Cappadocia is an area where east meets west. It is located 200 miles south of Ankara, the capital of the modern republic of Turkey. It sits in the centre of the high desert of central Anatolia – a 300 thousand square mile peninsula that encompasses most of the country.

The region has always been a hub of mysterious activity. From supposed magnetic fields with healing powers, to a steady trickle of UFO sightings. Today, its unique landscape makes Cappadocia an extremely popular tourist destination. Yet its dramatic terrain conceals a hidden world.

Cappadocia spent centuries under siege, and has been the scene of many bloody battles and ruthless land wars. The landscape is unlike any other in the world, and it has an underground to match. Beneath Cappadocia’s quaint villages, roads and farmlands is one of the most expansive battlefields in the world.

In this incredible episode of Cities of the Underworld, Don Wildman explores a scintillating subterranean world of defence where entire civilisations hid for thousands of years. Roughly 4000 years ago, a mysterious pagan society called the Hittites dug deep into the soft volcanic rock to carve out an intricate underworld. However, after almost 800 years of rule, the Hittite Empire vanished without a trace.

We ask where the Hittites disappeared to, unearthing clues that they left behind. Once the Hittites disappeared, everyone - from the Romans to the Persians and the Byzantines to the Ottomans - fought to control this land. Successive civilisations contributed their own subterranean structures to the layers of fortified castles, sacred sanctuaries, and dungeons hidden beneath the sandy lunar landscape.

Don reveals how these underground cites – which span for miles and miles – have survived and endured the bloody wars, religious battles and constant conflict that have always threatened to destroy them.