ART101&102 Art History: Films on Art History I

Birth of a Nation: The Acquisitions and Achievements of the Achaemenid Empire

• At its height, the Achaemenid Empire of ancient Persia embraced all previous civilized states of the ancient Near East—a multinational empire without precedent. This program presents the history of the First Persian Empire, with particular attention paid to the historic architecture of the period’s major cities and palaces. (52 minutes)

Renaissance of Glory: The Rise and Fall of the Sassanid Empire

• The rule of the Sassanid Empire of ancient Persia was characterized by considerable centralization, ambitious urban planning, agricultural development, and technological improvements. This program reveals the history of the Second Persian Empire, with a focus on the architecture of the royal palaces and religious temples of the period.(43 minutes)

The Birth of Art: Treasures of Ancient Egypt

• Taking in Egypt's greatest historical sites, Alastair Sooke tells the story of Ancient Egyptian art through 30 extraordinary masterpieces. Exploring how this civilization's art reflected its religion, he looks anew at the Great Pyramid, and the statuary and painting of the Old Kingdom. (52 minutes)

The Golden Age: Treasures of Ancient Egypt

• On a journey through Ancient Egyptian art, Alastair Sooke picks treasures from its most opulent and glittering moment. Starting with portraits of tyrant king Senwosret III and ending with the golden mask of boy king Tutankhamun, Sooke explores architectural wonders, exquisite tombs and a lost city—site of the greatest artistic revolution in Egypt's history where a new sinuous style was born under King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. Along the way Egyptologists and artists reveal that the golden veneer conceals a touching humanity. (52 minutes)

A New Dawn: Treasures of Ancient Egypt

• A New Dawn is an epic adventure through Ancient Egypt, in which journalist and art critic Alastair Sooke tracks down the treasures of the longest-lasting civilization in history and uncovers the true story of their rise and fall throughout the ages. In A New Dawn he discovers how Egypt’s unique melting pot of geography and culture created some of the most remarkable treasures the world has ever seen. Specifically he shows the Nubian and Hellenistic influences on late Egyptian art. (50 minutes)

The Legend Under Siege

• Historian Michael Woods introduces three new archaeologists who join Heinrich Schliemann in the search for Troy: German architect Wilhelm Dörpfeld who uncovered the walls of Troy partially destroyed by Schliemann's excavations at Hisarlik; Sir Arthur John Evans who declared the Minoan Theory of Bronze Age dominance after excavating Knossos; and American Carl Blegen who found Mycenaean tablets of Linear-B writing at Pylos that disproved the Minoan Theory and vindicated Homer's story of Mycenaean dominance in the age of Troy. (57 minutes)

Minoan Civilization -Segment 7 (05:57)

• On the island of Crete, the Minoans built Europe's oldest civilization. Their society was sophisticated and luxurious. The Minoans made their wealth their maritime industry.

Volcano and Tsunami: End of Minoan Civilization -Segment 8 of 15 (05:47)

• In a small archipelago north of Crete now known as Santorini, which sat directly above a major fault line. Around 3,500 years ago, a massive volcanic and deadly explosion culminated in a giant tsunami that smashed into Crete.

• Delos: Island at the Center of the World     (29 min.)  What led the great powers of antiquity to install themselves on the minuscule island of Delos? And how did Delos, one of the most important religious centers in Greece, come to be an international trading hub, as well? To answer these questions, this program traces the island’s history between the 9th and 1st centuries BC.
• The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure     (24 min.) This program studies cultural transformations that began in the fifth century BC as Greek art discarded religious functions and moved toward human-centered concerns. Views of Cycladic sculpture and Kouros statues demonstrate an evolving realism.
• The Greek Awakening: Art from the 5th Century BC     (24 min.) Beginning about 500 BC, Greek artists and architects began working at an unprecedented level of sophistication, paralleling the rise of Athens as a Mediterranean power. This program illustrates the awakening of that classical Greek vision, from which emerged the most influential sculptures and buildings of Western culture.
• Beyond the Classical: Byzantine and Later Greek Art       (25 min.) Far from disappearing after the Hellenistic age, Greek art flourished with the rise of Christianity and the Orthodox church. This program explores the development of icon painting, the influence of Greek artists on later European movements.
• Greek Vases in the British Museum   (31:00)  Drawing on the British Museum’s world-famous collection, this program documents the history of Greek vases from 6000 BC to the 4th century BC and the techniques employed to create them; investigates the design and function of various vase shapes; and examines how myths, legends, and the themes of life, war, work, play, birth, and death were illustrated.
• Delphi: Place of Peaceful Conflict     (27 min.) In ancient Greece, Delphi held a central position between Attica, governed from Athens, and the Peloponnese, ruled by Sparta. Using the ruins at Delphi as a lens, this program views the continuous struggle for power that characterized the Greek city-states through accounts of the “big dig” carried out between 1892 and 1902 and recent archaeological studies conducted by researchers at the French School of Athens.

Enigma of the Etruscans: Clues from a Shipwreck

• This program documents the salvaging of the first Etruscan ship ever found: a spectacular wreck off the coast of southern France with a perfectly preserved lower hull and laden with hundreds of amphorae. (50 minutes)

Warts 'n' All: Treasures of Ancient Rome

• While the Greeks gave us idealized depictions of the human form, the Romans pioneered a warts ‘n’ all style that offered a more realistic look at their world and its people. In this program, Alastair Sooke examines the finely detailed portrait busts, replete with jowls and wrinkles, innovative narrative reliefs, frescoes, and mosaics of early Roman artists. Works studied include the Capitoline Wolf, the Barbarini Targattus, the bust of Pompey the Great, the Tomb of Eurycases, the Villa of the Mysteries, and many others. A BBC Production. A part of the series Treasures of Ancient Rome. (Portions with English subtitles, 60 minutes)

Pomp and Perversion: Treasures of Ancient Rome

• In this program, Alastair Sooke goes to caves, villas, and the underwater ruins of an emperor’s pleasure palace to find examples of passion and regal spectacle in Roman art. Sooke explains the political significance of monuments like the Arch of Titus and statues of emperors as gods, then explores painted celebrations of eroticism. (60 minutes)

The Empire Strikes Back: Treasures of Ancient Rome

• Around the turn of the third century, Roman art began to move away from classical traditions. Sooke explores the site of Leptis Magna in Libya, where the Gladiator Mosaic raises an old art form to new heights, and admires indigenous influences in Roman British silver and glassware; then goes to Ravenna to see how Roman motifs live on in early Christian art. (60 minutes)