Original subtitles

Narrator: the ancient city Of persepolis,

Capital to the mighty Persian empire.

This was once the greatest And richest city on earth.

Narrator: A mysterious metropolis

Built by the most powerful Kings of the ancient world.

They were so powerful, They had no real rival.

Narrator: How do the persians rule over

A vast empire from This glorious capital?

It's a lesson on how To build an empire.

Narrator: today, investigators Have unique access to this

Ancient site in the mountains Of iran.

They forensically Hunt for clues

To find out what makes persia

The first imperial powerhouse In the world.

It is a really exciting Discovery for us.

Narrator: to unlock the secrets Of ancient persia,

We resurrect the empire's Mighty capital, persepolis.

We unearth the kings' Luxurious palaces

And reveal Their groundbreaking

Engineering inventions

To discover how the persians

Rise to dominate The ancient world.

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Persepolis, Iran,

400 miles south of the modern Day capital, tehran.

It is a huge stone city Cut into the mountains,

Constructed At the same time as

The greatest buildings of Ancient greece.

Today, this Vast archaeological

Site remains wrapped In mystery.

Now our cameras Have been granted unique

Access to follow investigators On the front line

As they venture inside This mighty ancient capital.

Narrator: In the sixth century b.C.,

Persepolis is the heart of

A mighty empire that controls Almost half of

Earth's population.

Its spectacular ruins Hold the key to

The rise of The first world empire,

Persia.

To build persepolis,

The persians carve a huge Terrace into

A mountain and create A platform the size

Of six modern city blocks.

They surround it With tall masonry walls,

And at the entrance, They build a 55-foot-tall gate

To impress And welcome foreign rulers.

Inside, they create A sprawling complex of splendid

Palaces and vast, Magnificent halls.

Persepolis is the jewel In persia's crown.

What can it reveal about The scale of this mighty empire?

Ali asadi has special access To investigate

The ancient site.

He believes the remains of These grand buildings

Hold clues to the territories Under persian rule.

Ali examines the architecture Of the ancient city

And finds important evidence.

Narrator: hidden among The ruins of the site,

Ali examines clues of even More distant nations --

Lotus flowers.

These are ancient Greek symbols.

Could greece

And egypt, Two enormous powerhouses

In the ancient world, Be under persian rule?

Ali hunts for more clues.

In the center of the city,

He studies a huge stone relief On a palace staircase.

Narrator: the frieze shows The individual nations

That make up The persian empire.

Carved on the wall, Ali finds conclusive proof.

Narrator: Ali discovers that egypt,

The cradle of ancient culture And independent for most of

Its history,

Is now part of This mighty new empire.

Incredibly, it also Incorporates some

Greek city states.

But the persians Don't stop here.

The long procession depicts Many other peoples.

The incredible detail On the relief

Helps ali identify Who everyone is.

Narrator: this vast scene Reveals the expanse

Of the persian empire.

It spreads from eastern europe To the indus river,

From the sahara desert To the western edge of

The himalayas.

In total, The wall displays 23 nations

That cover an astonishing 2.1 million square miles.

Who is the ruler Of this enormous empire

At its peak?

Ali follows The frieze to track

Down the person Who receives the gifts.

He arrives at a depiction of A larger than life figure.

Narrator: darius the great rules The mighty persian empire

From 522 b.C., During its golden age.

The image of the king Reveals where he receives

His many guests,

Inside a majestic royal palace Of gigantic proportions.

The apadana palace is An ancient architectural

Wonder and the most important Building in persepolis.

On the palace staircases, Inscriptions greet visitors

In many languages,

Referring to the persian ruler As the king of kings.

Behind 40-foot doors, Thin columns hold up

A wooden ceiling

To create a magnificent hall

Covering more than 35,000 square feet.

Here, the king welcomes guests And their generous gifts.

What does this huge palace

Reveal about the powerful Persian rule?

Ali is convinced The inscription on

The great staircase holds Important evidence.

Narrator: The inscription reveals how

Darius rules his world empire.

Once he conquers a nation, He keeps the local kings

In power.

Darius the great is tolerant As long as he is obeyed.

Does he ever have to fight off A rebellion against him?

A few miles away, A team of archaeologists

Uncovers An intriguing structure,

Which could provide clues.

They recover hundreds of Glazed bricks

From the dig site.

These amazing finds reveal What the building really is --

An ishtar gate,

A replica of the dazzling gate In the famous city of babylon.

The gate is a symbol of

An astonishing victory For the persian king.

