All language subtitles for Lost.Treasures.of.Rome.S01E03.DSNP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-SiGLA.en[cc]

(theme music)

(speaking in native language)

That’s crazy.

NARRATOR: In Italy,
deep in the countryside,

archaeologists have made
the discovery of a lifetime.

A long lost Roman Amphitheater.

My God!

MAN: It goes right under!

NARRATOR: They're excavation,
reveals an opening,

that was buried deep in the ground
for over 1,000 years.

I’m going to get a flashlight.

NARRATOR: Now, the team dares
to enter the tunnel, in a quest

to uncover it's hidden secrets.

Holy Mary!

(theme music playing)

NARRATOR: The Colosseum,
in the heart of Rome.

Today, this monumental building, is an
enduring symbol, of the Roman Empire.

Famous for its
spectacular gladiator contests,

of brutality and death, its scale and
ambition, was legendary.

Now, an international team of
archaeologists is investigating,

how this mega structure,
became so crucial, to the Roman Empire.

It was initially, a Roman amphitheater and
it becomes the symbol of Rome.

I have to ask the question why.

NARRATOR:
The weathered facade of today,

shows little trace of the marble that
originally adorned this colossus.

Statues of Gods and Goddesses,
once stood in the arches.

This icon, completed in 80 AD,
seating 50,000 spectators.

It was a gift, to the people, from
Emperor Vespasian and his son, Titus.

Romans gathered, alongside the
Emperor in his Imperial box,

under a retractable awning,
to witness the greatest and

bloodiest entertainment of ancient Rome,
the gladiator fights.

It was built to impress and,
it still does.

NARRATOR:
British archaeologist,

Valerie Higgins, has made
the city of Rome her home,

and has a lifelong passion
for its ancient civilization.

She's exploring how the Colosseum
an arena of entertainment,

became so central
to the very idea of Rome.

Valerie wants to investigate
what went on behind the scenes

of the amphitheater’s spectacular shows.

She heads down to the
area beneath the arena floor,

once a warren of dark tunnels,
to look for clues.

There were lots of these holes
surrounded by white stone,

all over the basement of the Colosseum.
And they're quite intriguing.

They must have a purpose
and that purpose has to be

something that's happening
up on the arena floor.

NARRATOR: Valerie, hunts for more
evidence in the surviving structures.

They've cut a groove here,
you can see that clearly in the rock, so,

there is something that is
going up and down at this point.

It looks like, there's
been some machinery here.

NARRATOR:
Everywhere, there are traces

of the mechanisms that powered
the dazzling shows up above.

These stones,
are at a strange angle.

The only reason I can think of, why,
they would be there is,

that this was a ramp into the arena.

It gives you a sense of
how the Romans created magic

in the spectacle.
Because, up through the ramp could come

animals or people, appearing
as if by magic, in the arena.

NARRATOR:
Expertly designed pulleys and cages,

delivered wild animals into the arena,
to astonish the crowds.

The spectacle began with a hunt.

Hundreds of wild animals
from across the Roman Empire,

were released and
slaughtered by trained hunters.

Next, were the gruesome executions.

Many convicted criminals were
mauled to death by wild animals.

And then, the stage was set for
the grand finale, gladiators,

fighting head to head.

The Romans went to extraordinary lengths
to entertain the Colosseum's vast crowds.

To explore why, Valerie's going deeper
behind the scenes.

At Volterra, in Tuscany,
130 miles north of Rome,

a team of archaeologists is unearthing
an extraordinary discovery.

One that might help solve
the puzzle of

why the Colosseum was so
central to the Roman Empire.

Elena Sorge, is the team leader.

The thing I like the most
about being an archaeologist

is the smell of the soil - the earth.
The excavated earth has a unique scent.

NARRATOR:
For over a millennium,

no-one knew what lay
hidden here, under the grass.

Until now.

Buried in the ground,
is a long lost lookalike Colosseum.

As soon as I realized
the extent of the discovery

I didn't sleep for a week

and it's the best thing
that's every happened to me.

NARRATOR: Finding a totally unknown,
unexcavated amphitheater here,

is one of the discoveries of the century.

Well let's go ahead and
kick this one off.

All right.

NARRATOR: This ancient virgin site,
untouched by previous excavations,

has attracted an international team.

It's good to go.

NARRATOR:
Shifting thousands of tons of soil,

they're unearthing the old arena,
the audience seating,

and long lost hidden treasures.

Archaeologist, Valeria D'Aquino, grew up
in the region, and works alongside Elena.

This amphitheater
disappeared during the centuries

so we are awakening a big stone giant.

NARRATOR: And, there's a mystery.

The ancient people of
this region weren't Roman,

they were rivals,
called Etruscans.

This was one of the last areas
of the Italian peninsula,

to fall under Roman rule.

Why was a Roman amphitheater
built here at all?

The team knows, that the best way
to find out why it was built,

is to find out when it was built.

Any new discovery could add
a crucial piece to the puzzle.

(dramatic music)

The team has found a vase,
deep in the ground.

It has survived in one piece,
for at least 1,500 years.

Eva? Eva!

NARRATOR: They call Eva Pianini,
the lead restorer, to examine the find.

EVA:
Let's not touch the vessel.

NARRATOR:
They are looking for any clue

that might allow them to
precisely date the pottery.

MALE EXCAVATOR:
I don't want to scratch the surface.

NARRATOR: Eva, sees
something beneath the mud.

There's something
strange on this vase.

NARRATOR:
Valeria, arrives to take a closer look.

Could it be a special stamp
that might help date it?

VALERIA:
It's a fingerprint.

NARRATOR:
The ancient potter has left their mark.

No stamp!

NARRATOR: No stamp, no date, but still a
human touch from across the centuries.

Eva, sends the vase to a lab off site,
for further analysis.

The hunt for clues, continues.

On another part of the site,
there's a sudden commotion.

(speaking in native language)

- That's crazy.
- It goes right under!

NARRATOR:
The team uncovers an unexpected opening.

I'm going to get a flashlight.

NARRATOR:
Elena, races to the scene.

- It's spectacular! Spectacular!
- Come on, let's go down.

(laughs)

ELENA: My God!

(speaking in native language)

NARRATOR: Elena, is the first to enter
this tunnel, in over 1,000 years.

(panting)

MAN: Is everything OK?

ELENA:
There's a room with two arches!

(theme music)

NARRATOR:
At Richborough, in southern England,

another buried Roman amphitheater,
is being excavated.

Tony Wilmott, is the lead
archaeologist on the dig.

It's exciting to excavate because,

it's the one building type, that
the Roman's invented themselves,

without pinching it from the Greeks.

NARRATOR: Tony, is the first to excavate
the amphitheater, in 150 years.

We're here to try and understand the
amphitheater, try and understand

everything about it the date,
the structure, the way it's built.

NARRATOR:
Most of the huge, ancient structure,

remains hidden, under this vast mound.
Over the years,

debris and earth have collapsed into the
arena, filling it nine feet deep.

After weeks of digging, the team succeeds
in exposing the arena wall.

On examination, it's clear
that it's made from chalk block.

This is unlike other Roman walls
in the area, which were made

from more durable stone.

Historian, Paul Pattison, is responsible
for the work at Richborough.

He has come to examine the arena wall.

It's something of a surprise,
the materials that they've used.

You can see it was very clearly
constructed of chalk blocks,

quarried locally. Materials that were
easily available, ready to hand,

rather than having to
go some great distance,

might indicate that
the construction is quite early.

NARRATOR: It was here at Richborough,
that the Romans invaded Britain, in 43 AD.

It now seems likely that the amphitheater
may have been built not long after.

It's a major discovery for the dig.

But like the Romans before them, the team
must content with the English weather.

(thunder rumbling)

It's raining hard.

If the soil's wet, the team risks damaging
fragments of history underfoot.

There's no choice but
to stop, and take cover.

The rain has now seeped through and,
uh, we, we flooded, basically,

in the deeper areas, down in the,
down in the arena, um,

which means that we have to bail it out.

We'll, uh, we'll get there. This is, this
is the romance of archaeology in action.

NARRATOR: In Rome, Valerie
continues her investigation,

in a strange structure discovered
alongside the Colosseum.

This is, I would say,
residential quarters for the gladiators.

NARRATOR: There's something
here that catches Valerie's eye.

The remains of a semicircular wall.

It looks like a curved arena,

which is the same shape as
the arena in the Colosseum.

NARRATOR: The shape, is a clue to the
function of this large space.

It's a mini Colosseum. This must've been
where they were training and

preparing for these very complex games.

What this arena here shows us is,

these were not just games
that were thrown together where

you get two guys to come out and fight.

These were games that took a lot of
choreography and a lot of preparation.

NARRATOR: Gladiator fights
began in the Fourth Century BC.

They were performed at funerals,
to honor the dead.

In the First Century BC,
Julius Caesar super-sized the ritual

with games of hundreds of
fighters and wild animals,

to commemorate his relatives.

The games later developed
into a state funded industry,

with special schools
to train the gladiators,

and amphitheaters for audiences
in their tens of thousands.

The Colosseum, the biggest
ever ancient amphitheater,

was built by order of Emperor Vespasian,
in the First Century AD.

Why did he want this colossus
and its games?

Valerie, continues her search
into the streets of Rome.

North of Rome, in Volterra.

(speaking in native language)

FEMALE EXCAVATOR:
Bravo!

I made it!

NARRATOR:
Elena, emerges from her first exploration

of the tunnel,
at the newly discovered amphitheater.

ELENA:
It's really great!

NARRATOR:
On another part of the same site,

American architectural technologists,
Paul Aubin and Mark Dietrick,

are capturing the ancient structure
with a state of the art laser scanner.

- That was all filled in.
- It was all filled in.

- Up to that height.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR:
The laser, bounces off every inch

of this ancient structure,
to create a digital map of the site.

This means the team can study it,
in forensic detail.

You can't describe
the feeling of being really inside

of a monument that has
just been discovered and is just

literally emerging out of the ground.

NARRATOR: The team hopes to find clues,
to unlock the mysteries of this site.

When, and why, it was built.

- Got it?
- Perfect.

NARRATOR: Their scans help
to recreate the structure in its prime.

Volterra's ruins today, form a section
of an oval shaped amphitheater.

Sandstone arches, once supported the
seating for 10,000 spectators,

around a central arena. The team
believes, that the builders cut part of

the structure into the bedrock of a hill,
and dug vaulted galleries connecting

the arena to stairs, around the outside.

As the pieces of the puzzle come together,
a whole amphitheater is emerging,

with each new discovery adding to the
picture of a mini Colosseum.

Finally get to go into this tunnel.

Yeah, really anxious to see
what it looks like in there.

NARRATOR: Mark and Paul, are keen
to scan the tunnel first entered by Elena.

MARK:
All right, watch your footing here.

NARRATOR: The entrance is now cleared
and ready for their investigations.

AUBIN: So this hasn't seen
the light of day in a long time.

- Wow.
- Look at that.

NARRATOR:
Their high tech, high precision equipment,

measures up to two million
data points per second.

I just can't believe this.
It's spectacular.

Wow.

Look how tight the
joints are in those, uh, arches.

MARK:
That's, that's incredible.

- Definitely try and get in there too.
- What do you think Paul?

(grunts) Maybe if we lower the scanner
all the way, we can,

- we can still get a nice shot in there.
- AUDIN: All, right, let's do it.

MARK:
All right.

AUBIN:
Let's see what the scanner saw.

- Oh wow.
- Wow, there's another arch over there.

AUBIN: I didn't know that
other arch was back there.

I'm just wondering how many other
passages must be back there.

AUBIN:
That is remarkable.

NARRATOR: The scans reveal a network
of unknown, hidden passageways,

that could help the team decipher when,
and why, this amphitheater was built.

(theme music crescendos)

(beeping)

NARRATOR: In Rome,
Valerie is working with local pilot,

Marco Giordano, to launch a drone,
mounted with a high definition camera.

She hopes a fresh perspective
will help her investigation.

She wants to identify the
site of the Theatre of Pompey,

built 100 years before the Colosseum.

I can see the buildings today,

are following the same shape,
as the Theatre of Pompey.

NARRATOR:
The theatre no longer exists,

but it was originally built
in the form of a semi-circle.

Spotting the tell-tale curve
in the streets below,

Valerie sets out to find the location.

Well I can see from the shape
of this building,

that this must be on the
seating of the Theatre of Pompey.

You can see this from the
way that it's curved and also,

from the way that
everything is sloping backwards.

So, underneath our feet here,
there would've been steps going

up that would have been
the Roman seating for the stage,

which was over on this site.

NARRATOR:
The ancient theatre was built by

the Roman politician and general,
Pompey, in 55 BC.

It was the first permanent theatre in
Rome, built not in wood, but in stone.

A vehicle for Pompey's political ambition,
he used it, to win popular support.

The Theatre of Pompey
really demonstrates to us,

just how connected
politics and entertainment is.

It's not just about going
to theatre performances,

this is about political power.

NARRATOR:
Valerie, thinks the Colosseum,

a theatre for gladiatorial games,
was also built to win popular support.

This is a really
interesting super imposition

of the Theatre of Pompey,
on the modern street plan of Rome.

If you put it close to
a plan of the Colosseum,

these are quite similar dimensions.

NARRATOR: The theatre and amphitheater,
are both huge, but different shapes.

One is a semi-circle, the other,
a near full circle.

The amphitheater is a little bit
like two theaters put together.

NARRATOR:
Doubling the size of their Colosseum,

suggests Emperors Vespasian and Titus,
wanted a huge audience for their games.

Valerie's investigations
are closing in on the true purpose

of the giant amphitheater.

In Richborough, England,
now the rainstorm has passed,

Tony and Paul, are checking progress
at the newly exposed wall.

- PAUL: It's really, really come up.
- TONY: Oh, it's really come up, yeah.

Yeah, I mean it hasn't been damaged by
the weather either, happily.

NARRATOR: They can make out traces
of ancient paint on plastered walls.

We've got blues and red and yellow.
The sort of curls of that red over there,

I wouldn't be surprised if that was just
the last vestiges of, of a figure.

- This is a real surprise to me.
- Oh yeah, yeah.

- You know.
- But to find it plastered and painted.

Yeah, if you'd asked, if you'd
asked me whether it was likely,

you know, before we started, I'd say,
you know, never in a million years.

NARRATOR:
They believe, they've uncovered a fresco,

where the paint has
been applied to wet plaster.

Never in my wildest dreams would
I have thought of that.

Nor me, nor me.

NARRATOR: An amphitheater with
a fresco like this, is a rare find.

- There's none in Britain.
- No, there's none in Britain.

A pattern decorative on an arena wall,
it is of international importance.

NARRATOR:
Walls in the Colosseum itself,

were painted too.
Brilliant reds, blues and greens.

The painted arena wall, reveals how much
care the Romans lavished

on the Richborough amphitheater.

(tools scraping)

It's new evidence of how
important this amphitheater was

to the Romans who built it.

(rain)

But within hours, it starts raining... ...again.

They must act fast to protect
the newly exposed fresco.

Well once again, we've had to cover the,
uh, cover the walls,

cover the, uh, chalk walls and
the wall painting so we're, uh,

we're under blue tarps again.

NARRATOR: For the second time, the weather
forces the team to down tools.

(theme music)

NARRATOR:
Valerie returns to the Colosseum,

to continue her investigation into why it
became so important to Rome.

VALERIE : You're always kind of
following the curve around.

NARRATOR:
The amphitheater was built,

as an oval mega structure, measuring
a third of a mile, in circumference.

Spectators could enter via 80 archways.

I can see numbers
written in Roman numerals.

This one is XXXII, 32 and then,

going along, XXXIV, 34.
What this is indicating,

I think, has to be the number
that was on the ticket that you got,

in order to enter the arena.

NARRATOR: As a spectator,
you'd be just one of thousands.

Unlike the half circle of the
old Roman Theatre of Pompey,

this was a full, wrap around arena.

Audience capacity more than doubled,
from 20,000 to 50,000.

VALERIE: Once inside, you would
be directed to your section

of seating but, you didn't get to
choose what it was.

As you go further up to the top
of the amphitheater, it gets steeper.

You go along dark
corridors and you come out,

into a section of seating,
which has been assigned to you.

NARRATOR: Seats were allocated
according to social status.

The place with the worst view,
was right at the top.

It may well have
been standing room only and

the people who stood there,
were the slaves and the women.

NARRATOR: Those with the greatest status,
sat closest to the Emperor,

in his Imperial box.
First, were the elite senators,

sitting in the marble rows above them,
were a noble rank of Roman knights,

known as the equites.

Above them, were groups of soldiers,
adolescent boys with tutors

and married men,
with other, ordinary citizens of Rome.

In the highest levels,
were Rome's lower classes,

enslaved people and poorer citizens,
along with the women and children.

When you went to the games
at the amphitheater,

you really were in a very literal sense,
put in your place.

NARRATOR: The massive wrap around theatre,
had another hidden function.

Engineering a 360 degree space,

put everyone in full
view of everyone else.

It's not just the gladiators who were put
on show, it was the audience, too.

It was a very socially reinforcing act,

to go to the amphitheater because, you
really understood your place in society.

NARRATOR:
It was a social performance,

one that reinforced the
hierarchy of Roman society.

The Colosseum wasn't built
simply to entertain the people,

it was built, to keep them under control.

In Volterra,

Mark and Paul,
review their laser scans in 3D.

- You can really start to see...
- The shape...

AUBIN: The overall shape.

MARK: I mean, look at that, this
was all just a big grass field.

NARRATOR: The 3D imaging, allows them
to identify the underlying engineering.

Not just the tunnels,
but the whole amphitheater.

We're really getting a nice hint of
the elliptical shape now.

AUBIN: Yeah, that's really neat.

MARK: We've got it so much more clearer
now the geometry of this amazing monument.

NARRATOR: The digital data, reveals
patterns not obvious to the naked eye.

The hope, is that the hidden geometry will
hold the key to understanding when,

and why, this amphitheater was built.

But Mark and Paul's investigations
don't stop here.

Oh this scan position
is absolutely perfect,

it's going to allow us to the
get the tops of these walls over here.

NARRATOR: This is the
ancient theatre at Volterra,

not far from the
newly discovered amphitheater.

It was built at the end
of the First Century BC.

The scans of this building can be compared
with the scans of the amphitheater.

Analysis of the theatre's seating,

and the amphitheater’s arena,
suggests they may have been

built by the same
architect for the Caecinas,

a local clan, not of Roman,
but Etruscan origin.

In the First Century BC,
with Volterra under Roman rule,

Aulus Caecina, wrote a tirade
against Caesar and was banished.

But over the next 100 years,
Caecinas became renowned senators in Rome.

In Volterra, Caecinas displayed
their grand ambitions,

with lavish Roman buildings, the theatre,
and now it seems, the amphitheater too.

Finally, with the help of the 3D scans,
the team is solving the mystery

of when and why,
this ancient structure was built.

The evidence suggests that it was
constructed around the same time,

and for the same reason,
as the theatre,

as a testimony to Roman power
in the reign of Emperor Augustus.

An amphitheater is a symbol
of the Roman power.

They are very important from
a political point of view.

These kinds of buildings
are very important for us

to understand the
relationship within Rome.

NARRATOR: The amphitheater
was more than just a spectacular building,

an arena for gladiatorial games,

it was a symbol of Rome and Romaness.

Not only in Italy,
but in places like Richborough,

on the outer reaches of the Empire.

(theme music)

NARRATOR: In Richborough, England,
Tony and his team, are investigating why

this amphitheater
was built 800 miles from Rome.

Battling the weather, the team is working
on the plastered and painted arena wall,

when they begin to uncover
a puzzling structure alongside it.

(encouraging music)

Once it's fully dug out,
Tony finds a clue to its function.

What we have is a slight stain here,

a nice straight line against
the mortar floor.

This is probably the base of a timber
frame door, of this, uh, of this entrance.

NARRATOR:
Evidence of a door onto the arena,

leads Tony to an exciting conclusion.

What this is, is a carcer. It's a place
where animals or people,

waiting to go into the arena, would be
incarcerated, where we get that word from.

It's a chamber, off the
back of the arena wall.

This is really the waiting room, for
anything that's going to die in the arena.

This would be a very, very grim place.
This is, this is where, you know,

the fear would click in, um,
before that door rose and,

you went to meet whatever it
was in front of you in the arena.

NARRATOR:
This significant find,

reveals how even many hundreds of miles
from Rome, spectacle is still key.

We have got people coming
and going, uh, from the rest

of the Roman Empire, and
this is what they might expect.

These are people who are soldiers, they
are traders, they are imperial officials,

uh, and they would
want to have, you know, those,

those aspects of Roman culture that they
could get anywhere else in the Empire.

NARRATOR:
This amphitheater, built soon after

the invasion of Britain in 43 AD,
is the vanguard of Empire,

not just for the conquerors,
but for the vanquished too.

PAUL: It's about spreading
the idea of the Roman way.

And the way they do that, is that they
try and, uh, convince the

conquered populations, that this new way
of life, is a better way of life.

The amphitheater, and the things that
went on in an amphitheater,

is one way of doing that.
We see this all over the Roman Empire.

NARRATOR:
230 amphitheaters, mini Colosseums,

have been discovered across the Empire.

Built between the First Century BC
and the Fourth Century AD,

they stretch from England to Africa.

Some of them still stand.
At Pompeii and Verrona in Italy.

At Arles in France, Italica in Spain.

El Djem in Tunisia and Pula in Croatia.

Their forms of entertainment
were always the same,

a way for the Roman rulers,
to spread their Roman values.

Enemies of Rome, faced public execution.

They were crucified, burnt at the steak,
or mauled by wild animals.

Gladiators wore armor,
inspired by ancient enemies,

and mythical Roman characters.

They fought with
different weapons and armor,

to show off Roman
values of courage and valor.

(dramatic music)

Even facing certain death, a gladiator
would be expected to die, bravely.

(cheering)

The amphitheater,
Romanized its conquered peoples.

But Rome, needed Romanizing too.

And this would be the task
of the greatest amphitheater of them all,

the Colosseum.

(theme music)

NARRATOR:
All paths, lead back to the Colosseum,

and Valerie, is at the
crux of her investigation.

Rome was the center of a huge empire.
And like all huge empires,

it has a lot of migration
to its center.

So, most of the people who
are sitting around this arena,

probably originated somewhere else.

But the one thing that
kind of made them Roman,

that actually created a
feeling of Romaness is,

that they sat and watched this spectacle.

NARRATOR: At the Colosseum,
the Emperor made sure he personified Rome.

He had his grand entrance,
the Imperial Gate, and he sat

in his Imperial Box for all to see.

This is the best view in the arena,
and it's not only the best view,

it's the best place to be viewed.

We should be in no doubt that it was
putting on games like this,

that was really crucial
to the Emperor keeping power.

NARRATOR: The genius of
Emperor Vespasian and his son,

builders of the Colosseum,
was to harness the gladiatorial games,

to the power of the Emperor.

But it wouldn't last forever.

In Volterra,

as the team pieces
together the story of the once

buried amphitheater,
Valeria uncovers a mysterious structure.

This is an opening
for sure, probably a window.

Here you an see the contact
point between these blocks

and it means that this
opening has been filled in.

NARRATOR:
This clear line between the original,

and new stone, shows the
window has been bricked up.

It points to a radical shift
in the amphitheater’s history.

This testifies probably to the phase in
which this building has been abandoned

maybe at the beginning
of the fifth century AD.

NARRATOR:
The beginning of the Fifth Century AD,

is around the time the gladiator games
were banned throughout the Roman Empire.

Was this blocked up window, the beginning
of the end for the amphitheater?

In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine,
outlawed the persecution of Christians,

and his reforms
began to the change the games.

He banned crucifixion
for convicted criminals,

but allowed gladiator fights to persist.

In 404 AD, a Christian monk
tried to stop a gladiatorial contest,

but was stoned to death by the crowd.

It's said that the sight turned the heart
of the Christian Emperor Honorius,

who then banned the games altogether.

In a new Christian era, the Colosseum
came to be seen in a different light.

This inscription,
commemorates the Christians,

who were killed under the
Roman Empire.

This became a place that symbolized
all of the Christian martyrs, who died.

It symbolizes the inhumanity,
of what was happening in the arena,

when people were being
executed in this horrific way.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: The Roman Empire
was the most powerful on Earth.

And this amphitheater, the magnificent
Colosseum, was its monument.

Archaeologists are discovering,
that an amphitheater symbolized Rome,

wherever it was built.

From the provinces, to
the outer corners of Empire,

their excavations are revealing
how amphitheaters came to stand

for the might of Rome, for social order,

military valor and imperial power.

Symbolism, so powerful,
that amphitheaters represent

the Roman Empire to this day.

(theme music crescendos)