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the ancient world on television              january 12-18, 2004
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All times Eastern

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Descriptions provided by network websites ...
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Monday, January 12
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6.00 a.m. |HISTU| The Rise and Fall of the Spartans: Code of Honor,
Revered and feared in their own time, the ancient warriors from the
Greek city-state Sparta invented the boot camp, frontal assault,
state-sponsored education, and a lifestyle and aesthetic that still
bears their name. Who were these soldiers willing to fight a losing
battle in defense of honor and country? How did they become the
greatest fighting force the world had ever known? What kind of
society produced such men? We explore the cornerstones of life and
death in ancient Sparta.

2.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Secrets of Ancient Empires: First Armies
dna

7.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Mystery of the Shroud
dna

8.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Ancient Apocalypse: Mystery of the Minoans
dna
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Tuesday, January 13
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2.00 p.m. |HISTU| Egypt's Great Pharaohs, Pt. 1
A chronicle of the legendary rulers of ancient Egypt and the immense
monuments they built to their own greatness. Their wonders include
the Great Pyramid of Giza, the temples of Karnak and Luxor, and the
treasures of King Tut.

3.00 p.m. |HISTU| Egypt's Great Pharaohs, Pt. 2
A visit to the newly opened pyramid complex of the Pharaoh Snefru
and the ancient burial ground of Abydos. Explore the lives of the
most powerful kings in history, who were worshipped as gods on earth,
and whose lasting achievements still appear to have been built by
gods.

4.00 p.m. |HISTU| Egypt's Great Pharaohs, Pt. 3
Akhenaten the Heretic King and Queen Nefertiti rock Egypt to its
foundations, and King Seti the First wages brilliant military
campaigns against Egypt's enemies. 

4.00 p.m. |DCIVC| The Mystery of the Miami Circle
dna

5.00 p.m. |HISTU| Egypt's Great Pharaohs, Pt. 4
Cleopatra uses her cunning mix of politics and seduction in a
desperate bid to maintain her power, but fails. With a self-inflicted
fatal snakebite, Cleopatra ends her life and brings to a close the
3,000-year reign of pharaohs.

6.00 p.m. |HISTU| The Sphinx of Egypt
The brooding figure of the Great Sphinx stands guard over the
pyramids of Giza. With the head of a man and body of a lion, this 240-
foot ruin may depict Pharaoh Khafre, son of Khufu, the builder of the
Great Pyramid. But speculation still abounds as to its birth. We'll
use computers to flesh out its possible original face.

7.00 p.m. |HISTU| Egyptian Pyramids
Constructed as tombs for the ancient pharaohs, over 100 pyramids
remain in Egypt. Built during a span of well over 1,000 years, they
stand as cultural and engineering marvels of staggering proportions.
But many things about these monuments, including the exact methods
used to construct them, remain tantalizingly obscure. Travel back in
time as we investigate their evolution--from the earlier mastaba to
the Step Pyramid, Bent Pyramid, and of course, the magnificent
necropolis at Giza.

7.00 p.m. |HINT| Herod the Great
Explores the life of King Herod, the great builder who left behind
Masada and Temple Mount. Was he a great king or a ruthless killer?

8.00 p.m. |HINT| Blood and Honor at the First Olympics
Explores the first Olympic Games in 776 BC organized by the Greeks.
Bodies were broken and literally trampled to death in these "games",
where winning was everything.

8.00 p.m. |HISTC| Ancient Journeys
Messages from the past are often difficult to decode and until
recently much was left to speculation. Today’s archaeologists are
armed with forensic tests including DNA analysis, sensitive scanning
techniques, advanced chemical analysis and satellite imaging. This
three-part series demonstrates how, with the help of scientific
breakthroughs, new answers are being found to our oldest questions.

8.30 p.m. |DCIVC| Meet The Ancestors: Princess of the City
dna
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Wednesday, January 14
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5.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Archaeology: Killer Quakes of the Bible
dna

5.30 p.m. |DCIVC| Archaeology: Women of Lesbos
dna

7.00 p.m. |HINT| The Puzzling Pyramids of Mexico
Travel to the ancient city of Teotihuacan, home of the magnificent
pyramids and Temple of the Feathered Spirit.

8.00 p.m. |DISCU|David and Goliath
An archeological and historical detective story about the ultimate
hero, a man who was both a prolific poet and a vicious warrior.
Recent archeological evidence supports the existence of David and
that he may have been born a nobleman.

9.00 p.m. |HINT| Lost Civilizations: Inca: Secrets of the Ancestors
Join us as we travel back through time to explore the secrets of the
Incan ancestors--the Moche, the Nazca, and the Paracas--and relive
the glory of the Incan emperors, Machu Picchu, and the 15,000-mile
Incan road system. Sam Waterston narrates this Emmy Award-winning
series that sweeps through 7,000 years of history and transports
viewers across the ages using dramatic reenactments, location footage
from 25 countries, and recent archaeological discoveries to
reconstruct the ancient past.

