Bettany Hughes

Acclaimed presenter of historic documentaries, Bettany Hughes, embarks on a journey across the eastern Mediterranean to discover the truth about HELEN OF TROY, the woman blamed for causing the Trojan War, a conflict that resulted in countless deaths. Following weapons experts, the two-hour film shows how the conflict in Helens name would have been fought, unraveling the reality from the myths and putting flesh on the "face that launched a thousand ships", exploring the ways the Greeks made love and war circa 1300 B.C.

Exploring life in Pompeii during the final days of the doomed city.

ULTIMATE TREASURE COUNTDOWN is a two-part docuseries that follows historian and author Bettany Hughes, who reveals spectacular monuments on her December 2019 trip explore to Ancient Egypt.

In part due to the release of the film Troy, PBS Home Video and Paramount have issued a fine three-part documentary look at The Spartans (2003), hosted by the very well spoken historian Bettany Hughes. On location, riding all over Greece, miss Hughes tells us the story in chronological order with little overlap between the three shows.

In this fascinating documentary, historian Bettany Hughes travels to the seven wonders of the Buddhist world and offers a unique insight into one of the most ancient belief systems still practised today. Buddhism began 2,500 years ago when one man had an amazing internal revelation underneath a peepul tree in India.

Bettany Hughes investigates the enduring relationship between warfare and worship, by following the trail through time of the ancient god of war, Mars. She begins in Carthage, site of one of the most significant and bloodiest victories in the history of the Roman Empire and explores the vital role of Mars in Rome's imperial expansion. Visiting the British Museum, Bettany sees, at first hand, the earliest known evidence of human warfare - a 13,000-year-old graveyard in which many of the bodies showed signs of violent deaths. With bodies so carefully buried, Bettany asks if ritualising and celebrating war is a way of bringing societies together – of creating 'them' and 'us'.

Bettany Hughes investigates the enduring relationship between warfare and worship, by following the trail through time of the ancient god of war, Mars. She begins in Carthage, site of one of the most significant and bloodiest victories in the history of the Roman Empire and explores the vital role of Mars in Rome's imperial expansion.

Journey nearly 1,000 miles along the River Nile in this epic travelogue led by classical historian Bettany Hughes to see ancient Egypt’s most iconic and dazzling sites.

Journey nearly 1,000 miles along the River Nile in this epic travelogue led by classical historian Bettany Hughes to see ancient Egypt’s most iconic and dazzling sites.

Bettany Hughes explores Venus - goddess of love - discovering her surprising roots and modern relevance. Beginning in Cyprus, the goddess's mythical birthplace, Bettany decodes Venus's relationship to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She meets experts who reveal the mysterious and obscure ways this ancient goddess was imagined and worshipped, and visits the sites where the real women and men of the Bronze Age adored her as 'greater than a god'. Bettany looks into the goddess's own love life to see that - even for her - tangling with another was often bittersweet.