Treasures of Ancient Greece

- Season 1

(2015)

Alastair Cooke examines the precursor cultures of classical Greece, starting in Minoan Crete, where the archaeological discovery of Cnossos's palace showed a vibrant world focused on Homeric mythology and sensuality, as on contemporary Santorini, the 'Greek Pompeii'. The gold treasure in the cyclops-size ruins of Mycene on the Peloponnese represents a later phase, grim and warlike.

Classical Greece's art was heir to its own prehistory and great oriental traditions, which left their mark. However the Greeks developed the modern sense of beauty, fascinated by the human body, the athlete being taken as model even for the gods, while both games and specially commanded art played a major part in their pagan religion, national identity and inter-(city-)states rivalries. Trough Roman admiration and imitation, continuing in the early Christian church, their ideals survived and were explicitly takes as model in the Renaissance.

As the Romans greatly admired Greek art, they allowed their empire to be culturally 'hellenized' just as they conquered the known world. Elements would be retained as Christianity adopted Roman traditions. The rest would be rediscovered during the Renaissance and a few masterpieces such as the Laakoon group and a bathing Aphodoite would gain extreme influence as perfect examples. Artists like Michelangelo were proud to follow in the footsteps of Praxiteles and other Greek masters, while even the prudish Catholic church overcame taboos like nudity, notably in ...