0:00:02 > 0:00:05Look at this. It's almost 2,500 years old,
0:00:05 > 0:00:10made of solid gold, 80 individual leaves, 112 individual flowers,
0:00:10 > 0:00:16each painstakingly produced by some of the most talented craftsmen the world has ever seen.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20It's a wreath for a queen from Macedon in Northern Greece,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23made in the 4th century BC.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26It's a classic case of royal extravagance,
0:00:26 > 0:00:30part of a collection of some of the most wondrous luxuries
0:00:30 > 0:00:32the world has ever seen.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38But luxury isn't always just a question of the expensive and the beautiful
0:00:38 > 0:00:40for the rich and the powerful.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45It's always been much more and much more important than that.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52This story of luxury is about an idea that touches on democracy
0:00:52 > 0:00:54and patriotism,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57on social harmony, and epic courage.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59And even on the divine.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04And because it's so important,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08there's always been more than one definition of what luxury actually is.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11But one thing we can agree on. Luxury is a rare thing.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14And that's why it causes so much anxiety with us today.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Particularly those luxuries that are rare, exotic, expensive.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21They divide us into the haves and the have nots.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24So, do we love luxury or hate it?
0:01:24 > 0:01:25Or both?
0:01:25 > 0:01:29For my money, the best way to understand our anxious response to luxury
0:01:29 > 0:01:32is to think about how luxury operated in our past,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36and how that past continues to affect us today.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39To do that, one of the key periods we need to focus on
0:01:39 > 0:01:43is just a few short centuries in Ancient Greece.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Our story of luxury begins not with the exotic,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07but what might at first appear to be the mundane.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Meat.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15But from the beginning of human history, meat has actually been a prime luxury.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21For millennia, the staples of human diet have been fruits, cereals or vegetables.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Meat was rare for most people in the past.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26And rarity is the mother of luxury.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Ancient Greece was no exception.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Here in the meat market in modern Athens
0:02:33 > 0:02:35you get what you want, as long as you can pay for it.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37THEY CONVERSE IN GREEK
0:02:46 > 0:02:48In ancient Athens, it was very different.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Most people got their meat in sacrifices,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55when animals were killed in religious ceremonies as gifts to the gods.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59And the most important of those ceremony here in ancient Athens was the Panathenaia,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02where people came from all over Attica to pay worship
0:03:02 > 0:03:06to the city's patron deity, Athena Polias.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18The Panathenaia was the biggest civic festival in democratic Athens.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21It lasted more than a week.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26After musical and athletic competitions,
0:03:26 > 0:03:31on the sixth day of festivities, a great procession climbed up a winding route
0:03:31 > 0:03:35to the Acropolis for the sacrifice.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38The procession began on the edge of the city.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43We can get a sense of what it looked like
0:03:43 > 0:03:47because many scholars argue that it was depicted in the frieze of the Parthenon,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Athena's famous temple on the Acropolis.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53We have to imagine the clank of the Athenian soldiers' armour,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56the smell of the incense burners carried by the maidens,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00the gossipy tribute-bearers bearing gifts from the allied states,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02the Athenian elders carrying their olive branches,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05priestesses from noble families.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09In amongst all that was a wheeled model ship carrying, as a sail,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11a new cloak for the goddess Athena,
0:04:11 > 0:04:16and, in front, 100 sacrificial cows,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18all being herded up to the Acropolis.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Like the other objects taken up to the Acropolis,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28cattle were very valuable.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Most of the gifts ended up being dedicated as offerings.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37But the cows were for sacrificing. And for eating.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39There and then.
0:04:39 > 0:04:45Each animal was led up to the altar and when the moment was propitious, its throat was cut.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Can you imagine the noise of the crowd as the animal thudded to the floor.
0:04:49 > 0:04:55The smell, the sight of the blood as it gushed from its throat, covering the altar.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00For the Greeks, this was the ultimate moment of ritual communication with the divine.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05But it was also a moment of intense, luxurious expectation.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09At this sacrifice,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13the meat was shared out to those who took part in the ceremony.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15The priests gave the gods their portion,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18usually just the bones wrapped in fat
0:05:18 > 0:05:21which, happily, the gods were said to prefer.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Then they then divided the rest out amongst the crowd,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27And the eating began.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30The most important thing about this meal was that it was a civic affair
0:05:30 > 0:05:33that unified the whole community. And here's why.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36One cow will provide half-pound steaks for about 160 people,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38and lesser meat for another 400.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Up here, they sacrificed 100 cows.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47That's meat enough for 56,000 people. The entire population of Athens, and then some.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50People weren't just coming from the city but from miles around.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54It's as if the entire population of Kent descended on Canterbury
0:05:54 > 0:05:56for a giant public barbecue.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59And all of this was at public expense.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Meat was a luxury, to be sure, but it was a luxury that could be enjoyed by everyone,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06not just a privileged elite. Athens had taken a luxury
0:06:06 > 0:06:11and turned it into something to unify an entire community together.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16And how that came about is a story that still echoes for us today
0:06:16 > 0:06:19as we think about how we understand luxury.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26The tale begins in a time of real trouble in Greece,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30a bit like today. And we're going back to the days before Athens became a democracy.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34In the 7th century BC,
0:06:34 > 0:06:35power here in Athens lay with the rich,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38the elite, the aristocracy.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43These noble families competed incessantly for power.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Sometimes violently.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Each aimed to dominate the city.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The struggle was not only political, but cultural,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01fuelled by the conspicuous public display of private luxury.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05By the late 7th century BC, rich aristocrats in ancient Athens
0:07:05 > 0:07:07seem to have been spending more and more.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11These aristocrats had little qualm about their wealth or power.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15They were, after all, the "eupatridae", the well-born.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17And this showing off wasn't simply a PR exercise.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21It was a fundamental part of their armoury of strategies
0:07:21 > 0:07:23for competing with one another.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31So they wore rich clothes and expensive armour,
0:07:31 > 0:07:36feasted on fine food and wine, served by companies of slaves.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39We can't experience these things today.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42But what we can find are their graves.
0:07:43 > 0:07:44In ancient times,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48the burial ground of Athens lay outside the main gates of the city.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51In an area called the Kerameikos.
0:07:51 > 0:07:57And in those days, the funeral of an aristocrat was a showy, expensive affair.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58It celebrated wealth and status.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03So much so, that it was itself a form of luxury.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Here you can find monuments from many periods of Athenian history.
0:08:07 > 0:08:13But if you know what you're looking for, you can find what impressed in the late 7th century BC -
0:08:13 > 0:08:15burial mounds.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Walking through the Kerameikos is like walking through
0:08:17 > 0:08:21a history of the Athenians' relationship with the luxury funeral.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26Over here, we have the old aristocratic grand family tumulus,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30huge, personalized, once capped by a beautiful statue.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35A burial mound was a dramatic way of establishing status.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Everyone saw it on their way in and out of the city.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Luxury as political propaganda.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44I think that's about political power.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47In almost all societies,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49funerals can be very easily politicised.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Just think about, for example, the IRA funerals of the past
0:08:52 > 0:08:54or Palestinian funerals.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59It's a very good public opportunity for a family or a kin group
0:08:59 > 0:09:02to make a big noise publicly.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07But for the other Athenians, those left out of the competition
0:09:07 > 0:09:12and out of the luxuries, it was a very different story.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Large numbers of them were in debt and in those days,
0:09:17 > 0:09:18the consequences were grim.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Some Athenians even found themselves forced into slavery
0:09:24 > 0:09:25to clear their debts.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27The situation has parallels today.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35This is one of four shelters for the homeless set up by Father Ignatius.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38More and more people have started coming here to be fed
0:09:38 > 0:09:41since the global financial crisis hit.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44They are in debt, and suffering
0:09:44 > 0:09:47and naturally, some of them blame the lenders.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02Feelings back in the 7th century BC were not much different
0:10:02 > 0:10:04and they were explosive.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Then, as now, there was a serious danger of civil unrest.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Or even revolution.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16And displays of private luxury at funerals and elsewhere
0:10:16 > 0:10:20seemed to have been fast becoming a dangerous provocation.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24In 600 BC here in Athens, the rich aristocrats were getting richer
0:10:24 > 0:10:27while the poor increasingly being sold into debt bondage,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29debts owed to the very people called eupatridi,
0:10:29 > 0:10:30well-born, the aristocrats.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Even amongst the aristocrats,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35competition it seems had broken out into murder on the streets.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40Everyone realised the tension was building, possibly to the scale of civil war.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43In that apprehension, the Athenians turns to a man called Solon
0:10:43 > 0:10:45to help them with their problems
0:10:45 > 0:10:49and because luxury was such a vital part of that problem,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53what was needed was a new approach to luxury itself.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Solon was an aristocrat but a very unusual one.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06He believed that worth and happiness were not only to be measured
0:11:06 > 0:11:09in gold and silver and now perhaps for the first time
0:11:09 > 0:11:14in the political arena, we find the appearance of the idea
0:11:14 > 0:11:18that private luxury can be a dangerous and divisive thing.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20This was a radical step.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Solon believed in non-material methods of judging happiness,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27but that every level of society should have appropriate rights and powers.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29So he set about reforming Athens,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32particularly outlawing debt bondage for the poor.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33But he did something more.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Luxurious expenditure had been part of the problem from the beginning.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Perhaps Solon had Delphi's motto, "Nothing in excess"
0:11:40 > 0:11:45in mind when he went about attacking that luxurious expenditure.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50Particularly, banning that associated with funeral processions and burials.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54There's a problem really of extreme economic distress on the part of
0:11:54 > 0:11:59most Athenians, coupled with an extreme desire by a few
0:11:59 > 0:12:01to better themselves politically.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04In other words, to get their hands on a bit of political power.
0:12:04 > 0:12:05So in this crisis,
0:12:05 > 0:12:10Solon was thought to be the person to turn to to bring about...
0:12:10 > 0:12:12he was actually called an arbitrator,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15so somehow keep the warring parties apart.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17Did Solon do what he set out to do?
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Well, he did insofar as he cancelled debts,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22which was wonderful for the mass of the poor.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24He did redistribute power
0:12:24 > 0:12:27insofar as organs of government were able to function securely.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32And he is a republican in the sense, he's not a democrat, but he is a republican,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35he believes in organs of self government
0:12:35 > 0:12:37which are at least stable.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41- And Solon wasn't even aiming for democracy?- No, no, no. Not at all.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44He couldn't possibly have been aiming for democracy...
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Because he didn't know about it.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Neither the word nor the thing existed but what he was aiming for was stability
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and what he didn't achieve was stability.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Solon has attempted to control luxury to create social harmony
0:13:05 > 0:13:08but instead the political jockeying got even worse
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and it even spilled on to the Acropolis itself.
0:13:11 > 0:13:17Through to the late 6th century, it became a veritable forest of sculpture
0:13:17 > 0:13:19as the aristocrats competed with each other
0:13:19 > 0:13:25by making magnificent and luxurious offerings to the gods.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36This display was public all right, but it was intended to serve
0:13:36 > 0:13:40the personal glory of private individuals.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Nothing seemed to have changed, so crisis loomed again.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55The climax came towards the end of the 6th century BC
0:13:55 > 0:13:59and incredibly it led to the birth of democracy
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and a new role for luxury.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Athenian society had once again ignited into complicated violence
0:14:05 > 0:14:09and then one faction, led by a man called Cleisthenes,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13invoked the mass of the people to break the power of its enemies.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18And the eventual result was, for the first time in human history,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21a democratic constitution.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24The rule of the people. One man, one vote.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32Up here was the assembly place where the new democratic Athenian citizens came together.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Democracy was established in Athens in 508 BC
0:14:36 > 0:14:40and it had a dramatic impact on Athenian attitudes to luxury.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Solon's reforms had been a compromise between rich and poor
0:14:44 > 0:14:47but now the watchword was "isonomia",
0:14:47 > 0:14:51absolute equality and egalitarian rights for every citizen.
0:14:51 > 0:14:52It was a radical idea then
0:14:52 > 0:14:56and in some parts of the world today it's still a radical idea.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00But the problem for the Athenians was this - democracy had come about
0:15:00 > 0:15:03as the result of competition between rich aristocratic families.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07As a result, there was this fear that democracy might still be at risk
0:15:07 > 0:15:12from those same machinations, so if luxury was to be acceptable
0:15:12 > 0:15:17in the democracy, it had to be public, not private, in origin.
