0:00:25 > 0:00:29Benjamin Disraeli said of his wife, "She's an excellent creature,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32"but she never can remember which came first,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35"the Greeks or the Romans."
0:00:35 > 0:00:38A Hellenic cruise is rather like that.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40It's a strain on the historical imagination.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Greeks everywhere, but what different kinds of Greeks,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and how they get mixed up with Romans and Asians
0:00:47 > 0:00:49and with their modern selves.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54Here's the island of Mykonos in the Aegean, for instance,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57holiday resort for jaded modern Athenians.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Mykonos, nothing much ever happens there.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05No ancient temples, no indiscreet Greek gods.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09It's a living place with its windmills
0:01:09 > 0:01:13and a tiny Byzantine church for every day of the year.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16But what the sea and the sun and the whitewash here achieve
0:01:16 > 0:01:18is good enough.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50After their breather at Mykonos,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55the ship and its 300 passengers were bound for the island of Lesbos.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08The ship did its voyaging by night
0:03:08 > 0:03:11and disgorged us each morning at another place.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15As an experience, it seemed almost unreal.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19However, here we were in Lesbos.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26We were within sight of the Turkish mainland,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29but yet here's an island that has preserved
0:03:29 > 0:03:33its essential Greek form almost better than any other,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36an island of olive groves and simple living.
0:03:48 > 0:03:543,000 years separate Homer from this olive grove.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56But the plough's the same,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and the ploughman's namesake fought at Troy.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05HE SPEAKS GREEK
0:04:31 > 0:04:36High up in the mountains of Lesbos lies Agiasos.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Here, the local ladies most graciously entertain us,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51and their friends,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54with the solemn and simple dances of the countryside.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00There are those who like the bouncy earnestness of country dances,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02not least the dancers themselves.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10FOLK MUSIC
0:06:22 > 0:06:26And now on towards the mainland of Turkey.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29There, we're brought up against one of the astonishing features
0:06:29 > 0:06:33of Greek civilisation, its tremendous reach.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Why, it's found even as far away as India.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40'Often in the West, its best preserved relic is its theatre.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43'So it seemed timely to discuss Greek drama
0:06:43 > 0:06:45'with Professor Stanford of Dublin.'
0:06:45 > 0:06:47What would you say, Stanford,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49is your primary interest in the Greek drama,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51its antiquity or its essential modernity?
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Well, in a queer kind of way, both, I'd say.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56If we went and saw a performance, I think,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59in the theatre of Dionysus in the time of Pericles,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02it'd seem weird, in many ways, completely outlandish.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04But yet if we thought of the essentials behind it,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08I'm convinced that they're the essentials of modern drama.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11But it was first and foremost a religious rite, wasn't it?
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Ah, yes. That made it, in a sense.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16People didn't go there tired after their day's work.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19They went there at a great festival of the god Dionysus
0:07:19 > 0:07:22early in the morning, fresh sunlight,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25everyone keen and interested to see the religious side of it.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29- It began at the right end of the day.- Exactly, yes.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Then they could get the full impact
0:07:31 > 0:07:34of this extraordinarily complex form of drama.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37There was music, there was dancing,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39there were the elaborate rhythms, more elaborate than anything
0:07:39 > 0:07:42we know, and the whole impact must have been quite tremendous.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45We are, in some sense, returning to that, aren't we, now?
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Yes, I'd agree with you there.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50I think many of the most, so-called most modern developments
0:07:50 > 0:07:54of drama are really getting back to the Greek essentials of the drama.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57You mean Julius Caesar played in front of a packing case?
0:07:57 > 0:08:00That kind of thing. Get rid of the scenery, get rid of the furniture,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03get rid of the footlights get rid of the roof if you can,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and concentrate on the people and the words.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Do you think we should get back to masks,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10like those of the classical actors?
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Not entirely, though I've seen a good many mask plays,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16and I think they're tremendously effective in their own way,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18much better than any close-up of these film stars,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20as far as I'm concerned, I must say.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26I've seen masks used by actors in the East. It has certain advantages.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30You know at once who the villain and who the hero is.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33But of course, it has obvious disadvantages.
0:08:33 > 0:08:34Well, it cramps.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37One can't have mobility of features.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40But I do think it gets the idea of the person
0:08:40 > 0:08:43rather than the ego of the actor. And what we're up against
0:08:43 > 0:08:46is the ego of these confounded actors most of the time, I really think so!
0:08:46 > 0:08:51In a sense, your classical drama was a drama of disembodied ideas.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Well, it's subtler than that.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57It's as if the character of Agamemnon, of Oedipus,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00took possession of the person and transformed them.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04It's not that it becomes abstract or symbolic entirely.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09- It's a transformation, demon possession, if you like.- Yes, yes.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14Well now, you say we're tending more and more to approach
0:09:14 > 0:09:18the classical ideals and the classical techniques,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20even, in certain respects.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24I think so. I think one can go back to Greece like to a pure fountain
0:09:24 > 0:09:26and draw the original draught of water,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28and then come into the modern age again
0:09:28 > 0:09:32and use it here with extraordinary success.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37One of those draughts of water can be drawn at Miletus.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41In terms of sheer power, this place, Miletus,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44produced more colonies than any other Greek state.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Its theatre shows it at once to have been one of the great bearers
0:09:47 > 0:09:49of Greek tradition in Asia Minor.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55Here, 10,000 spectators watched the classical and less classical dramas
0:09:55 > 0:09:58of Greece and Rome.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Here at Miletus, modern science was forestalled by
0:10:01 > 0:10:04the inspired oracles of Anaximander and Thales.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Living creatures arose from the most moist element
0:10:07 > 0:10:09as it was evaporated by the sun.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12"Man was like another animal, namely a fish,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15"in the beginning" - so wrote Anaximander,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17astonishingly near the mark.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21And his teacher, Thales, even foretold an eclipse.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28Miletus eventually silted up and was left high and dry,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31a fate it shared with its neighbouring rival, Priene.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Between them still flows the River Meander,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37which has enriched our language by its name
0:10:37 > 0:10:40as it meanders down to the receding sea.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47On the other side of the Meander lies the erstwhile rival of Miletus,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Priene. In contrast of the flamboyance of Miletus,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Priene had something
0:10:53 > 0:10:56akin to the Anglo-Saxon spirit of understatement.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Its council chamber was small.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Obviously the town council was a modest size.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Its theatre abstained from all grandeur.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09But its perfection seems almost enhanced by the passage of time.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Overgrown though it is, the beginnings of what
0:11:19 > 0:11:24we now call town planning can still be seen in this austere little town.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Certainly, the 340 dwellings that have been excavated
0:11:27 > 0:11:31display the Greek house at its most characteristic.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35An unostentatious entrance, an inner courtyard,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38and small rooms around it for living and sleeping.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43It takes an effort of the imagination to set
0:11:43 > 0:11:46this carefully perfected civilisation amongst the rugged
0:11:46 > 0:11:48fantasy of the Turkish landscape,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50to look at present-day life
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and then to think back 2,500 years.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03FOLK MUSIC
0:12:20 > 0:12:26North of Priene, on the way to Istanbul, we called at Pergamon.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Down in the valley lies one of those splendid testimonies
0:12:29 > 0:12:33to the almost Edwardian extravagance of the Roman Empire,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37the spa erected in honour of the healing god Asclepius.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42Here I met Professor Boehringer of Berlin,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44the present excavator of the site,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47and with him drank the radioactive water of the place.
