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00:02Deep in the Iraqi desert, investigators unearth an ancient city like no other, Nippur.
00:145,000 years ago, this is the center of worship for half a million people across Mesopotamia.
00:23It's the ancient equivalent of Mecca, Jerusalem, or Rome.
00:28A city-state ruled not by a mortal, but by a deity.
00:35A king means nothing if the city has a god.
00:40Today, investigators have rare access to use pioneering technology to unlock its secrets.
00:48Why do gods and warring kings covet this city?
00:52Nippur was unique. It was never destroyed by any invading people.
00:57To solve this mystery, we digitally reconstruct a lost world hidden by the desert.
01:05We rebuild a spectacular ziggurat.
01:08Uncover a temple devoted to a goddess of love.
01:13And evidence of a mysterious fortress.
01:17To unearth the surprising secrets of this, the most sacred city in Mesopotamia.
01:35Nippur, Iraq.
01:37100 miles southeast of Baghdad.
01:41Ruins tower above the hot desert landscape.
01:47Nippur is one of the richest archaeological sites on earth.
01:53It lies in the center of a war-torn country.
01:56Decades of conflict have prevented experts from fully exploring its story.
02:01Until now.
02:02This city is the most remarkable city in all of the Mesopotamian cities.
02:11Today, it is crumbling and buried in sand.
02:15But thousands of years ago, Nippur is a jewel in the desert, with a mystery at its heart.
02:25In its prime, the city spreads across 370 acres and is home to an estimated 40,000 people.
02:35A large moat and 45-foot-thick walls with seven mighty gates run two miles around the city.
02:44A waterway half a mile long divides the ancient city in two.
02:51On elevated ground to the east, a walled temple complex surrounds a step structure 80 feet tall,
02:59called a ziggurat.
03:00But one crucial feature is missing.
03:03A royal palace.
03:05If no king lives here, who builds this city?
03:08And why?
03:10For over 40 years, invasion, war, and terror has devastated this country.
03:16Only now can investigators return to this off-limits site to unlock the secrets of Nippur.
03:24Our cameras have been given exclusive access to follow their work
03:28exploring this half-buried ancient city.
03:33Abbas al-Husseini leads excavations across this region of Iraq.
03:44He heads to the heart of the ruins, this towering mound.
03:50Today, a building erected by the first American archaeologists to map this site sits on top of the ancient ziggurat.
03:59Beneath it, Abbas believes there are clues to the identity of the first civilization to build here.
04:06Clues that date back to the dawn of the written word.
04:10We test the facade of the ziggurat, and we found many evidences date back to 4,000 years ago.
04:25Abbas finds pieces of ancient pottery here that date to the early 3rd millennium B.C.
04:34Making Nippur one of the oldest cities in the world.
04:40But a city without a palace means that no one rules from Nippur.
04:48No king sits on a throne here.
04:51So who builds this city?
04:56Abbas believes that a clue can be found in the ancient mud bricks that are scattered around the site.
05:02Stamped on the side of some of the bricks are strange symbols.
05:08Abbas recognizes the inscriptions.
05:10It's cuneiform, an ancient system of block writing, first developed in this area around 5,000 years ago.
05:20It is the oldest written language ever discovered.
05:24He reads the ancient script.
05:50King Ur-Nammu is the ruler of this part of Mesopotamia in around 2100 B.C.
05:57He is one of the greatest kings of the ancient Sumerians.
06:05Over 4,000 years ago, many rival kings fight for control of Mesopotamia.
06:15Around 2100 B.C., Ur-Nammu finally unites Ur, Babylon, Akkad, and Sumeria,
06:22and founds the third dynasty of the Sumerian Empire.
06:26He creates the oldest known legal system, the Code of Ur-Nammu.
06:3257 laws that cover sorcery to murder.
06:37And he undertakes vast projects, building new roads, canals, and ziggurats across his empire.
06:48One of his greatest achievements is the mighty Ziggurat of Ur, a 100-foot-high stacked superstructure to rival the
06:56Pyramids of Egypt.
06:58An astonishing monument that dominates his capital city, Ur.
07:04King Ur-Nammu also transforms Nippur with the construction of its own huge Ziggurat and monumental city walls.
