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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
00:221300 miles through Italy France and Spain to discover its origins and the secrets of its
00:30success I'll be exploring some well-known Roman sites this is where you can hear Pompeii and some
00:38unfamiliar ones there is nobody here from the massive it's curved yeah to the miniature it's
00:47like a fourth century Barbie doll I want to know how a single city comes to control such a vast
00:53territory experts from around the world will help me bring to life Roman culture the sands of Capua
01:01become the jungles of India and provide insights into why this Empire was so successful who said
01:08the time machine does not exist we got it in this episode I follow the original Roman
01:17road north to Palma and Turin hello so this is absolutely beautiful this Roman gateway and then
01:32I cross the Alps to the city they call the Rome of France
01:50I want to go to Palma
01:52I want to go to Palma and Turin hello so this is a war
01:54so that I say this is a war
02:03because there is a war
02:04I believe that
02:05it
02:06I will
02:08I believe
02:09I believe
02:09I believe
02:10I believe
02:11I believe
02:32I'm travelling north on this train journey, firstly going across the Apennines with lots
02:38of tunnels, and then now we've reached the northern Italian plain, it's suddenly very,
02:42very flat. Now the Romans really wanted to get hold of this land, this was a large area
02:49of very fertile, very agriculturally productive land, they really wanted it. So they build roads,
02:57this is how they conquer Italy, we've seen that with the Via Appia pushing to the south,
03:03now they're going to build roads to the north. So in the 3rd century BCE they start by building
03:10this road, the Via Flaminia, north through the Apennines, reaching a colony which will be
03:16Ariminum, Rimini. And then this road which just tracks along the northern border of the
03:24Apennines is the Via Emilia. And along this road they will be seeding colonies, and these
03:31colonies have still got names which go back to the Romans. So there's a colony called
03:37Bononia that becomes Bologna, Mutina, Modena, Regium, Regia Emilia, Parma, still Parma, Placentia
03:47becomes Piacenza. And they're pushing, pushing, pushing further and further northwards.
03:55Like all conquerors, the Romans were after territory, resources to plunder, and strategic
04:02towns to fortify as bases for the further expansion of their empire.
04:08Parma's an interesting name in itself. It seems to have been an Etruscan name which was then
04:12adopted by the Romans, which obviously suggests there was an Etruscan settlement there before
04:17the Roman colony. And it's thought to mean, or relate to, a round shield, the kind of shields
04:24that the Etruscans had in this area. Or perhaps to the fact that Parma was a metaphorical shield
04:31against the Gauls to the north. Right, where are we now? This is Parma. Yes, we've been
04:41through Regia Emilia. We're at Parma.
04:58Ten minutes from the station is Piazza Garibaldi. Below this modern town square lies the ancient
05:07Roman Forum. The Forum was a constant feature of Roman cities forming the legal, administrative
05:17and religious centre. Surrounded by impressive buildings, it was symbolic of the power and
05:23sophistication of Roman civilisation. Local archaeologist Marco Padini has arranged special
05:31access to guide me through Parma's hidden ancient past. Marco. Hi. Nice to meet you. Buongiorno.
05:41And to Chile? Yes? Nice to meet you. Buongiorno. So the square today respects the square in Roman times then?
05:48A great part of it corresponds to the ancient form, yes. Yeah. So, yeah, we have to get some
05:54helmets now. We have to be very careful here. This underground area has been closed off to the public
06:01for the last 20 years. So, I'll pass and be careful here. Okay.
06:11So... What is this place? This was a hotel that was built in around 1928, underground.
06:21An underground hotel? Yeah. Okay. Mosaic. Mosaic floor. Oh, look at that.
06:31When they built the hotel, the underground hotel, they found a mosaic. Yeah. And there was this
06:41beautiful centaur with a vase of cantars for the wine. And since it was so beautiful,
06:47they decided to cut it and put in the museum in 1928. Yeah, yeah. So that's where this piece of
06:53mosaic
06:53was lifted from in 1928. Exactly.
06:56When was Parma founded as a Roman settlement? It was founded in 183 BC.
07:04Only Piacenza, which is the end point of the Via Emilia, was founded earlier in 218. But then Hannibal
07:14came and, yeah, it was a great battle near Piacenza. And so there was a very difficult moment for
07:22the Roman Empire because Hannibal stayed here for more than 10 years.
