And yet, Marius forces his men to look

and learn.

Marius was a brilliant military man. He

understood the life and the thoughts and

the psychology of a soldier. What Marius

gave to the Roman Republic was

confidence that Romans could defeat the

fiercest barbarians in the

world. The fortress holds the Taton and

Amronis cannot

pass. 150,000 strong, they head south,

seeking another alpine pass.

The Romans pursue them at a distance in

no hurry to engage till the right time

and place. For Marius has already picked

out the perfect battlefield where he

will at last unleash the power of his

unconventional

army. In 102 BC, hundreds of thousands

of barbarians swarm towards Italy. The

great Roman general Marius pursues the

Taton and the Ambronis as they seek a

pass over the

elves. He moves his troops from his

fortress at Arasio to Aqua Sexi,

modern-day Exon Provence,

France. There, Marius orders his men to

set up camp. He chooses his position

carefully.

The Roman camp is a uh as a singular

military uh piece of machinery. It would

preferably be on high ground in order to

see any kind of enemy maneuvers. It's

going to be laid out on a grid pattern.

Uh you're going to surround it with a

deep ditch and you're going to have a

ram part dug or uh heaped up above that

ditch, what's known as an agar. Uh and

everyone would have their place.

There is one more feature that most

camps have, but this particular camp is

lacking. Classical biographer

Plutarch. Marius chose a place that was

not very well supplied with water. They

said he did this deliberately so as to

encourage his soldiers to fight. When

people complained they were thirsty,

Marius pointed to a river running close

by the barbarian camp. "There is some

drinking water for you," he said. "But

you have to pay for it with blood.

On the banks of the Ron River, settled

side by side in two great camps, the

Amrones and Tatones have plenty of fresh

drinking

water. Confident that the Romans are no

match for them, the Amrones lose

themselves in feasting and making

merry. The Romans, especially the

ordinary soldiers, were afraid of the

northern barbarians, the ones from the

farthest north, from the coldest

climates. tough climates made for tough

men. They were much bigger than the

Romans. They were much louder than the

Romans. And from the Roman point of

view, they were smelly. Not because they

didn't bathe. They probably bathed more

than the Roman soldiers. But they used,

shall we say, a different cologne, bear

fat. The Romans were used to the scent

of olive oil.

They never suspect the danger lurking in

the forest as a small but desperate

contingent of Marius's troops creep up

on the barbarian

camp. Roman soldiers were always afraid

because they weren't fools. They knew

that they were going to be in danger of

being killed just as easily as the enemy

because Roman soldiers didn't do their

real killing from a distance.

[Music]

Marius's mules throw themselves into the

skirmish, but the barbarians swiftly

rally in overwhelming

numbers. Just as defeat closes in on the

Romans, Marius orders reinforcements

into the fry. Re-energized, the Romans

pushed the Amronis back to their camp.

There the battle takes a strange turn.

As Plutarch reports, the women came out

armed with swords and axes and making

the most horrible

shrieking. They threw themselves into

the thick of the fighting, and though

their bodies were gashed and wounded,

they endured it to the end with unbroken

spirits.

The barbarian women always came to the

battlefield. Sometimes the women would

pull the wagons up right behind the men

so that they couldn't retreat from

battle. They'd block them in. The women

were so uh aware of their sense of honor

and liberty that they thought death was

better than retreat.

[Music]

The Romans thought that uh these women

were unbelievably brave, unbelievably

courageous. They thought these

barbarians were the ultimate risktakers.

By bringing their family to the

battlefield, they're putting everything

on that one roll of the dice. We win or

we die. And that means all of us, men,

women, children, babies.

But the Romans also have something to

protect. Their honor and homeland. With

the skills that Marius has taught them,

they earned their first victory over the

German invaders in more than a

[Music]

decade. Back at camp, Marius prepares

for the revenge attack that will

certainly be launched by Tudabad, king

of the Taton.

And in quite sex the eye, he faced a

really difficult tactical situation. As

usual, the enemy far outnumbered the

Romans. But Marius, always able to

choose the right time and the right

place, carefully selected the

terrain. He lays a trap with his trusted

captain, Claudius Marcellus.

[Music]

Marius sends Marcelus with 3,000 men

into the woods behind the Tatonis camp.

He instructs them to lay low until the

fighting

begins. The barbarians, spoiling for

vengeance, charge up the hill to the

Roman camp just as Marius has planned.

They meet a wall of swords. According to

Plutarch, Marius himself fought in the

front rank, putting into practice the

orders he'd given his soldiers. for he

was in as good training as anyone, and

in daring, he far surpassed them all.

[Music]

This battle was a real test of Marius's

philosophy in creating his mules that

were strong enough to stand up uh with

all of their armor and to stay in

position and hold their discipline even

when the enemy was yelling and charging

with a fantastic

fierceness. In full armor, rushed them

with their swords. so that they could be

like a flying wedge coming downhill and

smashing the enemy.

As Marius and his men forced the

barbarians back, Marcellus and his

cohorts burst from the woods. Together,

they snuff out any hope of retreat for

King Tutabad and his

[Music]

warriors. The body count defies

imagination. The Romans slaughter more

than a 100,000 Tatonis. The rest they

take as slaves, spoils of war that will

make Marius's mules and all of his

supporters

rich. His patronage is not just to the

soldiers. He is very generous to all

Romans of all ranks. Marius by

monopolizing it power at the very top in

in in reality becomes the patron of even

members of the senatorial class.

Swept up by the barbarian fever, the

Romans once again elect Marius to Rome's

most important office, he will serve as

console for an unprecedented fifth

term. There was such an immense fear

that the barbarians would come pouring

in through the gateway of the Alps,

which the Romans didn't control, and lay

waste to Italy and sack Rome. Politics

has to take the hindmost.

For Rome is not out of danger. Marius

has only crushed half of the barbarian

horde. The Kimbry, the most fearsome

barbarians of all, are still on the

loose. While Marius is in Rome, the

Kimri break through the Roman

fortifications at Noriccom. The enemy

has at last breached Italy's borders and

is ravaging the Pole plane.

Clearly only one man has the courage and

cunning to meet this new crisis. Console

Marius. In 102 BC, Marius's mules

massacre the violent barbarian tribe

that Dutton in southern Gaul, destroying

half of the barbarian

force. But the terrifying Kimbry tribe

slips through the Austrian Alps. From

Rome, Marius rushes north to the Pole

plane, vowing to eliminate the

barbarians once and for

all. When Marius arrives in the Roman

camp, the Kimri send him an envoy. They

come not to attack, but to make

demands. The Kimbry come to him and say,

"We want land. That's what we want. We

don't want to fight. We want land just

like the land you gave our neighboring

tribe there across the mountains in

France."

The Kimry apparently haven't heard about

the disaster that has befallen their

Taton comrades.

So Marius with a crooked smile on his

face, a smirk maybe, says to them, "Oh,

you don't have to worry. Your brothers,

they already have their land. We'd be

happy to give the same land to you,

meaning your graves in the earth."

In disbelief, the Kimry demand proof.

According to Plutarch,

Marius mocked. But your friend is right

here. Please don't go without saying

hello to him. And he ordered Tudabbad,

king of the Tuton, to be brought forward

in chains.

Marius will cut no deal with the Kimbry.

Their envoy leaves, swearing to take

revenge for their fallen allies.

Despite Marius's recent victory over the

barbarians, the Romans are still vastly

outnumbered by the fierce northern

warriors. With battle looming, the great

general calls for an animal

sacrifice. The Romans would always have

a sacrifice before going into battle to

see if the gods would send them the

message, there's nothing wrong with your

plan. It didn't guarantee victory, but

it meant you had a chance. And the

Romans took that very seriously.

The Romans faith is their only shield in

the face of overwhelming

odds. By the end of tomorrow, a tidal

wave of blood will flow whose blood

remains in the hands of the

gods. Maria searches the Godand trails

for a sign and finds that the heavens

are with him.

[Music]

[Music]

In 101 BC, all Rome holds its breath as

two mortal enemies meet outside the

hamlet of Vchelli, Italy. 15,000 strong,

the Kimbry cavalry rides onto the field

of

battle. Right behind them come the

fearsome infantry like a cloud of

locusts on the

move. As the Roman line is set, Marius

makes a final appeal to the gods.

Classical biographer Plutarch.

