Watch Empires Season 3
Episode 4
4. Kingdom of David: The Gifts of the Jews
aired: Wed, May 21, 2003
With the destruction of the Temple, the Romans have destroyed the only place on earth, according to Biblical Law, where Jews can worship God. The Judaism of priests and sacrifices is lost forever, and rabbis struggle to reinvent the religion of Moses and David. They are forced to work during a period of incredible bloodshed and turmoil. In 132 A.D. Jewish zealots rise against Rome's legions in the Bar Kochba rebellion, forcing them to withdraw from the region. The Romans return with a vast army and slaughter nearly 600,000 Jews. They change the name of the region from Judea to Palestine and ban all Jews from Jerusalem. Desperate to start new lives, many Jews flee to distant lands, only to face another challenge - a breakaway form of Judaism called Christianity. As it rises to political power, Christianity becomes deeply anti-Semitic. But Judaism survives - and in doing so, preserves for all its unique gifts, including the rights of the individual and the rule of law - gifts that will change the Western world forever.
Episode 3
3. Kingdom of David: The End of Days
aired: Wed, May 21, 2003
In 63 B.C., the Roman General Pompeii leads his legions into the land of Judea. It is the beginning of a clash of cultures between Rome and the Jews that would grow into one of the most brutal conflicts in history. It also pits Jew against Jew, as many of the different factions of Judaism, such as the Zealots and the Essenes, clash over the interpretation of the true will of God as revealed in the Bible. Terrorism, political assassination, starvation, and crucifixion dominate the landscape. The period ends with the Roman sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Out of the ashes will rise two new religions: rabbinical Judaism and Christianity.
Episode 2
2. Kingdom of David: The Book & the Sword
aired: Wed, May 14, 2003
In 458 B.C., a scribe named Ezra arrives in Jerusalem from Babylon. He gathers the mostly illiterate Judeans together in a square and reads the Bible to them. In the years that follow, the study of the Bible not only becomes an essential part of Jewish life, it prepares the Jews to face a mortal threat to their survival. In 330 B.C., Alexander the Great sweeps into the Middle East. In his wake comes Greek culture, the allure of which convinces many to abandon their ancestral ways. But when the Greek king Antiochus the Madman forbids the practice of Judaism, Judah the Maccabee leads the Jews in an epic fight to defend their religious freedom. In 160 B.C, the Maccabees succeed in driving out the Greeks and establish what would prove to be the last independent Jewish kingdom.
Episode 1
1. Kingdom of David: By the Rivers of Babylon
aired: Wed, May 14, 2003
In 586 B.C., the Babylonians lead almost all that remains of the tribe of Judah - the Israelites - to exile in Babylon. Only a few generations earlier, the northern tribes of the Israelites were taken into exile and vanished forever. Now the Judeans, too, seem destined to disappear. They fight back, however, by writing a book. Using Judean stories from the past to explain present disastrous situations, the book becomes the earliest edition of the most influential work in history: the Bible. This episode introduces the early and profoundly influential figures of Judaism: Abraham, who is the first to recognize the concept of one God; Moses, who receives the Ten Commandments from God; and David, whose sins teach the Israelites that no one is above the law of God.
Watch Empires Season 1
Episode 4
Power Vs. Truth
aired: Tue, Jul 24, 2001
Giorgio Vasari writes a book to define the Renaissance; Galileo pursues his scientific studies with the support of the Medici family.
Episode 3
The End of Days
aired: Tue, Jul 24, 2001
In 63 B.C., the Roman General Pompeii leads his legions into the land of Judea. It is the beginning of a clash of cultures between Rome and the Jews that would grow into one of the most brutal conflicts in history. It also pits Jew against Jew, as many of the different factions of Judaism, such as the Zealots and the Essenes, clash over the interpretation of the true will of God as revealed in the Bible. Terrorism, political assassination, starvation, and crucifixion dominate the landscape. The period ends with the Roman sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Out of the ashes will rise two new religions: rabbinical Judaism and Christianity.
Episode 2
The Book and the Sword
aired: Tue, Jul 17, 2001
In 458 B.C., a scribe named Ezra arrives in Jerusalem from Babylon. He gathers the mostly illiterate Judeans together in a square and reads the Bible to them. In the years that follow, the study of the Bible not only becomes an essential part of Jewish life, it prepares the Jews to face a mortal threat to their survival. In 330 B.C., Alexander the Great sweeps into the Middle East. In his wake comes Greek culture, the allure of which convinces many to abandon their ancestral ways. But when the Greek king Antiochus the Madman forbids the practice of Judaism, Judah the Maccabee leads the Jews in an epic fight to defend their religious freedom. In 160 B.C, the Maccabees succeed in driving out the Greeks and establish what would prove to be the last independent Jewish kingdom.
Episode 1
By the Rivers of Babylon
aired: Tue, Jul 17, 2001
In 586 B.C., the Babylonians lead almost all that remains of the tribe of Judah - the Israelites - to exile in Babylon. Only a few generations earlier, the northern tribes of the Israelites were taken into exile and vanished forever. Now the Judeans, too, seem destined to disappear. They fight back, however, by writing a book. Using Judean stories from the past to explain present disastrous situations, the book becomes the earliest edition of the most influential work in history: the Bible. This episode introduces the early and profoundly influential figures of Judaism: Abraham, who is the first to recognize the concept of one God; Moses, who receives the Ten Commandments from God; and David, whose sins teach the Israelites that no one is above the law of God.
Episodes
Episode 4
Empires: The Gifts of the Jews
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
With the destruction of the Temple, the Romans have destroyed the only place on earth, according to Biblical Law, where Jews can worship God. The Judaism of priests and sacrifices is lost forever, and rabbis struggle to reinvent the religion of Moses and David. They are forced to work during a period of incredible bloodshed and turmoil. In 132 A.D. Jewish zealots rise against Rome's legions in the Bar Kochba rebellion, forcing them to withdraw from the region. The Romans return with a vast army and slaughter nearly 600,000 Jews. They change the name of the region from Judea to Palestine and ban all Jews from Jerusalem. Desperate to start new lives, many Jews flee to distant lands, only to face another challenge - a breakaway form of Judaism called Christianity. As it rises to political power, Christianity becomes deeply anti-Semitic. But Judaism survives - and in doing so, preserves for all its unique gifts, including the rights of the individual and the rule of law - gifts that will change the Western world forever.
Episode 3
Empires: Winds of Change
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
In this episode, Claudius, the most unlikely member of the imperial family, becomes one of the greatest emperors of the Roman Empire…only to fall victim to a brutally ambitious wife. A principled philosopher named Seneca finds himself compromised as tutor to the erratic young Emperor Nero. In Britain, a warrior queen named Boudicca battles Roman legions…and from Judea, a revolutionary named Paul begins spreading the words of Jesus across Roman lands. Back in the capital, Nero's disastrous rule shakes the empire to its foundation. Rome nearly burns to the ground. The empire is on the edge of disaster.
Episode 2
Empires: Years of Trial
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
In the year 14, Caesar Augustus died and the empire stood at a crossroad. Would Rome continue the course set by its first emperor… or would it fall into civil war? The tense period immediately following the death of Augustus brought a brutal army mutiny and intense political intrigue. A reluctant new emperor quickly inhabited the imperial palace and stability eventually prevailed. The new emperor was called Tiberius. He was Augustus' step-son and he was a dour, middle-aged man with limited vision. At first, Tiberius struggled to live up to his predecessor. But he quickly abandoned the effort. Tiberius' ultimate decline from ascetic ruler to reclusive despot ushered in one of the most notorious rulers of the ancient world: Caligula. As fear and conspiracy descended on Rome, crisis spread to the provinces. In Judea, modern-day Israel, a charismatic religious leader named Jesus challenged the religious and political establishment. The local furor barely touched Rome, but the legacy of Jesus would one day engulf the empire itself.
Episode 1
Empires: Order from Chaos
aired: Mon, Apr 2, 2012
Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the ancient world was ruled by Rome. And the Roman Empire was in turmoil. Civil war had engulfed the empire’s capital city. Dictators seized power. The Roman future looked bleak. But under the leadership of Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire would survive the chaos and rise stronger and more dazzling than ever before. Within a few short years, it would stretch from Britain, across Europe, to Southern Egypt; from North Africa, around the Mediterranean to the Middle East. It would embrace hundreds of languages and religions and would till those diverse cultures into a rich soil from which Western Civilization would grow. Rome would become the world’s first – and most enduring – superpower, spanning continents and epochs. Episode I describes the astonishing rise of Rome; and the astonishing characters -- both famous and uncelebrated -- that fueled its ascendance. Most notably, Caesar Augustus. Born in times of crisis and raised amid civil war, Augustus came to personify the people he led. He was contradictory: at once capable of brutal violence and tender compassion. He was charismatic: Augustus forged the image of Roman grandeur that endures to this day. And he was enormously popular. But those that ran afoul of Augustus often faced tragic consequences: his rivals Marc Antony and Cleopatra; the love poet, Ovid; even his own daughter, Julia. The story of Augustan Rome is the story of greatness at a price.
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