All language subtitles for hom

Twelve thousand years ago,
man suddenly took a decisive turn.

He left the nomadic life
to settle in the first villages.

Before long, he would invent farming,

cattle raising, irrigation,
commerce, metal alloys,

architecture, medicine, and religion.

On his way,
man had to overcome many challenges.

Property ownership
generated the first wars.

Livestock spread deadly diseases.

Overpopulation caused starvation
but Homo sapiens continued.

He built cities and imagined a complex,
organized, and hierarchical society.

He communicated over great distances,
thanks to the written word.

In 8,000 years,
the population of the planet

went from three million
to 100 million inhabitants.

Man built society as we know it today.

Soon, he would no longer be the same man.

He became a modern man.

This is the account
of the defining moments

leading through the ages to our time.

The history of our evolution
to modern man began about 15,000 years ago

as a result of a rapid climate change
of tremendous magnitude.

Global warming wrought immense changes.

In a few dozen centuries,

two-thirds of the polar ice cap
melted away,

large sheets of ice broke off,
and the ocean rose 120 meters.

Little by little,
the continents took shape

as we know them today.

In some regions, torrential rains
caused cataclysmic flooding.

In others, drought parched the land,
natural fires set forests ablaze.

The Ice Age was over.

Humans could now embark
on a new adventure.

The pioneers of this transformation
emerged in the Fertile Crescent,

today's Near East.

Twelve thousand years ago,

three to three million men and women
inhabited the planet.

They were nomads.

They lived in wide open spaces
and rarely encountered other humans.

This clan was one of the first
to have domesticated wolves.

They made them into dogs.

However, another change
had occurred on planet Earth.

The strange idea had taken hold.

Stone teepees
with swirls of leaves on top.

They'd never seen anything like it.

Aar was their leader.

He was listened to
because he was the strongest.

Ashaa, our second companion,
was expecting her first child.

These nomads didn't know
they were looking at houses,

a revolutionary invention,

a new way of life
that would change human history.

Humans had decided to settle
here permanently, to stop roaming,

and instead, radiate out from a center,
their village.

Where were they?

What were these stones for?

They had water in them and food.

Whatever had possessed them
to have bags so heavy?

Why build structures
that couldn't be moved?

They had a tree in the middle
of their teepees.

They were doing what spiders do.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Warm outside and cool inside,
the temperature was pleasant,

as was the smell
and odor of men and women and children

along with the reassuring aroma
of dried meat.

There was a lot of food.

Not being on the move
and having to plan ahead for times

when nature stopped providing.

Sedentary people
had not yet become farmers.

They gathered berries and grain.

They didn't know wild plants
could be cultivated.

Their way of life added a new dimension
to the human temperament,

a dimension unknown to nomads.

The sense of ownership.

For nomads, the riches of the earth
belonged to everyone

but sedentary people
could no longer think this way.

Their survival
depended on their food reserves,

and this dependency created the fear
of having them taken away.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

For nomads, strangers
were simply travelers like them.

Even when food was scarce,

survival dictated
that they share what they had.

For the sedentary man,
stranger meant danger.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

The kind of Aar entered the village
as he would anywhere,

naturally and without guile,

but those who lived there
saw it as an intrusion.

These people
thought they owned everything,

their houses, their stone containers,
and even the water in them.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Aar and his clan
couldn't understand their hostility.

Nomads who encountered other humans
welcomed them.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

These people even felt
they owned the land,

the land where our ancestors had walked.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Aar's clan had come in peace,
they had a pregnant woman among them.

They liked this place.

We're going to stay
whether the others welcome them or not.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

What had made people settle?

Perhaps their alliance and serials
had something to do with it.

To be eaten,
the grain had to be crushed into flour.

This required two large, heavy stones.

Perhaps they'd stop roaming
to stay close to these stones.

This is what had changed them.

At day's end, nomads watch the sunset

while the sedentary people
count the reserves.

True, the nomadic life had its drawbacks.

As a pregnant woman, you're only too well.

One was that they seldom
had sufficient reserves.

When nature was stingy, they went hungry.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Ashaa could no longer digest
the puree of half-rotten fruit.

She needed meat to regain her strength,

but there was no dried meat left.

Whenever there was a problem, Aka,
the one-eyed woman would tell Aar.

The others didn't dare.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

It was too late to hunt.

Why should they

when there was so much food
right there next to them?

Aar helped himself.

He probably did not know
the meaning of stealing.

He simply took what he needed.

The villagers lived
surrounded by their belongings,

mostly the heavy tools used to prepare
and cook the strange grain

that had become central to their survival.

Among nomadic peoples,
the social soul was not the family,

but the group.

Settlers made the family unit the norm,
with a house for each family.

However, they had a problem.

Tiny animals coveted their provisions.

At that time, the settlers
were still hunters and gatherers.

Many did not yet have dogs.

Their domestication occurred far
from the first villages.

In Eastern Europe and China,
the dog was used for hunting,

but also for protection,

the elimination of food waste
and companionship.

The dog benefited
from this new relationship as well.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

It did not take the villagers long
to realize how useful a dog was.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

That night, it suddenly seemed
the villagers had accepted them.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

They brought stone bowls
and some of their strange grain,

but these were not gifts.

They wanted the dog in return.

Aar refused the barter.

Then they tried to win them over

by offering to share
the secret of the grain.

Ashaa had a bad feeling.

Aar wondered whether
he shouldn't have trusted her instincts.

The two groups were too different
from each other.

The cooked grain was mushy and tasteless.

Aar would have preferred roasting
all the mice his dog was finding.

For the one-eyed woman who had no teeth,
it was easier to eat the meat.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Ourham, the village leader had realized
that the dog could rid him of the vermin

that were eating his grain.

To get him,
he was prepared to offer more gifts,

but Aar would have none of it.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

He would keep his dog.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

As sedentary people accumulated things,
ownership became a goal in and of itself.

They realized
that they could use their possessions

to get whatever they wanted.

This concept was foreign to nomads.

A nomad's life consisted
of hardship and the unexpected.

His existence was ruled
by nature and its forces.

His beliefs were inextricably linked

to these forces
over which he had no control.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Those who had chosen a sedentary life
still feared nature,

but being organized enabled them

to minimize the effects
of nature's excesses,

and to protect themselves,
and make their lives more predictable.

The stone tepees withstood
gale-force winds and flames.

This was not the case with skin teepees.

Nomads knew
they could lose everything overnight.

What was there yesterday
may not be there tomorrow.

This uncertainty was precisely

what sedentary people
tried to ward off.

They always looked for ways
to avoid unpleasant surprises.

The villagers offered
to take Aar's clan in.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Faced with the chaos of life,
the villagers' solution was reassuring,

organized, and stable.

Even though nomads
preferred a life of adventure

to a life of work,
discipline, and routine,

security had tremendous seductive power.

The villagers freed up
one of their stone houses for them.

The one who has always slept
under the stars, unfettered and free,

finds sleep elusive in confined spaces.

One night Aka got used
to eating the soft bread,

but Ashaa was so wasted and weak
that she could hardly eat at all.

Aka fed her by chewing the bread first.

Nomads adapted to their environment.

Sedentary people adapted their environment
to suit their needs.

A few days went by and Aar
and his group to their best to adjust.

The villagers, who initially had pretended
to be happy to help,

were soon won over by their guests.

A friendship was struck.

Ourham still wanted Aar's dog,
but was resigned to never getting him.

Ashaa gave birth to a little girl.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Like Aar's first woman,
Ashaa died in childbirth.

She was no longer breathing.

She had joined the ancestors
in the Sea of Stars.

One Gaia girl child had left,

another had arrived
with no one to feed her.

These nomads believed in Gaia,
the Eternal Mother.

Gaia would provide them what they needed.

At that time, it is possible
that men did not understand

the concept of fatherhood.

They may not have known that the children
from the wombs of women

were also part of them.

The nomads left the village
the following day at dawn.

Aar gave his best dog to Ourham
to thank him for his generosity.

He also left Ashaa's daughter behind.

It was the only way she would survive.

Gaia would survive through her.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Attracted by its comfort and security,

most nomads
would soon adopt the sedentary life,

leaving in our genes traces
of their free spirit,

wanderlust, and love of discovery.

Sedentaryness profoundly
changed human behavior,

propelling man
into an era of invention and innovation.

The gathering of wild berries and cereals
would soon give way to actual farming.

Wheat and barley in the Fertile Crescent

would extend
through all of Europe and the Indus.

Rice and millet in China, corn, potatoes,
and peppers in America, sorghum in Africa.

More or less consciously,
Sapiens made the first genetic selection

by choosing the seeds
of the strongest, most productive plants.

To cultivate the land,
man would open clearings.

The landscape became more human.

It was 7,500 years before Christ
in the Near East.

The hamlet had mushroomed into a village

with greater security
and greater stability.

More children were being born
and fewer were dying.

More people, more homes,
and more tensions as well.

