They were an extraordinary people born of white rock and blue sea. They invented democracy, distilled logic and reason, wrote plays to plumb the deepest recesses of the soul and captured the perfection of the human form in athletics and art. Quite simply, the Greeks created our world.
These days, Greece conjures up very different images… civic unrest, financial meltdowns, long ATM lines. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that strife and discord are often required for greatness. Ancient Greece was born out of chaos – economic and environmental collapse, political turmoil and brutal warfare. And yet, it alone became the cornerstone of Western Civilisation.
Why did this particular culture blaze so brightly? What was it about Greece that cultivated so many revolutionary ideas? And how did it guide civilisation into the world we know today? This new three-part series will seek to answer these questions in a fresh and fast-paced journey into the lives of our trailblazing forebears. We hear from archaeologists, historians, scientists, athletes, actors, and artists – not just to excavate the past, but also to explore its impact on our present, and ultimately, on our future.