Legacy - Origins of Civilization

Season 1

Historian Michael Wood explores six ancient civilizations - Iraq, India, China, Egypt, Central America, and Western Europe - revealing insights into contemporary issues surrounding environment, individuality, society, and spirituality.

Where to Watch Legacy - Origins of Civilization • Season 1

6 Episodes

  • Iraq - The Cradle of Civilization
    E1
    Iraq - The Cradle of CivilizationIn places like Uruk and Eridu in modern-day Iraq, humans founded the first cities nearly 6,000 years ago. They left us literature, astronomy, and mathematics, as well as lessons in overpopulation and environmental stewardship.
  • India - Empire of the Spirit
    E2
    India - Empire of the SpiritBeginning 5,000 years ago, the "Land of the Seven Rivers" cultivated a tradition of nonviolence, renunciation of the material world, and a focus on humans' inner life. Today, these ideas survive in tension with the vestiges of Western colonialism.
  • China - The Mandate of Heaven
    E3
    China - The Mandate of HeavenWith great thinkers such as Confucius and Lao-Tzu, the Chinese conceived a civilization reflecting cosmic harmony, sustained by civic and social virtue, ancient ritual, and reverence for ancestors.
  • Egypt - The Habit of Civilization
    E4
    Egypt - The Habit of CivilizationIn the world's first great nation, the annual flooding of the Nile conferred not only fertility, but also a deep respect for social and cosmic stability, a belief in the resurrection of the dead, and the hope of eternal life.
  • Central America - The Burden of Time
    E5
    Central America - The Burden of TimeIndependent of great civilizations elsewhere, the Maya and Aztecs developed a violent, fatalistic culture, envisioning a cosmos that required bloody sacrifice for renewal. It placed the sovereignty of nature above all else - even human life.
  • The Barbarian West
    E6
    The Barbarian WestNow adopted nearly all over the globe, the modern Western ideas of individualism, property, and purposeful history trace their roots to Christianity, Greco-Roman humanism, and Germanic social values.

Cast of Season 1

  • Michael Wood

 

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