Rated 5 out of
5
by
scott1253 from
Excellent course
I thoroughly enjoyed this course, both content and presentation. Dr. Fears is a first-class lecturer.
Date published: 2019-08-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Ducks from
Famous Greeks
Rufus Fears was perhaps the single most effective lecturer I have ever been blessed to hear. As prophetic as Cornell West, bringing a breathtaking depth of mastery of the topic, and sculpting each lecture with a genius of incisive detail, Dr. Fears opens to both the novice and scholar a treatment befitting Thucydides himself!
Date published: 2019-08-06
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Jerry 34 from
Famous Greeks
All of Dr. Fears lectures are beyond fantastic. 1234
Date published: 2019-06-01
Rated 5 out of
5
by
PatinABQ from
Excellent
Of the dozens of courses I have taken, this is one of my very favorites. The professor does not have to refer to his notes because he knows the subject matter cold. I liked his casual style & wished my teachers of the past would have lectured like this - maybe I would have paid more attention & learned to love history. His approach is that of a great story teller. This course should be required reading for all politicians so that they do not make the same mistakes over & over.
Date published: 2019-03-13
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Mediterranean from
Trivialization of Scholarship
There is no doubt that the late Professor Fears was passionate about his subject, and, if one goes by the glowing reviews of this course, his style of presentation has been enthusiastically received on the grounds that he transmitted information in an entertaining manner. But this is like finding vaudeville superior to the production of a play by Shakespeare: it is a degradation of the intellectual standard and of the mental stimulation expected of The Great Courses. Moreover, the flippant manner in which mythological and historical details are handled throughout becomes glaringly obvious from the very first lecture when reference is made to the 'double axe' emblematic of the Minoan civilization of Crete along with the equally prominent 'bucrania', both to be seen (as the professor points out) on visiting the Palace of Knossos. This is correct, and I have been to Knossos; but the professor further elaborates on the topic by raising his hands, crossing his forefingers to form an 'x', while clearly stating that the emblem consists of two crossed axes. This is incorrect. The archaeologically-famous emblem consists of a double-HEADED axe, not two axes crossed.
Date published: 2019-01-30
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Easy Ed from
Inspiring Stories!
I was a little hesitant to purchase the Famous Greeks series simply because it sounded "boring". But I am very glad I bought it because the short lectures comprise thrilling and inspiring mini-biographies of ancient Greeks. Professor Fears has a unique ability to tell a compelling story. The Famous Greeks series, which I finished in about 4 weeks, inspired me to buy a copy of Plutarch's Lives and begin reading the stories for myself. I come from a relatively impoverished educational background, and I never expected I would be interested in ancient history. Hats off to The Great Courses and Professor Fears for inspiring me to "teach myself". This course is well worth the money!
Date published: 2019-01-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
EDWH from
Spellbinding
Professor Fears is a fabulous story teller and brings this history alive. Instead of a dull, academic presentation, I was captivated (hanging on every word) as he told the stories of these historical characters. This is a way to remember who was Alcibiades or who was Pyrrhus. Facts don't stay with you, these stories will!
Date published: 2019-01-12
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Dolly1 from
Covers all the major personalities
Good information, but the Professor was overly dramatic for my taste. Thus only three stars.
Date published: 2018-12-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Gharmjo from
Directly Applicable to Today’s Big Debates
J Rufus Fears was a national treasure. In Famous Greeks, he guides us through reflections that are more relevant now as schools enforce secularism as the only guide to human existence and philosophy to the dustbin. "Famous Greeks" suggests that this position is perhaps too simplistic.
THE OLD SCHOOL: Fears begins with Plutarch who was a procurator of Greece & priest of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Plutarch felt it more important to shape moral character than simply present facts. Discipline was regarded as superior to unguided amorphous random desire.
THE CEO: In L2, Homer discusses Agamemnon, whom Fears compares to a failed CEO: a man promoted beyond his competency. This is relevant today as even courts have been unable to punish CEO misdeeds on the caveat that it impossible for any one person to control multinationals. In the Iliad, Homer contrasts the reputation of the honorable Achilles with the backroom maneuvering of the CEO Agamemnon within evoking scenes of the Trojan War.
HUBRIS: In Homer's Odyssey, one of Professor Fears' favorite topics re-emerges: hubris. This time, it is the hubris of Greeks in power. We parallel this to Washington DC where hubris has been omnipresent for the last decade. The Greek hubris is overcome by the cunning, prudence, and courage of Odysseus. The lesson suggests that with determination against hubris comes hope.
