# Eurasia (TV series)

Eurasia: The Conquest of the East (French: Eurasia : À la conquête de l'Orient; Japanese: 文明の道, romanized: Bunmei no Michi, lit. 'Road of Civilisation'), also known as Eurasian Empires or simply Eurasia, is a documentary TV series about the Eurasian civilisations, which ran in eight episodes on NHK (2003) and France 5 (2004). It started on 20 April 2003, with the final episode broadcast on 14 December 2003. The series has been dubbed into English and Spanish.

## Synopsis

New discoveries and studies have shown that Central Asia, a region located in the centre of Eurasia, played a significant role as a "cradle of civilisation". The civilisations brought to the vast Eurasian continent by conquest and trade continued to collide and fuse, affecting each other and developing new civilisations. Computer-generated imagery is used to recreate the historical scenes of Ai-Khanoum, Babylon, Baghdad, Persepolis, Rome, etc., representing the rise and fall of a dynamic civilisation that took place over 2000 years.

## Episodes

| # | Title | French title | Japanese title | Directed by | Original air date |
| 1 | Alexander the Great | Alexandre le Grand | アレクサンドロス大王　ペルシャ帝国への挑戦 | Patrick Cabouat, Atsushi Ogaki, Atsushi Murayama, Satoru Nagai, Masakazu Taniguchi | 20 April 2003 (2003-04-20) |
| 2 | The Forgotten Alexandria | L'Alexandrie oubliée | アレクサンドロスの遺産　最果てのギリシャ都市 | Patrick Cabouat, Noriaki Hashimoto, Atsushi Murayama | 18 May 2003 (2003-05-18) |
| 3 | Ghandhara: The Renaissance of Buddhism | Gandhara, l'envol du bouddhisme | ガンダーラ・仏教飛翔の地 | Patrick Cabouat, Kazuko Oka | 15 June 2003 (2003-06-15) |
| 4 | The Romans in China | Des Romains au cœur de la Chine | 地中海帝国ローマ・東方への夢 | Patrick Cabouat, Atsushi Ogaki | 20 July 2003 (2003-07-20) |
| 5 | The Caravaneers of the Silk Road | Les Maîtres des caravanes | シルクロードの謎　隊商の民ソグド | Patrick Cabouat, Noriaki Hashimoto | 14 September 2003 (2003-09-14) |
| 6 | Baghdad in the Year 1000 | Bagdad, an 1000 | バグダッド　大いなる知恵の都 | Patrick Cabouat, Kaoru Kawada, Atsushi Murayama | 12 October 2003 (2003-10-12) |
| 7 | Jerusalem 1227: The Excommunicated Peace | Jérusalem 1227 : la paix excommuniée | エルサレム 和平･若き皇帝の決断 | Patrick Cabouat, Kazuko Oka | 16 November 2003 (2003-11-16) |
| 8 | The Mongol Conqueror: Kublai Khan's Dream | Le Rêve mongol | クビライの夢　ユーラシア帝国の完成 | Patrick Cabouat, Masakazu Taniguchi | 14 December 2003 (2003-12-14) |

## DVD

The series has been released on DVD by TF1 vidéo in 2004. A new edition titled Eurasia : Orient et Occident, 2500 ans d'histoire et de conquêtes, has been released in 2006. The Japanese DVD box has been released in 2004, by NHK software.

## Adaptation

The series has been adapted into two comic books and a book series consisting of five volumes, published between 2003 and 2004 by NHK Publishing [ja].

### Comic books

* 文明の道1：アレクサンドロス 〜世界帝国への夢〜 ('Alexander: Dream of the World Empire')
* 文明の道2：クビライ 〜世界帝国の完成〜 ('Kublai: Completion of the World Empire')

### Book series

* 文明の道1：アレクサンドロスの時代 ('Era of Alexander the Great')
* 文明の道2：ヘレニズムと仏教 ('Hellenism and Buddhism')
* 文明の道3：海と陸のシルクロード ('The Silk Road on Land and Sea')
* 文明の道4：イスラムと十字軍 ('Islam and the Crusades')
* 文明の道5：モンゴル帝国 ('Mongol Empire')