MUMBAI: In a little over a month's time the biggest sporting extravaganza The Athens Olympics will kick off. While Doordarshan will have coverage of the same Discovery has announced a series of specials under the programme band Athens Games Special Week.

The aim is to give viewers feel of what the ancient Olympians were like and how the event developed over the years.

The specials air on 16 July and from 9 - 13 August at 8 pm. The Real Olympics will show that even before Christ was born cheating, bribery and financial scandals were very much a feature of the Games. The two programmes will also mix footage with computer generated images to show the difference between the ancient pagan ritual and the modern games.

Another special Beastly Games depicts the Roman tradition of holding to the death animal fights. Romans would procure and transport thousands of wild animals from different corners of their empire. The aim was to satiate enthusiasm for this bloodthirsty sport. Marathon meanwhile will show how Persians fought the Greeks during ancient times. Persia was determined to punish Athens as it was supporting the revolt of Greek cities in Asia Minor.

On a different note the channel has also announced a series Animal Face Off. This will air on Thursdays at 8 pm. Natures top predators go head to head on a virtual battlefield. Through 3D animation the programme will showcase gladiator style contests between different animals like the king of the jungle the lion versus the tiger, the great white shark versus the crocodile.

Each animal's characteristics will be examined and measured. Biometric machines modelled with 3D technology will be constructed to build sets of animal jaws.