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This documentary series tells the stories that have gripped imaginations for centuries and reveals the fascinating and unexpected history behind them.
The strange Slavic story of Ivan and Koschei the Deathless, the origins of King Arthur and the wizard Merlin, the journey of Odysseus as he resists the beautiful songs of the Sirens, and finally Sigurd and his battle with the dragon Fafnir.
The tragic Greek myth of Actaeon, the Celtic Otherworld, the Kraken and the woods of Brothers Grimm.
The violent story of Romulus and Remus, the brutal Vikings and the Valkyries, the Trojan War, exploring the influence of Homer's Iliad on Alexander the Great, and 15th Century Romania with its bloodthirsty ruler, Vlad the Impaler.
Love is a universal and powerful emotion. But it can also be destructive. Lust can destroy, betrayal can wound. Such an often-irrational force asks questions of any society.
How does a community form? How does it survive and adapt to change? The role myths and legends have played in establishing the rules of society and the punishments for those who break them.
Death is a frightening, unsettling prospect for us all. Myths and legends help explore those anxieties. But they tell us about more than mortal fear alone. For in a culture's tales of death we can see what it is they value in life.
