Secrets of Ancient Empires_4of5_The First Cities
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01:00Even today, the echoes of long-lost civilizations still linger, dazzle, and intrigue us.
01:27They stand like mighty guardians of the past, a legacy of the vanished people they still represent.
01:36The Egypt of the modern world looks with pride upon the wonders of its ancient past.
01:44Dimmed by the passing centuries and the endless sands of the desert, such eternal splendors
01:50as the pyramids at Giza and the Great Sphinx are mute testaments to the greatest of Egypt's ancient history.
02:01Beaten and battered by the hot desert winds and the burning sun, echoes of these treasures still endure.
02:09But imagine what they would have looked like in their glorious heyday.
02:16Brilliantly painted in gaudy colors, they once stood like the great guardians of a proud civilization,
02:23then the greatest civilization on earth.
02:32To really comprehend the span of time over which the pharaohs ruled is a difficult task.
02:39But if we imagine all the events which have taken place since the birth of Christ right up to our own times,
02:47we would still have to add a whole new span of time stretching into the future for 1,000 years from now
02:54if we are to match the period of the pharaonic rule.
03:00A truly staggering reign of over 3,000 years of recorded time.
03:09Today we look in wonder at the pyramids of Giza and remember with awe the thousands of workers
03:16who painstakingly labored over 20 years to build them.
03:22Most of the building methods they used are similar to the techniques still used today.
03:28It is incredible to think that two million blocks of stone, some weighing over 60 tons each,
03:37were floated down the river Nile, then somehow moved into position.
03:47Nobody knows exactly how the building was carried out, but some clues suggest that gigantic earthen ramps
03:55up to half a mile long, built around the pyramid during the construction,
04:00may have been used to carry the building blocks into place.
04:07Finally, the whole of the pyramids were clad in white limestone from the top down as the ramps were removed.
04:21The sands of time have worn away most of the limestone finish, but traces still remain today.
04:29Inside the pyramid, carefully crafted to keep tomb robbers at bay,
04:34were a series of passages leading to the burial chamber itself.
04:40The great myth endures that the builders of the pyramids were all slaves.
04:46However, modern archaeology has revealed that the workers were not slaves,
04:51but skilled, paid craftsmen who lived in communities around the pyramids.
06:16Egyptian civilization can be traced through the five periods of history which it spans.
06:38Early dynastic period, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom,
06:46and finally, the Late Period.
06:50But the lifeblood which held this mighty kingdom together was the River Nile.
06:57It nourished her people and gave them the raw materials they needed to make their extraordinary achievements.
07:04The ancient Greek historian Herodotus declared that Egypt is the gift of the Nile.
07:13Every year following the monsoon rains in Central Africa, the river swells and bursts its banks.
07:21For three months annually from July until October, a period that the ancient Egyptians called the Inundation,
07:30the Nile floods the valley floor, leaving behind it a rich alluvial deposit.
07:44Although everything else for miles around is desert,
07:48the black mud is fertile enough to grow crops that support man and beet abundantly.
07:57Together with the beating sun, it was rightly perceived by the ancient Egyptians as the very source of life.
08:06In addition to the life-giving floods, the Nile itself provided a valuable source of food.
08:14Even today, fishermen can be seen plying their small boats up and down the river in search of fish,
08:20much as their forebears did in ancient times.
08:25So it is, as it was then, that the story of Egypt is inexorably linked to the life of the great river.
08:35As we might have expected, the bulk of ancient Egyptian society, which thrived along the banks of the Nile,
08:41was made up of the peasants.
08:45It was these, the lowest level of society,
08:48who scratched a living little above subsistence level in the fertile plains along the river.
09:18A middle class did exist, although still very much rooted in the agrarian system.
09:42These farmers sometimes owned their own home, which would have been modestly furnished.
09:48They might also have owned a few acres of farmland,
09:51from which they may have earned enough money to send their sons to the school for scribes at Thebes.
10:00As the annual seasons swung between flood and drought,
10:04irrigation played a fundamental part in the survival of agriculture in Egypt.
10:10Fields were laid out in squares close to irrigation channels,
10:15and water was moved from one field to another by breaching the small dikes that separated them.
10:23The earth was tilled by women, as well as men, using mattocks,
10:28and the crops that they grew consisted of oats, barley, millet, and beans.
10:36The people's diet was supplemented by what they were able to hunt,
10:40which sometimes included lions from the desert,
10:44and other wild animals that inhabited the papyrus marshes and swamps.
10:52Egyptians had devised a hinged net to catch wild birds such as the wigeon, the pintail, the wild goose, and ducks.
11:04The key to Egyptian civilization was open to the modern world
11:08when the strange text covering the walls of the temples, hieroglyphs, was finally understood,
11:16when a tablet of black basalt, known as the Rosetta Stone, was translated.
11:23The tablet contained inscriptions in three languages,
11:28hieroglyphs, which was restricted to the priests,
11:31demotic, which the people were permitted to use,
11:35and Greek.
11:37It was with their knowledge of Greek that scholars were finally able to unlock the mystery of the former two.
11:49The poor people working the fields must have gazed in awe at the cream of Egyptian society,
11:55those who frequented the royal court of the pharaohs.
12:00The royal court was made up of the heads of various administrative offices,
12:05such as the treasury, the judiciary, and the diplomatic service.
12:12Standing above these dignitaries in the social order was the vizier, or prime minister.
12:19But the great figure who ruled over all was the pharaoh,
12:28the all-powerful head of the people.
12:32The word pharaoh originally meant royal palace,
12:37and it was not until around 1580 BC that it came to refer to the ruler who lived inside.
12:46The history of these magnificent rulers can be traced to the 25 dynasties,
12:51spanning thousands of years.
13:04One thing they did have in common is that their lives were truly blessed,
13:09for they were worshipped as godlike figures.
13:14Most had their own harem and dance troupes of beautiful women
13:19who pandered to their every whim and desire.
13:34As it was believed that the divine blood of royalty should not be diluted,
13:39the pharaoh often married his own sister or half-sister.
13:45It was not unknown for him to marry his own daughter,
13:49and in one instance the pharaoh was actually a woman.
13:575,000 years after the great kings first ruled over the emergent civilization alongside the river Nile,
14:04the magnificent pharaohs have retained their power to enthrall us still.
14:12Here at the sacred pool at one of the most evocative sites,
14:17Karnak, it is possible to imagine the splendor of the ancient civilization
14:24and to marvel at the evidences of it that still survive.
14:30From the smallest amulet to the greatest of the temples,
14:34the legacy that the ancient Egyptians have left is unparalleled.
14:42One can understand how Hermes Trismegistus,
14:45writing at the time of Alexander the Great, could have said,
14:50Egypt is a copy of heaven, or rather the place where here below are mediated and projected
14:59all the operations which govern and actuate heavenly forces.
15:05Even more than that, if the whole truth be told, our land is the temple of the entire world.
15:20The ruins of the magnificent civilization of ancient Greece today lies scattered,
15:39a crumbling testimony to her former glory.
15:44Her buildings and culture were the envy of the then known world
15:48and would inspire and influence civilizations for thousands of years to come.
15:55Even today, every cornerstone of our very own democracy
15:59can find its roots in the civilization of ancient Greece.
16:07For over 2,000 years, the Acropolis has surveyed the city of Athens.
16:13The temples and sanctuaries have been stripped of some of their beautiful sculpture,
16:17their precious stones and metals, but shells of colorless stone still stand
16:23to echo her former glories.
16:27Today, Athens is the capital of a peaceful Greece, but her inhabitants are proud to remember
16:34the time when the empire of Greece was the most powerful in the world.
16:39The Agora was the market square and the heart of the Greek city.
16:44In the morning, it was a frantic hubbub of traders,
16:47desperate for the best price for their goods,
16:51foreigners looking for work, and slaves shopping for their masters.
16:56Come the afternoon, the Agora became a quiet place
17:00where citizens of all ages gathered to chat and gossip.
17:04Philosophers had the chance to test their theories on a small captive audience.
17:11The staple diet for the poorer citizens was grain, corn, figs, and olives,
17:17because they were plentiful, versatile, and cheap.
17:22Meat was relatively rare on a lower-class table,
17:25but was an everyday part of the meals in the Acropolis.
17:29The Greeks drank wine and water.
17:32The wine had a similar texture to puree,
17:35and water was added to dilute and determine its strength.
17:41The citizens of Athens at this time enjoyed a varied social life.
17:46Position in society was dependent on the number of slaves each household could afford.
