Harem wall painting fragments

Harem wall painting fragments

Neil MacGregor's world history as told through objects at the British Museum. This week, he is exploring life and intrigue in the great courts of the world at the same time as the European medieval period. Today he is with the women of Samarra in Iraq. This ancient city, north of Baghdad, was once home to the Abbasid court and was one of the great Muslim capitals of the world. Portraits from a mural in the palace harem offer a vivid insight into the lives of the rulers and the slave women whose job was to entertain them. What was life really like in this great court?

The historian Robert Irwin, an expert on the tales of the Arabian Nights, looks at how the reality of life in the harem matches the sensual fantasy that has become associated with the period. And Amira Bennison, of Cambridge University, explains what conditions were like for the women of the harem and the qualifications they needed just to get there.

Producer: Anthony Denselow

Episoder(101)

Indus Seal

Indus Seal

The ancient city of Harappa lies around 150 miles north of Lahore in Pakistan. It was once one of the great centres of a civilisation that has largely disappeared, one with vast trade connections and ...

3 Feb 201013min

Standard of Ur

Standard of Ur

Neil MacGregor with this week's examination of the first great civilisations with one of the most spectacular discoveries of ancient royal goods. The magnificent gold and silver jewellery was found n...

2 Feb 201014min

King Den's Sandal Label

King Den's Sandal Label

This week, Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor investigates the impact on human society of large numbers of people coming together in the world's first cities between 5000 and 2000 BC. As t...

1 Feb 201013min

Jomon Pot

Jomon Pot

A History of the World told through 100 objects from the British Museum moves to Japan and the story of a 7,000-year-old clay pot which has managed to remain almost perfectly intact. Pots began in Jap...

29 Jan 201014min

Maya Maize God Statue

Maya Maize God Statue

This week Neil MacGregor is exploring the growing importance of agriculture around the world at the end of the Ice Age, with objects that show and celebrate the key elements of the time; power, sex, w...

28 Jan 201013min

Egyptian Clay Model of Cattle

Egyptian Clay Model of Cattle

Neil MacGregor, in his history of mankind as told through objects at the British Museum, selects four miniature clay cows to show the major changes that early man was undergoing at the end of the Ice ...

27 Jan 201013min

Ain Sakri Lovers Figuerine

Ain Sakri Lovers Figuerine

The British Museum's Director, Neil MacGregor, investigates a palm-sized stone sculpture that was found near Bethlehem. It clearly shows a couple entwined in the act of love. The contemporary sculpto...

26 Jan 201013min

Bird-shaped Pestle

Bird-shaped Pestle

Neil MacGregor continues his retelling of human history using 100 selected objects from the British Museum. This week he explores the profound changes that humans experienced at the end of the Ice Ag...

25 Jan 201013min

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