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00:00The Apocalypse
00:15When an entire people are destroyed
00:21Or destroy themselves
00:24The end of civilization
00:27For us today
00:30As we go about our daily lives
00:32It's barely something we consider
00:34We're so sure
00:36It couldn't happen to us
00:38But for some civilizations
00:41It already has
00:56Ancient Greece
00:57From the 8th century
00:59Until the 4th century BCE
01:02Ancient Greek civilization
01:04Flourished
01:05It gave the world
01:09Democracy
01:10Philosophy
01:12And art and architecture
01:13That still dominate our lives today
01:17At its height
01:19The ancient Greek colonies
01:21Reached from modern day Spain
01:23In the west
01:24Through to Russia
01:25In the north
01:26And Egypt
01:27In the south
01:29It was made up of many competing city-states
01:34With their own systems of rule
01:36And patron gods
01:38In the heartland of this civilization
01:42Lay the thriving city
01:44Of Heliki
01:45Heliki
01:48Heliki was a prominent trading port
01:51But the ancient city was best known
01:53For the role it played
01:54In the worship
01:56Of the almighty Poseidon
01:58The god
02:00Of the sea
02:01Poseidon's moody
02:06He is miserable
02:07He's grumpy
02:09And I find that really interesting
02:11Because he is the god of the sea
02:12I mean the sea is obviously important for trade
02:14Important for transportation
02:15But it can turn on you like that
02:18And it can take lives
02:20It's something Heliki
02:23Would discover all too well
02:25In 373 BCE
02:28The city vanishes
02:30According to writers
02:33Across the ancient world
02:34The entire city disappears
02:36Beneath the waves
02:38Its location
02:39Is lost
02:40To the passage of time
02:42The location of Heliki
02:44Is a complete mystery
02:45And it's one of the resounding
02:47Mysteries of classical archaeology
02:49It's hauntingly similar
02:51To the myth
02:52Of another ancient civilization
02:54Lost beneath the waves
02:56Atlantis
02:58We ask the question
03:00What could cause
03:02The total destruction of Heliki
03:03And is Heliki
03:06Atlantis?
03:14The lost city
03:15Of Atlantis
03:16It's a myth
03:17That has enthralled us
03:18For millennia
03:19We all know
03:22The famous story
03:22Of Atlantis
03:23But it goes all the way
03:24Back to Plato
03:25Who tells us
03:27About Atlantis
03:28As a great city
03:29With an advanced civilization
03:30Which ruled
03:32Over an empire
03:33That spanned continents
03:34According to Plato's myth
03:37The Atlanteans
03:39Created a civilization
03:40To rival the mighty Greeks
03:41But they did not use
03:43Their power wisely
03:44And this angered the gods
03:47And this angered the gods
03:47The Atlanteans grew cruel
03:50They grew harsh
03:51They grew hubristic
03:52And for this
03:54They were punished
03:55By the gods
03:55The city was destroyed
03:57And submerged
03:58And lost beneath the waves
04:00For centuries
04:02It's driven explorers
04:03To search the sea floor
04:04Uncovering shipwrecks
04:07Lost treasure
04:09But none
04:10Have found the fabled
04:12Lost city
04:13It's even alluded
04:15Famed oceanographer
04:16Jacques Cousteau
04:18Who led underwater expeditions
04:20In search of Atlantis
04:21In 1975
04:23But there is another lost city
04:26Mentioned by classical
04:27Greek historians
04:28That may offer clues
04:31Haliki
04:32Just like Plato's myth
04:35Of Atlantis
04:36These authors record
04:37How Haliki
04:38Was submerged
04:39Beneath the waves
04:40If we look at the story
04:43Haliki and Atlantis
04:45Both disappeared
04:46From the face of the earth
04:49They both disappeared
04:51Into waters
04:53Haliki and Atlantis
04:55Also share
04:57The same patron god
04:59Poseidon
05:01And Plato wrote the story
05:03Of Atlantis
05:04Around 360 BCE
05:06Just after Haliki
05:09Was destroyed
05:10Could Haliki
05:12Actually be
05:13Atlantis
05:14The only way
05:16To know for certain
05:17Is for archaeologists
05:19To locate
05:20The lost city
05:21Of Haliki
05:22In the 4th century BCE
05:28A period of time
05:29Known as the
05:30Classical period
05:31The ancient Greek
05:33City-state of Haliki
05:34Thrived on the shores
05:36Of the Corinthian Gulf
05:37It's a city
05:39With a rich history
05:41The first time
05:42We ever hear
05:43About Haliki
05:43It's in Homer's Iliad
05:46The classic Greek myth
05:48The Iliad
05:49Tells how Helen
05:50The queen of Sparta
05:51Was abducted
05:52By Paris of Troy
05:53Agamemnon
05:55The king of Mycenae
05:57Commanded the United
05:59Greek Armed Forces
06:00And set sail
06:01To bring Helen home
06:03Helike is listed
06:05Amongst the many cities
06:07Of the Peloponnese
06:09Which send troops
06:10For Agamemnon's army
06:11To campaign
06:12In the Trojan War
06:13Agamemnon's forces
06:15Besieged Troy
06:16For ten long years
06:18When this failed
06:19They unleashed
06:20Their secret weapon
06:21The Trojan Horse
06:22This giant wooden horse
06:27Was left as a gift
06:28For Troy
06:28They accepted it
06:30And brought it
06:31Inside the city walls
06:32With the people
06:33Of Troy asleep
06:34Greece's finest soldiers
06:37Emerged from inside
06:38The horse
06:39And opened their gates
06:41Agamemnon's forces
06:43Could finally breach
06:44The city's walls
06:45And Troy fell
06:47Homer's Iliad
06:49Is a myth
06:50But Helike's role
06:52In ancient Greek history
06:53Is well documented
06:54Helike was the leader
06:57Of the Archean League
06:59A democratic confederation
