Michael Wood takes viewers to India in the days of the Roman Empire, when the spice trade opened India to the world.

Michael Wood takes viewers to India in the days of the Roman Empire. In India's tropical deep south in Kerala, the spice trade opened India to the world - and gave the world a recipe for dormouse stuffed with pepper! Wood takes one of the great old sailing boats that still cross the Indian Ocean carrying pepper and cloves. He discovers the lost site of Rome's greatest trading port in India and visits the fabulous ancient city of Madurai, with its giant temple and its gold and silk bazaars that were a delight for visiting Greek traders - and still are today. Moving north, Wood takes the Silk Road from the deserts of Turkmenistan through the Khyber Pass into Pakistan to unveil the forgotten Indian empire of the Kushans, who opened up the Silk Road and built a lost Wonder of the World in the caravan city of Peshawar. "In today's world, with the Asian powers rising again," says Wood, "this time looks like the precursor - the first globalization."