Customer Reviews

Seven Wonders of Ancient World [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I highly recommend this video - I teach Honors Ancient History and to my knowledge there isn't a better DVD on this topic.

If you are researching an academic paper this, obviously,is not for you. If you are interested in the subject and want an interesting and entertaining programme to watch then I can heartily recommend this DVD. Often I read reviews in which a programme is criticised for not being exhaustive, if an exhaustive account is what you are looking for then look in the "Books" catergory. Sometimes details are generalised for the sake of brevity but, although I was aware of this, I never found it reduced the overall enjoyment. I would have given it 5 stars had there been more in the way of expert interviews, but that is just my preference. The computer graphics were great and since buying this DVD a few months ago I have watched it three times. The extra features are excellent.

This film was aboslutley wonderful!! I used to teach history at the University level and found this video very useful to both my students and peers. In addition, it was refreshing to see people of different cultures played by actors who actually looked the part. No wonder this film won so many awards!!

This DVD was a good presentation of the seven ancient wonders of the world, but is rather short, and basic in terms of the information provided.
For anyone who has seen the BBC documentary on the 7 Wonders of the Industrial World (which was exceptionally done), this one is somewhat limited.

Throughout history, ancient civilizations were skilled at creating amazing sculpture and architecture that is still inspiring even today. Knowing that they didn't employ modern day construction techniques and didn't posses the tools we have now makes it even more incredible how these wonders were built on such a massive scale.

During the program, besides getting a brief history lesson on each of the monuments, there is ample time given to demonstrating the antiquated but interesting methods used to erect some of these huge structures. Also looked at are the then known studies of math and physics and how they figured into the design and construction processes.

Unfortunately in today's world, the only great wonder left out of the original seven is the Pyramid of Giza. But thanks to computer graphics and digital rendering, you can still see the other 6 wonders reconstructed (redrawn) as they would have looked in ancient times and they are simply amazing in every way.

`The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World' is an entertaining and informative documentary from start to finish. The narration from Pierce Brosnan is clear and distinct, the video footage is very nice to look at, and there are 4 worthwhile extra features that compliment the main program in several ways. This is recommended viewing for anyone who likes this type of material. Also, the distributor of this program, Questar, also has another excellent DVD titled `America's National Parks - A video tour of all 55 National Parks' and this is also highly recommended viewing.

I was disappointed with this film. I love the Greeks and their achievements. The film has a slow narration by Pierce Brosnan and visual effects which reminded me of the Jason and the Argonauts I saw wen I was a kid 30+ years ago. I did like the piece on the lighthouse.

I do not think any video or book can adequetely treat the subject with accuracy and not hype. Aside from only showing the barest ruins of these ancient structures (where they still exist), the only presentations that can be made are by comparison with resemblant structures. The video does not show the more extensive remains of the temple of Apollo at Didyma in Turkey for its similarity to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, or the mausoleum of President Mckinley for that of Mausolus on which it is based, or any Mesopatmian ziggurat for the Tower of Babylon. Of course the one reconstruction that is also possible has to have the cooperation of the Alexandrian Egyptians--- to rebuild the Crusader castle of the Pharos Island site of the ancient lighthouse into that 'wonder' since it is the same size and shape as the lighthouse base was; reconstruction details could be supplied by the Roman sculpture panel of the Ostia lighthouse built during Claudius' reign which was based on the Egyptian model. But as it is, the deficiencies of the subject are too great for video presentation.