I thoroughly enjoyed the series that provided another excellent synoptic iteration of the fascinating and captivating subject of ancient GREECE and its extraordinary people that have overcome incredible odds to pave the way of the modern West.
It is rather concerning however to dismiss proven historical facts as it appears that some viewers have done, completely missing the fundamental point of these series and have gone off on a unhistorical hyperbola to bring in shaky or unfounded positions or worse even personal beliefs influenced by emotive criteria, such as calling the series misleading history or boasting a bit too much or Alexander The Great was not GREEK. Really?
What we call ancient GREECE (HELLAS) was not a single country governed by a single administration, as in the form of a "Republic" or a "Kingdom". The structure of ancient GREECE was that of self-governed city states (Poleis) that began to form in the 8th century BC, the Archaic period, spreading and colonising the Medetaranean basin. This was followed by the age of Classical Greece from the Greco-Persian Wars to the 5th and to 4th centuries BC. The conquests of Alexander The Great of Macedon signalled the Hellenistic period until the emergence of the Roman empire and the Roman GREECE. Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient GREEK kingdom of Macedon. (For example, not dissimilar to that of Bavaria and Germany). A member of the Argead dynasty, the ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorian GREEK provenance, was born in Pella a city in Macedon in Ancient GREECE in 356 BC and succeeded his father King Phillip II. (Alexander The Great was GREEK like for example Richard Strauss was German born in Bavaria!). Phillip's and Alexander's vision was the unification of the GREEK city state structure into the Great GREECE (HELLAS).
Although ancient GREECE (HELLAS) appeared fragmented into city states, there were key and fundamental elements binding the peoples together into a truly mighty force, a critical cultural mass. They all shared the same language, religion, culture. There were of course regional variations and emphasis on different customs but not materially significant and not dissimilar to that of Germany, France, Italy, Japan, etc. For example.
The GREEKS were the first ever civilisation to set solid foundations that influenced so many walks of life, from religion to politics to philosophy to arts to sciences to architecture... of course they learned from other earlier or contemporary neighbouring civilisations and of course they made good use of the experience of others but what is commendable is that the GREEKS did not only enhance and advance the things they learned, to higher levels of achievement but they also delivered their own thoughts, discoveries and innovations that astonish us to this day. It was on the shoulders of the GREEKS that the ROMANS stood to discover truth and advancement by building on previous discoveries (nanos gigantium humeris insidentes).
By the way, Socrates did not write any manuscripts/works himself for them to be destroyed. All his philosophical thoughts and teachings were transmitted via his pupils with Plato being the most prominent. Jesus Christ seems to have followed Socrates' paradigm and left no manuscripts/works himself choosing instead to transmit his doctrines via his disciples.
Important at this stage to ponder over a notable and profound achievement of the ancient GREEKS which was to give the anthropomorphic character to their Gods. This was a giant leap forward the importance of which cannot be dismissed or underestimated.
And let's not try to be unhistorically awkward by distilling the great many famous ancient GREEK movers and shakers down to just Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. One must simply not dismiss the plethora of the other indelible names... Homer, Hippokrates, Archimedes, Solon, Demosthenes, Heraclitus, Epicurus, Diogenes, Democritus, Zeno, Pythagoras, Euclid, Thucydides, Pericles, Themistocles, Praxiteles, Phidias, Ictinus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Isocrates, Thales, Herodotus, Xenophon, Parmenides, Leonidas, Alcibiades, Sappho, Cleisthenes, Artemisia, Aspasia, Cynista, Epaminondas, Diotima, Pasion, Neaera, Olympias, to mention but only a very few, and of course, Alexander The Great. To close, according to Friedrich Nietzsche "The GREEKS are interesting and extremely important because they reared such a vast number of great individuals. How was this possible? This question is one which ought to be studied"
With a legacy like this one can safely afford to boast, not a bit but a lot! Packing all of this vast and greatly influential history in 2.5 hour tv series can only be a tiny taster, so, let's be realistic about expectations.
4 out of 5 found this helpful