Lost Treasures of Egypt (2019) s04e03 Episode Script

1
(tense music)
NARRATOR:
At the bottom of a narrow shaft
(creaking)
EL AGUIZY: Oh!
MAN (translated):
Slowly, slowly, Doctor.
NARRATOR: lies a mysterious
and unexplored ancient tomb.
EL AGUIZY:
This is full of skeletons.
NARRATOR: Half buried in the
deep sand, lies incredible evidence
linked to Egypt's greatest pharaoh,
Ramses the Second.
EL AGUIZY:
That's very nice. What is this?
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, wow.
(grand music)
NARRATOR: Throughout Egyptian history,
no other pharaoh had a greater impact
on the ancient civilization
than Ramses the Second.
He came to power in 1279 BCE,
44 years after Tutankhamun,
and ruled for almost 70 years.
Known as Ramses the Great, he transformed
Egypt over the course of his reign.
He expanded the country's borders
and built colossal monuments
like Abu Simbel
and the Ramesseum mortuary temple.
Ramses was so revered that
nine further pharaohs took his name.
Today, archaeologists
across Egypt are attempting
to unlock the secrets of
this iconic leader's reign.
(man yelling, untranslated)
How he maintained complete power
over Egypt throughout his long life,
and how he made sure his fame
endured long after his death.
At Saqqara
in front of Egypt's oldest pyramid,
the step pyramid of Djoser
Egyptian archaeologist
Ola El Aguizy is excavating a necropolis
filled with the tombs of Ramses' generals.
These powerful figures played a key role
in Ramses' extraordinary reign.
Ola searches for evidence that could
shed light on how he kept them loyal.
Every year, it's getting
more and more exciting.
NARRATOR: Ola fell in love
with Egyptology 50 years ago.
And she has been exploring the burials
at this site for nearly two decades.
EL AGUIZY: The area proves to be
very important, very interesting.
It leads to lots of new information about
the people during the Ramesside period.
NARRATOR: Ola's team scours the Necropolis
for signs of unexplored buried tombs.
She's found some strange holes
cut into an ancient mud brick wall.
EL AGUIZY: I noticed there were
openings here that the workers,
when they go down and come up,
they put their feet.
So that means that this is a shaft.
NARRATOR: Ola believes
these holes form part of ancient steps
that workers used to climb
in and out of a shaft
during construction of the tombs here.
EL AGUIZY:
We have a piece of stone here, a fragment.
So it is really built
especially for a shaft.
NARRATOR: A shaft could
lead to an undiscovered tomb.
Her team start to excavate.
EL AGUIZY:
It's very, very exciting
because we don't know
exactly what we'll find.
We hope to find a sarcophagus,
we hope to find a statue, maybe.
NARRATOR:
Last season's finds show this site is full
of ancient treasures
from the reign of Ramses.
EL AGUIZY:
Ohhh, ohhh! Beautiful.
NARRATOR: And Ola thinks
there are more beneath her feet.
EL AGUIZY: It's not very deep yet,
but we are sure that it is a shaft.
NARRATOR: The shaft is not the only
discovery to emerge from the sand.
EL AGUIZY:
Wow!
This is part of a jar
with some signs here.
You know, it might be part of the name of
the god Ptah but written in Demotic.
If I'm right, it would be that this shaft
is dated to the 26th Dynasty.
NARRATOR: Demotic script came into use
around 600 years after Ramses reign.
Its discovery here could mean this shaft
wasn't built during the time of Ramses,
like the others in the Necropolis.
EL AGUIZY: This one, this finding
is a proof of a later burial.
NARRATOR: It could be a major
setback in Ola's hunt for tombs
from the time of Ramses the Great.
In the ancient city of Abydos,
Egyptian archaeologist Sameh
Iskander leads a team
excavating at the first temple
ever built by Ramses the Second.
This season, Sameh plans to dig
in the areas surrounding the temple
to uncover what it can reveal
about Ramses' long-lasting
influence over the country.
ISKANDER: We've been
working here for the past 15 years
and I feel so lucky to be
in charge of this project.
NARRATOR: Abydos was one of
the Ancient Egyptians' most sacred sites.
They believed Osiris, god of the
afterlife, was buried here.
ISKANDER: It was the hope of
every Egyptian to come here
at least once in lifetime for prayers.
NARRATOR: Sameh originally
trained as a civil engineer,
but as a child he always
dreamt of excavating in Egypt.
ISKANDER:
I did not forget my dream.
I went to New York University, I studied
archaeology, Egyptology, my dream.
And then my dream is coming true here.
NARRATOR: During an earlier season,
Sameh unearthed Ramses' temple palace
to the south of the
main temple he built here.
ISKANDER:
We were shocked.
We really did not expect this here.
NARRATOR:
Like other pharaohs before him,
Ramses the Second built a temple here
dedicated to the god Osiris.
In a courtyard, he placed 26
statues in honor of the deity.
On the south side,
he built the temple palace,
where he prepared for his duties
as a spiritual leader
and kept provisions for
the temple in 10 store rooms.
Surrounding the complex,
he built a 25-foot-tall wall
with an imposing granite gate.
But the temple and its palace only
occupied half of the enclosed space.
Sameh's goal is to excavate
the remainder of the temple complex.
ISKANDER:
Every day is a special day.
Every day there's something new.
Every day there's a new theory.
And every day, a lot of questions.
NARRATOR: Sameh and his team dig deep
trenches on the hunt for lost buildings.
Clearing away the layers
of sand covering an ancient walkway,
they make a surprising discovery.
ISKANDER: All of a sudden,
we find here there's a cut in the floor.
You can see the cut all around.
Somebody cut in here
and built an enclosure wall.
And inside there is
a vaulted structure that's built
starts from here from this
enclosure wall here, all the way there.
NARRATOR:
The vaulted structure
appears to be the roof of a building
that's buried deep beneath the sand.
Sameh wants to find out if the structure
was built during or after Ramses' reign.
ISKANDER: We're going to
start to excavate now to see
if this is still intact,
this wasn't disturbed.
NARRATOR: To uncover
what this structure is doing here
and what it might reveal
about Egypt's greatest pharaoh
and his enduring influence
over the country,
Sameh needs to unearth a way in.
For us, it's very exciting.
NARRATOR:
At Deir El-Medina
in an Acropolis high up in the hillside,
French archeologist Cedric Larcher
leads a team investigating
several high-status tombs.
LARCHER: It's a huge privilege
for us to be able to excavate
and study these beautiful tombs,
because it's a monument
that belongs to the reign
of Ramses the Second.
NARRATOR: Cedric has studied
Ancient Egyptian civilization
for 19 years and now
lives and works in Egypt.
LARCHER: Two months of the field
season are so exciting, this is something
all the team here and me
especially, we are waiting for.
NARRATOR: This season, Cedric is focusing
on the necropolis's most impressive tomb.
It belongs to Ramses'
architect Neferhotep.
LARCHER: Ramses built a lot of
monuments, he needed good people,
nice people, professional people around
him, and Neferhotep was one of them.
NARRATOR: Cedric wants to investigate
Neferhotep's partially excavated tomb
to see what it can reveal
about Ramses' reign
and the pharaoh's enduring
appeal to the Ancient Egyptians.
LARCHER: We have a beautiful
representation of the owner, Neferhotep.
We know that it's him because his name is
written here in hieroglyph above his head.
NARRATOR:
Next to it, a rare depiction of Ramses
reveals Neferhotep's strong personal
connection to the pharaoh.
LARCHER:
This kind of scene is quite unusual.
NARRATOR: The tomb reveals Neferhotep's
work for Ramses in amazing detail.
During Ramses' reign,
Neferhotep was an architect
and foreman in charge of a team tasked
tasked with building the tombs
of the Valley of the Kings.
He oversaw their work,
their materials and supplies.
And lived with them
in the nearby workers' village.
He succeeded his father and grandfather
in building tombs and
monuments for the pharaoh.
But Neferhotep had no direct
descendant to follow in his footsteps.
When he died, he was
buried in his ornate tomb
at the highest point in the necropolis.
In the tombs' courtyard, Cedric's team
has uncovered the openings
to two intriguing vertical
shafts filled with debris.
LARCHER: We don't know what
is inside, when they have been built.
All of this remains a complete mystery.
NARRATOR: The team gets to work
removing debris from the first shaft.
Cedric hopes it will lead
to a burial chamber.
This is very exciting now because
I think we are very near the bottom.
NARRATOR: In the Valley of the Kings,
Aliaa Ismail is hunting for clues
that could shed light on
the dynasty of Ramses the Great.
Being here in the Valley of the Kings,
it's one of the most
beautiful feelings you'd ever have.
NARRATOR:
Aliaa has worked in the valley since 2016.
She leads a team, digitally recording the
tomb of Ramses' father, Seti the First.
Ramses wasn't
the first king of his dynasty.
His father's lavish tomb shows he was born
into a powerful and wealthy family.
Aliaa wants to know how
he built on this inheritance.
ISMAIL:
I want to know how Ramses the Great
has ensured such an incredible dynasty.
NARRATOR: First, Aliaa explores
the tomb Ramses built for his sons.
It might hold clues that reveal
how the Pharaoh crafted his dynasty.
ISMAIL: Wow. I've never been to this tomb
before. It's really exciting to be here.
NARRATOR:
At the end of the furthest corridor,
a stunning rock-cut statue is evidence
that Ramses built this tomb.
ISMAIL:
Wow. This is an Osiris statue.
He has the crook and the flail on his arm.
It's very beautiful, very intricate.
It would have been painted,
there are traces of paint on it.
NARRATOR: The Osiris statue
once bore the face of Ramses the Great.
All depictions of gods were made
to look like the reigning pharaoh.
The statue helped
guide the deceased into the afterlife.
It stands at the heart
of a highly unusual tomb.
With over 120 near identical chambers
stretching 150 feet across
and more than 270 feet deep into the rock,
it's the largest in
the Valley of the Kings.
Aliaa wants to know why
Ramses built such an enormous tomb.
ISMAIL: There are a total
of 16 pillars in here.
This is the biggest pillar chamber
in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
This is a very long corridor and there
are rooms on each side of the wall.
There's so much debris in them.
NARRATOR: To uncover why Ramses
made his sons' tomb so big,
Aliaa needs to head deeper
into the maze of dark corridors.
In Abydos at Ramses' temple complex
Sameh and his team
excavate the mysterious structure
they have just discovered
and search for an entrance.
ISKANDER: You can see the marks
of the hands of those masons
that built it and it runs this way.
We don't know how long
it's going to go further west.
Hopefully still intact.
Hopefully it wasn't disturbed.
NARRATOR: Sameh wants to know
whether it can help reveal
more about Ramses' hold
over Ancient Egypt.
MAN:
Go and pick up the things, come on, guys!
NARRATOR:
Clearing away the sandy debris,
they begin to discover
fragments of pottery.
ISKANDER:
What we have inside here is plaster.
Plaster was used in building the structure
of the temple.
NARRATOR: One fragment in particular
catches Sameh's expert eye.
ISKANDER: We just came
across this piece, which is interesting.
It's a piece of pottery. And inside
the remains of burnt incense.
NARRATOR: Burning incense
was common practice during cult rituals.
In Ancient Egypt, cults were formed
to worship a chosen god or goddess.
Cults were a popular
and everyday part of Egyptian life.
ISKANDER: The fact that we
found this piece here gives us a clue
that there's some cult activity down here.
