Secrets of the Lost Empire – Roman Bath
The plumbing that brought hot water to the communal baths the Romans enjoyed was highly sophisticated. In this section, watch as NOVA builds its own Roman bath, then try your hand at constructing a working aqueduct online. Also, learn about the Romans’ water system from a noted scholar, and get a taste of Roman-era recipes such as scaloppine pine nut sauce.
Secrets of the Lost Empire – Easter Island
This remote Pacific island’s so-called moai statues are among the world’s most enigmatic sculptures. In this section, explore an interactive map of Easter Island to find out where ancient residents quarried and moved the famous monoliths. Also, follow recent attempts by NOVA and others to transport moai overland.
Secrets of the Lost Empire – Pharaoh’s Obelisk
Pharaoh’s Obelisk
The soaring stone monuments known as obelisks were the Egyptian pharaohs’ way of capturing a ray of revered sunlight in stone. In this section, follow NOVA’s ultimately successful attempts to raise an obelisk of its own. Also, learn where ancient Egypt’s obelisks have ended up today.
Lost King of the Maya
Sixteen hundred years ago, a mysterious left-handed warrior seized control of the Mayan city of Copán, founding a dynasty that would last for 400 years. Eventually the Maya abandoned Copán and all other Mayan cities, which lay undisturbed for over 1,000 years. Then, in the 19th century, explorers John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood stumbled on the vine-strangled remains of huge complexes of temples and monuments covered with strange portraits and hieroglyphs. In this program, NOVA takes viewers deep into the Central American rain forest to the resurrected ruins of Copán, a once majestic jewel of Mayan civilization which was inexplicably abandoned over a thousand years ago.
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The U.S. vs. John Lennon
A, some may say, long overdue reminder of the fact that one of this century’s greatest musicians was also a radical political spokesperson for a generation, before he was permanently silenced on 8 Dec 1980. The U.S. vs. John Lennon, showing at Watershed from Fri 8 – Thu 21 Dec, is a fascinating, richly detailed documentary which focuses on John Lennon’s post-Beatle decade when he took a foray into radical American politics.
The film details what happened when the U.S. Government started to perceive that the media attention which the Liverpudlian singer and new wife Yoko Ono were garnering could be a threat to them. Skilfully combining archival footage, Yoko Ono’s home movies, and interviews with everyone from Gore Vidal to G. Gordon Liddy, directors David Leaf and John Scheinfeld explore Lennon’s peace activism against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent decades in recent American history, 1966-1976. The result is an eye-opening exposé of the covert tactics Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon and his cronies used in their efforts to try and silence and even deport Lennon.
Watch The U.S. vs. John Lennon now