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No-one knows why 15,000 years ago | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
human beings painted the walls of caves in Spain and France | 0:00:44 | 0:00:48 | |
with designs like these. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:50 | |
Whatever reason they had to crawl into the inky blackness, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
lit only by tiny, flickering lamps, | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
it surely could not have been just a trivial one. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
Almost all the animals represented are those that were hunted for food. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:05 | |
So an obvious explanation is | 0:01:05 | 0:01:06 | |
that painting was part of magic designed to bring success in hunting | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
or to maintain the fertility of the herds. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
One thing is certain - | 0:01:14 | 0:01:15 | |
the animal that dominates this cave in Lascaux | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
is not the reindeer or the ibex or even the horse, | 0:01:18 | 0:01:22 | |
but the great wild boar. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
In life, it stood over six feet at the shoulder | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
and weighed about a ton. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:31 | |
But these astonishing images | 0:01:31 | 0:01:33 | |
are even bigger than life-size. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
Confronted by them, it's difficult not to believe | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
that the artist regarded this animal | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
with deep, almost religious awe. It must have been | 0:01:41 | 0:01:46 | |
the most formidable and dangerous animal in the forest, | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
the very embodiment of fertility and strength. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:53 | |
These bulls, running wild in the Camargue in southern France, | 0:02:19 | 0:02:23 | |
are descended from domesticated stock, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
but they give some idea of the formidable character | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
of their truly wild ancestors, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
which were even bigger and surely just as aggressive. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
MEN SHOUTING AND WHOOPING | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
COWBELLS CLANKING | 0:02:42 | 0:02:44 | |
Around 10,000 years ago, somehow or another, | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
men managed to tame the bull. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
The process started, doubtless, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
by rearing the calves of cows killed in the hunt, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:07 | |
but even so, controlling animals of such strength and ferocity | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
and keeping them penned in an enclosure in order not to lose them | 0:03:11 | 0:03:15 | |
must have been very difficult and hazardous | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
for people who had not yet tamed horses to help them do so. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
In the forest-covered mountains, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
they also found another animal they could tame. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
A wild sheep. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
This is the mouflon, probably the best living approximation | 0:03:31 | 0:03:35 | |
that we have to that wild ancestor, | 0:03:35 | 0:03:37 | |
which today lives in the remoter parts | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:41 | |
It's a very shy creature with extremely acute eyesight, | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
so it's very difficult to approach. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
In spite of its timidity, | 0:04:11 | 0:04:12 | |
it may have been relatively simple to tame. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
For one thing, it's a mountain animal, | 0:04:15 | 0:04:17 | |
adapted to picking its way through difficult country, | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
so it's built for agility rather than speed. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
Once caught, therefore, it's relatively easy to control. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
Easier than, say, an antelope. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
Furthermore, pasture in this kind of country | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
is scattered and difficult to find, | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
so the animals do not have small, permanent territories | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
which they mark and defend, but wander about over a wide range. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:41 | |
In consequence, they were ready to accept being moved | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
if their human owners wanted to drive them to new pastures. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
And they have one further characteristic | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
that must have helped early man to control them. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
The females and their young live together in a small permanent herd. | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
The male is a solitary animal, | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
and only visits the herd during the breeding season, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
when he leads or drives them and defends them against other rivals. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:09 | |
Men simply took over his position of authority, | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
and by 8,000 years ago, | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
people were herding groups of tame sheep | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
in many parts of the eastern Mediterranean. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
Wild pig also lived in the prehistoric forests of Europe, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
rootling around for acorns, nuts and roots, just as they do today. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:51 | |
They were one of the favourite targets for the early hunters. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
Their young are striped, presumably for camouflage | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
when for the week or so after they are born | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
the mother leaves them in a nest in the undergrowth, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
and they must be virtually invisible | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
if they're not to be taken by predators - | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
wolves or bears - or men. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
They soon learn to follow their mother around | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
as she searches for food, as they have to | 0:06:16 | 0:06:18 | |
if they themselves are to get a meal. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:20 | |