07:01Of twelve city-states
07:02In the Archea region
07:04Of Greece
07:04Helike established colonies
07:07At Praene
07:08In Asia Minor
07:09And Sibaris
07:11In southern Italy
07:12Trade from these
07:14Created a period
07:15Of great prosperity
07:17The people of Helike
07:20Believed their city
07:21Was watched over
07:22By their patron god
07:23Poseidon
07:24Their temple
07:26Dedicated to him
07:27Brought pilgrims
07:29To the city
07:29From across
07:31Classical Greece
07:32Helike was a powerhouse
07:34In the ancient
07:35Hellenistic Greek world
07:36It was a major
07:37Religious hub
07:38A pilgrimage spot
07:39It was a political seat
07:41It was a pretty
07:43Significant city seat
07:44The temple to Poseidon
07:47Gave Helike
07:47Influence in the Greek world
07:49And they benefited
07:51Economically
07:52From this pilgrimage
07:53As war engulfed
07:55The region
07:55It placed Helike
07:57In a unique position
07:58Between 492
08:01And 479 BCE
08:04The Persian Empire
08:06Launched a series
08:07Of invasions
08:08With the aim
08:09Of conquering
08:09All of Greece
08:11The allied efforts
08:13Of the Greek city-states
08:14Repulsed the Persians
08:16But the Greek world
08:18Was now on a collision
08:19Course with itself
08:20In 431 BCE
08:24Greece erupted in war
08:26Between Athens
08:27And Sparta
08:28By 404 BCE
08:31Sparta was victorious
08:33But the economic cost
08:35Across the region
08:36Was dire
08:37Poverty
08:38Soon became widespread
08:40But the people of Helike
08:43Realised just how
08:44Economically important
08:45The Temple of Poseidon
08:47Was to their survival
08:49They remained largely
08:51Uninvolved
08:52Throughout this period
08:53Of turmoil
08:53For fear of alienating
08:55Either side
08:56This decision
08:57Served them well
08:59As the dust settled
09:01Helike
09:02And its colonies
09:04Survived
09:04Along with the
09:06Temple of Poseidon
09:07And the income
09:08This brought them
09:09And for a city-state
09:11That relied heavily
09:12On maritime trade
09:13It made sense
09:14That their patron god
09:16Was the god of the sea
09:18Poseidon is the god
09:20Of the trade networks
09:21He's the god
09:22Who the sailors
09:23Would be praying to
09:25Before they set out
09:26On their long voyages
09:27Across the Mediterranean
09:28He's the god
09:30He's the god who would
09:30Guarantee you safe passage
09:31And bring you back home
09:32Safely as well
09:33But Poseidon
09:36Didn't keep the people
09:38Of Helike safe
09:39According to the legend
09:41The people of Helike
09:43Closely guarded the temple
09:44Venerating Poseidon
09:46When they refused to share
09:48Sacred items with other cities
09:50He was angered
09:51They had treated extremely badly
09:54A sacred delegation
09:55Who had come from Ionia
09:57Requesting copies of the altar
09:59And some other sacred items
10:00They had dragged these
10:02Sacred ambassadors
10:03From the sanctuary
10:04And some stories say
10:05They actually killed them
10:06In 373 BCE
10:09Poseidon destroyed the city
10:12The destruction was so complete
10:15That it sent shockwaves
10:17Around the ancient world
10:18The story of Helike's demise
10:22Very quickly
10:23Enters into the popular conscience
10:25We first get it
10:26In the writings of Ephorus
10:27We find it in Strabo
10:28We find it in Ovid
10:29We find it in Pausanias
10:30In Diodorus
10:31In Polybius
10:32It's everywhere
10:33The story starts
10:37In 373 BCE
10:39And we hear that
10:41Poseidon is angry
10:43With the inhabitants of Helike
10:45And what he does
10:47Is he uses his tribe
10:49And he causes a terrible earthquake
10:50A tidal wave rolls in from the sea
10:58And completely submerges the city
11:00The entire population of Helike
11:09Was wiped out
11:10In this catastrophe
11:10In one fell swoop
11:11And not only that
11:13But there were
11:14Ten Spartan warships
11:15Which were anchored in the bay
11:16And they were also
11:18Dragged down to the bottom of the sea
11:20So this was
11:22Total wipeout
11:24Helike's destruction
11:27Was so severe
11:28That the only way
11:29The ancient Greek writers
11:30Could come to terms with it
11:31Was to blame it on the supernatural
11:34Poseidon
11:36The god of the sea
11:37Caused the city to vanish
11:39Beneath the waves
11:41In the years that follow
11:45Its location is forgotten
11:46And the story of Helike
11:48Becomes Greek legend
11:50The parallels between
11:52The myth of Atlantis
11:53And Helike's destruction
11:55Are striking
11:56But what actually happened
11:59And could Helike be Atlantis
12:02The only way to know
12:04Is to find Helike
12:06For archaeologists to have any hope
12:10Of locating the lost city
12:11And determining what caused its destruction
12:14They need to discern
12:16What is fact
12:17And what is fiction
12:19Was there any physical proof
12:23That Helike
12:24Had actually existed
12:26Two of Germany's leading archaeologists
12:36Adolf Michaelis
12:37And Alexander Konzer
12:39Explore the shores
12:41Surrounding the Gulf of Corinth
12:42While resting in a village
12:45They sold an ancient artifact
12:47A bronze coin
12:49Poseidon
12:51Poseidon
12:51Is depicted
12:53In a very fine
12:55Representation of his head
12:57Which is a very beautiful
12:59Classical actually
13:00Depiction of Poseidon
13:01And on the reverse
13:04We have the main attributes
13:05Of Poseidon
13:06That is his trident
13:08And the two dolphins
13:10Swimming upwards
13:11All included in a wreath