17:52The elderly, the poor, and the uneducated,
17:55For a wealthy man, an invitation to a symposium, or dinner party,
18:01would be received with the greatest of pleasure.
18:04These evenings would involve an enormous meal, and, most importantly, entertainment.
18:11A bard would relate stories to the people.
18:15The elderly, the poor, and the uneducated,
18:17would be invited to a dinner party.
18:19And, most importantly, entertainment.
18:23A bard would relate stories and sing about the legends and heroes of the mysterious past.
18:30This would be followed by dancing girls,
18:33who would dance, sing, and have sex with the guests.
18:39Their wives, understandably, were excluded.
18:44Women in Greece had their relative freedom.
18:47During the days, they would take care of the household,
18:51shop at the markets with their slaves, and meet friends to gossip.
18:57But the most exciting activity of the female calendar
19:01was attending the festivals of Dionysus,
19:04god of wine, drama, and merrymaking.
19:10Here, they would proceed into the hills and drive themselves into a frenzy,
19:14dance, and sing.
19:17Men, understandably, were excluded.
19:21Everyday scenes, especially the symposiums,
19:25were a popular depiction on the vases of Athens at the time.
19:30And these have been a comprehensive way for archaeologists
19:33to find out about the lives of the ordinary person.
19:45Clothing was fairly simple, but hairstyles changed from year to year.
19:52Men wore the traditional toga,
19:55and the women wore a chiton, or underdress, and full-length coat over the top.
20:03For the men, a shorter toga would have been worn for battle.
20:11From the evidence that has been left to us,
20:13the documented history of ancient Greece
20:16begins with a legend of the Trojan War.
20:26The date of the 10-year siege is much debated,
20:30but is generally thought to have taken place around 1200 BC.
20:44We will never really know what took place
20:46between the Trojans and the Greeks 3,000 years ago.
20:51Was the fabulously beautiful Helen a real person,
20:54and the sole cause of such a devastating war?
20:59After 10 years of bitter siege,
21:02were the defenders of Troy really deceived by a ruse
21:05as simple as the infamous wooden horse?
21:08Over the long millennia,
21:10fact, fiction, and fantasy have become interwoven,
21:15so that today it is about impossible to separate the reality
21:19on which the tales are based from the mythology.
21:25The entire episode may be no more than a poetic flight of fancy.
21:30On the other hand, the siege of Troy may really have been the place
21:34where gods met men.
21:38Much of that evidence comes from Europe's most ancient literary work,
21:43Homer's masterpiece, the Iliad.
21:46Written in the 7th century BC,
21:49it throws a light upon these troubled times
21:52that were to have their bloody climax in the Trojan War,
21:55where the affairs of men collided with the games of the gods.
22:04The Iliad demonstrates a united Greece,
22:08the like of which was not seen for many hundreds of years after.
22:13But, more importantly,
22:15it shows the structure of states that existed within Greece
22:20during its days of glory.
22:26Interstate warfare was very common in ancient Greece,
22:30and in the 5th century BC,
22:33two states were becoming increasingly strong,
22:36Sparta and Athens.
22:39They were bigger than the other states,
22:41and at the beginning of the 5th century,
22:44they struck the devastating blows
22:46that drove the oppressive, tyrannical rule of the Persians out of Greece.
22:53With their newfound freedom from the Persians,
22:565th century Athens and Sparta were rich and prosperous.
23:02Art, literature, religion, and philosophy flourished.
23:06Athens and Sparta grew stronger.
23:11Athens remains especially important to the modern world
23:14because of all the institutions it formed the basis of and left to us.
23:19We all know about the magnificent buildings,
23:22the art, the poetry, and prose,
23:25but what of the theater, education, philosophy,
23:29and, most importantly, democracy?
23:34This is the theater at Epidaurus.
23:37The stage was made of wood and has not survived,
23:41but the circle, called the orchestra,
23:44where the chorus used to perform, still remains.
23:50So too do the seats.
23:53It is not too difficult to imagine the stone seats filled with people,
23:58excited about the prospect of the plays they were about to witness.
24:04Traditional Greek plays are still occasionally staged for modern audiences to enjoy.
24:11It was an occasion for all the family, even the slaves.
24:16The theater would be open for three consecutive days
24:19for selective festivals during the year.
24:23Each day, three tragedies and a comedy were performed.
24:27And judged compared with others in its genre.
24:32The audience and their cushions would stay all day
24:36and make their own minds as to which plays were the best.
24:41Because of the importance of the event,
24:43those who were too poor to afford a ticket were given one by the state.
24:50Tragedians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
24:55changed the form of the play.
24:58They introduced a new aspect known as actors.
25:04The maximum number of actors in a play was three.
25:07But three actors could play many more characters.
25:11And so the number of characters in the plays increased.
25:18Art imitated life in ancient times, just as it has done all through the ages.
25:24But none were so blatant as the satirical plays of the comedian Aristophanes.
25:33Athens was the first state to have a political system
25:37where the citizens voted for their head of state, a democracy.
25:42As with other political systems of the time, the politicians were corrupt.
25:47Policies were promised, but then the promises were broken.
25:51And with clever rhetoric, many of the public were fooled easily.
25:58Aristophanes saw through the fancy rhetoric,
26:01and he wrote plays which mocked the politicians and the government.
26:08Democracy was different then to the way it is now,
26:11but that is largely due to the fact that it was responsible for fewer citizens.
26:15An assembly was held once a week, in order for the politicians to voice their policies.
26:21Male citizens were obliged to attend,
26:25and received a small amount of money, provided they weren't late.
26:31Whatever the faults of this ancient democracy of over 2,000 years ago,
26:36it laid the foundations for the system of democracy that we have today.
26:40Ancient Greece was the home of some of the greatest philosophers
26:44and mathematicians ever to have lived.
26:48Parts of their work have survived, and are relevant to today's society.
26:54The phenomenal philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras,
26:58who bequeathed the mathematical equation,
27:01in a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the square of the right.
27:08The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
27:14Also gave us the word philosopher, meaning lover of wisdom,
27:20to describe all those whose life was dedicated to the continual search for knowledge and truth.
27:28The freedom which democracy brought to society gave rise to such schools of thought as the
27:34Sophists, the Stoics, and the ideas of philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato.
27:45Plato, writing in the 4th century BC, believed in a republic where there is equality between men
27:53and women, and every citizen is equal to every other citizen.
27:58Plato develops the idea of education in his works.
28:03He introduces higher education to his students.
28:07General education in Greece had to be paid for.
28:11Therefore, it was usually only the wealthy children who would be thoroughly educated.
28:18Girls were taught weaving, sewing, and other household skills by their mothers and servants
28:23in the house, while the boys went to school.
28:28There they learned music, reading, and writing.
28:33A far more important part of every male's education was at the gymnasium.
28:39Boys would learn to wrestle, box, run, high jump, and discus.
28:45They could bathe, relax, and talk about the things that they had learned.
28:50Even when schooling had ended, the young males still attended the gymnasium well into manhood.
28:57The best athletes from each state would then have to compete at the games.
29:03Every boy in the whole of Greece wanted to win a prize at the Olympic Games.
29:09Winning at the games was not financially rewarding.
29:13Glory was the ultimate prize.
29:15Glory was the ultimate prize.
29:18The winner had a statue made of himself, with his name and his favorite event engraved on the base.
29:29Games were an integral part of Greek society,
29:33because of their strong association with the gods.
29:36There were many different games dedicated to different gods,
29:40but the Olympic Games were the ultimate.
29:44It remains that to win at the contemporary Olympic Games is the highest sporting achievement.
29:53Mount Olympus was the home of the Greek gods,
29:57which meant that the Olympic Games were the games of the gods,
30:01and religion was taken very seriously.
30:06Zeus, patron of the Olympic Games, was the king of the gods,
30:10and his wife and sister Hera was their queen.
30:15His extended family made up the kingdom of the gods,
30:20each representing one or more aspects of society.
30:24For instance, Ares was the god of war, and Aphrodite was the goddess of love.
30:32Athens was the city of Athenae, goddess of wisdom.
30:36The Greeks believed that she had given it her name,
30:39and the Athenians worshipped her above all other gods.
30:44They largely attributed the size and power of their glorious empire to her unbridled support.
30:54None of the gods were to be ignored or favored over any of the others,
30:58but if a citizen's life was lacking in love, for example,
31:03then a special prayer or sacrifice to Aphrodite would be deemed appropriate.
