Original subtitles

PROFESSOR ALICE ROBERTS: The Aegean Sea

and its collection of beautiful islands

are framed by the coastlines of mainland Greece and Turkiye.

Millions of tourists of all nationalities come here every year.

3,000 years ago, it was just as popular.

The ports of the Aegean would have been crammed

with families, workers, soldiers and kings,

travelling for trade and to fight.

The cities of ancient Greece were often at war with each other.

I want to find out more about this vast and complicated civilisation,

to dig out the real stories behind the myths.

And I'm not just going to the well-known tourist spots.

Of course not.

I'm headed off the beaten track.

I'm Alice Roberts, and I'm travelling hundreds of miles

through what is now Greece and Turkiye,

looking into the flowering of classical civilisation

from ancient Greece to the Romans...

Oh, my goodness! That's wonderful.

..to discover this region's vital role as the birthplace

of Plato, Socrates and Alexander the Great,

mythology, theatre and democracy.

After a few days in Athens, I'm taking the morning train

and heading 90 miles west to Corinth.

As a port, Corinth had a strategic role to play in ancient times.

The city amassed great wealth from trade,

making it a big target, too, for its rivals.

To get there, the train will cross the Corinth Canal...

..a short cut between the Ionian and Aegean Seas that was started

in Roman times but only completed in the 19th century.

At 24m, it isn't wide enough for modern cargo ships.

(GASPS)

I'm too late!

(LAUGHS)

That was so quick! It's a really narrow canal.

Oh, I missed it!

After a morning in Corinth, I'll head back east to Piraeus,

the port of Athens.

And there, I'll board a ferry to the Cyclades islands.

Here in Corinth, I'm meeting an archaeologist called Socrates,

who was once the site director here.

Socrates.

Hi, Alice. Welcome to Corinth.

Kalimera. Kalimera.

This is just gorgeous, isn't it? It is.

Look at that. It is, indeed.

Is that Doric? Yes.

Can we get inside? Of course.

The ancient site of Corinth contains archaeology spanning nearly

1,000 years, from ancient Greek and Roman times,

through to the Byzantine period.

It's actually a jigsaw puzzle for us.

Yeah, yeah.

But it is so amazing, so fascinating that it is worth

working in Corinth.

The most imposing monument is this ancient Greek temple,

built around 600 BCE.

So, you think this is local stone then?

It is the so-called oolitic limestone

that comes from the quarries of Corinth.

I do love this architecture.

It's just really robust, chunky architecture, isn't it,

this Doric style?

Yeah, of course.

The thing is that, although the limestone is local,

it is extremely expensive to build such a temple.

And a feat of engineering.

When you look at each of those columns,

that's a...that's a single block of stone?

Yes.

Instead of drums...

Yeah.

..which you can see in other temples, in the Parthenon,

Erechtheion and the temple at Delphi.

But these are monolithic, made of one stone,

and they were probably quarried not far away from here,

as there were many quarries in the area,

and it is extremely hard to carry them.

I mean...

Yeah. Yeah.

They're huge. They weigh tonnes. Yeah.

Yeah.

Can we walk over this?

Yes, why not? Have they said we can?

Yes. Let's do it. Yeah, OK.

Curator of the site, so...

Yeah, exactly.

You have some privileges.

Yes.

Wow. OK.

Now...

This is pretty impressive, isn't it, as a site?

Yes, it is.

In the second century BCE, Roman forces laid siege to Corinth

and razed it to the ground.

It was rebuilt in the first century BCE

as a Roman city.

And most of what we're looking at here,

is this Roman?

Roman. Roman. Yeah.

And over there, it's the bema.

The be...the famous bema.

The famous bema. It must be down there.

Can we get down to this bit? Yes, of course.

We can...we can walk.

Corinth is referred to in the Bible in the Acts Of The Apostles.

The Apostle Paul came here on part of his mission

to spread Christianity to Greek-speaking people.

I want to go to the very place where he's said to have stood.

This is bigger than I was expecting.

I was expecting just a kind of plinth.

(CHUCKLES) But it's more than that.

Yeah.

This is the pedestal of the Roman monument, which was built...

That we're standing on here? Yes.

This is the stylobate of the facade.

There was a row of pillars.

So 'stylobate' - 'stylo' refers to the pillars?

Yes. And the 'bate' is the...is the base?

Exactly. So the 'pillar base'?

Yes. Exactly. Yeah. OK.

So, it's an open space with pillars. Exactly.

And a roof? No, there was no roof.

No roof. OK. No.

There was just an epistyle on top of the pillars.

Oh, so the pillars are linked together with an epistyle.

Yeah. Almost like a cornice going around.

Exactly.

And so, you'd have been able to come up here

and stand between columns at the front, presumably,

and talk to people in the forum.

Exactly. Yeah. Which is what we think Paul did.

That's the idea.

'Bema', exactly, means in Greek...

It's the word that is used for a platform

on which orators stood in order to address

the audience, the people.

Bema...

So, there's one at the...there's one in Athens.

Yes. Yeah. On the Pnyx.

Exactly.

Where the...where whoever was speaking to the assembly

would have stood there.

Yeah. So this is a similar idea?

Yeah. Yeah.

This was, according to me, probably the bema.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

I love the fact that, as an archaeologist,

you'll put that "probably" in.

Probably, always.

Because you've got the history

that comes through the Acts Of The Apostles,

which is also, obviously, heavily biased,

but there's...there's...there are... there's history in there.

Yes.

And so, if we're being told there that Paul comes and stands on a bema

to address the crowd,

and then, archaeologically, you find something which was here

in the first century, then it seems reasonable to say,

"Well, you know, this could have been it."

Yes, you're right.

The American School of Classical Studies

excavated this site in the late 19th century,

and the Americans are still here today,

still finding treasure.

This is actually the place where finds are stored

from the American School excavations.

Yeah.

So, now I will introduce you to the Director

of the American excavations, here in Corinth.

Oh, my goodness.

Look how many fragments of pottery they're having to go through.

Yeah.

All these fragments come from the excavations.

Let me introduce you to Chris.

Hi. And you're digging here right now?

We're digging right now. Yeah.

We're in the midst of a three-month excavation.

We were just finishing the second of our three sessions.

Yeah. Yeah. So.

And are you here every year? Every year.

Yeah.

We've been excavating more or less continuously

since 1896.

Have you? Not you personally?

Not me personally. (CHUCKLES)

What a nice place to come and work. Yeah.

Yeah.

And you've got, I mean, tons of pottery coming out.

Literally. Yeah.

We're in the midst of part of a bath complex.

And it is producing lots of material,

mostly from the eastern Mediterranean.

So, it gives us a good...good idea of what kind of trade network,

economic system or...

Yeah.

..we're involved in in the late Roman period.

So you can tell what goods were being brought in and out?

Yeah.

And mostly what seems to be coming into Corinth is wine.

Yeah.

A surprisingly large quantity of wine.

So, this is late Roman.

So, we're moving into the middle of the first millennium.

Yeah, it's mostly sixth century

into the first half of the seventh century.

Yeah, yeah.

At some point, towards the middle of the seventh century,

there must be something, um, rather bad happening in the area...

Right.

..that...

We have the end of the life of a very large building

and then the dumping of material.

The building is gone, and then it becomes a rubbish tip?

Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

And then, in the 12th century, people are again in the area.

But between the seventh and 12th centuries,

there's very little indication of activity in this area.

Yeah, yeah.

There's a lot to discover. Kind of answering your question.

Yeah, yeah.

And it relies on this hard graft.

Yeah. Yeah.

How much more have you got to do today, Chris?

(BOTH LAUGH)

Are you getting near the end?

Oh, no. No?

I'll leave you to it. Thank you so much.

My pleasure.

Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.

Before my next train departs,

I've just enough time to climb up to the acropolis of Corinth,

known as Acrocorinth.

In ancient times, this flat-topped mountain was a citadel

even more imposing than that at Athens.

From here, 570m above sea level,

you can see right across the isthmus,

from the Aegean Sea in the east to the Ionian Sea in the north.

Potential invaders could be seen for miles.

Next, I'm heading to Piraeus,

and this evening I'll be catching not a train but a ferry

into the Aegean Sea,

to the historic Cyclades islands.

On my journey exploring ancient Greece,

I'm now leaving Corinth and heading back west, beyond Athens.

The next station is 90 minutes away, and it marks a significant stage

of my travels.

Well, I've just embarked on my final train ride in Greece,

and I'm headed to the port of Piraeus.

Piraeus is really important.

It explains why Athens reached this position of supreme power,

because that was all about naval supremacy.

Piraeus is the port of Athens,

the port where Athens's navy was based.

Just across from the railway station is the port

where I'll be leaving mainland Greece.

But first, I'm heading to the archaeological museum here,

where they have a collection of bronzes from early ancient Greece.

It's rare for bronze work from antiquity

to have survived this long.

I'm meeting an archaeologist called Anthi to find out more

about these precious items.

Kalimera, Anthi. Kalimera.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too.

Here we are.

The Museum of Piraeus.

The museum has 10 halls over two floors,

crammed with extraordinary artwork from 2,000-3,000 years ago.

This is a relief, a representation of an actor.

Oh, really? Because he's got a mask.

A tragic mask.

You can see his hand here. Yes.

Yeah.

Now, I've heard that your bronzes are better than the ones

in the main museum in Athens.

Yes.

In this room, four bronze statues of gods and goddesses tower over us.

They were all found at the same location, here in Piraeus.

Here we are.

So, these bronzes were all found together,

very close to each other.

All found together. And when were they discovered?

In 1959.

OK, so during modern building work?

Yes, yes. Yeah.

That's incredible, isn't it?

So much bronze. Yes.

And they haven't been melted down.

They've survived.

Do we know who this statue is?

Yes. This is Apollo.

This is Apollo. (CHUCKLES) Apollo.

How do you know? How can you tell?

He's recognised by the traces of the bow in his left hand.

And that is bronze, is it? And it snapped off.

Yes.

So, this is a typical...

A typical attribute.

..a typical image of Apollo.

Yes, of Apollo.

But he does have that kind of archaic style.

At the end of...of Archaic Period.

Yeah. And he's starting to look a little bit more naturalistic.

Yes. It's in the beginning of the Severe style of sculpture.

Severe? Severe style of sculpture.

But more naturalistic? Yes.

Yeah.

When does that date to, then, do you think?

Probably to the end of sixth century BC.

And that's on the basis of this style

and the fact that the style is starting to change?

Yes. So it's transitional.

It's transitional. It's transitional.

It's transitional between Archaic and classical Hellenistic sculpture.

There's one more bronze that Anthi wants to show me.

It's not an artistic sculpture, but part of an ancient Greek warship.

Known as triremes,

they were powerful ships with sails, but also three banks of rowers.

And the prow of each ship was furnished with a bronze ram.

This is the bronze ram. (GASPS)

Oh, wow! So that's from the prow?

Yes.

Yeah. It's the only one...

Oh, is it?

..of that time, yes.

Yeah.

There are other two, but much later.

Right, OK. Of Roman times.

OK. And when does this date to? Do you know?

It's from the fifth century or fourth century BC.

Yeah. Yeah.

Isn't that amazing?

It's very unique. Yeah.

It's not known.

There's nothing else like it from the fourth century?

No, no. Yeah. Yeah.

And it just...I mean, it just takes us back to that,

that time of naval battles across the Aegean

and all these different city states battling it out for supremacy,

and Athens investing in its navy.

It's one of the most remarkable objects I have ever seen.

That's amazing. Yes.

There are more sculptures in the open-air part of the museum,

surrounding an ancient Greek theatre dating to the second century BCE.

It's where I'm meeting a man called Aristotle.

Hello, Alice. How are you? Nice to meet you.

Kalimera. Kalimera.

Lovely to meet you here. This is an ancient theatre, isn't it?

It is pretty amazing, isn't it?

This is the actual thing.

I love the way that this has been preserved,

in the middle of the modern city.

Aristotle works in education and politics, where ancient Greece

is always a hot topic of conversation.

If you looked at the world at that time,

this was the most progressive society.

Classical Greece, and especially Athens,

has made major contributions in terms of philosophy,

theatre, history, so much -

arts that have been enjoyed and thought about

for millennia afterwards.

But then, you have to think, we're talking about very few

free people and not that many years,

and yet they produced so much.

Is this a fluke? Is this a coincidence?

Or is there something deeper going on?

I think there is something deeper because...

What is it? What do you think it is?

Well, I think that we have a society that is very aware of how precarious

the human existence is.

And also a society where there is an incentive to excel

in whatever it is that you do.

If we look at modern civilisation, which is really an extension

of Western civilisation, for better or worse,

we are very good at keeping lists.

Who gets relegated? Who's number one?

The Premier League standings, Eurovision contest.

We have everything.

Who is...?

We like these competitions? Yes.

Who has more money?

Who...?

We have lists and competitions. Yeah.

But not every society does that.

It's not something that was historically prevalent

in the East, for example.

So, we have an extremely antagonistic, competitive society

where everyone has to excel.

So, small numbers,

but once you have that mentality,

that philosophy, and also a political system

that gives you a say in what is happening,

you have a tremendous incentive

to produce, to excel, to improve.

One of the things I've been really fascinated by is understanding

the relationship between different areas of what is now Greece,

back in...back in antiquity,

and the very short-lived empire of Alexander's.

He spreads himself too thinly.

I'm not quite sure what he was up to.

He's, you know, battling through...through Asia,

and then eventually dies in Babylon,

and the Empire fragments almost immediately.

You're very correct to point out that Alexander the Great's

political unity achievement didn't last long.

I think that his impact on world civilisation is cultural

because he brings Greek,

the Greek language and Greek civilisation,

to larger parts of the world.

I think that Greek civilisation is already there, through trading,

and I think that, then, he becomes this powerful myth of this is,

you know, one man doing this.

It can't be, it can't ever be one man.

No man alone can produce that

but, again, going so far.

And then, you have the successor empires.

Let's take Egypt.

Egypt is governed by the Ptolemies.

The last of the dynasty is the very well...

..uh, well known today, Cleopatra, who was fluent in Greek.

So, Egypt was not Greek,

but certainly you have a very Greek dynasty in Egypt.

So, that is, what I would say,

an example of Alexander's cultural influence.

And also, Greek history is so complex.

Even ancient Greek history. Yeah.

If you just concentrate on that, it's so complex

that you actually want to highlight things

that contribute to the story and understanding,

but are not that well known.

Aristotle, you've obviously thought very deeply about the relationship

of heritage, history, archaeology and...and modern politics.

Yes.

And you can see how this incredible, incredible history that Greece has

was something that could bind people together.

Right.

One can wonder today, "Why do we care about people

"who lived 2,000-2,500 years ago, who were white and male?"

But the reason we care

is because of the questions they asked.

They asked questions about politics, ethics, biology, science.

Mmm.

They produced drama, philosophy.

They asked the right questions.

And for 2,500 years, human civilisation

is coming up with different answers, sometimes very critical answers

to what they were saying.

But the questions remain the same.

For 2,500 years, we're grappling with the same questions,

asked right here.

And I think that is the big contribution.

Again, not their replies, their answers,

although some of them are brilliant.

Some of them are not.

But asking the right questions. Yeah. Yeah.

That's a huge part of human civilisation,

and it resonates in all parts of the world to this day.

After learning more about ancient Greek civilisation

and the naval power of the Athenians,

I'm about to take to the sea myself.

I'm taking this ferry from Piraeus to an island called Paros,

100 miles from here,

arriving around 10:00 tonight.

MAN: (OVER LOUD SPEAKER) Your attention, please.

Would Professor Alice Roberts please come to the bridge?

Thank you.

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

(SPEAKS GREEK)

(SPEAKS GREEK)

Hello. Captain.

Hello, Miss Roberts. How are you?

Welcome aboard. Kalispera. Thank you very much.

Nice to meet you. Thank you.

So, we've left Piraeus Harbour. Already.

Yeah.

What's next? What's next?

Our next destination is Paros. Yeah?

Approximately four hours. OK.

And after Paros, the island of Naxos,

another 45 minutes' route.

And after Naxos, around two hours' trip for Santorini, Fira.

So you're going to keep going? Yes.

We arrive at Fira, around 2:30.

Yeah. After midnight.

And we leave at 7:00 in the morning. OK.

I'm going to get off at Paros, I think.

Yeah. OK.

And it looks like good conditions today.

Yeah, good conditions. A little foggy.

Yeah. That is something.

How many days a year is it too rough to sail?

Would you like to have a seat to look down there?

Yeah.

OK.

Please.

OK.

I'm in charge now.

With 8,500 miles of coastline and over 1,200 islands,

it's no surprise that the Greeks are a seafaring nation.

How long have you been a captain?

I've been a captain for one year and about a couple of months,

as a master in this company.

And I'm serving in this company 11 years, from 2 September.

Normally, not in every family, but in a big amount of families

in Greece, there is at least one seaman.

Yeah. In a big amount, maybe 60%. 70.

There is somebody that's a worker or who used to work on vessels

or in the ship industry.

That maritime culture. Maritime culture, yes.

Maritime society. Yeah.

Given how much Greece still relies on maritime transport,

it makes you wonder if the Greek civilisation would have risen

as quickly as it did in that first millennium,

had it not been for that island's nature of it.

If there was no maritime tradition in Greece,

I wouldn't think we'd have ever made what we made.

Yeah. So it's all down to the sea, really?

It would be a totally different civilisation.

Yeah.

I mean, if...

I don't know if it's genetics or DNA, but, surely, it has helped

a lot for the civilisation to expand.

Yeah. The coastal navigation.

This ferry has the very latest kit,

including state-of-the-art navigation technology.

But it's nice to see they're still using more traditional devices, too.

There are still about 60 miles to go before I arrive in Paros.

Perhaps enough time to learn a new skill.

This is the zero. This one.

Yeah. OK.

And 35.

36. 37.

Yeah.

And now, in the same line,

you transfer, and you are here.

Oh, I see. Yeah.

So, you've measured it here, and then you...

And then you transfer over. Yes.

Yeah. In the same way.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, it's the equivalent to bringing a ruler in from here.

Take a pencil.

And in this mark...

Yeah.

This is your position. That's where we are.

Yeah.

And we're headed out this way? Yes.

That's the little island I could see.

Yes. Yeah.

And now, this is the Paros port.

So, where are we going to be coming in?

Just on this pier? Yes.

Missing these little rocks on the way.

But it's OK, Captain's...

You trust him? Yes.

He knows everything. Yes.

I think he'll get us there.

The ferry arrives at the port of Paros at 10pm,

right on schedule.

Over the next few days, I'll be travelling around the islands

on smaller boats.

But first thing tomorrow, I'm looking forward to a guided tour

of ancient Paros.

Paros has been inhabited for at least 5,000 years.

It's a fertile island occupying a strategic location,

right in the middle of the Aegean Sea.

And it became famous in antiquity for its fine white Parian marble,

sought after by ancient Greek sculptors.

The island's chief port and capital, Parikia, is a popular

tourist resort today, and it's easy to see why.

Among the whitewashed buildings are little gems from the past.

