All language subtitles for Bettany.Hughes.Treasures.of.the.World.S01E04.Mediterranean.720p.ALL4.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-NTb_Subtitles01.ENG

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.

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 as I reveal
how the past has shaped our lives.

This time,
the treasures of the Mediterranean.

This sea
has been called the Great Sea,

the White Sea, the Bitter Sea,
the Encircling Sea,

and it's been given
all these different names

because this body of water
is a lifeblood of civilisation.

A waterway that connects
the continents of Africa, Asia
and Europe... Whoa!

..which has seen more human journeys
than anywhere else in the world.

It's left its mark in many cultures
and many ways.

The Mediterranean
has long fed the imaginations

of travellers, writers and artists,

from the Ancient Greek poet Homer,
who described our desire
to wander these waters,

to the 19th-century painter
Vincent van Gogh,

who talked about the ever-changing
palette of the Mediterranean.

And I want to follow in the trail
of their inspiration.

I'll be charting a course
across this wonderful waterway
from its western edge,

discovering recent finds
inside the Rock of Gibraltar.

Then travelling east,
I'll explore hidden treasures

on three of my favourite islands,

reached across
the Mediterranean seas.

The riches of Malta,
the magic of Italian Ischia,

and finally,
the Greek island of Delos,

with its sacred mysteries.

An adventure of discovery
in some pretty remarkable places

that can help us understand
the story of humanity.

The Strait of Gibraltar
has been a superhighway

for a least 4,000 years,

navigated by sailors
from the Middle East and Africa,

Greece and Rome and beyond,

all trading goods and ideas.

I'm right at the very mouth
of the Mediterranean here
at its western edge,

and I'm heading
close on 3,000 miles east.

But before I do that,
there is something in here
that I just have to show you.

My first treasure
is a brand-new discovery

hidden away within a cave inside
the great Rock of Gibraltar itself.

This is the point where the
Mediterranean meets the Atlantic.

So you've got hot and cold water
crashing together,

which makes the sea a lot livelier,

and frankly, pretty treacherous.

Oh!

For travellers from the east,
it was no mean feat to make it here.

And in the caves of Gibraltar,
sailors from the late Bronze Age
onwards

would take shelter before embarking
on perilous journeys.

The sea level's risen so much
that these days

you can only get in
by clambering over the rocks.

This is not an easy cave to access.

I've long wanted to explore
this intriguing place...

..Gorham's Cave.

This cave is packed
with ancient artefacts

which have been brought here
over the centuries by sailors
as an offering.

Because this isn't just a cave,

this is a shrine.

Precious finds
from across the classical world
have been uncovered here.

But a brilliant, brand-new discovery
has just been made.

Over the decades,
archaeologists have been
piecing together fragments,

and just in the last
couple of weeks,

they've identified this.

So, the original was made
in the fifth century BCE.

And we know it's a Medusa, who's
a kind of ferocious female monster

whose stare could literally petrify,
it could turn men to stone.

Now, we know this is a Medusa
because she's got
these snakes for hair

and this terrible menacing gash
of a mouth.

Now, a Medusa could be a protector,
but she could be a warning.

So basically,
this is a 2,500-year-old sign

saying, "Watch out."

The belief was that this cave
was actually Medusa's home,

where the Ancient Greek hero Perseus
came to seek out
and kill the goddess.

She was described
by the Greek scholar Apollodorus

as having wings of gold
that gave her the power of flight.

And if you made offerings to her,
she'd protect you on your voyage.

Isn't it just incredible to think
of those awestruck travellers

beating a path to this cave
to honour the goddess?

The remainder of the gifts
left for the Medusa

are now safely stored
in the Gibraltar National Museum,

under the care of archaeologist
Dr Geraldine Finlayson.

Oh, my goodness.
This is actually a treasure chest.

So this is all stuff from the cave?
This is all stuff from the caves.

Oh, God, it's heavy, isn't it?
It is heavy.

SHE GASPS
I mean, what beautiful things.

