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Le recensioni migliori da altri paesi
Steven D
Awesome three-part documentaries on three key cities that contributed to human civilization
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 30 agosto 2019
Happy Reader
Special Access and 3D Imaging For a Great Historical Tour!
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 23 aprile 2019
Happy Reader
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 23 aprile 2019
Highlights of what you see in and around the three cities:
ATHENS
....1. The Acropolis, the sacred hill now in the middle of a city of 4,000,000 people. The Parthenon (2,500 years old) is discussed but not scanned. That's saved for the Erechtheion, smaller and almost more sacred, off to the Parthenon's side (same age, and an odd little building of which I knew nothing).
....2. An abandoned silver mine south of Athens is scanned. You can almost feel the spirits of the slaves who died cutting through the solid rock.
....3. What did all that silver buy the Athens city-state? A dry dock ship shed is scanned in the harbor district of Piraeus. Dr. Bjorn Loven says that there is a 5th century b.c.e record that it took 140 men to pull one trireme out of the sea, and Athens had over 100 of the ships.
....4. Roman underground aqueduct built for Athens in 200 a.d. The team scans miles of the astounding tunnel network, most of which is still working!
CAIRO
....1. The Great Pyramid of Giza, 4,500 years old and made of 2,300,000 blocks. The scans show the ancient Egyptians were master builders: "The four corners are... within just four inches of one another", that is, the huge mausoleum is perfectly level.
....2. The Sphinx. Tries to settle just who built it.
....3. The Step Pyramid of Saqqara, completed 80 years before the Great Pyramid.
....4. Twin Roman Towers that once guarded the entrance on the Nile to the Red Sea Canal. What canal, I thought? It connected the Nile to the Red Sea, finished in 300 a.d., "a feat of engineering which allowed Rome to dominate trade to countries as far away as India."
....5. The Well of the Spiral in Cairo. Amazing!
ISTANBUL
....1. The Hagia Sophia is now a museum and has a long history.
....2. The Hippodrome, the giant racetrack built by Emperor Constantine. "Constantinople had few natural sources of fresh water. Concealed beneath the Hippodrome's seating, the abandoned passageways were converted into water-storage tanks" used for 1,000 years.
....3. The overhead bridge Valens Aqueduct, built in the late 4th century, carried water from a spring 125 miles away.
....4. Palace Boukoleon, trashed by the crusaders.
....5. Rumelihisari, the fort built by the Ottonan Empire when besieging Constantinople, the last hold out of the Eastern Roman Empire.
....6. Suleymaniye Mosque, built in 1557.
The host for this PBS series is Darius Arya, an archaeologist specializing in the ancient Romans. He is knowledgeable and intrepid (spelunking an ancient mine, for example) and enthusiastic, but he has a gee-whiz-golly manner of address that sometimes hits a nerve. But it was not enough to make me dislike the show, and when I watched it a second time it didn't bother me at all.
"Ancient Invisible Cities" originally aired in 2018. It is a joint production of BBC and PBS. In an unusual step, they filmed two versions in tandem. The PBS version was hosted by Arya. The BBC version was hosted by Michael Scott. The UK company, ScanLabs did all the 3D scanning used in both versions.
The 3 episodes total about 160 minutes. English SDH subtitles are available. If you purchase it on disc, there are no Bonus Features.
I would truly love the opportunity to visit the sights via virtual reality shown in this show. I wonder what happened to the virtual reality files. A definite 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for awesome historical stories and exploration.
Happy Reader
Immagini presenti nella recensione
Serge J. Van Steenkiste
How to Judiciously Mix Technology with Art to Shed a New Light on Architectural Marvels
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 1 gennaio 2019