Empires

In the brutal world of the 5th century BC, the Athenians struggle against a series of tyrants and their greatest rival, Sparta, to create a new "society of equals."

The second part recounts the Greeks' heroic victory against the mighty Persian empire in 490 B.C. Tiny Athens prepares to safeguard its growing economy and infant democracy against an invasion by Persian armies of Darius the Great.

Through the eyes of Socrates, Athens' first philosopher, viewers see the tragic descent of Athenian democracy into mob rule.The episode opens in 399 B.C., after the great philosopher Socrates has been sentenced to death and Athens lies in ruins after a war with Sparta.