BBC World Service Australasia

Living with the Gods

Religion & Ethics

How shared beliefs have shaped societies from the earliest days of humanity

How shared beliefs have shaped societies around the world, from the very earliest days of humanity with Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.

How shared beliefs have shaped societies around the world, from the very earliest days of humanity with Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum. 

Image: Gold coin, Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum

Living with the Gods: Here Comes the Sun

Magazines & Reviews

Factual

Japanese Print

25/11/2017 GMT

Here Comes the Sun

BBC World Service - Living with the Gods, Here Comes the Sun

The importance of the sun, from the very earliest days of humanity

The importance of the sun, from the very earliest days of humanity with Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.

Neil MacGregor experiences the sunrise whilst inside the monumental stone passage tomb at Newgrange, Ireland, a structure older than Stonehenge or the pyramids in Egypt. Here, on the winter solstice, thanks to the design of the tomb, a bright, narrow beam of sunlight reaches deep inside the structure. 

He also considers the story of Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess, whose decision to hide herself in a cave plunged the world into darkness, and reflects on how - centuries later - the image of rising sun became closely linked with Japanese national identity. 

Producer Paul Kobrak

The series is produced in partnership with the British Museum.

(Photo: Japanese print depicting the story of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum)

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Living with the Gods

Here Comes the Sun

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service