TELEVISION

First Civilizations - Season 1

Series: First Civilizations
4.3
(40)
sign up
Episodes
4
Rating
NRC
Year
2018
Language
English
Publisher
PBS

About

Having lived as mobile foragers for 99 percent of our time on Earth, how and why did humans set out on the road to civilization? How did they create villages, towns, cities and states, and establish the blueprint for the modern world? Explore the seedbed civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Middle East, and the Indus Valley in this global story.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1 to 3 of 4

1. Part 1

53m

sign up
War addresses the paradox that good comes from bad. The threat of destruction engenders a sense of fear, but also creates tighter bonds within a community, while driving an arms race of technological progress. This happened in the Zapotec civilization in Mexico, but also with the Teotihuacan civilization which overthrew the Zapotecs and emerged as the first superpower of the Americas.

2. Part 2

53m

sign up
Religion examines the power of a shared belief system, which serves as the social glue to unify a population within a single state. Nowhere was this truer than in Ancient Egypt - still the world's longest lasting civilization - which depended for its stability on the god-like status of its rulers.

3. Part 3

53m

sign up
Cities investigates the symbiotic link between urban living and civilization - there have been no cities without civilization, no civilizations without cities. The world's first settlements were in Mesopotamia, where the emergence of farming created the calories necessary for people to feed themselves on a permanent basis. This led to an exponential increase in population and a blossoming of innovation – civilization itself.

Extended Details

  • Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

Robin Dashwoodproducer
Tom Cebulaproducer
Kerry Shaleactor