Alexander's Lost World

THIS PRODUCTION - LOST WORLD - IS MORE ABOUT ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS AND THE OXUS RIVER THAN IT IS ABOUT ALEXANDER - BUT EQUALLY ENGAGING -- VERY WORTH WHILE!1ST THIS PRODUCTION: Alexander's Lost World uses Alexander more as a very loose tie to explore civilizations in Northern Afghanistan and other areas to the north and east such as Tajikistan. In fact, it's a lot about the ancient civilizations along the Oxus river. Many of these civilizations would have been encountered by Alexander and these interactions do figure into the narrative of this program. We also get a look at what these civilizations would have been like long before and sometimes after Alexander passed through. The Bactrian civilization along with it's cities factors in very heavily. This may sound dull to some, but I have to say it is fascinating! Afghanistan appears like a barren country of unsophisticated peoples now. Life tends to cling to the wadies and rivers in the mountain valleys. We see here how many of these cities were quite extraordinary for their time. In many ways the society there might have been less backward compared to the rest of the world than the Afghanistan of today. The cities of Ai Khanoum and Bakh were particularly extraordinary. Aqueducts with kiln fired bricks covered large distances and were surprisingly complex. David Adams also explores up the Oxus river to areas where Alexander would not have gone in order to find the source of the Oxus. Along the way he discusses civilizations and battles that occurred there, including some that do claim relation back to Alexander. The narration and graphics are also much updated and fascinating in this production as they show you representations of what these huge cities might have looked like. The entire program begins with a through back to Jason and the Argonauts (long before Alexander) as Adams asserts that Alexander was following old routes that may have been traveled by what Adams believes was the true journey of the Argo. It's a bit of a stretch, but certainly plausible. It was really interesting to see many areas of the Hindu Kush as well as the Pamir Mountains where Adams ends his story. Gorgeous, remote country!BBC PRODUCTION - FOOTSTEPS OF ALEXANDER:  In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great  This production from Michael Woods has been considered the gold standard of Alexander documentaries for entertainment. The general scholarship is excellent, while Wood also weaves in a lot of local tradition as he travels actual paths believed to be the route of Alexander. Some of it is still supposition, but fairly solid overall. This program is much more faithful for those seeking specific information about Alexander's journey. He starts from the beginning and travels as much as possible along actual routes, meeting local peoples all the way. Some of the people Wood interviews are quite the characters! It's amazing to see when Wood traveled these paths, Saddam Hussein was still in power in Iraq and the Taliban had not taken Kabul. He is able to travel areas he could never go freely now, though some northern areas of Afghanistan are more restive. The strengths of this series are also minor weaknesses. The smaller details where he relies on local legends and personal guesses are probably not 100% correct. But they are good theories. Also, since he is actually traveling the paths, he also tends to be the focal point of most shots. He is like that spot on the screen that travels with the background no matter where the camera goes (figuratively speaking). Never the less, it is an outstanding production that has few rivals. The US version went out of print for a bit and looks expensive. You can get the UK release for much cheaper on Amazon UK. However, it will only play region 2.The focus of these two productions are really quite different and both can be watched together without crossing over an material to the point you get bored. The BBC version is older with a lot less polish. The Adams production is quite slick, but less about Alexander.

I saw this wonderful series on TV in the UK in 2013. David Adams and his intrepid team of camera man, guides, drivers and so on take the viewer on a highly original tour of areas of the world that are rarely seen on screen, following the inspiring theory that it was once possible for the Ancient Greeks and other civilizations to sail from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea and across what are now deserts into the mountain civilizations of Afghanistan.David Adams shows us some wonderful, awe-inspiring locations, such as uninhabited ruined cities and fortresses on sites that look very like the shores of former rivers and lakes. We see huge man-made cisterns in the middle of the empty desert, and evidence of abandoned large-scale agricultural settlements. At times it is like being on the surface of Mars, in a strange world where water once existed, but climate change has altered everything. You realise that in the days when the great histories of Alexander or Herodotus were written, when the climate was wetter, maps were highly sketchy and inaccurate, and the names of sea and rivers changed with the history of conquest and the movement of peoples, it is perfectly possible that the Greeks, including Alexander the Great, could have roamed widely by sea and river travel all over Asia: we just haven't been looking in the right places.Other incidental pleasures of the series are its use of technology and computer graphics, and its insights into the contemporary cultures of countries like Khazakstan and Afghanistan. The main emphasis however is on re-imagining the past through travel and geographical and archaeological evidence. In a world where consumer culture and the Zeitgeist likes to persuade us that most important things are known and all information is available, this series shows us that vast areas of the planet and human history are still unknown to us, and it is perfectly possible to re-read ancient texts and established wisdom in new and exciting ways.

Suggests a major change to what I saw when I was in grad school, but would suggest a reason for some of the Greek colonies in the Crimea. He says that in the first millenium BC and earlier, the Oxus flowed all the way through the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea to join the Volga a few hundred miles north of where it empties into the Black Sea. Thus Alexander marching into Afghanistan was doing it the hard way. It would have been easier to sail on a trade route to Afghanistan. Most of this is about sites which have not been excavated in what is now desert. The sites are very large, so it is possible that he is right, that Central Asia in that period was much different, well watered, than it is today.Not much about Alexander himself.

This is NOT about Alexander's campaigns, but rather, what he would have found as he headed East to India. The number of cities and civilizations is fascinating and the landscapes are spectacular and rarely filmed because so many of them are in war zones. And are also so inhospitable to non-local people accustomed to high altitudes and desert climates. The presenter, an Australian, is very personable without being pushy and you can tell he is loving every minute of his 6 month journey to explore places few archaeologists have ever been to. He is not an archaeologist, but a photojournalist, but he does a very good job trying to interpret source material that lead to his routes, and artifacts he finds. The episodes are short but packed, so I found myself going back to make sure I did not miss anything. Awesome glimpse of a world we will never see, from thousands of years ago, that has endured in some forms until now.

Intensely interesting.

Essential viewing for anyone interested in Middle eastern Antiquities