Original subtitles

Narrator: Rome.

The year is 90 ad.

The city rules the greatest empire the world has ever known.

To us, roman sporting spectacle usually

Means one thing, in one place.

Gladiators in the colosseum.

50,000 people cheering on fights to the death.

But less than a mile away,

And for over 1000 years,

Crowds three times that size,

Were hooked on a much, much bigger spectacle.

Chariot racing.

The sport's biggest supporter is the emperor, domitian.

And from the speed, danger, noise, and death,

One man emerges as the greatest charioteer of them all.

Flavius scorpus.

A slave, but who was scorpus and how did he escape

Almost hopeless odds to become arguably the most talented

And successful competitor in the sport's history?

We'll dig deep into the world of rome's chariot superstar.

Bell: This is not a profession respectable

Roman citizens would take up.

Narrator: Build and test his chariots.

Loades: Trying to keep them all straight

Is really challenging, especially on the bends

Narrator: Investigate how races really worked.

Bockmann: This is the turning point for the chariots,

You have to imagine three big cones standing on there,

This is the crucial point where the race is won or lost.

Narrator: And discover the pomp and spectacle

Of race day in the biggest arena the world has ever seen.

Rome's mighty circus maximus.

And the man who conquered it all.

Scorpus.

90 years after the birth of jesus christ, emperor domitian

Is on the throne and rome is the greatest city on earth.

Bell: Rome in this period was at the height

Of its imperial power and the trappings

Of that wealth were on display everywhere.

Toner: It's a huge city, a million inhabitants

Which by pre-industrial standards is enormous,

There were huge numbers of slaves.

Perhaps, uh, 30% of the population was slaves.

When we think of rome we tend to think of the great

Classical buildings with their clean white marble

But the reality would have been much grubbier.

There were very few toilets for example

The city must have smelt.

There are records of people going

To the toilet behind imperial statues.

Narrator: Emperor domitian is a member of

The flavian dynasty, the family who built the flavian

Amphitheater, now known as the colosseum in rome.

Toner: The first flavian emperor, verspasian,

Builds the colosseum and it's a powerful statement

Of how he wants to be seen as an emperor who is giving

People the entertainment that they really want.

The colosseum's finished by his son titus

After he dies and titus only lives for two years

And the younger brother, domitian comes to the throne.

Narrator: Domitian needs to gain popularity fast after

The death from fever of his more charismatic brother titus.

So he keeps up the family tradition

Of lavishing money on mass entertainment.

Toner: He chooses the circus maximus,

As a great opportunity to expand the site,

Make it more luxurious, somewhere where

Every roman wants to go and have some fun.

Narrator: Like his brother and father before him,

Domitian is famous for exploiting the power of what

The romans called bread and circuses, keeping the people

Of rome on his side by spending a fortune giving

Them free grain and lavish entertainment.

Willekes: One of the most famous terms to come out

Of roman world is panem et circenses, bread and circuses.

Which basically means keep the masses fed,

Keep them entertained and they will be happy

And they're not going to revolt or riot against you

Because they'll be too distracted by

Everything that's going on

And they're not going to have empty stomachs to be angry.

Grig: So it's a very important part of the relationship

Between the emperor and the people to take part

In the give and take so famously.

The games are a place where the emperor and the people meet,

They can make demands of the emperor, they can

Demand things, he can give them concessions,

It's important to see and be seen.

Narrator: Rome was home to a million people and a large

Proportion crammed into the circus maximus on race day.

When the emperor joined 150,000 screaming

Fans, roaring on their heroes.

Grig: 150,000, for comparison that's something like three

Times as many people who can sit in the yankee stadium.

It's the largest built structure in the roman world.

The circus maximus is massive.

Narrator: The heroes of this gigantic

Stage were the charioteers.

They came from all across the roman world.

In domitian's time the empire stretched

From north africa to britain, from Spain to syria.

Across this vast area we can still

See the places where charioteers trained.

