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[Day] The tales have been told
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since man first gathered
around the fires of prehistory.
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00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,120
Tales of the strange
and wondrous things
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00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:22,240
hidden in the vast,
unknown shadows of the world.
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00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:27,200
Tales of creatures divine
and beasts demonic,
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00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:29,240
of Gods and kings,
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00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,119
of myths and monsters.
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00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,600
From dark forests to the lands of ice,
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from desert wastes
to the storm-thrashed seas,
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00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,360
every corner of the earth
has its legends to tell.
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Stories of heroes
and the villains they encounter,
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00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:51,960
of the wilderness and the dangers within.
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00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:59,320
Stories of battles, of love,
of order and of chaos.
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00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,360
But what are the roots
of these fantastic tales?
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And why have they endured so long?
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In this series, we'll explore the history
behind these legends
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and reveal the hidden influences
that shaped them:
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War and disease,
religious and social upheaval,
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the untamable ferocity
of the natural world.
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And above all,
the monsters lurking within ourselves.
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[man speaking indistinctly]
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Our world is at war.
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The battlefield today
belongs to the sniper,
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the tank, the bomb, the bullet.
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And we seek ever more
inventive means of mutual destruction.
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But why do we fight?
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It is a question asked by every culture
and by every generation,
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for our world has always been at war.
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[warriors shouting indistinctly]
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Through the millennia of human existence,
we have fought for land and wealth,
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for love and revenge,
to liberate and to oppress,
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to save allies and to punish enemies.
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We have fought and fought again.
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[warriors yelling]
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War is an intense period of struggle,
so it's also, therefore,
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an intense period of cultural definition.
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[Gloyn] War allows you to see
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the ethical priorities
of a culture that's created it.
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How do we cope with people we've captured?
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What do we do if we lose?
Who do we go to war against?
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Societies' stories of war tell us
what values they hold dear
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and that they maintain through warfare.
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[Butler] They're a way
of incorporating unpredictable forces
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into a belief system
that help people to make sense
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of things they couldn't prevent
or predict.
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[Teverson]
In a society's representation of war,
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it represents what it thinks of itself,
what its ideals are.
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It determines what values
the culture holds dear.
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Whether by choice or necessity,
war has been a constant in human history,
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and all civilizations have had to grapple
with the questions it raises.
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The stories we tell of war,
the justifications we find for violence,
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and the condolences we seek for loss
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00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:46,800
all reveal something about our values
as individuals and as societies.
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"The Nemedians had come
seeking a new home,
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but they found in Ireland only misery,
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for they were enslaved by the Fomorians,
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cruel ogres renowned for their greed.
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Chief among these terrors
were the two strongest and ugliest ogres,
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Morc, and his brother, Conand.
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00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,360
The fruit of the Nemedian's labor
they seized for themselves.
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But the Nemedians had not come so far
to be slaves forever.
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One man stood against their foe.
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Fergus Red-Side was his name.
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He was the son
of the great hero Nemed himself.
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He stirred rebellion among the huts
and shacks of the Nemedian villages.
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No longer would they bear the oppression
of Conand and Morc.
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They wearied of their servitude,
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they readied themselves for war."
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The story of the Nemedians
and their oppression by the Fomorians
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is told in the Celtic Book of Invasions.
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00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,720
Compiled around the 11th century,
the book charts the history of Ireland
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from creation through to the Middle Ages.
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It tells the stories
of five mythical tribes
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who invaded Ireland one by one
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before the final arrival
of the Gaelic people,
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and the establishment
of a Christian kingdom.
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Origin stories such as this are common.
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Almost every civilization
thinks it is special,
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and develops a myth
of its beginnings to prove it.
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Rome.
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The bustling heart of modern Italy
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is today one
of the largest cities in Europe.
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It has been continuously inhabited
for more than 3000 years,
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and everywhere in the city can be seen
the remnants of that long history,
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relics of an age
when the city ruled the world.
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By the second century,
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almost 100 million people
lived under Roman rule,
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a fifth of the world's population
at the time.
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Rome's power stretched
from the north of Britain
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to Egypt in the south.
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From Spain in the west,
to the Persian Gulf in the east.
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The image is famous to this day,
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a she-wolf suckling two infant boys
as if they were her own.
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These were the twin brothers,
Romulus and Remus.
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Their grandfather,
the king, had been usurped
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and the boys banished from home.
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Thanks to the she-wolf, however,
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they survived long enough
to be found by a shepherd,
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who raised them as his own.
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Growing up,
the twins discovered their birthright
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and helped their grandfather
retake his crown.
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They then set out
to found a city of their own.
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Each began construction
in a different place,
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and the dispute soon took a violent turn.
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When Remus mockingly leapt over
his brother's budding defenses,
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Romulus responded
with a fatal blow and the words,
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"So perish anyone who attacks my walls".
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The foundation of Rome
rests on fratricide,
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brother killing brother.
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It's not a positive place
to start your story.
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Usually you expect a single hero
who's the foundation of the nation,
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whereas in this instance,
we have two competing heroes.
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[Purkiss]
It's a very, very weird foundation myth.
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It takes away from that idea
of a single exemplar
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of the virtues
of the civilization that's founded.
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Indeed, neither Romulus
nor Remus is particularly exemplary.
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Remus because he gets killed,
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and Romulus because he murders
his own brother.
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[Day] The tale troubled
and intrigued the Romans,
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00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,880
especially as it was regarded not as myth,
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but as history, and history
that could be seen and touched.
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The Temple of Jupiter Stator
by the Forum
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was said to have been founded
by Romulus himself.
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For centuries, his hut was preserved
on the Palatine Hill,
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and Romans could even visit the cave
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where the she-wolf was said
to have cared for the infant boys.
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We might expect them to be a bit awkward
about this story but they're not,
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they tell it again and again and again.
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It's recorded in the primary sources.
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It's recorded as something
that is an important part
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of what it means to be Roman.
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It was grounded very much
in the physical location of Rome,
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as the whole of the Romulus
and Remus myth is.
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It was very much
about the roots these people had
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in this particular patch of ground,
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which is why we always talk
about the Roman Empire.
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Despite how far it spreads,
we always come back to Rome,
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to these particular locations
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that always remain very vividly
part of the Roman identity.
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[Day] Some identified in the story
the seeds of violence,
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which Rome would later use
to conquer the world.
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Others saw in the deadly struggle
between brothers
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a cruel omen of the civil wars
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that would split the Roman Empire
again and again.
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Attempts were made
by poets and politicians
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to soften the tale of Romulus and Remus
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or replace it with other,
sanitized accounts of the city's origins.
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[Gloyn]
The Romans were good at understanding
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that myths and stories had the capability
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00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:22,960
to be told and to be shaped
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and to be retold and reshaped
as you needed to do so,
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so there were alternative versions told.
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[Purkiss] It's Cicero who actually denies
that Romulus kills Remus,
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and deletes the part of the myth
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that probably gave it its purchase
on the Roman imagination.
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00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:43,080
The idea that,
in drinking the milk of a wolf,
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Romulus and Remus are imbibing a ferocity
that Rome has yet fully to contain,
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00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,400
is in part why Cicero's
and Virgil's generation
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want to forget the whole thing.
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00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,160
Plus they invent a bunch
of other, much sleeker,
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00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,200
much more fit
for purpose foundation myths,
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of which the best known
is the one invented by Virgil,
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the myth of Aeneas.
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[Day] The noble, heroic Aeneas
was a refugee from Troy.
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He led his people
across the Mediterranean to Italy,
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where he founded the city that would
one day give rise to the Roman people.
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00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:24,640
His story is told most famously
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by the poet Virgil
in his great epic, The Aeneid.
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He was writing
during a new era in Roman history.
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Augustus was consolidating his power
as the first emperor,
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and the grander,
more dignified origin story
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offered by The Aeneid
seemed fit for the times.
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But if it was intended to eclipse
older stories in the Roman imagination,
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it would fail.
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Romulus and Remus would retain their place
in the history books of ancient Rome.
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But of course,
it wasn't real history at all.
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The brothers did not create Rome,
Rome created them.
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It was not the murder of Remus
that explained the violence of the Romans,
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it was the violence of the Romans
that lay behind the myth.
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00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,360
[Gloyn] Military life goes through
all aspects of Roman society.
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The Roman army is conscript.
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It's not a volunteer professional force,
and that means that you have
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a very high proportion of people
in Rome, broadly speaking,
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who either will have been in the army
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or will have relatives
who've been in the army.
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So there's a knowledge
and a familiarity with military matters
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that is very deeply embedded
in everyday life and everyday activity.
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[Purkiss]
He does one really interesting thing
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that's very important
for Roman ideas of the self
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and the relation between
the individual and the city,
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and that is he's killed by Romulus.
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So the point of the story then becomes,
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even my brother is less important to me
than defending Rome.
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It's Rome above all.
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00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:11,360
Remus is there to show
that Romulus is willing,
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00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:15,480
and all Romans must be willing,
to sacrifice familial ties for the city.
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[Day] Perhaps that is why the bloody story
of the twins endured.
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00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,360
No finer mirror
of the city's character could be found.
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00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,600
In one act of fraternal bloodshed,
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00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,960
the myth taught Romans
that the success of their city
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relied not only on violence,
but on sacrifice.
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00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:40,160
Rome was great,
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00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:42,520
but so was the price paid.
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00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,680
"The tower of Conand,
the great fortress, lay before them.
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00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:55,200
The Nemedians, 30,000 of them,
had come to claim their freedom.
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00:14:55,680 --> 00:15:00,000
These men were farmers, not soldiers,
but they would fight all the same,
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00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,880
for they were led by a brave
and mighty warrior,
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00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:06,720
Fergus Red-Side, the son of Nemed.
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00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:08,800
[Nemedians clamoring]
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From the high tower,
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00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,720
Conand watched them gather
with an outraged snarl.
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00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,040
The impudence of these slaves.
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00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:24,080
Massed on the plain below,
the Nemedian army grew larger and larger.
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00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:29,760
Hammer and pike, scythe and spear,
they held their weapons aloft
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00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:32,920
and roared in time
to the beat of the drum.
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00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,320
The great ogre was readied.
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00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,240
Armor was strapped to his body.
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00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:42,240
[Nemedians yelling]
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The men raised their swords.
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00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:53,600
The drums grew louder.
The battle was about to begin."
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00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,920
Despite war's constant presence
in history,
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00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:00,720
few of us are natural soldiers.
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00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,920
Killing other people
runs against the instincts of most
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00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,800
and sheer terror
on the battlefield paralyzes many more.
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00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,480
It's no surprise then
that throughout history,
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00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:18,000
we find enemies dehumanized
and the glory of a heroic death magnified.
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00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:22,640
The sentiments are found
in the words of politicians and poets,
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00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,480
in the works of sculptors and painters,
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00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:30,640
and in the stories and myths
that cultures held dear.
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00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,720
The frozen north
is no place for the fainthearted.
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00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,440
Its winters are long and dark.
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00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:59,440
It is a land of sheer cliffs
and deep fjords, of rock and ice.
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00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:03,520
To live in such a place
is to battle against the elements
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00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:08,240
and such extremes of nature
perhaps produce extremes of man.
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00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:16,119
The Norse lived in Scandinavia
between the eighth and 11th centuries.
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00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:20,119
It was a society
that extolled war and battle,
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00:17:20,599 --> 00:17:24,359
whose daring warriors
crossed continents in search of glory.
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00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:30,640
What lay behind their success
was a mastery of sailing.
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00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:33,040
In 793,
240
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:35,880
the Norse launched a raid on Lindisfarne,
241
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,120
a sacred island
off the northeast coast of England.
242
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:43,120
The monastery there was looted
and its inhabitants slaughtered.
243
00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:45,680
The age of the Vikings had begun.
244
00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:54,600
The attack on Lindisfarne
stunned Christian Europe.
245
00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:56,560
One contemporary wrote,
246
00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,360
"Never before has such a terror
appeared in Britain
247
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,880
as we have now suffered
from a pagan race".
248
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:11,360
[Butler] I think there were
two quite important factors
249
00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:15,320
about the Norse
that made them appear genuinely shocking,
250
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,680
and that was that they arrived in boats.
251
00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,520
They struck somewhere quickly
and they moved on.
252
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,800
And there was no way of knowing
where they would go next.
253
00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,680
And also there's the whole culture clash.
254
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:32,400
You can't say that the Vikings
and the Norse ever raided because
255
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,480
they were thinking
about religious differences,
256
00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,360
but from the point of view
of the Anglo-Saxons,
257
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:41,920
those religious differences
mattered a lot.
258
00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:50,040
[Day] Stories of the brave
and barbarous Vikings spread quickly.
259
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,760
Most feared among their warriors
were the berserkers.
260
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,440
These shock troops fought
in a trance-like fury
261
00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,360
and seemed to experience no pain or fear.
262
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,880
But if this was a culture
that glorified war,
263
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:10,840
then all parts of Norse society,
women included, played a role.
264
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:13,880
Girls were often given warlike names.
265
00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,520
Gunhilde, for instance,
was a popular choice,
266
00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,160
and literally it meant, war battle.
267
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:21,000
In time, of course,
268
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,040
they were expected to raise
strong future warriors themselves,
269
00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:27,440
and any deformed babies
270
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,160
were to be abandoned
in the elements to die.
271
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,240
One thing they did not do was fight.
272
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,880
They were not trained
as warriors as men were.
273
00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:38,920
According to mythology, however,
274
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,880
there was still a female presence
on the battlefield,
275
00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,400
and they had
the most important job of all.
276
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,960
[Purkiss]
The Valkyries are immortal warrior maidens
277
00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:00,520
whose job it is to decide
which warriors get to fall in battle.
278
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:04,960
[Teverson] They were then tasked
with taking the souls of the dead warriors
279
00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,520
to Valhalla,
which is in effect the afterlife,
280
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:09,760
presided over by the god Odin.
281
00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,040
[Butler]
You might think of Valhalla as similar
282
00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:21,120
to the way in which
knights going on crusade
283
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,800
were told that their sins
would be pardoned
284
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:25,760
if they died in a crusade.
285
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,520
It sweetens the deal a bit,
it knocks the edges off the fear,
286
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,360
telling them that if they die in battle
they're going to live a lovely life
287
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,600
where they're given mead all the time
288
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,480
and they just
have to fight each day for Odin
289
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,720
and then they're resurrected
and they go back to feasting.
290
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,800
It makes the idea
of dying in battle seem less terrible.
291
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:53,800
[Day] The promise of Valhalla
292
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,200
must have offered comfort
to the fearful before battle,
293
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:00,360
and solace to those grieving afterwards.
294
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,560
Death on the battlefield
was recast as a mirror of birth,
295
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,880
and just as it was women
who once brought men into the world,
296
00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:13,240
so it was females
who carried them into the next.
297
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,080
[Butler] The gender of Valkyries
is often bound up
298
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,520
in the roles
that they perform in the myths.
299
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:21,280
So in Valhalla,
300
00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:25,040
when they're bringing the mead cup
around to the warriors
301
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:29,520
this is very much the role
of the noble woman in society as well.
302
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,880
It's what the hostess would do
at a great feast or a gathering,
303
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:34,600
in a king or a lord's hall.
304
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,120
[Purkiss] Fate figures are nearly
always female in all European mythologies.
305
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:44,800
There is an unbelievably creepy
Valkyrie moment in Njáls Saga
306
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:50,160
where you actually see the Valkyries
weaving with men's intestines,
307
00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:53,480
and using men's severed skulls as weights.
308
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,480
[Butler]
Instead of the tools of the trade,
309
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:58,720
they have a shuttle that is a spearhead,
310
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,360
and they beat the wool with a sword
311
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,720
rather than the standard wooden tool
that they'd use.
312
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,760
Weaving is normally a virtuous thing
for householders to do,
313
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:14,040
but these women are weaving
with guts and heads,
314
00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:17,200
so they're doing something that's,
on the one hand, really uber feminine,
315
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,520
but on the other hand,
is a creepy inverted version of it.
316
00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:28,520
[Day] Stories of war and the Valkyries
are found throughout Norse mythology.
317
00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:32,040
The gods constantly fought
amongst themselves
318
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:35,840
and against their rivals,
the giant and monstrous jötnar.
319
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,280
But were the Norse as belligerent a people
as we often think?
320
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:46,360
Is their reputation for violent banditry,
which remains to this day, a fair one?
321
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:48,880
Were they all Vikings?
322
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,080
[Butler] There's a great deal
of association between the Norse
323
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,080
and a particularly savage
kind of violence,
324
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,640
and that's frequently overstated.
325
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,840
In the context of the time they lived in,
326
00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:12,320
I don't think the violence committed
by the Norse was any inherently worse
327
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,800
than the violence committed
by other medieval societies.
328
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:17,960
I don't think you could quantify
329
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,600
the effect of murder
and arson and theft by the Norse
330
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,240
as being any worse
than the murder and arson and theft
331
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,880
that occurred within Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
and continental royal houses.
332
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,480
[Purkiss] It's fair to say
that they're expansionist
333
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,080
and that their method
of expansion is ship-based,
334
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:43,040
and that their modus operandi
is on the whole to cross the seas
335
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,000
and raid foreign countries
and take slaves
336
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,880
and take plunder
and then sail home with that.
337
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,480
But they also tend to settle
in areas that they frequently raid,
338
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,560
so they don't remain
these outsider pillagers.
339
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,440
When they establish themselves,
they form societies
340
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,640
and then we can pick out
the much more positive associations.
341
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,560
The bold spirit of the Norse
saw them dominate England
342
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,720
and found settlements stretching
from the Black Sea to North America.
343
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:17,840
But this golden period was fleeting.
344
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:20,760
By the middle of the 11th century,
345
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:24,400
Christianity had supplanted
the indigenous faith.
346
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,560
The Valkyries flew no more,
347
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,000
the Viking age was ending.
348
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,880
"The two armies charged at one another,
349
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,200
[warriors yelling]
350
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,920
thrusting and slashing,
cutting and stabbing.
351
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,800
So the enemies met.
352
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,720
The Fomorians were led into battle
by Conand himself.
353
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,480
And there was only one man
who dared face him.
354
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,160
Conand towered over him,
355
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,120
but Red-Side was a brave
and skillful warrior.
356
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,320
[blades ringing]
357
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,400
Back and forth the two champions fought,
metal ringing on metal,
358
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,680
each waiting for the other to slip
359
00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:11,320
for a chance to end the battle
with one fatal blow.
360
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:17,760
Still eager, still strong,
Conand charged, but it was a ruse.
361
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,920
Red-Side dodged the mighty ogre's sword
362
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,000
and lunged forward,
his own blade flashing.
363
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:26,280
[blade rings]
364
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:28,880
The great ogre roared out in pain
365
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,120
before collapsing to the ground
with a mighty thud.
366
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:35,880
Conand had fallen."
367
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,320
No battle is without loss
368
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:46,040
and even victory cannot displace
all the pain, grief and anger.
369
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,920
The scars of combat can run as deep
in the mind as they do in the body,
370
00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:53,960
and the greatest stories of war know this.
371
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:22,200
In the Anatolian expanses
of modern Turkey,
372
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:26,600
just south of the Dardanelles Strait,
which divides Europe from Asia,
373
00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:29,400
there was once a place of legend,
374
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,760
a mighty fortress overlooking the plains,
375
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,120
a city of wealth and beauty.
376
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:39,520
The remnants of its thick walls
are now shrouded beneath the earth,
377
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,800
its lavish temples
and palaces crumbled to dust.
378
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,600
But it was amid the rocks
and rivers of this ancient plain
379
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,960
that the greatest conflict
in all myth took place,
380
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:53,480
the Trojan War.
381
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,120
It was a war sparked
by the abduction of Queen Helen of Sparta
382
00:26:58,200 --> 00:26:59,520
by Prince Paris of Troy.
383
00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:03,120
An alliance of Greek kings
then sailed to Troy
384
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,200
with their armies to bring her back.
385
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,480
A 10-year siege ensued.
386
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,920
Only cunning ended the long stalemate.
387
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:14,200
The Trojans were fooled
388
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,960
into letting the Greeks
beyond their gates.
389
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,240
Troy was brutally sacked soon afterwards.
390
00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:24,240
Countless works of art
have been inspired by the war.
391
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:29,600
In its long duration and bloody aftermath,
there are near infinite opportunities
392
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,000
to explore the meaning
and impact of conflict.
393
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,400
The Trojan War offers an opportunity
394
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:40,960
to look at a very wide range
of human life.
395
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,880
It offers the opportunity to look
at the failure of guest friendship,
396
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,960
what happens when those bounds
of hospitality are broken,
397
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,640
conflict in between two different regions,
398
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,240
the coming together
of the Greeks for a single purpose.
399
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,680
All of these kinds of things,
the myth allows the Greeks to explore
400
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:01,600
through one particular narrative.
401
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,720
It doesn't just talk
about war to glorify it.
402
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:09,520
It also really offers an opportunity
to look at the human cost,
403
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,880
the people who suffer as a result of war.
404
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,920
But one account of the war
has endured above all others.
405
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:19,040
A poem,
406
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,360
composed almost 3000 years ago.
407
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,560
Alexander the Great conquered the world
with a copy at his side,
408
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,800
and soldiers and civilians alike
have for centuries looked to it
409
00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:34,040
for a better understanding
of war in their own times.
410
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:39,360
That poem is the ancient Greek epic,
The Iliad.
411
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,360
Said to be the work
of an author known as Homer,
412
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:47,680
the written version of the poem
dates to the 8th century BC.
413
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,320
Its roots, however, are older still
414
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,400
in an oral tradition which stretches back
hundreds of years more.
415
00:28:55,080 --> 00:29:00,240
The Iliad does not focus on the end
of the Trojan War, nor on its beginnings.
416
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:05,040
Instead, it tells one short episode
during the last year of the conflict.
417
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,720
Homer makes monsters
of neither Trojans nor Greeks.
418
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:14,720
The poet instead grants equal dignity
to the soldier far from home
419
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,400
and the civilian trapped in theirs.
420
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,000
What the enemies
have in common is emphasized,
421
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,560
the love of family, the pain of loss,
422
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,360
the inevitability of death.
423
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:34,480
One lovely example of a moment
of emotional connection with the family
424
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,320
is the Trojan hero, Hector, in The Iliad,
425
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:43,160
who puts on his helmet and then goes
to kiss his wife, Andromache, goodbye.
426
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,440
She's with his little boy,
who's only a tiny child.
427
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,640
And he little boy looks at Hector
in his helmet and he starts to cry.
428
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,320
He doesn't recognize his father
because he's wearing this helmet,
429
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,280
and Hector starts to laugh
and throws the little boy up in the air
430
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,840
and passes him back to his wife,
but it's a lovely, affectionate moment.
431
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:04,360
This lovely little domestic detail
that humanizes him
432
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,400
and makes it clear that he's fighting,
in the most literal possible way,
433
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,920
not just for his city
as a political entity,
434
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,400
but for his family
in its extraordinary vulnerability.
435
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:17,960
[Teverson]
You could read the epic as being
436
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,920
about the unreasonableness of war,
the pettiness of war,
437
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,600
and therefore the human need
to rise above that,
438
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,880
to try and remain human
and humane within that struggle.
439
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:38,160
[Day] Hector falls in combat
at the hands of the Greek hero, Achilles.
440
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:44,040
It was his fate to die,
and for his city to eventually fall.
441
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,920
But he carried on nonetheless,
he fought to the end.
442
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,320
His story still speaks to us,
443
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:53,560
for death comes for all,
444
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,360
but we all must carry on.
445
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,480
[Teverson]
It's about very fundamental aspects
446
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:01,880
of human experience.
447
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:07,520
Jealousy, anger,
rage, struggle, love, hate.
448
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:12,040
And all these things are fundamental parts
of the human experience.
449
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,040
[Day]
Every generation that has read the poem
450
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,720
has repurposed its characters
and events for their own times.
451
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:27,840
After the fall of Rome, however,
452
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:31,480
Homer's text was lost
to western Europe for centuries,
453
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,560
but after rediscovery
during the Renaissance,
454
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:38,520
The Iliad went on to become
a foundation stone of western literature.
455
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:42,880
It continues to shape our thoughts
about war to this day.
456
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,720
For though in many ways,
combat has changed beyond recognition,
457
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,640
The Iliad captures something unchanging
about war,
458
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:56,400
the poem glories in it,
and damns it just the same.
459
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:13,400
It is a city with many names.
460
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,480
First it was Byzantium.
461
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,560
Later it became Constantinople.
462
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,720
But to many, it was just the City.
463
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,280
And though we may not recognize it,
that is how we know it to this day,
464
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:31,280
for Istanbul is derived
from the Greek words, se tin poli,
465
00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:33,440
meaning "to the city."
466
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:38,600
That city was once the largest
and wealthiest in Europe,
467
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,760
and a holy place of Christianity.
468
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,240
In 1453, however,
469
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:51,040
it fell to the invading forces
of the Ottoman Empire.
470
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,000
[Teverson] The Ottoman Empire
was the superpower of its day,
471
00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,680
an expansionist
and aggressive one at that.
472
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:06,040
It was just assumed
473
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,800
that nowhere Christian
could really fall to Islam.
474
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,280
It was just assumed
that God would protect it.
475
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,680
The idea that something so strong
476
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,720
could collapse
just dismayed and horrified them.
477
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,240
[Teverson]
According to the Christian understanding,
478
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,800
God really shouldn't have allowed it
to fall in the way it did.
479
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,960
[Day]
The conquest of the city shocked Europe.
480
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:30,800
It would not be the end
481
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:33,480
of the Ottoman's ambitions
in the west, however.
482
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:36,200
[Purkiss] It expanded all the way
into eastern Europe.
483
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,000
In fact, virtually all
of what we now think of as the Balkans
484
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:44,720
was either ruled directly by the Ottomans
or was an Ottoman vassal.
485
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,400
[Day] In this state
of near constant war that followed,
486
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,760
new stories and legends emerged.
487
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:58,280
And just as men can make myths out of war,
war can make myths out of men.
488
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:19,639
Wallachia was a small principality
in what is modern day Romania.
489
00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:23,760
To the north
stretched the Transylvanian Alps,
490
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,920
to the south lay the mighty Danube River.
491
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,480
This was the land
that Prince Vlad Dracula called home.
492
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,199
Between 1448 and 1476,
493
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,880
he ruled Wallachia
on three separate occasions.
494
00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:41,920
All these reigns were brief,
495
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:45,760
but his fame
has become immortal nevertheless.
496
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:50,280
He was the inspiration
behind Bram Stoker's legendary vampire,
497
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:51,239
Dracula.
498
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:56,880
But Vlad was notorious long before
the publication of Stoker's novel in 1897.
499
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,600
In his own time,
he was reviled as a sadist,
500
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,400
whose taste for the cruelest
of punishments
501
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:08,240
led to his gruesome nickname,
Vlad the Impaler.
502
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:12,720
[Purkiss]
A German Meistersinger produced a poem
503
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:17,280
that was actually sung in front
of then Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III,
504
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,160
which told of Vlad's crimes in detail.
505
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:25,200
And one of the crimes that it emphasized
was that he impaled his victims on stakes.
506
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:31,000
[Teverson] There are stories
of Vlad the Impaler eating his dinner
507
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,920
while his enemies writhed around him,
impaled on spikes.
508
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:38,200
[Purkiss]
Later this was elaborated even further
509
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:40,080
and there was really grisly tales
510
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,120
of mothers and infants
being impaled together,
511
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,760
so that the infants were trying
to clutch at the mothers,
512
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,640
and the mothers were trying
to protect the infants but they both died.
513
00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:50,280
Really gruesome stuff.
514
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:59,400
But how fair was Vlad's reputation?
Where's the truth amid the legend?
515
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:02,800
And why did the tale spread and endure?
516
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:05,800
Vlad lived at a time of upheaval.
517
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:11,440
His lands were caught
between the Christian powers to the west
518
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,280
and the might of the Ottoman Empire
to the east.
519
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:18,800
In 1417,
520
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:22,320
Wallachia had become
a vassal state of the Ottomans.
521
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,600
Vlad's father was the then ruler
of the principality,
522
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,800
but he was murdered in 1447
and his crown usurped.
523
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:33,320
For decades afterwards,
524
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:37,280
control of the region
was contested again and again.
525
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:45,840
As a grown man, Vlad fought to win back
what he regarded as his birthright.
526
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:48,840
At times he aligned himself
with the Ottomans,
527
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,800
at others he joined the forces
arrayed against them.
528
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,920
But his reigns in Wallachia
were short, unstable affairs.
529
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:58,240
He was a man with many enemies.
530
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:05,720
In 1462, having once again lost his crown,
Vlad travelled to Transylvania
531
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,360
to seek the help of the Hungarian king,
Matthew Corvinus.
532
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,720
Instead, the king had Vlad imprisoned.
533
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,920
It was at this time
that stories of Vlad's unique brutality
534
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:18,120
began to spread.
535
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:20,520
[Purkiss] As soon as you have a war,
536
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,360
hostilities of any kind,
the atrocity stories begin.
537
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,160
People really got off on exaggerating
538
00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:30,800
the evil eastern European weirdness
of this guy.
539
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:35,040
And it just got more
and more exaggerated and peculiar
540
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,400
as the western presses churned it out.
541
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:40,800
[Day] Even in his own lifetime,
542
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:43,360
the man was becoming myth.
543
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,000
And the stories of the cruelty
and wickedness of Vlad Dracula
544
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,160
did not disappear with his death in 1476.
545
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,920
But legends are changeable things.
546
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,680
Once a man becomes myth,
547
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:02,680
he can be repackaged
and re-purposed again and again.
548
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,880
In more recent years,
there's been a reappraisal of Vlad III.
549
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:14,240
He has become a, perhaps, unlikely hero.
550
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,360
Romania was long dominated
by foreign powers.
551
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,120
It was subject to the Ottomans
until the 19th century,
552
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,800
and the establishment
of the Kingdom of Romania.
553
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:28,120
But that was swept away
after the Second World War,
554
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,960
and Romania was once again
in the shadow of a greater power.
555
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:34,320
This time, Soviet Russia.
556
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,280
Like many post-communist countries,
557
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:40,320
it's eager to go back
to the time before communism
558
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:45,480
and find heroes that predate those days,
and Vlad is a perfect candidate.
559
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,520
[Day] He was recast as a harsh,
yet just ruler,
560
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,320
who strengthened central government
and fought for the nation
561
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,000
at a time of conflict and unrest.
562
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:03,440
In the schoolrooms of Romania,
Vlad's story is still told.
563
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:08,200
For defiance in the face of oppression
will always appeal.
564
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:17,680
"The battle was over.
565
00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:19,600
[Nemedians cheering]
566
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,440
The Nemedians celebrated.
567
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,280
It was Fergus Red-Side who had triumphed,
568
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:29,480
but few in his army had escaped the battle
with the Fomorians unharmed.
569
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:35,080
And as they tended to the wounded,
a dread sound echoed across the island.
570
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:38,200
It came from the sea.
571
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:42,600
A fleet of ships cut through the waves
towards them.
572
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:45,440
It was another Fomorian army.
573
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:53,200
Morc, brother of the defeated Conand,
was already come for revenge.
574
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:57,840
With a cry,
Red-Side rallied his weary men.
575
00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:01,040
They charged the beach to fight once more.
576
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:10,680
In the battle that followed,
not one fled from the other.
577
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:15,760
Red-Side and Morc,
Nemedian and Formorian alike,
578
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,120
they fell in mutual slaughter.
579
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,640
The beach was stained crimson
with their blood.
580
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:26,360
Of the 30,000 Nemedians
who had come to win their freedom,
581
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,200
just 30 survived.
582
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:35,720
This mournful band of the wounded
and the weary seized a Fomorian ship.
583
00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:39,680
They sailed away, far from Ireland,
584
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,680
and far away from the cruelty
of the Fomorians."
585
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,480
The defeat of the Nemedians
in the Celtic Book of Invasions
586
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,880
paves the way for the arrival
of the Irish people themselves.
587
00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:56,600
The book made war a part of their origins,
588
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,760
of their identity as a people,
as it was for so many others.
589
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:04,240
From the time of the Romans
to that of the Norse,
590
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:08,480
from the golden age of Ancient Greece
through to this very day,
591
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,800
the character of individuals
and of nations
592
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:14,600
has been shaped by myths of war.
593
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:20,000
They can tell us where we've come from
and where we go after death.
594
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:23,560
They tell us what makes us
different from others,
595
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:25,280
and what we have in common.
596
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,880
They tell us what we cherish,
what we deplore,
597
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,880
what we aspire to and what we fear.
598
00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:35,640
They tell us who we are.
599
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:41,160
The weapons of war
have changed down the centuries,
600
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,720
and though battles on the field
may look different today,
601
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:49,840
the battles within us
remain much the same.
52708
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