The Greeks, a people known to be glorious and arrogant, valiant and headstrong, these were the men and women who laid the very foundations for western civilization. Their monuments still recall perhaps the most extraordinary two centuries in history, a time which saw the birth of science, politics, philosophy, literature and drama.

It was a period in time which saw levels of art and architecture that we still strive to equal in the modern day. It is remarkable to think that the Greeks achieved all this against a backdrop of war and conflict, defeating armies, navies and empires many times their size and build an empire of their own that stretched across the Mediterranean.

For one brief moment the mighty warships of the Greeks ruled the seas, their prosperity unequalled, these achievements which still shape our world were made by figures not lost to time but by men and women who’s voices we can still hear, who’s lives we can still follow.

The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization is a three part documentary series narrated by none other than Liam Neeson which chronicles the rise and fall of the civilization of ancient Greece.