Original subtitles

Narrator: mysterious ruins In the heart of iraq,

Could clues here reveal evidence Of the lost city of babylon

And its legendary Tower of babel?

Allen: there is no doubt That we are standing

In one of the most Important places on earth.

Narrator: The bible says that the tower Of babel is tall enough

To reach the heavens, A plan so audacious,

It enrages god.

It's such a statement. It's such a legacy.

Narrator: but did the tower Actually exist?

Could the ancient babylonians Really construct a skyscraper?

Today, investigators

Use pioneering Drone-scanning technology

To investigate The biblical story.

This is what we're looking for,

The foundations for something That looks like this.

Narrator: With unprecedented access To a country

Which still bears the scars Of war, we'll unearth the truth.

We'll blow apart The fabled city of babylon.

We'll reconstruct the lost Tower of babel

And reveal Ancient engineering genius

To discover the secrets Of this mysterious lost world.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Iraq...

For decades, this country Has been torn apart by war.

But in ancient times, This land is once home

To a thriving civilization We call mesopotamia.

It's the place where Humankind first begins to write,

Read, and live in cities.

Its most famous city is babylon, Home to spectacular monuments,

Including the legendary Hanging gardens.

Today, the surviving fragments Of this lost world

Fascinate archaeologists, But years of conflict

Means the area Has barely been investigated.

Now our cameras have been Granted unique access

To follow archaeologists As they venture into this

Rarely seen country.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: In this dusty desert landscape

Is said to lie The fabled tower of babel.

Its mighty terraces make it A monument so immense,

It marks the center Of the world.

The bible describes how The tower rises so high,

It touches the heavens...

...An example of human pride That enrages god.

But could a tower So tall truly exist,

And if so, where does it stand?

♪♪

Jeff allen investigates Ancient sites

In the world's Most war-torn regions.

In times of turmoil, what seems Often most important

Is the present.

It's my job to take care Of the past

And make sure That it is protected.

Narrator: Today, jeff is on a mission

To find one of iraq's Most famous monuments.

We know that babel Is a real place.

It's the hebrew word For babylon.

Narrator: Babel means babylon, the largest City in the ancient world,

Fabled for its Awe-inspiring beauty.

The tower of babel has been Imagined by artists

For centuries.

Here is a classical depiction Of tower.

It's actually kind of like A giant wedding cake,

A large circular tower that Reaches up through the heavens.

This is what we're looking for,

The foundations for something That looks like this.

Narrator: The remains Of ancient babylon lie

On the banks of the river Euphrates

Near iraq's capital, Baghdad.

The former dictator Saddam hussein

Inaccurately reconstructs Much of babylon

Directly on top Of its ancient ruins.

He even builds this modern Palace for himself,

Making the task of unearthing The real babylon even harder.

Babylon has a long and well Attested description

Of its wonders Through history.

Today, after neglect and periods Of turmoil,

It's difficult to see That quite often,

But if the tower really existed, It would've been here.

Narrator: Over 2,000 years ago,

A stunning spectacle rises Out of this landscape.

The main entrance to babylon Is through the magnificent

Ishtar gate Clad in dazzling blue

And decorated with ornate Animals marching into the city.

And inside the gate Is the most glorious city

In the ancient world...

...Home to the fabled Hanging gardens,

Legend says, Created for a queen.

And in the center of it all Stands a stairway to the sky,

But did this tower Really exist here,

And if so, in what form?

♪♪

Jeff works with an iraqi Antiquities team

To investigate This mystery.

It makes perfect sense That something here inspired

The biblical story Of the great tower.

Narrator: When the tower is built,

Babylon is home To thousands of enslaved jews.

They are held in captivity Following

The babylonian conquest Of ancient israel,

And it's here in babylon

That the jews write The first books of the bible.

They write about the tower In the book of genesis.

Allen: what they were doing Was describing what they saw,

And what they saw Must have been right here.

Narrator: The city covers over 2,000 acres...

♪♪

...Yet decades of war Mean only a tiny fraction

Of its original buildings Have been excavated.

Allen: There is no doubt that we are Standing

In one of the most Important places on earth.

Narrator: Babylon at the peak of its fame

Is the work of a great Warrior king, nebuchadnezzar.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: Iraqi archaeologist ammar mohsin Aboud finds evidence

That nebuchadnezzar built the City.

So, jeff, as you know, There is...

[ speaking foreign language ]

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: Astonishingly, the bricks Of the ancient city

Are still stamped with its Builder's name, nebuchadnezzar.

The city of babylon is founded Around 2200 b.C.

It grows to become the capital Of the mighty babylonian empire.

It attracts a string Of conquerors

Who destroy and rebuild the city Over the centuries.

♪♪

But it's in nebuchadnezzar's Reign in the 6th century b.C.

That babylon Reaches its peak.

He builds the hanging gardens And the ishtar gate.

It's now the largest city In the world.

But does he build The tower of babel?

This is a sensitive Military zone,

But to search for the tower,

Jeff has been granted Special permission

To take to the air.

[ drone buzzing ]

♪♪

The team uses a high-resolution Drone

To capture an extraordinary view Of ancient babylon.

♪♪

Processional way.

Yes.

Bit of landmark.

Yes, yes, yes.

Perfect. -perfect.

Narrator: From the air, the vast scale of The city starts to become clear.

The drone takes over 200 High-resolution photos

As it soars over The sprawling site.

Narrator: From high above the modern-day Reconstruction of babylon,

The drone reveals the remains Of the legendary city,

Mysterious shapes now Covered in millennia

Of desert sand And vegetation.

-that's our team right there. -yes.

I see. I see.

Narrator: Jeff looks for the remains Of the tower,

Hunting for signs Of giant circular foundations,

But the images reveal Something unexpected.

Allen: babylonian's built Straight walls.

We don't find many curved walls,

So it's highly unlikely That the tower of babylon

Was round in form.

Narrator: It may not look like The old paintings,

But the drone detects Something unusual here.

♪♪

A huge square mound rises up From the undergrowth

Beyond the walled city.

Could this be the remains Of the tower of babel?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Babylon, iraq...

After years Of restricted access

To this former war zone,

Investigators searching For the tower of babel

Find a mysterious mound Enormous in size.

Could this be evidence Of the tower?

Right here stood something So immense

And probably one Of the largest structures

Of its kind in its day.

♪♪

It measures exactly 300 feet,

Which is the size Of a football field.

It must have been an Immense building.

The size of these foundations Clearly say

That this could be The tower of babylon.

Narrator: At the edge of the site,

Archaeologists unearth A cylindrical tablet

Inscribed in an ancient language That tells of a great tower

Called etemenanki That's so tall,

It reaches the heavens,

And hidden deeper In the foundations

Are hundreds of ancient bricks, Each exactly 12 inches square...

...And stamped with the name King nebuchadnezzar.

Is etemenanki really The tower of babel?

Jeff needs proof.

The inscription on the tablet Says the tower that once

Stands here is so colossal, It reaches the heavens.

This matches the description Of the tower

In the bible's book of genesis.

But if the tower stands so tall, Where's the rest of it?

Jeff works with archaeologist Ammar mohsin aboud

To search for clues.

Allen: we've heard rumors

That something Really interesting exists

In a nearby town Of al-hillah.

Narrator: The bustling city of al-hillah

Is once a battleground In the iraq war

And more recently the site Of isis insurgency.

Ammar has been granted Special access

To this old, abandoned Synagogue in al-hillah.

He believes the site May provide

Further evidence For the tower's existence.

Narrator: they do not have Nebuchadnezzar's name on them,

But their unique size Is the same as found at babylon.

These distinctive bricks Are embedded in buildings

All over the old town.

Narrator: Established in The 11th century a.D.,

Al-hillah is a thriving city On the banks of the euphrates,

Just miles from Ancient babylon.

People from al-hillah

Take bricks From the ruins of babylon,

Then use them To build their own city.

Over many centuries, People travel from far and wide

To gather the bricks,

Repurposing them into homes And even a huge dam.

Allen: the potential to be used And reused again

And again obviously Was important to people,

And that's why today we see very Little left of a standing tower,

A mound of broken Bricks and rubble.

Narrator: The bricks that once make The tower have long gone,

But nearly 3,000 years ago,

Could the ancient babylonians Really construct a skyscraper?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Archaeologists believe they have Identified the site

Of the legendary tower of babel Here in babylon, iraq.

The bible tells us we once All speak the same language,

But our arrogance in building A huge tower angers god.

He punishes us by making us All speak different languages.

But can the ancient babylonians Really build so high

That it enrages god?

The ancient bricks that survive Provide clues

To the tower's structure?

In the center of the foundations Are bricks made

Of compacted mud and straw.

Millions of them Form the tower's core.

All around them are rows and Rows of another layer of bricks.

Together, they create a base The size of 30 tennis courts.

On top, more bricks stack up To create a hollow tower.

But are mud bricks strong enough To build a tower so high,

The ancients believe It touches the sky?

♪♪

Much of ancient babylon is built Using bricks made of mud

Taken from the euphrates river.

It's pressed into molds, Strengthened by adding straw,

Then dried in the sun.

This traditional method Is still widely used.

Dr. Ezzeldin yazeed Is a professor of construction

Engineering at the american University in cairo.

Ez wants to find out how tall You can build using the same

Sort of bricks available To nebuchadnezzar.

Okay?

♪♪

Narrator: ez wants to find out The exact strength

Of this Mud-and-straw-reinforced brick.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: So how high can the ancient Babylonians build

With these bricks?

Narrator: That's only 65 feet.

So what is the babylonian Secret?

♪♪

Narrator: This mud brick is shaped And then placed into a kiln.

It's fired at over 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 days.

The remains of ancient kilns Like this

Are found across the region.

But does this fired mud Brick allow

The king To build a taller tower?

Ez conducts the stress test On the brick fired in the kiln,

Gradually increasing The pressure.

♪♪

Narrator: Ez now calculates how High nebuchadnezzar

Can build with his fired bricks.

Narrator: That's nearly the height Of three lincoln memorials.

With bricks fired in the kiln, The ancient babylonians

Can build over four times higher Than with mud-and-straw bricks.

But there is a way of building Even higher.

Ez believes a very large clue

Lies close to the university In cairo.

♪♪

Narrator: The egyptians start building Pyramids

In the third millennium b.C. As tombs for royalty.

The babylonians have their own Version stepped into tiers

Called a ziggurat,

Not a tomb but a statement Of power built by a king.

Ez believes the tower of babel Is a ziggurat.

This shape allows the Ancient babylonians

To build taller Than ever before.

Now ez wants to know, "How tall is that?"

Ez uses the data from the stress Test to create a computer model.

It simulates a ziggurat

Built with King nebuchadnezzar's bricks.

No, no, no, same thing, So remove that.

Ninety meters.

Narrator: It's almost 300 feet high,

Nearly the same height As the statue of liberty.

Narrator: It's an astonishing Demonstration

Of babylonian know-how.

But bricks alone do Not guarantee

This megastructure will last.

Ancient jewish texts say

That a great wind sent By god destroys the tower.

Can the real tower weather This region's many storms?

Narrator: The tower of babel,

A stepped pyramid that soars 300 feet into the skies,

How does this magnificent Ancient wonder survive

In a region of extreme heat, Floods, and earthquakes?

The tower of babel is An incredible feat

Of ancient engineering.

Millions of hard baked mud

Bricks make up The terraces' exterior walls,

And in between the bricks,

Builders use a type of mortar Described in the bible

As slime -- a thick black glue, To cement them together.

So what exactly is this Mysterious slime,

And how does it help The babylonians build structures

That last?

♪♪

Today, archaeologists are Returning to babylon

In a region long scarred by war.

Jeff allen thinks a clue Explaining the mysterious

Slime lies In the remains of ancient

Babylon's walled city.

The bible describes Babel's construction.

It says the builders Use a slime and mortar,

And if you look at this, You can see a black substance

That's similar to as described In the bible

Used as a mortar between The bricks at ishtar gate.

Narrator: In egypt, dr. Ezzeldin yazeed

Believes he knows What the black slime is --

A sticky, Semisolid oil called bitumen.

It seeps naturally from The ground in oil-rich iraq.

Narrator: But does bitumen do more Than hold the bricks in place?

To find out, ez and his team Build a model ziggurat.

The inner core is made From bricks dried in the sun.

The outside is made from bricks Fired in the kiln

Just like the tower of babel.

They coat the exterior With a layer of bitumen.

Then they build a Second ziggurat without bitumen.

Narrator: This rig is designed to simulate The heavy spring rainfall

In iraq.

Both ziggurats get a soaking.

♪♪

Narrator: The water soon permeates The uncoated ziggurat.

It soaks the structure's Dried mud core,

But the bitumen-coated ziggurat Seems to be fine.

Narrator: As the mud inside the bare-brick Model erodes away,

Its walls lose their support.

Narrator: The uncoated ziggurat is no Match for the forces of nature.

[ applause ]

[ laughs ]

Narrator: it's another story for The ziggurat coated in bitumen.

Narrator: The biblical account seems true.

The so-called slime really does Hold the tower together

And allow the babylonians To build a skyscraper.

Narrator: But what does this ancient Wonder look like when complete,

And why did the ancient Babylonians build it?

Narrator: Ancient babylon...

Home to the tower of babel,

Constructed from mud And bitumen,

One of the largest buildings In the ancient world,

But what does it look like When complete?

The book of genesis says,

"It's so tall, It reaches the heavens."

♪♪

Ancient tablets in babylon Describe

The tower's magnificent summit.

It gleams a brilliant blue And molded into the brickwork

Intricate depictions Of a strange animal,

A mythical hybrid, Part snake, part dragon.

Shimmering spectacularly In the hot sun,

This celestial skyscraper towers Above babylon.

How do the babylonians create

Such a spectacular masterpiece Clad in a brilliant blue?

♪♪

King nebuchadnezzar plans

To build the most Magnificent tower ever seen.

He wants its blue summit To dominate the horizon,

But that gives The king a problem.

Allen: Looking around at the landscape,

Lots of greens, lots of browns But no blue, so question is,

How did the ancient babylonians Get such brilliant blue glazes?

Narrator: Archaeologist zahed taj-eddin

Investigates what Makes the tower so blue.

Zahed specializes in the glazes On ancient artifacts and tiles.

He begins by examining Nebuchadnezzar's

Own description of the tower Found on a tablet in babylon.

"I built etemenanki, The ziggurat of babylon,

And brought it to completion And raised high its top

With a pure tile Glazed with lapis lazuli."

So lapis lazuli, here it is.

Narrator: lapis lazuli is A semiprecious stone.

Its intense blue color makes it Prized across the ancient world.

It's mentioned several times In the bible.

Zahed investigates how the king Can possibly cover

The top of the tower With a semiprecious stone.

He makes a glaze by mixing Lapis lazuli

With a natural glue Called gum arabic.

Taj-eddin: Now the lapis lazuli powder Is fixed with gum arabic,

And it's kind of, Like, semipermanent,

So they would use it On decorating

Maybe frescos or later In decorating manuscripts.

Narrator: But this glaze also needs To be weatherproof.

Taj-eddin: They might thought if they Put it in the kiln,

They might have, like, A permanent result,

And then they can use it On the bricks.

♪♪

Narrator: To fix the glaze, zahed bakes The tile in his kiln.

Here it is after firing.

It's no longer beautiful And blue and dazzling,

So, yeah, it's failure.

Narrator: the vivid blue glaze Has disappeared,

Yet nebuchadnezzar says He uses tiles of lapis lazuli

On his tower.

Zahed thinks he knows How he does it.

It starts with the art Of glassmaking.

Taj-eddin: They already were experiencing With the glass,

Which is silica pebbles.

If you grind it and heat it,

You need about 1,700 degrees For it to melt.

Narrator: craftsmen make glass By heating silica,

Which comes from sand Or rocks, until it melts.

Liquid glass can also be used To produce shiny glazes

For pottery.

Nebuchadnezzar now has a new Challenge for his workmen.

He wanted lapis lazuli color.

Narrator:'to create Different-colored Glazes,

They add minerals to The ground-up silica pebbles.

Zahed paints on a glaze Containing two minerals

Readily available To the ancient babylonians --

Copper oxide, which looks Dark green, and blue cobalt.

♪♪

Taj-eddin: so here we are, The moment of truth.

Lapis lazuli blue.

So that addition transformed The glaze

Into this kind of deep blue,

And now we know why In ancient mesopotamia

They would refer to this bricks As lapis lazuli.

Narrator: The tower of babel's builders Create an ingenious way

To cheaply mimic The blue color of lapis lazuli.

Taj-eddin: And that was great alchemy, Great secret.

