- 6 weeks ago
Roman Empire by Train with Alice Roberts (2026) Season 1 Episode 6
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00:03I'm on another train and another adventure into the past, but this is my most ambitious journey to date.
00:12I'm going in search of the Roman Empire.
00:20Taking the train, I'll be travelling 1,300 miles through Italy, France and Spain to discover its origins and the
00:29secrets of its success.
00:32I'll be exploring some well-known Roman sites.
00:35This is where you can hear Pompeii.
00:38And some unfamiliar ones.
00:40There is nobody here.
00:42From the massive...
00:43It's curved.
00:45Yeah.
00:45To the miniature.
00:47It's like a 4th century Barbie doll.
00:49I want to know how a single city comes to control such a vast territory.
00:55Experts from around the world will help me bring to life Roman culture.
01:00The sands of Capua become the jungles of India.
01:03And provide insights into why this empire was so successful.
01:07Who said the time machine does not exist? We got it.
01:10In this final leg of my journey, I'll be exploring how the Romans secured new Mediterranean conquests.
01:18So this is 30,000 troops arriving?
01:22So this is 30,000 troops arriving?
01:23According to Polybius, yes.
01:24How they amassed incredible wealth.
01:27We've got massive, monumental ingots.
01:30And how their legacy lives on.
01:33Which part of us is not at least a little bit Roman?
01:46On my travels through Roman settlements around the western Mediterranean, I'm currently at Figueroa's Vélefant on the border of France
01:55and Spain.
01:57But it's time to hit the road, or rails, again.
02:02Buenos dias.
02:03Buenos dias.
02:04Un bilete para Targona, por favor.
02:08My previous trip to Emporios gave me an insight into Rome's initial incursions into Spain.
02:14Gracias.
02:16Buenos dias.
02:17I'm eager to learn more about how the Iberian Peninsula became part of the Roman Empire.
02:26On this journey, I'll be travelling to Tarragona via Barcelona, a distance of 118 miles.
02:36Once again, train travel allows me to just kick back and enjoy the unfolding countryside.
02:45And the child in me is full of anticipation.
02:48Not just of the destination, but about how quickly we'll get there.
02:54Here we go.
02:55We're just getting faster and faster and faster.
02:58120, 128 kilometers an hour.
03:04136 kilometers an hour.
03:07How fast will it go?
03:13There we go.
03:14We've reached cruising speed, I think.
03:17Speeding through the Spanish countryside.
03:26Unfortunately, I can't get too comfortable on this inner city train.
03:30Yeah.
03:33But it's a quick change of Barcelona, and I'm soon aboard a suburban train to Tarragona.
03:42Tarragona is hugely significant.
03:45It was the first Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula,
03:50and will become the capital of the largest Roman province in Spain.
03:54The Romans are in evidence as we near Tarragona.
03:59This is the magnificent Ferreri's aqueduct or Devil's Bridge.
04:04But an impressive collection of Roman monuments awaits me in the city itself,
04:10which in the year 2000 were together declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
04:18I think we must be nearing Tarragona now.
04:23And that there is surely a bit of Roman Tarragona.
04:28When the Romans arrived here in 218 BCE,
04:32it wasn't by train, but by sea,
04:35to halt the advance of Hannibal.
04:40Hannibal was a general from Carthage in North Africa,
04:44the centre of a huge trading empire in the Western Mediterranean.
04:48In the 3rd century BCE,
04:50the tension between the Roman and Carthaginian superpowers came to a head,
04:55as Hannibal amassed an army in Cartagena
04:57and marched north past the Pyrenees into Gaul and over the Alps towards Rome.
05:03In response, the Roman army sailed to Tarragona to cut his supply lines.
05:11Paco!
05:13Hi.
05:14Buenas dias.
05:15Buenas dias.
05:16With the help of Spanish historian Paco Tova,
05:18I want to understand how crucial Tarragona would become,
05:22not just in this war, but to the future of the Roman Empire.
05:29So, when the Romans came here in this beach...
05:33In this beach?
05:34This beach and where the harbour is...
05:37So, there would have been Roman ships?
05:38Yeah.
05:38Imagine the Normandy landings,
05:40the troops landing from the ships.
05:43So, we're talking about the navy and the army coming down.
05:45Yeah.
05:46OK.
05:46So, then they came here,
05:47and then they built a military camp at the very top of that hill.
05:51So, this is 30,000 troops arriving?
05:53According to Polybius, yes.
05:56And from here, Romanisation will spread.
05:59But they knew that through the Ebro, you could control Spain.
06:02You could penetrate the interior.
06:03Absolutely.
06:04Absolutely.
06:04So, that's why I say that we are ground zero of civilisation,
06:08Roman civilisation, in Spain.
06:13Sending tens of thousands of troops to Tarragona worked well for the Romans.
06:18Hannibal ran out of supplies,
06:20and he was eventually forced to retreat back to North Africa.
06:25And the Romans took over all the territory in Iberia
06:28that had been under the control of the Carthaginians.
06:32With the Romans here to stay,
06:34the settlement of Taraco would grow into a formidable fortified city.
06:41This looks old.
06:42Yeah.
06:43That's the Roman wall.
06:44Yeah.
06:44Over there.
06:45OK, down in the...
06:46Back to the 3rd century BC.
06:48Right, OK.
06:49So, you're going right back to the first Romans here.
06:52Yes.
06:52Yes, because, well, as is the first settlement,
06:55you need to do the first things,
06:57which is a wall, to defend that settlement.
07:00And then the Toconel Tower and the wall is medieval, 14th century.
07:05Built out of Roman material, but they're medieval walls.
07:07We love...
07:08We, the Catalanans in Spain,
07:10we are really famous as the Scottish in Britain.
07:12So, we got deep pockets and short arms.
07:15So, and then we love saving,
07:17and then, obviously, you can save a lot of money
07:19if you can just recycle...
07:20Recycling, we see it all the time.
07:22Yeah, the Roman remains.
07:23But the wall, it's obviously medieval.
07:26Behind the medieval wall lies a Roman ruin.
07:32A mural gives a clue to what it was once part of.
07:36A Roman circus.
07:39So, imagine 56 front arches, OK?
07:42So, that will be the entrance of the circus.
07:44So, a very grand entrance to the circus for horse racing.
07:48Yeah, so it's really famous in Roman times.
07:51So, it's a place that people love to come.
07:53Yeah.
07:5430,000 spectators out of 40,000 inhabitants.
07:57So, we are best preserved than the Roman circus in Rome.
08:01And we can see more if we could up here?
08:03Imagine, so that's half of it.
08:05So, the other half is behind the houses.
08:07So, this could just carry us on?
08:09Yeah, more seats there, more seats there.
08:11So, it's not just... This is just the end of it here?
08:13Yeah, that's the end.
08:14Till the corner.
08:16So, from the town hall till this,
08:18from the trees, well, behind the trees,
08:20you will see more seats.
08:22And there.
08:22So, the red brick building down there, that's the town hall.
08:24That's the other end of the circus.
08:26If we pull down all this, we could find the circus again.
08:29Yeah.
08:29Because, obviously, not all, but most of it is still there.
08:32But we can imagine it with this end, I think.
08:34And, as well, this is the place
08:35in which the chariots were having the races.
08:43As we wander the streets of the old town,
08:46we find more evidence of the recycling of Roman buildings
08:49in the medieval period.
08:51Yeah.
08:51But instead of putting down or just finding an empty space,
08:55so what the medievals did is to recycle the buildings.
08:58So, those houses are not built attached to or above.
09:02They are built literally in the Roman.
09:05Yes.
09:06So, you've got 20th century brick here,
09:09and here we've got Roman...
09:11First century, with the sandstone blocks.
09:13Roman blocks of stone.
09:14Yeah.
09:15So, who said the time machine does not exist?
09:18We got it.
09:19So, we can see 2,000 years...
09:21Well, 1,900 years...
09:23Yeah.
09:23...on the same spot.
09:25You can see even a small rose window.
09:27Yeah, yeah.
09:28Done in the 13th century,
09:29because there was a convent here.
09:31Yeah.
09:31Not now, of course.
09:32And then it fills in.
09:33Yes.
09:33Now, this...
09:35Yes.
09:35..looks medieval,
09:36but it looks like it probably has Roman origins.
09:39Yes.
09:39So, you can see a medieval tower
09:41inside of a Roman building.
09:44You can see the columns carved into the wall.
09:46Oh, my goodness.
09:47Yes, I can.
09:48Pillars.
09:49That would be the inside part of a portico.
09:51That portico was just really huge.
09:55For two centuries after they first arrived,
09:58the Romans fought the Carthaginians
10:00and local tribes across the Iberian Peninsula.
10:06While on campaign here in 27 BCE,
10:10the Emperor Augustus fell ill
10:12and stayed in Tarrico for two years to recover.
10:16His misfortune was great for the city, though.
10:21Elevating the status of Tarrico even further.
10:28So, we are now in the Roman Forum
10:30as the capital city of the province,
10:32so we deserve the right to have a larger space
10:35in order to rule the province.
10:37I've seen this classic Roman format
10:39again and again on my journey,
10:41with the Forum as the beating heart of the city.
10:44Have we reached the end of the Forum?
10:46Well, the end of this corner of the Forum,
10:48because the Forum continued that way.
10:51This is a huge Forum.
10:55This is 60,000 square metres.
10:57And I say east, not walls,
11:00because the square is still there,
11:01occupied by houses.
11:02Yeah, there are houses in it, but it's still there.
11:04So, this is the largest square,
11:05the largest forum in the Roman Empire ever built.
11:08Yeah.
11:09The strength of Roman power can be seen.
11:12We know even that Augustus received Indian ambassadors here.
11:16Really?
11:16OK, because he was living here,
11:19so obviously the capital was Rome.
11:21Did he like it?
11:22Do we know what he thought about it?
11:23Well, probably he liked it, because we'll turn right.
11:26Probably he liked it,
11:27mainly because for almost 400 years,
11:30we were the capital city of the largest province
11:32in the Roman world.
11:34Yeah.
11:35The province was named Hispania Taraconensis,
11:39after Taraco,
11:40and covered most of the Iberian Peninsula,
11:43stretching from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
11:46But the value of this province
11:48lay not just in its strategic location,
11:51but its natural resources,
11:53gold, tin, and silver.
11:55And then the cathedral.
11:58And when does this date to?
12:00The cathedral was started in 1171, 12th century.
12:04Yeah.
12:04So, it's more or less in the same period of time
12:06in which you did Westminster.
12:08So, it's equivalent to Norman architecture?
12:10Yeah.
12:11Late Norman, early Gothic.
12:13And then the Roman temple dedicated to the emperor,
12:16to Augustus, stood right there.
12:18Is there anything of it?
12:19Or is it being completely leveled?
12:20We found the basement under the cathedral
12:22that can't be seen,
12:23because they did the archaeological excavation.
12:25It was opened and was covered.
12:28There's one last vestige of Roman life I want to see,
12:31and it's the monument I spotted alongside the railway line
12:35as my train pulled into the station.
12:37The amphitheatre.
12:38That is beautiful.
12:40Yeah.
12:40So, that's the last monumental building Roman's did here.
12:43And when does it date to?
12:44Around 2nd century AD.
12:47But the amazing thing is that the only amphitheatre,
12:49half of it was carved into the rock.
12:51Yeah, yeah.
12:52Recycling the hill.
12:53That's really unusual.
12:54I've seen quite a few amphitheatres on my travels,
12:57and they've always been built up from the ground up,
13:00not built into a cliff.
13:03This is much more familiar to me from the semi-secular theatres.
13:06Exactly, exactly.
13:07This amphitheatre, obviously, is not the largest one.
13:10So, if we compare that with a close here in Rome,
13:13it's, like, really, really small.
13:15Yeah, tiny in comparison.
13:15But between 12,000 and 14,000 spectators.
13:18Okay.
13:18Out of 40,000 inhabitants.
13:21So, proportionally, this is large enough to be amazing.
13:25That's cross-shaped building, obviously, in ruins.
13:27We got in the middle.
13:28Can you see that?
13:29The church.
13:30We got in the middle of the amphitheatre.
13:32There's a church?
13:33Yeah, that's a church.
13:34That makes this amphitheatre exceptional.
13:36It's the only one in the whole Roman Empire
13:38with the remains of no one, not one, but two churches.
13:41Why we got two churches is, obviously,
13:43we're built much later when the Roman Empire collapsed
13:47and Christianity was the only religion.
13:49Yeah.
13:50And that's why we got the church,
13:51Our Lady of the Miracle.
13:52And when was that church created?
13:54The first that can be seen,
13:56so the basement of the first,
13:57was only in the 6th century,
13:59so 100 years after the Empire collapsed,
14:00the Western Empire.
14:01And the church, we can see now,
14:04we don't know exactly the date,
14:05but we know that in 1154,
14:07the church was done.
14:08Yeah.
14:09So 12th century, normal style.
14:13I've learned how Tarragona played a key role
14:16as the Romans expanded their empire
14:18to take in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.
14:22What started as a military manoeuvre
14:24to pull the rug from under the feet of Hannibal
14:26culminated with the development of this city
14:29into a flourishing regional capital.
14:32From the glory days of the Western Roman Empire
14:35through to its demise,
14:37Tarragona remained a focus of wealth and power.
14:41And the elites of the city
14:43were keen to display their prosperity and status.
14:47It's a toe.
14:48Yeah.
14:48Yeah, and it's not even the big one.
14:50So imagine if the toe was like this.
14:52The foot would be something like this.
14:55It's enormous.
15:03I'm in Tarragona on the Mediterranean coast of Spain,
15:07the first Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula.
15:12Paco's street tour showed me
15:14just how much of that Roman past
15:16is still visible in the city today.
15:19After the Emperor Augustus made Tarrico his home,
15:23the city became even more prestigious.
15:25And there were fortunes to be made here
15:28in trade and gold mining.
15:31The Roman rich didn't shrink from displaying their status.
15:38I've come to the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona,
15:42close to the harbour,
15:44where wealth is still very much on show.
15:48I'm meeting curator, Georgia Acosta.
15:52Georgia.
15:52Hi.
15:54Buenas dias.
15:55Nice to meet you.
15:56Nice to meet you too.
15:57How are you?
15:58Very good.
15:59Are you enjoying the city?
16:00It's an absolutely beautiful city
16:02and I love the fact that so much of its Roman past
16:04is there to see as you walk around it.
16:07But we've got some of the artefacts here, haven't we, in the museum.
16:10Let me show you around, OK?
16:12Yeah, yeah.
16:12Because, for example, you know here in Tarragona
16:14we have not only the city, there was powerful people living around.
16:18For example, ten minutes driving the Roman villa
16:21called the Villa of Saint-Seglius,
16:23which has some of the most amazing early Christian mosaics in the world.
16:28Oh, really?
16:28And this villa is a mystery.
16:30Maybe the mansion of a great military leader.
16:34Most of the materials, most of the decorations
16:36come from Italy, from the imperial factories in Rome.
16:41Yeah.
16:41But later, here, the city begins to be more and more apart from Rome
16:46and so they start to build things for themselves.
16:49And this is a beautiful example.
16:50Using local materials.
16:51Yeah.
16:51Yeah.
16:53It's a great example of wealth and power that the cities had.
16:58And really interesting to kind of be able to trace that transition
17:00out of the Roman Empire as well.
17:04From that we have some lovely mosaics from the villa who was the governor of Tarragona.
17:10Oh, these look a bit like the ones I saw in Puriers.
17:13The colours in them are gorgeous, aren't they?
17:16Yeah.
17:17Those were made by specialised artists.
17:20Of course.
17:20I mean, normally they would make the first mosaic, the big one,
17:24and then right in the middle they would insert these small pieces
17:27that were more difficult to make.
17:29Follow me.
17:30I have something else to show you.
17:32Oh!
17:33Wow!
17:35This, it's probably one of the most iconic, most beloved archaeological pieces
17:40we have here in Tarragona.
17:42It's this ivory doll.
17:44I always say it's like a 4th century Barbie doll.
17:48Where is it found?
17:50The Paleo-Christian necropolis of Tarraco,
17:53one of the biggest Roman burial sites,
17:56was found in the tomb of a child.
17:59A little girl, she was like 4 years old,
18:01and she was buried with her favourite doll.
18:04We have to assume that she was from a rich family.
18:08It's been demonstrated that it had little dresses
18:11made with golden thread.
18:13Oh, really?
18:14Yes, and the hair.
18:16Hairstyle.
18:16Hairstyle.
18:17It is the kind of hairstyle an aristocrat or a princess would have.
18:23Seeing something like that,
18:24you're just taken back to that moment of a family losing a child.
18:28And I think things like this, it really kind of transport you back
18:32and you see that human connection.
18:34That's such a beautiful object, isn't it?
18:36Right.
18:36And even the fingers are carved.
18:38It's beautiful.
18:39When we think about the Romans,
18:42you have to remember how much childhood mortality there was,
18:45you know, with half of children not reaching adulthood.
18:49Here we have the lampadarius to put the lamps.
18:52We don't have that many bronze statues around because, you know...
18:56It's expensive.
18:57It gets melted down, doesn't it?
18:59Yes.
18:59It's amazing to make coins, to make anything.
19:01But here, it's so delicate, so beautiful.
19:05And he's African.
19:06Yeah.
19:07The big thing, probably, a young slave.
19:10Hmm.
19:12It's estimated that between 10 and 25% of the Roman Empire's population were enslaved.
19:20Men, women, and children could be bought, sold, and mistreated in sometimes harrowing conditions.
19:27Ultimately, the wealth of the Roman Empire depended on slavery,
19:32with slaves working on farms, in mines, and in households.
19:38I think maybe it was made after a real child was a slave in a house.
19:44We don't know.
19:45We have so many mysteries.
19:47Yeah, yeah.
19:48I mean, it reminds us that people are moving around the empire for all sorts of reasons.
19:52There are merchants moving around, there's the army moving around,
19:55and then there's an enormous amount of movement in terms of slaves being moved from different parts of the empire
20:01as well.
20:01Yeah.
20:05Oh, these heads are great.
20:07It comes from the forum, next to the theatre.
20:10Yeah, okay.
20:11So this is from an urn, a huge urn.
20:14Yeah, a huge one, just simply for decoration.
20:17That's lovely marble, isn't it?
20:19So this is just a fragment of something that was enormous.
20:22I mean, that curve there, can you imagine how big this whole urn was?
20:28Yeah.
20:28Enormous.
20:28And just for decoration.
20:30Yeah.
20:30I mean, I suppose it fits in that enormous forum.
20:33Yeah.
20:33Yeah.
20:34The way to demonstrate the power of the empire was with this, like, kind of things.
20:39So we have to imagine a visitor coming to Tarrako, I mean, from the provinces, right?
20:45Entering the city and realising that they were visiting a city that had the imperial favour.
20:50Yeah, it's built to impress, isn't it?
20:54Okay, this, for me, it's great because it tells us a little bit about Roman religiosity.
21:00This is a representation of Jupiter, Amon.
21:04So a mix between Jupiter and Egyptian gods.
21:08It was part of the decoration of the provincial forum.
