0:00:02 > 0:00:05She's been fought over and occupied
0:00:05 > 0:00:08by all the great powers of the Mediterranean.
0:00:10 > 0:00:15Ravaged by many, lovingly embraced by just a few,
0:00:15 > 0:00:18still haunted by her own demons.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22'I'm Michael Scott. As an ancient historian,
0:00:22 > 0:00:27'I'm on a journey to discover an island on the border of two worlds.'
0:00:28 > 0:00:30HE SHOUTS
0:00:30 > 0:00:33'As much North African as it is European.'
0:00:35 > 0:00:37Sicily.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42I want to know how Sicily's extraordinary history
0:00:42 > 0:00:44has shaped the island we see today.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Is it too late to run away?
0:00:49 > 0:00:53'How Sicilians, so rarely in control of their own destiny,
0:00:53 > 0:00:58'have forged an identity and culture that is, well, so Sicilian.'
0:00:58 > 0:01:01We live on a volcano,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03but it's normal, yes!
0:01:03 > 0:01:07'How they learnt to survive invaders and live with each other,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11'to look forward to the future from a turbulent past.'
0:01:11 > 0:01:15What calls the tourists here is The Godfather,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19but what makes them stay is the sun, is the limoncello, is the granita,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21is the coffee.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26'I want to find out what Sicily's history and people can tell us
0:01:26 > 0:01:31'about how to survive in an unstable world.'
0:01:31 > 0:01:34We are giving an example to the rest of Europe -
0:01:34 > 0:01:38welcome is the best guarantee for safety.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48Head down, head down, head down.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Well, that seems to be the modern version of ancient sea defences,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04just have some very low bridges trying to get into the town.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10I'm arriving at the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13where for centuries people have come here using it as a stepping stone
0:02:13 > 0:02:15between Europe and Africa,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19and as a gateway between the east and west Mediterranean Sea.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Not all have come in peace, and yet Sicily's culture, identity,
0:02:23 > 0:02:28its history is the result of that continual tidal wave of people
0:02:28 > 0:02:30coming and going.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34I want to find out what it means to be a Sicilian.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40I'm in Syracuse on Sicily's east coast,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43founded by the Greeks 27 centuries ago.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52In the city's ancient heart is the Duomo, the Cathedral of Syracuse.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Today, this is a Christian church,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58but to walk through its doors is to take a trip back in time
0:02:58 > 0:03:01to 500 years before Christ was even born.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09The Duomo began life in 480 BC
0:03:09 > 0:03:12as the building project of a Greek tyrant,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14who having beaten the Carthaginians in battle,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16used the loot to build this.
0:03:16 > 0:03:22And these are the columns from that temple, soaring up into the sky.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25It was topped by a statue of Athena with a golden shield
0:03:25 > 0:03:27that could be seen for miles around.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31This building was a marvel for the Mediterranean before a single block
0:03:31 > 0:03:33of the Parthenon had ever been laid.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36The Romans, too, in their time
0:03:36 > 0:03:41came here to admire and loot for themselves its artistic treasures.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45And then this building saw the invasion of barbarian tribes.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51But that was just the beginning of this building's story,
0:03:51 > 0:03:52because then the Byzantines came,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56broke through the inner walls of the old Greek temple and filled in the
0:03:56 > 0:03:59outer colonnade to create a Christian church.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04But then in the 9th century, the Arabs invaded Sicily.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08The citizens of Syracuse took refuge here and were massacred before the
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Arab conquerors turned this church into a mosque.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14But this story does not stop there either,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18because then the Normans came to Sicily, took it back,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20turned this mosque back into a church,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24raised the roof high and in every generation since then,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28every newcomer to Sicily has added their flavour to this wonderful
0:04:28 > 0:04:30building. So when you stand here,
0:04:30 > 0:04:34you stand in the midst of 2,500 years
0:04:34 > 0:04:38of Sicily's kaleidoscopic heritage and history.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50What made Sicily so irresistible was its geography.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Poised on the toe of Italy,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55just 3km from the European mainland,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59in parts further south than the African coast.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Directing the sea lanes to flow around it,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06to control Sicily was to control the movement of trade and people
0:05:06 > 0:05:09in the western and central Mediterranean.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Sicily was occupied from early prehistory
0:05:15 > 0:05:17by three different tribes.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21The Elymians, the Sicans and the Sicels,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24who buried their dead in rock-cut tombs
0:05:24 > 0:05:26and probably gave Sicily its name.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33But for me, the island's character was born in Greek myth -
0:05:33 > 0:05:36a mysterious, dangerous land
0:05:36 > 0:05:40in the shadow of Europe's largest active volcano.
0:05:46 > 0:05:52I am here absolutely in the jaws of the beast that is Mount Etna,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57this one-eyed Cyclops of a volcano.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02This is a lava flow all around me
0:06:02 > 0:06:06from the 1981 eruption that came crashing down here,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09destroying everything in its path.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11It's now 20 feet or so above my head.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16It's no wonder that the ancient Greeks saw this place as the home of
0:06:16 > 0:06:19the monster Typhon that had 100 snakeheads
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and who did battle with Zeus
0:06:22 > 0:06:24to be champion of the cosmos.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26And when Zeus finally won,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30he supposedly imprisoned him here, underneath Mount Etna,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and then threw the mountain on top of him to keep him there.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Just like today,
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Mount Etna is probably one of the most well-known things about Sicily,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45so you can be absolutely sure that the ancient Greeks,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47every single one of them,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50knew that this was a place where you had to be careful.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02'Just as today, Sicily's ancient migrants risked danger
0:07:02 > 0:07:05'and uncertainty on their journey to a new life.'
0:07:07 > 0:07:09Ciao! Grazie!
0:07:13 > 0:07:18The Greeks first arrived in Sicily here, in Naxos, in 735 BC.
