Bettany Hughes covers the history of Egypt exploring the Great Pyramids and Ramses II.
Ancient Pharaoh's conjure up images of cruel dictators who built their empires on the backs of slaves. However this may not have been the case at all times. Take the Great Pyramids, Kufu brought the people together and invited them to take part of a grand project to not only ensure his immortality but their immortality as well. The early pyramids were stepped and the smooth sided pyramid was slow to develop. It took a few tries but a small smooth sided pyramid. Kufu wanted to scale up the pyramid and selected a place where his dream could come true. At a plateau in Giza, Kufu assembled his army of builders into one place. A city was built to house them, and they would be able to return to their farms to farm when the Nile was in its low stage. The workers would work while the Nile was flooded and they were unable to work in the fields. He encouraged his workers by saying that they were helping him move into the next world and it would be an honor for them to work on his pyramid. The workers succeeded in finishing the Great Pyramid in time. Ramses II was another great builder Pharaoh as well as a warrior. He was a defender to his people and an excellent propagandist. His father Seti, groomed his son into going out among the people, making the job of Pharaoh more visible to the people. Ramses had to justify his rulership to the people. He still included an ambitious building program as part of his reign, but the religious sites he built allowed ordinary people to take part of religious life. This wasn't enough for Ramses and he went after the Egyptians most deadly enemy: the Hittites. So what happened when he fought the Hittites, find out by watching the documentary. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. Each student should find at least three things to learn about from the presentation. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. Engineering Ancient Egypt Questions:
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Bettany Hughes explores the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War. Is the story consigned to the myth status or did a real Helen exist? Hughes demonstrates that archeology can show that myths do carry a kernel of truth to them.
Helen of Troy was originally Helen of Sparta. She was one of the first women who was documented in history and has been part of the imagination for over 2000 years. How should we interpret the story, was it history or was it fiction? Is she a warning? Do men need an excuse to go to war? This is a fascinating look at the history and story of Helen of Troy. The story is timeless, boy meets girl, girl goes off with boy, boys fight to get girl back. Hughes traces the story of Helen at the beginning. Helen was the only woman who is named from the age of Heroes, which allows the human imagination to run wild. Hughes demonstrates how striking a Bronze Age princess would look like, how a princess would be able to attract a Bronze Age Prince. A Bronze Age Princess held a high place in society, a woman who walked between the spirit world and the physical world. Helen was celebrated by Spartans for how she affected people. Helen was given to marriage after a series of trials to the Prince of Sparta. Paris enters the scene after he was asked to judge who was the most beautiful goddess. He chose Aphrodite, and she gave him the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen. He went to Sparta to claim his prize. The Spartans welcomed him with open arms and celebrated him as a honored guest. It was all part of etiquette. Helen acted like the perfect hostess. So who lingered on who's doorstep first? Continue to watch the series to find out. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. Each student should find at least three things to learn about from the presentation. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. Helen of Troy Questions:
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b. c. Bettany Hughes explores the world of Ancient Alexandria in the first episode of her Ancient World's series. She explores the rise and fall of the greatest city.
Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great and was the place where East and West met. The ancient city is well hidden by the modern city and one has to dig to find the story of Alexandria. It was an ancient city were the people took the best part of a variety of cultures and put them together. The city put a value on wisdom and was determined to collect the world's wisdom into one place. The city was founded in the in between times, between the fall of Greece and the rise of Rome. When Alexander the Great got to the place that would be known as Alexandria, he built a causeway out to Pharos island, implemented city planning and created a harbor which made Alexandria one of the busiest harbors in the world. He won over the Egyptian people by adopting to their culture. The Ptolemy Family eventually take over and then the city fell to Rome. Alexandria emphasized learning and collecting knowledge. There were places that allowed teachers to lecture students. Bettany Hughes introduces the audience to Hypatia on of the last female philosophers that Alexandria produced. She redesigned the Astrolabe. Alexandria was the place where teachers and philosophers could come together, work together and exchange their thoughts. The scale of Alexandria's ambition to collect the world's knowledge was unprecedented and bold. It all came crashing down. With a city where ideas flew, someone was bound to become offended. The Library was destroyed and philosophers were killed. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. Each student should find at least three things to learn about from the presentation. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. Alexandria Questions:
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b. c. Helen Castor concludes the series. Lady Jane's supporters slip away from the Tower of London. Mary is proclaimed Queen. Lady Jane is now a prisoner, but as rebellions against Mary pile up, she is executed.
