0:00:05 > 0:00:11Spain. Al-Andalus. Iberia, Hispania.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Many names for the same country.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Spain has had more diversity
0:00:17 > 0:00:22and more manifestations than any other country in western Europe.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27It's a peninsula almost surrounded by water.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29That's its blessing and its curse.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35The road to Spain has always been the sea, from the South.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40From 3000 BC onwards, the great traders of the Mediterranean -
0:00:40 > 0:00:42the Greeks and Phoenicians came here
0:00:42 > 0:00:45attracted by its fertile plains,
0:00:45 > 0:00:50and its mines that brought forth gold and silver, tin and copper.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Spain is European, yet it looks to Africa.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Forged by rulers, armies, peoples and faiths
0:01:00 > 0:01:03more exotic than elsewhere in the West.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10Spain's position at the extremity of Europe has made it the borderland
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and the battlefield of the continent's
0:01:13 > 0:01:15many different influences.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20It's joined to Europe and yet only 14km from Africa.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Everything here reflects its unique meshing
0:01:25 > 0:01:29of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31That's what makes Spain so unique.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39I come both as historian and traveller.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42To explore who and what shaped the soul of Spain.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48From Paganism, Islam and Catholicism, via dictatorship,
0:01:48 > 0:01:49to today's democracy.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54I'll tell the story from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57I start in the South.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Cadiz, Spain's oldest living city.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Seville, Andalusia's Catholic capital.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09Gibraltar, Spain's gateway.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Cordoba, capital of the Islamic Caliphate.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18And Granada, home of the Alhambra.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22I'll find the hidden corners, the stories we don't know, the secrets,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25the titans who created the nation.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29For centuries, this was Europe's Wild West.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Where caliphs and kings created palaces and cities,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36where they fought wars of annihilation.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Here, a concubine could become a queen.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Here, a naked princess sparked a decisive invasion.
0:02:44 > 0:02:50Blood and gold, beauty and death, persecution and tolerance.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53This is the story of the making of Spain.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15The Atlantic city of Cadiz is my first stop.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19More than 2,000 years ago,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23this was a colony of the Phoenician city of Carthage
0:03:23 > 0:03:24in today's Tunisia.
0:03:27 > 0:03:33In 237 BC, one of history's most famous figures was brought here.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38As a ten-year-old boy, the young Hannibal came to Cadiz.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43And from here, his father, Hamilcar, would conquer most of Spain
0:03:43 > 0:03:45as a new Carthaginian empire.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Now Spain became the battlefield
0:03:50 > 0:03:53for one of the great set-piece imperial rivalries
0:03:53 > 0:03:55of the ancient world.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59The Phoenicians came from the city of Tyre.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01They spread out throughout the Mediterranean.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04And the greatest city they founded was Carthage.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08The Carthaginians started to found an empire and that brought them
0:04:08 > 0:04:11into conflict with the other rising power of the Mediterranean.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Rome.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Hannibal was born into a family already at war.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Their name, Barca, meant thunderbolt.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31When his father conquered Spain as his next move against Rome,
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Hannibal begged to go with him.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36He was 19 when his father died.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40Gradually, he would assume command of his father's empire.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46The coming war needed the blessing of the Gods and I've come to meet one.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Isn't it a breathtaking thought?
0:04:52 > 0:04:54That as we look at this,
0:04:54 > 0:04:59Hannibal himself once gazed upon this very statue.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09This Cadiz museum contains some of the priceless treasures
0:05:09 > 0:05:11from Hannibal's time.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14And this figurine of the god Melqart
0:05:14 > 0:05:18once stood on the Island of Sancti Petri.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28And that's where I'm going, a few miles south of Cadiz,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30just like Hannibal did.
0:05:35 > 0:05:42In 218 BC, Hannibal, now 29, travelled here to Melqart's temple.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46He had a plan of astonishing ambition that required Melqart's blessing.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Melqart was the God of Tyre, mother city of the Carthaginians.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02And he appears in the Jewish Bible as the god Baal.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06It was said that Melqart was unfaithful to his wife,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08who castrated him and killed him,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12at which he was miraculously brought back to life.
0:06:12 > 0:06:19His resurrection made him a symbol of vim, vigour, power and virility.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Temple complexes like this were central to ancient life.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28There were human sacrifices.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Priests cut the throats of bulls
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and splashed blood on the naked bodies of supplicants.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39As you can see, there's nothing here except seagulls
0:06:39 > 0:06:41and this deserted 18th-century fort.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47But this was once one of the richest, grandest
0:06:47 > 0:06:52and most famous temple shrines in the entire ancient world.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59It was a critical moment.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03Carthaginian Spain challenged Roman mastery of the Mediterranean.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07That meant a new Roman war against Carthage.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12Here at Sancti Petri, Hannibal consulted the Oracle of Melqart.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Hannibal took an oath to destroy Rome.
0:07:17 > 0:07:24He said, "I swear to arrest the destiny of Rome with fire and steel."
