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Radio 4 Collections: Ancient Worlds

Listen to a selection of programmes about ancient civilizations

A History of the World in 100 Objects
Find out more about the ancient world themes and objects discussed by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum.
Akhenaten - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests Elizabeth Frood, Richard Parkinson and Kate Spence discuss the Pharaoh Akhenaten, the ruler who brought revolutionary change to ancient Egypt.
Babylon - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the truth behind the empire of Babylon.
The Library at Nineveh - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Library at Nineveh, a treasure house of Assyrian ideas from the 7th Century BC.
Helen of Troy - Woman's Hour
Helen of Troy has excited man's imagination for thousands of years. Woman's Hour tries to uncover the real Helen with Bettany Hughes and Edith Hall.
Sappho - Great Lives
Historian Bettany Hughes discusses the life of the Greek poet Sappho.
The Delphic Oracle - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Delphic Oracle, the most important source of prophecies in the ancient world.
The Battle of Thermopylae - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Battle of Thermopylae. For the historian Herodotus, the Battle of Thermopylae was the defining clash between East and West.
Sparta - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall and Angie Hobbs discuss Sparta, the militaristic Ancient Greek city-state, and the political ideas it spawned.
Socrates - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek philosopher Socrates, acknowledged as one of the founders of Western philosophy.
The Greek Myths - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek myths from Achilles to Zeus.
The Roman Way
Using contemporary accounts, The Roman Way explores different aspects of everyday life in the Roman Empire, two millennia ago
The Roman Republic- In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise and eventual downfall of the Roman Republic which survived for 500 years.
The Secret Museum
Secret Mueum looks at the explicit erotic, sexual and pornographic art of Pompeii.
The Augustan Age - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests Mary Beard, Catharine Edwards and Duncan Kennedy discuss the political regime and cultural influence of the Roman Emperor Augustus.
Pliny's Natural History - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Pliny's Natural History.
Rome and European Civilization - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests assess the role that Rome has played in European civilization.
The Fall of the Roman Empire - In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.