Who Were the Greeks

Season 1

Ancient Greek history, culture and thought still has an enormous influence on the modern world. But just who were these people? Classicist Dr Michael Scott travels across Greece, visiting cities, battlefields, ruins and wild countryside in an attempt to uncover how the ancient Greeks lived. What he discovers is surprising and at times outrageous; a people as brutal as they were brilliant.

20132 episodes13+

Documentary

Free trial of BBC Select

S1 E1 - Brutality and Brilliance
June 26, 2013
59min
13+
The ancient Greeks may have a lasting influence over many aspects of the modern world, but the way they lived would be completely alien to us. Traveling across Greece today, classicist Dr Michael Scott finds that ancient Greece was a seething tornado of strange, unsettling and downright outrageous customs and beliefs, inhabited by a people who could be horrific to those around them.
Free trial of BBC Select
S1 E2 - Influence and Imagination
July 3, 2013
59min
TV-PG
Democracy, art, architecture, philosophy, science: all can be traced back to ancient Greece. Traveling across the ancient Greek world, from Athens to Olympia, Turkey and Sicily, classicist Michael Scott discovers why they were so successful, why their culture and way of life spread across continents and why they still have such a powerful hold over our imaginations today.
Free trial of BBC Select