1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:06,000 March the 7th, 203 AD. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,520 Carthage, North Africa. 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,160 A young woman called Perpetua 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:15,440 was waiting to be killed in a Roman arena 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:17,920 because she wouldn't reject her faith - 6 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,600 a faith so extreme it was shaking the empire. 7 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:24,920 BABY WAILS 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:29,880 Her family had begged her to renounce her beliefs and live. 9 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,640 Terrified, she refused. 10 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,160 CHEERING AND SHOUTING 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:46,160 Perpetua was one of a growing number of spiritual rebels. 12 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:50,600 All around the world, these are centuries when we see mass movements 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,600 of moral and religious revolt. 14 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,040 People who seem to want more - 15 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,880 more than entertainment, more than safety, more than power. 16 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,600 On the world's stage, this is an age of struggle. 17 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:15,360 A fight between the sword and the word. 18 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,480 Allah! 19 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:07,120 Old Indian writings tell a unique story, a moral revelation, 20 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:12,160 whose details were virtually forgotten for 2,000 years. 21 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,840 One day, in 295 BC, 22 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,480 a young prince called Ashoka 23 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,520 was searching for his grandfather's sword. 24 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,560 His grandfather had built the Mauryan Empire, 25 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,200 which stretched across northern India. 26 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:36,480 He'd warned the boy that swords were dangerous, 27 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,360 but, as in all good legends, 28 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,160 the boy ignored the old man. 29 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:00,560 BATTLE CRY 30 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,520 Ashoka means "without sorrow". 31 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:06,720 GROANS IN PAIN 32 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,160 And the Prince was true to his name. 33 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,840 When his father died, he slaughtered his brothers to capture the throne. 34 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:21,040 He then invaded the neighbouring state of Kalinga, 35 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:25,240 killing 100,000 men, women and children. 36 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,120 Frankly, so far, so dull. 37 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,840 History is littered with corpses on battlefields 38 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,240 and wild-eyed victors. 39 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,120 But this story is rather different. 40 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:48,360 Because when this victor wandered among the corpses, 41 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:50,240 he didn't feel triumph. 42 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,000 When Ashoka contemplated the devastation 43 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,720 that he had caused on the battlefield, 44 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,040 something seems to have changed inside him. 45 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:07,200 What is this great victory? 46 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:11,480 He said, when a country is invaded, 47 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,960 it brings death, slaughter and deportation. 48 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,640 And it's not just the soldiers - you can break a whole society. 49 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,440 He said the innocent - 50 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:27,360 the priests, the teachers, the families, the friends - 51 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,160 also suffer from the violence 52 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,640 and separation from their loved ones. 53 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,360 I can't think of any other example in history 54 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,040 where a great conqueror is not remembered for his victories, 55 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:58,640 but for his remorse. 56 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:11,520 Ashoka went through what's perhaps the most extreme 57 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:15,480 spiritual and political conversion in history. 58 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:20,160 He turned to the peaceful Indian values of Buddhism. 59 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:25,760 Compassion, the alleviation of suffering, 60 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:30,200 a striving to understand and improve life here on earth. 61 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,880 Ashoka began to transform his empire. 62 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,760 He outlawed slavery, 63 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,840 established schools and hospitals... 64 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,600 ..he even had wells dug and trees planted 65 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,560 for shade to help travellers. 66 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,760 Ashoka may have given up military expansion, 67 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,040 but he certainly wanted to spread his ideas, 68 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,160 and at his capital city, he created a sort of factory 69 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,600 to produce huge stone pillars topped with his lion 70 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,800 and to be inscribed with his laws and his views of the world 71 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,960 and sent all over central India. 72 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,920 This early broadcasting system was completely forgotten, 73 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:29,720 lost to history, 74 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:35,280 until Ashoka's messages were decoded in the 1800s 75 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:38,680 by a young Englishman who cracked the ancient script. 76 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:46,400 ASHOKA: "No living beings are to be slaughtered or offered in sacrifice. 77 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,320 "No criticising other religions. 78 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:54,400 "Show respect to elders, towards the poor and distressed, 79 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,680 "servants and employees." 80 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:01,760 You could almost call Ashoka's edicts 81 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,440 a declaration of human rights, 82 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,320 more than 2,000 years before the United Nations. 83 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:18,400 He also sent Buddhist missionaries as far as Vietnam, Sri Lanka, 84 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,200 even the Mediterranean. 85 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,280 Today, Buddhists are found on every continent on Earth. 86 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:37,400 As Ashoka grew old, he gave up his earthly power and possessions. 87 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:44,480 When he died, it's said that only half a mango was left. 88 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,920 Later on, more aggressive religions and political leaders 89 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,080 virtually pushed Buddhism out of India. 