30+ Ancient History Shows (and more!) You MUST Add to Your Homeschool

Bring history alive with these ancient history shows to stream on PBS, Netflix, etc. Bonus: Ideas for podcasts, books, and more.

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While many of these resources, including the shows/movies & podcasts, are completely fine to bring your little ones along, these resources were chosen primarily for older kiddos & teens.

How We Use Documentaries

I dreaded movies in school.  The only upside, in my view, was the possibility of a short nap!  I could learn from them as I watching but my recall later in the day wasn’t much.  My boys though? I am amazed at how much they can recall.

Perhaps I don’t remember well the shows we would watch, but it seems to me that documentaries have improved drastically.  I was never a fan of ancient history either, but, between PBS and Story of the World, it’s been far more interesting than I ever remember!

At the beginning of the year, I load up our watchlists with as many relevant titles as I can find.  Some days we watch together a title I choose.  Other times I send the boys to choose a history show (on PBS or on Netflix) while I work with my oldest.  With PBS’s app, it makes it easy to access the loaded watchlist.  

And, if the kids do go off the list, at least I don’t have to worry about what they will find!  I have the app on our iPad and also through our Amazon FireStick, so we can watch either place. The watchlist is accessible through both locations.

Some of these shows may require a PBS Passport membership. PBS Passport is one of our most-used ‘school supplies’.

(When I originally wrote this post, it went along with our Story of the World studies. I’ve left the coordinating chapter numbers for you, in case you use SOTW Volume 1.)

PBS Shows on Ancient History

Secrets of the Dead

Sinking Atlantis (Ch. 18)
The Silver Pharoah (Ch. 2)
China’s Terracotta Warriors (Ch. 32)
Ultimate Tut (Ch. 13)
The Real Trojan Horse (Ch. 20, 23)
After Stonehenge (Ch. 40)
Nero’s Sunken City
{Purchase DVDs and selected episodes.}

Nova
Secrets of the Parthenon (Ch. 24)
Emperor’s Ghost Army (On Prime Video, Ch. 32)
Colosseum: Roman Death Trap (On Prime Video, Ch. 27, 28, 35, 39)
Building Pharoah’s Chariot (On Prime Video, Ch. 2, 4)

Africa’s Great Civilizations (Ch. 11)
Full episodes on Amazon Prime Video

PBS NewsHour
Ancient city of Nimrud reduced to rubble
Air pollution ruining ancient monuments
Ancient shipwreck off Israel’s coast

Gross Science
The Horrors of Ancient Cataract Surgery 
What can we learn from ancient poop? 

The Woodsright’s Shops
Roman Workbench (Ch. 27, 28, 35, 39)

Rick Steve’s Europe
North Wales (Ch. 35, 40)
Edinburgh (Ch. 35, 40)
Western Turkey, Istanbul, and Iran’s Historic Capitals (Ch. 17, 19, 21, 24, 25, Western Turkey on Amazon Prime)

Ancient History Shows on Netflix

• Empire Games
• Guatemala: Heart of the Mayan World
• Magical Andes
• Peru: Tesoro Escondido
• Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb
• Queen Cleopatra

Ancient History Shows on Prime Video

• Technological Marvels of the Ancient World
• King Tut Forgotten Treasure
• Egypt: A Sunken City
• The Lost Gardens of Babylon
• The Silk Road (6-part series)

Ancient History on Wondrium (Great Courses)

• 30 Masterpieces of the Ancient World 
• Ancient Civilizations of North America
• The Ancient Olympics 
• Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet 
• The Architecture of Power: Great Palaces of the Ancient World 
• Cities of the Ancient World 
• Creation Stories of the Ancient World 

• Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor
• Great Board Games of the Ancient World 
• Great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
• The Great Tours: A Guided Tour of Ancient Egypt 
• Greek 101: Learning an Ancient Language 
• A Historian Goes to the Movies: Ancient Rome 
• History of Ancient Egypt 

• Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed 
• Mark of Empire: Asia’s Ancient Civilizations
• Music of Ancient Greece
• Persuasion and Propaganda in Ancient Rome: Cicero’s Oratory
• Pompeii: Daily Life in an Ancient Roman City
• The Real Ancient Egypt
• Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World 
• The Remarkable Science of Ancient Astronomy 

Podcasts about Ancient History

All of these are available on Apple Podcasts. But if you’re looking for another podcast streamer or you don’t have Apple products, I love the Stitcher & PocketCast apps.

Novels Set in Ancient Times