0:15:17 > 0:15:23In particular, that had a dramatic impact on dedications and temples.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Any visitor would have noticed something special
0:15:29 > 0:15:32happening in Athens at this time.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Under the democracy in the 5th century BC,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38the Acropolis was rebuilt with a steady insistence
0:15:38 > 0:15:42on the primacy of public monuments over private ones.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46The democracy was consciously trying to outdo and build over
0:15:46 > 0:15:49the earlier efforts of the aristocratic clans.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55The final scheme was the brainchild of the Athenian democratic leader, Pericles.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58On it, he spent a huge proportion of the revenues of both the state
0:15:58 > 0:16:00and the empire which Athens had gained
0:16:00 > 0:16:02and it was put up at phenomenal speed.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Pericles's later biographer puts it like this.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09"For this reason are the works of Pericles all the more amazing.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11"They were created in a short time for all time."
0:16:14 > 0:16:17The new public buildings on the Acropolis
0:16:17 > 0:16:21became the Empire State Building or Eiffel Tower of their day.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Icons of the city and its new democracy.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29The project involved some of the greatest artists
0:16:29 > 0:16:31in the whole of Greek history.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37The architecture of the Parthenon takes into account
0:16:37 > 0:16:42subtle optical illusions that ensure its massive proportions look perfect.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44The temple looks rectilinear,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47but there's not a straight line anywhere.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Likewise, the sculpture which decorated it
0:16:53 > 0:16:57was some of the finest the Greek world ever produced.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03It was all further enhanced with paint and precious metals.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08The whole complex was truly dazzling.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Now these luxurious democratic monuments defined Athens
0:17:13 > 0:17:16and of course the temples were surrounded by statue dedications
0:17:16 > 0:17:19but now they were being put up by ordinary citizens,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21not just rich aristocrats.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26But that didn't mean that there wasn't still huge inequality in Athenian society.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30You have rich citizens and poor citizens but politically,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32they're one-man, one-vote.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35They're all theoretically equal in the assembly.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39This comes out in all sorts of interesting ways. Dress is one.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Athenian gentleman dress down, you can't tell who's a citizen
0:17:43 > 0:17:47and who's a slave in Athens, they all look the same and dress alike.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Not just their dress, the slaves are acting with a sense of liberty you wouldn't expect.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52Yeah.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56It's like American presidents who eat hot dogs and wear baseball caps
0:17:56 > 0:17:59even though they're multi-millionaires. You dress down
0:17:59 > 0:18:02and if you dress up too much, it's the kind of thing
0:18:02 > 0:18:05that in the assembly or in the law courts,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07people will pick you off for.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10What's interesting to me, as I'm interested in power,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13is that the masses actually compelled the rich
0:18:13 > 0:18:18to spend their money not on themselves but on public services.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22But Athens feeds back on itself into this whole personal behaviour
0:18:22 > 0:18:26- which makes it a tightrope for the Athenian wealthy.- It is dialectical.
0:18:26 > 0:18:27It is.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30It's strategies of management, isn't it?
0:18:30 > 0:18:33But the accusation then is always if you're spending money
0:18:33 > 0:18:37on personal adornment and personal luxury, you can't be spending it
0:18:37 > 0:18:39on the city, which is where you should be spending it.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Quite. There's a balance.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51For democratic Athenians, luxury wasn't just a political problem.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53It was a moral one too.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59A taste for private luxury had become a moral failing.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04And it wasn't just through fine art and architecture
0:19:04 > 0:19:06that these ideas were publicised.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11Perhaps even more important was another Athenian institution -
0:19:12 > 0:19:14the theatre.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Athens was the home of Greek tragedy.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21The plays were performed in the Theatre of Dionysus
0:19:21 > 0:19:23just beneath the Acropolis.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Today we think about going to the theatre as something of a luxury,
0:19:30 > 0:19:31a night out.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34But back then it was very different. For the Athenians
0:19:34 > 0:19:37it was almost the duty of a citizen to go to the theatre.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40But putting on plays was an expensive business
0:19:40 > 0:19:44so the Athenians allowed rich individuals to sponsor those productions
0:19:44 > 0:19:47and in return, the rich individuals got a chance to show off.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Those two columns behind me? They're just that.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54A rich individual who'd sponsored the winning play was allowed to show off his success.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58As a result, the Athenians had found a way of channelling
0:19:58 > 0:20:02the wealth of rich individuals towards the public benefit.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05And it was here in the theatre that we can see
0:20:05 > 0:20:08something of the Athenians' attitudes towards luxury.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14In 472 BC when he was still a young man,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Pericles paid for a new play by the playwright Aeschylus.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22It was called The Persians.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Persia was no democracy, it was the most powerful monarchy
0:20:25 > 0:20:29in the ancient world with its capital in today's Iran.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34Just eight years before, Athens had gone to war against Persia
0:20:34 > 0:20:36for the city's very survival...
0:20:36 > 0:20:37and won.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44Pericles' play describes how the news of their defeat
0:20:44 > 0:20:47was received back in Persia and in it, Athens' enemies are portrayed
0:20:47 > 0:20:52not only as autocratic but as immensely rich and sunk in luxury.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57It's a culture and civilisation that counts
0:20:57 > 0:21:02on quantity, on wealth, exhibits of wealth, exhibits of emotions
0:21:02 > 0:21:07up to an extreme quantity and size.
0:21:07 > 0:21:14Huge army, big, gold weapons and the grandeur of the emperors.
0:21:14 > 0:21:20Whereas the Greeks had one virtue which is "metron",
0:21:20 > 0:21:25balance in things, not to go to the extremes.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29I don't think that Aeschylus says which is right and which is wrong
0:21:29 > 0:21:32because he's not at all didactic.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35All he says is that we're different.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38I think he wrote this play warning the people
0:21:38 > 0:21:41in the midst of this happiness and joy,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45be careful because you may make the same mistakes later.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50In the play, the Persians aren't just rich lovers of luxury,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53they are soft and over-emotional.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Here was the danger.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59Luxury was attractive but it could corrupt, not just Persians
0:21:59 > 0:22:01but Athenian democrats too.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05And they knew it. In fact, the Greeks had a word for it.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Not "hubris", but "habros".
0:22:09 > 0:22:14The key word here is habros which suggests softness, luxury,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17delicacy, refinement, sometimes a bit of effeminacy.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20And this characterises the Persians,
0:22:20 > 0:22:26some of them are habro goy, they lament in a habros fashion.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32It's their clothing, their manners, their ways and quite different
0:22:32 > 0:22:38from respectable Greeks who, after all, have just beaten this enormous army.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43So again it's this notion of the polluting aspect of luxury
0:22:43 > 0:22:47but it's very two-sided even with the Athenians, isn't it?
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Because you have this distrust of the luxury.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56On the other hand you also have Athenians adopting Persian fashions,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00adopting Persian dress in a very positive way
0:23:00 > 0:23:03and this shows up on the images, on the vase painting quite a lot.
0:23:03 > 0:23:09How much does the concept of luxury become the mainstay
0:23:09 > 0:23:12of the Greek conception of the foreign, of Oriental, of Persia?
0:23:12 > 0:23:16First there's a big difference between the foreign and the Oriental.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20So habros isn't for the foreigners, it remains very much
0:23:20 > 0:23:23a keynote of the eastern foreigners,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25the people from Ionia and points east
0:23:25 > 0:23:27so Persians, Medes, that sort of person.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38So according to Pericles and his playwright, Aeschylus,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42to be luxurious was not just to be undemocratic,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45it was to be Persian, it was to be like the enemy.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47But it was even more than that,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50this play was about helping the Greeks find themselves.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53The Greeks were everything the Persians were not,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56the Greeks were austere, masculine, egalitarian, restrained.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59The Persians were fearful, feminine and totally over the top.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04Thinking about luxury had helped the Athenians not just to find who the enemy were,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06but who they were as a community.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10The question was, would that Greek versus Persian attitude to luxury,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14which built on Solon's attitude to luxury 100 years before,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17be able to survive against not just the natural tendency
0:24:17 > 0:24:19for the good things in life
0:24:19 > 0:24:24but the perennial Greek devotion to competition and display?
0:24:25 > 0:24:29The Persians includes a dramatically emotional scene of mourning
0:24:29 > 0:24:33for their defeat in war, habros incarnate.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38That too must have struck a chord in Pericles' Athens.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Over-the-top funeral processions and burials
0:24:42 > 0:24:44was exactly the kind of thing Solon had tried to outlaw
0:24:44 > 0:24:46in Athens 100 years before.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51Back then, he's said to have banned the amount of fine cloth you could be buried with
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and made sure that all processions took place before daybreak
0:24:54 > 0:24:56so that no-one could see them.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59The whole idea was to try and mitigate
0:24:59 > 0:25:02the public display of private luxury.
0:25:02 > 0:25:03And did it work?
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Well, yes...and no.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12In the 5th century, it seems that any monument
0:25:12 > 0:25:15that took more than three workmen 10 days to build was banned.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18But that prohibition didn't last very long.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21By the beginning of the 4th century, rich individuals had returned
0:25:21 > 0:25:24with some of the flashiest monuments to date. This is one of the first,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Dexilaos who died in battle,
0:25:26 > 0:25:31to be seen on his horse in one of his more successful cavalry charges.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38As far as luxury went, fine sculpture was just the start of it.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43On this tombstone, which commemorates a lady called Hegeso,
0:25:43 > 0:25:44you can still see
0:25:44 > 0:25:48where they attached a costly piece of real jewellery,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51a real trinket she had chosen from her dressing table
0:25:51 > 0:25:53that she remembered from life.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56Next door,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00a family monument commemorates a man called Koroibos and his descendants.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05These were substantial individuals and they didn't stint.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Many of the same artists whose skills continued
0:26:08 > 0:26:12to make Athens a treasure-box of public democratic luxury
0:26:12 > 0:26:16were also working here for private citizens.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20This explosion of luxury couldn't last forever
0:26:20 > 0:26:22and, eventually, the law clamped down again.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25And up here, you can see the result.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32Just a stumpy identikit cylinder with only a name written on it.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35From now on, however rich you were,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39cylinders like this were all you got.
0:26:41 > 0:26:42But here in the Kerameikos,
0:26:42 > 0:26:47there was another grave which was perhaps the most important of all.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52As we saw, most of the 5th century was a time of democratic restraint.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55But for Athens, it was also a time of war,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58first against the Persians, then against the city of Sparta.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Those who sacrificed themselves for their city were buried in an ultimate show of equality.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09For them, there was what the Athenians called the people's grave,
0:27:09 > 0:27:15a mass public burial area without any luxurious markings at all.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19And even today, we don't know exactly where it lay.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22Wherever it was,
0:27:22 > 0:27:27the mass grave played the same kind of role as in our society The Tomb Of The Unknown Warrior.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29But much more important was this.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31It was here in this cemetery that Pericles,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35after the end of the first year of the devastating war with Sparta,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38gave a funeral speech in which he tried to justify
0:27:38 > 0:27:42why the Athenian men had given up their lives for their city.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45And in that speech, he said that Athens
0:27:45 > 0:27:48was, "An education for all of Greece."
0:27:49 > 0:27:51But what had Athens taught Greece?
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Well, in terms of luxury, here was incredible luxury.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58But it was democratic luxury, luxury in the service of all,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02luxury that didn't divide people as much as brought them together.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Now that worked for meat, it worked for public buildings,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10it worked, to some extent, for funerals.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14But other luxuries were not quite so easily managed.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17And some were downright disruptive.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Amazingly, what caused a lot of difficulty in democratic Athens
0:28:26 > 0:28:28was something as simple as fish.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Many Greek cities were just a stone's throw from the sea.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35The ancient Greeks were famous sailors,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37and fishing was a big industry.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42Everyone knew their fishes, their rarity and their cost.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46That made fish the ultimate vehicle for luxurious consumption.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53Meat was a luxury which all Athenians could share in at big public sacrifices.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57But with fish, you could really indulge yourself.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02And a whole literature grew up to celebrate that.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05This is one of the most famous texts about fish.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08It's by a fanatical fish-fancier called Archestratus.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13from the city of Gela in Sicily, a notoriously luxurious part of the Greek world.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16In fact, so luxurious that a city not far away, Sybaris,
0:29:16 > 0:29:21has given us our own word "sybaritic" for ultimate luxury today.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25It's not surprising that Archestratus had some pretty strong views.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Let's try them out.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31"A conger eel is as much superior to any other dish
0:29:31 > 0:29:34"as the fattest tuna is to the utterly worthless raven fish."
