1 00:00:00,007 --> 00:00:17,573 This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 2 00:00:17,573 --> 00:00:22,094 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily 3 00:00:22,094 --> 00:00:29,616 the only ones to the mysteries we will examine. 4 00:00:29,616 --> 00:00:33,338 The most elusive holy relic of all time. 5 00:00:33,338 --> 00:00:44,061 Was it the chalice Jesus used to celebrate the Last Supper? 6 00:00:44,061 --> 00:00:49,102 Was it a magic vessel found again in Arthurian times? 7 00:00:49,102 --> 00:00:58,385 From the holy land to pagan Britain to the New World, in search of has tracked this mystery. 8 00:00:58,385 --> 00:01:11,590 It was the Holy Grail. 9 00:01:11,590 --> 00:01:17,031 Modern films and novels still celebrate King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. 10 00:01:17,031 --> 00:01:22,593 Jousting, questing, bringing chivalry to medieval England. 11 00:01:23,593 --> 00:01:27,595 And the heart of the Arthur stories was a mystery. 12 00:01:27,595 --> 00:01:38,598 A strange otherworldly quest with a long lost holy grail. 13 00:01:38,598 --> 00:01:43,600 There are 47 surviving romances of King Arthur and the quest for the holy grail. 14 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,600 Arthur was a real person. 15 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:50,602 In the 5th century, he led the Britons to a decisive victory over the Saxons. 16 00:01:50,602 --> 00:01:57,604 The grail legends, however, are not history, but a very strange intertwining of Christian and pagan stories. 17 00:01:57,604 --> 00:02:01,605 For the first time on its searcher, we're going to examine the same mystery twice. 18 00:02:01,605 --> 00:02:08,608 First as a Christian legend, and second as a very ancient pagan myth. 19 00:02:08,608 --> 00:02:12,609 The image of the Last Supper derives from medieval art. 20 00:02:12,609 --> 00:02:15,610 The events are chronicled in the Gospels. 21 00:02:15,610 --> 00:02:18,611 Jerusalem, 33 A.D. 22 00:02:18,611 --> 00:02:26,613 Thirteen humble Jews gathered to celebrate Passover, a ritual unchanged since the time of Moses. 23 00:02:33,615 --> 00:02:39,617 The rabbi, Jesus, astounded the group with his blessing of the ritual wine. 24 00:02:39,617 --> 00:02:45,619 Drink. This is my blood, spilled for the redemption of sin. 25 00:02:45,619 --> 00:02:51,621 We will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until we all meet in heaven. 26 00:02:53,622 --> 00:02:57,623 A day later, Jesus was dying on the cross. 27 00:02:57,623 --> 00:03:02,625 According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea attended the crucifixion. 28 00:03:02,625 --> 00:03:09,627 He anointed with Christ's blood the same silver chalice, which thus became the Holy Grail. 29 00:03:11,627 --> 00:03:16,629 Joseph of Arimathea fled Roman persecution to England. 30 00:03:16,629 --> 00:03:24,632 Landing at St. Michael's Mount, he took the Holy Grail as a talisman to found the first Christian church in the British Isles. 31 00:03:25,632 --> 00:03:34,635 The story then took a curious turn. The Holy Grail was somehow lost. 32 00:03:36,635 --> 00:03:41,637 Five hundred years later, the legend continued with the birth of King Arthur. 33 00:03:41,637 --> 00:03:49,639 On the windswept rocky Cornish coast, beneath the ruins of the great castle of Tintagel, lies Merlin's Cave. 34 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:56,642 Around 500 A.D., the old magician, deep in thought, left his grotto. 35 00:03:56,642 --> 00:04:03,644 Old King Uther Pendragon was dying without an heir, and the future of England seemed in grave doubt. 36 00:04:03,644 --> 00:04:10,646 He found an abandoned baby, and recognized that this was an auspicious moment. 37 00:04:10,646 --> 00:04:16,648 England needed a strong ruler and a common goal. 38 00:04:17,648 --> 00:04:24,651 Merlin proclaimed to the skies, England was the only country in the world that had a strong ruler. 39 00:04:24,651 --> 00:04:27,651 So the story was told. 40 00:04:27,651 --> 00:04:32,653 The baby did grow up to unite all the warring feudal barons. 41 00:04:32,653 --> 00:04:38,655 Arthur's order of the round table was the first stirring of democracy in medieval Europe. 42 00:04:40,656 --> 00:04:46,657 Late one year later, the king of England, the king of England, was killed. 43 00:04:46,657 --> 00:04:52,659 Arthur's order of the round table was the first stirring of democracy in medieval Europe. 44 00:04:53,660 --> 00:05:00,662 Late one night, near the end of Arthur's reign, a strange omen appeared deep in castle Camelot. 45 00:05:09,665 --> 00:05:13,666 King David's sword, embedded in a rock. 46 00:05:17,667 --> 00:05:24,669 It was foretold that whosoever could pull the sword from the stone would find the lost Holy Grail. 47 00:05:25,670 --> 00:05:29,671 All the knights of the round table tried in vain. 48 00:05:29,671 --> 00:05:36,673 Even Lancelot, the strongest man in the world, had to admit that force alone was useless. 49 00:05:49,677 --> 00:05:53,679 Suddenly, a stranger appeared from the shadows. 50 00:05:53,679 --> 00:05:57,680 Gala had the one pure knight. 51 00:06:24,688 --> 00:06:30,690 All the knights wanted to follow Gala had in search of the Holy Grail. 52 00:06:30,690 --> 00:06:35,692 They felt it would be the greatest adventure of their lives. 53 00:06:39,693 --> 00:06:44,695 Twelve knights and an army of attendants left Camelot. 54 00:06:54,698 --> 00:07:05,701 Most of them soon wearied of the search for the Grail and took to raiding sacks and castles, slaying infinals and rescuing maidens in distress. 55 00:07:05,701 --> 00:07:23,707 Too worldly to pursue the Grail, they were soon decimated by unlucky battles and spiritual impurity. 56 00:07:24,707 --> 00:07:32,710 The few who kept to the true quest found themselves in an appalling wasteland. 57 00:07:39,712 --> 00:07:46,714 Lost in a dark forest, they came upon ruins older than any of them could imagine. 58 00:07:47,715 --> 00:07:55,717 Their quest became a dark dream, like being lost in a maze. 59 00:08:02,719 --> 00:08:11,722 Finally, half dead from wounds and starvation, they came to the enchanted castle of Corbenac, where it was told the Grail itself was hidden. 60 00:08:12,723 --> 00:08:15,723 Only three knights were left. 61 00:08:16,724 --> 00:08:19,725 Sir Percival, who had never known a woman. 62 00:08:20,725 --> 00:08:24,726 Sir Bors, who had only once and repented. 63 00:08:24,726 --> 00:08:31,729 And Virgin Gala had, whose strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure. 64 00:08:31,729 --> 00:08:41,732 They found the castle guarded by the three deadly sins. 65 00:09:01,738 --> 00:09:21,744 The fallen armor lay empty. 66 00:09:32,748 --> 00:09:36,749 Inside the castle, they had to climb seven levels. 67 00:09:37,749 --> 00:09:45,752 Like Robert Bruce and the spider, six times they lost their way until the seventh attempt to penetrate the ultimate mystery. 68 00:09:55,755 --> 00:09:58,756 They found more than they expected. 69 00:10:02,757 --> 00:10:19,763 The Grail had been guarded for 500 years by the wounded Fisher King, preserved in a terrible state of agony until the proper magic question would be asked. 70 00:10:20,763 --> 00:10:31,766 Gala had alone conquered his terror and asked, whom does this Grail serve? 71 00:10:31,766 --> 00:10:57,775 The Grail came forth with a light no man could tell and changed shape in a fashion no man could fathom and the wasteland was restored to fertility. 72 00:11:02,776 --> 00:11:22,783 The Grail had been taken back to the Holy Land, to the mythic country of Saras. 73 00:11:23,783 --> 00:11:30,785 What was this Saras? It was not told. 74 00:11:30,785 --> 00:11:41,789 In Antioch, Syria in 1910, an ancient silver chalice was unearthed beneath a thousand years of rubble. 75 00:11:43,789 --> 00:11:48,791 Scholars traced the progress of the chalice through secret deals to Paris. 76 00:11:49,791 --> 00:11:55,793 It was then sold to the Cloister Museum in New York, where it is now kept under top security. 77 00:11:57,794 --> 00:12:03,795 It was recently discovered that the outer cup of gold encloses a fragile inner cup of pure silver. 78 00:12:04,796 --> 00:12:14,799 This new evidence led several top historians to pose the question, is the inner chalice, the Holy Grail, found at last? 79 00:12:15,799 --> 00:12:23,802 The Antioch Chalice kept in the Cloister Museum in New York was for a time thought to be the Holy Grail. 80 00:12:23,802 --> 00:12:32,805 Religious historians speculated that the outer gold cage was a reliquary, fabricated to hold and protect the inner silver cup. 81 00:12:32,805 --> 00:12:38,807 The chalice is obviously very old and in a fragile state of preservation. 82 00:12:39,807 --> 00:12:44,808 The silver is as thin and as delicate as tissue paper. 83 00:12:44,808 --> 00:12:52,811 The authenticity of the chalice has been researched by the curator of the Metropolitan Museum, Margaret Frazier. 84 00:12:52,811 --> 00:13:00,813 The great impression that this cup made inspired and the dating of it in the first century, 85 00:13:00,813 --> 00:13:11,817 within shortly after the death of Christ, conjured up the idea that this was the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Sovereign. 86 00:13:11,817 --> 00:13:20,820 More recently, we have looked at the cup with the eye to the style of the figures, to the way the grapevine is ordered on the cup, 87 00:13:20,820 --> 00:13:23,821 and found that there's no way that you can put it in the first century. 88 00:13:23,821 --> 00:13:27,822 It simply doesn't have the same style as first-century work. 89 00:13:27,822 --> 00:13:34,824 Much more, it responds to works from the fourth, even as late as the sixth century. 90 00:13:34,824 --> 00:13:40,826 And is it likely that Christ used the silver cup? It seems highly unlikely. 91 00:13:40,826 --> 00:13:46,828 He and his apostles espoused the simple life, the giving to the poor as opposed to the rich. 92 00:13:46,828 --> 00:13:54,831 And silver was a very valuable commodity to make it into tableware was only the privilege of the rich. 93 00:13:55,831 --> 00:14:07,835 It's inconceivable to me that Christ had a silver cup, rather cups of normal materials that we use, glass, pottery, or wood. 94 00:14:07,835 --> 00:14:13,837 Most scholars now agree, not the Holy Grail. 95 00:14:13,837 --> 00:14:19,838 The church has never officially recognized the Holy Grail as a relic. 96 00:14:19,838 --> 00:14:27,841 Many parts of the legends indicate the Grail was not a cup at all, but something much more mysterious. 97 00:14:28,841 --> 00:14:32,843 As a Christian legend, the Grail quest is very strangely convoluted. 98 00:14:32,843 --> 00:14:38,844 There is, however, a pre-Christian version of the story, which takes us back 2,000 years before Christ, 99 00:14:38,844 --> 00:14:46,847 a version long lost in amists of time, until a recent, amazing breakthrough. 100 00:14:46,847 --> 00:14:51,849 Glastonbury, England has many links to the old stories. 101 00:14:51,849 --> 00:15:01,852 Joseph of Arimathea is said to have hidden the Grail at the bottom of Chalice Well, a natural spring of red-tinged waters. 102 00:15:01,852 --> 00:15:08,854 The awesome ruins of Glastonbury Abbey mark the spot where Joseph built the first Christian church in England. 103 00:15:08,854 --> 00:15:12,855 King Arthur was supposedly buried here. 104 00:15:12,855 --> 00:15:17,857 Many Christian cathedrals are constructed over the sites of ancient pagan temples. 105 00:15:17,857 --> 00:15:23,859 Similarly, many Christian legends are retellings of earlier pagan myths. 106 00:15:23,859 --> 00:15:33,862 Just as we can excavate under church foundations, is it possible to discover hidden in the Christian stories traces of an earlier religion? 107 00:15:33,862 --> 00:15:37,863 Jeffrey Ash is the world's foremost Arthurian scholar. 108 00:15:37,863 --> 00:15:42,865 He's published 16 books on the quest of the Holy Grail. 109 00:15:42,865 --> 00:15:49,867 It's usually thought of as the cup or chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper. 110 00:15:49,867 --> 00:15:59,870 But if we go back to earlier versions, we find that it seems to be a sort of magical pagan cauldron of plenty, not a Christian thing at all. 111 00:15:59,870 --> 00:16:11,874 It doesn't appear alone. It appears with other things, with a lance that drips blood, with a sword, with a dish that sometimes has a severed head on it. 112 00:16:11,874 --> 00:16:15,875 These are called the Grail Hallows and they all add to the mystery. 113 00:16:15,875 --> 00:16:20,877 Is it possible to rediscover the lost pagan story of the Grail? 114 00:16:20,877 --> 00:16:28,879 Near Glastonbury Abbey is a very strange mound, 500 feet high and 2,000 feet long. 115 00:16:28,879 --> 00:16:44,884 Glastonbury Tor. The most uncanny aspects of this famous landmark are the obviously man-made terraces cut deep into the sides, still visible after 4,000 years of erosion. 116 00:16:44,884 --> 00:16:54,887 Some years ago, an Irishman, Jeffrey Russell, put forward a rather interesting theory that these are the remains of a prehistoric maze, 117 00:16:54,887 --> 00:17:09,892 which was cut in the hill for some ritual purpose thousands of years ago, and that people used to spiral up it by a long, long, complicated circuit going round 7 times, up and down, around and back. 118 00:17:09,892 --> 00:17:26,897 And he suggested that this was the origin of the whole idea of the quest of the Grail, that people came here to thread a maze to some sort of initiation ritual mystical experience when they finally got to the cinder. 119 00:17:26,897 --> 00:17:41,902 I lived by the Tor, but I had never really gone into it until a year or so ago, so I spent a very hard afternoon walking round and round the Tor, seeing whether Russell's maze worked, and I thought it did. 120 00:17:41,902 --> 00:17:48,904 And I went on trying all through that summer until I was pretty well satisfied that I had the whole pattern. 121 00:17:48,904 --> 00:17:53,906 Great satisfaction in finding that it did seem to work. 122 00:17:53,906 --> 00:18:08,911 There is one really heartbreaking bit where you very nearly get to the top, but you aren't allowed to go there. You have to go down and make another circuit, and down and make another circuit, and then you are finally allowed to go to the top. 123 00:18:08,911 --> 00:18:16,913 I think perhaps this is part of the secret of the whole thing, perhaps there was a kind of lesson in it. 124 00:18:17,914 --> 00:18:27,917 Is there any other evidence which could corroborate such a radical theory that the quest for the Holy Grail was an ancient pagan ceremony inside a giant maze? 125 00:18:27,917 --> 00:18:32,918 The answer? A surprising confirmation. 126 00:18:33,919 --> 00:18:41,921 At Tin Tadgel, where legendary Arthur was born, ruins of a Saxon fortress still stand guard over the Cornish coast. 127 00:18:41,921 --> 00:18:53,925 Pre-Roman ruins have been found beneath the foundations of the fortress, ruins which date to the time of the ancient megalith builders in Britain, the time of Stonehenge. 128 00:18:53,925 --> 00:19:01,927 In a hidden valley beneath Tin Tadgel, Geoffrey Ash noticed the rock carving from the same era. 129 00:19:02,928 --> 00:19:15,932 As a double maze, this is the Mother Earth symbol of a long forgotten religion. 130 00:19:15,932 --> 00:19:25,935 The same seven-fold spiral has been found in ancient Crete, Pompeii, and as far away as the Hopi Indian lands in America. 131 00:19:25,935 --> 00:19:38,939 No one had noticed any similarity between a small circular rock carving and a 2,000-foot-long hill until Ash obtained aerial photographs of the Glastonbury tour. 132 00:19:38,939 --> 00:19:49,943 At first, he couldn't believe his eyes. He checked and rechecked his diagrams, counting terraces, noting all the turns and convolutions. 133 00:19:49,943 --> 00:19:58,945 The Tin Tadgel rock maze leads in, out, in, out, and in to the center. 134 00:19:58,945 --> 00:20:09,949 The Glastonbury tour maze, although stretched to fit the original hill, leads up, down, up, down, and up to the center. 135 00:20:09,949 --> 00:20:14,951 The patterns are exactly the same. 136 00:20:15,951 --> 00:20:24,954 When Ash published his findings, a band of modern-day druids organized the first threading of the maze in 4,000 years. 137 00:20:24,954 --> 00:20:32,956 Strangely, they have been instinctively drawn to repeat again and again this ritual on the tour. 138 00:20:32,956 --> 00:20:38,958 For the first time, we have an insight into an ancient pagan rite. 139 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:57,964 An archeological dig could corroborate this theory that the maze on Glastonbury tour was the original quest for the Holy Grail. 140 00:20:57,964 --> 00:21:09,968 If so, the nature of the Grail itself, the prize at the center of the maze, is still open to speculation. 141 00:21:10,968 --> 00:21:21,972 From ancient times through the Christian era, modern scholars still regard the Holy Grail as one of the great unsolved mysteries. 142 00:21:23,972 --> 00:21:26,973 What was the Holy Grail? 143 00:21:26,973 --> 00:21:32,975 In the earliest known accounts, it was described as a saucer-shaped vessel which fell from heaven. 144 00:21:32,975 --> 00:21:36,976 The roots of the word grail mean crater. 145 00:21:36,976 --> 00:21:46,980 Were the Christian legends built upon pagan myths, dim memories of something ancient and alien, still buried under Glastonbury tour? 146 00:21:46,980 --> 00:21:49,981 Perhaps. 147 00:21:51,981 --> 00:21:58,983 Coming up next, in search of journeys to find the exact spot where Moses is supposed to have received the Ten Commandments, 148 00:21:58,983 --> 00:22:04,985 then agents go hunting for a kidnapper on FBI, the untold stories. 149 00:22:04,985 --> 00:22:09,987 At all this week, Peter Fonda takes you on a breathtaking trip through the history of the Rockies, 150 00:22:09,987 --> 00:22:15,989 from the exploration of Lewis and Clark through the frontier heyday, and into the era of vacation resorts. 151 00:22:15,989 --> 00:22:21,991 It all begins tonight at 9, here on the History Channel, where the past comes alive.