Marius washed his hands and lifting them

up to heaven, vowed to make a sacrifice

of a 100 beasts should victory be his.

Altogether, the Romans number a little

more than 50,000 men. They faced at

least twice as many Kimbry.

It's the Romans's worst nightmare. But

Marius outsmarts the enemy. He gets his

troops in position first so the sun will

rise behind the Roman

soldiers. When the sun gets to its full

power, it reflects off the Romans shiny

armor and the barbarians think that the

sky is on

fire like the gods have sent lightning

bolts to help their enemies.

Sensing the Kimbry's sudden anxiety, the

Romans attack.

The Romans uh do have slingers. They do

have archers, but the foot infantry is

the main stay of the battle. You're

going to get blood on you. You're going

to get groans of the person you're

killing, the person who's getting killed

next to you.

You can't tell what's going on behind

you or to the side of you because you're

wearing a helmet. You can hardly hear

and you can only see straight

ahead. It required courage and

dedication and overcoming your fear uh

to an overwhelmingly amazing degree.

At Vchelli, the Romans wipe out 120,000

Kimbry. More importantly, they cast out

the shadow of fear that has terrorized

Rome for 13

years. Marius returns home from the

Kimrian War, a hero. Adoring crowds hail

him as the savior of Rome. Despite their

own long-standing rule that no one

should serve consecutive council ships,

they clamor for him to once again run

for

console. As Marius is doing this, he's

moving little by little toward

becoming in the eyes of the people a

permanent head of this enterprise so

that we're approaching having an

emperor. It is exactly what the

aristocracy has worried about all along.

Now that the barbarian danger has

passed, many nobles are openly hostile

to

Marius. To stay in power, Marius must

find support elsewhere. He seeks out

corrupt politicians whose tools include

bribery and

murder. As a politician, Marius was not

good at choosing who should be his

allies. The battlefield of politics was

one in which Marius was not decisive and

wasn't insightful the way he was on the

battlefield of javelins and swords.

Jealous of other rising military stars,

Marius orders the assassination of many

of his rivals. Under Marius's

leadership, violence, not debate,

becomes the currency used to settle

political differences. He has saved Rome

only to cut out the heart of the

republic. Yet Marius never loses the

love of the people. In 86 BC, shortly

before his death, they elect him to an

extraordinary seventh council

ship. He left a legacy of power in the

hands of the military. He left a legacy

of popular

support for one man in

power. It's a hinge event because the

balance of power will shift. uh instead

of 10 or 20 ruling families controlling

the console ship, you'll start to have

just these grand warlords. the power of

money, the power of having all of those

men behind their back, uh whether

through actually in the form of giving

them political support or actually using

it as a potential threat to go against

their political enemies, uh it's going

to really be a problem for the Roman

government down the road.

As the empire starts a long slow slide

into dictatorship, Rome is launched into

an apocalypse of political injustice and

endless war from which there is no

return. In 47 AD, Emperor Claudius

leaves a magnificent conquest to fabled

Britain, Rome's first attempt since

Julius Caesar a 100 years earlier. But

fueled by bloody rights and led by a

charismatic warrior prince, the island's

fierce inhabitants plunged Rome into an

endless guerilla war.

Now almost 40 years later, in 84 AD,

Emperor Domission battles against

barbarians on the frontier and treachery

in the Senate until a bloody conspiracy

sets Rome on a new course and Emperor

Trajan brutally finishes what domission

has started.

[Music]

Rome 80 AD. By the end of the first

century, the Roman Empire is becoming

wellestablished. The army is strong,

battles are won, dominance is

gained. It's entering into a very

prosperous period that's going to last

about 150 years up until the middle of

the 3rd century AD when they start to

run into real problems. Uh so Rome is

entering a very a very prosperous period

at this juncture.

Rome has grown large but surrounding its

civilized core barbarian tribes in

Germania and Dishia modern-day Germany

and Romania resist Roman

domination. Most troublesome of these

are the Deians. Their king, Decabalis,

is busy courting smaller neighboring

tribes, offering slaves and gold in

exchange for their allegiance against

Rome.

He had cast about for alliances to his

north and successfully gotten alliances

to his north. He had also successfully

gotten alliances to his east. So, he's

becoming increasingly formidable. And

the Romans do not like this. The Romans

have never liked this.

Through these efforts, King Decabalis

undermines Rome's strategy to keep the

various barbarian tribes divided and

weak.

The Romans dealt with all of these

configurations of tribes across both

these borders largely by seeking to pit

them the one against the other to

manipulate them so that they never

achieve solidarity against Rome on the

one hand and so that none of them ever

became powerful enough in its own right

by conquering all the others that they

would pose a significant enough threat.

Decabalis cementss his tribal agreements

against Rome just as a precarious

imperial transition is taking

place. Back in Rome, an inexperienced

nobleman named Domission stands poised

to take the throne as his brother, the

emperor Titus, lies on his deathbed. It

is a turn of events that no one has

predicted and that Rome is not prepared

for.

There is apparent conflict between Titus

and Domission. Titus will die of plague

in 81 AD. And there'll be rumors of

Domission having poisoned him, having

gotten rid of his brother to gain

imperial

power. Titus, a popular emperor, rules

for only 2 years. Domician resents every

minute of it. According to 2n century

biographer Suetonius,

Domian never failed to say that he and

his brother should have ruled Rome

together, but their father's will had

been tampered with. And when Titus was

seized with a dangerous illness, Domian

ordered that he be left for dead before

he had actually drawn his last breath.

Rome's might lies in the power of its

army to crush the resistance of all who

challenge the empire. So to prove he is

as worthy as his brother and father,

Domission must earn his legacy on the

battlefield. In 83 AD, he leads his

soldiers to the Germanic frontiers along

the Rine in Danube in a showy display of

Roman strength.

But Domission himself will not face the

first onslaught of barbarian warriors

alone. Accompanying him as his battle

commander is someone who lacks both

status and experience. Someone who can

never be a threat to him. Cornelius

Fuscus. The man who was most in a

position to threaten the emperor, that

is the man in command of troops at Rome,

was too low rank to actually think of

himself as a significant candidate for

the throne. This is a way of protecting

themselves by putting someone lower rank

in charge of these

troops. Domission has chosen an easy

target, an unprepared and underarmed

group of German barbarians.

Emperors at the beginning of their reign

often like to undertake a campaign

particularly if they feel their position

isn't altogether secure. We can imagine

that dimmission who wasn't that much

liked by many people wanted to

strengthen his ties with the army and

therefore a successful campaign against

perhaps an opponent that isn't

altogether ready for the attack might be

a good option.

The Germans go down in a bloody defeat

and Omission praises his triumphant

legions raising their pay 25% and taking

for himself a new honorary title,

Germanicus, conqueror of the

Germans. While dimmission actively

promotes himself, a young soldier named

Trajan asserts quiet authority on the

Rine frontier, earning respect through

leadership rather than violence. He is a

man of ambition and

patience. His father had served

effectively in a number of campaigns

under Vespasian. So he is of a

senatorial stock and he is of a consular

family. He is not of the very elite of

the elite of the Roman senatorial class.

So Trejan can be said to come from

relatively modest beginnings.

Trajan will continue his service to Rome

as he awaits an opportunity to prove

himself to the new

emperor. But to the north, in their

weapons workshops, the Dian are

operating overtime, hammering the steel

of swords and spears, filling the armory

of their king, Decabalis. He knows that

war with the Romans is drawing near, and

he wants his people armed and ready.

Historian Casius Dio describes him.

Shrewd in his understanding of warfare

and shrewd also in the waging of war.

Decabalis judged well when to attack and

chose the right moment to retreat. He

was an expert in ambushes and a master

in pitched battles. He knew not only how

to follow up a victory well, but also

how to manage a

defeat. Deian were quite a

sophisticated, perhaps the most advanced

civilization apart from the Romans in

the Mediterranean area at this time. So,

it's not surprising they could um pose a

serious threat.

[Music]

Absolutely. The Dian gather with their

shaman to purify the tools needed to

perform a sacred ritual in which their

heavenly god Zelmoxis will reveal their

fate.

fifth century BC historian Heroditus.

Once every 5 years they chose by lot one

of their people and send him as a

messenger to Zmoxis charged to tell the

god of their needs. If the messenger be

killed by the cast, they believe that

the gods regard them with

favor. But if he be not killed, they

blame the messenger himself.

