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00:11I'm in the ancient city of Hegra in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It's a mysterious place, surrounded
00:18by magnificent rock-cut tombs, built 2,000 years ago by a people who had far-reaching
00:26impact on world culture, but this site is only now being fully explored.
00:35So there's at least, at least 90% of this site still waiting to be archaeologically
00:44researched, but this is one of the main areas that the archaeologists are working on right
00:48now. I can't quite believe that I'm being allowed to, because I can see pottery everywhere.
00:55This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the front line of research into an enigmatic and once
01:02neglected civilisation.
01:04OK, hang on. This is interesting over here. I've just got to get a bit closer to have a look.
01:14Oh, God, it's so exciting. It's so exciting. There's just so much to discover. Incredible.
01:23The people who built this place were the Nabataeans, major players in the ancient world whose power
01:31and influence spanned empires. But then it seems they vanish from the history books. I'm here
01:40searching for clues that could tell us what happened to them. Something that might explain why such an
01:48illustrious people aren't better known. There's something here that is truly remarkable. It's an
01:59inscription that's only recently been discovered and it's very delicate, so it's been protected here.
02:10OK, so I am right in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula, but this isn't written in a Nabataean
02:17language with a Nabataean script. What you're looking at is Latin, which is the language of the ancient Romans.
02:25And you can just about make up here the beginning of the word centurion. So this would have been left
02:32here by Roman soldiers.
02:34So this must be evidence that can teach us more about the fate of the Nabataean civilization.
02:43So what part did the mighty Romans play in their apparent disappearance?
02:51I'm hitting the road in a once-in-a-lifetime journey across the ancient world. An epic quest,
03:01from the historic settlements of Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia, and the wonder of Petra in Jordan,
03:13to Greek islands like Kos, and the Bay of Naples in Italy.
03:23With a network of world-class researchers, we'll be analysing brand new evidence.
03:29Oh, look at this. Testing exciting theories. Revealing new finds.
03:37You're making history, Michele, by what you're discovering here.
03:42And exploring uncharted territory.
03:45Oh, you can see it!
03:46All to start to reconstruct the Nabataean world.
03:50This is like a kind of postcard from the past.
03:56One in a million chance of finding a bit of pottery.
03:59Yes, that's what I say. That is awesome.
04:01They shared their world with some of the greatest characters in history.
04:06Queen Cleopatra, Roman emperors, Herod the Great.
04:11We'll learn from people whose heritage reaches back through the centuries to this pivotal age.
04:17Oh, it's great to be back. You look well.
04:20Yeah. Still alive. Still alive!
04:28I'm going to rediscover this overlooked culture.
04:31Reveal how it still shapes our world.
04:35And try to solve the riddle of their mysterious bait.
04:41I want to bring them from the edges back to the centre of history, where they belong.
04:48These geniuses of history, who called themselves the Nabataean,
04:58are the key to a lost world.
05:16OK, so I've already discovered how the Nabataeans built a fabulously wealthy culture and civilisation.
05:27In my journey so far, I've explored their breathtaking tombs.
05:32Travelled in their footsteps along the incense roads of the Arabian Peninsula.
05:38Adventured on boats and under the waves of the Red Sea, as far as an ancient Roman megaport in the
05:45Bay of Naples.
05:52Now, I'm on a quest to discover how the Nabataeans' success made rivals out of some of the most ruthless
06:00and powerful empires in the ancient world.
06:03How they managed to resist the might of their enemies for 400 years and to try to uncover the truth
06:12about the fate of the Nabataeans.
06:15What's really happened to them?
06:21On this, the final leg of my Nabataean odyssey, I'm going to find out if their staggering success, which brought
06:29them serious wealth, perhaps also sowed the seeds of their civilisation's downfall.
06:37My investigative journey started here, in what's now Saudi Arabia, in the city of Hegra, with its stunning tombs.
06:47Hegra was a southern outpost of Nabataean territories, a key staging post in their trading empire.
06:55Their precious cargo included an ancient petrochemical, bitumen and frankincense.
07:04The ultimate destination of that incense were the major Mediterranean markets of the Greek, the Egyptian and the Roman worlds.
07:14And the profits from that vast trade largely ended up in the capital of the Nabataean kingdom, the place that
07:24they called Rackmu, but that we now know by its Greek name, Petra.
07:31And like the Nabataeans, I'm going to follow the money and head right here.