13:14Within a wreath
13:15But as Michaelis and Konzer
13:18Examine the coin more closely
13:19They make a startling discovery
13:22The coin bears
13:24The letters
13:25Helike
13:26Which is an abbreviation
13:28Of Helike
13:29Helike
13:29This was the first
13:31Tangible piece of evidence
13:32That the city of Helike
13:34Actually existed
13:35Up until this point
13:36All we had
13:37Was the testimony
13:38Of various authors
13:40And the story
13:41Of Helike's destruction
13:42But this
13:43Was an actual piece of evidence
13:44Michaelis and Konzer
13:47Have identified
13:48The first piece
13:49Of archaeological evidence
13:50That Helike
13:51Actually existed
13:53It marks an incredible
13:56Turning point
13:57Was the lost city
13:58Of Helike
13:59More than just a legend
14:01Could there be some truth
14:04Behind its destruction
14:06And could it help solve
14:07The mystery of Atlantis
14:09Archaeologists
14:11Need to re-examine
14:12The ancient texts
14:14Describing Helike's destruction
14:16Could they find
14:18Anything else written here
14:19That might help them
14:20Sort fact
14:21From the legend
14:22A key text
14:29Recounting the disappearance
14:30Of Helike
14:31Was written in the
14:32Second century CE
14:33By the renowned
14:34Roman author
14:35Alien
14:36Buried in his account
14:39Is a detail
14:40That may lend veracity
14:42To the written
14:43Destruction event
14:44A tsunami
14:45Caused
14:46By an earthquake
14:47There's a Roman author
14:50There's a Roman author
14:50Who talks about
14:51The destruction of Helike
14:52And he mentions that
14:54Five days before the event
14:55All the animals
14:56All the rats
14:57All the insects
14:58Went scurrying away
14:59From the site
15:00And that people
15:01Should have taken that
15:02As warning
15:02Something bad
15:03Was about to happen
15:03It's an intriguing detail
15:07But is there any truth
15:09To the phenomenon
15:09Geologist Ian Stewart
15:13Has heard similar stories before
15:15An animal exodus
15:17Right before a major earthquake
15:20In 1995 I was in northern Greece
15:24And we were starting to get reports
15:25That there had been this earthquake
15:27Down in the Egeone area
15:28I spoke to fishermen
15:30Who talked about
15:32Catching the equivalent
15:34Of their whole yearly catch
15:36In the night before
15:37The earthquake struck
15:39And also in their catch
15:40Strange fish that they hadn't seen
15:42Deep water
15:43Squid and things
15:44That were very rare
15:45And one of the things
15:47That we know
15:48Is that Earth's craft
15:49Gets prepared for earthquakes
15:50Stress gets pent up
15:52And there's fluids
15:53And lots of things change
15:54So the only slight thing
15:57Is whether animals
15:58Particularly ground dwelling animals
16:00Could be sensitive to that
16:02And that seems to be
16:03Not that far from reality
16:05The story of animals
16:08Fleeing Heliki
16:09In the lead up to its destruction
16:10Might just be true
16:12And according to the
16:15Ancient writers
16:15The tsunami that's
16:17Submerged Heliki
16:18Was triggered
16:20By an earthquake
16:21But would a tsunami
16:23Account for its total eradication
16:26To know for certain
16:28Archaeologists need to locate Heliki
16:31Only then
16:33Can they begin to understand
16:35The cause of its destruction
16:37The hunt is on
16:39For the lost city
16:40Of Heliki
16:41They turn again
16:45To the ancient texts
16:47It's believed
16:49That the remains of Heliki
16:50Were visible for hundreds of years
16:52After it was destroyed
16:53And many ancient writers
16:55Gave descriptions of its location
16:58But over time
16:59But over time
16:59Its ruins disappeared
17:01And these descriptions
17:03Lost their meaning
17:05The archaeologists
17:06Searching for Heliki
17:08Are forced to start from scratch
17:10Almost
17:12Pouring over the ancient texts
17:15They find a clue
17:16The ancient Greek geographer
17:19Strabo
17:20Recorded that Heliki
17:21Had been submerged
17:23In what he describes
17:24As a poros
17:26But what exactly is
17:27A poros
17:29Poros
17:31In ancient Greek
17:32Means
17:33A narrow passage of water
17:36Archaeologists
17:38Interpreted this
17:39As the Corinthian Gulf
17:40It was a solid lead
17:42For the archaeological investigators
17:44The ruins of Heliki
17:46Had to be somewhere
17:47In the Corinthian Gulf
17:49The problem is
17:51The Gulf encompasses
17:52A colossal area
17:542,500 square kilometres
17:57And according to the ancient texts
18:00Just like the myth of Atlantis
18:02The ruins
18:03Should be underwater
18:04The expectation was
18:08That Heliki lay somewhere
18:09On the seabed
18:10In the Gulf of Corinth
18:11And so over the generations
18:13It becomes this holy grail
18:15Of underwater archaeology
18:17To find where Heliki was
18:19Archaeologists now
18:22Have a rough geographic area
18:24For Heliki
18:24It's clear to them
18:26That it must lay submerged
18:28At the bottom
18:28Of the Gulf of Corinth
18:30But how can you locate
18:32A lost city
18:33On the seafloor
18:34It would require
18:36An entirely new form
18:38Of archaeology
18:39And a new breed
18:40Of archaeologists
18:42The hunt for the lost city
18:51Of Heliki
18:52Has taken up by one of
18:54Greece's most famous sons
18:55Celebrity archaeologist
18:58Sparidon Maranatos
19:00In 1967
19:03Maranatos became a Greek national hero
19:06When he uncovered the prehistoric city
19:08Of Akrotiri
19:10On the island of Santorini
19:13For some
19:15The civilization on Akrotiri
19:17Was a strong contender
19:19For the lost city
19:20Of Atlantis
19:21But Maranatos
19:22Maranatos found no evidence
19:24To back up this theory
19:26And his ultimate dream
19:28Was to find Heliki
19:30If the lost city
19:33Could ever be located
19:34Maranatos
19:36Had particularly high hopes
19:38For what it might contain
19:40He believed that Heliki
19:43Would be a kind
19:46Of a Greek classical Pompeii
19:49That is
19:50Everything you would find
19:52In Heliki
19:53Would be there
19:55Exactly as it was
19:58At the moment
19:59It was destroyed
20:01If he could find the city
20:04Maybe he could solve
20:06The mystery of its destruction
20:07Could he also solve
20:09The mystery of Atlantis
20:12Maranatos
20:14Needs a way of peering
20:15Beneath the waves
20:16To identify
20:17Any human-made structures
20:19On the seabed
20:20He turns to a cutting-edge
20:22Piece of technology
20:23Sonar imaging
20:25In 1973
20:28Oceanographer Paul Cronfield
20:30Is brought onto Maranatos' team
20:33He is tasked
20:34With scanning the sea floor
20:36He remembers his time
20:38With Maranatos well
20:40Professor Maranatos
20:41Was very excited
20:42About Heliki
20:43He said
20:44Because it's an undisturbed
20:46Classical city
20:47That's basically been buried
20:49Under the ocean
20:50And undisturbed
20:51For thousands of years
20:52With all the artifacts
20:54Totally undisturbed
20:55For this grand expedition
20:58No expense was spared
21:00Maranatos commandeered
21:03A Greek navy landing craft
21:05And outfitted it
21:06With a drilling rig
21:08If the sonar scanners
21:10Identified any structures
21:12The team would drill
21:14An exploratory core sample
21:15To see if they held
21:17Any ancient remains
21:18The drilling ship
21:20Was anchored offshore
21:21And it would come in
21:23Out of the mist
21:24And drop the ramp
21:25On the beach
21:26And all the scientists
21:27And engineers
21:28Would come charging
21:29Down the ramp
21:30Like invading the beaches
21:32Of Normandy or something
21:33Except we were invading
21:35Local tavernas
21:36For lunch
21:37At that time of year
21:39The not-blooming jasmine
21:41Is blooming
21:43And the fragrance
21:44Is in the air
21:45And we'd be sitting there
21:46Listening to Greek music
21:47Looking up at the stars
21:49You know this is exactly
21:50How this was
21:512,000 years ago
21:52When the people
21:53Of ancient Aliki
21:54Were having their dinner
21:55And it was a
21:56Very magic time
21:58Back at sea
21:59Maranatos' team
22:01Scanned the seafloor
22:02Hunting for any anomalies
22:03Or signs of structures
22:05It's like looking
22:07For a needle
22:08In a haystack
22:09But incredibly
22:11They identified something
22:13We picked up
22:14Pockmarks
22:15On the seafloor
22:16And they were very intriguing
22:18In straight lines
22:19God generally
22:21Doesn't draw straight lines
22:22So this could mean
22:24It might be man-made
22:25It could be a road
22:26Or it could be a wall
22:27We didn't know
22:29With the possibility
22:32Of ancient Aliki
22:33Lying in the depths
22:35Beneath their ship
22:36The team deployed
22:38The drilling rig
22:38To retrieve core samples
22:40Had they finally found
22:43The lost city
22:45There was so much excitement
22:52Each time we retrieved the core
22:53Sleep was impossible
22:55We had to be there
22:56Because everyone expected
22:57To see some artifacts
22:59Or something in there
23:00That would indicate a discovery
23:02It just kept everybody
23:04Very much electrified
23:06But all they found
23:08Was mud and gravel
23:09After having spent all that time
23:12Drilling and sub-bottom profiling
23:14And then find nothing
23:17It was very disappointing
23:20Despite working through the night
23:23For days on end
23:24There was absolutely no sign
23:26Of Aliki
23:27And with the excavating season ending
23:30Another chapter
23:31In the hunt for Aliki
23:33Came to a close
23:35For Spiridon Marinatos
23:38He would never get the chance
23:40To search again
23:41The following year
23:43In 1974
23:44He died of a stroke
23:46While excavating on Santorini
23:48He is buried
23:49At the site
23:51The location of the lost city of Aliki
23:54Remained a mystery
23:55For now
23:57Archaeologist professor
24:07Dora Katsunapoulou
24:08Grew up on the shores
24:10Of the Corinthian Gulf
24:11Close to where Heliki
24:13Was said to be located
24:14She is well acquainted
24:16With the legend
24:17Of the ancient city's destruction
24:20People who are raised
24:22In the region
24:22They all hear
24:24About this story
24:25Because Aliki
24:26Was the most important city
24:28In the region
24:29When I was a child
24:31I was always dreaming
24:33Of becoming an archaeologist
24:35Someday
24:36In order to
24:38Try and find
24:40This famous lost site
24:42So it was
24:43A childhood dream
24:45I would say
24:46In 1988
24:48Katsunapoulou
24:49Assembles a team
24:50And begins turning her dream
24:52Into a reality
24:54She picks up
24:56Where Maranatos left off
24:57Using sonar scanners
24:59To map the bottom
25:00Of the Gulf of Corinth
25:02Soon
25:04The sonar picks up
25:05Something intriguing
25:07In one location
25:09We found
25:12Remains of something
25:14That looks like
25:16Being man-made
25:18It's something that has to do
25:20With installations of a port
25:22And in another location
25:24In a greater depth
25:25We may have
25:27Remains of
25:29Some wrecks
25:30Of ships
25:32Analyzing the sonar readout
25:35Was a man now familiar
25:36With the region
25:37Oceanographer
25:38Paul Cronfield
25:40We saw ten of these features
25:44Ten parabolic type features
25:46Under the seabed
25:47It was very exciting
25:49According to Alien
25:52The Roman writer
25:53The night that Aliki
25:55Was destroyed
25:56There were ten Spartan
25:58Ships at anchor
26:00In Aliki's port
26:01For Katsunopoulou
26:03It was starting to look like
26:05They'd uncovered
26:06An ancient port
26:07If they could identify
26:10The ten shapes
26:10Shown on the sonar scans
26:12As the ten sunken
26:14Spartan warships
26:15Told in the Aliki legend
26:17Then surely
26:18They'd have finally
26:20Located the lost city
26:22But sonar scans alone
26:25Aren't proof
26:26To be sure
26:27The team needs to dive
26:28And examine the structure
26:30But here
26:32They run into a problem
26:34The Corinthian gulf
26:39Particularly in this area
26:41Is very muddy
26:42And when divers go down
26:45As soon as they move
26:48Toward the target
26:49It's you know
26:50A real cloud of mud
26:52That is raised
26:53In front of them
26:54So they cannot really see
26:55It's a very difficult
26:56Sea to explore
26:57The muddy conditions
27:00On the seabed
27:01Make it impossible
27:02To identify
27:03These structures
27:04For certain
27:05Still
27:06Katsunopoulou
27:07Has a hunch
27:08These underwater features
27:10Represent
27:11The ancient port
27:12Of Aliki
27:13But how to be sure
27:15She needs a way
27:17Of narrowing down
27:18The search area
27:19Were there any clues
27:21That located
27:22That located Aliki
27:22Near these sonar heads
27:24Katsunopoulou
27:33Returns to the ancient texts
27:36Reading the work
27:38Of the ancient Greek geographer
27:40Pausanias
27:41She comes across something
27:43A description of Aliki
27:45In relation
27:46To the neighbouring town
27:48Egeon
27:49Crucially
27:50It mentions a distance
27:53One says that Aliki
27:56Is 40 states
27:59That is 7 km
28:01East of the city
28:04Of Egeon
28:04Going further east
28:07He also comes
28:09To another monument
28:11In the area
28:12Which is known
28:13As the cave
28:15Of Heracles
28:17Vuraikos
28:18And he gives us
28:20A distance
28:21Of Aliki
28:22From the cave
28:23Of about
28:245.5 km
28:26It's said
28:28That the people
28:28Of Aliki
28:29Came there
28:30To leave offerings
28:31To the demigod
28:32Heracles
28:32The location
28:35Of the cave
28:35Is still known
28:36Today
28:37It's a key clue
28:40For professor
28:41Katsunopoulou
28:42If Aliki
28:43Is within 7 km
28:44Of the town
28:45Of Egeon
28:46And 5.5 km
28:48Of the cave
28:49Of Heracles
28:50Then the lost city
28:51Must lie
28:53In the area
28:54Where these measurements
28:55Cross over
28:56The port features
28:58That Katsunopoulou
28:59Uncovered
29:00Are well within
29:01This region
29:01They match
29:03The location
29:04Of the ancient
29:05Geographical texts
29:07But despite
29:08Repeated sonar scanning
29:10All they could find
29:11Was evidence
29:13Of a port
29:14Why wasn't
29:16The rest of the city
29:16Visible
29:17On the sonar scans
29:18Katsunopoulou
29:24Looks again
29:25To the ancient
29:25Descriptions
29:26Of Aliki's destruction
29:27These texts
29:30Had been studied
29:31Again and again
29:32By archaeologists
29:33Before her
29:34But Katsunopoulou
29:36Has an advantage
29:37She can read
29:39These works
29:39In ancient Greek
29:41As they were written
29:42Had any clues
29:45Been lost in translation
29:47As she pours over
29:49The ancient writings
29:50Of Strabo
29:50She realises
29:52Incredibly
29:53This might be
29:54The case
29:55It all hinged
29:57On the meaning
29:58Of the word
29:58Poros
30:00The body of water
30:01The body of water
30:01That Heliki
30:02Was said to have
30:03Been submerged in
30:04Poros
30:06In ancient Greek
30:08Means
30:09A narrow passage
30:11Of water
30:12But most
30:13Archaeologists
30:15Had interpreted
30:16This as the
30:17Corinthian Gulf
30:17Which was absolutely
30:19Wrong
30:20Because the ancient
30:22Sources knew
30:23The Corinthian Gulf
30:24By name
30:25So they could
30:27Mention the Corinthian Gulf
30:28They didn't have
30:29A reason to say
30:30Poros
30:31Now what
30:33Poros would mean
30:35In my interpretation
30:36Was an inland
30:39Lagoon or lake
30:40According to professor
30:44Katsunapulu's research
30:45The lost city of Heliki
30:46Wasn't at the bottom
30:47Of the Gulf of Corinth
30:49After all
30:49But had been submerged
30:51In an inland
30:53Lagoon
30:54It's a blow
30:57For those hoping
30:58Heliki is Atlantis
31:00Plato's mythological city
31:02Had been submerged
31:03And lost to the sea floor
31:05Not a lagoon
31:07But still
31:09In the search
31:10For Heliki
31:10It's an incredible
31:12Breakthrough
31:12It was beginning
31:15To make sense
31:16Why Katsunapulu's
31:17Sonar scans
31:18Only showed a port
31:20Not the rest
31:21Of the city
31:22There was only one problem
31:26If you're thinking
31:27About this as a lagoon
31:28There isn't a lagoon
31:29There now
31:29There's just
31:30Solid land
31:31So
31:31So where was
31:32The Poros
31:33Okay
31:37Then I thought
31:38Since we have
31:40A Poros
31:41That is
31:41An inland lagoon
31:43Then the ruins
31:44Of the city
31:45Should lie
31:46Under this lagoon
31:47Because this lagoon
31:49Covered up
31:51Actually
31:51The destroyed city
31:54But at the point
31:57Where the sonar scans
31:58Had identified a port
31:59There was no lagoon
32:01Only dry land
32:03But all of Katsunapulu's
32:05Evidence
32:06Pointed to Heliki
32:07Being here
32:08Was it possible
32:10That the lagoon
32:11Had dried up
32:12The fact that you
32:14Have a feature
32:15Close to the shore
32:16That may belong
32:17To a port
32:18That shows to you
32:19That the city
32:20Is on land
32:21So we said
32:22Okay
32:22We checked it out
32:24It's nothing in the sea
32:25We have now
32:25To prepare
32:26For starting on land
32:28Katsunapulu
32:30Steps ashore
32:31Was there any evidence
32:32That this area
32:33Had once been
32:34Underwater
32:35If she could find any
32:37Then she would be
32:39One step closer
32:40To locating
32:40The lost city
32:41Of Heliki
32:43Among the trees
32:47On a farm
32:48Just outside
32:49The town
32:49Of Rizomulus
32:50Katsunapulu
32:51Katsunapulu
32:52Notices something
32:53Unusual
32:54A bridge
32:55But no river
32:56Examining the geology
32:58Of the surrounding area
33:00It becomes clear
33:01This bridge
33:02Wasn't always
33:03Over dry land
33:04Over millions of years
33:07The craggy mountains
33:08Further inland
33:09Have been eaten away
33:11By rivers
33:12Coursing through them
33:13As the rivers
33:15Make their way
33:15To the coast
33:16They carry with them
33:17The huge amount
33:18Of rocks
33:19And debris
33:20One of the things
33:21That really impressed me
33:22Was the sheer amount
33:24Of material
33:24That was coming
33:25From the mountainside
33:26Those rivers
33:27That were coming through
33:28Bringing huge amounts
33:29Of debris down
33:30And spreading it
33:30Across the coastline
33:31So this was
33:32One of the most
33:33Dynamic landscapes
33:34I'd ever encountered
33:35Each winter
33:37The rivers break
33:38Their banks
33:39And deposit sediment
33:40Across the entire plain
33:42It explains why
33:45The bridge is now
33:46Over dry land
33:47That bridge was
33:49At one point
33:50Over a river
33:51And it's no longer
33:52Over a river
33:53The river's
33:53About 500 metres away
33:54So that tells us
33:56That the rivers
33:57Have changed
33:57Since the classical time
33:58As the sediment
34:00Builds
34:01Year after year
34:02The rivers
34:03Gradually become
34:04Silted up
34:05And the water
34:06Changes course
34:07The bridge
34:09Is a feature
34:11That has to do
34:13With the
34:14Geomorphological
34:17Changes
34:18Of the plain
34:19Actually the bridge
34:21Is evidence
34:22For the shift
34:24Of the river
34:26For Katanopoulou
34:28It's a profound
34:29Realisation
34:30The lost city
34:31Of Haliki
34:32Was submerged
34:33In a lagoon
34:34But all her evidence
34:36Pointed to the location
34:37Being on dry land
34:38Katanopoulou
34:41Suspects
34:42A lagoon
34:42Was once here
34:43But had silted up
34:45Over time
34:46The lagoon
34:48The lagoon
34:48Had completely
34:50Been silted up
34:51Been silted over
34:52By the sediments
34:54Brought down
34:55By the rivers
34:56And that's why
34:57Today
34:57You do not see
34:59Any lagoon
35:00In the area
35:01The lagoon
35:03Of course
35:04It is buried
35:04Under the dry land
35:06Today
35:07The ancient texts
35:09The ancient texts
35:09The sonar scans
35:11The existence
35:12Of a lagoon
35:13All pointed to Haliki
35:15Being under this plain
35:16But to know for certain
35:19Her team
35:20Will need to break ground
35:22Katsanopoulou
35:29And her team
35:30Conduct a series
35:31Of extensive
35:32Surface surveys
35:33Along the coastal plain
35:35They drill boreholes
35:37Down to a depth
35:38Of 15 metres
35:39And examine the samples
35:41For any signs
35:42Of ancient life
35:43In 1993
35:45They find some
35:46Pieces
35:48Of pottery
35:49Inside these soil samples
35:52Were found
35:54The first
35:55Pottery fragments
35:57Until then
35:58Nothing was known
36:00From this area
36:01Even to find
36:03Some first
36:04Small pottery fragments
36:06It was
36:07Something to rejoice at
36:10For Katsanopoulou
36:14These finds
36:15Indicate an ancient settlement
36:16As likely to exist
36:18Beneath their feet
36:19Could these be
36:22The ruins of Haliki
36:23The team
36:25Prepares to excavate
36:27But before the
36:32Archaeologists
36:33Can start
36:34They are woken
36:35In the night
36:36By a horrific noise
36:38We were conducting
36:40Our first excavation
36:42In the area
36:42When this earthquake
36:44Happened
36:45The Aegean
36:46Earthquake
36:46Of 1995
36:48We were very much
36:51Alarmed
36:52Because you know
36:53That happened
36:54Early in the morning
36:55Of course
36:57Living through
36:58An earthquake event
36:59It's
37:01It's something
37:02Dramatical
37:02And terrifying
37:04When the dust
37:07From the earthquake
37:08Settles
37:08Katsanopoulou's team
37:10Finally break ground
37:12Here they uncover
37:13The remains
37:14Of an ancient building
37:16Haliki was destroyed
37:18In 373 BCE
37:21During the classical period
37:23But frustratingly
37:26The remains
37:27Uncovered
37:27Are Roman
37:28They date
37:30From a far
37:31Later period
37:32In history
37:32But for Katsanopoulou
37:35It proves
37:36They're on the right track
37:37For me
37:39It was very important
37:41Because that proved
37:43For good
37:44That there is
37:47Ancient occupation
37:49In this plain
37:51And you have
37:53The real evidence
37:54In front of your eyes
37:55You have a building
37:56As more excavations
37:59Are conducted
38:00It becomes clear
38:01That the site
38:02Held a very long
38:03Occupation history
38:04It's promising news
38:06But to edge closer
38:08To proving
38:09This is Haliki
38:10Katsanopoulou's team
38:12Need to uncover
38:13Evidence
38:14That this site
38:15Was inhabited
38:16During the classical period
38:18In the foundation trench
38:22Of this building
38:23We discovered
38:25A nice group
38:26Of pottery fragments
38:28From earlier periods
38:30Like classical
38:32And even earlier
38:34Going back
38:35To the 8th century BC
38:37That showed to us
38:39That we were
38:41In the right track
38:42We were in the right area
38:44The wealth of finds
38:47Uncovered
38:48Indicate
38:48That a significant
38:50Prosperous ancient city
38:51Once existed here
38:53But although the team
38:55Have found traces
38:55Of settlements
38:56From the Roman
38:57The early Bronze Age
38:59And Haladic periods
39:01They haven't found
39:02Any structures
39:03From the classical period
39:05The era
39:06That Haliki existed in
39:09Until Professor Katsanopoulou's team
39:17Make a discovery
39:18In 2001
39:20Beneath an olive grove
39:23They uncover
39:24A series of structures
39:25Teeming
39:26With artefacts
39:28When they date them
39:29It becomes clear
39:31They've hit the jackpot
39:33We can't date
39:35These buildings
39:35As classical
39:36Because of the finds
39:38That is pottery
39:39Coins
39:40And other
39:40That date
39:42To the 4th century BC
39:44The artefacts
39:46Fit the time frame
39:48For the story
39:49Of Haliki's destruction
39:50And as Katsanopoulou
39:52Sifts through the remains
39:53She comes across
39:55A timely reminder
39:56That people
39:58Once lived here
39:59An object
40:00Which appears to be
40:01A family heirloom
40:03One of the most
40:05Special finds
40:06Is the terracotta
40:08Painted head
40:09Of a female idol
40:11Which actually
40:13Chronologically
40:14Is not classical
40:17Is earlier than classical
40:19Because this is
40:20A 6th century BC
40:23Find
40:24And obviously
40:26This belonged
40:28To the people
40:29Who owned
40:30This building
40:31And this was something
40:32Like they had
40:34Inherited
40:35From one generation
40:38To the other
40:39And was still
40:40Remaining in this building
40:42In 373 BC
40:43Finally
40:47Professor Katsanopoulou
40:49Has proof
40:50That a large city
40:51Existed here
40:52In 373 BCE
40:55The year that Haliki
40:57Is said to have been
40:58Destroyed
40:59By a tsunami
41:00Had Katsanopoulou
41:02Finally
41:03Uncovered
41:04The lost city
41:05The ancient ruins
41:07Her team have uncovered
41:08Match the historical
41:10And geographical
41:11Descriptions
41:11Remains perfectly
41:13But a key question
41:15Remains unanswered
41:16Was there any proof
41:17That this site
41:18Had been destroyed
41:19By a tsunami
41:20And submerged
41:22In a lagoon
41:23Without this
41:25It's impossible
41:26To know
41:27For certain
41:28Whether the lost city
41:30Of Haliki
41:30Had finally
41:31Been found
41:33If these ruins
41:39Had once lay
41:40Underwater
41:41Then the remains
41:42Of aquatic life
41:43Might still be present
41:45Katsanopoulou's team
41:48Re-examine the soil
41:49Brought up by borehole
41:50Drillings
41:51Across the region
41:52When they analyse
41:54The sediment samples
41:55They make
41:56An important discovery
41:58Evidence of microscopic organisms
42:01Usually found
42:02In a marine environment
42:04You have organisms
42:06In these soil samples
42:07That show
42:08That the environment
42:10In which they are found
42:12Is definitely
42:14A lagoonal environment
42:16These ruins
42:18Were once submerged
42:19In a lagoon
42:20Just as the ancient accounts
42:22Of the destruction
42:22Of Haliki described
42:24For Katsanopoulou
42:26She has proof
42:28That these ruins
42:29Are the lost city
42:31Of Haliki
42:32It's an incredible moment
42:34Finding something
42:37That for over a century
42:39Was an unresolved problem
42:43For archaeology
42:44Was a major moment
42:46It's an amazing feeling
42:49That it is difficult
42:50To describe
42:51It is a life's work
42:53For me
42:54Could these ruins
42:56Finally reveal
42:57The truth
42:58Behind one of the ancient
42:59World's greatest mysteries
43:01What actually caused
43:03The destruction
43:04Of Haliki
43:06According to the ancient texts
43:13Poseidon was angry
43:14With the inhabitants
43:15Of Haliki
43:16And caused an earthquake
43:18Which triggered a tsunami
43:20That overwhelmed
43:21And submerged the city
43:23But was a tsunami
43:25Actually responsible
43:26For the eradication
43:28Of Haliki
43:29As Katsanopoulou's team
43:31Examined the ruins
43:32They found clear evidence
43:35That the structures
43:36Had been destroyed
43:37And crucially
43:38The destruction pattern
43:40Pointed to a great wave
43:42In two different locations
43:45Have been found
43:46Classical remains
43:48Of buildings
43:50Destroyed
43:52And the interesting thing is
43:54That in one case
43:56The way one of the walls
43:59Is fallen
44:00Shows that it was
44:03Perhaps the result
44:05Of a backwash
44:06Of a tsunami
44:07It was looking like
44:10The ancient texts
44:11Were correct
44:12A tsunami
44:13Had engulfed Haliki
44:16But a closer analysis
44:17Of the destruction layers
44:19Shows something else
44:21Haliki
44:22Has suffered
44:23Widescale destruction
44:25Before
44:26The tsunami hit
44:27Almost as if
44:29The city was swallowed
44:30By the ground
44:31Prior
44:32To being engulfed
44:33What could have caused this
44:36The Gulf of Kornf
44:39Is a really interesting area
44:41Because it's the most
44:42Seismically active
44:43Part of Greece
44:45And Greece is the most
44:46Seismically active
44:47Part of Europe