Today, a Deian messenger travels far to

bring Zelmoxis a wish for victory

against Rome. And the Deian will settle

for nothing

[Music]

less. Without warning or provocation,

the Dian raid the Roman province of

[Music]

Misha. The markets of Misha team with

the goods of a bountiful province. Fruit

from the orchards, grain from the

fields, pottery from the skilled

artisans, and gold dug from the Mishian

mines, a key source of metal for Roman

coinage. Exploiting Rome's lack of

vigilance on this part of the frontier,

the Dian ride in, catching the province

completely offg guard. They wreak total

havoc, looting, pillaging, and

slaughtering anyone who tries to stop

them, including the governor of Misha.

It's unclear exactly why in ' 84 they go

into Messia. What this initial incursion

is about. This had traditionally been

their territory. At least part of Messia

had been their territory. And so

possibly there is a desire to recover

lost territory or perhaps just a desire

for plunder and a recognition that there

is a weakness that can be exploited.

Clearly waging war on the other side of

the denim was a way to promote an elite

of warriors and clearly the cabbalis had

come to power as a consequence of that.

In other words, it waging war against

the Romans was the best way for the

aristocracy to come to political

prominence. As Rome's border comes under

serious assault, the untested emperor

Domission will rally his troops against

a lethal barbarian

foe. 84 AD. With the death of his

brother, Domission has unexpectedly

become emperor of

Rome. Now he must prove himself against

an unexpected enemy.

Unprovoked, the Deian barbarians have

raided the province of Misha and killed

its governor. The Roman San Cornelius

Fuscus and his legion in

[Applause]

reprisal. The Dian close in from all

sides. This attack on Misha is more than

an assault on Roman rule. It's an

assault on the emperor's personal

prestige.

The barbaric murder of a governor cannot

go unanswered by Emperor Domician.

And so what he's going to do is he's

going to put in charge a successor,

Cornelius Fuscus, who is hopefully going

to take care of the problem. The problem

with Cornelius Fuscus is he's a man who

likes to take risks

unnecessarily. Domission takes a risk

too. By appointing this man who is not

of senatorial class, he is openly

defying the Roman Senate.

The nation forces confront him and

inflict a major defeat on him. Such an

significant defeat that his his life is

lost. His army is essentially

annihilated and the standards are taken.

And this is a major blow for the Romans.

[Music]

Rome pays for Domission's misjudgment in

the blood of its soldiers. But wars have

other costs, too. And it's the wealthy

citizens of Rome who are forced to fund

Domissan's expensive army. The emperor

would stop at nothing to fill his

coffers, writes second century

biographer Suitonius.

Reduced to financial straits by the cost

of buildings and shows and the payraises

he gave to the soldiers, the mission

eagerly resorted to every sort of

robbery, he used any charge to seize the

property of the living and the dead. In

this way, he became an object of terror

and hatred to

all. All except the Roman army whose

loyalty domission has

bought. With a new general installed

after Fuscus' death, Emperor Domission

deploys his soldiers across the border

to Tapay and

Deia. Now more than ever, the emperor

must defeat Decabalis and regain Roman

honor. He depends on auxiliary troops,

foreign allies paid to fight Rome's

battles.

So Rome has to do something about this

because it's not just losing two

governors. It's a matter of national

prestige. You can't have this kind of

hitand-run raid, although killing two

governors is much more than a

hit-and-run raid, and not do something

about it. So Decabalis had to be dealt

with in some

way. As the Roman and Dian forces clash

again, Rome is determined to settle the

matter once and for all. The Dian are

notoriously fierce fighters, but the

Roman army, beefed up with auxiliary

troops composed of barbarian allies,

won't back

down. For the Deian, the experience of

fighting Romans is certainly going to be

a terrifying experience. Not just

because you're fighting a professional

military that demonstrates its capacity

and its organization at every turn, but

also because you're going to be facing

auxiliaries whose style of fighting are

things that you've never encountered.

You've never encountered people who look

like this or people who dress like this

or people who fight like this. And so

the experience of a battle is going to

be overwhelmingly a terrifying

experience until at last Deabalis and

the Deian are overwhelmed and they

retreat. But circumstances won't allow

Domission to press the advantage against

the

[Music]

Dian. While Domission is preoccupied

with Decabalis and the Deian, a Roman

governor in Germania seizes his chance

to rebel.

Domission sends the young and loyal

legionary commander named Trejan to

restore order. The revolt is crushed and

the rebel leader taken

captive. Domestic problem that

dimmission faced in ' 89 was apparently

dissatisfaction among at least one of

the commanders and his legions.

Elsewhere in the European theater, this

was the general Saturninus who seems to

have made an attempt to declare himself

emperor while dimmission was preoccupied

with the Deian wars.

Trajan helps quell the Saturninus

rebellion, winning greater recognition

from the

emperor. As a reward, the mission makes

him console in 91. Then it seems he's

given probably two military

governorships along the frontier, both

of which required great skill and also

granted to him great

responsibility. But for the Dian king

Decabalis, the emperor Domission's

political and military problems provide

an unexpected

bonus. Domission, an inept leader at

best, suddenly feels vulnerable because

of dissent in his ranks and the savagery

of the Deian resistance.

Hoping to appease and control his

defeated enemies, the insecure Domian

sends a messenger from Rome into Deian

territory, offering a generous treaty

deal with the warrior king. It is a weak

and cowardly solution.

Anytime a military leader settles with

an enemy for anything less than total

victory, it's always going to be open

for his critics to complain that this

amounts to a cowardice, to letting an

enemy off the hook. Uh, witness the

criticism both in the '9s and early into

this decade that was leveled at George

HW Bush for allowing Saddam Hussein to

remain in power after the first Gulf

War.

In this strange reversal, Domissan's

messenger delivers the spoils of war to

his defeated enemy. According to

historian Casius

Dio, the mission had given large sums of

money to Dabalis on the spot as well as

artisans of every trade pertaining to

both peace and war and promised to keep

on giving large sums in the

future. Domission squanders Rome's

wealth to buy a barbarian's loyalty.

He was forced to cut a deal that was

very unfavorable and to the permanent

detriment of his reputation. He had to

grant the Deian a tribute. Uh he also

had to send engineers and technicians

and in essence laid the foundation for a

dishan

resurgence. Then in 89 AD, Emperor

Domission follows this display of Roman

weakness with another foolish action.

what he believes will be a show of Roman

strength against other barbarians across

the

[Music]

[Applause]

Danube. But Domission underestimates

their strength and devotes too few of

his

troops. Domission had felt that they had

inadequately supported him during the

initial stages of his Dian campaign. So

he launched a retaliatory attack on

these two tribes, probably thinking that

this would be a very fastmoving and

easily resolved situation.

Rome suffers a humiliating

loss. Domission at this point, he's

really on a downward spiral in a sense.

Not only is he buying off Decabalis,

there's rumors that he's triumphed over

the Germans, but these are false

triumphs. That he's been buying blonde

wigs and dressing people up as Germans

to carry in his triumphs. This sort of

thing. Things are really on the skids

for Domission.

But not all of Domissan's enemies are on

the frontier.

Domission had a habit of killing off his

relatives with fantastic regularity and

also in moments of peak as it seems

would discover or claim to discover

conspiracies among senators and this

would lead to purges of the ranking

membership of the

Senate. By 93 AD, Domission declares

himself Dominus Adus, Lord and God. He

has become unpredictable, vindictive,

and

dangerous. He made virtually everyone

close to him feel continually under

threat, and it was only a matter of time

before someone lashed out to kill him

before he killed them.

[Music]

As long as Domission lives, no one

around him is safe. His wife Domishia,

her steward Stephanus, and others close

to Domission decide to take matters into

their own hands. According to biographer

Suitonius, as the conspirators were

deliberating when and how to attack

dimmission, whether at the bath or at

dinner, Stfanis, Dish's steward, offered

his aid. To avoid suspicion, he wrapped

up his left arm in woolen bandages for

some days, pretending that he had

injured it and concealed in them a

dagger. We know that at the time he's

assassinated on September 18th, 96 AD,

that he's hated by his wife Doitia, that

he's hated by various courtiers and

freedman, that the Senate's not too fond

of him. No one likes Domission at this

point. So, there may have been a

combination conspiracy between the

Imperial House and various members of

the

Senate. The plot is worked out. Now,

it's time to set it in

motion. Holding himself accountable to

no one. Emperor Domission is despised by

everyone. By alienating Rome's allies

and depleting its wealth, he puts

himself in mortal danger.

A trusted servant, Stephanus approaches

the emperor, playing on his fears.

According to Roman biographer

Suitonius, given an audience with the

emperor by pretending to reveal a

conspiracy against him, Stfanis handed

him a scroll of false evidence and then

stabbed him as he read

it.

[Music]

Hearing the commotion, Domission's

guards rush in. Too late to save the

emperor. Too soon for Stephanus to

escape. Domission is only 45 at the time

of his assassination. He has reigned for

15 years.

The assassination of dimmission unfolds

as a plot within at least initially

within his household. He's assassinated

by members of his his court and

assassinated in a private space. In many

ways, this looks like a sort of open

andsh shut case, but there are reasons

to think that other things are

happening. With Domission dead, the

Senate presses its advantage. According

to historian

Switonius, the people received the news

of Dimmission's death with indifference,

but the soldiers grieved and at once

tried to call him Demission the god. The

senators, on the other hand, were so

overjoyed that they raced to insult the

dead emperor, pulling down his statue,

chiseling his name from the buildings

and smashing his likeness before the

eyes of the

people. The Senate wastes no time

appointing a new emperor.

[Music]

In the immediate aftermath of

Dimmission's assassination, the Senate

at Rome sought out one of its own

members as a new emperor, a man named

Nerva, who was an elderly man and

without children and without any

particular military distinction. The

reasons for their choosing him are

shrouded in history. Now,

Nerva is acclaimed by the Senate

suspiciously quickly. And Nerva is an

excellent compromised candidate if

you're looking to appoint an emperor

that most people could deal with because

Nerva is old. Nerva is sickly. Nerva

doesn't have a son. And so, he is in

essence a placeholder while you figure

out what you want to really do.

Nerva knows his role is only temporary

and he makes the most of it.

Rather, of course, than Nerva abdicating

or for that matter Nerva being

assassinated for his weakness in

controlling the troops, he took in fact

a co-emperor, one who gave him exactly

those qualities that he himself lacked.

Tremendous respect among the military,

being foremost among

them. Within a year, Nurva adopts up and

cominging General Trejan as his heir and

names him co-emperor. History is silent

on the question of whether Trejan was

part of the original conspiracy to

assassinate Domission.

I don't think we can say Trejan was

involved, but he likely was aware of it.

And that doesn't even necessarily mean

he supported it. He could have been

aware of it. Uh but recognized that this

was a circumstance that he couldn't

change and was willing to accept.

Three years later, Trejan on foot and in

civilian guard is almost unrecognizable

as he arrives at Rome's gates in 98 AD.

He has come to be declared sole emperor

after Nurva's natural death. He receives

a hero's welcome once the guards realize

who he is.

When Trajan arrives in Rome, everybody

is overjoyed because here is a

relatively young emperor who is keen to

collaborate with the people and the

Senate in governing the empire and it's

seen almost as the dawn of a new

age. From the outset, it is clear that

Trajan is everything Domission was not.

The historian Ply celebrates the new

emperor's gloriously modest arrival.

The very method of your entry won

delight and surprise. For your

predecessors chose to be carried in, not

satisfied even to be drawn by four white

horses, but lifted up on human shoulders

in their overbearing pride. You towered

above us only because of your own

splendid

physique. He had due respect for the

groups that mattered and perhaps more

importantly for the groups that wrote

history. And that's why Trajan goes down

as being such a good

[Music]

emperor. Trajan inherits Rome's

humiliating and costly treaty with the

Deian. Thanks to Domission, in exchange

for peace, these barbarians are entitled

to Roman weaponry, Roman deserters, and

each year another large portion of Roman

wealth. And Trajan won't tolerate that.

Trajan and probably many like Trajan

looked at the defeat that the Dian had

inflicted on dimmission or at least the

treaty that the Dian had inflicted on

dimmission as a real black eye for the

Romans and so there was incentive to do

something about this and to fix this

situation.

Trajan doesn't stay in Rome long. He and

nine Roman legions and auxiliary troops

head to the Danube to take care of

unfinished

[Music]

business. He fortifies Rome's military

presence on the frontier, preparing for

a long engagement along the Danube. But

before he can confront the Dian, he must

build the infrastructure to support his

troops. Only then, according to the

historian Casius Dio, will he be ready

to repair the damage wrought by

domission and restore Rome's honor by

settling the score with the

Dian. He took into account their past

deeds and was grieved at the amount of

money they were receiving annually. And

he also observed that their power and

their pride were increasing.

But vengeance might not have been

Trejan's sole motivation.

There are any number of motives that

Trajan could have had for going after

Decabalis at this point. It could have

been revenge and national honor. It

could be a matter of a new emperor who

wants to gain prestige and authority and

solidify his position. So, he's going to

go off and make war. Maybe both of

those. The campaign is a huge

undertaking. Trejan spends a year

building forts, roads, and bridges in

preparation.

It's a very difficult area for the

Romans to penetrate and a lot of

engineering work has to be carried out

first of all to cross the Danube there.

Um there's lots of narrow gorges and so

on. By 101 AD, Trejan is ready.

[Music]

Trejan's reputation as a master

commander precedes him and the Deian

king Decabalis wants to undermine his

efforts by making sure he doesn't

profit. To keep the Deian treasury from

falling into Roman hands, Decabalis

buries his riches. Only he and his

henchmen Basillus know

where. Desa is a relatively rich area.

If the Romans were to expand, Deisha

would be a natural choice. The resources

are there to make this, if not a

profitable campaign, at least a campaign

that could potentially pay for itself.

And so if we are willing to accept that

Trajan had greater ambitions for

conquest and and greater ambitions for

himself and his state, it would be

natural for him to look to

Dean. In the year 101 AD, the Dian know

their years of peace are about to end.

Many of them pack up and flee for their

lives. Though the Dian have done battle

with the Romans before, this time is

very different. According to historian

Casius Dio,

Dabalis learning of Trajan's advance

became frightened since he well knew

that before it was not the Romans that

he had conquered, but Domician. And now

he would be fighting against both the

Romans and Trajan, the emperor.

Deian families head for safer ground,

knowing this time there will be no

negotiations.

Trejan throughout his reign is renowned

for traveling with his armies and

enduring some of the same difficulties

that his army endures. And I think this

is what enders Trejan very much to the

soldiers serving under his command

eventually. He appreciated the struggles

that they were going through and was

willing to share some of these struggles

himself.

And now that struggle will take the

Roman troops to Deia.

The new Roman Emperor Trajan has

reconciled the Senate in the military

and now he seeks Roman glory and

personal honor by confronting the

troublesome Dian at

Tai. By 101 AD, the Deian king Decabalis

has grown familiar with Roman fighting

tactics and with making friends with

Rome's enemies.

Decabalis work assiduously in building

up a nexus of alliances uh not just

amongst foreign peoples but also amongst

his nobles and he'll create a fighting

force that's formidable but it's not as

formidable as the Romans. However, uh

they are organized and they are for

formidable enough force that they can

beat the Romans at times and that's

important to remember.

But it is not enough and Decabalis knows

it. faltering. He even sends Trejan a

plea for peace. Trajan rejects it. The

emperor will stop at nothing short of

victory, though it comes at a high

price, writes historian Casius Dio.

Trajan engaged the foe and saw many

wounded on his own side and killed many

of the enemy. And when bandages gave

out, he is said not to have spared even

his own clothing, but to have cut it up

into strips.

[Music]

A Dian warrior will choose death over

capture and they treat their own

prisoners with abject cruelty. Roman

captives are handed over to Dian women

to be humiliated, tortured and

eventually

killed. Ultimately, Trajan prevails over

Decabalis, bending the barbarian to

Rome's will. The vanquished king will

surrender all that he has gained from

the previous treaties and swear his

allegiance. Casio recounts the terms.

So Decabalis reluctantly engaged to

surrender his arms, to give back the

desertters, to demolish the forts, to

withdraw from captured territory, and

furthermore to consider the same

person's enemies and friends as the

Romans

did. With the terms of the treaty agreed

upon, Trejan has converted a fierce

adversary into an ally and can return to

Italy a proud

man. But the treaty falls short of its

mark. It can't curtail Decabalis'

bloodthirsty ambition, and it can't

force him to surrender his knowledge of

Roman

technology. The Dian are not to be

trusted. Denied Roman weaponry, they

begin to construct their own, breaking

their word by building their armories.

