All language subtitles for Truthseekers S01E05 Cleopatra 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DD+2 0 H 264-playWEB_track4_[eng]

[fire crackling]

[bright music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] A team of
truthseekers is on a mission.

Scientists.

Historians.

Archaeologists.

All on the trail
of history's enigmas.

[whooshing noise]

Searching for the truth

behind the greatest mysteries

known to humanity.

She was one
of the last pharaohs

of the ancient
kingdom of Egypt.

She schemed and she killed.

She fought and died
for love.

[snake hisses]

But what is true

and what is legend?

What do we know
about the real Cleopatra?

How did she die?

And where was she
finally laid to rest?

In London,
our team assemble.

Our four truthseekers combine

decades of experience
in different fields.

But they all have one goal:

to apply their knowledge
and reveal the truth.

[Karen] There are mysteries
and then there are mysteries.

[Fern] I have always loved

uncovering the secrets
of the past.

We need to go back and unpick
the untruths from the truths.

[Mark] Age-old problems that
we've been asking ourselves

for over 100 years, really,
can now be solved.

[narrator] They'll follow
the clues left behind.

Unravel the secrets
of the past.

Separate fact from fiction.

And together,
they'll uncover the truth

behind the greatest
mysteries ever.

[epic music playing]

[solemn music playing]

On the surface,
the story of Cleopatra

is a terrible tragedy
that ends badly.

But the reason that we're
enthralled with, fascinated,

we're even supportive of her,

is that she is a woman
in a man's world,

and for a period of time,

she holds her own
against all the odds.

There are a few people
in history really

when we talk
about their first names,

we immediately know
who they are.

Cleopatra was one
of these characters.

We know immediately who she is,
when you say Cleopatra.

These kind of
transformational figures,

someone who really changed
the course of history,

not only for Egypt but really
for the entire Roman Empire

and what ultimately becomes
the entire Western history.

So she is
a transformational character,

and I think the fact
that we can just say her name,

we know who she is,
makes it really important.

I think Cleopatra is just one

of the most fascinating women
in history,

because so many people have
tried to define who she was,

and yet she remains
this incredible mystery.

[narrator] Cleopatra,
one of the most famous women

who has ever lived.

Two thousand years ago,

she was the most powerful woman
in the world.

She was one
of the most influential figures

in the death throes
of the Roman Republic,

but she wasn't a Roman.

She made her kingdom
more powerful

than it had been
for centuries,

and then brought it
all crashing down,

ending a dynasty that began
with Alexander the Great

300 years before.

[Karen] What I can
never stop thinking is,

who is the real Cleopatra?

There's got to be
a real woman in there.

I think of a million
different images

from art, from theater, film,

literature
and historical sources.

It's kind of embarrassing,
being an academic,

but honestly, what I think of
when I think of Cleopatra

is Elizabeth Taylor
in the 1963 film.

[narrator] Our truthseekers
want to discover

the truth of her death.

Was she poisoned?

Did she commit suicide,
or was she murdered?

And where does she
lie in rest?

To answer these questions,

we must first understand
how she lived.

Anthropologist
Dr. Karen Bellinger

has been getting
behind the myth

to understand the woman.

I think the story
of Cleopatra,

as people tell it
to themselves,

has stood the test of time
because it's got endless appeal,

it's the fallen woman,
and unfortunately

in patriarchal society,
that's a very popular theme.

[narrator] Cleopatra
VII Philopator

was the 14th
and final Pharaoh

of the Ptolemaic Kingdom
of Egypt.

The Ptolemaic dynasty
was founded by a protégé

of Alexander the Great,
who conquered Egypt

and left behind
one of his generals

who proclaimed himself
Pharaoh Ptolemy the First

when Alexander moved on
to continue his conquests.

The Ptolemaic rulers
were Macedonian Greeks,

who ruled from a Greek base
within Egypt,

in a city that they set up
called Alexandria.

And they continued
their cultural practices,

which included
speaking Greek exclusively.

[narrator] But Cleopatra
was different

to all those who had gone
before her.

She took the traditions
and beliefs of Egypt to heart.

When she inherited the throne
alongside her younger brother,

Ptolemy XIII in 51 BC,

she changed the way
her people reigned.

[Karen] Cleopatra was
really savvy,

and she knew that to distinguish
herself from her brother,

it would behoove her
to become the popular ruler

among her subjects in Egypt.

And so, she not only spoke
but also read

Egyptian hieroglyphics.

And she was distinct
in the Ptolemaic Dynasty

for doing so.

[narrator] Speaking and reading
Egyptian was something

previous Ptolemaic rulers
had deemed beneath them.

To them, Greek superiority
was everything.

Cultural historian
Dr. Fern Riddell

has been looking
at what motivated Cleopatra

to move away from three
centuries of tradition.

[dramatic music playing]

My name is Dr. Fern Riddell,

and I'm a cultural historian.

Her life is one
that is beset by challenges,

really, from birth,
because she's female.

So to have such
a strong personality, a leader,

a kind of, someone who wanted
a lot from life,

to be female straight off
the bat is already something

that she's going to have to work
really hard to overcome.

What we know of Cleopatra
is that she was someone

who was desperate to learn.

So we think of her
as someone

who can speak
five to seven languages.

Someone who is
very educated.

[narrator] That education came
with being the daughter

of one of the most powerful men
in the world,

Pharaoh Ptolemy XII.

The throne of Egypt
was in her family,

but that didn't make it
her birth right.

[Fern] Cleopatra is one
of many siblings,

but she's obviously
quite special in her family

when she's very young,
and she's made regent

of her younger brother, Ptolemy.

This is who she then
ends up marrying

and who her father decides

she should be co-ruler with
after his death.

Now, Cleopatra
is supposed to have

a very easy transition
to the throne.

It's all set out legally
in the will,

that she will be co-ruler

and that this will be
the future of Egypt.

But I think,
given her personality,

she wasn't someone
who is going to accept

being in control and being
married to her brother.

So very quickly we see civil war
break out as Cleopatra decides

that this is going to be
her throne alone.

[narrator] This was not
the first Egyptian civil war

of Cleopatra's life.

Cleopatra's father
Ptolemy XII

inherited an Egypt in danger
of being annexed by Rome.

[solemn music playing]

In a desperate bid
to maintain autonomy,

the Pharaoh established
an alliance with the Republic.

The Egyptians see Ptolemy's
alliance with the Romans,

his closeness
to the Roman Republic

as a betrayal of Egypt,

and he's deposed
by his own daughter, Berenice.

He's forced to flee
under the protection of Pompey,

to Rome, and he takes
Cleopatra with him.

Cleopatra's grown up
in a mighty city, Alexandria.

But where she goes
to now, Rome,

is the emerging center
of Mediterranean,

and you could say,
global power.

Rome is the new kid
on the block,

but it's the kid that's going
to eventually rule everything

in the Mediterranean.

And she's exposed
to all the politicking,

the intrigue,
the murderous plots.

And you can't help feeling
that this culture

rubs off on her a bit.

If Cleopatra needs
an object lesson

in how important Rome is
in Egyptian politics,

well, she learns it
pretty early on

because Rome helps
to put her father

back in power in Egypt.

He then executes
his own daughter Berenice,

and proclaims Cleopatra
co-regent.

All of this done
with the support of Rome.

[narrator] It was a rule
that would only last a year.

Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC
and instructed that the throne

should now be shared
between his trusted daughter,

and his young son,
who would become Ptolemy XIII.

It was a rapid ascension
for the 18-year-old Queen.

Cleopatra is highly unusual as
a powerful woman at this time.

Ancient societies
and the ancient world at large

was not interested
in women having power.

We don't find incredible queens
in Roman or Greek society.

It's really unusual

and it says a lot
about her personality.

[Tony] Cleopatra and her
brother, Ptolemy XIII,

are now in control of Egypt.

She's 18, he's 11.

But his advisers are able to tap
into the widespread feeling

that a woman
shouldn't be in charge.

And so they plot against her,
relentlessly to the point

where eventually Cleopatra
has to flee to Syria.

And undoubtedly,
Ptolemy's people think,

well, that's the end of her.

But, they've underestimated Cleopatra.

[narrator] Cleopatra
formed an army

and went back for her throne,
sparking civil war in Egypt

for the second time
in a few years.

With the sides evenly matched,

both pharaohs see winning
the support of Julius Caesar

and the might of Rome
as the key to victory.

[Tony] The Roman Republic
is going into its death agonies.

Yet this period is throwing up
some of the titanic figures.

Huge characters
in Roman history.

And three men are vying for
control of the Roman Republic:

Crassus,
richest man in the republic,

Pompey, a mighty general,

and Julius Caesar.

Officially then,
these three monster egos

are supposed to run
the Republic together

but that's just not
going to happen.

Somebody is going
to emerge triumphant.

And that will be Caesar.

[narrator]
On the verge of defeat in Rome,

Pompey fled to Egypt
seeking sanctuary and support.

With Pompey's ally Cleopatra
still in exile,

young Ptolemy's advisors
saw an opportunity.

Pompey flees to Alexandria,
hoping to regroup

and then resume his war
against Caesar.

Now, the young Ptolemy thinks

that he'll be able
to gain favor with Caesar

if he executes Pompey,
and that's exactly what he does.

Has him beheaded
and then presents

the head of Pompey to Caesar.

Julius Caesar is devastated
by Pompey's murder,

or at least is allowed to
kind of present his devastation

for political gain.

And it's a very dangerous
moment for Egypt

because Caesar
could have swept in

with the might
of the Roman armies

and taken over.

It's a massive misstep.

He obviously does it
because he thinks

it's going to ingratiate him
with Caesar,

but he doesn't understand

the political machinations
that are at play,

and I don't think
this is a mistake

Cleopatra would have made.

[narrator]
An enraged Julius Caesar

has the greatest fighting force
in the world

at Alexandria's gates,
ready to seize Egypt for Rome.

So how did Cleopatra,
the exiled Queen,

save her people
from Roman rule,

and will this incredible story
take us any closer

to solving the mystery
of Cleopatra's tomb?

Cleopatra,
the last Pharaoh of Egypt.

