- 04/06/2025
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00:00I first started studying antiquity here at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford 25 years ago.
00:11This is the oldest public museum in the world, so it seemed like the perfect place to try to piece together the story of mankind.
00:20Back then it was much dustier and more downhill, but now it's had this amazing £61 million refit.
00:26It doesn't just house objects of beauty, it's an object of beauty in itself.
00:31Then when I was studying, one of the things that I was taught was that the ancient world ended in around about 390 AD,
00:39basically with the outlawing of paganism, and then magically modern history was born.
00:46Our first film explores a city that sits right on the cusp of that epoch-forming moment, the city of Alexandria.
00:54Alexandria was built on a dream, the idea that all knowledge could be stored in one place,
01:01and the caretakers of that knowledge would have extraordinary power.
01:05The dreamer was Alexander the Great, and he physically laid out the footprint of the city by scattering barley flour in the sand.
01:14The men that came after him then invited in the greatest architects and engineers from the known world to make his vision flesh.
01:21Alexandria was a buzzing place.
01:25It was heaving with philosophers and scientists, with high priests and power brokers.
01:31And there's one person who sits right at the heart of that story.
01:35She's an unsung hero, or rather a heroine.
01:39This is somebody who should be a household name, and yet somehow she's been relegated to the footnotes of history.
01:45She's a scientist and a philosopher, a woman called Hypatia.
01:50And since I'm a fan of women, I'm going to give her an airing.
01:54So although it might seem rather perverse in a season that ranges right across the ancient world,
01:59we are going to begin at the end.
02:02It's the dog days of the 4th century AD,
02:05and the glories of the ancient world are about to come tumbling down
02:09in a tumult of prejudice and power grab, religious martyrdom and fire.
02:16Welcome to the beginning of the modern world.
02:19Just imagine a city that housed all the knowledge of the world,
02:33all the mathematical and scientific treatises,
02:36all the works of literature and the flights of philosophical fancy.
02:40A place where writers and artists and scientists met to debate and to pioneer thought.
02:50Just think of what ideas and inventions that city would produce,
02:55what power its knowledge would bring to its rulers.
03:02Just think of what would happen if that wealth of knowledge was destroyed,
03:07burnt to the ground or scattered to the winds.
03:10A terrible moment when civilisation itself was stopped in its tracks.
03:18This sounds like some kind of science fiction fantasy,
03:21but this was a reality, and this was the real place where it happened.
03:26A city where its secrets are hidden beneath the sea and beneath its streets.
03:35This is the city of Alexandria,
03:38and this is its extraordinary story.
03:42Although we might think that Athens and Rome were the greatest cities in antiquity,
04:01for my money, that claim could well go to Alexandria.
04:05For over 2,300 years, the city has occupied a key junction
04:11between the eastern and western worlds.
04:15Lying in Egypt at the top of the Nile Delta on the coast of the Mediterranean,
04:18today it's a sprawling place,
04:21and every inch is jam-packed with activity.
04:25But curiously, the ancient city is conspicuous by its absence.
04:30The modern city here really buzzes with life,
04:46but it can be a bit hard to get a handle on ancient Alexandria.
04:50You could spend weeks here without realising that this was once home
04:54to what was really a roll call of the great and the good of antiquity,
04:58because it was here that Alexander the Great was buried.
05:02It was here that Cleopatra seduced Mark Antony and Caesar,
05:05and this was the home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
05:11Piecing together the scattered jigsaw puzzle,
05:13I'm going to explore the incredible story of this extraordinary city,
05:18where the Pharos lighthouse shone its beacon out
05:20over spectacular theatres, temples and colonnades,
05:25monuments as grand as anywhere in the ancient world.
05:28Scolossal use is a human scale.
05:30It's more than 30 metres high.
05:34Which combined the best of Greek, Roman and Egyptian design
05:38to create a dynamic hybrid culture.
05:41We're mixing and matching.
05:42We're being purely Alexandria, we're taking what we want,
05:44sticking it together.
05:45We're open to everything.
05:49And most importantly, where intellectual advances,
05:53new philosophies, new sciences,
05:55were a driving force of the city.
05:58And that's what makes this place so special.
06:00Although Alexandria was immensely wealthy,
06:03it didn't just sponsor grand monuments.
06:06It put an absolute value on wisdom.
06:09Because wisdom meant power.
06:13And it was Alexandria's ultimate ambition
06:15to become the most powerful city on earth
06:18by capturing all the world's knowledge within its walls.
06:22An ambition which stemmed from its very beginnings
06:25and the vision of its founder.
06:27By ancient Egyptian standards,
06:39Alexandria was a relative new build.
06:41It was founded only 2,300 years ago.
06:46Halfway in time between the pyramids and us.
06:49The fourth century BC was a kind of in-between time of history.
06:55The golden age Athens had dimmed
06:58and Rome was still a provincial backwater.
07:01But a very unlikely corner of northern Greece
07:04was about to have a huge impact.
07:07From there was going to come a man
07:08who would be a real player on the world stage.
07:11In fact, he was somebody who was going to change the world order.
07:14That man was Alexander the Great.
07:21Great because Alexander's achievements were truly outstanding.
07:25From provincial Macedonian beginnings,
07:28he united the Greeks as a nation,
07:30defeated the Persians,
07:32and set about creating the largest empire
07:34the world had ever seen.
07:37From northern Greece,
07:38his territories stretched out across the Mediterranean,
07:40deep into the Middle East,
07:42and towards North Africa.
07:43Alexander was prodigiously ambitious,
07:49and by the age of 24,
07:50he was already cutting a swathe
07:52through the territories of the known world.
07:54But he could not rest easy
07:57until he'd laid his hands on the really big prize.
08:01Egypt.
08:06Because this was one of the most admired
08:08and envied countries in the whole of antiquity.
08:11The Nile River, which watered the land,
08:14gave it vast agricultural wealth,
08:16creating the manpower and resources
08:18to cover the land in glorious artworks
08:20and engineering triumphs.
08:26Even the Greeks,
08:27who thought they were culturally superior to everyone else,
08:30and described anyone who wasn't Greek
08:32as barbaroi, barbarians,
08:35respected Egyptian achievements.