With sharpened blades and bolstered

ranks, they expand their territory in

defiance of Rome.

It's very unclear why Debbelis should

break the treaty. Probably the answer

was that it was a question of

inevitability. Debbilis no doubt saw

that a war with Rome, another showdown

was inevitable. The region was not big

enough for the two of them if you like

and therefore he thought he would get

his attack in first. He took in

deserters. He made various menacing

moves and perhaps he hoped he could

seize the initiative, take over more of

the region and therefore forestore the

attack by Trejan which he no doubt

thought was

inevitable. While Decabalis is

rebuilding his war machine in Deia,

Trejan travels from Italy to sabotage

[Music]

it. Where Decabalis relies on force,

Trajan employs diplomacy. He courts the

Quatti Marcommani and other barbarians

sympathetic to the Deian but swayed by

Roman wealth. By winning them over to

Rome's side, Trajan deprivives Decabalis

of fighting power. If Decabalis means to

wage this war, he'll have to fight it

alone.

Traers responded to the cabbala's very

skillful way to wage war against the

Romans with an equally ski skillful way

to engage basically every little group

in the area or surrounding the Deian

kingdom. So there's a lot of desperation

on the part of Decabalis at this

juncture and his allies are growing

restive. They want to leave him and

they're making overtures to the Romans.

So what's going on at this point is

Decabalis certainly knows he's in a

grave grave

situation. 106 AD not settling for half

measures, Trejan leads his expansive

forces to the political center of the

Deian kingdom, Sarmisa Gthusa in present

day Romania.

Within the walls of the fortress city,

soldiers and citizens prepare for the

invasion by Roman troops. The Dian put

their faith in their stout walls and

strong army. But should the Romans

breach the gates, the citizens will be

ready. Armed with torches and oil, they

will leave the Romans with nothing worth

taking. And for themselves a poison is

prepared so that no Dian man, woman or

child will suffer capture and Roman

slavery. If they are defeated, they will

all be joined in

death. To reach the Dean capital, Trajan

runs the gauntlet of Dean forces

defending the route that leads to the

gates of the city.

This was a big fortified place that was

extremely difficult to take and the

Romans had to just proceed very slowly

taking each place one after the other

and as you can imagine taking a lot of

losses as they did so it was a bitter

struggle.

An impenetrable gate will confront

Trajan's iron

will. 106 AD. For more than two decades,

the hostile Dian have tormented Rome.

Now, as they once again break their

treaty, Emperor Trejan mobilizes his

troops to break their will by breaching

their stronghold.

The Deians have fought mightily to keep

the Romans from the gates of their

citadel at Zarisa

Gatthusa. Although the Dian equipment

was not as good, they were fighting for

their homeland. They were occupying

extremely strong positions. And as I

said about the capital, this was a big

fortified place. It was a bitter

struggle.

The Roman efforts pay off as their

forces penetrate the doomed city. But

the Dian who choose death over defeat

have poisoned themselves and set the

city

ablaze. Decabalis cornered by Roman

soldiers will not be taken alive. But

his aid, Basillus, pleads for his own

life and is

captured. A better prize is Decabalis's

head, which Trajan soldiers collect as

the ultimate trophy. They will later

parade it victoriously through the

streets of

Rome. It was the first big military

success by a reigning emperor since the

days of Augustus and Julius Caesar. This

was a remarkable achievement.

The victory reaps material benefits as

well. Basilus leads Roman soldiers to

his king's treasure.

The amount of gold that Trajan received

or took in his conquest of Desa was uh

enormous by any stretch and it had

actually been hidden by the Dian under

the river

Sargerettias. These riches along with

the active gold mines of Deia

replenished the Roman treasury.

According to the Chronicles, Rome

recovers 225 tons of gold, 500 tons of

silver, and 50,000

slaves. The gold and silver coming from

the booty that he had collected from the

Dian wars was used to fund fantastic

program, building program in Rome um on

a scale that Rome did not see before.

[Music]

The spoils of war provide Trajan with

the funds he needs to build a new forum

complex in Rome, the largest ever built.

Though the forum was magnificent in its

day, little but the centerpiece column

remains. But it's enough. This

astonishing edifice called Trajan's

column provides a cryptic pictorial

narrative of the Deian wars that

returned Rome to her

glory. Trajan's column is about 100 ft

high with 155 different scenes from the

war against the Dejians. It's not a

blowby-blow account. Of course, it's got

as it were symbolic sort of scenes. We

also can see barbarians of various kinds

and their equipment and so on. But by

and large, of course, it is the

triumphal advance of the Romans and

their two victories in the two

wars. The column represents a

multifaceted piece of propaganda. It

both shows the engineering

accomplishments of Trajan's reign and

also demonstrates the great military

achievements that Trejan had brought

about.

The colossal spoils of war and the

success in battle will go to Trajan's

head and wet his appetite for

power. His reign is punctuated by

conquest and a decade after the Deian

wars. He begins an ambitious campaign

against Partha to the east in the area

now known as Iraq.

As far as we know, there were no

strategic reasons for Trajan to wage war

against Partha at this time. And it's

most likely his and his advisers

wararmongering attitude that led to an

open conflict with Partha.

Trajan enjoys the success he's come to

expect, but he has underestimated his

enemy. The Parththeians melt against

this onslaught of this enormous military

machine that's the Roman army. And the

Parththeians are so shocked by how

easily the Romans came in that they

manage in the next year to stage an

enormous insurrection. They kill or

drive out the Roman garrisons that are

in their country. It's not exactly

similar, but it's somewhat similar to

the situation the United States faced in

Iraq where you enter with enormous

military power, but you end up with an

insurgency all over the place.

Trajan, now aging and ill, imagines

himself to be the new Alexander,

conqueror of the world. But by 117, it

is clear that his dream will never be

realized. His plans for expansion have

stretched Rome to its limit and into a

hostile landscape.

[Music]

Holding on to the territory across these

inhospitable swallows of desert is very

very hard and Trajan found himself

especially fighting in the north, middle

and south at the same time that he'd

overextended his

resources. At last in old age, Trejan

retreats, abandoning his campaign and

heading back to Rome. But he dies before

he gets there.

The situation that Trajan found himself

in in the last year of his life is in

many ways similar to the situation that

the United States and its allies finds

itself in. Same part of the world with

the same poorest defenses, the same

poorest natural frontiers and the same

desire in essence to fight a war that

ought to have taken a long time in a

relatively short span of time with a

plan for winning a military victory. but

no plan for absorbing the territory and

organizing the territory.

Trajan is considered one of the greatest

emperors, but his ambitions could not be

maintained. The great failure of

Trajan's policy is revealed almost

immediately after his death when Hadrien

withdraws from most of the territory

that Trajan took.

Even the hard one province of Deia is

eventually given up.

[Music]

An empire is molded by its leaders.

History judges Trajan and omission

differently. One good emperor, one bad.

But both ultimately forsake the needs of

the empire in order to chase personal

glory. They won't be the only emperors

to walk this dangerous path, a path that

will eventually lead to the end of the

empire.

When the empire is attacked by foreign

invaders and a deadly plague, Roman

citizens blame the new religion of

Christianity for angering the empire's

pagan gods. Desperate, Emperor Dishius

turns to violence, sacrificing the lives

of Christians to win back the god's

favor.

Now threatened by barbarian attacks on

all fronts, the people of Rome live in

constant fear. As the crisis deepens,

insurgents seize control, dividing the

empire against

itself until a new ruler emerges. His

name is Aurelion, and he unifies the

fractured empire using its greatest

reservoir of strength, the army.

[Applause]

[Music]

By the middle of the 3rd century, the

Roman Empire is huge and relies on

distant, isolated legions to protect

every far-flung province.

The troops at this point were forced

into a situation where they often had to

rely on

self-help. The imperial superructure was

very far away from them. Emperors made

it to frontier conflicts, often after

they had mushroomed entirely out of

control. In the absence of the emperor,

the soldiers sometimes take leadership

matters into their own hands.

the emperor can't be there. So there's a

bit of drift and so somebody arises who

is able to do the job for him and

probably will call themselves an emperor

in order to rally local support to beat

back the barbarians who are threatening

the integrity of the

provinces. Having dared to raise their

own emperors, the powerful border armies

now declare independence from

Rome. As these armies break away on the

eastern and western frontiers, forming

their own empires, Rome's northern

frontier is attacked by the Alammani

barbarians in 269 AD.

In his palace in Rome, the true Roman

Emperor Claudius II is troubled by this

devastating assault on Roman soil.

Enemies from the other side of the Alps

did more than invade the Roman Empire.

For the first time in an extraordinarily

long time, they actually crossed the

Alps into Italy.

Claudius seeks the advice of his

powerful cavalry commander Aurelion. A

man whose military discipline is

described by the 3rd century historian

Viscus. Aurelion from his earliest years

was very quick of mind and famous for

his strength. He never let a day go by

without practicing the spear, the bow

and arrow, and other weaponry.

Aurelian skills will soon be tested as

news from the frontier worsens.

Distraught refugees from northern Italy

bear witness to the

devastation. With this invasion, the

danger of a mutiny within the army

becomes even greater.

If uh barbarian people threatened to

invade, then the local people would

simply proclaim emperor whoever happened

to be the military commander in the

region at the time.

In order to keep the northern frontier

from breaking away as well, Claudius

must act quickly to stop the encroaching

Alammani

forces. In the Alammani camp, the

barbarians celebrate, reveling in the

rich spoils taken easily from a weakened

Roman Empire, including Roman women and

children they intend to use as slaves.

We've got inscriptions actually which

talk to us which tell us about uh

parties of raiders who've gone into

Italy and taken lots of prisoners. So

it's sort of easy pickings to some

extent for these raiders. They're

praying on an empire that is not at its

peak at this time.

The groups of Alammani are led by

powerful chieftains who ensure their

warriors loyalty by rewarding them with

slaves of Roman

blood. But the barbarians greed knows no

end. Emperor Claudius is forced to march

his army from Rome, meeting the Alammani

warriors at Lake Garda in northern

Italy.

Claudius and his men face a brutal

enemy. 4th century historian Amianus

Marcelinus. Rushing forward with more

haste than caution, they threw

themselves on our squadrons of horse

with horrible grinding of teeth and more

than their usual fury. Their hair

streamed behind them and a kind of

madness flashed from their

eyes.

Emperor Claudius is also severely

outnumbered. But he has a secret weapon

at his side. The powerful cavalry

commander

Aurelion. He was known as Manu Adum.

That is sort of hand ready to the sword.

Ready to leap into action when that

should be necessary.

[Music]

True to his name, Aurelion helps

Claudius beat back the Alammani, killing

half their force and driving the rest

back over the

Elves. And in an effort to better secure

Italy from future barbarian attacks,

Emperor Claudius and Aurelion travel to

the Balkans to increase the military

presence there.

But while on campaign, Emperor Claudius

contracts the

plague. Claudius's reign was short. Um,

he ruled from 268 to 270. He had a

signal military success in the year

269, heavily advertised at the time and

much talked about later.

But this success, the defeat of the

Alammani, is not enough to restore the

empire. As Emperor Claudius's life slips

away, it is clear that this task must

fall on his trusted general,

[Music]

Aurelion. He is declared emperor by his

troops. Aurelion repays them by

sacrificing to the god of soldiers, soul

invictus, the unconquered son. A deity

now emerging as the god of victory

within the

army. Whatever gives you the victory,

whatever it is that's going to be

beneficial, that's the that's the the

wagon, as it were, you hitch your star

to.

A man of low birth, Aurelion now rises

to the highest position in the empire

because of his military brilliance. Like

many great generals before

him, you can't be a civilian emperor by

the middle of the third century. You

have to lead troops in battle. There's

always some place where you've got to go

and fight.

[Music]

Aurelion will need the loyalty of the

soldiers and the strength of their god

as he faces a familiar

enemy. In 271 AD, the bloodthirsty

Alammani return, ravaging northern Italy

and making it as far as Pacenza.

Aurelion and his army race west to cut

off the barbarians, sending ahead an

offer to

negotiate, but the Alammani have other

plans. He invited uh the barbarians to

um give themselves up, but uh reportedly

they uh replied that they were free men

and they could show him how free men can

fight. Um sure enough at dusk um in the

wooded area south of Piaenza uh they

ambushed the Roman army um which

suffered heavy losses

in the forest. The Roman soldiers are no

match for the barbarians.

Why was an ambush uh such a successful

tactics against Roman Roman troops? And

you know largely the answer lies in the

form of organization of the Roman

armies. they were trained, you know, the

discipline consisted in training them to

actually fight in a line in a formation.

Um, and evidently can do so only when uh

the conditions are met where you can

develop that formation, which is not the

case in a wooded area. Needless to say,

the barbarians knew

that. Caught in a wooded trap, the Roman

army is thrown into confusion and

routed. For Aurelion, the defeat is

devastating.

The troops are in some ways very loyal

to their own commanders, but they're

also very fickled. So if a if an emperor

is winning, they are happy to support

him. Once an emperor starts to lose,

then he's almost certainly done

for. Aurelion rallies what troops have

survived, praying that they will remain

loyal. He needs them now more than ever

to keep the Alammani from reaching the

city of

[Music]

Rome. When Rome's frontier armies break

away from the rest of the empire,

Emperor Aurelian's legions are left

helpless against the fierce Alammani

barbarians now heading into the heart of

Italy.

[Music]

Terror grips the people of Rome as they

fear the barbarians arrival is imminent.

Desperate, many flee the city.

The defeat of the Roman army or Orean's

army created panic in Rome because there

was no serious force to stand between

the barbarians and the city.

Those unable to escape riot in the

streets. enraged by Aurelian's failure

to keep the barbarians out of

Italy. The population of Rome does seem

to have understood that becoming a vast

city in the midst of an empire whose

armies were concentrated at the frontier

left them as it were peculiarly

vulnerable if an army were actually to

make it into

Italy. But before the Alammani warriors

can reach the capital, Aurelion is

finally able to cut them off at Fonum,

180 mi from Rome.

[Music]

After his recent defeat, Aurelion must

win back his army's loyalty with nothing

less than absolute victory.

[Music]

Emperors had always relied upon the

support of the army. And emperors may

have presented themselves as champions

of the republic, but the reality, the

underlying reality of imperial powers,

it always depends upon the

army. Together, Aurelian and his

soldiers teach their barbarian foes a

lesson in Roman discipline.

They learned now that whenever there was

an opportunity for the Roman army to

develop in tight formation, they they

had no

chance. Overwhelmed, many barbarian

warriors die a watery death in the

Mtorus

River. Orurelian's victory drives the

Alammani from Italy at last.

[Music]

It's also a regaining of confidence and

no doubt his triumph served to boost

morale at a time when it had been

greatly shaken.

But Aurelian's hard one triumph in Italy

is quickly overshadowed by news of

rising conflict from the city of Pommyra

on the empire's eastern frontier.

For more than 10 years, beginning well

before Aurelian's reign, foreign

invaders struck hard against Rome's

eastern provinces, including Pelmyra,

threatening to break through the

weakening border.

And this ongoing flow of populations,

some of whom were highly militarized and

used quite different tactics than the

Romans were used to, caused very

profound problems in the eastern

provinces. On the edges of the Syrian

desert, far from the protection of Rome,

the people of Palmyra have faced the

devastation of their army alone.

These opponents, they also are taking

advantage of the absence of the emperor

to take over, to roll back the

frontiers, which they do successfully,

and to make uh to extort payments from

the

Romans. Counting the bodies of their

dead, the Palm Marines finally grew

weary of waiting for help from a distant

Rome.

these people in these various areas who

are threatened by invasion. They wish

they were better protected. So they call

upon local defenders to take on the role

that the emperors seem unable to do

because the emperors can't be

everywhere. In a blatant act of revolt,

the Pomeranine army took matters into

its own hands.

[Music]

As a result, for the past decade, the

eastern provinces have called themselves

the Palmarine Empire, breaking away from

Rome. Now they make a direct threat

against Emperor Aurelion by taking the

fertile Roman land of

Egypt. The rich Egyptian granaries are

now controlled by the Pomeran queen. Her

name is Zenobia.

got fascinated by this figure of a woman

of the east wielding such control uh

perhaps a latter-day Cleopatra type and

incidentally I mean she did try to

associate herself with Cleopatra when

they took over Egypt she sought to sort

of establish a connection in order to

reconcile the Egyptians to her

rule with Egypt under her

thumb basks in her power ordering the

graneries to stop shipments of grain to

Rome, cutting off one of the empire's

main sources of

food. Italy was of course the affective

heart of the empire. It was where the

empire began. But Africa and Egypt had

long been the bread basket of the

empire. That's where the agricultural

wealth was concentrated.

Queen Zenobia, with her loyal General

Zubdus at her side, now holds the

empire's grain hostage, sending a clear

message to Rome that the Palmarines are

powerless no

[Music]

more. Zenobia's power play strikes deep

in Rome. Aurelion finds the people

desperate and starving for lack of

grain. Though he orders his troops to

share their bread with the masses, it is

not enough.

Naturally, Egypt was the granary of Rome

and therefore any interruption to the

grain supplies to Rome was a huge threat

to any emperor, particularly one who had

already had strife to deal with in Rome.

The threat of famine leaves Romans

restless and angry. Having lost

territory to the armies of the east and

west, the empire now faces rebellion in

Rome

[Music]

itself. Having relieved Rome of the

Alammani barbarian threat, Emperor

Aurelion faces a new crisis when the

Palmarine usurper Queen Zenobia stops

shipments of Egyptian grain to Rome,

threatening the city with starvation.

[Music]

Soon the Romans turn against their

emperor, Aurelian.

The violence, by the way, that uh uh

this rebellion sparked was on a level

not seen since Republican times.

Orurelian has no choice but to unleash

his own savage warriors against the

insurgents.

you're fighting in Rome itself, you

know, and this is civil war. This is

something the Romans also uh fear

because they know how divisive it can be

and how uh devastating it can

be. Unaccustomed to battling inside a

city, Aurelian soldiers struggle. Though

virtually unbeatable on open

battlefield, the Roman army once again

shows its weakness when tight formation

cannot be maintained.

[Applause]

the actual war lot the struggle itself

would have been in an urban context and

of course for the Roman soldiers

involved at Aurelian's disposal uh this

must have been highly unusual I mean

ancient battles were not typically urban

struggles street by street fighting and

this is where your trained soldiers

would have greater

difficulty but in the endurelian puts

down the revolt decisively the 4th

century historian and

Utropius Aurelian suppressed them with

the utmost severity. Several noblemen he

condemned to death. He was indeed cruel

and bloodthirsty and rather an emperor

necessary for the times than an amiable

one. Aurelion executes the rebel

leaders, reminding the people of Rome

that he is their ruler.

The emperor has crushed the resistance.

He now rebuilds the city walls against

external forces. Rome will be strong and

safe in his

hands. In the aftermath of the military

crisis in northern Italy at the start of

his reign, the emperor Aurelian provided

that the city of Rome should be

outfitted with a new set of walls.

This was the first significant really

significant new set of walls built for

the city of Rome since nearly a thousand

years before.

Aurelion now turns to the crisis of the

Palmarine Empire. He must secure his

grain supply in order to avoid famine in

Rome. His dwindling bread rations will

not last forever.

Well, Aurelion uh was determined to

reassert control over all areas of the

empire and so he moves east in 272 to

regain

control. His first target is the former

Roman city of Antioch, then part of the

larger region called

Syria. Antioch is a bustling city,

invaluable to Rome as a wealthy center

of trade. But now under the control of

the Palmarine Empire, it becomes a safe

haven for the fugitive queen Zenobia.

Zenobia and her generals knew for sure

that Antioch would be the first city,

the first thing Orurelion would have to

conquer upon entering Syria. So she

barricaded herself in the city and

Zabdas drew uh the army uh in the

Orontes plane to the west of Lake

Antioch. Zenobia enjoys her prestige,

happy to let her generals ready

themselves for war just outside the city

walls. There, Zenobia's general Zubdis

meets Aurelian's army on the

battlefield.

You have walls of Romans moving in

lines, man-to-man, fisttofist. You can't

kill somebody until you look them in the

eye. Um, you've got arms getting cut

off, hands getting cut off, uh, damage

to to to the neck, to the face.

But as his infantry men fall prey to the

swords of the Palm Marines, Aurelion

knows his only chance is to outmaneuver

General Zuptus.

[Music]

It is during this battle

that uh instructed his highly

disciplined light cavalry to perform

what later came to be known as the faint

retreat

strategy. Aurelian's light cavalry

pretends to flee, tricking the

Palmarines into giving chase, leaving

the protection of the main lines behind

them.

at which point the Roman cavalry turned

back and cut them to pieces. In any

case, indeed, the Palmrian cav cavalry

was destroyed and uh the road was open

to

Antioch. General Zubdis orders the

surviving Palmarine troops to

retreat. Zenobia and her generals head

toward Palmyra. Aurelion gives chase,

determined to catch the queen before she

reaches her home city.

But in the Syrian desert, Aurelian faces

unexpected

obstacles. You have to remember this is

summer. It's hot in the desert. Uh so

harassed by both the hot summer and the

Arabs, Arab nomads that had remained

loyal to Zenobia, Aurelian and his army

pursued or or pushed to Palmyra.

But an arrow wound delays Aurelian's

pursuit, giving Zenobia time to secure

herself in

Pelmyra. Cursing his nomad attackers,

Aurelion vows to capture their

queen. In 272 AD, Emperor Aurelion

defeats Zenobia's army at Antioch. But

in pursuit of the fleeing queen,

Aurelion is ambushed, allowing her to

reach the safety of

Palmyra. Now ordered to surrender by

Aurelion, who has besieged the city,

Zenobia writes him a scathing rebuke in

the spirit of her model, Cleopatra.

Whatever must be accomplished in matters

of war must be done by valor alone. You

demand my surrender as though you were

not aware that Cleopatra preferred to

die a queen rather than remain alive,

however high her rank.

Despite her bravado, the proud queen

knows she is not safe for long in the

city. She quickly packs for travel.

Palmy itself is not really ready for a

siege anyway. They build some very

hastily erected defenses and clearly

Orurelion has some support inside the

city. It does not hold out for very

long.

Queen Zenobia and her general Zubdis

slip away into the cover of darkness,

eluding Aurelion

again. In 272 AD, Zenobia races toward

Persia, making it as far as the

Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq. But

Aurelian soldiers are in hot

pursuit. On the banks of the Euphrates,

the queen offers the boatman gold to

cross the river, but even her desperate

threats are too late to save her.

She was uh intercepted and captured by

the Roman cavalry. They took Zenobia,

her advisers and generals as prisoners

of war and put them on

trial. Bound to prevent escape, Zenobia

knows she will soon face Aurelion.

[Music]

Having won back the throne of Pelmyra,

Aurelion finally confronts the rebel

Zenovia, a woman whose boldness he can't

help but admire. In his own

words, "What manner of woman she is! How

wise in counselss, how steadfast in

plans, how firm toward the soldiers, how

generous when necessity calls, and how

stern when discipline demands.

But facing likely execution, Zenobia's

courage begins to wne.

Zenobia pleaded that she had been led

astray by bad advice. On which account

her adviser was put to death, and so was

the general Zabdas.

Aurelian has a different fate in mind

for the beautiful queen once they reach

Rome.

But before leaving Pelmyra, Aurelion

visits a temple where he will pay

tribute to one god alone, the god of

soldiers, Soul Invictus, who has ensured

his victory on foreign soil.

He clearly uh had in mind an alliance

between him and the the the sun god that

was responsible for uh his successes in

in Palmyra. He um uh presented himself

on his coins in terms of an association

with of the emperor to the god Solen

Victus where we're moving into this uh

dimension of uh associating the emperor

very closely with one particular

divinity who clearly uh uh given the

success that already had enjoyed people

might believe in

in the peace of the eastern temple. He

sees that this is the one God to unite

all of Rome.

He does seem to have been participating

in a growing trend toward universalism,

both in religion and in Roman political

control. Offering his own blood as

sacrifice, Aurelion promises his God a

nation of worshippers.

[Music]

Having taken back the east and restored

Rome's ration of free bread, Aurelian is

welcome back to Rome a

hero. It may have signaled to the Romans

an end to what had been nearly a half

century of sequence of military

catastrophe followed by recovery

followed by catastrophe followed by

illusory recovery again.

Aurelion has another purpose in Rome. He

will use the riches taken from the east

to establish the soldiers god soul

invictus as the single deity of the

empire. Work soon begins on a new

temple. He actually put the new cult on

a par with the official official state

religion in Rome. He built a magnificent

temple for soul in Rome which he

furnished with the spoils from Palmyra.

