Showing results by author "Michael Scott" in Ancient

Uncovering the physical remains of our past is a quintessential human itch; the pursuit of every society from the ancients through to today. But the stories behind archaeological exploration and discovery - what we look for when, what we end up finding, and what we then do with it - tell us as much about ourselves today as they do about the past. Through eight sensational stories of discovery, Professor Michael Scott traces the evolution of modern archaeology from colonial expeditions to today's cutting-edge digs, unearthing traps, curses and buried treasure along the way.

Athens, 404 BC. The democratic city-state has been ravaged by a long and bloody war with neighbouring Sparta. Less than 100 years later, Athens and the rest of Greece, not to mention a large part of the known world, has come under the control of an absolute monarch, a master of self-publicity and a model for despots for millennia to come: ‘megas alexandros’, Alexander the Great.

Some dates are indelibly etched into our minds, forever associated with particular historical events. But what else was going on in the world during those climactic years? In this surprising, thought-provoking series, historian Michael Scott looks at seven pivotal historical dates, spinning the globe to discover what was happening away from the geographical centre that makes them so famous.