In The Ascent of Civilization: Season 2, our scholars take a new approach to the rise, glory and collapse of empires around the world. It’s a mission to understand the ancient world of the Arabs, the Carthaginians and the Germanic tribes.
Whilst the Carthaginians taught us how to conquer the seas, the Arab nations are often wrongfully seen as one undifferentiated block — perhaps because the Arabs have been bringing knowledge of the ancient world to Europe since the 8th century in the fields of medicine, mathematics, philosophy and more. There was little Arab unity for a long time; a situation that didn’t change until Mohammed ended polytheism, founded a new religion and united all of the Arabic tribes in their faith in one God. As for Europe, only the sturdy Teutons with the strong Germanic roots were able to take it up with one of the greatest civilizations of all time: Rome!
