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Downloaded from RARBG
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This is our planet. Planet Earth.
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It's a planet I'm literally on right now.
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And unless you're watching this
on a long-haul flight
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or while falling off a building,
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chances are, you are too.
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This is the incredible story of how
humankind transformed our world
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from being a load of pointless nature
like this
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to full of modern things like this,
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and how it did it
using nothing more than its hands
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and its imagination, and also tools,
and electricity, and the Internet.
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It's a journey that will take me
to every corner of the globe
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money and pandemic
travel restrictions would allow.
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Getting up close to some of our species'
most stunning achievements.
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And I'll be asking questions...
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Who are you?
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...to leading academics,
clevernauts and expertists
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who will help me unlock
the mystery of human civilization.
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Why do they say it's a mystery
how the pyramids were built
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when it's obviously just
big bricks in a triangle?
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This is not just the story
of the planet we live in.
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This is the story of the world we live on.
Or both.
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So join me, Philomena Cunk,
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for a landmark look
at the world we built together.
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This is Cunk on Earth!
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For billions of years,
there was no civilization on Earth.
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Just animals, plants and gases
getting on and mingling.
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Must have been beautiful, but also boring.
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Until along came a creature that would
change all that: human man.
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Was early man similar to us?
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I mean, was he made out of
the same sort of meat that we are?
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You know, was it... Did it have
a brand name like beef or pork?
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Far as we can tell, they were made
out of the same stuff as us.
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All we have is bones, of course.
And they're exactly the same as our bones.
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We can only assume that the bones were
encased in flesh, something like ours.
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But I'm not aware of any kind of
brand name that they would have had.
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- So it would have just been flesh?
- Just flesh, I think, yes.
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It would be hard to come up with
a brand name for human flesh, wouldn't it?
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Horfe?
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We often assume early men were stupid
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because they had big eyebrows
and said "ugg."
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But in fact,
they were pioneering inventerers.
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They were the first men to use tools,
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which is something most men
have forgotten how to do today,
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which is why they have to get
someone in, a real man.
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How did early man make tools
whilst walking on all fours?
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Well, we don't think that
they walked on all fours for too long.
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We're pretty sure
they were walking upright
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for at least the last two million years.
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So did they make the tools
with their front legs or their hind legs?
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I don't think humans have ever been good
at making things with their feet.
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So, yes, it would have been the front legs
they used for making tools.
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Right. So in leg terms,
it would have been their top legs.
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Yes, I think they would certainly have
used the "top legs" for making tools,
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or arms and hands, as we call them today.
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One thing they did invent was fire,
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which allowed them to see at night
and kept them warm,
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tragically prolonging
their already tedious lives.
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But they had to invent something to do
during the long, boring evenings.
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And that something was art.
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I'm entering a cave, not by mistake
or because I'm a wolf,
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but because I've been specifically asked
to come here by the producers,
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to look at cave art.
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Cave paintings like these
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are one of the first examples
of civilization on Earth.
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Don't worry, it gets better.
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Early cave artists started out painting
whatever was close to hand,
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like their hands.
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Then they branched out into stories.
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Initially, just boring stories
about cows standing still.
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But soon they began creating
white-knuckle fight scenes like this:
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Humans Versus Cows 2D.
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To a caveman, this was the thrilling
equivalent of Fast and Furious Part 7.
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Have any of the cave paintings
been adapted into films?
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Suppose they couldn't get the rights
anyway, though, could they?
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Filmmaking obviously arose much, much
later than the end of the cave paintings.
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So there hasn't been a cave wall
that's been like,
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"Oh my God, that's an incredible story."
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"We need to get Steven Spielberg
to make this."
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It would be hard to come up with a story
that would last an hour and a half
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based on just one panel in a cave.
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Some believe these violent images
were painted as a religious act
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intended to bring good luck
in upcoming battles.
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We don't know why humankind
was at war with the cows,
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and tragically, we never will.
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In fact, we'll probably never even know
the name of the artist or these cows,
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because whoever painted this
is almost certainly dead now.
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Hunting animals every day
was a pain in the arse
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until someone came up with the idea
of also eating plants,
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which were easier to catch
because they couldn't run away.
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This simple act of laziness
led to the invention of farming,
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a huge leap forwards,
which was now more dangerous
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because you might land
on one of the farming implements
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that were suddenly lying around.
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The early farmers grew wheat
and learnt to bake bread.
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They also grew barley, peas and lentils
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so they could have made a passable
vegan burger to put inside the bread.
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But luckily they didn't have to.
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Because they'd also invented this,
the fence,
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a high-tech wooden machine
for containing animals.
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Humans quickly enslaved
sheep, chickens, goats
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and their number-one enemies, the cows.
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Farms became a lot like zoos,
except, of course, in a zoo,
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you can't pick out an animal you like
the look of and kill it and eat it.
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Unless perhaps the zoo itself
is struggling financially
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and the owner's lost all hope.
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Humans turned animals
they couldn't eat or ride
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into pets if they were pretty enough.
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Early man domesticated dogs
for companionship.
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And cats, for whatever we have cats for.
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This was the first time in history
life could be described as cozy.
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People lived in proper houses,
which soon grew to become cities.
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It's hard to believe I'm walking through
the ruins of the first ever city,
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because I'm not.
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That's in Iraq,
which is miles away and fucking dangerous.
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But the remains of it
look pretty much like this,
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so you'd never know
I wasn't actually there
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if I wasn't telling you now by accident.
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Today it's just a dismal load
of bricks and dust.
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But if you use a modern computer
to simulate what it used to look like,
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the results are nothing
short of breathtaking.
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Civilization had begun.
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Who invented civilization?
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Civilization wasn't something
that was invented
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or something that started abruptly.
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We talk about civilization
once humans started agriculture,
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once they started building cities
and creating laws.
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That was something that happened gradually
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in different parts of the world
rather than just being invented suddenly.
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Yeah, so it wasn't just one man
who wanted to remain anonymous.
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No.
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'Cause that would be something
we shouldn't go along with if it was.
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Do you mean we shouldn't go along...
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If it's one man
who wants to remain anonymous,
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there's something a bit shifty
about that, isn't there?
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So civilization was invented
in Mesopotamia
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by person or persons unknown.
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But whoever they were,
they were way ahead of their time.
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Did the Mesopotamians have any of
the same things that we have today?
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- Yes.
- Like what?
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Weapons, jewelry, temples, animals.
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Oh, right. No, I meant like feet
and eyebrows and that sort of thing.
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- Yes.
- They did?
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They had the whole set of organs, holes,
bits that work together
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and bits on the outside,
bits on the inside.
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So they had the same number of holes
and everything.
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As far as science is in a position
to reassure you, yes.
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One of their most significant killer apps
was something we still use to this day:
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the circle.
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Wheels might look complicated
to the likes of you,
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but the way they work is actually simple.
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The circle bit here revolves around
a sort of sticky-out bit in the middle,
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and then as the wheel skin here
pushes against the ground,
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the pressure rolls the entire planet
back and away from you,
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giving you the impression
that you're moving forward,
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which, incredibly, you actually are.
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The wheel allowed people
to travel around trading things,
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but first they needed to count
how many things they owned.
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And that led
to the tragic invention of maths.
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Let's talk maths and numbers.
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Were numbers
worth less back in ancient times
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or did they have the same value
as now, only bigger?
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Numbers had the same value
as they do now in ancient times, yeah.
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People still needed to count things.
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And did they have
the same number of numbers as we do?
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You know, from 1 to 700,
with 700 being the biggest number?
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00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,680
700 has never been the biggest number.
You can count to as many as you like.
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No, no, I saw a thing on YouTube.
After 700, numbers repeat.
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They just give them different names
so you think they're still going up.
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Do you want me to send it to you?
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With numbers going as high,
but no higher than, 700,
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people needed something
to help them count.
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That's where this came in.
It's called "a-bacus."
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Using "a-bacus," our ancestors could count
how many possessions they owned.
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It was a short step from this
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to the invention of money,
in the form of cash.
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Ancient people invented currency
to make life on Earth easier,
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but in doing so,
they inadvertently invented capitalism,
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which is gonna kill everyone.
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Sorry, that's not a question.
It's just something I read on Twitter.
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Having conquered numbers,
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humankind moved on to something
even more boring by inventing writing.
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00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,920
Was the invention of writing
a significant development
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or more of a flash in the pan,
like rap metal?
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I think once writing was thought up,
once it appeared in the world,
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it was unstoppable.
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So it was much, much bigger
than rap metal then?
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- Yes, much bigger.
- What about acid jazz?
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00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:23,120
Um... hmm...
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I still would put writing ahead of it.
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00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:27,376
No, I just wondered what you thought
of acid jazz.
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What's this?
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It's a cast.
It's not the real thing.
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It purports to stand in for a Mesopotamian
clay tablet written in cuneiform writing,
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the first kind of writing that appeared
in the world, writing on clay tablets.
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As books go, I have to say
it's quite a boring cover, isn't it?
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It doesn't even look
like it opens properly.
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Are you one of the people
that judges a book by the cover?
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00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,640
- Yeah, I am.
- Well, that's a sad and misguided view.
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If someone shouted this aloud,
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would that have been
the first audio book?
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00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:03,760
No.
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00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:07,120
Writing changed the world.
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Suddenly ideas didn't have to disappear
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just because the person
whose head they were trapped in had died.
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00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,440
Instead, you could
convert your ideas into writing,
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00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:18,800
and then anyone else could come along
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and upload those ideas
into their own brain
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by wirelessly importing them
through their eyes.
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Incredibly, despite being invented
thousands of years ago,
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writing still exists today,
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underneath video clips
that we watch online.
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00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:40,000
It's here you'll also find another kind of
handmade language that still endures:
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emoji.
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Or as the ancient Egyptians who invented
them called them, hieroglyphics.
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00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:50,040
They told whole stories
in hieroglyphic code.
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It's like a more coherent Marvel comic.
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Rather than being put up in public
where living people could enjoy them,
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these Egyptian comic strips
were painted on the walls of tombs
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to entertain dead people.
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00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,520
And those tombs lay beneath
some of the most recognizable,
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00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:10,200
not to mention pointiest,
buildings in history.
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00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,280
I'm talking about the pyramids.
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00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:13,640
Looking at the pyramids today,
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00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:15,680
it's impossible not to be struck
by the thought
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00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,760
that they're basically big triangles
with a sort of square arse.
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00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,560
There's probably a word for that shape,
but no one knows what it might be.
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00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,640
It's one of the many timeless
mysteries of the pyramids.
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00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:28,880
Why are pyramids that shape?
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00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:32,080
Is it to stop homeless people
sleeping on them?
231
00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:34,880
I don't think they had many
homeless people in ancient Egypt.
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00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:36,040
Did they not?
233
00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,680
No, no, people looked after each other,
I think, and helped each other.
234
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,200
Right. I suppose it's good
with rain as well,
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because it'll just roll off.
236
00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,480
How did Egyptians build the pyramids?
237
00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:50,720
Did they start at the top and work down
or start at the bottom and work up?
238
00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,200
They had to start at the bottom
and work up because
239
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,280
it would be impossible
to start at the top and work down.
240
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:01,240
The Egyptians believed
241
00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,360
the most significant thing
you could do in your life was die.
242
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,320
And the more important you were,
the more complicated your death had to be.
243
00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,520
Egyptian kings were known as pharaohs,
244
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,560
and when they died, they'd get turned
into mummies of Scooby-Doo fame.
245
00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:20,880
The ancient Egyptians were obsessed
with dead people, weren't they?
