Catalog Search Results
Language
English
Description
In this myth, many versions of which have been passed down through the ages, Psyche is the Beauty. Concerned that his daughter did not have a suitor, Psyche's father consulted Pythia, who announced grave news: Psyche's father must leave her on a hilltop, from where a monster would come take her away. In fact, Psyche was welcomed into a magnificent castle. Instead of being a monster, her husband was reassuring and tender. His only request was that...
Language
English
Description
Antigone was one of Oedipus' four children. She had two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, as well as a sister, Ismene. One day, her sister informed her that her two brothers, who were heirs to the throne of Thebes, were fighting each other for power. They had agreed to take power alternately, but when the time came for Eteocles to hand his crown over to Polynices, he refused. An inevitable war ensued. Antigone rushed to try to reason with them, but...
Language
English
Description
Having become organizer of the world, Zeus entrusted the world of the sea to his brother Poseidon, and the underworld, or the kingdom of the dead, to Hades. Alone, in a place he had not chosen himself, Hades reigned over the people of the shadows and over the grimacing creatures that surrounded him. One day, having left his kingdom to breathe a little air on the surface, he crossed paths with the beautiful Persephone, with whom he fell in love - and...
Language
English
Description
To earn the title of Master of Olympus, Zeus took many important steps, and overcame many challenges. His story is one of an incredible conquest of power, dating back to time immemorial, when the world began. Born from Chaos, Gaia - Mother Earth - mated with Uranus, the sky. Many children were born from their union, notably the Titans and the Cyclops. The youngest of the Titans, Kronos, revolted against his father, who had suffocated his mother and...
Language
English
Description
In Search for the Trojan War, begins with "The Age of the Heroes," in which Michael Woods follows the footsteps of early archeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, who searched from 1870 to his death in 1890 for evidence of the historic city. Filmed in Greece, Turkey and Europe, the heroes from Homer's "Iliad" come alive as Schliemann's quest uncovers what he believed to be Priam's Treasure at Hisarlik, Agamemnon's burial mask at Mycenae, and Mycenaean murals...
Language
English
Description
Forewarned by Circe, Odysseus has his men plug their ears with wax so they will not hear the Sirens' song, and has himself lashed to the mast. Thus restrained from responding to the lure of promised wisdom, Odysseus navigates between the monstrous man-devouring beast Scylla and the wandering ship-shattering rocks of Charybdis. Bemoaning the loss of yet more of his men, Odysseus progresses to the next stage of his journey.
Language
English
Description
No mortal endured more terrible a tragedy than Oedipus. He was the son of King Laius, King of Thebes, who, as a young man, having abused King Pelops' son, caused his death. The Gods forbade him to have offspring, and decreed that if Laius gave birth to a son, that son would kill him. However, his wife Jocasta did give birth to a son, Oedipus. Laius removed Oedipus from Thebes, and he grew up far away from the city, without knowing his true identity...
Language
English
Description
We all know about Heracles' unequalled strength, and the twelve labors he had to carry out, but we know a great deal less about the way in which his life was turned upside down by a series of terrible curses. Born from the union between Zeus and Alcmene, Heracles was a target for Zeus' wife Hera's jealousy, and she sent snakes to kill him while he was still in his cradle. Hera manipulated Heracles once again when he killed his wife Megara and their...
29) Euripides: Medea
Language
English
Description
This is the stunning Kennedy Center production of Euripides' great classic about a woman driven by emotion beyond the brink of rationality. With Zoe Caldwell as Medea and Judith Anderson as the nurse. The English text is by Robinson Jeffers.
30) The Odyssey
Language
English
Description
Contemporary Western society revolves around celebrity-and ancient Greek culture was no different, as this program demonstrates with perceptive comparisons of the two worlds. Scholarly analysis and splendid re-enactments bring new life to Homer's epic, giving it both a historical and personal context. For long-ago Greek listeners enraptured with famous warriors and athletes, Homer fashioned a subtle moral dilemma: can one pursue fortune and recognition...
Language
English
Description
This documentary from Clash of the Gods explores the 3,000-year-old story of the woman at the heart of the Trojan War. The Greek poet Homer told the tale in The Iliad and The Odyssey, and Hollywood has presented its own versions. Now, we examine the myth of Helen. Conceived from the god Zeus' rape of her mother, she is said to be the most beautiful woman in the world and desired by every man. Modern writers including Camille Paglia and Arianna Huffington...
32) Popol Vuh
Language
English
Description
The Mayan book of creation, the dawn of life, and the glories of gods and kings. This magnificent epic was saved from destruction at the hands of the Spanish by Quiché chroniclers. Once repressed, the story is now interwoven with the history of today's Mayan people. Featured speakers include archaeologist Richard Hanson, humorist Mo Rocca, and Guatemalan artist Shuni Giron.
Language
English
Description
Based on the publishing phenomenon, Percy Jackson and other young demigods continue to fight, but this time in the sea, to fulfill their destinies. To save their world, Percy and his friends must find the fabled and magical Golden Fleece. Embarking on a treacherous odyssey into the uncharted waters of the Sea of Monsters (known to humans as the Bermuda Triangle), they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate Evil.
34) Thor
Language
English
Description
When the arrogant warrior Thor is banished to Earth from his homeworld of Asgard, he must fight to reclaim his lost powers. Pursued by an invasion force sent to destroy him, the fallen God of Thunder must rise to the battle and learn what it takes to become a true hero.
35) Thor: Ragnarok
Language
English
Description
Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok, the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization, at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela.
Language
English
Description
On his quest to find the Golden Fleece, Jason asked the cruel King of Colchis and his daughter Medea, a powerful sorceress, for help. Medea fell in love with Jason, helped him to find the precious Fleece, and fled with him. Numerous adventures and misfortunes stemmed from this passionate encounter, and poor Medea seemed to be at the origin of them. The two young lovers took refuge in Greece, got married, and Medea gave birth to two children. But one...
37) Antigone
Language
English
Description
Antigone is perhaps the most easily accessible of all the great classical tragedies, its theme clear and up-to-date: the conflict between moral and political law. Now the tale of Oedipus and his family comes to its end-he, his wife Jocasta, his sons, and now, at the last, his daughter, all dead. Antigone is not the only victim in the play; Creon too comes to a tragic downfall-although he repents in time, bureaucratic ritual results in the deaths of...
39) Stardust
Language
English
Description
Tristan hopes to win the heart of his beautiful, but shallow love, Victoria. He promises to recover a star that fell somewhere beyond the stony Wall that sets between the mundane England and the fantasy kingdom of Stormhold. So Tristan sets forth on his own journey in Stormhold. Meanwhile in that magical land, the dying king has set his four surviving sons on a quest for the crown. And the witch Lamia is seeking the heart of the star for an entirely...
40) Ocean
Language
English
Description
Discover the ancient myths that surround our oceans and the modern science behind them.