The first film in an exciting new partnership between History Hit and one of the world’s oldest and finest public museums, the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.

Over the course of six films, to be released through 2025, History Hit is going behind the scenes to discover some of the Ashmolean’s most precious and surprising objects, in depth and up close: from protective figurines crafted in the ancient Middle East to strange and exquisite 18th century Memento Mori reminding us of the inevitability of death; from Egyptian figures crafted before the first pharaohs to one of the greatest Anglo Saxon treasures of them all, the Alfred Jewel. This is a fascinating new series that will cast remarkable light on the Ashmolean’s exceptionally rich and varied collection.

The films are presented by Dan Snow and Suzannah Lipscomb, with the expert guidance and insights of the museum’s world-renowned curators.

In this first film, Dan Snow invites us to imagine a dinner party with the Emperor Nero in his ‘Domus Aurea’, his Golden House in Rome. The Ashmolean has an extraordinary artefact discovered deep within the palace ruins, a painted fresco from a dining room, nearly 2000 years old, depicting Adonis being presented to the goddess Aphrodite. But, as Dan discovers, the latest conservation work in the Ashmolean studio, in preparation for it going on display in the museum’s Roman galleries, is raising questions about how much of the visible painting dates back to the time of Nero - can more of the original be revealed again? Conservator Alexandra Baldwin uncovers the secrets hidden beneath the fresco’s surface.

Research Keeper of Antiquities, Paul Roberts, guides Dan through the story of Nero’s lavish home and the reality of life there, revealed by the fresco and other beautiful Roman dining artefacts in the Ashmolean’s collection. Are they clues to Nero’s transgressive lifestyle?