Parthenon Sculpture: Centaur + Lapith

Parthenon Sculpture: Centaur + Lapith

Neil MacGregor's telling of the story of humanity through individual objects at the British Museum. This week he is looking at the emergence of powerful new forces across the globe around the 5th Century BC, from Confucius in China to Cyrus in Persia.

Today he looks at the emotionally charged sculptures that were made for the Parthenon in Athens. Carved out of marble around 440BC these beautiful figures continue to generate huge controversy around the world for the fact that they remain in London and have not been returned to Greece. In today's programme the British Museum's director acknowledges the political controversy of the Elgin Marbles (named after the British Lord who carried them off) but concentrates on their artistic story and on exploring the ancient Greek world that created them. He describes a culture besotted with the myths and imagery of battle. The Greek archaeologist Olga Palagia and the classicist Mary Beard help conjure up the extraordinary city of antiquity.

Episoder(101)

Benin plaque - the Oba with Europeans

Benin plaque - the Oba with Europeans

This week Neil MacGregor's history of the world is exploring the impact of the great European age of expansion and discovery during the 15th and 16th Centuries. In the last programme he described the ...

21 Sep 201013min

The mechanical galleon

The mechanical galleon

Neil MacGregor's world history as told through things. This week he is exploring the impact of Western European travel, trade and conquest between 1450 and 1600. He kicks off with an exquisite miniatu...

20 Sep 201013min

Durer's Rhinoceros

Durer's Rhinoceros

Neil MacGregor's world history as told through things that time has left behind. This week he is exploring vigorous empires that flourished across the world 600 years ago - visiting the Inca in South ...

17 Sep 201014min

Jade dragon cup

Jade dragon cup

The history of humanity as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum in London is this week exploring powerful empires around the world in the 14th and 15th centuries. Today he is with ...

16 Sep 201014min

Inca gold llama

Inca gold llama

The history of humanity - as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum in London - is back in South America. This week Neil MacGregor, the museum's director, is with the powerful elites...

15 Sep 201014min

Ming banknote

Ming banknote

This week Neil MacGregor's history of the world is exploring the great empires of around 1500 - the threshold of the modern era. Today he is in Ming Dynasty China and with a surviving example of some ...

14 Sep 201014min

Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent

Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent

Neil MacGregor's world history as told through things. This week he is exploring the great empires of the world around 1500 - from the Inca in South America to the Ming in China and the Timurids in th...

13 Sep 201013min

Hoa Hakananai'a Easter Island statue

Hoa Hakananai'a Easter Island statue

This week Neil MacGregor is exploring the sophisticated ways in which people connected to gods and ancestors in the Middle Ages. He is looking at religious images from India, France, Mexico and Turkey...

9 Jul 201014min

Populært innen Historie

rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
rss-katastrofe
historier-som-endret-norge
henrettelsespodden
rss-benadet
sektledere
rss-nadelose-nordmenn-gestapo
aftenposten-historie
historier-som-endret-verden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
rss-historiske-romanser
med-egne-oyne
rss-frontkjemperne
rss-gamle-greier
historiepodden
liberal-halvtime
historiepodden-ww2
vare-historier
sannhet-eller-konspirasjon
rss-historiepodden-ww2