Ancient Mesopotamia Return to Eden Ancient History Documentary

Summary

This script explores the enduring legend of the Garden of Eden, tracing its roots through ancient civilizations like Babylon, Assyria, and Sumer in Mesopotamia. It delves into archaeological discoveries, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Moabite Stone, which provide historical evidence and insights into biblical narratives, shedding light on the origins of human civilization and the quest for faith.

Takeaways

• 🌳 The Garden of Eden is a legendary story found in multiple civilizations, often associated with seduction, divine wrath, and the loss of paradise.
• 🔍 The search for the Garden of Eden leads to Mesopotamia, a region that was home to some of the earliest human civilizations, including Babylon, Assyria, and Sumer.
• 🌟 The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 is a significant event in biblical archaeology, providing the earliest known version of the Old Testament and sparking international interest and debate.
• 📜 The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered precious by both Jews and Christians, offering insights into a crucial period in Jewish history and being contemporaneous with John the Baptist and Jesus.
• 🏺 The Bible has been read from both a sacred and historical perspective, with some books being recognized as excellent historical records due to their accuracy and corroboration with other sources.
• 🏛️ Archaeological efforts have been driven by a desire to confirm biblical history, with scholars using ancient artifacts like pottery, city walls, and weapons to illustrate biblical stories.
• 🗿 The Moabite Stone, discovered in 1868, is an example of an archaeological find that confirmed a biblical story, providing written evidence of a battle also described in the Bible.
• 📚 The Babylonian civilization, which influenced the Bible, was known for its diverse culture and significant innovations, including the first written legal code, Hammurabi's Code.
• 🏰 Assyria, known for its ruthless military power, also contributed to biblical narratives and had a significant impact on the development of the Bible, particularly in the areas of law and governance.
• 🚀 The Sumerian civilization, often considered the first civilization on earth, introduced many foundational concepts like writing, government, and agriculture, and their stories, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, have parallels with biblical narratives.

Q & A

What is the significance of the Garden of Eden in various civilizations?

The Garden of Eden is an enduring legend found in many great civilizations, symbolizing a story of seduction, the wrath of God, and the loss of Paradise. It represents a place of origin and a lost utopia.

Why is the search for the Garden of Eden connected to Mesopotamia?

The search for the Garden of Eden leads to Mesopotamia because it is a region where the first seeds of human civilization were sown, and it was home to three of the greatest ancient civilizations: Babylon, Assyria, and Sumer.

What was the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947?

The Dead Sea Scrolls are significant because they include the earliest known version of the Old Testament, including the first five books known as the Torah. They provide a crucial historical and religious context for Judaism and Christianity.

Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls considered precious to both Jews and Christians?

The Dead Sea Scrolls are precious to Jews because they come from a crucial period in Jewish history. For Christians, they are important because they are contemporaneous with the times of John the Baptist and Jesus, offering insights into the historical context of their teachings.

What was the role of archaeology in the 19th century in relation to biblical history?

In the 19th century, archaeology was used to fortify belief in the Bible. It sought to prove the historical accuracy of biblical narratives by locating sites and finding artifacts that illustrated the stories from the Bible.

What was the significance of the Moabite Stone discovered in 1868?

The Moabite Stone was significant because it provided the first written confirmation of a story from the Bible, specifically the account of a battle also described in the Bible, offering tangible evidence of the Bible's historical accuracy.

How did the Babylonian captivity influence the development of the Bible?

The Babylonian captivity was a period when the Israelites were allowed to keep their own culture and religion. This environment led to the unification of Israel's oral tradition, new writings, and sacred texts into a single manuscript, effectively giving birth to the Bible as a written text.

What influence did Babylonian culture have on the Bible?

Babylonian culture profoundly influenced the Bible, reflecting stories and traditions from Babylon and earlier Mesopotamian civilizations. The cultural exchange in Babylon contributed to the development of the Bible's narratives and legal codes.

What is the connection between Hammurabi's code and biblical law?

Hammurabi's code, one of the earliest written legal codes, influenced the legal code in the Bible, particularly in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Concepts such as 'an eye for an eye' can be traced back to Hammurabi's laws.

How did the Assyrians impact the biblical narratives and the Israelites?

The Assyrians, known for their military might and efficient war machine, are depicted in the Bible as symbols of tyranny and oppression. Their attacks on the Israelites, such as the siege of Lachish, are recorded in the Bible and reflect the historical conflicts between the two cultures.

What is the significance of the Sumerian civilization in the context of the script?

The Sumerian civilization is significant as it represents the earliest known civilization, with innovations such as writing, the wheel, and city planning. Their stories, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Great Flood, predate and parallel biblical narratives, suggesting a shared cultural heritage.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 The Quest for Eden and Mesopotamian Civilizations

This paragraph introduces the enduring legend of the Garden of Eden and its prevalence in various civilizations. It suggests the possibility of the story having a basis in historical truth and leads the audience on a journey to Mesopotamia, a region where the earliest seeds of human civilization were sown. The narrative mentions the flourishing of ancient civilizations such as Babylon, Assyria, and Sumer, hinting at archaeological and historical evidence that might support the Biblical narratives. The paragraph sets the stage for a deeper exploration into the historical foundations of these stories, beginning with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, which are significant for both Jews and Christians.

05:02

📜 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Archaeology

The paragraph delves into the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered by Bedouin shepherds near Qumran, east of Jerusalem. These ancient texts, written by the Essenes, include the earliest known version of the Old Testament and have sparked international interest and debate among scholars and theologians. The scrolls are precious for their historical accuracy and their connection to a crucial period in Jewish and Christian history. The paragraph also discusses the broader context of biblical archaeology, which aims to locate sites and evidence from the Bible, and the fervor with which scholars pursued these findings in the 19th century, leading to what was termed a 'biblical gold rush'.

10:04

🏺 The Historical Impact of Babylon on the Bible

This paragraph explores the influence of the Babylonian civilization on the development of the Bible. It discusses how the Israelites, during their captivity in Babylon, formalized their oral traditions into a written text, leading to the creation of the Bible as we know it. The paragraph highlights the cultural diversity of Babylon and how it shaped the religious texts, including the possible influence on the story of the Tower of Babel. It also touches on the Babylonian legal code of Hammurabi and its potential reflection in the biblical laws found in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.

15:04

🗡️ Assyrian Dominance and Its Biblical Portrayal

The paragraph examines the Assyrian Empire, known for its military might and despotic rule, and its depiction in the Bible as a symbol of tyranny and oppression. It recounts the biblical story of King Sennacherib's attack on the Israelites, as described in the second book of Kings, and the subsequent Assyrian dominance in the region. The paragraph also discusses the archaeological discoveries in Assyria, including the palace of Nineveh and its library of clay tablets, which provide insights into Assyrian daily life and culture.

20:06

👑 Assyrian Queens and the Legacy of Nimrod

This paragraph focuses on the discovery of the ancient palace of Nimrod and the tomb of an Assyrian Queen, revealing the status and privilege of Assyrian queens in contrast to the limited status of ordinary women. The narrative describes the unearthing of a royal treasure, including jewelry and artifacts, which provides a glimpse into the opulence and craftsmanship of the Assyrian civilization. It also touches on the Assyrian King Sennacherib's military campaigns and the biblical account of the siege of Lachish.

25:06

🌊 The Great Flood: Sumerian and Biblical Accounts

The paragraph presents the story of the Great Flood as told in both the Bible and the ancient Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh. It discusses the similarities between the two accounts and highlights the discovery of Sumerian tablets that predate the Bible's version by at least 2,000 years. The paragraph also explores the Sumerian civilization, recognized as the first civilization on Earth, and its contributions to human progress, such as the invention of the wheel, writing, and the establishment of government.

30:07

🏙️ The Lost City of Ur and Woolley's Excavations

This paragraph narrates the story of the British archaeologist Leonard Woolley and his excavations in the lost city of Ur, once believed to be the birthplace of Abraham. Woolley's work brought to life the daily lives and innovations of the Sumerians through his detailed archaeological findings. The paragraph also discusses Woolley's claim of discovering evidence of the Biblical Flood in the form of a silt layer amidst the ruins, a claim that captured the public's imagination and contributed to the popular interest in archaeology.

35:08

🛖 The Royal Tombs of Ur and Woolley's Funeral Account

The paragraph describes Woolley's discovery of the royal tombs in Ur, which contained 74 skeletons, suggesting a mass burial possibly related to a royal funeral. Woolley's interpretation of the scene as a pre-dynastic royal funeral, where the court drank poison to accompany their prince in death, has become a significant account in archaeology. The paragraph emphasizes the sensational nature of this discovery and its contribution to our understanding of early civilization's funerary practices.

40:09

🐍 The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Search for Paradise

This paragraph connects the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh with the concept of paradise, suggesting that the story's paradise, known as Dilmun, may have been based on a real location. The narrative discusses the island of Bahrain as a possible candidate for Dilmun, once a lush island with abundant water and life, and compares it to the Biblical Garden of Eden. The paragraph also mentions the presence of snakes in the burial mounds of Bahrain, echoing the serpent's role in both the epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible.

45:10

📖 The Dead Sea Scrolls Revisited and Biblical Archaeology's Quest

The final paragraph revisits the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, emphasizing their significance in Jewish and Christian history and their role in the historical validation of the Bible. The paragraph concludes the journey through Mesopotamian history by reflecting on the quest for the Garden of Eden and the exploration of the ancient civilizations of Babylon, Assyria, and Sumer. It highlights the ongoing efforts of biblical archaeology to uncover the historical foundations of religious beliefs and the profound mysteries of the Bible.

Keywords

💡Garden of Eden

The 'Garden of Eden' is a biblical location described as a paradise where Adam and Eve lived before the fall of man. In the video, it symbolizes the search for the origins of human civilization and the quest for a historical or geographical basis for biblical stories. The script suggests that the legend of the Garden of Eden might be rooted in ancient Mesopotamian civilizations.

💡Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, referred to as 'the land between the rivers' (Tigris and Euphrates), is where some of the earliest human civilizations emerged. The script positions Mesopotamia as the cradle of civilization and the possible location for the biblical Garden of Eden, linking it to the historical foundations of biblical narratives.

💡Dead Sea Scrolls

The 'Dead Sea Scrolls' are a collection of Jewish texts discovered between 1947 and 1956, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE. They include the oldest known copies of biblical texts, including the Torah. The script highlights the discovery's significance in verifying the historical accuracy of the Bible and its emotional and religious impact.

💡Babylon

Babylon, as mentioned in the script, was an ancient city and the capital of Babylonia, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. It is associated with King Nebuchadnezzar and the biblical story of the Babylonian exile. The script suggests that Babylon had a profound influence on the development of the Bible and its legal codes.

💡Assyria

Assyria was an ancient Mesopotamian kingdom known for its military power and the construction of the great city of Nineveh. In the script, Assyria is depicted as a brutal empire with a significant impact on biblical narratives, particularly in the context of the Israelites' captivity.

💡Sumer

Sumer represents the earliest urban civilization in southern Mesopotamia, known for its innovations in writing, agriculture, and architecture. The script connects Sumer to the origins of civilization and the possible source of biblical stories, such as the Great Flood narrative.

💡Hammurabi's Code

Hammurabi's Code is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world, dating back to about 1754 BCE. It is a set of laws that influenced legal systems, including those in the Bible. The script presents Hammurabi's Code as a precursor to biblical laws, showing the cultural exchange between Mesopotamia and the authors of the Bible.

💡Moabite Stone

The 'Moabite Stone' is an inscribed stone stele that provides an account of a battle described in the Bible, offering one of the earliest corroborations of biblical events from an external source. The script recounts the discovery of the Moabite Stone as a significant event in biblical archaeology.

💡Archaeology

Archaeology, as discussed in the script, is the scientific study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts. It is central to the video's theme as it provides evidence and context for biblical narratives, connecting them to the historical and geographical realities of ancient civilizations.

💡Biblical Archaeology

Biblical Archaeology is a subfield of archaeology that focuses on the material evidence related to the Bible and the history of the ancient Near East. The script describes it as a quest to confirm the historical accuracy of biblical stories and to locate sites mentioned in the Bible, such as Jerusalem, Babylon, and Nineveh.

💡Cuneiform

Cuneiform is one of the earliest systems of writing, invented by the Sumerians. The script mentions cuneiform as the writing system found on clay tablets in the library of Nineveh, providing direct communication with the ancient world and insights into the daily life and culture of the Assyrians.

Highlights

The Garden of Eden is a recurring legend across civilizations, often associated with seduction, divine wrath, and lost paradise.

The search for the Garden of Eden leads to Mesopotamia, a region that cradled the first seeds of human civilization.

Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq, was home to the great civilizations of Babylon, Assyria, and Sumer.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, are the earliest known version of the Old Testament, including the Torah.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls sparked international interest and debates among scholars and theologians.

The Bible has been read from both sacred and historical perspectives, with its historical accuracy being a subject of ongoing research.

Biblical archaeology began in the Holy Land and expanded to Mesopotamia, aiming to locate biblical sites and validate biblical narratives.

The Moabite Stone, discovered in 1868, provided the first written confirmation of a biblical story.

The Babylonian captivity led to the formalization of the Bible as a written text, influenced by Babylonian culture.

Babylon's influence on the Bible is evident in its legal codes, which predate the Israelites' captivity.

The Assyrian Empire, known for its brutal military, also contributed to the biblical narrative, particularly in the story of Sennacherib.

The discovery of the library of Nineveh revealed 22,000 clay tablets, providing direct communication with the ancient Assyrians.

Assyrian queens enjoyed great privilege, as evidenced by the treasure of Nimrod, discovered in 1989.

The Sumerians were the first civilization, inventing the wheel, government, and writing.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in Sumer, is the world's first written epic and predates the Bible's story of the Great Flood.

The Sumerian city of Ur, thought to be the birthplace of Abraham, was the site of significant archaeological discoveries.

The concept of paradise, like the Garden of Eden, is a universal theme found in various cultures and legends.

The island of Bahrain, once lush and abundant, is suggested as a possible location for the Garden of Eden.

Transcripts

[Music]

the Garden of Eden our most enduring

legend a story found in one great

civilization after another

a story of seduction

[Music]

the wrath of God

and Paradise Lost

but is it merely a fable is there

evidence the great stories of the Bible

might be true

was there ever really such a place as

even

today the search for the Garden of Eden

leads us to a dry and desolate land to a

place called Mesopotamia

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

this is the land where the first seeds

of human civilization were sown and it

was here that three of the greatest

civilizations of the ancient world

flourished Babylon Assyria and Sumer

among their ruins the faithful of long

sought answers to the Bible's most

profound mysteries while archaeologists

scoured these lands for the historical

foundations of belief our quest for Eden

as a journey back in time first to

Babylon

the last of these lost civilizations

then further into the past to the

Assyrians fierce masters of the art of

war

and finally to a moment in the past so

distant only Eden could have preceded it

to Sumer

and the creation of civilization itself

the great arc of the Fertile Crescent

over the course of more than 6,000 years

this rich land cradled between the

Tigris and Euphrates rivers gave birth

to the first great civilizations the

Greeks called it Mesopotamia

we call it Iraq by peeling back the

layers of history here we can trace the

origins of our oldest stories and travel

back to the deepest roots of faith our

journey begins on the western edge of

Mesopotamia in Israel a chance discovery

in 1947 would rivet the world's

attention to archaeology and to the

Bible to Bedouin shepherds are moving a

herd of goats along the cliffs of Qumran

a few miles east of Jerusalem in the

sun-baked desert they noticed a small

cave obscured by a rocky slope

curious one begins to climb it's not

uncommon for ancient and valuable

artifacts to be found along these Bluffs

inside the cave the Shepherd discovers

the wreckage of ancient pots leather

scroll fragments and some papyrus sheets

all untouched since the time of Jesus

these writings by an obscure Jewish sect

called the Essenes would come to be

known throughout the world as the Dead

Sea Scrolls in surrounding caves

hundreds of ancient scrolls would

eventually be unearthed one of them

would prove to be the earliest known

version of the Old Testament including

the crucial first five books known to

the Jews as the Torah the Dead Sea

scrolls instantly became the focus of a

tremendous international uproar as

scholars and theologians fought over

their ownership and their meaning and

their sensation was outstanding this was

described as one of the most outstanding

archaeological finds anywhere so they're

very precious to the Jews because that

Jewish had come from a very crucial

period in Jewish history they're very

precious to the Christians because

they're contemporaneous with John the

Baptist's in Jesus and so on so they are

very informative but beyond that we have

a great emotional attachment to this

library the Bible has always been a book

read from two points of view the sacred

and the historical a traditional Torah

is always written by hand the words are

read aloud as the scribe writes so they

become a living prayer and each Torah is

considered holy from the moment it is

written nay an hakeem but the historical

accuracy of the Bible has never been so

easily confirmed it's an effort that

continues to this day

deny some of the books of the Bible are

excellent historical books as a matter

of fact the earliest historical books

that we have and quite accurate because

we have cross references from

sources and they are found to be most

very precise so they are very important

the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

was the most famous event in biblical

archaeology but it was by no means the

first the urge to explore biblical

history has a venerable tradition it's a

search that began in the Holy Land but

would lead to Mesopotamia

throughout history Crusaders mystics and

believers have been drawn to sites where

the great Bible stories took place but

with the arrival of the 19th century a

new kind of pilgrim sought to fortify

their belief in the Bible through the

infant science of archaeology surely

there could be no greater confirmation

of their faith than to prove that

biblical history was true the first aim

of the biblical archaeologists was to

locate sites mentioned prominently in

the biblical narratives and to see if

any illustration of those tales could be

found to use the ancient pottery the

ancient city walls the ancient weapons

as illustrations of biblical stories

that all of them had been taught from

their childhood

[Music]

fueled by the excitement of early finds

scholars from all over the world raced

to stake out claims and a kind of

biblical gold rush

[Music]

competing British German and French

archaeologists descended on the Holy

Land

teams of theological detectives digging

for both God and country

[Music]

the prestige of each of the European

nations in the Holy Land was measured by

the kind of biblical discoveries that

they were uncovering and one of the most

intense diplomatic and political battles

that occurred in the history of Biblical

Archaeology was the discovery of the

famous Moabite stone in 1868 deep in the

land of Moab Bedouins zuv the bonny

Hamid a tribe stumbled onto a mysterious

stone tablet buried in the desert the

tribesmen were no strangers to the

antiquities of the area or to their

value to Europeans the first Westerner

to hear of the curious black stone was

the Reverend Frederick Augustus Cline he

immediately set off through the bandit

infested wasteland accompanied only by a

few bedouin guides Cline was a

missionary not an archaeologist when he

first saw the peculiar basalt carving he

felt a rush of excitement suspecting the

black tablet might confirm his deepest

held beliefs

he examined the stone and made a rough

impression of the inscription it was in

a language Klein didn't recognize

back in Jerusalem he sought help

deciphering the stone as news of the

find began to spread the streets and

bazaars buzzed with rumours of a great

discovery the writing on the stone

proved to be a Moabite Kings account of

a battle also described in the Bible for

the first time ever here was written

confirmation itched in stone of a story

from the Bible two sources for the same

event for the faithful it was the proof

they'd been looking for concrete

evidence of the Bible's historical

accuracy

[Music]

many sought to buy the stone but the

Bedouin had reason to be wearing in the

past they'd been cheated even robbed by

European treasure hunters assuming that

anything so highly prized by Europeans

must contain gold they dumped the stone

into a fire in an attempt to break it

apart as fire heated the stone they

poured water over it again and again

until finally it exploded

they found no gold and the stone was

destroyed the first archaeological

confirmation of a Bible story the first

corroborating evidence ever found in the

Holy Land was shattered the loss of the

stone was devastating but it didn't end

the biblical treasure hunt

now that the Bible itself was verified

as history it pointed the way even

further into the past back more than

2500 years ago to a great Empire ruled

from Babylon to the very moment the

Bible itself was born

the year is 586 BC the armies of

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon descend

on Jerusalem with the wrath of an angry

god it is almost 6 centuries before the

birth of Christ the Romans have not yet

even dreamed of Empire it is a dark

chapter in the history of the Jews while

babylons fierce star is rising the Bible

describes the Babylonian attack homes

are pillaged King Solomon's Temple is

set ablaze and utterly destroyed

10,000 Israelite captives princes

soldiers artisans and scribes all are

led to Babylon in Chains the Israelites

crossed more than 500 miles of desert

following ancient trade routes across

modern-day Jordan Syria and Iraq to

Babylon in Psalms 137 the Israelites

lament by the rivers of Babylon there we

sat down and wept when we remembered

Zion how shall we sing the Lord's song

in a foreign land

broken and exhausted the Israelites

entered Babylon in awe of his scope and

frenzy torn from the modest city of

Jerusalem they beheld the majestic

capital of the ancient world

[Music]

but somehow the Israelites managed to do

more than singing the Lord's song in

this foreign land they also wrote it

down if you look at any piece of oral

literature and then you write it down

you're formalizing it you're immediately

setting down a text which people can

criticize or can say this is the truth

everything else is wrong that I think is

the biggest effect of writing down the

Bible or the Old Testament today the

reconstructed walls surrounding Babylon

are stamped with the name Saddam Hussein

but once the bricks bore another name

King Nebuchadnezzar

[Music]