07:26So when he was finally defeated? He was finally defeated at the end of the third century BC,
07:33so 201. Yeah. If you want, now we can go to the Roman Bridge, another very,
07:40very important excavation which was done in 2010. Oh, lovely. Yes, I'd love to see that.
07:46Yeah. Just five minutes' walk from the Old Forum is the River Parma that divides the city and once
07:56proved a fearsome obstacle to Roman ambitions. Our walk takes us along a familiar route.
08:07So this road, that is the original route of the Via Emilia? That is the Via Emilia? Yeah,
08:12this is, it's still called the Via Emilia. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. Actually, all the lines,
08:19the train line, follow the Via Emilia. I thought I must have been tracking along with it because
08:25I'm passing through all the towns which were originally Roman colonies. We came through Bologna,
08:31Reggio Emilia, and if I were to carry on, I'd end up in... In Fidenza and then Piacenza,
08:37which is the end of the Via Emilia. In 2010, work began here to build
08:42a multi-storey car park. And what they found may have been the single most significant section
08:49of the Via Emilia here, where the road crosses the river.
08:56Oh! Yeah, exactly. Amazing.
08:59Yeah. Actually, we see the medieval phase probably in the 12th century at this moment.
09:07And this has been excavated right down to the footings down there. I mean,
09:11could it be that those footings are Roman? Exactly.
09:14This bridge dates to the reign of Emperor Augustus in the 1st century CE.
09:20The Romans perfected arch bridges, built in stone and concrete, crucial for moving goods and troops
09:28around the empire. The bridge was built at a place where travellers would have previously waded
09:34across the river over a ford. Near this ford, there was probably some sacred area,
09:41a cultural area, because many pits were found, many metal elements, like 3,000 coins were found.
09:53And you can see all these pieces, these items that are exposed in the showcases.
09:59Where are the showcases? Here. We're going to see them here.
10:03It seems that locals crossing the ford may have been hoping for divine protection.
10:08Oh, wow. Oh, this is lovely. Yeah.
10:11You can still see the coins stuck in the... In the mortar. Yeah.
10:17Wow. The main hypothesis that there was probably a sacred area or a temple in some way or a shrine
10:27connected to this passing, to this crossing point. Yeah.
10:31Yeah. And you see, there are many metal elements. It's a gift probably to the gods.
10:39Isn't that interesting? I mean, we see this right across Europe, don't we? We see, we see this kind of
10:43offerings in watery places. Yeah. In the Iron Age. Yeah.
10:47Exactly. The last coin found was around the third century and that they come from all the Mediterranean
10:54area. Really? Yeah. Yeah.
10:57There are some coins that come from the Ibiza Island in Spain.
11:04Yeah. Yeah. Is that a little lion's claw?
11:08Probably for a table in there. Yeah. Yeah.
11:12I love this. I love this museum in an unexpected place under the bridge.
11:19Oh, amphoree. I didn't even see those down there. Yeah.
11:26The cities and towns along the ancient Roman road network are rich in archaeology.
11:33Every modern building project reveals more ancient history.
11:38I've just over an hour before my next train journey.
11:42And Francesca suggested I make a quick visit to Palmer's archaeology museum
11:48to see what else has been unearthed here.
11:52Pilota Park is the city's historic centre, home to a grand palace and several other museums.
12:00In the courtyard here, there seems to be a philosophical message written on the wall.
12:06What does it say? It's in English.
12:08Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future.
12:19I like that and it's very apt for my journey because I am here in the present learning about the
12:28past
12:29and you're watching this in my future.
12:34The museum has a vast collection of artefacts dating from the Bronze Age right through to the 19th century.
12:42A whole floor dedicated to the Roman era features an array of exhibits from Palmer's Forum.
12:50I'm hoping to find the mosaic that was removed from the floor of the underground hotel.
13:06So this is the missing mosaic
13:11from the underground hotel.
13:17So I've seen the edge where it was cut and now I'm seeing the whole thing.
13:26He's great. What a fantastic image for a dining room floor.
13:30A centaur balancing a jug of wine on his head.
13:39This mosaic provides a glimpse of the wealth and sophistication of Roman society in Palma.
13:46But the museum here holds a further extraordinary artefact.
13:52It's a rare written record found in the ancient town of Valleja, 40 miles south-west of Palma,
14:00and it offers a far more detailed picture of Roman life.
14:06It is a massive inscription. Look at it. It's completely covered in letters on bronze.
14:13In fact, it's the biggest inscription from the Roman world.
14:18There's some 40,000 letters engraved on this piece of bronze.
14:24And what it is, is a record of a loan. A loan from the Emperor Trajan to the people of
14:33the town of Valleja and the surrounding region,
14:37which was hard hit. They were really struggling.
14:40And so he gave them a loan and they are going to have to pay back interest, but a small
14:45amount of interest.
14:46And actually that interest is going to be used also to support the people in this region, particularly orphans.
14:53And what we've got here is just an incredible record of everything in this region.
15:01All the towns and villages that were given pots of money in this big loan.
15:09So it's almost like a census as well. It contains a lot of information.
15:15And this was discovered by a farmer who knew it was bronze, folded it up,
15:24and presumably he was going to sell it to be melted down.
15:28But the local priest got to have a look at it. And of course, he's a priest, so he can
15:32speak Latin.
15:33And he realises that this is a really, really, really important inscription.
15:39And in fact, this kicks off, then, the excavation of the lost town of Valleja,
15:45which had been destroyed in a mudslide in the middle of the first millennium.
15:51And there were many, many more treasures to be found.
16:04What a beautiful bronze of a young woman. And it's possible that we even know her name,
16:11because we know that somebody called Barbia Basila gave money to the Forum in Valleja to build a new portico
16:20along the side. And this could be her. Looking at her hairstyle with this hairband,
16:28that gives us a rough date as well, because this was the fashion in the first century BCE.
16:35It's amazing to read the inscriptions, to be able to read words from 2000 years ago.
16:41But I think it's even better to come face-to-face with a Roman.
17:15MUSIC PLAYS
17:16towards Augusta Torinorum, more commonly known today as Turin.
17:23There, I'm hoping to find out how the Roman population was kept satisfied,
17:28as the satirical poet Juvenal said, in a rather deprecating fashion,
17:33that the Roman population could be kept happy with bread and circuses.
17:38I've seen the circus at Capua, and now I'm going to explore the meaning of bread
17:45in the Roman world as I head towards Turin.
18:02Turin was an important military base for the Romans in the time of Julius Caesar,
18:07when he had his sights set on the conquest of Gaul.
18:11The town sits on the mighty Po River, just ten miles from the Alps,
18:16with Gaul on the other side of the mountains.
18:19During the reign of the first emperor Augustus, Turin was re-founded as a Roman colony.
18:27And yet, apart from the classic grid layout of its streets, Rome's barely visible here.
18:33That's because, much later, in the 16th century,
18:37the ruling Duke Emanuele Filibert rebuilt Turin in the Baroque style.
18:48Buongiorno. Buongiorno.
18:52Ooh.
18:55So many sweets and chocolates.
18:58And all so beautifully packaged.
19:01The Duke was also like a real-life Willy Wonka,
19:05introducing his subjects to the cocoa bean from the Americas.
19:09And I've got five minutes before the museum opens.
19:12Nocciolotto 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, that, that, that, that.
19:32What's that one?
19:33That's got nuts in it.
19:35I know you've got what's that one.
19:37They're all so beautiful.
19:39They're like little jewels.
19:40That's a very nice little bag of chocolates.
19:47That's 21 euros and 70 cents.
19:49Lovely.
19:55Fantastic.
19:56Grazie mille.
19:58Arrivederci.
20:07Travel gifts sorted are 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,
20:46and not just because of what it contains,
20:48but because of what it is.
20:49Because this building's actually the original Roman Decumanus gate
20:55into Turin, or I should say Augusta Turinorum,
20:59as it was originally founded.
21:01And this series of illustrations are brilliant,
21:03because you can see how the two towers,
21:06the two octagonal towers,
21:07are part of that original Roman gate.
21:09And then the building evolves so much over the centuries.
21:14But all the way through,
21:16those 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,
21:25the excavations inside this courtyard area
21:28have been laid bare and then preserved under a glass floor
21:32so I can actually walk over the ancient Roman cobbles.
21:51So you can walk up inside this tower.
21:53I'm walking on an 18th-century staircase,
21:56but then I can step into this space.
21:59And here we've got the original wall of the Roman tower
22:04of Augusta Turinorum.
22:07Isn't that incredible?
22:08So this is part of that gateway,
22:10the gatehouse into the old Roman city.
22:14And I just can't believe it's still standing
22:16and it's still part of this building.
22:22Over the centuries, the building was extended
22:25and took on many forms.
22:28After the fall of the Western Roman Empire,
22:30it was still a defensive stronghold.
22:34It was enlarged into a castle before becoming a palace.
22:42The current building has got four towers.
22:44The original Roman one only had two.
22:46And now I'm looking across
22:48at 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
22:58and it has really just accumulated over time.
23:02There's been so many different phases
23:04from the Roman through the medieval
23:06right through to the 19th and 20th centuries
23:09when it became the Civic Museum.
23:11But sometimes it's great just to pause
23:13and look for archaeological clues
23:15and try to work out how old something is.
23:19Sometimes it's just about feel.
23:21And I think if I feel these bricks,
23:23I can work out that actually
23:26they were laid in 1884.
23:29It requires a lot of experience and expertise
23:31to do something like that.
23:43As their territory expanded,
23:45the Romans had to feed
23:47their ever-increasing population.
23:51I'm meeting up with archaeologist Farrell Monaco.
23:57She's been sifting through the evidence
23:59with her investigation
24:00into the staple ingredient of the Roman diet.
24:08So, I've been learning a lot about Roman life,
24:12but I want to kind of immerse myself in it a bit more.
24:15As a Roman, how important was bread?
24:17I think it was incredibly important.
24:19If we look at archaeological evidence,
24:21such as bakery counts, for example,
24:24in Rome, we have upward of 250 Roman bakeries
24:29were in place, according to the regional catalogs.
24:32In Pompeii, we have 35,
24:33and there's still a quarter of that site
24:35that remains unexcavated.
24:36So, this shows us clearly
24:38that bread was the backbone of the Roman diet.
24:41But part of my mission
24:42is to show that it isn't just
24:44about carbohydrates and calories.
24:46It's so much more complex
24:48and beautiful than that.
24:49Bread is very symbolic in the Roman world.
24:52It plays a substantial role
24:53in the religious sphere as well.
24:56Yeah.
24:56I mean, it's interesting, isn't it?
24:57Walking around Pompeii
24:58and seeing the bakeries,
24:59and then it's almost as though
25:01there's one on every insula.
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.
25:08You just turn a corner,
25:08and there it is again.
25:09Yeah.
25:10And were people making bread at home,
25:12or was everybody going out
25:14and buying it from these bakeries on the street?
25:17They were making bread at home,
25:18but they were also buying bread
25:20in these commercial bakeries.
25:21And this is because approximately 50% of households
25:25wouldn't have cooking facilities.
25:27Okay.
25:27So, they would eat out at the Tabernay,
25:30or they would buy their bread at bakeries.
25:33Isn't that interesting?
25:34Because I think, you know,
25:35today when we see a bit of a shift
25:36towards less home cooking,
25:39and more going out to eat,
25:40or getting other people to cook your food for you.
25:43We think this is something that hasn't happened before,
25:45but 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,
25:51and you come back home,
25:51and you go to bed.
25:52And to see Turin's Roman agricultural past,
25:56you 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,
26:02because the bread forms that are on these shelves
26:04haven't changed in millennia.
26:06Really?
26:06In 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,
26:14because you think with globalisation
26:16that bread's going to become standard everywhere,
26:19but it's not.
26:19No.
26:20That's the beauty of Italy,
26:21is regional breads have stayed relatively unchanged.
26:25Yeah.
26:27Over 100 years, it's gotten,
26:30you know, since the war
26:31and since the railway was put in,
26:33things have changed a little bit
26:34because people move back and forth.
26:36Yeah.
26:36But Italy is a bastion of bread culture
26:39that has been unchanged
26:40for centuries and millennia.
26:43So this particular loaf here,
26:45this is called paninero,
26:47or black bread.
26:49Black bread, yeah.
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,
26:57we're going to go,
26:58we'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.
27:02So go ahead and break it.
27:03And then we are going to have it
27:04with a little bit of olive oil.
27:06You could also have this
27:07with a robust red wine,
27:10like a Yannickle.
27:11I'm going to break off a chunk as well.
27:13Bread is my carbohydrate of choice.
27:15Hmm.
27:16Um, you know, along with porridge,
27:19it's been what we have been eating
27:22since 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
27:29to a bakery down the road
27:31here in Turin
27:31and buy bread,
27:34which is basically
27:36the same as the bread
27:38that the Romans would have been eating.
27:39I think,
27:39I think that's really interesting.
27:40Yeah.
27:41Where are you going next
27:42on your travels?
27:43I'm headed to Rome next
27:45to do some research
27:47into the Eucharist.
27:49So now I'm going to start looking
27:51at the representation
27:52of these forms
27:54in early Christian contexts,
27:57the feeding of the 5,000,
27:58for example,
27:59and how they're being used
28:01to portray something sacred,
28:03much in the same way
28:04as they did
28:05in a pagan atmosphere.
28:07But this time,
28:08they're, you know,
28:08Christian in nature.
28:09That is fascinating
28:10because, of course,
28:11Christianity is nothing
28:12if not a Roman religion.
28:14Yes.
28:14Yeah, exactly.
28:16What an enthralling
28:18first day in Turin,
28:20discovering more
28:21about its history
28:22and ancient cuisine.
28:24Tomorrow,
28:25I'm going to find out
28:26about the newest method
28:27of dating Roman cities,
28:29and I'm hoping
28:31to find a famous
28:32movie landmark.
28:45The ancient Romans,
28:46like the Greeks before them,
28:48were stargazers.
28:49They named the stars
28:51and planets
28:52after their deities.
28:56And their understanding
28:57of astronomy
28:58helped them
28:59in navigation,
29:00farming,
29:01predicting the seasons,
29:03and marking time.
29:06Their astronomical observations
29:08fed into the development
29:09of the calendar.
29:12They used the stars
29:13and the sun
29:14to determine directions
29:16and to lay out
29:17their towns.
29:19Two millennia on,
29:21this ancient knowledge
29:22of the heavens
29:23helped to solve
29:24one of archaeology's
29:25great riddles,
29:27right here in Turin.
29:29There's no record
29:31of the actual date
29:33of the foundation
29:34of Turin.
29:35But astrophysicist
29:37Mireia Teresa Crosta
29:39and archaeologist
29:41Sandro Caranzano
29:42wondered
29:43if the answer
29:44lay in the stars.
29:45This is absolutely
29:47beautiful,
29:47this Roman gateway.
29:49Shall we walk down to it?
29:50Yeah, sure.
29:51And are we walking
29:52on one of the principal
29:53Roman roads
29:54of the city here?
29:55Yes.
29:55The archaeologists
29:56can tell
29:57better than me.
29:58Yeah, let's talk
29:59about this road.
30:00Originally,
30:00it was the Cardo,
30:02which was the main
30:04city road
30:05running south to north.
30:06Okay.
30:07So they rebuilt
30:07the pavement
30:08because, you know,
30:09it's not exactly
30:11the original one,
30:12but it was very similar.
30:13Yeah, yeah.
30:13It's stones and,
30:15you know,
30:16this is the north gate
30:17of the city.
30:17And the whole city
30:18is laid out on a grid
30:20like most Roman cities.
30:22Roman love very much,
30:24geometry love very much.
30:25Yeah, yeah.
30:26The Romans
30:27used the sun
30:28and stars
30:29to align their street grids
30:31north, south
30:31and east, west.
30:32But the exact positions
30:34of sunrise
30:35and sunset
30:36on the horizon
30:37have changed
30:38over time.
30:39Combining
30:40Sandre's
30:40archaeological research
30:42and her knowledge
30:43of astronomy,
30:44Maria Theresa
30:45believed she could
30:46precisely calculate
30:47Turin's foundation.
30:49So what did you do?
30:51How did you,
30:52how did you try
30:53to establish
30:54the date
30:54of the foundation
30:55of Turin?
30:56Okay, so
30:57just by combining
31:00archaeological findings
31:02with astronomical data
31:05Yeah.
31:05and Anisean text
31:07written by
31:08surveyors.
31:09They were in charge
31:11to dividing the land
31:13to take measurements
31:14in order to
31:15construct
31:16the ideal town
31:18which has to
31:20integrate
31:20with the cosmos.
31:22Yeah.
31:22This was fundamental
31:24because astronomy
31:25was essential
31:28in those days
31:29in the past
31:29to measure the time.
31:31So when we look
31:32at Roman towns
31:32do they all have
31:34this attention to detail
31:35when it comes to
31:36making sure
31:37that they are
31:38facing cardinal points
31:39that they have
31:40a north-south road
31:41that they have
31:42an east-west road
31:42or does it vary?
31:44Yeah.
31:44This was fundamental
31:45for them.
31:47The main axis
31:49of the town
31:50should align
31:51perfectly
31:52with east-tower
31:53to west.
31:54That perfect alignment
31:56worked for them
31:57at a particular time
31:59but if the grid
32:01were to be laid out
32:02in the same way today
32:03using astronomical markers
32:05the alignment
32:06would be slightly different.
32:08With archaeology
32:10providing a rough
32:11time frame
32:12Maria Teresa's
32:13challenge
32:13was to work out
32:14when the astronomical
32:16conditions
32:16would have perfectly
32:18matched up
32:19with the Roman grid.
32:23and that
32:24should yield
32:25a date
32:25for the origin
32:26of the city.
32:29This is fascinating
32:30because it's
32:31I think that
32:32it's an approach
32:33to archaeology
32:33where it reminds me
32:35of the difference
32:35between relative dating
32:37and absolute dating
32:38where you might say
32:40I'm dating this
32:40on the basis
32:41of a style of pottery
32:42and I think
32:43it's this particular date
32:44then you have something
32:44like radiocarbon dating
32:45and you can absolutely
32:46pin the date down
32:47and what you're doing
32:49where you're trying
32:49to reconstruct
32:50the solar year
32:51in the past
32:53seems similar to me.
32:55Because the sun
32:57is
32:58is
32:58the time keeping.
33:00So what
33:01what was the date
33:02you finally
33:03arrived at?
33:05The 30th of January
33:06no?
33:0730th of January.
33:0730th of January.
33:08Yes.
33:09In which year?
33:109th before Christ.
33:12That's absolutely
33:13wonderful.
33:13Yes.
33:14And what a fantastic
33:14example of
33:15interdisciplinary research.
33:17Exactly.
33:17You know
33:18a physicist
33:18and an archaeologist.
33:19Who'd have thought?
33:20Yes.
33:21Exactly.
33:22Thank you so much.
33:24Thank you to you.
33:25Really clever.
33:26And it also
33:27it also just tells us
33:28how clever the Romans
33:29were.
33:30That when the Romans
33:31are trying to find
33:32north
33:32they haven't got
33:33magnetic compasses.
33:34Yes.
33:35They're using the stars.
33:36Of course.
33:36They use the stars.
33:37The stars as
33:39the perfect guidance.
33:42Thank you to you.
33:44Maria, Teresa
33:45and Sandro's
33:46conclusion
33:47is that Turin
33:48was founded
33:49on the 30th of January
33:51in the year 9 BCE.
33:54They put their
33:55mathematical model
33:56to the test
33:57on the city of
33:58Aeosta.
33:59That has a foundation
34:01date written in stone
34:02and their method
34:04proved to be correct.
34:07They plan to take
34:09their expertise
34:09to other Roman cities
34:11with unknown
34:12foundation dates.
34:16Now I'm off
34:17to find out
34:18where they blew
34:19the bloody doors off.
34:21I've been exploring
34:22Turin
34:23looking for
34:24evidence of the Romans
34:26here
34:27and I've seen
34:29some fantastic
34:29upstanding Roman
34:31archaeology.
34:32This isn't Roman.
34:33It's 19th century
34:35this church
34:35of Gran Madre de Dio
34:37but it's nonetheless
34:38incredibly historical
34:40because these
34:41were the very steps
34:42that the Minis
34:43drove down
34:44in the Italian job.
35:06It's 7am
35:07and my next train
35:08journey is the first
35:10on this adventure
35:11that will take me
35:12across an international
35:13border
35:14and a spectacular
35:16physical border.
35:20Buongiorno.
35:22Una bilietto
35:23per Lyon
35:24per favore.
35:26Si.
35:31Great.
35:33Grazie.
35:38Believe it or not,
35:40Turin's Porta Sousa
35:42station
35:42opened a century
35:44and a half ago
35:45in 1868
35:47but it was modernised
35:48in 2006
35:50to take in
35:51extra regional services
35:52as the railways
35:53here expanded.
35:55It's an early start
35:56this morning
35:57so I need this.
35:58I'm going to be
35:59leaving Italy,
36:00travelling into France,
36:02catching the train
36:02to Paris.
36:03I'm not going
36:04as far as Paris,
36:05I'm getting off
36:05at Lyon
36:06and then changing
36:07trains
36:07and then
36:09by about lunchtime
36:10I should arrive
36:11into NĂźmes.
36:18This is my first time
36:20ever doing this journey
36:21and it's one
36:22I've been looking forward
36:23to for weeks.
36:25After all,
36:26what a way
36:27to see the mighty
36:28Alpine mountain range.
36:53So we're generally
36:55just travelling up
36:56river valleys
36:58through the Alps.
37:00I can see
37:00some snowy peaks
37:01up there.
37:03But occasionally
37:04of course
37:06we do have to go
37:07through mountains
37:08as well
37:08so I've just been
37:09through one tunnel.
37:10I think there's
37:11going to be another one
37:11because there are
37:12some very, very high
37:13mountains ahead
37:14of us here.
37:16And these are
37:17going to be
37:17time-honoured routes
37:18through the mountains
37:19of course
37:20because people
37:21will have
37:21always been
37:22utilising
37:23the valleys
37:26and then
37:27trying to find
37:28the lowest
37:29pass,
37:30the lowest,
37:30easiest pass
37:31to get from
37:32one side
37:33to the other.
37:39And the architecture
37:40is changing
37:41as well.
37:42It's very different
37:43from Parma
37:45and Turin.
37:52This part
37:53of northern Italy
37:54is known
37:55for its
37:55world-class wines
37:56and intense
37:57truffles.
38:00The white
38:01alba truffle
38:02was prized
38:02by the Romans
38:03who considered
38:04it a delicacy
38:05with aphrodisiac
38:06qualities.
38:11About two hours
38:12into the journey
38:13and I'm around
38:14halfway through
38:15the Alps
38:16this small
38:17Alpine village
38:18is quite a
38:19significant
38:19station.
38:21They've just
38:22stopped en route
38:22at the border
38:24town of Modan.
38:25I'm now in
38:25France.
38:26And this
38:28railway line
38:30was built
38:30in the 19th
38:31century
38:32right on the
38:32border
38:33between France
38:34and Italy
38:35and that
38:37fort
38:37was also
38:38built.
38:40The fort
38:41at Modan
38:41sits at
38:421,210 metres
38:44above sea level
38:45and it
38:46was built
38:46140 years
38:47ago to
38:48defend the
38:48entrance to
38:49the railway
38:50tunnel.
38:51Around 2,000
38:53years before
38:53that, one
38:54of the
38:55greatest human
38:56feats took
38:56place somewhere
38:57in these
38:58mountains.
39:01From the 3rd
39:03into the 2nd
39:03century BCE,
39:04there were
39:05two superpowers
39:07fighting it out
39:08for supremacy
39:09in the western
39:10Mediterranean.
39:11You had the
39:12Roman Republic
39:13to the north
39:14and the
39:16Carthaginian Empire
39:17in North Africa
39:18to the south.
39:20And eventually,
39:21of course, the
39:22Roman Republic
39:22would win.
39:23But in the
39:252nd Punic
39:26War, the
39:27Carthaginian
39:28general Hannibal
39:30invaded Italy,
39:31coming through
39:32the Alps,
39:33bringing all
39:34his forces
39:35and just
39:36fighting elephants
39:37with him.
39:39And historians
39:40have tried to
39:40work out the
39:41route that he
39:42took through
39:42the Alps
39:43and we just
39:44don't know.
39:45We don't have
39:46enough evidence
39:47from the literature
39:48of the time
39:49and the
39:50geography means
39:51that there are
39:52too many
39:53possibilities to
39:54know.
39:55French historians
39:56have come up
39:56with this
39:57incredible term
39:58Hannibalism
39:59for trying to
40:00answer an
40:01impossible question.
40:11I've now
40:12travelled 100
40:13miles from the
40:14Italian border
40:15and I'm arriving
40:16into the French
40:17city of Lyon.
40:22where I'm
40:23changing platforms
40:24to find the
40:25connecting train
40:26to NĂźmes.
40:28Now Lyon was
40:29an incredibly
40:30important Roman
40:31city.
40:31It was important
40:32before the
40:32Romans were here.
40:34Back in the
40:35Iron Age,
40:35it was a
40:36regional capital
40:37for the Gauls
40:39and it was
40:40called Lugdunum.
40:41That becomes
40:42Luon and then
40:43eventually Lyon.
40:44So we're basically
40:44using the same
40:45name 2,000 years
40:47later.
40:48And under the
40:49Romans, it
40:49was a big
40:50city, a couple
40:52of emperors
40:52were born here,
40:53Claudius and
40:54Caracola and it
40:55was a hub for
40:56Roman roads in
40:58Gaul.
