''Living with the Gods'' is a 30-part

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

series presented by

Neil MacGregor Robert Neil MacGregor (born 16 June 1946) is a British art historian and former museum director. He was editor of the ''The Burlington Magazine, Burlington Magazine'' from 1981 to 1987, then Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 ...

, a former director of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. It explores human societies and what MacGregor describes as "the connections between structures of belief, and the structures of society". The series examines artefacts from the 40,000 year-old

Lion-man The figurine, also called the Lion-man of , is a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave in 1939. The German name, , meaning "lion-person" or "lion-human", is used most frequently because it was discovered a ...

sculpture to the contemporary Lampedusa Cross created by Francisco Tuccio in response to the 2013 drowning of refugees off the island of Lampedusa. In the episode ''Living with Many Gods'', MacGregor explained:

"Choosing a title for this series turned out to be extremely difficult, because although some societies have many gods there are others that acknowledge only one, and for whom even the idea of 'gods' in the plural is offensive. And then there are some communities that share the world around them with spirits, or shifting supernatural beings, which wouldn't match our understanding of a god. And a few societies like Soviet Russia have tried to live officially with no god at all. In every case the consequences for society are profound."

The series accompanied an exhibition at the

, running until 8 April 2018.

Reception

Writing in the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'',

Antonia Quirke Antonia Quirke is a British film critic. As well as writing on film for the ''Financial Times'' and a weekly column for the ''New Statesman'', she has presented regularly on ''The Film Programme'', '' Pick of the Week'', BBC Radio 4, as well as '' ...

asked, "What makes Neil MacGregor the best presenter on BBC radio? His new 30-part series ''Living With the Gods'', about objects connected to belief, ceremony and ritual, begins on 23 October (BBC Radio 4, 9.45am), and listening to the first few episodes it’s clear that it is every bit the equal of

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

's ''

Civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of State (polity), a state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and Symbol, symbolic systems of communication beyond natural language, natur ...

'' or

Jacob Bronowski Jacob Bronowski (18 January 1908 – 22 August 1974) was a Polish-British mathematician and philosopher. He was known to friends and professional colleagues alike by the nickname Bruno. He is best known for developing a humanistic approach to sc ...

's ''

The Ascent of Man ''The Ascent of Man'' is a 13-part British documentary television series produced by the BBC and Time-Life Films first broadcast in 1973. It was written and presented by British mathematician and historian of science Jacob Bronowski, who ...

''. None of them could hope to find a place on television now".

References

{{Reflist British Museum in media BBC Radio 4 programmes Historical objects