Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
Prime membership required
Terms apply
Episodes
- S1 E1 - Taking on the Other Side of HistoryMarch 15, 202332minConsider the imaginary lives of ordinary people who lived on the other side of history: the citizens, soldiers, slaves, and more.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E2 - Being PaleolithicMarch 15, 202332minWhat does it mean to be human? Take a look at the lives of our ancestors, from ancient hominids to Homo erectus to the earliest humans. Picture yourself as a Neanderthal, whose life was dominated by the environment, and discover the significance of the human mind, language, and art in the Old Stone Age.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E3 - Living in MesopotamiaMarch 15, 202331minStep into the world's earliest permanent settlement - the river banks in Mesopotamia. The development of agriculture was a revolution because it allowed humans to live permanently in one place, which led to the invention of writing, the creation of laws, an increase in trade, and technological innovations such as the wheel.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E4 - Being EgyptianMarch 15, 202332minWhat was it like to be an ancient Egyptian? Travel to the world's first Western civilization and explore everyday life during the New Kingdom era. You'll learn about the richness of the Nile, the conservatism and stability of the society, and relics that have survived across millennia - hieroglyphics, papyri, art, and more.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E5 - Belonging to an Egyptian FamilyMarch 15, 202331minProfessor Garland takes you deep inside the lives of an ordinary Egyptian family, from marriage, fertility, and the rights of its women, to social gatherings a couple might host or attend. You'll experience the house, its furniture, and even the cosmetics - all the elements of everyday life.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E6 - Practicing Egyptian ReligionMarch 15, 202331minEgyptian religion was a hierarchical affair, and since common people were not allowed in the temples, they mainly left it to the priests to pray on their behalf. You'll meet some of the gods - Hathor, Amun-Re, Osiris - and learn about the myths attached to them. You'll also learn the ins and outs of the Egyptian priesthood.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E7 - Being a Dead EgyptianMarch 15, 202330minMummies. The Book of the Dead. Tomb robbers. Death was big business in ancient Egypt, and in this episode you'll discover Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife and the journey from this world to the next. You'll learn how to make a mummy and how to get past Osiris at the gates to the afterlife.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E8 - Being an Egyptian WorkerMarch 15, 202331minAs an ancient Egyptian, you might have been a farmer, a herdsman, a craftsman, a hunter, or, most dangerously, a miner. Take a tour of people in the professions that would been available to you in the village of Deir el-Medina, from educated scribes to the craftsmen who built royal tombs.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E9 - Being Minoan and MycenaeanMarch 15, 202333minWhile most ancient civilizations sprang up near rivers, Minoans and Mycenaeans lived in a thalassocracy: an empire based on control of the sea. This episode surveys life on the island of Santorini, including the threat of earthquakes and volcanoes, the shift of power from Crete to mainland Greece, and life in the Greek Dark Age.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E10 - Being GreekMarch 15, 202331minExplore the world of the Greek polis and of true democracies run by ordinary citizens: that is, free male citizens. Women were cut off from society and kept in the home, and slaves performed much of the labor. After seeing the broad strokes of this society, you'll go inside the mind of a juror casting his ballot at the trial of Socrates.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E11 - Growing Up GreekMarch 15, 202330minGrowing up in ancient Greece, you'd face a myriad of challenges between birth and adulthood, beginning with whether your father decided to raise you or expose you to the elements shortly after birth. See what your childhood would have been like, from the games you'd play to the schools you'd attend.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E12 - Being a Greek SlaveMarch 15, 202332minWhat are the origins of slavery? Although ancient Greeks didn't invent the concept, they did leave records. You'll discover the range of work slaves did, from performing domestic duties to being worked to death in the mines. Then travel to Sparta, where helot slaves outnumbered free Spartans by as many as 7 to 1.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E13 - Being a Greek Soldier or SailorMarch 15, 202330minGo inside a phalanx battle and experience it as an average citizen-soldier or hoplite. Then turn to Sparta, a society that revolved around military life from childhood education to retirement at age 60. Finally, explore the rise of Greek mercenaries, whom some Greek writers feared were a threat to civilization.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E14 - Being a Greek WomanMarch 15, 202331minThis episode takes you into the world of Athenian women, who were subjugated to males all their lives and who rarely left the home except for festivals and funerals. You'll also look at the hetaerae (female companions) whose lives were relatively independent.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E15 - Relaxing Greek StyleMarch 15, 202330minAs a Greek citizen, your life would have been much more leisurely than ours is today. Put yourself in the sandals of an average citizen taking a morning stroll to the agora or enjoying a lively evening of drinking and discussion at a symposium. Then tour the clubs, witness the athletic events, and participate in the festivals that would have been part of your daily life.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E16 - Being a Greek RefugeeMarch 15, 202331minConsider the lives of those truly on the other side of history: the refugees long ignored by historians. From the 8th to the 6th centuries B.C., a large percentage of Greeks were uprooted from their homelands. This episode shows you the harrowing colonization process from the point of view of the refugees themselves.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E17 - Being a Sick or Disabled GreekMarch 15, 202331minDespite Greek sculptures depicting the idealized human form, real people in the ancient world were at great risk for serious injuries, disfigurement, and disease. Find out the ancients' perspective on disability, deformity, and illness and the often crude way these conditions were treated, as well as the stigma such people faced.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E18 - Practicing Greek ReligionMarch 15, 202333minTake a look at what, in many ways, is one of the most bizarre religious systems in human history: a system with no rules, no holy book, and no orthodoxy. You'll meet some of the famous gods of Mount Olympus and the Underworld, with their jealousies and other human emotions, and you'll experience the festivals and observances that were part of Greek religion.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E19 - Being an Old GreekMarch 15, 202330minDespite their lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality, some Greeks managed to live to a ripe old age, especially the poets and philosophers, who lived a more sedentary life. Discover the secrets to their longevity, and how you would support yourself in an era without anything like today's retirement systems.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E20 - Being a Dead GreekMarch 15, 202330minAn ancient Greek faced death head on. You would die in the home, surrounded by family, and afterward women would tend to your body and sing dirges in your honor. Your corpse would be tainted with miasma (pollution) and would be buried outside the city. Meanwhile, your spirit would be carried across the River Styx to Hades, where life among the shades of the dead awaited you.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E21 - Being PersianMarch 15, 202333minTurn to ancient Persia, a kingdom that came from the other side of history and rose to greatness. See how Cyrus the Great was a tolerant, pragmatic ruler, who allowed his subjects to maintain certain rights. Then see how Darius built roads, adopted a currency, and created an innovative system of communication and administration.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E22 - Living in Hellenistic EgyptMarch 15, 202332minRevisit Egypt in the years after Alexander the Great, an era when Greek (Hellenistic) culture spread throughout the region. Tour the city of Alexandria, which was arguably the greatest city of the ancient world and which now lies mostly beneath the sea. Then explore the ethnic tensions between the Egyptians, Greeks, and Jews.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E23 - Being RomanMarch 15, 202330minSee how the Romans extended citizenship, expanding the word "Roman" to encompass more than just a person from Rome itself. As Vergil's Aeneid shows, Romans considered it their civic duty to expand their territory for the public good; yet, despite this noble aspiration, they also had a penchant for violence and cruelty.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E24 - Being a Roman SlaveMarch 15, 202331minCould Romans have achieved all they did without the labor of slaves? Imagine yourself as part of the largest slave force in human history, perhaps as an agricultural slave worked to death or as a semi-independent craftsman. Then explore manumission, the process by which domestic slaves were sometimes freed.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
- S1 E25 - Being a Roman SoldierMarch 15, 202331minFind out what daily life was like for a Roman soldier, from the training to engagement on the battlefield. You'll discover how the army was structured, what benefits you could expect, and what would happen if you were disobedient. Finally, you'll explore what you'd do when you were not fighting - likely constructing the Roman road system.Free trial of The Great Courses Signature Collection or buy
Details
More info
- Content advisory
- Nudity violence foul language sexual content
- Subtitles
- None available
- Producers
- The Great Courses
- Cast
- Robert Garland
- Studio
- The Great Courses
By clicking play, you agree to our Terms of Use.