HOST: NO MATTER WHAT WE LOOK LIKE TODAY,
WE'RE ALL DIRECTLY DESCENDED
FROM ANCESTORS WHO EVOLVED ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT.
THE OLDEST HUMAN POPULATION EMERGED IN AFRICA.
AFRICA IS THE HOME OF THE WORLD'S
MOST ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.
FAR TOO OFTEN, AFRICA HAS BEEN THOUGHT OF
AS ISOLATED AND STATIC,
BUT NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
THE ROOTS OF EVERY FAMILY TREE
TRACE HERE TO AFRICA.
AND SO DOES THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION.
IN THIS SERIES, WE'LL BE GOING ON A JOURNEY
THROUGH 200,000 YEARS OF HISTORY.
WE'LL EXPLORE GREAT CITIES
BUILT ALONG AFRICA'S EXTENSIVE TRADE NETWORKS,
DISCOVER ART OF UNPARALLELED BEAUTY
AND TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE,
AND MARVEL AT THOUSANDS OF YEARS
OF BREATHTAKING ARCHITECTURE.
DRIVING ALL THIS WERE AFRICANS
WHO PROSPERED, CREATED, AND SUFFERED
THROUGH THEIR RICH, SOMETIMES TRAGIC,
YET ENDLESSLY FASCINATING HISTORY.
THIS IS A SELDOM-TOLD STORY OF HOW AFRICANS,
BY SHAPING THEIR OWN WORLDS,
SHAPED THE LARGER WORLD AS WELL.
AFRICA'S GREAT RIFT VALLEY.
THIS IS WHERE HUMANITY'S STORY MOST LIKELY BEGINS.
HOMO SAPIENS, ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMANS,
HAVE LIVED HERE FOR ABOUT 200,000 YEARS.
THIS GREAT GEOLOGICAL FAULT,
STRETCHING 3,000 MILES THROUGH AFRICA,
FROM ETHIOPIA TO MALAWI,
WITH ITS GREAT LAKES AND SAVANNAHS
FULL OF ANIMAL LIFE,
GAVE OUR ANCESTORS THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT
IN WHICH TO EVOLVE.
MAN: THE RIFT VALLEY, IT'S LIKE A CRUCIBLE,
LIKE IN A CHEMISTRY LAB,
WHERE HUMANS HAVE BEEN TESTED.
BECAUSE NATURE CONSTANTLY TESTS
DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE SPECIES.
THOSE WHO CAN FIT THE ENVIRONMENT OR THE SITUATION
THAT IS AROUND SURVIVE AND CONTINUE,
AND THE OTHERS, YOU KNOW, GET REPLACED.
[THUNDER]
HOST: IN 1997, THE RAINS FELL HEAVILY
IN ETHIOPIA'S NORTHERN RIFT VALLEY.
LAYERS OF SEDIMENT DISLODGED,
REVEALING AN EXTRAORDINARY FIND--
A HUMAN SKULL.
IT'S ONE OF THE OLDEST HOMO SAPIEN REMAINS
TO BE FOUND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
SCIENTISTS NAMED THE SKULL IDALTU, MEANING FIRSTBORN,
AND IDALTU WALKED THESE VALLEYS
160,000 YEARS AGO.
DR. BERHANE ASFAW WAS ONE OF THE SCIENTISTS
WHO MADE THE DISCOVERY.
THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW SPECIMENS
THAT WE FOUND ALMOST COMPLETE.
THE WHOLE, THE FACE AND THE BRAIN CASE.
AND THE MOST IMPRESSIVE THING ABOUT THIS IS
EVEN AT THIS EARLY AGE,
THE FACE IS MODERN HOMO SAPIEN,
THE BRAIN CASE IS MODERN HOMO SAPIEN,
THE SHAPE FROM THE BACK IS A MODERN HOMO SAPIEN.
IT'S EXACTLY US.
HOST: THE ANATOMY AND AGE OF IDALTU'S SKULL
PROVIDED THE STRONGEST EVIDENCE YET
THAT ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMANS
EMERGED IN AFRICA.
MAN: EACH STAGE OF THE EVOLUTION
TOWARD MODERN HUMANS,
IT TAKES PLACE IN AFRICA.
ASFAW: WHEN WE FOUND HOMO SAPIEN IDALTU,
IT'S VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT PUSHES THE TIME FAR BACK.
IT MEANS ANATOMICALLY MODERN HOMO SAPIENS
STARTED WALKING ON THIS PLANET
MUCH EARLIER THAN WE THOUGHT,
AND THE INTERESTING THING IS
AT THE SAME TIME, EUROPE WAS PACKED WITH NEANDERTHALS,
WHICH ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM HOMO SAPIENS.
HOST: ONE OF AFRICA'S MOST RESPECTED PALEOANTHROPOLOGISTS
IS DR. RICHARD LEAKEY.
HE AND HIS COLLEAGUES HAVE MADE GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERIES
ABOUT HOW OUR SPECIES EVOLVED ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT.
I'VE COME TO MEET HIM AT HIS INSTITUTE IN NAIROBI, KENYA.
HOW DO WE KNOW
THAT THE FIRST HUMAN BEINGS
EVOLVED ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT?
THE FOSSIL EVIDENCE AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
THAT'S COME TO LIGHT IN THE LAST 20, 30 YEARS
IS VERY, VERY SUBSTANTIAL,
TESTABLE, AND REAL.
WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IDEA
WAS SO DISTURBING IN SOME QUARTERS?
HISTORICALLY, THE SCIENCE OF PALEOANTHROPOLOGY
OR ANTHROPOLOGY CAME INTO EXISTENCE AT A TIME WHEN
WE REALLY KNEW VERY LITTLE.
AFRICANS WERE CONSIDERED PRIMITIVE, HEATHEN, WHO KNOWS.
AND THE ORIGINS OF THE SUBHUMAN STATUS OF AFRICANS
BEGINS, REALLY, IN THE 18TH CENTURY.
IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT, IRONICALLY ENOUGH.
THEY WEREN'T REALLY CONSIDERED TO BE
ONE OF OUR SPECIES.
HOST: CONTINUING ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS
AND NOW MAJOR SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS
HAVE CONFIRMED THAT AFRICA ABSOLUTELY
WAS THE CRADLE OF HUMANITY.
MAN: IT'S LIKE IF WE'RE EXPLORING OUR PAST
AND LOOKING AT WHERE OUR ROOTS ARE SUNK DOWN,
WE'LL FIND THAT THEY'RE THE DEEPEST IN AFRICA,
AND THAT'S WHERE WE GET MOST OF OUR GENETICS.
HOST: GENETICISTS HAVE IDENTIFIED
AN ASTONISHING LINK TO OUR EARLIEST HUMAN RELATIONS
THROUGH OUR DNA.
EVERY LIVING PERSON SHARES A COMMON DIRECT
MATERNAL ANCESTOR.
SHE'S KNOWN AS MITOCHONDRIAL EVE.
WE BELIEVE THAT SHE WAS PART OF A SMALL GROUP OF HUMANS
WHO LIVED IN THIS REGION OF AFRICA
AROUND THE TIME OF THE IDALTU SKULL.
MAN: OUR COMMON ANCESTRY THROUGH THE MITOCHONDRIAL EVE
MEANS THAT OUR GENETIC DIFFERENCES
ARE LITERALLY SKIN DEEP.
THAT AT THE BOTTOM, WE ARE ALL
DESCENDED FROM THE SAME FAMILY.
HOST: MITOCHONDRIAL DNA, FOUND IN OUR CELLS,
IS THE GENETIC SIGNATURE PASSED DOWN THROUGH FEMALES
FROM MOTHER TO CHILD.
WHAT IT MEANS IS THAT THIS WAS A WOMAN, HYPOTHETICALLY,
WHO LIVED 200,000 YEARS AGO,
WHO HAD ENOUGH DAUGHTERS IN A CONTINUOUS CHAIN,
STRAIGHT BACK SO THAT HER MITOCHONDRIAL DNA SURVIVED.
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.
AND ALL OF US TODAY, NO MATTER WHAT WE LOOK LIKE,
ARE DESCENDED FROM BLACK ANCESTORS?
YEAH, THAT IS EXACTLY,
THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED.
ALL THE HUMANS, ALL THE HOMO SAPIENS
ALL OVER THE WORLD, BE IT YELLOW, WHITE, BLACK,
WE ARE DESCENDED FROM A COMMON ANCESTOR
IN AFRICA.
WHAT WOULD LIFE FOR HUMAN BEINGS
200,000 YEARS AGO HAVE BEEN LIKE IN THIS VALLEY?
200,000 YEARS AGO, I WOULD IMAGINE
THE GROUPS WERE QUITE SMALL.
MM-HMM.
THE DANGERS AROUND, WE HAD PREDATORS,
THINGS LIKE HYENAS
AND GROUPS OF CARNIVORES ALL AROUND.
MM-HMM.
IT'S DIFFICULT FOR US TO IMAGINE
PREHISTORIC LIFE OR A WORLD WITHOUT
ANY TRAPPINGS OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE
COME TO DEFINE HUMANNESS OVER THE LAST 10,000 YEARS,
AND SO, IN THE MODERN ZEITGEIST,
THE ONLY THING THAT COMES CLOSE
IS ACTUALLY THE POST-APOCALYPTIC
ZOMBIE SHOWS, FOR EXAMPLE.
YOU HAVE SMALL BANDS OF PEOPLE
ROAMING THE LANDSCAPE, WORKING TOGETHER,
FIGHTING OFF PREDATORS THAT ARE TRYING TO EAT THEM,
AND WORRIED ABOUT THE OTHER GROUPS OF HUMANS
THAT THEY MIGHT BUMP INTO.
SO, THERE ARE A LOT OF INTERESTING PARALLELS
THAT COULD BE DRAWN.
HOST: MODERN HOMO SAPIENS
INITIALLY LIVED ONLY IN AFRICA,
SLOWLY SPREADING ACROSS THE CONTINENT
OVER 120,000 YEARS.
BUT BETWEEN 80,000 AND 50,000 YEARS AGO,
THEY BEGAN SUCCESSFULLY TO POPULATE
THE REST OF THE WORLD.
HOST: SO, WHAT HAPPENED 80,000 YEARS AGO?
LEAKEY: WELL, I WISH WE KNEW WHAT HAPPENED,
BUT THERE'S NO DOUBT AT ALL
THAT A VERY SMALL POPULATION
SOMEWHERE IN THAT TIME ZONE
CAUGHT SOME ADAPTATION THAT GAVE THEM A HUGE ADVANTAGE.
I HAVE A FEELING IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN SPEECH.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS.
BUT THEY SPREAD VERY QUICKLY OUT OF AFRICA.
SO, 80,000 YEARS AGO,
THE HUMAN COMMUNITY WAS BLACK.
WHEREVER THEY WERE IN THE WORLD.
HOST: BUT WHEN THOSE EARLY HUMAN BEINGS
MIGRATED OUT OF AFRICA,
THEY WEREN'T TRAVELING ALONE.
THEY WERE CARRYING SOMETHING WITHIN THEM.
AND THAT SOMETHING HAD DEVELOPED SLOWLY, OVER MILLENNIA.
IT WAS CULTURE.
THAT CULTURE WOULD DEVELOP TO INCLUDE
THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF HUMAN CREATIVITY,
AND IT BEGAN HERE ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT.
IN 1991, ARCHAEOLOGIST CHRISTOPHER HENSHILWOOD,
EXPLORING HIS GRANDFATHER'S LAND,
DISCOVERED THE OPENING TO A CAVE
ON A CLIFF FACE
ABOVE THE CRASHING WAVES
WHERE THE ATLANTIC AND INDIAN OCEANS COLLIDE.
TODAY, WE CALL THIS THE BLOMBOS CAVE.
INSIDE IS EVIDENCE OF OVER 140,000 YEARS
OF HUMAN HABITATION,
AND SIGNS OF THE FIRST FORM OF HUMAN CREATIVE EXPRESSION.
BEFORE THIS DISCOVERY, WE THOUGHT
THE EARLIEST EXAMPLES OF ARTWORK
WERE FOUND IN THE LASCAUX CAVES IN FRANCE,
DATING BACK ONLY 35,000 YEARS AGO.
HAWKS: WHEN PEOPLE BEGAN MAKING DISCOVERIES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA,
LIKE AT BLOMBOS CAVE, THEY REALIZED
THAT ACTUALLY, THIS RECORD OF ARTISTIC PRODUCTION
GOES BACK MUCH FURTHER THAN ANYONE GUESSED.
IN FRANCE, CAVE PAINTINGS 30,000 YEARS OLD,
35,000 AT THE OLDEST.
IN SOUTHERN AFRICA, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
90,000, 100,000 YEARS.
WOMAN: BLOMBOS CAVE IS A RELATIVELY RECENT DISCOVERY,
SO, THE MORE RESEARCH WE DO IN AFRICA,
AND ALSO THE MORE DATING WE CONDUCT,
THIS WILL CHANGE PEOPLE'S MINDS OF HOW
WE SAW HUMAN HISTORY,
AND THE EVIDENCE SHOWS
THEY WERE ALREADY ASSESSING THE COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR
THAT WE SEE AS DEFINING THE MODERN HUMAN
BEFORE THEY LEFT AFRICA.
HOST: SMALL OCHRE BLOCKS FOUND IN THE BLOMBOS CAVE
COMPLETELY CHANGED HOW WE UNDERSTAND
THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CREATIVITITY.
ONE OF THESE BLOCKS, COVERED IN CURIOUS MARKINGS,
IS NOW HOUSED IN THE IZIKO MUSEUM IN CAPE TOWN.
WOMAN: IT'S UNIQUE IN TERMS OF
FIRSTLY WHERE IT WAS FOUND
AND THE DATE-- IT'S PRETTY OLD.
77,000 YEARS AGO. MM.
WHAT IS INTERESTING IS THE ETCHING.
IT'S ALMOST A HASHED ETCHING ON THE ONE EDGE,
AND THAT IS DONE WITH PURPOSE.
I'VE OFTEN THOUGHT THAT IF
PIGMENT WAS PUT ON IT,
YOU COULD USE IT AS A STAMP,
WHICH TO ME SCREAMS ARTISTIC EXPRESSION.
MM-HMM. MEANING.
MEANING. SYMBOLIC MEANING.
SO, THIS WOULD MAKE IT ONE OF THE EARLIEST
ARTISTIC ARTIFACTS THAT WE HAVE.
THIS IS A SIGN OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO
HAD MANAGED TO EMERGE ABOVE
IMMEDIATE CONCERNS FOR FOOD
AND BASIC HUMAN SURVIVAL.
THAT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT AFRICA AND AFRICANS.
I THINK SO. IT SHOWS THAT
THESE PEOPLE WERE COGNIZANT OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS.
THEY WERE SOCIALLY AWARE.
IT SHOWS THE BIRTHPLACE
OF A VERY RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE
THAT HAS IN THE PAST NOT BEEN RECOGNIZED.
THIS IS ARTWORK.
HOST: ALONGSIDE THE OCHRE BLOCK,
A PAINTING KIT WAS FOUND.
THAT OCHRE BLOCK WAS NOT ONLY DECORATED,
IT WAS GROUND DOWN, MIXED WITH WATER AND MINERALS,
AND USED AS PAINT.
LEWIS: ONCE A GROUP IS INTO SYMBOLIC EXPRESSION,
WHETHER IT BE VIA BEADS OR
USING COLORANTS TO PAINT THE BODY OR TO PAINT WALLS,
THAT'S GONNA BE ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT BEHAVIOR
TO USE FOR COMMUNICATING COMPLEX SETS OF IDEAS
ABOUT GROUP IDENTITY AND ALSO TO HELP TRANSMIT INFORMATION
TO OTHER MEMBERS OF YOUR IMMEDIATE GROUP.
HOST: MUCH OF THIS EARLY ART HAS PERISHED WITH TIME,
BUT CAVE ART PROVIDES US WITH THE ONLY SNAPSHOTS
OF HOW EARLY HUMAN BEINGS LIVED, HUNTED, AND EVEN LOVED.
HAWKS: WE JUST GET THE DURABLE ELEMENT,
BUT WHEN YOU'RE PAINTING YOUR SKIN,
WHEN YOU'RE PAINTING HIDES THAT YOU MIGHT BE WEARING,
WHEN YOU'RE USING FEATHERS AND OTHER KINDS OF
REALLY SPECIAL OBJECTS BUT PERISHABLE OBJECTS,
YOU KNOW, WHEN WE LOOK AT SOCIETIES TODAY,
THEY HAVE THIS INCREDIBLE RANGE
OF THINGS THAT WOULD NEVER SURVIVE
IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD.
HOST: DEEP IN THE LIBYAN DESERT,
IN A REMOTE CAVE AT WADI SURA,
MILES FROM ANY LUSH VEGETATION TODAY,
A STUNNING VISUAL RECORD REVEALS A QUITE SURPRISING PICTURE
OF DAILY LIFE IN THE SAHARA 7,000 YEARS AGO.
THE WALLS OF THE CAVE TEEM WITH DEPICTIONS
OF PEOPLE SWIMMING AND ANIMALS GRAZING,
GLIMPSES INTO A LONG-LOST LANDSCAPE.
MIRE: YOU HAVE THE CAVE OF SWIMMERS.
THERE YOU HAVE YOUR HISTORY RECORDING, IF YOU LIKE,
WHERE WE ARE GETTING AN IDEA OF
A PLACE WHERE WE TODAY CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE
ANY LIFE SURVIVING.
WE HAVE LAKES AND THE DEPICTIONS OF THE SWIMMERS
AND VERY ABUNDANT WILDLIFE THRIVING IN THE SAHARA,
A PLACE NOW WE KNOW FOR SAND DUNES.
HOST: HOWEVER, THE SAHARA WAS ONCE
A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT,
CAPABLE OF SUSTAINING THESE EMERGING HUMAN COMMUNITIES.
TODAY, THE SAHARA IS VERY BARREN AND DRY,
BUT FROM ROCK ART, WE FIND THAT THERE ARE
A LOT OF AQUATIC FAUNA, HIPPO, CROCODILE, GIRAFFES.
A VERY VIBRANT BIODIVERSITY.
HOST: SO, IN THIS CASE,
ART VERIFIES ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE.
YES. IT TELLS US MORE ABOUT HOW
THE LANDSCAPE HAS CHANGED
OR HOW THE ENVIRONMENT HAS CHANGED.
ABAKA: OVER 10,000 YEARS AGO,
THE SAHARA WAS ACTUALLY A GREEN SAVANNAH.
THERE WERE ANIMALS, FISHES, LAKES, RIVERS,
AND RIGHT ACROSS WHAT IS NOW THE SAHARA,
THE ENVIRONMENT WAS GREEN.
EHRET: THIS WAS THE KIND OF ENVIRONMENT
THAT ATTRACTS THE GREAT HERBIVORES,
THE LARGE HERDING ANIMALS.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUSES, RHINOS.
THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A TIME WHEN THOSE
WERE THE IMPORTANT ANIMALS.
HOST: ALTHOUGH EARLY HUMANS
CONTINUED TO BE HUNTER-GATHERERS,
OVER TIME, THEY BEGAN TO CULTIVATE PLANTS,
AND AROUND 10,000 YEARS AGO,
ACROSS AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST,
THEY BEGAN TO BREED ANIMALS AS LIVESTOCK
AND DOMESTICATE CATTLE.
THE SAHARA BECAME THIS BAND
WHERE THESE PEOPLE SPREAD THEIR LIVESTOCK GRAZING.
MIRE: EVERYWHERE ACROSS THE SAHARA,
YOU HAVE VAST SCENES OF PAINTINGS OF THESE ANIMALS,
BUT ALSO, I THINK, IT KIND OF ALSO SHOWS THAT
THIS IS THEM GOING TOWARDS THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS
AND SETTLE IN A SEDENTARY SOCIETY.
HAWKS: WHEN YOU LOOK AT AFRICA, IT'S THE CRADLE OF MANKIND, BUT
LOOKING INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
IT BECOMES A CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION.
[MAN SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE]
EHRET: BETWEEN 4,800 AND 4,200 B.C.,
MORE THAN 1,000 YEARS BEFORE THE RISE OF ANCIENT EGYPT,
IN THE AREAS WEST OF THE NILE,
THE FIRST COMPLEX AFRICAN SOCIETY FORMS.
IT'S NOT A SETTLED SOCIETY OF TOWNS,
BUT IT'S PEOPLE WHO RAISE GREAT HERDS OF CATTLE.
HOST: FOR 3,000 YEARS, THESE COMMUNITIES,
AND THE WORLD AROUND THEM,
CONTINUED TO EVOLVE.
FARMING DEVELOPED, AND POPULATIONS GREW.
BUT BY 4,000 B.C.,
VAST AREAS OF THE LUSH SAVANNAH
HAD TURNED INTO DESERT.
LIFE FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE GREEN SAHARA
IS BRUTALLY TRANSFORMED.
EVERYTHING CHANGES,
SETTING CIVILIZATION IN AFRICA
ON A RADICAL, NEW PATH.
WOMAN: THERE WAS A SLOW CHANGE IN CLIMATE,
THUS MAKING TRADITIONAL PASTORAL WAYS OF LIFE
FAR MORE DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE.
HOST: IN THE FACE OF THIS CLIMATE CHANGE,
THE POPULATIONS OF THE SAHARA DISPERSED.
AND MANY PEOPLE MIGRATED TOWARDS THE FERTILE LANDS
OF THE NILE VALLEY,
BECOMING THE ANCESTORS OF BOTH THE EGYPTIANS
AND THE NUBIANS.
ABAKA: THE VERDANT VALLEY OF THE NILE
WAS AN ATTRACTIVE PLACE FOR COMMUNITIES TO SETTLE.
HAWKS: THE NILE IS LIKE THIS GREEN RIVER THROUGH THE DESERT,
AND THE REGULAR FLOODS CREATE THIS INCREDIBLE SOIL,
SO THAT ONCE YOU HAVE THE DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS,
THIS BECOMES THE BREADBASKET OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN,
AND YOU'VE GOT THAT HAPPENING
AS PEOPLE ARE DEVELOPING VILLAGES AND STATES.
EHRET: THERE'S PRESSURES THAT ARISE AS POPULATION GROWS
THAT LEADS TO FOUNDATION OF MORE COMPLEX SOCIETIES.
BRADSHAW: THE POPULATION BECOMES DIVIDED
BETWEEN THE FOOD-PRODUCING GROUPS
AND THE NON-FOOD-PRODUCING GROUPS,
AND WHAT WE SEE WITH THE NON-FOOD-PRODUCING GROUPS
IS THAT THEY BECOME ARTISANS, PROFESSIONAL BUILDERS,
SO THEY HAVE A SURPLUS OF FOOD,
AND THIS IS THE POINT AT WHICH
WE START SEEING THINGS THAT WE MIGHT CALL CIVILIZATION.
HOST: BURIAL PITS IN THE NILE VALLEY
HAVE BEEN THE SOURCE OF RARE AND UNIQUE ARTIFACTS
DATING BACK MORE THAN 6,000 YEARS.
THEY SHOW A RICH, CREATIVE CULTURE.
THESE PRESTIGE ITEMS WERE CRAFTED BY ARTISANS
TO BE ENJOYED BY ELITES.
HOST: HOW OLD IS THIS?
SO, THIS DATES ABOUT 3,600 B.C.
REALLY? THIS IS 6,000 YEARS AGO.
YEAH.
SO, THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS
BACK IN THE NILE VALLEY
WERE COMBING OUT THEIR HAIR WITH AN AFRO COMB.
YES. JUST LIKE AFRO COMBS, THESE LONG, THICK COMBS
WOULD'VE BEEN PERFECT FOR AFRICAN HAIR,
AND THIS IS AN ITEM THAT WOULD PROCLAIM
STATUS AND IDENTITY AND MAKE A STATEMENT.
THEY'RE OFTEN FOUND IN THE BURIAL
STILL IN THE HAIR, VERY PROMINENTLY PLACED,
SO THESE SYMBOLS WOULD'VE BEEN VISIBLE.
JUST THE WAY BLACK PEOPLE WEAR THEM TODAY.
ABSOLUTELY.
BLACK PEOPLE WERE COMBING THEIR HAIR WITH AFRO COMBS.
I THOUGHT WE INVENTED THIS IN THE SIXTIES.
[LAUGHTER]
AMAZING. SO, THE BURIALS AT THAT DATE
WERE PIT BURIALS.
IN THE DRY SAND, OFTEN IT PRESERVES
ORGANIC MATERIALS.
WE CAN ACTUALLY DO AN ARCHAEOLOGY
OF HAIRDOS AND HAIRSTYLES.
OH, WHAT KIND OF HAIRSTYLES?
THEY'VE GOT ALL SORTS.
THEY'VE GOT THE USE OF HENNA AND FAKE HAIR
AND BIG BOUFFANTS.
THERE'S EVEN A SUGGESTION WE'VE GOT
SOME MOHAWKS AS WELL.
THAT'S ASTONISHING.
SO, THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS WERE
HIGHLY-SKILLED CRAFTSPEOPLE.
THEY WERE MAKING BEAUTIFUL POTTERY.
VERY SKILLED AT MAKING STONE VESSELS.
ALL UP AND DOWN THE NILE VALLEY AT THIS TIME
YOU SEE GROUPS CREATING VERY VIBRANT,
PERSONAL CULTURE THAT THEY WOULD WEAR AND DISPLAY.
MM-HMM.
EHRET: YOU GET THIS COMING IN OF PEOPLE FROM THE SAHARA,
BRINGING IDEAS THAT EVEN MORE COMPLEX,
LARGER-SCALE INSTITUTIONS CAN BE BUILT,
AND THEN DEVELOPMENT OF LITTLE, TINY KINGDOMS.
MAN: DIFFERENT GROUPS ARE UNITING
UNDER POWERFUL FIGURES OR PERHAPS
LOCAL DEITIES OR FETISHES OR EMBLEMS,
AND THEN THESE GROUPS CONSOLIDATE.
ONE IS VICTORIOUS OVER ANOTHER.
THEY GET LARGER AND LARGER
AND SMALLER IN NUMBER.
HOST: IN 1988, ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVERED A TOMB
AT ABYDOS, 300 MILES SOUTH OF CAIRO.
THE TOMB IS THOUGHT TO CONTAIN
ONE OF EGYPT'S EARLIEST RULERS,
CREDITED WITH CONSOLIDATING THE LANDS
THAT WOULD BECOME ANCIENT EGYPT.
HE'S KNOWN AS THE SCORPION KING
AND IS BELIEVED TO HAVE RULED AT THE END
OF THE FOURTH MILLENNIUM B.C.
LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT HIM OR HIS REIGN,
BUT HIS ROYAL TOMB HOUSED 150 SMALL IVORY TAGS
COVERED IN CARVED SYMBOLS
THAT HELPED TO REWRITE THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION.
THESE SIMPLE IVORY TAGS REVEALED SOMETHING ASTONISHING.
SOMETHING THAT OVERTURNED WHAT ARCHAEOLOGISTS BELIEVED
ABOUT HOW OUR ANCESTORS COMMUNICATED.
THE SYMBOLS ON THESE TAGS AREN'T ARTWORKS.
THEY ARE IN FACT THE WORLD'S FIRST WRITING.
MAN: EGYPTIAN WRITING AS WE KNOW IT,
AS IN FULLY DEVELOPED EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS,
APPEAR FIRST AROUND 3,250 B.C.E.
AND SOME OF THE EARLIEST PIECES
ARE THESE LITTLE LABELS, THESE LITTLE IVORY TAGS
FROM TOMB U-J AT ABYDOS.
HOST: SIMILAR TAGS FROM THIS BURIAL COMPLEX
ARE NOW KEPT AT THE PETRIE MUSEUM IN LONDON.
THIS IS A FORMATIVE STAGE OF HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING.
SO, WHAT DOES IT SAY?
IT'S BEEN SUGGESTED THAT
IT MIGHT BE A PLACE NAME.
THIS IS A PRESTIGE ITEM.
AND WHAT WAS IT USED FOR?
SO, YOU CAN SEE THERE'S A HOLE
JUST DRILLED THROUGH THERE,
AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN TIED TO A BOX OR A BAG,
INDICATING PROPERTY.
SO, THIS WOULD'VE SAID,
"THIS PROPERTY BELONGS TO ALICE"?
[LAUGHTER] IT COULD'VE DONE,
OR IT COULD'VE SAID, "THIS MATERIAL
COMES FROM THIS PART OF EGYPT."
AND DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA
WHAT THE FUNCTION OF THIS
PROPERTY IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM WAS?
THIS OBJECT IS ONLY BEING USED
BY THE ELITE, BY ROYALTY,
AND IT'S ABOUT ROYAL OWNERSHIP OF
PARTS OF EGYPT, PARTS OF LABOR,
OVER MATERIALS.
HOST: WE USED TO BELIEVE THE FIRST WRITING
BEGAN IN MESOPOTAMIA, MODERN-DAY IRAQ AND SYRIA.
BUT THESE SMALL TAGS PROVED THAT WRITING DEVELOPED
SIMULTANEOUSLY AND INDEPENDENTLY HERE IN AFRICA.
AS TO WHICH LANGUAGE IS OLDER,
THERE'S A HUGE DEBATE THAT CONTINUES TO RAGE.
DARNELL: I THINK WE CAN SAY THAT
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WRITING
DEVELOPS INDEPENDENT OF WRITING
IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA,
AND DEVELOPS REALLY ALMOST AT THE SAME TIME,
ALTHOUGH THIS EGYPTIAN WRITING APPEARS TO BE
IN SOME FREQUENT USE A LITTLE BIT BEFORE
WE SEEM TO GET TRUE, FULLY DEVELOPED CUNEIFORM.
THE CONCENTRATION OF RESOURCES
LED TO A CONCENTRATION OF POWER,
RESULTING IN THE FIRST KINGS RULING OVER WIDE AREAS.
MAINTAINING THAT POWER
REQUIRED THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE,
AND MAXIMIZING THE CAPACITY TO COMMUNICATE
LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING.
ABAKA: AND SO, WRITING BECAME A TOOL FOR ORGANIZING SOCIETY.
ALSO BECAME A TOOL FOR DOMINATION IN THAT SENSE.
IT BECAME A TOOL FOR RULING OVER PEOPLE.
HOST: THE EVOLUTION OF WRITING
ENABLED EGYPT'S RULERS TO MAINTAIN POWER
AND ESTABLISHED A SYSTEM OF ROYAL ASCENDANCY.
DARNELL: IT LOOKS AS THOUGH TOMB U-J,
THAT HAS THIS EARLIEST EGYPTIAN WRITING IN IT,
IT'S ALSO THE FIRST TOMB THAT CAN BE FOLLOWED
IN A LINE OF DEVELOPMENT THAT LEADS US
RIGHT TO THE PYRAMIDS OF THE OLD KINGDOM.
WOMAN: FROM THE FIRST KING OF THE FIRST DYNASTY
UNTIL THE PYRAMIDS IS A RELATIVELY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
SO YOU HAVE THE CREATION OF AN EGYPTIAN BUREAUCRACY
AND WITHIN A FEW CENTURIES, YOU HAVE
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PYRAMIDS.
HOST: AND THE MOST SPECTACULAR PYRAMID OF ALL
IS THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA.
IT'S THE MOST FAMOUS AND THE MOST ICONIC BUILDING
IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
A TRIUMPH OF SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION
AND ARTISTIC IMAGINATION.
BUILT FOR THE PHARAOH KHUFU,
WHO CAME TO THE THRONE AROUND 2,600 B.C.
AND RULED FOR ABOUT 27 YEARS,
THE GREAT PYRAMID TOOK HIS ENTIRE REIGN TO COMPLETE.
THE PROJECT REQUIRED 2,300,000 STONE BLOCKS,
EACH WEIGHING AN AVERAGE OF 2 1/2 TONS.
THE PYRAMID WOULD REMAIN THE TALLEST BUILDING ON EARTH
FOR NEARLY 4,000 YEARS.
THE GREAT PYRAMID IS AN AFRICAN CONSTRUCTION,
AND WE SHOULDN'T FORGET THAT, AND I FIND IT FANTASTIC
TO THINK ABOUT KHUFU AND HIS COURTIERS SITTING AROUND
AND SAYING, "WE'RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING
"THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS CONCEIVED OF.
LET'S MAKE SOMETHING BIGGER, MORE IMPRESSIVE."
COLLEEN DARNELL: WITH THE ANCIENT PYRAMIDS, WE REALLY SEE
ALL OF THE STRONG SUITS OF ANCIENT EGYPT
COME TO THE FORE.
SO YOU HAVE THEIR GEOLOGICAL WEALTH OF LIMESTONE
AND YOU ALSO HAVE THE ADVANCED EGYPTIAN MATHEMATICS
AND ENGINEERING SKILLS
ALONGSIDE THIS VERY LARGE LABOR FORCE.
DER MANUELIAN: YOU DON'T PULL THAT OFF WITH
HEBREW SLAVES AND ALL OF THESE MYTHS
THAT REALLY HAVE NO BASIS IN REALITY.
THE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT BY EGYPTIANS.
THEY WERE CONSCRIPTED FROM ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.
WHEN THE NILE IS IN FLOOD,
THAT, OF COURSE, PLAYS A ROLE, TOO.
COLLEEN DARNELL: DURING THOSE MONTHS, FARMERS COULD DO
VERY LITTLE WITH THEIR FIELDS,
AND THEY COULD BE EMPLOYED TO BUILD THE PYRAMIDS,
AND THAT WAS ALSO PART OF THE WAYS
THAT YOU COULD PAY YOUR TAXES IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
BUT WHILE EGYPT WOULD DOMINATE NORTHEASTERN AFRICA,
FURTHER SOUTH, ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE
IN MODERN-DAY SUDAN,
ANOTHER CENTER OF POWER WAS GROWING.
IT WAS THE CAPITAL OF THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF KUSH--KERMA.
DIGGING IN THE SUDANESE SAND
BETWEEN 1913 AND 1916,
ARCHAEOLOGISTS LED BY HARVARD PROFESSOR GEORGE REISNER
STUMBLED ACROSS A PIT FILLED WITH HUMAN BONES
AND THE BURIAL MOUND OF ONE OF THE LAST KINGS OF KERMA.
BRADSHAW: AROUND 322 REMAINS OF HUMANS WERE FOUND
IN ONE ELITE BURIAL IN THE EASTERN CEMETERY.
THIS, OF COURSE, INITIALLY WAS THOUGHT TO BE HUMAN SACRIFICE.
HOST: REISNER ESTIMATED THE BODIES DATED BACK
TO ABOUT 1,500 B.C.,
BUT EVIDENCE IN OTHER BURIAL SITES
SHOWS THE PRACTICE OF HUMAN SACRIFICE
DATES BACK EVEN FURTHER.
BRADSHAW: DEATH IN KERMA,
PARTICULARLY FOR THE ELITE,
SEEMED TO BE SOMETHING OF A SPECTACLE.
HOWEVER, THESE MAY VERY WELL HAVE BEEN RETAINERS
WHO WOULD HAVE SERVED THE KING IN LIFE
AND THUS WOULD SERVE HIM IN DEATH.
EVEN THE IDEA THAT THESE WERE SLAVES
CAPTURED IN FOREIGN WARS AND KILLED
AS A SORT OF TRIUMPHAL ACT.
HOST: THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENT IN KERMA
HAS BEEN DATED TO 4,000 B.C.
SETTLEMENTS IN MESOPOTAMIA
FORMED INTO THE EARLIEST CITIES.
BUT RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS SHOW THAT KERMA
WAS DEVELOPING INTO A COMPLEX SOCIETY
AT THE SAME TIME.
BY 2,500 B.C., IT'S ESTIMATED
THAT THE CITY'S POPULATION
HAD GROWN TO OVER 10,000,
AND ITS POWER AND WEALTH
RIVALED THAT OF ITS NORTHERN NEIGHBOR EGYPT.
TODAY, LITTLE REMAINS OF WHAT WAS ONCE
A MAGNIFICENT PLANNED CITY,
BUILT AROUND MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE
AS GRAND AS THAT OF EARLY EGYPT.
BRADSHAW: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CITY ITSELF
CENTERED AROUND WHAT SEEMS TO BE
A VAST STRUCTURE.
THIS IS KNOWN AS THE DEFFUFA.
DIFFERENT SCHOLARS HAVE DIFFERENT IDEAS
ABOUT WHAT IT COULD BE.
IN TERMS OF MUD BRICK ARCHITECTURE,
IT CERTAINLY SEEMS TO BE THE LARGEST
AND EARLIEST IN AFRICA.
HOST: THE NUBIAN KINGDOM
HAD ITS OWN DISTINCT CULTURE AND RELIGION
AND WAS RENOWNED FOR ITS DEADLY ARCHERS.
HOST: FOR OVER 2,000 YEARS,
THE KINGDOMS OF KUSH AND EGYPT
PROSPERED AND GREW
AS KINDRED CIVILIZATIONS
AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE NILE VALLEY.
BY 1,500 B.C., EGYPT WAS THE WORLD'S GREATEST POWER,
CONTROLLING TRADE ROUTES TO THE MIDDLE EAST.
BUT EGYPT'S GATEWAY TO THE PRECIOUS RESOURCES
OF THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA WAS KUSH.
KUSH SUPPLIED LUXURY ITEMS SUCH AS GOLD
TO EGYPT'S FLOURISHING 18TH DYNASTY.
FROM TUTANKHAMEN'S FACE MASK
TO THE TRADING EXPEDITIONS LED BY HATSHEPSUT
AND THE WEALTH AMASSED BY QUEEN NEFERTITI,
EGYPTIAN PHARAOHS REQUIRED
ENDLESS SUPPLIES OF EXOTIC GOODS
TO HELP THEIR PASSAGE INTO THE AFTERLIFE.
IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE ANY PEOPLE ANYWHERE
WHO RESISTED THE FINALITY OF DEATH MORE LAVISHLY
THAN DID THE EGYPTIANS.
THE KING'S SACRED TOMB
WOULD BE FILLED WITH EVERY CONCEIVABLE LUXURY
TO ACCOMPANY HIM THROUGH THE AFTERLIFE.
LEOPARD SKINS, OSTRICH FEATHERS, IVORY, PRECIOUS STONES,
AND GOLD FROM NUBIA'S BOUNTIFULLY LADEN MINES.
DARNELL: GOLD IS THE SKIN OF THE GODS.
THE GOD IS HOT OR THIS FACE OF THE SUN
IS THE WOMAN'S FACE EN FACE
WITH THE COWL EARS AS GOLD.
COLLEEN DARNELL: IT IS A METAL THAT NEVER CORRODES,
AND SO THEY RECOGNIZED THIS AS BEING
THE PERFECT MATERIAL FOR FUNERARY GOODS.
BRADSHAW: WE SEE THE ROYALS BEING ADORNED WITH GOLD
AND WE FIND FROM MYRIAD, EVEN LESSER ELITE HOUSES,
WE SEE GOLD OBJECTS.
DARNELL: THE GOLD MINING REGIONS OF THE EASTERN DESERT
REALLY FORCE THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
AND THE ANCIENT NUBIANS TO CONTINUE
THE CLOSE ASSOCIATIONS THEY ALREADY CULTURALLY HAD.
IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS WHY EGYPT CAN'T LET GO OF NUBIA
AND IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS NUBIA IS
BOTH SO ATTRACTIVE AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EGYPT AND THE KUSHITE KINGDOM
WAS ONE OF INTIMACY, PROXIMITY, AND BITTER RIVALRY.
THE EGYPTIANS FELT THREATENED BY NUBIA
AND WANTED TO CONTROL THE GOLD MINES THEMSELVES.
BRADSHAW: THE KINGDOM OF KERMA AND EGYPT
SEEMED TO HAVE HAD WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL
A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP.
AT THIS POINT, THE EGYPTIANS WERE WRITING OF NUBIA
AS "VILE KUSH," SO WE KNOW THERE WAS CERTAINLY
A LOT OF VENOM FROM THE EGYPTIAN SIDE.
EVENTUALLY, RIVALRY LED TO CONFLICT,
CULMINATING IN A WAR THAT WOULD BRING TO AN END
15 CENTURIES OF INDEPENDENT KUSHITE RULE.
HAWKS: EVERY TIME YOU HAVE CIVILIZATIONS
DEVELOP IN THE WORLD,
WHAT YOU HAVE IS WARFARE AND BLOODSHED.
BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE WANT THE STUFF THAT YOU'VE GOT.
AND THAT BECOMES A PART OF THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION.
HOST: AROUND 1,500 B.C.,
STANDING AT THE PROW OF A FLOTILLA OF SHIPS,
PHARAOH THUTMOSE I
LED HIS TROOPS TO WAR
AGAINST THE KUSHITE KINGDOM.
THUTMOSE I, NOT BORN OF ROYAL BLOOD,
HAD SERVED AS A GENERAL TO THE PREVIOUS PHARAOH
AND EARNED A REPUTATION AS A FORMIDABLE MILITARY STRATEGIST.
FOR THE EGYPTIANS, NUBIA WAS A VERY STRATEGIC LOCATION.
BRADSHAW: WHAT WE SEE IS THUTMOSE IS GOING
VERY DETERMINEDLY TO THE SOUTH.
HE SACKS THE CITY OF KERMA.
TO SACK THE CAPITAL CITY OF THIS KINGDOM
WAS TRULY A FEAT.
THE NUBIANS WERE WELL-KNOWN WARRIORS AND FIGHTERS.
THERE ARE STORIES OF THOUSANDS
OF CAPTURED PRISONERS OF WAR
BEING EXECUTED IN A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT WAYS.
LEST ANYONE DOUBT THE FINALITY OF THE CONQUEST,
THUTMOSE STRAPPED THE BODY OF THE FALLEN NUBIAN KING
TO THE FRONT OF HIS SHIP.
"EGYPT IS THE CHIEF," HE DECLARED,
"WHILE PEOPLES ACROSS THE WHOLE EARTH ARE HER SERVANTS."
COLLEEN DARNELL: NUBIA BECAME A SECOND PART OF EGYPT.
BRADSHAW: THE 18TH DYNASTY IS REALLY A PERIOD OF TIME WHEN
THE EGYPTIAN PRESENCE IN NUBIA EXPANDS.
HOST: FOR 400 YEARS, THE PEOPLE OF KUSH
WOULD STRUGGLE UNDER AND AGAINST EGYPTIAN RULE
WHILE EGYPT PLUNDERED THE KINGDOM'S GOLD MINES
THROUGH ANNUAL TRIBUTE.
KUSHITE ROYAL TRADITIONS SURVIVED,
SOUTH OF THE REGIONS THAT EGYPT RULED.
DARNELL: ALL OF NUBIA IS INCORPORATED
INTO EGYPT MORE FULLY THAN EVER BEFORE.
NUBIA GETS A SHADOW GOVERNMENT
THAT MIRRORS PHARAONIC EGYPT.
YOU GET A VICEROY OF KUSH,
THE KING SON OF KUSH,
WHO, LIKE PHARAOH, IS IN CHARGE OF ALL OF NUBIA.
HOST: THE EGYPTIANS ALSO BROUGHT ALONG
THEIR CULTURE AND THEIR GODS.
COLLEEN DARNELL: WE KNOW THAT ALREADY IN THE 18TH DYNASTY,
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS WERE BUILDING TEMPLES IN NUBIA
TO EGYPTIAN GODS, BUT
EGYPTIANS GODS THAT HAD A LOCAL RELEVANCE
FOR THE NUBIANS.
HOST: AMUN, GOD OF GODS IN EGYPT FOR 400 YEARS.
700 YEARS LATER, THE KUSHITES MADE THIS ALL-POWERFUL DEITY
THEIR OWN,
INCORPORATING HIM
INTO THEIR PANTHEON
ALONGSIDE THEIR LION-HEADED GOD APEDEMAK.
THE EGYPTIANS BUILT AN AWE-INSPIRING TEMPLE TO AMUN
AT THE SOUTHERNMOST TIP OF THEIR NUBIAN EMPIRE
AT THE HOLY SITE OF JEBEL BARKAL.
THIS WOULD ALSO BECOME A SACRED PLACE
FOR THE KUSHITES.
MAN: FOR THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND THE ANCIENT KUSHITES,
THIS PINNACLE SYMBOLIZED A SERPENT
THAT WAS A PROTECTIVE DEITY
ON THE CROWN OF THE PHARAOH
THAT SPIT FIRE AND POISON AT THE PHARAOH'S ENEMIES.
SO, THIS IS WHAT GAVE JEBEL BARKAL
ITS MYSTICAL ASSOCIATION THAT LED EGYPTIANS AND KUSHITES
TO BUILD AND REBUILD AND EXPAND
THEIR TEMPLES OVER THE CENTURIES.
HOST: BUT AFTER 1,100 B.C.,
PARTS OF KUSH REGAINED THEIR INDEPENDENCE,
AND BY 750 B.C., EGYPT,
FOLLOWING INVASIONS BY LIBYAN TRIBES,
WAS GREATLY DIMINISHED AND FRAGMENTED.
AROUND 750 B.C., PIYE,
A NEW KUSHITE KING,
CAME TO THE THRONE.
HE WAS BRILLIANT AND AMBITIOUS,
DRIVEN IN PART BY HIS FERVENT WORSHIP
OF THE GOD AMUN.
EMBERLING: HE CLEARLY MADE JEBEL BARKAL AN IMPORTANT PLACE.
UH, HE BUILT A PALACE HERE,
HE VERY SIGNIFICANTLY EXPANDED THE TEMPLE,
AND, UH, BARKAL WAS VERY CLEARLY THE CENTER
OF HIS SYMBOLIC ASSERTION OF KINGSHIP.
HOST: PIYE TURNED HIS SIGHTS NORTHWARD TO EGYPT,
PORTRAYING KUSH AS THE CHAMPION OF AMUN.
DARNELL: NUBIA APPEARS TO SEE ITSELF
AS THE REAL EGYPT
BECAUSE THEY'RE THE REAL WORSHIPPERS
OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS.
COLLEEN DARNELL: IT'S REMARKABLE THAT THE NUBIANS
ADOPTED EGYPTIAN CULTURE AND RELIGION AND CIVILIZATION
TO THE POINT THAT THEY BELIEVED
THAT THEY WERE BETTER EGYPTIANS THAN THE EGYPTIANS WHO WERE
CURRENTLY IN CONTROL OF THE NILE VALLEY.
SO, WHEN PIYE INVADES EGYPT,
HE DOES SO IN THE NAME OF THE GOD AMUN.
PIYE ESSENTIALLY CASTS HIS INVASION OF EGYPT AS A HOLY WAR,
OF THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PROPER WORSHIP OF THE GOD AMUN.
AT THE HEAD OF A POWERFUL ARMY,
PIYE SET SAIL NORTH DOWN THE NILE,
READY TO INVADE THE ONCE IMPREGNABLE
EMPIRE OF EGYPT.
HE ORDERED HIS MEN TO PURIFY THEMSELVES IN THE RIVER.
"I SHALL LET EGYPT," HE SAID,
"TASTE THE TASTE OF MY FINGERS."
IN A CAMPAIGN THAT LASTED NEARLY A YEAR,
PIYE'S ARMY CONQUERED EGYPT AS FAR NORTH AS THE NILE DELTA.
TRIUMPHANT, PIYE WAS CROWNED PHARAOH OF NUBIA AND EGYPT
AND FOUNDER OF THE 25TH DYNASTY OF EGYPT'S PHARAOHS.
THE KUSHITES, ONCE THE CONQUERED,
NOW BECAME THE CONQUERORS,
REUNITING FRAGMENTED EGYPT UNDER THEIR RULE.
COLLEEN DARNELL: WE CAN SEE THE NUBIAN CONQUEST OF EGYPT
AS BOTH A HOLY WAR
AND A STRATEGIC EXPANSION TO THE NORTH,
AND OBVIOUSLY, IT WAS A GREAT PRIZE
TO RULE BOTH EGYPT AND NUBIA.
EHRET: THEY'RE RULING OVER AN EMPIRE
THAT RUNS FROM MEROE DOWN IN THE SOUTH,
CLEAR UP TO THE DELTA,
LARGER THAN ANY TERRITORY EGYPT ITSELF EVER RULED.
DARNELL: IN SOME WAYS, IT CAN BE SEEN AS A TURNING OF THE TABLES
THAT NUBIA, WHO'S ALWAYS THE UNDERDOG,
NOW HAS EGYPT AS THE UNDERDOG.
IT SIMPLY SHOWS, I THINK, OVER AND OVER AGAIN,
HOW UPPER EGYPT AND NUBIA
ARE SO CLOSELY ASSOCIATED, IDEOLOGICALLY.
HOST: THIS WAS THE START OF A NEW ERA IN EGYPT
WHICH WOULD SEE IT RULED BY A DYNASTY
THAT HISTORIANS CALL THE BLACK PHARAOHS OF THE NILE,
RESTORING PROSPERITY AND STABILITY
BACK TO EGYPT.
BUT ACROSS AFRICA, IN THE LUSH FOREST
OF MODERN-DAY CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC,
NEW RADICAL TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
WERE LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR OTHER CIVILIZATIONS.
SOMETIME BETWEEN 1,800 B.C. AND 1,500 B.C.,
SMALL COMMUNITIES OF CRAFTSPEOPLE
GATHERED TO STOKE FURNACES, INTENDING TO FIRE CERAMIC.
BUT IN THE LATERITIC AFRICAN SOIL,
THE CRAFTSMEN DISCOVERED A BY-PRODUCT--IRON.
IRON IS ONE OF THOSE INVENTIONS THAT
ACTUALLY HAS A TREMENDOUS IMPACT.
EHRET: WE SUSPECT THE FIRST USAGES
WERE FOR DECORATION, FOR ORNAMENTATION.
BUT VERY QUICKLY, PEOPLE BEGAN TO SEE,
"OH, HEY, WE CAN SHAPE THIS."
WOMAN: EACH METAL HAS A CERTAIN QUALITY--
IRON FOR ITS STRENGTH,
AND THE KIND OF TOOLS THAT ONE CAN CREATE WITH IT.
FOURSHEY: IN TERMS OF CONVERTING ECONOMIES
FROM HUNTING AND GATHERING TO AGRICULTURE,
IRON BEGAN TO BE USED PARTICULARLY AS CURRENCIES,
BUT ALSO IN TERMS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.
HOST: WE PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT THAT IRON HAD BEEN DISCOVERED
IN TURKEY, AROUND 1,500 B.C.,
BUT NEW EVIDENCE REVEALS THAT IRON WORKING EMERGED
AT THE SAME TIME IN AFRICA.
BRADSHAW: FOR A LONG TIME,
THE IDEA THAT IRON COULD BE SMELTED
IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA WAS COMPLETELY DISMISSED.
EHRET: THE NEW EVIDENCE IS THAT IRON WORKING
BEGINS RIGHT IN THE HEART OF AFRICA.
WE FIND DATES OF AROUND 1,000
IN THE LAKE CHAD AREA.
900 AS WE GET TOWARDS THE MIDDLE OF NIGERIA.
700 B.C. TO 500 B.C. OVER IN MALI.
SHOWING THE SPREAD OF IRON COMING OUT OF THAT AREA.
FOURSHEY: EVEN WITH THE KINDS OF TECHNOLOGY THAT WE HAVE TODAY,
IT'S INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO PRODUCE A SMELT
IN THE WAY THAT PEOPLE WOULD HAVE,
YOU KNOW, 3,000 YEARS AGO.
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT CIVILIZATIONS,
AND THEY THINK EVERYTHING NEW AND EXCITING
BEGINS IN THE CIVILIZATION.
TURNS OUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT HISTORY,
HUMAN BEINGS CREATE ADVANCED NEW TECHNOLOGIES
OUT OF THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES.
THEY DON'T HAVE TO LIVE
IN THIS KIND OF SOCIETY
OR THAT KIND OF SOCIETY.
HOST: THE IRON WORKING COMMUNITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA
LEFT LITTLE TANGIBLE EVIDENCE OF THEIR EXISTENCE BEHIND,
BUT THEY DID LEAVE THEIR TECHNOLOGICAL LEGACY,
TOGETHER WITH THE SOPHISTICATED ARTISTIC HERITAGE
UNIQUE TO THIS PART OF AFRICA.
NEAR THE CENTER OF MODERN-DAY NIGERIA
DURING THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B.C.,
A REMARKABLE ARTISTIC TRADITION OF TERRACOTTA SCULPTURE EMERGED.
THESE PIECES ARE HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED,
INTRICATELY DETAILED, AND TECHNICALLY ACCOMPLISHED.
YET MUCH OF THE CULTURE FROM WHICH THEY WERE CREATED
REMAINS A MYSTERY.
THEY'RE KNOWN AS THE NOK TERRACOTTAS
AND THEY ARE SUBLIME.
IN 1943, A FARMER FROM A VILLAGE CALLED NOK
GAVE ARCHAEOLOGIST BERNARD FAGG THE HEAD OF A SCARECROW.
ON CLOSER INSPECTION, FAGG ESTIMATED
THAT THE FINELY SCULPTED HEAD DATED BACK TO AROUND 900 B.C.,
MAKING IT, OUTSIDE OF EGYPT,
THE EARLIEST SCULPTURAL ART FOUND IN AFRICA.
THEY HAVE THIS VERY ELABORATE HAIRSTYLES
AND EVERY HEAVY JEWELRY AROUND THE NECK.
SO, WE ASSUME IT DEPICTS PEOPLE,
MAYBE HIGH RANKING PEOPLE, IN CEREMONIAL ATTIRE.
PRESTON BLIER: THE CURRENT THINKING IS THAT IT WAS PROBABLY
TRAVELING ARTISTS WHO WERE MOVING AROUND
CREATING THESE WORKS FOR INDIVIDUALS.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN COURTS
OR DISTINCTIVE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS.
THAT CERTAINLY MAKES A LOT OF SENSE
SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE BREADTH OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THESE WORKS.
EHRET: THE HEIGHT OF THE NOK PERIOD
IS DURING THE LAST THOUSAND YEARS B.C.
THIS IS THE PERIOD IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY
WE KNOW THE IRON WORKING IS REACHING THIS AREA.
HOST: THROUGHOUT CENTRAL AFRICA,
NEW COMMUNITIES WERE TAKING SHAPE.
FROM 3,000 B.C., AN INCREDIBLE
MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGIES UNFOLDED
THAT WOULD CHANGE THE FACE OF AFRICA.
IT'S KNOWN AS THE BANTU MIGRATION.
FOURSHEY: THE MIGRATION IS PARTICULARLY SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE
ABOUT 2/3 OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA IS POPULATED BY BANTU SPEAKERS.
BY 1,000 B.C.E., BANTU HAVE ENTERED INTO EASTERN AFRICA
AND SOCIETIES LIKE THE SWAHILI SOCIETY THAT WE KNOW OF
AND THE ZULU THAT WE KNOW IN SOUTHERN AFRICA START TO EMERGE.
HOST: WHILE THE PEOPLE OF CENTRAL AFRICA WERE BUILDING
NEW SOCIETIES BASED ON IRON,
THIS GREAT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT
WAS ALSO TRANSFORMING THE CIVILIZATIONS ALONG THE NILE,
AND NOWHERE MORE SO THAN IN MEROE.
BUILT ON WHAT WAS ONCE A FERTILE GREEN ISLAND
ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE,
MEROE BY 500 B.C. HAD BECOME
THE NEW CAPITAL OF THE INDEPENDENT KINGDOM OF KUSH.
WOMAN: IT WAS AN AREA THAT SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE,
THAT HAD THE ROYAL CITY THERE.
SO, LIFE WAS PROBABLY
RELATIVELY COMFORTABLE FOR MOST OF THE POPULATION AT MEROE.
HOST: THE RULERS OF THE THIRD AGE OF KUSH
CREATED A POWERFUL KINGDOM,
EVIDENCE OF WHICH CAN STILL BE SEEN
IN THEIR MONUMENTAL LEGACY AT MEROE.
THESE PYRAMIDS WERE BURIAL CHAMBERS
FOR THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF MEROE.
MORE THAN 100 DOT THE SKYLINE ON THIS ISLAND.
THE WEALTH OF KUSH HAD BEEN FOUNDED
ON ITS ABUNDANT RESERVES OF GOLD,
WHICH IT COULD TRADE WITH THE ANCIENT WORLD.
BUT THERE WAS ANOTHER RESOURCE
THAT WOULD GENERATE WEALTH FOR THE STATE
AND WOULD COME TO DEFINE MEROE.
YELLIN: IT'S LONG BEEN KNOWN THAT MEROE
WAS AN IRON WORKING CENTER
BECAUSE THERE WERE THESE ENORMOUS SLAGHEAPS
IN THEIR URBAN PART OF THE TOWN
THAT WAS USED FOR WEAPONS, IRON BLADES, IRON SPEARHEADS.
HOST: AND THOSE WEAPONS WOULD BE NEEDED TO DEFEND KUSH
IN THE FACE OF A NEW THREAT.
IN 31 B.C., CLEOPATRA'S EGYPT--
ONCE THE GREATEST EMPIRE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN--
WAS DEFEATED BY THE ROMANS.
THE ROMAN MILITARY MACHINE
WAS THE MOST POWERFUL IN THE ANCIENT WORLD,
ANNEXING TERRITORIES FROM BRITAIN
TO THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA.
NOW IT TURNED ITS SIGHTS ONTO KUSH.
YELLIN: ONE OF THE THINGS THE ROMANS DID
IS THEY PUSHED THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF EGYPT
FURTHER INTO MEROITIC TERRITORY,
AND WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT
THE MEROITES STARTED TO PUSH BACK.
HOST: HALTING THIS ROMAN ADVANCE
WOULD CALL FOR STRONG AND DECISIVE LEADERSHIP FROM MEROE.
ONE OF THE MOST UNUSUAL THINGS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF KUSH
IS THE SURPRISING NUMBER OF QUEENS THAT RULED.
THEY WERE KNOWN AS KANDAKES.
YELLIN: IN ABOUT 100 YEARS,
WE HAVE 4 OF THESE TREMENDOUSLY POWERFUL KANDAKES
AND THEY ARE TERRIFICALLY EFFECTIVE.
HOST: WITHOUT DOUBT THE MOST FAMOUS OF THOSE QUEENS
WAS A ONE-EYED WARRIOR NAMED AMANIRENAS,
WHO RISKED HER LIFE IN BATTLE
TO DEFEND HER KINGDOM
AND MAKE SURE THAT HER PEOPLE COULD LIVE SECURELY.
AMANIRENAS REIGNED FROM 40 B.C. TO 10 B.C.
SAID TO HAVE THE FIGURE OF A MAN
BY THE GREEK PHILOSOPHER STRABO,
SHE HAD A FEARSOME REPUTATION
AS A MILITARY LEADER AND STRATEGIST.
FOR 5 YEARS, AMANIRENAS LED ATTACKS INTO ROMAN EGYPT,
PREVENTING THE ROMANS FROM INVADING KUSH.
THESE BATTLES WERE RECORDED IN ROMAN DOCUMENTS,
BUT A FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT WRITTEN BY THE KUSHITES THEMSELVES
WAS RECORDED IN THEIR OWN MEROITIC SCRIPT.
HOST: WHEN DOES THIS STELA DATE FROM?
MAN: IT DATES FROM THE SECOND HALF
OF THE FIRST CENTURY B.C.
SO... DURING THE REIGN OF THE QUEEN AMANIRENAS.
IN THE CASE OF MEROITIC,
THE WRITING SYSTEM HAS BEEN DECIPHERED
ALREADY A CENTURY AGO,
BUT IT IS THE LANGUAGE THAT IS A PROBLEM.
SO, WHY WITH ALL...
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES,
WHY CAN'T WE CRACK THE ONE AFRICAN WRITTEN SCRIPT
FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD?
IT IS A BIT AS IF I WAS
ASKING YOU AS AN ENGLISH NATIVE SPEAKER
TO READ ME A TEXT IN POLISH.
YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO READ IT PERFECTLY,
BUT PROBABLY YOU WON'T
BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT,
EXCEPT PLACE NAME AND NAMES.
THIS IS WHERE WE ARE WITH MEROITIC SCRIPT.
WELL, IT'S ABOUT A PARTICULAR BATTLE WITH THE ROMANS.
EXACTLY. SO, THIS IS GIVING US
THE NARRATED VERSION OF THE STORY
OF THE WAR AGAINST THE ROMANS.
UNFORTUNATELY, WE ARE NOT ABLE YET
TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING.
HOST: AMANIRENAS SHOWED HER UTTER DISDAIN
FOR THE ROMAN EMPEROR AUGUSTUS CAESAR
BY CAPTURING HIS BRONZE BUST DURING AN ATTACK ON HIS FORCES
AND PLACING IT BENEATH THE THRESHOLD OF HER GRAND TEMPLE
TO BE TRODDEN UNDER FOOT BY ALL WHO ENTERED.
SO, ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE KINGDOM
ARE STEPPING OVER THE GREAT
CAESAR AUGUSTUS, IS THAT IT?
MAN: YES. ACCORDING TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
WE HAVE, IT'S, UH, CLEAR.
SHE BROUGHT BACK THE HEAD OF AUGUSTUS,
OF HIS BRONZE STATUE.
HOST: DESPITE THE MIGHT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,
AMANIRENAS' CLEVER MILITARY TACTICS
EVENTUALLY BROUGHT BOTH SIDES TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE,
WHERE THE FORMIDABLE NUBIAN QUEEN
SUCCESSFULLY BROKERED A PEACE TREATY
WITH AUGUSTUS CAESAR HIMSELF.
HOST: ARE YOU TELLING ME
A ONE-EYED BLACK WOMAN
WAS ABLE TO DEFEAT THE MOST POWERFUL ARMY
ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH IN 23 B.C.,
HERE IN THE KINGDOM OF KUSH?
YES. YEAH, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED.
HOST: AMANIRENAS, THE VICTORIOUS AFRICAN QUEEN,
WOULD ENSURE THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE KUSHITE KINGDOM
AND ITS SPLENDID CULTURE
FOR ANOTHER 400 YEARS.
HUMAN HISTORY WAS BORN ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT,
WHICH MAKES AFRICA THE WELL SPRING FROM WHICH
ALL OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY FLOWS.
AFRICA IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF ART AND MUSIC,
THE FIRST WRITING, AGRICULTURE,
AND SYSTEMS OF LAWS.
AFRICA GAVE US THE BLUEPRINT FOR CIVILIZATION ITSELF.
THESE RECORDS SPEAK TO US ACROSS MILLENNIA
AS PROFOUND REFUTATIONS OF THE CLAIM
THAT AFRICANS LACKED A HISTORY
BEFORE EUROPEANS ARRIVED.
THIS IS THE TRUE HISTORY OF AFRICA,
AND IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN.
IN THE FOLLOWING CENTURIES, THE WORLD'S GREAT RELIGIONS,
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM,
MOLDED IN THEIR INFANCY IN AFRICA,
WOULD GROW AND TRANSFORM THE FATE OF THE WORLD.
GREAT EMPIRES WOULD PROSPER
AND CULTURES WOULD BLOSSOM AS A RESULT,
BUT THEY WOULD ALSO DRAW THE CONTINENT INTO BLOODY CONFLICT.
ANNOUNCER: ON "AFRICA'S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS"...
DR. HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: AN AFRICAN KINGDOM BECOMES
ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL
AND LEGENDARY EMPIRES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD,
ON A LEVEL WITH ROME AND PERSIA.
THE HISTORICAL COURSE OF THIS EMPIRE
IS ALTERED BY THE EMERGENCE
OF TWO POWERFUL FORCES,
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM,
AND BOTH HAVE PROFOUND EFFECTS
ON THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA FOR MILLENNIA TO COME.
ANNOUNCER: "AFRICA'S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS,"
COMING UP NEXT ONLY ON PBS.
T AND THE 12TH CENTURIES A.D.,
EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS HAPPENED IN AFRICA,
EVENTS THAT TRANSFORMED NOT JUST THE HISTORY OF THE CONTINENT,
BUT THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
A GREAT KINGDOM AROSE THAT GREW INTO A POWERFUL EMPIRE,
AN EMPIRE THAT STRETCHED ALL THE WAY INTO ARABIA.
BUT THE HISTORICAL COURSE OF THIS EMPIRE,
AND THAT OF MUCH OF THE CONTINENT,
WOULD BE ALTERED BY THE EMERGENCE
OF TWO POWERFUL FORCES OF GLOBAL CHANGE--
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM--
BOTH OF WHICH WOULD HAVE
PROFOUND EFFECTS ON THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA.
OFFERING NEW WAYS TO WORSHIP GOD,
THESE GREAT RELIGIONS ALSO PROVIDED AMBITIOUS PEOPLE
THE CHANCE TO INCREASE POWER AND INFLUENCE,
DRAWING THE CONTINENT INTO CLASHES,
IN BLOODY CONFLICTS.
YET FROM THEIR BEGINNINGS, THESE TWO WORLD RELIGIONS
WOULD BE SHAPED BY AFRICANS, SPIRITUALLY AND INSTITUTIONALLY,
AND BOTH WOULD DEEPLY AFFECT KEY ASPECTS OF AFRICAN HISTORY
FOR MILLENNIA TO COME.
THE HORN OF AFRICA, WHERE THE RED SEA
MEETS THE ARABIAN SEA.
HERE, A BRIDGE OF SALT WATER
CONNECTS THE AFRICAN CONTINENT WITH THE MIDDLE EAST.
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS SAILED DOWN THIS INLET
TO TRADE WITH THEIR SOUTHERN NEIGHBORS
IN THE KINGDOMS OF PUNT AND KUSH.
GREEKS AND ROMANS, PERSIANS AND BYZANTINES WOULD FOLLOW,
EAGER TO ACQUIRE THE LUXURY GOODS
THAT HAD FIRED THE IMAGINATION OF EGYPTIAN PHARAOHS.
AFRICANS AND EUROPEANS HAVE BEEN TRADING
ON THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA FOR AT LEAST 2,000 YEARS.
THIS BOOK, WRITTEN IN GREEK IN THE FIRST CENTURY A.D.
AND CALLED "THE PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA,"
DESCRIBES A KEY AFRICAN PORT ON THE RED SEA,
AND IT'S CALLED ADULIS.
"THE PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA"
IS ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE TEXTS
SURVIVING FROM THE ROMAN EMPIRE,
A TRIPADVISOR GUIDE WRITTEN BY AN ENTERPRISING GREEK MERCHANT.
IT DESCRIBES THE PORTS AND TRADING PARTNERS
HE ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE RED SEA.
ADULIS WAS THE MARITIME GATEWAY TO AN AFRICAN KINGDOM
THAT WOULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL
IN THE ANCIENT WORLD--AXUM.
THE GREAT PERSIAN RELIGIOUS LEADER MANI DESCRIBED AXUM
AS ONE OF THE 4 GREAT EMPIRES,
A PEER WITH ROME, PERSIA, AND CHINA.
AT ITS HEIGHT, IT DOMINATED THE WHOLE OF THE HORN OF AFRICA
AND STRETCHED ACROSS THE RED SEA
DEEP INTO SOUTHERN ARABIA.
IMPORTS FLOWED INTO ADULIS.
COPPER AND BRONZE GOODS,
SILVER, GOLD, OLIVE OIL, AND WINE,
WITH IVORY, RHINOCEROS HORN, AND EVEN TURTLE SHELL
GOING THE OTHER WAY.
THIS CONTROL OVER ADULIS MAKES AXUM RICH,
PROVIDING A GATEWAY BETWEEN THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA
AND PORTS ON THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN.
"THE PERIPLUS" INCLUDES A COLORFUL ACCOUNT
OF ONE AXUMITE KING, ZOSKALES,
WHO REIGNED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST CENTURY A.D.
HIS GREEK TRADING PARTNER DESCRIBES HIM SOMEWHAT ENVIOUSLY
AS MISERLY IN HIS WAYS, BUT OTHERWISE UPRIGHT.
AXUM GREW WEALTHY THROUGH STIFF TARIFFS ON TRADE
THROUGH ITS PORT AT ADULIS,
WHILE INLAND, FERTILE SOIL NOURISHED BY TWO RAINY SEASONS
YIELDED BUMPER CROPS ANNUALLY.
IN THE CENTER OF THE CITY OF AXUM,
ONCE THE CAPITAL OF THIS STUNNING EMPIRE,
STAND SOME OF THE MOST REMARKABLE MONUMENTS
OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.
THESE LARGE VERTICAL PHALLIC SYMBOLS
WERE ERECTED IN HONOR OF THE GLORY OF THE KING.
UNDER SOLID BLOCK OF SYENITE,
THE KING'S BODY WAS LAID TO REST.
THIS PARK IS A MEMORIAL GROUND OF A CIVILIZATION.
OVER 100 STELES, ERECTED BETWEEN
THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES A.D.
AS GRAVE MARKERS FOR AXUM'S ELITE.
THEY'RE TALLER THAN ANY OTHER MONOLITHS
CRAFTED IN THE ANCIENT WORLD.
I ASKED DR. ABEBAW GELA TO EXPLAIN TO ME
HOW ARCHITECTURE ON THIS SCALE
COULD HAVE BEEN CREATED BACK THEN.
ABEBAW, HOW IN THE WORLD DID THEY MOVE
THIS HUGE SLAB HERE FROM ANOTHER PLACE?
THEY BROUGHT THESE STONES FROM A DISTANCE
OF 5 KILOMETERS FROM THE WEST.
AS ONE BIG UNIT?
AS ONE BIG UNIT.
HOST: THIS FRAGMENTED COLUMN, ESTIMATED TO WEIGH 700 TONS,
IS ONE OF THE LARGEST SINGLE PIECES OF STONE
EVER CARVED BY SCULPTORS.
SCHOLARS BELIEVE THAT IT BUCKLED AS IT WAS BEING ERECTED.
THE CARVING PROCESS, THEY
DEFINITELY USED CHISELING.
MM-HMM. SO, ERR, THEY MUST HAVE
USED IRON CHISELS.
SO, THE ARTWORK TOOK PLACE RIGHT WHERE IT...
RIGHT HERE, YEAH. ...WOULD BE ERECTED.
SO, THE CARVING MIGHT HAVE TAKEN
PROBABLY 10 YEARS, 9 YEARS.
10 YEARS? YEAH.
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO MOVE IT
FROM THE QUARRY?
PROBABLY THEY CAN DRAG IT
A DISTANCE OF 10 YARDS
OR 15 YARDS A DAY.
THAT MIGHT HAVE ALSO TAKEN THEM
ABOUT 3 YEARS.
DO WE KNOW FOR WHOM THIS STELE WAS CREATED?
WE DON'T KNOW CERTAINLY,
BUT IF WE SEE FRAGMENTARY HISTORICAL SOURCES,
AND THEN SOME EVIDENCES FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL
EXCAVATIONS THAT ARE MADE AT
DIFFERENT TIMES IN THIS AREA,
THIS STELE SEEMS TO BE MADE FOR
ELLA AMIDA.
ELLA AMIDA THE FIRST.
AND WHEN DID HE LIVE?
THE SECOND HALF OF THE THIRD CENTURY.
HOST: KING ELLA AMIDA-- ALSO KNOWN AS OUSANAS--
RULED DURING THE GOLDEN AGE OF AXUM.
GOLD COINS EMBOSSED WITH HIS FACE AND NAME
AND INSCRIBED IN GREEK WERE RECENTLY UNEARTHED IN INDIA,
2,000 MILES AWAY.
WE THINK THAT OUSANAS' SON EZANA,
WHO WOULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS KINGS OF AXUM,
WAS MEMORIALIZED BY THE OTHER GREAT STELE ON THIS SITE.
A NETWORK OF CHAMBERS LIE BURIED BENEATH THESE TOWERS.
ABEBAW, THAT'S AMAZING.
LOOK AT THOSE SHAFTS OF LIGHT.
YEAH.
NOW, WHAT WAS IN THE CHAMBERS ON THE RIGHT
AS OPPOSED TO THE CHAMBERS ON THE LEFT?
THESE ARE TOMBS OF KINGS.
SO, ON THIS SIDE, THEY DEPOSIT
THE BODY OF THE KING,
AND THEN ON THIS SIDE THEY DEPOSIT
THE VALUABLES OF THE KINGS.
AH, NOT LIKE IN EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS
WHEN THEY WOULD BURY THE KING WITH HIS POSSESSIONS.
HERE THEY PUT THE POSSESSIONS HERE AND THE BODY THERE.
YEAH, THE BODY AND THE POSSESSIONS
IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS.
HOST: 90% OF ANCIENT AXUM REMAINS UNEXCAVATED
BENEATH THE CITY'S MODERN BUILDINGS,
BUT SCULPTURAL RELIEFS ON THE STELE
ARE SIGNS OF ITS GRANDEUR.
WOMAN: AS YOU LOOK UP THE STELE,
YOU SEE STORY AFTER STORY OF WINDOWS.
THERE'S EVEN DOOR FRAMES WITH HANDLES WHICH YOU COULD OPEN
IF YOU HAD THE RIGHT KIND OF POWER.
HOST: THIS WAS A CITY OF 20,000 PEOPLE.
AT ITS HEART STOOD A MONUMENTAL PALACE
ADORNED WITH BRONZE STATUES,
AND ITS GRAND PROCESSIONAL WAYS WERE LINED
WITH GRANITE VICTORY THRONES.
AXUM'S POWER WAS FOUNDED ON ITS WEALTH,
AND ITS WEALTH ON THE RICH RESOURCES
OF ITS UNIQUE POSITION ON THE HORN OF AFRICA.
BUT ONE OF ITS MANY EXTRAORDINARY RESOURCES
WAS PARAMOUNT--FRANKINCENSE.
WOMAN: FRANKINCENSE WAS AN INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY
AND BOUGHT A LOT OF RELIGIOUS PRESTIGE
BECAUSE INCENSE HAS MAGICAL POWERS.
HOST: AN AROMATIC GUM RESIN
PRODUCED FROM THE BARK OF A TREE
THAT GROWS IN THE HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA,
SOMALIA, AND SOUTHERN ARABIA,
FRANKINCENSE WAS AS VALUABLE AT THE HEIGHT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,
POUND FOR POUND, AS GOLD.
MIRE: IT GROWS VERY HIGH UP, ON A VERY HARSH ENVIRONMENT.
IT'S VERY HARD TO ACCESS IT.
PEOPLE WILL ALMOST, UM, GO ON A PILGRIMAGE, IF YOU LIKE,
TO GET THIS AS A VERY SOUGHT-AFTER COMMODITY.
THIS LED TO LONG-DISTANCE TRADE.
BY THE FIFTH CENTURY A.D., THROUGH EXPANSIVE TRADE AND WAR,
AXUM HAD ESTABLISHED ITSELF
AS NOT JUST ONE OF THE GREAT AFRICAN EMPIRES,
BUT ONE OF THE GREAT EMPIRES OF THE ENTIRE ANCIENT WORLD.
BUT THE ROOTS OF THIS KINGDOM
LIE IN AN EQUALLY REMARKABLE CIVILIZATION
THAT THRIVED IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
1,000 YEARS EARLIER.
A CIVILIZATION ASSOCIATED WITH ONE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT'S
MOST ICONIC FIGURES,
THE LEGENDARILY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN OF SHEBA.
30 MILES NORTH OF AXUM,
DR. IRIS GERLACH IS EXCAVATING ARTIFACTS
FROM AN ANCIENT ROYAL PALACE IN A CITY CALLED YEHA.
