Educational Media Reviews Online

Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford presents this series about four historic kingdoms in different parts of Africa, a continent about which comparatively little history is known. Each episode is 45-60 minutes.

Casely-Hayford takes us first to Northern Sudan, looking for the legendary kingdom of Nubia, which built more pyramids than Egypt. We are shown a rock gong and rock art dating back to 5,000-6,000 B.C., and finally the Deffufa of Kerma, the oldest rock building in Africa. In the end, it was the harsh environment rather than rivals that defeated Nubia. Next, in Ethiopia, Casely-Hayford investigates the legend that the first emperor of Ethiopia was the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. From the castle of Emperor Fasilides to the monolithic churches of Lalibela, he studies the architectural style and symbols in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition to look for links to the Old Testament.

The third episode is about the city of Great Zimbabwe, part of a trading network throughout southern Africa. Upon discovery of Great Zimbabwe, Europeans refused to believe that the ruins, with monumental brick walls made without mortar, could have been built by Africans. The last episode takes us to West Africa, the former Kingdom of Benin, in present day Nigeria. Here Casely-Hayford is shown pottery fragments from 11,000 years ago, dated the same as the oldest known pottery in the world. He traces the history of the Beninese artistic tradition, including sculptural works and symbolic motifs that equaled the Europeans in a time when the culture was labeled “primitive”.

In each case we are shown remnants of an ancient culture that still exist in the present day. Through beautiful photography, we see the sites of architectural structures that were once as magnificent as any in the rest of the world, less known only because they are less preserved. An engaging narrator, Casely-Hayford presents each program as a search or a mystery to be solved, although at times his narration leans towards sensationalism rather than scholarship. This program serves as a fascinating introduction to these lost kingdoms.