1 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:06,720 In World War II, 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,000 London was pounded by the bombs of Hitler's Luftwaffe. 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,240 After the war, buried deep beneath the chaos and devastation, 4 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:21,280 archaeologists made an astounding discovery. 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,920 An 1,800-year-old ancient Roman temple. 6 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,640 In its final years, this underground temple, 7 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,120 right at the very heart of the city of Londinium at the very edges 8 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,560 of the Roman Empire, couldn't have been dedicated to a more 9 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,560 appropriate, and frankly, exciting god. 10 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,000 Because this was once the haunt of Bacchus, 11 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,880 the god of ecstasy and wine, 12 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,520 the god who blurred the boundaries between human and divine, 13 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:03,240 between women and men, between the wild and the tamed. 14 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:08,240 A god who seemingly sat at the edges of society, but that I'd argue 15 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:13,160 was right at the very foundation of civilisation itself. 16 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,680 This was a god worshipped by every class, 17 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:23,160 from citizen to slave, in heady orgiastic rituals. 18 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,720 I'm going in search of Bacchus, 19 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:33,760 to explore his exotic eastern roots and his prehistoric origins... 20 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,600 This pot, it's from 8,000 years ago. 21 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,800 8,000 years ago?! 8,000, yes. 22 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,160 ..witnessing extraordinary ritual celebrations - 23 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,800 evidence that Bacchus's spirit still endures to this day. 24 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,560 That is really strong. My ears are actually buzzing. 25 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,200 And as I uncover his story, 26 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,560 I'll reveal how the god's charisma meant he reigned 27 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,520 across the ancient world... 28 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,880 ..and why the dangers of ignoring this wild and ecstatic force 29 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,440 have resonated throughout the centuries to this day. 30 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:19,480 I think that understanding Bacchus and the liberating, intoxicating 31 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,240 qualities that he unleashes in us, 32 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,840 is key to understanding the human story. 33 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,080 Not just then... 34 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:29,640 ..but now. 35 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:45,840 To start my exploration, I've come to Athens. 36 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,800 2,500 years ago, 37 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,760 the ancient Athenians worshipped a myriad of gods and goddesses 38 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,400 who they thought intervened in all aspects of their lives. 39 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:12,360 This reproduction from Athens' most iconic monument, the Parthenon, 40 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:15,760 originally depicted key players in the great pantheon - 41 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,200 Aphrodite, Hera, and Zeus. 42 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,920 And lounging here in the corner, the god of wine, Bacchus. 43 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,600 Or, as the Greeks more often called him, Dionysus. 44 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,200 Now, the story goes that Dionysus came into being when Zeus 45 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,160 turned himself into an eagle so that he could have his wicked way 46 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:44,120 with a mortal called Semele. And not that surprisingly, 47 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,600 Zeus's wife Hera was a little bit miffed about this, 48 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:51,280 and the long and short of it is that Semele was burnt to a crisp. 49 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,280 But Zeus didn't want to lose his unborn son, 50 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,680 so he plucked him from the charred remains of his mother and popped 51 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,760 the little unborn baby into his thigh. 52 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,040 Now stay with me, because the Greek myths do get a bit weird. 53 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,480 Zeus then carried the unborn Dionysus overseas 54 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,680 where he was reared on a mountainside by nymphs 55 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,800 and goat-legged satyrs. 56 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,280 Today the god's backstory may sound preposterous, 57 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:25,840 but for the ancient Greeks, 58 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:28,080 it encapsulated their feelings towards him. 59 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,960 Dionysus was a god who was mortal but divine, civilised and wild, 60 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:38,880 Greek and also foreign. 61 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,560 A god who crossed boundaries on every level. 62 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,400 Here's Dionysus on this lovely sculptural relief. 63 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,960 He's carrying an amphora of wine and he's holding a wine cup in his hand. 64 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,080 But what really strikes you is how his pose mirrors almost exactly 65 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,640 that of the woman next to him. 66 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,120 And, overall, he's pretty effeminate. 67 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,960 He's got a smooth chin, without a beard, 68 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,560 he's got these lovely, cascading curly locks, 69 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,880 and it even looks as though he's got breasts. 70 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:18,000 Time and time again, 71 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,800 Dionysus is described and portrayed as being androgynous. 72 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:27,880 But more than that, he's also talked about as being transgender. 73 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,560 So Dionysus is brilliantly difficult to pigeon-hole. 74 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:43,000 And for the ancient Greeks, that seems to have made him even more popular. 75 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,800 Now, Dionysus was the party god supreme. 76 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,800 A third of all the festival days in the year were dedicated to him, 77 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:59,800 and the mother of all festivities was the Great City Dionysia. 78 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,280 The winter months of the year were sacred to Dionysus, 79 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:12,520 and this festival celebrated the end of his season. 80 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,760 It was a truly mammoth extravaganza. 81 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:22,280 Women and men alike were garlanded with flowers and the streets were 82 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:24,640 jam-packed with people. 83 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:29,680 One contemporary tells us that 300 bulls were sacrificed at one time. 84 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,080 So that would have been enough to feed 70,000 people. 85 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:44,080 Over four days and nights, the City Dionysia's feast was, 86 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,280 of course, accompanied by rather a lot of wine and merriment... 87 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:51,800 You've got to try and get it in? 88 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,880 In there, rather than on the table, guys. 89 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,240 ..like the ancient drinking game of Kottabos. 90 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:00,760 Hopeless. 91 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:02,960 Basically, it's very silly, messy, 92 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,720 and, if played for too long, bound to get you legless. 93 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,560 You seem to be getting worse rather than better. 94 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,200 Could it be the wine possibly? 95 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,400 I'm getting drunk. You're getting drunk, you are. 96 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,120 There were lots of versions, 97 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,200 but originally a target was put in between party-goers. 98 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:20,960 They then flicked their wine at it... 99 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,840 Aww... Just so hopeless. 