Watch Civilisations

2018
1 Season
7.8 (684)

Civilisations is a nine-part documentary series produced by the BBC and presented by scholars Liev Schreiber, Simon Schama, and Maya Jasanoff. The show, which premiered in 2018, explores the history of human civilization and its impact on the world. The series begins by examining early human civilizations, such as those of ancient Greece, Rome, and China. The presenters discuss how these societies shaped the world we live in today, including the development of language, art, and architecture. They also highlight some of the challenges faced by these societies, such as conflicts with neighboring civilizations and the rise and fall of powerful empires.

As the series progresses, the focus shifts to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. The presenters discuss the key events and figures of each era, including the Crusades, the Black Death, the exploration of the New World, and the scientific revolution. They also delve into the art, literature, and music that flourished during these periods and how they reflect the cultural values of their time.

Civilisations also explores the impact of industrialization and urbanization on human society. The presenters discuss the rise of capitalism, the growth of cities, and the development of modern technologies and transportation systems. They also explore the impact of these changes on the environment and how they paved the way for the modern era.

Throughout the series, Schreiber, Schama, and Jasanoff provide insightful commentary on the significance of the events and figures they discuss. They use a combination of historical footage, interviews with experts, and on-location footage to bring the past to life. Their passion and expertise are evident in every episode, making the series engaging and informative for viewers of all ages.

Overall, Civilisations is an excellent educational series that provides a deep dive into the history of human civilization. The presenters offer a unique perspective on the key events and figures of each era, highlighting their significance and how they shaped the modern world. The show is well-produced and visually stunning, featuring beautiful cinematography and an engaging soundtrack. Whether you're a history buff or simply curious about the world we live in, this series is definitely worth checking out.

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Seasons

9. The Vital Spark

January 1, 2018

Simon Schama begins Civilisations with this premise: that it is in art - the play of the creative imagination - that humanity expresses its most essential self: the power to break the tyranny of the humdrum, the grind of everyday. Art makes life worth living and is the great window into human potential. And societies become civilised to the extent that they take culture as seriously as the prosecution of power or the accumulation of wealth. But in the century of total war and industrial slaughter, was (and is) that enough?

8. The Cult of Progress

January 1, 2018

If David Olusoga's first film in Civilisations is about the art that followed and reflected early encounters between different cultures, his second explores the artistic reaction to imperialism in the 19th century. David shows the growing ambivalence with which artists reacted to the idea of progress, both intellectual and scientific, that underpinned the imperial mission and followed the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Advances in knowledge and technology imbued Europeans in the 19th century with a sense of their civilisation's superiority. It justified their imperial ideology. But it created among artists deep fascinations with other civilisations which in turn produced a scepticism about their own.

7. Radiance

January 1, 2018

Simon Schama starts his meditation on colour and civilisation with the great Gothic cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres. He then moves to 16th-century Venice, where masterpieces such as Giovanni Bellini's San Zaccaria altarpiece and Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne contested the assumption that drawing would always be superior to colouring. As the Baroque took hold in enlightenment Europe another Venetian, Giambattista Tiepolo, created a ceiling fresco Apollo and the Four Continents at the Bishop's palace in Wurzburg

6. First Contact

January 1, 2018

In the 15th and 16th centuries distant and disparate cultures met, often for the first time. These encounters provoked wonder, awe, bafflement and fear. And, as historian of empire David Olusoga shows, art was always on the frontline. Each cultural contact at this time left a mark on both sides: the magnificent Benin bronzes record the meeting of an ancient West African kingdom and Portuguese voyagers in a spirit of mutual respect and exchange. By contrast we think Spain's conquest of Central America in the 16th century as decimating the Aztecs and eviscerating their culture. But David shows even in Mexico rare surviving Aztec artworks recall a more nuanced story.

5. The Triumph of Art

January 1, 2018

Think Renaissance and you think of Italy. But in the 15th and 16th centuries, the great Islamic empires experienced their own extraordinary cultural flowering. The two phenomena did not unfold in separate artistic universes - they were acutely conscious of, and in competition with, each other and mutually open to influences flowing both ways. The fifth film in Civilisations goes east and west with Simon Schama - to Papal Rome, but also to Ottoman Istanbul and Mughal Lahore and Agra, exploring those connections and rivalries, and examining how the role of artists from the different traditions of west and east developed in the years that followed the Renaissances.

4. The Eye of Faith

January 1, 2018

Professor Mary Beard broaches the controversial, sometimes dangerous, topic of religion and art. For millennia, art has inspired religion as much as religion has inspired art. Yet there are fundamental problems, which all religions share, in making the divine visible in the human world. How, and at what cost, do you make the unseen seen? Beneath all works of religious art there always lies conflict and risk. The result is often iconoclasm - the destruction of works of art - which Mary believes can lead on to new forms of creativity. Mary visits sacred sites across the world to examine the contested boundaries between religion and art.

3. Picturing Paradise

January 1, 2018

Simon Schama explores one of our deepest artistic urges - the depiction of nature. Simon discovers that landscape painting is seldom a straightforward description of observed nature - rather it is a projection of dreams and idylls, as well as of escapes and refuges from human turmoil, the elusive paradise on earth. Simon begins in the 10th century, in Song dynasty China.

2. How Do We Look?

January 1, 2018

Professor Mary Beard explores images of the human body in ancient art, from Mexico and Greece to Egypt and China. Mary seeks answers to fundamental questions at the heart of ideas about civilisations. Why have human beings always made art about themselves? What were these images for? And in what ways do some ancient conventions of representing the body still affect us now?

1. The Second Moment Of Creation

January 1, 2018

The first film by Simon Schama looks at the formative role art and the creative imagination have played in the forging of humanity itself. The film opens with Simon's passionate endorsement of the creative spirit in humanity and the way in which art can help to forge the civilised life. Civilisation may be impossible to define, but its opposite - evidenced throughout history in the human urge to destroy - is all too evident whenever and wherever it erupts.

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