history Archives - Page 58 of 61

Hadrian

History / 2 minutes of reading / March 29, 2018 / By HDclump

Dan Snow takes us on a journey around Hadrian’s vast empire.Immortalised in the UK after building a Wall on the edge of his Empire, which bears his name to this day. Hadrian’s Wall, as it is known, is just a tiny portion of a massive structure Hadrian had built to protect the Roman Empire, with similar, sister walls running through northern Europe and still more in north Africa. His legacy also includes the Pantheon in Rome. Hadrian brought the Empire to an unparalleled period of peace and prosperity. At the heart of this great Empire, however, lay a […]

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Knights Of Malta

History / 2 minutes of reading / March 27, 2018 / By HDclump

Their millennium-old legacy includes some of history’s most mysterious characters and relics, from the Holy Grail to King Solomon’s riches, Freemasons, and the Barbary Pirates. From humble monks to fearsome warriors, the Knights of Malta became Europe’s valiant and admired heroes. Tales of the ancient order of knights unfold on this in-depth exploration. The Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta have a lengthy history that has seen them encounter some intriguing historical legends; even the mysterious Holy Grail has connections to the impenetrable group. With origins shrouded in myth and a thousand-year legacy steeped in legends that

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Martin Luther King

History / 2 minutes of reading / March 25, 2018 / By HDclump

To mark 50 years since the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968, Trevor McDonald travels to America’s Deep South in the hope of getting closer to the man who meant so much to him and so many others. He uncovers new sides to the story, speaks to a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and interviews an expert on the horrors of lynching in 20th-century America. He also asks some of black role models, including Naomi Campbell, General Colin Powell and the Rev Al Sharpton, what Martin Luther King means to

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Auschwitz – The Nazis and The Final Solution

History / 2 minutes of reading / March 22, 2018 / By HDclump

Auschwitz – The Nazis and The Final Solution is a BBC six parts documentary film series presenting the story of Auschwitz through interviews with former inmates and guards to include authentic re-enactments of relevant events. The history of the Final Solution phase of the Nazi Holocaust, particularly with the most infamous of the death camps. Auschwitz – The Nazis and The Final Solution Part 1 – Surprising Beginnings German commanders discover the efficiency of gassing prisoners, and Auschwitz transforms from a small backwater camp for those resisting the Nazi occupation of Poland to a large scale extermination camp for

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Africa’s Great Civilizations

History / 2 minutes of reading / March 18, 2018 / By HDclump

In his six-hour – 6 part series, Africa’s Great Civilizations, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes a new look at the history of Africa, from the birth of humankind to the dawn of the 20th century. This is a breathtaking and personal journey through two hundred thousand years of history, from the origins, on the African continent, of art, writing and civilization itself, through the millennia in which Africa and Africans shaped not only shaped their own rich civilizations, but also the wider world. Africa’s Great Civilizations Part 1 Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores Africa’s rich history. Journey

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Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream

History / 12 minutes of reading / March 15, 2018 / By HDclump

Vienna was the capital of the Habsburg dynasty and home to the Holy Roman Emperors. From here, they dominated middle Europe for nearly 1,000 years. In this series, historian Simon Sebag Montefiore describes how the Habsburgs transformed Vienna into a multi-national city of music, culture and ideas. Napoleon, Hitler, Mozart, Strauss, Freud, Stalin and Klimt all played their part. Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream ep. 1 – Rise of the Habsburg Empire Vienna, once the pulsating heart of the Habsburg dynasty, was more than just a capital—it was the nerve center of an empire that dominated Central Europe for nearly

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Civilisations episode 7 – Radiance

Art, History / 2 minutes of reading / March 11, 2018 / By HDclump

In Civilisations episode 7, Simon Schama starts his meditation on colour and civilisation with the great Gothic cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres. He then moves to 16th century Venice where masterpieces such as Giovanni Bellini’s San Zaccaria altarpiece and Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne contested the assumption that drawing would always be superior to colouring. As the Baroque took hold in enlightenment Europe another Venetian, Giambattista Tiepolo, created a ceiling fresco Apollo and the Four Continents at the Bishop’s palace in Würzburg. Civilisations episode 7 – Radiance In a glorious sequence Simon celebrates this grand opera of

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Civilisations episode 6 – First Contact

Art, History / 2 minutes of reading / March 10, 2018 / By HDclump

In the 15th and 16th centuries distant and disparate cultures met, often for the first time. These encounters provoked wonder, awe, bafflement and fear. And, as historian of empire David Olusoga shows, art was always on the frontline. Each cultural contact at this time left a mark on both sides: the magnificent Benin bronzes record the meeting of an ancient West African kingdom and Portuguese voyagers in a spirit of mutual respect and exchange. By contrast we think Spain’s conquest of Central America in the 16th century as decimating the Aztecs and eviscerating their culture. Civilisations episode 6

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Civilisations episode 2 – How Do We Look?

Art, History / 2 minutes of reading / March 5, 2018 / By HDclump

In Civilisations episode 2, Professor Mary Beard explores images of the human body in ancient art, from Mexico and Greece to Egypt and China. Mary seeks answers to fundamental questions at the heart of ideas about civilisations. Why have human beings always made art about themselves? What were these images for? And in what ways do some ancient conventions of representing the body still affect us now? In raising these questions, Mary explores how the way we look can influence our ideas of what is civilised. The colossal prehistoric Olmec heads in Mexico set the scene. In a

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Civilisations episode 1 – The Second Moment of Creation

Art / 2 minutes of reading / March 4, 2018 / By HDclump

Civilisations episode 1 – The Second Moment of Creation: the first film by Simon Schama looks at the formative role art and the creative imagination have played in the forging of humanity itself. The Second Moment of Creation The film opens with Simon’s passionate endorsement of the creative spirit in humanity and the way in which art can help to forge the civilised life. Civilisation may be impossible to define, but its opposite – evidenced throughout history in the human urge to destroy – is all too evident whenever and wherever it erupts. Simon Schama explores the remote

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Death on the Nile

History / 2 minutes of reading / February 23, 2018 / By HDclump

Professor Fekri Hassan attempts to determine why the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the civilisation of the great pyramids, collapsed around 2200 BC. Can science show that terrible forces of nature were to blame – even driving people to cannibalism? Clues come from the remote deserts of southern Egypt, the glaciers of Iceland and a dramatic and unique archaeological find in the Nile delta. Scientists gather for a new series attempting to explain the dis-appearance of ancient civilisations. This first investigates the abrupt end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, 4,200 years ago. Conventional wisdom cites a political struggle. Professor

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The Treasures of Ancient Rome [ 3 parts]

Art / 3 minutes of reading / February 22, 2018 / By HDclump

Alastair Sooke takes an in-depth look at the art of the Roman Empire. The Romans were brilliant engineers and soldiers, but what isn’t as well known is that they also gave us wonderful artistic treasures. Treasures of Ancient Rome part 1 In this three-part series, Alastair Sooke argues that the old-fashioned view that the Romans didn’t do art is nonsense. He traces how the Romans during the Republic went from being art thieves and copycats to pioneering a new artistic style – warts ‘n’ all realism. Roman portraits reveal what the great names from history, men like Julius

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