They look like
they're from all over.

Some of them have been found
in the 1950s

and then some of them have
been found more recently. Yeah.

But, of course,
they all go much further back.

I mean, this is like
I am in a sweet shop, basically.

These are Egyptian scarabs,
aren't they? That's right.

They weren't brought here
by the Egyptians, though.

This was the Phoenicians, who were
like the tradesmen and women

of the Mediterranean,
of the ancient Mediterranean.

And they used to trade
with the Egyptians,

and then they'd bring all these
trade goods all the way to the
western side of the Mediterranean.

The Phoenicians originated
in the near east

and were active
from the Bronze Age onwards.

The treasures they left show
the vast distances they travelled
right across the Mediterranean,

and the importance of respecting
Medusa to secure safe crossing.

They're so... I've got to put
my specs on to have a look.

They're beautiful. And it's
something that... it connects us.

It's a body of water
that connects you. It's shared.

And the incredible thing
is that in this one cave

you've got all points
of the Mediterranean represented.
So north, south and east and west.

I mean, that looks like somebody
of very distinctly African heritage.

That's right. The whole of
the Mediterranean is represented,

not just the northern shores
of the Mediterranean,
but also the southern shores.

And this is very clearly an African
that's depicted in that scarab.

I mean, that's a beautiful little
thing. Is it possible to pick up?

Yes, I'm sure we can.

Where is that from?
Well, this is a glass amphoriskos.

It would have been used to contain
perfume or a very expensive spice.

And this actually can be traced
back to one single factory

in Rhodes
on the eastern Mediterranean.

But that's incredible.
Look at the amount of detail.

The tiny little handles.

The beautiful little bead of glass
in yellow at the base.

These are items
that weren't lost in the cave.

They were left there with a purpose.

And the person had
all their hopes and aspirations

attached to the offering that
they were leaving for their deity,
for their gods.

That is so beautiful, isn't it?

Can I? Very carefully. There we go.

Isn't it a lovely thought that
whoever left this 2,500 years ago,

they would probably love the fact
that we're cherishing it today. Yes.

I suppose they would be
quite chuffed.

And as you say, I mean,
these aren't just random things
that are being left.

They obviously have real value
to the person who's leaving them.

It would be something precious
for them. Yeah.

However beautiful it is,
can you take it off me now?
I'm slightly nervous of dropping it.

Cos this is glass that is
2,500 years old. That's right.

And all of this tells you
that journeys really matter

and that journeys are really
dangerous, because they're trying
to keep the gods onside, obviously,

by leaving these things. But you
also get a sense that these people,

you know, they had a really active
relationship with the Mediterranean.

It wasn't just water for them.

It's sometimes referred to
as the Mare Nostrum, "our sea."

They all referred to the sea. The
sea was like the common denominator
of all these different cultures.

They're around the Mediterranean,

but if there's one thing
that they could all identify with,
it was this sea,

which was the source
of all their trade routes.
It was very important to them.

And as a person
who lives on the Mediterranean,

you feel that the sea is running
in your blood, I think. Wow.

The Medusa head from Gorham's Cave
is a treasure

because it's a unique survivor
from antiquity.

And it shows just how intrepid
those early travellers were,

venturing thousands of miles
from their homes
in incredibly perilous conditions.

And it also reminds us how,
as a species, we seem driven
to try to face our fears,

and whatever the dangers,

to explore beyond our horizons.

I'm following the trade routes of
those ancient Phoenician travellers,

heading east to a pivotal island

which sits between the continents
of Europe and Africa

to explore exciting new finds

which are testament
to the lasting influence
the Middle East has had on the Med.

My next treasure
is a gem of the medieval world

on the island of Malta.

Malta's strategic position right
at the heart of the Mediterranean

made it a crucial stepping stone
between the continents
of Africa and Europe.

The Ancient Greek historian Diodorus
wrote that Malta provided
a place of safe retreat,

out in the open sea,
but well supplied with harbours.

And how right he was.

From the Bronze Age onwards,
Malta was a crossroads
for cultures and ideas.

This place is a natural harbour
and it's been used for centuries.

It's called Marsaxlokk.
And "Marsa" means harbour in Arabic,

and "Xlokk" means southerly wind,

because over 1,000 years ago,
travellers originally
from North Africa

came here and made Malta their home.

The historic harbour
is still active.

70 percent of the island's
fishing catch is landed here,

often on traditional
luzzu fishing boats,

another inheritance
from the Phoenicians.

Excuse me. Can we lift your cloth

so I can see the eyes? Sorry.

Thank you so much. That's so sweet.

So, this nice fisherman
has just lifted up his cloth
so I could see these eyes.

I don't know if you can see them
on the front of the boat.

I'm very excited about these
because eyes like that

have been painted on boats
in this part of the Mediterranean

for at least 3,500 years,

because they're supposed to be
like lucky charms

and keep the boats
and the men inside them safe.

So isn't that fantastic?
That's history uninterrupted
across the centuries.

Thank you, wherever you are.

Traders of fish and luxury goods

have made the day-or-so sail
from Tunisia in North Africa

to Malta for centuries.

And just a week before I arrived,
a fabulous wonder came to light.

This was not on my schedule,
but I've heard that there's

a quite extraordinary discovery
that's just been made.

These are waterworks,
and when they were digging them out,

archaeologists were alerted that
there was something a bit unexpected
down here.

Debra, hi. Hi.

Hi. Bettany. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, as well.

Archaeologist Debra Camilleri
and her team

have uncovered
an ancient burial ground

left by explorers
originally from Tunisia.

What an incredible find.

I mean, so this is a Phoenician
or a Punic tomb, is that right?

Yes. Absolutely. How incredible.

So I know that the finds
have had to go to the lab
because they're very delicate.

But these are some of the things
that were discovered, were they?
Yes.

We found a beautiful glass beaker,
a little glass vial, which probably
held some kind of oil or perfume,

a needle with an eyelet.
Just a number of things

all completely laid out, never
touched, as if it had been there
and put there yesterday.

So undisturbed? Undisturbed. Never
been touched for over 2,000 years.

It goes right the way back, does it?
Yes, it does.
It's approximately a metre inwards.

So what's that? It's kind of like
a stepping hole, was it?

Yes, it is.
It's a foothold so that you can
put your foot in on either side

and be able to get down
into the tomb.

This recent discovery offers
new evidence of how these ancient
travellers revered their dead.

Incredibly exciting. It's exciting
anyway when there's a new find.

But, I don't know,
it just feels so important because
I think we can so often forget

the history of Malta,
it's really connected to Africa.

So these are people
who've originally come
from North Africa, presumably.

Most likely. I mean, definitely
the Phoenicians, later called Punic.

And they were traders and seafarers,

and came here and settled, or
perhaps used it as a trading post.

But we haven't found a lot
of their settlements, of course,
but we've found their burials.

So this is a part of their culture
that we're trying to understand.

Sealed in the tomb were amphorae
containing cremated human remains.

There where adult
and adolescent bones

and precious possessions
used in ancient burial ceremonies.

This area here also may have been
where people were sitting,

to just sit there,
perhaps light a lamp...

..pay their respects to the dead
before they moved on.

There is something just so touching,
isn't there, about places like this?
Yes.

You know, this is 2,300 years ago,

but the people here,
they're really wanting to do right
by their dead relatives,

or the dead people
from their community.

Yes, absolutely. No different
than what we would do today.

I think it shows
how sophisticated they were
in terms of wanting to have a place

that was peaceful and serene
for their loved ones.

Amazing. It's beautiful. Thank you.

The Phoenicians, who also left those
offerings in the caves in Gibraltar,

settled in Malta
for at least 500 years.

And so began
a sporadic flow of settlers
from North Africa to the island.

In the ninth century,
the city of Mdina,

"the walled city" in Arabic,

became the Maltese powerhouse
of a new Arabic dynasty,

the Aghlabids from Tunisia.

The arrival of these Arabs
from North Africa

was the beginning
of a 200-year dominance

that brought a new religion, Islam,
to the island.

Islam was now a faith and a culture

that spread from the Red Sea
in the east

to the Atlantic Ocean in the west,

creating a network
of Islamic scholars and artists
and scientists and philosophers

with Malta right at the very centre.

This has been described
as the golden age of Islam.

But to find evidence of it here,

you have to turn detective.

One place you can feel
the Arabic influence

is on the streets
in the Maltese language.

THEY SPEAK MALTESE

Over time, with waves of
immigration, the language evolved.

In the 12th century,
Sicilian travellers brought,
of course, Sicilian.

From the 16th century,
crusader knights spoke a whole
range of European languages,

including Italian and French.

And from the 19th century,
it was the British and English.

So Maltese is really
a completely unique mix.

It's the only Semitic language
that's written in the Latin script.

THEY SPEAK MALTESE

There may be no surviving
grand Islamic monuments,

but to find another piece
of the Arabic heritage puzzle,
you can head to the fields.

Despite the punishing heat here,

farmers manage to produce
an astonishing three citrus crops
a year. But how?

This is
the Valley of Wied il-Ghasel.
Two words with Arabic origins.

And all the bounty
that you can see around me

is the result of pioneering
medieval Arabic technology.

An irrigation system delightfully
called the invention of summer.

Malta's miracle worker is an
extraordinary engineering treasure.

A system of underground
water reservoirs

cut into the rock, called qanats,
Arabic for lance or conduit.

This channel's the clue
to a 1,000-year-old system

that runs for at least 30 miles

underground across Malta.

These channels bring
unfiltered groundwater and spring
water into a series of tunnels

using gravitational force.

I've got special access
to the self-same network,

as it directs water
into the city of Rabat.

Running 30 feet below street level,

it's evidence of the skill
of the Arabs in controlling
this vital, scarce resource.

I'm not a fan of small spaces,

but I can't resist a special tour
of this medieval labyrinth,

with archaeologist Dr Keith
Buhagiar, if I can find him.

To find the evidence,
you've got to physically climb down
through history.

Hello? Hi. Hi. How are you?

I'm perfect. It looks like
I've come to the right place.

Do I have to come down?
Yes, you need to come down.

OK. Do you mind if I give you that?
Yes, of course. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Thank you.
Perfect.

This is incredible.

Watch your step.
There are some puddles.

So the water is starting already.

The water is starting already. We're
at the level of the water table.

Careful. This is a tricky bit.
OK. Thanks.

Your hand. Yeah.

OK. Great. Thank you.

God, the water is deep here,
isn't it? Yes, it is.

This is the start
of the Mdina system.

Now, from here, things will get
progressively easier.
Easier? Good. I like easier.

Is there anything
we need to look out for, please?

There might be a couple of bats.

Bats? Yes. So be warned. OK.

When you said "easier," Keith,
I'm not sure this is the easier bit.

So here we are. Uh-huh.
This is the first shaft.

You've got a hollowed-out maze
in here, which is now all silted up.

Uh-huh.
That's meant for water accumulation.

And up here you've got your shaft,
complete with handholds
and footholds,

enabling the... God, yeah!
..occupants of the above property

to actually access the system
when necessary. Yeah.

Any occupant in the above dwelling

could lower down their bucket,

fill it up with water
and actually lift it back up.

And mind you, this is one
of the proper qanat systems
that we have in Malta.

It's probably roughly
around 1,000 years old.

So this water still feeds the town,
does it?

It does. It does. And even in
agricultural estates. Amazing.

It's amazing. I hate being
underground in small spaces.

So is it OK if we leave? I'm
delighted historically. Can we go?

But at least you've seen the system.
At least I've seen the system.

Thank you.

The Arab expertise
in controlling water on Malta

was a stroke of genius

that nurtured a burgeoning
15,000-strong Muslim population.

By the 11th century, there was
a thriving Islamic community here

with an Emir in charge.

And I've just been invited
to see something very special

and very rare from that age.

My most precious Arabic treasure

is a gleaming gem in the central
bank of Malta's special collection,

that's recently been identified
as a solid gold quarter Dinar coin.

This is such a beautiful thing.

It's so tiny and absolutely unique.

And we know that it was minted
here on Malta

because written on the top there
is Malta in Arabic.

And if you very carefully...

turn it over, on the back,
it says, "There is no God but Allah.

"And Muhammad
is the prophet of Allah."

Now, this was made
in either 1080 AD or 1081 AD

from gold that came
all the way from Egypt.

So it is a golden treasure
from the golden age of Islam.

For me, the treasures
from the age of Islam on Malta

show the fascinating mix and legacy
of cultures, western and eastern,

on the shores of the Mediterranean.

This is a beautiful poem
written in Arabic 800 years ago

by a man called Ibn al-Abbar.

And he describes his Mediterranean
sailing boat as if it's alive.

"Ride in the name of Allah
on the back of your green mount

"that swims on the crest
of great waves

"with the feathers
of the fastest birds.

"With wings that beat just like
my heart is beating, ride on."

And I know exactly how he felt.

And I'm riding that wave,
450 nautical miles on
to my next Mediterranean treasure,

on one of the most magical islands
of these waters,

just off the coast of Italy.

I've continued east
across the Mediterranean

to an enchanting island 20 miles
from Naples called Ischia.

This volcanic island
is the stuff of legends

and its treasures have inspired
romances of all kinds.

This is not a bad way
to arrive at a site. Ciao.

The island of Ischia
emerged from the sea,

rather like the goddess Aphrodite,

the result
of an underwater volcanic eruption,

and its mystique drew people here
from antiquity onwards.

One of the most famous writers
from the Roman world, Cicero,
wrote about this place.

He said, "Here beneath
the sand and the seabed

"burns the heat of the volcano."
As it still does.

The volcano may last have erupted
in 1302,

but the sand can still reach
150 degrees, hot enough to cook on.

These fantastical features
became legendary.

This is a whole canyon
of volcanic material.

So what you're looking at
is millions of years worth
of pumice and ash

from the inside of the volcano.

Pilgrims from the Greek world
flooded here.

I'm following their footsteps
to my first treasure on the island,
Cavascura,

to explore the source
of some fabulous tales.

They believed it was sacred, that it
had kind of special magic powers,

and that's because of the boiling
water that comes out of this cave.

Isn't that amazing?

The Ancients told the fantastic
story about this place.

They said that Zeus,
the king of the gods,

went into battle
with the monster Typhon,

and as punishment, Zeus then buried
Typhon under the island of Ischia.

Every now and again, the monster
would turn over in agony,

and as he did, flames would spurt
from his mouth and eyes,

he'd hurl rocks into the air

and his hot fury would heat
the water until it boiled.

And still, thousands of years later,

it is still boiling.

By the late second century BCE,
the Romans had dug in,

creating simple thermal baths.

Well, since I'm here,
it seems rude not to have a go.

The Ancients knew that these waters
didn't just have spiritual
properties,

but physical benefits, too.

Even Hippocrates,
who was the father of medicine,

wrote that the minerals
in the waters could cure
all kinds of ills and ailments.

Potassium and magnesium to this day
are known to relieve
muscle and joint problems.

SHE LAUGHS
That's really hot!

That's really hot but incredibly
silky. They said it would feel like
I had oil on my skin and it does.

It's good!

The volcanic nature of the island
gives it a rare beauty

that's drawn people
and fired the imagination.

This castle was the home
of one of the greatest literary
figures of the Italian Renaissance,

an extraordinary 16th-century
noblewoman called Vittoria Colonna.

Here she was motivated to write
trend-setting, passionate poetry.

