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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.
01:44I mean, I don't know.
01:45I don't know.
01:46He's got a big shot in the world before the underground,
01:47but we're reservoirs of the forest and out of the wind.
01:50And he's got a bit of fire, but we have to eat and get to the gate.
01:52And then we're here in internet, the areas that are in the world.
01:54And of course, food, and comfort, and помощæ.
01:55These air travel, and people shut up.
01:56But there are all the way in the world.
01:57And this is the most exciting part of all industry.
01:59How are you looking for the world?
02:00That's all the different things that I was looking for today.
02:01And this is the mostٹ?
02:02This is the most sort of traffic jam.
02:04And this is the most of the world that has ever been around.
02:07I was looking for today.
02:08And this is a little bit too,
02:09This 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 civilization.
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 fascinating exchange of cultures.
02:59My first treasure is a region in the far south, known in ancient times as Bactria.
03:06In the 4th century BCE, this spectacular mountain pass leading into Bactria witnessed something remarkable.
03:15Remarkable.
03:16I've wanted to come here for so long because this is the setting of one of the greatest love stories of all time.
03:26So this is where Alexander the Great, the conquering warrior from northern Greece, came as part of his campaign to control Central Asia.
03:36Alexander.
03:37We're told that he wanted to take a fortress citadel.
03:40The local ruler said, fine, come up if your soldiers can fly.
03:45They climbed up, 300 of them.
03:48Many died.
03:49But eventually Alexander took the castle and then he fell in love with the leader's daughter and married her.
03:59It's one of those stories that made history.
04:03This romance with the princess Roxana was also a key strategic alliance.
04:14Just one of the ways Alexander tightened his grip.
04:18I've driven right the way down to the southern tip of the country and this ancient city that you're looking at is at least 2,300 years old.
04:35Now, it could have been built by one of Alexander the Great's successors, or this could be the last great city of Alexander himself.
04:48Camper Tepe, a huge, fortified, mud-brick metropolis stretching over 130,000 square metres.
05:05The reason there's a city here at all is because of that massive river over there.
05:13Today it's called the Amu Daria.
05:15But for the ancient Greeks, it was the Oxus.
05:18And it was an absolute artery of trade and communication, something that really connected cultures then.
05:25But today it's a border because I'm standing here in Uzbekistan and over the other side of the bank is Afghanistan.
05:35This place flourished as a crucible of cultural exchange.
05:42The evidence is kept safe in the museum in Termes, where I've been given very special access.
05:49Really, really lucky to get in here because there is incredible evidence that tells us about the exchange that happened here.
06:01So look at this.
06:01This is a coin of Alexander the Great, no less, with his 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, one 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, and 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.
06:45A two-way traffic of influence evolved.
06:51In the first century CE, a dynasty of rulers, the Kushans, introduced Buddhism from their lands in India.
07:01This impact can still be seen somewhere magical just outside Termes.
07:07This was originally built 2,000 years ago, and pilgrims would come here to meditate
07:22and 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 ten monasteries like this
08:02with thousands of monks living here.
08:06It's always worth remembering, I think, that 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 and think of Christian monasticism.
08:16But actually, those early Christian monks got 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.
08:52And by the late 7th century, this riverbank became home to another faith.
09:00Islam.
09:02With pilgrims still drawn to its shrines from near and far.
09:07Islam.
09:08Islam.
09:09Hello, morning.
09:10Hello, salam.
09:11What's your name?
09:12What's your name?
09:14I'm...
09:14My name is...
09:15I'm...
09:16I'm my name Fahun.
09:17Fahun.
09:18And what's your name?
09:19What's your name?
09:20My name is...
09:20My name is...
09:21My name is Bethany.
09:24What's...
09:24Bethany.
09:25From London.
09:26You're from Tajikistan.
09:28You're from Tajikistan.
09:29Lovely to see you.
09:31Bye.
09:32Bye-bye.
09:33Bye-bye.
09:34Bye-bye.
09:34I'm so mad, but I'm going to go to the Aeolikanses.
09:38I'm so mad.
09:40Jaya, one of the things that's so lovely about coming here
09:43is thinking of all those people, of whatever faith or belief
09:46who've made their pilgrimage to this place
09:49through thousands of years.
09:50And I'm coming here as a stranger,
09:52but I'm being made to feel so, so welcome.
09:59All these visitors are seeking out the mausoleum
10:02of a renowned 9th-century Sufi scholar,
10:06al-Hakim al-Termizi.
10:10And then a spontaneous, heart-warming encounter with the imam.
10:29Welcome.
10:30Thank you. Thank you.
10:50Bye.
10:51al termese's ideas could echo earlier buddhist influences
11:04termes is a treasure because it combines beliefs and values handed down over centuries from
11:11alexander the great through buddhist monks and sufi scholars blending flourishing and nourishing
11:20across time
11:34for my next treasure i've come to uzbekistan's remote northwest to explore a mysterious oasis kingdom
11:42known in ancient times as horasmia
11:48my search starts in the fertile silk road city of heva
11:55rachmat rachmat travelers wrote a lot about coming here in particular this place was famous for its
12:11melons which it still is actually a thousand years ago there are accounts of melons from here being
12:18packed in lead cases filled with snow and sent all the way to baghdad and and once they arrived a
12:27single melon could be worth the equivalent of two kilograms of silver so i am having a right roll
12:34breakfast here and it's and it's really really exciting to be here because this place is a kind
12:38of gateway to an ancient world
12:46oh my god that was 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
13:10it's movements are designed to connect the human soul with nature in particular the sun
13:30to find out more about these endearing traditions i'm heading beyond the city walls deeper into ancient
13:38horasmia the fertile oasis here has shrunk over time but it was once called the land of a thousand castles
13:59this place is known as the tower of silence because
14:032000 years ago this is where the elite of the kingdom would bring their dead
14:14a people who practiced the zoroastrian faith believing that burying or burning bodies would
14:23contaminate the elements they left their dead exposed for birds to pick clean
14:33the bare bones then carefully collected and stored this whole kind of fortress tomb is designed to be
14:43like the shape of the sun and these rooms for the dead where the bones were left that radiate out
14:50are like the sun's rays
14:57zoroastrianism is one of the oldest faiths in the world flourishing here from the 6th century bce
15:06until the rise of islam 12 centuries later
15:09and legend has it that it was right here that zarathustra the very first prophet of zoroastrianism received a revelation of the faith
15:26so this is where it all began
15:28the independent kingdom of horasmia started to build these extraordinary structures from the 4th century bce
15:43huge fortresses defending the oasis against raids by nomadic tribes
15:49i mean that is just totally totally awesome isn't it breathtaking
16:00so you've got a whole string of castles like these ones and some of them are big enough to accommodate
16:062 000 people with palaces and throne rooms and fire temples they're just astonishing
16:15genghis khan actually destroyed a load of these but now the very very good news is that archaeologists
16:23are finding clues that are helping us to bring them back to life
16:30i've come to the local capital nukas in search of the latest discoveries i think this is where the magic happens
16:38i think this is where they restore new friends
16:52what an incredible incredible place so how long have you been working on the fragments here how long
16:58the fragments of paintings from the walls of the castles give tantalizing glimpses of the people who
17:14lived here
17:33yeah so it's the top of a woman or a man i don't know i don't know
17:38it's the top of a woman or a woman or a woman or a woman or a woman or a woman or a woman or a woman
17:42there's so much to decode the rare green and blue pigments suggest a culture that was super rich
17:52really incredible to be discovering how old is all of this uh this is maybe third second
18:00century bc bc yeah no way today is the most ancient wall paintings in central
18:08asia and we're seeing it being written that's incredible
18:17other paintings from the castles show royal figures zoroastrian symbols and sacred animals
18:25and that's not all that the team has found
18:29i can tell there's something under under here because it's being kept safe what what's underneath
18:35please this is wall painting from action color with the writing is this writing yeah yes yes this is
18:46writing
18:49this incredible text is in aramaic script but its language is the mysterious horasmian
18:58and what do you know what this says have you translated yes no no because today just uh four or five
19:06persons can read it in the world yeah that's incredible so you've got this mystery there's some secret
19:14message from the past here that we can't read yet doing a call out here for specialists in ancient
19:22horism to come and translate this text was found with portraits of royal dignitaries
19:31once translated it will unlock their secrets so this is that yeah yeah yeah it's the king dynasty
19:39and this crown yeah yeah with a sort of this crown is no analogy in the world and we don't know what is
19:49it what it's made of yeah yeah yeah with that lovely cap i mean can i just take a moment because this is
19:55we are so privileged and lucky to see this so this is literally there's only one of this in the world
20:01is this ancient horizon king at the height of the power of this empire i mean what stories if he could
20:08speak what stories he'd be able to tell us so this is definitely a man we cannot see who is a man or woman
20:15so it could it could be an ancient queen maybe maybe i like to think it is thank you so much
20:22you're welcome letting us in here it's very exciting
20:31horoznia is a treasure because here the past ardently lives on its remoteness preserving precious wonders
20:41we're still decoding
20:59for my next treasure i'm exploring the origins of the legendary silk road
21:04this was never a single route but a complex trade system starting right back in the second century bce
21:18for traders traveling huge distances portability was key
21:26this is actually something i've wanted to do my entire life so i just had to stop here so what you've
21:31got is stalls hi salam salam of kurt which is hard fermented cheese is this ot yeah oh my god
21:41okay oh so this this is made of mare's milk horse's milk i'm gonna try it is okay to try it to taste
21:50okay i'm gonna just taste it oh my god i can't invite it so hard what do i do oh i'm doing a wrong thing
22:01this is also horses oh my tongue it's delicious it actually is not bad it's not bad why i'm eating
22:14this it's because this is really historic um greek geographers wrote about there being fermented
22:21horse milk here marco polo even said in this part of the world you get fermented horse milk that gets
22:27rolled into sort of cheesy balls it's so delicious it's like white wine i'm gonna buy some how much
22:36a chance encounter confirms the silk road legacy of cosmopolitan hospitality
22:43just heard this guy speak of english excuse me do you speak english okay yeah i just heard you talk
22:49something my my name's betony yes my name is nazar hello nazar nice to meet you nice to meet you
22:55i just have to ask you when i'm traveling around uzbekistan i'm finding that people are really
23:01passionate about their history they really love their history is that is that why why do you think
23:06that is uzbeks are combination of many nationality and we take a good side of different different
23:13nationality from the century that's why uh they are more hospitality rather than other nationalities
23:20can i just shake your hand because i think that is so true so actually my way of thinking it's the
23:25most beautiful thing to say because you've got all these different influences from all over so you
23:30care about your history yeah and you're really hospitable to strangers when they come so well listen
23:36what a delight it's so lovely to meet you so lovely to meet you thank you so much lovely to be here in
23:42your country a particular group dominated the heart of the silk roads i'm looking for traces of them
23:52at one of its premier cities known as noble buchara
24:01the kara boasts over 140 architectural gems i love them actually from the golden age of islam
24:08but its story starts thousands of years earlier and 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 tantalizing excavation hi sirosh hello hey nice to see you
24:29i'm too nice to see you nice to see you i'm betony this is so deep underground archaeology is revealing
24:36clues to a culture that thrived here around 1700 years ago the sogdians traders who superpowered the
24:44silk roads
24:48so we're going right down to the sogdian level here yes yeah the sogdian level i mean it's amazing so
24:55we've got the homes where they lived their houses here yeah yeah we found a lot of artifacts
25:02portraits so tell me what you found here we found from here a lot of things very interesting things
25:09one of them and more important founds this camel that is so cool yeah is that okay to hold yes of course
25:19us look at that that is so beautiful and this is how old do you think uh this around three fourth century
25:3380 80 yes a camel like a pack camel carrying goods here yes yeah yes it's very important because we don't
25:42come from find before camel with people and move maybe this uh these domestic uh animals too
25:50an animal on the back of the game yes yes like a pet like a dog or a cat yeah dog or cat yeah we think
25:58that is so awesome so this is would it be the rider here there's all the goods that they're carrying
26:03or water or something and they're bringing their their pets with them yeah it's very interesting i mean
26:09this must be one of the oldest representations of a pack camel carrying things that from from
26:14anywhere in central asia yeah it's first time that kind of found from here amazing
26:23the sogdians lived between the great rivers the amu daria and the seer daria in a handful of city
26:29states but their expertise with camels and desert know-how made them indispensable to the empires around
26:37them and just tell me why do you think you know because some people are powerful because they are
26:44great armies and they raid but these are people who trade and that must make them really interesting
26:50as a culture as a people but they're focusing on making money not making war central relations so
26:58don't have here a lot of kind of religions because they do make trade from east to west and see a lot of
27:06country and a lot of mixing a lot of culture yeah so important so they're having to get on with
27:15everybody and understand yes everybody yeah they're beautiful i love the sogdians me too
27:23the sogdians journeyed from siberia to the indian subcontinent traveling for months or even years at a time
27:32trading furs fruit fine metals and of course the most valuable thing of all silk
27:40salam hello hi salam so this is lovely silks oh so beautiful can have a look at some huh so the sogdians
27:50traded everything they traded jade and paper and candy sugar and precious metals but the thing that was worth
27:58more than its weight in gold was was this lovely stuff thousands upon thousands upon thousands of
28:06bolts of silk silk was its own kind of currency used in china to buy horses and pay officials the sogdians
28:18helped chinese silk reach mediterranean markets where it was highly prized by the elite
28:30well i've just been thinking how astonishing it is the the influence that the sogdians had because
28:36if you think about it they didn't have a massive army um they didn't have an empire but you find goods
28:42that they traded right across continents so this lovely buddha for instance was discovered in a dig
28:49in sweden so we know it must have been traded in ancient times oh lovely gorgeous indeed thank you
28:59and this cup here this is a gold cup that was found in a tomb in china but it's covered in designs
29:06that are sogdian and ancient persian so it just shows that you know what they traded really affected the
29:14rest of the world the sogdians were the social influencers of their day shaping technology fashions
29:25and ideas to find out how all this interaction affected the sogdians and following their trail to
29:33another of their cities a clue to where i'm heading is on this train afro siab the modern name for ancient
29:42samarkand thank you hi hi hi hi john john john hello betony lovely to meet you welcome to uzbekistan
29:57it seems that wherever i go here the spirit of silk road hospitality lives on
30:06no no we feed it's okay oh that's so thank you thank you oh that's so much thank you
30:13some ice cream i this is thank you are you having something here we will get after you after you and
30:19like the sogdians people are keen to exchange knowledge and ideas really so this is from china
30:27but also showing a sogdian trader they were super sexy so they bought all products from china and they
30:36sold it to europe yes to turkey yeah i have to show you these there are these amazing collection of letters
30:43right that were discovered like a mailbag basically in like a chinese mailbag back in ancient times and
30:50there are all these letters from sogdian merchants to their families back home to their wives and things
30:56and they're saying stuff like oh we're being ripped off here we're not going to carry on doing our
30:59business it's an amazing window into their world do you think this inheritance of having been on the
31:08great silk roads and having been traders do you think you can still see that in the kind of
31:13characteristics of uzbekistan's definitely i believe it's adopted some in some ways in our culture and
31:20certainly when i've been traveling people are so proud of being uzbeki quite rightly and of the
31:26traditions and of the connections through history going right back even even it's ancient times still
31:33when you go to bukhara and when you go to samarkand you will see people house they are active yeah
31:38they have pressure also when they sell their products they have pressure yeah and they are friendly
31:44yeah yeah it's so true yeah because we have blood yeah it's like the trading's in your blood it's
31:50completely completely true but also it feels like being very open and welcoming people like you know
31:58i've met you like two minutes ago and you've already bought me a chocolate ice cream after just a
32:06couple of hours i arrive in the city of samarkand these enigmatic remains on the edge of town
32:15were once a great sogdian city fines here reveal their fast wealth and intellect
32:25the earliest known ivory chess set was discovered right here
32:32and there's more the sophisticated remnants of a nobleman's palace
32:43so basically what you've got here is a procession of power and originally on the back of that lovely
32:49white elephant there would have been the local queen and then over here we've got rulers from
32:54different regions who've all come to pay their respects there and bring their gifts this is
33:01really really cool so have a look at this so in this line you've got a whole deputation from china
33:08so the guy at the sun has got bolts of silk and the ones behind him are actually carrying silk cocoons
33:15which would have had live silk worms inside them and all of this is being protected by these ancient
33:21turkid guards and you can recognize them so they've got this very kind of distinct in long black
33:25ponytail they're here as well these are the guards this guy in the middle is an interpreter and they
33:32need him because these three gentlemen are from tibet and the two behind him are from korea
33:40but it doesn't stop that so this is one of my favorite women from the whole of history it's
33:46wu zertian who was a chinese empress who had huge huge power in the middle ages so what all of this
33:54is saying is look at us we have immense influence and we have a magnetic allure that attracts all the
34:02powers from the known world
34:04the sogdians here flourished thanks to a mutually beneficial alliance with china
34:14and the sogdian story goes on cutting-edge dna evidence from 12th century burials in buchara
34:22shows that their genetic makeup changed little over the centuries and to this day the sogdians leave a
34:30network of understanding that still stitches together the region
34:40the sogdians are a treasure because they remind us that power and influence doesn't just come because
34:46of the size of your army these guys were experts in diplomacy and they made themselves indispensable to
34:53so many they've left an incredible legacy for all of us because their art and their language and their genetic
35:01inheritance has woven a rich beautiful fabric of the modern world that we can still all enjoy
35:19so many of us
35:34my final treasure is the glorious city of samarkand once a huge ancient sogdian center
35:43it has an astonishing medieval reinvention story.
35:49I've been granted behind-the-scenes access
35:52to one of its most beautiful wonders.
35:58Wish me luck.
36:03At over 30 metres high, it's a pretty challenging climb.
36:08Oh, my goodness.
36:19That is awesome.
36:21That is what I call special access.
36:24Oh, my goodness.
36:25This has to be one of the best views in the world.
36:29Hello, Samarkand.
36:34This is Samarkand's Registan Square.
36:37Once the beating heart of the city,
36:40people gathered to exchange ideas in these three religious schools,
36:45decorated with several million tiles in sacred colours.
36:51This incredible place has become a symbol
36:55of a remarkable moment in history,
36:58the great Timurid Empire.
37:00At its height in the early 15th century,
37:07the Timurid Empire stretched from Central Asia to Eastern Turkey.
37:12Its architect was Timur.
37:14Born 80 kilometres from Samarkand,
37:17he claimed common ancestry with Genghis Khan,
37:20who'd conquered much of Asia 150 years earlier.
37:24Timur made it his life's mission
37:26to match the legacy of his ferocious forebear.
37:31Timur, or Tamerlane,
37:33as he's sometimes known in the West,
37:35has become a bit of a national symbol for Uzbekistan.
37:39But you know what's really fascinating
37:41is that when you come to Samarkand,
37:43you discover that it wasn't just tales of a great man,
37:47but also that his life was shaped by the women around him.
37:50Timur began his campaign for world dominance in 1370.
37:58Samarkand was to be the jewel in his crown,
38:01built by the very finest architects from across his empire,
38:04to rival the great intellectual centres
38:07of Bukhara, Baghdad and Delhi.
38:11But it's telling that some of the most beautiful buildings here
38:15are dedicated to the important women in his life.
38:19Timur kept aside this patch of land
38:27for his most favoured relatives,
38:30and those included his sisters,
38:32one of his wives, a niece,
38:34and even his wet nurse,
38:36buried in these exquisite tombs.
38:39And this one's particularly lush, really.
38:41You can just tell what expensive work it is, can't you?
39:07Because look how fine all these little pieces are.
39:10It was so intricately joined together.
39:13And this particular tomb was actually commissioned
39:15by Timur's elder sister, Kutluk Turkan,
39:19for her daughter.
39:21And Kutluk, the daughter and one of his wives,
39:24are all buried here.
39:25And we're told that Timur loved his elder sister
39:28and was completely devastated when she died
39:31and mourned her for months and months.
39:35Several of these tombs were paid for
39:38by the women of Timur's court,
39:40not the great man himself.
39:44And do you know what's really cool?
39:45If you look at the writing round the tombs,
39:48it proves just how cosmopolitan
39:50and educated these women were.
39:52So this is an Arabic script,
39:54but it's actually a quote from ancient Greek philosophy.
39:59So this one says that Socrates believes
40:02humans are like nesting birds,
40:05flying around,
40:07but in danger of being entrapped by the world.
40:14These tombs are still visited by thousands of travellers.
40:18Many fans of history.
40:25Beautiful country.
40:27Very beautiful.
40:28I don't know, in Turkish,
40:29chock gazelle.
40:30Gazelle.
40:31Gazelle, gazelle, gazelle.
40:31Gazelle, gazelle.
40:33This is beautiful, isn't it?
40:35Lovely to meet you.
40:36Lovely to see you.
40:38Nice to meet you.
40:40Salaam, salaam.
40:41It's lovely to hear.
40:43Everyone's so friendly.
40:45Bye.
40:46Bye.
40:46Bye.
40:47Bye.
40:48Timur's sisters weren't the only women of influence.
40:55He also had 18 wives.
40:59The evidence continues at a nearby mosque
41:03named for his chief wife,
41:05Sarai Mulchanum.
41:07Susanna Fathian,
41:09a daughter of Samarkand,
41:10decodes this astonishing building.
41:16I'm finding it so fascinating coming round Samarkand,
41:19because when you think of Timur the Great,
41:21you imagine this kind of macho guy winning all these battles
41:24and conquering huge swathes of land.
41:27But it does feel as though that the women in his life,
41:30and particularly in his family,
41:31are really important,
41:32importance,
41:34and that they influence things too.
41:36You're absolutely right.
41:37They were responsible for organization of royal receptions
41:41and official correspondence.
41:43Yeah.
41:43So that's the thing, yeah.
41:44They're sort of organizing government events.
41:47And I know there's one story, isn't there,
41:48of one of the wives organizing the kind of battle trophies
41:51to be transported back to Samarkand.
41:54So, I mean, these are really important duties.
41:57They have plenty of responsibilities.
41:59Yeah.
41:59And it's amazing,
42:00because this is happening in the 14th and the 15th century,
42:03whereas in other parts of the world,
42:05quite often in Europe too,
42:06women are nowhere,
42:08in no way,
42:09have that kind of status and standing.
42:11For sure.
42:11And it's important that women have their own funds.
42:14They have their own property.
42:18But the women in Timur's life
42:19weren't only rich and powerful.
42:22Sarai Mughanum was also vital to his right to rule.
42:28If we look up to the facade of the mosque above,
42:32we can find inscription that informs us
42:35that this mosque was built by Amir Timur Guraghan,
42:39which means Khan's son-in-law.
42:43Sarai Mughanum was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan.
42:49When Timur married her,
42:50he was catapulted to greatness.
42:53That's so interesting.
42:55So he's basically getting his kudos
42:56through the female line,
42:59and that's what's connecting him back to...
43:01I always say it wrong.
43:02I still say Genghis Khan.
43:03Say how you say it properly.
43:05Genghis Khan.
43:06So it's through his wife
43:07that he's got this connection to Genghis Khan,
43:10and therefore that kind of status that comes with that,
43:13and the idea that he's inheriting his power.
43:15You are absolutely right.
43:17It provided also more security for his descendants.
43:26Sarai Mughanum not only boosted Timur's status,
43:30she also became his right-hand woman.
43:3535 years away on campaign,
43:37Timur often left his chief wife in charge.
43:40She must have been the most amazing woman.
43:45This is actually a really rare image of her,
43:47and it shows her riding to Timur's court in northern Iran.
43:53So she was a real woman of action too.
43:55And something I love about her
43:57is that she didn't actually have her own children,
43:59but she took care of the children of Timur's concubines
44:02and made sure that they learned from her.
44:04So her legacy carried on down the generations.
44:09Timur died in 1405,
44:12and Sarai Mughanum not long after.
44:16But her legacy lived on through Timur's successor,
44:20his grandson Ulugbeg,
44:22who she'd helped to raise.
44:25He embellished Samarkand further,
44:28making it a place of real intellectual wonder.
44:32Ulugbeg actually built a whole community
44:36of scientists and astronomers here.
44:39And in this very madrasa,
44:41his school developed a catalogue of stars
44:46that mapped over 1,000 planetary spheres
44:49that actually set the standard
44:51for European astronomers right up till the 19th century.
44:56Samarkand was created by art and science,
45:03women and men.
45:05And it's still Foster's Encounter.
45:08Oh, hello.
45:10Hi, what's your name?
45:11My name is Ara.
45:13Ara, where are you from?
45:15I am from the Pine House.
45:17Lovely to meet you.
45:18It's a feast for the eyes
45:20and a treasure for soul and mind and heart.
45:26Beautiful here.
45:28So beautiful.
45:28What an epic, nourishing journey this has been.
45:43I've just learnt so much from people
45:47and from across time.
45:50And not just about culture,
45:52but how through the camel caravans like this
45:55that stretched out across centuries.
45:57People exchanged beautiful things,
46:00but they also exchanged more than that.
46:02Ideas and understanding
46:05and a deep respect for the sun,
46:09the stars, the earth and the sky.
46:13And it's a reminder that we have to do the same,
46:16to love all of this.
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