Original subtitles

Throughout the ages, there have been whispers

of those who see beyond the veil of time,

visions of doom, warnings from the unknown,

and messages from the divine.

Harriet Tubman claims visions and messages from God

give her the strength not only to liberate herself

from the bondage of slavery,

but also to lead enslaved people to freedom

by way of the Underground Railroad.

For India's state of Kerala,

a bizarre phenomenon unfolds.

The heavens weep blood,

leaving scientists scratching their heads

and believers searching for a divine explanation.

It would be astonishing, right?

Like it would be the kind of thing

that freezes you in your tracks.

The Temple of Apollo at Didyma

is second only to Delphi

and considered one of the most important oracular sites

in the world.

We see big characters in the Roman Empire coming to Didyma

to enjoy Didyma for what it is,

but also to commune with that sort of greatness

that Alexander the Great imparted on it.

What lies behind these visions?

Is there a rational answer?

Or do forces less tangible offer us the gift of prophecy?

In the 19th century, America is a deeply divided nation.

Slavery is an entrenched institution

dating back hundreds of years,

with generations upon generations

of Black people's lives fraught

with poverty, violence, and hardship

with many never knowing the prospect of freedom.

Although the United States was founded

as the "land of the free," not everybody was free,

particularly in the Southern states of the United States,

where the institution of slavery endured,

and that was the enslavement

of African Americans on plantations,

where they worked under brutal conditions

with absolutely no human rights.

From this oppressive shadow,

a woman by the name of Harriet Tubman emerges

as a beacon of light.

Harriet Tubman was an extremely religious,

passionately religious figure.

She was often referred to as Moses

as a result of her ability

to lead enslaved individuals to freedom.

And her fervent devotion is really what was said

to be the source of not only her courage and conviction,

but a sense of prophecy.

She was somebody who experienced a traumatic brain injury

that led her to have visions.

Her work in social justice

and leading raids in the Civil Rights Movement,

all of these things were a very deep connection

between personal trauma, spirituality,

and a belief that she could change the future.

How did Harriet Tubman realize

her seemingly supernatural capabilities?

And how did they thrust her

into a life of unwavering service?

Harriet is born in 1822 to enslaved parents

and also grows up enslaved.

Harriet was being forced

to essentially operate as a nursemaid

for her enslaver's baby.

And, if she made noise or disobeyed,

she would be brutally beaten by this woman.

Through lack of education,

people actually really don't have an understanding

of what the life of someone who was enslaved was like.

It was horrifying.

But it's an incident in her early teens

that changes Harriet's life and destiny forever,

when she witnesses

another enslaved individual attempt an escape.

Unfortunately, an overseer watches the event unfold as well,

and hurls a two-pound weight into the open,

perhaps to thwart this bolt for freedom

or to injure the compliant bystander.

In any case, the weight hits Harriet in the head

and cracks her skull.

And for the rest of her life,

endures fits and terrible pain as a result of this injury.

It's unknown how this injury and the subsequent symptoms

affected her relationship with her enslaver.

Were there additional punishment

because of her decreased productivity,

or did her family and fellow enslaved people help her

and protect her from the wrath of a cruel enslaver?

During sleep episodes,

Harriet experiences visions and vivid dreams

that she believes is divine messaging from God.

She describes hearing angels sing

and prophetic voices speaking in a strange language.

And when Harriet emerges from the dreamworld,

she experiences sudden outbursts

of passionate religious praise.

There's a very famous story in psychology

about a character named Phineas Gage,

who was working on the railroad

and was tapping down these gunpowder things

using a metal rod.

And at one point, it ignites the gunpowder

and shoots the rod through his frontal lobes,

through the front part of his brain.

He survives. He's okay.

He can even go back to work.

But his personality is completely different.

That could be similar to what happened to Harriet.

That area of the frontal lobes is the same sort of area

where we have a lot of sort of control,

what we call executive control functions over us,

and we kind of watch how we behave,

and we don't say certain things to certain people.

But if that area becomes damaged,

we tend to become less inhibited, more chaotic.

And this is probably the kind of thing we saw with Harriet.

One of the great influences on Harriet

is something called "the Second Great Awakening"

this is a kind of protestant revivalist movement

that sweeps across the United States.

Not only white communities,

but also Black communities as well.

And Harriet Tubman is very much swept up in this.

It's a charismatic movement,

an explosion of spirituality that sweeps people along.

And Harriet becomes one of those who is truly inspired.

For Black Americans, there's this,

you know, strong desire, of course, for freedom.

And part of this religious fervor

becomes associated with that.

And that's kind of guiding her religious conviction

but also her dreams and her visions.

But before Harriet can rescue others,

she must embark on the dangerous journey of freeing herself.

The death of Harriet's enslaver

opens a window of opportunity for her.

His death means that a number of the enslaved will be sold,

and perhaps those other enslavers may be harsher.

Harriet knows she can no longer live

bound by the chains of oppression

and is determined to take control of her fate.

It's a perilous decision.

If caught, she risks being sold

into the states of the Deep South.

In 1849, Harriet steals away

under the cover of darkness,

using the North Star and a covert group of allies

that make up what is known as the Underground Railroad,

a coalition of abolitionists

helping to plot the escape plans of the enslaved.

But this is kind of, a misleading description

because you picture something underground

and you picture a railroad, and it's neither.

It's, if you want, a route for slaves to take.

Escape routes are called "lines".

Safe houses are known as "stations",

and those helping along the way are "conductors".

Escaping slaves were discreetly

called "packages" or "freight".

What we're talking about is a network of people

who are there to help runaway slaves escape to safe places

in the North and Canada,

and they did it by providing safe haven for them

as they're traveling, food,

giving them directions to next safe places,

but also protecting them from local scrutiny.

After a harrowing journey,

Harriet crosses the border

into the neighboring Free State of Pennsylvania

and settles in Philadelphia.

So this is a very powerful moment for Harriet.

She later would describe it as a moment of glory,

like being in heaven.

Philadelphia hosts a large population

of free Blacks and those seeking freedom from the South.

Tubman's now in Philadelphia. What does she do?

Well, she wants to work

because she wants to bring her family to freedom.

She's working in domestic work.

This is all to bring her family with her.

It's in Philadelphia

where Harriet acquaints herself

with prominent Black businessman

and abolitionist William Still,

who recruits Harriet as a conductor.

And it's not clear when exactly this happens,

but they meet,

and at some point they start working together.

When Harriet meets William,

she now finds a new purpose for her,

a purpose that she thinks she was born to do.

Within a year of her arrival,

everything is about to dramatically change.

In September of 1850,

Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act.

The act requires that slaves be returned to their owners,

even if they are in a free state.

Now, this posed a serious threat

to Harriet Tubman and other escaped slaves in the North,

because it said that even in a free state,

any slave had to be repatriated,

returned to their previous owner.

Harriet is not only a brave and devout woman,

but a quite righteous and moral woman

who felt that it was her divine mission

once she had freed herself to also free others.

Harriet Tubman relies

on her vast network of sources

to help her guide others to safety

but none more important than her faith

and belief in her unseen protector.

We know from Harriet Tubman's account

of her time as a conductor that she felt over and over again

that she had not only a divine responsibility,

but that God was protecting her.

And one example is when,

during one of these very dangerous journeys,

they arrive at what's supposed to be a safe house,

only to discover that it had been compromised.

They are greeted by an unfamiliar man who's standing there.

He said, "It's too late.

They've discovered this safe house.

You are not safe here anymore."

She realized that they had to escape

because there were already a search party out for them.

So what does she do?

She looks around and she leads her group

into a very potentially dangerous situation.

They're going into a marsh, and it's starting to rain.

And it's raining very, very hard.