31:11It is difficult for people in the modern world to imagine how fundamentally important
31:17the role of religion was in the life of the ordinary citizen.
31:23The flamboyant anthropomorphic gods, entirely plausible to the ancient Greeks,
31:29have become contemporary fairy tales and legends.
31:36Other ancient civilizations have given us literature, buildings, philosophy, pottery,
31:43and statues, but nowhere has given us such an enchanting and extensive supply.
31:51There are mountains of fantastic plays, artwork, and life that are buried for all time with the
32:00Athenian empire, but we are privileged to have enough access to their knowledge
32:06to create a wonderful picture of life in ancient Greece.
32:12Its glory lives on.
32:20So
32:29do
32:48Oh Rome, the world is yours and you its queen.
32:53Oh Rome, brightest of all the heavenly stars, mother of gods and men,
32:59we stand inside your temples and know that heaven is at hand.
33:05You made a city out of all of the world.
33:10This ancient verse from the scholar Cicero captures perfectly the inspiring spirit
33:17of a city whose culture still enthralls us more than two and a half thousand years after its inception.
33:25The history of Rome is inextricably bound with the history of the whole of Western Europe.
33:32Traces of Roman occupation still exist to fascinate and dazzle us today
33:39in places as far apart as northern Britain
33:42and North Africa.
33:45The foundations of Western civilization, its culture, and institutions are inherited from
33:51the great city-state which almost achieved what is still regarded as an ideal, a united Europe.
34:11So
34:18across the centuries the names of Caesar, Nero, Caligula, the Colosseum, Pompeii,
34:26and the Forum Romanum still capture our imagination. Their very language is rich and evocative.
34:35They conjure up visions of Rome.
34:38Every schoolchild knows the legend of the birth of Rome. Legend has it that the seven hills of
34:44Tiber was the site chosen by Romulus and Remus to form the mighty Rome in 753 BC.
34:56The twins had been raised by wild wolves but in contrast to its feral origins,
35:02the city they are supposed to have founded was to become the epitome of civilization.
35:10At the height of its mighty empire, the majority of Roman citizens must have viewed the rest of
35:16the known world as an inhospitable wasteland full of barbarians.
35:24How different their own civilized lives must have been in comparison to their
35:29spear-wielding neighbors, the Gauls and Britons.
35:37The lifestyle of the wealthy families, whose riches flowed from the conquests of the Roman
35:42armies throughout the empire, was enviable.
36:00The ancient Romans were a serious-minded and orderly people. Duty and responsibility were
36:15the backbone of society and discipline and respect for authority characterized the family unit.
36:23Their townhouses and country villas were sumptuously decorated,
36:27painted in brilliant colors with hunting and floral motifs or copies of famous paintings.
36:36Great ceilings were inlaid with gold and covered with stucco
36:40and the famous mosaic floors were works of art in themselves.
37:53Gardens flourished with roses, lilies, and violets. Fountains sprang from ornamental ponds
38:11and marble statues filled the colonnades that ran along the length of the house.
38:17The rich were also able to make elaborate preparations for their death.
38:22This magnificent mausoleum was built by Cecilia Matalla and stands to this day
38:28just off the Roman road, the Appia Antica, the Appian Way.
38:38In some wealthy houses, hot air channels beneath the floors and in the walls ensured warmth.
38:46Even in the coldest weather, the heat was provided by a furnace beneath the floor called a hypocaust.
39:16The Romans saw art not as an opportunity for expression of lofty ideas but purely for decoration
39:36and show. Always eager to Romanize that which they admired from the past,
39:43they absorbed the Greek traditions in art as they had in architecture.
39:59Silverware would have been found on the table of every self-respecting Roman household,
40:05together with beautiful colored glassware. Clothing also had a certain opulence.
40:11Jewelry in the form of cameos, bracelets, and gold necklaces adorned the garments of Roman society.
40:20Rome was a city of civilized people who were in love with the finer things of life.
40:26The Romans were unashamed in their craving for beauty in their surroundings and possessions.
40:33It is perhaps in the splendid murals of mosaics we can most appreciate Roman art at its finest,
40:40many of which have survived and are still to be found throughout the Roman Empire.
40:49The earliest mosaics were made from various sized pebbles, but these were eventually abandoned
40:56for cut cubes of marble, tile, or precious stones set in cement.
41:05Designs appropriate to the room in which the mosaic was laid were often used.
41:12Bathrooms, for example, would depict fish or octopus,
41:16whereas the entrance to the arena would show gladiators in combat.
41:46So
41:51do
42:13Family life was very important to all levels of the Roman society,
42:18and the position of the woman in maintaining the family was crucial. The wife was the constant
42:25companion and helper of her husband throughout Roman history, and in the wealthier houses,
42:31she enjoyed a great deal of freedom, spending her leisure hours away from home,
42:36chatting to friends, and frequenting the public buildings.
42:40For the young Roman who had been cared for by his mother until the age of seven,
42:45education must have been both intense and enlightening.
42:51Taken in hand by his father until the age of 16, he would have been taught how to read,
42:57write, and count before being apprenticed to learn a skill or trade.
43:03A modern-day misconception of ancient Rome has been their appalling treatment of slaves.
43:09However, the truth may be far less sensational.
43:13Slaves in these ancient times were a highly valued status symbol,
43:19for to possess no slaves at all was considered to be the depths of impoverishment.
43:25Slaves were vital to every aspect of family life, from cleaning and cooking,
43:31to taking children to school, and accompanying masters to the public baths.
43:37Slave dealers sold their wares publicly, often on a revolving stand,
43:42where each slave had a placard around his neck detailing their background.
43:46Intelligence and learning were highly valued,
43:49and a good slave was worth almost 12 times the amount of an untrained one.
43:57Rome had much to offer in the way of divertisments.
44:01For example, public games were sponsored by politicians, eager for votes.
44:07The slaves were often paid by the slaves themselves,
44:10for example, public games were sponsored by politicians, eager for votes.
44:16The theater was a popular social occasion, as was the circus, with its famous chariot races.
44:41But the most magnificent arena, home to the most brutal of spectacles, was without doubt,
45:00the Colosseum. Today, amid the hustle and bustle of modern-day Rome,
45:07the mighty Colosseum still stands.
45:31It is not hard to imagine the deafening roar of 50,000 excited spectators,
45:38jostling for position on the terraces overlooking the arena, while sailors from the imperial fleet
45:45stretched an enormous awning over the amphitheater,
45:49to protect the eager crowd from the hot Roman sun.
45:52Who can imagine the feelings of the gladiator, as he prepared to do mortal combat?
45:58After all, he had spent his life in preparation for the ultimate test,
46:04honing his body to a peak of physical fitness,
46:08ready for the day when he would stand in the mighty Colosseum in Rome.
46:14Faced by an opponent who he must kill, or be killed himself.
46:22Blood was what the spectators demanded, and blood was what they were given.
46:30And what of the thoughts of the fallen gladiator?
46:34For, if he had managed to escape death,
46:38he was at the mercy of the screaming crowd,
46:42and of the all-powerful emperor,
46:46whose downturned thumb spelt instant death.
46:50With excitement and passions running so high,
46:54it is easy to understand how rioting fans disrupted many of the tournaments.
47:00What was the reason for this?
47:04What we think of as a modern problem,
47:08is in fact an age-old dilemma,
47:12which once resulted in the amphitheater at Pompeii
47:16being closed down for a period of some ten years,
47:20until the crowds learned how to behave.
47:24Maybe they could teach some soccer fans a thing or two.
47:28By the 3rd century A.D., Rome's fortunes were in terminal decline,
47:34and her importance as a world power greatly diminished.
47:38When, eventually, the last Roman leader was deposed
47:42in 476 A.D. by the barbarians,
47:46Rome, the spiritual center of the empire,
47:50completely collapsed.
47:55Thereafter, the Dark Ages swallowed up the Romans
47:59and doused the light that had burned for over a thousand years.
48:03During the remarkable period of their supremacy,
48:07the emperors and dictators of Rome had brought their laws,
48:11their lifestyle, and their language
48:15to whole areas of Europe.
48:19Their roads spread out across Italy, France, Spain, and Britain.
48:23Their magnificent buildings are a testimony
48:27to the enormity of their achievements.
48:31Indeed, there is little doubt that Roman ideas and thinking
48:35helped to shape present-day Europe.
48:39The empire may have ceased to exist,
48:43but the unrivaled splendor of ancient Rome,
48:47the eternal city, lives on.
48:53Thanks for watching!