1 00:00:08,241 --> 00:00:11,074 This is the story of a 20,000-mile journey 2 00:00:11,277 --> 00:00:13,768 in search of one of the greatest figures in history, 3 00:00:14,481 --> 00:00:19,145 a man whose legend has been told across the world for more than 2,000 years. 4 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:26,181 On the plains of Central Asia, the nomads still tell the tale of Alexander the Great. 5 00:00:28,895 --> 00:00:33,332 But Alexander, they say, had horns. He was the devil. 6 00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:45,576 At the age of 25, Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, 7 00:00:46,413 --> 00:00:50,042 and in today's Persia, lran, people still tell stories 8 00:00:50,250 --> 00:00:53,014 of the man who overthrew their civilisation. 9 00:00:58,258 --> 00:01:01,921 But here in lran, they call him Alexander the Accursed. 10 00:01:06,366 --> 00:01:11,531 And lranian mothers tell their children, ''Go to bed or Alexander will get you.'' 11 00:01:17,710 --> 00:01:21,305 Before he was 30, Alexander's search for conquest and glory 12 00:01:21,514 --> 00:01:23,505 had brought him as far as lndia. 13 00:01:27,220 --> 00:01:31,987 Here the legend is told that lndian holy men led him to the Speaking Tree, 14 00:01:32,358 --> 00:01:35,816 a sacred tree which could speak all the languages of the earth 15 00:01:36,029 --> 00:01:38,122 and foretell every man's destiny. 16 00:01:41,101 --> 00:01:45,504 The tree spoke. lt rebuked him for thinking he could conquer lndia. 17 00:01:46,539 --> 00:01:49,508 Alexander, it said, would die young, 18 00:01:49,843 --> 00:01:52,209 but his name would be remembered for ever. 19 00:02:32,218 --> 00:02:36,348 Alexander the Great was born here in Macedonia in northern Greece 20 00:02:36,556 --> 00:02:39,889 in the shadow of Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. 21 00:02:41,828 --> 00:02:45,958 And the gods are as important characters in his story as he is. 22 00:02:46,299 --> 00:02:49,996 Zeus, Apollo, Hercules were real to him. 23 00:02:50,470 --> 00:02:55,100 He even proclaimed that Zeus, the king of the gods, was his father. 24 00:03:00,046 --> 00:03:05,040 This is not the tale of an ordinary person who thought in ordinary ways. 25 00:03:17,664 --> 00:03:20,098 Like everyone who's been fascinated by his legend, 26 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:23,235 l suppose l set out hoping to discover the truth 27 00:03:23,436 --> 00:03:26,837 about the man who conquered much of the world before he was 30. 28 00:03:27,473 --> 00:03:31,102 After all, it's one of the most famous stories in all history. 29 00:03:58,838 --> 00:04:03,172 To this day, no one has traced the whole of Alexander's great journey on the ground. 30 00:04:03,676 --> 00:04:04,904 That was my plan. 31 00:04:25,531 --> 00:04:30,969 The key problem, though, on this journey would be untangling the facts from the legend. 32 00:04:40,647 --> 00:04:42,877 Alexander's tale has been told by the Greeks ever since, 33 00:04:43,116 --> 00:04:48,213 and the legends were right about one thing, that Alexander had extraordinary parents. 34 00:04:48,655 --> 00:04:53,786 His father, Philip, was a unique character. He created the Macedonian state in 20 years. 35 00:04:53,993 --> 00:04:57,793 He was a small man. ln his later years he had one eye and a gammy leg. 36 00:04:57,997 --> 00:05:02,024 He was an inveterate womaniser, had seven wives. He was a habitual drunkard. 37 00:05:02,368 --> 00:05:05,929 And yet he was a brilliant organizer and leader in war. 38 00:05:06,439 --> 00:05:11,035 Alexander's mother, Olympias, was only about 12 when Philip fell in love with her. 39 00:05:11,244 --> 00:05:17,205 She was beautiful and intelligent, but she was also manipulative, possessive, ruthless. 40 00:05:17,483 --> 00:05:23,080 She was addicted to weird religious cults, gave herself with wild abandon to ecstatic dancing. 41 00:05:23,289 --> 00:05:26,053 lt was even said that she slept with snakes. 42 00:05:37,637 --> 00:05:42,472 lt's not surprising that the young Alexander grew up with an unshakeable sense of destiny. 43 00:05:45,678 --> 00:05:48,203 There's a famous story about his childhood. 44 00:05:49,449 --> 00:05:52,577 One day, a horse was brought to his father. 45 00:05:54,087 --> 00:05:56,988 lt was called Bucephalus; Ox head. 46 00:05:57,190 --> 00:06:01,024 No one could tame it, but the ten-year-old boy bet his father he could, 47 00:06:01,327 --> 00:06:03,591 and quietly, calmly, he did. 48 00:06:04,063 --> 00:06:07,624 His father laughed. ''Find yourself another kingdom, my boy.'' 49 00:06:08,201 --> 00:06:10,328 ''Macedonia's not big enough for you.'' 50 00:06:20,380 --> 00:06:23,816 His father was right. Macedonia was a small place. 51 00:06:24,250 --> 00:06:28,584 So what was it that inspired Alexander to take on the might of Persia? 52 00:06:32,825 --> 00:06:35,760 Revenge. 150 years before, 53 00:06:35,962 --> 00:06:39,591 the Persians had marched across these plains to devastate Greece. 54 00:06:42,268 --> 00:06:45,635 Alexander grew up dreaming of a war of revenge. 55 00:06:47,807 --> 00:06:52,972 The scene was a hunting scene. We have several... 56 00:06:53,179 --> 00:06:55,306 Alexander's image has been identified 57 00:06:55,515 --> 00:06:58,780 on the remains of a banqueting couch from his father's tomb. 58 00:06:59,318 --> 00:07:01,718 Here, together, are father and son. 59 00:07:02,155 --> 00:07:04,555 - This is Alexander as a young man? - Yes. 60 00:07:04,857 --> 00:07:06,722 So this is before... 61 00:07:06,926 --> 00:07:12,057 This is Alexander about 19 or 20 years old. 62 00:07:12,265 --> 00:07:17,293 He is the young prince. He is the son of the king. 63 00:07:17,503 --> 00:07:21,803 But he's not the world ruler which we know. 64 00:07:22,008 --> 00:07:23,600 He's not Alexander the Great. 65 00:07:23,943 --> 00:07:29,882 Here is still Alexander the son of Philip ll, here on this portrait. 66 00:07:30,283 --> 00:07:33,411 - And Alexander would have seen this. - Yes. 67 00:07:33,619 --> 00:07:40,582 Because they have this bed on the palace, so he has seen this portrait. 68 00:07:40,793 --> 00:07:45,321 And it is the only original portrait of his lifetime. 69 00:07:45,531 --> 00:07:49,399 That is the important thing. All the others are copies. 70 00:07:49,602 --> 00:07:55,563 - So this is the real Alexander. - The real, young Alexander. 