Secrets of Ancient Life Tributes to the Gods

Inside the room, Curzon found a treasure trove, the dusty pages of some of the earliest dated Bible texts in existence, fully bound Christian manuscripts, as well as several gospel fragments, written in ancient Syriac, a language related to what Jesus spoke. They dated back to the 4th century AD. Curzon also stumbled upon a surprise, a biblical text, the Acts of Peter and Paul, which was never included in the Bible. Angkor Wat's walls are covered with 12,900 square feet of bobber leaf carvings. Executed with great skill and artistic sophistication, the reliefs are considered a masterpiece in their own right. These carvings cover multiple blocks of sandstone and are so perfectly fitted together that the seams are almost invisible. Even the detailed lintels at the top of the walls are carved from the same stone blocks. Each artist would cut away layers of the wall and then carve the reliefs directly into the stone. Hundreds of highly skilled carvers worked side by side to complete the work in only decades. Experts admire not only the expressive human figures in the carvings, but also the remarkable perspective these early artists were able to achieve. The carvings encircle the entire outer gallery from floor to ceiling. Measuring 2,600 feet, it is the longest continuous bas relief in the world. The north gallery, this famous relief called the Battle of Kurukshetra, depicts an ancient combat scene from Indian history retold in the epic work, the Mahabharata. Continuing along to the southern gallery, visitors encounter a 260-foot depiction of Suryavarman II's whole royal procession. Military leaders, priests, musicians, standard bearers, servants and royalty all take their place in this carving. The carving's centerpiece is the famous portrait of Suryavarman II himself. Lingering traces of gold hint at its former splendor. The famous portrait of the king was gilded and surrounded by red, the color symbolizing protection and strength. Continuing to the east side gallery, a visitor finds perhaps the most famous and revered of all the reliefs, the churning of the sea of milk. It depicts Vishnu and Devas, the benevolent Hindu gods, and the Asuras, the evil gods, all pulling on a great snake to churn the cosmic sea in search of eternal life. Their struggle released countless deities, including the beautiful nymphs called Apsaras. Northern gallery is the Battle of the Gods and Demons. This epic battle scene illustrates the pantheon of twenty-one Hindu gods battling alongside human warriors. Led by Vishnu, the gods of good defeat the evil gods. And as Suryavarman II was considered an earthly avatar of Vishnu, the scene celebrates his reign as well. During the Templar trials, members of the order described how initiates were required to perform bizarre sexual rites, bestowing obscene kisses on the bodies of senior members. They confessed to spitting and trampling on the cross, and denying the divinity of Jesus. The accusations have been leveled that the Templars are extremely lurid, and have always attracted, for that reason, a great deal of attention. But they are there, in black and white, in the trial depositions, so we have to address them and assess them. But most shocking of all was the testimony that the Templars worshipped a sinister bearded head. In the trials, the head was described in various different ways. Sometimes they said it had two heads, sometimes brothers described it as having four feet. Some said it was made of silver, some said it was made of gold. It was rumoured to be the preserved head of the first Templar Grandmaster, Hugh de Payens. It was also described as a two-faced skull, or the head of an animal. Some mentioned a weird idol, known as Baphomet. It's possible the word Baphomet was a corrupted pronunciation of Mohammed. If so, some have suggested this is evidence that the Templars were secret converts to Islam. In the 12th century, the Muslim culture, the Muslim civilization was very ahead of the Western European civilization. When the Knights Templar went to the Holy Land, they were confronted with a culture that was very superior to their own. So some influences began to settle in the general ideology of the Templars. China is full of sacred spots. One of the most revered is here in the southwest. This massive statue called the Leshan Buddha sits on Mount Emei, where Buddhism was first established in the first century. It originally spread from India to China and today is one of this nation's largest religions. The Leshan was carved here in the 8th century for a specific reason. The giant Buddha statue is located where the three rivers merge. The current creates a big whirlpool. In the past, boats that passed through often sank, causing a lot of human deaths. So monk Hai Tong decides to build the giant statue there, opposite the Lingyin Temple. The monk spent two decades raising money for the statue, but died before it was complete. Two of his disciples carried on the project, dumping tons of stone into the water below. All that sediment altered the course of the river, making it safer. After 90 years of construction, the Buddha was finished in 803 AD, during the Tang Dynasty. Every era carries their own depiction of the Buddha. During the Tang Dynasty, the society was well-advanced. The economy was flourishing and life was prosperous. Often in Tang paintings, the subjects appear plump and dignified. This is the characteristic of Tang Dynasty. Naturally, the Grand Buddha statue conveys these features. This Grand Buddha remains an inspiration 1,200 years later. We don't know much about the male pharaohs who ruled this ancient land. But new archaeology reveals a surprising undercover power structure led by women. In the city of Luxor on the Nile's east bank stands an awe-inspiring sacred site, Karnak. Constructed over 3,000 years ago, Karnak is made up of temples, chapels and shrines dedicated to various Egyptian deities. But one towers above all others, the Great Temple of Amun. Amun was the king of the gods, responsible for fertility and creation. Ancient