All language subtitles for Greek Island Odyssey with Bettany Hughes Series 1 Part 5 1080p

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I'm Bettany Hughes, and I want to
take you on the ultimate adventure

across the Greek islands.

This has to be one of the most
exciting places on Earth.

A place full of mystery and wonder
and tens of thousands of years

of history and human experience.

A cradle of civilisation,
the Greece of the ancient world

hot housed everything
from democracy to medicine.

It gave us the Olympics,
engineering triumphs,

and some of the most epic stories
of all time.

Stories that have been passed down
for thousands of years

and that still influence us today.

One of the very greatest centres
on the Greek hero, Odysseus,

the legendary warrior whose
cunning won the Trojan War.

After the victory, he begins a long
journey home

to the far west of Greece
across these seas.

His story, The Odyssey, is a
brilliant tale of triumph

over adversity and danger, inspiring
books, movies, and adventures.

And on my personal odyssey,
I'm following Odysseus's path

from east to west.

I want to try to experience what
he experienced.

Whoa!

Make amazing new discoveries.

It's just perfect.
Still bright yellow, isn't it?

Enjoy the delights of ancient Greece
today.

Mm!

And uncover the truth behind these
fabulous myths and legends.

They killed one young lady.

To see how they can help us
understand the world and ourselves.

Join me on this epic voyage,
my Greek odyssey.

Last time, I travelled to Crete,
where I explored the extraordinary

palace of Knossos,

discovered remnants of
Nazi occupation...

And there's the swastika.

..and braved the fury of the sea.

I'm continuing my quest
by travelling to the Peloponnese,

a peninsula connected to the
Greek mainland

by bridges over a 6km canal.

It's here you'll find the origins

of some of the most renowned
Greek legends,

priceless treasures,
and the hardest men of history.

The Peloponnese was visited by our
legendary hero, Odysseus.

It's home to one of the world's
greatest Bronze Age civilisations -

the Mycenaeans - who dominated the
Mediterranean from 1600 to 1100 BC

around the time, I believe,
the Trojan War was set.

This prehistoric powerhouse gave
birth to many Greek myths,

including the most famous of all.

The story of Helen of Troy

whose adventures involved our own
hero Odysseus.

We're about to dock in the ancient
sea port of Gythion,

home to a tiny island where, the
poet Homer tells us, it all began.

This is the island of Cranae,
"rocky" or "craggy island" in Creek.

And the story goes that it was here
that Helen of Troy,

the most beautiful woman in the
world and the wife of Menelaus,

king of Sparta, had a passionate
affair with the Trojan Prince Paris.

Years later, Paris remembers it
and he says,

"Irresistible longing laid me low as
we locked in love on Cranae."

So, it was a great night
for Paris and Helen.

But what happened here kick-started
the Trojan War.

It was from these very shores that
the runaway lovers Helen

and Prince Paris fled across
the Mediterranean to Troy,

rousing Odysseus and the other Greek
heroes to follow in hot pursuit.

The Trojan War was a bloody, brutal
campaign in which many

of the Greek heroes, including
Odysseus, fought for ten long years.

So, I've come to the Peloponnese,
where some of the most ferocious

warrior heroes were
said to have lived.

Thank you so much. Nice to see
you again. Take care! Bye.

See you, bye!

At Bronze Age Greek sites here,

shocking discoveries of human
remains dating back to the age

of Odysseus reveal that those tales
of trauma

and violent conflict are rooted in
real hard history.

This is the body of a warrior who
died close on 3,500 years ago.

Now, he's only around 19, but he has
really suffered.

So, here, he's been struck by a
sword or a dagger

and then been patched up and put
back out to battle.

Down here, there's a hole through
his skull pierced by a lead shot

that would have come at him
like a bullet.

And this is almost certainly
the killer blow.

Men like this travelled right across
the Mediterranean -

raiding, and trading, and fighting,
founding civilisations,

and making history, and their world
became the stuff of legend.

Now, we might not have the body
of a hero warrior called Odysseus,

but like this young man,
he went into battle,

he suffered trauma,
and had great adventures.

And his journey became one
of the greatest stories ever told.

The warriors of this age aspired
to earn the reputation beyond death

of being the ultimate combat hero.

An obsession with military prowess
etched in history by the Spartans,

the ancient world's most
fanatical fighters.

And I'm about to experience
first-hand how that fighting spirit

lives on today.

It's really, really fierce!

I've come to a region of Greece,
the Peloponnese,

known for producing some of
history's toughest fighters.

From the warrior heroes of the
Bronze Age Greeks

around 3,500 years ago,

to the ancient Spartans who
dominated this wild landscape

1,000 years later from around

their belief in the value of
mega-fit fighters still continues

here today in the practice of
pankration.

Pankration's a mixture of wrestling
and boxing,

and it stretches right back to at
least 2000 BCE.

This is what they're doing here.

It's the ultimate competitive sport
cos pankration means "all strength".

So, the guys here are using
every part of their body.

And in Homer's tales, it's
with shows of strength like this

that Odysseus and
his fellow heroes competed

for Helen of Troy's
hand in marriage.

In Egypt, there's evidence of this
kind of fighting on the walls

of tombs - we see it portrayed.

We know it happened around
4,000 years ago.

But interestingly, it turns up in
the myths and legends, too.

So we're told that Theseus
when he fought against the Minotaur,

the half man, half bull on Crete,
he used pankration

to vanquish the monster.

And I'm not surprised he could kill
a monster with it.

Because it's really, really fierce!

And it's making me flinch being
this close.

Hyah! Hyah!

What's the youngest child
who's here?

What's the youngest age?

They start at six years old.

Six? Yeah. OK.
So that's a neat thing.

So, in ancient Sparta, you'd start
at seven.

Yeah. They'd be taken away from
their families,

and trained here - exactly here -
on this side of the mountain.

Exactly here. Exactly here!
I mean, that's incredible, isn't it?

It's very significant this place

because it started many,
many years ago - many centuries ago.

Yes.

People living here may have revered
warrior culture

through the centuries, but this is a
land of heroines as well as heroes.

And Helen of Troy was one
of the most influential of all.

Originally, Helen of Sparta,

known down history as a home
wrecking troublemaker,

but honoured here as a demi goddess
and a powerful queen.

It was said that this is where Helen
of Troy was buried

with her husband, Menelaus,
and throughout antiquity,

it was known as "Tis Elenis Ieron" -
"Helen's Shrine".

We know that men and actually
particularly women

from Sparta would come here
to worship

their gorgeous, adventurous
heroine ancestor.

They'd run races in her honour
and dedicate these beautiful

little perfume bottles of perfumed
olive oil,

and even make animal
sacrifice to her up here.

I really just love this place.

One of the most beautiful
places on Earth.

And there's more.

The ruins of a real Bronze Age
luxury home

where leaders of the day would have
hung out.

Now, in The Odyssey, grand feasting
was a big deal.

And we're told that Helen's Palace
in Sparta hosted returning heroes

from the Trojan War.

During one feast when the men are
sharing tales of the Trojan War,

Helen mixes up a kind of druggy brew
to make them forget their sorrows.

We've actually analysed the
interiors of pots from this time,

and we know two things.

One is that they grew a lot of opium
poppies in this region,

and the women of the palaces would
mix up big vats of pure laudanum.

So, that's opiates mixed
with alcohol.

Which means the feasting that
happened here

must have been quite a
heady experience.

It's nearly time to move on
from Sparta.

But before I leave, I just want to
take you on a little detour

to somewhere that I think
is rather magical.

It's a medieval ghost town
that flourished

from the 13th to the 15th centuries.

Mystras.

The Peloponnese boasts these
citadels in the air.

Like a set from Game of Thrones.

Looking out over the stamping ground
of Odysseus,

Helen, Achilles, and
other legends of The Odyssey.

Not only does this place feel
like the top of the world,

there are all kinds of lost
worlds here.

Over 1,000 years after the ancient
Spartans,

this region was still a key seat
of power.

Mystras was a vital outpost for the
Eastern Roman Empire.

Societies around here could live
really rich lives,

but also because of all the
mountains,

they could literally come and hide
in the hills.

They had somewhere to take refuge.

So, you get the sense through time
here that there are people who love

the living of life, but also know
that they have to fight for it.

Crusaders, Venetians, and Turks all
captured this key political site.

After centuries as being the centre
of power for all kinds

of civilisations,
the life slowly started

to ebb away from this amazing place,

and the very last villager left
in 1953.

You know, I said that no-one lives
here any more.

That's not strictly true because
actually there's a small community

of nuns who are still here.

They've been here since
the 15th century.

And sometimes they welcome you in,
and give you a little something

to eat to say hello.

So, I'm going to see if I can come
along come.

How beautiful!

Hello, good afternoon.
Hello, welcome. Thank you.
Hi, I'm Bettany.

My name is Agnes.

Hi! Thank you so much.

It's such a pleasure to be here.

Thank you - look at these!

I love the cats.

Yes. And the cats, too, of course.

Yes. Thank you, father.

Thank you...

Look at this!

That is so lovely. So, Agnes has
just that...

..she has this ready

so that it's given with love for
people when they're on a journey.

Honestly, this looks too beautiful.

And I'm very hungry.

Yes!

Red, red wine!

Well, you really...

Mm!

Red, red wine.

To you, to life, to love...
..to the people.

To the people. To the people and
then to the love.

Because without him, without love
love...

..we have nothing. Yes.
Absolutely.

Yamas!

Mm!

Simple things. Delicious.

Simple things.

Yeah. Yeah, simple pleasures.

So some people would say, you know,
they wouldn't understand

your life here.

We live a very beautiful life.

This place has a special energy,

has something very mystic.

So I'm going on this big journey,
this odyssey.

What is the one bit of advice
you'd give me?

To embrace every experience that you
have in your life,

good ones and bad ones.

You're so wise, what you're saying.

That's what I think the story
of Odysseus is about,

is how you meet difficulties.

You're given challenges, moral
challenges, physical challenges,

but you have to know
what...what matters.

And for him, what matters,

despite all the temptations,
is coming home, is making it home.

This is my idea of happiness, Agnes.

A kitten on my lap...

..talking philosophy in a place of
extraordinary history.

And a welcome at the end of a
long journey.

Little thing!

Next on my odyssey, I'm heading

to a vast citadel fortress,

a power base of the Mycenaean,

the Bronze Age civilisation who came

to dominate this region
when the ancient Egyptians

were at their height.

And I want to piece together
fact and fiction.

But first, I'm stopping off at a
hotel made famous by the man

who excavated my Mycenae's ruins.

Heinrich Schliemann was a wealthy
German businessman, with no formal

training in archaeology,
who came here in 1876.

A colourful character, his obsession
with myths led him

to uncover Mycenae.

And this is where he stayed,
a hotel that's become a bit

of an institution.

I always stay here when I come
to Mycenae. It's La Belle Helene,

the beautiful Helen,
named after Helen of Troy.

Oh, good, it's still here because

I haven't been for years,

years and years and years.

They've got this guest book.

So my name will have recorded in
it when I last came, 15 years ago.

Here we go. Look.
There it is, fantastic.

So, October 18th, 2004.

Coming here is like stepping
into a time capsule.

This is the room that Schliemann
used to stay in.

And actually, he was a really
interesting character.

He came from a very poor family and
his mum died

when he was just nine and he lost
himself in the myths and legends

of ancient Greece and was
particularly captivated by the story

of Odysseus and his odyssey.

He was determined to see if there's
any truth to these tales.