0:12:47 > 0:12:53These Romans had it all, down to medicinal waters and mud baths.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56When the disreputable emperor, Caracalla,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58got too bored with Rome,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00he came here to recuperate.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34The theatre, with its stage, is nearly perfect
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and could in fact be used today.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57A subterranean passage led to the pump room,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59to protect those in search of better health
0:13:59 > 0:14:01from the rigours of fresh air.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Professor Boehringer himself discovered this pump room
0:14:09 > 0:14:11and explained its commodious proportions
0:14:11 > 0:14:14with expansive enthusiasm.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16The Romans certainly did nothing by halves.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19They administered to the needs of the body
0:14:19 > 0:14:21with unfaltering devotion,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23and they knew how to keep a large place warm
0:14:23 > 0:14:26better than we know in Britain 2,000 years later.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56From the temple of healing to the Hill of Pergamon
0:14:56 > 0:14:58is only a short ride,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02and yet it's 400 years back in time from the Roman spa.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05This was the capital of a sturdy kingdom
0:15:05 > 0:15:07which held the Barbarians at bay, whether from
0:15:07 > 0:15:11the interior of Asia Minor or from across the sea in Europe.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35From this towering citadel, the Kings of Pergamon
0:15:35 > 0:15:39freed Asia Minor from the invading Gauls.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Upon it, they erected an altar over the ashes of their victims.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58But they were more than redoubtable soldiers, these Pergamese.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00They were Greek in the fullest sense.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Their library, now a few broken and dishevelled walls,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07was second only to that of Alexandria.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10The word "parchment" is indeed derived from Pergamon.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Out of the steep hillside, they hacked one of
0:16:13 > 0:16:16the most impressive theatres of classical times.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28The arts of peace and war here went hand-in-hand.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Here is the arsenal where they stored
0:16:31 > 0:16:36the great stone cannonballs which they catapulted upon their foes.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43These same people did immortal justice to their victims
0:16:43 > 0:16:46by sculpturing their dying agony in stone.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51For Byron's dying gladiator was in reality a dying Gaul.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53"He leans upon his hand.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56"His manly brow consents to death, but conquers agony."
0:17:10 > 0:17:1424 hours later, we arrived at that symbolic bridge
0:17:14 > 0:17:18between Europe and Asia, Istanbul, the ancient Constantinople.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Its present skyline of mosques obscures the historical fact
0:17:23 > 0:17:26that this was a Greek settlement to start with.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31This was Byzantium, later, Constantinople. Today, Istanbul.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Founded 26 centuries ago.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Greek colony,
0:17:36 > 0:17:37outpost of the Roman Empire,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39capital of the Eastern Empire,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Hellenic, then Roman, then Byzantine,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46but always Greek at heart
0:17:46 > 0:17:51until 1453, when Islam finally triumphed.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Istanbul is one of the great hinges of history.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Constantinople lasted for more than 1,000 years.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Its heart was broken, not by the Turks,
0:18:33 > 0:18:35who are commonly accused of the crime,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38but by the rascally Venetian Crusaders
0:18:38 > 0:18:41who, in the name of Christianity, plundered the city
0:18:41 > 0:18:43250 years before the Turks.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48We saw some of their loot in Venice at the beginning of the cruise.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50In many ways, the Turks picked up
0:18:50 > 0:18:52the artistic traditions of Constantinople,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55where the Greeks had dropped them and, incidentally,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58practised a tolerance that deserves our gratitude.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14The centre, often the troubled centre of Constantinople
0:19:14 > 0:19:16in its great days was the Hippodrome,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20where chariot races and politics were equally at home.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Some of its monuments stand like petrified ghosts
0:19:23 > 0:19:25in the modern square.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27An obelisk from ancient Egypt,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29brought here by the Romans,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33and set up on a carved pedestal, showing the Emperor and his court.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Next to it, the famous twisted bronze column
0:19:41 > 0:19:44brought by Constantine from Delphi in Greece,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47the oldest Greek monument in Istanbul.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53But infinitely the greatest of the Byzantine remains
0:19:53 > 0:19:56is Santa Sophia, that mighty church,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12In the mechanics of architecture,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16this is one of the outstanding buildings of the world.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Indeed, the whole span of Greek architecture is contained
0:20:19 > 0:20:21between Santa Sophia at one end
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and the Parthenon of Athens at the other.
