Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01Under the eyes of the world's press and television,
00:04Greek archaeologist Lyanna Souvaltsis
00:06digs away at the remote Egyptian oasis of Siwa.
00:09She is searching for the Holy Grail of Greek popular archaeology,
00:13the final resting place of the most spectacular conqueror
00:16the world has ever known, Alexander the Great.
00:30Ever since my childhood, the myths and stories of Alexander the Great
00:45have captured my imagination.
00:48Today, I'm an archaeologist at Newcastle University,
00:51and still, Alexander fascinates me.
00:54Now, why? Well, of course, we know that he was a great warrior
00:57and that he lived 300 years before Christ.
01:00But he was so much more than that.
01:02He genuinely believed that he was divine,
01:05and indeed his subjects worshipped him as a living God.
01:10Today, as after his mysterious death, his body is embroiled in intrigue.
01:15Where? Here! Alexander is buried here.
01:19I shall be investigating Lyanna Souvaltsis' sensational discoveries
01:23at the oasis of Siwa,
01:25making Alexander today, as in his lifetime,
01:28a focus of worldwide attention.
01:30We found two Greek inscriptions,
01:34and the formations reveal the truth.
01:45But attention is on more than his physical whereabouts.
01:48Leading academics are probing ever deeper into the mind and soul of Alexander,
01:54to try and understand the nature of his divinity.
02:00Those who inherited his empire believed they also were divine.
02:04And some of these self-styled God-kings went to amazing lengths,
02:08and indeed heights, to celebrate their supernatural power.
02:11I'm in a mountaintop kingdom in Turkey of just such a god-king, Antiochus.
02:18He's buried here under this huge mound to be near his fellow gods.
02:24And here they all are, seated on vast thrones,
02:27their toppled heads scattered down the mountainside.
02:30Now, you might think that the story of Alexander's legacy could hardly go further.
02:36But during this program, I'm going to be exploring the idea
02:39that, amazingly, Alexander even affects the way we think today.
02:43That Alexander is buried in Siwa, I am very positive.
03:00And what is one to make of archaeologist-superstar Liana Soubautzis?
03:04Since 1989, she has been digging in the El Meraki area of Siwa,
03:08and for the last four years she has been convinced
03:11that she has found the tomb of Alexander the Great.
03:14The first clue that he could be buried here
03:16came from listening to the local seawounds.
03:20The people are very superstitious,
03:22and they like to examine the omens everywhere.
03:27They look at the sky, and from the flying of the birds,
03:32they can see if something good is going to happen or bad.
03:38They told me that in this area, according to their legends,
03:45was buried a famous king with his sword and his arms.
03:51That we are going to find the body, I'm very positive.
03:55We shall wait and we shall see.
03:57If the burial place of Alexander could be found,
04:02it would have enormous significance for the Greek and Egyptian peoples.
04:06But what are the prizes to be won?
04:09Well, judging from the finds in his father's tomb,
04:12there's the possibility of treasures on the scale of Tutankhamun.
04:16The sheer beauty of these ancient treasures
04:35serves to remind us of just how sophisticated Alexander's times were
04:39before their civilisation faded away.
04:46It's probable that Alexander's treasure and tomb, if found,
04:49could resemble a newly discovered one underneath an earth tumulus
04:52near his birthplace in northern Greece.
04:55And I'm very excited that the site director has let me be the first visitor
04:59to take a look inside.
05:01A tomb was a home for the soul of the dead.
05:05And underneath this great pile of mud
05:08is a beautiful, well-preserved tomb facade.
05:15We're now inside the tomb.
05:17And as you can see, it's in fact empty.
05:20The floor is bare.
05:22And this, of course, could also be what happens
05:25if Alexander's tomb is discovered.
05:27The treasures have gone.
05:29And look, as we go up, we can see marks
05:32which look like heavy objects being pulled up,
05:35which have been scraped against the wall.
05:38Yes, here you can see it.
05:40There's this hole in the roof which the robbers went through.
05:49But the most likely resting place of Alexander is Egypt.
05:53And as we've heard,
05:54the present focus of world attention is the oasis of Siwa,
05:57honeycombed like this hill of the dead with burial chambers.
06:03This is just one of a whole labyrinth of Ptolemaic tombs
06:05in the Siwa area.
06:06Now, for those hunting for Alexander's long-lost tomb,
06:09the prize would be much more than the mere dream of finding treasure.
06:12It would be knowledge.
06:14We know that Alexander's body was embalmed and buried somewhere in Egypt
06:19and mummified corpses from his time survived.
06:22There are parts of one behind them.
06:24And modern experts can extract lots of information from corpses like this.
06:28The Manchester Museum mummy forensic team has been appointed by Liana Soule-Valcis
06:34to carry out the investigation on Alexander's body.
06:38Should we be presented with the body of Alexander,
06:44it would be given the whole treatment which we give to other mummies.
06:50That is, it would be X-rayed, we would then carry out some virtually non-destructive investigation using the endoscopes.
