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00:03I'm on another train and another adventure into the past, but this is my most ambitious
00:11journey to date. I'm going in search of the Roman Empire. Taking the train, I'll be traveling
00:221,300 miles through Italy, France and Spain to discover its origins and the secrets of
00:30its success. I'll be exploring some well-known Roman sites and some unfamiliar ones. From
00:42the massive to the miniature. I want to know how a single city comes to control
00:52such a vast territory. Experts from around the world will help me bring to life Roman culture.
00:59The sands of Capua become the jungles of India. And provide insights into why this empire was
01:06so successful. Who said the time machine does not exist? We got it. In this episode, I follow
01:15the original Roman road north. To Palma. There it is. And Turin. Hello.
01:25Hello. So this is absolutely beautiful, this Roman gateway. And then I cross the Alps to
01:33the city they call the Rome of France. I want to go to Palma.
01:56Hello.
02:16Hello.
02:32I'm travelling north on this train journey,
02:35firstly going across the Apennines with lots of tunnels,
02:38and then now we've reached the northern Italian plain.
02:41It's suddenly very, very flat.
02:43Now, the Romans really wanted to get hold of this land.
02:47This was a large area of very fertile,
02:51very agriculturally productive land.
02:54They really wanted it.
02:55So, they build roads.
02:57This is how they conquer Italy.
03:00We've seen that with the Via Appia pushing to the south.
03:03Now they're going to build roads to the north.
03:06So, in the 3rd century BCE,
03:07they start by building this road,
03:10the Via Flaminia, north through the Apennines,
03:14reaching a colony which will be a Riminum, Rimini.
03:18And then this road,
03:20which just tracks along the northern border of the Apennines,
03:24is the Via Emilia.
03:26And along this road,
03:28they will be seeding colonies.
03:31And these colonies have still got names
03:33which go back to the Romans.
03:35So, there's a colony called Bononia that becomes Bologna,
03:39Mutina, Modena, Regium, Regia Emilia,
03:44Parma, still Parma,
03:46Placentia becomes Piacenza.
03:49And they're pushing, pushing, pushing,
03:52further and further northwards.
03:55Like all conquerors,
03:57the Romans were after territory,
04:00resources to plunder,
04:01and strategic towns to fortify
04:04as bases for the further expansion of their empire.
04:08Parma's an interesting name in itself.
04:10It seems to have been an Etruscan name
04:12which was then adopted by the Romans,
04:13which obviously suggests there was an Etruscan settlement there
04:16before the Roman colony.
04:18And it's thought to mean,
04:21or relate to,
04:22a round shield,
04:23the kind of shields
04:24that the Etruscans had in this area.
04:27Or perhaps to the fact that Parma
04:29was a metaphorical shield
04:31against the Gauls to the north.
04:34Right, where are we now?
04:37This is Parma.
04:40Yes, we've been through Regia Emilia.
04:42We're at Parma.
04:58Ten minutes from the station
05:00is Piazza Garibaldi.
05:03Below this modern town square
05:06lies the ancient Roman Forum.
05:11The Forum was a constant feature
05:14of Roman cities
05:15forming the legal, administrative
05:17and religious centre.
05:19Surrounded by impressive buildings,
05:21it was symbolic of the power
05:23and sophistication of Roman civilisation.
05:27Local archaeologist Marco Padini
05:30has arranged special access
05:32to guide me through Parma's hidden ancient past.
05:36Marco!
05:37Hello!
05:38Hi!
05:39Nice to meet you!
05:41Buongiorno!
05:41Buongiorno!
05:42Yes, nice to meet you.
05:43Buongiorno!
05:44So the square today
05:45respects the square in Roman times then?
05:48A great part of it corresponds
05:49to the ancient Forum, yes.
05:52So, yeah, we have to get some elements now.
05:55We have to be very careful here.
05:58This underground area
06:00has been closed off to the public
06:01for the last 20 years.
06:04So, I'll pass.
06:05And be careful here.
06:07OK.
06:11So...
06:12What is this place?
06:14This was a hotel
06:16that was built in around 1928
06:20underground.
06:22An underground hotel?
06:23Yeah.
06:24OK.
06:25Mosaic!
06:26Mosaic floor!
