Reliving the discovery of ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum, which brings the classical world vividly alive for 18th-century Europeans; Learning how founding-era Americans steeped in classical antiquity through their education and culture.

In the 1760s, ancient Rome becomes politically relevant to Colonial Americans; The colonists, predominantly farmers, draw upon Roman thinkers' notions of the farming class as the backbone of civic virtue, independence, and freedom.

From 1763, harsh taxation gradually erodes American colonists' contentment with British rule; Tracing the colonists' response to British policy, they began to view the British as a tyrannical empire, drawing on both contemporary and ancient writings.

From the founding era until today, assessing America's associations with ancient Rome and how it becomes a part of the national fabric of America; Observing how these associations have shaped the nation's ideological dialogue and politics.

Investigating Americans' perceptions during the founding era of ancient Greece; Noting their selective admiration for Spartan military history, and their wariness of the perceived instability of Athenian democracy.

Beyond Rome and Greece, the founders take inspiration from ancient Carthage in North Africa; Learning about their view of Carthage as a break-away Phoenician colony with admirable government, whose major threats from Rome mirrored America's own.