Search Results for "ancient history"

Plot TBA. Said to be exclusively comprised of only three speaking parts.

Paul Morrissey’s first film, a collage work made up of found footage from 1950s newsreels.

In this one-hour, recreation-driven documentary, we focus on law and order in ancient Rome.

This program reveals that although alien sightings have become a big part of modern pop culture, they're nothing new. For thousands of years, people all around the world have pointed to the skies and seen incredible flying objects. Dramatic re-creations, historical artifacts and interviews with leading UFO experts make a case that alien life forms have been in contact with Earth since ancient times.

Iconic structures are apparent: the Empire State Building, St. Louis Arch, Space Needle, and Statue of Liberty. But their roots go back over 5,000 years to ancient Egypt. Entry to a glorious afterlife and worship of the gods led Egyptians to build some of the world's most impressive structures. We travel to Egypt to see how such monumental masterpieces as the Great Pyramid, Library at Alexander, Temple of Karnak, Sphinx, and the obelisks were built using only primitive tools and brute labor. Host Michael Guillen demonstrates how ancient Egyptians might have leveled 13 acres of ground to within two inches before building the pyramids. He offers an explanation as to how a 100-foot long obelisk made of a single slab of granite was raised. And he commissions an engineering study to determine what the Great Pyramid would cost to build today.

This travelogue takes you on a journey through the rich ancient landscapes of China's iconic Yellow River, with its abundance of natural and manmade wonders providing clues to the way life has flourished along its shores since the dawn of time. From the stone grottoes built over the course of 20 centuries to the preserved ferries that line the mother river, this sumptuously filmed documentary is the next best thing to actually being there.

No description available for this movie.

Archaeologist Sigurd Svendsen discovers that the Oseberg ship hides a secret from the Viking Age. Along with his two children put Sigurd out on a quest to find the truth. The mystery leads them into "No Man's Land" between Norway and Russia where no man traveling in modern times. Old runes take on new meaning when the secret they uncover is more frightening than anyone could have imagined.

A miss-matched couple embark on a frantic search for the Dead Sea Scroll hidden in the ancient city of Petra.

Best known for the myth of the Minotaur, Crete gave birth to Europe's first civilization. Yet little is known about those who inhabited the island. But now, with fresh archeological evidence, light is finally being shed on this ancient culture.

This explores the mysterious and catastrophic collapse of ancient civilizations during the late Bronze Age, from the Hittites to the Mycenaeans and the Egyptians, revealing the tumultuous events that brought an end to a thriving era of human history, and warns we may be facing similar threats today.

Albert Lin and National Geographic Channel unearth the terrible secrets that lie hidden in the tomb of China's first Emperor. The Terracotta Warriors are just the tip of the iceberg in this mausoleum the size of Manhattan, that has gone largely unexcavated…until now. These silent statues guard explosive, macabre findings that rewrite history and paint a very different picture of the ancient world from what we thought we knew.

This historical drama tells the story of Qin Shihuang, who unified China's vast territory and declared himself emperor in 221 B.C. During his reign, he introduced sweeping reforms, built a vast network of roads and connected the Great Wall of China. From the grandiose inner sanctum of Emperor Qin's royal palace, to fierce battles with feudal kings, this film re-creates the glory and the terror of the Qin Dynasty, including footage of Qin's life-sized terra cotta army, constructed 2,200 years ago for his tomb.

In 16th century feudal Japan the war between the Iga clan and the Kouga clan continues unabated. Typically for such violent disputes it is the women who suffer the most – in this case lowly castrated Kouga clan ninjas are kidnapping woman from their rivals’ lands and transporting them back to their own, with the intent to use them as concubines. Unfortunately for a trio of inept Kouga ninjas, one of the women they’ve kidnapped is Kisaragi (Rina Takeda), a skilled ninja with a long standing vendetta since her mother was kidnapped when she was just a baby.

The film chronicles the last 3 years of Akhenaten -called "the heretic pharaoh"- and his wife Queen Nefertiti, their mysterious and convulse reign in the context of the profound political and theological reform they promoted.

The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb is revealed for the first time in color, thanks to colorization of black-and-white newsreel and photographs.

What is true and what is false in the hideous stories spread about the controversial figure of the Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (12-41), nicknamed Caligula? Professor Mary Beard explains what is accurate and what is mythical in the historical accounts that portray him as an unbalanced despot. Was he a sadistic tyrant, as Roman historians have told, or perhaps the truth about him was manipulated because of political interests?

The 1st queen of the king dies in child birth, the prince survives. After the 2nd queen, gives birth to a new prince, she plots to kill the 1st prince, so that her son would get the crown after the king. A soldier senses this danger and ousts the prince to a rural village for survival. The village headman adopts the child without knowing the origin of the child. The prince gradually forgets his royalty, and grows up as a skillful and handsome farmer. After the death of the king, the soldier and religious leaders plan to bring the real prince to the crown.

In this gripping investigation, archaeologist Pepi Papakosta is on a hunt for Alexander the Great's lost tomb, and she makes an extraordinary discovery.

The story of the Trojan Horse is probably one of the most famous stories ever told: after ten years of bloody war, the Greek coalition decides to lift the siege and depart, but not before leaving at the gates a huge wooden horse, which the Trojans confidently lead into the city. A few hours later, the once invincible Troy goes up in flames. What exactly happened? Is this myth true or false?

The Lecturer, leader of the Feminine League Against Frivolity, tells the history of eroticism and censorship from the beginning of time until the late 1960s.

Forensic experts scan Pompeii’s victims to investigate why they didn’t escape the eruption.

Come back with us to Ancient Greece, 2,500 Years ago to the original Olympic Games. The ancient Games, like our modern Olympics, included champions and cheaters, glory and scandals, bitter rivalries and contests of strength, speed and savage combat. Set in 448 BC when the pounding of horse's hooves and the brutal hand-to-hand combat could be heard and seen by the crowds that filled the Olympic stadium. This one-hour special event follows the glory and corruption of the arc of a single, five-day Olympiad. The competitions include chariot racing, running, jumping, discus, javelin and two man-to-man combat finals-boxing and pankration, a form of extreme fighting in which death was not uncommon. With the help of sports historians and great athletes such as George Chuvalo and Olympic medallists Donovan Bailey and Angela Schneider, viewers travel back to a very different life-in a very different world.

An account of the reign of Herod the Great, king of Judea under the rule of the Roman Empire, remembered for having ordered, according to the Gospel of Matthew, the murder of all male infants born in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus, an unproven event that is not mentioned by Titus Flavius Josephus, the main historian of that period.

Bettany Hughes goes in search of this lost civilisation, revealing the story of a city founded out of the desert by Alexander the Great in 331 BC to become the world's first global centre of culture. The documentary also looks at the role of astronomer and philosopher Hypatia, and incorporates stunning footage from the feature film 'Agora'.

In the heart of the Jordanian desert, the ancient city of Petra is full of mysteries. How was this architectural wonder created over 2,000 years ago? The technical prowess of Petra, an ancient city in southern Jordan, which was a wonder in the middle of the desert.

With over 60 tombs, the Valley of the Kings is the most-famous burial ground on Earth. In the biggest Egyptian excavation ever, a team of archaeologists led by Zahi Hawass heads into the Western Valley to hunt for evidence of an undiscovered tomb.