''The First Eden: The Mediterranean World and Man'' is a BBC documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 8 March 1987. It comprises four programmes, each of 55 minutes' duration, which describe man's relationship with the natural habitats of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, and is a glorious portrait of the landscape, wildlife and plants of the Mediterranean. From the earliest human settlements to the cities of today, from the forests of the North African shore and the Middle East to Southern Europe, this series tells the dramatic story of man and nature at work. The series was produced by Andrew Neal, in association with the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

and WQED Pittsburgh. The music was composed and conducted by

Carl Davis Carl Davis, (born October 28, 1936) is an American-born conductor and composer who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1961. He has written music for more than 100 television programmes, but is best known for creating music to accompany si ...

.''The First Eden'' DVD Attenborough undertook the project in between his 'Life' series ''

The Living Planet ''The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984. The sequel to his pioneering '' Life on Earth'', it is a study of t ...

'' (1984) and '' The Trials of Life'' (1990).

Episodes

1. "The Making of the Garden"

: ''UK broadcast 8 March 1987'' Attenborough opens the series at the Dead Sea, where the hot climate and intense evaporation mimic conditions that were replicated on a much larger scale when the newly formed Mediterranean basin dried out. Around 5.5 million years ago, the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

flooded the basin, allowing marine life to recolonise the new sea. Mountains became islands: some of them volcanic, others formed of limestone. Common species marooned on these islands evolved into new varieties. In a Maltese cave, Attenborough discovers fossil teeth from

dwarf elephant Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea which, through the process of allopatric speciation on islands, evolved much smaller body sizes (around ) in comparison with their immediate ancestors. Dwarf elephants are an example ...

s. Most are only known from fossils, but one species, the Mallorcan midwife toad, has recently been discovered. Attenborough abseils down to a secluded pool to find it. In Europe, blooming wildflowers signal the arrival of spring. This triggers the emergence of insects, and in turn, the arrival of insectivorous birds such as rollers and

bee-eater The bee-eaters are a group of non-passerine birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by ...

s. After the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

formed, the climate continued to warm, forcing many birds to extend their migration routes between Europe and Africa. Exotic arrivals include spoonbills,

white stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to e ...

s and

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...

s. Reptiles are most active during the hot summers. Attenborough catches a

Montpellier snake ''Malpolon monspessulanus'', commonly known as the Montpellier snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake. Geographic range It is very common in Spain, Portugal and Northwest Africa, being also present in the southern Mediterranean ...

and describes its hunting behaviour. Some creatures, including chameleons,

crested porcupine The crested porcupine (''Hystrix cristata''), also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Characteristics The adult crested porcupine h ...

s and

fruit bat Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera '' Acerodon'' and ''Pteropus''—flying foxes. They are the only member of the ...

s have colonised Europe from Africa.

Rock hyrax The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly referred to in South Africa as the da ...

es, which have reached

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, may soon join them. The arrival of humans, 28,000 years ago, is known from

flint tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

s and rock etchings found in Spanish caves. Later cliff paintings demonstrated that Mediterranean man was still living in hunter-gatherer societies 10,000 years ago, but that would soon change.

2. "The Gods Enslaved"

: ''UK broadcast 15 March 1987'' Attenborough explores the influence of the first Mediterranean civilizations, placing the symbolism of the

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

at the centre of his narrative. Cave paintings in France and Spain and Egyptian

hieroglyph A hieroglyph ( Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatoni ...

s both reveal cultures that revered the

wild bull Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

for its fertility and strength. The Ancient Egyptians deified many animals, including the living bull-god Apis, and accorded it the same ceremonial burial as their

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

s. Attenborough describes the ritual from the Temple of Apis in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

. At

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis ...

, more than 4 million mummified sacred ibises were brought as offerings by devotees. Crop cultivation began in the Nile Delta, but the Minoans were the first to harvest olives, using oxen-powered mills to crush them. They were also skilled fishermen, whose traditional methods for catching octopus and tunny are still practised by modern North Africans. Attenborough explains how Cretan men pitted themselves against bulls in specially built arenas. The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

were passionate hunters, using wild animals ransacked from their

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

for entertainment, but they also held the bull in special regard. The statue of

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

, salvaged from the Temple of Ephesus, is adorned with bulls' testes. Of more than 600 Roman cities along the North African coast,

Leptis Magna Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by other names in antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean. Originally a 7th-centuryBC Phoenician foundation, it was great ...

was the greatest. Its wealth was built on trading livestock and produce harvested from the surrounding fertile lands; figs, olives and grain. But in deforesting the land the Romans precipitated their own demise. Although humans had enslaved and subdued the bull, Attenborough concludes that they had yet to learn the value of the natural world.

3. "The Wastes of War"

: ''UK broadcast 22 March 1987'' The relationship between man and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

has a long history in the Mediterranean region. A passion for horses spread west from

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, but took a while to become established as a pastoral way of life returned. The Roman Empire was replaced by marauding

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

and

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

. In the seventh century,

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

n cavalrymen took

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and arrived in Spain to spread the word of the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

. They established bases at Córdoba and Granada, bringing

orange tree Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

s and

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

s for the gardens of their impressive mosques. The Arabs brought their falconry skills too. The birds are used to this day to catch desert animals such as hares and houbara bustards. Many attitudes towards animals stemmed from pre-Christian beliefs. Fire salamanders were suspected of having magical powers, while the

mandrake A mandrake is the root of a plant, historically derived either from plants of the genus '' Mandragora'' found in the Mediterranean region, or from other species, such as ''Bryonia alba'', the English mandrake, which have similar properties. The ...

was thought to be deadly to those who harvested its roots. Even today,

Cocullo Cocullo is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of L'Aquila, located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of 2013 its population was of 246. Geography The village is situated in the Peligna Valley, between the towns of Avezzano and Sulmona. It is ...

holds an annual festival of snakes, the animals thought to bring protection. Attenborough visits the impregnable

Krak des Chevaliers Krak des Chevaliers, ar, قلعة الحصن, Qalʿat al-Ḥiṣn also called Hisn al-Akrad ( ar, حصن الأكراد, Ḥiṣn al-Akrād, rtl=yes, ) and formerly Crac de l'Ospital; Krak des Chevaliers or Crac des Chevaliers (), is a medieva ...

in Syria to discuss the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. Black rats carried on the retreating Christian army's ships spread

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

through Europe, killing a third of the population. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the forests of Southern Europe were cleared. Attenborough discusses the deforestation caused by Spanish

Merino sheep The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the breed ...

grazing and the Venetian shipbuilding industry. Despite the advent of the

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...

, horses still play an important role in European culture. The final scenes show thoroughbreds racing at Newmarket and a performance by the

Spanish Riding School The Spanish Riding School (german: Spanische Hofreitschule) is an Austrian institution dedicated to the preservation of classical dressage and the training of Lipizzaner horses, based in Vienna, Austria, whose performances in the Hofburg are also ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

4. "Strangers in the Garden"

: ''UK broadcast 29 March 1987'' The final episode examines man's impact on the Mediterranean during the twentieth century. Attenborough dines on red

soldierfish Myripristinae is a subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank us ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, one of a hundred or so species to have colonised the Mediterranean from the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

, via the Suez Canal. Other invaders have been less welcome. The '' Phylloxera'' aphid from North America attacked French grapevines, and only by importing insect-resistant rootstock from the USA was a total catastrophe averted. The growth of tourism has led to uncontrolled development of hotels and marinas, squeezing out natural inhabitants of the coast such as

Mediterranean monk seal The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Ae ...

s and

loggerhead turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when fully ...

s, who come ashore to lay their eggs. The sea is in danger of becoming barren due to overfishing and pollution. Attenborough dives beneath the surface to demonstrate the difference between a thriving

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the or ...

ecosystem and one smothered in sedimentation from untreated sewage. Meanwhile, in Egypt, he looks at the damaging effects of damming the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

, which include reduced productivity, a collapse of Egypt's

sardine "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the It ...

fishery and population displacement. The shooting of millions of migrating birds, draining of wetlands and deliberately started wildfires add to the pressures on the natural world. There are, however, still a few places where the Mediterranean has been left unspoilt. One is Plitvice in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, whose mixed forests provide shelter for many creatures driven or hunted out elsewhere. In the uninhabited Sporades Islands east of mainland Greece, Mediterranean rarities such as

Audouin's gull Audouin's gull (''Ichthyaetus audouinii'') is a large gull restricted to the Mediterranean and the western coast of Saharan Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''ikhthus'', "fish", and ''aetos'', "eagle", and t ...

Eleonora's falcon Eleonora's falcon (''Falco eleonorae'') is a medium-sized falcon. It belongs to the hobby group, a rather close-knit number of similar falcons often considered a subgenus ''Hypotriorchis''. The sooty falcon is sometimes considered its closest re ...

and the European black vulture can still breed freely.

DVDs and book

''The First Eden'' was released as a Region 2 2-disc DVD (BBCDVD2402) on 27 August 2007. The series forms part of the Region 2 DVD encyclopaedia

Life on Land ''David Attenborough's Life on Land: A DVD Encyclopaedia'' is a DVD box set of nature documentaries made by the BBC Natural History Unit. It comprises six series spread across 15 discs, all of them written and presented by David Attenborough, ...

, which was released on 3 November 2008. It is also available (albeit without the final episode) on the Region 1 and Region 4 BBC Atlas of the Natural World DVD box sets. The accompanying book, ''The First Eden: The Mediterranean World and Man'' by David Attenborough (), was published by Collins on 9 March 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:First Eden, The Environment of the Mediterranean BBC television documentaries Documentary films about nature 1980s British documentary television series 1987 British television series debuts 1987 British television series endings