0:00:08 > 0:00:14Rome, 2,000 years ago, was the world's first ancient megacity.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19In a world where few towns had more than 10,000 inhabitants,
0:00:19 > 0:00:23more than a million people lived in Rome.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32It would take almost 1,800 years for any other city in the West
0:00:32 > 0:00:35to achieve the same population.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45How did they manage, without all the technologies our modern cities
0:00:45 > 0:00:50rely on, technologies of transport, communication, energy?
0:00:51 > 0:00:55How did they get enough food and drink to the population,
0:00:55 > 0:00:57how did they house them?
0:00:57 > 0:01:00How did they maintain law and order?
0:01:00 > 0:01:03How did they make this great city work?
0:01:08 > 0:01:12I'll show you how Rome surpassed all the cities that had gone before
0:01:12 > 0:01:18and rose to many of the challenges faced by megacities today.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24By taking you on a journey up ancient tower blocks...
0:01:24 > 0:01:27What I love is that this isn't just a bit of archaeology,
0:01:27 > 0:01:28it's a bit of living history.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33'..incredible infrastructure...
0:01:39 > 0:01:41'..and some very proud people.'
0:01:41 > 0:01:45MEN SHOUT IN LATIN
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Fantastico!
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Making a city of a million work in ancient conditions
0:02:03 > 0:02:06was an enormous challenge.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08But in 31 BC one man, who would become
0:02:08 > 0:02:13the Emperor Augustus, became Rome's undisputed ruler.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18His role was to maintain peace across all his imperial territories,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21but if Augustus couldn't run his capital
0:02:21 > 0:02:25he couldn't run an empire, so in rising to the challenge
0:02:25 > 0:02:30he set new standards for how a city could be organised.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40So, historians are always chucking around numbers for how many
0:02:40 > 0:02:42inhabitants there were in cities.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43How do they know?
0:02:43 > 0:02:46And, to be honest, a lot of the time they're bluffing.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49But with the case of Rome under Augustus
0:02:49 > 0:02:51we've got an amazing bit of evidence here.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56This is Augustus's own account of all his achievements.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58Augustus was obsessed with numbers -
0:02:58 > 0:03:02how many victories did he win, how many cities did he found,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05how many laws did he pass.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09And he loved counting the citizens.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15Censum populi. "I did a census of the people."
0:03:15 > 0:03:17That is of course the citizens in all the Empire.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Luckily in the case of Rome he also counted
0:03:20 > 0:03:23the number of inhabitants of the city.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Because they were very privileged citizens,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28he gave them cash handouts.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30And he says, "On no single occasion did
0:03:30 > 0:03:35"I give the money to less than 250,000 people,
0:03:35 > 0:03:40"and on one occasion I gave it to 320,000 people" -
0:03:40 > 0:03:42nearly a third of a million people.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47And that is just adult male citizens.
0:03:47 > 0:03:48Where are the women?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Where are the children? Where are the slaves?
0:03:51 > 0:03:54And where are the immigrants? It's clear you've got to multiply up.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58A million is the figure people chuck around as the population of Rome.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01To be honest, that's a minimum.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05In my view you could be talking about one and a half million people.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09It is an absolutely enormous number for antiquity.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15There had been other great capitals before Rome.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19So how was this city able to achieve what they could not?
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Perhaps the most obvious competitor should have been Athens,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28and indeed early Rome was developing at the same time.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33They both embraced one common and powerful idea.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35The citizen.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41SPQR.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Senatus Populusque Romanus, the Senate and people of Rome.
0:04:45 > 0:04:51Those were the initials of authority of the citizen body itself.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Populus Romanus, the citizens of Rome.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00In antiquity, that was their symbol of their authority and civic pride.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04It was picked up in the Renaissance, when Rome became
0:05:04 > 0:05:08an independent city, and it has continued to this day.
0:05:08 > 0:05:14The symbol of a city run by its citizens for its citizens.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22But in ancient Rome, as the population increased, this way
0:05:22 > 0:05:25of running a city-state was no longer enough
0:05:25 > 0:05:26to make the capital work.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33When Rome was founded, 753 BC,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37and probably for the next 500 years, Rome was a city-state,
0:05:37 > 0:05:43just like hundreds of city-states in the Greek world, a polis.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47A polis run by its politai, its citizens.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Rome had its cives, it was a civitas,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53and, just as Greek has given us the word politics
0:05:53 > 0:05:55and everything related to it,
0:05:55 > 0:06:02Latin has given us citizen, city, civic, civil, even civilise.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06So Rome was run by its cives, its citizens,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10meeting down there in the Forum in the central open space.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15But by 200 BC Rome was expanding very rapidly
0:06:15 > 0:06:17and as it acquired an empire
0:06:17 > 0:06:21it became harder and harder to run as a city-state.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26And, to cut a complicated story very short, the answer was a new
0:06:26 > 0:06:30form of military power, the emperor, and the emperors built their palace
0:06:30 > 0:06:35up there on the Palatine, and from now on they ran Rome.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37But they couldn't do without their citizens,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39they can't ignore their citizens.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42And one of the major concerns of the emperors is to keep
0:06:42 > 0:06:45the citizen population happy.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47How can they get them enough food?
0:06:47 > 0:06:50How can they make sure there's a good water supply?
0:06:50 > 0:06:53How can they maintain law and order?
0:06:55 > 0:07:00It's much easier to see how Rome worked for its citizens than Athens,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03because more of the old infrastructure has survived.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08No ancient map exists of the Greek capital.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13But, by contrast, there's an extraordinary piece of evidence
0:07:13 > 0:07:15that reveals just how the Romans
0:07:15 > 0:07:20designed their city to accommodate a vast and growing population.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30Today, this great wall is the outside wall of a church,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32the Church of St Cosmas and Damian.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38In antiquity it was the inside wall of a vast imperial building
0:07:38 > 0:07:44and on it there was a fantastic thing, a map of the city of Rome.