0:29:34 > 0:29:37THEY SPEAK GREEK
0:29:46 > 0:29:48OK, no eel. Let's try something else.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50"If you see the boar fish, buy it!
0:29:50 > 0:29:53"Even if it costs its weight in gold, don't leave without it,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56"but treat all small fry with contempt - awful."
0:29:56 > 0:29:59THEY SPEAK GREEK
0:30:02 > 0:30:04He's never even heard of it. Um...
0:30:17 > 0:30:23Tsipoura, striped bream. What does Arkistratis say about it? Um...
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Oh. "The shore-hugging striped bream is an awful fish,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29"worthy of nothing".
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Times have clearly changed.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39But this was no joke.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42People cared enormously about the kind of fish
0:30:42 > 0:30:44they bought or were offered.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47A class system developed around fish,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51which made a very clear statement about the people who devoured them.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54Fish threw into sharp relief the divisions
0:30:54 > 0:30:58that still lay at every level of the community.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Meat brought people together.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02But fish divided them.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06You even start to get insults. "Opsophagos!"
0:31:06 > 0:31:09which eventually means "fish lover",
0:31:09 > 0:31:12someone consumed by their greed for fish.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18What's more, being a fish lover became a political issue,
0:31:18 > 0:31:20at the highest level.
0:31:20 > 0:31:21It was like this.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24For Athenian democrats, the real danger was people
0:31:24 > 0:31:28with uncontrolled appetites or desires.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30It didn't matter what you desired.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33It could be sex or money, fish or power.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36But it shouldn't take over.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40That was why Delphi proclaimed "Nothing in excess".
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Fish became political because Athenians believed
0:31:43 > 0:31:46that if you showed yourself out of control in one area,
0:31:46 > 0:31:50you were out of control everywhere.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53So if you couldn't control your desire for fish,
0:31:53 > 0:31:57or if you had a particular liking for very expensive fish,
0:31:57 > 0:32:01then the implication was you were most probably morally corrupt
0:32:01 > 0:32:04and, indeed, even possibly a tyrant in the making.
0:32:04 > 0:32:10Aristophanes, the comedian, says that the Athenian fish markets were constantly patrolled
0:32:10 > 0:32:13by worried Athenians on the look-out for such things.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16"If someone buys a grouper and turns his nose up at the sprats",
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Aristophanes says, "..straightaway the man next to him declares,
0:32:20 > 0:32:23"'Seems like he's on a spree for Tyranny.'"
0:32:25 > 0:32:30The implication was that such a man was full of avarice and greed.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33And potentially a tyrant.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41By regulating funerals and worrying about things like fish,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45democratic Athens found itself able to manage
0:32:45 > 0:32:49the mismatch between egalitarian ideals and social reality.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53But the debate about luxury never stopped,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57because Athenians knew they could never abolish the taste for it.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02Even the language of luxury becomes more sophisticated.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05"Habros" gains a sense of stylish Parisian delicacy,
0:33:05 > 0:33:11while the new no-word is "poluteles" which has a very brashy Las Vegas show-off feel.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16If anyone sums up the complicated Athenian attitude to luxury
0:33:16 > 0:33:20then it's a younger relative of Pericles' called Alcibiades.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Alcibiades had grown up with Pericles and he would have been a familiar figure
0:33:24 > 0:33:27in the ancient harbour of Athens because he was a great naval commander
0:33:27 > 0:33:30and a very astute politician.
0:33:30 > 0:33:36But he was also given to extraordinary bouts of luxurious self-indulgence
0:33:36 > 0:33:39and aggressive displays of ambition.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42So the Athenians didn't know how to respond to him.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Luxury bad, skills at commanding good,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49and the story of Athens becomes the story of Alcibiades' career,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52as the people turned to him and against him.
0:33:57 > 0:34:03Alcibiades dominated Athens during the second half of the war against Sparta in the late 5th century BC.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05He was an aristocrat,
0:34:05 > 0:34:09from the legendary family which had helped found the democracy
0:34:09 > 0:34:14a century before. He was a friend of the philosopher Socrates,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17who was even said to have saved his life in battle.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24Even today, amongst my Athenian friends, he's a bit of a star.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26But a flawed one.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29In a way, he was the ultimate sex magnet in Greece, I mean...
0:34:29 > 0:34:30A sex magnet?
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Yeah, Alcibiades was like the wonder of Athens.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37You hear these hilarious stories.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40His dress sense was very effeminate, you know...
0:34:40 > 0:34:42He was wearing these long robes.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Can we call him, um...metrosexual?
0:34:44 > 0:34:48- Would it be...? - Well, he tried to provoke people.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50But I think he didn't actually care.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53He got into trouble as well, didn't he?
0:34:53 > 0:34:55I mean, as an individual, he went too far,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59- I mean he got it wrong, you know, he was...- Dangerously ambitious.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03- Dangerously ambitious? - Of course, it was not a very...
0:35:04 > 0:35:08..typical character of all the Athenians,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12but it was somehow the exception
0:35:12 > 0:35:19but the kind and the type of character that the Athenians would like to be like.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21- Their hero.- The hero Alkiviades.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26There's all this potential there but somehow it all goes bad.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31- So Alcibiades was more Athens than perhaps Athens would like to recognise?- Exactly.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38Despite his attractions, Alcibiades' career in Athens came unstuck.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44Just as he was about to take command of Athens's most ambitious expedition,
0:35:44 > 0:35:47an attack on Sicily, the city suffered an outrage.
0:35:47 > 0:35:53In the middle of the night, someone deliberately mutilated a series of sacred statues.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57An accusation was made that it was Alcibiades and his friends.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00They were accused of betraying religious secrets, too.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Yet, in Athens, he still had his defenders.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07In the end, Alcibiades decided to skip trial.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10His destination was Sparta,
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Athens' bitterest rival.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15The two cities had been at war on and off for almost two decades.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17But, even so,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21when he bolted, the Athenians must have chuckled somewhat,
0:36:21 > 0:36:26for their epitome of luxurious cool was now off to a...
