Metropolis

Roughly 2500 years ago, Athens was at the height of its power – a vast and prosperous metropolis with a quarter million residents, self-confidently extending its imperious reach throughout the Mediterranean. But the Athenian home was more than just a formidable military might. Athens gave the world the concept of democracy. Immortal dramas and comedies, imposing structures and sculptures bear witness to this resplendent age. The modern Greek capital is built on the remains of a 9000-year-old settlement. As the shining culmination of their abilities, the citizens of Athens created an unparalleled monument in the Acropolis. More than 2500 years later, scientists shoulder an ambitious task and goal: reconstructing the Acropolis. Once again, construction cranes hover overhead, once again much of the structure is shrouded in scaffolding – not unlike at the time of its original construction. To us, this presents a one-time chance to unearth and behold inspiring details about the ancient master builders. A staged scene introduces us to actor Diodoros, our guide to the very heart of the ancient metropolis – the Agora, marketplace and meeting square as well as the center of social and political life. Computer animation puts us in the year 487 BC and the square with its official buildings, magnificent theatre and open-air workshops spring to life before our very eyes. We follow Diodoros as he partakes of a typical drinking session and witness his tumultuous entanglements in love and politics. At his side, we also witness how a mechanical contraption randomly selects the jury for a court process against the courtesan Phryne using black and white balls in a public gathering.

In the first episode of the »Metropolis« series, we experienced Athens in its heyday. Now we travel to the veritable heir apparent to the powerful city-state: Alexandria, the Pharaoh City of the Greeks. In the power struggle for dominance in the Mediterranean, the ruling scepter continually passes into new hands. It came to Alexandria in the form of a vision conceived by formidable commander Alexander the Great. A new center of Hellenic culture takes root in Egyptian soil: Alexandria blossoms into a truly cosmopolitan city, home to over a million souls. The famous Pharos lighthouse once stood here, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. We travel back in time in a staged scene and find ourselves right in the midst of its huge bustling construction site. Master builder Krates leans over his drafting plans, in the background we can see the almost-completed Pharos, hundreds of workers hauling massive stone blocks weighing tons. The construction work on one of the seven wonders of the ancient world is the starting point for our journey through the history of Alexandria. Today as well, boomtown Alexandria seems one giant construction site, making it difficult to happen upon testimonials to antiquity. In order to preserve the town’s cultural heritage, the Center for Alexandrian Studies, the Centre d’Etudes Alexandrines – CEA for short – was founded by Dr. Empereur in 1990. The CEA constitutes a special task force. Its mission: Save what can be saved. Wherever backhoes assail ancient grounds, the CEA specialists are right there alongside them. We join forces with these veterans in search of what remains of the former royal city. The dilemma the researchers face becomes apparent at the site of a gigantic excavation. While the foundations for a new shopping center rise in the background, at the edge of the site, we have scientists doggedly sifting through the past centimeter by centimeter.

After having been introduced to Alexandria in the second episode, we stay on the African continent for the third episode of »Metropolis – The Power of Cities« and head west to where it took but a few centuries for the Punic nation of daring seafarers and enterprising traders to bring a large part of the Mediterranean under their control: »Carthage – Die City of Seafarers«. We travel back to the trading port of Carthage to a time two centuries before Christ and witness just how fast one’s luck could change at that time. Sailor Mago is returning to his Carthage home, but not as a celebrated explorer. He’s being led off a ship in chains and then over to the slave market. What destiny awaits him? We follow his story, delving ever deeper into the daily life of the Carthaginians. Carthage started its relentless expansion as a small Phonecian trading base, just one of many along the northern African coast. But Carthage was soon to assume special status, developing into a thriving commercial metropolis and home to the best shipbuilders and the most accomplished navigators of antiquity. Like the seafarers of that time, we approach the metropolis for the first time from the water, taking in the mountain ranges of Cap Bon with its rugged cliffs. Puzzling square holes on the ground lead us into underground quarries. We come across our protagonist Mago again, here among the scores of slaves and criminals breaking stone blocks out of the solid rock by the light of torches. This stone will be used to build the town’s very heart: the port so feared by the Greeks and the Romans.

Before its final decline, the ancient world soared once more to a phenomenal height. Rome – the last, largest and mightiest of all the Mediterranean metropolises. How did it come about that a small Etruscan farming village became the most powerful center of ancient times? Was it due to its founders harboring insatiable aspirations for power and riches? Or their unbeatable army? Their charismatic leaders? Or the focused strength of a perfectly organized people? We gaze down on the city of Rome from one of its seven hills. It’s still early morning. The noise of normal, everyday life defines the frame, chirping birds, a city waking up, while the monuments of yore still define the urban features of today. The Pantheon juts out from between apartment buildings as does – just as imposingly as 2000 years ago – the Colosseum. Present-day Rome: life amongst the marble testaments of antiquity. There is no separation of past and present here. Imperial monuments snuggle up to modern office buildings, triumphal arches often survive as just dreary, monumental traffic obstacles. Present-day Romans don’t get their history vicariously; they live right in the midst of it. The major excavations here have meanwhile become history in and of themselves. In order to unearth new knowledge about the hub of the Roman empire, we probe beyond the monuments and initially seek out what appears seemingly unassuming locations to gain new insights into Roman life. Together with Drusus, an imperial tax official, we get a first-hand look at daily life in ancient’s Rome corrupt and scheming commercial sector. We accompany Spanish archeologist Prof. Remesal to the enormous trash heap of the ancient metropolis, Monte Testaccio: a massive collection of amphora shards spanning centuries.