0:00:09 > 0:00:14The word "barbarian" is a misleading expression.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17And the art that goes with it is misleading, too.
0:00:21 > 0:00:27This picture was painted in 1890 by an arrogant French painter
0:00:27 > 0:00:29called Joseph-Noel Sylvestre.
0:00:31 > 0:00:37It shows the Sack of Rome in 410 AD by the Visigoths.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44The Visigoths were a so-called barbarian tribe.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49You can't miss them, they're the ones without any clothes on.
0:00:49 > 0:00:50It's such nonsense.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54The Visigoths were never naked savages,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58clambering about Rome, destroying civilisation.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03They were pioneering Europeans who produced beautiful art
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and who achieved important things.
0:01:06 > 0:01:12It was actually these so-called barbarians who invented trousers.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Riding a horse was much easier in trousers.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22So if it wasn't for the Barbarians, we'd all be wearing togas.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29So this is a film about misunderstood peoples.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31And their misunderstood achievements.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37About how we've got the Dark Ages wrong, again.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42And about a word whose meaning has been warped by time.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47It's this word here. Barbarian.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33The Dark Ages go roughly from the fourth century to roughly the 11th.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37And I've been looking at the art made in these years,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41trying to convince you that it wasn't dark at all.
0:02:43 > 0:02:49In this film, I'll be leaping to the defence of the so-called barbarians.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59The word "barbarian" actually comes from the ancient Greek.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04Its original meaning was someone whose language you can't understand.
0:03:04 > 0:03:05A foreigner.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08You know like we say, "It all sounds like Greek to me"
0:03:08 > 0:03:11when we can't understand something,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15well, the Greeks said, "It all sounds like bar bar bar."
0:03:17 > 0:03:20So it was an onomatopoeic word.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25Anyone who spoke a funny foreign language was a barbarian.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29The same word, "barbara", can be found in Sanskrit,
0:03:29 > 0:03:31the ancient language of India.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36Where it means gibberish or stammering.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40And if you're actually called Barbara, like Barbara Windsor
0:03:40 > 0:03:45or Barbra Streisand, then I'm afraid your name means "barbarian woman".
0:03:47 > 0:03:52And you, Madame, are particularly in touch with your barbarian self.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58When the Romans took over the word it came to mean anybody,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00anywhere, who wasn't a Roman.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08So the Persians were barbarians. The Indians, the Chinese.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11The entire non-Roman world.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21It isn't just this word barbarian that has been demonised
0:04:21 > 0:04:22and distorted.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25You open your dictionary and start looking for words
0:04:25 > 0:04:31with bad, Dark Ages connotations, you'll find lots of them.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Take this word here. Vandal.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39The Vandals were actually another fascinating
0:04:39 > 0:04:43and creative ancient peoples who made things like this.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50But their name has been stolen from them and turned into something dark.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Or what about the Goths?
0:04:52 > 0:04:58Today Goths are oily punks with dyed black hair who worship the devil.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03But in real life, in Roman times, the Goths were fabulous,
0:05:03 > 0:05:09international creatives who made the most beautiful Bible I've ever seen.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16But the worst of these so-called barbarians,
0:05:16 > 0:05:21these forgotten ancient peoples whose reputation has been trashed by the Romans,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25the very worst of them were the Huns.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27WOLF CRIES
0:05:28 > 0:05:30HORSE WHINNIES
0:05:30 > 0:05:31SHOUTING
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Poor Huns!
0:05:36 > 0:05:41If anyone in ancient history deserves some rebranding,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45it's this notorious nation of energetic invaders.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51No-one had a good word to say about them.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56The Goth historian, Jordanis, tells us they were scarcely human,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59a stunted, puny and faithless tribe.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Christian writers were even harsher.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08According to a Christian cleric writing in Syria,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11the Huns eat the flesh of children.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14And drink the blood of women.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23It's like reading a bad airport paperback.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27The Christians were determined to demonise all pagans
0:06:27 > 0:06:31and they were particularly determined to demonise the Huns.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39So we can't trust the Christian clerics. We need to trust the art.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42And that tells a different story.
0:06:59 > 0:07:05In the First World War, the British began calling the Germans "Huns".
0:07:05 > 0:07:08It was the worst insult they could think of.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11But also, very bad geography,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14because the Huns were not from Germany.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23Exactly where they came from is one of the big mysteries of the Dark Ages.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Nobody knows for sure.
0:07:26 > 0:07:32But it was somewhere out here, in the Euro Asian steppe.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Somewhere far away and different.
0:07:39 > 0:07:45The first record of the Huns in Europe dates from around 376 AD,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48when a group of retreating Goths turned up
0:07:48 > 0:07:53here on the banks of the Danube and begged the Romans to take them in.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58The fleeing Goths had been pushed out of their lands
0:07:58 > 0:08:02by a nation of nomads, coming in from the east.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07A fighting tribe, of whom everyone was scared.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Huns were fierce warriors, there's no denying that.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16But not all the time.
0:08:16 > 0:08:22Like all nomads, they lived a precarious, travelling existence.
0:08:22 > 0:08:28They moved around in small family groups, menfolk, women and goats.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37The default lifestyle of the Huns was a tinkerish domesticity.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42And among the splendid Hunnic objects they've left behind,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46the defining ones are these battered Hunnic cauldrons,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49preserved in the museum in Budapest.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56In these robust vessels, the Huns cooked their goats
0:08:56 > 0:08:57and boiled their water.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05"A man can live to 50..." is an old Kazakh sating that still circulates.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07"..But a cauldron will live to 100."
0:09:12 > 0:09:17Something else we know about the Huns is that they loved gold.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Oh, how the Huns loved gold.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23The Hunnic graves that have been dug up,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26the buried caches of treasure and valuables,
0:09:26 > 0:09:31reveal such a deep and instinctive passion for treasure.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40These days, we've lost sight of gold's crazy, hypnotic power.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44And that special relationship it enjoys with the sun.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48The Incas called it "the sweat of the gods".
0:09:49 > 0:09:55And in the Dark Ages, gold was a substance with a magical presence.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01And the Huns loved it in a visceral and unbalanced way.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06In my book, that's a good reason to love them back.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16WOLF HOWLS
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Because they spend so much of their life on the move,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27travelling from pasture to pasture,
0:10:27 > 0:10:33the Huns had a particularly creative relationship with the natural world.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39Hun treasure is dominated by exquisite animal forms.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47In the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50there's a wonderful piece of jewellery.
0:10:50 > 0:10:56It's a golden bit of a bangle, or a neck torque, like one of these.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58And it's this piece here at the end,
0:10:58 > 0:11:03shaped so atmospherically like the head of a creeping wolf.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12This is gold that nurses an intense symbolic ambition,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15to commune with the natural world.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19To speak to it and steal some of its power.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23To steal the power of the wolf.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25WOLF HOWLS
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Another animal that was dear to them was the eagle.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42They probably used eagles to hunt with,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44as nomads of the Steppes still do.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50And the great bird in the sky inspired such beautiful Hun bling.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Eagles have a special significance for the Hun.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04They were ready-made symbols of power and beauty combined.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08And right across the barbarian world,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13these garnet-studded eagle brooches became noticeably popular.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22This powerful new relationship to the natural world
0:12:22 > 0:12:27was one of the great barbarian contributions to civilisation.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34And then of course there was the magnificent Hunnic horse art.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38The Huns depended on their horses totally
0:12:38 > 0:12:40and they loved them deeply, so, of course,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44they made sure their horses looked suitably splendid, too.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54These are the remains of a full-length Hunnic horse ornament,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58fashioned delicately from gold
0:12:58 > 0:13:03and studded so generously with precious stones.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Lucky is the horse who got to wear this.
0:13:09 > 0:13:15The Huns would ride into battle with wolfskin pulled down on their faces,
0:13:15 > 0:13:19screaming demonically in a deliberate effort
0:13:19 > 0:13:22to get inside their enemy's heads.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27Now, this was dark, psychological warfare. Very sophisticated.
0:13:27 > 0:13:33And one of the reasons the Huns were so easy to demonise
0:13:33 > 0:13:35is because they looked so strange.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42They practised ritual deformation,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and their skulls were deliberately misshapen at birth.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Infant Huns would have their heads tightly bound
0:13:50 > 0:13:56so they grew into these uncanny and elongated Mekon shapes.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01And on these deformed heads of theirs,
0:14:01 > 0:14:07the Huns would balance spectacular crowns of unimaginable preciousness.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18So the big question is, where did the Huns get the gold?
0:14:18 > 0:14:22They were nomads, not miners, and although they were busy tradesmen,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26you'd need to trade an awful lot of goatskins
0:14:26 > 0:14:30for the amount of gold left behind by the Huns.
0:14:32 > 0:14:38They didn't trade for it. The Huns got their gold more directly.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Straight from the Romans.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Because their bows were so lethal and their horsemen so skilled,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52the Huns were soon operating a protection racket
0:14:52 > 0:14:55across most of the Roman Empire.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00What they'd do is invade somewhere, or threaten to invade somewhere,
0:15:00 > 0:15:06and then demand large quantities of gold to go away again.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11The Romans, cowardly diplomats that they were,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14preferred to pay them than to fight them.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18And by the time the Hunnic Empire was at its largest extent,
0:15:18 > 0:15:24the Huns were receiving 2,500 pounds of gold coins
0:15:24 > 0:15:27from the Romans every year.
0:15:27 > 0:15:322,500 pounds of gold...
0:15:32 > 0:15:37every year, to melt down and turn into art.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44A few tribes of nomads raiding along these Roman borders
0:15:44 > 0:15:48could never have pressurised the Romans into giving up
0:15:48 > 0:15:51these ENORMOUS quantities of gold.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55So we need to forget this image of the Huns as a tribal horde
0:15:55 > 0:15:56sweeping across Europe,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01because they were something much more sophisticated than that.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04This is a map of the Hunnic Empire under Attila.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09It's the bits in orange. And just look at the size of it!
0:16:09 > 0:16:14All this was Hunnic.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19This wasn't a bunch of nomads on the make, this was a rival empire.
0:16:19 > 0:16:26The new superpower of the Dark Ages turned up to take on the Romans.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34I've kept Attila back, because the moment you mention him,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38the story of the Huns takes on a satanic glint.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44All the Huns were demonised by history,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48but Attila was demonised most of all.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55The exciting thing is we actually know a lot about him.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59A Roman diplomat called Priscus was sent on one of these
0:16:59 > 0:17:02diplomatic missions to negotiate with the Huns,
0:17:02 > 0:17:07and he has left behind a vivid account of his journey.
0:17:07 > 0:17:13And this gentleman here is building a replica of Attila's palace
0:17:13 > 0:17:16on the actual sight of which he thinks it actually stood.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22So, Janos, when did you first become interested in Attila?
0:17:22 > 0:17:24TRANSLATION:
0:17:24 > 0:17:28I bought this land 20 years ago to breed horses.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31That was when we came across the history of this site.
0:17:31 > 0:17:39Priscus, the Byzantine ambassador, visited Attila in 450 AD,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41and describes how he found his way here.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47And he definitely identified this place as the site of Attila's palace.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55That's why we'd like to erect a memorial to him here,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57by constructing a wooden palace.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Janos's palace will be created in timber,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06exactly as Priscus describes.
0:18:06 > 0:18:12It's shaped like a giant nomad's tent, a kind of glorified yurt,
0:18:12 > 0:18:17with two wooden towers rising cockily at the front.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23Priscus tells us that when he arrived,
0:18:23 > 0:18:29he was treated to an enormous banquet, served on silver plates.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34And a procession of young women dressed in white veils
0:18:34 > 0:18:36came out to sing for him.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Attila himself was simply dressed
0:18:41 > 0:18:44and ate nothing but meat on a wooden platter.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50While the guests were given goblets of gold and silver.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58What does Attila mean to the Hungarian people?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Because, for a lot of people in Europe,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04he has a very bad reputation, but not here.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07In Hungary, he seems to be thought of more as a hero.
0:19:07 > 0:19:15TRANSLATION: When people say Attila was a barbarian, that's something I reject.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It's not something I believe.
0:19:17 > 0:19:23He spoke eight languages by the age of 15 and laid Europe at his feet.
0:19:23 > 0:19:30Someone unintelligent - a barbarian - could not have done the things that Attila did.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Only someone blessed with special talents.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Did Attila's palace really look like this?
0:19:41 > 0:19:44I very much doubt it.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48But neither do I think Janos's fantasy is more misleading
0:19:48 > 0:19:51than all the other Hun fantasies
0:19:51 > 0:19:55about satanic hordes sweeping through Europe.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58HUNNIC BATTLE CRIES
0:20:03 > 0:20:06By the time Attila became their ruler,
0:20:06 > 0:20:11the Huns had created a complex political system.
0:20:11 > 0:20:18Their huge empire was actually a federation of many nations.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23A kind of barbarian EU, opposed to the Romans,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28with Goths and Burgundians, Alans, even a few Greeks,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32all linked together and ruled by Attila.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40So I'm here at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44There's something really spectacular I just have to show you.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55When this was dug out of the ground on the Romanian border in 1799,
0:20:55 > 0:21:01it was thought to be Attila the Hun's personal dinner service.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08You can see why they thought that. Just look at how splendid this is.
0:21:08 > 0:21:1123 golden vessels.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16Nearly ten kilos of pure gold.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Today, no-one thinks this was Attila's dinner service.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27The most recent thinking is that it was left behind by the Avars,
0:21:27 > 0:21:33one of those mysterious tribes that emerged from the confederation of the Huns.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40They obviously ha that special relationship with nature, too.
0:21:40 > 0:21:46This magnificent bull-headed bowl is another example of powerful,
0:21:46 > 0:21:51natural magic channelled into gold.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56This is what the Dark Ages were capable of.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01This is what makes these times is so exciting.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04That bull bowl has a power to it.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10An animal energy that you just don't get later on when art loses
0:22:10 > 0:22:14this connection to the basic stuff of life.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20The Empire of the Huns didn't last long.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26For a few decades, it rivalled the Romans. And then it was gone.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Attila, the glue that held it all together,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43had a taste for young brides.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48But on his final wedding night, he drank himself into a stupor,
0:22:48 > 0:22:54took his latest bride to bed, and promptly died of a heart attack.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57They found him the next morning with blood streaming down his nose.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01What we would call these days "a rock star's death".
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Within a few years, Attila's empire was gone.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13Torn apart by feuds and incompetence.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15But the Huns had done their job.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20They had punched a hole in the invincible reputation of the Romans.
0:23:20 > 0:23:27Now, all manner of barbarian was queueing up to pour through it.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36When we think of the barbarians,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39we think of hordes of bellicose warriors
0:23:39 > 0:23:44storming across the plains to attack Rome.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47- But that's wrong. - HORSE WHINNIES
0:23:47 > 0:23:49It was more of a migration.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Think of those wagon trains rolling across the American West,
0:23:53 > 0:23:58full of brave pioneers searching for a new future.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01That's a more accurate image,
0:24:01 > 0:24:07particularly in the case of another great barbarian nation whose name
0:24:07 > 0:24:13has been well and truly blackened by Dark Age propaganda - the Vandals.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Neigh!
0:24:16 > 0:24:20According to my Shorter Oxford Dictionary,
0:24:20 > 0:24:26a vandal is "a wilful or ignorant destroyer of anything beautiful,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29"venerable or worthy of preservation."
0:24:34 > 0:24:40That's what it meant in 1663, but it shouldn't be what it means today.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44The story of the Vandals is actually rather poignant.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49They were basically a nation of Germanic farmers,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52living peacefully in central Europe
0:24:52 > 0:24:56until the Huns pushed them out.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01For a while, they ended up here in Spain, until a group of Goths
0:25:01 > 0:25:04pushed them out of there as well,
0:25:04 > 0:25:12and the poor old vandals had to move on again to here - North Africa.
0:25:16 > 0:25:23In 429 AD, 80,000 people came across the Straits of Gibraltar,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26crammed onto small boats.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30A kingdom on the move, looking for a homeland.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35The vandals had arrived in Africa.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41Originally, this word "vandal" meant something like "wanderer".
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Someone who is looking for something.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48It comes from the same Germanic root as the English word "to wend",
0:25:48 > 0:25:51as in "I was wending my way home from work."
0:25:51 > 0:25:56And the Vandals were great wenders and great wanderers.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04The Vandals who arrived here in Africa were led
0:26:04 > 0:26:07by a formidable king called Genseric.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13If you think of the Vandals as a lost people
0:26:13 > 0:26:15and Africa as the promised land,
0:26:15 > 0:26:20then Genseric was their Moses,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22leading them across the oceans.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30They made their way along the North African coast here,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34attacking cities, collecting followers, absorbing territory,
0:26:34 > 0:26:40until, eventually, in 439 AD, they reached their destination...
0:26:42 > 0:26:44..Carthage.
0:26:47 > 0:26:53Carthage was the second-largest city in the Western Roman Empire.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Busy, rich, a crucial trading centre.
0:26:58 > 0:27:04The Romans depended on it for the olive oil they burned in lamps
0:27:04 > 0:27:06and the wheat from which they made their bread.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12When the Vandals took Carthage, they shocked the Roman Empire.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23The capture of Carthage was surprisingly peaceful.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Genseric was so clever.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31He entered the city on the 19th October, the day of the Roman Games.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33Sports day.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Now, the Romans, who were obsessed with sports,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41were far too interested in the gladiatorial combat
0:27:41 > 0:27:46and the chariot racing to fight the Vandals.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48BATTLE CRIES
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Thus, Genseric and his Vandal army
0:27:53 > 0:27:57strolled into the second-largest city of the Western Roman Empire,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02took control of it, and stayed there for the next century.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17People used to think the Vandals went about destroying
0:28:17 > 0:28:22and pillaging Carthage as soon as they got here.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25But today, we know they didn't.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32The most remarkable thing about the Vandal occupation of Africa
0:28:32 > 0:28:36is not how much they destroyed, but how little.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41Later on, angry Romans and Christians writing of these events
0:28:41 > 0:28:45made sure they blackened the Vandals' reputation
0:28:45 > 0:28:47as they did with all the barbarians.
0:28:47 > 0:28:53But the art that remains from these times tells a different story.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02To signal their new status as overlords of Rome's most prosperous province,
0:29:02 > 0:29:07the Vandals did what the nouveau riche always do -
0:29:07 > 0:29:09they spent money on the arts.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Their jewellers were commanded to make gorgeous Vandal bling,
0:29:15 > 0:29:22And out in the countryside, they built elegant villas for themselves
0:29:22 > 0:29:25and filled them with superb decorations.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34That's the Julius mosaic. It's one of the masterpieces of the period.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37And Julius himself is sitting there in his white robe,
0:29:37 > 0:29:39and he's the man who commissioned the mosaic.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45No-one is 100% certain
0:29:45 > 0:29:50if this was made just before the Vandals got here or just after.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52And that is the most telling thing about it.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58This is how rich Romans lived and also rich Vandals.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Julius's house, where this was found, is shown in the middle -
0:30:03 > 0:30:07the posh, fortified villa.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Those domes at the back are the bathhouses,
0:30:11 > 0:30:15the equivalent today of a luxury swimming pool.
0:30:18 > 0:30:25All around the villa are busy scenes of rural life in North Africa.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29Up on the left, that's winter. See the people picking olives?
0:30:29 > 0:30:31That's what you did in winter.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37On the other side, on the right, is summer.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40See the shepherds with their summer flock
0:30:40 > 0:30:45and those fields of ripe wheat behind them.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Down here are spring and autumn.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56Spring is the season of flowers, and there's Mrs Julius in her garden
0:30:56 > 0:30:59admiring herself in a mirror
0:30:59 > 0:31:03while a servant brings her a bowl of roses.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06They are beautiful and so is she.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13On the other side, it is autumn, and there's Lord Julius himself,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16sitting on a throne in his orchard,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19while a labourer brings him a basket of grapes
0:31:19 > 0:31:23and a hare is caught running about the vines.
0:31:25 > 0:31:33This is mosaic making of the highest calibre. So imaginative and clever.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37It isn't just a portrait of Julius and his house,
0:31:37 > 0:31:42this is a visualisation of the perfect lifestyle.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45A rural dream made real.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50The message here is how glorious life is
0:31:50 > 0:31:53when man lives in harmony with nature.
0:31:53 > 0:31:59When order prevails and the land is fertile and balanced.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03Welcome to the good life in Africa.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Instead of knocking down Carthage,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21the Vandals set about making it more homely.
0:32:23 > 0:32:29They put small houses in the huge Roman clearings and, famously,
0:32:29 > 0:32:32an ambitious new bathhouse was built here
0:32:32 > 0:32:36by the art-loving Vandal king, Thrasamund.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46Bathhouses were hugely important in Roman society.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50They were a kind of social club where people would chat and gossip,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53a bit like modern health clubs, except much cheaper.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Roman bathhouses had two main spaces -
0:33:00 > 0:33:05a hot room, or caldarium, that heated you up,
0:33:05 > 0:33:10and a cold room, or frigidarium, that cooled you down.
0:33:11 > 0:33:18The largest of all the Roman bath complexes was here in Carthage - the Antonine Baths,
0:33:18 > 0:33:24built in the second century by the Roman emperor, Antoninus Pius.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26These are the ruins.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30So imagine how big the baths must have been.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36Long before the Vandals conquered Carthage,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40the Antonine Baths had fallen into disrepair.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46So the Vandal king, Thrasamund, built some new ones.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51We know a lot about Thrasamund's baths, because, amazingly,
0:33:51 > 0:33:56a collection of Vandal poems on the subject have survived.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03That's right. Vandal poems.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07The Vandals were particularly keen on poetry, and hundreds
0:34:07 > 0:34:11of poems written here in Carthage in the Vandal years have survived.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15And this thick body of unexpected literature
0:34:15 > 0:34:19tells us so much about them.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27A poet called Felix has left behind an evocative description
0:34:27 > 0:34:30of Thrasamund's bathhouse.
0:34:30 > 0:34:35"This magnificent monument was erected by Royal command
0:34:35 > 0:34:39"Where water and fire display their obedience."
0:34:44 > 0:34:49There were no less than five poems by Felix about these great baths,
0:34:49 > 0:34:54and the big idea in all of them is this dramatic contrast between
0:34:54 > 0:34:58the cool, refreshing springs of the frigidarium
0:34:58 > 0:35:02and the hot, boiling waters of the caldarium.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06Here, says Felix,
0:35:06 > 0:35:11"I see spring waters exist harmoniously with flames.
0:35:11 > 0:35:17"Here, the shivering nymph is startled by the fiery bath."
0:35:19 > 0:35:24Felix's poems were displayed all around you as you bathed,
0:35:24 > 0:35:30as mosaics, so they surrounded you, pushed their way into your thoughts,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33and as you read them, you are prompted to marvel
0:35:33 > 0:35:37at this great miracle achieved here by Thrasamund.
0:35:39 > 0:35:45In the Vandal baths, Thrasamund has achieved the ultimate harmony -
0:35:45 > 0:35:49"Thrasamund has united fire and water."
0:35:54 > 0:35:58OWL HOOTS AND WOLF HOWLS
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Goth-Goth...
0:36:11 > 0:36:12There we are.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16Gothic. "Barbarous, rude, uncouth."
0:36:16 > 0:36:17Gothic. Ah, here we are.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21"Goth - one of a Germanic tribe who invaded the Roman Empire."
0:36:27 > 0:36:31In the lexicon of hate spawned by the Dark Ages,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35a special place is set aside for the Goths.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41The Dark Ages are full of nasties,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45but the Goths are particularly spooky.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50THUNDER RUMBLES
0:36:52 > 0:36:55If you walked down the street where I live in London,
0:36:55 > 0:37:01in Camden Town, you'll find plenty of modern Goths wandering about.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04They are dressed from head to toe in black
0:37:04 > 0:37:08and covered in satanic insignia.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12And they're trying so hard to look doomy.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16And I just want to give them all a big hug
0:37:16 > 0:37:21and tell them to cheer up, because if they want to be Goths,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24they should be like real Goths -
0:37:24 > 0:37:29energetic, colourful, inventive.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33The kind of people who did that.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43Stunning, isn't it?
0:37:43 > 0:37:47I love the way the mosaic sparkles with all that gold
0:37:47 > 0:37:50and throws light all round the dome. It's so exciting.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59But there's something peculiar about it too.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01Something slightly awkward.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06That's obviously Jesus up there being baptised,
0:38:06 > 0:38:12but why is he so pink and flaccid, and not very divine?
0:38:12 > 0:38:16How did Jesus end up like this?
0:38:20 > 0:38:25Originally, the Goths came from up here - the Baltic Coast.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30They were farmers, successful farmers,
0:38:30 > 0:38:32but when their population exploded,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35they made their way south to the Black Sea,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39searching for better land and better farming conditions.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43When the Goths moved south,
0:38:43 > 0:38:47they came into direct contact with the Roman Empire,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51and their history immediately grew more problematic.
0:38:54 > 0:38:59It would take me several programmes to deal with the twists and turns
0:38:59 > 0:39:03in relation to the Goths and their migrations,
0:39:03 > 0:39:05but to boil it down to its essentials,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07when they settled here in the south,
0:39:07 > 0:39:12they found themselves in the way of the Huns coming in from the east.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16So, to get away from them, the Goths split in two.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21Now, some of them fled across the Danube here,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24and begged the Roman Empire to let them in.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28And they became the Visigoths, or western Goths,
0:39:28 > 0:39:34and they settled initially here in France and finally in Spain.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38But the other ones, they stayed put over here
0:39:38 > 0:39:42and joined the Huns in the Hunnic Empire, and they became
0:39:42 > 0:39:46the Ostrogoths, or eastern Goths,
0:39:46 > 0:39:50and they are the ones who did this.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58When you think of barbarians, you think instinctively of pagans,
0:39:58 > 0:39:59don't you?
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Of godless and violent people with strange and primitive beliefs.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11Conan the Barbarian is hardly altar boy material, is he?
0:40:15 > 0:40:21Actually, most of the barbarians were Christians. Even the Vandals.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24So were the Ostrogoths and Visigoths.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29All of them were converted to Christianity in the fourth century.
0:40:29 > 0:40:35However, the form of Christianity they were converted to was unusual.
0:40:38 > 0:40:44The reason why this Christ looks so unfamiliar and even peculiar,
0:40:44 > 0:40:48is because he is an Arian Christ, and not a Catholic one.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55And Arian Christianity is different.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Arianism was a Christian heresy.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03A different form of Christianity proposed by a priest called Arius
0:41:03 > 0:41:07in Alexandria in Egypt in the fourth century.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12From there, it spread across the Roman Empire
0:41:12 > 0:41:15and then out among the Barbarians.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23The Arians believed that Jesus was different from God.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27He was divine, yes. But less so.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36The Catholics believed that God and Jesus, father and son, were equal.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41Two different forms of the same great divinity.
0:41:41 > 0:41:49But the Arians disagreed. For them, God the Father was the one true God.
0:41:49 > 0:41:54He was the God at the top. And Jesus, his son, was below him.
0:41:55 > 0:42:01And that's why the Jesus up here in the baptistery mosaic
0:42:01 > 0:42:02looks so wimpish.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08This is a Jesus who is more like the rest of us.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12Less divine, more human.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16Perhaps that's why the Barbarians preferred him.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20He's less imperial, and more like them.
0:42:27 > 0:42:33This is Ravenna, in northern Italy. The capital of the Ostrogoths.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Right across the Empire,
0:42:35 > 0:42:41Catholics and Arians distrusted each other as only co-believers can.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46But in Ravenna, it was the Aryans who held sway.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51And it was Arianism that created this.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57It was a bit like the Sunnis and the Shia in Islam.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02Same religion, different only in its details.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05But so antagonistic towards each other.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14The Ostrogoths were led by a formidable Arian king
0:43:14 > 0:43:16called Theodoric.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20And it was Theodoric who built this.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Theodoric had been brought up in Constantinople
0:43:26 > 0:43:29in the court of the Eastern Roman Empire.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34He had been sent there by his own father as a hostage,
0:43:34 > 0:43:36and educated as a Roman.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39So he was sophisticated and clever.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48Having gained the trust of the Roman emperor Zeno in Constantinople,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Theodoric persuaded Zeno to let him come to Italy
0:43:52 > 0:43:58and reconquer it from another Germanic despot, called Odoacer.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05Theodoric invited Odoacer to a banquet in his honour
0:44:05 > 0:44:11and there, he murdered him with his bare hands, or so they say.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14And thus, Theodoric made himself ruler of all Italy,
0:44:14 > 0:44:17based here in Ravenna.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26Under the Ostrogoths, Ravenna thrived as never before.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30This is the great Basilica of San Apollinaire,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34that Theodoric built early in the sixth century.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38And then filled with this spectacular parade of mosaics.
0:44:42 > 0:44:43Up on the ceiling,
0:44:43 > 0:44:49a baby-faced Arian Christ performs such a lively set of miracles.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55Raising Lazarus from the dead. Conjuring up miraculous fish.
0:45:00 > 0:45:06So up there, is the story of the young Jesus performing his miracles.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11And on the other side over there, the other end of the story.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15Christ's terrible death and resurrection.
0:45:15 > 0:45:16The Last Supper.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20The kiss of Judas.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28Below that, there is this great golden procession,
0:45:28 > 0:45:33the 22 virgins bearing sumptuous crowns.
0:45:33 > 0:45:41Lined up to pay homage to the Virgin Mary. With Jesus in her lap.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54On the other side, in a kind of Arian call and response,
0:45:54 > 0:45:59the 26 martyrs, dressed more simply in white
0:45:59 > 0:46:05and advancing in a mighty procession towards the enthroned Jesus.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12What marvellous religious theatre this is.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15What vivid and exciting mosaics.
0:46:17 > 0:46:22And all you pretend Goths in Camden, if you're watching,
0:46:22 > 0:46:24the REAL Goths made this.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34Unfortunately, later on when the Roman emperor Justinian
0:46:34 > 0:46:36reconquered Ravenna for the Byzantines,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40he set about tampering with what Theodoric had done,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43removing what he could of the Arians.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46So see this portrait here?
0:46:46 > 0:46:48That's actually Theodoric,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51but Justinian has taken over his identity
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and he is pretending to be him.
0:47:00 > 0:47:06This, they say, is what is left of Theodoric's Ravenna palace.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09You can see it inside San Apollinaire as well.
0:47:09 > 0:47:16A great golden palace filled once with magnificent Ostrogoth treasures.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22There is a museum in Romania, in Bucharest,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25that is bursting with this Ostrogoth bling.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30And personally, I'd be happy to put on some shades
0:47:30 > 0:47:34and just stare at it for the next few days.
0:47:37 > 0:47:38But we can't.
0:47:38 > 0:47:43Because back in Ravenna, the story of the Ostrogoths has darkened
0:47:43 > 0:47:45and grown eerie.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51When Justinian conquered Ravenna, he had all signs of Theodoric
0:47:51 > 0:47:53and the Ostrogoths removed.
0:47:54 > 0:47:59And the great mosaic palace is now a ghost town with no-one in it.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05Though if you look very carefully, you can still make out
0:48:05 > 0:48:11a few of the bodiless Ostrogoth hands that remain.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24Theodoric left his mark on many art forms.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26But the one that surprises me most
0:48:26 > 0:48:32is this totally unexpected piece of Dark Age literature.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39The Silver Bible is a Gothic gospel book written in Gothic
0:48:39 > 0:48:41with the Gothic alphabet.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46It was written in northern Italy, probably in Ravenna.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49And probably for the Gothic, the Ostrogothic king,
0:48:49 > 0:48:51Theodoric the Great,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54in the beginning of the sixth century.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02Most people imagine that what used to be called the barbarian tribes,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05such as the Goths, didn't have a literature.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08But this, of course, is written in the Gothic language.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11Yes. And that's very remarkable,
0:49:11 > 0:49:18because we don't know anything about the other Germanic languages.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23But Gothic language is preserved in this manuscript.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29It's very beautiful to look at.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33It's got these lovely purple pages with the silver writing on it.
0:49:33 > 0:49:39Yes. It's the imperial colour, the purple colour.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41And Theodoric the Great,
0:49:41 > 0:49:48he got permission from the East Roman Emperor to use this purple colour.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52And he behaved and acted like a Roman emperor.
0:50:01 > 0:50:06Theodoric, who lived to be over 70, deserves to be remembered
0:50:06 > 0:50:09as one of the great achievers of the Dark Ages.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17This is where he was buried. His mausoleum, in Ravenna.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20And I can't think of another building anywhere that looks
0:50:20 > 0:50:23anything like this.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26What eerie and inventive architecture.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33I love this thing. It's so stocky and unusual.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37A unique example of Ostrogoth building which seems to have
0:50:37 > 0:50:40popped out of nowhere, and that's just the outside.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42Wait you see the inside.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Theodoric died in 526 AD,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55and was buried here in this huge sarcophagus,
0:50:55 > 0:50:56shaped like a Roman bath.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02I find this such a spooky space.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06And it's absolutely unique.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17That roof is made from a single piece of Istrian stone.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21It's a metre thick, 33 metres wide,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24and weighs 300 tonnes.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26To get it here from Istria,
0:51:26 > 0:51:30which is roughly where modern Croatia is, they had to load
0:51:30 > 0:51:36it onto an enormous raft and sail it across the Adriatic.
0:51:36 > 0:51:37Can you imagine?
0:51:41 > 0:51:44That cross up above, that's original, too.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48There used to be silver stars all around it,
0:51:48 > 0:51:52so when you look up in here, it was like looking up at the sky at night.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59There are some exciting stories about Theodoric's death.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04Some say he went mad after seeing one of his victims
0:52:04 > 0:52:07inside the head of a fish.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Others say he was thrown from a volcano.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15One thing's certain.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20The Ostrogoth empire he created collapsed quickly after his death.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24Justinian reclaimed Ravenna.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28The Ostrogoth era was over.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34So that's the end of the Ostrogoths,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38but what about the Visigoths, or Western Goths?
0:52:38 > 0:52:40The Goths in Spain, over here.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43What happened to them, you might be thinking?
0:52:44 > 0:52:46And what did they achieve?
0:52:47 > 0:52:51Well, rather a lot, as it happens.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04This is Palencia, in Spain,
0:53:05 > 0:53:10and what you're looking at is the oldest surviving Spanish church,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14built in the seventh century by the Visigoths.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23The Visigoths ruled Spain from around 500 AD
0:53:23 > 0:53:25to around 700 AD.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30That's 200 years, but you hardly ever hear about them.
0:53:30 > 0:53:36You hear about the Romans in Spain, you hear about the Muslims in Spain,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39but you don't hear about the Visigoths.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47One cruel wag has christened them the Invisi-goths,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50which is very unfair.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52If you hunt around in Spain,
0:53:52 > 0:53:56you'll find plenty of evidence of Visigoth achievement,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01like this rustic enunciation, carved into an emerald.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07And sometimes, you don't have to look hard at all to see
0:54:07 > 0:54:11the Visigoths showing off their Dark Age skills.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16Like these superb Visigoth crowns,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19with the name of the King who commissioned them
0:54:19 > 0:54:22spelled out helpfully for the hard of remembering.
0:54:24 > 0:54:25Aren't they magnificent?
0:54:28 > 0:54:32Those Visigoth crowns are not for wearing on your head.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35They're what's called votive crowns,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and they are for hanging above an altar in a church.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58Like the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths were originally Arians,
0:54:58 > 0:55:03but here in Spain, they were surrounded by Roman Catholics,
0:55:03 > 0:55:07and quickly adopted the Romanic version of Christianity.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13And that's when they built these exciting and inventive
0:55:13 > 0:55:14Visigoth churches.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25This is the church of St John the Baptist in Palencia.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27It's been remodelled here and there,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30but most of what you see is Visigoth.
0:55:31 > 0:55:37The story goes that the Visigoth king Recesvinto built this church
0:55:37 > 0:55:42to thank God for curing him of liver disease.
0:55:42 > 0:55:48He washed himself just out here, in the holy waters of Palencia.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50And was suddenly cured.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57Recesvinto was on his way north to fight the Basques,
0:55:57 > 0:56:02so he was particularly grateful for his miraculous cure,
0:56:02 > 0:56:06and even put up a plaque with the date the church was finished.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09January 3rd, 661 AD.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Recesvinto's plaque is surrounded by typically vigorous bits
0:56:18 > 0:56:22of Visigoth decoration. So energetic and busy.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Completely unlike anything the Romans came up with.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34I really like this Visigoth church decoration.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39When I look at it, I feel as if I can hear a sculptor whistling.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42There's something so boisterous about it,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45something real and untutored.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47It's as if, for the first time in art,
0:56:47 > 0:56:49we're hearing from the common man.
0:56:52 > 0:56:58This wasn't made by an artiste, this was made by a bloke.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03Someone with big hands, who's speaking to us across the ages.
0:57:06 > 0:57:11The sheer inventiveness of these Visigoths is so invigorating.
0:57:12 > 0:57:18I mean, look at these arches. They're special, right?
0:57:18 > 0:57:22Why are they special? Because they look like one of these.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30I don't know how much you know about arches.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33But if you're any sort of student at all,
0:57:33 > 0:57:38you'll know that horseshoe arches are remarkable.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44Your bog standard arch certainly wasn't shaped like this.
0:57:46 > 0:57:51Before the Visigoths invented these, arches were semicircular.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55They came round like that, and that's it.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00But these horseshoe arches, they come down to here,
0:58:02 > 0:58:06and they have a very different effect.
0:58:09 > 0:58:15Horseshoe arches look wider, airier, taller, more elegant,
0:58:15 > 0:58:19as if a sail has been unfurled and filled with wind.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24They're more playful, too. Less stern.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29This is architecture doing more than has been asked of it.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33This isn't just holding something up.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37This is having fun and looking good.
0:58:40 > 0:58:46So the Visigoths invented this elegant horseshoe arches,
0:58:46 > 0:58:50and these were a brilliant barbarian invention.
0:58:50 > 0:58:56But although the Visigoths invented them, they didn't perfect them.
0:58:56 > 0:58:58It was someone else who did that.
0:59:02 > 0:59:04The perfectors of the horseshoe arch
0:59:04 > 0:59:09are the subject of the next film, when we look at the art of Islam.
0:59:11 > 0:59:15In the hands of Islamic artists, the horseshoe arch would create
0:59:15 > 0:59:18architecture of spine-tingling beauty.
0:59:20 > 0:59:24It's yet another of the great achievements of the Dark Ages.
0:59:43 > 0:59:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media