All language subtitles for Secrets.Unlocked.Series.1.Part.2.Jonah.and.the.Whale.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

Mastrelli: Jonah, the prophet
swallowed by a whale,

Who then confronts
a wicked king.

His story is so bizarre

It seems it could
never have happened.

But now, from the ruins of war,

In a labyrinth of tunnels,
come shocking new discoveries

That take scholars back to
this old testament story

And plunges them deep
into an ancient world

Of violence and sex.

These extraordinary discoveries
could finally reveal

The truth behind one
of the bible's greatest

And strangest stories,

The tale of jonah and the whale.

For centuries, the
mysteries of the past

Have kept their secrets.

But there are clues, cast
in gold, etched in stone,

Written in blood.

We can unlock them.

(dramatic music)

Mesopotamia.

The cradle of civilization

And the setting for at least
a dozen biblical stories,

Including one of the most famous
and strangest tales of all,

The story of jonah
and the whale,

Where a prophet endures
incredible hardship

To warn an ancient city
to change its wicked ways.

That ancient city was nineveh.

Now it's mosul,
in northern iraq.

It's here, many believe,
that jonah was buried.

For at least 1,000 years,
pilgrims from three

Of the world's major religions
have traveled to mosul

To visit jonah's
tomb and shrine.

It's known as nebi yunus.

Schiffman: Now the prophet jonah
is in the hebrew scriptures

Known as the old testament,

It is mentioned in
the new testament,

And is mentioned in the koran
as well under the name yunus.

And therefore it seems
that for jews, christians,

And muslims, this
was a holy site.

Mastrelli: In the bible,
god commands jonah

To travel to the city of nineveh

To warn its citizens that
they will be punished

For their sinful ways.

Schiffman: This prophet
was commanded

By god to go to nineveh

But he decided he wasn't going.

Mastrelli: Jonah
ignores god's command.

He sets sail in the
opposite direction.

Schiffman: He goes on a ship

In order to avoid the role
that god has given him,

And what happens is that
there's a tremendous storm.

Mastrelli: Jonah is
thrown overboard.

For three days and nights,

He languishes
inside a great fish

Until he repents and is
spat out on the shore.

Finally, jonah goes to nineveh

And delivers his warning to
the king and his citizens.

Schiffman: He gives his prophecy
including to the king

And all the people
and they all repent.

Mastrelli: It's one of the
old testament's most famous

And most puzzling stories.

Now archeologists have a
chance to investigate the place

Where many believe
jonah was buried

And where he may have warned
the sinful king of nineveh.

It's an opportunity borne out

Of the horror and
destruction of war.

In June 2014, isis
occupied mosul.

One month later, on July 24th,

They obliterated jonah's shrine.

And archeologists' worst
fears were realized.

Machinist: Years to build but
one minute to destroy.

Dalley: It was terrible
of course,

Terrible for people,
terrible for antiquities.

Ugh.

Hanson: This was to demonstrate
their power over the landscape

And also their effort
to rewrite history.

Mastrelli: Using
satellite imagery,

Archeologist kathryn
hanson recorded

And analyzed the destruction.

Hanson: So, we're
starting with the 19th of July

And you can see the shrine
looks like it always has,

It's still there.

But by the 30th of July,

You can see it's
very clearly reduced

To a pile of gray rubble.

Mastrelli: Iraqi
archeologist ali al-juboori

Of mosul university
was one of the first

To visit the site
after its destruction.

Juboori: It was July 24th when
they blown up the mosque.

I went the next day.

I couldn't see
anything, only ruins.

Every stone of the
culture is very important,

It's part of our
cultural heritage.

So, this destruction, it has
nothing to do with religion.

It's beyond my ability just
to describe what's going on.

Mastrelli: But in
a twist of fate,

The obliteration of nebi yunis
wasn't the end of the story.

It was the beginning
of a whole new chapter

That could finally
reveal the true story

Behind the biblical tale
of jonah and the whale.

Dalley: It is rather ironic that
you see isil trying apparently

To destroy the ancient culture,

But in fact they have
revealed a bit more

Of what really interests us.

Mastrelli: 2 1/2 years after
the shrine's destruction,

Isis is forced out of mosul,

Leaving archeologists free

To examine the
ruins more closely.

Beneath what was
once jonah's shrine,

They make an
astonishing discovery,

A labyrinth of tunnels leading

To a strange
subterranean landscape.

Juboori: After the liberation
of east of mosul,

The army and some of the
archeologists went up there

And they found they
had dug four tunnels.

Each tunnel, when
you get inside,

It will be divided
into many tunnels.

Mastrelli: Isis dug these
tunnels deep into the mound

In search of buried treasure.

Juboori: The looters were
looking for the things

Which were easy to be carried.

The things which they cannot
carry, they left it behind.

Mastrelli: And it's
what they left behind

That has stunned the
world of archeology.

When isis blew up the
tomb of jonah in 2014,

It was not an isolated event.

It was just the beginning.

They waged a war not only
against non-believers

But also against 6,000 years
of culture in iraq and syria.

Today, the tomb they
sought to destroy,

Thanks to its newly-revealed
lower chambers,

Is now a testament to the
enduring power of history

In this ravaged
corner of the world.

Dalley: I've never seen anything
like these characters

That are in the tunnels
on the sculptures,

And as far as I know there
is no parallel for it.

Mastrelli: As archeologists
examine the carvings

And inscriptions, it's
clear they were made

By one of the ancient
world's greatest empires,

A civilization that looms large

In the old testament
book of jonah,

The assyrians.

Schiffman: No question that what
happened in this place

And the archeology of this
place is very important

For understanding the bible

And by the way,

For understanding the
story of jonah.

Hanson: These are structures
that come from a civilization

That was an empire before
there were empires.

Mastrelli: By 671 bc, the
assyrian empire stretched

From turkey in the north
to egypt in the south.

Hanson: This was the
first real empire

That controlled the
entirety of the middle east.

If you think about it,

It's basically rome
before there was rome.

Mastrelli: To their
neighbors and rivals,

The assyrians' riches and
ruthless lust for power

Made them public
enemy number one,

A reputation the assyrians
themselves seemed to relish.

Machinist: Certainly, in the
assyrian royal inscriptions

There's a certain
focus on what happens

To enemies who don't obey.

They can be flayed, their
skin pulled off of them.

There's this piling
up of the heads

Of the enemy in pyramids.

Schiffman:The assyrians'
own documents

Tell us they
murdered people,

They exiled populations.

The reality is that they
provided their own bad press.

Mastrelli: This image
as the bad guys

Of the biblical world
dominates the old testament

And the book of jonah.

Schiffman: This major, major
empire is a major part

Of our ancient history
and our biblical history.

Mastrelli: At the heart
of this vast empire

Sat the largest city
of its time, nineveh.

It was once the capital
of the assyrian world.

It features heavily
in the book of jonah

And, to millions of
believers around the world,

It's the burial place
of jonah himself.

If archeologists are going to
discover jonah's true story,

Nineveh is where
they'll find it.

A city ruled over
by an immensely

Rich and powerful king.

Dalley: Nineveh was packed
with palaces and temples

And surrounded by
walls and moats

And then bridges and gardens.

Hanson: You'd
come into a palace

That was massive
reliefs of stone

With images carved
on the sides of them

And painted in bright colors.

And it was all designed

To demonstrate how much
power the king had.

Mastrelli: But what
is the structure

That archeologists have
discovered at nebi yunis?

Deep beneath jonah's shrine,

They're uncovering a
critical and monumental clue.

Two immense statues.

They're the lower halves
of colossal winged bulls,

So huge their upper
bodies are still buried

In the earth above.

Half-man, half-beast,
these are lamassu.

Iconic assyrian divinities,

They symbolize power
and offer protection.

It's a discovery of
global importance.

Hanson: Seeing a lamassu in the
wild is really different

Than seeing a plaster cast
of it like we have here.

You can better understand
the assyrian experience

With a lamassu if
you're able to see it

In its original place.

Mastrelli: Only the most
important of assyrian buildings

Were guarded by lamassu,

So their discovery
beneath nebi yunis reveals

This was once a great
center of power.

Dalley: It's very
interesting to find

That the tunnels have
got winged bulls,

Because this is the mark
of a proper palace building

And it wouldn't be found
in just any old building.

Mastrelli: The presence
of lamassu suggest

There was a palace here

And that it dates back at
least 2 1/2 thousand years,

To the time of
the old testament,

When it's said jonah
traveled to this city

And spoke to its king.

Voice of god: Jonah began
to enter into the city

And cried "yet 40 days and
nineveh shall be overthrown."

Mastrelli: There was a palace
here in biblical times.

So was this also the palace
that some believe jonah visited

To warn its wicked
king to repent, or die?

In mosul, iraq,
beneath the ruined tomb

Of the old testament
prophet jonah,

Archeologists have
discovered the remains

Of an ancient assyrian palace.

Ali al-jubouri of the
university of mosul

Has translated the
inscriptions from the tunnels.

Jaboori: The palace
of esarhaddon,

Mighty king, king
of the world,

King of assyria, rebuilt
the asagulih and babylon,

Descendant of sargon,
king of assur.

Mastrelli: The palace belonged

To the assyrian king esarhaddon.

But who was he?

Could he be the sinful king

That some believe
jonah came to warn?

History tells us
he fit the bill.

Dalley: Esarhaddon as
the crowned prince,

Falls out with his father.

And his mother, naqi'a,
and esarhaddon himself

Organized the murder
of naqi'a's husband,

And her son's father.

Mastrelli: As king, esarhaddon
ruled his vast empire

With ruthless brutality.

He celebrated his fearsome
reputation with grisly carvings.

This engraving shows esarhaddon
leading his defeated enemies

Like animals, on a leash.

And he hammered the message
home with gruesome inscriptions.

Dalley: "I trampled on the necks
of the people of cilicia.

"the corpses of their
warriors unburied

"I gave to the wolf to eat.

"I hung the head of
sanduarri and abdi-milkutti

"on the shoulders
of their nobles.

"and with singing
and music I paraded

"through the public
square of nineveh."

Mastrelli: Esarhaddon seems
the perfect candidate

For the book of jonah's
sinful king of nineveh.

And there was more to
esarhaddon's wickedness.

He also worshiped deities
the bible calls false idols,

Including perhaps
the most famous,

And infamous,
goddess in history.

Dalley: Every city will have a
patron god, or goddess.

In nineveh it was ishtar,
the goddess of battle,

As well as love, as
well as fertility.

She is a ferocious goddess.

She would sleep with
anybody she felt like,

She's into killing people.

She can do anything.

She is the most
powerful deity of all.

Mastrelli: This association

With the promiscuous
goddess ishtar

Tarnished nineveh's reputation
in the eyes of the bible.

In the old testament's
book of nahum,

Ishtar and nineveh are linked.

Dalley: Nahum is regarding
the city as a woman.

"and I will discover thy
skirts upon thy face,

"and I will show the
nations thy nakedness

"and the kingdoms thy shame."

So, she is a thoroughly
disgraced woman,

Of worst possible repute.

And that's the kind of idea

That stuck to assyria as a
place of atrocious sexual habits

And atrocious fornication.

Mastrelli: A metropolis led
by a ruthless, violent king

And dedicated to a
goddess of sex and war.

The similarities between
the book of jonah

And the archeology in
these tunnels are striking.

There's a real shrine of
jonah, and a real sinful king,

In a real palace,
in a real city.

So, were the events in the
book of jonah real too?

While the discoveries at
nebi yunus seem to fit

With jonah's story,
the dates don't.

Though evidence for the
historical jonah is bolstered

By the bible's book of kings ii,

That account points to
him living in israel

During the eighth century bc,

Long before esarhaddon reigned.

Schiffman: We have evidence
there was such a prophet

From second kings.

We also know that there
was a city of nineveh

And in fact there's
archeological evidence

For that city in
the assyrian period.

But actually, that archeological
evidence for the city

Is from a somewhat later period

Than the one in which
jonah apparently functioned

According to the book of kings.

Mastrelli: Today, many
scholars believe

That as the story passed from
one generation to the next,

It evolved.

Facts, such as the
wealthy city of nineveh,

And fiction, like
jonah's three days

Inside the great fish, fused.

Then the writers of the old
testament added their own spin,

To create a story that was
more symbolic than historic.

Schiffman: We realize on one
hand that it's a document,

Which has in it some actual
history and actual events.

On the other hand,

Sometimes we have a more
symbolic way of writing.

It doesn't really seem that
this is to be taken literally.

It rather seems that
this is a narrative meant

To teach us some very,
very important lessons

About judgment, and mercy,
and sin, and repentance.

Mastrelli: So, if there
was a historical jonah,

This is not where he was buried.

In fact, at least
three other sites

Across the middle east lay
claim to the prophet's bones.

Still, jonah's
tale of repentance

And its universal
appeal endures.

Juboori: Nebi yunus is very
important for iraqis

Because it is a heritage
from 3,000 years.

Even though it's been destroyed,

The name will continue for
the future generations.

Mastrelli: Call it the
ultimate irony,

An act of pitiless destruction
by a murderous cult,

A cult dedicated to
erasing the ancient history

Of iraq and syria, is now
allowing archeologists

To wonder again at
the story of jonah

And to discover the palace
of a mighty assyrian king.