March, AD 37. At Misenum, on the Bay of Naples, an old man dies who never wanted the job the way the founder wanted it. In Rome the Senate waits to find out whether the machine still runs.
He is Livia’s son, adopted into the Julian house after better heirs die, a commander who could settle the Alps, Germany, and Pannonia, and a man who once withdrew to Rhodes rather than sit in the waiting room of the succession. Tacitus is brilliant and hostile. Suetonius collects gossip. Velleius is the friendly officer. The film keeps those voices labeled.
Accession in 14 brings mutinies on the Rhine and the Danube. Germanicus is the popular problem; his death in Syria is not asserted as murder. Sejanus rises through the household and the Guard. From 26 Tiberius is on Capri. The treason trials are real; the Capri sex-dungeon is later packaging and is left on the floor.
What he proves is the point of the series after Augustus: the Principate can survive the founder. It cannot survive honesty about what it is. He leaves a surplus. He leaves a chair that now exists. Caligula is waiting.
Chapters
The spine of the film
- 00Death at Misenum
- 01Livia’s son
- 02Rhodes
- 03The forced heir
- 04Mutinies of AD 14
- 05Germanicus
- 06Sejanus
- 07Capri
- 08The fall, AD 31
- 09What the Principate proved
Further reading
Start here
- Tacitus, Annals I–VI
- Suetonius, Tiberius; Velleius Paterculus
- Barbara Levick; Robin Seager
Stills
From the production package
Maps
Atlas plates
Schematic maps drawn for the documentary. Political fills and routes are interpretive.
