Product Details

• Actors: Great Cities of the Ancient Wo
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Questar
• VHS Release Date: April 30, 2002
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302946395
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,715 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Video > Special Interests > Travel > Europe > Italy
  #81 in	Video > Documentary > History > World History & Culture

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This hour-long video covers the grandeur of the ancient cities of Rome and Pompeii. By reconstructing the ancient buildings, the viewer is given a glimpse of daily life in the early part of the first millennium. Using a collage of sculpture, paintings, and footage from black-and-white films about the Roman Empire, narrator Edmund Purdon takes the viewer on a journey through two cities that are considered part of the basis of modern civilization. Ruins are displayed in their present state, and then are rebuilt on video so we can see exactly what each building was used for. In this way, we can see how early Romans lived--how they shopped, what their theaters were like, their baths, their eating and drinking habits, and even their bloody gladiator fights. Pompeii is introduced in the same manner, and we learn of its destruction--the earthquake and volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which killed over 2,000 people and buried the city until it was discovered in the mid-18th century. This video, part of the Great Cities of the Ancient World series, is a wonderful introduction for anyone curious about these important cities and a terrific foundation in the history of the Roman Empire. --Jenny Brown

From the Back Cover
The grandeur of Imperial Rome and Pompeii is re-created by Italian archeologists, historians, and video artists.

The magnificence of Rome and Pompeii as they were about 2,000 years ago is reconstructed before your eyes. See the Colosseum, as it stood, with 50,000 Romans applauding the bloody gladiator spectacles. Walk the Roman Forum in all its splendor. See the Circus Maximus where 150,000 cheered the chariot races. Gaze at the lavish lifestyles in both Rome and Pompeii--the baths, theatres, temples, palaces, and shopping markets. Watch Nero's Rome ablaze and Mount Vesuvius's devastation of Pompeii, re-created as it might have happened. It's all here. The first video that answers our curious imaginations about what these cities looked like and how the people in each really lived.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bravo, June 26, 2000

By A Customer

Very educational and entertaining. A must for teachers and students.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, December 30, 2000

By A Customer

After coming back from Rome and Pompeii, we found this video very interesting, historically and entertainingly. The way the ancient cities are recreated with the computer animation is a plus. We would recommend it to anyone interested in history or traveling.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars For the Insomniac, Not the History Buff, February 8, 2002

By	Amy C. Waters "magistra-a" (Luling, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although this video is a nice survey of information about the cities, it's production value was mediocre at best, and the educational content was sparse. The presentation was monotonous and literally put my students to sleep. Even I was hard-pressed to keep my eyes open and I'm fascinated by the subject. There are too many better videos out there on the subject to waste your time here.