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- [Narrator] Athens, a city of passion
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and philosophy and at its heart,
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a museum with secrets dark and strange.
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Ancient high technology,
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sacred transcendental visions,
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a scourge of the seas and a descent
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into the lair of a monster.
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Secrets hidden in plain sight
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inside the National
Archeological Museum of Athens.
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(anxious music)
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The legacy of the Athenians
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is literally rock solid.
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Proclaimed by the ancient limestone
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of the Acropolis.
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The world would be a very different place
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without Athens'
contribution to philosophy,
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drama, and democracy.
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But in 480 B.C., this
legacy was nearly erased.
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The Persian empire set
out to destroy the city
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and this too, is written in stone.
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The inscription is lengthy
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but the gist is simple.
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Abandon the city.
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Women and children flee,
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all men to the oars.
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It speaks of fear and also
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of Athens' secret weapon.
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The tablet is known
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as the Decree of Themistocles.
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- Themistocles, I think,
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is the most interesting
person in Greek history,
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uh, and, uh, probably
the most foresighted.
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- [Narrator] Themistocles realized
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that the Persian Empire
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was eager to capture Greece.
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They had tried before and he was sure
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they would try again.
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Unlike Persia, Athens was a democracy.
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In the public forum,
Themistocles advocated
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for a new weapon.
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- He was fairly skillful politician
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but he was definitely a statesman
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in terms of building up
Athens with the fleet.
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- [Narrator] Themistocles convinced
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his fellow citizens to
pay for 200 warships
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just like this full-sized replica.
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The design is called a trireme
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named for its three banks of oars.
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They powered the trireme's primary weapon,
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a bronze tipped battering ram.
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Themistocles suspected the fleet
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would have to be built quickly.
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The Persian king Xerxes was determined
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to defeat the stubborn city states.
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- So they amass this huge army
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and a fleet to go with it.
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Most of the Greek city states
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had already either given up
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and gone over to the Persian side
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or just submitted in every way they could.
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- [Narrator] When the Persians attacked
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at Thermopylae, a few brave Greeks
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led by the Spartans dared to face them.
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The museum has arrows
from this famous battle,
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which cut down the Spartan soldiers
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to the last man.
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When Xerxes marched into Athens,
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he set the city alight.
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But thanks to Themistocles' decree,
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the people were gone.
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The Greek leaders now argued
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about what to do next.
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- The leader of Sparta
says to Themistocles,
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"You don't have the right to talk.
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"You don't have a city anymore.
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"Look, Athens is burning."
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And Themistocles said,
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"But I have 200 ships.
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"And those ships are going
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"to give me back Athens city."
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- [Narrator] The 200 triremes
were ready for battle.
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But would they be a match
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for 1,000 Persian warships?
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Themistocles needed to even the odds.
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In a sea south of Athens,
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there is a narrow passage of water
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called the Strait of Salamis.
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A tight squeeze for the Persian fleet
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but a potential opportunity
for the Athenians.
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Themistocles sent an agent to Xerxes' camp
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with orders to lie to the Persian king
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claiming that the Greek navy was about
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to escape through the Strait of Salamis.
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Xerxes took the bait.
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At sunrise, the legendary battle began.
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- Where we are standing, Xerxes,
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the king of kings, the ruler of Persia,
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was following the battle.
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You have 250,000 men
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on about 1,000 ships
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so it's an enormous battle.
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When the Persian ships
started maneuvering,
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they were so large
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that one started colliding with the next.
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At no moment could the Persians
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use all their ships.
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- [Narrator] Persians sailed
to the Strait of Salamis
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right where the Athenians wanted them.
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- The Greek triremes were smaller
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than the Persian but they were faster
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and had a better maneuverability.
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- [Narrator] You may think
that Athens' secret weapon
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was the trireme's battering ram.
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But battering rams are only as powerful
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as the muscle behind them.
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This trireme replica has
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a theoretical top speed of nine knots.
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That's the velocity required
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to break through a thick wooden hull.
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The Greeks will lose the battle
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if they can't reach ramming speed.
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- The Greek rowers were free men.
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They look toward the southeast
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and they see their town burning.
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Those are free citizens who are fighting
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for their homes.
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- [Narrator] We know
the free Athenians rode
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well enough because
history records a defeat
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that cost the Persians dearly.
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The battered Persian fleet sailed away,
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never to return.
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And king Xerxes beat a nasty retreat,
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his empire put to shame
by a democratic city.
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Athens' legacy would live on.
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Her secret weapon was freedom.
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And what of Themistocles?
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Hailed as a hero, a few years later,
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many feared his growing influence.
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Some even plotted against him.
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- The Athenians had a system whereby
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they not only allotted
or elected officials
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but they could unelect them.
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And they had a yearly opportunity
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to get rid of somebody.
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They brought with them an ostracon,
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which is the Greek word for
a broken piece of pottery,
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and on that broken piece of pottery
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they scratched the name of the person
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they thought was a problem.
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The man with the most votes lost
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and he was exiled for 10 years
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and that was thought to calm down
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any anti-democratic
leanings he might have.
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- [Narrator] Themistocles' fate
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would be decided by a free vote.
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Free, but not necessarily fair.
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Recently, researchers discovered
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that on all of these ostraca,
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the name Themistocles is
written in the same hand.
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The vote was rigged.
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- It's either discouraging or encouraging
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to know that dirty politics
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go right back to fifth century Athens
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and it's kind of the equivalent
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of the hanging chads in Florida
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to tell George Bush get elected.
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- [Narrator] When the votes were counted,
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Themistocles was banished
from the very city
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he had saved.
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Even a democracy strong enough
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to defeat an empire
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can be tarnished by those
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who would subvert it from within.
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Next on Museum Secrets,
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the man behind the golden mask.
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When one enters the National
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Archeological Museum of Athens,
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the first challenge is separating
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legend and reality.
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This is the statue of a real man
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while this woman never was.
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Sometimes it's easy to spot a myth
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and sometimes, not so much.
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And then there is this
delicately tooled face
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of the finest gold.
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Where he fits on the scale
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from legend to real is a museum secret.
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For the moment, we'll call him
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what the museum calls him,
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the Mask of Agamemnon.
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3,000 years ago, the poet
Homer wrote of Agamemnon
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in his saga of the Trojan war.
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After the Trojans are fooled
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by a gift horse filled
with Greek soldiers,
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King Agamemnon leads the Greeks
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to a glorious and bloody victory.
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But by the 19th century,
most scholars agreed
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that Homer's tales were fiction.
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One of the few dissenters
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was a German businessman
and amateur archeologist
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named Heinrich Schliemann.
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- He believed firmly in Homer
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and then he pursued his dream
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to uncover the world of the Homeric epics.
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- [Narrator] Schliemann predicted
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the real city of Troy
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would be found in Turkey.
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He was right.
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His discovery astounded the world.
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But as he dug deep for Trojan artifacts,
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he destroyed more recent layers.
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Archeologists were horrified.
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Then he made off with Trojan gold
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after using it to dress his wife up
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as Helen of Troy.
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- In February 1874, Schliemann
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actually proceeded to use
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the same illegal stratagem
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that he had used at Troy in 1870.
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That is, without notifying
the Greek authorities,
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he came out to Mycenae
allegedly for survey
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but truly, in reality, to excavate.
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- [Narrator] Schliemann
went to Mycenae to prove
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that the hero of the Trojan war
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was just as real as Troy itself.
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Mycenae is where Homer said
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King Agamemnon ruled.
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- We are now approaching the main gate
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of the citadel of Mycenae built
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in the middle of the 13th century.
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It's one of the few
landmarks that remained
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standing throughout Mycenae's history
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and became its trademark of course.
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- [Narrator] Within
sight of the famous gate,
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in the Mycenaen graveyard,
Schliemann believed
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he would find the remains of Agamemnon.
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- So now we're inside grave circle A.
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The grave circle that
Schliemann discovered in 1876.
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All the shaft graves were maximum depth
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about four meters.
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They built the burial chamber
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at the bottom of the shaft
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and in some cases then, they would post
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a funeral stele to mark the spot.
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- [Narrator] These grave markers,
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now in the museum,
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hinted at treasure underground.
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Schliemann began to dig.
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- Whenever he saw a later wall then
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he just demolished it as he did at Troy.
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He demolished it and went down
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to the prehistoric levels
if he recognized them.
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- [Narrator] Horrified
by Schliemann's methods,
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the Greek government assigned him a minder
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named Panagiotis Stamatakis.
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- Stamatakis of course
had different instructions
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and came from a different
school of archeology
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or from a school of archeology, full stop,
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try to oppose that and next morning
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he would arrive at the site
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and the wall or the building gone.
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Stamatakis had to accept
insult upon insult.
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Schliemann treated the
man with utter contempt.
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He described him as an insignificant,
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poor government clerk who's bent
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on impeding Mr. Schliemann's
pioneering researches
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for the greater glory of Greece.
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- [Narrator] Before long, as at Troy,
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00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:31,940
Schliemann's unorthodox methods
270
00:13:31,940 --> 00:13:33,963
produced stunning results.
271
00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:37,830
- [Iphiyenia] There is a
bull's head wrought in silver
272
00:13:37,830 --> 00:13:40,030
and plated with gold.
273
00:13:40,030 --> 00:13:41,753
There is the golden lion head,
274
00:13:43,230 --> 00:13:47,160
golden masks, precious rings and objects,
275
00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:48,703
one after the other.
276
00:13:50,190 --> 00:13:51,460
- [Narrator] Then Schliemann announced
277
00:13:51,460 --> 00:13:53,853
he had found the death mask of Agamemnon.
278
00:13:57,090 --> 00:13:59,520
Not an artist's depiction of a legend
279
00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,650
but the real face of a real man.
280
00:14:02,650 --> 00:14:05,590
- In ecstasy, he said, he lifted
281
00:14:05,590 --> 00:14:07,443
the gold mask and kissed it.
282
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:10,440
- [Narrator] Schliemann received acclaim
283
00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:12,110
for proving Homer's Agamemnon
284
00:14:12,110 --> 00:14:14,083
was fact, not fiction.
285
00:14:15,570 --> 00:14:17,690
The mask took pride of place at the museum
286
00:14:17,690 --> 00:14:19,240
amid other treasures of Mycenae
287
00:14:21,510 --> 00:14:23,160
but for some modern scholars,
288
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:24,860
the mask of Agamemnon has become
289
00:14:24,860 --> 00:14:26,243
the focal point of doubt.
290
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:29,790
They ask, why does it look
291
00:14:29,790 --> 00:14:32,290
so different from the other masks?
292
00:14:32,290 --> 00:14:34,493
Why is it the only mask with facial hair?
293
00:14:36,580 --> 00:14:38,750
And some notice that
the mustache resembles
294
00:14:38,750 --> 00:14:42,070
a style popular among
Schliemann's contemporaries,
295
00:14:42,070 --> 00:14:44,003
19th century Germans.
296
00:14:48,220 --> 00:14:51,863
Scholarly papers began
to use words like fraud.
297
00:14:53,820 --> 00:14:55,980
But then, as the reality's scale tipped
298
00:14:55,980 --> 00:14:59,060
from real to legend, to fake,
299
00:14:59,060 --> 00:15:01,650
a researcher discovered
the unpublished diaries
300
00:15:01,650 --> 00:15:06,500
of Schliemann's minder,
Panagiotis Stamatakis.
301
00:15:06,500 --> 00:15:07,610
A man with no reason
302
00:15:07,610 --> 00:15:09,820
to bolster Schliemann's reputation,
303
00:15:09,820 --> 00:15:12,000
he says he watched as Schliemann
304
00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,120
unearthed a mask of gold,
305
00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:16,263
more beautiful than all the others.
306
00:15:17,190 --> 00:15:20,490
- Stamatakis' diaries
offer us an eye witness
307
00:15:20,490 --> 00:15:22,600
which we don't have until now.
308
00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:24,480
We know now that he was there,
309
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,490
he saw the mask and he described it.
310
00:15:27,490 --> 00:15:30,343
So there is no way that this is a forgery.
311
00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,040
- [Narrator] Today, researchers believe
312
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,990
the mask is actually 300 years too old
313
00:15:36,990 --> 00:15:39,160
to belong to Agamemnon.
314
00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:40,820
With his reckless methods,
315
00:15:40,820 --> 00:15:42,893
Schliemann had dug up the wrong king.
316
00:15:47,050 --> 00:15:48,963
But that's not the end of the story.
317
00:15:50,710 --> 00:15:53,470
This is Schliemann's home in Athens.
318
00:15:53,470 --> 00:15:54,840
It's decorated with the symbol
319
00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,123
that has become synonymous with evil.
320
00:15:58,350 --> 00:16:00,100
The swastika is an ancient design
321
00:16:00,100 --> 00:16:01,870
that Schliemann noticed on artifacts
322
00:16:01,870 --> 00:16:03,003
he found in Troy.
323
00:16:04,710 --> 00:16:07,460
After his discovery,
some influential Germans
324
00:16:07,460 --> 00:16:10,100
came to believe that the
Trojans were a white race
325
00:16:10,100 --> 00:16:12,300
that was the source of
the German bloodline.
326
00:16:13,970 --> 00:16:15,810
Homer's legend of the Trojan war
327
00:16:15,810 --> 00:16:17,893
became mixed up with bits of history.
328
00:16:18,900 --> 00:16:20,790
It was through Schliemann
that the swastika
329
00:16:20,790 --> 00:16:23,150
made its way to the
National Socialist Party
330
00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,010
and his belief that
Agamemnon was a real man
331
00:16:27,010 --> 00:16:28,990
who led his people to victory
332
00:16:28,990 --> 00:16:31,053
became part of the Nazi mythology.
333
00:16:34,030 --> 00:16:36,290
And so our tale ends with a caution.
334
00:16:36,290 --> 00:16:37,920
Bad things can happen
335
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,213
when legends are tangled up with history.
336
00:16:44,620 --> 00:16:46,923
Up next, the secret of the labyrinth.
337
00:16:53,530 --> 00:16:54,500
Some of the treasures
338
00:16:54,500 --> 00:16:56,640
in the National Archeological Museum
339
00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:58,483
are best seen at night.
340
00:17:01,210 --> 00:17:02,910
In the dark, one may discover
341
00:17:02,910 --> 00:17:04,453
terrifying creatures.
342
00:17:05,330 --> 00:17:06,223
Like this one.
343
00:17:09,090 --> 00:17:13,450
Half man, half bull, all monster.
344
00:17:13,450 --> 00:17:15,930
This is the original genetically modified
345
00:17:15,930 --> 00:17:17,883
super villain, the Minotaur.
346
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:20,900
He lurked in a dark labyrinth
347
00:17:20,900 --> 00:17:23,080
below the palace of kind Minos.
348
00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:26,290
All who tried to slay
him got lost in the maze.
349
00:17:26,290 --> 00:17:27,640
The Minotaur vanquished them
350
00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,350
and consigned them to
the pit of his stomach.
351
00:17:31,350 --> 00:17:33,780
But then came a hero named Theseus
352
00:17:33,780 --> 00:17:35,500
whose clever girlfriend Ariadne
353
00:17:35,500 --> 00:17:37,560
made him bring along a ball of thread.
354
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:39,290
Theseus killed the Minotaur
355
00:17:39,290 --> 00:17:41,015
and followed the thread
356
00:17:41,015 --> 00:17:42,693
back into the light.
357
00:17:43,740 --> 00:17:45,440
Of course, the Minotaur and his labyrinth
358
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,680
are just a dark fantasy.
359
00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:48,710
Or are they?
360
00:17:50,820 --> 00:17:53,620
In 1900, on the Island of Crete,
361
00:17:53,620 --> 00:17:56,683
archeologists unearthed this vast ruin.
362
00:17:59,780 --> 00:18:01,940
This complex maze of passage ways
363
00:18:01,940 --> 00:18:03,950
reveals an ancient culture
364
00:18:03,950 --> 00:18:06,163
with a fascination for bulls.
365
00:18:07,060 --> 00:18:10,070
- When the Minoan
civilization was uncovered,
366
00:18:10,070 --> 00:18:12,400
one of the things they did find
367
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:16,180
were scenes of an elaborate
form of bull fighting
368
00:18:16,180 --> 00:18:18,890
where acrobats, young men and women,
369
00:18:18,890 --> 00:18:23,040
would taunt and jump over the back
370
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,200
of a charging bull.
371
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:26,430
And I don't know if you've ever seen
372
00:18:26,430 --> 00:18:28,640
a Portuguese bull fight but that's
373
00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,063
how they used to do it
in Portugal as well.
374
00:18:32,770 --> 00:18:34,670
- [Narrator] Amid the ruins, archeologists
375
00:18:34,670 --> 00:18:36,910
also found evidence of a religious cult
376
00:18:36,910 --> 00:18:39,513
that worshiped bulls as a powerful deity.
377
00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:43,120
So while Minoans bated bulls,
378
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:45,063
they also feared them.
379
00:18:46,290 --> 00:18:47,610
We know now that the ruin
380
00:18:47,610 --> 00:18:50,140
is a palace, not a maze.
381
00:18:50,140 --> 00:18:52,210
But it certainly looks like one.
382
00:18:52,210 --> 00:18:54,050
- Was so complex and so big
383
00:18:54,050 --> 00:18:55,970
particularly for that time
384
00:18:55,970 --> 00:18:57,750
in this part of the world
385
00:18:57,750 --> 00:19:00,630
that it may have given
rise to the concept,
386
00:19:00,630 --> 00:19:02,343
the idea of the labyrinth.
387
00:19:04,580 --> 00:19:06,610
- [Narrator] Certain ancient maps pinpoint
388
00:19:06,610 --> 00:19:09,763
a labyrinth just 60 kilometers away.
389
00:19:12,950 --> 00:19:15,000
And if you think it might
be worth finding out
390
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,630
if the labyrinth is really here,
391
00:19:17,630 --> 00:19:19,053
you are not alone.
392
00:19:20,570 --> 00:19:22,150
- A labyrinth goes back a long way,
393
00:19:22,150 --> 00:19:24,884
it goes back to basically
394
00:19:24,884 --> 00:19:27,053
almost before Greek sources.
395
00:19:28,070 --> 00:19:29,750
- [Narrator] Archeologist
Sandy McGillivray
396
00:19:29,750 --> 00:19:31,560
intends to find the labyrinth
397
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:33,233
and unlock its secrets.
398
00:19:36,410 --> 00:19:38,270
McGillivray has made contact with a man
399
00:19:38,270 --> 00:19:41,110
who claims to know just
what he's looking for,
400
00:19:41,110 --> 00:19:42,999
local guide Michelle Fournier.
401
00:19:42,999 --> 00:19:45,800
(speak French)
402
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:47,860
- At the beginning it was natural
403
00:19:47,860 --> 00:19:51,850
and afterwards it was used as a quarry.
404
00:19:51,850 --> 00:19:55,823
This is what is now the labyrinth.
405
00:19:57,050 --> 00:19:58,653
This place is a new one.
406
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:01,483
It has been built by the Germans.
407
00:20:04,660 --> 00:20:05,830
- [Narrator] In World War two,
408
00:20:05,830 --> 00:20:07,730
when the Nazis occupied Crete,
409
00:20:07,730 --> 00:20:09,750
they enlarged the natural cave system
410
00:20:09,750 --> 00:20:11,093
to store munitions.
411
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,410
- In '62, four young
people from the Messara
412
00:20:17,410 --> 00:20:20,003
went inside to take some bombs.
413
00:20:20,910 --> 00:20:23,143
But made an explosion inside
414
00:20:23,143 --> 00:20:25,373
and they died inside in this place.
415
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:31,433
So as you see--
416
00:20:31,433 --> 00:20:32,610
- [Narrator] Today, with the permission
417
00:20:32,610 --> 00:20:34,850
of the Greek Ministry of Culture,
418
00:20:34,850 --> 00:20:37,493
McGillivray plans to
enter the deadly caves.
419
00:20:38,620 --> 00:20:41,090
He is the first archeologist to do so
420
00:20:41,090 --> 00:20:42,723
in more than 50 years.
421
00:20:46,860 --> 00:20:48,200
- [Michelle] This is the entrance here.
422
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:49,743
So this is the entrance.
423
00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,310
- [Narrator] The way
in was once much larger
424
00:20:54,310 --> 00:20:55,870
but the Nazis sealed the entrance
425
00:20:55,870 --> 00:20:58,023
with explosives before their retreat.
426
00:21:00,380 --> 00:21:01,630
- [Michelle] Here we are.
427
00:21:04,060 --> 00:21:05,790
- [Narrator] Like the legendary Theseus,
428
00:21:05,790 --> 00:21:07,520
McGillivray and his guide descend
429
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,553
into the labyrinth without a map.
430
00:21:11,580 --> 00:21:14,203
The stability of the tunnel is unknown.
431
00:21:23,495 --> 00:21:26,480
- [Sandy] Oh my God, this is wild.
432
00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,280
- [Narrator] Unlike Theseus, McGillivray
433
00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,140
didn't bring a ball of Ariadne's thread,
434
00:21:31,140 --> 00:21:33,440
but he will feel the presence of a monster
435
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:34,563
just the same.
436
00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:38,393
- [Sandy] What?
437
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,000
- [Michelle] This place
is where the Germans
438
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,170
were stocking munitions
439
00:21:44,170 --> 00:21:46,813
and we have still some bombs here.
440
00:21:47,990 --> 00:21:49,190
- [Sandy] That's insane.
441
00:21:51,950 --> 00:21:54,550
- [Narrator] How many of
these Nazi shells are live?
442
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:58,150
McGillivray and his
guide don't stick around
443
00:21:58,150 --> 00:21:58,993
to find out.
444
00:22:01,310 --> 00:22:04,150
They venture deeper into the labyrinth
445
00:22:04,150 --> 00:22:06,113
where their lights reveal this.
446
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:09,560
Threads on the tunnel floor.
447
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:11,730
Recently, someone else has been down here
448
00:22:11,730 --> 00:22:14,163
recreating the myth of
Theseus and the Minotaur.
449
00:22:16,890 --> 00:22:19,331
Why would anyone other
than an archeologist
450
00:22:19,331 --> 00:22:21,033
risk his life to come here?
451
00:22:28,570 --> 00:22:31,633
- We are in the room
which is called trapeza.
452
00:22:32,481 --> 00:22:34,233
It is the end of the labyrinth.
453
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,453
Many people come now to pray.
454
00:22:39,430 --> 00:22:41,910
They say here in this place
455
00:22:41,910 --> 00:22:44,163
there is a strange energy.
456
00:22:46,001 --> 00:22:48,480
There're many inscriptions on the walls
457
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,563
from different moments of history.
458
00:22:55,070 --> 00:22:59,403
You have here some
swastika from the Germany.
459
00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:08,270
But you have also some things
460
00:23:08,270 --> 00:23:10,830
which are from the Middle Ages.
461
00:23:10,830 --> 00:23:13,210
We don't know exactly
what it is at the moment.
462
00:23:13,210 --> 00:23:14,930
- It's like a coat of arms.
463
00:23:14,930 --> 00:23:16,560
- Yes, yes.
464
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:17,660
But this is your work.
465
00:23:17,660 --> 00:23:21,974
You have to help everybody to understand.
466
00:23:21,974 --> 00:23:23,974
- [Sandy] It could be a crusader shield.
467
00:23:25,810 --> 00:23:28,260
It's kind of a metaphorical
thing, the labyrinth.
468
00:23:28,260 --> 00:23:30,610
The labyrinth is a place where you go in,
469
00:23:30,610 --> 00:23:34,470
encounter some kind of half divine,
470
00:23:34,470 --> 00:23:39,470
half human aspect, defeat it or not,
471
00:23:39,670 --> 00:23:43,113
and emerge victorious or not.
472
00:23:46,750 --> 00:23:48,973
- There're here, in my mind,
473
00:23:49,820 --> 00:23:53,500
the roots of humanity.
474
00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:56,510
Because everybody doesn't know it
475
00:23:56,510 --> 00:23:59,010
but everybody is in a labyrinth.
476
00:23:59,010 --> 00:24:03,170
It is labyrinth and he asks to find
477
00:24:03,170 --> 00:24:04,193
the way out.
478
00:24:05,270 --> 00:24:07,220
- [Narrator] And before we do
479
00:24:07,220 --> 00:24:09,920
we must all enter the darkness
480
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:11,673
to brave our own monsters.
481
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,073
Up next, the secret of stopping an arrow.
482
00:24:28,710 --> 00:24:31,250
The National Archeological
Museum of Athens
483
00:24:31,250 --> 00:24:33,420
has no shortage of heroes,
484
00:24:33,420 --> 00:24:35,050
but only one of these tough guys
485
00:24:35,050 --> 00:24:36,373
took on the entire world.
486
00:24:38,330 --> 00:24:40,350
Alexander the Great.
487
00:24:40,350 --> 00:24:41,930
In the fourth century B.C.,
488
00:24:41,930 --> 00:24:44,580
he inspired fear in his enemies.
489
00:24:44,580 --> 00:24:47,550
In his legions he inspired loyalty.
490
00:24:47,550 --> 00:24:49,880
In graduate student Scott Bartell
491
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,780
he inspired something else.
492
00:24:51,780 --> 00:24:54,840
- I was and still am obsessed
with Alexander the Great.
493
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:56,250
Just, you know, anything about him,
494
00:24:56,250 --> 00:24:57,840
I want to know about it.
495
00:24:57,840 --> 00:24:59,610
There's this very famous mosaic
496
00:24:59,610 --> 00:25:01,920
that was found in Pompey of Alexander
497
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,650
on his horse wearing this
certain type of armor
498
00:25:04,650 --> 00:25:05,800
and I wanted one.
499
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,180
You know, I wanted what Alexander wore.
500
00:25:08,180 --> 00:25:10,700
And so, you know, I just
started looking into it,
501
00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:12,570
you know, looking into
every possible source
502
00:25:12,570 --> 00:25:14,520
that I could find, you know,
503
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:16,126
from very amateur historians
504
00:25:16,126 --> 00:25:17,663
to the well-known ones.
505
00:25:21,130 --> 00:25:22,500
- [Narrator] Hollywood epics depict
506
00:25:22,500 --> 00:25:25,090
Greek warriors wearing armor of bronze,
507
00:25:25,090 --> 00:25:27,133
including this hunky Alexander.
508
00:25:30,020 --> 00:25:32,290
But when Scott and his
professor Greg Aldrete
509
00:25:32,290 --> 00:25:34,750
probed deeper, they uncovered something
510
00:25:34,750 --> 00:25:36,310
quite different.
511
00:25:36,310 --> 00:25:38,310
- People referred to it
either as the lino thorax
512
00:25:38,310 --> 00:25:40,670
or just simply linen armor.
513
00:25:40,670 --> 00:25:43,260
- [Narrator] Alexander
wore armor made of linen?
514
00:25:43,260 --> 00:25:44,870
That just sounds wrong.
515
00:25:44,870 --> 00:25:47,830
And if the ancients did have
some kind of linen armor,
516
00:25:47,830 --> 00:25:49,253
why isn't it in the museum?
517
00:25:50,250 --> 00:25:54,390
- We have about 750 images
of this armor in art,
518
00:25:54,390 --> 00:25:56,120
but the problem is none
of them have survived
519
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,170
till today because they're made of linen.
520
00:25:59,540 --> 00:26:01,270
- [Narrator] So most of
the available evidence
521
00:26:01,270 --> 00:26:02,630
is from images like this one,
522
00:26:02,630 --> 00:26:05,350
on a tombstone of a Greek soldier.
523
00:26:05,350 --> 00:26:08,490
His armor looks like it
might be made of cloth
524
00:26:08,490 --> 00:26:10,090
but that doesn't prove anything.
525
00:26:12,260 --> 00:26:13,840
Scott and Greg wanted to find out
526
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,743
if linen armor would really work.
527
00:26:16,750 --> 00:26:18,840
They started by sourcing the same raw,
528
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,060
unprocessed flax that weavers used
529
00:26:21,060 --> 00:26:22,113
in Alexander's time.
530
00:26:25,670 --> 00:26:27,880
- This is a drop spindle
531
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,960
that I've got attached to flax
532
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:34,850
and I am spinning this into thread
533
00:26:34,850 --> 00:26:37,490
and this is what the ancient
Greeks would have used.
534
00:26:37,490 --> 00:26:39,745
So we wanted to sort of replicate
535
00:26:39,745 --> 00:26:41,360
all the ancient practices
536
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:44,220
to get the most authentic linen
537
00:26:44,220 --> 00:26:45,120
that we could get.
538
00:26:47,170 --> 00:26:49,463
- [Narrator] The team
wove thread into cloth.
539
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:52,030
They were well aware that one layer
540
00:26:52,030 --> 00:26:53,543
would afford no protection.
541
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:56,940
What about many layers glued together?
542
00:26:56,940 --> 00:26:59,290
The ancient Greeks might
have thought of that.
543
00:26:59,290 --> 00:27:00,380
But did they have a glue
544
00:27:00,380 --> 00:27:02,160
that would do the job?
545
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,550
- Glues, we eventually settled
546
00:27:03,550 --> 00:27:05,520
on two types of glue that everybody
547
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,400
in ancient world would have access to.
548
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:09,060
One made out of rabbit skins,
549
00:27:09,060 --> 00:27:10,090
rabbits were everywhere,
550
00:27:10,090 --> 00:27:11,740
and one made out of flax seeds.
551
00:27:11,740 --> 00:27:14,450
We're gonna lay the other layer on top
552
00:27:14,450 --> 00:27:15,313
and press them.
553
00:27:16,820 --> 00:27:19,470
Built up layers by
laminating them together,
554
00:27:19,470 --> 00:27:21,770
so by gluing them together.
555
00:27:21,770 --> 00:27:23,393
And that's what forms armor.
556
00:27:27,700 --> 00:27:29,750
- [Narrator] They made
bronze arrow heads too,
557
00:27:29,750 --> 00:27:31,710
of the precise weight and dimensions
558
00:27:31,710 --> 00:27:34,310
employed by Alexander's
legions and his adversaries.
559
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,080
Today, Greg and Scott
and some fellow students
560
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,653
will take the armor and
arrows out of the lab.
561
00:27:44,770 --> 00:27:46,320
In a few moments, they'll know
562
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,530
whether their theory is sound
563
00:27:48,530 --> 00:27:50,230
or has holes in it.
564
00:27:50,230 --> 00:27:52,590
- What we're setting up
here is we have a test patch
565
00:27:52,590 --> 00:27:54,640
of our laminated layers of linen.
566
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,290
And fortunately, the laws of physics
567
00:27:56,290 --> 00:27:58,860
are the same now as they
were 2,000 years ago.
568
00:27:58,860 --> 00:28:01,060
So if we shoot an arrow
with a certain force
569
00:28:01,060 --> 00:28:03,630
at something, at a certain material,
570
00:28:03,630 --> 00:28:05,623
we know it will go through or it won't.
571
00:28:11,430 --> 00:28:12,263
That's a good hit.
572
00:28:12,263 --> 00:28:13,590
Let's measure it.
573
00:28:13,590 --> 00:28:14,890
We actually had no idea.
574
00:28:14,890 --> 00:28:16,510
We had the same doubts as a lot of people
575
00:28:16,510 --> 00:28:18,760
that, you know, would
fabric really protect you
576
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,930
from a serious arrow attack
577
00:28:20,930 --> 00:28:22,883
and we were quite surprised.
578
00:28:24,110 --> 00:28:25,320
All right.
579
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:26,653
So, with this one,
580
00:28:27,518 --> 00:28:29,330
got the penetration there.
581
00:28:29,330 --> 00:28:30,163
Not that much.
582
00:28:31,540 --> 00:28:34,354
Trick to the lino thorax
is when an arrow hits it,
583
00:28:34,354 --> 00:28:37,760
because it's fabric, because
it's a little bit soft,
584
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:41,240
the whole thing flexes
and so the entire surface
585
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,840
of your armor absorbs the energy
586
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:45,363
of that incoming arrow.
587
00:28:46,460 --> 00:28:48,060
- [Narrator] For comparison they will fire
588
00:28:48,060 --> 00:28:49,870
several arrows at a sheet of bronze
589
00:28:49,870 --> 00:28:52,910
the same thickness as this
ancient metal breastplate.
590
00:28:52,910 --> 00:28:56,040
The team assumes the arrow
will bounce off the bronze.
591
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:57,473
The result is shocking.
592
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,053
In repeated tests, the
arrow goes right through.
593
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,560
- The difference is that
the linen suit of armor
594
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:09,590
would have only weighed one third
595
00:29:09,590 --> 00:29:11,163
the weight of the bronze armor.
596
00:29:15,700 --> 00:29:17,240
Nobody wants to wear bronze armor
597
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:18,620
in the hot Mediterranean sun,
598
00:29:18,620 --> 00:29:21,433
it bakes you, whereas linen stays cool.
599
00:29:22,570 --> 00:29:23,760
- [Narrator] At Scott's insistence,
600
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:25,840
there will be one final test.
601
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:27,470
In addition to the test patches,
602
00:29:27,470 --> 00:29:29,913
he has constructed a
complete linen breastplate.
603
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:32,850
And if you think the vivid colors
604
00:29:32,850 --> 00:29:34,853
are creative license, they are not.
605
00:29:36,010 --> 00:29:37,640
On this soldier's tombstone,
606
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,070
ultraviolet light reveals
that bright colors
607
00:29:40,070 --> 00:29:42,233
were all the rage in ancient armor.
608
00:29:45,140 --> 00:29:46,820
We are not sure if Scott is putting on
609
00:29:46,820 --> 00:29:48,750
a helmet for extra protection
610
00:29:48,750 --> 00:29:49,980
or because of his obsession
611
00:29:49,980 --> 00:29:51,333
with Alexander the Great.
612
00:29:52,450 --> 00:29:54,223
It may be a little of both.
613
00:29:59,210 --> 00:30:00,490
Greg takes aim at Scott
614
00:30:00,490 --> 00:30:02,083
from point blank range.
615
00:30:17,735 --> 00:30:19,480
- How does that feel?
616
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:20,620
- [Scott] I didn't feel anything.
617
00:30:20,620 --> 00:30:21,840
How far did it go in?
618
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:23,190
- Uh, enough.
619
00:30:23,190 --> 00:30:24,040
- [Scott] Enough?
620
00:30:25,490 --> 00:30:27,850
- And so we know that Alexander himself,
621
00:30:27,850 --> 00:30:29,480
I mean, one of the greatest conquerors
622
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:30,940
of the entire ancient world,
623
00:30:30,940 --> 00:30:33,720
chose to wear this sort of armor.
624
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:35,030
- It was highly effective.
625
00:30:35,030 --> 00:30:37,310
It would stop pretty much any arrow attack
626
00:30:37,310 --> 00:30:39,740
that you would encounter
on an ancient battlefield.
627
00:30:39,740 --> 00:30:40,950
- [Narrator] So Hollywood warriors
628
00:30:40,950 --> 00:30:42,770
may look great in bronze,
629
00:30:42,770 --> 00:30:44,060
but they wouldn't last long
630
00:30:44,060 --> 00:30:45,563
on a real battlefield.
631
00:30:47,380 --> 00:30:49,070
- [Greg] By physically making something,
632
00:30:49,070 --> 00:30:50,610
having it in three dimensions
633
00:30:50,610 --> 00:30:53,780
to feel its weight, to
experience how it moves,
634
00:30:53,780 --> 00:30:55,160
can tell you information
635
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,410
that maybe is lacking
in the ancient sources.
636
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,530
- Can run faster, you can run
637
00:31:01,530 --> 00:31:03,150
for greater distances,
638
00:31:03,150 --> 00:31:04,660
sneak up on the enemy.
639
00:31:04,660 --> 00:31:07,190
This is, you know, sort
of one of his greatest
640
00:31:07,190 --> 00:31:10,810
strengths is that he
just surprises his enemy.
641
00:31:10,810 --> 00:31:12,230
So they think he's gonna arrive, you know,
642
00:31:12,230 --> 00:31:14,330
in a week and he gets there in three days.
643
00:31:18,430 --> 00:31:20,170
- [Greg] I'm tempted to
think that this kind of armor
644
00:31:20,170 --> 00:31:23,003
does partly at least explain his success.
645
00:31:24,750 --> 00:31:25,890
- I never really doubted it.
646
00:31:25,890 --> 00:31:27,470
I always had confidence in it.
647
00:31:27,470 --> 00:31:29,110
You know, I thought if Alexander wore it,
648
00:31:29,110 --> 00:31:31,490
you know, he certainly knew
something about warfare,
649
00:31:31,490 --> 00:31:33,440
this stuff had to work out.
650
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:34,640
- [Narrator] And that's why history's
651
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,280
greatest tough guy trusted linen
652
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:38,263
with his life.
653
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,433
Up next, a secret to kill for.
654
00:31:52,150 --> 00:31:54,070
The ancient Athenians cared so much
655
00:31:54,070 --> 00:31:56,000
about our next museum secret,
656
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,293
they slaughtered innocents to protect it.
657
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:02,790
It is a secret lost to history
658
00:32:02,790 --> 00:32:04,160
and yet, there're still
659
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:06,550
a few remaining shards of truth
660
00:32:06,550 --> 00:32:08,193
waiting to be put together.
661
00:32:12,210 --> 00:32:14,820
This restored tablet is just one piece
662
00:32:14,820 --> 00:32:16,620
of a larger puzzle.
663
00:32:16,620 --> 00:32:19,560
It shows men and women
with torches and vessels
664
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:20,860
on their way out of Athens
665
00:32:20,860 --> 00:32:23,433
to the religious sanctuary of Eleusis.
666
00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:27,890
Every year for a thousand years
667
00:32:27,890 --> 00:32:29,840
Athenians came here to take part
668
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:30,943
in a celebration.
669
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:35,990
- The celebrators would come here
670
00:32:35,990 --> 00:32:38,240
and gather in this courtyard.
671
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,073
They would have performed
dances along the way.
672
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,260
- [Narrator] We know
that Plato danced here
673
00:32:48,260 --> 00:32:49,830
and Pythagoras
674
00:32:49,830 --> 00:32:52,573
along with the who's
who of ancient Greece.
675
00:32:53,820 --> 00:32:56,250
- You could see here
where the natural bedrock
676
00:32:56,250 --> 00:32:58,930
was carved away in order to accommodate
677
00:32:58,930 --> 00:33:01,030
lots and lots of visitors.
678
00:33:01,030 --> 00:33:03,150
It's here that we can begin
679
00:33:03,150 --> 00:33:05,600
to think about what actually happened
680
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:07,133
when people were initiated.
681
00:33:08,980 --> 00:33:11,050
- [Narrator] The initiation
was the secret part
682
00:33:11,050 --> 00:33:13,670
of the Eleusinian mysteries.
683
00:33:13,670 --> 00:33:15,940
You either participated fully
684
00:33:15,940 --> 00:33:17,423
or you didn't come near.
685
00:33:18,450 --> 00:33:21,100
- We know, for example, of two teenagers
686
00:33:21,100 --> 00:33:22,890
who were caught trying to spy
687
00:33:22,890 --> 00:33:25,040
on the ceremony and they were punished
688
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,593
as a result by being
thrown off of a cliff.
689
00:33:32,530 --> 00:33:34,200
- [Narrator] What went on here?
690
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,180
What was so important that Athenians
691
00:33:36,180 --> 00:33:38,193
were willing to kill to keep the secret?
692
00:33:40,890 --> 00:33:44,700
Some believe the mysteries
involved dark rituals.
693
00:33:44,700 --> 00:33:46,633
Some whisper of orgies.
694
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,833
But little is known for
certain except this.
695
00:33:56,230 --> 00:33:57,650
Priests gave the initiates
696
00:33:57,650 --> 00:34:00,183
a kind of mead called kykeon.
697
00:34:03,008 --> 00:34:05,591
(speaks Greek)
698
00:34:11,540 --> 00:34:13,930
- [Narrator] Neurologist
Dimitris Kountouris believes
699
00:34:13,930 --> 00:34:16,880
kykeon was made with a
local strain of barley
700
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,563
which can be infected by
a fungus called ergot.
701
00:34:21,180 --> 00:34:23,580
Ergot is a natural psychedelic,
702
00:34:23,580 --> 00:34:25,383
a precursor of LSD.
703
00:34:29,483 --> 00:34:32,066
(speaks Greek)
704
00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:41,370
- [Narrator] Local people today still make
705
00:34:41,370 --> 00:34:43,523
a beer with hallucinogenic properties.
706
00:34:46,270 --> 00:34:47,620
The doctor conducts research
707
00:34:47,620 --> 00:34:49,050
to test their brain patterns
708
00:34:49,050 --> 00:34:50,943
and record their experiences.
709
00:34:52,851 --> 00:34:56,184
(Dimitris speaks Greek)
710
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,190
- [Narrator] Initiates
claimed they experienced
711
00:35:05,190 --> 00:35:08,280
fear followed by elation
712
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,203
and then lost their fear of death.
713
00:35:11,780 --> 00:35:13,963
But could a simple drink be the cause?
714
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,920
Today, in the rainforests of Peru,
715
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:21,580
shamans and their acolytes drink
716
00:35:21,580 --> 00:35:23,550
another plant-based psychedelic
717
00:35:23,550 --> 00:35:26,653
called ayahuasca, the vine of the soul.
718
00:35:28,140 --> 00:35:30,170
The drink takes seekers on a journey
719
00:35:30,170 --> 00:35:33,160
that can include frightening sensations.
720
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:36,053
For others, feelings of overwhelming joy.
721
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,340
Through closed eyes, many report
722
00:35:41,340 --> 00:35:43,563
visions of a divine mystery.
723
00:35:46,500 --> 00:35:48,680
The shamans value ayahuasca
724
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,083
the way the Athenians valued kykeon.
725
00:35:52,609 --> 00:35:55,192
(speaks Greek)
726
00:36:05,110 --> 00:36:07,290
- [Narrator] But under
the influence of kykeon,
727
00:36:07,290 --> 00:36:08,910
did the Greeks close their eyes
728
00:36:08,910 --> 00:36:10,710
and see their gods?
729
00:36:10,710 --> 00:36:12,840
In the darkness of the sanctuary,
730
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:14,353
did they see anything at all?
731
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,790
This stone depicts the experience
732
00:36:17,790 --> 00:36:19,410
of a blind initiate.
733
00:36:19,410 --> 00:36:21,100
The light that filled his mind
734
00:36:21,100 --> 00:36:23,003
during the Eleusinian mysteries.
735
00:36:23,910 --> 00:36:25,980
The Greek philosophers and mathematicians
736
00:36:25,980 --> 00:36:28,638
make breakthroughs simply
because they were smart
737
00:36:28,638 --> 00:36:31,200
or did they learn to think outside the box
738
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:33,613
with the help of the Eleusinian mysteries?
739
00:36:35,009 --> 00:36:36,930
A state sanctioned,
740
00:36:36,930 --> 00:36:38,773
mind-blowing experience.
741
00:36:41,270 --> 00:36:44,623
Up next, the secrets of
ancient high technology.
742
00:36:52,220 --> 00:36:54,300
Our final museum secret begins
743
00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:57,990
not with a historic conqueror
or a legendary king,
744
00:36:57,990 --> 00:37:00,420
but with a deep sea dive in 1901
745
00:37:01,410 --> 00:37:03,070
near the island of Antikythera
746
00:37:03,070 --> 00:37:04,373
in the Aegean Sea.
747
00:37:05,590 --> 00:37:07,170
- One of them dived down,
748
00:37:07,170 --> 00:37:08,660
probably to look for sponges, and came up
749
00:37:08,660 --> 00:37:10,810
in a few minutes, absolutely terrified,
750
00:37:10,810 --> 00:37:12,880
the story goes, gabbling, they had seen
751
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,493
a huge pile of dead naked
women on the sea bed.
752
00:37:19,900 --> 00:37:22,120
So the captain of the
boat goes down himself
753
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,960
and realizes that these
aren't naked women,
754
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:26,303
it's a pile of statutes.
755
00:37:28,750 --> 00:37:31,340
- [Narrator] They can be
seen in the museum today.
756
00:37:31,340 --> 00:37:34,000
Bronzes of men and
women and marble deities
757
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:35,363
corroded by the sea.
758
00:37:39,090 --> 00:37:41,830
Researchers believe the
statues were on a cargo ship
759
00:37:41,830 --> 00:37:44,570
that sank in the first century B.C.
760
00:37:44,570 --> 00:37:47,720
Tribute to a Roman Emperor
from his vassal states
761
00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:49,593
which then included Greece.
762
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,340
Along with the exquisite statuary,
763
00:37:53,340 --> 00:37:55,373
the divers recovered this.
764
00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:02,830
Its corrosion clings tight,
765
00:38:02,830 --> 00:38:05,143
obscuring form and purpose.
766
00:38:06,710 --> 00:38:09,073
The secret is, what is it?
767
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,290
- It's been under the sea for 2,000 years
768
00:38:13,290 --> 00:38:14,990
and it shows.
769
00:38:14,990 --> 00:38:16,910
It's corroded, you've got all of these
770
00:38:16,910 --> 00:38:18,210
sort of layers of limestone
771
00:38:18,210 --> 00:38:19,513
that have built up on it.
772
00:38:20,690 --> 00:38:22,780
Inside, it's like the inside
773
00:38:22,780 --> 00:38:24,283
of a clock or a watch.
774
00:38:25,420 --> 00:38:27,850
You see these very modern
looking gear wheels
775
00:38:27,850 --> 00:38:29,150
with their pointed teeth.
776
00:38:29,150 --> 00:38:31,620
You can see tiny letters of ancient Greek
777
00:38:31,620 --> 00:38:32,520
inscribed on it.
778
00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:35,950
Sort of cramps, lines
of lettering, pointers.
779
00:38:35,950 --> 00:38:37,690
Things that should not have been
780
00:38:37,690 --> 00:38:39,913
on something from ancient Greece.
781
00:38:42,020 --> 00:38:43,510
- [Narrator] Many historians believe
782
00:38:43,510 --> 00:38:46,230
the Greeks lacked the machines to make it.
783
00:38:46,230 --> 00:38:47,680
Some people thought its origins
784
00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:49,810
must be extraterrestrial.
785
00:38:49,810 --> 00:38:51,570
The enigmatic artifact was named
786
00:38:51,570 --> 00:38:53,123
the Antikythera mechanism.
787
00:38:57,860 --> 00:38:59,590
One man took practical steps
788
00:38:59,590 --> 00:39:02,853
to find out what it was and how it worked.
789
00:39:04,020 --> 00:39:05,450
Michael Wright was a curator
790
00:39:05,450 --> 00:39:07,780
of the Science Museum in London.
791
00:39:07,780 --> 00:39:09,750
To better understand the mechanism
792
00:39:09,750 --> 00:39:12,013
he decided to build an exact model.
793
00:39:12,850 --> 00:39:14,320
The work would consume him
794
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:16,153
for the next 40 years.
795
00:39:17,220 --> 00:39:20,433
In 1987, he was allowed
to X-ray the original.
796
00:39:21,500 --> 00:39:23,710
He captured images of discrete slices
797
00:39:23,710 --> 00:39:26,483
that revealed details never seen before.
798
00:39:27,810 --> 00:39:29,440
- It's very small to contain
799
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:30,880
as much detail as it does
800
00:39:32,570 --> 00:39:34,090
and the more you look at it
801
00:39:34,090 --> 00:39:36,410
the more detail you see in it.
802
00:39:36,410 --> 00:39:38,600
You can even see the maker's
803
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,960
setting out marks in places.
804
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:42,350
It's almost as though you can see
805
00:39:42,350 --> 00:39:43,500
his fingerprints on it.
806
00:39:44,598 --> 00:39:46,310
There is relatively little difference
807
00:39:46,310 --> 00:39:48,060
between the hand tools of the present day
808
00:39:48,060 --> 00:39:49,900
and the hand tools that survived
809
00:39:49,900 --> 00:39:51,663
from Hellenistic times.
810
00:39:53,940 --> 00:39:55,970
The part that everybody wonders about
811
00:39:55,970 --> 00:39:57,593
is the cutting of gear teeth.
812
00:39:59,370 --> 00:40:01,370
People seem to imagine
that making a gear wheel
813
00:40:01,370 --> 00:40:03,900
must involve some sort of clever machinery
814
00:40:03,900 --> 00:40:05,200
but it's not true.
815
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,263
I just use a file to cut the teeth.
816
00:40:08,190 --> 00:40:09,870
The gear wheels produced that way
817
00:40:09,870 --> 00:40:12,970
are perceptively less
even than gear wheels
818
00:40:12,970 --> 00:40:14,920
cut by machine but they're good enough.
819
00:40:17,590 --> 00:40:18,630
- [Narrator] Wright duplicated
820
00:40:18,630 --> 00:40:21,360
every surviving cog and gear,
821
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,180
then used them to extrapolate
822
00:40:23,180 --> 00:40:24,393
the missing parts.
823
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:27,400
After years of effort,
824
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,883
he created a complete working replica.
825
00:40:30,890 --> 00:40:33,550
- We know the form of
the dial plate itself
826
00:40:33,550 --> 00:40:36,433
because we've got this
quarter of it roughly,
827
00:40:37,270 --> 00:40:42,090
with an inner ring marked into 360 degrees
828
00:40:42,090 --> 00:40:43,053
for the zodiac.
829
00:40:46,050 --> 00:40:48,803
You see how the phase of the moon changes.
830
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,760
I say this instrument was, uh,
831
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:54,510
essentially a portable planetarium.
832
00:40:56,330 --> 00:40:57,670
- Well, the heavens would have been
833
00:40:57,670 --> 00:40:59,880
incredibly important to anybody
834
00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:02,010
living in ancient times.
835
00:41:02,010 --> 00:41:03,823
We look at clockwork and think,
836
00:41:04,930 --> 00:41:06,750
you know, we can make clocks or we can,
837
00:41:06,750 --> 00:41:09,050
um, we can make steam engines,
838
00:41:09,050 --> 00:41:10,910
we can build things to do work.
839
00:41:10,910 --> 00:41:12,910
That's the way we think about technology.
840
00:41:12,910 --> 00:41:14,490
But for the Greeks it was much more
841
00:41:14,490 --> 00:41:16,120
about knowledge, about wonder,
842
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,023
about getting closer to the gods.
843
00:41:20,790 --> 00:41:22,880
- [Narrator] Watching the
sky night after night,
844
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:24,380
the Greeks noticed that the planets
845
00:41:24,380 --> 00:41:26,000
sometimes slowed down
846
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,673
and even moved backwards.
847
00:41:29,270 --> 00:41:31,610
With their Earth centered
view of the universe,
848
00:41:31,610 --> 00:41:33,120
the explained these motions
849
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:35,493
as circles within circles.
850
00:41:37,860 --> 00:41:40,000
- That's got pointers
for the five planets,
851
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:41,490
Mercury, Venus, Mars,
852
00:41:41,490 --> 00:41:43,490
Jupiter and Saturn as well.
853
00:41:43,490 --> 00:41:45,960
When the sun comes opposite the planet,
854
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:47,667
in this case Mars,
855
00:41:47,667 --> 00:41:50,710
the planet should go retrograde.
856
00:41:50,710 --> 00:41:53,580
Mars is going forward still at the moment.
857
00:41:53,580 --> 00:41:55,180
The sun comes around, Mars has stopped.
858
00:41:55,180 --> 00:41:56,670
That's what we call first station.
859
00:41:56,670 --> 00:41:59,223
And then it goes backwards,
retrograde motion.
860
00:42:00,510 --> 00:42:02,530
- [Narrator] The mechanism's
interlocking cogs
861
00:42:02,530 --> 00:42:04,180
predict the motions of the planets
862
00:42:04,180 --> 00:42:06,760
with near perfect accuracy
863
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:09,363
and its predictive power
doesn't stop there.
864
00:42:11,130 --> 00:42:12,920
On the back plate of the mechanism,
865
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,480
a double spiral provides
accurate predictions
866
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:17,523
of the eclipses of sun and moon.
867
00:42:20,460 --> 00:42:22,920
An ancient mechanism pulled from the deep
868
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,923
reveals the depth of the
early Greek technology.
869
00:42:27,620 --> 00:42:30,040
- It does make a difference
to our perception
870
00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:33,370
of the civilization of that time
871
00:42:33,370 --> 00:42:35,260
and I'm very happy that we
872
00:42:35,260 --> 00:42:36,703
have that better insight.
873
00:42:38,490 --> 00:42:40,250
- [Narrator] Even though
the Greeks did not discover
874
00:42:40,250 --> 00:42:42,400
the true map of the solar system,
875
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:43,890
their Antikythera mechanism
876
00:42:43,890 --> 00:42:46,223
makes accurate predictions anyway.
877
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:49,760
Surely, this is a testament
878
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:52,240
to a brilliant civilization.
879
00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:54,340
Even when they had it wrong,
880
00:42:54,340 --> 00:42:55,413
they got it right.
881
00:42:59,960 --> 00:43:01,340
- I think what the Antikythera mechanism
882
00:43:01,340 --> 00:43:04,020
tells us is, how much we don't know
883
00:43:04,020 --> 00:43:06,620
about the ancient world and
it just makes you wonder
884
00:43:06,620 --> 00:43:08,820
what else is there, you know, what else
885
00:43:08,820 --> 00:43:09,970
is languishing in the shipwreck
886
00:43:09,970 --> 00:43:11,220
at the bottom of the sea.
887
00:43:13,020 --> 00:43:15,260
- [Narrator] For every mystery we reveal,
888
00:43:15,260 --> 00:43:18,040
far more must remain unspoken.
889
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,260
Secrets of the human spirit
890
00:43:20,260 --> 00:43:21,523
and of the human heart,
891
00:43:22,620 --> 00:43:24,470
hidden in plain sight
892
00:43:24,470 --> 00:43:27,913
at the National Archeological
Museum of Athens.
65351
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