07:09We would take tissue samples which could be used for identifying disease,
07:17for identifying the DNA of the mummy and possibly for identifying the blood group.
07:24In the case of Alexander, I believe that there is some question that he drank rather heavily
07:29and I'd be particularly interested in the liver.
07:32Always controversial, Liana Soule-Valcis has her own theory about how Alexander died.
07:38There are some ancient authors saying that he died from poison.
07:45The poison was sent from Macedonia.
07:50It's well known that, of course, that arsenic has been used since antiquity
07:56and certainly examination of the hair often reveals in bodies that have been around for a long time
08:03that they've died from arsenic poisoning.
08:06Statues and other likenesses of Alexander abound.
08:11It's said that although he was short, he had the most beautiful of forms, with fair skin and a sweet smell.
08:18He had a liquid gaze and flushed readily.
08:21But would the finding of his bodily remains ever make it possible to get an idea of what he actually looked like?
08:30If we had the skull of Alexander the Great, then we would be able to do with him what we did with his father, Philip II of Macedon.
08:37We would be able to do with him, namely this.
08:45What we did with that cremated skull from Vergina was to reconstruct the face on the skull.
08:52And that is actually the result of a great deal of medical research.
08:57So if this was the skull of Alexander the Great, we would make a plaster cast off it.
09:03Into that cast we would insert pegs at 21 points.
09:07That is all shown here.
09:10The lips beginning to be built up.
09:12And then over that one adds the subcutaneous tissue in the skin to get the finished face.
09:18And we would then have a face that all his soldiers would have recognized.
09:22That would be exciting.
09:24I am in Thessalonica, in the Macedonian area of northern Greece, Alexander territory.
09:36National Day serves to illustrate their newfound expression of Greek pride.
09:41It was less than two centuries ago that the Greeks threw off 500 years of Turkish domination.
09:47They are fervently proud of Alexander the Great.
09:51Like King Arthur for the British, the spirit of Alexander is sleeping, not dead.
09:55And his ideas can make Greece great again.
10:01He is saying that the significance of Alexander is that he goes beyond frontiers.
10:05Goes beyond the frontiers of Greece and is a world figure.
10:10Sharing in their excitement helps me to understand why the progress of the Arna Suvalt Seas is so keenly followed.
10:16Possession of the body of Alexander has always been of paramount importance.
10:21Particularly during the power struggle on his day.
10:23Today, it would still be an important relic.
10:26And national feelings would certainly run high if the body were to be discovered.
10:31So, where is the body?
10:34My search has brought me to Alexandria, on Egypt's Nile Delta.
10:38The greatest of the many cities Alexander founded and gave his name to.
10:44From what trustworthy ancient accounts there are, we know that Alexander's body was on display here,
10:49from shortly after his death in 323 BC, for almost 600 years.
10:53And for scientists hoping to get their hands on him, this is quite a likely place, I think, for his body to be unearthed.
10:59The trouble is, Alexandria has never ceased to be a living, vibrant community.
11:07So the modern city has grown up on layer upon layer of the past.
11:11And precisely because the Greek and Roman city is now so deep down,
11:15it's never really been properly excavated.
11:17But chance discoveries from time to time have revealed tantalising glimpses of an ancient world under these pavements.
11:24.
11:52This labyrinth of burial chambers, now being drained by Egyptian archaeologists,
11:57was stumbled upon 100 years ago when a donkey and cart literally fell into it.
12:02It's these chance discoveries that feed the dreams of Greek enthusiasts
12:05bent on recovering the body of their beloved Alexander.
12:11This is just one of a warren of Roman catacombs in use
12:14at the time we lose track of Alexander's body.
12:20This is the mortuary chamber.
12:22Guarded by fearsome Egyptian demons, now dressed as Roman legionaries.
12:27And here, the burial rites are supervised by the traditional Therionic gods.
12:35But what further light can be shed on the mystery of his whereabouts?
12:40Well, there are a few historical records to go on which tell us more.
12:46It seems that Alexander's body had come to rest here in Alexandria
12:49in a Lenin-like display, surrounded by the corpses of his royal Macedonian successors in Egypt,
12:55the Ptolemies.
12:56Now, all we know about his supposedly magnificent mausoleum
12:59is that on the surface there was a pyramid,
13:02seemingly recalling the grandiose ideas of the old pharaohs.
13:06Underneath the pyramid lay his mummified corpse,
13:10and people have hunted for this here in the Ptolemaic tombs of Alexandria.
13:14We know that, like this magnificent gold coffin of Tutankhamun's,
13:19Alexander's original sarcophagus was also solid gold.
13:23But one of the last Ptolemies, pressed for cash,
13:26replaced this gold version with a see-through one,
13:29probably alabaster.
13:30Now, what happened after the last recorded sighting of the body in AD 215 is guesswork.
13:38The widely held view is that both tomb and body went up in smoke
13:42during a revolt here in the AD 270s,
13:45or that it was in a part of the city, now under the sea.
13:48But I suppose it's just about conceivable that his mausoleum remained intact
13:52until the triumph of Christianity in the 4th century AD.
