What kind of predator needs no teeth to terrify its prey? The terror birds were enormous flightless hunters that ruled South America for millions of years, standing metres tall and built for a life of pursuit and slaughter.In this episode, Tristan Hughes is joined by palaeontolog ...Show more
The Maya Ballgame
A rubber ball. A stone court. And a sport where the stakes could be life and death.For more than 2,000 years, Mesoamerican peoples played a remarkable ballgame that became far more than entertainment; across the Maya world, it became a spectacle and a ceremony with religion, poli ...Show more
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great epic poem attributed to Homer, telling the story of an intense episode in the Trojan War. It is framed by the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles, insulted by his leader Agamemnon and withdrawing from the battle that continued to rage, only ...Show more
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great epic poem attributed to Homer, telling the story of an intense episode in the Trojan War. It is framed by the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles, insulted by his leader Agamemnon and withdrawing from the battle that continued to rage, only ...Show more
THE STORY: (46 minutes) Ten years into the siege of Troy a priest of Apollo arrives at the command tent of Agamemnon, Commander in Chief of the Greeks. The priest makes a simple request of Agamemnon. Agamemnon refuses, and Greek soldiers die in the thousands. And then things turn ...Show more
THE STORY (50 minutes) This episode traces the personal griefs of two bitter enemies: Achilles, who has lost his best friend and soul mate, Patroclus; and King Priam, who has lost his son and his heir, Hector. Both Achilles and Priam are inconsolable, until Zeus and Deadly Destin ...Show more