East Meets West

Extraordinary new discoveries suggest that civilization as we know it began 12,000 years ago. Between the Middle Eastern rivers of Tigris and Euphrates, the world's first cities, Ur and Babylon, were built out of mudbrick and grew into vast empires. See how recent excavations are rewriting the first chapter in man's long journey to civilization. Then track how these ancient societies expanded to Africa, Europe, and ultimately became inexorably linked with the Western world, thanks, in large part, to the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the Islamic Empire had achieved global supremacy. And while it was expanding in territory, its people were expanding their minds. Discover how medieval Muslim scholars saved Greek knowledge from oblivion and generated revolutionary scientific ideas of their own. Join us as we explore their forgotten contribution to world knowledge. Then learn how the Christian conquest of Muslim Spain spurred on a new dawn for intellectual life, kick-starting Europe's emergence from the Dark Ages.