The Great Year — Documentary Narrated by James Earl Jones
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Documentary

The Great Year

The award-winning documentary from Walter Cruttenden and the Binary Research Institute, narrated by James Earl Jones and broadcast on PBS. CPAK comes from the same team.

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About the Film

A Cycle of Ages

From Greece and Egypt to India and the Maya, ancient cultures told the same story: history moves through a vast cycle of ages, rising toward golden ages and falling into dark ones, tied to the slow precession of the equinoxes. Plato called this cycle the Great Year.

The Great Year follows that idea through myth, ancient astronomy, and the archaeological record, and asks whether the ancients understood something about time and the cosmos that we have forgotten.

Written by Walter Cruttenden, author of Lost Star of Myth and Time and director of the Binary Research Institute, the host of CPAK. The questions the film raised are the ones CPAK’s speakers take up every year.

James Earl Jones, black-and-white portrait
James Earl Jones · 1931–2024Photo: Stuart Crawford, CC BY 2.0; cropped and converted to black and white.
The Narrator

James Earl Jones

One of the most recognized voices in film and theater, James Earl Jones lent his voice to The Great Year, carrying the story of ancient cultures and their cycle of ages.

“James worked quickly, gave us a very generous deal, and added a level of credibility to the project that brought the story of ancient cultures to life.”Walter Cruttenden
The Story Continues

From the Film to CPAK

Each year the Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge brings researchers, authors, and explorers together around the questions The Great Year asked. A sequel, Lost Star, is in production through the Binary Research Institute.

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The Conference CPAK XIV — Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge seal

An ongoing inquiry into precession, antiquity, and the cycles that shape civilization.

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Every Ballroom talk from the 14th Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge, with recordings of both rooms included.

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