All language subtitles for Ancient.Impossible.S01E07.Greatest.Ships.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track4_[eng]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: How did the Greeks
create one of the deadliest

warships of the ancient world?

[thudding]

Were the first
armored battleships

built hundreds of years
before the industrial age?

It was the grandfather
of the modern warship.

NARRATOR: And why did Rome's
most notorious emperor build

his famous pleasure ships?

The man who built
this is clearly

the master of the universe.

NARRATOR: Monuments more
colossal than our own, ancient

superweapons as mighty as
today's, technology so precise

it defies reinvention--

the ancient world
was not primitive.

Their marvels are so advanced,
we still use them now.

Travel to a world closer than
we imagine, an ancient age

where nothing was impossible.

2,000 years ago,
Caligula, Rome's most

insane and murderous emperor,
demanded the impossible.

He commissioned two ships
of such size, luxury,

and technical sophistication
that even modern vessels can't

compete.

How could terrified
Roman engineers

turn his deranged
dreams into reality?

And did such impossibly large
and sophisticated vessels even

exist?

Here at Lake Nemi 19 miles
south of Rome, Italy,

two incredible
ships, the biggest

to survive from
the ancient world,

were recovered
from these waters.

Lake Nemi had revealed
its dark secret.

Behind me, Lake Nemi, it's
full of muck and debris,

but there was discovered one
of the greatest discoveries

from antiquity,
the ships of Nemi.

NARRATOR: These
incredible vessels

sat on the bottom of this
lake for nearly 2,000 years,

but no one knew that they
once belonged to Caligula,

an infamous Roman
emperor who reigned

for just four savage years.

It wasn't until the Renaissance
that the exploration

of these amazing wrecks began.

For hundreds of years,
scholars and treasure hunters

were obsessed with what
lay beyond their reach

under Lake Nemi
until in the 1920s

the incredible challenge of
raising these sunken ships

began.

The fascist dictator
Mussolini decided

that he wanted these
Nemi boats excavated,

making an association
between himself,

his regime, and the Roman
emperors that were before him.

He set in motion this
extraordinary task

to raise the Nemi ships.

It takes five years, but finally
they come to the surface.

NARRATOR: To expose the
ships, the waters of the lake

were lowered 75 feet using
an ancient drainage tunnel.

The 2000-year-old ships were
the size of a football field

and packed in airtight mud.

They were in
incredible condition.

These were the greatest
ancient ships ever found.

What they then need to do
is see where they were going

to put these boats.

They're so enormous.

And so they actually had to
build a purpose-built museum

on the shores of the lake.

NARRATOR: The Italians built
a wonder of the modern world

to house these two wonder
ships of the ancient world.

But today, this museum
houses a mystery.

The Ship Museum of Nemi
is absolutely extraordinary.

This space is gigantic.

Now, what you see here
today is largely open space,

but it was originally entirely
filled with two massive ships.

NARRATOR: But where
are the ships today,

and how was the greatest
archaeological discovery

since Tutankhamen lost
in a single night?

[booming]

[banging]

ANN INSCKER: On the 31st of May
1944 during the Second World

War, the Allies were
bombing the area.

And a German artillery
division was nearby,

and they knew that
the game was up.

And what they decided to do was
to get into this boat museum

and set fire to the two boats.

And I think probably
because of the way

the Nazis were
quite indoctrinated

with their history and their
archaeology, these prized

exhibits were something that
they didn't want to see survive

because they weren't German.

DARIUS ARYA: Today what you see
is a lot of reconstructions,

some models of the
ships themselves,

and a lot of technology
that was involved and used

in ancient times.

It was a technological wonder.

NARRATOR: But the remaining
metal and wooden parts

of the Nemi ships reveal
incredible technology that

matches modern luxury ships.

They were the largest and
most elaborate surviving boats

in antiquity.

NARRATOR: But how were
these amazing vessels

linked to Caligula?

This surviving lead
pipe found on board

has priceless information.

These Latin words
cast into the lead

say "Gaius Caesar Augustus
Germanicus," the emperor known

as Caligula, best remembered
for his cruelty, sadism,

and the wild excesses that
almost bankrupted the Roman

Empire.

The Romans have got a
reputation for opulence,

and ambition, and megalomania.

And you could say that all
those characteristics are

encapsulated in the single
character of Caligula.

Now, Caligula is not the
emperor's proper name.

NARRATOR: Caligula's father
Germanicus was Rome's greatest

general.

On campaign he brought
his son with him, dressed

as a mascot in military uniform
complete with little combat

boots.

The Roman soldiers loved
him and called him Caligula,

meaning little
boot or Bootikins.

You always get the sense that
psychologically this really

annoyed him.

He didn't think he was being
taken seriously enough.

NARRATOR: Caligula was
desperate to prove himself

a mighty emperor, ruler
of the known world.

He would go to any
extreme to build objects

of impossible
extravagance and opulence.

We're told that Caligula
delighted in things that

were believed to be impossible.

These two boats, they were
quite extraordinary creations.

NARRATOR: Both these
massive vessels

were nearly 250 feet long.

For size alone the
ships are remarkable,

but inside they were filled
with extraordinary features

previously thought
impossible on ancient ships.

One of them was a floating
palace, a huge thing decorated

with marble, with
alabaster bathrooms,

with hot and cold water,
with underfloor heating,

with mosaics.

And it seems like
this was really

just a giant floating
party palace for Caligula.

The other boat was
really a floating temple.

NARRATOR: The construction
of these advanced ships

would enable the Romans to
build on an impossible scale.

When we think of
shipbuilding, we

think of planks
nailed onto a skeleton

to form the hull shape.

But incredibly, the Romans
started with the hull itself.

NARRATOR: The Romans used
mortise and tenon joints

to fix the enormous
hull together.

No modern ships use such
a precise technique.

It seems impossibly difficult
to form the hull shell first.

The ribs and frame
were added last.

NARRATOR: This
incredible technique,

which all but vanished
with the fall of Rome,

created an impossibly precise
and self-supporting hull.

Modern shipbuilders
can replicate this

by using glass fiber,
but only the ancients

could build a self-supporting
hull on such a vast scale.

It is a testament
to Roman power.

NARRATOR: But their
sheer size was just

the beginning of
Caligula's ambition

to create the impossible.

ANDREW LAMBERT:
Caligula's barges

are a bit like Disneyland.

They're designed to impress.

They're trying to say the
man who built this is clearly

the master of the universe.

NARRATOR: It wasn't just
ambition that made Caligula

demand the impossible.

Historians believe
that during his reign

he became totally insane.

ANN INSCKER: He
considered himself a god.

He had an incestuous
relationship with his sister

Drusilla made his
sister pregnant.

He's thought to have ripped
the fetus from her womb.

And when she was dead,
he gave her the status

of being a goddess herself.

BETTANY HUGHES:
All Roman leaders

had pretty exalted
ideas of themselves,

but Caligula takes
things that bit further.

He seems to believe he has
a kind of divine power.

NARRATOR: At Lake Nemi,
Caligula didn't just

build impossible ships.

He used them to fulfill
the impossible dream

to be a god himself, lover of
the goddess Diana on his temple

ship out in the
middle of Lake Nemi.

At this floating
luxury summer retreat,

the emperor could
demand whatever he

wanted from his fearful guests.

BETTANY HUGHES: You just have to
imagine what it would have been

like to have
visited those boats.

You would be fearful of
Caligula because people

think he's mad at this point.

You go into these
boats which were

absolute incarnations of
genius, but also incarnations

of excess.

And we're told
that he used to sit

in the rooms of these
floating party palaces,

staring around the halls, and
pointing his finger and saying,

I could have you killed.

NARRATOR: The impossible
ambition of the Roman emperor

Caligula created
the greatest ships

to survive from
the ancient world.

But they weren't
just big and opulent.

Inside was incredible technology
that even modern luxury yachts

don't have.

ANDREW LAMBERT: The ships
give us an insight into Roman

technology in the
1st century AD.

Some of the technology
on the Lake Nemi ships

would not be seen again
for 1,500, 2,000 years.

NARRATOR: 2,000 years ago,
the Roman emperor Caligula

commissioned two superyachts
to luxury standards that

have never been repeated.

Caligula's Nemi ships
represent the best technology

of the ancient world.

What represents
the best of today?

This is the Galactica Star,
winner of a world superyacht

award.

It's fitted out with all the
latest gadgetry that money can

buy.

Surely the Nemi ships can't
rival this, or can they?

Behind the gold and the
marble, beneath the statues

and even trees was advanced
Roman technology thousands

of years ahead of its time,
like this bronze tap, which

looks too modern to be in a
Roman ship, which precisely

controlled the flow of water to
the onboard baths and heating

system.

This exceptional
discovery is engineered

to such high
tolerances, it is still

watertight after 2,000 years.

Beneath the exquisite
mosaic floors

of Caligula's floating palace
was a sophisticated heating

system.

Hot air from a furnace
passed through this space

and heated the floor above.

Technological
innovations like this

gave the Nemi ships levels
of luxury unmatched even

by modern ships.

One of the most vital components
of our modern machines

was first found on the Nemi
ships 2,000 years ago--

ball bearings.

An amazing find were the
platforms that were designed

to act like turntables on
a series of ball bearings

to support the statue
of the goddess Diana

so that she could rotate around
the room as she walked in.

Now, what's great about
this technology is that

before the discovery
of the Nemi ships,

ball bearings technology was
attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

1,500 years later on.

So here I have one of these
marvels from the ships of Nemi.

This is a ball bearing.

Now, the thing is when we think
about ball bearings today,

we think of something
from the modern world.

But here it is 2,000 years ago.

This kind of discovery is what
tells us how sophisticated,

how innovative
the ancients were.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Experimental
model maker Richard Windley

is recreating this technology
to see just how unbelievable it

is.

RICHARD WINDLEY: So I'm
going to try and replicate

the original Roman
bronze bearings using

a little wooden form
which I've made.

Probably the Romans
would have done this.

This becomes the pattern for
producing bronze castings.

They would need quite a few of
these on the original version.

We think there
were eight bearings

around the circumference
of the bearing plate.

So we're going to try
and replicate this.

NARRATOR: Looking at the
evidence from the Nemi ships,

it's clear that making
this ancient technology

will be an enormous challenge.

[machine whirring]

[tapping]

This is a project which has
taxed even Richard Windley's

considerable skill.

This is the final
reconstruction

of the ball bearing turntable.

The whole thing is
constructed in oak.

It's very heavy.

These metal retaining
plates are of iron,

and we used copper nails.

In actual fact, this
was more of a challenge

than I'd really anticipated,
even using some modern tools

and machinery.

It was tough.

When one considers that all this
would have been done by hand--

planes, chisels, adzes, axes--

by the Roman engineers, I'm
just filled with incredulity

that they were
capable of doing this.

What's really quite
fascinating about this project

is that we can't really consider
modern life and modern machines

without the use of
these kind of bearings.

One can only imagine the
astonishment of the onlookers

on board the temple
of Diana Nemi ship.

The statue of Diana
suddenly started to move.

And this was only really
achievable by the ability

of Roman engineers to overcome
the problems of friction.

NARRATOR: And there's yet
another incredible innovation,

a mechanical chain
pump developed

to unprecedented levels.

After the Romans, this ingenious
method of removing bilge water

would not reappear
for over 1,000 years.

Why is it on the
Lake Nemi ships?

Because you're on
the lake and nobody

likes the smell of
stale lake water.

