The music of Johann Sebastian Bach fuses emotional power, religious devotion, technical virtuosity, diverse national styles, and sheer genius in ways that are unforgettable, delightful, and moving. Professor Robert Greenberg explains all this and more with compelling insight, deep human sympathy, and puckish wit. Join him and learn to hear Bach with more pleasure and understanding than ever before.

Dr. Greenberg examines eighteenth and nineteenth century music through the examples of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Antonin Dvorak, Richard Strauss, Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn, and Franz Liszt.

Why do the ancient Greeks occupy such a prominent place in conceptions of Western culture and identity? Covering the eleven centuries from the end of the Neolithic period to the rise of Alexander the Great, this course traces the history of Classical Greece and its foundational influence on all of Western civilization. The knowledge gained here will increase comprehension not only of history but of all Western religion, art, architecture, philosophy,...

Classic stories and poems of American literature are found in the pages of Franklin, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, Twain, Whitman, Faulkner, and many others. Here is the opportunity to gain an extraordinary familiarity with each of these authors within a manageable amount of time, as well as review the great works already known.

The Bible describes a lengthy sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt. We examine the Joseph story in the Book of Genesis to see what light Egyptology might shed on its authenticity.

Short reigns and a lack of major building projects betray the beginnings of Egypt's long slide from greatness.

Unearthed by Howard Carter in 1922, the burial place of this young son of Akhenaten is the only royal tomb to have been found substantially intact. Follow the careful research and planning that led up to Carter's discovery, and learn the significance of the thousands of artifacts found.

Obelisks are a purely Egyptian invention. Quarrying, transporting, and erecting one is perhaps an even greater engineering feat than the building of a pyramid. Learn the origins and religious significance of obelisks.

Was Tutankhamen the victim of foul play? Do his mummified remains hold clues? Who might have wanted him dead, and why? Sift the physical and circumstantial evidence for this intriguing hypothesis and form your own conclusion.

As Egypt becomes a great nation led by a single all-powerful ruler, traditions arise that will last for millennia: a capital city, separate burial places (and eventually mighty pyramids) for the kings, solar boats for the trip to the next world, and more.