The babylonian kingdom is One of the first

To fall to the hands of The persians.

Their mighty capital,

Babylon, becomes an important Center of persian rule.

At the entrance to the great City stands the ishtar gate,

An architectural wonder, Shimmering blue.

But there are Fundamental differences

Between the two gates.

The ishtar gate in babylon is Gigantic and flanked by

Defensive walls.

Said to be over 300 feet high,

They guard the ancient city.

The replica ishtar gate In persepolis stands

Alone in the middle of The landscape,

Two miles away from The persian capital.

This brand-new Discovery reveals

That persepolis has No fortifications.

Narrator: None of the many nations in

The empire dared challenge of The persian rule.

But new evidence exposes The cost of

This complete obedience.

How do the persians build Their enormous empire?

Can new discoveries reveal The secret of their success?

Narrator: 2,500 years ago,

The persian kings build Persepolis in modern day iran.

It is the richest city in

The world and capital to An enormous empire.

How did the persians dominate Most of the known

Ancient world?

Inside persepolis,

Archaeologists unearth A mysterious building,

An extraordinary ancient Mega structure.

In persia's golden age,

This is the second largest Building in persepolis,

Called the throne hall.

Inside it, precisely 100 columns rise up to

Create a space the size of An aircraft hangar.

This second palace is The domain of

The empire's foundation, Its army.

There is room for 5,000 Soldiers, only a tiny fraction

Of the persian army,

Which, according to legend, Numbers a million men.

How do they conquer the world?

Sophy downes hunts for clues In sardis

In modern-day turkey.

Despite being over 1,500 miles Away from persepolis,

This ancient capital city Is one of

The first to fall To the persians.

It expanded their empire to

The west towards its farthest Western reach.

Narrator: sophy investigates How sardis is conquered.

She examines A section of the site,

A massive trench 20 feet deep.

In the courtyard of This house,

The body of an old man Was found.

He was a civilian, so this Suggests that it wasn't just

The soldiers that died in The sack,

But many civilians, As well.

Narrator: analysis of The mutilated bones reveals

Lethal wounds All over the body.

He is only one of Many victims of the attack.

Alongside is more Shocking evidence --

136 arrowheads.

Sophy examines images Of the discovery.

The quantity of arrowheads Found here shows the intensity

Of the fighting In this part of the city.

Narrator: these many Archaeological traces reveal

The ferocity Of a persian conquest.

But sophy thinks There's more to the story.

She wants to find out what

Happens to sardis after The persian victory.

Downes: there are numerous Burn marks across the city,

Which suggests that it was

Pretty comprehensively burnt To the ground.

Narrator: the city's Fortification wall,

Made of mud brick,

Is reduced to a melted And vitrified mass.

It is evidence of The intensity of the fire

That devours sardis.

The archaeological evidence Suggests that it may

Have bean more brutal Than we thought.

Narrator: Sardis becomes a persian city.

The fall of This powerful capital

Shocks the ancient world.

The persian army gains A fierce reputation

And forces the many nations of The empire into submission.

How do the persians become Such remarkable warriors?

Ali examines An intriguing carving on

The northern entrance To the palace.

Narrator: as he looks up close,

Ali finds imagery of The army all around persepolis.

Among them, persia's most Infamous brigade.

Narrator: the images reveal That the persian army

Is divided into Specialist forces.

Ali believes this is crucial To their success.

In battle, the soldiers Follow a strategy

That weakens the enemy Until complete surrender.

The persian archers Start off the attack.

They hide behind A shield wall and shoot

100,000 arrows per minute To decimate the enemy.

Then comes the notorious Persian cavalry.

They harass the enemy With hit-and-run attacks,

Shooting arrows And throwing spears.

And finally, persia's elite Infantry, the immortals.

They are the most Feared fighters.

In their tight formation,

Fallen soldiers are Replaced immediately,

Making it seem like They are impossible to kill.

With this elite army, The persians create

The biggest empire The world has ever seen.

But even with this mighty Military force,

How quickly can the king Strike back

If there is trouble far from His base in persepolis?

What can new evidence Unearthed in the far corners

Of the empire reveal about The king's new tactic?

Narrator: carved into the Mountains of southern iran,

Archaeologists rediscover The lost city of persepolis.

Clues inside it unlock

The mystery of the gigantic Persian empire.

Downes: the inscriptions at Persepolis talk about how

The empire extends from The shores of one sea

To the shores of another sea,

From one desert to Another desert.

