Watch Caligula's Hidden Legacy

At the heart of a volcanic lake near Rome lay one of antiquity's greatest mysteries: Caligula's vast pleasure ships. Known as the Ships of Nemi, these floating palaces vanished for centuries before a dramatic 20th-century excavation under Benito Mussolini brought them to light. Their opulence and scale reveal the spectacle and symbolism behind an emperor's quest for divine power.

New discoveries beneath the Vatican reveal the grand designs of Caligula. Beyond the legend of a mad tyrant emerges a ruler driven by ambition-building colossal aqueducts, transporting the Vatican obelisk from Egypt, and staging feats of engineering that defied nature. This episode reconsiders Caligula as a visionary determined to reshape Rome in his own image.