Airdate: The Ascent of Civilisation

Them’s big words for a TV title…. The Ascent of Civilisation, but the pictures sure look nice.

SBS screens a three part journey to the roots of the modern world. This is a second season, but I can’t seem to trace any broadcast for a first season as yet.

In three episodes, The Ascent of Civilisation introduces ancient peoples that have paved the path to modern society with their cultural and scientific achievements – an inheritance that changed the world forever.

From the eclectic Germanic tribes that defied the mighty Romans, to the seafaring Carthaginians that established the first global trade network, and the pioneering Arabs and their advances into modern sciences: meet the ancestors that have shaped the world.

Season Two, Episode One: The Carthaginians
The Carthaginians were sly merchants and cruel child killers – at least according to the Ancient Romans and Greeks. But research shows that they weren’t as bad as their reputation. The Carthaginians’ story began around 3,000 years ago, when settlers left their homes in what is now Lebanon to set up new colonies around the Mediterranean. The most splendid and powerful of these settlements was Carthage, a bustling Metropolis in what is now Tunisia, with a port that was the envy of the entire world.

Sunday, 17 September at 7.30pm on SBS.