So on a pleasure palace
for an emperor who

was capable of cutting your
head off for very little,

you didn't want to
run a smelly boat.

So they'd come up with
the best possible pump.

KARL UDE-MARTINEZ: When the
Romans created their ship

technology it was the sheer
scale of their ambition,

their application, and their
imagination, which just seems

to be impossible.

NARRATOR: The Nemi ships created
by the emperor Caligula were

examples of the sheer
technological brilliance

and decadence of Rome.

But like their creator,
they would be short lived.

BETTANY HUGHES: It was a brief
but very, very intense reign

that ended in a dark tragedy.

And either his relatives
or the Praetorian Guard,

those who were closest to him,
ambushed and assassinated him.

He died from many stab wounds.

ANN INSCKER: We believe that
the senators in particular

wanted to grant him the
status of damnatio memoriae,

condemnation of memory.

And that was something
where you got wiped off

the face of the Earth.

NARRATOR: And the Nemi
ships would be wiped off

the face of the Earth
for the next 2,000 years.

BETTANY HUGHES: The
Nemi ships end up

at the bottom of the
lake in the volcanic mud.

We don't quite know
how they got there,

but the fact that Caligula
had so many enemies

suggests at some point
they were scuppered.

They were sunk.

ANDREW LAMBERT: These
are technologies

that the Romans mastered.

They used them.

They used them even on ships.

And they disappeared.

At the end of the ancient
world those technologies

simply vanished, and they had
to be reinvented all over again.

The Nemi ships encapsulate
something important about what

it is to be human.

In some ways they're
a demonstration

of just what man can do,
but they also remind us

of our arrogance and
that sometimes we just

don't know when to stop.

NARRATOR: The ancient world
could create pleasure ships

that still amaze us
today, but they also

created floating superweapons in
a desperate ancient arms race.

NARRATOR: We think the
development of these

100,000-ton modern warships
starts with the first steel

battleships of the
First World War,

but steel armor was used
hundreds of years before

on the first ironclad
the world has ever known.

This mysterious ship
utilized armor plating at sea

for the first time and
achieved the impossible.

It saved a nation.

The turtle ships
were commissioned

by a Korean admiral
in order to overcome

the aggressive military
might of the Japanese,

but they underestimated
Korean resilience.

In the late 16th
century, Korea

was facing the threat
of a massive invasion

from the powerful Japanese navy.

So in response, in
1591 Admiral Yi Sun-sin

commissioned a fleet of modern
warships unlike the world

had ever seen before.

NARRATOR: The Japanese
had an invasion fleet

of over 700 ships.

Admiral Yi Sun-sin knew
he couldn't outfight them.

He would have to outthink them.

But how could he do this?

RAY ASHLEY: Ships can be
weapons in several ways.

You can simply pretend like
they are pieces of territory

or real estate where they
come alongside each other and

soldiers fight from
one to another,

but the ships themselves can
be used to sink other ships.

NARRATOR: The genius of Admiral
Yi Sun-sin created a warship

centuries ahead of its time.

If you're going to take on
the powerful Japanese navy,

the Korean admiral realized
you needed a game changer.

It was called the geobukseon,
or the turtle ship.

NARRATOR: It's
impossible to believe,

but this ship would triumph
in battle at odds of 30 to 1

using impossibly
modern technology.

This ancient sea monster had
to survive what for other ships

would be a suicide mission.

There's an intriguing clue
to how the turtle ship was

so successful at
this Korean temple.

This wood called red pine is
hard and dense enough to resist

gunfire and cannon fire.

So this incredible superweapon
was armored just like a turtle.

Picture a turtle
swimming through the water

with its hardened shell, arms
and legs out to the side.

Those would be the oars.

The men were
encapsulated inside.

Around the outside
of the ship was

a ring of cannons that
could fire in any direction.

NARRATOR: These 12 cannons
could destroy Japanese ships

at long range.

[banging]

These guns, small, bronze,
muzzle-loading six-pounders,

were about the best that
could be had in that period.

They proved to be stunningly
effective in battle.

NARRATOR: But it wasn't just
impossibly modern firepower

and protection that made the
turtle ship so formidable.

The turtle ship was
full of surprises.

The invincible
Japanese navy fought

by using their overwhelming
superior numbers of soldiers

to board and seize enemy ships.

But against the turtle
ships, this tactic

would be impossible
because of these.

HUNTER ELLIS: Why would
you put iron spikes

on the deck of a ship?

Well, that would keep
other people from boarding.

In fact, it was said that they
would lay hay mats down on top

so those spikes were concealed.

Then when the enemy
would jump on board,

they found what was
waiting for them.

In this way the crew were
protected from Japanese missile

fire and from boarding actions,
and were able to concentrate

on using their own weapons and
destroying the Japanese fleet.

NARRATOR: Another incredible
parallel with the modern world

is what the 12 cannons on
the turtle ships fired.

[booming]

These iron-tipped darts
were ship-to-ship missiles,

a 20th century innovation
on a 16th century warship,

smashing into enemy ships
at 200 miles per hour.

[booming]

[crashing]

For hundreds of years they
remain the most powerful ships

ever built.

HUNTER ELLIS: I've
been on board some

of the most advanced naval
vessels in the entire world.

And when your ship has
a strategic advantage

over the enemy, it gives
you that will to fight.

It gives you the
confidence to know

that you can go into battle and
then return home to your family

and friends.

So imagine what this did to
the sailors of the turtle ship.

It gave them the ability to go
against a force that was more

formidable than their own,
knowing that they could come

back.

NARRATOR: In the
16th century, Korea

was faced with a massive
Japanese invasion fleet.

Korea would come up with one of
the greatest ships in history

to overcome this attack.

It was called the turtle ship.

On its bow was a
fearsome dragon's head.

The reason you put a dragon
on the bow of your ship,

it's about intimidation,
power, a symbol of strength.

You see that fierce
face coming towards you,

and you're worried about
what's inside that ship.

NARRATOR: But this death's
head wasn't just for show.

It concealed another deadly
weapon that you'd think

belongs to today.

It was capable of spitting
firebombs of gunpowder and iron

pellets, cannonballs--

[booming]

- -and smoke screens
that would hide his ship

from the rest of the navy.

Imagine being the enemy
on the other side of that,

and all of a sudden
this dragon's head

comes protruding
out of that cloud.

That would have been
an awesome sight.

NARRATOR: It seems impossible
that this dragon's head could

actually breathe fire
hundreds of years

before modern flamethrowers.

But we do know that the use
of flame as a weapon at sea

goes back to the ancient Greeks.

This image shows
Greek fire, which

originated 1,500 years ago.

Early ships were potential
firebombs made from wood,

fabric, rope, and tar.

So we know the ancients
used fire on ships,

but how did it work?

[rock music]

This reconstruction of a
2,500-year-old weapon is from

an ancient mural of a
flamethrower mounted on a ship.

This right here
is a working model

of the world's first
flamethrower, the fire raiser.

So essentially the
way this will work

is we have two
hollowed out beams that

have been reconnected,
and you have a hollow tube

on the inside of this.

The end has been capped so that
it's airtight, and from the end

protrudes a pipe that goes
into the cauldron right here.

And in the cauldron
you have coal, sulfur,

pitch to create that flame.

This is then mounted on a
movable cart with a bellow

at one end where
the user would be,

and you can move this forward
to your objective, activate

the bellow, and from
this cauldron spits

a directional flame
right onto your target.

This is the ultimate
psychological weapon.

NARRATOR: The fire raiser
isn't just terrifying.

It's lethal.

So that right
there is what it's

like to be on the receiving
end of an ancient superweapon.

NARRATOR: No wonder this weapon
was called a fire raiser.

We know that fire,
explosives, even

smoke screens came from the
turtle ship's terrible mouth.

But there is evidence of what
we now think of as weapons

of mass destruction.

The turtle ships
use choking gas.

Could it be possible that
chemical warfare was first

used 500 years before we think
it first appeared in World War

I?

Even in the ancient world,
the idea of noxious fumes

was well understood.

Ancient Greek philosophers
went up Mount Etna

and were overcome by the
fumes, and wrote about it.

So the idea that you could
kill people with gas was known,

but it took the
Koreans to come up

with an effective way
of projecting this

in a particular kind of battle.

NARRATOR: Experts believe that
gas from a mixture of burning

sulfur and saltpeter would
have incapacitated its victims.

Experimental model
maker Richard Windley

is investigating just how
effective this delivery system

might have been.

RICHARD WINDLEY: If we
think about the use of gas

in the First World War,
obviously it was a very, very

dangerous technique.

It only needed the
wind to change.

And the gas could
actually affect

the people who were
trying to deploy it

rather than the enemy.

So it is a risky strategy.

I've got one of the
little chargers here.

I'm going to light this probably
in the pot, put the lid back

on fairly quickly,
and then hopefully we

should get some smoke.

NARRATOR: But could this
really have delivered

an ancient chemical weapon?

RICHARD WINDLEY: The assumption
is with something like this

that it was projecting the
smoke a considerable distance.

Well, if you try
blowing anything in air,

you can't blow it more than
probably about 10 feet at most.

So really it was just a way of
getting this stuff into the air

and dispersing it.

But I think that given the
right kind of maneuverability

of these turtle ships, it
probably was a viable option.

NARRATOR: How did these
technological advances

translate into success in the
struggle to dominate the seas

around Korea?

At the Battle of Myeongnyang,
Admiral Yi Sun-sin and 12

turtle ships made a desperate
last stand against impossible

odds--

a Japanese fleet of over 300
ships, including 133 warships.

How effective were
the turtle ships?

Well, their true
power was realized

when the Korean admiral led 12
turtle ships against a fleet

of 133 Japanese naval vessels.

He sank 31 Japanese ships
before the rest of the fleet

turned and ran away.

So by using this
ancient technology

Korea was safe,
at least for now.

NARRATOR: In no battle
in naval history

has such a small force smashed
an enemy fleet that outnumbered

them 30 to 1.

In three battles, the
turtle ships completely

leveled the score.

They turned a defeated Korean
navy into a winning force.

They smashed the Japanese fleet.

They prevented the invasion.

So they really were a
transformational weapon system.

They used technology
brilliantly to solve

a fundamental strategic problem.

And Korea remained independent
for the next 300 years.

NARRATOR: Admiral Yi
Sun-sin is the national hero

of Korea to this day.

The turtle ships contained
impossibly sophisticated

technology that predated 20th
century warfare by 500 years.

And all over the ancient world,
oceans had become battlefields.

They fought titanic
battles, but the winners

of those battles controlled the
sea, they controlled the money,

and they became the
great empires of history.

NARRATOR: We've seen how
the genius of ancient Korea

created the world's first modern
battleship hundreds of years

before the mighty ironclad
fleets of the 20th century.

[banging]

Just like today, man has
always been seeking an edge.

He's always been seeking to
use his skill, his innovation,

and his craft to come
up with a killer system.

NARRATOR: But the first
purpose-built warship

appeared 2,500 years
ago in ancient Greece.

The ancients used massive
ships as floating battlefields

for their armies.

When the tiny
city-state of Athens

was outnumbered by an
overwhelming Persian invasion,

they needed a game changer.

The golden age of Greece is an
age of ingenuity and invention,

but there's one
particular supercraft

that was perfected at this
time that really changes world

history.

NARRATOR: To fight the
mighty Persian empire,

the Greeks perfected a
ship that didn't just

carry men and weapons.

It was a weapon in itself--

120 feet of offensive power.

This is the trireme.

It seems impossible, but this
incredibly destructive weapon

was powered by muscle alone.

In the 1980s, naval
experts set out

to build an exact replica
of this famous superweapon.

This was the first
trireme in 1,500 years

to row the Mediterranean.

Research suggests
the trireme achieved

speeds of up to 12 knots.

One ancient writer describes
how a trireme rowed 185 miles

from Athens to Mytilini
in just 24 hours.

That's an average
speed of 8 knots.

For a ship of this size, that
seems beyond the capabilities

of any engineer,
let alone oarsman.

But the trireme used a
highly sophisticated design

that belongs more to our
century than 2,500 years ago.

The oarsmen are actually
packed in in an interlocking

jigsaw fashion.

So you get the most oarsmen
in the most compact space

generating the greatest
amount of power.

It really is a very clever
piece of geometric engineering.

NARRATOR: But an incredible
design was not enough.

It needed an incredible crew.

BETTANY HUGHES: We know that
the men who powered these boats

must have been
really extraordinary

physical specimens,
super, super fit.

Because you don't
have movable seats,

so you're doing everything
with your arms and your back.

NARRATOR: The Greek
rowers of the triremes

were free men united
in their determination

to protect their homeland.

But could one ship
really destroy another

without firepower?

[banging]

This incredible discovery
of a bronze ram from Athlit

in modern Israel may reveal the
deadly power of the trireme.

Maritime historian
Andrew Lambert

is putting the ram to the test.

What we're going to
be able to do today

is see just what it looks like
when a ram like this smashes

into the side of a ship.

Everyone happy?

About to run the test.

MAN (ON RADIO): Ready.

NARRATOR: This
devastating demonstration

shows how the Greeks were able
to sink the Persian fleet.

But mishandling the trireme
could be deadlier for its crew

than for the enemy.

3D analyst James Dean is
investigating why it could

be a double-edged weapon.

If you ran too fast at 12
knots, you'll get stuck fast,

and you've attached
yourself to a sinking ship.

Ram slowly at under
9 knots and the ship

won't be damaged enough to
sink, and they'll board you.

The trireme travels its
own length in six seconds.

Timing is a matter
of life and death.

Arrive four seconds too early
and the rammer gets rammed.

[banging]

NARRATOR: Some experts believe
the impact of the trireme's ram

didn't just punch a hole.

It caused boats to explode,
just like a modern weapon.

RAY ASHLEY: The
Athlit ram does not

look like the kind of device
in a bow of a ship that's

designed to poke a
hole into an adversary.

It seems that it was constructed
to actually deliver the max

amount of force to the
entire structure of the ship.

It has these three plates
that project forward.

It looks like it's supposed
to deliver shock over as

wide an area as possible.

[banging]

NARRATOR: It is believed that
to strengthen and protect

the hull engineers used
hypozomata, heavy ropes

tightened from fore to aft.

Hypozomata kept the hull under
13 and 1/2 tons of tension.

This made it highly
vulnerable to the type of blow

the Athlit ram could deliver.

This whole ship is
held in compression.

That force is locked into
the structure of the ship.

You can imagine the
kind of explosive force

that could be delivered, like
releasing an arrow from a bow.

ANDREW LAMBERT: The
trireme is perfect.

It's light, elegant,
aggressive, and every inch of it

says power.

This is a killing machine,
a truly decisive weapon.

They shifted the balance
of power from East to West.

They wrested control of the
Aegean from the Persians

and began an empire that
would leave a lasting legacy

in history.

NARRATOR: It's amazing to think
2,000 years ago the Romans

and Greeks were building
ships of such high technology.

[thudding]

But it's even more
impossible to believe

that 2,000 years earlier Egypt
used advanced shipbuilding

techniques which we
have lost from history.

Their temples contain
clues to how important

ships were to them.

I'm at this temple
in southern Egypt

where there's impressive artwork
and hieroglyphics on the wall.