And they have to wait until they think it's safe.

This is potentially catastrophic

for Harriet and those under her protection.

Once day breaks,

the patrollers will be combing the area for fugitives.

And it's while they're out there overnight for hours

that she eventually hears a voice

coming from a near distance

but that says there is a wagon nearby

in a farm not far away.

And it's at this point

that she realizes this is perhaps God talking to her.

For her, visions and premonitions,

which often proved crucial

in navigating perilous situations,

are personal messages from God.

Harriet helps dozens of slaves to freedom,

a mission that she believes

will one day result in the liberation of all.

In January of 1863, Abraham Lincoln officially issues

the Proclamation of Emancipation,

which declares that persons held as slaves

in the Confederacy shall be free.

And there was rejoicing

and jubilation amongst all the abolitionists of the North

and amongst all the former slaves.

And when Harriet reacted rather,

you know, nonchalantly to the news, she was asked,

"Why aren't you so excited?

This is what we've been working towards for so long."

And Harriet said, "I did my celebrating years ago."

She apparently had a vision, a dream during the night,

which spelled out exactly

how all of the slaves would be emancipated,

and she woke up incredibly happy.

She came downstairs in the morning

and she was singing to herself

and telling everybody around what she had seen.

As she gets older,

her premonitions and episodes continue,

and begin to correlate with great disasters.

In January of 1884, she has a particularly harrowing dream.

She has a dream about fire and destruction,

and what happens is that a steam ship goes down

in Martha's Vineyard.

What would be the significance

of her specifically having an understanding

of Martha's Vineyard?

On January 18th, 1884,

the steamer ship City of Columbus

runs aground during a storm in Martha's Vineyard.

Over 100 people died in the wreck.

In another vision, she sees the earth cracking open

and houses and people falling in.

And on September 7th, 1882,

an earthquake and subsequent tsunami hits Panama.

The biggest such disaster in Panamanian history.

And this leads to her having a reputation

not only as a liberator of slaves but also as a prophetess.

Few can explain Harriet's prescient visions,

though after the war her power gains recognition

both locally and nationally.

Her bouts of religious fervor aren't limited

to what she sees and dreams.

She's known for shouting and rejoicing in the streets,

often inviting others to join her.

While the faithful and devout

see her gift as truly divine,

some were less certain as to the root of her power.

Harriet Tubman's visions and gift of prophecy

really comes from whether or not people believe individuals

have the right to contact and connection with God.

There can be this sort

of very traditional Christian perspective,

that it's sort of akin to witchcraft

and if that is something that is held in a negative light,

it makes sense why people would be uncomfortable

with that aspect of her journey.

And, yet, she did so much good.

Even through a medical lens,

consensus is difficult.

Some have suggested that it may have been the result

of temporal lobe epilepsy,

as a result of being attacked when she was young.

Hallucinations of various sorts,

driven by just activation of the brain,

the temporal lobe driving what's called the occipital lobe,

which is where our visual system works.

So it's sort of hyperactivates that

producing all these images that can be quick,

they can be vivid,

and they can be very emotionally compelling.

Are these visions more extreme

if somebody is experiencing narcolepsy

or just the brain damage she has?

Perhaps. Perhaps it's just dreams.

Throughout the 1850s and early '60s,

Harriet Tubman makes 13 daring trips

along the Underground Railroad,

guiding about 70 enslaved to freedom,

among them at least three of her brothers,

their wives, and children.

Harriet's faith really provides her with the strength

to continue in the face of unspeakable danger,

and this same faith is also a source of inspiration

for others and embodies this sense of purpose

for those around her.

I think Harriet and her wisdom is connected

to one of the deepest truths

that we find within Black womanhood, which is the idea

that we are pillars of strength within our communities

and, oftentimes, are keepers,

keepers of the communities

and safe keepers of the community.

Was Harriet's life mission divinely reinforced?

Though the answer may never be known,

her conviction reveals the profound ways

in which faith can shape the human experience.

This meeting of the mystical and practical,

heavenly and earthly,

appears yet again halfway around the world,

when an ominous event changes a nation's understanding

of nature itself.

In 2001, amid the annual monsoon,

the lush tropical state of Kerala

on India's southwestern coast awaits its annual renewal.

Dark clouds gather on the horizon,

promising the life-giving rains

that have shaped the region's culture

and agriculture for millennia.

The monsoon is a really important season in Kerala,

and it's deeply ingrained both in the agricultural calendar

but also in its kind of cultural fabric.

For farmers, these rains are crucial,

providing nearly 70% of the state's annual rainfall.

All farmers and people connected to agriculture

know the importance of rain.

It is probably the single most important signifier

of the farming season that exists.

For anyone, really anyone who is growing anything,

when the rains come

that is the moment when the season can begin.

But this year,

as the skies open and rain falls across the region,

a macabre spectacle will soon unfold.

The rain that splashes

onto leaves, buildings, and bewildered onlookers

is not the clear liquid they expect.

Instead, it falls in ominous shades of red,

the streets of Kerala's towns and villages

taking on an apocalyptic hue.

When the rain falls blood red,

it turns a familiar natural cycle

into something both fascinating and unsettling.

As the crimson deluge falls from the sky,

many turn to ancient texts and prophecies for explanation.

The Book of Revelations,

the last book in the New Testament,

has visions of the End of Days.

In Revelations, there are two witnesses

who were able to turn water into blood,

and so some interpret the blood of rain

as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Kerala becomes the epicenter

of a global mystery.

The once-verdant paradise now drips with gore,

drawing scientists, religious leaders,

and morbidly fascinated onlookers seeking

to understand the nature of this biblical-seeming event.

Is this a divine warning, nature's twisted joke,

or a harbinger of something more malevolent

lurking just beyond our comprehension?

When scarlet drops initially fall from the skies,

a collaborative team of scientists ponder a cosmic culprit:

dust from an earth-bound meteor.

Yet before long, this theory is rejected.

As researchers search for more convincing clues,

a primal fear begins to grip the region.

When something unnatural happens, like raining blood,

the suggestion is there's some force out there

that is not happy right now.

There is something that is not aligned,

that is not the way it's supposed to be.

And that portends some, some very scary times ahead.

Even in our modern era

of scientific understanding,

the sight of blood can evoke powerful emotional responses.

When you witness events like this,

we can retrospectively offer all kinds of explanations,

but when you're in the moment of them,

you do get frozen in this moment of the uninterpretable.

The impact can extend

beyond individual psychology

to shape collective behavior and decision making.

When the people of Kerala are gathering

for their ritual of renewal around the monsoon rains,

they have certain expectations.

And it's the meeting of those expectations

that kind of keep the culture moving.

We can imagine ourselves going to a festival

or just anticipating the rainy season starting,

a time of rain coming down

and providing renewal and rebirth and growth.

But instead the rain is red. It's a rain of blood.

Throughout history, the skies have wept

in a spectrum of strange hues.

Blood rain or red rain is not unique to Kerala.

Throughout history, there have been instances

of colored rain occurring throughout the globe.

On a spring morning in 1876,

a farm near Olympia Springs, Kentucky

becomes the site of one of the most bizarre phenomena

in American history.

The so-called Kentucky Meat Shower

is one of the most disturbing natural events ever recorded.

On March 3rd, 1876, Mrs. Crouch was making soap in her yard

when suddenly chunks of blood and raw meat

begin falling from the cloudless sky.

Described as a shower of flesh and blood,

it lasts only a few minutes but leaves an area

of about 100 yards by 50 yards covered in pieces of flesh.

The startling event

quickly captures the public imagination

and scientists' attention across the country.

Meat the size of anything from little flakes

to four-inch filets.

Some brave locals even tasted the raining meat,

comparing it to venison, mutton, and bear.

As news of the Kentucky Meat Shower spreads,

theories about its cause begin to proliferate.

They kind of run the gamut here,

where some are theorizing

that there's a scientific explanation for this.

One that's put forward is a cyanobacteria,

which is quickly discredited.

Some claim that it's some sort of meat-bearing meteor.

And others claim that this is a sign of God,

or some sort of magical occurrence.

The timing of the event

adds to its perceived significance

occurring just one decade after the American Civil War.

For many, it's an ominous signal of upheaval yet to come.

People have this habit

as they tell stories to one another, to kind of up the game,

to make the story a little more dramatic,

and adding the meat makes it more dramatic,

and then adding the fact that people were eating the meat

adds this whole inconceivable level to it

that would make that a story that would spread quickly.

It has a lot of emotional punch,

and my suspicion is that this tells us more

about the dynamics of sort of social storytelling

than it does about the reality of what happened on that day.

Samples of the meat were preserved

and examined by several scientists.

The most plausible explanation came from a local scientist

who declared it to be a coordinated bout

of projectile vulture vomit from the birds flying overhead.

"The Iliad" offers a glimpse

into the ancient Greek worldview,

where the gods themselves

would manipulate the very fabric of nature.

In Book 11, Homer describes Zeus, the king of the gods,

as sending a rain of blood upon the earth.

It's been suggested that this represents Zeus's grief

over the impending death of his son Sarpedon,

but it also represents how the Greeks viewed blood rains

as a manifestation of the gods, of their emotions,

of their intervention,

and it was seen as a sign, a celestial signal.

Similar accounts of blood rain appear

in other ancient texts and cultures,

often interpreted as portents of disaster

or signs of divine displeasure.

For example, in the Irish chronicle,

"The Chronicum Scotorum",

there's a blood rain recorded for the year 878.

Blood rains were often interpreted as a bad omen.

They also sometimes were associated with the druids,

who people believed had the power to call on such things.

We know that for some people this was seen as reverence,

as gods looking down on you and saying,

"Ah, yes, you are a warrior. This is my blood," perhaps.

The blood of Christ

has also always been something very significant.

Starting in the 17th century,

explanations begin to shift towards environmental causes,

reflecting a broader evolution

in human understanding of natural phenomena.

As we start to understand more

about kind of global weather patterns

and atmospheric conditions, as well as algae and bacteria,

there's a growing understanding

of what these types of blood rains really could be.

The Kerala blood rain

represents the culmination of this shift,

with advanced scientific methods

providing more definitive explanations.

Analyzing particulate matter beneath powerful microscopes,

researchers draw on the collaborative efforts

of meteorologists, microbiologists, and geneticists.

But the scientific community remains divided.

After years of speculation, a breakthrough comes in 2015,

when a team of Indian and Austrian scientists

make a startling discovery.

As it turns out, analysis of the blood rain revealed

that there's a green algae within a lot of that rain

that produced these red spores,

and it was the red spores

that caused the rain to have that blood-like quality.

The study confirmed that the color red

could be attributed to a micro green algae

known as Trentepohlia annulata.

This algae had never before

been documented in India.

So the discovery raises new questions

about how these algal spores ended up in the Kerala rain.

How did an algae, previously seen predominantly in Europe,

end up thousands of kilometers away in southern India?

This is what sparked investigators' curiosity.

The research reveals that the DNA sequence

of the Trentepohlia annulata found in Kerala

had very little difference from its Austrian counterpart,

which suggests recent introduction of the species to India.

The study proposes a mechanism

called "clouds over oceans dispersal"

where algal spores are carried by wind into clouds,

which then drift across vast distances.

The intercontinental dispersal of microorganisms

is not necessarily a new theorization,

but it has implications for understanding cases

like the blood rains of Kerala.

Even in modern times,

religious interpretations of blood rain

persist along scientific explanations.

While scientists have provided evidence

that suggests there's a natural basis for these blood rains,

some people still believe

that perhaps there's spiritual significance as well.

With something like blood pouring from the sky,

we've had stories about apocalypses

for as long as we've had stories.

So human beings are kind of like culturally tuned

to large-scale emergency.

However, not all religious interpretations

view it as a harbinger of doom.

Normally, blood rains in sources

carry negative connotations such as bad omens.

That's not always the case.

Sometimes they are seen as representative of power.

So, for example, in the medieval source,

"The Chronicle of William of Newburgh,"

a blood rain drenched Richard the Lionheart,

and this was seen as evidence of his power and his resolve,

rather than anything negative.

The ruby rains of Kerala

have become a source of fascination,

and mark perhaps one of the most memorable monsoon seasons

in the region.

While scientific research has diminished

some of the mystery surrounding blood rain,

it hasn't changed its cultural significance,

and blood rain remains at the intersection

between cultural belief and scientific understanding.

While Kerala witnessed a startling spectacle,

the oracle of Didyma offered a different kind of vision,

one that both fascinated and frightened the ancient world.

The ancient Greek sanctuary of Didyma,

nestled on the western coast of modern-day Turkey,

was once home to one of the most revered oracles

of the ancient world.

For centuries, pilgrims and rulers alike

journeyed to the sacred site

seeking divine guidance and glimpses into the future.

Located near Miletus in modern-day Turkey,

it's home to a renowned sanctuary and temple

dedicated to Greek god Apollo.

The site's history predates Greek colonization.

The Temple of Apollo at Didyma was one of the largest

and most significant temples in the Hellenistic world.

Its layout is unique and grandiose,

designed to create a sense of mystery and awe

to those who visit.

The temple stands on a high podium

with seven steps

and is surrounded by at least 120 massive columns

and has unique characteristics

that set it apart from the other oracle sites.

Unlike most typical Greek temples,

the inner chamber of the building

was actually open to the sky.

The adyton, which was the oracle room,

was accessed by two long tunnels.

At its heart was a spring,

and it was believed that if someone drank from it,

they would receive prophecies and visions of the future.

The spring is central

to the oracle's mythology,

with some claiming it to be the spot

where Zeus had seduced the titan Leto.

Zeus is known as the King of the gods,

the ruler of Olympus,

and a god who was engaged with numerous women,

much to the anger of his wife, Queen Hera.

Her husband, Zeus, was drawn to Leto, the titan goddess.

Their affair results in the birth

of twins, Artemis, and Apollo,

who are two of the most powerful and revered gods.

Apollo, who is often imagined as this force in motion,

right, driving his chariot,

is associated with a lot of elements of culture:

music, poetry, but particularly storytelling and prophecy.

Apollo communicates through the oracles

at the famous Temple of Delphi, but also at Didyma.

A question was posed to the oracle

in the form of a letter.

The priest would descend into the oracle

and converse with Apollo, emerging with the answer.

The role of prognosticators

in this oracle-organized culture

was these were people who were trusted

to have the skills

and what we might call the literacy,

to be able to read,

you know, elements of the present,

truths that are, you know, around us in the moment

and weave them into narratives

that give us a sense of what we can expect.

The Oracle of Didyma plays a crucial role

in ancient politics and decision-making.

City states and their leaders

often consult oracles before making important decisions,

such as declaring war, forming alliances,

or establishing new colonies.

They were also consulted to explain acts of nature

or occurrences that seemed beyond human control.

One such leader, Alexander the Great,

emerges around four centuries after Didyma's inception.

Alexander the Great is one of the most famous

and renowned leaders of the ancient world.

He was a son of Philip II of Macedon,

and he came to the throne at the young age of 20.

After that, however, he set his ambitions on doing something

that no one had been able to do before.

He managed to unite the entire Greek world,

all of these different city states

which had spent centuries warring against one another

under his control for the first time.

