Original subtitles

I'm travelling the world,

exploring secrets and wonders.

This is really tight.

An adventure by land and sea to the most fascinating places...

This is absolutely incredible.

...where I've been given special access to significant

and surprising treasures...

It's so tiny and absolutely unique.

...buried in ancient sites,

extraordinary buildings

and glorious works of art

that help to explain the story of us.

Come with me to see how the past shapes our lives.

This time, Greece, birthplace

of an astonishing culture that gave us

fantastic art, pioneering medicine

and bold ideas.

Greece is often hailed as a bedrock of civilisation.

It is that and so much more.

I want to take you to the heart of this extraordinary place.

I'm visiting unparalleled sites across this remarkable country...

Oh, my gosh.

...revealing fabulous stories...

My goodness, if these walls could talk.

...that capture the exceptional, enduring spirit...

That is brilliant. That is brilliant.

...of this ancient land.

What genius, this is genius.

So this was 2,500 years ago.

From trailblazing women

to one of Britain's most famous romantic poets,

this country has inspired innovation and passion.

Every treasure I want to show you reveals

something vital about us and the world.

I'm taking you to my hand-picked wonders.

Athens, a jewel in the crown of ancient Greek civilisation.

Wherever you are in Athens, it's pretty much

impossible to miss this - the Acropolis.

For over 3,500 years

it's borne witness to the incredible Greek civilisation -

a civilisation that still impacts our lives today.

On the Acropolis rock alone there was a theatre,

a concert hall and, of course,

the great Temple of the goddess Athena, the Parthenon.

The Parthenon's come to embody what some describe as

the Golden age of Athens in the fifth century BCE.

But actually, that Greek spirit of innovation

and ambition and the sheer creativity and energy

and audacity that built the treasures on the Acropolis

was actually at play in different times and different places

right across Greece.

To get to the heart of this game changing story,

I'm exploring intriguing, inspiring wonders of Greece

which reveal our deep debt to the past.

From Athens, I'm travelling west to the port city of Nafplion.

It's witnessed the grand sweep of Greece's history from ancient

to modern and was the first capital of the modern Greek

state in the 19th century.

It's a treasure where geography makes history.

This is a naturally protected harbour

and it sits right on the crossroads of Asia and Europe.

So it means that this place is always been

a really important trading centre,

dating back probably 4,000 years or so.

But the issue with jewels is that they attract thieves.

And throughout its history, there've been hostile takeover bids

from Byzantines and Franks and Venetians

and Ottomans who all left their mark on this town

because they wanted control of the sea.

But Nafplion's own maritime story starts

long before foreign armies came.

According to legend, the town was founded by Nauplius,

the son of the sea god Poseidon.

Nauplius's own son Palamedes

was a real player in Greek mythology.

He's said to have invented dice, lighthouses

and even several letters of the Greek alphabet.

And he played a key part in the story of the Trojan War.

We're told that Palamedes was sent out across these waters to

try to persuade the hero Odysseus to join the fight.

Now, Odysseus had no intention whatsoever of being conscripted

so he pretended he was mad.

He yoked up two oxen to a plough

and went out into the fields, singing wildly.

Palamedes just knew he was faking it.

And actually, very cleverly, he grabbed the Odysseus's young

baby boy Telemachus and laid him down in front of the oxen's

hooves, knowing he would stop.

Odysseus did, proving he was sane.

And he never forgave Palamedes for this.

So during the Trojan War he actually had him framed

for theft and treachery and then stoned him to death.

It's a really gruesome tale and that, obviously, is just a legend.

But there's an incredible discovery just a few miles from here that

links those stories of the Trojan War

to real historical heroic warriors.

This find is now housed in the

Archaeological Museum in Nafplion.

I first came here years ago when I was researching a book on

Helen of Troy and I remember being very excited then,

so it is fantastic to be back.

The treasurer I've come to see is a unique

survival from the Bronze Age,

3,500 years ago,

the time when the story of the Trojan War is set.

Oh, my goodness, this never disappoints.