Increasingly, the round houses,
which were hard to extend,

were being replaced
by rectangular structures

that could be enlarged
or divided into separate rooms.

Ooki's amulet told him that he was
a descendant of the Gaia lineage.

Ooki had been in love with Nekee
ever since he could remember.

He wanted to make her his wife.

Here you go.

The village now boasted
a house of the dead

where the bodies
of the ancestors were kept.

This place perpetuated their memory.

To remember the dead,
the villagers preserved their skulls

and painted their faces
so they resembled who they'd been.

In this way, they knew where
and whom they came from.

Ooki was not
the beautiful Nekee's only suitor.

Oukou of the Belouta family
was his eternal rival.

The Beloutas were an important family.

Oukou used his family's name
to commit wrongdoings.

What happened that day
should never have happened.

Nekee's father would choose a husband
for his daughter

based on the interests of the family
and the omens of the animal spirits.

However, the fight scared Ooki

and he decided to request permission
for Nekee's hand immediately.

By this time,

the villagers
had domesticated a few animals.

After the hunt,

they would bring young animals
back to the village.

Young wild boars, mountain goats,
they kept and fed them

to have a reserve of fresh meat
available when they needed it.

These animals are quite rare,

but Ooki decided to give
his family's only baby boar

to Nekee's father as an engagement gift.

Oukou's family
had gotten there ahead of him

with a gift of two extremely rare animals.

Cats were attracted to the villagers
by rodents feeding on the stores of grain.

They had quickly proven their worth.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Having possessions had an impact
on what people could obtain from others.

The poorer you were,
the less power you had.

Competition between humans was changing.

Survival of the fittest
was becoming survival of the richest.

Ooki loved Nekee and Nekee
had been given to another.

He could not go against village law
or the elders' authority.

It would be an offense to Oukou,
his family, and Nekee's father.

However, Ooki decided
to take Nekee far away

to start a family
in another village.

Ooki.

They had their lives ahead of them,
they were free and they loved each other.

They felt they were in paradise.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Nekee was getting cold,
Ooki could cure her with plants.

First, he had to make a fire
to keep her warm.

It was risky, but he had no choice.

Of course, Oukou
refused to lose the woman he had won.

His powerful family and determination
to have Nekee

made him a formidable,
tenacious, and merciless enemy.

They had destroyed Ooki's body.

He was barely breathing.

With each breath,
Ooki struggled to stay alive.

At that time, humans understood
that you could bury seeds in the ground

and they would grow shoots
after a few weeks.

They even knew how
to select the best specimens

and improve their crops.

Upon seeing Nekee, Ooki's father feared

that something terrible
had happened to his son.

Ooki's father and brother
searched far and wide

but Oukou had covered his tracks well.

Days went by,
his life was hanging by a thread.

He held on thanks
to the blades of wheatgrass

he reached out to touch.

He saw that groan every time
he regained consciousness.

They gave him hope.

They represented life.

The rivalry between Ooki and Oukou

had escalated into a feud
between two family clans.

It would divide the village.

Man had long known of the powers
of medicinal plants,

but surgery was still in its infancy.

Trepidation had only recently
been invented.

The skull was opened up to cure traumas,
dementia, and other unknown ailments.

Conflicts that were easily resolved
in small groups

could threaten
the cohesiveness of large groups.

The feud heated up.

Some villages siding with Ooki,
others with the Belouta family.

No resolution was in sight.

The hole in Ooki's skull had released
the blood that had paralyzed him.

He would survive, but as a parasite,
unable to help his family in the fields.

There had been no rain that year.

The soil was barren
and the village was suffering.

Oddly enough, at that time,
no one had ever realized

how essential water
was to the reproduction

and growth of plants.

Nobody had made a direct connection
between the lack of rain and crop failure.

A connection had, however,
been made between Ooki and hardship.

Ooki had defied the spirits,
they were punishing the village.

Even his father blamed him.

Oooki spent his days observing nature,
trying to understand its secrets.

His body was weak,
but his mind was strong.

Suddenly, an idea came to him.

An idea, even a simple one,
can change the course of history.

Ooki's muddy hand making a furrow
in the wet earth,

water trickling, seeds sprouting,
tender green shoots growing.

Water was the secret of life.

It had always been there
right before their eyes,

but they hadn't realized it.

Irrigation was born.

Ooki's father and brother
thought it was madness.

They humored him and spared no effort.

Understanding
the role water played in farming

would greatly strengthen
the sedentary way of life.

