All language subtitles for L.T.o.t.B.S01E04.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[narrator]
In the deserts of Iraq,

a team of archeologists
unearths evidence

for a 2,500-year-old
site of worship.

[Brad Hafford]
Was this the base of a

incense burner, a statue,
or something like that?

[Dr. Michael Danti]
Uh, both.

[narrator]
As they dig deeper,

their discoveries
reveal insights

into one of the greatest
monuments in the Bible...

We have both sides
of the courtyard

for the first time ever.

It's a extremely
exciting find for us.

[narrator] ...the legendary
Tower of Babel.

[♪ intense theme playing]

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator]
Babylon,

one of the greatest cities
of the ancient world.

This metropolis
in modern-day Iraq

is a vast
archeological site...

and a place
of myth and wonder.

[Lara Bampfield]
Anyone coming would've been

awe-inspired by Babylon's
power and its might.

[narrator]
In the Book of Genesis,

Babylon is the setting

for the biblical
Tower of Babel,

a legendary megastructure
so tall, it angers God.

What lies behind
this fantastical story?

How much is grounded

in the history
of this ancient region?

Babylon sits in the heart
of Mesopotamia,

a region in which
many of the Bible's

most famous stories are set.

Now, new archeological
discoveries,

buried for thousands of years,

shed light on the real events

that may have given rise
to these legends.

This season,
international teams of experts

dig through centuries of earth

and use cutting-edge
technology

to piece together
these millennia-old mysteries.

Their discoveries could help

to reveal the world
of Babylon.

In central Iraq,

an ambitious project
is underway

in the heart
of ancient Babylon.

Much of the architecture
visible here today

is modern restoration built
around the original walls.

Most of the ancient city
remains hidden.

Osama Hisham
and his Iraqi team

are on a mission to rebuild
its impressive structures.

[Osama Hisham]
There is only a few percent

of the ancient city
of Babylon discovered.

Only a scratch on the surface.

[narrator]
Osama has worked at Babylon

for the past 15 years,

and his connection
with the site

stretches back much further.

[Hisham] I grew up from
childhood nearby this site.

All of this rich culture
affected my way of thinking.

I am very proud working here

in one of the most important
Heritage Site in the world.

♪♪

[narrator] This season,
the team plans to reconstruct

a spectacular archway
at one of the city's

most sacred buildings,
the Ninmakh Temple.

They want to understand
how the city was built

and what it looked like
in its prime.

This building is Ninmakh Temple.

It's a temple dedicated
for Mother Goddess Ninmakh.

It is one of the most
important temples

in ancient Babylon.

The greatest challenge
that this building is facing

is the termites
and the rainwater

because the building
is made from mud bricks

and wood beams for the roof.

[narrator] Termites infest
the wooden beams,

quickly rendering
them unstable.

Substantial parts
of this temple

date back 2,500 years.

They require ongoing work
to stop them collapsing.

[Hisham] There was
a leak in the rainwater

from the roof,
and the water

caused a settlement
in the foundation.

And this, in its turn, caused
the collapse in the arch.

[narrator] Babylon showcased
some of the earliest known

arches in history.

The city rose to prominence
in the second millennium BCE

and dominated the region
for 1,500 years.

At its peak, between the 7th
and 6th century BCE,

it was a thriving metropolis.

Babylon was the capital
of a mighty empire,

and perhaps,
the largest city of its time.

In an era
when most settlements

were little more
than villages,

Babylon may have been
the first city in the world

to reach a population
of 200,000 people.

It was filled
with decorated palaces

and holy places of worship...

all surrounded by miles
of protective city walls.

In the 5th century BCE,
the Greek writer, Herodotus,

penned stories about
this extraordinary place.

According to the Bible,

there was one megastructure
greater than all others...

the Tower of Babel.

The Book of Genesis says

that at the dawn
of civilization,

all humans speak one language.

Settling in Mesopotamia...

they set out to build a tower
that will reach the heavens.

Afraid of what else
they might achieve...

God makes the people
speak in many tongues

to stop them
from working together...

and scatters them
across the Earth.

They never complete the tower,

or the city they planned
to build around it.

How capable were
the Babylonian builders

in achieving the engineering
feats described in the Bible?

First, Osama's team
starts by repairing

the badly damaged lower walls.

They lay the same type
of sun-dried mudbricks

that ancient builders
used 2,500 years ago.

We are building four rows
of, uh, mud bricks each day.

Then, we will leave the wall
and the mortars to be dry,

so we can build another
four rows the next day.

[narrator] Osama thinks
the size of the walls

hints at the engineering skill
of the Babylonian builders.

Tall walls need
thick foundations,

these walls are up
to 13 feet wide.

[Hisham] The Babylonians
built this thick,

so they could build
towering-like monuments.

[narrator]
Osama's specialist team

puts the Babylonians'
techniques to the test...

to uncover the expert
engineering used to stop

these vast and heavy
structures from collapsing.

These secrets could be the key

to constructing a tower
of biblical proportions.

If such a tower
did exist here,

what might it have
looked like?

[narrator] A clue
could lie 250 miles away,

along the Tigris river,
at another site called Nimrud.

American archaeologist,
Michael Danti,

leads the excavation.

His work begins at 5 a.m.

to beat the blazing
hot desert sun,

with highs here hitting more
than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Dr. Danti] Just looking
out across Nimrud,

you can see why we all like
to dig in Iraq so much.

It's really, for me,
an archeological paradise.

Walking out every morning

to dig at an archeological
site like this,

you get this incredible
sense of anticipation.

You're always finding things.
It's never boring.

[narrator] Nimrud is home
to an intriguing structure

that could shed light
on the tower

in the biblical story,
a ziggurat.

[Dr. Danti] What you have
is the core of the ziggurat.

[narrator] Ziggurats were
towering monuments

built in many cities
across Mesopotamia.

Designed with
stepped platforms,

some were constructed to allow
priests to reach the top.

The earliest ziggurats
predate the pyramids

of ancient Egypt.

Until recently,
the ziggurat at Nimrud

stood at least 100 feet tall.

[Dr. Danti] The ziggurat
was flattened by extremists

of the so-called Islamic State
using an earthmover.

They went up to the top
of the 34-meter-high ziggurat.

It was a really
impressive structure.

[narrator]
The militant group, ISIS,

captured parts
of Northern Iraq in 2014

and leveled this historic site

as part of its war against
non-Islamic heritage.

Spectacular winged guardians
that once lined the gateways,

are now reduced to rubble.

[Dr. Danti]
When we began our work here...

we started in this area
where you can see

the floor has been damaged
by a frontloader.

[narrator] Parts of the city
were first excavated

in the 1840s,

but Michael and the Iraqi team

are uncovering more structures
beneath the ground.

[Dr. Danti] We're beginning
to excavate the sides

to get a better understanding
of that building as well.

[narrator]
There are large bricks

just beneath the surface.

♪♪

It's a fairly good-sized
piece of a brick.

The material is clay.

Uh, very clean clay that is

dug in the surrounding plain.

This is a baked brick

with a fragmentary
cuneiform inscription.

Probably from the reign
of Ashurnasirpal II.

[narrator]
The distinctive symbols

of King Ashurnasirpal's name

are inscribed
on numerous bricks

emerging from the ground.

They are strong evidence
that he was the king

that built this
now ruined structure.

Ashurnasirpal ruled
the Assyrian Empire

in the 9th century BCE,

a rival kingdom
to the Babylonians.

Blocks from this ziggurat
reveal the materials

used in constructing
great towers in this area.

Some of these bricks
are kiln-baked,

even stronger than
the sun-dried ones

used for the temple
in Babylon.

It takes real expertise
to bake them.

If the kiln is too hot,
they easily crack.

The brick that I'm holding,

while it's broken,
is still extremely intact.

It's quite hard.
Very heavy.

Uh, you could reuse
this material now.

[narrator]
On completion,

the base
of the original ziggurat

was more than 160 feet across.

It would've been
an imposing structure

within the City of Nimrud.

[Dr. Danti] Each one of these
bricks really is, uh,

not a cheap thing
to produce in antiquity.

And if you think about
the number of bricks

that went into the ziggurat,

it's a r-- it's a really
impressive project.

In terms of the industry that's
behind it and the technology,

the expenditure
that the Assyrians

were willing to make
to build the ziggurat.

[narrator] What were these
ancient ziggurats used for,

and how might they have
influenced the story

of the Tower of Babel?

♪♪

[narrator]
If a ziggurat gave rise

to the legend
of the Tower of Babel...

clues to the story's origin

could be found
in something else

the Babylonians left behind.

As well as being
excellent builders,

they also kept detailed
written records

in a writing system
called cuneiform.

Lara Bampfield is
one of the few people

in the world who can
read and write it.

Cuneiform is one of the oldest
writing styles in the world.

It actually predates
Egyptian hieroglyphs.

[narrator]
Cuneiform was developed

more than 5,000 years ago.

It was carved into stone

or written using
a wedge-shaped stylus

pressed into wet clay.

Tablets with this
ancient script

have been found
across Babylon.

Some provide valuable details

about the city's
long-lost monuments...

like this slab called a stele.

The surface is badly damaged.

Lara's trained eye
picks out a drawing

barely visible
on the left side.

[Bampfield] You can see
a six-stepped ziggurat

with a temple on the top.

These aren't steps that
we as people would climb.

These are very high,
they're higher than a human,

and they're multi-level
and they change height

as you get closer to the top.

[narrator]
The ziggurat rises up

in a pyramid of seven
stepped levels.

Ziggurats with
multiple platforms

were common across
ancient Mesopotamia.

[Bampfield]
When this was found,

it was exceedingly exciting.

On the left-hand side,
there is a cuneiform inscription

which reads, "E temon anqi
zii ker ra at ka dinga ra,"

and this translates
as, "Etemenanki,

the ziggurat of Babylon."

And we can actually
translate this name

and it reads as,
"The house, the foundation

of Heaven and Earth."

What's really interesting is
the word "ziggurat" itself,

which means "rising building."

It is the only
contemporary surviving copy

of the Ziggurat of Babylon.

[narrator]
More cuneiform is inscribed

at the bottom of the slab.

This translates to,
"The base of the Etemenanki,"

and the base of the,
"E ur may imen anki."

"I filled in to make
a high terrace,"

"Etemenanki,"

and, "E ur may imen Anki,"

"I built their structures
with bitumen

"and baked brick throughout.

I completed them,

making them gleam
bright as the sun."

What's really nice
about this piece

is that it explains
some of the materials

that were used
to build the ziggurat.

So, we can see that it was made
of baked brick and bitumen.

But it also explains
that there might have been

something coating
these mud bricks

that would have given it
a gleam in the sun.

Now, this could've been
kind of a whitewash.

So, when anyone looked up
towards the sky

with the sun glaring on it,

it would've almost been blinding
to the people looking up.

[narrator] The text describes
the Etemenanki Ziggurat

in remarkable detail.

It's an invaluable source

that helps reveal
the engineering secrets

of the ancient
ziggurat builders.

The Mesopotamians stacked

mudbricks to build
their ziggurats...

using waterproof
bitumen as mortar.

They laid layers
of reeds horizontally

at regular intervals

to strengthen the walls
so they could build high.

Early ziggurats stemmed
from simple raised platforms.

They elevated temples
to symbolize closeness

to the gods,

making them visible
for miles around,

and protecting
them from floods.

Over time,
they evolved into complex,

multi-tiered structures.

Some reached
more than 300 feet tall,

using several
million mudbricks.

It is really interesting to see

how much work was
put in by the locals

to make such a monumental
and tall structure.

♪♪

[narrator]
In Babylon,

whilst Osama restores
the Ninmakh Temple...

archaeologist,
Ahmed Aziz Selman,

investigates the rest
of the more than

3-square-mile site.

[Dr. Ahmed Aziz Selman]
People like to visit Babylon

to see architectures,
to see long history,

to see what was
mentioned about it

in the Old Testament
and Holy Quran.

[narrator]
Although the stele confirms

that Babylon did
have a ziggurat,

it doesn't reveal
its exact location.

Ahmed hunts for clues
in the landscape.

The best way
to survey the city

for evidence
of the fabled tower

is from the air.

[drone buzzing]

[Dr. Selman]
You have to start from the,

from the corner by there.

[narrator]
The drone view from above

reveals the heart
of the ancient city.

Almost half a mile
to the south,

there are still signs
of the city's vast monuments.

Many remain buried
beneath mounds of earth.

One strange feature
within the walls of Babylon

looks unlike anything else,

a huge square ruin.

What we see here on the monitor

is a square shape.

What we see right now is only
the core of the Babylon tower.

[narrator] These foundations
are a similar square shape

to those found in Nimrud...

a sign that this
may also be a ziggurat.

But these ruins in Babylon
are much larger.

This is all that's left
of the Etemenanki Ziggurat...

depicted on the ancient stele.

The Bible says that
the Tower of Babel

soared all the way
to the heavens.

Illustrations often depict
a spiraling circular design,

but there is no description

of its shape
in the biblical text.

The archeological
evidence at Babylon...

points to a square-based,
multi-layered structure.

♪♪

It soared above the city.

Could this ziggurat
be the real tower

that features
in the Bible's famous story?

[narrator]
Ahmed pieces together

the surviving evidence

to reveal the height
of this original ziggurat.

We have a real measurement

derived from the tablets

and, uh, taken from
the archeological studies.

So, 91.5 meters,

that's the dimension

of the basement
of Babylon Tower.

The height was equal
to the basement measurement.

[narrator] The dimensions
appear to match those

on the Etemenanki stele.

In its prime, this tower
was more than 300 feet tall

and it had a greater footprint

than the Empire
State Building.

Many experts
think the writers

of the Biblical story
were inspired

by the construction
of this gleaming ziggurat.

Across the site
from the ziggurat mound,

Osama's team continues work
on the Ninmakh Temple.

The temple walls are built
with similar materials

to the towering ziggurat,

like mud bricks,
reed mats, and mortar.

We are using the reed mats
between the mud bricks rows,

simulating the ancient
way of building.

You can see the remaining
of the bitumen,

but very much decayed
through the time.

[narrator]
How did the Babylonians use

these simple elements to build
such magnificent monuments?

[narrator] Osama and his
conservation team

are determined to make
the Ninmakh Temple

reconstruction
historically accurate.

They use firsthand accounts
from cuneiform tablets,

including
the Etemenanki stele,

to decode the ancient
builders' techniques.

[Hisham] The tablets that
are found in the temple

told us about the structure
of the temple,

which is built mainly
from mud bricks.

The recipe came
for these mud bricks...

from analyses
of the original bricks

that used to build
the temple of Ninmakh,

and we are doing it
on the same process.

[narrator]
The height of a structure

depends on the strength
of its building materials.

Too soft, and it will
crumble under pressure.

Ancient builders
had to find a way

to make the mud
strong and elastic.

[Hisham] It starts from
making the mud mixture.

This mixture contained
water, soil, and straw.

Then, the mixture will be
left for one week or two.

The tools that we are using
are only basic tools...

to make the mixture
and to cut the bricks

through a wooden molds.

[narrator]
It takes almost a month

to complete each
batch of bricks.

[Hisham]
These bricks are dried...

in the heat of the weather.

We put the brick in the shade

and not under the direct sun

because the heat of the sun
will dry them faster

and cause them to crack.

[narrator]
The team has made thousands

of bricks this way
over the past year.

These sun-dried mud bricks
are the same style

originally used to build
the Etemenanki Ziggurat.

♪♪

Osama's team finds
that the ingredients used

by the ancient Babylonians

creates incredibly strong
building blocks.

Sun-dried bricks formed
the core of a ziggurat,

while kiln-baked bricks
lined the facade

to protect it against
the extremes of weather.

[Hisham]
This is a simple process

to produce these mud bricks,

but they are, uh, bearing
a very, very huge weight.

Some of the bricks even bear
a weight of 1,500 kilograms.

[narrator]
The Babylonian bricks

are capable of holding
immense pressure.

This is a vital feature
for building big.

If the bricks were weak,

the colossal weight
of a building,

like the Tower of Babel,

could cause
the base to crumble.

So, how tall could
mudbrick ziggurats reach?

To the north in Nimrud...
Michael and the team's

excavations are yielding
fascinating finds.

They unearth rectangular rooms
next to the ziggurat mound.

[Dr. Danti] We found this
stele against the wall.

♪♪

It's a extremely
exciting find for us.

These are fairly
rare sorts of objects,

standing stones or stele.

And we're slowly piecing
together the entire scene

and what this might have meant.

[narrator] The beautiful
carved relief is damaged,

but Michael can make out
the shapes of two figures.

[Dr. Danti] On the right-hand
side of the stele,

you see a barefoot figure,

and, very importantly,
they're standing on a pedestal.

We can tell from the garment...

that this is a male.

We're reasonably certain
that we have a deity here

on this podium or platform.

They are raised
above the profane,

the realm of human beings,

and this is a kind of
an-- a microcosm,

the idea behind a ziggurat,

where you're
elevating up temples

or you're elevating up gods.

[narrator]
The figure on the left

is standing on a lower level.

[Dr. Danti]
They're not as important

as the deity, clearly,

and this is a very typical
scene for Mesopotamia.

It's the presentation
of an individual

before a deity or god.

[narrator] Michael thinks this
wasn't just any individual.

[Dr. Danti]
Images like this,

where a god is handing
symbols of kingship

and is in the presence
of a human,

help to convey this
individual's special status.

For Mesopotamian rulers,

this was a very
important scene

for legitimizing their power.

They were essentially
God's agents on Earth.

Unlike the Egyptians
and some other cultures

in the ancient Near East,

they believed that the king
was God's servant on Earth.

[narrator] These clues
lead Michael to believe

this scene depicts
the ruler who built the city

and commissioned the ziggurat,
King Ashurnasirpal.

The king wanted to claim
an association with the gods

to cement his right to rule.

He was so powerful,
he was capable of building

larger monumental buildings
than his predecessors.

[Dr. Danti] It provides some
really interesting clues

as to how this building
was used in antiquity.

[narrator]
This stele reveals the king

behind Nimrud's Ziggurat.

Is there any evidence
for a similar mastermind

behind the ziggurat
in Babylon?

[narrator] In the workshop,
Lara takes a closer look

at the inscriptions
on the Etemenanki stele.

The Bible simply says that

people in southern Mesopotamia

constructed the legendary
Tower of Babel.

Lara thinks this stone reveals

who commissioned
Babylon's soaring ziggurat.

We can see a figure
standing tall.

We can tell it's a male,
due to the beard.

He is wearing a long robe
and a conical hat.

The combination can tell us
that this is a royal figure.

[narrator] More than 100
kings ruled Babylon

during the empire's
nearly 2,000-year lifespan.

So, which ruler
is depicted alongside

the Etemenanki Ziggurat?

Lara writes out a section
of the cuneiform text.

[Bampfield]
From the cuneiform here,

we can see several signs.

We can see
"ag nig do" and "uru."

These can be transliterated
as, "Nabu kaduri ussa,"

which can be translated as,
"Nabu, watch over my heir."

This is King Nebuchadnezzar II,
King of Babylon.

[narrator]
His name appears

over and over again
in the Bible.

Nebuchadnezzar II
was the greatest king

of the late Babylonian Empire,

who conquered thousands
of miles of land.

Legend has it he built

the famous hanging
gardens of Babylon

to make his Persian wife
feel more at home.

But he also had
a cruel streak.

The Bible claims that
when he had a troubling dream

and his wise men failed
to guess and interpret it,

he ordered them
all to be executed.

He built a golden statue
of himself, 90 feet tall,

that all Babylonians
had to worship.

Those who refused, got thrown
into a fiery furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar's
largest monument at Babylon

was the Etemenanki Ziggurat.

The stele says he
repaired and enlarged

a smaller structure here...

to make something
even more spectacular.

[Bampfield] There are many
reasons to why Nebuchadnezzar

might have wanted
to rebuild the ziggurat.

This is an emblem
of his power and authority.

It took almost his whole
reign to rebuild it.

So, it was definitely
a status symbol.

[narrator] The king's
ambition for building

seems to mirror the account
in the Bible story.

Like the biblical builders,

Nebuchadnezzar intended
to leave his mark.

What further purpose

did ziggurats serve
in Mesopotamia?

At the ancient city
of Nimrud...

Michael and his team
work tirelessly

to clear the areas
around the ziggurat.

The rubble from
the demolished tower

hides the city monuments
that surround it.

We're really hoping
that by re-excavating

and opening up new areas,

we're going to shed light
on ancient religious practices.

There's a large area that's
never been explored before.

[narrator] Michael and his
colleague, Brad Hafford,

excavate the structure

next to the walls
of the ziggurat.

The team digs deeper.

[Hafford] Was this the base
of a incense burner,

a statue,
or something like that?

[Dr. Danti]
Uh, both.

Yeah, it could be either.

There is some preserved wall
above the baked brick,

so we'll have to watch
carefully for that,

but it's pretty badly eroded
on this, uh, east side I think.

[narrator]
Incense was often burned

by worshipers in temples.

At Nimrud, they worshipped
the patron deity of the city,

Ninurta, god of war
and agriculture.

As the archeologists remove
the crumbling bricks and sand,

walls come into view.

[Dr. Danti] We think that
that's the main doorway

and if that's the case,
then we have both sides

of the courtyard
for the first time ever.

♪♪

[narrator] It takes hard work
to move many tons of earth.

Finally, the team exposes
the walls of a great temple.

What we found is the front part
of the Ninurta Temple.

[narrator]
Michael's new discovery

paints a vivid picture of life
at the Nimrud Ziggurat.

Ancient priests
used this temple

to worship the god, Ninurta.

[Dr. Danti]
The cult statue would've been

against the side
of the ziggurat.

Most of the activity
in the temple

took place at this lower level,

with the ziggurat towering above
the temple in the background.

[narrator]
As well as religious activity

taking place at its base,

the ziggurat itself
had a holy significance.

This complex at Nimrud
could shed light

on the one that would've
been found in Babylon.

♪♪

The Etemenanki Ziggurat
at Babylon

rose high above
the temple complex.

At the top of the stairs,

there sat a temple...

dedicated to the city's
patron deity, Marduk.

Only priests were permitted
to climb to the top,

bringing them closer
to the gods.

This attempt to reach
the heavens

may have inspired the story
of God's anger in the Bible.

♪♪

Marduk was the god of justice,

compassion,
healing, and magic.

He became the most prestigious
god of Mesopotamia.

The archeological evidence

shows that Nebuchadnezzar's
great ziggurat

not only had
religious significance,

it was also a symbol of power.

A worthy inspiration
for the Babel legend.

But the Bible's account is set
at the dawn of human history,

long before Nebuchadnezzar
was born.

Is there a reason
for this strange chronology?

Writing expert,
Lara Bampfield,

decodes another
cuneiform tablet

with a story
from the ancient city of Uruk.

Despite being written
around 1,500 years before

the Tower of Babel story...

there are some
striking similarities.

[Bampfield]
So, the line on this tablet

talks about how Enmerkar
is trying to build a ziggurat,

but there is this
confusion of tongues.

This line, in particular, talks
about the harmony of tongues

and how they want
to create one tongue.

This line reads...

"The whole universe in unison
to Enlil in one tongue."

Although this is
a Sumerian myth,

we can see parallels
to the biblical scriptures

talking about multi-tongues
and the confusion of tongues.

[narrator] The Sumerians were
a neighboring civilization

to the Babylonians

who also wrote in cuneiform.

The biblical story that
talks about multi-tongues

was written in about
the 6th century...

whereas this Sumerian myth was
written in the 21st century BCE.

[narrator]
A clue to understanding

why this same story appears
in different accounts

could be the writing
system itself.

Cuneiform flourished
in ancient Babylon.

[Bampfield] Babylon would've
been a trading hub.

A melting pot of different
languages and cultures.

Cuneiform was first
invented to help

as an administrative tool

to track, trade barley
or wheat or animals.

During the time
of Nebuchadnezzar,

Babylon would have been
an epicenter of writing.

[narrator] Archeologists
have found evidence

that in Babylonian schools,
pupils learned to write

by repetitively carving

cuneiform lines
on clay tablets.

Babylonians used this early
writing to record laws,

send letters, and even record
the movements of the stars.

Scribes wrote down,
copied, and collected myths

from Mesopotamia

and preserved them
for future generations,

carved in clay.

[Bampfield] Cuneiform became
a really useful tool.

[narrator] The shared
writing system of cuneiform

may have led
to the transmission

of ancient
Mesopotamian stories,

through written accounts
and copied texts.

Myths and legends
about languages

may be a reflection
of this multilingual region.

So, how might the writers
of the Bible have come across

the Sumerian tale of Enmerkar
and the confusion of tongues?

And why was
Babylon the setting

for their great tower?

[narrator] The Bible's
Tower of Babel story

is set at the dawn
of civilization,

long before the reign
of King Nebuchadnezzar

and his immense ziggurat.

But this ruler
played a vital role

in the lives of the authors
of the Old Testament.

Lara thinks historical
accounts could reveal why.

We've heard of Nebuchadnezzar
as a military king,

and we have accounts of this,

both in cuneiform
inscriptions,

but also from the Bible,
where he's actually written

as quite ruthless
and quite harsh.

[narrator]
In the 6th century BCE,

Nebuchadnezzar II
and his Babylonian army

laid siege to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was set ablaze...

its temple and homes
reduced to ruins,

leaving the city in ashes.

The Judeans were forced
to leave their homes

and taken to Babylon.

But even in exile,
they protected their culture,

inventing a new form
of Hebrew alphabet...

and writing down much
of the Hebrew Bible.

♪♪

[Bampfield]
The accounts in the Bible

were written by people
Nebuchadnezzar oppressed,

so it's not a surprise to hear
that they portrayed him

as this horrible person
that came in

and obliterated
everything in his path.

[narrator] The Judeans
living in exile at Babylon

would have seen
the Etemenanki Ziggurat

and heard
the stories told there.

Some experts surmise
that the Judeans

wrote the Tower of Babel
account in Babylon,

beneath the shadow
of its ziggurat...

drawing on this city
and its tyrant king

to teach a wider moral lesson
about the start of humanity.

Whether he was actually
as harsh, as ruthless...

as any other king was

when he went on
a military campaign is unsure,

but the accounts we do have
definitely portray him this way.

[narrator] At the ancient
city of Babylon...

Osama
and the conservation team

replace the last few bricks

in a length
of the ancient city walls.

The tower may be gone,

but the mission
to rebuild and understand

Babylon's monuments goes on.

[Hisham] Conservation of
the monuments in Babylon

will make them last longer for
the next generations to enjoy

and learn more
about this famous city.

[narrator]
The team's work here reveals

that Babylon's monuments
really were as impressive

as the ancient
legends suggest.

They may not have matched
the Biblical proportions,

but their sheer size
and ambition

guaranteed their iconic status

in legends like
the Tower of Babel.

[Dr. Danti]
The kings of Mesopotamia

built larger
and larger temples

and ziggurats over time.

They wanted to build
the biggest and the best.

They wanted to inspire

the people that
they ruled over,

but also to foreigners
who visited their cities.

[narrator]
The Tower of Babel story

in the Book of Genesis

is not only a compelling
origin myth...

it seems to reflect
the ingenious engineering

of a real towering monument
in ancient Babylon...

the Etemenanki Ziggurat.

The story may reveal
the ancient world

in which it was written...

the development
of early writing,

uniting multiple languages.

The legends that
were preserved in clay

and re-told over millennia...

and the rulers that left
their mark in the lands here.

[Bampfield]
Babylon itself would've been

such an impressive city
to all who came to visit it.

I don't think we can
understand today

how large and on a scale
of pure power and show

the King would've made
the city seem to visitors.

[narrator]
This season's discoveries

shed light on the world

in which this epic
Bible story was set.

[Dr. Danti]
It's a land of firsts:

the cradle of civilization,
the first kings,

the first cities,
the first writing.

It's an incredible
wealth of artifacts

to excavate in Iraq.

♪♪