A series of documentaries presented by the historian Bettany Hughes. Travelling across present locations, Bettany explores the cultural and political pasts of ancient peoples, including the Greeks, Minoans and Egyptian.

The Ancient Worlds: The Minoans | Click here to watch
(50 min; English)

The tale of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth is perhaps the most compelling of all Greek myths. Just over 100 years ago, English archaeologist Arthur Evans went to the 'Minotaur's Island' to explore the roots of this myth and discovered instead a sophisticated Bronze Age civilisation that had been lost to history for thousands of years.

He called them The Minoans, and the riches of their culture astonished the world, prompting Evans to proclaim them the first civilisation of the Western World.