06:27Mosaic floor!
06:29Oh, look at that!
06:31When they built the hotel,
06:36the underground hotel,
06:37they found a mosaic
06:39and there was this beautiful centaur
06:42with a vase of cantors for the wine.
06:45And since it was so beautiful,
06:47they decided to cut it
06:49and put it in the museum in 1928.
06:52Yeah, yeah.
06:52So that's where this piece of mosaic
06:53was lifted from in 1928.
06:56When was Palma founded as a Roman settlement?
06:59It was founded in 183 BC.
07:04Only Piacenza,
07:05which is the end point of the Via Emilia,
07:08was founded earlier in 218.
07:13But then Hannibal came
07:14and there was a great battle near Piacenza.
07:18And so there was a very difficult moment
07:22for the Roman Empire
07:23because Hannibal stayed here
07:25for more than ten years.
07:26So when he was finally defeated?
07:28He was finally defeated
07:30at the end of the third century BC,
07:33so 201.
07:34Yeah.
07:35If you want,
07:36now we can go to the Roman Bridge,
07:39another very, very important excavation
07:41which was done in 2010.
07:45Oh, lovely, yes.
07:45I'd love to see that.
07:46Yeah.
07:50Just five minutes' walk
07:52from the Old Forum
07:53is the River Palma
07:54that divides the city
07:55and once proved
07:57a fearsome obstacle
07:58to Roman ambitions.
08:01Our walk takes us along
08:03a familiar route.
08:07So this road,
08:08that is the original route
08:10of the Via Emilia?
08:11That is the Via Emilia?
08:12This is,
08:13it's still called the Via Emilia.
08:15Is it?
08:15Yeah.
08:16Yeah.
08:16Actually, all the lines,
08:19the train line,
08:21follow the Via Emilia.
08:23I thought I must have been
08:24tracking along with it
08:25because I'm passing through
08:27all the towns
08:28which were originally Roman colonies.
08:29We came through Bologna,
08:31Reggio Emilia,
08:32and if I were to carry on,
08:33I'd end up in...
08:34In Fidenza
08:35and then Piacenza
08:37which is the end
08:37of the Via Emilia.
08:38Yeah.
08:39In 2010,
08:40work began here
08:42to build a multi-storey car park
08:44and what they found
08:46may have been
08:47the single most significant section
08:49of the Via Emilia here,
08:52where the road crosses the river.
08:55Oh!
08:56Yeah.
08:57Exactly.
08:57Amazing!
08:59Yeah.
08:59Actually,
09:00we see the medieval phase
09:03probably in the 12th century
09:05at this moment.
09:07And this has been excavated
09:09right down to the footings down there.
09:11I mean,
09:11could it be that these footings
09:12are Roman?
09:13Exactly.
09:14This bridge dates
09:15to the reign of Emperor Augustus
09:17in the 1st century CE.
09:20The Romans perfected arch bridges
09:23built in stone and concrete,
09:25crucial for moving goods
09:27and troops around the empire.
09:30The bridge was built
09:31at a place
09:32where travellers
09:32would have previously waded
09:34across the river
09:35over a ford.
09:36Near this ford,
09:38there was probably
09:39some sacred area,
09:41a cultural area.
09:42Right.
09:43Because many pits were found,
09:47many metal elements.
09:49OK.
09:49Like 3,000 coins were found.
09:53And you can see
09:54all these pieces,
09:56these items
09:57that are exposed
09:58in the showcases.
09:59Where are the showcases?
10:00Here.
10:01We're going to see them here.
10:02It seems that locals
10:04crossing the ford
10:05may have been hoping
10:06for divine protection.
10:08Oh, wow.
10:09Oh, this is lovely.
10:10Yeah.
10:11You can still see the coins
10:13stuck in the...
10:15Yeah.
10:15In the mortar.
10:16Yeah.
10:17The main hypothesis
10:19is that there was
10:21probably a sacred area
10:23or a temple in some way
10:26or a shrine
10:27connected to this passing,
10:30to this crossing point.
10:31Yeah.
10:31Yeah.
10:31And you see,
10:32there are many metal elements.
10:35It's a gift probably
10:37to the gods.
10:39Isn't that interesting?
10:40I mean, we see this
10:41right across Europe,
10:42don't we?
