Empires Collection DVD Boxed Set (16 discs).
EMPIRES: EGYPT – 1 disc
Egypt’s Golden Empire presents the most extraordinary period in Egyptian history: from 1570 BC to 970 BC, when the Egyptian Empire reached its zenith. In 1570 BC, when Rome was still a marsh and the Acropolis was an empty rock, Egypt was already 1,000 years old. Although the period of the pyramid-builders was long over, Egypt lay on the threshold of its greatest age. The New Kingdom would be an empire forged by conquest, maintained by intimidation and diplomacy, and remembered long after its demise. Egypt’s Golden Empire reveals with startling clarity the hopes and dreams of the Pharaohs and ordinary citizens who created the first great empire in history.
Episode 1 – Warrior Pharaohs
Episode 2 – Pharaohs of the Sun
Episode 3 – The Last Great Pharaoh
EMPIRES: KINGDOM OF DAVID – THE SAGA OF THE ISRAELITES x 2 disc
The Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites is the story of the creation of the world's first and most profoundly influential, monotheistic religion – a religion that dared to redefine humanity's relationship with God.
Episode 1 – By the Rivers of Babylon
Episode 2 – The Book and the Sword
Episode 3 – The End of Days
Episode 4 – The Gifts of the Jews
EMPIRES: THE GREEKS – CRUCIBLE OF CIVILISATION x 1 disc
The Greeks – Crucible of Civilisation recounts the rise, glory, demise and legacy of the empire that marked the dawn of Western Civilisation. In the fourth and fifth centuries, BC, the Greeks built an empire that stretched across the Mediterranean from Asia to Spain. They laid the foundation of modern science, politics, warfare and philosophy, and produced some of the most breathtaking art and architecture the world has ever seen. It was perhaps the most spectacular flourishing of imagination and achievement in recorded history.
Episode 1 – The Birth of Democracy
Episode 2 – The Golden Age
Episode 3 – The Collapse of Confidence
EMPIRES: THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE FIRST CENTURY x 2 disc
Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the world was ruled by Rome. The Roman Empire struggled with problems which are surprisingly familiar: violent coups, assassinations, overarching ambition, civil war, clashes between the classes as well as the sexes, and questions of personal freedom versus government control. But from the chaos, the Roman Empire would emerge stronger and more dazzling than ever before. Soon, it would stretch from Britain across Europe to the shores of North Africa: and from Spain across Greece and the Middle East to the borders of Asia. It would embrace hundreds of languages and religions and till its many cultures into a rich soil from which Western civilisation would grow. Rome would become the world’s first and most enduring superpower.
Episode 1 – Order from Chaos
Episode 2 – Years of Trial
Episode 3 – Winds of Change
Episode 4 – Years of Eruption
EMPIRES: PETER & PAUL AND THE CHRISTIAN REVOLUTION x 1 disc
Two thousand years ago, in the Roman province of Judea, Jesus was crucified by imperial troops. Thousands before him had suffered the same fate. But unlike his predecessors on the cross, Jesus did not disappear from history. Instead, his memory was kept alive by a small band of Jews – men and women who held fast to their conviction that Jesus was the Messiah. These early Christians faced powerful obstacles. The might of the Roman Empire and the dangerous politics of ancient Jerusalem lay a heavy burden on those who believed in Jesus. But the new faith would not die. In a brief span of time, this new religion would transcend its origins in the provinces of Rome and absorb the capital of the Empire itself. With the words of Paul and other ancient writers, interviews with contemporary scholars, and dramatic re-enactments, Peter & Paul and the Christian Revolution explores how two men weathered crippling disagreements and political persecution to lead one of history’s most astonishing religious movements.
Episode 1: – The Rock and the River
Episode 2 -: The Empire and the Kingdom
EMPIRES: ISLAM – EMPIRE OF FAITH x 1 disc
Islam – Empire of Faith tells the spectacular story of the great sweep of Islamic power and faith during its first 1000 years. It is the epic story of a cultural empire that dominated a millennium, encompassed half the world, and shaped history.
Between the fall of Rome and the European voyages of discovery, no event was more significant than the rise of Islam. Within the span of a few centuries, the Islamic empires blossomed, projecting their power from Africa to the East Indies and from Spain to India. Inspired by the words of the Prophet Muhammad and led by Caliphs and Sultans, this political and religious expansion has not been equalled in speed, geographic size and endurance before or since.
Episode 1 – The Messenger
Episode 2 – The Awakening
Episode 3 – The Ottomans
EMPIRES: THE MEDICI – GODFATHERS OF THE RENAISSANCE x 2 disc
From a small Italian community in 15th Century Florence, the Medici family would rise to become one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power. Their story is a bloodthirsty one, of ambition and triumph, murder and revenge. But it is also a tale of inspiring achievement and cultural revolution, of man’s pursuit of beauty and perfection, liberty and intellectual inquiry.
Episode One – Birth of a Dynasty
Episode Two – The Magnificent Medici
Episode Three – The Medici Popes
EMPIRES: MARTIN LUTHER x 1 disc
Martin Luther is the dramatic story of the collapse of the medieval world and the birth of the modern age. Martin Luther's attack on the all-powerful Catholic Church was a knife to the heart of an empire that had endured for over a thousand years. Nailing his treatise to the doors of the Wittenberg Cathedral, this previously obscure German monk changed the world forever, unleashing forces that plunged Europe into war and chaos. But Luther would do more than revolutionise the Church, he offered the Christian world a new vision of man's relationship with God and, in turn, redefined man's relationship with authority in general.
Episode 1 – From Despair to Defiance
Episode 2 – The Reluctant Revolutionary
EMPIRES: JAPAN – MEMOIRS OF A SECRET EMPIRE x 1 disc
Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire brings to life the unknown story of a mysterious empire, its relationship with the West and the forging of a nation that would emerge as one of the most important countries in the world. Commanding shoguns and samurai warriors, exotic geisha and exquisite artisans – all were part of the Japanese “renaissance” – a period between the 16th and 19th centuries when Japan went from chaos and violence to a land of ritual refinement and peace. But stability came at a price: for nearly 250 years, Japan was a land closed to the Western world, ruled by the Shogun under his absolute power and control.
Episode 1 – The Way of the Samurai
Episode 2 – The Will of the Shogun
Episode 3 – The Return of the Barbarians
EMPIRES: NAPOLEON x 2 disc
Napoleon – soldier, emperor, lover, statesman. For nearly two decades he strode the world stage like a colossus – loved and despised, venerated and feared. From his birth on the rugged island of Corsica to his final exile on the godforsaken island of St Helena, Napoleon brings this extraordinary figure to life.
Episode 1 – To Destiny
Episode 2 – Mastering Luck
Episode 3 – The Summit of Ambition
Episode 4 – The End
EMPIRES: QUEEN VICTORIA'S EMPIRE x 2 disc
At the time of Queen Victoria’s birth in 1819, England was an agrarian society. Within a few short decades, this small island nation would be transformed into an industrial superpower, with an empire spanning the globe. Queen Victoria’s Empire is both the story of this remarkable time, and an engaging portrait of a Queen who ruled over one-fifth of the world’s population. It is the story of the influential figures that would shape a distinctively British imperialism: Gladstone, Disraeli, Livingstone, Rhodes and Prince Albert, Victoria’s husband. These figures would fuel an expansion unequalled in history, forever changing Britain and the lands it controlled.
Episode 1 – Engines of Change
Episode 2 – Passage to India
Episode 3 – The Moral Crusade
Episode 4 – The Scramble for Africa