The Roman Empire - Ancient Superpower

Today on Far Future Horizons we travel back in time to visit the mightiest Superpower of the Ancient World – The Roman Empire.  

In Search of the Trojan War - The Legend Under Siege

Today on Far Future Horizons we join acclaimed BBC historian Michael Wood for the second episode of his acclaimed documentary series In Search of the Trojan War - The Legend Under Siege.

In Search of the Trojan War - The Age of Heroes

Today on Far Future Horizons we join acclaimed historian Michael Wood for the first installment of his acclaimed documentary series In Search of the Trojan War - The Age of Heroes.

In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great ~ Son of God

In 335 BC Alexander of Macedonia set off on an expedition to conqueror the world. The voyage of Alexander the Great covered more than 22,000 miles in ten years, from Greece to India and back, through some of the most difficult and unforgiving terrain.

 

Join us today more than two thousand year later, as we accompany BBC historian Michael Wood on an odyssey, from Greece to India, which retraces the footsteps of Alexander the Great in the acclaimed BBC documentary series - In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great.

Extent of Alexander's Conquests

Travelling with Lebanese traders, Iranian pilgrims and Afghan guerrillas, by jeep, train, boat, camel and on foot, Michael Wood interweaves the momentous events of the past with present day reality and brings us new insights into a man whose myth and achievements still resonate down the centuries and illustrates the impact Greek culture had in the lands Alexander conquered.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only one, the Great Pyramid of Cheops survives. But history and archaeology are able to tell us the stories of all seven, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos of Alexandria. 


Join us today on Far Future Horizons as we take an imaginary voyage through time and space for a guided tour of these magnificent feats of engineering and human ingenuity. 

Ancient Megastructures - Petra

Al Khazneh or The Treasury at Petra

Today on Far Future Horizons we present an episode of the acclaimed National Geographic television series Ancient Megastructures and explore the mysteries of the ancient city of Petra, the city of stone.

The Treasury, as seen from al-Siq, right before the passage ends.

This documentary reveals how an ancient Semitic people known as the Nabataeans turn the history of architecture on its head to create one of the most awe-inspiring monuments in the world, the Khazneh, built between 100 BC and 106 AD.

Civilization Lost

Akrotiri Minoan town

Today on Far Future Horizons we join the hunt for ancient and lost civilizations.

Around the world, archaeologists are uncovering artifacts that suggest the existence of previously unknown ancient civilizations, much like the mythical city of Atlantis. There is a growing belief among certain scientists and archaeologists that tens of thousands of years ago, before the rise of today's civilizations, sophisticated human societies existed many of which vanished from the face of the Earth leaving little trace of their existence. 

The Mystery of the Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone

The Unreadable Script

The young French soldier was hot, thirsty and tired. He had been involved in Napoleon's Egyptian expedition for months. He'd marched through the desert with no water, chasing after strange pools of liquid that miraculously appeared on the horizon, and then cruelly disappeared as he approached them. He'd also choked on storms of dust that raced across the landscape. Now he and his companions had been assigned to tear down an ancient wall so they could build an extension to Fort Julien. Backbreaking work. As he pried another stone out of the wall, its color struck him as being odd. It was dark, almost black actually. On one side that was flat there appeared to be writing of some sort. Not French, to be sure, but some strange script. No, not just one type either, but three different types. Very odd. He decided to call over the officer-in-charge over to take a look at it.

What that young, unnamed soldier had done was to discover the Rosetta Stone - an unremarkable chunk of black rock, covered with seemingly indecipherable markings - that would solve one of the greatest linguistic mysteries of the 19th century: how to read the ancient writing left by the Egyptians thousands of years ago.

Today on Far Future Horizons we present a BBC documentary titled “The Mystery of the Rosetta Stone” part of BBC's history series Egypt.

The Antikythera Star Clock

As I write this many of us today, the world over, will be counting the seconds as Mid Night approaches and a New Year dawns.

Time controls the rhythm of our lives like a Metronome ticking away and measuring the pace and tempo of our existence. From time immemorial we humans have been fascinated with the fundamental nature of time and keeping track of it by watching the rhythmic changes seen in the celestial heavens. 

Today being the first day of 2014 AD we at Far Future Horizons are going to explore the findings of the latest research to investigate the greatest and most surprising discovery made in the field of undersea archaeology with two very interesting documentaries.

In 1900, a group of Greek sponge divers accidentally stumbled on an ancient Roman shipwreck dating from the First Century BC. The wreck produced numerous statues dating back to the 4th century BC, as well as a mysterious object - a lump of calcified stone that contained within it several gearwheels welded together after years under the sea. 

The Antikythera mechanism (Fragment A - front)

The 2,000-year-old object, no bigger than a modern laptop, is now regarded as the world's oldest analog computer, devised to predict solar eclipses and, according to recent findings, calculate the timing of the ancient Olympics.

Following the efforts of an international team of scientists, the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism are uncovered, revealing surprising and awe-inspiring details of an object that continues to mystify.