A review of the discovery of the ruins of Machu Picchu, early in the twentieth century, and the subsequent piecing together of the history of the one-time capital of the Inca empire.
Presents a profile of the Aztec civilization, tracing its rise to the dominant culture of ancient America, and looking at how the Spanish were so quickly able to topple Aztec society. Includes a tour of the temple of Tenochtitlan.
Describes examples of technologies found in ancient civilizations that indicate the knowledge of steam power, magnetism, and other principles centuries before they were discovered and exploited in more recent times.
Presents an introduction to the black death of the Dark Ages, exploring the history of the bubonic plague, which claimed the lives of twenty-five million people in Europe during a five-year period in the fourteenth century, and looks at its origins and how it spread.
In 1693, the village of Salem, Massachusetts was overcome with superstitious hysteria. At the peak of the madness someone hundred fifty people, male and female, were accused of being witches. Twenty of them were executed.
Interviews classicists on the major Greek myths and why the Greeks imagined the gods to be so humanly flawed, discusses the roles the Greek gods play in modern culture, and visits their namesake temples.
