Dan Snow follows the route of Odysseus across the Mediterranean, beginning with the world of Troy and the Bronze Age warriors who inspired Homer’s epic. Sailing through Greece and the Ionian islands, he explores places traditionally associated with the Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens and other episodes of the hero’s long journey home, while examining the archaeology and historical evidence behind the legends. Along the way, Dan asks how much of the story may preserve memories of real places, peoples and events from the ancient Greek world. His voyage ends at Ithaca, where Odysseus’s struggle to return to his family reaches its climax. Combining myth, history, archaeology and travel, this documentary reveals how one ancient story became one of the most influential adventures ever told.
In the final three episodes of Season 1, Ragnar's ambition drives him toward his boldest gamble yet as a daring raid strikes at the heart of one of England's most powerful kingdoms. While victory promises unimaginable wealth and lasting fame, every decision carries devastating consequences, forcing alliances to shift and loyalties to be tested in ways no one expects. As the Vikings make their sacred pilgrimage to Uppsala, faith, sacrifice, and destiny collide in an unforgettable journey that changes the lives of Ragnar, Lagertha, and Athelstan forever. Political intrigue soon follows when Ragnar is sent to negotiate with the dangerous Jarl Borg, where diplomacy hangs by a thread and a single mistake could ignite a brutal conflict. Filled with epic battles, emotional turning points, and unforgettable characters, these episodes deliver a gripping conclusion that leaves you eager for the next season.
The end of a decade when the world was in crisis and inspiration and hope needed resurrecting, an influential duo released a masterpiece of popular music, Bridge Over Troubled Water. Through darkness and light, the album takes its listeners on an emotional ride echoing the era and one which continues to inspire an audience the world over 50 years later. Its symphonic hymn of a title track became an anthem for a generation. The Harmony Game tells the story behind what is widely considered Simon and Garfunkel's best work, Bridge Over Troubled Water. The influential duo's last studio album has its legacy shrouded in rock n' roll mythology with legendary tales of inspiration, innovation and separation. Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and their collaborators share the journey in their own words and reflect back on its impact 50 years later and includes never before seen film, photos and memorabilia.
Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She playfully interviews and interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting refreshingly candid, yet mostly contradictory, answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of their mother, who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving. Stories We Tell explores the elusive nature of truth and memory, but at its core is a deeply personal film about how our narratives shape and define us as individuals and families.
Once they were dreaded and thought to be dragons eating the sun--but modern science has dispelled mythology and we now look forward to total Solar Eclipses as one of the most spectacular phenomena in the heavens. Explore the complex movements of Earth, Moon and Sun that produce these unusual events and hear details why we may be the only intelligent beings in the known Universe to witness eclipses like we see on Earth. Man-made eclipses also figure into the science in the form of instruments called "coronagraphs." They blot out the sun and reveal its corona, uncovering secrets which, while enlightening, also warn of a disaster that could make our advanced technology crash and burn. Finally, travel into deep space, where the tiny eclipses caused by planets circling distant stars is now beginning to reveal hundreds more stars where "exoplanets" exist... perhaps even those in habitable zones like the Earth.
In the days of the Mayas, cenotes – deep, natural pits on the Yucatan peninsula - provided the only means of obtaining drinking water. But in the mythology of this advanced civilisation, these waterholes and caves were also the entrance to Xibalba – the underworld. All deceased were obliged to pass through Xibalba and wait there until they were called into heaven. It was a place in which one made sacrifices to the gods – objects of daily life, as well as bloody, human sacrifices. To this day, the relics of these acts are still in place preserved underwater for more than a thousand years. The entrance to the underworld begins at a dirty waterhole in the middle of the Mexican jungle overgrown and barely recognisable. But immediately after entry, a hall of breath-taking dimensions and beauty is revealed. As if they were sculptures, stalactites and stalagmites lend the underwater cave an almost sacred ambience. By now, one has succumbed to the fascination emanated by the world’s largest underwater cave system. We accompany four professional research divers to Yucatan – a team of specialists, able to squeeze their bodies through crevices and holes, barely larger than their bodies and who master dives that would push even the most experienced divers to their limits. With them, we penetrate worlds only a few people have ever ventured into. We encounter the remains of human victims, prehistoric fireplaces and primeval animal skeletons and undertake a dive, which takes us from the primeval forest to the open sea. We then enter Xibalba – the place of myths and the dead. In the days of the Mayas - a voyage of no return. Today, this is one of the greatest challenges one can face as a diver – the hidden world of the underwater caves of Yucatan – all filmed in 3D.
Along the way, Dan asks how much of the story may preserve memories of real places, peoples and events from the ancient Greek world. His voyage ends at Ithaca, where Odysseus’s struggle to return to his family reaches its climax. Combining myth, history, archaeology and travel, this documentary reveals how one ancient story became one of the most influential adventures ever told.