Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Powerful leaders who descended from the stars.

God-like kings guided by celestial forces.

And mythical deities that fathered

royal bloodlines.

For nearly two decades,

Ancient Aliens has traveled the globe

exploring towering megalithic structures,

mysterious artifacts

and stories of

otherworldly beings

in a quest for evidence that might

reveal the truth of our

extraterrestrial origins.

There are some who say that some of

today's kings and queens

are direct descendants

of the so-called gods.

NARRATOR: Now, we take a look back through

the Ancient Aliens archives

to the show's very origins

to examine the evidence that we are not alone.

We have never been alone.

♪ ♪

The ancient astronaut theory proposes

that extraterrestrials came to Earth thousands of years ago,

essentially to jumpstart civilization.

And what's so fascinating to me is that

many of these ancient cultures say that their first

rulers were the gods,

or at least, the descendants

of the so-called gods.

Right, and we see this in Egypt and China

and Japan and Scandinavia, and all over the place.

And you have to wonder, are we seeing this same story

over and over again,

in all of these places because

people are witnessing the same alien visitors,

but misinterpreting them as gods.

Right, and this would fit right in

with the idea of E.T.s jumpstarting civilization

because then they would have been

the first rulers until humans were ready

to take the reins.

And we covered this in a 2010 episode

called "Gods and Aliens."

NARRATOR: Truva, Turkey.

For over 150 years, this small city has been

the center of one of the greatest

archaeological finds in modern history,

the possible discovery

of the legendary city of Troy.

(swords clanging)

In 1868, amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann

set out to find what he believed

was the city that served as the basis

for the Trojan War, as described

in one of the greatest pieces of classical literature,

Homer's epic poem, the Iliad.

Written in the 8th century BC,

Homer's Iliad tells the tale of a great war,

born of feuding and jealous gods.

While most scholars believed the story

of the Trojan War was a work of fiction,

Schliemann was determined to prove the myth was a reality.

RICHARD RADER: Heinrich Schliemann's discoveries rocked

the archaeological world.

Armed with his copy of the Iliad, basically,

he just decided he was gonna find Troy.

And so he went and just dug a big hole,

and when he went, he discovered the real Troy.

NARRATOR: But if Homer's story of Troy was true,

what would it say about other Greek stories and myths?

Might those also be true?

Did powerful gods and goddesses actually exist?

And, if so, where did they come from?

Hellas, also known as Greece.

Each day, thousands of tourists visit temples and monuments

built to honor the gods of another age.

The Acropolis.

Delphi.

The Parthenon.

The Temple of Apollo.

These ancient sites reflect a powerful reverence

for beings that supposedly ruled the world

thousands of years ago.

DAVID CHILDRESS: When you look at many of the mythologies

around the world, they have these stories

of gods coming down from the sky.

RADER: There's a beautiful description of the way that the gods move,

like, when they kind of come down to the Earth.

You get the sense of them

gliding down, but the way that they move

is kind of beyond time. It just kind of happens.

NARRATOR: If the ancient Greeks invented the stories of gods

as a primitive attempt to explain their universe,

how can we account for similar deities found in widely

different regions and cultures around the globe?

Was it mere coincidence?

Or was there a common origin for these gods,

who supposedly traveled to Earth from the skies?

JASON MARTELL: The earliest civilization we have, 3800 BC,

the Sumerians actually give us visual descriptions

of these beings and speak of this time

that they lived amongst their living gods.

They called their gods the Anunnaki,

and that term simply meant

"those who from heaven come to Earth."

RADER: Mythology is chock-full

of these episodes of gods coming down to Earth.

I mean, because mythology is so interested

in the relationship between gods and humans,

there is necessarily gonna be a lot of communication

and communion between the two of them.

NARRATOR: In his book, Odyssey of the Gods,

Erich von Däniken argues that the world's sacred books

are full of descriptions,

not of gods, but of supernatural beings

interacting with humans.

ERICH VON DÄNIKEN: Some thousands of years ago,

when our forefathers were still primitive,

some extraterrestrials descended to our planet.

And because of misunderstanding, like of technology,

our forefathers thought that these extraterrestrials

must be some gods.

NARRATOR: Mount Olympus.

Greece's highest mountain.

According to ancient myths,

this site was the home of the gods.

It was here, on Mount Olympus, that Zeus sat on his throne

and determined the fate of mortal men.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Whenever we have references to Mount Olympus,

it is described to be this magnificent palace

on top of Mount Olympus, allegedly.

And the temple walls were always gleaming of gold,

or gleaming with silver,

and a lot of little lights that they described as jewels.

Well, if you look at that from modern perspective,

what if that place, Mount Olympus,

wasn't necessarily the top of a mountain,

but it was, in fact, a spaceship?

Because it is described how, sometimes,

there was a big rumbling with Mount Olympus,

and the entire top lifted off.

NARRATOR: But if Mount Olympus

was home to alien visitors,

could Zeus have been their leader?

According to both the Iliad and the Odyssey,

Zeus was often depicted as wielding a lightning bolt.

MICHAEL CREMO: It appears to be

a very powerful weapon because he could

destroy whole cities

with this thunderbolt weapon of his.

NARRATOR: Similarly,

Zeus's brother Poseidon, the god of the sea,

was armed with a trident.

CREMO: He was able to create tsunamis,

tidal waves, with this weapon.

The trident weapon of Poseidon

seems to have been something more

than just a pitchfork.

TSOUKALOS: So is it possible that the lightning bolt

and the trident is some type

of a direct energy device?

NARRATOR: Arguably, one of the most important

of the Greek gods was Apollo...

...who rode the skies in his chariot of fire.

VON DÄNIKEN: Apollo, first, was the teacher

of the young Greeks living there.

He teach them

how to make buildings on the mountain, on the hillside.

He teach them how to make roads.

He teach them in astronomy.

NARRATOR: Centuries later, when Rome ruled over Europe

and the Mediterranean, from the 1st century BC

until the 7th century AD,

the Romans paid homage to gods similar to the Greeks.

Zeus was now known as Jupiter.

Poseidon was called Neptune.

But Apollo was known to both the Romans and the Greeks.

Coincidence?

Or, as most ancient astronaut theorists believe,

was it the historical account of powerful beings

that came to Earth thousands of years ago?

(horses neighing)

MARTELL: We know that the extraterrestrials,

more than likely, are the source of what they call "gods."

How did they get here?

More than likely in some type of craft.

PHILIP COPPENS: What we map into our myths and our legends

are incredible stories, incredible events.

And any extraterrestrial being, any ancient alien

who has come here on Earth,

will be written down

into this account because it is such an extraordinary event

that it'll be marked forever.