71 00:07:56,409 --> 00:07:58,775 lt's a sensitive face, you might think. 72 00:07:59,645 --> 00:08:04,605 Now look at this. Here he is aged around 30, the world ruler. 73 00:08:05,051 --> 00:08:08,919 And he looks to me like a troubled man, disillusioned, perhaps. 74 00:08:10,089 --> 00:08:11,556 So what happened to him? 75 00:08:17,029 --> 00:08:22,057 When Alexander was 19, his father was murdered here in the theatre at Verghina. 76 00:08:25,004 --> 00:08:28,440 Suddenly, unexpectedly, Alexander was king 77 00:08:28,641 --> 00:08:31,701 and head of an army which had already crushed southern Greece. 78 00:08:32,345 --> 00:08:38,181 ln spring 334 BC, he set out for Persia on his war of revenge. 79 00:08:51,664 --> 00:08:56,192 And we set off in his footsteps from the little station below Verghina, 80 00:08:56,602 --> 00:08:59,765 our aim to follow him as closely as we could. 81 00:09:09,315 --> 00:09:12,182 The journey would take us almost as far as China. 82 00:09:19,225 --> 00:09:21,819 For much of it, we had no idea what to expect. 83 00:09:22,361 --> 00:09:25,819 Nor, perhaps, did he, as he left Mount Olympus behind. 84 00:09:26,566 --> 00:09:28,534 He would never see his homeland again. 85 00:09:35,608 --> 00:09:40,545 ln May of that year, Alexander's army was ferried across the Dardanelles from Europe to Asia. 86 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,641 ln the transport ships, he had 35,000 troops. 87 00:09:56,629 --> 00:10:00,121 Meanwhile, Alexander himself sailed on downstream 88 00:10:00,433 --> 00:10:06,929 on a pilgrimage to a place sacred in all Greek hearts, and especially his; Troy. 89 00:10:07,506 --> 00:10:09,235 He was the first to go ashore. 90 00:10:20,786 --> 00:10:24,381 Alexander waded ashore in full ceremonial armour. 91 00:10:24,590 --> 00:10:26,956 Plumes on his helmet, shield. 92 00:10:27,159 --> 00:10:32,927 On his chest the gorgon's head whose image was supposed to turn onlookers into stone. 93 00:10:33,232 --> 00:10:37,566 And his first act was to throw his spear to the shore, 94 00:10:38,004 --> 00:10:42,532 claiming that Asia was his by right, won by the spear. 95 00:10:42,942 --> 00:10:44,375 What a photo opportunity. 96 00:10:47,380 --> 00:10:51,077 He walked up from the beach with his friend and lover, Hephaestion, 97 00:10:51,283 --> 00:10:55,652 to sacrifice at the graves of the Greek heroes killed in the Trojan War. 98 00:10:56,522 --> 00:11:01,221 And the two young men ran naked round the tomb of his ancestor Achilles. 99 00:11:05,364 --> 00:11:10,392 Below the hill of Troy, they saw where Achilles had dragged Hector's body behind his chariot. 100 00:11:17,910 --> 00:11:20,504 Then they visited the old town of Troy. 101 00:11:21,147 --> 00:11:25,140 Since he was a boy, Alexander had hero-worshipped the Greek warriors 102 00:11:25,351 --> 00:11:29,048 who'd fought and died on these walls a thousand years before. 103 00:11:29,588 --> 00:11:32,250 Their deeds here had won them eternal glory, 104 00:11:32,558 --> 00:11:37,393 and Alexander thirsted for that above all things, says the historian Arrian. 105 00:11:39,498 --> 00:11:44,026 On top of windy Troy, they went into the temple of the goddess Athena. 106 00:11:50,710 --> 00:11:53,838 lnside the temple Alexander was shown weapons 107 00:11:54,046 --> 00:11:56,742 said to have been used by the heroes in the Trojan War. 108 00:11:57,049 --> 00:12:01,884 He left his and took them with him, including a shield said to have been Achilles', 109 00:12:02,088 --> 00:12:04,318 which was taken with him all the way to lndia. 110 00:12:05,157 --> 00:12:10,561 Coming here and honouring, sacrificing for the heroes, giving blood to their ghosts, 111 00:12:10,896 --> 00:12:15,299 Alexander was trying to co-opt them, to have the heroes fighting for him 112 00:12:15,534 --> 00:12:17,399 in his war against Asia. 113 00:12:27,413 --> 00:12:31,076 The Persian Empire was the largest which had yet existed on earth. 114 00:12:31,317 --> 00:12:36,311 The Persians ruled from Ethiopia to the Black Sea, from the Aegean to lndia. 115 00:12:36,689 --> 00:12:39,783 Their king, Darius, was Lord of the World. 116 00:12:40,092 --> 00:12:42,458 This was what Alexander was taking on. 117 00:12:50,269 --> 00:12:54,729 Alexander soon defeated the Persians' local governor and opened up the coast. 118 00:12:55,207 --> 00:12:57,607 All the way down the western seaboard of Turkey, 119 00:12:57,810 --> 00:13:02,679 there were Greek cities under Persian rule, powerhouses of Greek civilisation. 120 00:13:03,048 --> 00:13:05,676 Alexander's tutor, Aristotle, had taught here. 121 00:13:06,418 --> 00:13:09,910 And in many of these cities, Alexander was seen as a liberator. 122 00:13:24,503 --> 00:13:27,631 We picked up his path south of the Maeander river. 123 00:13:33,212 --> 00:13:36,773 You head past the ruins of Miletus, which Alexander stormed. 124 00:13:39,885 --> 00:13:41,978 No one goes up to the old road any more. 125 00:13:50,996 --> 00:13:56,764 This path leads into the hills and meets up with the sacred way in about a quarter of a mile. 126 00:13:57,436 --> 00:14:01,429 From then on, you just walk all the way to Didyma on the old road. 127 00:14:07,246 --> 00:14:11,239 Alexander came along this path to the temple at Didyma. 128 00:14:15,487 --> 00:14:18,547 Just as he had enlisted the help of the heroes of Troy, 129 00:14:18,991 --> 00:14:24,258 he now sought the support of one of the most powerful of the Olympian gods, Apollo, 130 00:14:24,463 --> 00:14:29,526 whose oracle had once drawn pilgrims here from all over the Greek world. 131 00:14:42,948 --> 00:14:46,782 Belief in oracles like Didyma and their ability to tell the future 132 00:14:46,986 --> 00:14:49,216 was part of Alexander's religious faith. 133 00:14:50,222 --> 00:14:55,023 lt's easy to dismiss it today, as the villagers do, as ancient superstition. 134 00:14:56,262 --> 00:14:58,526 But even modern presidents use soothsayers. 135 00:14:58,931 --> 00:15:02,594 ..all this information to oracle, and when the man comes, 136 00:15:02,801 --> 00:15:07,295 oracle says, ''You're coming from Miletus and you got a problem in your stomach.'' 137 00:15:07,673 --> 00:15:10,972 - And he goes, ''That's absolutely amazing.'' - Yes. 138 00:15:11,644 --> 00:15:15,478 So you don't believe in fortune-telling, then? 139 00:15:18,918 --> 00:15:22,786 Alexander did. This was a war of revenge. 