Episodes

13 episodes in this season

The Birth of Christ

Hitler

Marco Polo

Alexander the Great

Taj Mahal

Isaac Newton

Saladin

Captain Kidd

Pope Joan

Sitting Bull

The Virgin Queen

Zorro

Lawrence of Arabia

TV Series

20103.5

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Pope Joan

Season 2 · Episode 9 · Jan 10, 2011

In Rome today is the street known as Vicus Papissa, ‘the street of the woman pope’. In that avenue is an alcove in which it is said an image of Joan once stood, in memory of the spot where she gave birth. The street runs between St Peter’s and the Lateran to the Coliseum and was part of the processional route of all popes in Rome until the 13th Century, when it was suddenly redirected away from the location of Joan’s legendary procession. Some scholars believe that the official route was changed so that the new pope wouldn’t have to pass the notorious site. No contemporary 9th century accounts of a female pope exist, but with no conclusive proof to the contrary, the possibility remains that a talented woman could have risen to become Bishop of Rome? The words of the first writer to account for Joan, Jean de Mailly, resound even more loudly today than they did centuries ago; next to his story of Joan, he wrote the words, ‘to be verified’.

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Mystery Files

TV Series

20103.5

Documentary

Now playing

Pope Joan

Season 2 · Episode 9 · Jan 10, 2011

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