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Age of Exploration

Ancient Architecture

Ancient Artifacts Study

Ancient Cultures Research.

Ancient Relics

Ancient Scripts Deciphering

Ancient Technology Research

Archaeological Dig

Archaeological Discoveries

Archaeology

Central Asia Cities

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Odyssey - Ancient History Documentaries

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[Music]

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s and war-torn plains of Central Asia

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light tantalizing traces of the ancient

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world

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here 2 300 years ago

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Alexander the Great became the first

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European to rule the east

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in an epic campaign the ancient Greeks

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crushed the Persian Empire

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it was a turning point in human history

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along the banks of the mighty oxus River

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Alexander discovered a highly developed

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Eastern civilization

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my name is David Adams I'm a

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photojournalist and I want to explore

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the footprints of this ancient world

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today almost entirely erased

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this is my quest for Alexander's Lost

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World

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foreign

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like Alexander and his army I'm

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venturing into hostile and challenging

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territory

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to find a trace of one extraordinary

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City oh wow Alexander is reputed to have

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founded beside the river oxus well I'm

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actually standing in a Greek

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Amphitheater and in 250 BC Greek plays

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were being performed here to crowds of

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up to 5 000 people

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I'm going to explore a series of ruins

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that may hold the key

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both to Alexander's lost city and to an

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astonishing civilization that flowered

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here thousands of years before the

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Greeks arrived this is the story of how

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the Greeks built a dazzling Eastern

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capital in a remote corner of

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Afghanistan the city of Lady Moon

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oh

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Alexander the Great is the iconic hero

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of ancient Greece

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in a series of Victories Alexander

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crushed his Persian enemy Darius III

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and claimed for himself the title of

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emperor of the East

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but Alexander's Conquest in Central Asia

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may not have been all it appears

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I want to separate the fact from the

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fiction

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as Alexander pushed his way deeper into

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Persian territory he came up against

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intense resistance

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in the kingdoms of bactria and sogdir

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local tribes 40th Army in pitched

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battles every step of the way it took

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all the Greeks resources just to

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Garrison the territory they'd claimed

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Legend has it Alexander founded as many

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as 16 cities in Central Asia alone

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but today we know that more than half of

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these cities were already established

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when Alexander arrived settlements

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Alexander renamed and little else

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there's only one place we know for sure

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was built by Alexander

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an archaeologists believe all he

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constructed here was a wooden fort

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the rest of his cities have never been

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found

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if I can find a trace of just one

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ancient Metropolis built at Alexander's

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command it would mean that there is some

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truth behind the legend

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and there's one fabled city upon the

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osis river that I want to find

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I'm following the tracks of Alexander

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into Afghanistan

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today this region is a desert covered

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with ruttered sand tracks that lead

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everywhere and nowhere

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I've met up with my driver Habib and our

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guide Reza

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we're searching for one of Alexander's

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River Crossing points but we're already

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lost

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can we ask them

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and hopefully these guys are going to

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know where the crossing is

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we come down here yeah just there did we

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race yeah it says it crosses here but no

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yeah um

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well that's going to get very

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interesting we don't even know if we can

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cross the river

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we're heading west to find the ancient

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ruin of kaisal

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it sits upon the Confluence of the Oxys

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and its largest tributary the kundus

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river

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this was once a Strategic Defense Post

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in the land of bactria and there's a

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chance this could be the place Alexander

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built his famous city Alexandria on the

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axis

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these desert lands are totally

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unpredictable and a sandstorm is fast

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approaching

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well we've made the river and the boats

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here but we've now got this big

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Sandstorm so it's hard to say what's

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going to happen we'll probably get

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through but it means it's going to get

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dark really quick

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the ruins of kaizal lie out on the edge

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of this Delta

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and it hasn't been explored by Outsiders

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for decades

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nowadays this is a Taliban problem area

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and the crossing is guarded by local

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police

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but our immediate problem isn't the

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Taliban it's getting across

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[Music]

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these waterways are in a constant state

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of flux as the river level slowly drops

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throughout the year then floods Every

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Spring

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cutting the Villages of the Delta off

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from the rest of the country

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[Music]

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over 2 300 years ago

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Crossing would have been almost exactly

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the same for Alexander and his 55 000

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strong Army

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[Music]

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on their three-year-long campaign

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through Central Asia they braved this

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harsh constantly changing environment

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and hostile tribes

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today in the heart of the kunduz Delta

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are many villagers with Taliban

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sympathies

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from Australia

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very long way Australia

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we're escorted to the police post and an

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audience with the local Commander

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expecting us but he's got no idea why a

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foreigner has come out here

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and it takes a bit of explaining you can

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tell them this is a program you can get

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I don't know if they know Google

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yeah this guy

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to explain what this is this is not

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military yeah in a new can on your

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computer you can have this program and

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it's made up of lots of different

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satellites and we can zoom down but you

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can explain it to them how I have this

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photo because they might be wondering

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why they probably think I'm a spy you

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see and that's all it is it's just a

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printout from Google Earth but here this

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is pretty revolutionary we have to look

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in on a place like this so I'm just

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wanting to reassure them that I'm not a

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spy

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foreign

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driver makes a few adjustments just to

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keep at least some of the dust out of

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the engine out here breakdowns are not

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an option

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foreign

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little more than just another Flat Top

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Hill beside the ancient kundus river

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it's not until you reach the first line

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of battlements that you start to get an

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idea of the size of kaizal its walls are

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more than six kilometers long

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the ruins of a fortified Citadel or ARG

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a clear to see

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well this place is enormous even after

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the rivers actually come through here

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and gouged out part of the

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fortifications you can see that it

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really would have repelled all comers

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but the riddle is who built it

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what it's pointing to is that the Greeks

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built it these huge great squares and

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then this enormous ARG that would have

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sat up above here

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[Music]

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um

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site is so remote and hard to reach it

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has never been excavated

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so much of its story remains a mystery

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[Music]

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Alexander's biographers tell us that

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more than 2 000 years ago the auxis and

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its tributary the conduits joined here

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and then parted again looking out it's

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clear to see that even today only a

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narrow neck of sand separates the kunduz

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from the axis

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was strategically built to keep watch

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over the two rivers the Delta and its

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approaches

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but its layout and Design

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suggest that this was once a Bastian

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Greek City

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walking across these ruins I really get

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a sense of Alexander being here

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you know one of the things about

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climbing over places like this is you're

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actually climbing through history

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and as you move around you could think

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back to what it would have been like

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living on this River

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perhaps as a Greek stationed here for

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the rest of your life

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I don't know if it would have been Soul

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destroying or uplifting it was a totally

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different world for them and me

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Greek sources tell us in the spring of

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328 BC

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Alexander's armies crossed the condos

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and then the oxus to try and put down a

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local Rebellion

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[Music]

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it's possible to cross the two rivers is

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right here at the ancient Fort of kaizal

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this could be Alexander's City but

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there's a problem

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[Music]

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the surface Pottery only dates back to a

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Time 400 years after the arrival of

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Alexander it's um for putting the wheat

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and rice

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and the big pieces

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the truth about kayazar's Origins must

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lie in the layers of archeology deep

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beneath the citadels with massive

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foundations

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I can't be sure if this was Alexandria

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on the auxis

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but there's no doubt that he would have

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left soldiers here to man this strategic

00:14:03

passage and secure his Supply route

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control of Vantage points like this was

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the key to Alexander's success

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from here he took five north across the

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rivers to suppress the fiercely

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independent Bactrian and sogdean tribes

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we're told Alexander had a fearsome Army

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there were nine infantry units amongst

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them thousands of archers and shield

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bearers accompanied by over 4 000

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Cavalry but to truly Crush all

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resistance he would have to do more than

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win battles he had to maintain control

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of trade routes and waterways

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for the Greek troops Left Behind to

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Garrison local towns and Villages life

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would have been similar to that of these

00:15:04

Afghan policemen today

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it's very good welcome welcome

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thanks hello we're staying in their

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Barracks for the night

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this is great this is fine yeah yeah so

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we'll get the bag

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the policemen are not from around here

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they're recruited from other parts of

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the country for a very good reason here

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the law of the land is still dominated

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by tribal politics

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it would be impossible for a local not

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to be drawn in to a web of intrigue and

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Corruption

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so the police are Outsiders in this

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community just like Alexander's Men 2

00:15:51

300 years ago

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come on

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for the Greeks it would have been a

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hand-to-mouth experience stationed here

00:16:04

at the end of their known world

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foreign

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just a small unit a daunting 4 000

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kilometers from their Mediterranean

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Homeland they had no choice but to make

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alliances with Bactrian and Persian

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Chieftains

00:16:24

and the two cultures that had once

00:16:27

clashed began to mix

00:16:29

[Music]

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so far we've followed the root of

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Alexander's Army to kaizal

00:16:43

but I'm not sure that this little known

00:16:45

ruin could ever have been more than just

00:16:48

a Greek Garrison in Alexander's time

00:16:53

now I want to explore a place that's far

00:16:55

more famous

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it's a site called

00:17:00

an Arabic name meaning the city of Lady

00:17:03

Moon

00:17:04

[Music]

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I hanum is the only ancient Greek

00:17:10

Metropolis ever discovered in Central

00:17:12

Asia it's a place many believe to be

00:17:15

Alexandria on the auxis and it's right

00:17:18

on the Afghan tajik border

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foreign

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night at the police barracks we're back

00:17:29

on the move

00:17:32

I've met up with jumpshade a local guide

00:17:36

it's just so green I haven't expected it

00:17:38

to be so fertile here

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dying that you know people are working

00:17:44

on their fields

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growing melon watermelon

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our next challenge is a formidable one

00:17:53

by hanum is Right In The Forbidden

00:17:56

military border Zone

00:17:59

so highly protected we first have to

00:18:02

stop at the nearby city of talakon to

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get special permission from the governor

00:18:06

of the province

00:18:09

[Music]

00:18:30

[Music]

00:18:40

[Music]

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good morning good morning

00:19:02

if you have any problems call me correct

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yeah the governor has actually had to go

00:19:08

off he's got a problem in a different

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part of the province but he's told

00:19:11

Jamshed that we can go up but if we have

00:19:14

a problem then we should come back here

00:19:15

and have tea with him trouble is that's

00:19:17

hours away so uh we'll have to wing it a

00:19:20

bit we're going to get a letter of

00:19:21

permission we'll see how we go

00:19:24

the wheels of bureaucracy do turn but at

00:19:27

a leisurely Afghan pace

00:19:31

this is one part of my journey that

00:19:33

Alexander definitely wouldn't have had

00:19:35

to do

00:19:39

seems to be taking forever

00:19:45

so I head outside for a stroll through

00:19:48

the telecan markets

00:19:50

[Music]

00:19:53

sadly few Outsiders ever have a chance

00:19:56

to experience everyday life like this

00:19:59

[Music]

00:20:04

the threat of attack on westerners makes

00:20:07

it almost impossible

00:20:14

the ancient Greeks were among the first

00:20:16

westerners to come here they stood out

00:20:19

from the crowd just like me

00:20:22

uh so what do we have rice and then the

00:20:25

amazing okay

00:20:29

when he conquered bactria it said that

00:20:31

Alexander adopted Persian dress and

00:20:34

acted out local customs

00:20:37

to ensure his leadership was accepted

00:20:52

um

00:21:04

but they won't know

00:21:07

[Music]

00:21:11

like Alexander we're heading north to

00:21:14

the rugged terrain of I hanum

00:21:19

[Music]

