Product Details

• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: Questar, Inc
• VHS Release Date: February 1, 1995
• Run Time: 205 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6303400353
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,858 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This three-part video series takes the viewer on a virtual tour of three ancient civilizations: Egyptian, Greek, and Roman. While all three videos mention the achievements of emperors and pharaohs, their chief aim is to re-create the daily life of the common people in these cultures. This slant makes the set a great supplement to history books or tours, which tend to focus more on major events. To be sure, the pyramids and the Parthenon get their share of airtime, but so do public baths, bakeries, and houses. All of these structures are "rebuilt" with computer graphics, which are superimposed over the ruins, giving the viewer a glimpse of each ancient city through its residents' eyes. Narrator Edmund Purdon fleshes out the pictures with details about what people ate, where they shopped, and how they entertained themselves. The Pyramids and the Cities of the Pharaohs is the longest of the videos (80 minutes) and the most entertaining, although Rome & Pompeii and Athens & Ancient Greece are both well done and worth a viewing for anyone curious about life in ancient times. --Larisa Lomacky Moore

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative videos, August 12, 2004

By 

R. Kramp (Parow East South Africa) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Great Cities of the Ancient World, Collection [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a good set of videos, very informative. It compares favorably with, for instance, National Geographic and Reader's Digest videos. The computer recreates of the ancient structures are good. When superimposed on the modern grounds, you can see it's artificial because the lighting is wrong. It would be nice if all ancient structures that can be restored and rebuilt are done so.
The video about ancient Greece should have included the modern lighting of the olympic flame ceremony.
The videos could have had normal color footage, instead of that faded black and white footage for the ancient everyday scenes.
At the end of the Egypt video, it says that there is a lot known, and unknown, about ancient Egypt. It would also apply to ancients Greece and Rome (and so on).
The Rome one is approximately 60 minutes, and could have been longer. The other two are approximately 75 minutes each. The Rome one could then have included the Pantheon in Rome, and Stabiae (by Vesuvious).
This series should also be available on DVD.