Because what you've got to remember that you're looking at here

is armour that is close on 3,500 years old.

This would have belonged to a warrior

and it's made of bronze but really, really fine bronze,

so those sheets are only about a millimetre thick,

which means that it provided protection

but would have been very light to wear.

And then the top, you've got this

fabulous helmet decorated with boars' tusks.

Now, wild boar were and still are really ferocious.

So this whole thing is designed to impress, to intimidate.

This is physically the stuff that legends are made of.

And what's significant is that in the most famous

account of the Trojan War we hear descriptions of tunics

and gleaming helmets exactly like this.

So I think it proves that all these fabulous

stories about fantastic warrior heroes

like Palamedes have their roots

in hard historical facts.

So powerful was Palamedes' presence in Nafplion

he gave his name to the hill that towers over the city

and the formidable fortress constructed on it.

The Palamidi was built when the whole of the Peloponnese was

under the control of Venice, with Nafplion its capital.

Work started on the fortress in 1711.

Constructing this fortress was the

most incredible feat of engineering,

because you can see how difficult the terrain is.

And then the Venetians made it even more complex for themselves

because they built eight separate bastions.

And the idea was it provided strength in depth.

So if one bastion fell then the soldiers could move up

and occupy the one above.

It was completed just in time,

because in 1715 the Ottomans from Turkey attacked.

There were only 2,000 Venetian soldiers up here

and the reports were that when they looked out,

there were between 70 and 100,000 Ottoman troops

all massed in boats in the harbour, were actually

attacking this fortress itself.

Venetians didn't even bother to

test their ingenious bastion system.

They abandoned the fortress, fled to the lower town

and now the Ottomans were in charge.

Ottoman rule continued for a little over

100 years, until in 1821

the Greeks launched a revolt in a bid for independence.

A year later, in 1822, on the night of November the 29th,

under the cover of darkness, a band of Greek freedom fighters

broke in here and successfully managed

to take the garrison from the Turks.

So this became one of the first places in Greece

to regain its independence.

As the war continued, Greek fighters were joined

by a small army of foreigners.

These volunteers were inspired by the belief

that Western civilisation owed a profound debt

to the ancient - and therefore to the modern - Greece.

The most famous foreigner to join the cause

was the British poet and adventurer Lord Byron.

His memory is still very much alive in Nafplion today.

Oh, hi. So we're doing something about the history of Greece

and obviously we're talking about Byron.

So, I stayed here ten years ago. Oh.

Yeah. Yes, I know.

It's... Yeah.

With my family. I remember you, I remember.

D0 you? I remember you. Do you? I had two little...

I had a blonde girl and a little girl with red hair. Yes.

So tell me one thing, we're talking about Byron

and the freedom fighters of Greece.

So you called your hotel Byron Hotel.

This Romantic, yes, with Byron.

Well, Byron... Byron is... He was like a hero for us in Greece.

He wrote a lot of poetry too, he helped the Greek revolution.

Yes, he was very important, so we said we will have this name.

Because Byron is like a hero. OK.

OK, yassas. OK, bye.

Overall, nearly 300 foreigners died in the War of Independence.

There is something very moving about people willing

to give up their lives and die for

somebody else's liberty.

And that is what was happening here, they were dying for liberty

and they were dying for the idea that is Greece.

They were heroes who believed in something bigger than themselves.

Finally, after seven years of conflict, the war was won.

Greece was free and Nafplion was made

the first official capital city.

In 1833, the new king of Greece -

in fact, a young Bavarian prince called Otto,

chosen by committee in London - landed here.

And for the first time in its history,

Greece was a nation state

with its own name.

Greece is a tapestry,

a place rich from its encounters with many parts of the world

and Nafplion bears witness to that.

This is a city that embodies the compelling,

complicated history of Greece.

A story that spans East and West,

ancient and modern, and that's inspired

heroes, whether they are legendary or real, across thousands of years.

And that is why Nafplion is a wonder.

My next treasure is in an experiment in utopia,

a city state where women and men gave everything

for the common good.

Sparta, in the south east Peloponnese.

When you come to visit Sparta,

it can be hard to imagine that this

was once one of the most influential, game-changing

civilisations in the story of the world -

but there is good reason for that.

The Spartans didn't really believe in material

wealth or monumental buildings.

What they were all about was the human experience

and military muscle.

Life for Sparta's male citizens was dedicated

to being a full-time soldier.

The men lived communally and were selected

for the military elite at birth.

When babies were born, they were bathed in wine

by the elders of the city to toughen them up.

And if they were still considered weak or disabled

in any way, then they were thrown

off the ridge of that mountain.

For those deemed fit, super strict training lay ahead.

From the age of seven, all boys were taken

out of the city and put into the Agoge,

which was basically a kind of extreme boot camp.

They were taught music and dancing,

but, most important importantly,

survival and military skills

because the idea was to turn these young men

into the ultimate fighting machines.

Sparta's values were physically beaten into these young boys -

their education was brutal and bloody.

When they became teenagers, things got really hard-core.

The most promising trainees were selected to become

part of the Krypteia, a secret society,

and these boys were set the ultimate test.

They had to sneak back into the city of Sparta

by night and murder a slave in cold blood in his or her bed.

Spartan men were not to be messed with.

From the age of 20, these men were only allowed

to be full-time soldiers.

Someone had to do everything else to run Spartan society.

All non-military work in Sparta was carried out

by a slave population, the Helots.

Now, of course, it's an uncomfortable truth about Greek

society that this was a slave economy.

But it was a bit different in Sparta.

The Helots weren't outsiders, they were

local Greeks who'd been conquered and subordinated

by the Spartans.

And it was these Helots that made

the Spartan war machine possible.

Many had their liberty denied,

but women enjoyed more freedom here

than in most other Greek city states.

Spartan women pretty much had the run of the city.

They were taught to speak in public,

they were allowed the same rations of men,

which was really unusual in the ancient world.

They could drink wine, they could race in chariots.

And the women used to get together

to commemorate Helen of Troy.

The powerful queen who was originally Helen of Sparta.

They would oil one another with olive oil

and speak of ambrosial nights

and limb-loosening desire.

Frankly, it all sounds pretty wonderful and pretty erotic.

Many of these liberties were there to ensure Sparta women were

strong enough to birth robust baby boys -

spear fodder for the model army -

but they were freedoms nonetheless.

Of course, there was a very dark side to the Spartan system.

But what caught the imagination of contemporaries and many

future generations was their absolute commitment

to excellence and to courage.

Those qualities lay at the heart of the last stand

of the Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae,

when 300 Spartan soldiers, hugely outnumbered by a Persian army

refused to retreat, knowing that by standing their ground

they faced certain death.

Sparta is one of my treasures,

not because it was the ultimate military machine

but because it was a society based on an idea -

an idea that, if we come together, anything is possible

and that we should put our lives to the service

of a cause greater than ourselves.

And love it or loathe it,

it's a role model that continues to inspire after 2,500 years.

My next treasure, in the heart of northern Greece,

opens a page in the playbook of ambition.

Aigai, a capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedon,

boasts the biggest palace of all classical antiquity

and one of the most spectacular archaeological

treasure troves ever discovered.

I've come here in search of gold

and the true story of two of the most iconic

and dynamic kings from the ancient world.

Philip ll of Macedon

and his son - Alexander the Great.

These men were determined to take over

the whole of Greece and beyond.

Philip's political and military ambition

was matched by his cultural and philosophical vision.

And, as he was conquering Greece,

he was also building a massive new

headquarters for himself right here.

The centrepiece was this palace.

Two storeys high, spanning 12,500 square metres,

with ceremonial rooms, enclosing a splendid courtyard

that could host 3,000 people.

The first of its kind, this cutting edge design

was a model for the future.

Lead archaeologist Dr Angeliki Kottaridi

has given me exclusive access to the excavations.

So how long have you been doing these excavations here?

We started 2007 with the works.

That was a huge excavation and is still running, as you see. Yes.

We have even today found. Today?

Unbelievable, yes, that part here, this Ionic capital here.

How lucky am I to get to see this?

Yes, you brought us luck.

So it's a capital, so this is for the top of a column.

Yes, this is off the top of the column.

It's a special capital, a very important one.

Look at the decoration on it, that's beautiful.

See, isn't it brilliant?

Because can we imagine Philip being shown the plans for this

and saying, "What do you think of our design?"

I'm sure, I'm sure he would've had an opinion on these details.

Of course, they had discuss everything.

He was a genius.

This is an amazing building because

it has no predecessors. No.

For the first time, the ancient Greeks have seen something

so big you can put three Parthenon here, actually.

It was the biggest building of classical Greece

and it dominates all the area

of central Macedonia here. Yes.

And you really get that sense up here that you're not just

king of the world, you are top of the world here.

The palace was designed to impress allcomers

as a potent centre of power.

Philip hosted hundreds at a time right here,

in lavish drinking parties,

where ideas and plans were shared,

a kind of cross between the Camp David in the USA

or state banquets in Buckingham Palace in the UK.

This is incredible space. Quite high.

So this is the real entrance here? Yes? Yeah.

The door. Fantastic.

Big one, six-metre high. Wow!

Wow! So that would be quite a spectacular entrance.

And what a beautiful mosaic, look at that.

A carpet for eternity...

...made by stone. A carpet for eternity -

what a lovely idea.

So what would this room have been used for?

Banqueting room. OK.

You have the couches around. Yes.

Ivory couches. Beautiful.

Imagine, here we have Philip,

Aristotelis, Alexander,

Athenians, people from other Greek cities as well.

All the guys which we know from history sitting around,

drinking wine with water and discussing

philosophy, politics, the new world,

which they want to create.

I mean, that is just mind-blowingly brilliant.

And I can imagine thinking of those conversations that have happened,

as you said, with the wine and the kind of candlelight,

it would give you the ambition to think,

"l'm going to go and change the world."

And in Alexander's case, "l'm going to go and conquer the world."

The history is so thick for 20 years, almost.

Now, everything happens here. Amazing.

This is the absolute heart,

not just of Macedonia, of Greece

and of the world, actually. Yeah.

All the developments happens here.

Yeah. Here, yes.

It is the womb... Yes.

...who give birth to everything.

Incredible.

I'm at the site of Aigai in northern Greece,

a seat of power for Alexander The Great's

father, Philip the ll.

In October, 336 BCE, Philip invited the leading VIPs

of the day here, to Aigai, to celebrate the lavish

wedding of his daughter, Alexander's sister, Cleopatra of Macedon.

As part of the show of festivities,

the king hosted games in the theatre.

The spectators crowded in.

It all began with a procession of glory here at dawn.

Statues of the 12 Olympian gods were processed in,

followed by a statue of the king himself,

making a point that he too had divine power.

Philip had actually dismissed his personal bodyguard to

prove that he was protected by the goodwill of the Greeks.

Philip walked in alone, dressed in a beautiful white cloak.

But suddenly, an assassin sprang forward, somebody who'd been

loyal to him before, and stabbed him under the ribs.

In front of the horrified crowd, the king fell dead to the ground.

And now there was a new king in charge -

Alexander the Great.

Alexander buried his father right here, at Aigai,

in a vast burial mound,

in a ceremony of unparalleled glory.

17 months later, he set off at the

head of his army on a relentless

11-year campaign, conquering territories from Egypt

to modern-day Afghanistan and India,

exporting Greek culture to Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Across the centuries, 90% of the

royal tombs Aigai were looted,

but then a miraculous discovery.

Deep in this mound, undisturbed burials,

including that of the great king -

Philip the ll.

Hailed as the find of the century,

the treasures in the tombs are breathtaking.

Philip the ll's shield of ivory and gold...

...his gilded armour...

...his gold oak crown,

the heaviest and most impressive from Greek antiquity.

Nearby, an exquisite ivory of Dionysus dancing.

And perhaps most spine-tingling of all,

a pure gold chest containing the bones of the king.

The miraculous discovery of the tombs

and their treasures give us a unique

window into the lives of two of the world's

most powerful and influential men.

This is just the most remarkable place

because history is being physically brought back to life.

And Aigai is one of my wonders, not just because it tells us

about the power and ambition of Macedonian kings,

but because it reveals a very human story,

from Philip the ll's grand designs here,

to his brutal death, to Alexander's filial piety,

reflected in all that beautiful gold.

This is somewhere where you can really feel

the emotional currents of the past

and where you get to meet personalities

who went on to shape the story of the world.

For my next treasure, I'm following the footsteps

of travellers from across the ancient world

who made this journey as if their lives depended on it.

My destination - Epidaurus...

...somewhere that nourished body and souL

And the story starts in one of the most

spectacular buildings in the ancient world.

This vast auditorium

is an architectural masterpiece.

55 tiers of marble benches

can seat up to 15,000 people.

Ancient superstars from the playwright Sophocles

to the Emperor Hadrian journeyed here

to enjoy drama as a shared experience.

So what everybody does when they come here, and I have to say,

I am no exception, is they stand in the centre

because the acoustics of this place are totally amazing.

And this is how it was designed,

and you can hear from right at the top.

But I need somebody to listen to me, so I have roped in, kindly, Angelos.

Angelos. Hey.

Is it OK if I stand there,

do you mind running up to the top? Sure. Why not?

And just... But tell me, honestly, if you can hear me

because I'm not going to shout or anything.

OK, then. ls that all right? Yeah.

I'll start going, yes? Bye. Thank you.

So I'm standing down here and I've just

sent Angelos right up to the top

to see if he can hear me.

I promise, I mean, you can hear me, I'm not raising my voice at all.

He's up at the top now.

Hey, Angelos.

Angelos, can you hear me?

I can hear you.

OK, I'm going to give you a bit of a Greek tragedy.

So, the wounds somebody of who loves you

and the wounds of somebody who hates you are just the same.

Because a lover's love is incurable, whether it's good or bad.

Whoa, that was great.

What was l...? I'm testing you, what was I talking about?

About the wounds of love.

I was. That is brilliant.

That is brilliant.

They are... I mean, what genius, this is genius.

So this was 2,500 years ago.

And, of course, the ancient Greeks,

they were sharing these brilliant,

beautiful, bold words, these kind of

big ideas about what it is to be human,

so what was said here really mattered.

But the theatre wasn't actually the reason

that the ancients came here from far and wide.

They came because this earthly paradise

was sacred to Asclepius, god of medicine,

protector of human health and happiness,

believed to have been born right here.

This was one of the first ever health centres,

famed across the Greek and Roman world.

People came here as pilgrims and as patients.

Obviously, they honoured the gods and right at the heart

of the sanctuary there was a massive temple to Asclepius

housing a giant statue of him made out of gold and ivory.

But they also came

desperate to be cured.

This is where the gods' healing was actually thought to take place.

It's called the Abaton, which means a sacred enclosure,

and during the day the sick and the wounded

would lie out here and then at night

they'd enter a dark chamber to undergo

the sacred right of incubation.

So, the patients fell asleep,

waiting for Asclepius to come to them in their dreams,

believing he'd magically cured them

or reveal what treatment they needed.

There's a brilliant bit of evidence from here that tells

a story of a blind man who came and was cured,

but then he didn't cough up enough of an offering to the sanctuary,

so he immediately lost his sight again.

And he came back and he was healed for the second time

and the priests here loved this fact and then made much of it

and publicised it because, basically,

it was very convenient for them to say,

"Listen, miracles do happen here, but only at the right price."

There were, however, some treatments that were free of charge.

This is just too perfect that there are dogs here in the sanctuary

because we know there were loads of dogs in ancient times

because dogs were actually sacred to Asclepius.

And I know that is a bit counterintuitive,

you might kind of wonder why that is.

But recent research shows that there

is definitely antibacterial properties in dog's saliva,

so they can heal with their lick.

