Ancient Impossible (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - Roman Empire - full transcript

Rome was the greatest
empire the world has ever known.

Why are Roman arenas engineering

triumphs as well as
celebrations of total violence?

Imagine 25,000 spectators are
crammed in here, and they're all

looking for blood.

Did the Romans
create a mobile and deadly

armored weapon, the world's
first tank?

Wow.

That is one impressive machine.

And how was this
ancient empire able to build a

massive wall, straight across
Britain, in record time?



They were ancient geniuses.

What they achieved is
truly extraordinary.

Monuments more
colossal than our own, ancient

super weapons as mighty as
today's, technology so precise,

it defies reinvention.

The ancient world was not
primitive.

Their marvels are so advanced,
we still use them now.

Travel to a world closer than
we imagine, an ancient age

where nothing was impossible.

The Roman empire
became super sized through great

feats of impossible engineering

aqueducts bringing fresh
water thousands of miles...

Super weapons that enabled the
formidable Roman army to win

against impossible odds.



But nothing sums up the power,

violence, and glory of Rome like

these massive arenas that were

scattered throughout the empire.

And the greatest example
is here in Rome, Italy.

There are many facets of

Roman society that
we've copied in part.

But what's remarkable about the

Colosseum is we've
copied all of it.

We've copied the entirety of it.

It is perfect.

The emperor
Vespasian commissioned the

Colosseum for the
people of Rome.

But this was no ordinary gift.

Vespasian knew that the arena was
the perfect way to control a

difficult population.

If your people are fed and
entertained, they're less likely

to revolt, and here, they
were entertained and more.

In arenas like the
Colosseum, extreme violence was

the most popular entertainment.

The expectations of the people
when they came into the

amphitheater is
they expect blood.

They expect death.

Thousands of people
died every year in arenas all

over the Roman empire.

It was so effective in keeping
Roman citizens content that

almost every town had one.

To modern stadium architects, the
achievement of building huge

arenas like the Colosseum
seems impossible.

It was effectively two

amphitheaters back to
back, welded together.

The construction is superbly
efficient in the sense that they

took the same section and
repeated it into the oval of the

complete shape you see today.

So there's a great deal of
repetition, which is a very

modern construction technique.

The scale of Roman
arenas was impossibly ambitious,

even for modern buildings.

Over 600 feet long, 500 feet
wide, with a central area

equivalent to a modern
football field.

The Colosseum, Rome's largest

arena, may have held
crowds up to 80,000.

We would take two to three
years to build that.

To think that the Romans built
the Colosseum in about 8 years,

a truly remarkable feat.

To understand how
Roman amphitheaters worked,

we've come to Nimes,
Southern France.

Unlike the Colosseum in Rome,
this arena has survived intact.

I'm in Nimes, and this has
one of the most amazingly

well preserved amphitheaters
in the ancient world.

You don't need to
reconstruct this.

It's all here before
you, 360 degrees.

Modern
entertainments, or sporting

events, usually last just a few

hours, but the Roman games
would go on for weeks.

The contests honoring the emperor
Vespasian involved 9,000

animals and 2,000 gladiators
over the course of 100 days.

The typical activities that
took place in the amphitheater

in Nimes would be killing
animals in the morning.

You had the bestiary, the
gladiators trained to fight and

kill or be killed
by wild animals.

At noontime, you could have the
execution of criminals, or you

can go off and have a nice
lunch and return afterwards.

The main event, though, was

gladiators man against
man in the afternoon.

Beneath the arena
was technology that no modern

stadium can compete with.

Today, sports teams enter their
arena through a simple tunnel.

But in the Roman arenas,
gladiators and their opponents

made their entrances
in high style.

We're in the hypogeum.

We're beneath the arena floor.

This is where the gladiators and
animals would wait, and then,

with the given signal, they'd
be hoisted up by slaves using

capstans and pulleys.

There's a lot of tech that's
involved in the hypogeum area

because you don't have people
behind a curtain, and the

curtain opens up and then
there's the performance.

You have them popping up.

And this is about as
sophisticated as it gets in a

performance in the
ancient world.

Experimental model
maker Richard windley is

investigating the backstage
magic that made the blood and

Gore of the arena possible.

We know from existing bronze
bearings in the remains of the

Colosseum now that some kind of

winch system was used, possibly
a windlass which is a kind of

winding mechanism, basically.

So I've showed one of those
here, and this works through a

series of ropes and pulleys
to actually lift the cages.