NARRATOR: If the team can find
further evidence of cult activity,
it could reveal how the temple was used.
Crucially, the discovery
helped Sameh to date the structure.
ISKANDER:
I think this is a much later structure
than the time of Ramses,
this is Ptolemaic.
NARRATOR: Ptolemy, the founder
of the Ptolemaic dynasty,
which ended with Cleopatra,
became Pharaoh almost a thousand
years after Ramses the Second.
The pottery is a significant discovery.
It reveals that someone
a millennium later,
burrowed beneath this walkway
to build their structure
as close to Ramses' Temple as possible.
Sameh hopes to find out why.
After hours of digging,
the team uncovers an opening
at the end of the mysterious building.
ISKANDER: Now we're coming finally to
the door. This is the entrance.
We opened this for the first time
after 2,000 years.
Oh, wow.
NARRATOR:
In the Valley of the Kings,
Aliaa wants to understand why Ramses
built such a huge tomb for his sons
and what that reveals about how
he crafted his powerful dynasty.
ISMAIL: Oh, there's stairs here.
Where do they lead to?
NARRATOR:
Along the dark corridors,
faint remnants of ancient
carvings adorn the walls,
but they are badly eroded.
ISMAIL: You can see that
the salt crystals all over the place.
And you can see this is
definitely water damage.
It appears that a flash flood
could have taken place here.
NARRATOR: The carved scenes could
contain vital information about the tomb,
but the erosion makes them
almost impossible to decipher.
ISMAIL: This bumpiness is
all due to the water damage.
NARRATOR:
Aliaa finds a surviving section.
ISMAIL:
From what we can see here,
there's a large figure and
it is followed by a smaller figure.
This is for sure Ramses' and right
next to him here would be his child.
NARRATOR: This tomb isn't
just for a few of Ramses sons.
It's for a great number of them.
The tomb contains dozens of rooms. Many
are burial chambers for sons of the King.
During his life, Ramses
had over a hundred children,
more than any other Egyptian king.
He had an unusually high number of wives
and consorts, over 200 in total.
Some he married to seal foreign
alliances, others to produce sons.
He fathered 52 and secured a healthy male
bloodline to succeed him on the throne.
He built the vast tomb in the Valley of
the Kings to bury them together
so they could be close
to their father in the afterlife.
ISMAIL: Ramses the Second
was always planning to have a big family,
and that's why he built such a huge
tomb. This seems to be his goal.
NARRATOR: Having a tomb in the
Valley of the Kings was a huge honor.
By building his sons' tomb here,
Ramses hoped to give them a long
and prosperous afterlife.
He looked after them in this life, too.
On the wall, Aliaa can
make out the role of one son.
ISMAIL: The kind of dress
that this character is wearing
seems like priests robes.
So this would have been maybe the son
of Ramses as one of the high priests.
This was a title that would have made him
an important individual
in the royal court.
NARRATOR: Ramses gave
his many sons important positions
across the country
to ensure their loyalty.
These are the actions of
an astute father and leader.
Next, Aliaa wants to find out
how Ramses used his loyal sons
to further his reign
and build his powerful dynasty.
At the Saqqara necropolis
Ola's team has dug down
23 feet inside the new shaft,
but they are yet to reach the bottom.
Good morning.
(untranslated)
NARRATOR:
Ola still hopes the shaft will lead
to one of Ramses' military general's tombs
and shed light on how he kept them loyal.
EL AGUIZY:
We begin to find bones.
It seems that we are on the verge
of reaching the opening of the tomb.
We are going to find
something interesting. That's sure.
NARRATOR: Bones are a promising indication
that a burial chamber is nearby.
- MAN: Doctor.
- EL AGUIZY: Yes?
MAN:
Keep this with you.
And this is another. This is an amulet.
They put it on the mummy for
protection. There is a burial. (laughs)
MAN:
Hang on!
(untranslated)
MAN:
Hang on!