08:38The Greek father of history,
08:39Herodotus,
08:40said that nowhere else in the world
08:42were there more marvellous things,
08:45more works of unspeakable greatness.
08:50Such a rich prize was irresistible to Alexander.
08:53In 332 BC,
08:55he invaded Egypt
08:57and overcame the Persians
08:58who dominated the Egyptian people
09:00for the past two centuries.
09:03But to seal his victory,
09:05he now had to win over
09:06the hearts and minds of the Egyptian people,
09:09whose unique religion and culture
09:11had been rooted in the land
09:12for over 3,000 years.
09:14By the time Alexander arrived in Egypt,
09:22this pyramid was over 2,300 years old.
09:26But the locals here didn't think of it
09:28as some kind of antique curiosity.
09:30Because this is where a god-king had been buried,
09:33the Egyptians believed that it pulsated
09:36with a sort of sacred power.
09:38Confronted with a culture so alien to his own,
09:46Alexander didn't underestimate
09:47the challenge that faced him.
09:50He realised he'd have to come up
09:51with an ingenious approach
09:53to get the Egyptians on side
09:54and accept his new Greek rule.
09:58And typically,
09:59when it comes to making sense
10:00of the story of Alexandria,
10:02the clues to how he did this
10:04are buried deep beneath the desert sands.
10:08So, have you been walking down here
10:10in Alexander's day?
10:11What would we have seen?
10:12We would have seen something quite different.
10:13It would have been far grander.
10:14You would have had these limestone,
10:16beautifully cut blocks,
10:17and you would have inscriptions,
10:18and there would have been
10:19a big processional way
10:20lined with sphinxes.
10:23So, it would have been quite glamorous,
10:24not quite what it is now.
10:26And was it typical to have things
10:28underground like this?
10:30For the ancient Egyptians, yes.
10:32The underground stuff is a good place
10:34for rebirth and resurrection
10:35and anything secret,
10:36so they used it a great deal.
10:38Well, it's certainly pretty atmospheric.
10:40Yes.
10:46And that's what Alexander
10:47had to get to grips with,
10:49a culture which not only believed
10:50in life on Earth,
10:52but which was obsessed
10:53with life after death.
10:56Wow.
10:58Wow, because I knew
10:59there was a sarcophagus down here.
11:00I had no idea it was this size.
11:01It is absolutely enormous.
11:03It's sort of three metres by five metres,
11:06and it weighs more than 60 tonnes,
11:08and it's made of absolutely solid granite.
11:11Oh, it's got glyphs on it.
11:12Yep.
11:13Yep, here, see?
11:14You can just make out,
11:15this is in fact the name
11:16of who it belongs to.
11:18It's Hapi in glyphs,
11:20and it actually returned
11:21into Apis by the Greeks.
11:23And so it's Hapi,
11:23which is the great bull god,
11:25the Apis bull,
11:26and this is his sarcophagus.
11:28So it's a bull buried in here?
11:29Yeah, it's a bull.
11:30I just presumed,
11:31because it's so kind of glorious,
11:32it would be a human.
11:33No, it actually is a bull burial,
11:35because this was a sacred incarnation
11:37of one of the Egyptian gods,
11:38and so he was buried here
11:40after his death.
11:46And here it says,
11:48Apis, son of,
11:50beloved son of Osiris,
11:51may he be given life,
11:52eternity,
11:53and prosperity,
11:55and so on.
11:56And here's his name one more time,
11:57so you're really near
11:58to whom it belonged.
11:59I mean, the Egyptians
12:00do do that in their religion,
12:01don't they?
12:01They mix up animals
12:03and men very happily.
12:04Very much so.
12:05For the Egyptians,
12:06each god had a totemic animal,
12:08so they were always closely allied,
12:10which is very different
12:11from the Greeks.
12:12And so how did Alexander
12:12deal with that very alien landscape
12:14when he arrived here?
12:16Alexander was brilliant.
12:17I mean, he,
12:18instead of coming in
12:19and saying,
12:20you all are fools,
12:21he instead said,
12:22ah, I am part of this whole thing,
12:25and he came
12:25and he made offerings
12:26to the Apis,
12:28he gave money
12:29and lands to the temples.
12:30The Egyptians thought,
12:31wow, one of us,
12:33we love him.
12:34And then,
12:35in this brilliant mood,
12:36he also visited a temple
12:38where he was hailed
12:39as the son
12:40of the chief Egyptian god.
12:42So he was supposed
12:42to be the divine ruler
12:43on earth,
12:44which fits in
12:45with the Egyptian belief system
12:46that their pharaoh
12:47is divinely born
12:48and a god on earth.
12:49And so there was
12:50Alexander as a pharaoh,
12:53really,
12:53and the Egyptians
12:53loved him.
12:54Alexander was canny.
13:10By choosing to embrace
13:11Egyptian customs
13:12rather than just
13:13stomp on them,
13:15he managed to affect
13:16a very sympathetic
13:17kind of regime change.
13:19The Egyptian people
13:21didn't think of him
13:22as one of them,
13:23but one of us.
13:25You know,
13:25he had done remarkably well.
13:27He realised his
13:29grand Egyptian dream
13:30and now he was being
13:31celebrated here
13:32not just as a conqueror
13:33or a king,
13:35but as a true
13:36living god.
13:37But even that
13:46wasn't enough
13:46for Alexander.
13:47He didn't just want
13:48to be another
13:49in a long line
13:50of pharaohs.
13:51He really wanted
13:52to dominate the country
13:53and that meant
13:54creating a new city
13:56that would bear
13:57his name
13:57for all time.
14:00But first,
14:01he had to find
14:02a suitable location.
14:04The ancient Egyptians
14:05had always looked inwards.
14:07their key cities
14:08centring on the Nile.
14:10But in this,
14:11Alexander differed.
14:13He also wanted
14:14his new city
14:15to look back
14:16towards his Greek homeland
14:17and outwards
14:18towards his new empire.
14:21And it was said
14:22that he had
14:23a very illustrious figure
14:24to guide him
14:25on his way.
14:29The ancient author
14:30Plutarch tells us
14:32that Alexander
14:32was drawn
14:33to this very spot,
14:35a place called Pharos,
14:36by a prophetic dream.
14:39Then in the night,
14:40as Alexander lay asleep,
14:42he saw
14:42a wonderful vision.
14:44A venerable man
14:45with shaggy hair
14:46and a beard
14:47appeared to stand
14:47by his side
14:48and recite
14:49these verses.
14:51Now,
14:52there is an island
14:53in the much dashing sea
14:54in front of Egypt.
14:56Pharos
14:57is what men call it.
15:00Alexander believed
15:01that the mysterious visitor
15:02was none other
15:03than Homer himself,
15:04the great epic bard.
15:06And as well as being
15:07a hard-nosed politician,
15:09he was an incurable romantic.
15:11And so he took his advice
15:12and this is where
15:14he came to found his city.
15:19But the barren stretch
15:20of coastline
15:21Alexander encountered
15:22couldn't be more different
15:23from today's
15:24hectic metropolis.
15:25When Alexander got here,
15:28Pharos was still
15:29just an island.
15:31There was a tiny
15:31little settlement here
15:32and the coastline
15:34of Egypt
15:34was very jagged,
15:36which meant it was
15:36very difficult
15:36for boats to land.
15:38But Alexander
15:39had a grand plan
15:41to link Pharos
15:42to the mainland.
15:44And so he built
15:44a causeway
15:45running all the way across,
15:47almost a mile long.
15:49And he extended
15:50this bit here
15:51to create
15:52a man-made harbour.
15:55This would become
15:56the busiest port
15:57in the world.
15:59The gateway
16:00to one of the richest
16:02and most multicultural
16:03cities on earth.
16:05And that was only
16:06part of the dream.
16:08Alexander and his
16:09successors,
16:10the Ptolemies,
16:11ravened for knowledge.
16:13Knowledge that would
16:13give them the power
16:14to trade,
16:15to build,
16:16to conquer.
16:18Their ambition
16:18for Alexandria
16:20to become the
16:21intellectual engine room.
16:22of the ancient world.
16:38Ancient Egypt.
16:39Land of the mighty
16:41pharaohs.
16:42Living god kings
16:43whose people built
16:44fantastic monuments
16:46in their honour.
16:47A civilisation
16:48which had been
16:49a key player
16:49in the region
16:50for over 4,000 years.
16:52in the 4th century B.C.
16:58the Greek
16:58Alexander the Great
16:59conquered this land
17:01winning over
17:02the Egyptian people
17:03and making it
17:04his own,
17:05creating a new city
17:06in his name,
17:08Alexandria.
17:11Starting from scratch,
17:13Alexander envisaged
17:14a unique model city
17:16strictly laid out
17:17on an innovative
17:18grid system
17:19where Greek
17:20where Greek
17:20and Egyptian
17:20culture
17:21came together
17:22to create
17:23one of the richest
17:23places on earth.
17:30Today,
17:31so little is left
17:32above ground
17:32to get a sense
17:33of the ancient city
17:34you have to descend
17:36deep beneath
17:36the modern metropolis
17:37into a city
17:39of the dead.
17:39I mean,
17:41they're fantastic,
17:42aren't they?
17:43Well,
17:43it's typically
17:45Alexandrian.
17:46We've got this
17:46mishmash of different
17:47styles.
17:50The Medusa,
17:51purely Greek,
17:52the demon,
17:52Greek,
17:53but then Egyptian
17:54elements.
17:55The frieze up there
17:56of copper heads
17:57and little solar
17:58discs on top,
17:59all of the Egyptian
18:00tradition.
18:01And this was just
18:01the tomb
18:02for one family?
18:03Well,
18:03one family,
18:04we presume,
18:04we're not sure.
18:04There's three
18:05sarcophagi in there.
18:06No bodies
18:06were ever found.
18:08The tomb robbers
18:09got here long
18:09before the archaeologists
18:10did.
18:11They might not
18:11have left any bodies,
18:12but they've got
18:12some pretty lifelike
18:13guardians to the tomb.
18:15Well,
18:15archaeologists
18:15over the years
18:16have presumed
18:16the statues
18:17on either side
18:17of the entrance
18:18represent the owners
18:19of the tomb.
18:20But what's
18:21interesting about them
18:22is if you look
18:22at the head
18:23of this male character
18:23over here,
18:24the face is detailed,
18:25the hairstyle
18:25is pure Roman,
18:27Greco-Roman tradition,
18:28and yet the body,
18:28you know,
18:29stiff,
18:30one leg forward,
18:30arms for the side,
18:31typical of
18:32Egyptian statue.
18:33It's quite ugly
18:33in a way,
18:34the way the two
18:34have been stuck
18:35together, though.
18:36Oh, it's not
18:36particularly well done,
18:37no,
18:37but that's part
18:38of the charm
18:38of this place
18:39is we're taking,
18:39we're mixing and matching,
18:40we're being purely
18:41Alexandrian,
18:41we're taking what we want,
18:42sticking it together.
18:43We're not melding,
18:44creating a new art form.
18:45We're just,
18:46we're open to everything,
18:48we're very receptive.
18:49And there's a great example
18:50just inside the doorways here.
18:52To the left,
18:52you get another really
18:53good example of it as well.
18:55Oh, yes.
18:56Because this is
18:56the Anubis figure.
18:57Yeah.
18:58Anubis was the
18:59Egyptian god of embalming,
19:00the dog-headed figure.
19:01But look how he's dressed.
19:02He's dressed as a Roman soldier,
19:03but with his Egyptian head,
19:05guarding whoever's buried
19:07within this tomb.
19:08It is, it's fantastic.
19:09It's just like Top and Tails,
19:10isn't it?
19:10Because he's got a very
19:11Egyptian head
19:11and then this kind of
19:12Roman body,
19:12this little Roman skirt.
19:14Let's mix and match.
19:15Yeah.
19:15I mean, the only thing
19:16I think, though,
19:17is that throughout
19:18the ancient world,
19:18you do get this exchange
19:20of cultures.
19:20You know,
19:21in classical Athens,
19:22you've got Eastern cults
19:23and the Romans
19:24are very good
19:25at taking on the East as well.
19:26So why is Alexandria
19:28particularly good at it?
19:29I think because Alexandria
19:30was a new town
19:31and it had to sort of,
19:32it had to create
19:34its own legitimacy.
19:35It was a new town
19:35on a very, very ancient land
19:37which had a certain weight
19:39within the ancient world
19:40as well.
19:40I mean, Egypt,
19:41the Greeks were in awe
19:41of Egypt.
19:42So there was all this
19:43sort of cultural baggage
19:44here already.
19:45But they also brought
19:46with them their notions
19:48of Hellenic culture,
19:49of Greek culture.
19:50And by doing that,
19:51it draped itself
19:51in the mantle of Egypt
19:52but at the same time
19:54brought with it
19:54its Greek notion.
19:56It was also
19:59an extremely wealthy town
20:00and it's a port town
20:02and they're always
20:02open to influences.
20:03What you have to remember
20:14is that this was
20:15no ordinary city
20:17and it hadn't grown up
20:19organically
20:19at the Bronze Age
20:20or the Classical Age
20:21like so many
20:22of the great cities
20:23of antiquity.
20:25This was, if you like,
20:26a kind of
20:26high-minded new town,
20:29the brainchild
20:30of a visionary
20:31and highly educated man.
20:34From the age of 13,
20:35Alexander had been taught
20:37day in, day out
20:38by the great philosopher
20:39Aristotle
20:40and a spirit of inquiry
20:42was imbued
20:42in every cell
20:43of his body.
20:44And when he founded
20:45Alexandria,
20:46he passed that spirit
20:47on into the very
20:48DNA of the city.
20:50This was a place
20:51where knowledge
20:52was as valuable
20:54a currency
20:54as grain
20:56or gold.
21:05And in a precious
21:06archaeological oasis
21:07in the heart
21:08of the city,
21:09Com el Dica,
21:11archaeologists
21:11have begun
21:12to find the evidence
21:13to prove it.
21:15A Polish team
21:16have been working
21:16on a discovery
21:17which reveals
21:18exactly where
21:19Alexandria's ideas
21:20were played out.
21:21Here we are
21:23in one of the
21:24lecture halls.
21:25Probably it was
21:26one lecture
21:26from the complex
21:27of the university.
21:29It's really interesting.
21:29So you've got
21:30the lecture rooms
21:30right on the main street.
21:33Yes,
21:33it was the centre
21:34of the social life
21:34in late Antic Alexandria.
21:36Now,
21:37we are here
21:38three rows of benches
21:39in the classrooms
21:41and the bench
21:43is devoted
21:43for the students.
21:45And here we have
21:45the main chair,
21:47topmost seat
21:48probably for the teacher.
21:51You can just imagine
21:53how intimate
21:53this lecture hall
21:54would have been
21:55seating just 30 students
21:57studying law,
21:59rhetoric and science.
22:03And here we have
22:04a singular block of stone
22:05and probably this
22:07kind of platform
22:08or kind of podium
22:09for the students'
22:10declamation.
22:11So, okay,
22:12so the students
22:12have to do a kind of
22:14demonstration.
22:14Yes, to the opposite
22:14side to the teacher.
22:16So I'm going to be
22:17the teacher.
22:18So if I'm sitting here,
22:19so I'm the teacher,
22:20very comfortably
22:21on your steps
22:22and then the student
22:23would be there
22:23giving their paper
22:24or presentation.
22:26Did it get hot here?
22:28You know,
22:29the lecture halls
22:30were covered
22:30probably by the
22:31flat roof.
22:33We don't have
22:33any indication
22:34but probably
22:34the auditorium
22:35could be high
22:35as up to
22:375,5 metres
22:38as the level
22:39of the columns.
22:40And how many
22:41teaching rooms
22:42like this are there?
22:43So far we found
22:4420 lecture halls.
22:45Probably it was
22:46much bigger.
22:47These teaching rooms
22:49were a hot house
22:50of knowledge
22:51in the very heart
22:52of Alexandria.
22:54This was in no way
22:55a city of ivory towers.
22:57It was buzzing
22:57with provocative
22:58and cutting-edge ideas.
23:03Its rulers
23:04had wanted to acquire
23:05the intellectual tools
23:07to unlock the mysteries
23:08of the universe
23:09to allow them
23:10to rule the world.
23:12It was where
23:13the mathematician
23:14Eratosthenes
23:15proved that the Earth
23:16was round
23:16and accurately measured
23:18its circumference.
23:20Where a thousand years
23:21ahead of his time
23:22Aristarchus suggested
23:24that the Earth
23:24moved around the Sun
23:25and where the greatest minds
23:27and most extraordinary thinkers
23:29began to map their way
23:31through the stars.
23:36Now I've got to confess
23:37that Alexandria
23:38has got a particular
23:39allure for me
23:40for one reason.
23:41It's a rather wonderful
23:43and mysterious woman
23:44called Hypatia.
23:46Now Hypatia ran
23:48her own philosophy school here
23:49and by all accounts
23:51she was quite extraordinary.
23:55Hypatia was born
23:55in around 350 AD
23:57and the very fact
23:58she was a woman
23:59in a world dominated by men
24:01makes her achievements
24:02doubly exceptional.
24:04For over 40 years
24:06she made groundbreaking
24:07advances in algebra
24:09and revolutionised astronomy.
24:13And correspondence
24:14from a fellow philosopher
24:16really sums up
24:17just how much
24:18she was valued.
24:20It's a collection
24:21of letters
24:21written to her
24:22by one of her former students
24:23called Sinesius.
24:25The language used
24:27is very, very intimate
24:28so you get a real sense
24:30of her character
24:31and just how respected
24:32she was.
24:34Sinesius says
24:35for instance
24:35that nothing in the world
24:37is more wonderful
24:38than her
24:39and that even in Hades
24:40she is the only thing
24:43that he'll remember.
24:45Actually,
24:46she's been remembered
24:46by some others too.
24:48A crater on the moon's surface
24:50bears her name.
24:52A journal of philosophy
24:53is called Hypatia
24:55and she's just been immortalised
24:57in a new film
24:58Agarar.
25:05Imagine Hypatia
25:06working late into the night
25:07the famous
25:09Alexandrian street lamps
25:10burning outside
25:11her staring up
25:13into the night sky
25:14for inspiration.
25:16She was a philosopher
25:17in the true sense
25:18of the word
25:19in that she was
25:20a philosophos
25:21a lover of wisdom.
25:23What's really interesting
25:25about Hypatia though
25:26as with so many
25:27of her Alexandrian colleagues
25:28is that she didn't
25:30just deal in abstract thought
25:31but she had a very
25:32practical application
25:34for her ideas
25:35and for instance
25:36she used her mathematics
25:37and her geometry
25:38to redesign
25:39this amazing gizmo
25:41and it was really
25:43a kind of multifunctional
25:44instrument
25:44the sort of iPod
25:45of her day
25:46if you like
25:46only in her day
25:48it had a much more
25:49romantic name
25:50because this was called
25:52an astrolabe
25:53and literally
25:54that means
25:55a catcher
25:56of the stars.
26:09One of the things
26:10that was worked on
26:11here in Alexandria
26:12and perfected
26:13was this amazing instrument
26:14the astrolabe
26:14you're clutching one
26:16what did it allow
26:17people to do?
26:18The astrolabe
26:19has many functions
26:20telling the time
26:21of the day
26:21telling your latitude
26:23your altitude
26:24it can measure
26:25the height of mountains
26:27it can measure
26:28the width of rivers
26:29but I'll tell you
26:30how to measure
26:31the time of the day
26:32okay
26:32now here is the astrolabe
26:34and here is the pointer
26:35this is what we call
26:36the pointer
26:36we align these two holes
26:39pointing to a star
26:40okay
26:41when we align
26:42these two holes
26:43like this pointing
26:44we get a reading
26:44with the pointer
26:45right here
26:46we take this reading
26:47here
26:48which is a letter
26:49an Arabic letter
26:50but for them
26:50it's a number
26:51okay
26:51we take this number
26:53we turn the astrolabe
26:55and we have
26:56this spider here
26:57we point
26:58the pointers here
26:59to the number
27:00that we have taken
27:01from the back
27:01and when we point it
27:03to here
27:04we get the reading
27:04you see that pointer
27:05here
27:06it will point
27:07to the degrees
27:08the degrees
27:09that the sun
27:10has risen
27:11or the star
27:12has risen
27:13from the horizon
27:13okay
27:14360 degrees
27:16is equal
27:18to 24 hours
27:19so
27:20each one hour
27:21is 15 degrees
27:23so if we have here
27:24number of degrees
27:25I can know
27:26the time of the day
27:27it's a very powerful
27:34instrument
27:35because it allows you
27:36to do all kinds
27:37of things
27:37I mean if you know
27:38the night sky
27:39you know your latitude
27:40if you know the height
27:41of a mountain
27:41you can explore
27:42you can trade
27:43it has actually
27:44changed
27:45the way
27:46they functioned
27:49Alexandria did sponsor
27:55pure reason
27:57pure thought
27:58ideas just for
27:59ideas sake
28:00but it was also
28:01an immensely busy
28:02and practical place
28:04the astrolabe
28:05for example
28:05was very beautiful
28:06but when it was applied
28:07it allowed men
28:08to trade
28:09and to travel
28:10and to conquer
28:11the whole city
28:12was very enterprising
28:13and outward looking
28:14and that ethos
28:15was directly in line
28:17with the vision
28:17of its founder
28:18Alexander had created
28:21a unique city
28:22a central point
28:23between east and west
28:24where the greatest
28:25thinkers not only
28:26explored pure thought
28:28but applied their ideas
28:29to become real players
28:31on the world stage
28:32the scale of Alexandria's
28:34intellectual ambition
28:35was immense
28:37to house
28:38to house within its walls
28:39all knowledge
28:40and with that knowledge
28:42make its rulers
28:43the most powerful people
28:46on earth
28:47although ancient Alexandria
29:00is virtually invisible
29:01the ghost of its presence
29:03is there
29:03in the layout
29:04of the modern city
29:05I'll tell you what
29:08is very exciting
29:09because the modern city
29:10is laid out
29:11on the ancient grid plan
29:12when you walk down
29:13these streets
29:14you are physically
29:15walking in the footsteps
29:16of Hypatia
29:17and all those other
29:18fantastic philosophers
29:19and that feels like
29:21a very good place
29:22to be
29:22as a cultural melting pot
29:40with intellectual ambition
29:41ancient Alexandria
29:42became a unique environment
29:44for scholarship
29:45a place where
29:46the extraordinary thinker
29:48Hypatia
29:48schooled in Greek thought
29:50could also draw on Egyptian wisdom
29:52and Babylonian science
29:53to help her map the stars
29:55where a wealth of traditions
29:57from around the world
29:58combined
29:59enabling the greatest thinkers
30:01to make scientific advances
30:02achievable
30:03nowhere else
30:05creating a new Egypt
30:07and a model for society
30:09in the future
30:09one of the great characters
30:20of medical history
30:21came to Alexandria
30:22he was a man called Galen
30:24and even though he travelled
30:25right across the eastern Mediterranean
30:27it was the cosmopolitan conditions
30:29of this city
30:30that allowed him
30:31to make quite extraordinary advances
30:33in fact he was here
30:35he made scientific breakthroughs
30:36that wouldn't be bettered
30:38for another 1500 years
30:39so what are these treasures
30:46that you're removing
30:47from the tubs here
30:48they're a variety of things
30:50there's a brain of a horse
30:52and this one with
30:54with the spinal cord attached
30:57is
30:58that's a dog
30:58oh it's lovely
30:59so I hope you realise
31:00I'm a very strict vegetarian
31:01this is not
31:02this is way beyond
31:03my life experiences
31:05it's alright
31:05I'm not expecting you to eat them
31:07it's alright
31:07good
31:08just explain to me
31:10because you're a veterinary anatomist
31:12so why have you got
31:13a particular interest in Galen
31:14it's really because of the brain
31:16because I think Galen was the central mover
31:19in the history of studying the brain
31:21he was the first person
31:22who realised what it was
31:23and what it did
31:24and why was Alexandria
31:26such a key city for him?
31:27in the European part
31:28of the Mediterranean world
31:29there were taboos
31:30and then eventually laws
31:32against chopping up dead people
31:34dissecting dead people
31:35which made life very difficult for him
31:37so he had to use animals
31:38like these
31:40where really what he wanted to know
31:42is he wanted to know
31:42about what was going on in humans
31:44and this was much easier in Egypt
31:46because the Egyptians
31:47had much more of a tradition
31:48and partly because of mummification
31:50they had much more of a tradition
31:51of dealing with parts
31:53of dead human people
31:55and perhaps not worrying about it so much
31:57but the brain
31:57wasn't of any particular importance
31:59to the Egyptians
32:00because there are stories
32:01of them when they're doing
32:02the mummification
32:02of them pulling the brain out
32:04through the nose for instance
32:05yes well we don't know
32:05whether it's Herodotus who said that
32:07we don't know whether that's actually true
32:08you need an enormous nose
32:10to get a brain out through
32:11but it's certainly true
32:13the thing that the Egyptians
32:14and the Greeks had in common
32:15neither of them thought
32:16the brain was very important
32:17until Galen came along
32:18Aristotle said it was probably
32:20just the radiator for the heart
32:21the heart creates all this heat
32:23and the brain is just a way
32:24of radiating it away
32:25out of the body
32:26and so why was Galen different
32:28how did he come to realise
32:30that there was something else going on
32:31because he looked at the brain
32:32you look at the human brain
32:34but you look at animal brains
32:35and he said
32:36well if you look at them
32:37they're incredibly complicated
32:39he said for example
32:40here's the cerebrum at the front
32:41with all its folds
32:42and here's the cerebellum at the back
32:44with all its even finer folds
32:45and you look on the inside
32:48and you see
32:48there's the brain stem down there
32:50it's even more complicated
32:51so it's got all these different bits
32:53so it doesn't look like something
32:54that's just there
32:55to radiate heat away
32:57he said it must be doing something
32:58more complicated than that
33:00the other thing he noticed about it
33:02was first of all
33:03if you look at the brain
33:04it has the senses attached to it
33:06if you dissect a brain
33:09I'll get this out
33:10this is a sheet brain
33:11with the eyes still attached
33:14yeah lovely
33:15thank you
33:16and that's the important thing
33:17he said
33:18well the brain is connected
33:20to the special senses
33:21by these large thick nerves
33:23and he said
33:24that must mean something
33:25and he had this wonderful phrase
33:27he used
33:27where he said
33:28the brain is surrounded
33:30by the special sense organs
33:31as if they are the servants
33:32and guards
33:33of the great king
33:35so he'd already elevated the brain
33:37to being in the position
33:38of a king
33:39in control
33:40of the special senses
33:41I'm glad he added a bit of poetry
33:43to something fairly disgusting
33:45looking like that
33:45and so he demonstrated
33:47that not only is it the brain
33:48where all the sensory information
33:50comes in
33:50but also he'd shown
33:52it's where all the nerves
33:52radiate out to the body
33:54to move the body
33:55so he's really showing
33:56the brain takes the information in
33:58processes it
33:59puts it out
34:00and really the brain
34:01is where you think
34:02it's where you are
34:03and really he was the first person
34:05to show that
34:05that is immensely important
34:08and if you prove
34:09just how powerful
34:10the brain is
34:11that's going to revolutionise
34:13what people think
34:13about the human body
34:14and I mean all sorts of things
34:15and the human soul as well
34:16he completely changed
34:18the way we think about the body
34:19and especially the brain
34:20Alexandria created
34:32a buzzing environment
34:33where men like Galen
34:34and women like Hypatia
34:35could meet light minds
34:37and begin to reveal
34:38the workings of the universe
34:39because these thinkers
34:46weren't working in isolation
34:47and that's possibly
34:49Alexandria's greatest achievement
34:51it had created an environment
34:53where great minds
34:54could gather to discuss
34:55and develop their ideas
34:56the largest store of knowledge
34:59the world had ever known
35:01like so much of ancient Alexandria
35:06its libraries have long since disappeared
35:08but modern Alexandrians
35:10have begun to acknowledge
35:11their amazing heritage
35:12with a new state-of-the-art library
35:14capturing its predecessor's spirit
35:16there had been collections
35:20of texts and books
35:21in other ancient cities
35:22but the ambition of the library here
35:25was quite extraordinary
35:27Alexandria wanted to be
35:29the repository of all knowledge on earth
35:32and so a copy of every single book in the world
35:36was to be stored here
35:38every work of literature
35:45tragedy
35:46comedy and poetry
35:48every history
35:49every scientific treatise
35:51from maths to medicine
35:53physics to astronomy
35:54and not just Greek texts
35:56but works from around the world
35:59in Hebrew
35:59Latin
36:00Babylonian
36:01and later Arabic
36:02even today
36:05putting together such a collection
36:06would be quite a feat
36:08but this was the age
36:09before mass publishing
36:10each work existed
36:12as a handwritten papyrus
36:14and that scroll
36:15might be the only copy
36:17of that papyrus
36:18in the whole world
36:19today
36:22the majority
36:22of the few fragments
36:24that remain
36:25now survive
36:26not in Alexandria
36:27but another bastion of learning
36:29Oxford University
36:31how many of these texts
36:38would there have been
36:38in the libraries?
36:39I reckoned
36:40half a million
36:41everything from
36:43Homer
36:44some of the earliest
36:46Greek papyri
36:46were texts
36:47of the Homeric poems
36:48the Iliad and the Odyssey
36:50to Plato
36:51philosophy
36:53written in Greek
36:54on papyrus
36:55to
36:56in the later period
36:58Arabic
36:59and even earlier
37:00Hebrew
37:01the scale of ambition
37:03is extraordinary
37:04so physically
37:05how did they get
37:06the work into the city?
37:08they were sending
37:09people out
37:10to all parts
37:11of the Mediterranean
37:12they had a list
37:13of the nine
37:14canonical lyric poets
37:16that they wanted
37:17their works of
37:17and they sent people
37:18to the festivals
37:20where their works
37:21had been composed
37:22Olympia and Delphi
37:23and they borrowed
37:24the official copy
37:25of the Athenian tragedies
37:26from the Athenians
37:28so that they could
37:29make a copy of it
37:30then they refused
37:30to give it back
37:31so they were
37:32in some ways
37:33acting like
37:34Antiquarian book collectors
37:35in other ways
37:36acting like
37:37an institution
37:39building up
37:40a fundamental collection
37:41for scholars
37:41to work on
37:42but if you've got
37:43this massive volume
37:44of work
37:45how are they
37:45keeping tabs
37:46on it all
37:46how are they
37:47organising it?
37:48they developed
37:49a system
37:50which was really
37:51the invention
37:52of the modern book catalogue
37:53the Alexandrian scholar
37:54Kolymicus
37:55invented the first book catalogue
37:57which simply had
37:58an entry for author
37:59title
38:00genre
38:01type of work
38:02in this case
38:03comedy
38:03and also the total
38:05for the number of lines
38:06at the end
38:07scribes were paid
38:08by the number of lines
38:09they copied
38:10so here you can see
38:11the name of the comic
38:12poet
38:12Aristophanes
38:14you can just about
38:15make it out
38:15it's a yes
38:18Stephanos
38:18and in Alexandra
38:20are they mainly
38:21copying material
38:22or are they actually
38:23adding to it
38:24are you getting
38:25new scholarship
38:26there as well?
38:27absolutely
38:27they're constantly
38:28commenting on them
38:29this is a copy
38:30of Plato's Republic
38:31in which there's
38:32a tiny hand
38:33has been writing
38:34a marginal commentary
38:35into the margin
38:37explaining
38:37and correcting
38:38the text
38:40so you get the feeling
38:42of a kind of buzzing
38:43hive of readers
38:44and scholars
38:44working and operating
38:46on the text
38:46so impressive isn't it
38:48so you've got the genius
38:48of Plato
38:49then you've got somebody
38:50else centuries later
38:51adding their own ideas
38:52access to information
38:55enabled the Alexandrians
38:56to revolutionize
38:58scientific thought
38:59but they also
39:01studied theology
39:02it was in Alexandria
39:04that the Hebrew Bible
39:06was first translated
39:07into Greek
39:08by understanding
39:13a wealth of cultures
39:14and beliefs
39:15they had the power
39:16to master
39:17and control
39:18they were so intent
39:25on obtaining
39:25all the knowledge
39:26in the world
39:27that laws were passed
39:28so that no book
39:29could leave the city
39:30and even ships
39:31entering its harbour
39:32were searched
39:33to see if new text
39:34could be found
39:34to be added
39:35to its famous library
39:37the modern library
39:41of Alexandria
39:42has got over
39:42half a million books
39:44which is actually
39:44almost exactly
39:45the same number
39:45as they had
39:46in the ancient library
39:47but what it's also
39:48got here
39:49is this mega computer
39:51which every few days
39:53saves all the information
39:55on the world wide web
39:56in the 21st century
39:58we're just so used
39:59to that ease
40:00of access
40:00to information
40:01where everything
40:01is stored electronically
40:03but in the ancient library
40:05they often held
40:06the single existing
40:07copy of a book
40:08so just imagine
40:10if that was lost
40:11you'd lose those ideas
40:12forever
40:13and tragically
40:18that's exactly
40:18what happened
40:19in Alexandria
40:20knowledge had made
40:22the city
40:22an intellectual
40:23powerhouse
40:24of antiquity
40:25it had made
40:26thinkers like Hypatia
40:27powerful forces
40:28within the city
40:29it was an environment
40:31where new thoughts
40:32could flourish
40:32and evolve
40:33where anyone
40:34from anywhere
40:35could voice
40:36their ideas
40:37so perhaps
40:38it was inevitable
40:39that at some point
40:40some ideas
40:41would come into conflict
40:43and for the ancient world
40:45Alexandria
40:46its libraries
40:47and for Hypatia herself
40:48the result
40:50would be catastrophic
40:52By the end
41:09of the 4th century AD
41:10Alexandria
41:11had been flourishing
41:13for nearly 700 years
41:14producing extraordinary thinkers
41:17like the philosopher
41:17and mathematician
41:18Hypatia
41:19it was an immensely
41:23powerful city
41:24second only to Rome
41:26in might
41:26yet its power
41:27wasn't built
41:28on military force
41:29but on the strength
41:31of ideas
41:31and the ambition
41:32to house
41:34all the knowledge
41:35in the world
41:35and that included beliefs
41:39from the latest
41:39school of thinking
41:40the fledgling religion
41:42Christianity
41:44Alexandria
41:45was always attracted
41:46in cutting edge thought
41:47and men who were
41:48at the top of their game
41:49so it should be no surprise
41:51that from the 1st century AD
41:52the key leaders
41:54of a new religion
41:55should want to come here
41:56to play out their ideas
41:58only a few years
42:02after Christ's ascension
42:03the gospel writer
42:05Mark
42:05came to Alexandria
42:06to spread the news
42:08bringing Christianity
42:09into Africa
42:10as one of the most
42:12forward-thinking places
42:13on earth
42:13with its tradition
42:14fusing eastern
42:15and western cultures
42:16Alexandria
42:17was an ideal place
42:18for Christianity
42:19to gain a foothold
42:20but reconciling
42:27a multi-faith environment
42:29with a religion
42:30whose followers
42:30believed exclusively
42:32in one God
42:33proved a testing challenge
42:35for the city
42:35St Mark himself
42:37died at the hands
42:38of pagans
42:39for preaching his faith
42:40it was a foretaste
42:42of the violence
42:43to come
42:44yet for centuries
42:46Christians and pagans
42:47did manage
42:48to live alongside
42:49one another
42:49happily
42:50productively
42:52the very early Christians
42:54spent a great deal
42:55of time and energy
42:56trying to square
42:58pagan and Christian thought
42:59and for instance
43:01one of the most prolific
43:02early church fathers
43:03who lived in Alexandria
43:04said that the works
43:06of Plato
43:07and Aristotle
43:08and the Stoics
43:09were science
43:10tinged with piety
43:12as long as they
43:13were righteous
43:13now in a world
43:15like that
43:16where Christianity
43:17is just another
43:18stream of thought
43:19then Hypatia
43:20has a very secure place
43:22but the problem
43:24came when the Christians
43:25wanted not just
43:26spiritual
43:27but temporal power
43:29and then all that
43:30tolerance and piety
43:32becomes muddied
43:34with power
43:35politicking
43:35and unfortunately
43:37and unfortunately for Hypatia
43:38she'd come into conflict
43:39with one of the greatest
43:41political operators
43:42of the day
43:43Hypatia herself
43:46wasn't anti-Christianity
43:47many of her students
43:49were in fact Christian
43:50but the problem came
43:52when a new bishop
43:53Cyril
43:54was ordained
43:55in the city
43:55Cyril not only wanted
43:58spiritual authority
44:00but power
44:01on earth
44:02and he didn't want
44:03to share it
44:04with pagans
44:05his arrival
44:06would change
44:07the face
44:08of Alexandria
44:08forever
44:09you walk into
44:12somewhere like
44:13the Caesar Inn
44:14and you see
44:16what originally
44:16we built
44:17as an Egyptian
44:18and Greek temple
44:19with all the heads
44:20removed from the statues
44:21and the cult statue
44:23has gone
44:23and in its place
44:24you have a huge
44:25cross
44:26looking down
44:27and you see
44:28how people like Cyril
44:29could change a world
44:30he is a man
44:31seeking power
44:32and he wishes
44:33to gain control
44:34not just of
44:35the religious state
44:36he wants to really
44:37run a theocracy
44:38be in charge of everything
44:39Hypatia
44:40is a wealthy
44:41educated
44:42pagan
44:43to him
44:44that
44:45means witch
44:46he puts around
44:49rumours
44:50about all of the
44:51objects she makes
44:51for astronomy
44:52her instruments
44:53clearly they're used
44:54for divination
44:55therefore
44:59finding out
45:00what will happen
45:00in the future
45:01it is black magic
45:02and as such
45:03she has to die
45:04and in one
45:06contemporary account
45:07we learn that
45:08it was Hypatia's work
45:09with the astrolabe
45:10in particular
45:11that sparked
45:12hatred
45:12against her
45:13spurred on
45:20by one of their leaders
45:21the blood
45:22of the Christian mob
45:23was up
45:23they started to seek
45:28Hypatia out
45:29through the city
45:30and found her
45:30driving through
45:31these streets
45:32on her way home
45:33they dragged her
45:39out of her carriage
45:40and ripped off
45:41her clothes
45:42for a highborn
45:43woman like her
45:44this would have been
45:45a terrible
45:45public disgrace
45:46but then things
45:48got even uglier
45:49they pulled her
45:51into the Caesareum
45:52which had been a temple
45:53and then recently
45:54converted to a church
45:55and there
45:56picking up anything
45:57they could find
45:58we're told they were
45:59a striker
46:00which were probably
46:00broken pots
46:01or broken roof tiles
46:03they started
46:04to flay her alive
46:06once she was dead
46:08they pulled her body
46:10limb from limb
46:11and then they took
46:12her dismembered body parts
46:14to the edge of the city
46:15where they burnt them
46:16on a pyre
46:17in effect
46:22this was a witch's death
46:24Hypatia's tragedy
46:38was the tragedy
46:40of Alexandria
46:41the destruction
46:51of its spectacular
46:52monuments
46:53the desecration
46:57of its extraordinary
46:58libraries
46:59and with that
47:01the heart-breaking
47:03demise
47:03of the wealth
47:04of knowledge
47:05which had made it
47:06great
47:07for over 700 years
47:09there are a few lines
47:13desperately sad
47:15written by a pagan
47:16who was wandering
47:17through the streets
47:18of Alexandria
47:18watching the world
47:20he knew
47:21crumble around him
47:22is it true
47:28that we Greeks
47:29are really dead
47:30and only seem alive
47:31and in our fallen state
47:35we imagine
47:36that a dream
47:37is life
47:38or are we
47:39truly alive
47:40and is life
47:42itself
47:42dead
47:43for some
47:45Alexander's dream
47:47was becoming
47:47a living nightmare
47:48after centuries
47:51of onslaught
47:52only 1%
47:54of Alexandria's
47:55vast book collection
47:56has survived
47:57into the modern world
47:59rather bizarrely
48:10one of the survivors
48:11of Alexandria's destruction
48:13has ended up here
48:14it's that massive lump
48:16of red granite
48:17the obelisk
48:18that we very affectionately
48:19now call
48:20Cleopatra's needle
48:21it was brought here
48:23from Egypt
48:23in 1878
48:24but in its heyday
48:26it stood just at the edge
48:27of the Caesareum
48:28so it was only a stone's throw
48:29away from where
48:30Hypatia was killed
48:31I think that in many ways
48:42Hypatia was an incarnation
48:44of Alexander's dream
48:46she was living proof
48:48that knowledge
48:49is power
48:50she was immensely knowledgeable
48:51and therefore
48:52the extraordinary city
48:54that she lived in
48:54allowed her
48:55a huge amount
48:56of influence
48:57but the key word here
48:59is extraordinary
49:00because Alexandria
49:02was a city
49:04less ordinary
49:04and perhaps its ambition
49:10and perhaps its ambition
49:10that that dream
49:12to acquire
49:13and to caretake
49:14all the knowledge
49:14of the world
49:15was just too perfect
49:17to last
49:18we should bear that in mind
49:22because it is of course
49:23a very modern dream
49:24I mean after all
49:25that is what the
49:26world wide web does
49:27and so when we know
49:28that Alexandria failed
49:30and as a result
49:31a whole epoch failed
49:33we should take
49:34a very careful note
49:36for that reason
49:41we mustn't bury
49:43the memory of Alexandria
49:44but celebrate it
49:46and Bedney Hughes
50:02is back at the same time
50:03next Wednesday
50:04on More 4
50:05exploring how Egypt's
50:06two greatest pharaohs
50:08built their way
50:08to immortality
50:09just what drove them
50:10to construct pyramids
50:11on such a massive scale
50:13well next tonight
50:14Tony Robinson's
50:15at Stonehenge
50:16where what we thought
50:17we knew
50:17is about to change again
50:19in a Time Team special
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47:46
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