10.00 p.m. |HINT| Time Team: Launceston, Cornwall
Tipped-off by local landowner Andy Reeve, who came across human
bones while mending a leaking water pipe, Time Team attempts to solve
the history of a well-preserved female skeleton in Launceston,
Cornwall--with a 3-day time limit! Mick Aston, Professor in
Archaeology at Bristol University, host Tony Robinson (Baldrick in
"Blackadder"), osteoarchaeologist Margaret Cox, and site experts try
to determine if she was a leper from a 13th-century leper colony
believed to have existed nearby.
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Thursday, January 15
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5.00 p.m. |DCIVC| The Emperor of the Steppes
dna

7.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Quest For Gold: Ancient Egypt
dna

7.00 p.m. |HINT| The Greatest Pharaohs, Pt. 3
Akhenaten the Heretic King and Queen Nefertiti rock Egypt to its
foundations, and King Seti the First wages brilliant military
campaigns against Egypt's enemies.

8.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Unearthing the Lost Empire of the Queen of Sheba
dna

9.00 p.m. |HINT| Foot Soldier: The Barbarians
Profile of the savage fighters who surrounded and then conquered
ancient Rome, ushering in the Dark Ages. Hosted by Richard Karn.

9.00 p.m. |HISTC| Ramses Warrior Pharaoh
This series examines the great conquerors of the world and provides
new insights into their most compelling military achievements. Each
episode combines graphics with recreations to analyze every facet of
their famous battles and conquests. Some of the conquerors profiled
include Genghis Khan, Hannibal, Ramses, Alexander, Cortez, the
Spartans and the Romans.
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Friday, January 16
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3.00 p.m. |HISTU| Vikings: Fury From the North
They swept down from the north to plunder the wealth of Europe, and
for 300 years, no one was safe from their brutal attacks. But they
also built cities, founded empires, and crossed the Atlantic to
discover a new world. They were the Vikings, and they changed the
face of the world before vanishing into myth and legend. We'll follow
in the wake of this great seafaring culture and examine the bold
nature and amazing accomplishments of the "Fury from the North".

3.00 p.m. |HINT| Cleopatra: Destiny's Queen
She was Egypt's greatest queen, but not a drop of Egyptian blood
flowed through her veins. The Romans regarded her as a dangerous
seductress, but for almost half of her adult life she remained
celibate. A profile of this exceptional woman who used all her talent
to become one of the most feared rulers of her time.

5.00 p.m. |HISTU| Sodom and Gomorrah
Did the sinful cities Sodom and Gomorrah really exist before being
destroyed by God? Was the story a morality tale or depiction of an
actual disaster? At the Dead Sea's southern end, archaeologists
uncovered ruins of two ancient cities, Bab-edh-dhra and Numeira, with
signs of fire and collapse. Speculation that they were the biblical
cities was given new life with discovery of a sanctuary in a nearby
mountain. Built beside an ancient cave, it bears an inscription
calling it a shrine to Lot.

7.00 p.m. |HINT| Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World
An original profile of the explorer that reveals details of his life
that will surprise many viewers. Columbus received little credit for
his discoveries and died a broken and largely forgotten man.

7.00 p.m. |DTC| Sodom and Gomorrah
Examine geological clues to a natural disaster responsible for one
of the most dramatic apocalyptic events in history. Search for
evidence of earthquakes and landslides that sparked the fires that
consumed the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

8.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Moments in Time: Antony & Cleopatra: Battle at
Actium
dna

8.00 p.m. |HINT| Attila: Scourge of God
Bloodthirsty barbarian or benevolent ruler? Our profile portrays
Attila the Hun as he really was: shrewd, tough, and at times even
thoughtful. A man who, through intelligence and sheer force of
character, forged a loose confederation of nomadic tribes into the
most fearsome military machine of its time.

8.00 p.m. |DTC| Building the Dream
Travel from Rome to Byzantium and listen to the stories of
Byzantium's beginnings, the change from the classical pagan world to
a Christian one, the people, architecture and sculpture.

9.00 p.m. |HINT| Ivan the Terrible: Might and Madness
The life of the bloodthirsty first Tsar of Russia. Ivan killed his
own son and had several of his wives murdered.

9.00 p.m. |DTC| Envy of the World
Visit the marvelous material culture of medieval Byzantium--
including everything from ivory and silk to blue fish sauce and
golden bezants. Also, discover how this fabulously rich city was
almost destroyed.

