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Five-part special offers a look at the new archaeological discoveries that are changing what we know about ancient Egypt. Using modern technology and the latest archaeological findings, world-renowned Egyptologists breathe life into one of history's most fascinating cultures.
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1998
The ancient Egyptians are the most enduring civilization of all time. But only now have scientists discovered that the roots of this great people may be much older and probably did not begin along the banks of the Nile. 70 miles west of the Nile in the Egyptian desert, lies the first crude monuments to fallen kings
Scientists have long believed that the pyramids were built as resurrection machines for fallen pharaohs. These structures allowed the pharaoh to ascend into the afterlife. Now, new discoveries in the Valley of the Kings point to more structures that were connected to the ancient pyramids. Remnants of temples, mortuaries, and other enclosures seem to point to an even more sophisticated belief system.
Believing gold was the flesh of the sun god, pharaohs stopped at nothing to acquire it. Evidence suggests that the tombs of ancient pharaohs were systematically robbed in order to finance the burials of future kings. King Tutankhamen's tiny tomb is the only royal Egyptian tomb found intact with all the magnificence. But how did the Egyptians get their gold and keep it? From Hyksos, to the Minoans, to the Kushites in the Sudan, the Age of Gold flourished.
Ancient Egyptians used gods to understand the forces of nature and the complex world around them. They created a world full of rituals that let all people communicate with gods and hope for an afterlife. Priests and Pharaohs were the only ones allowed to enter the temples of the gods, but scientists now believe that the statues of the gods were taken out for the public to worship during elaborate festivals.
The "curse" of the Egyptian mummies may be cures for modern disease. Studying the organs of the ancient mummies allows scientists to locate ancient disease strains and fight modern diseases by identifying their cores, the parts of the diseases' DNA that has not changed.