Extraordinary Humans

The final segment describes how Athens, at the height of her glory, engaged in a suicidal conflict with her greatest rival, Sparta. Through the eyes of Socrates, Athens’ first philosopher, viewers see the tragic descent of Athenian democracy into mob rule.The episode opens in 399 B.C., after the great philosopher Socrates has been sentenced to death and Athens lies in ruins after a war with Sparta. This episode goes back to 431 B.C., to an Athens at the height of its cultural, political, and economic power. Having taken great leaps forward in every field of learning, and with a strong economy that dominates Mediterranean trade, Athens and its 150,000 residents are the envy of their neighbors, in particular, bellicose Sparta. Jealous of Athenian success, the Spartans yearn to spill Athenian blood and dominate the region. Of course, Pericles knows what is coming, and he orders the citizens to abandon open areas and take refuge inside the walls of Athens. The mighty Athenian fleet will provide supplies for the citizens through the port of Piraeus and a walled corridor between that city and Athens. Over time, the navy will prevail, as it had against the Persians, and win yet another victory. Much is at stake — democracy, freedom, the whole Athenian way of life. As expected, the Spartans invade and burn the open areas around the city. But it is the unexpected that deals the most devastating blow to Athens. Incoming ships with supplies for the walled-in Greeks carry plague-bearing rats feeding on grain. The disease ravages the Athenians, inflicting agony on them and killing one out of every three. The Spartans are of little concern; what matters is surviving until tomorrow. Pericles’ esteem plummets even as he himself contracts the plague and eventually dies. Finally in 404 B.C., Athens surrenders. The Athenians, shattered and stripped of their empire, take revenge on their most vocal critic and condemn Socrates to death before a people’s court. Original Link: https://www.worldhistory.org/video/987/the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization---epis/ ........................ The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 1: The Revolution https://rumble.com/v2zmhbk-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-1-the-revolution.html The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 2: Golden Age https://rumble.com/v2zmigs-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-2-golden-age.html The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 3: Empire Of The Mind https://rumble.com/v2zmit8-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-3-empire-of-the-mind.html ........................ See also: The Ancient Greeks: Marvels Of Human Ingenuity, Invention & Inspiration https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

The second part recounts the Greeks’ heroic victory against the mighty Persian empire through the life of Themistocles, one of Athens’ greatest generals.The episode opens in 490 B.C. when tiny Athens prepares to safeguard its growing economy and infant democracy against an invasion by Persian armies of Darius the Great. When the Persians arrive for battle, the Greek courier Phidippides runs 140 miles to Sparta in two days to solicit help from its army, according the historian Herodotus. But Sparta, Athens’ rival, refuses to participate. The outnumbered Athenians, fighting to uphold their life of freedom, defeat the Persians and send them in humiliation back to Asia. But one Athenian, Themistocles, realizes Athens has not seen the last of the proud Persians. He persuades city leaders to build a fleet of war ships. These ships, called triremes, are “floating missiles” with projecting bows designed specifically to ram enemy vessels. While the Athenians execute their plans, the Persian ruler Darius dies and his son Xerxes succeeds to the throne. Under pressure to take revenge against the Greeks, he assembles an army of two million men. When the terrified Greeks ask the Delphic Oracle for advice, she simply tells them to flee. But Themistocles refuses to panic. Instead, he again petitions the Delphic Oracle, and this time she predicts that a “wooden wall” will protect the Greeks. First, he orders Athens abandoned, installs his fleet at the Aegean island of Salamis, and sends a “traitor” to the Persians to tell them that the Athenians are fleeing and are easy prey for the Persian fleet. When Persian ships move into the strait between Salamis and the Greek mainland, the triremes ram and sink 200 Persian vessels, and Athens wins the war. Greece, now master of the Mediterranean, undergoes one of the most startling intellectual and physical transformations in history. Pericles, the elected leader of Athens, oversees the building of the Parthenon and an extraordinary flourishing of the arts and sciences, laying the foundation for what is now called “Western culture.” Original Link: https://www.ancient.eu/video/986/the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization---epis/ ........................ The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 1: The Revolution https://rumble.com/v2zmhbk-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-1-the-revolution.html The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 2: Golden Age https://rumble.com/v2zmigs-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-2-golden-age.html The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 3: Empire Of The Mind https://rumble.com/v2zmit8-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-3-empire-of-the-mind.html ........................ See also: The Ancient Greeks: Marvels Of Human Ingenuity, Invention & Inspiration https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

The first part tells the story of the troubled birth of the world’s first democracy, ancient Athens, through the life of an Athenian nobleman, Cleisthenes. In the brutal world of the 5th century BC, the Athenians struggle against a series of tyrants and their greatest rival, Sparta, to create a new “society of equals.” This documentary makes history entertaining as well as educational. Beautifully photographed, using reenactments, paintings, maps, pottery, metalwork, and “living statues” to take the viewer on a vicarious journey through ancient Greece. Episode one, The Revolution, begins at the dawn of democracy in 508 B.C., with the revolution of the common people against aristocratic rule. The film then travels further back in time to chronicle the key events leading up to the revolution. As the camera roams ancient ruins, the Greek countryside, and old stone roads, the viewer learns that the inhabitants of Greece once lived in mud houses with no sewage and frequently fell prey to disease and warfare. Unable to write, they memorized their works of literature in order to pass them on to the next generation. Over time, their hardship and learning whetted their appetite for freedom. After rule by tyrants of the aristocratic class and a struggle for power, Cleisthenes (570-507 B.C.), himself an aristocrat, sided with the common people of Athens and brought democracy into being. From this beginning, western democracy developed and flourished. All the while during their early maturation into a Mediterranean power, Athens and other city-states had to live with the threat of war from expansionist Sparta as well as the vast Persian Empire. But democracy had taken root, and it proved in the long run to be a greater force than the mightiest of armies. The program closes on the eve of the new society’s first great test: invasion by the mighty empire of Persia. Original Link: https://www.ancient.eu/video/985/the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization---epis/ ........................ The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 1: The Revolution https://rumble.com/v2zmhbk-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-1-the-revolution.html The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 2: Golden Age https://rumble.com/v2zmigs-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-2-golden-age.html The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - Episode 3: Empire Of The Mind https://rumble.com/v2zmit8-the-ancient-greeks-crucible-of-civilization-episode-3-empire-of-the-mind.html ........................ See also: The Ancient Greeks: Marvels Of Human Ingenuity, Invention & Inspiration https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

Scientists Have Unlocked the Secrets of the Ancient ‘Antikythera Mechanism’ By Becky Ferreira Vice March 12, 2021 A digital model has revealed a complex planetarium on the ancient device’s face. “Unless it’s from outer space, we have to find a way in which the Greeks could have made it,” researchers say. https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkd57k/scientists-have-unlocked-the-secrets-of-the-ancient-antikythera-mechanism In the early 1900s, divers hunting for sponges off the coast of Antikythera, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, discovered a Roman-era shipwreck that contained an artifact destined to dramatically alter our understanding of the ancient world. Known as the Antikythera Mechanism, the object is a highly sophisticated astronomical calculator that dates back more than 2,000 years. Since its recovery from the shipwreck in 1901, generations of researchers have marveled over its stunning complexity and inscrutable workings, earning it a reputation as the world’s first known analog computer. The device’s gears and displays cumulatively demonstrated the motions of the planets and the Sun, the phases of the lunar calendar, the position of Zodiac constellations, and even the timing of athletic events such as the ancient Olympic Games. The device also reflects a very ancient idea of the cosmos, with Earth at the center. While some of the calculator’s mysteries have been solved over the past century, scientists at University College London’s Antikythera Research Team present, for the first time, “a radical new model that matches all the data and culminates in an elegant display of the ancient Greek Cosmos,” according to a study published on Friday in Scientific Reports. Led by Tony Freeth, a mechanical engineer at UCL and a leading world expert on the mechanism, the interdisciplinary team called the artifact “an ancient Greek astronomical compendium of staggering ambition” and “a beautiful conception, translated by superb engineering into a device of genius,” in the study. “This is such a special device,” said Adam Wojcik, a materials scientist at UCL and a co-author of the study, in a call. “It’s just so out-of-this world, given what we know, or knew, about contemporary ancient Greek technology. It’s unique and there’s nothing else that remotely approaches it for centuries, or maybe a millennia afterwards.” “However, it exists and all the scholarship points to the fact that it is ancient Greek,” added Wojcik, who has been fascinated by the artifact since he was a child. “There’s no question about it and we just have to accept that there is so much about what they could do that we just don’t know and we can’t fathom. The mechanism is a window on that.” Understanding the clockwork instrumentation of the Antikythera Mechanism has been a longstanding challenge for scientists because only a third of the artifact survived its multi-millennia entombment under the Mediterranean waves. The remains of the calculator include 82 fragments, some of which contain complex gears and once-hidden inscriptions, which were wedged between front and back display faces during the bygone era in which the artifact was fully intact. As new experimental techniques emerged, research teams have been able to explain the purpose and dynamics of the Antikythera Mechanism’s back face, which includes a system of eclipse predictions. In particular, the use of surface imaging and high-resolution X-ray tomography on the artifact, described in a 2006 study also led by Freeth, revealed scores of never-before-seen inscriptions that helpfully amount to a user’s guide to the mechanism. Now, Freeth and his colleagues believe they have tackled the missing piece of the puzzle: the complicated gearworks underlying the front “Cosmos” display of the calculator. Virtually nothing from this front section survived, and “no previous reconstruction has come close to matching the data” that does exist, according to the study. The new paper “has synthesized other people’s work, and dealt with all the loose ends and the uncomfortable nuances that other people just simply ignored,” Wojcik said. “For example, there are certain features in the surviving bits—holes and pillars and things like that—which people have said: ‘well, we’ll just ignore that in our explanation. There must be a use for that but we don’t know what it is so we’ll just ignore it.’” “Effectively, what we’ve done is we’ve not ignored anything,” he added. “So the enigmatic pillars and holes, all of a sudden, now make sense in our solution. It all comes together and it fits the inscriptional evidence.” The inscriptions from the 2006 study suggest that the missing Cosmos display was a moving set of rings charting out the motion of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—each represented by a small gem—along with the path of the Sun, the phases of the Moon, and the positions of the Zodiac constellations. In addition to studying these inscriptions, the researchers created computer simulations and partial replicas of the device to test out their novel model. One of the biggest hints emerged from analysis conducted in 2016 that revealed inscriptions in the front cover that included a pair of values, 462 years and 442 years, which the mechanism’s makers associated with Venus and Saturn. The researchers were able to identify a possible source for these numbers, derived from the work of the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides. These values are ancient Greek calculations of the synodic periods of the planets, meaning they represent the time it takes for planets to return to the same apparent position in the sky as viewed from Earth, according to the study. The cycles were complicated by the ancient belief that Earth was at the center of the solar system. This geocentric bias required the invention of complex models to account for the retrograde motion of planets: a phenomenon in which planets appear to move in occasional backward loops. The effect is an optical illusion that occurs when faster moving planets overtake slower counterparts during their orbits around the Sun, but the Greeks devised intricate mechanisms and cycles to find alternate explanations. The synodic cycles revealed for Venus and Saturn enabled the team to reverse-engineer a system of gears with the right amount of teeth to produce the kind of planetary motion described in the inscriptions—complete with retrograde motions that showed up on the front face. This would be a relatively easy task for one planet, but representing all five known planets involved extremely ingenious engineers. “If you’re going to show all the planets, you’re going to have to get all their positions correct,” explained Wojcik. “As you rotate the handle on the side of the mechanism, all these little planets start to move around like clockwork in this kind of mini-planetarium and occasionally, one of them will turn backwards, and then it would move forwards again, and then another one, further out, will start to turn backwards.” “But at any one point, when you stop the machine, it’s got to give you a faithful reproduction of the heavens because that’s the purpose of the machine,” he said. To recreate this effect in their model, the team deduced the cycles for the other planets, based on the Venus and Saturn data, then devised an elaborate system of gears that could reproduce them. The whole gear drive was meticulously optimized to fit into a small space between the front and back plates. The complete digital reconstruction of the artifact is exceptionally intricate, so you should definitely watch the documentary embedded above to see the visualizations of all the overlapping gears, pins, dials, and plates that the team thinks meshed together into this mind-boggling astronomical computer. The new work reveals a spectacular rendering of the complete mechanism, which comes closer to fitting all of the bizarre pieces of the puzzle together than any previous model. But that does not mean that the artifact has divulged all of its mysteries—not even close. Freeth, Wojcik, and their colleagues now hope to replicate the full machinery of their model using the technologies available to its Greek creators, which presents both an enormous challenge and an exhilarating new chapter in the ongoing saga of the Antikythera Mechanism. “It is so remarkable in terms of its requirements for accuracy and manufacturing ability that it’s out of sync with what we think Greeks could have achieved,” Wojcik said. “But we have to accept that that is the way the machine worked, and the Greeks made it.” “Unless it’s from outer space, we have to find a way in which the Greeks could have made it,” he concluded. “That’s the next stage and the exciting bit is, I think that’s the final piece of the jigsaw.” ......................... Learn more about Ancient Greece and the enormous contributions they made to human civilization: https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

Find out about the great legacies the ancient Greeks gave to Western civilization. Discover the origins of storytelling and literature, science and mathematics, philosophy and democracy as this episode traces the achievements of the ancient Greeks. Original Video: https://az.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep2_full/thegreeks_ep2_full/ ................... The Greeks: Introduction https://rumble.com/v2zk2mc-the-greeks-introduction.html The Greeks: Episode 1 - Cavemen To Kings https://rumble.com/v2zka3g-the-greeks-episode-1-cavemen-to-kings.html The Greeks: Episode 2 - The Good Strife https://rumble.com/v2zkcr4-the-greeks-episode-2-the-good-strife.html The Greeks: Episode 3 - Chasing Greatness https://rumble.com/v2zkczo-the-greeks-episode-3-chasing-greatness.html ................... The Ancient Greeks: Marvels Of Human Ingenuity, Invention & Inspiration https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

What are the lasting contributions of the ancient Greeks? Discover the Golden Age of Greek civilization, heralded by philosophy and democracy. As runners travel 150 miles between Sparta and Athens, learn about great city states rise and fall as they battle the Persian Empire, plagues, and eventually, themselves. Investigate the lasting impact Greece had on the world today. Original Video: https://az.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep3_full/thegreeks_ep3_full/ ................... The Greeks: Introduction https://rumble.com/v2zk2mc-the-greeks-introduction.html The Greeks: Episode 1 - Cavemen To Kings https://rumble.com/v2zka3g-the-greeks-episode-1-cavemen-to-kings.html The Greeks: Episode 2 - The Good Strife https://rumble.com/v2zkcr4-the-greeks-episode-2-the-good-strife.html The Greeks: Episode 3 - Chasing Greatness https://rumble.com/v2zkczo-the-greeks-episode-3-chasing-greatness.html ................... The Ancient Greeks: Marvels Of Human Ingenuity, Invention & Inspiration https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

Learn about the dawning of the first great European civilization: the ancient Greeks. Learn about the dawn of the Stone Age and powerful myths the Greeks used to explain their place in the world. Then follow along to learn about the ancient Greek seafarers of the Bronze Age, the Minoans and Mycenae who lived on Crete and beyond. Finally, discover their downfall, as the first age of the Greeks descended into darkness. Original Video: https://az.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep1_full/thegreeks_ep1_full/ ................... The Greeks: Introduction https://rumble.com/v2zk2mc-the-greeks-introduction.html The Greeks: Episode 1 - Cavemen To Kings https://rumble.com/v2zka3g-the-greeks-episode-1-cavemen-to-kings.html The Greeks: Episode 2 - The Good Strife https://rumble.com/v2zkcr4-the-greeks-episode-2-the-good-strife.html The Greeks: Episode 3 - Chasing Greatness https://rumble.com/v2zkczo-the-greeks-episode-3-chasing-greatness.html ................... The Ancient Greeks: Marvels Of Human Ingenuity, Invention & Inspiration https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

