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Vikings, The
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Program Overview
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On 8 June 793 AD, a boat full of Scandinavian raiders landed at the undefended
island monastery of Lindisfarne in northeast England. They savagely attacked
the monks and pillaged one of Christendom's holiest shrines, sending shock waves
through Europe; many believed God had sent the Northmen as an act of divine
judgment. For the next century, Europe's kingdoms were locked in a life-and-death
struggle against massive onslaughts by Viking fleets and armies. In this bitter
fight for survival, the first stirrings of national identity in England, France,
and Russia were born.
But who were their aggressors? In this two-hour special, NOVA presents a dramatic
investigation of a people who were much more than axe-wielding pirates. It features
stunning camerawork in Scandinavia and the far-flung countries that the Vikings
penetrated, while historians and archeologists present us with an image of the
Vikings that goes far deeper than their savage stereotype. The latest research
shows that they were canny merchants, expert shipbuilders, superb artisans, and
bold colonizers of lands that lay beyond the edge of the known world.
The special retraces Viking voyages in faithful replicas of their magnificent ships,
probing such questions as how they were able to navigate so far beyond the sight of
land in the stormy north Atlantic. NOVA searches for traces of Leif Eriksson's
legendary exploits in North America and the poignant extinction of Erik the Red's
colony in Greenland. Less familiar is the story of the extraordinary Viking
journeys along Russian rivers that led them ultimately to Istanbul and Baghdad.
The Scandinavian contribution to the formation of Russia—the very name comes
from Rus, meaning Swede or Scandinavian—is one of the liveliest Viking
controversies investigated by NOVA.
With state-of-the-art computer animation and fresh archeological discoveries,
NOVA breathes life into the towns the Vikings founded, from Dublin to Novgorod.
"The Vikings" strips away the myth of savagery to reveal a compelling portrait of a
people who brought fear, prosperity, and new horizons to the world of medieval Europe.
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