CIVIC VIRTUE: Fears next describes the Spartans and here the lesson cautions against the increasing incivility promoted by interest groups. The Spartan system, was based on elements of monarchy, aristocracy [Senate of Old Men], and democracy [the Assembly of all Spartans] to produced government. So is ours. Women were treated with utmost respect, could overrule a Spartan, and enjoyed independence to the point that they had their own dialect. In the lesson, Fears cautions: “even the best constitution will fail unless it is vitalized by civic virtue”.
DEBT & SELF-KNOWLEDGE: During the 7th century BC, silver coinage was invented (value controlled by the state) making it easy to go into debt. By 600 BC there was great financial disparity and the poor were selling themselves into slavery (just as we now sell ourselves into credit card slavery). Solon's moral motto was “nothing in excess", a concept opposed to such consumerism. He also said: “Know thyself" with the implication that you are mortal and there are limitations. This starkly contrasts with modern advertising projections of human boundaries.
FORGOTTEN POVs: Heraclitus in the 6th century BC criticized not only the immorality of the Athenian gods, but asked why we worship athletes? Pythagoras, of geometric and musical harmony fame, believed in the existence of the soul and the transmigration of the soul. He felt that knowledge, unless put to common good was useless. For his troubles, he was burned alive.
MORALITY: In L7-8, Herodotus (the author of “Histories”) tells the story of the King of Lydia demonstrating that there is no separation of public from private morality. Fears juxtaposes this with a description of the immorality of the ultimate despot Xerxes.
REASON: Pericles is compared to Lincoln and Churchill because he had “a bedrock of principles, a moral compass, vision and an ability to build consensus". He was influenced by a close friend Anaxagorus who taught Pericles to ignore divine explanations for phenomena, including that the sun was not divine put a piece of hot metal. Yet Anaxagoras believed that all things have come into being through “reason, unmixed with any other substance". Surprisingly, this secular-labeled viewpoint strongly parallels the Judeo-Christian & Islamic traditions of an omnipotent Reason.
ABSOLUTE TRUTH: The secular viewpoint is taken up again by Thucydides. Like Machiavelli, he believes that morality plays no role in politics and that only “might makes right". His “History of the Peloponnesian War” is viewed as the manual of statesmen. Yet Thucydides' coverage of the Athenian conquest of the island nation of Melos points to his own doubt. Melos held that there are absolute rights and wrongs based on their concepts of divinity. Yet when secular Athens’ with the view that “might makes right" wiped out Melos, Thucydides juxtaposed the Melian tragedy with the subsequent fall of Athens, implying that outrageous acts have disastrous consequences. Fears points out that “might makes right” secularism recognizes only who is in command of the tools of power, not absolute truth.
RELATIVISM: In the modern business world, it has become clear that multiple POVs lead to emergence. Fears does an excellent job showing how Socrates' claim that his whole life was a search for absolute truths was his intellectual downfall. Man is bounded within unknowability by the limitations of his individual powers and by common sense. Socrates was right when he said that he knew nothing. Knowing nothing cannot criticize knowing something because the gist of Socrates’ argumentativeness is chaos rather than emergence.
There is so much to Dr. Fears courses, that no single review can encompass all of his intellectual/philosophical challenges. Having met persons who have attended Dr. Fears' lectures, it would be an understatement to say that we miss him greatly.
Date published: 2018-12-23
Rated 3 out of
5
by
billc66 from
Interesting Subject
I am enjoying the Great Course "Famous Greeks." The course material is excellent, however the presentation is disappointing and distracting at times. The presenter mispronounces the word "cavalry", he keeps saying "calvary," but also, to make matters worse there is a graphic with "cavalry" misspelled as "calvary." This is simply not professional.
Date published: 2018-06-28
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Tony R from
This is a history course, not a biography
Most disappointing. Not one of the " best of the best' college-level courses" as advertised. I am half way through this course and have been very disappointed with the content. I appreciate the style, which is rather informal (ideal for listening while driving). But the content is lacking. Historical figures are used as launching point to tell historical tales, with very little biography or character analysis. Themistocles is barely mentioned by name more than a handful of times in his lecture. The lecture of Pausanias completely skips over his alleged treason with the Persians. Most of the opening lecture on Theseus is a course introduction, very little time is paid to Theseus. And the lecture on Solon rambles and wanders incoherently into Pythagoras. All the stories are interesting but really a light course telling tales of history, not one of the " best of the best' college-level courses".
