关键词 Mesopotamia

一次世界大战期间，一队英国军队里的巡逻军正在穿越美索不达米亚沙漠，他们的指挥官，那个唯一知道他们的目的的人，在行进途中却被来自隐蔽的土匪的一颗子弹射死了。 巡逻军的卫士通过各种方法保持部队向北方前行，他们假定一直向北走就可以遇到他们的大部队。当精疲力竭人仰马乏的他们发现一片绿洲，他们在这片绿洲歇息了一夜，第二天，当他们醒来的时候，他们发现，他们的马匹被偷光了，他们的哨兵也死了，环绕着这片绿洲的是一望无际的茫茫沙漠，这些又困又累的巡逻兵怎样才能活着走出这片沙漠找到他们自己的队伍呢？

Explore Mesopotamia, a civilization that flourished for more than 3,000 years. Mesopotamians built the first complex urban societies; developed writing, literature, and law; and united vast regions through warfare and diplomacy. However, much still remains to be discovered about this fascinating region.

Archaeologist and historian Richard Miles traces the development of Western civilization, from the first cities in Mesopotamia to the fall of the Roman Empire. In this six-part series, Miles travels through the Middle East, Egypt, Pakistan and the Mediterranean to discover how the challenges of society -- religion and politics, art and culture, war and diplomacy, technology and trade -- were dealt with and fought over in order to maintain a functioning civilization. Stories are told of disappeared, ruined and modern cities, from ancient Iraq to modern Damascus, to reveal how successes and failures of the ancients shaped the world today.