In 334 BCE, Alexander the Great embarks

on an ambitious campaign to conquer the Persian Empire.

So when Alexander decides

to take his army towards the Persian Empire,

it is a crazy decision.

The Achaemenid Empire is the largest,

most powerful empire of its day.

The resources that it possesses are vast.

If Alexander is to succeed, he doesn't just need luck.

He needs divine intervention.

At the time of Alexander the Great,

the Persian Empire is under the rule of King Darius III.

A figure who ascends the throne

after the previous two kings are assassinated.

Alexander wants to free Greek cities

along the Anatolian coast

and on the island of Cyprus that are under Persian control.

As he marches towards invading the heartland,

Alexander the Great moves along the Ionian coast

to the ancient city of Miletus

and its nearby sacred site, the Temple of Apollo at Didyma.

By the time Alexander reaches Didyma,

the temple is in ruins by the hands of the Persians.

When Alex visits Didyma, he actually consults the oracle,

and he's wondering if his claim to take over Persia

will be successful.

It is said that the answer

he receives from the oracle is

"Do not hurry back to Europe.

Asia will be much better for you."

Taking on the Persians is an incredibly risky move.

The Persian forces vastly outnumber the Greeks,

and although the Greeks

have had encounters with the Persians before,

such as at Thermopylae or Marathon,

they've never done it on Persian soil before.

But before leaving Didyma,

Alexander the Great orders the temple

to be restored to its former glory

after laying in ruins for almost two centuries

as a result of the Persian invasion two centuries before.

The temple of Apollo at Didyma

had been plundered and destroyed.

It was said that the sacred spring itself had dried up.

If Alexander could somehow restore this temple,

would it perhaps bring him the luck he needs

in order to defeat the Persians?

With the gods on his side,

Alexander and his army

of tens of thousands of soldiers march onward to Persia.

In just three years,

Alexander the Great actually had three major battles.

He took over modern-day Syria, Turkey, and Egypt.

And then he sets his sights on Darius.

According to accounts, Alexander's visits coincide

with the miraculous resurrection of Didyma's sacred spring.

This event is seen as a divine sign

of Apollo's favor towards Alexander.

Could his order to rejuvenate the site

perhaps have given him good luck?

Ancient people very much endorsed the notion

of what we call "animism,"

this feeling that nature wasn't just a set of processes,

that it might be alive,

and that there might be something beyond that

in the spiritual world, in the metaphysical world,

that actually had control of the events

that happened on the planet.

Alexander's endorsement of the site

leads to increased political

and religious significance for the oracle,

attracting pilgrims and rulers from all over.

Because of Alexander's success,

the oracle of Didyma becomes a place

where military rulers want to ascend to,

in order to take in its skills and expertise

and seek its guidance.

It also becomes known outside the Greek world

and is held in high regard across Ancient Rome,

further enhancing its prestige and influence.

With the springing of the water,

that gives Alexander the Great

some of that metaphysical mojo

that makes him probably as impressive as he is.

But in the same time, Alexander the Great embracing Didyma

gives it a mystique that others now want a part of.

Ambitious new construction

also begins in the temple

to not only restore it to its former grandeur,

but to expand into one of Greece's largest temples.

However, it won't be long before it suffers another blow.

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE,

the Greek world descends into disarray.

When we think about Alexander's legacy,

in many ways, it's culturally more significant

than the empire that he built to begin with.

When he dies at a very young age,

and we still don't know how he died,

we do know, though, he was suffering ill health before that,

what he left behind was a Hellenistic culture

that would continue to shape the Mediterranean world

from this time forward.

Around the year 278 BCE,

the Galatians, a Celtic tribe situated in the north,

seize on Greece's vulnerability

and raid various Greek cities and sites, including Didyma.

It's in this historical context that the Galatians,

on the northern border

of the former empire of Alexander the Great,

invade and pillage and generally loot many

of the Greek cities, including the Temple of Didyma.