Where they raced and constantly risked their

Lives to get to the biggest stage of them all in rome.

Hidden away among the tombstones in the museo urbino,

There's a remarkable clue to the identity of

The biggest start of the circus maximus.

It's found on the humble tombstone

Of an ordinary bureaucrat.

Bell: At first sight this monument doesn't

Look like anything special.

At the top, what we see is

The deceased himself at a funerary banquet.

Like other romans, the idea seems to be

That he wants to be seen celebrating the high life.

But what makes this monument really special,

Is the scene that we have here.

Narrator: Beneath the civil servant is a charioteer

And his four horses, but this isn't just any charioteer

Bell: The charioteer's name is inscribed

Over his image, scorpus.

Along with that we have the names of his four horses,

Ingenues, admeto, pasorinos and admeto's.

So here we have the tombstone for a roman bureaucrat

With the image of a sports hero of his day, but why?

The image of scorpus is actually acting

As a kind of good luck charm or talisman.

Meijer: Many people have a gravestone with a picture

Of a charioteer and that's not so strange.

Imagine that a man who died and he was his whole

Life a supporter of scorpus that on his gravestone

He had a small picture of the famous charioteer he adored.

Narrator: Scorpus would become the michael

Jordan or babe ruth of his age.

More clues about scorpus' fame can be

Found in the writings of martial.

He was domitian's court poet and he captured rome's

Infatuation with scorpus and his perilous profession.

"oh rome, I am scorpus, the glory of your noisy circus,

"the object of your applause, your short lived favorite."

Scorpus was born in ad68 and he was

Certainly not born in to the high life.

Like so many he had to work his way up from

The very bottom, almost certainly beginning as a slave.

Toner: Rome was undoubtedly a violent society,

There were huge numbers of slaves who were

Treated often with casual brutality.

But the romans did not see that as cruelty,

They thought it was just simply necessary

To maintain stability and social order.

Narrator: Analysis of rome's ancient inscriptions

Gives a detailed insight into the humble origins

And precarious lives of charioteers.

Bell: One of the things that this book does is tell

Us about the social and legal background of charioteers,

Including information that we can glean from their names.

For example, we have the inscription of crescens

And this inscription tells us that the was a charioteer

For the blue faction, he died at the age of 22

And so we can work out that he began racing at

The age of just 13, and thus his career probably

Would have started when he was about age 10.

We can also get information about his legal background.

All roman citizens would have had a three part name

Or trianamana, but crescens has just one name, which

Tells us that he was born a slave and that he died a slave.

Narrator: We know from the records that

The great charioteer scorpus had two names,

Flavius scorpus, it gives away his lowly background.

Bell: Even a short name like flavius

Scorpus is really informative.

He lacks the three part name of a roman citizen.

Flavius refers to his former master and scorpus

Tells us that he's probably of eastern european origin.

Narrator: The evidence suggests that young scorpus

Was a slave in the eastern roman empire.

He would likely have grown up on a stud farm

Or stables, charged with menial back breaking work.

Toner: Nearly all charioteers were bought into

The business by stable owners, and it was

An opportunity to win money, to win glory.

And to get out of the daily grind

Of being an ordinary slave.

Narrator: For slaves like scorpus,

There were two options.

Grind out a life of hard labor or find a way out.

And if you were prepared to take risks

There was a glimmer of hope in the roman empire.

Grig: One of the distinctive features of slavery

In rome is that a slave had a possibility

Of freedom so slaves could be bought and sold,

They could be bred on your own estate but also

You could hope, if you got lucky that you might work

Your way up and buy your freedom at the end of it all.

Narrator: We know little about scorpus'

Early life but he must have shown a special ability

With horses, it separated him out from the crowd

And could make his owner some extra money on the race track.

It was the first step on the road

To stardom and potential freedom.

Bell: The majority of slaves in rome wouldn't have been free

Before the age of 30 but charioteers were an exception

Especially if they were favorites of the crowd.