21:11Was it?
21:12In Tarrako.
21:13Yeah.
21:13The Romans loved, loved Egyptian religion.
21:17And here we have another example in this centre of the government in Tarrako.
21:24It speaks to these kind of connections right across the empire, doesn't it?
21:28We were talking about the temple.
21:30Well, we have that gigantic toe.
21:32It's a toe.
21:33Yeah.
21:33Yeah, and it's not even the big one.
21:35It's one of the other toes.
21:37So imagine if the toe was like this.
21:39The foot would be something like this.
21:42It's enormous.
21:43It's the statue that was in the temple.
21:45And imagine how big that statue was.
21:47And we think this was a statue of Augustus.
21:54The museum's collection demonstrates the city's affluence and the skill of the artists and craftspeople.
22:01With such a rich heritage, I'm dying to know how Georgia feels about living in such a place today.
22:09What do you call yourself, a Tarragonian?
22:12Er, in Catalan, Tarragonina.
22:14Tarragonina?
22:15Yes.
22:16A woman from Tarragon.
22:17And do you think of yourself as a Roman as well?
22:20Ah, that's such a difficult question.
22:23I think that we cannot negate Roman Empire, our part of the world.
22:29It was so important that it shaped not only the Roman period, it shaped everything.
22:37You can see it in architecture, in the laws, in our calendars, in our religion.
22:43Which part of us is not at least a little bit Roman, right?
22:48Yeah.
22:49But, I mean, they were pretty cool, the Romans.
22:53Not very nice people, but very cool.
22:56So I don't actually mind.
22:59Right, that was amazing.
23:01Thank you so much.
23:02Thank you.
23:04It seems that Rome is still crucial to modern identity,
23:08not only of Tarragona as a city, but its 21st century inhabitants.
23:14Before I leave, I'm going to the top of the Praetorium Tower at the edge of the Forum
23:20for a last look at this city the Romans prized so highly.
23:25What a view!
23:27Oh, this is fantastic.
23:30I can look out over the sea.
23:32Italy is somewhere right over the other side.
23:36And then here are these Roman walls, which were added to during the medieval period.
23:41We've got the end of the circus as well.
23:44And then if we walked to this end, I would have been looking out on that massive, massive square of
23:51the Roman Forum.
23:53And what would have been the Temple of Augustus, right up in the highest part of this promontory, now occupied
24:02by the Cathedral of St. Tecla.
24:07What a view!
24:08You can see for miles out over the plains as well, so this is an incredible strategic location for the
24:18Romans defeating the Carthaginians,
24:22but also then for their further expansion into Hispania.
24:31Before I head to the train station, that child in me sees an opportunity for some fun.
24:41Right, there's no time for larking about.
24:43I've got a train to catch.
24:49Tomorrow I'll be finding out how trade routes determined who ruled the Mediterranean.
25:10I'm back at Tarragona Station to pick up a ticket to my next destination.
25:21The last ticket on my journey.
25:27And my last train.
25:32The railway network really has been the backbone of my trip.
25:37The rail services of Italy, France and Spain have been impeccable.
25:43The final leg of my journey will take me to Cartagena, nearly 300 miles away and once a very important
25:52Carthaginian port.
25:57Cartagena contains this memory of the Carthaginians in its name.
26:03It was founded as Cat Hadasht, the new Carthage, and that's essentially what we're still calling it today.
26:13It was such an important power base for the Carthaginians and there were silver mines nearby.
26:19That silver was really important for them to be able to pay their armies.
26:23So this is taking me into the heart of the clash between the Carthaginians and the Romans.
26:30The Carthaginian Empire centered in North Africa had long been a thorn in the side of the Romans with both
26:37powers vying for dominance in the western Mediterranean.
26:41The Romans needed to take Cartagena if they were to control the Iberian Peninsula.
26:54Arriving into the city, I can see why Hannibal's brother Hadribal chose to build a stronghold here in the third
27:01century BCE.
27:02It's surrounded by hills, making it easy to defend.
27:10But the main attraction is its natural harbour with deep water.
27:17Carthaginian ships would have docked here to offload men and supplies for the battles with the Romans.
27:25But the port was also an important node in their vast network of trade routes criss-crossing the Mediterranean.
27:33This was a well-established trading empire started by the forerunners of the Carthaginians, the Phoenicians,
27:41who came from the area we know today as Lebanon.
27:50I've come to the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology to learn how trade across the Mediterranean was the lifeblood of
27:59these three ancient empires.
28:03Everything on display here was recovered from exploration and excavations carried out underwater.
28:17Rocio Castillo will be my guide.
28:39Rocio Castillo will be my guide.
28:40What's the most ancient shipwreck in the museum?
28:42In the museum?
28:43Yeah.
28:44Yeah.
28:44One of the oldest in the Mediterranean.
28:47Yeah.
28:47That's incredible.
28:49This boat, the Mazaron One, was excavated in 1988 off the coast of Cartagena.
28:56How is it constructed?
28:57Without any metal nails.
29:00Yeah.
29:00All the wooden fishing.
29:02Do we know what kind of wood that is?
29:04Olive.
29:05So strong.
29:06Yes, very strong to fish, all the wood.
29:08And what about the planks?
29:10The planks are pine, thrown at the same time flexible to make for the boat.
29:16Yeah.
29:17What cargo is in this boat?
29:20We don't know in this case because we found only these small remains.
29:24Okay.
29:25And what about a boat of this size?
29:27Because it's a boat rather than a ship.
29:29I mean, do you think this is travelling large distances in the Mediterranean or do you think it's plying coastal
29:35trade?
29:35The bottom is very flat.
29:37Right.
29:37And for this reason, most people think that this boat was for local sailing.
29:44Yeah.
29:46When Rome was a mere settlement on the Italian peninsula centuries before it rose to dominance, the Phoenicians were a
29:55maritime superpower.
29:58Their trade networks reached from the eastern to the western Mediterranean and then into the Atlantic as far as Britain.
30:06And they were the traders who founded Carthage.
30:13This is a very, very important Phoenician shipwreck because of his cargo.
30:19Is it African elephant ivory, do you know?
30:21Yeah.
30:22Here you can see only 13.
30:23But in the last excavation, 2007 and 2011, the people found another 54 elephantas.
30:33All from the same ship?
30:34Yes, yes, yes.
30:35Wow.
30:36How old are these tasks?
30:38Two thousand seven hundred years.
30:41It's really ancient writing.
30:43Yeah.
30:44What does it say?
30:46Most of them are in relation with the people who made the trade.
30:51So it's almost just like a commercial aphorism.
30:55So this one is your humble servant.
30:57Yes.
30:58Yeah.
30:58It's almost like a letter on an elephant task.
31:01Yeah.
31:02And what have we got here?
31:03Is this from the same shipwreck?
31:05Yes.
31:05Looks like an altar.
31:07An altar.
31:07Yes.
31:09Here we have this kind of stone anchor.
31:12That's an anchor?
31:13Yes.
31:14Oh.
31:14We are very common.
31:15Yeah.
31:16Yeah.
31:16So is this typical Carthaginian pottery?
31:19Yeah.
31:20This pottery is...
31:21Where's this pottery from?
31:21Greece pottery.
31:23Oh, okay.
31:23Right.
31:24Yeah.
31:24The Phoenician people are right here.
31:27Yeah.
31:27Bring us the pottery.
31:29Yes.
31:30Yeah.
31:30The coins.
31:32And trading in fluids as well.
31:34What would have been carried in these jars?
31:36It could be wine or fish.
31:39Something about a pottery style, how they knew it was definitely Phoenician pottery.
31:44So it's something to do with the style of the handles?
31:47The handle.
31:48Look, this handle.
31:49Yeah.
31:49Long handle.
31:50Yeah.
31:50And the other one are smaller, round.
31:53Oh, like ears.
31:55It is.
31:55Yeah.
31:56So that's typically Phoenician.
31:58Yeah.
31:58Yes, that definitely looks like little ears.
32:02In 209 BCE, the 27-year-old Roman general Scipio was spearheading the offensive against the
32:10Carthaginians in Iberia, and he attacked and captured the important port and stronghold
32:16of Cartagena.
32:17Within three years, the Carthaginians would be routed from the whole peninsula.
32:23So is this from a Roman cargo?
32:27It's just outside of the Cartagena harbour, and there we found a suret.
32:33It came from the south of Italy, this kind of pottery, tableware pottery.
32:39Yes, yeah.
32:41Do we know from the cargo whether it was leaving Cartagena or coming in?
32:45Coming in.
32:46Coming in.
32:47And nearly made it.
32:48Yeah.
32:49It was within sight of Cartagena.
32:51Yes.
32:51It's a tragedy from 2,200 years ago, but it just gives you this incredible time capsule
33:01and knowledge about the trade that was happening.
33:04Yes, the trade.
33:04Because we have the written documentation, which gives us some ideas.
33:09But here you've got the actual physical objects.
33:13Yes.
33:13And then you can do all this scientific analysis.
33:16Yes.
33:16And find out exactly where everything's coming from.
33:19Yes.
33:19And understand this so much better.
33:21It's incredible.
33:22It is brilliant.
33:23So the Romans are really inheriting that trading network of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians.
33:29Yes.
33:30They're the inheritors of that.
33:32Yes.
33:32They keep going to the same places.
33:34When you sail with the wine, it's always the same.
33:39Yes.
33:39It's the same route.
33:41The same routes.
33:42Yes.
33:43This is lovely.
33:44I think it's really nice to see that construction.
33:46And this is proper with the lead protection.
33:49Oh, really?
33:49Yes.
33:50Yeah.
33:51To avoid the...
33:53Gribbles.
