All language subtitles for Ancient Powers s01e06 End Game

Thousands of years ago, ancient powers
ruled our world.

Egypt.

China.

India.

Greece.

And Rome.

Players in a high stakes game of
strategy and luck.

Success will bring them wealth and
immortality.

failure, oblivion, and death.

In their battle for survival, each
civilization will face the same

How they respond will shape their
destiny.

In this episode, the end game.

Our ancient powers have endured for
centuries but destruction is

close at hand.

What will cause their downfall?

And who will create a lasting legacy?

Over centuries, our ancient powers have
forged successful civilizations.

They've built iconic monuments, fought
wars, and devised

new ways to rule their people.

Now, they face their final challenge.

And in the Mediterranean, things are
looking up.

The mighty empire of Alexander the Great
is poised to take over the world.

At home, his city -states are unified
and at peace.

But Alexander is rampaging across the
Middle East, conquering the

territories of his archenemy, the
Persians.

He's even absorbed another ancient power
into his massive empire

Egypt

in that time was under Persian rule and
they were not very happy about it

So they worked on him and also crowned
Alexander as the king of Egypt.

Egypt is the jewel in the crown of
Alexander's new empire.

And to make sure everyone knows who owns
it, he founds a new city on its

Mediterranean coast and calls it
Alexandria.

It's just one of almost 20 cities he
names after himself, stamping his

across the ancient world.

Now he rules a territory of over 5
million square kilometers,

and is at the peak of his powers.

But even this isn't enough.

Alexander wants... The world.

And the next step in his plan for global
domination is India.

Alexander reached the Himalayan border,
but his campaign started from the

Balkans and reached the Indian River in
only 13 years.

And at this point, his troops felt tired
and wanted to go back and stop.

this campaign.

So far, his army has done everything
he's asked. But now, miles from home,

they threaten mutiny.

He makes his first and only retreat.

Alexander has to go back to Mesopotamia
to manage some issues with his journal.

And he held a huge banquet when a lot of
wine was served.

What happens next will change the course
of history.

Maybe he got poisoned, or maybe he got
malaria, but he got

very ill, then died in three days.

Alexander the Great is just 32 years
old.

And the death of this mighty warrior
causes his empire to fracture and fall

apart.

Greece, as an ancient power, is
finished.

Without a strong leader's charisma,
Greece implodes.

And as this empire collapses, the
fallout threatens an even older

ancient power.

After Alexander's death, his newly
conquered Egyptian lands are claimed by

of his generals, Ptolemy Soter.

He becomes the first in a new line of
pharaohs who all take his name,

the Ptolemies.

But how can these Greeks secure their
rule in Egypt?

and ensure the allegiance of its people,
they embark

on a massive building campaign.

This place was very important to the
Ptolemies by commissioning temples here.

You can extend your authority to the
southernmost reaches of your kingdom.

Philae was par excellence the temple of
Isis.

It was her main cult center, the jewel
of the Nile.

as we Egyptians call it today.

A thousand kilometers south of
Alexandria, this temple is a calculated

of propaganda.

By doing this, you're living up to the
expectation of what an ancient Egyptian

pharaoh was supposed to do. With all the
symbolism, the hieroglyphs, the

figures, he was saying, I may be of
Greek origin.

But I am Pharaoh.

At first, the strategy works.

But the Ptolemies are greedy.

They paid little attention to Egypt
itself. To them, Egypt was to be

By displaying extravagance and luxury,
you're showing the rest of the world how

your kingdom is much better than theirs.

Yours is the richest.

The Ptolemies live extravagant lives,
all funded by ever -increasing taxes

paid by the Egyptian people who are not

happy about it.

In 206 BCE, it all comes to a head.

Up here we have two decrees from the
reign of Ptolemy V that talks about

revolt across Egypt.

How for 20 years people were very tired
of Ptolemaic rule.

We hear about farmers completely leaving
their tools and leaving their land and

going off just to run away from taxes.

Exploitation was way too much.

And ultimately, a king who does not take
care of his people, it's only a matter

of time until it goes into decline.

Things are no better for the Ptolemies
themselves, who make a habit of being

theft.

This leads to bloody disputes over
succession.

The Ptolemaic family already was sort of
intermarrying, but it gets more and

more complicated with each passing
generation, such that you get into

situations. Perhaps the most horrible
example is Ptolemy VIII.

He marries his full sister, and on their
wedding day, he actually has her son

from Ptolemy VI killed in her arms.

That's how bad it gets.

The Ptolemies cling to power for almost
two more centuries.

But weakened by infighting and revolts,
they seek out allies across the

Mediterranean in Rome.

Here, they get mixed up in bloody civil
wars.

And in 30 BCE, the most famous Ptolemy
of all, Cleopatra,

finds herself on the losing side.

Facing defeat, she takes her own life.

Her death ends a 3 ,000 -year -old line
of pharaohs.

It is the end for this ancient power.

As the sun sets on Egypt,

the reach of their aggressive

northern occupiers, the Romans, is still
growing.

Rome is a military superstate.

And more than a thousand years since its
foundation, it's at the peak of its

powers.

Controlling and defending its massive
territory demands a vast army.

But there aren't enough homegrown
recruits to fill its ranks.

Franks. Gauls, Goths, and Celts are just
some

of the tribes drafted into the imperial
army.

You could be anything, but you were
always at the heart of it, Rome.

The glue that kept the Roman Empire
together.

But this is a risky strategy for the
emperors back in the capital.

What happens eventually is that Rome is
making its own enemies, because on one

side you need these people to help you
protect the empire, you need to hire

these mercenaries, but on the other side
you're training people who might one

day turn against you.

In 260 CE, Frankish and Germanic tribes
rebel and

spread chaos.

A decade later...

The vandals tear through Roman
territory, threatening the capital.

Now, Rome needs to protect itself.

Rome has not needed wall for almost 700
years.

It's been safe.

Rome had been protected by her legions.

No need for any kind of fortifications.

Suddenly, they need wall. And they start
throwing them up. And in five years,

they build a circuit of 19 kilometers.

In their desperate rush, the Romans
build these walls with anything that

to hand.

You can see it here, a piece of a
decorative architrave of some noble

monument that was ripped down and built
into the walls because there was no time

to waste.

Despite their haphazard construction,

These walls are a protective shield.

Ten meters high and four meters thick,
they stave off attacks from rampaging

barbarians.

But in 408, a once loyal Germanic tribe
arrive at the gates.

The Visigoths.

The city's walls now face their ultimate
test.

Visigoths can smell a weakness and smell
an opportunity. And the wealth of Rome

is obviously one of the most amazing
draws.

If you can invade Rome and sack Rome,
you've done something that no one else

done. It's the greatest prize in the
ancient world.

For two years, the Visigoths repeatedly
laid siege to the city.

For a while, Rome could hold out.

But gradually, the pressure rose on the
inside.

There were famines, there were plagues,
there were corpses lying in the streets.

It was desperate times.

Finally, on the 24th of August, 410,

the barbarians breached the gates.

Fires raged.

And they loot the city for three days.

Rome has fallen.

Until 410, Rome, although embattled, was
still invincible, was still intact.

The walls had protected the city from
all invaders.

And suddenly the myth of Rome is broken.

The inviolable city.

The heart of the empire is taken by a
foreign enemy, a barbarian enemy.

Now Rome's enemies know it can be
defeated.

It signals the end of this ancient
power.

Rome falls victim to the rebellion of
foreign tribes.

To the east another ancient power faces
internal conflicts that threaten

to boil over.

The Han are a rich and successful
dynasty.

They rule over 60 million people and
have conquered a vast

territory stretching from modern -day
Korea in the east to Uzbekistan in the

west.

But now, they face a problem that's been
festering since the start of their

reign.

Han emperors have always had many wives,
whose families pushed their own claims

to power.

But there's also another player in this
game of Throne.

There were a lot of Taoyong here.

We found that there were more than 10
,000 Taoyong.

There were a lot of Taoyong here.

There were a lot of Taoyong here.

There were a lot of Taoyong here. There
were a lot of Taoyong here. There were a

lot of Taoyong here.

These terracotta figures are all
imperial servants.

There are male officials and female
attendants, but also another

type of courtier.

These eunuchs act as attendants and
confidants for the imperial families and

this gives them sway, especially over
younger emperors.

About half of them are more than ten
years old, even younger emperors.

Because the emperor is young, plus the
environment in which he grew up,

he mainly lived in the palace.

The most he met was the eunuchs, the
eunuchs who took care of him every day.

The relationship was good.

As they grow up with the emperor, the
eunuchs gain titles, influence, and

demanding power.

No one is in

complete control.

Not only that, the royal coffers are
running empty.

So the government raises taxes.

In northern China, starving peasants
revolt.

With the imperial court distracted by
infighting, the rebellion spreads and

rages on for the next two decades.

The weakened Han dynasty fall from
power.

After more than 400 years of rule, it is
over.

In China, the long -lived Han are undone
by court politics and revolution.

To the south, in India, no dynasty
expects to last long.

At the end of the 4th century CE, the
great Samudra Gupta, who led India

into a prosperous golden age, dies.

He leaves a flourishing empire that
covers northern India.

But the Guptas know from history that
keeping hold of this territory will be a

challenge.

Empire in India was always a slightly
more complex at that.

You'd have almost a revolving door of
emperors coming and going, coming and

going, leaving their traces, leaving
their monuments.

But nothing ultimately was permanent.

Part of the problem for the Guptas is
communication with their diverse

population.

Because their subjects speak many
different languages.

Even if you go to India now, almost
every state has its own language.

Dialects vary sometimes from village to
village, district to district.

Without easy communication, it's made
empire necessarily more challenging.

This diversity means the Guptas are
never in complete control of their

territory.

There were vast areas which were towards
the peripheries of the empire where the

emperor wasn't necessarily in complete
charge. He depended on vassals, he

depended on subordinate governors,
hereditary governors, little kings to

great king. And all of these people
negotiated power with him. So the

some ways had to share power.

After the great Samudra Gupta's death, a
series of weaker emperors begin to lose

their grip on power.

Emperors in India always faced this
problem, that you always had the threat

your subordinates wanting to not just
topple you, but replace you as a future

imperial power.

Which meant that if one particular
emperor weren't up to the mark, suddenly

whole thing would start unravelling
because others would exploit it. And the

Guptas are a prime example of this.

Slowly, the Gupta kingdom starts to
break apart.

Nomadic invaders from the north take
advantage and rip into this once mighty

empire.

The last great dynasty of ancient India
is over.

Whether through the death of a great
leader, debauched rulers, rebellious

uprisings, court politics, or simply
invasion,

our ancient powers have all fallen.

But they're not forgotten.

Because they've all left a mark on our
modern world.

After Rome was burnt and sacked by
invading barbarians, it was left broken.

But this mighty ancient power left
physical reminders of its glory days

right across its fallen empire.

The fact that Rome is called the Eternal
City is so apt because ancient Rome

over the centuries has remained embedded
in the fabric of modern Rome.

We are in front of the best preserved
monument of ancient Rome, which was one

the glories of the ancient city.

This ancient temple's roof is over 43
meters wide and remains

the world's largest unsupported concrete
dome.

A brilliant testament to Roman
construction.

It is massively, massively over
-engineered. There's a certain aiming

posterity, aiming for when you are no
more.

Another link to Rome's past springs out
in one of its most recognizable places.

Here we have the Trevi Fountain.

Roman water pouring through Roman pipes
along a Roman aqueduct, which was built

2 ,000 years ago and still in operation.

Roman water still pervades the city.

It still refreshes the city.

The Romans built this system to last.

All across the capital and throughout
this ancient empire, Roman

buildings still stand.

Visible testimony to the engineering
prowess and military might of this

ancient power.

After the death of Cleopatra, the last
of the pharaohs, Egyptian culture slowly

began to fade.

Even its writing.

The hieroglyphic inscription reads,
Before Mendoulis, the son of Horus, by

hand of Esmet Ahem, the son of Smet, the
second priest of

Isis. Forever and ever.

What we're looking at here wasn't done
by a professional sculptor. This was

carved by inexpert hands.

It's almost as if he knew that he was
part of this dying tradition.

And in fact, this is the very last one
known ever.

Carved in 394.

These hieroglyphs were the last act of
an ancient power that had endured for

almost three and a half thousand years.

In the centuries that followed, tombs
were plundered, statues were smashed,

and cities were lost to the sand.

and the meaning of hieroglyphs slipped
out of memory.

Once knowledge was lost of how to read
and write hieroglyphs, it's almost as if

Egypt just goes dark.

People were left wondering what these
cryptic symbols meant.

The names of pharaohs and gods, their
stories and secrets were lost.

Ancient Egypt became the stuff of myth
and legend.

But in 1799, a chance discovery unlocked
the glory of

Egypt's past.

The Rosetta Stone translates a royal
decree into three different scripts.

Thanks to the trilingual inscription
that you can see on the Rosetta Stone,

were able to decode how hieroglyphs were
to be read. And thanks to that, we can

finally read what the ancient Egyptians
had to say in their own words.

This civilization's names, stories,
beliefs and deeds were all

deciphered.

The ancient Egyptians were brought back
to life.

And today, tourists from all over the
world flock to marvel

at Egypt's wonders.

Greece's ancient past is also clearly
visible in its modern landscape.

Its architectural styles are a byword
for beauty and sophistication.

Adopted everywhere, from the Roman
Empire to the New World.

But to the south of Athens,

Beyond the silver mines, which were the
foundation of the city's wealth, are the

ruins of a structure that was central to
Greek society.

A magnificent theater, possibly the
first ever constructed.

One of many built across their empire.

A place that directly connects ancient
Greece to the modern world.

In my opinion, the legacy of classical
Greece is, of course, art, architecture,

philosophy, all these wealth of ideas.

But it's something more than these.

These theatres were not just home to
plays and performances.

They were also central to something even
more transformative.

Politics.

These are not just stones in the dust.

They are not just relics of the past.

They are transferring an essential
message from that past.

That here we have art, we have drama,
but also participation of the citizens

deciding about their own fate.

So this was an area where the citizens
would gather and decide for themselves

to... Make democracy happen in these
ruins.

It's the foundation of our world today.

These public spaces were the cornerstone
of the world's first known democracy.

A form of government that underpins half
of the world's countries today.

It's a radical legacy.

from this great ancient power.

Echoes of China's ancient past are
present in the everyday.

And there's one cultural artifact that
stretches back three and a half thousand

years to one of their earliest ancient
dynasties.

The Shang Dynasty was China's first
stable ancient power.

But its people lived in the world where
the weather and its impact on crops was

a matter of life or death.

So, they tried to predict the future.

To answer these questions, the Shang
used an extraordinary technique.

Priests took turtle shells and ox bones
and burned holes in

them.

This created cracks, and the patterns
made were used to divine the future.

But they also carved their questions
onto the bones and shells.

Today, these carved symbols are
called...

Oracle Bone Script.

These oracle bones may not have foretold
the future, predicted poor

harvests, or the coming rains, but they
have created.

This ancient character for crops and the
character for horse are

pictographs. But over the centuries,
they slowly transformed.

They were adopted by every successive
dynasty and developed into modern

Today, one in six people across the
globe use this writing system,

making it one of the oldest continuously
used forms of writing in the world,

an everyday reminder of China's ancient
power.

The rich diversity of the Indian
subcontinent stopped any one empire from

holding on to power for too long.

But this also sowed the seed for a
lasting heritage.

Emperors and kings would come and go.

But one thing that was always present in
most people's lives was the legends and

mythology of our God.

Everything was woven in with the
religion and it wasn't just about the

now.

This ancient Buddhist monument attracts
worshippers from far and wide.

It's one of the largest stupas in the
world.

But it celebrates more than just one
religion.

There's a segment here where if you
enter, you'll see Ganesha carved into a

niche. And Ganesha is considered a Hindu
god.

What is he doing in a Buddhist site?

The answer lies in the way sites like
this were regarded by successive

generations.

Sacred spots retained a certain value
across large swathes of time.

The gods in them might rotate and
revolve and you could have Shiva,

the Buddha.

In a later period, some other god might
eclipse the original god. But the

sanctity of the spot itself remained.

So I think if we were to look for what
remains from that period, we would more

often than not gravitate to sacred
spots, because that's something that

all these shifting sands across
different centuries.

And this coexistence of religions, side
by side, has left a lasting imprint.

Just looking around us, there's people
of so many religious backgrounds, so

ethnicities, clearly of such diversity.
It holds meaning for many people of many

backgrounds and many cultures.

And that is the magic of the place. It
belongs to everybody.

This monument is an heirloom of the
past, an echo of ancient

India in its present.

That's just the way the Indian
subcontinent has evolved over time.

And this is perhaps the longest standing
tradition of the Indian subcontinent.

Pure diversity and the very idea that
there are multiple paths to the same

destination.