Ancient Greece: The Dark Chronicles

The Peloponnesian War left Greece drained and weakened. A northern state is poised to fill the power vacuum: Macedonia. The fifth episode explores how Philip II turned a backward city-state into a military superpower. His son Alexander would conquer first Greece, then challenge the mighty Persian Empire, ushering in the Hellenistic era – Greece's final chapter, defined by bloody wars and sweeping cultural change.

The fourth episode immerses viewers in the Peloponnesian War – a decades-long fratricidal conflict between Athens and Sparta, shaking democracies and ending Greece's golden age. International experts uncover ruins, mass graves, and battlefields. Athens' hubris, the terror of the Thirty Tyrants, and the rise of Macedon mark the close of an era – and the dawn of a new chapter in history.

In the 6th century BC, Athens transforms through war and violence into a democracy. Episode three recounts how an aristocrat topples the last tyrant and introduces revolutionary reforms. The Persian Wars cement democracy’s rise as a groundbreaking achievement – at the cost of widespread slavery. Yet Athens itself becomes a tyrant, igniting a devastating war that plunges all of Greece into chaos.

Greece awakens from the "Dark Ages" and enters an era of transformation. Across the Aegean, a new cultural identity begins to form, shaped by shared religion, writing, and values. Yet rivalry defines Greece – in Olympia, on foreign coasts, and on battlefields. Strength lies in unity, as city-states compete for dominance. The second episode tells the story of early classical Greece and its foundations.

The roots of ancient Greece stretch deep into a mythical past. The first episode of this five-part series traces these origins. In the 2nd millennium BC, the Minoans and Mycenaeans rose as Europe’s first advanced civilisations through trade, ingenuity, and violence. Researchers show that the Bronze Age inhabitants of the Aegean had more in common with the later Greeks than long assumed.