A 13-part documentary series by Chris Marker examining how ancient Greek ideas continue to shape modern Western thought. Each episode centers on a single Greek word—such as “democracy,” “philosophy,” or “mythology”—through conversations filmed in cities around the world. Combining symposium-style discussions with archival footage and visual motifs of the owl, Marker creates an expansive reflection on the enduring legacy of Greece.
The Owl's Legacy (Season 1)
Symposium, or the Received Ideas (Episode 1)
Air date: 1989-06-12
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: In Paris, Tbilisi, Athens and Berkeley historians have played with reconstitutions of the "symposium" - the Greek banquet - around tables laden with food and wine.
Olympics, or the Imaginary Greece (Episode 2) 8.0
Air date: 1989-06-13
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Greece's inheritance was recomposed in contemporary mythology. This sometimes led to terrible misappropriations for the benefit of totalitarian ideologies - of which Nazism was born.
Democracy, or the City of Dreams (Episode 3) 8.0
Air date: 1989-06-14
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: What exactly does the word mean “democracy” mean? Does it designates the ancient city-state or our contemporary political systems? What are the analogies or, on the contrary, the radical differences between realities separated by more than twenty centuries? Are certain functions suitable for all civilizations? Τhe third episode of Chris Marker’s legendary documentary series – which first aired on British state television in 1991 but remained in the dark for decades – returns to classical antiquity to make a bold parallel, familiarizing 21st-century audiences with a concept of the commons that seems primordial yet innovative, reinventing itself in every single manifestation.
Nostalgia, or the Impossible Return (Episode 4)
Air date: 1989-06-15
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Ithaca is the iconic distant home that no one should forget: such would be the universal lesson of Homer's Odyssey.
Amnesia, or the Sense of History (Episode 5) 8.0
Air date: 1989-06-16
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Built on the testimony or "autopsy" - which literally means "seeing oneself" - our conception of History has deeply shifted since Herodotus.
Mathematics, or the Realm of Signs (Episode 6)
Air date: 1989-06-19
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: The geometrical space and the mathematical language constitute a universal legacy the Greeks have bequeathed us with. How do we articulate its perfect logic to the complexity of contemporary sciences?
Logomachy, or the Root of Words (Episode 7)
Air date: 1989-06-20
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: All the meanings of "logos" originated from a small territory between Ephesus and Patmos. According to Aristotle the human animal fights with a specific weapon: speech... Logos' destiny would it be the "logomachy"? The fight over words.
Music, or the Inner Space (Episode 8)
Air date: 1989-06-21
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: A cross between imitation and creation, the search for the beautiful and harmonious animates the artists' personal quests - including with cutting-edge technology - as well as it serves great collective schemes - religions in particular.
Cosmogony, or the Use of the World (Episode 9)
Air date: 1989-06-22
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: This reflection over creation - divine cosmogony and man's creativity - takes us from the Greek statuary art to the Acropolis' Korai on show in Tokyo. This takes us on towards the Gorgon - a mirror of death.
Mythology, or the Truth of Lies (Episode 10)
Air date: 1989-06-23
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: There are a set of myths to which we constantly refer ourselves. We will question their genesis, their place in psyche, their transmission, their nature.
Misogyny, or Desire's Traps (Episode 11)
Air date: 1989-06-26
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: The Greek conception of sexuality was very different from ours. What did the Greek think of desire in a world where heterosexuality and homosexuality - far from being opposites - were models of existence that were different but compatible?
Tragedy, or the Illusion of Death (Episode 12)
Air date: 1989-06-27
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: The great figures borne out of Greek tragedies help us fathom the founding mechanisms of human practices - all the way to a society like Japan, that is so apparently far from ours.
Philosophy, or the Owl's Triumph (Episode 13)
Air date: 1989-06-28
Runtime: 26 min
Overview: Around the metaphorical - but also very real - figure of the owl; entwined reflections upon the place of thought in daily existence and public action - sometimes with and sometimes against the Greek legacy.
Seasons
Episodes 13