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We innovate and mould the bounty of the planet
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To our needs.
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But new resources forge new struggles,
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Give power to new peoples,
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And with them, ideals and ideas that transform our lives.
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Amidst the chaos of an unforgiving planet,
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Most species will fail.
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But for one, all the pieces will fall into place,
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And a set of keys will unlock a path for mankind to triumph.
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This is our story, the story of all of us.
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The Nile delta of Egypt,
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Twelve hundred years Before Christ.
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Mankind's greatest civilizations falling one by one.
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A new enemy.
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Egyptians call them the sea people.
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Hungry, violent,
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Their origin a mystery even today.
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"Their ships came, our cities burnt,
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"And they brought evil to our country."
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A thousand years after the age of the Pyramids,
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Even mighty Egypt faces destruction.
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Around the Mediterranean,
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Great cities and empires are swept away
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By peoples on the move.
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Troy, the Mycenaeans in Greece,
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The hittite empire of Turkey.
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The sight of ships on the horizon
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would have just sent chills down your spine.
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It would have been the most terrifying thing imaginable.
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When the sea peoples cause one great state to fall,
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then that one domino has fallen,
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and then the rest around the Mediterranean go.
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Chaos rules.
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Trade dries up.
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Supplies of bronze,
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The lifeblood of civilization, dwindle to nothing.
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Mankind faces the collapse of thousands of years of progress.
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But on an island in the eastern Mediterranean
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A group of pioneering metal workers
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Uncovers one of the keys to our future.
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What they discover will arm new peoples,
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Give power to new ideas,
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Send mankind across the world,
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And transform the planet.
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The Age of Iron.
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An age we still live in today.
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Alashiya, Cyprus.
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An island named after its rich resources of copper.
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But the supply of rare tin to make bronze from copper
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Has dried up.
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Faced with ruin, metalworkers make a discovery
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That will change the future of mankind.
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Rusty red rocks, found all over the island.
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They contain one of the most important raw materials
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In history: iron.
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Born in the heart of an exploding supernova star,
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Iron forms the earth's molten core,
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Larger than the moon, hot as the sun.
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Without it, no atmosphere, no magnetic field,
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No life.
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The fourth most common mineral in the earth's crust.
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After depending on bronze for so long,
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iron was a far superior metal,
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but it took a much higher level of skill to work with it.
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To forge iron, a super-fuel:
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Charcoal, wood burned in kilns,
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More carbon, more energy,
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Burns hotter, longer.
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They needed to smelt it,
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to get that ore into a position
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where it would interact with charcoal,
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and great groaning bellows would push air into this fire.
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The heat would infuse the iron,
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and it would coagulate into these chunks.
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Iron is harder, it can hold an edge better
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and it's extremely plentiful.
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Those skills must have spread very, very quickly,
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as people realized what a huge advantage iron could give you.
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Iron and charcoal transform the surface of the planet.
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In Europe alone,
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70 million acres of trees, an area bigger than Oregon,
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Are felled to feed iron foundries,
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Creating the landscape of the world we know today.
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Now, on the plains of Greece,
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Iron ushers in a new age of warfare.
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Soldiers prepare to defend their small kingdom.
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Sparta.
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A society dedicated to war.
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With the richest iron mines in Greece.
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Their leader: Pausanias.
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A prince of Sparta, acting commander-in-chief.
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Bearing down on them, the superpower of the day:
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Persia.
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Sparta is just 3000 square miles.
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The Persian empire, more than a million.
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The battle they face against the odds
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Will shape the story of mankind.
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Pausanias is holding Sparta together
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After the death of the king, his uncle.
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They prepare for a final battle to defend Greece.
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They're the baddest human beings on the planet Earth
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and they wanna stay that way.
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It's really "We're gonna breed the ultimate warriors."
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And they build a whole caste system,
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a whole belief system, around this idea.
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In Sparta, from the age of seven,
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Boys are trained as warriors.
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At 18, they join Sparta's army,
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The most fearsome,
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Most disciplined fighting force on earth.
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Young men were taken away from their families
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and lived a very what we call a Spartan life,
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a life without luxury
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and a life of deprivation
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and a life training and testing their courage.
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The Spartan boy is tough as nails,
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he has to be able to sleep outside
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when it's raining and even snowing,
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to have to forage and even steal your own food.
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Spartans are armed with the best weapons of the day,
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Spears and swords of iron.
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But Sparta cannot fight Persia alone.
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Within Greece, Sparta's rival: Athens.
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Also small, vulnerable,
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A city of merchants, playwrights, and farmers.
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But faced with a powerful enemy,
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Athens must decide to accept Persia as its master
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Or try and make common cause with its bitter rival.
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The decision will determine the future of the western world
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And the story of all of us.
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The age of iron gives power to the people.
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The small city-state of Athens faces a choice:
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Submit to the Persian empire or fight for freedom.
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An envoy of the Persian emperor Xerxes
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Offers the people of Athens a chance
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To surrender and avoid bloodshed.
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The cost, their freedom.
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Male citizens of Athens gather on a rocky hill called the Pnyx.
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Among them: Sophanes.
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Brave, outspoken,
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An ordinary citizen who will become a military legend.
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Citizens of Athens are armed with iron weapons.
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They have a duty to defend themselves and their city.
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The ability to express yourself freely
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is so uniquely tied
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to the ability to defend yourself freely.
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The Athenians appreciate and value freedom.
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Their ability to be self-expressed,
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their ability to have a say in their government.
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And they're willing to fight for that.
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Political decisions in Athens are made not by kings,
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But by its armed citizens, men like Sophanes.
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A new political system,
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A legacy still shaping civilization today:
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Democracy.
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It's not everyone,
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it's primarily male land-holders who can vote.
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Women were not part of the process, at this point.
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Nonetheless, it's a dramatic shift
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from having strong men and tyrants.
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You have the ability for self-determination.
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A black stone: surrender.
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A white stone:
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Fight.
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Vote 'yes' and you've committed yourself
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to risking your life to fight.
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Vote 'no' and you'll be safe
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but you'll be ruled by a stranger.
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Tough decision, but the point is,
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it's being made by ordinary people,
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and that's what's astonishing
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about what the Greeks introduced to the history of humanity.
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An athenian records the will of the people:
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"Such is our love of liberty, we will never surrender."
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August, 479 bc,
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Near the coast of Greece.
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Bitter rivals lay aside their differences
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To defend their lands against a mighty empire.
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The Persians: 100,000 conscripted soldiers
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From across the ancient world.
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On the other side, greek patriots.
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Pausanias leads a force of men
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Whose entire lives are dedicated to the art of war.
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With the Spartans, citizen-warriors from Athens.
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Men like Sophanes.
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They were putting everything they knew
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on the line.
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I think there is such great gallantry
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in the idea of going to battle, going to war,
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knowing you are severely outnumbered,
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but believing you have right on your side.
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The Persian commander, Mardonius,
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Believes superior numbers will be the key
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To an easy Persian victory.
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The Greeks have halted the Persian advance
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For more than a week.
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Phalanx!
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The Greeks line up to face the enemy head-on.
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They're exhausted, outnumbered, exposed.
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But now a new weapon...
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...A new way of fighting...
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...that decides the future of the western world.
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The future of western civilization
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Is being decided in Greece.
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Greek allies have held off a Persian army of 100,000
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For more than a week.
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They're exhausted, outnumbered 3 to 1.
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Spartan leader Pausanias and Athenian militiaman Sophanes
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Prepare to make a last stand.
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The Greeks unleash a new weapon,
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A tactic that will transform warfare.
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The phalanx.
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What the phalanx required
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was soldiers working closely together
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both to protect each other
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and give that unified, tightly-packed force,
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enough power to push forward.
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By blocking those shields together
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and then separating just enough
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to drive the spear into your enemy,
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you could take one more step,
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and you could start to dominate the battlefield
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by working together as a coordinated team.
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The phalanx - a human tank.
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The Greeks smash the Persian advance.
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Soldiers scatter.
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In the heat of battle, the thing that matters
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is what you're going to do in that moment.
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Survive, kill, and take care of your buddies.
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The Persian commander attempts to rally his troops.
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But pays the price.
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A Greek historian writes:
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"In peacetime, sons bury their fathers.
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"In times of war, fathers bury sons.
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"Great deeds are wrought from great risk."
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Pausanias will be remembered as the spartan commander
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Who won the war.
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Sophanes, as the bravest of all Athenians.
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With the help of iron weapons,
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People power has resisted tyranny.
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A generation after the war,
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Athenians vote to commemorate the victory with a monument:
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The parthenon.
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It takes 15 years to build.
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A temple to Athena, goddess of wisdom,
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It will become a symbol of democracy.
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It's the fairest way to organize a society
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that anyone in human history
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has ever conceived and realized.
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And we owe all of that indirectly
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to a small group, a handful of men,
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who lived in a place called Athens
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two and a half thousand years ago.
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In the west, iron helps city-states fight for freedom.
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Five thousand miles to the east, it's one of the building blocks
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Of the world's most enduring empire: china.
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The world's most powerful man is on a journey
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To find the secret of eternal life.
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Shi huang di, the first emperor of China.
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He's been fighting for his throne since age 13.
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He's survived a coup,
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Three assassination attempts.
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Now aged 49,
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He's created an empire he believes will last forever.
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Crucial to his success, a new type of technology:
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Cast iron.
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00:24:08,308 --> 00:24:12,620
By superheating iron in a blast furnace,
268
00:24:12,622 --> 00:24:15,751
Chinese metalworkers lay foundations
269
00:24:15,753 --> 00:24:20,866
for mankind's industrial future.
270
00:24:21,911 --> 00:24:25,284
Basically you can pour iron into a mould
271
00:24:25,286 --> 00:24:27,372
and make pretty much whatever you want.
272
00:24:27,374 --> 00:24:31,268
Then you have really a world-beating technology.
273
00:24:31,271 --> 00:24:33,877
The liquid iron is cast into moulds
274
00:24:33,879 --> 00:24:38,192
to produce identical objects,
275
00:24:38,194 --> 00:24:42,645
by the thousands.
276
00:24:42,648 --> 00:24:47,727
200 years before christ, the birth of mass production.
277
00:24:49,293 --> 00:24:51,725
A technological revolution
278
00:24:51,727 --> 00:24:56,929
driven by one of the greatest game-changers:
279
00:24:59,695 --> 00:25:02,546
War.
280
00:25:02,548 --> 00:25:05,260
A sad but inescapable fact of human history
281
00:25:05,262 --> 00:25:08,461
is that war drives technology.
282
00:25:08,463 --> 00:25:13,607
A new kind of weapon will transform the way we fight,
283
00:25:13,682 --> 00:25:16,393
Help unify an empire,
284
00:25:16,395 --> 00:25:19,837
and lay the foundations for a feat of engineering
285
00:25:19,839 --> 00:25:24,963
That will change the face of the planet.
286
00:25:28,781 --> 00:25:33,023
China, 200 years before christ.
287
00:25:33,025 --> 00:25:35,946
The soldiers of China's first emperor
288
00:25:35,948 --> 00:25:40,817
change the face of warfare with a new kind of weapon:
289
00:25:41,549 --> 00:25:46,106
The crossbow.
290
00:25:47,151 --> 00:25:50,524
The Chinese crossbow draws back nearly 24 inches,
291
00:25:50,526 --> 00:25:54,212
more than five times that of a European crossbow,
292
00:25:54,214 --> 00:25:59,369
so, for the same weight of bow, you get five times the power,
293
00:26:00,372 --> 00:26:04,583
five times the range and five times the punch.
294
00:26:07,713 --> 00:26:10,007
Bolts with an iron core,
295
00:26:10,009 --> 00:26:15,010
fired at high velocity, nearly a quarter mile.
296
00:26:18,811 --> 00:26:20,410
In the history of mankind,
297
00:26:20,412 --> 00:26:23,889
this was really the first time that mass productions
298
00:26:23,891 --> 00:26:26,046
became so important as part of state building,
299
00:26:26,048 --> 00:26:28,551
empire building.
300
00:26:28,553 --> 00:26:33,352
Easy to use, with just a few days' training,
301
00:26:33,354 --> 00:26:37,949
Foot soldiers become killing machines.
302
00:26:42,122 --> 00:26:45,356
They drilled three-man crews,
303
00:26:45,358 --> 00:26:49,461
so that you would have one man bracing it with his feet.
304
00:26:49,463 --> 00:26:53,532
He would then pass it to a man standing who would load it,
305
00:26:53,534 --> 00:26:57,811
who would pass it to a forward man who would shoot it,
306
00:26:57,813 --> 00:26:59,864
by which time the man on the ground
307
00:26:59,866 --> 00:27:02,090
had got round to the front,
308
00:27:02,092 --> 00:27:07,206
and so the army could advance with this constant fusillade,
309
00:27:08,250 --> 00:27:11,380
this constant barrage of crossbow arrows.
310
00:27:11,382 --> 00:27:15,416
It really was the most aggressive mechanism
311
00:27:15,418 --> 00:27:20,356
for advancing an army.
312
00:27:20,358 --> 00:27:25,234
A new innovation: standardized, interchangeable parts.
313
00:27:32,535 --> 00:27:35,630
The crossbow is the first modular weapon system
314
00:27:35,632 --> 00:27:37,161
basically in history.
315
00:27:37,163 --> 00:27:39,108
So now you have a weapon system
316
00:27:39,110 --> 00:27:41,579
where I can have extra spare parts,
317
00:27:41,581 --> 00:27:45,823
extra strings, extra steel, extra wood.
318
00:27:45,825 --> 00:27:47,667
You can build it quickly,
319
00:27:47,669 --> 00:27:49,754
you can replace its parts very easily,
320
00:27:49,756 --> 00:27:54,139
you can fix it quickly.
321
00:27:54,141 --> 00:27:59,253
It will be 2000 years...
322
00:27:59,256 --> 00:28:03,115
before standardized mass-produced parts
323
00:28:03,117 --> 00:28:08,023
become common in other weapons.
324
00:28:10,110 --> 00:28:14,179
American gun-makers are some of the first pioneers,
325
00:28:14,181 --> 00:28:19,191
Making the 1861 "Springfield" Rifle musket.
326
00:28:21,279 --> 00:28:26,433
A decade later, the iconic colt .45.
327
00:28:33,838 --> 00:28:37,106
If I can mass produce a bunch of these things,
328
00:28:37,108 --> 00:28:41,351
I'm going to be able to win a lot of battles very quickly.
329
00:28:41,353 --> 00:28:43,438
Armed with the crossbow,
330
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:48,588
The armies of the first emperor storm across 6 warring kingdoms.
331
00:28:49,216 --> 00:28:53,947
In just 9 years he conquers more than a million square miles.
332
00:28:54,992 --> 00:28:59,793
27 million people.
333
00:29:01,881 --> 00:29:05,393
China's first historian writes:
334
00:29:05,395 --> 00:29:07,549
"His armies devour the land
335
00:29:07,551 --> 00:29:11,933
"Like a silk worm eats a mulberry leaf.
336
00:29:11,936 --> 00:29:16,532
"Nothing will stop them."
337
00:29:22,790 --> 00:29:25,119
The first emperor of China put an end
338
00:29:25,121 --> 00:29:30,236
to hundreds of years of states warring against one another.
339
00:29:32,532 --> 00:29:36,774
By unifying China, he unified what is, quote/unquote,
340
00:29:36,776 --> 00:29:41,785
all under heaven, all creatures under heaven.
341
00:29:42,204 --> 00:29:44,950
And this victory symbolized
342
00:29:44,952 --> 00:29:50,103
the concept of the birth of China.
343
00:29:53,337 --> 00:29:57,510
To defend his new empire, the first emperor begins
344
00:29:57,512 --> 00:30:00,711
Perhaps the most ambitious engineering project
345
00:30:00,713 --> 00:30:03,286
In the story of mankind:
346
00:30:03,288 --> 00:30:06,628
The great wall of China.
347
00:30:08,715 --> 00:30:13,902
Designed to hold back the nomadic hordes of central Asia,
348
00:30:18,909 --> 00:30:22,251
And extended over the next 1800 years.
349
00:30:25,381 --> 00:30:30,592
Construction claims a million lives.
350
00:30:52,796 --> 00:30:55,542
But after 11 years of rule,
351
00:30:55,544 --> 00:30:59,022
On a journey to find a legendary magical spring
352
00:30:59,024 --> 00:31:01,770
Said to hold the secret of eternal life,
353
00:31:01,772 --> 00:31:06,976
Shi huang di, the most powerful man in the world,
354
00:31:07,270 --> 00:31:12,422
Falls ill.
355
00:31:17,846 --> 00:31:22,958
Mercury tablets prescribed by his doctors to make him immortal
356
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:28,115
Are destroying his brain and body.
357
00:31:38,826 --> 00:31:41,850
The first emperor's pursuit for immortality
358
00:31:41,852 --> 00:31:45,434
stemmed from his megalomania.
359
00:31:45,436 --> 00:31:47,521
He had conquered and created
360
00:31:47,523 --> 00:31:50,757
this vast, never-seen-before empire,
361
00:31:50,759 --> 00:31:53,749
and he thought he would rule forever.
362
00:31:53,752 --> 00:31:58,586
But he could not cheat death.
363
00:31:58,588 --> 00:32:02,412
Aged 49, shi huang di,
364
00:32:02,414 --> 00:32:07,562
China's first emperor, dies.
365
00:32:14,696 --> 00:32:19,878
He's buried in a tomb stretching 20 square miles,
366
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:24,506
But he does not journey to the afterlife alone.
367
00:32:25,551 --> 00:32:30,460
With him go the wives who failed to bear him children.
368
00:32:57,222 --> 00:32:58,550
And hundreds of craftsmen,
369
00:33:00,087 --> 00:33:04,930
buried alive to keep the secrets of his tomb.
370
00:33:14,316 --> 00:33:16,680
And guarding their emperor,
371
00:33:16,682 --> 00:33:21,658
An extraordinary force of 8000 soldiers.
372
00:33:24,058 --> 00:33:28,896
The terracotta army.
373
00:33:32,026 --> 00:33:34,667
Every single one unique,
374
00:33:34,669 --> 00:33:39,406
believed by some to be modeled on real people.
375
00:33:46,807 --> 00:33:51,572
While in China the age of iron forges an empire,
376
00:33:51,574 --> 00:33:56,234
Off the coast of Africa a fleet sails on an expedition
377
00:33:56,236 --> 00:34:01,422
That launches mankind's first great age of exploration.
378
00:34:01,455 --> 00:34:04,689
Leading a fleet of 60 ships,
379
00:34:04,691 --> 00:34:09,769
Hanno, king of carthage.
380
00:34:10,396 --> 00:34:15,235
Adventurer, pioneer.
381
00:34:19,407 --> 00:34:24,243
He's on one of the first recorded voyages of discovery,
382
00:34:25,704 --> 00:34:30,782
Pushing into the unknown.
383
00:34:31,202 --> 00:34:34,749
Hanno's people are the phoenicians,
384
00:34:34,751 --> 00:34:37,288
A maritime trading empire
385
00:34:37,290 --> 00:34:42,194
With colonies all over the Mediterranean.
386
00:34:42,196 --> 00:34:46,752
It's made them the best shipbuilders in the world.
387
00:34:46,754 --> 00:34:51,873
Their secret: iron.
388
00:34:52,042 --> 00:34:54,615
What makes iron better than bronze
389
00:34:54,617 --> 00:34:56,598
is it holds an edge better.
390
00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:58,233
If you're trying to work with wood,
391
00:34:58,235 --> 00:34:59,868
the ability to keep a sharp edge meant
392
00:34:59,870 --> 00:35:02,234
you could make thin planks,
393
00:35:02,236 --> 00:35:07,143
you could shape beams, you could build better ships.
394
00:35:10,586 --> 00:35:13,681
Iron tools revolutionize shipbuilding
395
00:35:13,683 --> 00:35:18,725
And allow mankind to innovate as never before.
396
00:35:18,727 --> 00:35:23,874
A revolutionary invention:
397
00:35:23,876 --> 00:35:28,954
The keel.
398
00:35:28,956 --> 00:35:34,104
Now ships can remain stable in the roughest waters,
399
00:35:34,940 --> 00:35:39,814
The key to mankind's future at sea.
400
00:35:48,439 --> 00:35:51,081
Hanno has sailed from the Mediterranean
401
00:35:51,084 --> 00:35:55,465
Into uncharted waters: the Atlantic Ocean.
402
00:35:55,467 --> 00:35:57,692
With 30,000 colonists,
403
00:35:57,694 --> 00:36:02,528
He's looking for new lands, new opportunities.
404
00:36:03,156 --> 00:36:05,103
For some of these early explorers,
405
00:36:05,105 --> 00:36:07,051
all they've been told
406
00:36:07,053 --> 00:36:10,739
is that the world drops off.
407
00:36:10,741 --> 00:36:15,916
It's a step into the unknown, it's huge.
408
00:36:22,675 --> 00:36:27,823
Hanno writes an account of his journey:
409
00:36:29,911 --> 00:36:33,144
"We saw at night the land covered with fire.
410
00:36:33,146 --> 00:36:35,114
"In the middle was a high flame,
411
00:36:35,115 --> 00:36:36,380
higher than the others,
412
00:36:36,382 --> 00:36:39,060
"Which seemed to reach the stars.
413
00:36:39,062 --> 00:36:44,177
"A high mountain, named the Chariot of the Gods."
414
00:36:47,620 --> 00:36:51,098
The first written description of Mount Cameroon,
415
00:36:51,100 --> 00:36:55,935
The largest volcano in West Africa.
416
00:36:57,397 --> 00:37:02,269
Recorded using a revolutionary new writing technology:
417
00:37:06,442 --> 00:37:08,667
The alphabet.
418
00:37:08,669 --> 00:37:12,251
The phoenicians invent 22 symbols or letters
419
00:37:12,253 --> 00:37:16,042
That can be combined to represent almost any sound
420
00:37:16,045 --> 00:37:19,069
In any language.
421
00:37:19,072 --> 00:37:22,827
Easy to learn, the alphabet puts reading and writing
422
00:37:22,829 --> 00:37:25,506
Within everyone's reach.
423
00:37:25,508 --> 00:37:30,519
One of the keys to the future of communication.
424
00:37:33,650 --> 00:37:36,744
The invention of the alphabet was one of the biggest steps
425
00:37:36,746 --> 00:37:38,554
in the history of writing.
426
00:37:38,556 --> 00:37:42,659
It just simplified dramatically the way the script worked,
427
00:37:42,661 --> 00:37:44,920
and made it so much easier for people to learn
428
00:37:44,922 --> 00:37:50,072
how to read and write.
429
00:37:53,411 --> 00:37:56,540
Off the coast of modern-day Gabon,
430
00:37:56,542 --> 00:38:01,557
Hanno records another extraordinary encounter:
431
00:38:08,024 --> 00:38:12,999
"There was an island full of wild men and women.
432
00:38:15,087 --> 00:38:17,520
"They had hairy bodies.
433
00:38:17,522 --> 00:38:22,292
"Our interpreters called them 'Gorillae'."
434
00:38:36,171 --> 00:38:40,343
Two and a half thousand years before darwin,
435
00:38:40,346 --> 00:38:44,553
Phoenician explorers recognize the great apes
436
00:38:44,555 --> 00:38:49,497
As our distant cousins.
437
00:38:53,045 --> 00:38:57,775
The phoenicians create colonies across the Mediterranean world,
438
00:38:59,342 --> 00:39:02,923
Spreading trade and ideas
439
00:39:02,925 --> 00:39:07,620
To Lebanon, Tunisia, Cyprus, Sicily,
440
00:39:07,622 --> 00:39:10,404
And the Island of Ibiza.
441
00:39:10,406 --> 00:39:15,030
As they expand, so does knowledge of the alphabet.
442
00:39:15,032 --> 00:39:19,658
And amongst a group of exiles in the city of Babylon,
443
00:39:19,660 --> 00:39:22,372
It becomes the key to creating a book
444
00:39:22,374 --> 00:39:26,931
That will shape the story of mankind:
445
00:39:27,975 --> 00:39:32,218
The Bible.
446
00:39:34,725 --> 00:39:36,949
Babylon in the Middle East,
447
00:39:36,951 --> 00:39:42,100
A great city famed for its Hanging Gardens.
448
00:39:43,145 --> 00:39:48,052
Here, a spiritual revolution is underway.
449
00:39:52,225 --> 00:39:57,337
The Age of Iron is an age of new people,
450
00:39:57,339 --> 00:40:00,400
New ideas,
451
00:40:00,402 --> 00:40:02,406
And faiths that still
452
00:40:02,407 --> 00:40:05,412
dominate mankind's world today.
453
00:40:08,125 --> 00:40:11,777
Across the world, local religions give way
454
00:40:11,779 --> 00:40:14,107
To powerful new beliefs,
455
00:40:14,109 --> 00:40:17,655
Spread by the written word.
456
00:40:17,657 --> 00:40:22,736
World faiths still with us today.
457
00:40:23,781 --> 00:40:27,537
Hinduism unites much of India.
458
00:40:27,539 --> 00:40:29,763
From the foothills of the Himalayas,
459
00:40:29,765 --> 00:40:34,355
The words of Buddha spread out across Asia.
460
00:40:34,357 --> 00:40:37,870
And in China, the writings of Confucius
461
00:40:37,872 --> 00:40:42,775
Will help order the lives of one quarter of the world.
462
00:40:42,777 --> 00:40:46,325
The age of Jesus and Buddha and Confucius,
463
00:40:46,327 --> 00:40:48,308
there seems to be a period
464
00:40:48,310 --> 00:40:52,796
roughly timed with the emergence of iron technology.
465
00:40:52,798 --> 00:40:56,831
It's as though humankind all around the earth
466
00:40:56,833 --> 00:41:01,598
is reaching a level of social and political sophistication
467
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,686
that just hadn't been there before,
468
00:41:03,688 --> 00:41:07,443
and they're all doing it about the same time.
469
00:41:07,445 --> 00:41:09,704
In Babylon's libraries,
470
00:41:09,706 --> 00:41:13,984
A group of jewish exiles use their own alphabet,
471
00:41:13,986 --> 00:41:15,723
In the language of Hebrew,
472
00:41:15,725 --> 00:41:20,176
To write down the history and the beliefs of their people.
473
00:41:20,178 --> 00:41:24,839
"By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept,
474
00:41:24,841 --> 00:41:29,674
"When we remembered Zion."
475
00:41:33,296 --> 00:41:38,450
Two generations ago, Babylonia conquered Jerusalem.
476
00:41:38,514 --> 00:41:42,235
Destroyed its temple to the Jewish God Yahweh,
477
00:41:42,237 --> 00:41:47,071
Exiled the Jews to Babylon.
478
00:41:47,073 --> 00:41:50,272
Now, captives in a foreign land,
479
00:41:50,274 --> 00:41:53,855
The Jews begin what will become the most influential book
480
00:41:53,857 --> 00:41:55,012
In the story of mankind:
481
00:41:57,146 --> 00:41:59,048
The Bible.
482
00:41:59,599 --> 00:42:03,007
What we now know as the Jewish faith
483
00:42:03,009 --> 00:42:06,347
starts not with Abraham, not with Moses,
484
00:42:06,349 --> 00:42:09,582
not really with even the temple of Solomon.
485
00:42:09,584 --> 00:42:14,105
The Jewish faith begins in the Babylonian exile.
486
00:42:14,107 --> 00:42:17,688
Babylon is a city of the future.
487
00:42:17,690 --> 00:42:20,820
Cosmopolitan, multi-cultural,
488
00:42:20,821 --> 00:42:22,699
a city of many different gods.
489
00:42:23,118 --> 00:42:25,343
But in this melting pot,
490
00:42:25,345 --> 00:42:30,250
The Jews write into mankind's story a revolutionary idea:
491
00:42:31,607 --> 00:42:33,832
Monotheism.
492
00:42:33,834 --> 00:42:37,067
All existence created by one god.
493
00:42:37,069 --> 00:42:42,200
Rather than thinking of Yahweh as the highest amongst the gods,
494
00:42:42,776 --> 00:42:46,148
just one of many gods, but the god of Israel.
495
00:42:46,150 --> 00:42:50,612
The Jews begin to think that perhaps Yahweh is the sole god.
496
00:43:01,041 --> 00:43:03,793
But for the Jews of Babylon,
497
00:43:03,794 --> 00:43:05,909
the word of god is under threat.
498
00:43:05,912 --> 00:43:10,503
The city is besieged by the armies of the Persian empire.
499
00:43:10,505 --> 00:43:11,513
If it falls, their fragile writings could go up in flames.
500
00:43:16,802 --> 00:43:20,001
Now one man seizes this moment.
501
00:43:20,003 --> 00:43:22,923
He sees opportunity.
502
00:43:22,925 --> 00:43:26,089
Zerubbabel...
503
00:43:26,091 --> 00:43:28,282
Exiled prince,
504
00:43:28,283 --> 00:43:31,205
descendant of Kings Solomon and David.
505
00:43:39,277 --> 00:43:42,650
He decides he will lead the Jews out of exile
506
00:43:42,652 --> 00:43:46,860
And back to the promised land.
507
00:43:46,862 --> 00:43:49,678
But many don't want to go,
508
00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:53,227
They have lived their entire lives in Babylon,
509
00:43:53,229 --> 00:43:58,381
And the journey will be dangerous.
510
00:44:03,596 --> 00:44:07,318
Zerubbabel persuades a hundred families to leave.
511
00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:11,389
Their departure from Babylon will become a new chapter
512
00:44:11,391 --> 00:44:15,180
In the story of mankind:
513
00:44:15,182 --> 00:44:19,390
"Go out from Babylon, flee from the Babylonians.
514
00:44:19,392 --> 00:44:22,347
"Declare this with a shout of joy,
515
00:44:22,349 --> 00:44:26,278
"Proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth:
516
00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:31,254
"Say, 'The Lord has redeemed his servant.'"
517
00:44:31,256 --> 00:44:33,899
An epic journey of 500 miles
518
00:44:33,901 --> 00:44:39,082
Back to the sacred city they have never seen:
519
00:44:39,084 --> 00:44:41,239
Jerusalem.
520
00:44:41,241 --> 00:44:43,361
"Even if you have been banished
521
00:44:43,363 --> 00:44:46,598
"To the most distant land under the heavens,
522
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:50,703
"From there The Lord your God will gather you
523
00:44:50,705 --> 00:44:52,000
"And bring you back."
524
00:44:53,629 --> 00:44:56,584
Carrying with them words that will become
525
00:44:56,586 --> 00:45:00,028
The old testament of the Bible,
526
00:45:00,030 --> 00:45:05,142
The most widely read book in the world.
527
00:45:05,145 --> 00:45:10,062
Six billion copies printed over the last 500 years.
528
00:45:11,500 --> 00:45:13,180
I'd definitely call the Bible
529
00:45:13,182 --> 00:45:15,023
the most influential text ever written.
530
00:45:15,025 --> 00:45:16,832
The Bible was the first bestseller,
531
00:45:16,834 --> 00:45:18,887
it was the first book ever printed on the printing press.
532
00:45:19,432 --> 00:45:21,970
Even today, it's the bestseller.
533
00:45:21,972 --> 00:45:25,727
Iron has opened a new age for mankind,
534
00:45:25,729 --> 00:45:28,100
Transforming landscapes,
535
00:45:28,101 --> 00:45:30,076
forging new connections,
536
00:45:30,078 --> 00:45:34,634
Changing the way we think.
537
00:45:34,636 --> 00:45:39,679
Now a new kind of empire will rise:
538
00:45:39,682 --> 00:45:42,323
Rome.
539
00:45:42,325 --> 00:45:47,538
Mankind leaps forward with a new pace of life.
540
00:45:50,675 --> 00:45:53,457
And in a city within Rome's Empire,
541
00:45:53,459 --> 00:45:58,496
One man's life and death will transform the lives of billions.
41308
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