02x05 - Chasing the Temple Booty: Part Two

[bunniefuu]

What does it all mean?

This is where the archeology has been found.

Hi, how are you?

Look at that.

I need a planter.

A shrine to a bellybutton.

Is this a rock of salt?

Look at that!

No one gets into this place?

Whoa! Don't take me too far.

Now that's naked archeology.

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[SIMCHA] Last time on the Naked Archaeologist.

We were hot on the historic path of stolen treasure!

Ok, Ok. Hold on... [crashing]

We are in Jerusalem. On the mount of olives.

Across from one of the holiest places on earth.

For Muslims, it's The Dome of the Rock.

For Jews, it's The Temple Mount.

, years ago that's where the Temple of Solomon stood.

King Solomon's temple once contained

billions of dollars worth of bullion and these,

the holiest icons of Judea.

The Ark of the Covenant held the Ten Commandments,

the golden Table of Divine Presence held holy bread

to bless all harvests. The silver trumpets of truth

were blown by the high priests to call in the Sabbath.

And the golden candelabra, or menorah,

was designed by Moses

according to detailed instructis from God.

These temple treasures were considered

the holy hot-lines to God.

control them and you had direct access to the all mighty.

And then they were stolen. Jerusalem was ran-sacked twice!

The priceless temple riches were burgled by Babylonians,

returned by Persians and once again ripped-off by Romans.

The Ark of the Covenant was lost in the shuffle,

and billions of Jewish bullion

was blown on the splendors of Roman architecture.

But, the magnificent Moses-designed-menorah,

the golden, bejeweled, divine bread table,

and the silver trumpets of truth

were left intact and stashed by the Emperor Vespasian

at the edge of the Roman Forum for centuries.

And that's where I went

in search of Jerusalem's temple treasure!

This is Rome.

This is the heart of ancient Rome, the Forum.

This is where we know from ancient sources

like Josephus and from the Arch of Titus

that they brought the treasure of the temple of Jerusalem

and they paraded it right down this route

where all these thousands of tourists flock.

They don't realize that they're walking along the very path

that the temple treasure took.

And they paraded it right behind me through this very path

right by the senate, up the hill to my left.

They gave thanks to their god, the pagan god Jupiter

and finally they would have taken the temple treasure

and housed it just that way in a building

that they built especially for the treasure

called the Temple of Peace,

or more properly, the Temple of Pacification.

[SIMCHA] Could the priceless temple treasures still be here?

Is it really that crazy to belie that I can find them?

The Arch of Titus, a tribute to Emperor Vespasian's son

and best general, proves that the holy gold was in the Forum.

Ancient writings tell us

that it was kept in the Roman Temple of Peace.

And I tracked down historian Lea Cline

who showed me a recent excavation

believed to be the ruins of that temple.

What we understand is that the menorah,

the golden table and the silver trumpets

were brought to the Temple of Peace and put on display.

It would have been displayed along with the booty

from other triumphs of Greek statuary

and beautiful objects that displayed the extent

and the glory of the Roman Empire.

[SIMCHA] Lea tells me that Jerusalem's temple treasures

were displayed here for years,

but we won't find them here today.

Because in the th Century,

a massive and powerful band of Germanic Barbarians,

made up of Visigoths and Vandals,

took control of North Africa from the Romans.

- Impossible that our armies cannot defeat them.

We've been masters at the art of warfare!

They're only barbarians, we're civilized!

-Every moment we delay is an advantage to the Romans.

Our combined armies have never been as strong

and united as they are now.

Our men have never been more anxious to fight! To pillage!

[SIMCHA] Using Carthage, in modern day Tunisia,

as their base, the Barbarians launched raiding missions

and in CE they sailed into the Mediterranean,

up the Tiber River and did the unthinkable.

They sacked Rome!

And for days they looted the city of its riches.

What happened to the treasure?

As far as we understand,

we know that the Visigoths came

and laid siege to Rome,

and this is when they disappeared

from the archaeological record in Rome.

So was it the Visigoth Vandals that took it?

The barbarians?

The barbarians, the Vandals.

And then?

And then that's where I drop off the story.

Once they're out of Rome I don't know much more about them

and not many people know

because the sightings of them trickle away.

[SIMCHA] Trickle away.

Some say, right down here, into the Tiber River.

Behind me is the Tiber River, the mother river of Rome.

When the barbarians were literally at the gates of Rome,

legend has it that Christian Roman soldiers,

in order to save the menorah,

grabbed it and threw it into the river behind me.

If that's true it's still there.

But there's another theory,

and that theory holds that in ft the Vatican sent soldiers here,

dredged the river, got the menorah

and to this day it sits in the secret vaults of the Vatican.

[SIMCHA] And to this day suspicions run strong.

Just in the last few decades,

Israeli presidents and Rabbis have made official requests

to various Popes that the vast Vatican storerooms be searched

not just for the menorah,

but for all the Jewish temple treasures.

It seems many important people are convinced

that there's some booty in the basement.

And though they've all been denied access by the pope,

I've been introduced to Vatican archaeologist Olof Brandt,

who just might be able to get my foot in treasures' door.

Now you're an archaeologist who works with the Vatican

and I know that a former Israeli politician asked the Vatican

to give back the temple treasure.

Have you seen the temple treasure?

I think there is a general misunderstanding.

The Vatican doesn't have more secrets than any normal,

modern state. And these-

Modern states have a lot of secrets.

These presumed secret storerooms don't exist.

I don't know where the temple treasure

could be looked for in the Vatican.

The temple treasure did get to Rome though.

Well yes.

We know that an important part of the temple treasure

was brought to Rome in triumph by Vespasian and Titus

and that it was exposed in the "Temple of Peace."

But it was brought there,

and we really don't know what happened to it.

The common theory is that vandals or other barbarians

invading Rome in the th century

brought it all down to North Africa.

Somewhere in North Africa and that we then lost the traces.

Where do you think it is?

I have no idea.

[SIMCHA] But Dr. Brandt, Vatican archaeologist,

did mention North Africa.

Is this a legitimate tip or some Roman wild goose?

I need a second opinion before jumping continents

and the Roman historian I need to talk to,

quite conveniently, hangs out here.

[SIMCHA] I'm on a hunt

for Jerusalem's priceless temple treasure!

I've chased its thieves through years of history

and landed in Rome.

And here, the trail has gone cold

because in CE a horde of Germanic Vandals and pirates

pillaged Rome of all its gold.

Where did they take the treasure?

I asked Roman historian Mino Carbone.

So what do you think happened

to all this incredible treasure?

Oh, actually, nobody knows,

but there is a good theory or legend that I like very much.

I like mostly, it is my favourite,

that during the first att*ck on the city of Rome

Vandals from Anthern, they entered the temple.

They took part of this treasure.

The Vandals.

The Vandals. And they loaded three ships

and on the way to Cortege,

because the vandals took Cortege again

from the Roman Empire-

Carthage. So they were going to Carthage,

three ships loaded with the treasure.

There was a wreck ship

along the journey to Carthage,

and most of the ships were lost

and I'm quite sure the treasury was lost with the ships

and now they're covered in the sand

in the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

You like the idea that it's sunk,

and it's somewhere between Africa and Sicily.

Yes, this is what we say.

[SIMCHA] If Jerusalem's gold is at the bottom of the sea,

I'm guessing that my search is sunk.

But maybe I'm giving too much attention to legend

when I really should be focusing on actual history.

It just so happens that there are year old writings

by an ancient historian named Procopius,

who literally picks up the treasure trail

directly after Jerusalem's gold leaves Rome.

Inside Procopius' books are clus we can use to draw a map.

He confirms that the treasure was carried by Vandal pirates

from Sicily to North Africa.

And here, he tells us, the Vandals grew fat for years

justifying their reign as "divine"

by holding high Solomon's Temple Treasures

in their hilltop palace in Carthage.

She's stuffed from keel to gunwals with treasure

[SIMCHA] By the end of the th century,

the Roman Empire had crashed,

but it began rebuilding as the Byzantine Empire,

shifting its control east, to Constantinople,

modern Istanbul in Turkey.

And the Byzantines were about to bust in on the booty!

In Emperor Justinian att*cked Carthage,

took control of the rich "olive oil lands"

and took back the Temple Treasures.

But archaeologist Dan Bahat tells me that the treasures

didn't exactly receive a golden welcome.

After Carthage was conquered by Justinian's army

the treasures of the temple were brought to Constantinople

and the advisers of Justinian told him "what are you doing?

Wherever those treasures were, the city was destroyed.

First Jerusalem, then Rome, now Carthage

and if you leave it here this will be also the lot

of Constantinople, so better send it away."

Then according to Procopius he sent it to Jerusalem.

[SIMCHA] Fearing that a curse was brought

upon any empire that kept the temple treasures hostage,

Justinian sent the holy icons home.

In the direct translation of Procopius,

he sent them back to the "sanctuaries of the Christians

in Jerusalem".

And it's this one line of translation

that has directed almost all of the treasure hunters here.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

You have layers of architecture, layers of faiths,

and an entire edifice of religion right here.

And the church was established

on top of the supposed place where Jesus was buried.

[SIMCHA] It's for this reason that for over centuries,

this church has been considered by most Christians

the holiest church in Christendom.

It seems logical to assume

that Procopius was referring to this church

when he said that the temple treasures

were sent to the Christian sanctuaries in Jerusalem.

There is a whole network here.

[SIMCHA] There has been digging done here.

Lots of it.

The Knight's Templar certainly d their share during the crusades.

But no temple treasure has ever been found.

And I've just discovered that's because

everyone's been digging under the wrong church.

Archaeologist Dan Bahat has shown me a secret,

hidden in the walls of Jerusalem's Temple Mount,

that he believes may actually lead us

directly to the correct location of the temple treasure.

[SIMCHA] Archaeologist Dan Bahat

has shared a secret that just may direct me

to the final resting place of Jerusalem's gold.

Professor thousands of people go up and down over here

and they don't notice this thing.

But I think it's very important because you told me so,

and also I think it's somehow connected, amazingly enough,

to the story of the temple treasure.

Yes, definitely.

As we know the treasures of the temple were in Constantinople.

Then according to Procopius,

Emperor Justinian sent it to Jerusalem.

Exactly at that time he finished

to build the church of Nea in Jerusalem.

Actually, the full name of the church was the Nea Theotokos

which means the new church

of the birth giver to the Lord.

[SIMCHA] Bahat tells me that the Church of Nea,

or "the New Church" was enormous.

A tribute to Christendom.

It had just been completed in Jerusalem

at the time the emperor brought the temple treasures

to Constantinople.

- Take your men to the inn and stand guard over the silver.

[SIMCHA] To kidnap God's gold, Justinian believed,

would be a curse and so Bahat says he sent it to Jerusalem

as a gift to the Church of Nea.

The New Church provides us with a new theory.

You say it's not the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,

it's the Church of Nea,

and this is the lintel from that church?

Yes, exactly so. All the stones,

which we see around us are stones from that church

reused in the Muslim palace

which was constructed here in the eighth century.

How do we know that this is from the Church of Nea?

Oh very simple.

You can see here if you look at it well you can see clearly,

you can see the wreath.

You can see here the cross which is visible

and you have got of course the emblem of Christ,

alpha and here you've got the omega

which of course was chiseled out by the Muslims

but it is existing and you can see it clearly.

You're saying that blocks of this size,

a lentil of this size could only have come

from the Church of Nea?

Yes because it was an enormous church,

enormous and not only was it a church,

according to Procopius it was an enter complex.

It included not only the church itself but also a hospice,

hospitals, alm houses and all kind of things of the like.

It was an enormous complex.

[SIMCHA] But it was a home that didn't last.

In CE Muslim Arabs under Caliph Umar conquered Jerusalem.

They then dismantled the Church of Nea

re-using the massive stones to build a Muslim palace

on the Temple Mount.

But it wasn't just the stones that interested them.

Bahat says they hit the Church of Nea

because they were looking for gold.

When the Muslims conquered Jerusalem

they did two things.

One of them, they removed the golden cross

from the top of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

and they destroyed the Church of Nea.

The only reason which I can see for the destruction of Nea,

why not another church,

is simply because the treasures were there

and the Muslims looked for the treasures.

Now you could ask why don't you dig to look for the treasures.

Yeah why don't you dig and look for the treasures?

Because Nea is in today's Jewish quarter.

The Jewish quarter was built from north to south.

The Church of Nea was discovered

in the southernmost part of the quarter

after all the quarter was standing

so what we've got is mostly the southern fringes of that church.

We don't have the entire church.

You're saying that the way the Jewish Quarter

was constructed makes it impossible

to dig under the Church of Nea?

Yes, impossible because it's covered now with buildings.

So we know where it is.

We know precisely because we know the plan.

We know everything now.

This is just an incredible clue.

And you think we know what the last known resting place

of the temple treasure is?

Yes, that is what I would say.

You think the temple treasure is still there?

Difficult to say because,

remember the place was, you know what?

Why not?

[SIMCHA] Why not! This is a new theory!

Bahat says that today only the southern fringes are accessible.

But I had to convince the professor

to take me underneath the Jewish quarter

and into the southern ruins of the church

which might turn out to be a treasure chest

filled with temple gold.

He finally obliged but I would have to wait a whole day.

[SIMCHA] Archaeologist Dan Bahat

has finally agreed to take me

where no other treasure hunters have set foot.

This ancient mosaic shows that the massive Church of Nea

once stood at the southern edge of Jerusalem.

Bahat's new interpretation of Procopious's writings

has directed us underneath today's Jewish quarter

and into the ruins of the Church of Nea.

Here, we may just find an ancient hiding place

for Jerusalem's temple treasures.

Now, we are under a school.

The kids are making a lot of noise.

But that's wonderful, because under their school

there is a church.

You can see the fantastic stones

of which the church is made.

These are huge.

These are the big blocks, huge blocks.

This church must have been massive

to have such huge stones.

Yes. enormous fondations.

Yes, definitely.

Since this church is standing in a very precarious place,

they had to build enormous supporting walls

to create the platform on which the church,

and its ancillary structures were constructed.

If this is the place that Procopius was talking about

where the Temple treasure was sent,

and if you have this huge structure,

and you have a retaining wall,

that means you also have spaces

where you can hide things.

It's possible, 'cause the Muslims don't say

that they found the Temple treasure,

so it's possible that there are some spaces.

It must have been hidden.

Such a thing you don't leave in the open,

especially when enemies coming.

[SIMCHA] And now Bahat tells me of something

with great subterranean significance.

years ago the church's massive retaining wall

created some problems.

It acted as an obstruction that caused

enormous amounts of water to collect.

The builders came up with a practical solution

and constructed huge cisterns here.

Underground reservoirs that they used to store the water.

The recent discovery of these massive underground cisterns

has exposed areas that may have served as hiding places.

It is not open to the public, because again,

because of the water, so much water all the time,

we've got to solve the problem of water coming, seeping in.

But the Naked Archaeologist can get in.

The Naked Archaeologist can get in.

He has to undress, because otherwise

his trousers will be wet.

[SIMCHA] The Professor takes me above ground

and across the street

to access the Church of Nea's ancient cisterns.

We are literally going under the southern wall

of the Jewish quarter.

People living here have no idea that they are walking

on top of what could be a secret vault

for Jerusalem's temple treasure.

The temple treasure may be underneath. I'm not joking.

Tell me, does everybody get into this place?

Look at, look at. It's rusty because no one comes here.

No one gets into this place?

No one.

Let's get naked.

I don't mind if you ask me.

Ok. This is quite amazing, the size of this.

This is incredible.

We are under the city of Jerusalem here.

Whoa! I almost fell.

Careful, because now it's slippery.

Woah. How much dirt.

What's that sound?

There's flying from top.

Is it a rat? -No.

Bat's or rats? -Bats.

What? -Bats.

Bats? -Yes.

I hate the sound of those bats.

[SIMCHA] Bats now control the gates

into these year old cisterns,

massive vaults that still the collect running water

for a mega-church that no longer exists.

You're saying that this is not just a church.

You're saying it's an entire-

Complex.

Complex. And Procopius,

when he says that Justinian sent the Temple treasure

to Jerusalem, he doesn't say to the church,

he says to the Christian sanctuary. Complex.

I can tell you I'm convinced

that it was sent to this church, the Nea.

To this complex.

Yes, because it was a part of his embellishment

of this beautiful structure.

Look at it. It's huge.

Yes, yes, that's right.

The temple treasure could be here.

This is such an immense structure

that you could spend years looking around,

and you wouldn't find things unless you knew where to look.

And it's below the city. Nobody knows it's here.

People don't know about it, yes.

[SIMCHA] But it's impossible to excavate here.

The slope and geography are such

that this place fills with water after every heavy rainfall.

It has many problems, technical problems.

like always in winter it is full of water.

There are many problems which are involved.

That's why I didn't do it, yes.

[SIMCHA] But Bahat is convinced, and now so am I,

that this is where the temple treasures were delivered

by Emperor Justinian.

And what's most frustrating is that they still may be here,

resting under centuries of accumulated sludge and runoff.

To excavate this entire subterranean church complex

would cost millions. A price tag that for now,

keeps archaeologist far from what may be

the greatest archaeological find of all time.

(upbeat theme music)