The Galatians are defeated two years later,

and construction on the temple continues

early into the common era.

However, the rise in Christianity

sees the prominence and influence of oracles change.

In 303 CE, Roman Emperor Diocletian

consults the oracle at Didyma

about how to deal with the growing number of Christians.

In the early fourth century,

the Roman Empire was entering into a period of transition.

What had started as a small Jewish sect,

Christianity had now grown to sizable numbers

across the empire, and the growing numbers of Christians

had begun to threaten the existence

of the powerful imperial cult,

the religion of the Roman Empire.

Diocletian sees the Christian refusal

to worship the imperial cult as, quite frankly,

the end of the Roman Empire.

Emboldened by the oracle's message,

Diocletian escalates his actions and orders the destruction

of a major Christian church and its library,

which is followed by a series

of edicts stripping Christians of their rights.

Humans have human conflict

that gets in the way of spiritual importance.

And so here we have the Romans hating Christians

and the Christians having to face persecution.

And this entire conflict that happens

that just results in retaliation,

that has Didyma turned into a church.

And the real sad part about all of this

is that that beautiful spiritual place

that once provided leadership opportunities

and spiritual guidance to the people is now just in ruins.

Despite the savagery of the persecution,

it begins to wane.

Diocletian abdicates his throne in 305 CE,

paving the way for a new emperor, Galerius.

While Galerius had initially been a supporter

of the Diocletian persecutions,

he later has a change of heart on his deathbed

and issues the Edict of Toleration.

It represented a dramatic shift in Roman policy

towards the Christians.

Over the century that followed,

Christianity continued to spread

and grow in influence within the Roman Empire.

In fact, over time it would in fact become

the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Christian leaders portray oracles

as false prophets and having demonic influences,

discouraging their followers

from seeking guidance from these sources.

Eventually, the priests of the old imperial cult

are even arrested or executed,

perhaps in retribution for the persecutions

that Christians had experienced under Diocletian.

In the 7th century,

a major earthquake causes damage across the region,

but it's another in the 15th century

that spells the demise of the temple.

The second earthquake actually took a huge amount

of the land that once held Didyma,

but also the population that surrounded it.

The ruins remain in present-day Turkey

and serve as a reminder of the crucial role oracles played

in ancient times.

They were a vital link between the divine and mortal realm.

Their importance was deeply ingrained in Hellenistic culture

and formed an integral part

of the ancient Greeks' understanding of fate and free will.

The story and legacy of Alexander the Great

can't be truly understood without recognizing

the central importance

that the Temple of Apollo at Didyma played in that story.

Perhaps Alexander the Great is so great

because of his belief, not only in spirituality,

to guide him and to help create greatness,

but he believed in himself.

This obviously is a man who had tremendous ego

and tremendous belief that he could do these things.

I don't think it would have happened if he didn't.

But I think what Didyma did

is it gave him a sense of realness,

of acceptance of this idea that if he asked

and got the answer that he needed,

that everything that he wanted to do could happen.

And sometimes this belief that the gods are watching you

and that you have their support

and that you're doing your life's work,

I mean, that could make you be able to conquer

what we knew of the whole world at that moment, you know?

And so he conquered from Greece to India

and then even became a living god.

Alexander the Great's legacy is a reminder

that greatness often lies

at the intersection of human capability

and the intangible forces

that shape the beliefs and aspirations of people.

He not only conquered the known world

but captured the imagination of generations to come.

The oracle's prophecies guided military campaigns

and political decisions.

The oracle's response led to the conquering

of the Persian Empire and the Great Persecution,

which forever altered the course of Christianity.

From the halls of antiquity,

where empires sought their fate,

to the foreboding skies that delivered an omen,

and the visions of one woman who blazed a path to freedom,

these divine whispers echo across the centuries

mysterious, unexplained, and yet somehow lighting the way

when all hope is near lost.