33:54Yes.
33:55Yes.
33:56Very important.
33:57You don't want them boring into your boat.
33:59The area around Cartagena was rich in resources, with lead and silver mined here.
34:07And this kind of shows why the Romans were so interested in this area.
34:11We've got massive, big, monumental ingots.
34:15Different families, Italian families, came to this area to make the exploitation of the
34:20mines.
34:21Yeah, yeah.
34:21And each family has different names and different symbols.
34:26Yeah.
34:27In this case, the Aquini was the anchor and the dolphin.
34:31Oh, yeah.
34:31I can see that.
34:32Aquini.
34:32So that's the name of a Roman family that's involved in this mercantile trade.
34:37Yeah.
34:38And then this is later Roman.
34:40Yes.
34:41So we're well into the empire here.
34:43We changed the pottery.
34:44At the beginning it was the black style.
34:47Yeah.
34:47And now it's the red one.
34:49So the black glazed pottery has gone out of fashion now?
34:53Yes, it's all fashion.
34:54In the empire.
34:54It's old fashioned.
34:55Everybody likes this red stuff.
34:57And the red one is the new fashion.
34:58For oil.
34:59So what was in there?
35:00For oil.
35:01For olive oil.
35:02Yeah.
35:02In this period, Hispania pay taxes to run through oil.
35:09They pay taxes through oil.
35:11Yes.
35:11We call the oil like the green gold.
35:15So this Roman cargo was headed out?
35:18Yes.
35:18Yeah.
35:19So there must have been people here who were becoming very rich through this trade,
35:24especially through the mining industry.
35:26From the mining.
35:26But then also, actually, a lot of this wealth is headed to the center of the empire.
35:32Yeah.
35:32So the taxes are being collected, the wealth is being extracted,
35:36and it's all being funneled back to Rome.
35:39Yeah.
35:39Yes.
35:40Thank you so much for showing me around.
35:45Rossio has shown me how maritime trade was fundamental to the wealth and power
35:50of both the Carthaginians and the Romans.
35:54But only one of these civilizations would triumph in the end.
36:00In 146 BCE, another Scipio, the adoptive grandson of the one who took Cartagena,
36:07defeated the Carthaginians at Carthage in North Africa.
36:13Now the entire Carthaginian trading empire and the wealth it generated was Rome's.
36:25I've one more excursion on my itinerary.
36:28And I've definitely saved the best until last.
36:31A Cartagena.
36:32Look at this.
36:33Fíjate.
36:41Still in Cartagena, I'm off to visit a museum with a very large exhibit.
36:48Although looking at the entrance, you wouldn't think there was much here.
36:55As soon as I enter, there's something right up my street.
36:59This is getting very exciting, like an archaeological corridor to walk down.
37:04I'm in the Roman Theatre Museum.
37:09But this theatre's existence was actually unknown until about 35 years ago.
37:15Since then, excavations have turned up a wealth of stunning and informative artefacts.
37:21And they're all here on display.
37:26Those three cylindrical altars represent the Capitoline triad, the most important gods of Rome.
37:34You've got the owl for Minerva, the eagle for Jupiter, and the peacock for Juno.
37:41There are just so many layers of history here.
37:44This is a floor from the 2nd century BCE, before the theatre was even built.
37:51And then much, much later, two millennia later, it becomes part of a 19th century chapel.
38:01And then here we've got medieval archaeology.
38:04These enormous blocks date to the Islamic period.
38:07And here's Elena.
38:09¿Qué tal? ¿Cómo estamos?
38:12Elena Ruiz Valeros is here to meet me.
38:15Bienvenida.
38:18And that large exhibit, Cartagena's spectacular Roman theatre itself.
38:24Look at that.
38:26This is a moment of wow.
38:28Ah, amazing.
38:32The 6,000 capacity theatre is situated on one of the highest parts of the city.
38:40But it was only found when archaeologists were exploring the ruins of the Cathedral of Santa Maria La Vieja,
38:48which had been built over it in the 13th century.
38:54Elena, you dug here, then, in the 1990s.
39:20And when was the theatre originally built?
39:25El teatro se construye entre el año 5 al año 1, antes de Cristo.
39:31Sabemos que ya estaba inaugurado.
39:33Porque estaban los altares dedicados, por ejemplo, a Cayo César.
39:38Y, bueno, este que es el mayor monumento que se crea en la ciudad.
39:45After Scipio's capture of Cartagena, the city would be thoroughly Romanised.
39:53Called Carthardasht by the Carthaginians, the Romans knew it as Carthago Nova, New Carthage.
40:00The Emperor Augustus invested heavily in the city.
40:03As well as a theatre, other civic buildings were built to match those in Tarragona.
40:09Did Tarragona remain the most important city in Iberia?
40:14Or is Cartagena rising to that status?
40:18Yo, personalmente, pienso que en época romano-republica,
40:23incluido Augusto, esta ciudad tiene más valor para Roma,
40:29porque es la ciudad que conquistó Scipión.
40:33Scipio es tan joven, un general brillante,
40:38pero se levanta de poder muy, muy rápido.
40:43Para Roma, conquistar Cartagena era quitarle a los cartagineses
40:50las minas de plata, el puerto y todo.
40:54Una vez que Roma consigue conquistar Cartagena,
40:58se abre todo un proceso de conquista de la península ibérica.
41:03Lo dice Scipión en su discurso, su arena a los soldados.
41:06Necesitamos conquistar esta ciudad porque con esto le quitamos al enemigo todo.
41:12Y Scipión vuelve gloriosa a Roma,
41:15y por eso es Scipión el africano.
41:19Pero yo creo que tenía que haber sido el hispano.
41:23La historia aquí en Cartagena
41:26realmente encapsula esta historia de la expansión romana
41:32y creando este gran emperiezo
41:35que, en el final,
41:37toma todo el península Iberiana, también el norte de África,
41:41y también todo el mediterráneo mediterráneo.
41:44¿Crees que se ha llegado demasiado grande?
41:46Sí, después de tanta conquista,
41:49es lo que pasó, que a veces es ingobernable
41:52tantas provincias, tanto imperio.
41:55Y ellos, de todas maneras,
41:57eran bastante permisivos, quiero decir.
42:02En esta ciudad
42:03tenemos una colección epigráfica maravillosa.
42:06Sabemos las gentes que vivieron aquí, muchos, ¿no?
42:10Y muchos eran libertos, muchos eran de origen oriental.
42:14Había una mezcla de indígenas,
42:18de fenicios o irios o lo que sea,
42:20que habían estado por aquí, algún griego.
42:22Entonces, sí que hay, por un lado,
42:24que eso cada vez se estudia más, ¿no?
42:26Cómo Roma se integra
42:28y cómo las sociedades indígenas se integran
42:30en esta nueva sociedad.
42:32Y, desde luego, claro,
42:34aquello se desbordó, eso,
42:36junto a la corrupción.
42:38Pues las poblaciones cada vez estaban más a disgusto.
42:41Y los que vivían allí ya habían nacido allí,
42:43ya no sentían a Roma tan profundamente, ¿no?
42:49Y luego, por el siglo V,
42:51se empieza a caer aquí en el occidente.
42:53¿Cómo termina el periodo romano aquí en Cartagena?
42:58Aquí, en concreto, entre el siglo II y III,
43:01ya empieza cierta crisis.
43:04Y hay un declive en que, de pronto,
43:07lo que tenemos es la llegada de los bizantinos,
43:09que hay ungüentarios de Siria,
43:12vino de Gaza...
43:15Vemos otra vez como la ciudad conectada comercialmente
43:20con todo el Mediterráneo, aceite del norte de África.
43:23Y sí que aquí empieza otra vez otro declive
43:27con el conflicto entre bizantinos y visigolos.
43:32Ya no está tan organizado.
43:33Pero en época romana la ciudad es el eje vertebrador
43:36de todo el territorio, ¿no?
43:39Y esto pues se diluye.
43:41Ahí es donde ves una transición,
43:44un cambio, ¿no?
43:45Y esto es importante.
43:49El legado de los Carthaginianos y Romanos
43:51todavía está aquí.
43:54Cartagena es una ciudad maritana importante.
43:57La ejército mediterránea de la nave española
44:00usa como su base principal.
44:03También maneja un gran volumen de combustible
44:06y su destino regular para los aeropuertos.
44:11Antes de irme, hay otra conexión.
44:15Un viaje a la panorámica de la montaña
44:17que me llevará a la mayor parte de la ciudad.
44:21Estoy volviendo a Cartagena.
44:24Estoy volviendo a Cartagena.
44:25Estoy volviendo a la portada.
44:28¡Oh!
44:31Está bien.
44:35La networks de la carretera de Italia,
44:37Francia y España
44:38me han llevado en un par de semanas
44:41a mil años de historia de Roman.
44:45Finalmente llegando a un endo aquí en España
44:47donde el Empire romano
44:49enfrentó su gran rival en el occidente.
44:55Este es un lugar muy épico
44:58para terminar mi épico viaje.
45:01seguido la expansión de Roma,
45:06construyendo su imperio territorial
45:07a través de miedo y favor.
45:11Es una historia increíble.
45:14resucitada a través de los años.
45:16Creo que nos dice mucho
45:17sobre quién somos hoy.
45:20No solo en Europa,
45:21pero en Asia
45:23y, por supuesto,
45:24en África también.
45:25en África también.
45:45y vemos el romano theater.
45:48También vemos
45:50iglesias,
45:51y esas iglesias
45:52realmente son
45:53lo que el romano
45:55se convirtió en.
45:57Romanitas
45:58becomes Christianitas.
46:27en África
46:30en África
46:36en África
46:36en África
46:36en África
46:37en África
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