13:55I wonder if it's utterly fanciful to think that maybe then
14:01his pagan devotees secreted the body away into a chamber like this in Alexandria
14:06to escape the anti-pagan zeal of the local Christians.
14:10Or could they even have taken it out to El Meraki in Siwa?
14:15Although Siwa is a long way from Alexandria,
14:18it's in this oasis, 800 years after Alexander's death,
14:22that we find a Christian Roman emperor
14:24stamping out the last traces of an Alexander-worshipping cult.
14:30And it's here today that the international press
14:32are watching for the latest developments.
14:35In searing heat, Liana Souval-Cis doggedly holds on to her claim
14:39that this is Alexander's last resting place.
14:43We know that Alexander had expressed the will
14:47to be buried in Siwa.
14:48And it was not the will of a simple person.
14:52He was the will of a king and of a god.
14:57There are a lot of findings in Siwa.
15:00The star, 8-ray star.
15:03The discovery of the two fragments forming this star
15:06are for Liana a key piece of evidence,
15:09resembling, she claims, the eight-pointed royal star of Macedon.
15:13Yes, it could have eight points,
15:17but it seems to me there is no axis of symmetry
15:19needed for it to be a star.
15:22And then there are the newly discovered inscriptions,
15:25which she claims prove that this is Alexander's tomb,
15:28and furthermore state that Alexander was poisoned.
15:31Experts dispute this.
15:32They say, it is not written, the word poison,
15:37it is written here, eu, eu.
15:41But this is the Latin personal name, Servius.
15:47Servius Sulpicius.
15:49This is part of a...
15:51No, no, no, no, no, no.
15:52This is eu.
15:54This is not a name, eu.
15:56It's a poison.
15:57So, can you just tell us, because this is fascinating,
16:00what you think these words mean?
16:02Epi, se, u, iu, sulpiciu.
16:05What does this mean?
16:07Sulpicius, of course, it is a Roman name,
16:10but I told you, be patient,
16:13and you will know everything.
16:16I hope very soon.
16:18Well, what did I make of her,
16:20this current archaeological superstar?
16:22She's certainly a delightful woman,
16:24and I must say I admire her enthusiasm and fears.
16:27The trouble is, it's precisely these qualities
16:29which make her the opposite of a dispassionate investigator.
16:33The bunker mentality here at El Meraki
16:35has resulted in the withholding of vital evidence
16:38needed of top experts that are to contribute to the debate.
16:42Talking to her rapidly degenerates into a cat-and-mouse game,
16:45but I will say that what I heard in no way encourages me
16:48to expect an imminent discovery of the body.
16:51To give a precise example,
16:53she claims one of her inscriptions
16:55hints at the death of Alexander by poison.
16:58But specialists in Greek inscriptions
16:59would easily recognise in her word for poison
17:02part of the word servius,
17:04a common Roman name.
17:08Liana Suvalcis is but the latest in the line
17:10who imagined feeling the power
17:12of being near the body of Alexander.
17:14But as always in this search,
17:16you never know what will happen next.
17:18The head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities
17:21certainly doesn't dismiss this location.
17:23There should be something belonging to Alexander in Alexandria,
17:26but there is no doubt
17:27that there should have been something for him
17:32also in Siwa.
17:34We didn't find the mummies in the tomb of the kings
17:36in Egypt, you know, in the valley of the kings.
17:38We found the mummies were stored somewhere else.
17:41So it's not necessary to find the mummy,
17:45but at least to be sure about the text.
17:48Well, what has she found?
17:50An earlier study by the famous Egyptian archaeologist
17:53Archimed Fakhri
17:54records a small Doric temple at El Meraki,
17:57and this is what Liana Suvalcis
17:59seems to have rediscovered.
18:00But experts analysing the architectural details
18:03suggest a date for this
18:05at least a century after Alexander's death.
18:08In fact, Liana Suvalcis through her finds
18:11may unwittingly provide the key
18:13to the true identity of who was worshipped here.
18:17This fragment has the Greek word for goddess,
18:20theas, followed by two letters
18:22probably from the beginning of the name Isis.
18:26So it could be, in fact,
18:27that what we've got is a previously unknown temple
18:29to the Egyptian super-goddess Isis,
18:32nothing to do with Alexander.
18:33Riveting though the hunt for Alexander's tomb is,
18:41academics are now starting to realise
18:43that there is something far more important
18:45for us today than his mere corpse.
18:48It's the search for the truth about his life,
18:51and here feelings can run high.
18:54I sort of regard Alexander
18:56as a figure strongly analogous to Hitler.
18:58He comes riding in on his great white horse,
19:02a symbol of control
19:04of all the unruly forces of darkness.
19:07I should think he would probably be
19:08a rather aggressive and mindless young man.
19:13In spite of such conflicting views,
19:16we do know for certain
19:17that by the end of his spectacularly successful life,
19:20both he and his subjects believed he was divine,
19:23and experts tell us
19:24that the fallout from this new phenomenon
19:25affects many of the world religions to this day.
19:29Could this possibly be true?
19:31Well, first, we have to search out
19:33those aspects of his life
19:35which led Alexander to believe he was a living god.
19:39Even before Alexander was born,
19:41his family was bathed in a supernatural aura
19:44because they claimed descent
19:45from the mythical Heracles,
19:47a frighteningly strong Greek
19:49who earned his place among the gods
19:50after a lifetime of heroic achievements.
19:53His family ancestors lived on the foothills
19:58of the northern Greek mountains.
20:00The more sophisticated southern Greeks of the time
20:02regarded these northerners
20:04as primitive and superstitious,
20:07and it's said that in these mountains
20:08Alexander's mother, Olympias,
20:11led supernatural rites
20:12and took part in orgiastic ceremonies.
20:19These leanings of his wife
20:21alienated King Philip, her husband.
20:25Her pursuits clashed
20:27with his no-nonsense military lifestyle,
20:29and these occult activities
20:31also gave rise to rumours
20:33surely overheard by the child Alexander
20:35that his actual father
20:37was none other than
20:38the half-Greek, half-Egyptian god,
20:40Zeus Amon.
20:41Alexander's upbringing
20:47in a palace rife with magic
20:49and ancestor worship
20:51could well have encouraged
20:52a mystical streak
20:53and left him open in later life
20:55to the idea that his achievements
20:57were revealing his own divinity.
21:04Alexander quickly proved
21:05to be a brilliant military leader.
21:08He led from the front,
21:10spearheading the cavalry charges.
21:12He was supremely brave
21:13and inspired his men.
21:16At the defining battle of Issus,
21:17he defeated a Persian army
21:19many times his size,
21:21at one stage leading a charge
21:22right to King Darius himself,
21:25forcing him to flee the battlefield.
21:28He never, however,
21:30damaged a religious shrine.
21:32His conquests gathered pace,
21:34taking more and more
21:35of the vast and powerful
21:36Persian Empire.
21:38Within the first three years
21:39of his campaign,
21:40he had united all Greece
21:41throwing the Persians
21:42out of Asia Minor
21:43and taken Judea.
21:45He then headed towards North Africa,
21:47where he was to have
21:48his first encounter
21:49with a major civilization
21:50centuries older than his own.
21:52Alexander arrived in Egypt in 332 BC,
22:04liberating it from the hated Persians.
22:16Although Egypt had just felt
22:17the raw power of Alexander,
22:19he in turn was now to have
22:21a close encounter
22:21with the raw power
22:22of the Egyptian gods.
22:25Two lines of rams
22:26marked the entrance
22:27to the massive temple
22:28of Amun at Thebes.
22:30This god was to play
22:31a big part
22:32in Alexander's life.
22:33For the Egyptians,
22:42our moon was the father of creation.
22:45The pharaohs ruled by his will
22:47and thanked him
22:48by adding yet more
22:49to this extraordinary complex.
22:53Right in the heart of the temple,
22:55we see Alexander himself
22:57assuming the role
22:58of a semi-divine pharaoh
22:59making pious offerings
23:01to Amun
23:02that God had learnt about
23:03as a child.
23:05The hieroglyphs say,
23:07Alexander is king
23:08of the south and north,
23:10chosen of Amun
23:11and beloved
23:11of the sun god Ra,
23:13son of the sun,
23:15lord of risings.
23:22One particular branch
23:23of this cult
23:24was much frequented
23:25by Greeks,
23:26the oracle of Amun
23:27in the western desert
23:28at Siwa.
23:29Alexander decided
23:30to march there,
23:31interrupting his relentless
23:33campaign against the Persians.
23:35It seems he had
23:36an irresistible yearning
23:37to find out
23:38from this famous oracle
23:39if he was indeed
23:40the son of Amun.
23:43The journey to Siwa
23:45was no picnic
23:45and for someone
23:46in the middle
23:47of a long and dangerous
23:48military campaign,
23:49this major digression
23:50into the desert
23:51was strategically risky
23:53and indeed foolhardy.
23:54Even for me,
23:55travelling today
23:56in the relative luxury
23:57of a vehicle,
23:58the journey brings home
23:59just how remote
24:00this Saharan oasis is.
24:02We've been travelling
24:03for hour upon hour
24:04across baking,
24:06empty desert
24:06and I can't help thinking
24:08that if we break down,
24:10we really will be
24:10in the proverbial.
24:12Now,
24:13the Greek historian
24:14Diodorus writes,
24:16after four days,
24:17the army's water gave out
24:18and Alexander's men
24:20fell into a fearful thirst.
24:22All were in great despair
24:24and feared for their lives.
24:27Well, luckily,
24:28and as if to prove
24:29the gods were on his side,
24:31a rainstorm saved them
24:32and they finally beheld
24:34the blue waters of Siwa.
24:35Even today,
25:03Siwa remains a strange
25:04an isolated community.
25:06The village reminds me
25:07of a sort of anthill
25:08with parts living
25:09and parts fossilised.
25:15High on a rocky outcrop
25:17sits the once world-famous
25:19Oracle Temple of our moon.