07:512,000 years ago, Petra was the central hub for trade, not just of incense, but also spices from southern
07:59Asia, pearls from India and silk from China.
08:05Petra was the economic jewel of the kingdom and the administrative, cultural and religious heart of Nabataean territory, which covered
08:14lands in the Arabian Peninsula, modern day Egypt and Syria, even controlling on more than one occasion, the iconic city
08:24of Damascus.
08:26I've got the chance to see the land from a whole new angle, which I hope will help me to
08:32show you why Petra holds such a unique place in history.
08:43Operator to the ground clearance for table.
08:50Perfect. Are you fine?
08:52Good.
08:54Yeah, I'm holding, I'm holding on.
08:55Thank you, thank you.
09:04Thank you, Chakran.
09:29I mean, it's, you know, you kind of read about the scale of the Nabataean project,
09:35but it's only when you come up here you really understand how massive it was.
09:42The sheer vastness of the city is revealed, stretching over 50 square miles.
09:51With an estimated population of 30,000, a glorious jumble of tombs, temples and markets.
10:01A grand theatre and opulent villas sitting beside a bustling urban heart.
10:16So those, um, see the mountaintops up here, so those have got shrines and sanctuaries and temples on.
10:22It just makes you respect them, the fact that they met this incredibly dramatic landscape face on and kind of
10:29used it to their own ends.
10:31Because, I mean, just look how harsh this landscape looks, but they're using every bit of it to create a
10:38culture and a civilisation.
10:40Petra was sustained by a sprawling 35-mile-long network of hidden underground pipes, transporting and filtering rain and spring
10:51water to thousands of hidden cisterns and basins buried in the city rock.
10:58Ancient sources and archaeological remains evidenced the farming of almonds, figs, grapes, dates, olives.
11:09And the Nabataeans created a series of closely guarded enclaves in the high-sided valleys of the city.
11:17So that one particular, that's called Little Petra, and again, it was very easy to protect and defend, and that
11:23was where the kind of centre of trading was.
11:27It really feels like the people of Petra used every geographical feature to their best advantage, each hurdle and obstacle
11:35harnessed to turn the city into a fortress.
11:39So this down here, and this is natural kind of canyon or gully, that was one of the main entry
11:46points to the city.
11:48And you can see it just winds its way through the rocks, so it was incredibly well defended.
11:53And actually where I'm going to head to next.
12:00There, I'll discover how the Nabataeans built one of history's greatest wonders.
12:06A fortified vision of paradise.
12:14Down on the ground, it's time to explore Petra, starting in an extraordinary entrance to the city.
12:26This is the Sikh.
12:28The word literally means a shaft or a gorge.
12:32And it runs for a kilometre, it's over half a mile, into the centre of the city itself.
12:39And it's got its own power.
12:41It's kind of got its own message, don't you think?
12:43It's saying that this is somewhere that is really special, that's worth protecting.
12:51The twisting canyon is a seemingly never-ending path through towering rocks.
13:01This is the place that we now call the treasury.
13:10In fact, it is a giant, rock-cut tomb.
13:16This is the place that we now call the treasury.
13:23In fact, it is a giant rock-cut tomb.
13:24Somewhere that protected not just wealth, but the dead.
13:33It's fitting that this tomb was constructed for one of the kingdom's greatest ruling dynasties.
13:41So, this is almost certainly made for our old friend, King Aratas IV, who ruled at the time that Hegra
13:48was really flourishing.
13:50And this was a key moment in world history, in a time when Petra was really buzzing.
13:59Aratas and his powerful wife, Huldu, took the throne in the year 9 BCE.
14:06A five-decade-long rule saw Petra claim geopolitical centre stage.
14:13Aratas and Huldu were determined to build alliances with their neighbours,
14:18but occasionally had to navigate diplomatic scandal.
14:23Aratas IV's daughter married Herod Antipas, the king of Judea.
14:29But Herod put aside the girl and took another wife, sparking one of the most famous stories of the ancient
14:37world.
14:38John the Baptist, no less, protested against this disrespectful divorce and ended up being beheaded.
14:45And King Aratas was so offended, he took his Nabataean army and invaded Judea's kingdom.
14:54When you come here, you start to really understand how intertwined the Nabataeans are in those other histories that we
15:03might be a bit more familiar with.
15:08Vast riches from trade meant Petra's influence was more than just political.