this was a land of many gods and pagan

idols an unlikely birthplace for one of

the world's most sacred texts yet

babylons great diversity created the

perfect climate and they come into this

cause important and bound even the most

educated among them and literate among

them were being bombarded with direct

contact with other people and I mean

other people the Israelites found

themselves in a melting pot of different

races and languages conflicting gods and

alien demons what city is this the book

of Revelation would ask clothed in

purple and scarlet and decked with gold

and pearls the habitation of devils and

the hold of every foul spirit Babylon

the great mother of harlots and the

abominations of the earth

but among all the abominations even

perhaps because of them this was where

the Bible first became a book threatened

by an overwhelming new culture Hebrew

scribes were desperate to preserve and

solidified Jewish identity over three

generations of captivity the scribes

unified Israel's oral tradition new

writings and sacred texts into a single

manuscript the Bible was born

fortunately for them

the Babylonians were pretty liberal they

allowed to them to keep their own

culture their own religion to study

their own books this is what preserved

the Bible to this very day but as the

books of the Bible came together over

the long years of Exile Babylonian

culture would profoundly influence the

work of the Israelite scribes useful

fairly literate people I suspect many of

the people who went into exile and

scribes talked to scribes and I'm sure

that was how a lot of information was

transmitted and the exchange of ideas

and knowledge must have been I would use

the word devastating it must have been

mind-blowing the Bible would eventually

reflect stories and traditions from

Babylon and even earlier Mesopotamian

civilizations the Israelites couldn't

easily ignore babylons thriving culture

and great monuments

it's temples were among the largest

structures in the ancient world big

public buildings the ceremonial walkway

Palace of Nebuchadnezzar with its

legendary Hanging Gardens armed trees

gorillas if you had walked through the

Ishtar Gate you would have felt the

wolfed and this was delivered you were

in the presence of something powerful

but on all sides of it was the city the

people the commoners narrow winding

alleyways rows and rows of small stores

donkeys brain crowds of people walking

[Music]

small closely met quarters teeming with

life

and it was here the Bible tells us that

one of Antiquities most extraordinary

monuments soared into the sky the Tower

of Babel for ages adventurers and

pilgrims hoped that finding the famous

Tower would prove the truth of Bible

stories one seeker who failed would

write no man Durst go near to the tower

for it is all desert and full of dragons

and great serpents and full of diverse

venomous beasts medieval travelers

claimed they had found the tower this

spiral minaret still standing in

northern Iraq

but they were wrong this tower was built

1,500 years too late and far from the

walls of Babylon perhaps the most

intriguing possibility was posed by

Robert called away a German

archaeologist in the early 1900's he

discovered a rectangular ditch with only

a few ancient bricks remaining many

experts believe called away had found

all that survives of the famous Tower

Babylon's great monuments made a strong

impression of the biblical scribes but

her most enduring legacy surviving to

this day is a Babylonian innovation far

more impressive still the rule of law

Babylon was the first civilization on

earth to have a written legal code the

original carved stone is an astonishing

relic lost for hundreds of years it

would emerge in the late 19th century a

stone engraved with one of the most

important legal documents of all time

twelve hundred years before the

Israelites were taken captive a

Babylonian King had this stone carved

with the laws that bear his name

Hammurabi's code these writings can be

read as precursors to the legal code in

Exodus Leviticus and Deuteronomy in

societies where knowledge and law is

transmitted orally and dealt with orally

precedent is terribly important when he

got written down the people who wrote it

down had immense power Hammurabi's code

has influenced nearly every civilization

since Babylon today even some of its

more primitive methods of judgment

survived virtually intact Hammurabi

described a ritual called the ordeal a

painful even deadly test of guilt or

innocence in some remote Bedouin tribes

the ordeal is still practiced much as it

was in the time of Hammurabi in this

rare footage a holy man called the

mabashi will judge the accused by

examining their tongues after they lick

a red-hot

[Music]

these men have been accused of theft

they must submit to the ordeal for be

found guilty by default family members

look on anxiously as the young men

prepare themselves for the painful

ritual come little Turkey will be

Netherlands how much they're getting

little there was the National are you

water doesn't ease the pain it's meant

to cleanse and purify the drinker and -

ready him for judgement the holy man

prays and then examines the singed

tongues seeking a sign from God

only the mabashi can divine guilt or

innocence and he alone will determine

the men's fate at last a verdict one man

is found innocent to the great relief of

his family the other is not as fortunate

declared guilty he will be fined for his

crime the ordeal is an intriguing

modern-day echo of hammurabi but his

laws reach even more directly into the

present through the Bible

thou shalt not bear false witness

against a guy

the ten commandments the foundation of

biblical law and yet only the beginning

of a complex set of codes and covenants

central to the Old Testament

[Music]

and in these laws the clear voice of

Hammurabi can still be heard Hammurabi

set down laws he didn't innovate a great

deal he nearly set down inviting laws

which had operated by president for

hundreds if not thousands of years an

eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and

principles like this many of which is

still codified in law today but the

babylon that shaped the bible and its

laws had its roots in an even earlier

civilization one that reached its peak

seven centuries before Christ it was the

brutal Empire of Assyria a place the

Bible called

a land bathed in blood

[Music]

deadliest of all Mesopotamian armies to

sweep through the ancient world were the

Assyrians in the Bible they are the

ultimate symbol of bloody tyranny and

ruthless oppression

[Music]

a hundred years before Nebuchadnezzar

took the Israelites captive in Babylon

the Bible tells us the Assyrian King

Sennacherib attacked the lands of the

Israelites

in the second book of Kings the Bible

says behold with the kings of Assyria

have done to our lands destroying them

utterly

the Assyrians were ruled by despotic

Kings they believed in absolute power

now absolute power means crooks law and

absolute power almost invariably is kept

in power by military efficiency and

might and the 'silly ins maintained an

enormous ly powerful and efficient war

machine and on the walls of the city and

King's palaces were the Chronicles of

some of our expeditions written in

vainglorious grandiloquent terms the

Assyrians

they would take a city and they would

stack up the heads of the leading

citizens outside the gate or they would

take the king of the of the city and

Flay him alive and nail his skin to the

wall or something like that but

everybody did that Assyrian power

symbolized by the Royal lion hunt lay in

the hands of merciless warrior kings

[Music]

even the Bible betrays grudging

admiration behold of the Assyrian under

his shadow dwelt all great nation

Ezekiel 31 when the city of Rome was in

its infancy Assyria was the greatest

empire in the world for more than a

thousand years details of Assyrian

civilization were few even its great

capital city of Nineveh was unknown to

the modern world

then in 1852 these desolate ruins were

explored by British archaeologist Austen

Henry Layard what Laird found here in

northern Iraq was nothing less than the

royal palace of Nineveh an unspoiled

treasure of Assyrian civilization

tunneling like a miner through the earth

layered uncovered great winged balls and

spectacular artistry hidden from human

view for a millennium the world was

stunned and excited by his breakthrough

Nineveh was another biblical city found

yet more confirmation of the Bible's

historical accuracy but the most

momentous of Layard discoveries was the

great library of Nineveh an

extraordinary collection of 22,000 clay

tablets inscribed with the cuneiform

writing of the Assyrians the only direct

communication that we have with the

people in the ancient world really is

what they left behind in their writings

we can know from that what they ate what

their medical treatments were what their

family life was like what their politics

was like how they viewed religion

details of Assyrian daily life reveal a

patriarchal society a world where

commoners and especially women had

little status every assyrian woman once

in her early life before marriage would

go to the temple of Ishtar and she would

sit on the steps and she would wait

there until some man came along and

dropped a coin on the hem of her dress

and then she would go inside with him

and do her thing and that was it

yet in this despotic world there was a

kind of justice in marriage even a wife

had certain rights

the woman could specify in her marriage

contract that her husband would have no

other wives

she might specify that he could have all

the prostitutes he wanted but no

otherwise

but if ordinary women had only limited

status recent discoveries reveal

Assyrian Queens enjoyed great privilege

in 1989 the ancient palace of Nimrod in

northern Iraq set the stage for a

startling find experts called it the

most significant discovery since King

Tut's tomb

the treasure of Nimrod while we were

cleaning some of the rooms we discovered

that there are some indications for

revolting underneath the floor we took

everything out and we tried to sort it

and we discovered that we have here the

bodies of at least two Queens solid gold

bracelets still adorned there bones

a royal treasure entombed more than

2,000 years ago this remarkable footage

shot by Iraqi archaeologists is an

exclusive record of their extraordinary

discoveries for the very first time the

tomb of an Assyrian Queen had been

uncovered intact the royal Sepulchre

still displayed a curse to protect its

occupants should anyone break open the

seal and remove me from my tomb let his

spirit roam in thirst under the bitter

rays of the Sun and may the great gods

of the underworld in

his corpse and ghosts with eternal

restlessness ignoring the curse

archaeologists excavated more than a

hundred and twenty-five pounds of

beautifully crafted jewelry crystal

goblets and exquisite carvings the

ancient Assyrians were master

Goldsmith's and artisans but the value

of this treasure far exceeds its worth

and gold in death Assyrian queens were

lavished with riches but in life it was

her kings who forged history Kings with

a taste for Empire in the year 701 BC

King Sennacherib and his army struck out

across the desert toward the

Mediterranean Sea the bold Assyrians

were determined to conquer all that lay

in their path the cities of Judah

including Jerusalem and it's rebellious

King Hezekiah fortress after fortress

fell to the Assyrians but it was the

city of Lachish whose brutal destruction

is best recorded in the historical

record and in the Bible

the siege of Lachish is a beautiful

example of how an Assyrian army

descended on a city surrounded it

besieged it reduced it and took away its

inhabitants to slavery those that were

not executed men women and children

their technique was very simple it was

brutal conquest fast-moving conquest

systematic efficient conquest and on the

best beliefs in Assyrian palaces you see

the siege engines the soldiers moving up

the mounds or the shields above them

protecting them from the debris thrown

down below but they had no hope in hell

those guys were professional soldiers it

was a machine from the capital city of

Jerusalem King Hezekiah knew an Assyrian

attack was inevitable he raced to

fortify the city and ordered an

underground aqueducts dug a desperate

effort to protect the city's water

supply in the face of a siege as a

kaya's plan worked the Bible tells us

the Lord saved Jerusalem and the king of

Assyria returneth shamefaced

to his own land

Sennacherib version of the conflict was

found on a clay prism unearthed in

Nineveh

it matches the Bible story down to the

smallest details but it's point of view

is sharply different but as for his

Akaya the Jew who did not bow down in

submission to my yoke 46 of his strong

world towns I besieged and conquered the

awful splendor of my lordship

overwhelmed him stories are told from

different angles but they are in

agreement if you will have to tell about

what happened today and I'll have to

tell will tell different stories

we have the story of Sennacherib

invading to this country each tells

basically about the same story Levant

with absolutely no contradictions no

contradictions but one the result in

Sanok rubs version Hezekiah is shut up

in Jerusalem like a caged bird but in

the Bible the Assyrian armies are held

back by Jerusalem's walls it is perhaps

the earliest example of spin-doctors at

work the god of the Israelites has the

last word I will break the Assyrian in

my land the Bible says for through the

voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be

beaten down Isaiah chapter 6

and the Bible tells us God does destroy

Nineveh throne of the greatest Syrian

kings it wasn't the first such

annihilation long before the Almighty

had laid waste an entire civilization

there is not a single mention of their

name in the Bible but they were called

Sumer and they told the story of a great

flood

it's one of the most familiar of all

Bible stories the saga of Noah's Ark

an angry god a wooden boat

I tell you

[Music]

