25 November 2009 11:17 AM
The inhospitable plateau of Gilf Kebir in the far south-west Egyptian desert was once home to an early Egyptian civilization, who left behind spectacular cave art. We took a look, and brought our video camera.
14 February 2009 12:00 AM
Signs of a distinctive, new and eccentric pattern of human behaviour began to occur in what became the most famous of all the Greek city states – Athens. Long before the Persians razed the city to the ground in 480BCE this city had become a laboratory for experiments in novel human behaviour. In c594BCE, a poet called Solon won a victory for the city by capturing the nearby island of Salamis. He used the considerable power and prestige gained from this triumph to seize political control.
14 February 2009 12:00 AM
The period between 1400BCE and 1100BCE set the stage for some of the most epic military struggles of all time, including the legendary Trojan Wars, supposedly fought between a confederation of small Greek states and the people of Troy, a city in western Asia Minor. Accounts of the wars are contained in the Greek poet Homer's Iliad and Odyssey which, although partly mythological, provide a vivid account of the chaos and violence of the late Mediterranean Bronze Age.
14 February 2009 12:00 AM
Greek philosophers were edging towards the radical idea that there were no gods who controlled the destiny of life on earth from some detached mountaintop. Rather, it was man himself who, thanks to his own brainpower, could decipher the laws of the universe to become master of all nature.
14 February 2009 12:00 AM
Rome's rise and fall was like a human weather system, as destructive as nature's most violent hurricanes. This enormous whirlwind was powered by three essential ingredients: grain, booty and slaves.
14 February 2009 12:00 AM
In the midst of this hurricane of indulgence, exploitation and violence there was a miraculous moment of calm. As if it were the eye of the imperial storm, almost exactly halfway through Rome's dominance of the Mediterranean world, a son was born to a Jewish carpenter and his wife in a place called Bethlehem, a town situated just south of Jerusalem. His name was Jesus.
14 February 2009 12:00 AM
About 3,000 years ago, from around the Black Sea, came a troublesome trilogy of innovations – horses, chariots and bronze weapons – that gave some people a huge military advantage over others. They did not hesitate to exploit it. Soon, the whole Eurasian world was locked in an arms race. Civilisations rose and fell, and warfare became endemic. Disputes erupted between Eastern and Western peoples (initially Persians and Europeans); a race called the Jews got caught in the middle. Meanwhile, in Greece and Asia Minor, enough people became sufficiently prosperous and secure to experiment with new lifestyles and ideas that would form the foundations of Western culture.
14 February 2009 12:00 AM
In a bid to put a permanent end to the trouble from the Scythians, Darius took a huge army north in about 512BCE and marched across the Bosphorus, the short stretch of sea that divides Europe from Asia, and on into what is modern-day Greece. He marched as far as the Danube so he could attack the Scythians from the rear. Unfortunately, thanks to an incorrect understanding of the geography of the region, Darius missed his intended target altogether and instead attacked and subjugated the people of Thrace and Macedonia in northern Greece.
13 February 2009 12:00 AM
The Himalayas helped protect the hunter-gathering people living in what we now call India from the centralising, conquering and consolidating forces of China. But their effectiveness as a barrier decreases further to the north-west, where passes permit the passage of people travelling by foot, horse and chariot. Several waves of invaders came from the north. Some of them probably originated from the steppes of central Asia, from where, having passed through Mesopotamia, they swept into the Ganges plain in northern India, stopped only by the towering Himalayan peaks.
13 February 2009 12:00 AM
Reincarnation is the belief that makes Hinduism different from most other religions. Each living thing possesses an individual spirit ( atman) which is part of an über-spirit ( brahman), the universal force that binds together all life. The goal of all individuals is to liberate the atman, freeing it to join the brahman in eternal bliss. Its destiny is to be recycled again and again in any living thing, plant, animal or human, until it reaches a sufficiently advanced state of development to attain enlightenment ( moksha) and eternal liberation.
13 February 2009 12:00 AM
Yangshao people, who lived between 5000BCE and 2000BCE along the Yellow River Valley, are thought to have been the first ever to have practised China's most lucrative long-term secret – silkworm cultivation.
13 February 2009 12:00 AM
Qin was a kingdom in the north-west corner of China, a land of horse-rearing and bounty-hunting. Selective breeding meant that larger horses were now available, allowing soldiers to ride into war on horseback, liberating them from expensive, unwieldy chariots.
13 February 2009 12:00 AM
Siddhartha Gautama, the first of these important figures in the history of Indian religions, was an prince called who is thought to have lived in India from about 563BCE to 483BCE. The only historical evidence of his life comes from texts written by his followers some 400 years after his death, so some of the details may well have merged into myth over centuries of oral rendition.
Enjoy a three-night family adventure for four to Slaley Hall in Northumberland.
Cisco is maximising connectivity for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Get your daily dose of the best of British journalism, sponsored by American Airlines
Three glasses of free champagne and a special menu at 46 top London restaurants.
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Enjoy a three-night family adventure for four to Slaley Hall in Northumberland.
Cisco is maximising connectivity for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Get your daily dose of the best of British journalism, sponsored by American Airlines
Three glasses of free champagne and a special menu at 46 top London restaurants.
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
