Papyrology expert Margaret Mountford goes in search of the truth behind the legend of Sappho, the most controversial writer of the ancient world and the first authentic woman’s voice in Western history. The mysterious discovery of a lost papyrus containing the words to songs unheard for 1700 years sends Margaret on a journey to discover the truth about Sappho. Was she indeed the first lesbian, a priestess, sex worker, a stern schoolmistress or an aristocratic lady of leisure as readers over the centuries have variously alleged? We ask how each generation’s view of the archetypal liberated woman of letters tells us as much about us and our fears as it does about her.
Michael Wood travels through Syria and Iraq to uncover the story of Alexander the Great's decisive b...
Fascinating new translations and fresh research are transforming the myth of Atlantis from the realm...
Over twenty-five hundred years ago, the ancient citizens of Athens, Greece built the most magnificen...
This is the true and astounding saga of the Spartans at Thermopylae. It is among the greatest tales ...
Eminent classical historian Robin Lane Fox embarks on a journey in search of the origins of the Gree...
Through the eyes of the Narrator and ancient Philosophers of the time, we are taken on a dramatic jo...
Since the 1970s, lesbians from around the world have been drawn to the island of Lesvos, the birthpl...
Virginia Woolf said that Homer's epic poem the Odyssey was 'alive to every tremor and gleam of exist...
Alexander, a student of the brilliant philosopher Aristotle, worshiped the god Amun which he believe...
Who invented time, who invented the clock? Why 1 hour, why 60 minutes, why 60 seconds? Since prehist...
Friends, contemporaries and even enemies of Alexander the Great gather in a tent to tell his tale th...
For 25 centuries the Parthenon has been shot at, set on fire, rocked by earthquakes, looted for its ...
A historical and scientific investigation telling the extraordinary story of how the ancient Greeks ...
Just off the southern coast of mainland Greece lies the oldest submerged city in the world. It thriv...
Believe it or not, Mick Jagger was not the first bisexual. In fact, 'going both ways' dates back to ...
Host Richard Crenna reviews various theories on the existence of a site for the legendary Atlantis d...
A Greek soldier leads the fight against an invading Persian army.
Long ago in the Iron Age, a shadow loomed over a lonely village. For generations, the village youths...