You can see here a boat which
belonged to Ramesses II.

Now, boats were really important
to the ancient Egyptians

because, of course, the
Nile was their major trade

route and a major way to get
things around the country.

JOHN NAYLOR: Without
the River Nile,

ancient Egypt simply
wouldn't have existed.

The river is both the lifeblood
of the nation, but also

the main highway.

Some of the longest
ships ever built

plied up and down the
Nile, carrying huge stones

such as obelisks from
Aswan in the south

up to the north of the country.

NARRATOR: But what
other mysterious boats

did the ancient Egyptians have?

The Giza Plateau, Egypt.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu
is one of the wonders

of the ancient world,
but a discovery

next to this great structure
shows how highly sophisticated

the Egyptians had become
in building ships.

ANDREW LAMBERT: At the
foot of the Great Pyramid,

archaeologists found a buried
boat, a very large wooden boat

thousands of years old made
with the most exquisite mortise

and tenon joints.

NARRATOR: The boat had
been carefully built,

then taken apart by the
Egyptian boat builders.

Its wooden parts, which were
in almost perfect condition,

had been neatly stacked in
the pit, all 1,224 of them.

When Egyptian experts
reconstructed the ship,

it was like piecing together
a huge jigsaw puzzle.

Egyptologists were amazed how
intricate and advanced it was.

ANDREW LAMBERT: The
Khufu ship is simply

a landmark in human technology.

It's the first great
vessel built of wood.

NARRATOR: And this is
the extraordinary ship

they created.

The Khufu boat was shell
built, meaning the outer shell

of planks came first, then the
interior timbers and framing.

As an ancient world ship it was
a large vessel, 140 feet long

and 19 feet wide.

As a famous equivalent,
the Mayflower

used by the Pilgrim
fathers 4,000 years later

was about 30 feet shorter.

JOHN NAYLOR: These
posts were constructed

in what may seem an odd way.

They were roped together.

They weren't nailed or
pinned as we might expect,

or even glued as we would
do with modern boats.

NARRATOR: The restorers
had expected the boat

to be constructed like
a modern wooden boat,

but they discovered that
the planks were held or sewn

together with rope passing
through slots into the timbers.

JOHN NAYLOR: This
construction technique

produced boats which were
flexible, quick to build,

and easy to maintain.

And this meant they could plow
up and down the Nile, carrying

some impossibly large loads.

NARRATOR: Amazingly,
1 mile of rope

was required to assemble it.

It was a highly advanced
piece of ancient engineering.

It's a boat that tells
us a tremendous amount

about Egyptian technology, about
the transition from boats made

of reeds into
boats made of wood,

and about shipbuilding in
an age before metal fixings.

NARRATOR: It is
thought that in order

to keep the vessel watertight,
the holes would be covered

with beeswax.

It's the first example in
history where an intricate ship

with no nails was discovered.

We can all agree that the
Great Pyramid was a miracle

of stone construction.

The Khufu ship, now
that was a miracle

of ancient shipbuilding.

NARRATOR: And
finally, researchers

discovered that it was
assembled and disassembled

for one purpose
only, for the pharaoh

to sail to the afterlife.

ANDREW LAMBERT: It was never
built to sail down the River

Nile.

This is a ceremonial craft
designed for a purely hereafter

purpose.

So it tells us everything
about the Egyptians.

They're obsessed
with the afterlife.

It's more important to
leave this world in style

than it is to live in style.

NARRATOR: Although the
Khufu boat might not

have sailed on
water, it is still

considered to be one
of the greatest ships

ever to be excavated.

Your grave goods says
everything about you,

and Khufu had the
best grave goods.

NARRATOR: The greatest
ships of the ancient world

used highly sophisticated
technology thousands of years

ahead of their time, from the
first battleships to luxury

yachts and the supership that
beat the tomb raiders, proving

that the ancients were able
to achieve the impossible,

creating astonishing
vessels that are still

among the world's
greatest ships.