Original subtitles

Narrator: babylon, The capital of a mighty empire

And the first great city Of the ancient world.

Babylon, was one of the Pinnacles of human ingenuity.

Narrator: can clues here in This vast archaeological site

Reveal evidence of this Long-lost metropolis?

Dalley: babylon is one of The great cities of antiquity,

Everybody admired what they did.

Narrator: babylon Is famed far and wide

For its architectural wonders,

But denounced in the bible As a place of wickedness,

Debauchery, and sin.

Are the stories true?

Or is babylon a city buried Under its own mythology?

Today, investigators Use innovative drone-mounted

High-definition technology

To hunt for traces Of this mysterious kingdom.

We are lucky to excavate here.

Narrator: to unearth the truth Behind the legends

We'll digitally reconstruct The fabled hanging gardens,

We'll blow apart The glorious ishtar gate,

And reveal marvels Of engineering

To decode the secrets Of the lost kingdom of babylon.

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

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

60 miles south of baghdad,

The capital of war-torn iraq, Lie the remains

Of an extraordinary Ancient city, babylon.

Babylon is founded In the third millennium b.C.

At the same time that the Pharaohs of egypt's old kingdom

Build their mighty pyramids.

It is babylon that powers The rise of human civilization

Here in mesopotamia.

Many of the things We know today,

People can associate As babylon,

Be that mathematics, astronomy, Agriculture, water engineering,

Babylon has great importance For not just the people of iraq,

But the world in general.

Narrator: today, in a country Long scarred by conflict,

It's a huge challenge For archaeologists

To unearth babylon's Ancient secrets.

Now, our cameras have been Granted unique access

To follow investigators On the frontline

As they venture inside This rarely seen site

And hunt for clues To discover the truth

Behind the many legends Of this magnificent city.

Ancient writers Describe babylon

As a marvelous metropolis.

At its heart, a tower Of biblical proportions,

Said to touch the sky.

A garden overflowing With lush vegetation,

Said to be floating In the air.

Walls so gigantic that are Visible from miles away,

And a monumental gate As blue as the deepest ocean.

These wonders make babylon The envy of the world,

But are they real Or just legend?

Babylon is the place Of the imagination,

But its reality Is just as interesting.

Narrator: jeff allen runs The world monuments fund.

He investigates And protects ancient sites

In the most dangerous places In the world.

Today he has special access to Examine the site of babylon...

...A place that in ancient times Is visited by biblical prophets

And coveted by foreign kings.

This is a processional way.

This is the sacred route where Daniel and other key figures,

Alexander the great, Once walked.

♪♪

Narrator: the former dictator Saddam hussein

Rebuilds much of babylon On top of its ancient ruins.

He even builds himself A modern palace,

Making the task of unearthing The real babylon

Even harder.

But excavations here reveal The foundations

Of a massive structure...

...The etemenanki tower,

Only half a mile from The old entrance to the city.

Allen: it measures exactly 300 feet.

The size of these foundations Clearly say

That this could be The tower of babel.

Narrator: Investigators are now convinced

That this huge And mysterious construction

Is the biblical tower of babel.

But legends describe that The hanging gardens of babylon,

One of the seven wonders Of the ancient world,

Also stand inside the walls Of this magnificent city.

The legends say it's built By nebuchadnezzar ii,

The greatest of all Babylonian kings.

Legend has it, the king Orders his architects

To build a series of arches

To support vast Trough-like terraces.

They build more layers On top...

...And fill the terraces With thousands of tons of soil

And many exotic plants.

The garden becomes An overflowing oasis

Seemingly suspended In the sky,

A huge verdant mountain In the middle of the city.

Did the babylonians Really build this

Towering green wonder In the baking hot desert?

♪♪

Iraqi archaeologist Haider almamori

Works with jeff allen At the site of ancient babylon.

He thinks the gardens Might be located

Near nebuchadnezzar's Southern palace.

But this location Has a big drawback --

It's almost half a mile away From the euphrates river,

Which runs through babylon.

Why would engineers Build the fabled gardens

So far from This central supply of water?

Close to the ruins Of the ancient palace,

Haider finds An important clue.

The location of this Ancient bridge suggests

That in nebuchadnezzar's time,

The river has A different course.

Back in 600 b.C., it flows right Next to the southern palace.

So this site is the perfect spot

To search for the king's Extensive gardens.

But no archeological traces Remain,

So haider cannot tell for sure.

To hunt for other Possible locations,

He wants to investigate Babylon from above.

The team uses a drone-mounted High-definition camera

To capture an extraordinary view Of ancient babylon.

