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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?
01:01The chain of history has many missing links.
01:06Prominent people, priceless treasures, extraordinary artifacts.
01:12Their locations still unknown.
01:15Lost to the fog of time.
01:17The island of Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated places on Earth.
01:41Despite that, it developed and sustained a civilization with their own writing system,
01:47their own social structure, and their own strikingly unique cultural practices.
01:53They 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.
02:17And somehow, on that sparse little island, less than 15 miles long and seven wide,
02:22they 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.
02:39In 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.
02:52And 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.
03:03Their system of writing had been abandoned and forgotten.
03:06They 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?
03:33Anthropologists 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
03:48would have been Rapa Nui.
03:52It'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 refer 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 yams,
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.
04:35Assuming a 3% annual growth rate,
04:39their population would have reached about 1,000 after around a century.
04:42Evidence suggests the Rapa Nui's population then leveled out at about 3,000 from 1350 CE on.
04:48On April 5, 1722, a 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.
05:08An armed company was sent ashore where they encountered a population estimated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 Rapa Nui people
05:17living among some impressive landmarks.
05:21The Europeans saw that there were hundreds of massive statues called 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 were able to move stones of this size into position.
05:38They concluded the Mawai must be hollow, made of clay, and nearly coated with a layer of stones.
05:44The 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.
05:58There are more than 1,000 of them,
06:00and 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.
06:14After this one-day visit,
06:16and after the Europeans had returned home,
06:19Rapa Nui was known to the world.
06:21But even so,
06:22it 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,
06:38and after just half a century.
06:41One 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 Jubea Palm had existed on Rapa Nui
07:05for more than 35,000 years.
07:07But studies of sediment cores
07:09show a dramatic decrease in pollen
07:11from 1,200 to 1,500 CE.
07:13A 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 Jubea palms
07:29to build their homes,
07:30and possibly to help move the hundreds of Mawai statues
07:33into their positions about the island.
07:35However, overuse of those forests
07:39would have made a drastic change
07:40to 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.
07:55Some researchers see a link
07:57between the degradation of the island's environment
08:00and the ultimate breakdown of society on Rapa Nui.
08:03Sometime during the 16th century,
08:07it appears the Rapa Nui just stopped producing
08:10and erecting Mawai around their island.
08:13In 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.
08:48There's plenty of evidence
08:49that they were actually very adaptable people.
08:51To counteract soil loss from wind erosion,
08:55potentially a big problem on a fairly barren island,
08:58the Rapa Nui placed Mawai,
09:00stone 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
09:39and harvesting of crops,
09:41because when the first settlers
09:42came to Rapa Nui,
09:44bulbs and seeds
09:45weren't all they brought with them.
09:47The Polynesian settlers
09:48were aware they would need
09:50a steady supply of protein
09:51on their new island home
09:53to ensure their best chances of survival.
09:57To that end,
09:57they brought an invasive species
10:00as food, rats.
10:03Polynesian rat,
10:04our Pacific rat,
10:05is very resilient
10:07and very competitive,
10:09and they can give birth
10:09to a new litter every few months.
10:12The initial population of rats
10:14brought over by the settlers
10:15exploded into a peak population
10:17of something like
10:18two or three million rats,
10:21maybe 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
10:33the seeds and saplings
10:34of the Jubea palm.
10:36Many ancient seeds
10:37have been dug up on the island
10:38that bear the telltale marks
10:39of rats' teeth.
10:41The voracious rats
10:41could very well have accelerated
10:43the deforestation of the island
10:44by destroying countless numbers
10:46of seeds and saplings.
10:47But the fact is,
10:50there's no evidence
10:50of a complete ecological collapse
10:53on Rapa Nui.
10:54The forests did not disappear completely,
10:57the people were successful
10:58in growing their crops,
10:59and they continued to get
11:00the dietary protein they needed
11:02from fishing
11:03as well as from rat meat.
11:04It's recently been suggested
11:11that one single day
11:12over three centuries ago
11:14planted the seed
11:15of what ultimately
11:16all but obliterated
11:18Rapa Nui culture.
11:21After the Dutch sailors'
11:23brief visit to the island
11:24in 1722,
11:26they had little interest
11:27in Rapa Nui,
11:28but they did tell the world
11:30about the island
11:30and its people
11:31that were living there.
11:32This was the start
11:34of a slow-motion tragedy
11:35that started to accelerate.
11:38In 1862,
11:40enslavers from Peru
11:42came to the island
11:43and kidnapped
11:44more than 1,400 people,
11:46half the population,
11:48including one of their kings
11:49or high chiefs,
11:51and the priests and scribes
11:52who knew their writing system,
11:54Rongo Rongo,
11:55thought to quite possibly
11:56be the only known writing system
11:58of its kind in the world.
12:00There was international condemnation
12:02of this abduction
12:02into slavery,
12:03which resulted in a small number
12:05of the kidnapped locals
12:06being brought back
12:06to the island.
12:08But tragically,
12:09that made things worse.
12:10By then,
12:11they'd been infected
12:11with smallpox,
12:12and 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
12:20on the island
12:21to convert the small
12:23remaining Rapa Nui population
12:24to Christianity.
12:26By 1877,
12:28only 111 Rapa Nui remained,
12:30none of whom
12:31could read or write
12:32Rongo Rongo anymore.
12:36Ultimately,
12:37the island was annexed
12:38by 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
12:47ecological damage.
12:51That lease
12:51wasn't canceled
12:52until 1953,
12:54and it would be
12:55more than a decade
12:56beyond that
12:57before the Rapa Nui,
12:58who were still
12:58very much there,
13:00were given
13:00formal Chilean citizenship,
13:03by which point,
13:04of course,
13:05there had been
13:05generations worth
13:07of damage
13:07already done.
13:09In 2024,
13:11a human genome study
13:13determined
13:13that prior to the arrival
13:15of Europeans
13:16on the island,
13:17the local population
13:18had been stable
13:19and healthy.
13:20There had been
13:20no collapse
13:21in their numbers,
13:22misproving once
13:23and for all
13:24the theory
13:24that the Rapa Nui people
13:26had perpetrated
13:27ecocide
13:28upon their own land.
13:30The more research
13:31is done,
13:31the more it becomes
13:32apparent that the Rapa Nui
13:33were a highly adaptive society.
13:36Their agriculture
13:36was successful
13:37and sustained them
13:38reliably for centuries.
13:39They evolved
13:40their own writing system,
13:41their own beliefs,
13:42and created hundreds
13:43of striking monuments
13:44that continue
13:45to 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.
14:10And 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
14:20were 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.
14:57Attila 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 barbarian warrior
15:15of the ancient world.
15:17While expanding the Hunnic Empire
15:19through brutal conquest,
15:21he drained the Eastern Roman Empire's coffers
15:24with exorbitant demands
15:26for gold under the guise of peace,
15:29only to shatter treaties
15:31whenever it suited his ambitions.
15:33Attila's reign came 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 Ildiko.
15:49His death shocked
15:50his allies and enemies alike,
15:53and centuries later,
15:54it's still shrouded in mystery.
15:56Historical accounts
15:57tell us a story
15:58of a spectacular funeral,
16:01that Attila was 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 his final resting place
16:15and the workers killed
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 Attila's grave.
16:28And his final resting place
16:30is a looted 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, Munzak,
16:54was a notable Hunnic king.
16:56In 433 AD,
16:57Attila and his brother,
16:59Bleda,
16:59joined the 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 the countryside,
17:15and he crushed
17:16any emperor
17:17who dared oppose him.
17:19Some accounts claim
17:20he commanded an army
17:22hundreds of thousands strong.
17:24In 439 CE,
17:29the Roman Empire
17:30and Attila the Hun
17:31signed the Treaty of Magnus,
17:33which promised peace
17:35and 700 pounds of gold
17:36paid to the Huns annually.
17:39But the fragile agreement
17:40wouldn't last.
17:44By 453 CE,
17:47he was mobilizing
17:48for yet another
17:49large-scale campaign,
17:51this time targeting
17:52Emperor Marcian
17:54and 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 heavily
18:16that 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 fuel
18:25one of history's
18:26great mysteries.
18:28In the aftermath
18:29of Attila's death,
18:31chaos threatened
18:32the unity of his empire.
18:33Decisions had to be
18:34made swiftly
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
18:47sought 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.
18:55Others 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
19:20a pawn
19:21in a broader Roman scheme
19:23to destabilize
19:24Hunnic power
19:25from within.
19:29But it's just as plausible
19:30that Attila's death
19:31was the result
19:31of natural causes,
19:33perhaps a ruptured
19:33blood vessel
19:34or an esophageal hemorrhage
19:36worsened by heavy drinking.
19:37No surviving evidence
19:39definitively implicates
19:40Ildico,
19:40or Roman agent,
19:42and 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
19:56burial legends.
19:58Attila might have been
19:59hidden beneath
20:00the rushing waters
20:01of the Tiza River.
20:03One historical account
20:04describes a vivid
20:05funeral scene,
20:07horsemen circling
20:08Attila's tent in sorrow,
20:09mourners reciting
20:10funeral songs
20:11and grief so profound
20:13they gash their faces
20:15and cut their hair.
20:19Historians suggest
20:20the Huns
20:21would have had
20:21the knowledge
20:22they needed
20:23to divert the Tiza
20:24since they'd had contact
20:25with Roman engineers.
20:27And if Attila
20:28really does rest
20:30beneath the river,
20:31his burial
20:32must have been
20:32as grand
20:33and intimidating
20:34as he was in life.
20:37Winding through
20:38Eastern Europe
20:39for over 600 miles,
20:41the Tiza River
20:42flows from
20:43the Carpathian Mountains
20:44onto the Great
20:45Hungarian Plain,
20:47the cradle
20:47of Attila's empire
20:48and the cultural heart
20:50of the Hunnic world.
20:52This was more
20:53than a geographical
20:54convenience.
20:55It was a spiritually
20:56potent choice.
20:58Burying Attila
20:58in the Tiza,
20:59the lifeblood
21:00of his realm,
21:01would protect
21:01his 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
21:10significance of waterways
21:12in steppe 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.
21:27Across 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
21:41to unraveling
21:42the mystery
21:42of Attila's
21:43final resting place.
21:46The steppe
21:47of Central Europe
21:48is dotted
21:49with ancient
21:50burial mounds
21:51called kurgans,
21:52which were created
21:53by nomadic peoples.
21:55And some people
21:55suspect Attila's tomb
21:57could be one of them,
21:58lost out there
21:59somewhere
22:00on the great
22:00Hungarian 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 near
22:19mesial 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
22:43grander burial mound.
22:46If Attila's coffin
22:47lies in a kurgan,
22:48it could have been
22:48robbed centuries ago,
22:50or it may still
22:51lie 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
22:58to strip away
22:58some of the legend
22:59that has long
23:00overshadowed
23:01the man himself.
23:03Attila the Hunts' tomb
23:04is more than
23:05a physical location.
23:06It represents
23:07the power and legend
23:08of a vanished empire,
23:10a monument to a leader
23:11whose shadows
23:12stretched across
23:13continents and 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
23:28on 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
23:37and grandeur
23:38of Hunnic burial practices.
23:40But they also highlight
23:43how time and myth
23:44can obscure
23:45definitive truths
23:47and evidence.
23:51Attila the Hunts' 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.
24:06The Great Library of Alexandria
24:19was once a beacon
24:21of learning
24:21in the ancient world.
24:23Reputed to hold
24:23tens or even hundreds
24:25of thousands of scrolls,
24:27it attracted philosophers,
24:28mathematicians,
24:29and poets
24:30from across the Mediterranean
24:31to Egypt's capital.
24:33Most 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,
24:45an 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.
24:57Before long,
24:58this enterprise
24:59grew into the largest
25:00collection of 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
25:25span from 40,000
25:28to 700,000 scrolls,
25:31accounting for
25:31multiple branch 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
25:50in contradictions.
25:51So how did
25:52the greatest collection
25:53of knowledge
25:54in all of antiquity
25:55just vanish?
25:56Under 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,
26:14and philosophy.
26:15The Library of Alexandria
26:17was the crown jewel
26:18of the ancient world's
26:20intellectual landscape,
26:22a groundbreaking institution
26:23that inspired
26:24the very concept
26:25of the modern university.
26:29It was originally
26:30envisaged by
26:31Alexander the Great
26:32as 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.
26:48It 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
27:05aimed to gather
27:06every significant
27:08work of the era.
27:09As 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,
27:29Alexandria's destiny
27:30shifted.
27:31Cleopatra's
27:32political alliances,
27:34Julius Caesar's arrival,
27:35and escalating
27:36internal unrest
27:38plunged the city
27:39into turmoil.
27:41Battles and
27:41political tensions
27:42reverberated
27:43through the royal quarter,
27:45setting the stage
27:46for the many theories
27:47about how the
27:47great library
27:48ultimately met
27:50its end.
27:53Some argue
27:54a single
27:55devastating incident
27:56doomed the library
27:57once and for all.
28:00One theory suggests
28:01the library's
28:02destruction
28:03began in
28:0448 BCE
28:05during Julius Caesar's
28:07campaign in Egypt
28:09to block
28:10enemy 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
28:23spreading from 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
28:37itself.
28:39Roman 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 Gileus
28:49and Orocius
28:49dramatically
28:50expanded this figure,
28:52claiming losses
28:52of up to
28:53700,000
28:54manuscripts.
28:56Despite
28:57these vivid
28:58narratives,
28:59the geographer
29:00Strabo,
29:01while visiting
29:01around 20 BCE,
29:03found a still
29:05functioning museum
29:06in Alexandria.
29:08This suggests
29:09that the library
29:10was not
29:11entirely destroyed.
29:13Parts of its
29:13collection
29:14may have survived
29:15or been rebuilt.
29:18While Caesar's
29:19fire struck
29:20a 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
29:33military campaigns
29:34left the city
29:35perpetually on edge.
29:37Some suggest
29:38another more
29:39devastating episode
29:40finally sealed
29:41the fate
29:42of any
29:42surviving
29:43manuscripts.
29:45Some assert
29:46that Emperor
29:47Aurelian's
29:47brutal reconquest
29:49of Alexandria
29:49in the 270 CE
29:51delivered the
29:52library's
29:53fatal blow.
29:56Ammianus
29:56Marcellinus
29:57recounts how
29:58vast sections
29:59of the city,
30:00including the
30:01Bruchion district,
30:02where the royal
30:02quarters stood,
30:03were devastated
30:04as Aurelian
30:05fought to seize
30:06Alexandria from
30:08Palmyrian forces
30:09loyal to Queen
30:10Zenobia.
30:12But interestingly,
30:13references to
30:14Alexandrian learning
30:15persisted well
30:16into the 4th century.
30:18Emperor Domitian,
30:19for instance,
30:19relied on Alexandrian
30:20copies to replenish
30:21texts lost in a
30:22Roman library fire.
30:24This implies that
30:25into the 1st and 2nd
30:26centuries CE,
30:27enough manuscripts
30:28still existed in
30:30Alexandria for Roman
30:31leaders to rely on,
30:33perhaps at the
30:34Serapium, which may
30:35have remained
30:36operational.
30:37We have no
30:38definitive record
30:39stating that the
30:40great library
30:40perished at
30:42Aurelian's hand.
30:43Scholars like
30:44Theon and his
30:45daughter Hypatia
30:46remained active in
30:48Alexandria in the
30:49late 4th century,
30:51hinting that some
30:52scholarly tradition
30:53persisted.
30:54The question is
30:56whether they worked
30:56with a true
30:58great library or
31:00a patchwork of
31:01smaller collections.
31:03Aurelian's campaign
31:04was significant,
31:05but may not fully
31:07explain the library's
31:08ultimate disappearance.
31:11By the late 4th
31:13century, a new
31:14tide swept across
31:15the empire,
31:16challenging not just
31:17Alexandria's temples,
31:19but perhaps the very
31:21heart of its
31:22scholarly heritage.
31:23The library's final
31:26chapter might have
31:27come during the
31:27Christian crackdown on
31:29pagan sites in
31:30Alexandria.
31:31The emperor Theodosius
31:33I outlawed pagan
31:34worship, and since
31:36the Serapium was still
31:37an important site for
31:38pagans, it was
31:40demolished.
31:41So by the end of
31:42391 CE, even
31:44whatever might have
31:44been left in the
31:45collection of the
31:46daughter of the
31:47great library seems
31:48to have been
31:49destroyed.
31:51Contemporary sources
31:52describe a world of
31:53low wind of shattered
31:54statues, ripped down
31:55altars, and plundered
31:57artifacts.
31:59If the Serapium did
32:00indeed hold significant
32:02scrolls, be they
32:03remnants of the royal
32:05library or another
32:06collection, their
32:07destruction would have
32:09erased a priceless
32:10treasury of astronomy,
32:12mathematics, and pagan
32:13philosophy.
32:14But the record is murky on
32:17whether thousands of
32:18scrolls literally went up
32:20in flames in 391 CE.
32:23Surviving texts do not
32:24explicitly detail a mass
32:26burning of manuscripts.
32:28Some could have been
32:29removed, sold, or even
32:31left to decay well before
32:33the Christian mobs arrived,
32:35which casts some doubt on
32:37the scale of the supposed
32:39final blow.
32:40And some accounts suggest
32:43small pockets of
32:44scholarship persisted
32:46beyond the Serapium's
32:47ruin.
32:48While the Christian purge
32:49was undeniably harsh,
32:52it likely capped a long,
32:54gradual decline rather
32:55than delivering a single,
32:57decisive end to the once
32:59great library.
33:00The great library of
33:03Alexandria's disappearance
33:04remains one of history's
33:06greatest riddles.
33:08Conflicting theories paint
33:09dramatic pictures of
33:10sudden fires and vicious
33:12sackings, but the truth
33:14might be more complex.
33:17It could be that there
33:18wasn't any single
33:19catastrophe that was fully
33:21responsible for the
33:23library's destruction.
33:25Caesar's fire, Aurelian's
33:27reconquest, and the
33:28Christian purge all seem to
33:30have delivered devastating
33:31blows as part of a long
33:33history of political
33:34turmoil and religious
33:36upheaval that might have
33:37gradually eroded the
33:39library, which would have
33:40relied on scholarly
33:41stability and royal
33:43patronage to survive.
33:46Papyrus, the primary
33:47writing material, was
33:48fragile and required
33:50careful maintenance.
33:51Even minor neglect, let
33:53alone war, risked
33:54irreparable loss.
33:57The legends of a single
33:58cataclysmic event may
34:00overshadow the more
34:01plausible reality, a
34:03drawn-out unraveling
34:04fueled by multiple
34:06crises and long-term
34:08decay.
34:08The Great Library of
34:10Alexandria remains an
34:12emblem of humanity's
34:13highest intellectual
34:14ambitions.
34:15Its rise and
34:16disappearance reminds us
34:18that knowledge is
34:19precious, and that once
34:21lost, it is difficult to
34:22recover.
34:23This iconic library
34:25spirit lives on in our
34:27ongoing quest to
34:28safeguard what we know
34:30and continue to learn.
34:32around December of 1511, off
34:49the coast of Sumatra,
34:51Portugal's Flora de la Mar,
34:52carrying some 400 souls and
34:5560 tons of gold, got caught
34:57up on a reef during a fierce
34:58storm.
34:59Captain Alfonso de la
35:02Albuquerque set off in a
35:04boat to find help, but the
35:06crew he left behind never
35:08saw him again.
35:11Albuquerque wasn't just the
35:12Flora de la Mar's captain.
35:14He was an admiral, the
35:15viceroy of Portugal, and a
35:17military commander nicknamed
35:19the Lion of the Seas, who
35:22was bent on maritime
35:23conquest, determined to
35:25control trade throughout
35:27Southeast Asia.
35:28The flotilla had set out
35:30with four ships, two of
35:32which had already sunk in
35:34the storm.
35:35Du Albuquerque was able to
35:37locate the remaining one and
35:39was rescued.
35:40But then, rather than sailing
35:42it back to try to save the
35:43Flora de la Mar, he directed
35:45it to carry him to Portugal.
35:47The Flora de la Mar was left
35:54helplessly stuck on a reef in
35:55the shallows, being pummeled
35:57incessantly by the storm's
35:58waves.
35:59The ship, most of its crew,
36:01and all of its cargo
36:02disappeared.
36:05Hundreds of years later, the
36:07question remains, where is the
36:09Flora de Mar's vanished
36:10treasure?
36:11The Flora de la Mar, one of the
36:13largest and most beautiful ships
36:15of its era, was born of
36:17Portugal's desire to acquire
36:19and control the riches of the
36:20East.
36:21The Flora could carry vast
36:23cargo and blast any ships that
36:25stood in its way to splinters.
36:27The Flora de la Mar was built
36:29in Lisbon in 1502.
36:32It was 118 feet long, 111 feet
36:36tall, and had a rounded hull that
36:38displaced 400 tons of water.
36:41And it wasn't just large, it was
36:46powerful, with three masts and a
36:49variety of sails to catch and
36:51control the wind.
36:54The ship was loaded with firepower.
36:57It had 50 guns, six big ones that
37:00fired cannonballs as heavy as 18
37:02pounds, eight swivel guns firing
37:06four-pound shot, and lots of smaller
37:08guns loaded with scattershot.
37:10The Flora de la Mar was a trade
37:15ship and a warship in one
37:17overwhelming package.
37:19This might be why Alfonso de
37:21Albuquerque chose it as his
37:22flagship when he embarked with the
37:24fleet of 22 vessels on an ambitious
37:27and relentless string of
37:28conquests that would take years.
37:32De Albuquerque attacked and
37:35plundered his way from Mozambique
37:36all along Africa's east coast to the
37:39Red Sea. He then ransacked ports in
37:42India, Burma, and Thailand.
37:44But his most ambitious target was
37:47known as the Emporium of the East,
37:49the richest city in the world.
37:52The Sultanate of Malacca was a trading
37:55hub that connected all of East Asia via
37:57the strait that bears its name.
37:59And as such, it had made the city of
38:01Malacca and the Sultan fabulously
38:03wealthy.
38:06This was not an attempt at trade or
38:09diplomacy. Albuquerque attacked with
38:1216 ships, destroying a dozen of the
38:15Sultan's vessels and driving back his war
38:18elephants, an army of archers.
38:21He besieged Malacca for 12 days.
38:25And when the city finally fell, he slaughtered
38:30thousands of its citizens and plundered the
38:33Sultan's palace.
38:36Albuquerque loaded the floor with loot and
38:39set sail for Portugal along with three other
38:42ships.
38:44Two days later, while they were still making
38:46their way through the strait, the storm
38:48struck and the Flor de Lamar, heavy with
38:51treasure, was caught on a sandy shoal.
38:56According to reports, the ship broke in two.
38:59The back half stranded on the sand and pounded
39:02by the waves.
39:04The ship had run aground on the shoals, so the
39:07wreck was sitting in shallow water with easy
39:10access from the shore once the storm had passed, at
39:14least until what was left of the hull eventually
39:16drifted away with the current or sank into the
39:19silt.
39:21Albuquerque made his cowardly escape, and after
39:25that, it was only a matter of time before the
39:28remaining half of the ship disintegrated and slipped
39:30beneath the waves.
39:32Only a few of its crew were said to have somehow made
39:35it to land.
39:37The Flor de Lamar was gone, and with it, an
39:39incredible amount of gold and treasure.
39:43The men who miraculously survived the wreck could be
39:47key to what became of the Flor de Lamar's valuable
39:50cargo.
39:50The survivors would have known where in the ship the
39:55treasures had been stowed.
39:56And the next day, when the storm had subsided, they could have
40:00trekked back into the shallow and now calm waters to recover as
40:04much as they could.
40:05There were contemporary accounts that described the men coming to shore clutching valuables and
40:11personal possessions.
40:12They could easily have gotten help in salvaging the treasure from the very locals who had witnessed their escape as soon as it was safe to do so.
40:23Getting help from the locals would certainly help explain how just a few crew members could have recovered chests full of gold from the guts of a ship wrecked on a silty shoal.
40:36The only thing is, the Portuguese survivors are described as having made it to the shore at Passe, about 90 miles up the coast from where the wreck was, making the scenario very unlikely.
40:48Some believe that the survivors and the Flor de Lamar's treasure may have fallen victim to something as treacherous as the storm that destroyed the ship.
41:01It's entirely conceivable that pirates could have swooped in once the storm had passed and looted the remains of the hull.
41:08The Strait of Malacca had lots of small islands with narrow passages between them.
41:13Trade ships often had trouble navigating the shallow waters, and that made them easy prey for pirates who could ambush them or simply comb through the wrecks at their leisure.
41:23If pirates had access to those surviving crew members, they certainly might have compelled them to divulge exactly where the chests had been stowed.
41:35It's even been suggested that pirates, aligned with the Sultan of Malacca himself, could have looted the ship, getting the Sultan his gold back and maybe even a little extra to boot.
41:47The Aru Kingdom, north of the Malaccan Sultanate, had a reputation for piracy.
41:56One Portuguese contemporary living in Malacca wrote that the Aru had at least a hundred pardos, a type of outrigger boat built for speed and a reputation for thievery.
42:06That same writer said the Raja of another kingdom, adjacent to Aru, had recovered everything water could not spoil from the Flor de la Mar wreck, which had made him very rich.
42:19The only problem with this possibility is that there's no evidence to substantiate it.
42:24If someone managed to retrieve the treasure, where did it end up?
42:28With all the possibilities that have been suggested regarding the fate of the Flor de la Mar's treasure, some maintain that everything is exactly as it seems.
42:38The Flor de la Mar sank in the Strait of Malacca, and maybe the treasure sank with it, and that's where it remains.
42:45The first and biggest challenge is that we've never known exactly where it went down.
42:50There's that discrepancy about where Albuquerque said the wreck was, and where the few surviving crew members came ashore.
43:00That makes it very hard to know where to start looking.
43:04And then there's the fact that the area is hard to search.
43:07There are powerful currents to stir up the muddy seabed.
43:11For divers, visibility is often zero.
43:14Once the last of the Flor de la Mar broke up, the heavy treasure chest couldn't have traveled far.
43:20But after five centuries, they could be buried very deep under the silt.
43:26The treasure of the Flor de la Mar may simply be too valuable to be forgotten or left alone.
43:33In 1992, a salvage company spent years and millions of dollars searching for the treasure.
43:39They finally hired a career treasure hunter who claimed to have found evidence of the wreck, including scattered ballast rock, several gold figurines, and a gold bracelet.
43:51According to the treasure hunter, this was a spot where scuba divers working for an oil exploration company years prior had found four bronze cannons and several gold artifacts.
44:03A more extensive exploration of the site was set to begin, but there were disputes over who owned the salvage rights, Malaysia, Indonesia, or Portugal, and the project was abandoned.
44:18So the mystery lives on.
44:20It was a priceless haul of gold, stolen at the cost of countless lives, and abandoned in an act of cowardice.
44:30With its dark history, and where the lost treasure of the Flor de la Mar lies, it might be better off left alone, if modern-day treasure hunters can only resist its pull.
44:41For more information, visit www.fema.org, visit www.fema.org, visit www.fema.org.
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