♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Buried deep underground,
an ancient Egyptian tomb from the time of
Ramses the Great.
This bricked up entrance has been undisturbed for
nearly 3,000 years, until now.
OLA (off-screen): Are we going to be able to get in, yes?
Oh, my god. It is dark.
It looks very, very deep.
NARRATOR: What's revealed is a surprise to even
the most experienced archaeologist.
OLA: Oh, la, la. Yes. Ooh, beautiful. My god.
NARRATOR: Ramses the Second,
known as Ramses the Great was one of the most
powerful and successful rulers of the ancient world.
He reigned for 66 years,
expanded Egypt's borders and built more monuments and
temples than any other Pharaoh.
How did he become such a mighty king,
and build a legacy that has lasted three millennia?
Today across Egypt,
archaeologists are digging up evidence from his life,
and those that served him,
as they attempt to uncover the secrets of Ramses
rise to power.
Most ancient Egyptians never saw
Ramses the Great in the flesh,
but his image was everywhere.
To investigate how Ramses made his presence
felt across his Empire,
American hieroglyphs expert and vintage clothes collector,
Colleen Darnell,
ventures to one of his most impressive achievements,
Karnak Temple.
COLLEEN: The sheer scale of this temple
is just overwhelming.
This is one of the most impressive spaces
in the world.
You can read all the numbers,
how high the columns are, how many there are,
and I especially love the color on the ceilings.
You have to stand here in order to appreciate
its magnificence.
NARRATOR: When Ramses came to power,
Karnak was already a temple complex the size of
75 football fields,
and held a sacred lake larger than seven
Olympic swimming pools.
One temple, called the Temple of Amun-Re,
was big enough to hold ten Gothic cathedrals
within its walls, but Ramses wanted more,
so he completed a masterpiece begun by his father:
a vast building whose roof rests on pillars,
a great Hypostyle hall.
It's one of the largest religious rooms ever built.
So what can this sacred temple reveal about what made
Ramses such a powerful and memorable leader?
Around 30 different Pharaohs helped build Karnak,
making modifications over one and a half thousand years.
But the writing on the temple walls tells a different story.
COLLEEN: There's one name I see more than any other,
and that is Ramses.
This is the cartouche of Ramses II.
We see it again all around this column.
We see it on this column, pretty confidently nearly
every column in this side of the Hypo-style Hall has
multiple examples of the name of Ramses II.
NARRATOR: 134 sandstone columns tower up to
66 feet high.
Recent analysis shows every single one is inscribed with
Ramses name and stories of his life.
He didn't just help build the most iconic room in the temple,
he made sure everybody knew it.
But many of Egypt's kings built big monuments.
Colleen wants to see what else Ramses did to make
his reign so special.
Clues to his epic achievements are carved
into the temple walls.
COLLEEN: This wall's just amazing.
It's filled with the military victories of Ramses II.
We have him fighting in a chariot,
then he's bringing his captives in and presenting
them to the god Amun, the god here at Karnak temple.
And over here he's smiting foes from the
four corners of the world.
He truly wanted to be known as a warrior Pharaoh.
NARRATOR: As a young Prince,
Ramses accompanied his father Seti the First
on military campaigns,
gaining experience of leadership and war.
He became king while still a teenager,
and took command of the Egyptian military,
an army of 100,000 men.
He personally led them onto the battlefield against the
Hittite Empire of Kadesh,
and returned home proclaiming victory.
But his campaigns continued throughout
his long reign,
as he expanded and strengthened Egypt's control,
earning a fearsome reputation as a
mighty warrior king.
COLLEEN (off-screen): This is an incredible scene.
We see Ramses in his chariot and he's pulling an enemy off
of his own chariot,
and is about to pierce him with a spear.
And all this is taking place outside of the Syrian city,
so this shows Ramses extending the boundaries of Egypt.
Ramses, like other Pharaohs,
put his military victories on temple walls,
because it was a way of showing the triumph of Egypt,
the triumph of order over chaos represented by foreigners.
NARRATOR: These scenes,
together with other ancient evidence,
suggest Ramses really did fight alongside his men,
unlike many Pharaohs who made similar boasts,
but never actually fought themselves.
His bravery and tactical skill were central to his rise to power,
but is there more to Ramses rule than
just military might?
In Luxor's Deir El-Bahari, where Ramses buried many of
his nobles at the sprawling tomb complex of Asasif,
Egyptian archaeologist Fathi Yaseen leads a team
excavating deep below the desert sand.
Fathi wants to find out why they chose this specific location for their necropolis,
and what it can reveal about Ramses long reign.
FATHI: We have here a lot of temples, thousand of tombs.
NARRATOR: Fathi doesn't just run this dig,
he oversees every antiquity site on Luxor's west bank,
and has done for 30 years.
Born and bred just north of Luxor, it was his childhood dream to work in Egyptology.
FATHI: My job is very busy, but for us it is exciting work.
Why? Because maybe what we find here...
adds for Egyptology
more information for the ancient history.
NARRATOR: The location of these burials is very
unusual and mysterious.
On Luxor's west bank, ancient Egyptian elites mostly
buried their dead high up on hillsides,
so people would look up to them,
even in death.
But here at As-Asif, the tombs are right on the valley floor.
FATHI: Why choose this area?
Why choose to locate the tombs in this area?
What's importance of this area?
NARRATOR: Last season, Fathi and his team discovered
the beautifully decorated cartinage of an elite.
He thinks it's the tip of the iceberg,
and means there's an important undiscovered tomb nearby.
It could contain priceless treasure and inscriptions
with information about the tomb owner that might help explain the tomb's
strange location.
Starting from a simple mud brick wall in the sand,
Fathi's excavations reveal the outline of a huge tomb.
Now Fathi and his team need to find the
tomb's underground doorway.
FATHI: It is very exciting for us to see this entrance
but what's behind this entrance? We don't know yet.
NARRATOR: Workers painstakingly remove debris
from the tomb's mud-brick outline on ground level.
FATHI: We are working under nearly 40 degrees. It is hot.
NARRATOR: Despite the 104 degree Fahrenheit conditions,
they work quickly to reveal a 65-foot long corridor,
but have no idea how deep it is.
It could take weeks to reach bedrock and the tomb's
underground entrance.
FATHI: Our concentration now is to recognize what is behind the debris.
It is very exciting moment for us.
NARRATOR: Fathi and his team have many tons of sand to shift,
but they keep an eye out for any clues hidden in the dust.
FATHI: Part of a ushabti.
It's a very good indication because it means
we are working in the right position to find the
entrance of the tomb.
NARRATOR: At the Saqqara Necropolis on the outskirts
of Cairo, in front of the world's oldest pyramid,
Egyptian archaeologist Ola El Aguizy,
is exploring the tombs of Ramses generals.
OLA: I love my work I'm doing.
I really love it.
NARRATOR: To rule an expanding empire,
you need loyal soldiers and Ola hopes to find out how
Ramses rewarded those who supported his rise to power.
OLA (off-screen): This is a family burial, the whole area.
It's clear that they're all related.
It's just a real puzzle.
NARRATOR: Grandmother Ola came to archaeology
50 years ago through her love of hieroglyphics.
She spent the last 15 years exploring these ancient tombs,
mostly with the same trusty team of workers.
OLA: Every day we come here we have a surprise.
We have something new to find.
NARRATOR: This season Ola's excavating an
impressive temple tomb.
It belongs to a senior general called Iwrkhy.
OLA: Iwrkhy was known to be a very important general
in the army of Ramses II.
That's why I'm very keen on this excavation of
this tomb this year.
NARRATOR: Archaeologists believe Iwrkhy and his family came from Syria,
traveling to Egypt for a better life.
Iwrkhy was quickly accepted into Egyptian society,
serving as a general to Ramses father Seti the First,
then later as right-hand man to Ramses himself,
fighting at the Pharaoh's side and leading the army.
When Iwrkhy died, he was buried in a large tomb of
classically Egyptian design.
So how did Ramses reward those who contributed most
to his success?
To find out, Ola's team searches an area on the south
of the site in the hope of uncovering more about Ramses
generals and the mysterious foreigner Iwrkhy,
who Ramses trusted enough to let him lead his army.
On the dig, Ola's hard work eventually pays off.
As the team excavates Iwrkhy's tomb,
they discover a shaft carved 26-feet deep into the rocks.
It leads to a small antechamber from which another
shaft drops 39-feet down to what must be
Iwrkhy's burial chamber.
The team finds it empty, no sign of grave goods,
coffins or mummies.
But then, they discover something extremely
promising higher up.
The wall of the first antechamber looks like it's
been ripped up in ancient times.
What could lie hidden behind it?
OLA: I need to know every part of the tomb
and if there are later burials also, I need to know.
NARRATOR: Today, Ola will go inside the antechamber
for the first time.
But to get there, she must descend a perilous 26-foot deep shaft,
the old fashioned way,
with a wooden winch operated by hand.
OLA: See how strong they are?
NARRATOR: The workers must carefully lower her down
in a bucket.
OLA: I'm, I'm used to that and I like it.
Oh la la.
NARRATOR: Ola descends down the long dark shaft into a
partly unexplored tomb.
If anything goes wrong with the hand winch supporting the bucket,
the fall could kill her.
OLA: Oh la la.
(speaking in native language)
Fantastic.
NARRATOR: The tomb belongs to one of Ramses most senior generals,
a man named Iwrkhy.
Ola wants to investigate how this foreigner became
Ramses' head general.
She thinks this could reveal how the generals helped Ramses
to become the most powerful Pharaoh of all time,
and how Ramses rewarded them in return.
Today, she hopes to enter a new part of the tomb
for the first time in nearly three millennia,
but its entrance is blocked up.
Ola believes ancient workers left the loose bricks simply
to hold up the fragile ceiling.
Her team must remove the blocks carefully.
The ancient ceiling above them could easily collapse.
OLA (off-screen): Are we going to be able to get in, yes?
NARRATOR: With a small space clear,
Ola can finally look inside.
OLA: Oh, my God.
Oh la la.
There are lots and lots of other galleries inside.
It's a maze.
It looks very, very deep.
NARRATOR: Behind the wall is a tomb.
It's much bigger than they first thought,
and it's full of debris.
It's a potential treasure trove of items that could
reveal vital information about General Iwrkhy.
OLA (off-screen): With my tabs on burials hidden inside,
I'm optimistic I will find lots of things.
OLA: No, no, no!
NARRATOR: But, it's pitch black and dangerous shafts
could lie hidden below the sand.
OLA (off-screen): They are getting the lamp,
which is in the other shaft so that we can take
it with us inside.
That's Nadar my assistant.
He's just checking to see because this the first time.
He, he wants to be sure that we can go in safely.
Okay?
It is, it is safe, yeah, Nadar?
Okay.
So, I am going to enter now.
NARRATOR: Once inside, Ola discovers an astonishing
number of funerary alabaster jars.
These contain mummified food and wine for the deceased to
live on in the afterlife.
OLA: That's fantastic.
That shows that this is a rich burial, yes.
(speaking in native language).
OLA: Oh, yes, show me.
NARRATOR: More tunnels lead off from the main chamber.
OLA: Woo, you see, look, look inside.
There is still another passage here.
NARRATOR: It is not just a tomb.
It's a catacomb with half a dozen tombs connected together.
OLA: Come, come, come.
NARRATOR: A once in a decade find.
OLA: My God.
Remains of skeleton with a skull.
Oh my God.
NARRATOR: In Luxor's Deir EL-Bahari at the Asasif Acropolis,
Fathi's excavating a 66-foot-long entrance
corridor of an ancient tomb.
The area is rich with the burials of Ramses' nobles,
and Fathi wants to know what these tombs reveal about
Ramses reign as Pharaoh.
To find out, Fathi hopes to solve the mystery of why tomb
owners chose this site on the valley floor.
They've now reached nearly ten feet below ground level
at the end of the corridor.
As he searches for the tomb's entrance,
he uncovers clues in the debris.
(speaking in native language)
FATHI: Wow.
FATHI: This pottery is very nice, we will keep this pottery
and will take it to the conservation area.
NARRATOR: As Fathi's team gets close to what they hope is the tomb entrance,
they discover funerary treasures that prove they
are on the right track.
FATHI: Yeah, wow, it's a ushabti, mostly complete one
representing a man standing in the same position, like this.
NARRATOR: Ancient Egyptians believe these tiny figures,
called ushabtis would come to life and serve the tomb's
occupant in the afterlife.
FATHI: It is very good, nice one.
NARRATOR: As the team excavates,
the sandy rock debris changes to smooth white limestone.
FATHI: Wow.
NARRATOR: The top of the tomb's entrance door.
FATHI: It's a very exciting moment for us.
NARRATOR: Fathi hopes the tomb will hold clues,
such as inscriptions that reveal why the tomb owner
chose such a low-lying site, when most tombs for the elite
are in the hillsides that surround a necropolis.
The team must work quickly in the scorching heat
to remove the rocks blocking the entrance.
FATHI: Very hot.
NARRATOR: In this low-lying valley,
temperatures can reach up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Luckily for Fathi, there's not long to go.
FATHI: We will reach the entrance for the first time.
So we are very proud now.
NARRATOR: With the first limestone blocks removed,
Fathi can finally look inside.
FATHI: Wow.
NARRATOR: In Luxor's Karnak temple,
Colleen is hunting for clues that explain Ramses
rise to power.
Ramses was a mighty warrior and general who fought in many
campaigns and expanded Egypt's borders to the
east and south.
But the temple walls suggest that's not the only reason he
became so powerful.
COLLEEN: This is a remarkable document.
It's the actual text to a Peace Treaty.
NARRATOR: This 3,300 year old wall holds 38 lines of
hieroglyphic inscriptions that lay out in detail
the world's first Peace Treaty,
an unprecedented promise of
alliance between Ramses and his mortal enemies,
the Hittites.
COLLEEN: It's amazing to see the text of an actual Treaty.
This is the document that two great powers signed.
Egypt on one hand and the Hittites on the other.
NARRATOR: This proves that Ramses didn't just fight wars,
he ended them too.
Peace allowed Egypt to proper and for Ramses
to get richer and more powerful.
COLLEEN: This tells us how neither the Hittites nor the
Egyptians could attack one another,
and if they were attacked by a third party,
they would come to their allies' aid.
NARRATOR: The Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty,
or the Treaty of Kadesh, meant Ramses could finally
end his 20-year war with the Hittites.
COLLEEN: Wars are quite costly, so by having peace,
Ramses is guaranteeing stability and prosperity in his reign.
NARRATOR: This allowed Ramses to focus on gathering wealth
and building temples and monuments that celebrated his
mighty achievements.
COLLEEN (off-screen): A lot of Pharaohs, including Ramses,
used propaganda, but in the case of the Peace Treaty,
these are real terms with a real foreign king,
so this shows Ramses wanted everyone to know that he
was a great diplomat.
NARRATOR: Ramses demonstrated himself to be the ultimate king,
and his choice of Karnak to proclaim as such
was no accident.
COLLEEN (off-screen): I think Ramses is showing the Peace Treaty here
at Karnak precisely to contrast with
his military exploits.
He does what he needs to do to preserve order
on behalf of Egypt's gods.
NARRATOR: Ramses was a warrior king and a diplomat who ruled
over an extraordinary period of peace and prosperity.
But that still doesn't explain how he became so
powerful that we're still repeating his name 3,000 years later.
At the historic Egyptian museum in Cairo,
French archaeologist,
Simon Connor and Egyptian conservator,
Eid Mertah, are investigating how he wielded
power across his kingdom, using ancient propaganda.
SIMON: Here Ramses, here also Ramses.
NARRATOR: Ramses built thousands of statues and
placed them strategically across Egypt.
Most are now in museums, and around 90 of them are
here in Cairo.
Some of them have never been studied up close.
SIMON: Being able to almost touch them
to be a few centimeters away from their faces
it's quite emotional actually.
NARRATOR: Simon and Eid think they might be hiding
secrets in plain sight.
By studying the details of the stone work,
they hope to discover how Ramses used his statues to
increase his power.
Colossal statues of Pharaohs were a common sight
for ancient Egyptians, with temples,
cities and palaces guarded by these giant granite figures.
Master sculptors worked on them for months with stone tools,
refining the detail with copper chisels,
and finally polishing them to a smooth finish with sand.
They were more than just works of art.
They were magical avatars that allowed the Pharaoh's
to connect with their subjects.
Once the Pharaoh's name was carved onto it,
the statue was activated and became a bearer
of the king's soul.
The team immediately spot some surprising evidence
that this Ramses statue was altered after
it was first carved.
SIMON: So here, we can see very quickly the
traces of modification.
You see it around the ears,
here under the arches of the eyebrows and the eyes.
Here the mouth has been modified,
the corners have been dug.
The ears have been changed.
There is very clear traces of modification or re-carving.
NARRATOR: Although the name on the statue is Ramses the Second,
could it have started out as someone else's name?
To find out Simon and Eid need to compare the details
with an original unaltered Ramses statue,
to see what his statues really looked like.
NARRATOR: Outside the Egyptian museum in Cairo,
Simon and Eid spot a stunning statue carved from granite.
They search for clues that it's a genuine statue of
Ramses the Great.
EID: The way the King holds two standards
completely started with Ramses.
EID (off-screen): Clearly this statue was made during his
own reign for himself.
NARRATOR: This statue seems to be looking right at them.
SIMON: The eyes are looking down.
Ramses looked at the people.
NARRATOR: Unlike Pharaohs gone before,
whose eyes looked to the horizon,
Ramses used his statues to connect with his people.
His direct eye contact is a powerful way to instill awe.
Simon and Eid return to inside the museum to compare their
findings with the seemingly modified Ramses statue.
Sure enough it has Ramses' eye-line.
SIMON: The sculptors get under the eye,
they cut here on the eyelid.
The idea was to produce a heavy upper eyelid.
NARRATOR: The eyelid and downward eye-line is
a later modification.
Incredibly, an unmodified version of this exact same
statue exists in another museum.
This clearly shows that the eyes would have looked
straight ahead when first carved.
Simon and Eid spot more evidence.
SIMON: Here we see traces of modification of
the feature of the eyebrows,
enough to create the arches of the eyebrows.
So here the sculptor wanted this part to protrude.
NARRATOR: Even the cobra on the crown was re-cut
to the style of Ramses' 19th Dynasty snake.
SIMON: They wanted the snake to have this double loop on
either side of the hook, so when statues have to be
Ramesized, we have to produce these little features.
NARRATOR: It's powerful evidence that Ramses altered
an older statue to look like one of his.
SIMON: This statue clearly was not Ramses originally.
It was another King.
NARRATOR: So if this isn't Ramses, who is it?
SIMON: We have an alternation between one
thick stripes and two thin.
One thick, two thin, one thick, two thin.
These detail is typical of the 12th Dynasty,
so around 600 years before the reign of Ramses.
NARRATOR: They can't tell exactly which Pharaoh the
statue was for originally,
but it's clear evidence that Ramses modified older statues
to proclaim his power across Egypt quickly.
SIMON: The intention was really to choose specific statues,
beautiful ones, big ones of prestigious ancestors,
to re-embody them.