0:20:24 > 0:20:251,000 years.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Athens marks the highest attainment
0:20:28 > 0:20:31of purely static and restful architecture
0:20:31 > 0:20:34but here at Santa Sophia, we are in the presence
0:20:34 > 0:20:37of a perennial battle in brick and stone,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41dome fighting dome, and stability secured by
0:20:41 > 0:20:45the balanced opposition of forces, much as in a Gothic cathedral.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56In this great church, the last of the Byzantine emperors,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00the 12th Constantine, received the Eucharist for a last time
0:21:00 > 0:21:04on the 28th April, 1453.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06The following morning, the besieging Turks
0:21:06 > 0:21:10at last breached the splendid walls of the city
0:21:10 > 0:21:13and as the Turkish Cicerone has it,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16"With the war cries from 1,000 breasts,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19"mingled the death rattle of the countless wounded."
0:21:22 > 0:21:26The Emperor himself died, sword in hand.
0:21:26 > 0:21:2910,000 refugees packed into Santa Sophia
0:21:29 > 0:21:32where, a few hours previously, the priests, they said,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36had been furiously debating the sex of angels.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39The Turks broke in, and there was such slaughter
0:21:39 > 0:21:42that when Mohammed the Conqueror rode into the church,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45his force trod bodies piled ten feet deep.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50High up on one of the pillars is proof in the shape of a human hand.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53It is the imprint of the hand of the conqueror
0:21:53 > 0:21:55who struck the pillar and bade all bloodshed cease.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59Thereafter, the high altar gave place to a prayer niche
0:21:59 > 0:22:04facing Mecca. The greatest church in Christendom had become a mosque.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08ISLAMIC PRAYER PLAYS
0:22:08 > 0:22:12Istanbul is busily turning its back on history.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18New highways instead of twisted medieval streets.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Instead of picturesque slums, new concrete houses.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30A little of the trimness of a Greek or Roman town is retained
0:22:30 > 0:22:34though with much loss to the artist and the antiquary.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44When the ship was sailing west again,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47I discussed the significance of Constantinople
0:22:47 > 0:22:48with a Byzantine scholar,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Michael Maclagan, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56Well, it's goodbye to the domes and minarets of Constantinople.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Ah, that's good.
0:22:58 > 0:22:59Goodbye at last.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01I never leave the place without wanting to come back again.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05How it changes. Every time I go there, it's different.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08But it changes. But the great things are always the same.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11There are the grand walls and there is the dome of Santa Sophia.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Yes, but poor old Constantinople.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16It's always being shattered by somebody.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19The Christians, the Turks and now the bulldozers.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23And shabby, too, by the move of the capital to Ankara.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Yes, but it's going ahead.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28These great new bull bars are plunging through the city
0:23:28 > 0:23:31to the gates. They're really restoring the old plan.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33They're doing a good deal of it.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Clearing away all of this picturesque mess of the Middle Ages.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41It's a pity. These concrete houses and bungalows going up,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43but it's progress.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45It's a very great pity we can't do some more digging
0:23:45 > 0:23:48under all these places, and find out something about it.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Because, in fact, we always forget how much Europe does owe
0:23:51 > 0:23:52to Constantinople.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55I would prefer to go as far as to say that
0:23:55 > 0:24:00there would not be a Western Christian civilisation
0:24:00 > 0:24:04if Constantinople hadn't held out the Saracens in 717.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07But, just a point there, you always think, or kind of think,
0:24:07 > 0:24:12of Constantinople as a bulwark of European civilisation against Asia.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16As though we had to avoid Asia, rather like a bad smell.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18But, isn't there another point, too, that it was really
0:24:18 > 0:24:21the channel between Asia and Europe?
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Oh, indeed it was. The meeting place of East and West.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Its civilisation was undoubtedly an amalgam,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29partly of things that came back from Rome
0:24:29 > 0:24:31and things that came in, new, from the East.