Narrator: By his mid teens scorpus must have made

His decision, train to be a charioteer or die trying.

In ancient rome in 90 ad, chariot racing was the empire's

Most popular sport and one of the greatest drivers was

Scorpus, a superstar with legions of fans.

The design of the chariots used

For racing was all about strength and speed.

But chariots had already been around

A long time, over 2000 years before scorpus.

A combination of two great human advances,

The domestication of horses and the invention of the wheel.

Ancient art shows that they began as four wheeled carts but

Evolved into swifter two wheeled machines used from central

Asia to europe and egypt, they were built for war.

Loades: They evolved incredibly high status battlefield

Vehicles and they were used in their tens of thousands,

Then round about 700 bc, gradually chariots were

Phased out and it's around that time that we start

To find hard evidence of chariot races.

Around about that time, 7th century bc the olympic games

Start in greece, and they had chariot racing.

Narrator: By the time scorpus was driving, around 90 ad,

Chariot racing had been going for at least 700 years.

But what was his roman racing chariot exactly like.

The design had been perfected over centuries

Of competition, but no original racing chariots survive.

Fortunately the romans left other clues,

They made models for sale to fans.

To make an exact replica of scorpus' chariot,

Coach builder robert hurford has come to

The british museum to examine an ancient roman toy.

Hurford: This is a contemporary model, beautifully made,

You can see by its details that the man who made

That knows exactly what he was looking at

And is very skilled in making a copy of what he saw.

Luckily he chose bronze so it's lasted this long.

It's showing us how they made the full size ones.

The floor is obviously straps of something which lay over

One another, the wheels are a small diameter so that the

Center of gravity is low so that it doesn't tip over, you

Could hardly ask for anything better to follow than that.

Because it's so finely made I think we can

Really rely upon it telling us exactly

How they made the full size ones.

Narrator: Armed with a blue print of

The british museum toy chariot, robert is starting

To build a racing replica of scorpus' machine.

It's going to be driven by chariot historian mike loades.

Loades: So we've got a couple of images of roman chariots here,

They look very similar to each other, but they look

Completely different to any other chariot I've driven.

I mean I've driven egyptian chariots, assyrian chariots,

Hittite chariots, mycenaean chariots, celtic chariots,

I've driven the lot, except this and they all have

Something in common, they are battlefield vehicles.

They have a driver and a warrior.

Usually an archer.

And they have reasonably big wheels

To go over rough terrain.

This is a different species all together.

Hurford: It's not for two people is it.

It's just a little platform for him

To control those horses on

Loades: It's got that low wheel-base,

It's a formula 1 racing car,

Is that going to grip the track is that going to help

Me slide the thing around that hairpin bend do you think?

Hurford: We'll have to see.

Light weight, minimalist design, yeah it

Should be easy for those animals to pull.

Narrator: Step one, steaming the wood so it

Can be bent into the frame of the drivers cockpit

Hurford: We're steaming some timber to make the frame

Of the chariot, we've got two bits of different

Thicknesses there, one piece makes the sort of handrail part

And the other is the frame for the floor and it'll have

Rawhide thongs woven across it which will make the floor.

The bit we're steaming into shape here

Is going to be the curved outside of that frame.

We've got to be fast with this because if

The heat goes out on the wood it will start to crack.

We've put several clamps in positions on this thing

And it's compressing the timber in some parts.

Okay that's enough I think.

Narrator: The clamps hold the bent wood in place until

Two hours later it cools into the new shape.

Hurford: So we've got a nice frame for our d shaped floor.

Narrator: Next the wheels, racing chariot

Wheels were small and chunky.

Robert believes that for strength they were made

From a single piece of wood, steamed into a circle.

Hurford: This has the grain

Running through the length of it.

Which means that it makes the whole thing a stiff unit.

These small wheels, with very few spokes

Work better if you've got a long piece

Of continuous grain as being the rim.

Narrator: With the wheels taking shape,

Mike tries out the skeleton of the driving platform.

Loades: So this is an outline of what

The body is going to be like.

You can see how the design's working, that angle

Is going to be very braced and strong, it'll take

Me leaning my weight against it, of that I'm sure.

It's different to the chariots I'm used to which

Sit up here and you feel very secure, but I've got

Good freedom where I need it to operate the reigns

On the four horses, this a specialist racing

Machine, can't do anything else and I can't wait to try it.

Narrator: Flavius scorpus rose from slavery to become

A superstar in the most popular sport of ancient rome,

In the greatest arena of them all, the circus maximus.

But he began his career working his way up from poverty.

While the evidence is limited, by age 12

Or 13 the young slave must have shown he had

The first sparks of the right stuff to be a racer.

An affinity with horses, strength,

Balance, and the will to win.

Meijer: Slaves had an opportunity

To become charioteer,

Most of them were the sons of charioteers or they were

Scouted somewhere that they had special abilities.

And for them it was an opportunity to

Escape the slave life.

Bell: The skills you would need as a charioteer included

A natural ability around horses, as well as an ability

To navigate the chariot at the dangerous turns or metai,

The turning posts in the circus.

Narrator: The sport scorpus was

Entering was a lethal one.

Using inscriptions as evidence, sinclair bell has

Calculated that the average lifespan of a charioteer was 25

Years and there are records of racers dying as young as 19.

But despite the overwhelming odds against success

Or even survival, plenty of young men like scorpus wanted

To try their skill and luck, they just needed a break

Bell: There were scouts all over the roman empire,

Scouring for new talent because charioteers

Were literally dying to get to the circus maximus.

Narrator: Chariot racing was dominated by four

Commercial teams or factions, each with their own

Identifying color, the reds, blues, greens, and whites.

A young charioteer had to gain the factions attention before

He could make any progress on the racing circuit, but their

Scouts were always looking out for new talent to replace

Drivers who were either too old or too injured to race.

Along with finding and training young chariot drivers,

The factions needed another vital component, horsepower.

Some of the best chariot horses were not native to Italy.

They were across the mediterranean sea,

In rome's african territories, evidence shows

This was a rich breeding ground for race horses.

Willekes: One of the reasons we know north africa was

Producing some of the best, the largest number

Of race horses but also some of the best race horses

In the roman world, is because of inscriptions like this

One right here, and it's basically recording part

Of the career of a charioteer named auvillius terrias

And it's from the 1st century ad and it's a list

Of horse names and they have names like romulus,

Dromo and 37 of these 42 names have the initials

Af after them which means africa.

We know that given the importance of

The circus throughout the roman empire, thousands

Of horses were being produced because you needed

A huge volume of horses to run a single day of races.

Narrator: For scorpus, and all charioteers,

There was one particular type of horse that had

The speed, strength, and stamina they needed.

A horse so tough that it's been the breeding stock

For the modern thoroughbred, standard bred and

The american quarter horse, it's called the berber, or barb.

Driss: They can resist to the cold, the heat, they can

Live in the desert, in the mountain, everywhere.

They have good cardiac rhythm willekes: Oh, yeah, their heart.

Very strong heart driss: Very strong heart.

Willekes: What are the physical characteristics

That identify a barb from other horses?

Driss: The first thing is the head,

So the head is a convex profile

Willekes: The head comes out?

Driss: Yeah, and the eye is like

An almond, with this neck which is large

And is very strong, they can pull the chariots.

And they have a very strong hoof too.

Narrator: But the supply of berber horses was

Only one part of the equation, like indy car or formula 1,

Behind the charioteer were the all powerful factions.

Huge teams that approached racing like a business.

Willekes: The anatomy of a stable or the idea of

The horse world in antiquity, getting a horse

To the racetrack, this is where it started.

You have the whole faction's stable which is just

An incredible beehive of workers, you have the stable

Managers who are in charge of the whole operation, you have

Their assistants, you have the trainers, you have grooms

Working with the horses, you have veterinarians

And doctors, you have the chariot makers, the harness

Makers, the blacksmiths, the senior charioteers

And the junior charioteers, apprentices, all working

Together in this environment to try and produce

The race horses, so it's this huge industry just to get

One team of horses from basically birth to the circus.

Narrator: For scorpus to realize his ambition

To become a charioteer he would need expert guidance

And only one kind of man could provide it.

A former charioteer.

Drivers who survived until retirement

Age might have a second career overseeing

Younger charioteers within a faction.

Bell: One charioteer who survived till retirement

Age after 1000 wins was communis.

Even though communis had won enough money

To buy his freedom and retire, he still stayed

In the industry of chariot racing,

Presumably because it was in his blood.

Toner: Most charioteers started racing quite young

When they were probably in their late teens,

So if they survived for 10 years they were probably

Doing quite well so most trainers would probably be

Retired charioteers in their late 20s in their 30s perhaps

Their 40s but hugely experienced in the whole industry

Narrator: By his late teens scorpus was

A promising driver, ready to rest his skills and courage

In the ancient roman equivalent of the minor leagues.

Races in the outer edges of empire, from africa to judaea.

The stakes could not be higher.

He could die a forgotten rookie, or win the chance

For fame, fortune, and freedom in rome's circus maximus.

On the outskirts of the roman empire, flavius

Scorpus is starting to make his name as a chariot racer.

As his reputation gradually rises, another roman at the

Other end of the social hierarchy

Is enjoying the high life.

Emperor domitian is the source of lurid rumors about his

Love life and is busy lavishing money on rebuilding rome.

At the heart of his city is the massive

Circus maximus, every chariot racers dream.

Robert hurford is rebuilding the chariot of scorpus,

The man who would become domitian's racing superstar.

Robert is entering the final stages,

Reconstructing a machine that can be track tested.

The toy chariot robert examined in the british

Museum seemed to show rims on the chariot wheels.

Hurford: In the early iron age, the invention of a band

Of metal, iron, shrinking around the wheel

To keep all the joints tight was a big breakthrough.

Narrator: Roberts calculations have allowed

A quarter of an inch of shrinkage once he attaches

The iron tire, too much and it could come off at high

Speed, too little and the wheel will be squeezed apart.

Hurford: We've measured the metal tire, so it's slightly

Smaller than the wheel, and we put the tire

In the fire to expand the metal in the heat.

Then we place that tire around our wheel and cool it down

Quickly and it has compressed the wheel as it shrinks.

The chariot's going to be whizzing along on tight bends

So there are forces on the wheel from all sorts of

Angles and we've squeezed the joints together with metal.

Narrator: With the wheel complete robert can

Now turn his attention to how the chariot will

Support and protect its driver.

Hurford: This is half a cow's hide.

This point if you dry it, it becomes hard

And then shrinks quite a bit and those two properties

Are what make it useful for us at this stage

Narrator: With a leather hide wrapped around the frame

For some driver protection all that's left are the wheels.

The chariot's complete, ready for mike loades to drive.

But with such a lightweight design and a floor made

Of just woven leather strands, how could scorpus

Have survived in such a tiny vehicle

And gone on to win over 2,000 races?

Loades: This is the sports car I've always dreamed of.

This is a sleek racing machine.

I want to get in it.

And suddenly now inhabiting the space

It's already starting to tell me things.

Up here without any protection, that's really roman.

When I saw it schematically, I thought oh well

You've got to be in and I'll rest against this

Front rail, that's all wasted space behind.

Nobody wastes anything on a design like this.

When I think of the mosaics and the art

And actually you tend to see them back here,

Look at where the axle is beneath my feet.

If I'm back here then I'm going to be lifting that weight

Off the horses necks almost like letting the break off.

So we've got this wonderful chariot and now we've put the

Engine in and as you can see it's a big powerful engine.

