Product Details

• Directors: Time Life
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Time Life Records
• DVD Release Date: October 1, 2002
• Run Time: 500 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006L942
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,988 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best DVD's Available on Ancient Civilizations!, November 3, 2006

By 

Jill Basham (Woodbury, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Time Life's Lost Civilizations [4 DVDs] (DVD)

Being a homeschool mom I am always looking for the most interesting, hold your attention type ways of teaching history. I have watched several tapes on ancient history that were dry & rather dull. "Lost Civilizations" is anything but dull. My 9 yr. old loves it, and even my 6 yr. old will sit for 45 minutes at a time and watch it. It covers Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt & the Aegean on Vol.1. Greece, China & Rome on Vol.2. The Maya's and The Inca's on Vol. 3. Africa and Tibet on Vol.4. The scenery is breath-taking! We watch the tapes every year as a review. And if you can believe it, my kids put it in sometimes for fun. I highly recommend this set!

43 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Value for a lot of material, February 5, 2006

By 

David Arndt (Grand Rapids, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Life's Lost Civilizations [4 DVDs] (DVD)

If you are someone who would think nothing of spending $25 on a 50 minute PBS documentary, this might not be the ideal set for you. It's appeal to me was its value. It covered a huge amount of material in an acceptable, if not always outstanding, manner.

A previous reviewer complained about the amount of Biblical references in the first episode on Mesopotamia. To me the approach of the series was quite understandable. The Bible is one of the most ancient and reliable sources of information in addition to being a cultural reference point that many viewers would naturally reflect upon.

But by no means is the series an unscientific propaganda piece for religous groups. Religion is not the focus of the series. Consider, for example, that several episodes do not hesitate to make a comment on the sexual practices of the culture under discussion when relevant.

The series does not confine its self to "Lost" civilizations, so I suspect the title was more a product of the marketing department. But the episode on the Agean Sea culture (Atlantis?) was quite interesting. The episode on the lost history of Africa is something one does not hear much about. The sheer breadth and variety of cultures discussed makes this a valuable general introductory tool.

64 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best DVD set on the topic, February 21, 2005

By 

Josephus "apocrypha1611" (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Life's Lost Civilizations [4 DVDs] (DVD)

I teach high school ancient history and these DVD's are pure gold - don't pass them by! The DVD's on Tibet, Egypt, Classical Greece, Minoans, Rome, the Inca, the Maya, & China are great. The DVD on Africa is a bunch of P.C.ism - it is the only bad one in the bunch. I only wish they would've done a DVD on India &/or the Aztec instead of the Africa DVD.