Catalog Search Results
Language
English
Description
Perseus was not meant to come into the world. Fearing the fulfilment of the prediction according to which his grandson would kill him, King Acrisius shut his daughter Danaë away in a fortified tower. But Zeus fell in love with Danaë, and in order to conquer her, metamorphosed into a golden shower. Perseus was born from this union. Once he had become a man, Perseus was given the challenge of bringing the head of the Gorgon to the tyrant King Polydectes,...
Language
English
Description
Daedalus, a prominent Greek inventor, settled in Crete among King Minos' court. Queen Pasiphaë, who had an all-consuming passion for a white bull, called upon his services. The Sea God Poseidon had given the bull to her husband King Minos as a present, and King Minos had refused to sacrifice it for him. To take his revenge, Poseidon cast a spell on the poor Pasiphaë. Following orders, Daedalus found a solution to enable the queen to mate with the...
Language
English
Description
Arriving in Hades, Odysseus consults Tiresias, the soothsayer of Thebes, to ascertain the cause of his many misfortunes and learns that Poseidon is the father of the Cyclops. Meeting the shade of Agamemnon, he inquires after the cause of the Argive's death and is in turn warned about the fickleness of women. Arriving next on the Island of the Cattle of the Sun, Odysseus' men disregard the warnings not to eat Apollo's cattle; disobeying, they incur...
Language
English
Description
Odysseus and Telemachus are reunited, and their plan almost undone by the old nurse who washes the feet of Odysseus-disguised as a beggar-and recognizes the scar on his foot. Penelope is nearly at the end of her ability to put off the suitors, her nightly unravelling of the robe she is supposed to be weaving for her marriage having finally been betrayed. In the contest to see who can bend the mighty bow of Odysseus, the suitors are slain and Odysseus...
Language
English
Description
After seven years, Odysseus the much-enduring leaves Calypso and is shipwrecked once again, this time to be tossed ashore in the Land of the Phoecians, where Nausicaa provides the hospitality the gods require of all mortals and Odysseus tells the story of his adventures to King Alcinous. Landing finally in Ithaca, he is greeted by the goddess Athene disguised as a beggar, who advises him on the strategy for regaining his palace and his wife.
6) Orphee
Language
English
Description
On certain evenings, the constellation of Lyra is visible in the skies. Following Orpheus' death, Zeus placed the constellation in the sky, as a tribute to the greatest poet and musician in Greek mythology. Watched over by the muses from birth, Orpheus' talent enchanted nature, both trees and animals alike. A brave young man, Orpheus left with Jason's crew on board the Argo, to conquer the Golden Fleece. But what poets and artists remembered most...
7) Theseus
Language
English
Description
Theseus was the fruit of dual paternity: Aegeus King of Athens slept with Aethra when she had just been raped by Poseidon, God of the Sea. Theseus, who grew into a strong, brave young man, therefore had a double lineage - both divine and royal. Unsurprisingly, once he was old enough to fight, he decided to leave for Crete to take on the terrible Minotaur, which devoured 14 young Athenians a year, delivered to Minos, King of Crete. The Minotaur, one...
8) Appollon
Language
English
Description
Although they were the son and daughter of Zeus, Apollo and his twin sister Artemis were born under threats from the goddess Hera. Zeus' wife Hera never forgave the twins' mother - the nymph Leto - for her union with the King of Mount Olympus, and she forced Leto into exile. As a result, Apollo was a wandering god, who did not grow up on Olympus. He was a musician and an excellent archer, and was both gentle and cruel. He was also very handsome, but...
Language
English
Description
A contemporary interpretation of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece, this beautifully crafted program scrutinizes what is colloquially referred to as the battle of the sexes. Production values convincingly re-create the world of the Bronze Age, but commentary from modern scholars evokes themes easily recognizable in the 21st century: Who holds the real power in male/female relationships? Why are women so often objects of male fear as well as desire?...
Language
English
Description
This program explores one of the oldest stories in all of Greek mythology. Michael Wood traces the route of Jason and his famous boat, the Argo, from Greece to Turkey and modern-day Georgia. It begins in the town of Volos in Greece-where King Pelias feared Jason a contender to this throne and sent him on the impossible mission to the kingdom of Colchis on the Black Sea to retrieve the magical Golden Fleece. Similarly, Wood travels by boat to the Greek...
Language
English
Description
Bellerophon, the grandson of Sisyphus, one of the Greek world's worst criminals, dreamt of becoming a hero, of being equal to the Gods. But his plans got off to a bad start with the accidental murder of his brother. Forced into exile, he took refuge in Tyrins. But there too, nothing went according to plan: accused of rape by Queen Stheneboea, he left to visit the King of Lycia, who in a bid to get rid of him, imposed fearsome challenges on him. Bellerephon...
Language
English
Description
Located in the bowels of the Earth, Tartarus was the prison of the Underworld, the place where fallen Gods and banished heroes ended up. The Gods also sent three men there... The first was Sisyphus. A roguish trader, Sisyphus dared denounce Zeus for taking away a young woman he was intending to seduce. His punishment was to roll a boulder up a mountain for evermore. The second man to be sent to Tartarus was Tantalus. Close to the Gods, King Tantalus...
Language
English
Description
Having escaped from the Cyclops, the Greeks are made welcome by Aeolus, King of the Winds, who gives Odysseus a bag of winds that would otherwise blow him off course. Within sight of Ithaca and overcome by distrust, his men open the bag to see what treasures Odysseus is hiding. The ensuing storm takes them to the Island of Circe, the sorceress who drugs men and turns them into swine. Through the intervention of Hermes, messenger of the gods, Odysseus...
Language
English
Description
A quick retelling of the fall of Troy (showing the wooden horse), and the visit to the Land of the Lotus-Eaters, where the desire to dream sweet dreams overcomes many of the Greeks until Odysseus has them forcibly brought aboard his boats again. Crossing the wine-dark sea, they come to the Land of the Cyclops where they come a-cropper of Polyphemus, the murderous giant who disobeys the law of the gods to be hospitable to strangers. Only the cunning...
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
Hermes was the youngest of the Gods of Olympus. Right from birth, he was an insolent, thieving, trickster God. While still a baby, he escaped from the cave in which his mother Maia gave birth to him, and stole Apollo's herd. He subsequently invented the first lyre, which he offered him as a sign of reconciliation. Zeus admired the young God Hermes, and entrusted him with several missions: to become a messenger, to become an intercessor between the...
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
The Goddess of War Athena was the wisest, most level headed and rational deity. She was born out of Zeus' skull, wearing a helmet and holding a spear. She was the protector of heroes, the State, and mankind, to whom she passed on many inventions. She was also a very beautiful woman, who attracted a great deal of attention, including that of the lame god Hephaestus. She regularly clashed with her arch-rival Poseidon. At Poseidon's expense, she won...
Language
English
Description
Zeus had a reputation for being a seducer of women. One day he lay with a mortal - Semele, the daughter of the king of Thebes. Their son Dionysus did not immediately join Olympus on account of his dual identity. Dionysus was brought up by nymphs. One day he discovered the vine, and decided to travel the world teaching mankind the art of making wine out of it. He was an errant, wandering God, and was often considered marginal. He left for Thrace, and...
Language
English
Description
Taking revenge against Prometheus, Zeus created the first woman - the beautiful Pandora. He gave her a manipulative and deceptive character, and subjected Prometheus to terrible torture. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were the sons of a Titan, Japetus. Japetus clashed with Zeus in the Battle of the Titans, whereas Prometheus - which means "forethought" - guessing that Zeus would be the victor, sided with him. But although Zeus and Prometheus...