All language subtitles for Colosseum.S01E06.720p.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV Eng

[dramatic music]

[fighters grunting]

♪ ♪

- When I look at you,
I don't see prisoners.

♪ ♪

I don't see criminals
or slaves.

I don't even see gladiators.

♪ ♪

I see legionaries,

Dedicated to protecting
this great empire.

♪ ♪

Help me.

Help me to protect
the citizens of rome,

And you will win your freedom!

[all cheering]

[all chanting]
caesar! Caesar! Caesar!

[dramatic music]

[singer vocalizing]

♪ ♪

- The colosseum
is the roman empire

Distilled
to its most basic essence.

♪ ♪

[growling]

- It is a symbol of conquest.

It's a symbol of dominance.

It's a symbol
of imperial power

Radiating throughout
the roman world.

[clicking]

- Now!

[lion roars]

- Any emperor had
the colosseum at his disposal

To use as a tool to reassert
his power and authority.

[crowd cheering]

- The message
to the roman people

Is that life is a combat.

♪ ♪

- It was also
a judicial warning.

Do not test the power of rome.

It was a death penalty
offense.

♪ ♪

- [groans]

[crowd cheering]

- If you live by the sword...

You die by the sword.

♪ ♪

- It demonstrates the power
of the colosseum.

It made slaves into heroes,

Upending the power structure
of rome.

[grunting]

- The colosseum
would come to symbolize

The rise and fall of rome.

♪ ♪

- It's all there--

The blood, the glory,
the magnificence,

And the flaws that made
rome the greatest empire

That europe has ever seen.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Narrator: 162 a.D.

Rome's golden age.

- The empire
of the mid-second century,

It's at its pinnacle,
in terms of

Its territorial expanse
and its wealth.

It's an empire
that is leading the world

In science, in culture,
in philosophy, and in medicine.

[crowd cheering]

- Rome is really the cultural
center of the universe

In this moment.

Authors, doctors,

Architects, philosophers
flock to the city

Because they are enticed
by rome itself.

Narrator:
Among those entranced by rome

Is galen of pergamon,

A brilliant medical scientist

Whose works
are still studied today.

- Galen is probably the single
most influential figure

In the history of medicine.

[crowd cheering]

[grunting]

- He was an author,
a philosopher,

A scientist, a doctor,

And an incredibly
ambitious man.

- His writings survive,
which is true

For very, very few doctors
from this period.

And we know that he's
exceptionally skilled,

And he has an ego to match.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
Galen comes to the colosseum

To catch the eye
of emperor marcus aurelius,

One of the empire's
great minds.

- Marcus aurelius
comes at the tail end

Of the five good emperors.

These were the emperors
who ruled

During what's known
as the pax romana,

During the very height
of the roman empire

In the second century a.D.

♪ ♪

- Marcus aurelius
was an intellectual

And was very much engaged
in philosophical reflection.

And in fact, his nickname

Is sometimes
the philosopher king.

♪ ♪

- He was an extraordinary
character.

He'd been chosen
as a very young man

And trained to be emperor.

And for once,
they got it absolutely right.

Narrator: But marcus aurelius
does not rule alone.

For the first time
in roman history,

Two emperors govern
side by side.

[grunting]

- Marcus aurelius's
adopted brother, lucius verus,

They were almost opposites.

They reigned together perfectly

Because they were two sides
of a coin.

There's no greater example
of how absolute opposite

These men were
as to their attitude

To the colosseum
and to the games.

Someone like marcus,
who was so intellectual,

So philosophical, for him,

The endless and pointless
bloodshed made no sense.

Lucius, on the other hand,
absolutely lives for it.

Yes, it's a vulgar sport,

It's a vulgar vice to have,

But he adores it.

[crowd cheering]

Narrator: A surgeon like galen
plays a crucial role

In keeping gladiators alive.

But he wants more.

- Galen was such an ambitious
and driven individual

That he wanted to become
the world's greatest doctor.

He already thought
of himself as such.

He just wanted people
to acknowledge it.

Narrator:
These two men in rome

At the height
of the empire's powers

Will also be present
at the start of its decline.

Galen's journey
to this moment begins

Almost two decades earlier
and 800 miles away

From the city of rome.

- [shouts]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Galen's hometown

Is the ancient city
of pergamon,

A greek hub near the coast
of the aegean sea,

Now in western turkey.

♪ ♪

- Pergamon is one
of the crown jewels

Of the eastern part
of the roman empire.

It's a sophisticated city
with lots of fine buildings,

Including a temple
to asclepius,

The god of healing.

- If you wanted
to become a doctor,

Pergamon was a pretty good
place to start.

Galen was extremely
well-educated.

He had tutors,

First in philosophy
and then in medicine.

He came from a family
that was wealthy and cultured.

He was set up for success.

[grunting, shouting]

Narrator: In 157 a.D.,

Galen lands his first
official medical role.

♪ ♪

- Galen gets
an incredible opportunity,

Which is to become the doctor
at a ludus,

At a gladiator school.

♪ ♪

- Gladiators,
contrary to popular opinion,

Were not
expendable commodities.

They were extremely valuable.

♪ ♪

- The amount of money

That went into these athletes,

Preserving them,
making them famous,

Training them,
was a huge cost to the school,

And they had to get a return
on that cost.

Any way they could
to preserve that gladiator,

They would have done,
and that included

Getting fantastic medical care.

[dramatic music]

Narrator: Galen's appointment
at the ludus

Follows years
of unusual study.

- There's a real turning point
in galen's life.

His father passed away
at the age of 19.

What he gained
was a massive inheritance,

And he uses that inheritance

To go on sort of
a learning pilgrimage.

♪ ♪

He spends the next 10 years
traveling,

And then eventually,
he ends up in the city

That really makes him,

Which is the city
of alexandria in egypt.

- Alexandria was the one place
in the ancient world

That had a tradition
of human dissection.

Now, there was
a very narrow window

Where that was practiced
back in the ptolemaic era,

In the third century b.C.E.

However, the tradition
and the knowledge continued.

♪ ♪

- Galen's knowledge,
the ability to learn

From the works of
physicians who had actually

Participated in dissection,
gave him an opportunity

To understand the body
unlike any other physician

At the time.

[crowd cheering]

Narrator: Now galen applies

His unique knowledge
of anatomy

To treat the gladiators
in the school at pergamon.

- Gladiators would give
a young physician

A lot of opportunities
to practice.

You're talking about
a lot of lacerations,

A lot of broken bones,
high-speed impacts.

Every single injury was
a window onto the human body.

It was an opportunity
to work on his craft.

[crowd cheering]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- [shouts]

- Get him ready.

[crowd cheering]

[ominous music]

He has a fracture

To the frontal plate
of the skull.

Internal swelling causes
pressure on the bone,

And that bone needs
to be chiseled away

To release that pressure.

Still with us?

- [soft breathing]

- All right.

- In terms of the tool kit
at galen's disposal,

There actually isn't
that much difference

Between what he had access to

And something that a doctor
would have been using

150 or 200 years ago.

[tapping]

He has some anesthetics
available.

He has opiates,
mandrake root mixed with wine.

He has scalpels.

He has forceps.

He's able to set broken bones.

♪ ♪

- When you get someone
like galen, who understands

That you have to disinfect
your tools,

That you have to disinfect
wounds,

How to stitch, how to close,

His understanding
of the body--

There was nobody like him
at that period.

♪ ♪

- Galen revolutionizes
ancient medicine.

We're talking about a guy
who, 2,000 years ago,

Was able to identify
seven cranial nerves,

And he knew the difference
between arteries and veins.

♪ ♪

- Good as new.

[applause]

- Now, we only have
his own account,

But he tells us
that his predecessors

Had 60 gladiators die
in the course of five years,

And he only saw the deaths
of two of them.

This was an astounding
track record.

- You did well today, helius.

- Thank you.

- I wonder, think their skulls
are the same in rome?

- I expect so.

Why?

- There's only one way
to find out.

Narrator: For galen,

The next steps are clear.

His road leads to rome.

Narrator: In 162 a.D.,
galen arrives in rome

Seeking both knowledge
and influence.

♪ ♪

- Rome was, at the time,
the largest city in the world.

It had a population
of about a million or more.

If you wanted to be
connected to power

And prestige and wealth
and fame,

That was really
the place to be.

♪ ♪

- For galen, who had already
spent four years

Working as a doctor
with gladiators,

There was no greater stage
in the whole roman empire

Than the colosseum.

[crowd cheering]

♪ ♪

Narrator: Galen had one goal,
to become personal physician

To the empire's
most important man.

By 162 a.D., marcus aurelius
has been co-emperor of rome

For less than a year.

♪ ♪

The empire that he
and his brother lucius inherit

Is vast and powerful,
stretching from the deserts

Of syria and the nile river
to scotland

And the forests of germania.

Marcus aurelius governs it
unlike any previous emperor,

According to the rules
of stoic philosophy.

- Marcus aurelius
is probably best known

As the author
of "the meditations"

And meditations
specifically on stoicism.

He was a believer
in that ancient philosophy

Of sacrifice and duty
and obligation.

- A lot of the philosophy
is based on the idea

That one should live
in accordance with nature.

Nature was governed by reason
and divine providence.

And so that meant
observing virtuous conduct.

Virtue was very much the idea
of what one should aim for.

[grunting]

Narrator: Galen's records
confirm that he shares

The same views
as marcus aurelius

On the preservation
of human life.

[crowd cheering]

- [groaning]

[crowd cheering]

- Galen was a doctor.

He was a healer.

And marcus aurelius
had no great love

For the games and the blood
sport of the colosseum.

- [groaning]

[all chanting]
death! Death! Death!

- When a mortally wounded
gladiator was at the end,

A figure dressed as dis pater,
who's a god of the underworld,

Comes out.

[crowd cheering]

- I can save him!

I can save him!

I can save him!

[crowd cheering]

- He delivers a coup de grace,

A hammer blow to the head

Of the defeated gladiator.

We know this
because it's depicted in art,

Because roman writers talk
about it,

And because we have found
the skulls of gladiators

With this distinctive pattern
of fracturing

That could only have come
from this hammer.

♪ ♪

Marcus aurelius was someone
who prized human life,

Understood suffering,

Didn't take pleasure
in slaughter for its own sake.

- I've had enough.

- He doesn't really like
the colosseum or the games.

He sees them as being violent
and vulgar.

- This is a problem for galen.

If the emperor does not like
gladiatorial games,

Well, that's a bar to galen
being able to make

His name any further.

If galen wants to make
a name for himself,

Then he's gonna have to look
beyond the colosseum for work.

♪ ♪

Narrator: By the time galen
arrives in rome,

He's more than just
a great surgeon.

[dramatic music]

- Galen, in addition
to everything else,

Was an expert pharmacologist
and interested

In hunting out the most
efficacious ingredients

Anywhere
in the mediterranean area.

♪ ♪

- One of the things
that galen was most proud of

Was a medicine
that he created called

Theriac or theriaca
from the greek word therian,

Meaning wild beast.

And this is because
it contained

64 ingredients,
some of which contained

Parts of wild animals.

And one magic ingredient,
opium.

- Theriac was seen
in the ancient world

As a wonder drug.

It would cure everything
from a sprained ankle

To a heart attack to hair loss.

It was also most importantly

An antidote to poison.

- You're the emperor.
- Mm-hmm.

- What do you fear most?

- Barbarians.

- Poison.

You see, every emperor
has enemies.

Now, the emperor
might not care to see me

Save some gladiators,

But he must want
to save himself.

I'm making the antidote.

♪ ♪

- Poison
and the fear of poison

Is always on
every emperor's mind.

I mean, this was
the quickest and easiest

Way to kill someone.

Claudius, nero's predecessor,
was allegedly killed

With poison mushrooms,
so you can understand

How marcus aurelius
was always afraid

Of history repeating itself.

Narrator: Galen believes his
knowledge of poison antidotes

Could make him indispensable.

And he knows someone
on the inside

Who can make an introduction
to the emperor.

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

- When galen arrives in rome,
one of the best contacts

He's got already in the city
is his old philosophy teacher,

Eudemus,
who is a personal friend

Of the emperor marcus aurelius.