It is day eight in Lady Jane Grey's reign and Lady Jane Grey takes charge of the tower and locks her supporters in the Tower, taking charge of the keys of the Tower. The days of Lady Jane Grey's reign are coming to an end. Princess Mary has gathered the supporters from the nobles and the commoners. The navy has rebelled against Lady Jane Grey and threw their support to Princess Mary. The Duke of Northumberland moves against Princess Mary but takes his time in engaging in battle with her. This is a fatal mistake on his part as the tide has turned towards Princess Mary. He doesn't realize the Navy had turned against the coup and turned over their gunpowder to Princess Mary. Princess Mary has won the day. The Privy Council makes plans to cover their own and protect their interests by blaming the Duke of Northumberland for the coup. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. England's Forgotten Queen 3 Questions:
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Episode 2 begins with day at Day 3 of Lady Jane Grey's reign. Princess Mary gathers support to make her bid for the throne. Duke of Northumberland works to make sure Lady Jane stays on the throne. The attack on Mary begins.
Nobody believes that Mary can take the English Throne. The King had changed the succession to the English throne and it seems that Lady Jane Grey will become Queen. Meanwhile, Mary sends out letters to gather support for her claim to the English Throne. The locals in East Anglia start to gather to support Mary's claim because she was the rightful Queen. She moves to Suffolk, continuing to call for support. Lady Jane Grey lives in the Tower under the watchful eye of the Duke of Northumberland. Lady Jane Grey's father was chosen to lead the army against Princess Mary, but Lady Jane Grey keeps him behind and sends the Duke of Northumberland in his place. This decision may have lead to her downfall. The Duke of Northumberland was the one who holds the coup together and by sending him away the coup might not be able to hold the throne. The Duke of the Northumberland marches on Princess Mary but badly underestimates the support Princess Mary has in the country. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. England's Forgotten Queen Episode 2 Questions:
England's Forgotten Queen Episode 2 Answers:
Helen Castor explores the life and death of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen of England. Castor explores why Lady Jane Grey was selected as Queen of England, the secrecy behind the plot to put her on the throne and the fight to keep her on the throne.
This is a careful look at the life of Lady Jane Grey and takes place over 3 episodes. Each episode takes at least three days of the nine days reign. Lady Jane Grey is a tricky subject in English history, there are plenty of angles to take. This documentary allows the viewer to make up their own minds on Lady Jane Grey Grey. The episode kicks off with the death of the King and the documents that were made concerning about his death. There were concerns surrounding what would happen if the King were to die and if the Catholic Princess Mary would take the throne. With the dissolution of the monasteries, the noble class enriched themselves and of course they would want to protect their interest. However the entire succession fell to women, not a man in sight. It was in this environment, Lady Jane Grey was put forward to become the Protestant Queen of England. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. England's Forgotten Queen Episode 1 Question:
England's Forgotten Queen Episode 1 Answers:
Neil Oliver explores the life and death of Alfred the Great, the English King who unified the country. He explores old England and what happened to the remains of Alfred the Great over the years.
A grave in a churchyard was excavated to uncover a set of bones, these bones could belong to Alfred the Great. It would help solve a 150 year old mystery, the bones were claimed to belong to Alfred the Great. He was the king that unified the English nation and the only English King called the Great. Neil Oliver explores the life of Alfred the Great from his early beginnings to his defeat of the Vikings. Oliver traces the history of how the bones ended up in the Church yard. He was originally buried in the old church in Winchester, then at the time of the death was in the progress of having a new monastery built. There he was exhumed and buried in the new monastery. When the Normans invaded they destroyed the Winchester church and then built a new church and moved the bones to a new church on the site. This church was then destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII, and it was a stone quarry for building the area around. He then looks at what happened to the area of the church during the Victorian period. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. All questions should fit onto one page after formatting. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. The Search for Alfred the Great Questions:
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Neil Oliver explores the Orkney Islands and explores the Viking ancestry of the island residents. The geneticists also compared the DNA from the residents of Norway to the residents of Orkney to determine Viking ancestry. They also compare how the residents of Orkney look in comparison to the residents of Norway. What was the impact of the Vikings on the bloodline of Britain? Was there a wholesale massacre of the people or did they intermarry with the locals?
The Orkney Islands were a perfect place for the Vikings to start their invasion of Britain. Oliver explores the history of the Viking invasions. He looks at names and shows how they can be a help in tracing a family's origins but only on the male side of the ancestry. He looks at what the fate the Pictish men had at the hands of the Vikings. He looks at the Orkney-Inga Saga for answers as to the fate of the Pictish men. Oliver also looks at a shipwreck that may have impacted the genetics of the people of Orkney Island. Sir Walter Bodmer's continues his work in creating a genetic map of Britain. This concludes the series on the genetic ancestry of the British. This episode concludes with the revelation of how Viking the residents of Orkney are. This series would be excellent for a science class studying genetics. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. Face of Britain Episode 3 Questions:
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Episode 2, Neil Oliver explores the genetic links in East England. This episode is about the Anglo-Saxons and how they settled in East England. He also discusses how language came down through the ages.
Oliver explores the how widespread the dark age invasion of Britain was. Did they massacre the local people or did they incorporate them into the Anglo-Saxon culture? Oliver explores the history of the invasions and discovers one of the Original Anglo-Saxon invaders. He interviews Martin Brundle, former Formula 1 driver, about his roots. Then he goes into the local population to see if there is a regional look to the people of East Anglia. He leaves the English shores and explores Friesland and discovers the connection between the Old English Language and the Friesa language. He is armed with a bit of old English and goes into a grocery store to ask for Bread, Butter and Cheese. He is successful on his grocery trip. At the end of the episode, How Anglo-Saxon the participants are is revealed. Neil Oliver also reveals how Celtic he is. This is episode especially touched me because my ancestors came from East Friesland. My aunt thought we had English ancestors because the family name could be translated as "English man." This series would be excellent for a science class studying genetics. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. Face of Britain Episode 2 Questions:
Face of Britain Episode 2 Answers:
Science and history come together in this series presented by Neil Oliver. DNA is being used to determined where each of the regional differences in Great Britain come from. This is an excellent series to show to a science class, especially in the genetics section of class.
The first episode covers the Celtic history of Britain, this is a look at what our ancestors left behind: our genetics. The first permanent Britons were hunter and gatherers. Neil Oliver starts off in Dartmoor and explores the Celtic fringe in order to determine how different that area is different from the rest of Britain. The geneticists go to Cornwall to gather samples and photos of the residences. Oliver explores tin mining in Cornwall and the impact of mining. The Cornish Language has been making a comeback as language. Politician Ann Widdecome took part of the experiment and Neil Oliver explores what our names tell us about where we come from. Oliver also goes with local to gather photographs of the people to determine the regional look of the people and then compares the typical look to an ancient man. Oliver then goes to Wales and tests how similar the Cornish Language is to the Welsh language as well as how related the Welsh and Cornish are to each other. The episode concludes with the revelation of how Celtic or Anglo Saxon the participants are? For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube here. Face of Britain Episode 1 Questions:
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |