All language subtitles for 01E05

ALICE ROBERTS: The Aegean Sea and
its collection of beautiful islands

are framed by the coastlines
of mainland Greece and Turkey.

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 Turkey,

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.

I'm in Kusadasi,
a port town on the Aegean,

and I'm embarking
on the final leg of my adventure.

My first stop will be the famous
ancient city of Ephesus.

From Selcuk Station

I'll head 45 miles north

to the ancient city of Smyrna,
modern Izmir...

..before travelling
a further 60 miles

to Pergamon, modern Bergama...

..and my journey ends
at the legendary city of Troy.

I've arrived in Ephesus

and I'm meeting Nesrin,
a local historian.

Nesrin!

Hi, Alice!
Hello!

Welcome to Ephesus.

I can't believe I'm here.
This is absolutely fantastic.

And this is just the beginning.

Yes.

What's incredible
is just the scale of this, isn't it?

(LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS)

The history of Ephesus
goes right back to the Neolithic,

when early farmers
settled here 9,000 years ago.

By 3,000 years ago

it had grown
into an important Ionian Greek city

and it continued as
a regional capital under the Romans.

Today, it's one of the ancient
world's best preserved sites.

The archaeology that we can see here,
do you know when this dates to?

This is 1st century BC
till 2nd century AD,

and it was the fourth-largest city
in ancient world.

The fourth-largest city?
Yes.

So, what were the other three then?

Rome...
Yeah.

..Alexandria, Athens

and Ephesus.

Really?
Definitely.

Yeah. So, incredibly important.

Definitely.
Yeah.

Plus it was a cosmopolitan city,

so, there were Greek-speaking
people
in this area,

there were Latin-speaking people

and there were Asian people here,

there were Egyptians here.

So, it was a colourful...
Yeah, yeah.

..a cosmopolitan metropolis
of antiquity.

Can you believe that
quarter-million
people lived in this city?

I've heard that estimate.
I mean, that seems incredible.

Yes. Quarter-million people.
Yeah. Yeah.

And what is it that makes Ephesus?
Why did it develop here?

We are in between two hills.

Yes, yeah.
Mt Bulbul and Mt Panayir.

So, that's naturally
a defensible city.

And it ends in the harbour,

so, it's a perfect location
to set up a grid-plan city.

So, if we'd been here
in the 4th century BCE,

we'd have been looking at the sea
just there.

Yes, you would have a sea view...

Yeah. Yeah.
..down there.

The water used to come
that close to the city,

and anyone standing on this side

would see a wonderful sea view
from this point

and would see the ships...

Yes. Just there.
..carrying goods

to the port of Ephesus
back at that time.

It's hard to imagine Ephesus
as a port today,

but it was on the river Kestros.

Over time the estuary has silted up

and, today, the shoreline
is a staggering 17 miles away.

Back in ancient times

the location of Ephesus as a port

made it a key trading hub
on the Aegean,

with the Ephesians
becoming very rich.

Imagine that on both sides of us

there used to be pillars like this
and a pavement after...

Yeah.
..and then the shops.

So, this is the main road?

This is the main road.
The main road of Ephesus.

Ephesus -

standing on the very end
of the Eastern Royal Road.

So, the goods of the Eastern world,
like spices and silks and cottons

and leather, everything,
the perfumes...

And everything coming in
from the Mediterranean as well.

And yes, the Mediterranean world.
Yeah. Yeah.

Olive oil, wine.

They were all here for sale
in these shops.

And the elite of Ephesians
were living in this neighbourhood.

It was a prosperous neighbourhood.

Yeah.
(LAUGHS)

Now, this is the newly excavated
part, isn't it?

Yes.

The terrace houses.

This is a wonderful place
to get the idea

about the domestic life...

Yeah.
..of the wealthy Ephesians.

(GASPS) Yes.
The rich Ephesians.

The absolute...

Yes.

..creme de la creme.

Creme de la creme. Definitely.
Yeah.

So, we need our tickets here.
Yes.