All of the sudden Have this glass

That substitute semiprecious Stones right at hand.

It's such a statement.

It's such a legacy.

It's there to stay And still impress us today.

Narrator: and the striking color It creates gives a clue

To the purpose of the tower.

The babylonians worshipped The god marduk.

He wears an elaborate horned Crown of gold and lapis lazuli.

Marduk's shrines And temples throughout babylon

Are decorated lavishly With the rich blue color,

And the city's processional way Is clad in lapis blue

Ready for the annual New-year parade

They hold in marduk's honor.

The tower was a shrine Dedicated to the god marduk.

The sides most likely Were decorated with dragons.

This was marduk's sacred animal.

Narrator: The immense tower is built To honor the babylonians' god.

But why does the bible claim The tower is so tall,

It reaches the heavens?

♪♪

Narrator: The legendary tower of babel,

Its story is recorded In the bible.

With unique access to babylon,

Archaeologists believe They've found the site of this

Fabled ancient wonder.

The tower is an ancient 300-foot-high ziggurat

Known to the babylonians As etemenanki.

The bible says it's so tall, It touches the heavens.

Medieval paintings show The summit of the tower

Shrouded in clouds.

♪♪

This is a typical depiction Of the tower of babel.

The one thing they all have In common

Is a structure That reached into the clouds.

Narrator: but does the tower Really stretch that high,

Or is this an exaggeration made By the enslaved jews of babylon

Who write the bible story?

Jeff once again turns To his eye in the sky.

Allen: up it goes!

Narrator: they take the drone up To an altitude of 300 feet...

...The same height As the top of the tower.

It allows jeff to imagine What babylonians standing

On its summit could once see.

The spectacular city Stretches out beneath,

But the tower is a long way From reaching the clouds.

♪♪

♪♪

Jeff thinks he has a more Likely explanation

For the tower's Fabled mist-covered pinnacle.

Allen: Excavations when they were Done here previously,

They could not go lower Than a few meters

Because of the high Water table.

Babylon of course Is next to the river.

Narrator: Over time, the euphrates Has changed course,

And 2,500 years ago, the river Runs close to the tower.

Allen: Historically it was much closer,

So the tower would've stood There right next to the river.

Narrator: A few hundred miles From babylon,

There are vast mountain ranges With snowcapped peaks

Which help to feed The nearby rivers.

In the spring, The mountain snow melts,

Swelling the euphrates And tigris rivers

And flooding babylon And the plains below.

Allen: It meant that, in the spring,

The ground Surrounding the ziggurat

Was more waterlogged Than it is today,

And after a cold desert night,

The morning sun Would heat the ground,

Creating this kind of mist.

Narrator: the babylon ziggurat Right next to the river

Is engulfed in this mist As if it's touching the clouds.

We know that the same effect Exists at other places,

For example, the taj mahal,

But at babylon, Imagine a 300-foot tower

Surrounded by a sea of clouds, A mist,

And resting on top of it This brilliant blue shrine,

It must have been amazing.

Narrator: This atmospheric phenomenon May explain why the tower

Is believed To touch the heavens.

But according to ancient Jewish text,

God is so angered By this ambitious project

That he sends a great wind And destroys it.

Today, investigators Piece together

The true fate of the tower.

Babylon is conquered By the persians

After nebuchadnezzar's death.

They prohibit the worship Of the god marduk

And smash a hole In the tower.

The greek king, Alexander the great,

Captures babylon From the persians

And tears down the damaged tower With plans to rebuild it.

But in 323 b.C., alexander dies, Leaving the tower of babel

As a pile of bricks ripe For looting

Over the coming millennia.

Centuries Of war keep babylon in ruins

Until saddam hussein Builds a palace on the site.

Today, jeff and The world monuments fund

Work with local conservationists To safeguard

The once-magnificent city Of babylon

For future generations.

Allen: It is of immense significance And important to us

That we've been asked To participate

With our iraqi friends In preserving their history

Not just for the people Of iraq

To only see But for the whole world

To experience Their great accomplishments.

Narrator: the tower of babel is An extraordinary triumph

Of engineering.

Using just mud, Straw, and bitumen,

The babylonians build a tower More magnificent

Than any seen before.

Shining a brilliant blue, It soars into the skies

A spectacular monument To human ingenuity.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

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