10:42We see these kind of offerings
10:43in watery places.
10:45Yeah.
10:46In the Iron Age.
10:47Yeah.
10:47Exactly.
10:48The last coin found
10:50was around the 3rd century.
10:52And they come from
10:53all the Mediterranean area.
10:56Really?
10:57Yeah.
10:57There are some coins
10:59that come from the Ibiza
11:01island in Spain.
11:03Yeah.
11:05Is that a little lion's claw?
11:08Probably for...
11:09Yeah, a table.
11:11Yeah.
11:11Yeah.
11:12I love this.
11:13I love this museum
11:14in an unexpected place.
11:16Under the bridge.
11:19Oh, amphoree.
11:20I didn't even see
11:21those down there.
11:22Yeah.
11:26The cities and towns
11:27along the ancient
11:29Roman road network
11:30are rich in archaeology.
11:33Every modern building project
11:34reveals more ancient history.
11:38I've just over an hour
11:40before my next train journey.
11:42And Francesca suggested
11:44I make a quick visit
11:45to Palmer's Archeology Museum
11:47to see what else
11:49has been unearthed here.
11:52Pilota Park
11:53is the city's historic centre,
11:55home to a grand palace
11:56and several other museums.
12:00In the courtyard here,
12:02there seems to be
12:03a philosophical message
12:04written on the wall.
12:06What does it say?
12:07It's in English.
12:08Time present
12:10and time past
12:12are both
12:13perhaps
12:14present in
12:15time
12:17future.
12:18future.
12:19I like that
12:21and it's very apt
12:22for my journey
12:22because I am here
12:25in the present
12:26learning
12:27about the past
12:28and you're watching this
12:30in my future.
12:34the museum
12:35The museum has a vast
12:36collection of artefacts
12:38dating from the Bronze Age
12:39right through
12:40to the 19th century.
12:42A whole floor
12:44dedicated to the Roman era
12:46features an array
12:47of exhibits
12:48from Palmer's Forum.
12:50I'm hoping to find
12:52the mosaic
12:52that was removed
12:53from the floor
12:54of the underground hotel.
12:58There it is.
13:06So this is the missing mosaic
13:11from the underground hotel.
13:17I've seen the edge
13:19where it was cut
13:21and now I'm seeing
13:22the whole thing.
13:26He's great.
13:27What a fantastic image
13:29for a dining room floor.
13:30a centaur
13:31balancing
13:32a jug of wine
13:33on his head.
13:39This mosaic
13:40provides a glimpse
13:41of the wealth
13:42and sophistication
13:43of Roman society
13:44in Palmer.
13:46But the museum here
13:48holds a further
13:49extraordinary artefact.
13:52It's a rare written record
13:54found in the ancient town
13:56of Valleja,
13:5840 miles southwest of Parma
14:00and it offers a far more
14:01detailed picture
14:02of Roman life.
14:06It is a massive inscription.
14:09Look at it.
14:10It's completely covered in letters
14:11on bronze.
14:13In fact,
14:13it's the biggest inscription
14:15from the Roman world.
14:18There's some 40,000 letters
14:21engraved on this piece of bronze.
14:23And what it is,
14:25is a record of a loan.
14:28A loan from the Emperor Trajan
14:30to the people of the town of Valleja
14:34and the surrounding region,
14:37which was hard hit.
14:39They were really struggling.
14:40And so he gave them a loan
14:42and they are going to have
14:43to pay back interest,
14:45but a small amount of interest.
14:46And actually that interest
14:47is going to be used
14:49also to support the people
14:51in this region,
14:51particularly orphans.
14:53And what we've got here
14:55is just an incredible record
14:59of everything in this region.
15:01All the towns and villages
15:04that were given pots of money
15:07in this big loan.
15:09So it's almost like a census as well.
15:11It contains a lot of information.
15:15And this was discovered by a farmer
15:19who knew it was bronze,
15:22folded it up
15:23and presumably was going to sell it
15:25to be melted down
15:28but the local priest
15:29got to have a look at it.
15:30And of course he's a priest
15:31so he can speak Latin
15:32and he realises
15:34that this is a really,
15:35really, really important inscription.
15:39And in fact this kicks off then
15:41the excavation
15:42of the lost town of Valleja
15:45which had been destroyed
15:46in a mudslide
15:48in the middle of the first millennium.
15:51And there were many,
15:52many more treasures to be found.
16:04What a beautiful bronze
16:06of a young woman
16:08and it's possible
16:09that we even know her name
16:11because we know
16:12that somebody called
16:13Barbia Basila
16:15gave money
16:16to the Forum in Valleja
16:18to build a new portico
16:20along the side.
16:22And this could be her.
16:24looking at her hairstyle
16:27with this hairband
16:28that gives us
16:29a rough date as well
16:31because this was the fashion
16:32in the first century BCE.
16:35It's amazing to read the inscriptions
16:38to be able to read words
16:39from 2,000 years ago
16:41but I think it's even better
16:43to come face to face
16:45with a Roman.
17:13I've left Palma
17:14and I'm now heading west
17:16towards Augusta Torinorum
17:19more commonly known today
17:21as Turin.
17:22There I'm hoping to find out
17:25how the Roman population
17:27was kept satisfied
17:28as the satirical poet
17:30Juvenal said
17:31in a rather deprecating fashion
17:33that the Roman population
17:35could be kept happy
17:36with bread and circuses.
17:38I've seen the circus
17:39at Capua
17:41and now I'm going to explore
17:43the meaning of bread
17:45in the Roman world
17:46as I head towards Turin.
18:02Turin was an important military base
18:04for the Romans
18:05in the time of Julius Caesar
18:07when he had his sights set
18:09on the conquest of Gaul.
18:11The town sits
18:12on the mighty Po River
18:13just ten miles
18:15from the Alps
18:16with Gaul
18:16on the other side
18:17of the mountains.
18:19During the reign
18:20of the first emperor
18:21Augustus
18:22Turin was refounded
18:24as a Roman colony.
18:26And yet,
18:27apart from the classic
18:29grid layout
18:30of its streets
18:31Rome's barely visible here.
18:33That's because
18:35much later
18:36in the 16th century
18:37the ruling Duke
18:39Emanuele Filibert
18:40rebuilt Turin
18:42in the Baroque style.
18:48Buongiorno.
18:50Buongiorno.
18:52Buongiorno.
18:54So many sweets
18:56and chocolates.
18:58And all so beautifully packaged.
19:01The Duke was also
19:03like a real-life Willy Wonka
19:04introducing his subjects
19:06to the cocoa bean
19:07from the Americas.
19:09And I've got five minutes
19:10before the museum opens.
19:11Nocciolotto al latte.
19:14So, nuts and milk.
19:18Cute little hearts.
19:20More nuts.
19:22That might be nougal, I think.
19:24Some kind of fondant.
19:27Pistachio.
19:28That.
19:29That.
19:30That.
19:30That.
19:32That one.
19:33That's got nuts in it.
19:35Nougal.
19:36What's that one?
19:36They're all so beautiful.
19:39They're all so beautiful.
19:39They're like little jewels.
19:41That's a very nice
19:42little bag of chocolates.
19:47That's 21 euros and 70 cents.
19:49Lovely.
19:55Fantastic.
19:55Grazie mille.
19:57Arrivederci.
19:59Grazie mille.
20:06Arrivederci.
20:07Travel gifts sorted.
20:09I'm now heading to the museum,
20:11which is housed here in the Palazzo Madama,
20:14currently listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
20:22Part of this structure dates back to the first century BCE.
20:30Today it houses a wonderful collection of ancient artefacts.
20:44This is a really fascinating museum and not just because of what it contains,
20:47but because of what it is.
20:49Because this building is actually the original Roman Decumanus Gate into Turin,
20:57or I should say Augusta Turinorum, as it was originally founded.
21:01And this series of illustrations are brilliant because you can see how the two towers,
21:06the two octagonal towers, are part of that original Roman gate.
21:09And then the building evolves so much over the centuries.
21:14But all the way through, those towers are part of it.
21:18Until today, you've just got the tops of them poking out of the roof.
21:23And then over here, the excavations inside this courtyard area have been laid bare
21:30and then preserved under a glass floor so I can actually walk over the ancient Roman cobbles.
