All language subtitles for Holy.Marvels.with.Dennis.Quaid.S02E08.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[dramatic music]

- Countless terrible events

have been attributed
to angry gods.

From wiping out entire cities-

- He commands the Israelites

to kill everyone in Jericho.

- God even has
Joshua issue a curse

on anyone who attempts to
rebuild the city in the future.

- To doling out eternal torture-

- Zeus condemns Prometheus

to have his liver eaten
every day forever.

- To conjuring up deadly curses.

- The Egyptians believe that
even after the pharaoh is dead,

no one is safe From his anger.

- Shortly after unearthing
King Tut's tomb,

Lord Carnarvon is found dead.

- At least nine people
connected with the excavation

die over the next decade.

- When the wrath of
a god is unleashed,

there's nowhere to hide.

[dramatic music]

The Great Flood in the
Bible's Book of Genesis

is among the most famous stories

associated with a furious God,

but it's far from the only one.

[lightning cracking]

- The Old Testament God is
pretty famous for his wrath.

In Genesis, he kicks Adam and
Eve out of the Garden of Eden.

In Exodus, he curses
Egypt with the 10 plagues.

In the Book of Numbers,

he even sends poisonous snakes

to bite his chosen
people, the Israelites,

when they complain about
being hungry in the desert.

- [Dennis] God also
famously vents his anger

at a city standing in
the way of the Israelites

reaching the Promised Land.

[pensive music]

- After the death of Moses,

God picks Joshua to
lead the Israelites.

But as they near
the city of Jericho,

there's a problem.

It is occupied by
the Canaanites,

and they are refusing to
let the Israelites in.

[dramatic music]

- Joshua's army camps on the
other side of the Jordan River

across from Jericho.

He then sends out two spies

to gain information
about the city.

A prostitute named Rahab,

who lives in Jericho,
assists them.

She gives them information

and helps them to avoid capture.

[suspenseful music]

- Once he has his insider info,

Joshua leads his army to
cross the Jordan River.

With the help of the
powerful Ark of the Covenant

that they're carrying,

the river dries up in one area

so they can walk right through.

- The King of Jericho reacts

by ordering the gates to
the city walls closed.

[doors slamming]

No one is allowed in or out.

- [Dennis] This upsets
God tremendously,

so he decides to teach the
people of Jericho a lesson.

- God tells Joshua to march
his army around the city,

once a day for six days,

carrying the Ark
of the Covenant.

And then on the seventh day,

the Israelites are to march
around the city seven times

with the priests
blowing their trumpets.

They do exactly as instructed,

and after the last trumpet
blast on the seventh day,

the whole army shouts

and the walls of the
city come tumbling down.

[wall crashing]

- The Bible leads us to believe

that it's the power
of God's wrath

that causes those
walls to crumble.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] But that's
not the end of the story.

- God is so angry,

he commands the Israelites

to kill everyone in Jericho.

Joshua and the Israelites
destroy with the sword

every living thing,

men and women, young and old,

cattle, sheep and donkeys.

And then they burn the
city to the ground.

- God even has
Joshua issue a curse

on anyone who attempts to
rebuild the city in the future.

At the cost of
his firstborn son,

he will lay its foundations,

at the cost of his youngest,

he will set up its gates.

The only people
in the city spared

are Rahab and her family.

Rahab eventually becomes an
ancestor of both King David

and the Virgin Mary's
husband, Joseph.

- [Dennis] It's
a terrifying tale

of what happens when
humans anger God.

But could some aspects
be rooted in fact?

[inquisitive music]

- There is still a Jericho.

It's in the
modern-day West Bank.

- Jericho is one of the oldest

continuously occupied
fortifications in the world.

It has the same name,

it's in the right
part of the world,

and it's very old.

[pensive music]

- [Dennis] One of the first
major excavations of the area

takes place in 1868,

led by British archaeologist
Charles Warren.

- There's a place named Tell
es-Sultan or Sultan's Hill.

Warren suspects
it's the right spot

because it's near a spring

that is described
as supplying water

to ancient Jericho
in biblical times.

Warren digs trenches
on the site,

but he doesn't find
anything significant

and so decides it is not
worth excavating any further.

- [Dennis] 40 years later,

biblical scholar Ernst Sellin

and archaeologist Carl Watzinger

pick up where Warren left off.

- One of the most vivid details

of the destruction of Jericho

would be the walls that collapse

when the Israelites
blasted their trumpets.

- Sure enough,
Sellin and Watzinger

do find remains of two walls,

which they believe supports
the biblical account.

These walls clearly collapsed

in some kind of major
damage-causing incident.

They also find piles of
mud brick inside the walls

that they believe are from
the Canaanite settlement.

Now, this is still before
carbon dating is possible,

so once the walls and the
bricks are discovered,

there's not much else
to be done at that time.

- [Dennis] Progress continues

when a new team joins
the effort in 1930.

- A British archaeologist
named John Garstang

works with his son to
perform even more excavations

at Jericho.

He finds several more things

that he believes support the
events in the Book of Joshua.

- Garstang believes that Exodus

is set around 1450 BC,

which is the timeframe
that is widely accepted

among biblical scholars.

Then the Book of Joshua

says that the Israelites moved
about the desert for 40 years

before going to Jericho.

Garstang locates and excavates
another collapsed city wall

near the one Sellin
and Watzinger found.

Based on other artifacts

discovered near this
wall's foundation,

he dates the wall
to the late 15th

or early 14th century BC.

So the timing could fit.

- He also notices
something interesting.

The exterior walls of the city

appear to have fallen outwards.

With a walled city
being invaded,

you might expect the
walls to be pushed in.

This might explain
why the destruction

was chalked up to God's wrath.

- [Dennis] But Garstang thinks

there's another
possible explanation.

[dynamic music]

- Jericho and the
surrounding valley

are in a very
seismically active area,

and have experienced
numerous earthquakes

throughout recorded history.

[inquisitive music]

Garstang believes that this
evidence of an earthquake

supports the statement in Joshua

that the Israelites are able
to cross the Jordan River

as it dries up.

- Mudslides following
the quakes in this area

sometimes dam up
the Jordan River,

temporarily stopping its flow.

So maybe that's what allowed
the Israelites to cross.

Garstang concludes
his dig in 1936,

confident that
Jericho was destroyed

not by the wrath of God,

but by an earthquake.

- [Dennis] For
the next 88 years,

archaeologists
continued to debate

how Jericho
was destroyed.

Then in 2024, biblical
scholar Tom Meyer

points to a crucial
piece of evidence

overlooked in an
early excavation

that might help prove the story.

[upbeat music]

- In the biblical account,

Rahab and her entire family

are spared from the destruction

because they helped
Joshua's spies.

Way back during the excavations
by Sellin and Watzinger

in the early 1900s,

they discover a small
portion of the city

had been spared.

- On Jericho's north side,

a small eight-foot-tall section
of the wall didn't collapse.

And next to this wall,

they find a house that's
also still intact.

For Meyer, there is
no other explanation.

This house must be Rahab's

because it is standing
alone amidst the destruction

with the wall around it,

miraculously spared,

just as it says in the Bible.

- If this is true,

it's proof of both
God's wrath on Jericho

and his mercy.

- The Bible isn't the only
place to find wrathful gods,

Greek mythology is
filled with them.

But the rage of one in
particular is legendary.

[pensive music]

- You've definitely
heard of Zeus.

He's the almighty father,

the king of the Greek
pantheon of gods.

And despite the fact that
popular worship of him

ended back in the
fourth century,

even today,

hit movies and TV series

are made about his
legendary wrath.

[pensive music]
[thunder rumbling]

- In the Greek pantheon,

Zeus is the ultimate authority,

and he's there to
protect gods and humans,

but he's also there to make sure

that they respect the rules.

- Zeus is pretty
much the final word

when it comes to
justice and truth,

but when wielding his judgment,

he's often just
straight-up cruel.

You never wanna get
on Zeus's bad side.

- In one famous story,

a minor god called
Prometheus defies Zeus

by stealing fire from Olympus

and giving it to humans.

Zeus condemns Prometheus
to be chained to a mountain

and have his liver
eaten by an eagle

every day for eternity.

As soon as the liver is eaten,

it replenishes itself

and gets eaten again.