25:23Travellers would approach
25:24with trepidation,
25:25knowing their future
25:26was about to be revealed.
25:27The Greeks equated
25:33the divine presence here,
25:34the god our moon,
25:36with Zeus,
25:37the most powerful
25:37of their gods.
25:42When the pilgrim
25:43finally got to the top
25:44of the mound,
25:45he approached
25:45the temple itself.
25:47The Roman historian
25:48Curtius says
25:49that when Alexander
25:50arrived here,
25:51he was welcomed
25:52by priests
25:53and by local women
25:54chanting hymns
25:55to our moon.
26:09It's difficult
26:10to envisage
26:11just what the god
26:12our moon looked like,
26:13but he seems to have
26:14manifested himself
26:15in different forms.
26:16Above all,
26:17invisibly and powerfully
26:19as the wind
26:20which whips up
26:20the great sandstorms
26:21around the oasis
26:22and as a ram
26:24that would appear
26:25to lost travellers
26:26and guide them here.
26:28Now,
26:28what happened next
26:29is a mystery
26:29because the prophet priest
26:31took Alexander
26:32into the Holy of Holies
26:33here on his own
26:34and even on his deathbed,
26:36Alexander never revealed
26:37the secret words
26:38of the god.
26:40But a clue
26:40as to their content
26:41emerges from Plutarch's
26:43account of what happened
26:44the very next time
26:45Alexander was exposed
26:46to great danger
26:47with his troops.
26:48He uttered up a prayer
26:49implying he now believed
26:51he was the son of a god.
26:53Listen, you gods,
26:54Alexander shouted.
26:56If I really am your son,
26:57help us now
26:58as we go into battle.
27:06From Egypt,
27:07Alexander and his
27:08unstoppable army
27:09marched ever eastwards
27:11as far as what is now
27:12Afghanistan.
27:12In Pakistan,
27:19he fought against
27:20fearsome war elephants.
27:22This coin shows
27:23Alexander attacking
27:24an elephant
27:25and this later one
27:26from Egypt
27:27shows him wearing
27:28an elephant's scowl,
27:29implying that he has now
27:30even taken on
27:31the power of an elephant.
27:34In just 13 years,
27:36he had completely
27:37conquered the Persians
27:38and now had control
27:39of the largest empire
27:41the world had ever known.
27:46Untold wealth
27:47began to flow back
27:48to Macedonia.
27:50Even their coins
27:50were now of gold.
27:52With the Macedonians
27:53now the master race,
27:55there was mounting belief
27:56that their leader
27:56was more than a man,
27:58that they were being led
27:59in fact by a man-god
28:01and they sought
28:02ever more extravagant ways
28:03to reflect this.
28:05As Alexander
28:06neared the end of his life,
28:07he saw himself
28:08ever more strongly
28:09as a god.
28:09Indeed,
28:10the ancient writers
28:11suggest that he issued
28:12an order demanding
28:13divine worship
28:14from his subjects.
28:16Visitors now had to
28:16prostrate themselves
28:17in obeisance
28:18before him.
28:21But all this
28:22was to come to
28:22an abrupt
28:23and untimely end.
28:24Alexander died at the age
28:38of 32 in Babylon
28:39as he was planning
28:40yet more conquests.
28:43As he lay dead,
28:44shock and dismay
28:45spread through
28:46his entourage.
28:48Did he die of alcohol,
28:49of fever,
28:50or did jealous
28:51Macedonian rivals
28:52poison him?
28:55Whoever possessed
28:56his body
28:56would be seen
28:57as his heir
28:58and Macedonian generals
29:00prepared to take
29:01it back to Greece
29:01in spite of
29:03Alexander's deathbed
29:04command
29:04to be buried
29:05at Siwa.
29:08A vast wheeled temple
29:10taking two years
29:11to build
29:11housed and transported
29:13his divine remains.
29:16Hauled by 64 mules
29:17and preceded
29:18by an army
29:19of road builders,
29:20it traveled
29:21through his empire.
29:23The occupants
29:24of the towns
29:25and villages
29:25it went through
29:26paid homage
29:27as if a very god
29:28was passing them by.
29:33As the procession
29:35went through Syria,
29:36Alexander's close friend
29:38Ptolemy,
29:38who was governor
29:39of Egypt,
29:40hijacked it
29:41and diverted it
29:42towards the Nile.
29:44But in the end,
29:45even Ptolemy
29:46ignored his king's
29:47dying wish
29:47and took the body
29:48back to his new
29:49Egyptian capital,
29:51Alexandria.
29:54Out of the death
29:55of the historical
29:56Alexander
29:56was born something
29:58new and lasting.
30:00For the Greeks,
30:01the godlike saviors
30:02and supermen
30:03of their mythical past
30:04had finally crystallized
30:06into human form.
30:08Gradually,
30:09they developed the notion
30:10both in his lifetime
30:11and very much more
30:14afterwards,
30:15that Alexander
30:16had been sent
30:18from heaven,
30:19that he had,
30:19as it were,
30:20been loaned
30:20to the world
30:22for a limited period
30:23and that upon his death
30:25the gift
30:26had been revoked.
30:29The people
30:30that were in his immediate
30:30entourage,
30:31his colleagues,
30:32his generals,
30:33they certainly see him
30:34as somebody
30:34who is marked out
30:35by the divine.
30:37Stories about
30:38how when he was
30:39marching along
30:41the coast
30:41in southern Turkey,
30:43the sea bowed down
30:44to do him homage
30:45is told by
30:47one of the people
30:48that was in his entourage.
30:52To the Greeks,
30:53divinity was not a matter
30:54of supreme goodness
30:55or holiness.
30:57It was all about
30:57awesome, invisible power,
31:00which,
31:00if you could tap into it
31:01with the right rituals,
31:02sacrifices and so on,
31:04could confer
31:04great benefactions.
31:06His successors
31:08who take over
31:09his fragmented kingdom,
31:11they use Alexander,
31:12they use his image
31:13and they use the idea
31:15of kings being gods.
31:19Surely the ultimate example
31:21of Alexander's heir
31:22seeing themselves
31:23as divine
31:23is to be found here
31:25in the remote mountains
31:26of eastern Turkey.
31:28A dirt track
31:29winds up to a vast
31:30mausoleum complex
31:31on the top
31:32of Mount Nemrut.
31:33The creator of this place
31:37was King Antiochus I
31:38of Komagini,
31:39whose head
31:40has toppled down
31:41from his throne
31:42over there.
31:42He ruled the region
31:44about 2,000 years ago.
31:46The scene here
31:46says it all.
31:53The headless statue
31:54of Antiochus
31:55sits seemingly
31:56on the roof
31:57of the world,
31:58indeed on the very
31:59threshold of heaven.
32:12By presuming to seat himself
32:14among the gods,
32:15with the goddess of plenty
32:16on one side
32:17and Apollo
32:18on the other,
32:19Antiochus is in effect
32:20telling us
32:21that he is one of them.
32:22And here,
32:23he shakes hands
32:24with the god Apollo
32:25as if they were equals.
32:28Now, come and look
32:28at the inscription
32:29on the back
32:30of the statues
32:30where Antiochus,
32:32in his own words,
32:33sets out
32:33his religious beliefs.
32:35Here,
32:35boring old grammar
32:36proves to be
32:37the most potent tool
32:38for bringing
32:38his deepest thoughts
32:39to life.
32:41Now,
32:41over here,
32:42in the nominative case,
32:44is his name
32:45and his titles,
32:46meaning that he
32:47is the subject.
32:48And over here
32:49is a verb
32:50in the first person,
32:52epoi esamen,
32:54I made,
32:55meaning he's saying,
32:56I did such and such.
32:58And this is a verb
32:59in the present tense,
33:00horos,
33:02you see,
33:03meaning that he was alive
33:04when the text
33:05was composed.
33:06And over here
33:07is the ancient Greek passage,
33:10antiochus feos,
33:12meaning he's saying,
33:13I am a living God.
33:15Well,
33:24you could be forgiven
33:25for thinking
33:25that Alexander's impact
33:26had peaked
33:27here in these mountains.
33:28But his conquests
33:30did not stop here,
33:31of course.
33:31They extended
33:32several thousand
33:33more miles eastwards
33:34to India,
33:35where his arrival
33:36triggered changes
33:36as dramatic as these,
33:38but in the mind.
33:39And this also applied
33:40down here to the south
33:41in the homeland
33:42of Judaism,
33:43where Alexander's influence
33:45brought about a transformation
33:46in Jewish attitudes
33:47in the years leading up
33:49to the birth of Christ.
33:51This assimilation
33:52of Greek ideas
33:53as a result of Alexander,
33:55Hellenization,
33:56as it's called,
33:57resulted in the whole
33:58of the known world
33:58becoming one melting pot
34:00of religious ideas.
34:02Current research
34:03is now revealing
34:04for the first time
34:05that remarkably,
34:06Alexander affected
34:07the religions of India,
34:09Islam and early Christianity,
34:11and key aspects
34:12of Judaism.
34:15A new sort of Jewish leader
34:16emerged,
34:17a teacher or rabbi,
34:19based on the idea
34:20of Greek philosophical schools.
34:22Here by the burning bush
34:24is the great Jewish hero Moses,
34:26now in a Greek-style robe.
34:29On this synagogue floor
34:30is the pagan Greek sun god,
34:32Helios.
34:33Behind his head
34:34is a disc
34:35and rays representing the sun.
34:38And again,
34:39with flares of light
34:40to emphasize
34:40his divine radiance,
34:42is a successor
34:43to Alexander in Syria,
34:45Antiochus VI,
34:46taking on the concept
34:48of a god-king.
34:49These successor kings
34:51went further.
34:52A later Syrian king,
34:53Demetrius III,
34:54is calling himself
34:55Theos and Soter,
34:57god and saviour.
34:59When the Romans
35:01became the imperial power
35:02following the Greeks,
35:03they too decided
35:04that like Alexander,
35:06they were god-kings.
35:07Here, Augustus
35:09is calling himself
35:10Divi Filius,
35:11son of a god.
35:13And in the early Christian era,
35:15the emperor Nero
35:16goes one further
35:17and sports a radiate crown
35:19to suggest his divinity.
35:22And here,
35:23in this early mosaic
35:24from beneath the Vatican,
35:26and adorned with
35:26the self-same solar flares
35:28used by the Roman emperors,
35:30is the leader
35:31of the newly emerging
35:32religion of Christianity,
35:34Jesus.
35:34Conventional Christians
35:41usually think
35:43that Jesus was
35:44naturally divine
35:45and that the early Christians
35:48did not need
35:49to interpret his divinity
35:53but simply record
35:54what they had experienced
35:56of him.
35:57Although mainstream theology
36:00continues to emphasize
36:01the Old Testament precedence
36:02for the launch of Christianity,
36:04and maintains
36:05that something pretty unusual
36:06happened around
36:07the death of Jesus,
36:09the controversial
36:10Professor Burton Mack
36:11does not think
36:12that the Jesus
36:12of the early church
36:14came from the Jewish tradition.
36:16The kings of Israel,
36:18as they were seen,
36:20portrayed,
36:21and eulogized
36:23in later historical reports,
36:26were never understood
36:27to be divine.
36:27So the notion of divinity
36:30and especially
36:31of a universal
36:33royal divine figure,
36:36it just does not come
36:38from the Israelite tradition.
36:42His radical solution
36:43is to look elsewhere
36:44for the inspiration
36:46for the Christ we have today.
36:48This fascination
36:49with Alexander
36:51is that you have
36:53for the first time
36:54a clear concept
36:55of a man-god.
36:58And so at the same time
37:00as we have
37:01this marvelous romance
37:03of Alexander
37:05filling the mentality
37:08of the time,
37:09we have the Gospels
37:09being written about Jesus
37:11and the similarities
37:12are striking.
37:13In a nutshell,
37:16Professor Mack
37:16is making the revolutionary claim
37:18that the fundamental nature
37:20of Christ
37:20as both man and God
37:22ultimately derived
37:23from the Greek tradition
37:24of the divinity
37:25of Alexander.
37:27Of course,
37:28the message of Jesus,
37:29as opposed to his packaging,
37:31was new
37:31and based on non-violence
37:33and a God of love.
37:36Thousands of miles
37:37to the east,
37:38another teacher
37:39of similar ideas
37:40was about to get
37:41the Alexander treatment.
37:43The features of Buddhism
37:51before Alexander,
37:52essentially,
37:53the Buddha
37:54was a philosophical figure
37:56rather similar
37:56to Plato or Socrates.
37:58He had not emerged
37:59as a great superman,
38:02a godlike figure.
38:04And in the first
38:06two centuries AD,
38:07roughly speaking,
38:08Buddhism undergoes
38:09a major transformation
38:10where the Buddha
38:12is elevated
38:13from being
38:14a simple human being
38:16into a superman
38:18or, you could say,
38:19a god in some sense.
38:22So,
38:22these statues
38:23come from
38:25the part of India
38:26which Alexander conquered
38:27and which subsequently
38:29retained its connections
38:31with the Western world.
38:33So,
38:34figures there
38:34typically show
38:35the Buddha
38:36with a halo
38:37and with robes
38:39of Greek
38:40and Roman type.
38:50The same things
38:51happen in Hinduism
38:52at roughly the same time.
38:55Images begin
38:56to be produced
38:56which show
38:58Hindu deities
38:59holding the weapons
39:01and, for example,
39:02a club,
39:03all these things
39:04that are connected
39:04with Heracles.
39:08We don't know
39:09the direct impact
39:11of Alexander
39:11as an individual
39:12on these things.
39:13We know
39:13that Alexander
39:14assumed divine
39:17characteristics
39:18as a result
39:19of his conquest
39:20of Egypt
39:20and various parts
39:21of Asia
39:23and it seems
39:25to have been
39:25a groundswell
39:27of change
39:28in religious attitudes
39:29as need
39:30for some sort
39:31of superhuman being,
39:33some sort
39:33of superperson
39:35who could
39:35be a saviour
39:36for mankind.
39:45Eventually,
39:46the civilisations
39:46of Egypt,
39:47Greece and Rome
39:48died away
39:49and much
39:50of classical
39:50thought
39:51was lost
39:51as Europe
39:52entered the
39:53Dark Ages.
39:54But not all
39:55was lost.
39:56The tales
39:56of Alexander
39:57blocked
39:58medieval Europe
39:59loved his story,
40:01now romanticised
40:02out of all recognition.
40:04Alexander,
40:05now in the guise
40:06of a medieval knight,
40:07was being used
40:08as a model
40:09of virtue,
40:10bravery
40:10and, above all,
40:11of a traveller
40:12to the ends
40:12of the earth
40:13to fight
40:13distant barbarians.
40:15It may seem odd
40:16that a figure
40:18so purely military
40:19as Alexander
40:20could be accepted
40:20and seen
40:21as a paragon
40:23of virtue
40:23by the medieval
40:25Christians.
40:26But let's not forget
40:26that medieval
40:28Christianity
40:28was also
40:30a highly military
40:31religion.
40:39A thousand years
40:41after the death
40:42of Alexander,
40:43Mohammed,
40:43a prophet
40:44from the Arabian
40:45peninsula,
40:46founded the
40:46religion of Islam.
40:50Unlike Hinduism
40:51and Buddhism,
40:52the first generations
40:53of Muslims
40:53felt driven
40:54to expand
40:55the Islamic world
40:55by the sword
40:56and from its beginnings
40:57at Mecca,
40:58Islam quickly won
40:59a vast holy empire,
41:01as big in fact
41:02as its Roman predecessor.
41:08The impressive
41:09Arab citadel
41:09in Cairo,
41:10containing the magnificent
41:12Muhammad Ali mosque,
41:13emphasises the sophistication
41:15and military might
41:16of Islam.
41:18New research
41:19by historians
41:20is bringing to light
41:21an important source
41:22of inspiration
41:22for their military conquests.
41:25Early Arab writings
41:26suggest that the precedent
41:27they were following
41:28in this armed expansion
41:29of God's kingdom
41:30on earth
41:31was none other
41:32than Alexander the Great,
41:34whom they saw
41:34as a military genius,
41:36but conquering for God's glory,
41:38not his own.
41:39The first appearance
41:42of Alexander
41:43in Arabic literature
41:44is in fact
41:45in the Quran.
41:47Alexander is,
41:48of course,
41:48not normally known
41:49by the name of Alexander
41:51in the Quran
41:52and in the other
41:53early Arabic writings.
41:55The name he's given
41:55is Dulcarnayn,
41:57which means
41:57the two-horned one
41:58in Arabic.
42:00That's a name
42:01that he acquires
42:01from the representations
42:03of him
42:03where he is shown
42:04with the ram's horns
42:05of his supposed father,
42:07the god Ammon.
42:09This is a unique image.
42:11It represents
42:12Alexander the Great
42:13visiting the Kaaba
42:14at Mecca,
42:16the holy black stone
42:17which stands
42:18at the centre
42:18of the most holy city
42:20of the Islamic world.
42:21No image
42:22could express
42:23more clearly
42:23how seriously
42:25Alexander was taken
42:26by Muslim thinkers
42:28and writers
42:28in the medieval world.
42:35So, amazingly,
42:39it seems
42:40that many
42:40of the world's faiths
42:41as we know them today
42:42owe much
42:43to Alexander's legacy.
42:46I end as I began
42:48so many months ago
42:49looking for the final
42:50resting place
42:51of Alexander's body.
42:55Back here in Egypt,
42:57Alexandria remains
42:58a city of mystery.
43:00In ancient times,
43:01this shaft
43:01was used
43:02for luring the dead
43:03into the catacombs
43:04of Kamal Shugafa
43:05down below me.
43:09I think that
43:10in this half-submerged
43:11labyrinth
43:12of burial chambers
43:13underneath modern Alexandria,
43:15I've got about
43:16as close as I'm going
43:17to get
43:17to the body
43:18of Alexander.
43:21But you never quite know
43:22what will turn up.
43:24Construction
43:24of their new library
43:25has just been hoarded
43:26because of fresh finds
43:28and they're planning
43:29a dig
43:29on the site
43:30of the ancient
43:30Dulcarnain mosque.
43:33And Liana Suvaltse,
43:34digs on,
43:35sure she's on the point
43:36of discovering
43:37her beloved Alexander.
43:39She keeps finding
43:39little things.
43:42Are these Macedonian stars
43:44on girls' dresses?
43:49And on rings?
43:54And what are the secrets
43:55in these strange circle dances
43:57said to be descended
43:58from the worship
43:59of our moon
44:00in Alexander's land?
44:05And she claims
44:06that their baby's
44:07headdresses
44:08are modelled
44:08on the helmets
44:09of Alexander's army.
44:13When I'm gone,
44:15I like my ashes
44:16be scattered
44:17in the desert
44:18near Alexander.
44:19Well, what have I come
44:23to know about Alexander
44:24at the end of my search?
44:26Writers of all ages
44:27seem to have placed
44:28a smokescreen
44:29around Alexander.
44:30He has become
44:31all things to all men,
44:32both admired
44:33as the noblest of humans
44:34and reviled
44:35as the cruelest
44:36of despots.
44:38The extraordinary
44:39military success
44:40of this wandering
44:40conqueror
44:41and the godlike power
44:42he wielded
44:43as a result
44:44seem to have fed
44:45a universal need
44:46in us
44:47for a hero
44:47who somehow transcends
44:49our ordinary
44:50human limitations.
44:52And because he died young,
44:54these achievements
44:55were never tarnished
44:56by old age,
44:57bitterness
44:57or physical decline.
45:00The myth of Alexander
45:01belongs to us all
45:02to use as we will.