Original subtitles

NARRATOR: THEY BROUGHT US DEMOCRACY, EPIC POETRY,

SCIENCE, AND THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT.

AND YET, MENTION GREECE THESE DAYS AND

YOU'RE MORE LIKELY TO THINK ATM LINES, GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS,

AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE.

BETTANY HUGHES: THEY ARE IN AN IMPOSSIBLE ECONOMIC SITUATION,

BUT I THINK THE GREEKS DRAW INSPIRATION

FROM THEIR OWN PAST.

NARRATOR: 3,000 YEARS AGO,

GREECE, AND MUCH OF THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD

FOR THAT MATTER,

FACED HARDSHIPS UNLIKE ANYTHING HUMANS HAD BEFORE.

WAR AND FAMINE, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL MELTDOWNS,

MASS MIGRATIONS.

IT WAS THE WORST COLLAPSE IN HUMAN HISTORY.

THE SOPHISTICATED GREEK CIVILIZATIONS OF

THE BRONZE AGE, FIRST THE MINOANS,

THEN THE MYCENAEANS, FADED INTO MEMORY.

BETTANY HUGHES: YOU HAVE THESE AMAZING CIVILIZATIONS

IN THE GREEK BRONZE AGE,

INCREDIBLE EXAMPLES OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT

AND SOMEONE OR SOMETHING BRINGS THAT ALL CRASHING DOWN.

NARRATOR: AND YET, SOMEHOW, THE GREEKS WHO EMERGED FROM

THIS DARK AGE WOULD BE THE FIRST TO WRITE IN VERSE,

POSIT A THEORY OF NATURE, AND VOTE IN AN ELECTION.

JOSIAH OBER: IMAGINE THAT THERE WAS NEVER A COLLAPSE,

IT'S VERY UNLIKELY THAT WE WOULD HAVE WHAT WE THINK OF

AS GREEK CIVILIZATION.

NARRATOR: THROUGH ONE OF HISTORY'S DARKEST CHAPTERS,

INDIVIDUALS STRIVING TO BE BETTER,

WOULD BAND TOGETHER, BUILD A NEW SOCIETY

AND ULTIMATELY CHANGE THE WORLD.

JOHN CAMP: YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO TRY TO BE THE BEST YOU CAN.

NARRATOR: FROM STRIFE ROSE THE FOUNDATIONS OF

WESTERN CIVILIZATION, RIGHT NOW ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S

"THE GREEKS".

♪[NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC THEME MUSIC PLAYS]. ♪

NARRATOR: IN GREECE THESE DAYS,

THE SIGNS OF STRIFE ARE INESCAPABLE.

CITIZENS ARE OUTRAGED OVER THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS.

[EXPLOSION]

IT'S ESPECIALLY DEMORALIZING IN A COUNTRY WHERE REMINDERS

OF CIVILIZATION'S FORMER GLORIES ARE EVERYWHERE.

MANY ARE FINDING CREATIVE WAYS TO EXPRESS THEIR CONCERNS.

IN ATHENS, GRAFFITI BLANKETS PRACTICALLY

EVERY WALL IN THE CITY.

DIMITRI: IT'S A KIND OF JUNGLE AT THE MOMENT.

ALL THIS CONFUSION TAKING PLACE IN GREECE.

IT'S A WAY OUT, A WAY FOR EACH PERSON TO SHOW THEIR ANGER.

OF COURSE, THROUGH THIS, BEAUTIFUL THINGS EMERGE.

NARRATOR: ONE ATHENIAN ARTIST IN PARTICULAR SEEMS

TO BE DRAWING ON THE ANCIENTS FOR INSPIRATION,

INVOKING THEIR WISDOM TO PROTEST EVERYTHING FROM

CORRUPTION TO AUSTERITY TO GREED.

HIS MURALS ARE WIDELY RECOGNIZED NOT ONLY IN GREECE,

BUT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, EVEN IF THE ARTIST HIMSELF

PREFERS TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS.

HE'S KNOWN ONLY AS INO.

TODAY, ON A PROMINENT BUILDING IN ATHENS' BUSTLING

PORT OF PIRAEUS, HE'S STARTING ON A NEW MURAL,

ONE THAT HE HOPES WILL INSPIRE FELLOW GREEKS

AND INCITE CHANGE IN HIS COUNTRY.

INO: MANY PEOPLE, THEY WANT EVERYTHING READY IN THE DISH.

THEY WANT THINGS, BUT THEY DON'T TRY,

SO TO HAVE A CHANGE, YOU MUST TRY.

FOR ME THAT IS WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE.

YOU'RE POOR IF YOU HAVE EVERYTHING,

AND IF YOU DON'T FIGHT FOR SOMETHING.

NARRATOR: IT'S A SENTIMENT INO COULD HAVE PULLED

STRAIGHT OUT OF ANCIENT GREECE.

THAT STRIFE CAN BRING OUT THE BEST IN PEOPLE

IS AN AGE-OLD NOTION.

BUT FOR THE GREEKS IT WOULD FORM THE BASIS

OF THEIR IDENTITY.

WITHOUT STRIFE, THE ANCIENT GREEK POET HESIOD WROTE

NEARLY 3,000 YEARS AGO, THERE COULD BE NO GREATNESS.

SO LONG AS IT'S THE RIGHT KIND OF STRIFE.

SO LONG AS IT'S THE RIGHT KIND OF STRIFE.

FOR ONE FOSTERS EVIL, WAR AND BATTLE: HER NO MAN LOVES;

THE SECOND, SET IN THE ROOTS OF THE EARTH,

SHE IS FAR KINDER TO MEN.

SHE STIRS UP EVEN THE LAZY TO TOIL;

FOR A MAN GROWS EAGER TO WORK WHEN HE

CONSIDERS HIS NEIGHBOR, A RICH MAN WHO HASTENS

TO PLOUGH AND PLANT;

NEIGHBOR VIES WITH NEIGHBOR AS HE HURRIES AFTER WEALTH.

THIS STRIFE IS WHOLESOME FOR MAN.

JOHN CAMP: THE VERY EARLIEST LINES OF GREEK LITERATURE ARE

HESIOD TELLING YOU ABOUT BAD STRIFE WHICH CREATES WAR

AND DEATH AND A GOOD STRIFE WHICH MAKES MEN STRIVE

AGAINST EACH OTHER TO BE THE BEST AND IT SAYS,

"POET AGAINST POET, POTTER AGAINST POTTER."

EDITH HALL: OR A PAINTER COMPETES WITH A PAINTER,

HE EVEN SAYS A BEGGAR CAN COMPETE WITH ANOTHER BEGGAR.

JOSIAH OBER: HESOID SEES THE ADVANTAGE OF HARD WORK.

HE SEES COMPETITION AS BEING VALUABLE.

POTTER CONTENDS AGAINST POTTER.

DOESN'T MEAN THAT PEOPLE WERE CUTTING EACH OTHER'S THROATS.

IT MEANS THAT PEOPLE WERE TRYING TO MAKE BETTER POTS,

IN A WORLD THAT SAW SOME MARKET IN GOOD POTS.

NARRATOR: IT'S A WORK ETHIC THAT MAY HAVE LIFTED

INO'S GREEK ANCESTORS OUT OF SOME VERY DARK TIMES.

A LITTLE MORE THAN 3,000 YEARS AGO,

HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE ATHENS' GLORIOUS GOLDEN AGE,

GREECE AND SOCIETIES ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN FACED

STRUGGLES UNLIKE ANYTHING WE'VE EXPERIENCED

IN MODERN TIMES: FAMINE, MASS MIGRATIONS,

A GLOBAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE.

THE MYCENAEAN EMPIRE, WHOSE EXTRAVAGANT PALACES IN MYCENAE

AND PYLOS WOULD INSPIRE THE LIKES OF "THE ILIAD"

AND "THE ODYSSEY", WAS BROUGHT TO ITS KNEES.

ERIC CLINE: OVER A PERIOD OVER 200 YEARS,

YOU GO FROM THE HEIGHT OF CIVILIZATION TO ALMOST

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

EVERYTHING THAT THEY HAD KNOWN IN THE BRONZE AGE

SUDDENLY COLLAPSES.

NARRATOR: ARCHAEOLOGISTS CALL THIS PERIOD,

FROM 1200 DOWN TO 800 BC, THE GREEK DARK AGE,

SINCE SO FEW HALLMARKS OF CIVILIZATION HAVE BEEN FOUND.

AND YET, EVEN IF PEOPLE MAY HAVE BEEN BUILDING AND

WRITING LESS DURING THIS TIME, SCHOLARS ARE BEGINNING TO

RECOGNIZE THAT CULTURE DIDN'T VANISH COMPLETELY.

BETTANY HUGHES: THERE IS NO TIME WHEN THE LIGHT OF

CIVILIZATION AND SOCIETY IS COMPLETELY EXTINGUISHED.

CIVILIZATION AND SOCIETY IS COMPLETELY EXTINGUISHED.

NARRATOR: KINGS AND PALACES WERE GONE,

BUT THE COMMONERS WERE STILL THERE TO PICK UP THE PIECES.

GREG NAGY: THINK OF IT AS A PYRAMID WHERE THE

ENTIRE SOCIETY IS DEFINED, LET'S SAY, BY THE PINNACLE,

SO WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID IS

LOPPED OFF, BUT EVERYTHING UNDERNEATH IS THERE.

EDITH HALL: WE DO KNOW THAT THE BASIC GREEK WAY OF LIFE,

THESE SMALL CRAFTSMAN, THESE PEASANT FARMERS,

THESE SEA GOING TRADERS, STAYED BASICALLY THE SAME.

NARRATOR: ONLY NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY AND

IN TRUE HESIODIC FASHION, THE FRUITS OF THEIR HARD WORK,

SKILLS AND TALENTS DIDN'T GO TO A SELECT

FEW ELITE AT THE TOP.

THE WORKERS THEMSELVES WOULD HAVE A SHOT AT THE GOOD LIFE.

♪ ♪

JOHN HALE: OUT OF THIS COMES ONE OF THE MOST DISTINCTIVE

GREEK POSSESSIONS THAT WE HAVE STILL TO DEFINE THE WEST,

THE CULT OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

IT IS THE SUPREME OPPORTUNITY GIVEN TO EACH

OF US AS INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE OUR OWN IDENTITY,

MAKE OUR OWN WORLD, MAKE OUR OWN LIFE.

BETTANY HUGHES: I THINK THE GREEKS KEEP HOLD OF THIS IDEA

THAT THEY ARE SOMEHOW SPECIAL, THAT THEY HAVE POTENTIAL.

EVEN IF TIMES ARE HARD THEY HAVE A KIND OF PLUCKINESS AND

A GRIT AND REALLY THEY ARE CREATING THE CONDITIONS FOR

CHANGE THAT ALLOW THE GLORIES OF GREECE THEN TO

EMERGE A HUNDRED OR SO YEARS LATER.

♪ ♪

[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]

NARRATOR: THE EARLIEST EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THIS

TIMELESS GREEK IDENTITY ENDURED THROUGH THE DARK AGE

COMES FROM A SMALL POEM,

INSCRIBED IN A MOST UNLIKELY PLACE:

THE SIDE OF AN ANCIENT WINE POT CALLED THE CUP OF NESTOR.

IT'S EARLY IN THE 8TH CENTURY BC.

A GROUP OF GREEK TRADERS, HAVING SAILED FROM RHODES OFF

THE WESTERN COAST OF TURKEY, WHERE THE POT ORIGINATED TO

THE ISLAND OF ISCHIA OFF OF ITALY WHERE IT WAS DISCOVERED,

ARE KICKING BACK.

EDITH HALL: ONCE THEY GET TO THEIR DESTINATION

TO SELL THE POT, PRESUMABLY, GUESS WHAT?

THEY'RE GREEKS; THEY DECIDE TO HAVE A DRINKING PARTY.

AND THERE ARE THREE MEN WHO ARE HAVING A COMPETITION

IN MAKING A POEM, WITTY ONE LINERS.

NARRATOR: THEY PASS THE POT BETWEEN THEM,

EACH ONE SCRIBBLING A VERSE IN THEIR OWN HANDWRITING.

EACH ONE SCRIBBLING A VERSE IN THEIR OWN HANDWRITING.

WHOEVER DRINKS FROM THIS CUP ON HIM STRAIGHT AWAY

WILL COME DESIRE FOR APHRODITE OF THE LOVELY CROWN.

NARRATOR: IN OTHER WORDS.

EDITH HALL: IF YOU DRINK WINE OUT OF THIS CUP YOU WILL BEGIN

TO FEEL EXTREMELY SEXY INDEED AND WANT TO FIND A WOMAN

AS BEAUTIFUL AS THE GODDESS OF LOVE APHRODITE.

NARRATOR: THEY ARE JUST THREE LINES OF VERSE,

BUT THEY REVEAL A LOT ABOUT THE GREEKS

WHO LIVED DURING THIS MYSTERIOUS TIME.

THE CUP WAS FOUND ON A REMOTE ISLAND HUNDREDS OF MILES

FROM GREECE, SO WE KNOW THAT LIKE THEIR MINOAN

AND MYCENAEAN ANCESTORS, THEY CONTINUED TO BE SEAFARING.

THE WRITING ITSELF IS NEW, NOT THE HIEROGLYPHIC SCRIPT OF

THEIR MYCENAEAN PREDECESSORS, BUT INNOVATIVE LETTERS

ADAPTED FROM THE PHOENICIANS, GREEK,

THE EARLIEST EXAMPLE EVER FOUND.

JOHN HALE: THE VERY FIRST USE OF LETTERS WE HAVE,

THE OLDEST ONE THAT WE'VE DISCOVERED FOR GREECE,

IS AN EXPRESSION OF PERSONAL FEELING, A PERSONALITY.

WELL, THAT IS NOT WHAT PHOENICIANS USED LETTERS FOR,

THAT IS NOT WHAT PEOPLE IN THE NEAR EAST OR

EGYPT USED WRITING FOR.

WRITING IN THOSE WORLDS BELONGED

TO THE AUTHORITY STRUCTURE.

TO KINGS, TO PRIESTS.

NARRATOR: THE SUGGESTION OF A GAME IMPLIES COMPETITIVENESS.

THEY'RE GETTING DRUNK AND CRACKING JOKES

SO IT SEEMS THEY KNOW HOW TO HAVE A GOOD TIME.

EDITH HALL: THEY ARE LAUGHING AT SEX, THEY ARE WITTY,

THEY ARE VERBAL, THEY ARE ALREADY COMPLETELY GREEK

JUST AS THEY WERE 500 YEARS BEFORE IN MYCENAE.

NARRATOR: THEY'D GONE THROUGH THE WORST COLLAPSE

IN HUMAN HISTORY, BUT WITHIN ONLY A FEW HUNDRED YEARS,

ABSENT THE CENTRALIZED POWER OF KINGS AND BUREAUCRACY,

GREEKS WERE FORGING A NEW SOCIAL ORDER FOR THEMSELVES,

REBUILDING THEIR CIVILIZATION FROM THE BOTTOM UP.

JOHN HALE: THE IDEA THAT YOU COULD GO AND PARLEY YOUR

WEALTH OR SKILLS INTO A NEW SOCIAL IDENTITY,

OR YOU COULD PULL YOURSELF UP BY YOUR BOOT STRAPS,

WHERE YOU COULD ELEVATE YOUR RANK, THIS IS ANATHEMA,

IN THE AUTOCRATIC KINGDOMS OF EGYPT, MESOPOTAMIA, PERSIA.

IT IS WHAT GREECE IS ALL ABOUT.

NARRATOR: OF COURSE, THERE WAS NO GREECE JUST YET,

NO ATHENS, NO SPARTA, JUST DISPARATE GROUPS OF PEOPLE.

BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING BINDING THEM TOGETHER,

BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING BINDING THEM TOGETHER,

MOVIE CLIP: THE GOLDEN AGE OF ADVENTURE SURGES

TO LIFE AGAIN.

NARRATOR: WE'VE ALL HEARD THE EPIC STORIES OF

THE TROJAN WAR, OF ACHILLES AND AGAMEMNON,

HELEN AND ODYSSEUS AND OF THE GODS, ZEUS, POSEIDON, ATHENA,

AND THE MANY OTHERS WHO PUT THE HEROES THROUGH THEIR PACES.

MOVIE CLIP: WHEN MEN LIKE US AND GODS LIKE MEN,

LIVE AND LOVE VIOLENTLY.

NARRATOR: WELL THE POST-DARK AGE GREEKS,

WOULD HAVE BEEN WELL VERSED IN THEM TOO.

IN FACT IT MAY WELL HAVE BEEN THESE EPIC STORIES

THAT KEPT THEM GOING WHEN THEIR CIVILIZATION WAS

FALLING DOWN AROUND THEM.

MICHAEL COSMOPOULOS: WHEN YOU GO THROUGH A PERIOD

OF DIFFICULTY, WHEN YOU GO THROUGH A CRISIS,

YOUR INSTINCT IS TO RETURN TO YOUR ROOTS.

ERIC CLINE: THAT'S ONE OF THE HALLMARKS OF A SYSTEMS

COLLAPSE IS WHEN THE GROUP AFTER THE COLLAPSE LOOKS BACK

AND TELLS STORIES ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE

BACK WHEN MEN WERE MEN, THAT, OH THAT WAS BACK IN THE DAY.

NARRATOR: FROM THE BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE IN ABOUT 1200 BC

AND FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS THROUGH THE DARK AGE,

PEOPLE PASSED THE STORIES DOWN ORALLY,

FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION, TOWN TO TOWN,

THROUGH WANDERING POETS, CAPABLE OF MEMORIZING AND

RECITING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF LINES OF VERSE.

UNTIL FINALLY, SOMETIME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 8TH CENTURY BC,

GOOD OLD HESIOD AND ANOTHER GUY, THE GREEK POET HOMER,

USE THEIR NEW HIGH-TECH ALPHABET TO WRITE THEM DOWN.

EDITH HALL: THE GREEKS WERE EXTREMELY PROUD OF THREE

REALLY LONG POEMS, WHICH THEY ALL LEARNED BY HEART

IN CHILDHOOD, "THE ILIAD", "THE ODYSSEY",

AND HESIOD'S "BIRTH OF THE GODS".

THESE THREE POEMS WERE THE ABSOLUTE LYNCH PINS

OF GREEK IDENTITY.

NARRATOR: UNFORTUNATELY FOR US,

THERE ARE NO FIRST EDITION "ILIAD'S" OR "ODYSSEY'S"

FLOATING AROUND; PAPYRI SCROLLS WEREN'T

WRITTEN FOR POSTERITY.

THE CLOSEST WE'RE ABLE TO GET ARE FRAGMENTS RESCUED FROM

ANCIENT TRASH HEAPS AND NOW IN THE CARE OF RESEARCHERS

IN OXFORD, ENGLAND.

THE COLLECTION, OWNED AND MAINTAINED BY THE EGYPT

EXPLORATION SOCIETY, CONTAINS MILLIONS OF PIECES

OF PAPYRI FROM A FORMER GREEK COLONY IN OXYRHYNCUS, EGYPT.

OF PAPYRI FROM A FORMER GREEK COLONY IN OXYRHYNCUS, EGYPT.

DIRK OBBINK: THERE WERE RUBBISH DUMPS FROM THE ANCIENT

TOWN RINGING THE VILLAGE ON THE DESERT EDGE,

BUT AS SOON AS THEY STUCK THEIR SHOVEL INTO ONE

OF THESE RUBBISH MOUNDS, THE PAPYRI JUST STARTED TO

FALL OUT OF THEM.

NARRATOR: 100 YEARS LATER, DIRK OBBINK AND HIS TEAM HAVE

THE MONUMENTAL TASK OF TRANSLATING

AND PUBLISHING EACH ONE.

DIRK OBBINK: IT'S NOT GOING TO STOP.

5,000 ITEMS OUT OF A MILLION HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED SO FAR.

IT'S THE, PROBABLY THE LARGEST INCOMPLETE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT IN THE WORLD.

NARRATOR: SO FAR THEY'VE PULLED OUT WORKS BY HESIOD,

NEW POEMS BY THE LYRIC POET SAPPHO,

A COPY OF ARISTOTLE'S ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION

AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS.

BUT BY FAR, THE VAST MAJORITY OF FRAGMENTS STEM

FROM ONE SOURCE, HOMER.

DIRK OBBINK: THE ANCIENT AUTHORS ARE VASTLY OUTNUMBERED

BY HOMER JUST BECAUSE OF HIS POSITION IN THE

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, EVERYONE READ HOMER FIRST

AND MEMORIZED LARGE SWATHS OF IT.

NARRATOR: THE PAPYRI DATE TO AT THE 1ST CENTURY BC

AT THE EARLIEST, HUNDREDS OF YEARS AFTER HOMER.

BUT THAT HIS WORKS WERE BEING COPIED AND READ IN EGYPT,

HUNDREDS OF MILES FROM GREECE, SO MANY CENTURIES LATER,

REVEALS HOW SIGNIFICANT HOMER'S EPICS WERE TO THE ANCIENTS.

WHETHER WRITTEN OR SPOKEN, HIS STORIES OF BRAVERY,

DIGNITY, LOVE AND WAR, ARTICULATED

WHAT IT MEANT TO BE GREEK.

ERIC CLINE: IN TELLING THESE STORIES,

THEY ARE HANDING DOWN THE KNOWLEDGE.

THEY ARE HANDING DOWN THE IDEAS,

THEY ARE HANDING DOWN CONCEPTS OF IDENTITY.

WHO ARE WE, WHERE DID WE COME FROM?

BETTANY HUGHES: THE GREEKS ARE VERY SMART BECAUSE THEY

RECOGNIZE THAT ALTHOUGH WE SHOULD NEVER LIVE IN THE PAST,

WE ARE FOOLS IF WE DON'T ADMIT THAT WE LIVE WITH IT,

AND SO THEY REALLY NOURISH THIS IDEA OF THE PAST,

OF HISTORY, OF MEMORY.

NARRATOR: AND IN THEIR DEEPEST OF MEMORIES,

EVEN MORE CENTRAL TO THE GREEKS THAN THE

HEROES OF HOMER, WERE MORE POWERFUL FORCES.

THERE WOULD BE NO GREECE WITHOUT ITS GODS.

BETTANY HUGHES: YOU CAN'T UNDEREMPHASIZE HOW CENTRAL

RELIGION WAS TO THE GREEKS.

FOR THEM THERE WERE GODS, AND GODDESSES AND DEMIGODS

AND SPIRITS AROUND EVERY CORNER.

AND SPIRITS AROUND EVERY CORNER.

THE BEAUTY OF THE MOUNTAINS AND THE MEDITERRANEAN,

ALLOWED PEOPLE TO IMBUE NATURAL PHENOMENON

WITH PERSONALITY.

EVERYTHING IN NATURE IS IMBUED WITH THIS DIVINE ESSENCE.

NARRATOR: THE 12 MAIN GODS LIVED HERE,

ATOP GREECE'S HIGHEST PEAK, MOUNT OLYMPUS.

ALMIGHTY ZEUS CONTROLLED THE WEATHER, POSEIDON THE SEA,

HADES THE UNDERWORLD.

THERE WAS ATHENA, GODDESS OF WISDOM;

APHRODITE, BEAUTY; APOLLO, GOD OF THE SUN AND MUSIC,

ALL JOCKEYING FOR POWER AND FOR THE AFFECTIONS OF

THE INSIGNIFICANT HUMANS BELOW.

IT'S QUITE A DEPARTURE FROM HOW FORMALIZED RELIGIONS

VIEW THEIR GODS TODAY.

[CHANTING INAUDIBLY].

CHELSEA GARDNER: THERE IS NOT A BIG BOOK THAT TELLS

YOU EXACTLY HOW TO PRACTICE GREEK RELIGION.

BECAUSE THERE IS NO WAY TO WRITE SOMETHING DOWN THAT

IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING, SOMETHING THAT HAS DIFFERENT

INCARNATIONS DEPENDING UPON WHERE YOU ARE

IN GREECE AND WHAT PERIOD OF TIME YOU LIVE IN.

NARRATOR: EVEN WITHOUT A RULEBOOK IT SEEMS THEIR

RELIGION PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN BRINGING DISPARATE

GROUPS OF GREEKS TOGETHER, MUCH MORE SO THAN MANY

ARCHAEOLOGISTS BELIEVED.

THE TEXTBOOK VERSION OF HOW GREECE CAME TO BE TYPICALLY

DOESN'T BEGIN WITH RELIGION,

BUT WITH THE EMERGENCE OF CITIES.

AFTER THE MYCENAEAN COLLAPSE THE STORY GOES,

POCKETS OF PEOPLE, SEPARATED BY A MOUNTAINOUS LANDSCAPE

AND ROCKY COAST, BANDED TOGETHER INTO SMALL,

ISOLATED VILLAGES THROUGHOUT GREECE.

OVER TIME VILLAGES, GREW INTO TOWNS,

TOWNS GREW INTO CITIES, AND BY THE END OF THE DARK AGE,

RIGHT AROUND HOMER'S TIME IN THE 8TH CENTURY BC,

CITIES GREW INTO WHAT THE GREEKS CALL POLIS,

OR CITY-STATES: ATHENS, SPARTA, CORINTH,

AND SOME 1500 OTHERS.

SUE ALCOCK: GREECE DID NOT EXIST.

GREECE AS A WHOLE, AS ENTIRE NATION-STATE, NUH-UH,

THERE WERE LIKE HUNDREDS OF TINY LITTLE CITY-STATES,

WHAT WE CALL POLIS.

AND THERE IS KIND OF ENDEMIC FIGHTING;

THIS IS NOT A HAPPY, PEACEFUL UH, PEACEFUL BUNCH OF PEOPLE.

NARRATOR: ACCORDING TO THE TRADITIONAL THEORY,

THE BIG RELIGIOUS SANCTUARIES, CROPPED UP ONLY AFTER THE

THE BIG RELIGIOUS SANCTUARIES, CROPPED UP ONLY AFTER THE

BUT NEW DISCOVERIES ARE TURNING THAT ON ITS HEAD.

ABOUT TWO HOURS NORTH OF ATHENS,

AT AN ANCIENT TEMPLE SITE CALLED KALIPODI,

ARCHAEOLOGIST WOLF-DIETRICH NIEMEIER AND HIS TEAM HAVE

UNCOVERED ALTARS AND ARTIFACTS THAT INDICATE PEOPLE

WERE WORSHIPPING THEIR GODS HERE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS

BEFORE THE FORMATION OF CITIES,

ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD.

WOLF NIEMEIER: YOU READ IN HANDBOOKS THERE WERE

NO GREEK TEMPLES BEFORE THE 8TH CENTURY BC,

WHEN THE POLIS DEVELOPED, THE GREEK CITY-STATE.

BUT HERE WE HAVE THREE MYCENAEAN TEMPLES,

AND THEN WE HAVE A TEMPLE OF THE 10TH CENTURY.

WE HAVE A TEMPLE OF THE 9TH CENTURY.

WE HAVE A TEMPLE OF THE 8TH CENTURY.

AND THIS IS WHEN THE POLIS ARISE.

NARRATOR: IN ALL, THE TEAM HAS UNCOVERED 10 DIFFERENT

TEMPLES HERE, BUILT, DESTROYED, AND REBUILT OVER

MILLENNIA ON THIS VERY SPOT, RIGHT THROUGH THE DARK AGE.

WOLF NIEMEIER: AT LEAST IN THIS AREA WE HAVE NO

DARK AGE AT ALL, WE HAVE A CONTINUITY.

NARRATOR: BY OFFERING REFUGE, PROVIDING A FORUM FOR THE

EXCHANGE OF CULTURE AND IDEAS, AND BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER

AROUND SHARED BELIEFS, NIEMEIER BELIEVES THE

TEMPLES HERE, AND OTHERS LIKE THEM ACROSS GREECE,

MAY HAVE HELPED GREEKS SURVIVE THOSE MEAGER DARK AGE YEARS.

WOLF NIEMEIER: WHAT BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER,

WHAT MADE THEM GREEKS, WAS THEIR RELIGION AND THEIR GODS.

THIS WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE GREEK IDENTITY.

THE SANCTUARIES HAD AN IMPORTANT FUNCTION IN THE

FORMATION OF THE CITY-STATES, AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

NARRATOR: BY THE LATE 8TH CENTURY BC,

STUNNING CENTERS OF WORSHIP HAVE STARTED CROPPING UP ALL

OVER THE GREEK WORLD, WITH AS MANY AS 1500 CITY-STATES

GROWING AROUND THEM, STRETCHING EAST TO THE

BLACK SEA, WEST TO ITALY AND SOUTH TO NORTH AFRICA.

BUT IN ANCIENT GREECE ONE SANCTUARY IN PARTICULAR

STOOD OUT ABOVE THE OTHERS.

EDITH HALL: DELPHI IS THE RITUAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL,

AND GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER OF THE GREEK WORLD.

WHEN YOU MAKE THE GREAT ASCENT UP THE VALLEY PAST

ALL THE OLIVE GROVES AND VINEYARDS TO THIS HIGH,

HIGH PLACE YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS WHERE THE GOD OF THE SUN,

APOLLO, WOULD HAVE CHOSEN TO HAVE HIS SEAT OF PROPHECY.

APOLLO, WOULD HAVE CHOSEN TO HAVE HIS SEAT OF PROPHECY.

NARRATOR: A WHO'S WHO OF GREEK HISTORY MADE THE TREK UP

THIS MOUNTAINSIDE TO DELPHI, ENTERING THROUGH THESE

TOWERING COLUMNS TO SEEK THE WISDOM OF THE ORACLES,

PRIESTESSES BELIEVED TO BE THE MOUTHPIECES OF APOLLO.

SAID TO SEE YEARS INTO THE FUTURE,

THE DELPHIC ORACLES WERE CONSULTED ON ALL KINDS

OF MATTERS, FROM FORMING ALLIANCES TO GOING TO WAR.

THEY WARNED OEDIPUS THAT HE WOULD KILL HIS FATHER AND

MARRY HIS MOTHER, AND PRONOUNCED THAT NO ONE WAS

WISER THAN SOCRATES, FOR HE WAS WISE ENOUGH TO KNOW

THAT HE INDEED KNEW NOTHING.

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, THE ORACLE'S WORDS WERE

GOSPEL TO THE ANCIENTS.

BUT IN KEEPING WITH THE DEFIANT, INDIVIDUALISTIC,

SOME MIGHT SAY HUBRISTIC GREEK CHARACTER,

THEY WEREN'T EXACTLY HUMBLE BEFORE THEIR GODS.

THEY WERE AMONG THE FIRST TO IMAGINE THEIR

DEITIES IN THEIR OWN IMAGE.

NICHOLAS STAMPOLIDIS: THEIR GODS RESEMBLE THEM.

THEY CREATED THE OLYMPIAN GODS AS HUMAN BEINGS

WITH THEIR THOUGHTS, WITH THEIR WAYS OF THINKING.

THEY ARE NOT RESEMBLING TO DRAGONS,

THEY ARE NOT RESEMBLING TO ANIMAL-HEADED GODS.

THEY ARE HUMANS.

NARRATOR: IF THE LOWLY GREEK HUMANS EARNED THE GODS' FAVOR,

THEY COULD EVEN ACHIEVE GOD-LIKE STATUS FOR THEMSELVES

AND HAVE THEIR NAMES SUNG ACROSS ALL ETERNITY.

BETTANY HUGHES: I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS THAT THE

GREEKS ACHIEVE SO MUCH IS THAT THEY HAVE THIS NOTION THAT

THE BEST WAY TO BECOME IMMORTAL WAS TO DO SOMETHING

IN YOUR LIFE THAT MADE YOU WORTHY OF IMMORTALITY.

NARRATOR: IT WAS AN IDEA SO ENGRAINED IN THEIR CULTURE,

THEY EVEN CONJURED A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE FROM ALL RUNGS

OF SOCIETY COULD PROVE THEIR WORTH.

THIS IS OLYMPIA.

IT BEGAN LIKE THE MANY OTHER RELIGIOUS

SANCTUARIES ACROSS GREECE.

BUT STARTING IN 776 BC, EVENTS WOULD TAKE PLACE IN

THIS VERY ARENA THAT WOULD GIVE MORTALS A SHOT AT IMMORTALITY,

AND UNITE THE GREEKS IN THE PROCESS.

ATHLETES AT THE PEAK OF PERFORMANCE FLOCKED HERE FROM

HUNDREDS OF GREEK CITY-STATES TO RUN, JUMP, WRESTLE, BOX,

HUNDREDS OF GREEK CITY-STATES TO RUN, JUMP, WRESTLE, BOX,

THE OLYMPICS.

EDITH HALL: PEOPLE CAME FROM ALL OVER THE

GREEK-SPEAKING WORLD, THE BEST CHARIOT RACERS

CAME FROM NORTH AFRICA, FROM LIBYA,

SOME OF THE BEST SPRINTERS CAME FROM SOUTHERN ITALY,

THE BOXERS CAME FROM THE GREEK ISLANDS AND

THEY WOULD BRING THEIR PACK OF FANS WITH THEM.

NARRATOR: ALL THAT WAS REQUIRED WAS THAT YOU HAD

TO BE GREEK, WHICH MEANS THEY HAD A SENSE FOR WHAT

THAT WAS BY THEN, YOU HAD TO BE MALE,

AND YOU HAD TO BE NAKED,

PREFERABLY SLATHERED IN OLIVE OIL.

EDITH HALL: THE ANCIENT GREEKS ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED IN BEAUTY

AND THEY DELIGHTED IN THE BEAUTY OF THE PHYSICAL FORM,

THEY SAW MEN'S BODIES AS ABSOLUTELY AS BEAUTIFUL

IN A DIFFERENT WAY AS WOMEN'S BODIES.

THEY OILED THEMSELVES WITH OLIVE OIL PARTLY TO HELP GET

A NICE TAN BUT ALSO FOR THE COMBAT SPORTS TO MAKE IT LESS

EASY FOR THEIR OPPONENTS TO GET A GRIP ON THEM.

NARRATOR: NEARLY 3,000 YEARS AFTER THE FIRST OLYMPICS,

MODERN COMPETITION IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT.

WE HAVE CLOTHING FOR STARTERS, AND WOMEN, FINALLY.

AND IT SEEMS WE MIGHT HAVE GROWN A LITTLE SOFT.

COMPARED TO THE HUNDREDS OF OLYMPIC EVENTS TODAY,

GREEK COMPETITIONS WERE LIMITED TO SKILLS

USEFUL IN COMBAT, RUNNING, WRESTLING, BOXING.

AND WHILE TODAY THREE TEAMS MAKE IT TO THE

PODIUM FOR BRONZE, SILVER AND GOLD, IN ANCIENT GREECE.

JOHN CAMP: ONE GUY IS THE WINNER AND EVERYBODY ELSE

IS THE LOSER.

THERE'S NO SECOND PLACE, THERE'S NO THIRD PLACE.

SO THERE'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT ETHOS,

A COMPETITIVE ETHOS WHICH RUNS RIGHT THROUGH ALL OF

GREEK LIFE ALL THE TIME,

WHERE THEY'RE STRIVING TO BE THE BEST.

NARRATOR: THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR THIS COMPETITIVE

ETHOS, AGON, AS IN AGONY,

AND IT WASN'T CONFINED TO THE OLYMPICS.

BOB COSTAS: AGON IS REALLY JUST AN ANCIENT PREDECESSOR OF

SOMEBODY TELLING YOU NOW THAT NOTHING WORTHWHILE COMES EASY,

IN LOFTY PURSUITS LIKE PHILOSOPHY OR GOVERNMENT

OR LITERATURE OR WHATEVER IT MIGHT BE,

IF WE'RE FORCED TO DO OUR VERY BEST IN THE PURSUIT

OF THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE THEN THAT'S GOING

TO MAKE US BETTER.

NARRATOR: WHEN IT CAME TO PUTTING AGON ON DISPLAY,

THE OLYMPICS WEREN'T THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN.

SO-CALLED PANHELLENIC FESTIVALS WERE HELD

AT FOUR DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS SANCTUARIES ACROSS GREECE,

IN OLYMPIA, DELPHI, NEMEA AND ISTHMIA,

ALTERNATING ANNUALLY BETWEEN EACH ONE,

WHICH IS WHY THE OLYMPICS ARE ONLY HELD EVERY FOUR YEARS.

BUT THERE WAS ONE PLACE THAT MAY PREDATE THEM ALL,

JUST 22 MILES AWAY FROM OLYMPIA,

IN A SMALL MOUNTAIN VILLAGE CALLED LYKAION.

AND EVERY FOUR YEARS RESIDENTS HERE HOST THE LYKAION GAMES

TO KEEP THEIR COMPETITIVE TRADITIONS ALIVE.

♪ ♪

THE MYTHS TELL US ZEUS WASN'T JUST WORSHIPED HERE,

HE WAS BORN HERE.

AND ARCHAEOLOGIST, AND COMPETITOR, DAVID ROMANO,

HAS FOUND EVIDENCE THAT THE GAMES TO HONOR HIM WERE

LIKELY HELD HERE HUNDREDS OF YEARS

BEFORE THE TORCH AT OLYMPIA WAS EVEN LIT.

DAVID ROMANO: WE NOW BELIEVE THAT THE WHOLE IDEA

OF OLYMPIA WAS PROBABLY MODELED ON LYKAION.

SO FOR MANY CENTURIES, ZEUS WAS BEING WORSHIPPED,

AND WAS BEING CELEBRATED HERE,

AND ONLY 22 MILES AWAY AT OLYMPIA,

THERE WAS NO CULT OF ZEUS, UNTIL THE 11TH CENTURY.

NARRATOR: ROMANO'S WORK IS REVEALING THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL

SIGNIFICANCE OF LYKAION, AND TODAY THE PROUD GREEKS

ARE HOPING THE FINDS, AND THEIR GAMES,

WILL PUT THEIR TOWN BACK ON THE MAP.

♪ ♪

THEY'VE GOT A WAYS TO GO.

BUT THE PATH TO EXCELLENCE HAS NEVER BEEN EASY.

OF COURSE THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT HAS ALWAYS BEEN

ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN WINNING.

IN A LAND FILLED WITH AS MANY AS 1500 CITY-STATES,

OFTEN DOING BATTLE OVER RESOURCES, TERRITORY,

AND INFLUENCE, MUCH LIKE TODAY,

THEY BROUGHT PEOPLE TOGETHER.

THEY BROUGHT PEOPLE TOGETHER.

YOUR TEAM, OR IN THE CASE OF THE OLYMPICS,

YOUR NATION COMPETING ON A GLOBAL STAGE,

THERE ARE INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS, YES,

AND THEY WANT IT FOR THEMSELVES TOO,

LET'S BE REALISTIC, BUT IF THEY GET TO THE TOP

OF THE PODIUM, THEY HEAR THAT NATION'S NATIONAL ANTHEM,

THEIR NATION, AND MUCH OF THAT COUNTRY SWELLS WITH PRIDE,

NOT JUST THE COMPETITOR.

NARRATOR: THIS COMPETITIVE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE BECAME

A CORE FACET OF GREEK CULTURE,

MUCH LIKE STORIES OF HEROES AND SHARED BELIEFS IN THE GODS.

IT'S WHY 776 BC, DATE OF THE FIRST OLYMPIC GAMES,

IS WIDELY CONSIDERED TO BE THE UNOFFICIAL

BIRTH YEAR OF GREECE.

EVEN IF GREECE WOULD REMAIN A FACTIOUS

COLLECTION OF CITY-STATES.

OVER THE NEXT FEW CENTURIES, NEW GREEK CITY-STATES WOULD

FORM AROUND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD.

EDITH HALL: WHENEVER THERE WASN'T ENOUGH TO EAT,

WHENEVER THERE WAS A BAD TYRANT,

GREEKS JUST GOT UP PACKED THEIR SHIPS AND

WENT OFF SOMEWHERE NEW.

MICHAEL COSMOPOULOS: THE GREEKS COLONIZED THE MEDITERRANEAN.

MARSEILLES AND NICE.

NAPLES IN ITALY.

THEY GO AS FAR NORTH AS THE BLACK SEA, UKRAINE.

THE NEAR EAST, CYPRUS, SOUTH ITALY AND SICILY.

NARRATOR: LIKE FROGS AROUND A POND, TO USE PLATO'S WORDS,

THE GREEKS SAILED AS FAR AND WIDE AS THEIR SHIPS

WOULD TAKE THEM, SPREADING THEIR LANGUAGE

AND TRADITIONS WHEREVER THEY WENT.

BUT ONE THING DISTINGUISHED THESE

GREEK COLONIZERS FROM OTHERS.

NO MATTER HOW TIED TO THEIR ROOTS THEY WERE OR

HOW FAR AFIELD THEY WENT, THEY ALWAYS SEEMED TO EMBRACE

NEW IDEAS FROM THE LANDS THEY SETTLED.

BETTANY HUGHES: IDEAS ARE REALLY THE KIND OF FAVORITE

CURRENCY OF THE GREEKS SO THE GREEKS

MAKE IDEAS THEIR BUSINESS.

AND "IDEA" IS ACTUALLY A PURE GREEK WORD: ADIE.

IT COMES DOWN TO US AS COMPLETELY UNCHANGED.

NARRATOR: AND IN THE 6TH CENTURY BC,

ON WHAT IS NOW THE WEST COAST OF TURKEY,

INSPIRED BY THEIR NEW ASTRONOMICALLY AND

MATHEMATICALLY INCLINED NEIGHBORS IN MESOPOTAMIA

AND EGYPT, GREEK COLONISTS WOULD CONJURE IDEAS SO RADICAL,

THEY'D RESHAPE OUR ENTIRE VISION OF THE WORLD.

THIS IS MILETUS.

YOU'D NEVER KNOW IT NOWADAYS,

BUT 2500 YEARS AGO IT WAS A COASTAL CITY.

THE GREEKS WHO LIVED HERE WOULD TRANSFORM IT INTO

ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST PORTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

TODAY THE SEA IS JUST OVER 6 MILES TO THE WEST.

BEVERLY GOODMAN: YOU HAVE TO KIND OF IMAGINE THAT INSTEAD

OF HAVING ALL OF THESE FIELDS, THAT THE WATER CAME ALL THE

WAY UP INTO THIS VALLEY.

AND THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE THEY CHOSE TO ESTABLISH MILETUS.

NARRATOR: ACCORDING TO GEO-ARCHAEOLOGIST

BEVERLY GOODMAN, THE REASON FOR THE LANDLOCKED VALLEY

AND FOR THE REVOLUTION IN THOUGHT THAT TOOK PLACE HERE,

BEGINS IN CENTRAL TURKEY FAR TO THE EAST.

THE LONG, WANDERING MAEANDER RIVER,

WHICH GAVE THE WORD "MEANDER" ITS NAME.

BEVERLY GOODMAN: THIS IS THE RIVER THAT, BASICALLY,

WAS ONE OF THE REASONS THAT THEY SETTLED WHERE THEY DID.

BUT IT'S ALSO THE SAME RIVER THAT DESTROYED

THE HARBOR EVENTUALLY.

EDITH HALL: THE SILT FROM THE RIVER MAEANDER GRADUALLY

EXTENDED THE LAND DOWN AND DOWN AND DOWN WESTWARD,

WESTWARD, AND WESTWARD.

SO YOU HAD THESE MEN ACTUALLY WATCHING

THEIR OWN BELOVED CITY, THEY ARE SEAMEN, THEY ARE GREEKS,

BECOMING LANDLOCKED.

NARRATOR: THE HARBOR WAS GONE WITHIN A GENERATION.

TYPICALLY, ANCIENTS FROM GREECE TO EGYPT TO INDIA WOULD

HAVE HAD A SIMPLE ANSWER FOR NATURAL PHENOMENA LIKE THESE:

THE GODS CAUSED THEM.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON

AND SO IT'S SIMPLER TO SAY ZEUS DID IT, POSEIDON DID IT.

NARRATOR: BUT AS THE WORLDLY CITIZENS OF MILETUS

WATCH THEIR PRECIOUS HARBOR DISAPPEAR PRACTICALLY

IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES, THEY DON'T BLAME THE GODS.

THEY LOOK AT THE STONES AND SILT BEING CARRIED BY THE

MAEANDER INTO THE SEA AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN RECORDED

HISTORY ATTRIBUTE THEIR WOES TO NATURAL CAUSES.

THEY'RE CONSIDERED TO BE THE WORLD'S FIRST SCIENTISTS AND

FROM THAT MOMENT ON, LIFE WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: ONCE YOU HATCH THAT EGG,

ONCE YOU CRACK THAT ICE, ONCE YOU PRY OPEN THAT DOOR,

ALL OF NATURE IS THERE FOR YOU TO EXPLORE.

TAKE IT AND RUN WITH IT.

NARRATOR: AND THESE GREEKS ON THE WEST COAST

OF TURKEY DID JUST THAT.

FIRST CAME THALES, CONSIDERED THE WORLD'S FIRST PHILOSOPHER

FIRST CAME THALES, CONSIDERED THE WORLD'S FIRST PHILOSOPHER

THE DISTANCE OF SHIPS FROM SHORE AND THE HEIGHT

OF EGYPT'S GREAT PYRAMID, WAS FIRST TO PREDICT A SOLAR

ECLIPSE AND POSITED A CAUSE FOR EARTHQUAKES.

HE GOT THE DETAILS WRONG, THAT THE EARTH FLOATED ON WATER

LIKE A GIANT RAFT, BUT HIS NATURAL EXPLANATION WAS WORLDS

BEYOND THE PREVIOUS THEORY, THAT POSEIDON CAUSED THEM.

THALES WOULD INSPIRE OTHER GREEKS, LIKE PYTHAGORAS,

WHO FOUNDED A BROTHERHOOD AROUND THE BELIEF THAT NUMBERS

AND MATHEMATICS COULD EXPLAIN THE UNIVERSE,

EVERYTHING FROM ASTRONOMY TO NATURE TO MUSIC.

AND HIPPOCRATES, A RENOWNED ANCIENT PHYSICIAN WHO

DEVELOPED AN ETHICAL CODE FOR PRACTICING MEDICINE.

TODAY, DOCTORS SWEAR BY AN OATH IN HIS HONOR

TO FIRST DO NO HARM.

COUNTLESS PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS WOULD FOLLOW

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THESE GREAT THINKERS,

AND THEIR ANCIENT WISDOM CONTINUES TO MOTIVATE ONE

ARTIST IN ATHENS PORT OF PIRAEUS TODAY.

AFTER FOUR LONG DAYS AND NIGHTS,

INO'S MURAL IS FINALLY TAKING SHAPE.

IT SHOWS THE FACE OF DEMOCRITUS,

ANOTHER ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHER WHO DETERMINED

THAT EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE WAS MADE UP OF TINY,

BUILDING BLOCKS CALLED ATOMS, GREEK FOR INDIVISIBLE.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: FOR ME WHEN I THINK OF A FIRST IDEA

THAT MATTER IS MADE OF ATOMS, THAT TELLS YOU THAT THEY ARE

THINKING THAT MAYBE THE UNIVERSE IS KNOWABLE,

NATURE IS KNOWABLE.

THAT'S PROFOUND BECAUSE THAT WOULD BECOME THE VERY

FOUNDATION OF SCIENCE, THAT WE HAVE METHODS AND

TOOLS THAT TRANSCEND OUR FIVE SENSES,

THAT PROBE THE OPERATIONS OF NATURE IN WAYS THAT

YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCE HAS NO ENCOUNTERS WITH.

NARRATOR: PROBING NATURE, QUESTIONING THE ORIGINS OF

PHENOMENA, EVEN OUR VERY EXISTENCE,

THEY ARE PROFOUND IDEAS THAT ALL HAD THEIR START

IN THE EASTERN AEGEAN.

BUT THEY WOULDN'T STAY THERE.

BY THE 6TH CENTURY BC, A NEW POWER WAS EMERGING

IN THE EAST, THE PERSIAN EMPIRE.

AND AS IT EXPANDED, MANY GREEKS WOULD HEAD WEST,

AND AS IT EXPANDED, MANY GREEKS WOULD HEAD WEST,

WAYS OF THINKING WITH THEM.

OVER THE NEXT CENTURY, THE FLOOD OF REASON THAT

BEGAN IN THE MAEANDER RIVER VALLEY WOULD WASH

OVER THE GREEK WORLD, AND EVENTUALLY CULMINATE IN

A SMALL BACKWATER OF A CITY-STATE CALLED ATHENS.

EDITH HALL: SO AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND OF

INTELLECTUAL TURMOIL, OF THE BEGINNINGS OF SCIENCE,

OF ABSTRACT REASONING, AND INDEED IDEAS OF A PHYSICAL

UNIVERSE WHERE MAN CAN INTERVENE IN AND CONTROL,

THAT HE'S NOT ENTIRELY AT THE WHIMS OF THE GODS,

COMES ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY.

NARRATOR: FOR CENTURIES, ATHENS HAD BEEN JUST ONE OF

THOSE 1500 CITY-STATES, CLIMBING ITS WAY OUT OF

THE ASHES OF THE DARK AGE.

TEETERING BETWEEN THE RULE OF RICH, ARISTOCRATIC FAMILIES,

WHO CAME TO POWER BY BIRTH,

OR POWER-GRABBING LEADERS CALLED TYRANTS,

PEOPLE WERE OFTEN SUBJECTED TO DRACONIAN LAWS, LITERALLY,

THEY WERE WRITTEN BY A TYRANT NAMED DRACO IN 621 BC.

FARMERS WHO COULDN'T PAY THEIR DEBTS WERE

FORCED INTO SLAVERY.

SIMPLE CRIMES LIKE "STEALING A CABBAGE"

WERE PUNISHABLE BY DEATH.

ATHENS WAS ON THE BRINK OF REVOLUTION UNTIL A WISE

REFORMER NAMED SOLON STEPPED IN WITH A SERIES

OF REFORMS THAT WOULD MAKE TODAY'S GREEKS PROUD.

HE FREED ALL DEBTOR SLAVES, ELIMINATED THE DEATH PENALTY

FOR ALL BUT EXTREME CASES, AND WRESTLED POLITICAL POWER

OUT OF THE HANDS OF NOBLE BLOODLINES BY ESTABLISHING

A COUNCIL OF 400 CITIZENS TO RUN THE CITY.

IT WAS A BIG STEP, UNTETHERING GOVERNANCE FROM INHERITANCE.

BUT ONLY ATHENS' WEALTHIEST CITIZENS HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF

SERVING ON THE COUNCIL,

AND IN THE DECADES THAT FOLLOWED,

FACTIONS OF COMPETING ARISTOCRATS FORMED.

EDITH HALL: YOU HAVE A LOT OF SEESAWING AROUND ABOUT

WHO'S ACTUALLY IN CHARGE AND THIS ACTUALLY

GETS WORSE AND WORSE.

NARRATOR: IN 508 BC, THE POWER STRUGGLE CAME TO A BOIL

BETWEEN TWO RIVAL ARISTOCRATS, ISAGORAS AND CLEISTHENES.

ISAGORAS, WITH SUPPORT FROM MILITARY POWERHOUSE SPARTA,

TOOK CONTROL OF THE CITY,

INSTALLED AN OLIGARCHY OF NOBLES,

INSTALLED AN OLIGARCHY OF NOBLES,

WITH THE ATHENIAN ELITE SQUARELY IN ISAGAORAS' CORNER,

CLEISTHENES WAS LEFT WITH ONLY ONE PLACE TO TURN.

BETTANY HUGHES: WE ARE TOLD THAT CLEISTHENES TOOK

INTO HIS FACTION, CHA DEMOS, THE COMMON PEOPLE.

NARRATOR: ORDINARY CITIZENS HAD HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF

ARISTOCRATS AND NOBLES RUNNING THEIR CITY.

FOR THEIR SUPPORT, CLEISTHENES AGREED TO BREAK

THE HOLD OF ARISTOCRATIC FACTIONS,

DETERMINE POWER BY ELECTIONS, NOT WEALTH,

AND INSTITUTE TRIALS BY JURY.

NEITHER LEADER COULD HAVE PREDICTED WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.

AN ALL-OUT REVOLT SWEPT OVER ATHENS.

CITIZENS STORMED THE ACROPOLIS AND SENT ISAGORAS

AND THE SPARTANS PACKING.

AND CLEISTHENES?

JOSIAH OBER: THE WAY TO THINK ABOUT CLEISTHENES

IS HE'S A SURFER.

HE IS RIDING A REALLY BIG WAVE OF AN INCREASINGLY CLEAR

IDENTITY OF A COMMON PEOPLE THAT

THEY ARE THE PEOPLE OF ATHENS.

THEY ARE ATHENS.

HE GETS AHEAD OF THE WAVE,

HE RIDES IT WELL AND THE REST OF IT IS HISTORY.

NARRATOR: WHETHER HE MEANT TO OR NOT,

CLEISTHENES USHERED IN A REVOLUTIONARY NEW WAY OF

RUNNING A SOCIETY.

IN 507 BC, DEMOCRACY WAS BORN.

BETTANY HUGHES: I CANNOT OVER EMPHASIZE HOW

STOMACH-CHURNINGLY MIND-BLOWINGLY

ELECTRICALLY-EXCITING THIS WAS IN ANCIENT GREECE.

BECAUSE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

AS FAR AS WE KNOW WHEN "I" THE PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED

TO ACT AS A POLITICAL AGENT.

SUDDENLY YOU GET PERFUME MAKERS AND CHEESE TRADERS AND

GENERALS AND ARISTOCRATS STANDING NEXT TO ONE ANOTHER

IN THE ASSEMBLY DECIDING HOW THEY SHOULD RUN THEIR OWN LIVES.

NARRATOR: ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY WASN'T EXACTLY OF,

BY AND FOR ALL THE PEOPLE.

YOU NEEDED TO BE A FREE MALE CITIZEN.

WOMEN, SLAVES AND FOREIGN BORN NEED NOT APPLY,

WHICH MEANS FEWER THAN 50,000 IN A CITY OF MORE THAN 200,000,

LESS THAN 20%, WERE ACTUALLY ELIGIBLE TO VOTE.

STILL, THE IDEA OF DEMOCRACY WAS WILDLY POPULAR.

"DEMOCRITUS," OR JUDGE OF THE PEOPLE,

THE STAR OF INO'S MURAL, BECAME ONE OF THE MOST

THE STAR OF INO'S MURAL, BECAME ONE OF THE MOST

BETTANY HUGHES: SO THIS IS THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY

MOMENT IN THE HUMAN STORY.

DEMOCRACY JUST APPEARS FROM THAT FEBRILE,

FERVENT BUBBLE THAT IS GREECE AND IT'S BEEN DELIVERED

DOWN TO US AS ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY

LEGACIES OF THE GREEK WORLD.

JOSIAH OBER: THE DEMOCRACY EMERGES IN STRIFE.

IT WAS THE WILL OF THE ORDINARY PEOPLE.

THAT IS WHAT MADE DEMOCRACY POSSIBLE.

NARRATOR: TWO AND A HALF MILLENNIA LATER,

IT'S ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR IT.

♪ ♪

PEOPLE LIKE INO, WHO'S PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES

ON HIS MURAL, AN INFANT LOOKING UP AT DEMOCRITUS.

INO: IT'S ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE, AND THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE.

THE CHILD IS THE PEOPLE.

THE YOUNGER PEOPLE AFTER THE ANCIENTS.

IT'S A CONNECTION, FROM THEN TO NOW.

THE POWER IS IN EVERY ONE OF US AND WITH COLLABORATION

WE CAN WORK TO MAKE THIS PLACE BETTER.

NARRATOR: INDIVIDUALS CORRALLING THEIR TALENTS

TO MAKE LIFE BETTER, IT'S WHAT THE GREEKS

HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT.

THROUGH ONE OF THE DARKEST CHAPTERS IN HISTORY,

THEY BUILT A CIVILIZATION FROM THE BOTTOM UP,

DELIVERING SOME OF HUMANITY'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS:

LITERATURE, THE OLYMPICS,

SCIENTIFIC REASONING, DEMOCRACY.

AND THEY WERE JUST GETTING STARTED.

BETTANY HUGHES: WHAT IS VERY INTERESTING ABOUT DEMOCRACY

IN GREECE IS THAT VERY QUICKLY IT BECOMES THIS IDEA

THAT CATCHES LIKE WILDFIRE AND THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT

THAT POWERS THE KIND OF ENGINE OF CHANGE AND THE

DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION THAT STILL SPEAKS TO US TODAY.

NARRATOR: WITH POWER NOW SQUARELY IN THE

HANDS OF THE PEOPLE, CITIZENS WOULD FINALLY HAVE

THE CHANCE TO SET THEIR OWN COURSE,

NOT ONLY FOR ATHENS, BUT FOR ALL OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.

ANNOUNCER: NEXT TIME ON "THE GREEKS",

THE GOLDEN AGE FINALLY ARRIVES,

THE PEOPLE RULE AND NEW IDEAS TAKE HOLD.

BETTANY HUGHES: THEY'RE WORKING OUT THE BEST WAY

TO BE HUMAN, THE BEST WAY TO LIVE IN THE WORLD.

AND THAT'S AN IDEA THAT IS AS STRONG NOW AS WHEN

AND THAT'S AN IDEA THAT IS AS STRONG NOW AS WHEN

ANNOUNCER: CHASING GREATNESS, ON "THE GREEKS".

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM, VISIT PBS.ORG.

"THE GREEKS" IS AVAILABLE ON DVD.

THE COMPANION BOOK IS ALSO AVAILABLE.

TO ORDER, VISIT SHOPPBS.ORG OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

THE GREEKS WAS MADE POSSIB