So they were kind of like the servants

of healing in the ancient world.

And they're still here today, although...

...l'm not sure I'd let these ones lick my wounds.

But treatment here went beyond dogs and miracles.

Archaeology has revealed why this place was a cradle of medicine.

There is something here I absolutely have got to show you.

So, in this lovely little cabinet,

there are all these medical instruments

that were found on the site,

which are basically just the kind of precursor

of our surgical instruments today.

So there are tweezers and spatulas

and knives, obviously,

and then little hooks to deal with veins.

And it's really interesting, this,

because increasingly we find, as well as the priests,

you're getting people that we really think of as doctors operating here.

The ancient Greeks were massive pioneers in medicine

and, actually, our word pharmacy is basically an ancient Greek word,

it comes from "pharmakeia", which means useful little things,

sometimes drugs.

I'm thinking of the operations that would be done here

with instruments like this.

You might be relieved to hear

that they did use pain relief in the form of opiates.

Healing treatments pioneered here spread to over 200

Asclepius sanctuaries across Asia and Europe.

This sanatorium employed all kinds of practices,

physical and psychological, as brand-new archaeology suggests.

OK. So I know this might look a bit like a building site,

but, actually, this is an incredibly exciting and important discovery.

So it's an excavation that's obviously still going on

and what has been found down there

is in underground chamber.

Now, we don't know yet exactly what it would've been used for.

It might have been a music ritual or even a snake pit,

or some kind of dungeon where people imagined

that they were dead so that they could be healed and reborn again.

But, whatever it is, it's a vital,

new piece in the jigsaw puzzle story of this place.

And this is a story that really matters,

that has a lot to teach us,

because, 2,000 years ago, the women

and men here had a holistic approach

to life and health and happiness

we're only re-embracing now.

So, remember this beautiful theatre?

Well, by the fourth century BCE, there wasn't just a theatre here,

there was a stadium, a running track, a gymnasium

and an odeon, which is the ancient Greek word for a music hall.

And, at first, you might think all of this was just

provided as entertainment for all those visitors

and pilgrims, but, actually,

the truth runs far, far deeper.

This was here as therapy

because the ancient Greeks believed that you could not have

a healthy body unless you had a healthy mind.

And the philosopher Aristotle said that when people came

together in a theatre like this to listen to drama,

it was catharsis -

it was a purge and a balm for societies soul.

That idea of treating the person as a whole,

rather than just focusing on an isolated problem,

of using art to heal, might seem super modern,

but the Greeks got there 2,500 years ago.

Epidaurus is a wonder for all kinds of reasons,

but I really love it because it reminds us to respect history

and that we shouldn't just learn

about the people of the past -

we should learn from them.

For my final treasure,

I'm heading to one of the most iconic ancient sites on the planet,

home to a driving competitive spirit that made the Greeks special

and that shaped our world...

...Olympia,

birthplace of the original Olympic Games.

I just love coming to Olympia because, obviously,

it's thrilling to be somewhere that's famous as the birthplace

of the Olympic Games,

but this site has so much more to reveal.

For over 3,000 years,

Olympia has been a sacred place -

the chief sanctuary of Zeus,

the most powerful of all the Greek gods,

ruler of Mount Olympus,

god of success,

god of the sky.

In ancient times,

visitors would've entered this sacred space

with a real sense of awe and wonder.

Knowing that, with every step,

they were drawing closer to the home of the almighty god.

I have to be honest, coming here, it does still feel very spiritual.

Recent digs are revealing how every detail was chosen

to enhance the sublime experience.

Because this has all only just been excavated,

you can still see fantastic details on the stone,

like the fact that it's made of a composite stone

that's absolutely thick with millions-of-year-old seashells.

We know that this stone was chosen

because it celebrated the raw power of the Earth.

Isn't that beautiful?

So, this is the Altis,

the sanctuary of the gods,

the pulsing centre of divine power here

and a celebration of the power of the creations of humanity.

And at its heart was the magnificent Temple of Zeus.