90 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,240 But Ashoka is a lot more than a footnote. 91 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,120 Because after his rediscovery, 92 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,480 he became a great inspiration in modern India. 93 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,880 Ashoka may not be well known in the West, 94 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,480 but to tens of millions of Indians, 95 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,800 he is still a symbol of tolerance and pride. 96 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:26,760 He's been an inspiration for non-violent leaders like Gandhi... 97 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,280 ..standing for moral, not military, might. 98 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,560 I think Ashoka would have thought that was a proper monument. 99 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,480 But Ashoka was the exception. 100 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,680 1,000 miles north-east of the Mauryan Empire, 101 00:08:54,680 --> 00:08:58,680 another leader relied on the traditional route to power - 102 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:00,000 violence. 103 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:09,440 In the third century BC, 104 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,280 mainland Asia was a cauldron of warring states... 105 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,000 ..until one of the leaders finally crushed his rivals. 106 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,520 He did it with a deadly battle tactic 107 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,600 known as the rain of arrows. 108 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:38,840 It took him 25 years and the deaths of a million enemy troops, 109 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:43,920 but, by 221 BC, he'd conquered all the states. 110 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,800 His name was Ying Zheng, King of the Qin. 111 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,960 He named himself First Emperor. 112 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,440 In honour of his own people, the Qin, 113 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,440 he named his vast new empire China. 114 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:10,960 Ying Zheng was determined to unite the 50 million people he'd conquered 115 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:15,000 and he would build China as ruthlessly as he waged war. 116 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,320 All the old Chinese kingdoms, 117 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,880 with their own capital cities and traditions and cultures, 118 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:23,760 were wiped from the planet. 119 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:28,200 The First Emperor instituted a single system of currency 120 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,600 and weights and measures, one government, 121 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,880 and vast armies were used to begin 122 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:39,320 the enormous project of defending the northern frontier, which we call 123 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,280 the Great Wall of China. 124 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,920 But even more important than that, 125 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:47,360 the great emperor created 126 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:52,200 the first single system of writing for all of China. 127 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,560 A single nation could finally emerge - 128 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:01,120 not the kind Ashoka's India would have admired. 129 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,480 But Ying Zheng was also interested in the spirit world. 130 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,720 He had a pretty simple idea of the afterlife. 131 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,920 "If I go, I'm going to take it all with me." 132 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:19,720 Construction began on the greatest mausoleum known to man. 133 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:32,800 The ancient historian Sima Qian describes an underground world 134 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,080 built by 700,000 slaves 135 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:40,680 where a vast domed ceiling twinkled with stars 136 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:43,160 above a bronze Imperial Palace. 137 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,200 Everything led to Ying Zheng's body, 138 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:53,920 lying at the centre of a series of subterranean chambers. 139 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:01,080 A mannequin army would surround the Emperor's tomb. 140 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:08,800 The 100 rivers of China were said to run in miniature streams 141 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,280 of pure glittering mercury. 142 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,160 A little not-so-little China 143 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,360 for the Emperor to rule through all time. 144 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:28,120 This story sounded like over-the-top fantasy until, in 1974, 145 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,720 some workers were digging water wells in Xi'an. 146 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:37,120 They broke into a vault containing 7,000 life-sized figures 147 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:38,640 made of fired clay, 148 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,240 now known all round the world as the Terracotta Army. 149 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:46,720 Archaeologists believe that the Terracotta Army 150 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,280 is just a small part of the Emperor's 151 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:52,920 massive underground burial complex 152 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,080 covering 22 square miles. 153 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,200 Unless the archaeologists are wildly wrong, 154 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,600 under this mound may lie the greatest secret 155 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:05,960 the ancient world still has. 156 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,760 Ying Zheng kept China together 157 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:16,000 by imposing a philosophy of law and order 158 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:17,840 known as legalism. 159 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:19,400 But it wasn't unchallenged. 160 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,640 Like ancient people all around the world, 161 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:29,840 the Chinese had huge numbers of what you might call local religions. 162 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,160 They respected nature spirits, they worshipped their ancestors, 163 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:36,240 they practised shamanism. 164 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,000 But they also had a social philosophy 165 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,200 which had been created by the thinker Confucius, 166 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:47,200 which emphasised respect, family, order, 167 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:52,160 but also had a message for local kings and rulers - 168 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:56,920 be wise, be clear, be just, 169 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,400 but also be kind. 170 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,840 Not a message followed by all of China's rulers. 171 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:17,200 Ying Zheng despised Confucius's humanity. 172 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:23,200 An infallible sign of a tyrant getting anxious 173 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,600 is when he starts destroying books. 174 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,800 In 213 BC, 175 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,760 the Emperor ordered the great burning of the books - 176 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:40,880 Confucius's thoughts. 177 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:46,920 A year later, 460 scholars were found still in possession 178 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,040 of the banned writings. 179 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,240 Ying Zheng had all of them buried alive. 180 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,480 But ideas are harder to kill. 181 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:11,040 Confucianism still survives in today's China. 182 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:20,160 Ying Zheng wanted to reign for as long as he could. 183 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,760 He wasn't too keen to reach his mausoleum, 184 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,040 and he gobbled pills to try to cheat death. 185 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:36,200 An alchemist offered him an elixir of eternal life. 186 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,320 But you can never quite trust the doctor. 187 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,440 The active ingredient in his magic potion 188 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:55,320 turned out to be the highly toxic mercury. 189 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,880 RANTS IN CHINESE 190 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,400 Ying Zheng didn't die well. 191 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:12,520 So, just another deluded tyrant 192 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:14,920 reaching the limits of earthly power. 193 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:20,600 Except that this was one of the truly pivotal figures 194 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:22,240 in world history. 195 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:26,240 As the First Emperor, harsh and brutal, 196 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:28,520 he nonetheless gave the Chinese 197 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,400 a sense of themselves as a single people 198 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:36,200 in a single country, under a single leader, 199 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,960 and that's very much part of the world we still live in. 200 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:44,920 So to that extent, 201 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:50,480 Ying Zheng remains a genuine earth-shaper. 202 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,960 At this time, half the world's population 203 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:03,680 lived in one of two great empires... 204 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,400 ...China, and a Western rival it had barely heard of. 205 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:11,800 Rome. 206 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,920 Each empire ruled roughly the same number of people - 207 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,560 about 45 million at the height of the Roman Empire, 208 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:28,360 and, according to the Han Chinese tax records, 57 million there. 209 00:17:28,360 --> 00:17:31,400 They had roughly the same amount of territory 210 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,080 and both thought that, in effect, they ruled the world. 211 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,640 The Romans talked about orbis terrarum, "the whole earth", 212 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,880 and the Chinese about "all under heaven". 213 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,960 They were both great engineering cultures, 214 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:51,720 and their armies looked pretty similar and were equally deadly. 215 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:56,440 And yet, separated by four and a half thousand miles, 216 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,760 neither was really aware of the other's existence. 217 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:06,920 Rome was a civilisation based on militarism, consumerism and trade - 218 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:11,240 the financial and political capital of the Mediterranean. 219 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,040 But earthly power wouldn't be enough 220 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,240 for its most famous upwardly mobile soldier, 221 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,920 about to apply for the position of living god. 222 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:28,280 In 48 BC, he arrived in Egypt. 223 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,640 He'd fought his way up through the rough world of Roman politics, 224 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:38,360 slaughtering more than a million people in Gaul 225 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:39,840 to win himself applause. 226 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:46,400 He was now the most powerful man in the Mediterranean, 227 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:47,880 and his name... 228 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:49,400 Abi nunc. 229 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,480 ..of course, was Julius Caesar. 230 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:01,520 Egypt had once been the glory of the world. 231 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,560 Now, under Greek rulers, 232 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:17,800 it was still a storehouse of ancient learning and science. 233 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,480 It was weak, it was deep in debt. 234 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:27,160 But its capital city, Alexandria, 235 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,680 was widely considered the greatest city on Earth. 236 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:36,240 Its library had 700,000 volumes, 237 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:40,040 virtually the entire collection of human wisdom 238 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,360 so far in the classical world. 239 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,200 It was a centre for the study of everything, 240 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:52,240 from engineering to medicine, mathematics to history. 241 00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:00,360 Egyptians saw their pharaohs as living gods. 242 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:03,360 Cleopatra embraced the tradition, 243 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:06,840 but to think of her as a saucy vamp 244 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,920 is to grotesquely misunderstand her. 245 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:15,480 She spoke nine languages, she was an author, 246 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,520 she was trained in philosophy and the sciences. 247 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:22,320 SPEAKS IN EGYPTIAN 248 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,600 But she was a ruthless survivor in a power struggle 249 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:27,760 with her little brother Ptolemy. 250 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,280 She needed muscle. 251 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,560 She needed Caesar. 252 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,080 Her brother had put guards round Caesar. 253 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,200 But Cleopatra was not a woman easily stopped. 254 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:58,080 The stage was set for one of the most dramatic entrances in history. 255 00:20:58,080 --> 00:20:59,920 KNOCK ON DOOR 256 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:01,280 CAESAR: Introi. 257 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:02,960 DOOR OPENS 258 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,080 THEY SPEAK IN EGYPTIAN 259 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:21,840 Cleopatra had just one night to win Caesar over. 260 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,360 The Roman historian Plutarch dryly notes 261 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:34,440 that Caesar was much impressed 262 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,280 by her intelligence, charm and...charisma. 263 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:43,600 I'll bet he was! 264 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:50,080 Plutarch also says that Cleopatra proved herself a bold coquette. 265 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,760 By the time morning came, 266 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,200 when her younger brother broke in, there they were, 267 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,400 Caesar and Cleopatra. 268 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:13,360 Too late, little Ptolemy. 269 00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:16,200 Cleopatra was back on the throne. 270 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,040 Caesar and Cleopatra sealed their alliance 271 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,600 with a procession up the Nile. 272 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,760 Being seen was vital to ancient rulers. 273 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:45,480 At 21, Cleopatra was now sole ruler of Egypt. 274 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:51,520 And she was pregnant with Caesar's son, Caesarion... 275 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:57,840 ...a potential leader of both the Egyptian and the Roman worlds. 276 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,960 And a middle-aged Caesar? 277 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:07,240 Fired by his conquest of this living god, 278 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,560 Caesar decided to become one himself. 279 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,360 He had his face painted red, like the god Jupiter, 280 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:19,160 for his triumphal return to Rome. 281 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,000 A new religious cult was instituted - 282 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,520 Jupiter Julius. 283 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:30,200 Outside his house, a special shrine was raised to the living god 284 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,040 and, of course, they named a month after him. 285 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,400 We call it July. 286 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,040 If Caesar had been a modern politician, 287 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:41,440 we'd have had no doubt about the trouble. 288 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,520 We'd have said he'd lost it. 289 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:51,200 Rome was a stroppy, political city that had rejected the rule of kings 290 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,760 nearly 500 years before. 291 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:03,000 Caesar's bid to be a god would be his undoing. 292 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,360 When Caesar was declared dictator in perpetuity, 293 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:09,800 some of the senators decided to act. 294 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:11,920 WHISPERED CONVERSATION 295 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,480 On March the 15th, 44 BC, 296 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,160 Caesar entered the Theatre of Pompey 297 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,440 where the Senate was meeting that day. 298 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:32,760 He was presented with a petition as a distraction. 299 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,640 CAESAR GROANS IN PAIN 300 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,400 Caesar's one-time friend Brutus 301 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,400 is said to have dealt the last of 23 dagger thrusts. 302 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,520 It's a rough old trade, politics. 303 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,360 The empire was torn apart by civil war, 304 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:27,160 as would-be successors to Caesar fought for supremacy for 14 years. 305 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:32,200 Cleopatra found herself on the losing side. 306 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,920 She was too dangerous to be allowed to survive. 307 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,320 BREATHES DEEPLY 308 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:47,960 HISSING 309 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,880 Cleopatra refused to give herself up. 310 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,240 She was, after all, a god, 311 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,080 and not about to let some common mortal take her life. 312 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:01,280 HISSING 313 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:02,800 GASPS 314 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:07,640 As she died, 315 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:09,320 so died Egypt. 316 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,640 The world's oldest kingdom became just another Roman province. 317 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,080 But it was Caesar's megalomania that won out in the end. 318 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:33,880 Every one of his successors was worshipped as a divine emperor. 319 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,720 Rome was becoming dominated by the super-rich, 320 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:44,280 by corruption and by emperors playing at being god. 321 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,120 Divinity had become corrupted by political power. 322 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,120 Rome was ripe for spiritual revolution. 323 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,480 And it started on the very edge of the empire... 324 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,520 ..when an ordinary man had an extraordinary change of heart. 325 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,360 Jerusalem in the year 36 AD. 326 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:31,720 Saul was doing well for himself supplying tents to the Roman army. 327 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,560 He was a local contractor, a Roman citizen and a devout Jew. 328 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:38,320 CLAMOURING VOICES 329 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:44,080 On this particular day, there was a man called Stephen 330 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:48,400 who'd been causing trouble here in the market in Jerusalem. 331 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,720 He was saying that the son of a carpenter, 332 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:57,280 who'd been crucified just a few years earlier, was the son of God. 333 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:02,160 Among those watching, nobody was more hardline than Saul. 334 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:07,960 He said himself that he was known among the Jews of his generation 335 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:12,400 for his enthusiasm for the traditions of his ancestors. 336 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,800 And to say that Christ was the Messiah 337 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,960 was blasphemy, intolerable. 338 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,920 And for blasphemy, there was only one punishment. 339 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,360 YELLING 340 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:26,760 CRUNCHING THUD 341 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:33,520 Saul watched as Stephen was killed. 342 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:37,240 YELLING AND JEERING 343 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,720 Stoning is still used as a punishment for blasphemy 344 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,240 in some parts of the world today. 345 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,920 Stephen had just become the first Christian martyr. 346 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:06,080 Did his horrible death make Saul think again or feel squeamish? 347 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:07,440 Certainly not. 348 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,200 It encouraged him to join the persecution. 349 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,280 He was seen breathing threats and murder 350 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,040 towards the followers of Jesus. 351 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:18,720 SPEAKS IN HEBREW 352 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,880 And with the permission of the high priest, 353 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:27,880 he now set off to hunt some more of them down in Damascus. 354 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:35,040 But his manhunt was stopped dead in its tracks. 355 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,200 WIND HOWLS 356 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,320 According to the Bible, 357 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:45,760 Saul was struck down on the road to Damascus. 358 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,960 PANTING 359 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,000 He heard the voice of Jesus 360 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:03,160 telling him to stop his persecution of Christians. 361 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:07,960 He came to... 362 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:09,120 blind. 363 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:16,520 In Damascus, he went for three days without food or drink. 364 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:22,240 A Christian called Ananias laid his hands on him 365 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,600 and it's said, "the scales fell from Saul's eyes." 366 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,160 What happened to Paul on the road to Damascus 367 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,320 sounds a bit like a desert hallucination. 368 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:48,000 But the voice he heard changed his life. 369 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,240 The persecutor got himself baptised 370 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,120 in the faith of the people he'd been persecuting. 371 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:58,760 He got rid of his old Jewish name, Saul, and he became Paul. 372 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:04,160 And he gave himself an almost crazily ambitious job, 373 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,240 which was to carry news of the new faith 374 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:12,000 not simply to Jews, but to Greeks, 375 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,360 to Romans, to Egyptians, to anyone who would listen. 376 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,640 Because for him, this was one god 377 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:25,800 and one set of rules for everybody on the Earth. 378 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:42,200 Paul started by heading south into the Arabian Desert. 379 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,880 He was still a travelling salesman, 380 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,920 but now he was selling a message 381 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,040 which would change the history of religion. 382 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:57,560 Up until Paul, the followers of Jesus Christ had all been Jewish. 383 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,280 The story of the man from Galilee had been a local event 384 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,680 but Paul's burning need to convert convinced thousands of non-Jews 385 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,120 that Jesus had come to save everyone - 386 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,320 Jew or pagan, slave or free man. 387 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:17,240 SPEAKS IN HEBREW 388 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:23,280 Today, there are perhaps 15 million Jews in the world, 389 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:28,200 but because of the evangelising tradition begun by Paul, 390 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:32,560 the number of Christians is 2 billion - 391 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,920 the largest religion ever known. 392 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,880 Paul went on the road endlessly. 393 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,920 He was arrested and thrown into prison. 394 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:53,400 He was whipped, he was shipwrecked, he suffered thirst and starvation. 395 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:57,480 He said he was beset by pagans, 396 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,160 Jews, brigands and wild beasts. 397 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:09,960 This was the power of the word carried around the world 398 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:14,000 at the pace of one man's tramp. 399 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,880 Paul's journey came to an end at the centre of the empire, Rome. 400 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,680 He was arrested for starting a riot 401 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,280 by preaching about Jesus in a Jewish temple. 402 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,800 Now he was prepared to use his own death 403 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,440 as a spiritual weapon that would shake the whole empire. 404 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:46,760 Martyrdom. 405 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,880 It's said that, in Rome, Paul was beheaded. 406 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,640 He'd normally have faced the far more agonising death of crucifixion, 407 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,320 but Paul was a Roman citizen, 408 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,080 and the Romans didn't crucify their own. 409 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:04,520 Except, of course, that Paul was no longer their own. 410 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,040 All around the Mediterranean world, 411 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,320 little groups of his mysterious new sect, 412 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:15,240 the Christians, were appearing and beginning to spread. 413 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,640 The execution of Christians was turned into mass entertainment 414 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:24,840 all across the empire, 415 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,600 from the Colosseum in Rome 416 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:31,920 to provincial theatres in north Africa. 417 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,640 CHEERING 418 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,960 On the morning of March 7th, 203, 419 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:54,440 a small group of prisoners was led into the arena at Carthage. 420 00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:00,520 Among them was a young woman called Vibia Perpetua. 421 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,120 As a Christian, she'd been condemned to death 422 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,680 for the amusement of the crowd. 423 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,640 Perpetua's is one of the few female voices 424 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,040 that have come down to us from the ancient world. 425 00:35:29,240 --> 00:35:31,720 It was preserved from an account she wrote 426 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:34,640 in the filth and darkness of a Roman jail. 427 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:37,800 BABY WAILS 428 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:42,160 PERPETUA: "We were put into prison. I was terrified. 429 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,480 "I'd never been in such a dark hole. 430 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,360 "It was crowded, the heat was stifling, 431 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:51,360 "and I was tortured with worry for my baby." 432 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:56,360 These don't seem to be the words of a historian or a priest 433 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,960 telling us about Perpetua. 434 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:03,920 We think these are the young woman's words from her own mouth 435 00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:06,840 at a very tough time indeed, 436 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:11,480 because her father had driven himself almost insane, 437 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:15,360 pleading with her to recant and save her life. 438 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:17,680 Her husband had cleared off 439 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:21,240 and, in prison, she was left with her baby son. 440 00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:23,280 BABY WAILS 441 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:30,400 "My baby was faint from hunger." 442 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:32,440 DOORS CLANG 443 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:38,480 "In my anxiety, I spoke to my mother and brother about the child." 444 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:43,560 Huc veni. Absiste ab eis. 445 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,680 "And I gave the child in their charge." 446 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:51,640 SPEAKS IN LATIN 447 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:54,760 BABY WAILS 448 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:59,800 "I was in pain because I saw them suffering out of pity for me." 449 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:25,560 PANICKED, SOBBING BREATHS 450 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:48,200 The night before her execution, 451 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,880 Perpetua had an extraordinary vision of what would happen to her. 452 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,400 "I gazed upon an immense crowd who watched in amazement. 453 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:10,080 "Then, a horrible-looking Egyptian came at me 454 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,880 "with his backers to fight with me. 455 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:21,520 "And there came to me as my helpers handsome young men. 456 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,600 "I was stripped and became a man. 457 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,800 "Then my helpers began to rub me with oil, 458 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,800 "and I saw that Egyptian rolling in the dust." 459 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:38,920 BABY WAILS 460 00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:46,760 "And we began to fight. 461 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:51,400 "He tried to grab hold of my feet 462 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,400 "while I struck at his face with my heels. 463 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,320 "And I was lifted up in the air 464 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:03,440 "and began to thrust at him as if spurning the earth. 465 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,320 "I joined my hands and I took hold upon his head 466 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:10,760 "and he fell on his face. 467 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:12,240 "And I trod upon his head. 468 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,720 "The people began to shout and my supporters to exult. 469 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:23,040 "Then I awoke. 470 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:28,520 "And realised that I was not to fight with beasts, 471 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,080 "but against the Devil." 472 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:39,560 Dreams like this carry a revolutionary Christian message - 473 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,080 ordinary people matter. 474 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:47,080 They are the arena of a cosmic struggle between good and evil. 475 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:50,680 This is a rare glimpse 476 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:55,160 inside the mind of an early Christian martyr. 477 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:57,360 Perpetua's extraordinary dream 478 00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:00,920 is the last thing we have in her own words. 479 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:05,000 But her final confrontation with Rome came the following day, 480 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,480 when she was led into the arena 481 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,800 with another young woman called Felicitas. 482 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,080 Watching was a fellow Christian, 483 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:19,240 and we have that eyewitness account of what followed. 484 00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:20,880 CHEERING 485 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:29,480 MAN: "The people demanded they be brought forward. 486 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:38,880 "They rose and went towards the place they would be martyred." 487 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:45,200 CLAMOURING VOICES AND CHEERING 488 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:58,240 "They remained still and were put to the sword in silence." 489 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:08,040 CROWD QUIETENS 490 00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:11,800 CENTURION GRUNTS 491 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:13,360 CROWD GROANS 492 00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:18,760 SLICING AND THUDDING 493 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:24,400 SCREAMS 494 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:29,600 "Perpetua screamed as she was struck on the bone. 495 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:37,920 "Then she took the trembling hand of the young gladiator 496 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:40,880 "and guided it to her throat." 497 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:50,240 GRUNTS 498 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:53,520 MUTED APPLAUSE 499 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:09,800 For the Christians, this was less about death 500 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,400 than victory over death. 501 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:19,160 The Romans found this cult of martyrdom strange and confusing. 502 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:22,000 But they did see something they valued, 503 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,360 which was that to suffer bravely was to win great honour. 504 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:32,120 And so Perpetua had taken a humiliating public death 505 00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:36,680 and turned it into a kind of victory for faith. 506 00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:41,280 The promise of Heaven attracted more converts 507 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:43,720 than Rome could possibly kill. 508 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:49,840 Within 100 years of Perpetua's death, 509 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:53,800 Christianity had spread right across the Roman world. 510 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:57,320 Shopkeepers, administrators, merchants 511 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:01,480 and then finally, in 337, the Emperor Constantine - 512 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:03,600 a man who'd come to power 513 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:08,560 by military coup, and was an enthusiastic political assassin, 514 00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:11,080 announced his conversion. 515 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:17,880 Christianity would never be the same again. 516 00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,040 Constantine was the first person 517 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,600 to make Christianity a fighting religion. 518 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:38,360 Before, Christians hadn't even been supposed to join the military. 519 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,840 They were, like Perpetua, pacifists. 520 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:46,000 Now, the cross became a sword. 521 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:55,800 The Roman response to spiritual revolt 522 00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:59,240 was, in the end, just so Roman - 523 00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:02,000 pragmatic, shrewd. 524 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:05,800 They reached out and they assimilated 525 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:09,080 even this revolutionary cult 526 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,400 and they made it Roman. 527 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:15,480 It's hard to know whether to admire this or despise it. 528 00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:20,920 The merger between Christianity and worldly power 529 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:24,040 would long survive the Roman Empire. 530 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:28,000 It's a basic foundation of the Western world. 531 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:38,600 But not all empires leave a legacy when they collapse. 532 00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:40,600 Around the rest of the world, 533 00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:44,960 other cultures were still trying to appease nature. 534 00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:52,960 535 to 536 was known around the world 535 00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:55,320 as the year without sunshine. 536 00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:00,480 From Irish monks to historians in Byzantium 537 00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,040 and Antarctic ice cores, the same story emerges 538 00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:08,920 of a catastrophic year of dark skies and crop failures. 539 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:12,120 WIND HOWLS 540 00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:17,320 All the mass spiritual movements 541 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:22,840 in China, India and the Roman world could only shiver and endure. 542 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:26,240 But it proved catastrophic to the Nazca culture 543 00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:29,000 on the Pacific coast of South America. 544 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:41,000 The Nazca were great engineers and artists. 545 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:45,720 But they also provide the ultimate reply to the lazy idea 546 00:45:45,720 --> 00:45:48,680 that native peoples are bound to have 547 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:52,960 a wise and harmonious relationship with nature. 548 00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:58,280 The Nazca left behind these immense lines and pictures, 549 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,600 created between 200 and 600 AD. 550 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:06,520 The drawing range from hundreds to thousands of metres in length. 551 00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,440 Many can only be understood from the air, 552 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:12,160 as if they were drawn for gods to see. 553 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,560 The Nazca left us a lot more than their lines. 554 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:27,600 Those little hills you can see behind me were once pyramids 555 00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:29,840 surrounded by great plazas 556 00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:35,080 and dominated by one huge, central pyramid 30 metres high. 557 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,920 Because this was the Nazcas' holy city of Cahuachi. 558 00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:46,560 It must have been quite a sight. And not just the buildings. 559 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:59,000 Nazca priests were selected as infants 560 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:04,200 and their skulls were shaped with boards and tightened bandages 561 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:07,440 until they became bizarrely long and pointed. 562 00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:13,360 Their job was to buy off angry gods - 563 00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:18,280 a form of social insurance paid in severed heads. 564 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:26,120 The victims were their own people. 565 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:28,840 And here is one. 566 00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,240 This is a young man. 567 00:47:31,240 --> 00:47:33,800 And this is not a model. 568 00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:36,960 Out here in the desert, very little rots. 569 00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:38,800 Grisly. 570 00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:40,840 But all round the world, 571 00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:44,000 it seemed a good idea to kill people 572 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:46,720 and offer them to the gods, and by doing that, 573 00:47:46,720 --> 00:47:50,400 try to control the rains or the earthquakes 574 00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:52,200 or whatever the trouble was. 575 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:55,680 But there seems to have been a sudden increase 576 00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:58,400 in human sacrifice here. 577 00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:02,120 And it seems to have happened 578 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:05,680 because the Nazca were making a terrible mistake. 579 00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:14,440 The key plant in the desert here was the huarango tree. 580 00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:22,400 Its roots plunge as much as 15 metres into the earth 581 00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:25,920 to find water - the key to life. 582 00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:32,880 Aqueducts, lined with boulders, 583 00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:38,640 brought water from the mountains to these reservoirs, called puquios. 584 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:44,920 The water irrigated the crops and kept Cahuachi alive. 585 00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:51,560 As the population grew, they needed more food. 586 00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:56,960 Huarango trees were torn down to make way for crops. 587 00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:01,640 Big mistake. 588 00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,440 The Nazca didn't realise that the huarango tree 589 00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:10,280 was also the key to the desert ecosystem. 590 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:14,920 Its deep roots kept the soil and their world together. 591 00:49:16,360 --> 00:49:20,760 For hundreds of years, the Nazca kept offering up heads to the gods, 592 00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:22,480 cutting down the huarango trees 593 00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:27,040 and maintaining their extraordinary, underground water system. 594 00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:31,280 And the water kept flowing and life was good. 595 00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:34,640 And then came bad news from the sky. 596 00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:38,880 That fateful year without sunshine, 597 00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:43,080 in 535, covered the world in a shroud. 598 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:45,120 THUNDERCLAPS 599 00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:50,320 The Nazca then experienced an apocalyptic 30 years of rain. 600 00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:55,120 Without the roots of the huarango trees, 601 00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:57,000 the soil was washed away. 602 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:03,840 Then the rains were followed by 30 years of drought. 603 00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:07,040 The earth was left hard and lifeless. 604 00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:16,200 It's been suggested that as the Nazca became more desperate, 605 00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:20,080 they sacrificed more and more of their people 606 00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:23,240 and created more and more of their lines. 607 00:50:23,240 --> 00:50:26,040 But none of it worked. 608 00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:32,280 The Nazca spent all that time thinking about severed heads 609 00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:36,920 when all along, it was the severed trees that really mattered. 610 00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:44,240 The Nazca vanished into the Andes Mountains, 611 00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:46,280 taking their gods with them. 612 00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:56,760 History is littered with gods, ideas and civilisations which didn't last. 613 00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:02,960 But at just this time, another desert people arose 614 00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:06,560 whose beliefs would stand the test of time. 615 00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:09,920 They'd achieve this by taking the merger 616 00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:12,320 between spirituality and politics 617 00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:18,040 that Roman Christianity had started and pushing it much further. 618 00:51:24,720 --> 00:51:27,400 Mecca, 620 AD. 619 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:30,680 According to Islamic tradition, 620 00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:35,400 Bilal Ibn Rabah was an African slave from Ethiopia. 