Informative and entertaining episode that covers a couple of engineering achievements in Greece before Alexander the Great: the Lion's Gate at Mycenae, the water tunnel of Samos, the triremes of Themistocles, and the Parthenon of Pericles.
Each engineering or architectural feat is given its historical context, so there is a sense of continuity. You will learn such things as what a corbelled arch is, and how to build it so it doesn't fall down.
That's not as dry as it sounds. This is colorful exposition, with Peter Weller as our guide, not a classroom at MIT and a mid-term looming over us.
And, because the contexts are described, we learn a bit of political and social history along the way.
Good on The History Channel, as the Aussies say.
Each engineering or architectural feat is given its historical context, so there is a sense of continuity. You will learn such things as what a corbelled arch is, and how to build it so it doesn't fall down.
That's not as dry as it sounds. This is colorful exposition, with Peter Weller as our guide, not a classroom at MIT and a mid-term looming over us.
And, because the contexts are described, we learn a bit of political and social history along the way.
Good on The History Channel, as the Aussies say.
