Legacy - The Origins of Civilization
series not in production
Ended
Documentary
Seasons | 1
Episodes | 6
avg.Runtime | min
First EP | 1991-08-13
Last EP | 1991-09-24
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What can the past teach us about the present? Come along as charismatic historian Michael Wood (The Story of India) travels the globe to trace the origins of six great civilizations: Iraq, India, China, Egypt, Central America, and Western Europe. Each journey offers surprising perspectives on questions that matter today-about the environment, the individual, society, and spirituality.
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Season List
season 1 || Season 1
Relesed on | 1991-08-13
1
Iraq - The Cradle of Civilization
1991-08-13
In 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.
2
India - Empire of the Spirit
1991-08-20
Beginning 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.
3
China - The Mandate of Heaven
1991-08-27
With 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.
4
Egypt - The Habit of Civilization
1991-09-10
In 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.
5
Central America - The Burden of Time
1991-09-17
Independent 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.
6
The Barbarian West
1991-09-24
Now 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.
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“I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.” – Walt Disney