Inside History Collection

In this series, you are taken back to the dramatic events, who have shaped world history for better or for worse. From the construction of the first cathedrals in Europe of the plague to the landing in Normandy in 1944. From the crusaders' bloody marches towards Jerusalem to the daring pilots who gave man air under his wings. Along the way, you will be enlightened in an entertaining way as to why the events took shape as they did. This series has the dramatic narrative as its focal point. You not only get an overview of history's most significant events, but also captivating human destinies, spectacular feats, and history's greatest heroes and villains brought to life.

GREATEST ENIGMAS OF ALL TIME

EGYPT’S BOY KING 1342-1323 BC • The golden face on Tutankhamun’s death mask is one of the most famous in history. Behind the mask lies the incredible tale of a child king crowned at the age of nine, who both moved the empire’s capital and changed the Egyptians’ religion before he died at the age of 19. Tutankhamun’s tomb, lost for millennia, contained priceless riches and raised countless questions. In recent years, modern technology has revealed crucial new evidence about the child king Tut, who apparently had a disability and married his half-sister.

LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR 410-1998 • Arthur, the legendary Celtic king, still confuses historians. He’s not mentioned in any contemporary source, and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that stories of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are no more than fanciful tales for dark winter nights. But at the same time, the story is so deeply rooted into British culture that many doubt it could have appeared from nowhere. A good number of historians continue to search doggedly for traces of the legendary king.

SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS 355 BC–Today • Eleven thousand years ago, Atlantis was the most magnificent kingdom in the world. But one catastrophic day, the island was hit by a tsunami and swallowed by the sea for ever. So wrote the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. His extremely detailed records of Atlantis have convinced scholars for centuries that the kingdom really existed. And for more than two thousand years, everyone from dedicated archaeologists to Nazi Germany’s eugenicists have searched for evidence of the lost realm.

COLLAPSE OF THE MAYA 1800 BC-AD 1697 • For millennia, the Maya civilisation flourished throughout Central America, from present-day Mexico to Honduras. The native Maya built some of the mightiest cities among the most impenetrable rainforests, and somehow created the world’s largest pyramids without the use of the wheel or metal tools. But after generations of progress and increasing wealth, the Mayan civilisation suddenly collapsed. Its cities were abandoned, and all traces of the once-mighty culture vanished. Today, historians still argue about what caused the civilisation’s collapse.

ON THE TRAIL OF DA VINCI 1452-1519 • For five centuries, the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile has inspired theories about what the painting is trying to tell us. The priceless portrait is Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous work, but it’s far from the only one that continues to confound and confuse. Academics are still trying to piece together the puzzle of the Italian inventor, and have delved into the polymath’s ground-breaking sketches of tanks and helicopters, as well as his 6,000-plus pages of notes in mirror writing, to learn more.

RIDDLE OF THE STONE CIRCLE 7200-1500 BC • Stonehenge in southern England is one of the world’s best-known ancient monuments, and archaeologists have been studying the site for 400 years. Yet they have never been able to discover why Iron Age Britons decided to erect the impressive stone structure. Over the years, academics and enthusiasts have claimed that the silent stones were everything from a meeting place for Druids or a giant calendar to...