But religion must wait for now.

Orurelian has more battles to fight

before the empire is fully restored.

[Music]

To the north, the Roman territories of

Gaul and Britain have fallen under the

unlawful rule of a mutinous Roman army

that calls their dominion the GIC

[Music]

Empire. Resembling their barbarian foes

more every day, the GIC soldiers scorn

Roman honor, naming the arrogant Roman

general Tetricus their emperor.

You have armies popping up all over the

place proclaiming their generals emperor

and then they have to fight and whoever

wins is the one who ends up being the

the legitimate emperor in the end.

The separation of the Ga Empire was of

course frightening for uh Romans. It was

a a major loss. It was it was uh

humiliating to have such a significant

portion of the traditional Roman Empire

in another man's

hands. Emperor Aurelian quickly moves to

take back the GIC lands and restore the

empire to its former glory. All that

stands in his way is Tetricus and the

GIC army.

Having defeated Queen Zenobia and

recovered the east, Aurelia now vows to

take back the lost territory in the west

from the usurper Tetricus and unite all

Romans under one god, Soul Invictus,

warrior god of the

soldiers. In 274 AD, the mutinous GIC

empire encompasses both Gaul and

Britain.

[Music]

There the soldier Emperor Tetraus and

his army have become indistinguishable

from their barbarian enemies.

Undisiplined, they revel in the torment

of their prisoners.

[Music]

The job of soldier emperor was

tremendously dangerous because they're

in power only because they are

proclaimed by their troops. But it's a

very difficult thing once in power to

maintain that because you have to avoid

internal conflicts with other potential

generals who see themselves as possible

emperors. Tetricus cannot show any

weakness to his troops.

[Music]

But in the privacy of his palace,

Tetricus consults his adviserss, trying

to determine where his next rival will

come from.

Tetraus himself had survived over the

pre previous several years uh a number

of internal disputes, some actually

leading to considerable bloodshed among

rival leaders in the Gauls.

He plans to someday leave his kingdom to

his son, establishing a dynasty in his

own name. But reports of a new

challenger now threatened to destroy

this dream.

[Music]

It seems to have been clear to him that

in the aftermath of his success in the

east, Aurelian was going to and was

already marching on Gaul in an attempt

to reintegrate Gaul into the Roman

Empire. With news of Aurelian's

approach, the volatile Tetricus blames

his advisers, lashing out at everyone

around

him. In 274 AD, Orurelion marches to

Shalon Gaul in modern-day France to face

Tetricus and win back the western

territories for Rome.

Aurelion and his men meet Tetricus in

the forest of Shaolong, where the

fighting is

fierce. Aurelion's army uh probably

contained more cavalry than traditional

imperial armies had up until now. As for

Tetricus' army, uh well, there were

still important legions along the Rine

uh guarding these areas. It would have

been a battle between forces, much uh

similar for forces with similar

equipment at their disposal and

therefore all the bloodier and more

devastating for the armies

[Applause]

involved. It is Tetricus' army that now

bears the brunt of Aurelian's vengeance.

Having dared to name another as their

emperor, it is they who remain the

greatest threat.

Part of the crisis of the 3rd century is

the importance that the army plays in

choosing an emperor. Uh this is

something that's relatively new in the

Roman world. Um and it's a result of of

constant

warfare. The army becomes more powerful.

It becomes more able to choose emperors

and it becomes more able to impose its

own choice of emperors on Rome itself.

Aurelion cannot allow this affront to

his power. As Tetricus' army falters,

Aurelion orders his troops to cut them

down, showing no

mercy. Some sources claim that Tetricus

realized the game was up even before the

battle, but looks as though he did fight

it out to the end. And uh it was in the

end Aurelion who gained the victory.

It is the culmination of his efforts to

reunite the

empire. In the end, he takes the usurper

Tetricus

[Music]

prisoner and is with Queen Zenobia of

Palmyra. Emperor Aurelian spares

Tetricus' life.

And for Tetricus too, it was uh

surprising that particularly an opponent

in civil war, opponents in civil wars

were usually usually represented a great

danger. They might after all turn

against you later. So Aurelion displayed

remarkable clemency in sparing allies of

both of these opponents.

Tetricus' GIC army is not so lucky, for

it is they who have raised a rival

emperor in the west. and now they will

pay the ultimate price for their

treason.

Aurelian was a great disciplinarian. Uh

it seems he tolerated no uh mutinies on

the part of soldiers. He drove them hard

but was respected by them.

To maintain his own soldiers respect,

Aurelian knows his punishment of the

captured GIC soldiers must be brutal and

complete. Not one is spared.

Aurelion was both a successful military

commander and in some respects, as

perhaps one had to be, a fairly savage

one. And yet his treatment of Tetricus

was remarkably generous.

It is in this generous spirit that

Aurelian returns victorious to Rome.

[Music]

there. After four years of non-stop

campaigning, Aurelian celebrates his

reunification of the empire with a

spectacular triumph parade, displaying

highranking captives from every faroff

conquest.

There's all sorts of other lore that

goes with this uh ceremony um which mark

it out as mark it out as distinct and in

some way both as barbaric and

awesome. The presence of the emperor

Aurelion in Rome and the presence of the

emperor in order to celebrate an actual

military victory was a novel event for

its entire generation.

The defeated usurpers Zenobia and

Tetricus are paraded as well. Evidence

of Aurelion's successes in the east and

[Music]

west. It was a humiliating spectacle to

be paraded through Rome as a captured

enemy leader. It implied, as it were,

that probably lacked the courage to have

died in battle.

Humiliated though they may be, Zenobia

and Tetrakus and the other captives are

allowed to live by the generous emperor

Aurelion. He also shows his generosity

to the people of

Rome. Aurelion himself distributed

largely the bread, the pork meat, but

also we are told um white tunics of

Egyptian and African cloth.

It was clearly a, you know, a very

generous display of force

[Music]

there. Grateful in his triumph, Aurelion

consecrates the temple he has built for

the god of soldiers, Soul Invictus,

whose power and favor he believes have

made him invincible.

Many scholars believe simply that this

was trying to enforce conformity among

the peoples of the empire for political

purposes and also for religious

purposes. And those two things are not

that easily separated in the mind of a

Roman. Aurelion decrees this day

December 25th will be celebrated each

year as the birthday of Soul Invictus.

Later emperors also seeking to unite

Rome with religion will adopt this date

for the birth of Jesus Christ. Even now,

over 1700 years later, this once pagan

holiday is celebrated as Christmas

around the

world. Throughout the empire in the 3rd

century, there's clearly a movement

towards monotheism, towards different

cults that believe in a single god and

in sometimes in a single redeeming

[Music]

god. The United Roman Empire now

stretches from Palmyra to Britain. But

in 275 AD, barbarians again wreak havoc

in the east. Aurelion marches his army

to Thrace to prepare for

battle. Aurelion is a fascinating

figure. He was a very energetic and

dynamic individual. If you think of all

the places in which he campaigned in his

life, he must have had tremendous

energy.

It is this drive and energy that earned

him the loyalty of his

troops. Aurelion is is very successful

as a military leader. He he knows his

troops. He works very effectively with

them. I'm sure he rewards them on a

regular basis. He can, I think, depend

on a a significant ongoing support from

the soldiers. They they trust him. You

know, they see him as as their leader.

Having brought these soldiers the glory

and honor of unimaginable victory,

Orurelian never suspects the betrayal

that fers among their ranks.

[Music]

[Music]

The assassination of Aurelian is is

again one of these things that's very

difficult to explain particularly at a

at a time when he's been so successful

militarily when the troops should feel

uh satisfied with with that success and

with their rewards.

Their treacherous act leaves the empire

in shock.

As far as we know, the news that the

emperor was dead were received with dis

disbelief um and a lot of sadness. Um he

was uh buried with great pump in a

magnificent tomb at the very spot where

he was assassinated.

Rome mourns the loss of a great emperor,

one who has saved the empire from

certain collapse.

I think Aurelian's importance lies in

the fact that it's the beginning of the

Roman recovery of the as it were the

central Roman machine coming back to

life and he managed to reunite the

empire to bring it all under his central

control.

[Applause]

But in the end, not even the god of

soldiers could protect him from the

swords of traitors and the empire he had

worked so hard to unite fragments again.