Secure Verified
| Title | : | Horizon |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | : | Documentary |
| Air Date | : | 2002-01-10 |
| Season Number | : | 39 |
| Episodes Number | : | 1 |
| Overview | : | On a winter night in 373 BC, the classical Greek city of Helike was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tidal wave. The entire city and all its inhabitants were lost beneath the sea. What has bewitched archaeologists about Helike is that it was engulfed just when ancient Greece was reaching its height; when the philosophy and art that inspired the western world for thousands of years were invented. Its destruction was one of the most appalling tragedies of the classical world and most probably the reality behind the myth of Atlantis. But now, unlike Atlantis, a team of archaeologists may have found Helike - a lost city from the heyday of Greek civilisation. If it is as well preserved as everyone hopes, Helike could be a time capsule from this crucial time in human development. For centuries there had been just no sign of it. All archaeologists had to guide them were obscure and often contradictory ancient texts. So, despite numerous expeditions trawling the waters off the coast of Greece and vast amounts of money and technology thrown at the problem, no one could find anything except two small coins, unearthed over a hundred years ago. Then, in 1988 Dora Katsonopoulou and Steven Soter took up the challenge. Dora had grown up with the legend from childhood and was determined to find the archaeological treasure on her doorstep. Together they went back to basics and re-examined the ancient texts. These said that Helike had sunk into a poros, which everyone had taken to mean Gulf of Corinthe. But Dora thought that a poros could also be an inland lagoon. If she was right, the lost city which had inspired Atlantis might not be under the sea, as everyone thought, but somewhere inland. Studying the geology of the region, earthquake expert Iain Stewart argues that a large earthquake could well cause an inland lagoon. Small recent earthquakes in the region have caused ground liquefaction - a terrifying phenomenon where the ground literally turns to water beneath your feet. If the same had happened on a much larger scale then the whole city could have been plunged downwards, taking much of the city below sea level. But the earthquake in 373 BC could also have had a second more devastating effect. As well as liquifaction recent earthquakes have caused chunks of coastline to fall into the sea. If this happened on a large scale underwater landslides could cause a large wave, or tsunami. This would race across the Gulf of Corinthe, ricochet off the opposite bank and come charging back again, to crash over the sunken plain and fill in the lagoon. Dora's theory makes sense, except for one thing. There is no lagoon in the region today. There is, though, a trail of clues that explains what could have happened. An ancient bridge that is strangely nowhere near water shows how river sediment coming down from the mountains changes the shape of the plain - over hundreds of years the lagoon would have silted up, hiding the lost city beneath solid ground. A host of boreholes drilled into the plain and a remote cave with the legend attached to it have helped pinpoint where the now underground city might lie. Slowly Dora and Steven have pieced it all together, but there have been several false starts along the way. The first lot of ruins they found were Roman - a settlement built hundreds of years after Helike's disappearance to honour the famous lost city. Next they found ruins that turned out to be prehistoric - an early bronze age settlement built 2,500 years before Helike. It wasn't until 2001 that Dora and Steven at last got their breakthrough. Whilst Horizon was filming, the team uncovered ruins from classical Greece. Securely dated by coins and pottery, the team are convinced they have at last found the city they've been looking for. It will take years to uncover Helike's riches, but for the first time in thousands of years, we have glimpses of the lost city that inspired Atlantis. |
| Stars | : |
February 03, 1964
Season 1
9 Episodes
January 06, 1965
Season 2
24 Episodes
January 02, 1966
Season 3
23 Episodes
January 17, 1967
Season 4
23 Episodes
January 02, 1968
Season 5
24 Episodes
January 02, 1969
Season 6
37 Episodes
January 05, 1970
Season 7
37 Episodes
January 04, 1971
Season 8
32 Episodes
January 03, 1972
Season 9
33 Episodes
January 04, 1973
Season 10
32 Episodes
January 07, 1974
Season 11
33 Episodes
January 20, 1975
Season 12
26 Episodes
January 05, 1976
Season 13
30 Episodes
January 07, 1977
Season 14
23 Episodes
January 06, 1978
Season 15
24 Episodes
February 26, 1979
Season 16
25 Episodes
January 14, 1980
Season 17
25 Episodes
January 05, 1981
Season 18
27 Episodes
January 11, 1982
Season 19
22 Episodes
January 10, 1983
Season 20
24 Episodes
January 09, 1984
Season 21
22 Episodes
January 07, 1985
Season 22
16 Episodes
January 06, 1986
Season 23
22 Episodes
January 05, 1987
Season 24
22 Episodes
January 04, 1988
Season 25
25 Episodes
January 09, 1989
Season 26
20 Episodes
January 08, 1990
Season 27
20 Episodes
January 07, 1991
Season 28
23 Episodes
January 06, 1992
Season 29
19 Episodes
January 04, 1993
Season 30
21 Episodes
January 10, 1994
Season 31
21 Episodes
January 09, 1995
Season 32
20 Episodes
January 08, 1996
Season 33
16 Episodes
February 27, 1997
Season 34
15 Episodes
February 19, 1998
Season 35
18 Episodes
January 28, 1999
Season 36
14 Episodes
January 12, 2000
Season 37
19 Episodes
January 25, 2001
Season 38
11 Episodes
January 10, 2002
Season 39
18 Episodes
January 09, 2003
Season 40
19 Episodes
January 08, 2004
Season 41
18 Episodes
January 13, 2005
Season 42
20 Episodes
January 12, 2006
Season 43
19 Episodes
March 13, 2007
Season 44
9 Episodes
January 15, 2008
Season 45
17 Episodes
January 26, 2009
Season 46
11 Episodes
October 13, 2009
Season 47
14 Episodes
September 26, 2010
Season 48
15 Episodes
August 08, 2011
Season 49
13 Episodes
July 23, 2012
Season 50
16 Episodes
August 12, 2013
Season 51
11 Episodes
August 17, 2014
Season 52
18 Episodes
March 16, 2016
Season 53
16 Episodes
January 19, 2017
Season 54
15 Episodes
February 05, 2018
Season 55
13 Episodes
January 23, 2019
Season 56
6 Episodes
January 16, 2020
Season 57
8 Episodes
January 04, 2021
Season 58
4 Episodes
March 31, 2022
Season 59
4 Episodes