- [Dennis] It's not just
stealing that infuriates Zeus.

- After Atlas leads
an attack against Zeus

during a battle between
the gods and the titans,

Zeus forces him to stand at
the western edge of the world

and to literally
hold up the heavens

on his shoulders forever.

Besides all of these
elaborate punishments

that he hands out,

Zeus also has a famous weapon

that he can use when he's angry,

a thunderbolt hurled
from his bare hand.

- [Dennis] In one famous story,

he wields it against
a god named Phaethon.

- Phaethon is the son
of the sun god, Helios.

One day, he takes
his father's chariot,

which guides the
sun through the sky.

Phaethon accidentally rides
it too close to the earth

and he scorches
great swaths of land.

After hearing complaints

from the stars and
the earth itself,

Zeus mercilessly throws down

a devastating thunderbolt,

striking Phaethon
dead for his joy ride.

- [Dennis] Zeus doesn't just
take out his anger on gods,

he unleashes his rage
on mortals as well.

- In 491 BC, King
Darius I of Persia

sends out envoys to
the Greek city-states

demanding tributes
of earth and water.

In other words, he wants them

to submit to Persian rule.

Some of the city-states comply,

but Athens and Sparta

don't take kindly to the offer.

[suspenseful music]

- Even though these envoys are
supposed to have safe passage

to pass on the word of the king,

both the Athenians
and the Spartans

cast the Persian
messengers down into a pit.

In the Greek world, this
is a grave transgression.

- When he learns of
his dead messengers,

Darius takes a bow

and shoots an arrow
towards the heavens.

According to the Greek
historian Herodotus,

he shouts, "Zeus, let
it be granted to me

to punish the Athenians."

- So he shoots an arrow at Zeus

and tries to command
Zeus to do his bidding,

which is to punish
Zeus's chosen people.

That is a surefire
way to make him mad.

[pensive music]

- The next year,
Darius invades Greece

with a massive Persian army.

The Athenians are
vastly outnumbered

at the Battle of Marathon,

but somehow the Greek army

inflicts a crushing
defeat on the Persians,

driving them back with a
loss of only 192 Athenians

against 6,400
Persian casualties.

- The Persians should've
won this battle

and they should've
won it easily,

and so a lot of people
at the time are thinking,

"Was Zeus somehow involved

in striking down Darius's army?"

- [Dennis] After Darius dies,

his son Xerxes I succeeds him.

- Xerxes invades
Greece in 480 BC,

winning some battles,

initially sacking cities,
like Thespiae and Plataea,

and burning Athens.

He also defeats the
Spartans at Thermopylae,

as famously dramatized
in the movie "300."

- According to the Greek
historian Herodotus,

Xerxes asks his
wise uncle Artabanus

for advice about whether
to continue invading,

and Artabanus warns
him against it.

He says, "The god strikes
with his thunderbolt

those creatures that
tower above the rest."

In other words, "Zeus
is gonna take you down

if you get too grandiose."

- [Dennis] But Xerxes
doesn't listen to his uncle,

and instead makes
an even bolder move.

- There's a sacred precinct in
Xerxes' territory in Babylon

where people had been
allowed to worship Zeus.

Xerxes goes in and steals
their statue of Zeus

and kills the priests.

Then Xerxes continues his
offensive against the Greeks,

turning his naval
fleet towards Salamis

- In the Battle of Salamis,

Xerxes is soundly defeated,

hastening the decline
of the Persian Empire.

Herodotus very clearly
describes Xerxes' defeat

as a punishment for his audacity

to make the land of Persia

border on the lofty
realm of Zeus.

- [Dennis] While we
may never know if Zeus

was truly behind these stories,

we do know Ancient Greeks
did anything they could

to stay on his good side.

[suspenseful music]

- One way they can do
this is with sacrifices.

There is vast
archaeological evidence

that the Greeks made thousands,

maybe even tens of thousands
of animal sacrifices to Zeus,

most often goats or pigs.

- The Greeks believe that Zeus

is intimately involved
in their daily lives.

If something good happens,

it's because he's happy.

[thunder rumbling]

- [Dennis] They also claim
to know when Zeus is angry.

[lightning cracking]

- One of the main ways
is by the weather.

With science in its
infancy at the time,

thunder and lightning storms

are something that the Ancient
Greeks don't understand.

So they attribute them to Zeus.

thanks to his
well-known association

with lightning bolts.

- In fact, if someplace on earth

gets struck by lightning,

oftentimes the Greeks will
erect a temple right there

where people could worship

and hopefully ward off
any more violent storms.

- In 2009, a team from the
University of Pennsylvania

uncovers a particularly
ancient sacred spot

where this happened,

at the top of Mount
Lykaion in Arcadia.

They find charred animal bones

and a bronze statue
of a male hand

holding a silver lightning bolt.

They also find
petrified lightning,

which is the fused
soil and minerals

that are left behind when
lightning strikes the ground.

- The evidence suggests that
people gathered at this spot

to worship Zeus and
offer animal sacrifices

more than 3,200 years ago

because it was a location

where they believed his
angry lightning bolt

once struck the earth.

[pensive music]

- [Dennis] These days, Zeus
may no longer be feared,

but we continue to honor him,

just in case.

- One of the most
iconic ancient events

that we still celebrate now

is the Olympic Games.

They were actually
originally started

as an important tribute to Zeus.

- For several centuries,

the ancient Greeks
held the Games

at Zeus's Temple of
Olympia every four years.

[audience cheering]

Even if there was a
threat of invasion,

the Games would go on,

because we all know what happens

when Zeus feels disrespected.

[pensive music]

- We've all heard of the
lost city of Atlantis,

a fabled place that supposedly
sank into the ocean,

destroyed by angry Greek gods.

Is it possible this legend

was inspired by an
ancient disaster?

[thunder rumbling]
[pensive music]

- Atlantis is a
legendary kingdom

that's said to once have
occupied a large island.

- It's been featured in books

by big-name authors
like Jules Verne,

CS Lewis and Arthur Conan Doyle.

It's been the subject
of movies, TV shows,

and it's also famously
the home of Aquaman.

- [Dennis] The
fascination with Atlantis

dates back to 590 BC.

- In his writings, Plato
says that an Athenian poet

named Solon was visiting Egypt

when he heard about Atlantis
from a local priest.

It's a story of
an entire kingdom

destroyed by an angry god.

This tale passes down

through several generations

of Solon's family

to Plato himself.

And once Plato starts
writing about it,

the story really
starts to spread.

[inquisitive music]

- Plato describes a large island

created by the god Poseidon.

Poseidon is the god of the sea

who controls all
bodies of water,

creates storms and tsunamis,

and also can cause earthquakes.

[lightning cracking]

- Poseidon gives this
island to his son,

the god Atlas.

It becomes known as
the Island of Atlas,

and over time, gets
shortened to Atlantis.

The Atlantic Ocean gets
its name the very same way,

it's the Sea of Atlas.

[dynamic music]

- According to Plato, this
island existed around 9600 BC,

and it was located, he says,

beyond the Pillars of Hercules,

which is a phrase that
the Greeks typically use

to describe the
strait of Gibraltar.

So he likely means it's out
in the Atlantic somewhere.

- Atlantis is a grand
utopian society,

inhabited by half
gods and half humans.

They're technologically
advanced,

they're extremely wealthy,

and they control a
very powerful navy.

- [Dennis] But unfortunately,
things take a dark turn.

- According to Plato,

the need for power
corrupts the Atlantians.

In their greed and
quest for domination,

they try to conquer the people

of the Mediterranean.

So they attack Athens,

but the city manages
to fight them off.

[pensive music]

- As we all know,
getting too power hungry

is a surefire way to
upset the Greek gods.

Plato describes Zeus holding
a council of the gods

to discuss how to
deal with Atlantis.

It includes Poseidon, Hera,

Apollo, and several others.

- Atlantis' moral decline

and their hubris are simply
too much for the gods,

and so they punish
the Atlantians

by destroying their
entire civilization.

[vase smashing]

The gods unleashed 24 hours
of cataclysmic flooding

and earthquakes on Atlantis,

causing the island to be
swallowed up by the sea,

never to be heard from again.

It's a major civilization

that is just wiped
out overnight.

It is the ultimate
tale of divine wrath.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] As soon as
Plato's account of Atlantis

is published,

people start asking,

"Is this true? And if so,
where is Atlantis?"

[inquisitive music]

- Plato's own students
are divided on this.

Aristotle believes that
Plato invented the island

to teach a moral lesson.

He even jokes about
Plato's ability

to create nations
out of thin air

and destroy them in a day.

- Despite their questions,

the Ancient Greeks don't
really have the technology

to go out and look for Atlantis

beneath the ocean.

People don't really start
seriously searching for it

until the age of
transatlantic exploration,

when advances in ship
building and navigation

allow Europeans to venture

much farther across the oceans.

- [Dennis] This
opens the floodgates

for a range of ideas on
where Atlantis could be,

including one from
a Spanish historian

in the 16th century.

- The new world of America

has recently been discovered,

and it inspires
Francisco Lopez de Gomara

to speculate that this might
be where Atlantis is located.

It's the biggest piece of land

outside the Pillars of Hercules,

and so it could be where
Plato was talking about.

[inquisitive music]

- As European explorers
push into Mexico

and Central America,

they find evidence that
they think backs up

Lopez de Gomara's claims.

They see the impressive
architecture and large cities

in the territory of
the Maya and the Aztec,

and they think, "You know,
this really could be Atlantis."

- But of course, the
Maya and Aztec cities

aren't underwater,

nor were they destroyed
by earthquakes

or leveled to the ground.

They're mostly still standing.

So this doesn't really
fit the narrative

of the wrath of the gods

taking down Atlantis.

- [Dennis] In 1882,
another theory emerges

when American writer
Ignatius Donnelly

publishes a popular book.

- He takes some
of these old ideas

and really pushes
them to the extreme,

actually claiming that
all ancient civilizations

are descended from Atlantis

and that this is also where
the Garden of Eden was located.

- He combines a hodgepodge
of research on Plato

and the Bible and geological
data concerning floods,

and he comes up with a theory

that Atlantis was
once a large island

right in the middle
of the Atlantic

and its people spread from
there in all directions.

They settled in Mexico
and South America,

in Africa and Europe.

He cites similarities
in the mythologies

of Ancient Egyptian
and Native Americans

and similarities
in their buildings,

such as pyramids,

similarities in their languages,

to suggest that
Atlantis started it all.

- Donnelly writes that the
destruction of Atlantis

was caused by the
God of the Bible

as part of the Great Flood.

So according to him,

it was destroyed by God's wrath,

not the Greek gods' wrath.

[waves crashing]
[pensive music]

- Today, we know that
Donnelly's claims

are just wrong.

We know the separate origins

of the Maya and the
Aztec and the Egyptians,

and we also know
that no civilization

had the technology to travel
so far across the ocean

9,000 years ago.

- So once again, we're
back to square one.

If the story of
Atlantis' destruction

at the hands of the gods

is based on a real place,

this can't be it.

[suspenseful music]

- From Plato's ancient writings

to modern-day expeditions,

the search for Atlantis
has turned up empty,

but what if they've
all been looking

in the wrong place?

- What we're looking
for is evidence

of the massive destruction
of a thriving culture,

possibly a large amount of ruins

and possibly underwater.

- Ever since the time
of the Ancient Greeks,

when trying to prove
Atlantis existed,

there's only really
been one hint

as to its location,

that important
passage from Plato

where he says, "It's beyond
the Pillars of Hercules."

- In the southern
part of Greece,

we find two protruding cliffs

on either side of
the Gulf of Laconia.

These could also be referred
to as the Pillars of Hercules.

[inquisitive music]

- If this is the case,

then everyone looking all around

the Atlantic Ocean for Atlantis

might be way off base.

Atlantis might actually be
in the Mediterranean Sea,

somewhere just outside
the Gulf of Laconia.

[seagulls squawking]

- The Gulf of Laconia
is nearly 1,600 miles

east of the Rock of Gibraltar.

And over by Gibraltar,

we haven't found anything close

to an island civilization

that got wiped out overnight.

But guess what?

Near the Gulf of
Laconia, we have.

- [Dennis] It's called
the Island of Thera.