140 00:15:22,988 --> 00:15:26,424 ln his mind, the war would be fought on the level of the gods, too, 141 00:15:26,625 --> 00:15:30,117 gods whose shrines had been desecrated by the Persians. 142 00:15:32,131 --> 00:15:36,261 Back in the time of the great Persian war, the Persians had sacked Didyma. 143 00:15:36,468 --> 00:15:40,199 lts sacred spring had dried up, its prophecies ceased. 144 00:15:40,472 --> 00:15:43,999 But to Alexander, Apollo was still here. 145 00:15:51,183 --> 00:15:55,916 He went down into the shrine and, as the historian Callisthenes told the tale, 146 00:15:56,188 --> 00:15:59,385 as if by magic, the spring came back to life. 147 00:16:04,163 --> 00:16:09,226 However it happened, the oracle had found a voice after 150 years, 148 00:16:09,535 --> 00:16:13,699 and it said Alexander would triumph over the Persians. 149 00:16:20,546 --> 00:16:23,014 As the Macedonian army marched on south, 150 00:16:23,215 --> 00:16:27,811 the problem now for Alexander was that the Persians controlled the sea. 151 00:16:50,876 --> 00:16:54,334 Alexander now took a very daring and controversial decision 152 00:16:54,546 --> 00:16:56,741 which was contested by some of his high command. 153 00:16:57,082 --> 00:16:59,243 He disbanded his fleet. 154 00:16:59,785 --> 00:17:03,050 He had 160 ships, the Persians had about 400, 155 00:17:03,255 --> 00:17:05,723 so he couldn't engage them in open battle. 156 00:17:06,058 --> 00:17:11,553 They cost him a fortune, provided by his Greek allies, so he decided to have done with them. 157 00:17:11,797 --> 00:17:16,598 The war, he thought, could be won on land by denying the Persians their naval bases. 158 00:17:16,835 --> 00:17:20,100 So he turned his attention to their main base on this coast: 159 00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:24,605 Bodrum, the ancient town of Halicarnassus. 160 00:17:28,547 --> 00:17:31,846 The Persian stronghold was on the site of Bodrum Castle. 161 00:17:32,151 --> 00:17:34,984 They were led by a mercenary, Memnon of Rhodes, 162 00:17:35,187 --> 00:17:37,280 one of many Greeks who hated Alexander. 163 00:17:37,489 --> 00:17:39,457 He prepared for a long siege. 164 00:17:41,827 --> 00:17:48,391 From where Alexander stood, the city rose from the sea in a great curve, like an amphitheatre. 165 00:17:55,607 --> 00:17:57,666 lt was surrounded by strong walls. 166 00:17:57,976 --> 00:18:00,274 Alexander had all the latest technology - 167 00:18:00,479 --> 00:18:04,813 mobile towers, catapults, rams - but he couldn't break through. 168 00:18:13,459 --> 00:18:16,155 Then one night a bizarre incident happened, 169 00:18:16,528 --> 00:18:20,692 which l tried to imagine in the crowded streets of today's holiday town. 170 00:18:22,234 --> 00:18:25,032 Like all armies, the Macedonians used alcohol. 171 00:18:25,237 --> 00:18:29,196 They drank before battle to give them courage, and drank after to celebrate. 172 00:18:29,541 --> 00:18:33,978 They just drank. Most of them were young men with all that energy to burn off. 173 00:18:34,213 --> 00:18:39,082 On this night, one of the phalanx brigades, the infantry, camped outside the walls. 174 00:18:39,351 --> 00:18:43,219 They were getting drunk and boasting about each other's deeds. 175 00:18:43,422 --> 00:18:44,787 Then it came to a dare. 176 00:18:45,057 --> 00:18:48,652 Two of them put on their weapons, marched out 177 00:18:48,961 --> 00:18:52,453 and decided to attack the walls of the citadel of Halicarnassus. 178 00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:59,096 ln the confusion, both sides threw in more troops and both took heavy losses. 179 00:19:03,609 --> 00:19:08,012 Next day, humiliatingly, Alexander had to ask for the return of his dead. 180 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:12,114 But on the Persian side, the Greek mercenaries were now seriously worried. 181 00:19:17,789 --> 00:19:23,728 Meanwhile, back in Memnon's war council, the mercenary commanders were getting nervous. 182 00:19:24,029 --> 00:19:25,997 Things weren't going according to plan. 183 00:19:26,331 --> 00:19:28,856 The Athenian mercenary general, Ephialtes, 184 00:19:29,067 --> 00:19:31,831 who was on Alexander's wanted list so probably hated him, 185 00:19:32,204 --> 00:19:35,002 didn't think they should even let him have his dead back. 186 00:19:35,541 --> 00:19:36,838 You can picture the scene. 187 00:19:38,010 --> 00:19:42,572 ''Why should we give the little monster an inch, this tyrant of Greece?'' 188 00:19:43,849 --> 00:19:47,046 Memnon, however, still wanted to play things coolly. 189 00:19:47,452 --> 00:19:49,079 ''Let him have his dead back.'' 190 00:19:49,621 --> 00:19:54,718 Ephialtes then spoke up again. The situation, he said, was now serious. 191 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:58,418 Two stretches of curtain wall and two towers had been broken down 192 00:19:58,630 --> 00:20:00,564 by their battering rams on the eastern side. 193 00:20:00,933 --> 00:20:06,030 ''We've put a brick defence behind, but they'll break through that as well. 194 00:20:06,305 --> 00:20:08,671 ''We have to seize the initiative now. 195 00:20:09,341 --> 00:20:12,469 ''We can't just sit here and let them take us captive.'' 196 00:20:14,580 --> 00:20:18,539 They came up with a plan. Ephialtes would lead a daring dawn raid, 197 00:20:18,750 --> 00:20:24,552 with 2,000 commandos, to burn Alexander's mobile towers and their battering rams. 198 00:20:30,195 --> 00:20:34,894 The first group of 1,000 commandos rushed out of the walls bearing flaming torches, 199 00:20:35,100 --> 00:20:37,864 carrying buckets of pitch, anything that would burn. 200 00:20:38,103 --> 00:20:40,469 Theirjob was to set fire to the siege engines. 201 00:20:40,706 --> 00:20:44,540 The Macedonians counter-attacked. Memnon then brought his reserve in. 202 00:20:44,743 --> 00:20:48,679 For a moment, it looked as if the Macedonians might even lose this battle. 203 00:20:49,014 --> 00:20:53,508 Just then, Macedonian reserves, who were the veterans, 204 00:20:53,719 --> 00:20:58,281 old men who'd fought under Alexander's father, brought themselves into the action. 