Subject: Civilizations
The major political, ideological, and artistic developments in the long-term history of any given geographic area or cultural group, usually broad in scope and big in history.
A History of Britain
- Director: Clare Beavan, Martina Hall, Ian Bremner, Liz Hartford, Jamie Muir
- Release Date: 2000
- Production Country: United Kingdom
Historian Simon Schama narrates his history of Great Britain, emphasizing that no single "history" can tell the entire story–but makes a valiant effort to cover everything he can.
A History of Scotland
- Director: Andrew Downes, Tim Neil
- Release Date: 2008
- Production Country: United Kingdom
Scotland may be a tiny nation occupying the northern third of a tiny island in the North Atlantic, but it has a large and unique history of its very own.
America: A Personal History of the United States (Alistair Cooke’s America)
- Director: Michael Gill, David Heycock, Tim Slessor, Ann Turner
- Release Date: 1972
- Production Country: United Kingdom, United States
Veteran correspondent Alistair Cooke takes an in-depth comparative look at the history and the national mythology of the United States.
An Islamic History of Europe
- Director: Paul Sapin
- Release Date: 2004
- Production Country: United Kingdom
The landscape of medieval Europe was the dynamic space in which Muslim kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire provided the seeds of science and learning that led to the European Renaissance.
Apocalypto
- Director: Mel Gibson
- Release Date: 2006
- Production Country: United States
Taken captive by Mayans intent on a human sacrifice to appease their gods, the warrior Jaguar Paw must find a way to survive and return home to save his small family, now trapped in the cave where he had hidden them for safety.
Athens: The Truth About Democracy (Athens: The Dawn of Democracy)
- Director: Timothy Copestake
- Release Date: 2007
- Production Country: United Kingdom
This new perspective on historical Athens discusses the fact that the democratic rights of a few were supported on the backs of many–those female, poor, or enslaved.
Byzantium: The Lost Empire
- Director: Ron Johnston
- Release Date: 1997
- Production Country: United Kingdom
The Byzantines were the last vestige of the Roman Empire and the first Christian Empire that, for 1,000 years, ruled an ever-shrinking empire that nevertheless created great art, literature, and the Hagia Sophia.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- Director: Werner Herzog
- Release Date: 2010
- Production Country: Canada, United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom
The prehistoric paintings in the Chauvet Cave in France are spectacularly displayed, providing learnings about primitive man from the oldest known depictions of humankind.
Civilisation (Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark)
- Director: Michael Gill, Peter Montagnon, Ann Turner
- Release Date: 1969
- Production Country: United Kingdom
British art historian, Kenneth Clark, surveys the history of Western Civilization, highlighting what he believes are its defining moments and greatest achievements.
Göbekli Tepe: The World's First Temple
- Director: Ahmet Turgut Yazman
- Release Date: 2010
- Production Country: Turkey, Egypt, India
A temple in Turkey predates pottery, the wheel, and agriculture, and rewrites our knowledge of the Mesolithic and Neolothic eras.
Greeks: The Crucible of Civilization
- Director: Cassian Harrison
- Release Date: 2000
- Production Country: United States
About 500 BCE, the first democracies were established and later destroyed in Greece, establishing a political legacy that has resonated throughout Western history into the Modern era.
History's Turning Points
- Director: Patrick Fleming
- Release Date: 1997
- Production Country: United Kingdom
Momentous battles and other events in history are examined and re-imagined to determine their historical impact.
I, Claudius
- Director: Herbert Wise
- Release Date: 1976
- Production Country: United Kingdom
Emperor Claudius narrates the early history of the Roman Empire, from the death of Augustus's heir, through his troubles finding a replacement, and, finally, the ascension and reign of Claudius himself.
Il sepolcro dei re (Cleopatra's Daughter)
- Director: Fernando Cerchio
- Release Date: 1960
- Production Country: Italy, France
Married to the young Pharaoh, Shila's life is in danger from not only the capricious whims of her mentally unstable husband, but also the machinations of his chief adviser and his mistress, who poison the pharaoh and frame Shila for his murder and doom her to being buried alive with her husband. But her lover, the court physician, has come up with a clever plan to free her—if he can get to her before the tomb is sealed.
In Search of Ancient Ireland
- Director: Leo Eaton
- Release Date: 2002
- Production Country: United States
From 2,000 BCE, when the Irish built some of the most spectacular known Neolithic monuments, to the Celtic kingdoms, from the arrival of Christian monks to the invasions of Vikings and Normans, Ireland's history is recorded in the landscape itself, in the stories handed down from generations of gods and heroes, and in the magnificent manuscripts created by Irish monks.
Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire
- Director: Deborah DeSnoo, Lyn Goldfarb
- Release Date: 2004
- Production Country: United States
From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Japan was an island world of shoguns and samurais, with the world's largest city, Edo, and rich intellectual and artistic traditions–all of it almost entirely shut off from the outside world.
La donna dei faraoni (The Pharaoh's Woman)
- Director: Viktor Tourjansky
- Release Date: 1960
- Production Country: Italy
Ambitious and intelligent, Akis wants a better life, which she seems to have found when she is taken on board the pleasure yacht of two noblemen. When they each wind up pharaoh of one part of Egypt, she finds out that life as a Queen is not as glamorous as she had hoped; and, by the time she meets the court physician Amosis, it may be too late for true love to conquer all.
Land of the Pharaohs
- Director: Howard Hawks
- Release Date: 1955
- Production Country: United States
As Pharaoh Khufu seeks to amass and keep a fortune that will ensure his comfort and security in the next life, he seeks an architect who can build a robbery-proof tomb; however, his second wife, Cyprian princess Nellifer, plots to have all his gold for herself, guaranteeing her comfort and security in this life.
Lorsque le monde parlait arabe (When the World Spoke Arabic: The Golden Age of Arab Civilization)
- Director: Philippe Calderon
- Release Date: 1999
- Production Country: France
While Europe was mired in feudalism, mud, and ignorance, the Arabic world was the center of learning, science, art, and tolerance.
Mongols: Storm from the East
- Director:
- Release Date: 1993
- Production Country: United Kingdom, Japan
This documentary series examines the rise of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan and his Empire, providing a lens on the Mongol civilization.