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This six part series explores the influence on ancient culture on our lives today. Host Michael Wood visits the ancient cities and great ports of India and China, the deserts of Egypt and Iraq, the Mexico of the Inca, Aztec and Mayan peoples, the Greek and Roman monuments of Europe and the jungles of Central America searching for the living legacies of these once great civilizations. The series traces how the institutions that arose with urban civilization 5,000 years ago, such as organized religion, bureaucratic government and international trade are still affecting the political and cultural mindset of many parts of the world today

Originally broadcast on television in 1991

Bonus features: 20-page viewer's guide ; profiles of great thinkers of the Axial age

Music by Edward Wynne

Hosted by Michael Wood

Not rated. Contains nudity

DVD; full screen (4:3); Dolby Digital stereo

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Disc 1.

Iraq: the cradle of civilization India: the empire of the spirit --

Disc 2.

China: the mandate of heaven ; Egypt: the habit of civilization --

Disc 3.

Central America: the burden of time ; Europe: the barbarian West