Lost Civilisations

Synopsis

A series of ten one-hour programmes on ancient civilisations combining location filming, digital effects technology, and dramatisations to recreate rituals and events from the ancient world.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2005

Year of production

2001

Notes

Broadcast in 60-minute episodes on the History Channel, beginning 1/9/2001

Subjects

Archaeology; Classical studies; History

Keywords

ancient civilisations

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£39.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

600 minutes

Year

2006

Sections

Title

Mesopotamia - Return to Eden

Synopsis

The first in a series in which historical civilisations are brought to life. This programme focuses on Mesopotamia, where the world’s oldest urban civilisation emerged in the fourth millennium BC. The great world traditions of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths all trace the roots of their civilisations to the river valleys of Mesopotamia’s Fertile Crescent.

Duration

60 mins

Title

Ancient Egypt Quest for Immortality

Synopsis

This episode explores the legend of the great Egyptian civilisation. The year is 1922. Beneath the desert sands of Egypt, Howard Carter prepares to breach the final barrier between the modern world and the single most coveted prize in archaeology: the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh, intact and untouched for thousands of years.

Duration

60 mins

Title

Aegean - Legacy of Atlantis, The

Synopsis

This episode focuses on the Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations that flourished in the Aegean in the Bronze Age. The story of Atlantis with its mythic tale of a once-mighty island empire vanquished by the sea.

Duration

60 mins

Title

Greece - A Moment of Excellence

Synopsis

This episode focuses on ancient Greece and its enduring legacy to Western civilisation. 500 years before the birth of Christ, small city-states in Greece rose from obscurity to ignite one of the most spectacular explosions of cultural achievement in the history of western civilisation.

Duration

60 mins

Title

China - Dynasties of Power

Synopsis

This edition focuses on ancient China, its great rulers, military tactics and weapons technology, and on the building of the Great Wall that would unify the country.

Duration

60 mins

Title

Rome - The Ultimate Empire

Synopsis

From humble beginnings on the banks of Italy’s Tiber River, Rome’s formidable combination of military prowess and political discipline transformed this small, tribal village into an unassailable military colossus straddling the known world.

Duration

60 mins

Title

Maya - The Blood of Kings

Synopsis

This edition explores the golden age of the Mayan culture. In AD 800, its cities matched the sophistication and power of those in Europe, but the civilisation went into decline a century later. AD 650. Europe languishes in the Dark Ages; London is little more than a pestilent jumble of wooden shacks. But

Duration

60 mins

Title

Inca, Secret of Ancestors

Synopsis

While dominating a kingdom challenged by the harshest environmental conditions known to man, legendary Inca emperors ruled with great splendour and ritual, marking the stunning climax of 3,000 years of South American cultural evolution which began with he Paracas, Moche and Nazca..

Duration

60 mins

Title

Africa, A History Denied

Synopsis

This episode uncovers the history of Africa’s great coastal kingdoms and their mysterious counterparts in the heartland of Zimbabwe and southern Africa. Cloaked in darkness since the medieval times, the spectacular ruins of the once-dazzling southern African kingdom of Great Zimbabwe posed a thorny dilemma for white settlers who claimed to have "discovered" the region a mere hundred years before.

Duration

60 mins

Title

Tibet, The End of Time

Synopsis

This programme focuses on Tibet, whose extraordinary culture was quashed by China in 1959. Buddhist lamas ruled this country on the roof of the world presided over by their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Isolated within the towering sanctuary of the Himalayas, Tibet developed a culture unique in the history of world civilisation. Steeped in the mystical ideals of Buddhism, the Tibetans centred their lives on selfless altruism and the perception of the world as an endlessly repeating cycle of life, death and rebirth.

Duration

60 mins

Production Company

Name

Time-Life Broadcasting

Distributor

 

Available from retail outlets

Name

Time-Life Video

Phone

020 7438 4719

Address

Direct Entertainment UK Ltd
Brettenham House
Lancaster Place
London
WC2E 7TL