1
00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:09,880
The Aegean Sea and its collection
of beautiful islands are framed

2
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,160
by the coastlines of mainland Greece
and Turkey.

3
00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,160
Millions of tourists,
of all nationalities,

4
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,040
come here every year.

5
00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:26,360
3,000 years ago,
it was just as popular.

6
00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,280
The ports of the Aegean
would've been crammed

7
00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,600
with families, workers,
soldiers and kings,

8
00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:37,080
travelling for trade, and to fight.

9
00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,080
The cities of ancient Greece
were often at war

10
00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:41,480
with each other.

11
00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,320
I want to find out more
about this vast

12
00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,400
and complicated civilisation,

13
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:51,680
to dig out the real stories
behind the myths.

14
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,080
And I'm not just going
to the well-known tourist spots,

15
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:58,480
of course not -
I'm headed off the beaten track.

16
00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:00,480
I'm Alice Roberts,

17
00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,480
and I'm travelling hundreds
of miles through what is now Greece

18
00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:05,760
and Turkey,

19
00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,280
looking in to the flowering
of classical civilisation,

20
00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:11,920
from ancient Greece, to the Romans.

21
00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:15,160
Oh, my goodness! That's wonderful.

22
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,160
To discover this region's
vital role

23
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,880
as the birthplace
of Plato, Socrates

24
00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:24,920
and Alexander the Great,

25
00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:27,680
mythology, theatre, and democracy.

26
00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,000
I'm really excited
to get this journey started.

27
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,400
There's always this sense
of anticipation.

28
00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,920
I know where I'm going,
I know where I'm headed,

29
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,320
I know who I'm going to meet
at each destination along the way,

30
00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,960
but I don't know exactly
what I'm gonna see

31
00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,280
and what I'm gonna learn.

32
00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,760
But I know that
it's going to be incredible.

33
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,800
And what I'm hoping for,
by the end of it,

34
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,760
is that I come away with
a better understanding

35
00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,160
of how this incredible
ancient civilisation,

36
00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:13,200
this Hellenistic culture,
spread out through time

37
00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,920
and across such
a huge geographic area

38
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,160
with the Aegean Sea
binding it all together.

39
00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,360
I'm starting in the north,
in what is now modern Greece

40
00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,560
but used to be ancient Macedonia.

41
00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:35,040
The home of kings like Philip II,
and of course, Alexander the Great.

42
00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:40,280
I start my Greek adventure
in Thessaloniki.

43
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:43,560
And then I'll be heading south

44
00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,320
on the train towards Athens
and Corinth.

45
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,120
From the port of Piraeus,
I'll take to the sea,

46
00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,720
to Paros and its surrounding
historic islands.

47
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,360
And then back on the train,
northwards

48
00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,000
along the Anatolian Coast in Turkey,

49
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,400
concluding my odyssey in Troy.

50
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,600
And my first stop is Thessaloniki.

51
00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:11,960
I'm hoping to see
the Romans arriving in Greece,

52
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,800
a beautiful Roman palace
in the city.

53
00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,880
But also, I can't wait to see

54
00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:24,280
one of the absolute masterpieces
of the ancient world.

55
00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:28,120
A beautiful, beautiful object that
I've only ever seen photographs of,

56
00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,000
and I want to see it for real.

57
00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,360
I know it's in the Archaeological
Museum in Thessaloniki.

58
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:38,000
it's called the Derveni Krater,
and it looks incredible.

59
00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,880
I'm arriving in Thessaloniki
for the first time,

60
00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,200
and already I'm intrigued.

61
00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,840
This is Greece's second city
after Athens.

62
00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,240
Visitors are drawn
to Thessaloniki's vast promenade,

63
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,400
which spans six kilometres,

64
00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,040
hugging the Aegean Sea.

65
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,800
Two and a half millennia ago,
this was the centre

66
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,000
of a minor ancient Greek state
called Macedon,

67
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,560
the home of Alexander the Great.

68
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,600
We all know something
about ancient Greece,

69
00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,880
from the story of Troy
to the Acropolis in Athens,

70
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,640
and philosophers like Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle.

71
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,080
Their names come down
to us through the centuries,

72
00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,560
preserved in ancient manuscripts,

73
00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,800
but I'm starting with a much newer
source of information,

74
00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:32,760
social media,

75
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,240
where I find an archaeologist
called Ted.

76
00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:39,280
Ted uses social media
to explain ancient Greek history

77
00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:43,640
and archaeology
in a very accessible way.

78
00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,320
I've arranged to meet him

79
00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:47,520
to get his advice in helping me
understand

80
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:49,000
this fascinating civilisation.

81
00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,920
Aah! Hi! How are you?

82
00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,520
I'm very well, lovely to meet you.
Welcome to Greece.

83
00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,120
It's so lovely to be here.

84
00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,240
This is fantastic, I want to chat
to you about this.

85
00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:04,640
Thank you so much.
Shall we go and get a table? Yes.

86
00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,120
I've been stalking you
on Instagram.

87
00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:18,440
For the entire world,
archaeology and our past

88
00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:19,960
is very, very important.

89
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,560
Mm. Cos we're looking,
we're digging to find ourselves.

90
00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:29,240
It's like a huge collective
psychotherapy session

91
00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:31,000
to find out what went wrong,

92
00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:36,280
and we have the most weird form
of life in the entire solar system.

93
00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,520
Yeah, yeah. Cos that's what we are.

94
00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:52,600
For example, Greece has a tendency
of idealising its past.

95
00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,840
Mm. Which can be good and bad...
Yeah.

96
00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:57,760
..because you end up thinking that

97
00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,080
whatever happened in antiquity
is good. That's not right, though.

98
00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,920
There were no female voting, for
example, in classical Greece.

99
00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:07,560
Yeah. There was slavery
in the Ancient World.

100
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,000
Yeah, they had democracy, but
democracy in a very narrow sense...

101
00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:11,480
Exactly, yes. ..of the word.

102
00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,240
Of course, they created philosophy
and theatre and that... Science.

103
00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:16,400
And science.
But you have to pick and choose

104
00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:18,720
and see all the colours
of the rainbow.

105
00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,000
Ted advised the same rationale
to his assessment

106
00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,200
of Macedon's most famous son.

107
00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,840
Alexander the Great fought
against Athens, for example.

108
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,600
Mm. If you were pro classical Athens
with democracy

109
00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:33,960
and theatre and everything,

110
00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,200
perhaps you'd end up
hating Alexander,

111
00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,240
but that's just silly nowadays.
Mm. It's been 2,500 years.

112
00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:41,520
I mean, come on. Yeah. No, you can't
import those feelings...

113
00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:43,040
Exactly, yes.
..into the modern day,

114
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,000
but what you can do is look
at it from the perspective

115
00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,640
of those people back in the past,
can't you? Exactly.

116
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,760
Ted's interested in the breadth
and diversity of opinions

117
00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,440
held by those living in ancient
Greece over the centuries.

118
00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,200
There's this inscription
about a person,

119
00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,200
an ancient Greek, from Thessaloniki,

120
00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,920
who dedicated to the Romans,

121
00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:08,360
saying how all of Greece is
so thankful to the Romans

122
00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,560
for liberating us from the kings
and everything.

123
00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,680
There was resistance against
Roman rule in Greece,

124
00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:16,640
which later on diminished

125
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,520
cos they found out that
they love each other, after all.

126
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,560
So they created
the Greco-Roman world.

127
00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:25,240
But up until then,
they had some fights.

128
00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,480
Yeah. So there was this,
at least that one person

129
00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:29,880
from Thessaloniki who tried to...

130
00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,200
He was saying, "I'm in."
Yeah, to compliment the Romans, yes.

131
00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,600
"I love the Romans.
The Romans are so nice." Yeah.

132
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,560
As well as using
the tools of social media

133
00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:39,960
for his stories on ancient Greece,

134
00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,320
Ted has turned to a more
traditional method -

135
00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:43,480
he's written a book.

136
00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:45,600
And your book is being
translated into English -

137
00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:47,560
tell me about your book.
My book,

138
00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,560
How To Fit All Of ancient Greece
In An Elevator.

139
00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:51,800
No, was that the name? Because I
wanted something very surreal.

140
00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,080
You can't fit the Parthenon
in an elevator.

141
00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,400
No, you can't fit all ancient
Greece, that's a spoiler.

142
00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:59,960
Because, yeah, you can't fit...

143
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,000
But you can fit all of ancient
Greece in your imagination.

144
00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:04,880
Yeah. That's the whole point.
Yeah, yeah.

145
00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,760
And after all, what I'm trying
to do is convince people

146
00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,080
that archaeology in the past
is not just Alexander the Great,

147
00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,640
or Pericles, or Sophocles,
or just the main figures,

148
00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:17,240
it's everybody.

149
00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:20,880
We'd focus mostly on
the great battles.

150
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,760
Enough with the battles.
They're important, yes,

151
00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,720
but what about other parts
of life in ancient Greece?

152
00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,200
What about how ordinary people
lived? Exactly. Yeah.

153
00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,600
You'd have all kinds of people,
just like today.

154
00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:33,480
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Exactly.

155
00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,480
And have you found
any resistance from

156
00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:40,240
the broader archaeological community
to what you're trying to do?

157
00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:43,440
I'm very happy
and surprised, myself

158
00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:46,320
to say that my project
was very well received by

159
00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:47,960
the academic community in Greece.

160
00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,160
As popularity progressed,

161
00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,680
more and more people from
the academic community contacted me

162
00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:54,640
and gave me their support,
and I'm very thankful for that.

163
00:08:54,680 --> 00:08:56,520
Yeah, so you've had
to prove that it works.

164
00:08:56,560 --> 00:09:02,040
It goes to show that academia isn't
always what we think it is. Yeah.

165
00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:11,560
Later, I'll be taking a guided tour
of Thessaloniki's ancient sites...

166
00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,520
Wow! That's incredible.

167
00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:18,520
..I come face-to-face
with Alexander the Great,

168
00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:22,160
and take a train to
the royal burial sites.

169
00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:32,640
I'm in Thessaloniki,
in northern Greece.

170
00:09:32,680 --> 00:09:38,400
The city was founded in 315 BCE
by Philip, King of Macedon.

171
00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,360
Today, this region is known
as Greek Macedonia.

172
00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,440
The King named the city
after his daughter,

173
00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:49,640
the half-sister
of Alexander the Great.

174
00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,840
Alexander himself would become
King of Macedon

175
00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:57,800
at the age of 20,
and I want to know more about him.

176
00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,480
But first, I want to see one
of ancient Greece's

177
00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,400
most astonishing treasures.

178
00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,080
I'm meeting local historian
Angeliki.

179
00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:10,960
Angeliki. Hello! Welcome to
the museum, to Thessaloniki.

180
00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:12,960
Kalispera. Thank you.

181
00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,240
Oh, what have we got
glowing in the dark here?

182
00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,040
Gold! It's the gold.

183
00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,240
There are so many astonishing,
beautiful objects here,

184
00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,920
but one stands out.

185
00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:29,200
This is our masterpiece.

186
00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:35,640
Do you know,
I didn't realise it was so large.

187
00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:38,480
The Krater was found in 1962

188
00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,320
in a burial chamber in Derveni,
just outside Thessaloniki.

189
00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,720
It was made
more than 2,300 years ago.

190
00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,760
Originally, they used it
to make wine.

191
00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:56,160
In the top, they put cremated bones
from man and a woman inside.

192
00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:57,720
It's absolutely stunning.
I mean, you know,

193
00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,600
something that would've been used
to mix wine and water,

194
00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:02,560
and then it's repurposed
as a funeral urn.

195
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:03,920
And it's very intriguing.

196
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:08,080
The body is hammered
from two bronze leaves,

197
00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:09,960
and only the handles,

198
00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,920
the rim and the base
are cast-made from mould.

199
00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,040
This golden colour is from
a high amount of tin

200
00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:21,960
in the bronze alone.

201
00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:29,800
We have Dionysus, he is nude,
with his wife, Ariadne.

202
00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:34,360
She's removing her veil. Yes.
And we have around the vase...

203
00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:38,400
It's absolutely stunning.
..the men that...they are dancing.

204
00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,760
They're holding a deer by the legs.
They're holding the deer.

205
00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:47,360
In the other they are holding
a child.

206
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,200
You see? Over here.

207
00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:51,880
There's violence in this.
Yeah, there's...

208
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:55,520
Yeah. So this was found in a tomb?

209
00:11:55,560 --> 00:12:00,480
Yes. All artefacts here
were in the same tomb.

210
00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,560
It's an astonishing amount of wealth
to consign to a grave.

211
00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,440
Yes. I mean, that takes that wealth
out of circulation.

212
00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:09,240
It's their ideology.

213
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:13,080
The remaining family are saying,
"We can consign all this wealth

214
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,040
"to the grave." Yes.
"We're still wealthy."

215
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,360
Yes, "We are still wealthy."
Endless wealth.

216
00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,280
So where does all this wealth
come from?

217
00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:25,160
How does Macedonia become
so immeasurably wealthy?

218
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:28,560
After the campaign in Asia.

219
00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,040
Alexander's campaign? Yes.

220
00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:36,240
Ah, we're allowed
to go through here...

221
00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,960
Yes.
..because I'm with you.

222
00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,240
So beautiful, yeah.
I'll put that back.

223
00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:45,360
It's very exciting
to be getting this sneak peek

224
00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:47,480
of the museum's new exhibition,

225
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,160
which shows how Greek culture
persisted under Roman rule.

226
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,920
This mosaic tells
the story of Ariadne,

227
00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,360
seen here sleeping,

228
00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,080
being stalked by
the Greek god Dionysus.

229
00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:03,680
It's beautiful.

230
00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,600
And isn't it interesting that this
story just carries on going?

231
00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:09,240
Carries on going.

232
00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,200
It doesn't matter that
Macedonia's now part

233
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:13,560
of the Roman Empire,

234
00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,280
they're still telling
the same stories.

235
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:22,120
And here, looking like a god,
is Alexander.

236
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:31,040
From the end of the 4th century,
during Roman times and later,

237
00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,240
it's the first time that
the historical personality,

238
00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,640
the first time that a human being
gave individuality

239
00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:41,520
in the iconography of gods
and heroes.

240
00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:45,720
He began to portray gods
like Dionysus,

241
00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,520
like Helios, like Achilles,

242
00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:52,840
as heroes, with the personal
features of Alexander.

243
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:57,880
Because he was worshipped,
because he was god himself.

244
00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,320
It's the story
that became a legend.

245
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,520
Yeah. And did that happen during
his lifetime?

246
00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:04,440
Was he encouraging... Yes.
..people to see him as a God?

247
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,680
He declared himself a god.

248
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:15,400
He put standard for the
representation of the ruler.

249
00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,760
Young, dauntless, and with passion,
with charisma and all this.

250
00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:22,560
And the Roman Emperors...
That's interesting.

251
00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,800
..they liked to be like Alexander.

252
00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,080
So you can have authority
whilst being young.

253
00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,240
Yeah. You don't have to be an elder.

254
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,520
It was like an Alexandromania.

255
00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:39,160
Yeah. All they wanted to be
like Alexander.

256
00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,520
He's Macedonian. Yeah.

257
00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,320
He takes over all
of what is now Greece,

258
00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,680
and then goes over into Asia Minor,

259
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:50,800
that becomes part
of his empire as well,

260
00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,280
all the way down,

261
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,080
through the eastern Mediterranean,
down to Egypt.

262
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,440
Yes. Vast empire.
Yes, and very quickly. Yeah.

263
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,480
He was only 20 when he began.
Yeah. Only 20,

264
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:05,640
and he died at 33.

265
00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:11,880
Yeah. It was a short span of time,
but he made a lot.

266
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:16,240
And he's building on what his father
had already done in terms

267
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,480
of expanding...
Yes. ..that Macedonian kingdom.

268
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,640
He's building on
the legacy of Philip II.

269
00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,800
Yes. Philip was great,
also a great ruler.

270
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:29,400
He made the base
for him to continue.

271
00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:35,480
In fact, Alexander's empire
was extremely short-lived.

272
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,280
But by the second century BCE,

273
00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:42,880
the Romans had arrived
in Thessaloniki,

274
00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:44,920
and they had big plans for the city.

275
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:49,280
It would become
an important strategic location

276
00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:51,840
for their ventures further eastward.

277
00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:53,880
I'm looking for Betina,

278
00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,920
a leading archaeologist who's been
working on restoring

279
00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,360
Thessaloniki's remaining
ancient sites.

280
00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,200
Hello, Alice. Hello.
Welcome to Thessaloniki.

281
00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:04,440
Thank you very much.

282
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,760
In the Hellenistic period,

283
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,520
we know that this area was chosen
by the Romans

284
00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:15,400
to have their administration
and economic centre.

285
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,160
This was the hub of
the ancient city,

286
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,120
a town square, meeting place

287
00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:24,040
and marketplace rolled into one,
the Agora.

288
00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:25,880
This is not the end of the Agora.
Right.

289
00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,520
To the west, it extends
about 70 metres.

290
00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,440
So it's almost twice as long? Yeah.
Yes.

291
00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:35,440
And what's that over there?

292
00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:38,080
It looks like a small theatre,
but is it a town hall?

293
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,960
It was an odeion. An odeion.
Yeah. It was...

294
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:42,400
Would it have been
a bouleuterion?

295
00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,760
The bouleuterion is beneath.
Right. OK.

296
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,720
There is a series of shops.

297
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,080
And there is a street, here,
you can see?

298
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:53,800
Oh, yes. A street. Yes.
Yeah, yeah.

299
00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,400
It is... So that paving,
that is Roman? Exactly.

300
00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:58,800
Can we walk down in there?

301
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,160
No, not now.
We are in the middle of a project,

302
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,000
and now we have to put
the new glass floor there.

303
00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:06,960
I'll have to come back when
you've finished the restoration.

304
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,000
I think so, yes.
Cos I want to walk round it.

305
00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:10,600
Next summer.

306
00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,040
Presumably there's archaeology
everywhere under our feet?

307
00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:17,920
There are, yes.

308
00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:22,480
Thessaloniki has a history
for thousands of years. Yeah.

309
00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:27,040
It started in 316,
and life continues from that.

310
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,040
Next, we are going to a rotunda.

311
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,280
It was built by Galerius. Ah!

312
00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:40,680
Built in the early 4th century CE
as a temple or mausoleum,

313
00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:44,080
the rotunda was converted into
a Christian church,

314
00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:47,840
then into a mosque,
then back into a church again.

315
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,560
Its walls are six metres wide,

316
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:55,040
helping to explain how it managed
to survive several earthquakes.

317
00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,920
Wow! That's incredible.

318
00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:02,880
It's so perfect,
it's magic, isn't it?

319
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:04,560
It's magnificent.

320
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:05,920
What a huge dome.

321
00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,040
It's just beautiful.

322
00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,600
I mean, look at that.
Isn't it? Yeah.

323
00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,800
During the earthquakes,
part of the dome was destroyed,

324
00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:25,320
and then the Ottomans called
an Italian, who painted this part,

325
00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:29,040
and this is why it is different
from... Ah.

326
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,400
This is not mosaic.
No. It is painting.

327
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,680
So that dome would've been
completely covered in mosaic?

328
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:36,280
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
And this up above...

329
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,160
Oh, yeah, there's a foot,
over there. Yes!

330
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:41,840
So we've got layers and layers...
Yeah.

331
00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:46,560
..of archaeology here,
Roman and then Roman Christian...

332
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:48,040
Mm-hm. ..and then Ottoman.

333
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,440
And those cracks
from the earthquake.

334
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:57,800
That's 1,600 years
of pretty much continuous use.

335
00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:59,400
It's incredible.

336
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,200
It's incredibly opulent.
It is.

337
00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,800
It shows you the wealth
and power of the Romans.

338
00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,640
The glory of the emperor, yes.

339
00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:10,640
Yeah, and then the wealth
of the early church,

340
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,120
in order to decorate it
in this way. Yes.

341
00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:17,640
Can you see the small windows
at the base of the dome?

342
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,480
That's mosaic as well? Yes.
That's mosaic too.

343
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:22,840
The colours are superb.

344
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,760
The blue and the gold
and the green, and...

345
00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,880
It's really beautiful.
There are birds over there,

346
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,120
and this is the reason
the Muslims did not destroy it.

347
00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:33,840
If it's just geometric... Yes.

348
00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:35,800
..or nature, that's fine.
If it's figures...

349
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,400
Nature is OK. Figures are not OK.

350
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:40,560
Isn't it interesting
to see those links

351
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,640
from the Roman architecture through
to churches and mosques? Yes.

352
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,320
There's a lot of change,
politically.

353
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:49,480
Sometimes you have polities
joining together,

354
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,040
sometimes fragmenting,

355
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,160
but the culture joins
everyone together. Yes.

356
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,160
Art and culture.
Just carries on.

357
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,960
Yes. We cannot say,
"OK, now Hellenistic stops,

358
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,520
"Roman starts..." Yeah.

359
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,040
.."Roman stops."
No, it isn't like that.

360
00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,560
Culture never stops.
It's an evolution.

361
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,920
Ideas feed in, don't they?
It is an evolution...

362
00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:09,760
Yeah. ..where everything is mixed.

363
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,440
Look, that is the Arch of Galerius.

364
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:21,080
Some metres further
is the Palace of Galerius.

365
00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:24,520
Can you imagine,
the processions would come

366
00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:26,880
all this way here, and enter?

367
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,520
Galerius was the emperor

368
00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,160
ruling the eastern half
of the Roman Empire.

369
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,040
And his arch is one of
the most famous landmarks

370
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:39,800
in Thessaloniki.

371
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,720
Now you see only part
of the arch.

372
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,000
It was originally,
there were eight piers.

373
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:55,120
Huge! Yes. They were in two rows,
and there were three entrances.

374
00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,080
Can you imagine how it was?
Yeah.

375
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:01,480
Everything was painted. Yeah.
We know that. Yes, yeah.

376
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:07,320
And originally, the main street,
Decumanus Maximus, passed by and...

377
00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:10,000
Through this arch?
Yes, exactly, this.

378
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:11,680
So you've got this east-west road.

379
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,280
Exactly, exactly. And then
this south-north route. Yeah.

380
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:20,800
So what have we got here?

381
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,120
What we've got, what we've got,
can you see?

382
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:28,640
Glory. Battles, birds,
because we have living monuments.

383
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,080
Yeah.

384
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,800
It is trials, propaganda.

385
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:37,960
Roman soldiers stamping
on barbarians. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

386
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:43,240
And then we have two Augusti
and the Caesars here.

387
00:21:46,360 --> 00:21:51,160
Finally, we're approaching
Galerius's palace.

388
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,880
The palace complex
really extended to...

389
00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:56,640
I mean, it was really large. Huge.

390
00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,200
And to the east was the hippodrome -

391
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:01,760
you understand that it extends
underneath.

392
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,520
Yeah, so all underneath where we are
at the moment? Yes, yes.

393
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,640
So this wouldn't have been open,

394
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:09,360
this would've been
a roofed building then?

395
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,720
Yes, yes, yes, it was roofed.

396
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,360
Vast, I mean it's vast.
That's huge.

397
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,760
The palace once covered
12 and a half acres.

398
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,720
Nowadays, its remains are hemmed in
by modern apartment blocks.

399
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:30,040
It's been partially reconstructed

400
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,280
to make it accessible
to the public.

401
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,240
You grew up in Thessaloniki?
Yes.

402
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,760
So do you remember these remains?

403
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,840
When I was very, very young,
I used to play here.

404
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,840
Did you? Oh, yes.

405
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,840
They were digging
and it was really an expedition.

406
00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:49,440
Did you see the archaeologists
working here?

407
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:51,600
No, I don't remember.
You don't remember.

408
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:53,800
Probably I did,
but I was so young.

409
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:55,720
It wasn't... It didn't inspire you?

410
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,840
No, I didn't, no.
No, no, it didn't inspire me.

411
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,760
But it was a nice place to play.

412
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:07,920
So this octagonal building,
what was this, do you think?

413
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,640
Probably it was an audience hall
and a throne hall.

414
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,480
And presumably there was
a dome on the top?

415
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:14,960
Of course, there was a dome, yes.

416
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,240
The floor was with, you see,
with slabs, marble slabs.

417
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:20,400
Beautiful marble.

418
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,320
And the mosaic.
The mosaic is covered now,

419
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:24,720
it's very sensitive.

420
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,480
Of course, there is an idea
to remove the mosaics

421
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:29,080
and move them to museums.

422
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:32,160
Modern archaeologists avoid
such things.

423
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,680
Yeah. And so we have it here,
we see what we can do.

424
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,400
Preserve it in situ.
Yes, in situ. Yeah.

425
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:44,680
Isn't that interesting?

426
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,000
So Thessaloniki could've ended up
being the capital of

427
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,240
the Roman Empire, actually,
as it was under Constantine?

428
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:50,720
The Roman Empire, exactly.

429
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:52,480
Because Constantinos was
a Roman emperor.

430
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,040
And so he doesn't choose
Thessaloniki,

431
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:56,720
he chooses Constantinople.

432
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:58,840
Yes. Which becomes Istanbul.

433
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:00,840
What happens to Thessaloniki?
Does it...

434
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,240
Thessaloniki remained
a very important city.

435
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,840
It's called Silva Silevousa,
that means co-capital,

436
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,600
it comes to the Ottoman period,

437
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:15,400
and then modern Thessaloniki. Yeah.

438
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,640
I'm here, and I don't know,
I see the Romans,

439
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:22,680
I see the Byzantines, the Ottomans,

440
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:24,960
the Jews that came here.

441
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:29,320
It's all culture of Thessaloniki,
and everything is mixed.

442
00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:31,040
Nothing is excluded.

443
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,880
And this is the wealth
of culture, this is what...

444
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,520
We are lucky, I mean,
working with culture,

445
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,840
working with civilisations,
working with antiquities,

446
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:46,800
we're really lucky... Yeah.
..because we study and we feel it.

447
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,280
Look at that sunset.
What an amazing sunset.

448
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,640
In the morning,
I'll be back on the railway,

449
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,160
but before I leave,

450
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:02,680
I've come to visit
Alexander the Great again,

451
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:04,120
this time on his horse,

452
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,840
on the fabulous
Thessaloniki promenade.

453
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,840
What an incredible first day
on my journey.

454
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,720
I'm here in Thessaloniki,

455
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:16,160
which is an incredibly
important city.

456
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,400
But tomorrow,
I'm going to head west,

457
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:20,840
I'm going to Aegis,

458
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:24,080
which is the ancient capital
of Macedonia,

459
00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:28,760
and the place where
the kings of Macedonia were buried,

460
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,160
including the father
of Alexander the Great.

461
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:56,400
SHE SPEAKS GREEK

462
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,400
Now, seven o'clock.

463
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,520
11 euro 76.

464
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,880
Go to platform three.

465
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:09,680
This part of northern Greece,
known in ancient times as Macedon,

466
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,280
is the greenest part of the country.

467
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,360
I'm on the early morning train,
heading west.

468
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,440
Would you like coffee? Yes, please.
OK.

469
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,240
Thank you.

470
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,680
Whoa, whoa. Efharisto.

471
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,960
Here I am, on my way to one of
the most ancient sites in Greece,

472
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,480
but one of the newest museums,
that only opened

473
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,320
in the last year, at Vergina,

474
00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,360
which is the site of
the ancient Aegis,

475
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,640
the ancient capital of Macedonia,

476
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:56,360
including the tomb of what is
thought to be Philip II of Macedon.

477
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,240
Morning, doggy. Hello.

478
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:08,080
The museum breathes new life into
the ancient city of Aigai,

479
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:11,040
abandoned and forgotten
for centuries.

480
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,640
But this was once the royal seat
of Philip II of Macedon,

481
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,880
and his son, Alexander the Great.

482
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:25,360
I'm meeting archaeologist Ava.

483
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,600
Welcome, Alice.
Kalispera. Kalispera.

484
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,360
Beautiful museum.
It's quite new, isn't it?

485
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,120
It is new, it is the central
museum building

486
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,480
of the polycentric museum
of Aigai.

487
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:36,920
And so tell me about Aigai,

488
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,800
cos it's the ancient capital
of Macedonia. Yes.

489
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:44,480
Here is where all
the ancient kings of Macedonia

490
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,480
had to come and bury.

491
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,440
Right. OK, so there's
a royal necropolis here.

492
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:51,160
This is the royal necropolis.

493
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,400
And when did Aigai start
to be important?

494
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,400
We don't know exactly
when it was founded,

495
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:03,800
probably in the middle
of the 7th century BC.

496
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,800
So a few centuries before
Philip II, then? Yes.

497
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,200
I believe that Alexander
wouldn't be Alexander

498
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,080
if there weren't Philip II.

499
00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:17,840
He reorganised the city,
built the palace,

500
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:22,400
and also the temples,
and he made the army very strong.

501
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:24,320
Yeah. And started expanding?

502
00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:26,200
Yes. But...
CHUCKLES

503
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:27,480
..he was murdered.

504
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:28,920
And he was murdered here?

505
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,560
Yes, he was murdered in 336 BC.

506
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,600
The museum is sited right next
to where there was once

507
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,840
a glorious royal palace.

508
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,520
Do you think he intended for
Alexander to be his heir? Yes.

509
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,320
There were other potential heirs?
Yes, there were,

510
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,040
and this is why his colleagues
took him to the palace,

511
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,960
and named him the next
King of Macedonia

512
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,120
right after the assassination
of Philip.

513
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,920
And then he sets off
to create the empire. Yes.

514
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,800
Sometimes through battles,
sometimes through alliances...

515
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,200
Yes. ..and that empire is created,

516
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:09,000
but then it very quickly gets
divided up after his death.

517
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,280
Nobody was Alexander.
SHE CHUCKLES

518
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:20,360
I believe he was a genius.
Not only like a warrior.

519
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,160
What he did was very important.

520
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:25,720
He created cities,

521
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,360
and he put in charge
people who lived there,

522
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,080
not Macedonians.

523
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:36,120
But he tried to do, let's say,
the Greek system of city,

524
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,160
he built temples
for the ancient gods,

525
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,200
he created the big roads, streets,
and...

526
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,120
But when you say "he's" building
these things -

527
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,240
he's moving from one place
to another so fast,

528
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:48,880
he's not doing any of this.

529
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,520
Not him, but he organised it.
SHE CHUCKLES

530
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,640
Yeah. With his team, let's say that.

531
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,400
Was it with a huge team? Yes.

532
00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,160
And he tried to unite all people,

533
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:04,720
that they were all equal,
and that was very important.

534
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:06,840
I think this is
the most important thing

535
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,520
that Alexander did, and gave to us.

536
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,800
The galleries house
a huge range of items uncovered

537
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,720
in the excavations here.

538
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:23,200
Weapons, pottery, and even nails.

539
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,240
There's also a lot of gold.

540
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:36,080
The riches in these royal tombs
is just incredible.

541
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:40,040
This is probably
the most opulent of them all

542
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,640
amongst the female graves,
the so-called Lady of Aigai.

543
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,560
And you can see elements
of her head-dress

544
00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:54,440
and this gold applique that would've
come down on her veil.

545
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,560
Bracelets. Even gold on her shoes.

546
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:00,880
And a silver spindle at her feet.

547
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,480
And here, we've got little
fragments, parts of the ivory

548
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,840
and amber that decorated
her sceptre.

549
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:12,480
We're getting close to the most
powerful women in this society.

550
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:18,160
The queens, the wives of kings,
the daughters of kings,

551
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,040
the mothers of kings.

552
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:26,920
As well as being queens,
they were high priestesses.

553
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,960
Kind of goddesses
in their own right.

554
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,960
This incredibly frail gold wreath
of oak leaves

555
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:47,560
and tiny acorns was in
this cinerary vessel,

556
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:51,520
that means it's a cremation vessel.

557
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:53,520
So you've got the cremated
remains of

558
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,880
the individual in there,
with this beautiful crown.

559
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:06,560
A mile away from the museum
are the royal tombs.

560
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:10,880
Found by Greek archaeologist
Manolis Andronikos,

561
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:16,400
who discovered them
completely untouched in 1977.

562
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:20,080
I'm looking for what's thought to be
the tomb of Philip II.

563
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:25,720
It's extremely unusual
for such prestigious tombs

564
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,960
to have survived the centuries
without being looted.

565
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,320
So this is the facade
of what we think is

566
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,320
the tomb of Philip II of Macedon.

567
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:39,520
Stunning, isn't it?

568
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:45,440
Columns on either side,
flanking this great marble door.

569
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,120
And then a series of triglyphs,

570
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:54,680
these three-columned details
which are familiar from temples.

571
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,080
And this incredible painted frieze.

572
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,160
And even though
the paint has flaked off,

573
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:02,880
we can still see it.

574
00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,360
Hunters on their horses
come springing out at you,

575
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,160
carrying their spears.

576
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,560
When Andronikos
first discovered this tomb,

577
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,440
and got inside it,
he thought it was empty.

578
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,360
But it wasn't.

579
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,480
In the main chamber,
there was a gold larnax,

580
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,200
a box like this,

581
00:34:18,240 --> 00:34:21,520
which contained fragments
of cremated bone,

582
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:23,360
and when they were analysed,

583
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:28,480
those were the bones of a man
believed to be Philip II.