NARRATOR: But if the stories of Greek and Roman gods

are true, and they were,

in fact, extraterrestrials, does this suggest

that aliens once held authority over Earth?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and suggest further evidence of these otherworldly rulers

can be found within the hieroglyphic inscriptions

of the Maya.

You know, the Maya of Central America are one of the most

successful civilizations in history,

lasting over 2,000 years.

And many of the Mayan rulers

claimed a connection to the gods.

One of their most intriguing rulers has to be

King Pakal, who's become famous

for this very curious carving

on the lid of his sarcophagus.

It appears to portray him in the cockpit

-of some sort of a craft. -TSOUKALOS: Oh, absolutely.

When I look at that carving,

what I see is a breathing apparatus,

he's manipulating some controls,

his feet are on pedals,

and it seems to be exhaust flames

at the bottom of the carving.

So, to me, this is King Pakal piloting a spaceship.

NARRATOR: Central America.

Here, in western Honduras,

lie the impressive ruins of the ancient Maya city of Copan.

And though Copan's temples, pyramids and monuments

rank among the most important of any Mayan sites,

researchers looking to explain

the incredible achievements of the Maya

have been drawn to a 72-step structure

known as the Hieroglyphic Stairway.

PAYSON SHEETS: The Hieroglyphic Stairway

at Copan was constructed in the early 700s AD...

...with the intent of writing out the history

of Copan at that time.

And so it was designed as a public monument to the glory

and success of all the kings,

from Yax K'uk' Mo' all the way

to the 13th one who commissioned it to be built.

NARRATOR: Carved into 1,200 stones in the massive monument,

the ancient Maya symbols known as glyphs

make up what historians believe is one of the oldest

and most sophisticated systems of writing.

But for centuries, the glyphs found

throughout Mesoamerica were undecipherable.

Then, in 1880,

German librarian and anthropologist Ernst Förstemann

cracked the code.

MARK VON STONE: Ernst Förstemann

was a librarian at Dresden,

and in his desk, he kept one of the four Maya books,

the Dresden Codex.

He was a brilliant mathematician,

and extremely logical and had enormous insights.

And at a time when we couldn't read a single Maya hieroglyph,

he was able to figure out the Maya calligraphy.

ALDANA: Maya hieroglyphic writing is very robust,

and that's because it uses, really, two components.

There are logographs. Logographs are really pictures

that represent entire words,

so "Balaam," for example, which is "jaguar,"

could be written with just the head of the jaguar.

On the other, we have these things

that we call phonetic complements.

And these are glyphs, they're images that represent sounds.

NARRATOR: According to interpretations of the Hieroglyphic Stairway,

the glyphs chronicle not only the history,

but also the origin of the ancient Maya rulers.

ALDANA: The hieroglyphs are really attached

to what was important to royalty at the time,

and that was lineage and the genealogies of the kings.

They went out of their way to demonstrate

how they were connected to their ancestors,

and the gods of their ancestors,

to establish their right to rule.

This is a picture I took of the... of a close-up

of a sculpture

of Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil,

the 13th ruler of Copan.

And he's depicted here on the front in all of his finery.

And then the sculptor put a hieroglyphic passage

on the side we don't think commoners could read,

but all the elites could and the king could.

So he or another elite individual

could come here and impress people

by saying this demonstrates the semi-divinity

of our king and his power

to intercede between us and the heavens.

NARRATOR: But just what was the real source of power and authority

behind the Maya priests and kings?

Do the hieroglyphs reveal an otherworldly truth

to their origin, as the Maya themselves maintain?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer is yes.

TSOUKALOS: What we have to think about today is,

where did the origin of the priesthood come from?

And the origin is nothing else but that they,

the initial cabal of priests,

they were all in contact with extraterrestrials,

and that's why they were revered.

Our ancestors thought they were gods

because they didn't understand

the nuts-and-bolts aspects behind those visits.

But, when it all comes down to it,

it was all a huge misunderstanding

and a way to keep the common people in place.

In the beginning, the first ruler were gods.

Real descendants from the sky, extraterrestrials.

But later, the priests and the rulers

took the names of their ancestors' god.

So they made a secret and the kind of conspiracy

around them because the normal people

should give them offerings, should give them gold,

metal, all kinds of gifts, et cetera,

as they did some centuries before

for the real gods.

So it was a kind of conspiracy

among the priests and among the kings.

Mayan hieroglyphs specifically say that the Mayans

were absolutely convinced about the existence

of otherworldly beings, and that they actually believed

that these beings manifested themselves

regularly at preordained moments of time.

NARRATOR: Perhaps further evidence of the Mayan belief

in the existence of extraterrestrial beings

may be found in their daily rituals of human sacrifice.

Scholars believe that blood offerings

were seen as an act of devotion to the Maya rulers,

who were assumed to be descendants of the gods.

We know that the Maya practiced blood sacrifice

because they were still doing it when the Spanish came.

We have images on wall paintings,

on vases,

and in sculptures that show people letting their own blood

-and sacrificing other people. -(man screams)

CHILDRESS: The Mayans had a complex pantheon,

which involved gods from the sky,

and the rulers were supposed to be descendants of these gods.

And they believed that these gods demanded

sacrifices of them,

and that their blood, the blood of their kings,

was the ideal sacrifice for the gods.

Later, the Mayans began to take captives, particularly

other royal captives, and execute them using their blood

as the gift to the gods.

TSOUKALOS: Blood sacrifice was something that we humans

did ourselves because we didn't understand

that what we dealt with was nothing else

but flesh and blood space travelers

instead of real or actual gods.

NARRATOR: But why did the Maya believe they were

connected to the gods by blood?

Might there have been evidence within their DNA

that could link the lineage of Maya kings

to otherworldly beings,

as ancient astronaut theorists believe?

And if so, is it possible that otherworldly visitors

may have stayed behind and assumed the role of Maya kings?

NARRATOR: Southern Mexico.

Surrounded by dense forests

in the foothills of the Tumbala Mountains

lie the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Palenque.

Established as early as 1800 BC,

Palenque was one of the key population centers

of the ancient Maya civilization that dominated

present-day Central America for nearly 2,000 years.

CHILDRESS: The site of Palenque is still a vast unexcavated site.

They think that only ten percent

of this city has so far been excavated by archaeologists.

The aqueduct system here at Palenque was very sophisticated,

and the Mayans were actually able to have water pressure

by siphoning water channels off of the main river.

All the Mayan cities had ball courts in them

where they'd play this celestial game

where the players

would knock a rubber ball through

a stone or wooden hoop.