Narrator: how did the persians Rule such an enormous

Expanse of land?

The answer could lie with A huge engineering structure,

Built by persia's most Powerful king, darius I.

Ancient writers say That king darius

Builds a vast road across His empire.

It is surfaced with Packed gravel

And is over 20 feet wide In some places.

It's called the royal road,

The first highway In the world.

Alongside it, Darius builds way stations,

Stopping points in the long, Arduous journey.

Comfortable living quarters Surround an open

Courtyard where travelers From all cultures meet.

Is darius's royal road really As impressive as legends say?

Ali asadi is on A mission to find out.

He travels north of persepolis

Towards pasagardae, Another persian capital.

Ancient texts describe a huge Road between these two cities.

Here, he finds an opening Through the mountains.

Narrator: this mountain stands Directly between

The two ancient Persian capitals.

Ali believes the only way To connect

The cities is to cut Through it.

Narrator: the ancient persians Carve a 30-foot valley through

Solid rock.

This rare find here Supports the legend.

Nothing seems to stand in

The way of darius's Ambitious building project.

But can he really Extend the royal road

To all corners of The huge empire?

Burcin adisonmez investigates

In amasya In northern turkey.

Here, he and his team make A remarkable discovery.

Narrator: Local rulers used nearby

Materials to build the road,

But burcin suspects it could

Be part of the persian Road network.

He examines the site

And identifies A strange structure.

Zoroastrianism is The ancient religion of

The persians.

For burcin, This is conclusive proof.

Narrator: this incredible find Is evidence that

Darius's road network

Spreads all the way To northern turkey,

1,200 miles away from The city of persepolis.

Narrator: How fast can imperial couriers

Travel on the royal road?

Ancient greek accounts provide Tantalizing clues.

Downes: herodotus tells us that The persians had a system for

Sending messages along The royal road,

Which could travel about 2,000 miles in nine days.

Narrator: a messenger on Horseback would normally take

Two months for a journey of This length.

Sophy wants to find out if The persians

Can do it in nine days.

She thinks the way stations

Darius builds could hold The answer.

She marks out the places where Archaeologists find remains.

Here we have Three way stations that

Have actually been found In the archaeology,

And they're in a line, And they're about

15 miles apart from each other.

Narrator: if the persians Position rested horses and men

At each station,

The couriers can work As a relay.

Each courier can travel The distance between

Two way stations at full speed

And pass on the message To the next horseman.

Over a day, the message would Cover an astonishing 180 miles.

That means that you could Cover a distance

Of 2,000 miles in about 12 to 14 days.

So herodotus is maybe Slightly exaggerating,

But he's actually Pretty accurate.

Narrator: Darius's massive

Communication network is The fastest

In the ancient world.

It's so efficient that It's still remembered today.

Herodotus also says that Neither snow nor rain nor

Heat nor gloom of night could Stop the couriers,

And this is still The motto of

The u.S. Postal service today.

Narrator: if anything happens in The extreme corners of

The persian empire,

The king can find out about It in under two weeks.

He can respond swiftly To any challenge

To his rule and restore Control almost immediately.

Downes: 12 to 14 days May sound pretty slow to us,

But actually, it's not until The 18th century that anybody

Can send messages faster Than that.

Narrator: darius's road network Stretches from

The indus valley all the way To the mediterranean,

Spanning a staggering 1,500 miles.

He uses it to quickly Send messengers as well

As his army to every Corner of his empire.

He also builds the first suez Canal, linking the red sea to

The nile,

Giving him easy access To all of egypt.

It is monumental, wide enough For two of his warships

To pass each other,

Giving the persians commercial And military control of

The region.

Darius's communication network Is crucial

To controlling The vast empire.

It ensures His presence everywhere,

But the persians also use their Engineering skills at home.

How do cutting-edge Innovations allow

The king to control Nature itself

And create a green paradise in The middle of the desert?

Narrator: Persepolis, in modern-day iran.

In the sixth century b.C.,

This is An architectural masterpiece

And capital to the mighty Persian empire,

But it's built in a brutal,

Arid landscape Halfway up a mountain.

Why do the persians choose

To build their glorious Capital here?

2,500 years ago, Exotic plants

Populate the city's Lavish gardens,

Called pardis, the origin Of the word paradise.

But these green spaces extend Beyond the city walls.

Further down the mountain, The persians plant olive

And walnut trees, Brought in

From the distant corners Of the empire.