Yes. You just put it there.

Here you go.
Off we go.

There's paintings on the wall.

All these paintings
and mosaics on the ground.

So, it is a special place.

(GASPS) It's incredible.

Definitely.
Wow!

And we are in the house
of number six.

Size-wise the biggest house.

(GASPS) Look at this marble!

Yeah. Look. (CHUCKLES)
Oh, my goodness.

There we are. Yes.
Look at that little niche!

And the water pipe coming down
carrying water here.

They've got running water?
Running water.

In the house?

Definitely.
That's just amazing, isn't it?

Definitely.

Wow!
Running water, sewage canals.

And everything designed for keeping
the standards high, actually.

Yeah. I mean, it's just
strikingly modern, isn't it?

Definitely.

Incredible marble floor as well.

Yes.
Wow!

I wonder who lived here.

We know who lived in that place.

Their last name was Apti.

Aptus was the high priest
of Dionysus temples.

Really?

So, he had a key position
in the society.

And that makes him
a very senior official in the city?

Yes. And a wealthy merchant.

We will go up the steps.
Look at this marble!

I mean, it's absolutely
dripping with opulence.

Definitely.

Should we go right to the top?
We will.

And the interior collection
of this house

is gorgeous

with the floor mosaics.
(GASPS) Look at that.

Look at them.
Look at it! Wow!

Look.
A lion.

A lion enjoying his meal. (LAUGHS)

You can see the details there.

A beautiful frame
around the lion figure.

Yeah.
It's just stunning.

It's beautiful.
Wow!

And the walls...

Birds painted in those panels.
Yeah.

I mean, that's just gorgeous,
isn't it?

Definitely.
So, when is this abandoned then?

Last quarter of the 3rd century AD

Ephesus experienced
a severe earthquake,

then the series of earthquakes
demolished the city.

So, the wealthy people first
left...

Yeah. Yeah.
..the city

because there was no more
trade activities in the city.

And the city was not that glorious
city anymore, back in the old days.

Yeah. Yeah.
So, they left the city.

So, you've got
several things conspiring

to spell the end for Ephesus then -

the harbour silting up

and then recurring earthquakes
causing damage as well.

Definitely.

One of the last earthquakes
to hit Ephesus

destroyed
one of its greatest structures.

The great Library of Celsus
was left in ruins.

But in the 1970s

archaeologists recovered
and reconstructed

the facade
of this architectural marvel.

That is beautiful.

That is stunning, isn't it?

It is amazing.

It's really a masterpiece.

Goes back 2nd century AD.

And...
So, it's Roman.

It IS Roman.

Yeah. But the building
is not the first library.

The library was famous
going back before the Romans here.

Before the Romans.

Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. Yes.

And this library
had 12,000 scrolls in it.

But it's just incredible, isn't it?

And there must have been people
coming to Ephesus to learn,

you know, it had that reputation
as a seat of learning.

Definitely, definitely.
Yeah.

And as a public library,

it has...
Yeah.

..I mean, it's really important
too.

When we look at the details,

we see an intricate work
on the facade of the library.

Look.

The capitals.

Corinthian capitals.
Each of them are Corinthian.

Yeah.

Imagine that this is all carved
by hand and solid marble pillars.

You can see there.

Oh, my goodness! Yeah.

Single solid marble piece.
Wow!

We know that till 13th century AD

there was a continuous living
on this site.

Right. Yeah.
So, it's not that far.

13th century AD.

In terms of history...
All the people would have been
living here amongst the ruins.

Yes.
Yeah, yeah.

And we've got some inscriptions
up here.

Latin.

So, we've got, "Emperor Cassari..."

The very last line -

"Mazaevs."

And on the second block

you can read, "Mithridates."

Yeah.
Two brothers.

They were slaves of Augustus
family,

1st century BC.

Due to their good manners,
due to their loyalty to the family,

they granted their freedom

and sent as tax collectors
to Ephesus.

Right. OK.

To show their loyalty
to Augustus family,

they had...