0:07:44 > 0:07:45It was on marble slabs -
0:07:45 > 0:07:49you can still see the fixing holes for those slabs.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53And the map spread over the whole wall.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59On it was depicted the city of Rome in great detail.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Alas, those slabs are terribly damaged and broken today.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05We've only got about a tenth of them.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11But it's enough to be able to reconstruct in a lot of detail
0:08:11 > 0:08:14the street plan of ancient Rome.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18One of the fascinating things we can see from that
0:08:18 > 0:08:24is that the street plan of the city of Rome in many points corresponded
0:08:24 > 0:08:28precisely to the street plan that survives today.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48The modern Via Cavour is six or seven metres above the older
0:08:48 > 0:08:51street level and here we're in the Suburra,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54famed in ancient Rome as being the slum district.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59But though it was a slum district here we have the Via Urbana,
0:08:59 > 0:09:04and it follows exactly the course of the ancient-Roman Vicus Patricius,
0:09:04 > 0:09:08which was in fact one of the most snobbish streets in town.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17The surviving fragments were rediscovered as far back as 1562.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24But four centuries later scholars are still trying to puzzle out
0:09:24 > 0:09:28where each piece of this vast jigsaw belongs.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37What enables us to place the fragments of the marble plan
0:09:37 > 0:09:41in this area of town is this road, the Via Delle Zoccolette.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46Its long curve is created by the curve of the Tiber River,
0:09:46 > 0:09:47just beyond us,
0:09:47 > 0:09:52and on the fragments we find a street with a long curve,
0:09:52 > 0:09:53and it fits.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01What it reveals is an area nearly three miles long
0:10:01 > 0:10:05and two miles wide, including many landmarks that we know today.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Though the streets are mapped and monitored by the authorities
0:10:14 > 0:10:16far more closely in our era,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20it's still a struggle to make densely populated cities work,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23with all the challenges we have today, like terrible traffic.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29In one place at least, it's taken 2,000 years to catch up,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31as the current mayor of Rome,
0:10:31 > 0:10:36who's just pedestrianised the area around the Colosseum, explains.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43- It was black for the pollution that we had.- Yes.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48And, you know, it cost about 25 million euros to clean it up,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53and now you can see the stones as they were 2,000 years ago.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55For us one of the interesting things
0:10:55 > 0:10:59is that already the ancient Romans had the same problems.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04- Julius Caesar closed the Forum to traffic, didn't he?- Exactly, and...
0:11:04 > 0:11:08- Do you think of yourself as the new Julius Caesar?- No, no, no!
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Ancient Rome, like modern Rome, was densely populated.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19This was reflected not just in its traffic but in every aspect of life.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23It had its Forum.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30It had piazzas with shops.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33And of course it had its housing.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42To help me fill in the gaps about how and where ancient Romans lived,
0:11:42 > 0:11:47I've been joined by my colleague from Cambridge, Tiziana D'Angelo.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51So I guess we have Mussolini to thank for clearing this space.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57'Without trains and buses, Rome's population had to live centrally.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00'To solve the problem of housing a million-plus people,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03'the Romans built upwards.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06'This is an ancient apartment block, or insula.'
0:12:08 > 0:12:09I think it's amazing,
0:12:09 > 0:12:15because below the modern ground level we've got two entire floors.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18- And don't forget the three floors up there, so...- Yeah.
0:12:18 > 0:12:24- Five floors in all of ancient-Roman apartment block.- 2,000 years old.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It shows how you can do dense housing
0:12:27 > 0:12:30in the heart of a city, doesn't it?
0:12:30 > 0:12:33'We may reckon that this apartment block was home to
0:12:33 > 0:12:37'up to 200 people, one of thousands of complexes
0:12:37 > 0:12:41'housing Rome's burgeoning population.'
0:12:43 > 0:12:46What I love is that this isn't just a bit of archaeology,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48it's a bit of living history.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53There have been people living here right up till 1932.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00'Insulae are often portrayed as dark, miserable, cramped slums.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02'But is that really true?'
0:13:02 > 0:13:07- So this looks like one unit of an apartment.- Yeah.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Well, there are quite a few of them. There's actually a row of four.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13- OK, we've got four...- Yes.
0:13:13 > 0:13:19And we've got them on five floors, so this is just one standard unit.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23- It's not bad in terms of size, is it?- It's not small.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28- It's quite spacious.- We've got, what is it, four metres by nine...
0:13:28 > 0:13:33- 36 square metres?- It's much bigger than the average apartment nowadays.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37People have this image of how Romans lived in apartment buildings,
0:13:37 > 0:13:42in complete squalor, in tiny little pokey apartments.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46You've got filth on the floors, you've got bare walls.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Is this life in a Roman apartment?
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Well, you have to use a little bit of imagination.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56There is no reason why these walls or this ceiling could not be
0:13:56 > 0:14:00decorated when they were built. So, for example, look at the ceiling.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03We do have traces of plaster, so probably the whole ceiling
0:14:03 > 0:14:06- and all the walls were plastered. - Yeah.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09But we can do something more for you if you're difficult. So we can...
0:14:09 > 0:14:14- I am a demanding client here. - We can decorate a bit further.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18For example, that back wall, that main wall, second century,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22we could paint it those red and yellow panels that were so stylish.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Yeah. What are you going to do with the floors?
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Well, we'll clean it up a bit!
0:14:27 > 0:14:31And then we could have something like what we have in the corridor
0:14:31 > 0:14:35outside, that opus spicatum, so the herringbone pattern, which is
0:14:35 > 0:14:38very resistant on the one hand, and it looks relatively pretty.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42OK, suppose I'm the tenant, I'm moving in, and I say,
0:14:42 > 0:14:47"Excuse me, landlord, I really don't like this floor at all.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49"I want a proper mosaic floor."
0:14:54 > 0:14:57'Not far away there are remains of decoration.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59'It looks like a modern building.'
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Biblioteca Centrale per i Ragazzi.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03This is a kids' library. It's wonderful.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05It's absolutely wonderful.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Oh, my God. OK, so what is going on here?
0:15:07 > 0:15:10I think we've got some serious Roman bricks.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Yeah, it's much more regular.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18'Houses in Rome, like any city, were continually changing,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22'with new owners doing their own makeovers.'
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Look at these mosaics.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Yes, it's, erm, sort of psychedelic, isn't it?
0:15:27 > 0:15:32Or it's as if someone's been trying to balance ostrich eggs
0:15:32 > 0:15:35on top of each other and they're all taking a tumble.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Well, in the second century AD
0:15:37 > 0:15:40this would have been quite fashionable actually.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44It's a black-and-white mosaic and, yes, you're right, the pattern is not
0:15:44 > 0:15:48a masterpiece, and you can also see that from the size of the tesserae.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51They're quite big, it's over one centimetre.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55But still the mosaicists were taking a long time to make these works
0:15:55 > 0:15:58and they were paid quite well, they were paid 60, 65 denarii per day.
0:15:58 > 0:15:59That's quite a bit.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03That's an enormous amount, that's way over a legionary's pay.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07- Well, it's an excellent floor, though.- Great work if you can get it.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11And you need more than a mosaicist, don't you? You need a plumber.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14- Yes, that's important.- I want running water in my apartment, please.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17- And, lo and behold...- Yes.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19We have a pipe running through.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23So presumably this means that at least in some rooms
0:16:23 > 0:16:25there is piped water.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31'It's a remarkable thought that by the first century AD
0:16:31 > 0:16:34'there were individual flats in Roman apartment blocks
0:16:34 > 0:16:39'which were being supplied direct with running water.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42'Something that even today isn't available
0:16:42 > 0:16:44'in many parts of the world.'
0:16:46 > 0:16:48There's nothing so important
0:16:48 > 0:16:51for the health of a great city as clean water.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55Clean water to drink, clean water to wash in.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59One of the joys of Rome is that there are fountains
0:16:59 > 0:17:02with lovely fresh water everywhere.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05And that's down to the Renaissance Popes, who filled Rome with
0:17:05 > 0:17:09fountains like this one, outside the Palazzo Farnese.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Oddly enough, this particular fountain is
0:17:15 > 0:17:20made from a part from a Roman bath, the Baths of Caracalla.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24This ornamental bath was brought in to make a fountain.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Because the Romans, too, the ancient Romans,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30really understood the importance of fresh water,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33and they brought it in in vast quantities.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37We all know that the Romans had big baths, but don't forget,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41the fundamental thing was they had a fresh supply of drinking water.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46This was no mean feat.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50It required perhaps the greatest public infrastructure project
0:17:50 > 0:17:53ever attempted in the ancient world.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Aqueducts are one of the most vivid signs of the growth
0:18:03 > 0:18:05of the population of Rome.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08The first ones built as early as 312 BC
0:18:08 > 0:18:11and one after another are added,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15until in the end there are 11 separate aqueducts providing water.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19They got their water from the south of the city on the whole.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22The Alban Hills immediately to the south were volcanic,
0:18:22 > 0:18:23and that's not such good water,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27so they went further south, to the limestone hills of the Apennines.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31And that meant pushing their technology,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33building enormously long aqueducts.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36This particular aqueduct, built by the Emperor Claudius,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39went 45 miles back, and it's an extraordinary
0:18:39 > 0:18:45feat of engineering to bring water 45 miles without the use of pumps.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50It means you have to keep it gently, gently, gently sloping down.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53That means building great arches across the valleys.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57Sometimes you build tunnels under mountains.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59It's not just an extraordinary engineering feat,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02it's also an extraordinary feat of organisation.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06We happen to have a treatise by a chap called Frontinus.
0:19:06 > 0:19:07He was a Roman general,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10indeed he was the Roman general who conquered Wales.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13And when he'd finished beating up a few barbarians
0:19:13 > 0:19:17he came back to Rome and organised the aqueducts.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21And he wrote down, being an extraordinarily efficient man,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24in absolute detail about each aqueduct,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28exactly how long it is, how many litres of water it carried,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30how many men it had in the maintenance teams,
0:19:30 > 0:19:36and so on and so on, and you can see the enormous administrative machine
0:19:36 > 0:19:42that lies behind keeping the people of Rome supplied with fresh water.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49After the fall of Rome in the fifth century,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51the aqueducts fell into disrepair.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55The Renaissance Popes tried to rebuild them
0:19:55 > 0:19:57but even a thousand years later
0:19:57 > 0:20:00couldn't match their ancient predecessors.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07So the Aqua Marcia is a fantastic bit of Roman construction,
0:20:07 > 0:20:12running at quite a high level, and here we have the Acqua Felice.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17A sort of concrete tube was the best that the Popes could manage.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19Here we have its name, Acqua Felice.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21They're really rather proud of it,
0:20:21 > 0:20:23they've put a little plaque in marble,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27but let's not pretend it's at the same level of engineering expertise
0:20:27 > 0:20:30as the Roman aqueducts of antiquity.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38In fact, it was only reviving the ancient-Roman aqueduct system
0:20:38 > 0:20:43that made the spectacular fountains of Renaissance Rome possible.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35The Campo de' Fiori here, in the morning it's a flower and vegetable
0:21:35 > 0:21:38market, in the evening it's where everyone comes for a drink.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43In antiquity it's where the great Theatre of Pompey was,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47and you can see it very clearly on the marble plan of Rome.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52There's one more thing that really interests me about this place,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54and it's the best salami shop in Rome,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57and in fact I'm going there right now.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06It was of enormous important to emperors to keep the citizens fed.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Quarter of a million citizens got free grain under Augustus,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14but gradually emperors added other offers.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16They got free oil.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20In 270, the Emperor Aurelian - he's the guy who built the great
0:22:20 > 0:22:25walls around Rome - he added a pork ration.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Five pounds of pork a head per month, they got.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34In total, three million pounds of pork per annum
0:22:34 > 0:22:37were consumed at the Emperor's expense.
