A Palace 200 Meters Above the Ground — And a King's Fatal Mistake #history

Two hundred metres above the plain, on top of a rock, one king built a palace — because he was afraid to come down. In 477 AD, Kasyapa seized Sri Lanka's throne after his father was killed, and his half-brother Moggallana — the rightful heir — fled to South India. Certain his brother would return with an army, Kasyapa built the one fortress no army could storm: Sigiriya. Moats and water gardens at its foot, a giant lion for a gate, frescoes and a wall polished like a mirror on the cliff, and a palace at the very top. For eighteen years it worked. Then his brother came back — and Kasyapa made the one mistake the rock could not protect him from. A note on the ending: histories disagree on the year of that final battle, and on exactly why the elephant turned — so this film says only what they agree on: eighteen years later, the elephant turned, the ranks broke. Series: WALK THE LOST CITY — History you can walk through. Every place in this series is shown as it stands today, then rebuilt as it was. Chapters: 0:00 The King Who Was Afraid to Come Down 0:09 477 AD — A Throne Taken 0:19 The Brother Who Fled 0:28 A Fortress No Army Could Storm 0:38 Moats and Water Gardens 0:47 Through the Lion's Mouth 0:57 The Sigiriya Damsels 1:06 The Mirror Wall 1:16 A Palace Above Everyone Else 1:25 Eighteen Years of Watching 1:35 The Brother Returns 1:44 The Fatal Decision 1:54 The Elephant Turns 2:03 Alone on the Plain 2:13 The Empty Palace 2:22 The Monks Return 2:32 Sigiriya Today — UNESCO 1982 2:41 The Closing Question