The Greeks

I'm generally interested in ancient Greece so when I ran across an old recording of this series I thought I'd give it a try. It didn't take long before I began experiencing the disappointment. This show is using what I call the "multiple expert" format. Where it switches between video clips and brief commentaries by multiple personalities. It's been getting more popular as it a fast & cheap way to generate content. If you watch the science or history channels you've probably seen a few examples. Fast & cheap isn't necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, in this case it appears no attempt was made at achieving any kind of quality.The content was all "fluff". The pacing and editing was atrocious.It's what I would expect from a middle school student ADD. (or maybe that was the target audience)? Save yourself... watch something else.

What a fantastic 2 and a half hours this was. Highly educational account of Greek culture and society from when it started, until it's relevance today. Extremely comprehendible for any audience; I'm not sure how it could receive any BAD reviews (bogus-bogus-one).

I thoroughly enjoyed the series that provided another excellent synoptic iteration of the fascinating and captivating subject of ancient GREECE and its extraordinary people that have overcome incredible odds to pave the way of the modern West.

It is rather concerning however to dismiss proven historical facts as it appears that some viewers have done, completely missing the fundamental point of these series and have gone off on a unhistorical hyperbola to bring in shaky or unfounded positions or worse even personal beliefs influenced by emotive criteria, such as calling the series misleading history or boasting a bit too much or Alexander The Great was not GREEK. Really?

What we call ancient GREECE (HELLAS) was not a single country governed by a single administration, as in the form of a "Republic" or a "Kingdom". The structure of ancient GREECE was that of self-governed city states (Poleis) that began to form in the 8th century BC, the Archaic period, spreading and colonising the Medetaranean basin. This was followed by the age of Classical Greece from the Greco-Persian Wars to the 5th and to 4th centuries BC. The conquests of Alexander The Great of Macedon signalled the Hellenistic period until the emergence of the Roman empire and the Roman GREECE. Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient GREEK kingdom of Macedon. (For example, not dissimilar to that of Bavaria and Germany). A member of the Argead dynasty, the ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorian GREEK provenance, was born in Pella a city in Macedon in Ancient GREECE in 356 BC and succeeded his father King Phillip II. (Alexander The Great was GREEK like for example Richard Strauss was German born in Bavaria!). Phillip's and Alexander's vision was the unification of the GREEK city state structure into the Great GREECE (HELLAS).

Although ancient GREECE (HELLAS) appeared fragmented into city states, there were key and fundamental elements binding the peoples together into a truly mighty force, a critical cultural mass. They all shared the same language, religion, culture. There were of course regional variations and emphasis on different customs but not materially significant and not dissimilar to that of Germany, France, Italy, Japan, etc. For example.

The GREEKS were the first ever civilisation to set solid foundations that influenced so many walks of life, from religion to politics to philosophy to arts to sciences to architecture... of course they learned from other earlier or contemporary neighbouring civilisations and of course they made good use of the experience of others but what is commendable is that the GREEKS did not only enhance and advance the things they learned, to higher levels of achievement but they also delivered their own thoughts, discoveries and innovations that astonish us to this day. It was on the shoulders of the GREEKS that the ROMANS stood to discover truth and advancement by building on previous discoveries (nanos gigantium humeris insidentes).

By the way, Socrates did not write any manuscripts/works himself for them to be destroyed. All his philosophical thoughts and teachings were transmitted via his pupils with Plato being the most prominent. Jesus Christ seems to have followed Socrates' paradigm and left no manuscripts/works himself choosing instead to transmit his doctrines via his disciples.

Important at this stage to ponder over a notable and profound achievement of the ancient GREEKS which was to give the anthropomorphic character to their Gods. This was a giant leap forward the importance of which cannot be dismissed or underestimated.

And let's not try to be unhistorically awkward by distilling the great many famous ancient GREEK movers and shakers down to just Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. One must simply not dismiss the plethora of the other indelible names... Homer, Hippokrates, Archimedes, Solon, Demosthenes, Heraclitus, Epicurus, Diogenes, Democritus, Zeno, Pythagoras, Euclid, Thucydides, Pericles, Themistocles, Praxiteles, Phidias, Ictinus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Isocrates, Thales, Herodotus, Xenophon, Parmenides, Leonidas, Alcibiades, Sappho, Cleisthenes, Artemisia, Aspasia, Cynista, Epaminondas, Diotima, Pasion, Neaera, Olympias, to mention but only a very few, and of course, Alexander The Great. To close, according to Friedrich Nietzsche "The GREEKS are interesting and extremely important because they reared such a vast number of great individuals. How was this possible? This question is one which ought to be studied"

With a legacy like this one can safely afford to boast, not a bit but a lot! Packing all of this vast and greatly influential history in 2.5 hour tv series can only be a tiny taster, so, let's be realistic about expectations.

If this was a history lesson in school it would be deemed unfit. Rating this high means a lack of knowledge of history. It has already been proven that the Sumerians are the earliest culture to invent all that is claimed by the Greeks in this series. The Sumerians lived in CITIES by 5300 BC, or earlier, had a god who saved mankind, they invented democracy etc, and the Greeks copied it. So did the Egyptians. It was Rome that brought everything to the next level. Visit Rome and you will see a thriving, cultural, business, international city. Visit Athens and you have a snap shot of its short history long, long ago. Classical Greece lasted one century, and it encompasses the lifetimes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates was put to death for his philosophies by the Athenians themselves! They burned his teachings, and all we know of them is what Plato, his student remembered,. Plato's student was Aristotle. Aristotle's student was Alexander the Great, who then conquered Greece. That's 100 years.

I am a student of history and watched the full series with interest, only to be appalled at the incorrect history outlined. It depicts Macedonia, Mycea, Persia and others as being part of Greece ! It says Alexander the Great spread 'Greek culture' to the vast regions of his empire. Alexander was NOT Greek. He was Macedonian. Conquerors do not become the nationality of the conquered. It is like saying Germany is Polish. "Greek" and 'Magna Graecia" were names the Romans gave to the foreign settlers on Italian soil from Sparta, Athens and other city states. There was no Greece until the 19th Century, merely 200 years ago. Thus Greece and Magna Graecia in the series were not countries. The 'greeks" on Italian soil were entries in the population census of the Romans; they had settled in coastal Italy to escape their local tyrants, famine and rebellion. The Roman name for these settlers and refugees has stuck to this day.