The Best Episodes of Civilisations

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
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   7.7/10(122 votes)

   #1 - Second Moment of Creation

   S1:E14/17/2018

   Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity itself. Images and artifacts found in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and South America testify to the urge to develop civilizations. Liev Schreiber narrates.

   Director:Tim Niel

   Writer:Simon Schama

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   Director:Tim Niel

   Writer:Simon Schama
2. 

   7.7/10(66 votes)

   #2 - Renaissances

   S1:E55/15/2018

   Travel east and west to explore the connections and rivalries between Renaissance Italy and the Islamic empires that experienced their own cultural flowering in the 15th and 16th centuries. Both spheres were open to influences flowing both ways.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
3. 

   7.5/10(78 votes)

   #3 - God and Art

   S1:E35/1/2018

   Trace the relationship between religion and art, which has inspired some of the most ingenious, affecting, majestic and breathtaking works of art ever made. Yet beneath great works of religious art often lie conflict, intrigue and divine mysteries.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
4. 

   7.5/10(52 votes)

   #4 - What is Art Good For?

   S1:E97/3/2018

   Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change and consider the question: Should art create a separate realm, a place of escape, or should it plunge into the chaos, transforming the way we see and live in the world?

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
5. 

   7.4/10(73 votes)

   #5 - Encounters

   S1:E45/8/2018

   See how advances in seafaring and a thirst for trade and exploration sent human beings around the planet. Distant and disparate cultures met for the first time, and art became the great interface by which civilizations understood each other.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
6. 

   7.3/10(108 votes)

   #6 - How Do We Look?

   S1:E24/24/2018

   Explore the many functions of the human image in art. Portraits, paintings and sculptures, both life-size and colossal, perform a role—assuaging loss, expressing strength, inspiring fear—and were instrumental in depicting the human body today.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
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7. 

   7.3/10(62 votes)

   #7 - Paradise on Earth

   S1:E66/12/2018

   Explore one of humanity’s deepest artistic urges: the depiction of nature. But landscape painting is seldom a straightforward portrayal of observed nature; it's a projection of dreams, idylls, escapes and refuges—the elusive paradise on earth.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
8. 

   7.3/10(60 votes)

   #8 - Color and Light

   S1:E76/19/2018

   Explore the story of light and color in art—both in the search for greater realism and spiritual ecstasy. Journey from Gothic cathedrals and Indian courtly painting to modern art.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
9. 

   7.0/10(59 votes)

   #9 - The Cult of Progress

   S1:E86/26/2018

   Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology, and see how the “civilizing” project that arose from Enlightenment ideas was fraught with contradictions that troubled European artists in different ways.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown