Extra-Credit Opportunity: Roman Documentaries on the History Channel
Saturday, Dec. 3:
"8-10pm -- Rome: Engineering an Empire - For more than 500 years, Rome was the most powerfuland advanced civilization the world had ever known,ruled by visionaries and tyrants whose accomplishmentsranged from awe-inspiring to deplorable. Onecharacteristic linked them all--ambition--and thethirst for power that all Roman emperors shared fueledan unprecedented mastery of engineering and labor.This documentary special chronicles the spectacularand sordid history of the Roman Empire from the riseof Julius Caesar in 55 BC to its eventual fall around537 AD, detailing the remarkable engineering featsthat set Rome apart from the rest of the ancientworld. Featuring extensive state-of-the-art CGIanimation, and exclusive never-before-seen footageshot on a diving expedition in the water channelsunderneath the Colosseum.
10-12am -- Roman Vice - The flowering of the Roman Empire saw incomparablepower and civilization - and at the same timecorruption, cruelty and depravity on an unparalleledscale. Emperors from Augustus to Tiberius and Nerobuilt the biggest empire the world had ever seen,while presiding over a way of life riddled withviolence, deviancy and excess. This special visits thearchaeological sites of ancient Rome, talks to leadinghistorians world-wide and uses stylish reconstructionsto describe and explain how good and evil went side byside."
Monday, Dec.5:
"10-11pm -- Battlefield Detectives - Siege of Masada.Masada is an extraordinary place and an epic story. Aseemingly impregnable mountain fortress built by KingHerod, it rises from the Judean desert of Israel closeby the Dead Sea. It's said that there, 2,000 yearsago, a band of Jewish freedom fighters defied themight of the Roman legions for three years. How didthey hold out against such odds? How did the Romansconduct a siege in such a hostile environment? TheRomans eventually battered their way into thefortress. But in a famous act of defiance, all theJews chose death over slavery. Overnight 960 men,women, and children committed suicide rather thansubmit to their Roman conquerors. Or did they? Today,using the latest scientific tools and re-examiningarchaeological evidence, experts are piecing togethera new story of the Masada siege, one that threatens tooverturn a legend."
Sunday, December 11:
10-11pm -- Ancient Discoveries - Ships.Lurking beneath Lake Nemi's blue waters lay the titansof Roman naval engineering--the Nemi Ships. Titanicluxury liners of the ancient world, they heldinventions lost for thousands of years. But why werethey built? Were they Caligula's notorious floatingpleasure palaces--rife with excess and debauchery?Flagships of a giant sea force? It took Mussolini'sobsession with all things Roman to finally prise thetwo wrecks from the depths of Lake Nemi near Rome.Using an ancient Roman waterway, he drained the lakeand rescued the ships, an accomplishment captured onfilm that we access to illustrate this astoundingstory. Sophisticated ancient technology discovered inthe boats transformed the understanding of Romanengineering overnight. Yet by 1944, the adventure hadturned sour and the retreating German army torched theboats. We reveal the mysteries of the Nemi Ships andthe ancient technology that made them possible."
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"8-10pm -- Rome: Engineering an Empire - For more than 500 years, Rome was the most powerfuland advanced civilization the world had ever known,ruled by visionaries and tyrants whose accomplishmentsranged from awe-inspiring to deplorable. Onecharacteristic linked them all--ambition--and thethirst for power that all Roman emperors shared fueledan unprecedented mastery of engineering and labor.This documentary special chronicles the spectacularand sordid history of the Roman Empire from the riseof Julius Caesar in 55 BC to its eventual fall around537 AD, detailing the remarkable engineering featsthat set Rome apart from the rest of the ancientworld. Featuring extensive state-of-the-art CGIanimation, and exclusive never-before-seen footageshot on a diving expedition in the water channelsunderneath the Colosseum.
10-12am -- Roman Vice - The flowering of the Roman Empire saw incomparablepower and civilization - and at the same timecorruption, cruelty and depravity on an unparalleledscale. Emperors from Augustus to Tiberius and Nerobuilt the biggest empire the world had ever seen,while presiding over a way of life riddled withviolence, deviancy and excess. This special visits thearchaeological sites of ancient Rome, talks to leadinghistorians world-wide and uses stylish reconstructionsto describe and explain how good and evil went side byside."
Monday, Dec.5:
"10-11pm -- Battlefield Detectives - Siege of Masada.Masada is an extraordinary place and an epic story. Aseemingly impregnable mountain fortress built by KingHerod, it rises from the Judean desert of Israel closeby the Dead Sea. It's said that there, 2,000 yearsago, a band of Jewish freedom fighters defied themight of the Roman legions for three years. How didthey hold out against such odds? How did the Romansconduct a siege in such a hostile environment? TheRomans eventually battered their way into thefortress. But in a famous act of defiance, all theJews chose death over slavery. Overnight 960 men,women, and children committed suicide rather thansubmit to their Roman conquerors. Or did they? Today,using the latest scientific tools and re-examiningarchaeological evidence, experts are piecing togethera new story of the Masada siege, one that threatens tooverturn a legend."
Sunday, December 11:
10-11pm -- Ancient Discoveries - Ships.Lurking beneath Lake Nemi's blue waters lay the titansof Roman naval engineering--the Nemi Ships. Titanicluxury liners of the ancient world, they heldinventions lost for thousands of years. But why werethey built? Were they Caligula's notorious floatingpleasure palaces--rife with excess and debauchery?Flagships of a giant sea force? It took Mussolini'sobsession with all things Roman to finally prise thetwo wrecks from the depths of Lake Nemi near Rome.Using an ancient Roman waterway, he drained the lakeand rescued the ships, an accomplishment captured onfilm that we access to illustrate this astoundingstory. Sophisticated ancient technology discovered inthe boats transformed the understanding of Romanengineering overnight. Yet by 1944, the adventure hadturned sour and the retreating German army torched theboats. We reveal the mysteries of the Nemi Ships andthe ancient technology that made them possible."
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posted by Michelle-aneous Musings | 6:48 AM
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