0:07:18 > 0:07:19They didn't need a harbour,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23they had this wonderfully naturally protected beach to land on,
0:07:23 > 0:07:24and their arrival here was part of
0:07:24 > 0:07:26a much wider spreading out of the Greeks
0:07:26 > 0:07:29around the Mediterranean world,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31creating Magna Graecia - Greater Greece.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Sicily was never going to be the same again.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43The Greeks arriving here, they were putting down roots.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46And in the years to follow, many more Greeks did the same.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50The result was a higgledy-piggledy spread of Greek cities around the
0:07:50 > 0:07:52eastern and the southern coasts of Sicily.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57We shouldn't think about it as a kind of organised colonisation or
0:07:57 > 0:07:59imperial arrival, it was much more.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Different, individual groups,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03doing things in their own way,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and all jostling with one another to thrive.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13What all Greeks would do, however, soon after their arrival,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15would be to build an altar to the gods,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17to thank them for their safe delivery,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19and for the foundation of their new home.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22It would often be placed just on the beach here where they'd arrived.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Here in Naxos there was a very famous altar,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27the altar of Apollo Archegetes -
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Apollo, the founder of settlements and cities.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34It was worshipped at, not just by the people of Naxos, but over time,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37by all Sicilian Greeks across the island.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40It was, if you like, a rallying call,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44a point at which they could all believe that they were part
0:08:44 > 0:08:46of something greater.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Like the Arab world today,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57being Greek was a concept rather than a nationality.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02Linked together by religion and language, if you spoke Greek,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05you were Greek. Everyone else was a barbarian.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09The word itself coming from the sounds that, to Greek ears,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11non-Greeks made.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18According to the Greek historian Thucydides,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22the peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism
0:09:22 > 0:09:25when they learnt to cultivate the olive and the vine.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31Sicily's wine industry today owes its origins to the vines planted by
0:09:31 > 0:09:33those first Greek settlers.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39It's far too early in the day for a tipple,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41the sun's just come over the yard arm,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45so instead I've come in search of an ancient Greek wine press.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49This is a palmento, a gravity-driven wine press.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52I'm hoping that the director of excavations here at Agrigento
0:09:52 > 0:09:54is going to give me a helping hand
0:09:54 > 0:09:56to see this thing, once again, in action.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04'Director Giuseppe Parello tells me he has his own vineyard,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06'so he's the expert.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10'We have 150 kilos of grapes.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14'In theory, that's enough to produce 100 litres of wine.
0:10:15 > 0:10:16'But before they go in,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19'the ancient palmento's surface needs to be protected.'
0:10:22 > 0:10:25The director's going to call the shots here on how we're making our
0:10:25 > 0:10:28wine in our palmento-cum-swimming pool here today.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31The first thing he's told me I've got to do is take off my shoes.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36I guess the director is going to take the role of boss today,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38he knows how to do this.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42'Ancient Greek wine making meant treading the grapes by foot
0:10:42 > 0:10:47'on a sloped floor, the juice running off into a collection basin,
0:10:47 > 0:10:52'a method that continued in Sicily all the way up until the 1990s,
0:10:52 > 0:10:57'when it was banned by the European Union on health grounds.'
0:10:57 > 0:11:00THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:11:06 > 0:11:08The director's being very kind to me,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10saying with the plastic making it so slippy,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13he'll accept my slow progress, but if this was for real,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15I would have been fired already.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17I'm far too slow here in the process.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22The other thing he's saying, which struck me as quite surprising,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25is that if they were doing this for real, this would be a rhythm,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27a process, people bringing grapes in,
0:11:27 > 0:11:28crushing them and moving through.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32No-one would want to interrupt that process with the natural need,
0:11:32 > 0:11:37for example, to go to the loo, so you would just pee in here as well,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40because, as he put it,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44it's all fermented alcohol at the end of the day. I hope,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47in fact I'm quite glad I think that the European Union outlawed this
0:11:47 > 0:11:49process fairly recently!
0:11:49 > 0:11:51THEY LAUGH
0:11:51 > 0:11:55'Exports of wine and olive oil helped transform Sicily,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59'generating wealth to build great cities and temples.'
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Grazie.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05So, the director's given me my next instruction,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08which is, "Get out all the stalks."
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Now, I sort of had this fanciful idea in my head that it was all
0:12:12 > 0:12:17prancing around, dancing around in a wine vat pressing grapes,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and, actually, it's incredibly hard work.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:12:22 > 0:12:24THEY LAUGH
0:12:24 > 0:12:28So, I finally got it, this is the speed he wants me to work at.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Blimey, slave driver or what?!
0:12:33 > 0:12:35Got to produce, I've got to get on,
0:12:35 > 0:12:37I've got to stop moaning and get on with it.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41HE SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:12:41 > 0:12:43- No?- No, no, no.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46No break, no nothing, that's it, I quit.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48That's it, I'm done.
0:12:48 > 0:12:49Io vado via.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Mi dispiace.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53THEY LAUGH
0:13:01 > 0:13:04'The treading of grapes may have been outlawed,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08'but one modern vineyard has revived an ancient Greek tradition.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12'Before Tito, one of the vineyard owners, could explain,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15'we had to crush the grapes the modern way.'
0:13:18 > 0:13:19So this machine...
0:13:19 > 0:13:21THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:13:21 > 0:13:23..it not only crushes the grapes...
0:13:29 > 0:13:33..it amazingly separates them from their stalks,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36and then sends the liquid all the way in there,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39to where it's going to be stored and fermented.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45'Nowadays, wine is usually fermented in wooden barrels
0:13:45 > 0:13:46'or steel containers,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50'but here it's pumped into Greek style clay amphorae,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52'buried deep in the ground.'
0:13:52 > 0:13:54So when you feel it coming through,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58the pressure is suddenly very intense, sort of bursts of
0:13:58 > 0:14:02grapes and the grape juice coming through, filling up this amphora,
0:14:02 > 0:14:07which is going to be used as the place to ferment the wine.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10IN ITALIAN:
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Tito is going to say when to stop for the fermentation to happen...
0:14:24 > 0:14:26- Stop!- That's stop.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34Like in the time of the Greeks, huh?
0:14:41 > 0:14:42'For the next seven months,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45'the grapes are left to ferment in the amphorae.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52'But, as Tito explained,
0:14:52 > 0:14:57'producing wine the Greek way wasn't without difficulty.'
0:14:57 > 0:14:59IN ITALIAN:
0:15:06 > 0:15:11'Too much oxygen had entered the wine, allowing bacteria to grow.'
0:15:27 > 0:15:31'The answer was to ignore the rules of modern winemaking,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34'and leave the grape skins in the wine.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39'The skins soaked up the excess oxygen, halting bacterial growth,
0:15:39 > 0:15:45'allowing the wine to develop a unique character.'
0:15:45 > 0:15:47IN ITALIAN:
0:16:00 > 0:16:05'Tito has grown his business on the lessons of the past,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08'so what does Sicily's history mean to him?'
0:16:08 > 0:16:11IN ITALIAN:
0:16:43 > 0:16:46'Sicily's history has rarely been settled.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49'Even as the Greeks were planting their vines of the east coast,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52'a rival group of migrants were arriving on the west.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09'The island of Motya is just a short boat journey from the mainland.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13'In the 8th century BC,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17'Phoenician settlers from modern-day Syria and Lebanon
0:17:17 > 0:17:19'set up a trading base on the island.'
0:17:22 > 0:17:24THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:17:24 > 0:17:28'Archaeologist Lorenzo Nigro pieces together their story
0:17:28 > 0:17:32'from the remains of the city they left behind.'
0:17:32 > 0:17:34So, Lorenzo, where are we digging right now?
0:17:34 > 0:17:36We are digging in a deposit
0:17:36 > 0:17:39which is just at the side of the Temple of Astarte -
0:17:39 > 0:17:41the major goddess of the Phoenicians.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47As you see here in this ring, this goddess was the goddess of love,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- of fertility.- And this is Astarte?
0:17:49 > 0:17:50This is Astarte.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51And you found this right here?
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Yes, yes, yes, yes.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57So, from the 8th century,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00the Phoenicians are here, trading, living.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Do they do like the Greeks, who also arrive in the 8th century,
0:18:03 > 0:18:04are they expanding their territory?
0:18:04 > 0:18:09In Motya, they were so able to be in touch with the Greeks
0:18:09 > 0:18:12and to be integrated with them.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Motya has to survive in Sicily,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17so they used to have trade with the Greeks
0:18:17 > 0:18:20and they absorbed Greek culture.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25So what do you think motivated the Phoenicians to leave the East
0:18:25 > 0:18:27and to head to a place like Motya in Sicily?
0:18:27 > 0:18:31One of the major reasons was the situation in the Near East,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34which was like nowadays, there were big wars,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37there were big powers which was pushing,
0:18:37 > 0:18:43and there were states which were very strong, so there were taxes...
0:18:43 > 0:18:45It was a very...
0:18:45 > 0:18:47bad economic situation.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51There were also people travelling for religious reasons.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55They wanted to build up a free place, free from taxes,
0:18:55 > 0:19:01with a different approach to life, and they travelled with everything
0:19:01 > 0:19:03but the wives.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06The wives they needed to take from the local population, and this,
0:19:06 > 0:19:13of course, helped them to be an integrating culture,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15because they needed to be
0:19:15 > 0:19:17in good relationships with local populations.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22They weren't afraid to engage with and mix with other cultures?
0:19:22 > 0:19:27Their religion was not only rules saying no,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30it was just open to life.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35And this is what we can say from these broken stones.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39It's an inspiring vision of the past.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Yes, give us hope, for the future.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Perfect.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45- Lorenzo, buona fortuna.- Grazie.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50'But Motyan independence was short-lived.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54'In the 6th century BC, the rival Phoenician city of Carthage,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59'just a day's sailing away in modern-day Tunisia, seized Motya.'
0:20:00 > 0:20:04On the other side of the island is this - another crucial,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07sacred religious area for the Phoenicians.
0:20:07 > 0:20:08This is the tophet.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11And here, the sacred well,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15dating back to the earliest phases of the Phoenician settlement here,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17typically round.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19But just alongside it
0:20:19 > 0:20:23is another good symbol of the Carthaginian take-over of this place
0:20:23 > 0:20:24in the 6th century,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28because the Carthaginians built their wells square.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31They weren't going to use the Phoenician round well,
0:20:31 > 0:20:32they wanted their own.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35You can even see the hand and foot holds they've created,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39so that people could get down to bring up that sacred water
0:20:39 > 0:20:41for the rituals practised here.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43But this tophet,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45while it was obviously used for sacred ritual
0:20:45 > 0:20:51and for dedicating objects to the gods, also has a darker side,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55an aspect of Phoenician-Carthaginian culture that really sticks in the
0:20:55 > 0:20:57throat, and it's right over here.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04This is an area full of small stelae,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07but also these urns that you can see,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12dating to both the Phoenician and Carthaginian eras of this site.
0:21:12 > 0:21:13And every single one of these urns
0:21:13 > 0:21:17was filled with the cremated remains of children,
0:21:17 > 0:21:22who many argue were intentionally slaughtered to honour the gods.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26In effect, these people, this civilisation
0:21:26 > 0:21:28practised human sacrifice.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Greek, and later Roman, writers
0:21:34 > 0:21:37told how parents slaughtered their own children.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Some have argued that this was just propaganda,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44put about by the enemies of the Carthaginians, but on Motya,
0:21:44 > 0:21:46the evidence for sacrifice is growing.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52- Come va? Grazie! - OK, this is for you.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Thank you. So, this was found when?
0:21:56 > 0:21:57In 1993.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01OK. And we're excavating the contents today...for the first time?
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Yeah, now we try for the first time.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06So we take this
0:22:06 > 0:22:08- with your gloves.- Absolutely.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10And then we start.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15But these pots,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17they look to me like a cooking pot.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21It is, maybe this one was not used, but it's a cooking pot.
0:22:21 > 0:22:22It's exactly the same.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27So what have we got here, Sharon?
0:22:27 > 0:22:29We put this,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31it's very little, but...
0:22:31 > 0:22:33It's a little fragment of bone.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Yeah. So, we take a little bag and
0:22:36 > 0:22:37put inside.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44- OK.- I'll leave that there for the moment.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50We could be working on this for some time,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53but you've also brought one here from the same year that was found.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57- Exactly.- 1993. That has already been excavated, is that right?
0:22:57 > 0:22:58- Yes.- And can we...?
0:22:58 > 0:22:59Yeah, we can open it.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07So what we're looking at here, the burnt ashes and...
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Yes, bits of bones and the ashes...
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Bones and the ashes of the baby.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13What would the process have been?
0:23:13 > 0:23:15The child, they would have been burnt?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17- Yes.- On an altar, perhaps?
0:23:17 > 0:23:19- Yeah...- Or somewhere?
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Somewhere that we don't know, yet.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24OK. And then their ashes gathered together,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27placed in here and then this placed into the ground.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Before they cover, they closed.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33- They would have covered it with a...?- A dish or a bowl.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35A dish or a bowl, wow, OK.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37And then placed into the ground?
0:23:37 > 0:23:40- Yes.- In the tophet.- Yes.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44The question is, were the children whose ashes we see here,
0:23:44 > 0:23:49were they sacrificed or had they died from any number of causes that
0:23:49 > 0:23:54contributed to the very high infant mortality rates in antiquity?
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Traditionally, this idea of child sacrifice has been used to separate
0:23:58 > 0:24:02out the Carthaginian-Phoenician culture from that of the Greeks.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07The Greeks wouldn't do that kind of thing, whereas they did.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Yet I don't think we can really see it like that.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Sharon, what do you think? Do you think this was a case of child
0:24:13 > 0:24:14sacrifice? Or infant mortality?
0:24:14 > 0:24:17- Yes.- You think child sacrifice? - I think child sacrifice.
0:24:17 > 0:24:18We're both in agreement.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21We think it could well have been child sacrifice,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25but the Greeks and Romans didn't necessarily see that as
0:24:25 > 0:24:27something horrible or abhorrent,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31they just saw it as a different way of doing things.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Your culture does things one way, mine does it another way.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36How we doing, Sharon, have we found anything yet?
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Only little, little pieces.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40Small fragments of bone.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Fantastic. But we're getting there, right, we're getting there.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44- Slowly but surely.- Slowly, slowly.
0:24:44 > 0:24:45Slowly, slowly!
0:24:47 > 0:24:52Child sacrifice was deeply embedded in Carthaginian culture,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55but other ideas they borrowed from the Greeks.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02The ultimate example of that cultural blurring between the Greeks
0:25:02 > 0:25:07and the Carthaginians here at Motya is this guy, the Motya Charioteer.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Now, we know he was sculpted in the early 5th century
0:25:10 > 0:25:15and he's definitely sculpted by a Greek craftsman, but after that,
0:25:15 > 0:25:16he leaves us with a real problem,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19because this guy's definitely a charioteer.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23The long robe, the high, tight belt and here the fixings,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25where a safety harness would have been put,
0:25:25 > 0:25:26so if he dropped the reins,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29he didn't lose them completely.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34But a Greek would never think of a charioteer like this.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36A charioteer was not a hero.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40A charioteer was a lackey, but this guy, look at the musculature,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44the pecs, the abdominals, the six-pack, the honed thigh, the,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46quite frankly, impressive lunchbox.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50And when you come round the back, it's exactly the same, the buttocks,
0:25:50 > 0:25:55the backs of the legs, everything is tuned to the ultimate perfection,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58uber perfection, one could say.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59How do we explain this?
0:25:59 > 0:26:03There's no good, satisfactory answer,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05but one I quite like is this -
0:26:05 > 0:26:10that the ruler here in Motya wanted to create a sculpture of a
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Carthaginian deity, or perhaps a Carthaginian deity
0:26:12 > 0:26:15that had become kind of mixed with a Greek deity,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17but to do so, by the early 5th century,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21the only sculptural language that could really command attention
0:26:21 > 0:26:24across Sicily was that of the Greeks.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28And as a result of that complex, cultural interaction,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32diffusion and desire also to speak to the wider world,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36you get this - a complete and utter one-off.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46On the coast across from Motya,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Phoenicians harvested salt from shallow lagoons -
0:26:50 > 0:26:53a legacy kept alive by modern Sicilians.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03The warm African winds, the long summer days
0:27:03 > 0:27:06and the shallow coastal waters in this part of Sicily
0:27:06 > 0:27:09make this area fantastic for salt production.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It was a fact not lost on the Phoenician settlers
0:27:12 > 0:27:16who came here some 2,700-plus years ago, and it's a fact still not lost
0:27:16 > 0:27:19on the people who live and work here today.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22However, most salt production today is done by machines,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25however, I'm off to meet one family
0:27:25 > 0:27:28who still do the majority of it by hand.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52So, I feel like I've been given the trainee apprenticeship badge today,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54with my yellow boots.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57What we're doing is breaking up the salt.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00So, originally, they'd let the seawater into one of the salt pits
0:28:00 > 0:28:04out there. The warm winds, the warm weather would slowly dry it,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07the water would get heavier and heavier in its salt concentration,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10and then they let it into these fields,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12where it starts to dry even more,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16until this thick crust of salt forms under the water.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20What we're doing today is breaking up that crust,
0:28:20 > 0:28:24and then they're going to let the last layer of water dry off,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26and then they start to harvest it.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29- Sale del mare.- Del mare.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34'Work breaking up the salt began in the early hours,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37'but the day quickly heats up.'
0:28:37 > 0:28:39I want to find out
0:28:39 > 0:28:43why they think, when there is a machine that could do this,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45why they still want to do it by hand.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:28:58 > 0:29:01The guys are saying that this is the natural way to do it,
0:29:01 > 0:29:03this is the way their ancestors have done,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06this is the way it's been done for centuries.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09It makes a proper artigianale product,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11and they much prefer it that way.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:29:50 > 0:29:53THEY LAUGH
0:29:53 > 0:29:56So we've started in on the Sicilian jokes,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58and obviously the police,
0:29:58 > 0:30:00the poor old police, are the butt of them all.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06IN ITALIAN:
0:30:54 > 0:30:592,500 years ago, a battle was fought to decide Sicily's future.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06A conflict that began between Greek city states and escalated into
0:31:06 > 0:31:10all-out war between Carthage and the Greeks of Syracuse.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18In 480 BC, the Carthaginian army
0:31:18 > 0:31:22advanced on the Greek city of Himera.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25The forces of Syracuse were waiting.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28'The future of Sicily hung in the balance.'
0:31:31 > 0:31:33All battles are, of course, horrific,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37but there's something about being faced with the material and human
0:31:37 > 0:31:42remains of a battle that makes that horror strike ten times deeper.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Here we have, these are shin guards and from its style
0:31:46 > 0:31:48we know it's Iberian, Spanish.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53So the likelihood is that this has been ripped off the body of
0:31:53 > 0:31:57a Spanish mercenary fighting for the Carthaginians.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00On the other hand,
0:32:00 > 0:32:01this...
0:32:02 > 0:32:06..is somebody's vertebrae, somebody's spine.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08Most probably a Greek,
0:32:08 > 0:32:14and what you can see still lodged in-between two vertebrae here
0:32:14 > 0:32:16is the point of a bronze arrowhead.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18This guy was shot in the back,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22buried here in one of the mass graves of the Greeks.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29On the other hand, over here we have perhaps even a sadder story.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32We're looking at two feet and the bone analysis tells us
0:32:32 > 0:32:34that they were in their 60s or 70s.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39This wasn't a warrior, this was an old man or woman,
0:32:39 > 0:32:41a local. And they, too,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43you can see still embedded in their foot,
0:32:43 > 0:32:45have a bronze arrowhead.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50These objects speak to the traumas of war,
0:32:50 > 0:32:56but they also speak to a moment in history when
0:32:56 > 0:33:02rivers diverted, when Sicily's history changed dramatically.
0:33:02 > 0:33:08It was confirmed as an island of the Greeks and not the Carthaginians.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16The Greek victory was marked with a temple at Himera and at other sites
0:33:16 > 0:33:19around the island and back in Syracuse,
0:33:19 > 0:33:23with the Temple of Athena that would one day become the city's cathedral.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32'Temples were statements of power as much as religious centres
0:33:32 > 0:33:34'and with war booty filling their coffers,
0:33:34 > 0:33:39'those that had sided with Syracuse could afford to build big.'
0:33:42 > 0:33:46There's absolutely no way you could have missed this temple
0:33:46 > 0:33:49when you were approaching this part of Sicily by sea,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52as it sits here bestriding this ridge of landscape,
0:33:52 > 0:33:57or indeed the other six temples that also occupied this ridge.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59This was the Greek city of Akragas,
0:33:59 > 0:34:04or the Roman city of Agrigento as they called it, saying to the world,
0:34:04 > 0:34:09"We're here and we're a match for anyone who wants to take us on."
0:34:18 > 0:34:21As the dark, thunderous clouds gather over there,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25it's about time we pay homage to the king of the Olympian gods,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27to Zeus the thunderbolt thrower,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30and this is the top of one of the columns that once adorned
0:34:30 > 0:34:32the building on all four sides.
0:34:34 > 0:34:40This is a building built possibly by the people of Akragas, Agrigento,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44to celebrate the Greek victory over the Carthaginians at Himera.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47But it may also have been just simply because they were playing,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50"Ya, shucks, boo, my temple's bigger than yours"
0:34:50 > 0:34:52with the nearby Greek city of Salinas.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57'But you didn't have to be Greek to build a temple.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01'The city of Segesta belonged to the Elymians -
0:35:01 > 0:35:03'one of Sicily's indigenous peoples -
0:35:03 > 0:35:06'and they desperately needed to convince a powerful ally
0:35:06 > 0:35:11'that Segesta was an important city worthy of military support.'
0:35:15 > 0:35:19If you wanted a picture postcard perfect Greek temple,
0:35:19 > 0:35:21this could well be it. The irony being, of course,
0:35:21 > 0:35:26we're not in Greece and this town is not actually Greek.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30But it was built when this town wanted to be on good relations with
0:35:30 > 0:35:33the Greeks, particularly with the city of Athens in the second half of
0:35:33 > 0:35:37the 5th century BC, so that they could have a treaty with Athens,
0:35:37 > 0:35:40so that they could get Athens' help in their own war against other
0:35:40 > 0:35:44Sicilian cities. But the double irony about this temple
0:35:44 > 0:35:46is that it's not finished.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50How do we know that? First off, the columns,
0:35:50 > 0:35:52they never had their fluting applied.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54No roof has ever been put on, and these,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58these things I almost keep tripping over, these are the lifting bosses.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01They would've been used to wrap ropes around so you can lift this
0:36:01 > 0:36:04entire block into place and if the temple had been finished,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07well, they would've been shaved off and smoothed over.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11But here they are, running along all three lines of the building.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15So why was this temple, such an expensive operation,
0:36:15 > 0:36:16never completed?
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Well, it may have been that Segesta had decided that
0:36:20 > 0:36:23once it got its treaty with the city of Athens that it was aiming for,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26it didn't need to impress Athens any more,
0:36:26 > 0:36:29so why bother finishing their Greek temple?
0:36:29 > 0:36:30What a waste.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38'Unfortunately for Segesta,
0:36:38 > 0:36:42'the treaty with Athens proved as empty as their temple.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46'Instead of supporting Segesta, Athens decided to attack Syracuse,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50'an ally of Athens' enemies back in Greece.'
0:36:54 > 0:37:00In 415 BC, Sicily and the city of Syracuse became the major front
0:37:00 > 0:37:03in the Peloponnesian War, the conflict,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06the civil war that was tearing the Greek world apart.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11The Athenian fleet sailed into this harbour and tried to take the city.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14It proved a disastrous campaign.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18After two long years, the Athenian fleet was finally destroyed here.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Those who managed to escape overland got caught in the marshes and those
0:37:21 > 0:37:26who didn't die of fever ended up working in the quarries at Syracuse.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43The abandoned charm of this place today
0:37:43 > 0:37:46belies the cruel reality of its creation.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49These are the quarries of Syracuse,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53excavated by captives of war in the blistering heat.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02'In 1609, the brutal history of these quarries
0:38:02 > 0:38:05'inspired one famous visitor
0:38:05 > 0:38:07'to imagine the horrors that played out here.'
0:38:10 > 0:38:13The great painter Caravaggio was on the run from Rome
0:38:13 > 0:38:17having committed "accidental murder".
0:38:17 > 0:38:19He came to Sicily and while on the run,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22he decided to take in some of the ancient sites.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26He came here to the quarries in Syracuse and saw this and it was he,
0:38:26 > 0:38:32Caravaggio, who first gave it its name - the Ear of Dionysius.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37Dionysius was a great tyrant ruler of Syracuse
0:38:37 > 0:38:39in the beginning of the 4th century BC.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42And this man-made cave in the shape of an ear
0:38:42 > 0:38:47extending some 65 metres back into the rock was, it was then said,
0:38:47 > 0:38:52the place where Dionysius, the cruel warlord tyrant,
0:38:52 > 0:38:54used to put his captives so that he could,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56with its perfect acoustics,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00listen easily and with glee to their screams.
0:39:07 > 0:39:14'This rabbit warren of quarries was so inescapable that even the Romans
0:39:14 > 0:39:18'would later commend it as the best prison to be found
0:39:18 > 0:39:19'anywhere in the Roman world.'
0:39:21 > 0:39:24And for those fateful Athenians,
0:39:24 > 0:39:29the only chance of escape was to recite the words of the playwright
0:39:29 > 0:39:35Euripides because Syracuse, for all his cruelty and majesty,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37was also a great fan of drama.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44Greek culture dominated Sicily,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48setting the stage for every city to have its own theatre.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56Segesta's theatre lies 400 metres above sea level,
0:39:56 > 0:39:58on the slopes of Mount Barbarian.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Every summer, groups of local actors keep traditions alive by performing
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Greek tragedies on a stage they build themselves.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:40:17 > 0:40:23So we've crept in on a rehearsal for tonight's performance of Sophocles.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25Oedipus Rex, Oedipus the King.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34Originally, this place would have held something like 4,000 people,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37but frankly, it's the view that takes your breath away here.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40How one's supposed to concentrate on what's going on on the stage,
0:40:40 > 0:40:41I don't know.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50I mean, I presume that's Oedipus.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Or is it Tiresias, the Blind Prophet?
0:40:59 > 0:41:02So while the real actors have taken a rain break,
0:41:02 > 0:41:04I thought I'd sneak on stage
0:41:04 > 0:41:06to bring a little bit of Shakespeare to the party.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Much Ado About Nothing is Shakespeare's
0:41:08 > 0:41:12most regularly performed comedy and it was written at the end
0:41:12 > 0:41:16of the 16th century and it's set in Sicily, in the town of Messina.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19It's a play I know a little bit about because I used to use one of
0:41:19 > 0:41:20the speeches when I was little,
0:41:20 > 0:41:22doing drama exams.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25So let's have a little bit of Benedick, one of the heroes,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29professing or realising that he's in love with a woman called Hero.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35This can be no trick.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37The conference was sadly borne.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40They have the truth of this from Hero.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42They seem to pity the lady.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46It seems her affections have their full bent.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Love me!
0:41:49 > 0:41:51Why, it must requited.
0:41:51 > 0:41:52I hear how I am censured.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55They say I will bear myself proudly
0:41:55 > 0:41:57if I perceive the love come from her.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03I can't remember any more. HE LAUGHS
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Public performances were one way to keep the population happy.
0:42:10 > 0:42:11But this being Sicily,
0:42:11 > 0:42:16public performances with food thrown in were even better,
0:42:16 > 0:42:20and as the Greek gods demanded animal sacrifice,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23that meant there'd be plenty of leftover meat.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Welcome to the sacrificial altar of Hieron II -
0:42:29 > 0:42:33the ruler of Syracuse in the 3rd century BC.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35This guy believed in building big.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38This altar is gigantic.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41It's over 200 metres in length,
0:42:41 > 0:42:4311 metres high,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46and it's said that this thing could take simultaneously
0:42:46 > 0:42:51450 oxen for sacrifice.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56Now, that's enough meat for over 200,000 people.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59That's quite an ancient Greek barbecue.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03Hieron wanted to be seen as the equal of the great
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Hellenistic rulers in the East,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10the successors of Alexander the Great, and in building this,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14well, he certainly gets himself into that category.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17'Hieron's altar was dedicated to Zeus
0:43:17 > 0:43:20'in his role as the deliverer of freedom,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23'but by the 3rd century BC,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26'freedom was in short supply.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29'200 years after the Battle of Himera,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31'Greek rule on Sicily was fading.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33'Carthage had risen again
0:43:33 > 0:43:37'and Rome was the new power on the Mediterranean block.'
0:43:39 > 0:43:42For all that Hieron played being a big ruler,
0:43:42 > 0:43:48he was, in fact, a rather small pawn in a much greater tectonic shift
0:43:48 > 0:43:51in the power politics of the Mediterranean.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53For this was the era when Rome took on Carthage
0:43:53 > 0:43:57to decide who would be master of the Mediterranean.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01A battle that took place on Hieron's doorstep in and around Sicily.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Hieron had formed a pact with Rome to keep Syracuse independent,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12but in 214 BC, just a year after Hieron's death,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15a Roman fleet attacked Syracuse.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24'The Romans may have expected an easy victory,
0:44:24 > 0:44:26'but one old man stood in their way.'
0:44:29 > 0:44:33Archimedes - the great inventor, scientist, mathematician -
0:44:33 > 0:44:37was a citizen of Syracuse. And in his 70s, he was called upon to bring
0:44:37 > 0:44:41all that knowledge to bear to defend the city against Roman attack,
0:44:41 > 0:44:43and he did it brilliantly.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46He not only helped make their catapults more accurate
0:44:46 > 0:44:48so that they could chuck stuff at the Roman ships,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52but he also invented a machine called The Claw.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55This was where an enormous kind of crane-like thing extended over the
0:44:55 > 0:44:57walls of the city towards the sea,
0:44:57 > 0:45:00where they would drop a huge weight into the front of the ship
0:45:00 > 0:45:03and then be able to yank that ship up out of the water
0:45:03 > 0:45:05where it would break apart, or capsize,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08or everything on it would be tipped overboard.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11The Roman general Marcellus complained bitterly.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16He said, "Archimedes is using my ships as a ladle
0:45:16 > 0:45:19"to put sea water into his wine cup."
0:45:19 > 0:45:24This was a fantastic example of brains winning out over brawn.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33Protecting the city's landward side was Eurialo Castle.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40With great trenches to prevent siege engines coming close
0:45:40 > 0:45:45and underground tunnels to speed defenders around the walls.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Frustrated in their attempts to take Syracuse by sea,
0:45:49 > 0:45:52the Romans also tried to approach by land
0:45:52 > 0:45:55where they met these formidable defences and where
0:45:55 > 0:45:59it's likely that Archimedes had been working to improve the catapults
0:45:59 > 0:46:03that were atop the fortification walls behind me.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07The stalemate led to a two-year long siege of the city
0:46:07 > 0:46:09and it wasn't until all Greek eyes were turned towards
0:46:09 > 0:46:14an important religious festival that the Romans found their moment
0:46:14 > 0:46:18to slip in through the walls and take Syracuse for good.
0:46:18 > 0:46:19The question now was,
0:46:19 > 0:46:23what was going to happen to the Syracusans and to Archimedes?
0:46:31 > 0:46:35Now, supposedly, the Roman general Marcellus wanted Archimedes taken
0:46:35 > 0:46:37alive, but the Roman soldier that discovered him
0:46:37 > 0:46:40demanded that he drop what he was doing.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43Archimedes refused and as a result the Roman soldier supposedly
0:46:43 > 0:46:45killed him in the heat of the moment.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49Now, it may have been that at that point Archimedes' body was lost,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52but another story goes that a tomb was created for him.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55A tomb that Cicero, the great Roman orator,
0:46:55 > 0:46:59coming to Sicily centuries later rediscovered in the shrubbery
0:46:59 > 0:47:03and upbraided the Syracusans for not taking better care of the tomb
0:47:03 > 0:47:06of one of their great ancestors.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11That tomb, if it did exist, is once again lost.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16And for me, that same accusation still rings true today.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19We have no idea where Archimedes' tomb may be,
0:47:19 > 0:47:21but it's also pretty hard to find
0:47:21 > 0:47:25any memorial to Archimedes' genius here in Syracuse.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28For my money, he deserves a lot better.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45Sicily was Rome's first foreign conquest,
0:47:45 > 0:47:50its capture a key moment in the struggle to control the western and
0:47:50 > 0:47:52central Mediterranean.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56These were the Punic Wars, Rome versus Carthage,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59that raged around the island and in the waters around it.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02The eventual winner was Rome and as a result,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Sicily became Roman property, but it was never Italy.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08It was always seen by the Romans as a foreign place.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10They were Greek speakers here.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13It was a place that the Romans could loot for nice art
0:48:13 > 0:48:15and it was also a place that could
0:48:15 > 0:48:17be turned into a bread-making machine.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21And as a result, the landscape of Sicily was changed completely
0:48:21 > 0:48:25to create these systems of grain organisation, grain production
0:48:25 > 0:48:26called latifundia.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29And at their heart would be a controlling entity.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31A villa like this one - Villa Casale.
0:48:31 > 0:48:37Its owner was a powerful player in the business of keeping the mob in
0:48:37 > 0:48:39Rome fed and thus happy.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41And thus the emperor in power.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Built in the 4th century AD, Villa Casale was decorate with some
0:48:47 > 0:48:51of the world's finest Roman mosaics.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55They give an insight into what life on Sicily must've been like
0:48:55 > 0:48:58for Rome's super rich.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00IN ITALIAN:
0:49:26 > 0:49:30What Francesco's been telling me is that this extraordinary mosaic is
0:49:30 > 0:49:33actually unique in the Roman world.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35From Africa over there to Asia over there
0:49:35 > 0:49:39and how they're all being brought to the centre, to Rome,
0:49:39 > 0:49:44disembarked from the ships and taken off to be used in the gladiatorial
0:49:44 > 0:49:46and beast hunt arenas.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48And this chap right here, although we can't be sure,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51there's no name attached to it, given that he is so central,
0:49:51 > 0:49:52he must be an important person.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Perhaps he is the Dominus, the master, the owner of this villa,
0:49:56 > 0:49:59but certainly he would've been here because this is the Basilica
0:49:59 > 0:50:03where he would've been receiving his clients, his visitors each day.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05So he was, in reality,
0:50:05 > 0:50:10at the centre of this mosaic representation of the Roman world.
0:50:10 > 0:50:15What I love is the sheer audacity of this guy to create in his villa
0:50:15 > 0:50:17this beautiful mosaic,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21putting himself as a sort of mini-emperor strutting around here.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Very much too big for his boots.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26As people came to meet him,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29they came as if from the entire Roman world,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32meeting here at the very centre of it.
0:50:32 > 0:50:37Mosaics were created to impress and with money no object,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41this villa owner could hire the very best craftsmen in the Roman world.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46This is a scene of games,
0:50:46 > 0:50:49a set of games that would have been commonplace in Rome and once again,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52we get the idea that this owner of this villa here in Sicily,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55down in the sticks, wanted to have that little bit of Rome,
0:50:55 > 0:50:59that little bit of the centre of the world here in his villa.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01But what's fascinating is that actually,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04he went much further afield than just Rome.
0:51:04 > 0:51:05This seems to have been a man
0:51:05 > 0:51:07who had significant interest in North Africa.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Not just perhaps with the transportation of animals,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12but probably also land holdings.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14The techniques and the craftsmen
0:51:14 > 0:51:17that are being used here in these incredible mosaics
0:51:17 > 0:51:21are coming from North Africa. He's bringing up teams of people
0:51:21 > 0:51:23to do those mosaics from North Africa and
0:51:23 > 0:51:25perhaps some of the material as well.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28And there are two schools here in the mosaics.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31One more traditional, more sort of stand-and-deliver.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33The other much newer,
0:51:33 > 0:51:36much more interested in movement and light and shade,
0:51:36 > 0:51:39as you can see here as the girls move and dance,
0:51:39 > 0:51:40the light is visible,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43shining on their legs, and the shadows as well.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45And, just as today,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49so many people talk about the links between Africa and Sicily,
0:51:49 > 0:51:54here back in the 4th century AD, we're seeing a villa owner here in
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Sicily turning to North Africa
0:51:57 > 0:51:59for the cutting-edge technology
0:51:59 > 0:52:01and artistic creativity.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04It was the peripheries of the Roman world in Africa
0:52:04 > 0:52:07that were the engines of artistic interpretation
0:52:07 > 0:52:09and representation in this period.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17'For 600 years, Rome took much more from Sicily than it gave.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22'The island's forests were felled to make way for fields of grain.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27'And at the same time, no great roads were built or cities founded.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30'Rome's greatest legacy to Sicily wouldn't be material,
0:52:30 > 0:52:31'but spiritual.'
0:52:34 > 0:52:39What's surrounding me here is not a series of individual baths,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42but actually the final resting places of the dead.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44This is the necropolis at Agrigento,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48and it is from here that we can get into a secret underground world.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09'As Christianity became more popular in the Roman Empire,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11'it started to spread through Sicily.'
0:53:25 > 0:53:27By the 3rd century AD,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30communities across the Roman world had started burying their dead in
0:53:30 > 0:53:35massive underground networks, tunnels and catacombs.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37These would become particularly associated with
0:53:37 > 0:53:40the Christian communities of the Roman Empire.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43They would exploit already existing underground spaces.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Here I am in the middle of what is probably the entrance to a well
0:53:46 > 0:53:49just above my head, or cisterns or quarries,
0:53:49 > 0:53:53and use those as their access points to then dig tunnels out from
0:53:53 > 0:53:54in every direction you can see.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Today, it looks to us fairly higgledy-piggledy,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01but actually these would have been very well organised streets,
0:54:01 > 0:54:04if you like, underground. Streets of the dead.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08These would have been spaces not closed off and forgotten about,
0:54:08 > 0:54:12but spaces in which living family members regularly came down to
0:54:12 > 0:54:14to pay their respects to their dead.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23When Rome fell at the end of the 5th century AD,
0:54:23 > 0:54:27Sicily was occupied by barbarian tribes.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30The Vandals from North Africa ruled for two decades,
0:54:30 > 0:54:33followed by the Ostrogoths, a Germanic tribe who,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35for 40 years or so,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39united Sicily with their conquests in mainland Italy.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43Something that wouldn't happen again for another 14 centuries.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49'As Europe moved into the Middle Ages,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52'Sicily was captured by the Byzantines,
0:54:52 > 0:54:57'the Eastern Roman Empire ruled from Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul,
0:54:57 > 0:54:59'by Greek-speaking Christians
0:54:59 > 0:55:03'who shared much the same culture as Sicilians.'
0:55:03 > 0:55:07THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:55:08 > 0:55:12'The first century of Byzantine rule passed off peacefully enough
0:55:12 > 0:55:16'until an Islamic army came surging out of the deserts of Arabia,
0:55:16 > 0:55:19'sweeping all before it.'
0:55:19 > 0:55:21THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:55:24 > 0:55:29In the 7th century, indeed in 663 AD, the Byzantine emperor,
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Constans II, the Bearded,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35decided to move the capital of the Byzantine Empire...
0:55:35 > 0:55:37Grazie.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42..from Constantinople back to the centre of the Mediterranean,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45to Sicily, to the city of Syracuse.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48This was to counteract the new threat of the Byzantine world,
0:55:48 > 0:55:51coming up from Africa and down from Italy,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54and Constans II made this his capital.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57It wasn't good news for the Sicilians,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00or particularly the Syracusans, they were taxed beyond all measure.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:56:08 > 0:56:10I absolutely love a cut-throat shave,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12and Signor Corrado is an expert.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14He has been here in this shop since the '80s,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16and he has been cutting hair and
0:56:16 > 0:56:18doing cut-throat shaves for many years before that.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20This is a real expert at work.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25'The next five years were a nightmare for Sicilians,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28'as Constans ran the island dry
0:56:28 > 0:56:32'to fund a counteroffensive against his enemies.'
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Constans II thought that Syracuse would understand him.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38It was, after all, a very Greek city.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42But just a short five years after he moved the entire capital of the
0:56:42 > 0:56:46Byzantine Empire here, he was murdered in his bath.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55He was murdered in his bath by his servant who supposedly hit him
0:56:55 > 0:56:56over the head with a bucket.
0:57:01 > 0:57:02Grazie...
0:57:04 > 0:57:06So, thankfully, I am no longer bearded,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09and although Signor Corrado has offered to wash my hair as well,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12I think I'll say no to that one.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14Grazie, Signor Corrado.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21'The bath bucket murder effectively ended the Byzantine Empire's
0:57:21 > 0:57:24'last chance of halting the advance of Islam.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30'Now, the Arab armies were gathering on the shores of North Africa.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34'The story of what happened when Christian Sicily met Islam
0:57:34 > 0:57:36'is for next time. But for now,
0:57:36 > 0:57:41'I'm keen to celebrate what I think is one of the greatest Arab gifts
0:57:41 > 0:57:43'to the island.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47'The slushy iced dessert that Sicilians have made all their own.'
0:57:50 > 0:57:53This is Sicilian breakfast.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55This is granita, a Sicilian ice cream,
0:57:55 > 0:57:58coffee flavoured with cream on top.
0:57:58 > 0:57:59And brioche.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01Ice cream for breakfast.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03This is my kind of town.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to be dunking and eating,
0:58:07 > 0:58:11or using my spoon, or sucking it through the straw.
0:58:11 > 0:58:12It's all a bit...
0:58:12 > 0:58:17I guess it's every man to himself to decide how he wants to eat this.