- Eudemus was really
galen's ticket

To upper class roman society
and the cultural elite.

- Eudemus.

It is good to see you.

- Oh, mighty caesar.

I want to introduce you
to one of

The brightest students
I ever taught.

- I'm honored to meet you
and wish to offer my services.

- I didn't realize
I was in need of them.

[laughter]

- I've invented a theriac.

It's the most effective
preventative against poison

And illness ever known.

- Galen, is it?

[tense music]

I'll let you know if I'm ever
in need of your services.

- He wanted to practice
medicine in that elite circle.

He wanted to treat rome's
most powerful people.

But in fact, marcus aurelius
doesn't try

To contact galen at this point.

Narrator: Galen's quest
to join rome's elite

Seems over for now.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Galen's attempts
to advance his status

In rome appear stalled.

Then, a year after
his arrival in the city,

His friend eudemus contracts
a mysterious illness.

- [coughing]

- Eudemus was very
well-connected

With the roman aristocracy,

So galen knew that
if he could cure eudemus,

Then these very powerful people
would think

He was a great doctor,
and his reputation

Might come to the ear
of the emperor.

- Old friend.

Old friend. Let me see.

- On the other hand, there
was a lot of other doctors

Who had their own opinions

About the course
of eudemus' illness,

And galen had
to compete against them

In order to land this patient.

- I'll have to take a sample
of your urine, I'm afraid.

Whatever it is they're offering
you, please don't take it.

- The line between doctors,
quacks,

Magicians, at this time,
was a pretty blurred line.

And many doctors
were pretty shady characters

And purveyors
of completely fraudulent

Snake oils and poisons.

♪ ♪

- Some of these remedies just
border on the fantastical.

For example,
taking dried boar's dung

As an elixir to cure bruises

Or severed genitals of a fox

Or even gladiator's blood
used as a cure for epilepsy.

♪ ♪

- [coughing]

- Galen had
a simpler approach.

Taking the pulse,
asking the patient questions,

Observing very carefully
the course of disease,

Comparing this against data

That he had observed
elsewhere.

- Galen is unique in that he
really has science behind him,

Or what we would consider
science.

And he manages to work out
that eudemus

Is suffering
from quartan fever,

Which is a type of malaria.

- There are a lot
of difficulties

About living in urban rome,

And one of them
is that rome,

Throughout antiquity,
remains malarial.

There are always
large breeding grounds

In the riverbanks
of the tiber for insects.

And those insects
carried malaria.

- We both know...

I may not make it.

- Eudemus, you will live.

- Galen really knew
there was no cure

For what eudemus was facing.

However, though, he was able,
because of prognosis,

By carefully observing
the course of eudemus's fevers,

That eudemus
was gonna pull out of this.

- Like apollo,
he was able to prophesy

What was going to happen
in the course of an illness.

♪ ♪

Eudemus' powerful friends
now thought of galen

As this
phenomenally effective doctor

And really prognostication.

This was a very big step
in his career in rome.

♪ ♪

Narrator: To harness
his growing reputation,

Galen treats anyone in need.

- Rather than holding out
a fancy medical degree,

The way you search
your preeminence

Is on the public stage.

- [groaning]

- You do not become
an ancient doctor

Unless you want to become
a public orator as well

Because you have
to be constantly

Explaining your methods
and defending your methods.

Galen is doing
public demonstrations.

He is arguing
against his rivals.

He's writing.
He's studying.

But most important,
he's treating folks

From every social stratum,

From rome senatorial class

Down to the humblest
of slaves.

♪ ♪

And galen's reputation
is growing as a result.

Narrator: Then from
the far reaches of the empire

Comes a shocking development.

- News comes
from the northern frontier,

The danube,
that there's been an invasion.

♪ ♪

- Barbarian tribes
launched their attack

From germania, and for once,

Rome's army
can't push them back.

♪ ♪

- The northern frontier
was crumbling.

There were very serious
incursions threatening

Roman interests, especially
by a very dangerous tribe

Called the marcomanni.

- What starts as what might
seem a fairly small invasion

Turns into what are known
as the marcomannic wars,

And they occupy marcus
for the rest of his reign.