0:22:37 > 0:22:43And Rome, ancient Rome, was full of pork butchers, suarii.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45And that tradition has lingered on.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Ooh, Andrea, buona sera!
0:22:51 > 0:22:54'The ancient Romans loved sausages. Me, too.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57'I often used to come here when I lived in Rome,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00'and Benedetto's always up for a bit of banter.'
0:23:28 > 0:23:29Ah, bellissimo!
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Ciao, Andrea. Ciao.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Just five minutes' walk from here, and marked on the marble map,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08were the riverside docks of the ancient city.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12It was an area of warehouses, shops and private dwellings,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14as it is today.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Often the modern houses and businesses, like this restaurant,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20are built on top of ancient ones.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27- Buona sera. How are you? - Oh, Roberto!- Welcome.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:24:29 > 0:24:34- A little Prosecco. - A little Prosecco, fantastic.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55I suspected as much.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57Every place I've ever been into here
0:24:57 > 0:24:59has got yet another bit of ancient Rome.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08'This restaurant is built 20 feet above the ancient ground level.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11'So, who knows what treasures lie below?'
0:25:11 > 0:25:14This is what I was hoping for, a little door down to the cellar!
0:25:21 > 0:25:22What do we have?
0:25:30 > 0:25:32You can smell the antiquity!
0:25:33 > 0:25:35But this is amazing!
0:25:35 > 0:25:40Oh, my God, there's a wee beastie down there.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44I think it's a horse. No, no, is it a horse?
0:25:44 > 0:25:46It's a hippocamp.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51And there's someone on... That's a nymph riding a seahorse.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Absolutely fantastic!
0:25:53 > 0:25:55That is a better piece of mosaic
0:25:55 > 0:25:59than in the official excavations just behind.
0:26:07 > 0:26:08Fantastico.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10He says that's not all there is
0:26:10 > 0:26:13because there are three further levels down below it.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17And that's Rome. That's the heart of Rome.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Dig down and you will find antiquity,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23and you find it at many levels.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28The population of Rome was so vast that
0:26:28 > 0:26:33even 2,000 years of history couldn't bury it all below ground level.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44Well, here I am, standing on top of a ginormous Roman rubbish...
0:26:44 > 0:26:47an ancient-Roman rubbish heap.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51This is 50 metres and more above the modern street level.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55That means that as we look around there's not a single rooftop
0:26:55 > 0:26:58that even comes up near the height of this.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00And it's enormous -
0:27:00 > 0:27:03going around it, it's more than a kilometre in circumference.
0:27:03 > 0:27:09That means it's the equivalent of something like six urban blocks.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13And it's not any old rubbish. This is quite specialised rubbish.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15Let's have a look at it.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18It is entirely composed of these things,
0:27:18 > 0:27:24terracotta fragments from...pots called amphorae.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30It's been estimated that this hill is composed of 50 million amphorae.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35So we know an enormous amount about Roman amphorae.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37They're terribly distinctive, and they all come in different
0:27:37 > 0:27:41shapes and sizes from all the corners of the Mediterranean.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47And the archaeologists have studied these and what you need to do...
0:27:47 > 0:27:52That's a bit of the bottom. But it's much better to get one of these.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Now, that is a rim and that gives you the dimensions of the amphora.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Erm, or you look for a handle. There's a nice handle.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03And you can pin them down
0:28:03 > 0:28:07and the archaeologists say that these are all from Spain,
0:28:07 > 0:28:13from south Spain, from Baetica, and they all contained olive oil.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16And what do they need this prodigious amount of olive oil for?
0:28:16 > 0:28:19After all, there's a limit to how many salads you can eat.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23But it's not just for cooking. It's also for illumination.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26They don't have any electricity,
0:28:26 > 0:28:31they have little lamps which they fill up with olive oil.