Well irrigated crops
were far more productive

and the years of scarcity
would soon be over.

Ooki was ecstatic.

He felt he had robbed the heavens
of their powers and shamed the reigns.

He was stronger than nature,
stronger than all the spirits.

Oukou came to spy, trying to figure out
why these fields were so green

while his were barren.

He still believed Ooki was cursed.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Irrigation had made all the difference.

The fields were producing
an abundance of cereals,

much more, in fact, than they needed.

They had a production surplus
that could be used for local trading.

It was a form of wealth
that gave them power

over those who were lacking.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Nekee's father
and those who had ostracized Ooki's family

now came with gifts
they wanted to trade for grain.

Trading,
the bartering of goods and services

brought people together
and eased tensions.

Ooki and his family,
descendants of the Gaia line,

had become the most powerful and
the most respected family in the village.

However,
Ooki could not forgive Oukou's family

for what they did to him.

He would never sell them so much
as one grain of wheat.

Wealth could therefore become
a form of violence.

By observing the young boars
Nekee's father had traded,

Ooki had another stroke of inspiration.

If he kept the females and males together,
they multiplied.

His discovery would quickly make its way
around the world.

Ooki.

Ooki still loved Nekee.

He'd never stopped loving her.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

However, he had given up hope
of her ever returning to him.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

She finally convinced him to relent.

Ooki didn't want to deprive her of food
simply because of her loathsome husband.

She had nothing to do with it.

He eventually forgave Oukou
and his family.

With farming, animal breeding,
and irrigation,

man could now legitimately say
that he had a measure of control

over the living world.

He had overcome the elements.

His newfound power filled him
with enormous pride.

He began to think
that he was more powerful than nature.

In fact, to represent his deities,

he replaced the images
of animals and spirits with his own image.

Ooki even found himself a woman
and started a family.

The Gaia lineage would continue.

The trading of goods soon led to the
exchange of know-how and techniques.

Information and innovations
would circulate over great distances

and human evolution would accelerate.

After farming, animal husbandry
spread around the globe like wildfire.

After the wolf became dog,
other animals followed.

While sheep and goats were domesticated
in the Near East and Asia,

the boar became the pig
and the aurochs cattle.

Hens were domesticated in Pakistan,
Donkeys in Palestine.

Horses between Europe and Central Asia,
and llamas in Peru.

Even insects,
bees were domesticated in Egypt.

The domestication of animals
fostered a population explosion,

but it also brought with it
a number of evil effects.

Terrible hardships awaited mankind.

It was 3,500 years before Christ.

The village had grown into a town
with a population of more than a thousand.

Since travelers had introduced
the wheel and carts,

work had become easier.

People had trades, stonecutters, masons,
blacksmiths, potters, and so forth.

Not full-time trades though,

because everyone still worked
in the fields and raised cattle.

There were many families,
conflicts were commonplace.

A council of experienced men
mediated disputes, dispensed justice,

and took all major decisions
involving the community.

Waka and Uhru were brothers,
both descendants of the Gaia line,

one of the oldest in the town.

Waka, the elder of the two,
wore the head of family amulet.

These brothers were well respected
by everyone.

Everybody now had their own field,
their own animals, and their own house.

They all had possessions
and the problems that came with them.

Owning also meant defending.

The tanner's goats had spent the night
in the old potters' fields.

Needless to say, they destroyed his crops.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

In such cases,
people appealed to the council.

The council made its rulings
on a case-by-case basis

and generally according to custom.

An exchange of goods
usually made up for the offense.

These collegial arrangements
maintain the town's delicate balance.

However, the misfortunes soon
to befall the town

would completely destroy that balance,

thanks to Uhru
and his insatiable greed for riches.

Ike was the son of Waka,
the eldest in the Gaia lineage.

The family had fields and goats,

but his father's first job
was as the town's blacksmith.

The first metals
had just made their appearance

and their strength fascinated humans.

Ike brought ore back
from the mountains for his father,

ore found in its natural state
like copper and gold.

Waka would melt and mould them
to make containers and small tools.

The tools made from these metals
were too soft to turn over the soil.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Lately, Ike's mother
had developed red blotches on her skin.

No one had any idea that these
marks heralded a terrible tragedy.

Every week, a goat was slaughtered
to feed the family.

This was Ike's job, and he hated it.

He never knew which one to kill.

Little did he know he was treading
on deadly, invisible organisms.

The half-dead goat was a sign
of the tragedy that lay ahead.

Due to the concentration of men,
animals, filth, and excrement,

there was also an exponential increase
of germs, bacteria, and viruses.

Ike's mother
was becoming sicker and sicker.

The red rash
had spread all over her body.

Had a very high fever
and was vomiting violently.

Uhru, Ike's uncle was a healer.

He had mastered the science of plants

and concocted potions
and ointments for the whole town.

There had always
been illness among humans,

but this was a mysterious
new type of illness.

It was more dangerous, more devastating.

Uhru tried to be reassuring.

He cared about his reputation
and his reward.

His power as a healer would prevail.

Uhru loved gifts.

He never hesitated
in seeking compensation.

He should have refused the reward
from his brother

but his greed was too great.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Wild pigs, sheep, and cattle were sick.

The villagers could not have anticipated
that by breeding them,

they had created conditions
which led to the transmission

of these illnesses to humans.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Initially, no one made the connection,
not even Uhru.

In those days, diseases such as measles,
tuberculosis, influenza, and smallpox

were all transmitted
to humans by their animals.

Ike's mother was dying.

Her whole body was wracked with pain
and her final moments were excruciating.

There was nothing they could do.

By that time, funeral customs had changed,
they'd become more complex.

The bodies of the deceased
were not kept in the family home,

testimony to the greater importance
given to each lineage.

All family members, including Uhru,
have to give something to the dead.

Within a few days,
it was absolute carnage.

The potter's whole family suddenly died.

There were no more entire families

until there was nobody
left in the house to bury them.

The wise men of the council

decided to put all the corpses
in a pit outside the town,

keep the smell of death away.

The council had been gathered
in the meeting house since the prior day

but no one, not even the shaman, Idru,
could explain what had caused the plague.

How could they have known?

Their only clue was the skin rash,
it always started with a rash.

With Uhru leading the way,

everyone was summoned
to show their bodies.

If they bore the blotches,
they were cursed.

Apparently,
the mysterious illness chose its victims.

Those who were infected developed a rash.

Now, no one lucky victim
could escape detection.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Uhru had identified the sign
of the scourge

and established himself
as the only one able to stop it.

They had to listen to him
and obey his orders.

Every person marked
with a curse was banished.

Even Uhru's brother was forced to leave.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Faced with plagues,
men who had no knowledge of bacteria

or viruses blamed invisible forces.

Almost overnight,
Uhru had invented a new form of power,

that of chief.

He became
the most important man in town.

Having banished his brother,
Uhru remained as the one person

who decided for all the others.

He alone headed the Gaia lineage.

Who better than Idru, the shaman,
to validate the chief's discovery.

The chief had identified evil,
and evil had to be cast out.

Before long,
religion and the state would be in lieu.

Uhru believed
that fire kept the evil spirits away.

Without knowing it, he made a wise move

which stopped
the epidemic among the animals.

He ordered
that all the dead animals be burned.

They hailed their chief
for his great clairvoyance

and for saving them.

At last, Uhru's power, intelligence,
and wisdom had been recognized.

The hunt
for the tainted individuals continued.

In his new position of power,

Uhru knew he needed armed men
to help him carry out his decisions.

All houses were searched,
all villagers checked.

Those bearing the telltale rash
were banished

and their homes marked with lime.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

A chief who made good decisions
for the community

received thanks in the form of gifts.

Uhru became richer.

His prestige among the villagers soared,
but Uhru's pride would be his downfall.

The band of outcasts
wandered aimlessly and hopelessly,

its members dying one after another.

Epidemics share certain characteristics.

They spread rapidly
from one infected individual to another.

Infection doesn't always mean
certain death.

The surviving outcasts realized
that they were getting stronger.

The plague was leaving their bodies.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

They had been spared.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Only three of them had survived.

After a few weeks of walking,
they found life again.

These people had come
from Anatolia to the North.

They too had been stricken
with the disease

and many of their men had died.

All these women without men
welcomed the newcomers

with great generosity.

Ike and the other two survivors

were surprised to see
that among these people,

a woman made the major decisions.

Where they came from,
men issued the orders.

This was new behavior.

From the high Anatolian plateaus,
the women had brought with them

two major discoveries,

the horse,
a fiery, shy, and untamable animal.

Now stood before Ike,
calm and docile as a newborn lamb.

The women had not tamed
the horse solely for its meat.

Ike was smitten with Kelee.

She brought out in him a feeling
he had never experienced before.

He wanted to sing, to dance,

to take her in his arms,
and kiss her mouth.

The second discovery
would change his father's life

and later the lives of all men.

It was a metal as hard as rock,
something his father Waka had never seen.

How would they made it?

Waka was dying to know
but it was a closely guarded secret.

Back in the town,
the epidemic had ended suddenly,

propelling Urhu to even greater power.

He was now the keeper of the belongings
of all those who were gone,

including his brother, Waka.

These things were of no use
to anyone\ in empty houses.

Urhu brother's house held many treasures.

Urhu helped himself.

Soon all the belongings left

in the deserted houses
had been appropriated.

Urhu proclaimed
that they were now community property.

They soon became his property,

but this was more than one man needed.

Idru was not pleased.

Urhu had to make the shaman a true ally,
his support would have to be bought.

The chief began to share
some of his riches with his supporters,

thereby creating an elite,
an upper social class.

Bronze, a remarkable metal.

The Anatolian blacksmiths
were reluctant to divulge their secret.

The tattooed woman who had the power
also had great tenderness for Waka.

Copper and pewter mixed together
in the same bath.

It was simple,
but someone had to think of it.

Bronze would make much stronger
and harder tools.

They'd increase the productivity
of farming communities.

Bronze would also be used
to fashion much deadlier weapons.

Who had had the idea?

How many alloys had they tried
before finding this one?

In the town, everything had changed,
especially Urhu.

His status now required that Urhu live
in the largest building,

the former meeting house.

He had ordered that statues
representing Gaia be erected everywhere.

Urhu was no longer like other men.

He no longer worked in the fields
or raised animals.

As chief, he couldn't debase himself
by performing such menial tasks.

It was reasonable

that he should be supported
by those he led.

All citizens were therefore required
to make a contribution to the chief,

tax of sorts.

Not everyone was happy with his practice,
but everyone accepted it.

A new form of organization
of power was born, chieftainship.

Urhu was being kept
by the efforts of everyone else.

Part of the fruit of the villagers' labors
was given to the chief,

who in turn shared it
with the ruling class.

In the chief's intimate circle,
a hierarchy was established.

This brought greed and power struggles.

Kelee had changed Ike.

Love had made a man of him
and given meaning to his life.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

With her, he had discovered the speed,
spirit, and majesty of a galloping horse.

This incredible animal

would change man's perception
of distances.

Though curiously, at that time,

no one had actually
mounted a horse.

It would take another 2,000 years
before horseback riding was invented.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Completely cured and armed
with what they had learned,

Ike and Waka decided to return home.

Discontent was brewing in their town.

Urhu had become a despot
who would not be contradicted.

This homecoming had not been expected.

Waka had been one
of the most esteemed men in the town.

More importantly,
he was the eldest in the Gaia lineage.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Urhu wanted to know what his brother

had brought him
from his voyage to distant lands.

What kind of honor was this?

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Where were the riches?

How did his brother plan to reward him
for his extraordinary genius?

Power begat power.

Ownership called for more wealth,
and all of this corrupted the mind.

Idru realized
that his chief had gone too far.

What could he do?

Ike's most precious treasure
had been stolen

but his knowledge of bronze
would get Kelee back for him.

When power becomes abusive

and the balance between what it gives
and what it takes is upset,

power is doomed.

When a powerful man
makes decisions for his own benefit

and ignores the needs of those
who depend upon him,

he is doomed.

Urhu had gone too far, Urhu was doomed.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Urhu was lost.

He was willing
to take everything down with him

rather than hand over his power.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Idru, the shaman had betrayed him.

The love of ownership, the love of power,

and the fear of losing it,

created man's vanity,
and his vanity would consume him.

Waka decided that Ike should reign.

Ike would guide his people in the
new world unfolding before their eyes.

Ike and Kelee
would be worthy of their trust.

Chieftainships would soon
give way to kingdoms.

Enlightened monarchs would understand

that their power lay
in the prosperity of their people.

That riches were to be distributed
and not hoarded.

To achieve greater wealth
without taking it from their people

and looking for it elsewhere,
and thus wars were invented.

In the following 2,000 years,

great and powerful cities
would emerge around the globe

in Asia, the Middle East,
the Mediterranean, and the Americas.

The richer agglomerations
would want to expand.

They would take up the first arms,
take over nearby villages and towns

and federate them.

This was how cities came about.

The first such city
would flourish in today's Iraq

and give rise
to the great Sumerian civilization.

It was the year 2,500
before Christ in Mesopotamia.

This is Tobar,
the shepherd of the Gaia lineage.

Since his childhood, Tobar had dreamt
of seeing the great city.

He was spellbound.

The size of the buildings,
who could have built them?

The gods?

As soon as they appeared,

cities held
a tremendous fascination for humans.

For the first time
in the history of mankind,

peoples of various origins

and different languages
lived and built their futures together.

Where were all these people going?
What were they doing?

They were passing each other
without so much as a glance.

It was a feast for the eyes,
an abundance of things to see.

Objects from faraway places,
jewels, perfumes, spices, wines.

Some utilitarian,

others just
for the pleasure of the senses.

The state was also present everywhere.

The king had many representatives.

Heading the list were those
who collected the taxes

that supported the city.

The scribe was responsible
for the accounts.

It was the chief of guard who carried out
the decisions of the king's treasury.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Some subjects were already attempting
to minimize their wealth

in order to lower their contribution
to the state.

To record trading and taxes,

a system of codes
engraved in clay had been invented,

writing was born

but it was only used
to record transactions.

Tobar was fascinated by the scribe.

Sarki had mastered the science of signs,
which he saw as magical knowledge.

Could he count the stars in the skies?

The weaver created fabrics
for the notables

but his debt to the state had tripled,

and he was unable to pay.

Sarki and the weaver had become friends.

Why demand so much right away?

Could he not pay in installments?

The Chief of Guards
did not know how to read

but he had the memory of an elephant,
nothing would deter him from his mission.

The Chief of Guards' loyalty to his king
was unshakable

but he used his authority
to satisfy his cruelty.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

How could he serve the king
if he deprived him of his best craftsman?

The more Sarki defended the weaver,

the harder the chief of guards
thrashed him.

The king's palace,
the center of this hive of activity

was an immense house,

bigger than the biggest dune
in the desert.

This was where the taxes were sent.

Tobar wanted to see what was
behind the walls,

but it was a restricted area.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Tobar had never encountered such a thing,

a place open only to a chosen few.

He wanted to know what went on in there.

Why were they hiding their activities
from the citizens?

In his village,
anyone could see the chief.

You only had to ask.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

It was like a golden village
within the city,

a place where all decisions were made.

It looked wonderful.

It housed architects,
artists, and scholars,

the greatest concentration
of knowledge ever brought together.

The riches of the state

were used to maintain the city
and the king's prestige,

but also to protect the kingdom.

Thieving nomads had made a foray
into the northern part of the kingdom.

The king had to increase his army,
hire more soldiers,

and manufacture new weapons.

He needed more resources.

Tobar was drawn to the scribe.

He was mesmerized by his knowledge.

He wanted to meet him
and especially to learn from him.

It was now clear
why he had come to the city.

He wanted to write.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Tobar implored the scribe to teach him,

but writing wasn't something
everyone had access to.

It was reserved for the elite,
and the young Shepard wasn't part of it.

Thanks to writing, kings could
extend their power to remote regions.

Their messages, however,
had to remain secret.

It was important
that no one be able to decipher them,

hence the strategic importance
of having knowledge of the symbols.

By accepting to help Tobar learn,
Sarki was taking an enormous risk.

He was not allowed to teach
the secret code to anyone.

Watch and keep quiet.

Sarki liked the shepherd.

His naivete and openness appealed to him.

Writing requires discipline and rigor,
it must be learned one step at a time.

The principle is simple,
a sign on a clay tablet.

A sign and a clay tablet,
and we decide what it means.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Gaia was an old lineage,
but Tobar knew nothing about his heritage.

If only his ancestors
had been able to write.

The first lesson was a disaster
but it gave Sarki an idea,

an idea
that might save his friend, the weaver.

Sarki's friend had been chosen
to contribute to the extra war effort,

and the Chief of Guards was about
to strip him of everything he had.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

The sophisticated organization of the city

had its share
of injustices and imbalances.

The functionaries had to carry out orders
without consideration for people's lives.

This time, they were asking too much.

The weaver had hidden his last reserves.

Sarki was appalled by the abuse.

He was prepared to lie to save his friend.

After 20 years of loyal service,
he would betray his king.

Talented scribes would soon do much more
than simply copy data.

He would invent new symbols
to represent concepts, ideas, and words.

The young shepherd began
to see how writing could be

a very powerful tool.

It could be used to communicate knowledge,
the natural and scientific laws,

and to disseminate
this information broadly.

However, writing could also be used to
lie,

transmit false information
and deceive people.

Words would prove more powerful
than the sword.

To redress the injustice
against his friend, the weaver,

Sarki falsified
the royal treasury's record.

A few signs were changed
and the amount was different.

The treasurer was tense.

He'd been unable to collect
all the goods demanded by the king.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Sarki had never cheated before,
he was numb with fear.

The falsification was well done
but the treasurer had doubts.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

The Chief of Guard saw through the trick.

He knew Sarki had altered the figures
on one of the clay tablets.

He just didn't know which one.

Sarki.

Sarki was hard on his student,
Tobar wasn't allowed to go out.

He wasn't allowed to sleep
more than four hours a night.

The faster Tobar learned,

the more demanding Sarki became.

There were times when Tobar missed
his village and his sheep

but soon he would learn
to write the word sheep.

Sarki was under investigation.

The falsified tablet had been found
and compared to the original.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

What good would all
of Sarki's knowledge be now?

His imagination would free him.

Oh, no, the Chief of Guards
promised he'd be executed.

Sarki was thrown in prison.

Having one's freedom taken away
is terrible punishment.

For an uneducated man like Tobar,
it would have been unbearable.

With intellectual food,
Sarki's mind remained free.

He was able to endure

solitude, boredom, persecution.

Writing made it possible
to transmit knowledge

to a large number of people,

but this meant that people
had to be taught to read.

-Ba.

-Bu.
-Bu.

-B.
-B.

Sarki determined
that he would educate all the prisoners,

even the mute.

He wasn't allowed to but he didn't care.

He wanted to pass on his knowledge

to share it
before he was sentenced to death.

He only got away with it
because Lugal, the guard,

had a curious mind.

He listened and learned,

and he never breathed
a word to his superiors.

Indeed, thousands of years would pass
before writing was truly democratized.

As cities, prosperity, and vitality

are linked to its ability
to educate its people,

the monarchs had not understood
this at first.

They'd wanted
to keep the knowledge to themselves

so as to exploit it to their own ends.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Sarki had betrayed his king.

For such crimes,
the king alone will judge.

Sarki was sentenced
to die the following morning.

It would be a long time before mankind
would separate justice from power.

In the city, public executions
offered people an entertaining spectacle,

but their real purpose was to reinforce
the sovereign supremacy.

Tobar could not let this happen,
Sarki had taught him everything he knew.

He had risked his life for him,

it was time to repay his friend.

He loved Sarki,

and on that day,
he understood how much Sarki loved him.

He had been his disciple, his prodigy.

Tobar gave his master the symbol of Gaia,
it would protect him.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

By living in large cities,
humans gradually lost touch with nature

and no longer recognized its dangers.

Even though they could read the stars
to find their way,

they were unable
to find water in the desert.

Without shade for protection,
their bodies failed them.

MG.

Sarki felt the end was near,
but he had no regrets.

He preferred to die free
than to live a lie.

By this time,
the desert people were used

to finding city dwellers
lost in the sand dunes.

As a rule, they'd already died of thirst.

What would they do with a dying man?

Strip him of his goods
and leave his body to the vultures.

Who were these people?

Why had they saved him?

They were nomads,

and for them, a stranger was a traveler
who deserved their hospitality.

These people were descendants
of the Aar line,

an ancient family that had never converted
to the sedentary life.

They knew the Gaia lineage very well.

Tobar continued to study on his own
without ever forgetting Sarki.

For Sarki's inspired teaching
stayed with Tobar,

who gradually became an educated man.

A master of symbols.

Between the major urban centers,
new nomadic peoples had emerged.

Moving in caravans,
they began to crisscross the planet,

trading goods
over thousands of kilometers,

unknowingly contributing
to the dissemination of knowledge

which would continue to grow.

Thanks to these travelers
and their interactions with large cities,

knowledge and know-how, science, the arts,
and techniques grew by leaps and bounds.

Thanks to Sarki,

they were able
to master figures and symbols.

One day, writing would enable all people
to free themselves

from the shackles of their kings.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Ten years have gone by,
Sarki returned to the city he had fled.

[Nomadic spoken audio]

Tobar had become a royal scribe
and a master.

Sarki was very impressed,
he was proud of his protege.

Sarki had told the Desert Nomads
about Tobar and wanted him to join them.

He wanted to show him the world
and everything it had to offer.

Tobar chose to stay, his place was here.

He had a mission.

His role was no longer
to count the king's treasures.

He was writing the history of mankind.

He would write the history
of the Gaia dynasty

so that it could be read and heard
in the far reaches of the world

for thousands of years to come.

The written word would soon become
the pillar of human creation,

the most powerful means
of communication in the universe.

There would soon be billions of humans

sharing their knowledge
at an increasingly rapid rate.

When they will no longer know where to go,

they will look back
to see where they came from.