BBC Guilty Pleasures 1of2 HDTV x264 AC3 MVGroup

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Two-part documentary which looks at the items valued or desired by men and women over the centuries, focusing particularly on the Classical and Medieval periods.
Part 1: Luxury in Ancient Greece
Luxury isn't just a question of expensive and the beautiful objects for the rich and the powerful. It has always been much more, especially in the ancient and medieval worlds. This first episode follows the debate about luxury which convulsed ancient Greece from the beginning of the classical era. In Athens, it explores the role of luxury in the beginnings of democracy - how certain kinds of luxury came to be forbidden and others embraced. A simple luxury like meat could unite the democracy, and yet a taste for fish could divide it. Some luxuries were associated with effeminacy and foreigners, others with the very idea of democracy. Yet in Sparta, there was a determined attempt to deny luxury, and the guilty contradictions of this eventually brought its downfall. When Sparta was replaced by Macedon, Phillip II's court set new standards for luxury as political propaganda.