One of the ancient world's most iconic buildings, the Colosseum is a monument to Roman imperial power and cruelty. Its graceful lines and harmonious proportions concealed a highly efficient design and advanced construction methods that made hundreds of arches out of 100,000 tons of stone. In its elliptical arena, tens of thousands of gladiators, slaves, prisoners, and wild animals met their passings. Ancient texts report lions and elephants emerging from beneath the floor, as if by magic, to ravage gladiators and people condemned to passing. Then, just as quickly, the Colosseum could be flooded with so much water that ships could engage in sea battles to the delight of the crowd. Now, archaeologists and engineers are teaming up to recreate a 25-foot lifting machine and trap door system capable of releasing a wolf into the Colosseum's arena for the first time in 1,500 years. Do they have what it takes to replicate the innovation and ingenuity of the Romans?

NOVA Season 42 Episodes...

• s42e01 - Vaccines Calling the Shots
• s42e02 - Rise of the Hackers
• s42e03 - Why Planes Vanish
• s42e04 - Surviving Ebola
• s42e05 - Ben Franklin's Balloons
• s42e06 - First Air War
• s42e07 - Bigger Than T. rex
• s42e08 - Emperor's Ghost Army
• s42e09 - Killer Landslides
• s42e10 - First Man on the Moon
• s42e11 - Big Bang Machine
• s42e12 - Sunken Ship Rescue
• s42e13 - Sinkholes-Buried Alive
• s42e14 - Colosseum - Roman Death Trap
• s42e15 - Petra - Lost City of Stone
• s42e16 - Hagia Sophia: Istanbul's Ancient Mystery
• s42e17 - The Great Math Mystery
• s42e18 - Invisible Universe Revealed
• s42e19 - Nazi Attack on America
• s42e20 - Lethal Seas
• s42e21 - Chasing Pluto
• s42e22 - Nuclear Meltdown Disaster

NOVA Show Summary

Seen in more than 100 countries, NOVA is the most watched science based television series in the world and the most watched documentary series on PBS. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won many major television awards, most of them many times over.