All language subtitles for Bettany Hughes - Treasures of the World season 2 complete serie 2021

I'm traveling the world exploring secrets
and wonders. This is really tight. So,

I asked my friends here if they could uh get
me access and I 100% definitely got what I

asked. An adventure by land and sea to the most
fascinating places. It is just extraordinary where

I've been given special access to significant and
surprising treasures. Some of the most remarkable

artworks to survive from antiquity buried
in ancient sites, extraordinary buildings,

and glorious works of art. I'm in search of the
treasures that help to explain the story of us.

Journey with me to discover how the past shapes
our lives. I'm making my way through one of

the most epic landscapes on Earth, the Arabian
Desert. Although when you say the word desert,

you imagine a kind of desolate emptiness. This
northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula has been a

vital crossroads for east and west for millennia.
It's only recently that a lot of the hidden

treasures around me, natural and cultural, are
being explored and understood. I'm here to uncover

the history of ancient Arabia from 6,000 B.CE.
to the 3rd century CE in northwest Saudi Arabia

and Jordan, enjoying privileged access to one of
the most spectacular wonders of the world, Petra.

It's a rare opportunity to make
new discoveries and to uncover

some of the missing links in history's big
story. Welcome to the treasures of Arabia.

[Music] The northwestern Arabian
Peninsula. From prehistory to antiquity,

a hub of great civilizations, only now being
systematically investigated and interpreted,

stretching across different territories at
different times. Ancient Arabia spanned a

vast area, including what's now modern-day Saudi
Arabia and southern Jordan. My first treasure

is the staggering art of this extraordinary
place, the Hisma Plateau. [Music] This remote

region in the northwest of Saudi Arabia is
rarely visited. Recently, it's opened up

to researchers. But through the millennia, both
travelers and locals have made their mark here,

leaving remarkable clues in the form of a rather
unique message board. These are messages that

chart thousands of years of the human experience.
So, right at the end there, you've got an early

Islamic prayer right from the very beginning
of Islam. So, that's around 1,400 years old.

This kind of big, loopy, very confident writing
was set down by the Nabotian civilizations and

the Nabotans were in charge at around the time
of the Romans. Um, that odd you see this sort of

strange script here that goes up and down. That's
something called Tamudik, which is from the fifth

century B.C.E., so it's 2,500 years old. And
then all down here, you've got prehistoric rock

art. So, there are two men who are dancing or they
might be fighting. Uh, there's somebody who looks

like he's going on a hunt with a bow and arrow.
There are ibecks that are being hunted and man's

best friends. Dogs are all around. So, this is
a map of time, but it's also a treasure map that

leads us to the wealth on rock faces like this
and in the valleys of this incredible plateau.

The rock art here takes us right back to the
beginnings of ancient Arabia before time as

we know it. It's a kind of ancient pin board,
a way of communicating messages to passers by.

And there are thousands of engravings.

animals, idols, hunting scenes, travelers
tales, all painting a picture of life from

the Stone Age right up to the Middle Ages.
This art is always telling us something. Um,

whether it's a fact or a hope or a fear
or a belief, the people who made it. Um,

now this example is between six and 8,000 years
old. So, we don't know exactly what those two

figures are. We don't know whether they're
humans or spirits or the beginnings of the idea

of some sort of gods, but it's definitely about
people's relationship with the natural world.

The carvings were left by nomads and settlers. So,
how did people make a life for themselves in such

a barren terrain? The stone age images of cattle
like this are a vital clue that the landscape

around here was once completely different. Um,
now cows need a lot of greenery to survive. And

images like this combined with really recent
analysis of fossils and mineral deposits tell

us that Arabia used to be much much greener. Um,
there would have been thousands of rivers here and

over 10,000 lakes. So the whole landscape would
have been much greener, more verdant, more like a

a kind of paradise. Um it was only around 5,000 or
so years ago that the conditions became much drier

and the landscape turned into the desert that it
is today. All explaining why this became a perfect

place for some early inhabitants of the Arabian
Peninsula to settle down and become farmers. And

there are other tantalizing clues to the lives of
these stone age settlers. When I've been walking

through this landscape, I keep on seeing these um
really quite strange massive stone circles on the

mountain side, which I think must be something
to do with ritual. But um I managed to find an

expert, Abdul Aziz. He's going to decode them for
me. Salam. Hello. How lovely to meet you. Nice to

meet you. Thank you so much. What an extraordinary
place this is. It's one of the biggest stone

structures in Nom. You can see this one contains
two. One above the hill and one below. Yes. One

out of the circle, one inside the circle. I'm
not sure if there's a meaning, but it's very

interesting. Yeah. Well, I mean, you're certainly
it's such a prominent position this, isn't it? So,

you're clearly publicizing, you know, status with
with something this size for real. So, what are

we standing in? What is this? This is actually
one of the biggest burial here in Hisma Plateau.

So a burial for one person or for a family. It's
burial for more than one person actually is round

burial and each stone heavy like around from 5 to
10 kilogram and in 1 meter you might find from 50

to 70. So we can imagine how many tons it needs
to do this structure and how many time as well.

So do you think because the the circles seem to be
different sizes. So is it somebody of of massive

status? He's got a massive circle. We believe
that the the bigger the circles, the bigger the

position of the family or the person who was
in the in this um burial. But uh but again,

a lot of mysteries there and we need to do a
lot of excavation to understand more. This is

a really big circle, but it looks like to me like
there are others in the landscape actually. Yes.

in each hill in the in the road. I mean, you
can find those big structures. And actually,

we were amazed when we were young. I mean, we
came here like doing picnics and stuff, but we

do not understand what's this. Now, it's time to
understand what's the value of those structure.

As this land became more like a desert, farming
slowly gave way to trade and ancient trading roads

here with the establishment of Islam became
pilgrimage routes for many making the Hajj to

Mecca. The faithful etching messages and prayers
on the rocks as they passed. This is a really

interesting example. So you've got somebody
who's come here and has inscribed his name,

but he's done it on top of older rock
art left by locals who are very proud

of the fact that they have 10 camels here.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,

eight, nine, 10 up at the top with two little
dogs. Um, and this guy who would have been on

the Hajj on his way to Mecca, we know his
name. He was called Musa, son of Salam. And

he's obviously so delighted to be here. He's
written his name again and again and again.

Now, the people who witnessed all this
across the centuries are the Bedwin. And

I've had an invitation to meet the modern-day
descendants of those eyewitnesses of history.

[Music]

[Music]

The Bedwin tribes of northwest Saudi Arabia
maintain customs dating back thousands of

years. So there's this really ancient tradition of
hospitality here with the Bedwin and they heard I

was in the region and Abdul Aziz has told me that
they've invited me for um coffee and tea. I think

bedwin literally means desert dweller. Evidence
for desert nomads in the region starts 8,000

years ago. And Bedwins have both fought into
offered traders and pilgrims hospitality right

back to the time when travelers were
creating some of that early rock art.

So this is uh dates and with the olive. Is it
like a goat cheese or something? Goat cheese.

Yes, with goat cheese. So this is the way they
provide it in hospitality. Thank you. Thank you.

Those are delicious. Those are really
fresh. Fantastic. Grounded. Abdul Aziz

alsi is my guide and translator. Why
is it such a tradition? Is it because

this is a place in the world where
lots of different people have been

traveling for many centuries? Is is that why
hospitality is so important to the bedwin?

I would love to shak

songs and poetry are exchanged at family
gatherings like this. Like the rock art,

they've long been a way for the Bedwin
to communicate stories and information.

dances too pass on tales of the Bedwin's history.

The women's quarter is called the harim.

Okay. Yeah. So, you're giving me the recipe,
aren't you? Cuz I understand the word moya

is water. So, water and flour and you mix
it together. This is very traditional for

women to be making bread. but also um the Bedwin
women are often traced. So you'll often see them

uh outside on the mountains taking the goats
and the sheep outside uh for the whole day. Oh,

look at these. They're so beautiful.
Hello. Hello. Hello, little worm.

It's a treat to meet Bedwin women
in their own home. Thank you for

Thank you. It's such a beautiful tent. This

six months. It's beautiful.

And I have to say, I love your eyeliner.

It's beautiful though because
it's very Is it the Malachi?

Perfect. If I come back, will you
show me how to how to do it? [Music]

Veterans say they give their last grain of rice
and morsel of meat in hospitality. Lambs on the

menu in my honor. I'm vegetarian,
so I hope I don't cause offense.

A thank you. This is Thank you.

It's so sweet. So, they've
got that. I'm vegetarian. So,

they've brought this special basket of bread
that hasn't been touched by the meat and more

dates and goats butter to put on. That
is so fantastic. Thank you, Shakran. I

suspect I might be the first veggie ever to eat
in this particular tournament. Looks delicious.

So, this is serious lunchtime. And they've
noticed that the guys who've helped drive us

on our kit here were outside. So, the
hospitality has been extended to the

um entire crew over there as well.
The lambs served with broth and rice.

There's this really um beautiful fact about
ideas that if they are kept to yourself,

they're sterile and die. But if you share them,
they have wings. And people think that right in

the very very beginning of human society when you
had enough people sitting around sharing a meal,

sharing thoughts, that's when the modern
mind developed. That's basically when we

became us. So in some ways this kind of
thing of welcoming strangers across your

threshold is how we should all understand
the real beginning of the human story.

And it's some of these fundamental drivers of
humanity that could be traced on the fabulous

rock art around here. This is ancient rock art
obviously of a lion and it's a barbar lion which

is now extinct. Underneath it are ostriches,
also extinct. So, it's sad because it tells us

of the animals that were once here. But just
look at this. Here is a lovely 4x4 put on by

the Bedwin of today. So, it's a tradition that
carries on on the Hisma Plateau. [Music] These

are a window into the secrets of the early
inhabitants of and visitors to Arabia.

I just love the rock art of the Hisma Plateau
because it's the incarnation of our desire to

share experiences and information both with the
people around us and for the future so that we

can learn from others ideas. It really
is the start of culture as we know it.

But clues to the rich history of this region
aren't just on land. They're under the water.

One of the most spectacular natural wonders of
the Arabian Peninsula has to be the Red Sea.

It's an artery that connects the Indian Ocean
and the Mediterranean and the Pacific. So,

it's a body of water that holds history
right around its coast and even under

those waves. The Red Sea was a vital
trading route for Arabian merchants,

ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans whose
ships went as far as India and East Africa.

So you had Greeks and Romans and Nabotans and
Persians and early Arabs and then the whole

Islamic world would congregate in this place to
kind of trade and exchange goods and ideas. So

it's not just it's not just somewhere that is a a
hub of culture, it's a cauldron of civilization.

New excavations on the northern coast of Saudi
Arabia are revealing relics of this golden age

of trade. I'm walking across a dried out riverbed
here. And the excavations have only just begun,

but already what they're revealing is quite
remarkable because what you've got up here

is one of the busiest and most important
trading hubs in the ancient medieval world.

Some archaeologists are certain this was a hub
of an ancient Arabian culture, the Nabotans,

the once thriving port town of Luc K. Ports on
the Red Sea here are marked on some medieval

world maps as being the most important places on
Earth. Ancient sources write about this place and

the descriptions match perfectly. Um, so what
you've got up there on the top of that hill

are mansions that belong to wealthy merchants
and watchtowers. And then down here you've got

workshops and shops and warehouses storing all
kinds of things. We know that cotton and teak was

traded across the Red Sea from India, silk from
China, and from here camel caravans carried goods

on a 9-day journey to the great city of Petra
and beyond. They're finding lots of pottery here,

as you'd expect, but also bronze and glass
ornaments and even remnants of incense.

This port is pretty much the last safe harbor
before sailing conditions on the Red Sea become

unpredictable and treacherous. This is a bit of
the Red Sea where the sea gets quite difficult to

navigate. So people who would have come here
would have pulled into these natural harbors

um and then carried on trading by land, you
know. So, so if the boats made it up this far,

they were pretty good captains and pretty
good sailors. But what about those ships

that never arrived with their precious cargo?
To explore the lost treasures of the Red Sea,

I'm joining marine conservation scientist
Amir Aea and underwater cameraman Sha Reggeri.

I'm right up on the north um side of the Red
Sea and it's the this bit of the coastline.

It's been very very rare to get access to it.
Uh even though it's got so rich in history. So,

uh, it's a it's a kind of first time for me,
but it's a first time for a lot of people to to

get the chance to be here. Amazing. It's amazing.
Okay. So, why the Red Sea? Well, possibly thanks

to seasonal blooms of orange red algae or an
ancient mapping system or because of those amazing

red sands and mountains in land. It's certainly
a place packed with stories. I've heard about

these mysterious dongs, but we think that's
probably where the mermaid myth derived from

because they're kind of humanized. That's right.
And the ones that you see are very unique and of

course they're highly vulnerable to to extinction.
Someone's described this place for me as being one

of the seven wonders of the underwater world. Did
you know does it can it claim that title? Yeah,

absolutely. The Red Sea and the coral reefs
are some of the most biodiverse in the world.

And because the Red Sea closed at one point,
the species in the Red Sea became trapped and

then they started differentiating and becoming
different species only found in the Red Sea.

The corals in the Red Sea might be some of
the most resilient corals in the world. So

this part could be one of the few places
that actually survive the climate change

crisis. And if that happens, it'll be very
important for these species to keep surgant

because then they can propagate um outside
the Red Sea when the time comes. That is

remarkable because I know that some of the
coral here itself is 7,000 years old. So

the coral has witnessed history. It's seen
these passage of humans. So how amazing if

the coral here can both be a witness to the
past and potentially a witness to the future.

Amir is taking me to waters by a 16th century fort
built in the reign of Sullean the Magnificent when

the Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled here. They might
yield some interesting underwater treasures. And

may why have we chosen this spot particularly?
The area that we're really interested in is the

area in front of the castle. That's like the
lagoon and that's where most of the folks would

have mored and either dropped things or you know
broken pottery talked over and so the majority of

the artifacts we think are in this area. Great.
So will you come up if you find something? I'll

just be above you. Absolutely. I'll scream at
the top of my voice. I'll be there. [Music]

This is a real opportunity because people haven't
been allowed to dive and film here before. It's

only recently that this part of the Red Sea is
opening up for archaeological excavation. [Music]

So, the guys have been down here for about
oh about an hour and they've just found a

uh selection of stuff. So, it's definitely
historic. There's definitely pottery. It

looks like there's something maybe like a little
pipe or something. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. So,

have a look at this. It's a piece of uh
broken potri. Obviously, it's a good size,

isn't it? Hello. Excuse me. Look at this. That
is a serious bit of vampire. That's definitely

That won't be for liquid. This will be for like
flour maybe. Yeah, exactly. Chickens or something.

Have a look at this. This is the pattern. I
think that you see the pattern here. Yeah,

that's quite important to to tell what era it's
from. Yeah, we found this also remarkably like a

maybe a pipe or maybe a oil lantern, right?
Oh, that is very cool. This whole place is

just full of this stuff. You leave things
where you find them basically, don't you?

Hi. Shalom. He actually's got a stingray. My god,

it's huge. You going to
let it go? Okay, good luck.

Diving here is a journey through time. And these
pottery fragments are a tiny fraction of what's

been lost on the Red Sea's bed. Amir and his
team are painstakingly piecing together the

stories behind their finds. Have a look at this.
As you can see, just littered with armpos. I mean,

so just absolutely covered. Look at that. Oh,
that's a huge one. huge. And from the patterns,

we think that they are from the Roman era. And
um we think that there's a shipwreck in that

area. You can just see the outline of what looks
like a shipwreck. Yes. I mean, that's going to be

2,000 years old. Whatever it is that there's
a massive story to tell there. Absolutely.

The Red Sea is a treasure because it's inspired
so many myths and legends. It's rich with natural

beauty and it's somewhere where you can tell the
story of the world from the bottom of the sea.

Next, I explore one of the most mysterious
civilizations of the ancient world. [Music]

A long lost culture, the Nabotans thrived
in ancient Arabia, an area that spanned

what's now Saudi Arabia and southern Jordan.
The Nabotans were an enigmatic people who

started off life as goat and sheep herders
and ended up controlling a vast kingdom.

At their height between the 4th
century B.CE and the 2nd century CE,

they ruled northern Arabia and the southern
Levant with their capital Petra in what's

now Jordan. This is a treasure that
isn't on the hills. It's within them.

It's a city of the dead. [Music] Monumental
in size, these tombs showcase the Navatian

people's extraordinary ability to transform
rocky landscapes into architectural marvels.

Just in this one valley alone, you've got 16
tombs. So, the whole of Nabotian society is

here. Uh the humble ones are over there. This is
where the kind of middle class, middle ranking

people would be buried. And then, as you might
expect, the posh ones are right at the top.

Tombs were considered the dead's eternal home.
Often at the entrance and edges of Nabotian

settlements, they signified that the dead
maintained their presence amongst the living.

Okay. So, the first thing to say is that obviously
this is not a burial place for a single person.

And it's more like a kind of family vault. And
we often find so many bones in places like this

that we think that one generation after another
were probably piled up on top of each other.

There's been one recent discovery very close to
here um of a body wrapped in strips of linen and

leather and decorated just with a garland
of dates around the body's neck. [Music]

The Nabotans are a mysterious culture partly
because they never really wrote about themselves.

So we had to rely on the accounts of others of
Greeks and Romans for instance. Um so we had

to jigsaw puzzle together their story and tombs
like this are brilliant bits of evidence. [Music]

Mourers would regularly visit the deceased
to celebrate them and leave gifts to take

to the afterlife. How people choose to bury
their dead tells you a lot about them. Um,

and for the Nabotans, all of this was definitely
a family affair. And one of the reasons we

know this is because there are these lovely
benches that they put outside the tombs. So,

you could just come and sit here and
kind of commune with your loved ones.

Architectural details carved onto the rock are a
clue to the multicultural world of the Nabotans.

Now, this is really interesting. So, I am right in
the middle of the Arabian deserts. Uh, but have a

look at these three shapes. So, they're called
triglyphs, and you'd normally find them hanging

underneath the pediments of a Greek temple. And
how about this decoration? I mean, hello. This is

a perfect Greco Roman column. And things like this
just tell us that the Nabotans were were really

deeply involved in cultures and civilizations
that used to pass through this peninsula.

The Nabotans worship deities associated
with the earth, light and darkness. One

of the things you might expect to see here are
images of gods and goddesses. But the thing is,

the Nabotans worshiped their deities in
abstract form with things like faceless

square blocks of stone. And one of their
premier gods was Duch, the god of the sun,

who looked after daytime and was also the
god who protected the dead in their tombs.

The Nabotans didn't just create sophisticated
tombs for the dead. They built towns that rivaled

contemporary Greek and Roman cities, minted their
own coins, developed a written script that would

form the basis of Arabic, and boasted a strong
military. All thanks to their lucrative camel

caravan trade in spice, incense, and other
luxuries. I know if you're in the desert,

you expect to see camels, but there's a very
particular reason why these ones are here.

Not just for hundreds of years, but for millennia,
this has been where camel caravans have brought

gems and luxury spices and goods from what's now
Yemen and Oman and even as far a field as India

through Arabia and out to the Mediterranean and
they're still crossing the deserts today. [Music]

The Nabotans not only traded goods, but
also levied taxes on other merchants who

passed through their lands, ensuring
their coffers were well stocked.

Some of the most precious cargo of these camel
caravans was frankincense and myrrh, which would

take about 54 days to get from southern Arabia
in what's now Yemen right up to the northern

Egyptian coast to Alexandria. This was used in all
kinds of ways. It was used in religious ritual. It

was used in funerals. Incense has medicinal
qualities as well. You can rub it on wounds.

And it became worth its weight in gold. And as a
result of that, the men who transported it became

fabulously wealthy, too. [Music] The camel was
the backbone of the Nabotian merchant enterprise.

I'm being pointed out which of the um
plants and which smell that you can

eat and which smell good. This is
really good. This one again. Okay.

Oh, it's fantastic. That is beautiful.

I don't know what you can. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is
it? Okay. Maybe later we can eat some. Great.

Oh, it's really lovely. That smells like um taggon
or something. Fantastic. We'll have this later.

I'm told these herbs are great for coughs and
bad chests. In Arabic poetry, camels are called

the ships of the desert, but the bed call them
gifts of God. And you can see why because they

give everything. They give milk. They use their
skins as water containers. They make their tents

out of their wool and you know, of course, they
can transport huge amounts of equipment across the

desert over great distances. I got to say, they
do keep on offering to give me a lift and go up

on one, but you know, I sort of feel I don't need
to add to the burden of of any of these particular

camels. And it's very calming. It's really lovely
just walking at this pace and traveling with them.

camels carried some of the most coveted treasures
in the world. There's a brilliant story about

Alexander the Great. So Alexander the Great
when he was an impetuous young teenager uh

was throwing frankincense onto an altar
to worship the gods. And his tutor said,

"When you Oh, thank you, Shakran. Shakran.
When you own the land that produces incense,

then you can be so liberal." Alexander
remembered this and went on to conquer Gaza,

which had one of the main harbors that imported
frankincense. And he sent back 500 talents,

that's about 14 tons of frankincense, to his old
tutor and said, "Now, sprinkle this liberally on

the altars. You and I can afford it." [Music] The
Navatian civilization flourished also because of

its mastery of the desert. The Nabatans worked
out sophisticated ways of storing water supplies

in secret underground systems. They even invented
a kind of waterproof cement which meant that in

a harsh environment like this, they could
have control over life and death. [Music]

And just as their expertise with camel caravans
catalyzed the incense trade, the Navatans were

able to monetize their knowledge of water.
The Navatans didn't just develop engineering

to store water. They sold it. So this is
the Magna Oasis and it stretches down to

the Red Sea. I'm standing in Asia and Africa and
Egypt are just 15 miles or so across the water.

And we know that for centuries sailors would
dock here to refresh their water supplies and

the Nabotans charged them for it. And and what is
really cool is just over there they've discovered

a Nabotian fort was set up to protect all that
customs and all that water wealth. [Music]

It's this ingenuity and ability to adapt that

helped the Nabotans become a real
player of ancient civilization.

The Nabotian people are a treasure and a wonder
for me because they start out in life as itinerant

goat herders and they seize the opportunity
of the incense trade to become the wheeler

dealer entrepreneurs of this region. And isn't it
brilliant that something as sort of useless but

also beautiful as incense, something that makes
the experience of our lives richer and better and

lovelier, also generated an entire civilization
that still has its descendants here today.

Next, the Nabotian's crowning achievement, a
spectacular city carved into the landscape itself.

[Music]

The Napotans became so successful they built my
next treasure. It's one of the most spectacular

and enigmatic wonders of antiquity,
the beautiful rock cut city of Petra.

From the 4th century B.CE, Petra was a trading
center for the ancient Nabotian civilization,

flourishing until the 3rd century CE.
Archaeologists have been unearthing

wonders here for over a 100red years,
and the site still yields treasure.

Petra was built in the north of
ancient Arabia, what's now Jordan.

It's always exciting visiting the sites
of antiquity. But this is just beyond,

isn't it? Uh this is a natural geological
faults known as the seek. And this was

the ancient entrance to the hidden city.
[Music] This canyon would once have been

teeming with camel caravans and merchants
bringing cloth from Syria, spice from India,

frankincense and myrr from southern Arabia.
This was a a practical entrance point to the

city and it was very ceremonial, but it also
had a kind of spiritual aspect. So all along

here you'll see these niches that held images of
the Nabotian gods. So this was actually a sacred

way. [Music] Whether in its heyday or for the
modern visitor, the reveal at the end of this

winding pass has never failed to impress. This is
the most famous building in the whole of Petra,

and it is impossible not to marvel at it. The
treasury [Music] engineering skills that defy

belief enabled the Nabotans to build into
the rock and to carve jaw-dropping detail.

This is unbelievably exciting. So, I've
just had a call that I'm allowed access

into the treasury itself. Um, this is really
rare, I've got to say. And although I've

been here lots of times before, never been
allowed in. So you got to forgive me because

um my heart's actually beating quite fast
to get this opportunity. Oh my goodness.

That's so beautiful. That's amazing. Just listen.
Can you hear the echo in here? That is super cool.

Named the Treasury because it was believed
to hide gold and jewels. This is in fact a

moraleum. And then another unexpected delight.
I'm on the verge of being granted a rare glimpse

underground. What we're doing is just checking
to see whether we can open up the grill to have

a look at the tombs that were discovered
under here. I think he's going to open it.

It's happening. What's happening? These burials
were only discovered in 2003 and are hardly ever

opened. This is just incredible. I never ever
thought in my life I would get this close. So

these are the burials of the the great kings and
queens, the most powerful women and men here at

Petra. And when the bodies were discovered, so
there were 11 bodies in here, the frankincense

that had been burnt on the altar to help their
their journey into the world of death was still

there. Dr. Thank you for letting me in. This
is unbelievable. This is just so beautiful.

The angles of the carving here seem planned
to catch the sun's moving rays in a kind of

natural light show. I've made it up here to
give you a napan eye view of the treasury and

it is just extraordinary, isn't it? I mean, these
engineers are making that just with pickaxes and

chisels and we know they started at the top and
worked their way down. It's not completely clear

what method they used. I mean it might have been
ropes with a kind of pulley system or scaffolding

or ledges. Uh but whatever their method,
they only had one chance to get that right.

By the first century CE, a whole rock cut city
of tombs, theaters, temples, council chambers,

homes was chiseled out of the sandstone. The
fame of the Nabotans and their bustling wealthy

metropolis reached as far as China. The Nabotans
clearly delighted in their internationalism.

The architecture here is a living example
that when you trade across borders um you

get a really healthy cross fertilization of
cultures and influences. So over there you've

got something which is brilliantly Arabian. It's a
Nabotian capital. These are much more Hellenistic,

so they show Greek influence. And then next
door you have the ideal Assyrian stairway to

heaven. So this city is cosmopolitan in the true
sense of the word. It's a city of the world.

But perhaps the Nabotian's greatest
achievement was furnishing the city

with an incredibly sophisticated water supply.

The Napian's super smart control of water has its
ultimate expression here at Petra. So they channel

in drinking water from a spring that's over four
miles away. Uh there are systems in all of those

hills. And we think that almost every home had
its own water tank. But it wasn't just practical.

There were also ornamental gardens here. and
where I'm walking now, although I I know it's

pretty hard to believe, but uh this was once a
kind of sacred pool. And so really what they're

doing is creating a a a fever dream version of
those desert oases right in the heart of the city.

By the way, we shouldn't really be calling
this place Petra at all. Um Petra is the name

the Greeks gave it, and it's an ancient Greek
word that means rock or stone. The nebatans

themselves called this Rakmu. [Music] And we
should never forget the lifeblood of this place

were the people who called Rakmu home. Real
people with real hopes, beliefs, and fears.

Now, it can be so easy to be dazzled by
all this beauty and amazing architecture

and forget that this place wasn't actually
built as one of the wonders of the world. Um,

this was people's home. And at its height,
there were around 30,000 women and men who

lived here. You'd have found a lot of them right
here because this was Petra's ancient high street.

Papyrus scrolls. Some only recently discovered
document legal cases often heard in this very

courtroom. A fantastic window onto everyday
life. There are some really tragic records.

There's this particular one that involves a
woman called Babatha. And Babatha's husband

dies unexpectedly and her child is taken into
care. And Babatha petitions desperately to

get him back. That doesn't work. work.
The child is looked after by guardians,

but Babatha will not give up. And now she
says, "At least give him enough money so

that he can live a good life." And we have
30 years worth of Babatha's records. So it

is an extraordinary insight into the life of a
woman. And these records just tell us that day

in day out here there were hundreds of human
dramas being played out. [Music] The Nabotans

were eventually subjugated by the Romans.
And with the rise of new trading passages,

Petra began to decline. By the sixth century,
this once great civilization had fallen.

Petra is a treasure because it is astounding and
because it's a reminder that the very strongest

civilizations take their influences from all over
and a kind of melting pot of cultures. But more

than that, as well as this place having
some of the most staggering architecture

and monuments ever created in history, there's
also evidence here of ordinary everyday lives.

So the wonders here are both epic and
very human. Ah, thank you. Thank you,

Shakran. How fantastic.
That's Oh, it smells great.

Ancient Arabia was an extraordinary
place and an extraordinary time.

The treasures here speak of thousands of
years of experimentation and communication,

of struggles to survive and struggles to secure
the most luxurious objects known to mankind,

of individual journeys that
shaped the direction of history.

[Music] Betin back same time next week exploring
the ruins of a Roman city in Jordan. No need

to wait though. All of Treasures of
the World is already on four. Next,

they swap the rainy UK for snowy Lapland and
haven't looked back. Feel the festive magic

all year round with Living Wild.
How to change your life. [Music]

I'm traveling across the world exploring
secrets and wonders. This is really tight. So,

I asked my friends here if they could uh get
me access off the beaten track and I have 100%

definitely got what I asked for. An adventure by
land and sea to the most fascinating places. It

is just extraordinary where I've been given
special access to significant and surprising

treasures. Some of the most remarkable artworks to
survive from antiquity. Buried in ancient sites,

extraordinary buildings and glorious works of
art. I'm in search of the treasures that help

to explain the story of us. Journey with me to
discover how the past shapes our lives. I'm here

to uncover the rich history of the ancient kingdom
of Jordan. A vital crossroads between east and

west and a cultural hub for millennia. Enjoying
privileged access to the secrets of one of the

world's most spectacular wonders, Petra. Exploring
an ancient city dubbed the Pompei of the East.

the mountaintop palace where John the Baptist was
beheaded and fearsome fortresses of the crusader

knights and discovering how Jordan is a mosaic of
civilizations. Welcome to the treasures of Jordan.

Jordan and its capital, Aman, has
long been a melting pot of culture,

a place where ideas have met and mixed and
flourished. [Music] Jordan's been described

as a cradle of civilization. [Music]
Its capital, Aman, is one of the oldest

continually inhabited settlements in the world.
whose history stretches back over 4,000 years

[Music]

offers an immediate taste of Georgian's rich and
varied past. My first treasure is hidden in the

desert over 150 miles south of Aman. Voted
one of the new seven wonders of the world,

the archaeological park of Petra is up there
with the most iconic ancient sites on Earth.

I've been here before, but now I'm back to
explore areas most visitors don't get to see.

[Music]

I'm approaching Petra on a major
ancient trunk road that connected

Arabia and the Middle East and the
Levant and Egypt. And in antiquity,

this is how thousands and thousands of
people would have arrived here. And I'm

coming this way because now I want to share
with you some of Petra's secret treasures.

[Music]

This beautiful city from the 4th century B.C.E.
was at the heart of the ancient kingdom of the

Nabotans. Masters of the lucrative trade routes
that pass through this dramatic landscape. They

were the key power players in the region. [Music]
And up here at the end of a punishing mountain

climb, over 700 ft above the main site below,
hides a spectacular clue to Petra's story. [Music]

I've never made it up here before
and it is just extraordinary. So,

you can see that this building which is called
the monastery has been hacked out of the raw

rock and this whole courtyard has been cleared by
hand. Um, it's 47 m high and 48 m across and we

don't know what it was used for. We don't know
whether it was a tomb or whether it was a host

for kind of cultic activity. But what effort and
what beauty right on the top of the mountain here

dubbed the monastery because locals discovered
crosses inscribed on one of the back walls. The

Napotans probably built this around the middle
of the 1st century CE. It's a real mosaic of

architectural influences with ancient Greek
columns and a large Mesopotamian style single

entrance. Tafi, a local Bedwin tribesman
is going to help me climb inside. So,

this could be interesting. Um, I remember this
guy. This Ti. Hi. Hi. Hi. How are you? Yeah,

good. Nice to see you. So, he was uh here
last time I came. How great to see you.

How are you? I'm fine. Good. Good. God
knows how I'm going to get in there.

Okay. Mhm. Okay. Okay.

Wow. Listen to it. Oh my goodness. Listen to Can
you hear the sound? Whoa. Oh, it's beautiful in

here. The colors are incredible, aren't they? The
colors are beautiful. It's so frustrating because

we don't really know what they what they use this
for. It would have been like a church because you

get this amazing booming acoustic. Yeah. They'd
have used this for some kind of ritual with music

or Yeah. Because for the voice it's got more like
Yeah. Just think of the people who came in here

for centuries and centuries. Nepatian. Natian.
I feel very happy to be here where I born. Yeah.

Yeah, here where I I like you know even if I if I
go somewhere outside for 2 days 3 days you know I

feel I am not right you know I have to come back
again you know this really is your home yeah yeah

it's an amazing privilege to come here we're very
lucky we're very lucky thank you I hope to see you

again here I'll come again you will come again
here I'll come again definitely if you can get

me into these places again definitely
I'll come again. Definitely. Shakran.

After years of coming to Petra, this
time I'm heading to some of the more

remote sites that people don't usually get to see.

You know, it's really beautiful
because I can just see kind of

L starting across the roads and there are
goats around. Oh, hello. And a donkey. Um,

it's kind of fantastic. It's a bit like traveling
in time coming back to this part of the uh pelt.

Petrol lies on the slopes of the Shara mountain
range which provided the Nabotans with spring

water, fertile land for agriculture and raw
materials needed to fuel their growing empire.

This is genuinely mind-blowingly amazing because
everywhere you look, you can see these tombs

carved into the rock. I mean, we're, you know, at
least 4 miles outside the center of the signs. Um,

they're just everywhere in all of the rocks and
you still got people living in front of them.

[Music]

So, I asked my friends here if they could
uh get me access off the beaten track.

And I have 100% definitely got what I asked for.

[Music]
[Music]

Oh my gosh, look at that.

That is a view of Petra.

[Music]

As your eyes get used to the landscape
here, you start to pick out these

astonishing features. I don't know if you
if you can see it. So, there's a kind of

rectangular block and then that's a curling
snake's body with a snake's head on the top.

The truth is we don't know exactly what this was
used for. It's been called the snakes pyramid and

it's really enigmatic but but we think because for
the Nabotans snakes were thought to protect tombs

or to be the guardians of altars and sometimes
they were thought to be vehicles to the afterlife

because when a snake sheds its skin it's almost
as though it's reborn. Um, so it's it's holding

on to its secrets, but whatever it is, it's
telling us something about the Navatian world

view and how central this landscape itself
was to their beliefs. [Applause] [Music]

But Petra wasn't just about spectacular temples
and morale. It was also a city where people lived.

You could make a statement about just
how wealthy you were by building a

really swanky villa like this that
dominated the valley. This private

home from the first century CE lies off
the beaten track from the main site.

So I have just got to show you what's in here.

So this place even had its own
sauna and steam room like a kind

of Turkish ham decorated in
the very latest fashions.

Even some of the gold paint they used has been
preserved. With lavish decoration and its own

private bath, hot water and underwater heating,
the family here had their every need catered for.

This is great. So this is the kind of industrious
business end of the villa because we know that

the people who lived here made their money from
trade but also from local produce because vines

were grown all around here and olive trees. So so
this was probably somewhere where they producing

either wine or rich olive oil. [Music] For
those who could afford it, even death could feel

luxurious. [Music] The Nabotans often place their
rich tombs in prominent showoff places. [Music]

I'm being allowed into a tomb that's
closed off to the public because the

wall paintings inside are so fragile. [Music]

The funeral would have taken
place just outside the tomb

with the family burning incense,
making offerings and sharing food.

We know that Nabotian women often commissioned
and paid for tombs and they had real standing

in society which of course is unusual for the
ancient world. It seems as though the Nabotans

were a much more democratic society. All of these
things are reasons why it's really worth winkling

out their secrets and their stories because the
Nabotans are a civilization worth caring about.

And there's one final secret corner of Petra
I want to explore. Two miles from the city

center lies the seldom visited suburb of
seek Albared. This is the a part of the

site that people don't normally get to. Uh it's
affectionately known as Little Petra and it was

like a kind of um prosperous suburb and hub
for the businessmen of the ancient world.

[Music]

This was a a kind of official meeting point.
um almost the equivalent of an ancient visitors

center. So you would register up there and then
come down to sleep in in these chambers which

are which sort of like a motel a place like
dormitories where the traders could bunk down.

[Music] And further into the gorge
there's something really special.

This may look like another tomb, but
in fact it was something else entirely.

[Music]

Up here in the rock face itself, people carved
out what are basically kind of exclusive

breakout rooms. And this is a thing called a
biclinium. It's a very special dining room.

You can see that men would have stayed on on
two sides here and talk business and look out

at the stars. I mean, talk about a room with
a view. But there's something extra special

about this place. And it is so unique. It's
so fragile. It's gated off and even I can't

get access inside. Just look at that. So
underneath soots and grease and grime,

these amazingly delicate frescos. Uh so you've
got desert flowers there and vines and grapes. So

that's an association with Dianisis or Bakus, the
Greek god of ecstasy and excess and drinking. Um,

they're a little cupid playing flutes and
they're connected to Aphroditi or Venus,

the goddess of love and sex. So, the message
that's being sent out by this is that this is

a place that you come to eat and drink and be
merry and basically have a fantastic time. But,

but the quality of it is extraordinary. So they've
used Egyptian blue and white lead oxide as even

gilding and glaze on some of the foliage. I mean
this really really is the best that money can buy.

It is fascinating isn't it? Because the
Nabotans are surrounded by a landscape

that is literally a pallet and yet
they choose to take the effort to

plaster and paint and glaze and gild
their tombs and their dining rooms

and their halls. And I think that is a mark
of the verve and vividness of the culture.

[Music]

What I love about Petra is how it encapsulates
both the ancient Greek and Arabian worlds. Petra

is a dynamic wonder that's evolved through
time. And because there's still 85% of the

site left to excavate, it hides histories
that we can learn from in the future.

This treasure has been called the
Pompei of the East. It's in a verdent

river valley in the north of Jordan.
It's the beautiful Gerash. [Music]

I've traveled just over a 100
miles north of Petra to Gerash,

one of the best preserved Greco
Roman cities in the world. [Music]

This city is a treasure, but
it's also a reminder that

civilizations have a life story,
that they rise and fall. [Music]

Enticed by the valley's fertility and abundance,
people settled here over 9,000 years ago.

It was the Romans who left the greatest
mark on the city from the 1st century

CE when Gash had a population of
20,000, more than matching Pompei.

As the Romans dynamodeed their way
to becoming one of the most potent

imperial powers the world has ever known,
their general Pompy made his move east,

taking ancient Syria and one
of its greatest cities, Gerash.

The city prospered, becoming a key
outpost for the Romans in ancient Arabia.

Gerash has everything you'd expect of a Roman
period town. So there's a handsome theater,

a magnificent temple to Zeus, there
are bars, a very impressive forum,

and then because the Romans loved their money,
a huge area devoted to trade and shopping.

Gerash was a vital hub for the Romans with
connections to all corners of their massive

empire which came to reach a fifth of the globe.
This is Gash's main street or Cardo. Literally,

it means its center or beating heart. And it
would have been crammed with traffic. You can

still just about make out the ruts in the road
here. You'd have heard around five languages

spoken because this connected directly to a
road network that linked Petra to Damascus

deep into what's now Iraq, the ports of Ty
and Jaffa, and right across to the Western

Mediterranean. [Music] The vast oval-shaped forum
amongst the best preserved Roman architecture

outside of Italy feeds directly into the cardo
and the city boasted not one but two theaters.

The citizens of Gerash really enjoyed their
wealth and they did not keep quiet about the

fact that they splashed their cash around.
And we can see that here from this lovely

inscription that tells us that men here helped to
pay for the building of this fantastic theater.

And the clue is this word here, dramas,
which is the ancient Greek for for drama,

which was the currency that was used at the
time. It was all fantastically well organized

because every single seat has a mark. Uh so
there you can see it's alpha which is like R

a beta like RB gamma which um is the equivalent
of RG delta and then epsilon which equates to

re and these markings carry on right the way
across the theater on all of the 3,000 seats

enjoying some of the most fertile land in
the region and with fresh water all year

round. The city's patron deity was a goddess
synonymous with natural abundance. Artemis,

the goddess of hunting and wild nature, was
the patron goddess of Dash. And her sanctuary

here was planned to be the biggest in the
Roman world. And it does actually stretch

a third of a mile from one end to the other.
But it was never finished. And we know that

because there is no evidence at all that a
roof was ever put on the top of that temple.

Elsewhere, roads stop halfway. It seems the
Romans ran out of the time or cash to fulfill

their ambitions. This is a place where you can
physically visibly chart the passage of time.

The earlier hellenistic foundation gives way
to a premier Roman city. Rome evolves into

the Christian Byzantine Empire which swiftly
gives way to the new superpower of the region,

Islam. All these civilizations still speak
to us through the treasures they left behind.

Gerish had survived war and plague and regime
change, but in the end it would be a natural

disaster that delivered the killer blow. At
10:00 a.m. on the 18th of January, 749 CE.

The city was hit by a devastating earthquake.
This was one of the biggest seismic events of

the Middle Ages. So violent, it triggered tsunamis
all over the Mediterranean. And recent archaeology

is revealing poignant new clues about the
catastrophe. Professor Akim Likenberger has

been running the excavations here. But this is an
extraordinary part of the site. I'm finding it a

bit hard to to read. So So I mean what's where are
we? What's happening here? What we see here in the

collapse is all the walls of private houses that
were damaged during the earthquake. From the look

of it, it feels like it was a huge event. Yeah, it
was a very huge event. After the earthquake, the

city was more or less dead. There was no recovery
of the city and the city was abandoned mostly and

urban life came to an end. So, this is really the
end of the city of Gerash. It's a terrible irony,

isn't it? Because one of the reasons that Gerash
is so wealthy is because of the gifts of the

earth, because of, you know, it benefiting from
the spice and the incense trade and access to to

the seas and this incredible fertile valley. But
then it's it's the the power of the earth that

that destroys it. Yeah. And what did you discover
when you started to excavate? Right where we are

standing, we found a skeleton of a child and a
child that was obviously trying to escape from

the house. So is this the is this the child you
found? Right. These are the bones of the child

and you can see parts of the skull are preserved
parts of the long bones but the bones and the the

skull is very much fragmented due to the collapse.
The child was nearly out of the house and then the

walls collapsed and killed the child and again
nobody came back to bury it. So it was really

it shows the devastation of this earthquake. How
old is this child? Well, it's it's it's about 10

years, but the time the age difference between
the teeth and the bones is about two years,

indicating that it had malnutrition or illnesses,
periods of stress. So, it was a a small child too

too awful to to think about. Yeah. And and
the the really the tragic thing is that we

have so many wellpreserved objects up here.
So the earthquake really conserved everything

and we have glasses, glass bottles. They are
fully preserved. Not a crack in them. Well,

that's awful. So the glass has survived, but
but the the the girl has been crushed by the

force of the quake. Yeah, it's a thing, as you
say, it it it preserves for us, but it destroys

for them. Akim and his team have only excavated
a small fraction of the site so far. The ongoing

archaeology is revealing a unique picture of
the life story of this city and its tragedy.

[Music]

Jordan has deep rooted connections with
three great religions, Judaism, Christianity,

and Islam. My next treasure is an exquisite
survivor that maps out Jordan's place in the

heart of this biblical environment and provides
a vital clue for exploring Jordan's landscapes.

This is the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Georgees
in the town of Madaba just south of Aman. Built in

the late 19th century on the foundations
of a much older Byzantine church dating

to the 6th century. But it's not the church
in Madur I've come to see. Rather something

more exciting. What was discovered is the oldest
ever map of the Holy Land. And it's under here.

The mosaic had miraculously survived demolition,
fires, and neglect over hundreds of years.

The map isn't orientated as we'd expect it to
be, north to south, but it faces east. So over

here you've got the tributaries of the Nile
Delta. And then right here is the Dead Sea.

Some 157 surviving quotations written in Greek
map out the names of places and stories from the

Bible. They're surrounded by depictions of the
natural world and scenes of daily life. So the

fishermen here in the Dead Sea have had their
faces and bodies mosaicked out uh from a time

when images of the living form weren't allowed.
But the detail is still just incredible. So this

big city is Jerusalem and this is the church of
Theotocos. Uh the church of Mary the mother of

God and we know that that was finished in 543 CE.
And there aren't any images of buildings here from

after 570 CE. So that gives us a really precise
date for the creation of this incredible thing.

This vast stone carpet was made up of a staggering
2 and a half million tiny mosaic pieces. So,

this is the River Jordan, uh, full of fish to show
it's full of life and and love because down here,

I don't know if you can see that it says
Bethabara. And that's what we know as

Bethany. And Bethany beyond the Jordan is
where none other than Jesus was baptized.

Following the route of the river from the map,
an hour's drive west of Madaba on the border

of Israel is a place where the Bible story comes
to life. [Music] This is the famed River Jordan,

which has been so beautifully depicted
on the Madaba map for over 1,400 years.

It was here that John the Baptist practiced his
mission and where a 30-year-old Jesus began his

ministry after being baptized in the sacred
waters. Not long after Christianity became the

official religion of the Roman Empire,
this site known as Bethany beyond the

Jordan became a place of pilgrimage and many
churches sprang up to cater for the faithful.

Just a few miles away, you'll find the Dead Sea,
another place featured in the Madaba map and the

Bible. John the Baptist preached radical ideas
to people along the shores of the Dead Sea and

in land, encouraging them to ritually cleanse
themselves, body and soul. Technically a lake,

the Dead Sea is an extraordinary natural wonder.
Its surface is over 430 m below sea level,

making the Dead Sea shores the lowest dry land
anywhere on Earth. With salt levels almost 10

times higher than ordinary seaater, life hardly
survives here. But surprisingly, this barren lake

boasts many secret riches and is one of the oldest
health spars in the world. You often find that

narratives and myths and legends swirl up from
places that have real historical or practical

significance and the Dead Sea is no exception.
Um, apart from being ecologically unique,

this is the source of a weird thing called bumen.
Now, bitammen is this kind of black oily substance

that bubbles up in islands and in the ancient
world was as precious as gold. Bitchmen was

traded across continents by the Nabotans and the
original ancient word for bitchmen was mum. Now

mama was thought to be used in mummification which
is why we call Egyptian mummies mummies. [Music]

The thermal springs of Cali nearby are also
known for their health benefits and are also

represented on the Madaba map. According to the
ancient historian, Josephus, Herod the Great,

no less, came here to treat his ailments.
Josephus tells us that although Herod struggled

with numerous disorders, yet he still had a
desire to live and he hoped for recovery. So,

he came to Jordan and made use of those hot baths
at Keller, which are sweet enough to be drunk.

But it wasn't just the thermal springs
that attracted Herod to this part of

Jordan. [Music] You cannot argue with that, can
you? As a strategic location. And this place,

Macareas, is where Herod the
Great built his fortress.

Located on a high rocky vantage
point, 1100 m above the Dead Sea,

this was the perfect place for Herod the
Great to build his palace called Macareas,

deriving probably from the Greek Maca for sword.
Ravines protect the fortress from all sides,

ensuring the site was secure
and incredibly hard to access.

In the center of the mountain, Herod built
a palace, glorious in its size and beauty.

The Romans described this place as the
strongest fortification in Judea and

a stronghold of treasure. And we know
that if Herod felt he was under attack,

he could send smoke signals out right the way
across to Jerusalem in what is now Israel,

down to the south to Msada, and way out to
his other fortresses in the east. [Music]

Archaeologists working here have identified all
kinds of things that Herod built. um a garden,

a Roman style bath, a very posh tinium, a
dining room, and just recently over here they

identified this as where the king had his
throne. [Music] But although it was Herod

the Great who built Macareas, it was his son,
Herod Antipass, who'd make this place notorious.

John the Baptist was deeply disapproving of King
Herod Antipass's marriage to his sister-in-law

Herodias. So Herod imprisoned him in Macareas.
But Herodias's thirst for revenge was far from

satisfied. Herod was celebrating his birthday up
here with a grand dinner party. and Herodias's

teenage daughter Salame danced for the crowd.
Herod was so delighted he promised to give the

girl whatever she wanted on oath. Salame prompted
by her mother said, "Give me on a platter the head

of John the Baptist." Herod was horrified. He
was appalled. This is not what he wanted to do.

But nor did he want to lose face in front of the
assembled company. So he sent executioners down

to the prison where they beheaded John and brought
his bleeding head on a plate for the young girl.

[Music]

Isn't it extraordinary to think that one of
those stories that so many of us have heard from

childhood took place right here? Tales like these
are threaded through this dramatic landscape.

Biblical Jordan is the site of
remarkable monuments and events

and morality tales that have endured
for centuries and that are cherished

by multiple faiths. This is the home of
some of the greatest stories on earth.

Stories that are written both in man-made
wonders and in the landscape itself.

But my next treasure stands as a
monument to a terrible time when

the great faiths of Christianity and
Islam were united in their hatred.

[Music]

My next treasure is a reminder of
what happens when external forces

tangle with territories that are not their own.

It stood for a thousand years
bearing terrible testimony to

a time when Islam and Christianity went to war.

This is Showback Castle built by Bulwin I,
the king of Jerusalem in 11:15 and the first

of many crusader castles in the region.
It comes from a time when the Christian

West was forcing a collision with Islam for
control of what was called the Holy Lands

in a religious game of cat and mouse that
still has implications for all of us today.

An ideal vantage point. Showback is located in the
desert hills 19 mi north of Petra. [Music] This

became an arena where two of the most
notorious warriors of the age faced off.

Reo Shation was a crusader knight who controlled
this castle with a ferocity that was only matched

by his cruelty. It was said that when one
man owed him money, he stripped him naked,

covered him in honey, and forced him to spend
a day out in the sun before he imprisoned him.

The ruthless adventurer, always short of cash,

Reald was known as the thief knight,
even by crusaders. He seemed not to

care about the honor or the principles
of knighthood, only about gold. [Music]

From here, crusaders could launch
military campaigns in the Holy Land.

They could tax and loot camel caravans that came
along these ancient roads connecting Arabia and

the Silk Roots and they could attack pilgrims
on their way to Mecca. Show was also a rich

agricultural hub in the region. Although it's hard
to imagine now, this spot was once fertile with

abundant vines and olive groves. Reo's abuse of
this land infuriated the Muslim warlord Saladin.

Saladin, the legendary fighter and governor of
Egypt, was determined to take showback. He was

sick of the constant attacks on the camel caravans
with their precious goods and he wanted to

oust crusaders from this land. So he tried
again and again and again without success.

In 1187 Saladin mounted an allout invasion, laying
siege to Showback. The crusaders held out for

over 18 months thanks to a combination of water
from a hidden spring and a staggering arsenal.

I mean just look at the ammunition that's
still left here. If you see that firepower,

you get the true raw brutal sense
of why these castles were built.

Frustrated by Crusader Reo's forces at Showback,
Saladin turned his attention to another of his

strongholds in the region, Karak Castle, about 90
mi north of Showback. This is Karak. There's been

a fortress here since biblical times and this is
one of the largest castles in the Levant. Coming

here, you understand, don't you, why Arabic
sources said that this place was impregnable.

[Music]

and Crusader Reo's strangle hold in the area
was physically built on foundations left by the

region's previous rulers. [Music] One of the
things I love about this place is that if you

look at the masonry, they're reusing stone from
those massive Nabotian structures. So, it's just

another reminder of how there is continuity
in cultures in this place right across time.

The seeming impregnability of his
castles emboldened Reo to strike

back at Saladin. [Music] This vast hall
had multiple uses, possibly a living area

for Reo's men and their horses and a shelter
from the missiles of Saladin's siege engines.

Reo continued his nefarious deeds here. He
made a move on the holy cities of Mecca and

Medina via the Red Sea. And it was said that
he would put men's heads into wooden boxes and

then throw them off these battlements so they
could feel every bone break as they made their

way down. Arabic sources of the time said that
deeds like these polluted their land. [Music]

In contrast to Crusader Reo's atrocities, Saladin
earned a reputation for chivalry and honor,

even in the heat of battle. We're told that when
Reo's stepson and heir was getting married here,

Saladin hatched a cunning plan. He encamped
a huge army out on these planes along with

seven siege catapults. But Reo's wife sent out
tempting delicacies begging him not to disturb

the festivities. Then, and I'm sure that this bit
is dramatic license, we hear that Saladin agreed

to let the love birds alone in their room, moved
the army round so they would attack a different

bit of the castle. Although Carak withtood the
siege, elsewhere, Saladin's army was driving the

crusaders out. Reo was forced to agree a truce.
But once again, unscrupulous Reo broke his word,

attacking a camel caravan, seizing its
booty, and imprisoning its merchants.

Reo's luck couldn't hold forever. In 1187,
Saladin routed crusader forces in the Battle

of Hittin. The crusaders surrendered the region
and Reo was captured. Saladin had Reo brought

to his tent. And when the Christian refused
to convert to Islam, Saladin beheaded him.

Shortly after, Kerak and Showach castles
finally fell to Saladin's forces.

The Crusades carried on here for centuries and
for those in power there were opportunities

uh new demand for supplies and arms and
luxuries. The west benefited from the

import of new architectural styles, new
technologies, new mathematical methods.

But for the majority of people here, the
Crusades brought a catalog of suffering.

The repercussions of the Crusades teach us lessons
which are just as valid today as they were then.

The Crusader Castles of Jordan are a tenacious
and in some ways terrifying treasure because

these aren't romantic citadels. What these
represent are medieval chains of control. [Music]

Jordan is a wonder in part because so
much history, so many shared stories

and beliefs originated or were nourished
here. From biblical Jordan to Roman gash,

from the secrets and glories of Nabati
and Petra to the horrors of the Crusades,

the treasures here remind us how connected
we all are across time. And that although we

should never live in the past, we're fools
if we don't admit that we live with it.

[Music] And Betty Hughes can show
you more amazing treasures of the

world over on all four where you can stream
all episodes from the series. Intoxicating,

adrenaline pumping action as Mark Wahberg
and director Peter Berg reunite for a

treacherous ride to Mile 22 here on
Channel 4 tonight at 9. Before that,

doing more of the things you love. Living
wild, how to change your life next.

I'm traveling across the world exploring secrets
and wonders. This is really tight. So, I asked my

friends here if they could uh get me access off
the meat track and I 100% definitely got what

I asked for. An adventure by land and sea to the
most fascinating places. It is just extraordinary.

where I've been given special access to
significant and surprising treasures. Some

of the most remarkable artworks to survive
from antiquity. Buried in ancient sites,

extraordinary buildings, and glorious works of
art. I'm in search of the treasures that help

to explain the story of us. Journey with me to
discover how the past shapes our lives today.

I'm exploring one of the largest and most
intriguing islands in the Mediterranean,

seeking out clues of its rich, diverse
culture all across time. This place has

been at the front line of world events
for over 4,000 years. History has made

its mark coast to coast, and it's a hot spot
of human experience, the island of Cyprus.

I've been traveling to Cyprus for years and
each time I come I learn something new. Both

about what makes this island so special and
how all our histories are intimately connected.

Cyprus sits at the crossroads of Europe,
Asia, and Africa. For centuries, host to

overseas powers and influences. And in myth,
the birthplace of the Greek goddess of love,

Aphroditi, for the Romans, Venus. Aphroditi
was famed for her beauty and was the goddess

worshiped because she fostered desire. And we
think we know her in the modern world, but to

reveal her secrets and her true story, you have
to come here to Cyprus. Aphrodite was worshiped

across the island. And according to legend, she
was born right here on Cypress's southern coast.

So the story goes that Gia, the great goddess of
the earth, was sick of her eternal love making

with Uranus, the god of the sky. So she persuaded
her son, Kronos, to cut off his father's rotting

penis and testicles with a flint sickle. The
bloody castrate was thrown into the sea and from

this gory spewing mass arose an awful and lovely
maiden Aphroditi. Understanding Aphrodite is to

understand something vital, human desire. Why her
worship on Cyprus is my first treasure. A great

place to look for evidence is her nearby sanctuary
of Palo Pathos. a massive precinct devoted to the

goddess. Ancient authors write about this place
in incredibly heady terms. Um they talk first

of all of Aphroditi herself coming here bathing in
ambrosial oil until her skin gleams. They describe

Arabian incense curling up from a hundred altars
and the air being sweetened by wreaths of flowers.

The ancients believed that Aphroditi was in charge
of nature, birth and death. So in its heyday,

this sanctuary thronged with pilgrims coming here
to seek her help in matters of love and life.

You just have to try to imagine how sensuous
it would have been here because we know that

Aphroditi was honored with offerings of honey and
wine and rose petals that roses were famously her

flower and the whole place was protected by
gates of gold. Hundreds of figurines found

here and right across the island symbolize
those who came to adore Aphroditi, bringing

offerings of cakes and other homemade gifts for
the goddess. Mainstream depictions of Aphroditi

symbolize her as a classic beauty. But on Cyprus,
she had some rather surprising manifestations.

The cult statue of Aphrodite here wasn't the
beautiful image of a woman that you might expect,

but this frankly rather odd thing, a lump of black
ignous stone, which sources say was originally

painted white and drenched in perfumed oil. It
is strange, isn't it? But it does have this kind

of primal primordial energy. Early cults in the
east often worshiped abstract objects like this,

but its meaning was lost to later antiquity.
There was one Roman author who said,

"The origins of the cult of the goddess in this
form are obscure. [Music] This stone is a symbolic

reminder that Aphrodite was a creature of
prehistory as well as of classical myth.

So, I'm on the hunt to trace the real origins
of Cypress's elusive goddess via tantalizing

new archaeology. First stop, Lanica District
Archaeological Museum. Last time I was here,

um, I visited some very exciting finds at a
place that's called Hela Sultan Teke. And that

site itself is just remarkable because it's an
entire Bronze Age city. And those finds in and

of themselves are are amazing. But they also
really helped me jigsaw puzzle together the

story of Aphroditi. And now some of those
finds are being scientifically analyzed

in here. Collaborating with the University of
Goththingberg, a team from the Cypress Institute

are using 3D scanners to explore incredible
objects found in a communal grave. personal

belongings of inhabitants of this three and a
half thousand-year-old city. This scanning can

reveal details unseen to the naked eye, helping to
unlock secrets of these objects origin, ownership,

and meaning. Particularly intriguing because some
seem to show connections to Aphroditi. a lotus

pendant and a pomegranate shaped bead on a child's
necklace. Both representations of fertility and

rebirth. [Music] And these aren't the only early
glimmers of the goddess in this rich burial site.

You've got this beautiful, strange birdheaded
figurine. Do you think there's any chance that

she represents a kind of eastern influence, the
kind of beginning of an idea of a of a goddess or

a female deity or spirit of some kind? They are
very similar uh to others from Syria. And when

you see two of them next to each other, it's the
the similarities are really striking. And those

figures are related to Aarte. [Music] Estarte,
also known as Inana or Ishtar, was a goddess

with origins in the Near East and Mesopotamia. A
kind of many times great grandmother of Aphrodite,

she wasn't only the deity of sexual love, but of
the desire for war. Cyprus already had its own

fertility symbols, striking statuettes
with both male and female genitalia.

So what we're seeing with the life story
of Aphrodite on Cyprus could be a mixing

of international and local culture to create a
passionate divinity of life and death that was new

and distinctly criate. Even if the names of the
gods and the goddesses and their shapes change,

the combination of desire of all kinds, you wonder
if you're seeing the origins of those ideas in

some of these early objects. I mean definitely
the female figure and its depiction is an amazing

uh story from around 9,000 BC in Cyprus up to
today. The typology is quite specific with each

period but the female body is given a special
place. I love the fact the female bodies woripped

on Cyprus I have to say. I know I shouldn't but
I just you know it's it's really interesting.

One key trigger for this influx of ideas can be
found across the island deep within the earth.

Now, what you're looking at here is slag
that was produced during bronze production

over 3,000 years ago in an industry that made
Cyprus very rich. Bronze is made from tin and

copper. And since prehistory, Cyprus was
famous for its rich copper seams. In fact,

copper itself is named after an ancient word
for the island, kros. Copper coming out of

the earth here was one of the key raw materials
of the entire Bronze Age civilization, putting

Cyprus at the center of a trading web stretching
from Italy to Mesopotamia, Anatolia to Egypt.

Copper and bronze were used to make lethal
weapons, but also beautiful things like dinner

plates and jewelry and mirrors. I'm sure
that's one of the reasons why Aphroditi is

often shown staring at her own reflection in the
mirror. And I reckon too, it's probably why she

appears with this kind of coppery blonde hair.
Over time, her cult would infuse the island,

making Cyprus a key destination for religious
tourism. And one of the places people flooded

was here, the cosmopolitan city of Na Pathos, my
final stop on the journey to discover Aphroditi.

Archaeologists have just identified what looks
like a new temple to the goddess on this hill

and possible ritual banqueting where ancient
criates could do what Aphrodite loved best,

mix and mingle. There's also an intriguing series
of underground chambers with some surprising

secrets. [Music] A new discovery, a bit tricky to
explore, suggesting Aphrodite's worship here may

well have had a heady, mysterious side. So, the um
archaeologists working here gave me a tip off that

they discovered something a bit special. So that's
a niche. So it's basically a kind of hole that a

religious object would be put in. And if you look
up at the top, it pretty much looks like a shell,

like a scallop shell. There's a debate going on
amongst the archaeologists at the moment. But

if it is, then a shell is always associated with
Aphroditi because of her birth from the sea. And

also a scallop shell looks like the female sex.
So, I'd wonder if this is somewhere where people

came for secret, mysterious underground rights in
her honor. Um, I mean, we don't know yet. Is it

still being debated? But, um, we will find out.
That's amazing. How amazing to be here. Amazing.

These discoveries are changing what
we thought we knew about the goddess

and her cult. Not just a romantic love
deity, Aphroditi was clearly a complex,

potent creature. And this island holds many of
her secrets. The worship of Aphrodite in Cyprus

is a treasure for me because it shortcircuits
us into the lives, loves, and ambitions of women

and men who lived thousands of years before us
and the symbols that they left behind. [Music]

[Music]

One of the striking things about Cyprus is
the number of shipwrecks that can be found

in its waters, modern and ancient ones
alike. Discoveries from ancient wrecks

are currently being studied by the Department
of Antiquities and the University of Cyprus.

work starting to reveal remarkable things. Cargos
of ancient wine, 2,400y old olives and other

treasures from around the Eastern Mediterranean.
Evidence that Cyprus, with its strategic position,

was part of an international maritime
trade network long after the Bronze Age.

Now, where you have that kind of wealth and
opportunity, you can expect the Romans to

come. And my next treasure reveals the triumph
and the tragedy of Cyprus under Roman rule.

I'm heading to the ancient city of Kurion,
a gorgeous settlement just along Cypress's

southern coast. This is one of the best preserved
ancient archaeological sites in Cyprus. An amazing

location with a tragic secret. Kurion was first
excavated in the 1930s by an archaeologist called

George McFaden. Although actually he wasn't
just an archaeologist. Um he was also a World

War II spy who helped facilitate missions here
for the Americans in Cyprus and elsewhere.

McFaden was really troubled by the rise of
communism and fascism and he thought it would help

people to understand and return to the values of
civic life from ancient civilizations. So he was

absolutely passionate about his work here in Coron
and he made some quite remarkable discoveries.

The settlement that McFaten unearthed was once
a jewel of the island. Originally founded as

a Greek colony in the Bronze Age, its port
connected it to maritime communities across

the Mediterranean. But its heyday was in the
age of Rome. [Music] The Roman generals Julius

Caesar and Mark Anthony both gave Cleopatra,
Queen of Egypt, Cyprus as a kind of strategic

love gift. But once Cleopatra was defeated,
then Rome was in charge here. And in fact,

some of the very finest antiquities here
do date from the time of the Roman Empire.

A theater for 3,500 people. A huge stadium, the
only one in Cyprus. The remains of a bath house,

a grand forum, a temple expanded under the Roman
Emperor Trajan. [Music] Kurion's residence became

mega rich, partly from trade and things like
oil and wine. And so you find these super rich

mansions, or what's left of it here for the
elite, packed with the very finest artworks.

This is called the house of the gladiators for
obvious reasons. I have to say I hate images of

gladiatorial combat because it's just so awful,
isn't it? To think of these men who are made to

suffer for entertainment. These are two kinds of
gladiators called secretures over there. The the

guy with a full face helmet, he's a thrian or
a thriax. And that man who's called Darius was

probably the referee. So what this does tell us
is that here there was a really intense localized

take up of Roman traditions and Roman leisure
activities by Kurion's elite. But this charmed

life of Roman luxury didn't last forever. The
gifts of the earth that had made these men so

rich soon turned sour. So this is a water trough.
You can see the animals would have been chained

up there. You can see it has been completely
shattered into two pieces. And that damage

was the result of an earthquake storm between
around 365 and 370 CE that devastated this city.

The earthquakes tore through Coron, collapsing
many of its homes, including what archaeologists

call the earthquake house. Right across the
city are signs of this monstrous destruction.

The local museum, once the home of George McFaden,
guards relics of this traumatic event. And I've

been given special access to recent finds. Dr.
Tom Davis, who's excavated Curion with Criate

and international colleagues since the 1980s,
discovered some of these precious items. This is

a mosaic glass plate and uh as you can see it's
a magnificently colored beautiful mosaic piece

glass that is so beautiful and it must be rare you
you don't find these you don't find these the only

things we know of elsewhere is in Egypt gives us
a sense of how rich and uh connected this city

was into uh the ancient world would have been a
beautiful serving plate kind of a public plate you

know when for the elegant guests when they come
you'd pull this out it was shattered completely

in the force of the earthquake and gives us a
real insight in how powerful this quake was.

Further finds in the museum reveal the terrible
fate suffered by some of the city's inhabitants.

[Music] So these poor people were
found in the earthquake house. Yes,

they were cowering in a doorway trying to protect
each other. As you can see, there's the infant,

the mother, and the father. Discovery like
this reminds us that it's not just archaeology

that we're dealing with humans and this is
this is a human tragedy. It's just terrible

to think of the of the trauma that they went
through the the you know the fear. Obviously

they're huddling together for protection.
Can you tell how quickly they died? Uh very

fast. Um you can see the skulls completely
crushed in his case. It would have been in

the aftershocks. The a wall obviously came
down right on top of them. We had probably

12 sets of human remains we found now in just
two houses. So this shattered this community,

but but they were left in the house. They weren't
removed or or rearied. Well, that's one of the the

really special things about this is either the
family never survived or the neighborhood itself

was completely destroyed because they were left
as they were in that moment of time. I wonder

if almost there was a sort of sense that it was
such a tragedy. It was almost as if they're being

dealt with like kind of radioactive waste. you
know, people didn't want to disturb them. Their

community is wiped out. And how do you respond to
that? And that's kind of the question of Coron.

Kurion had suffered a hammer blow, but
its spirit wasn't entirely crushed. And

we know that because this extraordinary mosaic
that survived. So what you're looking at here

is Greek poetry that's written in an ancient
Greek form. And it was dedicated by this man,

Ustolius, who has remembered with love the
city even through its abject misery. Before

the city's guardian had been Feebas Apollo, but
now there is a new protector of this earthruck

land. [Music] Uslius built a lavish home,
but it wasn't for himself. It was a refuge

for the needy of Kuron's population on behalf
of a higher power. So the clues as to who they

thought was now looking after the city comes in
this second mosaic. So just look at the images

you've got here. There are two fish and various
birds possibly representing peace and prosperity.

Some people think that these are crosses, but the
evidence is really nailed by this poem. So now we

hear that Kurion is g by the much venerated
Sumata Christristu the symbols of Christ.

Christianity was already gaining momentum.
Were these earthquakes a catalyst for change?

Certainly, this city's elite employed a
new language of symbols to communicate

their sense of community in the face of disaster.

Curion is a reminder that nature can give and
it can take away, but it's also an incarnation

of the power of human resilience across time
and in the face of the very greatest adversity.

[Music]

[Music]

Cypress is known for its fabulous beaches, but
it's actually an island with a great variety of

landscapes. Now I'm traveling to the Trudeau
mountain region. An area of stunning natural

beauty formed like the island itself by the
collision of African and European tectonic

plates. Home to some wonderful historical gems.
My next treasure reveals the symbolic art created

as medieval Cyprus became a theater of power for
east and west alike. Over [Applause] [Music] 200

beautiful churches are scattered in the
Trudeau mountains. And I'm interested in

what some choice examples reveal about Cyprus
under the Byzantine Empire, the imperial early

medieval Christian dynasty which took over
the Eastern Roman world. I'm starting my

investigation at one of the area's most intriguing
churches, the monastery of St. John Lampadist.

In here, you can find the secrets
of Cypress's medieval past and you

can find out about the intrigues
of the power players of the day.

And there's a service. There's a service going on.

[Music]

It's a real treat to see this.

Young and old still travel in from surrounding
villages in the mountains to take part in mass

[Music] and sometimes to leave curious
wax offerings. symbols of devotion

just as ancient people did for their gods,
including Aphroditi. With the service over,

I've got a chance to explore the
church's exquisite decoration.

In many ways, this is a kind of perfect
little Byzantine church. So if you look up

there for instance at this amazing image
of Christ, Panta Christ all powerful,

you'd find pictures like that in in the
very finest churches in Constantinople.

But they're not just churches. If you know how
to read them, they're also ciphers for history.

This church's wall paintings, which date
to between the 11th and the 16th centuries,

are packed with clues to the political and
cultural influences in Cyprus at this time.

[Music] So, this panel shows the passion
of Christ when Christ was being taken to

be crucified. And there are a couple
of really interesting things about it.

um those soldiers there, the flag that they're
carrying has a red cresant moon on it. We often

associate a cresant moon with Islam, but back then
it was actually a symbol of Constantinople. Also,

if you look at those soldiers, they're meant to
be Roman soldiers, of course, but they're dressed

in medieval armor. And that's because this was
painted right at the same time as the Crusades.

The Crusades were military missions between the
11th and 16th centuries which saw thousands of

European Christian knights descend on the Holy
Land to claim it for themselves. And the story

of how Cyprus got embroiled in the Crusades
is a plot worthy of Game of Thrones. [Music] A

Byzantine prince called Isaac forged documents
that meant he could lay claim to Cyprus. Now,

Richard the Lionheart from England was sailing
through these waters and ahead of him was his

fiance and his sister who were caught up in a
terrible storm wrecked on the shores of Cyprus

and were then taken prisoner and kidnapped in
effect by Isaac. Um, Richard the Lionheart was

so furious about this he tore to Cyprus to
rescue his damsels in distress. There's a

fantastic detail which says that Isaac begged not
to be shackled in chains of iron. So Richard in

his cunning made his chains instead of silver,
imprisoning Isaac and taking Cyprus for his own.

[Music] From 1191, Cyprus was in crusader hands,
and influences from Western culture start to

creep into these churches. A wooden panel reveals
double-headed eagles, symbols of Constantinople,

right next to rampant lions, an emblem of
a noble French family called the Lucinons,

who Richard the Lionheart sold Cyprus to just a
year after he'd conquered it. But why are there

so many of these churches up in the mountains?
There are more in this concentrated area of Cyprus

than anywhere else in the Byzantine Empire.
I'm hoping another church, Panaya to Araka,

decorated the year after the crusader takeover,
might offer some answers. Medieval historian Angel

Nicol Canari is passionate about the story this
church's art tells. Hello. Is it Angel? Hello.

Hello. I'm Better. I'm good. How lovely to meet
you. Thank you for inviting me here because I've

never been before. It's fantastic, isn't it?
It's I mean it is like a jewel box of color. So

tell me one thing. So I mean I'd expect there
to be churches in in lots of local villages,

but there are so many up here in the mountains.
There are several reasons after Richard the Lion

Hut and after the settlement of the Luzians,
some of the Greek nobility um retreated on the

mountains. They lost all their class privileges
and they couldn't stay uh in the towns where

the new uh aristocracy settled. And is there
evidence of that here in the church? Well, this

is the dedicatory inscription and it says that
someone called Leon Duafendu, which means Leo,

son of the Lord, is the donor for the decoration
of this church. I like the fact that he's written

this all underneath an image of Christ as well.
So, it's quite it's quite a prominent position,

isn't it? Of course. Of course. We don't
know if for sure you know he had to escape

the Franks but there were donors responsible for
the building and decoration of these churches.

The displaced Greek aristocracy poured their
love and money into these churches. There are

other touching clues to just how traumatic
they must have found this experience.

This is sort of supplication to the Virgin
Mary. And this inscription says, "Me,

Leona Fendua, and my wife and my children
and my servants, we um request your help

in this dire situation. Please keep us happy
and save our souls." It might indicate that

it was indeed a difficult period of time
for the Criots. And this lovely sympathetic

looking Mary. She seems full of sorrow.
You know that she's sad. Humane, isn't she?

But it wasn't always to be
such a desperate situation.

Over time, the cyprits and the lucinons became
more integrated, explaining the mix of symbols

seen in some of the churches. I mean, I love the
fact that you've got all these hidden messages

and stories in the walls. Thank you for showing me
how to decode them and read them. You're welcome.

But as I leave the church, there's a surprising
turn of events. Um, the weather seems to have

set in somewhat. Uh, so I'm suddenly really
realizing how remote these mountains are. Um,

I'm kind of living the historical experience cuz
like those communities of the medieval world,

looks like I'm going to be um hanging
out here for for a bit longer. [Music]

I've been stranded up in these mountains before
and the monasteries here have a reputation for

taking in wafes and strays. So, I'm going to
see if anyone's at home. [Music] Hello. Hello,

father. Hello. Hello. Hello. Good day.
Hello. Welcome. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

How lovely to be here. What? It's such a beautiful
church. This is first name. I came once before,

maybe 20 years ago, and somebody invited me
in here and gave me some food and drink when

I was lost. So, I thought I'd come again
today. If you have a little bit time,

can I invite you to something to drink? I'd love
for that. Thank you. Welcome, please. Thank you.

Traditionally, monastic communities here had to
be pretty much self-sufficient, which included

making their own wine. Thank you. Please welcome.
This is our guest room. Yes. Thank you. You want

to try commanderia? We have rosé red wine. Red dry
wine. Well, I could I could try them all. But no,

maybe we start with this. This is the commandaria
wine. Yes. It's one of the oldest wine in the

world. Liquor wine. It's a bit like liquor wine.
It's quite delicious actually. And I think the

story goes that it's called Command Daria because
the Knights Templar, the Crusader Knights were

here. Thank you. This is great. Uh the commander
of the Knights Templar gave his name to this wine

and it became so famous it was described as the
the the king of wines and a wine for kings. And

it was considered so good, the story goes that
Richard the Lionheart when he eventually married

his fiance, he drank this at his wedding.
So, yamas, welcome. Thank you. Yamas. Yamas.

Oh, that's going to that's going to keep good.
That's very good. That's going to keep the chill

of the snow out today. Yes. Thank you, Father. The
You're very kind. This is Thank you very much. To

me, the art of these churches and the communities
around them are a true treasure of this island.

Not only are these buildings beautiful,
but if you know how to decode them,

you can find the story of medieval
Cyprus hidden on and inside their walls.

[Music] Cypress is a treasure trove of
amazing historical riches. especially

its capital, Nicicoia.

The rich architecture here reflects those who've
controlled it, the Venetians, who desired Cyprus

partly for its trade with the East, the Ottomans,
and even the British. But I'm here to witness

something extremely unusual. Following conflict
between Greek and Turkish populations in the 1960s

and 70s, a huge slice of this city has been off
limits to most, including its own inhabitants.

What's behind this roadblock is a ghost town.
Now, for me as a historian, in some ways,

it's remarkable because what's in there has lain
pretty much untouched since it was barricaded off

half a century ago. It's very very difficult to
get access, but the UN's given me an opportunity

to investigate. The United Nations have
been custodians of this area since 1974,

keeping the peace between both sides.
As it's still strongly contested,

I'd need to be chaperoned by one of their daily
patrols. So, it's obviously a very sensitive area,

so I'm actually not sure whether I'm allowed to
to talk to you yet, but I'm coming up here to meet

the colonel. Morning. Are you Colonel Hansen? Yes,
I'm John Hansen. I'm the chief of staff unfair.

Welcome. Thank you. I'm I'm Bethany Hughes. Nice
to meet you. Thank you so much for letting us in

because talk about a unique place. Well, it is
unique. It's uh you know, a chance in a lifetime

for many people. So, I hope you find what you're
looking for. You tell me what I can and can't do.

I'm sticking with you. Certainly will. Certainly
will. Don't worry. Known as the Green Line, this

charged treasure is a ceasefire buffer zone which
cuts the island in two. To the south lies the

Greekeaking Republic of Cyprus and to the north
the self-administered Turkish Republic of Northern

Cyprus. And the buffer zone carves a line straight
through the center of Nicico itself. [Music]

here. In some places, people are able to
pass between the two sides via checkpoints,

but no one except the UN can enter the
buffer zone. [Music] It's so ironic,

isn't it? You said people just sitting having
a a lunch either side. It's just unbelievable,

isn't it? Greek criates and um the Turkish area
here. Unbelievable. Should we go through? Yes.

Following several centuries of rule by the
Turkish Ottomans and later by the British,

Cyprus finally won its independence
in 1960 and the Republic of Cypress

was created. But there followed a
period of intense political unrest

between Greek and Turkish populations as
Cypress struggled to define its identity.

In 1964, the British major general in
charge of the peace force took a blunt

green chinograph pencil and drew a temporary
ceasefire line through the city. A decade

later that line became impassible
and the city was divided into two.

In 1974, this band which ran directly through
the center of Nicico was suddenly abandoned.

And these streets are a time capsule
of how they were in that moment. I'm

immensely privileged to be allowed to
come here as many of those who lived and

worked in these streets are unable
to access what was once their own.

Oh, look at this. So, this is just obviously
a, you know, a regular store. And you can

hear the call to prayers just started. That's
amazing, isn't it? Cuz this is a Greek shop.

Wow. All these objects are completely ordinary
things, but they've become extraordinary because

of how they were left. So, the newspapers, I bet
they'll I bet there'll be a date to one of these.

22nd of January 1973. So just the the year
before this all fell apart. You see that is

the thing about history because everything
that's been touched by human hands matters

through time. But when things like this are
left, they become completely freighted with

meaning and with memory. It's it it's very
moving coming here. [Music] This is a former

car garage and while much of the building has
been stripped, over 50 cars remain. Second left

tenant Dan Tal, another UN peacekeeper,
knows more about the relics in his care.

This area had a a big Toyota dealership and
all these brand new cars would come in through

Famagusta and all of them would be driven directly
to Nicosia and then sold. Every single car will

have between 30 and 50 miles on the board.
Can you can you see it on here? Let's check.

Yeah. So, this one um 37.5 miles. So, that is
just at 37.5 miles lifespan as an active car.

ready to sell and then the war
broke out would abandon. I mean

all of that just that flash of time as
you say it is literally a time capsule.

But it's not only objects which have been trapped
in time here. The architecture of this place is

also a record of the city's rich heritage. This
former primary school, its walls now riddled

with bullet holes, is a beautiful example of
neocclassical design. And the Ledra Palace,

now the UN's crumbling base, was once the most
glamorous hotel in all of Nicar, a 1940s Italian8

design, where the creme de la creme of European
and Middle Eastern elites would rub shoulders and

sip cocktails together. When the green line
came down, all the parties suddenly stopped.

And one of the most impressive
historical monuments are the

city walls dating to the time of Venetian control.

The walls and their fortifications originally went
right the way round the city and actually they

became a symbol for Nicico. And when you look at
beautiful historical maps like this, you can see

and and you can just feel how ridiculous, how
terrible it is that this is a city that's been

divided in half. For Greeks and Turkish criates
alike, the buffer zone is steeped in personal

memory and symbols of their identity. One of the
narrowest points of the buffer zone, so-called

Spear Alley, was once a scene of devastating
violence over the right to this land. One night,

the Turkish soldier decided to put a bayonet on
the end of his um broomandle and try stab soldier.

Whether it's true or not, I don't know. But this
place did cause escalations uh from time to time.

It's just a madness, isn't it, that there is a a
divide like this in the center? Yeah. Sad. It's

very sad. What What do you think is the answer?
It's that integration. It's that dispelling the

fear of the other side. Wersworth poet has
a beautiful line where he says, "Humans have

have different faces, but we all share one human
heart." And you know, you can't say better than

that. Yeah. But over the past 50 years, there have
been rare flashes of harmony between both sides.

One relates to an incredible woman called Annie
who lived right here. Now, Annie was a woman who

was born in 1900, but she refused point blank to
leave in 1974 when the city was divided. And so,

UN peacekeepers had to take her in and out
of one of these gates to get her shopping.

And when she eventually died in 1991, she'd
become such a cause celebr such a symbol of

resistance and tenacity that her funeral was
actually the first ever by communal event of

the buffer zone attended by Greek criates and
Turkish criates alike. [Music] And today there

are also glimmers of a more peaceful future.
A shared sense of responsibility has brought

some people together from both sides to
work on restoring their mutual heritage.

And a new state-of-the-art VR project by the
Cypress Institute is capturing the historic

buildings here digitally so the next generation
of criates will understand their history. [Music]

Elsewhere at the old Nicicoia
airport, there's something else

bringing people together. In 1968,
this terminal building was opened as

a cuttingedge development costing over
a million pounds. But 6 years later,

it found itself in the heart of the buffer
zone. And now it's succumbed to mother nature.

There's a very strange beauty to this place
because humans haven't been here for close on

50 years. Unwittingly in a way, the buffer zone
has become a kind of nature sanctuary. So there

are very rare birds and plants and animals here.
Rare mulong, a type of endangered sheep which had

been on Cyprus for 10,000 years and now making a
resurgence in some areas along the buffer zone.

an expression of hope in this wilderness. And
it's this precious new world which some Greek

and Turkish criates are working together
to try to protect. It's a humbling thought

that a shared responsibility for this
fragile sleeping beauty could perhaps

become a catalyst for change. And that is why
the buffer zone is a treasure for me. [Music]

Cypress's natural riches and its strategic
location have been both a great blessing and

at times a curse. One Arab geographer of the 10th
century wrote that this is an island that is in

the power of whichever nation is overlorded in the
region and it's certainly been host to a maelstrom

of cultures and influences although Cypress
never really seems to have lost sense of itself.

This beautiful land forged treasures that
represented the things that really mattered

to women and men from prehistory onwards.
And some of the symbols they left behind

still speak to us today. [Music] An earlier
travel time next week. Betany sails to Turkey

to reveal sea and secrets at 5:30. And you
can stream all episodes of her treasures

of the world from Albania to Azabaijan on
all four. Truly inspiring stuff. Up next,

Sophie Morgan's beaten people living wild
with tips on how to change your life.

[Music]

I'm traveling the world exploring secrets
and wonders. This is really tight. So,

I asked my friends here if they could uh get me
access off the beaten track, and I 100% definitely

got what I asked for. An adventure by land and
sea to the most fascinating places. It is just

extraordinary where I've been given special access
to significant and surprising treasures. Some

of the most remarkable artworks to survive from
antiquity. Buried in ancient sites, extraordinary

buildings, and glorious works of art. I'm in
search of the treasures that help to explain

the story of us. Journey with me to discover how
the past shapes our lives today. That's Turkey.

And this gorgeous coastline runs down the Aian and
then the Mediterranean seas. Over there is Greece

and the rest of Europe. Head south and you hit
the Middle East and North Africa. If you travel

inland, you'll reach the Black Sea and Asia. So,
this is a strategically crucial highway. [Music]

It's home to remarkable human stories from the
private lives of an eccentric dynasty to newly

discovered secrets of a neglected civilization.
From Roman riots to the legend of the Trojan War,

I'm exploring the treasures of
Turkey in the Mediterranean.

The coastline of Mediterranean Turkey
bristles with history. It's rich with

stories from ancient times, and many of its
secrets are still waiting to be uncovered.

[Music]

This treasure isn't a single place. It is a
remarkable family with an enduring legacy.

A dynasty whose women ruled as well as
men and whose capital was this place,

its modernday Bodram, ancient Helicanasses.

The dynasty, the Hecatmludes, ruled over an area
known as Keria in the 4th century B.C.E. [Music]

The Kerrion people were great artists, soldiers,
and seafarers. They were smart and distinctive.

So, it's odd that they've pretty much
been written out of the history books.

Ah, hello. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Great to be in Bard. Thank you. Bye. Okay. So,

you've got to ask yourself why. Why do
people hear so little about the Karens? Well,

it is partly because written sources
are very scarce. But I've got to say

it is also just because I'm sure that
there was prejudice amongst Western

scholars who couldn't quite wrap their heads
around them, who couldn't categorize them.

They're a bit too exotic. They weren't Greeks.
They weren't Romans. They weren't even Persians.

So, I'm going to try to do what I can to help
give the Carans the attention they deserve. My

mission starts with an unexpected lastm minute
call to say I'm being granted access to a really

special place. the recently discovered
tomb of the head of the Kerrion dynasty,

King Hecatomminus. The family reached the height
of their power under Hectominus' son, Mosulus,

but it was Hectomnus, who kickstarted it all.
The tomb isn't open to the public, so it's a

huge privilege to be allowed inside. I don't know
what to expect. Uh, so I am genuinely excited.

It looks very promising.

It's not very Indiana Jones, but
this is how it's done. [Music]

This is um it's so sensitive that you had to come
through an air lock obviously to get in. [Music]

Oh my god. Look at this. This is Hecatomnus. So
this is the man who founded the Hecatnid dynasty.

And this is his sarcophagus. This is where he
was buried. That is so beautiful. Look at this.

I mean, you never get to come into a tomb that
hasn't been um opened before. And Lutters got

in here and took some of the golden treasure, but
they're the only people apart from the restoers

who've been in. So, this is an absolutely
remarkable once in a-lifetime experience.

I mean this is so the Karens were very famous for
the quality of their their stone carving and he's

the big man so he'd have used the absolute best
in the business and look how beautiful look how

beautiful this look at his fantastic features on
his face so this is a real portrait and I think

I'm just working out what I'm looking at here
so so okay so this is a umerary banquet so So,

uh, you know, the idea is it's almost
as if he's still alive even though he's

being buried inside. And they're mourning
him with him present at his own funeral.

These are his servants. And these must be his
children. These are his children. My god. So,

that's going to be little Mosulus or one of
his brothers. So, I'm guessing his daughters

are going to be over this side. Yeah. Look,
look, look. It's holding a little bird which

was often a symbol that appears inerary scenes
but you'd normally mean that I get the children

represented as grown-ups on the other side. So
I don't know. Let's see if they're around here.

Oh my goodness. This is tight.

Okay.

[Music]

Oh, wow. Look at this. It's a hunting scene. So,

here's Heca Thomas again. And he's hunting
a lion. Oh, of course he's hunting a lion.

Cuz that proves how omnipotent you are.
Oh, this is just so incredible. [Music]

Okay. So, that's what you'd expect to
find around here. Oh my goodness. So,

these are the the children grown up. So,
that would mean that this is Mosulus,

Hecatomminus's son, and I never
thought I'd see his face like this.

Moses and his wife Artameeseia succeeded
Hecatomnus. Together they embarked on an

ambitious building program. The climax, an uber
elaborate royal tomb in central Hakanasses.

This was the high street of ancient
Hakanasses. And today it is a charming,

if slightly unexpected, entrance to one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world. The monument,

a groundbreaking mixture of eastern and
western art, was destroyed probably by an

earthquake in medieval times. So you have
to try to imagine the moselum. It was 40

m high and a kind of fivetory wedding cake
creation. Um it was covered in sculptures

of battle scenes and images of the royal
family and interestingly a lot of Amazon's

almost at the top there was an entire Egyptian
stepped pyramid and then above that a fourhorse

chariot driven almost certainly by Mosas
and Artameeseia themselves. It was enormous.

Mosus might have come up with the idea for
this monument but at the time of his death

in 353 B.CE it was unfinished. So Artameeseia
took up the challenge and created a wonder.

[Music] Now here's the thing. Artameeseia
was Mosulus's wife and successor and she

was his sister. And these two had another
brother, Adreas, and another sister, Ada,

who were married, too. Frankly, this
is odd. So, what's going on? Is it

that the Hecatomminids as a new dynasty are
trying to make a mark, to be distinctive,

to distinguish themselves from others? Or is
it just that they want to keep power really

tight within the family? Either way, these
sibling marriages really set them apart.

Perhaps the most significant impact of their
sibling marriages was that it promoted female

power. Hecatonid women ruled with their
brother husbands not just behind the scenes,

but in public. When their spouses died, they
weren't passed over for a younger male heir. And

what's more, they ruled with confidence. There's a
great story about Artameeseia. The island of roads

was controlled by Keria, but the Rohians revolted
and sent a fleet here to try to take Hikarnasses.

Altameisia was having none of it and she hid
her fleet in a secret harbor and ordered them

to attack. The Rodians were surprised and
completely overwhelmed and the Kerranss

boarded the Rohdian ships and then sailed straight
back to the island of roads. When they arrived,

of course, the Rhodians thought that
these were their countrymen rather

than enemies and they welcomed them in. And
so Kerrier retook the subordinate island.

After Artameeseia's reign,
the next Hecatonid couple,

her brother and sister,
Adreas and Adah, took control.

When Adreas died, Adah ruled alone
for 4 years, but then she was exiled.

Luckily for her, the most powerful man in
the world at the time, Alexander the Great,

rocked up and offered his allegiance. You get
the sense the two of them really got on. Uh Ada

actually adopted Alexander and she sent him
sweet treats, kind of cakes and buns before

he went into battle. Alexander successfully
besieged Hakonasus and reinstated Ada as queen.

But that wasn't the end of her story. In
1989, archaeologists here in Bodram made

a truly remarkable discovery, an undisturbed
tomb believed to be that of Adah herself. The

finds are now in Bodram Castle. The castle was
built in the early 1400s on what's believed to

be the original site of the Hecatnid's Palace.
The stunning treasure unearthed in the excavation

is displayed here as are what are almost
certainly the mortal remains of Adah herself.

[Applause]

The Hecaton family are a treasure because
they are remarkable in themselves,

but also because they focus our attention on the
neglected Kerran civilization. Their dynamism and

determination forged new forms of culture and
they even gave us one of the seven wonders of

the ancient world. Plus, thanks to Mosulus,
they gave the world a new word, Moselum.

[Music]

My next stop to explore ancient
civilizations is on this stunning

stretch of the Mediterranean coastline, now known
as the Turquoise Coast or the Turkish Riviera.

In antiquity, the coastline here right inland
to the Taras Mountains was home to a brilliant

civilization called the Lickians. Now, we hear
about the Lickians in Homer as allies of Troy,

but we also know that they were real. Uh they
had their own language and alphabet and beliefs

and often lived in cities overlooking these seas.
Now, new discoveries are revealing their secrets.

By the 2nd century B.C.E. the city of Petara
was Likia's capital city and primary seapport.

For centuries hills of sand covered
not only the shoreline but the site

of Petara itself until in the late
1980s archaeologists began excavating.

As the truckloads of sand were cleared
away, this remarkable building was revealed.

It is just blowing my mind the fact
that when I first came to Turkey,

this place was completely covered in sand.
I mean, no one knew it was here. And yet,

not only is it the most impressive
building, it was also home to what

one enlightenment thinker described as
the most perfect form of government.

This was the Liian League, a
coalition of all the cities in Liia,

the first known democratic federation in
history. The member cities of the league

committed themselves to be governed
by the central assembly that met here

in this council chamber. Each city elected
and sent one, two, or three representatives

depending on its size. This proportional system
of representatives was unique in ancient times.

The president of the Lickian League, the Licky
Arc, sat here and all around him were citizens of

cities eagerly representing their own interests.
So the atmosphere here must have been absolutely

electric. And in fact, this system was so
successful, it directly inspired the men

who drafted the American Constitution. And if you
think about it, American chambers of Congress are

shaped exactly like this. The Federation
survived right up until the 4th century.

Now, before I leave Petara, I've just got to
mention one of the city's most celebrated sons.

He was born here around 1700 years ago and he
was a churchman called Nicholas of Myra. Now

Nicholas Admmyer is arguably one of the most
famous men in the world and you might think

that you haven't heard of him but he was
also called St. Nicholas aka Santa Claus

aka Father Christmas. Um Nicholas was born
here but he lived most of his life in another

Lickian city around 50 miles east along
the coast. A beautiful place called Myra.

Ancient Myra, modernday Dere was
another leading lickian city.

St. Nicholas was bishop here in the 4th century.

This church was the site of
his original burial place.

[Music] After his death, his story was painted
up here on the walls. Um, and we learned that

his parents who were very wealthy died in a
pandemic. So, he inherited a huge amount of money

which he put to very good use. Um, he donated
to charitable works. Uh, he was just generally

very kind and he even paid one man so that his
daughters didn't have to become prostitutes. So,

look up there. There he is. This is St.
Nicholas, Father Christmas, Santa Claus,

Noel Baba, as he's called here in Turkey. And
he is wearing a red outfit. He's got a white

beard and he's got little white trimmings on his
coat. Fantastic. St. Nicholas made Myra famous,

but I also want to search further back in
time to a period more shrouded in mystery.

And for that I've come to the archaeological
site recently dubbed the Pompei of Anatolia.

Ancient Myra doesn't appear in real solid
historical sources until relatively late.

So to find out more about the city and its
people and its stories, we have to turn to

archaeology. And there have been some brilliant
recent archaeological discoveries here. And I

know that two of the women working on the finds
are here today. [Music] Hi ladies. Hi. They're

archaeologists. Sema Taloo and Best to Sema. Sema
and Best Best. Nice to meet you. How lovely to

meet you. So these are two of the team that found
something very special here in the theater. So So

what what was it exactly? What did you find?
100 intact figurines like these actually. Oh,

they're beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're
so I mean honestly where did you find them? Um

we found middle of this era. So just right in
the middle of the theater. Yes. It's unusual.

Why were they here? We think the people is around
a ritual here and after after the ritual they're

thrown away. It's very exciting because it's
like a jigsaw puzzle of history. Yes. Look at

that. It's a lady. Lady and her kids. Fantastic.
Do you know who this is? Heracles. Heracles. The

color is so beautiful, isn't it? Yes. Incredible.
Oh, look. Lovely hairstyle. Yes. So sweet. That

baby is so adorable. And it's so lovely to see
this because in history often we hear about the

kings and the queens and the powerful and the the
great and the good and the very rich but it feels

as though some of these are ordinary people.
We can see uh and we can understand the ancient

dresses faces garments are red and blue pink.
Amazing. They're lovely. Yes. This is very special

collection. When we found them, we so excited.
Our team is hugging each other happily. Actually,

we crying. Yeah. Yeah. Nearly. I can still I
can hear the emotion in your in your I love

them. It's making you cry. That's so sweet. It
feels as though this has changed your life a

bit. Yes. Of course. Yes. Incredible. What
a what a privilege to see them. Thank you.

The figurines offer a wonderful glimpse into
the world of the people of ancient Myra, and

they're not the site's only portal to the past.
There's something up here I haven't shown you yet.

[Music]

[Music]

These extraordinary structures are tombs sculpted
into the rock face mostly in the 4th century BCE.

[Music] Some of these tombs are built to look
like temples, but a lot of them represent homes

just just like the houses that the Lickians
would have lived in. And I don't know if you

can see those cylinders. Uh there's a kind of line
of them there. And those are meant to be logs that

were used in house construction and actually are
still used in in traditional houses here today.

And there are little traces of blue and red and
yellow and paint. So, we know that originally

these would have been a riot of color. So, it's
kind of gorgeous, isn't it? Cuz because it's

really physically where the dead were being made
to feel at home. [Music] Some tombs are accessible

to the public, but off the beaten track, access
is strictly only with special permission for

academic research, including one tomb, which
is particularly striking. I've been warned,

it's a scramble to reach. [Music] The rock here
is just honeycombed with these tombs. some of

them slightly more inaccessible than others.
And that was quite that was quite some climb,

but worth it. Uh because what's here is wonderful.
Um so inside the tomb, this is the family itself.

And then on the outside here, uh you've got
friends and guests. There's even a mother holding

a little child's hand. And you know, I was talking
about the colors that they used. You can see the

remnants of the original paint. Reds and blue
over 2,000 years old. This is wonderful, isn't it?

The Lickian lands and their culture are
a treasure because of their incredible

epic natural beauty, but also because they offer

us intimate clues to the lives of women
and men from the distant past. [Music]

This part of the Mediterranean coast was
a vital meeting place of civilizations

and cultures. And it's home to one of the
most famous ancient cities in the world.

This treasure is an epic story and an enduring
mystery. The world of Troy. I've been obsessed

with the heroins and heroes of the Trojan War for
decades, and it is a great tale, but it's dogged

with controversy. Is the Trojan War myth, or is
it history? I'm going to head in land to try to

unwrap the riddle of Troy. The story of the Trojan
War, of how a mighty fleet of Akan Greeks sailed

across the sea and attacked the city of Troy,
laying siege to it for 10 years, was told almost

3,000 years ago by the Greek poet Homer. It's
a brilliant, dramatic account. It plays out at

a strategically crucial location. what's now
the continental boundary of Europe and Asia.

The ancient Greeks and Romans really believed the
story, but in later centuries, even the location

of Troy was unknown, suggesting the tale might
be just a myth. Then in the 19th century, amateur

archaeologists using geographical clues from Homer
identified this spot as the possible site of Troy.

I just adore this place. Um, I first came here
as a teenager and the whole site is like a giant

puzzle of fragments that you have to try and piece
together. Um, like adding chapters together in a

great book. The first excavations were led in the
1870s by Hinrich Schlean. but grabbed headlines,

unearthing an ancient settlement now accepted
as Troy and a spectacular cache of treasure.

The treasure was from too early in Troy's
history to be directly linked to Homer's tales,

but it confirmed the importance and wealth of the
city. Professor Rustam Alan, the current director

of the excavations, is going to show me where the
treasure was found. So just before we go in, what

is all this pottery? There is a handmade pottery
and the first time we have a well-made pottery is

in Yes. place. Yeah. So made on a potter's wheel.
So it's beautifully even. That's mean the 2,500

years BC. So that's 4,500 years old. Yes. Okay. We
can go down. Professor Alan, this is incredible.

Feels quite dangerous now. Yes. Dangerous. Yes. A
little bit dangerous. Be careful. I will. I will.

Yeah, because everywhere there is a trenches.
So this is where Schlleman excavated all. Yes,

we are now inside of the early Troy city gate
where he discovered the treasure. So I mean

just I've just got to pause for a moment because
first of all that's extremely exciting for me.

So where we are now so this is the the citadel of
Troy dating back to around 2500 BC. I mean I can

see there is archaeology this kind of bit I can
show to you here. Thank you is if you look here

uh is then after surface and you can see the
burnt layers and some mud break structure. So

this it's it's redder this soil. Yes. The the mud
break is after the fire is getting red color. Are

we looking at a destruction layer? Yes. So this
what we're looking at this this is the city of

of of the treasure and this is the fire that
that would have destroyed that culture. Yes.

Exactly. Incredible. You love working here
don't you? Yes. Um since over 30 years I came

here as a students. the the magic of the poetry
power of the poetry is I think is make the Troy

uh one of the most important place
in history. I feel every mornings the

uh the homeic landscape is similar with the
real landscape in in around the tri. Amazing.

So you're an archaeologist and a scientist
but you can feel the it's almost like the

aura of Homer is in the landscape. Yes,
of course. all all the time. So exciting.

Much of the treasure found at Troy was smuggled
out of the country, but recently some of the finds

have been returned and are now in the Troy
Museum. You just have to look at these. So,

the jewelry in this case is over 4,500 years
old. And if that weren't staggering enough

in and of itself, the workmanship is so
fine. It's so exquisite. I think probably

my favorite pieces are these amazing earrings
which have a kind of shower of leaves tumbling

down. And it is brilliant being so close to
them because it just shortcircuits you to a

connection to those early Bronze Age ancestors
of Homer's Trojans. And I have to say this,

I love wearing gold earrings. And isn't
it fantastic that the women and the

men of this time and place in prehistory
loved wearing this kind of jewelry, too?

Historians agree that if there was a Trojan War,

it almost certainly took place in the late
Bronze Age, probably around 1,200 B.CE.

And most of what you see on the site of
Troy today dates to that time. And there

is mounting evidence that the events described
by Homer do indeed have their roots in reality.

The truth is we just don't know whether a single
Trojan war happened out there on the plains of

Troy. But tablets from the time describe clashes
between Greeks and local Anatolians here in what

is now Turkey. Uh if you look at the journeys
that Homer describes in his poetry, then these

match almost exactly Bronze Age trading routes.
And one of the princes of Troy, Prince Hector, is

described as a tamer of horses. And archaeologists
have found really huge numbers of horsebones here.

So, it's all very tantalizing, but it does suggest
that there are kernels of truth and a foundation

of history to those fantastic tales. More clues
have emerged after years of excavation. These

huge blocks of limestone make up the 550 m worth
of walls that originally surrounded the city.

In Homer, the walls of the city are described
as sloping and indeed they do slope. But not

only that, originally there was a mud brick
structure on top. So these would have stretched

10 m high. So I am certain that I'm standing
here in front of Homer's well walls. Troy

[Music]

There's one more place I want to visit. A
four mile journey from the mainland. The

Turkish island of Bosjardada known in antiquity
as Tenados. [Music] I've never actually made

it here before. Um, but this island crops up
loads in ancient sources and it plays a really

crucial role in the drama of the Trojan War and in
particular in the story of the Trojan horse. So,

it is fantastic to finally be getting here
[Music] today. Buzz Jarda is an intoxicating

mix of culture from both east and west. It's also
famous now, as it was back in antiquity, for its

wine. In a final plot twist, the Aan Greek fleet
came here as the conflict was reaching its climax.

You'll probably remember the story of the Trojan
horse when the Greeks built a giant wooden horse

and left it outside the gates of Troy with a SWAT
team of Greek soldiers hidden inside waiting for

their chance to trick their way into the city.
Well, the poets and the myth makers tell us that

the rest of the Greek army with their ships waited
here for the signal to attack. And coming here,

it is just brilliant because this bay is
still full of ships actually waiting for

the right winds to sail up the Dinell. So this
is somewhere where the landscape makes myth real.

In the story, the final assault the
Greek fleet launched from here on Troy

was a success. After 10 years, the Trojan
War was over. But the legend lives on.

It is fascinating how obsessed we continue to
be with these stories of Troy. Um, just last

year there was a news story that the Trojan horse
itself had been discovered at the site of Troy in

the form of 50 m long planks and beams. Um, now
that actually turned out to be a hoax, but it

just shows us how driven we still are to try to
find the physical evidence of these epic tales.

The world of Troy is a treasure because
of the enduring power of the story and

the fascinating modern discoveries that
suggest it's rooted in reality. It's a

world where archaeology and ancient poetry
come together to paint a picture of the past.

[Music]

This part of the Turkish Aian coast is packed
with ancient wonders. My final treasure was

once one of the greatest cities in the Roman
Empire. This place is truly exceptional. For

thousands of years, it's been a magnet
for travelers. And today it's one of

the most spectacular archaeological
wonders on earth. Welcome to Ephesus.

The whole city is a world heritage site.
Ephesus had existed for at least 6,000 years,

and its port became a central hub for
travelers between east and west. [Music]

Ancient Ephesus was exciting and energetic and
impressive. At its height, over 200,000 people

lived here and traders and tourists and pilgrims
made their way to the port and then up into this

city, not to mention the rich and famous of the
ancient world. So, Alexander the Great and those

doomed lovers Anthony and Cleopatra and the
Christian evangelist St. Paul all walked these

streets. [Music] Ephesus's early draw was as a
place of pilgrimage. From the 6th century B.CE.

It was home to another of the seven wonders
of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis.

This street was built as a grand processional
highway right to the temple. Now sadly very

little survives of the temple itself.
But Artemis wasn't just confined to the

sanctuary. She pervaded this whole city
and some rather wonderful discoveries

have been made here that bring us face
to face with the goddess herself. [Music]

The goddess that was excavated right
in the governmental heart of Ephesus

is definitely a creature of the east. [Music]

Just look at her. I you really do feel as though
you're in the presence of a goddess. She is wild,

isn't she? But of course, the first thing you
notice are these strange protuberances around her

chest. And the truth is, we just don't know what
they are. We we don't know whether they're breasts

or bull's testicles or eggs or sacks of honey. But
whatever they are, they tell us that Artimus had

dominion over nature and the natural world and
over the supernatural world, too. Look at those

sphinxes up here. And these strange monsters,
you can absolutely understand why people would

travel for days and for miles just to be in the
presence of this ferocious, fckened power. [Music]

The temple of Armis made Ephesus famous,
but it was later under the Roman Empire

as a thriving port and capital of the province
of Asia that the city became mega rich. Much of

what you see here today is the result of a Roman
building boom in the first and second centuries.

Streets were paved with marble and magnificent new
public buildings. Temples, fountains, gateways,

a concert hall and bars were constructed. In
fact, Ephesus was packed with treasures. This

is probably the most famous. This is the
library of Kelsus. But this wasn't just

a library. This was a tomb in honor of a man
called Kelsus with a public library on the top.

The library, one of the most impressive buildings
in the empire, could hold 12,000 scrolls and was

full of architectural wizardry like
temperature and humidity controls.

There were also new luxury
private homes. Remarkably,

this city center apartment complex
survives. [Music] Ongoing restoration

work is giving us a rare glimpse into the
domestic world of Ephesus's wealthy elite.

It's just fantastic cuz every time I come here,
they've excavated or pieced together a bit more.

This was a place of real comfort. Hot and cold
water, underfloor heating, and high-end decor.

[Music]

Coming here, you just feel so close
to the women and men of Ephesus who

use their wealth to decorate their beautiful
homes in this way. But it is just fabulous,

isn't it? And do you know what? Arteimus even
has a presence here because excavators when they

were working recently discovered a gorgeous
statue of the goddess in this very house.

[Music] But change was coming.

One of the most famous visitors was
Christian evangelist Paul of Tarsus,

later known as St. Paul in the
mid 1st century he preached in the

local synagogue here and then more
widely to the Ephesian population.

From Paul's point of view, Ephesus, which was a
cosmopolitan city and a hub for travelers, was the

ideal place to try to spread the word about Jesus.
But things didn't quite go according to plan.

For most people living here at the time, Paul's
new message was unsettling and unwelcome,

as an account in the Bible makes clear.
According to the Acts of the Apostles,

a silver smith called Demetrius, who made his
living here by selling miniature souvenirs

of the temple of Artemis, stirred up his fellow
traders by claiming that Paul's radical teaching

would not only put them out of business, but also
threatened the temple and the goddess herself.

Soon, the city was in uproar with
crowds of people in the streets.

They converged here on the theater. It
was a dramatic setting. This was one of

the largest theaters in the ancient world
with an astonishing capacity of 24,000.

It must have been a highly charged moment.
Paul wanted to come to address the crowd,

but they were working themselves
up into a blind frenzy.

Local officials intervened to try to keep the
peace, telling the Ephesians that this new

cult would be no threat to Artemis. But the truth
was the writing was on the wall for the old gods.

Despite the initial resistance, the new
Christian religion flourished in Ephesus. [Music]

The city had a special connection to Jesus's
mother, Mary, who was said to have spent

her final years nearby. And it was here in
Ephesus that she received her greatest honor.

It seems that this is the first church in the
world to be dedicated to Mary. And not only that,

but right here at the council of Ephesus in
the fifth century, Mary was declared Theotocos,

the mother of God. Now, that is quite
some status for a woman to hold.

And I think it is no coincidence that Mary
was honored in this way here because this

is the place that for centuries had adored a
strong virgin character in the form of Artemis

the goddess. And just as with Artemis,
pilgrims still come here to honor Mary.

Ephesus is a dynamic treasure. A destination
for centuries for travelers and traders and

scholars and merchants and pilgrims. A carnival
of humanity buying and selling and praying and

making and creating the wonders that are here and
surely appreciating them too. [Music] Exploring

the treasures of Mediterranean Turkey
has been a delight and an epic journey.

A reminder that as a species, we create and seek
out stories wherever and whenever we live. From

world famous legends to wonders of the world
and worldclass discoveries. The past isn't

just a repository of history and myth. It's an
inspiration for the narratives of our own lives.

And Betany returns Saturday 18th here on
four. A list of organizations providing

support in Turkey and Syria can be found
online at channel4.com/support-humanitarian.

Wednesday and Thursday nights at
10:00, Kathy Burke explores aging,

arm of Bill Bailey and Jennifer
Saunders. It's growing up.

I'm traveling the world exploring secrets
and wonders. This is really tight. So,

I asked my friends here if they could uh get
me access off the beaten track. And I have 100%

definitely got what I asked for. An adventure by
land and sea to the most fascinating places. It

is just extraordinary where I've been given
special access to significant and surprising

treasures. Some of the most remarkable artworks to
survive from antiquity. Buried in ancient sites,

extraordinary buildings, and glorious works
of art. I'm in search of the treasures that

help to explain the story of us. Journey with
me to discover how the past shapes our lives

today. This time, I'm exploring the delights of
central and eastern Turkey. Throughout history,

the land all around me has been a bridge for
civilizations and a place where diverse culture

has flourished, too. From the magical cave homes
of Capidokia, that is Indiana Jones right there,

to a giant morale on top of the world and recently
discovered mosaics forgotten for over 1,700 years.

[Music]

My journey will take me hundreds of
miles across central and eastern Turkey.

This treasure isn't on. It's within the
natural wonder all around me. the awesome,

breathtaking, otherworldly landscape of Capidokia.

This extraordinary terrain
of eerie towers and cones

are the eroded ashfields of ancient volcanoes.

Natural forces have created geological wonders
here. And humanity's dynamic relationship

with this extraordinary environment
has created man-made wonders, too.

For thousands of years, locals and visitors have
been inspired to carve homes into the soft rock.

Cool in summer, warm in winter. People
have lived here right up to modern times.

Zelve inhabited until the 1950s was once one of

the largest man-made cave
communities in Capidokia.

Ome seban lived here until he was 13. So this is

your house here? Yes. Yeah. Can
we go in? Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Over time, rockfalls and collapsing rooms
made it just too dangerous to live here,

and Zelves's families eventually relocated to a
new village close by. So, there's a fire here.

Yeah. Really good. How many people
lived here when you were living here?

It sounds like very happy memories here. Next
door is where Omare and his family slept. You

obviously really enjoy coming back here. So,
what is the one thing that you most miss?

[Music]

The Turkish word for aura also translates as soul

or spirit. This special atmosphere
attracted pilgrims to Capedokia,

seeking out a kind of biblical wilderness
to test and nourish their spirits.

Christianity came early to Capidokia. Just months
after Jesus's death, his followers gathered in

Jerusalem and there were people from this region
among them who then brought his word back here.

As time went on, more and more religious
enthusiasts flocked to Capidokia, tempted

by this strange otherworldly landscape where they
felt they could be close to God in the wilderness.

And as time went on, populations
didn't just occupy man-made cave

towns above the surface. They
also borrowed underground.

I've come to the subterranean city of Ka Mackley.
[Music] Uh, I have to say it's slightly traumatic

coming back here because I first came here in 1986
when there were no lights anywhere at all. And

um, I got stuck and lost. Uh, and it gave me
claustrophobia. Um, so I'm quite um I'm being I'm

being quite brave coming back, but but this time
I've I've arranged to to meet a guide down inside.

Hello. Hi. Oh god. Hi. Hi. Nice to see you. Nice
to see you on me. I'm actually quite glad it's a

friendly face. Where are we? What are we standing
in now? We're in a teeny tiny miniature church

complete with an alter stone. Yes. Cut out of
rock. Aha. And any other clues here? A plus sign.

Let's see. Like a Greek cross. Yeah. Yeah. You can
see that, can't you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gosh. So,

what's I mean the fact So, you've got a church
down here. Why is that? Do you think I mean are

people using this just to live regularly? It
may have been used a storehouse uh at times

of peace. Yes. And it probably served as a a place
of refuge during times of war when survival was at

stake. [Music] For Christians fleeing persecution
in the medieval period, this place was a safe

haven and clues as to how it was defended can
still be found within the Warren of corridors. So,

it looks like a millstone, but is it? It does
look like a millstone, but the original purpose

of it would be rolling it across this tunnel. Yes.
To seal the tunnel shut. That is clever. I mean,

that is Indiana Jones right there, though, isn't
it? It is very Indiana Jonesesque for sure.

With stone doors carved in situ, around 100
tunnels, and eight floors, this underground city

is a feat of engineering, cleverly designed to
accommodate thousands of people for long periods

of time. So, what are we looking at? Look
what we have here. a ventilation shaft. Oh,

so that is such good news. Put your hand out.
Feel the fresh air coming out. Oh my god,

that's great news. So that goes up to the
surface, is it? It does. To the ground level

both and to deep down. They had to provide fresh
air in. Yes. Have that circulate through these

tunnels. Okay. So that they could continue
staying alive. Yes. Yes. Okay. I'm just going

to hang out here for a second. I can feel it's
cold and lovely on my face. It does feel good,

doesn't it? It does feel really good. It
feels really good. I But I'm sure you want

to take me deeper in. Do you? I do. I
sure do. Okay, great. Off we go then.

This city included a communal kitchen,
rooms for farm animals, and even a cemetery.

I imagine when you come down here and spend
time here, does it make you feel close to the

people who created this? Are you impressed
by them? Impressed. I'm astounded. I mean,

the extensiveness of the carving,
the labor that must have went into

it over who knows how many centuries is just
mind-blowing. Yeah. Never ceases to amaze me.

In the 10th century, church building
and decoration rose to a whole new

level. [Music] Nearby is Takari, one of the
most beautiful rock cut churches in all of

Capedokia. Every single inch of this church
has been carved out of the natural rock.

It was begun around 9:15 and then
it was extended 50 years later.

These are some of the most exquisite frescos to
survive from the medieval world. This is simply

the best that money can buy. Artists
were brought in from Constantinople,

what's now Istanbul. And if you just
look at the material that they're using,

so this beautiful, beautiful blue, this
is lapis lazuli, which has come all the

way from Afghanistan. And there's gold on some
of the halos. So it's a real statement church,

but it's also a church with a bit of a
secret that's only just been discovered.

It's a clue to this church's intriguingly
humble origins. [Music] So, up until a

couple of years ago, people thought that this
was just a a slightly grubby, skanky, kind of

inexplicable storm, but there's been a brilliant
bit of scholarly detective work. And it's been

revealed that almost certainly this was a hermit's
cell. So, this was where a solitary hermit lived.

And the reason that the church is here at all is
that it was built around his space. So you know

this was the kind of sacred beating heart of the
place and this is one of the clues. [Music] Now

this is called a haggiocope and what that means
is a kind of saintly port hole. So the hermit

who was living here would have been able to look
out straight at the Virgin Mary and adored her.

So the whole church was constructed
to enhance and protect the hermit's

piety creating an ultimate religious experience.

[Music] Capidokia is a treasure because of the
special relationship it's allowed its inhabitants

to enjoy with the natural world that continues
to this day. Thank you. Everywhere you go,

there's evidence of the brilliantly ingenious
ways that people have worked with this remarkable

landscape around them. I mean, these homes
in these fairy chimneys are just fantastic.

And it's Capidokia's spiritual dimension,

too. Hermits, Christians, mystics, and
Muslims flocked here from far and wide,

captivated by its ethereal wilderness,
which nourished soul and spirit. [Music]

My next treasure takes me back over 10,000 years
and to the Neolithic site of Carahan Teepe.

What's being discovered here is changing
what we know about the story of human life on

Earth. [Music] only unearthed in 2019. No one's
been allowed to film with this access before.

What you're looking at here is one of the
earliest settlements ever discovered. It's

11,400 years old. So, just stop and think
about that for a minute. Carahantepe is

7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid in
Egypt. [Music] And so far only 1% has been

excavated. So this is genuinely the most
extraordinary treasure trove of a place.

At a time when most people were
hunter gatherers, this place was

expertly carved out from the bedrock with
different rooms for different purposes,

indicating the sophistication of the society
that built it. Obviously, this place is still

being decoded. Um, but we think it was created
as some kind of giant assembly area. So far,

200 of these massive columns have been discovered.
And a lot of them are decorated with wild animals,

things like leopards and wild boar. I don't know
if you can make this one out. So, this is a human

figure. So there's something important happening
here. But you probably some kind of ritual.

But what's been discovered just over there is
completely unique and was completely unexpected.

11 monumental columns inside an enclosure.

You've got to ask what is going on here.
Um there's there's a kind of channel that

allowed water to come in. So maybe this was
for some kind of right of passage. And that

central rock there is in the shape
of a leopard. And the whole thing is

overlooked by this beautiful bearded face.
It's a man who's got a snake for a body.

We can only begin to imagine the rituals
that went on here. But but what this does

tell us is that the people who lived here
turning the landscape into something human.

The evidence of ritual suggests this
11,000y old community had a belief system,

but their home here didn't endure. People lived
here for 1,500 years and then they abandoned the

place. But before they left, they did something
extraordinary. They covered over the site as if

they were putting a person to bed and laying
him or her to rest in a deep sleep. [Music]

Now, the incredible thing about this site is that
it's not alone. There are probably 10 others like

it in this region. Um, and there's another
excavation I've just got to take you to. I'm

heading around 30 mi down the road to one of the
most famous Neolithic sites, Gbeckley, potbellied

hill in Turkish. I really do love this place. Um,
I first came here when the excavations were quite

new and it was completely mindblowing and now
there's a whole lot more that's been discovered.

Dating to 9,600 B.CE. This site 200 years older
than Carahantepe is also full of depictions of

animals. And what's amazing is that these
images adorn columns from the earliest

monumental temples in the world. We think
hunter gatherers congregated here for some

kind of religious experience. And that's not all.
As excavations are carrying on, um there's more

and more evidence being discovered of a kind of
settled life here. Um, so there are these huge

stone tools for grinding wild grain and seeds
and nuts and and massive systems for collecting

rainwater. [Music] These discoveries are
completely rewriting history. Our understanding of

the world was that when we invented agriculture,
we settled down in villages and then towns.

And we also invented religion so that we had a
kind of accepted code of behavior. But this is

being built when we're still hunter gatherers.
So what this tells us is that we're choosing

to come together in huge ceremonial spaces to
enjoy a kind of ecstatic shared experience.

New Neolithic sites are being discovered all
over this area. And these two teep may be part

of a constellation of at least 12 within a
60-mi radius. The Tach Tempash. Incredibly,

these aren't just being unearthed in the
countryside, but in people's homes. I've

just been tipped off that while digging a new
cellar, a local man has discovered something

extraordinary. Hello. Hello. Are you Aziz Bay?
Okay, thank you. Fantastic. Thank you. So all

around all around here in the village there
are lots of um excavations being discovered.

Yeah. Yeah, I'll mind I'll mind a hole
in the floor. Thank you. It's funny here.

Okay. So, it's a a kind of carved mural from the
Neolithic. It's basically like a story board. So,

there's a huge bull. He's attacking a man. He's
sort of like in a real position of distress. I

think he's hunting him. There's a leopard who's
also and he's just about to attack this poor man

who's hugging his stomach. Might be clutching his
penis. That seems to be a bit of a theme around

here. So, this is a whole story being told. I
mean, that's amazing. So, these are people who

aren't just representing themselves. They're
kind of writing a narrative into the stone.

They're telling the story of what mattered to
them, what you know, what their fears were of

their lives. I'm sure this is probably kind
of tmic. So, this is the worst thing that can

happen to you. Basically, you get attacked and
eaten by wild animals. They're probably trying

to prevent that happening by imagining it and
making it real in stone. This is incredible.

[Music] The new museum at Shan Leurfer houses

a stunning find. One of the most
significant statues in the world

man. [Music] This sculpture was discovered
by chance during construction work. And it's

also 11,000 years old, which makes it the
earliest known lifelike lifesize sculpture

of a human being that exists. And you know how
you feel you really want to get to know and to

meet and to try to understand those women and
men who created those incredible structures?

Well, here is one of them. His eyes are made of
obsidian, which is a kind of black volcanic glass,

and he seems to be naked, apart from this V-shaped
necklace, and it looks as though he's grasping at

his penis. So, this is a wonderful representation
of male power. And just think what worlds those

eyes would have stared out at. A prehistoric
landscape packed with treasures and wonders.

My next treasure close to the Neolithic Tepees
is an ancient city with special significance for

three world religions. Shanley Orfer originally
simply Orurf is known as the city of prophets

and it's believed to be the biblical city of Ur,
as well as the birthplace of Abraham or Ibraim,

the prophet revered by Jews, Christians, and
Muslims alike. In fact, it's been a sacred

city for thousands of years, attracting
pilgrims from across continents. [Music]

There are other candidates for the location
of Ur, but recent scholarship and regional

tradition point to Urer. [Music] According to
that tradition, Abraham's mother was pregnant

when the king at the time, King Nimrod, was given
a terrible prophecy by his stargazers that a boy

child would destroy his kingdom. Paranoid, Nimrod
ordered all pregnant women to be brought to his

palace. If they birthed a girl child, they were
allowed to go free. But if it was a boy, then

that child was killed. So to guard against this
terrible fate, Abraham's mother hid in a cave and

birthed her son safely. [Music] The cave Abraham
is said to have been born in around 4,000 years

ago is now in this mosque complex. [Music] Tens of
thousands of Muslims come to pray here every year.

It's believed Abraham sheltered in the cave
for 7 years before moving to his father's home.

an example of humanity imbuing the
earth with a spiritual dimension.

At the time, polytheism, the worship of many gods,
was universal. But Abraham believed something that

was radically new. He said there was only one God
and only that one God should be worshiped. And he

didn't keep his ideas to himself. um he tore down
idols and he challenged those around him with his

arguments. And so he's come to be acknowledged
as one of the world's first monotheists.

We're told that King Nimrod was so outraged
by what he saw as Abraham's blasphemy that he

threw him from a huge height towards
a great fire. But God intervened. He

turned the flames into pool water and the
logs into fish. And so Abraham was saved.

Today both the pool and the carp in
it are considered sacred. Thank you.

These must be the most cusseted fish in the world.
Um because you're not allowed to catch them.

If you do, then you'll become blind. And
loads of people come here to feed them.

For centuries, connection to Abraham attracted
pilgrims, travelers, and traders from far

and wide. The perfect environment for the
city's bustling, vibrant bazaar to thrive.

Somewhere craftsmen still use the fruits of
the earth to create beautiful everyday things.

Hi. Can I have one? Okay. Fantastic. Thank you.

You sure? Thank you.

back.

Yeah. Hi. Oh, thank you. Oh, fantastic. That's
brilliant. So, I've just been given a beautiful

bit of fresh bread. I'm just kind of having
some tomato paste. This is Yeah. Aha. So,

isot is this really traditional thing that
they produce here. It's um a kind of special

paste made of dried peppers. It's really hot.
[Music] Oh my god, that is so delicious. Um,

lots of people aren't eating at the moment because
it's Ramadan here. So, this is a special bread

that's made for Ramadan. So, people are all coming
here to the market partly to kind of buy spices to

make the meal at the end of the day. So, I feel
a tiny bit guilty, but it's also very tasty.

But there's also something a little unexpected
here. [Music] Pigeons are recorded in Mesopotamian

cuneaifor tablets and Egyptian hieroglyphs. And
today they're praised in this ancient city for

breeding and racing. There's a reason there
so many of these pigeons in the bazaar cuz

um this is a city that is completely obsessed
with them. I mean, pigeons have been used here

since antiquity for messages and for
food and for their poo for the guano,

which is a fantastic fertilizer. But here in Urf,
they breed them, they auction them. There are guys

who say they sell their fridge and their wife's
gold jewelry in order to buy the perfect pigeon.

And they pass hands for huge, huge amounts of
money or sometimes the same amount as a car. So,

um, it's a kind of fantastic quirky characteristic
of this place, but it also goes right the way back

to the ancient world. [Music] The abundance in
Bazaar comes from its location in the fertile

cresant, a cradle of civilization, nourished
by the waters of the river Euphrates. It's

one of the places where settled farming was
first established. [Music] This river is such

a lifegiver. It created such a land of plenty. It
came to be thought of as sacred. And in the Bible,

we hear that the Euphrates started
in the Garden of Eden itself. [Music]

The Euphrates is the longest river in Western
Asia. A waterway steeped in history, legend,

and sacred stories. Just like the neighboring
city of's rich and eclectic history is written in

its food, in its monuments, in its extraordinary
generosity and hospitality, and in its beautiful

landscapes, which at times like this feels not
just like a treasure, but a bit like paradise.

[Music]

[Music]

In antiquity, this part of the Euphrates
was strategically vital. A last stop in

the Greco Roman world before crossing
into lands controlled by foreign powers.

We're told that Alexander the Great
built a pontoon bridge across the river

and then his general and successor
Seus founded a city on the banks.

A city that came to be known as Zurgma. Under the
Roman Empire, Zogma became one of the largest and

most important cities of the Eastern frontier.
A flourishing commercial military and religious

center, it lay abandoned for around 1700 years.
Hello. An archaeological team are now uncovering

Zugma's secrets, and they've invited me
to stay overnight at their dig house.

[Music]

Breakfast with archaeologists is often a
treat. And the view here isn't bad either.

From up here, you can really get an understanding
of the story of Zugma. Um, so that down there is

a massive dam that they started to construct in
the late 1990s. And as builders were working,

they began to uncover little clues that
there was a settlement here. But of course,

there was an issue because this whole area
was due to be flooded. So archaeologists

desperately came in to try to rescue the ancient
settlement that was here on this hill. [Music]

Experts had long known about an ancient settlement
here, but these pressured excavations before the

dam's completion in the year 2000 revealed
just how incredible it was. This is the level

that the waters reached in the year 2000, but
there's still 30% of the city left below. So,

you can probably just about make it out. Um,
there's a street here running to the north. Those

are pillars at the edges of homes and then under
the water, beautiful mosaics were discovered.

45 mosaics were recovered before the waters rose.

Along with sections of the site spared the
flood, they give us an idea of Zugma in its

heyday. [Music] This city was home to up to 40,000
people. And so far, archaeologists have discovered

a temple and the agura or marketplace as
well as these fabulously wealthy homes.

Experts are using the latest AR
technology to better understand the site.

So you got the mosaic down there
which I can see anyway in the pillars,

the columns. Dog friend join me for the
experience. You see this is fantastic. So

you can see the wall paintings as they would
have been. I can actually go around 360°.

This is fantastic.

Thank you. I'm really excited because a house
which archaeologists have been excavating since

2007 is finally due to open to the public. Lead
excavator, Professor Koutmish Gorkai is giving

me a special preview. Good night. Thank you. This
is extraordinary. I mean, I have to say I'm not

often lost for words, but what an incredible
Yes. place. And you found this all just like

this in situ. Yeah, just like this in situ.
This is the central courtyard of the house.

Uhhuh. With this beautiful mosaic. So, Oceananis
is obviously the the kind of spirit of the ocean,

but also of all the waters. And, you know, we're
right here. The waters bringing so much to this

settlement. Yes. Yes. So, what's the date of
this one? It's middle of the second century.

In the time of Trajan and Hadrien, some of the
veterans lived in these houses. They got married

with the local ladies, rich ladies. And the ladies
got some of them at least Roman citizenship. Ah,

amazing. So, this is the outside. Can we actually
go into the house? Sure. Sure. Of course. Yeah.

[Music] Amazing. The beauty just continues. This
is remarkable. It's so exquisite and actually so

interesting to see so many images of of women
here. Yes. Yes. Uh since we are in the women's

quarter reserved for the lady of the house.
Therefore, we have these depictions probably

damea or penalopee. Yes. Just basically kind
of fabulous strong women. It's like the the

mosaics are sending out messages. Yes, of course
they speak I would say because they indicate the

intellectual background of the house owner
because they choose the specific scenes from

the nolla or you know Greek mythology or
theater plays. It's really interesting is

it to think of the people the men and women
who lived here who are living in really in

the height of of luxury in a successful city.
Ishil Ishikaya is also working on the site.

Hi. Hi. Hello. What I mean this is beautiful. I
know that these are the muses, aren't they? Yeah.

And and that's why this house has been named the
house of the muses. Yeah. So beautiful. And what

are you doing? You're kind of analyzing them or um
documenting the different colors and the geometric

patterns for stylistic comparison. This room is
a dining hall. So the muses would welcome the

guests. a starting point for the discussions and
that they will carry out during the evening. They

almost look like oil paintings. These it is. And
actually mosaics are called paintings in stone.

And the colors. Oh my god, they're beautiful. Is
it local material that's used? That's mainly local

material from the Euphrates. How appropriate. And
how cool. They're all women. It's good, isn't it?

In the 3rd century, this whole city was abandoned.
Um, a lot of the doors were found with locks on

them, as if people had stored away their personal
possessions and hoped or or expected to come back,

but that wouldn't happen. And I just wonder if
these incredible little bits of graffiti here on

the wall are telling us about the beginning
of a time of trouble. So here you've got

uh a camel with a man sitting underneath him
with a kind of thick woolen coat on and this

might be his name. There's there's writing
besson above him. But then look up there. So

that's a a fallus which was a kind of um basically
a good luck symbol as if it was trying to protect

them. This is a a horseman from the east. He's
got a huge sword and he's attacking. And then

here there's a massive fall saying get lost, you
know, leave us alone. So it's an enigmatic secret

message that somebody from the ancient past was
putting on this wall that that we can now read.

The fabulous artistry of this place gives
us a unique window onto the social worlds

of the women and men who lived on
the frontier of the Roman Empire.

Sigma is a unique and extraordinary
treasure. I partly because of its

amazing story of salvation and its exquisite
mosaics, but also because for me I spend my

life looking for history. And this is a place
where history looks back at all of us. [Music]

My final treasure is over 2,000 m high on
one of the tallest peaks in the eastern

taus mountain range, Mount Neret. This is
the um ancient processional way that was

built over 2,000 years ago. That has
been quite a climb to get to the top,

but worth it cuz I think I think I'm just
about to make it in time for sunrise.

The sacred monuments on the summit
of this mountain bear witness to

the extraordinary ambition and vision of one man,

King Antious I of Kagini. [Music] Up here you
are king of men, king of gods, king of the world.

Kagini founded in the 2nd century B.C.E. after

the break up of Alexander the Great's
empire was a small but wealthy kingdom.

This is King Antious. Now he was a really
skillful ruler and he actually spent most of

his time playing off the superpowers of the day,
Rome and Paththeia, which was an ancient kingdom

that at its height stretched from here from the
northern Euphrates right the way up to Afghanistan

and Pakistan. And he wanted everybody to remember
what a great job he was doing. And so he installed

this very lovely creature here. This is Tiki and
she's a personification of divine good fortune.

Antiocus chose this peak as a location
for his tomb, accompanied by 9 m tall

statues of gods and goddesses. Over the centuries,
earthquakes have shaken the heads from the bodies.

This is a pretty monumental location to
choose for your morale, isn't it? And the

scale of these statues is just awesome.
But it's also really fascinating because

they are the most brilliant mix of Greek
and Eastern influences. [Music] Antiocus

repeatedly claimed both Persian and Henistic
descent and the design of the monuments shows

his desire to promote a blended east
meets west culture. This one is Zeus

Oramazdes. So that's Zeus, the Greek king
of the gods combined with a Persian deity

called Aramas. And if you look at him, you
know, he's got this fabulous Greek beard,

but also this really typical eastern diadem with
with a very eroded thunderbolt right there at the

top. But Mount Emirate could be hiding a great
secret. Of course, in some ways, this is all

just decoration because we haven't actually
discovered Antiocus' tomb yet. Um, his burial

is almost certainly right inside the mountain
there underneath this kind of natural pyramid.

The exact location of Antiocus'
burial remains a mystery. And the

wonders continue on the western
side of the mountain. [Music]

So on the back of the thrones on both the eastern
and the western terraces there are 237 lines of

ancient Greek and this is Antiocus telling the
world what matters to him. It's fantastic for me

to see this first time I've been this close.
As you might expect, it starts with a lot of

kind of pomp and circumstance. And he says,
"I am King Antiocus, the great king, the gods,

the righteous one, the manifest deity, a friend
of the Greeks and the Romans alike." But then

it's actually really touching because he sort of,
I don't know, he kind of turns very human and he

says, "Despite expectations, I have triumphed
over peril and challenges. I have made myself

the master of hopeless situations and I have
been blessed with a long and fruitful life.

Antiocus wanted his mortum to last for all
time. 2,000 years so far isn't bad. Now,

I might be in one of the most beautiful places on
Earth. Uh, but I'm just about to enter something

some would call functional, but this shed
holds something totally extraordinary. Um,

so in here there's a beautiful piece of sculpture
that's been rescued from the side of the mountain

and I'm unbelievably lucky to get access to have
a look at it. [Music] Oh, this is just incredible.

What you're looking at here is the world's
oldest known horoscope. Um, as you can see,

it's really fragile. It was out on the side
of the mountain, but it's been brought in here

for conservation. And it is an extraordinary
thing sending us all kinds of messages. So,

up there you've got the planet. So that's Mercury,
Jupiter, and Mars with the other stars arranged on

the body of this lion who's got a moon round his
neck. And the alignment of these stars is giving

us a date. And that date is likely the 7th of
July 62 B.CE, which we are almost certain was

the coronation date of King Antious. [Music] So
it's just an extraordinary thing in historical

terms. Um it really matters in terms of the
human experience and it's also just beautiful.

In 72 CE around 100 years after
Antiocus' death, the kingdom of

Komaini finally lost its independence when
it was absorbed into the Roman Empire.

The grand monuments on
Mount Emirit were abandoned.

[Music] Mount Emer is a treasure and an audacious
wonder. Partly because of the sheer scale of its

monuments, but also because of the scale of
the ambition of a man who wanted to create a

civilization for east and for west and that drew
its inspiration from all points of the compass.

[Music]

This journey through Turkey has brought
me close to nature in profound ways. Um,

from rock cut cities of Capidokia to sacred
caves, from majestic men of the mountain to

minute tesserai used to create mosaics. It's
reminded me that for thousands of years,

we've used the treasures of the earth
to create enduring and truly wonderful

things. [Music] Support information can be found
online at channel4.com/support-humanitarian.

Well, from weaponry to warships, next
Saturday night, examining the defenses

against two millennia of threats. Join Alice
Roberts for Fortress Britain. That's at half

eight. Next tonight, a trail, a tale of
treachery and dangerous collaboration.

But how far did it really go? Edward
VII, Britain's traitor king. Coming up,

I'm traveling the world exploring secrets and
wonders. This is really tight. So, I asked my

friends here if they could uh get me access off
the beaten track, and I 100% definitely got what

I asked for. An adventure by land and sea to the
most fascinating places. It is just extraordinary

where I've been given special access to
significant and surprising treasures. Some of the

most remarkable artworks to survive from antiquity
buried in ancient sites, extraordinary buildings,

and glorious works of art. I'm in search of the
treasures that help to explain the story of us.

Journey with me to discover how the past shapes
our lives today. This time I'm exploring Albania,

an exciting enigmatic country that's been
described as the pearl of the Balkans. Closed

to outsiders by a communist dictatorship for much
of the 20th century, Albania's history and culture

is rich and complex. From its mountainous
north to the Adriatic and Ionian coasts,

it hides unexpected treasures and wonders. A
home to powerful Roman settlers, Eastern empires,

and epic blood feuds. Here, ancient codes
of honor and tradition still hold sway.

A land that's been a battleground for
centuries, but that is now forging its own

identity, its own history. Since the
fall of communism over 30 years ago,

many of the sites here are being re-exavated
and reinterpreted. So now is a brilliant

time to explore the stories of Albania's
past. Welcome to the treasures of Albania.

[Music]

Albania sits at a strategic gateway on
the Adriatic Sea with Italy to the west,

Greece to the south, and Turkey to the east.

Home to an ancient tribal people called the
Yrianss. Yria was celebrated by Shakespeare,

Albania has been influenced by neighboring empires

for over 2,000 years. But the people
here have retained a unique proud

identity despite conquest by Greeks, Romans,
Ottoman Turks, and 20th century powers.

My first treasure, rescued from an advancing sea,
shows how Albania's long absorbed the influence

of outside forces. [Music] I'm heading to this
fantastic ancient site which is um tucked away

in this ridiculously evocative landscape um
which itself hides a fascinating chapter in

Rome's legendary past. 87 miles from the heel of
Italy and just two miles from the island of Corfu,

this is the site of Brent. Spanning 500 acres, the
Wateride Archaeological Park is a crossroads of

culture, boasting antiquities from the Bronze Age
to the Ottoman era. It's also rich in marine life.

Hi. Hello. Hello. Me Jez from Albania. Yeah. Thank
you. Did you get any fish? Yeah. No. No. Good

luck. I love Albania. They're so friendly here
in Albania. I first came about seven years ago,

I think. And every you know, you're going to be
okay. It's Albania. It's one of the friendliest

uh countries on Earth. And that is pretty
timeless, isn't it? I know that they've

been fishing these waters here since Utrint was
founded. So, probably for close on 3,000 years.

From the Bronze Age, Brint was dominated
by local tribes, including the Yrianss,

and then thrived under Greek control. But in
the 1st century B.C.E., Butrint fell prey to

Roman ambitions as Rome expanded from Italy
into Western Europe, North Africa and Asia.

In 48 B.CE, Julius Caesar was headto-head in
a ferocious power struggle with his archeneemy

Pompy. Pompy had his fleet stationed across
the waters there in what's now Corfu. And

as civil war raged, Julius Caesar stationed his
legion here in Bhutrint and saw an opportunity.

Caesar saw Bintrint as the perfect
place to house his veterans. But the

Roman millionaires who already had villas here
didn't much fancy ex squadies as neighbors.

One of them was a great friend of Cicero,
that very influential author and politician.

And he asked Cicero to step in. Cicero
obliged and petitioned the Senate to block

the development. He succeeded. And so Julius
Caesar's grand plans for Bintrint were spiked.

But another Roman ruler soon had
Bintrint in his sights. [Music]

That's the Ionian Sea over there where the
man who would be Emperor Augustus Octavian

defeated Cleopatra the queen of Egypt and
her lover the Roman general Mark Anthony

in the battle of Actium. On his way back to
Italy, Octavian stopped off here at Butrint to

re-energize Caesar's plan to make this a premier
Roman colony and he renamed it Alusta Butrom.

As emperor, Augustus commissioned
court poet and spin doctor Virgil

to mythologize Roman control of the
city. In his epic poem, The Anid,

Virgil concocts a tale of the Trojan hero, Anias,
stopping here on his way to found Rome itself.

So, this is how Virgil describes Anias's arrival
in the city. I saw before me Troy in miniature,

a slender version of our massive tower, and
I pressed my body against a sky and gate,

and those with me feasted their eyes on this, our
kinsman's town. And isn't it just brilliant and

brilliantly vivid to imagine Virgil imagining
Anias, that massive Trojan hero right here?

Italians would continue to mythologize
their connection to Brint. Millennia later,

this led to these remains being uncovered while
Italy was trying to forge a new global empire.

This theater was excavated between 1928 and 1932
by this man. He's Luigi Maria Ugalini and he was a

dedicated, ambitious, passionate, dashing Italian
archaeologist, which all sounds great apart from

the fact that he was sent here on commission
by Mussolini's fascistic regime. Basically,

um, the fascists wanted to draw a direct line
from ancient Roman greatness to their plans for

Italian world domination. So although
the work here was incredible and they

discovered extraordinary things, it was as
much about politics as it was about science.

[Music] These are just some of the finds that
Ugalini discovered. It's the Imperial family

and they originally decorated the theater.
So, it was a really unmissable sign to

everyone that the Romans had arrived. That's
Augustus himself there. And this is his wife,

Livia. She was looted after the fall of
communism. She's only just been returned. So,

um I'm I'm meeting Livia face
to face. Now, she's back home.

Celebrating 2,000 years since
the founding of the Roman Empire,

Mussolini cast his regime as the second coming
of Rome. Commemorative stamps were even issued,

featuring Anias at the newly unearthed Bintrint.
Archaeologists have been working at the site ever

since, and I've been allowed into the
dig site to check out the latest finds.

So this bit of the site is slightly hard to read,
but that's because it's being excavated at the

moment. And if if you just use your imaginations,
it's particularly exciting for me because what

the archaeologists have discovered is the Greek
agura or marketplace that was underneath the Roman

forum. Basically, um, the Romans in in that Roman
way came here and trashed the Greek buildings that

they found. There's basically a sort of Greek
marble dump over there in the corner. But look,

the archaeologists have discovered this fantastic
line of columns. Do you see do you see the one

um still in the earth? And this was
part of a stoer which was a sort of

colonade where those lovely Greeks would
walk and talk and think big beautiful

ideas. And it goes right the way down the
length of the forums. That's around 75 m.

Amongst the clues unearthed, one new
find particularly stands out. I've just

been presented with this, which you've got it
right. It's a fallus. So, I've seen a lot of

um Roman fallaces in my time. It's the first
time I've held one. This would have been put on

a Roman house for good luck. Loads of people
think it was something to do with brothel,

and that's just not right. um uh an
erect fallus was a symbol of good

fortune and power and strength. So, how
cool is this? So, this this would have

been on a on a Roman house to show that the
occupant, you know, was a good strong Roman,

but no talisman could protect Butrint
against the forces of nature. because

of all the um geocismic activity around
here. Uh but always had problems with the

sea creeping in and Roman engineers tried
to raise the street levels but really they

were fighting a losing battle. Um in the 4th
century CE there was a massive earthquake here

that wrecked huge huge quarters of the town and
really that was the end of Butrin's glory days.

As Butrint lost influence, its remains
were slowly lost under woodland. The city,

now reclaimed by these excavations, became
Albania's very first UNESCO World Heritage

site. Putrint is one of those enchanting
places where myth meets reality and reality

is as magical as myth. It's also somewhere where
you can see Roman ambition for empire playing out

both physically and psychologically. But it's
a reminder of the vulnerability of history,

too. Because if sea levels continue to rise
here, then not just parts of this site,

but all of it will be under those waters. So,
it's a fragile treasure and a fragile wonder.

My next wonders is um a bit of an adventure to get
to because it is the magnificent Albanian Alps.

These mountains are part of a 630 m long
range stretching through the north of the

country into Kosovo and Montenegro. They're home
to remote communities with formidable reputations.

Officially, these are called the Albanian
Alps, but locals here describe them as the

mountains. Partly because in legend malign spirits
inhabited this place, but also through history,

if an invading army made it over those peaks, then
local communities knew there was trouble ahead.

The village of Seth was settled centuries ago by
a tribe of Albanian Highlanders called the Shayla.

Echoes of their tradition
survive and are still respected.

[Music] The Shayla were a tribe who were renowned
for their cunning, wily resourcefulness and also

like many of the tribes around here, they
ferociously followed a a kind of medieval

code of conduct called canon law. [Music]
Handed down orally and fiercely adhered to,

canon covered every aspect of life. But most
notorious was Jakamare, the blood feud. I know

this all looks incredibly idilic now, but canon
law was really hardcore. Like it was basically

a a kind of system of honor killings. So if you
offended someone then they had the right to kill

you or a member of your family. And horrifically
in the 19th century when travelers made it here

um they said that at least a quarter of
all deaths were as a result of Jakamare.

This imposing cooler or lockin tower
was built as a sanctuary for those

with a price on their head. Hi. Are you
Kim? Hi. Nice to meet you. Lovely dog.

Hello. Welcome. Thank you. Kim's family
are its guardians. Okay. Upstairs. Yeah.

[Music] [Laughter] [Music] Kim, how long has
your family been in charge of this tower?

So, if there's somebody here and he's
murdered somebody else in the village

and then they've brought him here kind
of for protection and to work out if

there's going to be a reconciliation, how
long would he spend here in this tower?

[Music]

at times whole villages and tribes were
caught up in blood feuds which could last

for generations. [Music] Do you think that
any elements of canon law exist here? I mean,

so are kind of the sort of spirit
of it. Does that still survive? Yes.

And I've got a funky feeling that
if you're inviting me for a drink,

is it going to involve some homemade raki?
Super. Is it great? That sounds perfect.

Canon law states, "An Albanian house belongs
to God and guest." Taking up Kim's hospitality,

I join him and his friends Drenie, Christy,
and Yanus for some potent home brew.

It's a really beautiful thing that
if somebody turns up at your door,

you're going to make them welcome as a guest.

Kang Keshnik or Songs of heroes are
epic legendary poems accompanied

by the single stringed loot. And Yanuz
is one of Albania's last loot players.

[Laughter]

Wow. Bravo. What were you singing about?

So, how old were you when you learned to play?

It's amazing for me to hear this because
it sounds like do you know Adysius and

the Odyssey and Homer that they sang
these beautiful epic poems always to a

stringed instrument that was like
three and a half thousand years

ago. So it feels like traveling in time
being here listening to you. [Laughter]

[Music]

Cut off from much of the
country by the harsh terrain,

timehonored traditions thrive. But
it's only now that the Highlander's

tribal origins are becoming clearer.
25 miles down river is Lake Kman.

Brand new excavations in these mountains

are revealing insights to the lives of
Albania's medieval highlanders. [Music]

This is an unexpected bonus and I'm very excited.
It's obviously something I had to share with you.

So these are things that belong to the North
Albanian tribes. They come from different areas,

from different graves and also from different
centuries. So these are some of the earliest.

So these are probably 6th century CE. That those
lovely earrings, these beautiful things. Look at

these. So these are brooches, huge brooches that
would have been worn from either the sixth or the

seventh centuries. And they tell us about the
establishment of Christianity in the region.

Because if you look at the design, it's a tree
of life with peacocks either side on this bigger

one. And that was a symbol that was used a lot
at the time. And the smallest thing on the table,

but one of the loveliest uh and latest from the
10th century CE is this. Look at this beautiful

ring that has an eagle as a symbol on it. So we
know that eagles were used as a kind of symbol,

a logo, a brand if you like for the tribes
here. And isn't it fantastic that the symbol

for Albania on the flag is a double-headed
eagle and women and men who lived here on this

site over a thousand years ago because
this is from the 10th century CE. They

would have worn this eagle symbol with huge
pride and and as a sense of real belonging.

And that sense of belonging still endures
among the people I've met here. The majestic

Albanian Alps are a treasure because of their
spectacular scenery, but also because of the

wealth of stories that they hold. This is a place
where bards still sing tales of heroes of old

and of myths and legends and where time itself
almost feels as though it stood still. [Music]

[Music]

This is Juriccastaster. It's not just a jewel
of Albania. It's a jewel of the Ottoman world.

The town of Juriccasta has been
inhabited for at least 2 and a

half thousand years and it became home
to a mighty superpower of the east whose

influence stretched from Istanbul through
Europe, Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

From the 15th century, the Ottomans
officially controlled Albania right

up until its independence in 1912 and they made it
part of their vast expansive empire. Very briefly,

this town was actually the capital
of Ottoman Albania and it flourished

with wealthy land owners and feudal
families pouring wealth into the town.

Once again, Albania absorbing the ways of

outsiders and making them their
own with impressive results.

Something you see all around here are these
fantastic roof tiles, the kind of roof stones

really. one of the most famous sons of the city,
the author Ismael Khadar, who by the way has been

nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature
no fewer than 15 times, um describes them so

beautifully uh cuz he talks about them as gigantic
scales which protect the tender life underneath.

Imposing Ottoman towerhouses across the city
doubled up as homes and fortresses. [Music]

The man who commissioned this house, um, Bachier
Zeo was pretty much second in command around

here. And we know that he used to stand here
and look out over the town and also keep an

eye on the roads down in the valley to
see whether it was bringing threats or

opportunities. [Music] Built in 1811, the interior
of this place was all about luxury and status.

boasting inside Lu's a steam
bath and lavish decorations.

So the um the whole top floor of the house
was reserved specifically for visitors,

including this gorgeous, gorgeous reception
room, which is the the grandest room in the

house. and and that's partly to do with
that tradition of hospitality that you

get in Albania right the way through the
centuries but also there's a hard-nosed

business reason for that because of course
people would have come here and done trade

deals stretching right across the Ottoman
Empire but it's interesting isn't it so

the very finest room in the house was reserved
specifically for travelers and for guests [Music]

Living like this would not have been possible
without the backing of the man who dominated 19th

century Ottoman Albania. Lots of Albanians rose
really high in the ranks of the Ottoman hierarchy

particularly in the army uh because they were
so valued for their ferocity and their bravery.

Uh but some became so powerful that that basically
they were um warlords like this man Alip Pashia.

He had his own army. He had his own navy and he
was in control of a million and a half people.

Alipashia was infamous for his autocratic
rule. In his vast castle at nearby Tempellena,

he welcomed guests keen to woo
him for his powerful patronage.

The castle once full of marbleclad
halls and fountains covered 10 acres.

You have to try to imagine this place absolutely
buzzing with soldiers and unics and envoys from

across the Ottoman world and travelers and
spies including famously Lord Byron the great

romantic poet who traveled here from England
on the equivalent of his student Gapier that

icon of romanticism Lord George Gordon Byron
ventured into the Balkans and through the

Ottoman Empire in the autumn of 1809 on an
epic grand tour. Here he was welcomed into

the heart of Pashia's Ottoman court and
lavished with hospitality. And it seems

things haven't changed. So I was just about
to tell you about Byron and how blown away he

was by the hospitality that he was offered
right here. And I've got cooled in by this

lovely lady who's offering me some coffee,
I think. Thank you, Phom. That is so kind.

Look at this. So, they've obviously insisted, they
have they have no idea who I am, that I accept

this hospitality from them. Um, Byron talked about
being given sweet sherbet 20 times a day. Um,

and the fact that he wasn't allowed to pay
for anything, not a single household item

the whole time that he was here. And I've been
offered sweets and now this beautiful look, this

beautiful Turkish coffee. And isn't it incredible
to think about this? So, he was here at exactly

this time of year. I mean, this week um uh only
over 200 years ago. And he got hospitality that he

never forgot. And I've been offered it as well. I
think I might have to spend most of the day here.

Oh, it's delicious.

Oh, look. Thank you, Famin. Thank you.
It looks fantastic. Early morning, Raky.

Thank you so much.

[Music]

Despite Alip Pashia's generous hospitality,
Byron was wary, calling him a remorseless tyrant,

guilty of the most horrible cruelties. But
Byron loved Albania, comparing it to his native

Scotland. [Music] Byron was obviously completely
enchanted by this place. Um he actually calls

Albania Irkum which is the ancient Roman name
for it and he writes about it in his poem Charles

Harold which is a sort of kind of autobiographical
account of his adventures. He says land of Albania

let me bend mine eyes on thee thou rugged nurse of
savage men. And there's a a very splendid portrait

of him wearing Albanian dress which is one of the
most famous images that we have of the great man.

Byron's host Alip Pashia belonged to
an Islamic sect that spread along the

Ottoman Empire's road systems. The
main religion of its army beectism.

The Vetachi communities here in Albania
are in these very remote locations. I've

never actually made it up to one before.
They have these things called tees which

are basically like they're kind
of spiritual centers and they

were always there to welcome travelers
on the road. You look at that eagle.

The Te's spiritual leaders, the Baba
and the Dervish, represent a faith that

descends from Sufi and Shiite traditions
and that borrows from other beliefs, too.

Hello. A Hello.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I'm Better.
Thank you so much. who's better. Honestly,

it is completely incredible to be here. So,
the Becttaches have have been in Albania for

hundreds of years. They're very secretive,
so you don't often get access and allowed

up here. But I also know that for hundreds
of years, they've welcomed travelers here.

But I had no idea that it was still.
It's just I'm I'm so excited because

this is it feels like we've traveled back
oh, you know, 400, 500, 600 years in time.

[Music] Thank you so much for
allowing me to come here. What

are the key principles of being a beecti? Take

Islam.

so beautiful. What was it like during
communism? And was the faith suppressed then?

That must have been very hard for you. Duam.
Do you think that one of the reasons that um

the Btashi faith survives in Albania is because
this is a country through history where lots of

people have come, Christians and Muslims and
the worshippers of the old gods and it's a a

faith of love. And that's why it's a faith
that has survived still today in Albania.

This is a real honor for me now to be
given hospitality here. So, thank you.

Albania is the center of this once widespread
faith of the road which puts tolerance for others

at its heart and continues to welcome
travelers like me. Hello. Very nice.

Juriccast is a wonder not just because of its
incredible Ottoman heritage, but because of the

history that it's made and witnessed, and because
it's a reminder that human experience and history

itself travels along roads and byways, and that
we're all made by the journeys that we take.

[Music]

These strange mushroomlike structures are a
clue to an uncomfortable period in Albania's

modern history. It's impossible to
tell the story of Albania without

acknowledging its time under communism.
Uh because for much of the 20th century,

this country lived in the shadow of
a paranoid man and his brutal regime.

I'm exploring the legacy of Albania's communist
dictator, Enva Hodger, in the capital Tana.

This is the country's largest secret
underground bunker. Um, it was built

to survive chemical and nuclear attack and it
extends at least five floors down into the earth.

After invasions by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany,
Albania emerged in 1944 as a communist state under

Ember Hodger's dictatorship. His regime held power
for close on 50 years until its collapse in 1992.

The state just controlled all aspects of life.

um where you could live, what you
could study, who you could marry,

who you could see, even what you could say.
Hodger became convinced the country would

be invaded by enemies and even former allies.
His response was the bunkerization of Albania.

175,000 shelters were built. This one was
for Hodger and his military top brass.

There are over a hundred rooms in this bunker

uh with many different purposes. So you
have decontamination rooms and areas for

live military command. And then there's this
really weird almost beautiful cinema theater

um where officers would come to be given
instructions and to watch information films.

And the idea was that even if a nuclear war was
raging up above, some kind of strange perverted

subterranean version of normal life could
continue down here. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

[Laughter] [Music]

This whole project was inspired by a visit to
North Korea in the 1960s, but it wasn't realized

until the 1970s, which is why there's this
strange kind of sinister 1970s vibe here. This

is Hodra's personal apartment. and it is one of
the most secure places in the entire bunker. Um,

so there were checkpoints outside. There's
about 100 meters of mountain rock above and

all these rooms are fully steel lined. [Music]
This bunker and bunkers like this across the

country were built by political prisoners and
enemies of the state. Uh so under Hodger 30,000

were sent to labor or internment camps. 18,000
were imprisoned for their political views. 6,000

were executed. A thousand were shot at the borders
trying to escape. And there are 4,000 people still

unaccounted for whose bodies are probably in mass
graves across the country. Hodgers bunkers whose

vast cost crippled the economy were never
needed. There was no nuclear attack, but

there was devastating poverty. Under communism,
Albania's population became one of the poorest

in the world. This area was called uh Blocku
because it was off limits to everybody apart

from the communist elite. And it's where Hodger
had his house right here. And um I Oh, hi. Is it

okay? Great. Great. I had they were going to let
me in. Thank you very much. Thank you, Felando.

You see, this is so terrible and ridiculous
and awful and heartbreaking. So, everybody,

as you know, in communism is supposed
to live equally. Look at this mansion.

So, this is where Hodger lived
with his family in some style.

Closed to the public and
unchanged since his death,

it's rare that cameras are allowed inside
this troubling reminder of a dark past.

[Music] It's such a a terrible bitter irony
here because the house is full of beautiful,

beautiful works of art. But Hodger actually
banished artists and writers to the countryside.

He said that they needed to purify their
minds by soiling their hands. The house was

luxurious for its time with multiple bathrooms
and living rooms filled with chunky television

sets on which he and his wife would watch the
interrogation and torture of political opponents.

Hudger um was actually an avid reader. Agatha
Christie of all people was one of his favorite

authors and he also loved French writers. But
literature from the outside world generally was

banned here as as were many books and people
really had to conform um because there was a

terrible outfit who operated here called the
Cigari who were the secret police and they

would bug people's walls. They'd even put bugs in
shoes and a rumor spread through the country that

they could read people's minds. So they were
literally believed to be the thought police.

All this luxury and home comfort is sickening
because one of Hodra's most famous proclamations

was, "We will eat grass until we bow to the
pressure of foreign powers." Um, and for many

Albanians, that's pretty much what they had to do
because between the 1970s and the 1990s, the vast

proportion of the population were at the poverty
line and many were starving. [Music] Negotiating

the memory of this era is something
that modern Albania is still tackling.

[Music] In the Tana sunshine, I'm catching
up with an old friend. Lovely to see you,

too. Welcome back. Archaeologist Lita Mirror grew
up under communism. There's a lot of conversation

now about whether you should keep history that
is offensive to people and that has sorrowful

memories. So, so do you think that the communist
buildings here should be preserved or or should

they be? Of course they have to be preserved.
In that period I judged them in very negative

way. Now I think they have to be preserved but in
that period wow I said because wishing for better

things but yeah is this that we have to preserve
all the steps steps of history. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

And why why do you think I mean you and I love
history. Yeah. But why do we need history? Why

do we need to preserve to be proud to educate
the new generation to be proud for everything

we inherited from the past? I completely agree
and it's almost in the buildings you learn to

love the buildings and then you love and care
about the people who lived in them in history.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The memory is the past is the
present and in base of that we can build the

future. Memory is life. It is a remarkable place.
I think it's more welcoming to strangers than

almost anywhere else I've been. I think here they
give everything they have. Yes. And this was in

centuries. And Raki is very good in Albania.
It is very good. It is. And a lot of it. Yes.

Old symbols of the communist regime are becoming
museums and arts and educational spaces.

It's great to see people coming together

to remember and to celebrate all
that was banned under communism.

Wherever I've traveled in Albania, people
have said this beautiful thing to me and is

a phrase I haven't heard before, blessed
are your feet for bringing you here,

which which basically means thank you for
coming. And it feels to me that that is

something which is constitutionally Albanian,
that this is a territory which is all about

travel and exchange and outside influence.
So the fact that communism turned the

country into a cage means that the communist
heritage here is fascinating and revealing,

but it's not really a wonder or a treasure. It's
something that carries with it its own tragedy.

For me, what's endured throughout Albania's story
is its cultural resilience. That tremendous sense

of history and hospitality has survived
through its communist past to the present.

It does feel right to describe Albania as a
pearl of the Balkans, somewhere that treasure

seekers have sought out for centuries and
that is itself wonderful. Across time,

this land has become a cauldron of civilizations,
but it never seems to have lost a sense of its

own value and identity. It's a precious place
that is itself a wellspring of civilization.

Betton is back slightly earlier next Saturday
at 7:00 when she's in a man. Next tonight,

Professor Alice Roberts gets her
hands on a horde of TUDA coins and

a 500year-old jousting scorecard
in New Fortress Britain. [Music]

I'm traveling the world exploring secrets
and wonders. This is really tight. So,

I asked my friends here if they could get me
access off the beaten track, and I have 100%

definitely got what I asked for. An adventure
by land and sea to the most fascinating places.

It is just extraordinary where I've been given
special access to significant and surprising

treasures. Some of the most remarkable artworks
to survive from antiquity buried in ancient sites,

extraordinary buildings, and glorious works
of art. I'm in search of the treasures that

help to explain the story of us. Journey
with me to discover how the past shapes

our lives today. This time I'm in Oman,
where ancient traditions have inspired

pioneering inventions and brand new finds are
revealing the secrets of a global culture.

Oh my goodness, Sylvia, this is a serious
discovery. From prehistoric civilizations to

medieval power brokers and maritime empires,
I'm exploring the treasures of Oman. [Music]

[Music]

Aman covers an area the size of Italy in
the southeastern corner of Arabia. It's

been described as an island of sorts between
the Indian Ocean on one side and the vast sea

of sands of the Arabian desert on the other. Its
remarkable geography has nurtured civilizations

for over 5,000 years and fostered innovations and
cultural connections that still shape our world.

This is just such an extraordinary country. Um
that's Wadin which is Oman's Grand Canyon. And

up there is Jebel Shems, the mountain of
the sun. And it's called that because it

gets the very first rays of sunlight in
the morning at sunrise and the very last

at sunset. [Music] My first treasure
is the archaeology of the Jabal Hajar,

a mountain range rising 10,000 ft
along Oman's northern coast. [Music]

If you know where to look, there are
clues to Oman's deep and diverse,

really surprising history right across this land
and particularly where I'm heading up now. So,

I'm driving up to the Jabel Haja mountains,
brilliantly named because they're literally

the Rocky Mountains. Um, they're a wonder of
Oman and they're unlike anything else on Earth.

The tectonic forces that created these
mountains dragged up valuable minerals,

including hundreds of seams of copper ore. That
created an opportunity that the local people

quickly exploited [Music] in some of the really
earliest written records that exist. So some of

the earliest sources in history um there are these
incredibly tantalizing references to this slightly

kind of mysterious enterprising people called
the man or Majan who lived in these mineralrich

mountains exactly like this and I've always
wanted to to try to track down their story.

Scribes from ancient Mesopotamia, what's
now Iraq, recorded their king's lust for

man's resources and boasted of acquiring its
copper and decorative stone. Until recently,

little was known about the people of Man.
But here, at last, there are clues. Kamayra,

where archaeologists are uncovering complex
settlements like this one, 4,000 years old.

It feels like quite a challenging landscape here
now. But there must be something that these people

are using from the land because I mean obviously
what you're uncovering is a really wealthy. It's

really sophisticated civilization. They benefit
from the trade route which cuts through this

valley from the sea uh towards the center of
Oman and um the trade was all about copper

in that period. So that's it. I think they were
benefiting from the copper trade. You see copper

I mean it's almost like this magical metal, isn't
it? And there's this kind of extraordinary moment

where the world changes and they start to really
mine the copper that's in landscape like this and

then create bronze which which allows you to
do all kinds of things as a civilization. Yes,

they are producing a lot of copper
implements and also exporting massively

copper to Mesopotamia which was very developed
at that point but it lacked natural resources.

So you have people from where we're
standing now who would be helping the

trading of really really kind of highly
cultured tools going to Mesopotamia in

what's now Iraq which we always think of
as the birthplace of civilization. So it's

almost like what's happening here is driving
the birth of civilization as we know it. Yes.

Kamira was built during a major
turning point in human history

when the world's first states took shape in
the Indis Valley, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.

And newly discovered treasures from graves
show that the man people were right at

the heart of it. It's just a very tiny
sample of what's been found in the grave.

Some of the pottery is locally made and some of
it has been imported is probably an import from

overseas from India. Think of the journey that
that little pot has made to be crafted in India

carefully taken on a boat down here exchanged for
something that they wanted you know maybe a tiny

tiny bit of copper for instance and here there
definitely must be a story about like why why

you put a piece of pottery that has not been made
locally. You don't put random objects in graves.

They all have stories. It It's so fabulous
to see these because the man or Madan people,

they they are quite enigmatic. It is
quite hard to get a handle on them,

but these are kind of little bits of the jigsaw
puzzle that are helping us understand their story.

Trading copper ore allowed the man to build
sophisticated structures for the living and

for the dead. I've just got to show you
something that that amazing society has

um left behind. It's the crowning glory of Arabian
Bronze Age archaeology. [Music] This unique site

alain from the third millennium BCE is the
man making a lasting mark on the landscape.

graves on a strategic hilltop framed by the
jagged outline of Jabal Misht in the Hajar range.

There are 21 of these tombs. They were
built around 5,000 years ago and they are

so well constructed. They're standing
almost perfectly still today. [Music]

Dominating the valley below, the so-called beehive
tombs offer a tantalizing glimpse inside this lost

culture. These tombs have been used and reused and
looted and then reused again over the centuries.

Um, so there were hardly any finds in them. But
just a few years ago, the archaeologists here

have discovered inside a tiny tiny fragment of
human bone and a single copper ring. And if that

doesn't connect you to the people who lived
here millennia ago, I don't know what does.

These ongoing excavations in Oman's
Hajar Mountains indicate just what a

driving force ancient man was in the
wider story of human civilization.

And these mountains may also hold a crucial key
to humanity's future. They're home to the world's

largest concentration of opulite, fossilized
lava from underwater volcanoes, and a slice

of the Earth's crust thrust from deep beneath the
ocean floor to the surface 100 million years ago.

When offulite is exposed to air and to water, as
it is here in Oman, it behaves in unexpected ways

with rather wonderful side effects. It permanently
traps one of the most harmful greenhouse gases,

carbon dioxide or CO2. Geologist Muhammad Al-
Kindi has devoted his life to studying the

unique rock formations of Oman. So this is normal
mountain water. Why are you getting this kind of

film on the surface? This is a very thin crust of
this natural reaction between the magnesium which

comes from the rock and CO2 that comes from water
and the atmosphere. And the whole process happens

in water uh converting uh this this reaction into
something we call magneside which is magnesium

carbonate. It happens naturally. It had happened
since thousands and and probably millions of years

as well. And uh you know it's one of the ways
that people are are thinking now to accelerate

in order to capture CO2. Amazing. So it's such a
brilliant thought, isn't it? Because you know as

a species we haven't used the prochemicals on
this planet very sensibly. We've caused huge

problems. But it could be that a solution could
could be here in the geology of Oman. True. Very

true. This just, you know, the bounty of
the mountains of Oman that we having here.

There are plans to accelerate the CO2 capture
on an industrial scale with hopes that by 2040

a billion tons of carbon may have been
turned to harmless stone. That's equal

to the annual CO2 emissions of the UK and
Germany combined. The Hajar Mountains are

a treasure in so many ways. Not just because
of their savage beauty, but also because our

common ancestors discovered raw materials inside
these giant rocks that would help to fuel the

creation of Omani society and civilization
itself. And just maybe our children might

be able to use the unique properties of these
rocks to help secure the future of humanity.

[Music]

My next treasure is the land of frankincense,
the far in Oman's far southwest. The Romans

called this part of the peninsula Arabia
Felix or blessed Arabia partly because it

generated one of the most precious commodities
of antiquity. [Music] Growing on a rocky plateau

between the fertile coast and the desert,
it once made this corner of Oman vital to

the ancient world. This is Woody Doa. Um,
and it's the best place in the world to see

a tree that made history. It's the Boswellia
Sakra, the frankincense tree to you and me.

Under the punishing heat, the
frankincense tree is at home

here. Many say the very finest
frankincense is produced in defa.

Heroditus, the father of history, said
that this whole country exhales more than

an earthly fragrance. And at one point,
pretty much every major temple from Rome

to India would have been perfumed
with incense from this very place.

A handful of families keep the tradition
going using techniques first recorded 2,000

years ago. Salam. Hello. Salam. Lovely to
see you. Hello. Hi. What What's your name?

Abdullah. Abdullah. I'm Betany. Sorry. Is
this your Yeah. This is my grandfather.

Your grandfather. And this gentleman is is my
uncle. Ah. And you are you learning from them?

Yes. Is it okay if I have a chat with him?
Yes. Salam. Hi. Salam. Hello. Hi. Sorry to

sorry to bother you. So this is get the the
sap. The frankincense is inside here. Is it?

It's the little bits of white. That's the
frankincense beginning to come out. Oh,

that's so lovely. It's almost like it's sweating
frankincense. And I know the Chinese when they

traded this centuries ago, they said it
was like dripping milk, which it does does

look like, doesn't it? Yes. Oh, so this is the
frankincense. Okay. But I just noticed this. Yeah.

So this is when it's dry. Yes. This is called
the is the the best better one of them all.

It is.

Thank you, Shakaran. Shakaran, thank you
so much. What a what a beautiful thing.

Abdullah, thank you so much.
You've got a fantastic future

as a frankincense harvester and your
English is brilliant. Salam salam bye.

For millennia, frankincense, burnt, chewed,
or dissolved, was used to treat infections,

inflammation, even depression, and to
perfume the stink of antiquity. We're

told that the Roman Emperor Nero used a whole
year's supply at the funeral of his consort,

Papaya. Just the name frankincense is incredibly
evocative. Um, if you think about it, it conjures

up images probably first of the three wise men
bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense,

and myrrh to the baby Jesus. There's the
famed queen of Sheba. And Tutin Carmoon,

the Egyptian pharaoh, was buried with four balls
of incense to take with him to the afterlife.

To reach the palaces and temples of the
ancient world, Dar's precious incense had

to be transported vast distances over land
and sea. Trade networks spread out from

southern Arabia across the Indian Ocean
and beyond. Corory on Dar's coast was a

world hub of the frankincense trade. Home
to the ancient fortress city of Sumharam.

There's a fantastic historical source called
the periplas of the erithraan sea that was

um basically a kind of compilation of
navigational techniques from the 1st century

CE and it describes this very place as Moscow
and says that ships from what's now Gujarat and

Kerala would overwinter here and bring cloth and
sesame oil and wheat in exchange for frankincense.

Some identify this as a palace of the fabled
queen of Sheba whose biblical wealth was built

on the frankincense trade. Over the last 25 years,
excavations at Horriy have uncovered the entire

fortified city. Hi, is that Sylvia? Sylvia Lisky,
who's directing this year's dig, has agreed to

share the very latest finds. I'm so happy to be
here. What an incredible site. And the foundation

of the city dates to when? Around the end of the
3rd century BC and the beginning of the 2 century

BC. So it belonged to who? The city. I mean who
who was in charge? The kingdom of Ramouth that

at one point decide to build an outpost inside
the heart of producing area of frankincense. And

this kingdom was in the modern Yemen. Amazing.
So, it's this like kind of fortified mini city

that existed really really just to promote that
frankincense, right? Yes. This is interesting.

Slightly different kind of structure here. Yeah.
This is a business center of somewhere. And here

you can see the market square with a small gate
that can permit the hunter from the wadi directly

inside to trade the goods and go back without
entering inside the city. Pretty narrow gate.

So you're really checking that he's got access,
aren't you? Yeah, sure. We have all around store

rooms mostly of frankincense and to be protected
they have the entrance from the roof. So they can

control very very well this luxury good and
presumably a lot of security, a lot of guards

because I mean it's this this stuff, frankincense,
it's it's worth huge amounts of money. I know at

this time we were sort of at the height of its
trade. Even just the Romans are trading around

3,000 tons a year and that's worth about 10 tons
of gold. So I mean it's it's seriously precious

stuff. It's a huge amount. But in fact not only
Romans but also Hindia and also uh the Gulf. So

they spread the frankincense all over the anent
world. So it was a really huge huge business.

Sylvia's giving me special access to an
extraordinary fresh discovery. Tombs that

predate the foundation of Sumharam. Burial
places of a community who may well have

pioneered frankincense trading here. Do
you know how many graves there are here?

There are almost 700 graves. 700? Yeah.
So it's really huge and properly. [Music]

Oh my goodness. It's really incredible because
it's visible the entire body of the person buried

here. Yes. You can see here there's a leg, the
hips, the head, and the arms. Oh my goodness,

Sylvia. This is a serious discovery. Yes. This is
a really new discovery we found just yesterday.

Wow. Oh, how um and it's I'm almost speechless.
So, tell me what you think you know about it. This

is the first complete skeleton that we found
inside this necropolis and inside this kind

of graves. Whoever this is, you know, don't know
yet whether it's a a woman or a man. But if this

is possibly from the fourth century or or fifth
century BC, they're still trading frankincense

around here at this time. So that's that's going
to be a part of this person's world probably if

it was connected with a high status of a society.
It was in charge of something connected with the

frankincense. The world here it was so complex.
They know everyone from India to Africa to the

Mediterranean. So it was a really an international
place. Yeah. Always connected with frankincense.

Interesting. God's so much this person can tell
us. It's really a lot but also all these place

have a lot of secrets still to discover and we try
to understand step by step what's happened during

the history of this area. Yeah. Incredible. A lot
more stories, a lot more a lot more histories to

be yielded here. The seaw routes were just one
part of the story. Huge lines, caravans of camels

crisscrossed Arabia on the Frankincense Trail. And
descendants of those traders, the Bedwin of Defa,

still live here, driving their camel herds
across the Naj Plateau, a great wilderness

stretching over 16,000 square miles between
the mountains of the coast and the desert dunes

beyond. [Music] The Bedwin here uh are still some
of the few remaining camel pastoralists in Arabia.

Um, and I'm really lucky to get invited
to to go and have a chat with them. Salam.

Thank you for letting me
come. Hello, lovely camel.

And sunset is milking time. Oh, look
at the baby camels. Baby camels. Oh,

I love camels so much. This is Leila. I've
just discovered we share a love of camels.

She was just saying that camels make her
feel calm. Do you have a favorite? So,

she seems very gentle.

Oh, really?

[Music] I know. That's so much better. Yeah.
Drink it. Okay. Okay. Okay. When in a bedwin camp,

that is delicious.

It's pretty spectacular to experience this because

um ancient authors like Plenny talk about
the camel caravan and the fact that it was

uninterrupted for around 2,000 miles
from southern Arabia right way through

up to the north and the west and that it
would take around 65 days for the camels

to carry their frankincense and other things,
you know, gold and spices and precious cloths.

[Music]

This is such a beautiful home. So, thank you for
letting me come here and sharing it with you. Do

you stay here for a long time in the year or
or do you do you travel with your animals?

So, you're always following the water.

You have such beautiful frankincense
here. It's just so wonderful to have

it here in the desert because the frankincense
has been such a part of the history of Arabia,

the story of Arabia going back generations.

for

[Music] the markets for incense have come
and gone. Ancient Babylon, Egypt, Persia,

Rome, Constantinople. But here, frankincense and
its traditions endure an unbroken chain reaching

back into antiquity. I I've always wondered what
it was like to live in the past. So my great kind

of heroins and heroes. So the female pharaohs of
Egypt like Hatcheps and Cleopatra and the great

philosophers like Socrates and adventurers
like Alexander the Great. This would have

been part of their daily experience. So, uh, you
know, it's one of those rare moments where you

really can say that it's as though you're you're
living in ancient history at a moment like this.

[Music]

Oman is one of the driest, hottest places on the
planet. But mountain communities have developed

a secret weapon that helps them to survive. Um,
it's a complex ancient irrigation system called

the falage and it's an ingenious treasure that's
helped to make Oman the country that it is today.

I've traveled to Misvat Albin, one of
many villages perched on the southern

slopes of the Hajar mountains. They depend
on the felage system for their existence.

Okay, so I know you can't
see any water right now. Um,

but it originates kilometers up there
in the mountains and then travels

underground and eventually emerges just a
bit further down the valley here. [Music]

This is one of a hundred water
systems in this region alone. Um,

and there are thousands right across Oman. We
know that this one is probably a millennium old,

but there are some in this country that
stretch back possibly over 4,500 years.

Oman's afflage, the plural of fage, have enabled
life to flourish here for centuries and still

account for a third of Oman's irrigation.
Fallage in classical Arabic means to divide

into shares. Um, and it's actually how the
water is shared amongst the community here

that makes it particularly special. Each
farming family is allotted specific units

of time to irrigate their crops. The timet is
strict. Movable dams of stone and cloth are set

up to distribute the water so that everyone gets
exactly their fair share down to the last drop.

I bump into Malik Haled Albri busy watering
his crops. How long has your family been

farming this land here? Uh 50 years. And what
are you growing? mango and banana and lemon

balm dates and it's really incredible seeing
the afflage system working. So do you think

it's a system that encourages you to collaborate
with people and to respect your neighbors here?

And you must respect your ancestors, your
forefathers who invented this system as well.

It's so beautiful here. It almost feels like

you've you've stepped into a kind
of part of the garden of paradise.

[Music]

The sharing of water has a huge symbolic
significance. These irrigation systems may

predate Islam, but Muslim beliefs have
reinforced their almost sacred status.

As Islamic scripture says, the best form of
charity is to give someone water. And here,

the bounty of the fage translates
into agricultural abundance.

Locals tell you that at harvest time here, uh,
there's more produce than anyone can eat. So,

they gorge on pomegranates and bananas
and mangoes and dates. So it really does

feel as though a little bit of heaven has been
created here in these arid mountains. [Music]

Dates in particular have long been central to
the food and culture of Ammanis who eat more

per person than any other nation. As oasis towns
and villages like Misvat grew around each falage,

they became strategic stops on trade
routes connecting mountain and desert.

If you've ever seen a natural oasis in the desert,

it feels completely incredible, almost
kind of miraculous. But in some ways,

this is even more extraordinary because this
is humanmade. It's human hands that created all

this fertility. And of course, an innovation
like this would nourish exceptional success.

This is Bakla, the ultimate oasis settlement
sustained by a perfectly preserved afflage network

that is at least a thousand years old. The entire
Oasis town is surrounded by an 8mm fortified wall

to protect the allimportant water channels. And
dominating the city is one of the great treasures

of Omani architecture. The hulking medieval bata
fort built between the 12th and 15th centuries by

the Naban tribe. [Music] The Neban built up their
wealth and power and influence from control of

the water supplies and the frankincense trade in
this region until this palace come fortress came

to dominate one of the biggest towns in Arman
that was eventually a capital of the land.

The sheer size of the fort, the largest
of over 500 that still stand in Oman,

reveals the need to protect their
success from envious rivals.

[Music] This palace flourished at a time um
that some have called the Omani dark ages.

um books were being burned and our sources
go dark and there's instability and turmoil

throughout the land. So it feels as though that
sense and ethics of collaboration has fractured

and is being challenged. [Music] Huge amounts of
dates were stored here in the castle obviously

to feed the population particularly in times of
siege but they were also put to more sinister

use. Um so as they were stored then date oil
would leak out from the bottom and this was

collected and then it was poured down from
grills in the roof on anybody who invaded.

Now, because there's so much sugar in dates,
that burning material would then stick to the

invader's skin. [Music] Backless date
groves and fort still flourish. Now,

a UNESCO World Heritage site and a
stronghold of Ammani culture and traditions.

The afflash system really is just wondrous.
It's a real treasure because without it,

none of this would be possible. You wouldn't have
a fort. You wouldn't have a town. You wouldn't

have fields. You wouldn't have trees. And if you
think about it, in a way, the afflage is a kind

of metaphor for the evolution of Omani culture
itself, where all these different influences

combined to create a common ground and a shared
purpose in a beautiful, bracing land. [Music]

[Music]

The Masandam Peninsula in northern Oman,

famous for its dows, the iconic trading and
fishing vessels of the western Indian Ocean.

Dows have been plowing these waters
for at least a thousand years,

and we're getting what the crew
tell me is the ocean's blessing.

Lovely. There are dozen species of dolphin
around here and the sailors kind of say

that they're their friends. Not
a bad start to a boat journey.

The Dows still play a vital role connecting the
coastal communities within jagged inlets known

as the fjords of Arabia. Our next treasure is
the maritime culture of Massandam. [Music] The

mountains and hillsides that plunge down
into the sea are stunning, but they're

really inhospitable. They're impossible to
pass through. So, it makes complete sense

that the people on this peninsula turns to the
sea to survive and to seek opportunity. [Music]

Maritime trade is an essential part of Oman's
identity as a shipb building and seafaring

nation. Massandam's key position at the entrance
to the Gulf of Oman has placed it at the heart of

that story. Although it feels very remote, uh
there are clues all around as to how strategic

this place was and still is. Um this place is
called Telegraph Island and it gets its name

because in 1864 the British built a station
here for the telegraph cable from Karach to

London. U and apparently it was a famously tough
posting. I mean you can imagine it's very exposed.

It was very hot. There was hostility from local
tribes. So although it feels quite romantic now,

I'm sure in its day this was seriously hardcore.
[Music] A thousand years before the invention of

the telegraph, Omani merchants were sailing to
South China and dominating the busy trade routes

from Sri Lanka and India to Arabia and East
Africa. [Music] These dows were built so flat

and broad partly so they could transport really
heavy cargo. Uh so we know that they carried

sapphires and pearls and ebony and ivory and
carnelon from India. Uh teakwood and sandalwoods

and camper and copper and frankincense. So you
have to imagine them just laden with treasures.

The success of Oman's merchants and sailors was
based on their unrivaled navigational knowledge.

So the captain's reading these lines of
um someone called Ahmed bin Majid who is

a 15th century Omani sailor known as the
lion of the sea who wrote lines of verse

and pros to kind of guide people into how to
best navigate these waters. So what was what

was that last bit? What was he saying here? He
talk about the place where you do anchoring and

it depends on the the depth of the area and
he just explained on that depth what you need

to do on that depth where you need to drop
your anchor or how to stop how to park your

boat and secure things. Amazing. So still really
really useful information. and sell still some

people they use it actually my grandfather
used to you use this kind of way sometime

[Music] was the only modern Arabian state
to have an overseas empire stretching from

Iran to Tanzania from the late 1700s to the
1850s the combination of internationalism

and isolation has generated a unique
cultural phenomenon on the peninsula.

A village squeezed between the mountains and
the sea with a one-off language and identity.

So, this is Kumzar, right on the northern tip of
the Musandon Peninsula. It's incredibly isolated.

You can only get to it by sea. But it also sits
on one of the most strategic choke points in

the world because out there is the straight of
Holm and 40 miles across the water there's Iran.

Millions of tons of gas and oil go around Masandam
every day. Yet the few hundred fishing families of

Kumzar seem to exist a world away from the
super tankers out on the straight. [Music]

So, a friend of a friend has told me there's
a woman here called Makia Al Kumsari, um,

who speaks some English. So, I'm hoping she can
kind of decode this culture a bit for me. Hello.

Oh,

nice to see you here. It is lovely to be here. Oh,
it's lovely to be here. can. More than welcome.

Yeah, you can. More than welcome. Thank you.
Lovely. More than welcome. This is our review.

Have a seat. Thank you. What a place. What does
it feel like living in this community? I love

everything here. It is amazing feeling amazing
life for us especially today in our modern life.

I love the past. I love today. I will love the
future. And the language here is so fascinating

cuz cuz am I right in saying it's it's a
completely unique language Kamar has a secret all

sailors there all fishermen from many countries
are coming to take their water from here they

bring their culture they bring their nationality
they bring their language to this local area now

is mix of many languages at the world it I think
it is as a mirror of the world. So, so in Kumsara

you have uh ancient Arabic, ancient Persian,
Turkish, maybe French, Hindi, Portuguese, maybe

Portuguese and English and English. Yeah. Like a
salad of a language. Yeah. Yeah. The language is a

mirror of the culture. You can see the history on
the language. And it's so true as well what you're

saying that a a community that is cut off by the
water isn't isolated. The waterway really was a

highway for people to travel and to learn from one
another. I just got to hear you speaking a bit of

Kumzari. We've been talking about this beautiful
language, but we've been talking in English.

Walking through the village, you can hear
exotic loan words like the English door, forno,

the Portuguese for oven, or the Hindi words for
bread, naan, and numbers 1 to 5, ecto, so char.

[Laughter]

[Music]

Who is she? She's obviously a friend of yours.
Is she something to do with medicine? Cuz she

was doing medicine. Yeah, she has an organic
medicine doing on herbs and the grass. She

has to told me she just now served one child
who has broken his arm. the value there. Now

he is walking and playing. She told me to
tell you he's okay and she is good in that.

So Mia can say so I've just met the wise woman
of the village. I've never met a proper wise

woman before. So thank you for what an
incredible She has got stories to tell.

Makia is taking me to Kumar's well. the magnet
that attracted travelers from Europe, India,

Persia, each leaving a few words
as momentos of their passing. So

this is the destination of all those
travelers. Yeah. Which I call it the

secret of the language. Yes. The secret
of the area, the secret of the culture.

Thank you for showing me this
because this is like Kumsara is

made by the sweet water of the well
and the salty water of the ocean.

The lure of fresh water was the making of Kumsar.
Its language reflects the welcome they gave

to sailors, the shipwrecked and smugglers for
centuries, making this treasure something of a

paradox. the most inaccessible settlement in Oman,
but also one of its most deeply multicultural.

[Music] The land of Oman is a wonder because
it's a reminder that geography and geology,

earth and sea, make history. And that when we face
the challenges of extreme environments face on,

we can make treasures that help to connect
cultures and civilizations across the continent.

[Music]

Betany is in Aabaijan next Saturday at 6:30.
Tomorrow at 7:40, setting their ovens to 180,

Aradele Roberts, David Moresy, Tom Daly,

and Lucy Bulmont bake off a standup to cancer.
Next tonight, continuing our historic odyssey,

emergency plans for invasions over the centuries.
Fortress Britain with Alice Roberts. [Music]

I'm traveling across the world exploring
secrets and wonders. This is really tight. So,

I asked my friends here if they could uh get
me access off the beaten track. And I have 100%

definitely got what I asked for. An adventure
by land and sea to the most fascinating places.

It is just extraordinary. I've been given
special access to significant and surprising

treasures. Some of the most remarkable artworks to
survive from antiquity. Buried in ancient sites,

incredible buildings, and glorious works of
art. I'm in search of the treasures that help

to explain the story of us. Journey with me to
discover how the past shapes our lives today.

This time the culturally rich, rugged,
ravishing country of Azabaijan. Aabaijan

is a unique and completely remarkable land that's
attracted adventurers and diverse cultures since

prehistory. [Music] From gas powered flames
bursting out of the earth to ancient rock

carvings dating back tens of thousands of
years. The marvels of the legendary silk

road. That is a beautiful color and futuristic
skyscrapers towering over a medieval walled city.

I'll unpack the stories and wonders of a
land whose very geography makes history.

Aabaijan sits between the majestic Caucus
Mountains and the sparkling Caspian Sea. [Music]

The name Asbaijan comes from an ancient word for
fire. And over there there are hillsides that

suddenly burst into flame. And down here under the
Caspian Sea, there are fields of oil. Fossil fuels

have brought wealth to modern Azabaijan, but its
wonders stretch right back to prehistory. [Music]

where I'm heading now is an
amazing treasure that's on

the hills above the deserts just outside Baku.

This is Gobstan National Reserve in the
foothills of the Caucasus mountain range.

A unique landscape that hides the
story of humanity. 40,000 years ago,

nomadic hunter gatherers and fishermen set foot
here and began to leave an indelible, tantalizing

record of how they lived. Carved into these rocks
are more than 7,000 UNESCO protected pictures,

inscriptions, and stories. And I'm heading
to one known as the seven beauties engraving.

It's a bit of a scramble to get to. Its outline
is faint now, but originally it would have been

more like this. What you're looking at here are
figures that date to around 7,000 B.CE. So that

means they are 9,000 years old and there are seven
women represented here. You can see their tiny

cinched in waists and they've got this beautiful
V decoration pointing down below their hips.

But they're also carrying these massive staffs.
And if you look, can you see the ends have got

a curve in them? And that's usually a sign
of status or or standing. And the thing is,

we don't know who they are. We don't know whether
they're real women or female deities or the kind

of incarnation of some female spirit. But
it must be some statement of of might. So

whatever this art is telling us, it's describing
some kind of very inaccessible mystical power.

This art can be found on rocks and
hillsides across 20 square miles. [Music]

There are over a hundred images of boats on the
rocks here and there there are 10 on this rock

alone. Some are really really faint and eroded,
but you can make out these three very well. Um I

mean they're incredibly old these. So these date
back around 8,000 years. So that's the sixth or

7th millennium BCE. People are shown braving the
seas, heading out on adventures. And of course,

we don't have history from this time. So these
are unique clues as to what was happening.

It was only in the 1930s that the
incredible art here was rediscovered.

Um, basically miners were working in the
region and they moved a boulder and uncovered

these mysterious inscriptions.
So archaeologists were called in,

but they had no idea of the scale of
wonder that was going to be revealed.

[Music]

The ancient inhabitants of Azabaijan shaped
and drumed on the stones of Gobstan to create

music. Nati Sherino has spent years sourcing
the right rocks to replicate this primal sound.

Bravo. Bravo. That's fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah,

it's amazing. It's lovely for me to hear
because I mean this is a sound that's been

played here for for not just thousands of
years, but for tens of thousands of years.

[Music]

I know this was used to create music,

but do you think it was also used to send
messages between the people and tribes here?

An echo of this, the original rock music continues
in Aabaijan. So they still do this um traditional

dance here called the Yi dance and a lot of
the moves are the same as the ones that you

see in the in the rock inscriptions. And the
fact that they use this kind of massive bit of

stone in the center too, you know, that's that's
exactly as they were doing here back in prehistory

passed down through generations. Yi is
still very much alive in Azabaijani culture.

[Music]

Many of Gobistan's carved rocks are so delicate
and unique, mainly only researchers can visit.

But I've been granted exclusive access to
one called Gined. Last time I came here,

um I met an amazing archaeologist called Sabinch
who made me promise that I would come back to see

the excavations she was working on. Um and she's
made some incredible finds and I'm very lucky

to get to see them because this is somewhere the
public can't normally go to. Hi. Yeah. Hi. Hello.

How lovely to see you. Yes. You promised that
you'll return back. Oh yeah. Yeah. Thank you. So,

so tell me what I'm looking at here. We have
Arabic inscription which is called Berm or

Beckler. It is the name of local tribe. We have
medieval tribal sign which is called tongas. We

have goats. So this is obviously medieval period.
So it's much much much Yes. A letter but they are

in the same panel with the bronze age goats.
We have horses here like a curve. Yeah. Head.

Yeah. back line here legs first leg the other
leg is here we have the other horse so that's

really fascinating so if this Arabic and that's
a travel sign yes so these are people these are

sort of traders who are using the the you know
silk roads maybe or or you know even a kind of

here as part of the spice route and they're
leaving their mark and they're choosing to do

it on top of something that is probably three and
a half maybe 4 thousand years old from the Bronze

Age yeah that's why that's quite interesting
I think that in gustam we have uh dialogue of

let's call it dialogue between different cultures
between different peoples the bronze age people

met the medieval carvings on the same plot on
the same panel are there particular rocks that

I don't know have some sacred power or special
meaning to people it is it is interesting that

choosing of this side wasn't accidentally because
this side directly directed to the mountain and

maybe this mountain and this hill had any kind of
relationship. Yeah. Sacred value for the locals

and the finds keep on coming. See and her team
have identified over 540 new carvings here at

Jingodar since I've known her. We bumped into
each other here in Gustan, five years ago and

we just were talking talking about archaeology
and the power of archaeology and I remember you

saying how much it means to you. I feel the uh the
the spirit of my ancestor and it really makes me

cry. I imagine that a thousand years ago somebody
stayed there and carved these images on the rocks.

So when I registered them right now, I feel the
same vibes. Yeah. That's so beautiful. So you're

up here, but you don't feel alone. You're you're
in the company of women and men from history. Yes.

Really, this place has own importance and the
value for me. No. Yeah. You'll keep on finding

more here. Yes. Yes. Don't you? Yeah. It's really
great site. It is. The astonishing stories at

Gobistan offer a rare window into past lives at a
vital intersection between east and west, bearing

witness to many great civilizations, including the
Romans who carved Latin into this rock 2,000 years

ago. I just love this place because it feels like
a completely unique and wondrous treasure because

this is somewhere where memory itself is set
in stone. Um, all across this landscape there

are remarkable clues to people's lives from
prehistory right through to the present. And

and what the art here tells us is not just what
we've done, but what has mattered to us as humans.

[Music]

Aabaijan's strategic position on the Silk Roads.
The ancient trade routes linking China with the

West spurred innovation with the exchange of
goods, skills, and new ideas. I'm heading to

Shaki. Not only was it an absolutely stunning
stop on the Silk Roots, but it also produced

some of the most sumptuous treasures to be
traded all the way along those amazing roads.

It's a wonder because it traces the ways
we use the raw materials of the earth to

create beauty. Jaki has been a hub for
silk production for centuries. From here,

silk was exported to Russia, India, Iran, the
Turkish Ottoman Empire, and Europe. Even the

Romans bought silk from this region. The Khan
dynasty made Shaki their capital between 1743

and 1819. It became known as the city of silk. In
1797, the ruler Muhammad Hassan Khan displayed the

immense wealth generated by the Silk Road when
he built this lavish twostory summer residence.

a palace of light.

So this is the queen's chamber that I'm coming
into. The re the reason I have to kind of stoop

down as I come in is that all these rooms
have these wooden blocks on the floor cuz

people would all sit on the floor so it stopped
the drafts come in but also to make you kind

of bow in this slightly subservient way in the
presence of royalty. It's so gorgeous this place,

isn't it? Everything here tells you that it's
connected to to women. So the red color that

was thought to be a representation of
the power and passion of the female.

And it's just gorgeous cuz it also talks
about abundance. So these grapes here,

grapes were one of the fruits in the garden of
paradise. And the irises that you see everywhere,

these grow naturally in real profusion here in
Azaba. But that blue color was thought to ward off

disease and evil. So So it's a ceremonial room,
but it is absolutely packed full of messages, too.

These decorations reveal how a crucial destination

along the Silk Roads like Aabaijan enabled
different cultures to meet and interact.

This is the main ceremonial audience chamber.
So, the decorations here are kind of a bit more

crunchy. Um, they're all imagined, but they're
fighting scenes. And you've got everybody who was

important at the time represented. So, there are
Ottomans and Mongolians. And here, I think these

are um men from Aabaijan. You've even got a cosac
up there. But why I just love this place was it it

talks about that combination of east and west too.
So up here somewhere here I think there there's an

elephant because the rulers before these k used to
go to India and use elephants in their armies. And

then over here is a really really interesting
kind of mythological scene. It's a horrible

scene. It's a scene of total carnage because all
these different animals are are being hunted down

and chopped to pieces and destroyed including a
unicorn. And that is a unicorn that comes directly

out of western mythology and and fairy tales. The
palace was beautiful and at the business end of a

dynasty which at the time was one of the most
powerful in the caucuses. [Music] This is the

um the room the Khn would use to come in to
kind of in effect go through his inbox. So look

at all his papers and documents and you know sign
petitions. So it's really like his office. And so

all the decoration here is chosen to remind him
how to be a good ruler. Uh so you've got a lion

and dragon in mortal fight to prove that struggle
is pointless. There's a really lovely pomegranate

tree. So pomegranates are symbols of fertility,
but also because you have hundreds and hundreds of

seeds in each fruit. the idea that it's only the
outer casing, good governance that brings unity,

but it's up here. These medallions are definitely
my favorite in the room. So, this whole ceiling,

by the way, was replicated perfectly on a carpet
that would have been down below. And up here,

you've got um a woman with a lion's body. Uh but
she's also got wings and she's holding a sword

and she has a crown. So that shows that she can
be a ruler. And women in Aabaijan absolutely had

status and standing. And then there's this kind
of funny version of it over here. So here you've

also got a woman with a lion's body. And she does
still have a sword, but she doesn't have wings

and she doesn't have a crown. And that's because
this woman is only fair of face. She's not also

beautiful in mind and soul and spirit. So the idea
is that you have to be wise in order to exercise

real power. It's not just about how you look. And
this gorgeous glass, well, it was brought all the

way from Italy by the Venetians who traded
it for silk. The designs called shebacare,

web or latis. A lovely reflection of the
interweaving of cultures along the silk roads.

[Music]

This is a city that's that's basically devoted
to silk and has been for centuries. So down

all these little side streets you'll find
quite a lot of the houses have got this

strange sort of attic structure on the top
which is where the silk worms were held. So

um families have been producing silk here
for almost thousands of years. Yeah. Look,

look. It's lovely, isn't it? And here is a
malberry tree. And the reason these are here

is because salt worms love to eat malbury
leaves. It's all they can survive on. Um,

so you have these little sort of
mini malbury forests in the city.

As silkworms were cultivated in many private
gardens, Shaki became known as a garden city.

So that seems to have been roped into
a bit of spontaneous white malberry

harvesting. [Music] It's really cool
this because this is how on Greek pots

and things you see this is how they used
to harvest olives. So it's obviously been

going on like this you know for for well
for hundreds of years I think. [Music]

Yeah. I just got one on my head.

In 1931, the first silk
factory was built in Shaki,

and it's still producing
exquisite carpets and scarves.

[Music]

It's one of the great things about Aabaijan.
Wherever you go in a city or the countryside,

you always get offered tea by people.
So, first time in my life though I've

ever shared tea with uh silk workers.
There's a first time for everything.

Ilgar Agayv's family have been making silk here
for generations. It's so interesting to see this.

Am I right in thinking that before under the
USSR this was like the biggest enterprise in

all and also in all caucuses. Dying the fabric was
once considered a sacred art and those who worked

the cloth were thought to be blessed. So he takes
it and that goes straight in the dye there. Yes.

That is a beautiful color. Sure. The production
of Kelahayi, a traditional woman's headscarf,

is also a process that's UNESCO protected.
Each color is endowed with special meaning. A

bright red scarf is given to a bride before her
wedding. And one popular pattern is the Buddha,

a symbol of fire and fertility. So what's
happening here? So this is the first stop

where they put stamps and they use different
uh type of uh stamps. As you see it's wooden

stamp and very useful uh for putting pattern on
scarves. So they're keeping it warm but what is

it? What's that material that they're using
on the stamps? Uh it's paraffhene and canifer

I thought I could smell that beautiful smell. So
maybe that would scare away the mosquitoes as well

if you wear Sure. It's a it's a lovely atmosphere
in here. It's very sort of calm. You can hear the

birds outside and it's quite meditative you know
creating these things by hand. That's the why

this production goes well. Yes. If you link to
the nature if you feel the nature of course it

goes successful way you get success. There's
this beautiful thing that neuroscientists say

that if you're using your hands to make something,
your brain is in its kind of alpha state because

it's what we're meant to do as a species. Of
course. So, so it makes us happy and it is

not just a business. It's tradition and it comes
spiritly and that's why we are successful on this

part on this production. We think the Kellayi
headscarf appeared in Azabaijan 2,000 years

ago to protect against evil spirits. It remains an
integral part of cultural and religious identity.

The factory in Shaki is overlooked up in the
Caucus' foothills by Kish, one of the oldest

villages in Azaijan. So a good stop off to try on
a kei. I basically bought the whole workshop load

of scarves. However, I don't really know how
to put them on. But luckily, lovely Nyla here,

who's been traveling around and um helping me in
Aaban, also wearing a particularly lovely scarf,

has agreed yes to show me how to do it the proper
way. Because the thing with these is that, you

know, they're very particular ways to wear them.
So, sometimes it shows that you're married or that

you're a young woman without children. And here
there's myths and legends that if you knot them

in a particular way, it says that you're you're
sending a message to people that you're wise or,

you know, ambitious. Okay, let's have a go.
And I chose this one, by the way, cuz it's got

pomegranates on. And pomegranates are that lovely
symbol of fertility, kind of ambition, and and

unity that you get here. But okay, thank you. You
are welcome. Yeah. Ah, okay. Fantastic. So, now we

can have some tea. Silk stars like these have been
traded in Shaki for centuries. [Music] It was a

typical merchants town with a bazaar, warehouses,
and a caravansai, accommodation for merchants

traveling on the Silk Road. [Music] These caravans
eyes were were really high security places.

Um they're basically like kind of castles for
commerce. And and this is interesting. So um this

knocker announced the fact that men had arrived
and for women that's why I'm I'm using that one.

Built in the 18th century, the complex
has more than 200 rooms and a 14 m

high protective wall to keep out
thieves. and it's still a hotel.

Basically, this was a kind of one-stop shop.
So, um merchants would sleep on the upper levels

here. They do business underneath the arches with
other traders. And then all their luxury goods,

which are really precious, were stored
in these cellers down here. Silks and

spices and jewels and gold and carpets and
textiles and precious dyes. And of course,

all those things had to get here. So there were
mules and horses and camels. And we have records

of some camel caravans that had up to a thousand
animals in them. [Music] For added security, the

stairs leading to the second floor were removed at
night so the merchants could sleep easy. [Music]

The famous traveler Marco Polo um wrote
about this place. Um he was praising the

gold and silver threads that were used in silk
production here. And he said that there was so

much silk in this region that all the
beds were covered in silk blankets even

in hotels. So there must have been silk
blankets in in this place. And you know,

you just got to think of the buzz of staying
here because we know that traders came here

from what's now China and Iran and Russia
and North Africa and Western Europe. So,

so this was somewhere that you didn't just
come to exchange goods, but also ideas.

[Music]

Shaki is a treasure in and of itself,

but also because it's a crucial component
of the Silk Roads, that constant thread

of commerce and civilization that allowed
cultures and ideas to meet and flourish.

[Music]

Aabaijan is home to nine different climate zones,
creating an amazingly diverse terrain. From lush

green forests to rocky mountains to desert-like
plains and the sandy shores of the Caspian Sea.

My next treasure is an otherworldly landscape
forged by this unique geology. I'm traveling

to Yana Dag, famous for one of the most
miraculous natural wonders in the world.

flames that burn perpetually, fueled
by natural gas escaping from under

the ground. These fires have emlazed the
landscape throughout history, attracting

the attention of travelers, including
one French author in the 19th century.

The writer Alexander Duma who traveled here
described these fields of flame in ecstatic

terms. He actually compared them to
the volcano of Buvius above Pompei.

And I have to say I think there's a
bit of dramatic license there. But

they are extraordinary, aren't they? I
mean, as he says, they never seem to go

out. And and Dumar wrote that neither
winds nor storm could extinguish them.

This particular wall of flame has been
blazing away since it was accidentally

lit by a shepherd's cigarette back in the 1950s.

Just a few kilometers away, the landscape boasts

another natural wonder fueled by the
gas reserve. Mud volcanoes. [Music]

These were created 25 million years ago and they
are just extraordinary and there are over 700 here

in Aabaijan alone. And sometimes when they erupt,
they produce traces of of fool's gold or gold

itself. Instead of being caused by hot boiling
magma, these volcanoes are created when methane

gas churns up water under the earth to form
bubbling pools. Curiously, they're cold, often

just above freezing temperature. It's no surprise
that travelers who came to this region wrote about

them. So there's um a brilliant author who wrote
in Arabic called Al-Masudi and he describes this

as being a place where you'd find fields of gold
and mines of jewels and volcanoes of mud. I mean,

who could not write about something like
this? Every 20 years or so, a volcano ignites

underground, causing massive explosions.
A natural phenomenon once inexplicable,

encouraging early adventurers to talk about the
power of nature here in ecstatic terms. With its

mystical, otherworldly feel, this all inspiring
landscape has attracted pilgrims for centuries.

Just outside the capital Baku
is the Ateshka Fire Temple.

It's built on top of a natural gas vent.
The fires burn here all year round.

A deeply sacred place for one of the world's
oldest active religions, the Zoroastrian faith.

Zoroastrianism influenced Judaism, Christianity
and Islam and was founded on the words and ideas

of the prophet Zoaster who who probably
lived sometime around the 6th century

BCE. The beliefs are really interesting
because there is one God but two spirits,

a spirit of good and evil. And it's up to us as
humans to choose which path to follow. And if we

choose to follow the path of light represented
by this holy fire, then through our deeds and

our words and our thoughts, we can all
actively make the world a better place.

Fire rituals play a key part in
Zoroastrian ceremonies. [Music]

All around this building you'll find these
inscriptions in different languages. So this

one's in Persian and Sanskrit which is
an ancient Indian language. And there's

a particular reason for that. So at various
times through history right from antiquity

through to the advent of Islam and the
modern world the Zoroastrians would have

times when they were really unpopular or even
persecuted and a lot of the believers fled

to India and then came back again along the
Grand Trunk Road and actually that's one of

the reasons you see so many visitors from
the Indian subcontinent still here today.

The mountains of fire and flame here in
the Caucusus region have inspired myths

and legends that appear in the cultures
of both the east and the west. [Music]

These mountains are are always a place that have
lived really large in the world's imagination. Um,

for instance, there's a fantastic
Greek myth that Prometheus stole

fire from the gods to give to humanity so
that they could advance civilization. But

the gods were not best pleased about
this. And Zeus, the king of the gods,

chained Prometheus to a rock here and sent an
eagle every day to peck out his liver. I mean

that is obviously bad enough but overnight his
liver would regrow. So this torment was eternal.

So you kind of get the sense that this epic
landscape was somewhere that people wanted

to imagine world changing events took place.
[Music] Aabaijan's extraordinary geology still

mesmerizes and connects us to the people
of the past who also found it a marvel.

The strange beautiful landscape of
Azabaijan has intrigued travelers and

given this place a mystical meaning for
centuries. This land is a treasure and a

wonder because it seems to exist somewhere
between the natural and the supernatural.

[Music]

The Caspian Sea has shaped the fortunes
of Aabaijan's capital city, Baku,

thanks to the international power players
who've crossed it and the natural riches

it hides. For centuries, prochemicals
attracted fortune hunters to this land.

The first oil well was drilled here in 1846
and the industry took off. Before long,

Aabaijan was producing more
than 50% of the world's oil

and the capital city boomed.

[Music] My next treasure is the rich
historic center of Baku. In the 1880s,

fantastically wealthy oil tycoons, including
local [ __ ] Zenalin Tagv, and foreigners the

Rothschilds and Nobel brothers commissioned
flamboyant mansions and impressive public

buildings. The population of the city mushroomed.
They were all accommodated then in these elegant

boulevards and Baku became known as the Paris of
the east. But in fact, Baku is a layer cake of

history reaching back centuries with over,200
families still living in its medieval heart.

Amongst the historic treats is the maiden
Tower, 29 m tall and steeped in legend and

romance. One story goes that a king tried to
force a maiden to marry him. She eventually

accepted on condition he built her a tower.
Once completed, she threw herself from the top.

If you manage to make it up to the top of the
tower, you've basically done a kind of climb

through history. So, right down at the bottom, the
foundations were used as a Zoroastrian temple. So,

there was probably some kind of oil or or gas
flame burning inside. Then, as you make your

way up, the walls start to become 5 m thick.
And that's because from the 12th century,

this place was used as a defensive tower.
That's almost certainly why it's called

the maiden tower because the idea is that it
was impregnable um and people would have been

held safely inside. But then come the 18th
and 19th centuries this was mainly used as

a kind of military observation point obviously
looking at attackers coming in from the Caspian

Sea. And for the people of Baku, one of the
worst times was in the 1720s when the Russian

Empire under Peter the Great advanced here,
bombarded the city and then made their way

in. On the hill above the maiden Tower is another
architectural wonder, the Shivven Shars Palace.

The Shivan Shars, one of the longest
reigning dynasties in the Islamic world,

made Baku their capital between the 12th and
16th centuries. Built out of local limestone,

the complex includes a mosque, 52 rooms,
and a morale for the Shivven kings.

Tucked away in the corner of the palace
grounds, there's a peaceful sanctuary.

[Music] Travelers still cross
continents to visit this sacred tomb.

So um this is known as the Dervishes tomb but it's
actually the final resting place of a man called

Sed Yahar Bakui who was a a Sufi scholar and I
should just say that as I've come in here it's

beautiful cuz it smells of roses because they
leave rose oil here on his grave every day. He

was a really fascinating super super intelligent
man. He wasn't just a Sufi. Sufi is the kind of

mystical form of Islam. He was also a philosopher.
He came up with a sort of complex idea of how the

world worked. And it makes total sense that he was
sponsored by this dynasty because this dynasty was

all about the acquisition and the advance
and the power of wisdom and ideas. [Music]

In 1538, following 500 years of rule, the
Shivvenar dynasty was overthrown and their

palace and kingdom became a target of conquest
for rival empires. First came the Safavidids,

then the Ottomans, and finally the
Russians. This palace was attacked

again and again over the centuries, but these
are actually bullet holes. Um, and these have

been left here by Russian bolsheviks at
the time of the first world war. [Music]

The historic center of Baku is a reminder of how
travelers and traders and merchants and power

brokers have come here to exchange goods and ideas
and also to play a geopolitical game of chess. But

they've left behind a checkerboard of cultures
and wonders and treasures. [Music] I'm traveling

to the Carabat region in western Aabaijan, high in
the rugged Caucusus mountain range. Inaccessible

for decades because of conflict, the cultural
heritage of this region is my next treasure.

Over time, this region has become renowned
for its composers and poets. [Music]

One of the most famous daughters of this region
um in fact the daughter of one of the rulers here

is this incredible woman called Natavan who was a
poetess but she was also clearly a really feisty

character. So she did things like provide water
systems so that people had fresh water and she

sponsored literary and musical and philosophical
salons that women as well as men could attend. Um,

but really her standout gift to the world was
her beautiful poetry, which talks a lot about

love and friendship and and humanism. But because
she lost one of her sons, it it's also tinged with

sorrow. So just just listen to this. Our parting
has stolen my reason. My soul has forgotten

repose. Behold how merciless fortune has doomed
me to endless woes. I wonder why my cruel lover

will not have pity on me. I burn in the flame of
parting. The beloved who lit it was he. [Music]

Don't you think it sort of feels
appropriate to this landscape

which which is so beautiful but but it is
also touched with a kind of melancholy.

[Music] The poets here are lorded like
rock stars. This 59 ft high morselum was

built during the Azabaijan Soviet Republic. It
honors Mha Pana Wagif, an 18th century diplomat

and pioneering poet who wrote about ordinary
feelings and emotions rather than religion

or abstract ideas. [Music] This place obviously
still feels really passionate about its poetry.

So look at this. somebody's bothered to come
in and leave a rose on the poet's grave. And I

wonder if it's partly because his words talked
about everyday life. And surely that also has

to be why the Soviets approved of him. What
you know why they erected this this beautiful

mortum because he was a man who wrote about
the trials and tribulations of the common man.

[Music]

This is the Jadeir Duzu plane. The name
means horse racing field in Asbaijani.

It's where ancient Carabach rulers hosted
poetry and music festivals and games.

Oh, so this is amazing to see. So this
is basically a kind of natural wonder of

the region. These are the Carabac horses
and they've always been here and they've

been written about. So they appear in this epic
poetry and in paintings and and the myth about

them is that they're so beautiful God gave
them to the world in the form of sunbeams.

The Carabac horse is prized internationally
for its speed, stamina, and temperament. and

is a symbol of the cultural figure of the region.
Ballads and poetry written by women as well as men

describe how many nationalities and faiths, Azeri,
Armenian, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, were

inspired by this stunning landscape. The medieval
poet Nami Ganjavi wrote, "If you seek the company

of all who can be found here, you must remember
to become simply the dust of the feet of each

and everyone." So if you respect everyone around
you, you will live a good life. [Music] Aabaijan's

cultural heritage is a wonder celebrating the
diverse influences that weave together here.

It feels like there's nowhere else quite like
Aabaijan if you think of its glittering palaces

and the marvels of its mystical poetry. Not to
mention this incredible otherworldly landscape

of the Caucasus. This is somewhere where the
treasures of the earth have really shaped

the human story and the course of history
itself. [Music] Streaming now on all four.

A shoe dreams and mering misery in the latest
from new celeb bakeoff. Binge it before Patty

McInness packs pies 20 to8 tomorrow here on
channel 4. Then teases travelers in brand

new temping fortune at 9:00. New to and next
the story of how a Soviet spy climbed up the

ranks of British intelligence totally unnoticed
in Fortress Britain with Alice Roberts. [Music]