Episodes

Xerxes comes to power in Persia. A huge army invades Greece. Themistocles rallies the Athenians. The Greek allies stand at Thermopylae. Leonidas and the 300 fall in battle.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

The Persian War begins. The Histories of Herodotus. The Battle of Marathon. Darius and Miltiades.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

The many lands of the ancient Greeks. Mystery religions, Greek sexuality and the hoplite warrior.

From Theseus to Solon and Pisistratus, the complex, chaotic history of Athens unfolds. Prelude to the Persian War.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

Plutarch’s essay on Lycurgus. Laconia and Lacedaemon. The Spartans, their government, their lives, their army. Leonidas, Gorgo and Thermopylae.

The Greek polis or city-state. The city of Thebes and the tragedy of Oedipus. The value of the state and the importance of politics in classical Greece.

Life in Greece after the Bronze Age Collapse. Homer and Hesiod. The mystery religions.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

Homer’s second great epic poem about the long-delayed return of Odysseus from the Trojan War.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

Homer’s great epic poem about the rage of Achilles outside the walls of Troy.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

A wedding attended by gods leads to disastrous war among men. The Trojan War is a fundamental event for all ancient Greeks.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

More Greek myths. The sexual conquests of Zeus, tales from Crete and the stories of heroes such as Heracles and Perseus.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

The first episode on Greek Mythology, beginning with the creation of the world out of chaos and ending with the advent of the twelve Olympian gods.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

The Mycenaeans establish the first real civilization of Western History.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

From Mycenae to Homer, the foundations of Ancient Greek culture.

Introduction to the second series: The Greek SunRECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

The Persians rise to power. Israel returns from exile.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

Two empires: Assyrian and Babylonian. The fall of Israel and Judah.

The story of the Bible and archaeological counter-perspectives.RECOMMENDED READS - Click Image for Link:

The New Kingdom. Egypt, under the leadership of men and women, such as Ramses II and Hatshepsut, reaches its final pinnacle of achievement before declining one last time into the background of history.

The descendants of the early European farmers found a unique civilization on the island of Crete and prepare the way for Greek culture.

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Renewal and flourish. The evolution of religious belief. The Hyksos take power and bring Egypt to another intermediate period.

The Hittites take over the Anatolian peninsula in the 2nd millennium BC. The first Indo-European speaking power takes the stage and meets with the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians.

The story returns to Mesopotamia. Here, in the early second millennium BC, Babylon rises to power. The episode further considers societal and technological developments for all of mankind at the height of the Bronze Age.

Old Kingdom Egypt. Great kings and great pyramids. Egypt makes its lasting mark on human history.