And I've been granted access
to a fresco,

hidden inside Sant Antonio
di Padova, of the poet herself.

Oh, I'm so lucky that the nuns
have let me in to see this

cos it's a most fantastic painting.

That's Vittoria on the right
and her aunt here on the left.

And obviously,
it's a religious theme.
It's called the Madonna of Mercy

and there's a whole lot of kind of
hell fire stuff happening.

But, actually, there are clues here

that it's celebrating
the literary and artistic salons

that Vittoria and her aunt
used to hold.

So she's got a book, you can see
the angels up at the top
are playing musical instruments,

and it's kind of telling us
that art and culture and poetry

is the thing
that makes life worth living.

Vittoria would become
one of the world's first
published females poets.

She started writing here
at the enchantingly beautiful
Castello Aragonese.

After her marriage in 1509
to the high-ranking military leader
the Marquis of Pescara,

this was the newly-weds' first home.

She wrote all about love.

She was inspired by this
to talk of desire

leading you to the stars
and to the sun,

about the respiration of the seas

and the caresses of the air.

But in 1525, at the age of 35,

Vittoria was widowed,
leaving her alone on the island.

Her husband dying of his wounds
on the battlefield,

she was devastated.

She said she only wrote
to pour out the innermost suffering
that fed her heart.

But do you know what? In some ways,
this was the making of her,

because suddenly Vittoria
was in charge of all of this

and she dedicated her life
to the creation of art.

Vittoria produced
an astonishing number of poems,

enough to fill 13 published volumes.

She also wrote on philosophy
and religion

and this remarkable woman
attracted one of the most famous
artists of all time.

Vittoria Colonna
was the talk of the town

and no less than
a now world-famous Michelangelo

asked to be introduced to her.

Once the two met,
they became inseparable.

They exchanged gifts and wrote
letters and shared poetry,

and the sonnets
that he composed for her

were said to be
full of sweet longing.

The two became one another's muses.

In fact, Vittoria might well be the
inspiration for the figure of Mary

in the Sistine Chapel's
Last Judgement,

which Michelangelo was painting
in the Vatican at the time.

Hi! Oh, hello!

Joining me at the castle
is co-author of Vittoria's biography

Serena Sapegno
from the University of Rome.

You can see why this place
was inspiring to Vittoria.

She must have felt
that this was paradise

because it was and it still is.

She was incredibly popular in
her day, wasn't she? Very popular.

She is extraordinary.
She comes across as extraordinary

if you actually read what she writes
in her poems and in her letters.

This is sonnet number 17
in this ancient edition,

lovely small edition
that I have here.

SHE SPEAKS ITALIAN

"When, from the dear rock,
I look around

"earth and sky in the red dawn,

"all the mists that were borne
in my heart are swept away

"by the beautiful views
and the clear day."

Beautiful. Is it true that
Michelangelo sought her out? Yes.

They have such a passionate
relationship.

Are they soul mates?
Is it a meeting of minds?

It is probably more than that.

Michelangelo is gay. She is chaste.

It is a kind of platonic love.
So the body is not involved.

But that doesn't mean that the
feeling is less strong or important.

In fact, maybe it is even more.

For a decade,
Vittoria and Michelangelo
visited each other daily,

feeding an intense relationship
of mutual respect and admiration.

In 1547, Vittoria died

with Michelangelo at her bedside.

He said he had never seen
a face so fair

and he was obviously utterly
despairing to have lost her.

But then in 2018,
a discovery was made.

In this beautiful sketch
that he did of her
at the height of their friendship,

he's written himself into her story.

If you look down,

you can see that
he's actually drawn himself

into the folds of her clothes.

So here are his legs,
he's leaning over,

that's his face, and he's reaching
out to paint her belly.

So even if they couldn't
be together in life,

he made sure that they were together
forever in a work of art.

There's something about his place
that motivates deep emotions,

because just over 400 years later,

the idyllic castle on the rock
was also the setting

for one of the greatest
and most infamous love stories
of the 20th century

between Elizabeth Taylor
and Richard Burton.

