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Rick Steves' Art of Europe
Ancient Rome
Season 1
Episode 102
The Romans gave Europe its first taste of a common culture—and awe-inspiring art. From its groundbreaking architecture to its statues, mosaics, and frescos, Rome engineered bigger and better than anyone before. At its peak, the Roman Empire was a society of unprecedented luxury, with colossal arenas for entertaining the masses and giant monuments to egotistical emperors. And then it fell.
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55:35
Artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Dalí express the complexity of our modern world.
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55:16
The art of "divine" kings and popes tells the story of a Europe in transition.
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55:36
Around 1400, Europe rediscovered the aesthetics of ancient Greece and Rome.
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55:35
Europe spent 1000 years in its Middle Ages after Rome fell and rebounded Around A.D. 1000.
55:16
As the Ice Age glaciers melted, European civilization was born—and with it, so was art.