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Episodes
- S1 E1 - Cities, Civilizations, and SourcesDecember 15, 201133minLearn about the different kind of approach the course will take in its explorations of the ancient world and hear a story that perfectly illustrates the risks inherent in letting one's own cultural biases and limited perspective overly influence the interpretation of archaeological discoveries.#HistoryFree trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E2 - From Out of the Mesopotamian MudDecember 16, 201134minThe course's first civilization reveals a theme that will appear again and again. Grasp the critical role of geography and resources in shaping not only Mesopotamia's method of subsistence, but also its religion, structures, empire, and means of leaving its written record.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E3 - Cultures of the Ancient Near EastDecember 16, 201130minThe lack of geographical barriers made it difficult for even the most powerful cities to retain their power. See how a succession of empires rose and fell, leaving behind legacies ranging from the use of intimidation in warfare to seafaring, astrology, mathematics, and a systematic legal code.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E4 - Ancient Egypt: The Gift of the NileDecember 16, 201130minYour introduction to Egypt reveals a civilization irrevocably shaped by geography. You learn how the Nile's predictable annual flooding of its banks, though creating a fertile strip amounting to only 3% of Egypt, permitted civilization to thrive in what was otherwise an uninhabitable desert.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E5 - Pharaohs, Tombs, and GodsDecember 16, 201129minDiscover how Egyptian views of death and tombs changed with the kingdom's occupation by: and eventual expulsion of: the Hyksos, including an examination of how the stark differences between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian environments may have influenced their visions of the afterlife.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E6 - The Lost Civilization of the Indus ValleyDecember 16, 201131minYour exploration of a once-lost civilization introduces a key theme of the course: the enormous problems faced by modern historians and archaeologists in interpreting an ancient civilization through physical evidence alone, with no written documents to bring that evidence to life.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E7 - The Vedic Age of Ancient IndiaDecember 16, 201131minIn an ironic reversal of the Indus legacy, the next great era of Indian history is known through an enormous bounty of texts, but relatively little archaeological or material evidence. Grasp what the thousands of verses we have tell us about Vedic culture and religion.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E8 - Mystery Cultures of Early GreeceDecember 16, 201130minTurn to the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations of the Mediterranean. Learn about the historical underpinnings of the Minotaur myth, Plato's account of what might have been the basis for the legend of Atlantis, and the rediscovery of writing as Greece emerged from its own Dark Ages.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E9 - Homer and Indian PoetryDecember 16, 201131minDiscover how a work or body of literature can become the core of an entire culture in this examination of the influence of Homer on the Greeks and of the centrality of the Vedas and Epics in the civilizations of ancient India.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E10 - Athens and Experiments in DemocracyDecember 16, 201132minGreece's most famous city-state is often praised for its creation of democracy. You examine the origins of that system and discover some surprising revelations, including the seminal role played by an instance of spurned affection and perhaps the earliest example of stuffing a ballot box.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E11 - Hoplite Warfare and SpartaDecember 16, 201132minExperience what it was like to be raised a Spartan man or woman, the changes in military tactics and equipment that made their armies so feared, and the tragic flaw that guaranteed that this Greek city-state's power, no matter how widespread or intimidating, could not endure.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E12 - Civilization Dawns in China: Shang and ZhouDecember 16, 201130minWitness the early development of a unique culture that viewed itself as constituting the entirety of the world and thus the site of all cultural advancement, with the latter self-image largely maintained even after China gained an awareness of the world beyond its borders.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E13 - Confucius and the Greek PhilosophersDecember 16, 201132minFrom 700 to 500 B.C., thinkers around the world began to turn to fundamental philosophical questions. This lecture focuses on those whose concerns addressed this world and its pragmatic issues through rational inquiry, including Confucius, the Legalists, and the Greek philosophers known as the Ionian Rationalists.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E14 - Mystics, Buddhists, and ZoroastriansDecember 16, 201133minYour attention shifts to those thinkers who looked beyond the physical world for answers to their questions about the fundamental issues of existence. Examine the impact of several key texts and belief systems, including the Upanishads, Jainism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Zoroastrianism.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E15 - Persians and GreeksDecember 16, 201130minDiscover the reasons the Greek city-states were able to emerge intact from their conflict with a vastly superior Persian Empire. Learn, too, how the defensive alignment put in place to protect those states: begun as an alliance of equals: instead became an Athenian empire.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E16 - Greek Art and ArchitectureDecember 16, 201130minPause in your study of historical events to appreciate two of classical Greece's most important contributions to art and architecture. Learn the distinguishing characteristics of Greek sculpture and the principles that gave such extraordinary beauty to Greece's temples.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E17 - Greek Tragedy and the SophistsDecember 16, 201131minContinue your examination of Greece's cultural heritage with this look at Greek theater: especially its greatest playwrights of tragedy, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides: and the second wave of philosophers known as the Sophists, led first by Socrates and then by his disciple Plato.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E18 - The Peloponnesian War and the Trial of SocratesDecember 16, 201130minLearn how the end of Greek unity brought down the astonishing political and cultural successes of the early 5th century, culminating in one of the most shameful episodes in Greek history: the trial and execution of one of its greatest thinkers, Socrates.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E19 - Philip of Macedon: Architect of EmpireDecember 16, 201129minBegin a four-lecture exploration of what has come to be known the Great Man Theory of History: that a single person could indeed alter the course of history: by reviewing the careers of five rulers who might well provide the best arguments for the theory.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E20 - Alexander the Great Goes EastDecember 16, 201130minWith the successful invasion of the western Persian Empire, Philip's son successfully carried out his father's plan. Alexander the Great would then create his own path, and you follow him along the route of the greatest sustained conquest the world had yet seen.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E21 - Unifiers of India: Chandragupta and AsokaDecember 16, 201130minAlexander's death in 323 B.C caused his vast empire to fragment. You meet the father and son who created the largest Indian empire that would be seen until the establishment of the modern Indian nation in 1947.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E22 - Shi Huangdi: First Emperor of ChinaDecember 16, 201133minDiscover how the father of the Chinese nation combined ruthlessness and vision to unify his country, create the largest empire that part of the world had known, and execute a clear and coherent philosophy that would be China's political model for almost a millennium.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E23 - Earliest Historians of Greece and ChinaDecember 16, 201131minConsider what it must have been like to be among the very first historians, not only practicing your art, but having to define it and its standards, as well. See how fundamental questions about writing history were answered by Herodotus, Thucydides, and Sima Qian.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E24 - The Hellenistic WorldDecember 16, 201131minAlthough the three centuries following Alexander were years of warfare, absolutism, and political stalemate, the Hellenistic era did leave a legacy of cultural richness and originality. See how achievements in philosophy, science, and art belied the suffering and mass enslavement of this time.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E25 - The Great Empire of the Han DynastyDecember 16, 201130minMuch of the world in 200 B.C. was entering nearly 600 years of instability: but something different was happening in China and Rome. Focus on the first of these two powers, each of which would shape a stable empire for the next four centuries.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
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