All language subtitles for bfe46cb8427846ed8c371df45ee472df_track3_eng

I'm in Athens,
the capital of Greece,

and I'm standing on the Acropolis

which was created at the very dawn
of European history.

Now in this series, I'm going
to be studying all things Greek -

both ancient and modern -

by taking a journey
through her incredibly rich history.

This is where
Western civilisation began.

Drama, democracy, language,
science, medicine...

This country has given us so much,

and it's influenced the fabric
of our everyday life.

If you're like me, you probably know
something, or nothing, about Greece.

Some names are incredibly familiar -

the Parthenon, Zeus, Mount Olympus,
Socrates, Zorba the Greek...

But beyond this patchwork knowledge

is a country
as different and surprising

as any I've ever visited.

Oh, look at this!

From the living history
of its islands

to the turbulent borderlands
and remote mountains,

the land of the gods.

This is Delphi.

Roaming through this country
to understand modern Greece,

I follow a route through
some of its most influential past,

which shaped the world
we live in today.

Athens is
one of the world's oldest cities,

with at least 7000 years
of recorded history.

Here, the past seeps out
of every street corner.

But one era defines this city
more than any other -

that of the ancient Greeks,

who lived 2500 years ago.

I thought I'd start my odyssey
in the south of the country,

visiting the most important sites
left by this great civilisation.

From places of
theatre, myth, sport and religion,

they represent the very cornerstone
of this empire.

First on the list - the Acropolis,

which surely defines
the meaning of the word 'iconic'.

It was the beating heart
of this civilisation,

a symbol of their democracy, wealth
and artistic philosophy.

Fantastic - so many people.

So many tourists
for this incredibly popular place.

Today, a million people
visit the Acropolis each year,

making it one of Greece's
most popular tourist attractions.

Imagine walking up here
for the first time, like me,

and seeing ahead of you
the Parthenon,

the great temple
of the goddess Athena.

It's an architectural masterpiece

made up of 15,000 pieces,

weighing 20,000 tonnes.

This is the largest ancient building
created entirely from marble.

It's always extraordinary
to come to a building

that you know so well from...
pictures and drawings,

and imitations around the world.

Just to come and stand in it
and to be in this great temple...

How did they do it?

How did they get
the weight of this stuff -

How did they cut it so...
beautifully and...

There are men here restoring,
cladding it.

Painstaking work...

Oh, look - here's the person
I'm longing to meet.

Oh, Joanna! How are you?

Dr Ioannidou is
in charge of the restoration project.

These marble cutters
are working very hard,

in order to produce
in the new marble...

Yes...
..the curving lines of these flutes.

So they look straight?

Yes, they look, but they are not
straight. Slightly curved.

They are slightly curved.

To please the eye?
Yes, of course.

And you've kept the different colour
for a purpose?

Yes.
Paler, but to show...

Yes. Everybody can understand...
Yes.

..what is new and what is old.

To rebuild the temple,

the sculptors must complete
the ultimate jigsaw puzzle.

All the pieces of marble
sitting loose around the monument

must find a place.

But to do that, they must produce
new, intricate pieces

that link together
these ancient parts.

Using many of the same tools
and methods as their ancestors,

each piece of new marble
must match the exact contours

of the original block.

They've got wet clay here,

so rather like at the dentist
to see if you've got a perfect bite,

he puts a little piece of paper in

and then you take it out
to see where it's meeting or not.

And it'll take about a month for each
block like this to be done perfectly.

MEN SPEAK IN GREEK

So they can see by what's left here

where this hasn't quite married.

Because you've got to make
an absolutely perfect fit,

if it's just like that,
they have to take that bit off,

so it fits absolutely like a glove.

They only chip away
from the new marble.

The old marble is sacred.

Staggering.

This entire place
is a work of absolute genius.

Not the genius of one man -

the genius of thousands of men,

and do you know how long it took
to build?

This entire temple...

Ten years. That's all.

But this job will take
longer than ten years.

It has suffered centuries of abuse.

Oh, look at this.
Yeah.

First, it was used as
a gunpowder store by the Ottomans.

Then, blown up by the Venetians.

And an Englishman, Lord Elgin,

removed parts and sent them home
to the British Museum.

Even now, a bone of contention
between the Greeks and the British.

You do this every day?
Don't look down.

Don't look down.
I won't look down,

but you must go slowly
and not... leave me.

I'm being taken to see
some of the restoration.

But it's at a terrifying distance
from the ground.

I have to hold on both sides,

because I have to lull myself into a
sense of absolutely not looking down

being okay.

Almost the greatest dread of my life
is vertigo.

As a child
I once got stuck on a ladder,

and my sister had to
come and help me down.

I was about seven.

I got stuck and she had to move
every finger and every foot,

to take me down and it took about,
I don't know, 25 minutes.

So coming up here...

I felt that, quite frankly,

I was doing it for the viewers.

That's you. Because I love you.

The restorers
working at these perilous heights

are involved in
their most delicate project -

protecting the marble
that has been ravaged by pollution,

and previous
botched restoration work.

Is this water?
Yes.

Yes, it's water...

..to remove the dust.
Yes.

From inside.

You can see? I can see.
Look how it's coming off.

And this is the figure of a man.

Here's his beautiful arm here.

Yes. This is quite extraordinary,
because here we are

on one of the most colossal,
monumental buildings in the world.

And look at the size of these tools

that are being used,
like a dentist's -

Yes, they are dentists'.

They are?
They are dentists' tools.

And also this.
Oh, look at this.

Dentists use it.

Wow, isn't that extraordinary?

The love and care
that the modern Greeks

are lavishing
on this matchless monument

are just what
this glorious building deserves.

From the White House in Washington,

to the Bank of England
in the city of London,

its architecture
has been slavishly copied -

a symbol of the importance
of Greek culture

throughout the world.

After seeing the Acropolis today,

it just made me think... how little
we know about Ancient Greece

and how nice it would be if we taught
Latin and Greek again in schools.

We could learn it,
and it wouldn't just be...

the lucky ones who got to know
about it.

Now there's something else
we don't know about Greece -

we think they smash plates -
they don't. It's been outlawed.

They threw so many plates at people

to show their appreciation of singers
and dancers

that there were injuries!
They've banned it.

Instead of plates...
they throw flowers.

Throughout Greek history,

flowers have been used as offerings
to the gods.

I'm off to a bouzoukia,

which is a modern twist
on an old tradition...

There are 50 of these clubs
in Athens

which, after midnight,

cater for Greeks who want...
a wild night out.

Joanna.

Yassas.
How are you, fine?

Yes.
Welcome to Caramela.

My host tonight is nightclub owner
Iannis Boytypakos,

which means 'naughty boy'.

This is no ordinary nightclub.

Audiences can reach 5000,

dancing through the night
to a succession of singers.

But I've come for the main event,

when crowds start to celebrate
Greek-style...

with flowers.

They have them on these
little wicker trays,

racked up five high.

Those cost 60 euros so about 50 quid,

and those are coming in
and being thrown plenty.

So this is extraordinary
in a country which is,

to a certain extent really suffering
very badly, erm... financially.

I don't think a lot of them
are tremendously rich.

In fact, Greece has one of
the worst economies in Europe.

But it's a tradition
for bouzoukia revellers

to pay a fortune for their flowers.

Their bill for the night...

can be more than the cost
of a brand-new car.

We live for the day - for this day.

For this moment? Yes, for the
moment. We don't care for tomorrow.

And you party all through the night?
Tomorrow maybe everything... boom.

And do you think when Greece
recovers its economy -

I don't think it will recover ever.

Don't you think?

The most important thing is
to go out, have a good time,

make yourself happy.

Let tomorrow take care of itself.
Live for the moment.

It's coming up for three o'clock now.

That's pretty early for me,
as you can guess,

but I might just call it a day.

Whilst the culture of bouzoukia
has changed to suit modern tastes,

there's another tradition
which has remained the same

for thousands of years,

which today is virtually unknown -
even here in Greece.

I'm saying goodbye to Athens
and the mainland.

My guide Petros is taking me
to the isolated corner of Evia,

the second largest island in Greece.

Throughout ancient times,
Evia bore the brunt

of a succession of invaders,

intent on plundering Athens' riches.

Here the hills have echoed to the
sounds of an astonishing language,

thought to be a relic of
those ancient invasions.

Finally, we arrive at the village
of Antia.

Up here?
I think so. (Speaks Greek)

(Whistles)

It's Kyria Koula.

(Speaks and whistles)

(Joanna whistles)

(Speaks Greek)
Can she understand?

I was only making it up!
I don't know.

(Speaks Greek)
Yeah, she says,

she said that
she doesn't say something.

I didn't say anything!

She's found me out -
I was just whistling.

So that's her sound?

Here come some people.

The sound is actually like
people who can whistle for taxis,

which I can't do
because my whistling is -

I've been trying to practise all my -
Jennifer Saunders can do it, I can't.

I can't make a sound! I just dribble.

I'd be hopeless up here,

I wouldn't be able to get any tea
for a neighbour or anything.

Do our ladies know where
the tradition of whistling came from?

There is a belief that
in ancient times,

the invading Persians would
post whistlers on the mountaintops

as sentries, so they could signal
an imminent attack on Athens.

I'm just glad it wasn't my job.

I wouldn't get anywhere near it,

it would be as if I was dumb,
being up here.

One for the dogs! Look, the dogs -

We've suddenly got
a mass of dogs around.

That reminds me strangely of -

There's a goat on the roof
over there!

The goats are now
climbing over the rooves towards us.

Look, more goats have arrived.

They know we're going to be
having tea in a second.

The cocks are crowing,
it's... extraordinary.

It's the nearest thing
to Dr Dolittle I've ever seen.

You whistle
and the goats answer back,

then you shout at them
and they've got it, absolutely.

(Woman calls out)
(Goat bleats)

This extraordinary language is
in danger of being lost to the world.

30 years ago,
Antia was home to 100 people.

Today, there are just 40.

With all the youngsters gone,
the school has closed.

Only the older generation is left.

Kyria, is it important...
that whistling doesn't die out?

How can you make sure...

that future generations
will continue to whistle?

It's sad to think that after
hundreds of generations of whistling,

Kyria Koula and her friends

might be the last to communicate
in this strange language.

As yet, none of their children

have learnt to whistle
like their ancestors.

Back on the mainland
I swap my car for the train

for the next leg of my journey.

Somehow I didn't expect the weather
to be so... British.

The train's just left Athens here

and we're going to be travelling
round, round, round, round

into the Peloponnese, this sort of
wild area which is... so mysterious,

and of course the very birthplace of
all the gods and myths and legends.

Everything seemed to happen
down here.

My route will take me to the region's

most spectacular
mythical and historic sites,

discovering places
that drew masses of pilgrims

from across the ancient Greek world.

Ending my journey at this great
civilisation's most sacred place -

Delphi.

But first my train
is taking me to Epidavros,

the most famous theatre
in the ancient world.

As an actress,
I'm longing to see this place.

The legendary acoustics
of what we call Epidaurus

has attracted
some of our modern-day greats

like Pavarotti and Mariah Callas.

I'm meeting one of the most popular
female singers of them all,

Nana Mouskouri.

# So goodbye, my love, till then,
till... #

Over her 50-year career,

Nana is claimed to have sold
more records in more countries

than any other woman.

# Goodbye till then #

Oh, look at this!

Isn't that wonderful?

Epidavros was built
in the 4th century BC

to honour the god of healing
Asclepius, son of Apollo.

It was a sanctuary to cure the sick,

and for the Greeks,
theatre was part of the medicine.

There were comedies, singing contests
and great tragic plays.

It's a very mystical place

and it's a place
where everybody comes

to participate, to get together.

One does feel...
an extraordinary presence here.

It is.
It's true, isn't it?

We believe that
it is inhabited by gods,

by semi gods.

The legends survive,
and here it's full of legends.

Have you sung here?
No. (Laughs)

No?

No, I haven't had this,
er... this honour, really.

It's the dream of every,
I think, of every singer.

Trained as a classical singer,
the young Nana

was cast to sing in the chorus
of an opera here.

But at the last moment
she was dismissed,

simply because she was
considered to be a pop star.

When we arrived here,

they got... an order

from the highest point possible,

not to use me,

because it became a scandal,

and I was really -

I came back the next day
all by myself

crying all the way through.

So it was something...
For me it was a sort of stigma.

Those slights, those injuries
sit deep in your heart.

Yes, I think I never learned more
than from my failures.

Yes... and this was no failure.

You can be heard all over the
auditorium by an audience of 15,000,

especially if you stand
bang in the middle of the stage.

(Calls out)

The acoustics are so special.
Can we test them?

You... you don't think you'd sing?

Should I try?
Will you please try?

I'll try. I don't know what to do.

I did not rehearse, I did not...
Oh, please.

It's a pleasure. Yes, I will do it.

Miss Mouskouri,
this is your five-minute call.

Okay.

I go fast,
and I better have a good voice.

I should be able to hear Nana
perfectly right up at the back,

200 feet away.

The shape of the theatre
and the use of limestone rock

reflect the sound perfectly.

So, Joanna, I am on the right spot.

Can you hear me?
I can hear you, Nana.

Okay. I can't hear you very well,
but it's okay.

# Ave Maria...

# Gratia plena

# Maria, gratia plena

# Maria, gratia plena

# Ave Maria #

Bravo, Nana!

Efharisto poli, efharisto.

It's extraordinary, without any
rehearsal or any orchestra. (Sniffs)

CROWD CHANTS AND APPLAUDS

I first saw Nana Mouskouri
when I was in my teens,

I suppose, I mean I didn't see her.

And it's just so odd as life goes by

that you... get to meet
some of these great gods.

Well, that was something -
to be in Epidavros

and hear Nana Mouskouri singing...

for a tiny house
on a Monday evening, but...

just sort of in the lap of the gods.

Fabulous.

In the south of the Peloponnese
is a remote region called the Mani.

It's an area that was left behind
by the modern world.

A huge mountain range had
kept the Mani peninsula isolated

and forgotten for thousands of years.

At its southernmost tip
there's a place

believed to be
the mythical gates of Hades,

where the ancients went
when they died.

Some say the people here

are the direct descendants
of the Spartans,

the most bloodthirsty warriors
of ancient Greece.

My guide, Petros, and I have
driven through Arcadia and Sparta

on our way to the extreme south.

He wants to show me this
unique frontier land of Greece.

Only the last 40 years,
the luxury of a road came to Mani.

It introduced in that place.
What did they do before?

They used to use donkeys.

Donkeys. Donkey tracks,
just walking? Donkey trails.

It's so wild.

Remote and low-key - this is Mani.

Everywhere just seems to be rocks,

rock hillsides, rocks on the ground.

Everything looks like castles
of course

because of these tower houses,
everything...

That little village looks like
a pile of tiny, grey castles.

We're driving up to Vathia,

a 16th century
fortified tower-house settlement.

It's a town with a bloody past.

Hello? Is there anyone there?

Yassas?

Yassas?

There's nobody here.
It's very strange.

In the mid 19th century,

300 people lived here.

It was rife with blood feuds
and vendettas.

Ooh, a little, little door.

Look at this. It's got a little...

platform with a bed here.

Local men hid in their tower homes

after falling out with
their neighbours,

usually over land... or women.

They'd take pot shots from here,

trapped until
they'd killed their enemy,

who could be hiding
just across the street.

Often the victor
would celebrate his success

by nailing his neighbour's
severed head to his front door.

There are beds in here!

I feel rather creeped here.

There's nothing here.
There's just birds.

WHISPERS: I can see somebody!

Yes.

I can see somebody on a roof.

Shall we go and say 'Yassas'?
Yes, yes.

Yassas.

It seems that the few people
left in Vathia

still remain wary of strangers.

Which way? This way?

Like other villages in the Mani,

Vathia became a ghost town when the
first roads were built in the 1970s.

People in this area
emigrated to Athens,

leaving her land and houses empty.

It has a desolate,
breathtaking beauty.

Oh, look, here's somebody!

There's a dog
and there's a little woman.

Let's go and ask her.

Yassas.
Yassas.

(Both speak Greek)

It's a dead end.

And so, no cafe or anything?

Nowhere we can get a cup of coffee
or stop or eat something?

(Speaks Greek)

But she's just invited us.
We can have coffee at her house.

Oh, that'd be wonderful.

(Speaks Greek)

Tell me, what is it like
in the winter here?

It must be very cold,
and there's no -

What does she live on?

Very strong. Beautiful.

Aromatic...

How fantastic!

Kyria Antonia lives a solitary life
in this abandoned village,

and survives by living off the land.

This is a fabulous pathway, isn't it?

It's a natural stairway,
it's just extraordinary.

For supper,
she's picking wild asparagus

and has invited me to help her.

Can you imagine that
this is the way you get your food,

which is just by
hunting on these hillsides?

And finding...

not very much, just kind of leaves
and... little plants.

She knows them all, it's just
this lovely way of living wild.

But gosh, what slim pickings.

Looking for little strands
of... wild asparagus.

I pick? Yeah?

That one? This one.

Wild asparagus.

Well, Kyria Antonia and I have sort
of been hunting for a little bit.

She obviously has got
a much sharper eye,

because she can see
exactly what she's looking for.

I just hope we get enough together
so we can have a little supper,

which she's promised to cook me.

It's just
the extraordinary kindness of...

people who seem to have
so very much less than we do.

Ah, Kyria, thank you!

Look, two more to our collection.

(Speaks Greek)

The wild asparagus is cooked
in the simplest possible way.

Boiled for ten minutes in water...

little bit of salt...

some oil...

and then it's almost ready to serve -

except for one last vital ingredient.

Lemons as sweet as oranges,

huge, beautiful lemons.

Eat it almost perhaps
a little bit like spaghetti,

just tangling it up.

(Asks a question in Greek)
Mmm.

It's absolutely beautiful.

Kyria...

Why do you still stay here
when there's nobody here?

Kyria, would you ever like to live
in a city?

Did you like it?

Kyria, do you get lonely here?

I should like to be
like Kyria Antonia.

I should like to be
afraid of nothing.

But I'm going to the Gates of Hades,

where the dead went to be judged.

Even though I'm alive,
will I be found wanting?

Three mighty gods -
Zeus, Poseidon and Hades -

drew lots to rule the world.

Zeus got the heavens,
Poseidon the sea,

and Hades the underworld,

whose entrance is in a cave

and it's only accessible by boat.

It's quite strange to be sitting here
in the peaceful sunlight

with the waves lapping at my feet
and knowing that in a very short time

I shall be at the gates of hell,

the gates of the underworld.

And... everyone can enter

and no one can leave.

And it's just strange because

I've heard about these things
all through my life,

and I thought I would be feeling
light-hearted about it,

but actually I feel
very, very... full of respect,

a little bit, erm...

It feels quite serious.

A local boatman, Petros Georgariou,

has been to the entrance before.

In these parts, people still believe
the gods and legends have meaning.

And this is pre-Christianity,
pre-Islam.

This goes back to
the beginning of time,

so it's sort of pagan.

So I think the idea of
the underworld and hell being below

and heaven being above

is actually apparent
in all religions, it seems to me.

This old notion that you would
be damned for all eternity

sort of... rather gripped
at the heart of me,

so I'm taking every precaution today.

This is extraordinary.

We are here, at the very gates...

of Hades, of Ardes, here,

a sort of unexpectedly modest
little cave,

but this was the very end of
what was then the known world.

After this, there's nothing but sea
until you get to Africa.

So this was the end of
continental Europe here,

this extraordinary place.

So there are these flowers which I...

send as an offering.

And also I have brought...
as an offering -

it's really to Charon the boatman
who will be underground -

I've brought two coins,

and I offer these to the gods.

And one last thing
I brought with me...

I wanted to offer something
that was of real value,

and so I've brought a pearl,

for the spirits of all the people
who've gone into the underworld

and can never come out again.

As we retreat from the gates of hell,

a strong wind whips up, blowing us
safely back to shore.

Tomorrow we visit the birthplace of
the most spectacular event on earth -

the Olympics.

I've left the barren region
of the Mani peninsula behind.

And I'm travelling north to one of
the most famous of sporting arenas,

ancient Olympia.

With the Olympics in Britain
almost upon us,

I don't need to tell you how
important sport is in our society.

It all started in Olympia
nearly 3000 years ago.

The ancient Olympic Games were
the pinnacle of athletic achievement.

With half a square mile of ruins,

the site was a health sanctuary,

a bit like a modern-day
Olympic village.

At its very heart is the place
where men were worshipped like gods.

This is the archway

through which
all the Olympic athletes passed.

Thick walls, you can
almost feel it throbbing off it.

Bunched up, nerves jangling,
sweating slightly

with the anticipation of
this phenomenal trial ahead of them.

(Gasps) Look, look, look.

This is the stadium.

Look at the size of this place!

This held 45,000 spectators,

and they all sat on grass, except
for the judges who sat on seats.

They had running races - they always
had the same sort of disciplines.

There was the pentathlon,
which was running,

jumping -
jumping from the start like that -

it was throwing the javelin,
throwing the discus,

and it was wrestling.

What they didn't have in those days

was synchronised swimming...

ping pong...

you know what I mean?

Man's games, held in the nude.

Married women weren't allowed
to come and watch them

because it was considered that
the athletes were so attractive -

Here come some damn attractive
athletes sprinting past now...

The athletes were so attractive,

the women wouldn't be able to
contain themselves

and would become unfaithful
to their husbands.

So virgins or unmarried girls
were allowed in to watch.

Women weren't allowed to do anything.

Vous connaissez des histoires
des Jeux Olympiques?

Ben, un peu, parce qu'il y a...

A little bit? Yeah?

I asked if they know about
the Olympic Games and the history,

and I think they've come here
to learn about it.

The great thing is,
the second you arrive here,

all you can think about is testing
yourself - you can't help it.

It's like a trigger. You go
"The Olympic track, I must run it!"

Even though it's extremely hot -
il fait tres, tres chaud aujourd'hui.

But you just have to do it,

just to match yourself up
to Olympian standards.

These girlies wouldn't have been
allowed to in the old days,

so times have changed.

Merci beaucoup.

Delphi lies to the north
of the bay of Corinth.

It was the most sacred place
in the ancient world

where emperors, peasants
and warriors alike

sought the mystical predictions
of the Oracle.

I'm following in the footsteps
of Odysseus,

Alexander the Great,

and Apollo himself.

This is Delphi.

And this is where the Oracle...
lives.

And there's a huge resonance
about this valley.

(Whispers) It's fantastic.

Why did they come here
to this particular place,
even before it was called Delphi?

Well, this is why...

Zeus... released two eagles
at the end of the earth,

and where they met and clashed

was here.

And so this became what Zeus called
the navel - the tummy button -

the navel of the world.

The very centre, the very core,

so this was already chosen by Zeus,
god of gods,

to be the centre of the world.

We are standing now
in the centre of the world.

No wonder people came here,
for whatever reason.

And they still do in their thousands.

But some people come for
more than souvenirs and photographs.

54-year-old James Head was living in
London, working as a maths teacher,

until he came to Delphi
for the first time, 12 years ago.

So what happened - you arrived here?

All of a sudden it was
a kind of eureka moment for me,

that perhaps there is
something sacred, something holy,

somewhere, and in different places,

and it just so happened that the
first time I ever had that feeling

was here in Delphi.

For you... this sense of spirituality
came alive because of Apollo?

It came alive in this place,

and I suppose this place
is firmly associated with Apollo.

It was a life-changing experience
for me.

How has it changed your life?

From that first visit, I find myself
living here full time.

Obviously
I visit the temple regularly,

I say a few prayers.

As in ancient times, I offer
a little wine to the god.

A little libation.

Libation or whatever it is. I don't
really understand why it is I do it,

I just feel that...
that is something I like to do.

And although I...
have travelled a little,

and could travel to other places,

I find myself coming back here
time and time again.

Because when I'm up there
pouring my libation, Joanna,

there's nowhere I'd sooner be.

Now, it was my turn to meet Apollo,

the god of light, prophecy and truth.

It seems extraordinary
that 100 years ago

this sacred site
in the shadow of Mount Parnassus

was hidden from the world,

covered by 30 feet of earth,

with a village built on top.

When they French excavated it,
they were astonished and delighted

to find a ruined city of
3000 statues, monuments and temples.

These steps would have been
alive with pilgrims,

plodding up
their last, last weary way

at the end of this immense journey

to come... to the centre...
of the world.

The place they'd been longing to see.

(Gasps)

The Temple of Apollo.

This is how the Temple of Apollo
would have looked in ancient times.

The most important decisions
in ancient Greek history

were made by the Oracle,

who sat underground
in the centre of the temple.

But scientists today have discovered

that the site was built
on the top of an ancient fault line

which emitted hallucinogenic gases.

And look here.
I've been told about this.

This is where the Delphic Oracle...
had her tripod seat.

The legs of the tripod were there,
so her seat...

This was obviously that way round.

The seat was here, and here in front

is the hole through which
the methane or ethanol gas...

came hurtling out.

Anyway, some sort of mind-altering
gas. And she was sitting on here.

Some people say
she was chewing daphne leaves.

Whatever it was, she was in a trance,
a complete stewed state.

So what people asked her,
she was actually talking in tongues.

I've seen this in the high hills
of Hunza in the Karakorums,

where they inhale juniper smoke,
so people became high as kites.

And this prophetess, this seer,
this oracle,

was high as a kite and couldn't
even speak her own language.

She was just... (Mumbles)
gibbering, gibbering.

And priests listened
and interpreted

and people came and said
"Should we go to war? Is this wise?"

"Should I get married?"
"Should our countries separate?"

And the Oracle would...
(Makes gibbering noise)

and the priests would interpret it.

The priests were terribly important,
terribly influential.

But the Oracle was the thing.

She was always a woman over 50,

and she was called Pythia,
named after the python,

which was what Apollo slew.

I know this sounds complicated
but it's absolutely fascinating

when you can get your head round it,
which I almost have.

I'll take a whiff of this and I could
probably speak to you in tongues.

(Gibbers)

I could still say Mount Parnassus.

This is my hero.

If the Oracle had spoken to me,
she would have said

"I see you travelling in Greece,
and in the next episode

"you shall explore
the remote northern borderlands."

So, who am I to defy
the ancient Oracle of Delphi?

Captions (c) SBS Australia 2018