10.00 p.m. |DTC| Heaven on Earth
Examine the period of Iconoclasm, when lethal debates concerning
sacred images were conducted inside Byzantium. Also: the rise of
Islam and the Arabs.

10.30 p.m. |HISTC| Brendan the Navigator
Did sixth century Irish monks land on the shore of North America,
1000 years before Columbus? The evidence centres around a mysterious
ancient manuscript which has baffled scholars for generations - are
the descriptions it contains just coincidence, or do they really
describe a world that would remain a secret for centuries to come?
Using recreation, archive footage, and the maps and charts of the
day, the programme traces the journey from the wild west coast of
Ireland across the treacherous Atlantic to ‘the land God promised to
the saints’, and explorer Tim Severin tells how he set out to test
the theory by building a replica of St, Brendan’s boat.
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Saturday, January 17
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3.00 p.m. |DTC| Building the Dream
Travel from Rome to Byzantium and listen to the stories of
Byzantium's beginnings, the change from the classical pagan world to
a Christian one, the people, architecture and sculpture.

4.00 p.m. |DTC| Envy of the World
Visit the marvelous material culture of medieval Byzantium--
including everything from ivory and silk to blue fish sauce and
golden bezants. Also, discover how this fabulously rich city was
almost destroyed.

5.00 p.m. |DTC| Heaven on Earth
Examine the period of Iconoclasm, when lethal debates concerning
sacred images were conducted inside Byzantium. Also: the rise of
Islam and the Arabs.

6.00 p.m. |DTC| Forever and Ever
Witness Byzantium's end and a cast of characters ranging from Tsars
to Sultans. Observe the continued influence and survival of Byzantium-
-among the most influential cultures in world history.

7.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Atlantis Uncovered
dna

7.00 p.m. |DISCU|David and Goliath
An archeological and historical detective story about the ultimate
hero, a man who was both a prolific poet and a vicious warrior.
Recent archeological evidence supports the existence of David and
that he may have been born a nobleman.

7.00 p.m. |HISTU| Medieval Lives: The Alchemist
Since the age of science and reason, the Middle Ages has been
dismissed as a period shrouded in ignorance and superstition. But the
reputation of medieval scientists, known then as philosophers, has
been unfairly blackened. Not only did they understand more than we
accredit, but they had a more ethical approach that we could learn
from today.

7.30 p.m. |HISTU| Medieval Lives: The Minstrel
Supposedly wandering gaily from town to town, medieval minstrels
were written off as an effete and ineffectual footnote to history.
But, according to Terry Jones, this is unfair. Medieval showbiz could
prove a risky career choice, with minstrels often caught up in wars
and political wranglings.
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Sunday, January 18
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6.00 p.m. |HISTU| Attila, Pt. 1
Movie. Shot in Lithuania, this 2-part movie portrays the life of one
history's most feared men--Attila, King of the Huns in the 5th
century--and the Western World's fate, represented by a rapidly
diminishing Roman Empire. Part 1 follows young Attila, who survives
the murder of his chieftain father and the slaughter of his village,
and goes on to become a great warrior whose exploits draw the
attention of Roman General Flavius Aetius. Starring Gerard Butler,
Powers Boothe, and Alice Krige. [part 2 follows at 8.00 p.m.]

9.00 p.m. |DISCU| Noah's Ark: The True Story
Search for the truth behind the story of Noah and his ark. Find out
how Noah could have built such a structure and whether or not a great
flood took place on the earth. The search for remains of the ark
continues today.

10.00 p.m. |DISCU| The Real Jason and the Argonauts
The myth of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden
Fleece may be based on real events that took place over 3,000 years
ago. Discoveries in Greece suggest that Jason's journey may have been
a genuine voyage of discovery.
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                        Channel Guide

A&E     The Arts and Entertainment Channel (cable)
DTC     Discovery Times Channel (U.S. Cable)*
DCIVC   Discovery Civilization (Canadian Cable)
DISCC   Discovery Channel (Canadian Cable)
DISCU   Discovery Channel (U.S. Cable)
HINT    History International (U.S. Cable)
HISTU   The History Channel (U.S. Cable)
HISTC   History Television (Canadian Cable)
NGU     National Geographic Channel (U.S. Cable)*
PBS     Public Broadcasting System (U.S. National Schedule)
TLC     The Learning Channel (cable)

*n.b. Canadian versions of these two channels have recently
been made available although the Canadian versions don't seem
to be making their schedules available yet. For what it's worth,
the Canadian version does seem to 'match up' in regards to
ancient programming most of the time.
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Copyright (c) 2004 David Meadows. Feel free to distribute these
listings via email to your pals, students, teachers, etc., but
please include the title and this copyright notice. These
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Thanks!
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3:24:37 PM