0:24:31 > 0:24:37I wonder how much of Constantinople was really due to the Greek genius
0:24:37 > 0:24:40and how much it owes to Asia.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Well, I think one could say the foundation was Greek.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46The stability, the enormous efficiency of the administration,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50800 years of an un-devalued coinage was perhaps Roman
0:24:50 > 0:24:53but a great deal of the artistic side, probably, I think,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55the dome itself, came from somewhere further east.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Is it really fair to describe Santa Sophia as the last
0:24:59 > 0:25:01great gift of Greek genius to the world?
0:25:01 > 0:25:02No, I don't think it is.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06To me, Santa Sophia is the first and perhaps the greatest
0:25:06 > 0:25:08monument of Byzantine architecture.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10I would say that Byzantine history
0:25:10 > 0:25:13and Byzantine art begin at this point.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I suppose every work of genius is essentially a fresh beginning.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19In that sense, Santa Sophia is new.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21It's not only new. The staggering thing is that
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Byzantine architecture begins, as you might say,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26with this terrific bang.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29It starts off with its finest and full-blown work
0:25:29 > 0:25:31springing suddenly, like Minerva,
0:25:31 > 0:25:33fully fledged, out of the head of Jove.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Another point, Maclagan, naturally, on a Hellenic cruise,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38we tend to think in terms of Greece.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40But what of the Turkish contribution?
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Well, I don't think that we can say that Europe has much debt to Turkey
0:25:44 > 0:25:47but, if we look at this skyline which is now fading away from us
0:25:47 > 0:25:51in the background there, we will see that the beauty of the skyline
0:25:51 > 0:25:55of Istanbul, as we call it now, is mainly due to the Turks.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Apart from the great dome of Santa Sophia,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02this ravishing selection of minarets in different sizes and patterns
0:26:02 > 0:26:03is all Ottoman art.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06But based on the Greek, so ultimately we come back to
0:26:06 > 0:26:08the Greeks, after all.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11I think we do, because the highest Turkish architecture,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14the work, perhaps particularly, of Sinan,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17their rather underrated but noble architect,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20is indeed probably a good deal derived from Greek models
0:26:20 > 0:26:23although the Turks don't care so much to think so.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26But his predecessor, working for the first Turkish conqueror
0:26:26 > 0:26:29was a Greek. That links the two.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32- That links the two. - Some more coffee.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish, each dominion in turn
0:26:42 > 0:26:44has left its traces along the coast of Asia Minor.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49And now on our way towards the centre of the Greek world
0:26:49 > 0:26:52we are bound for Rhodes, a mixture of them all.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Rhodes was once a commercial rival to Athens.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59That monstrous bronze statue, the Colossus of Rhodes,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01one of the seven wonders of the world,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04towered by the harbour, 105 feet high,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07until it crashed in an earthquake
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and was ultimately loaded onto 900 camels.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14When, at the end of the 13th century, the crusading order,
0:27:14 > 0:27:19the Knights of St John of Jerusalem were thrown out of the Holy Land,
0:27:19 > 0:27:24they captured Rhodes and held it against all comers for 200 years.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Here, as later in Malta, the Knights carved their armorial bearings,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32built their mansions and held onto this lonely outpost
0:27:32 > 0:27:34of Western Christianity.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12The walls of this fortress city were long held impregnable.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15And each section was looked after by a different nationality.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18This was the English section of the wall.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32the Medieval Grand Master's Palace looks upon a Byzantine church
0:28:32 > 0:28:34and a Turkish mosque is but a few streets away.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40When one thinks that the almost unending conflict
0:28:40 > 0:28:43in the eastern Mediterranean is with us still,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45it is useful to remind the zealous of Rhodes
0:28:45 > 0:28:48that there's hardly anyone, on this island at least,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52whose ancestor hasn't come here as the result of some war,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54fought for some faith or other.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Yet, today, there is harmony here,
0:28:56 > 0:28:59and the leisured peace of a Mediterranean backwater.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02A Hellenic cruise in these waters is a history lesson
0:29:02 > 0:29:05for us to remember and to ponder.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08But, for those who live here, to forget if they can.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd