Bettany Hughes' Treasures of the World Episode Rating Graph

Bettany Hughes visits the ancient Roman ports of Oricum and Apollonia before traveling to the mountains bordering North Macedonia. She joins a team of archaeologists who uncover treasures beneath the waters of Lake Ohrid. Her journey continues to the Ottoman city of Berat, where she explores a diverse history of honor and religious tolerance. Finally she goes into the medieval world of Albania's castles.

Bettany explores three biblical sites in Jordan: Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and Machaerus, where John the Baptist was imprisoned and killed

Bettany visits the Red Sea, with its outstanding corals and marine life, the desert camps of Bedouin tribes, and Petra, the stunning city of temples and tombs carved into the rose-tinted rock.

Bettany embarks on a Mediterranean voyage, beginning at its mouth with a recently discovered mask of Medusa, identified from fragments in Gorham's Cave on Gibraltar. Charting a course east, Bettany journeys to the strategic Island of Malta, where a Punic tomb has just been discovered. She reveals contents that prove these Phoenicians originated from North Africa. In the countryside, Bettany discovers how farmers grow three citrus crops a year with a special tour of an ancient Arabic underground irrigation system called `The Invention of Summer'.

The historian presents a guide to ancient artefacts from around the world. The first episode focuses on Greece, including a visit to the archaeological dig at the site of Alexander the Great's birthplace in Aegae. Her journey also takes her to Athens, Nafplio, Sparta and Olympia, and to a dig at Epidaurus, where an underground snake pit used for healing has been discovered and an ancient theatre turns out to still be acoustically perfect.

The historian travels to Malta in search of ancient artefacts, and leads the first TV crew to be allowed to film in the Hypogeum, a recently discovered underground temple that provided a burial place for up to 7000 individuals. Before a major restoration project starts, Bettany is invited to film in the Queen and Prince Philip's romantic hideaway, the Villa Guardamangia, and explores in a series of underground tunnels from the Second World War.

In mountainous Albania, Bettany visits epic fortress towns and breath-taking archaeological sites and finds a richly diverse history and culture

Bettany uncovers a society which grew rich by selling copper, and visits the crowning glory of Bronze Age Oman: mysterious 5000-year-old beehive-shaped tombs