The concept of civilisation from the beginning of recorded history
World Service,Β·15 episodes
The invention of writing. Sumerian's revolutionary representation of the sounds of words
How Ancient Egypt adopted ideas and made them more stylish, human, and sophisticated
Was the concept of dharma - religious duty - essential to ancient India's stability?
Remarkable for its organisation, written language, and great thinkers such as Confucius
How the clash between Greeks and Persians in 5BC was recorded in stories and poems
Athens' extraordinary creative outburst in politics drama philosophy and the visual arts
How Rome grew from a shanty town to the centre of the world's largest empire
The Italian artistic achievement and intellectual innovation that started the Renaissance
The poetry, learning, and science of the 7th Century civilisation that grew out of Islam
Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortez, and the arrogance of conquest
The rise of reason, science, tolerance, and liberty in 18th Century France
Christianity's intellectual and spiritual debt to Judaism
How cotton, coal, iron, steam, and sweat, gave birth of the industrial revolution
The descent of European civilisation into dictatorship, war, and unprecedented genocide
Will the disparity between rich and poor prevent the emergence of a global civilisation?
