A Forgotten Civilisation

The Sahara is by far the world’s largest (hot) desert – bigger even than the USA. Not surprisingly, it has always been the subject of lost worlds and civilisations. While most of these belong to the world of myth, there is one, the ancient Libyan civilisation of the Garamantes, that is rooted in reality. The Garamantes civilisation flourished for some 1,500 years, from around 900 BC. Frome their capital of Germa, the Garamantian influence extended over an area the size of Europe. This civilisation was effectively forgotten and lost until its rediscovery in the latter part of the 20th century.

It is the story of how and why a great, agriculturally based city state emerged in the Fezzan. The film reveals what we now know of this remarkable people: their origins and ethnicity, their religious beliefs and social structures, their political organisation, their relations with the Roman Empire to their north and the African (‘Ethiopian’) peoples to their south and, above all, how they harnessed the underground waters of the desert.