Divers search for one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which was destroyed in an earthquake in 1375 and some believe lies in rubble on the sea floor. Close inspection of submerged ruins reveals some monumental archaeological surprises.
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00:01Tonight on NOVA, an underwater adventure.
00:05Beneath the Mediterranean, history beckons.
00:09Divers race against the clock to save remnants of a lost empire.
00:14But danger lurks in the deep.
00:22Could this really be the seventh wonder of the world?
00:25It's very beautiful.
00:27Treasures of the Sunken City.
00:51Major funding for NOVA is provided by
00:54The Park Foundation, dedicated to education and quality television.
01:01And by
01:02The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.
01:06Twenty-three centuries ago, Alexander the Great founded a magnificent city in Egypt, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
01:15It was called Alexandria.
01:16Today, little remains of his ancient capital.
01:25But in the harbor, there lies astonishing evidence of a glorious past.
01:35In the harbor, there lies astonishing evidence of a glorious past.
01:48Some believe that these are remnants of the city's most spectacular monument.
02:01A structure so incredible, it was declared one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
02:16The lighthouse of Alexandria.
02:26It amazed the world for centuries, until a catastrophic earthquake brought it crashing down.
02:35After its collapse, a medieval fortress was built over the ruins.
02:56All signs of the ancient building seem to disappear.
03:04The Egyptian military restricts diving along the Mediterranean.
03:09So the intriguing evidence on the ocean floor has been off-limits to archaeologists.
03:14Until now.
03:23The government is constructing a new breakwater to protect the harbor.
03:29Every day, a barge drops several tons of concrete onto the ancient stones.
03:39Within a few months, the unexplored ruins could be destroyed.
03:45Archaeologists and activists join forces to make an urgent appeal to the authorities.
03:55As a result, permission is granted for a full-scale excavation.
04:03After 600 years of mystery, the underwater search for the seventh wonder of the world is about to begin.
04:10Before today, only a handful of divers have ever gotten a glimpse at the stones on the seabed.
04:27Now, a small regiment of 30 French and Egyptian archaeologists, artists and map makers will explore the site.
04:41The team will examine every inch of the area, looking for evidence of Alexandria's long-lost lighthouse.
04:52One of the divers is Egyptologist Jean-Pierre Cotigiani.
04:53One of the divers is Egyptologist Jean-Pierre Cotigiani.
05:09As he gets his first look at the site, Jean-Pierre is stunned by the disorder that covers five acres of the sea floor.
05:24The first dive was very impressive because it's a kind of huge chaos of hundreds and hundreds of blocks mixed together with shells with a lot of fishes all around.
05:38It was a strange impression because the water is almost never very, very clear, so probably the first impression was, I understand nothing.
05:53The man responsible for making sense of the chaos is very familiar with Alexandria's ancient mysteries.
06:05French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur has spent the last five years excavating land sites in the city's urban center.
06:18Each dig brings new surprises.
06:23When we begin a rescue excavation, we don't know what we shall find, but we know that everywhere we shall dig, we shall find something.
06:34And sometimes it's very well preserved, but everywhere you will find something in Alexandria.
06:41Jean-Yves is uncovering, literally, the foundations of Alexandria.
06:52A city built on Egyptian soil, but designed and governed by Greeks.
06:57When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC, he selected a site on the northern coast for his new capital.
07:10Alexandria soon became the most powerful city in the Mediterranean world.
07:16After Alexander's death, Egypt and its capital were governed by a series of Greek rulers.
07:27In the tradition of the great god-kings of ancient Egypt, they called themselves pharaohs.
07:34The most famous of all, Cleopatra.
07:37Cleopatra.
07:41In the 1963 film epic, Elizabeth Taylor became one of a long line of beautiful actresses to portray the ill-fated queen.
07:50But the real Cleopatra, shown on ancient coins and statues, was remarkable more for her political maneuvers than for her looks.
08:09Like her predecessors, Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian.
08:14Her city was twice the size of Athens, and filled with hundreds of palaces, temples, and the greatest library of the ancient world.
08:33Almost all the ancient monuments have been destroyed, wiped out by centuries of war, fire, and devastating earthquakes.
08:44Like those that toppled the lighthouse.
08:54The search for this lost wonder will be Jean-Yves' biggest challenge.
09:07His team's first task is to create a map of the underwater site.
09:14Each block is cleaned,
09:20carefully measured,
09:25and drawn in detail.
09:30To determine the exact position of the blocks,
09:31the archaeologists in the water must coordinate with surveyors on the shore.
09:34The archaeologists in the water must coordinate with surveyors on the shore.
09:5192.20
09:52The goal is to create a plan of the entire site, accurate, to a single centimeter.
10:13We see a tree in the air.
10:15We see a tree in the north arch.
10:19The map of the island is to create a complexотрest system.
10:21The first piece of life is to create a small tree,
10:22and the third size of the 4 Mark's house is to create a sandbox.
10:23The main map is to create a small tree,
10:25and the other side is to create a small tree,
10:26and the first one is to create a small tree,
10:27and the third species of the Douglas Aix.
10:28at the end of each day the drawings are delivered to project headquarters downtown
10:34block by block the data is entered into an enormous computerized file
10:45after four weeks the team has surveyed about a quarter of the site and recorded over 500 blocks
10:57the archaeologists hope that the completed map will help answer their most pressing question
11:08where did all these ancient blocks come from some historians doubt that the blocks are from the
11:22lighthouse at all they believe that the stones were dumped into the water during the Middle Ages in
11:30an effort to blockade the harbor from invading Crusaders others think that the underwater ruins
11:43are from a different ancient monument perhaps a temple that gradually sank beneath the waves
11:48John Eve believes that among the rubble may lie pieces of the lighthouse itself that fell into
12:04the sea when the enormous tower collapsed before he can prove it John Eve must first track down all
12:14available clues to the size shape and decoration of the mysterious building dozens of ancient Greek
12:24Roman and Arab writers proclaimed the wonders of the lighthouse unfortunately their descriptions are
12:34lacking in specifics the ancient sources speak many times about the lighthouse itself but they don't give many details on it on these buildings they give only
12:48an impression they say that it was impressive for the Greek people are after for the Roman and even for the Arabs
12:57the lighthouse the lighthouse was so impressive it became the symbol of Alexandria
13:04appearing on coins jars and souvenirs of the city
13:12built around 290 BC it was called the Pharos named for the small island on which it stood
13:23it was said that the huge tower soared to a height of over 300 feet second only to the great pyramid of Giza
13:36at its top a blazing fire magnified by a gigantic mirror guided ships from 70 miles out at sea
13:48after its collapse in the 14th century depictions of the Pharos became less reliable as artists created more romanticized and bizarre images of the seventh wonder
14:09the real lighthouse was probably a much simpler construction
14:18perhaps the best clue to the shape of the tower is this ancient funeral monument which stands about 25 miles from Alexandria
14:31it's constructed in three stages
14:34a square base supports an eight-sided tower with a round section at the top
14:39this 65 foot structure is believed to be a scaled-down replica of the famous lighthouse
14:52in the early 20th century the German archaeologist Hermann Tiersch presented his version of the full-sized Pharos
15:02roughly shaped like the funeral monument his imposing tower had over 30 stories and 300 rooms
15:09it's this image of the lighthouse that appears in the history books
15:18and in the movies
15:24but this hollywood set from caesar and cleopatra starring vivian lee is based on little more than
15:30speculation
15:40to draw a more reliable picture the team has to find pieces of the lighthouse itself
15:45the pressure is on as they prepare for the next major phase of the investigation
15:57oh yeah
16:17having mapped only the top layer of blocks
16:20the divers now have to dig deeper and expose what lies below
16:31this will require some complicated and highly dangerous underwater maneuvers
16:38each block must be carefully lifted with parachute shaped balloons
16:42after securing the balloon to the block
16:47the divers slowly release compressed air into the parachute
17:01balloon can lift up two tons three tons twenty tons
17:05of course it's not without danger
17:13suddenly a change in the air the balloon and so the stone would collapse again in the bottom of the sea
17:24could be very dangerous for the divers
17:26they have to have a lot of experience and to be very careful it's a very critical moment when
17:33the stone goes up slowly and more and more quickly to to the surface
17:40as the divers begin to peel back the top layer of blocks
17:46they're on the lookout for stones that can be linked to the lighthouse
17:49according to ancient accounts the facade of the tower bore a dedication carved in large greek letters
18:03but in their search for the inscription the underwater detectives uncover some very different evidence
18:19that first it appears to be a headless lion
18:28but egyptologists recognize the creature's true identity
18:34it's an ancient sphinx that once had the head of a man
18:38the divers immediately start work to free the sphinx with the air-filled balloons
18:51by now the procedure should be routine but something goes wrong
19:07the four-ton statue breaks loose and falls to the ocean floor
19:23barely missing the divers
19:37the rear part is broken on the left
19:40and it falls down on the back and then we have to move it
19:47but it's uh now it's okay but it's it's more less complete than i hope
19:56luckily neither the divers nor the sphinx were hurt during the accident
19:59but an entire day has been lost a day that jean-yves can't afford
20:21at the evening briefing session jean-yves warns his team to exercise extreme caution with the balloons
20:26it is today's mistakes must never be repeated
20:51the construction of the new breakwater
20:53just a few yards away makes the divers job even more dangerous
21:05it's also a constant reminder that they're racing to uncover crucial evidence
21:10before it's obliterated by modern concrete
21:17today at the bottom of a pile of stones
21:20they find three large blocks covered with inscriptions
21:30but it's not greek lettering
21:35these are egyptian hieroglyphs
21:37the team decides to move the blocks to a cleared area of the seabed
21:48so that the egyptologists can get a closer look
21:58the tapered shape of this block indicates that it was once part of an obelisk
22:03these massive pillars carved from a single piece of granite stood at the entrances of egypt's great temples
22:19but where did this obelisk come from
22:31jean-pierre hopes that the hieroglyphs carved into the stone will give him a clue
22:34the first inscription we found that was almost faded completely because of the shells just to read
22:44the the inscriptions the first you have to clean it
22:48as he scrapes away the barnacles the strange signs begin to form words
23:03golden horus
23:05great in splendor
23:09powerful arm who attacks hundreds of thousands
23:12and
23:22it's an ancient incantation carved during the golden age of egypt a thousand years before the lighthouse was even built
23:28it's an ancient incantation carved out of the stone
23:39jean-pierre is still translating the hieroglyphs
23:42when he's called away to investigate another mysterious discovery
23:54it's a magnificent sphynx
24:06carved out of a block of quartzite
24:08quartzite
24:24and this time the head is found nearby
24:44scraping the shells away from the inscription
24:47jean-pierre reveals its original owner
24:56it was the pharaoh samtik the second who ruled egypt in the sixth century bc
25:11it's very beautiful
25:19i mean it's something wonderful to be the first to read the name
25:25be the first at least since uh 2000 years to to say this one things belongs to someone i mean for me
25:34it's something it's uh i mean it's a it's a personal pleasure
25:40every day the divers discover more and more relics of ancient egypt
25:45in total 26 sphinxes will be found including this one still intact from the age of ramses the great
26:01for a site that was expected to yield greek ruins the number of pharaonic statues is amazing
26:18how did they get here
26:37deciphering the hieroglyphs on dozens of blocks
26:40the archaeologists keep finding the names of atum and horactae
26:50these were the gods of heliopolis an ancient egyptian religious center more than a hundred miles south of alexandria
26:57some of these blocks were carved a thousand years before alexandria was founded
27:16in the greek city
27:32what were obelisks and sphinxes from ancient heliopolis doing in the greek city
27:46the answer may lie deep in egyptian history
27:50when pharaohs tore down the monuments of their predecessors and recycled the blocks
28:00even the great pyramids were stripped of some of their casing stones for use in new constructions
28:05some buildings became a hodgepodge of reused elements as statues columns and obelisks were relocated to new temples in new cities
28:24centuries later did the alexandrians perform the same kind of recycling act
28:38it's an old way of the pharaohs for instance the the son of hamsters ii built his mortuary temple
28:51taking the block in the temple of aminotep the third which was very close to that so it's it was
28:58something which has done uh all over the egyptian history and they in that way the the greek
29:06ptolemas behave exactly as pharaohs and it's not a surprise it's it's a it's real egyptian way of
29:14of uh of being i should say
29:23and the alexandrians were fascinated by egyptian culture even though they themselves were greek
29:2870 feet beneath the streets of the city these catacombs reveal the unique new style they created
29:44a strange mixture of greek roman and egyptian motifs
29:50gods and goddesses from several religions are melded into new figures
30:02a roman soldier has the jackal head of the egyptian god anubis
30:11this blend of cultures was appropriate for a city whose population included greeks jews romans egyptians
30:19as well as africans and arabs
30:24but what about the lighthouse
30:29did the alexandrians use the same mixture of greek and egyptian designs when they built the most
30:34famous monument of the city
30:36this is the question that jean-yves empereur is struggling to answer
30:54the
30:58the
31:00the
31:02the
31:03the
31:04the
31:06the
31:07up until now the team has found few artifacts that date to the age of the lighthouse
31:24so there's been little underwater work for greek scholars like johnny
31:29the older statues and obelisks have all come under the domain of the egyptologists
31:47but that is about to change
31:51as the team prepares to explore a new area of the underwater site
31:59here the divers finally discover evidence from the greek period of alexandria
32:13remnants of a very impressive monument
32:20this piece of granite once supported the hinge of an enormous door
32:29just a few yards away a base for a gigantic statue
32:50and further on something even more colossal
32:59stretched out along the sea floor the divers find several blocks
33:03that dwarf all the others in size and weight
33:11these pieces seem to fit together
33:15as if they were once part of a single monolith that fell and snapped apart
33:19before it broke this block was over 30 feet long and weighed 75 tons
33:32in all the team discovers about 15 pieces that each weigh over 30 tons
33:37they're all made of granite one of the hardest stones available in egypt
33:50some of the smaller blocks in the bay may have been dumped there in medieval times
33:54but it would have been extremely difficult to drop these giant 30-ton stones from a boat
34:03could these granite blocks be part of the lighthouse that toppled into the sea during a massive earthquake
34:16the
34:24the
34:24according to historians of the time the blocks from the collapsed lighthouse were used to build this
34:30medieval arab fortress
34:36the fort is mostly white limestone
34:41but close inspection reveals a few decorative details
34:44in dark granite
34:52could this mean that the lighthouse was also made of both kinds of stone
34:56a possible answer may come from the computerized plan of the underwater site
35:09in analyzing the map one of the first tasks is to highlight all the blocks weighing more than 30 tons
35:20if the pieces form a pattern
35:22it would provide further evidence that they were once part of the same building
35:35sure enough the largest blocks all seem to lie along one line
35:39for john eve
35:52their size and position can mean only one thing
35:57some 30 pieces are of extraordinary size
36:01some up to 11 and a half meters long and more than 75 tons
36:11they fall down in on the line and some of them even are broken in two or three pieces so
36:19it means i that they collapse from a certain height and this is certainly due to a very strong earthquake
36:28so we believe definitely that these huge blocks belong to the lighthouse
36:41if johnny was right it would be the first discovery of a piece of the lighthouse
36:46since its destruction 600 years ago
36:49and a meeting with officials who have come in from cairo johnny will report this exciting possibility
37:09let me see you welcome
37:11to continue working at the site he must win the approval of dr abdil halim noreldin then director
37:23of egyptian antiquities here in alexandria so how are things going on everything is all right
37:29we are very happy for the excavation and all the things we have found i prepare for you a map that i
37:36think you receive already one showing uh the pieces we attribute to the house to the lighthouse
37:46yes yes yes i think you you got such a map yes so this is a provisory map because now we are
37:52mapping on this zone and you see here we have all these stones more than 50 to 75 tons and it's this
38:02that line we think which collapsed from a monument which was situated in the eastern part of island
38:08of france thank you very much and thank you for coming last meeting you said the meeting goes well
38:18and the expedition can move ahead
38:20the mapping of the site is almost complete
38:33and the divers mission now is to identify and bring to the surface the most important discoveries
38:39but with summer drawing to an end conditions in the bay deteriorate
38:53winds from the north bring pounding waves
39:00just getting in and out of the water becomes a treacherous ordeal
39:09even if the divers are able to swim out away from the rocks the turbulence severely hampers their work
39:28despite the dangers the team concentrates on salvaging the pieces that lie closest to the breakwater
39:39of the river
39:41half buried under the modern concrete a very large and unusual block attracts the attention of the divers
39:52it appears to be part of an enormous statue lying face down on the sea floor
39:59no one can make out its identity
40:09it takes five hours to free the 12-ton colossus
40:33when the stone is finally released
40:35the divers immediately recognized the significance of the find
40:44even without its head and feet this is the statue of a king
40:51the biggest surprise in this excavation was perhaps the biggest block it was a colossal statue of this
41:00king ptolemy king of alexandria represented as a pharaoh
41:06so from the base of the neck to the middle of the lake is more than four and a half meters high
41:13so it means with the head with the leg with the base with the crown is 12 to 13 meters high
41:20examining the colossus johnny of can see that it dates to the third century bc exactly the age of the lighthouse itself
41:33it reminds the archaeologist of another statue found in the same area 30 years ago
41:47this female figure was removed from the bay in the 1960s
41:57it was discovered by an egyptian diver kamel abdu el sadat
42:02at the time the only person who took his discovery seriously was an english archaeologist named honor frost
42:16since the death of el sadat
42:17the death of el sadat she is the only person who can say exactly where the female statue was found
42:23and whether it lay near the male colossus
42:32miss honor frost is an old friend of mine
42:37we died together some 20 25 years ago and early 70s
42:43we needed her experience to learn more about the history of the site before we began the excavation
42:53itself so she came and we learned a lot from experience and a fantastic memory
43:03well i saw in the report of aina that they were bringing up honor frost is able to recall details of
43:11the statues that she observed under the most difficult underwater conditions i made the list of things
43:18that were found including the crown the isis but because as you may have discovered there of course you
43:25have all the proper apparatus it's not easy to photograph things that size in that depth of water
43:32therefore i took the measurements as i had done i had two theodolites on land which i believe is what
43:37you're still having and um i um i simply drew them
43:46she used the drawings to create her own map of the site in 1968
43:55long before the concrete breakwater was built
43:58now the 75 year old diver is eager to resume her investigation
44:17she takes a tour of all the latest discoveries
44:38beautiful works that until now lay buried and hidden
44:42a colossal head
44:58a colossal head
45:07the torso of a queen
45:33a colossal head
45:38among the sunken treasures the veteran diver notices a giant egyptian crown
45:54she wonders if it once belonged to the female figure salvaged years ago
46:03the
46:11when she last visited the site
46:14this colossal statue lay face down in the sand
46:20viewing it only from the back
46:22honor frost thought it was a goddess
46:33now for the first time
46:35she can see it is a cane
46:37it was a bit of a
46:44but it's just a great thing
46:47as she could see it
46:48it's just a good time
46:52it's just a good time
46:56it's just a good time
46:58It's a wonderful ceiling of this, yes. Lots of things that I've only seen from one side, which you can now see from all around, and all nice and clean. I mean, the statues, not the water.
47:14Honor is thrilled that the site is finally getting the scientific scrutiny it deserves.
47:19At Alexandria's Maritime Museum, she and Jean-Pierre Cotejani re-examine the female statue, which lies broken in two pieces.
47:37From the style of her hair and clothing, Jean-Pierre identifies the figure as a Ptolemaic or Greek queen, dressed as the Egyptian goddess Isis.
47:49It's the clothes that come back, that means that it's a...
47:53Along with the statue, the earlier expedition retrieved the giant pedestal that once supported it.
48:02There's an identical one still underwater.
48:06It's a huge hole.
48:07After 30 years, Honor Frost can now confirm that the queen and the king once lay side by side on the seabed.
48:19The statues possibly represent Ptolemy II, the builder of the lighthouse, and his wife, Queen Arsinoe.
48:34The team is convinced that the 40-foot royal couple stood facing the entrance of Alexandria's great harbor.
48:42And it is time for the team to present their discoveries to the world.
49:12At Kite Bay Fort, the mission's headquarters prepares for an invasion of international press and diplomats.
49:25Yesterday's enemy, the barge used to construct the breakwater, is now recruited to lift the best preserved artifacts onto land.
49:54All eyes are on Jean-Yves and his crew, as they prepare to hoist their precious cargo.
50:05Perhaps until the last moment, we were very nervous.
50:16Because, you know, an accident could happen very easily.
50:26It's a problem of the sea, of the weather, of the wind, of the waves.
50:33And everything could be against us.
50:37And so until the last moment, the last second, you are afraid that something could happen.
50:43Jean-Yves' fears are unfounded.
50:55Everything goes smoothly.
51:00And the crowd is thrilled by the ancient treasures.
51:20Exhumed from their watery grave,
51:44And stripped of their seaweed shrouds,
51:53the statues reveal the skill of great craftsmen who carved these shapes over 2,000 years ago.
52:02So powerful are these remnants of the past.
52:18The president of Egypt orders the concrete breakwater be removed.
52:23The site is saved.
52:34These ancient wonders from the sea can finally be returned to the people of Alexandria.
52:40For the archaeologists, years of research and analysis lie ahead.
53:00But already, they've added another chapter to the story of the legendary lighthouse.
53:05Reflecting both the Greek and Egyptian heritage of Alexandria.
53:15Their discoveries will help create a new image of the seventh wonder of the world.
53:36It sounds good for the year.
53:40که aspiremu
53:47A uzah
54:02The Lighthouse pointed the way.
54:15Now, what other wonders are being discovered beneath the ancient port of Alexandria?
54:22Search with us at www.pbs.org.
54:32To order this show for $19.95, plus shipping and handling, call 1-800-255-9424.
54:44And, to learn more about how science can solve the mysteries of our world, ask about our many other NOVA videos.
54:53Next time on NOVA, look out.
54:57Jay and I cannot move. We are buried inside the hut.
55:00Researchers risk it all in the backcountry to unlock the deadly secrets of snow.
55:07Avalanche.
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55:54Major funding for NOVA is provided by the Park Foundation, dedicated to education and quality television.
56:08And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.
56:14This is PBS.
56:24To learn more about this subject, you can order Alexandria, the Sunken City, the companion book to this program, by calling 1-800-255-9424.
56:38Illustrated with over 100 photos and drawings, this hardcover edition is $35, plus shipping and handling.
56:45Do Chi-条
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