AllMovie

Sigourney Weaver narrates a four-hour history charting the growth of "the world's first and most enduring superpower." Part 1 recalls how Augustus Caesar brought order from chaos following the civil wars of the first century B.C. Augustus took power by defeating Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C., then set out "to disarm the Senate and charm the masses." By and large, he succeeded (with help from Halley's Comet at one point) and brought about a Pax Romana that would last roughly 200 years.