And actually, he did go on to
discover the city of Troy,

famous for the Trojan War.

Then he wanted to find the palaces
of the Greek heroes who fought

in that mighty conflict.

So that was why he came
here to Greece.

Schliemann claimed his discoveries
at Mycenae proved that the warrior

heroes of the Odyssey lived
and breathed.

Now, I wouldn't go that far,

but there are kernels of truth.

And Schliemann certainly put this
place on the map.

The treasures at Mycenae attracted
worldwide attention, including

a number of celebrities
who actually came and stayed here.

And we know this because of the
brilliant thing of La Belle Helene

keeping these guest books.

For instance, Agatha Christie came
here when she was just 18,

along with Debussy, actually the
same year,

the amazing French composer.

And actually, even British royalty.

So Duke of Windsor, who had been
Edward VIII, came here,

although not, we think,
with Wallis Simpson.

But there are also slightly
more troubling visitors

because this was a story
of a warrior culture and a clash

of civilisations and the ultimate
male hero,

a number of Hitler's henchmen
came to visit

and we have their signatures, too.

So here Dr Goebbels with his wife.

And then also Albert Speer.

He was another of Hitler's
followers.

A stark warning, this, for when
modern day power brokers

and politicians twist the stories
of the ancient past to serve

their own purposes.

I'm on an odyssey around the Greek
islands and the Mediterranean.

And right now I'm in the Peloponnese
investigating why this peninsula

produced history's toughest heroes.

I'm heading to a vast
citadel fortress from the age

of Odysseus that was made famous by
the 19th century

archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann.

Mycenae was built around 1600 BC.

This was the centre of the
Mycenaean civilisation,

which gave rise to some of Greece's

most unforgettable legends
and heroes,

including the brother of Helen of
Troy's husband, Menelaus,

who commanded Greek troops
to win her back - Agamemnon.

It's said that a great warrior
leader, a king of men, Agamemnon -

Helen of Troy's brother-in-law,

ruled this place, a city
that was rich in gold.

And the brilliant thing
about Mycenae is that the fact

is as exciting as the fantasy.

The first hint of just how important
this place once was is right

here at the entrance.

All power was concentrated here, so
the Mycenaeans

decorated their gateway with what
for years were thought

to be two rampant lions. Although
we now know, they're lionesses.

Mycenae looks out to the sea
across the Argive plain

and its power came from the waves.

They had a huge navy and were
basically bullyboy buccaneers.

He would travel out to trade
and to raid across the waves.

So we find their influence in Cyprus

and Palestine and Egypt.

And even as far afield as Croatia
and Italy.

Now, this was over 1,500 years
before the Roman Empire.

In fact, the Mycenaean civilisation
was so advanced, that later

generations couldn't get their heads
around how citadels

like this were built.

The outer walls of the city
were so massive in scale and built

with these huge blocks of stone

that it was thought no human could
have constructed them

and they must have been built
by the legendary race of giants,

the Cyclopes.

And so they came to be called
the Cyclopean Walls.

And that's not the only impressive
feat of ingenuity on show here.

At its height, a whopping 30,000
people would have lived here,

all needing to be fed and watered.

There's something down here
that I really want to show you.

It's normally closed,

but the curators have said I can
take you in.

It's a brilliant bit of engineering,

but it's a bit of engineering
with a secret.

Now, in the legendary story
of the Trojan War, the city of Troy

is under siege for ten whole years.

Hilltop citadels, like Troy and
Mycenae, were especially

vulnerable to being besieged
and access to fresh water

was a matter of life and death.

I'm not a fan of the dark
underground spaces, but it is worth

coming down here because the thing
with Mycenae is it didn't

have a water supply, so
they had to bring fresh water,

and somehow from the hills beyond.

So they dug 18 metres down into
solid rock, laying a series

of hidden underground pipes
to deliver fresh spring water

from 360 metres away.

It doesn't look so fresh now,
but in its time it was a
life-saver.

It's this engineering know-how

that enabled Great Mycenaean
cities to thrive.

Mycenae may be a civilisation
that boasts brilliant historical

achievements, but in myth
it was also stained with horror.

When Helen is taken to Troy,
her brother-in-law, King Agamemnon,

is so determined to win her back,
he even sacrifices his own daughter

to ensure the gods' favour.

His gory plan works.

And after many trials, Agamemnon
goes on to conquer Troy

and to return Helen to her husband.

Agamemnon is given a hero's welcome,
but there is a sinister

surprise in store.

His wife Clytemnestra, quite
understandably, has never

forgiven him for sacrificing
their daughter.

And as Agamemnon is having a bath,
Clytemnestra stabs

and murders her husband.

And that is why the tomb up here is
called the Tomb of Agamemnon.

The name might be fake, but we do
know, as fact,

that this tomb was used as the final
resting place for

Mycenae's greatest warrior kings.

So the king's body, washed
and oiled with perfumed oils,

would be brought in here.

It would be covered with all
the gold that he'd enjoyed

in his lifetime.

The whole tomb would be fumigated
with incence and a great toast

would be raised.

This was the ultimate send-off
to the ultimate warrior.

So when Mycenae was excavated,

an extraordinary number of treasures

came at the site. And I am really,

really lucky to have been allowed

this access to just some of them.

So, when Schliemann excavated one
grave,

he came across a solid gold death
mask.

A unique replica is here.

It is still just the most incredible
thing, isn't it?

And it really tells us something
about the Mycenaeans.

They're kind of magpie culture.

They absolutely loved gold.

So they used gold in necklaces
and bracelets, and rings

and to decorate their furniture.

Um, and what I'm just about to show
you here is, if anything,

even more special.

So I've got to be really, really

careful because they're very,

very, very delicate.

Wow, they're just so beautiful.

So what you're looking at here
are solid gold rosettes,

and you have to bear in mind

that these are close on
3,500 years old.

And these would've been used to
decorate clothes

and decorate dressings
within a tomb.

Again, there was this kind of
sparkle and glitter of gold
everywhere

in Mycenae.

And something extra special in here
which I've been allowed hold

if I'm very, very careful.

This is a necklace that would've
been worn by a woman

made of carnelian.

And carnelian is a stone
that was thought to have kind

of supernatural, magical properties.

Isn't it remarkable to think

that the last time this was worn,

again, was close on 3,500 years ago?

Seeing all of this, you really
understand why this is a culture

and a civilisation that becomes
the stuff of myths and legends.

The Mycenaeans ruled supreme for
around 500 years until 1100 BC.

And then they collapse.

And we don't quite know why it is.

Actually, there's really interesting
new evidence that tells us

there was a kind of mega-drought

at the end of the Bronze Age
and communities

just couldn't survive any more.

So I think a lot of the stories, a
lot of the myths are remembering

this mystical, wonderful golden age
because they were composed at a time

when, actually, people were living
through torment and trouble,

and what came to be called the
Greek Dark Ages.

I'm now heading 80 miles southwest
to the other side of the Peloponnese

to a place steeped in naval
history - Navarino Bay.

Our hero Odysseus was blown off
course and eventually shipwrecked

off the Peloponnesian coastline.

But storms weren't the only
enemy here.

This strategic coast has been fought
over for centuries.

Naval battles have littered
the seabed

with the carcasses of ships.

Hey. Is that George? Hello. I'm
George. Hi. Hi, nice to see you.

Nice to see you. Good morning.
Welcome on board.

Local boat captain, George,
is taking me out on his speed boat

to have a closer look.

It's great getting up this close
because there was so many

really significant battles here.
Yes. In the ancient world

and then through to the
19th century, weren't there?

Yeah, the battles Navarino
over here, in all this area.

That's why, just to explain,

this is in the 1820s and it's when,
basically, Greece

is fighting for its independence.

So it's the allies. It's British,

French, Russians, Greeks versus
the Turks and the Egyptians.

I mean, it was a serious conflict.

60 boats went down and they're here
somewhere underneath us.

And after that, the Greeks win,

and that's when you get
the Greek independence, so...

That was the end of the Turkish
and Egyptian army in Greece,

I would say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, it's true.

And this is, my goodness,

if anywhere in Greece has a
tradition of heroes, it's here.

It's the Peloponnese.

All those stories of Hercules
and Theseus, it all happens here.

Everything started from the
south Peloponnese.

Do you still talk about those
stories of the heroes here?

There are so many legends
that even from my grandmother,

they can recall. Here the kids,

they're getting born with the
mythology inside them, I would say.

Ah, good. Good to hear.

Cos they're good life lessons.

They're good stories
and they're good life lessons.

Because there's been so much
history here,

the seabed is absolutely covered
in wrecks.

Most of them got smashed up through
time because they've been wrecked

here for over two and a half
thousand years,

but there are a few that survived
and this is one coming up here.

I'm quite eager to get in and have
a look at it.

Can I go in, do you think? You want
to swim? I do.

It's going to be refreshing.

Listen, I live in England.

This will feel like a hot bath when
I go out.

There it is. OK, shall we do it?
Let's do it, let's do it.

Navarino Bay is in the middle
of an ancient trade route linking

Italy with the Near East.

This cargo ship was called
the Ramona and ran aground

just over a century ago.

But other wrecks on the seabed
here date back

two and a half thousand years.

Visibility is not great.

But it's amazing seeing it,
actually,

the whole at the bottom of the
seabed.

It's like a massive archaeological
museum.

So it's cool to get to be able to
see this.

It's doubly thrilling to be here
because these very beaches

are mentioned in the Odyssey.

Sandy Pylos. And up the hill
is a Mycenaean palace that pretty

certainly features in Odysseus'
story.

Dating from around the
13th century BC

it's been named the Palace of Nestor
after the King, who features

in the Odyssey and who sent

90 of his ships to fight in the
Trojan War.

And so the story goes, when Odysseus
still hasn't returned

home from the war ten years on,

his son Telemachus comes here to
this lofty house

seeking news of his father.

So we're told that Telemachus
came into the throne room

with a raging fire.

We've actually got a wall painting
from the palace of someone sitting

and playing the lyre, singing
the tales of heroes, the tales

of the Trojan War.

And that's why Telemachus came,

cos he wanted to hear the stories of
his father from King Nestor

when they fought together at Troy.

Following discoveries made here in
the 20th century,

this is a place where, when it comes
to stories of elaborate feasts

for heroes like this, the fact
backs up the fantasy.

We know that hundreds of sheep
and goats and cattle were brought

in to be eaten. In one store room

there was 1,600 litres of wine

and 2,856 wine cups.

And I've heard a brilliant new dig
is revealing that other details

in the myths have their roots
in real human history.

It's one of the most extraordinary

Greek archaeological discoveries
of the last 50 years.

Amazing.

And I've got very special access.

I'm on the adventure of a lifetime
in the Peloponnese,

the Greek Peninsula, famed
for its fighters and where many

mythical heroes were based.

I'm finally coming face-to-face
with one of the actual ancestors

of this incredible warrior legacy.

In 2015, in a small olive grove
behind Nestor's palace,

Sharon Stocker and her team found
an untouched warrior king's grave

dating back over 3,500 years.

It not only still contained
the adult male warrior skeleton,

but all the personal treasures
he'd been buried

with for over three millennia.

He was named the Griffin Warrior
after the image of the mythical half

lion, half bird found on artefacts
in his grave.

And I've been allowed to come
to take a look.

Hi, it's Bettany. Shari Stocker. Hi.
Welcome to the Palace of Nestor.

Thank you. It's so nice to have you
here.

Sharon's team went on to find two
nearby tombs crammed with bodies

and treasures, old dating back to
around 1550 BC,

the Bronze Age of Greek heroes.

This is like a kind of cathedral.
Yes. It's incredible.

They're still excavating.

And I've been given privileged
access.

It would have been the final
resting place of people

who were very important
in the society.

There is a lot of vying for
leadership at this time period.

So it's not a given that somebody
will inherit.

We don't think that there was a
monarchy yet.

People had to earn it.

They had to, for example, hunt wild
boars and bring them and use them

for their armour.

And, you know, show their strength
and their prowess and actually

earn their position at the top
of society. Heroes and heroines

in the true sense of the word.
Absolutely. Yeah.

While we're filming the team
physically strike gold once again.

Wow, this is really exciting.

It's so bright, though, isn't it,
the colours. Isn't it? It's perfect.

Look, look!

Ah!

Clearly, it's the edge of something.

It could be part of a piece of
furniture. Mm.

It's just the colour's so...

It's still... It's just perfect.
..bright yellow, isn't it?

It's so amazing.

It's always exciting with gold.
It is.

In that earth even after...
Thousands of years.

..thousands of years, it still has
that glitter. I know.

It's a wonderful thing. It's
amazing. Oh, Maria.

Are you happy?

Yes!

Pretty good way to start a day,
isn't it? It is. Good luck.

I hope tomorrow's as exciting
if your heart can stand it.

And the excitement doesn't end
there.

Using the Griffin Warrior's skull
and DNA, a facial reconstruction

has been made.

I'm about to come face-to-face

with a 3,000-year-old warrior king.

We can tell that he was a relatively
young man, probably 30 to 35 years

old, and that he was robust,
his bones are strong, which ties

in with militaristic aspects of him.

And he's described
as a as a warrior.

I mean, do you think he's also
what we would call a king?

Yes, I think that at this time
he probably played many

roles in society.

So I think he was a leader.

I think he was a warrior

and he probably held some religious
function as well.

The priceless possessions buried
with the Griffin Warraror tell us

what mattered to him - exotic
riches,

warrior warfare and the world
of the gods.

The same values embodied
in the tales of Greek

heroes like Odysseus.

We found four gold rings.

Here is the biggest and the most
amazing ring of all.

And it's the second largest gold
ring in the Greek world.

Ah! And so the detail on it is
just incredible.

Look at this. It's incredible!

And it's a religious scene.

So we have three women who are
approaching a shrine in the middle.

So we have some kind of a festival,
a ritual

as they're honouring the goddess.

Please tell me about this exquisite
necklace.

Do you think he'd have worn this in
his lifetime?

Yes, I'm sure that he would
have worn it in his lifetime.

It has two agate beads in the
centre.

And this is most likely
a glass bead.

I mean, that's... Bright.
..so beautiful.

It's like a snake, isn't it? It is.

That's really, really, really hard
to get that craftsmanship. Yes.

And this is solid gold
and it's very, very heavy.

It's an amazing piece, absolutely.
It's beautiful.

It's giving messages about his
standing in the world. Yes.

It's a very loud statement.
It's wonderful.

It's mind-blowingly extraordinary.
Yeah. I mean, I'm just having a

moment of you find this.

Oh, my goodness. I was blown away.

I have to say, it was really,
it was so exciting.

It's just wonderful to see
history still being made

here in this exceptional place.

Thank you.

I first came to the Peloponnese
30 years ago.

It has been such a trip coming back.

I knew that this was the birthplace
of myths and legends and the home

of heroes.

Like Odysseus, Agamemnon and
Helen of Troy.

But you know what, coming here,
you really feel as if people are

living the myths, they're living
legends.

So this is a place where
the past is not dead.

It's very much alive.

Next time on my Greek island
odyssey...

I reach the climax of my epic
voyage in the beautiful

Western islands, discovering

how Odysseus finally made it home.

I put Greece's finest archers
to the test.

And I feel the earth move.

I can't quite believe
that just happened.

We've just had an earthquake.

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