Product Details

• Actors: Bettany Hughes
• Directors: Tim Kirby, Melanie Archer
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: October 21, 2008
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001B43IVM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,465 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Documentary > History > World History & Culture

Editorial Reviews

Columbus Dispatch

Hughes has breathed new life into too-often dull-as-dust documentaries on forgotten cultures.

Product Description

The glorious rise -- and mysterious fall -- of Europe’s first civilization

Best known for the myth of the Minotaur -- a monstrous half-man, half-bull imprisoned in Daedalus’s labyrinth -- Crete gave birth to Europe’s first civilization nearly 5,000 years ago, more than two millennia before Homer composed The Iliad. Then it collapsed in fire and violence.

Join historian Bettany Hughes as she follows the footsteps of Arthur Evans, Harriet Boyd, and other famed archaeologists to find startling new insights into Minoan culture. How did this ancient people live, worship, and prosper? Why did they build such magnificent palaces, complete with hinged doors, flush toilets, and elaborate warrens of rooms? What role did the daring, acrobatic bull-leapers play in society? And did the civilization finally succumb to natural disasters, foreign invaders, or religious strife? Fresh evidence excavated from sites all over Crete offers tantalizing clues to the everyday life -- and tragic destiny -- of the accomplished artisans and architects who lived at the crossroads of the ancient world.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable overview...great for students, December 18, 2008

By	Duane R. Wirdel - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent dvd and Hughes is easy to listen to. My only qualms are that I wish she had done more to link Minoan religion with the Neolithic Near East and I also have a problem with people being so full of angst about the idea that the Minoans might have had a dark side. We've become so enamored with Evans' "Happy Hippies" that we seem to have trouble looking at the real picture. The Minoans didn't get where they were by being pushovers...so they must have had some sort of military...God knows they were well known for making weapons and armor. Also, why is the idea that they might have practiced human sacrifice so startling? Who didn't at some time in the Bronze Age? Child sacrifice and ritualistic cannibalism weren't uncommon and its not like there is evidence that either were widespread on Crete. When one considers the Death Pits of Ur there is more startling evidence of human sacrifice in Sumer, yet no one bats an eyelash about it. Hey, the Minoans were people of their time.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Glory That Was Ancient Greece, October 18, 2008

By	Stephanie DePue (Carolina Beach, NC USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"The Minotaur's Island" is a British television documentary, made by and for the British Broadcasting 4 station. As presented by Bettany Hughes, a highly attractive, educated young Englishwoman who wears her accomplishments lightly, it is a stimulating look at the ancient history of Crete, an island at the crossroads of the Aegean Sea. The program gives us the sum of current knowledge of the Minoan civilization and its legendary monster, the Minotaur. This was a creature half-man, half-bull, hidden/imprisoned, according to ancient myth,in a labyrinth devised by ancient wise man Daedalus, whom Hughes calls "The Mr. Fix-It of the Bronze Age." This bloodthirsty monster was supposedly a menace to all travelers, until it was killed by the adventurer Theseus, with the aid of Ariadne, King Minos's daughter.

The Minoan, believed to be Europe's first civilization, began 5,000 years ago, according to Hughes: 1500 years before Greece's Parthenon was built, 1,000 years before Greece's great poet Homer was born. Then the Minoan civilization disappeared in fire and violence; all trace of it was lost. It receded into myth, until, in 1871, famed German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann began excavating in Crete. He would be followed in 1900 by Englishman Arthur Evans, and American Harriet Boyd.

Hughes travels the island, from Knossos to Mochlos, tracing archaeological finds from 1900 through today, seeking hints about the Minoans' social and political lives. (Mind you, as befits a well-brought up young woman, she speaks softly, and she's talking ancient history: subtitles would be welcome.) At any rate, Hughes takes us down a Minoan road, the first road built by Europeans, still standing; and summarizes the evidence that the Minoans indulged in human sacrifice. She wonders: why and how did this ancient people build such huge,magnificent palaces, equipped even with hinged doors, and flush toilets? Who sat on the elaborately-carved throne that Evans discovered? What role did the daring, acrobatic bull-leapers, whose exploits survive in the civilization's excavated art, play in the people's life? What doomed this aggregation of accomplished artisans and architects? Was it fire, flood, foreign invader, religious war?

The London-born Hughes, the child of actors, discovered an interest in classical history at the age of four, after watching a documentary on the ancient King Tutankhamen of Egypt. As a teenager, she learned Latin and Greek. She won a scholarship to St. Hilda's College, Oxford. Upon graduation, she was offered a fellowship at Britain's highly esteemed Victoria and Albert Museum, but instead chose a research grant that allowed her to travel through the Balkans and Asia Minor, examining ancient public spectacles and amusements. She's written articles, and published a book, Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore, in 2005. She wrote and presented a radio series on medieval history. And, of course, she has written and presented numerous popular TV documentaries for the BBC, PBS, and the Discovery Channel. Among the best known: The Spartans; Helen of Troy; When the Moors Ruled in Europe; and Athens: Dawn of Democracy. This vital young woman, who seems always to have been bound for glory herself, is also the mother of two young daughters, Sorrel and May.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More artifacts, less of the host!, April 7, 2009

By	Bruce Brocka (Quad Cities) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Factually accurate as far as it goes, this rather monotonous documentary misses its potential. Well produced, it falls short on specifics, coherence, and artifacts. The camera is always on the host, Bettany Hughes, making her the focus of the documentary rather than the fascinating archaeological finds of Crete.

I've been reading several works on the Aegean Bronze Age, and perhaps this has lead to my disappointment. If I was a complete newcomer to the field, I might have found this more fascinating.