It's thought that this is a representation

of alignments of the sun.

COPPENS: When you start looking at all the various cultures,

whether it is the ancient Babylonians,

the ancient Egyptians or the Mayans,

we now know that the people who were

by far the most advanced was the Mayans.

NARRATOR: According to mainstream historians,

by the 9th century, the great Maya cities were abandoned...

...and the Maya people had vanished.

But why?

Many blame the disappearance of the Maya on war,

overpopulation and drought.

But might the Maya have left behind

clues to suggest that their origin,

and destiny, had been plotted by otherworldly forces?

1952. Archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier

discovers the pyramid tomb of King Pakal,

who ruled over the ancient Mayan city of Palenque

from 615 to 683.

During his nearly 70-year reign, Pakal transformed Palenque,

creating some of the most significant inscriptions

and monuments of the ancient Maya civilization.

ALDANA: The city of Palenque was sacked

by the ruler of Calakmul.

So this was really tragic for the city itself.

And it sets the stage for Janahb Pakal himself,

who becomes king at a very early age,

and then takes this city

that's been destroyed, and now brings it up

to what becomes one of the most important cities

of the late Classic period.

CHILDRESS: This is the famous

Temple of the Inscriptions behind me,

perhaps the most famous pyramid in all of the Mayan world.

It was in 1948 that the French-Mexican archaeologist

Alberto Ruz Lhuillier began his excavations

at the top of the Temple of Inscriptions.

What he found there

was the famous staircase leading down

into the depths of the pyramid.

But the staircase was completely filled in

with rubble of small stones and dirt.

It took him four years

to slowly excavate, step by step,

down the pyramid, until he finally came

to the tomb of Lord Pakal and the giant sarcophagus

and lid that the pyramid were built around.

NARRATOR: Arguably the most remarkable Mayan artifact ever found,

the stone sarcophagus lid of King Pakal

has produced considerable controversy.

Mainstream scholars believe the depiction

is of King Pakal on a journey to the underworld.

But ancient astronaut theorists believe

the king is portrayed seated at the controls of a spacecraft,

and have dubbed him the Palenque astronaut.

CHILDRESS: He appears to be going into space.

He's the original rocket man,

there manipulating his spacecraft, going into space.

We have maintained for a very long time

that the depiction here

is of King Pakal sitting in some type of a spacecraft.

Because he is at an angle

like modern-day astronauts upon liftoff,

he's manipulating some controls right here.

He has some type of breathing apparatus

or some type of a telescope in front of his face.

His feet are on some type of a pedal.

And down here, you have something

that looks like an exhaust with flames.

NARRATOR: In 2011, the strange carving on King Pakal's sarcophagus lid

was translated into a 3D replica

by model maker Paul Francis.

PAUL FRANCIS: When I saw this, I instantly said,

"There's a guy in a space capsule."

You know, it doesn't need to be spelled out for me,

I don't have to find anything. It was already there.

It was carved many, many years ago.

TSOUKALOS: I think this is absolutely extraordinary

because this is definitely one of

the most compelling pieces in the ancient astronaut theory,

and to finally see Pakal as a 3D sculpture,

to me, is a dream come true.

For the longest time, we have said that

what is on this Pakal lid is not something symbolic.

It was something that the artist saw

or was told about,

and then he or she tried to recreate this on a slab.

I love the craftsmanship.

I love how you, you know,

at the bottom of the Palenque slab you see something like

-the flames-- -It looks, it looks like fire.

Exactly.

I had to do a little interpretive--

I put engine bells on

-instead of the flame... -Of course.

...but that's the thruster stage.

I also love the detail that you have underneath his right foot

where his foot is resting on a pedestal,

and that is exactly what we can see on the Palenque slab.

And how his hands are manipulating some controls.

And also this kind of breathing apparatus

that's going on in front of his nose.

FRANCIS: The breathing apparatus is actually a very neat piece.

It's called the "Giver of Life."

The soul transfers through this,

and a giver of life to me

would be... air.

I mean, we breathe air. This is a guy

who needs this mask to survive.

TSOUKALOS: Because, where is he?

FRANCIS: Outer space.

NARRATOR: Could the carving on the sarcophagus lid

of King Pakal really provide confirmation

of the complicity between Maya rulers

and extraterrestrial forces,

as ancient astronaut theorists believe?

Perhaps further evidence of a cosmic connection

can be found half a world away in Egypt.

Any discussion about otherworldly rulers

has to include the ancient Egyptians.

-Right. -Not only did they write

that the first pharaoh was the god king Horus,

but that all subsequent pharaohs

saw themselves as the reincarnation of Horus.

Oh, absolutely,

and in the afterlife, each of these pharaohs

then becomes associated

with Horus's father Osiris. And the ancient

Egyptian texts are even clear in explaining where

these so-called gods came from,

the belt stars of Orion.

Right, and the Egyptians also wrote about a time

when all the gods

lived on Earth among humans.

And if we're to believe the texts,

it would seem that they're talking about

-extraterrestrials. -Right.

NARRATOR: Abu Simbel, Egypt.

Here, on the western bank of Lake Nasser

are two massive rock temples.

Carved out of the mountainside, they were built during

the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC.

GRAHAM PHILLIPS: Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great,

was probably the greatest of the builders

of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.

He did this, basically, to impress upon everybody

just how great he was.

COLLINS: What he created was a series of

absolutely gigantic

statues of himself, and certain gods,

which formed the entrance into

a rock-cut series of inner temples, shrines and rooms.

ROBERT BAUVAL: Ramses is forever here.

When one comes here, you almost feel him around.

He leaves this great temple here,

so that he could

constantly communicate

with his cosmic afterworld

and his earthly domain.

NARRATOR: Within the main temple of Abu Simbel

are statues of Ramses depicted not just as a mortal king

and warrior but as the Egyptian god of the afterlife, Osiris.

According to the Pyramid Texts,

ancient Egyptian religious writings

that date back to the 24th century BC,

Osiris was the offspring of the Earth god Geb

and the sky goddess Nut

and often portrayed as green-skinned.

He was considered to be a wise and beloved ruler

who married his sister Isis

and was murdered by his brother Set.

Osiris and Set were in conflict.

The story goes that Set,

being jealous of his more successful brother, kills him...

...and cuts his body into 14 pieces.

Isis, in despair, collects the bodies

and performs the first magical ritual of resurrection.

JONATHAN YOUNG: Isis, the wife and sister,

finds a way to revive Osiris briefly

and conceive a son.

The son is a god, the god Horus.

BAUVAL: Horus grows up

and avenges his father,

defeats Set...

