All language subtitles for Lost.Cities.of.the.Bible.2022.Part.1.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

[narrator] Ancient Iraq,

a land of myth and legend,

home to some
of the greatest cities
of the Bible.

Well, it's the cradle
of civilization.

This is one
of the most important areas
in the world.

[narrator] Now,
after decades of war,

pioneering archaeologists
are returning to Iraq.

Our cameras
have unprecedented access

as they unearth
buried treasures

as they unearth
buried treasures

and discover the real world
of the Old Testament.

Western civilization only kept
memories from the Bible.

It's very difficult
to pick apart
the myths and the legends.

[narrator] This time
investigators uncover
the lost cities of Genesis,

Uruk and Ur,
the legendary birthplace
of Abraham.

Ur was transcended.

It essentially ruled
over many cities.

It essentially ruled
over many cities.

[narrator] Why did people
here go from being
simple farmers

to big time city slickers?

And did the collapse
of this brave new world

influence one of the greatest
biblical stories ever told?

Noah and the great flood.

It's just before dawn
in southern Iraq.

A small convoy of vehicles
heads out across the desert.

A small convoy of vehicles
heads out across the desert.

Joining the team
is archaeologist
Sebastien Rey.

He and his colleagues
are traveling 200 miles south
of Iraq's capital Baghdad,

heading for a set
of ancient ruins,

which could unlock the origins
of civilization itself.

[Sebastien Rey] Archeology
is truly amazing here.

Every morning, I have
this exciting of maybe
this is the day

where we will find something
truly exceptional.

where we will find something
truly exceptional.

[narrator]
The sands of southern Iraq

hold a unique place
in human history.

6,000 years ago,
a people called the Sumerians

built the world's
first cities here.

They vanished,

but for reasons
that are still unclear.

Their civilization influenced
the stories of the Bible,

written 1,000s of years later
by a very different people.

According to Genesis,
this is where the world began.

According to Genesis,
this is where the world began.

The setting
for the Garden of Eden,
the great flood,

and where the descendants
of Noah built Erech,
a mighty city.

Today, biblical scholars
identify Erech with Uruk
in southern Iraq,

a huge Sumerian metropolis
older than the pyramids.

Uruk had temples
studded with intricate
stone mosaics...

Uruk had temples
studded with intricate
stone mosaics...

...and developed
a maze of streets,

filled with
mud brick houses...

...wildly seen as the world's
first true city.

6,000 years ago,
this was a revolutionary
way of living.

Why were the Sumerians
the first people
to build cities?

And what was
the world of Genesis
really like?

The first Westerners
to uncover Iraq's lost cities

The first Westerners
to uncover Iraq's lost cities

were inspired
by the stories of the Bible.

But archeologists have
still barely scratched
the surface

of what lies buried here.

These rare aerial images
show the sheer scale of Uruk's
sprawling ruins today.

Sebastien Rey
from the British Museum
belongs to a new generation,

working alongside
Iraqi colleagues
and driven by science.

Our cameras have unique access

Our cameras have unique access

to follow their
groundbreaking dig

at a neighboring site
called Girsu.

It could shed new light
on how the first cities
like Uruk evolved.

[Rey] Girsu
in the third millennium BC
was a very, very big city.

We call it a mega city.

And it was home
to more than 20,000 people.

[narrator] The Sumerians,
like the ancient Egyptians,
built on a massive scale.

The team is uncovering
a very unusual structure.

The team is uncovering
a very unusual structure.

It's colossal

and unlike anything
every found in ancient Iraq.

[Rey] This construction
is a very unusual plan,

almost in the shape
of a big X.

[narrator] Sebastien works
with archaeologist Ebru Torun.

She investigates
the strange design.

[Ebru Torun] This is
a very interesting structure

[Ebru Torun] This is
a very interesting structure

built actually like
two symmetrically arranged
convex walls.

We have studied the structure
almost brick by brick,

uh, and we know
that it was made
of fire bricks.

It must have been
a very useful structure

because it was kept maintained
for many, many centuries.

[narrator] Archeologists
once thought this structure
could be a tomb

or even a temple.

But it stands inside
an ancient canal.

But it stands inside
an ancient canal.

These are actually
the foundations of a bridge...

...built from 1,000s
of mud bricks
with bitumen as mortar.

This structure
was once 26 feet high

and up to 130 feet wide.

It's a small bridge
by modern standards,

but when it was built
4,000 years ago,

it was revolutionary.

It's also an ancient
water management system.

By squeezing the current
threw a narrow channel,

By squeezing the current
threw a narrow channel,

the water picked up speed

without raising
the level downstream,

a testament
to Sumerian ingenuity.

The bridge
is the oldest ever found
in the world.

Could it reveal
why the Sumerians
invented cities?

[Torun] This structure
is not only a very impressive
archeological ruin,

it also tells us a lot
about how

it also tells us a lot
about how

people, Sumerians,
actually found solutions
to live in this climate.

It's a unique structure.

[narrator] The bridge
is the first hint
that this arid land

looked very different
in biblical times.

Sebastien works
with geoarchaeologist
Jaafar Jotheri

to reconstruct Girsu's
original environment.

[narrator] Together they fly
a drone to look
for more canals

[narrator] Together they fly
a drone to look
for more canals

like the one with the bridge.

Work that would take months
on the ground

takes minutes in the air.

You would think the drone
is really important.

We used to use tradition way
of survey and excavation.

But now, we are allowed
to discover lots of things.

If you have high technology,
and you can plan well

where to excavate
or where to dig.

[narrator] From above,
the desert looks
flat and featureless,

but it hides
remarkable secrets.

[Rey] So this image
is made up of more than
a 100 drone photos.

The main large straight lines
you can see
are ancient canals.

[narrator] The drone's survey
reveals that water surrounded
Girsu in ancient times.

This desert city
was the Venice of its day.

This desert city
was the Venice of its day.

[Rey] We always had this idea

that a Mesopotamian city,
any city like Uruk,
like Babylon,

is strongly connected
to one river course.

But here
in the case of Girsu...

...there are numbers of canals
that run across
through the site.

[narrator] Conventional wisdom
says that the construction
of these canals

led directly to the birth
of the first cities.

An extraordinary vase
discovered at Uruk...

...reveals how they allowed
the Sumerians to turn
the desert into fields.

The vase depicts farmers
who carry baskets
overflowing with crops.

A herd of goats and sheep
graze freely.

It's a fertile landscape
that some believe
might even have inspired

the story of
the Garden of Eden
in the Bible.

Genesis describes how a stream
running from Eden flowed

Genesis describes how a stream
running from Eden flowed

into Iraq's
life-giving rivers,
the Tigris and the Euphrates.

Some scholars believe
the name Eden itself

may come from
the Sumerian word
for a plain or open country.

But no one knows for sure
if this theory

about the rise
of the first cities is correct

because few have ever tried
to date these canals...

...until now.

[Rey] Our knowledge
of ancient Mesopotamia

[Rey] Our knowledge
of ancient Mesopotamia

is very limited,
and it dates back to

50, 60, 70 years.

[narrator] Sebastien's team
uses an ingenious technique

to find out exactly how old
the canals are

and if they were dug
at the same time
as the city was built.

The one way of dating
an ancient canal
is to collect shells

from the bottom
of those canals.

We can radiocarbon date
the shells,

We can radiocarbon date
the shells,

and this would date
the canal itself.

[narrator] The team analyzes
more than 20 shells.

The results reveal
a staggering surprise.

[Rey] These are, um,
the first results we have
from the lab.

The range of dates
for the earliest
largescale canal...

...is roughly from 6,000 BCE

to 4,500 BCE.

[narrator] The canals appear
to predate any Sumerian city

[narrator] The canals appear
to predate any Sumerian city

by at least 1,000 years.

It means that settled farming
cannot be the spark

that led to places like Uruk.

So if we assume that the model
that everyone agrees on today

that Uruk, the famous city
is the first city,

these canals are 1,000
to 2,000 years earlier

than this very important date.

This would significantly
change almost
everything we know

about the rise of the city
in Mesopotamia.

[narrator] Everything that
we thought we knew

about the dawn of civilization
could be wrong.

Something else must have
motivated people here
to build cities.

Why did people leave
this real life Garden of Eden

for life in a big metropolis?

for life in a big metropolis?

A clue could lie
at the center of Uruk
with a vast temple.

The world's first pyramid.

[narrator] The Bible says
that after the Great Flood,

the descendants of Noah
spread out across the Earth.

One man, a mighty hunter
called Nimrod,

supposedly founded
the world's first cities
in the land of Shinar.

Archeology confirms
that Iraq is indeed
where cities began.

But why did humans
decide to build them here
in the first place?

But why did humans
decide to build them here
in the first place?

A clue could lie
at the center of Uruk.

Here archaeologists
have discovered
the world's first pyramid.

A raised platform
called a ziggurat.

On top is a temple dedicated
to the Sumerian sky god.

It's gleaming,
whitewashed walls
make it stand out from afar.

Next to it lies
a temple precinct, the Eanna.

Next to it lies
a temple precinct, the Eanna.

Ancient builders
studded its walls
with thousands of stone cones

creating a mosaic of intricate
geometric patterns.

5,000 years ago,
there was no other place
like this on Earth.

So could religion explain
the birth of the first cities?

Sebastien Rey investigates
a building buried
at the nearby city of Girsu.

Sebastien Rey investigates
a building buried
at the nearby city of Girsu.

Here Iraqi excavators
unearth terracotta cones
embedded in the walls

similar to those
at Uruk's temple.

[Sebastien Rey]
I'm holding in my hands
one of the most iconic objects

of the site of Girsu Tello.

This is a temple cone.

But rather, we should
really call it a temple nail.

It was a symbolic object.

There's an inscription
incised on this object.

The text always starts
with the name of Ningirsu.

The text always starts
with the name of Ningirsu.

[narrator] Each Sumerian city
had its own deity.

Girsu's patron god
was the thunder god, Ningirsu.

Hero of epic tales and slayer
of the monster, Anzu.

[bestial roar]

The Sumerians believed
that each city
had its own deity.

The cone reveals
that this building
is the temple of Ningirsu,

one of the most sacred sites
in ancient Iraq.

one of the most sacred sites
in ancient Iraq.

[Rey] When we found the cones
inserted in the walls,

it was an exceptional moment.

We knew for a fact
that we had indeed discovered

this long-forgotten
temple of Ningirsu.

[narrator] Legend says
that Ningirsu himself ordered

the construction
of this building

by appearing
to the city's king in a dream.

A headless statue discovered
in the building depicts

A headless statue discovered
in the building depicts

the king as an architect
holding a floor plan.

At first, its geometry
baffled archaeologists.

But Sebastien managed
to decode the measurements
inscribed on it.

Incredibly, the dimensions
matched the building
in this trench perfectly.

This floor plan is supposed
to be a divine blueprint.

Sebastien thinks that
sacred shrines like this
evolved into the first cities.

Sebastien thinks that
sacred shrines like this
evolved into the first cities.

Girsu's temple was built
just as the city
started to get going.

[Rey] So a temple
in ancient Mesopotamia
was like a magnet.

It attracted people
worshipping the gods.

And the whole city
gravitated around
this important structure.

[narrator] Religion helped
to give rise

to the civilization
that would shape the Bible.

Gods lay at the heart
of the day-to-day
Sumerian world.

Gods lay at the heart
of the day-to-day
Sumerian world.

But many early cultures
had shrines.

How did the Sumerians
turn theirs into cities?

A clue lies with a skill
we take for granted.

Writing.

Phil Jones investigates
how Sumerian priests
were the first people

to harness the true power
of this radical new idea.

Writing is probably one of
the three or four
most crucial inventions

in the whole of human history.

It is a complete game changer.

[narrator] The Sumerians
developed a system of writing
called cuneiform.

A series of wedge-shaped
symbols made on wet clay.

Some archaeologists think
writing was invented

in the temple
as a method of book keeping.

This is a cuneiform tablet
just over 4,000 years old.

So this is basically a receipt

So this is basically a receipt

for various uh, officials
receiving grain.

First line ends
with the name of a person.

When its finished
giving the list of people
receiving the grain,

we have a total
of how much grain
has been involved.

[narrator] This carving
from Uruk reveals

how temples had to administer
an extraordinary
amount of produce.

Citizens carry jars of fruit,
grain and fish to the temple.

All offerings
for the goddess Inanna.

All offerings
for the goddess Inanna.

But priests would also
redistribute some of this food

back among the people
living in the city.

The Sumerians were
the world's first bureaucrats.

[Phil Jones] Writing allows
you to keep track
of the raw materials

moving through the system.

The temple itself is partly
a religious institution,

but it's also essentially
a real estate corporation.

[narrator] Sebastien believes
that the temple ran
these fledgling cities.

[narrator] Sebastien believes
that the temple ran
these fledgling cities.

It was the engine
which powered
the growth of civic life.

[Rey] Everything is linked
to the temple.

So in Uruk for example,
most of the very first
tablets that we have

are linked to
the temple of Inanna.

So there can be no doubt
that in Mesopotamia

the birth of the city
and the invention of writing

is linked to development
of the temple.

[narrator] Sumer was a land
of incredible innovations.

[narrator] Sumer was a land
of incredible innovations.

Is this why the later
Biblical writers believe
the world began here?

Writing also allowed humans
to record stories
for the very first time.

But the Sumerians were devoted
to one story in particular.

The myth of a Great Flood.

Where does it come from?

And why is it so similar
to the tale of Noah's Ark
in the Bible?

[narrator]
Thousands of years ago,

the Sumerians believed
a great flood
destroyed the world.

Legend says the gods
grew angry with humanity
for being too noisy.

So they sent a great deluge
to wipe them out.

But they spared one man

who they told to build a boat
and rescue all life.

Why is this Sumerian tale
so similar to the story
of Noah's Ark?

Could a real event
connect them both?

Could a real event
connect them both?

Archaeologists have found
many versions of this story.

The most famous is found
in the tale of a king of Uruk
called Gilgamesh.

The discovery of his story
in the 19th century
astounded a Western world

brought up
on the tale of Noah.

It appeared to confirm
that the Bible conveyed
historical truth.

Gilgamesh was an epic hero,
but he may be based

on a real king who lived
nearly 5,000 years ago.

So if he did exist,
what was the world
he came from,

the world of the flood?

The rise of these early rulers
is shrouded in mystery.

Barbara Helwing
looks for clues here

at the Pergamonmuseum
in Berlin.

The big change
of the fourth millennium

is that we see a new type
of leadership emerging.

is that we see a new type
of leadership emerging.

There is a figure responsible
for forming the interface

between the humans
and the deities.

[narrator] This small clay
impression depicts
one of these new rulers.

He stands on a boat
next to a model
of Uruk's temple...

...a sign of his
sacred responsibilities.

But as cities grew bigger,
they needed leaders
who could combine many roles.

[Barbara Helwing]
We also see him
in scenes of violence.

This personality takes charge
of organizing these things.

[narrator] This was the world
that Gilgamesh would have
come from if he existed...

...one with a dark side.

[Helwing] Constructing
such a public building
requires a huge work force,

and we know
from the early texts

that there are people
who are treated as slaves,

and people who
are treated as laborers.

and people who
are treated as laborers.

We haven't seen
an institutionalized
inequality in the same way,

and it fascinates me.

I would like to understand
how people ever
agreed to do this.

[narrator] A curious
ancient text called
the Sumerian King List

claims that Gilgamesh
was one of these early rulers.

He appears as one of the kings
who reigned after an event
known as the Flood.

He appears as one of the kings
who reigned after an event
known as the Flood.

At first, it appears to
confirm the Sumerian myth...

...but there's a problem.

Historians think
that originally,

the stories of Gilgamesh
and the Flood were separate.

They were only combined
much later.

But Assyriologist,
Stephanie Dalley

thinks that the idea
of a global deluge

could have its origins
in southern Iraq's
unique geography.

You need a flood
to give people the idea of it,

and that's what you do get
in Mesopotamia.

[narrator] In ancient times,
the Sumerian cities

lay between the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers

and were much closer
to the sea.

Under certain conditions,
a flood could submerge

everything as far
as the eye could see.

You wouldn't get that
in Palestine,

you wouldn't get that
in most of Syria,

you wouldn't get that
in most of Syria,

but you do get it
in Mesopotamia

because of the two
great rivers flooding over,

one into the other,
and covering
the whole of the land.

[narrator] Intriguingly,
archeologists have found

evidence of flooding
at several Sumerian cities.

They all date
from different times.

Flooding was
an ever-present hazard.

But the story of the Flood
also reflects an attempt
by the Sumerians

But the story of the Flood
also reflects an attempt
by the Sumerians

to reconstruct
their distant past...

...just like
the Book of Genesis.

The Flood was the equivalent
of a Sumerian year zero.

[Stephanie Dalley]
When you look at
the Sumerian King List,

you do see
that it's an absolute
defining point in history.

Before which, people had
legendarily long lives,

or they had perhaps

the names of animals
or constellations.

the names of animals
or constellations.

[narrator]
It's impossible to say
if a shared memory of a flood

filtered down to the early
Israelites as well,

but many historians believe
that the Biblical authors

must have borrowed key details
from the Sumerian tales
for their story of Noah's Ark.

But how did this happen?

The Flood story is far from
the only chapter in Genesis

The Flood story is far from
the only chapter in Genesis

with a mysterious
Sumerian connection.

Why did the Biblical writers
also believe

that their ancestor, Abraham,
came from this place,

the legendary city of Ur?

[narrator] 4,300 years ago,
disaster struck
the Biblical city of Uruk.

A new city in the north,
Akkad, conquered all
of the Sumerian people

and created the world's
first empire.

The city of Akkad itself
has never been identified,

but the Bible alludes to
its world-shattering power.

According to Genesis,
Nimrod, the founder of Uruk,
also established Akkad.

According to Genesis,
Nimrod, the founder of Uruk,
also established Akkad.

Some believe
his name might refer
to an Akkadian king...

...called Naram-Sin.

Eventually, the Sumerians
fought back

under the leadership
of another city,

one of the most famous
in the Bible...

...Ur, the legendary
birthplace of Abraham.

Excavations reveal
that 4,100 years ago,
Ur was a mighty metropolis.

Excavations reveal
that 4,100 years ago,
Ur was a mighty metropolis.

At its center rose
a towering ziggurat, dedicated
to the moon god, Nanna...

...surrounded by a sprawling
religious district.

Beyond it lay
a maze of streets,

home to as many
as 65,000 people,

all surrounded
by fertile farmland.

So who lived here,
and why does the Bible say
that Abraham was among them?

So who lived here,
and why does the Bible say
that Abraham was among them?

Archaeologist,
William B. Hafford
from Penn Museum

investigates Ur
during its golden age.

During the Ur Three dynasty,
Ur was transcendent.

It essentially ruled
over many cities.

[narrator]
The city's most famous ruler
was a king called Ur-Nammu.

He instigated a massive
building program.

Many of the structures
we see today
date from his reign.

Many of the structures
we see today
date from his reign.

[William Hafford]
These are mud bricks,
the fundamental building block

of all southern
Mesopotamian cities.

The stamp here tells us
that this brick was made
for Ur-Nammu, the king,

and he was building
the temple of Nanna,
the moon god,

and it also
mentions that he built
the city wall of Ur.

[narrator]
Ur's colossal buildings reveal
the power of Ur-Nammu...

[narrator]
Ur's colossal buildings reveal
the power of Ur-Nammu...

...but they also required
vast resources.

As the cities of Sumer
grew larger,

competition between them
became more intense,
leading to war.

An ancient work of art
discovered at Ur

shows the Sumerian
war machine at work.

Chariots ride into battle
and crush foes in their path.

Chariots ride into battle
and crush foes in their path.

There's infantry
carrying spears,
rushing into the fray,

smiting enemies
and taking prisoners.

Above all stands
the king of Ur,

shown taller than
everyone else,

being presented
with injured prisoners.

But William believes that Ur
owed its success to more
than just military power.

A clue lies in the hundreds
of intriguing objects
discovered in the city.

A clue lies in the hundreds
of intriguing objects
discovered in the city.

Ur had few raw materials...

...but its rich farmland meant
it had plenty of grain
and wool for sale.

[Hafford] These are
spindle whorls.

Well, spindle whorls
are used to make thread
and/or yarn.

A major export
from Mesopotamia
was cloth.

They had a lot of sheep,
they could spin a lot of wool,
and they could make textiles.

They had a lot of sheep,
they could spin a lot of wool,
and they could make textiles.

[narrator] This astonishing
copper bowl reveals
the quality of Ur's textiles.

Corrosion has preserved
details of the cloth
it was wrapped in.

[Hafford] And it preserved
the pattern of how tight
that weave is,

and we can see a number
of these different things

to get the range
of cloth types
that they were making.

[narrator] The artifacts
also hint at what the city
was getting in return,

precious metals
from distant lands.

[Hafford] We've got
carnelian coming in
from the Indus valley,

we've got copper
and diorite coming in
from Oman,

and we've got lapis lazuli
and gold coming from Iran
and Afghanistan.

So long distance
trade networks
are very important

because this is the way
you legitimize your kingship,
and you show your power.

[narrator] So why did
the Biblical writers believe

that their ancestor,
Abraham, was born here?

A clue could lie with how
they describe this city.

The book of Genesis
mentions Ur three times...