246
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,880
But they're all dead themselves now.
So do you think they still feel that way?
247
00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,280
The ancient Egyptians
weren't obsessed with dead people,
248
00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,520
but actually they were obsessed with life.
249
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:31,880
They wanted to be alive,
250
00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,080
and they wanted to make sure that
when they died, they came alive again.
251
00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,360
And that's why they did mummification.
252
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,680
So how did they mummify people?
Talk me through the process.
253
00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:46,160
Uh, you'd get your dead body
and you'd lay it out on a table
254
00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:47,720
and then you'd wash it,
255
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,680
and then you'd start
by removing the brain.
256
00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:53,920
And then they would cut open
down the middle of the body
257
00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,640
and they would take out anything
that they thought would rot.
258
00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,240
And then they would cover it
in salt and dry it out,
259
00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:03,000
and then they would wrap it in bandages,
and then that would be a mummy.
260
00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,920
So the kind of spa treatment that
Gwyneth Paltrow has on a weekly basis.
261
00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,840
Has a mummy ever ridden a bicycle?
262
00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:12,400
Not that I know of, no.
263
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:14,800
But the ancient Egyptians
didn't have bicycles.
264
00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:17,000
- Right.
- They didn't even have roads.
265
00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,240
So they couldn't have a bicycle
because they couldn't ride a bicycle.
266
00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:21,960
I don't know why I asked that.
267
00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,080
I just couldn't think
of anything else to say.
268
00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:31,120
While the pharaohs of Egypt
left a legacy of temples and tombs,
269
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:32,440
across the water,
270
00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,560
an even more impressive empire
was appearing.
271
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,400
Greece, the country, not the musical,
272
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,600
was where
the birth of civilization was born.
273
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,920
The ancient Greeks invented lots of things
we still have today,
274
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:46,720
like medicine and olives,
275
00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:51,400
and lots of things that have died out,
like democracy and pillars.
276
00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:57,240
As well as these impressive ruins,
the ancient Greeks also developed culture
277
00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:01,920
in the form of yoghurt
and theatre in all its tedious forms.
278
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,160
The Greeks were into tragedies.
279
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:09,280
In a tragedy, sad things happen
like people dying or killing themselves.
280
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:13,080
But the ancient Greek tragedies
happened ages ago.
281
00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,040
Are the things
that happened in them still sad?
282
00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:17,520
They are still sad
283
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:22,080
because what the tragedies tell
are stories about humans,
284
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,280
who we can relate to in some cases.
285
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,760
But it was so long ago. Why should I care?
286
00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:32,600
Well, again, tragedy is often
about human situations.
287
00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,400
Even today,
if you found out that by accident
288
00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,560
you'd killed your own father and married
your mother, you'd be quite upset,
289
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:41,080
um, just as Oedipus was.
290
00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,600
Maybe I'm cold, but I just don't give
a shit about people in ancient Greece.
291
00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:47,720
That's a shame.
292
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:52,160
- Do you?
- I do care quite a lot. Yeah, it's my job.
293
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:57,000
My mate Paul wrote a story about a man
who got a new potato stuck up himself
294
00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,360
following an ill-advised sex game.
295
00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:01,800
And he wrote that
in the form of a limerick.
296
00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,400
No one died, but it sounds horrendous.
297
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,440
Is that a tragedy,
298
00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:11,040
or would the potato have to take root
and kill him for it to qualify?
299
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,000
It sounds like
a very unfortunate incident.
300
00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:17,280
I'm not sure it has
a more timeless relevance
301
00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:19,000
that might make it a tragedy.
302
00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:21,280
Paul said it really happened as well.
303
00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:23,560
Honestly, he's had such
a time of it lately.
304
00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:25,359
He really needs a holiday.
305
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:32,599
The Greeks also created a kind of theatre
for stupid people, known as sport.
306
00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,920
They started the Olympic Games
without inviting other countries
307
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,040
to ensure Greece would win.
308
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,600
The contenders at these early Olympics
took part completely naked,
309
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,960
partly because an athletic physique
was considered a virtue,
310
00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,640
but mainly because Lycra wasn't available.
311
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:54,040
I heard that at the early Olympics,
athletes had to compete in the nude.
312
00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:56,400
So they did compete naked.
313
00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:02,320
And there are writings about this
being quite an erotic sight in some cases.
314
00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,240
With wrestling,
with all that wriggling about,
315
00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,920
they'd have seen right up
their bumholes and everything.
316
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,040
Couldn't they censor it for people
watching it in the auditorium,
317
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:13,120
modesty patches or something,
318
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,240
or ask people to close their eyes
each time someone bends over?
319
00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,560
I think that probably
wouldn't have worked.
320
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,080
But you'd have seen
right up their bumholes.
321
00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,040
In some cases people might have done.
322
00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:29,120
Did Zeus really approve of that?
323
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,520
But perhaps the most famous form
of wrestling the Greeks invented
324
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:36,520
was mental wrestling.
325
00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:40,120
Philosophy is basically
thinking about thinking,
326
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,040
which sounds like a waste
of time because it is,
327
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:46,000
although a philosopher might argue
that that time they've wasted
328
00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:47,960
never existed in the first place,
329
00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,280
at which point you'd probably
give up talking to them
330
00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:52,040
and open a packet of biscuits.
331
00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:56,280
These are the ancient Greek philosophers.
332
00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:59,560
Not the actual ones,
they'd be a load of dust and bones now.
333
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:01,360
Maybe some teeth if you're lucky.
334
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,480
These are just clever simulations
made of rock.
335
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:09,480
The Greek philosophers came up with
bold new theories about life on Earth.
336
00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,000
That's why we still know
their names today,
337
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:15,200
even though they haven't put out
any new material in ages.
338
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:16,840
Socrates,
339
00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:18,440
Pythagoras,
340
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:19,800
this one,
341
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:21,080
him.
342
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:23,600
And this is Plato.
343
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:28,520
As you can see, even now, centuries after
his death, he's still deep in thought,
344
00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,960
concocting clever theories in his head.
345
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,680
If only we could hold a microphone
to the side of his brain
346
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,280
and hear them for ourselves, but we can't.
347
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:37,896
And even if we could, they'd be in Greek,
348
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,200
which no one
on our production team can speak.
349
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,960
Plato handed his wisdom on to a student
350
00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:47,800
who would become one of the most
influential thinkers of all time:
351
00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:49,040
Aristotle.
352
00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:52,200
Aristotle said a lot of
clever things, didn't he?
353
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,920
My favorite is, "You've got to dance
like nobody's watching."
354
00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,480
It's so true,
and you can apply it to anything.
355
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,560
Because my confidence
is quite brittle at times,
356
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,440
and I know I come across
as quite confident,
357
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,560
but sometimes when I'm talking to experts,
358
00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:15,480
I worry that, you know,
I might come across as a bit stupid.
359
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:19,160
And when I think of
"dance like no one's watching,"
360
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:20,800
that really helps me, you know?
361
00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:22,560
It's like a gift.
362
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,560
What made Aristotle think of that?
363
00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,240
I'm not aware that Aristotle said
that particular thing
364
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,000
about dancing when no one's watching.
365
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,760
- I don't think he said that.
- He did, didn't he?
366
00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:39,760
If he did, I don't know
and I don't know why,
367
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:41,520
but I don't think he did.
368
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,960
Is there something similar
that he might have said,
369
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:50,280
um... about...
something about one's confidence?
370
00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:51,720
Um...
371
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,120
- I don't think so.
- Right.
372
00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,280
Okay.
373
00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:03,560
Experts may disagree
over what they actually said,
374
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,840
but there's no doubt these Greek pioneers
changed the way we think.
375
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:12,200
Did a philosopher ever think of an idea
so big it split their head open?
376
00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:14,320
Not that I'm aware of.
377
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,920
You know how the human brain
is full of pipes? Philosophers...
378
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,240
- I'm not.
- You didn't know about that?
379
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,120
- I didn't know about that.
- Okay, well, the brain's full of pipes.
380
00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,760
You know how philosophers
have these thoughts,
381
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:31,560
and they try and push these thoughts
through these pipes?
382
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,560
When you're having a big idea,
383
00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:37,720
is it best to break it up into lots of
little thoughts, about the size of peas,
384
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,760
and squeeze them through
in quick succession,
385
00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,320
or just bite the bullet and force it
through your mind pipe in one huge clod,
386
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,640
like gritting your teeth
and thinking for dear life?
387
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,800
Well, that's a very interesting way
of describing
388
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,240
two general tendencies in philosophy.
389
00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,720
One, the more analytic style,
390
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:04,880
which means cutting problems up
into bite-sized portions...
391
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:05,960
Peas.
392
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,280
...and the other a more synthetic approach
393
00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,800
which takes on a larger perspective.
394
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,880
So your characterization is, in fact,
395
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:20,040
a rather intriguing delineation
396
00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,920
of two major strands
in current philosophy.
397
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:25,720
- Is that good?
- Excellent.
398
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:27,600
Great.
399
00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:33,160
Meanwhile, ancient Greece was being
spread across the globe by this man,
400
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,080
Alexander the Great.
401
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,600
Alexander the Great became a king at 20,
402
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:41,840
conducted a military campaign
throughout the Middle East,
403
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,320
and had an empire stretching
all the way from Greece to India
404
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,240
by the time he was 30.
405
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:50,360
What did his hair look like?
406
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:52,520
I don't know.
407
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,040
And Alexander wasn't
the only megastar with his own empire.
408
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:02,480
Huge swathes of China
had been unified by Qin Shi Huang,
409
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,440
the first cartoon character
to found his own empire
410
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,960
and build the Great Wall of China.
411
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:14,280
They say the Great Wall of China
is the only landmark audible from space.
412
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,760
Yeah, you can't... you can't hear it.
413
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:23,000
And they say that you can see it
from space, but it's not true.
414
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,016
- They've tried.
- So you can't see it from space.
415
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,880
Chinese astronauts have tried to see
the Great Wall and they can't.
416
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:33,280
They can't see it. So it's invisible.
It's an invisible wall, like a forcefield.
417
00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:38,040
It's only invisible from space.
On the ground you can certainly see it.
418
00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:41,840
That's so weird, isn't it?
Is that one of the great mysteries?
419
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:47,040
And do we know if China has a roof?
Is there a great roof of China?
420
00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:48,800
No, no great roof.
421
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,600
The Chinese empire was
a powerhouse of intense creativity
422
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,600
and philosophical thought,
423
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,760
captured in historical documents
produced centuries
424
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:03,720
before the release of unrelated Belgian
techno anthem "Pump Up the Jam."
425
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,240
♪ Pump up the jam, pump it up ♪
426
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:22,960
♪ While your feet are stomping ♪
427
00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:24,880
♪ And the jam is pumping ♪
428
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,200
♪ Look ahead, the crowd is jumping ♪
429
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,840
♪ Pump it up a little more ♪
430
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:30,680
♪ Get the party going
On the dance floor ♪
431
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:32,600
♪ See, 'cause that's
Where the party's at ♪
432
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,360
♪ And you'll find out if you do that ♪
433
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,360
♪ I want a place to stay
Get your booty... ♪
434
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,760
The Greeks had an empire
and the Chinese had an empire.
435
00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:46,360
But when most of us think of the word
"empire," we think of the big one,
436
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,960
Star Wars... or Rome.
437
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,280
And this is history,
so it's Rome, I'm afraid.
438
00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:55,800
Its empire rose to supremacy
under the leadership of Julius Caesar,
439
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,160
the most notorious Roman until Polanski.
440
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:05,160
One of the reasons we still know a lot
about the Romans today is Wikipedia.
441
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,280
And the reason Wikipedia knows
a lot about the Romans
442
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:11,040
is because of what happened in Pompeii.
443
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,760
Pompeii was so advanced,
it had its own volcano,
444
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,600
which is Latin for "angry hill."
445
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,960
For years, humans and the volcano
lived in harmony,
446
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:26,240
until one fateful day they fell out
and the volcano went off,
447
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,760
burying Pompeii
beneath a thick layer of ash.
448
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,800
Everyday life was frozen in its tracks
449
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,360
as though someone had magically
stopped the hands of time
450
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:38,520
and then shat dust everywhere.
451
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,200
It was deadly at the time,
but on the bright side,
452
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:45,600
it gave archaeologists a treasure trove of
information about how the Romans lived.
453
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:51,240
Thanks to the volcano, we know everyday
Romans had grey skin, were totally bald,
454
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,960
and spent their time lying around
inside their shockingly dusty houses.
455
00:25:56,040 --> 00:26:00,680
But it also preserved glimpses
of how sophisticated Roman life was,
456
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,760
with creature comforts
like indoor plumbing and cunnilingus.
457
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:08,080
The Roman Empire
was years ahead of its time.
458
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:10,520
People think the Romans
invented loads of things,
459
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:15,000
but often they only perfected things
that other people had made.
460
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:19,160
I'll say some things and you tell me
if the Romans invented them
461
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:20,320
or just perfected them.
462
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:22,600
Right? Invented or perfected.
463
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:23,680
Test me.
464
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,760
- Underfloor heating.
- Invented.
465
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:27,840
Ding!
466
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,400
- The calendar.
- Perfected.
467
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,680
You wallied.
That means you can't answer the next one.
468
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:36,760
Roads.
469
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:42,000
Well, the roads were invented by Persians
and plenty of people knew about roads.
470
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,000
You wallied anyway,
you can't answer that one.
471
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,000
- Oh, right.
- Concrete.
472
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:47,120
Invented.
473
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:48,120
Ding!
474
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:49,560
The alphabet.
475
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,680
Definitely did not invent it, and probably
didn't really perfect it either.
476
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:54,640
I mean, that's sort of...
477
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:56,560
- Gotta pick one.
- Have I?
478
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:57,640
Yeah.
479
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,240
Um... I mean, perfected is wrong...
480
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,360
Ding! Anal bleaching.
481
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,680
- What?
- Anal bleaching.
482
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:07,760
Anal bleaching?
483
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:09,000
Um...
484
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:13,440
- I've no idea what they would have done.
- Go on, give it a go.
485
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,816
- I don't know what it is.
- It's when they bleach your arse.
486
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,200
- Really?
- Yeah. Lighten it up.
487
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,000
Not around my way, they don't.
But anyway, I've no idea with that. Pass.
488
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,240
Invented or perfected, you can't pass.
489
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,920
- Bleaching?
- Yep. Bleaching the arsehole.
490
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,640
Um... okay. Well, I'll say
they invented it, but...
491
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,680
Just a few hundred thousand years ago,
492
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,640
humans had been living in caves
like animals.
493
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,560
Now, following a series of technological
and cultural breakthroughs,
494
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,000
we were living in cities, like people.
495
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,760
Looking around ancient Rome,
our ancestors could have been forgiven
496
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,160
for feeling almost as smug
as James Corden.
497
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,120
But little did the Roman Empire know
498
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,600
it was about to come up
against its biggest challenge:
499
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:08,320
a man of peace, Jesus Christ Almighty,
street name: son of God.
500
00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:12,720
Next time,
we look at religion and how it spread.
501
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,440
Like memes, but with a whole lifestyle
and clothing line attached.
502
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,360
And we'll be looking at two of the most
important books in history:
503
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,480
the Bible and the Koran,
504
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,920
and finally answering the question,
which is best?
45174
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