21:51So you can walk up inside this tower. I'm walking on an 18th century staircase, but then I can step
21:57into this space.
21:58And here we've got the original wall of the Roman tower of Augusta Turinorum.
22:07Isn't that incredible? So this is part of that gateway, the gatehouse into the old Roman city.
22:14And I just can't believe it's still standing and it's still part of this building.
22:22Over the centuries, the building was extended and took on many forms.
22:28After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was still a defensive stronghold.
22:34It was enlarged into a castle before becoming a palace.
22:42The current building has got four towers. The original Roman one only had two.
22:46And now I'm looking across at one of those two Roman towers of the original gate.
22:53And it's just pushing up through the roof.
22:56This is a great building and it has really just accumulated over time.
23:02There's been so many different phases from the Roman through the medieval right through to the 19th and 20th centuries
23:09when it became the civic museum.
23:11But sometimes it's great just to pause and look for archaeological clues and try to work out how old something
23:19is.
23:19Sometimes it's just about feel. And I think if I feel these bricks, I can work out that actually they
23:27were laid in 1884.
23:29It requires a lot of experience and expertise to do something like that.
23:43As their territory expanded, the Romans had to feed their ever-increasing population.
23:51I'm meeting up with archaeologist Farrell Monaco.
23:57She's been sifting through the evidence with her investigation into the staple ingredient of the Roman diet.
24:04So lovely to meet you.
24:05Lovely to meet you too.
24:08So I've been learning a lot about Roman life, but I want to kind of immerse myself in it a
24:14bit more.
24:15As a Roman, how important was bread?
24:17I think it was incredibly important.
24:19If we look at archaeological evidence such as bakery counts, for example.
24:24In Rome, we have upward of 250 Roman bakeries were in place according to the regional catalogues.
24:32In Pompeii, we have 35 and there's still a quarter of that site that remains unexcavated.
24:36So this shows us clearly that bread was the backbone of the Roman diet.
24:41But part of my mission is to show that it isn't just about carbohydrates and calories.
24:46It's so much more complex and beautiful than that.
24:49Bread is very symbolic in the Roman world.
24:52It plays a substantial role in the religious sphere as well.
24:55Yeah.
24:56I mean, it's interesting, isn't it?
24:57Walking around Pompeii and seeing the bakeries and then it's almost as though there's one on every insula.
25:03Yeah.
25:03I mean, there are loads of them.
25:05It's like Roman Starbucks.
25:06Yes.
25:07They're on every corner.
25:07Or Pret-a-Manger.
25:08They're on every corner and there it is again.
25:10Yeah.
25:10And were people making bread at home or was everybody going out and buying it from these bakeries on the
25:16street?
25:16They were making bread at home, but they were also buying bread in these commercial bakeries.
25:21And this is because approximately 50% of households wouldn't have cooking facilities.
25:27Okay.
25:27So they would eat out at the de Berne or they would buy their bread at bakeries.
25:33Isn't that interesting?
25:34Because I think, you know, today when we see a bit of a shift towards less home cooking and more
25:39going out to eat.
25:41Or getting other people to cook your food for you.
25:42We think this is something that hasn't happened before, but actually the Romans were doing it in their cities.
25:47Yeah.
25:47It's like living in a studio in Manhattan.
25:49Yeah.
25:49You go out and you go out for dinner and you come back home and you go to bed.
25:52To see Turin's Roman agricultural past, you don't have to line up at a museum.
25:57You don't have to pay to get into an archaeological site.
26:00All you have to do is hit a bakery because the bread forms that are on these shelves haven't changed
26:05in millennia.
26:06Or in hundreds of years.
26:07Yeah.
26:08So I brought one for you to try.
26:11Well, for us to try together.
26:13I mean, this is extraordinary because you think with globalization that bread's going to become standard everywhere.
26:19But it's not.
26:19No.
26:20That's the beauty of Italy is regional breads have stayed relatively unchanged.
26:25Yeah.
26:27Over a hundred years, it's gotten, you know, since the war and since the railway was put in, things have
26:33changed a little bit because people move back and forth.
26:36Yeah.
26:36But Italy is a bastion of bread culture that has been unchanged for centuries and millennia.
26:43So this particular loaf here, this is called paninero or black bread.
26:49Yeah.
26:49Yeah.
26:50It's very dark.
26:51It is mixed with rye and wheat.
26:55Can we taste it?
26:55Yeah, of course we can.
26:56So we are, we're going to go, we're going to do this old school.
26:59We're not going to use a knife.
27:00We are going to break bread.
27:01Yeah.
27:02Francho panis.
27:02So go ahead and break it.
27:03And then we are going to have it with a little bit of olive oil.
27:06You can also have this with a robust red wine like a Yanico.
27:11I'm going to break off a chunk as well.
27:13Bread is my carbohydrate of choice.
27:15Hmm.
27:17You know, along with porridge, it's been what we have been eating since the dawn of agriculture.
27:24This is delicious bread.
27:25Isn't it great?
27:26It's lovely.
27:27This has been absolutely fascinating.
27:28The fact that you can go to a bakery down the road here in Turin and buy bread which is
27:35basically the same as the bread that the Romans would have been eating.
27:39I think that's really interesting.
27:40Yeah.
27:41Where are you going next on your travels?
27:43I'm headed to Rome next to do some research into the Eucharist.
27:49So now I'm going to start looking at the representation of these forms in early Christian context,
27:57the feeding of the 5,000, for example, and how they're being used to portray something sacred,
28:03much in the same way as they did in a pagan atmosphere.
28:07But this time they're, you know, Christian in nature.
28:09That is fascinating because, of course, Christianity is nothing if not a Roman religion.
28:14Yes.
28:14Yeah, exactly.
28:17What an enthralling first day in Turin, discovering more about its history and ancient cuisine.
28:24Tomorrow I'm going to find out about the newest method of dating Roman cities.
28:29And I'm hoping to find a famous movie landmark.
28:44The ancient Romans, like the Greeks before them, were stargazers.
28:50They named the stars and planets after their deities.
28:56And their understanding of astronomy helped them in navigation, farming, predicting the seasons and marking time.
29:05Their astronomical observations fed into the development of the calendar.
29:11They used the stars and the sun to determine directions and to lay out their towns.
29:19Two millennia on, this ancient knowledge of the heavens helped to solve one of archaeology's great riddles,
29:27right here in Turin.
29:30There's no record of the actual date of the foundation of Turin.
29:36But astrophysicist Mireia Teresa Crosta and archaeologist Sandro Caranzano wondered if the answer lay in the stars.
29:45This is absolutely beautiful, this Roman gateway.
29:49Shall we walk down to it?
29:50Yeah, sure.
29:50And are we walking on one of the principal Roman roads of the city here?
29:55Yes.
29:55The archaeologists can tell better than me.
29:58Yeah, let's talk about this road.
30:00Originally it was the Cardo, which was the main city road running south to north.
30:06Okay.
30:07So they rebuilt the pavement because, you know, it's not exactly the original one, but it was very similar.
30:13Yeah, yeah.
30:13With stones and, you know, this is the north gate of the city.
30:17And the whole city is laid out on a grid like most Roman cities.
30:22Yes, yes, yes.
30:22The Roman love very much, geometry love very much.
30:25Yeah, yeah.
30:26The Romans used the sun and stars to align their street grids north-south and east-west.
30:32But the exact positions of sunrise and sunset on the horizon have changed over time.
30:39Combining Sandro's archaeological research and her knowledge of astronomy,
30:43Maria Theresa believed she could precisely calculate Turin's foundation.
30:49So what did you do?
30:51How did you try to establish the date of the foundation of Turin?
30:56Okay.
30:57So just by combining archaeological findings with astronomical data,
31:05Yeah.
31:05And the Anissian text written by surveyors.
31:09Yeah.
31:10They were in charge to dividing the land, take measurements in order to construct the ideal town,
31:18which has to integrate with the cosmos.
31:22This was fundamental because astronomy was essential in those days, in the past, to measure the time.
31:31So when we look at Roman towns, do they all have this attention to detail
31:35when it comes to making sure that they are facing cardinal points,
31:39that they have a north-south road, that they have an east-west road, or does it vary?
31:44Yes.
31:44This was fundamental for them.
31:47The main axis of the town should align perfectly with east towards west.
31:54That perfect alignment worked for them at a particular time.