...and becomes the first Horus king

of the land of Egypt,

the cosmic land of Egypt,

the land of the gods.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that Ramses II was, as he claimed,

an actual physical descendant of Osiris?

And if the legends are to be believed,

does this lineage suggest that Ramses was, in fact,

an extraterrestrial hybrid,

part human, part so-called god?

As pharaoh,

Ramses considered himself the embodiment of Horus...

...essentially the Sun god on Earth during his lifetime.

And then once he passed on to the afterlife,

he became essentially one with the gods,

forming his rightful place

in the everlasting pantheons of the gods.

The myth of Osiris was extremely important

in the credibility of the rulers of Egypt.

Every pharaoh saw himself as a reincarnation of Horus,

the god of the daylight, the god of life,

and the personification of Osiris,

the god of the unseen and the underworld, the afterlife.

PHILLIPS: And so, consequently,

the reason, in ancient Egypt,

that the pharaoh had the right to tell you exactly what to do

and you had to obey him

was because he was a direct descendant of a god,

in fact, a demigod himself.

NARRATOR: Was Ramses II's otherworldly connection

the reason he became one of the most powerful pharaohs

in ancient Egypt?

And what does this say about Egypt's other legendary rulers?

Could they have been, as their legends claim,

actual descendants of extraterrestrial beings?

According to researchers,

additional evidence can be found in the design and construction

of the Abu Simbel temples.

We're in the Osirian Hall.

Amazing how they carved this out of living rock.

Slowly cutting, slowly fashioning.

And they produced this. It's extraordinary.

NARRATOR: The temple at Abu Simbel

was built with astonishing precision.

Twice a year,

light from the morning Sun

traveled down the entire expanse of the temple cave

to the very back wall,

illuminating the statue of Ramses seated amongst the gods.

COLLINS: Ramses saw himself as a living god.

And because of this,

he felt that he should have

this absolute control over everything,

that he himself could even get the Sun to shine in this way,

as if the Sun itself was working on behalf of him.

NARRATOR: But how and why did Ramses design and build

such a sophisticated structure more than 3,000 years ago?

Was it designed to channel some cosmic or otherworldly power?

The world of the spirit and the world of matter

seem divided at times.

But a great leader like Ramses II understands

that the mysteries need to be concrete.

There's a need for building.

And in these monuments and palaces

and other structures that Ramses built,

there will be depictions of himself as a god

or in the company of gods,

showing a divine connection to his rule and to the people.

There are stories in which Ramses himself claims

that he was in direct contact...

...with the guardians of the sky.

Now, who were these guardians of the sky?

Were they just fantasy or did they really exist?

Ramses II and-and all the Egyptian pharaohs,

I mean, they saw themselves as direct descendants of gods.

And their genetic material and their blood

was the same blood that was coming from the gods.

And those gods, apparently, were extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Is it possible, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest,

that the legends and stories of Osiris,

along with the architectural wonders

like the temples of Abu Simbel,

provide evidence that the pharaohs of ancient Egypt had,

in fact, otherworldly origins?

And if so, might similar legends

of divine rulers throughout the world

reveal extraterrestrial connections?

Perhaps the answers can be found

by examining the celestial origins

of some of Asia's greatest emperors.

NARRATOR: Xinzheng, China.

It was here that Huangdi,

a mythical ancient leader known as the Yellow Emperor,

is believed to have reigned throughout the 27th century BC.

Viewed by many as the father of Chinese culture,

the Yellow Emperor has been credited

with creating traditional Chinese medicine

such as acupuncture

and introducing advancements like wooden houses,

the bow and arrow...

(groans)

...bronze coins,

and a written language.

JUDY CHUNGWA HO: The Yellow Emperor is,

according to most Chinese, a legendary figure.

He's a cultural hero as well as a ruler.

But at the same time, he's also believed to be

actually the founder of Chinese civilization.

In fact, just about everything that you would think

as the basic elements of civilization

is somehow associated with the Yellow Emperor.

(insects trilling)

NARRATOR: According to some researchers,

the Yellow Emperor, like other ancient rulers,

possessed otherworldly power.

And they believe the proof can be found

by looking at the celestial origins

of this mysterious leader.

Like the Egyptians, the ancient Chinese believed

their emperors received their powers

and abilities from the heavens.

The Chinese emperor is actually called "Son of Heaven."

What that means is that the emperor earns

his right to rule people because he receive a certain guidance

from heaven to rule.

Heaven is always sending down these messages,

telling the emperor when is the best time to harvest,

when is the best time to sow seeds,

-when to actually wage a war. -(men yelling)

So, um, it's very important for the emperor then

to read the signs.

TSOUKALOS: According to ancient Chinese legends,

the Yellow Emperor was floating through space.

He saw that the people of Earth

were sad and poor.

But he saw potential.

So in order to help the people...

...he descended from the sky...

...and taught those people

different scientific disciplines.

YOUNG: The Yellow Emperor comes down to bring comfort,

order, and leadership to his people.

So there's a direct connection between the divine realms

and the beginnings of our personality,

our identity, our nation.

NARRATOR: According to legend,

after ruling for 100 years,

the Yellow Emperor made preparations

to leave his earthly kingdom.

TSOUKALOS: After Huangdi's work was done on planet Earth,

he returned to the stars.

And he did this by doing something very specific.

He installed a cauldron.

And the moment he installed that thing,

according to the ancient legends,

the heavens opened.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: A yellow dragon comes down from the heavens

and he rides the dragon out into the stars

and becomes stars himself.

NARRATOR: Mysterious cauldrons?

Flying dragons?

Could these fantastic notions really have played a part

in the fate of China's Yellow Emperor?

Or is there another, perhaps more plausible explanation?

Are we really just talking about folklore here?

Or did something actually happen in real life?

And of course the answer is...

...that something was witnessed by our ancestors

that they could best describe

with the vocabulary that was available to them at the time.

MARTELL: When we look at the story of the Yellow Emperor

ascending into heaven,

this, to me, sounds like a description

of some type of UFO encounter.

It's very possible that the Yellow Emperor

was actually traveling on a UFO.

NARRATOR: Is it possible the Yellow Emperor was, in fact,

an extraterrestrial being,

one that traveled to and from Earth by means of a spacecraft?

If so, might there be similar descriptions of close encounters

found in the historical accounts of other,

perhaps even more mysterious Far Eastern emperors?

(bell clangs)

Japan. 660 BC.

Emperor Jimmu becomes the first ruler

of the island nation's imperial family.

According to legend, the ancient Japanese also believed

Jimmu was the direct descendent of the Sun goddess, Amaterasu.

The Japanese people worshipped a deity named Amaterasu

who was believed to shine like the Sun.

