It is presented by the late Terry Jones, who of course was part of Monty Python but later became a wonderful writer and documentary maker.
I love Terry, not just because of the way he presents but also because he reminds me a lot of my dad.
This episode is about the history of cities, how people adapted to living in them and what we can learn from our ancestors.
A few highlights;
I love hearing about how we have skyscrapers today and then having them compared to the centuries old towers of Italy and Yemen.
Terry also speaks of the Roman apartment blocks, we recently chatted about them here on Twitter.
There's mention of one of these towers having 8th floors!
Most documentaries and movies only show us the villas and pretty side of Roman life, Terry shows us one of the apartment blocks and reminds us that most people lived like that!
Wait what, an ox fell from the 4th floor?!
Terry tells us the story of Nero fiddling as Rome burned is totally untrue, yay Terry, fighting fake history!
Archimedes screw, the reason most of my country is no longer sea!
Concrete is quite old, the Pantheon's dome (2nd century AD) is still one of the largest in the world!
It is a myth that the recipe for concrete was lost after the Roman era btw, sorry Terry, got to correct you there.
The technology of making specific types of concrete was lost, but regular old concrete/cement remained in use during the middle ages.
The Taxi-meter, also 2000 years old!
Terry reminds us that although Gutenberg was responsible for a revolution in printing, he did not invent the technique of printing with moveable type, we have the Chinese to thank for that.
Another ancient invention; fast food, the snack-bar... and the hamburger!
Street lighting... yep also around since ancient times!
Ephesus, Antioch & Rome had their own street lighting.
And here, a portable gas light!
It's a lovely documentary to watch, quite funny and educational.
Full of little facts you can use to impress your friends with.
And as Terry concludes; "we're no cleverer than our ancestors".
So enjoy it, Magellantv has made it available for free for me to share with you, go check it out, enjoy;
Let me know what you think, you can see it here for free: magellantv.com/series/ancient…
Let's review another painting together, another one by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, this time the 'Boerenbruiloft' (farmer's or peasant's wedding) from c. 1567.
Another glimpse of what life was like for common people in the 17th century!
Time to check out some details.
The bride, she looks suspiciously content.
Is she drunk, tired, super content or does she have a secret?
Above her the double paper crown as well as a sort of crown on her head, making her the queen of the event.
It may symbolise her virginity or wealth.
Its in many paintings.
Maybe she's just happy because she lives in the low countries, a place where women got education, divorce, equal inheritance and freedoms & rights that were uncommon elsewhere then!
More about that here; fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/08/04/boo…
Oh boys and girls, auntie Jo has found another real estate gem... and it only costs 4 million Euros...
This may be one of the most gorgeous houses I´ve ever seen.
A Dutch 1917 villa: funda.nl/detail/koop/wa…
Still many of the gorgeous original details, showing us that the house was once full of colour.
We'll have to strip a LOT of boring white paint, I reckon this building originally just had a lot of nice dark polished wood.
Found another gem on the Dutch real estate website.
A lovely little church in the 'Amsterdamse School' style, built in 1926 and clearly inhabited by a fellow time traveller, just wait till you see inside. funda.nl/detail/koop/mu…
Decorated with respect to the design and character of the building but filled with lots of interesting and weird old stuff.
Yep.
Time traveller.