[51, mostly filmed in Cairo's National Museum] The pharaoh was considered a god. If your leader is a god, you question nothing. You obey the rules. Things stay the same. A remarkable thing about ancient Egyptian art, and society as a whole, was its stability. For 2,000 years — from 3000 to 1000 BC — relatively little changed, including their art.

[52, Akhenaten, c. 1350 BC, Egyptian Museum, Cairo; Stele of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, c. 1370 BC, Egyptian Museum, Berlin] Akhenaten was the one exception in a 2,000-year line of conformist pharaohs. Rather than the same predictable idealized features, Akhenaten had his own voluptuous looks — from a strangely curvaceous body to big, sensuous lips. He was considered history's first monotheist. Akhenaten replaced all the gods of the Egyptian pantheon with one all-powerful being, the sun god, whom he called "Aten." In reliefs we see Aten — the sun — shining down on everything. People were portrayed more realistically and intimately. Casual family scenes? Must be from the time of Akhenaten.