Summary: This program traces Greek civilization from the Minoans to the city-states dominated by Athens. The Trojan War, Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis are discussed as major historical turning points. The rise of the Roman Empire and its 500-year dominance of Europe and the Mediterranean are attributed to its engineering and architectural expertise and military prowess. Emperor Diocletian,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Transjordan-the Oultrejordain of Crusader times, known to the ancients as Edom and Moab-is steeped in biblical history. In this program, archaeologists Fawzi Zayadine, Mohammed Waheeb, and Carmelo Pappalardo attempt to match up biblical events with the terrain where it is said that they occurred. The refuge of Lot, the trail of the Exodus, the place of Jesus' baptism, Moses' vantage point on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Throughout history, one type of individual has instinctively grasped art's power to persuade and manipulate-and indeed, images have become at least as deadly as swords or guns in the hands of political and military leaders. This program revolves around a basic question: when did art mutate from a vehicle of the imagination into a tool of the ruler? Beginning in Britain, the program looks at the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The glories of Ancient Rome are explored in Roman City, based on David Macaulay's acclaimed book. This animated and live-action video recounts life in Verbonia, a fictional city in Gaul. A well-planned town with all modern conveniences, it is threatened by conflict between conquerors and conquered. Macaulay also visits Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, Nimes, Orange, and Rome, to view actual Roman...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1994
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program beautifully captures the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance through the Late Gothic art of England and its Perpendicular architecture. Spanning the reigns of Henry IV to Henry VIII-the era of the Hundred Years' War, the Wars of the Roses, and the early Tudors-artists and artisans in England produced exquisite jewelry, glorious devotional sculptures and images,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: When ground was broken for a luxury hotel in modern-day Hammamet, Tunisia, no one was expecting to find what has turned out to be the largest Roman necropolis in North Africa. In this program, necropolis expert Marc Griesheimer collaborates with archaeologist Aicha ben Abed and other specialists to piece together fragile clues to the history of the region. Painstaking analysis of the human...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Art may represent a quest for beauty and perfection, but throughout history it has also explored a terrifying realm of doom, decay, and darkness. This program delves into the age-old human compulsion to surround ourselves with images of death. Starting with the Neolithic relics known as the Jericho Skulls, the film identifies a pattern of morbidity and death fetishism covering a broad swathe of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: No storytelling medium is more powerful than the modern movie-but the ability to inspire and entertain by combining words and pictures is hardly a recent phenomenon. This program reveals the age-old roots of the cinematic narrative form and their evolution over the centuries. Beginning in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Nineveh, the film points to the Epic of Gilgamesh as one of the earliest...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Emphasizing harmony, proportion, balance, and simplicity, the buildings of the Greek and Roman empires have had a strong and abiding influence on generations of architects. This program classifies the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian styles of Greece, with their columns and entablatures, and the Tuscan and Composite styles of Rome, which augmented the Greek trabeated forms with vaults, arches, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Considered the most imposing Hellenistic site in Jordan, the Qasr al-Abd at Iraq al-Amir was the dream of Hyrcanus, an unscrupulously ambitious member of the influential Tobiad family. With the assistance of architect Francois Larche, of the National Center of Scientific Research, this program virtually reconstructs the ornate but uncompleted palace-ironically, a symbol of Hyrcanus' failed...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: When did we begin to create images and, more importantly, find tangible meaning in them? How did this conceptual leap lay the groundwork for our modern, visually oriented culture? This program investigates when and why humanity underwent what archaeologists call the "creative explosion" and invented pictorial art. Beginning with the Altamira cave paintings in Spain, the film addresses questions...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program captures the feverish work of the multinational rescue archaeology team that excavated low-lying areas of Zeugma and key portions of Apamea before inundation by the Birecik Dam, in Turkey. Catherine Abadie-Reynal, director of the French contingent, and other experts describe their efforts to map the cities and to discern the tides of Greco-Roman history that once flowed through the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006