(narrator) the quest for immortality-- the desire to extend th certainties of life beyond the grave-- is as old as egypt itself. the pyramids at giza, the wonders of the ancient world, were not just designed as the pharaoh's last resting-place. they were the first stop on a long night's journey to everlasting life. by 1550 bc, power had shifted to a n kingdom 500 miles south in the ancient city of thebes, now called luxor. to the west, in the hills beyond the nile's west bank, the royal tombs of the valley of the kings were cut into limestone cliffs. their interiors are richly decorated

with hieroglyphs and paintings-- signs and symbols that detail the necessary steps to attain immortality. egypt's power and the grandeur that came with it were well-established by 2500 bc when the great pyramids at giza were built. the sphinx was a philosophy of government set in stone. it depicted the king as fearless, cunning and brave as the lion. and as crucial to egypt as the nile itself. the king was not just a political leader but a religious leader too. in the minds of the ancient egyptians, the pharaoh's power and authority as a king stretched far beyond the boundaries of his country--

and into the cosmos itself. after death, he would escape the earthly bounds of his tomb, board a solar boat and sail into immortality. this vision became material in objects and images found in the tombs and temples as a way of pre-ordaining a central idea: after a perilous and carefully prescribed journey through the night, the king would become one with the sun god re. the king becomes associated with re in particular because of the idea that the sun is born every day out of the womb of the sky, and then comes into the world and goes into the body of the sky at night. and the king in his cycle, in his daily comings and goings, is seen to be like the sun. (narrator) the idea that the pharaoh would be reborn as the sun god re is described in paintings and hieroglyphs in countless royal tombs.

it runs like a spine through the theology and philosophy of egypt for more than two thousand years. a clear development begins in the old kingdom in the third millennium before christ. there, at the time of the pyramids, the beyond was located in the sky-- the celestial beyond was always the royal beyond to wch the kin wanted to rise. arrator) e vision of a cestl heaven continueinto the new kingera and was depicted in the tomb of ramses the sixth, who died in 1136 bc. but the concept of an afterlife in the netherworld had begun to replace it by the beginning of the new kingdom, around 1550 bc. in the second millennium a change took place.

the main focus shifted from the sky to the netherworld because egyptians believed that there, the actual regeneration, the coming back to life took place in the world of osiris. (narrator) osiris, ruler and judge of the dead in the underworld... a powerful figure in ancient egyptian cosmology... his origins rooted in an ancient legend. through some horrible machinations he was killed and torn asunder and brought back to life as the world's first mummy, and magically brought back through the help of his sister and wife, isis. osiris, because he was brought back from the dead and because he was put back from pieces and made to live again, became the symbol of regeneration and particularly was associated with the dead and with the land of the west,

including there most valley of the kings. (narrator) the cosmological landscape of the life after death was rich with deities-- hundreds in number. the falcon-headed horus god of the sky and the embodiment of divi kingship. hathor, sky goddess,-- protector of the sun at night. the jackal anubis, guardian of the body, its divine embalmer and protector. the versatile isis, goddess of fertility, patroness of magic and healing and queen of the sky. thoth, a lunar god often represented as a baboon... an ibis... or an ibis-headed human... patron of knowledge and writing, and protector of the scribes. great and small, the gods took different forms--

usually human or animal in shape, and often both-- all of them familiar to the ancient egyptians. when we talk about the hundreds of egyptian gods, each and every one of those is a manifestation of something they associate with the notion of deity or god. for example, the crocodile god, whose name is sobek. the egyptians did not worship crocodiles, they worshipped in this case the force that they associate with the crocodile, who is one of the most fearsome and powerful enemies that they have in their world. so they want to control that particular essence, and they turn it into a deity that they can worship and offer to and then get back what they want from it.