And long ago, it experienced
unholy annihilation.

- During the Bronze Age,

Thera is home to the
Minoan civilization.

Tragically, around 1600 BC,

the island is destroyed,
nearly overnight,

due to a massive
volcanic eruption

that triggers
earthquakes and tsunamis.

- Studies of ash
deposits on the sea floor

reveal that the force
of that eruption

dwarfed anything seen to
that point in human history.

[volcano booming]

Scientists believe the explosion

had the energy of several
hundred atomic bombs

exploding in a
fraction of a second.

[explosion booming]

- It's precisely the
kind of destruction

that Zeus and Poseidon
are known for.

[inquisitive music]
[lightning cracking]

- References to what
might be the plume

and volcanic lightning
from the eruption

are recorded on an
Egyptian monument

called the Tempest Stele

from the same time period.

This was huge if they
could see it that far away.

And it lends some
credibility to Plato's story

that the records of Atlantis

were originally found in Egypt.

- Even the Chinese might have
recorded the destruction.

A text called
"The Bamboo Annals"

from around 1600 BC

reports unusual yellow fog,

a dimming of the sun

and frost in July
leading to crop failure,

all possible consequences
of a distant eruption.

- As far as cautionary
tales about angry gods go,

this could be the one

that's grounded in reality.

- On the other
side of the world,

the ancient Maya also believed

they live at the mercy
of temperamental gods.

According to them,

one wrong move could
trigger untold destruction.

[pensive music]

- At the height of
their classic era,

between about 250 and 900 AD,

the Maya Empire has more
than 40 large-scale cities

and 1,000 settlements

that stretch over the
Yucatan Peninsula.

It's mostly present-day Belize,

Guatemala and Southern Mexico.

- Like the Greeks,

the Maya believe in a
whole pantheon of gods

that are involved in
every aspect of life,

every harvest, every
birth, every death.

There are spirits of the earth,

the sky, and those that
dwell deep below the surface

in an underworld called Xibalba.

[dynamic music]

- Xibalba is
populated by 12 gods,

including Camazotz, the bat god,

who feeds on blood,

Ah Puch, the god of
death and disaster,

and perhaps most importantly,

Chaac, the supreme god of rain.

- Scholars know about the
mythology surrounding Chaac

from the Dresden Codex,

one of the oldest and
only surviving Maya texts.

It dates to the 11th
or 12th century,

and is believed to be
a copy of an original

that is much older.

- [Dennis] Chaac's
importance can be seen

throughout the codex,

where he's depicted 134 times.

- Chaac carries snakes
that he hurls at clouds

to make it rain.

According to Maya lore,

you do not wanna
make Chaac angry,

because when he gets angry,

he withholds the precious rain.

[dramatic music]
[thunder rumbling]

- So the Maya must
keep Chaac happy.

Rain is everything.

Where they live, there are
almost no freshwater lakes

or rivers.

For drinking water
and water for crops,

the Maya rely on rainfall

and on a network of
underground caverns

filled with groundwater,

called cenotes.

But they are also believed

to be sacred portals to Chaac's
underworld home of Xibalba.

[pensive music]

- It becomes common for the Maya

to make ritual
offerings of pottery,

figurines and jewelry

inside the cenotes

where they're most
likely to reach Chaac

and to keep him
from becoming angry.

- [Dennis] One of their
most sacred cenotes

lies deep in the
jungles of Belize,

inside a hidden cave.

- Between 300 and 600 AD,

the Maya begin exploring

the three-mile deep Actun
Tunichil Muknal cave

and performing rituals inside.

By 700 AD, it's
firmly established

as a supposed gateway to Xibalba

and becomes a well-known
site of pilgrimage.

- Now, over time,

the Maya venture
deeper into the cave,

navigating a maze of
underground rivers

and scaling slippery limestone

to bring their sacred
offerings to Chaac.

- For centuries, the Maya
have a thriving civilization,

incredible buildings,

advanced mathematical
and scientific knowledge,

and bountiful agriculture.

- [Dennis] But around 820 AD,

all that changes.

- Their usual gifts of ceramics,

shells, masks and
precious stones

seem like they're no
longer good enough

to appease him and
bring forth the rain.