This is part of a Venetian castle built in the 13th century.

The builders clearly recycled older materials.

But there are much older sites here,

sites that have survived the development of hotels and houses

because of one man, an archaeologist called Yannos.

Yannos. Hi. Good morning.

Kalimera. Kalimera.

What should we do? Where should we start?

Should we start in the museum or in the town?

No, we do the museum after. OK.

Let's start with a workshop of pottery, the Roman house,

and the other archaeological sites all around.

Lovely. You lead the way, then.

OK. Let's go.

Yannos has been excavating here for 38 years.

He's taking me on a tour of his greatest hits.

There is a lot of history here. (LAUGHS)

Yeah, yeah.

We have prehistoric, we have classical, we have archaic.

We have Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, post-Byzantine.

We have everything. Neoclassical.

I'm telling you, there are antiquities all over.

Parikia has expanded a lot in the time that Yannos

has been working here.

One of the biggest challenges is preserving

and protecting the history.

Kalimera. Kalimera.

(SPEAKS GREEK)

(WOMAN ANSWERS IN GREEK)

(BOTH CONTINUE CONVERSATION IN GREEK)

(LAUGHS)

(CONVERSATION CONTINUES)

What have we got down here?

(SPEAKS GREEK)

What have you got in your basement?

Well...

(SPEAKS GREEK) Oh, my goodness!

Look at that.

So, you're really impressed, huh?

I didn't expect...

Something like this.

..this to be quite as deep.

Yannos struck a deal with the town planners

to safeguard these ruins,

whilst carefully building apartments right on top of them.

So, this is a Roman house? Yes.

So we had the idea to preserve the site.

So...

That's wonderful.

So, this is the front of a... of a Roman house here.

The thresholds and the door jambs. are all marble.

Got a couple of doorways.

Can I walk on those steps?

Yes, of course. You're with me.

And were there any archaeological finds in here?

A lot. Glasses, pottery, bronzes. A lot of things.

Really? They are exposed in Paros museum.

Yeah.

If you want to come around and see the site and then we can go.

You have a lot of things to see.

OK.

This is fantastic. I'd like to have a Roman house in my cellar.

Right, next thing.

(BOTH SPEAK GREEK)

Come. You want coffee?

Oh, yes, that'd be lovely.

(SPEAKS GREEK)

(RESPONDS IN GREEK)

What kind of coffee you want?

Uh, black coffee, please.

(BOTH SPEAK GREEK)

Thank you.

Now you're going to see the church.

This is a private church, so I have the key of the lady.

While the coffee's brewing,

Yannos wants to show me another treasure,

but this isn't one of his excavations.

It is a double church. Oh, it's lovely.

Yeah. Double aisles. It's Profitis Ilias.

And the Virgin Mary.

And in here, we find some older archaeology.

But you see, the column is an ancient column.

Is it? Yeah.

So that's been reused.

Reused for the church. Yeah.

When you say ancient, you think this is Hellenistic?

Hellenistic or Roman?

Yeah.

And this is still used, this church?

Yes. It's a private church.

It belongs to the family...

Does it?

..that has the Roman house underneath.

Shall we take the key back? I wonder if our coffee's ready.

Yes. Your coffee's waiting for you.

What's the name of this lady? Voula.

Voula. Voula.

We're coming in.

(SPEAKS GREEK)

Ah, Voula! (SPEAKS GREEK)

(BOTH CONVERSE IN GREEK)

Take the plastic, and we go.

Oh, it's coffee to go! (SPEAKS GREEK)

Voula, that's so kind. Thank you. (SPEAKS GREEK)

(SPEAKS GREEK) Mmm.

(SPEAKS GREEK)

(SPEAKS GREEK) (SPEAKS GREEK)

Is there a lot of building going on? A lot.

We have almost 2,000 requests.

Right. Where are we off to now?

I'm on the historic island of Paros, having a guided tour

with an incredible man who's been excavating here

since the 1980s.

We have a funeral urn inside.

Yeah.

And this is the stela of the fifth century.

Yeah. There's another one next to that.

A pottery urn? Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

He'll be retiring later this year,

and we're racing around so he can show me all his work.

Look at that the fronts. Look.

Oh, yeah. There's a kiln.

The next site is right underneath our feet.

It's here! It's underneath.

So, this was my first excavation.

1986. Was it?

And I had the idea to preserve the site under the house.

It's brilliant. And it's very well preserved.

And how lovely, just to be able to walk past and see it down there.

But of course, you need the key to come and see the site.

(GASPS)

What do you think?

That's fantastic.

I mean, what an incredible depth of archaeology.

This is of Hellenistic and Roman period again.

Yeah.

But we have a house of Classical period,

and they had the workshop of pottery on top of that.

This wonderful workshop from 2,500 years ago has six kilns

for producing all sorts of pottery.

See the road there? That was very difficult to do.

So we're under the road now?

The mayor gave me the permission for three months to excavate that.

Yeah.

"I promise, in three months, I will finish,"

because that was the main road to go to the houses.

Yeah. (CHUCKLES) So this was open when you were excavating it?

Yeah, of course. For three months. And then you'd build over it?

Yeah.

We were very lucky because we had a lot of money.

So, we paid for the road, the cement and everything.

Yeah, yeah.

And it means you can still come down here and see

all this archaeology.

And it's very well preserved.

If it was in open air, everything will be destroyed.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

No, it's perfect.

(WOMAN SPEAKS GREEK)

(SPEAKS GREEK)

(BOTH SPEAK GREEK)

Yannos knows everybody.

(BOTH SPEAK GREEK)

(LAUGHS)

I'm going to be the second mayor.

I mean, after this mayor. Yeah, you know everybody.

Everybody.

After 38 years, I'm part of...

You feel part of the community?

(BOTH LAUGH)

Usually they hate archaeologists.

Another excavation that was led by Yannos

uncovered a workshop for sculptors.

Parian marble would be brought to this site, and the craftsmen

would chip away making statues, over centuries.

And you can see a lot of chips from the...

When they work the marble, they throw all the chips down.

You see those? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, there's pieces of marble everywhere,

just little chips of it.

You can see from here we have layers of those chips.

This depth of marble chips,

I mean, this is telling us something about how long people were here...

Exactly. For many Years.

..making marble sculptures.

Generations and generations of people, right here,

making marble sculptures.

Look at here... Look here. It's really good.

I can walk over this, can I?

Yes, you can.

That's narrow bulk.

Oh.

Thank you.

Look. You see that?

Oh, yeah.

We left it so people can understand that there are layers and layers

of chipping.

And it just builds up over time.

And from here, you can see, also.

That's a brilliant section.

Yeah. It's a great section here. Yeah.

So, you've just got lots and lots of little marble chips.

And a lot of pottery, also. Yeah.

Of Hellenistic period, of course.

So you've got a rubbly layer here.

And then, on top of that, which then becomes a floor,

you've got all these marble chips.

So, we started the excavation here,

another archaeologist before me,

and then we continue now.

We still continue the excavation after 30 years.

Yeah. I wonder how far it goes that way.

It goes because...

But we can't excavate here because we have the road.

Yeah, but you've excavated under roads before.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's not so easy. There's a lot of bureaucracy now.

(LAUGHS) We've done that once.

Yeah.

Have you seen...have you seen the house with the pottery?

Yeah, yeah. Yes, we just came from there.

We just walked around.

We've been here a week and you just stumble upon all of this.

Isn't it wonderful? Great job.

So, Yannos excavated that in the '80s.

Oh, you did?

Yeah.

Unfortunately.

(BOTH LAUGH)

Nice meeting you. Bye. Bye-bye.

Isn't that wonderful?

They said they're just walking around the town, and they stumbled

upon the archaeology, just as you intended.

Exactly. (LAUGHS)

Further along the road, there's a sanctuary.

Then we have...

There's another stela here.

Different-sized graves.

This is a big Roman monument.

All the statues from here are now housed

in the island's museum.

And just around the corner, surrounded by car parks,

are the ruins of a Roman house,

complete with a beautiful mosaic floor.

Near the seafront, Yannos shows me an ancient cemetery.

At the far end, is a small museum

with remains from some of the graves.

A horse. A horse.

Was that in the cemetery?

Yes.

Is that unusual, to find animals buried in a...?

Usually we have some, but it's unusual to find.

Yeah, yeah.

And...

And then, these burials are interesting.

So, you've got some in little marble...

Different burials here.

This female burial.

With a mirror. With a mirror.

Yeah. Is it a female?

Can I pick up the pelvis? Yes, you can do that.

The bones are original.

Yeah.

So, you can say that it's female, eh?

I'm going to shock you now.

Mm.

Hmm.

I can see this is a doctor.

Yeah.

I think this is a male. Male?

This is very narrow.

It's interesting because it's narrow on this side.

It's a little bit wider here. Mm-hm.

Let me look at the skull. OK.

So, the skull is looking more male.

There's a significant brow ridge.

You've got a large mastoid process.

And then, I suspect it would have

a large occipital protuberance, as well.

May I pick that up? Yes.

Oh, no, actually, it's quite rounded.

But on balance...

..I think this is male.

Interesting.

Is that a surprise? It's good to know. Yeah.

Yeah. We had the mirror, so I don't know.

Yeah, yeah.

So we have another...

So typical, what you would consider to be typical female grave goods,

but then you have to look at the biology, don't you, of the...?

And young as...

Fairly...

Well, yeah, you can still see the fusion lines there on the sacrum.

Although having said that...

So from the finds, we say female but I don't know.

If it's male, I don't know.

Then, we have a lot of funeral urns of marble

with the name of the deceased.

You see that? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

This is part of a sarcophaga...

..or sarcophagi.

Sarcophagus. Sarcophagus.

Yeah. (LAUGHS)

You know, the Americans, they use...

They say sarcophagi, so I don't know.

Do they? Yeah.

Like 'vases' and 'vay-ses'.

Yeah, yeah.

Alright. Where should we go now?

Finally, we arrive at the Paros Archaeological Museum.

The museum is shut, but we're being allowed in.

It's closed for refurbishment, but we're going in anyway.

I'm with Yannos, after all.

And those are the inscriptions about the port.

Look at that.

I'm so lucky to be looking at this.

The museum's going to be open in a couple of days,

but they've let me in.

There are all kinds of treasures here

from the sites that we've been looking at.

But the statues made from Parian marble

are the main attraction.

Then, the masterpiece of the museum is this one.

Look at that drapery.

I mean, that is...

This is the trophy of the... of the victory of the pioneers

against the Athenians.

So, this is a victory. A 'nike'.

Nike.

It's just stunning, isn't it?

That's an incredible sculpture.

This is the Gorgon of Paros.

Roman Medusa.

Ooh! Where's that from?

From behind the museum.

This is the open-air sanctuary.

Used to be an architectural piece, on top of the pediment.

So, she would have greeted you as you enter the temple.

Exactly.

OK. We've finished.

We love you, I hate you.

You have to leave now. (LAUGHS)

In this museum, you really get an appreciation of this incredible

level of craftsmanship, here on Paros.

The most amazing sculptors of the...of the ancient world.

It's just full of masterpieces.

Yannos takes me from one to the next.

Every one is beautiful.

Kalimera.

Next time, I seek out some more remote ancient islands.

So, is anybody living on Despotiko today?

Nobody. We have a shepherd and around 800 goats.

Right. Nothing else.

I visit the legendary birthplace of Apollo.

WOMAN: The more we know, the more questions we have.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I go in search of ancient Greece in modern Turkiye.

To the future.

To the future.

And the past.

Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2025