What's on Discovery Channel Tonight?

While I was planning on having a nice relaxing evening reading my book about the Templar myths, I grew a bit restless and figured why not surf the Discovery channel and see if there's anything worth watching. I stumbled upon "Out of Egypt" narrated by Dr. Kara Cooney, who took me on the most interesting and educational tour of the pyramids around the world. And while I planned on stopping on that topic, I also had the pleasure of viewing "Cleopatra: A Portrait of a Killer"

Out of Egypt: Dr. Kara Cooney

I was exceedingly impressed with the information Kara provided. My knowledge of the pyramids is quite limited, but with the help of Dr. Cooney, I was able to explore so many more aspects of the structures, as well as the reasoning behind them.

Dr. Kara Cooney is an Assistant Professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA. She earned her PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. She has been part of archaeological excavations in Egypt at the craftsmen’s village of Deir el Medina, the royal temple site of Dahshur and various elite Theban tombs. She is published under the name Kathlyn M. Cooney, but called Kara by everyone.

Cleopatra: A Portrait of a Killer

This one hour special discussed the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Cleopatra was painted as an evil and conniving seductress who initially led Caesar to entrap her sister Arsinoë IV at Ephesus, a sanctuary where she was murdered by Roman soldiers.

Of course, this is where it gets interesting. The tomb of Arsinoë was identified by Hilke Thür with an octagonal monument situated in the centre of Ephesus. This was the first member of the Ptolemaic dynasty to have ever been found.

In April, Archaeologists found possible locations, or rather tombs in Egypt that may also hold the bodies of Cleopatra and Antony.

Archaeologists last year unearthed the alabaster head of a Cleopatra statue, 22 coins bearing Cleopatra's image, and a mask believed to belong to Mark Antony at the temple. Read more about the Cleopatra discovery