Lover of Julius Caesar
and Mark Antony,

a key player in one
of history's great episodes.

But much of her life,
and her death, is a mystery.

Now, a team of historians
and scientists

has come together
to tease out the facts.

At the investigation headquarters,

they review
what we've learned so far.

[Tony] Ptolemy has made
a terrible error,

and Caesar is now
in Alexandria.

And Cleopatra's going to show us
that she's learnt

a few political tricks in Rome
and she has enormous savvy.

She is not going to let

her brother's mistake
be forgotten.

She's going to ensure that this
leads to his destruction.

So the civil war has reached
a moment of incredible peril

for Cleopatra.

Caesar is in Alexandria,
she's outside of it.

So she has herself snuck in,
we think possibly in a rug,

to meet him, seduce him,
we don't know.

But this is the moment
that really changes

the entire power dynamic.

This is the moment that really
just changes the entire game.

Cleopatra knew exactly
what she was doing

when she threw her lot in
with Julius Caesar.

And, in fact, he aided her
at the Battle of the Nile

in obtaining sole control
over Egypt.

[narrator] With the
assistance of Caesar,

and after a prolonged battle
inside Alexandria itself,

her brother is exiled
and dies during his retreat,

and Cleopatra
reclaims her throne

to become Pharaoh of Egypt
once more.

She is once again master
of her own destiny.

[Fern] When Cleopatra
accedes to the throne,

not only is she facing
the challenges of being a woman,

which was not really expected
in Egyptian society,

that she would rule alone,

she's also beset
by famine and war,

and horror in civil society.

[dramatic music playing]

So beset by these challenges,

she has to consolidate
her power base

and really make sure that she
has support outside of Egypt.

We don't know at what point
the relationship

between Julius Caesar
and Cleopatra

moved from diplomats
in conflict to lovers,

but it definitely resulted
in a son, Caesarion,

so Cleopatra is making sure
that the world knows

that she has had a child
by Julius Caesar.

[narrator] Cleopatra was
relentless in her mission

to tie her fortune
to that of Caesar,

and despite him making
no admission of fatherhood,

it was known
throughout the whole world

that the child was his son.

A bond of blood was formed
that would cement

the Queen's place
on the throne.

[Fern] In a world
where dynasty is everything,

what Cleopatra has done
is unite Egypt,

which is no longer
at the height of its powers,

with the intense power
of the Roman Empire.

So Cleopatra is
in her late teens, early 20s

when this is happening,

and it says an awful lot
about her character,

that she walks
into the political stage,

this world of incredibly
powerful personalities,

and she doesn't allow anyone
to push her around.

Instead of being pushed
and used as a pawn

by these powerful men,

and by the men
in Egyptian society,

she stands above them,
she really dominates,

and makes sure that her word

and her ideas and her attitudes
are what is being fulfilled.

[narrator] And that meant the
re-birth of Egypt as a power.

Cleopatra aided Caesar
in his campaigns,

and they both reaped
the benefits.

His grip on power in Rome
grew ever stronger,

and in return
she and Egypt

were gifted more lands
to govern.

Cleopatra,
the Egyptian-speaking

Macedonian Greek,
had returned Egypt

to power,
strength, and glory,

and for that,
she was loved.

After decades of turmoil,

Egypt was thriving
and at peace.

It couldn't last.

[Tony]
It's 44 BC

and Julius Caesar has seen off
his fellow triumvirs.

Crassus is dead in Parthia,
and Pompey is dead in Egypt.

So he is the master
of all that he surveys.

He is the dictator of Rome.

And for Cleopatra,
this is amazing.

She has really hitched herself
to the right Roman horse.

But as ever,

pride comes before a fall
in Roman history

and Caesar is assassinated
in the senate

and Cleopatra now finds herself
back at square one.

[narrator] Julius Caesar
had loomed large

over Rome for decades

and was incredibly popular
with the Roman people.

His murder outraged
the population

and civil war ensued.

Cleopatra, robbed
of her strongest ally,

had to pick a side.

When Julius Caesar
is assassinated,

this is another moment
of terrible peril for Cleopatra.

And I think it's
very understandable

why she sides with Octavian.

He is Julius Caesar's heir,
it makes a lot of sense,

but I don't think
she ever expected

what would come next.

[narrator] What came next
was a new Rome,

led by the second triumvirate
of Octavian:

Caesar's adopted son and heir,

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus,
an accomplished statesman,

and one of Caesar's most
trusted generals, Mark Antony.

[Fern] Enter Mark Antony.

You know, we have this image
of Mark Antony

as incredibly powerful, strong,
a real military man.

And I think it's a moment
when Cleopatra's diplomacy

probably fails her.

You know, she's been so clever
and so canny all of her life.

But when Mark Antony walks in,
everything else just fades away.

[narrator] Cleopatra
funded many

of Mark Antony's
successful campaigns

against the Parthian Empire
in the East,

including the capture
of Jerusalem,

and in return, he convinced
Octavian and Lepidus

to reinstate much
of Egypt's old eastern Empire

and empower their children.

Egypt was as strong
as it has been in decades.

Cleopatra was riding high.

But Rome was uneasy
and power was quickly shifting.

[Fern] I think there's
a real contrast

with her relationship
with Caesar

to her relationship
with Mark Antony.

It's obvious that Caesar
was very much a protector,

someone that
she relied on,

whereas with Mark Antony,
she's bankrolling him.

[narrator] And just as with
Julius Caesar before him,

Cleopatra secured
her working alliance

with Mark Antony
by getting close personally.

But it was a partnership
that would bring about the end

of a 3,000-year-old empire.

Cleopatra has lived her life
as this incredible diplomat,

and her relationship
with Mark Antony

threatens everything.

It's a terrible idea.

Mark Antony is currently married
to Octavian's sister,

so leaving her, abandoning her
and marrying Cleopatra,

having three children,

it's only going to spell
defeat, horror, war.

You know, it's...
it's a terrible idea.

So it's obvious
that they fall madly in love,

that has to be
the motivation for it.

[narrator] Throughout
Cleopatra's reign,

she was committed
to the advancement of herself,

her children,
and her Empire.

Evidence suggests
that every move

was carefully calculated.

It's been argued that
Cleopatra actually delayed

the fall of Egypt
to the Roman Empire

for the 20 years
that she sat on the throne.

And that's because she played
this game of placating Rome,

like a master.

She shifted alliances,
as she needed on the fly,

in a way that men, I think,
could not even conceive of,

going from her original
family association with Pompey,

in quick succession
to Julius Caesar,

and then in turn
to Mark Antony.

She was a brilliant tactician.

[narrator] But for once,
her tactics let her down.

Whether she chose Mark Antony
for political gain

or she fell in love with him,
it was the wrong choice,

and one that would seal
her fate.

There's a new triumvirate
running the Roman Republic,

and essentially,
Cleopatra has got to decide

which of them is going
to further her interest.

But, this time around,
she does something different.

She seems to go with her heart
instead of her head,

and she goes with Mark Antony.

And this proves to be
a terrible mistake.

Mark Antony is spending
an increasing amount of time

in Alexandria with Cleopatra.

But the center of power
is Rome.

And there is another
power struggle now

between Octavian
and Mark Antony.

Octavian, by being in Rome,
has the upper hand.

Mark Antony,
by being in Alexandria,

is in a weaker position.

[narrator] The fear
was well founded.

For the next five years,

Octavian politically
destroyed Mark Antony,

painting him
as a traitor to Rome,

and in 31 BC,
Rome declared war

on Egypt, Mark Antony,
and Cleopatra.

It's really not much of a war
between Mark Antony and Octavian

because Mark Antony's
Roman troops

really don't want
to get involved

in fighting
other Roman troops.

And as for Cleopatra's
Egyptian military,

well, they don't
really understand

what the conflict
is about at all.

They've got no interest
in getting involved in a war

and losing their lives
for control of Rome.

[narrator] The invasion began
in the spring of 30 BC,

and by August,
Egypt was all but defeated.

Cleopatra and Mark Antony
had retreated to Alexandria,

and when his naval force
and cavalry deserted him,

the war was lost.

But this is where
the mystery truly begins.

We don't really have
a blow-by-blow account

of this war between
Octavian and Mark Antony.

Our main sources are Plutarch,

who's writing something
like 200 years later.

And then Strabo, who was writing
about 20 years later.

Now, that Greek historian
may actually have been there

and witnessed the events.

[narrator] Strabo's version
is that with Octavian

and his forces
at the walls of Alexandria,

Cleopatra sends notice
to Mark Antony

that she has
committed suicide

rather than be captured
and paraded through Rome.

Upon hearing this news,
Mark Antony draws his sword

and plunges it
into his chest.

The story goes
that the suicide note

from Cleopatra
that Mark Antony received

was actually a kind of notice
of intention to commit suicide

as opposed to,
I'm doing it.

Anyway Mark Antony takes it
very literally,

stabs himself in the chest,

and the dying Roman general
is taken

to his beloved Cleopatra,
and dies in her arms.

When we think
about what Cleopatra

might have been feeling
at this time,

she had lost the love of
her life, Mark Antony had died,

and it's obvious that Egypt
was going to become

really a vassal state to Rome
if Octavian had his way.

So I think the--the terror,
the horror, the defeat,

was certainly guiding
principles for her.

But she was also
leaving behind her son.

So we have to consider
that perhaps,

maybe there is some truth
to the rumors

that Octavian
had her murdered.

On the one hand,
getting Cleopatra killed

makes a lot of sense.

But, there's another thought
in which,

maybe he'd like to parade her
in his triumph to Rome.

[dramatic music playing]

[Fern] There are various
theories about why Cleopatra

might have taken her own life,

but for me, I think
it's certainly something

that she would have
seen as being

the final act
of a great leader.

It's a final act of power.

She's not going to be a victim,
she's not going to be used,

and she's going to die
on her own terms.

[narrator] While the suspicions
that Octavian

could have had Cleopatra
murdered have always lingered,

historians are
in broad agreement

that suicide is
the most likely cause of death.

How she committed suicide
is a different question.

Details surrounding exactly what
happened at Cleopatra's death

are quite few
and far between.

But two things we do know,

she was definitely
in Alexandria,

and she died
with her two handmaidens.

The most common story about
how Cleopatra committed suicide

is, of course,
with the asp,

a snake brought
to her breast.

And it's impossible
to really say for sure

if that is what happened,

but there is a way
in which that story of a snake,

death by snake bite,
really fits the narrative

that Cleopatra told
about herself to the world.

And that's because the snake was
highly symbolically connected

to the notion of royalty
in ancient Egypt

and to the goddess Isis.

[narrator] Isis, the great
mother goddess of Egypt,

was worshipped
for thousands of years,

first as the sister
and wife of Osiris,

the God of the Underworld,

but eventually
as Queen of the Universe,

controlling the power
of fate itself.

Throughout her reign,
Cleopatra associated herself

as the living embodiment
of this most powerful goddess.

Isis was closely associated
with the cobra, or asp,

and so it would be
considered fitting

that her living embodiment
die by snake bite,

but how likely
was that to happen?

Octavian's forces mass
at the walls of Alexandria

and then enter the city.

Cleopatra is put effectively
under house arrest.

Whether she tried
to negotiate her way out,

or use her political savvy
to charm Octavian,

we don't know.

This is all a matter
of conjecture.

Cleopatra, then,
is confined to her quarters

and she's guarded
by Roman guards.

And Octavian wants to parade her
through the streets of Rome

like a trophy.

Now, she doesn't want that,

so she decides
to commit suicide.

Now, the traditional story
is that she had an asp,

a particular kind of snake,

smuggled in
in a bowl of figs.

Well, it must have been
a very big bowl

because an asp is
about five feet long,

and it just beggars belief

that you could
smuggle in an asp,

even covered in figs,
past Roman guards.

So what is more likely
is that Cleopatra took poison.

But visually,
that's not so interesting.

And down the centuries,

artists have far
preferred to depict

Cleopatra's final moment
as clasping a poisonous snake

and holding it preferably
to her breast.

Some people have wondered
whether Octavian

basically let her
commit suicide.

It was a problem
out of the way

in the same way
that Mark Antony was gone.

Well, why not just let Cleopatra
do herself in?

But knowing Octavian,

his rather spiteful,
vengeful nature,

and the fact that he'd made
so much effort

to get his hands
on Cleopatra,

he was going to want
his glorious triumph in Rome,

and what was going to be
the showpiece of that triumph

but Cleopatra herself.

[narrator] Whether
by snakebite or poison,

Cleopatra is dead.

What happened next
is the true mystery,

as no trace
of the Egyptian Queen

or her Roman lover
have ever been found.

The Pharaoh Cleopatra,

the last ruler
of ancient Egypt,

when facing defeat
and occupation

by the Roman Empire,

she and her lover Mark Antony

took their own lives.

What happened next
is a mystery.

In London, a team
of scientists and historians

is sifting
through the evidence,

searching for clues.

Seeking out the truth.

Strabo wrote first
about Cleopatra's suicide,

and though he probably was
in Alexandria

at the time her suicide
was thought to occur,

he did not write it down
until a bit later,

10 to 20 years later.

But he is quite clear that
she either committed suicide

with a snake,
or perhaps by the application

of a poison ointment
of some kind.

[narrator] There is broad
agreement amongst historians

that Strabo's account
is accurate,

that both Cleopatra
and Mark Antony

committed suicide
in Alexandria

and were buried together.

Shared tombs were not
uncommon at this time,

but their deaths,
far from natural,

were the result
of empirical power play.

Would Octavian have let them
be buried together?

And can we uncover
further clues

about where to find
the missing tomb?

Dr. Mark Altaweel
is an archaeologist.

[Mark] The story of Cleopatra
was quite fascinating,

not only today but certainly
has been fascinating

for quite a long time,
since really the Roman period,

until today.

People have been
searching for her tomb,

trying to find out where
she was ultimately buried.

But until now, of course,
we haven't found any evidence.

With the ravages of time,
records have been destroyed.

[narrator] The sands of Egypt
have hidden a great many tombs

across the centuries,
the final resting place

of some of history's
most influential people

potentially lost forever.

There's been about 110,
100 or so, pharaohs

that have been discovered
in ancient Egypt.

But unfortunately,
I think the vast majority

or even a large portion
of the 100-plus pharaohs

that we haven't found

are probably never going
to be found.

[narrator] Cleopatra was
the 13th leader

of Ptolemaic Egypt,

a dynasty that had lasted
almost 300 years.

But physical evidence of them
is practically non-existent.

[Mark] Until this day,
we don't have a single tomb

from the Ptolemaic period.

This is the last great
period of ancient Egypt,

yet we don't have
a single ruler,

a single burial
from these last pharaohs.

We think they may have been
buried in Alexandria,

but other ideas may exist.

One of the ideas is
at Taposiris Magna,

which was found
by Ptolemy IV.

Because it was founded
by a king,

it may have been
a kind of royal city,

so the idea that you have
kind of royal mummies

buried in a royal city

seems to have
potential traction.

