Rome fans will enjoy catching up on our favourite emperors in the current BBC2 series Civilisation: Rise and Fall.

The series covers Egypt, Rome, the Aztecs and Japan – and the first episode in the series charts the success of the Roman empire – and its demise, thanks to Alaric, King of the Visigoths (AD 395 to 410).

The most enjoyable part is being able to view close at hand some of the extravagant treasures of the Roman Empire, such as the wedding gift to Severus and his wife – as well as the sprawling dissoluteness of Honorius (AD 393 to 423), a man-child emperor who, when told Rome had fallen, thought his pet hen called Rome had died, apparently oblivious to the fact that Visigoths were rampaging through the city.

Being the BBC, there is a degree of current on-message opinion on immigration involved in the commentary – apparently the Romans overtaxed the population and were unkind to migrants, which contributed to the downfall. The main cause was also apparently migration from conflict in Eastern Europe, which absolves the bloody brutality of the invaders somewhat. Not everyone in history was a vulnerable migrant seeking refuge, as the BBC likes to promote. You make up your own mind.

The fact the fleeing Romans went on to found Venice is something to bear in mind – the unkind ones did do some good, after becoming fleeing refugees themselves.

Civilisation: Rise and Fall covering Rome is on BBC iPlayer now. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002hytw/civilisations-rise-and-fall?seriesId=m002hytw-structural-1-m002hytx

Buon viaggio!