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00:01I'm on the trail of wonders to treasure.
00:05Precious clues from the past.
00:08I can't quite believe they've let me down here.
00:11With unmissable experiences.
00:14I adore Dolphin so much and they're playing with us.
00:18Hidden sights in unexpected destinations.
00:22No way.
00:23I've never seen anything like that before.
00:26Okay, ready? Let's go.
00:28I'm on a global voyage of discovery to explore our shared heritage
00:34and how our past shapes all of our lives.
00:38This time, the mountains, mysteries and ancient cities of Uzbekistan.
00:46I'm on the trail of travelers from nomads to farmers to soldiers to traders
00:53who've come here for thousands of years and from all points of the compass
00:57to create the most incredibly uniquely interwoven culture.
01:02It is a brilliantly rich story that connects to all of our lives.
01:09I'm uncovering the secrets of the Silk Roads.
01:13That is so beautiful.
01:16It's the first time that's kind of found from here.
01:20The incredible women shaping history.
01:23So he's basically getting his kudos through the female line.
01:28And ancient sun worshippers who thrived in the remote desert.
01:32So this is literally, there's only one of those in the world.
01:35If he could speak, what stories he'd be able to tell us?
01:40Welcome to the breathtaking treasures of Uzbekistan.
01:44It's a laugh. It's a laugh.
01:53This is my kind of traffic jam.
01:58This is my kind of traffic jam.
02:14This is perfect.
02:15Hello, goats.
02:16Hello, beautiful goats.
02:20I've been driving for hours through this stunning, spectacular landscape
02:26because I'm right in the heart of Central Asia.
02:32Uzbekistan's geographic position has made it a unique crossroad of civilizations.
02:40People here have had to interact and connect with visitors from near and far.
02:49The place I'm heading to now is packed with evidence of that
02:55fascinating exchange of cultures.
02:59My first treasure is a region in the far south,
03:03known in ancient times as Bactria.
03:07In the 4th century BCE,
03:10this spectacular mountain pass leading into Bactria
03:13witnessed something remarkable.
03:16I've wanted to come here for so long
03:21because this is the setting of one of the greatest love stories of all time.
03:26So this is where Alexander the Great,
03:29the conquering warrior from northern Greece,
03:32came as part of his campaign to control Central Asia.
03:36Alexander, we're told that he wanted to take a fortress citadel.
03:41The local ruler said,
03:42fine, come up if your soldiers can fly.
03:45They climbed up, 300 of them.
03:48Many died.
03:49But eventually, Alexander took the castle
03:52and then he fell in love with the leader's daughter
03:56and married her.
03:58Alexander is one of those stories that made history.
04:05This romance with the princess Roxana
04:08was also a key strategic alliance.
04:13Just one of the ways Alexander tightened his grip.
04:18I've driven right the way down to the southern tip of the country.
04:29And this ancient city that you're looking at
04:31is at least 2,300 years old.
04:36Now, it could have been built by one of Alexander the Great's successors
04:39or this could be the last great city of Alexander himself.
04:48Camper Tepe, a huge, fortified, mud-brick metropolis
04:56stretching over 130,000 square metres.
05:06The reason there's a city here at all
05:09is because of that massive river over there.
05:13Today it's called the Amu Darya.
05:15But for the ancient Greeks, it was the Oxus,
05:18and it was an absolute artery of trade and communication,
05:22something that really connected cultures then.
05:25But today it's a border because I'm standing here in Uzbekistan
05:29and over the other side of the bank is Afghanistan.
05:35This place flourished as a crucible of cultural exchange.
05:41The evidence is kept safe in the museum in Termes,
05:46where I've been given very special access.
05:49Really, really lucky to get in here because there is incredible evidence
05:57that tells us about the exchange that happened here.
06:01So look at this.
06:01This is a coin of Alexander the Great, no less,
06:07with these very distinctive horns of Amun inspired by his time in Egypt.
06:13And then if you look at the reverse of a lot of these coins that were discovered here,
06:18it shows the statue of Zeus at Olympia in Greece,
06:22one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
06:25The coins of Alexander's successors also show symbols of Eastern influence.
06:32So this is Demetrius,
06:34and he's wearing a helmet in the shape of an elephant's head
06:38to remind people that his power stretched all the way to the Indian subcontinent.
06:44A two-way traffic of influence evolved.
06:51In the first century CE, a dynasty of rulers, the Kushans,
06:56introduced Buddhism from their lands in India.
07:01This impact can still be seen somewhere magical just outside Termes.
07:06This was originally built 2,000 years ago,
07:20and pilgrims would come here to meditate and to be close to this stupid symbol of the Buddha's enlightenment
07:27because this was the biggest Buddhist complex anywhere in Central Asia.
07:33And what happened here would help to spread Buddhism to China and Tibet.
07:42And close by, the Buddhist monks carved out an atmospheric underground world.
07:54This is just astonishing, isn't it?
07:57So Chinese sources from the time tell us that there were 10 monasteries like this
08:02with thousands of monks living here.
08:06It's always worth remembering, I think,
08:07that when we talk about monks and nuns,
08:09I mean, for some of us at any rate,
08:11you often have a rather kind of Western perspective
08:13and think of Christian monasticism.
08:16But actually, those early Christian monks
08:18got their inspiration from the Buddhist monks
08:21who were travelling up and down the Silk Road.
08:24So, in some ways, it all started here.
08:27And if you think about what Buddhists believe,
08:30going right the way back to the very earliest Buddhist sources,
08:34one of their concepts was that we should just love without limit.
08:40And, of course, that became a Christian idea too.
08:43Some experts believe these caverns were reused by Christian monks.
08:53And by the late 7th century,
08:55this riverbank became home to another faith.
09:00Islam.
09:02With pilgrims still drawn to its shrines from near and far.
09:08Hello, morning. Hello, salaam.
09:11What's your name?
09:12What's the name?
09:13I'm...
09:14My name is...
09:15I'm...
09:16My name is Fahun.
09:18Fahun? And what's your name?
09:19What's your name?
09:20My name is Vinan.
09:22My name is Bettany.
09:24Bettany.
09:25From London.
09:26Tajikistan.
09:27You're from Tajikistan.
09:28Lovely to see you, ladies.
09:31Bye.
09:32Bye.
09:33Bye.
09:34Bye.
09:34Bye.
09:39Do you know, one of the things that's so lovely about coming here
09:43is thinking of all those people,
09:45of whatever faith or belief who've made their pilgrimage to this place through thousands of years.
09:50And I'm coming here as a stranger, but I'm being made to feel so, so welcome.
09:55All these visitors are seeking out the mausoleum of a renowned 9th century Sufi scholar,
10:05Al-Hakim, Al-Termizi.
10:10And then a spontaneous, heartwarming encounter with the imam.
10:15Allahumman, ta'laafu'l-karim, ta'laafu'l-karim.
10:18Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
10:23Uluhu wa Allahu ahad.
10:26Allahu sa'laafu'l-karim.
10:29Welcome.
10:30Thank you, thank you.
10:51Bye.
10:52Al-Turmezi's ideas could echo earlier Buddhist influences.
11:04Turmezi is a treasure because it combines beliefs and values handed down over centuries,
11:10from Alexander the Great through Buddhist monks and Sufi scholars,
11:15blending, flourishing and nourishing across time.
11:22For my next treasure, I've come to Uzbekistan's remote northwest
11:39to explore a mysterious oasis kingdom known in ancient times as Khorazmir.
11:46My search starts in the fertile Silk Road city of Hebar.
11:54Rahmat. Rahmat. Rahmat.
12:06Travellers wrote a lot about coming here.
12:08In particular, this place was famous for its melons, which it still is.
12:12Actually, a thousand years ago, there are accounts of melons from here being packed in lead cases,
12:21filled with snow, and sent all the way to Baghdad.
12:25And once they arrived, a single melon could be worth the equivalent of two kilograms of silver.
