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Documentary, Roman Empire- Reign of Blood S01E02 The Making of an Emperor
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01:5914 years after becoming the emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius mourns the death of his wife
02:25and the mother of his only son, Empress Faustina.
04:23Are they ready?
04:24They're just giving the horses some water.
04:30You should prepare to leave for Rome at first light tomorrow.
04:33This is not a good time for me to leave the front.
04:37I'll follow you in a week.
04:38I'll follow you in a week.
04:40Trust Pompanius and our attack plan is good.
04:47Tell them I'll be there in a minute.
04:54Father, when Mother sent me up here to learn from you, I know I didn't take it seriously.
05:02Now I feel I'm ready to.
05:03Feel?
05:04No.
05:05I know I am.
05:09You don't know anything.
05:10I'm your son.
05:16Let me try.
05:17We'll see.
05:29We'll see.
05:30We'll see.
05:31The basic reason that Marcus Aurelius chose Commodus as his successor is the obvious one that Commodus
05:41was his son.
05:54And once that is taken into consideration, I think it would be extremely difficult for Marcus to pass his son over.
06:05It would have looked extremely problematic.
06:35The purpose of this training is not to teach you how to kill.
06:48A great leader has internal strength, huh?
06:52To get there, we begin with a sword.
06:55But it's only a beginning.
07:00All right, begin.
07:05Marcus Aurelius had been chosen at the age of 17 to someday become emperor.
07:30And at that point, after years of education and prepping and grooming, he had been given military commands.
07:36He had been given experience.
07:38And he patterned Commodus' own education in exactly that way.
07:42For Commodus to succeed him, and one day rule the empire, Aurelius knows that first, his son must be groomed for the throne.
07:54A process with a long tradition in the empire.
08:04Since the dawn of the empire, the success of an emperor's rule has relied on his control of the army.
08:10And to gain the respect of the Roman troops, an emperor must prove himself as a skilled warrior.
08:28Now, we may think it was a bit irresponsible of a father to take their son along into a war zone.
08:34And yet what Marcus Aurelius is trying to do is introduce his son to his troops.
08:44He knows that when Commodus inherits from him, that the troops will be his power base.
08:50And he wants to make sure that the troops are already familiar with him and comfortable with him.
09:00You've greatly improved Commodus. There's still a long way to go.
09:22In battle, your enemy will look you in the eye and attack you with a weapon.
09:26In Rome, you must learn to fight a battle of words in a den of snakes.
09:56After proving himself on the battlefield, Commodus heads back to Rome with his father.
10:12But his training for the throne is far from complete.
10:18Now Marcus Aurelius knows it's time for Commodus to learn to navigate the empire's political systems.
10:40including the Senate.
10:50For centuries, the Roman Senate has commanded authority as one of the empire's most powerful institutions.
11:02There was no way, no matter how much power the emperor claimed to exercise,
11:12for a single person to rule an empire of 50 million people without the help of others.
11:18The emperor needs civilian governing apparatus.
11:24And that apparatus, that governmental structure, had to have leaders.
11:28The answer was the Senate.
11:32Made up of 600 men of the elite class, and with seats passed down through generations.
11:44The Roman Senate is responsible for maintaining the treasury, holding trials, and advising the emperor.
11:54I humbly thank the Senate for its time.
12:04May the gods be with you.
12:13Emperor.
12:14Senators.
12:15You know my son, Commodus.
12:18Of course, of course.
12:19Senators.
12:20Emperor, before anything else, I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences, on behalf of the Senate, on the loss of your wife.
12:28You're very kind, Senator.
12:30But you should remember that it's not just my wife who was lost.
12:33My children have lost their mother, and Rome has lost their Empress.
12:37Indeed.
12:38And a great one.
12:40Without question.
12:41This is such a difficult time for the empire.
12:44In so many ways.
12:45Which is why I have not made my request for funds.
12:49Lightly, I am acutely aware of the limitations of the treasury.
12:52We are not interested in awareness, Emperor.
12:55Simply accountability.
12:57Emperor, what Senator Quintianus means...
12:59Senator Quintianus made himself quite clear.
13:04But be assured, the barbarian resistance is in its last throes.
13:08And I have no doubt, with the aid of the Senate, our inevitable victory will come that much more quickly.
13:12A victory which will bring greater compensation back to those who made it possible.
13:19Senator.
13:21That's very interesting.
13:26You can't trust any of them.
13:38In the early centuries of Roman expansion, the Senate saw itself as the kind of brain's trust of the state.
13:53The emperors had to pay lip service to them.
13:57But they were always conscious of the fact that they could not allow senators to overreach themselves.
14:06And so the relationship between emperors and senators was often very challenging.
14:12As two of the most influential senators in Rome, Cassius Dio and Quintianus both serve under Marcus Aurelius.
14:25And by supporting the emperor's request for military funds, they look to maintain power of their own.
14:31Cassius Dio and Quintianus were both powerful Roman politicians.
14:38They were both senators.
14:40Cassius Dio was actually to become a consul.
14:43Quintianus had led the successful Roman campaign into Germania.
14:47So people looked to them for leadership, for advice, for patronage.
14:53Both men were at the heart of Roman politics.
14:57For Aurelius, negotiating with the Senate is an important lesson for his son.
15:14But before he can assume the throne, Commodus must have an empress who will aid in his rule.
15:22When we're looking at Rome's emperors and their families, it's almost exclusively arranged marriages.
15:29So these decisions were not made very much on the basis of love.
15:35Almost all, really virtually all, of the marriages one has seen for generations amongst Rome's elite are for political dynastic purposes.
15:45The high society of the Roman Empire was a highly aristocratic one.
15:52And it was therefore necessary when choosing a spouse, either for a prince or a princess in the imperial household, to choose somebody of considerable aristocratic prestige.
16:06Born into one of Rome's most influential families, Brutia Crispina is the daughter of one of Marcus Aurelius' closest advisers.
16:33And is chosen by the emperor as a strategic match for his son.
16:40Brutia Crispina was from a very powerful family.
16:46Her father has been consul twice.
16:48And a clever emperor needed the support of the most powerful people in Roman society, who tended to be the senatorial class.
16:56And so he knows then that when he himself dies, Commodus will be able to inherit a situation where the movers and shakers in Roman politics are there to support him.
17:09My apologies, sir. I did not mean to be delayed, but here we are.
17:21I must say it's good to take a break from all the matters of the empire with this simple private social lunch.
17:28This gathering is as important as any meeting I've taken in the Senate.
17:35Don't you think so, Commodus?
17:38I do.
17:40But I also think it's a beautiful day.
17:43I would love to show Crispina some of the palace orchids.
17:46Would you care for more wine?
18:01Perhaps a little.
18:02The marriage will bring Commodus one step closer to the throne, securing his power and support within the empire.
18:25But the union is also a threat to anyone looking to gain influence, including Commodus' sister, Lucilla.
18:44Lucilla had been the perhaps most visible powerful woman in the Roman Empire at the time.
18:52And Crispina may have, in a way, sort of usurped her position.
19:05Within months, Commodus and Crispina will be married in a ceremony traditional of royal weddings in the Roman Empire.
19:14When a member of the royal family is married, an agreement is signed between the two families.
19:32Gifts are exchanged, and the union is honored by the general public.
19:36For Commodus and Crispina, the wedding is commemorated with minted coins,
19:46and a commissioned song by one of Rome's best composers.
19:50But while the empire welcomes a new empress,
19:57not everyone in the palace is celebrating.
20:03The marriage secures a valuable alliance.
20:16But as the empire's future begins to settle in Rome,
20:21hundreds of miles away,
20:28with the absence of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus on the battlefield,
20:33the war against the Germanic tribes has escalated.
20:42The Roman army is struggling to fight back.
20:45The Goths, this Germanic tribe, move westwards.
20:57And what this causes is a kind of domino effect.
21:00And there is a whole series of wars between groups of these German tribes and the Roman Empire.
21:05They're a diverse group of tribes.
21:14It's not like dealing with the Persian Empire,
21:16where you're just dealing with one government, one army.
21:20They form alliances, they fall out with each other.
21:25And so the war proves to be very long, costly.
21:35Now the Roman Empire is an univeling to their territory.
21:38There is an army on the island of Rome,
21:39the king of the fortress.
21:41I'm still looking at the soldiers.
21:42What's the name of the Roman Empire?
21:44I am so sorry.
21:48If it's a man whose name is yours,
21:49it's an univeling to the noble army.
21:53It's a apparent change.
21:54Despite the name of the Roman Empire,
21:55the original army will take a few years.
21:57It's the Lord to ask the dead of five people,
21:58and before the Roman army will take a few years.
22:00The coming of the Roman Republic is not so close.
22:01I cannot do it for you.
22:03You already have to speak and hear these and hear the Virginians,
22:04He sends word of the mounting struggle to Marcus Aurelius.
22:29News of invasions along the border
22:32and Roman casualties travel to Rome.
22:38And Aurelius and Commodus know they have no choice
22:41but to head back to the front lines.
22:54In the reign of Marcus Aurelius,
22:57the military campaigns were mainly reactive.
23:00These were not campaigns of conquest.
23:02These were to solidify Rome's borders.
23:04And these were forced upon Marcus Aurelius.
23:07Marcus Aurelius.
23:08Aurelius
23:10Aurelius
23:12Aurelius
23:13Aurelius
23:14Aurelius
23:15Aurelius
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23:20Aurelius
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23:25Aurelius
23:26Aurelius
23:27Aurelius
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23:31Now facing a war with multiple fronts against several battling armies,
23:58Marcus Aurelius must come up with a plan.
24:02On the Third Legion, two leagues west,
24:07and the Seventh Legion, two leagues east,
24:10we'll trap them right there.
24:12Yes.
24:13Thank you, gentlemen.
24:15I'll give the barbarians something.
24:20They don't give in easily.
24:23Can we defeat them?
24:26We'll find out on the battlefield,
24:29or wherever these cowards decide to crawl out from under their rocks.
24:35Is it true they have us surrounded?
24:38They do not have us surrounded.
24:41They do have us unsettled,
24:43only because I wasn't here to lead a direct counterattack here.
24:47If we hadn't gone back to Rome, we wouldn't be in this predicament.
24:59But we had to go back to Rome.
25:06We had to go back.
25:08Yes.
25:12Yes, we did.
25:13But if we hadn't...
25:15This isn't Mother's fault.
25:17Don't put words in my mouth.
25:19What are you trying to say, then?
25:23I'm saying...
25:24She went to your tent to ask for forgiveness.
25:26Your mother made a decision.
25:30Did you refuse?
25:31Do not lay the blame at my feet.
25:36Father.
25:37Father.
25:38Father.
25:39Father.
25:40Father.
25:41Father.
25:42Father.
25:43Help!
25:45He just collapsed.
25:48For years, war has ravaged the borders of the Roman Empire
26:02and taken a toll on its emperor.
26:05But nearly a decade after the conflict began,
26:22Marcus Aurelius is fighting another deadly enemy.
26:27One sweeping through the empire
26:30and wreaking havoc on the human population.
26:36The plague.
26:46For the past 15 years,
26:48the Antonine Plague has devastated the Roman Empire.
26:57And the same half million miles of roads built by the Romans
27:01are now providing an ideal path for the spread of the disease.
27:07One of Rome's greatest strengths has become a fatal weakness.
27:12The Antonine Plague occurs in the mid-60s during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
27:25The effect seems to have been dramatic.
27:28Two thousand people a day are dying in the city of Rome,
27:32and a quarter of all those who are affected die of the symptoms.
27:36The Roman Empire had good networks of communication,
27:47but that also meant that disease could travel along those networks.
27:51It meant that any kind of new disease would quickly be dispersed amongst the wider population.
28:04More than five million people have died of the plague,
28:16and the Roman army has been nearly wiped out.
28:21With his father Ilf, Commodus knows the fate of the Empire is at stake.
28:42Commodus, bring me good news.
28:51There are reports of a tribal army on the other side of the river.
28:56Bombayonus thinks we should send the Second Legion across, hold the Fourth and Fifth in reserve.
29:03Tell him to commit all the troops. The barbarians will have to march a hundred miles to attack our flank.
29:11We can overpower them.
29:14Bombayonus was always too conservative.
29:21I'm sorry.
29:24Father.
29:26You're going to be sole emperor of Rome when I die.
29:32You're not dying.
29:35I wish that were true for your sake.
29:40I'm not ready.
29:43No.
29:45But if I don't name you emperor, they'll kill you.
29:53You're brought up with women and slaves when you should have been here by my side.
29:59I can be strong.
30:04Or you'll have to be.
30:09Because even when you've taken the throne, they'll come for you.
30:14Who?
30:15All of them.
30:16No, no, no.
30:17Not the generals.
30:18They're loyal soldiers.
30:19Anyone who thinks they deserve to be emperor.
30:24You promise me.
30:25You'll finish the war.
30:26You'll finish the war.
30:27Huh?
30:28Yeah.
30:29Yeah.
30:30Yeah.
30:31Yeah.
30:32Yeah.
30:33Yeah.
30:34Yeah.
30:35Yeah.
30:36No, no, no.
30:37No, no, no.
30:38No, no.
30:39No, no, no.
30:40Not the generals.
30:42They're loyal soldiers.
30:43Anyone who thinks they deserve to be emperor.
30:45We'll finish the war.
31:16Nearly 20 years after he claimed the throne,
31:22Marcus Aurelius dies at the age of 58.
31:45The life of one of the most celebrated rulers in the history of the Roman Empire will be honored for centuries.
32:02And his writings on philosophy will be read for generations.
32:08Marcus Aurelius was famous for being a good emperor.
32:11He saw it as his duty to support the empire and to try and protect it militarily.
32:17But he was also popular with the people.
32:19He delivered Rome great military victories.
32:22He handed out money and people seemed to have held him in very high regard.
32:37After the passing of one of Rome's greatest emperors,
32:42Commodus knows he must now take on the most powerful position in the world.
32:49And while the empire grieves, the royal family looks to the future,
33:05knowing that the only son of Marcus Aurelius must now carry on his father's legacy.
33:12The End
34:26Then stretch the legion out even thinner.
34:29We need to consolidate our forces.
34:31While the animals that did this scatter into the woods to strike us again tomorrow.
34:36No.
34:37I say we push across the Danube.
34:39Drive a wedge between the two tribes.
34:41You seem to forget the numbers are on our side.
34:44To say nothing of the gods, this one battle may have been lost.
34:47I don't doubt we'll win the war.
34:49Enough!
34:54Consolidate.
34:56Separate.
34:57Can you give me an answer as to why we're even here?
35:02Emperor, we are here for the glory of Rome.
35:04We are hundreds of miles from Rome.
35:07Emperor, your father himself-
35:09I'm well aware of my father's feelings.
35:12Of course.
35:13For nearly a decade, Commodus has watched his empire consumed by war.
35:29And with his father gone, he knows he must make a choice that will determine the fate of Rome.
35:40When Marcus Aurelius dies, Commodus finds himself in a war zone, with a war that he doesn't want to continue.
35:53It's easy for us to judge Commodus by the standards of his father.
35:57But Marcus Aurelius was an exceptional emperor who had ruled from the very highest standards of good governance.
36:04Commodus was not really interested in administration.
36:08And he was not interested in fighting wars.
36:11And so, Commodus seems to sit at this threshold of an empire that is transitioning.
36:34Commodus will soon lead the entire Roman Empire.
36:43And those he trusts will be promoted into the highest ranks of the imperial palace.
36:50Including his closest friends and former slaves, Cleander and Satorus.
36:59Knock, knock. Anyone home?
37:01Emperor?
37:07No.
37:09He's got to be at the bluff.
37:10Back to the bluff.
37:16Cleander and Satorus were members of the imperial household.
37:20And of slightly different background.
37:23At the moment when we encountered them in the life of Commodus.
37:26But both of them were, in essence, low-status individuals
37:29who achieved high status by virtue of proximity to the emperor.
37:33Commodus' trust of Cleander and Satorus probably derives from the fact that they were close to him for virtually his entire life.
37:40...
37:52Let him through.
37:54Let him through.
38:10We thought you were coming back to the tent.
38:12No.
38:13I don't want to be anywhere near that tent.
38:15Or that camp, or them, or this ridiculous, endless war.
38:20What did they say?
38:21It's what they didn't say.
38:23Yes, emperor.
38:26Excellent point, emperor.
38:31They don't care what I think.
38:35You see, I'm not my father, so I don't exist.
38:38They'll just keep doing what they want to do, and they'll never respect me.
38:43You're the emperor of Rome.
38:44They don't have to respect you.
38:46They have to obey you.
38:48If only it were that easy.
38:49But does it have to be so difficult?
38:55Commodus, the people of Rome, they're just like you.
38:57They want to see an end to this war.
39:00I've heard it in the streets every day.
39:02It kept your father away for eight years, and now it's threatening to do the same to you.
39:05I know, but I can't just...
39:07They need to see you.
39:09A new emperor needs to be in Rome.
39:15I promised my father I would finish the war.
39:18Those generals, they know it, and they will use it against me at every opportunity.
39:22So finish it.
39:24Despite his father's wishes, and the advice of his military advisers,
39:49Commodus is determined to put an end to the war with the Germanic tribes.
39:57And just months after his father's death,
40:00he makes his first move in his absence.
40:05Emperor, with all due respect, I urge you to recon...
40:26The war is over.
40:56The treaty marks a historic moment for the empire,
41:02as Germanic tribes are pushed back from the border,
41:06and thousands of enemy soldiers are forced to enlist in the Roman army.
41:16But for Commodus, the fight is far from over.
41:20While the people celebrate peace,
41:26the military and the senates oppose the treaty.
41:36Commodus did not continue to pursue his father's war with the Germanic tribes.
41:43When historians wrote about Commodus suspending this war,
41:52they often said that he was eager to rush back to Rome
41:56because he wanted to enjoy life in the city,
41:59that he had some interest in luxury and debauchery
42:03that kept him off the battlefield.
42:05But instead, we can see someone who really wanted to shore up
42:09political support for himself in the nexus of power.
42:13With the war finally over,
42:19Commodus prepares to leave the battlefront
42:21and can now return home
42:23as ruler of the Roman Empire.
42:26with anBirth of the plan across the world.
42:28We just even said,
42:32shall hear the right path,
42:36which is the one who,
42:37still Chung,
42:39or possibly the one of them with a
42:42survived-
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