Rise and Fall of the Spartans

[Spartan198]

I've had this documentary on my DVR for a while and have been meaning to watch it.

Is it worth watching and keeping? Or is it something to avoid, like the History Channel's Last Stand of the 300?

[Pannonian]

It was aired in the UK as "The Spartans", and is rather good. IIRC the first episode talks about the rise and the glory days, up to and including the Persian wars. The second episode talks about the Peloponnesian wars. The third talks about the corruption and eventual fall.

Here's the Channel 4 site for the series.

[Spartan198]

Must be a different one, because this one is only two episodes, not three. Plus, it came out after "Spartan: Total Warrior", which used a documentary called "The Spartans" as a historical source (obviously CA didn't pay much attention to it during the production process, but that's another story...).

I'll have to go to the library and see if they have "The Spartans" on DVD, because I haven't seen it.

[Pannonian]

Must be a different one, because this one is only two episodes, not three. Plus, it came out after "Spartan: Total Warrior", which used a documentary called "The Spartans" as a historical source (obviously CA didn't pay much attention to it during the production process, but that's another story...).

I'll have to go to the library and see if they have "The Spartans" on DVD, because I haven't seen it.

According to imdb, the presenter is Bettany Hughes, which would mean Rise and Fall of the Spartans is the same as The Spartans. DVDVerdict describes it as a 3 hour miniseries, which would be correct, as it originally aired as 3 separate 1 hour episodes.

How long is Rise and Fall, and who's the presenter?

[Spartan198]

According to imdb, the presenter is Bettany Hughes, which would mean Rise and Fall of the Spartans is the same as The Spartans. DVDVerdict describes it as a 3 hour miniseries, which would be correct, as it originally aired as 3 separate 1 hour episodes.

How long is Rise and Fall, and who's the presenter?

The first listed description of Rise and Fall corrosponds to what I just watched. Code of Honor and Tides of War are indeed the names of the two 2-hour episides, and the presenter is the same person, as well.
Apparently it was just edited together at some point.

[Martok]

If it's the same one I saw on PBS last year (and I'm pretty sure it is), then I give it a mild thumbs-up. It doesn't go super in-depth, but it's still fairly decent. I'll admit I learned a few new things about the Spartans while watching it.