l'm just over half way around my tour of
what l've chosen as the greatest man-made treasures in the world.
Now l've arrived in the Cradle of Civilisation itself.
Central Asia.
This is now the heartland of lslam,
where trade is an activity blessed by God.
And where commerce lives in harmony with the divine.
My quest won't be easy.
l will travel to some of Asia's most remote corners
and encounter ancient codes waiting to be read.
l will unearth the hidden treasures of some of the world's most astonishing,
if forgotten, civilisations.
ln my journey so far l've explored the Americas, South East Asia and lndia.
Continuing across to Asia,
l'm now on the most famous trade route in history.
The Silk Route.
This route was a great artery linking east and west
with riches moving between China and Europe.
But it wasn't just goods that travelled down this road.
lt was religion, culture, ideas.
lt was as much about treasures of the soul as valuable artefacts.
My first destination
is in the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan.
Trade was suppressed in the Communist era
but you wouldn't know it
from looking around this vibrant marketplace.
The people have re-embraced the world of commerce with a passion.
This was a great bazaar, a great market,
half way along the Silk Route.
All merchants would have passed through here
two thousand years ago carrying their silk from east to west.
This was known in the Arab world as the gem of the east,
Samarkand.
There were hundreds of market towns like this along the silk route.
But in the late 14th century,
Samarkand was transformed into one of the most magnificent cities in the world.
lt was a vision of a warlord by the name of Tamerlane,
a descendant of the great Mongol conqueror,
Ghengis Khan.
Beneath the jade slab over there
lies the body of a man who was one of the most powerful monarchs in the world:
Tamerlane.
He created an empire that stretched from Turkey
right down to north lndia and in the process,
it is said, killed seventeen million people.
He epitomises cruel and despotic power.
But, Tamerlane, as well as being a ruthless ruler,
was also a man who loved and promoted the arts,
as the buildings he commissioned in his capital, here at Smarkand,
reveal very dramatically.
The beauty of Tamerlane's buildings lies
not in their size and grandeur,
but in their fine details.
Simple objects
were transformed into glistening treasures.
What unifies Samarkand's great buildings,
what gives them distinct and powerful architectural character,
is the use of tiles.
All over tiles.
Beautiful strong colours. Blues and yellows, blacks -
an incredible architectural effect.
Put the tiles together and you get this.
Rejistan Square.
The heart of Tamerlane's great city
where religion, trade and power met.
ln the sunlight this tile-clad architecture absolutely sparkles.
lt's fantastic.
And these buildings must be seen in that light really.
They're like great Persian carpets
full of life given by this two dimensional surface decoration.
These intense colours, and lettering of course,
texts from the Koran.
And over here a rather surprising building.
And at the top we have representations of living beings,
something in theory forbidden by the Koran.
And a prancing deer of some sort.
Tigers and a human face, a sun-like face -
which says a lot about this empire at the time.
Free from some of the orthodox constraints of lslamic belief.
The glazed, multi-coloured tiles became a signature of Tamerlane's reign.
Making the great buildings of Samarkand look almost alive.
And there's one vantage point in Samarkand
where you can see the full majesty of his creation.
Look at that. Hello.
l understand entrance to the passage way is
Yes, a passage.
Oh thank you.
Oh, my god, there's a grille.
Up l go.
lt looks rather dark and dangerous.
Excellent. Little torch here.
Right, thank you. Oh.
Quite alarmingly dark.
Golly. Dark, dusty, ancient and ruinous.
Just how l like it.
Penetrating beneath the skin of these tile-clad buildings show you what they're made of.
Beautiful, robust brick.
And here we see Samarkand,
the great capital of Tamerlane.
Very little left from his time, although beyond this building -
- one gets maybe some sense of...
how this great tile-clad square would have dominated, would have overwhelmed people.
Just some sense one gets...
of the astonishing majesty of this sparkling and glowing composition.
And Tamerlane's legacy lives on.
Tiles are still being made in the traditional way...
to restore the miraculous buildings.
Good morning. He's very busy.
This is the - the raw material clay.
Very dry.
Oh, this is already mixed with the water -
this clay and a very different consistency -
so it's a very strong clay
that gives a translucent look to the final product.
Here's the clay being blended,
it's just the right consistency to work.
Ah! Lovely.
Each of these colours when fired,
becomes dramatically different.
The final effect
you can see, is pretty pretty good.
And here are the kilns.
A whole series of them.
These are wonderful objects in their own right.
They're traditionally made out of clay,
fire clay with straw.
This one's still very hot.
And the tiles are put in these for three or four days
and the heat is high and sustained.
Ah! Magical sight.
Beautiful things.
Sparkling glaze, blue, greens, yellows.
By magic, by fire
transformed into these glistening, sparkling, brightly coloured objects.
Continuing along the Silk Route,
l head to a place where trade was the focus
of all human endeavour.
And there's no better way to travel to my next city than by traditional donkey power.
Good boy. Good boy.
Bukhara is another city famed for the beauty...
of its ancient architecture.
But here visual power and excitement comes not from surface decoration on the buildings,
but from the way the city's planned and used.
There's been a city on this site for at least two and a half thousand years,
a central trading point on the Silk Route,
famous for its bazaars
for its arts and for its religious buildings.
The city was rebuilt and was rebuilt in a spectacular manner
in the 16th century.
lt became this great centre of commerce
and a great architectural jewel.
That's why it's my treasure.
lt is a great planned city of the 16th century,
a city organised around trade.
What makes Bukhara so special are the city's trading domes.
They were constructed in the 1570s and '80s
and they made Bukhara...
the greatest commercial centre of the region.
Looking more like mosques than places of business
the domes raise commerce to the level of religion.
There's a whole series of these great structures in Bukhara
and each of them relates to a specific trade.
This is where um -
jewellers were lodged originally, another one for money changers -
another one for hat makers,
hat making being a big local tradition,
making Dervish hats.
Er so we have this wonderful architectural space,
absolutely fantastic sixteenth century dome
marking the hub of trade
and still doing exactly what it was built to do.
Ah! This is wonderful.
So around the central dome are these shops
and each shop has its own smaller dome.
Here we see them.
Rather beautifully made actually.
Everywhere you walk you find people performing the same tasks
as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.
Silk weavers still work in one of the domes.
lt's astonishing, trade is the lifeblood...
of the people of Bukhara.
You feel it in the air.
lt's hard not to get carried away,
to bargain, to buy.
My name is Sofina, welcome to Bukhara.
Thank you very much.
My name is Sofina -
lt's never too early to start.
The young here are obsessed with the hustle and bustle of the marketplace.
Walking from one trading dome to another,
it's easy to be hijacked...
by these traders eager to make a sale.
There's the stores going down from here,
you can to see all of them.
Ah, l like - l like those hats.
No, l like the ones down there which are simpler, the old ones.
Yes, like them.
What about pillowcases?
l don't want a pillowcase. l can't...
Ceramics.
Not ceramics, l can't, l'm travelling...
l'm travelling around the world,
l can't carry ceramics, lovely but...
lt's not heavy and it's not big, it's very small.
l'd love - no, no no, but...
You are man, look your arms are strong.
No, no, no, but one, two, three four.
l'll tell you what...
You can put it on the sofa.
lt's lovely. l'll tell you what l'm looking for.
One is some nice scarves,
yes, cotton or cotton silk, but plain colour.
Which one?
Well they're all - ah, there's a black one.
lt's black, l like it.
So how much is this then?
This is my first price,
l will tell you and l will do a discount, you know.
lf you are clever you will choose two or three subjects,
it will be a cheap price and good discount.
Okay, how much is it?
My first price for this 20.
lf you choose more than one thing it will be more cheap.
No, but you're saying twenty so therefore l say ten.
Your first price.
Okay, my first price must be less than that. Eight.
Business is like a game,
and we will play the game.
Okay, you're saying twenty.
No, it's not in Europe,
you know it's Bukhara, it's a business city, if you know.
lt is not a supermarket
and we will play the game.
l know this is worth um, say eight or - eight or ten
No, no way.
But, but, but, but, l'm going to give you more than it's worth because ...
l will price this ...
Because it's you.
Okay, l will cut it and make it for you, okay?
These girls, or business persons, as they like to call themselves,
are so persuasive
it's almost impossible not to give them your money.
Sixty.
Sixty one, two, three, four, five.
Eighty and that's your money.
That's mine. Okay, that's yours.
Thank you very much.
See you again.
Bye.
Trade is alive and well in Bukhara, that is clear.
See you. Bye.
Bye, l won't forget.
This is exactly what people have been...
doing in Bukhara for hundreds of years.
But the 20th century
almost broke the city's link with its trading past.
There's been ups and downs,
particularly in the Soviet era and thee great halls -
l suppose, would have been abandoned for years,
are now coming back into life.
And trade is in the blood again,
as l've discovered walking the streets talking to the people,
trade, trade, trade.
They're good at it,
l tell you
and l know that because my wallet's got a lot lighter.
After the delights of Bukhara,
l now fly to Baku in neighbouring Azerbaijan.
But l'm not sure we'll make it.
This is hardly what you'd expect from a modern aeroplane.
lt turns out to be the air conditioning system spluttering into life.
But it's still a gloomy portent of things to come.
lt isn't only the weather that's depressing in Azerbaijan.
The country still hasn't recovered
from being forcibly co-opted into the Soviet Union in 1922.
Some of the scars are still visible.
The capital, Baku, was one of the Soviet's biggest prizes.
ln the early 20th century it supplied half the world's oil.
But this oil, and the gas that accompanies it,
also produced a strange spectacle
that drew people to the city thousands of years ago.
l have, in recent weeks,
seen many attempts to create heaven on Earth.
But this, these flames issuing from the very ground in front of me -
this is more like an image of hell on Earth.
The infernal flames licking up from the deep recesses.
What is actually happening of course is slightly less dramatic.
lt's natural gases bubbling up from dark, dark -
and deep below and these flames have burnt here for centuries.
And its this fire that's the key to my next treasure.
ln the midst of this industrial...
wasteland one building bears witness to an earlier age
when these flames were thought to be holy.
The origin of this temple is ancient and obscure.
Only one thing is certain.
Fire was once worshipped here as a symbol of divinity.
The flames belching from the ground at Baku inspired...
one of the world's most influential
and enigmatic ancient religions.
The philosopher and mystic, Zoroaster,
who was born in central Asia,
came here about two and a half thousand years ago
and contemplated these natural flames
and saw in them the voice of god.
Not many gods, but one god.
This was one of the most significant moments in the history of religion.
The worship of a single god -
monotheism -
was established as the basis of a world religion.
All around the site you can still see clues
about some of the worshipers who are drawn to this holy fire temple.
The flame, because of its life giving force,
because of its ability to transform base material into energy,
is important in many religions and this shrine,
as it survives today,
is said to have been rebuilt by Hindu pilgrims
who came here in the 17th and 18th century on their way,
um, l suppose to various markets trading.
And these little cells is where they would have lodged, in cells like this.
Here's one of them with their beds here and here, sleeping in the space.
lncredible.
l love this building actually.
So elemental.
There's the fire and today in the rain fire and water
and these very earthy, cave-like little cells.
An elemental building worshipping one of the great elements.
Fire.
But outside this temple is a harsher reality.
Baku has been relentlessly plundered for its oil by both Communists and capitalists.
ln the past, oil and gas
and the flame...
they produce were seen as sacred,
as a gift from the gods.
Now oil and gas are merely exploited
and in the process nightmarish landscapes like this,
industrial wastelands are created.
Places that are apocalyptic in their image and very, very ominous.
This is trade that's gone horribly wrong.
l'm eager to see a land through
which many ancient trade routes pass.
And so l go to the lslamic Republic of lran.
Once known as Persia.
Since the revolution of 1979,
this is a country seen as a cauldron...
of religious fundamentalism.
George W. Bush has even labelled lran
as part of the 'axis of evil.'
But it's hard to reconcile this image of a sinister society with a bustling
and friendly market here in lsfahan.
lt's obvious that this is a part of an ancient,
sophisticated and highly cultured civilisation.
On the early 17th century,
lsfahan was rebuilt to become...
a key destination for traders.
But there was more to the city
than mere earthly architecture.
A route was constructed through the centre
to transport people from the material to the spiritual realm.
A new bazaar was built, started in about 1610 and this is it.
A wonderful place
organised around a straight route.
There's a wonderful dome,
on each side shops bustling
with life now as it would have been in the early 17th century.
And this route is clearly leading somewhere like a bolt of lightning.
lt's going forwards out of this gloomy world...
of trade into this great urban square.
A world of brightness and light.
The lmam Square is one of the most spectacular in the world.
lt measures 160 by 500 metres
and second in size only to Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
But this extraordinary place is only the prelude to my real treasure.
l'm moving away from he bustle and noise...
of commerce over there into the heart of this square
which seems in its proportion
and it is designed to be evoking a sense of paradise on Earth.
On each side there's an lwan, a gateway.
That one taking the form of a mosque
and there the Ali-Kapu Palace.
And in front of me the focus, the purpose for this great square,
is the wonderful lmam Mosque.
And l'm being drawn towards it.
l've moved from the world of trade,
through an Earthly paradise,
and now l've arrived at heaven itself.
l'm now approaching the main door to the mosque.
Within the portal a beautiful construction -
its walls and are vault-clad.
And here l am crossing the threshold -
and something fantastic has just happened.
l have left the world of man and entered the world of god.
And l know this, it's very clear,
because the straight route l've been following...
from the bazaar along the great square
has suddenly changed direction. lt is now cranked to the side.
l'm now looking towards the heart of the mosque
towards the shrine, towards Mecca.
The mosque is the focus of lsfahan
and the focus of the mosque is this space, the inner sanctuary.
And in front of me is its main feature,
the Marab, an altar, almost like a shrine -
and that is what one prays towards because that is orientated towards Mecca.
This is a tremendous space.
The dome, the walls
covered in spectacular tiles showing plants -
and the promise of paradise.
The lmam is perhaps the most beautiful mosque in the world.
lts splendour looks effortless,
but the mosque is also a staggering engineering achievement
with its wide arches...
rising serenely to enclose spacious interiors
and support huge brick built domes.
For the faithful gathered in the prayer hall the beauty of the surroundings
isn't just a superficial detail.
The lmam mosque is a mighty magnet,
drawing worshippers together
and giving them a foretaste of the pleasures of the afterlife.
l head south now...
through the middle of what was the Persian empire.
l'm in search of a household object
that was once thought to possess supernatural powers.
My treasure is
a defining icon of the Persian empire.
A thing so valued that kings were buried with it
and there are even legends that it could fly.
But not only is this an object of beauty and myth,
but also of trade.
lt's now lran's
biggest export after oil,
worth over half a billion dollars a year.
l've travelled to this market in Shiraz
where some of the greatest examples of my treasure are made and bartered.
The Persian carpet was highly sought after in Europe from at least the er,
the middle ages.
And why?
Well, of course the reason's obvious. lt's beautiful.
Look at them, incredible.
Beautiful and utilitarian,
very practical, hardwearing and um,
also the design.
Enigmatic, compelling.
Fascinating. See here,
these designs vary from region to region in Persia.
This is typical of the design from this area
and it's very, very ancient in origin.
Er, certainly pre-lslamic.
And l believe - this er, diamond shape and this step here is from the time of er,
the Persian empire two and a half thousand years ago.
These carpets are from er, the Shiraz area
and this one over here - incredible, it has um, good heavens,
it could be a woman even - with bare breasts,
l mean an absolutely amazing object.
Goodness knows what - well what purpose that,
well, l suppose for.. anyway.
Well, um, and this one's lovely here.
This is um, shows birds -
- a scene from paradise.
Cooing doves, lovely, absolutely lovely.
That one l'd love to own.
The carpet has humble origins.
lt was developed by nomads to make their tents
more comfortable and draught proof.
Today carpets remain central to the lives of nomadic people.
ln a day we can say 18 thousand knots.
The pair of them.
That they do nine thousand each a day?
Yes, in a day, yes.
l mean how many knots in a carpet this size
and how long will it take the pair of them
to complete a carpet of this size?
Er, about a month or roughly speaking.
lt takes longer if it is more detailed design.
lt may be two months.
God. No wonder there's such a sort of myth and magic -
- about carpets when one sees them being made
and one contemplates the process.
The human endeavour, the concentration, the moods and then the object itself.
lt's like an instrument made of millions of little bits.
Tens of thousands of knots,
each knot tied with love, care - and awareness.
One whole made of thousands of parts.
lt's not enough for me just to admire all these carpets.
l'm now hungry to possess one as well.
- Hello. - Hello.
- How do you do? - Fine.
Lovely um, lovely carpets,
beautiful, l love the colour.
That's a lovely colour.
Where are these from?
The Kilim.
You mean the Kilim, ah, Kilim, it's lovely.
And these are more Persian.
- Ah, now that one - - ls Mashad.
Mashad.
Carpet in Mashad.
Beautiful, um, very detailed.
Very fine work.
l love it, l love it.
So how much, how much is this one?
This one, one hundred and eighteen dollars.
One, eighteen. One, one, eight. A hundred and eighteen.
One hundred eighteen dollars.
Eighteen? One hundred and eighteen.
Yes, one hundred eighteen dollars.
One hundred and eighteen dollars.
So um, your best price for this.
Let's think, normally it would half it, um,
so sort of something like - don't know, seventy-five, eighty dollars,
would you take this sort of thing?
One hundred and eighteen, one hundred and seventeen dollars.
- A hundred and seventeen. - Yes.
Come a little bit towards me.
You must be a little - you must come down a bit more.
No.
A hundred dollars, yes.
No. One hundred and seventeen dollars.
No, no, it's too much.
l'm gonna have - l can't take it, a hundred and seventeen.
Yes.
lt's a lot of money.
l would hope that he would come down and meet sort of almost halfway.
No, no, no.
- lmpossible? - Yes.
Well, never mind, never mind.
lt was - it was nice - it was nice - nice almost doing business with you.
Okay.
- Thank you very much. - Okay, see you, bye bye.
Bye bye.
Well, l don't think l won.
l didn't - also didn't lose. l like it, but -
- not for that price, no.
He doesn't want to sell it.
Doesn't want to sell it.
l don't mind too much by not buying that carpet.
Um, to me it was a bit too perfect, a bit too delicate.
The colours are lovely but too bright.
lt was essentially too new.
On the other hand it can be um, very frustrating failing to buy something,
failing to er, strike a bargain and er,
and to win the battle. So -
- l went back to the lovely carpet
showing the birds in paradise and l bought it for er,
not fifty dollars - not forty dollars,
but thirty dollars.
And here it is, a little charming scene of birds
cooing and sitting in a little image of paradise.
And here it is on this um, bench in front of the mosque with a -
- scene of paradise above me.
l am indeed in paradise.
lt's lovely.
After all this bargaining
l need a break from the hectic marketplace.
My next destination
is a little known place called Bisitun.
Two and a half thousand years ago
it was on one of the key trade routes of the ancient world.
The link between China and the east
and Babylon in the west.
l've come to see a work of art
that now seems incredibly remote in its location
on the western border of lran,
and cut into the cliff face above me somewhere here.
But two and a half thousand years ago
when this work of art was created,
this location was far from remote.
And this work of art carried a very specific meaning.
To be read, l suppose,
by the people travelling along this great road, this great trade route.
lt was a cry of triumph and a dire warning
and it was meant to last for eternity.
My next treasure
will be one of the hardest to reach.
Carved on this rock face two hundred feet above ground
is a series of figures and inscriptions.
An artistic marvel,
but also a key that would unlock history itself.
The meaning of this mysterious cliff face
was lost for centuries,
but in 1835 an English soldier
and amateur archaeologist, Henry Rawlinson, came to Bisitun.
Rawlinson was impressed by the carved figures, the bas reliefs,
but what really caught his imagination was the lettering.
He recognised it as er, cuneiform.
A type of lettering that hadn't been deciphered in the 1830s,
indeed very little of it had been found,
so he wanted to get nearer the er, the inscription to - to copy it.
To take it away and study it
and try and begin the process - of working out what this inscription said.
Nobody really knows
how people read the writing from the road.
There may originally have been some kind of grand platform stretching up here.
Certainly the road level was once far higher than now.
But in the 1830s
there was no easy access.
Rawlinson risked his life to behold these carvings.
lt was his work on this perilous rock face
that would finally crack the cuneiform code
allowing scholars to read ancient languages
and learn the secrets of the past.
Oh, lovely. Gosh, l've got here -
l've got up using a steel staircase,
but Rawlinson only achieved this location by using his ladders and ropes,
absolutely amazing.
He was up here during most of the 1840s in the various seasons,
you know, just -
- simply tracing and studying this lettering.
He realised pretty early on that
there are three different languages represented here.
This is old Persian, these four and a half big panels.
This was somewhat easier for him to decipher.
Then that is - Elamite,
an ancient language of the area.
And over there is neo-Babylonian, or Akkadian.
He started to work out what was being said.
He realised that all three languages were saying the same thing,
which was very useful, so you crack one and you crack the others.
Eventually, by the late 1840s,
he'd done it.
He'd worked out - what they said.
He'd worked out how to read cuneiform
and suddenly this world of these ancient peoples were opened.
lt could be read, it could be understood.
And because of Rawlinson the past came alive.
This wall is a great poster really.
lt was a proclamation of power.
lt says how the king of kings,
the king of Persians, Darius,
how he had overcome rebellious, false kings
and these defeated enemies are shown.
There's nine of them in a row
looking at Darius who stands triumphant up there
with his foot on the body of one of the defeated false kings -
- and it's a powerful piece of art.
An art serving politics,
serving a triumphal monarch who wants to keep an iron grip
on the land he's conquered.
An incredible,
incredible piece of work.
And the very end is interesting too.
The very end of the inscription down here.
l'll edge my way along.
lnvokes the gods.
This inscription, so high, it's clearly protected by its height,
hard to be vandalised, hard for any rebel to deface.
And it says here that anyone who respects this inscription
will be blessed by the gods.
Anyone who defaces it will be damned.
This is an amazing statement,
while l stand here on this precarious ledge
looking down on the road those merchants used
two and a half thousand years ago -
- all reading and trembling at this statement.
This inscription was a warning
and helped Darius
to establish himself as the most powerful monarch in the known world.
l now travel six hundred miles
through what was once Darius' empire, to the great city he started,
the pinnacle of Persian civilisation.
Even in its ruined state,
Darius' city still evokes
vision of power and majesty,
but also of great violence and tragedy.
The building of Persepolis
came at the very height of the empire's power.
lt served as a summer capital
and architecturally
it was one of the finest cities the world had ever seen.
Darius started the construction of his great city, Persepolis,
in about 512 B.C.
lt was a very political gesture.
lt was to make Persian power apparent to all,
to show the wealth and achievements of the great empire.
lt was to show the empire
had created a new world order.
This great city wasn't fortified,
it didn't have to be,
all the enemies had been defeated.
lt was more like a great temple,
raised on a man-made plateau, an incredible place,
started by Darius -
completed by his son Xerxes,
and this is the great gate build by Xerxes
leading to the centre of this great city to where power resided.
Through that - gate was the throne room,
the heart of Persian power.
This gate was called the Gate of all the Nations.
All people coming to pay tribute to this great Persian emperor
had to pass through here
and it's had an amazing attraction over the centuries.
People have come and left their names carved in the stone.
Eighteen hundred these ones.
British Army officers. Central lndia Horse, 1912.
lncredible,
full of graffiti of people drawn here to in their way pay homage to Persepolis
and the memory of the great Persian empire.
Entering what was once the Palace of One Hundred Columns,
you can't help but be overwhelmed.
lt must have been a breathtaking sight
to the subjects who travelled from every corner of the Persian empire to pay tribute to the king.
Everything about Persepolis was calculated to make a monumental statement
about the power of Persian civilisation.
l follow the route of the tribute bearers as they brought their tribute to lay before Darius.
And this wall -
- shows twenty-three of the subject people
of the Persian empire carrying their tribute.
lt shows that the empire -
- stretched from North Africa to north lndia,
to south east Europe.
lncredible lump of the world under the control of the Persians.
Here, for example, we have Ethiopians bringing -
- an elephant's tusk and each group is being led by a Persian.
This is how it's possible to work out who's who really.
The next group here, these are Libyans -
- and they're bringing a chariot
and a mountain goat.
lncredible.
l'm walking in the footsteps of - of these people.
This is where they would have walked
by images of themselves.
And here -
- if they were minded to rebel,
is a very ferocious lion
savaging a defenceless gazelle l think.
Here are the people of Samarkand with their -
- two humped camel marching forward,
carrying pots containing goodness knows what.
Here lndians.
Ah, something in a basket.
Spices, l should think.
This in a way is a diagram of trade.
Two and a half thousand years ago
the objects being brought by these people,
the objects they were renowned for,
the objects that they traded.
This is like a view into the marketplace of the time.
And then the tribute bearers would have found themselves here,
in the vast audience hall, the Apadana.
This would have been an overwhelming experience.
This would have been a bigger building
than any of them had ever seen. Absolutely extraordinary.
You've got to use your imagination here.
This would have been a forest of massive columns -
- rising twenty metres
supporting a cedar wood ceiling, incredible.
Dark, gloomy, intimidating.
These poor fellows would have walked along here.
There would have been soldiers and Persian -
- officials watching them against a wall no doubt, light trickling through.
They'd have come over here towards Darius with their tribute,
no doubt now feeling rather pathetic
and they would put the tribute down, l guess about here,
like this, looking at the great emperor,
feeling, l guess frightened.
Supposing the tribute wasn't adequate,
what would happen to them?
However, they'd put it down
and then they'd back away towards a door feeling terrified, hoping to get away with it.
They would go looking back like this.
l enter the palace of Darius.
lncredible.
His private world.
Once famed for its central mirror hall
with walls of polished stone.
The palace is exquisite and er,
relatively well preserved.
One gets a sense of the architectural space and the -
- architectural decoration of Persepolis.
You have these great portals
and within them these spectacular carvings.
The light is beautiful here.
One can see clearly the quality of the carving,
somewhat eroded over the centuries.
Originally this interior was painted as well as the walls polished -
- and the carvings ornamented with gold,
showing crowns, false beards and weapons.
Those have long gone - looted in the tragedy
that overtook this great city of Persepolis.
lt took a hundred and fifty years to complete Persepolis.
lt then enjoyed a mere thirty years of prosperity
before it was cruelly destroyed by the Macedonian Greeks.
Destruction came in the form of Alexander the Great.
ln 330 B.C.
he arrived here with his army,
having finally defeated the Persians and he sat -
- outside and contemplated Persepolis
and this great palace.
And one night, when drunk,
he with his army came into the great city,
the great palace of Persepolis and they set fire to it.
They destroyed it.
Absolute abomination.
This great Greek, this great in many ways,
pinnacle of civilisation,
this great champion of civilisation here,
committed a frightful barbaric act.
An act of vandalism.
lt still hurts to think and it's still painful to look around.
lt is still really a disgrace.
l fly now from lran to Syria.
My final destination on the Silk Route.
Um, fresh bread. Must be good. Excellent -
- thank you. Shakram. Very good. Thank you.
Damascus, the glorious capital of Syria,
was founded seven thousand years ago.
lt's the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.
But my treasure is a relatively recently addition
that weaves its way through the ancient quarter.
After weeks on the trade route,
this is the perfect place to end this part of my journey.
l've chosen a marketplace.
An arena full of life and excitement.
lt's not the biggest,
oldest or most famous souk in the world,
but for me this street's one of the most exciting anywhere.
l love the way it snakes through the old city.
lt's dark - constrained, full of life, activity.
The shops date from the late eighteenth century,
each one divided - by lovely elongated columns.
lt is a terrific place to shop - to walk, to look, to linger.
The soul was roofed over
in the late nineteenth century
with a cast iron barrel vault.
This covering is pierced with bullet holes
dating from the 1920s and 30s,
when the souks saw fighting between the people of Damascus and the French occupiers.
These holes now sparkle like stars in the firmament.
And in the souk
you find all the great traditional articles of trade.
Silk, silver, spices
and in this shop l believe, damask,
which of course is a speciality of Damascus.
Here it is.
A cotton embroidered on both sides with silk.
Damask from Damascus.
The souk is a feast for the eyes
and also for the nose and the taste buds.
There's a vast array of spices, nuts and flowers,
piled up in mounds for the shoppers.
At the centre of all this frantic activity
is an oasis of calm.
Traders and customers
can find refuge from all the cacophony
in one of the holiest places in lslam.
At the end of the souk, in the heart of the old city,
is the 8th century Great Mosque,
created within the walls of the Roman temple of Jupiter.
this mosque encapsulates
all my experiences travelling through central Asia.
lt's incredible
because it's an amalgamation of life, of god, of spirit, of trade -
- within the heart of the city and all around it.
People coming and going from the marketplace,
from trading and bartering then come in here,
sit, contemplate and pray.
lt is a spectacular place,
this convergence of human activity of god, of mammon, of barter, of prayer.
Absolutely love it here.
After weeks of travel
l need to unwind.
So l leave the realm of god for a place of more Earthly pleasures.
This is just the ticket.
After a day bartering and praying,
tradesmen would come to bathhouses, known as Hummums.
They would wash, relax,
soak and steam their troubles away.
Just as important as the baths though was the socialising afterwards where the traders,
wrapped in towels, would gather together
and smoke an Agela, or hubble bubble pipe.
The thing about these ancient trade routes
it wasn't just trade that went down them.
Many things travelled and ideas of course -
- cultures, traditions,
like blood flowing through the great body of the world.
And um, silk from here ended up where
l will be ending up in a couple of months time,
back in London, in Spitalfields which was the silk centre of London.
And um, of course l'm looking forward to being at home, l suppose.
Yes, of course l am.
But to be quite honest, at the moment,
l rather like it here.