..they wanted to put a mark
to the city that they appointed to.

And that's the gate giving access
to the commercial agora of Ephesus.

That's what we see beyond there.

So, we've got the library,
we've got this magnificent gate,

and then we've got the agora,
the forum, the marketplace.

Marketplace.
Yeah.

The commercial agora of Ephesus was
established in the 3rd century BCE

and was like
a modern-day market square.

Behind the colonnades were 100 rooms

serving as shops, workshops

and meeting places
for guild associations.

Just beyond the agora
is the vast theatre

where the people of Ephesus
enjoyed their entertainment.

Shall we settle down here,
wait for the performance to start?

Imagine that
there are another 25,000 people.

Yeah.
(CHUCKLES)

Plus us.
I mean, it's absolutely enormous.

You know, by today's scale
it's enormous.

You know, this would be
a huge theatre to go into.

It is the largest in the world.

Is it?
With 25,000 people.

Yeah.

Of course, the front seats
were for... (CHUCKLES)

..elite.
The elite.

The people
who lived in those lovely houses.

(LAUGHS) Yes.

Would have had a season ticket,
wouldn't they, down the front there?

Definitely.

And this would have been open.

Open.
Yeah. Of course.

It's far too big
to roof over, isn't it?

(LAUGHS) Yes.
It's absolutely enormous.

You think
there were gladiatorial events here

as well as plays performed?

Yes, yes.

Gladiator fights was so popular.

And there was a gladiator school
in Ephesus.

Right.

Besides this,

every four years
Ephesus used to organise festivals.

Right.
For the name of Roman emperors.

Oh, really? Yeah.
This was a big thing.

Because it's such an important city
in the Roman Empire.

The capital of Asia Minor province.

Yeah.

I think what's astonishing
is that it's just all here

as it was in the late Roman period.

It is a little bit like Pompeii
in that respect

that it just seems to have stopped...

Yes.
..and then it's been frozen in time.

But it's the destiny
of every ancient city.

Yeah.

They born, they have glorious years
and then they fall down.

Yeah, yeah.

Ephesus is magnificent.

It's amazing to be able to explore
such an intact ancient city.

Tomorrow I'm back on the train
heading north

and I'm going in search
of another Greek city,

which, unlike Ephesus,
still thrives to this day.

ALICE ROBERTS:
It's early morning in Turkey

and time to get back on the train

for the next leg
of my Ancient Greek adventure.

Merhaba!
Merhaba.

Izmir'e bilet lutfen.

Kac kisi?

How many person?

One.

One person email, please.

Email.

It's 14 lira, please.

Tesekkurler.

OK. Please fill out form.

Lovely.

Tesekkur ederim.

From Selcuk Station

I'm heading 35 miles north
to the city of Izmir,

ancient Smyrna.

Izmir!

(BRAKES SQUEAL)

Train travel in Turkey
is staggeringly cheap,

with most journeys costing just the
equivalent of a few pounds sterling.

(BLOWS WHISTLE)

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

The face of Ephesus really was
sealed by that changing environment,

the harbour silting up over time

so that eventually

ships just couldn't make it
all the way through.

And at that point
the city really started to fade.

It was inhabited for a few centuries
after that into the Byzantine period,

but eventually
it was completely abandoned.

And that's really the reason that
it's so wonderfully preserved today.

Well, I'm on my way
to another port city,

but this time

one that persisted
through the centuries,

grew bigger and bigger.

It was ancient Smyrna.

It's modern Izmir.

And because that city
has just grown through time

I'm really intrigued to see how much
of the ancient Smyrna is still here.

(DYNAMIC MUSIC PLAYS)

Like Ephesus, the port city of Smyrna
was an important gateway

between Asia and Europe.

It continued to be a prominent city

within the Byzantine
and Ottoman Empires,

and, today, Izmir
is the third-largest city in Turkey.

(DYNAMIC MUSIC PLAYS)

(TRAFFIC DRONES)

This is why Izmir is here - the sea,

and the port
is really busy this morning,

I can see ferries coming and going.

There's a huge container ship
out there.

And the city itself
comes right up to the seafront.

We've got Ottoman-era buildings,

we've got big modern tower blocks
built of glass, steel and concrete,

and it just doesn't look like there's
any room at all for ancient Smyrna.

But I've been told that if I take
a 10-minute walk through the bazaar

I might find what I'm looking for.

(HUBBUB)

(ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYS)

(HUBBUB)

In the 1930s

floodwaters exposed what appear
to be archaeological remains.

Excavations began,

and over the decades
archaeologists have revealed

one of the most important sites
of the ancient city...

..the Agora.

Hello. Can I get one ticket, please?

Tesekkurler.
Thank you.

The agora
as a meeting place and marketplace

was the beating heart
of every Greek city.

(ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYS)

The Romans adopted
the same town plan,

and here in Smyrna they just revamped
the existing agora.

Around the central courtyard
there's a covered colonnade

where citizens could conduct their
business sheltered from sun or rain.

The buildings behind the colonnade
included shops

and spaces with civic, legal
and religious functions.

The Romans added two extra storeys

on top of the original
Greek building, or stoa.

But I'm most impressed
by the wonderful basement.

(ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYS)

This is a great site.

We've got a lot of the archaeology

that would have been, in fact,
below ground in the Roman period,

with those wonderful basements
and the water supply to the agora,

and then just a little bit
of what would have been above ground,

including over there,

you can see just the bottom layer,
really,

of what would have been
the town council, the bouleuterion,

like a little theatre.

And we've just got fragments
of two rows of seats remaining.

(STIRRING MUSIC PLAYS)

This site is like an oasis
in the middle of busy Izmir today

and it's intriguing
to wander around it,

imagining it bustling
with traders and food stalls.

"Damo-xaris."

That would have Damocharis.

"Someone who is...

"..to be remembered for his skills

"in reconstructing the city of Smyrna
after an earthquake."

And I presume there would have
been a statue of him on top of it.

Damocharis is thought
to have been a governor of Asia

in the 4th or 5th century CE.

And this reconstruction of the city
after an earthquake

wasn't the first,

and it wouldn't be the last.

Merhaba. Can you take me to Karabel?

(INDISTINCT DIALOGUE)

Before I leave Izmir

there's one more ancient thing
I'd like to see.

This time it's not Greek.

So, we're headed out of the city,
out of Izmir.

I think it's going to be
about a 40-minute drive

up into the hills, up to this pass

where there's some very, very ancient
rock art.

And it's really busy.

But this isn't a new thing.

This city's been busy
for thousands of years.

In the 5th century BCE

Herodotus,
the Ancient Greek historian,

wrote his Histories,

and in them he said that on the road
from Smyrna to Sardis inland

there was a figure of a man
cut in the rock

holding in his right hand a spear
and in his left are bow and arrows.

And he also said
that there was an inscription on it

in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

So hidden!

I need to see this for myself,

if I can find it.

Doesn't feel like many tourists
come up here.

Oh, dear.

You know, my first thoughts
on seeing this

are that I'm just gutted,
I'm absolutely devastated,

because this is a rock carving

that has survived
more than 3,000 years,

and it just the last few years

it's been hacked away.

So, we can see this figure.
We can see his head, his arms.

He's holding a spear.

He's got a bow and arrow as well.

And his knees...

From the knees down, basically,
it's all been hacked away.

And, yeah,
that's really, really recent damage.

It's so sad.

Although there's less of it
to see today,

it seems likely that this IS the
rock carving mentioned by Herodotus,

which he thought
depicted an Egyptian conqueror

because of these hieroglyphics.

But it's not an Egyptian pharaoh.

It's a local king.

And those hieroglyphics have now
been decoded, they've been read.

They're written in a local
Anatolian language, Luwian,

and they commemorate this king,

whose name was Tarkasnawa.

He was king
of this Kingdom of Mira,

part of the bigger Hittite Empire

in the Late Bronze Age.

The carving is thought to date
from the 13th century BCE.

It was already very ancient
when Herodotus wrote about it.

(AMBIENT MUSIC PLAYS)

ALICE ROBERTS: As night falls

I'm back on the train
for the next leg of my journey

to visit a Greek city

that spearheaded
an intellectual revolution.

Next stop is Bergama,

or, as it was known
in ancient times, Pergamon.

And I'm particularly excited
about visiting ancient Pergamon

because it was
a renowned centre of learning.

Its library was second
only to the one at Alexandria,

bigger than the library at Ephesus.

And it was particularly well-known
for medicine.

I'm really interested to go there

because it was the birthplace
of Galen.

He was a famous, famous physician.

He started his career in Pergamon.

He was learning medicine
at the Asclepeion,

the temple of healing there,

and later on he would become doctor

to the Roman emperor
Marcus Aurelius.

Bergama, or, as the Ancient Greeks
knew it, Pergamon,

is 60 miles north of Izmir.

This train will take me
only as far as Soma,

where tomorrow
I'll complete my journey by taxi.

In the second half
of the first millennium BCE,

empires came and went,

but Pergamon
was always an important city.

It was part of the Persian Empire,

then Alexander the Great's
Macedonian Empire

and then it was the capital
of the smaller Kingdom of Pergamon.

Baby girl,
it's so lovely to see you!

Yeah! Lovely to see you too!

Welcome!
Beautiful day in a beautiful place.

Mwah!
Oh!

Welcome. Upstairs.

A cable car up to an acropolis.
This is just fantastic!

Yes.
Oh, my goodness!

I'm taking a cable car
with my historian friend Begum.

A thousand feet up
to reach the acropolis

on top of this impressive hill.

'Acropolis' means, quite simply,
'high city'.

Oh, this is lovely.

Look - we're about to emerge
into an olive grove.

And I can see the ancient stones
of Bergama at the top of the hill.

Or, as I should say, Pergamon.

Oh, look - there's some archaeology
poking up. Poking out up there.

Here is called Kale Hill.

What does that mean?

'Kale' means 'castle'.

Castle Hill.
Right.

OK, so, this is what
we're looking at then,

the walls of the castle there.
Castle Hill.

If you translate it.
Yeah. Yeah.

With A couple of these towers here.
Mm-hm.

And cattle grazing around them.

Oh, look, we're here!
We're here, we're here!

After you, Begum.
Here.

Ooh!

From the 3rd century BCE

Pergamon was the royal seat

of the Greek king Attalus
and his descendants,

and an important cultural centre.

Like many Greek cities,

it had a citadel or acropolis

where magnificent temples
were constructed

dedicated to Athena,
goddess of wisdom and warfare,

and Dionysus, the Greek god of wine,

as well as a colossal altar to Zeus.

The Romans, when they arrived, added
a temple to the emperor Trajan.

And down below

there's more architecture
hugging the steep hillside.

We are now in the theatre.

Oh, my goodness, it's just there!

The spectacular Pergamon Theatre.

Look at that. It's incredibly steep.

Oh, my goodness!

(WIND WHOOSHES)

The wind is whistling
up the steep side of the acropolis.

And then fitted onto the side of
the hill here we've got that theatre.

It's so steep!

Very steep.

One of the steepest
in the ancient world.

Is it really?
Yes.

Yeah, I can believe that.

You'd be worried, wouldn't you, if
you were sitting up here at the top,

that you'd just end up tumbling
all the way down to the stage?

The theatre is 36 metres tall,

and with 78 rows of seats
it could hold 10,000 people.

Pergamon's rulers
were patrons of culture.

As well as that vast theatre

they built a huge library,

transforming the city
into a centre of learning.

This is in the second place

one of the largest
in the ancient world.

The second-largest library
in the world.

Mm-hm.

And it's believed

that Marcus Antonius gave
200,000 scrolls to Cleopatra...

Yeah.
..as a sign, as a symbol...

From here?
From here, as a symbol for his
love.

What an incredible gift.
Yeah. Yeah.

200,000 scrolls. 200,000 books.

Yes.
Yeah.

I'm sure Cleopatra read all of
them.

(BOTH LAUGH)

In antiquity

the literature in these libraries

would have been handwritten
on long scrolls

made of either paper-like papyrus
or parchment.

Now, tell me about parchment

'cause there's a really interesting

story here.
Yes.

I think the word is very familiar.

I mean, 'parchment', 'Pergamon,'
'Pergamum' in Latin -

they are all connected,

so, it's believed
that parchment is invented here,

and, the Pergamons,

they were the one
who first used the parchments.

Nice! Yeah!
So, yeah, here is...

That's extraordinary.

I didn't know that.
Mm-hm.

I mean, I'm obviously familiar
with the word 'parchment',

and that is animal skin...

Oh, yes. Made from animal skin.
Yes.
..that's been prepared

so that you can write on it.
Uh-huh.

But it actually derives
from 'Pergamon'.

'Parchment' - 'Pergamon'.
Yes. Yes.

Here is one of the very thriving
producer of parchment

to the other kingdoms...
Yeah.

Yeah.
..of the Hellenistic world.

I didn't know that. I didn't know
that's where the word came from.

Yes. Yes.
That's absolutely brilliant.

And it's connected with the second
biggest library in the ancient world.

It makes sense.
Yes.

Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

And we'd have been standing
right in front of it just here.

There's an incredible collection
of monuments up here,

but there's one more
I just can't wait to see -

the Asclepeion,

a temple dedicated to Asclepius,
the god of healing.

But, in fact,
this was more than just a temple.

It was a hospital
and a medical school.

And it was here that one
of the most famous doctors in history

began his career.

This is where
I really wanted to come

because I'm a doctor originally
and an anatomist,

and Galen's such...
such an important figure

in the history of medicine.

Yes. He is the father
of modern medicine.

He is, yeah. And this is...
I mean, this is where he was born

and this is where he studied,
isn't it?

Yes.

Oh, it's beautiful.

Claudius Galenus,
or Galen, as we know him,

was a Roman physician, surgeon
and philosopher.

He studied here in Pergamon,

but also did his own research,

dissecting animals to help him
understand the human body.

It's incredible to think of Claudius
Galenus, Galen, being here...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He lived here...
..and learning.

..yeah, he taught lectures here.

He invented
so many medical treatments.

Yeah.
And it's incredible.

And he would have learned, you know,

from this incredible library
that they had here,

and he went to other places as well.

He went to Smyrna.
He went to Alexandria.

You are right. Exactly.

Great centre of learning,
especially for medicine.

But then came back.

Came back here.
Yeah.

It's amazing. It's brilliant story.

And his writings were just
so, so influential, so powerful.

You know, they kept on being
the main medical writings

right through into the Middle Ages.
Mm-hm.

And he...
You know, he got a few things wrong,

but there's a lot he got right.

Yes!

You know, he thought the mind
was associated with the brain,

for instance...
Mm-hm.

..and that was a relatively new idea
at the time.

Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.

Galen travelled widely,

visiting Smyrna
and the Greek islands and mainland

in his quest for medical learning.

He eventually went to Rome

to become physician
to the emperor Marcus Aurelius.

And he's still remembered
as a pioneer of medicine today.

(MOODY MUSIC PLAYS)

I'm on the last leg of my journey
through ancient Turkey,

and I'm on the trail of one
of the oldest stories in the world -

the story of the Trojan War,
the Iliad as written by Homer.

And I've got so many questions.

Archaeologists think they found
the location of Troy.

But how can they be sure?

How can they connect those stones
to this ancient story,

which is more than 3,000 years old?

And who was Homer anyway?

At Soma
I hopped onto the express train.

I'm travelling 100 miles north
to Balikisir,

the nearest railway station
to my next destination,

a place that is shrouded
in myth and legend -

the city of Troy.

Nobody really knows who Homer was

or indeed
whether he was just one person.

But the story of the Iliad

is likely to have been passed on
through the spoken word

for generations
before it was written down.

It's history
that has turned into myth.

As well as kings and warriors

it's full of heroes,
gods and goddesses.

It's the story of a battle
that kicks off

when a Trojan prince, Paris, steals
a Greek queen, the beautiful Helen.

Then the Greeks
sail across the Aegean

to wreak their vengeance on Troy.

Mustafa!
Hello!

Really lovely to meet you.
Nice to meet you too, yes.

Thank you very much.

I'm with Mustafa,
who grew up in the local area

and is an expert
in the ancient history of Troy.

Two years ago

I was in a field in England

and we were excavating a Roman villa,

and I was brushing the dirt away
from a mosaic,

a beautiful mosaic.

And as the mosaic appeared...

..it was clear what it was depicting.

There were two warriors
facing each other in chariots.

Then there was another panel

where one of the warriors was dead

and being dragged behind
the second warrior's chariot.

And then a third panel,

where a king in a long cloak

was begging for the body

and paying for the body in gold.

And we looked at the mosaic
and went, "We know this story."

Yeah, it's Troy's story.

Achilles
dragging Hector's dead body.

Yeah.
Behind his chariot.

Yeah.

And then later,

Priam, his father, is paying to
paying to take his son's dead body.

Yeah.
Yeah. Hector's dead body.

Everybody knows
something about Troy, you know.

Like, kids in the Western world

grow up with wooden-horse stories
and with Troy stories.

Yeah, yeah.
Isn't that amazing?

How far back
do you think this story goes?

I believe Trojan War
was an historical fact

which took place around 1250 BC.

So, late Bronze Age?
Yeah.

Some storytellers

went through from one town
to another and told these stories.

Yeah.

And Homer was one of them.

So, they're oral histories...

Oral histories.
..and oral mythology.

It's all history mixed up with myth,
isn't it?
Exactly. Yes, yeah.

So, there's good reason
to believe that this is Troy?

No doubt.
Yeah.

I mean, I was born here...

..and when I was a child

Troy was my playground,

and I know the topography very
well.

Especially
when I was reading the Iliad,

I could easily imagine that, "Now
they are here, now they are there."

So, it fits very well
with the descriptions in there.

Like Mt Ida this way, for example.

Island of Tenedos there.

Imbros there. Dardanelles there.

Rivers there, you know, wind there.

Everything fits.

And then 2,000 years ago

the Romans also believed
that they were founding a city

on the site of Troy.

Exactly.
They called it New Troy.

The traditions continued.
Mm.

I mean, you don't need to be
an archaeologist.

I mean, Romans already knew
that this was Troy here.

Yeah.
The local people knew all about it.

I have no doubt.

Can we have a look at your book?
Yes.

Before we go and look at Troy itself.

Yeah. Of course.

OK.

A reconstruction,
how it looked like once, you know.

Yeah.
During the time of the Trojan War.

That was the acropolis.

OK.

The plan of Troy.

That gives you a good impression
of all the different layers...

Exactly, yes.
..of archaeology.

It's confusing, actually.

I mean, this is the bottom level,
for example - Troy 1, the smallest,

and the larger one, Troy 2.

But that's the Homeric one.
The pink one is the Homeric period.

As soon as you go into the site,
you know,

you used to see that wooden horse,

you know.
Oh, Yeah!

Which is not there anymore.

But we don't know anything
about the wooden horse.

No, exactly.
We don't know

whether there was a horse or not.
We don't know if it was real. No.

There are different theories
about the wooden horse.

Yeah.
I mean, one of them, for example...

All you can reasonably say
is beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

Bearing gifts.
Yeah.

'Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes'
in Latin.

Yeah.
(BOTH LAUGH)

Oh, yeah.

I think we should go
and have a look round.

Don't you?
OK. Right. OK.

Have you got a raincoat
or an umbrella?

I will have one.

In the 19th century

Heinrich Schliemann,
a wealthy German businessman,

was determined
to find the lost city of Troy.

Whilst many scholars
believed Troy was just a myth,

Schliemann was convinced it was true.

In 1868 he arrived in Turkey,

where an Englishman
called Frank Calvert

had already started to excavate
at the site of Hisarlik Hill...

..and Schliemann
continued the excavations,

eventually uncovering
a whole ancient city.

(ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYS)

Yeah, we're going to start our tour
from the monumental city walls.

So, these are the acropolis walls.

We are already inside
of the lower town

but outside of the acropolis.

Yeah.

So, as we come up here,

you start to appreciate
that this really is an acropolis.

It really is dominating the landscape
all around.

During the time of the Trojan War

it was just like that.

Topography was like...as you see,
it was described in the Iliad.

So, the battle would have taken place
down there.

Exactly. That's the battlefield
in front of us there.

Imagine the Greeks
attacking from the Dardanelles,

Trojans on a commanding spot could
easily see them coming, you know.

Sometimes the Trojans push them
all the way to their boats.

Sometimes Greeks push them all
inside of the city walls, you know.

They'd have seen the ships coming.
Yeah.

Imagine, I mean, thousands of
ships,
you know, coming here.

That's what the Iliad describes.

And the Greeks and the Trojans
fought for Helen.

What do you think about that?

Do you think they fought
for a beautiful woman?

No, I think they fought for THAT.

For that access between
the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Yeah.
Yes. It's a magical location.

Yeah, yeah.
All economical reasons.

Yeah.

But, actually, cause of the war
was a beautiful woman, you know.

But what you need is an excuse,
you know.

Yeah.

I think Helen
was a beautiful excuse.

Yeah.

But it's beautiful story.
It's a great story.

Never let the truth in the way
of a good story.

(LAUGHS)
And I love this story. (LAUGHS)

And it's persisted
all these centuries.

(LAUGHS) Yes!
Yeah, yeah.

So, when Schliemann found
this impressive gateway,

he said this
was the famous Scaean Gate.

Achilles-Hector duel took place
just
outside of that gate, Scaean Gate,

between the city walls
and the river Scamander.

Yeah, yeah.

Just imagine that took place
just in front of us there.

And when I was a child, you know,

I was around here.

So, when I started
reading the Iliad,

I said, "Oh, that event took place
just in front of us there."

So, I could easily visualise it.
I can imagine it.

Yeah, yeah.
It's a true story, I think.

You think it's true?
Yeah. It's not a legend.

Yeah. Yeah.
It's a true story.

I mean, what we have seen -
only 10%.

90% is still there.

There's a lot to do for the icons.
Yeah, yeah.

Especially in the lower town.

Yeah, especially in the lower town.
Yeah. Yeah.

I hope they discover new things

and I hope
we tell different stories.

The story is still emerging.
Yes.

Yeah.
Yes.

OK.

Thank you so much.

No, it was very special to be
shown around Troy by a Trojan.

(CHUCKLES)

I'm at the end of my adventure,
my odyssey,

and I've learned and seen so much.

Wow!

That's incredible.

The Ancient Greeks gave us
philosophy, science, medicine, art,

theatre and democracy.

(VIBRANT MUSIC PLAYS)

(GASPS)

There's violence in there.
Yes!

And yet at times it was brutal,

with Greeks battling it out
with Persians, Romans

and between themselves

on land and at sea.

And yet at Delphi they worked out
a way of coming together,

high politics
happening alongside festivities

and a sporting competition.

Ancient Greek civilisation
flowered in the first millennium BCE,

with its ideas flowing on
into the Roman period and beyond,

a culture born
out of the connections offered

by the Aegean and the Mediterranean.

May I pick that up?

And I'll treasure
the connections I've made,

all the wonderful people who've
shared their research, their stories

and their passion for Ancient Greece.

Archaeology, history AND mythology.

It's all coming together.
Yes. Yes. Of course.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)

Captions by Red Bee Media
(c) SBS Australia 2025