...on each occasion
as Ur of the Chaldees,

a people who ruled
southern Iraq
more than 1,000 years later...

...when most scholars believe
the Bible was written down.

...when most scholars believe
the Bible was written down.

Ur still existed at this time
and was already more
than 2,000 years old.

One explanation is that
the Biblical authors

were trying to reconstruct
their distant past.

But people of faith
believe that Abraham
really did live here,

just hundreds of years
after Ur's golden age.

This was a time of turmoil...

This was a time of turmoil...

...when invaders
devastated the city.

It's also when
the first written copies
of the Flood myth appear.

So could the collapse
of the Sumerian world
help explain both stories?

[narrator] 4,000 years ago,

foreign enemies attacked
the great city of Ur,

bringing its golden age
to a sudden end.

Some believe one of the most
important events in the Bible

took place during
the chaotic era that followed.

Abraham, the ancestor
of the Israelites, left Ur
for the Promised Land.

This is also the time
when the earliest written

versions of the Flood myth
start to appear.

versions of the Flood myth
start to appear.

So did the fallout
from the collapse

of this great city influence
the Old Testament stories?

Today, tradition says that
this building in Ur
is the house of Abraham.

Archaeologists uncovered it
in the early 20th century.

Well, the earliest
archaeologists in the near
and Middle East

were often driven
by Biblical stories,

certainly Sir Leonard Woolley
thought that this was the city

certainly Sir Leonard Woolley
thought that this was the city

that Abraham
may have come from.

However, he was gonna be
very careful to try
and find evidence.

So, in a way,
they were trying to see

what was this city like
through so many
periods of time?

It was occupied
for 5,000 years.

[narrator] The early
excavators claimed that
these were the very streets

that Abraham would have
wandered through as a boy,

a claim that was perhaps
driven by the need to raise
funding for their dig

from a public hungry
for historical truth
in the stories of Genesis.

from a public hungry
for historical truth
in the stories of Genesis.

[Hafford] Sir Leonard Woolley,
in his academic work,

he almost never
mentions the Bible.

In his public works
and his lectures,

he would often do it
to bring in the crowds.

[narrator] There's no physical
proof that this house
belonged to Abraham himself.

What we see today was restored
during the 20th century.

But it does date
to the centuries
after the fall of Ur,

which is when
Biblical tradition suggests
that Abraham might have lived.

which is when
Biblical tradition suggests
that Abraham might have lived.

The violent end
of Ur's golden age is seared

into the fabric
of this ancient metropolis.

Archaeologists here
have found evidence
of burning and destruction.

But new discoveries reveal
how the people of Ur

managed to rebuild
their shattered homes.

The city's population
continued to grow.

[Hafford] We think that
at its most dense,

[Hafford] We think that
at its most dense,

it might have reached
25,000 people
within the city walls.

If we expand
into the hinterland,

it might have supported
up to 60,000.

[narrator] The citizens of Ur
blamed a nomadic people

of Aramaean descent
for their city's woes.

Some argue that Abraham
was related to them.

This era did see
many people on the move.

But others claim that
the Biblical writers
were referring

to a different city
with a similar name

to a different city
with a similar name

in what is now
southern Turkey.

It's impossible to prove
if the founding father

of the Israelites
left Ur at this time.

For millions of people,
it is a matter of faith.

But the fall of Ur may have
had an unexpected impact
on another story.

The Sumerian tale
of the Flood,

which bears many similarities
to the story
of Noah's Ark in Genesis.

which bears many similarities
to the story
of Noah's Ark in Genesis.

Cuneiform specialist,
Samuel Chen thinks

this attempt to rebuild
the Sumerian world

could also explain
why the Flood story

suddenly became
hugely popular at this time

The fall of
the Ur Three dynasty

was a traumatic
experience for Sumer.

Basically it was the collapse
of not only urban structure,

but also all of
the supporting networks.

[narrator] Samuel finds
key similarities
between the Flood story

[narrator] Samuel finds
key similarities
between the Flood story

and poems lamenting
the fall of Ur.

In them, people started
to question

why the gods had allowed
their own temples
to be destroyed.

The destruction of the city
also brings a lot
of suffering to the deities.

They were thinking about
the irrational aspect

of a divine decision
to destroy
urban civilizations.

This is something lost stories
began to question

and even make into a satire.

and even make into a satire.

[narrator] But the moral
of the Flood story was how
humans could start again.

It was a reassuring tale.

And as it was told
again and again

it became
blockbuster entertainment.

There was a lot
of borrowing as well.

There was a lot of
cross fertilization.

So you have
these different heroes

who were originally
independent of each other.

who were originally
independent of each other.

They were brought together
to meet with each other,
to make it more exciting,

very much similar
to the Marvel films.

[narrator] The Sumerian myths
became hugely popular.

But how did tales from cities
like Ur and Uruk reach
the authors of the Bible

on the other side
of the Middle East?

The answer lies
with a new power:

Babylon, the infamous
city of Babel.

[narrator] The Sumerians
appeared more than
4,000 years ago.

But the tales of their cities
live on in the Bible.

How did two civilizations
separated by
thousands of years

end up sharing so many
of the same stories?

The answer could lie
with a city that
connects them both

and casts a long shadow
over the Old Testament.

Babylon.

Today these are the remains
of this legendary city.

A vast and sprawling site
by the river Euphrates.

Osama Hisham
from the World Monuments Fund

works to rebuild
this magnificent site.

He and his team are removing
modern materials

from Babylon's
restored buildings

and replacing them
with traditional ones.

[narrator] Babylon is
no stranger to repairs.

Maintenance happened
in all ancient cities.

But what makes Babylon
exceptional is its longevity.

Its buildings were rebuilt
again and again.

[narrator] The city burst
onto the world stage
3,800 years ago,

ruthlessly taking advantage of
the declining Sumerian cities.

It became the biggest,
most famous metropolis
in ancient Iraq,

a title it held
for the next thousand years.

a title it held
for the next thousand years.

But the Babylonians were aware
that they controlled cities
far older than their own.

Assyriologist Stephanie Dalley
investigates how Babylon

played a critical role
in keeping Sumerian
culture alive.

The Babylonians inherited
writing from the Sumerians
and much more.

Babylon comes late
into the history
of Mesopotamia.

There was a tremendous
amount of copying
Sumerian literature.

There was a tremendous
amount of copying
Sumerian literature.

And Sumerian poetry is very
different from Babylonian.

It's very imaginative.

It was a major point for them

to copy the poetry
of the Sumerians.

[narrator] The Babylonians
set up writing schools
to teach cuneiform.

Students learned by copying
from famous Sumerian stories
like the Flood myth.

Well the scribes had to master
the art of writing cuneiform
for a start.

Well the scribes had to master
the art of writing cuneiform
for a start.

So they practiced signs
and we've got lots

of terribly, badly
written signs
from their exercises.

But then, they would take
a Sumerian poem

or they would take
a short story about Gilgamesh.

They would get to know it
like we would learn
a piece of Shakespeare.

[narrator] The scale
of the copying was immense.

But only selected
stories survive.

Some people think that
all the literature we've got
is on school exercises,

Some people think that
all the literature we've got
is on school exercises,

and we certainly find a lot
of them that are
not very well written

and got quite a lot
of mistakes in them.

One of the things about
he Flood story is that
we have got more extracts

of Tablet XI than we have
of any other bits
of the Gilgamesh epic

which is marvelous,
but infuriating

because we still got gaps
where we haven't got anything.

[narrator] Babylon owed
a rich debt
to Sumerian culture.

[narrator] Babylon owed
a rich debt
to Sumerian culture.

And in turn, it brought
their tales to a new audience.

In 589 BC, the Babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar II
conquered Jerusalem

and deported
many of its citizens.

Many scholars think
the Book of Genesis
was written in Babylon

by Jewish exiles.

Here they came into contact
with Sumerian stories

that were thousands
of years old.

But for the Biblical authors,

these stories
of gods and monsters
took on a new dimension.

They revealed the truth
about human existence
as they saw it.

As the divine plan
of a single God.

The Jewish scribes were trying
to reconstruct their history

much like Sumerians had done
thousands of years earlier
with the Flood.

The Sumerians are
our common ancestor.

The Sumerians are
our common ancestor.

We owe them so much.

[narrator] The tales
of the Old Testament
remember the legacy

of an ancient
and remarkable people:
the Sumerians.

They constructed
extraordinary wonders

that have survived
the test of time,

invented writing
and literature

and pioneered
a new urban life.

In many ways, the story
of Iraq's lost cities
is Genesis.

In many ways, the story
of Iraq's lost cities
is Genesis.

The history of our beginnings.

The creation
of the modern world.