00:21:24

this is one of the poorest regions of

00:21:26

Afghanistan

00:21:30

in this arid landscape only the river

00:21:32

valleys can sustain life

00:21:37

but we hit a major obstacle the bridge

00:21:41

across the river has been out since

00:21:43

heavy floods almost a year ago

00:21:51

we've no option but to head Downstream

00:21:53

to find another way across

00:21:59

as getting through the mud to the

00:22:01

crossing point is a trial in itself

00:22:10

here the villagers have hit upon a

00:22:12

cunning scan

00:22:17

they intentionally keep the road muddy

00:22:20

to bog Vehicles then charge to help them

00:22:24

out

00:22:27

[Music]

00:22:39

and since we're foreigners the price

00:22:41

goes up from five dollars to 60.

00:22:44

[Music]

00:22:51

I guess we should have brought our own

00:22:52

donkeys

00:22:55

[Music]

00:22:56

we get hooked up to the Tractor and it

00:22:59

looks like we'll be across in no time

00:23:09

but we don't get very far for our money

00:23:16

so we resort to plan B

00:23:21

the tractor driver guides us through

00:23:29

calls lend a hand

00:23:34

foreign

00:23:45

[Music]

00:24:06

driving skills get us safely back onto

00:24:10

dry land

00:24:12

[Music]

00:24:23

[Music]

00:24:36

[Music]

00:24:39

well we've been traveling almost all day

00:24:41

then about three different police checks

00:24:43

drunk a lot of green tea waiting for our

00:24:46

permits but we're finally here this is I

00:24:49

hanum and it's absolutely vast I hope we

00:24:52

haven't had a look at it yet but it's a

00:24:54

whole Mountain total it's it just looks

00:24:57

mind-blowing

00:25:01

the site was officially discovered by

00:25:04

the Afghan King Muhammad Zahir Shah

00:25:07

during a Hunting Expedition in 1961.

00:25:13

and when French archaeologists began

00:25:15

Excavating they found a sensational

00:25:18

series of ruins that were unlike

00:25:20

anything else in Central Asia

00:25:25

[Music]

00:25:31

we set up camp above the auxis next to

00:25:33

the Border post

00:25:36

thank you it's quite likely that a

00:25:38

division of Alexander's Army set up camp

00:25:41

right here too

00:25:44

this would have been a strategic

00:25:45

position guarding the River Crossing

00:25:48

into sogdia

00:25:51

across the river is Tajikistan

00:25:55

ever since the Soviet occupation in the

00:25:57

1980s this has been one of the most

00:25:59

heavily defended borders in Asia

00:26:09

next morning we start to explore what

00:26:12

remains of city of ianoma

00:26:15

[Music]

00:26:22

spot other scars in the earth made not

00:26:26

by ancient hands but treasure hunters

00:26:28

and modern conflict

00:26:34

2001 this region was the front line

00:26:36

between the Afghan Northern Alliance and

00:26:39

the Taliban

00:26:41

trenches and tank dugouts are still

00:26:44

clear to see

00:26:47

the Taliban never succeeded in taking

00:26:50

Northeastern Afghanistan

00:26:51

[Music]

00:26:53

ancient defenses were too formidable

00:26:58

these ramparts seem just as impenetrable

00:27:01

today as they would have been in ancient

00:27:04

times

00:27:06

it looks like a Barren Borderland but

00:27:09

two thousand years ago this was a huge

00:27:12

classical City

00:27:15

if you look closely there's the imprint

00:27:17

of magnificent structures all around

00:27:21

well I'm actually standing in a Greek

00:27:24

Amphitheater and in 250 BC Greek players

00:27:27

were being performed here to crowds of

00:27:29

up to five thousand people

00:27:31

behind me is what remains of ihanung

00:27:34

Lady Moon a Greek city 4 000 kilometers

00:27:38

from Athens

00:27:43

it's astonishing to think that all the

00:27:45

way out here in Afghanistan this was a

00:27:48

Greek settlement

00:27:50

here people would gather to be

00:27:52

entertained as traditional Greek

00:27:54

comedies and Olympian games were played

00:27:57

out in this immense Amphitheater

00:28:04

at its peak 150 years after Alexander I

00:28:09

hanum would have had all the riches and

00:28:11

infrastructure you'd find in the

00:28:14

greatest Greek cities of Mediterranean

00:28:16

Europe

00:28:17

[Music]

00:28:21

stretched along the river

00:28:23

two kilometers

00:28:25

[Music]

00:28:27

there could have been about 10 000

00:28:29

people living here

00:28:31

many were Greek colonists and here they

00:28:35

built a place that reinforced their

00:28:37

Greek Origins

00:28:39

[Music]

00:28:44

it would have been an awesome sight

00:28:48

[Music]

00:28:53

beyond the ramshackle dwellings and

00:28:55

large stately homes was a huge Waterside

00:28:59

Palace

00:29:01

it was a Monumental statement of Greek

00:29:04

power in batria

00:29:06

as well as being the residents of the

00:29:09

royal Dynasty this Palace was a center

00:29:11

for local Administration

00:29:13

[Music]

00:29:17

further along the Riverside was one of

00:29:20

the largest gymnasiums of antiquity

00:29:23

citizens of ihanon came here to exercise

00:29:26

in particular soldiers

00:29:30

inside they trained for public games

00:29:33

competing against each other in

00:29:35

wrestling and archery kept them in a

00:29:37

state of constant Readiness for battle

00:29:40

[Music]

00:29:43

the temples of iron on reveal that in

00:29:45

this new city there was a fusion of

00:29:47

eastern and western beliefs

00:29:50

[Music]

00:29:51

some were dedicated to ancient Greek

00:29:54

gods but others like this Persian style

00:29:57

Temple likely belonged to one of the

00:29:59

world's oldest religions known as

00:30:03

Zoroastrianism

00:30:06

here's ceremonial fire Towers represent

00:30:09

the Triumph of truth and light over

00:30:12

Darkness

00:30:14

presiding over the battle was one God

00:30:18

ahura Mazda

00:30:22

I hanum was a beacon for the Greeks the

00:30:26

Empire's Eastern Frontiers

00:30:29

to many academics it's Grandeur

00:30:32

confirmed the heroic ideal of Alexander

00:30:36

here at last was what appeared to be one

00:30:40

of the great cities he built in Central

00:30:43

Asia

00:30:46

but is this marvelous Place really

00:30:49

Alexandria on the auxis

00:30:58

so here

00:31:00

in the only Greek city ever discovered

00:31:02

in Central Asia

00:31:03

do we see the hand of Alexander

00:31:06

well apparently not archaeologists can't

00:31:09

quite agree when major construction

00:31:11

began here but they think it's around

00:31:13

280 BC

00:31:15

now that's nearly 50 years after

00:31:17

Alexander came through here

00:31:23

for 200 years this was a vibrant capital

00:31:26

of the East a satellite of Greek custom

00:31:30

and learning

00:31:32

but Alexander couldn't have built ianum

00:31:38

after nearly three years of almost

00:31:40

constant Warfare in the summer of 327 BC

00:31:44

Alexander left bactria with the bulk of

00:31:47

his army

00:31:49

four years later he would be dead and

00:31:52

the Forts and cities he briefly

00:31:53

conquered were quickly abandoned

00:31:59

so who did build iron them and why

00:32:04

the origins of this place are still

00:32:07

shrouded in mystery

00:32:08

[Music]

00:32:11

and it's because a huge amount of the

00:32:13

archeology has simply been erased

00:32:21

you know every day in the fields outside

00:32:23

I hanum astounding discoveries are made

00:32:26

by Farmers like Khalil here they find

00:32:29

coins they find gold and sometimes even

00:32:32

statues but the great problem is what

00:32:34

does he do with it because in

00:32:36

Afghanistan now it's totally illegal to

00:32:38

trade in Antiquities

00:32:40

if he keeps them he could be arrested if

00:32:42

he sells them he could be arrested but

00:32:44

there's no agency at the moment that he

00:32:46

can give them to where he knows that

00:32:49

they are actually going to be held for

00:32:51

the people of Afghanistan to view them

00:32:54

until that day it'll remain in the black

00:32:56

market and the treasures of Afghanistan

00:32:58

will go across the borders into Pakistan

00:33:00

and around the world

00:33:05

some artifacts have survived the black

00:33:08

market and I've heard that a local Chief

00:33:11

has filled his tea house with artifacts

00:33:14

from Iron Ore

00:33:22

oh wow

00:33:26

well this is amazing I had actually

00:33:27

heard there was one column here but

00:33:30

there's like

00:33:31

it's about six

00:33:34

they've been covered with whitewash for

00:33:37

these column capitals are remarkably

00:33:40

intact

00:33:42

carved out of local Stone over 2 200

00:33:46

years ago

00:33:47

they are priceless

00:33:53

well the irony is that if the commander

00:33:56

hadn't taken these away and he'd left

00:33:57

him at ihanum they probably would have

00:33:59

disappeared so at least they'd been

00:34:02

conserved

00:34:04

this has to be the most extraordinary

00:34:07

tea house I've ever seen

00:34:17

the commander has certainly picked some

00:34:20

fantastic pieces

00:34:24

what he hasn't noticed is that all these

00:34:26

columns are now upside down in ancient

00:34:30

Greece Corinthian style capitals would

00:34:32

have been high up by the ceiling

00:34:38

so if not Alexander who could have

00:34:41

summoned the resources and manpower to

00:34:44

create a whole Greek City from scratch

00:34:51

Mr Alexander died at the age of just 33

00:34:55

his military commanders carved up the

00:34:58

Empire he'd created

00:35:02

one General seleucus would command an

00:35:05

enormous Kingdom that stretched from the

00:35:08

Eastern Mediterranean all the way to

00:35:10

bactria

00:35:13

celiuk has kept control of the lucrative

00:35:16

trade routes that crossed the lands

00:35:18

Alexander had conquered

00:35:22

Caravans carted Precious Cargo like gold

00:35:25

gemstones and cotton

00:35:27

from India in the East through batria

00:35:30

all the way to Greece in the West

00:35:36

the revenue will

00:35:37

enough to endow the great City

00:35:41

the capital of this growing Province a

00:35:47

[Music]

00:35:50

decades after Alexander's departure

00:35:53

there is no way it could be the lost

00:35:55

city I'm looking for

00:36:00

I want to find out what was here when

00:36:03

Alexander and his army arrived

00:36:09

I'm on my way to check out an earthwork

00:36:11

nearby a place French archaeologists

00:36:14

reckon to have been built during the

00:36:16

Bronze Age

00:36:23

I find magnificent

00:36:26

[Music]

00:36:34

well I'm about five kilometers out

00:36:36

across the plane from my hanum what I'm

00:36:39

walking down is an enormous Canal now

00:36:42

this was dug by hand more than 2 000

00:36:45

years before Alexander the Great got

00:36:46

here now can you imagine how many people

00:36:49

it would take to dig something like this

00:36:51

I mean these walls are 50 feet high

00:36:54

this is not just nomadic Horseman who

00:36:57

built this this is a civilization that

00:36:59

was Advanced enough to actually employ

00:37:01

the people to do it and then actually

00:37:04

design this place and it would have

00:37:05

brought water right across the plain it

00:37:07

would have been an Eden here so the

00:37:10

question is where was The Great City

00:37:12

that this canal fed

00:37:19

[Music]

00:37:20

it's not only the canal that has changed

00:37:25

it's hard to imagine a time when this

00:37:27

was fertile ground

00:37:30

but once the osis River followed a very

00:37:33

different course than today

00:37:35

[Music]

