All language subtitles for Unearthed.2016.S09E03.Curse.of.Relic.Mountain.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

Narrator: high in the mountains
Of southeast turkey

Stands a skyscraping monument,

Mount nemrut.

Gigantic decapitated sculptures
Surround a vast summit.

Their size is really enormous.

Narrator:
But what is the purpose of

This bizarre mega structure?

And why is it built at such
Dizzying heights?

Now, investigators decode
Ancient inscriptions

And hunt for clues to mount
Nemrut's destruction.

We know that
The west terrace was

In a complete state of
Demolishment.

Narrator: they use innovative
Geophysical analysis

To solve the mysteries of
The mountain.

Nothing like this existed
Before this time.

Narrator: to piece together
This ancient riddle,

We blow apart gigantic
30-foot-tall statues

And digitally excavate
A tomb that

Has remained hidden
For millennia.

We crack the mystery of
Long-lost gods

And reconstruct the summit to
Its former glory

To unearth the identity of
A mysterious mountain king.

**

Mount nemrut, turkey,

A towering mountaintop
Grazing the skies.

7,000 feet high,
Its summit

Looms above the taurus
Mountain range.

What is unusual about this
Monument is its location on

Top of one of the highest
Mountains of this region.

Narrator:
On the summit of mount nemrut

Is an unusual monument,
The key to an ancient culture.

Fragments of gigantic statues

Are scattered across
The terraces, and the strangely

Shaped mountain peak
Is covered in rubble.

2,000 years ago, throned figures
Tower 30 feet tall,

With mighty stone eagles and
Lions sitting by their side.

At their feet,

Carved reliefs leave clues
To the mountain's purpose.

Over 7,000 foot above sea level,

Covering over six acres,

What is this unique site?

Michael blomer has been
Working in this region

For two decades.

He wants to find out more

About this enigmatic monument.

Two terraces flank the summit,
Facing east and west.

On the eastern terrace,

There's an unusual wide
Step platform.

Michael examines it for clues
To its purpose.

Narrator: an altar is evidence
That this is a religious site.

Could other parts of
The monument reveal

More about the obscure
Religion worshipped here?

A line of ruined statues
Stands on the terrace.

Their heads lie on

The ground below their
Decapitated stone bodies.

Each head is as tall as
A human

And is carved
In incredible detail.

Michael: it's a male head
With a full beard.

It's a paternal figure.

The mouth is slightly opened.

He's looking upwards,
And you see

How his forehead
Is contracted.

Narrator: michael thinks
The figures are meant to depict

Specific people,

But who?

He heads 800 feet around

The mountain's summit to
The western terrace.

It's a mirror of the first,
But there's one

Crucial difference.

Hidden at the back
Of the west terrace,

Michael discovers huge slabs.

Long inscriptions are carved
Onto the stones in

Ancient greek.

As michael deciphers
The text, it reveals

Something surprising.

Each statue has not one,
But a combination of names.

Narrator: zeus is a greek god,
But here, he is also

Given an equivalent persian
Name from the ancient

Zoroastrian religion.

This pattern is repeated
With almost all

The other statues
On the mountaintop.

The last god is artagnes,
A persian god,

Who is, at the same time,

Heracles and aries.

Narrator: the names suggest
That these gods are

Unlike any others in
The ancient world.

They are both greek
And persian.

Michael believes
This site is

The origin of
A groundbreaking new religion.

Who orders the construction
Of mount nemrut

And begins
This religious cult?

The statues hold
A clue -- among the gods,

Michael finds
A mysterious figure,

One without any
Divine features.

This is the head of

A young man --
It belongs to the statue

At the very left sitting,
Placed next to the gods.

Narrator: michael tracks down
The name of

The man who sits alongside
The gods.

This part of the inscription
Is not well preserved,

But we can still decipher
The name.

It's a-n-t-I-o-ch-o-s.

Antiochos ["Antiochus"].

Narrator:
Who is antiochus?

Michael decodes more of
The inscription

And reveals that antiochus
Describes himself as a god.

But he's not a greek
Or a persian deity.

Who is this
Mysterious character?

Strewn at the feet of
The gigantic statues

Is a series of intricately
Carved stone reliefs,

Each 10 feet tall.

