Disc 1. Dawn of the Roman Empire -- Augustus, the First Emperor -- Tiberius and Caligula -- Claudius and Nero -- The Flavian Emperors and Roman bath culture -- The five good emperors -- Disc 2. Hazards of life in ancient Rome: the five Fs -- Roman art and architecture -- Roman literature -- The ordinary Roman speaks: graffiti -- Final words: burial and tombstone epitaphs -- From Commodus to Caracalla -- Disc 3. The crisis of the 3rd century -- Diocletian and late 3rd-century reforms -- Early Christianity and the rise of Constantine -- Constantine and his successors -- Gladiators and beast hunts -- Chariot racing, spectacles, and theater -- Disc 4. The Roman army -- Barbarians overwhelm the western empire -- The Byzantine empire -- When and why did the Roman Empire fall? -- Late antiquity: a new historical era -- Echoes of Rome.