it's the story of Noah and his family

escaping to the ark with every species

of animal and surviving the punishing

flood while the rest of mankind is

destroyed it's a primal tale stirring

our deepest hopes and fears a story

found in the Bible but also in another

ancient text a text discovered in the

ruins of Sumer early this century a

group of Mesopotamian tablets were

translated they revealed the earliest

known legend of a cataclysmic flood the

world's very first written epic it is

the story of the mythic King Gilgamesh

his tale of a Great Flood predates the

Bible's by at least 2,000 years for

seven days and seven nights the flood

had slipped over the lag and the huge

boat had been tossed about by the storms

boat then ones around on a mountain he

sends out birds which is the story which

has an eerie similarity to the story of

the Biblical Flood it's a wonderful

story more than 5000 years ago the story

of the Great Flood was first told here

in the ancient cities of Sumer Baroque

era do and er in Sumer we find the first

of almost everything that makes us

civilized they invented the wheel

government and gardening Sumer the first

civilization on earth in a land without

stone they devised mud bricks like those

still made and used today

and from these simple building blocks

they erected the first great monuments

called ziggurats towering temples

soaring hundreds of feet into the air

the Sumerians invented the 62nd minute

and even the troubled teenager where did

you go I didn't go anywhere if you

didn't go anywhere of why do you idle

about go to school stand before your

teacher recite your homework

write your tablet do you understand me

we know about the Sumerians they're

startling innovations and their everyday

lives thanks to their most impressive

invention writing we know their ancient

legends and their intimate secrets

because someone wrote them down it was

something no one had ever done before

it's a window but it's a window that's

composed of many panes some of which we

can see through and some of it recount

we we lack much more than we have so

well what we have is spectacular in some

cases we always have to bear in mind

that there are parts of the daily lives

of people that we can never see and

which we may never see because they're

people that those writing the tablets

didn't care about 5,000 years ago

someone etched their stories into clay

providing us with a glimpse of the world

in the first blush of civilization as a

people the Sumerians were in some ways

much like ourselves they are concerned

about meeting other people and drinking

beer and so on and there are several

collections of poems which relate the

preparations of a woman for her lover

and how she dresses and waits for her

lover to come

the center of Sumerian civilization was

the lost city of or once thought to be

the birthplace of Abraham first of the

Bible's patriarchs

it is the epitome of the biblical city

and archaeological terms because it was

the site of one of the most famous

archeological digs ever carried out in

the 1920s and 30s by a remarkable

British archeologist called Leonard

Woolley a British archeologist once

described archaeology as the science of

a rubbish which is so true

but give me the archaeologists who can

make the stones and the bones and bricks

and the pots come alive then Emily was

like that he would take people on a tour

of a small quarter of her of the

quarries where the house foundations are

exposed and as you walk through he would

talk about the lives of the people who

lived in these houses talk about the

ovens the sills the low ceilings the

furniture and her in what his hands came

alive

well he dubbed this enormous pit and he

went down to the city and it got smaller

and smaller and then there was this deep

sterile layer of silt and Willie himself

recounts how his wife came over looked

at it and she was a rather casual lady

in some ways and doc didn't said no well

of course that's the flood and the

lights went off and Willie claimed that

this was evidence of the Biblical Flood

and it captured the popular imagination

what did it do it brought in money and

uh was a dig that was sold brilliantly

[Music]

speculation about the biblical flood

caused a sensation even without solid

proof It was as if science and the Bible

had united in the Bleak desert of

southern Iraq

Willie would eventually unearth an

indisputable treasure a discovery that

provided extraordinary insight into this

earliest of civilizations the royal

tombs of or digging in the thick mud

wooly uncovered 74 carefully arranged

skeletons all entombed at the same time

the burial told the shocking story of a

king's final journey into the afterlife

and of those who accompanied him and

from this he developed a remarkable

story of a pre-dynastic royal funeral

and his story went something like this

first a dad was big hit with Wham

on one side in the pit they erected a

Sepulcher a stone

in which the body the while personnage

was placed

then the entire court filed into the pit

everybody lined up and stood there with

two clay pots in their hands and then it

was sick they all drank poison

lay down and died

so the prince went to his grave

accompanied by all his retainers

this has become one of the great

discovery is one of the great funeral

accounts of archaeology and early

history the discovery of the grave pizza

door was a triumph of archaeology

revealing ancient secrets of the first

civilization but science alone can take

us only so far where the trail ends

the epic of gilgamesh provides the final

tantalizing clues clues leading us back

to a garden and a place some called

paradise

a Garden of Eden in the beginning God

created the world it's a familiar story

you get these sort of creation myths in

almost every society on earth it's a

really compelling longing of people for

a better world gardens of Eden paradises

are people's longing for the less

complicated life or a life of years or a

reward for having worked so hard in the

ancient Sumerian epic of gilgamesh the

name given to paradise as doorman

it's a place beyond the edge of normal

human habitation because how it features

in the Cimmerian like me that's where

the flood survivor goes to live and

there are other myths which feature

Dillman as a place where everything was

perfect Gillman figures in Mesopotamian

legend as a sort of Garden of Eden was a

sort of paradise a place verdant green

and abundant water and cool winds and

breezes it is a place of wonder a

perfect place

yet it is also home to a serpent

in the ancient epic the snake steals

away the flower that bestows immortality

and so like Adam Gilgamesh must leave

the garden and die the idea of paradise

seems Universal but what is it based on

was there ever really such a place the

clues point to an enchanted yet very

real location 400 miles south of the

ancient Sumerian city of war lies the

island of Bahrain a pivotal marketplace

on the trade routes across the arid

desert sand salt seas of Mesopotamia

today Bahrain is something less than

paradise

but it was once lush once this island

had abundant water and thus abundant

life once long ago this was Dillman but

was it paradise

[Music]

by comparison to the surrounding desert

it would certainly have seemed so there

was so much water here that what is now

a desert island bloomed it was a garden

bearing lush fruit and there were people

here who apparently led a blessed life

more than 85,000 burial mounds dot this

landscape probably the most in any one

location in the ancient world the

ancient bones tell us these people were

taller and healthier and they lived

longer than anyone else in the region

and in the burial mounds is one more

astonishing clue the remains of snakes

ritually embalm dat some lost moment

more than 4,000 years ago

here in Bahrain we find the serpent just

as we found it in the epic of gilgamesh

and just as we found it in the Bible

our journey back in time has crossed the

lands for the Babylonians the Assyrians

and the ancient Sumerians once walked

the earth is it possible to venture even

farther to the land that conceals the

very footsteps of Adam

here faith and reason must part company

we now know there was once an island

garden in Mesopotamia we may choose to

believe it was paradise

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

and a few miles east of Jerusalem

in the sun-baked desert they notice a

small cave obscured by a rocky slope

curious one begins to climb it's not

uncommon for ancient and valuable

artifacts to be found along these Bluffs

inside the cave the Shepherd discovers

the wreckage of ancient pots leather

scroll fragments and some papyrus sheets

all untouched since the time of Jesus

these writings by an obscure Jewish sect

called the Essenes would come to be

known throughout the world as the Dead

Sea Scrolls in surrounding caves

hundreds of ancient scrolls would

eventually be unearthed one of them

would prove to be the earliest known

version of the Old Testament including

the crucial first five books known to

the Jews as the Torah the Dead Sea

scrolls instantly became the focus of a

tremendous international uproar as

scholars and theologians fought over

their ownership and their meaning and

their sensation was outstanding this was

described as one of the most outstanding

archaeological finds anywhere so they're

very precious to the Jews because that

Jewish come from a very crucial period

in Jewish history

they are very precious to the Christians

because they're contemporaneous with

John the Baptist's in Jesus and so on so

Dov

the first aim of the biblical

archaeologists was to locate sites

mentioned prominently in the biblical

narratives and to see if any

illustration of those tales could be

found to use the ancient pottery the

ancient city walls the ancient weapons

as illustrations of biblical stories

that all of them had been taught from

their childhood fueled by the excitement

of early finds scholars from all over

the world raced to stake out claims and

a kind of biblical gold rush

[Music]

competing British German and French

archaeologists descended on the Holy

Land

teams of theological detectives digging

for both God and country

[Music]

the prestige of each of the European

nations in the Holy Land was measured by

the kind of biblical discoveries that

they were uncovering and one of the most

intense diplomatic and political battles

that occurred in the history of Biblical

Archaeology was the discovery of the

famous Moabite stone in 1868 deep in the

land of Moab better ones of the Bonnie

Hama de tribe

stumbled onto a mysterious stone tablet

buried in the desert the tribesmen were

no strangers to the antiquities of the

area or to their value to Europeans the

first Westerner to hear of the curious

black stone was the Reverend Frederick

Augustus Klein he immediately set off

through the

[Music]

the Garden of Eden our most enduring

legend a story found in one great

civilization after another

a story of seduction

[Music]

the wrath of God

and Paradise Lost

but is it merely a fable

is there evidence the great stories of

the Bible might be true

was there ever really such a place as

even

today the search for the Garden of Eden

leads us to a dry and desolate land to a

place called Mesopotamia

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

this is the land where the first seeds

of human civilization were sown and it

was here that three of the greatest

civilizations of the ancient world

flourished Babylon Assyria and Sumer

among their ruins the faithful of long

sought answers to the Bible's most

profound mysteries while archaeologists

scoured these lands for the historical

foundations of belief our quest for Eden

as a journey back in time first to

Babylon

the last of these lost civilizations

then further into the past to the

Assyrians fierce masters of the art of

war

and finally to a moment in the past so

distant only Eden could have preceded it

to Sumer

and the creation of civilization itself

the great arc of the Fertile Crescent

over the course of more than 6,000 years

this rich land cradled between the

Tigris and Euphrates rivers gave birth

to the first great civilizations the

Greeks called it Mesopotamia we call it

Iraq by peeling back the layers of

history here we can trace the origins of

our oldest stories and travel back to

the deepest roots of faith our journey

begins on the western edge of

Mesopotamia in Israel a chance discovery

in 1947 would rivet the world's

attention to archaeology and to the

Bible to Bedouin shepherds are moving a

herd of goats along the cliffs of Qumran

very informative but beyond that we have

a great emotional attachment to this

library the Bible has always been a book

read from two points of view the sacred

and the historical a traditional Torah

is always written by hand the words are

read aloud as the scribe writes so they

become a living prayer and each Torah is

considered holy from the moment it is

written neh and Hakeem but the

historical accuracy of the Bible has

never been so easily confirmed it's an

effort that continues to this day

deny some of the books of the Bible are

excellent historical books as a matter

of fact the earliest historical books

that we have and quite accurate because

we have cross references from other

sources and they are found to be most

very precise so they are very important

the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

was the most famous event in Biblical

Archaeology but it was by no means the

first the urge to explore biblical

history has a venerable tradition it's a

search that began in the Holy Land

but would lead to Mesopotamia

throughout history Crusaders mystics and

believers have been drawn to sites where

the great Bible stories took place but

with the arrival of the 19th century a

new kind of pilgrim sought to fortify

their belief in the Bible through the

infant science of archaeology surely

there could be no greater confirmation

of their faith than to prove that

biblical history was true