15:16Because Petra was the capital of the wealthy Nabataean kingdom, the quality of some of the artworks here are just
15:24extraordinary.
15:25And these are just some that have been kept in the storerooms.
15:30Petra's stonemasons and artists created much more than just monumental tombs.
15:35Their work includes stone capitals of animals as diverse as dolphins and elephants.
15:43Greek inspired deities and depictions of everyday people.
15:50Ancient authors like Diodorus, Strabo and Pliny tell us Petra was a thriving oasis.
15:58Expert archaeologists like Dr Sahar Hazanet are still uncovering evidence of this fertile past.
16:09I love your companion.
16:11He's my assistant.
16:12Your new assistant.
16:15Hello.
16:17Hello beautiful.
16:18Sorry to scare you away.
16:20How lovely to meet you.
16:22Dr Sahar is pioneering the use of luminescence dating, basically the science of sunlight.
16:29It enables her to precisely date the incredible technology and engineering that made Petra the envy of the ancient world.
16:39I'm trying here to collect rocks for luminescence dating, trying to date the time of construction of the terrace walls
16:45here.
16:46It's almost like you're sort of doing the history of sunlight somehow, is that right?
16:50Yes, we can determine when it was last exposed to light or when it was last buried.
16:55So what's this telling you about the Nabataeans and their lives here?
16:59I think they were the master in the water and hydraulic system engineering.
17:03They did not only build the water cisterns and the channels or the terraces here, but they also created gardens,
17:12pools, fountains to make it more like a lavish and luxurious place to stay.
17:17It's almost because they need for their status and word of mouth for people to come back and say, have
17:20you heard about Petra?
17:21They've got these fish ponds and like ornamental parks and things.
17:25So they literally converted the desert into like a paradise.
17:28What a beautiful idea. It's that they're kind of almost paradise makers, making this bit of their earth a paradise.
17:36Yes, it is. Even at the moment, Jordan is facing this dryness and lack of water.
17:41So it's kind of a knowledge that we can still learn from it.
17:46Greek historian Strabo described springs in abundance, both for domestic purposes and for watering gardens.
17:56We've gathered the evidence to recreate an impression of what this gorgeous villa might have looked like.
18:02With pleasure gardens featuring shrubs and palms, mini bridges, little lakes.
18:11Where there's only now sand and rock.
18:17The Nabataeans transformed the baking valleys and gorges of Petra into a pearl of antiquity.
18:24Nice to meet you again. Nice to see you again.
18:29Before I leave, I really want to catch up with someone.
18:34You look well. Yeah. Still alive. Still alive.
18:40You have a cup of tea now. Yes, lovely. Thank you.
18:44Bedouin Taufik was raised on stories about the lush, glory years of Petra's abundant payday 2,000 years ago.
18:53Here is a place where you squeeze the grapes, you know, to make the wine.
18:58So they would have made their own wine here, because I know they drank a lot.
19:02Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there were vineyards here then too.
19:05Yeah, there's two places. One here and one in a little Petra.
19:09And brilliantly, he's cooking what I know is a culinary survivor from those days of plenty.
19:16Now we want to put the bread in the fire.
19:19An ancient bread recipe.
19:26Taufik is baking his bread using a traditional recipe with instructions to knead the dough precisely 120 times.
19:38So good. So you just have flour, salt, oil, water.
19:43Water, yeah.
19:44So I think the recipe says sometimes olive oil, sometimes sesame oil, oil from sesame seeds.
19:50Yes, yeah.
19:51I mean, this is exactly the same as you have in this recipe book.
19:56Called the Kitab al-Tabik, it's a historic collection of Arabian cookery from over 1,000 years ago.
20:04The recipe's name, then and now, Nabatean bread, clearly points to origins back in classical times.
20:15So how long does it have to cook for?
20:17From 15 to 20 minutes.
20:20Taufik, this is so exciting.
20:22You know that I love anything to do with history, but listen, I'm just about to kind of taste history
20:28here.
20:30Kneading the bread over a hundred times and baking it in hot sand and ash makes it the right texture
20:37to transport on long desert journeys.
20:42A little hot, watch.
20:44Hot? Yeah.
20:46Oh, it smells good, though.
20:47Very hot.
20:54Very good.
20:56Oh, that is so... I'm so happy, Taufik, I can't tell you.
21:00I'm so happy.
21:01You're welcome.
21:02Cheers, very good with the tea.
21:04A little reminder that the Nabatean world is still present in our lives.
21:10Another of Petra's landmarks embodies traditions as distinctively Nabatean as Taufik's delicious bread.
21:18The grand theatre in the centre of the city.
21:25This was commissioned by King Aratas IV, and it's based on Greek theatres that are first built around 2,500
21:34years ago.
21:35But something that makes it specifically Nabatean is that it isn't built of stone or wood.
21:42It's carved out of the sheer rock itself.
21:49But there's evidence that something may have taken place here other than theatrical productions.
21:55Something that makes it even more Nabatean.
22:00There's a really strong chance that it's somewhere that the Nabateans could come to chat for kind of political debate,
22:08so that they could consult amongst themselves about town life and what was going on.
22:13One of our Greek writers tells us that even rulers were expected to join in these discussions in Petra's public
22:21buildings.
22:23So, Strabo says the Nabatean king is so democratic, sometimes he serves people drinks himself.
22:31He has to report back on his leadership in the popular assembly, so here,
22:36and sometimes even his personal life is put up for scrutiny.
22:42And I can tell you, that doesn't happen anywhere else in the classical world.
22:48I'm building a picture of how the city and culture of Petra became a real beacon of sophistication in antiquity,
22:55from the start of their glory years in the 4th century BCE.
23:02Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the jewel in the Nabatean crown to attract jealous attention.
23:11The first challenge came from an ancient Greek power,
23:15giving us our earliest accounts of the Nabatean kingdom by an outsider,
23:20a Greek general by the name of Hieronymus of Cardia.
23:25By the 4th century BCE, the armies of Alexander the Great had built a powerful and acquisitive empire,
23:34stretching from his homeland in Macedonia to the Indian subcontinent.
23:40After Alexander's death, one of his successors, a Macedonian leader, Antigonus, decided to expand his territory,
23:49and marched on a Nabatean stronghold, probably Petra, in 312 BCE.
23:56When the men of Petra were away at the ancient equivalent of a trade fair,
24:01the Macedonian Greek army attacked, and there were 4,000 of them with 600 cavalry,
24:07so it must have been absolutely petrifying.
24:10The women and old men and children of the city had been left safe up on a high rock,
24:16but the Macedonians dragged them down and seized them, along with 500 talents of silver.
24:26The absent Nabatean warriors heard about the military disaster.
24:34They tracked the Macedonian army on their march home, using their superior desert skills.
24:438,000 warriors mounted on camels fell on the Macedonian army and wreaked a devastating revenge.
24:52They slaughtered the men with javelins and they seized back their women, their children and their treasure.
25:02After the battles were won, the Nabateans did something truly unprecedented.
25:13Instead of pressing home their advantage, they made their peace with Antigonus.
25:18All they wanted was to go back to how things were.
25:22As they said to the defeated Macedonian ruler,
25:29the
25:29Please, we're asking you and your father, not harm us.
25:35Withdraw your army.
25:38Let's be friends.
25:43But in the next centuries, another great military power arose.
25:48An empire that wouldn't be put off so easily.
25:54In the final part of my journey, I'm going to find out what happened when the Nabateans faced the might
26:01of ancient Rome.
26:11I've travelled back to the ancient city of Hegra in modern Saudi Arabia, searching for clues of the fate of
26:19the Nabateans.
26:26There's over 90% of the site still left to excavate.
26:30And this is one of the key areas of archeological interest right now.
26:35And it looks as though what it's revealing is just incredible.
26:46Archeologists have made a recent discovery that I think helps us understand the fate of the independent kingdom of Nabatea.
26:56On the southern edge of the city is a giant crag, with the ruins of what looks like a mysterious
27:03ancient fort.
27:10Oh my gosh, look at this. Look, look, look.
27:15So there's a lot going on here.
27:17The light's picking out this inscription round the rim here.
27:21And it's not written in Nabatean, it's written in Latin, the language of the Romans.
27:28And I think this is some kind of storage basin, possibly for water, I think probably for food.
27:34And it looks like it's the name of the guy who's in charge of all the supplies.
27:39And then here, look.
27:42Oh, look at this.
27:44So this says leg three.
27:48And there's a CY and it's then just broken off at the end.
27:52So I reckon this must be the third legion, Cyrenaica.
27:57So they're telling us that they were here on this southern outpost.
28:02The third Cyrenaica was a Roman legion, founded by Mark Antony in around 35 BCE, headquartered 700 miles away in
28:12Egypt.
28:14This inscription must mean that legion came here.
28:18I guess now the Romans are in charge here, so they're literally stamping their mark on the place.
28:25Oh, that's amazing.
28:26And you think, this doesn't happen often.
28:28This really doesn't happen often, that you come to a place and suddenly the evidence appears in front of your
28:34eyes.
28:36And there are more traces of Roman presence.
28:40Around the corner is one of my favourite new discoveries from the Nabatean world.
28:45What I think you've got is the remains of a hypercaust system.
28:50And a hypercaust was a kind of mechanism for heating rooms.
28:54Something that the Romans used in Roman baths.
28:58So it could well be, we are thousands of miles from Rome here.
29:02But there are home comforts, a little bit of, you know, bath luxury into the middle of the Arabian desert.
29:11The fort at Hegra shows sure signs of Roman occupation of the city and surrounding oasis.
29:19My tech team have been building a 3D model of Hegra, based on scans of the site and reconstructing the
29:25city through history.
29:28The team are adding this latest evidence to build up their model, hoping to explain the reasons for the Romans'
29:35arrival in ancient Arabia.
29:41I think that the Romans wanted to extend their control.
29:45East.
29:45So what does that mean?
29:47Leila Naimi is one of the world's leading experts on the Nabateans and she's directed excavations here.
29:54She's helping us decipher the clues.
29:57If you look at the city, can you tell where there's Roman influence or even Roman presence?
30:02Yes, well, we can because they did not put a big Roman imprint in the city.
30:08There's no theatre, no amphitheatre.
30:10The Roman infrastructure seems to be limited to military installations.
30:17To protect themselves, they presumably used this big outcrop, which is called the Citadel, and to make an eye-watching
30:26post.
30:27Yes.
30:27And from there, they would be able to watch anybody coming from the south.
30:31Wow.
30:32It could have been a tough posting.
30:33Yes.
30:35So I think I would pity the guy who would have been stationed in the Roman fort of Hegra, eating
30:43camel meat every day.
30:45Dates and being simmering resentment, maybe.
30:49In ancient times, Hegra was supported by a fertile oasis.
30:54Walnuts, pomegranates, cotton, coconuts and even peaches were grown here.
30:59But surely the Romans were here for something more.
31:05Layla's team have identified an inscription that explains what they were doing in this distant corner of the ancient world.
31:14You've got an incredible inscription mentioning Marcus Aurelius, kind of beautiful, painted in black.
31:20What you're showing me is a Latin inscription of which there are very few examples in the world.
31:25It's a masterpiece.
31:26It's a dedication to Jupiter, Hamon, which is the god of the third legion, Cyrenaica.
31:40And possibly there's a small s at the end.
31:44It is possible that means stationary.
31:47What does that stationary mean?
31:50It's stationary is a guy who is responsible of controlling people on the routes and saying, you know, everybody passing
31:59by, they would say, well, show me your ID or show me your passage permit.
32:06Yeah.
32:07At that time.
32:08That's what a thought that is.
32:09So they're not quite border control, but they're sort of custom, customs control.
32:12And so they would, they have, that means that the Romans have completely taken over the trade routes from the
32:18Nabataeans.
32:19I imagine that must have been frustrating for the Nabataeans because this has been their route, you know, their road,
32:24they've been in control of this.
32:26Then suddenly you've got someone telling you what to do.
32:28Yes.
32:28And telling you what to do and what not to do.
32:32Yes.
32:34The invaders took over the city with its abundant water supply, thriving agriculture, and most importantly, control of the incense
32:44roads.
32:45Mounting evidence of direct Roman rule is forcing historians to redraw the map of the Roman world.
32:53It's just a reminder that these places that we think of wrongly, as at the edges of things, that they're
32:59hyper connected.
33:00You have to even think of even further than that, because if you look at maps of the Roman Empire
33:06on the internet, they're wrong.
33:08Because this whole part of Northwest Arabia was part of the Roman kingdom.
33:13This is the southernmost outpost, as far as we know.
33:17Outpost.
33:18Permanent outpost.
33:19Yes.
33:20Yeah, incredible.
33:25I want to find evidence for how and when this Roman takeover happened.
33:33Brilliant clues are in these tiny silver coins from the reign of one of Rome's greatest military leaders, an emperor
33:41who led the last great expansion of Rome's borders, a campaign of conquest that started in Eastern Europe.
33:49Now, this rather incredible little coin was minted by the emperor Trajan to celebrate his triumph over the ancient province
33:58of Dacia.
34:00Dacia roughly equates to modern-day Romania, and for the Romans it was a territory rich in gold and silver
34:08and in people.
34:10So, on the coin, you've got the emperor Trajan, as you'd expect on one side, and then on the reverse,
34:18you've got Dacia itself incarnated as somebody who's been completely humiliated and defeated with their hands tied behind their backs,
34:28sitting on a pile of weapons.
34:29The Romans often used coins like this as really clever tools of propaganda.
34:37The conquest of Dacia began in the year 101 CE, and then, the following decade, Trajan invaded the Parthian Empire.
34:48He also turned his attention south to the Nabataean kingdom, known at the time by its Latin name, Arabia Petraea.
34:57His success there was immortalised in another very different coin.
35:05So, here's the emperor Trajan again, and on the other side, you've got Arabia personified as a camel, and that's
35:14Rome standing above Arabia.
35:16The figure of Rome is offering the camel what's either a palm leaf, which was a symbol both of victory
35:22and of peace,
35:24or it's a frankincense branch.
35:27I don't know if you agree, but this feels like a very different vibe.
35:32There's a different kind of story being told here.
35:34This isn't all about subjugation, and the words used are really significant.
35:39So, we're told that when the Romans took over the province of Arabia, it wasn't captor, captured.
35:47It was acquisitor, acquired.
35:51The difference between violent capture of Dacia captor and more gentle connotations of Arabia, acquisitor, feels hugely significant.
36:03There are also no written records of a conquest by military force here.
36:07So, for centuries, historians have believed that the acquisition of Navatir was indeed a peaceful, more an absorption into the
36:16empire.
36:18But just as I was planning my journey here, an extraordinary bit of new evidence appeared.
36:25So, what you're looking at here is actually satellite imagery, so taken from space.
36:36A team from Oxford University, headed by Michael Fradley, is using the satellites to scour almost a million square miles
36:45of Arabian desert.
36:46What they found may just cast doubts on this cosy story of a peaceful transition.
36:55And they are convinced that these things, these very distinctive shapes, and what's called playing card shapes,
37:02that these are actually Roman camps that are used during a hostile takeover.
37:08And these are slap-pang in the middle of Nabatean territory.
37:15So, I've got to go and find out what's going on.
37:23I'm heading to the site to see for myself if there is a violent struggle for the control of Nabatea.
37:34The mysterious shapes in the desert, suspected Roman camps, are in an extremely remote area on the border between Saudi
37:42Arabia and Jordan.
37:44Not an easy place to get to.
37:57Bob Bewley is an aerial archaeologist who'd been working in the Middle East for more than 20 years.
38:07Together, we're going to fly with 8th Squadron, the Royal Jordanian Air Force, to take a closer look.
38:16We had to cross 250 miles of desert to see if those playing card shapes that were first spotted from
38:23space really are Roman camps.
38:27Bob, so where are we heading? What direction?
38:30We're heading south-east to the Saudi border to Lumpur, three Roman camps.
38:35So it's really exciting because the one we're heading to has never been photographed from the air before.
38:43But first, we're going to have to find them from Michael Fradley's coordinates.
38:49Then, after an hour of flying across what looks like featureless wilderness, we spot some familiar outlines in the sand.
38:58Yeah, hard round, hard round. Yeah, we've got it. Yeah, yeah, there it is. See it? Yeah, yeah.
39:04Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's perfect. And if we can get as close to it as possible, that's quite nice.
39:10They're a playing card shape. And what's very distinctive, and that's why I'm really excited to see this one, is
39:16to see what the nature of the entrances are.
39:19So that will help us definitely say that that is clearly a Roman camp.
39:27We immediately radio back to the squadron, asking for permission to land.
39:32It's granted, but a shortage of fuel on the long flight back to base limits us to 15 minutes on
39:39the ground.
39:43We become possibly the first people to set foot here in 2,000 years.
39:52We've just got to keep our eyes peeled in case there's any archaeology here.
39:56Yeah, yeah. The pilots spotted this. They thought it was digging. I think that's an animal hole.
40:00Yes. But it might be worth us just going to have a look over there.
40:03Yeah. If that's all right.
40:05Yeah, because even if it's an animal hole, the animals might have...
40:09They might have pulled some stuff up. It's worth having a look, isn't it?
40:12Yeah, it's definitely an animal hole, isn't it?
40:16Yeah. But we can't see any pottery or anything.
40:18No pottery, no.
40:20Bob believes that the position of the suspected camps is more evidence
40:23that these sites show Roman military activity.
40:27There are three Roman camps.
40:29And the theory is that they started at Bayer, which is an oasis,
40:35because you can't do anything without water.
40:36And the distance between Bayer and the first camp is 23 miles
40:42and they're exactly equidistant all the way along.
40:44So this is classic military, we're going to go in a straight line,
40:49nothing is going to stop us.
40:5123 miles is more than a day's march on foot,
40:55which is why Bob thinks these camps could be for a large detachment of Roman cavalry.
41:03I mean, it does, because that looks kind of like an arrow-straight line,
41:07so there's definitely something being planned.
41:08Definitely. It's a planned expedition, don't you?
41:10It's knowing the predictability of the military mind and the Roman mind.
41:13This shows there was clearly a military strength there.
41:16Yeah.
41:17And I'm very happy they're confirmed.
41:19Yeah.
41:21With time running out, the team makes a stunning discovery.
41:28Faraz, have you got something?
41:31Pottery!
41:32Really?
41:34Whoa!
41:36So what was it? One in a million chance of finding a bit of pottery?
41:39Yes, that's what I say.
41:40It's happening now.
41:41That's what I say.
41:44Excuse me.
41:45Yeah, there's loads of it.
41:47Wow, there's loads of it.
41:49This is a remains of a print or something.
41:52Yeah?
41:52There was a handle there, look.
41:53Yeah, I've got a handle here.
41:55Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:55Hand for a handle.
41:56Yeah, yeah.
41:57Wow.
41:59And this is the eggshell.
42:00And it is, it's Nabataean, isn't it?
42:02Nabataean eggshell.
42:04No question, even I know that.
42:05So how can you tell that's Nabataean, not Roman?
42:08Just from the nature of the pottery and the fineness of that.
42:14Yeah.
42:15You would say, wouldn't you?
42:16And the colour too.
42:17Yeah, the colour as well.
42:18Wouldn't you say for us?
42:19Yeah.
42:20Yeah.
42:20That is awesome.
42:22There is, look, there's tonnes.
42:23Wow.
42:24So there, that's definitely, you see this painting?
42:26Yes.
42:27So that and the very fine stuff.
42:28That.
42:30Never thought we would find that.
42:32This is just exactly as the Romans left it.
42:35It's been untouched ever since.
42:37That's just remarkable.
42:38Which is amazing.
42:39That's remarkable.
42:40And what this little bit of Nabataean...
42:42Yes.
42:42What this little bit of Nabataean pottery is doing here,
42:45so does that mean their auxiliaries fighting with them
42:49or the Nabataeans have come in or they're just...
42:51Or they just broke Nabataean pottery.
42:53Yeah.
42:53You know?
42:54But before we have a chance to investigate
42:56this possible Nabataean incursion further,
42:59we get the call from the pilot that our time is up.
43:03So just for the chopper actually leaves,
43:05we just found a little bit with these really distinctive ridges on.
43:07So that tells us that's Roman theory of Nabataean.
43:11And now we're leaving everything that we found on site.
43:14Yes.
43:15OK.
43:15OK, let's go.
43:16Let's go, let's go.
43:19We leave the site convinced that this was indeed a Roman military camp
43:25and with evidence of Nabataean presence.
43:33The Nabataeans were pragmatic and adaptable
43:38and mainly interested in commercial advantage.
43:41So maybe they could see some benefits
43:44in being absorbed under the wing of the Romans.
43:52But also, you know,
43:54thinking of those new discoveries in the desert
43:57of the Nabataean pottery inside the Roman camps,
44:01maybe that is evidence of a cancer attack.
44:04Maybe it's the Nabataeans fighting back
44:07and dealing with the Roman incursion on their own terms.
44:13Whether or not the Nabataeans fought back,
44:16there's clear evidence that the Romans deployed their military might
44:20inside the borders of the Nabataean kingdom,
44:24either before or after they took control.
44:30I'm heading back to the Nabataean city of Hegra
44:33where I started my journey
44:34to look for evidence of what happened to the Nabataeans
44:38after the Roman occupation.
44:43Roman Emperor Trajan took control in 106 CE,
44:47but the evidence here shows that Hegra, like Petra,
44:52continued to prosper under Roman rule.
44:56Many of the most ornate buildings and tombs in Nabataean
44:59were built after the takeover.
45:06And archaeologists have uncovered sophisticated artwork here
45:12that probably dates from the Roman era.
45:18So I've just got to show you this.
45:21What you're looking at is a tiny fragment of a glass bead
45:26that was found right in the centre of the city at Hegra.
45:31Look at the decoration here.
45:34Bit by bit, we're coming face to face with the Nabataean experience.
45:40They may have been subsumed into the Roman world,
45:43but the Nabataeans ensured their influence was still felt.
45:47In the year 244 CE, a man of Arabian descent,
45:52known to contemporaries as Philip the Arab,
45:55got the top job in Rome and became Roman Emperor.
45:59And in a brilliant example of cultural interconnectedness,
46:04one of the things that he did was establish a festival
46:07called the Actia Dushara Festival with games
46:11that celebrated both the Roman victory
46:14over Queen Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium
46:17and the Nabataeans' premier god, Dushara.
46:27And what of the other men and women of the kingdom,
46:30the farmers and traders who lived here
46:33in the furthest corner of the Roman Empire?
46:40People always ask what happened to the Nabataeans.
46:43Well, the answer is maybe they never left.
46:47They just reinvented themselves over the centuries,
46:50adapting to new rulers, to Romans, to Byzantines,
46:55to Arab kingdoms,
46:57always preserving their know-how
47:00but finding new ways of working with new societies.
47:10Evidence that backs up this story of continuity
47:13keeps emerging from the ground.
47:18In a Nabataean town, now called Al-Bada,
47:22on the incense road between the Red Sea, Hegra and Petra,
47:26a French and Saudi archaeological team is hard at work
47:29excavating the home of a prosperous merchant family.
47:38Initially, Guillaume Charleau and his team
47:40uncovered first-century Nabataean artefacts.
47:46We have discovered a lot of pottery from the daily life,
47:50very simple cooking pots
47:51or all these kinds of simple material
47:53that we find a bit everywhere.
47:55We have also found some very thin Nabataean pottery
47:59and Nabataean ware coming from Petra
48:01and they are very well dated from the 1st century AD.
48:06But soon, they found evidence that families
48:10were still living off this old Nabataean trade route
48:13centuries after the Romans took over.
48:18We have many traces after the Nabataeans.
48:22In particular, this house that we have discovered
48:24as a second period of occupation during the Byzantine period,
48:28around 4th, 5th century AD,
48:31in particular, during the early Islamic periods.
48:38So even if history's moved on, the people have stayed.
48:43For too long, the Nabataeans have been a people
48:46who've turned up as footnotes in the story of other civilisations,
48:51but we should never forget that they had their own rich,
48:55inspiring, vital, relevant place in history.
48:58They helped to inspire our world.
49:04Rediscovering them is a reminder of the danger
49:07of forgetting entire cultures through time.
49:15It's time to reassess the Nabataeans' role in history,
49:18to restore them to their rightful place as a key influence
49:22whose outlook on life can have resonance in the 21st century,
49:26their belief in the value of women, liberty,
49:30and rule in consultation with the people.
49:37The Nabataeans really engaged with the world on the front foot.
49:42They were in tune with nature.
49:44They developed a huge trading empire
49:47with a steely-eyed focus on commerce,
49:51and they were adept diplomats and political players.
49:56And don't forget, they catalyzed the development of Arabic.
50:01Nabataean inscriptions found right across this region
50:04are an essential bridge in the development of the written language
50:08used today by nearly 400 million people worldwide.
50:19What the Nabataeans wanted more than anything else was prosperity and peace.
50:25And we know that from a single rare account of a Nabataean under attack
50:31right the way back in the 4th century BCE.
50:33I think it's one of the most moving witnesses from ancient history.
50:39We're told that this is what he said.
50:42We beg you, do us no injury.
50:46Please accept gifts from us.
50:48Regard us Nabataeans as friends in the future,
50:51because we will never submit to your will.
50:55At the very most, all that you'll gain are a few reluctant slaves.
51:00We want to live as we want to live.
51:06What a thing to say.
51:09What a people.
51:11What a story.
51:12What a story.
51:38What a story.
51:41What a story.
51:42That a segue.
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