Date published: 2018-05-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
hoipolloi from
Entertaining, compelling
Really enjoying this series. It reminds me of the best courses I took in college as the lecturer has a deep love for the subject matter and is very skilled at conveying it. I knew very little about Ancient Greek history and these courses have opened up a whole new world to me.
Date published: 2017-09-29
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Oldjane from
Appropriate
J Rufus is a great story teller. His presentation makes the course
Date published: 2017-09-28
Rated 5 out of
5
by
RNJE from
This is an excellent overview with enough detail to keep the lectures interesting.
Date published: 2017-08-02
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Reigndrop Andy from
I was never bored.
I listened to the entire course in my car over the past few weeks. He makes debunked comparisons of Dyonysus to Christianity. So if you're a Christian make sure you look up what Dyonysus really was all about. Other than that, the course was excellent. Short bio's covering a lot of history. The Professor is good enough of a story teller that he keeps it entertaining. This is a very good course to show you how the "stage was set" prior to Christianity. I learned alot.
Date published: 2017-06-30
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Wagdud from
Great Lectures by a Great Professor
I've taken numerous Great Courses particularly in the area of history. I find the lecturers generally excellent, but I found Rufus Fears to be among the best of all. This series of lectures is wonderfully delivered in an almost story telling manner. His grasp of the subject is unquestionable and his style was completely engaging. I listened to his detailed history of the Greeks and very much enjoyed his discussions of the context within which each lived. I'd highly recommend this course as the Professor is so engaging and he really lights up the subjects of each of his lectures.
Date published: 2017-05-04
Rated 4 out of
5
by
John7H from
Dramatic presentation
Professor Fears does a great job bringing characters to life. The lectures provide an enjoyable and edifying alternative to tackling Plutarch's Lives, on which the presentation is largely based. If you purchase the audio version, be sure to review the maps included in the Course Guidebook before listening (especially if you're playing the recording while driving) if you're not already familiar with the historical geography of the eastern Mediterranean.
Date published: 2017-03-07
Rated 5 out of
5
by
musdoc from
The Only Way To Learn
Professor Fears is not only an historian, he is a story teller par excellence. History and Literature can appear dry but not in the hands of a great story teller, dry facts and information come to life. I also own Books That Have Made History by Professor Fears, and his story telling makes all the difference in both courses.
Date published: 2017-01-22
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Nordie906 from
Engaging Course!
I had this given to me, unsolicited, as a gift and was a bit wary that I wouldn't like it. I'm not much of a reader of ancient history. Although I've been interested in the history of Greek and Roman civilizations, it just wasn't something that caught my interest. This series really corrected this for me. The content was interesting, but it was the delivery by Prof. Fears that really hooked me. He is an incredibly knowledgeable scholar, but I really enjoyed his style of speaking. The guy gets into it, telling the stories almost as the ancient bards and chroniclers must have told them to the people of the time. I can highly recommend this series.
Date published: 2017-01-20
Rated 3 out of
5
by
getagrip from
Famous Greeks
The lecturer is not up to the quality that we are used to hearing in the Great Courses series. Yes, he has a command of the subject, but his manner is not engaging. This is the first and only disc that I have seriously thought of sending back. Perhaps the saving grace of the course is the last two lectures that give a good account of the Greek and Persian wars.
Date published: 2017-01-18
Rated 5 out of
5
by
DeaconAndy from
Wow! What a course!
J. Rufus Fears (May he rest in peace) was a fantastic story teller! He truly brings the ancient Greeks to life! The Teaching Company is doing a great service to all of us by keeping examples of this great instructors talents alive! I wish to buy all of the courses J. Rufus Fears has with The Great Courses.
Date published: 2016-09-03
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Desiderata from
Good storyteller, but some annoying bits
The professor has a good style of telling the story in a way that doesn't sound historical (the beginning in fact, is not). However, he often trails off at the end of words, leaving the listener (I am rating the audio course only) unable to pick up certain words.
More annoying, he constantly mispronounces "cavalry" as "calvary", a word with an entirely different meaning. It's grating to hear that. He also states that what is modern day Turkey was called by the Greeks, Asia Minor. In fact, it was called Asia Minor by the Romans. The Greeks referred to Turkey as Anatolia.
I'm not a scholar of history, and even I can point out these mistakes. I'm sure there are others more blatant to one more aware of the content than I.
Date published: 2016-06-16
Rated 3 out of
5
by
TomVA from
Egocentric lecturer,simplistic presentation
The approach of studying history through the lives of great men is interesting and useful. One problem is that it causes one to focus on the political and military at the expense of the arts and sciences. For example, Aristotle is hardly mentioned in these lectures. For some reason, Professor Fears chose to include several mythological figures in his biographies, which for me diluted the content.
In the main, though, the personages chosen are interesting and their influence on history makes for good study. The big problem is Professor Fears himself. His style is colloquial and even folksy- he retells the Greek stories in his own simplistic, modern style, putting 21st century phrasing and slang into the mouths of the Greeks. Many reviewers seemed to applaud this style- for me, it was a disaster.
Worse, though, was the way he used the course to present his own ideas without reference to any dissenting viewpoints. He continually cites Pericles, Lincoln and Churchill as being generally recognized as the 3 greatest statesmen in history. I doubt that many historians would agree with that statement. He also waxes eloquent on the virtues and world vision of Alexander the Great, while completely dismissing the other side of the coin. When Alexander captures a city and executes all the inhabitants, it's because he sees that it's for the greater good. When Alexander completes his conquest of Persia and the release of the Greek city states there, Professor Fears applauds his move to continue his conquest of foreign lands. And surprisingly, he didn't address what to me was one of Alexander's finest accomplishments- the establishment of the city of Alexandria and its library. Also, he did a hatchet job on Cleopatra. Starting out with great praise for her learning and daring, he winds up with a very harsh summary of her. Many other historians would disagree.
Looking back at the course, I have 2 impressions. One is the scope of and beauty of Greek civilization and achievement, and the other is the flawed presentation made by Professor Fears. Unfortunately, for me the latter dominates.
Date published: 2016-04-25
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Sumar from
Almost as good as his "Famous Romans" course
Although I have listened to Professor Fears' "Famous Romans" course three times now, I finally got around to listening to "Famous Greeks", which I thoroughly enjoyed. In this course, Professor Fears' gift for story telling is (once again) in full display, and the substantive content delivered was at least equal to (and perhaps exceeded) his "Famous Romans" course. Although this course was not as funny or entertaining as Famous Romans (where Prof. Fears hit his full stride), it is as funny and entertaining as anything else put out by the Great Courses, and I had no problem plunging through the entire course in just a few days, and plan on doing so again soon. In fact, both this course and Famous Romans have inspired me to finally make my way through Plutarch's "The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans", which I am thoroughly enjoying so far.
Some highlights from the course:
In lecture 14, I was really impressed with how Prof. Fears situated several Greek plays that were performed during the Peloponnesian War in their historical context. After discussing the plots, Professor Fears did a wonderful job of pointing out how the Athenian audience watching the plays would understand them at two different levels: on the level of what was happening on stage, of course, but also on the level of what was going on (politically) around them, especially with regard to their war with Sparta, which Prof. Fears discussed in previous lectures. Indeed, after listening to just this single lecture, feel like I have a much better understanding of these plays than I did before, and look forward to reading them again soon with this broader historical context in mind.
Lectures 15, 19, and 20 did the same thing for Thucydides, Socrates, and Plato (situating them in their historical context), and I am now convinced that Thrasymachus, who appears in the first book of Plato's Republic and argues that justice is nothing more than "might makes right", was strongly influenced by (if not directly based on) Thucydides' Melian dialogue, where an Athenian delegation to the island of Melos argue, in response to the latter's request that the Athenians act justly, that "the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must". As with lecture 14, I found the connection between what was happening on the stage of a Greek tragedy or in the pages of Greek philosophy, on the one hand, and what was going on in the real world, on the other hand, incredibly enlightening.
Finally, without giving anything away, lecture 22 on Alexander the Great was a masterpiece, and was worth the 21-lecture wait.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable and informative course, and one that I would heartily recommend.
Grade: A.
Date published: 2016-03-22
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Lantern from
Storytelling at it's near best.
Professor Fears was a great storyteller and for how long was history passed on this way?
My only hope is that by the time of his death Professor Fears learned the difference between cavalry and Calvary. Even the video footnotes had it wrong. Still, I enjoy his course's and understand that other professors may give more technically bound lectures but there is much value here for the less demanding and casual historians among us.
Date published: 2016-02-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
DarthMuller from
Great value and Great Course
I got this course on audio download and forgot i had it and purchased it on sale for video download. I love love love this professor. I love his passion for the subject matter which makes me passionate for the subject matter. I think his lecture on Achilles and Agamemnon may be the single most inspiring lecture of any Great Course and I have several. You feel like you are living in the age of the life he is describing and he connects it to our present day. I think this is a must buy in any collection. I purchased Plutarch and read the life after each lecture and just found it to be very very rewarding.