584
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:33,080
This slightly smaller gold chest,
gold larnax,

585
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,120
was found in the ante-chamber
to the tomb,

586
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:40,120
along with this beautiful
gold diadem.

587
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:41,360
And in this one, again,

588
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:43,880
there were cremated bones
that belonged to

589
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,280
a young woman who was in her 20s,

590
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,120
so perhaps one of Philip's
younger wives.

591
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:54,320
It's all incredible.

592
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:55,880
I mean, imagine.

593
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,680
Imagine being Andronikos
and discovering this.

594
00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:13,680
I'm travelling through
this beautiful countryside,

595
00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:15,600
I've got the sea on my left,

596
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,440
and on my right, that is
Mount Olympus rising up,

597
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,600
its top hidden in the clouds.

598
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:27,160
And it looks mythical -
you can just imagine Zeus

599
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,840
and the whole Pantheon
sitting up there.

600
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,080
I was thinking about Vergina

601
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:35,640
and I'm wondering
if I really have seen

602
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,440
the tomb of Philip II of Macedon.

603
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:42,480
It doesn't say that on it,
but it's the biggest tumulus,

604
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:47,440
the most richly furnished burial
that's been found,

605
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:51,120
surely it must be
Philip II of Macedon.

606
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,560
Anyway, I'm leaving that behind,

607
00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,080
I'm now following
Philip's son, Alexander,

608
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,160
and I'm continuing on my journey.

609
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:08,040
My next stop is Delphi,
the belly button of Greece.

610
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:09,560
The home of the Oracle.

611
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,040
Perhaps she'll tell me
where to go next.

612
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,360
I'm getting off this
southbound train at Livadia,

613
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,600
the nearest stop to
the ancient site of Delphi.

614
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:28,280
I'm on my way to the modern town.

615
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:41,200
Delphi high street
is lined with hotels,

616
00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,240
restaurants and gift shops.

617
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:46,840
I've started early
to get ahead of the crowds.

618
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,040
"Veranda with a view," it says.

619
00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:52,720
Kalimera.

620
00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:55,440
Oh, wow!

621
00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:58,800
Well, it said it had a view.

622
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:02,240
Look at that. That's incredible.

623
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:05,760
All the way down to the sea there,

624
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,920
and then the mountains just rise up.

625
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,600
Stunning. Beautiful.

626
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,840
What a lovely place to wake up in.

627
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,880
I can't wait to visit the site.

628
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:31,600
It's early morning at
the ancient site of Delphi.

629
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:34,280
Busloads of tourists are arriving.

630
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:38,560
It's one of the most popular
tourist destinations in Greece,

631
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:41,520
but was a real draw
for the ancients too.

632
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:47,120
I'm meeting a historian
called Yanis to find out why.

633
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,160
Yanis. Hi, Alice.

634
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:50,520
Lovely to see you.
Nice to see you.

635
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,080
I arrived in the darkness last
night... Yes, there was nothing

636
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,120
to see... ..and then you wake up
and you go, "Wow!"

637
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,560
This is one of the best
archaeological sites in Greece.

638
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,840
I think what's incredible about
this site is that it's up here

639
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,080
in the mountains. Why is it here?

640
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:09,040
It's a very important location
because it's really central -

641
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,840
it's central Greece,
people can come by road,

642
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,920
and also they see it's not very far,
so Delphi was really a hub

643
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:18,400
for central Greece
and Greece in general.

644
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,680
We had an important institution

645
00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:23,080
for the Greek world,
which was the efenteone,

646
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,960
some kind of UN
of ancient Greece, United Nations,

647
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:28,920
and it was a union of cities

648
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:33,320
and nations around
the Greek world from east to west.

649
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,880
This sounds really important,
politically and economically,

650
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,520
that you've got different city
states coming here... Yes, yes.

651
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:41,680
..to work out how they're
interacting with each other. Yes.

652
00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:44,760
Sometimes they didn't find solution,
there was war -

653
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:46,760
we have a lot of sacred wars.

654
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,760
They never formed
a complete unity... Yeah.

655
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,920
..but they were trying
to find a panhellenica,

656
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,360
which is pan-Greek aspect
to the cult of Apollo.

657
00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,840
Ancient Greek city states were often
at war with each other,

658
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,880
but their representatives
could gather at Delphi safely.

659
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,640
Each city state
had its own treasury,

660
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,440
like a small embassy and bank
combined.

661
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,360
We're in front of one of
the most important buildings,

662
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,080
it's the Treasury of the Athenians.

663
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,320
There are lots of
inscriptions... Yeah.

664
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,000
..it was a kind of archive
for the city of Athens.

665
00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,280
What kind of things does it say?
What are they saying here?

666
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:27,440
Privileges to the Athenians,
the citizens of Athens,

667
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,160
about the sanctuary.

668
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,560
So decision-making,
politics, laws, written in stone?

669
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,360
Yes, from different periods.

670
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,360
So how many treasuries were there?

671
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:39,320
More than 20, who are the Thebans,

672
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,640
who are the Siphnians
from the islands,

673
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:44,680
also from Asia Minor,

674
00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,680
and also western Greece,
from Sicily.

675
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:53,840
But as well as the treasuries,
Delphi was home to an Oracle.

676
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,800
Rulers of city states
could come here to seek

677
00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:01,320
a stamp of divine approval
for their actions.

678
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:04,560
So here, you can see
another important part

679
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:06,320
of this archival wall -

680
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,720
it's a decree by the city
of Delphi,

681
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,840
Delfoi, you can see.
Yes, I can see that.

682
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,440
"Edocan," they have given,
"promanteia".

683
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:16,680
What's that?

684
00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:20,760
The privilege to skip the queue
and go first for the Oracle.

685
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,840
So you could kind of win
queue jumping? Yes. Yeah? Yes.