205 00:20:58,490 --> 00:21:03,587 Show the young men how to do it. lt was they who pushed the attackers back inside the city. 206 00:21:03,929 --> 00:21:06,363 Memnon's last throw had been lost. 207 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:10,891 The Persians knew now that Alexander had won. 208 00:21:13,405 --> 00:21:18,172 That night, Memnon evacuated his forces by sea to the island of Kos. 209 00:21:32,257 --> 00:21:36,853 Alexander paused now and let the newly-weds in the army go home for the winter. 210 00:21:37,062 --> 00:21:39,895 Nothing made him more popular than that, says Arrian. 211 00:21:43,669 --> 00:21:47,969 But as he rested with his veterans, here, in the ancient city of Milas, 212 00:21:48,173 --> 00:21:52,974 he must have reflected he'd still not touched the heart of the Persian Empire. 213 00:22:04,222 --> 00:22:08,386 That winter, Alexander campaigned through the mountains of south-west Turkey. 214 00:22:12,664 --> 00:22:15,531 And one story from that time became famous. 215 00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:20,470 The main army had cut inland from the coast. 216 00:22:20,672 --> 00:22:24,836 Alexander took a short cut with a smaller force along the seashore. 217 00:22:29,748 --> 00:22:34,276 He came along the beach here until he reached this row of rocky headlands. 218 00:22:43,228 --> 00:22:46,391 The sea was running high, but he wouldn't turn back. 219 00:22:46,698 --> 00:22:48,393 lt was nearly a disaster. 220 00:22:56,041 --> 00:22:58,737 He ordered his men to march on through the water. 221 00:22:59,311 --> 00:23:02,371 There were probably a few thousand of them with backpacks. 222 00:23:02,714 --> 00:23:07,708 Like most of them, Alexander was a lot shorter than me, and he couldn't swim. 223 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:23,565 The Greek geographer Strabo said 224 00:23:23,769 --> 00:23:29,298 that the Macedonian army spent most of the day walking through the water chest-deep. 225 00:23:31,176 --> 00:23:32,200 This must be the place. 226 00:23:36,715 --> 00:23:41,311 Finally, the wind changed and the shivering troops were able to get out of the water. 227 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,720 The expedition historian, Callisthenes, 228 00:23:44,923 --> 00:23:47,619 claimed the sea had bowed to Alexander. 229 00:23:53,565 --> 00:23:56,159 l learned three things about Alexander that day. 230 00:23:56,701 --> 00:23:59,226 That he didn't always think things out ahead, 231 00:23:59,871 --> 00:24:01,736 that he was an obstinate man, 232 00:24:02,140 --> 00:24:06,270 and also, and most important of all, he was lucky. 233 00:24:15,620 --> 00:24:19,784 That beach walk was the first hint that going precisely in his footsteps 234 00:24:19,991 --> 00:24:22,858 might reveal more than just where he'd been. 235 00:24:31,870 --> 00:24:37,274 But it's hard to pin down people in history, because, like us, they're always on the move, 236 00:24:37,476 --> 00:24:41,378 as we constantly reinvent them to suit our own times. 237 00:25:06,404 --> 00:25:09,237 We followed him north into the plains of Central Turkey 238 00:25:09,441 --> 00:25:12,774 and entered an older world more akin to the one he knew. 239 00:25:18,483 --> 00:25:22,681 At a village where we stopped, the people pointed out an old caravan route. 240 00:25:22,954 --> 00:25:27,823 Here, their forefathers said, the great lskander, Alexander, had come. 241 00:25:28,093 --> 00:25:31,585 This is the old Baghdad road? Fantastic! 242 00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:47,569 So the road is called the Road of lskander, then? This is Alexander's Road? 243 00:26:11,269 --> 00:26:14,705 Right in the middle of Turkey stands the ancient town of Gordion. 244 00:26:20,545 --> 00:26:23,446 Alexander came here to meet reinforcements from Greece, 245 00:26:23,682 --> 00:26:26,617 but he was also drawn by a strange legend. 246 00:26:33,525 --> 00:26:36,585 The Americans have been excavating here for nearly 50 years, 247 00:26:36,795 --> 00:26:41,095 in the place for ever associated with the tale of the Gordian knot. 248 00:26:50,008 --> 00:26:53,967 ln the dig hut, we celebrated Alexander's birthday, the 20th of July. 249 00:26:57,916 --> 00:27:02,546 As guest of honour, l was awarded the Gordian hat, decorated with knot and sword. 250 00:27:04,089 --> 00:27:07,024 The legend said there was an old cart in the temple 251 00:27:07,225 --> 00:27:10,251 whose shaft was tied with a most intricate knot. 252 00:27:10,629 --> 00:27:14,588 Whoever undid it, so the story went, would become Lord of Asia. 253 00:27:15,066 --> 00:27:20,732 Arrian says that when they got here, Alexander conceived of a ''pothos'', 254 00:27:20,939 --> 00:27:25,103 a desire to go up to the Acropolis to see this extraordinary cart. 255 00:27:25,343 --> 00:27:28,744 When he got up there, presumably he goes through the gates, 256 00:27:28,947 --> 00:27:32,747 and then there's a temple that the Greeks say was to Zeus, 257 00:27:33,051 --> 00:27:37,283 and nearby this ancient cart had been preserved. 258 00:27:37,489 --> 00:27:40,151 ls there anything archaeologically that suggests... 259 00:27:40,358 --> 00:27:43,156 - Nothing like that. - Just a little bit? 260 00:27:43,361 --> 00:27:46,694 l'm so sorry. l'm so sorry. 261 00:27:48,566 --> 00:27:49,430 We would like it. 262 00:27:49,634 --> 00:27:55,504 With hindsight, quite a significant moment in his career, coming here. 263 00:27:55,707 --> 00:27:59,768 That's what's interesting. The story that he came to this place, 264 00:27:59,978 --> 00:28:02,242 which was not such a big place any more. 265 00:28:02,447 --> 00:28:06,941 lt wasn't a capital any more. But he still came here to make a symbolic gesture. 266 00:28:09,688 --> 00:28:12,555 lt was just a cheap farm cart, the Greeks said, 267 00:28:12,824 --> 00:28:15,122 like the ones you still see in Turkey today. 268 00:28:16,094 --> 00:28:20,861 Alexander took a long, hard look at this impossible knot. 269 00:28:22,534 --> 00:28:27,597 He couldn't for the life of him see how he could undo it. 270 00:28:29,407 --> 00:28:34,037 lt was probably rather like the kind of knots we call Turk's-head knots, 271 00:28:34,245 --> 00:28:40,081 a big knot with all the ends tucked up inside so you just can't see where to begin. 272 00:28:41,553 --> 00:28:43,316 By now there was quite a crowd, 273 00:28:43,521 --> 00:28:48,686 local people always interested to see someone make a fool of himself trying to solve the riddle. 274 00:28:48,927 --> 00:28:51,987 And the Macedonian officers, who were worried now. 275 00:28:52,197 --> 00:28:56,657 They wished Alexander had not attempted this. What happens if he fails? 276 00:28:56,935 --> 00:28:59,267 This would be a really bad omen. 277 00:28:59,637 --> 00:29:01,605 What happened next we don't know for sure. 278 00:29:01,806 --> 00:29:10,578 Some say that Alexander pulled out the pin that held the shaft and the yoke together, 279 00:29:10,782 --> 00:29:13,376 loosened the knot so he could pull the yoke out. 280 00:29:14,886 --> 00:29:18,117 According to others, though, Alexander pulled out his sword, 281 00:29:18,389 --> 00:29:21,415 said, ''lt doesn't matter how the knot is undone,'' 282 00:29:21,626 --> 00:29:26,256 and he slashed the knot open to reveal the hidden ends inside. 283 00:29:27,532 --> 00:29:29,796 A very Alexander way of doing things. 284 00:29:33,671 --> 00:29:38,631 That night, thunder and lightning crashed over Gordion. The gods were with him. 285 00:29:42,380 --> 00:29:46,840 ln that moment is the beginning of the myth of Alexander the Great. 286 00:29:57,362 --> 00:30:00,559 But, for us, how to sort out fact from fiction? 287 00:30:01,232 --> 00:30:04,724 The problem grows more acute from this point in the story. 288 00:30:05,637 --> 00:30:08,800 Look at the two historians who are our guides on this journey. 289 00:30:09,007 --> 00:30:11,305 The first l've already mentioned; Arrian. 290 00:30:12,443 --> 00:30:15,844 He was a Greek. He wrote about 400 years after Alexander. 291 00:30:16,047 --> 00:30:19,039 He was a former military man, provincial governor, 292 00:30:19,250 --> 00:30:21,480 well-known author, a decent chap. 293 00:30:21,686 --> 00:30:23,813 You could imagine him being a special columnist 294 00:30:24,022 --> 00:30:26,684 for the ''Daily Telegraph'' or the ''Washington Post'' today. 295 00:30:26,891 --> 00:30:29,985 Basically, he thinks Alexander is a noble spirit 296 00:30:30,461 --> 00:30:33,658 and unsurpassed as a leader in human history. 297 00:30:34,199 --> 00:30:36,531 There's another tradition, though. 298 00:30:37,402 --> 00:30:43,170 And that is represented by Curtius. Curtius was a Roman. 299 00:30:43,374 --> 00:30:45,865 He wrote about 300 years after Alexander. 300 00:30:46,077 --> 00:30:48,443 And he had a great eye for a story. 301 00:30:49,013 --> 00:30:52,039 He was interested in the scandals, the murders, 302 00:30:52,550 --> 00:30:54,984 the war crimes, the purges and plots. 303 00:30:56,287 --> 00:31:01,520 Curtius knew that men are motivated by lust for power and sex. 304 00:31:01,826 --> 00:31:04,761 He knew that cruelty was inherent in human nature. 305 00:31:05,463 --> 00:31:12,062 And he also knew that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. 306 00:31:14,606 --> 00:31:17,200 And there you have it; the sources disagree, 307 00:31:17,475 --> 00:31:20,672 and they give us two radically different Alexanders. 308 00:31:21,546 --> 00:31:23,810 Both, perhaps, could be true. 309 00:31:51,843 --> 00:31:53,902 The prince among men and the tyrant. 310 00:31:54,112 --> 00:31:59,049 Across Asia, that's still the folk-story version of Alexander, like Jekyll and Hyde. 311 00:32:05,223 --> 00:32:07,555 Here they still call him the ''two-horned one'' 312 00:32:08,226 --> 00:32:11,059 because legend says he really had two horns. 313 00:32:17,335 --> 00:32:19,166 When his barbers found out, he killed them. 314 00:32:24,709 --> 00:32:28,304 The last barber kept the secret until he could bear it no longer. 315 00:32:29,647 --> 00:32:31,012 He shouted it down a well. 316 00:32:32,784 --> 00:32:35,548 ''Alexander's got horns He's the devil'' 317 00:32:43,695 --> 00:32:46,493 But at the bottom of the well were reeds used in flutes, 318 00:32:48,833 --> 00:32:51,324 and they sent the secret round the whole world. 319 00:32:55,139 --> 00:32:56,037 Fantastic! 320 00:33:01,279 --> 00:33:04,976 Now the king of kings, Darius himself, enters the story. 321 00:33:05,616 --> 00:33:09,211 Descended from the line of Persian rulers going back to Cyrus the Great, 322 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:10,885 a Persian hero. 323 00:33:15,426 --> 00:33:18,623 As the Macedonians marched from Ankara to the Mediterranean, 324 00:33:18,863 --> 00:33:22,856 Darius left Babylon with an army twice the size of Alexander's. 325 00:33:23,201 --> 00:33:26,728 He circled round Alexander's back and cut off his line of retreat. 326 00:33:27,071 --> 00:33:29,801 He would crush the upstart once and for all. 327 00:33:36,147 --> 00:33:38,911 The kings met at the little town of lssus. 328 00:33:44,622 --> 00:33:47,716 lssus today doesn't look much like a place of destiny. 329 00:33:51,462 --> 00:33:54,898 But one of the decisive battles of history took place here. 330 00:33:59,137 --> 00:34:03,403 Darius lined up along the banks of the river Payaz between the mountains and the sea. 331 00:34:05,576 --> 00:34:09,603 ln his centre, along a line of crags, he had 20,000 Greek mercenaries. 332 00:34:09,914 --> 00:34:12,849 These were to repel Alexander's phalanx troops. 333 00:34:14,919 --> 00:34:18,912 By the sea, he'd massed cavalry forces to overwhelm Alexander's left wing. 334 00:34:19,690 --> 00:34:25,151 But on his left, by the mountains, Darius had placed untrained infantry, protected by archers, 335 00:34:25,363 --> 00:34:28,264 a sure sign he feared they couldn't cope on their own. 336 00:34:29,367 --> 00:34:33,895 He saw the Persian plan. lt was not flawed so much as obvious. 337 00:34:34,105 --> 00:34:37,563 He knew this was the weak point because of the terrain and the archers. 338 00:34:37,775 --> 00:34:41,643 As soon as he had seen those archers, he knew this was where to attack. 339 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,215 The autumn light was failing fast. The wise heads said, 340 00:34:45,416 --> 00:34:46,405 ''Wait till tomorrow.'' 341 00:34:46,617 --> 00:34:48,050 But Alexander would not. 342 00:34:50,588 --> 00:34:54,149 You can imagine standing here as Alexander rides along his lines 343 00:34:54,358 --> 00:34:56,849 and, we're told in the sources, encourages the troops. 344 00:34:57,061 --> 00:34:59,529 He appeals to the Macedonians and the cry goes up. 345 00:34:59,730 --> 00:35:04,360 He's singling out men for their bravery. The regiments are shouting. 346 00:35:04,569 --> 00:35:07,231 He goes along the Greek allied contingents, and says 347 00:35:07,438 --> 00:35:09,702 ''We're defeating the great king of Persia. 348 00:35:09,907 --> 00:35:13,434 ''We're going to avenge Persian humiliations of Greece.'' 349 00:35:13,644 --> 00:35:16,738 He goes to his Thracian and Balkan allies and says, 350 00:35:16,948 --> 00:35:20,179 ''Enemy, kill, booty.'' They understand that. 351 00:35:20,384 --> 00:35:23,785 These guys are in here for the more fun aspects after the battle. 352 00:35:23,988 --> 00:35:29,153 And all of the army is really worked up to a fever pitch. 353 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,488 The Persians are so nervous. They're waiting for the charge. 354 00:35:32,697 --> 00:35:36,064 Then Alexander gives, ''Charge!'' Down they come. 355 00:35:36,367 --> 00:35:39,495 These troops, ''Oh, my God. They're after me personally.'' 356 00:35:39,704 --> 00:35:45,506 They let loose a volley which we're told is so bad that the arrows hit each other. lt's ineffective. 357 00:35:45,710 --> 00:35:50,010 They turn around, run into the infantry. They try to muscle themselves. 358 00:35:50,414 --> 00:35:52,245 This throws the infantry into a panic. 359 00:35:52,450 --> 00:35:56,079 Alexander's cavalry is coming into the river, is on top of them. 360 00:35:56,287 --> 00:35:59,518 The entire Persian left flank dissolves in a panic. 361 00:35:59,724 --> 00:36:03,455 - The battle's lost in the first few minutes. - ln the first minute. 362 00:36:05,263 --> 00:36:08,460 Alexander had smashed right through to Darius's chariot. 363 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:11,359 Darius had to flee for his life. 364 00:36:12,069 --> 00:36:15,664 This is the moment, preserved on a great mosaic from Pompeii. 365 00:36:20,244 --> 00:36:23,543 Alexander storms into the history books like a hurricane, 366 00:36:24,215 --> 00:36:26,740 wild-haired and wide-eyed. 367 00:36:30,321 --> 00:36:36,885 Darius, the noble king of the world, stares in disbelief, shaken by pity and fear. 368 00:36:38,663 --> 00:36:40,130 The world had changed. 369 00:36:45,670 --> 00:36:48,138 Team Charlie, radio check. Over. 370 00:36:48,606 --> 00:36:52,303 We followed him on south down the Lebanese coast, with the help of the UN. 371 00:37:00,818 --> 00:37:05,187 Most cities here surrendered without a fight, but Tyre refused him. 372 00:37:10,595 --> 00:37:13,723 The city stood on an island half a mile offshore. 373 00:37:14,999 --> 00:37:16,830 lnfuriated by its resistance, 374 00:37:17,034 --> 00:37:20,868 Alexander decided to build a causeway out to it across the waves. 375 00:37:23,107 --> 00:37:27,407 What you can see now, the peninsula covered with all the high-rise buildings, 376 00:37:27,712 --> 00:37:33,651 has actually been caused by the silting up of the siege causeway which Alexander built 377 00:37:33,884 --> 00:37:38,014 and which literally joined the island to the land for ever. 378 00:37:40,291 --> 00:37:45,319 lt took Alexander seven months to build the causeway, 800 yards long and 70 wide. 379 00:37:47,898 --> 00:37:51,026 lt was a new and sobering insight into his character. 380 00:37:51,269 --> 00:37:56,468 Nothing would be allowed to stand in his way. No one would be given mercy if they defied him. 381 00:37:58,743 --> 00:38:03,305 23,000 people were trapped down there, more than half of them women and children. 382 00:38:15,726 --> 00:38:20,356 After the walls were breached, the people crowded into the temple of Hercules, 383 00:38:20,665 --> 00:38:23,099 where the Christian church stands today. 384 00:38:23,434 --> 00:38:25,265 There they prayed for deliverance. 385 00:38:29,273 --> 00:38:32,765 13,000 women and children were captured and sold into slavery. 386 00:38:33,444 --> 00:38:36,311 They had resisted. Those were the rules of war. 387 00:38:55,099 --> 00:38:57,897 As for the men, Arrian says the leaders were spared. 388 00:38:58,302 --> 00:39:03,069 But according to Curtius, all 2,000 survivors were crucified along this shore. 389 00:39:05,843 --> 00:39:10,143 Who's right? lt depends on which Alexander you believe in. 390 00:39:26,130 --> 00:39:30,032 l had to produce my copy of Arrian to persuade the lsraeli border authorities 391 00:39:30,234 --> 00:39:33,067 we were coming through to cover a 2,000-year-old war. 392 00:39:35,973 --> 00:39:37,941 l know this is an unbelievable story. 393 00:39:38,142 --> 00:39:40,372 They don't believe there's no politics. 394 00:39:41,345 --> 00:39:43,313 There's always politics in lsrael. 395 00:39:49,286 --> 00:39:50,810 So we entered Palestine. 396 00:39:53,491 --> 00:39:55,322 - Take care. - Bye-bye. 397 00:40:01,699 --> 00:40:06,295 We drove south along the ancient highway used by armies throughout history, 398 00:40:06,570 --> 00:40:07,935 heading for Gaza. 399 00:40:19,183 --> 00:40:23,085 Gaza, too, was destroyed by Alexander because its people resisted. 400 00:40:23,454 --> 00:40:25,115 They've been resisting ever since. 401 00:40:31,228 --> 00:40:35,665 Gaza has had a lot of great conquerors coming through in its time, hasn't it? 402 00:40:35,866 --> 00:40:39,563 All of them, since the beginning of history. Many of them... 403 00:40:39,770 --> 00:40:46,505 l met some leading Palestinian historians and we reflected on their long and violent history. 404 00:40:46,710 --> 00:40:51,579 Greeks, Romans, the Byzantine emperors, then the caliphs. 405 00:40:51,782 --> 00:40:57,743 This is the land of battles, as we say, between the most great emperors in the world, 406 00:40:58,422 --> 00:41:02,256 from 3,000 BC until now. 407 00:41:04,795 --> 00:41:09,596 Then one of the guests pulled out his copy of the Muslim holy book, the Koran. 408 00:41:19,076 --> 00:41:22,239 - This is the two horns? - The two horns. 409 00:41:22,446 --> 00:41:27,247 And there again was two-horned Alexander, Zul-qarnain, 410 00:41:27,485 --> 00:41:31,182 in one of the Archangel Gabriel's revelations to the prophet Muhammad. 411 00:41:31,388 --> 00:41:37,224 ''They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain, say l'll tell you something of his story. 412 00:41:37,428 --> 00:41:43,025 ''We established his power on earth and we gave him the ways and the means to all ends.'' 413 00:41:43,234 --> 00:41:49,036 So Allah, God, made him the most powerful ruler on earth - with power. 414 00:42:08,459 --> 00:42:12,759 And so, in December 332 BC, Alexander entered Egypt. 415 00:42:13,264 --> 00:42:17,530 The most ancient and glamorous civilisation fell without a fight. 416 00:42:17,935 --> 00:42:21,393 The Persians were hated because they didn't respect the Egyptian gods, 417 00:42:21,772 --> 00:42:24,036 and Alexander was welcomed as a liberator. 418 00:42:41,926 --> 00:42:46,158 For 3,000 years, Egypt had been an inward-looking civilisation. 419 00:42:46,630 --> 00:42:49,895 Now Alexander opened it up to a wider world. 420 00:42:57,841 --> 00:43:03,177 On the west of the Nile delta, he himself marked out the site for a great new harbour. 421 00:43:03,981 --> 00:43:07,178 lt was called, after him, Alexandria. 422 00:43:07,484 --> 00:43:10,248 Ever since, it's been Egypt's greatest port, 423 00:43:10,955 --> 00:43:14,447 and to Greeks everywhere, the capital of memory. 424 00:43:21,665 --> 00:43:25,601 Alexandria was the greatest emporium, 425 00:43:25,803 --> 00:43:27,930 the marketplace...of the world. 426 00:43:28,238 --> 00:43:32,140 The wealth that accumulated was made very good use of. 427 00:43:32,509 --> 00:43:35,945 First, building a magnificent city, 428 00:43:36,647 --> 00:43:40,583 with wonderful street structure... 429 00:43:41,819 --> 00:43:44,617 ..drainage system, water supply. 430 00:43:45,122 --> 00:43:47,420 Great temples, palaces. 431 00:43:47,725 --> 00:43:50,523 Palaces upon palaces, as Homer said. 432 00:43:51,095 --> 00:43:55,259 And, above all, a centre of world culture 433 00:43:55,699 --> 00:43:57,963 to compete with Athens itself. 434 00:43:58,969 --> 00:44:05,374 With enormous amount of wealth and money, they invited the best minds in the world 435 00:44:05,576 --> 00:44:07,510 to come and settle in Alexandria. 436 00:44:08,145 --> 00:44:13,014 ln the third century BC, within one century after its foundation, 437 00:44:13,817 --> 00:44:21,155 Alexandria could claim the great names of Euclid, the great mathematician, 438 00:44:21,358 --> 00:44:24,850 Eratosthenes, the great astronomer, 439 00:44:25,062 --> 00:44:29,055 Herophilus, the founder of anatomy, Archimedes... 440 00:44:29,767 --> 00:44:31,132 And the greatest library in the world. 441 00:44:31,335 --> 00:44:37,240 The greatest library. A universal library, in the proper sense, for the first time. 442 00:44:37,441 --> 00:44:42,743 A prototype of the British Museum or the Bibliothoque Nationale. 443 00:44:43,213 --> 00:44:45,545 This was in the mind of Alexander the Great, 444 00:44:46,183 --> 00:44:52,019 and this is his great, perhaps, contribution to world history. 445 00:44:54,458 --> 00:44:56,926 The city is still a cosmopolitan place today. 446 00:44:57,194 --> 00:44:59,526 lt's one of Alexander's great legacies. 447 00:44:59,863 --> 00:45:01,922 the first of nearly 30 Alexandrias 448 00:45:02,132 --> 00:45:04,498 he founded between Africa and lndia. 449 00:45:10,007 --> 00:45:14,603 And only now are archaeologists finding material evidence of the vision behind it. 450 00:45:15,546 --> 00:45:19,380 lt shows a side of the king's character we hadn't seen so far, 451 00:45:19,783 --> 00:45:22,775 not just the warrior, but a far-sighted thinker, 452 00:45:24,154 --> 00:45:27,817 faithful to his tutor Aristotle's vision of Greek civilisation 453 00:45:28,225 --> 00:45:29,988 and its power to change the world. 454 00:45:45,476 --> 00:45:46,636 That's great! Thanks! 455 00:45:51,548 --> 00:45:55,848 Under the streets of Alexandria, archaeologists have discovered canals 456 00:45:56,053 --> 00:45:58,954 designed to bring the city's water supply in from the Nile. 457 00:46:01,992 --> 00:46:05,155 Was all this Alexander's vision too, l wondered. 458 00:46:15,572 --> 00:46:19,872 Deeper still under the city you can find another legacy in the catacombs, 459 00:46:20,110 --> 00:46:24,547 in their exuberant mingling of Egyptian and Greek and Eastern cultures. 460 00:46:25,549 --> 00:46:29,883 Could Alexander have foreseen all this in his wildest dreams? 461 00:46:50,607 --> 00:46:54,236 A day or two later we woke to a cool dawn in the Western Desert, 462 00:46:54,611 --> 00:46:58,206 back on his track and our first major expedition. 463 00:47:07,591 --> 00:47:11,425 ln the winter of 332 BC Alexander surprised everyone. 464 00:47:11,628 --> 00:47:15,029 lnstead of turning towards Persia, he left his army by the Nile 465 00:47:15,232 --> 00:47:18,531 and headed off with his close companions towards Libya. 466 00:47:27,711 --> 00:47:32,705 His goal was the distant oasis of Siwa and the famous oracle of Ammon. 467 00:47:33,417 --> 00:47:36,113 He was still seeking signs from the gods. 468 00:47:43,126 --> 00:47:48,792 From the Nile valley, it's 700km to Siwa, and the last stage goes straight into the desert, 469 00:47:49,032 --> 00:47:51,523 for Alexander eight or nine days'journey. 470 00:47:58,575 --> 00:48:03,103 He came through the little oasis of Gara, and we camped close by. 471 00:48:13,724 --> 00:48:15,453 This is the way to make good salad. 472 00:48:16,059 --> 00:48:17,788 This is Alexander Christus. 473 00:48:17,995 --> 00:48:20,964 This is ''salade au Alexandre''. 474 00:48:21,231 --> 00:48:25,827 - Blood in everything. - Sweet blood. 475 00:48:35,078 --> 00:48:40,038 Now, you see, l think it must have been a bit like this for Alexander and the boys. 476 00:48:40,684 --> 00:48:45,621 These are young, young bloods. They're only men in their early 20s. 477 00:48:45,822 --> 00:48:48,347 They've been on a campaign for two or three years 478 00:48:48,558 --> 00:48:50,526 and now they've got a few weeks off in Egypt 479 00:48:50,727 --> 00:48:54,288 and they're camping out, lighting fires underneath the stars, 480 00:48:55,399 --> 00:48:58,300 drinking a bit of date wine, having a bit of fun. 481 00:48:58,735 --> 00:49:06,301 l think the journey to Siwa must have been an exciting experience for them. 482 00:49:25,595 --> 00:49:29,087 This part of the journey, the Greeks talk about a landscape without any features. 483 00:49:29,299 --> 00:49:35,761 ''Not a single tree or mountain by which we could get our bearings, just a great ocean of sand.'' 484 00:49:39,910 --> 00:49:44,438 lt was, says the historian Curtius, as if they'd entered a vast sea, 485 00:49:44,715 --> 00:49:47,843 and their eyes looked around in vain for a sight of land. 486 00:49:57,194 --> 00:50:00,686 Two curious things happened on the way which the chronicler, 487 00:50:00,897 --> 00:50:03,092 Callisthenes, made out to be omens. 