0:36:26 > 0:36:29..Well, very Spartan world.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43Now the story of luxury takes what seems a surprising turn.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45We're off to Sparta
0:36:45 > 0:36:49because luxury was an issue there too.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53If democratic Athens was one of the most outgoing of the Greek cities,
0:36:53 > 0:36:58then Sparta, hidden in the depths of the Peloponnese,
0:36:58 > 0:37:00was one of the most opaque.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04Most Greeks thought Spartans were very odd,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07and that's the problem because almost everything we know about Sparta
0:37:07 > 0:37:11comes not from the Spartans themselves, but from outsiders.
0:37:11 > 0:37:12And in terms of luxury,
0:37:12 > 0:37:17it's fascinating that most Greeks just didn't get where the Spartans were at.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22For example, the Spartans were famous for their long luxuriant hair.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26Anywhere else, that might be thought soft, weak or effeminate.
0:37:26 > 0:37:32But they thought it made them look taller, tougher and more terrifying.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35I'm on my way to get at the truth about Spartan luxury.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39And the hair is a clue because it turns out that the Spartan luxury par excellence,
0:37:39 > 0:37:41was their image.
0:37:41 > 0:37:47And it was the unyielding pursuit of that image that eventually brought them down.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Despite his reputation,
0:37:57 > 0:38:02when he got here, Alcibiades took to Sparta rather well.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05But the sniggering Athenians had a point.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Sparta was very different from Athens.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11I've come to the peak of the Spartan Acropolis,
0:38:11 > 0:38:14where, just as in Athens, there was a temple to Athena.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17And this is it.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22It's not exactly the Parthenon, is it, but then it was never intended to be.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24Sparta was not Athens.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28This Acropolis is a low hill, not a rocky crag dominating the city.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32Sparta had no city walls, like the stout city walls of Athens.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35The ancient historian Thucydides put it like this. He said,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38"Suppose the city of Sparta to be deserted,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41"and nothing left but the shrines and the private houses,
0:38:41 > 0:38:44"then distant ages would be very unwilling to believe
0:38:44 > 0:38:48"that the power of the Spartans was at all equal to their fame."
0:38:50 > 0:38:51And coming here...
0:38:54 > 0:38:56..I can see what he meant.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02So what did Spartan luxury amount to?
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Well, Sparta had no city walls, they said,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09because the Spartans themselves were its defence.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14And they were, and are, famous for their martial glory.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18In story, song, and even in Hollywood
0:39:18 > 0:39:23the tale of Leonidas and his 300 Spartans,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26defying thousands of decadent Persians at Thermopylae
0:39:26 > 0:39:29is one of the West's great legends.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Quite simply, Sparta was organized for war.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39War and death were their luxuries. Initially, at least.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46Citizens had to serve as soldiers in every Greek city.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48But Spartans took that much further.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52They got rid of weak children at birth.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Military school was compulsory.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58As adults, all male Spartans dined together every day,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02in a military mess to which each had to contribute oil,
0:40:02 > 0:40:04grain and wine from his own farm.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11And all this resulted in a ferocious image
0:40:11 > 0:40:15which terrified other Greeks for centuries.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19A famous Spartan marching poem went like this,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23"No man is good in war unless first he can endure the sight of bloody slaughter."
0:40:23 > 0:40:28That military prowess went hand in hand with a system of social equality
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and a denial of luxury unheard of in Athens.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33Clothes had to be the same, gold and silver were banned,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37the currency was so big it was pointless to carry it around with you.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39No extravagant architecture!
0:40:39 > 0:40:41And all that came with a convenient oracle that said
0:40:41 > 0:40:45that love of individual wealth would destroy Sparta.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48But you know, the story's much more interesting than that.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57By the end of the 5th century,
0:40:57 > 0:41:01the Spartan military machine dominated mainland Greece.
0:41:03 > 0:41:09But as we found, the remains of ancient Sparta are not impressive.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15What has been recovered is here in the local museum.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Paul Cartledge is a leading expert on ancient Sparta,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22and he has come with me to see what's left,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26and what it tells us about the Spartan approach to luxury.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28This guy here, as soon as he was excavated,
0:41:28 > 0:41:32the workman who uncovered him said, "Leonidas".
0:41:32 > 0:41:34Well, it may be.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36It's around about the right time
0:41:36 > 0:41:40but what's significant is the subject is of a warrior.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43So you can't get much more Spartan than that.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46And, actually, the sculptor has captured one very striking feature.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50- Round the back, you can see bits of his hair.- So he does have his long hair as well?
0:41:50 > 0:41:54He does have his hair just creeping a little bit below the helmet.
0:41:54 > 0:42:00He's slightly smiling, but that's partly because of the style of the piece,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03but it partly also, I think, emphasises his cheerfulness.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07- A smiling at death?- Exactly. In the face of potential death.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15This Spartan stoicism even extended beyond death.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18- Let's see what we can bring up. - Ah, splendid.
0:42:18 > 0:42:19Well, this reads "Olbiadas",
0:42:19 > 0:42:23which is the name of the dead man, and then it says...
0:42:23 > 0:42:26"In polemari", "In war".
0:42:26 > 0:42:30And that's it. It doesn't tell you who his dad was.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32- Doesn't tell you where he's from. - No nice relief.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35- No nice relief. - Him on a cavalry charge.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38This is Spartan austerity in death.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42It's not always terrifically heroic public statues.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47It is a private and very severe two liner.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51And what message this gives you is egalitarianism,
0:42:51 > 0:42:58but only Spartan men who died in battle got their names.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02If you can imagine, there's no gravestone other than the marker.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06There's no inscription for any male Spartan who dies.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10- Only those who die in war.- So this looks like ultra minimalism, but...
0:43:10 > 0:43:14- It's maximalism! - This is their luxury.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Very nice way of putting it. And how luxurious is that?
0:43:18 > 0:43:23Inverted minimalist luxury like this created a myth about Sparta,
0:43:23 > 0:43:27a story which convinced the entire ancient world.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33But there are other things in this very same museum
0:43:33 > 0:43:37which suggest that the myth may be just that. A myth.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44We actually have here some archaeological evidence which comes from the sanctuary of Orthia.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49- And, hey...- It's...- I was going to say, there isn't too much gold
0:43:49 > 0:43:53naturally produced in Sparta, so it has to be imported.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57Secondly, this is jewellery. This is womenswear.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01- Some of the jewellery's quite finely styled, isn't it?- Absolutely.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04So, that suggests a certain sort of finery.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07And do you notice little double axes?
0:44:07 > 0:44:13Well, that's a male implement, so even the men are dedicating in gold.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Imaginary versions of utilitarian objects,
0:44:16 > 0:44:18so this is quite a bit of a worry about...
0:44:18 > 0:44:21So, the Spartan myth is perhaps more of a myth?
0:44:21 > 0:44:24The Spartan myth is a bit fragile.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34The jewellery in this museum raises a really important question.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37The Spartan military machine continued to win victories.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Those victories brought with them plunder, booty, economic power,
0:44:41 > 0:44:45yet Spartan laws forbade any kind of truck with luxuries of those sorts.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47So the question was this -
0:44:47 > 0:44:50could the Spartans find a way to square the circle?
0:44:50 > 0:44:54Or would that contradiction tear their society apart?
0:44:56 > 0:45:01Sparta's military dominance began in the 6th century BC
0:45:01 > 0:45:03and continued until the 4th.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08And underpinning it all was the Spartan militaristic image,
0:45:08 > 0:45:09the Spartan myth.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16The myth mainly applies to the male part of the Spartan citizen body.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19And that lasted for a very long time, in other words,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22it was unrivalled. The Spartans didn't have anybody to puncture it.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25But when they start coming into conflict
0:45:25 > 0:45:28and contact with other Greeks,
0:45:28 > 0:45:34then the word gets out that actually some Spartans are a hell of a lot richer than other Spartans.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37One had a hint that this was going on.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42Imports start to flow in and silver starts to stick to fingers.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46The Spartans acquired a reputation of being notoriously bribable
0:45:46 > 0:45:50- and bribed.- Do we start to see examples of that inequality
0:45:50 > 0:45:53- becoming more apparent to Spartans themselves?- Absolutely right.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57And one very obvious way which is the ownership of land.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59It's clear that more and more,
0:45:59 > 0:46:05there's a huge division between the majority, who owned very little, and the minority, who owned quite a lot.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16By the early 4th century BC, this had become one of the richest parts of Greece.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20But private wealth was still technically forbidden.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25Spartans couldn't wear their gold and silver in public.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29So all the corrupting luxury was kept out of sight.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32In sanctuaries like Delphi and Olympia,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35the Spartans were showing off just as much as any other city.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37But now here at home, in places like this,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40they were beginning to show off as individuals.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44And even the Spartan admirer Xenophon complained that Spartans
0:46:44 > 0:46:47were not living now according to their own rules.
0:46:47 > 0:46:53This influx of wealth was creating a disparity between rich and poor in Spartan society
0:46:53 > 0:46:58and that was going to have a huge impact on Spartan power.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07Poorer Spartans found themselves without enough land to supply their military messes.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13As a result, they could no longer be Spartan citizens or soldiers.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Worse, nearly a century of solid fighting
0:47:16 > 0:47:19had devastated Spartan numbers.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24The army declined from nearly 5,000 in the 5th century BC
0:47:24 > 0:47:29to just 1,500 who fought in battle at Leuctra in 371.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34The very next year, having killed 400 more Spartans,
0:47:34 > 0:47:39a foreign enemy, led by the city of Thebes, invaded Spartan territory.
0:47:39 > 0:47:40The game was up.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45The historian Xenophon describes the scene as they marched through the valley, plundering as they went.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48"keeping the Eurotas on their right as they passed,
0:47:48 > 0:47:50"burning and pillaging houses
0:47:50 > 0:47:54"full of many agathoi, many valuable things.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57"In the city, the women could not endure seeing the smoke,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01"as they had never laid eyes on an enemy before."
0:48:01 > 0:48:06It was the end to an astonishing career.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14After two centuries of military success,
0:48:14 > 0:48:16Sparta had been brought down
0:48:16 > 0:48:21by the insidious attractions of wealth and luxury.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30This is the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia,
0:48:30 > 0:48:33where the telltale gold jewellery was found.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39Here, Spartan legend said that Spartan boys were bloodily whipped
0:48:39 > 0:48:43on the altar to test their courage.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Actually, we now think it may not have happened quite like that,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50at least during Sparta's heyday.
0:48:51 > 0:48:52But the story got around,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56and by Roman times, it certainly was going on.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59It was an entertainment.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Crowds of tourists would come to watch.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05So many, that they had to build this amphitheatre around the altar.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12I find this a very emotive symbol of how later generations of Spartans
0:49:12 > 0:49:18became slaves to the image their own ancestors had created.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22An image that has had a vast variety of admirers across time,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25from the Romans, to the Nazis,
0:49:25 > 0:49:27and even today, the US Marines.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32It was their rigidity about luxury, just as much as anything else,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35that in large part caused Spartan downfall.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Athens had been able to contain and adapt ideas
0:49:38 > 0:49:41about luxury within the context of a city-state.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46Athens had been able to successfully "manage" luxury.
0:49:47 > 0:49:48But not Sparta.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53And now, in the late 4th century BC,
0:49:53 > 0:49:57a new power was emerging in Greece, that would eclipse them both.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02Its rulers had a totally different attitude to the morality of luxury.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Its name was Macedon.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15In Athens, democrats had struggled to control the urge for luxury.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19In Sparta, luxury had brought them down.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23But Macedon begins a new chapter in the story.
0:50:28 > 0:50:34In 1977, Greek archaeologists made one of the most spectacular discoveries of modern times.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42Beneath a giant mound they found a tomb...
0:50:42 > 0:50:43..intact.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51It was built by Alexander the Great,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55for his father Philip, King of Macedon.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59And inside, perhaps the richest, the most luxurious burial
0:50:59 > 0:51:01ever found in Greece.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08It was the aftermath of an enormous funeral pyre.
0:51:14 > 0:51:19This wreath was found in the antechamber of the tomb of Philip II
0:51:19 > 0:51:22who was killed in the theatre of his capital at Aegae.
0:51:22 > 0:51:29The wreath was worn by his Thracian bride Meda on Philip's funeral pyre
0:51:29 > 0:51:32and she might have even still been alive at the time
0:51:32 > 0:51:35for Thracian custom was that the wife was expected
0:51:35 > 0:51:37to follow her husband into the afterlife.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42And it's only because gold survives at very high temperatures
0:51:42 > 0:51:44that this is still with us today.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55A few years before, buried beneath the grand terrace at Vergina,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58the archaeologists had already found a palace of the same date.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04Now recent excavation has confirmed that it was commissioned by Philip II.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09The main block was a vast banqueting complex for the King and his companions.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Like the grave goods, the extraordinary mosaics
0:52:13 > 0:52:18speak of a luxury rarely equalled at any time in the ancient world.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22The message was clear - there was a new master in Greece.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24He wasn't a democrat in any way
0:52:24 > 0:52:29and conspicuous display was an essential part of his policy.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Luxury was off the leash.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37I believe that arts and culture and intelligentsia
0:52:37 > 0:52:40play a very important role in the way
0:52:40 > 0:52:45Philip was thinking about his hegemony.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49Philip was a high educated person and he knew
0:52:49 > 0:52:53how important is the power of art,
0:52:53 > 0:52:59the power of culture to support his aims, his political aims.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02The artists have been really revolutionary
0:53:02 > 0:53:07because we have actually another political system,
0:53:07 > 0:53:14another ideological system and the opening of a new ruling system.
0:53:17 > 0:53:22The things we see here aren't unusual as objects in themselves.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25You can find more modest examples of things like this
0:53:25 > 0:53:28all over Ancient Greece.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31But here everything is transformed.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Clay into metal, bronze and iron into gold and silver.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39It's all sending a message.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43Philip II and his family were using this stuff
0:53:43 > 0:53:46to communicate their power, authority and relationship
0:53:46 > 0:53:49not only to their subjects, but also to other rulers.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53We, they are saying, are members of The Royal Club.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56That's why they're using not just precious metals
0:53:56 > 0:53:59but fine craftsmanship and indeed imported, exotic items
0:53:59 > 0:54:01like these ostrich eggs.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06It's a monarchical use of luxury that can be paralleled in any ruling house,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09indeed like our own, with our Crown Jewels.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14Across the world and across time, from that day to this.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16But everything we see here was also
0:54:16 > 0:54:20a dramatic intervention in the debates about luxury
0:54:20 > 0:54:24that had been going on in Ancient Greece for centuries.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31All these beautiful artefacts a characterised by one thing.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34A total confidence in what they are.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38Excess is no longer a problem.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43There is no self-consciousness about power or wealth.
0:54:43 > 0:54:49No democratic anxiety about luxury or Spartan attempt to hide it.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Instead there is a new focus on ego.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01For centuries, Greece had been dominated by places
0:55:01 > 0:55:04in which luxury was really only valid and safe
0:55:04 > 0:55:07if it celebrated the state or the gods.
0:55:09 > 0:55:15Now one man, a king, was well on his way to representing both.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20The richness in Athens culminated in the Acropolis.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24It is collected in the temple of the goddess.
0:55:24 > 0:55:30Here, the richness, it is gathered in the palace of the king
0:55:30 > 0:55:33because the king is somehow the living god
0:55:33 > 0:55:39so it is like in England, the king has to be rich
0:55:39 > 0:55:41because this richness of the king
0:55:41 > 0:55:44indicates the wealth of the whole state
0:55:44 > 0:55:48and so therefore it is more in private
0:55:48 > 0:55:50but it is actually not private
0:55:50 > 0:55:52because the king is not a private person,
0:55:52 > 0:55:54he's an absolutely public person.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02In Athens, democracy had enlisted the glories of the Acropolis
0:56:02 > 0:56:06and of public ceremony to manage and temper the excesses of the rich.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10In Sparta, they had hoped that luxury could be suppressed
0:56:10 > 0:56:13in the service of military pre-eminence.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16Now in the ancient world the Macedonian Kings
0:56:16 > 0:56:21seemed to have had the final word about luxury, public or private.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23"Nothing in excess" seemed a dead letter.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30Eventually the Romans came to dominate Greece and the Mediterranean.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33They too had their anxieties about how to deal with luxury,
0:56:33 > 0:56:36but ultimately their emperors would follow,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39and even outdo, the Macedonian model.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Not even the Roman Emperor Hadrian escaped,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45a man apparently devoted to Athenian philosophy.
0:56:45 > 0:56:50In 132 AD he put up this enormous library complex in Athens,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53echoing the Macedonian approach to luxury.
0:56:53 > 0:56:54Not much had changed.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00However, the anxieties about luxury never really went away.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04And the debates about luxury that went on in the ancient world
0:57:04 > 0:57:06still continue.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09What constitutes good or bad luxury?
0:57:09 > 0:57:13Can luxury bring us together as well as it divides us?
0:57:13 > 0:57:17How do we best manage luxury within a democratic world
0:57:17 > 0:57:21where everyone is supposed to be equal, but can't possibly be so?
0:57:21 > 0:57:26And can luxury ever support a system of political equality
0:57:26 > 0:57:29as well as it does a system of monarchical rule?
0:57:33 > 0:57:35But today, for us,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39luxury is even more complicated than it was for the Ancients.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43Because just as the classical world reached its peak,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47another tradition was born which would change everything,
0:57:47 > 0:57:52a point of view the Ancient Greeks had never had to reckon with.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56Hadrian built a refreshing pool here in the midst of his library.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58But it didn't last long.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01Just a couple of hundred years later, this was built right on top.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05It's a church and this is one of the apses.
0:58:05 > 0:58:11It's a perfect symbol of what happened to the classical world - Christianity.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14And Christian ideas about luxury were very different
0:58:14 > 0:58:16to those of ancient world.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19The Greeks, and the Romans after them, had thought about luxury
0:58:19 > 0:58:24as a social problem, a question of balance, of "nothing in excess".
0:58:24 > 0:58:28But now, it was to become a deadly sin.
0:58:28 > 0:58:29Wicked.
0:58:34 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd