Out of Egypt

The bodies of our hallowed dead -- preserved and worshiped for generations. These objects are often called 'relics,' and their existence represents a near universal behavior in human culture. A relic could be the finger of a Catholic saint or a mummified ibis bird buried in an ancient Egyptian catacomb. For millennia people have ascribed meaning and power to the remnants of their hallowed dead. Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney visits sites of pilgrimage, both ancient and modern, to explain the reasons and motives behind the value we place on treasured flesh and bone.

The great pyramids at Giza -- awe inspiring icons of Ancient Egypt. But these monuments are not unique. Thousands of pyramids have been built all across the globe. Dr. Kara Cooney travels from the very first pyramids in Egypt to the temples of Mexico, and even to round pyramids in Sri Lanka, demonstrating that the history of these buildings hides a long and twisted evolution of architecture and form. Ancient pyramid builders everywhere attempted to master an ideal sacred shape, but what did the pyramid really mean to the ancient people? And why did they work so hard to perfect it?

Today's city dwellers may think of urban living as an improvement over the existence of our hunting and gathering ancestors. But Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney explains that our modern tendency to live in cities isn't the result of an inevitable march towards progress. Beginning roughly 12,000 years ago, a sudden change in human behavior determined the very nature of modern civilization. And archaeological evidence from some of the world's first cities -- such as Jericho in the West Bank of Palestine, Catal Huyuk in Turkey, and even early prehistoric settlements in Egypt -- suggests that living in cities may bring just as many problems as it solves.

The Ancient Egyptians practiced a complex religion of many gods, and yet they had no devil in their mythology. In fact, most ancient cultures had no conception of the devil. It's only with later, monotheistic beliefs that the notion of pure evil emerges, along with its embodiment, the devil. By examining a historic period of dramatic transition in religious beliefs, Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney pinpoints a moment that brought profound change to cultures all around the Mediterranean -- a shift in politics and society that molded the very nature of divinity and beliefs still followed by many today.

For ancient Egyptians, the dead body was a precious thing meant to be preserved. Egyptian mummies, as well as mummies from cultures as diverse as the Moche of Peru or the first city dwellers of the Middle East, all represent an intense and expensive preparation of the dead. Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney examines tombs, graves, and burials all over the world, explaining that many cultures' methods of treating the dead embody a coping mechanism for dealing with death itself, one unavoidable element that links people around the world and throughout history.

At the front of nearly every ancient Egyptian temple stands a stone wall, decorated with a massive depiction of the king crushing his enemies with a stone mace. This brutal imagery played a central role in the ancient Egyptian religion, believed to magically protect the temple from the forces of chaos. But Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney explains that this isn't unique. Be they human sacrifice at an Aztec pyramid, burning witches in Salem or the torture chambers of the Spanish Inquisition, she demonstrates that acts of violence have continued to be a fundamental part of religious belief for millennia.