621 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:38,080 Allahu Akbar. 622 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:42,760 He was a secret follower of a radical new faith called Islam. 623 00:51:42,760 --> 00:51:47,480 Like Judaism and Christianity, it believed in one god 624 00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:50,040 and many of the same prophets. 625 00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:52,760 Allahu Akbar. 626 00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:02,840 Bilal's owner was Umayyah Ibn Kaliff, 627 00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:04,760 a tribal chief. 628 00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:09,880 Umayyah's latest enemies were followers 629 00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:12,040 of a new preacher called Muhammad - 630 00:52:12,040 --> 00:52:15,280 a tough guy known to his disciples as The Prophet. 631 00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:17,920 And his creed he called Islam, 632 00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:21,880 which means "submission to the will of God". 633 00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:23,640 And like the Christians, 634 00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:27,840 Muhammad preached equality in the eyes of God to all people - 635 00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:31,240 rich and poor, slave and free alike. 636 00:52:31,240 --> 00:52:34,760 Quite rightly, Umayyah saw this as a challenge 637 00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:37,040 to his own tribal authority 638 00:52:37,040 --> 00:52:41,000 and now one of his own slaves, Bilal, 639 00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:43,240 was secretly following Muhammad. 640 00:52:43,240 --> 00:52:44,960 Bilal! 641 00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:51,320 BIRD CRIES 642 00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:55,000 Ummayah's men dragged the young slave into the desert 643 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:58,440 and they laid him out on the burning hot sand. 644 00:53:05,280 --> 00:53:06,560 YELLS 645 00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:09,440 He was pinned down and ordered 646 00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:13,800 to reject Muhammad's revolutionary message. 647 00:53:13,800 --> 00:53:18,440 Like Perpetua in her prison, Bilal refuse to submit. 648 00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:20,520 Allahu Akbar. 649 00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:22,680 Allahu Akbar! 650 00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:25,800 He simply repeated, "God is great." 651 00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:30,280 Allahu Akbar. 652 00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:31,920 Allahu Akbar! 653 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:42,360 Violence couldn't stop the passion of spiritual rebellion. 654 00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:46,760 It failed to in Rome, and it would fail to in Arabia. 655 00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:02,040 But news of Bilal's suffering and faith soon spread. 656 00:54:02,040 --> 00:54:05,200 One of Muhammad's companions bought his freedom. 657 00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:09,760 (Allahu Akbar.) 658 00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:13,200 (Allahu Akbar.) 659 00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:17,480 As Muhammad's followers grew more defiant, 660 00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:20,400 the tribal chiefs drove them out of Mecca. 661 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:24,280 The Muslims then fled to Medina and took Bilal with them. 662 00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,560 Bilal helped to build a simple place 663 00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:32,200 for Muslims to come together and to pray - 664 00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:33,760 the first mosque. 665 00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:38,320 And it's said that Bilal's was the very first voice 666 00:54:38,320 --> 00:54:42,920 to make that distinctive Muslim call to prayer - the Adhan. 667 00:54:48,200 --> 00:54:49,240 HE CHANTS 668 00:54:49,240 --> 00:54:53,800 Allahu Akbar! 669 00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:57,960 Allahu Akbar! 670 00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:06,640 Allahu Akbar! 671 00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:09,960 Allahu Akbar. 672 00:55:13,560 --> 00:55:19,920 Wa asyhadu anna Muhammadar rasulullah. 673 00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:22,800 Allahu Akbar. 674 00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:31,240 Bilal joined Muhammad's armies 675 00:55:31,240 --> 00:55:33,680 as they won one victory after another 676 00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:35,720 across the Arabian Peninsula. 677 00:55:37,360 --> 00:55:41,440 The Muslims took spiritual struggle 678 00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:43,520 and military struggle 679 00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:46,720 and they bound them together. 680 00:55:49,720 --> 00:55:54,360 So, in the end, they almost seemed to be the same thing. 681 00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:59,360 SHOUTING 682 00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:06,400 Muhammad's armies made invasion a religious duty. 683 00:56:06,400 --> 00:56:09,520 With one language and one God, 684 00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:14,520 Islam expanded far faster than Christianity or Buddhism. 685 00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:18,360 Except that Islam didn't really expand. 686 00:56:19,440 --> 00:56:21,000 It exploded. 687 00:56:23,720 --> 00:56:26,520 Within 120 yeas of Muhammad's death, 688 00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:31,120 his followers had converted and taken control of societies 689 00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:33,240 from Central Asia to Spain, 690 00:56:33,240 --> 00:56:36,120 an area even larger than the Roman Empire. 691 00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:42,200 Some of the most creative and powerful civilisations 692 00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:45,880 in world history would be built in the name of Islam. 693 00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:48,480 MUEZZIN'S CALL TO PRAYER 694 00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:54,960 Today, 1.5 billion people around the world obey the call to prayer - 695 00:56:54,960 --> 00:56:57,120 the tradition begun by Bilal. 696 00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:02,200 MUEZZIN'S CALL TO PRAYER RESOUNDS 697 00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:14,240 In these 1,000 years, 698 00:57:14,240 --> 00:57:17,400 the most densely populated parts of the planet 699 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:22,080 were transformed by new beliefs and new religions. 700 00:57:22,080 --> 00:57:26,000 And the shocking, swift impact of Islam 701 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:30,760 really does provide the correct climax to this period. 702 00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:35,760 The power of the sword is strong. 703 00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:37,360 Old fact. 704 00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:40,440 The power of faith is strong. 705 00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:41,760 New fact. 706 00:57:41,760 --> 00:57:45,400 You take the power of the sword and of faith, and put them together 707 00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:49,840 and you have the most fearsome human force on the planet. 708 00:57:57,640 --> 00:57:59,640 In the next programme - 709 00:57:59,640 --> 00:58:02,120 the golden age of Islam... 710 00:58:03,640 --> 00:58:08,080 ..the Vikings - nation-shapers... 711 00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:12,040 ..Genghis Khan rewrites the story... 712 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:18,240 ..and Europe emerges as the surprising winner. 713 00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:28,600 If you'd like to know a little bit more about how the past is revealed, 714 00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:33,520 you can order a free booklet called How Do They Know That? 715 00:58:33,520 --> 00:58:38,600 Just call 0845 366 0255 716 00:58:38,600 --> 00:58:43,560 or go to bbc.co.uk/history 717 00:58:43,560 --> 00:58:46,640 and follow the links to the Open University. 718 00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:05,600 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd