All language subtitles for PBS.Ancient.Invisible.Cities.Series.1.1of3.Athens.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

♪♪

-I'm Darius Arya,
an archaeologist going in search

of the ancient world
in three of the most

exciting cities on Earth --

Cairo, the gateway
to ancient Egypt...

Istanbul, the crossroads
between Europe and Asia...

and, now, Athens,
the birthplace of democracy.

♪♪

Today Greater Athens is home
to almost 4 million people.

The city has exploded with
new life in the past century.

Here's a place that ancient
monuments and sites

sit side by side with modern
architecture and urban renewal.

It's an intoxicating mixture
of ancient

and contemporary all together.

I'll be investigating this
city's hidden sites to find out

how the ancient Athenians
created an idea that has endured

for over two-and-a-half-thousand
years -- democracy.

And I'll use virtual reality...

Whoa!

...to explore this amazing place

in a whole new way.

What a view.

Athens is a city with layer

after layer of history
and mythology.

The ancients called this place
the City of the Gods.

Welcome to invisible Athens.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-The Acropolis, a sacred hill
in the center of Athens.

♪♪

5,000 years ago,

its cliffs offered protection
to Bronze Age settlers.

And in the centuries
that followed,

the city grew up around it.

Today, it is famous
for a series of events

that started here in 510 B.C.

when the people of Athens
overthrew a tyrant

besieged on this hillside,
and did something extraordinary.

They started to create
the world's first democracy.

In the golden era that followed,
this remarkable society

built the beautiful monuments
that still stand here today.

♪♪

I'm walking through
the propylaea,

the monumental entry hall

that leads you forward
into the Acropolis.

And it's designed
to be theatrical

and leave you
with the sense of expectation

of something greater
that lies ahead,

that brings you forward
to this exact spot

that gives you
the most perfect view

of one of the most famous
buildings in the world.

♪♪

The Parthenon was built
to honor the goddess Athena.

It's been at the heart of what
it means to be Athenian

for over
two-and-a-half-thousand years.

♪♪

Its orderly columns
and perfect symmetry

became the classical blueprint
for architecture

that shapes the world
to this day.

♪♪

And right next door
is one of the most

intriguing buildings
in the world.

It might be small, but it's by
no means insignificant.

And we're going to find out
why it's one of

the most important
buildings of ancient Athens.

The Parthenon is famous
for its symmetry,

but across the way,
the Erechtheion,

it's contemporary,
but it looks totally different.

♪♪

This is a structure
known for housing

the votive statue of Athena,

and many other shrines,

but when we look
at the architecture

it's like a mishmash of design.

Even the ancient commentators
were confused.

Now, if we look
at the individual

architectural components,
they are beautiful

and refined as the Parthenon,

but overall, for its design,
it just doesn't make any sense.

Why did they build it
in this way?

♪♪

Our 3D scanners are gonna try
to make sense

of this quirky little temple.

The team is led by architect
Matt Shaw.

Looking over at the Parthenon,
that's one kind of structure,

and then this,
it's like totally different.

-Yeah.
Classical clarity, over there,

and then this confusing
little structure

without really a clear front
or a clear entranceway.

What were all of these
different spaces inside?

That's what we're hoping to try
and understand with our scans.

-So, you've got total access.
You're outside.

You're inside.
You've got the drones.

What are the real challenges,
then,

in creating these models today?

-The building is the challenge
for us, really,

and we've got to use technology
to try and unravel it.

-To reveal more about
the Erechtheion setting,

Matt and his team
are also going to create

a 3D model
of the whole Acropolis.

Using thousands
of aero photographs

and a digital process
called photogrammetry,

they'll be trying to reveal
why the Athenians designed

the Erechtheion in this way.

While the scanning team
goes to work,

I'm going to have a closer look.

The Erechtheion gets its name
from Erechtheus,

a mythical king of Athens.

He is said to have been
killed here

by a thunderbolt thrown by Zeus,
the king of the gods,

a myth that has been
cleverly incorporated

in the building itself.

This might look like damage
to the roof, but in fact,

its purposely
left open in this spot

to remember the point at which
Zeus throws the lightning bolt

and kills the king Erechtheus.

The temple also tells the story

of how the city
itself was named,

and according to one version
of the myth,

it happened right here when
Poseidon, the god of the sea,

and Athena,
the goddess of wisdom,

took part in a duel

to become the patron god
of the city below.

♪♪

Each god had to offer
something to the city.

Poseidon began.

He struck the earth
right down below here,

and out burst a spring
of saltwater.

In response to Poseidon's
saltwater spring,

Athena made grow on this spot
an olive tree,

and the kind decided
that Athena won the competition

because the olive tree
was much more useful.

And she became the patron
deity of Athens.

Today, an olive tree still grows
on the site

where the city was named.

♪♪

But the myths don't end there.

Jutting out from another site
of the Erechtheion

is a strange porch,
which our scan team

has been given special
access to investigate.

It is held up by columns
in the form of maidens.

Known as the caryatid,

they are guardians of yet
more sacred royal ground.

And what they're doing
is standing as an offering

to mourn the loss
of the mythical king Cecrops,

who's located in his grave
down below.

This is an important feature
of the Erechtheion,

reminding the Athenians
that these women are mourning

perpetually the loss
of the mythic king.

♪♪

For the ancient Athenians,

these buildings were the sacred
heart of their city,

created for a belief system
that lasted thousands of years

and is now lost in time.

But the political heart
of their city lies elsewhere...

Sitting just below the Acropolis
is a hill called the Pnyx.

Athenian citizens assembled on
this hillside to hear speeches

and vote directly
on every issue.

If anywhere could lay claim
to being the world's

first democratic
meeting place, then this is it.

♪♪

But this wasn't democracy
as we know it.

Only Athenian men were classed
as citizens,

and there were
no votes for women,

nor Athens' army of slaves.

And that makes it difficult now
for many of us to recognize this

as a democracy at all.

So when we look at Athenian
democracy in our own terms,

we have problems with it,

but so too would the Athenians
look at our modern democratic

states and say,
"What kind of democracy is that?

Every individual citizen doesn't
cast a vote for every decision."

This is what Athenian democracy
was all about.

This is where it started,
and it was something unique.

So many of the secrets
of ancient Athens

are hidden beneath
the surface of the modern city.

Our scan team had been hard
at work investigating them.

Hey, Matt.
-Hello. How are you?

-All right.
I'm looking forward to seeing

what you've come up with here.
How you doin', man?

And now,
they're ready to show me

the first images
of the Acropolis.

-I mean, thousands
of individual images

and then a good chunk
of computing power

and we get this
quite amazing 3D model,

and obviously dominated
by this perfect piece

of classical Greek
architecture.

-[ Chuckles ] Yeah.
-But obviously we are

a little more interested
in its strange

sibling over here,
over on the...

-Off to the side, there.
-Off to the side.

-It seems like it's about to tip
off the side

of the Acropolis there,
just pushed off to the side.

Look at that.

Let's take this model apart
a little bit.

We're gonna take
the Erechtheion away.

The first thing to say
about this site

is that it's not level.

We've got a change in elevation
of about 3 1/2 meters

as we go from the south
to the north side of the temple.

Traditionally, if you're
building a building,

you'd start leveling up
that side, right?

-Yeah.
-But we can't do that here,

because this is sacred ground,
right?

-So you're stuck with that.

You're left to deal with that.
-Yeah.

So, the first one of them
is this strange hole.

-For them,
it was god reaching out

and touching this
particular monument or space,

and that became
instantly sacred.

Like this.
You really see the connection.

It becomes very obvious.

-You can see this hole in the
ceiling that is directly above.

-Oh, yeah.
But, wow.

I mean, like, that...
[chuckles]

no one's ever seen,
which is incredible.

-This isn't the only moment
of very intentional precision

that's going on
on the porch here as well.

I mean, if we just look at one
of these columns then...

-Wow.
Look at that.

-That level of perfection
carries on to these details,

which humans can never see,
because this building

isn't just designed
for humans to see, right?

This is for the gods.
-Yeah.

-There's something stopping them
extending the building.

If I just click here
we get Athena's olive tree.

-Ah, yes.

-This is another constraint

for the building program
here, right?

You can't cut down
Athena's olive tree.

I mean, we do this nowadays,
right?

We have tree-preservation
orders, right?

I mean, you are not cutting that
tree down to build your temple.

And then there's a third
real constraint on the site,

another mythical moment,

the burial ground
of Cecrops, right?

-With the caryatid.
-Yeah.

-By having that space
sort of bump out,

you're clueing in, you know,
the pilgrim that's coming here

that this is yet
another sacred space.

-We've got the burial mound
of Cecrops.

We've got a hole
for a thunderbolt.

It's a hell of a brief, right?

-A spot of ground
touched by the gods.

An olive tree created by Athena.

And the tomb of Athens'
founding king.

Thousands of years ago, parents
would bring their kids here.

They'd be able to tell
those stories as they went

around this space that they were
privileged enough to go inside

and to see those very shrines
with their own eyes.

And it's like a story book
that just enfolds

as you make your way around it.

The Erechtheion,
it's kind of a mess.

I mean, it's these
disparate parts,

it doesn't line up,
but you've shown with the scans

it can't be symmetrical,

it can't be as obvious
as the Parthenon across the way.

This is a much more
complex structure,

and you've teased out
so many of these details.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Yelling in native language ]

♪♪

Today, modern Athens
is a vivid and colorful city

with a strong connection
to the sea.

It's the bustling capital
of a democracy

struggling to keep up
with its neighbors.

[ Indistinct yelling ]

And in the time
of the first democracy,

Athens also had to fight
for its place in the world.

♪♪

In 490 B.C.,
Athens was a Greek city-state

surrounded by rivals --

Aegina, Corinth,
and the militaristic Sparta.

The greatest threat of all lay
to the East,

where the Persian empire was
growing in power and ambition.

But Athens had one
great advantage

over many of its rivals.

The entire peninsula of Attica
was under its control,

and 50 miles to the south
of the city lay extensive seams

of precious silver

buried deep in the hillsides
of an area called Laurium.

♪♪

In the 5th century B.C.,

this was an industrial
landscape,

given over to silver mining,
a lucrative business

run for the benefit
of Athens and its citizens,

but carried out
by the city's army of slaves.

To find out more about this dark
underbelly of Athens,

I'm gonna go inside
one of the ancient mines.

-Mind your head.

-My guide is
archeologist/professor

Andreas Kapetanios.

-Whoa. It's pretty low.
This is... oof.

-It's not a very big entrance
just getting inside here.

-It's just the beginning.

We have to go through
that gully over there.

You see?
-Looks pretty tight.

-It is.

Narrow and low.
-[ Groans ]

It is not built
for my size, looks like.

I feel like a giant going
through a little pipe.

-Down here we notice this,
deep cleat marks.

There are cleat marks
all around.

-Yeah.

-You see,
this is a kind of step.

-It's getting pretty gnarly
right here.

-We have to crawl from here.
-Okay.

It's like doing limbo
on your stomach. [ Groans ]

-[ Chuckling ] Yeah.

-If I get stuck,
you're gonna help me, right?

-Right.

-You're not gonna
leave me behind, right?

[ Chuckles ]

This is a place where you
really want to be an expert.

I have no idea where I'm going.

I need to stick with Andreas.

-So, we move that way.
-Okay.

-Are you coming?
-Yeah. I'm on my way.

The rare access I've been
granted to these tunnels

really brings home to me
the plight of the people

who hacked them out by hand

two-and-a-half-thousand
years ago.

-This was leveled down by tens
of thousands of slaves.

Slaves were captures in wars
or they were bought in markets.

Slaves were very valuable.

That's why they were
valuable tools.

-Only by scanning will the scale
and complexity

of this grim labyrinth
of tunnels

and galleries become clear,

but it's going to be
the hardest challenge Matt

and his team have faced yet.

-I do think we got
a while in here.

I think we've got about
six hours, probably.

-So you guys will
be here all night.

-Yeah.
I mean, it's teamwork, right?

One of us has got to creep
through these holes

and the other one has got
to pass the equipment,

and then we've got
to creep again and pass again,

creep again and pass again.

-Crawling around through here
I'm getting a sense

that this is an awful existence.

You don't want to be a slave,

and this is pretty
much the bottom

of where a slave would be.

Although the people that
worked here were anonymous,

they're part of a long,

complicated organization
in existence.

To make democracy in Athens
work, this is part of it.

This is a very dirty part of it.

-And through here
we're getting in a wider space.

-Is there anything left
of the good stuff, let's say?

-No, nothing is left
of the good stuff,

but I have something
in my pocket.

I can show you a piece.

You need four tons of this
to produce two kilos of silver.

Two kilos.
Like five pounds.

These are the silicon valleys
of classical Athens.

-[ Chuckles ]

♪♪

Our scans show the interior
of the mine

in extraordinary detail,

and reveal the labyrinth
of tunnels

to be hundreds of yards long.

♪♪

Cut by hand as miners and slaves
followed a thin seam

of silver ore into the hillside.

♪♪

Above the ground, the scan team

also captures
the mine's processing plants.

Here, the ore would've
been washed

then ground into tiny pebbles

before finally being heated
in a furnace nearby

to coax out
the precious silver.

This is just one of at least
30 silver mines

hidden under the hillsides
of Laurium.

And in the 480's B.C.,

they provided Athens
with a bounty

of nearly three tons of silver,

an unexpected boost
to Athens' new democracy.

♪♪

[ Car horn honking ]

♪♪

I've come to Athens'
harbor district, called Piraeus,

on the trail
of that silver windfall.

It created a huge debate here
among the citizens.

In 483 B.C., a heroic general
and leading politician

called Themistocles
put forward a case

that the money should be spent
on a fleet of war ships.

But others wanted to divide
up the windfall

and give all the citizens
an equal share in hard cash.

And it was settled with a vote.

The people made
the extraordinary decision

to back Themistocles.

Instead of spending
the windfall,

they decided to invest
the silver and build a fleet.

♪♪

Over 100 new war ships,
like this, were commissioned,

known as triremes because
of their three rows of ores.

At 40-yards long,
they were light and fast.

And fitted with bronze
battering rams,

they were
formidable weapons of war.

♪♪

And here on the waterfront

we can peel back
the layers of history

to show the importance
of the Athenian fleet

for several centuries.

The scan team is already
investigating.

-How's it goin'?

So, how are the challenges here
in this particular location?

-We have a tricky one, okay?

So, we know something is hiding
away in the basement

of his structure over here,
and then we know

those structures
actually start in the basement,

but they came some way
out underneath...

-Right, even underneath us.
-Exactly.

...And out into the water.

Now, scanning in the water
is a wee bit tricky...

-Yeah.
-... so we're taking

to the air for this one.
-Okay.

♪♪

While the scan team
gets to work,

I'm going to access
a remarkable site

with marine archaeologist
Dr. Bjorn Loven.

We are now walking into the
very space of the ship sheds.

-It's right underneath
this modern apartment block.

Oh, wow! Yeah.

From outside I got
no sense of it, but here it is.

I mean, this is an incredible
archaeological site.

Totally hidden away!

-Yeah, welcome to one of
the secret sites of Greece.

-Totally invisible.
Everyone's going by.

You don't know what's underneath
here in this basement.

Dry-dock ship sheds
like this one

seem like a simple enough idea,
but they were vital

to the success
of Athens' naval fleet.

-If you stand
on this column base...

-Okay. Yeah.

-...I'll walk through
this here...

-Ah, okay.

-...all the way over
to the other column.

So, between the two of us,
we have one ship shed.

-My God.
-So in this space

there would have been a trireme.

-And you'd be able to slip
in a war ship,

right here between us.
-Yes.

If you join me over here...
-Yeah.

-...next to the ramp,
there's a working space

where the people
pulled the war ships

in and out of the ship sheds.

-You're doing that labor.

You're actively giving...

Hundreds of guys I imagine
are pulling this.

-Yeah.
I mean, we know from a source

from the fifth century B.C.

that it took 140 men to pull
a trireme out of the sea.

-And then you multiply that
by the number of sheds,

by the number of ships.

It starts to become
an enormous neighborhood, right?

-It is a major operation.

I mean, the ship sheds
are all important

because it maintains
and preserves the war ships

and makes sure
that it is operational

when it's sent out on missions.

The drier and the more
well-maintained your ship is,

the faster it is in battle.

♪♪

-Our scans show how
the modern apartments

are built right on top
of the ancient ship sheds.

♪♪

Using data gathered
from our drone,

we've been able to map remains,
now underwater,

that reveal how the ship
sheds extend into the harbor.

And our graphic shows how they
once stood all around this cove.

In 480 B.C.,

the Athenian navy
was 200-ships strong,

just as Athens was about
to face a mortal threat

from the most powerful empire
in the ancient world.

♪♪

A little down the road
from where I was exploring

the ship sheds
is Athens' modern port,

and this is where a decisive
sequence of events began.

A massive army of at least
200,000 Persians

was on its way to invade Athens
and crush its democracy.

♪♪

With the entire population
at risk,

Athenians had to decide
whether to stay

and fight in the city
or to retreat by sea.

♪♪

Themistocles realized it
would've been disastrous to wage

a land battle against a much
more massive Persian army,

so the extraordinary decision
was made

to evacuate the city of Athens
and all the lands of Attica.

♪♪

Women and children
were taken to safety,

and every male citizen
of military age

took his place on a trireme

and prepared to face
the Persians at sea.

♪♪

The Athenians
withdrew their fleet

just a short distance
across the water from the city,

into a secluded bay where
they could plan their next move.

♪♪

Here they were joined by allies
from across Greece,

and in late September,
480 B.C.,

they prepared to make
a last stand.

♪♪

The battle that followed,
the Battle of Salamis,

saw not just Athens' future,

but the future
of Western civilization,

hang in the balance.

Because if Athens fell
and democracy was extinguished,

it may never
have caught flame again.

Until recently, barely any
remains dating from this moment

were thought to have survived.

But in 2017,
Professor Yannas Lolos

discovered evidence
that helps explain

what this little bay
might have been like

at the time.

-On the eve of the sea battle
of Salamis,

the united Greek fleet,

with over 300
triple-decker war ships,

was stationed in this bay.

So we have documented
the existence of a harbor.

It's a fortified harbor.

It would have been a long wall
with a round tower at its end.

-Can you help me reconstruct
what it would've been like?

-The Athenians could see
from the heights

surrounding this bay
the city in flames,

including the Acropolis.

That night was the zero hour
of Greek history.

♪♪

-Using the new research,

our scan team has managed
to fix the coordinates

of the archaeological
remains here at Salamis.

Our graphic model of the harbor
wall and its defensive tower

shows how it extended
160 yards into the bay.

This is where over 300
Greek trireme war ships

gathered to take on a Persian
force three times that size.

One source says that
Themistocles lured the Persians

into the narrow straits
beyond the bay,

where superior numbers
counted for nothing.

The Greek triremes pounced
and rammed into the Persians,

smashing their fleet apart.

The Greeks lost 40 ships that
day, but the Persians lost 300.

It was a stunning victory
for Athens,

one that allowed the world's
first democracy to survive.

♪♪

But victory came
at a high price.

♪♪

The people returned to a city

that had been razed
to the ground.

♪♪

Over 30 years, the Athenians
lived amongst the ruins.

They didn't rebuild the city
for all that time,

because they wanted
that destruction to serve

as a reminder
of what had happened to them.

Actually, they did
build one thing.

I'm looking for it right now.

It's right around the corner.

This is the road...

♪♪

♪♪

It's supposed
to be right over here,

kind of to the left
of the bathroom.

And there's supposed to be
a staircase going down.

Today this parking garage
is right in the heart

of a sprawling metropolis,

but it was once the city
limits of ancient Athens.

♪♪

Ho-ho! Look at this.
We made it.

I mean, it's not every day
you walk into an underground

parking lot
and find something like this.

This is a circuit of wall
that's over 2,500 years old.

It's been constructed
thanks to Themistocles,

and it's about 80-feet long
or so and it's still in place.

You can count, what, about five
courses here of stone.

Think about the effort,

the manpower that's employed
to construct this.

♪♪

Just as every Athenian citizen
had been expected to row

in the battle of Salamis,

now they were expected,
in the city of Athens,

to build walls, these walls,
and they put it together,

encircling the entire city
in record time.

♪♪

Our scans reveal that these
walls concealed inside

the parking garage
were just the beginning

of a series of building projects

that would transform Athens
and allow its citizens

and their way of life
a chance to thrive.

♪♪

First of all, they enclosed
what remained of the city,

then, six miles away,

they fortified
the vital port of Piraeus.

♪♪

And then,
most impressively of all,

they linked the two
with a fortified corridor

that ran all the way
from the port

to the center of Athens.

A system of long walls,
500 feet apart,

and said to be 11 feet high.

♪♪

But the building
of the long walls

and linking them
to the city walls,

like the section over here
underneath the parking lot,

you now had a total
defensive system for Athens,

defending both the city
and its harbor.

To observers at the time
looking at Athens,

it now looked impregnable.

♪♪

The Athenians decided
they didn't want to live

in their rubble anymore --
it was time to rebuild, finally.

They wanted to build their city
bigger, better,

more magnificent,
and more beautiful.

Ohh.

Everywhere you look,
lots of chunks of marble.

It's incredible -- I'm driving
on a road of marble chips.

They turned to this landscape
in Attica,

in particular Mount Penteli,
where I'm driving,

and they decided to take out
the stone, the marble from here.

Beautiful white marble.
Pentelic marble.

♪♪

And the quarry that dates
from that time is still here.

That is really impressive.

Feel like I stepped back
in time.

I mean,
this quarry is abandoned,

but it's abandoned back
from 2,500 years ago.

And I can see the tool marks,

getting a sense of the precision
that was involved,

the organization,
and the dangers, really,

'cause, I mean, this is
a massive, massive quarry using,

you know,
pretty rudimentary tools.

It is just overwhelming
to see all of this.

♪♪

Their rebuilding program
that drew on the marble

from here would give Athens
a new identity...

an identity fit for a city
that was on the cusp

of a new golden age
in architecture,

engineering, philosophy,
politics, and culture.

A golden age that would
make Athens

the most influential city
in the world.

♪♪

Our 3D model shows

how the gleaming marble
from Mount Penteli

was used to create brand-new
monuments on the Acropolis.

♪♪

First came the Parthenon,
started in 447 B.C...

then the propylaea,
and a temple to Nike...

and, finally, the Erechtheion,
all completed

in one remarkable 40-year burst
of creativity and confidence

towards the end
of the fifth century B.C.

♪♪

[ Church bell ringing ]

[ Man singing hymn ]

♪♪

I've come down to the heart
of the old city of Athens,

where archeologists discovered
intriguing artifacts

from a system
that Athenians evolved

to keep their democracy strong.

Dr. John Camp
is one of the experts

involved in the excavations
that brought them to light.

-We're standing in what we think

is the world's
first public art museum.

Just behind it we found
lots of ostraca.

An ostracon is just a broken
piece of pottery.

These particular ones,
these are replicas, of course.

Pieces like this were used
in the ultimate

in accountability
for politicians.

Once a year all the Athenians
could get together.

They voted -- is anybody aiming
to overthrow the democracy?

And they brought with them
their ostracons.

Scratched on it the name
of the person

they thought represented
a threat to the state.

And the man with
the most votes lost,

and he was exiled for 10 years.

-And then today, you know,
in the contemporary world,

we used the word "ostracism."
-Yeah.

-That's from this.
-Yeah.

This is designed
to counteract tyranny

once the concept of democracy
has been invented.

-It's a phenomenal thing, then,
when we look at this and,

considering that modern politics
doesn't really work that way,

maybe it's not a bad idea.
[ Chuckles ]

-Accountability would be good.

♪♪

-With the system of checks
and balances

designed to keep power
in the hands of the citizens,

democratic Athens thrived.

♪♪

It became the dominant
city-state in ancient Greece,

and began to extend
its influence across the Aegean.

Ah, look at that view.
My God!

Look at that.

I mean, this is how it's meant
to be seen.

This is it.
It's this arrival from the sea.

It's very romantic.
-[ Laughs ]

♪♪

Cape Sounion is about
50 miles from Athens.

For a sailor who's returning
to the Athenian territory

after a trade
or military expeditions,

in the Aegean or throughout
the Mediterranean,

the first glimpse
of that rocky cape

meant the voyage was over
and they were almost home.

♪♪

But something of a mystery
has grown up around Sounion.

Thanks to the Temple of Poseidon
that sits on the hill,

it was mostly known
as a sacred site.

And until recently, that
overshadowed the strategic role

it played in Athens' empire.

Thanks for having me.
Nice to see you.

How you doin'?
-Good.

-Great.
I'm really looking forward to...

Now a team of archeologists,

including
Dr. Kalliopi Baika,

are discovering how important
it really was.

-There was a settlement
with an important naval base,

and part of it now,
it's submerged.

Here is something
from the building. A huge one.

Actually, you only see
part of a wall

that is continuing
in the sea, in the water.

-And this is massive
architecture right here.

And this is leading then...

So why is it leading
into the water today?

I mean...
-'Cause we have a relative

sea level change of at least
2 1/2 meters to 3 meters.

That means that most of
the classical coastal sites

are now submerged.

-So it's invisible
but at the same time

you know that it's there,
so it's worth

taking an opportunity
to explore.

-You can see it yourself.
-Okay.

♪♪

It's only in the past couple
of years

that the importance of the site
really has been understood.

-Here we have a strategic
lookout post.

It operates in a network
of naval bases.

That means from here a ship
could reach the message

to our friends
that an enemy fleet

is approaching,
in only one hour.

♪♪

-The water is clear,
but I'm having trouble

finding the remains
of the settlement.

-Yes, the vertical lines,

the small structures,
from this way.

♪♪

-And, finally, here they are.

Massive sections
of the city wall,

still recognizable
after 2,500 years.

♪♪

And just beside them

is one of the berths
of the ancient naval base,

cut into sheer rock.

And right by the shore
are these fine marble blocks

from what must have been
impressive structures

in this fortified
outpost of Athens.

♪♪

Ah!

This is amazing.

You got a city submerged.

Look over here on the coastline.

I see part of a wall.

But underwater, it's massive.

It's about eight feet wide,

and extends, you know,
a pretty great distance.

♪♪

Fortified naval bases
like Sounion helped

Athens extend its empire
through the Greek islands

and into Asia Minor.

♪♪

But like every great empire,

its ambition brought it
into conflict with rivals.

♪♪

None more so than Sparta.

From the top of the cliff
at Sounion,

you can look out towards the
territory of Athens' arch rival.

♪♪

Undemocratic, militaristic,

and every bit as ambitious
as Athens,

the Spartans challenged
Athenian supremacy.

They were at war here
for 30 years.

Until the Spartans
finally defeated

Athens at sea,
starved the city out,

and in 404 B.C.,

forced the Athenians
to surrender.

♪♪

The golden age of the world's
first democracy

had come to an end.

♪♪

Athenian democracy burned
brightest for around

just 100 years,

but the ideas and achievements
from this golden age

would never be forgotten.

That was party
thanks to the Romans,

who arrived here
in the second-century B.C.

They razed most of the city
to the ground,

but they spared
the city's temples

and architectural treasures,
and over the next two centuries

Athens became for them
a kind of finishing school

and cultural theme park.

♪♪

In the second-century A.D.,
the emperor Hadrian

was one of Rome's
most passionate admirers

of all things Greek.

Behind me is Hadrian's Gate,
and on the opposite side it says

that Athens is the city
of Theseus, the mythical king,

but on this side it reads

that Athens is not
the city of Theseus --

it's the city of Hadrian.

♪♪

Hadrian was on a mission
to improve Athens,

and he lavished the city
with gifts --

a library, a gymnasium,
and something even more crucial

to the everyday life
of the people...

♪♪

a feat of engineering
so remarkable

that it was famous
in the ancient world

as one of the greatest
achievements of its age.

♪♪

And I've asked
rope-access expert Tim Fogg

to help me investigate further.

-This is it.
-This is it, man.

I'm looking forward to this.

-So, this is the shaft.
-Yeah.

-It's impressive.
You can't see the bottom.

-Whew.
-So that's...

You ready to go now?
-Ready to go, man.

Okay.

-Slowly...
-Smell the humidity.

-Okay.
-Nice.

Whoo.
This is awesome.

Yeah, I feel like I'm descending
to another world here.

I mean, it's...
Say goodbye to the sky.

All right, here we go.

Whew.

Little more.

This shaft leads down to
a second-century Roman aqueduct.

TV cameras have never
filmed here before.

This is incredible.

Oh man, it's tight.

There we go.

♪♪

This space is tight.
I can't believe it.

After a shaft like that
I imagined something

a little bit larger.

I've stepped back
almost 2,000 years

into the time of the Romans.
This is incredible.

The water is still flowing
right through here.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Groans ]

These channels are supposed
to be the width of a man, but...

I can't hit this in the width --
I'm too wide,

and it's definitely
not my height.

♪♪

This water is crystal clear.

I don't know exact where I am,
but I know where I'm headed.

I'm just gonna follow
the flow of the water.

It's flowing downhill,
towards Athens.

♪♪

This space is so tight
and uncomfortable.

I can't imagine how unpleasant,

how awkward it would be
to work down here.

But, of course, how could you
see what you were doing?

Right here there's a little
purpose-built niche,

and it's holding
my flashlight today,

but in antiquity
they had oil lamps.

That's gonna produce
a lot of smoke.

It's gonna be miserable work,
back-breaking labor,

and that's
your only light source.

This network of tunnels
took 15 years to dig out,

work done by teams of men
cutting through solid rock

with nothing more
than hammers and chisels.

This aqueduct is an astonishing
piece of engineering,

and I've asked ancient-aqueduct
expert, Dr. Shawna Leigh,

to shed more light
on its construction.

What does it take to actually
construct an aqueduct?

What's the engineering
that's involved?

-The engineers would have
to survey on the surface

and then they would dig these
shafts about 35 meters apart.

So, they would dig all
the shafts along the route.

They would dig towards
each other and the idea is

that they're supposed to meet.
-Yeah.

I'm looking right here
where I'm like...

I came over from this side
and, oh,

around the bend there you were,

so it doesn't always match up.
-Yes.

It doesn't always match up,
and so they have to adapt.

-And bringing this water in,
what would it have done

to the life of
the people in Athens?

-You think of Roman
bath culture.

-Mm-hmm.
-There were two Roman baths

in Athens before this aqueduct
was built,

and after the aqueduct
they had 35.

-So, life-changing
for the average Athenian --

for everybody.
-Absolutely. Absolutely.

Hadrian really made
a difference in Athens.

♪♪

-I think it's actually
getting more narrow.

The water is getting deeper.
It's up to my knees now.

[ Grunts ] All right.

This is the tightest spot yet,

where the water's deeper
and I'm having to go lower.

Really...
Ooh-hoo-hoo!

The water is cold.

All right. Yeah.

This is gettin', uh,
a little more gnarly.

I think it's about four-feet
high at this point.

I've got over my head
this big brick tiles

that have formed kind
of like a pitched roof.

Ahh!
Another shaft.

You periodically have
these shafts that are dug down

so you can lift out the debris.

Yo, send it down!
Down comes the bucket.

I'm gonna load my debris

that I cut through,
soil and so forth.

They're gonna haul it back up.

And of course, when you were
done tunneling for the day,

you're gonna be
hoisted up as well,

if they don't make you crawl up.

It's an incredible enterprise.

I'm exhausted, and I've only
gone through one small section.

[ Groans ]

[ Grunts ]

[ Chuckles ]

Feels good to be
able to stand up.

♪♪

The scans reveal the aqueduct
in amazing detail.

This is one whole section,

and we can see at both ends
those remarkable curves

where the workmen
almost missed each other.

The length of the section
we scanned was 90-yard long,

and the water level drops
just over a foot

across that distance.

A gradient so precise that this
aqueduct was used

until the middle
of the 20th century.

♪♪

But this was just one of four
major aqueducts

dating as far back
as the sixth-century B.C.,

that stretch over 50 miles,
bringing vital,

life-giving water
to the city of Athens.

♪♪

Of all the cities
in the ancient world,

Athens excites the imagination
like no other.

Democracy is the gift this city
gave to the world,

two-and-a-half-thousand
years ago,

and it matters as much today
as it ever did.

-Another beautiful green space
for you.

-Good to be here.

Now, I'm going to explore
the Acropolis in a new way.

-Let's go.
-Can't wait to see this.

-So, welcome to the Acropolis.

-Nice.

Matt's team has
stitched together thousands

of high-definition images...

Ah, man.
That is intense.

...to make a model
of the Acropolis

that I can experience
in extraordinary detail.

♪♪

Yeah, and if I come down
over here into the city

and I'm looking up at it...

Oh, it's just gorgeous.
Yeah.

It really is.

Closer up it's just really
something special.

-So, here we are.

The perfect doll's-house model
of the Erechtheion, right?

-This is amazing.
Now I can really...

-...Go on through.

I mean, get yours--
There's no rules anymore.

You can step
wherever you need to.

-And -- Oh, and I can just pass
right through,

and I can see all
the different elements,

and it is like a little
doll house, isn't it?

It's incredible.
All this rich detail.

The real thing.

Huh.
That's funny.

[ Both laugh ]

Below the ground level
of the northern porch.

-Yeah. Right. So, you're...
-Sneaky.

I'm stuck. We're trapped.
I can't get out. I mean...

-The world is at
the right scale.

This is one-to-one.
-We can look up

and there's our opening
in the coffered ceiling.

-Should we try to find
another super privileged spot

within this...
-Oh, yeah.

Whoa.

Oh, we're outside now.
-Ah-ha-ha!

-Yeah. Wha--

-We passed through
that main space,

and then watch out.
Comin' at us.

-Oh.
Gettin' the caryatid porch.

Whoa! Now I made it.
-Yeah.

-Fantastic, there.

-I mean, this is...
-What a view.

-These poor caryatids have been
holding this load up for,

what,
two-and-a-half-thousand years?

-[ Laughs ] A long time, yeah.

-Maybe it's time
you jumped out there

and gave them a hand, Darius.
-Oh...

all right.

Now I'm...

now I'm with the ladies,
right here.

And...
That is amazing.

This is, like, one-to-one scale?

-This is one-to-one scale, yeah.

So, they are actually
quite big, no?

-They're pretty massive.
-Yeah.

Go on, then.
Give us some fingertips.

Poor...
Give them a little hand.

-Almost.
I'm a little too short,

but you get the idea.

Yeah, that's over, you know,
two meters, then.

-So, you think you can hold that
position for another

two-and-a-half thousand years?

-I can give it a try.

It's a pretty amazing spot
to be in.

♪♪

I think it's really here that
you get that strong connection

between the mythic past
and the foundation of Athens

and the ideas of the golden age
of democracy of Athens.

It's quite a view.

♪♪

♪♪

The Athenians forged
a new world.

They turned silver
from their own mines

into a fleet of war ships

to protect their city
and its democracy.

They surrounded their city
and their harbor

with extraordinary walls,

and they created
a unique identity for Athens

using marble carved
from their own quarries.

♪♪

This bold democracy
left a legacy

that has never been forgotten.

♪♪

It's so easy when you come
to Athens to be overwhelmed

by all the ancient monuments
on the Acropolis,

like the Erechtheion
and the Parthenon,

but it's become clear to me
that it's in the hidden

and invisible places,

like the aqueducts
and the mines,

that that is where
Athens itself was forged.

That's where its dreams
and ideas became real.

Those same ideas and dreams

that are fundamental
to our lives today.

♪♪

-Next time...

Cairo.

I explore the secrets hidden
inside the Great Pyramid...

Oh, man!

...investigate beneath
an Islamic

engineering masterpiece...

That is deep. Okay.
[ Both laugh ]

...and uncover a Roman fortress.

♪♪

-"Ancient Invisible Cities"
is available on DVD.

To order, visit shop.PBS,
or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

This program is also available
on Amazon Prime Video.

♪♪