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On Saturday 26 October, at 9:25 pm on Rai1, the fifth episode of “Ulisse, il piacere della scoperta” will be broadcast, dedicated to the world of Ben Hur, the blockbuster film that was a box office hit in 1959 and won 11 Oscars. Alberto Angela will bring to life the story of the famous charioteer and the city of Rome in the first century AD, taking viewers to the places that witnessed the events told in the film, starting from the central location of the chariot races: the Circus Maximus, an immense structure, of which only the large esplanade is visible today. Ben Hur is a fictional character, the fruit of the creativity of an American novelist. Alberto Angela will instead tell the story of an equally famous character who really existed: the charioteer Scorpo, a much-loved star of the arena, the greatest champion of the Flavian era, remembered several times by the poet Martial. Thanks to graphic and virtual reconstructions, we will enter the Rome of those years. Who was Scorpo and who were the other famous and highly paid champions of the time? How did they prepare? How did the competitions take place? In addition to the Circus Maximus in Rome, the mosaics of the Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina, in the province of Enna, tell a lot. Many people remember the scenes on ships with slaves chained to the oars from the film “Ben Hur”. From the island of Favignana, in Sicily, Alberto Angela will illustrate the rostra of ships from the First Punic War, fought by the Carthaginians against the Romans. Other filming locations include the Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Massimo and the Campidoglio, where, under the imposing statue of Marcus Aurelius, the glories of the golden age of the Roman Empire will be relived.