Ancient Greece: Traditions Of Greek Culture. Part I: Art In Ancient Greece/Mining In Ancient Greece

An idiosyncratic video, this opening volume in a 2-tape series on Greek culture features architecture, sculpture, and artifacts, to tell the unrelated stories of art and mining in ancient Greece. "Art in Ancient Greece" is visually attractive but likely to confuse the average high school student: there are no on-screen maps showing the Peloponnese or the Mediterranean; nor are place names shown in titles, so the art of Athens, Corinth, and Crete jumble together in the viewer's mind. The Lion's Gate at Mycenae is shown but not discussed; the engraver's art is discussed but examples are not shown. The section on "Mining in Ancient Greece" isn't actually about mining at all; its focus is on metal sculptures, jewelry, and household vessels now kept in Greek museums. There are too many general shots of display cases and room exhibits here, which are pointless for video viewers since artifacts are reduced to minuscule size. However, the extreme close-ups are nicely done, clearly showing artifact details. Sentences like "the wonderful composition, perfect technique, powerful expression and the manifest love of beauty and art make plain the good taste and the artistic abilities the ancient goldsmiths, who created an unsurpassed tradition in the field of jewelry, had," are--unfortunately--common in both halves of the tape. Much has been lost in translation. The second volume contains the programs "Bacchus, The God of Wine" and "Firewalking in Greece." An optional purchase at best. (R. Reagan)