1 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:12,920 This is our planet. Planet Earth. 2 00:00:12,999 --> 00:00:16,000 It's a planet I'm literally on right now. 3 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:18,480 And unless you're watching this on a long-haul flight 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,160 or while falling off a building, 5 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:22,560 chances are, you are too. 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,760 This is the incredible story of how humankind transformed our world 7 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:29,640 from being a load of pointless nature like this 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,440 to full of modern things like this, 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:36,240 and how it did it using nothing more than its hands 10 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,960 and its imagination, and also tools, and electricity, and the Internet. 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,640 It's a journey that will take me to every corner of the globe 12 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,120 money and pandemic travel restrictions would allow. 13 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,320 Getting up close to some of our species' most stunning achievements. 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,160 And I'll be asking questions... 15 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:57,480 Who are you? 16 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,800 to leading academics, clevernauts and expertists 17 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,160 who will help me unlock the mystery of human civilization. 18 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,680 Why do they say it's a mystery how the pyramids were built 19 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,600 when it's obviously just big bricks in a triangle? 20 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,320 This is not just the story of the planet we live in. 21 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,960 This is the story of the world we live on. Or both. 22 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,200 So join me, Philomena Cunk, 23 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,360 for a landmark look at the world we built together. 24 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:27,960 This is Cunk on Earth! 25 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,800 For billions of years, there was no civilization on Earth. 26 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,640 Just animals, plants and gases getting on and mingling. 27 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,280 Must have been beautiful, but also boring. 28 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:00,480 Until along came a creature that would change all that: human man. 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,600 Was early man similar to us? 30 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,800 I mean, was he made out of the same sort of meat that we are? 31 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:10,040 You know, was it... Did it have a brand name like beef or pork? 32 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,280 Far as we can tell, they were made out of the same stuff as us. 33 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,080 All we have is bones, of course. And they're exactly the same as our bones. 34 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,360 We can only assume that the bones were encased in flesh, something like ours. 35 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,680 But I'm not aware of any kind of brand name that they would have had. 36 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,040 - So it would have just been flesh? - Just flesh, I think, yes. 37 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,120 It would be hard to come up with a brand name for human flesh, wouldn't it? 38 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:35,960 Horfe? 39 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,600 We often assume early men were stupid 40 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:41,600 because they had big eyebrows and said "ugg." 41 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,920 But in fact, they were pioneering inventerers. 42 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:48,160 They were the first men to use tools, 43 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,360 which is something most men have forgotten how to do today, 44 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,080 which is why they have to get someone in, a real man. 45 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:01,440 How did early man make tools whilst walking on all fours? 46 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,080 Well, we don't think that they walked on all fours for too long. 47 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,160 We're pretty sure they were walking upright 48 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:08,920 for at least the last two million years. 49 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,760 So did they make the tools with their front legs or their hind legs? 50 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,200 I don't think humans have ever been good at making things with their feet. 51 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,480 So, yes, it would have been the front legs they used for making tools. 52 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,400 Right. So in leg terms, it would have been their top legs. 53 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,840 Yes, I think they would certainly have used the "top legs" for making tools, 54 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:30,600 or arms and hands, as we call them today. 55 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,720 One thing they did invent was fire, 56 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,280 which allowed them to see at night and kept them warm, 57 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,080 tragically prolonging their already tedious lives. 58 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,760 But they had to invent something to do during the long, boring evenings. 59 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,200 And that something was art. 60 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:53,480 I'm entering a cave, not by mistake or because I'm a wolf, 61 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,600 but because I've been specifically asked to come here by the producers, 62 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:00,920 to look at cave art. 63 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,040 Cave paintings like these 64 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:08,560 are one of the first examples of civilization on Earth. 65 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,560 Don't worry, it gets better. 66 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:17,280 Early cave artists started out painting whatever was close to hand, 67 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:18,680 like their hands. 68 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,120 Then they branched out into stories. 69 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,359 Initially, just boring stories about cows standing still. 70 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,160 But soon they began creating white-knuckle fight scenes like this: 71 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,200 Humans Versus Cows 2D. 72 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:36,760 To a caveman, this was the thrilling equivalent of Fast and Furious Part 7. 73 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,440 Have any of the cave paintings been adapted into films? 74 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,320 Suppose they couldn't get the rights anyway, though, could they? 75 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:48,920 Filmmaking obviously arose much, much later than the end of the cave paintings. 76 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,120 So there hasn't been a cave wall that's been like, 77 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:53,320 "Oh my God, that's an incredible story." 78 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,480 "We need to get Steven Spielberg to make this." 79 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,496 It would be hard to come up with a story that would last an hour and a half 80 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,840 based on just one panel in a cave. 81 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:05,560 Some believe these violent images were painted as a religious act 82 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,560 intended to bring good luck in upcoming battles. 83 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,480 We don't know why humankind was at war with the cows, 84 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:13,400 and tragically, we never will. 85 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,640 In fact, we'll probably never even know the name of the artist or these cows, 86 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,240 because whoever painted this is almost certainly dead now. 87 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,360 Hunting animals every day was a pain in the arse 88 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:29,440 until someone came up with the idea of also eating plants, 89 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,320 which were easier to catch because they couldn't run away. 90 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:39,280 This simple act of laziness led to the invention of farming, 91 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,720 a huge leap forwards, which was now more dangerous 92 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:45,280 because you might land on one of the farming implements 93 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:47,120 that were suddenly lying around. 94 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,680 The early farmers grew wheat and learnt to bake bread. 95 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,840 They also grew barley, peas and lentils 96 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,600 so they could have made a passable vegan burger to put inside the bread. 97 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,080 But luckily they didn't have to. 98 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,800 Because they'd also invented this, the fence, 99 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,600 a high-tech wooden machine for containing animals. 100 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,400 Humans quickly enslaved sheep, chickens, goats 101 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,360 and their number-one enemies, the cows. 102 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,240 Farms became a lot like zoos, except, of course, in a zoo, 103 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,440 you can't pick out an animal you like the look of and kill it and eat it. 104 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,600 Unless perhaps the zoo itself is struggling financially 105 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,000 and the owner's lost all hope. 106 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,320 Humans turned animals they couldn't eat or ride 107 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,920 into pets if they were pretty enough. 108 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,160 Early man domesticated dogs for companionship. 109 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,840 And cats, for whatever we have cats for. 110 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:46,040 This was the first time in history life could be described as cozy. 111 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:51,120 People lived in proper houses, which soon grew to become cities. 112 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,800 It's hard to believe I'm walking through the ruins of the first ever city, 113 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:56,040 because I'm not. 114 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,960 That's in Iraq, which is miles away and fucking dangerous. 115 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,600 But the remains of it look pretty much like this, 116 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:04,440 so you'd never know I wasn't actually there 117 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,480 if I wasn't telling you now by accident. 118 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,000 Today it's just a dismal load of bricks and dust. 119 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,920 But if you use a modern computer to simulate what it used to look like, 120 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,640 the results are nothing short of breathtaking. 121 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,440 Civilization had begun. 122 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,000 Who invented civilization? 123 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,480 Civilization wasn't something that was invented 124 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,520 or something that started abruptly. 125 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:36,160 We talk about civilization once humans started agriculture, 126 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:42,960 once they started building cities and creating laws. 127 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,040 That was something that happened gradually 128 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,320 in different parts of the world rather than just being invented suddenly. 129 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:53,320 Yeah, so it wasn't just one man who wanted to remain anonymous. 130 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,040 No. 131 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,080 'Cause that would be something we shouldn't go along with if it was. 132 00:07:58,160 --> 00:07:59,600 Do you mean we shouldn't go along... 133 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,600 If it's one man who wants to remain anonymous, 134 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,600 there's something a bit shifty about that, isn't there? 135 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,720 So civilization was invented in Mesopotamia 136 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:12,240 by person or persons unknown. 137 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,400 But whoever they were, they were way ahead of their time. 138 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,600 Did the Mesopotamians have any of the same things that we have today? 139 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,960 - Yes. - Like what? 140 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,440 Weapons, jewelry, temples, animals. 141 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,640 Oh, right. No, I meant like feet and eyebrows and that sort of thing. 142 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,040 - Yes. - They did? 143 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:40,280 They had the whole set of organs, holes, bits that work together 144 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:42,920 and bits on the outside, bits on the inside. 145 00:08:42,999 --> 00:08:45,519 So they had the same number of holes and everything. 146 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,080 As far as science is in a position to reassure you, yes. 147 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:56,200 One of their most significant killer apps was something we still use to this day: 148 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:57,480 the circle. 149 00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:01,440 Wheels might look complicated to the likes of you, 150 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,440 but the way they work is actually simple. 151 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:11,440 The circle bit here revolves around a sort of sticky-out bit in the middle, 152 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:17,000 and then as the wheel skin here pushes against the ground, 153 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:22,800 the pressure rolls the entire planet back and away from you, 154 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,400 giving you the impression that you're moving forward, 155 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,080 which, incredibly, you actually are. 156 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,440 The wheel allowed people to travel around trading things, 157 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,920 but first they needed to count how many things they owned. 158 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,600 And that led to the tragic invention of maths. 159 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:42,360 Let's talk maths and numbers. 160 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,600 Were numbers worth less back in ancient times 161 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:49,160 or did they have the same value as now, only bigger? 162 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:53,400 Numbers had the same value as they do now in ancient times, yeah. 163 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,720 People still needed to count things. 164 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:58,760 And did they have the same number of numbers as we do? 165 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:04,120 You know, from 1 to 700, with 700 being the biggest number? 166 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,640 700 has never been the biggest number. You can count to as many as you like. 167 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,400 No, no, I saw a thing on YouTube. After 700, numbers repeat. 168 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:17,240 They just give them different names so you think they're still going up. 169 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:19,240 Do you want me to send it to you? 170 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,000 With numbers going as high, but no higher than, 700, 171 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,200 people needed something to help them count. 172 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:31,040 That's where this came in. It's called "a-bacus." 173 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,960 Using "a-bacus," our ancestors could count how many possessions they owned. 174 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:37,960 It was a short step from this 175 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,880 to the invention of money, in the form of cash. 176 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:45,400 Ancient people invented currency to make life on Earth easier, 177 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,440 but in doing so, they inadvertently invented capitalism, 178 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:50,120 which is gonna kill everyone. 179 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:54,080 Sorry, that's not a question. It's just something I read on Twitter. 180 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:56,000 Having conquered numbers, 181 00:10:56,080 --> 00:11:02,280 humankind moved on to something even more boring by inventing writing. 182 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,880 Was the invention of writing a significant development 183 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,320 or more of a flash in the pan, like rap metal? 184 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,920 I think once writing was thought up, once it appeared in the world, 185 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:15,800 it was unstoppable. 186 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:18,320 So it was much, much bigger than rap metal then? 187 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,280 - Yes, much bigger. - What about acid jazz? 188 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:23,080 Um... hmm... 189 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:25,320 I still would put writing ahead of it. 190 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,336 No, I just wondered what you thought of acid jazz. 191 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:28,640 What's this? 192 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:30,416 It's a cast. It's not the real thing. 193 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:36,440 It purports to stand in for a Mesopotamian clay tablet written in cuneiform writing, 194 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,880 the first kind of writing that appeared in the world, writing on clay tablets. 195 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,520 As books go, I have to say it's quite a boring cover, isn't it? 196 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:45,920 It doesn't even look like it opens properly. 197 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,080 Are you one of the people that judges a book by the cover? 198 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,600 - Yeah, I am. - Well, that's a sad and misguided view. 199 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:54,760 If someone shouted this aloud, 200 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,880 would that have been the first audio book? 201 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:03,720 No. 202 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,080 Writing changed the world. 203 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,120 Suddenly ideas didn't have to disappear 204 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,920 just because the person whose head they were trapped in had died. 205 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,400 Instead, you could convert your ideas into writing, 206 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,760 and then anyone else could come along 207 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,400 and upload those ideas into their own brain 208 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,640 by wirelessly importing them through their eyes. 209 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,720 Incredibly, despite being invented thousands of years ago, 210 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,720 writing still exists today, 211 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,560 underneath video clips that we watch online. 212 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,960 It's here you'll also find another kind of handmade language that still endures: 213 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:41,120 emoji. 214 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:46,080 Or as the ancient Egyptians who invented them called them, hieroglyphics. 215 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:50,000 They told whole stories in hieroglyphic code. 216 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,400 It's like a more coherent Marvel comic. 217 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:56,440 Rather than being put up in public where living people could enjoy them, 218 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,640 these Egyptian comic strips were painted on the walls of tombs 219 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:02,760 to entertain dead people. 220 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:06,480 And those tombs lay beneath some of the most recognizable, 221 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:10,160 not to mention pointiest, buildings in history. 222 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,240 I'm talking about the pyramids. 223 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:13,600 Looking at the pyramids today, 224 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:15,640 it's impossible not to be struck by the thought 225 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:19,720 that they're basically big triangles with a sort of square arse. 226 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,520 There's probably a word for that shape, but no one knows what it might be. 227 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,600 It's one of the many timeless mysteries of the pyramids. 228 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:28,840 Why are pyramids that shape? 229 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,040 Is it to stop homeless people sleeping on them? 230 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,840 I don't think they had many homeless people in ancient Egypt. 231 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:36,000 Did they not? 232 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,640 No, no, people looked after each other, I think, and helped each other. 233 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,160 Right. I suppose it's good with rain as well, 234 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:44,200 because it'll just roll off. 235 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,440 How did Egyptians build the pyramids? 236 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,680 Did they start at the top and work down or start at the bottom and work up? 237 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,160 They had to start at the bottom and work up because 238 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,240 it would be impossible to start at the top and work down. 239 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:01,200 The Egyptians believed 240 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,320 the most significant thing you could do in your life was die. 241 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:08,280 And the more important you were, the more complicated your death had to be. 242 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,480 Egyptian kings were known as pharaohs, 243 00:14:11,560 --> 00:14:15,520 and when they died, they'd get turned into mummies of Scooby-Doo fame. 244 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:20,840 The ancient Egyptians were obsessed with dead people, weren't they? 245 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,840 But they're all dead themselves now. So do you think they still feel that way? 246 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,240 The ancient Egyptians weren't obsessed with dead people, 247 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,480 but actually they were obsessed with life. 248 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:31,840 They wanted to be alive, 249 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,040 and they wanted to make sure that when they died, they came alive again. 250 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,320 And that's why they did mummification. 251 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,640 So how did they mummify people? Talk me through the process. 252 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:46,120 Uh, you'd get your dead body and you'd lay it out on a table 253 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:47,680 and then you'd wash it, 254 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:49,640 and then you'd start by removing the brain. 255 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,880 And then they would cut open down the middle of the body 256 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,600 and they would take out anything that they thought would rot. 257 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,200 And then they would cover it in salt and dry it out, 258 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,960 and then they would wrap it in bandages, and then that would be a mummy. 259 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:06,880 So the kind of spa treatment that Gwyneth Paltrow has on a weekly basis. 260 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,800 Has a mummy ever ridden a bicycle? 261 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,360 Not that I know of, no. 262 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:14,760 But the ancient Egyptians didn't have bicycles. 263 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,960 - Right. - They didn't even have roads. 264 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,200 So they couldn't have a bicycle because they couldn't ride a bicycle. 265 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:21,920 I don't know why I asked that. 266 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,040 I just couldn't think of anything else to say. 267 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:31,080 While the pharaohs of Egypt left a legacy of temples and tombs, 268 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:32,400 across the water, 269 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:35,520 an even more impressive empire was appearing. 270 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,360 Greece, the country, not the musical, 271 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,560 was where the birth of civilization was born. 272 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,880 The ancient Greeks invented lots of things we still have today, 273 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:46,680 like medicine and olives, 274 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:51,360 and lots of things that have died out, like democracy and pillars. 275 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:57,200 As well as these impressive ruins, the ancient Greeks also developed culture 276 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,880 in the form of yoghurt and theatre in all its tedious forms. 277 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,120 The Greeks were into tragedies. 278 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:09,240 In a tragedy, sad things happen like people dying or killing themselves. 279 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:13,040 But the ancient Greek tragedies happened ages ago. 280 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,000 Are the things that happened in them still sad? 281 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:17,480 They are still sad 282 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:22,040 because what the tragedies tell are stories about humans, 283 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,240 who we can relate to in some cases. 284 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,720 But it was so long ago. Why should I care? 285 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:32,560 Well, again, tragedy is often about human situations. 286 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,360 Even today, if you found out that by accident 287 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,520 you'd killed your own father and married your mother, you'd be quite upset, 288 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:41,040 um, just as Oedipus was. 289 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,560 Maybe I'm cold, but I just don't give a shit about people in ancient Greece. 290 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,680 That's a shame. 291 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:52,120 - Do you? - I do care quite a lot. Yeah, it's my job. 292 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,960 My mate Paul wrote a story about a man who got a new potato stuck up himself 293 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,320 following an ill-advised sex game. 294 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,760 And he wrote that in the form of a limerick. 295 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,360 No one died, but it sounds horrendous. 296 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:06,400 Is that a tragedy, 297 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:11,000 or would the potato have to take root and kill him for it to qualify? 298 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:13,960 It sounds like a very unfortunate incident. 299 00:17:14,039 --> 00:17:17,240 I'm not sure it has a more timeless relevance 300 00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:18,960 that might make it a tragedy. 301 00:17:19,039 --> 00:17:21,240 Paul said it really happened as well. 302 00:17:21,319 --> 00:17:23,520 Honestly, he's had such a time of it lately. 303 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:25,319 He really needs a holiday. 304 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:32,559 The Greeks also created a kind of theatre for stupid people, known as sport. 305 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:35,880 They started the Olympic Games without inviting other countries 306 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:38,000 to ensure Greece would win. 307 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:42,560 The contenders at these early Olympics took part completely naked, 308 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,920 partly because an athletic physique was considered a virtue, 309 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,600 but mainly because Lycra wasn't available. 310 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:54,000 I heard that at the early Olympics, athletes had to compete in the nude. 311 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:56,360 So they did compete naked. 312 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:02,280 And there are writings about this being quite an erotic sight in some cases. 313 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:05,200 With wrestling, with all that wriggling about, 314 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,880 they'd have seen right up their bumholes and everything. 315 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,000 Couldn't they censor it for people watching it in the auditorium, 316 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,080 modesty patches or something, 317 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,200 or ask people to close their eyes each time someone bends over? 318 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:20,520 I think that probably wouldn't have worked. 319 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,040 But you'd have seen right up their bumholes. 320 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,000 In some cases people might have done. 321 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,080 Did Zeus really approve of that? 322 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,480 But perhaps the most famous form of wrestling the Greeks invented 323 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:36,480 was mental wrestling. 324 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,080 Philosophy is basically thinking about thinking, 325 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,000 which sounds like a waste of time because it is, 326 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,960 although a philosopher might argue that that time they've wasted 327 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:47,920 never existed in the first place, 328 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,240 at which point you'd probably give up talking to them 329 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:52,000 and open a packet of biscuits. 330 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,240 These are the ancient Greek philosophers. 331 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,520 Not the actual ones, they'd be a load of dust and bones now. 332 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:01,320 Maybe some teeth if you're lucky. 333 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,440 These are just clever simulations made of rock. 334 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:09,440 The Greek philosophers came up with bold new theories about life on Earth. 335 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:11,960 That's why we still know their names today, 336 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,160 even though they haven't put out any new material in ages. 337 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:16,800 Socrates, 338 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:18,400 Pythagoras, 339 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:19,760 this one, 340 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:21,040 him. 341 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:23,560 And this is Plato. 342 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,480 As you can see, even now, centuries after his death, he's still deep in thought, 343 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:30,920 concocting clever theories in his head. 344 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,640 If only we could hold a microphone to the side of his brain 345 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,240 and hear them for ourselves, but we can't. 346 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:37,856 And even if we could, they'd be in Greek, 347 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,160 which no one on our production team can speak. 348 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,920 Plato handed his wisdom on to a student 349 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,760 who would become one of the most influential thinkers of all time: 350 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:49,000 Aristotle. 