12:31So I am having a right roll breakfast here.
12:34And it's really, really exciting to be here because this place is a kind of gateway to an ancient world.
12:40Oh, my God. That is so good.
12:49Here, there are clues to this land's more distant past.
13:04A mystical dance known as Lasky performed here for thousands of years.
13:11Its movements are designed to connect the human soul with nature.
13:17In particular, the sun.
13:21To find out more about these endearing traditions, I'm heading beyond the city walls, deeper into ancient Khurasmir.
13:40The fertile oasis here has shrunk over time, but it was once called the land of a thousand castles.
13:51This place is known as the Tower of Silence because 2,000 years ago, this is where the elite of the kingdom would bring their dead.
14:14A people who practiced the Zoroastrian faith.
14:18Believing that burying or burning bodies would contaminate the elements, they left their dead exposed for birds to pit clean.
14:30The bare bones then carefully collected and stored.
14:37This whole kind of fortress tomb is designed to be like the shape of the sun.
14:44And these rooms for the dead, where the bones were left that radiate out, are like the sun's rays.
14:57Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest faiths in the world.
15:01Flourishing here from the 6th century BCE until the rise of Islam 12 centuries later.
15:13And legend has it that it was right here that Zarathustra, the very first prophet of Zoroastrianism, received a revelation of the faith.
15:24So, this is where it all began.
15:27The independent kingdom of Khurasmia started to build these extraordinary structures from the 4th century BCE.
15:40Huge fortresses defending the oasis against raids by nomadic tribes.
15:53I mean, that is just totally, totally awesome, isn't it?
15:58Breathtaking.
15:59So, you've got a whole string of castles like these ones, and some of them are big enough to accommodate 2,000 people with palaces and throne rooms and fire temples.
16:13They're just astonishing.
16:16Genghis Khan actually destroyed a load of these.
16:19But now, the very, very good news is that archaeologists are finding clues that are helping us to bring them back to life.
16:29I've come to the local capital, Nukas, in search of the latest discoveries.
16:36I think this is where the magic happens.
16:43So, this is where they restored the new finds.
16:48Hello, Salam.
16:49Salam.
16:51What an incredible, incredible place.
16:54So, how long have you been working on the fragments here? How long?
16:58How long?
16:59How long?
17:00How long?
17:01How long?
17:02Fragments of paintings from the walls of the castles give tantalizing glimpses of the people who lived here.
17:14who lived here.
17:33Yeah, so it's the top of a woman or a man?
17:36I don't know. There's so much to decode. The rare green and blue pigments suggest a culture
17:48that was super rich.
17:53Really incredible to be discovering. How old is all of this?
17:58This is maybe 3rd, 2nd century BC.
18:02BC?
18:03Yeah.
18:04Today, there's the most ancient wall paintings in Central Asia.
18:09And we're seeing it being written. That's incredible.
18:17Other paintings from the castles show royal figures, Zoroastrian symbols and sacred animals.
18:24And that's not all that the team has found.
18:28I can tell there's something under here, because it's being kept safe.
18:34What's underneath?
18:35Please?
18:36This is wall painting from Aksha Hanqala.
18:39Ah, with writing. Is this writing?
18:43Yes, yes, yes.
18:45This is writing.
18:49This incredible text is in Aramaic script, but its language is the mysterious Khrasmian.
18:57And do you know what this says? Have you translated yet?
19:01No, no, because today, just four or five persons can read it.
19:07In the world?
19:08Yeah.
19:09That's incredible.
19:10So you've got this mystery.
19:12There's some secret message from the past here that we can't read yet.
19:19Doing a call out here for specialists in ancient Khrasm to come and translate.
19:25This text was found with portraits of royal dignitaries.
19:32Once translated, it will unlock their secrets.
19:36So this is a...
19:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:38It's the king dynasty.
19:40And...
19:41With this crown.
19:42With a crown?
19:43With a sort of crown?
19:44Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:45This crown is no analogy in the world, and we don't know what is it.
19:50What it's made of.