00:37:37

signs are everywhere that in the Bronze

00:37:39

Age it flowed across the middle of this

00:37:42

plane [Music]

00:37:47

irrigation systems fed a series of

00:37:50

villages and Farms that flourished here

00:37:57

to date only one has been excavated and

00:38:00

it's called shorter guy

00:38:04

well I know this place doesn't look like

00:38:05

much but in fact it's incredibly

00:38:07

important

00:38:09

it was excavated by a French

00:38:10

archaeologist named Frankfort just

00:38:12

before the Soviets came in and what he

00:38:15

discovered was this place was Bronze Age

00:38:18

it's more than four thousand years old

00:38:20

but what was really exciting was that he

00:38:23

found that this was an Indian Trading

00:38:25

Post right here on the axis now today

00:38:27

the auction is about 5Ks away that blue

00:38:30

line you can see but back then the river

00:38:32

level was higher and it came right in

00:38:34

here

00:38:35

and so this being an Indian Trading Post

00:38:38

puts a whole new spin on everything

00:38:43

[Music]

00:38:48

built by the Greeks Bronze Age Traders

00:38:51

traveled all the way from the great

00:38:53

cities of the Indus Valley in India

00:38:57

they came right across the Panama

00:38:59

mountains by Caravan

00:39:00

[Music]

00:39:02

all the way to Riverside outposts like

00:39:06

shorter guy

00:39:08

They Carried painted Pottery gold and

00:39:12

bronzeware

00:39:14

it was not only Goods that traveled on

00:39:16

these routes but people ideas and

00:39:20

spiritual beliefs

00:39:24

Russian historians think the plains

00:39:27

surrounding could have been the

00:39:29

birthplace of the Prophet zoroasta

00:39:32

making this the spiritual Heartland of

00:39:36

the Revolutionary local religion

00:39:38

Zoroastrianism

00:39:40

[Music]

00:39:58

but if this is true there must have been

00:40:00

a great Citadel defending it

00:40:05

to find out more I visit a man who knows

00:40:09

this place better than anyone

00:40:13

General Khalil halik looks after the 125

00:40:17

kilometer stretch of the axis river that

00:40:19

runs alongside

00:40:24

it turns out the general is passionate

00:40:27

about the history of this area

00:40:31

he tells me that there's evidence all

00:40:34

around the barracks we're sitting in

00:40:39

French archaeologists found surface

00:40:42

shards thousands of years old

00:40:45

it's actually called kanyakala and as a

00:40:48

customs post well it's not a bad

00:40:50

position here on the river but when the

00:40:52

French came here in the 1980s they only

00:40:54

had a cursory look I knew it was Bronze

00:40:57

Age but then they went back to ayahanum

00:40:59

but what's got me thinking is that

00:41:02

shorter guy that Indian Trading Post is

00:41:05

also Bronze Age so it's given me an idea

00:41:08

but to have a look at that we need to

00:41:10

get a bird's eye view

00:41:14

from the air there's a clear footprint

00:41:17

of a large structure but it looks

00:41:20

incomplete the outer walls end abruptly

00:41:24

at the riverbank

00:41:26

seems most of the inner defenses and the

00:41:29

Citadel have been swept away by the

00:41:32

river [Music]

00:41:33

but if you fill in the blanks this is

00:41:36

what conucala originally looked like

00:41:40

[Music]

00:41:41

it was age fortified town over a

00:41:44

kilometer wide and three kilometers in

00:41:48

circumference I believe the 2000 years

00:41:51

before Alexander this was the capital of

00:41:54

a highly Advanced trading settlement

00:41:57

beside the oxus and the holy city of the

00:42:01

prophet zoraster

00:42:03

so how did Conyer Carla get wiped out

00:42:07

well I think it's quite clear that the

00:42:09

auxis has changed its course and then

00:42:12

swept right in here and taken away more

00:42:14

than half of the Citadel the question is

00:42:16

what could have caused the oxas to flood

00:42:19

so much that it had the power to take

00:42:22

this away

00:42:24

the auxis flows through a highly active

00:42:26

seismic region there have been more than

00:42:29

6 000 major earthquakes here in the last

00:42:32

1500 years alone

00:42:36

geophysicists now believe that in 2200

00:42:40

BC a series of earthquakes laid waste to

00:42:44

the Bronze Age World these Quakes were

00:42:47

powerful enough to burst an ice dam

00:42:50

hundreds of kilometers Upstream

00:42:59

unleashing a huge torrent of water

00:43:05

so how are we looking at the same event

00:43:07

did a cataclysmic flood destroy this

00:43:10

civilization as well well the dates fit

00:43:13

2200 BC this Citadel was probably here

00:43:16

and so if it's the same event could well

00:43:19

have destroyed it

00:43:24

in an instant the mighty oxus River

00:43:27

carved itself a new course

00:43:30

smashing through everything in its path

00:43:45

by the time Alexander arrived only a

00:43:48

fragment of this ancient city remained

00:43:51

but it was still sore Austrian Holy

00:43:54

Ground

00:43:57

I believe Alexander conquered kanyukala

00:44:00

because of its spiritual and strategic

00:44:03

importance

00:44:04

he then renamed it Alexandria on the

00:44:08

oxus

00:44:09

and 50 years later his successes

00:44:12

constructed their own sacred Greek city

00:44:16

next to the old the place we know today

00:44:19

as I hanum the city of Lady Moon

00:44:28

well it's terrific stuff but

00:44:31

unfortunately these questions may never

00:44:33

be answered

00:44:34

but what is for sure is that Deoxys

00:44:37

really has changed its course and in

00:44:39

doing so it destroyed a civilization

00:44:41

that was here for thousands of years

00:44:48

at last I've started to unravel the

00:44:51

mystery of Alexander's Lost City

00:44:55

[Music]

00:44:57

teaches the legend of Alexander has

00:44:59

become Larger than Life his route was

00:45:03

grueling and the battles he fought were

00:45:05

hard one

00:45:07

it's now clear to me that Alexander had

00:45:10

neither the time nor the resources to

00:45:13

build 16 cities along the way

00:45:20

many of the Cities he conquered were

00:45:23

already highly Advanced settlements when

00:45:25

the Greeks arrived when Alexander took

00:45:28

over these places were simply renamed in

00:45:32

his honor

00:45:34

create his own thoughts and would have

00:45:36

re-engineered City defenses but there's

00:45:40

no sign of the great alexandrian cities

00:45:43

of Legend not even on the oxes

00:45:52

like the Greeks we have crossed this

00:45:54

hostile and unpredictable landscape

00:45:58

here Alexander carved out a foothold by

00:46:01

capturing strategic Crossroads

00:46:05

he left Greg garrisons and made

00:46:08

alliances with local tribes

00:46:11

and in the thriving cities of ancient

00:46:13

bactria he found the remnants of a

00:46:16

civilization far more ancient than his

00:46:19

own

00:46:22

Alexander laid claim to an ancient ruin

00:46:26

but it was the Greek colonists who came

00:46:29

after him that built the first great

00:46:31

Brick City in Central Asia

00:46:39

[Music]

00:46:57

thank you

Description:

It is said that Alexander the Great founded around 16 cities in central Asia, however this is now thought to be false. Many of these cities likely already existed and were merely built upon by the great conqueror. David Adams is in search of several such cities to see what remains of these Ancient Metropolises in Afghanistan's dangerous frontiers. Odyssey is your journey into the world of Ancient History; from the dawn of Mesopotamia to the fall of Rome. We'll be bringing you only the best documentaries that journey into the mysteries and ruins of worlds long lost. Subscribe so you don't miss out! Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Matt Lewis and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code ODYSSEY: https://access.historyhit.com/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unsupportedbrowser Odyssey is part of the History Hit Network. For any queries, please contact [email protected]

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