Now, we do know that very large
animals were sometimes used in

these shows, even elephants, so

some of these devices would have

had to have been
very, very hefty.

Richard has
calculated that up to 8 men

would operate this windlass, and

under the Colosseum, there would
have been up to 80 of these

elevators, an amazing feat that

has no comparison in
our modern world.

I've built a trapdoor and a
simple operating mechanism to

open and close it.

It's still quite a feat to think
that the complexity of this

whole project could be
undertaken such a long time ago.

To entertain the
masses, Roman engineers used

their ingenuity to create even

more events we'd think
impossible today.

In the Colosseum in Rome,
they were reputed to even be

able to flood it with water to
be able to stage naval battles

for the entertainment
of the crowd.

Did Roman engineers really
achieve this impossible feat?

We know that the city of Rome

was served by hundreds
of miles of aqueducts.

But how did the Romans get
the water to the Colosseum?

It started with an extraordinary

piece of hydraulic engineering
called a castellum.

It's not just the aqueduct
bridge and the channel bringing

the water to a city.

How does it get distributed
throughout the entire city?

You come here to the castellum

to understand the sophistication

of distribution in a Roman city.

This was civilization.

Structures like these
distributed more water per

head to the people of Rome 2,000

years ago than new
yorkers get today.

It comes out right here into
this large tank, and then the

water is distributed
in 20 pipes.

There were two lead pipes for
every one of these holes here.

There are 10 holes total.

And it is an amazing enterprise.

The thing is, every
aqueduct had a castellum.

And there's another
intriguing clue to how they did

it beneath the Colosseum itself.

The site of this mighty arena

was once a lake created
for the emperor Nero.

Archaeologists have found the

water channels
that fed the lake.

Could they have been used to
flood the Colosseum, too?

They did it by diverting an
aqueduct into underground

channels, which then
flooded the entire arena.

But the most remarkable thing
was they could then open up

sluices and drain and dry out
the arena in exactly the same

time it took to fill it up to

stage dry events
the very next day.

Staggering.

The Roman arena is more modern
than we could ever imagine.

This was the epitome
of entertainment.

It all built on the foundations of the
perfect technical infrastructure.

Forget television.

2,000 years ago this is the
greatest show on earth.

Coming up, were the
Romans the first to build

stadiums with opening roofs?
And later, the emperor Hadrian

tames Rome's wild frontier with
the empire's greatest build.

We believe that
nothing could be as advanced as

what we build today.

But 2,000 years ago, Roman
engineers made the blueprint for

what we think are modern
buildings sports stadiums.

If we look at the Colosseum
as a template for a modern

stadium, then it's embarrassing

really as a stadium architect to

think that we can't
really improve on it.

Stadium architect
Andy Simons has discovered that

much of his work today was
already done by Roman engineers.

Roman arenas, like this one at

Nimes, France, look identical to

modern stadiums all
over the world.

And incredibly, the geometry
used is identical as well.

This arena is 290x180
feet, a ratio of 5:3.

By repeating this ratio of 5:3

in the angle of the seats, every
spectator has a perfect view.

Everyone had a great view
of the action, which is an

astonishing feat of engineering
and geometry for the day.

When we sit in
a stadium today, we are

experiencing something that
goes back 2,000 years.

It's the sort of place that'd be
familiar to any modern sports

fan, with excited crowds, fans
supporting their favorite

superstar, even sellers selling

snacks and drinks to the crowds.

If we stripped out the
plastic seats from a modern

stadium, you'd be hard pressed
to tell the difference between

the Colosseum terraces
and a modern stadium.

All around the
arena are arches that both

support the structure and
provide access to every seat.

This design is so effective,
it still hasn't been improved.

This has phenomenal architecture,
phenomenal engineering.

What you see is quintessential
Roman the arch and the vault

on a massive, monumental scale.

And just like today, the people
with top status got the best seats.

The lower tier had the
senators, the prime position

closest to the access and
they had the maximum width of

facilities to support them,
and the easiest route in.

And as the building went up, of
course the categories of seating

declined through the equestrian
and the knights in the second

tier through to the free Romans
in the third tier, and up to

women and slaves
in the top tier.

This structure limited
the space in the top rows.

But even this was part of
the Roman engineers' plan.

The staircases, it's
believed, were deliberately

restricted in width to limit the
egress time for the top tiers of

the cheaper seats so that they
didn't impede the easy flow out

from the best seats.

This incredible
achievement was unique to the

Romans for nearly 2,000 years.

We've only matched the
impossibly advanced design of

the Roman arena in the
last few decades.

And there's one design feature

we've literally just
caught up with.

The Roman arena had its own
climate control system.

What's so fantastic about this
place is that you have the

holes in place, which would have

held masts, big timbers, on top
of which was added the awning

system so you could extend it
from here toward the center of

the arena, keeping the people
in shade on a nice sunny day.

Called a velarium, it
was controlled like a camera

iris so that as the sun moved,
everyone stayed in the shade.

How did this ultra modern
system work?

Richard windley is finding out
with this incredible model.

However this was done was a
staggering feat of engineering.

The principle that I've gone
with in this particular model is

one of what we'd now call
a tensile structure.

One rope from each post,
and this goes to a central

elliptical rope in the center,
this is pulled into an ellipse

by careful tensioning
of the cords.

Each one of these so called segments now
will support a piece of sail cloth.

And there's a rope attached at

the front end which
goes over a pulley.

By pulling on one cord, we could
extend the sail, and by pulling

on the other one,
we can retract it.

If I start and withdraw by
pulling the cords, yeah, and

that's starting to withdraw
quite smoothly, actually.

Some modern
stadiums have opening roofs.

But the Roman arena could
do much, much more.

And this gives us the
intriguing possibility that the

velarium could have been moved

in various ways, not just
simply completely in and out.

But it could have been gradually
moved to favor the sun as it

moved through the sky, and if

this was the case, it's
certainly feasible.

But that is a very sophisticated

piece of engineering and a very

sophisticated concept, in fact.

This system was so
advanced that modern buildings

are only just
starting to catch up.

If you take one of the
stadiums with the soccer world

cup in Qatar, that has a
retractable fabric roof for

exactly this purpose, pulled
to and fro on wire guidelines

exactly like the velarium
did at the Colosseum.

We see that the Colosseum 2,000

years ago was so far
ahead of its time.

But the Romans used
their engineering and building

genius for much more
practical reasons, too.

Like defending the furthest
reaches of the empire.

Coming up, a massive wall
straight across Britain.

And later, what were
the ultimate secret

weapons of the
mighty Roman army?

We've seen the
incredible technological

achievements of the Roman
empire, and how some are so

modern, we're only just
catching up with them today.

With Rome at the height of its
power, one emperor, Hadrian,

undertook the empire's greatest

engineering project to
secure its frontiers.

His most impossible task was
to control the wild northern

frontier of the
province of Britain.

Britain Britannia was very
important to the empire

insofar as it was a
productive province.

Further north, you've got tribes

who've been pacified
for the moment.

So this wall along this edge of
the empire secures the boundary

against incursion but
also facilitates trade.

The end of the Roman empire was
this frontier 73 miles long.

Hadrian sealed it with a vast
wall on an unimaginable scale,

far larger than any fortification
in the Roman world.

Originally it was 10 feet
wide and up to 20 feet high.

If an enemy managed to cross the
wall, the Romans had another

formidable obstacle
lying in ambush.

But who constructed this
mission impossible?

The Roman army.

At the siege of masada, these
super soldiers moved the

equivalent of one and a half

Empire state buildings
to build a vast ramp.

In just weeks, Roman speed and
efficiency moved the greatest

man made mountain in
the ancient world.

And subdued an
impregnable fortress.

The Roman army had got an
extended history of great

engineering works, but Hadrian,
he had to go one better

a massive wall marking the
northern boundary of the empire.

For hundreds of
years after the fall of Rome,

this once mighty wall was
robbed for building materials.

It seems impossible, but three

Roman legions, about 15,000 men,

built this 73 mile wall
in just five years.

This wall contained 35 million
cubic feet of material

and all moved and cut by hand.

It's just incredible.

Roman soldiers only
had the tool kits they carried

on their backs, such as these.

The ligo was an entrenching tool that
had the nickname, "the ankle breaker."

You swing it with your legs
apart, and if you don't pay

attention, you end up
breaking your ankles with it.

Secondly, we have a very
famous tool, the dolabra.

Julius Caesar once said that
more battles had been won with

the entrenching tool,

particularly the dolabra,
than with the sword.

This was used for cutting
out tree stumps.

It has a very sharp blade and
a hook at the other end for

levering up roots and
that sort of thing.

To make the wall an
even more impassable barrier,

the Romans used existing natural
obstacles like this cliff.

But how were these perfectly
straight lines achieved along

the course of the wall?

The answer lies in another
example of the Romans' mastery

of massive construction.