They were an extraordinary people born of white rock and blue sea. They invented democracy, distilled logic and reason, wrote plays to plumb the deepest recesses of the soul, and captured the perfection of the human form in athletics and art. Quite simply, the Greeks created our world. ....................... The Greeks: Introduction https://rumble.com/v2zk2mc-the-greeks-introduction.html The Greeks: Episode 1 - Cavemen To Kings https://rumble.com/v2zka3g-the-greeks-episode-1-cavemen-to-kings.html The Greeks: Episode 2 - The Good Strife https://rumble.com/v2zkcr4-the-greeks-episode-2-the-good-strife.html The Greeks: Episode 3 - Chasing Greatness https://rumble.com/v2zkczo-the-greeks-episode-3-chasing-greatness.html ..................... The Ancient Greeks: Marvels Of Human Ingenuity, Invention & Inspiration https://www.sunfellow.com/the-greeks/

Laurence Kim Peek (November 11, 1951 – December 19, 2009) was an American savant. Known as a "megasavant", he had an exceptional memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the character Raymond Babbitt in the 1988 movie Rain Man. Although Peek was previously diagnosed with autism, he is now thought to have had FG syndrome. The Utah Film Center's Peek Award honors his legacy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Peek Original YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDqU5maizK0 See also: Extraordinary Human Capabilities https://sunfellow.com/extraordinary-human-capabilities/ Extraordinary Humans https://rumble.com/c/c-2752248

The Genius Within: Extraordinary Gifted People Real Stories Full-Length Documentary Gripping documentary exploring the stories of five exceptionally talented people, investigating where their amazing skills came from and finding out if they and their families can ever have normal lives. Original YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvDuqW9SFT8 See Also: Extraordinary Human Capabilities https://sunfellow.com/extraordinary-human-capabilities/ Extraordinary Humans https://rumble.com/c/c-2752248

Ambidextrous Artist Draws 8 Hyper-Realistic Portraits Using All Hands & Feet At The Same Time This ultra-talented artist can draw EIGHT photo-realistic portraits at the same time using both hands and her feet. Rajacenna, 30, creates the illustrations at the same time with all four limbs holding paintbrushes working independently. The artist, who prefers to keep her surname confidential, taught herself to draw with all limbs to increase her productivity and stop herself from getting bored. Original YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbomrZ-gPXQ Article: Artist Draws Astounding Portraits with Both Her Hands and Feet at the Same Time –WATCH By Andy Corbley August 19, 2022 https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ambidextrous-artist-can-draw-hyper-realistic-portraits-with-both-hands-and-feet-at-the-same-time-watch/ With a brush in each limb, a Dutch artist is going viral for her ability to draw portraits with all four hands and feet simultaneously. Rajacenna, an artist from Rotterdam, can complete up to six illustrations at the same time—two for each hand, and one for each foot. "In 2019 the idea came to me to be more productive because I didn't make any artworks for the previous years due to health issues," said Rajacenna, who prefers to keep her surname and age confidential. She started drawing at the age of 16 and soon became a published artist, eventually teaching herself how to draw with her feet and hands to stop herself from getting bored. "I didn't practice it at all and just started doing it." Rajacenna claims that the root of her talent lies in her brain, and that she once took an EEG scan which revealed extraordinary brain performance while drawing. "The connectivity between the left and right brain are totally connected and three times higher than normal," she explained. "So they exchange information at a very fast speed." "It's constantly multitasking between all the drawing that I'm working on. I switch my focus back and forth," she added. "The latest pieces I created with pencils and paint. I don't really think about the techniques I use." She often works with portraits, mostly public figures such as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Billie Eilish, or Justin Bieber, with a set needing around 40 hours of work. "I always draw people that I love and inspire me, for my other work I love to create things from my imagination." See also: Extraordinary Human Capabilities https://sunfellow.com/extraordinary-human-capabilities/