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32:20Episode 1
Ancient Greece
Episode 1
Did the Ancient Greeks really invent the olympics? What did they wear? How did they party? What did Ancient Greek music sound like?
Host of 'The Ancients' podcast, Tristan Hughes, answers the most searched Google questions about Ancient Greece.
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Charting History: Who Was Alexander the Great?
Episode 2
In this video, we chart the rise and fall of Alexander the Great's extraordinary empire, which stretched from Macedonia in modern day Greece to the borders of the Indian subcontinent. Alexander's empire would not outlive him, but his achievements would make him one of the most famous generals in ...
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50:07Episode 3
How the Greeks Changed the World
Episode 3
The Ascent of Europe - How the Greeks Changed the World
Ancient Greece - the cradle of modern Europe. Around 3000 years ago, the cultural foundations of western civilisation were laid right here, on the shores of the Mediterranean. It's the birthplace of democracy, where great thinkers forged th...
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18:21Episode 4
Mary Beard on Women and Power
Episode 4
In Greek and Roman antiquity, women’s voices were proof of their wickedness. The pitch and prattle was considered harmful, even unsanitary. In literature, powerful women were emblems of usurpation and mortal danger. Women speaking in public could not only jeopardize the men close to them, but bri...
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38:14Episode 5
Michael Scott on Classical Connections
Episode 5
When one thinks of the Ancient World you would be forgiven for instantly thinking of either the cultural glories of ancient Greece or the military might of the Roman Empire. Yet the Mediterranean and the Near East was just one part of a much larger, interconnected ancient world. In India and Chin...
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20:54Episode 6
Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece
Episode 6
Born in Paris in 1840, François-Auguste-René Rodin is quite possibly the most famous sculptor in recent history. Considered by many to be the first ‘modern’ sculptor, his works such as ‘The Kiss’ and ‘The Thinker’ have become iconic throughout the world. He possessed a unique ability to model a c...
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25:40Episode 7
Assyria and the Birth of Writing
Episode 7
It is often the case that it is assumed that it was in ancient Greece and the eastern Mediterranean that was host to the foundation of European politics, culture, economics and engineering. But in fact, the development of sophisticated civilisations, writing cultures, complex technologies and sci...
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Greatest Discoveries: Last Days of Pompeii
Episode 8
Tristan Hughes explores the destruction of Pompeii, using extraordinary eyewitness testimony and the revelations of archaeology to understand what really happened here nearly 2000 years ago.
In 79 AD, one of the greatest natural disasters in Roman history occurred in southern Italy, when Mount V...
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Greatest Discoveries: Lost Lives of Pompeii
Episode 9
The story of Pompeii’s destruction is renowned across the world. In 79 AD, this prosperous Roman town was destroyed by a massive, volcanic eruption. Pompeii became frozen in time, only to be rediscovered c.1500 years later.
Warning: contains very strong language and sexual content.
Vesuvius’ er...
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Thebes
Episode 10
Athens, Sparta and Corinth are arguably three of the most famous, and most significant, Greek city-states of antiquity. But there is one 'polis' that is often forgotten. A city that rose to prominence during the 4th century BC. That city was Thebes. From fighting with the Persians during the Pers...
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44:36Episode 11
Live from the British Museum: The Scythians
Episode 11
2,500 years ago groups of formidable warriors roamed the vast open plains of Siberia. Ferocious nomads, they roamed from Southern Russia down into Iran – a whole region that makes up the middle portion of the Silk Roads. Feared, loathed, admired – but over time forgotten… until now. A new major e...
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20:38Episode 12
Maps: Our Place in the World
Episode 12
Many of us can’t help but be obsessed with maps – including Dan. They tell us where we are in the world and let us know how our environment has changed overtime. History, geography and philosophy – maps cross all these fields of study. The history of mapmaking has its roots in the ancient world, ...