NARRATOR: Ramses deliberately left evidence of the former
Kings in the statues.
He wasn't trying to steal their identities.
He was using the reputation of his most illustrious
ancestors to exert and increase his own power.
SIMON: They had an aura, they had a prestige,
and the idea was to show that they were ancient,
but that he was the new them.
NARRATOR: Recent evidence reveals that nearly
one-quarter of Ramses statues throughout Egypt,
originally belonged to other Pharaohs.
Ramses simply re-carved them,
claiming them as his own.
But further investigation of some statues proves tricky,
because of ancient damage done to them.
SIMON (off-screen): Two things mostly missing.
The head of the uraeus and here the nose.
It has been completely erased, really carefully chipped off.
So the statue is broken,
and it's 90% of cases in Egyptian statues,
all of them were intentionally chipped off, cut off.
NARRATOR: Ramses used this statue and others as his
magical avatar across his kingdom,
but once no longer ruler,
his statues needed to be deactivated.
SIMON: You need to remove the magic from the objects by killing it.
So you remove the nose, you remove the uraeus.
He's not real anymore, he's just a piece of stone.
NARRATOR: Today Ramses' statues help piece together
the mighty Pharaoh's rule,
and act as vital evidence for how he used them to
become the greatest ruler of ancient Egypt.
In Luxor's Deir El-Bahari,
in a vast necropolis full of Ramses' nobles' tombs,
Fathi's on the brink of a new discovery:
an unopened tomb hidden for thousands of years beneath the desert sands..
FATHI: Wow, here is the top of the door.
It's quite dark, full of debris.
NARRATOR: Fathi believes this tomb will provide clues
as to why tomb owners chose this site,
and reveal information about Ramses' prosperous
reign as Pharaoh.
He needs to get inside,
but the debris is blocking the entrance.
FATHI: We can't see any decorations
there's too much debris.
We have to arrive at the bedrock
of the door before we enter.
We have to follow the nature of the debris, layer by layer.
At least two meters to go.
NARRATOR: For several days,
the team hauls tons of sand and soil
under the burning sun.
But finally, they uncover the full entrance.
FATHI (off-screen): I'm waiting one month to enter,
so it is a very special moment.
Now I can go inside.
Wow.
♪ ♪
FATHI (off-screen): Wait, there's a huge tomb full of debris.
Okay, the ceiling is not in good condition.
NARRATOR: In Luxor's Deir El-Bahari,
in a necropolis used by Ramses' nobles,
Fathi enters a new tomb for the first time.
He wants to know why elites chose this low-lying site for
their necropolis, and what that might reveal
about Ramses' reign.
He's looking for inscriptions,
but the room's 25 by 12-foot walls are bare.
FATHI: I cannot see an inscription.
NARRATOR: Now he must launch a painstaking search of the debris,
to look for other kinds of evidence that could provide
clues as to why the nobles of Ramses the Great
chose to bury their dead here.
FATHI: I see some pottery here and some baskets also.
FATHI: Wow.
FATHI: It's so beautiful because
it is not common to find a complete jar.
Hopefully this kind of pottery helps us also for information
why the tomb owner located his tomb here.
I see another thing here also.
FATHI: Wow.
FATHI: Looks like a nice basket
and it's great because it's in good condition.
NARRATOR: The ancient items are perfectly preserved,
but they will start to degrade in the open air.
Fathi takes them straight to the conservation lab for
further study.
(speaking in native language)
FATHI: He has to use the air
to be sure there isn't any more dust inside it.
He'll try to strengthen it with another liquid material
and we can open it.
NARRATOR: The stunning basket and pot are in such great condition,
that it's unlikely these are burial goods placed next
to the deceased in the burial chamber.
But rather offerings by family members,
placed in mourning at the tomb's entrance,
as part of an ancient festival specific to this area.
FATHI: Could be for the Beautiful Festival of the Valley.
This basket could be used for food or fruits.
NARRATOR: Every year on the first new moon of May,
crowds gathered at Karnak temple with offerings of food
and masses of flowers.
They processed behind a boat carrying the image of
the god, Amun, and crossed the Nile to the west bank,
land of the dead.
The procession passed the temples of the Kings,
and then they made their way to the Temple of Hatshepsut.
Families broke away to visit the tombs of their relatives,
where they made offerings of food and flowers,
and feasted through the night with the dead.
Fathi's finds suggest that nobles, including those of Rameses the Great
chose this site for their burial
because of its excellent location
for the Beautiful Festival of the Valley.
These tombs would have been the last stop before the
procession ended at the nearby Hatshepstut Temple,
so prime real estate to receive offerings.
FATHI: In that case, if their tomb is here,
it means they will get more offerings,
more flowers, more food, more drink.
The deceased, he will enjoy
and he will cheer for the Beautiful Festival of the Valley.
I'm so happy because
now we know why they chose this area.
NARRATOR: Ramses' 66-year reign was incredibly prosperous,
so he could afford to be generous with his subjects.
He continues the Beautiful Festival of the Valley,
along with dozens of other festivals,
even organizing an annual 24-day feast,
making him popular with the masses and
increasing his power.
For Fathi and his team,
it's been a very successful dig,
and they hope this will just be the start of their
discoveries here.
FATHI: We will continue our work for the rest of the tomb.
NARRATOR: In Saqqara,
Ola is exploring a hidden chamber in the tomb of one of
Ramses military commanders, General Iwrkhy.
She hopes to uncover how these generals helped his rise to power,
and how he rewarded them in return.
But the tomb is a mess of artifacts buried under rubble
with skeletons scattered throughout.
It's a clear sign to Ola that robbers looted this tomb
thousands of years ago.
Ola makes a start on the funerary items the robbers
left behind.
OLA: We have a puzzle everywhere.
Sometimes you find many fragments of the same jar,
we have to put them together.
NARRATOR: One jar in particular stands out.
OLA: You see this here, it's a crown with horns
and sun disk here.
This is a deity, maybe Hathor.
NARRATOR: The stunning pot shows Hathor,
the goddess of love, who takes the form of a cow,
but no information about Iwrkhy.
Hidden in the debris, something else catches Ola's eye.
OLA: Oo-oo-oo-ooh. Beautiful, my God!
NARRATOR: Ola has made a major discovery.
She hopes it will provide clues as to how Ramses'
generals helped his rise to power,
and how he rewarded them in return.
OLA: This is the first time we have something so clear.
This is the head of one of the canopic jars.
It's beautiful, you see the wig, the ears.
Oh my god.
NARRATOR: This canopic jar head is part of the funerary
goods buried in the tomb of Ramses' head general
called Iwrkhy.
They hold the mummy's vital organs,
so they can live again and reuse their organs in the afterlife.
OLA (off-screen): So beautiful.
And the cheek is so smooth.
Finding this is like a treasure also,
because it's very indicative of lots of other things.
NARRATOR: If these decorative items belong to Iwrkhy,
it proves he and his family were highly rewarded
by Ramses the Great.
Alabaster was a prized material,
thought of as desirable by the gods.
If this was Iwrkhy's it's evidence he had a
very luxurious burial.
It's a rare find.
But there's more treasure beneath the debris.
OLA (off-screen): Okay, now we have a block coming out.
Let's see.
Oh my God!
(laughs).
NARRATOR: Hidden under the sand for thousands of years,
the block is covered in inscriptions.
OLA (off-screen): They're all kneeling on the ground and
weeping and mourning.
NARRATOR: Beautiful carvings on the blocks' underside,
reveal distraught funeral mourners convulsed in grief.
It's a religious scene,
depicting the sacred funerary rites for the
tomb owner's burial.
OLA: It's not every day that we find something as big as that.
We cannot find the name of the owner.
It needs to be taken into the magazine and put together
again by the specialists.
NARRATOR: If they can find the name of the tomb owner in the inscriptions,
the block could prove that Ramses' generals, like Iwrkhy,
were so important they received elaborate
funerary processions as part of Egypt's high society.
OLA: You'll find a lot of things,
significant thing that could help find
information about Iwrkhy.
NARRATOR: But Ola can't see Iwrkhy's name yet,
nor any others.
She needs to find more of the block to piece together their names.
OLA: Well, it's a lot of work still to be done,
but it is promising.
But, I might tell you I have to go out before it
falls on our heads.
(laughs).
NARRATOR: With so many finds inside the tomb,
and with so many rooms still to excavate, for Ola,
this is simply the beginning.
OLA (off-screen): Of course, it is part of the puzzle,
and it is part of the suspense.
Any block we find we are expecting to
find something important.
Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic.
Three times fantastic.
(laughs).
NARRATOR: In Egypt's far south,
Colleen investigates Ramses the Great's legacy.
She wants to understand how he became the most powerful
Pharaoh of ancient Egypt,
and why we still know his name three millennia
after his death.
COLLEEN (off-screen): This is Lake Nabta.
I'm at the southern border of modern day Egypt and
just a few miles upstream is Sudan.
But this is ancient Nubia.
This is where Ramses's armies and his bureaucracy maintained
control over the all-important gold resources
of ancient Egypt.
NARRATOR: Ramses and other Pharaohs sourced vast
quantities of their precious gold from Nubia.
Control of this area allowed Ramses to trade the
gold and other goods with the rest of Africa,
and over the Red Sea with Asia.
And it is here that Ramses chose to build one of his most
impressive temples, Abu Simbel.
COLLEEN: Incredible.
No matter how many times I see this monument,
I'm overwhelmed by how massive it is.
The four colossal statues of Ramses face the Nile River.
They would have been visible at great distance,
making a statement of Ramses' divine authority.
NARRATOR: Here, in ancient Nubia,
Ramses wanted everyone to know he was King and this
was his Empire.
Inside the temple walls,
Colleen finds a vast record of Ramses' rule.
COLLEEN: This temple is simply filled with Ramses military victories.
Battles are everywhere.
NARRATOR: But in a side chamber,
Colleen spots something more intriguing
than military propaganda.
COLLEEN: This is such a peculiar image.
So Ramses is offering two jars of water,
and then there's an offering table in front with two
baskets of fruit, topped off with a lotus flower,
and below are two loaves of bread.
These are the sorts of offerings that Kings would
present to deities, and the Coronation name of Ramses is
labelling the god who the king worships.
This is not the king offering to just any god,
but to his own deified self.
This is Ramses as King offering to Ramses as a god.
Meaning that this temple was a place where Ramses
could be worshipped for generations to come.
NARRATOR: Throughout his reign,
Ramses increased his power through military glory and by
ultimately securing peace.
But it was by making himself a god,
that he was able to secure his legacy as Ramses the Great.
All Pharaohs deify themselves before they die,
but Ramses the Great, like everything else,
did it bigger and better,
building grander temples to be worshipped from,
and proclaiming his divine right to rule more times
than any other.
COLLEEN: Abu Simbel and Karnak Temple are among the greatest wonders of the world,
but in ancient Egypt,
to have your name repeated,
granted you immortality in the afterlife.
We know that nine more Pharaohs were named Ramses,
and we're still repeating his name today.
He truly lives forever.
NARRATOR: Every season, ongoing excavations are
uncovering new evidence about what made Ramses the
most powerful and successful ruler of ancient Egypt.
Hundreds of temples and monuments show his
skill at propaganda.
His repurposing of statues linked him to Egypt's
illustrious past rulers.
A mighty warrior, his peace treaty reveals that he was an
outstanding diplomat.
He held expensive burials for those loyal to him and
his lavish festivals show that he shared the prosperity
of his long reign.
He truly was the greatest of all Egypt's kings.