Summary: A contemporary interpretation of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece, this beautifully crafted program scrutinizes what is colloquially referred to as the battle of the sexes. Production values convincingly re-create the world of the Bronze Age, but commentary from modern scholars evokes themes easily recognizable in the 21st century: Who holds the real power in male/female relationships? Why...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: Drawing upon the insights of numerous international scholars-and illustrating crucial passages with stunning animation sequences-this program guides viewers through the Inferno of Dante's Divine Comedy. With detailed analysis of the poet's descent into Hell and navigation through its various levels, the program interprets Dante's motives for embarking on such a journey, explains his...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: When Death comes to take Everyman to his final judgment, Everyman attempts to bribe Death-and when that fails, Everyman instead tries to find a companion to accompany him on the fearful journey. In this adaptation of The Summoning of Everyman by Douglas Morse, a cast of classically trained actors, period music, opulent costumes, and captivating cinematography breathe new life into an enduring...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

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Summary: Contemporary Western society revolves around celebrity-and ancient Greek culture was no different, as this program demonstrates with perceptive comparisons of the two worlds. Scholarly analysis and splendid re-enactments bring new life to Homer's epic, giving it both a historical and personal context. For long-ago Greek listeners enraptured with famous warriors and athletes, Homer fashioned a...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Gitlin, Marty.

Summary: This entertaining volume reveals some of the grossest practices in hygiene, dining, fashion, and medicine of Medieval Europe. Serfs often smelled bad, and they bathed and relieved themselves in streams filled with garbage. Wealthier individuals who had bathrooms produced waste that was sent down chutes into the castle moat. Peasants and nobles commonly consumed animal parts that today we would...

Format: text

Publisher / Publication Date: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 2016

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Summary: This production is part of the historic 1998 staging of the Corpus Christi Cycle in York, England, and captures the majesty and color of the original 14th- to 16th-century plays. Sponsored by the Company of Butchers, performed on a story wagon on the streets of York amidst an enraptured crowd, and using medieval materials and techniques, the performance strives for authenticity. The affecting...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: This beautifully dramatized version of the late-14th-century poem offers a bonanza to the English teacher: one of the best known of the Arthurian legends, a portrait of life in Arthurian days as the Pearl poet imagined it, a baker's dozen of discussion topics about human virtue and human imperfectability-and a fascinating plot involving a challenge by the Green Knight (green is of course the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: This enchanting program revives the drama and pageantry of the medieval mystery play as performed by the venerable guilds of York, England. Perched atop pageant wagons in the streets of their home city, guild members and townspeople in period costumes enact scenes from eleven plays of the Corpus Christi Cycle: Creation to the Fifth Day, The Creation of Adam and Eve, The Fall of Adam and Eve,...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: This program examines the ideas of the medieval philosophic theologians, particularly St. Thomas Aquinas. World-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee and Oxford medieval philosopher Anthony Kenny discuss Aristotelian logic as the basis of Aquinas' thought, and dispute charges that medieval philosophy merely reinforced extant Christian views. Logical methods employed by Aquinas are discussed...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: Like Malory's Le Morte Darthur, the anonymously authored Sir Gawain and the Green Knight represents a watershed in the development of the Arthurian tradition. Drawing on insights from Nicholas Perkins, a specialist on medieval English literature and manuscripts at the University of Cambridge; Arthurian expert Kevin J. Harty, of La Salle University; and Helen Cooper, authority on medieval...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: Beowulf is the oldest written epic in English literature. In this program, Dr. Robert DiNapoli-teaching fellow in Old and Middle English at the University of Birmingham, England-and Professor John Burrow of Bristol University examine the symbolism and the influence of Christianity in Beowulf and other masterpieces of English and Germanic poetry. The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Dream of the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: Although rooted in religious misogyny and crude anatomical knowledge, the sexual mores of the medieval era were surprisingly complex. This program explores the attitudes and behaviors of a sexual culture that was by turns romantic, transactional, and perverse. Documents and historical accounts include the story of Christina of Markyate, who defied marital conventions and maintained a lifelong...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010

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Summary: The Greeks also called Apollo, Phoebus—brilliant one, perpetually reborn, who shoots darts from afar, and who incorporates the radiant characteristics of the sun. In this program, we learn about Apollo’s mother Leto, his birth on the island of Delos, his twin sister Artemis, Python and Pythia, and the oracle of Delphi. Also discussed are Cassandra’s prediction of the fall of Troy; Apollo and...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010

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Summary: Designated national treasures, the picture scrolls of The Tale of Genji were made in the 12th century, 100 years after Murasaki Shikibu wrote her classic story of Buddhist sensibilities and courtly romance in Japan's Heian period. This program combines readings from chapters corresponding to the paintings with a look at their meticulous restoration in order to rediscover an enduring literary...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: More than three centuries ago, the seminal haiku poet Matsuo Basho traveled Japan in a spiritual quest for enlightenment. In this down-to-earth program, haiku enthusiasts from around the world including award-winning haiku poet and English teacher Visnja McMaster and haiku translator Judit Vihar, professor of Japanese studies at Eotvos Lorand University, follow in the master's footsteps as they...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: Of the 27 compositions that comprise the New Testament, 21 are letters: some guide, some warn. This program explores the content as well as authenticity of the various letters attributed to Paul, James, Jude, and Peter. Location footage brings to life Paul's missionary journeys to Antioch, Athens, Corinth, and Rome. The Pastoral Epistles, Gospel of Thomas, letters of Pontius Pilate, and the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: Founded in 1230, Scotland's Pluscarden Abbey still pulses with the prayers and spiritual pursuits of Benedictine monks. Abbot Hugh Gilbert describes their work in reassuringly human terms, framing the Christian battle against Satanic evil as an inner struggle within one's own psyche. But, as this program shows, the culture which brought Pluscarden into existence was rigidly institutional-and...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010

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Summary: Written in the 14th century, The Canterbury Tales has stood the test of time as a landmark in the development of English literature. This innovative "frame story" owes its classic standing and impact to the diversity both of the narrators and of the styles of tales they tell. In this program, expert commentators Dr. Christiania Whitehead and Dr. Peter Mack, both of the University of Warwick,...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: Medieval science wasn't nonsense: it could conceive of a spherical Earth, for example. But the medieval scholar discerned both natural and supernatural forces at work in the cosmos, reading an eclipse as a sign from God as well as the result of planetary movement, and populating even the most rigorous maps of the era with sea monsters. This program explores that fascinating conceptual dichotomy...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010

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Summary: What makes the promise of Camelot still resonate in the 21st century? In this program, Barbara and Alan Lupack, authors of King Arthur in America and Arthurian Literature by Women; Debra Mancoff, author of The Arthurian Revival in Victorian Art; and Kevin J. Harty, author of King Arthur on Film, New Essays on Arthurian Cinema, discuss the enduring fascination with King Arthur in Britain and...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: A scholarly program that reaches out to students of The Canterbury Tales to relate its characters and themes to everyday life in late-14th-century England. Period art of exceptional richness is combined with location photography that retraces the April pilgrimage to Archbishop Becket's shrine at Canterbury; excerpts are read from various tales; and the famous beginning is heard in Middle...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

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Summary: Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister, was noted for both her beauty and her cruelty. She protected flora and fauna, especially wild animals, and was not reluctant to punish those who acted against nature. In this program, we visit the temple at Brauron, Arcadia, Mount Cithaeron, and other Artemisian haunts, and learn about Artemis’ birth and youth. Also told are the stories of Orion, Niobe, Callisto,...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010

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