-
-
-
In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great : Season 1
-
Air date: 14 Jul '98 - 4 episodesIn the Footsteps of Alexander the Great was a BBC documentary television series first shown in 1998. It was written and presented by British historian and broadcaster Michael Wood. Wood retraced the travels of Alexander the Great, from Vergina in Macedonia, where his father Philip II of Macedon died and Alexander was proclaimed king, through seventeen present-day countries to the borders of India and back to Mesopatamia, where he died. Whereas most of Wood's documentary series had titles beginning "In Search of...", the title of this series reflected a slightly different approach. The series was directed by David Wallace.
-
-
List of Episodes (4)
-
In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1998)
-
1. Son of God
14 Jul '98As Michael Wood stood on the bridge over the river at Issus, his view was obstructed by power lines and superhighways. It was hard to imagine the intensity of that now-famous battle in such ordinary surroundings. When the two armies met here in November 333 B.C., Alexander and his army were on a mission of revenge. The atrocities of the Persian invasion of Greece 150 years earlier were fresh in their minds and they were determined to exact retribution. While Issus has changed greatly since
-
In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1998)
-
2. Lord of Asia
21 Jul '98One wonders what makes this area in northern Iraq one of history's major fault lines -- places marked over and over again by historic eruptions that literally change the course of time -- places where two immutable forces come together, forcing one to give only after the greatest of struggles. The Persian army had massed near Babylon. If Darius had stayed here, Alexander would have been drawn southward into a battle site of Darius' own choosing. Instead the Persian leader pushed his troops 320
-
In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1998)
-
3. Across the Hindu Kush
28 Jul '98Alexander had now set a determined pace that would bring his army straight into heart of the Persian empire, the city of Persepolis. While one of Alexander's generals lead his troops on a southerly loop through Shirazz, Alexander and 20,000 elite soldiers took a short cut through a narrow path in the Zagros Mountains known as the Persian Gates. Alexander was deep into the pass before he realized he had fallen into a trap. The Persians had built a wall at the narrowest part of the gap and were
-
In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1998)
-
4. To the Ends of the Earth
04 Aug '98Alexander made an encampment here in the foothills of the Hindu Kush. The Russians did as well, establishing their main base here during the Afghan war. It was also the site of one of the greatest archeological finds of this century. Here, diggers uncovered the remains of a great city whose cultural roots were in Greece. The treasures in its storehouses there were incredible: Alexandrian glass, Chinese lacquer, Hindu ivory sculptures -- all testament to the cultural exchanges brought about by
-
