The Origins of Civilisation

A legend of the great Greek city of Athens, Themistocles rose from obscurity to save ancient Greece and helped shape one of the greatest naval powers in history. Yet his story ends in exile, condemned as a traitor and serving the very empire he once defeated: Persia.In this episo ...  Show more

What made the Hittites one of the great Bronze Age powers, and how did their empire survive on war, diplomacy and faith? Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Elena Devecchi to uncover ancient royal intrigue, lavish festivals, the 'Thousand God', and the world’s oldest known peac ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution of the human species. Where did we come from - we being Homo Sapiens? Let’s not go back to the Big Bang or in search of Genesis, but sift through the evidence from biology, palaeontology, climatology and anthropology.The story of huma ...  Show more

‏حلقة جديدة من #بودكاست_١٩٤٩، تأخذنا إلى عُمق التاريخ لاستكشاف أصول الحضارات القديمة التي ازدهرت على أرض المملكة، لتُجيب على التساؤل الأبرز: بمَ تفيدنا معرفة التاريخ ودراسة الآثار؟ وما دورها في بناء المستقبل؟ 

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike — either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. D ...  Show more

The ancient world proved itself capable of remarkable feats of construction. Thousands of years later, historians and archeologists are still unsure of how such marvels were constructed. As our understanding of the capabilities of ancient empires as grown, so has the suspicion th ...  Show more