0:28:31 > 0:28:32And it's also for washing.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36There's no soap, so for cleaning you cover your body with olive oil
0:28:36 > 0:28:38and scrape it down.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42So they get through enormous quantities of this olive oil.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49So our rubbish heap is on a great bend in the Tiber River.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52You can just about make it out down there, that line of trees,
0:28:52 > 0:28:57and it goes right round us and round there.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01And this whole area down below us was full of warehouses.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03And round the corner.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06This particular stuff, these olive oil amphorae,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10probably came from the Horrea Galbana, Galba's warehouses,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13which is actually marked on the map of Rome.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18The Tiber flows through the heart of modern Rome,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21just as it did in ancient times.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27But there were big differences between the river then and now.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36Today, the Tiber is flanked on both sides by massive embankments.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38These were built in the late 19th century
0:29:38 > 0:29:41to stop the city from flooding.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43In antiquity there were no embankments
0:29:43 > 0:29:47and they had terrible problems with flooding, but they USED the river.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50In antiquity the river was buzzing with activity,
0:29:50 > 0:29:52there were boats coming up and down.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54You don't see a single boat on the Tiber today.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58There were hundreds of boats, bringing up merchandise -
0:29:58 > 0:30:02grain, wine, oil, and luxury goods of course -
0:30:02 > 0:30:07to the hundreds of warehouses that lined the banks of the river.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15But for Rome to function for a million people
0:30:15 > 0:30:20the Tiber could only work as part of a much bigger transport system.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25With Rome expanding its trade links
0:30:25 > 0:30:27to cater for an increasing population,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30centres were established to handle the huge
0:30:30 > 0:30:34amount of imported produce heading to the capital.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43One of the places you get the most vivid idea of the sheer scale
0:30:43 > 0:30:47and complexity of the trade that supplies Rome with food
0:30:47 > 0:30:49is here in Ostia.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53What we have is an enormous piazza with a sort of covered walkway here
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and, behind it, a series of offices.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00And this is where the shippers and traders do their business.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04And they put up sort of publicity signs.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08This is a picture of the River Nile and its delta.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12Egypt and Alexandria were one of the most important
0:31:12 > 0:31:14sources of trade in the Empire.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19Here we have a rather nice picture of how you do the shipping.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22You come into harbour with a big ship
0:31:22 > 0:31:26and there's a guy on the gangplank, bringing over an amphora,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29which is moving onto a smaller ship,
0:31:29 > 0:31:34which is then going to go upriver to the warehouses in Rome.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Then over here...
0:31:37 > 0:31:41..we've got a rather nice scene of the lighthouse.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Of course, when you're coming across the Mediterranean
0:31:45 > 0:31:49and you see the great lighthouse, you know you've made it at last.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53And there are a couple of ships, dolphins and so on.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55And here we can see just where they come from.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Here we have the navicularii, the shippers,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01and the negotiantes, the businessmen,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04of Karalis - that's Cagliari in Sardinia.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08And remember it's not just one trade.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Some people owned the ships, some people do the negotiation,
0:32:12 > 0:32:16do the business, because there is a lot of money, both to make
0:32:16 > 0:32:19and to lose, in shipping.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22And you can just imagine, this place would be
0:32:22 > 0:32:25full of hundreds of traders trying to do a little deal.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28One of the interesting things is they're all private,
0:32:28 > 0:32:30they're doing it for the state,
0:32:30 > 0:32:33they're doing it because Rome needs corn,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36but individuals can make a packet out of it.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38Here are the people... Isn't this wonderful?
0:32:38 > 0:32:42This elephant, saying you are in North Africa,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45and they are from Sabratha in Libya.
0:32:45 > 0:32:51That whole coast of North Africa supplying Rome with corn
0:32:51 > 0:32:53but also with other goods.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58And this is the place where trade happens,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01this is the place you come and make a fortune.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Ostia was such a lucrative hub for trade
0:33:05 > 0:33:08that it flourished as a town in its own right.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11And you can still see the trappings of wealth
0:33:11 > 0:33:13in the buildings and decoration.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28The wealth and global trade coming into Rome by the first century
0:33:28 > 0:33:30meant Ostia couldn't cope.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Ancient Rome had to adapt and expand further.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39And, two miles north of Ostia,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43it embarked upon a monumental piece of infrastructure
0:33:43 > 0:33:45to sustain its burgeoning city,
0:33:45 > 0:33:50at the very site of modern Italy's greatest transport hub.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Well, here we are,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01right by the hurly-burly of Rome's Fiumicino airport,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05traffic whizzing past all the time, low-flying planes
0:34:05 > 0:34:08whistling overhead. Sometimes hard to make yourself heard.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11And yet this is one of the least well-known
0:34:11 > 0:34:13but most important of Roman sites.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15It's the great port of Rome
0:34:15 > 0:34:19that the Romans simply called Portus, the port.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22Now, Rome didn't have a natural harbour.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27The Tiber comes out into the sea and it doesn't have a bay around it.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31Think of Athens. They had the Piraeus, a natural harbour.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Rome had to make a harbour artificially,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37overcoming natural obstacles.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40And that took the resources of empire.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43It took the Emperor Claudius,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46and these columns are very typical of constructions
0:34:46 > 0:34:49by the Emperor Claudius, who cared about infrastructure.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53He cared about chunky, practical building,
0:34:53 > 0:34:59and he made a vast artificial harbour at the mouth of the Tiber.
0:35:00 > 0:35:01Along with the harbour
0:35:01 > 0:35:04came all the surrounding buildings and warehouses.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09To get a sense of the scale of this place,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12I've come to meet my old friend Simon Keay,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14who's made a remarkable discovery.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20- Oh, my, Simon. You've been busy bees.- We certainly have.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23It's quite a hole you've made in this poor beauty spot.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26'What Simon has excavated is just a tiny element
0:35:26 > 0:35:28'in a whole network of ship installations.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31'This trench represents just part of one bay
0:35:31 > 0:35:33'in what was a massive complex.'
0:35:33 > 0:35:37This bay would originally have been just under 60 metres long,
0:35:37 > 0:35:39so that's actually three of these.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43- Imagine them stacked against one another.- So it goes way down there!
0:35:43 > 0:35:46- And it's just under 12 metres wide.- Height?
0:35:46 > 0:35:48Height, well... Are you prepared for it?
0:35:48 > 0:35:53This is a building which stands to at least, well, a maximum of 18 metres,
0:35:53 > 0:35:57- which is somewhere up there. - At the top of the trees? OK.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00So this is truly massive.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03And it's meant to be seen, it's a statement
0:36:03 > 0:36:06about what the Romans are able to do, in creating a facade
0:36:06 > 0:36:10that reflects Roman power and has a great functional use and so on.
0:36:13 > 0:36:18What we're seeing is just a third of one ship bay.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22Imagine, this 18-metre-high construction would have been
0:36:22 > 0:36:27a tiny part of a complex that could berth at least 500 ships.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31It gives us a glimpse of the remarkable scale
0:36:31 > 0:36:33the port was built on.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38The site occupies a staggering 860 acres.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43Part of which is now the stately home of Duke Sforza Cesarini,
0:36:43 > 0:36:47who feels a strong connection with his Roman past.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33Claudius built Portus because Ostia became too small for Rome.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38But trade grew so fast that the harbour had to be enlarged again,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40in the second century, by Trajan.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45A new, 80-acre basin was constructed.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52'It was recorded that it was formed in the shape of a huge hexagon,
0:37:52 > 0:37:54'to maximise the berthing space for ships.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59'You get little idea of this from the ground.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02'There's only one way to find out.'
0:38:14 > 0:38:17- Ohhh.- Oh, wow. Fantastic.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19Yeah, that's what we wanted.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26'From 500 metres in the air,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30'you can clearly make out the sides of Trajan's hexagon.'
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Luckily enough, the Emperor Claudius left his mark in the shape
0:38:36 > 0:38:39of this inscription here, which explains a bit about
0:38:39 > 0:38:42what he thought he was doing in making his great port.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44Like all imperial inscriptions
0:38:44 > 0:38:47it starts with his name in enormous letters.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Tiberius Claudius son of Drusus Caesar,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53and then a whole load of titles that go on for a couple of lines.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57And then he explains what he's up to.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02Fossis ductis - "I dug canals from the Tiber
0:39:02 > 0:39:06"in order to support my works on the port.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09"And by doing so," he says, "letting them out into the sea,
0:39:09 > 0:39:13"I saved the city of Rome from the danger of flooding."
0:39:13 > 0:39:16So he sees his engineering works as a whole package.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19It's not just that he creates a port,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22he links the port to the city by the canals
0:39:22 > 0:39:26and the canals save the city from the danger of flooding.
0:39:29 > 0:39:30Like this one.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Known as Fiumicino, or little river,
0:39:33 > 0:39:35it gives its name to Rome's airport nearby.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38And though it dates from the time of Claudius
0:39:38 > 0:39:40it's still fully functioning.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49And, even 400 years before these canals were completed, the Romans
0:39:49 > 0:39:52had grasped the importance of drainage in their city.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59One of the vital steps of turning Rome into a city
0:39:59 > 0:40:02from just a cluster of villages
0:40:02 > 0:40:06was to create a great drain, the Cloaca Maxima.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09The original settlements were on hilltops, the Palatine Hill,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12the Capitoline Hill, and between them was an enormous swamp,
0:40:12 > 0:40:16a river flowing down and spreading out.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20To get from one hilltop to another you had to use a boat.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24And it's one of the first kings of Rome - you could call him
0:40:24 > 0:40:29a tyrant, Tarquin - who famously created the Cloaca Maxima,
0:40:29 > 0:40:31the great drain of Rome.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36And what that great drain does is get rid of the swamp and create
0:40:36 > 0:40:41a dry area which was to become the Forum, the heart of the city.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44But the Cloaca Maxima served other purposes, too,
0:40:44 > 0:40:49and progressively all sorts of stuff was sent down into the great drain
0:40:49 > 0:40:51and it turned into a great sewer.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54So, what's all this? OK.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Oh, crikey. Right. Another arm... That's another arm.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Ooh, it's rather small.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Right.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12That'll keep the shit out.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17The Cloaca runs nearly a mile from North to South,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21traversing ancient and modern Rome underground.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24The Greek writer Strabo said the sewer was wide enough to
0:41:24 > 0:41:28drive a cart loaded with hay, and I can't argue with that.
0:41:28 > 0:41:29It is huge.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34I've come to meet the head of the archaeological team
0:41:34 > 0:41:38looking at the Cloaca, Dr Luca Antonioli.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07And you can see the wooden shuttering on which it was poured.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13What I love about Roman cement
0:42:13 > 0:42:17is this was poured in AD 100 or so
0:42:17 > 0:42:21and it's still as solid and serviceable,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24it works for the sewers of Rome today.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27It doesn't need any form of repair.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32It's remarkable that the Cloaca Maxima survived
0:42:32 > 0:42:35whilst the rest of Rome was crumbling.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Over time, as the greatness of the city began to fade
0:42:39 > 0:42:43and the Forum above was built over with the houses of a later Rome,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45the Cloaca was forgotten.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08They build new drains
0:43:08 > 0:43:11because they don't even realise this drain is running underneath.
0:43:11 > 0:43:16And it's not until... the 19th century,
0:43:16 > 0:43:18when Rome becomes a capital city,
0:43:18 > 0:43:25that they rediscover and reactivate the great sewers of ancient Rome.
0:43:25 > 0:43:30Rome's sewers, like its aqueducts, were an attempt to tackle
0:43:30 > 0:43:34the public health of a city which had topped a million people.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40But daily life was not the only challenge.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45So was death, and the problem of burial.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50This may look like a park shed
0:43:50 > 0:43:53but there's more to it than meets the eye.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59From the second century BC onwards,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02cremation had become increasingly popular at funerals.
0:44:03 > 0:44:09Little wonder, with a rising urban population and space at a premium.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15I have to say, this is one of my favourite Roman tombs.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20It's called the Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23Well, as we discovered as we were coming down the stairs.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26But Pomponius, was he the owner of this tomb? He wasn't, right?
0:44:26 > 0:44:28No, he's clearly not.
0:44:28 > 0:44:33There's a beautiful mosaic with his name and griffins around a lyre.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35It's charming.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38But it's quite clear he was one of the last people to be buried here.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41The first guy's got to be this guy, hasn't it?
0:44:41 > 0:44:45Or the first couple, because there's the man and his wife.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48And they got a most prominent location as well,
0:44:48 > 0:44:50probably not by the stairway but on the main wall,
0:44:50 > 0:44:55and they built themself this really large and nice niche.
0:44:55 > 0:45:00And you've got him and his wife depicted on them all.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04And look at the material, they look like alabaster ash urns,
0:45:04 > 0:45:06- which was very expensive. - Yeah, you pay a lot.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Yeah, because they probably actually paid for this whole thing.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11They took care of the entire decoration on this ceiling
0:45:11 > 0:45:14and here in the recess, you can see a similar style.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17So I think we have to assume these are people who...
0:45:17 > 0:45:22He's made a packet and yet, he's not one of the Roman nobles, is he?
0:45:22 > 0:45:27The whole Roman fashion for having grand, ostentatious tombs
0:45:27 > 0:45:31starts with the Roman nobility, but by the time we are here
0:45:31 > 0:45:35in the 1st century AD, the sort of people who are being buried
0:45:35 > 0:45:38are actually ex-slaves.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41This guy is Granius Nestor.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45Nestor, a sort of Greek mythological name,
0:45:45 > 0:45:48a freeborn man could have it.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50But it's very improbable.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54- And his wife's called Hedone, meaning...- Different name.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Hedone, Mrs Pleasure.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00That is a very characteristic slave name, isn't it?
0:46:00 > 0:46:04They also present themselves, you know, in a very Roman way.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07Look at him there, wearing a toga, holding a scroll.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11It could be the sort of image that they want to project of themselves,
0:46:11 > 0:46:13of good Roman citizens.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16They're really showing that they made it, in a way,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19they made it in their circle and look at it. Look at what they got.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22The use of colour is fantastic, isn't it?
0:46:22 > 0:46:25I mean, that was Egyptian blue, one of the most expensive pigments
0:46:25 > 0:46:27that you could possibly get in antiquity.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30So that already tells us something.
0:46:30 > 0:46:31It's not like the other niches.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34They are just yellow and red, which...
0:46:34 > 0:46:37Your natural colours are way less expensive.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40You want to project the same values that you have in real life
0:46:40 > 0:46:43also here, you want to be able to see it in the commemorations
0:46:43 > 0:46:46that perhaps were held here every year.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50So that's what you want the living to see and to commemorate you for.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57This tomb has over 100 niches for the ashes of those laid to rest.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03The word "columbarium" comes from the Latin meaning "dovecote".
0:47:09 > 0:47:13They come from a city that's densely populated.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16There are tens of thousands of other people like them
0:47:16 > 0:47:20and they don't even dream of having a tomb all to themselves.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24They build it with lots and lots of slots for lots of other people.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27It's a bit like a insula block, isn't it?
0:47:27 > 0:47:32You can see them stacking up and they're all packed in like sardines.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Because, in a really crowded city,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38you live stacked up in apartment blocks
0:47:38 > 0:47:41and you die stacked up in columbaria.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Every great city depends on immigration.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59It needs it for numbers, it needs it for cheap labour,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02it needs it for specialist services.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07Modern Rome, and here we are near the station, in an area
0:48:07 > 0:48:12full of immigrants, Bangladeshis, Chinese, Africans,
0:48:12 > 0:48:14Romanians, all sorts.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17Modern Rome couldn't function without its immigrants.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20And it's just the same in ancient Rome.
0:48:20 > 0:48:25Unlike modern Europe, in ancient Rome, there's no limitation
0:48:25 > 0:48:29on immigration and, indeed, there is compulsory immigration.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34Slavery means that tens, even hundreds, of thousands of people
0:48:34 > 0:48:38are brought from all over the world to Rome.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41And then there are plenty who come voluntarily, free men,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44citizens, they come to Rome to make their fortune.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48The city had a massive draw.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53Unlike the provinces, Rome was a tax-free zone and its citizens
0:48:53 > 0:48:58received free hand-outs of food and sometimes even money.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00Under the Emperor Augustus,
0:49:00 > 0:49:04Rome became the biggest place of employment in the ancient world,
0:49:04 > 0:49:09with public services which wouldn't be matched for another 1,800 years.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13Amazingly, this even included a professional fire service
0:49:13 > 0:49:15of 7,000 men.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18The most important thing that Augustus did to protect Rome
0:49:18 > 0:49:22from fire was to set up a fire brigade.
0:49:22 > 0:49:27It was a quasi-military organization with seven cohorts.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30This is an inscription put up by the fifth cohort.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34In each cohort, there are 1,000 men.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38Those seven cohorts controlled the 14 regions of Rome,
0:49:38 > 0:49:42so each cohort is split in two and does two regions.
0:49:42 > 0:49:47Here we have an inscription from Cohort Number Five.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50And these three guys at the top in the biggest letters
0:49:50 > 0:49:52are the most important.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55The prefect, Gaius Julius Quintilianus.
0:49:55 > 0:50:00The sub-prefect, Marcus Firmius Amyntianus.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02And then there's a tribune
0:50:02 > 0:50:05and then these guys are the centurions.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09And one of the intriguing things about them is each of them
0:50:09 > 0:50:10gives where they came from.
0:50:10 > 0:50:15Now, you'd expect the fire brigade of Rome to be locally recruited,
0:50:15 > 0:50:16but no.
0:50:16 > 0:50:21This guy comes from a place called Berva, which is near Venice.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25This guy comes from Savaria, which is in Hungary.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31This one from Ratiaria, which is in Bulgaria.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34This one from Poetovio, in Slovenia.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38And this one from Aquincum, which is Budapest in Hungary.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43So they come from way, way east of Rome.
0:50:43 > 0:50:45That's not all.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48You then flip round the other side and then you get all of the names
0:50:48 > 0:50:52of the ordinary Vigiles, all 1,000 of them,
0:50:52 > 0:50:56in teeny little letters, column after column.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03Under the Emperor Nero in 64 AD,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07the Vigiles were put to the test when a great fire swept Rome.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11It was a disaster.
0:51:11 > 0:51:16Notoriously, the Emperor was blamed for fiddling whilst Rome burned.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21What the cause of the fire was can be debated,
0:51:21 > 0:51:25but what's certain is how Nero responded afterwards.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30We're underneath the street level of modern Rome
0:51:30 > 0:51:34and under a multiplex cinema.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36When they were constructed this,
0:51:36 > 0:51:39they were trying to go further down to add extra rooms and what
0:51:39 > 0:51:44they found was they were blocked by a massive bit of Roman building.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47What we have here...
0:51:47 > 0:51:51is two entire urban blocks, back-to-back with each other,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54that were at least three floors in this insula.
0:51:56 > 0:51:57We know from the brick stamps...
0:51:57 > 0:52:00Romans liked to stamp their bricks with their names.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04We know from those that it was built under the Emperor Nero.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09What we can see here are the dividing walls of the two blocks.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12And Nero said, "You're not allowed to use party walls,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15"you can't build one block against another.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17"You've got to have separate walls,
0:52:17 > 0:52:19"because that stops the fire spreading."
0:52:22 > 0:52:23During the great fire,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27the Vigiles had complained of a lack of water to fight the flames.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Nero decreed that every insula must have access to a cistern
0:52:33 > 0:52:35with an abundant water supply.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43Despite his reforms, the myth about Nero lives on to this day.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49The modern fire service takes its name from the Vigiles
0:52:49 > 0:52:52and their ancient counterparts are still celebrated.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54FIRE SIREN BLARES
0:52:54 > 0:52:58MEN YELL IN LATIN
0:53:02 > 0:53:07Wow, here is a fine-looking group of Vigiles.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09The standard-bearer...
0:53:09 > 0:53:11And a pretty tough lot they look.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14I don't think I would want to mess with them.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19And we have here the centurion.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN
0:53:46 > 0:53:47Certo, certo.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58A Roman axe.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00Well, well, this is one scary bit of kit.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03This would be through the woodwork in no time.
0:54:19 > 0:54:20Fabulous.
0:54:20 > 0:54:26A Roman fire blanket, which you make of a patchwork of wool.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40So this you dip in water but also vinegar,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44because vinegar has an important fire retardant effect.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48'Water was transported from the systems using amphorae.'
0:54:50 > 0:54:55Yes, I can imagine it might be a bit hard to extinguish a fire
0:54:55 > 0:54:58just chucking it straight from the amphorae.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00But the Vigiles had a secret weapon...
0:55:00 > 0:55:03a hydraulic pump called a siphon.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22So you have two tubes, one sucks the water in,
0:55:22 > 0:55:27then it passes into the piston and, as the water goes in,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31the air is under pressure and then,
0:55:31 > 0:55:37as you send the valves up and down, the water squirts out both sides.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42- Bravissimo.- Grazie.
0:55:55 > 0:55:56Fantastico.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02Nero's Vigiles were a semi-military organization
0:56:02 > 0:56:05and also had a policing role.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09Together with other paramilitary forces, there were no less
0:56:09 > 0:56:15than 20,000 man dedicated to keeping Rome's citizens safe.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22The principles of policing have remained the same in modern Rome,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25though the technology has changed.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28CCTV performs many of the surveillance duties
0:56:28 > 0:56:30done by the Vigiles.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34But though the Romans didn't possess digital mapping,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38they did understand that planning, just as in so many spheres
0:56:38 > 0:56:41of Roman life, was the key to making their city work.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49The only private house marked on the Forma Urbis
0:56:49 > 0:56:53is the residence of the urban prefect, Fabius Cilo,
0:56:53 > 0:56:57the man responsible for Rome's forces of law and order.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01It seems very possible that the document that has helped us
0:57:01 > 0:57:05understand the plan of ancient Rome was in fact
0:57:05 > 0:57:09displayed in the office of their Chief of Police.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14Already under Augustus, the population of Rome
0:57:14 > 0:57:18had reached a million and it probably stayed at more or less
0:57:18 > 0:57:21the same level for the next 300, even 400 years.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26It's not until the imperial power of Rome implodes
0:57:26 > 0:57:29that the population also collapses.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31By the middle of the 6th century,
0:57:31 > 0:57:35it may have shrunk to as few as 30,000 people.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41And no city in Europe was again to reach the figure of a million
0:57:41 > 0:57:44until the beginning of the 19th century.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48You're looking at it now.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54By no coincidence, London, too, was capital of a world empire,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57and made no disguise of the act it was following.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Yet, Rome had achieved a million when the world population
0:58:06 > 0:58:09was a fraction of its modern size
0:58:09 > 0:58:14and without motor transport, gas or electricity.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17Today, we live in a world of megacities,
0:58:17 > 0:58:22but Rome remains the inspiration for them all.