The groma.

With these machines, great

distances of straight
lines could be marked.

This is the groma.

It's a simple and ingenious way

of plotting straight
lines and right angles.

This is how Hadrian's wall
was laid out so accurately.

They're simply string and
lead weights, but the

mathematics involved in these
machines set the Romans far

ahead of anyone else in
their construction work.

These plumb bobs, or plumb
lines, ensure that the pole is

completely upright and above the
point you're measuring from.

Get an assistant with a pole
and move him until his pole is

lined up with the
three plumb Bobs.

It seems impossible that the

Romans could survey
so accurately.

There were other
monster fortifications in the

ancient world, but this mighty

Roman wall wasn't
just about scale.

Sure, you can look at the great
wall of China and think.

"Well, it's longer and bigger."

But for the size for the work force...
Absolutely incredible.

Hadrian's wall, the
engineering triumph of the Roman

legions, was built
in just five years.

The great wall of China took
nearly 2,000 years and may have

cost as many as a million lives.

The Chinese wanted an
impenetrable barrier.

But the Romans wanted a modern

frontier to control
trade and migration.

The Romans can reach out into
the immediately pacified area,

and even further afield, to trade
and obtain those resources

without having to
actually live there.

Hadrian's wall
doesn't just show us that the

Romans could achieve
the impossible.

It's the beginning of the

modern frontiers that
control our world today.

Coming up, Rome creates snipers,
repeating weapons, and artillery

barrages to build an empire.

And later, insane emperor Nero

sacrifices his empire to create a
building beyond the imagination.

Over 2,000 years ago,
the Roman empire adapted a

deadly weapon so versatile, it

predated modern snipers...
Machine guns...

Artillery barrages...
And even tanks.

The Romans realized that
long range firepower was a

game changer that could win
against impossible odds.

How did this advanced military

technology achieve
the impossible?

Rome was all about
might and power.

In order to spread
their influence,

they had to face
numerous armies.

And to conquer them, they built
powerful weapons.

Here in Rome,
Italy, there is a monument that

tells us how Rome
supersized its firepower.

Built for the emperor Trajan,
it's a fascinating record of the

Roman army in the
2nd century A.D.

Trajan's column is 130 feet high

with a 650 foot long relief of
Trajan's wars winding around it

like an ancient comic strip.

But we can see its details from
these plaster casts made from

its magnificent carvings.

This shows the weapon that

emperor Trajan used to devastating
effect the ballista.

The ballista was one of the

most powerful weapons
in the Roman arsenal.

It draws its power from two
twisted skeins of sometimes

rope, sometimes human hair,
but particularly sinew.

These skeins of fiber the Romans
actually called tormenta,

almost like tormented souls,

because as you crank them up...

You can hear them straining,
almost screaming with the power

which is pent up,
ready to shoot.

The twisted fiber
Springs protected by brass

cylinders create the fighting

power of this
battle winning weapon.

The windlass pulls back the

string attached to
the ballista arms.

This creates enormous tension
in the fiber spring, which left

unreleased, is fierce enough
to tear the ballista apart.

Just imagine the power and lethality
of these types of weapons.

It's something you would
never want to go up against.

Incredibly, a
ballista target used by the

Romans was found in the
remains of a Roman fort.

These holes look like they've

been smashed with the
force of modern bullets.

Archaeological evidence
from the Roman base camp of

vindolanda on the Scottish
border, they found animal

skulls, and we know that they

used these for ballista
target practice.

It's good for the Romans,
it's good for us.

For the first time,
we're testing the power and

accuracy of this
incredible ancient weapon.

And now we're putting the
ballista to the test.

I'm gonna see if I can clock
the speed of the bolt.

This radar gun
normally checks speeding cars.

Today it's going to measure
the speed of a ballista bolt.

Oh, man.

Ha.

Take a look at that.

Whoo.

That is what they call a kill
shot to the head at 70 miles per

hour, just over 100
feet per second.

Whoo.

To give you an idea of just how
powerful these weapons are, it

was recorded at the siege of

Rome that a bolt from a
tower mounted ballista

penetrated a goth's armor
and pinned him to a tree.

This is a weapon of
intimidation, and it screams

"don't mess with Rome."

The ballista
wasn't just powerful.

It was deadly accurate.

The ballista shoots a heavy bolt,
wood and an iron tip, with

pinpoint accuracy long range,
and it can penetrate armor.

So when a sniper sits back on a
modern battlefield and takes

out a man behind his
ceramic body plates...

The Romans were able to
do that with a ballista.

We know that at
short range, the ballista

worked like a sniper rifle.

But if you elevate the ballista,
the bolt flies in a parabola

rather than a straight line
and you quadruple the range.

The typical Roman legion had

about 60 ballistas as
part of their armament.

They could deliver a deadly rain
of about 120 bolts a minute at

enemy troops a quarter of a mile
away over 1,500 years before

the artillery barrage.

We're using this ballistics
dummy to show just how

devastating this
would have been.

You can see where our modern
word "ballistics" comes from.

This deadly weapon
didn't just fire bolts.

It could also fire solid shot.

This is an actual Roman
firing stone that would have

been shot from the
ballista right here.

It's the size of a baseball, and
it feels like a lead weight, and

they've taken the time to Polish
the surface so that it has a

true flight path and it's
accurate down range.

Imagine getting hit by that.

This test demonstrates the true
power of the Roman weapons,

and having the most powerful
weapons in the ancient arms race

allowed Rome to become
the superpower it was.

And this versatile
ancient weapon may have inspired

a revolution in warfare.

Coming up, did the Roman empire
engineer the world's first tank?

And later, emperor Nero demands the
impossible a massive rotating building.

When it was mission
impossible for the mighty Roman

empire, they turned
to the ballista.

There's tantalizing evidence
that the Romans used the

ballista in another supposedly
modern weapon system the tank.

In the Bodleian library in
Oxford, england, there's

exciting evidence that could

rewrite how we view
the Roman army.

The book I've got in front

of me here is something
quite remarkable.

It's a copy, a manuscript copy
of a book written in the 4th

century A.D., probably
round about 370.

We don't know the author's name,

but his book was called
"De rebus bellicis."

It's about matters of war.

This book reveals
amazing insights into advanced

Roman military technology,
like this full body armor.

The author came up with a lot
of bright ideas that he then

sent to emperor suggesting how
they could defend the empire

more efficiently
and at less cost.

By the 4th century A.D., the Roman
empire had changed forever.

The emperor Trajan, master
of the ballista's use on the

battlefield, had
expanded Rome's power.

But now the empire faced continual
threats along its massive borders.

And the Roman army had to move
fast to meet the next crisis.

The army is very different
at the end of the empire.

They need cavalry to defend the

thousands of miles of frontier.

So if your artillery is mobile,

then that gives you
extra firepower.

Now it's impossible to think

that the Romans invented
a tank, but they did.

This remarkable
illustration in the Bodleian

library is the vital clue that
the Roman empire was able to

achieve the impossible.

This was a giant ballista

that was mounted on
top of a carriage.

The ballista itself could
swivel 360 degrees.

The carriage was drawn by two
powerful armored horses.

It had mobility, it had
protection, and it had firepower.

It was essentially a tank.

Archaeological
evidence shows the Roman army

had fully armored horses.

And they were used to drive this
weapon system, the ballista

quadrirotis, with all the
characteristics of a tank nearly

2,000 years earlier
than we ever imagined.

Like a modern tank turret, the

ballista quadrirotis could fully

rotate to face threats
from any direction.

We know the Romans had spring
suspension, so all in all, this

was a highly mobile vehicle.

And when we think of a tank,
and with its modern day

characteristics, we think of

firepower, mobility
and protection.

And the ballista quadrirotis
has got all three.

The Romans achieved
the impossible, developing the

ballista to make it the decisive

weapon of the ancient
battlefield.

The ballista's a
powerful weapon.

But it seems incredible to think
that you can also make it a

semi automatic weapon.

Philo of Byzantium refers to one

from the 3rd century
B.C. called a polybolos.

There are detailed
descriptions of a weapon called

the polybolos in ancient
Greek and Roman texts.

And scholar and ancient weapons

expert Alan Wilkins has studied

them to make his own polybolos.

It is a machine gun.

And the next machine gun in

history is the gatling
gun of the 19th century.

Just like a gatling
gun, the polybolos was a

hand cranked rapid fire weapon.

And like the gatling, gun it was

a huge step forward
in technology.

It is probably one of the
most impressive pieces of

ancient machinery because it has

a number of firsts in
ancient technology.

It's got chain drive.

This is the first known chain
drive in Western technology.

But there's much
more to this impossibly modern

mechanism than a chain.

A gravity fed magazine takes
8 or 9 ballista bolts.

Keep this loaded, and there's
no limit to how long this

incredible weapon can fire.

A mechanical imitation of an

Archer's fingers is locked
over the bow string.

Turning the windlass
pulls back the string,

locking and loading the ballista,

which fires automatically as soon
as the string is fully drawn.

Rome's ingenuity perfected the
ballista, creating weapon

systems to perform roles still
vital on today's battlefields.

Coming up, Rome's lust for
luxury and outrageous displays

of wealth push emperor Nero to
create a building 2,000 years

ahead of its time.

The Roman army used
advanced military technology and

rigid discipline to carve out

the mightiest empire
of the ancient world.

Yet Rome's ruthless ambition to
achieve the impossible wasn't

just confined to
the battlefield.

You'd think that nothing from the
past could match the wonders

of our modern cities, but here
in ancient Rome, engineers who

were years ahead of their time
created one of the greatest and

most technologically
advanced cities ever seen.

To see just how amazing the
architecture of ancient Rome

actually was, we've
come to San Diego...

Home of one of today's
most awesome buildings.

Al and Janet johnstone have

created a house that
actually rotates.

We get a lot of people

volunteer to do the
dishes at our house.

The sink is regular, but
the view is awesome.

This house is a new step in
architecture called "kinetic

architecture" moving structures.

It's the next phase
of architecture.

But could this architecture have
already been achieved by the Romans?

Beneath the ancient streets of central
Rome lies a wonderful discovery.

This is all that remains of the

domus aurea, the opulent palace

of the tyrannical emperor Nero,

that once occupied
at least 100 acres.

Throughout the structure you
have polished marble, and then

plenty of fountains and
lots of light sources.

And of course, you have the
gilding on the ceilings.

Hence the name "domus aurea."

"Domus" means "house."

"Aurea" means "golden."

The golden house of Nero.

This mega mansion was
created on a scale that is

impossible today.

But what did this unbelievable
super palace have to match a

modern revolving house?

One ancient writer provides us

with a fascinating clue from his
description of Nero's palace.

Suetonius described Nero's
private dining room as rotating

as if it were in motion
with the celestial bodies.

And no one really understood
what suetonius meant by this.

Could it be that the ceiling was
revolving and it perhaps had

stars and moon painted on it?

Or could it be that the
walls were revolving?

In the ruined
labyrinth that was once the

ancient world's greatest mansion
is evidence that this amazing

room actually existed.

It has what looks like the foundations of a
revolving floor about 50 feet in diameter.

These remains show
how Roman engineers created a

revolving floor 2,000 years

before we'd think
it was possible.

How did the Romans rotate
such a massive structure?

3D analyst James Dean is using
the latest technology to

re create this wonder
of the ancient world.

The Romans reclined on

couches like this at
their dinner parties.

But how did the Romans make the
floor rotate continuously?

That seems impossible
even today.

How would you have revolved
a large banquet hall?

There are lots of theories
brute physical force, with

weights, some sort
of turning device?

In San Diego, al and
Janet johnstone's rotating

house uses 21st century
technology.

The house rides on
the first floor.

And on the top of the first floor
is a track and a one and a

half horsepower motor and
a reduction transmission.

Then the motor drives the second

floor round that track in either

direction at whatever
speed you choose.

But what technology
was available to the emperor

Nero 2,000 years ago?

What they think probably moved
this huge revolving floor

would have been effectively
giant stone ball bearings.

The use of ball
bearings nearly 2,000 years ago

seems impossible, and that's not
the end of the technological

mysteries of Nero's
rotating floor.

We've seen that the floor
rotated on these ball bearings.

But how did they achieve yet
another impossible task and get

a continuous regular rotation?

One method that has been suggested...
Is hydraulic power.

Knowing Rome's
mastery of hydraulic

engineering, it makes
perfect sense.

But until further evidence is
discovered, we can only guess.

No one has been able to work

out how this incredible
rotating floor worked.

It shows how Roman engineers
could achieve the impossible

dream of their insane emperor.

But Nero's high rolling lifestyle
eventually led to his downfall.

In 68 A.D., facing a series of
revolts sparked by high taxes,

Nero committed suicide.

Rival generals fought
for the throne.

With outrageous spending and
civil wars, the Roman empire was

ultimately doomed.

But its legacy of achieving the

impossible is still
with us today.

The Roman empire set the
standard for technology that

forms a vital part of our modern
world, from sophisticated,

high tech weapons to totally
modern architecture and the

first revolving room, proving
that the Roman empire was able

to achieve the impossible,
creating incredible technology

we can still see in use today.