So the Maya decide to take
more extreme measures.

- Could the wrath
of an underworld god

have ravaged an empire?

By the ninth century AD,

that's what the Maya believe,

as they confront
a massive drought.

[pensive music]

- Blood is an extremely
precious offering,

especially the blood of royalty.

A blood sacrifice
is believed to open

a direct channel of
communication with the gods.

- The king and other
aristocratic men

might pierce themselves
with stingray spines.

The queen and her noble woman

would draw obsidian blades

over their tongues.

Drops of the blood would
then fall on a special cloth

that would be brought
down into the cave

and offered to the gods.

- [Dennis] When
this doesn't work,

they try something else.

- They start doing an elaborate
ritual of human sacrifice.

The victims would be taken
into the cave and prepared,

and then a priest
slices open their chest

so that their blood
pours like rain,

evoking, hopefully, a downpour
of actual rain from Chaac.

[pensive music]

- [Dennis] Unfortunately,
human sacrifice

doesn't yield the
results they hoped for.

- Between 550 and 800 AD,

there are several periods
of intense drought,

each lasting decades.

The classic Maya cities
are abandoned for good

by about the year 900,

and the drought

is thought to be the
main contributing factor.

- The Maya that do survive

have a greatly
weakened civilization,

which suffers a
complete collapse

during the Spanish
conquest of the 1500s.

[pensive music]

- [Dennis] Their sacred
cenote sits mostly forgotten,

until 1989,

when it's rediscovered by
archaeologist Jaime Awe.

- Awe explores the Actun
Tunichil Muknal cave

and he finds it
littered with evidence

of Maya rituals for Chaac.

There's ceremonial pottery

that's more than 1,000 years old

and ample signs of
human sacrifice.

- One of the most
famous examples

is called the Crystal Maiden,

though later evidence suggests
it may actually be male.

This is the skeleton
of a 17 year old

that can still be seen
on the cave floor today.

The bones have
been there so long

that they are
completely calcified,

glittering with
mineral deposits.

- The remains of at least
14 people are down there,

ranging in age from about 45,

all the way down
to a one year old.

Some appear to
have been tortured

before they were killed.

Some are stuffed
into tight crevices

and side chambers

as if the Maya were
trying to squeeze them

even deeper into Chaac's realm.

[pensive music]

- [Dennis] A new
discovery in 2006

uncovers the shocking extent

of just how far the
Maya were willing to go.

[birds singing]

- In the same area as
Actun Tunichil Muknal,

a local farmer hears
the screams of a looter

who has fallen 60
feet to the floor

of a pitch-black cave.

[pensive music]

- This turns out
to be one of the

largest Maya sacrificial
sites ever discovered.

More than 9,000 human teeth,

bone and bone fragments

have been found so far.

- [Dennis] The grisly
discovery earns the site

a fitting nickname,

the Midnight Terror Cave.

[suspenseful music]

- After years of excavation,

in 2016, it is revealed
that the victims

are exclusively children,

believed to have been
sacrificed to Chaac.

- Today, there are
descendants of the Maya

who follow the old religion,

minus the sacrifices, of course.

Many still maintain that
the civilization declined

because Chaac became angry.

And some suggest that Chaac

still has a powerful hold
over the region today.

- [Dennis] This is
evident in July of 2024

when a group of locals
in Progreso, Yucatan

are worried a statue of
Poseidon will set him off.

- According to reports that
go viral around the world,

indigenous Mayas threatened
to destroy the statue

and give its remains to Chaac.

- But before any
action is taken,

Hurricane Beryl rips
through the area,

bringing heavy rains, high
winds and destruction.

Maybe the wrathful Chaac

took matters into his own hands.

[thunder rumbling]

- We've seen angry gods

incensed by everything
from pride to disobedience,

but what are the consequences

for disturbing the dead?

[pensive music]

- The Egyptians have hundreds
of gods in their pantheon

that have to be respected,

but there's also one
that walks side by side

with the rest of humankind

who quite literally interacts
with the people every day.

- According to Egyptian beliefs,

the pharaoh is a
divine being as well.

During the coronation ceremony,

a pharaoh is transformed into

the manifestation of Horus,

the god of kingship,

the sun and the sky.

In writings, the pharaoh is
referred to as the good god

or the perfect god.

- As a divine ruler,
the pharaoh is tasked

with preserving the
god-given order of things

and preventing chaos on Earth.

- [Dennis] Once a pharaoh dies,

he or she becomes an
even more powerful god.

- As we know, the Egyptians use
an elaborate funerary system

after a pharaoh dies,

including massive
tombs like the pyramids

and the complicated
practice of mummification.

[inquisitive music]

All of these things
work together

to transition the pharaoh

from a divine human on Earth

to a fully immortal
and permanent god.

- The Egyptians believe that
even after the pharaoh is dead,

no one is safe from his anger,

and the most surefire
way to make him mad

is to disturb his mummy.

- [Dennis] Some
believe these actions

can trigger a terrible curse.

[pensive music]

- Researchers have
found actual curses

written on the walls
of mummys' tombs.

Some Egyptologists
say is that they serve

as a kind of primitive
security system,

threatening desecraters
with divine retribution.

And this could come in
the form of bad fortune

or hauntings, death,
disaster. you name it.

[pensive music]

In 1699, author Louis Penicher

writes a book called
"The Treatise on Embalming,"

which describes Egyptian
funerary practices.

- But it also includes a story

that might be the
first written account

of a mummy's curse.

Penicher describes
a Polish merchant

who buys two mummies
in Alexandria

and cuts them into six parts

to fit them into trunks

before boarding a ship
to take them home.

- During the voyage,
a storm arises.

And a priest on onboard the ship

has terrifying visions

and believes there are great
obstacles to the journey.

The seas become
incredibly dangerous,

and the priest's
visions continue

until they throw the
mummies overboard.

[water splashing]

- [Dennis] But the most
famous pharaoh's curse

probably belongs to King Tut.

- Tutankhamun's tomb
is discovered in 1922

by British archaeologist
Howard Carter

and his sponsor, Lord Carnarvon.

[pensive music]

- It's reported in newspapers

that one of the items
found in the burial chamber

is a golden shrine

with a carved
figure of a goddess,

and the inscription reads,

"They who enter the sacred tomb

shall swift be visited
by wings of death."

- Shortly after unearthing
King Tut's tomb,

Lord Carnarvon is found dead.

A mosquito bite on his
face becomes infected,

leading to deadly
blood poisoning.

In fact, Sherlock
Holmes author,

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,

publicly suggests
he's been killed

by the mummy's curse.

- [Dennis] Newspapers
around the world

run headlines about
the dark forces

unleashed from King Tut's tomb.

- Carnarvon's half-brother
also dies from blood poisoning

less than a year later.

Wealthy American
financier George Jay Gould

dies from the same affliction,

following his visit
to the tomb in 1923.

- In 1924, archaeologist
Hugh Evelyn White

even takes his own life.

He leaves a note
that allegedly reads,

"I have succumbed to
the mummy's curse."

[pensive music]

- At least nine people
connected with the excavation

die over the next decade,

and many are convinced
that the curse

is to blame.

- The incidents freak out

Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini so much

that he immediately gets
rid of an Egyptian mummy

he had received as a gift.

And ordinary newspaper readers
feel the exact same way.

Nervous people are cleaning
out Egyptian relics

from their home

and sending them to museums

in order to avoid
being the next victim

of the pharaoh's revenge.

- [Dennis] While some chalk up
these deaths to coincidence,

others suspect there's
a different cause.

- Tut's tomb was never tested

prior to being emptied

and refurbished
as a tourist site,

but we do know that among
the treasures inside

were bags of bread
and raw grain,

a great breeding ground
for fungus and mold.

Consequently, many researchers
believe a toxic spore

might have been responsible

for some of the deaths
surrounding King Tut.

- But this doesn't
explain all the deaths,

and as believers will tell you,

just because there's a
scientific explanation,

doesn't mean that angry gods

aren't ultimately responsible.

- [Dennis] Whether it's
through massive buildings,

elaborate worship
or even sacrifice,

people will continue to try
and stay on the right side

of an angry god,

just in case.

I'm Dennis Quaid.

Thanks for watching
"Holy Marvels."