A top-notch documentary light on comical reenactments that uses engaging, well-edited interviews (with top people) and straightforward animations to illustrate how Mayan written language was decoded and interpreted. It's like an exciting detective story on that level, but it also provides a glimpse of the historiography of the subject over time that is both easy to digest and immensely useful in understanding pre 1492 civilizations in America.
Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death
The above documentary's are all worth a watch. There are two amazing docs about McCullen and Tim Hetherington too but I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for.
If I may, I'd like to specifically ask about the show Spartacus. Is it historically realistic at all or is it just style over substance in the vein of things like 300?
West Wing for insight into modern geo politics
The Civil War by Ken Burns is marvelous. He has more documentaries on Netflix but this one is his finest.
There are a few Bettany Hughes documentaries on You Tube (my favorites are about the Minoans and the Spartans) and one about Alexandria streaming on Netflix.
How accurate is "the americans"
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WWII In HD or Vietnam in HD