Artemis, Apollo's twin sister, was noted for both her beauty and her cruelty. She protected flora and fauna, especially wild animals, and was not reluctant to punish those who acted against nature. In this program, we visit the temple at Brauron, Arcadia, Mount Cithaeron, and other Artemisian haunts, and learn about Artemis' birth and youth. Also told are the stories of Orion, Niobe, Callisto, Echo and Narcissus, and Actaeon.

The Greeks prayed to Poseidon before embarking on sea journeys. They offered him the first fish caught, called him "the savior," and attributed their naval victory over the Persians to him. In this program, we learn how Poseidon was saved by his mother Rhea, and how he acquired his trident and used it to help his brother Zeus in his struggle against the Titans and Giants. We see some of the places where Poseidon was worshipped and meet characters...

It is said that every road movie and novel about a defining journey owes a debt to the Odyssey. This imaginative program uses the poem's division into groupings of books as a framework to allow Dr. Tom Winnifrith, of Warwick University; Dr. Douglas Cairns, of Leeds University; and Ken Dowden, senior lecturer at Birmingham University, to analyze the oral tradition and key elements of the story line. Readings and dramatizations from the Odyssey enhance...

In this program, we discover that Athene sprang full-grown and fully-armed from Zeus's head, and that Aphrodite emerged from the sea where the physical evidence had landed of Cronus' castration of Uranus. Also explored are love stories of Aphrodite, the myths of Neritis, Anchises, Pygmalion, and Galatea, the mythological roots of the Trojan War, and the lives of Ares and of Adonis. Athene gives mortals the olive tree, becomes patroness of Attica,...

The earth is the foundation of all Greek mythology, for it was the abundance of the earth that caused the birth of the sky and the formation of the universe. This program begins in Eleusis, one of the oldest sanctuaries dedicated to Demeter and site of the Eleusinian Mysteries. We learn about Triptolemus, who taught mortals the art of agriculture, and visit Thessaly - home to the myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the Greek version of Noah's Ark. We hear...

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are generally regarded as the authors of the Gospels. But did they actually write them? And if not, who did, and when? This program focuses on accounts and theories pertaining to the identities of the four Evangelists, as well as the authenticity of the texts attributed to them. Scholars and clerics examine and discuss original manuscripts, such as Codex Sinaiticus, with its Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas,...

The early Church saw a proliferation of writings all claiming divine authority. This program surveys many of these texts and their adherents, as well as traces the course of the New Testament's codification. Original manuscripts and critical commentary are used to explore the infancy gospels, St. Clement's letters to the Corinthians, and the Gnostic gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and Gospel of Philip. Key figures...

Sophocles often won the leading prize at the Dionysia, the principal dramatic festival of Athens; but Oedipus the King was a runner-up, winner of the second prize. Posterity, however, considers the play second to none. The play tells the beginning of the Oedipus saga, setting the stage and creating the characters who will continue the story to its conclusion in Antigone. With Michael Pennington, John Gielgud, and Claire Bloom.

In this program, the far-reaching philosophical ideas of Plato's star pupil are examined by world-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee and noted Brown University professor Martha Nussbaum. Aristotle overcomes Plato's dualism of the intelligible and sensible worlds with his principle of the inseparable nature of eternal matter and form. The principles of potentiality and actuality are examined, along with Aristotle's theory of the four causes-material,...

Systematic thought about the true nature of things is the very foundation of philosophical reasoning: idealism and materialism.realism, nominalism, and conceptualism.the noumenal and the phenomenal.logical positivism, emergentism, and modal realism. In this program, Rutgers philosophers Brian McLaughlin, Barry Loewer, John Hawthorne, Ted Sider, and Dean Zimmerman discuss the nature of this most ancient branch of philosophy, exploring concepts of causation,...