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Carthage was Rome's equal, rival and almost her conqueror. In 146 BC Roman general Scipio destroyed the city of Carthage so painstakingly and utterly that not a single building was left standing.

What did the Romans so fear about the Carthaginians that in the end they would be prompted to the most terrible acts of reprisal in the ancient world? A new archaeological dig by Dr Richard Miles of Cambridge University, penetrates the burned layer of this Roman holocaust and uncovers fresh evidence.

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Produced by RDF Productions.

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Exploring what really happened at Herculaneum following the eruption of Vesuvius.

Pompeii, the lost Roman city buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD, has long been a source of fascination to archaeologists. But its sister city Herculaneum, buried in the same eruption but to a much greater depth than Pompeii, reveals far more detail of how the Romans lived.

For many years the city appeared to have been abandoned and it was assumed the inhabitants had managed to escape in the hours before Herculaneum was engulfed by the volcano. Then in the 1980s a macabre discovery was made. Burrowing through the volcanic mud, archaeologists found hundreds of bodies huddled pitifully together. Vesuvius is still active and is on course to erupt again. The lure of its rich volcanic soil and the delights of the Bay of Naples have attracted a far greater population than lived there in Roman times. And while civil servants at the Vesuvius observatory express confidence that there will be ample warning and time to evacuate the surrounding population, many geologists disagree. Evidence from an eruption in 4000BC reveals that the volcano is capable of destroying Naples, a cataclysm far greater than that of 79AD. If that were to happen today it could engulf 3 million people. On that scale, in an area where motorway traffic jams are a fact of daily life, present evacuation plans are completely inadequate.

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Produced by Dragonfly Film and Television Productions.

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On August 27th 79AD, the Roman town of Pompeii was buried under a torrent of lava and ash when Vesuvius roared into life with a mighty eruption

What survives of the town is an extraordinary archaeological record, but Pompeii's remains can only tell us part of the story. Much has been lost, looted and damaged in the 250 years since the town was re-discovered, and the excavations offer only an illusion of immediacy. To really understand Pompeii, we need to get under the skin. Using a mixture of lavish dramatisations, computer graphic environments and the guidance of leading experts, The Private Lives Of Pompeii offers a unique look at the people who lived and died there. What were their hopes and fears, their rivalries and their loves? Seventeen years before the eruption the town had already experienced a terrible disaster having been at the epicentre of a huge and devastating earthquake. Ray Laurence, historian at Reading University, says: "The earthquake could be seen as a catalyst... We might see more of the tensions of the town. In a way an earthquake presents opportunities for social mobility. It's an opportunity for a town as much as a tragedy. Some people get richer, some people are devastated by it." In the years following, all the tensions and dynamics of the Roman world were somehow focused and intensified. As the society strove to rebuild and recover itself, a competitive, ambitious and sometimes treacherous world was revealed. New money challenged old values. The traditional hierarchies of power and status could no longer be taken for granted. The Private Lives Of Pompeii explores this world through the stories of fictionalised characters and events rigorously grounded in historical fact. Scaurus Vettius, an ambitious entrepreneurial freed slave, appears to be on the way up. Gaius Terentius Sabinus may be on the way down. Each seemingly needs the other to achieve status and power in the municipal elections. Gaius' father, Terentius Senex is an ageing aristocrat desperate to maintain the family's power through his son's political advancement. The elegant widow, Julia Felix, looks for a new man, but may have to give up her son. And Petronia Justa is fighting in the courts for recognition as a free woman.

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