What the Ancients Did for Us
| What the Ancients Did for Us | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Documentary |
| Directed by | |
| Presented by | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | |
| Editor(s) | Roger Dacier |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Distributor | BBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Original release | February 2005 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us |
| External links | |
| Website | |
What the Ancients Did for Us is a 2005 BBC documentary series presented by Adam Hart-Davis that examines the impact of ancient civilizations on modern society.
The series was produced in conjunction with the Open University and is a departure from the previous series not only in that each episode is an hour long rather than half an hour (though heavily edited half-hour versions have also been shown), but also in that it does not concentrate on a single period of history but rather one ancient civilization per episode including the Chinese, the Indians and the Greeks.
The Arab and Muslim world has had a profound and lasting influence on our life today, the list is long and full of surprises, but perhaps the most important thing that the Islamic Empire did for us is preserve, refine and improve all the knowledge left by the scholars of the ancients, and without that work by the Muslim scholars all of that knowledge might have been lost and our lives much the poorer.
This episode features reports from Zain in Egypt, Spain and France elaborated by demonstrations from Adam Hart-Davis, Marty Jopson and expert guests that examine the ideas and inventions that emerged from the Islamic Golden Age.
Cut off from the rest of the world for centuries, the Chinese developed a unique culture and made many technological, scientific and artistic advances long before the West. Now the creative forces that shaped this huge country have exploded into the full glare of the 21st century.
This episode features reports from Darling in China and demonstrations from Hart-Davis and Jopsom that examine the ideas and inventions that emerged from Ancient China.
This episode examines the ideas and inventions that emerged from the Aztec, Mayan and Incan peoples of Pre-columbian America.
This episode examines the ideas and inventions that emerged from Ancient Rome.
The culture of India has always been closely linked to religion, several world faiths began here, such as Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism, and over the millennia they have all left their imprint on Indian thought.
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Wikipedia