The Romans created one of the greatest empires in history, built with the help of an incredible army of professional legionnaires and a well-oiled political machinery. At its height, a few hundred men ruled over a fifth of mankind and an area stretching from Britain to Syria and from Gibraltar to the Euphrates. They undertook some of the most ambitious building-projects of their time: endless roads, gigantic bridges and imposing aqueducts formed a complex infrastructure and left a lasting legacy.

A nation of seafarers and merchants, the Vikings revolutionised exploration and trading in the Middle Ages and discovered America 500 years before Columbus. This gripping film unveils their bad reputation as wild, murdering and pillaging norsemen as misguided and reveals a strikingly tolerant people with an elaborate trading network that stretched right through Europe. For 900 years, their light, manoeuvrable sailing-ships could not be matched. As the best seafarers of their time, daring, tolerant explorers and expert merchants, they set new benchmarks and left their mark everywhere.