In this gripping investigation, archaeologist Pepi Papakosta is on a hunt for Alexander the Great's lost tomb, and she makes an extraordinary discovery.
The film chronicles the last 3 years of Akhenaten -called "the heretic pharaoh"- and his wife Queen Nefertiti, their mysterious and convulse reign in the context of the profound political and theological reform they promoted.
The story of the Trojan Horse is probably one of the most famous stories ever told: after ten years of bloody war, the Greek coalition decides to lift the siege and depart, but not before leaving at the gates a huge wooden horse, which the Trojans confidently lead into the city. A few hours later, the once invincible Troy goes up in flames. What exactly happened? Is this myth true or false?
Come back with us to Ancient Greece, 2,500 Years ago to the original Olympic Games. The ancient Games, like our modern Olympics, included champions and cheaters, glory and scandals, bitter rivalries and contests of strength, speed and savage combat. Set in 448 BC when the pounding of horse's hooves and the brutal hand-to-hand combat could be heard and seen by the crowds that filled the Olympic stadium. This one-hour special event follows the glory and corruption of the arc of a single, five-day Olympiad. The competitions include chariot racing, running, jumping, discus, javelin and two man-to-man combat finals-boxing and pankration, a form of extreme fighting in which death was not uncommon. With the help of sports historians and great athletes such as George Chuvalo and Olympic medallists Donovan Bailey and Angela Schneider, viewers travel back to a very different life-in a very different world.
Over the past 50 years, thousands of exquisitely painted Maya vases, almost all looted from tombs, have flooded into public and private collections. These amazing works of art, filled with humor and mystery, have opened an extraordinary window on the Maya past. But the race to unearth these treasures has destroyed temples and palaces, culminating in the takeover of entire ancient cities by looter armies. OUT OF THE MAYA TOMBS (formerly titled DANCE OF THE MAIZE GOD) enters the world of the vases to explore the royal life and rich mythology of the Maya, as well as the tangled issues involved in the collection and study of Maya art. The story is told by villagers, looters, archaeologists, scholars, dealers and curators. For each, these vases have a radically different value and meaning.
This historical drama tells the story of Qin Shihuang, who unified China's vast territory and declared himself emperor in 221 B.C. During his reign, he introduced sweeping reforms, built a vast network of roads and connected the Great Wall of China. From the grandiose inner sanctum of Emperor Qin's royal palace, to fierce battles with feudal kings, this film re-creates the glory and the terror of the Qin Dynasty, including footage of Qin's life-sized terra cotta army, constructed 2,200 years ago for his tomb.
What is true and what is false in the hideous stories spread about the controversial figure of the Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (12-41), nicknamed Caligula? Professor Mary Beard explains what is accurate and what is mythical in the historical accounts that portray him as an unbalanced despot. Was he a sadistic tyrant, as Roman historians have told, or perhaps the truth about him was manipulated because of political interests?
Forensic experts scan Pompeii’s victims to investigate why they didn’t escape the eruption.
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb is revealed for the first time in color, thanks to colorization of black-and-white newsreel and photographs.
The 1st queen of the king dies in child birth, the prince survives. After the 2nd queen, gives birth to a new prince, she plots to kill the 1st prince, so that her son would get the crown after the king. A soldier senses this danger and ousts the prince to a rural village for survival. The village headman adopts the child without knowing the origin of the child. The prince gradually forgets his royalty, and grows up as a skillful and handsome farmer. After the death of the king, the soldier and religious leaders plan to bring the real prince to the crown.
In 16th century feudal Japan the war between the Iga clan and the Kouga clan continues unabated. Typically for such violent disputes it is the women who suffer the most – in this case lowly castrated Kouga clan ninjas are kidnapping woman from their rivals’ lands and transporting them back to their own, with the intent to use them as concubines. Unfortunately for a trio of inept Kouga ninjas, one of the women they’ve kidnapped is Kisaragi (Rina Takeda), a skilled ninja with a long standing vendetta since her mother was kidnapped when she was just a baby.
Berlin’s Museum Island, the cultural center of the German capital on the Spree river, houses a large number of art pieces from all over the globe, from the Stone Age to the present day. A walk through their great institutions to marvel at their masterpieces.
Maya legend tells us that there is a hidden underground cave below Chichen Itza, now high tech archaeologists are here to find the buried truth.
La Cité oubliée de Ramsès II
With more than seven million visitors a year, its massive structure and awesome architecture testify to the genius of ancient Roman building techniques, earning it a place not only among UNESCO's World Heritage sites but as one of the new seven wonders of the world. The Roman Colosseum is an emblem of the power of a bygone empire.
Starting from the colonial city of Trujillo, this documentary reveals natural and archeological features along the north coast of Peru, where the Moche culture thrived from the 1st Century BC to the 6th Century AD.
In the Formative Period 4,000 years before the Incas and the arrival of the Conquistadors, Peru’s earliest civilizations - the Chavín, Caral, Ventarrón, Sechin, Cupisnique, and Cajamarca cultures - built centers of learning and technological achievements, including the largest work of hydrological engineering in the ancient Americas: the Cumbemayo canals.
This explores the mysterious and catastrophic collapse of ancient civilizations during the late Bronze Age, from the Hittites to the Mycenaeans and the Egyptians, revealing the tumultuous events that brought an end to a thriving era of human history, and warns we may be facing similar threats today.
Whether you are a Christian, atheist, or member of another faith, it's impossible to ignore the impact that Christianity has had on Western civilization. But most people don't actually know how Christianity began. In this lighthearted but factual film, we tell the "true" story of early Christianity. An honest attempt to piece together a very complex and fascinating story that everyone will enjoy.
In the first century, after the death of Herod the Great, Judea goes through a long period of turbulence due to the actions of the corrupt Roman governors and the internal struggles, both religious and political, between Jewish factions, events that soon lead to the uprising of the population and a cruel war that lasts several years and causes thousands of deaths, a catastrophe described in detail by the Romanized Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus.