After the disappearance of Tartessos, other Iberian locales rose to prominence and flourished-until their successes drew the unwanted attention of rival civilizations. This program tracks the history of Iberia during the era of Carthaginian and Roman expansion. Paintings, dramatizations, and maps reconstruct the course of the Punic Wars. In addition, the characteristics and cultures of these embattled regions are examined through re-creations of everyday...

500-100 BC. The Celtic Iron Age begins. The fastgrowing tribes of Britain turn violent. But out of the fighting something remarkable appears - glorious art and design; magnificent swords of a lavish beauty never seen before. The Celts may never have existed as a genetic people, but as a culture they generated extraordinary riches - iron age warriors, druids and the first kings.

The antecedents of modern Indian culture can be traced back to the Harappan civilization, which flourished between 2300 and 1500 BC in what are now Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Aryan tribes from the Russian steppes invaded the subcontinent in 1000 BC, bringing their language and culture. The resulting synthesis between the Aryan and Indian civilizations brought forth a unique society that included a caste system, which soon became entrenched. This...

Archaeologist and historian Richard Miles examines the phenomenon of the Roman Republic, from its fratricidal mythical beginnings- with the legend of Romulus and Remus, to the all too real violence of its end- dragged to destruction by war lords like Pompey and Julius Caesar. Traveling to Sicily and North Africa, Richard tells the story of Rome's century-long struggle for dominance with the other great regional power, Carthage. With no-one left to...

At the height of its power and influence, the Etruscan civilization extended from the Po Valley to Campania, and its merchant fleet was the master of the Mediterranean. This program documents the salvaging of the first Etruscan ship ever found: a spectacular wreck off the coast of southern France with a perfectly preserved lower hull and laden with hundreds of amphorae. What artifacts are waiting to be found among the many containers of wine? Lying...

This program examines how liberal ideas from the French Revolution fueled the fires of European nationalism, and how extreme nationalistic beliefs led to World War I. In Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck constructed the philosophical and political framework for a unified Germany, steeped in the mythology of a German super-race and its destiny: to rule Europe. Serbians, inflamed by nationalism, assassinated Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, and Germany,...

Examines amazing monuments and other structures of the ancient Greek civilization, including the palace at Knossos, the city-state ruins at Mycenae, and the Parthenon.

This program studies cultural transformations that began in the fifth century BC as Greek art discarded religious functions and moved toward human-centered concerns. Views of Cycladic sculpture and Koiros statues demonstrate an evolving realism, leading to stunning examples of the idealized human figure: the Kritios boy, the Temple of Zeus pediments, Praxiteles' Hermes, and others. With additional focus on the Olympic games, their architecture, and...