All language subtitles for BBC.Rome.A.History.of.the.Eternal.City.2of3.Divine.Gamble.PDTV.x264.AC3.MVGroup.org

'Rome. Holy city.'

'Blessed by Pagan gods.'

'Earthly capital of
a glorious empire

'with a divine mission
to conquer and rule.'

But Rome was to cast aside its
pantheon of idols

to embrace a revolutionary
new faith from the East

that would change its classical
skyline forever.

'Personal salvation
and the worship of one God

'eclipsed the gods of old.'

'Soon after the crucifixion of Jesus
his message started to spread...

'but there was nothing inevitable
about its ultimate triumph.'

'The followers of Christ
were viciously persecuted.'

'But the martyrdom of St Peter
gave Rome a new founding story

'and a divine mission for
his successors, the Popes.'

Rome became a vibrant centre
of Christian devotion.

But it was the necessities of power

that really decided
its sacred destiny.

'I've come as both historian
and tourist,

'to examine how the decision
of one emperor

'changed the history of Western
civilisation and Rome itself.'

'Its impact on the fabric
of the city

'and on the lives of its citizens,
nobles and high priests.'

'Abandoning paganism risked
everything that Rome stood for.'

'Triggering confusion, violence,
power struggles,

'and setting Popes and Emperors
on a collision course.'

So what transformed the Holy City
of Rome from the pagan heart

of the Roman Empire to the capital
of Christendom?

'On the outskirts of Rome,
a stadium once stood.

'Horse-races were staged there to
entertain Emperors and citizens.'

But in 64 AD the imperial race-track
became the site of a mass execution.

'The centre of Rome had been
devastated by fire.

'Angry Romans wanted
someone to blame.

'So Emperor Nero offered them a new
religious sect - the Christians.

'Some were torn to pieces
by wild dogs,

'others set on fire
as human torches,

'and a few were crucified.'

Amongst them was Peter, a leader of
the Christian mission in Rome

and one of the original
12 disciples.

Tradition says that
out of respect for Jesus,

he asked to be crucified
upside down.

'In the centre of the race-track
stood an obelisk.'

This is that same obelisk,
and 2,000 years later,

it's still in roughly
the same place.

It was probably the last thing
that Peter saw.

And this is probably the last thing
that he could have imagined.

St Peter's, the magnificent
basilica built in his honour

and still towering over
the city of Rome.

'Ultimately, Peter's execution
would transform Rome.

'But when he died, Christianity was
just one of many Eastern cults,

'struggling to survive, in a city
dominated by pagan gods.

'For a thousand years, paganism had
brought success and prosperity

'to the Eternal City.

'The will of the Gods decided
every aspect of Roman society.

'When it went to war.
Who its rulers were.

'Paganism had brought Rome
domination of the ancient world.'

The Roman Empire was flexible,
embracing and co-opting

foreign gods into its own
state religion,

but so far none had threatened
the status quo.

'But Christianity was radically
different.'

# Gloria

# Gloria. #

'Whereas paganism sought
the goodwill and protection

'of the Gods in this life,

'Christianity held out the promise
of eternal life in the next world.

'But its rejection of pagan practice
marked it out.'

The Christian refusal to sacrifice
to the ancestral Gods

in honour of the Emperor

made them a potential threat
to the Roman state itself.

'As Christianity took hold
amongst Rome's under-classes,

'the pagan establishment
sought to discredit it.

'The ritual of Holy Communion, the
taking of Christ's body and blood,

'was described as cannibalism.'

'Yet, meeting in secret, the
Christian community began to grow.

'Historian Alexander Evers
is taking me

'to one of Rome's remaining house
churches from the second century.

'What took place
in private dwellings like this

'would sow the seeds of Rome's
unique Christian future.'

So what was the early
church in Rome really like?

Initially, you can safely say it was
an unorganised heap of people.

Hardly any structure there. A large
group. A growing group within Rome.

But not united. There are
differences of opinion

about how to worship,
where to worship.

And eventually, gradually, you have
those single figures of authority

rising to the fore.

The Bishop, who can pull
it all together.

So where did the early Bishops of
Rome get their authority from?

From a fairly early point onwards,

they're beginning to place
themselves in one line

with the apostle, Peter, who was
the right hand of Christ,

who supposedly was
the first Bishop of Rome.