351 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,160 Aristotle said a lot of clever things, didn't he? 352 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,880 My favorite is, "You've got to dance like nobody's watching." 353 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,440 It's so true, and you can apply it to anything. 354 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,520 Because my confidence is quite brittle at times, 355 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,400 and I know I come across as quite confident, 356 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,520 but sometimes when I'm talking to experts, 357 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:15,440 I worry that, you know, I might come across as a bit stupid. 358 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,120 And when I think of "dance like no one's watching," 359 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:20,760 that really helps me, you know? 360 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:22,520 It's like a gift. 361 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,520 What made Aristotle think of that? 362 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,200 I'm not aware that Aristotle said that particular thing 363 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:32,960 about dancing when no one's watching. 364 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,720 - I don't think he said that. - He did, didn't he? 365 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,720 If he did, I don't know and I don't know why, 366 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:41,480 but I don't think he did. 367 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,920 Is there something similar that he might have said, 368 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:50,240 um... about... something about one's confidence? 369 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:51,680 Um... 370 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:55,080 - I don't think so. - Right. 371 00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,240 Okay. 372 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,520 Experts may disagree over what they actually said, 373 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:07,800 but there's no doubt these Greek pioneers changed the way we think. 374 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:12,160 Did a philosopher ever think of an idea so big it split their head open? 375 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:14,280 Not that I'm aware of. 376 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:17,880 You know how the human brain is full of pipes? Philosophers... 377 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,200 - I'm not. - You didn't know about that? 378 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,080 - I didn't know about that. - Okay, well, the brain's full of pipes. 379 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,720 You know how philosophers have these thoughts, 380 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:31,520 and they try and push these thoughts through these pipes? 381 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,520 When you're having a big idea, 382 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,680 is it best to break it up into lots of little thoughts, about the size of peas, 383 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,720 and squeeze them through in quick succession, 384 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:45,280 or just bite the bullet and force it through your mind pipe in one huge clod, 385 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,600 like gritting your teeth and thinking for dear life? 386 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:53,760 Well, that's a very interesting way of describing 387 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,200 two general tendencies in philosophy. 388 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,680 One, the more analytic style, 389 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,840 which means cutting problems up into bite-sized portions... 390 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:05,920 Peas. 391 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,240 and the other a more synthetic approach 392 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,760 which takes on a larger perspective. 393 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,840 So your characterization is, in fact, 394 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,000 a rather intriguing delineation 395 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,880 of two major strands in current philosophy. 396 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:25,680 - Is that good? - Excellent. 397 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:27,560 Great. 398 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:33,120 Meanwhile, ancient Greece was being spread across the globe by this man, 399 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,040 Alexander the Great. 400 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,560 Alexander the Great became a king at 20, 401 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,800 conducted a military campaign throughout the Middle East, 402 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:46,280 and had an empire stretching all the way from Greece to India 403 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,200 by the time he was 30. 404 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,320 What did his hair look like? 405 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:52,480 I don't know. 406 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:58,000 And Alexander wasn't the only megastar with his own empire. 407 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,440 Huge swathes of China had been unified by Qin Shi Huang, 408 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,400 the first cartoon character to found his own empire 409 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,920 and build the Great Wall of China. 410 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:14,240 They say the Great Wall of China is the only landmark audible from space. 411 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,720 Yeah, you can't... you can't hear it. 412 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:22,960 And they say that you can see it from space, but it's not true. 413 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:24,976 - They've tried. - So you can't see it from space. 414 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,840 Chinese astronauts have tried to see the Great Wall and they can't. 415 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:33,240 They can't see it. So it's invisible. It's an invisible wall, like a forcefield. 416 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:38,000 It's only invisible from space. On the ground you can certainly see it. 417 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,800 That's so weird, isn't it? Is that one of the great mysteries? 418 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:47,000 And do we know if China has a roof? Is there a great roof of China? 419 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,760 No, no great roof. 420 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,560 The Chinese empire was a powerhouse of intense creativity 421 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,560 and philosophical thought, 422 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,720 captured in historical documents produced centuries 423 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:03,680 before the release of unrelated Belgian techno anthem "Pump Up the Jam." 424 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,720 The Greeks had an empire and the Chinese had an empire. 425 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,320 But when most of us think of the word "empire," we think of the big one, 426 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,920 Star Wars... or Rome. 427 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,240 And this is history, so it's Rome, I'm afraid. 428 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:55,760 Its empire rose to supremacy under the leadership of Julius Caesar, 429 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,120 the most notorious Roman until Polanski. 430 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:05,120 One of the reasons we still know a lot about the Romans today is Wikipedia. 431 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,240 And the reason Wikipedia knows a lot about the Romans 432 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,000 is because of what happened in Pompeii. 433 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,720 Pompeii was so advanced, it had its own volcano, 434 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,560 which is Latin for "angry hill." 435 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,920 For years, humans and the volcano lived in harmony, 436 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,200 until one fateful day they fell out and the volcano went off, 437 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,720 burying Pompeii beneath a thick layer of ash. 438 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,760 Everyday life was frozen in its tracks 439 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:36,320 as though someone had magically stopped the hands of time 440 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,480 and then shat dust everywhere. 441 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,160 It was deadly at the time, but on the bright side, 442 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,560 it gave archaeologists a treasure trove of information about how the Romans lived. 443 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:51,200 Thanks to the volcano, we know everyday Romans had grey skin, were totally bald, 444 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:55,920 and spent their time lying around inside their shockingly dusty houses. 445 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,640 But it also preserved glimpses of how sophisticated Roman life was, 446 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:04,720 with creature comforts like indoor plumbing and cunnilingus. 447 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,040 The Roman Empire was years ahead of its time. 448 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:10,480 People think the Romans invented loads of things, 449 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,960 but often they only perfected things that other people had made. 450 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:19,120 I'll say some things and you tell me if the Romans invented them 451 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:20,280 or just perfected them. 452 00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:22,560 Right? Invented or perfected. 453 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:23,640 Test me. 454 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,720 - Underfloor heating. - Invented. 455 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:27,800 Ding! 456 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,360 - The calendar. - Perfected. 457 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,640 You wallied. That means you can't answer the next one. 458 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:36,720 Roads. 459 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:41,960 Well, the roads were invented by Persians and plenty of people knew about roads. 460 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:43,960 You wallied anyway, you can't answer that one. 461 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:45,960 - Oh, right. - Concrete. 462 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:47,080 Invented. 463 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:48,080 Ding! 464 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:49,520 The alphabet. 465 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:53,640 Definitely did not invent it, and probably didn't really perfect it either. 466 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:54,600 I mean, that's sort of... 467 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:56,520 - Gotta pick one. - Have I? 468 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:57,600 Yeah. 469 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,200 Um... I mean, perfected is wrong... 470 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,320 Ding! Anal bleaching. 471 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,640 - What? - Anal bleaching. 472 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:07,720 Anal bleaching? 473 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:08,960 Um... 474 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:13,400 - I've no idea what they would have done. - Go on, give it a go. 475 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:15,776 - I don't know what it is. - It's when they bleach your arse. 476 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,160 - Really? - Yeah. Lighten it up. 477 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,960 Not around my way, they don't. But anyway, I've no idea with that. Pass. 478 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,200 Invented or perfected, you can't pass. 479 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,880 - Bleaching? - Yep. Bleaching the arsehole. 480 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:37,600 Um... okay. Well, I'll say they invented it, but... 481 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,640 Just a few hundred thousand years ago, 482 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:45,600 humans had been living in caves like animals. 483 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,520 Now, following a series of technological and cultural breakthroughs, 484 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:51,960 we were living in cities, like people. 485 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,720 Looking around ancient Rome, our ancestors could have been forgiven 486 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,120 for feeling almost as smug as James Corden. 487 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:01,080 But little did the Roman Empire know 488 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,560 it was about to come up against its biggest challenge: 489 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:08,280 a man of peace, Jesus Christ Almighty, street name: son of God. 490 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,680 Next time, we look at religion and how it spread. 491 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,400 Like memes, but with a whole lifestyle and clothing line attached. 492 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,320 And we'll be looking at two of the most important books in history: 493 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,440 the Bible and the Koran, 494 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,880 and finally answering the question, which is best?