(narrator) the nile's fertile banks and the hills just beyond were home to birds and animals that fed the egyptian imagination. they integrated them into their vision of the world that would follow. like the sun, the sun god re was believed to die each night. he is rejuvenated each day in the form of the scarab beetle. the beetle seemed an apt symbol of rebirth because its eggs were laid in dung, the ultimate form of death and nothingness-- and nonetheless sprang into the preciousness of new life. the egyptians hoped and prayed for certainties-- thatacda thsun d rise, thh mm thnile would flood, that each winter the crops would ripen. that yearng rhhmfe d cplte cms pra

h k a period of great expansion of egyptian power. the charismatic king thutmose the third aggressively expanded egypt's borders. he pushed north into syria and palestine... and south, tightening control over nubia and securing its gold mines. that gold was a source of wealth that would fill the coffers anenrich the tombs ofhe kinom wldfie gr blic wks like the festival hall, also known as a temple of millions of years, and embellish the public image of thutmose the third. thutmose the third ruled from 1479-1425 bc, and embodied the strong central authority that characterized the new kingdom. the pharaohs of the new kingdom were just as intent establishing orde and certaintin theerlife.

across the nile from thebes, due west, they found the perfect staging area for their quest for immortality. the west side of the nile is for the egyptians of course where the sun sets. where the journey to the next world starts. to be on the west side is directly related to the fact that the sun's journey is what we're following. at the end of each day, the sun sets in the west and then travels backwards to the eastern horizon to rise the next morning. (narrator) tucked beneath a peak called el-qurn that may have appealed to them because of its resemblance to a pyramid, the pharaohs of the new kingdom began to construct a cemetery of royal tombs carved into the limestone hillsides. preparations for the tomb began just as soon as the king assumed power, permitting time for the elaborate construction throughout his reign. nearby, a set of smaller tombs began to take shape--

final resting place for nobles whose service to the king was acknowledged by close access to their master for eternity. the tombs of the nobles were less elaborate, but they also displayed a desire to retain their status in the next world... and they were cut just as deeply into the hillsides. the tomb of sennefer, mayor of thebes, depicts sennefer and his wife united eternally in the afterlife. on the ceilings, arbors heavy with ripening grapes evoke the vineyards of osiris a source of vitality and regeneration in the next world. deir el-medina, a village constructed for artisans who worked in the valley of the kings, contains a scattering of smaller tombs they built for themselves. wall paintings in the tomb of sennedjem,

overseer of the artisans, display the piety of sennedjem and his wife, as they worship the gods of the underworld. the sarcophagus of sennedjem's son khonsu attests to that yearning for the continuation of life after death. the surfaces of the sarcophagus are richly covered in hieroglyphs and images, a detailed account of the pieties and rites necessary for passage to an eternal life. khonsu himself is pictured worshipping two lions, images representing the past and the future. the journey to immortality began with mummification-- an attempt to preserve the bod as an eternal vessel for the soul. these practices continued for centuries. in the mid fifth century bc, the greek historian herodotus

detailed the process of embalming. first with a crooked iron tool they draw out the brain through the nostrils... after this they make a cut along the side and take out the whole contents of the belly... then they fill the belly with myrrh, and sew it together again... they keep it covered up in natron salts for seventy days.e. one each for the liver, lungs stomach and intestines. the jars were then placed in a chest. ornamental plaques made of precious metal might be placed over the incision where the vital organs were removed. after embalming, mummies of kings and the upper echelons of egyptian society were elabotely dressed with mummy nets d at d lathbodhe upper echelons of egyptian society

as symbols of kingly power. the mummies wereft adorn and protected with precious metals-- their fingers and toes sheathed in gold, their faces covered with luminous masks. (narrator) color carried special significance in ancient egyptian funeral rituals-- the red granite used in this sarcophagus was also associated with the sun... black stone, the color of the fertile soil of the nile valley, carried with it associations of resurrection and rebirth, and often referred to eternal life.

fully prepared and adorned, the mummies were then placed in coffins. they were made from precious metals orved d oo. s hous the deceased and provided another vessel fotheir spirit. they were inscribed with images of deities-- another layer of protection to ensure safe passage into the netherworld. the mummy was now prepared for its westward journey across the nile. judging by the scenes of funeral processions in the tomb of the noble ramose, the bereaved dealt with the expression of grief much as we do today... but there was a major difference... egyptians bearing offerings-- food, wine, clothing, furniture-- joined the funeral procession. representations of these provisions

weren't just pictures... egyptians believed what they depicted would come into being. i think it's important, when you look at objects from an egyptian tomb, including the decorations on the walls and the mummy itself and even the elements of food and furniture, to remember that all of it was functional. functional not in the way that we would think about used in daily life. now some of those pieces indeed are elements, items of tomb equipment could indeed be used in daily life and then be reused in the burial. but everything was intended to function magically in the next world. (narrator) the royal tombs were hidden from view. there was generally a series of descending shafts, some richly decorated, followed by an antechamber, and then the burial chamber. the coffins were placed into monumental sarcophagi.

these massive containers protected the pharaoh from grave robbers in this life and his enemies in the netherworld. the tombs also included ushebtis-- small lifelike figures that performed work for the deceased, acting as servants in the afterworld. by around 1000 bc, it was common to find hundreds of these ushebtis-- one for each day of the year and a team of supervisors to oversee their work. boats to carry the king through the netherworld, were also common in royal tombs. funerary texts, guidebooks to the land beyond life, were a long tradition in egypt. the book of the dead was a collection of spells, sometimes inscribed on coffins and sarcophagi, to help the deceased ovee the perils of his journey.

the most famous spell centers on tprid over by thehe decejad .s heart, e het ban th the fther of tr the symbol of maat, goddess of truth, justice and harmony. in a declaration of innocence, the deceased must demonstrate that he has not sinned in his past life. (reader) i hai have notilled,ars. i have notamaged the ris in the temples, i haveot added to the weight of the balance (narrator) clared wthofortality, the deceased could expect to reside in the ideal world after his death. the egyptian had a fixed idea of the landscape. he had his nile valley with its canals and the bordering desert and of course he imagined that in the beyond it would look about the same. but he imagined the possibilities in the beyond to be simply greater. that, for example, all the flaws connected

with the body would be sotout, that the gras would ow much tler. therefore it would be an improved life, really. imperfections in this life would be healed in the afterlife. (narrator) the excavation of the tombs in the valley of the kings by archaeologists beginning in the early 19th ntur provid the cleart idea of the new kingdom's addion to the funerary literature-- a text called the amduat detailing the pharaoh's long nighttime journey into oneness with the sun god re. the amduat-- literally translated it means "that which is in the netherworld"-- is a guidebook to the afterlife. and a secret text primarily reserved for the use of pharaohs. it was reproduced in full on the walls of the tomb of thutmose the third, who died in 1425 bc. the black script written against a lighter background suggests a giant papyrus wrapped around the burial chamber walls.

it tells the story of a journey through uncertainty where time and space merge. (dr. betsy bryan) for the egyptians, the notion of trying to turn time, that is, twelve hours of night into space is very complicated, both for them and for us, without any question. but the way they did it was to identify each hour with a particular region. they would even name the hour as the name of a town in those geographical regions and then describe those geographical regions. so that as you move through your hour you were moving through a particular area associated with it, and then you'd move into the next hour and be in a different geographical region. so it is confusing, but it is how they perceive movement

during the nighttime, through space. (narrator) to begin his journey the pharaoh unites with the sun god d boards t solar boat. during twe noctnal hours, they sail from dusk to dawn, from death to resurrection. in hour one, the god appears as a ram-headed figure symbolizing the soul othe sun and as a beetle, a symbol of the hoped-for dawn... 's geted ie netherwod with jubilatio- deities raise their arms as he brings light into the derworld. the voyage begins in earnest in hours two and three, as the sun god travels across the water of the netrworld, bringing civilization and order to the afterlife. but trouble is on the horizon. in the fourth hour, the water dries up and he finds himself in his sun boat on sand. he's also confronted by a strange-looking zigzag

that runs through this fourth hour very much like a descending shaft from a tomb from above. but in any cas it's blockinhis way, is the nd. and so at this point we find that the sun god is challenged as to how he's going to proceed to move through the hours of the night. (narrator) the as ake, overcomes this by turnyou can move across sand.. snakes don't need water obviously. so he is able to proceed, by means of slithering as a snake boat. (narrator) the duat containimages that are also present in the tombs. the protective wedjat eyes allow the pharaoh as sun god to literally keep an eye out for danger. the message, that vigilance is vital to the journey,

is reflected in objects of all kinds that are included in the tombs of royals and nobles. in the hours to come, there would be much to keep an eye on. hour five takes the sun god into the very maw of the underworld. the channel is narrowed by the secret cavern of the god sokar. the falcon-headed god clutches the wings of a multi-headed serpent. together they hold back the hidden chaos that threatens to block the sun god's passage. the sixth and seventh hours are the dark side of the egyptian psyche-- the point where the sobering thought that salvation is a perilous journey is driven home with frightening clarity. these dangers waiting and lurking in the dark for the deceased were pointed out again and again in the amduat. the egyptian tried to shield himself from these dangers in all kinds of ways, mainly with magic words. there is a threat to the sun. the giant snake apophis tries to stop thcourse of e sun,

so there was hope but for everyone.n't succeed. arrator) otecti godes bd, c, and punish the enemy apoph. now der the control of the sun god, e stanrous ment has passed.ecomes an ally. ispahthensof calm d hours.pelo in -- all forces seem to protect the pharaoh as t sun god re.y. artns to the of the sun god's triumph over his enemies. the falcon-headed re is seen before a row of fire pits in which his enemies are incinerated. goddesses, with terrifying nicknames-- "the one who injures" and "the one who is over her slaughtering block," spew fire and clutch weapons to ensure the total annihilation of the enemies-- a brutal necessity for re's rejuvenation.

in the twelfth and final hour of the amduat the journey through primeval darkness ends, as the sun rises in the east and the sun god is reborn. the fully-fledged re emerges as a beetle, flying into the arms of the god shu, who will lift the sun up to daylight. the dense texture of storytelling created by the combination of images and text makes the amduat a uniquely egyptian phenomenon... together with other funerary texts, mummy wrappings, coffins, sarcophagi, and tombs, the amduat protected the deceased and guided them through the afterworld. the pharaoh's successful navigation of the netherworld resulted in more than his own rebirth as the sun god. by ensuring that the life-giving sun would rise each dawn, the journey promised all egyptians

that day would follow night and that life as they knew it would continue.

( music ) in the history of art, raphael was unique. called the "prince ofainters," he was placed above other artists, not among them. even working in the rarified company of such other renaissance masters as michelangelo and leonardo da vinci, raphael was the most popular and most beloved artist of his time. for the past five centuries, his vision has influenced both the art of painting and our image of the christ child, the madonna, and many other sacred subjects. raphael's paintings have been among the most coveted in the world.

through the efforts of american collectors, we are fortunate that many of this master's works have ended up in public museums. today, raphael's genius continues to inspire us. narrator: raphael sanzio was born on april 6, 1483, in urbino, a great center of italian renaissance culture. his father, a poet and painter, instild in the young artist an unquenchable curiity and ambition. raphael's remarkable artistic talent developed early, and as a teenager he studied with the leading umbrian painter, pietro perugino. raphael's early rk reflected perugino's influence, but the student soon overshadowed his teacher, to create more damic spatl composions and arrangements of figus.

at the age of 21, raphael was drawn to florence, where the work of leonardo and michelangelo had tremendous impact on him. his inting style was transformed, becoming more complex and heroic. raphael's reputation flourished. at 25, he moved to rome, fully prepared to take on the monumental tasks that were presented to him. he was commissioned to decorate the ceiling of the stanza della signatura in the vatican palace. raphael's paintings were so well received that he was enlisted to decorate the entire suite of rooms. sed on classical themes, his frescoes combine the ideal world of the antique past with the ideas and innovations of renaissance style. the grandeur and nobility of his works mark a peak in renaissance art.