And within the temple,

a huge statue of the god himself,

decorated in gold and ivory,

over 12 metres tall

and so spectacular,

it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Originally a statement of pure power,

only ghostly remains have been left.

The temple was destroyed by an earthquake,

the statue by fire.

But now, painstaking research and modern technology

is raising the Olympian Zeus from the ashes.

Oh, this is fantastic.

Oh, it's amazing!

It had very famous decorations above the entrance on the pediment.

World-class, and they were painted these bright colours.

And then... There it is.

That's the world-famous statue of Zeus.

Look at him!

So, covered in gold and ivory.

This is brilliant!

And people who came here from the ancient world said

it was so beautifully done, it was so inspiring,

they felt as though they were in the presence of Zeus himself.

Wow, what a moment to be standing in the temple and looking at him.

Every four years,

for over 1,000 years,

a pretty intense festival that glorified achievement

was held here in honour of Zeus,

including a gory climax -

the ritual sacrifice of 100 bulls.

Their throats were cut,

and then they were burnt as an offering to the gods,

and the remains of that offering

and the remains of the ash of the sacred flame,

the Olympic flame which always burnt here,

would be piled up in this kind of weird, greasy,

ashy, bone monument altar to death and sacrifice, just there.

And so, when people came here, that was one of the sites.

So visceral as an experience, coming here.

Really, you know, this was a place and an experience

that really, really mattered,

and if you'd come, you would never have forgotten your visit.

This extraordinary place was also the backdrop

to the ancient world's greatest sporting contest,

the Olympic Games.

Over 50,000 spectators flocked to Olympia.

This wasn't just about sport.

The competition itself was a religious experience,

attracting Greek citizens and travellers from Sicily to Georgia.

The atmosphere must have been electric.

So, this is the stadium where the races were held,

and the competitors would all have lined up here

on the starting line, stark naked,

to prove to Zeus how hard they trained for his festival.

And, actually, the Ancient Greek word for naked is "gymnos",

which gives us our word "gymnastics".

And the stadium takes its name from the stadion, or stage,

which was the measure of distance from one end to the other.

For the ancients,

these sporting heroes were touched by the divine.

To understand more,

I'm meeting archaeologist Konstantinos Antonopoulos.

So, was this really a religious experience when people came here?

For sure.

The Olympic Games was not just an athletic event.

The Olympic victor was a hero among humans

and, many times, he would be worshipped

as a semi-god or as a god after he died.

So, I mean, it really mattered that you won when you came here.

Exactly.

Zeus was the prominent beloved god of the Greeks,

and he had this festival here.

They thought that the Olympic victor would be accepted in Zeus's palace

and he would live among the gods,

and that would be the ticket to immortality.

Of course, competing to be godlike encouraged fierce competition.

For the Greeks, winning was everything.

There was no such thing as an honourable loser,

and competition was stitched through all aspects of Greek life.

So, politicians competed,

but poets, playwrights and even potters competed, too.

The Olympic Games provided the opportunity

for clays on end

of sublime, ferocious contest.

Contest, struggle, was there to honour the best

and to make people aspire to be better.

Success was a goal enshrined in Greek culture via the Games

for over 1,000 years...

...a legacy and, some would argue, an ethos we've inherited.

The modern Games were revived in Greece in 1896

after being closed down by Christian emperors 1,600 years before.

The Olympic torch is now ritually lit here at Olympia...

...and is transported around the world.

Olympia is one of our wonders because,

from the stupendous statue of Zeus

to the raw rivalry of the Games,

it encapsulates a Greek spirit of competition.

That constant restless struggle to innovate and create and be the best

led the Greeks to make astonishing advances in the human story.

My treasures of Greece

have taken me across this glorious land.

I've felt the passion of the ancient Olympics,

been dazzled by the gold of Macedon

and visited the first health spa in western civilisation.

This journey to explore the wonders and treasures of Greece

has been epic and a joy.

It's shown me that ambition and determination

and inspiration and sheer curiosity

is what builds a civilisation

and it's reminded me that the gifts of the Greeks

are still enjoyed across the world today.

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