Andrew Marr’s History of the World

Episode
Episode 3 - The Word and the Sword
Broadcast Info
2012 (58 mins)
Description
Andrew Marr plunges into the spiritual revolutions that shook the world between 300 BC and 700 AD. Through visiting Ashoka’s Vishali edict he sees how the bloody prince Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire converted to Buddhism, in a moment of great realisation after mass laughter. Marr visits the Terracotta army in China, the last stance by emperor Qi’in who wanted to rule China forever. But at this time, emperors powerful ruling was not enough, some wanted to be worshiped as living Gods. Egypt’s Cleopatra presented herself as living God Isis and her ill-fated union with Julius Caesar encouraged him to be honoured as a living God, declaring himself Dictator Perpetuus - Dictator in Perpetuity. Marr visits the remains of the Roman Empire at the Coliseum in Rome, following the unstoppable rise of Christianity across the Roman Empire and the dramatic spread of Islam from Spain to Central Asia. From tent maker Saul becoming Paul on the road to Damascus, Christian martyr Perpetua spreading the rise of Christian martyrs, to the vast spread of Islam told through the story of the slave Bilal, who helped build the first Mosque and was the first to use the call to prayer the Adhan. On the other side of the world, Marr reveals how humans sacrifice was made to Gods at the holy city of Cahuachi in the Nazca empire, Peru. The Nazca civilisation left us their Nazca lines, also thought to be for the Gods, however their sacrifices were not enough to save them from the droughts and floods of nature.
Genre
History; Philosophy and Ethics; Architecture; Science; Technology; Religion; Art and Design

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Andrew Marr’s History of the World". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/83196 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)