The Ancient World with Bettany Hughes

Historian Bettany Hughes explores Crete, once home to the mighty Minoan civilisation whose sophisticated society changed the whole of Greece.

Historian Bettany Hughes looks at the influence of the Moorish invasion of Spain in 711 AD, and the lasting cultural and scientific legacy they created.

This first episode charts the epic story of Athens' victory in one of the greatest sea battles of the ancient world, when the Athenian triremes defeat Xerxes' mighty Persian fleet at Salamis.

Bettany Hughes digs beneath the surface of Golden Age Athens to explore the bloody but exhilarating truth about the world's first democracy.

A special one-off documentary exploring how Egypt's two greatest pharaohs, Khufu and Ramesses II, built their way to immortality.

Historian Bettany Hughes reveals the story of Alexander the Great's city, built in the North African desert and designed from the outset to be the world's first centre of culture.

Bettany Hughes embarks on an epic journey across the Mediterranean to disentangle myth from reality and find out the truth about the most beautiful woman on earth.

Bettany Hughes reveals the secrets and complexities of the Spartan martial way of life and its bloody rivalry with Athens.