Date published: 2016-01-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
DrDavidC from
Famous Greeks comes to life!
I just finished Famous Greeks by Dr. Fears and I LOVED the course, content, and the Professor. Now when I started, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Dr. Fears style. BUT after a couple of lectures, he really hooked me. So, if you find yourself in that situation, give it 2-3 lectures. Some of the history and famous people I knew, but much I had forgotten or was naive to. Regardless, Dr. Fears really made it hit home. It was enthralling, exciting and enlightening ! I agree with another reviewer that it’s not all history, but ethics, morals, and wisdom from the lessons we can learn from history. He’s informative, and entertaining... even acting out parts to a degree. The depth of the topics was just right...details, but not too deep.
I don’t agree with the sermonizing comment of another reviewer. He’s teaching us life lessons. I never felt he was preaching, just merely point out the facts !! What was he paid to do? ...and his insight is very enlightening to us naivetés. He sets these up in a very crafty manner, and then springs them back upon you in a “6th Sense” sort of way. I had several epiphanies from his “twists”.
I really felt I got great value from the course. Much more than I expected. If you signed up for one of his college courses, you’d pay a lot more than this course. I really feel Great Courses does us all a great service by providing lecturers we could never see face to face.... opportunities to learn we might never have. I can’t wait to get Famous Romans. Having taken Latin in HS, I am familiar with many famous figures from Rome, but I want to see how Dr. Fears transforms them into living images.
Date published: 2015-12-24
Rated 5 out of
5
by
alexi from
Great for the average listener
I'm a big fan of Prof Fears' courses. I have almost every one of them. For entertainment value, for keeping listeners interested, especially for long car rides, there is no better presenter. If you are a serious Greek scholar or thinking about becoming one, there are probably better courses, as a number of the other reviewers have pointed out. The goal of this course, and Famous Romans, is not to teach you history. The goal, as Prof Fears points out, is to mirror what Plutarch's lives did for people, to provide moral instruction using the lives of famous people #in Plutarch's day, Greeks and Romans# as examples. Prof Fears is trying to teach wisdom, using historical examples. He is not trying to advance historical scholarship of the ancient world.
For those looking at other Prof Fears courses #Churchill, Life lessons of great books, life lessons of great myths, lessons of history, etc.# his aim in those courses is very similar. He's not trying to teach history, he's using history to teach wisdom. Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, it's definitely entertaining and worthwhile, in my opinion.
Date published: 2015-11-30
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Leonidas from
Too much plot summary and sermonizing
This is an entertaining and undemanding introductory-level survey of ancient Greek history. Fears is an engaging (but overly melodramatic) story teller. His lectures consist largely of his own colloquial paraphrases of biographical stories from Plutarch and of story lines from the literary works that feature the famous Greeks whom he profiles. These stories are interspersed with moralistic asides and factually unsupported (I would say flat-out false) assertions. As in his other courses, Fears claims that history is driven exclusively by the actions of Great Men and that social and economic factors are irrelevant. He lauds such figures as Pericles, Lycurgus and Themistokles as exemplars of democracy and personal liberty while ignoring their enslavement of subject peoples, their wars of aggression against neighboring states, and in some cases their personal corruption. Fears' uncritical hero-worship of some of his characters and excessive demonization of others indicates a lack of balanced and nuanced judgment.
Fears strikes me as prudish and dainty, as shown for instance by his misstatement of the incident that led to Alcibiades' removal from Athens -- he was accused not of mutilating the FACES of the herms prior to the departure of the Sicilian Expedition, but of knocking off their phalluses. Fears is either ignorant of this fact or too embarrassed to state it accurately.
Customers interested in ancient Greece would do better to buy one of TTC's other fine surveys by John Hale, Jeremy McInerney, or even Ian Worthington (whose course I didn't much care for, but which is far more substantive than this one).
Date published: 2015-11-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Houhockey55 from
Enjoyable course about Greek characters
I really enjoyed this course. The professor is passionate about the topic and is a great storyteller. There is a dramatic flair to the presentation of the content that makes the course move quickly and draws the listener in.
Content overview:
Each course is centered around a historical Greek individual and the era that they lived. The content is more focused on the stories that defined the individuals life rather than the details of their life (i.e. When they were born, etc.). This allows the content to come across more as a novel rather than an encyclopedia. If you like this style, I happen to, you'll love this course. If you want to get more of the finer details, it may leave you wanting more.
Date published: 2015-09-08
