Secrets of Archaeology Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I agree with others that this is one of the best historical documentaries available, especially on Classical Mediterranean civilizations (Greece, Rome, and others). There are six discs in the series, each disc containing five episodes of 20 minutes, except the last disc which has only two. Although 20 minutes may not sound like much, so much is packed into each episode that they do not disapoint.
Each episode shows historical ruins related to its subject, beginning with maps to let you know when and where you are, and frequently using animation to reconstruct the ruins as they appeared in their prime. The narration uses the pictures as a starting point to discuss the culture and history represented by the ruins. The series frequently provides a fairly in depth discussion of the culture, ordinary life, religion, etc. of the peoples who lived in these locations, not just stories of battles and rulers.
The other outstanding aspect of this series is that it covers a wide variety of cultures, time periods, and geography. It works best where history can be told as the history of individual cities, which is the case in the Mediterranean world (the great majority of the episodes) and also for the Mayans in America.
A good example of the unusual approach of this series is episode two. From the title "Glorious Rome", I was expecting a tour of classical Rome using models and virtual recreations, since good examples of these are now available. Instead, the episode showed only brief shots of the unreconstructed Roman forum, and centered instead on the ruins of outlying Roman cities to show the common culture which existed over the extent of the empire.
Disc 1
1. Pompeii: A City Rediscovered. 79 AD
2. Glorious Rome, Capital of an Empire. 2nd Cent. AD. (Vaison-la-Romaine, Provence, FR; Tindaris and Morgantina, Sicily, IT; Jerash, Jordan.)
3. Pyramids Designed for Eternity. 3rd Millennium BC [Egypt] (Sakkara, Maidum, Dahshur, Giza)
4. Athens: Western Splendor 460 BC (Parthenon, Acropolis)
5. A Place Called Etruria 540 BC (Tuscany, It; It cities: Murlo (Poggio Civitate), Tarquinia, Volterra (San Cerboni tombs), Populonia, Cerveteri, Chiusi, Bologna (Villanova Culture))
Disc 2
6. The Cities of the Pharaohs. 3,000 BC. [Egypt] (Memphis, Luxor, Thebes, Cairo, Alexandria)
7. Egypt According to Cleopatra. 30 BC. [Egypt] (Alexandria - Pharos; Giza - Pyramids; Dendera - Temple of Hathor; Philae - Temple of Isis; Rome - obelisk, pyramid, temple, statue Esquiline Venus).
8. Greek Cities in Italy. 9th Cent. BC. (Magna Graecia: Delphi; Naples; Cumae - Parthenope; Sybaris - Paestum Poseidonia; Campi Flegrei; Pozzouli [Dicaearchia] - Temple of Serapis [Serapium]; macellum - market building Lake Avernus - Virgil, Hades; Sibyls).
9. The Pyramids of the Sun. 1519 AD. [Mexico]. (Aztec - Tenochtitlan; Teotihuacan - Pyramid of the Sun, Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Pyramid of the Moon).
10. The Roads to El Dorado. 15th & 16th Cent. AD. [South America - Peru, Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, Cuzco; Columbia - Muisca, Lake Guatavita]. "El Dorado" originally referred to a person--the "gilded man", or man covered with gold dust--not a place.
Disc 3
11. The Lost Cities of the Maya. 8th Cent. AD. (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras: Palenque; Chichen Itza; Toltecs - Tula [Central Mexico]; Tulum; Colzumel).
12. The Forgotten Civilizations of Anatolia. [Turkey] (Ionian Greek - Aphrodisias; Hierapolis - Pamukkale hot springs; Gordium - Phrygia - King Minos 8th Cent BC; Hittites - Hattusah - 14th Cent. BC)
13. Travels through Greece. 2nd Cent. AD (Corinth; Temple of Venus; Epidaurus - Asclepieion; Phidias's workshop; Olympia).
14. The Ports of the Desert. 1st Cent. AD (Ma'rib - Sabaean Kingdom [Yemen]; Petra - Nabataeans [Jordan]; Palmyra [Syria]). Roman spice trade.
15. Sailing with the Phoenicians. 5th Cent. BC (Phoenicia - Tyre [Lebanon]; Sardinia - Nuraghe, Nora thermal bath; Carthage [Tunisia] - Harbor; Island of the Admiralty; Byrsa citadel)
Disc 4
16. The Roman Empire in Africa. 1st - 4th Cent. AD. [Maghreb: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia] (Volubilis)
17. Ancient Cities Bordering on Latium. 4th Cent. BC (Hernici-Hernicians; Samnites [Samnium] - Apulia; Umbrians)
18. Retracing the Tracks of Hannibal. 3rd Cent BC (Saguntum Spain; Bardo Museum Tunis; Roman Walls; Carthage, Tophet - human sacrifice?) (Not just war - differences in cultural & cultural interchange)
19. Roman Imprint on the West. 3rd Cent AD. [Spain; France (Provence)] (Provence - Orange, Nimes; Spain - Tarragona, Cadiz) (Impact of Rome on Western Culture)
20. At the Court of the King of Kings. 4th Cent BC. (Iran [Persia]) Cyrus the Great; Zoroastrian Hilltop Altars; Susa; Persepolis)
Disc 5
21. Cities of the Sea and Wind. 1st - 3rd Cent. AD. [Tripolitania (Libya)] (Leptis Magna - Emperor Septimis Severus & Caracalla; Sabratha; Oea [Tripoli], Syrtes desert)
22. Secrets of the Island of Minos. 15th Cent. BC. [Greece; Crete] (Minoans, Atlantis, Crete, Aegean Civilization, Arthur Evans - Knossos, Santorini, Cyclades)
23. The Fabulous Centers of Hellenism. 4th Cent BC. [Turkey (Ionia)] (Alexander the Great, Persia, Pergamun, Ephesus - Temple of Artimis, Library of Celsus)
24. Visit of the Sanctuaries of Apollo. 4th Cent. BC. (Delos Island [Greece] - birthplace of Apollo and Artemis; Didyma [Turkey] - sanctuary, temple & oracle of Apollo; Delphi [Greece] - Delphic oracle, pythian games)
25. Sicily: Greek Legacy in the West. 4th Cent. BC. (Battle of Himera; Sicani; Syracuse & Island of Ortigia; Agrigento - Valley of the Temples).
Disc 6
26. Ancient Itinerary in Ionia. 2nd Cent. BC. [Delos, Kos, Rhodes (Greece); Priene, Miletus (Turkey)] (Priene; boulç, bouleuterion; Epicurian School Philosophy-Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander; Miletus - Hippodamus of Miletus (urban planning); Delos - slave market, foreign temples; Kos - Asclepius Sanctuary, Hipppcrates; Rhodes-Colossus; "Anatolia" - rising sun)
27. Mycenaeans: The Civilization of Heroes. 3rd to 2nd Millennium BC. [Ebla (Syria); Troy (Turkey), Mycenae (Greece)]. (Ebla-Assyrian City north of Euphrates, 17,000 cuneiform tablets; Troy- Heinrich Schliemann; Tiryns-Cyclopean walls, Pausaneus; Mycenae-lion gate; Agamemnon, megaron)


Click Here to see more reviews about: Secrets of Archaeology

Item Name: Secrets of Archaeology; Studio:Koch Vision

Get 10% OFF

Click here for more information about Secrets of Archaeology

The Spartans Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)An engaging documentary artfully assembled, this 2003 British production has been a hit for PBS in the United States, with the videos and tie-in book (the US edition of Paul Cartledge's The Spartans) often on backorder status. It is a rarity in that it gives Sparta its due for helping Greece resist the Persian threat and credits Sparta for its more enlightened attitude toward women. Although at times it may project a faint pro-Athens bias, host Bettany Hughes is a sympathetic and knowledgeable narrator. THE SPARTANS boasts terrific location photography by Douglas Hartington, with some impressive aerial shots of the Taygetus gorges. For the first time in a television documentary, we are treated to detailed examination of many artifacts in the Sparta Museum as well as shown many photos of archaeological excavations at Sparta. The atmospheric soundtrack is composed by Anthony Burke. Evocative reenactor footage is used - not as much as in the A&E production "Rise & fall of the Spartans," maybe, but effectively presented, even if the footage tends to be come repetitive by Part 3.
Part 1
THE SPARTANS opens at Thermopylae and with the epitaph of the Three Hundred -- and very stirring it is to hear this spoken in the original Greek -- before introducing some of the topics that will be addressed in the program. (Hmm. The claim that "male homosexuality was compulsory" is extremely dubious; the first boldfaced assertion as fact of a subject hotly debated among ancient and modern experts.) After the introduction, we journey to the Dark Ages of Greece, the end of the Achaean Age and the coming of the Dorian Greeks to the Peloponnesus and Laconia. An effective look at the development of hoplite warfare is presented. Next comes the Messenian conquest, then the establishment of the Spartan constitution. The upbringing of Spartan youths, warts and all, is then addressed at length. A good point is made that the sublimation of the individual as practiced by the Spartans can be very liberating - "the possibility of transcending your limitations as an individual and becoming part of something bigger and better." Spartan institutions are credited for initiating a system of political rights and responsibilities among its citizens centuries before other Greek states conceived of such things.
The finding of the so-called statue of Leonidas in 1925 is used to introduce the Persian Wars, which are then examined in detail. There is much footage of Thermopylae, including the eponymous hot springs, and the commentary casts the Spartans' self-sacrifice in terms that hearken to the Japanese samurai's bushido code.
Part 2
This segment begins by exploring at how Sparta and Athens fell out after the Persian Wars, with a look at Athenian politics and society and how these contrasted to Sparta's. This is a refreshingly non-partisan treatment, not hesitating to be equally critical of Athens. Women's life in Sparta is given much attention. Sparta comes off as considerably more enlightened, by modern Western standards, than Athens. (Interesting sidebar - in her remarks during a November 24, 2003, online chat with Channel 4 (UK) viewers, narrator Bettany Hughes, when asked where she'd have rather lived, Sparta or Athens, replied "Sparta. No doubt.") Hughes wryly notes how Spartan women were "objects of fear and fascination" to non-Spartan men. The legacy of these "radical" Spartan customs on later societies is discussed. Amusingly, whether by design or not, Hughes wears a scarlet dress for much of this sequence - fit garb for a Spartanette - and conducts her narration while striding purposefully about the Laconian countryside or riding on horseback in full exhibition of energetic Spartan vitality.
Lastly, the Laconian earthquake of 465 or 464 BC and subsequent helot revolt is noted and seen as the event that lit the sparks of conflict between Greece's two leading cities. The opening clashes of the Peloponnesian War and the Spartan disaster at Sphacteria ends Part 2.
Part 3
The last section of the film opens at Delphi and takes a look at Greek religion and Spartan attitudes toward the gods and oracles before resuming the history of the Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades, the Syracuse expedition, and Lysander are all examined, taking up half of Part 3. Then the period of the Spartan Hegemony is briefly described, shaped by the "crippled kingship" of Agesilaus and marked by power struggles among Sparta's ruling factions. Hughes notes the critical decline of Spartan citizen manpower and the rise of Thebes as a rival. She takes us to the battlefield of Leuctra, where Spartan military superiority was broken in 371 BC. The remaining sequences very quickly sketch how classical Sparta became a second-class power and finally a tourist attraction for wealthy Romans. The show concludes with a summation of Sparta's influence on Western philosophy.
THE SPARTANS is a standout documentary, wonderfully photographed and directed, and is highly recommended as a visual overview of Spartan history.
Those interested in further information about this production can read an online interview about "The Spartans" with classicist Bettany Hughes and historical consultant Paul Cartledge answering questions from viewers (November 2003)

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Spartans

Item Name: The Spartans; Studio:PBS Paramount

Click here for more information about The Spartans

Pompeii - The Last Day/Colosseum - A Gladiator's Story (2004) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A realistic docu-drama, this is a telling of the building of Rome's Colosseum which started under the rule of Emperor Vespasian and was completed by his son and heir Titus in 80 AD. It also shows the training of the gladiators, many who were slaves, but a few who would trade their liberty for a period of time for money, and sometimes fame.
The decadence and brutality of the Roman games, as well the brave and desperate men who were the entertainment, make for a riveting story;
The central figure is a historical gladiator by the name of Verus, who was a slave working in a quarry when chosen for the arena. Robert Shannon is good in the part, exhibiting much physical prowess, grace and style.
Filmed in Tunisia, it boasts the latest technological wizardry to duplicate the Colosseum and the audience, using matte paintings and crowd replication among other techniques.
Produced and directed by Tilman Remme, the dialog is in Latin, and the narration by Liev Schreiber, whose modulated voice is always a pleasure to listen to.
Having seen the empty shell of what is left of this extraordinary structure as it stands today, I found this recreation fascinating and informative, with enough drama and action to make it interesting for repeated viewings.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Pompeii - The Last Day/Colosseum - A Gladiator's Story (2004)

POMPEII:LAST DAY - DVD Movie

Get 43% OFF

Click here for more information about Pompeii - The Last Day/Colosseum - A Gladiator's Story (2004)