1 00:00:05,300 --> 00:00:10,820 Spain. Al-Andalus. Iberia, Hispania. 2 00:00:10,820 --> 00:00:13,260 Many names for the same country. 3 00:00:15,620 --> 00:00:17,780 Spain has had more diversity 4 00:00:17,780 --> 00:00:21,980 and more manifestations than any other country in western Europe. 5 00:00:23,100 --> 00:00:27,020 It's a peninsula almost surrounded by water. 6 00:00:27,020 --> 00:00:29,220 That's its blessing and its curse. 7 00:00:30,460 --> 00:00:35,740 The road to Spain has always been the sea, from the South. 8 00:00:35,740 --> 00:00:40,340 From 3000 BC onwards, the great traders of the Mediterranean - 9 00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:42,620 the Greeks and Phoenicians came here 10 00:00:42,620 --> 00:00:44,940 attracted by its fertile plains, 11 00:00:44,940 --> 00:00:50,380 and its mines that brought forth gold and silver, tin and copper. 12 00:00:52,380 --> 00:00:55,100 Spain is European, yet it looks to Africa. 13 00:00:57,540 --> 00:01:00,540 Forged by rulers, armies, peoples and faiths 14 00:01:00,540 --> 00:01:03,420 more exotic than elsewhere in the West. 15 00:01:05,660 --> 00:01:10,540 Spain's position at the extremity of Europe has made it the borderland 16 00:01:10,540 --> 00:01:12,980 and the battlefield of the continent's 17 00:01:12,980 --> 00:01:15,660 many different influences. 18 00:01:15,660 --> 00:01:20,380 It's joined to Europe and yet only 14km from Africa. 19 00:01:21,700 --> 00:01:25,300 Everything here reflects its unique meshing 20 00:01:25,300 --> 00:01:29,060 of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures. 21 00:01:29,060 --> 00:01:31,020 That's what makes Spain so unique. 22 00:01:36,340 --> 00:01:39,220 I come both as historian and traveller. 23 00:01:39,220 --> 00:01:42,700 To explore who and what shaped the soul of Spain. 24 00:01:44,500 --> 00:01:48,460 From Paganism, Islam and Catholicism, via dictatorship, 25 00:01:48,460 --> 00:01:49,540 to today's democracy. 26 00:01:50,780 --> 00:01:53,740 I'll tell the story from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. 27 00:01:55,220 --> 00:01:56,740 I start in the South. 28 00:01:58,780 --> 00:02:02,140 Cadiz, Spain's oldest living city. 29 00:02:02,140 --> 00:02:05,140 Seville, Andalusia's Catholic capital. 30 00:02:06,900 --> 00:02:09,020 Gibraltar, Spain's gateway. 31 00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:13,780 Cordoba, capital of the Islamic Caliphate. 32 00:02:13,780 --> 00:02:17,860 And Granada, home of the Alhambra. 33 00:02:17,860 --> 00:02:22,060 I'll find the hidden corners, the stories we don't know, the secrets, 34 00:02:22,060 --> 00:02:24,980 the titans who created the nation. 35 00:02:26,220 --> 00:02:29,380 For centuries, this was Europe's Wild West. 36 00:02:29,380 --> 00:02:32,820 Where caliphs and kings created palaces and cities, 37 00:02:32,820 --> 00:02:35,900 where they fought wars of annihilation. 38 00:02:35,900 --> 00:02:38,260 Here, a concubine could become a queen. 39 00:02:38,260 --> 00:02:42,140 Here, a naked princess sparked a decisive invasion. 40 00:02:44,100 --> 00:02:50,180 Blood and gold, beauty and death, persecution and tolerance. 41 00:02:50,180 --> 00:02:53,100 This is the story of the making of Spain. 42 00:03:11,620 --> 00:03:14,980 The Atlantic city of Cadiz is my first stop. 43 00:03:18,020 --> 00:03:19,740 More than 2,000 years ago, 44 00:03:19,740 --> 00:03:22,980 this was a colony of the Phoenician city of Carthage 45 00:03:22,980 --> 00:03:24,380 in today's Tunisia. 46 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:32,740 In 237 BC, one of history's most famous figures was brought here. 47 00:03:34,060 --> 00:03:38,420 As a ten-year-old boy, the young Hannibal came to Cadiz. 48 00:03:38,420 --> 00:03:43,580 And from here, his father, Hamilcar, would conquer most of Spain 49 00:03:43,580 --> 00:03:45,620 as a new Carthaginian empire. 50 00:03:47,940 --> 00:03:50,540 Now Spain became the battlefield 51 00:03:50,540 --> 00:03:53,580 for one of the great set-piece imperial rivalries 52 00:03:53,580 --> 00:03:55,060 of the ancient world. 53 00:03:56,380 --> 00:03:59,140 The Phoenicians came from the city of Tyre. 54 00:03:59,140 --> 00:04:01,460 They spread out throughout the Mediterranean. 55 00:04:01,460 --> 00:04:04,540 And the greatest city they founded was Carthage. 56 00:04:04,540 --> 00:04:07,860 The Carthaginians started to found an empire and that brought them 57 00:04:07,860 --> 00:04:11,660 into conflict with the other rising power of the Mediterranean. 58 00:04:11,660 --> 00:04:12,740 Rome. 59 00:04:21,060 --> 00:04:24,180 Hannibal was born into a family already at war. 60 00:04:24,180 --> 00:04:27,380 Their name, Barca, meant thunderbolt. 61 00:04:27,380 --> 00:04:31,020 When his father conquered Spain as his next move against Rome, 62 00:04:31,020 --> 00:04:33,580 Hannibal begged to go with him. 63 00:04:33,580 --> 00:04:36,260 He was 19 when his father died. 64 00:04:36,260 --> 00:04:39,820 Gradually, he would assume command of his father's empire. 65 00:04:41,700 --> 00:04:46,060 The coming war needed the blessing of the Gods and I've come to meet one. 66 00:04:50,740 --> 00:04:52,780 Isn't it a breathtaking thought? 67 00:04:52,780 --> 00:04:54,820 That as we look at this, 68 00:04:54,820 --> 00:04:59,180 Hannibal himself once gazed upon this very statue. 69 00:05:03,940 --> 00:05:09,380 This Cadiz museum contains some of the priceless treasures 70 00:05:09,380 --> 00:05:11,300 from Hannibal's time. 71 00:05:11,300 --> 00:05:14,620 And this figurine of the god Melqart 72 00:05:14,620 --> 00:05:18,220 once stood on the Island of Sancti Petri. 73 00:05:24,940 --> 00:05:28,700 And that's where I'm going, a few miles south of Cadiz, 74 00:05:28,700 --> 00:05:30,140 just like Hannibal did. 75 00:05:35,100 --> 00:05:41,860 In 218 BC, Hannibal, now 29, travelled here to Melqart's temple. 76 00:05:41,860 --> 00:05:46,540 He had a plan of astonishing ambition that required Melqart's blessing. 77 00:05:53,300 --> 00:05:58,540 Melqart was the God of Tyre, mother city of the Carthaginians. 78 00:05:58,540 --> 00:06:02,660 And he appears in the Jewish Bible as the god Baal. 79 00:06:02,660 --> 00:06:06,300 It was said that Melqart was unfaithful to his wife, 80 00:06:06,300 --> 00:06:08,740 who castrated him and killed him, 81 00:06:08,740 --> 00:06:12,380 at which he was miraculously brought back to life. 82 00:06:12,380 --> 00:06:18,980 His resurrection made him a symbol of vim, vigour, power and virility. 83 00:06:21,540 --> 00:06:24,580 Temple complexes like this were central to ancient life. 84 00:06:26,980 --> 00:06:28,500 There were human sacrifices. 85 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:30,500 Priests cut the throats of bulls 86 00:06:30,500 --> 00:06:33,700 and splashed blood on the naked bodies of supplicants. 87 00:06:35,980 --> 00:06:39,340 As you can see, there's nothing here except seagulls 88 00:06:39,340 --> 00:06:41,420 and this deserted 18th-century fort. 89 00:06:42,900 --> 00:06:47,540 But this was once one of the richest, grandest 90 00:06:47,540 --> 00:06:52,020 and most famous temple shrines in the entire ancient world. 91 00:06:57,340 --> 00:06:59,140 It was a critical moment. 92 00:06:59,140 --> 00:07:03,700 Carthaginian Spain challenged Roman mastery of the Mediterranean. 93 00:07:03,700 --> 00:07:07,700 That meant a new Roman war against Carthage. 94 00:07:07,700 --> 00:07:12,140 Here at Sancti Petri, Hannibal consulted the Oracle of Melqart. 95 00:07:14,540 --> 00:07:17,700 Hannibal took an oath to destroy Rome. 96 00:07:17,700 --> 00:07:24,060 He said, "I swear to arrest the destiny of Rome with fire and steel." 97 00:07:28,180 --> 00:07:30,740 Rather than waiting for Rome to attack him, 98 00:07:30,740 --> 00:07:33,020 Hannibal would take the fight to the enemy. 99 00:07:35,980 --> 00:07:40,580 It would be one of the most audacious military campaigns of antiquity. 100 00:07:40,580 --> 00:07:44,460 Harnessing Spain and Africa, Hannibal would attack Italy. 101 00:07:49,140 --> 00:07:53,820 Here in Cadiz, Hannibal mustered a huge army of 60,000. 102 00:07:53,820 --> 00:07:57,900 Including Spanish spearmen and African cavalry. 103 00:07:57,900 --> 00:08:02,780 And 40 war elephants, the ultimate prestige weapon. 104 00:08:05,940 --> 00:08:10,620 In 217, Hannibal marched this huge army, from Spain, 105 00:08:10,620 --> 00:08:15,460 across the south of France, over the Alps - including all his elephants - 106 00:08:15,460 --> 00:08:17,620 and then down into Italy. 107 00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:20,780 He headed for Rome. 108 00:08:26,460 --> 00:08:30,420 Hannibal's campaign would bring Rome to the edge of defeat. 109 00:08:30,420 --> 00:08:34,460 Victory over Rome would change the entire history of Europe. 110 00:08:36,780 --> 00:08:39,300 Knowing what we know now about the invincibility 111 00:08:39,300 --> 00:08:41,100 of the future Roman Empire, 112 00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:45,340 Hannibal's adventure looks reckless, if not absurd. 113 00:08:45,340 --> 00:08:48,380 But Hannibal was a child of the Hellenistic or Greek culture 114 00:08:48,380 --> 00:08:52,940 in the Mediterranean, unleashed by his hero, Alexander the Great. 115 00:08:52,940 --> 00:08:55,980 And compared to Alexander's exploits in the East, 116 00:08:55,980 --> 00:08:58,940 this invasion of Italy might be child's play. 117 00:09:03,660 --> 00:09:06,060 It was Rome's supreme crisis. 118 00:09:06,060 --> 00:09:08,700 Hannibal repeatedly defeated the Roman armies 119 00:09:08,700 --> 00:09:11,140 and at Cannae, he routed them. 120 00:09:11,140 --> 00:09:15,700 And yet, even as Hannibal was closing in, Rome did not fall. 121 00:09:15,700 --> 00:09:19,540 The Romans prayed and then they rallied. 122 00:09:19,540 --> 00:09:23,820 Cato the Elder, one of their statesmen, repeatedly declared, 123 00:09:23,820 --> 00:09:29,940 "Carthago delenda est" - Carthage must be annihilated. 124 00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:33,700 And now, they found a general almost as sublime 125 00:09:33,700 --> 00:09:36,260 a strategist as Hannibal himself. 126 00:09:36,260 --> 00:09:39,340 And he would take the war to Hannibal's Spain, 127 00:09:39,340 --> 00:09:42,900 just as Hannibal had brought the war to Rome. 128 00:09:42,900 --> 00:09:46,900 This was the moment that the Romans became Romans. 129 00:09:54,820 --> 00:09:59,020 A few miles north of Seville in the heart of Andalusia, 130 00:09:59,020 --> 00:10:02,580 the vicious blood feud of Carthage and Rome would be decided. 131 00:10:06,820 --> 00:10:10,780 In 206 BC, the two sides met right here in a battle. 132 00:10:11,900 --> 00:10:15,140 The winners would rule Europe for the next 700 years. 133 00:10:16,940 --> 00:10:20,220 The Roman commander was Publius Cornelius Scipio. 134 00:10:22,660 --> 00:10:28,420 It was said in Rome that only Scipio would dare to take on 135 00:10:28,420 --> 00:10:30,340 the Carthaginian Empire. 136 00:10:30,340 --> 00:10:34,060 Both his father and his uncle had been killed in battle 137 00:10:34,060 --> 00:10:35,700 by Hannibal's family. 138 00:10:35,700 --> 00:10:38,180 So, for Scipio, it was personal. 139 00:10:40,900 --> 00:10:43,980 Just as Hannibal had vowed to destroy Rome, 140 00:10:43,980 --> 00:10:46,420 Scipio vowed to destroy Carthage. 141 00:10:46,420 --> 00:10:49,300 And his plan was as bold as it was simple. 142 00:10:49,300 --> 00:10:53,180 While the brilliant Hannibal fought on in Italy for over a decade, 143 00:10:53,180 --> 00:10:57,340 Spain was defended by his feuding, disunited brothers. 144 00:10:58,980 --> 00:11:01,940 Scipio slipped into Spain with his small army. 145 00:11:05,900 --> 00:11:10,340 Military historian Saul David is here to tell me how Scipio 146 00:11:10,340 --> 00:11:13,900 faced the Carthaginians right here at Ilipa. 147 00:11:13,900 --> 00:11:16,620 We're right on the spot of that battle. 148 00:11:16,620 --> 00:11:18,340 Tell me what happened that day? 149 00:11:18,340 --> 00:11:21,380 To give you an idea of numbers, the Romans have about 50,000 150 00:11:21,380 --> 00:11:25,020 and the Carthaginians 75,000, so they're heavily outnumbered. 151 00:11:25,020 --> 00:11:27,700 And for the two or three days prior to the actual battle itself, 152 00:11:27,700 --> 00:11:29,980 Scipio sets his army up in a very traditional way. 153 00:11:29,980 --> 00:11:32,020 So his strongest forces are in the centre, 154 00:11:32,020 --> 00:11:34,180 his Roman and Italian legions, and his allies, 155 00:11:34,180 --> 00:11:36,620 who he can't really rely on, are on the flank. 156 00:11:36,620 --> 00:11:39,660 But on the day of the battle itself, he changes all of that. 157 00:11:39,660 --> 00:11:42,060 He orders the army out very early in the morning, 158 00:11:42,060 --> 00:11:44,700 he gets them into position before the Carthaginians 159 00:11:44,700 --> 00:11:47,340 are ready to respond and he changes his formation 160 00:11:47,340 --> 00:11:50,380 so that his elite forces are actually now on the flanks. 161 00:11:50,380 --> 00:11:52,700 And this allows him to advance in a very unusual way 162 00:11:52,700 --> 00:11:55,660 with a concave formation, so that his best troops are on the side. 163 00:11:55,660 --> 00:11:58,900 And in a nutshell, cos you could go on about this battle 164 00:11:58,900 --> 00:12:03,020 in great detail, it means that the strongest Carthaginian troops 165 00:12:03,020 --> 00:12:06,700 never actually get to fight until late on during the battle. 166 00:12:06,700 --> 00:12:08,460 So how did the elephants, 167 00:12:08,460 --> 00:12:11,260 the Carthaginian elephants perform on the day? 168 00:12:11,260 --> 00:12:14,220 You've got to imagine a scenario where once the battle starts, 169 00:12:14,220 --> 00:12:16,260 the elephants don't see friend or foe. 170 00:12:16,260 --> 00:12:18,340 They've got their guides, as it were, 171 00:12:18,340 --> 00:12:19,860 but everyone else is fair game. 172 00:12:19,860 --> 00:12:21,620 And if you get in the way of a war elephant, 173 00:12:21,620 --> 00:12:24,700 particularly one who's been stung by a few javelins being thrown at him, 174 00:12:24,700 --> 00:12:26,340 he's going to trample anyone. 175 00:12:26,340 --> 00:12:28,700 And a four-tonne beast treading on you 176 00:12:28,700 --> 00:12:31,420 is going to leave a bit of a sticky mess underneath. 177 00:12:31,420 --> 00:12:34,260 So, you can see that the use of the Carthaginian war elephant 178 00:12:34,260 --> 00:12:36,900 was as much of an own goal as it was a success. 179 00:12:44,020 --> 00:12:46,340 Scipio was victorious. 180 00:12:46,340 --> 00:12:51,740 Spain became a province of Europe, not Africa - of Rome, not Carthage. 181 00:12:55,020 --> 00:12:59,220 He built this, the city of Italica, next to the battlefield, 182 00:12:59,220 --> 00:13:01,340 for the veterans of his victory. 183 00:13:03,580 --> 00:13:08,820 Control of the peninsula gave Scipio a springboard to attack North Africa. 184 00:13:11,940 --> 00:13:15,060 This amazing mosaic here in Italica 185 00:13:15,060 --> 00:13:18,900 tells the story of Scipio's wars against Carthage. 186 00:13:20,780 --> 00:13:25,740 In 204, Scipio crossed to Africa, taking the war to Carthage. 187 00:13:25,740 --> 00:13:30,060 As he approached, the Carthaginians recalled Hannibal from Italy. 188 00:13:30,060 --> 00:13:34,460 He rushed back, but Scipio defeated him. The city fell. 189 00:13:34,460 --> 00:13:38,540 Scipio was rewarded with a title, Africanus, 190 00:13:38,540 --> 00:13:41,060 but his haughtiness won him many enemies. 191 00:13:41,060 --> 00:13:43,900 He was prosecuted and exiled to his estates. 192 00:13:45,780 --> 00:13:50,060 As for Hannibal, he roamed the East, enemy number one, 193 00:13:50,060 --> 00:13:51,980 pursued by Roman agents. 194 00:13:52,980 --> 00:13:55,900 Finally, he committed suicide. 195 00:13:55,900 --> 00:13:59,580 As for Carthage, ultimately it was wiped off the map. 196 00:14:01,460 --> 00:14:04,620 Now it was Rome's turn to colonise Spain. 197 00:14:08,420 --> 00:14:11,980 The Romans loved Hispania, Roman Spain. 198 00:14:11,980 --> 00:14:15,460 They found it almost more Italian than Italy. 199 00:14:15,460 --> 00:14:20,700 Here, life was good and they could make great fortunes in fish paste, 200 00:14:20,700 --> 00:14:23,220 olive oil and wine. 201 00:14:23,220 --> 00:14:29,980 In 98 AD, they chose as Emperor a general from around here, Italica. 202 00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:31,660 His name was Trajan. 203 00:14:31,660 --> 00:14:35,700 Competent and honest, he was a formidable soldier 204 00:14:35,700 --> 00:14:37,940 and an outstanding ruler. 205 00:14:37,940 --> 00:14:42,580 He was actually voted the title Optimus, the best, and he was. 206 00:14:42,580 --> 00:14:47,220 His successor Hadrian, also from here, Italica, 207 00:14:47,220 --> 00:14:51,780 was probably the most accomplished man ever to rule the Roman Empire. 208 00:14:51,780 --> 00:14:56,660 Everything he did, he did properly. He created the Pantheon in Rome. 209 00:14:56,660 --> 00:14:59,660 And here, he improved Italica enormously. 210 00:15:04,380 --> 00:15:07,620 Marcus Aurelius the Philosopher Emperor, 211 00:15:07,620 --> 00:15:11,300 was also from a Spanish Roman family. 212 00:15:11,300 --> 00:15:12,940 It's ironic, isn't it? 213 00:15:12,940 --> 00:15:17,820 That the three greatest Roman emperors at the Empire's zenith 214 00:15:17,820 --> 00:15:19,420 were from Roman Spain. 215 00:15:22,780 --> 00:15:27,540 Hispania became the food bowl and the winery of the empire. 216 00:15:27,540 --> 00:15:31,220 Producing the essentials and the delicacies of Roman life. 217 00:15:35,980 --> 00:15:39,340 Spanish olive oil and wine were sent around the Mediterranean 218 00:15:39,340 --> 00:15:42,780 in amphorae just like these. 219 00:15:42,780 --> 00:15:46,380 But there was a problem, which neither the Carthaginians 220 00:15:46,380 --> 00:15:48,860 nor after them, the Romans, could solve. 221 00:15:48,860 --> 00:15:50,940 The amphorae could only be used once 222 00:15:50,940 --> 00:15:53,740 and after that, the pottery was tainted. 223 00:15:53,740 --> 00:15:58,860 At the height of Roman Hispania, so many were being exported to Rome - 224 00:15:58,860 --> 00:16:03,540 as many as 54 million - that their debris formed a heap. 225 00:16:03,540 --> 00:16:05,900 And the heap became a mountain. 226 00:16:05,900 --> 00:16:09,540 And Mount Testaccio is still there to this day. 227 00:16:10,860 --> 00:16:14,340 The used amphorae, transported from Spain to Rome, 228 00:16:14,340 --> 00:16:16,060 were broken into pieces 229 00:16:16,060 --> 00:16:18,940 and then sprinkled with lime to neutralise the smell 230 00:16:18,940 --> 00:16:20,260 of rancid olive oil. 231 00:16:28,340 --> 00:16:32,940 The centre of Roman life here in Italica was its amphitheatre. 232 00:16:32,940 --> 00:16:36,420 One of the largest and best preserved after Rome's Colosseum. 233 00:16:38,220 --> 00:16:40,340 It could seat 25,000 people. 234 00:16:43,380 --> 00:16:47,980 In around 50 AD, this arena became the focus for a sport 235 00:16:47,980 --> 00:16:50,300 that later became the emblem of a nation. 236 00:16:52,820 --> 00:16:57,060 In a moment of imperial whimsy, the stuttering Emperor Claudius 237 00:16:57,060 --> 00:17:01,020 banned all gladiatorial fights in Spain. 238 00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:05,260 And these were replaced with contests of exotic beasts. 239 00:17:05,260 --> 00:17:10,580 The lions and the tigers were all kept down here in these pits. 240 00:17:10,580 --> 00:17:13,820 And amongst them were the local Spanish bulls, 241 00:17:13,820 --> 00:17:17,860 which were then sent up into the amphitheatre to be viciously 242 00:17:17,860 --> 00:17:20,900 slaughtered to the crowds' delight. 243 00:17:20,900 --> 00:17:23,300 This was the beginning of Spanish bullfighting. 244 00:17:35,300 --> 00:17:39,900 Rome's traditional Gods were often fused with foreign deities 245 00:17:39,900 --> 00:17:41,860 who became fashionable. 246 00:17:41,860 --> 00:17:45,140 One blood-saturated fertility cult 247 00:17:45,140 --> 00:17:49,260 may link the Carthaginian past with the Spanish future. 248 00:17:57,340 --> 00:18:00,580 Attis, a comely shepherd boy, 249 00:18:00,580 --> 00:18:03,940 channelled the story of Melqart before him. 250 00:18:03,940 --> 00:18:08,020 He too was castrated by his jealous lover, 251 00:18:08,020 --> 00:18:12,300 or some said castrated himself and bled to death. 252 00:18:12,300 --> 00:18:15,900 But he bounced back in an unforgettable way 253 00:18:15,900 --> 00:18:21,100 as the ultimate symbol of virility for his frenzied cult followers. 254 00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:24,940 They would cavort, splattering themselves with blood, 255 00:18:24,940 --> 00:18:28,220 flagellating themselves, biting each other, 256 00:18:28,220 --> 00:18:33,740 and as the ultimate gesture of devotion, castrating themselves. 257 00:18:33,740 --> 00:18:37,300 It's said that these traditions may be echoed today 258 00:18:37,300 --> 00:18:40,900 in the self-flagellating Catholic brotherhoods 259 00:18:40,900 --> 00:18:42,740 that are still going on in Spain. 260 00:18:51,020 --> 00:18:55,700 Hadrian, the Spanish-born emperor who beautified Italica, 261 00:18:55,700 --> 00:18:57,860 unwittingly changed Spain. 262 00:18:59,820 --> 00:19:05,220 When, in 132 AD, his persecution of the Jews in Jerusalem 263 00:19:05,220 --> 00:19:06,620 provoked a revolt. 264 00:19:10,300 --> 00:19:14,340 Hadrian rushed troops to Judea to crush the rebellion. 265 00:19:14,340 --> 00:19:16,260 But the Jews under their commander, 266 00:19:16,260 --> 00:19:20,260 the Prince of Israel, Simon Bar Kokhba, managed to wipe out 267 00:19:20,260 --> 00:19:24,180 several Roman legions before they were finally crushed. 268 00:19:24,180 --> 00:19:27,620 Hadrian had 500,000 Jews slaughtered 269 00:19:27,620 --> 00:19:31,980 and they were banned in perpetuity from their beloved Jerusalem. 270 00:19:31,980 --> 00:19:37,220 But many of them came to settle here in Spain, to found a community 271 00:19:37,220 --> 00:19:41,260 named after the Hebrew word for Spain, Saffarad, 272 00:19:41,260 --> 00:19:43,900 hence the Sephadic Jews. 273 00:19:43,900 --> 00:19:47,940 Even today, the Jews in Spain call themselves 274 00:19:47,940 --> 00:19:50,860 "the exile from Jerusalem in Spain". 275 00:20:01,060 --> 00:20:06,380 Out of the Jewish disaster, a new religion emerged and spread fast. 276 00:20:06,380 --> 00:20:09,140 It would challenge the Roman empire from within. 277 00:20:18,620 --> 00:20:22,660 I'm leaving Italica and heading a few miles south to Seville. 278 00:20:22,660 --> 00:20:26,620 To find out what happened when a new faith of Christianity 279 00:20:26,620 --> 00:20:28,980 confronted the old paganism of Rome. 280 00:20:35,340 --> 00:20:38,580 Seville, now dominated by Catholic monuments, 281 00:20:38,580 --> 00:20:40,580 was then called Hispalis. 282 00:20:40,580 --> 00:20:43,620 Archaeology reveals it was a typical Roman city. 283 00:20:47,460 --> 00:20:50,500 This is the story of Justa and Rufina, 284 00:20:50,500 --> 00:20:52,860 later the patron saints of Seville. 285 00:20:54,060 --> 00:20:56,900 They were sisters, devout Christians, 286 00:20:56,900 --> 00:20:59,740 and much admired for their work as potters. 287 00:21:03,260 --> 00:21:08,980 In 287 AD, the city prefect Diogenianus ordered all pots 288 00:21:08,980 --> 00:21:11,100 must be offered to Venus. 289 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:15,420 This edict was almost certainly part of Emperor Diocletian's policy 290 00:21:15,420 --> 00:21:17,380 to reinvigorate Roman religion. 291 00:21:18,820 --> 00:21:22,140 It was also a direct affront to Christianity. 292 00:21:22,140 --> 00:21:24,460 Justa and Rufina made a stand. 293 00:21:25,740 --> 00:21:30,580 Justa and Rufina ran the best pottery in Seville. 294 00:21:31,740 --> 00:21:36,620 But these wholesome Christians refused to let their pottery 295 00:21:36,620 --> 00:21:41,420 be used in a pagan festival for the goddess Venus. 296 00:21:41,420 --> 00:21:43,500 So good was their pottery, 297 00:21:43,500 --> 00:21:47,060 and so essential, that the pagan crowd was outraged. 298 00:21:47,060 --> 00:21:48,980 They broke into the pottery 299 00:21:48,980 --> 00:21:52,380 and took the pots they needed for their pagan festival. 300 00:21:53,740 --> 00:21:57,140 The two sisters were outraged in their turn. 301 00:21:57,140 --> 00:22:00,220 They smashed a statue of Venus. 302 00:22:00,220 --> 00:22:04,540 Now, sympathetic as I am to these pious young ladies, 303 00:22:04,540 --> 00:22:09,580 this was nothing less than a brazen bid for martyrdom. 304 00:22:09,580 --> 00:22:12,300 And their prayers were indeed answered. 305 00:22:12,300 --> 00:22:15,100 Diogenianus arrested them immediately 306 00:22:15,100 --> 00:22:19,260 and they were horribly tortured with hooks and fire. 307 00:22:19,260 --> 00:22:23,500 When she was almost dead, Justa was thrown down a 100ft well, 308 00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:25,100 where she perished. 309 00:22:25,100 --> 00:22:28,540 As for Rufina, she was saved for the lions. 310 00:22:31,740 --> 00:22:35,340 As the wild beasts were unleashed upon Rufina, 311 00:22:35,340 --> 00:22:37,620 the crowd bayed in anticipation. 312 00:22:39,380 --> 00:22:42,180 But instead of eating her, they licked her wounds. 313 00:22:43,540 --> 00:22:48,540 The Christians saw this as a miracle but Diogenianus was unimpressed. 314 00:22:48,540 --> 00:22:53,020 He had her strangled, beheaded and then burned. 315 00:22:53,020 --> 00:22:55,700 But the Christians had their first martyr. 316 00:23:03,140 --> 00:23:07,940 Within 30 years, the Roman Empire itself had converted to Christianity. 317 00:23:07,940 --> 00:23:09,940 Yet it was disintegrating. 318 00:23:09,940 --> 00:23:13,140 When Rome fell in 476 AD, 319 00:23:13,140 --> 00:23:18,260 Spain was at the mercy of invading tribes of so-called Barbarians. 320 00:23:18,260 --> 00:23:22,620 First came the Vandals, who failed to hold the Peninsula for long. 321 00:23:22,620 --> 00:23:25,260 They left only one real legacy, their name. 322 00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:29,900 Andalusia, still the name for Southern Spain, 323 00:23:29,900 --> 00:23:32,180 comes from the Arabic Al-Andalus, 324 00:23:32,180 --> 00:23:34,740 probably meaning "The land of the Vandals." 325 00:23:39,020 --> 00:23:44,420 Next, the Byzantine emperor Justinian captured parts of Spain 326 00:23:44,420 --> 00:23:48,020 until his garrisons were overrun by the Visigoths. 327 00:23:51,460 --> 00:23:54,540 Ferocious in war, they were creative in peace. 328 00:23:57,860 --> 00:24:03,700 Visigoths usually feature as raping and pillaging axe men 329 00:24:03,700 --> 00:24:05,500 of the Dark Ages. 330 00:24:05,500 --> 00:24:10,300 But when the Visigoths settled in Spain, they produced sages, 331 00:24:10,300 --> 00:24:13,020 scholars as well as soldiers. 332 00:24:13,020 --> 00:24:15,580 This school, like many others in Spain, 333 00:24:15,580 --> 00:24:20,060 is named after St Isidore, Visigothic Bishop of Seville, 334 00:24:20,060 --> 00:24:23,660 who refined and adapted Roman law 335 00:24:23,660 --> 00:24:27,820 to create a united, Christian Spain. 336 00:24:27,820 --> 00:24:34,100 Much later, Visigothic Spain became the prototype for Catholic monarchy. 337 00:24:36,700 --> 00:24:41,020 Ruling for two centuries, their kingdom would inspire Spanish rulers 338 00:24:41,020 --> 00:24:42,940 right up until the 20th century. 339 00:24:45,820 --> 00:24:49,460 Downstream from Seville is the river port of Santa Maria. 340 00:24:49,460 --> 00:24:55,700 This stretch of water is known as the River of the Dead. With good reason. 341 00:24:55,700 --> 00:25:00,140 This river is the place where Visigothic Spain died. 342 00:25:01,380 --> 00:25:04,420 This is where its last king, Roderick, was killed. 343 00:25:04,420 --> 00:25:08,580 And it was a moment that changed the entire destiny of Spain. 344 00:25:11,300 --> 00:25:14,980 The Visigoths matter as much for how they lost Spain 345 00:25:14,980 --> 00:25:16,180 as for how they won it. 346 00:25:18,860 --> 00:25:21,900 It all started with a beautiful naked girl. 347 00:25:23,060 --> 00:25:27,940 Roderick, the King, was in the habit of spying upon Florinda, 348 00:25:27,940 --> 00:25:31,860 the daughter of his nobleman Julian, while she was in her bath. 349 00:25:31,860 --> 00:25:33,940 One day, he ravished her. 350 00:25:33,940 --> 00:25:37,780 She ran to her father, Julian, he rebelled. 351 00:25:37,780 --> 00:25:41,380 And here, on this river, at the River of the Dead, 352 00:25:41,380 --> 00:25:44,540 he met Roderick's forces and killed him. 353 00:25:44,540 --> 00:25:47,580 Now, most Visigothic kings were assassinated. 354 00:25:47,580 --> 00:25:49,780 So there was no big deal in that. 355 00:25:49,780 --> 00:25:53,060 But what mattered here was how he was killed. 356 00:25:53,060 --> 00:25:55,940 For Julian didn't just rebel, 357 00:25:55,940 --> 00:25:58,500 he looked in this direction, 358 00:25:58,500 --> 00:26:02,060 across the sea to North Africa for help. 359 00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:04,260 Julian summoned Islam. 360 00:26:10,340 --> 00:26:13,100 Far away in the deserts of Arabia, 361 00:26:13,100 --> 00:26:16,900 a new faith, a new revelation had arisen. 362 00:26:16,900 --> 00:26:19,380 By the time he died in 632, 363 00:26:19,380 --> 00:26:25,060 the Prophet Mohammed had united Arabia under the banners of Islam. 364 00:26:25,060 --> 00:26:29,780 In the next 50 years, the Arab armies conquered a vast empire, 365 00:26:29,780 --> 00:26:35,660 stretching from Iran all the way to Morocco, all ruled from Damascus 366 00:26:35,660 --> 00:26:40,460 by his successors, the commanders of the faithful, the Caliphs. 367 00:26:47,100 --> 00:26:49,780 The spectacular Arab conquests 368 00:26:49,780 --> 00:26:52,900 brought Islam to the shores of the Moroccan coast, 369 00:26:52,900 --> 00:26:55,820 just 14km from Spain. 370 00:26:55,820 --> 00:26:59,540 Julian called for help from the Governor of Tangiers. 371 00:26:59,540 --> 00:27:04,740 This was irresistible to an empire built on the fever of faith 372 00:27:04,740 --> 00:27:06,660 and the spoils of war. 373 00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:08,460 This is where Islam arrived. 374 00:27:17,380 --> 00:27:18,780 When we think of Gibraltar, 375 00:27:18,780 --> 00:27:22,540 we think of a part of Spain that isn't really Spanish. 376 00:27:22,540 --> 00:27:24,780 A little piece of Britain in the Mediterranean, 377 00:27:24,780 --> 00:27:30,340 with red telephone kiosks, postboxes and the Queen on the postage stamps. 378 00:27:30,340 --> 00:27:34,540 But Gibraltar is also the southern gateway to Spain. 379 00:27:34,540 --> 00:27:37,980 A short boat trip from Africa leads straight here. 380 00:27:45,260 --> 00:27:49,100 I'm standing at the very top of the rock of Gibraltar. 381 00:27:49,100 --> 00:27:52,380 And I'm looking right over the straits. 382 00:27:52,380 --> 00:27:55,020 Those mountains are the Atlas Mountains. 383 00:27:55,020 --> 00:27:59,660 And Gibraltar itself, the name derives from the Arabic, 384 00:27:59,660 --> 00:28:02,420 Jabal Al-Tariq, the Mountain of Tariq. 385 00:28:02,420 --> 00:28:06,260 And it's named after Tariq Bin-Ziyad, 386 00:28:06,260 --> 00:28:09,460 who governed nearby Tangiers in Morocco 387 00:28:09,460 --> 00:28:13,540 on behalf of the distant Umayyad Caliph of Damascus. 388 00:28:13,540 --> 00:28:19,380 In April 711, he raised an army of 7,000 Arabs and Berbers. 389 00:28:19,380 --> 00:28:22,700 And with his favourite beautiful slave girl by his side, 390 00:28:22,700 --> 00:28:27,580 they embarked on rafts and crossed the straits to land in Europe. 391 00:28:27,580 --> 00:28:32,180 Islam had arrived in the West. They carried all before them. 392 00:28:35,140 --> 00:28:38,060 The divided Visigoths were overwhelmed. 393 00:28:38,060 --> 00:28:42,260 Some converted to Islam, others fled North. 394 00:28:42,260 --> 00:28:46,900 The fate of Julian, said to have invited in the Muslims, is unknown. 395 00:28:47,980 --> 00:28:50,900 The Muslim invaders would build a culture 396 00:28:50,900 --> 00:28:55,380 that outshone its European neighbours in wealth and magnificence. 397 00:28:55,380 --> 00:28:59,580 Their legacy infuses everything in Southern Spain. 398 00:28:59,580 --> 00:29:02,860 And modern Spanish is still full of Arab words. 399 00:29:04,740 --> 00:29:09,420 For example, the Spanish word for oil, aceite, 400 00:29:09,420 --> 00:29:13,340 is based on the Arabic al-zayt for olive juice. 401 00:29:13,340 --> 00:29:18,860 Many words the Spanish think of as their own today are in fact Arabic. 402 00:29:24,140 --> 00:29:28,780 The Arabic name for the river that runs north through Andalusia, 403 00:29:28,780 --> 00:29:33,580 the al-wadi al-kabir, or great river, has not changed much. 404 00:29:33,580 --> 00:29:34,980 The Guadalquivir. 405 00:29:44,220 --> 00:29:45,500 Remember those amphorae 406 00:29:45,500 --> 00:29:49,420 that had to be thrown away after being used just once or twice? 407 00:29:49,420 --> 00:29:53,660 Well now, the Arabs with their typical cultural sophistication, 408 00:29:53,660 --> 00:29:57,380 would crack the problem of the domestic receptacle. 409 00:29:57,380 --> 00:30:00,500 They glazed the inside of their vases. 410 00:30:00,500 --> 00:30:03,100 Now they could be used again and again. 411 00:30:03,100 --> 00:30:05,620 An early case of domestic re-cycling. 412 00:30:09,660 --> 00:30:14,180 The Muslim conquerors wanted to keep Spain for themselves. 413 00:30:14,180 --> 00:30:18,060 Yet they owed allegiance to a far-off master. 414 00:30:18,060 --> 00:30:22,980 The Umayyad Caliphs ruled more like magnificent Roman Emperors 415 00:30:22,980 --> 00:30:24,540 than ascetic Islamists. 416 00:30:25,780 --> 00:30:30,580 In 750 AD, they were challenged by descendents of Mohammed's uncle. 417 00:30:31,660 --> 00:30:34,580 The Umayyads, Caliphs ruling from Damascus, 418 00:30:34,580 --> 00:30:39,300 were overthrown by the more rigorous and severe fundamentalists 419 00:30:39,300 --> 00:30:42,500 led by the Abbasid family. 420 00:30:42,500 --> 00:30:46,940 All the Umayyads were invited to a dinner in Damascus. 421 00:30:46,940 --> 00:30:50,340 In the middle of the banquet, all of them were massacred 422 00:30:50,340 --> 00:30:54,820 and their bodies preserved and stored in an underground chamber. 423 00:30:54,820 --> 00:30:58,740 With each one labelled on their toes with their names. 424 00:30:59,900 --> 00:31:01,660 Only one escaped. 425 00:31:01,660 --> 00:31:04,140 His name was Prince Abd Al-Rahman. 426 00:31:04,140 --> 00:31:08,340 He was 19, tall, handsome, red-haired. 427 00:31:08,340 --> 00:31:13,700 In a story really worthy of a Hollywood action movie, he escaped. 428 00:31:13,700 --> 00:31:19,020 The most wanted man in the Islamic world hunted by Abassid assassins 429 00:31:19,020 --> 00:31:21,060 all the way across North Africa. 430 00:31:21,060 --> 00:31:25,340 At one point, the assassins got so close, that he had to hide 431 00:31:25,340 --> 00:31:28,740 under the skirts of an attractive female cousin. 432 00:31:33,820 --> 00:31:36,780 The Abbasids moved the capital from Damascus 433 00:31:36,780 --> 00:31:38,860 to their new city of Baghdad, 434 00:31:38,860 --> 00:31:42,740 which was even further from their most distant province, Spain. 435 00:31:45,260 --> 00:31:49,780 For six years, Abd Al-Rahman - or Rach man - travelled westwards, 436 00:31:49,780 --> 00:31:51,460 amassing supporters, 437 00:31:51,460 --> 00:31:55,180 convinced he could use his charisma to found his own kingdom. 438 00:31:59,140 --> 00:32:03,660 In September 755, he landed near Malaga. 439 00:32:03,660 --> 00:32:07,220 His followers awaited him there, a retinue of just 300. 440 00:32:09,140 --> 00:32:11,420 He headed north, towards Cordoba - 441 00:32:11,420 --> 00:32:16,220 once the Roman capital - to face the Abbasids and their supporters. 442 00:32:16,220 --> 00:32:19,700 This Damascene Prince swept all before him 443 00:32:19,700 --> 00:32:21,580 with just a handful of horsemen. 444 00:32:25,660 --> 00:32:29,620 The final showdown was on the Guadalquivir River. 445 00:32:29,620 --> 00:32:35,140 Abd Al-Rahman, with just 700 men, smashed the forces of his enemies. 446 00:32:35,140 --> 00:32:41,460 And he then devised a special gift for the Abassid Caliph in Baghdad 447 00:32:41,460 --> 00:32:44,340 who'd murdered his entire family. 448 00:32:44,340 --> 00:32:48,340 He sealed a basket and sent it to the Caliph. 449 00:32:48,340 --> 00:32:51,980 When the monarch there in Baghdad opened it in front of his court, 450 00:32:51,980 --> 00:32:53,820 he shrieked in horror. 451 00:32:53,820 --> 00:32:56,460 It was a basket of severed heads. 452 00:33:00,540 --> 00:33:02,780 Abd Al-Rahman was a true Umayyad. 453 00:33:02,780 --> 00:33:05,660 A tolerant Muslim and a magnificent builder, 454 00:33:05,660 --> 00:33:08,860 who would now create a paradise in Spain. 455 00:33:08,860 --> 00:33:11,940 A kingdom of prosperity, culture, harmony. 456 00:33:18,860 --> 00:33:23,100 Abd Al-Rahman made his capital here in Cordoba, 457 00:33:23,100 --> 00:33:27,300 where he created a great city of noble buildings 458 00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:30,900 and lush gardens to remind him of Damascus. 459 00:33:32,140 --> 00:33:37,820 But he never forgot, never ceased missing his home city, his Syria. 460 00:33:37,820 --> 00:33:42,340 And he wrote a poignant poem to a palm tree of Cordoba. 461 00:33:46,260 --> 00:33:51,500 He said, "You too are a stranger here, sprung from foreign soil." 462 00:33:54,180 --> 00:33:58,020 And he added, "I too am far from home." 463 00:34:03,180 --> 00:34:06,420 But he was now a monarch, yet he never forgot 464 00:34:06,420 --> 00:34:10,060 that he'd been a fugitive on the run for so many years. 465 00:34:10,060 --> 00:34:13,140 And he had a wonderfully earthy sense of humour. 466 00:34:13,140 --> 00:34:16,580 He was visited by his attractive female cousin, 467 00:34:16,580 --> 00:34:21,420 up whose skirt he'd hidden from Abassid assassins. 468 00:34:21,420 --> 00:34:25,540 She used to tease him. "You hid under my skirt," she'd say. 469 00:34:25,540 --> 00:34:30,060 And he'd reply, "Fragrant as you are, it was very stifling 470 00:34:30,060 --> 00:34:31,580 "and stuffy up there." 471 00:34:39,420 --> 00:34:41,980 One of the wonders of the Western world 472 00:34:41,980 --> 00:34:44,740 lies behind this golden doorway. 473 00:34:48,300 --> 00:34:50,140 This was the royal entrance, 474 00:34:50,140 --> 00:34:53,780 reached by a covered passageway from the palace. 475 00:34:53,780 --> 00:34:58,180 Sealed up for centuries, today, the way in is round the corner. 476 00:35:00,180 --> 00:35:05,940 In 786, Abd Al-Rahman started to build Cordoba's Great Mosque 477 00:35:05,940 --> 00:35:07,340 or Mezquita. 478 00:35:07,340 --> 00:35:09,460 This would be his masterpiece. 479 00:35:12,860 --> 00:35:15,220 As more and more converted to Islam, 480 00:35:15,220 --> 00:35:19,100 the Mezquita was expanded again and again over the centuries. 481 00:35:25,740 --> 00:35:29,820 Its mihrab, or prayer niche, traditionally faces Mecca. 482 00:35:35,140 --> 00:35:39,460 The Mezquita has 850 columns made of granite and marble. 483 00:35:41,060 --> 00:35:44,220 A system of two-tiered pillars has been created, 484 00:35:44,220 --> 00:35:48,380 a forest of supports using Visigothic columns as a base. 485 00:35:49,780 --> 00:35:53,740 The conquering faith commandeering the ruins of the old 486 00:35:53,740 --> 00:35:54,980 to build the new. 487 00:35:56,980 --> 00:36:00,060 Even the horseshoe arch adopted by Islam 488 00:36:00,060 --> 00:36:02,260 may have been of Visigothic design. 489 00:36:07,780 --> 00:36:10,940 Now Cordoba became a cosmopolitan metropolis. 490 00:36:12,420 --> 00:36:15,780 Arab scientists, true heirs to the Ancient Greeks, 491 00:36:15,780 --> 00:36:19,020 made astounding advances unknown to the brutish West. 492 00:36:20,060 --> 00:36:22,460 Scholars, architects, poets, 493 00:36:22,460 --> 00:36:25,860 astrologers gathered at the glittering Umayyad court. 494 00:36:27,460 --> 00:36:31,420 One man stood out. His name was Ali Ibn Nafi. 495 00:36:33,420 --> 00:36:37,100 Ibn Nafi was a star, a famous singer-songwriter 496 00:36:37,100 --> 00:36:40,740 who became an international trendsetter and dandy, 497 00:36:40,740 --> 00:36:43,700 an aficionado of style and pleasure. 498 00:36:43,700 --> 00:36:46,500 There's something very modern about him, not unlike a rock star. 499 00:36:46,500 --> 00:36:49,980 A sort of cross between Beau Brummell and Mick Jagger. 500 00:36:49,980 --> 00:36:54,300 Born in Baghdad, he was half Kurdish, half African. 501 00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:57,180 Hence his nickname, the Blackbird. 502 00:36:57,180 --> 00:37:00,420 He had sung for the Caliphs in Baghdad. 503 00:37:00,420 --> 00:37:04,220 But when he came here to Cordoba, he really became famous. 504 00:37:04,220 --> 00:37:07,100 He was best friends with the Crown Prince. 505 00:37:07,100 --> 00:37:11,220 He promoted asparagus from a weed to a delicacy. 506 00:37:11,220 --> 00:37:14,460 He invented the modern three-course meal. 507 00:37:14,460 --> 00:37:19,660 Everyone wanted to look like him, dress like him, sound like him. 508 00:37:19,660 --> 00:37:22,340 Everyone wanted to be like Ibn Nafi. 509 00:37:30,300 --> 00:37:32,420 MAN SINGS 510 00:37:32,420 --> 00:37:35,020 I've come to watch a flamenco show. 511 00:37:35,020 --> 00:37:38,220 This most Spanish of art forms can trace its roots 512 00:37:38,220 --> 00:37:41,060 back to Ibn Nafi's musical vision. 513 00:37:41,060 --> 00:37:44,660 At its heart is a special technique for playing the guitar. 514 00:37:59,100 --> 00:38:02,140 HE PLAYS LEYENDA BY ALBENIZ 515 00:38:03,420 --> 00:38:06,780 Juan Antonio Martinez is professor of guitar 516 00:38:06,780 --> 00:38:09,260 at the Ibn Nafi Conservatory in Cordoba. 517 00:38:19,820 --> 00:38:22,900 So what was Ibn Nafi's influence? 518 00:38:22,900 --> 00:38:25,340 IN SPANISH: 519 00:38:40,180 --> 00:38:44,900 So, is there a direct line from Ibn Nafi's oud 520 00:38:44,900 --> 00:38:48,580 all the way to the modern Spanish Flamenco guitar? 521 00:39:11,900 --> 00:39:16,500 So, now will you show us on the actual guitar? 522 00:39:16,500 --> 00:39:18,580 Si. Thank you. 523 00:39:46,580 --> 00:39:49,460 The culture of Al-Andalus is deeply buried 524 00:39:49,460 --> 00:39:52,100 in what became Spanish culture. 525 00:39:52,100 --> 00:39:57,140 Yet Islamic tolerance can be a little exaggerated. Islam was supreme. 526 00:39:57,140 --> 00:40:01,620 Jews and Christians were only free to worship if they paid a special tax 527 00:40:01,620 --> 00:40:04,700 and always recognised Muslim mastery. 528 00:40:07,500 --> 00:40:12,220 And yet there were those, of course, who resented the supremacy of Islam. 529 00:40:12,220 --> 00:40:16,860 Eulogius of Cordoba led a movement of radical Christians 530 00:40:16,860 --> 00:40:19,660 who actually sought martyrdom 531 00:40:19,660 --> 00:40:23,020 by publicly insulting the Prophet Mohammed. 532 00:40:23,020 --> 00:40:28,300 Eulogious was duly arrested and tried and then beheaded. 533 00:40:28,300 --> 00:40:32,900 The headless trunk of his body was tossed onto the river bank 534 00:40:32,900 --> 00:40:35,300 to be feasted upon by dogs. 535 00:40:41,100 --> 00:40:44,940 In the writings he left behind, Eulogius quoted the Bible 536 00:40:44,940 --> 00:40:46,580 and he left an ominous message. 537 00:40:47,740 --> 00:40:49,500 "Follow my example," he said, 538 00:40:49,500 --> 00:40:52,140 "because I follow the example of Christ." 539 00:40:54,500 --> 00:40:59,540 Religious co-existence would prove to be a challenging idea for Spain. 540 00:41:07,620 --> 00:41:11,900 In 912, Abd Al-Rahman III, aged just 21, 541 00:41:11,900 --> 00:41:13,980 succeeded to the throne of Cordoba. 542 00:41:15,940 --> 00:41:17,700 The greatest of the Umayyads, 543 00:41:17,700 --> 00:41:20,860 he created paved streets, public lighting, 544 00:41:20,860 --> 00:41:23,700 and collected a library of half a million books. 545 00:41:25,940 --> 00:41:30,180 Cordoba under Abd Al-Rahman was one of the biggest, richest 546 00:41:30,180 --> 00:41:33,140 and most diverse cities in all of Europe. 547 00:41:33,140 --> 00:41:35,580 Only Constantinople was its equal 548 00:41:35,580 --> 00:41:39,380 and it may have had several hundred thousand people living in it. 549 00:41:39,380 --> 00:41:45,220 At the same time, London and Paris had just 10-15,000 inhabitants. 550 00:41:45,220 --> 00:41:47,220 They were just glorified villages. 551 00:41:57,820 --> 00:42:02,860 Just outside Cordoba, these ruins display Abd Al-Rahman's ambition. 552 00:42:04,500 --> 00:42:08,380 In 929, he declared himself The Caliph. 553 00:42:08,380 --> 00:42:12,340 Islam was divided between the Abassid Caliph in Baghdad 554 00:42:12,340 --> 00:42:15,300 and a new Fatimid Caliph in North Africa. 555 00:42:15,300 --> 00:42:18,420 It was time for the Umayyads to show their power. 556 00:42:21,540 --> 00:42:24,940 To project his authority as commander of the faithful, 557 00:42:24,940 --> 00:42:28,260 as political and religious ruler, 558 00:42:28,260 --> 00:42:33,340 the Caliph of the West created this long-forgotten paradise 559 00:42:33,340 --> 00:42:35,180 of power and faith. 560 00:42:35,180 --> 00:42:37,620 It lay hidden for 900 years. 561 00:42:42,700 --> 00:42:47,660 Abd Al-Rahman moved his court to this vast hillside complex. 562 00:42:47,660 --> 00:42:52,500 Its grandeur was the architectural version of his own status 563 00:42:52,500 --> 00:42:54,500 as Caliph and conqueror. 564 00:42:55,580 --> 00:42:58,140 Only one thing really mattered to him, 565 00:42:58,140 --> 00:43:02,540 the plenitude and panoply of his own power. 566 00:43:02,540 --> 00:43:06,620 And that's why he built this amazing complex. 567 00:43:06,620 --> 00:43:10,900 The Medinat Al-Zahara, the dazzling palace. 568 00:43:10,900 --> 00:43:13,260 And it really does dazzle. 569 00:43:13,260 --> 00:43:17,660 This was political headquarters, military command centre, 570 00:43:17,660 --> 00:43:21,700 spectacular showpiece and pleasure palace. 571 00:43:27,300 --> 00:43:30,660 The palace wasn't only intimidating to those inside. 572 00:43:30,660 --> 00:43:34,500 It commanded views for miles around along the river valley. 573 00:43:35,980 --> 00:43:40,780 The ideal majestic fortress for a vigilant, paranoid monarch 574 00:43:40,780 --> 00:43:42,140 like Abd Al-Rahman. 575 00:43:44,420 --> 00:43:51,060 At heart, this man was a ferocious and thin-skinned tyrant. 576 00:43:51,060 --> 00:43:55,100 He was stout, blonde, stunted, 577 00:43:55,100 --> 00:43:59,700 and his legs were so short, that he had to have special stirrups made. 578 00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:02,500 And he didn't take kindly to rejection. 579 00:44:02,500 --> 00:44:07,660 He kept two harems here, one of boys and one of girls. 580 00:44:07,660 --> 00:44:12,100 When a girl resisted his advances, he had her face burnt off. 581 00:44:12,100 --> 00:44:15,380 When a boy did the same, he was dismembered. 582 00:44:15,380 --> 00:44:19,580 He was Pelagius of Cordoba, who was later canonised. 583 00:44:19,580 --> 00:44:25,380 And somewhere here in this palace he kept a menagerie, a zoo of lions. 584 00:44:25,380 --> 00:44:28,220 And if he didn't like you, he fed you to them. 585 00:44:39,500 --> 00:44:42,140 The hanging gardens were legendary. 586 00:44:42,140 --> 00:44:45,380 Water for the sunken pools was pumped all the way 587 00:44:45,380 --> 00:44:47,300 from the Guadalquivir river. 588 00:44:47,300 --> 00:44:52,900 These waterways even supplied one of the world's first water closets. 589 00:44:52,900 --> 00:44:56,740 Here in an obscure corner of the Medinat Al-Zahara 590 00:44:56,740 --> 00:45:01,300 is an impressive piece of modern Arab technology. 591 00:45:01,300 --> 00:45:03,060 It's down here. 592 00:45:03,060 --> 00:45:04,900 Now let me show you this. 593 00:45:04,900 --> 00:45:08,420 This is an early, rather primitive bidet. 594 00:45:08,420 --> 00:45:11,100 You can see there's running water. 595 00:45:11,100 --> 00:45:14,900 What we're looking at here is in fact one of the first examples 596 00:45:14,900 --> 00:45:17,180 of a European flushing lavatory. 597 00:45:18,700 --> 00:45:24,820 The courtiers of the Caliph lived here in comfort and hygiene at a time 598 00:45:24,820 --> 00:45:30,700 when Londoners and Parisians were mired in a miasma of stinking filth. 599 00:45:36,180 --> 00:45:39,940 The complex was sacked in the early part of the 11th century, 600 00:45:39,940 --> 00:45:43,700 so completely, that for many centuries, people doubted 601 00:45:43,700 --> 00:45:46,660 that the Medinat Al-Zahara had ever existed. 602 00:45:46,660 --> 00:45:49,420 It was only rediscovered in 1911. 603 00:45:49,420 --> 00:45:53,420 And Abd Al-Rahman's buried secrets are still being revealed 604 00:45:53,420 --> 00:45:55,060 to the modern world. 605 00:45:55,060 --> 00:45:58,900 It's said that he named it after his favourite concubine 606 00:45:58,900 --> 00:46:02,180 but he doesn't really strike me as much of a romantic. 607 00:46:02,180 --> 00:46:04,820 Besides, he wasn't spoilt for choice. 608 00:46:04,820 --> 00:46:08,180 He had 6,000 girls here in his harem. 609 00:46:18,780 --> 00:46:22,740 Historian Simon Barton has written a book about the practice 610 00:46:22,740 --> 00:46:25,300 of taking concubines. 611 00:46:25,300 --> 00:46:29,340 It was all about good looks and apparently it was said 612 00:46:29,340 --> 00:46:32,860 that the Umayyad Caliphs were predisposed by nature 613 00:46:32,860 --> 00:46:34,060 to prefer blondes. 614 00:46:34,060 --> 00:46:36,700 Now that's interesting. Where did these blondes come from? 615 00:46:36,700 --> 00:46:41,340 There were markets in Northern France, in the Mediterranean. 616 00:46:41,340 --> 00:46:45,380 We have Muslim slave merchants but also Jews heavily involved 617 00:46:45,380 --> 00:46:49,900 in trafficking, particularly women and children across Europe. 618 00:46:49,900 --> 00:46:52,060 And if one of these concubines, 619 00:46:52,060 --> 00:46:54,780 who had been bought as powerless slaves, 620 00:46:54,780 --> 00:46:58,660 became the mother of a future monarch, a future caliph, 621 00:46:58,660 --> 00:47:01,180 they could become vastly powerful. 622 00:47:01,180 --> 00:47:02,660 That's absolutely true. 623 00:47:02,660 --> 00:47:06,780 In fact, all the emirs and caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty 624 00:47:06,780 --> 00:47:09,420 were born to slave concubines. 625 00:47:09,420 --> 00:47:12,980 And they were said to have likewise blonde hair, blue eyes. 626 00:47:12,980 --> 00:47:17,060 The advantage of a concubine is that it functions 627 00:47:17,060 --> 00:47:19,580 as a dynastic defence mechanism. 628 00:47:19,580 --> 00:47:24,260 It means that unlike a wife's family, which can get involved 629 00:47:24,260 --> 00:47:28,340 in the politics of a dynasty, the concubine as a slave 630 00:47:28,340 --> 00:47:33,980 who's been uprooted from her home land, will have no vested interest 631 00:47:33,980 --> 00:47:36,100 in the dynasty itself. 632 00:47:36,100 --> 00:47:39,060 It was a way of keeping the dynasty secure. 633 00:47:39,060 --> 00:47:43,180 So, actually, it's much more about power than sex? Absolutely. 634 00:47:49,940 --> 00:47:52,940 The system required a strong Caliph at the top. 635 00:47:54,740 --> 00:47:58,060 And when the rules were broken, the Caliphate fell apart. 636 00:48:12,380 --> 00:48:17,180 In 976, the succession of a child, Caliph Hisham II, 637 00:48:17,180 --> 00:48:18,900 revealed its fragility. 638 00:48:18,900 --> 00:48:22,700 He was still a boy growing up under the tutelage of his mother, 639 00:48:22,700 --> 00:48:24,580 Subh, a former concubine. 640 00:48:26,220 --> 00:48:28,660 She sidelined Hisham, her own son, 641 00:48:28,660 --> 00:48:34,140 and opened the doors of power to forces outside the Umayyad dynasty. 642 00:48:34,140 --> 00:48:39,740 She appointed her new lover as Grand Vizier, prime minister. 643 00:48:39,740 --> 00:48:43,100 His name was Al-Mansur, the Victorious, 644 00:48:43,100 --> 00:48:45,740 and he was one of the most brilliant, ruthless 645 00:48:45,740 --> 00:48:48,700 and extraordinary characters of the entire Caliphate. 646 00:48:48,700 --> 00:48:53,260 He launched 57 raids of holy war against the Christian North, 647 00:48:53,260 --> 00:48:55,700 burning and pillaging and looting. 648 00:48:55,700 --> 00:49:00,820 Here in Cordoba, he burned the civilised cultured libraries 649 00:49:00,820 --> 00:49:03,060 of the Umayyad Caliphs before him. 650 00:49:03,060 --> 00:49:06,780 In his raids in the North, he destroyed all he found 651 00:49:06,780 --> 00:49:10,940 in order to fund the building of mosques and palaces here. 652 00:49:10,940 --> 00:49:13,860 In 997, his raids reached their climax 653 00:49:13,860 --> 00:49:17,700 when he sacked Santiago de Compostela. 654 00:49:17,700 --> 00:49:21,500 The doors and the bells of its churches were brought back 655 00:49:21,500 --> 00:49:25,900 in triumph to Cordoba, on the backs of Christian slaves. 656 00:49:32,220 --> 00:49:35,420 Ironically, Al-Mansur was too successful. 657 00:49:35,420 --> 00:49:39,940 His triumphs hollowed out and undermined the Caliphate. 658 00:49:44,220 --> 00:49:46,980 He promoted himself as a quasi-Caliph 659 00:49:46,980 --> 00:49:49,900 and founded his own semi-royal dynasty 660 00:49:49,900 --> 00:49:52,380 by marrying a Christian princess. 661 00:49:55,260 --> 00:49:59,100 Al-Mansur's sons lacked his irrepressible drive, 662 00:49:59,100 --> 00:50:01,460 his talent and his restraint. 663 00:50:01,460 --> 00:50:05,020 When they undermined the legitimacy of the Caliph, 664 00:50:05,020 --> 00:50:07,460 the regime disintegrated. 665 00:50:07,460 --> 00:50:11,660 First, he was succeeded by one son, then he was assassinated. 666 00:50:11,660 --> 00:50:16,220 But then came the preposterous popinjay Sanchuelo, 667 00:50:16,220 --> 00:50:18,940 who tried to make himself a Caliph. 668 00:50:18,940 --> 00:50:22,020 The entire kingdom fell apart. 669 00:50:22,020 --> 00:50:25,420 There died the glory of Al-Andalus. 670 00:50:29,980 --> 00:50:35,180 In 1031, 30 years after Al-Mansur's death, the Caliphate collapsed. 671 00:50:36,900 --> 00:50:39,860 Al-Andalus broke down into little city states, 672 00:50:39,860 --> 00:50:43,540 ruled by their princes, like medieval barons in the West. 673 00:50:46,900 --> 00:50:51,020 The Great Mosque of Cordoba, built by the first Abd Al-Rahman 674 00:50:51,020 --> 00:50:54,780 and expanded by Al-Mansur, still exists. 675 00:50:54,780 --> 00:50:58,100 We can still admire its scale and beauty. 676 00:51:02,980 --> 00:51:06,260 When it later fell to the Christians, they didn't destroy it. 677 00:51:06,260 --> 00:51:08,900 They built a cathedral amidst the Mezquita. 678 00:51:18,220 --> 00:51:23,140 Even today, people in Cordoba talk of going to mass in the Mosque. 679 00:51:37,620 --> 00:51:41,060 I'm travelling to Granada now for my last stop. 680 00:51:45,300 --> 00:51:49,340 I'm following the story of one man, who despite not being a Muslim, 681 00:51:49,340 --> 00:51:53,380 rose to the top in 11th-century Islamic Spain. 682 00:51:53,380 --> 00:51:55,460 And who did so at a moment 683 00:51:55,460 --> 00:51:59,300 when Islamic Spain itself was in the grip of change. 684 00:52:03,340 --> 00:52:07,420 The city of Granada owes its name to both its Jewish and Muslim roots. 685 00:52:08,780 --> 00:52:12,300 The Jews called it the City of Pomegranates. 686 00:52:12,300 --> 00:52:15,300 And the Arab word for pomegranate is gr'nata. 687 00:52:23,500 --> 00:52:27,220 The Emirate of Granada was one of the smaller principalities 688 00:52:27,220 --> 00:52:29,940 that came after the Caliphate. 689 00:52:29,940 --> 00:52:34,140 This, its most celebrated attraction, is part of its later history. 690 00:52:37,140 --> 00:52:39,900 I'll be coming back here in the next episode. 691 00:52:41,940 --> 00:52:44,300 To explore its splendour 692 00:52:44,300 --> 00:52:47,020 and see some of its lesser-known gems. 693 00:52:49,820 --> 00:52:55,660 This amazing building is now famous as the Alhambra Palace of Granada. 694 00:52:55,660 --> 00:53:00,180 But 300 years before it was built, this was the site of the palace 695 00:53:00,180 --> 00:53:04,980 of one of the most extraordinary Jewish leaders in Spanish history 696 00:53:04,980 --> 00:53:07,420 and in fact, one of the most extraordinary statesmen 697 00:53:07,420 --> 00:53:10,260 in all of the peninsula's story. 698 00:53:10,260 --> 00:53:13,020 His name was Samuel Ibn Naghrillah. 699 00:53:13,020 --> 00:53:16,460 He started off as a spice merchant in Cordoba. 700 00:53:16,460 --> 00:53:21,260 He moved here and became the advisor to the Berber rulers 701 00:53:21,260 --> 00:53:24,300 of the principality of Granada. 702 00:53:24,300 --> 00:53:27,460 When he backed the right candidate for the throne, 703 00:53:27,460 --> 00:53:30,700 Samuel became not only the leader of the Jewish Community 704 00:53:30,700 --> 00:53:33,340 but the Grand Vizier, the prime minister, 705 00:53:33,340 --> 00:53:37,180 and the Commander in Chief of the Granadan army. 706 00:53:37,180 --> 00:53:40,460 In war, he commanded and won victories. 707 00:53:40,460 --> 00:53:43,380 In peace, he was leader of the Jewish community, 708 00:53:43,380 --> 00:53:45,940 he wrote works of Jewish philosophy, 709 00:53:45,940 --> 00:53:50,180 he was a rabbi, and above all, he was a poet. 710 00:53:50,180 --> 00:53:53,580 His poetry is astonishing even in English translation. 711 00:53:53,580 --> 00:53:57,100 But he wrote in Hebrew and in Arabic. He wrote love poems. 712 00:53:57,100 --> 00:54:00,740 Love poems to beautiful girls, to wine, 713 00:54:00,740 --> 00:54:05,100 to boys and to the excitement of victory in war. 714 00:54:10,340 --> 00:54:14,100 Here in Granada, a group of Naghrillah enthusiasts 715 00:54:14,100 --> 00:54:16,140 are gathering to hear some of his poetry. 716 00:55:08,580 --> 00:55:11,740 In this poem, Naghrillah describes how wisdom 717 00:55:11,740 --> 00:55:14,500 comes from the knowledge we're not here forever. 718 00:55:41,340 --> 00:55:44,260 In 1056, Samuel Naghrillah died 719 00:55:44,260 --> 00:55:48,940 but he was succeeded by his son Joseph as Grand Vizier of Granada. 720 00:55:48,940 --> 00:55:52,140 Joseph was only 20 but he can't have been a fool 721 00:55:52,140 --> 00:55:54,540 because he ruled for ten years. 722 00:55:54,540 --> 00:55:57,500 It was quite traditional for Grand Viziers to be succeeded 723 00:55:57,500 --> 00:56:01,260 by their sons and even to found little mini-dynasties. 724 00:56:01,260 --> 00:56:04,740 But there was a problem. The Naghrillahs were Jews. 725 00:56:12,500 --> 00:56:16,500 Now this Jewish potentate seemed an enemy within 726 00:56:16,500 --> 00:56:18,740 from a dynasty of interlopers. 727 00:56:28,220 --> 00:56:32,500 In 1066, a date as resonant for the Jews of Granada 728 00:56:32,500 --> 00:56:38,100 as it was for King Harold, the Saxon King of England, something snapped. 729 00:56:38,100 --> 00:56:43,100 A mob came to Joseph's palace, close to the Alhambra, and dragged him out. 730 00:56:43,100 --> 00:56:46,380 They chased him through the streets. He was unable to escape. 731 00:56:50,420 --> 00:56:54,340 When the mob finally caught up with Joseph Naghrillah, it was right here. 732 00:56:54,340 --> 00:56:57,420 They lynched him and then went on a killing spree, 733 00:56:57,420 --> 00:57:00,140 massacring 4,000 Jews. 734 00:57:00,140 --> 00:57:02,740 As for Joseph, they crucified him 735 00:57:02,740 --> 00:57:05,780 right here beside this magnificent city gate. 736 00:57:12,900 --> 00:57:16,620 The crucifixion of Joseph Naghrillah in Granada marked 737 00:57:16,620 --> 00:57:20,500 the beginning of the end of religious pluralism in Muslim Spain. 738 00:57:22,660 --> 00:57:25,700 The Naghrillahs were not the first Jewish Grand Viziers 739 00:57:25,700 --> 00:57:27,500 in the Islamic world. 740 00:57:27,500 --> 00:57:29,620 Yet the confidence of the Caliphate, 741 00:57:29,620 --> 00:57:32,900 necessary for such broad-mindedness, was past. 742 00:57:32,900 --> 00:57:37,700 Over 400 years, Spain would tear itself apart. 743 00:57:43,180 --> 00:57:47,420 Next time, how the Christian Kings of the North struck back, 744 00:57:47,420 --> 00:57:50,620 conquering all of Spain for the cross. 745 00:57:50,620 --> 00:57:54,740 How Spain purified its blood in a vicious Inquisition, 746 00:57:54,740 --> 00:57:58,340 catching even some of my own family in its net. 747 00:57:59,780 --> 00:58:03,180 Oh, my God! So this is his death sentence? 748 00:58:03,180 --> 00:58:05,100 It's just heartbreaking. 749 00:58:05,100 --> 00:58:08,140 And how Christopher Columbus set sail 750 00:58:08,140 --> 00:58:10,500 to discover a rich American empire. 751 00:58:17,700 --> 00:58:19,940 If this story has inspired you 752 00:58:19,940 --> 00:58:22,180 and you'd like to find out more, 753 00:58:22,180 --> 00:58:25,060 go to the address given on screen 754 00:58:25,060 --> 00:58:27,660 and follow the links to The Open University.