The castle here stood in
for the Ancient city of Actium

during the filming of the 1960s
version of Cleopatra.

The couple stayed on the island
of Ischia for weeks

and, famously,
their on-screen romance

bled over into a very steamy
on-set love affair.

Then they got married.

So clearly it was the magic
of Ischia working once again.

Perhaps it's this heady combination
of a dramatic, volatile landscape,

steamy seas
and the isolation of an island

that stirs body and soul.

Ischia's remarkable
romantic landscape

has nourished some pretty intense
human narratives
through the centuries.

It's inspired myths and legends,
fairytales and fantasies,

and the whole place
is pretty much like a story book.

I love it for that and because
it remind us that, as a species,

we are creatures of imagination

and that we love to understand the
world by telling stories about it.

My next treasure
is on a Greek island

with such a magnetic pull,

it became a hotbed of cultural
exchange and fabulous wealth,

where ancient civilisations partied
by the light of the moon.

I'm continuing my journey east

to discover a mysterious treasure

on a Greek island where the Aegean
and the Mediterranean merge,

the sacred island of Delos.

It's a mystic, hallowed sanctuary

said to be the birthplace of two of
the most potent Ancient Greek gods.

Delos is an island
that's attracted power players

and pirates and pilgrims

from across the Mediterranean
across the centuries.

And for the Ancients,
it was considered to be

one of the most sacred islands
on Earth.

So I am incredibly privileged
to have been invited to explore it.

And I should admit, like a child,

I'm so excited,
I couldn't sleep last night.

Delos is so sacred that tourists
are only permitted during the day.

No-one's usually allowed
to sleep here.

But I've been given the great honour
of staying both day and night

to explore the remains
of hundreds of palatial houses
and fabulous temples,

some of the very finest
inspired by one particular legend.

The story goes that Zeus,
the king of the gods,

had an affair with a divine creature
called Leto,

getting her pregnant with twins.

Now, Zeus's wife Hera
was not best pleased with this

and she condemned Leto
to wander across the Mediterranean

from island to island.

Eventually consumed
by the pain of childbirth,

the island of Delos took her in,

and Leto gave birth
right here in this grove

to a boy and a girl.

The boy was the god Apollo,

the god of sun and light and reason.

And the girl was Artemis,
the goddess of the moon

and hunting and female power.

Artemis is one of my favourite
goddesses.

She's fiercely independent,

a genuine Wonder Woman
of the classical world,

both a hunter and a protector
of wild animals.

Her name, Artemis, according to
the Ancient Greek historian Strabo,

comes from the word artemes,

which means safe and sound.

When you walk through
sites like this,

you should always imagine them
buzzing with colour and life.

Oh, morning. Very appropriate!
SHE LAUGHS

I'm just thinking about Artemis,
who was the mistress of animals,

so how lovely to be sharing the site
at dawn with his beautiful cat.

Yes, good morning. Good morning.

Archaeologists are doing this
brilliant bit of work at the moment

analysing tiny, tiny fragments
of paint on her body.

This is her and a deer.

And this is what she'd have
looked like originally.

Isn't it brilliant? So her tunic
is painted in Egyptian blue,

which was a very highly-prized,
very expensive pigment,

and a kind of fantastic pink
swirling cloak.

So walk through sites like this
and you should really
be thinking of them

as being fairground bright
with colour.

SHE LAUGHS
You're so beautiful.

This is just one of the examples
of the riches in Delos,

so rammed it's taking archaeologists
decades to analyse all that's here.

The only people actually allowed
to sleep on the island now

are archaeologists and the guards
of the museum and the site.

And brilliantly, I've been asked
to go and stay with one up here,

Helene, who's been working here
for well over 15 years.

Hello, Helene? Yes?

Hello!
Bettany! How lovely to see you here!

Hi! How are you? I'm very good.

How beautiful is this?
Welcome to the dig house.