31:59But if the grid were to be laid out in the same way today, using astronomical markers,
32:05the alignment would be slightly different.
32:08With archaeology providing a rough timeframe, Maria Theresa's challenge was to work out
32:14when the astronomical conditions would have perfectly matched up with the Roman grid.
32:22And that should yield a date for the origin of the city.
32:29This is fascinating because I think that it's an approach to archaeology
32:33where it reminds me of the difference between relative dating and absolute dating,
32:38where you might say, I'm dating this on the basis of a style of pottery,
32:42and I think it's this particular date.
32:44Then you have something like radiocarbon dating, and you can absolutely pin the date down.
32:48And what you're doing, where you're trying to reconstruct the solar year in the past,
32:54seems similar to me.
32:55Because the sun is their time keeping.
33:01So what was the date you finally arrived at?
33:05The 30th of January, no?
33:0730th of January.
33:0730th of January.
33:09In which year?
33:109 before Christ.
33:12That's absolutely wonderful.
33:13Yes, people.
33:14And what a fantastic example of interdisciplinary research.
33:17Exactly, yes.
33:18You know, a physicist and an archaeologist, who'd have thought?
33:20Yes, yes, exactly.
33:22Thank you so much.
33:24Thank you to you.
33:25It's really clever.
33:26And it also, it also just tells us how clever the Romans were.
33:30That when the Romans are trying to find north, they haven't got magnetic compasses.
33:34Yes, sure.
33:35They're using the stars.
33:36Of course, they use the stars.
33:37The stars as the perfect guidance.
33:42Thank you to you.
33:43Maria Theresa and Sandro's conclusion is that Turin was founded on the 30th of January,
33:51in the year 9 BCE.
33:54They put their mathematical model to the test on the city of Aosta.
33:59That has a foundation date written in stone, and their method proved to be correct.
34:07They plan to take their expertise to other Roman cities with unknown foundation dates.
34:16Now, I'm off to find out where they blew the bloody doors off.
34:21I've been exploring Turin, looking for evidence of the Romans here, and I've seen some fantastic,
34:30upstanding Roman archaeology.
34:32This isn't Roman.
34:33It's 19th century, this church of Gran Madre de Dio, but it's nonetheless incredibly historical
34:40because these were the very steps that the minis drove down in the Italian job.
35:06It's 7am, and my next train journey is the first on this adventure that will take me across an
35:12international border, and a spectacular physical border.
35:20Buongiorno.
35:22Una bilietto per Lyon, per favore.
35:26Solanda?
35:27Si.
35:28Si.
35:32Great.
35:33Grazie.
35:38Believe it or not, Turin's Porta Sousa station opened a century and a half ago in 1868.
35:47But it was modernised in 2006 to take in extra regional services as the railways here expanded.
35:55It's an early start this morning, so I need this.
35:58So I'm going to be leaving Italy, travelling into France, catching the train to Paris.
36:03I'm not going as far as Paris.
36:05I'm getting off at Lyon and then changing trains.
36:07And then by about lunchtime I should arrive into Nîmes.
36:18This is my first time ever doing this journey and it's one I've been looking forward to for
36:24weeks.
36:25After all, what a way to see the mighty Alpine mountain range.
36:53So we're generally just travelling up river valleys through the Alps.
36:59I can see some snowy peaks up there.
37:03But occasionally, of course, we do have to go through mountains as well.
37:08So I've just been through one tunnel.
37:10I think there's going to be another one because there are some very, very high mountains ahead
37:14of us here.
37:16And these are going to be time-honoured routes through the mountains, of course, because
37:20people will have always been utilising the valleys and then trying to find the lowest pass, the
37:30lowest, easiest pass to get from one side to the other.
37:39And the architecture is changing as well.
37:42It's very different from Parma and Turin.
37:52This part of northern Italy is known for its world-class wines and intense truffles.
38:00The white Alba truffle was prized by the Romans, who considered it a delicacy with aphrodisiac qualities.
38:11About two hours into the journey and I'm around halfway through the Alps.
38:16This small Alpine village is quite a significant station.
38:21They've just stopped en route at the border town of Modane.
38:25I'm now in France.
38:26And this railway line was built in the 19th century, right on the border between France
38:34and Italy.
38:35And that fort was also built.
38:40The fort at Modane sits at 1,210 metres above sea level.
38:45And it was built 140 years ago to defend the entrance to the railway tunnel.
38:51Around 2,000 years before that, one of the greatest human feats took place somewhere in these
38:58mountains.
39:01From the 3rd into the 2nd century BCE, there were two superpowers fighting it out for supremacy
39:09in the western Mediterranean.
39:10You had the Roman Republic to the north and the Carthaginian Empire in North Africa to
39:18the south.
39:20And eventually, of course, the Roman Republic would win.
39:24But in the 2nd Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy, coming through
39:32the Alps, bringing all his forces and just fighting elephants with them.
39:39And historians have tried to work out the route that he took through the Alps.
39:43And we just don't know.
39:45We don't have enough evidence from the literature of the time.
39:49And the geography means that there are too many possibilities to know.
39:55French historians have come up with this incredible term, Hannibalism, for trying to answer
40:00an impossible question.
40:11I've now travelled 100 miles from the Italian border, and I'm arriving into the French city
40:17of Lyon, where I'm changing platforms to find the connecting train to Nîmes.
40:28Now, Lyon was an incredibly important Roman city. It was important before the Romans were here.
40:33Back in the Iron Age, it was a regional capital for the Gauls.
40:39And it was called Lugdunum. That becomes Luon and then eventually Lyon.
40:44So we're basically using the same name 2,000 years later.
40:48And under the Romans, it was a big city. A couple of emperors were born here, Claudius and Caracalla.
40:54And it was a hub for Roman roads in Gaul. It's got an absolutely beautiful Roman theatre.
41:00But I can't stop because I'm on my way to Nîmes.
41:30Nîmes is 600 miles from Rome, and is known as the Rome of France.
41:47Once again, a key military base for Julius Caesar in his conquest of Gaul in the first century BCE.
41:54The Emperor Augustus would invest in it, turning it into a beautiful, thriving Roman city.
42:04It lay on the Via Domitia, a vital route for Roman troops and trade, travelling between Italy and Spain.
42:19Today, it has the best preserved amphitheatre in France.
42:24The French have named it Les Arrennes, and it's still in use for a range of musical and sporting events.
42:31And this, the Maison Carré, is the best preserved Roman temple anywhere in the world.
42:38Not quite as well preserved as the Temple of Diana, which will be my first stop.
42:46And I'm pleased to see that it's still in use.
42:50And I'm pleased to see that it's still in use.
43:21What an amazing fact to us for a music video!
43:34do you speak english a little a little are you a band yes yeah we're a dance crew are you
43:41so
43:42you're filming a music video yes where where can i see it where will you put it on youtube yes
43:47it's
43:48amazing why did you choose here to film uh i think that out of neem that's the best place to
43:55film that music video because that that fit the best vibe of the the the thing we want to give
44:01yeah yeah i don't know if you're honest yeah and this roman temple yes yeah yeah are you nemoise
44:09yes yeah yeah born and bred in neem uh not born here yeah but i'm living here living here now
44:15yeah and there's romans everywhere in neem there's roman pastors everywhere and you're bringing
44:21it alive it's absolutely brilliant thank you very much thank you see you on youtube
44:30the temple of diana may in fact not originally have been built as a temple it was probably a library
44:41during medieval times it was transformed into part of a monastery ensuring its survival
44:49today it sits proudly in the jardin du fontaine
44:57these gardens are beautiful they were engineered in the 18th century by jacques philippe maréchal working
45:04for louis the 15th and there'd been some excavation here trying to get at the source of the spring water
45:13actually in order to provide water to the city's textile industry the dyeing industry
45:20but then when they started to find more and more roman remains these assumed an importance in their own
45:27right and marichal laid out these fantastic gardens really putting all of this roman archaeology on show
45:36and it became famous they're the first public gardens in europe apparently and at their hearts is
45:45this astonishing archaeology
45:52next time i take a closer look at this most exquisitely preserved roman temple
45:59what a wonderful treasure to have in the city it's fantastic and experience one of the most awe-inspiring
46:06monuments of the empire and we're out into the sunshine and i follow the romans into spain
46:15this is consummate artistry
46:20so
46:48this is
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