They all show antiochus
Shaking hands

With the gods
Whose statues sit above.

Only the last relief
Is different.

It shows a lion cloaked in
A constellation of 19 stars.

A sky chart -- the oldest
Preserved horoscope in

The world.

Could these reliefs reveal
Who antiochus is

And why he sits among the gods
At mount nemrut?

The majestic reliefs
Once stood proud on

The terraces, but today,

They're so fragile, they must be
Protected behind lock and key.

Michael has exclusive access
To examine the carvings.

What can the sky chart reveal
About antiochus?

The way these stars are
Arranged tell us

That they represent
The constellation of the lion.

So this constellation
Gives us a precise date,

Which is the seventh
Of july, 62 b.C.

Narrator: the enormous lion
Horoscope reveals

The day of
Antiochus's coronation.

He is the king of
The commagene kingdom.

In the sixth century b.C.,

The persian empire
Expands westward,

Conquering eastern turkey.

The persian king and his
Mighty army of highly

Trained soldiers sweep through
The region around

Mount nemrut.

But 200 years later,
The greek leader,

Alexander the great, appears

On the scene and takes
The land from the persians.

When alexander dies,
His empire is split among

His generals.

Commagene emerges as
An independent kingdom.

Commagene stretches from the
Taurus mountains in the west

To the euphrates river
In the east,

Covering an area the size of
Puerto rico.

When king antiochus becomes
Ruler of the commagene kingdom,

He builds mount nemrut at its
Heart to glorify his new cult.

But why does he choose to
Surround the summit

With statues
That seem to honor

The two former rulers
Of the region?

On the west terrace of
Mountain nemrut,

Michael finds two rows
Of stele,

Large carved stone slabs.

One set of stele depict
Figures in traditional

Greek dress.

This set of reliefs depict

The maternal lineage
Of antiochus.

Narrator:
On his mother's side,

Antiochus traces his ancestry
Back to the legendary greek

King, alexander the great.

But not all the carvings
Look the same.

Michael examines
The second row of stele.

The people depicted
In these reliefs look

Markedly different.

They are dressed
In persian garments.

Narrator:
Michael thinks that antiochus

Uses the persian figures to

Claim he is also a descendant
Of darius the great,

Who rules the persian empire
In its golden age.

Antiochus wants to be seen as

The heir of the two
Powerful empires.

Mount nemrut helps
Antiochus assert his place

On the political
World stage.

He builds this imposing
Monument and solidifies

His new cult,

But is mount nemrut
More than

A symbol of antiochus's might?

What can the gigantic mound
At the center of mount nemrut

Reveal about another
Hidden purpose for this

Mountaintop monument?

And how does the commagene
Workforce build it?

Narrator:
At the heart of turkey's

Taurus mountain range

Lies the colossal
Mount nemrut.

Here on its summit,
2,000 years ago,

King antiochus builds a huge
Monument to tower over

His kingdom.

He erects an enormous statue
Of himself alongside

New greek persian gods to
Establish his supremacy.

But michael believes
These ruins hide clues that

Suggest this mountaintop
Complex is built

For another purpose.

He scans the inscriptions
On the western terrace.

This part of the inscription,
Antiochus says

That this monument
Is his sacred tomb.

He mentions
That it has been

Built close to
The heavenly thrones.

It's supposed to be
Indestructible, eternal.

This monument is
The house of his body.

Narrator:
If mount nemrut

Is the tomb
Of the mountain king,

Where is his body?

The key may lie
Hidden inside the peak.

It's a gigantic pile of rubble
Called a tumulus.

Smaller stones at the top
Allow it to soar over 160 feet

Into the sky,

While huge boulders form
A solid base 500 feet wide.

Some archaeologists believe
That hidden in this colossal

Mound are the remains of
King antiochus himself.

Is this man-made mountain
The king's final resting place?

Michael is on
A mission to find out.

He believes the rulers
In this part of the world

Used tumuli the same way
The egyptians used pyramids.

Narrator: 2,500 years earlier,
The egyptian pharaoh

Khufu builds

The great pyramid of giza as
His final resting place.

He designs an intricate system
Of tunnels deep inside

The pyramid that lead to
A secure funerary chamber.

If, like the pharaohs,
Antiochus is buried within

The skyscraping mound
At nemrut,

What does his tomb look like?

To find out,
Michael heads to sofraz,

An open commagene
Burial site 50 miles from

The mountain.

Michael: this tumulus is much
Smaller than the royal tumuli of

Mount nemrut, and it's also

Constructed differently,
So it mainly consists of soil.

Narrator: michael looks for
An entrance into the tumulus.

Michael: originally, the
Entrance would have been hidden.

Narrator:
On the southern slope,

There is a deep
Vertical shaft.

Michael heads underground
To explore the tomb.

The walls are really very
Neatly carved.

The surface is very smooth.

I have to say this certainly
Is among the finest

Pieces of masonry that we can
Find in commagene.

Narrator:
It is likely that the tomb

Within mount nemrut is
Equally refined.

Finally, the narrow
Corridor opens

Out into a huge vaulted room.

This is the burial chamber,

And inside the chamber we have
Two plain sarcophagi.

Narrator:
Just like the tombs in egypt,

The commagene rulers are
Buried in huge stone caskets.

As king, it's likely antiochus's
Would have been ornate

Antiochus would have been
Buried in a chamber like this,

But probably much larger
And certainly more

Lavishly decorated.

Narrator:
Despite its beautiful masonry,

The chamber itself is bare.

Michael thinks that
The commagene would

Have buried their dead with
Valuable grave goods.

He hunts for evidence of what
Happens to the objects

And finds two holes
In the ceiling.

This is one of the two
Robber channels

Through which the tomb
Raiders entered this

Burial chamber.

Narrator: the tumulus at sofraz
Has been robbed.

Has the same thing happened to
Antiochus's tomb?

Back at mount nemrut,
Michael hunts for evidence of

A break-in.

He finds that parts of

The tumulus look like
They've been disturbed.

Narrator:
Archaeologists believe

That on top of mount nemrut,

Antiochus's builders construct
A burial chamber,

Place the king inside,
And seal the entrance.

The massive tumulus on top
Protects it.

If robbers try to tunnel to
The center,

The loose rubble collapses,
Burying the intruders alive.

Despite being a beacon
For grave robbers,

No one has ever broken into
Antiochus's tumulus or seen

The legendary tomb inside.

It is a mystery still waiting
To be explored.

How does antiochus find
The stone

To build his impregnable
Burial mound?

And how does he transport it
To the top of the mountain?

Narrator: on a mountain range
In southeast turkey

Two millennia ago,
King antiochus builds

A soaring burial complex
7,000 feet high.

Archaeologists believe that
At the center lies a lavish

Tomb, hidden under a massive
Mound of stone and rubble.

The monument is visible from
Across antiochus's kingdom,

A seemingly impossible feat
Of engineering.

The ancient builders
Make the site from

The finest stone
Fit for a king.

They build the immense
Altar and each of

The five huge reliefs
From great slabs of

Fine-grained sandstone.

They carve the gigantic
Statues from

Over 600 tons of
Pure white limestone,

And they construct
The tumulus from

140,000 cubic yards of
Limestone fragments.

It takes a staggering
1,500 tons of stone

To complete the site.

Why does antiochus choose
This remote mountaintop,

And how do his builders do it?

Erhan akca wants to uncover
Where the ancient workers

Find the material to build
On this barren mountaintop.

He inspects the landscape
Surrounding the terraces.

Just below
The western terrace,

Erhan finds
Important evidence.

Narrator:
Erhan measures the length of

The straight lines that are
Cut into the rock.

Narrator:
On the terrace,

He compares this measurement
With a block used to

Build one of the towering
Statues of the gods.

Narrator: the quarry cut lines
And the stones match exactly.

Erhan's investigations
Reveal that

The commagene workers source

Their materials from
The closest place

To the terrace as possible.

This clever plan means they
Can build faster and bigger.

But the reliefs on
The terraces

Of mount nemrut are made
Of sandstone,

And there are no sandstone
Quarries close to the summit.

To find out where
The sandstone originates,

Erhan x-rays the carved

Slabs to detect
Their chemical composition.

The x-ray reveals a unique
Chemical fingerprint

So the stone can be matched
With the quarry it comes from.