Beyond, settlements and lush Farmlands stretch

As far as the eye can see.

Against all odds, the persians Appear to conquer nature.

How do they do it?

Narrator: unlike egypt, Which has the mighty nile,

Persia has very few natural Sources of water.

But it does have mountains.

Persepolis is built at The feet of

The zagros mountain range.

Ali investigates the rocky Surface of the slope.

Narrator: rain water seeps into The porous stone of

The mountain and comes out

In springs that Flow across the slope.

Narrator: but to harness This valuable source of water,

The persians must come up with An ingenious plan.

Inside the city,

Ali discovers An astonishing infrastructure...

...A winding network Of tunnels.

Narrator: the tunnels Crisscross the terrace

For over two miles.

They are a remarkable feat Of ancient

Engineering as high as 20 feet in places.

Narrator: some are carved Straight into the stone

Of the mountain slope,

But ali discovers that Other sections

Are entirely built up By ancient workers.

Narrator: Water from the mountain springs

Travels down Towards persepolis.

The tunnels collect And store it to

Be used by The city's inhabitants.

But how do the persians Spread water across

The vast landscape to create Their green paradise?

To find out, Ali heads to pasagardae,

25 miles north Of persepolis.

This is the first Persian capital

Built a few Generations earlier.

Narrator: at the ancient site, Ali examines

An intriguing set of Limestone channels.

The channels have Small basins every 50 feet

And carry water to all corners Of the city.

The same infrastructure Is used in persepolis,

But on a much larger scale.

New geophysical surveys unveil A series of canals designed

To funnel water from The mountains

To the persian capital.

Some of them are over 12 miles long.

Near the ruins of persepolis,

Traces of lines crisscross The landscape.

These are the remnants of

A huge irrigation network Across the plains.

The persian king darius builds A city that defies nature.

It stands in the middle of A mountainous

Desert but is as verdant As a savannah.

This triumph over nature is

A mark of power more potent Than ramparts.

Narrator: but the ingenuity of The persian king

Does not end here.

King darius wants to Constantly remind

The world of his Overarching power.

What can hidden treasure In his vast

Palace reveal about his mighty Propaganda machine?

Narrator: in southern iran

Lie the remains of The city of persepolis.

It is a marvel of Ancient engineering

And symbolizes the incredible Power of king darius the great.

Downes: the closer You get to the king,

To his private palaces,

The more aware you're made of How powerful the king is.

Narrator: How does he spread his message

Of supreme power Across the empire?

Inside his magnificent palace,

Archaeologists make An intriguing discovery.

In one corner of The apadana palace,

Investigators unearth A treasure hoard,

Stone boxes

Containing tablets made From solid silver and gold.

They carry darius's name And tell

Of the scale of His great empire.

Beneath them, More treasure,

Gold coins stamped with A lion and a bull.

The insignia of lydia, A rival kingdom.

They are some of the first Coins ever created.

How does darius use This enemy

Invention to control His vast empire?

Sophy downes believes Clues may lie

In the ancient lydian city of Sardis in modern-day turkey,

The lydians were famous for Their wealth, and they got

Their wealth from the gold

That washed down In the river just behind us.

Narrator: On the edge of the city,

Sophy finds traces Of ancient gold-working.

What you can see Here is a burn level.

So this seems to be a furnace,

Which was used To refine the gold.

Narrator: Here in sardis,

The lydian people develop

An invention that Revolutionizes the world.

The lydians were the first To introduce coinage,

And they would've made it From the metal

That they would find Right here.

Narrator: when the persians Conquer this rich land,

They also capture An established minting machine

And start minting coins of Their own.

The coins that The persians produced

Are these little tiny Coins here.

These are made Out of pure gold.

They're called darics.

These were minted for The first time under

King darius.

The image on them on the front Is of the king.

The king is an archer,

And he's running forwards Across the coin,

So very energetically Attacking the world

Through his coinage.

Narrator: Darius chooses military

Imagery for his royal Gold coin.

Sophy believes this decision Is clever politics.

Downes: these were used to pay The mercenaries in his army.

Having an image Of darius on the coin

Creates a direct connection Between the soldiers and darius.

Soldiers know That this is who is

Paying them and who is Giving them orders.

Narrator: darius uses The coins as propaganda,

Ensuring his army's loyalty.

The military imagery also Keeps the empire

Afraid and obedient,

But his successors Go even further.

Sophy investigates another Coin called a tirat.

They're called tirat, because On the front of the coin,

There's the head of a figure Wearing a tiara,

Which is a band of cloth, Which the persian soldiers wore

Around their heads in battle.

So again, This is a military image.

It's generally thought this is The head of the persian king.

Narrator: this coin is used Beyond the borders

Of the empire into greece,

But greek coins usually depict Gods rather than kings.

Downes: so on this coin, The head of the persian king

Is occupying the same space

That on some greek coins Is occupied by the head of

A deity -- it's possible That there's some kind of

Equivalence intended.

Narrator: the king of kings Places himself in the position

Of a god and pushes this image Into the hands

Of his distant neighbors.

Why does he want the greeks

In particular to receive This message?

The persians have A pretty fraught

Relationship with The greek city-states.

Narrator: the persians Constantly attempt to seize

Control of greece,

But they never manage to Conquer it.

The conflict begins When the persians

Attack the greek-inhabited Region of ionia

In present-day turkey.

The greek city-states rally And start a revolt that

Culminates in the burning Of sardis,

Persia's capital In the region.

The persians retaliate By invading greece

And, after a 20-year struggle,

Finally take athens And burn it to the ground.

But within days, the greeks Trounced the persian fleet in

The nearby Straits of salamis,

Marking a turning point in The decades-long war.

The greek city-states are Persia's greatest enemy,

So the persian kings Use coinage to

Show them their extraordinary Reach and power.

Does this enduring rivalry Lead to

Disastrous consequences For persepolis?

Is a revenge attack enough to

Bring down the world's Greatest empire?

From the mighty capital Of persepolis,

The persian kings rule Over most of

The known ancient world.

Their power over The empire is absolute,

So they don't even fortify This magnificent city.

But that leaves it exposed.

What happens to persepolis?

Ali investigates the remains Of the great city.

Narrator: ali finds the same Discolorations across the city.

This is shocking evidence that

Persepolis suffers A devastating fire.

Narrator: persepolis, The once mighty

And untouchable city, Is attacked.

The persians fail In defending their capital,

And the city is burned To the ground.

Who leads This audacious assault?

Sophy downes believes a clue Lies on behistun mountain,

450 miles from persepolis.

Here, 330 feet Off the ground,

Darius the great carves a huge Inscription in three languages.

Over 1,000 lines of text Describe how he conquers

The world.

It commemorates His seizure of power.

It tells us about how He came to be king.

Narrator: next to darius's Testament of power,

There is a surprising Piece of evidence.

We have a relief of heracles -- He's reclining.

We can tell it's heracles,

Because there's An inscription behind it.

Narrator: Heracles is a son of zeus,

The greatest of the greek gods.

This statue, Placed on the same level

As darius's inscription,

Reveals the identity of The formidable conqueror that

Triumphs over the persians.

This is from the kingdom That existed

After alexander had passed Through the region.

Narrator: It is alexander the great,

The mighty greek king,

Who topples the magnificent Persian capital.

How does he manage To reach it?

His own kingdom is almost 2,000 miles away.

Downes: alexander makes His way to persepolis

Using partly the royal roads That darius had set up.

Narrator: In the fourth century b.C.,

Alexander marches across The ancient world.

He takes anatolia, egypt, And mesopotamia and soon sets

His eyes on the heart of The persian empire,

Persepolis.

He uses darius's royal road to

March his vast army across The desert

And attacks the great city.

Persepolis falls in only A few days -- alexander burns it

To the ground as payback for The persians' burning of athens.

Sophy believes The destruction of the once

Mighty city is more Than just revenge.

It makes obvious Strategic sense

To burn persepolis.

It's the heart of The persian world.

It's an obvious rallying point For any rebellion and dissent.

Narrator: The persian empire that rules

Over most of The known world for

Over 200 years is incorporated Into alexander the great's

New imperial powerhouse.

But alexander follows in The steps of

The astounding achievements Of the ancient persians.

Alexander is only able To achieve his very

Brief empire because he's Taken over the persian empire.

This whole idea of Creating empires on such

A large scale does get back Really to the persians.

Narrator: the persians create The blueprint

For empires for centuries To come,

Laying down the groundwork for The greeks and romans.

The story of their rise And fall is unearthed here

In this glorious capital in The mountains, persepolis.

The persians conquer most Of the known ancient world

And rule it from persepolis,

A majestic city Richer than any other.

The persian leader Becomes king of kings.

He rules over 23 nations Across two million square miles

And creates a lush paradise In the desert,

Leaving behind a legacy of how To rule the ancient world.

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