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ANCIENT MYSTERIS
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| Pompeii |
) For an eternity the
volcanic cone of Mount Vesuvius has dominated the landscape of southern Italy.
) 2000 years ago it would shape history. This is the only important find of roman bodies, die only important find ever made. So, for the first time we could really find out what Romans were really like, not just the way they looked from statues... In just a few hours two prosperous cities disappeared from the face of the Earth and more than 1500 years were passed until Herculaneum was discovered by chance... |
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| The Great Pyramids |
) The Great Pyramids
of ancient Egypt are recognizable throughout the World, these fascinating treasures of a
tangible links to the secrets from long ago.
) The ancient Egyptian story is one of ingenuity
or imagination overlapped with intellect, religion intertwined with mythology and abstract
idea molded the real world.
The pyramid served as a portal to the other side. In the earliest burials there
was no attempt of artificial preservation, the body was simply hunched up and laid in a
pit of sand. The natural drying effects of the desert against the skin resulted in a
well preserved human form that lasted thousands of years. Later on mummification was
done to preserve the body by removing the inner, the water-containing parts. After
saying some magical words, the bandaging would begin. The dehydrated body was covered
in a mixture of oils and spices.
The pyramids, man-made monuments, were designed to last for eternity – and so far that's exactly what they have done. The Ancients built a labyrinth of passageways that still beckon modern men... |
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| Camelot |
Once upon a time a tale was
told about a great king, a beautiful queen and courageous knights who
gathered around a great round table... The dark ages were very dark
indeed... there was)
) disease
and depopulation because of warfare. In the late 5th century a crucial battle was waged in western England between the Celts and the hordes of invading foot-soldiers, the Saxons. Celtic victory brought about a moment of peace over the land. Accounts of the battle account the achievements to a warrior named "Arthur"... |
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| Astrology – Secrets in the Stars |
) Since the
beginning of time humanity has looked to the heavens for the answers to earthly problems.
Do the movements of the stars and planets hold the secrets to human destiny? Can the patterns
of the stars reflect the hidden character of individuals – based on the date and time of
their birth?... Astrology looses favour as Astronomy now becomes the accepted science...
In 1953 Michelle Gogolan decided to put astrology to his own test... a sceptic himself
his study proved that there was a statistical correlation between the stars and the personal
career choices on his subjects...
In the sense of life astrology is a perpetual mystery that will never be solved.
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| The Vikings of North America |
) It
was the year 1000 A.D. when men bold enough and curious enough to find out
what really)
lay in the Great
Beyond, set sail through uncharted water. No maps, no compass… Eric the
Red was one of the main leaders trying to establish a new homeland in
Greenland. Most facts known about the Vikings are learned by the Ericsaga.
The extend to the Viking’s travelling is virtually unknown. |
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| Atlantis |
) Atlantis – a legendary island then disappeared to the bottom of the sea.
) It is probably the closest men ever came to create a paradise on earth...
In a single moment the entire island exploded and sank into the sea.
Could Atlantis have excised? – The answer is
"Yes!"The sources could not be more reputable: The ancient Greek Philosopher Plato... In the 4th century before Christ Plato created the only written account of it. According to Plato the account was fact, not fiction. |
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| Macchu Picchu –City on the Sky |
) The Year is 1911. A young American explorer named Hiram Bingum,
a professor of history at Yale University hacks his way through dense jungles in south-
eastern Peru following High BIG rumors of a lost city hidden deep in the jungles of the Andes.
But as Bingum struggles on, it seems like an impossible dream. Above him are 9,000 foot peaks,
before him the deadly torrents of the Urubombo river. Yet Bingum perseveres.
On the morning of July, 25, he crosses the river, crawling on heandsand knees on a primitive log bridge, then (guided by a local Indian) begins to climb up a nearly vertical mountain. By afternoon he is among the clouds on a narrow ridge which runs along the mountains top. The natives call this ridge: "The great Peak" – in their language: Macchu Picchu. And on this ridge Hiram Bingum makes one of the most incredible archaeological discoveries of all time. |
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| Blood and Honor at the First Olympics |
) The
Ancient Olympic Games were savage
competitions in which the athletes gave their blood and sometimes their lives in order to
be called the best and to avoid the dishonour of defeat. The games were held in the nude
and the athletes were idolised not least of all for their god-like perfection of form.
They were also idolized for their fearlessness and nerve in contest that bordered on the suicidal...
Officially winner received a symbolic honoured crown, but - as they returned home - as conquering
heroes and they were given extravagant prizes... Because the Greek did not believe in life after
death, they fought for immortality... The women's events were a ritual activity, a kind of public
demonstration of their value.
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| Blood and Treasure in Peru |
) The northern coast of Peru –
one of the driest deserts on earth – less than a days' rain falls here in a year.
) But in ancient times
civilization flourished in this desolate place.
15,000 years ago these gigantic temples were the largest structures in the Americas. In 1995 archaeologists made a grim discovery: They uncovered some 40 human skeletons... The Moche left behind no written records... Moche art is famous throughout the world... A police raid on a looter's home let Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alba to the most important Moche tomb ever discovered... The violence that we see in Moche society was very controlled. It had its role, it was done on very specific occasions, it never involved mistreatment of women or children... from their descendents we may learn a powerful lesion: While mighty nations rise and fall human life endures.
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| The Hidden City of Petra |
) On his trip to Africa Johan Ludwig Bernhard was told about
a hidden city in the mountains. Passing a very narrow gorge they entered the hidden city of Petra 200 years ago.
Hundreds of buildings, the whole city, were carved out of the rocks.
That the early inhabitants believed in democracy and in women owning land can be learned by writings.
No one knows where they came from, but their name is known: The Navatians. Nomads and caravans passed the city where
only 3 to 4 inches of rain falls. A sophisticated water and tunnel system was built, a big theatre seating 8,000 people, too.
In 1992 archeologists discovered a 6th century church consecrated to the worship of Christ.
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| The Forbidden City |
)
Beijing. An ancient palace so enormous that it is a city on itself stands at the heart of this metropolis:
The Forbidden City: 250 acres of splendour, 800 building and 1 000 rooms for 24 emperors and 2 dynasties.
It was forbidden to all except them and the members of their court. Even today some chambers are strictly off limits.
Anybody trespassing was cruelly put to death. Puyi, the last emperor of China became king of China when he was 2 years old.
Indescribable power resided here. Who built the City? A 14th century Buddhist Monk dreamed about a glorious city and gave the details of his dreams to an ambitious prince, Yum Lo, called the Black Dragon who gathered an army, overwhelmed the emperor and declared himself the New Emperor of China. His first priority was to build the monk's city to win recognition as a legitimate ruler. )
He chose Bejing and called it the new capital. 500 000 workmen laboured 15 years to fulfill the New Emperors dream.
He did on a military trip to Mongolia. The Feng Shui way of building is still practiced today:
Combining architecture with spiritual harmony. Therefore a mountain had to be constructed outside the city in the flat
Beijing countryside.
) The Ming dynasty ended when exactly that hill was climbed by the last emperor to hang himself
when the exploited masses entered the Forbidden City driven by poverty. The Chang dynasty's reign exceeded until the 20th century. The last emperor first suffered under Japanese rule than in Russian exile. He returned and worked as a gardener in China. Mao Zedong or others - the Forbidden City was and is always an area and symbol of power. Inadequate means to restore it cannot oppose the effects of pollution. |
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| Life and Death in Britain's Ancient Theatres |
) It was a time
with witchcraft, with knights in shining armors and murder.
This was the theatre of
Shakespeare's day, the finest plays ever written, the grandest stages ever built.
) They
appeared almost magically – and then, suddenly, they were gone, wiped from the face of
the earth by the stroke of a mighty pen and a bloody civil war. The splendid playhouses
all destroyed, the brilliant manuscripts lost forever. Whatever happened to this
glorious theatre of ancient England?
Almost 400 years after the first globe was built, a new globe has opened to perform the works of William Shakespeare... the greatest stage on Earth.
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| Rosetta Stone |
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) The British Museum
in London is filled with many remarkable antiquities from ancient Egypt...
there is one item
that is more valuable than all the rest: At the entrance to their Egyptian collection is a
large stone tablet... it is known as the Rosetta Stone- one of the most important treasures
of all time...
For two thousand years the history of ancient Egypt was buried in the sands of time...
In mid-July 1799 the tablet with three kinds of writings was discovered by a French soldier during construction works … this stone had survived for more than 1800 years and the Greek was quickly translated - opening the door for the translation of the hieroglyphs because all three scripts said the same thing. But it should last until 1818 when Young succeeded in matching the first letters, with Champoleon finishing the work some years later. |
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| Naked Warriors of Europe |
) In 1984 in Western
England workers uncovered a body lying in the mud.
) It turned out
he'd been there for 2.000 years... a fascinating remnant of a people
who dominated Europe in the centuries before Christ.
For the Celts war was more a chance to show individual valor. ... Celtic versions for a colosseum have been discovered of the West coast of Ireland... but in the areas the Romans barely touched, rugged landscapes of Whales, Scotland and Ireland, Celtic culture continued to thrive and was still intact when the Romans left Britain in 410 A. D. |
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| Secrets of the Pueblo |
)
Americas' Great South
West, a place of Extreme, of ancient peoples and of spirits that still seem to haunt the
canyons and plateaus.
The land of the Anasazi- the Ancient Ones. In Oct 1897... they discovered the pueblo...
with buildings
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| The Odyssey of Troy |
) In Northern Turkey there is a
place where the wind blows ceaselessly...
) It blows along the countryside today as it has since the beginning of
time and collides with history. A love affair had set loose the winds of war. This titanic struggle between the Troyans and the Greeks is set into the memory. The story of the Troyan War handed down by generation of poets
was so powerful that 500 years after it is believed to have happened it was set down in writing, forever immortalized
by the Greek poet Homer. His epic called the
Ilion/Ilium, is said to have happened in real. Was it fact or fiction?
"Now the goddess dawn climbed up the Olympus heights, declaring the light of day to Zeus..."
And so Homer brings the reader full circle from reality to myth and to reality again. |
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| Lost Castles |
The Lost Castles of England
) Castles sometimes were frontier outposts or modest fortresses, others were of grand design. Some housed whole communities. Philip Barker discovered a castle at Hen Domen (Welsh for "the old hill") in Wales. When Harold's death made way for the Norman rule, William the Conqueror was crowned "King William I" in Westminster Abby. After 1066 they built castles all over the country. Later anybody who had got the money was building castles for himself. Land was given for military service. For reason of taxation the king's men counted every single sheep, the richness of the forests... So detailed it was written down in Latin that the people called the arrival of the king's agents the "doomsday". )
Often timber castles were made look like stone castles, first to give the impression of being invincible, and then to show
wealth. Motte and bailey Castles retain the modern bailey type. In the 15th century castles lost their social importance
but maintained their strategic importance. When this ceased to be needed where did the people of the castles go? Nowadays
castles are contemporarily used.
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| The Mayans |
) 2.000 years ago a people lived here
rivalling any other great civilization on earth:
Known as the Maya. "In the romance of the world's history nothing impressed me ever more
forcibly than the spectacle of this once great and lovely city, overturned and dazzling."
John Lloyd Steven, explorer in 1840.
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1400 years ago a ball-game was played. The looser was sacrificed in a slow and painful way.
This was practiced though the Mayans had a high culture,
a sophisticated mathematical and writing system.
Their calendar only differed from ours for 35 seconds a year. They believe the end of the world will be Dec.,
23 2012.
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As farmers they worshiped earth, maize, sun and wind. The archaeologist A. Roos was the first person to
enter an underground room in Palanque: The burial chamber of a man. Now experts can read the inscription:
The body was that of the great king Pacau, the mightiest ruler of Mayan history.
Over 4 million of their descendents live in Guatemala and neighbouring countries |
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| Sphinx |
) On the Eastern base of the Giza - plateau below the Pyramid complex is another stunning symbol of Ancient Egypt: the Great Sphinx.
Act I Guide to Eternity
Act III Lion of the Desert
ACT IV Escort to the Underworld
Act V The Mystery Grows
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| Tattooing |
) The
origins of tattooing can be traced to the dawn of civilization – marks of an
artist on a canvas of human flesh.
) The
ancient and enduring form of art evokes reverence and repulsion, fantasy and
fear. Charcoal rubbed into a mark remained. This might be the way how
tattooing began. In Japan it flourishes because a government edict allowed it
to royalty only. Repression led to ingenuity. The Ancient Maori are well known
for the facial tattoos – patters which they preferred to writing to be used as
signatures under contracts.
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| The Lost people of Chaco Canyon |
) Exploring
the world of the Anasazi legends are told from generation to generation.
Often in secret the rituals and the stories is continued to be handed down.
) Chaco
Canyon remains to be famous for ancient rituals remote and mysterious.
Today natural resources are wasted. The Ancient Ones (Anasazi) respected
nature. Still investigators are intrigued: Why were the roads 40 feet wide?
Why is there so much evidence of violence in what otherwise would have
been a peaceful world? For many Native Americans this is a
sacred place. |
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| Bigfoot |
Writer: Rob Engelhardt
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"Either the most complex and sophisticated hoax in the history of anthropology has continued for centuries without being exposed, or the manlike and largest non-human primate on earth has managed to survive in parts of North America and remains undiscovered by modern science." G. W. Gill, President of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology Over the last two centuries there have been thousands of people who have claimed that they have seen a giant, hairy beast which by appearance is close to the Snowman, called Yeti. The oldest account of Bigfoot was recorded in 986 AD by Leif Ericson and his men. During their first landing in the New World The Northmen wrote about monsters that were totally ugly, hairy and with big black eyes. Knows as Sasqwatch the Hoopa Indians know of Bigfoot for long. They say he's caring for the forests. Early carvings show ape-like faces by Indians who could never have seen a monkey before. Roger Patterson and Robert Gimblin set out to find evidence and filmed a creature in the woods which was huge by appearance with a small movie camera. )
) Another report -in written form- comes from a missionary describing him as night-active. Hair found after
Bigfoot sightings was examined and could not be determined.
)
Countless footprints have been photographed and stored as positives. A group of campers have recoded sounds which were determined as not human. The animal is believed to have a complex social order. Researchers say that they are hiding their tracks. A law has been passed: Killing a bigfoot costs $10.00 plus a jail-sentence of 5 years. |
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| The Miraculous Canals Of Venice |
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Venice - the city in the sea. How was it built? And is it sinking?
Act 1 - Escape into the water - For 15 hundred years it has been the impossible city. In the end of the ice-age
water and settlement poured down from the Alps turning this section of a plane into a series of small, muddy
islands surrounded by 200 square miles of sea-water without fresh water. Fleeing from various peoples like
the Huns raiding the country the Venetians settled in the sea. In converting a muddy lagoon into a
jewel of civilization the Venetians had to invent a whole new way of life bringing along everything they
needed for building. And they achieved to build one of the world's first democracies.
They had to become traders, amongst others
they produced salt out of the sea-water.
ACT V - Is Venice sinking? - The settlements beneath the building sink slowly and permanently and the sea level is rising. The crypt room was built 3 feet above sea-level, now it is a feet below. The city sinks 6 inches per century and the sea-level might rise a foot in the next century. | ||
| Angkor Wat |
)
The jungles of Cambodia
have been in a state of war for centuries, recent killings took the lives of millions. One in seven of the population
perished.
) Angkor -
one of the great archeological treasures of the world. 70 square miles of shrines, stone palaces and
temples, cover an area of twice the size of Manhattan.Build under the rule of Khmer kings whose height of ruling was around 1113 expanding throughout South East Asia. Angkor Bayon was a king's funeral temple, the most famous of Angkor's 200 existing structures, one of the world's biggest stone buildings. Henri Mouhot, a French naturalist, introduced it to the West in 1968. Chaco A million people made their homes here in the 13th century. Angkor Tom was the ancient capital of Angkor. To enter the city one has to pass of the five stone bridges. The Bayon temple is Angkor's last built monument. Here giant stone faces seem to watch visitors from all sides. A Chinese envoy, Zhou Daguan, who stayed in Angkor for a year, wrote the only account on daily life of the Khmers at the capital. He noticed an easy lifestyle: Easy cooking, easy lifestyle and easy relationships. Anna Leonowens was the governess of the children of the king of Siam, who was later portrayed as Anna in the musical The King and I. She has travelled 200 miles to see Angkor by herself. Original Hindu, the people later converted to Buddhism. Nowadays worshippers mix ancient believes with todays, mourning the thousands of dead people killed by the wars. |
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| The Ark of the Covenant |
)
The Ark was brought
to Jerusalem as the holiest of holy objects and later disappeared. It contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments
given to Moses on Mt. Sinai and was built by the Hebrews at the foot of the mountain: The sign and the seal of God's
presence on earth, protection of sicknesses and destroying armies. The building plans, Moses said, came directly from God.