(untranslated)
NARRATOR: Digging further, the team
reveals an opening to a chamber.
What we just found,
it's an opening to the East.
NARRATOR: Workers clear the entrance
and lash together two wooden ladders
for Ola to descend into
the shaft and investigate.
I hope it is safe.
(team chatters)
NARRATOR:
Whilst the team installs the ladder,
Ola takes a moment to prepare herself for
the long descent into the unknown.
EL AGUIZY: This is the adrenaline
that gives me the power to do that.
If it wasn't for adrenaline,
I would have been-- (laughs)
I would have refused to go down.
NARRATOR: The narrow shaft
now descends a total of 26 feet.
A fall here could be fatal.
EL AGUIZY:
This is the first time I go to this shaft.
Terribly (laughs), terribly excited.
(tense music)
(ladder creaking)
EL AGUIZY: (gasps) Oh!
MAN:
Slowly, slowly, Doctor.
NARRATOR: At Deir El-Medina,
Cedric's team excavates a shaft
in the courtyard of the tomb
of Ramses' architect, Neferhotep.
LARCHER: Now we've probably
reached 3 meters or 4 meters deep.
NARRATOR: Cedric wants
to find out what lies at the bottom of it.
LARCHER:
Why don't know yet why this shaft is here,
how it is related to the tombs
of the architect of Ramses the Second.
NARRATOR:
Cedric hopes the shaft could reveal
more about Egypt's devotion
to the great pharaoh.
But there's a problem. The shaft's
walls could collapse at any second.
LARCHER: In this part of the
necropolis in Deir El-Medina,
the quality of the limestone is very,
very weak so we have to take care.
We can't work as fast as we want.
NARRATOR:
After hours of careful excavation,
they reach a layer
with some promising signs.
It's like we reached some
specific place in the shaft.
We see some weird stuff, not usual,
so I will have a look inside.
NARRATOR:
Cedric spots some intriguing clues
scattered around the base of the shaft.
LARCHER: We just found here in this shaft
some evidence of linen embalming material.
We also have some bones here.
NARRATOR:
Fragments of linen and bones
are evidence that mummies
could be buried close by.
LARCHER:
I think we break through something here.
We feel the wind from there
so there is probably something here.
NARRATOR: The draft suggests they might
have found the entrance to a chamber.
I don't know yet what it is.
We should have to go deeper.
NARRATOR: The team needs to clear enough
space for Cedric to get in and explore.
It takes two more days of excavation.
- MAN: Boss!
- LARCHER: Yes, what is it?
MAN:
There is something here.
LARCHER: I think we just reached
the bottom of the shaft.
NARRATOR: They discover what could
be the entrance to a burial chamber,
But it's blocked by big boulders.
LARCHER: We don't know yet how to
proceed but we have to remove the stone.
NARRATOR: The boulders
are too heavy to remove by bucket.
After careful deliberation, the team
decides to try lifting the boulders out
with a heavy-duty pulley
rigged to a large wooden frame.
LARCHER: It's very, very heavy
and they have to take care.
So they do it slowly, slowly.
MAN:
(untranslated)
NARRATOR: Eventually they
push the pulley into position.
LARCHER: This is very exciting
now, because with this system,
we will be able to remove the last stone
and enter finally in the burial chamber.
NARRATOR: Workers carefully secure
rope around the largest boulder
and begin to hoist it out of the shaft.
- If it falls, it could kill them.
- LARCHER: Take care.
So this is the biggest stone now,
it was difficult to remove it.
But at least now the passage is big enough
to enter inside the burial chamber.
So let's put the ladder to go inside.
(untranslated) Let's go.
Oh! We have a problem here.
NARRATOR: More boulders still block his
way in. They are deep inside the entrance,
so the team can't use
the rope and pulley to lift them.
(Larcher sighs)
Cedric needs yet another plan.
LARCHER: We have to find a way
to remove those big stones.
NARRATOR:
In Abydos
Sameh and his team race to
excavate the mysterious building
buried beneath the walkway
at Ramses Temple.
Sameh wants to know why someone
a millennium after Ramses' reign
chose to build a structure
in this location and what that can reveal
about Ramses' influence over Ancient
Egypt long after his death.
ISKANDER: We have reached
the entrance, it's partially open.
NARRATOR:
But the team faces a new challenge.
ISKANDER:
We have to go down very, very carefully.
Otherwise, we can disturb that wall
that might actually collapse somehow.
Or who knows?
NARRATOR: Workers carefully remove the
ancient mud bricks blocking the entrance.
ISKANDER:
I hope we can find something to tell us.
What is the mindset of this period?
A thousand years after Ramses.
NARRATOR:
This vaulted structure
isn't the only curious discovery
made by Sameh's team.
Elsewhere on the dig site,
workers have uncovered a shocking scene.
ISKANDER: We came across this storage area
and we found this extremely unusual find.
It's filled with these bones,
mostly skulls of rams.
We counted more than 1,200 ram heads.
Some of them are wrapped in fabric.
NARRATOR:
But it isn't all gruesome skulls.
ISKANDER:
We came across this beautiful bell
with its clapper
and in excellent condition.
And we have here four heads
of animals that represents the gods.
This was hanging from the neck
of the ram and making that sound.
It's extremely, extremely unusual to find
and we're very happy with this to find it.
NARRATOR: Sameh thinks these
carcasses are evidence of a specific cult.
ISKANDER: It gives us an idea
that this is a cult of the ram.
NARRATOR: Ancient Egyptians
saw rams as sacred symbols of fertility
and as representations of their gods.
Ram worship was prominent
in southern Egypt
where they mummified rams
and gave them ritual burials.
The cult of the ram eventually spread
right across Egypt, including Abydos.
This huge collection could
be evidence that cult practitioners
collected ram skulls from
hundreds of previous rituals
and placed them all here
in a grisly mass grave.
ISKANDER: I have a feeling
that this is a single event,
that they were all collected at some
point and at a certain time in history.
They decided that this huge
amount of rams heads belonged
to the revered domain
of Ramses the Second.
NARRATOR:
Sameh believes the skulls were placed here
because of the temple's
connection to Ramses.
Now Sameh wants to know if
the vaulted structure
also contains evidence of this cult.
At the dig site,
the team has safely removed
enough debris to reveal
the entire entrance.
Sameh can finally enter the mysterious
structure for the first time.
ISKANDER:
It's so dark in here.
NARRATOR:
In Saqqara, Ola descends a narrow,
unstable 26-foot-deep shaft
to explore the new tomb.
Finally. Quite an adventure.
NARRATOR: Ola wants to investigate whether
this tomb dates from Ramses' reign,
and if it can help reveal more about
how the king kept his generals loyal.
EL AGUIZY:
Ooh! Wow.
NARRATOR: The tomb contains pottery, once
full of food and drink for the deceased.
Quite different than what I
expected, but interesting.
MAN:
(untranslated)
NARRATOR: Ola discovers
several niches carved into the tomb walls.
EL AGUIZY: We have lots of burials in
every niche, in every one of them.
This is full of skeletons. What is this?
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
These are the ribs here.
You have a wooden piece which proved
that there was a wooden sarcophagus.
NARRATOR: These desecrated remains are
evidence that robbers broke into the tomb
looking for treasures
buried with the mummies.
They took the precious objects
but left behind other grave goods.
EL AGUIZY:
That's very nice.
(untranslated)
This is part of a plate.
And that's another one.
Would you like a soup? (laughs)
NARRATOR:
Ola recognizes the style of pottery
and can use it to date these burials.
It might be dated to the later
period, the 26th dynasty or so.
NARRATOR: The 26th dynasty began
almost 600 years after Ramses' reign.
This could explain
the pottery shard with Demotic text
Ola discovered near the top of the shaft.
It's beginning to look like
this tomb doesn't have
anything to do with Ramses at all.
EL AGUIZY:
All this needs studying.
NARRATOR: But then, Ola spots something
promising hidden amongst the buried jars.
EL AGUIZY: That's interesting.
This is the beard of the sarcophagus.
That means that the person
is an important one.
Usually it's a symbol of high rank. One
of the people who were around Ramses.
That's interesting.
NARRATOR: The carved
wooden beard indicates a burial
of someone of high status,
possibly from the time of Ramses.
The tomb could have been built
during Ramses' reign after all,
and the artifacts from the 26th dynasty
were placed there centuries later.
EL AGUIZY: It's the time when
they reused the area for burials.
NARRATOR: It was common
for Ancient Egyptians to reuse tombs
centuries after they were first built.
This makes it a challenge for
Egyptologists to accurately date them.
The discovery of another tomb
that could date from Ramses' era
is so tantalizing that
Ola wants to dig deeper.
EL AGUIZY:
You know what we're going to do now?
We're going to take out the sand,
which is in the niches,
and take all the things that
we found out and sift the sand.
NARRATOR: There's still
a mammoth amount of work to do
to uncover the full story of this tomb.
What an adventure. Woo! (exhales)
NARRATOR: But so far it suggests
that Ramses rewarded
his generals with the hope
of eternal life.
The promise of a lavish
burial here in sacred Saqqara,
in the shadow of Egypt's first pyramid,
secured their loyalty and helped
Ramses maintain his dynasty.
In Abydos, Sameh prepares to enter
the 2,000-year-old structure
for the first time.
ISKANDER:
It is really dark and it's very difficult
to really understand what's inside.
We're going to get some light
so that we can go inside.
Give me the light.
That's right, great, yes.
NARRATOR:
Sameh hopes the structure,
which was built a thousand
years after Ramses' death,
will provide more evidence that a cult
was active here next to his temple.
And reveal more about
the enduring strength
of the Pharaoh's influence
over Ancient Egypt.
ISKANDER:
It's large.
It's really surprising that
the ceiling is plastered
with mud in a very careful way because
of the effort of plastering it here.
It's kind of unusual.
NARRATOR: Sameh searches
for any inscriptions that might indicate
the structure's purpose,
but the walls are bare.
Studying the structure's alignment,
he believes the biggest clue
to the importance of this
building lies in its position.
This structure was built right along
the northern wall of the temple
itself, a very revered space.
So they came during the Ptolemaic period
and built this obviously
for some cultic activity.
NARRATOR: Sameh thinks this
structure was likely never used.
Its position right next to
Ramses' Temple suggests
the cult was worshiping Ramses himself,
even though the structure
dates to long after Ramses' death.
ISKANDER: Usually cults of other
pharaohs last for two or three centuries.
This is a thousand years.
NARRATOR: The buried structure,
the pottery, and the rams' heads
are all evidence of the strength
of Ramses' enduring appeal.
Sameh believes it shows
the Pharaoh was being
worshipped a millennium after his death,
centuries longer than other pharaohs.
ISKANDER:
It says a lot about how important
this pharaoh was in
the mindset of Egyptians.
NAARRATOR: At Deir El-Medina,
Cedric's team are into their second day
trying to enter what
appears to be a chamber.
It's located at
the bottom of a shaft beside
the tomb of Ramses' architect Neferhotep.
But inside the chamber's entrance,
several unstable boulders
still block their passage.
Clearly, it's not possible
to take them from the air
so we will have to find a way.
NARRATOR:
The roof of the entrance tunnel
blocks the team from lifting
the boulders with a pulley.
Instead, they use a makeshift ramp
to slide them out of the way.
The entrance is finally clear
and the smell is promising.
LARCHER: When I went inside the shaft,
I smelt the specific smell of the mummies.
So before we enter
inside the burial chamber,
we clearly have to wear a mask to be safe.
NARRATOR: Entering a new tomb
containing mummies can be dangerous.
The ancient bodies can carry mold
that is harmful to humans.
Cedric hopes the tomb will reveal
more about the strength
of Ramses' influence
over the ancient Egyptians.
- LARCHER: Whoa. Okay. Wow.
- NARRATOR: It is a burial chamber.
The end of the room is
piled high with ancient remains.
Here we have a lot of kind of linen,
kind of bodies of mummies.
We have different ways of
mummification, embalming.
It's clearly chaotic so it
was not the original organization.
Something happened here clearly.
NARRATOR: A gruesome torso
provides Cedric with a clue
that helps him to date
some of the mummies.
LARCHER: Most of the mummies
we see are from the Ptolemaic time.
It looks like this shaft
and this burial chamber
have been reused in the later period.
NARRATOR:
Cedric believes these later Egyptians
may have chosen to be buried
beneath Neferhotep's tomb
because he was Ramses' architect.
LARCHER: Perhaps these people
wanted to be close to someone that
was very, very important during the reign
of Ramses the Second, someone very famous.
NARRATOR: A burial here meant they too
hoped to share in Ramses' eternal glory,
evidence of the enduring
strength of Ramses' godlike appeal.
LARCHER:
So exciting to be here.
NARRATOR: The burial chamber and these
bodies are a remarkable discovery,
but one that leaves Cedric and his team
with a mountain of work ahead of them.
LARCHER:
We still have a lot to do here.
We have to understand
what's happened here.
Who are these people who are
lying here. Many, many questions.
NARRATOR:
On the Nile's East Bank,
Aliaa has come to investigate
the vast Luxor Temple.
Ramses' richly rewarded
his sons in death with a lavish tomb.
Now, Aliaa wants to find out how they
helped him build his powerful dynasty
while they were still alive.
Just standing here in front of
those huge columns.
You feel so small in comparison
to this huge culture.
NARRATOR: Large parts of
the temple were built by Ramses,
and he made sure everyone knew it.
ISMAIL: Whenever you see the cartouches
of Ramses the Great, they're always great.
Great in size, great in scale. And you
can recognize them right away
because Ramses' cartouches can be seen
from really far away. Other peoples can't.
NARRATOR:
Hidden behind a row of columns,
a remarkable relief depicts
17 of Ramses' children.
ISMAIL: Here, the second child
depicted is called Ramses
and the fourth one is called Khaemweset.
And here we are looking at Merenptah.
It's quite unusual to have his children
here in the temple on the wall,
but doing so, he is putting them out there
and showing the whole of Egypt
who his children are.
NARRATOR: Ramses didn't
just publicly praise his children.
He gave them powerful jobs
throughout his kingdom.
Ramses gave some of his sons
high-ranking positions in the Army
to fight alongside him
in his military campaigns.
Together, they mounted attacks
north of Egypt against the enemy Hittites,
laying siege to several
of their fortified cities.
He appointed other sons
as high priests to lead cults
and secure his religious
and political authority.
Ramses kept his sons
close to him throughout his life
to ensure control over Egypt
and establish his powerful dynasty.
After a 66-year-long reign, Ramses died,
leaving the throne to his
eldest living son, Merenptah.
Ramses ensured his dynasty would survive
by conceiving more than a hundred children
and placing many of them in key positions.
ISMAIL: He has taught those children
to follow into his footsteps,
to do everything the way he envisioned.
I think that Ramses
conceived as many children
as possible to make it
impossible for someone
to take the throne from the Ramessides.
NARRATOR:
The King's ingenious plan paid off.
After a powerful and long-lasting reign,
his bloodline remained on the throne
for a further three generations.
Ancient Egyptians may have worshiped
him as a god a millennium after his death.
And even to this day, we remember Ramses
the Second as Egypt's greatest pharaoh.