After about three months, they will stop suckling | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
and then their stripes will fade. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
Pigs are far from being fussy feeders. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
They will tackle almost anything, animal or vegetable. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
These are seeing what they can find | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
in the shrinking waters of a drying pond. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
Wild pigs must have scavenged for scraps | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
around the hunting camps of early man, | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
and doubtless they soon became accepted | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
and were thrown regular food to induce them to stay, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
so that they could be killed and eaten when needed. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:24 | |
9,000 years ago, the shores of the western Mediterranean | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
were covered with forest, | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
and the people lived in settlements of flimsy huts built in clearings. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
But at the eastern end of the sea, some cattle-owning tribes | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
were developing a much more elaborate way of life | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
in the grasslands of the Nile delta. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
Nonetheless, they still worshipped the bull. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
THUNDER CRASHING | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
The bull god was sent to earth, they believed, | 0:08:09 | 0:08:11 | |
into the womb of a mortal cow. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
He had a triangular mark on his forehead, double hairs on his tail, | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
and the shape of a vulture with outstretched wings | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
clasping his shoulders. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:20 | |
The priests were responsible for finding this holy calf | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
as soon as his predecessor died. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:29 | |
Only one bull god could rule at a time. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:31 | |
His name was Apis | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
and his discovery was the cause for national rejoicing. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
Children born on that auspicious day | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
might be given the name "Apis Is Found" | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
to mark such a happy coincidence. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
Once he was identified, | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
he was brought to the great temple at Memphis | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
and kept in a stall quite near here. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
He was fed on special foods and regularly anointed, | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
and on all great festivals and occasions | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
he was led forth in front of the people | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
with garlands around his neck and golden regalia between his horns. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
The people consulted him as an oracle. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
They would recite questions to him and interpret his answers | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
as to whether he advanced or retreated. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
They would write questions on pieces of pottery | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
and put them beside his path | 0:09:17 | 0:09:18 | |
to see whether he veered towards them or away from them. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:23 | |
And when he died, his great body was brought here | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
to this immense mortuary table. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
It weighs about 50 tons, | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
it was brought here from 250 miles upriver, | 0:09:34 | 0:09:38 | |
and on each side it carries a lion, | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
the guardian of the dead and the symbol of the resurrection. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
The body was then mummified, | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
using exactly the same embalming techniques | 0:09:49 | 0:09:51 | |
as were used for the bodies of the god kings, the pharaohs. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:55 | |
After the removal of the viscera, | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
scented embalming fluid was poured over the corpse, | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
which drained through this runnel here, | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
and were collected in this basin. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
For, having passed over the body of a god, | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
they were very magical and precious. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
Then the body was wrapped in bandages | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
and carried in procession to its last resting place. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
For over 1,000 years, the mummified bodies of the bulls | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
were brought down here in these limestone galleries | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
cut deep below ground. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
Once their walls were covered with tablets, like this one, | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
erected by the priests or devotees or workers, | 0:10:41 | 0:10:46 | |
as acts of devotion to the spirits of the bull gods. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
Preparations to receive the body of the bull | 0:10:53 | 0:10:55 | |
had been going on for some time, perhaps as much as a year, | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
perhaps even before the bull itself had died. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
A huge granite sarcophagus had been quarried upriver | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
and brought down here on barges. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
This is just the lid of one | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
that for some reason had been abandoned here. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
The main part of it lies deeper in these galleries. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
This huge block, | 0:11:24 | 0:11:25 | |
although it's hollowed out inside and is without its lid, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:29 | |
must weigh, nonetheless, between 60 and 70 tons. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:33 | |
It was dragged here by the dozen or so masons who made it, | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
