Video: Legacy: The Cradle of Civilization - Central America & The Barbarian West

Summary:

“These attractively visualized introductions interestingly link ancient civilizations to the present. Rewarding for viewers.” - Booklist

“Visually stunning, well-researched...it's one journey in time you'll never regret taking.” - NY Daily News

Historian Michael Wood stands in the Iraqi desert amid crumbling ruins and dry desolation. He describes a once-thriving metropolis, where merchants brought their goods into the city over a network of lush canals. All that remains is a sea of golden sand, the once-large population drifted away, the complex society vanished. As the world approaches the 21st century, this new series reminds us that other nations and cultures prospered for hundreds or even thousands of years. Now all that remains is the legacy of their civilizations, present and influential in our own.

Shot on location on four continents, Legacy takes a different viewpoint from other series that concentrate primarily on the Western view of history. Visiting China, India, Egypt, the Middle East, Greece and Meso-America, this series traces the rise of both Asian and western civilization.
This series results from an international effort, a co-production of Maryland Public Television and Central Independent Television, U.K. in association with NHK, Japan and the British Museum.
Hosted by historian Michael Wood (“River Journeys”) and (“Travels”). Produced by Peter Spry-Leverton (“Making of Mankind”) and (“Japan”).

Central America: The Burden of Time
Isolated from the rest of the world, the Mayans and Aztecs created sophisticated civilizations that in many ways paralleled ancient Mediterranean empires. God-like kings and a priestly ruling class dominated splendid cities of temples and pyramids.

The Barbarian West
Civilization arose in Asia, but it was the West which would create the first world culture. This final episode traces the origins of western culture through Greece and Rome prevailing by borrowing from the legacies of the original five old world civilizations.