Narrator: Mike has decided to make the test

As authentic as possible so along with his

Genuine chariot, he's using a roman harnessing

System too, it's completely different from a modern one.

Loades: The way a regular horse and carriage works

Is you've either got the horse between two wooden

Shafts that come down here either side of the horse,

Or you've got a horse collar or breast harness which

Attach to the chariot with a strap called a trace,

The trouble is, the roman's early chariot cultures did not

Have these straps, the real challenge of driving with this

Yolk and pole system is to keep your horses parallel.

Narrator: With the components assembled all that

Remains now is to put this racing machine to the test.

Loades: It's a bit like getting into a new car.

Always exciting going to see how it's

Going to perform, lets give it a go.

Alright lads, walk on.

Here we go, good lads, trot on, trot, trot trot, good lads.

Even at the walk I can feel shock

Waves going through my knees.

Those little wheels give me a low center

Of gravity but I feel secure by putting my

Feet out the sides there, I'm wedged in.

And we're going round the bend now and you can really feel

Those forces, I'm having to lean into that and the horses

Are staying together round the bend, this is terrific.

Woah, good lads.

Well that was thrilling I mean to drive two magnificent

Horses like that at speed without traces and I can't tell

You how significant that without traces is, they've been

Trained, they stayed together, they stayed parallel.

I found it great standing at the back of the chariot here.

Just behind the axle there, so I'm lifting the weight

Of their backs and letting them use their power

And go on and I found that my feet were pushing into

The sides of the rail as it comes down to the floor

And that actually gave me a good bit of stability,

And I also found myself really leaning back on them,

Just like we see in some of the mosaics.

When you build it as it was built, and use it

As it was used, it starts to tell you things and it starts

To confirm all the clues that you can see in the art.

Narrator: By his late teens scorpus was making

A name for himself racing two horse chariots.

But to make the leap to stardom, he would have

To master four horse racing, and risk his life

On the greatest stage of the ancient world.

Flavius scorpus had grown up a slave,

But now he was learning his trade in

The most dangerous races in the roman world.

Thousands of slaves tried to make it

And hundreds died in the process.

Thrown from their machines, tangled in their reins,

Trampled by horses,

Killed in the pile ups that romans called shipwrecks.

But an ambitious slave like scorpus

Had to do more than survive.

He needed to win, and to do it with four horses.

Loades: Romans certainly had two horse chariot races,

But they were junior league.

The real grand prix was the four horse race.

This is still the engine they're being pulled by the yoke

Because the outside horses are only being attached at the

Head, they are not pulling the chariot at all and that is

Going to make the driving of them very, very challenging.

So many bits of leather.

I have driven four horses before, but that's

When they're two in front of the other in sort

Of very polite single file for carriage driving.

This is a completely different sensation.

Those outside horses, there is no attachment to

The chariot at all so trying to keep them all

Straight is really challenging, especially on the bends.

Narrator: The question mike wants to answer

Is why the romans went to the expense and difficulty

Of racing four horses, was it faster,

More spectacular or just more challenging?

Loades: Whoa, easy now, whoa.

Wow, that was quite the experience, I have never done

Anything with horses quite like that before.

There are so many bits of leather, you have

To keep this one short so he's turning round like

That and let this one out so he's going round

The outside, and make sure you're not ignoring the middle

Two who are the engine doing all the pulling.

So many things.

My little brain talking to those four brains

And negotiating the track it's really, really challenging.

Narrator: Controlling four horses instead

Of two is without doubt much harder but it's also

Clear that the two outside horses provide no direct

Pulling power, so why were they added?

To answer that question, mike's going to reconstruct

The path scorpius took from two to four horses,

Starting with a speed trial.

Loades: When we think of the roman circus it conjures

Up images of a circus ring and chariots just

Going round and round in a circles, but of course

The romans wouldn't have anything quite so dull.

What they did was they put a barrier up the center, it was

Called a spina so a spine, right up the center of the track.

So what you had, you had broad straights where

A mass of chariots would come hurtling down.

Then they would come to this sharp, hairpin bend,

They had to swing and slew round here.

This is where most of the accidents would happen,

This is where men and horses were injured and killed,

This was the danger zone and then they come out

Of here and made a mad dash up to the other end.

It was the spina that gave the roman circus

Its theater, its spectacle, and it's jeopardy.

So, the big question is why four horses and not two.

The only way to find out is to do a time trial,

So here comes the two horse chariot.

And I'm going to give him a, go!

Narrator: 21st century charioteer ben tries

To get around two laps as fast as he can.

Loades: They are a sprightly pair aren't they,

Look at that corner.

Terrific how he can get around the corner

With two horses, I wonder if four can do that.

Really tight round the hairpin bend,

That was just under 20 seconds at the first turn

And here he goes around the top corner again,

Hurtling around there, they come charging down that

Back straight, here they come, here they come,

And it's 35 seconds and a nudge, that's pretty quick,

That's going to be something for a four horse chariot

To match that but let's see.

Go!

Narrator: Now there are four beasts

And 16 plunging hooves to control.

Loades: He's really pushing them on.

He has to slow for the corner to bring those four horses

Around the corner, coming down the straight, watch, he belts

Down the straight but he'll have to collect them here.

Yeah slowing, slowing.

21 seconds on the first round.

Looks fast but he's slowed them, 26.

That was 42 seconds and it's telling us this is not only

No faster, it's a tiny bit slower than

The two horse chariot.

Narrator: So the time trial is fairly conclusive,

Two horses are faster than four.

So perhaps pure speed was not what the fans craved most.

Loades: The question remains, why four horses,

It's not as fast as two.

It's certainly no faster than two.

It's harder to drive, so why did they do four?

Well I think that it's about spectacle.

Narrator: Evidence like this freize on a roman

Sarcophagus shows that the racetrack was a crowded place,

With frequent crashes that the romans called shipwrecks,

Often caused as chariots piled into each other.

Loades: It becomes an obstacle course, because everywhere

Are dotted these shipwrecks as they call them.

These crashes and you have to negotiate and get

Around them, you have to race towards them

And if you've got four horses you're commanding more ground.

The circus maximus was a theater, it was sporting

Entertainment and it delivered a spectacle

In three ways, majesty, supremacy, and jeopardy.

Narrator: Scorpus' growing talent with four

Horse racing would have taken him across the roman world.

The teams, or factions, would show up

At regional race tracks like this, caesarea

In the roman province of judaea in modern day israel.

It's a magnificent circuit, a slightly scaled

Down version of rome's circus maximus.

It was at places like this that

Scorpus won his racing stripes.

We know that he spent much or all of his career racing for

The green faction, drivers were decked out in the bright

Colors of their factions, green, white, red and blue.

♪

Toner: The races would have been hugely competitive.

Very violent, lots of jostling for position

And the charioteers would often cheat.

♪

All of which was trying to make the opponents

Lose control of their horses and of getting

Themselves into a better tactical position.

Narrator: Over and over again, race after race,

Scorpus will test his mettle, risk his life, and win.

But he's still a slave.

He already knows that the life of the average

Charioteer is short and frequently deadly.

Scorpus must have already seen many

Of his friends and rivals killed on the track,

A brief cremation and then racing resumed.

To realize his ambitions scorpus now has only one option.

He must travel to rome and get ready to race on the greatest

Stage in the entire empire, the mighty circus maximus.

In the next episode, scorpus gets a chance to pit himself

Against the best charioteers from across the empire.

But to succeed he must win the support

Of the emperor domitian who controls the races,

He must out muscle vicious competition on the track,

Become the hero of over 150,000 screaming fans,

And defy an entire industry built

On superstition and dark magic.

All in the greatest sporting arena the world has ever seen.