Visiting key locations, award-winning historian and author Bettany Hughes explores eight pivotal dates that defined the Roman Empire and its establishment as the world's first superpower. She begins by exploring the day in 202 BC when Rome defeated the might of Carthage under Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in modern-day Tunisia. This was a decisive moment, setting Rome on the path to greatness and exemplifying the military muscle and supreme ambition on which its empire would be built.

Presenter Bettany Hughes explores the day in 49 BC when, defying the Senate, Julius Caesar and his army crossed the river Rubicon, plunging the Republic into civil war. With the aid of the most recent archaeological finds and theories, she examines Caesar's character, his dealings with Crassus, Pompey the Great, and Cicero, and how his quest for absolute power effectively sounded the death knell for the Roman Republic and paved the way for dictatorial rule.