Historian Bettany Hughes journeys across ancient Anatolia, modern-day Türkiye, to uncover some of the earliest foundations of civilisation. From Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe to Sardis, Gordion, Ephesus and Cappadocia, she explores how the first settled communities developed agriculture, religion, trade and urban life, while remarkable discoveries such as early monumental buildings, ancient weapons and life-sized human sculptures reveal a world far more sophisticated than once imagined. Moving through landscapes where myth and history constantly overlap, Hughes follows the rise of kingdoms and empires, encounters the world of King Midas, and traces how Anatolia became a crossroads connecting cultures across continents. Presented here with both episodes combined into a single video, the series offers a sweeping archaeological journey into the places where some of humanity’s most important ideas, beliefs and institutions first began to take shape.
Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Garden of Babylon is the most elusive of these constructions of classical antiquity. While traces have been found of the Great Pyramid of Gaza, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria, centuries of digging have turned up nothing about the lost gardens of Babylon – until now. Why, in the nearly 3,000 years since the gardens were presumably built, has no archeological evidence ever been found to support their existence? Is the Hanging Garden of Babylon a myth or a mystery to be solved? Travel with Dr. Stephanie Dalley of Oxford University’s Oriental Institute and author of The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon, to one of the most dangerous places on earth, as she sets out to answer these questions and prove not only that the gardens did exist, but also identify where they most likely were located, describe what they looked like and explain how they were constructed.
Moving through landscapes where myth and history constantly overlap, Hughes follows the rise of kingdoms and empires, encounters the world of King Midas, and traces how Anatolia became a crossroads connecting cultures across continents. Presented here with both episodes combined into a single video, the series offers a sweeping archaeological journey into the places where some of humanity’s most important ideas, beliefs and institutions first began to take shape.