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Rather than waiting for Rome to attack him,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Hannibal would take the fight to the enemy.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40It would be one of the most audacious military campaigns of antiquity.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Harnessing Spain and Africa, Hannibal would attack Italy.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Here in Cadiz, Hannibal mustered a huge army of 60,000.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Including Spanish spearmen and African cavalry.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03And 40 war elephants, the ultimate prestige weapon.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10In 217, Hannibal marched this huge army, from Spain,
0:08:10 > 0:08:15across the south of France, over the Alps - including all his elephants -
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and then down into Italy.
0:08:19 > 0:08:20He headed for Rome.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Hannibal's campaign would bring Rome to the edge of defeat.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Victory over Rome would change the entire history of Europe.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Knowing what we know now about the invincibility
0:08:39 > 0:08:41of the future Roman Empire,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Hannibal's adventure looks reckless, if not absurd.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48But Hannibal was a child of the Hellenistic or Greek culture
0:08:48 > 0:08:53in the Mediterranean, unleashed by his hero, Alexander the Great.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56And compared to Alexander's exploits in the East,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59this invasion of Italy might be child's play.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06It was Rome's supreme crisis.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Hannibal repeatedly defeated the Roman armies
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and at Cannae, he routed them.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15And yet, even as Hannibal was closing in, Rome did not fall.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19The Romans prayed and then they rallied.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Cato the Elder, one of their statesmen, repeatedly declared,
0:09:24 > 0:09:30"Carthago delenda est" - Carthage must be annihilated.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33And now, they found a general almost as sublime
0:09:33 > 0:09:36a strategist as Hannibal himself.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39And he would take the war to Hannibal's Spain,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43just as Hannibal had brought the war to Rome.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47This was the moment that the Romans became Romans.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59A few miles north of Seville in the heart of Andalusia,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02the vicious blood feud of Carthage and Rome would be decided.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11In 206 BC, the two sides met right here in a battle.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15The winners would rule Europe for the next 700 years.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20The Roman commander was Publius Cornelius Scipio.
0:10:22 > 0:10:28It was said in Rome that only Scipio would dare to take on
0:10:28 > 0:10:30the Carthaginian Empire.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Both his father and his uncle had been killed in battle
0:10:34 > 0:10:35by Hannibal's family.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38So, for Scipio, it was personal.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Just as Hannibal had vowed to destroy Rome,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Scipio vowed to destroy Carthage.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49And his plan was as bold as it was simple.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53While the brilliant Hannibal fought on in Italy for over a decade,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Spain was defended by his feuding, disunited brothers.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Scipio slipped into Spain with his small army.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Military historian Saul David is here to tell me how Scipio
0:11:10 > 0:11:14faced the Carthaginians right here at Ilipa.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16We're right on the spot of that battle.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Tell me what happened that day?
0:11:18 > 0:11:21To give you an idea of numbers, the Romans have about 50,000
0:11:21 > 0:11:25and the Carthaginians 75,000, so they're heavily outnumbered.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27And for the two or three days prior to the actual battle itself,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Scipio sets his army up in a very traditional way.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32So his strongest forces are in the centre,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34his Roman and Italian legions, and his allies,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36who he can't really rely on, are on the flank.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39But on the day of the battle itself, he changes all of that.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42He orders the army out very early in the morning,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44he gets them into position before the Carthaginians
0:11:44 > 0:11:47are ready to respond and he changes his formation
0:11:47 > 0:11:50so that his elite forces are actually now on the flanks.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52And this allows him to advance in a very unusual way
0:11:52 > 0:11:55with a concave formation, so that his best troops are on the side.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59And in a nutshell, cos you could go on about this battle
0:11:59 > 0:12:03in great detail, it means that the strongest Carthaginian troops
0:12:03 > 0:12:06never actually get to fight until late on during the battle.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08So how did the elephants,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11the Carthaginian elephants perform on the day?
0:12:11 > 0:12:14You've got to imagine a scenario where once the battle starts,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16the elephants don't see friend or foe.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18They've got their guides, as it were,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20but everyone else is fair game.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21And if you get in the way of a war elephant,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24particularly one who's been stung by a few javelins being thrown at him,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26he's going to trample anyone.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28And a four-tonne beast treading on you
0:12:28 > 0:12:31is going to leave a bit of a sticky mess underneath.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34So, you can see that the use of the Carthaginian war elephant
0:12:34 > 0:12:37was as much of an own goal as it was a success.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Scipio was victorious.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52Spain became a province of Europe, not Africa - of Rome, not Carthage.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59He built this, the city of Italica, next to the battlefield,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01for the veterans of his victory.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09Control of the peninsula gave Scipio a springboard to attack North Africa.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15This amazing mosaic here in Italica
0:13:15 > 0:13:19tells the story of Scipio's wars against Carthage.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25In 204, Scipio crossed to Africa, taking the war to Carthage.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30As he approached, the Carthaginians recalled Hannibal from Italy.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34He rushed back, but Scipio defeated him. The city fell.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38Scipio was rewarded with a title, Africanus,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41but his haughtiness won him many enemies.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44He was prosecuted and exiled to his estates.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50As for Hannibal, he roamed the East, enemy number one,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52pursued by Roman agents.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Finally, he committed suicide.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59As for Carthage, ultimately it was wiped off the map.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Now it was Rome's turn to colonise Spain.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12The Romans loved Hispania, Roman Spain.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15They found it almost more Italian than Italy.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20Here, life was good and they could make great fortunes in fish paste,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23olive oil and wine.
0:14:23 > 0:14:30In 98 AD, they chose as Emperor a general from around here, Italica.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31His name was Trajan.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Competent and honest, he was a formidable soldier
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and an outstanding ruler.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42He was actually voted the title Optimus, the best, and he was.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47His successor Hadrian, also from here, Italica,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51was probably the most accomplished man ever to rule the Roman Empire.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56Everything he did, he did properly. He created the Pantheon in Rome.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59And here, he improved Italica enormously.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Marcus Aurelius the Philosopher Emperor,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11was also from a Spanish Roman family.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13It's ironic, isn't it?
0:15:13 > 0:15:18That the three greatest Roman emperors at the Empire's zenith
0:15:18 > 0:15:19were from Roman Spain.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27Hispania became the food bowl and the winery of the empire.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31Producing the essentials and the delicacies of Roman life.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Spanish olive oil and wine were sent around the Mediterranean
0:15:39 > 0:15:42in amphorae just like these.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46But there was a problem, which neither the Carthaginians
0:15:46 > 0:15:49nor after them, the Romans, could solve.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51The amphorae could only be used once
0:15:51 > 0:15:53and after that, the pottery was tainted.
0:15:53 > 0:15:59At the height of Roman Hispania, so many were being exported to Rome -
0:15:59 > 0:16:03as many as 54 million - that their debris formed a heap.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06And the heap became a mountain.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09And Mount Testaccio is still there to this day.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14The used amphorae, transported from Spain to Rome,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16were broken into pieces
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and then sprinkled with lime to neutralise the smell
0:16:19 > 0:16:20of rancid olive oil.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33The centre of Roman life here in Italica was its amphitheatre.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36One of the largest and best preserved after Rome's Colosseum.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40It could seat 25,000 people.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48In around 50 AD, this arena became the focus for a sport
0:16:48 > 0:16:50that later became the emblem of a nation.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57In a moment of imperial whimsy, the stuttering Emperor Claudius
0:16:57 > 0:17:01banned all gladiatorial fights in Spain.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05And these were replaced with contests of exotic beasts.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10The lions and the tigers were all kept down here in these pits.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14And amongst them were the local Spanish bulls,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18which were then sent up into the amphitheatre to be viciously
0:17:18 > 0:17:21slaughtered to the crowds' delight.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23This was the beginning of Spanish bullfighting.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40Rome's traditional Gods were often fused with foreign deities
0:17:40 > 0:17:42who became fashionable.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45One blood-saturated fertility cult
0:17:45 > 0:17:49may link the Carthaginian past with the Spanish future.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00Attis, a comely shepherd boy,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04channelled the story of Melqart before him.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08He too was castrated by his jealous lover,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12or some said castrated himself and bled to death.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16But he bounced back in an unforgettable way
0:18:16 > 0:18:21as the ultimate symbol of virility for his frenzied cult followers.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25They would cavort, splattering themselves with blood,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28flagellating themselves, biting each other,
0:18:28 > 0:18:33and as the ultimate gesture of devotion, castrating themselves.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37It's said that these traditions may be echoed today
0:18:37 > 0:18:41in the self-flagellating Catholic brotherhoods
0:18:41 > 0:18:43that are still going on in Spain.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Hadrian, the Spanish-born emperor who beautified Italica,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58unwittingly changed Spain.
0:18:59 > 0:19:05When, in 132 AD, his persecution of the Jews in Jerusalem
0:19:05 > 0:19:06provoked a revolt.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Hadrian rushed troops to Judea to crush the rebellion.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16But the Jews under their commander,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20the Prince of Israel, Simon Bar Kokhba, managed to wipe out
0:19:20 > 0:19:24several Roman legions before they were finally crushed.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Hadrian had 500,000 Jews slaughtered
0:19:27 > 0:19:32and they were banned in perpetuity from their beloved Jerusalem.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37But many of them came to settle here in Spain, to found a community
0:19:37 > 0:19:41named after the Hebrew word for Spain, Saffarad,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44hence the Sephadic Jews.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48Even today, the Jews in Spain call themselves
0:19:48 > 0:19:51"the exile from Jerusalem in Spain".
0:20:01 > 0:20:06Out of the Jewish disaster, a new religion emerged and spread fast.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09It would challenge the Roman empire from within.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22I'm leaving Italica and heading a few miles south to Seville.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26To find out what happened when a new faith of Christianity
0:20:26 > 0:20:29confronted the old paganism of Rome.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Seville, now dominated by Catholic monuments,
0:20:38 > 0:20:40was then called Hispalis.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Archaeology reveals it was a typical Roman city.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50This is the story of Justa and Rufina,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53later the patron saints of Seville.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57They were sisters, devout Christians,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00and much admired for their work as potters.
0:21:03 > 0:21:09In 287 AD, the city prefect Diogenianus ordered all pots
0:21:09 > 0:21:11must be offered to Venus.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15This edict was almost certainly part of Emperor Diocletian's policy
0:21:15 > 0:21:17to reinvigorate Roman religion.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22It was also a direct affront to Christianity.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Justa and Rufina made a stand.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30Justa and Rufina ran the best pottery in Seville.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36But these wholesome Christians refused to let their pottery
0:21:36 > 0:21:41be used in a pagan festival for the goddess Venus.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43So good was their pottery,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47and so essential, that the pagan crowd was outraged.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49They broke into the pottery
0:21:49 > 0:21:52and took the pots they needed for their pagan festival.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57The two sisters were outraged in their turn.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00They smashed a statue of Venus.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Now, sympathetic as I am to these pious young ladies,
0:22:04 > 0:22:09this was nothing less than a brazen bid for martyrdom.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12And their prayers were indeed answered.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Diogenianus arrested them immediately
0:22:15 > 0:22:19and they were horribly tortured with hooks and fire.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23When she was almost dead, Justa was thrown down a 100ft well,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25where she perished.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28As for Rufina, she was saved for the lions.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35As the wild beasts were unleashed upon Rufina,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37the crowd bayed in anticipation.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42But instead of eating her, they licked her wounds.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48The Christians saw this as a miracle but Diogenianus was unimpressed.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53He had her strangled, beheaded and then burned.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56But the Christians had their first martyr.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08Within 30 years, the Roman Empire itself had converted to Christianity.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Yet it was disintegrating.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13When Rome fell in 476 AD,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18Spain was at the mercy of invading tribes of so-called Barbarians.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22First came the Vandals, who failed to hold the Peninsula for long.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25They left only one real legacy, their name.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Andalusia, still the name for Southern Spain,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32comes from the Arabic Al-Andalus,
0:23:32 > 0:23:34probably meaning "The land of the Vandals."
0:23:39 > 0:23:44Next, the Byzantine emperor Justinian captured parts of Spain
0:23:44 > 0:23:48until his garrisons were overrun by the Visigoths.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Ferocious in war, they were creative in peace.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Visigoths usually feature as raping and pillaging axe men
0:24:03 > 0:24:05of the Dark Ages.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10But when the Visigoths settled in Spain, they produced sages,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13scholars as well as soldiers.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15This school, like many others in Spain,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20is named after St Isidore, Visigothic Bishop of Seville,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23who refined and adapted Roman law
0:24:23 > 0:24:27to create a united, Christian Spain.
0:24:27 > 0:24:34Much later, Visigothic Spain became the prototype for Catholic monarchy.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41Ruling for two centuries, their kingdom would inspire Spanish rulers
0:24:41 > 0:24:43right up until the 20th century.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Downstream from Seville is the river port of Santa Maria.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55This stretch of water is known as the River of the Dead. With good reason.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00This river is the place where Visigothic Spain died.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04This is where its last king, Roderick, was killed.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08And it was a moment that changed the entire destiny of Spain.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15The Visigoths matter as much for how they lost Spain
0:25:15 > 0:25:16as for how they won it.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22It all started with a beautiful naked girl.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Roderick, the King, was in the habit of spying upon Florinda,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32the daughter of his nobleman Julian, while she was in her bath.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34One day, he ravished her.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37She ran to her father, Julian, he rebelled.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41And here, on this river, at the River of the Dead,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44he met Roderick's forces and killed him.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Now, most Visigothic kings were assassinated.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49So there was no big deal in that.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53But what mattered here was how he was killed.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56For Julian didn't just rebel,
0:25:56 > 0:25:58he looked in this direction,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02across the sea to North Africa for help.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Julian summoned Islam.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Far away in the deserts of Arabia,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17a new faith, a new revelation had arisen.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19By the time he died in 632,
0:26:19 > 0:26:25the Prophet Mohammed had united Arabia under the banners of Islam.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29In the next 50 years, the Arab armies conquered a vast empire,
0:26:29 > 0:26:35stretching from Iran all the way to Morocco, all ruled from Damascus
0:26:35 > 0:26:40by his successors, the commanders of the faithful, the Caliphs.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49The spectacular Arab conquests
0:26:49 > 0:26:53brought Islam to the shores of the Moroccan coast,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56just 14km from Spain.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Julian called for help from the Governor of Tangiers.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04This was irresistible to an empire built on the fever of faith
0:27:04 > 0:27:06and the spoils of war.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08This is where Islam arrived.
0:27:17 > 0:27:18When we think of Gibraltar,
0:27:18 > 0:27:22we think of a part of Spain that isn't really Spanish.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24A little piece of Britain in the Mediterranean,
0:27:24 > 0:27:30with red telephone kiosks, postboxes and the Queen on the postage stamps.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34But Gibraltar is also the southern gateway to Spain.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38A short boat trip from Africa leads straight here.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49I'm standing at the very top of the rock of Gibraltar.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52And I'm looking right over the straits.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Those mountains are the Atlas Mountains.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59And Gibraltar itself, the name derives from the Arabic,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Jabal Al-Tariq, the Mountain of Tariq.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06And it's named after Tariq Bin-Ziyad,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09who governed nearby Tangiers in Morocco
0:28:09 > 0:28:13on behalf of the distant Umayyad Caliph of Damascus.
0:28:13 > 0:28:19In April 711, he raised an army of 7,000 Arabs and Berbers.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22And with his favourite beautiful slave girl by his side,
0:28:22 > 0:28:27they embarked on rafts and crossed the straits to land in Europe.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Islam had arrived in the West. They carried all before them.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38The divided Visigoths were overwhelmed.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Some converted to Islam, others fled North.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47The fate of Julian, said to have invited in the Muslims, is unknown.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51The Muslim invaders would build a culture
0:28:51 > 0:28:55that outshone its European neighbours in wealth and magnificence.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Their legacy infuses everything in Southern Spain.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03And modern Spanish is still full of Arab words.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09For example, the Spanish word for oil, aceite,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13is based on the Arabic al-zayt for olive juice.
0:29:13 > 0:29:19Many words the Spanish think of as their own today are in fact Arabic.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28The Arabic name for the river that runs north through Andalusia,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33the al-wadi al-kabir, or great river, has not changed much.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35The Guadalquivir.
0:29:44 > 0:29:45Remember those amphorae
0:29:45 > 0:29:49that had to be thrown away after being used just once or twice?
0:29:49 > 0:29:53Well now, the Arabs with their typical cultural sophistication,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57would crack the problem of the domestic receptacle.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00They glazed the inside of their vases.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Now they could be used again and again.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05An early case of domestic re-cycling.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14The Muslim conquerors wanted to keep Spain for themselves.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18Yet they owed allegiance to a far-off master.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23The Umayyad Caliphs ruled more like magnificent Roman Emperors
0:30:23 > 0:30:24than ascetic Islamists.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30In 750 AD, they were challenged by descendents of Mohammed's uncle.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34The Umayyads, Caliphs ruling from Damascus,
0:30:34 > 0:30:39were overthrown by the more rigorous and severe fundamentalists
0:30:39 > 0:30:42led by the Abbasid family.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47All the Umayyads were invited to a dinner in Damascus.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50In the middle of the banquet, all of them were massacred
0:30:50 > 0:30:55and their bodies preserved and stored in an underground chamber.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59With each one labelled on their toes with their names.
0:31:00 > 0:31:01Only one escaped.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04His name was Prince Abd Al-Rahman.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08He was 19, tall, handsome, red-haired.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13In a story really worthy of a Hollywood action movie, he escaped.
0:31:13 > 0:31:19The most wanted man in the Islamic world hunted by Abassid assassins
0:31:19 > 0:31:21all the way across North Africa.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25At one point, the assassins got so close, that he had to hide
0:31:25 > 0:31:29under the skirts of an attractive female cousin.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37The Abbasids moved the capital from Damascus
0:31:37 > 0:31:39to their new city of Baghdad,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43which was even further from their most distant province, Spain.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50For six years, Abd Al-Rahman - or Rach man - travelled westwards,
0:31:50 > 0:31:51amassing supporters,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55convinced he could use his charisma to found his own kingdom.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03In September 755, he landed near Malaga.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07His followers awaited him there, a retinue of just 300.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11He headed north, towards Cordoba -
0:32:11 > 0:32:16once the Roman capital - to face the Abbasids and their supporters.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19This Damascene Prince swept all before him
0:32:19 > 0:32:21with just a handful of horsemen.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29The final showdown was on the Guadalquivir River.
0:32:29 > 0:32:35Abd Al-Rahman, with just 700 men, smashed the forces of his enemies.
0:32:35 > 0:32:41And he then devised a special gift for the Abassid Caliph in Baghdad
0:32:41 > 0:32:44who'd murdered his entire family.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48He sealed a basket and sent it to the Caliph.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52When the monarch there in Baghdad opened it in front of his court,
0:32:52 > 0:32:54he shrieked in horror.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56It was a basket of severed heads.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Abd Al-Rahman was a true Umayyad.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05A tolerant Muslim and a magnificent builder,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09who would now create a paradise in Spain.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12A kingdom of prosperity, culture, harmony.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23Abd Al-Rahman made his capital here in Cordoba,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27where he created a great city of noble buildings
0:33:27 > 0:33:31and lush gardens to remind him of Damascus.
0:33:32 > 0:33:38But he never forgot, never ceased missing his home city, his Syria.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42And he wrote a poignant poem to a palm tree of Cordoba.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51He said, "You too are a stranger here, sprung from foreign soil."
0:33:54 > 0:33:58And he added, "I too am far from home."
0:34:03 > 0:34:06But he was now a monarch, yet he never forgot
0:34:06 > 0:34:10that he'd been a fugitive on the run for so many years.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13And he had a wonderfully earthy sense of humour.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16He was visited by his attractive female cousin,
0:34:16 > 0:34:21up whose skirt he'd hidden from Abassid assassins.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25She used to tease him. "You hid under my skirt," she'd say.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30And he'd reply, "Fragrant as you are, it was very stifling
0:34:30 > 0:34:31"and stuffy up there."
0:34:39 > 0:34:42One of the wonders of the Western world
0:34:42 > 0:34:44lies behind this golden doorway.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50This was the royal entrance,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53reached by a covered passageway from the palace.
0:34:53 > 0:34:58Sealed up for centuries, today, the way in is round the corner.
0:35:00 > 0:35:06In 786, Abd Al-Rahman started to build Cordoba's Great Mosque
0:35:06 > 0:35:07or Mezquita.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09This would be his masterpiece.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15As more and more converted to Islam,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19the Mezquita was expanded again and again over the centuries.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30Its mihrab, or prayer niche, traditionally faces Mecca.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39The Mezquita has 850 columns made of granite and marble.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44A system of two-tiered pillars has been created,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48a forest of supports using Visigothic columns as a base.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53The conquering faith commandeering the ruins of the old
0:35:53 > 0:35:55to build the new.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00Even the horseshoe arch adopted by Islam
0:36:00 > 0:36:02may have been of Visigothic design.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11Now Cordoba became a cosmopolitan metropolis.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Arab scientists, true heirs to the Ancient Greeks,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19made astounding advances unknown to the brutish West.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22Scholars, architects, poets,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26astrologers gathered at the glittering Umayyad court.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31One man stood out. His name was Ali Ibn Nafi.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Ibn Nafi was a star, a famous singer-songwriter
0:36:37 > 0:36:40who became an international trendsetter and dandy,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43an aficionado of style and pleasure.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46There's something very modern about him, not unlike a rock star.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50A sort of cross between Beau Brummell and Mick Jagger.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54Born in Baghdad, he was half Kurdish, half African.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57Hence his nickname, the Blackbird.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00He had sung for the Caliphs in Baghdad.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04But when he came here to Cordoba, he really became famous.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07He was best friends with the Crown Prince.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11He promoted asparagus from a weed to a delicacy.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14He invented the modern three-course meal.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19Everyone wanted to look like him, dress like him, sound like him.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22Everyone wanted to be like Ibn Nafi.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32MAN SINGS
0:37:32 > 0:37:35I've come to watch a flamenco show.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38This most Spanish of art forms can trace its roots
0:37:38 > 0:37:41back to Ibn Nafi's musical vision.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44At its heart is a special technique for playing the guitar.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02HE PLAYS LEYENDA BY ALBENIZ
0:38:03 > 0:38:06Juan Antonio Martinez is professor of guitar
0:38:06 > 0:38:09at the Ibn Nafi Conservatory in Cordoba.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23So what was Ibn Nafi's influence?
0:38:23 > 0:38:25IN SPANISH:
0:38:40 > 0:38:45So, is there a direct line from Ibn Nafi's oud
0:38:45 > 0:38:48all the way to the modern Spanish Flamenco guitar?
0:39:12 > 0:39:16So, now will you show us on the actual guitar?
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Si. Thank you.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49The culture of Al-Andalus is deeply buried
0:39:49 > 0:39:52in what became Spanish culture.
0:39:52 > 0:39:57Yet Islamic tolerance can be a little exaggerated. Islam was supreme.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01Jews and Christians were only free to worship if they paid a special tax
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and always recognised Muslim mastery.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12And yet there were those, of course, who resented the supremacy of Islam.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17Eulogius of Cordoba led a movement of radical Christians
0:40:17 > 0:40:19who actually sought martyrdom
0:40:19 > 0:40:23by publicly insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28Eulogious was duly arrested and tried and then beheaded.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33The headless trunk of his body was tossed onto the river bank
0:40:33 > 0:40:35to be feasted upon by dogs.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45In the writings he left behind, Eulogius quoted the Bible
0:40:45 > 0:40:46and he left an ominous message.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49"Follow my example," he said,
0:40:49 > 0:40:52"because I follow the example of Christ."
0:40:54 > 0:40:59Religious co-existence would prove to be a challenging idea for Spain.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12In 912, Abd Al-Rahman III, aged just 21,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14succeeded to the throne of Cordoba.
0:41:16 > 0:41:17The greatest of the Umayyads,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21he created paved streets, public lighting,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24and collected a library of half a million books.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30Cordoba under Abd Al-Rahman was one of the biggest, richest
0:41:30 > 0:41:33and most diverse cities in all of Europe.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Only Constantinople was its equal
0:41:35 > 0:41:39and it may have had several hundred thousand people living in it.
0:41:39 > 0:41:45At the same time, London and Paris had just 10-15,000 inhabitants.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47They were just glorified villages.
0:41:58 > 0:42:03Just outside Cordoba, these ruins display Abd Al-Rahman's ambition.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08In 929, he declared himself The Caliph.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12Islam was divided between the Abassid Caliph in Baghdad
0:42:12 > 0:42:15and a new Fatimid Caliph in North Africa.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18It was time for the Umayyads to show their power.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25To project his authority as commander of the faithful,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28as political and religious ruler,
0:42:28 > 0:42:33the Caliph of the West created this long-forgotten paradise
0:42:33 > 0:42:35of power and faith.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37It lay hidden for 900 years.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47Abd Al-Rahman moved his court to this vast hillside complex.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52Its grandeur was the architectural version of his own status
0:42:52 > 0:42:54as Caliph and conqueror.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Only one thing really mattered to him,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02the plenitude and panoply of his own power.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06And that's why he built this amazing complex.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11The Medinat Al-Zahara, the dazzling palace.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13And it really does dazzle.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17This was political headquarters, military command centre,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21spectacular showpiece and pleasure palace.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30The palace wasn't only intimidating to those inside.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34It commanded views for miles around along the river valley.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40The ideal majestic fortress for a vigilant, paranoid monarch
0:43:40 > 0:43:42like Abd Al-Rahman.
0:43:44 > 0:43:51At heart, this man was a ferocious and thin-skinned tyrant.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55He was stout, blonde, stunted,
0:43:55 > 0:43:59and his legs were so short, that he had to have special stirrups made.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02And he didn't take kindly to rejection.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07He kept two harems here, one of boys and one of girls.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12When a girl resisted his advances, he had her face burnt off.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15When a boy did the same, he was dismembered.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19He was Pelagius of Cordoba, who was later canonised.
0:44:19 > 0:44:25And somewhere here in this palace he kept a menagerie, a zoo of lions.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28And if he didn't like you, he fed you to them.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42The hanging gardens were legendary.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Water for the sunken pools was pumped all the way
0:44:45 > 0:44:47from the Guadalquivir river.
0:44:47 > 0:44:53These waterways even supplied one of the world's first water closets.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Here in an obscure corner of the Medinat Al-Zahara
0:44:56 > 0:45:01is an impressive piece of modern Arab technology.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03It's down here.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05Now let me show you this.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08This is an early, rather primitive bidet.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11You can see there's running water.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15What we're looking at here is in fact one of the first examples
0:45:15 > 0:45:17of a European flushing lavatory.
0:45:18 > 0:45:25The courtiers of the Caliph lived here in comfort and hygiene at a time
0:45:25 > 0:45:30when Londoners and Parisians were mired in a miasma of stinking filth.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40The complex was sacked in the early part of the 11th century,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43so completely, that for many centuries, people doubted
0:45:43 > 0:45:46that the Medinat Al-Zahara had ever existed.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49It was only rediscovered in 1911.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53And Abd Al-Rahman's buried secrets are still being revealed
0:45:53 > 0:45:55to the modern world.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59It's said that he named it after his favourite concubine
0:45:59 > 0:46:02but he doesn't really strike me as much of a romantic.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Besides, he wasn't spoilt for choice.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08He had 6,000 girls here in his harem.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Historian Simon Barton has written a book about the practice
0:46:22 > 0:46:25of taking concubines.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29It was all about good looks and apparently it was said
0:46:29 > 0:46:33that the Umayyad Caliphs were predisposed by nature
0:46:33 > 0:46:34to prefer blondes.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Now that's interesting. Where did these blondes come from?
0:46:36 > 0:46:41There were markets in Northern France, in the Mediterranean.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45We have Muslim slave merchants but also Jews heavily involved
0:46:45 > 0:46:50in trafficking, particularly women and children across Europe.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52And if one of these concubines,
0:46:52 > 0:46:54who had been bought as powerless slaves,
0:46:54 > 0:46:58became the mother of a future monarch, a future caliph,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01they could become vastly powerful.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02That's absolutely true.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06In fact, all the emirs and caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty
0:47:06 > 0:47:09were born to slave concubines.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13And they were said to have likewise blonde hair, blue eyes.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17The advantage of a concubine is that it functions
0:47:17 > 0:47:19as a dynastic defence mechanism.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24It means that unlike a wife's family, which can get involved
0:47:24 > 0:47:28in the politics of a dynasty, the concubine as a slave
0:47:28 > 0:47:34who's been uprooted from her home land, will have no vested interest
0:47:34 > 0:47:36in the dynasty itself.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39It was a way of keeping the dynasty secure.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43- So, actually, it's much more about power than sex?- Absolutely.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53The system required a strong Caliph at the top.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58And when the rules were broken, the Caliphate fell apart.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17In 976, the succession of a child, Caliph Hisham II,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19revealed its fragility.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22He was still a boy growing up under the tutelage of his mother,
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Subh, a former concubine.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28She sidelined Hisham, her own son,
0:48:28 > 0:48:34and opened the doors of power to forces outside the Umayyad dynasty.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39She appointed her new lover as Grand Vizier, prime minister.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43His name was Al-Mansur, the Victorious,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45and he was one of the most brilliant, ruthless
0:48:45 > 0:48:48and extraordinary characters of the entire Caliphate.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53He launched 57 raids of holy war against the Christian North,
0:48:53 > 0:48:55burning and pillaging and looting.
0:48:55 > 0:49:01Here in Cordoba, he burned the civilised cultured libraries
0:49:01 > 0:49:03of the Umayyad Caliphs before him.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06In his raids in the North, he destroyed all he found
0:49:06 > 0:49:11in order to fund the building of mosques and palaces here.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14In 997, his raids reached their climax
0:49:14 > 0:49:17when he sacked Santiago de Compostela.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21The doors and the bells of its churches were brought back
0:49:21 > 0:49:26in triumph to Cordoba, on the backs of Christian slaves.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35Ironically, Al-Mansur was too successful.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40His triumphs hollowed out and undermined the Caliphate.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47He promoted himself as a quasi-Caliph
0:49:47 > 0:49:50and founded his own semi-royal dynasty
0:49:50 > 0:49:52by marrying a Christian princess.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59Al-Mansur's sons lacked his irrepressible drive,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01his talent and his restraint.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05When they undermined the legitimacy of the Caliph,
0:50:05 > 0:50:07the regime disintegrated.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11First, he was succeeded by one son, then he was assassinated.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16But then came the preposterous popinjay Sanchuelo,
0:50:16 > 0:50:19who tried to make himself a Caliph.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22The entire kingdom fell apart.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25There died the glory of Al-Andalus.
0:50:30 > 0:50:35In 1031, 30 years after Al-Mansur's death, the Caliphate collapsed.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Al-Andalus broke down into little city states,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43ruled by their princes, like medieval barons in the West.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51The Great Mosque of Cordoba, built by the first Abd Al-Rahman
0:50:51 > 0:50:54and expanded by Al-Mansur, still exists.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58We can still admire its scale and beauty.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06When it later fell to the Christians, they didn't destroy it.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09They built a cathedral amidst the Mezquita.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23Even today, people in Cordoba talk of going to mass in the Mosque.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41I'm travelling to Granada now for my last stop.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49I'm following the story of one man, who despite not being a Muslim,
0:51:49 > 0:51:53rose to the top in 11th-century Islamic Spain.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55And who did so at a moment
0:51:55 > 0:51:59when Islamic Spain itself was in the grip of change.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07The city of Granada owes its name to both its Jewish and Muslim roots.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12The Jews called it the City of Pomegranates.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15And the Arab word for pomegranate is gr'nata.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27The Emirate of Granada was one of the smaller principalities
0:52:27 > 0:52:30that came after the Caliphate.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34This, its most celebrated attraction, is part of its later history.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40I'll be coming back here in the next episode.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44To explore its splendour
0:52:44 > 0:52:47and see some of its lesser-known gems.
0:52:49 > 0:52:55This amazing building is now famous as the Alhambra Palace of Granada.
0:52:55 > 0:53:00But 300 years before it was built, this was the site of the palace
0:53:00 > 0:53:05of one of the most extraordinary Jewish leaders in Spanish history
0:53:05 > 0:53:07and in fact, one of the most extraordinary statesmen
0:53:07 > 0:53:10in all of the peninsula's story.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13His name was Samuel Ibn Naghrillah.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16He started off as a spice merchant in Cordoba.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21He moved here and became the advisor to the Berber rulers
0:53:21 > 0:53:24of the principality of Granada.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27When he backed the right candidate for the throne,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Samuel became not only the leader of the Jewish Community
0:53:30 > 0:53:33but the Grand Vizier, the prime minister,
0:53:33 > 0:53:37and the Commander in Chief of the Granadan army.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40In war, he commanded and won victories.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43In peace, he was leader of the Jewish community,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46he wrote works of Jewish philosophy,
0:53:46 > 0:53:50he was a rabbi, and above all, he was a poet.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53His poetry is astonishing even in English translation.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57But he wrote in Hebrew and in Arabic. He wrote love poems.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Love poems to beautiful girls, to wine,
0:54:00 > 0:54:05to boys and to the excitement of victory in war.
0:54:10 > 0:54:14Here in Granada, a group of Naghrillah enthusiasts
0:54:14 > 0:54:16are gathering to hear some of his poetry.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11In this poem, Naghrillah describes how wisdom
0:55:11 > 0:55:14comes from the knowledge we're not here forever.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44In 1056, Samuel Naghrillah died
0:55:44 > 0:55:49but he was succeeded by his son Joseph as Grand Vizier of Granada.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Joseph was only 20 but he can't have been a fool
0:55:52 > 0:55:54because he ruled for ten years.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57It was quite traditional for Grand Viziers to be succeeded
0:55:57 > 0:56:01by their sons and even to found little mini-dynasties.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05But there was a problem. The Naghrillahs were Jews.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16Now this Jewish potentate seemed an enemy within
0:56:16 > 0:56:19from a dynasty of interlopers.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32In 1066, a date as resonant for the Jews of Granada
0:56:32 > 0:56:38as it was for King Harold, the Saxon King of England, something snapped.
0:56:38 > 0:56:43A mob came to Joseph's palace, close to the Alhambra, and dragged him out.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46They chased him through the streets. He was unable to escape.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54When the mob finally caught up with Joseph Naghrillah, it was right here.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57They lynched him and then went on a killing spree,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00massacring 4,000 Jews.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02As for Joseph, they crucified him
0:57:02 > 0:57:06right here beside this magnificent city gate.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16The crucifixion of Joseph Naghrillah in Granada marked
0:57:16 > 0:57:20the beginning of the end of religious pluralism in Muslim Spain.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25The Naghrillahs were not the first Jewish Grand Viziers
0:57:25 > 0:57:27in the Islamic world.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29Yet the confidence of the Caliphate,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33necessary for such broad-mindedness, was past.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37Over 400 years, Spain would tear itself apart.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Next time, how the Christian Kings of the North struck back,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50conquering all of Spain for the cross.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54How Spain purified its blood in a vicious Inquisition,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58catching even some of my own family in its net.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03Oh, my God! So this is his death sentence?
0:58:03 > 0:58:05It's just heartbreaking.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08And how Christopher Columbus set sail
0:58:08 > 0:58:10to discover a rich American empire.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20If this story has inspired you
0:58:20 > 0:58:22and you'd like to find out more,
0:58:22 > 0:58:25go to the address given on screen
0:58:25 > 0:58:27and follow the links to The Open University.