Catalog Search Results
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 9
Language
English
Description
The plague ravaged England with stunning ferocity. Consider evidence of other possible disease agents that added to its effects, as well as factors in the environment that exacerbated the epidemic. Follow how the plague spread through inland waterways, with staggering losses to peasant populations and monasteries, and a resulting search for explanations of God's wrath.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 42
Language
English
Description
The eastern Roman: or Byzantine: Empire would outlast its counterpart in the West by a thousand years. Follow the fortunes of this flourishing hub, which included one of the most powerful women of antiquity and one of the ancient world's most globally influential legacies.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 19
Language
English
Description
The events of the Black Death inspired some of history's greatest literary masterpieces. In this lecture, uncover the range of textual responses to the plague, highlighting William Langland's dream-vision poem Piers Plowman and Boccaccio's Decameron. Learn how the plague set Geoffrey Chaucer on the path to literary immortality.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 26
Language
English
Description
Next, your journey takes you halfway around the world to Mesoamerica to explore the unusual Olmec culture. Here in the low-lying Gulf Coast of Mexico, 17 colossal heads offer a startling look at a fascinating and intricate culture-what anthropologists call a "pristine civilization" for its emergence in isolation from the rest of the world.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 30
Language
English
Description
After the fall of Robespierre, France shifted to the right as the Thermidorians struggled to save the republic and create a social order free from the violence of the Terror. Witness the last great uprising of the Revolution, yet again over bread and politics, and trace the construction of the short-lived government called the Directory.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 20
Language
English
Description
The 19th century witnessed an explosion of interest in the legend. Learn about the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, whose Idylls of the King inaugurated a new era of Arthurian writing and scholarship. Discover the extraordinary Arthurian works of the pre-Raphaelite painters, and delight in portrayals of Arthurian themes in stained glass, tapestry, and illustration.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 6
Language
English
Description
With the waning of Chavín's culture, striking new elements appear in the region's archaeological record. Here, encounter the Salinar culture, a new settlement pattern showing no ceremonial architecture and the first 'elite' housing. Examine the evidence of defensive citadels and what may have triggered warfare and emerging social hierarchy.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 34
Language
English
Description
Shift your attention to Andean textiles. These masterpieces combined amazing technical virtuosity with supreme aesthetic taste. You'll be amazed by the labor that went into these luxurious pieces, yet what's most striking here is that abstract art-a modern innovation in Western art-was developed in the Andes more than 1,000 years ago.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 12
Language
English
Description
Witness the early development of a unique culture that viewed itself as constituting the entirety of the world and thus the site of all cultural advancement, with the latter self-image largely maintained even after China gained an awareness of the world beyond its borders.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 12
Language
English
Description
Lake Titicaca is the site of one of South America's most impressive civilizations. Discover the huge urban complex of Tiwanaku and its cultural connections to Chavín de Huantar. Explore Tiwanaku's mysterious architecture and its 'raised field' agriculture, an engineering feat that allowed for the support of a large population.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 36
Language
English
Description
Delve into the achievements of the Maya, who were among the longest-lasting, most geographically extensive, and most culturally sophisticated of all Mesoamerican cultures. Grasp how we can know these things only because the Maya left behind what those other peoples did not: the records of a culture with a written language.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 25
Language
English
Description
Continue your investigation of Buddhism by turning to the largest Buddhist monument in the world, Borobudur. As you study the terraces of this "cosmic mountain," you'll see superb carved reliefs that tell stories about the Buddha's life, humanity's place in the cosmos, and the path to nirvana.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 5
Language
English
Description
Turn now to the hero of Homer's celebrated Odyssey: Odysseus. From his plans for the Trojan horse to his tricking of a murderous cyclops to his final arrival back in Ithaca, learn how Odysseus's scheming and lying led to heroic triumphs that made his story relatable to everyday ancient Greeks-and to modern readers.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 17
Language
English
Description
Two highly significant 16th-century battles were fought at the Indian town of Panipat. Learn about the rise of the Mughal emperors and the military clashes that first opened the door to their advance into India and then solidified their control, establishing a dynasty that would last for centuries.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 7
Language
English
Description
Watch the evolution of Paris from the 17th century to the 19th and grasp how the city became the spawning ground for the age of European revolutions. Witness the events from the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy following Napoleon's downfall to the revolutionary movement of 1830, which inspired Berlioz's monumental setting of the marching song that ultimately became the French national anthem.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 28
Language
English
Description
Tricksters are prevalent in mythologies around the world. From Anansi the Trickster spider to Norse Loki and Japanese Susa-no-wo, the archetype of the Trickster has resonated in storytelling worldwide. Tricksters in African myth are unrepentant troublemakers who are skilled at deception, just as they are in other folkloric traditions around the world. Often humorous, they can be interpreted as representing basic human needs, drives, and weaknesses...
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 4
Language
English
Description
See how global trade, the mercantilist system, and the slave trade disrupted traditional notions of societal hierarchy as non-nobles benefited greatly from the new economy. Additionally, global warfare-especially between France and Great Britain over colonization-left France weakened and deeply in debt.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 16
Language
English
Description
Travel to Great Britain to explore the foreign reactions to the French Revolution. Professor Desan walks you through Edmund Burke's defense of tradition and the aristocratic system, as well as Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man," a response to Burke that lays out an argument for equality and a series of reforms.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 27
Language
English
Description
Round out your study of Ulysses with a look at Molly Bloom, who gets the last word in the novel and recasts the day presented in the preceding 17 chapters. Her perspective tells us much about how Joyce viewed character and our relationship to the world-and ends with his great theme of regeneration.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 7
Language
English
Description
In the living museum of York, stop first at the romantic ruins of the abbey of St. Mary's, the Abbot's palace, and York Minster cathedral with its stunning stained glass and splendorous interiors. Savor the atmosphere of York's old historical center, the streets of the butchers and printers, and the still-inhabited 14th-century houses.
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