Rome: The World's First Superpower

Death of a Hero (1x3)

: 07, 2014

Larry looks at how during the mid-second century BC, Rome enjoyed the spoils of war - with a bounty of slaves, treasure and art coming into it's republic. But not everyone reaped the benefits, with a ever-widening gap between the poor and the privileged. He looks at the history of Tiberius Gracchus, a man from Rome's elite ruling classes who began championing the rights of the common citizen farmer. He goes snorkeling in the submerged ruins of Baiae, looking at how farming oysters led to developing Rome's famous central heating system - the hypocaust. He also visits Settefinestra, were farmers soon found themselves landless and forced into a life of poverty.