Digging for the History of Man, Part One

Art and Architecture of the Babylonians, Sumerians, Hittites, Greeks, Romans and Sassanians

A voyage of discovery into man's earliest civilizations, those which developed in the countries we know today as Turkey, Iran and Iraq. The special merit of this film is that works of art scattered throughout the great collections and museums of the world have been brought back to be shown as if at their original sites, helping us to recreate in our imagination the cultures that produced them. As the film explores the findings of many different archaeologists over the years, it points out the refinements in techniques of exploration and improvements in methods of research that have taken place. One of the first highly developed civilizations which has been discovered is the state of Sumer. It is possible to reconstruct vast cathedral-like buildings and the first Mesopotamian `pyramid temples.' Relief carvings, vases and statues speak to us of the spiritual and material preoccupations of this ancient society. Excavations in Turkey have revealed the vast empire of the Hittites which dated from the seventeenth to the thirteenth century BC. A rich and great civilization emerges from the relief carvings and many thousands of clay tablets worked on and interpreted by different scholars. Many ancient cities have been discovered in Asia Minor, meeting-ground of East and West. The most remarkable examples of Hellenistic art and architecture were found in Pergamum and Troy. Alexander the Great set out to destroy the Persian empire and died in Babylon, having built a new empire which he believed incorporated the best of Greece and the best of the Orient. Under the Sassanian kings, the greatest civilization in Persian history arose. Royal palaces of the ancient kings and sanctuaries of mysterious elemental powers rise from the volcanic desert. Persepolis still stands as a symbol of the empire of Darius and Xerxes which stretched from the Indus to the Nile and west to the Bosporus. Locations featured include the Tower of Babel, Uruk, Warka, Hattusas, Yazili-Kaya, Ephesus, Myus, Magnesia, Priene, Miletus, Herakleia, Euromus, Didyma, Pergamum, Troy, Takhht-i-Sulaiman, Zendan-i-Sulaiman, Ctesiphon, and Persepolis.

`Outstandingly successful, in supreme command of its material. Reliable and precise, it is, at the same time, light and elegant, particularly penetrating in the shots of early portrayals of mankind. It transmits a wealth of knowledge. The greatest moments are the interpretations of the history of civilization in conjunction with individual sculptural, architectural and scenic objects.'

German Center for Film Classification

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.