Where that tradition comes from
is not entirely clear,

but that tradition,
"I'm the successor to Peter",

gives them an enormous source
of authority.

# Sanctus

# Sanctus. #

'The lineage of Bishops
from St Peter

'is known as the
apostolic succession.

'It's the bedrock of the
Bishop of Rome's authority

'and papal power to this day.

'But in the third century,
the Bishops were leaders

'of a religion on the margins.

'And that's why I'm heading
to the outskirts of Rome,

'and the catacombs of San Callisto.

'Deep within its maze
of underground corridors,

'there is something hard to find,
and yet very important.

'Early evidence of how the Bishops
of Rome got their unique title.'

This reads PP, which stands
for Papa or Pope,

and it's the first example
we have of an inscription

that refers to the Bishops of Rome
by that title.

At the time, any charismatic bishop
anywhere in Christendom

might have been known as Pope,
but gradually, the Bishops of Rome

came to be known by that name,
though, surprisingly,

it wasn't for almost 800 years,
until the 11th century,

that it became official.

'But there is something else down
here that I really want to see.

'Some of Rome's very first Popes

'were buried in these
subterranean tombs.'

What an extraordinary room this is.
This is the crypt of the Popes,

and nine of the Bishops of Rome
are buried here,

dating all the way back
to the early 3rd century.

It's an extraordinary thought
that these men

were the leaders of Christianity,
right at the very beginning,

long before the Papacy became
the office of power,

magnificence and wealth
that we know today.

'But some of these Bishops,
just like St Peter,

'were to die for their faith.'

Sixtus II was celebrating mass
right here at the altar,

when Roman soldiers burst in.

When they drew their swords,
the entire congregation competed

to offer themselves for
the honour of martyrdom,

at which Sixtus pushed himself
forwards, bared his neck,

and begged them to take his head.

The soldiers were happy
to take him up on his offer.

They beheaded him on the spot.

'The persecution of the Christians
wasn't constant.

'When the Roman Empire prospered,

'the church was reluctantly
tolerated.

'But in the mid 3rd century,

'the empire tottered on
the edge of catastrophe.'

Rome faced 50 years of disaster.

Civil wars, invasions, and a
bewildering succession of emperors.

The cracks in the imperial
edifice seemed terminal.

'Some emperors believed that Rome
was being punished

'for turning a blind eye
to the Christians.

'The unity of city and empire
was at stake.

'Something had to be done.'

In 303, the Emperor Diocletian

launched the bloodiest
persecution to date.

'Churches were destroyed,
bishops decapitated.

'The streets were awash with
the blood of the faithful.

But the killings failed.

The persecutions merely served
to promote and advertise

the faith of the martyrs.

The flame of Christianity
could not be extinguished.

'Diocletian's victims would forever
leave their mark on Rome.

'And remarkably, one has been
preserved to this day.

'This figure,
one of the city's least known

'but macabre sights,
appears to be a statue.

'But closer inspection reveals
something far more spine-chilling.'

When at first you look at this,
you think it must be a waxwork.

But when you look a little closer
into the slightly open mouth,

you see through the open lips
of the skeleton.

And if you look at the hands, on the
outside, they appear to be wax,

but look inside, you can see
not just the skeletal bones

of the real hand and the body,

but actually the dried
skin there, too.

This is the body of Saint Vittoria.

'The cruel deaths of the martyrs
didn't destroy Christianity.

'Their stories kept it alive.

'But it was still just one
of many religious sects

'on the edges of Roman society.

'Only the whim or faith
of an emperor

'could change the course
of history.'

'Emperor Constantine
was a ruthless general

'who slashed his way to power.'

He was a harsh warlord,
capable of terrifying violence.

He even executed
his own wife and son.

But he was also a visionary,
who in one decision

changed the entire course
of Western civilization.

'No-one knows for sure

'why Constantine chose to
embrace Christianity.

'But the decisive revelation took
place here at Milvian Bridge

'on the outskirts of Rome.'

'The over-extended empire had been
split in two - East and West.

'Rome was no longer
the imperial capital.

'Each region was ruled by
an Emperor and his deputy.'

Constantine shared the West
with Maxentius,

but they soon became bitter rivals.

'In 312, Constantine had
cornered Maxentius' forces

'on the banks of the Tiber.'

Before battle commenced,
Constantine had a vision.

He saw the sign of the cross
superimposed on the sun

with the words "By this sign,
thou shalt conquer".

At the very last moment, he ordered
his soldiers' shields

to be emblazoned with the cross.

Fighting under Christian banners,

he won the greatest victory
of his life.

'Constantine now saw Christ
not as the crucified lamb of God,

'but as a potent God of victory.

'He was about to turn his back
on everything that had made Rome.'

'Exchange the protection
of many gods for just one.

'Overturn a thousand
years of Roman history,

'and embrace the faith
of persecuted radicals.

'But could Rome withstand
this revolution?

'Constantine was willing
to take that gamble.

'But while an Emperor could
change his religion overnight,

'Rome's pagan citizens
would take longer.

'The arch built to mark
Constantine's victory

'shows how controversial
this change of policy was.'

This arch contains a surprise.

If you look up here on line three,
you'll see the divinity

that Constantine thanks for his
victory is subtly ambiguous.

It could be either
Christian or pagan.

'Constantine doesn't give thanks
to the pagan god of war,

'but neither does he reveal
his new faith.

'He uses a general term
for divinity - divinitas,

'which was acceptable to
both pagans and Christians.

'Promoting Christianity in a world
where the majority was still pagan

'would need tact and diplomacy, even
from an all-conquering emperor.

'Constantine's cautious approach
to conversion is reflected

'in the 4th century church
of Santa Pudenziana.'

The facade of this church
wouldn't have looked

at all out of place in pagan Rome.

It's a basilica,
literally, a king's hall,

and this was the typical rectangular
building of Roman public life,

where emperors and governors
held court.

'The need to fit in is further
revealed when you step inside.

'The image of a humble saviour has
received a grand Roman makeover.

'Jesus isn't nailed to the cross
like a common criminal.

'He's depicted ostentatiously on a
throne, like a king or an emperor,

'and his disciples are dressed
in the togas of the aristocracy,

'like senators holding court
in a classical city.'

Pagan Romans coming in here
wouldn't have been shocked

or put off by anything they saw.

But this wasn't the lower-class,
radical religion

of the early church.

This was imperial Christianity,
designed to attract and impress

Romans high and low.

'Christianity was becoming Roman.

'Rome was becoming Christian.

'But Rome's rebirth as a sacred
city of Christendom

'required a transfer of holiness

'from Christianity's
first holy city.

'Constantine dispatched
his mother, Helena,

'on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

'Helena returned with a precious
collection of Christian relics.

'And I'm just about to witness

'the most monumental treasure
of them all.'

This is one of Empress Helena's
most extraordinary finds.

The Scala Sancta.

This staircase is believed to be

from the palace of Pontius Pilate
in Jerusalem.

Jesus walked down these steps
after he was sentenced to death.

'Unlike the remote pagan Gods,

'the Christian God had a son whom
he had sacrificed for humanity.

'And what Christ had touched,
his followers also wanted to touch.'

For centuries, pilgrims have climbed
these steps on their knees

as an act of piety, to get closer
to Christ and honour his suffering.

It's not often, in our secular age,

that you see a place of such
intense, passionate devotion,

but this tells you something
about Rome as a holy city.

A holy city is a place
where God meets man.

And that is exactly what
these pilgrims are doing.

While Helena was importing
holiness from Jerusalem,

Constantine was keen to promote the
city's home-grown Christian sites.

But he had to be careful.

Rome was still overwhelmingly pagan,

and that's why he built his first
churches away from the centre.

'Constantine built seven
churches in Rome.

'But one took on supreme
importance.

'Nero's Circus had become a holy
place for Rome's Christians,

'as the location of Peter's
crucifixion and burial.

'A simple shrine had been
erected over his grave.'

Constantine recognised
the importance of the site.

A direct link between Rome
and Jesus Christ himself,

through his right-hand man, Peter.

So Constantine decided to build his
biggest basilica over Peter's tomb.

'Constantine's basilica
gave Rome's Christians

'a new focus for devotion.

'It stood for over a thousand years,

'until it was rebuilt
during the Renaissance.

'Jesus said that Peter
would be the rock

'on which his church was built.

'Constantine's basilica literally
fulfilled that prophecy.

'Over the centuries, St Peter's
was to become the cornerstone

'of the Catholic Church

'and the headquarters for
an empire of Christian souls.

'But when Constantine
commissioned it,

'it was still an act
of wishful thinking.'

Constantine's St Peter's promoted
Rome as a Christian centre.

But he died leaving
a hybrid holy city,

part Christian, but part pagan.

'The temples of the old Gods
still dominated the skyline.

'Pagans still dominated the city.

'Constantine's divine gamble
now lay in the hands

'of Rome's new high priests.'

It was now down to the Popes,
Rome's Bishops,

to really make Rome Christian.

BELL TOLLS

Before Constantine, Rome's Bishops
had been persecuted leaders.

Now they were important officials
with real influence.

One Pope, Damasus I,
revelled in this new status.

Nearly 70 when he came to power,

Damasus didn't allow old age
to dampen his pleasures.

Corrupt and egotistical,
his enemies described him

as a smooth-talking adulterer,
or as they put it,

"A tickler of the ears
of middle-aged women."

'But Damasus was also a poet

'who used his literary gifts
to win Christian souls.

'He took Rome's earliest sites
of martyrdom

'and celebrated them in poetry.

'This poetical propaganda has been
studied by Marianne Saghy,

'an historian who I'm meeting
at the Church of Sant' Agnese.'

Pope Damasus went into every single
catacomb, more than sixty catacombs,

placing poetic inscriptions
above the holy graves.

Damasus' inscriptions were like huge
billboards in the labyrinthine

darkness of the catacombs.

And it attracted huge throngs, huge
crowds to the graves of the martyrs.

What was Damasus' impact
on the church?

Damasus understood and saw the power
radiating from the holy ashes

and holy relics, and therefore
he wanted to put the stamp

of the Church on the tombs
of the martyrs.

'Damasus had created a ring
of holy sites around the city.

'But Christianity faced a stiffer
challenge in the centre of Rome.

'Culturally, Romans were still
attached to the rhythms

'and festivals of
the pagan calendar,

'which promised feasting and fun.

'Christianity had to compete
on a social level, too.'

By a mixture of accident and design,

the Christian calendar began
to overlap with the pagan.

St Peter's birthday coincided
with Caristia,

a pagan festival of banqueting
and gift giving.

'By the end of the 4th century,
Romans could have two parties,

'one pagan, one Christian,
on fourteen days of the year.'

Some Christians even continued to
participate in the shameless

immodesty of the Lupercalia
fertility festival,

running half naked through
the streets

while whipping girls
with strips of goat hide.

'To persuade Rome's citizens
to fully embrace Christianity,

'Damasus turned his gift
for propaganda

'to the city's greatest
spiritual asset.'

Damasus had claimed Rome
for St Peter.

Now, cleverly, he claimed
St Peter for Rome.

St Peter had been martyred in Rome,

and therefore,
he was a Roman citizen,

and this gave his direct heirs, the
Bishops of Rome, special authority.

'By commandeering St Peter's
legacy for the city,

'Damasus asserted Rome's
primacy in the wider church,

'and enhanced the status
of Christianity at home.'

'Meanwhile, events beyond
the reaches of the Empire

'were to have a devastating effect
on Rome,

'changing the Holy City forever.

'By the beginning of 5th century,
barbarian tribes were on the move.

'The Huns migrated
into central Europe,

'displacing the Germanic Goths,

'who became refugees on the
borders of the Roman Empire.'

Defenceless and hungry,
the Goths were forced to trade

their own children for food,
but the Romans sold them dog meat.

Tensions reached boiling point
and the barbarians mobilised.

'With the Western Empire weakened
by dynastic infighting,

'the Goths, under their King,
Alaric, made a bold move.'

Rome was no longer
the Imperial capital,

but it was the symbol of Empire.

Bewitched by its faded glories,

Alaric wanted to share
in its majesty.

But what he really wanted, like
every barbarian, was to be a Roman.

'Alaric besieged Rome
and tried to cut a deal.

'He wanted land
for the Goths to settle.

'Rome's elite, inheritors
of an illustrious past,

'refused to meet the demands
of impertinent barbarians.'

Alaric's response was chilling.

"The thicker the grass," he said,
"the easier to scythe it down."

His dagger was at the throat
of the Western Empire,

but still no compromise
could be found.

'Starvation set in.

'The Romans couldn't bury their dead
inside the city walls

'so putrefying bodies
littered the streets.

'Desperate to put the population
out of its misery,

'a noblewoman opened
the city gates.

'Alaric's 40,000 Goths burst in.

'Mansions were plundered,
the rich were tortured

'to give up their treasure.

'And those who couldn't flee
were terrorized or killed.

'Their women, raped.'

The Goths were Arians,
a sect of heretical Christians,

so they showed some restraint.

They respected
the sanctity of the holy sites.

St Peter's was left unscathed,

and by the standards
of barbarian sackings,

this one was less barbaric
than expected.

'Nevertheless,
the psychological effect

'of the sacking was shattering.

'The city that had conquered
the whole world

'was believed to have
been murdered.

'A sense of instability
pervaded Rome.'

The great theologian of the day,
St Augustine, believed the reason

Rome had fallen because it was
still essentially pagan,

and steeped in sin.

The kingdom of heaven was
the only salvation.

The Imperial City was doomed.

'Rome's mythological past -

'its founding fathers, Romulus and
Remus - couldn't be erased.

'Paganism was still deeply
ingrained.

'But one Pope who witnessed
the sacking, Leo the Great,

'saw a way of channelling
the prestige of the pagan world

'into the magnificence
of the Christian.

'To find out how Leo shaped the
Christian identity of Rome,

'I'm meeting historian
Michele Renee Salzman.'

Michele, how did pope Leo promote
Christianity in a city that still

had such a strong classical
Roman tradition?

Leo was very proud of the

Roman tradition in the Pagan past,

he is the first Pope to

actually mention Romulus and Remus,

and to take pride in the Roman
Empire in one of his sermons,

but a better empire,
a stronger empire,

a greater empire resides
with Christ.

So he is very involved in
maintaining the physical fabric

of the city,
but as a Christian centre.

So what was Leo's personal
relationship with St Peter?

Leo felt very intimately connected
to St Peter.

Of course, every bishop could claim
that their authority

comes from Peter, the
very first Bishop of Rome,

but Leo makes it a very intimate tie
in his ordination sermons.

He talks about Peter's spirit
almost living through him,

and I think it's very telling
that when Leo is buried,

he is the first Pope
buried in St Peter's,

so that tie, that intimate tie,
lives on forever.

'Leo had exploited the unique
link between Rome and St Peter

'to mobilize the Christian spirit
of the city.

'But it was also a reminder,
to the wider church,

'that Bishops of Rome were the
ultimate authority in Christendom.

'And this new confidence
was reflected

'in the centre of the city.'

In just over a century since
the time of Constantine,

the pagan city was now infused
with the spirit of St Peter.

Pristine, lavishly-decorated
churches overshadowed

the temples to the old Gods.

'Rome now had the skyline
of a Christian capital.

'One God, one credo, one Pope.

'But with spiritual authority
concentrated in one figure,

'Rome's fate was now bound
to one man.

'A good Pope could lead
the Holy City to further glory.

'A bad Pope would spell disaster.

'By 536, Rome and all of Italy
was controlled

'by barbarian Christian kings.

'Emperor Justinian ruled the entire
Eastern Empire from Constantinople.'

He had a vision of reuniting
the old Roman empire,

with himself as Christ's
sacred emperor.

The jewel of Italy was, of course,
the old imperial capital,

but to control Rome,
Justinian needed a puppet Pope.

'So he cut a deal with Vigilius,

'the greedy papal ambassador
to the East.'

Vigilius agreed
to be Justinian's Pope

in return for the sum
of 700 pounds of gold.

But first, Justinian had to take
Italy from the Goths.

He dispatched an expedition

under his brilliant general,
Count Belisarius.

In a remarkable display of
military virtuosity, Belisarius,

with just a few thousand men,
captured Rome.

'Justinian ousted the old Pope
and installed Vigilius.

'Everything seemed to be
going according to plan.'

Vigilius now regarded himself
as the direct heir of St Peter.

Justinian,
Christ's vice-regent on earth,

had little time for
self-promoting bishops.

The two were on collision course.

Vigilius tried to assert
Rome's authority.

But he was ineffectual,
pleasing nobody.

Eventually, Justinian's
patience snapped.

He kidnapped the Pope
and sent him back to the East.

As the Pope's boat left the Tiber
wharf, his reputation

was in tatters. The crowd
threw stones and yelled insults.

Vigilius was even more
humiliated in Constantinople.

He called a council of bishops,
but it descended into a brawl.

Vigilius sought refuge
in the palace church.

He clung to the altar,
but was dragged out by his beard

and forced to sign a document
recognising Justinian's supremacy.

'Justinian's attempt to harness
Rome's holy authority

'had all but destroyed it.

'The Papacy had hit it's lowest
point, and the city would follow.'

The Eastern Empire
struggled to hold Italy.

Within less than a generation

another Germanic tribe
had its sights on Rome.

The Lombards marched south.
First plundering, then settling.

By 590, Rome was desperate
and battled-scarred.

Rome's aqueducts,
the embodiment of imperial might,

were left to crumble, the city's
vital water supplies seeping away.

Impoverished and starving,
its population reduced to 90,000,

the once-glorious capital

was now just a beleaguered outpost
on the fringes of Empire.

Rome needed a new hero,

and the Pope was the only and last
person who could save the city.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Gregory was a super-rich aristocrat

who had already served as city
prefect - in effect, Mayor of Rome.

But the messy business of politics
disgusted him

and he suffered an
existential crisis.

He craved a life of quiet
contemplation.

'Resigning his city post,
he withdrew to the family mansion

'here on the Caelian hill,

'which he converted into
a monastic community.'

A church dedicated to
Gregory, Gregorio Magno,

now stands on the same site.

And his spirit lives on in
the custodians of the church,

the monks of the Camaldolese order.

Freed from the stresses of public
office, the years spent in prayer

and reflection here were
the happiest of Gregory's life.

This is said to be
Gregory's monastic cell,

but there's a feature of this room
that a lot of visitors miss.

That's behind this grille.

If you open it and look inside,
there's just room in there

for a small man to sleep.

This is a very serene place,
and it must have seemed as if

Gregory would never return to the
dirty world of power and intrigue.

But Gregory's seclusion
was short lived.

Rome was cut off from
Constantinople by Lombard forces,

and all but abandoned
by imperial officials.

In a city on the verge of collapse,

only one organization was left
standing - the Church.

Reluctantly, Gregory was drawn
back into civil affairs.

Ordained against his will,
he ran a section of the city,

and when Pope Pelagius
died of plague,

he was elected his successor.

Gregory took charge
of the running of the city

and he proved to be brilliant at
finance, planning and diplomacy.

He bought a truce with the Lombards
and paid the wages of the military.

He donated his estates in Southern
Italy and Sicily to the Church

and used them to feed
the hungry Romans.

Gregory set up welfare centres
across the city,

and he himself dined with
12 poor people every day.

Gregory had expanded
his religious power

into the realm of political
authority.

But he had set his sights
much further afield.

'No pope before had seriously
thought about taking Christianity

'into faraway pagan lands.'

When he was a young deacon, Gregory
had seen some fair-haired

Anglo-Saxon boys at
a Roman slave market.

When he was told
they were Anglo-Saxon,

he said, "They're not Angles,
they're Angels."

Now he was keen to expand papal
powers and convert new peoples.

He dispatched a mission to England
that was remarkably successful.

At Christmas 597, 10,000 Angles
were baptised as Christians.

'Gregory's missionary success made
Rome the Holy City of the West.

'Pilgrims from Europe's
northern territories

'came in their thousands.'

The religious gold-rush was
intensified by the ever-stronger

belief in the sacred power of
martyrs' tombs and relics.

'Guidebooks from the period ignore
Rome's classical monuments,

'directing visitors instead
to Christian sites

'associated with lives
of the martyrs.'

At the church of St Lorenzo,
pilgrims could see the actual grill

on which St Lawrence was roasted.

At the church of St Sebastiano,
they could see the arrows

that had pierced the side
of the great martyr.

'Gruesome stories of the sadistic
torments suffered

'by early Christians were
complied and repeated,

'stories that horrified
and enthralled

'Rome's new spiritual tourists.'

But there was a darker side
to the pilgrim boom.

Everybody literally wanted
a piece of the martyrs.

Soon there was a macabre black
market in the wizened body parts

of the saints - sometimes they
just snatched the entire body.

'The trafficking in body parts
appalled Pope Gregory, who believed

'that contact with the
supernaturally powerful bones

'brought instant death.'

But Gregory understood
the value of relics.

He had special boxes made,
containing filings from the chains

of St Peter, and by sending them
to bishops in faraway territories,

he strengthened their loyalty
to the Pope.

'Pilgrimage to the Holy City paid
rich dividends for the papacy.'

'Holy travellers returned
home with relics

'but also with Roman practices,
which allowed Gregory to become

'the arbiter and leader
of Christianity across Europe.'

'When Gregory died in 604
he was buried in St Peter's,

'where his epitaph read,
"God's consul".'

He'd enriched and empowered
the papacy,

combining the old with the new.

He was truly the high priest
of city and church.

'The Pope now headed the most
influential organisation

'in Western Europe.

'And Rome was its power base.

'The modern papacy, as we know it,
was taking shape.'

But Rome now faced
a completely new threat.

A new religious revelation
was on the march.

Islam.

In a few decades, the Arabs
had conquered a vast empire.

They captured Jerusalem,

leaving Rome the one and only
Holy City of Christendom.

'Rome feared it would be next.

'The city needed an ally.

'Charlemagne, King of the Franks,
was a gifted soldier-statesman

'who had conquered much of
western and central Europe.

'But he aspired to the highest
crown of all - Roman Emperor.

'As a devout Christian,
he craved Rome's stamp of approval.

'But he didn't need to conquer
Rome, Rome would come to him.'

On 25th April 799,
Pope Leo III was near here,

on his way to the Church
of San Lorenzo in Lucina,

when he was ambushed by armed
retainers of the previous Pope.

They tried to gouge out his eyes
and slice off his tongue.

Pope Leo needed Charlemagne's
protection from his rivals,

and from the threat of Arab
and Lombard invasion.

'And Leo could offer Charlemagne

'the one thing
he didn't already have.'

There was a story,
told in this fresco,

that Pope Sylvester had healed
Constantine the Great of leprosy.

Sylvester's reward was Constantine's
conversion to Christianity.

But that wasn't the only thing

that Constantine was said
to have given the Pope.

Pope Sylvester is in firm control.

He's sitting on his throne and
there's the Emperor Constantine,

kneeling and compliantly
surrendering his crown

to the dominant Pope.

This account was a complete
fabrication,

but it allowed Leo to invent
a new tradition.

The power of Popes
to anoint Emperors.

On Christmas day 800,

Charlemagne arrived to celebrate
mass in St Peter's.

He knelt down before the tomb.

As he bent down, the Pope placed
a crown on his head

and anointed him Holy Roman Emperor.

The new imperial alliance seemed
to increase papal authority

and protect Rome.

But actually, it was
flawed from the start.

The Popes believed that they were
the ultimate source of political

and religious authority, so only
a Pope could crown an Emperor.

But the Emperors believed
that they were the supreme power,

so an Emperor could appoint the Pope
whose job it was to crown him.

'The deal didn't live up
to its promise.'

In 846, Arab forces
attacked the city.

For the first time,
St Peter's Basilica,

the essence of Rome's sanctity,
was wrecked and looted.

When the raiders had gone,

Pope Leo IV put his faith
in something more solid.

It's easy to forget that St Peter's
was still outside the city walls,

and therefore vulnerable to attack.

Now Pope Leo embarked on building
these massive fortifications.

The Leonine Walls were 40 feet high
and 12 feet deep,

and they forever changed
the shape of Rome.

The source of Rome's divine power
was now not just sanctified,

but fortified.

Rome's holiness was protected.

Only for it to be poisoned
from the inside.

As the political power
of the Popes had grown,

their position became
highly sought-after.

The papacy became the prize and
plaything in the blood-splattered

power struggle between
competing Italian families.

Several popes were murdered
here at the Castel St Angelo.

Once the mausoleum of the Emperor
Hadrian, and now the fortress,

prison and torture chamber
of the papacy.

'The Popes became power-hungry
players

'in the savage scheming
of Italian politics.'

'And their abuse of papal authority
dragged the Holy City

'into its darkest period yet.

'In 897, Pope Stephen VI
gave an order

'of the most twisted
and malicious kind.'

'He ordered the digging up of
the corpse of a former Pope

'whom he hated.'

Pope Formosus' mummified body
was dressed up in papal robes,

propped up on a mock throne and put
on trial before the Holy Synod.

His crime, violation of canon law.

'The charges were read out,

'and a deacon assigned to
defend the accused Pope.'

Found guilty as charged,
Formosus was stripped and mutilated.

The three fingers he'd used for
papal blessings were chopped off.

'He was dragged
and tossed into the Tiber.'

But this grisly masquerade
was only the start.

From now on, nothing was sacred.

The Popes played a vicious
game of power and pleasure.

No crime was too diabolical
for these heirs of St Peter.

'In the early tenth century,
the papacy became dominated

'by one aristocratic family,

'the debauched and merciless house
of Theophylact.

'The scurrilous chronicler
of their rise to power

'was bishop Liudprand of Cremona.'

Liudprand doesn't
exactly hold back,

especially with the women
of the family,

who are described,
without exception,

as a tribe of sex-mad megalomaniacs.

He says Count Theophylact's wife
Theodora was a "shameless harlot",

and that her two daughters were,
if anything,

"faster in the exercise of Venus".

The most infamous was Marozia.

A wily politician and murderous
man-eater, Marozia must have been

as gorgeously depraved as
she was dynastically effective.

She seduced or married an entire
apostolic succession

of popes and kings, and managed
to dominate Rome for years.

'Drawn deeper into the mire,
Rome's once-mighty Popes

'became pawns in the cesspit
of local politics.'

'At just 15, Marozia had a "wicked
affair" with Pope Sergius III,

'producing a son.'

'Later, Marozia became mistress
of another Pope, John X,

'but she turned against him and
married his enemy, Guy of Tuscany.'

In 928, they successfully
carried out a coup d'etat

in the Lateran palace,
the papal residence.

Marozia had John X arrested,
imprisoned and then strangled

in the Castel St Angelo, leaving
her as de facto ruler of the city.

'The papacy and Rome sank to ever
greater depths of moral depravity.

'Marozia even raised her own bastard
son to the throne of St Peter.'

But things began to fall
apart for Marozia.

Her other son, Alberic,
invaded Rome, arrested John XI

and imprisoned his mother
in the Castel St Angelo.

Marozia died in there,
probably murdered by her own son.

As for Alberic, he ruled Rome for
20 years with the majestic title

Prince and Senator
of all the Romans.

'The Holy City was on its knees.

'The Emperors,
once Rome's protectors,

'were now in the ascendant,
dominating Italy.'

The Holy Roman Emperors, successors
of Charlemagne and, in effect,

Kings of Germany,

repeatedly marched south to attack
Rome and terrorise its Popes.

'Only a few Popes had the strength
to fight back by reinvigorating

'papal authority
and the sanctity of the city.'

In 1075, Pope Gregory VII
took a stand.

He published the Dicatatus Papae,

that declared the absolute
supremacy of the papacy and Rome.

From now on,
Emperors would bow to Popes.

Gregory's posturing infuriated
the German Emperor, Henry IV.

He deposed the Pope.

But Gregory hit back,
ex-communicating Henry -

in effect, stripping him
of all his powers.

The toxic relationship between Pope
and Emperor had ignited,

and Rome was its victim.

Gregory allied himself
with the Normans,

but when they occupied the city
in 1084, things turned violent.

Rome became a blazing inferno.

A thousand years earlier, a pagan
emperor had burnt Christians alive

and crucified St Peter.

But their martyrdom had helped keep

the flame of Christianity
alive in Rome.

Constantine had taken
an underground religion

and staked all of Rome's
glory on its success.

Now the ambitions of a Pope had
brought ruin on the Holy City.

'The Popes were to abandon
Rome altogether,

'and seek the protection
of the Kings of France.'

It seemed like the end.

After 2000 years as head
of the world,

the capital of Emperors and Popes,

the very definition
of sacred power,

the city blessed by God
was now cursed by invasion,

intrigue and depravity.

Its sanctity, debased.

Holy no more, time had run
out for the Eternal City.

'Next time, Rome rises
from the ashes.'

'How the debauchery and avarice
of the Renaissance

'transformed Rome into the city
we see today.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media