CLA204H5: Introduction to Classical Mythology

[Criterion on Demand] Production companies: Paramount Pictures
Starring Dwayne Johnson as Hercules, Joseph Fiennes as Eurystheus, John Hurt as king Cotys of Thrace. Like Petersen’s Troy (2004), this movie may be considered a creative variant of the myth. And like with Troy, the gods and some monsters have been rationalized. Director Brett Ratner’s Hercules is a traumatized mercenary seeking redemption.

[Criterion on Demand] Production companies: Warner Bros
Like Brett Ratner’s Hercules, Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy (2004) is a creative variant of the myth. Have fun identifying the many discrepancies to the ancient tradition. Brian Cox and Brendan Gleeson are Agamemnon and Menelaus, Orlando Bloom is an aptly immature Paris, and Sean Bean a superbly elusive Odysseus. Peter O’Toole is a decrepit Priam who puts blind trust in gods who fail him.

[Alexander Street] Production Companies: BBC Worldwide
In Search of the Trojan War is a six-part BBC-documentary:
EP1: The Age of Heroes     EP2: The Legend under Siege
EP3: The Singer of Tales     EP4: The Women of Troy
EP5: Empire of the Hitties     EP6: The Fall of Troy

This documentary dates to 1985, but it is based on sound research and still worth viewing. Accompany the author and director, journalist and historian Michael Wood, to Turkey, Greece and beyond on the search for the truth about the Trojan War. If you are interested in computers, you will like the gigantic “prehistoric“ machine at Wood’s disposal, which in 1985 must have represented the state of the art in computing technology.
M. Morford, R. Lenardon and M. Sham, authors of Classical Mythology, say about this documentary: “By far the best film documentary about Troy and should be seen by everyone interested in the subject, even though it now needs to be updated. Excellent interviews with major archaeologists, biographies of important excavators (Schliemann, Dörpfeld, Evans, and Blegen), tours of the major sites, surveys of the excavations, discussions of Homer and the oral tradition that includes recitations by modern bards, and more.”

[Alexander Street & PBS]
“The tale of the Trojan Horse is one of the most captivating stories in Greek mythology. Since the 19th-century discovery of the site of Troy, historians have searched for evidence of a real Trojan War, and the truth behind this famous myth. Scientists investigate the real possibility that a Trojan Horse could have been used to trick Troy into defeat.”

[Alexander Street] The dramatists of ancient Greece, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides had a huge influence on their own times but they are arguably just as significant today. In this film Malcolm Hossick uncovers how they worked and why their ideas and methods were so revolutionary.

[Alexander Street]

[Alexander Street]

[Alexander Street]

Prometheus the Titan, cousin of Zeus, has given mankind fire. Further, he has thwarted Zeus's plan to obliterate the human race, and, in saving them, has taught them many arts, from writing to agriculture, architecture to medicine. His generosity to mankind, to whom he was sometimes known as creator, knows no bounds. But it is precisely this generosity which sees him punished...

[Alexander Street]

[Alexander Street]

[Alexander Street]

[Alexander Street]

[Alexander Street]