Narrator: erhan hunts
For any signs of

Quarrying in the landscape
North of mount nemrut.

Narrator:
He compares the sandstone here

To the stone on
Mount nemrut.

Narrator:
To confirm that this is where

The stone from the carvings
Is quarried,

Erhan x-rays the outcrop.

Its chemical fingerprint is
An exact match to

The rock on the summit
Of mount nemrut.

Narrator: erhan thinks he knows
Why the commagene venture

Farther away from the summit
In search of sandstone.

Narrator:
Sandstone rarely fractures,

Making it a perfect material

For the reliefs on
The terraces.

King antiochus wants
The intricate details

Of his monument to survive
For millennia.

The commagene builders
Scour the landscape to

Find the best rock for
Their carvings and statues.

But where does all the stone
For the crowning glory

Of mount nemrut,

The 160-foot-tall tumulus,
Come from?

There aren't enough quarries
Around the mountain to produce

The hundreds of tons
Of stone needed

For the central burial mound.

Erhan surveys the landscape
Surrounding mount nemrut.

He notices
Something intriguing.

Narrator:
The top of mount nemrut

Is unusually flat.

Erhan believes this is
Evidence that the ancient

Builders embark on
An extraordinary feat

Of engineering to modify
This mountain summit.

The engineers first quarry
The mountain's craggy peak.

They remove tons of
Limestone rock

To flatten
And smooth the summit.

They use the largest blocks of

Limestone as the walls
Of the monument

And the towering statues.

Then,
On the flattened summit,

They build the tomb and pile
Huge rubble blocks to form

A masonry core 110 feet tall.

They cover this core with
50 feet of limestone gravel,

Remaking mount nemrut's
Summit in the name

Of antiochus.

The ingenious builders take
Advantage of

All the resources of
The mountain,

But one massive
Challenge remains --

Assembling
The 30-foot-tall statues.

How do the ancient engineers
Stack these stone giants?

Can clues hidden inside
The statues reveal

How the talented builders keep
Them from toppling?

And why do later
Explorers find

The giant stone heads
At the statues' feet?

Narrator: mount nemrut, high in
The mountains of turkey.

King antiochus builds this
Sprawling site as a cult center

And tomb in the north of
The ancient commagene kingdom.

Imposing statues flank
The central tumulus.

How do the ambitious engineers
Build these giants?

Michael: look at
All those blocks

That tumbled down
From the statues.

Their size is really enormous.

Narrator:
The workers must assemble

The heavy pieces of stone into
Statues of gods and the king,

Each as tall as five men.

It must have taken
Lots of efforts

To lift those blocks
To create the statues.

Narrator: seven layers of stone
Make up each statue.

Each layer is over 3 feet thick

With slabs that interlock like
A colossal puzzle.

To make these giant figures,

The ancient engineers roughly
Chisel each piece into shape

On the ground.

Then they carefully assemble
Them into towering stacks.

Finally, they chisel
The fine features,

Transforming the rock piles
Into gods and kings.

But each piece weighs
Around two tons.

How do
The ancient builders assemble

These towering statues?

Michael inspects the remains
Of the statues.

Their damaged
Bodies could reveal more

Ancient building secrets.

He peers inside the remains of

The statue of zeus and spots
Something unusual.

They constructed the statue
Around a hollow space

That they later filled
With rubble.

Narrator: the gigantic statues
Have large holes

At their core.

The holes are a clever
Design feature,

Reducing the number of slabs

The workers must haul up
The mountain,

And a rubble center
Helps to

Hold the interlocking stones
In place.

But each individual block
Is still

Too heavy
For any human to lift.

How do antiochus's workers
Assemble the colossal slabs?

Michael examines
A fallen stone.

Michael: if you look closely,
You will discover

That each block
Has at least two,

But most of them actually four,
Little holes.

Here you can see one --
Here on those blocks above.

Narrator: he believes
That these small holes

Are the key to understanding

How antiochus builds
The statues.

They were used for

Lifting these blocks
With a crane.

Narrator:
At the top of the mountain,

The builders construct
A towering crane from wood

And ropes.

They attach a pair of hinged
Tongs from their hoist

That slot into the holes in
The massive stone blocks.