♪ ♪

- The marcomannic wars
on the northern frontier

May be seen as the first
of the barbarian invasions

From the north
that will chip away

At the very foundations
of the roman empire.

Narrator: In response,
rome's two emperors

Travel 350 miles north

To reach their
military headquarters

At aquileia
on the border of Italy

And modern day slovenia.

- Marcus aurelius had
a very strong sense of duty,

And also, he was
a political realist.

And as much as he
would have preferred

To leave the fighting
to his subordinates

Or even to his co-emperor,
verus,

He realized that this required
his personal intervention.

♪ ♪

- This was a threat
that was serious enough

That both marcus aurelius
and lucius verus

Went to the frontier
to deal with.

[dramatic music]

Narrator: When the emperors
reach the camp,

They confront
a new kind of enemy.

A deadly
and mysterious disease

Is running rampant
through the cramped legions.

The men in aquileia
have experienced

Nothing like this before.

[people coughing]

- By all accounts, the plague

Was a horrible,
horrible disease.

I mean, in addition
to the expected diarrhea

And vomiting and fevers,
what happened to the skin

Was really disconcerting.

Scabs would form
and then fall off,

Leaving horrible lesions.

- It was devastating
in its effects.

People didn't seem to have
any previous immunity,

And it killed a large
percentage of the people

That it infected.

Narrator: No one is spared,
including emperors.

- Not you too.

- It's nothing.

♪ ♪

- There's a doctor I met once.

He cured eudemus
when no one else could.

He claims to have an antidote
to any poison.

- You want to bring him here,
to this?

- I cannot simply
watch you die.

- The roman empire has
never been free of diseases.

But epidemics like the one
that marcus aurelius

Is experiencing,
that's something new.

- It rapidly became apparent
to the high command

And to the emperor himself
that they were wrestling

With a health crisis
of the highest order.

Marcus aurelius reacted
by summoning galen from rome.

♪ ♪

- Imagine that kind of emotion

That would have been in galen
at that time.

Here's my chance to actually
serve the emperor directly.

And on the other hand,
it's like,

This is a really bad situation
I'm going into.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Galen sets out to
serve the emperor,

Not knowing
if he'll ever return.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Narrator:
Two years into the war

With the marcomanni tribe,
galen arrives

At rome's
military headquarters

To find an army in crisis.

[people coughing]

- The situation
that galen found

When he reached aquileia

Was more severe than anything
he could have imagined.

♪ ♪

- Galen gives us some
pretty detailed description

Of symptoms,
and based on those symptoms,

We think it was likely
smallpox.

It might have been
the first appearance

Of smallpox
in the mediterranean world.

There's some argument
that he's seeing

A lot of hemorrhagic smallpox,

Which is a really lethal form
of smallpox,

Where you get a lot
of bleeding under the skin.

- This crisis comes in
many ways for the empire,

But in a very different
and essential way

For galen, the defining
challenge of his life.

More than perhaps
at any point in human memory,

Disease had become
an existential threat

To rome itself.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
As the plague continues

To wipe out their troops,

The two emperors return
to rome

To replenish
their diminished legions.

They leave the army
under galen's care.

♪ ♪

- The winter
that he spent at aquileia

Was very difficult for him.

It's rare for him
to express despair

Or feeling
of being overwhelmed,

But that is exactly
what he does.

He treated hundreds
of plague victims,

And he says that
the whole population

Struggled to survive
that winter of plague in 168.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
On the journey to rome,

Lucius verus dies,

Leaving marcus aurelius
solely in charge

Of an empire in peril.

- Verus didn't make it
very far,

Only 50 miles from aquileia.

For marcus aurelius,
he is left on his own

To rule an empire
that's stricken by plague,

Has enemies at the borders,

An army that's been devastated
by this disease.

He knows that
the responsibility is his

To rule the roman empire
by himself.

♪ ♪

Narrator: After a year
on the front line,

Galen is summoned back
to rome by marcus aurelius.

♪ ♪

- It doesn't take very long
for the plague

To ravage all of Italy
and to spread

From the legions to
the civilian population itself.

♪ ♪

- Under these circumstances,
rome would have been

A horrible place to be.

There was nowhere in the world

That was more conducive
to the spread

Of a highly transmissible
and lethal disease

Than the city of rome.

♪ ♪

Perhaps as much as 10% of
the roman empire's population,

Or even more,
dies in this one plague

Over the course
of the next several years.

- And of course,
panic spreads.

And it's actually--
for a moment,

It paralyzes roman power.

The plague is a huge crisis
for the roman state.

♪ ♪

- Galen returns to rome,

And he finds
a transformed city.

And in fact, galen's family
itself is not spared.

♪ ♪

Almost everyone
in his own household dies.

One can really empathize
with galen at this point.

This is a physician
who's devoted his entire life

To helping folks from every
imaginable walk of life.

But it's the scale
of this plague,

Of this disease,
that's just overwhelming.

And of course, no one knew
for how long it would go on.

♪ ♪

- His observations
of an understanding

Of what was happening were
ahead of many other doctors.

And of course, that brings him
close to marcus aurelius,

Who, first of all,
doesn't want to become

A victim
of the plague himself,

But is also desperate
to understand how to stop it.

♪ ♪

- The doctor galen

And the emperor marcus aurelius

Were more than nearly exact
contemporaries.

They also had deep affinities.

They both seem
to have had an impulse

Towards kind of something
like seriousness of purpose.

Narrator: Now galen's mission
is to keep

Emperor marcus aurelius alive.

He probably reserves his
special treatment, theriac,

For the emperor alone.

- I added cinnamon this time.

♪ ♪

- [groans]

It didn't help.

- Now I need to record
exactly how you're feeling.

- Science.

Of course.

To what end?

Who will be left
to read about your science?

Perhaps I will be saved.

But rome?

[tense music]

- While on one hand,
the reign of marcus aurelius

Marks something of a high
point in the roman empire,

It also marks the point
when the seeds were planted

That were going to define
the next couple of centuries

Of rome's existence.

Narrator: Though neither
the emperor nor his physician

Know it, the plague,

Coupled with
the barbarian invasion,

Marks a turning point
for rome.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
Despite the ongoing crisis

And amidst
the devastating plague,

Marcus aurelius holds games
in the colosseum

To honor his brother lucius.

He's joined by his son
and heir, commodus.

♪ ♪

- The colosseum actually
remained open

While all of this
was going on.

After all, the romans
didn't understand

Person-to-person transmission
of disease,

So there was no thought
that this

Might be a disease vector.

- There is death
in the streets.

The economy is failing.

So this is the point
where marcus realizes

The importance of the colosseum

And uses it to great effect.

- You do what you do
to appreciate the gods.

You have your sacrifices.

You have
your religious events.

You have your games.

It's all part of a normal life
in the roman city.

And in a time of crisis,

You've got to keep people
unified.

[crowd cheering]

- Marcus aurelius
was a very popular emperor,

But he made one
very unpopular move.

And that is,
he made the contestants fight

With wooden swords.

- The romans
were used to 400 years

Of gladiatorial fighting
with live steel.

And the notion that gladiators
would now fight

With wood swords
went down like a lead balloon.

♪ ♪

[crowd shouting]

- Marcus aurelius, he didn't
believe in needless violence.

And he wanted those gladiators
to depend on their skill

As athletes rather than
the quality of their weaponry.

- What marcus aurelius
could not explain

To the roman people
is that the emperor

Had his own plan.

Narrator: Marcus aurelius
intends something shocking,

Enlisting gladiators
to replenish his army.

Thanks to galen,
he's learned they are

One of the few groups in rome
untouched by the plague.

[fighters grunting]

- They're healthy.

I want to know everything
about them.

Their training,
their food, their sleep,

Their bowel movements.

- The gladiators live
in a sheltered community.

They don't have any connection
to the outside world.

They're exceptionally healthy.

They're getting three
square meals a day.

They've got great
medical care.

So they're probably
the fittest people

In rome at that moment.

- We have to remember,
of course,

That what the gladiators
were trained to do

Was fight.

That is what
marcus aurelius needed.

Narrator: That marcus
aurelius makes this decision

Suggests unprecedented strain.

- How could these
degenerates and criminals

Defend the honor of rome?

Could they be trusted
on the battlefield?

- The gladiators were slaves,
often drawn from,

In the roman view, the lowest
born peoples of the empire

And engaged
in a sordid occupation.

To have them vaulted
into a kind of prestige role

Of soldiers
on behalf of the empire itself

Was a startling transformation.

- Line up for the emperor.

♪ ♪

- Take up these arms.

You are now roman soldiers.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

When I look at you,
I don't see prisoners.

I don't see criminals
or slaves.

I don't even see gladiators.

I see legionaries,

Dedicated to protecting
this great empire.

Help me to protect
the citizens of rome,

And you will win your freedom.

[cheering]

[all chanting]
caesar! Caesar! Caesar!

That is my solemn promise.

[chanting continues]

- In some sense,
it speaks to the desperation

That marcus aurelius is facing
in that moment

And the tremendous risk
he's willing to take

In order to make sure
that the empire will endure.

[chanting continues]

♪ ♪

Narrator:
In the fall of 169 a.D.,

Marcus aurelius assembles
his legions

From across the empire.

Galen expects to be called
back to the battlefield.

♪ ♪

- Ready the horses.

♪ ♪

And as for you, galen--

- Marcus, I'm sorry.

I can't go.

Not again.

I'm a scientist.

I'm not a warrior.

- Is that so?

Well, the empire needs both.

♪ ♪

Commodus.

♪ ♪

I was going to ask you to look
after my son in my absence.

- Caesar.

♪ ♪

- Galen is still traumatized

By the last time
he was on the front lines.

And when the emperor asks him
why he cannot go,

He said, "well, I had a vision
from a god who said,

'do not go. Do not go.'"

And one thing
about the romans,

They believed in omens.

- Depending on
what you believe,

You can either think
that galen was clearly

Blessed by the gods,
or you might think

That it just happened
to conveniently be

That the gods spoke to him
at that particular moment

And saved him from going
to a miserable place

To do a miserable job.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
Now as personal surgeon

To rome's heir apparent,

Galen's task is to ensure
the eight-year-old

Lucius commodus does not
succumb to the deadly plague.

♪ ♪

At the same time,
marcus aurelius

Heads north to aquileia.

With gladiator battalions
at their heart,

His legions confront
the barbarian armies.

♪ ♪

After months
of fierce fighting,

They turn back this invasion.

♪ ♪

- The marcomannic wars
along the danube frontiers

With the germanic peoples
are a wake up call for rome,

And a wake up call into,
we might say, a nightmare.

Narrator: A decisive victory
remains out of reach,

And marcus spends
most of the rest

Of his reign on a battlefield.

- This marks a turning point
in roman imperial history.

What marcus aurelius
was seeing

Was really the future
of the roman empire.

There's going to be waves
of incursions from goths

And vandals and many
northern tribes,

All out to vanquish Italy.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
350 miles away in rome,

Galen devotes himself

To the pursuits
of medical science.

- Galen must have
been very relieved

Not to be on the front lines.

And now he can
turn his attention

To his favorite activities:

Reading, writing,
composing scientific works,

Journals, and the like.

- Galen is probably the single
most influential figure

In the history of medicine.

He left us a massive
collection of medical texts.

In fact, he's probably the most
prolific author in antiquity.

His greek works comprise
about one-eighth

Of all ancient greek
manuscripts that we have.

The knowledge that galen's
medical texts contain

Defined islamic and european
medicine for 15 centuries.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
Despite the best medical care

The empire can offer,
marcus aurelius will die

At his military headquarters
on March 17, 180 a.D.,

Most likely from smallpox.

♪ ♪

Under galen's care,
his heir survives.

- Galen's babysitting duties

Turn out to have
unintended consequences.

Thanks to him,
the heir to the throne

Grows up
to be a healthy young man.

The irony is that commodus
turns out to be something

That rome will come to regret.

[crowd cheering]

- In fact,
commodus turns out to be

One of the most
disastrous emperors

In the history of rome.

♪ ♪

Ultimately, he'll grind it

Into a long, slow,
and painful decline.

♪ ♪