Mystery of the Pyramid Serpent – Mythical Beasts

The Feathered Serpent, a mythical mutant monster, half bird, half snake. If you hear this sound, you would be terrified. It ruled some of the America's most powerful civilizations for over 1,000 years. The rituals to the Feathered Serpent would have been a panic that the rain would not come. Why were the ancients so convinced this monster existed? This creature has nothing to do with man. It's a creature of wild places. And why could it only be sated by human blood? These individuals were probably alive at the time of burial. Today, a team of beast hunters uses groundbreaking science and archaeology to solve the mystery. The Feathered Serpent was this all-powerful being, and the people relied on him. Their mission, to uncover the true inspiration behind the myth and what this fearsome monster really was. More than 1,500 years ago, a mysterious hybrid creature terrified the people of Mexico and Central America. Part rattlesnake, part bird, this was the bloodthirsty Feathered Serpent. In a lot of human cultures, snakes are associated with evil. The Feathered Serpent was the most terrifying beast in the ancient Americas. This was very fearsome. It was very aggressive. More than just a monster, it was a supernatural being. Despite its bloodshedding appearance, this beast was held in awe by powerful civilizations like the Aztecs and the Maya. The Feathered Serpent was one creature with many different names. So the Aztecs called it Quetzalcoatl, and the Mayans called it Kukulcan. The Feathered Serpent itself, in Latin American cultures, was revered, was all-powerful, and immortal. What was the real world inspiration behind this mythological monster that made people believe in it for so long? Is there more truth to this legend than we think? Comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg is convinced the first clues lie in the animal kingdom. She investigates the nature of the beast, starting with its body, the highly venomous rattlesnake. Mexico has over 100 species of rattlesnakes, more than anywhere else in the world. Rattlesnakes are highly developed killing machines. Venomous snakes still bite thousands of people in Mexico and Central America every year. Without modern medicine, most victims would die. And the ancient Mexicans would have learned to respect these animals, because if you got bit by a rattlesnake, it was certain death. So if you hear this sound, you would be terrified. But ancient civilizations didn't simply fear these snakes. They were in awe of them. They believed they had mystical powers. This is the shed outer layer of the skin of a snake. So what you have left looks kind of like a ghost. It looks like it died. But then you see a brand new glistening snake right next to it, as if it had been reborn again. These cultures often believed in reincarnation. So you can see how this would inspire such a thought. The rattlesnake's abilities to kill and regenerate seemed like superpowers. The feathered serpent was even more extraordinary. It could soar through the air like no snake on Earth. What could be behind this belief? This is a photograph of a quetzal. And these birds were very holy birds, because they were thought to represent the gods. They went back and forth between the spiritual world of the heavens and the Earth, because they could fly. These tail feathers, almost three feet long. And you imagine them wiggling, sort of like this pheasant feather over here. It would look like a snake wiggling. So you can imagine how this might be interpreted as a flying snake. The feathered serpent may have been inspired by two real animals. But fusing them together created a unique mythological creature. The feathered serpent was more than just a monster. It was a supernatural being. What makes it quite different from other mythological creatures is that you have so many different civilizations separated by centuries who are worshiping the same creature. What was the deadly appeal of this terrifying monster that gave it so much power over early civilizations? Historian Annabeth Hedrick hunts for answers in Mexico's ancient city of Teotihuacan. A pyramid here bears some of the earliest known images of the feathered serpent. What can they reveal about the nature of the beast? And what inspired it? Here's this mystical creature. He's got these wonderful teeth, nostrils up here. And then he's got a collar of feathers all the way around. Very little is known about the civilization that carved these fierce heads. But Annabeth believes the feathered serpent was more powerful here than anywhere else. Ancient Mesoamericans built meaning into all of their architecture. If we can learn about the structure of this building, I think we can understand more about who this creature was. Today, just a few heads survive. After nearly 2,000 years, only the front facade has these serpent heads projecting out into the human realm. Annabeth believes uncovering the original number of heads could unlock the mystery of what this beast really was. To find out, she uses laser technology to measure the distance between each one. 2.7 meters. The laser readings are accurate to within one millimeter. The dimensions of this structure suggest that there could have been 260 feathered serpent heads on this building. This is an important discovery. 260 was a magical number to the people of Teotihuacan. Just like us, they had a 365-day calendar. But they had a second calendar. And it was much more important. It was a 260-day ritual calendar. This tells me that this was a very sacred temple. 2,000 years ago, this pyramid was three tiers higher than it is today. The facade glistened with bright paint. But what was the role of the 260 intricately carved heads of the feathered serpent? Were they guarding this temple? Or did they serve another purpose? Snakes guard royalty. They guard important figures and even temples because they're connected to the promise of rebirth. So they guard a process more than a place. Was this snake more than just a fearsome protector? Annabeth finds more clues. A carving of the beast carrying a ritual headdress worn by a high priest or king. You can see that the headdress is riding on the back of a feathered serpent. The serpent brings the headdress to the people of Teotihuacan, perhaps to the king himself. And only a god can do that. The evidence suggests that the feathered serpent was much more than an ordinary rattlesnake and bird combined. People here believe it came from a completely different world. It was divine. The feathered serpent is not just a guardian. The feathered serpent is the god. This pyramid was the domain of the half snake, half bird monster. From its temple, it could survey the ancient city. Its muscular body showed its incredible strength. Its bright green feathers revealed its powers of heavenly flight. And its terrifying teeth warned of its ferocious hunger. A clue to just how important this serpent god was to the people lies in the location of its temple, right at the very heart of the city. The rulers gave the feathered serpent prime real estate. The feathered serpent wasn't just one of the gods, but he was the most important god. The feathered serpent temple in Teotihuacan is the first of its kind. There was never before a temple quite that large dedicated to the feathered serpent, nor had there been such a fervent worship of this god before. What did the people of Teotihuacan want from their ferocious serpent god? Does the answer lie with how other cultures venerated serpents? What fascinates me as a classicist so much is that cross-culturally, we see humans worshiping the very thing that they fear. Snakes are quite frightening and have associations with the dead and the underworld, but they also are very protecting. A snake was said to guard the Acropolis of Athens, and the people would sacrifice food to it, pouring out libations and things like that to feed this guardian snake. The snake might be a protector in Greek mythology, but at Teotihuacan, the feathered serpent was far more than just a guardian. The temple of the feathered serpent stands at the heart of this vast metropolis. Sprawling across 20 square kilometers and boasting a population of over 100,000, Teotihuacan was one of the largest cities in the ancient world. The serpent's temple was so important, it was enclosed by a citadel. Walls over seven meters high had only a single entrance, making it easy to defend. So why was this temple constructed? This temple was once one of the greatest buildings in the world. Its true purpose has been hidden deep below its surface for centuries. Archaeologist Sergio Gomez Chavez uncovers its dark secret. But Sergio's progress was cut short as the way was blocked by a huge volume of earth and carved stone. To explore further, he and his team would have to use a small camera mounted on a robot. It revealed an extensive tunnel stretching for more than 100 meters under the temple. It would take over five years of continuous excavation to uncover all its secrets. Sergio was the first person to enter this secret tunnel for 1,800 years. As he and his team excavated, they uncover ancient hidden treasures. Their latest discovery is a significant clue to the secret of the ancient temple. It's a clue to understanding the powerful influence of the feathered serpent. Sea snails symbolized water, the most precious commodity in the land. But why are they here, so far from the coast? Sergio believes that these intricately carved gifts from thousands of kilometers away suggest that this tunnel could lead to an important and sacred place. What sits at the very end of this narrow passage reveals the true role of the feathered serpent god. Under the core of the pyramid lies a cross-like formation of three chambers. They contain a mysterious design sculpted thousands of years ago by the people of Teotihuacan. Inside the chamber are four greenstone figures all facing upwards towards the very center of the temple above. On the ceiling, a layer of powdered pyrite creates the impression of a starry night sky, a symbolic cosmos. The floor, carved into jagged peaks and deep troughs, is a sculpted landscape of mountains and valleys. Glimmering in between, shiny pools of mercury, long gone, once represented lakes. Why did the people create a strange mirror image of the world hidden deep underground? Sergio believes these dark watermarks on the walls are a vital clue. They reveal that this chamber was once flooded. The flooding of this chamber was no accident. Sergio thinks that the Teotihuacan people did it deliberately to create a large underground lake. Why did the Feathered Serpent's temple contain this secret watery chamber? And what does it reveal about the beast? The people of Teotihuacan believed that a cosmic pillar called the Axis Mundi connects all the layers of the universe. The temple and the earthly plane, where humans live, sit in the middle. Beneath it lies the watery underworld, the place of creation. And at the top is the celestial layer, the realm of the gods. The Feathered Serpent can use the Axis Mundi to slide between the underworld, the heavens, and Teotihuacan, giving it power over the entire universe. The Axis Mundi is not specific to Mesoamerica, but is found all over the world. It's shared by virtually every culture. Delphi, an ancient Greek city, in Greece, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, even the tree that Buddha sat under in India. These are all examples of the axis-moony connection of heaven and earth. The people of Teotihuacan believed that it was the underworld that was actually where the feathered serpent preferred to live. Sergio thinks that the people were creating a version of the underworld beneath the pyramid, replicating how the serpent emerged into this world. There's a deep connection to the feathered serpent and water. It usually had a very flowing body, which leads us to believe that it had something to do with water or rivers. Ancient myth says that in the beginning, there was only sky and sea. In the primordial waters lived the creator god, the feathered serpent. Using thought alone, it created the very first mountain. It pushed the mountain up and out of the ocean, forming the earth. And time itself came into existence. This marked the dawn of the universe and the genesis of all life on earth. From this point on, the feathered serpent kept a watchful eye over its creation. It brought the rains that sustained this city. In Mesoamerican mythology, the rattle of the rattlesnake was meant to announce the coming of the rain. So the feathered serpent was linked to fertility, agriculture, and the seasons. Water meant everything to Mesoamericans. It was the difference between the perpetuation of their collective life or total destruction of their civilization. The people of Teotihuacan believed that as the feathered serpent had created their world, it also provided their water. But what did it demand in return? Historian Annabeth Hedrick investigates. The people of Teotihuacan prayed to the feathered serpent, gave offerings to the feathered serpent, and the priests do the rituals. And he came through. He brought the rains. But did the people here do more than just pray? An unusual clue lies beneath the citadel that surrounds the beast's pyramid, hidden deep inside the city's ancient plumbing. Archaeologist Sergio Gomez Chavez explains. These drainages were built at a very early time in Teotihuacan to evict the enormous volume of water that fell over this space. For up to eight months per year, ancient Teotihuacan received no rain at all. But in the summer months, the winds and the weather changed. A whole year's worth of rain poured down. For the people of Teotihuacan, this water was so precious, they built a complex network of canals and reservoirs to collect it for the next dry season. Near the feathered serpent temple in the center of town, they created an enormous reservoir measuring almost 13,000 square meters. These channels would also keep the citadel from flooding during the rainy season. But recent excavations reveal something surprising. Sergio thinks that the city's drainage system was sometimes blocked deliberately so that the plaza would fill with water. Why flood the citadel on purpose? Oh, my god. During the ceremonies, the temple symbolized the first mountain as described in the feathered serpent myth. The flooded citadel represented the primordial sea. The people of Teotihuacan were bringing the feathered serpent myth to life for all to see. Imagine the whole thing filled with shimmering water, the mountain rising up, priests standing on top of the pyramid. Every year, the rains came, and the people were renewed in their faith. Under the protection of the feathered serpent, this city was thriving. People were moving here, building buildings. Their crops were growing. The feathered serpent became the heart and soul of Teotihuacan. The mass rituals to the gods were almost always about fertility. Underlining the rituals to the feathered serpent would have been a sort of desperation and even maybe a panic that the rain would not come. These peoples were aware that previous civilizations had fallen due to drought, and there was a distinct fear that the same thing would happen to them. But was there a terrible price to be paid for the help of the feathered serpent? Making a pact with the snake god was a high-risk game. The feathered serpent was, after all, a rattlesnake, and there's danger there. The snake is what struck fear in them, because the snake has the venom, and it always has that warning rattle to tell you you're getting too close. Snakes are absolutely terrifying, and not just because of the way they move, but it's a creature that is a very long tube, and there is a mouth at one end, and it exists solely to consume and digest. So in that sense, they represent hunger at its purest. Why did the people of Teotihuacan dare to make a pact with a beast they knew was a killer? A clue may lie over 11,000 kilometers away in Europe, home to another deadly snake monster. The Greeks believed a monstrous creature called Medusa lived on a remote rocky island. Inside her lair stood hundreds of warriors frozen in time. They came as hunters, but quickly turned into prey. Their killer was Medusa, a vicious, mythological beast, part human, part serpent. Her hair was a writhing tangle of venomous snakes, but her face was stunningly beautiful. And with just one look, she could turn anyone into stone. Medusa is one of the more memorable mythological creatures in our imagination. You can find her in films like The Clash of the Titans. Turning someone to stone with your eyes is a really unusual power, a very literal and vivid representation of being paralyzed with fear. Medusa's deadly appeal began more than 2,500 years ago when the ancient Greeks conceived her. But archaeologist Dr. Yulia Jonu-Herbst investigates why the Romans also embraced her venomous power. This terracotta plaque that you see here probably dates from the end of the 6th century and into the 5th century BC. And it has the whole image of Medusa, not the head, and her body. And it's quite interesting that she's holding this staff in her hands that has snake heads on either end. It's not very easy to see the mouth because it's broken. But you can actually see her gaze and the way the eyes are portrayed. We don't know exactly what this plaque was used for, but because it has the holes on the four sides, it was probably hanged on something, probably as decoration to ward off evil. Over time, the Romans focused on just one aspect of this serpentine monster. So a number of the silver coins that you see here show just the head of Medusa with the snakes and all. It was a powerful image in ancient people's imagination. It had, for hair, living venomous snakes. Her mouth is wide open, portrayed in a roar. And she's terrifying for that as well. This is a terracotta mold. And there is a number of thumbprints here. So it was pressed into a metal original in order to produce the mold. And from the mold, you would make replicas of it that have a Medusa portrayed on them. This was found in the Roman form, so it was probably used in the first century AD. But it is from an original that dates to the fourth century BC. You can see, in particular, on the scales of the snakes. And you can see the snakes encircling the head. And up here, bound in a knot. The gaze, actually, also is quite straight and powerful in this one, because you can see the incision of the eyes. This piercing gaze of Medusa's head. Julia believes clues to why the Romans only honored her head lie in the legend. In the myth of Medusa, a young hero named Perseus vows to slay the beast. The gods give him powerful weapons, winged sandals that would let him fly, a razor-sharp sword, a polished shield, and a helmet to make him invisible. Perseus sneaks up on Medusa undetected. Watching her reflection in his polished shield, he avoids her evil gaze and cuts off her head. But even in death, Medusa's stare retains its magic, giving Perseus the power to conquer his enemies. The head is the most powerful image, because the head then has the power to turn people into stone, even after it's beheaded. Incredibly, these Roman coins date to the same time as Teotihuacan. Why did two powerful civilizations on opposite sides of the world adopt snake monsters? Julia thinks that both cultures believed the benefits were worth the deadly risks. Medusa's head became a symbol of protection. Emperors use it on their armor. Women, even, in the 10th century AD, were wearing it to avert all diseases. And it saves the person wearing it. What's so interesting to me is that the very logo that you can find on Versace garments is Medusa's head. Many modern people may not be aware of the symbolism. There is an element of duality in the Medusa myth. So she is both very dangerous and tremendously protective, even though she's quite frightening. And to look at her will turn you to stone. If you are behind the image rather than in front of it, you get security. And this is a duality we see in snakes as well. The people of Teotihuacan also believed they could harness the power of their monster, the feathered serpent. The creature could choose to bless the people with plentiful rains and a plentiful harvest. And that made it a very powerful being in a society that depended on farming a lot. But could new evidence reveal the high price the people of Teotihuacan were prepared to pay for the beast's protection? Archaeologist Sergio Gomez Chavez investigates what the feathered serpent demanded in return. He makes a shocking discovery, human remains placed inside the water network. These bodies were used to block the water channels and flood the citadel in honor of the feathered serpent. Within the inner sanctum of the beast's temple, archaeologists find more human remains. 78 skeletons lay in eight mass graves around the temple. More were hidden inside. Buried under tons of rubble were human remains, one row of men and one row of women. Their backs to the center of the pyramid as though standing guard. And at the core, 20 bodies carefully arranged with rich offerings, jewelry, tools, and stone statues. Why did the feathered serpent dwell in a temple embedded with sacrificial victims? Archaeologist Nawa Sugiyama hunts for clues inside the bones. These boxes contain the remains of the sacrificial victims from the feathered serpent pyramid. They contained individuals that were excavated on site. Nawa examines bones found at several different temples in Teotihuacan. She wants to find out how each person died. This was an individual that was found decapitated inside of the moon pyramid of Teotihuacan itself. You could see the cut marks right here left behind from the sacrificial implement cutting and gushing through the cervical vertebra and into the mandible. Some of the dead were young warriors brought to Teotihuacan from hundreds of kilometers away. They faced a particularly horrific death. In this case, this individual was found articulated, complete, and actually with its hands behind their back. There's no indications of pathologies, trauma, cut marks. That suggests that these individuals were probably alive at the time of burial. Marked for sacrifice, prized captives from outside the city were lined up in front of their own graves, one for men and one for women. Their feet were tied together, their hands bound behind their backs as they awaited their gruesome fate. Religious leaders would tell them where to kneel. Then the cells were filled with rubble, burying the victims alive. There was no escape. The feathered serpent watched from above, hungry for sacrifice, the price he required for bringing the rain. Mesoamericans believed that the gods drew their nourishment from the ground. Human sacrifice served the purpose of nourishing the gods. By placing a sacrificial victim underground, like a seed that's buried, the feathered serpent can now reach him. For most ancient people, your life is all that you have, and blood symbolizes that. It is the most important commodity that you have. Who were these sacrificial victims? Where did they come from? To find out, Nawa carefully analyzes the evidence. The bones really are a fountain of information for archaeologists. They include information not just about the age and sex of the individual, but also clues as to their life histories. Where were they born? Did they travel? What kind of diet did they have? But the bones can only tell Nawa so much. It is the teeth of these victims that particularly interest her. You can actually see the roots still in there on this individual, and a lot of dental plaque. So this is really great for DNA analysis. For example, the incisors erupt earlier in life, so it gives you an indication of where the individual lived earlier in life versus the molars erupt much later. Tooth enamel is the toughest and most dense of all skeletal tissue. It is decay resistant, making it a great historical catalog. This individual, when their incisors were growing, that you could see little lines along the enamel. And these lines represent a kind of halt in the growth of the incisor itself, probably because of some type of stress, maybe a disease, maybe it's nutritional. But again, it tends to be more fluid, more frequent among populations of lower status. There's so much information that we could extract from the material remains to really get at the social identities of the actual victims. At first, only prized enemies were sacrificed to the monster. Looking at several examples of these skeletons, we were able to understand that some were completely foreign, probably were captured outside of Teotihuacan. But one skeleton reveals a shocking secret. This woman was no enemy. This individual, actually both her teeth and her bones demonstrate that she was a local of Teotihuacan, residing within the city limits itself. Not only are they drawing on foreigners for the sacrificial victims, but they're also capturing individuals that are local residents. The flesh of the city's foes was not enough to satisfy the hunger of the feathered serpent. The leaders of Teotihuacan had begun to sacrifice their own people. No one really knows how ordinary people felt about human sacrifice at the time. Was it like the Romans watching gladiatorial combat as a form of entertainment? This was a give and take relationship between the feathered serpent and the people of Teotihuacan. He gave them rain. He gave them life. But in return, he demanded human sacrifice. But did the beast fail to live up to its side of the deadly bargain? Even though more and more of Teotihuacan's citizens were sacrificed, drought still plagued these lands. Teotihuacan rapidly grew to a city of 100,000 people. But this is also an area very prone to drought. And when people get hungry and thirsty, they can get desperate. The feathered serpent was supposed to bring the rains. But when he didn't, I suppose the only course of action for the rulers was to sacrifice more people. How did the citizens of Teotihuacan react to the serpent's new blood price? Sacrificing their enemies was one thing. But sacrificing their own people was a step too far. Annabeth believes this led to a major uprising. Evidence lies scattered around the base of this pyramid. Broken stones suggest that the people of Teotihuacan attacked the serpent's lair. These heads and all of this rubble didn't just fall here. They were ripped off the temple, thrown down, and smashed with hammers. This is evidence of a violent rebellion. Was this the end of the feathered serpent? Annabeth thinks the true targets of this uprising were the priests rather than the beast itself. The fact that they didn't destroy the temple completely tells us they weren't angry at the god. They were angry at the rulers who had abused their power. The citizens of Teotihuacan had had enough of the extreme demands of their leaders, not their serpent god. The people didn't want to eradicate the feathered serpent. They wanted to reclaim the god. The monster deity not only survived, but continued to thrive elsewhere. These are images of Mesoamerican cultures all founded after Teotihuacan. Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Xochicalco, and the great temple of the Aztecs. Temple after temple has the feathered serpent as the main deity. This is proof that the god survived the rebellion. Even as Teotihuacan fell into ruin, the feathered serpent lived on. In Chichen Itza, the Maya crafted an extraordinary pyramid in his honor. During the equinox at sunset, a shadow still forms bringing alive the rippling body of the feathered serpent. And in Cholula, they assembled four pyramids on top of each other to create the biggest ever man-made monument and dedicated it to the serpent god. The cult of the feathered serpent spread along the trade routes, sprawling out from Teotihuacan across an area of more than 250,000 square kilometers. People still believed in the feathered serpent when Columbus set foot in the New World. So the belief in the feathered serpent persists right up until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. The origins of the deadly feathered serpent lie deep in our ancient past. Today, this half snake, half bird god seems bizarre. But it allowed the ancient people of Mexico to make sense of a changing and unpredictable world. What we would see now as religious beliefs weren't perceived as that. They were simply the way of seeing the cosmos. By uncovering clues buried by history, investigators are beginning to decode the meaning of the myth. Finally revealing the truth behind the monstrous feathered serpent.