EMPERORS

150 miles south of Rome, Baiae is a resort where the elites could let their hair down, and indulge their wildest dreams. The coastal city offered spectacular ocean views but lay in the dangerous shadow of Vesuvius. Today, few know about Baiae. Some of the ...

Nero was a cruel, eccentric psychopath who persecuted Christians and, it’s said, burned Rome to the ground. Baiae was his escape where he could indulge in his sadistic fantasies. Nero spent a fortune on indulgent banquets in Baiae. But these banquets weren’t just about food. ...

Shellfish farming was an industry as far back as the Roman times. The entrepreneur Sergius Orata is credited with being the first to lay out artificial oyster beds in the bay in the first century BC. The ancient Roman cookbook Apicius suggests how the rich ...

Steve Talley – Producer Steve Talley’s experience in factual television extends over a wide range of historical, scientific and current affairs programming and includes experience filming on four continents from Armenia to Vietnam. With a keen interest in history, archaeology and religion, Steve has studied ...

See stills and images of individuals featured in China's Terracotta Warriors.

The extraordinary story of China’s 8,000 terracotta warriors begins two centuries before the birth of Christ. The First Emperor of China was preparing an extravagant tomb for his journey into the afterlife - and decreed that he be protected forever by a monumental army.