The Roman Empire in the First Century

A four-part documentary series. The opening programme focuses on Caesar Augustus who, despite being born in a time of crisis and raised amid civil war, came to personify the people he led. A contradictory character who was capable of both brutal violence and tender compassion, Augustus proved influential in forging the image of Roman grandeur that endures to this day. Though popular, he could also be vindictive towards those who crossed him, as rivals Marc Antony and Cleopatra, the love poet, Ovid, and even his own daughter, Julia, discovered. Part 1 of 4.