"000 years ago human beings painted the walls of caves in Spain and France with designs like these. it surely could not have been just a trivial one." "Almost all animals represented are those hunted for food." "So an obvious explanation is that painting was part of magic designed to bring success in hunting or to maintain the fertility of the herds." "One thing is certain; the animal that dominates this cave in Lascaux or even the horse but the great wild bull." "it stood over six feet at the shoulder and weighed about a ton." "But these astonishing images are even bigger than life-size." "it's difficult not to believe that the artist regarded this animal awe. the very embodiment of fertility and strength. but they give some idea of the formidable character which were even bigger and surely just as aggressive. men managed to tame the bull. controlling animals of such strength and ferocity must have been very difficult and hazardous for people" "who had not yet tamed horses to help them do so." "they also found another animal they could tame ... a wild sheep." "probably the best living approximation which today lives in the remoter parts of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. so it's very difficult to approach." "it may have been relatively simple to tame." "adapted to picking its way so it's built for agility rather than speed." "it's relatively easy to control." "an antelope. but wander about over a wide range." "they were ready to accept being moved if their human owners wanted to drive them to new pastures." "And they have one further characteristic that must have helped early man to control them." "live together in a small permanent herd." "and only visits the herd when he leads or drives them and defends them against other rivals. people were herding groups of tame sheep in many parts of the eastern Mediterranean. just as they do today." "They were one of the favourite targets for the early hunters." "presumably for camouflage when for the week or so after they are born and they must be virtually invisible if they're not to be taken by predators ... wolves or bears..." "...or men. if they themselves are to get a meal." "they will stop suckling and then their stripes will fade." "Pigs are far from being fussy feeders." "animal or vegetable." "These are seeing what they can find in the shrinking waters of a drying pond." "Wild pigs must have scavenged for scraps and doubtless so they could be killed and eaten when needed." "the shores of the western Mediterranean and the people lived in settlements of flimsy huts built in clearings." "some cattle-owning tribes were developing a much more elaborate way of life in the grasslands of the Nile delta." "they still worshiped the bull. into the womb of a mortal cow." "He had a triangular mark on his forehead and the shape of a vulture with outstretched wings clasping his shoulders. as soon as his predecessor died." "Only one bull god could rule at a time." "and his discovery was the cause for national rejoicing." "Children born on that auspicious day might be given the name:" ""Apis is Found to mark such a happy coincidence." "he was brought to the great temple and kept in a stall quite near here. and on all great festivals and occasions he was led forth and golden regalia between his horns." "The people consulted him as an oracle." "and interpret his answers as to whether he advanced or retreated." "They would write questions on pieces of pottery and put them or away from them." "his great body was brought here to this immense mortuary table." "It weighs about 50 tons. and the symbol of the resurrection." "using exactly the same embalming techniques as were used the pharaohs." "scented embalming fluid and were collected in this basin. they were very magical and precious." "and carried in procession to its last resting place." "the mummified bodies of the bulls were brought down here in these limestone galleries cut deep below ground. as acts of devotion to the spirits of the bull gods." "Preparations to receive the body of the bull had been going on perhaps even before the bull itself had died." "A huge granite sarcophagus had been quarried upriver and brought down here on barges." "This is just the lid of one had been abandoned here." "The main part of it lies deeper in these galleries." "although it's hollowed out inside between 60 and 70 tons. and it would have taken them about four days to pull it all the way to its appointed vault. this vault was full of sand." "The sarcophagus was hauled across on top of it and then the sand removed from either side so that this huge block sank slowly to its final position. beloved of Osiris... given ... all ..." "life ... stability ... power ... and all joy ... forever. and this immense lid hauled across to seal it. and stripped the bull of all its golden finery." "The falcon was also worshiped. and worshiped it lord of the sky." "where priests and revered them as gods." "these cults changed in character. all birds of a particular species were believed to contain something of the god's spirit." "merited mummification. and sealed in its own pottery sarcophagus. they're birds of prey of all kinds. a bird that was sacred to the kingdom of Upper Egypt." "there are ibis." "There are so many that it's impossible to believe they all met a natural death." "was absolutely clear." "Even the accidental killing of a sacred ibis in ancient Egypt was a crime punishable by death." "But the devotees of the ibis cult and each wanted to gain merit with the ibis god by presenting an embalmed bird and depositing it in these vaults." "So it seems that the priests a sort of sacred zoo on a lake near here." "they were able to supply a bird ready-mummified and sealed ... for a price." "These galleries have not yet been fully explored. there are four million mummified ibis here." "And the true number may be twice that." "curved bill to probe in mud and find its food." "The Egyptians watching it do so in their fields and so they regarded the bird as the incarnation the god of wisdom." "We still call this handsome black-and-white species and has retreated to more southerly parts of Africa." "The papyrus swamps that existed throughout the Nile delta and the Egyptians found in them a great source of delight and wonder." "they deified and worshiped many of the animals that they saw here. less difficult." "Sobek. was also a suitable subject for mummification." "Pasht. hawk gods and goat gods." "The images of them that stood in temples were given human bodies but divine beings. that didn't stop them from handling and exploiting animals." "they were expert farmers." "They handled wild animals with equal skill. even though they never succeeded in domesticating them." "And here they appear to be force-feeding hyenas." "One of their favourite pastimes was to go hunting in the swamps of the delta." "They used throwing-sticks to bring down flying ducks." "And they caught fish with harpoons." "the Nile brought other treasure. abundant rains fell." "in a way that must have seemed almost magical by as much as 20 feet or so." "a high official of the state would come and ceremonially break the banks to allow the waters to flow over the fields. they left behind what was perhaps the Nile's greatest treasure of all;" "fertile mud." "were able to grow the plants that now are being domesticated all round the eastern end of the Mediterranean." "and the people but twice a year." "We know how they worked in the fields from the way in which they chose to be buried in their tombs." "They believed that scenes painted on the tomb walls would be repeated in the afterlife." "So the nobleman who once lay here chose to be surrounded in death by pictures of some of the most important and delightful times and that included cultivating the crops." "The heads of grain were cut with sickles that initially were made of flint. trod the grain to loosen the kernels from the seed heads." "was done exactly as it is now. lay a scatter of islands." "itself 200 miles long. had reached Crete even before the Egyptians had begun building their cities. for their land was far less kind to them than the valley of the Nile was to the Egyptians." "there was no annual flood of fertile mud. all this land was covered with forest." "And in that forest grew trees like these. 500 years." "And they bear great wealth ... their olives." "harvested them by beating the branches with sticks to knock down the ripened fruit. but oxen. precious oil." "this oil was the main form of wealth on the island. and people paid their taxes to the king in this oil. at Knossos." "The oil was stored in gigantic pots like these." "narrow chambers like this one." "was the treasury of the palace and the state. just as it is today in this part of the world. in ruins such as this one." "And it had another use;" "purified and scented the people used it to anoint their bodies. but it also helped in keeping themselves clean." "they would take so carrying away the perspiration and the dirt." "Not all these pots had oil in them." "wine." "as almost everywhere else happy parties are held to celebrate the harvest." "fortified and encouraged tread the grapes to produce the juice for this year's vintage." "The wild vine grew originally as a creeper in the forests around the eastern shores of the Mediterranean." "that it could be propagated with cuttings grafted onto root-stocks." "So if a man happened to find in the forest a vine that produced he could cut the stem and graft it onto a plant that grew beside his house." "this steady collection of selected vines elongated pips. archaeologists deduce that the domestication of the vines" "000 years ago." "some say over a hundred. and it was only a little less magnificent than that at Knossos." "They had upper storeys supported by long lines of wooden columns." "they were magnificently decorated with frescoes." "All those that have been excavated so far in their layout." "paved arena. which dominated the lives of the people. athletic prowess and great bravery. worshiped the bull. then land on their feet behind it. men still taunt bulls." "The bull carries a red rosette on its forehead and white tassels on the points of its horns. manage to snatch off a tassel or a rosette and the crowd lays bets on who will do so. and even tossed and killed. uninjured." "But it will return several times later in the season to fight again in this extraordinary tournament." "The ancient Cretans were skilled fishermen. who had developed a technique of sailing in the calm waters of the Nile." "But the Cretans ventured out into the rough and unpredictable open sea and were greatly rewarded. they occasionally hauled up red coral." "They used it for jewelery and for trade." "people as far away as central Asia yet so unlike anything dug from the earth." "the people specially valued. is a particularly precious sea snail." "This is murex." "it looks very similar to many other kinds of whelk-like molluscs that crawl about on the sea floor." "But in its mantle it has a special gland from which comes a substance that will dye fabric a rich purple. the murex was regarded throughout the Mediterranean lands as one of the most valuable things to come from the sea." "still entices men to dive deep at the risk of their lives. he's searching for sponges." "That's one. just as they once did in ancient times." "The length of time they can manage to stay below is quite extraordinary." "He takes his breath ..." "... now." "And only now can he breathe again. one of the most favoured foods the sea had to offer." "The method used for catching them has also not changed nor does it need to." "and requires nothing more than an earthenware pot. they are irresistible." "All the fisherman has to do is to return after a few hours and haul up the pots." "The way to get an octopus out of the pot is also easy." "Pour in a little extra-salty water through a hole in the bottom and out it comes." "is the tunny." "they swim in from the Atlantic to spawn." "some as much as 12 feet long." "Because of the shape of the coastline and the topography of in some places they have to swim the people wait for them." "Nets hanging from floats are stretched diagonally across the migration path for as much as three miles. until they enter a corridor that not only has but a floor of netting." "the fishermen pull up the end of the floor and the tunny are trapped." "forcing the fish closer to the surface." "the fish so exhaust themselves that some are already close to death. thirty tons of prime-quality meat." "the netting floor which may well arrive within a few hours." "The harvest of the Mediterranean has always been rich." "The Romans were particularly fond of fishing scenes for the mosaics with which they decorated the floors of their sumptuous villas." "And these give a good idea of the range of sea creatures that they knew and relished." "was a Roman passion." "Many of the animals they caught alive. ruling all the lands right round the sea. the better." "The fate of these creatures was to be transported to huge cities and there to be taken to the arenas that were the centres of mass entertainment." "is at El Djem in Tunisia." "The Roman public's thirst for blood and pleasure in witnessing pain seems to have been unquenchable and without limit." "The caged animals were kept in dungeons below the main arena." "timbers were laid across to roof this underground passage." "000 people were packed into the terraces. the terrified animals in their cages were hoisted up from this pit." "human beings too." "slaves and prisoners of war. to provide the crowd with spectacles of the most appalling carnage." "It still continues in Spain." "Even sometimes in the very arenas built by the Romans." "all around the shores of the Mediterranean." "Artemis. it was listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World." "Roman copies in marble of the wooden statue that once stood in her temple still survive." "And very strange they are too." "Heads of bulls are clustered around her ankles. in her charge." "The strange objects above them in spite of the fact and there are so many of them." "But recently we've learned more about the cult of Artemis." "Excavations at Ephesus in her shrine have revealed a great number of skeletons of bulls." "but castrated." "her image was hung with the parts of their body that were the very source of their power and fertility ... their testicles. and religious ideas were spreading." "Visitors to Ephesus might well have carried bull worship had ever ceased. and was soon spreading all over the empire." "Mithras. and it told how the god stabbing it in the throat here represented which are lapping up the blood. to release its fertility." "her empire extending across the Mediterranean to the North African shore. 000 people. 000 spectators." "pantomimes and ballets were performed. and screens of canvas stretched between sticks were raised in front of the stage to allow settings to be changed." "and huge municipal baths." "In the city centre stood a splendid marketplace with marble colonnades adorned with statues of distinguished citizens." "was one of the wealthiest in the whole of the empire." "That wealth was based directly on the land." "Into this marketplace flooded produce of all kinds;" "chicken and sheep;" "and this stone was used for measuring olive oil;" "pouring the oil in at the top so forming a standard unit." "But above all there was grain." "said the land here was so rich from it would sprout a stem carrying 150 grains." "North Africa was producing half a million tons of grain every year with two thirds of its wheat." "The southern shores of the Mediterranean were among the most fertile territories in the whole of the Roman Empire." "like this one at Leptis. and alongside it were moored the great ships. leopards and rhinoceroses to be tormented and put to death in the arenas of the empire. most of the city lies buried beneath sand dunes" "and the land has become a desert. was cut down it was all gone. it was carried away by the wind and the rain." "And this is where it went." "In bays all around the eastern Mediterranean the sea is separated from the hills inland made up of the soil that once clothed the rocks of the hills beyond. for this is the marsh that now separates the sea from the city of Ephesus." "These ruined buildings mark the edge of the quay where once merchant ships lay moored." "so did the trade on which did Ephesus itself." "one of the most splendid cities of the Roman Empire fell into decay and was abandoned." "The city was approaching the height of its wealth and prosperity" "St Paul settled here. but every year thousands of devotees came here to worship at the ancient shrine the goddess of fertility." "But St Paul's message of Christianity began to strike at that trade." "The silversmiths who made and eventually right here in this very theatre. that Paul had to leave." "it was the Ephesians themselves who were flouting the principles of fertility by what they were doing to the land around their city. nature eventually failed to support man." "The truth is exactly the reverse;" "man failed to support nature." "man regarded the natural world as divine. and seemed to be little more than a larder that could be raided with impunity." "was dethroned. as man's patient slave." "the sun was nature is able a little better to withstand man's assaults. the centres of human power and population slowly moved to the other end of the sea."