The Romans were brilliant engineers and soldiers, but what isn't as well known is that they also gave us wonderful artistic treasures. In this three-part series, Alastair Sooke argues that the old-fashioned view that the Romans didn't do art is nonsense. He traces how the Romans during the Republic went from being art thieves and copycats to pioneering a new artistic style - warts 'n' all realism. Roman portraits reveal what the great names from history, men like Julius Caesar and Cicero, actually looked like. Modern-day artists demonstrate the ingenious techniques used to create these true to life masterpieces in marble, bronze and paint. We can step back into the Roman world thanks to their invention of the documentary-style marble relief and to a volcano called Vesuvius. Sooke explores the remarkable artistic legacy of Pompeii before showing how Rome's first emperor, Augustus, used the power of art to help forge an empire.
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The Romans were brilliant engineers and soldiers, but what isn't as well known is that they also gave us wonderful artistic treasures. In this three-part series, Alastair Sooke argues that the old-fashioned view that the Romans didn't do art is nonsense. He traces how the Romans during the Republic went from being art thieves and copycats to pioneering a new artistic style - warts 'n' all realism. Roman portraits reveal what the great names from history, men like Julius Caesar and Cicero, actually looked like. Modern-day artists demonstrate the ingenious techniques used to create these true to life masterpieces in marble, bronze and paint. We can step back into the Roman world thanks to their invention of the documentary-style marble relief and to a volcano called Vesuvius. Sooke explores the remarkable artistic legacy of Pompeii before showing how Rome's first emperor, Augustus, used the power of art to help forge an empire.
2012 • History
Alastair Sooke follows in the footsteps of Rome's mad, bad and dangerous emperors in the second part of his celebration of Roman art. He dons a wetsuit to explore the underwater remains of the Emperor Claudius's pleasure palace and ventures into the cave where Tiberius held wild parties. He finds their taste in art chimes perfectly with their obsession with sex and violence. The other side of the coin was the bombastic art the Romans are best remembered for - monumental arches and columns that boast about their conquests. Trajan's Column in Rome reads like the storyboard of a modern-day propaganda film. Sooke concludes with the remarkable legacy of the Emperor Hadrian. He gave the world the magnificent Pantheon in Rome - the eternal image of his lover Antinous, the most beautiful boy in the history of art - and a villa in Tivoli where he created one of the most ambitious art collections ever created.
2012 • History
For the people of the ancient world, the Huns were "the most feared of all warriors". Never before had people experienced such brutal fighting. The power of the mounted nomads became a threat to Rome, but other tribes were also on the move and headed to the center of a weakened empire.
He begins with an epic journey into the remote Peruvian Andes in search of the mysterious Chachapoya people. Once numbering half a million, they were known as the 'People of the Clouds'. Dr Cooper reveals how they developed sophisticated methods of recording stories, traded in exotic goods found hundreds of miles from their territory, and had funeral traditions that challenge assumptions about ancient human behaviour. His search for evidence takes him to astonishing cliff tombs untouched for 500 years and one of the most spectacular fortresses in South America, where the fate of the Chachapoya is revealed.
S1E1 • Lost Kingdoms of South America • 2013 • History
This episode of NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM follows New York into a new century in the wake of an extraordinary wave of immigration and the birth of the skyscraper. As New York spilled into the new century, the extraordinary interplay of capitalism, democracy and transformation surged to a climax. During a single generation, over 10 million immigrants arrived in New York. The city itself became an even more dramatic lure with the construction of the first subways and skyscrapers. And arising from the plight of New York's most exploited citizens came landmark legislation that would eventually transform the lives of all Americans.
S1E4 • New York: A Documentary Film • 1999 • History
More than 2,000 years after he conquered the known world, Alexander the Great continues to fascinate. Alexander the Great, a man of extremes and contradictions. A film about one of the most extraordinary military leaders of all time and who this man really was. Discover the astonishing truth in Beyond the Movie Alexander the Great. At the age of 30, he already ruled one of the most powerful empires in the world. It stretched from the olive groves of Greece to the magnificent palaces of India. Alexander brought East and West closer together for the first time and changed the ancient world forever. He was very wise and intelligent, but also a murderer. What personal demons fueled Alexander's unquenchable thirst for danger, fame and conquest. Who was this man of extremes and contradictions really? This National Geographic film attempts to unravel the myth and provides fascinating insights into the world of one of history's greatest military leaders. Impressive reconstructions and the detailed perspectives of scientists and experts reveal the secrets and myths surrounding the real Alexander. Discover how tactical battlefield savvy and reckless bravado made Alexander the most formidable warrior-leader of all time. Learn why his ferociously loyal men venerated Alexander, then finally, some say, conspired in his still controversial death. Brought stunningly to life with powerful re-creations and in-depth academic insights , it's a journey behind the mists and myths of history that reveals the real Alexander the Great as never before!
2004 • History
Humans. We have been around for a while now. When we think about our past we think about ancient civilizations, the pyramids, stuff like that. But this is only a tiny, tiny part of our history.
In a Nutshell • 2016 • History
The dramatic story of the defense of France against Hitler's invading army in order to enable the desperate evacuation of over 300K men of the British Expeditionary Force and Allied troops across the English Channel to safety in 1940.
S2E7 • Butterfly Effect • 2018 • History