19:51Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:52With that lovely cap.
19:53I mean...
19:54Can I just take a moment?
19:55Because this is...
19:56We are so privileged and lucky to see this.
19:58So this is literally...
19:59There's only one of this in the world.
20:01It's this ancient Khrasm king at the height of the power of this empire.
20:06I mean, what stories...
20:07If he could speak, what stories he'd be able to tell us?
20:11So this is definitely a man.
20:13We cannot say who is a man or a woman.
20:16So it could be an ancient queen.
20:18Maybe.
20:19Maybe.
20:20Maybe.
20:21I'd like to think it is.
20:22Thank you so much.
20:23You're welcome.
20:24For letting us in here.
20:25It's very exciting.
20:26Same thing to do.
20:27You're welcome.
20:32Khrasnia is a treasure, because here, the past ardently lives on.
20:38Its remoteness preserving precious wonders we're still decoding.
20:50For my next treasure, I'm exploring the origins of the legendary Silk Road.
21:05This was never a single route, but a complex trade system starting right back in the second century BCE.
21:18For traders travelling huge distances, portability was key.
21:21For traders travelling huge distances, portability was key.
21:25This is actually something I've wanted to do my entire life, so I just had to stop here.
21:30So what you've got is stalls, hi, salam, salam, of kurt, which is hard fermented cheese.
21:38Is this hot?
21:39Yeah, hot.
21:40Oh, my God.
21:41Oh, my God.
21:42Oh, so this is made of mare's milk, horse's milk.
21:47I'm going to try it.
21:48Is it okay to try it to taste?
21:50Okay, I'm going to just taste it.
21:51Oh, my God.
21:52I can't even bite it.
21:53It's so hard.
21:54What do I do?
21:55Oh, I'm doing a wrong thing.
21:57This is also horse, is it?
22:03Oh, my tongue is delicious.
22:09Actually, it's not bad.
22:12It's not bad.
22:13Why I'm eating this is because this is really historic.
22:17Greek geographers wrote about there being fermented horse milk here.
22:22Marco Polo even said in this part of the world,
22:25you get fermented horse milk that gets rolled into sort of cheesy balls.
22:29It's so delicious, it's like white wine.
22:31I'm going to buy some.
22:32How much?
22:36A chance encounter confirms the Silk Road legacy of cosmopolitan hospitality.
22:43I just heard this guy speak of English.
22:45Excuse me, do you speak?
22:46English, okay?
22:47Yeah, of course.
22:48I can.
22:49I just heard you talk some.
22:50My name's Bethany.
22:51Yes, my name is Nazar.
22:52Hello, Nazar.
22:53Nice to meet you.
22:54Nice to meet you.
22:55Nice to meet you.
22:56I just have to ask you, when I'm traveling around Uzbekistan,
22:58I'm finding that people are really passionate about their history.
23:02They really love their history.
23:04Is that...
23:05Why do you think that is?
23:07Uzbeks are a combination of many nationalities,
23:09and we take a good side of different nationalities from the century.
23:15That's why there are more hospitality rather than other nationalities.
23:19Can I just shake your hand?
23:21Because I think that is so true.
23:23It's actually my way of thinking.
23:25It's the most beautiful thing to say,
23:27because you've got all these different influences from all over,
23:29so you care about your history,
23:31and you're really hospitable to strangers when they come.
23:35So, well, listen, what a delight.
23:37It's so lovely to meet you.
23:38Yes, thank you so much.
23:39So lovely to meet you.
23:40Thank you so much.
23:41Lovely to be here in your home.
23:45A particular group dominated the heart of the Silk Roads.
23:50I'm looking for traces of them at one of its premier cities,
23:54known as Noble Bukhara.
24:01Bukhara boasts over 140 architectural gems.
24:05I love them, actually, from the golden age of Islam,
24:08but its story starts thousands of years earlier,
24:11and I'm just about to meet a man
24:13who's found the clues that helped to prove it.
24:18In the heart of the city, there's a tantalising excavation.
24:23Hi, Siroj.
24:25Hello.
24:26Hey.
24:27Nice to see you.
24:29I'm too. Nice to see you.
24:30Nice to see you.
24:31I'm Bettany.
24:32This is so exciting.
24:33Deep underground, archaeology is revealing clues
24:36to a culture that thrived here around 1,700 years ago.
24:40The Sogdians.
24:42Traders who superpowered the Silk Roads.
24:46So we're going right down to the Sogdian level here.
24:52Yes, here, the Sogdian level.
24:54I mean, it's amazing.
24:55So we've got the homes where they lived, their houses here.
24:58Yeah.
24:59Yeah.
25:00We found a lot of artefacts, forturies, layers.
25:03I can see, like, everything.
25:04So tell me what you found here.
25:06We found from here a lot of things, very interesting things.
25:09One of them, the more important founds, this camel.
25:15That is so cool.
25:16Yeah.
25:17Is that okay to hold?
25:18Yes, of course.
25:19Of course.
25:20Look at that.
25:22That is so beautiful.
25:25And this is how old, do you think?
25:28This around 3, 4th century.
25:32A.D.
25:33A.D.
25:34Yes, A.D.
25:35So camel, like a pack camel, carrying goods here?
25:39Yes.
25:40Yeah?
25:41Yes, it's very important because we don't find before.
25:43Camels, these people, they move maybe these domestic animals too.
25:50An animal on the back of the camel?
25:52Yes, yes.
25:53Like a pet?
25:54Like a dog or a cat?
25:55Yeah, a dog or a cat, yeah.
25:57What do you think?
25:58That is so awesome.
25:59So this would be the rider here.
26:01There's all the goods that they're carrying or water or something.
26:04And they're bringing their pets with them.
26:06Yeah, it's so cool.
26:07Yeah, it's very interesting.
26:08I mean, this must be one of the oldest representations of a pack camel carrying things from anywhere in
26:15Central Asia.
26:16Yeah, it's the first time they're kind of found from here.
26:19Yeah.
26:20Amazing.
26:21The Sogdians lived between the great rivers, the Amu Darya and the Seer Darya in a handful of city-states.
26:31But their expertise with camels and desert know-how made them indispensable to the empires around them.
26:38And just tell me, why do you think, you know, because some people are powerful because they are great armies and they raid, but these are people who trade.
26:48And that must make them really interesting as a culture, as a people, that they're focusing on making money, not making war.
26:56Central Asia and Sogdians have here a lot of kind of religions because they do make trade from east to west and see a lot of country and a lot of mixing, a lot of culture.
27:11Yeah, so important.
27:13So they're having to get on with everybody and understand everybody.
27:17Yes.
27:18They're beautiful.
27:19I love the Sogdians.
27:21Me too.
27:22The Sogdians journeyed from Siberia to the Indian subcontinent, travelling for months or even years at a time, trading furs, fruit, fine metals, and, of course, the most valuable thing of all, silk.
27:40Salaam.
27:41Hello.
27:42Hi, Salaam.
27:43So this is lovely silk.
27:44It's a small scarf.
27:45Oh, so beautiful.
27:46Can I have a look at some?
27:48So the Sogdians traded everything.
27:51We traded jade and paper and candy sugar and precious metals.
27:57But the thing that was worth more than its weight in gold was this lovely stuff, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of bolts of silk.
28:11Silk was its own kind of currency, used in China to buy horses and pay officials.
28:17The Sogdians helped Chinese silk reach Mediterranean markets where it was highly prized by the elite.
28:29Well, I've just been thinking how astonishing it is, the influence that the Sogdians had.
28:35Because if you think about it, they didn't have a massive army, they didn't have an empire, but you find goods that they traded right across continents.
28:44So this lovely Buddha, for instance, was discovered in a dig in Sweden.
28:50So we know it must have been traded in ancient times.
28:53Oh, lovely.
28:54Oh, gorgeous indeed.
28:57And this cup here, this is a gold cup that was found in a tomb in China, but it's covered in designs that are Sogdian and ancient Persian.
29:09So it just shows that, you know, what they traded really affected the rest of the world.
29:19The Sogdians were the social influencers of their day, shaping technology, fashions and ideas.
29:28To find out how all this interaction affected the Sogdians, I'm following their trail to another of their cities.
29:35A clue to where I'm heading is on this train, Afro Siab, the modern name for ancient Samarkand.
29:43Hi.
29:45Hi.
29:46How are you?
29:47John.
29:48John.
29:49Hello.
29:50Bethany.
29:51Lovely to meet you.
29:52Welcome to Uzbekistan.
29:53It seems that wherever I go here, the spirit of Silk Road hospitality lives on.
30:04Oh, no, we've been to here.
30:05Oh, that's so good.
30:07Oh, that's so good.
30:12Some ice cream.
30:13Are you having some?
30:14Yeah, we will get.
30:15After you, after you.
30:18And like the Sogdians, people are keen to exchange knowledge and ideas.
30:24So this is from China, but also showing a Sogdian trader.
30:30They were super-exy.
30:31Yes.
30:32So they bought all products from China and they sold it to Europe.
30:37Yes.
30:38To Turkey.
30:39Yeah.
30:40I have to show you these.
30:41There are these amazing collection of letters that were discovered in like a mailbag, basically
30:46in like a Chinese mailbag back in ancient times.
30:50And they're all these letters from Sogdian merchants to their families back home to their
30:55wives and things.
30:56And they're saying stuff like, oh, we're being ripped off here.
30:58We're not going to carry on doing our business.
31:00It's an amazing window into their world.
31:03Yeah.
31:04Do you think this inheritance of having been on the Great Silk Road and having been traders,
31:11do you think you can still see that in the kind of characteristics of Uzbekistan?
31:15Definitely.
31:16I believe it's adopted some in some ways in our culture.
31:20And certainly when I've been traveling, people are so proud of being Uzbeki quite rightly
31:25and of the traditions and of the connections through history going right back.
31:30Even to this ancient time.
31:32Still, when you go to Bukhara and when you go to Samarkand, you will see people how they
31:37are active.
31:38Yes.
31:39They have pressure also when they sell their products.
31:41They have pressure.
31:42Yeah.
31:43And they are friendly.
31:44Yeah.
31:45It's so true.
31:46Yeah.
31:47Because we have work.
31:48Yeah.
31:49It's like the trading's in your blood.
31:51It's completely, completely true.
31:52But also, it feels like being very open and welcoming.
31:56People are like, you know, I've met you like two minutes ago and you've already bought
32:01me a chocolate ice cream.
32:05After just a couple of hours, I arrive in the city of Samarkand.
32:11These enigmatic remains on the edge of town were once a great Sogdian city.
32:19Finds here reveal their vast wealth and intellect.
32:25The earliest known ivory chess set was discovered right here.
32:32And there's more.
32:34The sophisticated remnants of a nobleman's palace.
32:41So, basically, what you've got here is a procession of power.
32:47And originally on the back of that lovely white elephant, there would have been the local
32:51queen.
32:52And then over here, we've got rulers from different regions who've all come to pay their respects
32:58and bring their gifts.
33:00This is really, really cool.
33:02So, have a look at this.
33:03So, in this line, you've got a whole deputation from China.
33:07So, the guy at the summit has got bolts of silk.
33:10And the ones behind him are actually carrying silk cocoons, which would have had live silkworms inside them.
33:18And all of this is being protected by these ancient Turkic guards.
33:22And you can recognise them.
33:23So, they've got this very kind of distinctive long black ponytail.
33:26They're here as well.
33:28These are the guards.
33:29This guy in the middle is an interpreter.
33:32And they need him because these three gentlemen are from Tibet.
33:36And the two behind him are from Korea.
33:39But it doesn't stop that.
33:41So, this is one of my favourite women from the whole of history.
33:45It's Wuzertian, who was a Chinese empress who had huge, huge power in the Middle Ages.
33:52So, what all of this is saying is, look at us.
33:55We have immense influence.
33:57And we have a magnetic allure that attracts all the powers from the known world.
34:07The Sobdians here flourished thanks to a mutually beneficial alliance with China.
34:13And the Sobdian story goes on.
34:16Cutting edge DNA evidence from 12th century burials in Bukhara shows that their genetic makeup changed little over the centuries.
34:26And to this day, the Sobdians leave a network of understanding that still stitches together the region.
34:35The Sobdians are a treasure because they remind us that power and influence doesn't just come because of the size of your army.
34:47These guys were experts in diplomacy and they made themselves indispensable to so many.
34:54They've left an incredible legacy for all of us because their art and their language and their genetic inheritance has woven a rich, beautiful fabric of the modern world that we can still all enjoy.
35:09My final treasure is the glorious city of Salmon.
35:37Once a huge ancient Sobdian centre, it has an astonishing medieval reinvention story.
35:49I've been granted behind the scenes access to one of its most beautiful wonders.
35:56And over 30 metres high, it's a pretty challenging climb.
36:09I've been granted.
36:10I've been granted.
36:11That is awesome.
36:12That is what I call special access.
36:13Oh my goodness.
36:14This has to be one of the best views in the world.
36:29Hello, Samakan.
36:30Samakan.
36:31This is Samakan's Registan Square.
36:37Once the beating heart of the city, people gathered to exchange ideas in these three religious schools, decorated with several million tiles in sacred colours.
36:49This incredible place has become a symbol of a remarkable moment in history, the great Timurid Empire.
37:04At its height in the early 15th century, the Timurid Empire stretched from Central Asia to Eastern Turkey.
37:11Its architect was Timur.
37:14Born 80 kilometres from Samarkand, he claimed common ancestry with Genghis Khan, who conquered much of Asia 150 years earlier.
37:23Timur made it his life's mission to match the legacy of his ferocious forebear.
37:30Timur, or Tamerlane, as he's sometimes known in the West, has become a bit of a national symbol for Uzbekistan.
37:38But you know what's really fascinating is that when you come to Samarkand, you discover that it wasn't just tales of a great man, but also that his life was shaped by the women around him.
37:53Timur began his campaign for world dominance in 1370.
37:58Samarkand was to be the jewel in his crown, built by the very finest architects from across his empire, to rival the great intellectual centres of Bukhara, Baghdad and Delhi.
38:12But it's telling that some of the most beautiful buildings here are dedicated to the important women in his life.
38:23Timur kept aside this patch of land for his most favoured relatives, and those included his sisters, one of his wives, a niece, and even his wet nurse, buried in these exquisite tombs.
38:39And this one's particularly lush, really.
38:42I can just tell what expensive work it is, can't you, because look how fine all these little pieces are.
39:10It was so intricately joined together.
39:13And this particular tomb was actually commissioned by Timur's elder sister, Kutluk Turkan, for her daughter.
39:21And Kutluk, the daughter, and one of his wives are all buried here.
39:25And we're told that Timur loved his elder sister and was completely devastated when she died and mourned her for months and months.
39:36Several of these tombs were paid for by the women of Timur's court, not the great man himself.
39:42And do you know what's really cool? If you look at the writing round the tombs, it proves just how cosmopolitan and educated these women were.
39:52So this is an Arabic script, but it's actually a quote from ancient Greek philosophy.
39:58So this one says that Socrates believes humans are like nesting birds, flying around, but in danger of being entrapped by the world.
40:10These tombs are still visited by thousands of travellers, many fans of history.
40:24And the world is so beautiful.
40:26Beautiful country, very beautiful.
40:28I don't know in Turkish, chok gazelle.
40:30Gazelle.
40:31Gazelle.
40:32Gazelle.
40:33This is beautiful, isn't it?
40:35Lovely to meet you.
40:36Lovely to see you.
40:37Nice to meet you.
40:39Salaam.
40:40Salaam.
40:41It's lovely to be here.
40:43Everyone's so friendly.
40:45Bye.
40:46Bye.
40:47Bye.
40:48Timur's sisters weren't the only women of influence.
40:55He also had 18 wives.
41:00The evidence continues at a nearby mosque named for his chief wife, Sarai Mulchanum.
41:07Susanna Fatian, a daughter of Samarkand, decodes this astonishing building.
41:14I'm finding it so fascinating coming around Samarkand, because when you think of Timur
41:21the Great, you imagine this kind of macho guy winning all these battles and conquering
41:25huge swathes of land.
41:27But it does feel as though that the women in his life, and particularly in his family,
41:31are really important, and that they influence things too.
41:36You're absolutely right.
41:37They were responsible for organization of royal receptions and official correspondence.
41:43Yeah.
41:44So that's the thing, yeah.
41:45They're sort of organizing government events.
41:47And I know there's one story, isn't there, of one of the wives organizing the kind of
41:50battle trophies to be transported back to Samarkand.
41:53I mean, these are really important duties.
41:56They have plenty of responsibilities.
41:58Yeah.
41:59And it's amazing, because this is happening in the 14th and the 15th century, whereas
42:03in other parts of the world, quite often in Europe too, women are nowhere, in no way
42:08have that kind of status and standing.
42:10For sure.
42:11And it's important that women had their own funds.
42:13They had their own property.
42:15But the women in Timur's life weren't only rich and powerful.
42:22Sarai Mukhanum was also vital to his right to rule.
42:27If we look up to the facade of the mosque above, we can find an inscription that informs us
42:34that this mosque was built by Amir Timur Guraghan, which means Khan's son-in-law.
42:42Sarai Mukhanum was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan.
42:48When Timur married her, he was catapulted to greatness.
42:53That's so interesting.
42:54So he's basically getting his kudos through the female line, and that's what's connecting
43:00him back to, I always say it wrong.
43:02I still say Genghis Khan.
43:03Say how you say it properly.
43:05Genghis Khan.
43:06Genghis Khan.
43:07So it's through his wife that he's got this connection to Genghis Khan, and therefore
43:11that kind of status that comes with that, and the idea that he's inheriting his power.
43:15You are absolutely right.
43:16It provided also more security for his descendants.
43:26Sarai Mukhanum not only boosted Timur's status, she also became his right-hand woman.
43:3535 years away on campaign, Timur often left his chief wife in charge.
43:42She must have been the most amazing woman.
43:45This is actually a really rare image of her, and it shows her riding to Timur's court in
43:51northern Iran.
43:52So she was a real woman of action, too.
43:55And something I love about her is that she didn't actually have her own children, but
43:59she took care of the children of Timur's concubines and made sure that they learned from
44:04her, so her legacy carried on down the generations.
44:09Timur died in 1405, and Sarai Mukhanum not long after.
44:16But her legacy lived on through Timur's successor, his grandson Ulugbeg, who she'd helped to raise.
44:24He embellished Samarkand further, making it a place of real intellectual wonder.
44:33Ulugbeg actually built a whole community of scientists and astronomers here.
44:39And in this very madrasa, his school developed a catalogue of stars that mapped over a thousand
44:48planetary spheres that actually set the standard for European astronomers right up until the
44:5419th century.
44:59Samarkand was created by art and science, women and men.
45:05And it's still Foster's Encounter.
45:08Oh, hello.
45:09Hi, what's your name?
45:11My name is Ara.
45:12Ara, where are you from?
45:14I am from Pynas.
45:16Lovely to meet you.
45:18It's a feast for the eyes and a treasure for soul and mind and heart.
45:39What an epic, nourishing journey this has been.
45:43I've just learnt so much from people and from across time.
45:49And not just about culture, but how through the camel caravans like this that stretched out
45:56across centuries, people exchanged beautiful things, but they also exchanged more than that.
46:02Ideas and understanding and a deep respect for the sun, the stars, the earth and the sky.
46:13And it's a reminder that we have to do the same, to love all of this.
46:32To be continued...
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