Up Next
Back to Show
Secrets of the Dead
How Technology Revived Seneca the Elder
Researcher Valeria Piano employs two different technological methods to decipher a carbonized scroll from Herculaneum. First, she uses a microscope to examine the texts, and then she studies images of the scrolls produced with infrared light. Her work has brought to light a history of Rome written by Seneca the Elder, long thought to have been lost forever.
Support Provided By
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:01
Discover the world of dinosaur fossil collecting, an unusual hobby with a growing market.
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:15
Explore the sunken remains of an early Christian basilica in western Turkey.
55:15
New evidence sheds light on the early indigenous societies of the Amazon.
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:15
Research is revealing the hieroglyphic texts from within the tomb of an Egyptian scribe.
55:20
Explore the last days in Pompeii, before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius 2,000 years ago.
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:20
Discover one of the most significant British archaeological finds of the century.
54:55
What if climate change and pandemics caused of the decline of the Roman Empire?
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:15
Learn about the captain of a “mystery ship” who turned away from the "unsinkable" Titanic.
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:41
Follow historian James Holland as he unearths the truth about amphetamine use in WWII.
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:11
Archaeologists discover a mass grave with the bones of nearly 60 people near Luxor, Egypt.
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:41
New evidence suggests the legend of King Arthur began in a Dark Ages trading village.
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:10
Where did Hannibal and his army cross the Alps to launch a surprise attack on Rome?