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Landmark BBC Arts documentary series, Civilisations: Rise and Fall, brings four ancient civilisations back to life
At a moment when we all fear the civilisation-threatening power of pandemics, autocracy and technological transformation, Civilisations: Rise and Fall, produced by BBC Studios, examines why four famous and mighty civilisations in the past found themselves on the brink of disaster, and how the art and artefacts they left behind hold clues to explaining their fate.
Each programme looks at the rise of a different great civilisation and explores the factors that led to its decline. From Ancient Rome to Cleopatra’s Egypt, via the samurai of Japan and the lost world of the Aztecs, audiences will discover rare and beautiful art and artefacts from each culture. All objects that feature in the series are in the British Museum thanks to behind-the-scenes access to spaces most visitors never see. These artefacts take us to very particular moments of civilisational transition, as societies confronted upheaval and endured radical change in a bid to safeguard their own futures.
Across four episodes, interviews with experts, key academics and curators are combined with bold drama-reconstructions to follow the clues in these treasures that explain why each culture fell from power, and whether these relics can help us understand the risks we face today.
Contributors include Dominic Sandbrook from The Rest is History podcast, artists Antony Gormley and Edmund De Waal, co-host of The Rest is Politics podcast Alistair Campbell, Radio 4’s Making History presenter Iszi Lawrence and academics and authors including Camilla Townsend, Mark Ravina, Shushma Malik and Salima Ikram.
Featured artefacts from The British Museum’s world-famous collection include the double-headed serpent of the Aztecs, the Meroe Head of Augustus, a mummified crocodile from Ancient Egypt and a newly acquired set of samurai armour from Japan.