40:58It's got an
40:58absolutely beautiful
40:59Roman theatre but
41:01I can't stop
41:02because I'm on my
41:03way to NĂźmes.
41:29NĂźmes is 600 miles
41:32from Rome and
41:34from Rome and
41:34and is known as
41:35the Rome of
41:36France.
41:47Once again, a key
41:49military base for
41:50Julius Caesar in his
41:51conquest of Gaul in the
41:521st century BCE, the
41:55Emperor Augustus would
41:57invest in it, turning it
41:58into a beautiful,
42:00thriving Roman city.
42:04It lay on the Via
42:06d'Amitia, a vital route
42:08for Roman troops and
42:09trade, travelling between
42:11Italy and Spain.
42:19Today, it has the best
42:21preserved amphitheatre in
42:23France.
42:24The French have named it
42:25Les Arrennes and it's
42:27still in use for a range
42:28of musical and sporting
42:30events.
42:31And this, the Maison
42:33Carre, is the best
42:34preserved Roman temple
42:36anywhere in the world.
42:38Not quite as well
42:40preserved as the Temple
42:41of Diana, which will be
42:43my first stop.
42:46And I'm pleased to see
42:48that it's still in use.
43:11It's not what you expect to
43:12find going on in a Roman
43:20temple.
43:21What an amazing backdrop
43:22for a music video.
43:32Do you speak English?
43:35A little.
43:36A little.
43:36Are you a band?
43:37Yes.
43:38Yeah.
43:39We're a dance crew.
43:41Are you...
43:42So you're filming a music
43:43video?
43:44Yes.
43:44Where can I see it?
43:45On YouTube.
43:46On YouTube?
43:47Yes.
43:47That's amazing.
43:48Why did you choose here to
43:50film?
43:51I think that out of NĂźmes,
43:53that's the best place to
43:55film that music video because
43:57that fit the best vibe of
43:59the thing we want to give.
44:01Yeah, yeah.
44:02I don't know if you're
44:03honest.
44:03The best vibe in NĂźmes.
44:05Yeah.
44:05And this Roman temple.
44:07Yes.
44:07Yeah.
44:08Yeah.
44:08Are you NĂźmoise?
44:09Yes.
44:10Yeah?
44:10Yeah?
44:10Born and bred in NĂźmes?
44:12Not born here.
44:13Yeah.
44:14But I'm living here.
44:14They're living here now.
44:15Yeah.
44:16And there's Romans
44:17everywhere in NĂźmes.
44:19There's Roman pastors
44:20everywhere and you're
44:21bringing it alive.
44:21It's absolutely brilliant.
44:23Thank you very much.
44:25See you on YouTube.
44:30The Temple of Diana
44:32may in fact not originally
44:34have been built as a temple.
44:36It was probably a library.
44:41During medieval times,
44:42it was transformed into
44:44part of a monastery,
44:45ensuring its survival.
44:49Today, it sits proudly
44:51in the Jardin du Fontaine.
44:57These gardens are beautiful.
44:59They were engineered
45:00in the 18th century
45:02by Jacques-Philippe Maréchal
45:04working for Louis XV.
45:07And there'd been
45:08some excavation here
45:10trying to get at the source
45:11of the spring water,
45:13actually in order
45:14to provide water
45:15to the city's textile industry,
45:19the dyeing industry.
45:20But then when they started
45:21to find more and more
45:22Roman remains,
45:23these assumed
45:25an importance
45:26in their own right.
45:27And Maréchal laid out
45:28these fantastic gardens,
45:30really putting all of this
45:33Roman archaeology on show.
45:35And it became famous.
45:38They're the first public gardens
45:40in Europe, apparently.
45:42And at their heart
45:43is this astonishing archaeology.
45:52Next time,
45:54I take a closer look
45:55at this most exquisitely
45:57preserved Roman temple.
45:59What a wonderful treasure
46:00to have in the city.
46:01Yeah.
46:02It's fantastic.
46:03And experience
46:04one of the most awe-inspiring
46:06monuments of the empire.
46:07And we're out
46:09into the sunshine.
46:10And I follow the Romans
46:13into Spain.
46:15This is consummate
46:17artistry.
46:21Greată§ăăă.
46:21Good see you.
46:22Yeah.
46:38Yeah.
46:49Transcription by CastingWords
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