This way,
The masons can easily lift

Two-ton blocks 30 feet
Off the ground

And lower them carefully
Into position.

Then they fill
The central core with rubble.

This acts like
A central spine to

Stabilize the colossal
30-foot-tall statues.

Cranes like these are used
Across the ancient world.

The greeks invent
The first prototype

In the 6th century b.C.,

And they use it to build
The parthenon.

This engineering breakthrough
Paved the way for supersized

Monuments that showcase

The immense power of the rulers
Of the ancient world.

The holes in the statues
Also give michael an insight

Into how the commagene
Workforce is organized.

We see this headband here,
The diadem of the king, with

These thunderbolts,

And we see that the hole has
Been carved in the temple

And thereby destroying
The ornament.

This tells us that the head
Was finished when it was

Still standing on the ground,

And then the head has been
Lifted and put on top of

The statue.

Narrator: engineering brilliance
Ensures these magnificent

Stone structures tower over
The king's tomb.

But if their engineering
Is solid,

Why are the statues in such
A state of ruin today?

What makes antiochus
And his gods lose their heads?

Narrator: mount nemrut,

A vast burial complex in
Southeast turkey.

This is a site of ancient
Engineering splendor.

2,000 years ago,
Master builders used

Towering cranes

And over 1,500 tons of stone to
Build this unique monument.

Why is it in ruins today?

When investigators rediscover
Nemrut in the 1880s,

It is a devastated site.

Rubble from the tumulus
Covers the terraces,

Hiding clues
To the monument's purpose.

The heads
Of the statues rolled

Down the mountain
Are partly buried

And are scarred with deep
Cracks and surface damage.

Only one statue
Remains intact --

The goddess commagene has
Escaped decapitation.

But in the 1960s,
After holding fast for

2,000 years,

Her torso crumbles,
And her head topples.

This shrine is designed
To last for eternity.

How does it come to be
So utterly destroyed?

Erhan investigates

If the harsh climate on
Mount nemrut could be to blame.

The mountain experiences
Hot summers

Of 104 degrees fahrenheit
And cold winters,

When temperatures plunge
To 14 degrees.

For half the year, the statues
At the peak sit covered in snow.

To analyze the damage
This causes,

Erhan examines
King antiochus's head.

Narrator: when archaeologists
Discover mount nemrut,

They find the head of antiochus
Partly buried in soil.

This has a profound effect
On his facial features.

Narrator: erhan believes
Constant exposure

Over thousands of years

Has a disastrous effect
On the statues.

Water seeps into the tiny
Cracks in the surface.

When the temperature drops,
The water freezes and expands,

Widening the cracks.

Now water can penetrate
Deeper into the stone

And the freeze-thaw
Cycle repeats

Until it shatters the rock.

The cracks in the statues
Grow over millennia.

The thinnest part of
The statues is the neck.

It's a natural,
Weak spot for growing cracks

To shear the rock.

But the total collapse of
The statues

Suggests there's more than
Just weathering at play.

Yasemin didem aktas
Investigates this mystery.

She hopes that by
Understanding past damage to

The statues, she'll be able

To better protect them
Against future harm.

Weathering wouldn't be enough
To create

The structural damage that
We are seeing on site.

Narrator:
Yasemin believes there may be

A bigger force to blame.

She analyzes a geophysical map
Of turkey,

Which highlights
The seismic fault lines

Running across the country.

Yasemin examines the area
Surrounding mount nemrut.

Yasemin: here is mount nemrut --
Just it's north of

The ataturk dam -- as you can
See, it's very, very close

To the east anatolian
Fault line,

Making it very vulnerable
To earthquakes.

Narrator: mount nemrut sits
Three miles from the fault line,

Between two colliding
Tectonic plates.

As the two plates
Grind past each other,

They trigger frequent
Earthquakes along the fault,

Sending tremors through
Mount nemrut.

Do earthquakes
Decapitate the statues?

To solve the mystery,

Yasemin develops a brand
New bespoke simulation using

The measurements of a typical
Statue at mount nemrut.

She models how
The three-foot blocks that

Make up the gigantic figures
React to seismic activity.

She starts with an earthquake
That measures

A powerful 7.2
On the richter scale.

Yasemin: the head moves around
A little bit,

But we do not observe
A lot of openings

In the remaining stone blocks.

Narrator: the gigantic
Statues can survive

A one-off earthquake,

But yasemin wants to see
What intensity

Of earthquake would cause
The heads to fall.

She amplifies the force of
The earthquake by three,

Simulating the effect of
Multiple successive tremors.

We really started to see damage
That are pretty comparable to

What we are observing
In the west terrace.

The stone blocks are
Scattered all over the place,

And it's pretty
Dramatic, really.

Narrator:
Over the course of 2,000 years,

Devastating earthquakes caused
The heads to topple off

The statues and their bodies
To collapse.

The king builds his tomb on
Mount nemrut so that

His memory and religion will
Persist long after his death.

But despite his efforts,
The statues collapse.

What do mount nemrut's
Ruins reveal about

Antiochus's legacy?

Can evidence on a little-known
Third terrace

Shed light on what happens
After his death?

Narrator: on one of the tallest
Peaks in southeast turkey,

King antiochus
Builds his temple tomb.

His aim is to be seen
And remembered for eternity.

How does antiochus try to
Ensure his legacy lives on?

Michael decodes
The inscriptions on the gigantic

Statues of the gods
At mount nemrut.

He talks about the religious
Festivals in his honor,

But also to honor the gods
Assembled here and all gods.

Narrator: these instructions
Tell worshippers how

To practice antiochus's
New religion.

They list the days to
Celebrate in his honor.

Antiochus's birthday
And the day of his coronation

Get a special mention.

Michael: from the inscription,
We also know what kinds of

Activities were expected to
Take place.

So, like, sacrifices,
Music was played by

Musicians, and also
The people who attended,

They could expect to be fed.

Narrator: do the commagene
People follow

Antiochus's instructions?

On the hunt for clues,

Michael heads to
A strange third

Terrace on the edge of
The mountain.

This terrace is
A poor imitation

Of the others at
Mount nemrut.

It's much smaller.

Instead of gigantic statues
And a limestone platform,

It only has rough sculptures
And uneven ground.

We see this long row of
Sandstone slabs,

Which were supposed
To be reliefs.

However, as you can clearly
See, they have never

Been finished.

Narrator: michael thinks
That this is because

The king dies before
The construction is complete.

He was buried immediately,

And building is abandoned.

Do the people of commagene
Ever return to the mountain?

If people perform sacrifices,
You have residue.

If they come here for feasting,
For drinking,

You would see pottery
Or other kinds of material

Left behind.

But, in fact, no archaeological
Traces of actual use

Have been discovered.

Narrator:
Why do the commagene people

Abandoned antiochus's
Eternal site of worship?

At another burial mound
15 miles from mount nemrut,

Michael hunts for clues.

Here, antiochus's son
And successor,

Mithridates, builds
A tumulus for his mother,

Sisters, and niece.

Michael examines a relief
At the burial site.

Michael:
There certainly is a link to

The tomb of antiochus
On mount nemrut,

But there is also a very
Significant difference.

Here, we have two human beings
Shaking hands,

While on mount nemrut,

Antiochus was
Shaking hands with the gods.

Narrator: mithridates is shaking
Hands with his sister,

But unlike his father
At nemrut,

He is not depicted like a god.

After antiochus,
The king is simply a king.

He's not divine or equal
To the gods.

And antiochus's religion,
Which he tries to

Immortalize with his enormous
Statues on mount nemrut,

Also fades.

The commagene people
Disown his new gods

And instead continue to
Practice their old

Local beliefs.

Michael: after his death,

There are no monuments for
The gods that we see here

On nemrut, so this really
Dies out after his death.

Narrator: but the magnificent
Monument on mount nemrut

Ensures antiochus is never
Entirely forgotten.

Michael:
The king created something

Extraordinary, a monument
That still today

Stupefies people.

King antiochus builds
A sprawling burial complex

On top of
Mount nemrut.

He erects massive sculptures
Of radical new gods

And places himself alongside
Them as their equal.

Antiochus's body is laid to
Rest under a rubble colossus,

Where it still
Lies undisturbed

In his mountain tomb.

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