686
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:27,200
The Oracle gave answers
only once per month.

687
00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:28,960
And this is how...
I mean, this is how we can be

688
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,160
absolutely sure that this
archaeological site is...

689
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:33,800
Delphi. ..the historical Delphi,

690
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:36,480
because actually,
it's written on it.

691
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:37,880
There you go,

692
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,240
the privilege of jumping the queue
for the Oracle.

693
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:42,120
It was a very important privilege.

694
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:43,480
And a really... To be first.

695
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,240
..amazing opportunity
for making money out of it.

696
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,640
Yes, yes! Yeah. Of course.

697
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,480
I'm fascinated by the Oracle.

698
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:56,400
You could come here
and ask her for the answers

699
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:58,200
to difficult questions,

700
00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:02,320
but it's surely about justifying
political decisions,

701
00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,080
claiming divine approval
and authority.

702
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,120
This is where the Oracle was.

703
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:12,240
Yeah. The process is not
very well-known.

704
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:14,880
Presumably, even back then,
it was quite secret?

705
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:16,320
It was a secret process,

706
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:18,440
and there are different theories
about how

707
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:23,800
the Oracle worked,
if they used drugs to be inspired.

708
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:25,920
It has to be mystical. Yes.

709
00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:28,280
Got to create an air
of mysticism around this.

710
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:29,760
Yes. And of course,

711
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,640
Christians believed that it was
demonic cos it represented...

712
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:36,640
Well, basically anything that's
not Christian is demonic.
Yes, that's right.

713
00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,800
Delphi was presumed to be
the centre of the world,

714
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:46,080
and this centre was symbolised by
the Omphalos, the belly button of...

715
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,400
The belly button!
..of the world, of the Earth.

716
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:51,760
It's wonderful, the idea
that the world is a body. Yes.

717
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:53,400
And that the belly button
is right at the centre.

718
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:55,600
And with the centre, is Delphi.

719
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,360
So it was really important
for Alexander to come here.

720
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:00,280
Yes, yes. Alexander came,

721
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,680
but the Oracle didn't want
to give him an answer,

722
00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:05,680
and the priestess said,
"You're invincible,

723
00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:07,520
"I cannot get any more of you,"

724
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,760
and it was perceived by Alexander
as a good sign,

725
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:12,400
as a good Oracle. Yeah.

726
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,640
That's the story told
by the writer.

727
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:16,760
I mean, these priestesses had to be
quite careful about what they said.

728
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:18,880
Yes, of course. Because they had
to say things

729
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:20,680
that were equivocal, that...

730
00:42:20,720 --> 00:42:23,360
Yes.
..could be read either way.

731
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:29,600
And when people were coming
to Delphi in ancient times,

732
00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:32,520
presumably there was more here
than just the sanctuary?

733
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:37,000
A small city, but an important one.
Yeah.

734
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,840
It's a bit of a walk from
upper Delphi to the lower site.

735
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,080
The tour guides tend not
to come down here,

736
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:48,120
as it takes too much time,
which means they lose money.

737
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:53,840
This is the sanctuary of Athena,
Goddess of Wisdom.

738
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:57,320
The cult here begins earlier, maybe,

739
00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:01,800
because we have found traces of
the Mycenaean civilisation.

740
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,560
We're talking about
around 1,300 BC.

741
00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:07,720
Oh, OK. Very early.
Rather early.

742
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,160
Yeah. And this is reconstructed,
those columns...

743
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:11,680
This is mainly reconstructed.

744
00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:12,960
..are largely reconstructed,
aren't they?

745
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:14,680
Just before the Second World War,

746
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:16,440
there was an important
reconstruction...

747
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:17,840
I mean, it gives us an impression

748
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:20,720
of what this structure would've
looked like when it was complete.

749
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,640
Athena has also treasuries,

750
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:36,200
and here there is an example from
the people of Marseilles.

751
00:43:36,240 --> 00:43:39,200
Marseilles was of course
a Greek colony.

752
00:43:39,240 --> 00:43:41,000
Yeah, the fact that
you've got these,

753
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:43,120
you know, these Greek-speaking
colonies,

754
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:45,480
trading across the Mediterranean,

755
00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:49,080
and you've got colonies
over in Asia, Asia Minor...

756
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:51,120
Asia Minor. ..modern Turkey,

757
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:55,160
that have then colonised... Yeah.
..what is now France. France.

758
00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:58,600
Gold and, yes,
they went very far,

759
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:02,640
and Delphi was really a hub for this
process of colonisation. Yeah.

760
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:10,440
And we've reached
the end of Delphi,

761
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:12,480
the end of the sanctuary.
Yes, here we are,

762
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:14,880
we are at the end, yes, we are.

763
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:16,600
I mean,
it's wonderful to look up there.

764
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:19,040
It would have been even more
magnificent in ancient times

765
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:21,920
with all these bronze and golden
statues... Yeah, glittering.

766
00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:24,800
..that would be glittering
in the sun. Yeah, yeah.

767
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:29,280
Very nice, very beautiful.
Absolutely wonderful, Yanis,

768
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:31,160
thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you.

769
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:32,920
I've got one favour
to ask you though. Yes?

770
00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,680
D'you mind dropping me at the train
station? Of course, of course.

771
00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:38,360
Would that be all right?
Of course, that would be great.

772
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:40,320
Let's go.

773
00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:48,320
It's been a fascinating start
to my ancient Greek adventure.

774
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:52,840
Next time, I'll be in Athens,

775
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:57,080
learning about the birth of theatre
and democracy.

776
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,680
And I've even managed
to arrange a meeting with

777
00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:02,200
the Greek Minister of Culture.

778
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:28,880
Subtitles by Red Bee Media