Bettany Hughes begins by examining the day in 202BC when Rome defeated the might of Carthage at the Battle of Zama. This decisive moment set Rome on the path to greatness.

Bettany Hughes relates the events of 73BC when a Thracian gladiator started a slave revolt that so panicked the Roman elite that they offered power to a single man, foreshadowing Rome's slide into dictatorship.

In 49 BC, Julius Caesar leads an ambitious campaign to cross the Rubicon river; this would culminate in Rome evolving from Republic to Empire.

Octavian, considered by many to be the man who kickstarted the Roman Empire, begins his rise to power in 32 BC when he steals the secret will of his rival, the infamous Mark Antony.

In 60 AD, Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, a ferocious warrior tribe from Britannia, leads a rebellion against the Romans to free her people from the empire's control.

68 AD. Nero, the Roman emperor whose reign has now become a byword for tyranny and cruelty, ends his own life; subsequently Rome's first dynasty dies with him.

In 80 AD, Rome's greatest amphitheater The Colosseum is opened by Emperor Titus. This new arena exhibits men and wild animals battling to the death. Why did the Romans enjoy these horrific spectacles?

In 337 AD, Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity, which kickstarts the Romans renouncing their thousand years worship of the pagan gods.