All language subtitles for ancient_powers_s01e03_making_money

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...

Making money.

When wealth means strength, our ancient
powers must get rich

by trading their treasures and
monetizing their assets.

Who will succeed in the world of
commerce?

Our ancient powers have overcome their
latest challenge.

They have built their empires and left
permanent marks

on the landscape.

Now they face their next great test.

And one civilization seems to have a
head start.

After suffering a century of rebellion
and war, Egypt has

recaptured its lost territories in the
south.

It is the beginning of the new kingdom.

Now they have peace, and they want their
empire to flourish.

But how can they achieve this?

Egypt is often thought of as a gift of
the Nile.

But in fact, it's actually a gift of the
desert.

The new kingdom kings knew that they had
a special resource.

The unique geology of the eastern desert
and Nubia provided veins of gold

throughout the rock.

This nation is lucky.

There are rich sources of this rare
metal right across the country.

The ancient Egyptian pharaohs would go
to these mining sites.

They would break through the rock and
get these precious bits of

gold, bring it back to the capital to
produce some of the world's most

artifacts.

These golden objects lie at the very
heart of their beliefs.

Gold was...

A religious, important, symbolic
material.

The gods' skin were covered in gold. The
gods were literally made out of gold.

So for the king to cover his own body in
gold, it was to become divine, to

become like the gods.

The ancient Egyptians loved this
precious metal.

And they have more than even a pharaoh
could need.

So they plan to use it.

To get even richer.

They knew no one else around them had
the gold that they did.

So they used their gold to set up
political networks.

And this gold was used as a trading
pawn.

Everyone was desperate for Egyptian
gold.

The pharaohs knew it, and they made it
work to their advantage.

This wealth gives them the upper hand
when they start to barter with their

neighbors.

Gold became the currency for the ancient
Egyptians abroad. With gold, pharaohs

could buy whatever they wanted.

They swapped their gold for practical
necessities, like wood,

tin.

and luxuries like silver.

In this letter, written on clay, the
king of Cyprus strikes a deal with

pharaoh, asking for a list of goods,
including jars of fine oil, linen,

horses, and, of course, prized Egyptian
gold.

In return, he's sending the pharaoh 100
talents of copper.

The Egyptians have become tycoons in the
world of ancient trade.

Powerful players who are happy to bend
the rules to stay ahead.

There's one particular instance where a
Near Eastern ruler was very upset

because he was promised gold.

And in return, he got wood plated in
gold.

These kind of flights were upsetting,
and these rulers let the pharaoh know

exactly how they felt.

How dare the pharaoh cheat him?

Sharp practice is all part of the game.

But with gold for sale, the Egyptians
are never short of bias.

Wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

All they want to do now is flaunt it.

In 1323 BCE, the 19 -year -old king
Tutankhamen dies

suddenly and is laid to rest.

His tomb will lie undisturbed for the
next 3 ,000 years until,

in 1922, it's discovered and its riches

revealed.

I see gold everywhere.

This is a fantastic image. It shows the
sheer scale of things that were in Tut's

tomb. There's chariots pushed against
the wall.

And there's just furniture and stuff
everywhere.

And most of the goods in Tut's tomb were
gilded in gold.

This royal tomb contains over 5 ,000
items.

Wine, clothing, beds, chariots, and
weapons.

And the most famous Egyptian relic of
them all.

Here it is. This is the artifact of
Tutankhamun, the one that we all know.

is gold. Gold, gold, gold. It's gold and
gems and glass.

It's opulence, wealth.

It's the power of the pharaoh. It's his
entire empire manifested in one

artifact.

Weighing in at over 10 kilograms,
Tutankhamen's mask is a truly

object.

The gold is mined in Egypt, but the
intricate decoration comes from across

ancient world.

Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.

Glass, revolutionary new technology from
Mesopotamia.

And black obsidian from Ethiopia.

It's a powerful symbol of the wealth of
ancient Egypt and the value of trade.

Gold made Egypt a powerful trading
nation.

but it also enabled them to make some of
the most beautiful things we've ever

seen.

Gold allows Egypt to enter a golden age.

Across the Mediterranean, another
ancient power isn't quite so lucky.

and must find a different route to
riches.

Greece is ruled by the Mythenians.

Based on the mainland, their territory
stretches out across the island

into modern -day Turkey.

They have natural resources of their
own.

Olives, wine, and wood.

But, unlike the Egyptians, they haven't
yet discovered a wealth of valuable

metals in their homelands.

With few precious goods to trade, how
can they make money?

In their search for an answer, they turn
to the place they know best.

The sea.

Three and a half thousand years ago, a
ship is sailing across the

It's a single -masted cargo vessel, 15
meters long and 5 meters wide.

It's very interesting.

We know everything about Mediterranean
from that ship.

There are at least two Mycenaeans on
board.

We know this because we found some
personal artifacts, which are two

swords and some Mycenaean pottery.

And we all know that Mycenaeans, they
are big seafarers.

The ship is carrying precious luxuries,
including exotic blue -colored glass,

alongside rare and valuable hippopotamus
and elephant tusks,

some fashioned into precious objects.

There are some cosmetic boxes made from
ivory.

These dark -shaped boxes.

It's a very interesting piece.

And it's very beautiful.

There are also prized ostrich shells,
along with fine weaponry,

intricate pottery, and gold jewelry.

The Mycenaeans on board are escorting
these goods from port to port.

Over thin deals and bringing wealth back
to their homeland.

But it's not just exotic items this ship
is carrying.

They were carrying copper and tin ingots
to western parts of the world.

They are the ingredients to making
bronze. So it's very important. If you

have copper or tin ingots, you can't
make bronze.

There were hundreds of amphoras on the
ship.

They were carrying mostly olives and
some wines.

So it's a very huge cargo.

Transporting 20 tons of goods worth a
small fortune.

This ship is crisscrossing the whole
Mediterranean.

They are trading with each other.

They are taking copper from Cyprus, from
Syria,

and tin from Iran or Afghanistan.

And they were carrying to western parts
of the world, mostly Aegean.

It's an import -export business that
enriches everyone involved.

But it's also risky.

Sailing just off the Turkish coast, this
treasure -filled ship sinks

and spills its cargo across the

sea floor.

The Greeks on board don't survive to
enjoy their profits, but many others do.

Bringing exotic luxuries back to
Mycenae, making themselves a

fortune, and creating the richest
kingdom in this

corner of the ancient world.

The Greeks used their mastery of the
thieves to broker deals and to build

ancient power.

Nearby, Rome's enormous empire gives it
an advantage in the world of

international trade.

Just over seven centuries after the city
was founded, Rome's first emperor,

Augustus, takes control.

He rules a vast state that stretches
from Gaul's west coast all the

way to the Syrian border in the east.

Almost three million square kilometers.

Home to more than 50 million people.

This avaricious empire is getting rich
by taxing everyone and

everything it now controls.

And the citizens of its capital city are
consuming all the bounty of its

territory.

So this is Monte Tathachio.

You could mistake it for one of Rome's
many hills.

But there's one major difference.

This hill is not natural.

When you visit a site like here, you
can't help but appreciate the volume of

goods coming into Rome.

Tons and tons of goods every single day.

Towering 54 meters high and covering
over 20 ,000 square meters,

this mound is a massive Roman rubbish
dump.

It's entirely made up of clay fragments,
pieces of amphora,

the trading pots of the ancient world,
all used for just one

product.

Olive oil.

Olive oil seeps into the clay and it
becomes rancid. You don't want to reuse

this. What you do is you discard it. You
put it away somewhere. And this is our

hill for the discarded amphora.

The Romans are getting through 7 million
liters of oil every year.

All imported from far beyond their city.

We know these amphora came from southern
Spain.

Southern Spain was crucial for the olive
oil supply in Rome.

Rome's million -plus inhabitants are
super consumers.

Alongside the Spanish olive oil, they're
eating grain from Egypt.

drinking wine from Gaul and Greece.

They're using timber, marble, tin,
glass, leather, and

much more besides.

Rome is a monster devouring everything
it can get its teeth into.

But this greed is a problem.

How can the Romans transport all these
goods into their growing city without a

solution?

They will go hungry.

In 42 CE, this city puts its faith in an

ambitious plan.

A building project like no other.

25 kilometers away on the coast, they
begin construction on a gateway to

their vast empire that grows and expands
over 60 years.

This is Portus, a mega harbor.

And at its heart,

A massive hexagonal dock.

Today it looked like a nature preserve
here.

2 ,000 years ago, it would have been
incredibly different.

The level of engineering...

here can barely be appreciated.

Built of waterproof concrete, a Roman
innovation, this vast

port holds 350 ships all at once.

Enormous buildings.

The warehouses that lined the six sides.

This was a massive, massive endeavor.

Every day, ships from all over the
empire offload goods onto its dockside.

But this harbor only solves part of
Rome's import problem.

Because shifting this vast quantity of
goods, demands a distribution network of

the same enormous scale.

So the Romans keep on building.

At 150 hectares, Ostia is the largest
remaining Roman site

anywhere in the world.

This entire city was built for one
purpose, and that was to serve the poor.

This is a monument to the Roman economy.

Ship owners, traders, tax inspectors,
warehouse and dock workers

make this bustling city their home.

30 ,000 people who all play their part
in making Rome rich.

We have a large plaza around us.

On three sides, 61 rooms frame it.

And we would have no idea about the
function of these rooms if not for these

mosaics.

These mosaics.

act as hoardings for the huge variety of
goods traded here.

Ears of wheat indicate imported grain.

An elephant, ivory or exotic animals.

And ships in the lighthouse, timber for
boats.

At the height of Ostia, this would have
been similar to a Wall Street.

All these deals being made, yelling,
money exchanging hands, goods exchanging

hands, all sorts of things to continue
this ongoing trade. It's so

necessary to supply Rome, to feed Rome,
and this is really the business end.

This is where it happens.

If we could have been the city in its
heyday,

I think we would have been stunned at
the grandiosity of it.

The Roman Empire grows wealthy off the
back of its vast territory.

But far to the east...

Another ancient power is producing
something that will change ancient trade

forever.

The Han Dynasty have ruled for over a
century.

Their vast territory and abundant
landscape provides copper, gold,

and everything else they require.

They have little need to trade beyond
their borders.

But these riches are a target for
nomadic horsemen, who constantly raid

territory.

The Great Wall is being constructed to
defend their land, but the Hand's

Emperor, Wu, wants to go on the attack.

The problem is, he can't do this alone.

The Emperor needs allies, and sends his
diplomats west to find them.

But they face a grueling and dangerous
journey, thousands of kilometers across

the vast Gobi Desert.

What they need is a safe route and
accommodation along the way.

So Wu orders the construction of over 80
post houses.

It's an important will.

It's a 50m x 50m square courtyard.

To the north is its office area.

To the bottom is its accommodation area.

There is a corner on both sides.

These post houses stretch along the
route from the Han's capital all the way

their western border, 1 ,700 kilometers
away.

Wu now has a diplomatic path to the edge
of his empire.

But these diplomatic routes also bring
other unexpected

visitors.

Traders carrying exotic goods from the
West.

Emperor Wu has unknowingly opened the
door to a vast new market, and

the Chinese have something very special
to trade.

To grow, these caterpillars eat their
way through mulberry leaves.

But to transform into moths, they spin
cocoons around themselves.

For millennia, the people here have
carefully unwound these filaments to

them into the world's strongest natural
fabric, silk.

Its production has always been a cottage
industry, but now the Han

industrialized it, making more and

better silk than ever before.

Organic and delicate very little ancient
silk survives.

But one remarkable treasure trove still
exists.

thanks to a unique burial.

In 168 BCE,

Xin Jue, a Chinese noblewoman, dies.

She is buried within four nested
coffins.

These are covered with five tons of
charcoal and sealed with clay.

This airtight tomb miraculously
preserves a stunning collection.

Some of the most intricate silk ever
created.

In the ancient world, Xinzhui's silk
dresses are unparalleled in

workmanship.

and even today are almost impossible to
recreate.

The masterful hand -silk makers weave an
amazing 120 threads per

centimetre.

in a technique called Suqin Xiao Luo.

Hand silk is beautiful and practical.

It's also wildly expensive.

Over 3 ,000 cocoons are needed to
produce one kilo of fiber, and hours of

painstaking labor to transform that
fiber into fabric, making it

the ultimate luxury item of the ancient
world.

And because it weighs just a few grams
per square meter, it's also perfectly

suited to long -distance trade.

The hand pack their silk onto the backs
of camels and send it out on their

brand new trade route.

The precious cargo heads west for over 8
,000 kilometers,

far beyond hand territory, through
Central

Asia, the Middle East, all the way to
Europe.

China's prized fabric gives its name to
this vast network.

The silk roads.

And when this luxury fabric reaches the
eternal city, the Romans go

crazy for it.

At one point, paying over $100 ,000
worth of gold for just one

kilogram, the hands monopoly over silk
production

catapults them.

to prime position in the world of
ancient trade.

A winning combination of the perfect
product and a new trade

network brings the Chinese huge wealth.

To the south, India is also looking to
cash in on lucrative Mediterranean

markets.

Several kingdoms rule the Indian
subcontinent.

There are sporadic skirmishes, but life
is relatively peaceful.

They have a wealth of natural resources,
staples like fish, rife, and

timber, and luxuries like ivory and
perfume.

But one everyday product stands proud
and defines their culture.

It's early morning here in Empress
Market.

And the air is filled with amazing aroma
of spices.

The treasures of India.

In ancient times, India used to grow a
lot of spices like nutmeg, cloves,

cinnamon, ginger, not just for their
flavor, but also for the medicinal

and offerings to God because they were
sold special.

They're so important for Indian culture
that one cannot sum up their benefits in

just one line or one paragraph.

Readily available within India.

For the rest of the world, spices are a
rare luxury.

For thousands of years, small quantities
have been trickling out of India along

the local coastline.

But now, resourceful traders have
expanded their market, using the new

roads to carry spices to the east and
west.

The problem is that these land routes
are slow, and spices have a shelf life.

The Indians need a faster way to get
them to market.

months or maybe years to get there.

So they had to come up with some
alternate way and that's when they

looking towards the ocean or the sea.

But the sea routes here are dangerous.

The waters around Indian subcontinent,
they have quite a character of their

It can be very tricky because of the
winds and the harsh weather and

monsoon.

Monsoon is unforgiving, it's
treacherous.

It makes it almost impossible to
navigate.

Even today, sailing these tricky waters
around modern -day Pakistan,

requires expert local knowledge.

Path down from ancient Ancestors.

Sailors here.

are massive at navigating these wild
fiends, tracking the monsoon winds like

clockwork, using them to sail rapidly
across the Indian Ocean to North Africa

and Arabia.

But only a handful of boats are
successfully making this journey, so

desperately limited.

However, as legend has it, one sailor's
misfortune

There is the very famous story of this
Indian sailor.

There was a shipwreck near Egypt and
only one sailor survived.

He was rescued by the Greek soldiers
living in Egypt at that time.

The stranded sailor is desperate to get
home.

In exchange for a lift, he offers up his
navigational expertise.

They let him lead the way. He takes them
on a journey that previously used to

take months or even years.

But the Indian sailor was able to
navigate them within few weeks.

He opened India to the rest of the
world, and he opened the world to India.

Now the fast routes into India are
known.

Western traders set a course for the
heart of the spice trade.

Traders from all over the world started
coming in and Indian subcontinent became

a bustling economic zone.

Something that was previously important
only locally became important and

significant for the entire world.

As rich Romans and Greeks rushed to get
their hands on spices,

They pay for them with cold, hard cash.

A lot of Roman gold coins started coming
in Indian subcontinent and they were

being traded in exchange of these
spices.

And black pepper became so popular that
it drained Rome of its gold reserves and

they started calling it black bone.

India has hit the jackpot.

Spices make it rich.

Each ancient power finds their own way
to succeed in global trade and make some

money.

Egypt unearths its most precious
resource, using it to secure a golden

age.

The Greeks use their skills as sailors
to profit from international deals.

Rome taxes its military conquests and
then builds massive infrastructure to

bring this wealth home.

While India and China hold monopolies on
uniquely precious products

and send them out across the world.

The ancient world is now interconnected
and getting richer.

Next, our ancient powers face their
toughest challenge yet.

defending their wealth from everyone
else.