HOST: YEHA WAS THE CAPITAL OF THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF D'MT,
AND THIS IS THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN
THE LUXURIOUS PALACE OF ITS RULERS.
HOST: THE RUINS SUGGEST THAT D'MT SHARED A CULTURE
WITH A NEIGHBORING KINGDOM CALLED SABA,
JUST ACROSS THE RED SEA IN SOUTHERN ARABIA.
HOST: KNOWN IN ENGLISH AS SHEBA,
THE KINGDOM IS FAMOUS FOR HIS LEGENDARY QUEEN.
IRIS GERLACH BELIEVES THAT SABAEANS
BOUGHT THEIR CULTURE HERE FROM ACROSS THE SEA.
HOST: WHILE SOME SCHOLARS SEE YEHA AS AN OFFSHOOT OF SABA,
OTHERS ARGUE THAT D'MT'S KINGS
ACTUALLY HIRED OR IMPORTED SABAEAN ARCHITECTS
TO BUILD THEIR PALACES, AND IN FACT
RULED SABA AT THE TIME.
FOR CENTURIES, THESE KINGDOMS HAD A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP,
SHARING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND CULTURE.
NEAR THE PALACE STANDS ONE OF THE OLDEST STONE STRUCTURES
IN AFRICA, THE GREAT TEMPLE OF THE MOON.
BUILT IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.,
ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS THE PARTHENON IN ANCIENT GREECE,
IT'S THE MOST ENDURING TESTIMONY WE HAVE
OF PRE-CHRISTIAN BELIEFS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA.
WINDMULLER-LUNA: WE KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE TEMPLE OF YEHA
BECAUSE OF FRAGMENTS OF ALTARS AND INSCRIPTIONS
THAT ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND IN THE TEMPLE.
THESE INCLUDE SMALL BASINS WITH CARVED-OUT TOPS THAT WE BELIEVE
INCENSE WAS BURNT IN, AS WELL AS
STYLIZED CARVINGS OF IBEXES,
WHICH ARE A KIND OF HORNED ANIMAL.
HOST: THESE ENGRAVINGS OF THE CRESCENT MOON CARVED IN STONE
ARE SYMBOLS OF THE GOD ALMOUQAH.
THE MAIN INSCRIPTION AT THE TEMPLE OF THE MOON IN YEHA
DOES SAY IT'S DEDICATED TO THE GOD ALMOUQAH
WHO'S THE CHIEF GOD OF THE KINGDOM OF SABA IN YEMEN.
SO, THERE OBVIOUSLY IS A SHARED WORSHIP.
HOST: OVER TIME, THE GODS WORSHIPPED AT YEHA MIGRATED,
BECOMING THE GODS WORSHIPPED IN AXUM.
BUT IN THE EARLY FOURTH CENTURY A.D.,
AXUM ITSELF WAS ABOUT TO BE TRANSFORMED
BY A REVOLUTIONARY FORCE SWEEPING THROUGH
MUCH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.
A NEW RELIGION WAS FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING
ESTABLISHED FORMS OF WORSHIP THROUGHOUT THE NORTHEAST
OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT, AND IT WAS CHANGING
THE COURSE OF WORLD HISTORY IN THE PROCESS.
THE RELIGION WOULD BE KNOWN AS CHRISTIANITY.
TODAY, THERE ARE SOME 500 MILLION
PRACTICING CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA,
AND MANY OF US WOULD ASSUME THAT
CHRISTIANITY CAME TO THE CONTINENT
WITH EUROPEAN COLONIALISM.
NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
CHRISTIANITY TOOK ROOT ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
AS QUICKLY AS IT DID IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
MANY PEOPLE ASSOCIATE CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA
WITH THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES
IN THE 19TH CENTURY.
BUT HERE IN THE NORTHEASTERN CORNER OF AFRICA,
CHRISTIANITY IS AS ANCIENT AS IT IS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
AFRICA'S IN THE FOUNDATIONS.
HOST: BARELY A DECADE AFTER THE TIME OF JESUS,
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES HAD ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES
IN ALEXANDRIA IN NORTHERN EGYPT.
MAN: ALEXANDRIA WAS AN ECONOMIC FOCAL POINT.
IT WAS BUSTLING.
A LOT OF THE CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS INNOVATIONS
LIVED IN THESE TOWNS LIKE ALEXANDRIA
RATHER THAN IN JERUSALEM.
HOST: CHRISTIANITY QUICKLY GAINED A FOOTHOLD IN AFRICA
AND MANY OF ITS DOCTRINES WOULD BE FORMULATED HERE.
[PEOPLE SINGING IN NATIVE LANGUAGE]
IN MANY WAYS, AFRICA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
WAS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FOR THEOLOGY.
SO, THE MAIN THEOLOGIANS WEREN'T SITTING IN ROME.
THE MAJORITY OF THEM WERE EITHER
SITTING IN ALEXANDRIA OR IN TUNISIA OR ALGERIA.
HOST: IT'S ALSO IN NORTHEAST AFRICA
THAT ANOTHER CHRISTIAN TRADITION DEVELOPED: MONASTICISM.
IN ONE OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST MONASTERIES,
IN EGYPT'S EASTERN DESERT,
PILGRIMS STILL WORSHIP AT THE SITE OF THE CAVE
OF THE MAN MANY CREDIT AS THE FOUNDER
OF THIS GLOBAL TRADITION-- SAINT ANTHONY.
EGYPT IS THE CRADLE OF MONASTICISM IN MANY WAYS.
THE IDEA THAT YOU GO INTO SOLITUDE
AND THAT YOU STAY THERE AND THAT
YOU FORM YOUR COMMUNITY AROUND THIS EXPERIENCE,
THIS IS A VERY EARLY DEVELOPMENT
BY THESE PEOPLE WHO MOVED IN THE DESERT
AND IT IS SORT OF A MOVEMENT THAT WANTS TO RECAPTURE
THIS EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE OF FEEDING THE POOR,
OF BEING SELF-SUFFICIENT, OF WORKING TO MAKE
THAT PART OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND NOT JUST THIS
EDUCATED LEARNED LITURGICAL CHRISTIANITY.
THIS COMES FROM EGYPT.
WOMAN: THE MONASTERY BECOMES A KIND OF
WELLSPRING FOR TEACHING,
FOR THINKING, FOR RELIGIOUS ENGAGEMENT,
BUT ALSO FOR HOLDING AND PRESERVING
THE KEY TENETS OF THE FAITH.
HOST: BY THE BEGINNING OF THE FOURTH CENTURY,
THE NEW FAITH HAD GROWN FROM A SMALL, PERSECUTED SECT
TO ONE OF THE MOST DOMINANT RELIGIONS
WITHIN THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
AND NOW IN WHAT IS TODAY ETHIOPIA,
THE POWERFUL KINGDOM OF AXUM ITSELF
WAS ABOUT TO UNDERGO A PROFOUND RELIGIOUS CONVERSION.
AND THIS MOMENTOUS TRANSFORMATION BEGAN
NOT AS IT USUALLY DOES, AMONG THE PEOPLE,
BUT AT THE VERY APEX OF AXUM SOCIETY,
BECAUSE ONE OF THE FIRST CONVERTS
IN THE ENTIRE KINGDOM WOULD BE THE KING.
KING EZANA WOULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED LEADERS
IN AFRICAN HISTORY, NOT ONLY FOR HIS IMPERIAL ADVENTURES
BUT BECAUSE OF A PERSONAL DECISION
THAT WOULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF ETHIOPIA'S HISTORY,
AND IN SOME WAYS THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY ITSELF.
GELA: EZANA BECAME POPULAR AFTER HIS REIGN,
AND MOST OF THE PEOPLE IN AXUM AND OTHER PLACES,
THEY GIVE EZANA A SPECIAL PLACE IN AXUMITE HISTORY
BECAUSE OF HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
HOST: IN KING EZANA'S CONVERSION STORY,
HISTORY AND MYTH COLLIDE.
SO, THE CONVERSION OF AXUM, WE HAVE A LEGEND OF TWO BOYS.
FRUMENTIUS AND EDESIUS ARE THEIR NAMES.
THEY TRAVELED WITH THEIR FATHER,
A CHRISTIAN MERCHANT GOING DOWN THE RED SEA,
AND THEY ARE SUBJECTED TO PIRACY.
THE FATHER WAS KILLED AND NEXT WE FIND THESE BOYS
IN THE COURT OF AXUM, AND THEY'RE TAKEN IN BY THE KING
AND THEY ARE THE ONES EDUCATING HIS SON EZANA.
HOST: ACCORDING TO ONE RECOUNTING,
FRUMENTIUS AND HIS BROTHER
WERE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS TRAVELING BACK FROM INDIA
IN THE EARLY FOURTH CENTURY A.D.
HIS PASSION FOR HIS RELIGION
WAS SO COMPELLING, THE STORY GOES,
THAT YOUNG KING EZANA DECIDED TO EMBRACE
THIS NEW RELIGION AS HIS OWN.
IN THE STORY, WE HAVE A LOT OF TRUTHS EMBEDDED.
THE FIRST ONE BEING AXUM WASN'T ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE WORLD.
IT WAS RIGHT ALONG THE TRADE ROUTES
TOWARD INDIA, TOWARD OMAN.
SO, THE FATHER WHO GOES OUT TO TRADE
REFLECTS THE CONNECTIONS THAT AXUM ACTUALLY HAD.
HOST: NO MATTER HOW IT ORIGINATED,
EZANA'S CONVERSION IS NO MYTH.
THESE AXUMITE COINS REVEAL THAT A MOMENTOUS CHANGE OCCURRED
IN THE KINGDOM IN THE FOURTH CENTURY.
DR. ABEBAW GELA EXPLAINS.
THESE COINS, MORE THAN THEIR ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE,
THEY TELL A LOT OF HISTORY.
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS ON AXUMITE COINS.
THE EARLIER ONES, THEY HAVE A SYMBOL OF A CRESCENT
AND A DISC.
SO, THE CRESCENT, IT SYMBOLIZES THE MOON GOD ALMOUQAH,
AND THEN THE DISC SYMBOLIZES THE SUN GOD SHAMASH.
HOST: THESE GODS HAD BEEN PIOUSLY WORSHIPPED
IN THE GREAT TEMPLE OF YEHA
AND ACROSS THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTHERN ARABIA
FOR OVER 1,000 YEARS.
BUT DURING EZANA'S REIGN, AROUND 350 A.D.,
THE DESIGN OF AXUM'S COINAGE DRAMATICALLY CHANGED,
BECOMING THE FIRST COINS IN THE WORLD
TO BEAR A CHRISTIAN SYMBOL.
GELA: THOSE COINS OF EZANA THAT WERE MINTED AFTER, ERR,
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY,
THEY HAVE THE SYMBOL OF THE CROSS.
A COIN IS A VERY GOOD MEDIUM TO TELL PEOPLE ALSO
THAT WE ARE CHRISTIANS.
HOST: SEEING THE KINGDOM'S RELIGION
FEATURED ON ITS CURRENCY
SHOWS US TWO THINGS--THE POWER OF ITS SPIRITUAL BELIEF
AND ITS EXTENSIVE COMMERCIAL TIES
WITH CHRISTENDOM.
THE DOMINANT EUROPEAN POWER AT THAT TIME WAS ROME,
WHOSE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE HAD HIMSELF
CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY IN 325 A.D.
THORNTON: IT'S WORTH NOTING THAT KING EZANA ACCEPTED CHRISTIANITY
JUST REALLY A FEW DECADES AFTER CONSTANTINE DID.
HE DID A LOT OF BUSINESS WITH
THE EASTERN END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
IT COULD VERY WELL BE THAT HIS DECISION TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN
WAS CONNECTED TO GEOPOLITICS OF THE DAY
OR COMMERCIAL POLITICS OF THE DAY.
HOST: AND JUST LIKE CONSTANTINE,
EZANA HAD TERRITORIAL AMBITIONS.
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOURTH CENTURY,
AXUMITE ARMIES FORGED THEIR WAY INLAND ALONG THE NILE VALLEY,
INVADING NEW TERRITORIES AND HEADING FOR
THE GREAT CITY OF MEROE,
THE THIRD AND LAST CAPITAL OF THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF KUSH.
FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF KUSH,
FROM THEIR CAPITAL AT MEROE, HAD DOMINATED THE SOUTHERN END
OF NILE VALLEY CIVILIZATION...
RICH FROM TRADE AND SHARING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND CULTURE
WITH ITS MILLENNIA-OLD RIVAL, EGYPT.
BUT BY THE FOURTH CENTURY, ECLIPSED BY AXUM'S RISE,
KUSH WAS IN DECLINE.
IT STARTED WHEN, UH,
AXUM APPEARED AS A POWERFUL, UH, KINGDOM,
AND BECAUSE MEROE ECONOMY
WAS BASED ON TRADE ALONG THE NILE
TO CONTROL ALL TRADE
AND ALL THE ROUTE COMING FROM AFRICA,
TOWARDS THE RED SEA AND WITH THE MEDITERRANEAN.
AND THEN AXUM APPEARED
WITH ITS POWER CONTROL OF THESE GOODS.
HOST: AN INSCRIPTION ON A THRONE UNCOVERED AT MEROE
DESCRIBES AN ASSAULT ON THE CITY
BY KING EZANA'S CONQUERING ARMY.
NOW IN THE REMAINS OF WHAT ARE MEROE'S TEMPLES,
MAHMOUD BASHIR BELIEVES HE'S FOUND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
OF THE VIOLENT DESTRUCTION RESULTING FROM AXUM'S ATTACK.
ALL THE EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT
IT'S BEING DESTROYED AND BURIED.
ALL THE STATUES ARE SMASHED
INTO VERY SMALL PIECES.
SO, WE HAVE A REAL EVIDENCE
FOR SOMETHING HAPPENED THERE,
LIKE PEOPLE CAME, THEY DESTROYED EVERYTHING
WITH THE ATTACK OF EZANA'S.
AXUM CONQUERS MEROE.
KING EZANA, WHO, BY THIS TIME IS CHRISTIAN...
THAT'S WHAT I BELIEVE.
HOST: EZANA DIED AROUND 360 A.D.
OVER THE NEXT 150 YEARS, THE AXUMITE EMPIRE,
EXTENDING FROM THE HORN OF AFRICA INTO SOUTHERN ARABIA,
WOULD BECOME SOLIDLY CHRISTIAN.
IN NUBIA, THE SUCCESSOR TO KUSH,
IT WOULD TAKE ANOTHER CENTURY FOR CHRISTIANITY
TO ESTABLISH ITSELF THROUGH PEACEFUL MEANS.
HERE IN KHARTOUM AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN
IS HOUSED AN EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION
OF CHRISTIAN ARTWORKS.
IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES FROM CONSTANTINOPLE
TRAVELED UP THE NILE AND BEGAN THE CONVERSION
OF THE 3 NUBIAN KINGDOMS THAT HAD ARISEN
AFTER THE FALL OF KUSH.
HAUSTEIN: PART OF CHRISTIANITY HAS A LOT TO DO
WITH ESTABLISHING CONNECTIONS.
SO, IF YOU HAVE MISSIONARIES COMING FROM THE NORTH,
YOU'RE NOT JUST INTERESTED IN THE TEXT THEY BRING.
YOU WANT TO DO TRADE, YOU WANT TO BE ABLE
TO TRAVEL THERE YOURSELF AND HAVE PEOPLE
WHO WILL SPONSOR THESE TRAVELS.
YOU WANT TO ESTABLISH VARIOUS CONNECTIONS.
HOST: THE PEOPLE OF NUBIA READILY EMBRACED THE NEW FAITH
AND WITHIN A GENERATION HAD CREATED
A VIBRANT AND DISTINCTLY NUBIAN CHRISTIAN CULTURE.
CHRISTIANITY THRIVED IN THE 3 NUBIAN KINGDOMS
FOR ALMOST 1,000 YEARS.
DOZENS OF THESE BEAUTIFUL CHRISTIAN MURALS HAVE SURVIVED.
THIS ONE DEPICTS THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE BABY JESUS
PROTECTING THE QUEEN, WHOSE NAME WAS MARTHA.
CURIOUSLY, QUEEN MARTHA IS DEPICTED AS A BROWN WOMAN,
WHILE MARY AND JESUS ARE WHITE.
LITTLE WAS KNOWN OF THIS MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION
UNTIL ARCHAEOLOGISTS MADE AN EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY.
BURIED IN THE NUBIAN DESERT WERE THE REMAINS
OF A SEVENTH-CENTURY CHRISTIAN CATHEDRAL IN FARAS,
ONCE THE CAPITAL OF THE KINGDOM OF NOBATIA.
THE CATHEDRAL IS NOW SUBMERGED
UNDER THE FLOOD WATERS OF LAKE NASSER,
BUT THIS SERIES OF EXQUISITE FRESCOES
CREATED DURING THE EARLIEST ERA OF CHRISTIAN NUBIA WAS SAVED.
HAUSTEIN: THIS FIND OF THESE FRESCOES
AND THE CHURCHES IN FARAS
IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY EXTANT ART
THAT WE REALLY HAVE FROM THIS EARLY NUBIAN CHRISTIANITY...
AND IT DATES BACK TO THE SEVENTH AND END OF THE SIXTH CENTURY,
SO, VERY, VERY EARLY ART.
HOST: THIS NATIVITY SCENE ONCE COVERED
THE EASTERN WALL AT FARAS CATHEDRAL.
IT SHOWS THE VIRGIN MARY IN REPOSE
AND CROWNED LIKE A NUBIAN PRINCESS.
WATCHING OVER HER ARE THE ARCHANGELS MICHAEL AND GABRIEL.
IN THE CRIB, THE INFANT JESUS
LIES WARMED BY THE BREATH OF THE ANIMALS,
AND IN THE CORNER STANDS A FIGURE OF A NUBIAN KING.
THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS OF NUBIA
WOULD FLOURISH ALONG THE SOUTHERN REACHES OF THE NILE,
FROM THESE RICH BEGINNINGS TO THE 15TH CENTURY.
BUT JUST AS CHRISTIANITY WAS TAKING ROOT IN NUBIA,
A NEW RELIGION--ISLAM-- WAS ABOUT TO TRANSFORM
THE SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPE OF AFRICA.
[MAN CHANTING PRAYER]
HOST: FROM THE DESERTS AND OASES OF ARABIA,
A CONQUERING FORCE POWERED BY FAITH WAS ON THE MOVE.
THROUGH THE SPREAD OF ISLAM,
THEY WERE ABOUT TO TRANSFORM THE CULTURAL AND POLITICAL
FABRIC OF AFRICA BOTH ABOVE AND BELOW THE DESERT.
THIS CONTACT REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
IN THE HISTORY OF ISLAM-- A FIRST EMIGRATION OF MUSLIMS,
NOT TO MEDINA BUT TO AFRICA.
SO, HERE'S MUHAMMAD SENDING
PART OF HIS FAMILY AND SOME FRIENDS
TO FIND REFUGE, UM, WITH THE CHRISTIAN KING
BECAUSE HE'S UNDER PRESSURE IN MECCA.
THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE EMPEROR IN AXUM,
AND SO, YOU HAVE A VERY CLOSE RELATIONSHIP VERY EARLY ON.
AND AGAIN, THIS GOES TO SHOW
HOW MUCH OF A REGIONAL HEGEMON AXUM WAS.
HOST: SOON AFTER THE PROPHET'S DEATH IN 632 A.D.,
ISLAMIC ARMIES MARCHED WEST OUT OF ARABIA INTO NORTH AFRICA.
BY 642, THEY HAD DEPOSED
THE UNPOPULAR BYZANTINE RULERS OF EGYPT
AND CONTROLLED THE BREAD BASKET OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.
MAN: A LOT OF PEOPLE REFER TO THEM
AS THE MUSLIM CONQUESTS.
I REFER TO THEM AS THE ARAB CONQUEST.
THERE WASN'T THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FORCED CONVERSION
UNDER A KIND OF MILITARY RULE.
WHAT WAS ESTABLISHED WAS ISLAMIC RULE OF LAW.
CONVERSION WASN'T REQUIRED AMONGST SUBJECT POPULATIONS.
WOMAN: ISLAM COMES TO THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
PRETTY EARLY, IN PLACES LIKE THE HORN OF AFRICA.
IT GOES INTO EGYPT AND IN MOST PLACES, IT COMES THROUGH TRADE.
YOU CAN'T FORCE ANYONE TO BELIEVE IN A RELIGION.
IT'S SORT OF PEOPLE HAVE TO ADOPT IT AND MAKE IT THEIR OWN,
AND THAT'S REALLY WHAT HAPPENS WITH ISLAM IN AFRICA
AND THE PLACES THAT IT TRULY TAKES ROOT,
IT'S THROUGH PEOPLE'S OWN INITIATIVE
AND THEIR OWN VALUING OF THIS.
WARE: WHAT HAPPENS IN NORTH AFRICA
IS YOU HAVE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A KIND OF ISLAMIC POLITICAL RULE
THAT ISN'T NECESSARILY ALL THAT ISLAMIC, YOU KNOW, FOR...
[LAUGHS] FROM A RELIGIOUS STANDPOINT, BUT YOU KNOW, IN...
IN IMPORTANT PARTS OF, UH, ITS HISTORY,
BUT IS NONETHELESS, IT'S A RULE BY MUSLIMS.
HOST: FROM EGYPT, ARAB ARMIES PUSHED WEST.
BY THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY,
THEY HAD TAKEN CONTROL OF ALL OF
THE CHRISTIAN PROVINCES OF BYZANTIUM,
ACROSS PRESENT-DAY LIBYA, TUNISIA, ALGERIA, AND MOROCCO.
THEN IN THE YEAR 711, FROM THEIR BASE IN TANGIER,
THE ARMIES LOOKED NORTH TOWARDS A NEW FRONTIER--EUROPE.
AT THE MOUTH OF THE MEDITERRANEAN,
12,000 SOLDIERS ASSEMBLED.
A VAST INVASION FORCE FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
SEEKING TO CONQUER A EUROPEAN KINGDOM.
THEIR LEADER, A WARRIOR AND BRILLIANT MILITARY STRATEGIST,
WOULD BECOME A LEGEND.
HIS NAME WAS TARIQ IBN ZIYAD.
IT'S SAID HE WAS BORN A SLAVE
BUT ROSE TO BECOME A FIERCE FIGHTER AND GENERAL.
SO IMPRESSIVE WERE HIS MILITARY FEATS
IN HELPING TO CAPTURE THE NORTH AFRICAN CITY OF TANGIER
THAT HE WAS MADE ITS GOVERNOR.
BUT TARIQ WASN'T AN ARAB...
TARIQ WAS A BERBER.
MAN: THE PEOPLE KNOWN AS BERBERS
ARE ACTUALLY CALLING THEMSELVES IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AMAZIGH.
IT WAS THE ROMANS WHO ACTUALLY COINED THE WORD BERBERS.
IT STARTED BECOMING A KIND OF A DEROGATORY REFERENCE
TO THOSE PEOPLE AMONGST THE BERBER COMMUNITIES
WHO WOULD NOT WANT TO INDULGE WITH THE ROMANS
INTO DOING BUSINESS AND BEING LIABLE TO THEM.
HOST: THE BERBER PEOPLE HAVE INHABITED NORTH AFRICA
FROM PRESENT-DAY MOROCCO IN THE WEST TO TUNISIA IN THE EAST
FROM AT LEAST THE THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C.
DURING THE CENTURIES OF ROMAN AND BYZANTINE RULE,
MANY BERBERS MIGRATED AWAY FROM THE RICH COASTAL CITIES.
INLAND, THEY RESISTED FOREIGN COLONIAL RULE,
PRESERVING OVER CENTURIES THEIR OWN
DISTINCTIVE AND DIVERSE CULTURE AND TRADITIONS,
DEEPLY ROOTED IN THE MOUNTAINS AND FERTILE PLAINS
OF NORTH AFRICA.
ELAZKEM: BERBERS WERE TOUGH FIGHTERS.
IT COMES FROM THE TOUGHNESS OF THEIR LIFE AT FIRST.
IT'S ALSO THE DIFFICULTIES IN WHICH THEY LIVE.
THE FACT THAT THEY HAD ACTUALLY TO FIGHT TO LIVE
MADE THEM ACTUALLY EXCELLENT WARRIORS.
HOST: THOUGH THE BERBERS MADE A STRONG STAND,
ONE BY ONE THEIR CHIEFDOMS FELL TO THE ARAB CONQUERORS.
BY THE TIME TARIQ GATHERED HIS ARMY IN TANGIER,
THOUSANDS OF BERBERS HAD NOT ONLY CONVERTED TO ISLAM,
THEY HAD ALSO JOINED ITS SWEEPING ARMIES.
WARE: THERE'S A LONG HISTORY OF AFRICAN CONQUESTS
OF SOUTHERN EUROPE, ESPECIALLY IBERIA.
WE CAN SEE BERBERS PLAYING A PARTICULAR ROLE
SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH ARABS AS WELL.
HOST: ON THE 29TH OF APRIL, IN THE YEAR 711,
TARIQ'S FORCE SET OFF FROM TANGIER.
JUST 9 MILES SEPARATE AFRICA AND EUROPE
AT THE MOUTH OF THE MEDITERRANEAN,
AND ON A FINE DAY FROM TANGIERS,
YOU CAN EVEN SEE THE PLACE WHERE TARIQ'S ARMY LANDED,
A GREAT ROCK THAT MARKS THE SOUTHERNMOST TIP
OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA AND THE SITE
OF A LEGENDARY AFRICAN VICTORY.
IT WAS NAMED JABAL TARIQ AFTER THE CONQUERING GENERAL.
WE KNOW IT IN ENGLISH TODAY AS THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.
FROM GIBRALTAR, TARIQ ADVANCED ONTO THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
AT THE HEAD OF A PHALANX 5,000 STRONG.
ONE OF HIS SOLDIERS IS SAID TO HAVE ASKED HIM,
"SIR, WHEN SHALL WE RETURN?"
HE ANSWERED, "WE HAVEN'T COME HERE TO RETURN.
"EITHER WE SHALL CONQUER AND ESTABLISH OURSELVES,
OR WE SHALL PERISH."
REINFORCED BY SOME 18,000 BERBER AND ARAB SOLDIERS,
THE MUSLIM ARMIES OF NORTH AFRICA
WITHIN A YEAR HAD CONQUERED MOST OF PRESENT-DAY SPAIN,
AND ESTABLISHED OUTPOSTS AS FAR AS SOUTHERN FRANCE.
RECALLED TO DAMASCUS, TARIQ WOULD BE DEAD WITHIN 10 YEARS.
BUT HIS CONQUESTS HELPED ESTABLISH
A NEW ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION STRETCHING ACROSS
NORTH AFRICA AND MUCH OF SPAIN,
WHICH WOULD ENDURE FOR OVER 800 YEARS
AND CREATE A CULTURAL BOND BETWEEN TWO CONTINENTS.
SO, INSTEAD OF SEEING THEM AS WE DO NOW,
AS THE BREAK BETWEEN EUROPE AND AFRICA,
DURING THIS PERIOD THEY WERE A BRIDGE
BETWEEN TWO VERY INTERCONNECTED AREAS
WHERE PEOPLE TRAVELED BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS AS SOLDIERS,
AS POLITICAL ADVISORS, AS CRAFTSMEN, ARCHITECTS, SCHOLARS.
SO, ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF MOVEMENT BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES
OF THE STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR.
HOST: THE SPREAD OF ISLAM ACROSS NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
HAD PROFOUND EFFECTS ON OTHER PARTS OF AFRICA.
TRADE TO THE EAST THAT HAD ONCE PASSED THROUGH THE RED SEA
NOW SHIFTED NORTH TOWARD THE NEW ISLAMIC CENTERS OF POWER
IN DAMASCUS, BAGHDAD, AND THE PERSIAN GULF.
CHRISTIAN AXUM BECAME ISOLATED AND VULNERABLE TO ATTACK.
PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE WAS THE PORT OF ADULIS,
THE KINGDOM'S ECONOMIC LIFELINE.
WITH THE RISE OF ISLAM,
THEY LOCKED THEIR EYES ON ADULIS
BECAUSE OF ITS ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE.
THEY INVADED ADULIS AND THEN ADULIS WAS
TOTALLY BURNT AND DESTROYED IN [INDISTINCT].
BEGINNING FROM THAT TIME, AXUM STARTED
A LONG PERIOD OF DECLINE.
HOST: BUT IN THE 11TH CENTURY, A NEW DYNASTY WOULD REVIVE
THE FORTUNES OF ETHIOPIA'S ONCE-GREAT CHRISTIAN KINGDOM
AND CREATE ONE OF THE MOST SPECTACULAR
OF ALL RELIGIOUS SITES IN AFRICA AND IN THE WORLD--
LALIBELA.
12 EXTRAORDINARY CHURCHES
CARVED OUT OF THE LIVING ROCK
IN THE ETHIOPIAN HIGHLANDS.
ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS
THAT THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.
THE CHURCHES WERE BUILT DURING THE ZAGWE DYNASTY,
WHICH AROSE FROM THE ASHES OF AXUM,
REVIVING THE RED SEA TRADE ROUTES
IN CHRISTIAN ETHIOPIA.
BUILT BEFORE MANY OF THE GREAT CATHEDRALS OF EUROPE,
THEY ARE AN ASTONISHING FEAT OF CONSTRUCTION,
DESIGN, AND IMAGINATION.
BEING ABLE TO SEE THIS CHURCH BURIED IN THIS BLOCK OF STONE,
IT'S A BIT LIKE MICHELANGELO SEEING DAVID
BURIED IN THAT BLOCK OF MARBLE.
THE MOST CELEBRATED KING WAS LALIBELA,
AND ACCORDING TO LEGEND, HE WAS INSTRUCTED BY GOD
TO BUILD A NEW JERUSALEM IN ETHIOPIA.
ACCORDING TO THE SAINT'S BIOGRAPHY OF KING LALIBELA,
IT WAS SAID THAT HE HAD A VISION,
AND DURING THAT VISION, HE MADE A PACT WITH GOD.
GOD TOLD HIM THAT, IF YOU BUILD THESE CHURCHES I'M SHOWING YOU,
I WILL MAKE YOU KING.
ANGELS WERE SAID TO HAVE TRANSMITTED THE PLANS TO HIM
AND TO HAVE ASSISTED HIM NIGHT AND DAY,
AS HE DUG FOR 24 YEARS TO BUILD ALL OF THESE CHURCHES.
WOMAN: LALIBELA IS ONE OF THE VERY FEW
ETHIOPIAN KINGS WHO WAS EVER MADE A SAINT.
KING LALIBELA BUILT THESE EXTRAORDINARY CATHEDRALS.
THEY HAD LITERATURE, THEY HAD ALL SORT OF THINGS
THAT WERE HAPPENING DURING THAT PERIOD.
SO, IT WAS CLEARLY A VERY VIBRANT TIME.
HOST: CARVED IN THE SHAPE OF A CROSS,
THE CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE IS THE MOST CELEBRATED
OF ALL THE MAGNIFICENT BUILDINGS IN LALIBELA'S SACRED COMPLEX.
BUT DEEPER WITHIN THIS COMPLEX IS A CHURCH THAT CONTAINS
REPLICAS OF THE TOMBS OF CHRIST AND ADAM
AND IS CONSIDERED THE HOLIEST PART OF LALIBELA.
IT'S THE CHURCH OF BIETE GOLGOTHA.
HISTORIAN SOLOMON GETANEH IS AN EXPERT
ON THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCHES.
[INDISTINCT] LALIBELA, YOU SEE.
LOOK AT HERE.
OH, LOOK AT THE ALTAR.
OH, THERE'S KING LALIBELA.
AND THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY.
WHEN THEY PAINTED, THEY MAKE--
THE HEAD IS BIG, THE EYE ALSO IS BIG.
YEAH, THE EYES. THEY'VE GOT TO SHOW THE EXCELLENCE
OF THE BRAIN.
AND HE HAD INSIGHT.
EXACTLY.
INSIDE HERE, THE SAME. LALIBELA ALSO IS BURIED.
SO, IT'S THE BODY OF THE KING? EXACTLY.
BUT IT'S IN THE HOLY [INDISTINCT],
SO, IT'S NOT ALLOWED.
HOST: SCHOLARS BELIEVE THAT LALIBELA'S COMPLEX OF CHURCHES
WAS BUILT AS A SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF JERUSALEM.
BELCHER: THE ETHIOPIANS BECAME CHRISTIANS VERY EARLY ON
AND WITHIN A COUPLE OF DECADES OF THAT,
THEY HAD SET UP A MONASTERY IN THE HEART OF JERUSALEM.
SO, THEY HAD HAD A DEEP CONNECTION TO IT
AND A JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM IS THE LONGING
OF ANY PIOUS PERSON IN ETHIOPIA.
EVERY SINGLE THING IN THIS
[INDISTINCT] CHURCH IS SYMBOLIZED.
LALIBELA SYMBOLIZES EVERYTHING TO JERUSALEM.
GOLGOTHA IS A PLACE WHERE
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WAS BURIED... YES.
SO, THIS PLACE WAS CALLED GOLGOTHA.
THERE ARE 12 PILLARS.
12 PILLARS. ONE FOR EACH... SYMBOLIZING--
UH, APOSTLE. EXACTLY.
ALL OF LALIBELA IS
A 3-DIMENSIONAL BIBLICAL ALLEGORY.
EXACTLY. YOU CAN EASILY READ IT.
HOST: IN FACT, IT'S NOW THOUGHT THAT THE CHURCHES AT LALIBELA
WERE BUILT BETWEEN THE SEVENTH AND 13TH CENTURIES...
AND THAT SOME WERE ORIGINALLY PALACES AND EVEN FORTRESSES.
IT WAS ONLY LATER THAT THEY BECAME CHURCHES,
WHICH REMAIN PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE TO THIS DAY.
WINDMULLER-LUNA: THESE ARE NOT BUILDINGS IN THE SENSE
THAT YOU TAKE BRICKS OR STONES
AND PUT THEM ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER.
THESE ARE MASSIVE SCULPTURES
THAT HAVE BEEN CARVED OUT OF LIVING ROCK.
LALIBELA IS LIKE NO OTHER PLACE ON EARTH.
PRESTON BLIER: YOU GET A SENSE OF THE CREATION
OF KIND OF AN IDEAL PARADISIACAL SETTING
BECAUSE IT'S HEWN OF LIVING ROCK,
AND MUCH LIKE OTHER AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE,
IT IS SCULPTURE IN ITS OWN RIGHT,
BUT SCULPTURE ONE CAN WALK INTO AND MOVE AROUND,
AND WHAT IS PARTICULARLY REMARKABLE THERE
IS HOW ONE EXPERIENCES RELIGION
AND THE PERSONAL PILGRIMAGES ONE HAS TO TAKE TO GET THERE
THAT ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS WHOLE TRADITION.
HOST: 12 CHURCHES CARVED OUT OF THE GROUND.
EACH STRUCTURE UNIQUE, EACH INGENIOUSLY DESIGNED,
AND EACH CHISELED BY SKILLED ARTISANS
FROM A MASTER PLAN.
THE CHURCHES OF LALIBELA STAND AS MORE THAN
JUST A SYMBOLIC JERUSALEM ON ETHIOPIAN SOIL.
THIS WAS A NEW JERUSALEM IN AFRICA.
[CLANKING]
120 MILES FROM LALIBELA SITS A SACRED SITE
THAT BINDS THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE HEART OF ETHIOPIA'S STORY--
LAKE TANA IN THE ETHIOPIAN HIGHLANDS.
THE SOURCE OF THE BLUE NILE,
WHICH FOR MANY CONJURES THE SACRED RIVER GIHON
THAT FLOWED OUT OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
ON ITS ISLANDS NESTLE 20 ANCIENT MONASTERIES
DATING FROM THE EIGHTH TO THE 18TH CENTURIES,
EACH ONE A PARAGON OF ETHIOPIAN ART.
LAKE TANA IS ONE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT PLACES FOR BOTH THE ORTHODOX RELIGION
AND FOR ORTHODOX ART.
IT'S A LOCATION IN WHICH MONASTERIES AND CHURCHES
WERE ABLE TO REALLY FLOURISH AND TO REMAIN PROTECTED,
EVEN IN MOMENTS OF PERIL.
HOST: IN CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES SUCH AS THESE,
THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH DEVELOPED
ITS SIGNATURE STYLE OF PAINTING, STILL VISIBLE HERE TODAY.
PRESTON BLIER: THERE'S THAT VISUAL COMPLEXITY,
THE KIND OF SENSUAL POWER THAT THESE WORKS OFFER
THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO LOOK VERY CAREFULLY.
THIS IS A PAINTING OF SAINT MARY.
MARY IS VERY IMPORTANT.
SHE'S THE MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST.
LIKE AN INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN MAN AND GOD.
SO, UH, WE RESPECT MARY.
YOU SEE THESE ENORMOUS STARING EYES.
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE ONE-ON-ONE ENGAGEMENT
BETWEEN THE FIGURES DEPICTED BOTH
IN THE MURALS AND THE MANUSCRIPTS,
AND A MEANS TO CONNECT INDIVIDUALLY
WITH THE WORSHIPPER.
WHAT YOU CAN ALSO SEE IS THIS BOLD SET OF COLORS,
THE RICH REDS, BLUES, AND GREENS,
OFTEN WITH CAREFULLY DELINEATED MARKS
THAT FRAME ONE PARTICULAR ELEMENT FROM ANOTHER.
HOST: BUT ACCORDING TO ETHIOPIAN TRADITION,
A MONASTERY ON LAKE TANA, TANA KIRKOS,
ONCE HOUSED A DIFFERENT KIND OF TREASURE,
AN OBJECT OF IMMENSE POWER
THAT WOULD SHAPE THE COUNTRY'S HISTORY
AND ITS NATIONAL IDENTITY TO THIS DAY,
CONNECTING ETHIOPIA ONCE AGAIN
TO THE QUEEN OF SHEBA-- THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.
AT LEAST SINCE THE TENTH CENTURY A.D.,
ETHIOPIANS HAVE CLAIMED THAT THE ORIGINAL ARK
CONTAINING MOSES' STONE TABLETS
INSCRIBED WITH THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
HAS BEEN HOUSED IN THEIR COUNTRY.
ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL EPIC, THE KEBRA NAGAST,
WHEN THE QUEEN OF SHEBA VISITED KING SOLOMON IN JERUSALEM,
THEY CONCEIVED A SON--MENELIK.
MENELIK YEARS LATER, RETURNING FROM A VISIT TO MEET HIS FATHER,
BROUGHT THE ARK FROM THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
TO ITS NEW RESTING PLACE.
IN 1270 A.D., THIS POWERFUL MYTH
WAS USED TO JUSTIFY A VIOLENT COUP
THAT BOUGHT A NEW DYNASTY TO POWER IN ETHIOPIA.
WHEN A RULING ZAGWE KING
WAS OVERTHROWN BY A RIVAL--YEKUNO AMLAK--
THE NEW KING DREW ON THIS MYSTICAL CONNECTION
TO THE BIBLE TO VALIDATE HIS CLAIM.
THE NEW KING CLAIMED DIRECT DESCENT
FROM KING SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
THROUGH THEIR SON MENELIK, WHO WAS BORN IN ETHIOPIA
AFTER HIS MOTHER'S STAY IN JERUSALEM.
MENELIK WAS THE LEGENDARY FOUNDER OF THE AXUMITE DYNASTY.
BY CLAIMING THIS LINEAGE, THE KING COULD ARGUE
THAT HIS SEIZURE OF THE THRONE WAS ACTUALLY A RESTORATION,
A RESTORATION OF THE TRUE LINE OF ETHIOPIAN MONARCHS.
THE SOLOMONIC DYNASTY, FOUNDED AS
AN EXTENSION OF THIS EXTRAORDINARY LINEAGE,
DESCENDING FROM KING SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA,
WOULD RULE ETHIOPIA FOR THE NEXT 700 YEARS.
THEY ARE CLAIMING DESCENT FROM A HOLY FAMILY.
HOST: MM-HMM.
CHRIST WAS BORN FROM DAVID'S FAMILY.
SO, THIS MEANT THE DYNASTY
MORE LEGITIMATE, MORE ACCEPTABLE.
THE AUDACITY IS BREATHTAKING TO SAY
NOT ONLY ARE WE LEGITIMATE
BUT WE ARE DESCENDED FROM KING DAVID
THROUGH SOLOMON, FUSED BLOOD LINES
THROUGH OUR QUEEN, OUR AXUMITE QUEEN... YEAH.
AND BEYOND THAT TO GOD HIMSELF.
IT'S THE ULTIMATE GENEALOGICAL CHART.
[LAUGHS]
BELCHER: IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY WAY OF LEGITIMATING
THE KINGS OF ETHIOPIA BY TAKING THE POWER OF THE BIBLE,
THE POWER OF THE ISRAELITES, AND ACCRUING IT TO THEMSELVES.
IT IS PROBABLY THE MOST POWERFUL NATIONAL MYTH
THAT HAS EVER BEEN INVENTED.
HOST: TO THIS DAY, THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
PLAYS A PROFOUND ROLE IN THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF ETHIOPIA.
EVERY CHURCH HOSTS A TABOT,
ITS OWN SACRED REPLICA OF THE ARK.
BELCHER: IN ETHIOPIA, THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
IS OFTEN CALLED ZION, OR ZEON, AND THIS IS WHERE GOD LIVES.
EACH ONE OF THEM IS A SIGN THAT GOD IS HERE,
GOD IS DWELLING WITH US AND PROTECTING US.
HOST: AND ETHIOPIANS CELEBRATE THEIR DEEP-ROOTED CONNECTION
TO THE ARK EVERY YEAR AT THE FESTIVAL OF TIMKAT,
THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH'S CELEBRATION
OF THE BAPTISM OF JESUS IN THE RIVER JORDAN.
[CHEERING]
HOST: OVER CENTURIES, THE DEEP ROOTS
OF ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIANITY
AND ITS UNIQUE TRADITIONS WOULD BE A POWERFUL
UNIFYING FORCE FOR THE KINGDOM.
PRESTON BLIER: THE BOND AND THE SOLIDARITY
OF THE ETHIOPIAN POPULATION FRAMED AROUND CHRISTIANITY
WAS SOMETHING THAT GAVE THEM A REAL STRENGTH
AND A REAL, UM, SORT OF POLITICAL HOLD ON THAT AREA
THAT MADE THIS ONE OF THE ONLY PLACES IN AFRICA,
INDEED THE ONLY PLACE THAT NEVER WAS COLONIZED.
THE WHOLE SORT OF POPULATION OF ETHIOPIA
WAS ABLE TO COME TOGETHER TO SAFEGUARD ITS TRADITIONS,
AND CERTAINLY CHRISTIANITY PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THAT.
HOST: ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIANS STILL BELIEVE
THAT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT RESIDES IN ETHIOPIA,
HIDDEN FROM VIEW IN A SMALL CHURCH IN AXUM,
THE CITY WHERE ONE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD'S
GREATEST CIVILIZATIONS WAS BORN.
THE MYTH OF THE KING'S DESCENT
FROM KING SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA,
AND THE LEGENDARY PRESENCE OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
HERE AT ST. MARY'S CHURCH IN AXUM,
ARE THE CORNERSTONES OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH.
THESE STORIES ASSERT ETHIOPIA'S DIRECT HISTORICAL LINK
TO THE WIDER CHRISTIAN WORLD, OF COURSE,
BUT ALSO THE NATION'S SPECIAL DUTY
AS GUARDIAN OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
FROM THEIR EARLIEST DAYS,
TWO OF THE WORLD'S GREAT RELIGIONS--
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM-- PUT DOWN ROOTS IN AFRICA.
THESE REVOLUTIONARY NEW FAITHS
NOT ONLY TRANSFORMED THE HISTORY OF AFRICANS,
THEY WERE SHAPED IN TURN BY AFRICANS,
WHO CREATED AND BEQUEATHED TO THE WORLD
SOME OF OUR MOST PROFOUND CULTURAL LEGACIES.
SALAAM ALAIKUM.
CONNECTIONS FORGED BY CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM
WOULD LEAD NOT ONLY TO THE EXCHANGE OF BELIEFS AND IDEAS,
THEY WOULD HELP LAY THE FOUNDATIONS
OF NEW NETWORKS OF COMMERCE AND TRADE
THAT WOULD PLACE AFRICA AND ITS RICHES
AT THE HEART OF THE MEDIEVAL WORLD.
ANNOUNCER: ON "AFRICA'S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS"...
DR. HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: THE REGIONS OF NORTH
AND WEST AFRICA UNDERGO
A DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION.
GREAT SCHOLARS WRITE BOOKS THAT FILL LIBRARIES.
WEALTH FROM TRANS-SAHARAN TRADE GROWS ON A SPECTACULAR SCALE.
AFRICAN SOCIETIES NOT ONLY ENJOY NEWFOUND WEALTH,
THEY ENCOUNTER NEW CONFLICTS WITH EACH OTHER
AND WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD.
ANNOUNCER: "AFRICA'S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS,"
COMING UP NEXT, ONLY ON PBS.
AFRICA'S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS IS AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY AND DVD.
TO ORDER VISIT shopPBS.org OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
THIS SERIES IS ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM ITUNES.