07:12Why does he lavish such resources on a city that is not his ruling base?
07:19Clues could lie in a tiny statue hidden in the base of the Ziggurat.
07:26King Ur-Nammu wants to give an impression to the god Enlil.
07:32He's a servant of him.
07:36Enlil is a mighty and powerful god.
07:40The king orders the construction of the great Ziggurat as a supreme act of devotion and worship.
07:48Ur-Nammu builds his temple complex from thousands of mud bricks.
07:54Forty-foot-high walls surround temples and shrines, a mountain house for the gods.
08:02Here the king builds a temple, a huge Ziggurat.
08:06At the top he adds a shrine, close to the heavens.
08:10This is where the king comes to worship the most important god in the Sumerian pantheon, Enlil, the god of
08:18creation.
08:23Ancient kings often portray themselves as close to powerful gods.
08:28But Nippur is a hundred miles from the king's palace at Ur.
08:33Why does King Ur-Nammu build a temple to the all-powerful god Enlil in the distant city of Nippur?
08:42The answer could lie buried in the desert landscape.
08:47Jeff Allen works to protect the glories of ancient Mesopotamia's long-forgotten past.
08:55He thinks Nippur's location is key to explaining why King Ur-Nammu designates the city as the home of Enlil.
09:05Babylon is here in the north.
09:08Rival cities such as Akkad and Ur are further south.
09:13Nippur is right in the middle of Mesopotamia.
09:16Nippur is in the middle of warring city-states such as Babylon, Ur, and Akkad.
09:27The states of ancient Mesopotamia, Sumer, Ur, Akkad, Babylon, are engaged in a series of almost never-ending wars.
09:40Nippur becomes the home of Enlil, because it is the place where enemies take disputes to be resolved.
09:50It's neutral territory, an ancient equivalent to the United Nations building in New York City.
09:59Nippur is also the ethnic and linguistic frontier between the different states.
10:064,000 years ago, the city of Nippur plays a unique role in Mesopotamia.
10:12It is the perfect place to establish the cult of Enlil and build a spectacular ziggurat.
10:22Nippur is the only city where Enlil is worshipped,
10:26confirming the city's place as the religious capital of ancient Mesopotamia.
10:32Pilgrims of Enlil's cult flock here in their thousands.
10:38Nippur is sacred to every Mesopotamian.
10:42And throughout history, there is no record of Nippur ever being destroyed by conquerors.
10:51Unlike great Mesopotamian sites like Babylon, Lagash, and Ur,
10:58this desolated ruin is one of the only ancient cities never to be destroyed.
11:08After Ur-Nammu's death and the demise of his dynasty,
11:12Mesopotamian rulers continue to worship at Nippur.
11:17Ancient texts say that Sumerian kings don't inherit the thrones.
11:22They must seek the approval of the deities.
11:26In return for Enlil's divine blessing,
11:29kings of states like Sumer, Ur, and Akkad
11:32lavish gifts of land, jewelry, gold, and slaves on Nippur.
11:38The city's status and power is derived from Enlil,
11:42the creation god, the kingmaker.
11:48Are there other gods hiding beneath the sands of Nippur?
11:52What secrets do they hold about life in one of the world's oldest civilizations?
12:08The ancient city of Nippur in modern-day Iraq.
12:14Home to a glorious ziggurat dedicated to Enlil,
12:18the Mesopotamian god of creation.
12:21But that's only a fraction of this huge city.
12:25What other secrets lie hidden beneath the desert sands?
12:31To investigate, Abbas al-Husseini takes to the air.
12:39This part of Iraq is a sensitive military zone.
12:43But Abbas has been given exclusive permission
12:46to fly a drone-mounted high-definition camera
12:49over the ruins and the surrounding landscape.
12:53A lost city comes into view.
12:57Traces of monumental walls peek out
12:59from beneath centuries of accumulated sand and debris.
13:04The outlines of many more structures become clear.
13:08This site is full with temples.
13:12There is Enlil temple.
13:14And there is other sacred place
13:16for worshipping the other gods.
13:21It's a sacred city.
13:24Investigators uncover more than 100 temples in Nippur,
13:28each dedicated to the dozens of different gods
13:31worshipped in ancient Mesopotamia.
13:35One temple rivals Enlil's for its prominence.
13:45In the west of the city,
13:48archaeologists unearth the walls of a temple
13:51that dates to around 3,000 B.C.,
13:541,000 years before the Great Ziggurat.
13:59Buried in the corner of a sanctuary,
14:01they find statues.
14:03Many of them are women.
14:09In another room,
14:10a calcite bowl to hold offerings
14:13bears the name of this temple's deity,
14:16the goddess Ishtar.
14:19Who is Ishtar?
14:30Ali Hussein is an expert on the people of ancient Mesopotamia.
14:36He searches for answers here,
14:38amongst the country's most prestigious archaeological discoveries,
14:42the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.
14:45It is home to a spectacular collection
14:48of over 100,000 artifacts
14:50from the world's oldest civilizations.
14:54Ali believes that tantalizing evidence
14:57of Ishtar's importance
14:58can be seen on a unique discovery
15:01found 60 miles south of Nippur.
15:13Ali examines the inscriptions on the vase.
15:29The reed bundles on the highest level
15:32are symbols of Ishtar,
15:34goddess of fertility and plenty.
15:38The vase reveals an order of nature
15:40in Mesopotamian belief,
15:42from crops up to animals up to humans,
15:45with Ishtar at the top.
15:48A queen of the heavens,
15:50she's one of the most revered deities
15:52in the Mesopotamian pantheon.
15:56Her importance and popularity
15:58are due to the part she plays
16:00in the Mesopotamian story
16:02of the beginning of human civilization.
16:09In the ancient myth,
16:11Ishtar feasts with her father, Enki,
16:14the god of wisdom.
16:18Enki gets drunk
16:19and reveals to Ishtar
16:21a set of secret divine rules
16:24for civilization
16:25that the Sumerians call Mes.
16:30when a sober Enki realizes his mistake,
16:35he sends his giants to capture Ishtar.
16:41Ishtar flees on her boat of heaven
16:43to deliver the Mies to the people,
16:46spreading wisdom from the gods
16:48to humanity.
16:52Ishtar is loved and worshipped
16:54throughout Mesopotamia.
16:57And Ali believes
16:59a remarkable discovery in Nippur
17:01shows that Ishtar's standing
17:03amongst the gods
17:04reflects a surprising feature
17:06of Sumerian society.
17:31The sculpture seems to present the couple as equals.
17:34Ali thinks that with equality
17:37among male and female gods
17:39comes equality amongst
17:41Sumerian men and women.
17:56Sumerian women can also own property,
17:59become scribes,
18:00physicians,
18:00and even act as judges.
18:04We tend to think of modern civilization
18:07as the most progressive.
18:09Yet this 4,000-year-old culture
18:12boasts female empowerment
18:13and gender equality
18:15that many modern societies
18:16have only achieved
18:17in the last century.
18:20Under Ishtar and Enlil's protection,
18:24Nippur grows steadily
18:25around the temples
18:26and great ziggurat.
18:30How does this huge city
18:33thrive in this desert landscape?
18:35And can a discovery in the sand
18:38reveal how the city's greatest asset
18:41becomes its downfall?
18:53Nippur, in ancient Mesopotamia.
18:57At its height,
18:5940,000 people live and work here,
19:03maintaining the temples of Enlil,
19:05Ishtar,
19:06and hundreds of others.
19:08Today, the temperatures can soar
19:11to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit
19:13in summer.
19:14How can the city survive here
19:16and thrive
19:17in such an unforgiving environment?
19:23This layer,
19:24it hasn't seen any water
19:27from thousands of years ago.
19:31And this layer
19:32built up from that time
19:36when it dried.
19:39There's no sign of water
19:41here today.
19:42Was this landscape
19:44so arid thousands of years ago
19:46when Nippur was a thriving city?
19:53Abbas al-Husseini
19:55and his team
19:55launch a drone-mounted
19:57high-definition camera
19:58to hunt for clues.
20:00The bird's-eye view
20:02reveals the outline
20:03of a ditch
20:04cutting across the landscape.
20:08As you see,
20:10a bed of dried-up
20:11ancient river
20:12called
20:13Shatt-en-Neil.
20:15The Shatt-en-Neil
20:16is an offshoot
20:17of the Euphrates River,
20:19one of two giant waterways
20:21that flank Mesopotamia.
20:26There is a life
20:28in this area
20:29because of the Twin Rivers.
20:32All the achievements
20:34in this land,
20:37in this area,
20:38because of Tigris
20:40and Euphrates.
20:52the Shatt-en-Neil
20:54channels water
20:55from the Euphrates
20:56to Nippur.
21:00It's over 50 yards wide
21:02in some parts,
21:03big enough for boats
21:04to navigate
21:05in both directions.
21:08The Sumerians build
21:10Nippur on its banks
21:11and it provides
21:13fresh water
21:14all year around
21:15to sustain
21:16the ever-growing city.
21:18It irrigates
21:19a vast garden
21:20in the west of Nippur
21:21and barley fields
21:24outside its walls.
21:26But this great waterway
21:28could also serve
21:30another purpose.
21:34Clues may be found
21:3645 miles to the north
21:37in the most famous
21:39Mesopotamian city
21:41of all,
21:43Babylon.
21:46A city that covers
21:47an astonishing
21:483.5 square miles
21:50and is once home
21:52to over 200,000 people.
21:56In Nippur,
21:57many of the ruins
21:59are still buried
22:00beneath the dirt.
22:03But excavations
22:04at Babylon
22:04could reveal
22:05a similar layout
22:07and shed light
22:08on the purpose
22:09of the city center
22:10waterway.
22:15Jeff Allen
22:16investigates.
22:20About 85%
22:22of Babylon
22:23is still
22:23to be excavated.
22:25It's hard to see,
22:27but around me
22:28are bricks
22:29dating from
22:30around the 6th century B.C.
22:34Jeff believes
22:35that these bricks
22:36provide a tantalizing glimpse
22:38into the distant past.
22:41The bricks
22:42support piers
22:43upon which
22:44a bridge rests
22:45over the river Euphrates.
22:49The river Euphrates
22:51divides Babylon
22:52in two.
22:53A succession
22:54of ancient bridges
22:55links the city together.
22:57This engineering feat
22:58allows Babylon
22:59to thrive
23:00around the river,
23:01just like Nippur
23:02thrives around
23:03the Shat-en-Nil
23:04waterway.
23:08The river is
23:09an ancient superhighway
23:11that connects
23:11Nippur with Babylon
23:13and all the other
23:14major cities
23:15in Mesopotamia.
23:17It makes it simple
23:18to travel to Nippur
23:19to worship the god
23:20of creation,
23:21Enlin.
23:23This enables the city
23:25to establish itself
23:26as the center of cult worship
23:28in ancient Mesopotamia.
23:31But could this waterway
23:32that helps the city
23:33rise to greatness
23:34also be the city's downfall?
23:38We know that the Euphrates
23:40shifts course
23:41on several occasions.
23:43And that will have
23:44an impact upstream too
23:45in Nippur.
23:48If the Euphrates shifts,
23:50the Shat-en-Nil
23:51waterway could dry up.
23:54Nippur's people
23:54could be starved of water.
23:57The citizens leave.
23:59It probably explains
24:00why we don't have
24:01any archaeological evidence
24:02for the period.
24:04When the course
24:05of the river changes,
24:07the people move
24:09to follow it.
24:12Nippur's temples
24:14are abandoned.
24:15It's no longer
24:16a home for the gods.
24:20The ziggurat,
24:22the temple to Enlil,
24:24is neglected
24:25and falls into disrepair.
24:30Perhaps Nippur's decline
24:31is caused by the gods,
24:33angry at Enlil's dethronement.
24:36After two millennia
24:38as the heart
24:39of Mesopotamian civilization,
24:41Nippur is a ghost city.
24:43But discoveries unearthed here
24:46reveal clues
24:47of the surprising
24:48resurrection of Nippur.
24:50How does Nippur
24:51miraculously retake
24:52its role
24:53at the center
24:54of cult worship?
25:05In the deserts
25:06of southern Iraq,
25:08archaeologists reveal
25:09the rise and fall
25:11of Nippur.
25:14By 1750 B.C.,
25:16it is a ghost town.
25:18But this sacred city
25:20is not abandoned forever.
25:23At the base
25:24of the ziggurat,
25:25excavators discover
25:27more recent
25:28stamped bricks.
25:29They reveal the name
25:31of a great Assyrian king,
25:33Ashurbanipal.
25:35This mighty new ruler
25:37takes Nippur
25:37as his own
25:38and gives it
25:40a new lease on life.
25:43Ashurbanipal
25:44successfully restored Nippur
25:45to its former glory.
25:47As a hub of trade
25:48and commerce,
25:49crowds of people
25:49would have flocked
25:50into Nippur
25:51to see the recently
25:51rebuilt temple complex
25:53and to visit
25:54the god Enlil.
25:56Ashurbanipal
25:57fully restores
25:58the ziggurat
25:59in 650 B.C.,
26:01complete with a shrine
26:02to the god Enlil
26:04at the time.
26:05Why does he restore
26:07what was lost
26:08hundreds of years before?
26:12George Heath White
26:14is an expert
26:15on the ancient peoples
26:16of Mesopotamia
26:17and Assyria.
26:19He thinks inscriptions
26:21on bricks from Nippur
26:22offer clues
26:23to the motivations
26:25of King Ashurbanipal.
26:27He recreates
26:29the cuneiform text
26:30so he can analyze
26:31it more closely.
26:32I'll read it out
26:33in the language
26:34it was written in.
26:37Enlila Lugal Kukurra,
26:39which means
26:40Enlil,
26:40king of the lands.
26:42What's so interesting
26:43about this brick
26:44is that the king
26:45who wrote it
26:46is using signs
26:47from hundreds
26:48and hundreds of years,
26:48even 1,500 years
26:49before his own time.
26:51If you lived in Nippur
26:53at the time
26:53of Ashurbanipal,
26:55you wouldn't be able
26:55to understand
26:56what was being written
26:57on these bricks.
26:58George compares
26:59this text
27:00to another inscribed brick
27:01also found at Nippur
27:02to explore
27:03what this language is.
27:05We have here
27:06a photo
27:07of a much
27:09older brick
27:09from over 1,000 years
27:11before Ashurbanipal's reign
27:12and it's actually
27:13incredibly similar
27:14to this brick
27:15of Ashurbanipal's
27:16and you can see
27:17the layout
27:18is very similar.
27:19We've got this
27:19big box
27:20ruled out by lines
27:22written onto
27:23a brick.
27:25Why is Ashurbanipal
27:27returning
27:27to ancient traditions
27:29going back
27:30to a writing style
27:31from over 1,000 years
27:33before his reign?
27:34It's like if you were
27:35to build a building today
27:36and puts a Latin inscription
27:38on the top of it.
27:39Not many people
27:40would be able
27:40to understand it
27:41but you might be able
27:41to recognize
27:42that the builder
27:42was trying to hark back
27:43to a much older
27:45period of time.
27:46George thinks
27:47a clue is hidden
27:48in its translation.
27:49Written here so far
27:51is Enlil,
27:52king of the lands,
27:53his king.
27:55That his
27:55is just talking
27:56about Ashurbanipal.
27:57Ashurbanipal
27:57is the king
27:58of a mighty empire
27:59but he's describing
28:00this god Enlil
28:01as his king.
28:02The translation reveals
28:04that Ashurbanipal
28:05wants to win favor
28:06with the supreme deity
28:07Enlil.
28:10He uses Sumerian language
28:12and cuneiform
28:13to deliberately
28:14echo the past.
28:16He restores the city
28:17as the cult center
28:19for Enlil.
28:21For a long time
28:22before Ashurbanipal
28:23came along
28:24Nippur had been neglected
28:25and its temple
28:26had fallen into ruins.
28:27He's looking back
28:28to the period
28:29when Nippur
28:29was at the height
28:30of its glory
28:30when Nippur
28:31was the center
28:32of the world almost
28:33and he's trying
28:34to say Nippur
28:35you can be like this again.
28:38Ashurbanipal
28:38stamps his message
28:39onto thousands
28:40of bricks
28:43and rebuilds
28:44the temple complex
28:45as it was
28:46over a millennium
28:48before.
28:49He's sending out
28:50a clear message.
28:52Ashurbanipal
28:53he's trying to show
28:53that he's not just
28:54a king from
28:55a foreign land
28:56coming in
28:56and trying to rule
28:57them and steal
28:57their grain
28:58or whatever
28:58but he is their king
28:59and he's going
29:00to support them
29:00and rebuild their city.
29:03Is Ashurbanipal
29:04a benevolent king
29:06winning loyalty
29:07simply by reviving
29:09Nippur's lost wonders?
29:13Ashurbanipal's empire
29:14stretches from Egypt
29:15to the Persian Gulf
29:16but some factions
29:18rise up against him
29:20including one led
29:21by his own brother
29:22in Babylon.
29:26Ashurbanipal
29:26shows his ruthlessness
29:28by cutting off
29:29his enemies' heads
29:30and displaying them
29:31in his garden.
29:35He's a cruel king
29:37but also
29:38a religious scholar
29:39and builds
29:41the world's first
29:42library of sacred
29:43texts in Nineveh.
29:47Ashurbanipal
29:48restores Nippur's
29:49temples to win
29:50the support
29:50of the gods
29:51and the people
29:52a clever ploy
29:54to suppress uprisings.
29:57By rebuilding Nippur
29:59Ashurbanipal
30:00reignites the god
30:01Enlil's role
30:02as kingmaker
30:04cleverly strengthening
30:06his position
30:07as the ruler
30:08Enlil has chosen.
30:10Nippur returns
30:12to its status
30:12as the preeminent
30:13place of cult worship
30:15in Mesopotamia
30:16an untouchable neutral territory
30:19a place respected by all.
30:22Nippur was almost like
30:23an ancient equivalent
30:24of the Vatican city today
30:25no matter where
30:26political power
30:28was held
30:28Nippur was where
30:29religious power
30:30was held.
30:31Despite over a thousand years
30:33separating the reigns
30:35of Ur-Nammu
30:35and Ashurbanipal
30:37the city of Nippur
30:38remains crucial
30:39to the fortunes
30:40of Mesopotamian rulers
30:44Can an astonishing find
30:46of ancient clay tablets
30:48in Nippur
30:48show how successful
30:50Ashurbanipal is
30:51at reviving
30:52the fortunes
30:53of the city?
30:54And can these texts
30:56reveal the origins
30:57of one of the most
30:58famous stories
30:59in the Bible?
31:11Nippur
31:13By the 7th century BC
31:16the city is thriving
31:17for the second time
31:19under the rule
31:20of the mighty
31:21King Ashurbanipal
31:22he restores
31:24Enlil's temple
31:25to its former glory
31:27Nippur is once again
31:28the center of worship
31:29for the ancient
31:30Mesopotamian
31:31god of creation
31:33Now investigators
31:34believe that
31:35an astonishing find
31:37may unlock
31:37the secrets of life
31:39in Nippur
31:39after its surprising
31:41revival
31:43What we found
31:44at Nippur
31:45revolutionized
31:46our understanding
31:46of these peoples
31:47and their world
31:50500 yards
31:52from the ziggurat
31:53in the western
31:53half of the city
31:56archaeologists
31:57uncover a house
31:58from the 5th century
31:59BC
32:01scattered across the floor
32:03they find hundreds
32:05of clay tablets
32:07they document
32:08the financial transactions
32:10of a banking family
32:11called Murashu
32:14What can this
32:15astonishing treasure trove
32:16tell us about
32:17why Nippur
32:18is thriving?
32:22George Heath White
32:23pieces together
32:24this ancient puzzle
32:26revealing a picture
32:27of the Murashu family
32:28as one of the leading
32:30business families
32:31in Nippur
32:34The Murashu family
32:35made a lot of money
32:36in banking
32:37they would lend money
32:38to people
32:39they would buy
32:39and sell land
32:40and when people
32:41couldn't pay their debts
32:42to them
32:42they would take
32:43that land off them
32:44and they became
32:45very wealthy
32:46over the course
32:46of the 5th century BC
32:47These astonishing documents
32:50show that
32:502,500 years ago
32:52the Murashu family
32:53runs a highly
32:54sophisticated
32:55financial powerhouse
32:56as well as land
32:59they trade grain
33:00and fruit
33:01funding huge developments
33:03and other
33:03profit making ventures
33:06We know that this family
33:07was very successful
33:08because we have
33:09records of their business
33:10for over three generations
33:12The tablets are
33:14undisputable evidence
33:15that Nippur
33:16is not only
33:17a religious centre
33:18but a thriving business
33:19and trading hub
33:21George believes
33:22the sheer volume
33:23of tablets
33:24found in the Murashu house
33:25and in other excavations
33:27make Nippur
33:28an astonishing window
33:30on life
33:30in ancient Mesopotamia
33:322,500 years ago
33:35Archaeologists
33:36have found in Nippur
33:37around 30,000 texts
33:39that reveal everything
33:41about what life
33:42was like in Nippur
33:44Tablets discovered
33:45at Nippur
33:46date back as far
33:47as the middle
33:47of the 3rd millennium BC
33:50One tablet dates back
33:52to the 17th century BC
33:54and contains part
33:55of an early version
33:56of the oldest
33:57written story
33:58ever discovered
33:59The Epic of Gilgamesh
34:03In the Gilgamesh Epic
34:05the god Enki
34:07tells a man
34:08called Utnapishtim
34:09that other gods
34:10plan to destroy mankind
34:12with a great flood
34:16Utnapishtim builds
34:17a large boat
34:17called Preserver of Life
34:19and embarks on it
34:21with silver, gold
34:22and all living beings
34:26The violent flood
34:28lasts for six days
34:29but cannot sink
34:31Utnapishtim
34:32and his boat
34:37On the seventh day
34:39Utnapishtim
34:40finds land
34:41and the god Enlil
34:43rewards him
34:43with immortality
34:49Jeff Allen
34:50thinks there may be
34:51a link between
34:52the flood story
34:53found at Nippur
34:54and its better
34:55known counterpart
34:56recorded in Genesis
34:57the first book
34:58of the Bible
34:59the story
35:00of Noah's Ark
35:01There is similarity
35:03between the story
35:04of Noah's Ark
35:06and the flood myth
35:07in a Gilgamesh epic
35:08Did the Jews know
35:10of Gilgamesh
35:11and it influenced
35:13the writings of Genesis?
35:16Many Jews are taken
35:18in captivity to Babylon
35:20after the capture
35:21of Jerusalem
35:21by the Babylonian king
35:23Nebuchadnezzar
35:24in 587 B.C.
35:27In exile
35:28Jewish scholars
35:29compile and write
35:31the Genesis story
35:32of creation
35:33They may draw
35:34on Gilgamesh
35:35and other sources
35:37Did both Genesis
35:38and Gilgamesh
35:39draw their material
35:40from a common tradition
35:42about the great flood
35:44The thousands of tablets
35:46found here
35:47reveal astonishing detail
35:49of life
35:49in 5th century B.C.
35:51Nippur
35:52They paint a complex portrait
35:54of a tolerant
35:55progressive society
35:57a thriving city
35:58home to business
35:59and the arts
36:02Nippur goes from strength
36:04to strength
36:05in the centuries
36:06after it is restored
36:07Nippur
36:08But can clues
36:09found near the ziggurat
36:10identify a new
36:12warlike people
36:13that take over Nippur
36:15and reveal a strange
36:17new purpose
36:18for this giant monument?
36:30For 2,000 years
36:32the city of Nippur
36:33flourishes
36:34as the center
36:35of cult worship
36:36in ancient Mesopotamia
36:39Pilgrims flock
36:40to its over
36:41100 temples
36:42and the city
36:44grows along
36:44the riverbanks
36:45into a thriving
36:46center of trade
36:48towering over it all
36:50is the huge ziggurat
36:51the temple
36:53of Enli
36:55Nippur
36:56looked like
36:57a very high
36:59spectacular
37:00city
37:01But after the grandeur
37:04of the Sumerian
37:05and Assyrian
37:06periods
37:07some strange
37:08modifications
37:09to the ziggurat
37:10reveal that Nippur
37:11is taken over
37:12by yet another
37:13civilization
37:15They encase
37:16the ziggurat
37:17in brick
37:18and turn it
37:19into a cross-shaped
37:20monument
37:20that resembles
37:22a watchtower
37:24Around it
37:25they build
37:26living quarters
37:26for a garrison
37:29all enclosed
37:30by strong
37:31brick walls
37:31with circular
37:32buttresses
37:34and an outer
37:35fortification wall
37:36up to 30 feet thick
37:39Why is the ziggurat
37:41transformed
37:41into an impenetrable
37:43fortress?
37:47excavators
37:47in the early 1900s
37:49dig up so much
37:50of the earth
37:51around the ziggurat
37:52that much
37:53of the evidence
37:53is lost
37:54This column
37:56it represents
37:57the most important
37:59part
38:00in this area
38:02Abbas al-Husseini
38:03thinks this last
38:04remaining
38:05unexcavated
38:06column of earth
38:07holds vital clues
38:08in its untouched
38:09layers
38:10If you look
38:11for the layers
38:12here
38:13there is a layers
38:14layer up to layer
38:16and there is a brick
38:18there is a shed
38:19of pottery
38:20you can't see
38:21the difference
38:23between
38:23the pottery
38:26Investigators
38:26discover the layer
38:27of mud bricks
38:28laid down
38:29when the fort
38:29is built
38:30They carbon date
38:31organic material
38:32in the mud bricks
38:33It reveals
38:34the fort
38:35is built
38:35in the first
38:36century AD
38:38The date
38:39coupled with
38:40the design
38:40of the fortification
38:42identifies it
38:43as Parthian
38:46A warlike
38:47people
38:47from what is
38:48now Iran
38:51But there is
38:52a mystery
38:54The mud bricks
38:55are filled
38:56with older
38:56shards
38:57of pottery
38:58Why is there
39:00older Sumerian
39:01pottery
39:01set into
39:02the newer
39:02Parthian
39:03mud bricks?
39:06When you add
39:08a broken
39:08pottery
39:09to the bricks
39:10it makes
39:11the bricks
39:12strong
39:15The Parthians
39:16smash statues
39:18sacred
39:18to past
39:19civilizations
39:21and use them
39:22as building
39:23materials
39:25Mixed into
39:26fresh mud bricks
39:27they vastly
39:28increase
39:29the brick's
39:29strength
39:32The Parthians
39:33at war
39:34with the Roman
39:35Empire
39:35transform
39:37Nippur
39:37into a
39:38garrison town
39:39and the
39:40ziggurat
39:40into a fort
39:41building it
39:42from pottery
39:43reinforced bricks
39:44for extra
39:45strength
39:46The Parthians
39:47fall to the
39:48Romans
39:48by the end
39:49of the
39:492nd century AD
39:53But excavations
39:54show that
39:55Nippur
39:55isn't destroyed
39:56by the Roman
39:57conquest
39:59It's still
39:59inhabited as
40:00late as
40:01the 9th century AD
40:02but only in
40:04the city's
40:04outskirts
40:06The religious
40:07center is
40:08largely abandoned
40:12This region
40:14is no longer
40:15devoted to
40:15the god
40:16Enlil
40:18Nippur
40:19doesn't end
40:20in violence
40:20It simply
40:21fades away
40:28As investigators
40:30piece together
40:30the clues
40:31a surprising
40:32history
40:33emerges
40:33at Nippur
40:34of a city
40:35coveted by
40:36different empires
40:37across thousands
40:38of years
40:39It is one of the
40:41most remarkable
40:42cities
40:43through history
40:44And it's
40:45through this
40:45place
40:46that great
40:47civilizations
40:47marched
40:50This city
40:52rises from
40:53the sands
40:53The spiritual
40:56center of
40:56Mesopotamia
40:57Nippur draws
40:59people of
41:00different cultures
41:01and different
41:03beliefs
41:04And at its
41:06heart
41:06the great
41:07ziggurat
41:09First built
41:10to honor
41:11the Sumerian
41:12god of
41:12creation
41:14Nippur
41:15is reborn
41:16with each
41:17new civilization
41:19Surviving
41:20as neighboring
41:21cities
41:21are destroyed
41:23To last
41:25for 6,000
41:26years
41:55years
41:57You
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