She sent her descendants to Earth

in order to bring order out of chaos.

Japan's first emperor, Jimmu,

directly connected himself as a descendant of Amaterasu,

therefore setting up his lineage in connection to this divinity.

PHILLIPS: He was the man who united

the island of Japan's various warring factions

into-into one country.

And all emperors since Jimmu

have all claimed descent from the Sun goddess.

And the reason why the Japanese flag has this rising sun

is that it represents the descent from the Sun goddess.

NARRATOR: According to legend,

the Sun goddess Amaterasu gave three gifts to Jimmu...

...a mirror,

a jewel,

and a sword.

Known as the imperial regalia of Japan,

it is believed that, with these divine artifacts,

Jimmu was able to control his empire.

Apart from the emperor and a few elite priests,

no one's ever allowed to see them.

So, where they are, nobody knows.

But it is said that in three separate shrines in Japan,

which are also tourist attractions,

somewhere deep inside them,

the priesthood keeps these secret crown jewels

-that no one is ever allowed to see. -(creaking)

NARRATOR: But what unique powers might these three divine gifts

have possessed?

Might they have been not merely symbols of power

but examples of highly advanced extraterrestrial technology?

According to legend,

this mirror was quite extraordinary.

VON DÄNIKEN: They say in this mirror he could see what happened

at every minute around all the islands in the Pacific Oceans.

At every minute. So what is this mirror?

Some technical device?

TSOUKALOS: So what is it that we're looking at here?

Well, if you look at it from a perspective

of misunderstood technology,

then next time you look at your computer monitor

and you're looking at a YouTube clip from,

let's say, the Iguazu Falls,

then you are looking at a magic mirror

that shows you everything in the world.

CHILDRESS: And you kind of have to wonder here

whether these objects had more power

than just an ordinary thing.

And perhaps they were actually highly technical objects

given to him by extraterrestrials,

by the gods, to help him as the first emperor.

NARRATOR: Might Jimmu's mirror really have been a technological device

given to the emperor in an effort

to help him rule his people?

Does it suggest the emperor was actually an alien being?

Or was he a human messenger

employed by the gods to impose order

and propagate the notion that otherworldly visitors

were to be regarded by humans as gods?

Perhaps the proof can be found by examining the legends

of other ancient kings and rulers,

rulers who some believe had even more powerful

and deadly extraterrestrial technology.

Of all the places I've traveled,

nowhere have I encountered more people who are open

to the ancient astronaut theory than in India.

And their ancient stories are full of legends

of celestial beings traveling across the sky

and having access to tremendous technology.

And a central figure of those stories is Rama,

a god king who ruled around 7,000 years ago and was

a very early teacher of humankind.

Right. And Rama had this incredible weapon

that caused mass devastation.

And the way it's described,

it sounds like an atomic weapon.

-Mm-hmm. -We talked about this

in a 2013 episode called "Emperors, Kings, and Pharaohs."

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: November 13, 2012.

Every fall, Hindus throughout the world

celebrate in a festival of lights called Diwali.

WILCOCK: Diwali is a five-day festival of lights,

which is as important to the Hindus

as Christmas is to Christians.

The Hindus celebrate this festival with great reverence.

NARRATOR: The festival commemorates King Rama,

one of the most popular figures of Hinduism.

But just who was King Rama?

And why is this ancient leader so revered even to this day?

PHILLIPS: Hindus believe that Rama

was a real-- physically-- historical king

who lived 7,000 years ago.

Now, Rama was supposed to bring writing

and enlightenment and philosophy

and all sorts of various other engineering skills to humanity.

WILCOCK: In Hindu mythology, Rama is described

as the embodiment of truth and goodness.

And it is said that he was a reincarnation

of the blue-skinned god Vishnu.

NARRATOR: According to the Hindu texts,

Rama's rise to power began after a battle he waged

with a ten-headed demon king named Ravana,

who had kidnapped his wife.

DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: Rama goes in search of his wife,

who was kidnapped by Ravana.

There's a long battle, uh, between Ravana

and Rama and his army.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Rama used an incredibly sophisticated device

called the Brahmastra

to kill the demon king and rescue his wife.

Known to cause severe damage,

it was a weapon for which there was no defense.

Brahmastra is the most deadliest weapon

ever conceived, ever produced in Hinduism.

And Brahmastra, obviously, as the name suggests,

it was created by god Brahma himself.

COLLINS: It was a weapon that was so powerful that,

when it was used,

it would absolutely annihilate the enemy completely...

...and would also make the whole environment

around where the weapon was used completely desolate.

What this sounds like

is something that we would create today.

It actually sounds like the effects of a nuclear bomb.

NARRATOR: Might the Brahmastra,

as described in ancient Indian texts,

really have existed?

And if so, where did it come from?

Might it have been something like a nuclear weapon,

one created by the gods and used by Rama thousands of years ago?

In the case of the ancient Indian epics,

what we're being told is that this was technology of the gods,

that this was extraterrestrial technology

which was somehow used or at least could be used

on planet Earth and which could result

in the complete destruction or annihilation

of the human species.

NARRATOR: Did King Rama possess a deadly, perhaps nuclear power?

If so, do the stories of the Brahmastra

help to prove that Rama

and other ancient rulers like him

descended from extraterrestrial beings?

Sanchi, India.

Here, 400 miles south of New Delhi,

lies the Great Stupa,

a dome-shaped Buddhist shrine.

This incredible structure was first commissioned

in the 3rd century BC by Ashoka the Great,

an emperor who ruled over most of India by 263 BC.

SHIMKHADA: Ashoka the Great was intent

in conquering all of India.

So there was one place that he had not been able to conquer.

And he finally mounts this attack.

It is said that many thousands of people were killed,

soldiers, from both sides.

When he went to the battleground,

he became very, very moved by this horrendous scene.

And then he became a changed man and he devoted all of his time

in propagating the peaceful message of the Buddha.

NARRATOR: But according to the 2nd century Sanskrit text

called the Ashokavadana,

there is another, even more profound tale

describing Ashoka's transformation

from brutal tyrant to religious leader,

one that some believe provides evidence

of an otherworldly influence.

WILCOCK: A wandering monk was imprisoned by Ashoka.

He throws this man into a cauldron

and wants to boil him alive.

At this point, the monk levitates up into the air.

The eyewitness reports say that the monk's body

was half fire

and half flowing water.

Ashoka was so amazed by what he saw

that he completely shut down the torture prisons.

After Ashoka's conversion,

he gets so engaged in the Buddhist tradition

that he begins building stupas,

most notably the one at Sanchi.

NARRATOR: Like other stupas throughout Asia,

Ashoka's great monument has become

one of the most important places of Buddhist pilgrimage.

HENRY: Pilgrims would make a visit to the stupa

in order to receive blessings and prayer energy.

Ashoka built stupas and other structures throughout Asia

that were inscribed with his teachings.

And from this, we get the idea that he was trying

to communicate through stone throughout time and generations.

NARRATOR: But just what was Ashoka trying to communicate?

Is it possible, as some researchers believe,

that Ashoka had experienced an extraterrestrial encounter?

And if so, might stupas actually represent

something much more technological

and with origins even more out of this world?

WILCOCK: When you look at the structure of these stupas,

it certainly appears as if there may be

some reference being made in their shape

to actual extraterrestrial piloted vehicles.

This may be related to the Hindu legend of the vimana,

which is allegedly a noiseless, wingless aircraft

that flies through the air.

SHIMKHADA: Vimanas are described in the Hindu epics.

And their mission is to transport gods, primarily,

and the gods are the owners of these vehicles,

because they are worthy of traveling through space

very fast.

COPPENS: These people built, in stone,

objects which they seem to have seen in the sky,

in flight, at some point, no doubt,

landed on the surface of the Earth as well.

When these objects left,

they began to build them in stone

so that they would have reminders

that this was the instruments in which the gods came to them.

NARRATOR: Might the Great Stupa really have been built

to symbolize vimanas,

the flying machines described in ancient Hindu texts?

And if so, might this provide even more compelling proof

that powerful leaders, like Rama and Ashoka the Great,

were in direct contact with extraterrestrial beings?

For proponents of the ancient astronaut theory,

few examples stand out more than that of an odd-looking pharaoh

and his obsession with a disc in the sky.

One of the most interesting stories we have

about a potentially otherworldly ruler

is that of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten.

And he had this strange appearance,

with an odd-shaped body

-and an elongated head. -Right.

And he had Egypt abandon its entire pantheon of gods

in order to worship the Aten only,

which was this disc-shaped deity up in the sky.

Now, to me, for all intents and purposes,

that sounds like a flying saucer.

And what's even more compelling about Akhenaten

is we know for certain he was real.

This isn't a figure from mythology.

Akhenaten is in the historical record.

NARRATOR: Amarna, Egypt. 1891.

Italian archaeologist Alessandro Barsanti

explores the tomb constructed for the pharaoh Akhenaten...

...but finds no evidence of his mummy.

TSOUKALOS: What's really interesting is that the Egyptologists

were certain that they would find Akhenaten behind that tomb.

And they didn't.

NARRATOR: Just what happened to this revolutionary leader

after his death is as mysterious as the pharaoh himself.

Was he never actually buried in his tomb?

Or could he have been removed?

Akhenaten ruled from 1353 BC

until his death 17 years later.

His reign was dominated by controversy,

when he abandoned the pantheon of old Egyptian gods

and instead demanded that his subjects worship

the Sun god Aten.

The Aten was something that he saw in the sky

between two mountains...

...that inspired him to create the sacred city of Amarna.

Now, the typical view is the Aten must be the Sun,

but it is entirely possible

that what Akhenaten was seeing was, in fact,

an extraterrestrial flying craft.

NARRATOR: Did Akhenaten uproot the entire kingdom of Egypt

because of an extraterrestrial encounter?

Or could there be an even more profound explanation?

If you compare images of Akhenaten

to other depictions of pharaohs,

you'll notice that Akhenaten looks very different.

He had this very bizarre elongated skull,

and he had this weird potbelly and weird arms.

So, was he really a human?

Perhaps Akhenaten was not of this earth.

NARRATOR: While archaeologists have yet to uncover

the remains of Akhenaten,

ancient astronaut theorists believe

that depictions of him having an elongated skull

could be more than just artistic license,

because there are other mummies that do, in fact,

have unusual skulls.

Some elongated skulls can be explained by the fact

that numerous ancient cultures practiced head binding,

a form of body modification where the heads of infants

were tightly bound to force their skulls

to become conical in shape.

But several misshapen skulls appear to defy explanation.

In Peru and Malta,

elongated skulls have been discovered

that are mysteriously missing a sagittal suture,

the fibrous jagged joint found in all human skulls.

TSOUKALOS: When you compare some of these elongated skulls,

some have sutures, like we have as humans,

and then there are other skulls

that do not have the same sutures.

So is it possible that some of 'em are

of actual extraterrestrial origin?

It would not surprise me in the least bit.

In the least bit.

NARRATOR: Could the elongated skulls found on certain mummies

actually be of extraterrestrial origin?

For years, researcher Brien Foerster has been studying

elongated skulls found in Paracas, Peru.

And recent DNA tests have yielded startling results.

Initial results, though ambiguous,

seem to indicate that partial segments of their DNA

are not to be found in what is called GenBank,

which is the record of human DNA that's been decoded so far.

Astonishingly, the geneticist who's been studying them

has said that their DNA,

at least in some aspects,

are not human.

NARRATOR: Might the DNA of the mummified Paracas skulls contain the truth

about ancient man's contact with extraterrestrials?

Could it be that the mummy of Akhenaten has never been found

because it was deliberately hidden or destroyed

to keep us from discovering its alien origin?

I hope that one day Akhenaten's mummy is discovered

so we can take a look at that elongated skull

and compare it to the many other similar skulls

-that have been discovered around the world. -Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Right. And some of the most unusual elongated skulls

have been found in Peru.

And we don't really know much about

who these skulls belonged to,

but they look so strange

that they might be extraterrestrials.

TSOUKALOS: Absolutely.

And my good friend and mentor,

Erich von Däniken, in 2018,

traveled to Peru

to examine some of these elongated skulls

up close and personal.

NARRATOR: Paracas, Peru.

February 2018.

In his ongoing search for further evidence

that ancient aliens came to Earth centuries ago,

Erich von Däniken travels to the Paracas History Museum

to meet with the museum's assistant director

Brien Foerster.

Foerster has promised to give him an up close look

at a remarkable collection of skulls,

skulls which von Däniken believes are not

-of human origin. -FOERSTER: These were all found

in the same tomb,

and so they were members of the same family.

NARRATOR: Over the years,

hundreds of strangely elongated human-like skulls

have been found all over the world,

from Australia-- where the skulls were estimated

to be at least 10,000 years old--

to the Ukraine-- where they were found in catacombs

that are known to date back at least 5,000 years.

Because throughout history, various cultures have engaged

in the ritual practice of artificially elongating

the skulls of infants by tightly wrapping their heads,

most members of both the scientific

and academic communities have dismissed the skulls

found in Peru as having been created

by using the same method.

But Brien Foerster is one

of a growing handful that does not agree.

According to his years of research,

a number of the skulls on display at the Paracas Museum

exhibit other characteristics that cannot be explained

by the native practice of head-binding.

What's controversial about the elongated skulls is

that, in many cases, the cranial capacity is larger

than a normal human.

And therefore, they would not simply be examples

of cranial deformation,

but possibly a separate subspecies of humanity,

or more.

-Now. Oh, wow, wow, wow. -Yeah.

At least 20, if not more, I would suggest here.

Mm-hmm. This is the main display case.

This is a normal-looking human skull

from the Inca time period.

This was a farmer, but then you see the variation in shapes.

You have ones which are horizontally elongated,

like that one.

And then you have the classic vertical elongation.

And notice the size of the eye sockets.

The eye sockets are, in some cases,

50% larger than a normal human being.

VON DÄNIKEN: Wow. Absolutely incredible.

You have two possibilities.

Are we humans made the change?

Artificially, we pressed the head together,

-the bones together? -Mm-hmm.

Or we have it to do again with extraterrestrials.

Very unlikely that it's simple cranial deformation.

I think genetically,

this person may have been born with an elongated skull.

What can you explain me to this here?

Well, I want you to go ahead and hold this.

Mamma mia.

That's a classic Paracas elongated skull.

Except there is no fontanelle. I see nada.

Exactly. The sagittal suture is missing.

Something is wrong here.

NARRATOR: Missing the sagittal suture?

The fibrous tissue joint found on every human skull,

connecting the two large bones that protect the brain?

But how could it be missing?

FOERSTER: And so, medical professionals are absolutely

dumbfounded when they see it.

It doesn't fit in with a normal human skull.

Incredible.

NARRATOR: Eight years

after Erich von Däniken wrote Chariots of the Gods,

author and researcher Zecharia Sitchin

began publishing his Earth Chronicles book series,

which also proposed that ancient aliens had a hand

in the creation and development of humankind.

In There Were Giants Upon the Earth,

Sitchin suggested that extraterrestrial DNA

still exists in humans

and that the proof might be found

by closely examining the ancient skull

of a Sumerian queen who ruled sometime around 2500 BC,

and which is currently being stored

at the Natural History Museum in London.

One of the greatest researchers of our time

in the ancient astronaut theory, Zecharia Sitchin,

who passed away in 2010, had one last wish,

closing out his legacy of research,

which was to test the remains of Queen Puabi.

Sitchin spent 50 years of research

looking into Sumerian cuneiform,

and putting forth the idea

that the Anunnaki, these extraterrestrial gods,

visited ancient Sumer.

And what's really interesting is

that she was actually known as "Nin-Puabi,"

with the "nin" actually representing

the term "goddess" in the Sumerian language.

So, Zecharia Sitchin felt very strongly

that if the Natural History Museum

were to do genetic testing on Queen Puabi,

that we would find that there are parts of her DNA

that are extraterrestrial.

It's said that she had an elongated head,

as many of the kings and queens and royalty of Sumeria had,

as did the Anunnaki.

And some say that she had more teeth

in her mouth than a normal human.

If they won't test these remains,

you have to ask why.

Is there some secret encoded in that DNA

that they don't want to hear?

Might it be that the remains of Queen Puabi could prove

for once and for all that ancient astronaut theory

isn't theory after all?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that proof

of humanity's extraterrestrial origins actually exists?

And, if so, could it currently be sitting,

unexamined, on a shelf in a London museum?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

but believe equally compelling evidence can also be found

by tracing back the genealogical roots

of modern royalty.

One thing that's really interesting to me is

that while we've been talking about all these ancient

rulers and stories,

there are some monarchies around the world, even today,

that claim a connection to the gods.

And that's why bloodlines

are considered so important to some royal families.

TSOUKALOS: Oh, sure.

And this isn't something that people only thought about

thousands of years ago.

There are some who say that some of today's

kings and queens are direct descendants

of the so-called gods.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: London, England.

June 2012.

-(cheering) -Queen Elizabeth II

celebrates her Diamond Jubilee,

commemorating 60 years on the British throne.

The 87-year-old monarch presides over the United Kingdom

and 15 commonwealth realms,

with a combined population

of more than 134 million people.

Her grandsons,

Prince William and Prince Harry, are heirs to the throne,

in the line of succession after their father Prince Charles.

But from where does the British monarchy claim its authority?

And what are the origins of its vast wealth

and symbolic power?

CHARLES MOSLEY: Queen Elizabeth II has sat

on the throne since 1952.

And she has huge prestige,

because the royal family in this country

is one of the most successful organizations,

institutions in the world.

PHILLIPS: One of the most important things

for any leader is their bloodline to be continued.

We want the best for our own children, our own offspring,

as if it's some form of immortality.

The succession of power in ancient civilizations

depended very much on bloodlines.

NARRATOR: Like other European monarchies,

the British royal family has fiercely protected the integrity

of its bloodlines for thousands of years, but why?

What exactly is so unique or significant

about royal bloodlines?

PHILLIPS: Various leaders of ancient cultures went

to considerable lengths to make sure

that their own bloodline continued

as the ruling elite.

For example, the pharaohs of Egypt married their own sisters

or mothers.

The famous Tutankhamen was married to his own sister,

and previous to that, he was married to his own grandmother

so that they could keep the blood within the same family.

MOSLEY: So, if you were of the same blood

as Cyrus, Ramses, Alexander II,

Leonidas of Sparta,

you had some kind of claim to recognition.

In the ancient world,

it was seen as extending to the right to rule.

It gave legitimacy, it gave continuity,

it gave certainty.

That is still recognized in some respects now.

We have had, for instance,

father and son presidents of the United States.

We've had a series of members of the same family running India.

We have even had tyrannies in North Korea,

father-son inheritance.

It's extraordinary the extent to which this still exists.

YOUNG: It is important for people

to feel their leaders are extraordinary, not common.

So much is focused on the bloodlines.

Have they descended from the gods?

Have they descended from rulers that were unusually exceptional?

COLLINS: And it was something

that they would obviously pass on

into the successive generations,

so that if you had that blood,

you also had that power of connection with the gods.

NARRATOR: According to some researchers,

the bloodline of Queen Elizabeth II

can be traced all the way back to that of a mythical deity

named Woden.

YOUNG: If we look closely,

the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II,

could trace lineage to Woden through the Kings of Wessex.

Woden is supposedly an ancient king.

He is obviously a variation

on the Norse god Odin or the German Wotan.

But he is a mighty, powerful, furious leader,

a semi-god or a god in his own right.

He is also a warrior leader,

so he is a very exciting, ecstatic energy.

Now, interestingly,

the legends associated with this god, Woden,

was that usually around midwinter,

the god Woden would lead a great hunt across the skies.

All these horsemen would be seen flying across the skies.

It's described that when Woden would pass overhead,

that people would witness seeing

strong winds and hearing thunderous claps of sound.

(thunderclaps)

And Woden, in some legends,

was said to have been seen riding an eight-legged horse.

(horse neighing)

TSOUKALOS: In ancient English legends,

Woden was known as the god of wind.

And whenever he appeared,

he flew across the sky

in a fiery, eight-legged horse.

Now what does that mean?

Whatever it was they encountered,

that they witnessed up in the sky,

could best be described as an eight-legged horse,

because they didn't have the vocabulary for spacecraft.

NARRATOR: But did, as mainstream scholars suggest,

Queen Elizabeth's ancestors

simply claim a blood connection to Woden

in an effort to strengthen and legitimize their reign?

Or is it possible

that the British monarch is an actual

flesh-and-blood descendant of otherworldly beings?

YOUNG: Tracing royal lineage back

to a god implies great wisdom,

almost celestial power, a connection to the divine,

truly making the gods on our side.

CHILDRESS: Kings and queens all over the world,

particularly in Europe,

they are from a special bloodline,

and they make a big deal of that.

So you have to ask yourself,

what is it about their blood,

as opposed to other people's blood, that's so special?

NARRATOR: Might ancient royalty's

possible extraterrestrial origins

explain why monarchs have protected their bloodlines

for centuries?

Or might there be another even more biological reason?

What if the proof could be seen with the naked eye?

Not in ancient monuments

or deciphered texts, but in our own DNA?

NARRATOR: The Mongol Empire

in the 13th century AD.

This massive kingdom,

one that stretched from the Caspian Sea

to the Sea of Japan,

was forged by the emperor Genghis Khan.

Uniting the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia,

historians believe that by the time

of his death in 1227,

Genghis Khan ruled over as many as 100 million people.

PHILLIPS: Many people think of the great empires of the world,

such as the Roman Empire,

the empire of Alexander the Great,

or the British Empire.

The greatest in landmass, area,

the world has ever seen was the empire of Genghis Khan.

He and his immediate descendants conquered all of China,

conquered most of what's now Russia,

and half of Europe.

It was an astonishing empire,

and built by people

who had had really no proper civilization before that.

NARRATOR: Although generally believed

to be a brutal and bloody conqueror,

Genghis Khan also brought communication,

technology, justice and prosperity to his people.

He attributed his success to Tengri,

the god of the eternal blue sky.

HENRY: Genghis Khan was known to disappear for days

and climb the most sacred mountain of Asia

in order to commune with Tengri,

who imparted to him not only battle plans,

but spiritual capability

that made him the amazing leader that he was.

(thunderclaps)

Genghis Khan believed Tengri to be his sky father,

and claimed that he had a direct genetic connection with Tengri.

He even referred to himself as a man from the sky.

MARTELL: Now, if this is actually the case,

Genghis Khan might have some type

of extraterrestrial component to him.

We know that scientifically today,

one in 200 people can actually be traced back

to Genghis Khan.

So if Genghis Khan does have

any extraterrestrial genetics to him, it's possible

that over 16 million people now share this same gene.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that Genghis Khan did, in fact,

have extraterrestrial ancestry, as he himself claimed?

And, if so, might evidence of that alien biology appear

in certain bloodlines, even today?

(bell tolling)

London, England.

January 2013.

Researchers at the University College London

announce their discovery of a unique DNA sequence,

one that suggests that some people may,

in fact, be born to lead.

Comparing DNA samples taken from sets of twins,

both fraternal and identical,

scientists were able to determine

that as much as 24% of leadership behavior

could be attributed to genetics.

KLEMENS HERTEL: These are classical twin studies.

The identical twins are genetically identical.

Non-identical twins

are basically like siblings.

The kids were asked whether, in their job,

they supervised someone,

or they did not supervise someone.

This was the question the research team

associated with leadership quality,

yes or no.

Minor changes

in the genetic composition were then correlated

with the incidence of having a leadership

or not having a leadership,

based on the answer to the question.

And it was demonstrated

that one particular genotype associates

with having a leadership role.

Before this, it was assumed that leadership was learned.

But now we know that leadership has a direct

genetic component to it,

and it can, in fact, be inherited.

NARRATOR: But is it really possible

that the world's legendary leaders

might have shared a common genetic trait?

A so-called leadership gene?

And might this gene have been,

not a product of genetic evolution,

but inherited by mankind from some otherworldly source?

VON DÄNIKEN: A long, long time ago,

the gods from outer space were on Earth,

and they definitely made a genetical change

with some of our humans.

These humans obviously

are of a little higher level than the rest of mankind.

CHILDRESS: Just like today, we want

to view our leaders as being special,

smarter than us, more capable,

and it's the same thing in ancient times, too.

The rulers were special.

They somehow had god in their bloods.

They were descendants of the gods.

They had special DNA.

PHILLIPS: One thing is certain,

and that is, if it wasn't for these ancient peoples

believing that their kings

and emperors were divine, there is very little

to have held these early civilizations together.

And believing that your leader was somehow a god,

or descended from a god, kept people together.

And so, it's a part of survival of the human race.

TSOUKALOS: Many of our greatest rulers were guided

or influenced directly,

according to what they say, by celestial beings.

Perhaps it is this influence

that gave some of these rulers the capacity

to change human history.

NARRATOR: Were there really extraterrestrial influences

steering the emperors, kings and pharaohs

of the ancient world?

And, if so,

does this mean that the blood of the so-called gods

doesn't only flow throughout the veins

of today's monarchs,

but in the DNA of millions of people

living throughout the world?

The implications are both astonishing and profound.

Because it may not be that we need to wait

for Earth's alien ancestors to return.

It may be... they are already here.

I mean, when you think about it,

what we're talking about here is humans

being coregents or co-rulers with the gods,

-with extraterrestrials. -CHILDRESS: Yeah, and so,

the gods are, you know, training these new god-kings,

who are perhaps, you know, semi-extraterrestrial,

-to learn how to rule. -TSOUKALOS: Right.

And they aided us in the evolutionary process.

And so, you know, I don't think that,

if you have someone

that you are the father or the parents of,

that you lose interest.

I think it's something where

we're "stuck with them" for a long time.

HENRY: Right.

We were, in part, trained by these gods

in order to participate

in a galactic government.

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