:20:03
Where once a lofty mountain
stood is a huge abyss-
:20:07
the collapsed caldera
of a great volcano-
:20:10
the shell of the greatest
cataclysm in human history.
:20:20
Sheer cliffs plunge
a thousand feet to the sea
:20:23
and more than a thousand feet
into its depths.
:20:27
The present villages of Thera
:20:29
Cling definatly to the edge
of an unremembered catastrophe.
:20:34
But recently,
with new theories and new tools
:20:38
scientists have reconstructed
an awesome event
:20:42
35 centuries ago
:20:44
at the height
of the Minoan civilization
:20:48
Thera erupted with the energy
of 50,000 atomic bombs.
:21:16
Earth shocks toppled Knossos.
:21:20
lmmense waves 300 feet high
:21:23
crushed the ports and palaces
of the Minoans.
:21:38
A great civilization
had been struck a blow
:21:40
from which
it would never recover.
:21:44
The course
of western civilization
:21:46
was forever changed.
:21:53
On the remains of Thera
:21:55
beneath massive layers
of pumice and ash
:21:57
scientists have penetrated
an extraordinary time capsule-