Search - Ancient Greece - Traditions of Greek Culture on DVD

Great analysis of Greek History and Culture

Jazzdrums | Philadelphia, PA United States | 01/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I went through a number of materials preparing lectures for a legal-study tour to Greece. This was truly outstanding - a wonderful program for those who really want to know the truth, including the warts, of the development of Greek history."

Not for everyone but still worth watching for some

Cassandra Strand | Roseville, MN USA | 03/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD is not going to appeal to everyone. If your a fan of the productions on channels like the History Channel or A&E or even PBS your probably not going to be thrilled with this much at all. If you just love everything about Greek culture or you liked those ancient slow moving presentations they show you in school then you may like this a lot. I bought it because I've been researching ancient Greek dances and although this DVD didn't give me as much material as I hoped for I can say that it lead me to some new discoveries and conclusions. So I do think it was ok. For me the Last two episodes were the high point of the whole work. "Bacchus, The God of Wine" and "Firewalking in Greece" were far more interesting I think especially since they deal with living culture as opposed to the remnants of culture found in statues and vases.

PROS:
1. It's four separate ~30 minute episodes in one DVD. You can easily watch one or all four in a single sitting.
2. It covers topics that often are not addressed in other documentaries about ancient Greece. Most of the other's cover specific historical events and things like the birth of Philosophy or Homer's works. While this one attempts to explore the less covered aspects of ancient Greece.
3. It shows some traditions that are still done today that are left over from the ancient Greek traditions and are still practiced as such, unchanged by time.

CONS:
1. The separateness of each episode does not flow well into each other as a whole.
2. The whole thing moves at a somewhat slow pace and can be very dry and boring at times which seems inconsistent with presenting a documentary on a culture which was live and vibrant. Moreover it makes watching all four episodes in one sitting a very difficult thing to do.
3. The visual quality of the DVD is not that great. It has a dated feel to it, if I hadn't seen it's date as being from 1994 I'd probably have guessed it was filmed in the 80's. At times it seems more like it was shot on a home video camera as opposed to being a professional production.
4. The voice is too monotone throughout the entire production which I think is what adds to the feeling of boredom in the whole series.

Overall, I probably wouldn't show this in a classroom of young children, middle school children or even high school children. I would probably say it would be OK for a college class if there was something specific in it that your class is exploring (for example for me with Greek dance I would be willing to show some of the last two episodes in a class). I say this because college level students are more easily able to handle the boredom which may result from some of the videos less appealing aspects but, they also should be able to get something out if it in terms of analysis and research as it relates to a class. I would recommend this for people who are researching Greek dance or other aspects of Greek culture although you'll want to make sure that it covers the aspects of culture that you are interested in. For example I thought perhaps the episode "Art In Ancient Greece" would actually address some aspects of dance or even Greek theater but it's only the visual arts, it doesn't include performing arts. So just make sure that it will cover what your actually looking for before you buy it."

Enjoyable but a little disorganised.

Mrs. Cheryl A. Bullock | Australia | 05/14/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The presentation is enjoyable but a little disorganised.For example I think in the first episode Mycenaean culture is shown but not commented on until a later episode. The program also presupposes some knowledge of Greek culture and history. That said, I enjoyed it and I would give it an extra half star."