- 2 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00A Polynesian civilization collapses on an island in the South Pacific.
00:06It's believed that Polynesian settlers first arrived on Rapa Nui around 1200 CE.
00:11But even before the end of the 19th century, their social structure had collapsed.
00:16Their system of writing had been abandoned and forgotten.
00:19What happened on Rapa Nui?
00:21The tomb of one of history's greatest rulers vanishes on the Eurasian steppe.
00:27Attila stands unrivaled as the greatest barbarian warrior of the ancient world.
00:34And his final resting place has eluded discovery for more than 1500 years.
00:38So where is Attila the Hun buried?
00:41One of the world's most important libraries is lost to time.
00:46Most people imagine one massive building.
00:49But the library was more likely a network of halls and gardens housed within the museum.
00:55So how did the greatest collection of knowledge in all of antiquity just vanish?
01:02The chain of history has many missing links.
01:06Prominent people, priceless treasures, extraordinary artifacts.
01:12Their locations still unknown, lost to the fog of time.
01:17What happens when stories of the past become vanished history?
01:26The island of Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated places on Earth.
01:42Despite that, it developed and sustained a civilization with their own writing system,
01:47their own social structure, and their own strikingly unique cultural practices.
01:52They were completely cut off from the rest of humanity.
01:57And yet, they thrived.
01:59There's more than 2,300 miles of ocean between Rapa Nui and the nearest continent.
02:06And it's more than 1,200 miles to even the closest inhabited island.
02:12Humans first found their way to Rapa Nui at least 800 years ago.
02:16And somehow, on that sparse little island, less than 15 miles long and seven wide,
02:23they either found or created everything they needed.
02:28Once they'd arrived, it's thought that they had no contact with any other civilization
02:32for at least 500 years, so that they developed independently, following their own path.
02:38In the early 18th century, when the first explorer visited,
02:42the rest of the world first became aware they even existed.
02:45But after one day of contact, they were left completely alone
02:48and didn't get a second visit for almost another 50 years.
02:51And then the next major visit didn't happen for the better part of another century.
02:58But even before the end of the 19th century, their social structure had collapsed.
03:02Their system of writing had been abandoned and forgotten.
03:05They had stopped creating their striking, mysterious monuments.
03:10And no living person could even say with certainty
03:13how the people of Rapa Nui had ever managed to move these huge sculptures
03:17and place them along their coastline.
03:20The island's population and the ecosystem that had sustained it for centuries was no more.
03:25What happened on Rapa Nui?
03:27Anthropologists believe that it was between 2000 and 1500 BCE
03:37that people from Southeast Asia began their expansion eastward
03:42along the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
03:44One of the last islands to be settled, due to its extreme isolation,
03:49would have been Rapa Nui.
03:50It's believed that Polynesian settlers first arrived on Rapa Nui around 1200 CE.
03:58This tiny island in a galaxy of blue would have been everything to subsequent generations
04:03who'd known no other place.
04:05They referred to it sometimes as the navel of the world
04:08and sometimes as eyes looking towards the sky.
04:11When they'd set out on their ocean migration,
04:17the settlers had brought plants and seeds with them
04:19so they could grow crops like bananas and taro,
04:22maybe even sweet potatoes and yans,
04:25adapting their agricultural techniques to the conditions of their new home
04:29as they learned how to thrive on the island.
04:32Let's say the original founding group that came to the island numbered about 50.
04:36Assuming a 3% annual growth rate,
04:38their population would have reached about 1,000 after around a century.
04:42Evidence suggests the Rapa Nui's population then leveled out
04:45at about 3,000 from 1350 CE on.
04:51On April 5th, 1722,
04:54a Dutch explorer searching for the fabled continent of Terra Australis Incognito,
05:00which many Europeans then believed in,
05:02sighted a new uncharted island.
05:05It was Easter Sunday, and he dubbed it Easter Island.
05:09An armed company was sent ashore
05:12where they encountered a population
05:14estimated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 Rapa Nui people
05:17living among some impressive landmarks.
05:20The Europeans saw that there were hundreds of massive statues
05:24called Mawai,
05:25set about the island averaging about 13 feet tall.
05:29The largest is nearly 70 feet tall.
05:32The visitors couldn't imagine the Rapa Nui
05:35were able to move stones of this size into position.
05:37They concluded the Mawai must be hollow,
05:40made of clay,
05:41and nearly coated with a layer of stones.
05:43The Mawai were in fact made of solid rock.
05:48Most were quarried and carved at the cone of the Rano-Raraku volcano
05:52and moved into their place around the island from there.
05:56There are more than 1,000 of them,
05:59and most weigh about 10 tons each,
06:02but the largest is more than 200 tons.
06:06A culture so inventive and determined enough to create all this
06:10virtually vanished, and quite suddenly.
06:13After this one-day visit and after the Europeans had returned home,
06:19Rapa Nui was known to the world.
06:21But even so, it was more than 50 years before the next outsider came.
06:26In 1774, Captain James Cook made a stop
06:30and noted that many of the Mawai previously described by the Dutch
06:34were now toppled,
06:36a possible indicator of social decline,
06:39and after just half a century.
06:40One popular theory that has often been repeated
06:44points to evidence suggesting the idea
06:47that the island suffered severe environmental degradation
06:50caused by the humans who lived there,
06:53that it caused the collapse of their society,
06:55that it was a case of what's been called ecocide.
07:02Forests of Jubei-Apom had existed on Rapa Nui
07:05for more than 35,000 years,
07:07but studies of sediment cores show a dramatic decrease
07:10in pollen from 1200 to 1500 CE.
07:14A drop in pollen indicates a precipitous drop
07:17in the number of trees themselves.
07:18It means the island underwent significant deforestation
07:21in just three centuries,
07:23beginning soon after the arrival of the Rapa Nui people.
07:26The Rapa Nui used wood from the Jubeia palms
07:29to build their homes,
07:30and possibly to help move the hundreds of Mawai statues
07:33into their positions about the island.
07:36However, overuse of those forests
07:39would have made a drastic change to the island's ecology.
07:43Removal of trees is a removal of protection
07:45against wind erosion of the soil,
07:47and soil loss would have been highly detrimental
07:49to the Rapa Nui's agriculture,
07:52which was so crucial to their survival.
07:54Some researchers see a link
07:57between the degradation of the island's environment
08:00and the ultimate breakdown of society on Rapa Nui.
08:04Sometime during the 16th century,
08:07it appears the Rapa Nui
08:08just stopped producing and erecting Mawai
08:11around their island.
08:12In the Rano-Raraku quarry,
08:15dozens of unfinished Mawai
08:17seem to have been simply abandoned.
08:20It's been suggested that runaway deforestation
08:22of the island at that time
08:24could have been responsible for that.
08:27If they were using logs to roll the Mawai on,
08:30and there were none left,
08:31there would be no way to move them into position.
08:34So maybe that's why the work stopped.
08:38Eco-side theory assumes, though,
08:40that the Rapa Nui weren't able to adapt
08:42to their island's ecology,
08:45its limitations, its changes over time.
08:47There's plenty of evidence
08:49that they were actually very adaptable people.
08:52To counteract soil loss from wind erosion,
08:55potentially a big problem on a fairly barren island,
08:58the Rapa Nui placed Mawai,
08:59stone planting rings, around their crops.
09:02It was part of a whole system
09:03we now call lithic mulching that they developed.
09:06This was a way to raise crops successfully
09:08and sustainably in their environment.
09:10As for overtaxing their small island,
09:13modern data seems to show
09:15that by around 1350 CE,
09:17during the civilization's peak,
09:19their population leveled out
09:21at around 3,000 people.
09:23All these recent findings
09:25seem to refute the idea
09:27that the Rapa Nui committed ecocide.
09:29It may not be as simple, however,
09:38as the sustainable growth and harvesting of crops,
09:41because when the first settlers came to Rapa Nui,
09:44bulbs and seeds weren't all they brought with them.
09:47The Polynesian settlers were aware
09:49they would need a steady supply of protein
09:52on their new island home
09:53to ensure their best chances of survival.
09:56To that end,
09:57they brought an invasive species as food,
10:01rats.
10:03Polynesian rat, our Pacific rat,
10:05is very resilient and very competitive,
10:08and they can give birth to a new litter every few months.
10:11The initial population of rats
10:14brought over by the settlers
10:15exploded into a peak population
10:17of something like 2 or 3 million rats,
10:20maybe as many as 75 of them per acre.
10:24So they became the main source of protein
10:27for the residents of the island.
10:30The only thing is,
10:32the rats loved to eat the seeds
10:34and saplings of the Jubea palm.
10:36Many ancient seeds have been dug up on the island
10:38that bear the tell-tale marks of rats' teeth.
10:41The voracious rats could very well
10:42have accelerated the deforestation of the island
10:44by destroying countless numbers of seeds and saplings.
10:47But the fact is,
10:50there's no evidence
10:51of a complete ecological collapse on Rapa Nui.
10:54The forests did not disappear completely,
10:57the people were successful in growing their crops,
10:59and they continued to get the dietary protein
11:01they needed from fishing,
11:03as well as from rat meat.
11:04It's recently been suggested
11:11that one single day,
11:13over three centuries ago,
11:15planted the seed of what ultimately
11:16all but obliterated Rapa Nui culture.
11:21After the Dutch sailors' brief visit
11:24to the island in 1722,
11:26they had little interest in Rapa Nui,
11:28but they did tell the world about the island
11:30and its people that were living there.
11:32This was the start of a slow-motion tragedy
11:35that started to accelerate.
11:38In 1862,
11:40enslavers from Peru
11:42came to the island
11:43and kidnapped more than 1,400 people,
11:46half the population,
11:48including one of their kings or high chiefs,
11:51and the priests and scribes
11:52who knew their writing system,
11:54Rongo Rongo,
11:55thought to quite possibly be
11:56the only known writing system
11:58of its kind in the world.
11:59There was international condemnation
12:02of this abduction into slavery,
12:03which resulted in a small number
12:05of the kidnapped locals
12:06being brought back to the island.
12:08But tragically,
12:09that made things worse.
12:10By then,
12:11they had been infected with smallpox,
12:13and as the disease spread
12:14through the island's population,
12:16many of them died.
12:17In 1866,
12:19a Catholic mission
12:20was established on the island
12:21to convert the small remaining
12:23Rapa Nui population
12:24to Christianity.
12:25By 1877,
12:27only 111 Rapa Nui remained,
12:31none of whom could read
12:32or write Rongo Rongo anymore.
12:36Ultimately,
12:36the island was annexed by Chile,
12:38which then granted
12:40a sheep ranching company
12:41a 50-year lease
12:42of the whole island.
12:4470,000 sheep roamed Rapa Nui
12:46and did significant ecological damage.
12:49That lease wasn't cancelled
12:52until 1953,
12:54and it would be more
12:55than a decade beyond that
12:57before the Rapa Nui,
12:58who were still very much there,
13:00were given formal
13:01Chilean citizenship,
13:03by which point,
13:04of course,
13:05there had been generations
13:06worth of damage
13:07already done.
13:09In 2024,
13:11a human genome study
13:13determined that prior
13:14to the arrival
13:15of Europeans on the island,
13:16the local population
13:18had been stable
13:19and healthy.
13:20There had been no collapse
13:21in their numbers,
13:22misproving once and for all
13:24the theory
13:24that the Rapa Nui people
13:26had perpetrated ecocide
13:28upon their own land.
13:30The more research is done,
13:31the more it becomes apparent
13:32that the Rapa Nui
13:33were a highly adaptive society.
13:35Their agriculture
13:36was successful
13:37and sustained them reliably
13:38for centuries.
13:39They evolved
13:40their own writing system,
13:41their own beliefs,
13:42and created hundreds
13:43of striking monuments
13:44that continue to bewilder
13:45and inspire people
13:46around the world.
13:48No one alive
13:49can read Rongo Rongo
13:50despite ongoing attempts
13:52to decode it.
13:53At one time,
13:54Rongo Rongo tablets
13:55were collector's items.
13:57Of the 25 tablets
13:58known to have survived,
13:59none of them
14:00are on Rapa Nui.
14:02Roughly 9,000 people
14:04inhabit the island today,
14:05with around 45%
14:07of the population
14:08identifying as Rapa Nui.
14:09and a small scattering
14:11of Rapa Nui people
14:12live in mainland Chile
14:14and on the island of Tahiti.
14:16Many of those
14:17who remain on Rapa Nui
14:18are working to preserve
14:20and nurture
14:20what remains
14:21of their lost language
14:22and culture.
14:35He was a ruler
14:36who brought empires
14:37to their knees.
14:39Known to his enemies
14:40as the Scourge of God,
14:43Attila the Hun,
14:44master of a vast realm
14:46that extended
14:46from the grassy lands
14:48of the Central Asian Steppe
14:49to the borders of France,
14:51remains one of history's
14:52most intriguing figures.
14:56Attila the Hun's name
14:58is synonymous with fear.
15:00By the mid-5th century,
15:01his power was colossal.
15:03He united diverse tribes
15:05into a single war machine
15:06and orchestrated alliances
15:08through politically
15:09motivated marriages.
15:11Attila stands unrivaled
15:13as the greatest
15:14barbarian warrior
15:15of the ancient world.
15:17While expanding
15:18the Hunnic Empire
15:19through brutal conquest,
15:21he drained
15:22the Eastern Roman Empire's coffers
15:24with exorbitant demands
15:26for gold
15:26under the guise of peace,
15:29only to shatter treaties
15:31whenever it suited
15:32his ambitions.
15:33Attila's reign
15:38came to an unexpected end
15:40in 453 CE.
15:42He suddenly died
15:43during his wedding feast,
15:45having just married
15:46a Gothic princess
15:47named Ildico.
15:49His death shocked
15:50his allies
15:51and enemies alike,
15:53and centuries later,
15:54it's still shrouded
15:55in mystery.
15:56Historical accounts
15:57tell us a story
15:58of a spectacular funeral.
16:02That Attila
16:03was laid to rest
16:04in three layered coffins,
16:06one gold,
16:07one silver,
16:08one iron,
16:09and that he was buried
16:10with so much treasure
16:11that a river
16:12was diverted
16:13to hide
16:13his final resting place
16:15and the workers
16:16killed
16:17to keep the secret.
16:21Despite questions
16:22over the story's accuracy,
16:23these details remain
16:24our strongest clues
16:25to the extraordinary precautions
16:27taken to guard
16:27Attila's grave,
16:28and his final resting place
16:29has eluded discovery
16:30for more than 1,500 years.
16:33So where is Attila the Hun buried?
16:37Attila the Hun
16:38built a formidable empire,
16:40rising to great power
16:41from a childhood spent
16:42with the nomadic warriors
16:44of the Eurasian steppe.
16:48Attila's youth
16:49was molded
16:50by his tribe's
16:51warrior lifestyle.
16:52His father,
16:53Munzak,
16:53was a notable Hunnic king.
16:55In 433 A.D.,
16:57Attila and his brother,
16:59Bleda,
16:59jointly inherited power
17:01from their uncle,
17:02King Rugalat.
17:03Attila soon showed
17:04an aptitude
17:05for strategic alliances
17:06and ruthless diplomacy.
17:10Attila unleashed
17:11devastating cavalry raids
17:13that ravaged
17:14the countryside,
17:15and he crushed
17:16any emperor
17:17who dared
17:18oppose him.
17:19Some accounts
17:20claim he commanded
17:21an army
17:22hundreds of thousands
17:24strong.
17:24In 439 C.E.,
17:29the Roman Empire
17:30and Attila the Hun
17:31signed the Treaty
17:32of Magnus,
17:33which promised peace
17:34and 700 pounds
17:36of gold
17:36paid to the Huns
17:38annually.
17:39But the fragile agreement
17:40wouldn't last.
17:44By 453 C.E.,
17:46he was mobilizing
17:48for yet another
17:49large-scale campaign,
17:51this time targeting
17:52Emperor Marcian
17:53and the Eastern Roman Empire.
17:56Marcian's refusal
17:57to honor the subsidies
17:59that were established
18:00by his predecessor,
18:01Theodosius II,
18:03had provoked
18:04Attila's wrath.
18:07That same year,
18:08Attila's ambitions
18:09came to an abrupt end
18:11when he died
18:12on his wedding day.
18:14Some historical accounts
18:15say he was drinking
18:16heavily that night
18:17and was then found
18:18dead in bed
18:19the next morning,
18:20covered in blood,
18:22but without any wounds,
18:23details that helped
18:24fuel one of history's
18:26great mysteries.
18:28In the aftermath
18:29of Attila's death,
18:31chaos threatened
18:31the unity of his empire.
18:33Decisions had to be made
18:35swiftly,
18:35and his burial
18:36may have reflected
18:37the urgency
18:38and political significance
18:40of the moment.
18:42Some believe
18:43that Attila fell victim
18:44to murder
18:44at the hands
18:45of his new bride,
18:46who may have sought vengeance
18:47for her oppressed
18:48Gothic people,
18:49and there may have been
18:50a hasty on-site burial
18:51to destroy any evidence
18:52of poison or foul play.
18:54Others point the finger
18:56at Emperor Marcian,
18:57who boldly refused
18:59Attila's demands
19:00for tribute
19:00and broke all agreements
19:02with the Huns.
19:04Roman strategies
19:04often relied
19:05on covert tactics
19:07like poisoning
19:08and manipulation,
19:09and Marcian's actions
19:10reflected his defiance.
19:13By arranging,
19:14or at least enabling,
19:16Ildico's position
19:17as Attila's final wife,
19:19she may have been a pawn
19:21in a broader Roman scheme
19:23to destabilize Hunnic power
19:25from within.
19:28But it's just as plausible
19:30that Attila's death
19:31was the result
19:31of natural causes,
19:32perhaps a ruptured blood vessel
19:34or an esophageal hemorrhage
19:35worsened by heavy drinking.
19:37No surviving evidence
19:39definitively implicates
19:40Ildico or Roman agent,
19:41and this theory
19:42does little to illuminate
19:43the mystery
19:43of his final resting place.
19:46Some suspect
19:47Attila's sudden interment
19:49concealed more
19:50than mere cause of death.
19:52Instead,
19:52it laid the foundation
19:53for one of history's
19:55most elaborate burial legends.
19:58Attila might have been hidden
20:00beneath the rushing waters
20:01of the Tiza River.
20:02One historical account
20:04describes a vivid funeral scene,
20:06horsemen circling
20:08Attila's tent in sorrow,
20:09mourners reciting funeral songs,
20:12and grief so profound
20:13they gash their faces
20:15and cut their hair.
20:19Historians suggest
20:20the Huns would have had
20:21the knowledge they needed
20:22to divert the Tiza
20:24since they'd had contact
20:25with Roman engineers.
20:27And if Attila really does
20:29rest beneath the river,
20:30his burial must have been
20:32as grand and intimidating
20:34as he was in life.
20:37Winding through Eastern Europe
20:39for over 600 miles,
20:41the Tiza River
20:42flows from the Carpathian Mountains
20:44onto the Great Hungarian Plain,
20:47the cradle of Attila's empire
20:48and the cultural heart
20:50of the Hunnic world.
20:53This was more than
20:53a geographical convenience.
20:55It was a spiritually potent choice.
20:58Burying Attila in the Tiza,
20:59the lifeblood of his realm,
21:01would protect his remains
21:02from desecration
21:03and immortalize him
21:04within the very land
21:05he once ruled.
21:07Archaeological surveys
21:08along riverbanks
21:09reinforce the cultural significance
21:11of waterways
21:12in step funerary practices.
21:14High-status Hunnic graves
21:16have been unearthed
21:17close to rivers,
21:18often laden
21:19with ceremonial items.
21:21While these discoveries
21:22are exciting,
21:23no trace of Attila's
21:25riverbed tomb
21:26has ever been discovered.
21:31Across the steppes
21:33of Central Europe,
21:34ancient mounds
21:35stand as silent remnants
21:37of a nomadic past,
21:39which some believe
21:40hold the key
21:40to unraveling the mystery
21:42of Attila's
21:43final resting place.
21:45The steppe
21:47of Central Europe
21:48is dotted
21:49with ancient burial mounds
21:51called kurgans,
21:52which were created
21:53by nomadic peoples.
21:55And some people suspect
21:56Attila's tomb
21:57could be one of them,
21:58lost out there
21:59somewhere
22:00on the great Hungarian plain.
22:03Steppe cultures
22:04often place
22:05their greatest leaders
22:06in lavishly appointed mounds,
22:08sometimes with gold masks,
22:09precious weapons,
22:11and tokens of authority.
22:12In 2023,
22:16a princely hunnic tomb
22:18unearthed
22:19near mesial Romania
22:20revealed over
22:21a hundred artifacts,
22:23including a gilded saddle,
22:25ornate weapons,
22:26and fragments
22:26of a gold mask.
22:28Even though that tomb
22:30doesn't belong
22:30to Attila,
22:31it gives us
22:32a tantalizing glimpse
22:33of what his final
22:34resting place
22:35might have looked like,
22:37and it fuels hope
22:38that the legendary
22:39warlord
22:40could still be found
22:42somewhere
22:42in an even grander
22:44burial mound.
22:46If Attila's coffin
22:47lies in a kurgan,
22:48it could have been robbed
22:49centuries ago,
22:50or it may still lie intact,
22:51protected by both
22:52secrecy and time.
22:54Discovering it
22:55would revolutionize
22:56our understanding
22:56of Attila's empire
22:57and allow us to strip away
22:58some of the legend
22:59that has long overshadowed
23:01the man himself.
23:03Attila the Hun's tomb
23:04is more than
23:05a physical location.
23:06It represents the power
23:08and legend
23:08of a vanished empire,
23:10a monument
23:10to a leader
23:11whose shadows stretched
23:13across continents
23:14and centuries.
23:16Attila reshaped
23:17Europe's destiny,
23:19forging alliances,
23:20demanding tributes,
23:21and sowing terror
23:22wherever he went.
23:24His military might
23:25and strategic marriages
23:26left deep imprints
23:27on the Roman world
23:29and its neighbors.
23:30Discoveries like
23:31the princely tomb
23:32near Mizzle
23:33suggest we're only
23:35beginning to grasp
23:36the complexity
23:36and grandeur
23:38of Hunnic burial practices.
23:40But they also highlight
23:42how time and myth
23:44can obscure
23:45definitive truths
23:47and evidence.
23:51Attila the Hun's life
23:53shaped a pivotal era
23:54of alliances,
23:56conflicts,
23:57and collapsing empires.
23:58His legend endures
24:00because the man
24:01and the mystery
24:02refuse to be forgotten.
24:17The Great Library of Alexandria
24:19was once a beacon of learning
24:21in the ancient world.
24:23Reputed to hold tens
24:24or even hundreds
24:25of thousands of scrolls,
24:26it attracted philosophers,
24:28mathematicians,
24:29and poets
24:30from across the Mediterranean
24:31to Egypt's capital.
24:35Most people imagine
24:36one massive building,
24:38but the library
24:39was more likely
24:40a network of halls
24:42and gardens
24:42housed within the museum,
24:44an institution
24:45dedicated to the muses.
24:48Under Ptolemy I
24:49and II,
24:50officials collected
24:51manuscripts
24:52from incoming ships
24:53and purchased rare scrolls
24:55from distant lands.
24:56Before long,
24:58this enterprise grew
24:59into the largest collection
25:00of knowledge
25:01in the ancient Mediterranean.
25:04Beyond Greek classics,
25:06the library preserved
25:07Egyptian records,
25:09Persian texts,
25:10and Hebrew scriptures,
25:11including the famed
25:12Septuagint translation.
25:15Papyrus scrolls
25:17covered everything
25:17from Aristotle's philosophy
25:19to newly rendered mythologies.
25:23Estimates of the library's
25:24total holdings
25:25spanned from 40,000
25:27to 700,000 scrolls,
25:31accounting for multiple
25:32branch libraries,
25:33such as the Serapium,
25:35spread throughout the city.
25:38It's one of the most
25:39fabled institutions
25:40of the ancient world,
25:42but archaeologists
25:43have never been able
25:44to find any definitive
25:45physical trace of it.
25:47And the accounts
25:48of its disappearance
25:48are tangled
25:49in contradictions.
25:51So how did the greatest
25:52collection of knowledge
25:54in all of antiquity
25:55just vanish?
25:58Under the Ptolemies,
26:00around 300 BCE,
26:02Alexandria became
26:03a vibrant melting pot
26:04of cultures.
26:05Scholars from Greece,
26:06Egypt, Persia,
26:08and beyond
26:08converged here,
26:10driving advances
26:11in astronomy,
26:13mathematics,
26:13and philosophy.
26:14The Library of Alexandria
26:17was the crown jewel
26:18of the ancient world's
26:20intellectual landscape,
26:22a groundbreaking institution
26:23that inspired the very
26:25concept of the modern
26:26university.
26:27It was originally
26:30envisaged by Alexander
26:31the Great
26:31as a cultural
26:32and literary hub,
26:34but his untimely death
26:35ultimately left
26:36the project unfinished.
26:39His successor,
26:40Ptolemy I,
26:41carried forward
26:42his vision,
26:43founding the
26:44Ptolemaic dynasty,
26:45and ensuring the library
26:46became a beacon
26:47of scholarship.
26:49It began with
26:50Demetrius of Phalarum,
26:52an exiled Athenian
26:53who urged
26:54Ptolemy Soter I
26:56to build
26:57a universal library.
27:00By acquiring
27:02manuscripts
27:02from around
27:03the known world,
27:05Alexandria aimed
27:06to gather
27:06every significant
27:08work of the era.
27:10As the library
27:12expanded,
27:13every single ship
27:15that docked
27:15in Alexandria
27:16was searched
27:17for books
27:18so that any
27:19written material
27:20could be taken away
27:21and copied,
27:22with the library
27:23often keeping
27:24the originals.
27:26But as Rome's
27:27influence grew,
27:28Alexandria's destiny
27:30shifted.
27:31Cleopatra's
27:32political alliances,
27:34Julius Caesar's
27:34arrival,
27:35and escalating
27:36internal unrest
27:38plunged the city
27:39into turmoil.
27:41Battles and political
27:42tensions reverberated
27:43through the royal quarter,
27:45setting the stage
27:46for the many theories
27:47about how the great library
27:48ultimately met its end.
27:53Some argue
27:54a single devastating
27:55incident
27:56doomed the library
27:57once and for all.
27:59One theory suggests
28:01the library's destruction
28:03began in 48 BCE
28:05during Julius Caesar's
28:07campaign in Egypt
28:09to block enemy ships
28:11during a civil war
28:12between Cleopatra
28:13and her brother
28:14Ptolemy XIII,
28:16Caesar ordered
28:17the Alexandrian fleet
28:18set ablaze.
28:21There are stories
28:22of flames spreading
28:24from the ships
28:25to buildings
28:26near the docks,
28:27including warehouses
28:28that stored manuscripts.
28:30Some of those
28:30ancient sources
28:31claim that tens
28:32of thousands
28:33of scrolls
28:34were destroyed,
28:35or even
28:36the library itself.
28:38Roman philosopher
28:40Seneca,
28:40writing in the
28:41first century CE,
28:42recorded that
28:4340,000 scrolls
28:44were lost
28:45in Caesar's fire.
28:47Later,
28:47authors like
28:48Aulus Gilius
28:48and Orochius
28:49dramatically expanded
28:51this figure,
28:52claiming losses
28:52of up to
28:53700,000 manuscripts.
28:56Despite
28:57these vivid narratives,
28:59the geographer
29:00Strabo,
29:01while visiting
29:01around 20 BCE,
29:03found a still-functioning
29:05museum in Alexandria.
29:08This suggests
29:09that the library
29:10was not
29:11entirely destroyed.
29:13Parts of its collection
29:14may have survived
29:15or been rebuilt.
29:18While Caesar's fire
29:20struck a painful blow,
29:22it likely was not
29:23the library's
29:24ultimate demise.
29:26Turmoil
29:27continued to rock
29:28Alexandria for centuries.
29:30Civil unrest,
29:31uprisings,
29:32and new military campaigns
29:34left the city
29:35perpetually on edge.
29:37Some suggest
29:38another,
29:38more devastating episode
29:40finally seal the fate
29:42of any surviving manuscripts.
29:45Some assert
29:46that Emperor Aurelian's
29:47brutal reconquest
29:49of Alexandria
29:49in the 270 CE
29:51delivered the library's
29:53fatal blow.
29:54Ammianus Marcellinus recounts
29:58how vast sections
29:59of the city,
30:00including the
30:00Brucchion district,
30:02where the royal
30:02quarters stood,
30:03were devastated,
30:05as Aurelian fought
30:06to seize Alexandria
30:07from Palmyrian forces
30:09loyal to Queen Zenobia.
30:10But interestingly,
30:13references to Alexandrian
30:14learning persisted
30:16well into the 4th century.
30:18Emperor Domitian,
30:18for instance,
30:19relied on Alexandrian copies
30:21to replenish texts
30:22lost in a Roman
30:22library fire.
30:24This implies that
30:25into the 1st and 2nd
30:26centuries CE,
30:27enough manuscripts
30:28still existed
30:29in Alexandria
30:30for Roman leaders
30:31to rely on,
30:33perhaps at the Serapium,
30:35which may have
30:35remained operational.
30:36We have no definitive
30:38record stating
30:39that the great library
30:40perished at Aurelian's hand.
30:43Scholars like Theon
30:45and his daughter Hypatia
30:46remained active
30:47in Alexandria
30:48in the late 4th century,
30:51hinting that
30:51some scholarly tradition
30:53persisted.
30:54The question is
30:56whether they worked
30:56with a true
30:57great library
30:59or a patchwork
31:00of smaller collections.
31:03Aurelian's campaign
31:04was significant,
31:05but may not
31:06fully explain
31:07the library's
31:08ultimate disappearance.
31:11By the late 4th century,
31:13a new tide swept
31:14across the empire,
31:16challenging not just
31:17Alexandria's temples,
31:19but perhaps
31:20the very heart
31:21of its scholarly heritage.
31:24The library's
31:25final chapter
31:26might have come
31:27during the Christian
31:28crackdown
31:28on pagan sites
31:30in Alexandria.
31:31The emperor Theodosius I
31:33outlawed pagan worship,
31:35and since the Serapeum
31:37was still an important
31:38site for pagans,
31:39it was demolished.
31:41So by the end
31:42of 391 CE,
31:44even whatever
31:44might have been left
31:45in the collection
31:46of the daughter
31:46of the great library
31:48seems to have been destroyed.
31:50Contemporary sources
31:52describe a whirlwind
31:53of shattered statues,
31:55ripped down altars,
31:56and plundered artifacts.
31:59If the Serapeum
32:00did indeed hold
32:01significant scrolls,
32:03be they remnants
32:04of the royal library
32:05or another collection,
32:07their destruction
32:08would have erased
32:09a priceless treasury
32:10of astronomy,
32:12mathematics,
32:13and pagan philosophy.
32:14But the record
32:16is murky
32:17on whether thousands
32:18of scrolls
32:19literally went up
32:20in flames
32:20in 391 CE.
32:23Surviving texts
32:24do not explicitly
32:25detail a mass burning
32:27of manuscripts.
32:28Some could have been
32:29removed, sold,
32:31or even left to decay
32:32well before
32:33the Christian mobs
32:34arrived,
32:35which casts some doubt
32:36on the scale
32:38of the supposed
32:39final blow.
32:40And some accounts
32:43suggest small pockets
32:44of scholarship
32:45persisted beyond
32:46the Serapeum's ruin.
32:48While the Christian purge
32:49was undeniably harsh,
32:51it likely capped
32:52a long, gradual decline
32:55rather than delivering
32:56a single, decisive end
32:58to the once-great library.
33:01The Great Library
33:02of Alexandria's disappearance
33:04remains one of history's
33:06greatest riddles.
33:08Conflicting theories
33:09paint dramatic pictures
33:10of sudden fires
33:11and vicious sackings.
33:13But the truth
33:14might be more complex.
33:17It could be
33:18that there wasn't
33:18any single catastrophe
33:20that was fully responsible
33:22for the library's destruction.
33:25Caesar's fire,
33:26Aurelian's reconquest,
33:27and the Christian purge
33:29all seem to have delivered
33:30devastating blows
33:31as part of a long history
33:33of political turmoil
33:35and religious upheaval
33:36that might have gradually
33:38eroded the library,
33:40which would have relied
33:40on scholarly stability
33:42and royal patronage
33:44to survive.
33:45Papyrus,
33:46the primary writing material,
33:48was fragile
33:49and required
33:50careful maintenance.
33:51Even minor neglect,
33:53let alone war,
33:54risked irreparable loss.
33:55The legends of a single
33:58cataclysmic event
34:00may overshadow
34:01the more plausible reality,
34:03a drawn-out unraveling
34:04fueled by multiple crises
34:06and long-term decay.
34:09The Great Library
34:10of Alexandria
34:11remains an emblem
34:12of humanity's highest
34:13intellectual ambitions.
34:16Its rise and disappearance
34:17reminds us that knowledge
34:19is precious
34:19and that once lost,
34:21it is difficult to recover.
34:23this iconic library spirit
34:25lives on
34:26in our ongoing quest
34:28to safeguard what we know
34:29and continue to learn.
34:46Around December of 1511,
34:49off the coast of Sumatra,
34:50Portugal's Flora de la Mar,
34:52carrying some 400 souls
34:54and 60 tons of gold,
34:56got caught up on a reef
34:57during a fierce storm.
35:00Captain Alfonso de la Albuquerque
35:02set off in a boat
35:04to find help,
35:05but the crew he left behind
35:07never saw him again.
35:11Albuquerque wasn't just
35:12the Flora de la Mar's captain.
35:14He was an admiral,
35:15the viceroy of Portugal,
35:17and a military commander
35:18nicknamed the Lion of the Seas,
35:21who was bent
35:22on maritime conquest,
35:24determined to control trade
35:26throughout Southeast Asia.
35:29The flotilla had set out
35:30with four ships,
35:32two of which
35:33had already sunk in the storm.
35:35Du Albuquerque
35:36was able to locate
35:37the remaining one
35:38and was rescued.
35:40But then,
35:41rather than sailing it back
35:42to try to save
35:43the Flora de la Mar,
35:45he directed it
35:45to carry him to Portugal.
35:47The Flora de la Mar
35:53was left helplessly
35:54stuck on a reef
35:55in the shallows,
35:56being pummeled incessantly
35:58by the storm's waves.
35:59The ship,
36:00most of its crew,
36:01and all of its cargo
36:02disappeared.
36:05Hundreds of years later,
36:07the question remains,
36:08where is the Flora de Mar's
36:10vanished treasure?
36:11The Flora de la Mar,
36:13one of the largest
36:13and most beautiful ships
36:15of its era,
36:16was born of Portugal's desire
36:18to acquire and control
36:19the riches of the East.
36:21The Flora could carry
36:22vast cargo
36:23and blast any ships
36:24that stood in its way
36:26to splinters.
36:27The Flora de la Mar
36:29was built in Lisbon
36:30in 1502.
36:32It was 118 feet long,
36:35111 feet tall,
36:37and had a rounded hull
36:38that displaced 400 tons
36:40of water.
36:42And it wasn't just large,
36:45it was powerful,
36:47with three masts
36:48and a variety of sails
36:50to catch and control
36:51the wind.
36:54The ship was loaded
36:55with firepower.
36:57It had 50 guns,
36:59six big ones
37:00that fired cannonballs
37:01as heavy as 18 pounds,
37:04eight swivel guns
37:05firing four-pound shot,
37:07and lots of smaller guns
37:09loaded with scattershot.
37:12The Flora de la Mar
37:14was a trade ship
37:15and a warship
37:16in one overwhelming package.
37:19This might be why
37:20Alfonso de Albuquerque
37:21chose it as his flagship
37:23when he embarked
37:24with the fleet
37:24of 22 vessels
37:26on an ambitious
37:27and relentless string
37:28of conquests
37:29that would take years.
37:30The Albuquerque
37:33attacked and plundered
37:35his way
37:36from Mozambique
37:36all along Africa's
37:38east coast
37:39to the Red Sea.
37:40He then ransacked
37:41ports in India,
37:43Burma,
37:43and Thailand.
37:44But his most ambitious
37:45target was known
37:47as the Emporium
37:48of the East,
37:49the richest city
37:50of the world.
37:52The Sultanate
37:54of Malacca
37:54was a trading hub
37:55that connected
37:56all of East Asia
37:57via the strait
37:58that bears its name
37:59and as such
38:00it had made
38:01the city of Malacca
38:02and the Sultan
38:03fabulously wealthy.
38:06This was not
38:07an attempt
38:08at trade
38:09or diplomacy.
38:10Albuquerque
38:11attacked
38:11with 16 ships
38:13destroying a dozen
38:14of the Sultan's vessels
38:16and driving back
38:17his war elephants
38:18and army
38:19of archers.
38:21He besieged
38:23Malacca
38:23for 12 days
38:25and when the city
38:27finally fell
38:28he slaughtered
38:30thousands
38:30of its citizens
38:31and plundered
38:33the Sultan's palace.
38:37Albuquerque
38:37loaded the floor
38:38with loot
38:39and set sail
38:40for Portugal
38:41along with
38:41three other ships.
38:44Two days later
38:45while they were still
38:46making their way
38:47through the strait
38:47the storm struck
38:49and the Flor de la Mar
38:51heavy with treasure
38:52was caught
38:53on a sandy shoal.
38:54According to reports
38:57the ship broke
38:58in two
38:59the back half
39:00stranded on the sand
39:01and pounded
39:02by the waves.
39:04The ship
39:05had run aground
39:06on the shoals
39:07so the wreck
39:08was sitting
39:08in shallow water
39:09with easy access
39:11from the shore
39:11once the storm
39:12had passed
39:13at least until
39:14what was left
39:15of the hull
39:15eventually drifted away
39:17with the current
39:18or sank
39:19into the silt.
39:20Albuquerque
39:23made his cowardly
39:24escape
39:24and after that
39:26it was only
39:26a matter of time
39:27before the remaining
39:28half of the ship
39:29disintegrated
39:30and slipped
39:30beneath the waves.
39:32Only a few
39:33of its crew
39:34were said to have
39:35somehow made it
39:36to land.
39:37The Flor de la Mar
39:38was gone
39:38and with it
39:39an incredible amount
39:40of gold
39:41and treasure.
39:43The men
39:44who miraculously
39:45survived the wreck
39:46could be key
39:47to what became
39:48of the Flor de la Mar
39:49as valuable cargo.
39:52The survivors
39:53would have known
39:54where in the ship
39:55the treasures
39:55had been stowed
39:56and the next day
39:58when the storm
39:58had subsided
39:59they could have
40:00trekked back
40:01into the shallow
40:01and now calm waters
40:03to recover
40:04as much as they could.
40:06There were
40:06contemporary accounts
40:07that described
40:08the men
40:09coming to shore
40:10clutching valuables
40:11and personal possessions.
40:13They could easily
40:15have gotten help
40:16in salvaging
40:16the treasure
40:17from the very locals
40:19who had witnessed
40:20their escape
40:21as soon as
40:22it was safe
40:22to do so.
40:25Getting help
40:26from the locals
40:27would certainly
40:27help explain
40:28how just a few
40:29crew members
40:30could have recovered
40:31chests full of gold
40:32from the guts
40:33of a ship
40:34wrecked on a silty shoal.
40:37The only thing is
40:38the Portuguese survivors
40:39are described
40:40as having made it
40:41to the shore
40:41at Passe
40:42about 90 miles
40:43up the coast
40:44from where the wreck was.
40:45making this scenario
40:47very unlikely.
40:50Some believe
40:51that the survivors
40:52and the Flor de la Mara's
40:53treasure
40:54may have fallen victim
40:55to something
40:56as treacherous
40:57as the storm
40:58that destroyed the ship.
41:00It's entirely conceivable
41:02that pirates
41:03could have swooped in
41:04once the storm
41:04had passed
41:05and looted
41:06the remains
41:06of the hull.
41:07The Strait of Malacca
41:09had lots of small islands
41:10with narrow passages
41:11between them.
41:12Trade ships
41:14often had trouble
41:15navigating the shallow waters
41:17and that made them
41:19easy prey for pirates
41:20who could ambush them
41:21or simply comb through
41:22the wrecks
41:23at their leisure.
41:25If pirates
41:26had access
41:27to those surviving
41:28crew members
41:29they certainly
41:30might have compelled
41:31them to devolve
41:32exactly where the chests
41:34had been stowed.
41:36It's even been suggested
41:37that pirates
41:38aligned with
41:39the sultan
41:40of Malacca himself
41:41could have looted
41:42the ship
41:43getting the sultan
41:44his gold back
41:45and maybe even
41:46a little extra
41:46to boot.
41:49The Aru kingdom
41:51north of the
41:52Malaccan sultanate
41:53had a reputation
41:54for piracy.
41:56One Portuguese
41:56contemporary living
41:57in Malacca
41:58wrote that the Aru
41:59had at least
42:00a hundred pardos
42:01a type of outriggered boat
42:03built for speed
42:04and a reputation
42:05for thievery.
42:07That same writer
42:09said the Raja
42:09of another kingdom
42:10adjacent to Aru
42:12had recovered
42:13everything water
42:14could not spoil
42:15from the Flore de Lamar
42:16wreck
42:16which had made him
42:17very rich.
42:19The only problem
42:20with this possibility
42:21is that there's no evidence
42:22to substantiate it.
42:24If someone managed
42:25to retrieve the treasure
42:26where did it end up?
42:28With all the possibilities
42:30that have been suggested
42:31regarding the fate
42:32of the Flore de Lamar's
42:33treasure
42:34some maintain
42:35that everything
42:36is exactly
42:37as it seems.
42:38The Flore de Lamar
42:40sank in the Strait
42:41of Malacca
42:41and maybe
42:42the treasure sank
42:43with it
42:43and that's where
42:44it remains.
42:45The first and biggest
42:46challenge
42:47is that we've never
42:48known exactly
42:49where it went down.
42:51There's that discrepancy
42:53about where Albuquerque
42:54said the wreck was
42:55and where the few
42:57surviving crew members
42:58came ashore.
43:00That makes it
43:01very hard to know
43:02where to start looking.
43:03And then there's
43:05the fact that the area
43:06is hard to search.
43:07Their powerful currents
43:09stir up the muddy
43:10seabed.
43:11For divers,
43:12visibility is often
43:13zero.
43:14Once the last
43:15of the Flore de Lamar
43:16broke up,
43:17the heavy treasure chest
43:18couldn't have traveled far.
43:20But after five centuries,
43:22they could be buried
43:23very deep under the silt.
43:26The treasure of the Flore de Lamar
43:28may simply be too valuable
43:29to be forgotten
43:30or left alone.
43:33In 1992,
43:34a salvage company
43:35spent years
43:36and millions of dollars
43:37searching for the treasure.
43:39They finally hired
43:40a career treasure hunter
43:42who claimed to have found
43:43evidence of the wreck,
43:44including scattered ballast rock,
43:47several gold figurines,
43:49and a gold bracelet.
43:51According to the treasure hunter,
43:53this was a spot
43:54where scuba divers
43:55working for an oil exploration company
43:57years prior had found
43:59four bronze cannons
44:01and several gold artifacts.
44:06A more extensive exploration
44:08of the site was set to begin,
44:10but there were disputes
44:11over who owned
44:12the salvage rights,
44:14Malaysia, Indonesia,
44:15or Portugal,
44:16and the project was abandoned.
44:18So the mystery lives on.
44:22It was a priceless haul of gold,
44:25stolen at the cost
44:26of countless lives
44:27and abandoned
44:28in an act of cowardice.
44:30With its dark history
44:31and where the lost treasure
44:33of the Flore de Lamar lies,
44:35it might be better off
44:36left alone
44:37if modern-day treasure hunters
44:39can only resist its pull.
44:56There are many other things
45:04and once you've been
45:06used to be able
45:07to achieve theます
45:07for the next person
45:09of the world,
45:10it might be better off
45:10than this one
45:11or in an act.
45:11There's nothing
45:12and when in the world
45:12you have to be able
45:13to find out
45:14that you will find out
45:16well as you will name it.
45:17There are nothing
45:18that you will call
45:18as you can find out
45:19as you can find out
45:19that you will find out
45:21yet.
45:21There are nothing
45:23we will find out
45:23where the map
Be the first to comment