100 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,520 ..and if they failed, they had to take a drink. 101 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:34,800 Have a go, have a go. 102 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,600 If the ancients were anything like these guys, 103 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,600 I'd say they'd have been taking a swig pretty often. 104 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:44,680 LAUGHTER 105 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,760 Like any drinking game, Kottabos often ended pretty messily. 106 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,600 There was one Greek playwright who said that if you have around 107 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,400 three mixing bowls' worth, then men stay sensible. 108 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:02,440 But, by the tenth, there is madness, stupor, and unconsciousness. 109 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:10,280 For the Greeks, the City Dionysia was much more than just 110 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,400 an extended drinking binge. 111 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,440 Festival-goers cross-dressed 112 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,440 and danced and sang in ritual processions 113 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:24,480 until the celebrations climaxed in a grand dramatic competition, 114 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,400 here, at the Theatre of Dionysus. 115 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:34,920 Like the other Greek gods and goddesses, 116 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,320 Dionysus was multifaceted. 117 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:42,320 He wasn't just a god of wine and ecstasy, but also of theatre. 118 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:44,600 Now, quite rightly, 119 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,560 drama is celebrated as one of the most brilliant legacies 120 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:50,160 of Golden Age Greece, 121 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,160 and it almost certainly developed as a religious ritual. 122 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,960 For instance, the name "tragedy" probably comes from tragos, 123 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:02,960 a billy goat who was sacrificed in honour of the god Dionysus himself. 124 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:11,760 From the moment the original theatre was built around 469 BC, 125 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,760 Athenians of every class - some a bit worse for wear - 126 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,280 would scramble to get a seat during the festival. 127 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,160 Munching on nuts and chickpeas and figs, 128 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,000 people would have crushed into this theatre. 129 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,440 Some of them had been queuing overnight so they got the best seats. 130 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:35,240 We are told that passions ran high and there were fistfights and beatings. 131 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:38,200 This experience really mattered to people. 132 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:46,400 This was a state-organised affair that intended to bring the community 133 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:51,400 together, each play exploring the nature of being human. 134 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:58,080 One of the most powerful surviving examples was a tragedy 135 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,560 that immortalises the god's name - 136 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:02,000 The Bacchae. 137 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:09,880 Euripides wrote this play, The Bacchae, 138 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,680 because he wanted exactly to deal with this amazing god 139 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:17,520 and the power he has over the lives of the human beings. 140 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:21,160 I mean, it is a disturbing play. It's a very visceral play. 141 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:23,040 Yeah, The Bacchae 142 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:28,080 is a story of the god Dionysus, who is very, 143 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,080 very popular amongst the folk people and the simple people. 144 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:37,600 He comes marching with his followers to Thebes, 145 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,000 and all the women go to the mountains to worship him. 146 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,840 But the young ruler, Pentheus, 147 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:49,800 represents the side of our existence that deals with logic and with 148 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,360 everything under control. 149 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:57,320 So he wants to put Dionysus in jail, but because of his arrogance, 150 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,920 being a young ruler, he goes beyond the limits. 151 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:05,200 He wants to see the rituals of the women and he's lured by Dionysus 152 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,480 to the mountains and there, his mother, 153 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:13,400 not realising that he is her son - she thinks that he is a young lion - 154 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,200 she tears her son to pieces. 155 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:21,520 So I suppose the message of the play is that we deny Dionysus 156 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:24,680 at our peril. You have to accept that that is a part of our lives. 157 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:26,920 Exactly, that there are two sides of life. 158 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,120 It's accepting the coexistence of the opposites. 159 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:37,200 Wearing a mask in a theatrical performance, getting drunk on wine, 160 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,720 and being enraptured by dance and music were all elements 161 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,640 of the City Dionysia that the Athenians revelled in. 162 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:50,960 All seeking the same key experience - ecstasy. 163 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,600 The word ecstasy derives from the ancient Greek ekstasis, 164 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,800 literally to stand or to be outside yourself. 165 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,760 Now, that encapsulates a really big idea - 166 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:09,080 that by losing your mind, by getting off your head, 167 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:12,480 you give yourself enough distance to stand back 168 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,680 and work out who you really are. 169 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:30,800 What's remarkable is that vestiges of this ancient festival experience 170 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:33,520 can still be found in parts of Greece today. 171 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,520 I'm taking the ferry from the mainland across the Aegean Sea 172 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:44,480 to the tiny island of Skyros... 173 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,480 ..where the spirit of Dionysus is still very much alive. 174 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:59,880 Once a year, the ancient and modern worlds collide 175 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,680 when the local inhabitants stage their annual Goat Festival. 176 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:14,840 What's brilliant is that this festival takes place on exactly the 177 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:19,640 same days of the year as an ancient Greek festival in honour of Bacchus 178 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:24,040 that celebrated the gift of wine to mankind and the start of the spring. 179 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,160 APPLAUSE AND CHEERING 180 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:42,200 Over three days, festival-goers, children and adults, all classes, 181 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:44,600 just as in ancient times - 182 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,680 some lubricated by the gods' gift of wine - 183 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:52,680 are transported by the spectacle and join together in dance and song. 184 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,960 But for me, what really captures the spirit of the god in this festival 185 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:05,600 are the men who dress as the geros, or ancient ones. 186 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:14,640 Why not? Thank you, yamas. 187 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:16,840 Where is yours? No... 188 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,120 OK, but don't let me stop you. So what do you put on first? 189 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:22,480 We're going to put this one first. Yeah, OK. 190 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,360 I'm not going to watch, it's OK. 191 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,400 I'm going to focus on my drink instead. 192 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:29,800 Tell me when you're ready. 193 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,200 Are you wearing all of those bells? 194 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:42,040 Yeah. 195 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:43,520 How heavy is that? 196 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,960 It's around 60-65 kilos. 197 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:47,680 OK, my goodness. 198 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:52,000 These were the bells that the sheep wear, used to wear. 199 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:53,360 The sheep? Yeah. OK. 200 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,240 So you're sort of, well, you're kind of a mixture between a shepherd and 201 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,960 a sheep. Yeah. You know, man and animal when you wear them. 202 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,600 HE SPEAKS GREEK 203 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:06,400 This is the skin of a premature-born goat that died, 204 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,200 and we put it on our face. 205 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,240 Wow. That's quite...niche. Yeah. 206 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:15,200 Religion is a part of this. 207 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,800 Yeah. It was added to the uniform as a tribute to god Dionysus, 208 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:21,680 the ancient god. 209 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,880 So you wear this goat mask to conceal yourself in honour of the god Dionysus? 210 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,640 Yes, we do. Still, in the 21st century. 211 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,240 That shows how strong he is as a god, isn't it? 212 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,880 Yeah. How does it make you feel when you put the mask on? 213 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:39,360 It makes you feel really cool, because nobody knows who you are, 214 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:40,880 and you can do anything you want, 215 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,560 and with no consequences. 216 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,280 CHUCKLING 217 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:49,480 And do you ever... Do you misbehave, do you do things...? 218 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,880 Not really, but, OK, sometimes, maybe. 219 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:02,600 BELLS RATTLE 220 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,920 So what's going to happen now? We're going to have a trial. 221 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:14,000 A trial? Yeah. OK. 222 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,000 So am I OK here? You have to stand back. Stand back? 223 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:18,600 Yeah. OK, OK. 224 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:38,760 That is really strong, my ears are actually buzzing. Wow. 225 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,200 For me, the connections to the ancient world are remarkable. 226 00:16:57,960 --> 00:16:59,760 By donning the goat mask, 227 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,360 the geros blur the boundaries between man and animal, 228 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,000 just like the goat-legged satyrs who mythically accompanied Dionysus 229 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,280 in his revels. 230 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,760 And they're also playing on the god's gender fluidity. 231 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,840 Yep, those veiled women - well, apparently, 232 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:21,920 some of them are men in drag. 233 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:29,520 The origin of this current Bacchic celebration is unclear. 234 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,640 It could date back 25 centuries. 235 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,560 But there is a fascinating possibility that it might be 236 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:38,320 much, much older still. 237 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,920 Archaeological evidence of the worship of Dionysus predates 238 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,880 the Greek classical age by nearly 1,000 years. 239 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,560 Archaeologists working in Crete discovered what they'd call 240 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:02,840 linear B tablets. They show a Bronze Age form of early Greek, 241 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,960 and the original of this one dated to around 1300 BC. 242 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:12,000 Now, what these symbols down here say is "di-wo-nu-so". 243 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:19,000 And this tablet tells us that gifts of amphorae of honey were given 244 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,840 to the god Dionysus. 245 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,120 Over 3,000 years old, 246 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:32,520 early writing tablets give us our first written reference to Dionysus, 247 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,400 and our first association between the god and wine. 248 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:41,960 But although these proto-Greeks may have been the first to give the god a name, 249 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:46,760 they weren't the first society to celebrate communal wine drinking 250 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,000 as a unifying religious experience. 251 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,920 To investigate, I've travelled east to Georgia in the Caucasus between 252 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:00,560 the Caspian and the Black Seas. 253 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:06,160 In prehistory, 254 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,880 this wild landscape is believed to have been home to the world's first 255 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:11,560 natural grape varieties. 256 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,600 And recent findings here suggest that worshipping the fruits of 257 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,560 Dionysus helped to bring people together 258 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,920 right at the very start of civilisation. 259 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:30,640 Archaeologists working here have made quite a remarkable discovery. 260 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:35,520 What they've identified is the oldest extant evidence of pure 261 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,960 grape-wine making, right at the very beginning of society itself, 262 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:44,120 when our prehistoric ancestors were making the transition from being 263 00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:49,160 nomadic hunter-gatherers to forming stable, settled communities. 264 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:00,200 Archaeologists have been digging the Stone Age villages in the region. 265 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:05,760 At Gadachrili Gora, in summer 2017, 266 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:09,840 they discovered a series of round pits containing pottery. 267 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,360 Analysis of residues in this pottery revealed astounding results. 268 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,400 I'm meeting one of the scientists who worked on the finds, 269 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,400 at the Georgian National Museum. 270 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,000 I mean, what an amazing pot. 271 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,160 Are those grapes decorating it? Yes, yes. 272 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,800 So they're producing wine all those years ago, 273 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,320 and they're still doing it using the same method today. 274 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,480 So how old is this one, how old is this pot? 275 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,000 8,000 years ago? 8,000, yes. 276 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:12,480 Wow. 277 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,480 So if this is 8,000 years old, 278 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:18,400 that will make this the oldest pure grape wine in the world so far. 279 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,720 Fruit flies are always around vines, aren't they? 280 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,160 What's really remarkable to me, is that life is very tough then. 281 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,400 This is a hard world, and yet, these women and men, 282 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,920 they're bothering to take the effort to make wine. 283 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:11,400 So it must show how important wine is to their society. 284 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:12,920 It is very important. 285 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,160 Really? So they're really central to what society is. 286 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,760 Yes, it's central, yes. Amazing to have it right in the house. 287 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,440 It's good drinking, yes. 288 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,760 8,000 years ago, though, enjoying the drinking. 289 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,560 It is very, very delicious, yes. 290 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,040 That's true. 291 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:44,200 The pots are extraordinary evidence that winemaking was in the hearts 292 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,240 and homes of our early ancestors. 293 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,520 And as fragments of wine pots from other nearby contemporary Stone Age 294 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,800 sites show, they were producing it to satisfy more than just 295 00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:58,440 a craving for alcohol. 296 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,520 This little figure that turns up on the wine pots of the time 297 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:07,560 is a clue as to why those Stone Age men and women took such an effort to 298 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,480 make wine. That gesture is a really typical gesture of prayer, 299 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,120 with the arms bent, and the hands outstretched. 300 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:18,040 So, clearly, wine made them feel good about themselves, 301 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:22,600 but it obviously also made them feel closer to the spirit world, 302 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:24,040 and to their gods. 303 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,040 The fact that wine seems to have been produced here for 8,000 years, 304 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,280 pretty much in the same way, is brilliant. 305 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,120 But what's really significant 306 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:49,840 is that it shows our need for ecstasy and transcendence 307 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:51,440 and intoxication. 308 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,120 For the power of Dionysus to break down boundaries between individuals 309 00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:56,880 and to bind people together, 310 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,480 isn't just some kind of side effect of civilisation, 311 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:04,840 it's there, right at the very foundation of society itself. 312 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:13,000 Revealingly, Gadachrili Gora isn't the only place that's beginning to 313 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,400 provide proof of worshipping with wine. 314 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,520 Discoveries in sites from Armenia to Iran, Turkey, Egypt, 315 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:27,600 China and Sicily all show the use of wine in prehistoric rituals. 316 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,080 But, crucially, as the ancient Greeks believed, 317 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:38,560 Dionysus's gifts could also stimulate progress by allowing 318 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,480 the intellectual and creative juices to flow. 319 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,440 Dionysus was the god of revelry, the bringer of joy. 320 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,800 He was also called Dionysus the Erect. 321 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,960 Probably best to leave that one to the imagination. 322 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,920 What I think was really significant was that here in 5th century Greece, 323 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:03,960 where art and ideas flourished, he was known as Dionysus the Liberator. 324 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:11,080 And some even gave him the name Dionysus Psilax - 325 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,360 he who gave men's minds wings. 326 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,200 philosophical thinkers of all time rubbed shoulders - 327 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,040 Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. 328 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:37,920 We're told that Athens' intelligentsia would often bump into each other here in the Agora, 329 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,920 the hub of the city, while taking a morning stroll. 330 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,680 While debate might be sparked here in the public space of the city, 331 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,880 we're told that more hard-core philosophical discussion took place 332 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,840 in a rather more Dionysiac environment, 333 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:01,040 in a private soiree known as the symposium. 334 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,880 Symposia were intellectual gatherings, 335 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,640 but they were in no way dry. 336 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,880 Even in Plato's lofty meeting of minds, 337 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:19,800 it was Dionysus's gift of wine that helped men think outside the box. 338 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,480 Plato's Symposium, one of the great works of Western literature. 339 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,840 And as its title suggests, it's all about the symposium, 340 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:35,560 a drinking together. 341 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,040 And it's one of our very few insights into what it was actually 342 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:44,120 like to participate in a real life, men-only, adult male citizen-only, 343 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,120 drinking party. It's interesting how structured these were. 344 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:51,840 They weren't free-for-alls, were they? Not at all free-for-alls. 345 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:55,160 We think of a party, drinking party, let it all hang out. 346 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,360 Actually, they had rules. They elected a leader, 347 00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:03,000 somebody who would decide how many and how much each of the wine cups 348 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,520 would fill. Whether it was to be this mixture of water and wine, 349 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,080 also how many guests there should be sitting where - 350 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,480 not sitting, but reclining on couches. 351 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,880 And one should say that right to begin with, 352 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,600 after the man who is going to be the symposiarch, 353 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,720 sometimes called the king, after he's decided the rules, 354 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,760 then they pour a libation. 355 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:24,320 Who do they pour it to? 356 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,200 The god of wine, either Dionysus or Bacchus. 357 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:31,360 Then they sing a hymn, and this is before they're well lubricated. 358 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,600 So, yes, very structured indeed. 359 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:36,800 Because I suppose what these things do, is they do allow us to do 360 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,960 something absolutely essential to humans - to exchange ideas. 361 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:41,880 Yes. To let our minds run freely. 362 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,160 The "sym" bit means "with". 363 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,240 The "posium" bit, posium in Latin, means "drinking". 364 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,760 So it's the communality of it, the joining together, 365 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:56,800 the exchange of ideas, of both thoughts and passions. 366 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,400 It's a very striking fact that the Greeks somehow thought you could 367 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,720 both think and drink at the same time. 368 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,000 Of course, for sensible thought to flourish, 369 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,280 drinking had to be tempered. 370 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:16,240 The Greeks watered down their wine, acknowledging the dangers of excess. 371 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:23,440 For them, the gifts of Dionysus were considered a burden for mankind 372 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:24,720 as well as a joy. 373 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:30,560 But in the ancient world 374 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,160 not every civilisation had such a congenial relationship 375 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:35,640 with the god of wine. 376 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:42,880 When the Romans appropriated the Greeks' god of wine, 377 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:47,320 they preferred to call him by his cultic nickname, Bacchus. 378 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,720 Now, the assimilation of Bacchus into Roman culture should have been 379 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:52,880 relatively straightforward. 380 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:57,360 After all, they had their own home-grown god of wine and ecstasy, 381 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:01,840 Liber - his name hinting at his liberating qualities. 382 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,840 But things didn't go so well for Bacchus. 383 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,880 Ironically, the problem stemmed from the god's appeal. 384 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:14,880 Under his new Roman masters, 385 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,760 the Bacchus cult was attracting a growing following, 386 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:19,640 especially amongst women. 387 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,800 The historian Livy painted a particularly vivid picture of one Bacchic festival. 388 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,160 This is what he wrote. 389 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:33,160 "When they were heated with wine and with the nightly liaisons of men 390 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,520 "and women, debaucheries of every kind commenced." 