[narrator] The city in which
the Taposiris Magna Temple

was built was founded
by Ptolemy II around 280 BC,

just 48 kilometers west
of Alexandria.

It was an important port,

but the temple
soon dominated the skyline.

It was dedicated
to the Egyptian gods,

Isis and Osiris,

the gods also associated
with Antony and Cleopatra.

Over time, the importance
of the city faded,

the temple fell out of use,
crumbled and decayed.

For a thousand years,
Taposiris Magna was forgotten.

[Mark] Napoleon invades Egypt
in late 18th century

and, along with the discovery
of the Rosetta Stone,

his forces also discovered
Taposiris Magna.

Now Napoleon doesn't just
only bring in his soldiers

but he also brings effectively
an army of scholars with him.

They in fact helped lead
to the foundation

of Egyptology as a study.

[narrator] The city would be
studied and regularly excavated

for the next two centuries,

but it wasn't until 2005

that the location
was linked to Cleopatra.

[Mark] Kathleen Martinez
is determined to demonstrate

that Taposiris Magna

is the actual burial place
of Cleopatra.

[narrator] Kathleen Martinez is
a Dominican lawyer and diplomat

who turned a childhood
obsession with Cleopatra

into a remarkable new life
in Egypt.

Kathleen Martinez is one

of these really
interesting figures.

Unlike most Egyptologists,

she comes at it
with a non-academic background.

She's a lawyer by training,
has taught herself archaeology.

She has self-funded
her own excavations,

and sort of,
really changed her life.

[narrator] In 2002,
she was granted permission

by Dr. Zahi Hawass,
Secretary-General

of Egypt's Supreme Council
of Antiquities,

to take an Egyptian team
and excavate Taposiris Magna.

[Mark] In 2010, there was
a discovery of a large statue,

in fact without a head
or at least it was--

there was no head
but a large statue was found.

[narrator] The headless statue
was Ptolemy IV,

founder of the temple.

But they also found
a head with no statue,

and it's believed
that this was a carving

of the Pharaoh herself.

This was Cleopatra.

[Karen] There were a number
of associated Greco-Roman finds

which got the team
even more excited.

I mean, and among them
was about 40 coins

bearing Cleopatra's image.

[narrator] The discovery
of these coins

is a clear indicator
that the temple

was still in use
during Cleopatra's reign.

Could it be that the coins
were left as an offering

at the Queen's grave?

The coins were found
in the temple itself,

and traditionally,
Egyptian temples

were only used for worship.

Burials were elsewhere.

Then Martinez made
a discovery

that shook Egyptologists
to their core.

The Martinez team made
a really exciting discovery

at Taposiris Magna,

and that was mummy burials
in a rock-cut shaft style

that was distinctive
to the Greco-Roman period.

[narrator] And some
of these burials

were inside the temple,
a total departure

from previously known
Egyptian behavior.

It's believed that for anyone
to be buried inside,

the temple itself must have
been of great importance,

and these mummies,

found in shafts
20 to 30 meters deep,

were re-writing
what archaeologists

thought they knew.

Two of them were
particularly intriguing.

Could this have been
what Martinez and her team

were searching for?

[Mark] There were
two mummies found,

both of which had
these gold tongues,

and the idea is that
these tongues would allow them

to speak to the god Osiris.

So when one passes
to the next life,

one has to speak
to the god Osiris,

who is the god of the dead.

[Tony] The woman is
holding a statuette

of Alexander the Great.

She has an amulet
around her ankle,

which has a snake-like emblem.

So, she is mixing the symbols

of the Macedonian
Ptolemy dynasty

with ancient Egypt,

very much in keeping
with Cleopatra.

And the man who
is buried next to her,

his funerary mask
has a cleft chin,

has that kind of look
of Mark Antony.

And the temple behind them
is the Temple of Isis,

which is the goddess
that Cleopatra

most closely associated
herself with.

[narrator] But there was to be
a find outside the temple walls

that added
even more credibility

to Martinez's claims.

[Tony] Kathleen Martinez
also points to a necropolis

that's been found
nearby to this couple.

And it's a graveyard, essentially,

full of rich, well-to-do
people of that time.

Now her theory runs that,

if you were
a high-status person,

you would want to be buried

near to somebody
very, very powerful indeed.

And what better
than to be buried

next to Mark Antony
and Cleopatra?

[narrator] The design
of the tombs

is consistent
with the era of Cleopatra,

and all were carefully oriented
in the direction of the temple.

Could they just be believers,
or is Kathleen Martinez right?

Is this a sign that someone of
huge importance is buried here?

Some of the mummies recovered
might hold the answers.

The mummies were not
in a great state of repair,

but there were two that were
extraordinary nonetheless.

They were wrapped
in gilded cartonnage,

which would have been reserved
for the most elite of society.

It was a male and a female
buried together,

and the male bore
gilded trappings

associated with the god Osiris.

The female was crowned,

and she had a cobra
perched at her forehead

and a necklace with a symbol

of the falcon god of Horus
at her breast.

Gilded mummies
are typically only found

in royal kinds of tombs
or burials,

so we think
out of the ten mummies,

two of which are gilded,

these are
very important burials,

perhaps even royal burials.

[narrator] The mummies are
clearly people of great import,

but could they really be
Antony and Cleopatra?

What's more likely
after the suicides

of Mark Antony and Cleopatra

is that their bodies
were simply discarded,

so that they didn't become
the focal point

of rebellion
or even worship.

So, more than likely,
what we're looking at here

are the graves
of two priests

as opposed to two people
of royalty.

[narrator] And the golden
tongues found there

may also not be as significant
as first thought.

The golden tongues
found in the mummies

were intriguing, too.

You know, clearly,
this is further evidence

for high status.

But it does not,
in and of itself,

indicate that they are
royal bodies.

And one has to ask, okay,

the tongue is something
to enable the deceased

to communicate with Osiris
in the afterlife.

What would Mark Antony
want to be doing that for?

[narrator] So far,
the evidence doesn't add up,

but that doesn't mean we should
rule out Taposiris Magna

as a potential location
for the tomb of Cleopatra.

[Mark] There's still quite a lot
to be discovered in this site.

We know Taposiris Magna
is this large temple complex.

But these temples are often part
of much larger towns.

There might be other
kind of major discoveries

yet to be found.

[narrator] Martinez
herself estimates

that they've excavated less
than 10% of the ancient city.

There are undoubtedly great
discoveries still to be made.

Potentially
geophysical techniques,

GPR, for instance, magnetometry,

as well as
remote sensing methods

could enable us to discover
the bounds of this site

and perhaps try to get
a better understanding

of where other tombs might be
located in other buildings even.

[narrator] It's too soon
to dismiss Taposiris Magna,

but the most obvious
and most likely location

is the home
of the Ptolemaic dynasty,

Alexandria itself.

Has one of the most explored
cities in history

managed to keep a secret
for 2,000 years?

[dramatic music playing]

The final resting place
of Cleopatra,

the last Pharaoh of Egypt,

has been a puzzle
for countless generations.

The temple of Osiris
at Taposiris Magna

has offered tantalizing clues

that greater secrets
may lay undiscovered there,

but most historians believe

the tomb
is more likely to be found

in the Ptolemaic capital Alexandria,

now a bustling metropolis
of five million people.

[Tony] Alexandria
was the capital

of the Ptolemaic Empire.

It was the seat of power
of all the Ptolemies,

and they were buried there.

The problem is,
we don't know

where any of the Ptolemies are.

We don't know where
any of their shrines,

their tombs,
their mausoleums are located.

It is a complete mystery.

[narrator] Alexandria
was founded in 331 BC

by Alexander the Great
of Macedon

who, at the age of just 25,

had already conquered much
of the known world.

He wanted the city named
in his honor to rival Rome

as the greatest city
in the ancient world.

It would remain
the Egyptian capital

for almost a thousand years,
and it remains a hub

of trade, culture and education
to this day.

Alexandria was
an incredibly important city.

It probably housed
something like one fifth

of Egypt's population.

It had two great
Wonders of the World,

the Lighthouse of Alexandria,

but also the Great Library
of Alexandria,

which was, of course,
the center of knowledge

in many ways,
in the eastern Mediterranean,

but also across much
of the world at the time.

[narrator] The library was
lost in a blaze in 48 BC,

but the great lighthouse
would continue to be in use

for another 14 centuries,

as Alexandria remained
a vital port,

linking the powers of Europe
to those in the East

and the Christian
and Islamic worlds.

Theories abound that
the Ptolemaic Pharaohs,

Cleopatra included,
are most likely to be entombed

in the city
that was their home,

like the great ancient Pharaohs

of Memphis and Giza
before them.

The still-teeming streets
of Alexandria

could hold the answer
to this mystery.

[Tony] Cleopatra's Alexandria
is now either under water

or under layer after layer
of modern Alexandria

because it's a mega city
that's never stopped growing.

So for archaeologists,
it's a complete nightmare.

But, in 2018,

a huge black sarcophagus
was unearthed.

[narrator] The black
granite sarcophagus

weighing more than 30 tons

could only have belonged
to someone very important.

Its size and weight
would have made it

very expensive to craft,
move, and bury.

However it's too plain
to be a realistic contender

as the sarcophagus
of Cleopatra.

But as it dates
from the same period,

it has given
archaeologists hope

that there are
other undisturbed tombs

under the city,

though they face massive
geographical challenges.

The coastline that we see today
around the Mediterranean

and particularly
the Eastern Mediterranean,

is quite different
from how it was in the past,

say, around the time
of Cleopatra,

roughly 2,000 or so
years ago.

There's been massive upheaval,
changes in level of land,

massive tsunamis even,

which has really transformed
the coastline.

And so a lot
of these ancient cities

that would have been located
along the coastline

have really submerged
in many cases,

and this is particularly true
in Egypt,

where the coastline
that we see today

is quite different
from how it was in the past.

[narrator] The areas
of Alexandria that remain

have been built upon again
and again for two millennia,

often with little
regard paid

to the preservation
of antiquities.

It's only recently
that the Egyptian government

are allowing archaeologists
the opportunity

to study any finds
and prevent further loss.

This new policy has seen
remarkable discoveries

right across the city,
but it's feared

it may already be too late
for Cleopatra.

[Tony] It's hard to escape
the fact that Alexandria

has kept on growing
for 2,000 years.

Hoping to find
Cleopatra's tomb,

well, it's hoping
against hope.

The tragedy is we may never find
her final resting place

because the city
that was her capital

grinds on unforgivingly,

and somewhere
deep down below it,

Cleopatra may be resting.

But I'm afraid she'll be
resting undisturbed

for all eternity.

[narrator] Alexandria
was a Greek city

in the center of Egypt.

Greek was spoken throughout,

and only Greeks could hold
senior roles within its walls.

Up until the reign
of Cleopatra,

it was rare
for a Ptolemaic Pharaoh

to even set foot
outside the city.

This was their safe haven.

The Pharaohs
felt the need

to separate themselves
from their people,

and they did so on an island
called Antirhodos.

[Tony] So according
to the historian Strabo,

the area known as Antirhodos,
Ancient Alexandria,

is where the Ptolemies
built their palaces.

And he also specifies
that Cleopatra built her tomb

in the grounds
of her palace.

So, find her palace,
you find her tomb.

[narrator] The only problem
is that Antirhodos

no longer exists.

In the 4th century,

a great earthquake
in the Mediterranean

created a tsunami
that brought devastation

to the coast of Egypt.

It destroyed much
of Alexandria's harbor

and submerged the island completely.

For more than 1,500 years,

the ruins lay undisturbed

until they were rediscovered
in the 1990s

by an underwater archaeologist
called Franck Goddio.

So Cleopatra's tomb then
is going to be found underwater.

And luckily, in 1992,

marine archaeologist
Franck Goddio

discovered Antirhodos,
underneath the sea,

just out from modern Alexandria,

and he has been exploring
that area ever since.

Using satellite
and radar technology,

Franck has been mapping out
ancient Alexandria

under the waves,
and he's exploring

an area the size of Paris.

And it has streets,
palaces, statues,

and really points
to a sumptuous capital

that Cleopatra ruled over.

[narrator] With some
of the best preserved ruins

in the world lying just
meters below the surface,

Goddio and his team
have been able to get a glimpse

of how Antirhodos looked
in the time of Cleopatra,

and the proof
that it was occupied

during the Ptolemaic dynasty
is there to see.

[Mark] Antirhodos was laid out
in a very rectilinear manner,

so it followed this kind of
Greek or Hellenistic style

of planning
that we know existed oftentimes

when cities or places
were found by Greeks

when they went around
and colonizing regions.

And Alexandria, being
effectively a Greek colony,

was certainly laid out
in this way.

Quite a large bit of Alexandria
is buried underwater,

so effectively they found
palaces and large ruins

and a number of artifacts
have been found

off the coast of Egypt.

[narrator] On dives through the
submerged ruins of Antirhodos,

Goddio and his team
found themselves surrounded

by an ancient Egyptian
treasure trove.

A number of archaeological
features have been found

under water, including
statues, architecture,

lots of small finds.

For instance,
just things like coins

and other pottery
and those kinds of things.

[narrator] With everything from
Sphinxes and giant statues,

to columns engraved
with hieroglyphs,

the importance and grandeur

of this area of Alexandria
is clear.

[Mark] The most
important palaces

were located on this island.

Now, we do think that
potentially some tombs

should be found along this area
of Old Alexandria.

[narrator] With the search
narrowed down to this one area,

is it possible that the quest
to find Cleopatra's tomb

may soon be over?

Logically there's
every reason to suppose

that the tombs
of the Ptolemies

will be in this underwater city
waiting to be discovered.

It makes complete sense.

Why wouldn't they
be buried there?

But you know, the romantic in me
wants to believe

that we are going to chance
upon the tomb of Cleopatra.

What an event that would be
to see that discovered.

But the historian in me says,
fat chance.

There's really
a very slim likelihood

of coming across
that incredible tomb.

[narrator] Even today,
more than 2,000 years

after her death,
Cleopatra continues

to fascinate
and enchant the public

and the historical community alike.

The hunt for her shared tomb
with Mark Antony goes on,

and if it can be found,
then perhaps we will have

a greater understanding
of one of history's

most powerful
and influential women.

But until it is discovered,
it, and much of her life,

remains one of history's
most fascinating mysteries.

Cleopatra is one of history's
most recognizable figures,

and she was the consort

of two of the world's
most powerful men at the time.

And all of these things put her
at a really dangerous crossroads

between womanhood and power.

And contemporary historians
have punished her for that.

And that's the record
we have today,

and it bears correction.

[Fern] I think
Cleopatra has endured

because she is a woman
who manages to stand out.

You know, we don't allow
powerful women in history.

And the fact that
she's never been forgotten

shows just what an impact
she had in her own lifetime.

The truth is out there somewhere.

The quest for Cleopatra's tomb continues.

She is so fascinating,
so alluring, so compelling,

her story still inspires us.

And so, we go on,
looking for this tomb,

looking for her final
resting place.

That quest never ends.

[bright music playing]