488 00:50:04,634 --> 00:50:07,797 They ran out of water and were saved by a sudden shower. 489 00:50:10,173 --> 00:50:14,405 They lost their way, but birds appeared and led them back to the track. 490 00:50:27,958 --> 00:50:29,755 Finally, they entered Siwa. 491 00:50:30,761 --> 00:50:34,060 Even today, it's another world from the Egypt of the Nile valley, 492 00:50:35,032 --> 00:50:37,193 a strange and magical place. 493 00:51:10,434 --> 00:51:16,270 Siwa stands in the middle of the desert, but it's wonderfully fertile, miraculously so. 494 00:51:16,706 --> 00:51:20,870 Not surprising, then, that for so long people came here expecting miracles. 495 00:51:22,546 --> 00:51:26,744 For here on the sacred hill, the god Ammon, Zeus to the Greeks, 496 00:51:26,950 --> 00:51:29,646 was believed to speak directly to mankind. 497 00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:40,158 Alexander and his friends approached on the sacred way. 498 00:51:40,730 --> 00:51:45,360 They refreshed themselves in a pool known as the Spring of the Sun. lt's still here. 499 00:52:02,185 --> 00:52:07,213 He set foot on the sacred path with Hephaestion and his closest companions, 500 00:52:07,557 --> 00:52:10,321 their clothes still dust-streaked from the desert. 501 00:52:11,294 --> 00:52:13,660 And what did he want to hear from the oracle? 502 00:52:15,198 --> 00:52:20,067 Arrian says his burning desire was not to ask about his future fate 503 00:52:20,804 --> 00:52:24,001 but to find out who his father really was. 504 00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:32,173 The oracle's shrine stands on top of the hill. 505 00:52:32,816 --> 00:52:37,116 lt's perhaps the only place on earth where you can trace his footsteps right up to the door. 506 00:52:41,291 --> 00:52:44,419 He stood on this spot and looked in at the gilded barge 507 00:52:44,628 --> 00:52:49,292 and the strange gold statue of the god Ammon, whose eyes met his. 508 00:52:52,903 --> 00:52:55,633 Alexander stepped forward and asked his questions. 509 00:52:56,640 --> 00:53:00,201 The answer was delivered by the priests, written on papyrus, 510 00:53:00,410 --> 00:53:04,870 literally a letter from heaven. As they gave it to him, 511 00:53:05,081 --> 00:53:08,482 they greeted him in Greek as the Son of God. 512 00:53:09,519 --> 00:53:11,487 That was all he needed to hear. 513 00:53:24,267 --> 00:53:28,670 l imagine Alexander and Hephaestion and their friends celebrated that night. 514 00:53:29,272 --> 00:53:31,934 Like all Macedonians, they loved a good party. 515 00:53:33,243 --> 00:53:38,977 But was it all just a piece of cynical manipulation to legitimise him in Egyptian eyes? 516 00:53:39,583 --> 00:53:41,744 To this day, no one knows. 517 00:53:46,423 --> 00:53:49,586 He may not have believed he was literally the Son of God, 518 00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:53,361 but this was a man obsessed with his own myth, 519 00:53:53,630 --> 00:53:55,291 creating it as he went along. 520 00:53:56,366 --> 00:54:00,996 And what happened here surely must have appealed to his sense of destiny. 521 00:54:31,368 --> 00:54:33,859 Alexander now hurried back to rejoin the army. 522 00:54:34,104 --> 00:54:38,734 The Siwa episode tells us that Alexander always journeyed with one eye on the here 523 00:54:38,942 --> 00:54:41,775 and now and the other on eternity. 524 00:54:42,245 --> 00:54:45,237 He was an opportunist and a visionary rolled into one, 525 00:54:45,715 --> 00:54:49,344 which made him very unpredictable and dangerous. 526 00:54:55,358 --> 00:54:57,849 l think he took the direct route east to the Nile, 527 00:54:58,061 --> 00:54:59,995 an epic journey in its own right. 528 00:55:02,165 --> 00:55:08,297 ln one lonely oasis on this route we found the first evidence of Alexander as God King. 529 00:55:11,274 --> 00:55:13,868 As far as you can see, because it's mostly damaged - 530 00:55:14,878 --> 00:55:19,076 you'll see the inscription here is badly eroded - 531 00:55:19,582 --> 00:55:22,380 you can still see a certain cartouche here. 532 00:55:23,119 --> 00:55:29,149 The cartouche is that oval shape that contains the name of an Egyptian king. 533 00:55:29,359 --> 00:55:33,693 And, of course, Alexander, he is being considered an Egyptian king. 534 00:55:34,831 --> 00:55:37,026 lt would have what we call ''sare''. 535 00:55:37,233 --> 00:55:40,634 That's the goose that represents the sign... 536 00:55:40,837 --> 00:55:42,930 That's its neck and its head. 537 00:55:43,139 --> 00:55:46,575 The sign of the sun would have been on top of it. 538 00:55:47,043 --> 00:55:50,137 So he would be the son of the god Ra, 539 00:55:50,447 --> 00:55:54,110 then another cartouche that will have his name. 540 00:55:54,317 --> 00:55:59,949 You can just manage to see some traces saying ''Alexandros''. 541 00:56:00,924 --> 00:56:03,154 How far did all this go to his head? 542 00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:07,558 l suspect it's not a question we can answer in 20th-century terms. 543 00:56:07,997 --> 00:56:11,364 But now there need be no limit on his ambitions. 544 00:56:12,469 --> 00:56:14,596 Alexander the Great was one of these characters 545 00:56:14,804 --> 00:56:21,903 that sometimes he does things that look out of the normal for normal persons like you and me. 546 00:56:22,212 --> 00:56:24,874 But Alexander was not a normal person. 547 00:56:25,148 --> 00:56:29,847 He is one of these people who lived very short but he left his stamp, 548 00:56:30,453 --> 00:56:35,186 not only on the history of ancient times but on the history of mankind. 549 00:56:43,466 --> 00:56:46,299 Soon, on the walls of the greatest Egyptian temples, 550 00:56:46,603 --> 00:56:49,037 he would be shown like the pharaohs of the past, 551 00:56:49,372 --> 00:56:53,468 the successor of Khufu, Seti and Ramses the Great. 552 00:57:01,084 --> 00:57:05,453 And in Luxor, in the holy of holies, the 24-year-old Macedonian 553 00:57:05,655 --> 00:57:08,249 appears honouring his father Ammon 554 00:57:08,658 --> 00:57:12,526 and pouring libations over the phallus of the god Min. 555 00:57:14,564 --> 00:57:20,230 Son of Ammon, Beloved of Ra, King of the Two Lands; Alexander. 556 00:57:22,505 --> 00:57:24,973 He'd come along way from his rugged northern land. 557 00:57:25,809 --> 00:57:29,836 But he'd only just begun. Ahead lay Persia.