391 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:44,680 It's really interesting how anxious the Romans were about what happened 392 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:48,720 when women drank and when they indulged in the worship of Bacchus. 393 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,520 It was absolutely no coincidence that when the rebel slave Spartacus 394 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:57,160 revolted, some of his female followers were said to be infused 395 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,920 with the fervour of Bacchus. 396 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:08,560 In 186 BC, the Senate of the Roman Republic had put its foot down, 397 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:13,800 passing a decree punishing the worship of Bacchus throughout Roman lands. 398 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,520 The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus 399 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,360 is a rather lengthy document. 400 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,120 There's a lot of flowery legalese, 401 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:27,720 and then it boils down to this - 402 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:31,200 unless you have the specific permission of the Senate, 403 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,160 then you can't host a Bacchic shrine on your land, 404 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,720 you can't lead others in Bacchic worship, 405 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:41,400 you can't worship Bacchus either in public or in private, in the city, 406 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,520 or the countryside, and, if you are allowed, 407 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:48,800 then any Bacchic gathering can only have a maximum of five people 408 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,560 at any one time. 409 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,240 The paterfamilias has power over his wife. 410 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,560 The Bacchic cult is a cult where women are in charge. 411 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:09,280 We have, for example, the priestess Paculla Annia, the high priestess, 412 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:14,200 who legislates that no man over the age of 18 can be initiated. 413 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,720 So that turns the whole thing on its head - 414 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,560 rather than having women in the control of the men, 415 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,200 this cult is putting young impressionable men 416 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,280 under the control of women. It's like every Roman nightmare rolled into one. Absolutely. You've got 417 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,840 potent women, influential women, women letting their hair down 418 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,320 and having a drink. Absolutely, yes. It couldn't get worse. 419 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,320 It couldn't get worse, yes. And is there any reason why the Romans are 420 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:37,760 particularly jumpy at this time? 421 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,480 If you look at the senatorial legislation, 422 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,120 it very much seems that what they're bothered about is the organisational 423 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,880 dimensions of the Bacchanalian cult, rather than anything to do 424 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,080 with the god Bacchus himself. 425 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,720 There is a danger, particularly with increasing numbers, 426 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,480 that what we might have here is a parallel state within a state. 427 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,400 I suppose that's one of his great strengths - 428 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,560 because he encourages people to get together, 429 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:07,600 he can either be a very great friend or a really worrying foe. 430 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,720 Absolutely, so you want to be on the right side of him. 431 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,760 As London's very own temple that ultimately honoured Bacchus shows, 432 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:26,760 the Roman authorities could never completely ban the god - 433 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,240 he was just too popular. 434 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:33,840 But they could turn his popularity to their advantage. 435 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:38,880 They even employed Bacchus and his gifts as agents of control. 436 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,120 Some personally allied themselves with the god to further 437 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:44,920 their imperial ambitions. 438 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:52,480 This coin was minted by the Roman general and power-monger, Mark Antony. 439 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,240 Here he is, crowned by grapes. 440 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:56,880 And then, on the other side, 441 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,440 you've got Bacchus standing on a kind of sacred chest that was used 442 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,760 in the mystery cult encircled by entwining snakes. 443 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,240 Now, it seems to me that something rather intimidating happens 444 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,360 to Bacchus under the Romans. 445 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,160 They aggressively promoted the culture of wine drinking to some 446 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,120 of their new subject populations. 447 00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:22,320 Julius Caesar himself recognised that booze helped to keep conquest 448 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,560 nations submissive and subservient. 449 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:30,560 And one Roman author wrote that wine overcame native barbarians 450 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,960 as easily as if they'd been attacked by weapons. 451 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,120 Bacchus and his gifts could be found throughout the Empire. 452 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,760 From Londinium, the capital of Rome's northernmost frontier 453 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,160 of Britannia, to the eastern wilds of Georgia... 454 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,640 ..where, beneath these empty fields, 455 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:04,200 was once a trading boom town called Dzalisa. 456 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,200 In the dining room of one of its most prestigious dwellings, 457 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:13,680 Bacchus's myth decorates the entire floor. 458 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:24,240 And in the Middle East, where some believed the god had been born, 459 00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:28,160 the mystical nature of his cult had proved massively popular. 460 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:31,480 In fact, he was the region's premiere god. 461 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:40,680 But it was in the east that Bacchus would face his greatest challenge yet - 462 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:45,720 the arrival of a new man-god and a new cult. 463 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:55,920 I've come to Jerash in Jordan, 464 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,560 where evidence of the tussle between the ancient god and his new rival 465 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:03,600 can still be seen within the stunning remains of the Roman city. 466 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,480 until the 4th century AD, 467 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,640 when Roman rulers swapped allegiance to the young religion 468 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,880 with its one, all-powerful god. 469 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,600 First the Emperor Constantine had converted to Christianity. 470 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:34,480 And then, pretty quickly, things got even tougher for the old gods. 471 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:39,480 One of his successors, Theodosius I, outlawed paganism. 472 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,720 Theodosius's name means God-given. 473 00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:48,800 And for him, there was only room in the world for one true God. 474 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:55,200 At Jerash, Bacchus was ousted from his temple. 475 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,360 This triumphant archway and monumental staircase 476 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,560 marked an entrance to a massive church, 477 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:06,720 built slap-bang on top of the god's sanctuary. 478 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,680 The figure of Bacchus and his fervent adulation by his followers 479 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:20,400 posed a serious threat to the burgeoning Christ cult. 480 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:24,040 Interestingly, not because the two were wildly different, 481 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,480 but actually because they shared remarkable similarities. 482 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:28,600 Just listen to this. 483 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,080 "Drinking his wine, we drink of him. 484 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,400 "Through this gift, man is made new again." 485 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,520 Now, that's not actually a quote from the New Testament, 486 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:42,560 even though it sounds like it. 487 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:47,360 It's a description of Bacchus from the Euripides play, The Bacchae. 488 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:56,120 Descriptions of Bacchus in ancient myths and Jesus in the New Testament 489 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,120 had striking similarities. 490 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:03,880 We are told both performed miracles, like changing water into wine. 491 00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:07,960 Both had immortal fathers and human mothers. 492 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,960 And Bacchus was said to have been killed by Titans, 493 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,040 before being born again. 494 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,600 With so many parallels between Jesus and Bacchus, 495 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:28,000 a fiercely-fought popularity contest ensued. 496 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,440 Archaeological finds from Cyprus, 497 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,200 just a day's sailing away across the Mediterranean, 498 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,680 seemed to show how Bacchus's faithful hit back at their rival... 499 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,440 ..by playing with Christian iconography. 500 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,200 The evidence is located in the city of Nea Paphos, 501 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,440 in the 4th century House of Aion. 502 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:03,960 This is a really remarkable find. 503 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,360 Basically, what you have here is a whole bevy of Greek gods 504 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:13,600 and goddesses and deities and spirits. 505 00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:16,840 They've all very handily got their names above them. 506 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:21,880 Here's the lovely heavenly Nectar, here is gorgeous Ambrosia, 507 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,440 and in the middle there, there's the god Hermes with the little wings 508 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:29,760 on his helmet, and he's cradling the baby Bacchus in his lap. 509 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:33,840 Now, of course, we're used to Jesus being represented as a kind of 510 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,720 divine baby. And it's being made crystal clear here 511 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:39,920 that Bacchus is super-special, 512 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,760 because he's got the halo around his head. 513 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:47,600 Also, just have a look at these three figures to the side. 514 00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:52,520 They're kneeling down and paying their respects to the baby Bacchus, 515 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:57,520 just as the three Magi came to adore the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. 516 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,240 At this time, Bacchus is being honoured 517 00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:07,200 at his shrines and altars that are dedicated to the father and the son. 518 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:10,960 And, increasingly during his cult, 519 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,240 the fact that he is a bringer of life after death 520 00:39:14,240 --> 00:39:15,800 is being celebrated. 521 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,520 I think that here 522 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:24,560 you have nothing less than Bacchus being sold to the world 523 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,760 as the saviour of mankind. 524 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:39,120 As a god who crossed boundaries, part mortal, part divine, 525 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:43,040 Bacchus was believed to move between the realms of the living and dead. 526 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:48,000 Like Jesus, he even offered access to an afterlife. 527 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:51,000 Not surprisingly, from the birth of Christianity, 528 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,800 Christians were keen to show who was boss. 529 00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,960 For me, this is a real clincher. 530 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:03,560 It's John's Gospel, chapter 15, verse one. 531 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:08,520 And in it, Jesus declares, "I am the true vine." 532 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:15,320 Now, just think of that statement in relation to winey, viney Bacchus, 533 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,240 who's been romping around the known world for centuries. 534 00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:22,520 It seems as though the Christians are urgently saying, 535 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:27,440 "It's Jesus Christ who is the truth, the light, the way forward." 536 00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:31,080 Not outdated, fake Bacchus. 537 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:39,240 With the might of Rome behind Jesus, Bacchus didn't stand a chance. 538 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:45,280 And in the ancient world his following all but disappeared. 539 00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:54,800 But in the modern world, the god would enjoy a new lease of life. 540 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:58,480 In the 18th century, there was a rather surprising Bacchic revival... 541 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:04,560 ..at the dawn of a new age of reason and scientific progress, 542 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:05,720 the Enlightenment. 543 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:12,160 The Age of Enlightenment saw a hands-on interest 544 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:16,640 in the classical world, when the great and the good of Europe's elite 545 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:18,600 embarked on the Grand Tour - 546 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:21,320 basically, a culturally-themed gap year - 547 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:26,320 in order to rediscover the glory of Greece and the grandeur of Rome. 548 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:37,040 Painshill Park is a landscape garden created in 1738. 549 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:42,360 Taking 35 years to complete, 550 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,680 its owner Charles Hamilton described it as a landscape 551 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:47,360 of living paintings. 552 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:55,480 Before acquiring Painshill, 553 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:59,240 Hamilton, the ninth son of the sixth Earl of Abercorn, 554 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:03,800 went on a Grand Tour. In fact, he enjoyed it so much he went twice. 555 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:05,640 And he came back enlightened, 556 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:09,560 not just by feasting his eyes on the treasures of the ancient world, 557 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:12,800 but by pocketing a few for posterity. 558 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,920 Including this monumental sculpture of Bacchus. 559 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:27,800 Back home in Surrey, Hamilton wanted to recreate the classical experience 560 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:30,200 that had inspired him on his travels, 561 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:32,320 and Bacchus was central to his vision. 562 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:37,160 He didn't just plant his stature here, 563 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:41,400 he planted a vineyard, and even built a Bacchic temple. 564 00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:50,200 Hamilton's grand design actually bankrupted him and, over 200 years, 565 00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:51,800 the temple fell into ruin. 566 00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:56,920 But now, the current trustees of the park are recreating the original 567 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:01,000 edifice from scratch, with painstaking attention to detail. 568 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:08,520 This is the most genius thing, absolutely beautiful. 569 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,320 How did you jigsaw puzzle together the evidence to work out what you 570 00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:12,880 should put here then? 571 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,400 Well, the trust employed an archaeologist and an archivist 572 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,440 and they worked together to decipher the grounds. 573 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,840 And paintings turned up like this one. 574 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,920 Gosh, fantastic. So this is it? Yes. 575 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,080 That's brilliant. So hilarious really, isn't it, that you've got 576 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,480 this Greco-Roman construction in the middle of the English landscape. 577 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,200 Yes. Do we know what would have been in there originally? 578 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:36,920 Inside, Hamilton would have had his statue of Bacchus, 579 00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:39,960 which he brought from Italy on his Grand Tour. 580 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:43,400 He was convinced that it was a Greek original. 581 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:48,280 But we found, fairly recently, much more interesting results really. 582 00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,520 Bacchus is what's called a composite statue - 583 00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:54,120 the feet and some of the leg and the head are Roman, 584 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:56,840 but the in-between bits are 18th century. 585 00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:00,720 So it's been composed for possibly the grand tourist. 586 00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:04,040 How funny. So then it would have been kind of palmed off to him as being an original, 587 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:06,160 but actually, they just sort of stuck it together. 588 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,400 Possibly, yeah. And the other interesting discovery was that 589 00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:14,400 the head was a goddess. So he was a bit transgender, even then. 590 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:17,000 Totally appropriate. 591 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,800 And, you know, you've got this kind of lovely theatrical setting. 592 00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:23,280 Do we know what he's using the temple for? 593 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:26,840 We think he entertained, but on a very quiet level. 594 00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:30,360 There are no stories of raucous parties or bacchanalian revels 595 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:34,600 or anything. But he would have entertained family and close friends here. 596 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:38,200 Interesting, so it's not actually very bacchanalian. No. 597 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,880 Hamilton was certainly paying homage to Bacchus. 598 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:50,920 But this ordered pleasure park is a world away from the god's untamed, 599 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:53,680 unpredictable home turf. 600 00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:56,960 And Hamilton's refined dinner parties were hardly 601 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:58,880 transcendental experiences. 602 00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:03,400 It feels to me as though Bacchus here has been kind of tidied up 603 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:07,080 and sorted out and un-paganed. 604 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:10,080 The god, of course, had many qualities, 605 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:13,360 but the one thing he never was, was genteel. 606 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:21,720 Hamilton's sanitisation of the god isn't altogether surprising. 607 00:45:21,720 --> 00:45:25,200 In his enlightened age, driven by science and logic, 608 00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:29,240 one word was held in particular contempt - enthusiasm. 609 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:36,200 In Greek, "entheos" literally means possessed by a god, the sublime. 610 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:40,200 To be enthusiastic, to be Bacchic, went against reason. 611 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:48,640 But in the late 18th century, 612 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:52,480 as Britain built its Empire and strengthened its presence in India, 613 00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:56,240 there was more enthusiasm for the god's exotic qualities. 614 00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:04,440 In ancient myth, Bacchus was known as the traveller god, 615 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:07,760 often depicted with elephants and tigers. 616 00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:10,080 He, himself, was said to have conquered India. 617 00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:18,360 The parallels hit home, and the East India Company began building 618 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:23,360 their gargantuan new HQ here in Leadenhall Street. 619 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:32,560 The East India Company's grand new building was actually demolished 620 00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:36,720 in the 19th century, but the original was so vast, 621 00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:40,960 it was called the Monster of Leadenhall Street. 622 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:45,440 Now, in 1803 there was construction work round here and this rather 623 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:49,480 fabulous 2nd century AD Roman mosaic was discovered. 624 00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:53,840 It depicts Bacchus conquering India, and we know that because the god 625 00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,080 is riding triumphantly on the back of a tiger. 626 00:46:57,640 --> 00:47:01,200 For the East India Company, this felt like great karma. 627 00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:07,320 Just as Bacchus had conquered India, now Britain was conquering the East. 628 00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:16,080 Of course, the discovery itself was nothing more than a chance find, 629 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:18,640 with the Bacchic image an historical coincidence. 630 00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:26,840 But this association between Bacchus's mythical conquest of India 631 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:30,080 and the West's imperial ambitions in the East, 632 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:32,320 cemented a reconnection with the god. 633 00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:39,840 I've to come the Royal Asiatic Society in London to find out 634 00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:43,840 how one of its founding members, an employee of the East India Company, 635 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,360 sparked a new chapter in the god's story. 636 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:55,640 One of the early Britons to arrive in India in the 1780s 637 00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:57,560 was William Jones, 638 00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:01,800 who is a really fascinating, charismatic personality. 639 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,840 He was one of the great Orientalists. 640 00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:08,360 As it says here. As it says. Sir William Jones, the celebrated... 641 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:11,760 He was indeed THE most celebrated Orientalist of his time. 642 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:14,600 He was also a gifted linguist - according to one account, 643 00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:16,560 he knew more than 20 languages. 644 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,400 And over the course of his lectures, 645 00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:23,120 he developed a theory of common Indo-European culture. 646 00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:25,720 In one of his lectures, on the gods of Greece, Italy, 647 00:48:25,720 --> 00:48:29,000 and India, which he delivered in 1785, 648 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:33,600 he talks about the various parallels between the gods of antiquity 649 00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:37,800 in the Mediterranean and the Hindu gods. 650 00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:41,760 So he suggests there is a parallel between Dionysus and Rama. 651 00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,080 Jones noted how the Hindu god Rama, like Bacchus, 652 00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:50,960 was born in the wild on a mountain, 653 00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:53,480 and that both were believed to be traveller gods, 654 00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:56,840 who conquered India accompanied by an army of beasts. 655 00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:02,320 There are other parallels between Bacchus and Shiva - 656 00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:06,480 the emphasis on dance, on force, on power. 657 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:10,880 Dionysus is connected with elephants and with other animals that we would 658 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:15,840 typically associate with India, for instance, tigers and lions. 659 00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:19,560 I mean, this is really interesting in scholarly terms. 660 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:22,760 But does it have actual impact in the wider world? 661 00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:26,520 Oh, yeah, Jones was extremely influential and he had a wide 662 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:31,560 readership. The Romantics really took to what he was saying, 663 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:33,960 were inspired and influenced by him. 664 00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:37,880 Byron, Shelley, read his writings. 665 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,680 Their poems reflect this interest in the East and the Orient. 666 00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:51,840 Jones's parallels between Bacchus and the Hindu deities didn't just fascinate the poets. 667 00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:56,760 His observations on the god's ecstatic qualities were avidly 668 00:49:56,760 --> 00:50:00,000 taken up by some of the greatest Western thinkers of the day. 669 00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:06,920 And one totally captivated was the 19th century German philosopher 670 00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:10,160 and professor of classics, Friedrich Nietzsche. 671 00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:16,400 For Nietzsche, Western civilisation wasn't on the crest of a wave, 672 00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:18,240 it was in crisis, 673 00:50:18,240 --> 00:50:23,240 shackled to Christianity and infatuated with scientific progress. 674 00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:29,360 By subduing the irrational, the chaotic, the disordered, 675 00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:34,320 he thought that our lives were denuded and dampened. 676 00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:37,120 In fact, not even worth living. 677 00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:44,040 Finding a model for progress in Ancient Greek society, 678 00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:48,960 in 1872 Nietzsche wrote The Birth Of Tragedy, 679 00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:51,160 his seminal philosophical treatise. 680 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:55,640 In his book, The Birth Of Tragedy, 681 00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,960 Nietzsche argued that the Greeks had got it right. 682 00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:04,000 In their art and architecture, they celebrated order embodied by Apollo. 683 00:51:04,240 --> 00:51:09,200 But through tragedy and the ecstatic experience, they also embraced 684 00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:13,760 the deviant, the disordered, the chaotic, 685 00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:15,680 the Dionysian. 686 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:17,000 As he'd go on to write... 687 00:51:26,360 --> 00:51:28,040 ..Intoxication. 688 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:35,880 Nietzsche had championed the value of Bacchic ecstasy in the modern world. 689 00:51:42,080 --> 00:51:45,440 And since he promoted the idea of a godless universe, 690 00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:50,440 his Dionysian ideas were eagerly taken up throughout the 20th century 691 00:51:50,440 --> 00:51:53,720 by those who raged against the establishment, 692 00:51:53,720 --> 00:51:55,240 both Church and State. 693 00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:01,160 One of the greatest examples played out at the height of the 694 00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:03,920 counterculture movement in the 1960s, 695 00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:06,360 when Euripides' Bacchae got a revival. 696 00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:14,160 Dionysus In '69 was originally a New York stage performance, 697 00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:15,840 then filmed by Brian de Palma. 698 00:52:18,720 --> 00:52:21,800 CHANTING ON FILM 699 00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:27,240 Just as the original play had highlighted the perils of ignoring 700 00:52:27,240 --> 00:52:31,200 Bacchus in ancient Greece, this version was a cautionary tale 701 00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:32,840 for the modern age. 702 00:52:32,840 --> 00:52:36,920 Good evening, sir. May I take you to your seats? 703 00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:40,720 Drawing on the hippy mantra of free love, in its makers' eyes, 704 00:52:40,720 --> 00:52:44,000 ignoring Bacchus had led to the brutality and violence 705 00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:47,400 of the Vietnam War and civil rights injustices. 706 00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:55,000 Dionysus In '69 really is an extraordinary, 707 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,640 wild piece of performance. 708 00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:00,600 It actually follows the original narrative fairly closely, 709 00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:05,680 and it aims to evoke a sense of release and of Dionysiac excess. 710 00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:12,360 There is a lot of guttural moaning, groaning, and chirping. 711 00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:18,480 Then the actors strip naked and writhe around to portray 712 00:53:18,480 --> 00:53:22,320 the ecstatic intoxication experienced by Bacchus's followers 713 00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:24,120 in the original play... 714 00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:26,600 MOANING 715 00:53:29,240 --> 00:53:31,480 ..before, in a frenzied attack, 716 00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:35,200 they chase the King Pentheus to rip him apart. 717 00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:40,440 GROWLING AND WHOOPING 718 00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:49,280 In the final moments, the actor playing the god leaves everyone 719 00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:54,280 in no doubt as to the relevance and critical importance of the Dionysian 720 00:53:54,400 --> 00:53:56,120 in the contemporary world. 721 00:54:02,560 --> 00:54:05,720 As anti-presidential banners are unfurled from the ceiling, 722 00:54:05,720 --> 00:54:08,840 the actor playing Dionysus encourages all of us 723 00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:13,160 to embrace Dionysus, to vote for him for President. 724 00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:17,240 And with that, the entire cast and audience break out of the theatre, 725 00:54:17,240 --> 00:54:21,800 continuing their Bacchic revelry onto the streets and into the night. 726 00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:28,360 You have nothing to lose but your chains! 727 00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:35,800 As the counterculture movement grew, millions turned on, tuned in, 728 00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:38,160 and dropped out. 729 00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:41,440 And the Bacchic ethos looked set for a revival. 730 00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:46,960 But rather than being a unifying force, 731 00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:51,320 it highlighted a divide between, on the one hand, those who embraced 732 00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:54,720 Dionysiac subversion, and on the other 733 00:54:54,720 --> 00:54:58,080 the forces of order and conservatism, 734 00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:01,240 what Nietzsche had called the Apollonian. 735 00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:07,680 So, for example, take the viewpoint of the Russian-American 736 00:55:07,680 --> 00:55:10,000 writer-philosopher Ayn Rand, 737 00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:12,560 who's firmly on the side of Apollo, by the way. 738 00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:16,320 For her, the modern epitome of the Bacchants 739 00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:20,960 are the scummy savages who roll around in the mud at Woodstock. 740 00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:30,520 And she doesn't stop there. The Apollonians were exemplified 741 00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:34,160 by those who attended the launch of Apollo 11. 742 00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:36,680 Yeah, it's all pretty literal. 743 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:41,680 These were responsible individuals rather than the stampeding herd, 744 00:55:41,720 --> 00:55:44,920 the manipulated mob. 745 00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:50,000 For Rand, the Dionysiac was the realm of liberal intellectuals 746 00:55:50,360 --> 00:55:55,240 rather than the majority of regular, clean-living Americans, 747 00:55:55,240 --> 00:56:00,000 Those who were reality-orientated, common sense-orientated, 748 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:02,400 technology-orientated. 749 00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:04,760 Three, two, one. 750 00:56:17,160 --> 00:56:22,120 Today, how we think of Bacchus and his gifts still informs debates 751 00:56:22,120 --> 00:56:26,120 on drugs, drink, gender and subversion. 752 00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:29,160 It's at the core of tensions between the natural world 753 00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:33,280 and urban development, between chaos and control. 754 00:56:36,120 --> 00:56:38,440 The god may belong to a far-gone age, 755 00:56:38,440 --> 00:56:42,440 but the issue of how to approach the freedom of spirit that he nourishes 756 00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:47,480 in us and how to balance that with the ordered and rational in our lives, 757 00:56:47,560 --> 00:56:50,560 well, that looks set to run and run. 758 00:56:58,880 --> 00:57:01,120 Maybe, as is so often the case, 759 00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:04,520 the Greeks got it right 2,500 years ago. 760 00:57:04,520 --> 00:57:08,640 They recognised the dangers of denying, of exiling Bacchus, 761 00:57:08,640 --> 00:57:11,800 of shutting ourselves off from one another rather than delighting 762 00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:13,280 in the shared experience. 763 00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:19,600 But they also realised there was a danger in letting go completely, irretrievably. 764 00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:23,960 Written over the great sanctuary of Delphi, 765 00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:27,120 sacred to Dionysus for the winter months of the year, 766 00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:31,280 and where the man-god was said to be buried, were written the words, 767 00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:33,880 "meden agan" - 768 00:57:33,880 --> 00:57:36,560 nothing in excess. 769 00:57:36,560 --> 00:57:39,080 Well, that seems pretty much like it to me. 770 00:57:39,080 --> 00:57:41,440 I mean, sure, go wild, 771 00:57:41,440 --> 00:57:45,040 find the animal in you so you know who you truly are, 772 00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:49,560 but always keep just enough control to be able to pull yourself 773 00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:51,360 back from the edge, 774 00:57:51,360 --> 00:57:54,120 so that ecstasy isn't toxic, 775 00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:56,120 but intoxicating.