Egyptians believed he had saved their land from foreign invaders. They trusted in Amun to keep Egypt safe and prosperous. The high priests of Amun served the god here. And yet the most important religious official was not a man, but a woman. Deep in the temple's forbidden inner sanctum, a powerful priestess conducted mysterious ceremonies. Her role was to be the wife of Amun himself. And one day, her power would rival that of the pharaoh. Legend has it that the brothers Tapusa and Baliga were merchants who traveled between India and Burma. One day they came across Buddha while visiting India. They became Buddha's disciples and offered him honey balls, for which Buddha gave them eight strands of his hair. The hair of Buddha was considered a priceless treasure. The brothers gave the holy strands of hair to the king. From here, the myth explodes into a miracle. Cracks formed on land, and a strong wind blew. The earth shook and lightning struck. From the sky, jewels fell like rain, and the people were knee-deep in gems. Even though it wasn't spring yet, the trees in the Himalayas bore fruit. Amid the bursting flowers, the king built a new pagoda. This creation story is intertwined with actual history. On this same hill, an ancient stupa was likely built sometime in the first millennium. Around the 14th century, the structure was rebuilt, expanded, and by the 18th century, took its current form. This is the Shwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred site in Burma. This is not your typical West Virginia mountaintop. It's a place that's been called America's Taj Mahal, a permanent home for a group of spiritual devotees that many of us think of as wanderers. This is New Vrindavan, named after a holy city in India and the home of the largest Hare Krishna community in America. When they're not standing on street corners singing in saffron robes, some followers of this religious group come here to New Vrindavan. It was completed in 1979 as a shrine to the late founder of the Hare Krishna movement, a man called Srila Prabhupada. Unpaid devotees built this palace on top of an old garbage dump and claim they developed their building skills by using their Krishna consciousness. Its dome is covered with 22-carat gold leaf. Inside, its floors and walls are made of dozens of different kinds of marble from 17 countries. But controversy plagued New Vrindavan from the start. In the 1990s, its leader, a New York State native who went by the name of Swami Bhaktapad, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for racketeering, charges that centered around his selling of fake souvenirs of Snoopy and other cartoon characters, and accusations that he engaged his followers to murder two other Hare Krishna devotees. Once, money from sales of tickets to the palace flooded New Vrindavan's coffers. But these days, this Hare Krishna community is striking it rich from a boom that lies right under their dancing feet. New Vrindavan sold the natural gas rights to its 4,000 acres for $10 million. Money, it says, will go to refurbishing its palace of gold. Well-born and bred, Robert Curzon was a nobleman who had studied classics at Oxford, but left in 1831 without completing his degree. In many ways, he was very typical of his age. Young aristocrat, bored, couldn't find a role for himself. His family had no sense of what he should do. And so he was clearly seeking some sort of purpose in his life. Disenchanted by the perpetual gloom of England, Curzon wrote, The solitariness of my existence is unendurable. It's like living in a madhouse. So he packed his bags and set off for an exotic land to resurrect his broken spirit. Curzon's escape from the madhouse led him to Egypt and the majestic pyramids. You can't not be amazed standing in the presence of these giant stone monsters. But Curzon wanted to do more than just marvel at the wonders of ancient Egypt. A book collector with a passion for handwritten manuscripts, he wanted to find ancient biblical texts and bring them back to England for preservation. Egypt's early Christian monasteries were a natural target for his search. Egypt was a key player in the formation of early Christianity, and it's here that the monastic movement began. Monks who had gone out to the desert to live in solitude, banded together in self-sufficient communities, and those became the first monasteries. One of the oldest monasteries in Egypt, and the world, is the Syrian Monastery, 90 miles west of Cairo. In 1834, it took Lord Curzon nearly two days to reach it by boat and camel. Today, it's less than two hours away by bike. Founded in the 6th century AD, the monastery was known for its wall paintings and its library of precious manuscripts. When Curzon visited the library, he found the place in complete disarray, with manuscripts just littering the floor. In his own words, he saw himself as a kind of biblical knight errant, there to save the texts from the thralldom of ignorant monks kept in their dark monastic dungeons. No question Curzon's heroic self-portrayal is a little over the top. But today's librarian of the monastery, Father Begul, admits the place probably was a mess. During his stay, the crafty Curzon plied a blind monk with liqueur to coax him into showing him the library. In the deep recesses of the vaults, Inside the room, Curzon found a treasure trove, the dusty pages of some of the earliest dated Bible texts in existence, fully bound Christian manuscripts, as well as several gospel fragments. Written in ancient Syriac, a language related to what Jesus spoke, they dated back to the 4th century AD. Curzon also stumbled upon a surprise, a biblical text, the Acts of Peter and Paul, which was never included in the Bible. At the time, questions about why this Christian text was omitted led to speculation among scholars about the accuracy of the Bible. Were there more texts not included in the scriptures waiting to be discovered? Word of Lord Curzon's discoveries in an obscure monastery in Egypt spread across Europe, alerting scholars and bibliophiles of the ancient treasures found in North Africa.