History Lessons

Julius Caesar flees Rome because of a conspiration against him and takes refuge by the king of Bitinia. He finds a woman there and while he escorts her to Rhodes their ship is attacked. Caught by the pirates he asks for help to get back to Rome.

In 54 B.C. Julius Caesar seeks to solidify his position in Rome by putting down a rebellion in Gaul led by a tribal chieftain named Vercingetorix. Vercingetorix has rallied many tribes to his cause, including one led by the beautiful Queen Asterid and others who'd once pledged allegiance to Rome.

Inmates at a prison in Rome rehearse for a performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

The story of Cleopatra, the fabulous queen of Egypt, and the epic romances between her and the greatest men of Rome, Julius Caesar and Antony.

Cleopatra toys with Mark Antony who wants to merge his Rome with her Egypt.

An elite group of soldiers led by the courageous Claudius Marcellus are handpicked by Julius Caesar to embark on a desperate and dangerous suicide mission to destroy the Druids' secret weapon.

A gladiator gets caught up in a slave revolt and the invasion of England.

During Julius Caesar's invasion of Gallia: The Gauls have broken their treaty with the Romans. Marcus Valerius and his friend are sent to punish them. Antea's father wants to have peace with Rome, having once been there and acknowledging their superior culture, but Lysircus forces a severely anti-Roman politic. When her father is killed by him in treachery, Antea joins the Romans who have to evade into a swamp. She falls in love with Marcus. Will she forsake her people forever?

What is true and what is false in the hideous stories spread about the controversial figure of the Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (12-41), nicknamed Caligula? Professor Mary Beard explains what is accurate and what is mythical in the historical accounts that portray him as an unbalanced despot. Was he a sadistic tyrant, as Roman historians have told, or perhaps the truth about him was manipulated because of political interests?

The glories of Ancient Rome are explored in ROMAN CITY, based on David Macaulay's acclaimed book. This animated and live-action video recounts life in Verbonia, a fictional city in Gaul. A well-planned town with all modern conveniences, it is threatened by conflict between conquerors and conquered. Macaulay also visits Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, Nimes, Orange, and Rome, to view actual Roman architecture and engineering greatness.

A guide to human history through its most audacious power grabs. From Julius Caesar to Napoleon; from Mussolini to the strongmen of the present day - we see how the world we know has been shaped by those who dream big.

Cleopatra, the last Egyptian queen and one of the most legendary women in history. A beautiful seductress who used her sex appeal in order to manipulate the most powerful men in the Roman Empire. This film reveals the truth behind the legend.

A young man, recently arrived in New York from Europe, becomes swept up in a series of events that are beyond his knowledge or control.

Straub-Huillet’s first color film, adapts a lesser-known Corneille tragedy from 1664, which in turn was based on an episode of imperial court intrigue chronicled in Tacitus’s Histories. The costuming is classical, and the toga-clad, nonprofessional cast performs the drama’s original French text amid the ruins of Rome’s Palatine Hill while the noise of contemporary urban life hums in the background. Their lines are executed with a terrific flatness and frequently through heavy accents; the language in Othon becomes not merely an expression but a thing itself, an element whose plainness here alerts us to qualities of the work that might otherwise be subordinated.

In this costume epic, the last days of Julius Caesar are chronicled.

As Conqueror Julius Caesar is drawing his last breath, he swears Tyrannus—Rome's finest warrior—to an oath to protect his successor, Octavius, his 18-year-old nephew. Tyrannus and Octavius are forced into exile to protect the young man from those who want to sever Caesar's bloodline once and for all.

A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

Acclaimed blackly comic historical drama series. Set amidst a web of power, corruption and lies, it chronicles the reigns of the Roman emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius.

Engineering an Empire is a program on The History Channel that explores the engineering and/or architectural feats that were characteristic of some of the greatest societies on this planet. It is hosted by Peter Weller, famous for his acting role as RoboCop but also a lecturer at Syracuse University, where he completed his Master's in Roman and Renaissance Art. The executive producer is Delores Gavin. The show started as a documentary about the engineering feats of Ancient Rome and later evolved into a series. It originally ran for one full season of weekly episodes.

The Caesars is a British television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network in 1968. Made in black-and-white and written and produced by Philip Mackie, it covered similar dramatic territory to the later BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, dealing with the lives of the early emperors of Ancient Rome, but differed in its less sensationalist depictions of historical characters and their motives.

The Roman Holidays is a Hanna-Barbera animated television series that was broadcast in 1972 on NBC. It ran for 13 episodes before being cancelled. Very similar in theme to both The Flintstones and The Jetsons, The Roman Holidays brought a look at "modern-day" life in Ancient Rome, around 63 AD, as seen through the eyes of Augustus "Gus" Holiday and his family. The opening showed a chariot traffic jam and a TV showing football on Channel "IV" An Ancient Roman setting was actually one of the ideas that Hanna-Barbera considered as they were working to create The Flintstones.

Turning points in ancient Roman history and some of the Empire's greatest stories are brought to life in this drama documentary series.

The Germanic, Britannic and other barbarian tribal wars with Rome ultimately led to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. This series is centered on the campaigns and battles with the barbarian tribes and extensive examinations of the reigns of little known Roman emperors and generals.

Travel back in time to one of the most glorious empires in history. For over 1,000 years, Rome was the center of the known world, bringing to her subjects a common language, shared culture and wealth beyond imagination. But war, barbarian attacks and moral decay eventually took their toll, and the empire slowly began to crumble. Experience ancient history come to life, from Rome's primitive beginnings to the height of its glory – and its eventual downfall. Filmed in 10 countries, this documentary combines location footage of ancient monuments, detailed reenactments, period art and writings, and fascinating insights from scholars and public figures. Witness the ancient world come to life – and see history in all its drama.

Professor Mary Beard looks beyond the stories of emperors, armies, guts and gore to meet the everyday people at the heart of Ancient Rome's vast empire.

Drama about love and intrigues in ancient Rome during the times of Nero.

This stylish mix of documentary and historical epic chronicles the reign of Commodus, the emperor whose rule marked the beginning of Rome's fall.

The extraordinary rise of Livia Drusilla, who overcame adversity to become the most powerful woman in the world. Follow Livia’s journey from a naïve young girl whose world crumbles in the wake of Julius Caesar’s assassination, to Rome’s most powerful and influential Empress.

Within the spectacular, complex and corrupt world of gladiatorial sports in Ancient Rome, follow an ensemble of diverse characters across the many layers of Roman society where sports, politics and business intersect and collide.

He came. He saw. He conquered. The tale of an ambitious power-grab that turned to tyranny. How Julius Caesar dismantled five centuries of ancient Roman democracy in just 16 years.