It was covered with purest gold and two golden Cherubim on top of it. In over 200 references the bibles describes
the powers of the Ark. How could the most important object in the Western world disappear? In 966 BC the building of the temple began to host the Ark. Only on Yom Kippur the Ark was moved out of the temple. Now the Al Accra Moshe, the third most important site for Moslem religion, is standing on the central point where the temple has been. The 1909-11 Parker expedition dug directly underneath the stone in the Moshe in a desperate attempt to find the Ark - unsuccessfully. There is only one part in the world where the Ark of the Covenant is still celebrated and carried through the street: In a little village in Ethiopia. Legend tells it got there by the queen of Sheba. When exactly did the Ark disappear? At 701 BC the Ark was still in the temple, but it was gone in 626 BC. According to the bible during Manassas kingdom the temple was turned into a pagan temple. If loyal priests had tried to )
save the Ark, they took it right out of Israel. On Elephantine opposite Aswan a temple had been built right
during the time exactly in that time period precisely for one purpose: To host the Ark. When the Elephantine temple was destroyed the people of the island went to the source of the Blue Nile: A place in Ethiopia where Ethiopian Jews live the ancient Jewish way. Chaco Many replica of the Ark are stored in Ethiopia in sacred temples by the Orthodox Christian church. Only one matches the exact description of the biblical Ark, the exact measurements, fully gold-covered and with the Cherubim on top. "It is pure fire" describers the only person who is allowed to approach it, and the monk who is pure and chosen gestures the size. He is said to be the only person who survives being close to it. |
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| The Samurai |
)
Though being men of exquisite refinement, the Samurai had an eagerness to plunge themselves into
danger against as many as 60 men. Tradition in Japan prizes grace, tranquility and harmony with nature
as well as the tradition of the Samurai whose area lasted 1.000 years. Their lethal weapons, the swords,
were mastered by men who spent time contemplating and dedicating to crafts, studying, writing poetry or drawing. The word "Samurai" means "to serve". Serving the king, the first Samurai were tax-collectors. By 1300 they took over the villages and built a heritage amongst their own. Their huge strive for honor and their expensive armor and masks gave them their reputation: Fighting until death. A million layers give the Samurai's sword its sharpness and strength. It is handled all lifelong in a spiritual union: The sword does the killings; the Samurai only handle the sword. In Japanese movies and literature women are respected as ferocious and capable warriors, some of them were Samurai. Some became Ninjas serving as spies and assassins. ) Chaco
In 1542 Portuguese salesmen arrived in Japan introducing guns. When Japan was united
and people lived in peace for 250 years closing the country to all foreign influence the Samurai became
judges, writers and statesmen. Honor now meant to ensure the well-being of society. When a fleet of American ships arrived Japan had to decide: Open the country to Western influence or face the consequences. The country decided to change to Western influence and took over the Western culture and the abilities to fight. In World War II they impose a reign of terror. By 1943 suicide has become a form of combat. Kamikaze pilots (= warriors of the wind) piloted their planes into ships. Now Samurai are an ennobling inspiration to the world serving others for a better life. |
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| Dragons - Myths and Legends |
If dragons were mere imagination, why do dragon stories abound in ancient civilisations as far as from Greece, Scandinavia and China? Sightings were seriously reported, amongst others by Marco Polo. In India and the Americas serpent-like dragons are reported to be fought. Of all legendary beasts dragons are the most wide-spread and enduring. Scientists agree that so far not all areas on earth have been discovered and zoologically examined. Closest to dragons: The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard ever encountered.
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