and it would have taken them about four days | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
to pull it all the way to its appointed vault. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
When the sarcophagus reached this position, | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
this vault was full of sand. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
The sarcophagus was hauled across on top of it | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
and then the sand removed from either side | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
so that this huge block sank slowly to its final position. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:19 | |
On its side are inscribed in hieroglyphs, | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
"Apis, beloved of Osiris... | 0:12:23 | 0:12:28 | |
"given... | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
"all...life... | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
"stability... | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
"power... | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
"and all joy... | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
"..forever." | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
Then the bull, in its wrappings and adornments, was placed inside, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
and this immense lid hauled across to seal it. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:55 | |
But not forever. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:56 | |
For, a century or so later, in Christian or Roman times, | 0:12:56 | 0:13:00 | |
thieves came and pulled back this lid, | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
and stripped the bull of all its golden finery. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
The falcon was also worshipped. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
Hovering aloft in the sky, | 0:13:14 | 0:13:15 | |
ceaselessly scanning the earth beneath, | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
and on occasion flying so high that it disappeared from sight, | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
the people identified it with the sun | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
and worshipped it as Horus, lord of the sky. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
It too had temples dedicated to it, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
where priests kept captive falcons and revered them as gods. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
As the centuries passed, these cults changed in character. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:43 | |
Instead of choosing one representative bird, | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
all birds of a particular species | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
were believed to contain something of the god's spirit. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
So all falcons, for example, merited mummification. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
They lie here in Saqqara in immense stacks, | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
each eviscerated, embalmed, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
and sealed in its own pottery sarcophagus. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:07 | |
There are estimated to be 800,000 falcons here, | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
and they're not only falcons, they're birds of prey of all kinds. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:15 | |
Some of the bigger pots contain vultures, | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
a bird that was sacred to the kingdom of Upper Egypt. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
But, above all, there are ibis. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
There are so many that it's impossible to believe | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
that they all met a natural death, | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
yet Herodotus the Greek historian was absolutely clear - | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
even the accidental killing of a sacred ibis in ancient Egypt | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
was a crime punishable by death. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
But the devotees of the ibis cult | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
flocked to this temple in huge numbers, | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
and each wanted to gain merit with the ibis god | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
by presenting an embalmed bird | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
and depositing it in these vaults. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
So it seems that the priests | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
maintained a kind of ibis breeding station, | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
a sort of sacred zoo on a lake near here. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
And then when devotees came, they were able to supply | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
a bird ready-mummified and sealed, for a price. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:10 | |
These galleries have not yet been fully explored, | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
but it's estimated that, at very least, | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
there are four million mummified ibis here, | 0:15:16 | 0:15:20 | |
and the true number may be twice that. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
The ibis uses its long, curved bill | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
to probe in mud and find its food. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
The Egyptians watching it do so in their fields | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
interpreted its action as a continuous search for the truth, | 0:15:38 | 0:15:42 | |
and so they regarded the bird | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
as the incarnation of Thoth, the god of wisdom. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
We still call this handsome black and white species | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
the sacred ibis, but it no longer lives in Egypt | 0:15:51 | 0:15:53 | |
and has retreated to more southerly parts of Africa. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:56 | |
The papyrus swamps that existed throughout the Nile delta | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
were rich in wildlife of all kinds, | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
and the Egyptians found in them a great source of delight and wonder. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:18 | |
Certainly, they deified and worshipped | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
many of the animals that they saw here. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:22 | |
The hippopotamus with its swollen belly was Tawaret, | 0:16:31 | 0:16:35 | |
the protector of pregnant women, who, if suitably propitiated, | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
could make the trial of childbirth less difficult. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
The crocodile, not surprisingly, was the god of evil, Sobek. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:46 | |
The cat, which had come to live alongside people in their houses, | 0:16:57 | 0:17:01 | |
was also a suitable subject for mummification. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
It was an associate of the goddess of war, Pasht. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
There were lion gods and ram gods, hawk gods and goat gods. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:20 | |
The images of them that stood in temples were given human bodies | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
to show that they represented | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
not ordinary animals but divine beings. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
But though the people saw divinity in all the creatures around them, | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
that didn't stop them from handling and exploiting animals. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
Indeed, they were expert farmers. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
They handled wild animals with equal skill. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
Judging from carvings such as these, | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
they kept several kinds of antelope in captivity, | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
even though they never succeeded in domesticating them. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
And here they appear to be force-feeding hyenas. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
One of their favourite pastimes | 0:18:10 | 0:18:12 | |
was to go hunting in the swamps of the delta. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
They used throwing-sticks to bring down flying ducks. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
And they caught fish with harpoons. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
As well as abundant wildlife, the Nile brought other treasure. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:38 | |
Every year, hundreds of miles away upstream to the south, | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
abundant rains fell. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
And so, every year, in a way that must have seemed almost magical | 0:18:44 | 0:18:48 | |
to these people living here where there is no rain, | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
the river rose between its banks, | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
here and the upper part of its valley, by as much as 20 feet or so. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:57 | |
And every year, a high official of the state would come | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
and ceremonially break the banks | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
to allow the waters to flow over the fields. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
They lay there for two months or so, | 0:19:07 | 0:19:09 | |
and when the river began to fall again and the waters to retreat, | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
they left behind what was perhaps | 0:19:12 | 0:19:14 | |
the Nile's greatest treasure of all - | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
a thick layer of rich, fertile mud. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:19 | |
And so the people here were able to grow the plants | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
that now are being domesticated | 0:19:23 | 0:19:24 | |
all round the eastern end of the Mediterranean. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
Wheat and barley grew abundantly, | 0:19:30 | 0:19:32 | |
and the people were able to plough and sow not only once | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
but twice in a year. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
We know how they worked in the fields | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
from the way in which they chose to be buried in their tombs. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:04 | |
They believe that scenes painted on the tomb walls | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
would be repeated in the afterlife. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
So the nobleman who once lay here | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
chose to be surrounded in death | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
by pictures of some of the most important and delightful times | 0:20:16 | 0:20:20 | |
that he spent on earth, | 0:20:20 | 0:20:22 | |
and that included cultivating the crops. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
The heads of grain were cut with sickles | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
that initially were made of flint. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
Cattle, yoked together, pulled the wooden ploughs, | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
and they too trod the grain | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
to loosen the kernels from the seed heads. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
Winnowing, to get rid of the chaff, | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
was done exactly as it is now. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
Away to the northwest, 400 miles across the Mediterranean, | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
lay a scatter of islands. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:18 | |
The nearest and biggest of them was Crete, | 0:21:18 | 0:21:20 | |
itself 200 miles long. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
Tribes of people from the mainland on the other side of the sea, | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
from Greece and Turkey, | 0:21:26 | 0:21:27 | |
had reached Crete about 9,000 years ago, | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
even before the Egyptians had begun building their cities. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
For a long time after their arrival here, however, | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
the Cretans had lived simple lives in small hamlets of wooden huts, | 0:21:46 | 0:21:51 | |
for their land was far less kind to them | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
than the valley of the Nile was to the Egyptians. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
Here, there was no annual flood of fertile mud. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
The land was stony, the soil was thin, | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
and when people first began to build the cities here, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
some 4,000 years ago, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
all this land was covered with forest, | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
and in that forest grew trees like these. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
They are amongst the longest-living of Mediterranean trees, | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
living for as long as 1,000 or 1,500 years. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:32 | |
And they bear great wealth - | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
their olives. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
The people, then as now, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
harvested them by beating the branches with sticks | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
to knock down the ripened fruit. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:48 | |
The olives were then crushed in mills, | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
using not horses as they use today, but oxen. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:58 | |
PEOPLE CHATTING IN GREEK | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
The final squeezing of the pulp is done in a press, | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
which extracts the last drops of this clear, precious oil. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:21 | |
In ancient times, this oil was the main form of wealth on the island. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:27 | |
By now, there were many cities in Crete, | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
and people paid their taxes to the king in this oil. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:33 | |
The most important of these cities | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
stood near the north coast, at Knossos. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
The oil was stored in gigantic pots like these. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:50 | |
420 of them stood in 18 long, narrow chambers like this one. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:57 | |
So this, in effect, was the treasury | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
of the palace and the state. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
It was used, of course, for cooking, | 0:24:02 | 0:24:04 | |
just as it is today in this part of the world. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:06 | |
But it was also used for lighting, being burnt in small, pottery lamps, | 0:24:06 | 0:24:10 | |
of which hundreds have been found in ruins such as this one. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:14 | |
And it had another use - | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
purified and scented with crushed herbs, | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
the people used it to anoint their bodies. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
That not only gave them a pleasant perfume, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
but it also helped in keeping themselves clean. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
After heavy exercise, they would take an instrument such as this | 0:24:28 | 0:24:33 | |
and scrape away the oil, | 0:24:33 | 0:24:35 | |
so carrying away the perspiration and the dirt. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:40 | |
Not all these pots had oil in them. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
Others contained that other very precious liquid, wine. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:48 | |
ANIMATED CHATTER | 0:24:48 | 0:24:50 | |
In Crete today, as almost everywhere else | 0:24:57 | 0:25:00 | |
that grapes are grown and wine made, | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
happy parties are held to celebrate the harvest. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
While some drink, others, fortified and encouraged | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
by the taste of last year's crop, | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
tread the grapes to produce the juice for this year's vintage. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:14 | |
ANIMATED CHATTER | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
The wild vine grew originally as a creeper | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
in the forests around the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
Somehow, people discovered very early | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
that it could be propagated with cuttings grafted onto root-stocks. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:41 | |
So if a man happened to find in the forest a vine | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
that produced particularly abundant, big or sweet grapes, | 0:25:44 | 0:25:48 | |
he could cut the stem and graft it onto a plant | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
that grew beside his house. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:53 | |
Over the years, this steady collection of selected vines | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
produced crops which had a high proportion | 0:26:04 | 0:26:07 | |
of large, elongated pips, | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
and from finding such evidence as that, | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
archaeologists deduce that the domestication of the vines | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
started around 8,000 years ago. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
MEN CHATTING AND LAUGHING | 0:26:17 | 0:26:20 | |
There are many palaces in Crete, | 0:26:28 | 0:26:30 | |
some say over 100. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:32 | |
This one is at Phaestos on the southern coast, | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
and it was only a little less magnificent than that at Knossos. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:39 | |
They had upper storeys supported by long lines of wooden columns. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
Inside, they were magnificently decorated with frescoes. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
And all those that have been excavated so far | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
have one thing in common in their layout - | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
they are centred around one large, paved arena. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:56 | |
Here, many archaeologists believe, | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
was held the great ritual which dominated the lives of the people. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
It was a blend of religious devotion, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
athletic prowess and great bravery. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:11 | |
For these people, like the Egyptians before them, | 0:27:11 | 0:27:14 | |
worshipped the bull. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
Young men would seize a charging bull by its horns, | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
somersault over its back and then land on their feet behind it. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:29 | |
CROWD CHATTERING BUGLE PLAYS FANFARE | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
CROWD JEERING AND WHISTLING | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
4,000 years later, in southern France, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
men still taunt bulls. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
CROWD JEERING AND WHISTLING | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
The bull carries a red rosette on its forehead | 0:28:03 | 0:28:05 | |
and white tassels on the points of its horns. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
If the men, skilled athletes who specialise in this sport, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
manage to snatch off a tassel or a rosette | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
they win considerable prizes, | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
and the crowd lays bets on who will do so. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
There's real danger. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:40 | |
If the men are caught, they may be severely gored | 0:28:40 | 0:28:43 | |
and even tossed and killed. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:45 | |
CROWD CHEERING | 0:28:56 | 0:28:58 | |
BUGLE PLAYING FANFARE | 0:29:02 | 0:29:04 | |
After a carefully timed period of 15 minutes, | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
the bull is let out of the ring | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
and goes back to its pen, uninjured. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
But it will return several times later in the season | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
to fight again in this extraordinary tournament. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:22 | |
The ancient Cretans were skilled fishermen. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
They probably copied their ships from those of the Egyptians, | 0:29:28 | 0:29:30 | |
who had developed a technique | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
of sailing in the calm waters of the Nile. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:34 | |
But the Cretans ventured out into the rough and unpredictable open sea | 0:29:34 | 0:29:38 | |
and were greatly rewarded. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
From deep water around their coasts, | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
they occasionally hauled up red coral. | 0:29:48 | 0:29:51 | |
They used it for jewellery and for trade. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:54 | |
Eventually, people as far away as central Asia | 0:29:54 | 0:29:56 | |
came to prize this extraordinary substance, | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
so like a stone, yet so unlike anything dug from the earth. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:03 | |
Cretan pots carried pictures | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
of the products the people specially valued. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
At the bottom of this one, among the twigs of coral, | 0:30:10 | 0:30:13 | |
is a particularly precious sea snail. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
This is murex. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
At first sight, it looks very similar | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
to many other kinds of whelk-like molluscs | 0:30:25 | 0:30:27 | |
that crawl about on the sea floor. | 0:30:27 | 0:30:29 | |
But in its mantle it has a special gland | 0:30:29 | 0:30:31 | |
from which comes a substance that will dye fabric a rich purple. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:35 | |
Royal purple, it was called, | 0:30:35 | 0:30:37 | |
and for the next 1,000 years or so, | 0:30:37 | 0:30:39 | |
the murex was regarded throughout the Mediterranean lands | 0:30:39 | 0:30:42 | |
as one of the most valuable things to come from the sea. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:45 | |
Another creature they collected still entices men | 0:30:52 | 0:30:55 | |
to dive deep at the risk of their lives. | 0:30:55 | 0:30:57 | |
Holding a lead weight in one hand to keep him down, | 0:31:18 | 0:31:21 | |
with bursting lungs and seeing only blearily without goggles, | 0:31:21 | 0:31:26 | |
he's searching for sponges. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
That's one. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:34 | |
Divers in Tunisia still work without face masks, | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
let alone any breathing equipment, | 0:32:02 | 0:32:05 | |
just as they once did in ancient times. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:07 | |
The length of time they can manage to stay below | 0:32:12 | 0:32:16 | |
is quite extraordinary. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:17 | |
He takes his breath...now. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:22 | |
And only now can he breathe again. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:37 | |
Octopus appear again and again on Cretan pots. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
And they were, then as now, | 0:33:46 | 0:33:47 | |
one of the most favoured foods that the sea had to offer. | 0:33:47 | 0:33:50 | |
The method used for catching them has also not changed | 0:34:02 | 0:34:05 | |
since ancient times, nor does it need to. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:08 | |
It's simplicity itself | 0:34:08 | 0:34:10 | |
and requires nothing more than an earthenware pot. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:13 | |
The octopus likes to hide inside small dens on the sea floor, | 0:34:25 | 0:34:30 | |
and these pots apparently suit it so well, they are irresistible. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:35 | |
All the fisherman has to do is to return after a few hours | 0:34:37 | 0:34:40 | |
and haul up the pots. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:42 | |
The way to get an octopus out of the pot is also easy. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
Pour in a little extra-salty water through a hole in the bottom | 0:35:00 | 0:35:04 | |
and out it comes. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:06 | |
The most valuable fish in the sea, then as now, is the tunny. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:40 | |
Every year in the early summer, | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
they swim in from the Atlantic to spawn. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
They are immense, some as much as 12 feet long. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:48 | |
Because of the shape of the coastline | 0:35:48 | 0:35:49 | |
and the topography of the sea floor, | 0:35:49 | 0:35:51 | |
in some places they have to swim along | 0:35:51 | 0:35:53 | |
a restricted and predictable route, | 0:35:53 | 0:35:56 | |
and there, the people wait for them. | 0:35:56 | 0:35:58 | |
Nets hanging from floats | 0:36:01 | 0:36:02 | |
are stretched diagonally across the migration path | 0:36:02 | 0:36:05 | |
for as much as three miles. | 0:36:05 | 0:36:07 | |
The fish swim along the face of them, seeking a way past, | 0:36:07 | 0:36:10 | |
until they enter a corridor that not only has an end wall, | 0:36:10 | 0:36:14 | |
but a floor of netting. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:16 | |
Once they have started down it, | 0:36:16 | 0:36:18 | |
the fishermen pull up the end of the floor | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
and the tunny are trapped. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:22 | |
MEN SHOUTING | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
SHOUTING | 0:36:34 | 0:36:36 | |
The net is pulled in, forcing the fish closer to the surface. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:18 | |
As they thrash about in panic, the fish so exhaust themselves | 0:37:21 | 0:37:25 | |
that some are already close to death. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:28 | |
One single chamber may have trapped 100 of these giant fish, | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
30 tons of prime-quality meat. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
When the last have been collected, the netting floor is dropped again | 0:39:25 | 0:39:28 | |
to wait for the next shoal, which may well arrive within a few hours. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:33 | |
The harvest of the Mediterranean has always been rich. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:43 | |
The Romans were particularly fond of fishing scenes | 0:39:43 | 0:39:46 | |
for the mosaics with which they decorated the floors | 0:39:46 | 0:39:49 | |
of their sumptuous villas. | 0:39:49 | 0:39:51 | |
And these give a good idea of the range of sea creatures | 0:39:51 | 0:39:53 | |
that they knew and relished. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
Hunting, too, was a Roman passion. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:05 | |
Many of the animals they caught alive. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
By the beginning of the first century AD, | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
the Romans had become the dominant nation in the Mediterranean, | 0:40:33 | 0:40:37 | |
ruling all the lands right round the sea. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
And they ransacked their vast empire for animals, | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
the stranger and the more ferocious the better. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
The fate of these creatures was to be transported to huge cities | 0:41:01 | 0:41:06 | |
that now stood in all parts of the empire, | 0:41:06 | 0:41:08 | |
and there to be taken to the arenas | 0:41:08 | 0:41:11 | |
that were the centres of mass entertainment. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
This, one of the most perfectly preserved, is at El Jem in Tunisia. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:20 | |
The Roman public's thirst for blood | 0:41:24 | 0:41:26 | |
and pleasure in witnessing pain | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
seems to have been unquenchable and without limit. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
The caged animals were kept in dungeons below the main arena. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
When this place was in use, timbers were laid across | 0:41:36 | 0:41:39 | |
to roof this underground passage. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
And when the day of the spectacle came, | 0:41:41 | 0:41:43 | |
30,000 people were packed into the terraces. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:47 | |
And then, to the sound of blaring trumpets and roars from the crowd, | 0:41:47 | 0:41:52 | |
the terrified animals in their cages were hoisted up from this pit. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:57 | |
And not only animals - human beings, too. | 0:41:57 | 0:41:59 | |
Criminals, slaves and prisoners of war. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:02 | |
And here in this arena, they were set one upon the other, | 0:42:02 | 0:42:06 | |
to provide the crowd with spectacles of the most appalling carnage. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:10 | |
CROWD CHEERING | 0:42:10 | 0:42:12 | |
ANIMALS ROARING | 0:42:13 | 0:42:15 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:42:36 | 0:42:38 | |
It still continues in Spain - | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
even sometimes in the very arenas built by the Romans. | 0:42:51 | 0:42:56 | |
The Romans built huge cities | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
all around the shores of the Mediterranean. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
Here at Ephesus, in what is now Turkey, | 0:43:09 | 0:43:12 | |
they took over a Greek town around a great religious centre | 0:43:12 | 0:43:15 | |
sacred to the goddess of fertility and nature, Artemis. | 0:43:15 | 0:43:18 | |
Her temple here was so rich and splendid, | 0:43:20 | 0:43:22 | |
it was listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:25 | |
Roman copies in marble of the wooden statue | 0:43:28 | 0:43:30 | |
that once stood in her temple still survive. | 0:43:30 | 0:43:34 | |
And very strange they are too. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:37 | |
Heads of bulls are clustered around her ankles. | 0:43:40 | 0:43:43 | |
Above them are lionesses, | 0:43:43 | 0:43:46 | |
mythical winged creatures like griffins, | 0:43:46 | 0:43:50 | |
and then the heads of lions. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:52 | |
For she had all nature, tame and wild, in her charge. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:55 | |
The strange objects above them | 0:43:57 | 0:44:00 | |
were for a long time thought to be multiple breasts, | 0:44:00 | 0:44:04 | |
a kind of expression of her huge fertility, | 0:44:04 | 0:44:07 | |
in spite of the fact that they aren't shaped like breasts, | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
they don't have nipples, they are so low down on her body | 0:44:10 | 0:44:13 | |
and there are so many of them. | 0:44:13 | 0:44:15 | |
But recently we've learnt more about the cult of Artemis. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:20 | |
Excavations at Ephesus in her shrine | 0:44:20 | 0:44:22 | |
have revealed a great number of skeletons of bulls. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:27 | |
It seems that they were not only sacrificed in her honour, | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
but castrated. And, as part of the ritual, her image was hung | 0:44:30 | 0:44:35 | |
with the parts of their body that were the very source | 0:44:35 | 0:44:38 | |
of their power and fertility - | 0:44:38 | 0:44:40 | |
their testicles. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:42 | |
People were now travelling widely around the sea, | 0:44:45 | 0:44:48 | |
protected by the peace imposed by Roman rule, | 0:44:48 | 0:44:50 | |
and religious ideas were spreading. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:53 | |
Visitors to Ephesus might well have carried bull worship | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
back to western Europe, if indeed the practice of it, | 0:44:56 | 0:44:59 | |
once so strong in earlier times, had ever ceased. | 0:44:59 | 0:45:03 | |
During the first century BC, | 0:45:03 | 0:45:06 | |
a bull cult appeared in Rome itself | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
and was soon spreading all over the empire. | 0:45:09 | 0:45:12 | |
In underground temples like this one near Rome, | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
devotees gathered to worship this god, Mithras. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:19 | |
The legend of Mithras originated, like that of Artemis, | 0:45:19 | 0:45:23 | |
in the eastern Mediterranean, | 0:45:23 | 0:45:25 | |
and it told how the god fought a great bull, | 0:45:25 | 0:45:29 | |
stabbing it in the throat | 0:45:29 | 0:45:30 | |
so that its blood gushed onto the earth, giving life to the animals, | 0:45:30 | 0:45:35 | |
here represented by the snake and the dog | 0:45:35 | 0:45:38 | |
which are lapping up the blood. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:39 | |
So the bull is still seen as the source of all life, | 0:45:40 | 0:45:44 | |
but now it requires a god in human form to release its fertility. | 0:45:44 | 0:45:49 | |
At this time, Rome was at the height of her power, | 0:45:51 | 0:45:54 | |
her empire extending across the Mediterranean | 0:45:54 | 0:45:57 | |
to the North African shore. | 0:45:57 | 0:45:59 | |
And here there were some 600 great cities, | 0:45:59 | 0:46:01 | |
the biggest of all being this, Leptis Magna, | 0:46:01 | 0:46:04 | |
with a population of around 100,000 people. | 0:46:04 | 0:46:07 | |
And in the first year of the Christian era, AD 1, | 0:46:07 | 0:46:11 | |
one of the wealthiest of them, a man by the name of Annobal Rufus, | 0:46:11 | 0:46:15 | |
built for the benefit of the citizens, | 0:46:15 | 0:46:17 | |
and doubtless for his own greater glory, | 0:46:17 | 0:46:19 | |
this splendid theatre which could accommodate 7,000 spectators. | 0:46:19 | 0:46:23 | |
Here, pantomimes and ballets were performed. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
Elaborate scenery was set on the stage, | 0:46:29 | 0:46:31 | |
and screens of canvas stretched between sticks | 0:46:31 | 0:46:35 | |
were raised in front of the stage to allow settings to be changed. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:38 | |
There was a magnificent basilica | 0:46:38 | 0:46:41 | |
and huge municipal baths. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:43 | |
In the city centre stood a splendid marketplace | 0:46:48 | 0:46:51 | |
with marble colonnades | 0:46:51 | 0:46:52 | |
adorned with statues of distinguished citizens. | 0:46:52 | 0:46:55 | |
This city in Libya, in fact, | 0:46:55 | 0:46:57 | |
was one of the wealthiest in the whole of the empire. | 0:46:57 | 0:47:00 | |
That wealth was based directly on the land. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:06 | |
Into this marketplace flooded produce of all kinds - | 0:47:06 | 0:47:09 | |
figs and pomegranates, chicken and sheep, | 0:47:09 | 0:47:12 | |
and this stone was used for measuring olive oil - | 0:47:12 | 0:47:15 | |
pouring the oil in at the top | 0:47:15 | 0:47:18 | |
and collecting it by removing the bung at the bottom, | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
so forming a standard unit. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:23 | |
But above all, there was grain. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:26 | |
Pliny, the Roman historian, said that the land here was so rich | 0:47:26 | 0:47:29 | |
that if you planted one grain of wheat, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
from it would sprout a stem carrying 150 grains. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:36 | |
By the end of the first century AD, North Africa was producing | 0:47:36 | 0:47:40 | |
half a million tons of grain every year | 0:47:40 | 0:47:43 | |
and supplying the densely populated city of Rome, | 0:47:43 | 0:47:46 | |
which had long since outstripped its own resources, | 0:47:46 | 0:47:49 | |
with two-thirds of its wheat. | 0:47:49 | 0:47:51 | |
The southern shores of the Mediterranean, in fact, | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
were among the most fertile territories | 0:47:57 | 0:47:59 | |
in the whole of the Roman Empire. | 0:47:59 | 0:48:01 | |
Their produce was brought to the great ports like this one at Leptis. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:07 | |
Then, the sea lapped this jetty, | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
and alongside it were moored the great ships. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:13 | |
Onto to them were loaded hundreds of tons of wheat, | 0:48:13 | 0:48:16 | |
thousands of gallons of olive oil, | 0:48:16 | 0:48:18 | |
ivory for the craftsmen of the imperial city, | 0:48:18 | 0:48:21 | |
caged wild beasts such as lions and leopards and rhinoceroses | 0:48:21 | 0:48:25 | |
to be tormented and put to death in the arenas of the empire. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:28 | |
And yet today the harbour is silted up, | 0:48:30 | 0:48:33 | |
most of the city lies buried beneath sand dunes | 0:48:33 | 0:48:37 | |
and the land has become a desert. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:39 | |
As the population had grown and more people wanted more fields, | 0:48:40 | 0:48:44 | |
so more of the forest that once stood around the city was cut down | 0:48:44 | 0:48:48 | |
until, eventually, it was all gone. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:50 | |
With no roots to hold the soil and no attempt to conserve it, | 0:48:50 | 0:48:54 | |
it was carried away by the wind and the rain. | 0:48:54 | 0:48:57 | |
And this is where it went. | 0:48:57 | 0:48:59 | |
In bays all around the eastern Mediterranean, | 0:49:04 | 0:49:07 | |
the sea is separated from the hills inland | 0:49:07 | 0:49:10 | |
by strips of flat marshy land like this, made up of the soil | 0:49:10 | 0:49:14 | |
that once clothed the rocks of the hills beyond. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:17 | |
All this was deposited during the last 2,000 years, | 0:49:18 | 0:49:22 | |
for this is the marsh that now separates the sea | 0:49:22 | 0:49:25 | |
from the city of Ephesus. | 0:49:25 | 0:49:27 | |
These ruined buildings mark the edge of the quay | 0:49:29 | 0:49:32 | |
where once merchant ships lay moored. | 0:49:32 | 0:49:35 | |
As the harbour died, so did the trade | 0:49:35 | 0:49:37 | |
on which the city's wealth was based, | 0:49:37 | 0:49:40 | |
and so, ultimately, did Ephesus itself. | 0:49:40 | 0:49:43 | |
What was once one of the most splendid cities of the Roman Empire | 0:49:43 | 0:49:47 | |
fell into decay and was abandoned. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
The city was approaching the height of its wealth and prosperity | 0:50:09 | 0:50:13 | |
when, in the year 53 AD, | 0:50:13 | 0:50:16 | |
St Paul settled here. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:18 | |
Not only was there great wealth coming from the port, | 0:50:18 | 0:50:21 | |
even though the harbour was rapidly silting up, | 0:50:21 | 0:50:24 | |
but every year thousands of devotees came here | 0:50:24 | 0:50:27 | |
to worship at the ancient shrine of Artemis of Ephesus, | 0:50:27 | 0:50:31 | |
the goddess of fertility. | 0:50:31 | 0:50:33 | |
But St Paul's message of Christianity | 0:50:33 | 0:50:36 | |
began to strike at that trade. | 0:50:36 | 0:50:38 | |
The silversmiths who made images of the goddess | 0:50:38 | 0:50:41 | |
for sale to the pilgrims complained that it was ruining their trade, | 0:50:41 | 0:50:45 | |
and eventually they organised a riot right here in this very theatre. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:50 | |
Two of Paul's companions were badly beaten up, | 0:50:50 | 0:50:54 | |
and although the authorities eventually managed to restore order, | 0:50:54 | 0:50:57 | |
the situation remained so tense that Paul had to leave. | 0:50:57 | 0:51:02 | |
But in truth, it was the Ephesians themselves | 0:51:02 | 0:51:05 | |
who were flouting the principles of fertility | 0:51:05 | 0:51:09 | |
by what they were doing to the land around their city. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
It used to be said that in places like this, | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
nature eventually failed to support man. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:20 | |
The truth is exactly the reverse - | 0:51:20 | 0:51:23 | |
here, man failed to support nature. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
10,000 years ago, man regarded the natural world as divine. | 0:51:27 | 0:51:31 | |
But as he domesticated animals and plants, | 0:51:31 | 0:51:34 | |
so nature lost something of its mystery | 0:51:34 | 0:51:36 | |
and seemed to be little more than a larder | 0:51:36 | 0:51:39 | |
that could be raided with impunity. | 0:51:39 | 0:51:41 | |
The bull, once the most important of the gods, was dethroned. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:46 | |
So today, castrated and subdued, | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
it works out its days in harness | 0:51:49 | 0:51:52 | |
as man's patient slave. | 0:51:52 | 0:51:54 | |
But at the other end of the Mediterranean, | 0:51:54 | 0:51:56 | |
the sun was just a little less harsh, | 0:51:56 | 0:51:59 | |
the rainfall a little more generous, | 0:51:59 | 0:52:01 | |
and so there, nature is able a little better | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
to withstand man's assaults. | 0:52:04 | 0:52:06 | |
And so, over the next few centuries, | 0:52:06 | 0:52:09 | |
the centres of human power and population | 0:52:09 | 0:52:12 | |
slowly moved to the other end of the sea. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:15 |