Haider finds two places That fit the profile --

A huge rectangular structure That could have housed

The ground floor of the gardens

And a vast inner courtyard With thick, strong walls.

Neither of these sites Offer conclusive proof.

But babylon is rife With possible locations.

Babylon has the riches To erect a large superstructure

That amazes the ancient world.

But jeff investigates If ancient engineers

Also possessed the know-how.

A clue lies in A surprising place,

Over 1,000 miles away in egypt.

♪♪

Jeff hunts for evidence In luxor.

Here he examines another icon Of the ancient world --

The magnificent temple of the Female pharaoh hatshepsut.

Built in the 1400s b.C., It is almost 800 years older

Than the hanging gardens Of babylon.

Jeff investigates If it's possible to construct

And maintain a garden In the desert.

This is hatshepsut's temple.

It's an amazing Archeological monument

And it looks like It also had a garden to it.

At the entrance of the temple Complex are these pits

Which contained The remains of trees

That are thousands of years old.

Narrator: queen hatshepsut's Garden lies two and a half miles

From the river nile.

But close to The temple entrance,

Jeff discovers Mysterious structures.

That suggest how The ancient egyptians channel

Water such a distance.

Allen: What I'm standing in right now

Is a channel that ran Between the nile

And the temple.

Connected to these waterways

Were t-shaped ponds Filled with water,

Water for all the plants That were around them.

Narrator: these structures Prove to jeff

That the ancients have the Technology to maintain a garden

In these dry Desert surroundings.

But how about a multi-story Hanging garden

Like the one in babylon?

At hatshepsut's temple, jeff Finds an unusual depiction.

It reveals that there Was once a garden

On the upper levels here, too.

Allen: this depiction shows us There were many means

To put plants in gardens On higher levels

And one of those Was to put them in pots.

Narrator: but such large plants Placed on several floors

Need a lot of water throughout The year to keep them alive.

How do the ancient engineers Channel a constant supply

To the hanging gardens?

One greek writer, strabo,

Mentions a specific kind Of engineering marvel

Called the archimedes screw, Which was a water screw system.

Narrator: archeologist Adel kelany is an expert

On ancient engineering.

He uses a model to investigate

How the ancient Water screw works.

The water screw is a long helix Inside a metal cylinder.

As the screw turns, It carries water upwards.

But adel wants to find out If the screw can channel

Enough water to nourish A vast multi-tiered garden.

He tests this screw at different Angles of inclination.

♪♪

The screw struggles To bring up any water

At this sharp incline.

Adel investigated several Other angles to see

If he can find a more efficient Way to operate the screw.

♪♪

♪♪

At this angle, The screw is easy to turn

And brings up A good amount of water.

Adel discovers that The optimal inclination

Is around 35 degrees.

The screw comfortably carries 40 gallons of water

Up to a height of 5 feet.

The account by the greek Writer strabo is valid.

Water screws can easily nourish The hanging gardens of babylon.

♪♪

The babylonians Channeled water

From the nearby euphrates river

And used crane-like structures To lift it into a pool

At the base Of the hanging gardens.

A system of screws Carries water up from the pool

To the next level

Until each terrace Has its own water supply.

But these magnificent gardens

Are only one striking feature Of this city of wonders.

The mighty king nebuchadnezzar

Adorns his great city With architectural jewels,

That include The magnificent ishtar gate.

What is the truth behind This legendary construction?

♪♪

Narrator: as soon as the Powerful king nebuchadnezzar ii

Takes the throne,

He embarks on an ambitious Building project in babylon.

His greatest engineering wonder Becomes an obsession

And takes him over Four decades to complete.

Early in his reign, Nebuchadnezzar

Completely demolishes His father's gateway.

He creates a vast Processional way

And builds a new double gate Out of stronger baked mud-brick.

But it's not long until he Destroys it again and again

To rebuild it taller.

He eventually creates His masterpiece,

A gate that stands 40-feet tall, Clad in glittering blue

And decorated with wild animals And mythical creatures.

Finally, he adds a huge wood And bronze gate.

Why does he obsessively rebuild The ishtar gate so many times?

♪♪

Today, iraqi archaeologist Haider almamori

Has special access

To investigate the remains Of the gate in babylon.

He wants to discover The real reason

Behind nebuchadnezzar's Compulsive need to rebuild it.

Haider discovers many strange White marks on the walls.

When nebuchadnezzar takes The throne,

Most of the old ishtar gate

Is already submerged under The waters of the euphrates

And the river Is rising higher and higher.

Nebuchadnezzar needs to raise The height of his gate and walls

To keep them Above the waterline.

♪♪

Guarding the ishtar gate And his city from floods

Is a lifelong project For the mighty king.

Nebuchadnezzar also wants The gate to be a symbol

Of his wealth and power.

Egyptian archaeologist nesrin El hadidi investigates evidence

Of the great efforts Nebuchadnezzar goes to

To build it.

♪♪

Cedar trees do not grow Anywhere near babylon.

Why is this elusive Building materials

So important to nebuchadnezzar?

Nesrin searches for more clues At the great pyramid of giza.

Beside this colossal monument, Archaeologists discover

The oldest surviving cedar-built Structure in the world...

...A gigantic boat buried next To the pharaoh, khufu.

Nesrin believes the choice

Of cedar for the boat Is deliberate.

Like the pharaoh khufu, The powerful nebuchadnezzar

Covets this valuable material.

Nesrin investigates how the Babylonian king gets hold of it.

She thinks a clue carved in The distant mountains of lebanon

Is important evidence.

The cedar for his ishtar gate Is so important

For nebuchadnezzar that he Conquers foreign lands

In order to get it.

Hungry for resources,

He expands his empire In all directions

And forces the egyptians Out of lebanon.

♪♪

He conquers the land

And cuts down many of Its rich cedar forests.

Then he builds new roads Through the lebanese mountains

And joins them up With the euphrates river

To transport the vast Quantities of cedar wood.

His workers shipped the logs 500 miles along the euphrates

All the way to babylon,

Where nebuchadnezzar uses them To build the ishtar gate.

The ishtar gate is a massive Construction, 40-feet tall,

Made from the finest materials.

King nebuchadnezzar Spends decades building

And rebuilding the ishtar gate

To flaunt the power Of his empire to any visitor,

But also to safeguard The city from floods.

Alongside this grand entrance,

He also erects new city walls

And doubles the size Of his metropolis

To over 200 square miles.

Can ancient babylon Really be that big?

Narrator: it takes king Nebuchadnezzar ii over 40 years

To complete the magnificent Ishtar gate of babylon.

He rebuilds many other parts Of the city

And surrounds it with A new set of walls so impressive

That they are once considered A wonder of the ancient world.

When nebuchadnezzar Becomes ruler,

A series of three Mud-brick walls

And a deep moat Protect the city.

But this is not enough For the mighty king.

Legend says that he builds A new double wall

To surround the city Together 100-feet thick

And adds another moat For good measure.

Towering over 300-feet high And using millions of bricks,

The mighty new walls extend For miles around the metropolis,

More than doubling The size of the city.

Are these walls as huge As the ancient writers claim?

Archaeologist haider almamori Hunts for evidence

To investigate how big

Nebuchadnezzar's walls Really are.

He tracks down the location Of a section

Of the outermost wall.

Today, all that remains Is a small hill

That has grown on top of it.

Haider discovers that The external wall alone

Is over 55 feet thick

And with the internal wall Spreads to around 100 feet,

Confirming the claim Of ancient writers.

Why does nebuchadnezzar Build such massive walls?

Haider discovers that Nebuchadnezzar's city

Is also a mighty fortress Filled with defensive measures.

♪♪

Ancient writers describe

The city's impregnable Outer double wall,

Guarded by 100 Fortified gates,

Each with massive bronze doors.

On the top of the broad walls,

The king stations Armed garrisons

To patrol the city's Entire circumference.

The inner wall is taller Than the outer one.

So when the city Comes under attack,

The garrison's archers Have a clear shot.

To stop enemies Entering the city by water,

The walls reach down To the bottom of the riverbed

And iron grates protect The inlets of the canal.

But no one knows how big

The babylon nebuchadnezzar wants To protect really is.

The greek historian herodotus

Describes how it occupies An area equivalent

To over 200 square miles,

A huge size even By modern standards,

At 200 square miles, That would make babylon

Roughly about the size Of modern day chicago.

And that would make it Pretty huge ancient city.

Haider almamori Investigates if babylon really

Is as big as the legends say.

He uses high-definition Drone-mounted photography

To map the area that The huge walls encompass.

Very little of The walls exist today,

This makes tracing The perimeter difficult.

Haider thinks that he can Identify the outline

Of the eastern side of the city.

But the perimeter line stops

When haider reaches The western side of the city.

The western bank Is impossible to identify,

But from the survey Of the eastern side,

The size of the city looks much Smaller than 200 square miles.

Haider estimates babylon's Real size is more likely closer

To 2,000 acres,

About twice the size Of new york's central park.

It takes babylon Hundreds of years

To reach the glory days Of nebuchadnezzar's rule.

How come babylon becomes A place of legends

In such a hostile world?

♪♪

Narrator: during the reign Of king nebuchadnezzar ii,

Babylon is the greatest city In the ancient world.

It is architecturally Stunning

With towering ziggurats, Wide roads,

Rich gardens, And a magnificent gate.

How does the kingdom grow To become a place of legends?

In the third millennium B.C., babylon begins

As a small settlement On the river euphrates.

By 1800 b.C.,

King hammurabi builds it up Into a major city.

The city is destroyed several Times by conquering armies,

But babylon recovers And reaches its peak

Under king nebuchadnezzar In 600 b.C.

It becomes the largest city In the world

With an estimated 200,000 inhabitants.

What is the secret of babylon's Remarkable resilience?

♪♪

Haider almamori hunts For clues in dilbat,

An ancient city Only 25 miles south of babylon.

The high water table in babylon Makes it a challenge

For archaeologists to dig down To its earliest times.

But haider believes These neighboring cities

Can reveal vital Missing evidence.

At dilbat, haider's team Unearths surprising discoveries.

The discovery leads haider

To a groundbreaking conclusion About babylon.

Haider believes that The reason for this wealth

Is a new policy of cooperation Between these early cities,

By working together, the cities In this region grow and thrive.

Is cooperation. The only reason That babylon continues

To succeed

Even in its earlier periods

Without a mighty ruler At the helm?

♪♪

Haider believes That clues in the landscape

Reveal another reason For the region's success.

Babylon is located In an ideal part of the world

With access To numerous waterways.

Evidence suggests That the many rivers triggered

The birth of civilization In the plains of mesopotamia.

From 3500 b.C., Long before babylon,

The fertile land Around the euphrates

And tigris rivers Feeds a growing population.

New irrigation systems help Small communities farm

Once arid lands and grow to Become the world's first cities.

The peoples of mesopotamia Also used the numerous waterways

As trade routes, becoming Even more prosperous.

By 1800 b.C.,

Babylon rises in power Under the rule of king hammurabi

To become the capital city Of a mighty empire.

Located in the fertile lands Of mesopotamia,

Babylon thrives By collaborating

Closely with nearby cities Like dilbat.

But with the birth of the empire Come new problems.

Can the kings of babylon Keep their people in check?

♪♪

Narrator: in 1800 b.C.,

King hammurabi of babylon Controls an empire

That stretches across Most of mesopotamia.

How does babylon's First great king

Manage to rule A mighty empire

Stretching over 5,000 Square miles?

♪♪

In susa, modern-day iran,

Archaeologists unearth Three mysterious objects

Made from polished Volcanic rock.

Together, they form a gigantic Seven-foot-tall finger.

At the top are king hammurabi And the god of justice.

Carved underneath Is an ancient code

That spells out 282 two laws,

Some of the earliest In the world.

Is this how the king controls The millions of people

In his vast empire?

♪♪

♪♪

Professor stephanie dalley Is an expert

In the babylonian language And cuneiform,

The ancient script It is written in.

She investigates How hammurabi's code

Is enforced Across the huge empire.

Dalley: we're not sure Where it was set up.

Would have had to be In a public place.

Anybody who thinks they have A grievance is invited to come

And hear the text being read

Says that he will get some idea Of how to sort his problem.

Narrator: the laws prescribe Specific punishments.

"Poke out a man's eye, You lose an eye,"

Originating the phrase "An eye for an eye,

A tooth for a tooth."

But it's not always so fair.

Break the bone of an equal, You get your bone broken,

But break the bone of a slave. You only get fined.

It also states you are innocent Until proven guilty,

But the punishments are harsh --

You could lose an ear Or be thrown in the river.

It covers all aspects of life, From fair wages

And medical malpractice To divorce and child custody.

The laws are on display

In prominent places Around the empire.

But for those who do not have This huge stone in their city,

There is another way Of getting the code.

Archeological discoveries Across mesopotamia showed

That the babylonians develop A much easier system

To transfer information.

Dalley: this is a clay tablet, As you can see it's quite small.

The writing is very small On it, very handy.

It sits in your hand Really conveniently.

Narrator: the tablets Make babylon special.

They record its history For posterity.

Stephanie works with Assyriologist

George heath-whyte,

Who is fluent in babylonian

And an expert in writing In cuneiform.

They investigate how The babylonians write

On these small pieces of clay.

They were used For over 3,000 years.

So everyone would have used Different methods.

George's replica tablets Are made of earthenware clay,

Very similar to the clay

Found in the alluvial Mesopotamian plains.

The tablets have been air dried For several days

Until they are leather hard.

George inscribes one Of hammurabi's most famous laws.

So far we have... [ speaking babylonian ]

So "If a man blinds the eye Of another man."

Narrator: by making small Indentations in the clay,

Ancient scribes develop A complex system of writing

With over 600 symbols.

So the whole law In babylonian --

[ speaking babylonian ]

"If a man blinds The eye of another man,

Then they shall blind his eye."

Narrator: george discovers that Clay is very easy to write on.

Most importantly, It is cheap and accessible

To everyone in mesopotamia.

But the tablets also have A serious drawback.

The real problem is that This is damaged by water.

Heath-whyte: you already see The clay coming off.

Obviously, if you've Written something

That you want to keep forever, Then you don't want it

To get wet Because it's going to be ruined.

But if the clay tablets Are so vulnerable to water,

How come archeologists unearth

So many of them Across mesopotamia?

Stephanie believes that there Is a way of hardening them

By using the same technology Used for making bricks.

These two have actually Been kiln fired

So they turned terra cotta.

Of course, terracotta Is waterproof.

Firing changes the chemical Composition of the clay,

Making it impermeable And much stronger.

But because of the expense Of firing clay,

Most babylonians don't do it.

The reason for the clay Tablets' Survival comes from destruction.

When a city is attacked And burned to the ground,

The clay tablets Get baked naturally.

As babylon burns,

Its many stories survive Inscribed on small tablets.

But despite this,

The great city's Reputation changes dramatically.

In the bible, Babylon is portrayed

As a city of wickedness And disillusion,

Even called "The dwelling place of demons,

A haunt for every Unclean spirit."

Why?

♪♪

Narrator: The ancient kingdom of babylon

Is a hub of learning And culture, of writing and art.

So why does the bible Portray it

As a place of wickedness And boundless depravity?

The answer lies 600 miles away in israel.

Archaeologist nitsan shalom Excavates the area

Around temple mount In old jerusalem

To investigate why the bible Is so disparaging of babylon.

♪♪

A clue lies 30 feet down in this Vast archaeological site.

Shalom: Inside this room, you can see

We found a massive Destruction there.

All destruction, debris from The collapse of the buildings

And all of this burnt Very intensely.

We have a lot Of charred materials.

Narrator: nitsan is a micro Archaeologist of destruction.

At the site of this Collapsed building,

She makes a vital discovery.

Shalom: we did find a layer Of pottery lying on the floor,

And that pottery dates With great certainty

To the very end Of the iron age.

We can say with Very high likelihood

That this building was destroyed

By the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 b.C.

Narrator: early in his reign, King nebuchadnezzar embarks

On an aggressive Military campaign.

He conquers jerusalem And later

Destroys this part of the city.

Shalom: we can see here Massive stone monoliths

That were part of the Construction of this building.

That takes manpower, That takes money.

So this tells us that elite Were living in this house,

Someone very powerful, Very linked to the government.

Narrator: nebuchadnezzar Burns down the houses

Of the elites of the city

In order to destabilize Jerusalem and quench any unrest.

What happens to the owners Of these houses?

Nebuchadnezzar Spares their lives,

But removes them from power.

I think that there wasn't An attack on this house

In the sense of a battle.

It seems like it was More of an abandonment

Followed by a planned Destruction that was done

With some kind Of advanced notice

For the residents of this place.

Narrator: The old testament recounts That close to 10,000 people,

Mostly the rich officials And priests,

Are taken in captivity To babylon.

There they write whole sections Of the bible

And babylon is cast As the ultimate enemy.

The giant ziggurat of babylon, Etemenanki,

Becomes the biblical Tower of babel.

God strikes it down As punishment.

Nebuchadnezzar himself Becomes a lonely wandering king

Driven to insanity.

Shalom: the siege on jerusalem Had such a deep impact

On the historical memory Of this nation.

This is the reason why babylon Is remembered

As such a hated empire

In the history Of the jewish people.

Narrator: despite its Biblical reputation,

Investigators like jeff allen And haider almamori

Unearth a magnificent city, Restoring its fame.

The city of babylon Is a city of wonders,

Home to the famed Hanging gardens,

The tower of babel,

And the brilliant ishtar gate

Built with the richest Materials.

Babylon is the capital Of a mighty empire...

...A spectacular kingdom Of the ancient world,

Inscribed in history

As one of the greatest Ever to exist.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