Watch The Owl's Legacy

1989
1 Season
8.3 (139)

Directed by the enigmatic and brilliant film essayist, Chris Marker. The Owl's Legacy is an intellectually agile, engaging and sometimes biting look at Ancient Greece, its influence on western culture and how many eras have reinterpreted the Greek legacy to reflect their own values.

The Owl's Legacy is a series that ran for 1 seasons (13 episodes) between January 1, 1989 and on

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13. Philosophy-or the Triumph of the Owl

January 1, 1989

After a dozen episodes that begin and end with the image of an owl, Philosophy begins with the owl and its symbolism, and shows us how many of the participants in the series react to the birds or images of them.

12. Tragedy-or the Illusion of Death

January 1, 1989

Greek tragedies were originally like TV shows before the age of streaming. They were performed once, and only once says scholar Oswyn Murray. But despite their transitory nature, they embraced themes that have spoken to humanity for centuries-and across cultures.

11. Misogyny-or the Snares of Desire

January 1, 1989

Classicist Giulia Sissa takes center stage in this episode, which explores desire in ancient Greece (primarily Athens), the social status of women, and the erasure of women by classics scholars.

10. Mythology-or Lies like Truth

January 1, 1989

A small number of Greek myths-Oedipus, Antigone, the Gorgon who turns people who gaze on her to stone-have fed our understandings of ourselves and each other through literature, religion, philosophy, and psychoanalysis.

9. Cosmogony-or the Ways of the World

January 1, 1989

This episode is classic Chris Marker, tying together an abandoned Athenian power plant turned cultural center, ancient Greek statuary, a department store in Japan, young men destroyed by armored warfare during WWI, and a comparison between Plato's parable of the cave and contemporary cinema.

8. Music-or Inner Space

January 1, 1989

What defines music? Soldiers marching in tandem create rhythms; Orthodox priests don't simply speak when performing the liturgy, they chant and sometimes sing; the hammer banging on a board is not that different from the tug of a rope ringing a church bell.

7. Logomachy-or the Dialect of the Tribe

January 1, 1989

The word "logos" stands at the start of Greek philosophy. A word that defies simple translation, it lies at the root of terms including logic, dialogue, and dialectic. The Greek word for literature is "logotechnia" -- the technique of logos.

6. Mathematics-or The Empire Counts Back

January 1, 1989

There is a narrative about ancient Greece and math: That the Greeks invented mathematics as we know it, that men such as Pythagoras and Thales were its fathers, and that concepts including parallel lines and geometric shapes are universal and ahistorical.

5. Amnesia-or History on the March

January 1, 1989

Western history is said to begin with the Greeks-more specifically, with Herodotus, credited as the first historian. But the ancient Greek conception of history, based on the idea of self-examination, is very different from current conceptions.

4. Democracy-or the City of Dreams

January 1, 1989

An in-depth exploration of how Athenian democracy worked, and the key ways it differs from modern states using the word. Ancient Greek democracy emphasized the polisnot as a city-state the way we understand it, but as a collection of individuals. Those able to participate (free men-a small minority of the total population) were passionate about politics.

3. Nostalgia-or the Impossible Return

January 1, 1989

Nostalgia is there right at the start of the Greek literary tradition. Odysseus, after a decade of fighting the Trojan War, must wander another decade before finally returning home to Ithaca. For millennia to follow, nostalgia-a word drawn from roots meaning "longing for home" and "pain"--continued to mark the Greek experience.

2. Olympics-or Imaginary Greece

January 1, 1989

We begin with the personal. In interviews, classicists Manuela Smith and Oswyn Murray, singer Ang

1. Symposium-or Accepted Ideas

January 1, 1989

This episode sets the tone for the rest of the series, introducing the fundamental idea Marker and his participants explore: For centuries, we've used Greek civilization as a touchstone, but as John Winkler-classics scholar, queer historian, and one-time monk-says, looking at ancient Greece is like trying to determine what lies beneath a face covered in many layers of makeup.

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Where to Watch The Owl's Legacy

The Owl's Legacy is available for streaming on the website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch The Owl's Legacy on demand at Amazon.