Dramatic stories and computer animation re-create Classical Greece, founder of modern science, politics, warfare, philosophy, and source of breathtaking art and architecture. This film charts the rise, triumph, and decline of the world's oldest democracy, witnessed through the eyes of Pericles, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

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Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. It is true that Athens was a watershed for western culture with its impressive contributions to political ideology, art, literature, theatre, architecture, philosophy, science, polemic techniques and so much more. All of these above topics were shunned by the people of Sparta, and the rest of the city states in Greece paled in comparison, insofar as these fields are concerned, when compared to the grandeur of the ostentatious Athenians.

One place in which this preference for Athens is taken too far, however, is in the treatment of the Persian War. There were four major battles in this war; Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis & Plataea. Only Marathon and Salamis are noted in this work; Thermopylae and Plataea are not cited at all. Apparently, the reason for this is that Marathon & Salamis were the two battles where the Athenians faced the Persians alone [at least for the most part; there were some allied ships sprinkled into the mix @ Salamis]. At Plataea they squared off against the Persians shoulder-to-shoulder with the Spartans and other Greeks. The Athenians were not involved @ Thermopylae at all. Persons who are unfamiliar with Greek history would be likely to walk away from this presentation thinking that there were only 2 major battles in the Persian War, and the Athenians deserve all the credit for saving Greece. That is a skewed understanding of history, and as such, not a good thing.

The biggest oversight of the DVD resides in its chapter on the battle of Marathon. We are told that after his 140 mile jaunt to Sparta, the messenger Pheidippides' plea for help was refused by the Laconians. That is very, very, very misleading. The Lacedamons did NOT intentionally hang their Athenian brethren out to dry in the face of the Persian invasion of Marathon. Rather, it was due to religious protocal which prevented the Spartan army from setting out right away. Here is the passage in Herodotus which details the Lacedamons' answer to Pheidippides:

"...the Spartans wished to help the Athenians, but were unable to give them any present succour, as they did not like to break their established law. It was then the ninth day of the first decade; and they could not march out of Sparta on the ninth, when the moon had not reached the full. So they waited for the full of the moon." (Herodotus, "Histories," Book VI [Erato], p. 342, trans: George Rawlinson)

When the Spartans did send their army, they arrived @ Marathon within an astonishing 3 days. Unfortunately, by then, the fighting was already over & the Athenians had earned a glorious (not to mention improbable) victory. So, the Laconians congratulated the Athenians and headed home. The (mostly Ivy league) historians who put this documentary together should have known better than to omit these facts.

By now you're probably thinking that I have nothing but bad stuff to say about this work, right? Well, no, that's not quite true; I've said all the negative things I am going to say (after all, I did give it 5 stars, right?). Now it's time to detail why I loved this DVD so much.

First of all, what the DVD does cover, it covers very well. The major epochs of Athens are detailed down thru the ages until the end of the Peleponnesian War. The work goes over such diverse subjects as the role of women in ancient Athens, the tactics and tools of warfare and the paradigms of pottery & architecture. Also, the lives of such great men as Themosticles, Pericles and Socrates are scrutinized extensively. As an added bonus the narrarator is none other than the venerable Liam Neeson, and the score is nearly movie-soundtrack calibre.

Despite my criticisms, I would highly recommend this DVD to all persons who have any interest at all in Greek history and / or the foundations of western thought.

27 of 28 found the following review helpful:

If you teach Greek history: Use this videoFeb 19, 2004
By Joseph Spirito
This movie is an incredibly well done and thoughtful look at Greek history. It manages to include all the major events and individuals and do so in way my high school students as well as college students were able to understand. It brings Archaic and Classical Greece into perspective and is an invaluable tool useful not just in the classroom but for general use. Interesting and educational not two words often put together.

22 of 23 found the following review helpful:

Very good, but not perfectAug 29, 2001
By D. Bobbitt
The Greeks: Cruicible of Civilization is an excellent documentary giving a good basic overview of the Classical Greek Civilization. However, there are certain shortfalls in the video. The narration, visuals, live action sequences, recreations and interviews are all used skillfully to move forward the story in an understandable language. A particularly useful item was the use of three actors playing the parts of Socrates, Themosticles, and Pericles of Athens. These actors do not have any speaking parts; instead they stand while narration moves around them. This allows you to be able to visualize this character, giving life back to someone who could easily be just an old name about a time long ago. I felt that was beautifully done. But it's not perfect. The video seems to focus almost completely on Athens. At the beginning it is stated that Athens was but one of 1000 city-states of Greece; the director seems to forget this point very quickly. Other cities are forgotten and only mentioned when, and if, they come into contact with Athens. This short changes the other cities, such as Thebes, Cornith, Argos, and Sparta which made up and influenced the Greek civilization. There also is almost no mention of the Greek colonies, or the nations that were comtemporary for the time such as the Persians, Egyptians, or Etruscans. Now that said, it can also be understood. If there is one place that is most identifable with influencing what we percieve as civilization, as society, as deomocracy, then it must be Athens. But still the city did not exist in a vacuum, it was part of a larger civilization. I have to say that this is a good, basic introduction to Classical Greece. An excellent way to begin the study of the past.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Good Introduction, but...Dec 27, 2005
By Brandon Abraham "california literati"
As a high school English teacher, I find this DVD to be a very good introduction to Greek history. It's basic, and it covers all the "bases"-art(pottery), literature(Homer), politics(Aristotle), and philosophy(Socrates).

However, most of the treatment is a bit too superficial for anybody who already has some familiarity with Greek history.

21 of 24 found the following review helpful:

Worthy effort but leaves a lot to be desiredJan 22, 2001
By W.Khan
This two and a half hour documentary is a an impressive effort on the part of PBS to give the viewer a glimpse of the glory that was ancient Greece .It does a good job covering those facets of ancient Greece that it choses to cover : the battles of Marathon , Salamis , the Paleponnesian war and fairly detailed vignettes of the statesmen & generals ( Cleisthenes, Themistocles,Pericles etc) .However the glaring weakness of this documentary lies in WHAT IT LEAVES OUT .After all , the enduring legacy of Athens to the western civilisation lies not in the wars it fought or the wealth it accumulated but in the treasure trove of philosophy,democracy,drama ,poetry and sculpture that it left behind. It is appropriate to have covered the contributions of Pericles and Themistocles to ancient Athens but what we really admire about ancient Greece isn't the military glory (the Tartars and Attila the Hun could have taught them a thing or two !)___rather it is in the dramas of Sophocles & Euripedes ,in the spiralling mysticism of Plato , the iridescent rationalism of Aristotle and the sublime majesty of Phidias's as manifested on the Parthenon frieze. It is in the intellectual and artistic realm that no civilisation ,before or since, can hold a candle to the ancient Greeks and the glaring deficiency of this documentary lies in giving short shrift to this aspect of the ancient Greek civilisation .I would have given it five stars but for this omission .

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