44:48Geologist Ian Stewart
44:50Was investigating
44:51Another earthquake
44:52That had occurred
44:54In 1861
44:55When his path crossed
44:57With Katsanopoulou
44:58What he discovered
45:00Offered an answer
45:01I was doing
45:03What was called
45:04Paleoseismology
45:05So you kind of
45:06Excavate along
45:07The fault line
45:08And you get some evidence
45:10Of when that fault
45:11Last moved
45:12During an earthquake
45:13I knew there was
45:14An earthquake
45:14That had happened
45:15In December 1861
45:17So my question was
45:18Was the fault
45:19That I was looking at
45:20The one that also moved
45:21In the earlier earthquake
45:22Of 373 BC
45:24Stewart's geological analysis
45:27Highlighted many similarities
45:29Between the earthquake
45:30Of 1861
45:31And the earthquake
45:32That triggered the tsunami
45:34Of 373 BCE
45:36His findings match
45:39The destruction seen
45:41At Haliki
45:41There was large scale
45:44Coastal submergence
45:45Large areas of flooding
45:46There was lots of mud
45:48And water
45:49That had erupted out
45:50It was fissuring
45:50Of the landscape
45:51373 BC
45:54Was a really bigger flood
45:56The plane dropped
45:58Maybe three metres
45:59The tops of the olive trees
46:01Were just sticking out
46:02Of the water
46:03This would have been
46:05The most intense jolt
46:07Of this whole landscape
46:08The whole area
46:09Would have been shaking
46:09And then
46:10You just get the feeling
46:11Of it kind of
46:12Collapsing down
46:13Into the sea
46:14It would have been
46:15The most extraordinary
46:16Of event
46:17To have lived through
46:18Terrifying
46:19For Stuart
46:21It seemed likely
46:22The earthquake
46:23Of 373 BCE
46:25Didn't just cause
46:27A tsunami
46:27But shook the ground
46:29So violently
46:29That Haliki
46:30Was engulfed
46:31By water
46:32From below
46:33It's a process
46:35Known as liquefaction
46:37It occurs
46:39When wet
46:40Loosely packed soil
46:41Is shaken
46:41By an earthquake
46:42It causes the soil particles
46:44To break contact
46:45And the moisture
46:47Rises to the surface
46:48Solid ground
46:50Takes on the consistency
46:51Of a liquid
46:53The main effects
46:55Of liquefaction
46:56In 373 BCE
46:57Are dramatic
46:58Outpourings of water
47:00In some cases
47:01Kind of bursting
47:02And flooding out
47:02But in some cases
47:03Fountains
47:03Almost like
47:04Volcanic eruptions
47:05Exploding out
47:07Under great pressure
47:08Changing
47:09Transforming
47:10The whole physical
47:11Kind of landscape
47:11Burying buildings
47:13Burying people
47:14Perhaps
47:14It seems that
47:16In 373 BCE
47:18The ancient city
47:20Of Haliki
47:20Was hit by a
47:22Cataclysmic earthquake
47:23As the earth
47:25Opened up
47:26The city
47:26And its inhabitants
47:27Were flooded
47:28By water
47:29Bursting up
47:30From beneath
47:31Their feet
47:31With the city
47:33All but destroyed
47:34A tsunami
47:35Triggered by the
47:36Earthquake
47:36Engulfed all
47:38That remained
47:38Of Haliki
47:40The city
47:42Was lost
47:42Beneath the waves
47:43While Haliki
47:48Is giving up
47:49Its secrets
47:50The myth
47:51Of the lost city
47:52Of Atlantis
47:53Remains as big
47:54A mystery
47:55As it's ever been
47:56But as archaeologists
47:59Continue to examine
48:00The evidence
48:01At Haliki
48:02Similarities
48:03Between the city's
48:04Demise
48:04And Plato's
48:06Tale of Atlantis
48:07Become clear
48:08Could Haliki's
48:10Destruction
48:11Be its inspiration
48:13Poseidon
48:15Was the patron
48:17And most important
48:18God of Haliki
48:19As god of earthquakes
48:20Poseidon
48:21Was the most important
48:23God for Atlantis
48:24But there is
48:25Another reason
48:27That Plato
48:29Would be interested
48:30In Haliki's
48:31Destruction
48:31He was in Athens
48:33Haliki
48:33Was not very far
48:34From Athens
48:35The phenomenon
48:37That destroyed Haliki
48:38Impressed
48:39Very much
48:40The ancients
48:41So Plato
48:43Heard about it
48:44There is no doubt
48:45That he heard
48:46And he knew
48:47About it
48:48In Plato's tale
48:50The citizens
48:51Of Atlantis
48:52Angered the gods
48:53Who then sent
48:54An earthquake
48:54That made Atlantis
48:56Sink into the sea
48:57The Haliki legend
49:00Offers up
49:01A direct parallel
49:02Poseidon
49:03Is said to have
49:04Destroyed the city
49:05In a fit of wrath
49:06The way the people
49:08Of Haliki
49:08Had behaved
49:09Towards some visitors
49:10Wishing
49:11To venerate him
49:13If you look at
49:15The period
49:16In Greek history
49:17That Plato lived through
49:18There were lots
49:19Of big earthquakes
49:19Ones like Haliki
49:20Where you had
49:21Cities destroyed
49:23Overnight
49:23So to my mind
49:25It's perfectly reasonable
49:26That what Plato did
49:27Was he took reality
49:28That he was seeing
49:29Unfolding around him
49:30And he transposed
49:31That into a story
49:32Of a civilisation
49:33That happened
49:33Way in the past
49:35So it's one of those
49:36Kind of factional accounts
49:37Really
49:37But there's a bit of fact
49:38In there
49:39But there's also
49:39A little bit of fiction
49:40For a little bit of fiction
49:41That happens
49:45æ–¯isk
49:46But there's also
49:47a sprinkler
49:47Of a lack of fiction
49:47And even
49:48From fib
49:49To find out
49:50Out
49:51Of a pot
49:51Of a出
49:53That is
49:54We have
49:55Of a
49:56We can
49:56Of a
49:56That is
49:57You
49:58Per
49:59See
50:00But there's
50:01Here
50:01Of kom
50:06You
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