Season 1
13 episodes · Sep 7, 2006
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- S1E1
Ancient Greece: Modern Ship Building
Sep 7, 200644mModern warships, cargo, and container ships are the cutting edge of maritime technology. But 2,500 years ago, no one dominated shipbuilding like the Greeks.
- S1E2
Ancient Rome: The Rise of Apartments
Sep 14, 200644mHigh-rise, high-density living isn't new. Romans were living in high-rise apartments 2,000 years ago. Travel to Rome and its ancient seaport of Ostia, where many of them still exist.
- S1E3
Ancient Egypt: Iconic Structures
Sep 14, 200644mDiscover how monumental masterpieces including the Great Pyramid, Library at Alexander, Temple of Karnak, Sphinx, and obelisks were built using only the most primitive tools and brute labor.
- S1E4
Ancient Greece: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Sep 14, 200644mThe Ancient Greeks were masters of weaponry. From the massive Ballista launcher, giant mirrors to produce fiery death rays, and even poisons and biological toxins, they originated ideas still used in modern warfare.
- S1E5
Ancient Rome: The Mobile Society
Sep 14, 200644mTravel to the heart of the Roman Empire to examine a remarkable civil engineering project that resulted in a 53-thousand-mile network of highways, which is little-changed today.
- S1E6
Ancient Rome: The Modern Stadium
Sep 14, 200644mMichael takes us back to the "bread and circus" days of the ancient Roman Empire to find the origins of today's multi-million-dollar, multi-purpose stadiums.
- S1E7
Ancient China: Personal Weapon
Sep 14, 200644mAncient Chinese civil wars spawned the revolutionary crossbow and stirrup. Later, perhaps the greatest Chinese triumphs were gunpowder and the cannon, used to arm the Great Wall. These influenced warfare for centuries to follow.
- S1E8
Ancient China: Agriculture
Sep 14, 200644mTo help feed their population, Ancient China created the world's first canal systems, the plough and the winnowing machine for grain and rice. Today, China boasts the world's longest canal and the largest dam.
- S1E9
Ancient Egypt: Modern Medicine
Sep 14, 200644mThe Edwin Smith Papyrus in New York, gives amazing insights into the way the Ancient Egyptians pioneered medicine, and laid the foundations for modern treatment in diverse areas such as gynaecology and psychoanalysis.
- S1E10
Ancient Maya: The Tools of Astronomy
Sep 14, 200644mDiscover how the Ancient Maya built their sophisticated observatories, and how they were obsessed with the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets. See the fascinating Long Calendar which attempted to predict the end of the world.
- S1E11
Ancient Maya: Power Centers
Sep 14, 200644mMichael takes us to the Central American jungle to find out how 2000 years ago the ancient Maya mined and fashioned limestone from virgin territory to create their great city of Tikal, paving the way for modern building development.
- S1E12
Ancient China: Origins of Drilling and Mining
Sep 14, 200644mHow did China extract natural resources more than 2,000 years ago? Explore ancient drilling rigs and see how the modern-day science of geobotany was pioneered the Chinese.
- S1E13
Ancient China: Masters of the Wind
Sep 14, 200644mSails, rudders, kites and wings, were all invented by the Chinese. Michael travels to Hong Kong to sail a junk for himself, and investigates how these various innovations contributed to modes of transport taken for granted today.