History Channel

DVD Features:

Interactive Features:

• Interactive Menus
• Scene Access

Product Description:

A four-cassette tour of the splendors that were once Egypt. In the land of pharaoh god-kings, where priestesses held sway and people communed with the dead through a bestial creature known as the Sphinx, monuments were erected that awe us still with their sheer magnitude. But the pyramids, temples, statues, and tombs were not the only wonders left behind by the ancient Egyptians, as this series explores the esoteric hieroglyphs and the amazing riches discovered in the tombs of kings. Includes a first peek into "KV-5," a tomb whose opulence may outshine even that of Tutankhamun. Includes "Great Pyramids," "The Sphinx," "Hieroglyphs," and "King Tut."

Plot Synopsis:

From the A&E television network comes this box set of four documentaries, all of which deal with various aspects of Egypt's historical past.
Part one examines the "Great Pyramids." This volume includes new data and theories that describe how the two-ton stones of these "stairways to heaven" were moved.
"Hieroglyphs" reveals the semiotic mysteries behind these "sacred carvings." According to the filmmakers, these symbolic scrawlings gave guidance and wisdom to generation after generation.
A 4,500-year-old statue is the subject of Part Three: "The Sphinx." Filmmakers explore the sculpture's origins to its first restoration -- in 1,300 B.C. -- to its desecrated memory as the target of Napoleon's trigger-happy troops.
"King Tut," located in the 1920s by a team of archaeologists, rounds out the Egyptian series. Explorers discovered gold and jewelry in the boy king's burial vault. Now many debate whether the tomb's excavation unleashed a curse.
In all four of these programs, filmmakers rely on commentary from Egypt scholars as well as on up-to-date computer technology to decipher these and other ancient mysteries.

Plot Keywords:

Ancient World | Art / Artists | Cable Original | Documentary | History | Mummies

Production Notes:

• Produced by Greystone Communications, Inc. for A&E Network.
• The box set contains 4 separate volumes, not currently available individually:
  "Great Pyramids"
  "The Sphinx"
  "Hieroglyphs"
  "King Tut"
• Features archival footage, computer reconstructions, and one of the first looks at the newly discovered family tomb of Ramses the Great.
• Additional credit: Michael Katz (A&E executive producer).
• Copyright 1996 by A&E Television Networks.

Cast and Crew: