The Profile History of The Ancient World

In this ground-breaking film, historian Tom Holland explores how a new religion - Islam - emerged from the seedbed of the ancient world, and asks what we really know for certain about its rise. The result is an extraordinary detective story. Traditionally, Muslims and non-Muslims alike have believed that Islam was born in the full light of history. But a large number of historians now doubt that presumption, and question much of what Muslim tradition has to tell us about the birth of Islam.

Are they ancient road maps or messages for visiting aliens? Lying at the foothill of Peru's Andes Mountains is the site of one of the world's greatest mysteries. Etched, as if by giants, onto its arid, moonscape plains are immense lines that stretch for miles to form strange shapes recognizable only from the air.

With the help of a team of experts and the latest in 3-D scanning technology, Alexander Armstrong, along with Dr Michael Scott, explores the hidden underground treasures that made Rome the powerhouse of the ancient world.

Legendary military leader and conqueror of the ancient world, Alexander the Great is brought to life in this stunning documentary.

It is 200 years before the birth of Christ and Rome is the burgeoning superpower of the ancient world. With each conquest her empire grows. No one can stand in her way. But one man is destined to challenge it all. A man bound by oath to avenge the wrongs inflicted on his home, Carthage in North Africa - the empire that ruled the Mediterranean before Rome stole its crown. 26-year-old Hannibal Barca was the mastermind behind what is arguably the most audacious military move in history - destroying the Roman myth of invincibility by defeating the great nation and army not once, but three times.

Ancient Impossible reveals how many of today’s technological achievements were actually developed centuries ago. Colossal monuments, impossible feats of engineering and technologies so precise they defy reinvention–the ancient world was far more advanced than we ever imagined. We’ll travel through history to reveal a radically different picture of the past, with innovations so far ahead of their time; they’re still in use today. New science uncovers a lost world more like our own than we ever suspected, and reveals how modern technology has its blueprint in the ancient world.

This series explores ancient inventions and engineering that were previously believed to have been created only in modern times. Included in this special collection: the extraordinary ingenuity of the engineers who created some of the largest and most fearsome navies of the ancient world; the basic technologies discovered by ancient civilizations that led to the creation of the tank hundreds - maybe even thousands - of years ago; the mysteries of history's special agents from Japanese ninja assassins to the Italian genius who wrote secret messages on the inside of eggs; an investigation of the ancient world's naval technology including lethal grenades, covert attack equipment and toxic biological warfare.

The ancient Greeks, more than any other early people or culture, have given us the template for Western civilization. An amazing number of the cultural, civic, and intellectual institutions that we take for granted in today’s world were first fleshed out by the Greeks, including phenomenal achievements in the fields of political theory, law, philosophy, science, and art. ancient Greece was the birthplace of drama, as well as democracy.