Head of the excavation
Helene Wurmser

invited me to a remote corner
of the island to her own dig site,

a luxury two-storey home

that was built here
to protect its riches

in a kind of sacred force field
that surrounded Delos.

This is all basically
one house complex, is it?

Yes, it's about 3,000 metres square,

so it's a very large house.

Talk about a grand entrance!
This is fantastic, isn't it? Yes.

This is a grand entrance,
very monumental.

And it's very well painted,
decorated,

with furniture, paintings, mosaics.
Yeah, yeah.

And what is great in this house
is also the view,
which is really great. Yeah.

It's so splendid, isn't it?
It's definitely saying, "I've
arrived, me and my family." Yes.

Here you come to the central room
of the house, the biggest one...

Wow! It's really handsome, isn't it?
Yes.

..where the owners were entertaining
their guests. Yeah.

And here you have a very special
feature of the house,

which is a kind of
artificial grotto,

which was very spectacular
for the guests to be entertained
by the owners.

A grotto is a small cave
cut in a rock,

sometimes filled with water.

It's really interesting.
So it's almost like it's trying
to bring nature into the home.

I've not seen something
like this before. Yes, it's odd

because it's probably
an Alexandrian influence. A-ha.

So the whole house feels to me
like it's the owner going,

"Look at me, I'm well connected, I
understand the Mediterranean world,

"I've got influence from Egypt,
from maybe as far afield as Gaul,

"from Italy, all in one place." Yes.

I don't know whether the owner was
Italian or Greek or from Alexandria,

but what I can feel is that

he had seen many things
in the Mediterranean area,

and that's very characteristic
of the Delian way of life,
a cosmopolitan way of life.

Do you think
the people who lived here

kind of had a sense
of its specialness?

Do you think that
they actually believed that
it was magical in some way?

This island had always
this sacred spirit.

It had something magical,
as you can see.

Delos, fuelled by its status as
a free international trading port,

became renowned
for its extravagant festivals

honouring gods
like Apollo and Artemis.

Celebrations so spectacular,

they were immortalised
in poems and in song.

So this is a Homeric Hymn
which was written really early
in the Greek world.

"In your heart,
think of the charm at Delos,

"when they celebrate games
with dancing and singing and boxing,

"with ageless, graceful,
beautiful maidens

"singing and singing again."

Many of these ceremonies involving
sacrifices and circular dances
were held at night,

drawing travellers
from across the Ancient world.

And continuing this tradition,

I've been invited to witness
the full moon here tonight

when it's closest to Earth
and so at its brightest.

Not only am I incredibly honoured

to be invited to actually stay here
on the island,

but it's the summer solstice

and tonight is the night
of the super moon.

So this is a unique experience

in a myriad of ways.

With the sun setting
over the island,

you can just imagine
thousands of visitors and islanders

waiting in anticipation for the
dancing girls in their saffron robes

celebrating the moon goddess
Artemis.

For the Ancients,
who navigated by the stars

and hunted by the light of the moon,

the night time was sacred,

powerful, magical.

The goddess was worshipped here
with night-time festivals,

with moonlit dances
and torch-light races

and little offerings
of moon-shaped cakes

lit by tiny flames,

which some people think
give us our tradition

of a birthday cake lit by candles.

For me, sacred Delos is a treasure,

not just because here
you can walk in the footsteps

of thousands who've worshipped
Apollo and Artemis through time,

but because it's a reminder that
we are creatures of day and night.

We're not all about reason
and rationale,

but also about emotion and feeling.

And that if we don't embrace both,

we can only ever be
a half of ourselves.

Voyaging across this great sea

from its western edge at Gibraltar,

visiting those strategic stepping
stones between Africa and Europe,

I've seen how this super highway
has transported cultures

and created them.

The Mediterranean and its islands
are truly things of wonder.

It's a body of water
that's seen more human interaction

than anywhere else on the planet,

more exchange of treasures
and ideas.

So the Mediterranean isn't just
a reflection of our story,

it is the story of all of us.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media