All language subtitles for oracles.and.prophets.s01e03.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

(mysterious music)

- [Narrator] In Tudor England,

a mysterious mathematician

claims the ability
to predict the future

by communicating with angels.

- John Dee is essentially

Queen Elizabeth
I's court magician,

but he's not pulling
a rabbit out of a hat.

This is a man who's
engaging in the darker arts.

- [Narrator] In medieval Japan,

a creature that
lurks in the deep

is thought to be a
harbinger of death.

- It's a terrifying,
grotesque monster

said to speak with the
voice of screaming children.

But does seeing
one spell disaster?

- [Narrator] And
in ancient Egypt,

an unlikely pharaoh seeks
wisdom from the gods.

- It's extremely
important for Hatshepsut

to have this legitimacy
because she's a woman.

- She knew that
without being seen

as someone who could
protect the people,

she would never be respected.

(mysterious music)
(clock ticking)

(tarot cards whooshing)

(pages ruffling)

(soft dramatic music)

- [Narrator] July 1588,

the Spanish Armada
approaches the English coast

preparing to invade and
overthrow Queen Elizabeth I.

The English fleet steels
itself in defense,

engaging the Armada
in a tense battle

to protect their queen.

Then, as the Spanish fleet
assesses its strategy,

the sails suddenly catch a
gust of wind from the south.

The breeze grows in strength,

and soon churning
winds and waves

transform into a powerful storm

that hurls the Armada
into the North Sea.

As storms continue to rage,

Spanish ships are wrecked
off the rocky coast

of Ireland and Scotland.

It's a reversal of fortune
that turns the tide of the war.

But from the English
victory, a story emerges.

Some say it wasn't simply
good luck that won the day.

They believe it was magic:

A spell cast by the man

who has been at Elizabeth's
court for decades,

her astrologer, the
mysterious John Dee.

- He was a man who
was deeply involved

in alchemy, numerology,

and it's even said

that he was able to
communicate with angels.

(soft music)

- [Narrator] In the early 1550s,

John Dee enjoys a reputation
as one of England's

most promising young
mathematicians and astrologers.

- One of the things that's
interesting about John Dee

is his combination
of what we think of

as a highly rational
thing like mathematics,

but also this embrace
of the spiritual.

But it turns out that those two
are not inconsistent at all.

In fact, we can go
back to Pythagoras

as one of the first
who really thought

that there is some underlying
structure to things,

and mathematics can
sometimes capture that.

- Science as we know
it was centuries away.

People like Galileo, Copernicus,
and even Isaac Newton

were all involved with things

that we would now
consider the occult.

So in that context, John
Dee is not unusual at all.

- [Narrator] John
Dee worked as a tutor

and also an astrologer for
Britain's noble families.

- It's very common for patrons

to pay for astrologers
to draw up horoscopes.

And using the positions of
the stars and the planets,

they can make predictions

and even offer
medical diagnoses.

- A natal chart is kind of
the blueprint of your life.

It's your celestial DNA.

When you know someone's
birth information,

you can do so much.

You can find out
anything you really want.

(flowing music)

- [Narrator] Astrology is
widely accepted as fact

in 16th century England,

and it is understood that
the movements of the planets

influence the lives of everyone
from commoners to royalty.

- John Dee has this
really interesting,

almost scientific or
empirical in a way,

view of how astrology works.

He believes that

all of the heavenly
bodies that are out there

are beaming these rays of
what he calls celestial virtue

down upon us.

And when you're engaging in
this charting of these planets

and the movements
of different stars,

you're actually
trying to predict

where those rays will fall.

- [Narrator] But
just when it seems

John Dee's star is on the rise,

something happens that
he does not predict.

(mysterious music)

1553, the English monarchy

is thrown into a
crisis of succession.

Edward VI dies at the age of 15.

His successor, Lady Jane Grey,

remains on the throne
for only nine days

before being deposed by Edward's
ruthless half sister, Mary.

- England had joined the
Protestant Reformation

with Henry VIII in
the early 16th century

when he had sought a
divorce from his first wife

and he was denied that divorce.

England itself, however,

had very, very different
competing religious forces

all coinciding at the same time.

So you had in the country
conservative Catholic elements

that wanted to see
the country return

to the Catholic
fold under the pope.

You had other
Protestant elements

that wanted to see the country

complete its break from
the Catholic Church.

And Mary,

the daughter of Henry's first
wife, Catherine of Aragon,

is a devout Catholic.

And she wants to
bring the country back

into the Catholic fold.

She gains a reputation for
doing that using violent means.

Under Mary's reign,

at least 250 Protestants
were burned at the stake.

- And this wins her
the name Bloody Mary.

(mysterious music continues)

- [Narrator] In May of
1555, John Dee is arrested

and held in the Tower of London.

He is charged with calculating,
conjuring, and witchcraft.

- John Dee goes to work
for Princess Elizabeth,

one of the daughters
of Henry VIII,

and he starts casting horoscopes
for Princess Elizabeth.

Now, this is potentially
quite dangerous

because Elizabeth
is not the monarch,

and predicting the death
of the reigning monarch

in any way, shape, or form

can be construed as treason.

(tense music)

- [Narrator] After his arrest,

new witnesses come
forward claiming John Dee

has been trying to destroy
Queen Mary with magic.

- Any rumors that he
was casting spells

that was a one-way ticket
to the execution scaffold.

- [Narrator] After
several months

and with no strong
evidence against him,

the charges are dropped

and John Dee is
released from prison.

- After John Dee is
charged with conjuring,

his reputation is
really shrouded

in apprehension and nervousness.

People don't know
what to make of him.

- He begins to be seen
as a dangerous man,

as somebody who is dabbling
in the darker arts,

somebody who cannot be trusted,

somebody who may be playing
with demonic forces.

(soft music)

- Queen Mary dies
in November 1558.

As Elizabeth prepares
to take the throne,

she will be the fifth
monarch in just 12 years.

With pressure mounting

to ensure that her
reign is calm and stable

compared to that of
her predecessors,

it's not long before
John Dee's skills

are called on once again.

- John Dee becomes
her scientific and
astrological advisor.

In fact, it's based on John
Dee's calculations and advice

that the date of her
coronation is chosen.

- When we're talking
about something

like the coronation of a royal,

we're talking about
electional astrology

which seeks to imprint an
opportune moment to help ensure

that whatever it is that
is born at that moment

continues on in the best and
most easeful course imaginable.

So getting the right date

and getting the right time
specifically is so pivotal.

- [Narrator] John Dee

selects Queen Elizabeth's
coronation date.

And on January 15th, 1559,
she ascends the throne.

Whether by good divination
or good statesmanship,

Elizabeth reigns for 45 years,

a period marked as
England's golden age.

As Elizabeth enjoys a
long and prosperous reign,

John Dee continues to assist
the queen however he can.

- In the first years
of Elizabeth's reign,

people are very
sensitive to signs

because they don't know

if Elizabeth is going
to last as queen.

- [Narrator] In 1577, a great
comet passed close to Earth.

Its appearance was
interpreted by some as a sign

that Queen Elizabeth's
reign might be unsuccessful.

- There was a very negative
connotation with comets

where they're seen as this
prophecy of doom and gloom.

John Dee is brought in to
kind of reinterpret the comet.

There is this
recasting of the comet

as a foretelling of prosperity.

- And then we have the illnesses
that rack Elizabeth's body,

and again, these are
seen as a bad sign.

But Dee is brought in to
try and cure her conditions

possibly with magic.

- Over the next 20 years,

John Dee would advise
Elizabeth and her government

on a host of scientific matters,

particularly to do
with exploration.

England at that point in time

is in a race with other
European countries

to exploit these new lands
that had been discovered

a few decades earlier
by Christopher Columbus.

- And Dee coins the
term the British Empire.

He opens up the eyes of
people at Elizabeth's court

to the idea that Britain
could be a major world power.

(mysterious music)

- So, John Dee is doing all
of this work in the court,

but he's never really
in the in-crowd.

He's not able to
shake his reputation

and the kind of
darker association

that comes from his
occult practices.

Because of these associations,

he's pushed further and
further into the margins,

and in a way that only brings
him closer to the occult

and it becomes this
self-fulfilling cycle.

- And as he became more and
more interested in the occult,

he amassed an ever
bigger library.

He collected
parchments and books.

He had one of the
most impressive
libraries of the occult

in Europe at that time.

(mysterious music)

- [Narrator] Dee's commitment
to exploring the occult

is rooted in his desire to
develop an understanding

of what he believes
is the divine force

that powers the universe.

- John Dee believes

that underlying the
totality of the universe

is a divine force created
by God with its own logic.

And he believes that he
can harness the power

of this divine
force through magic.

- [Narrator] The
promise of unlocking

the mysteries of the universe

only intensifies
Dee's willingness

to pursue this knowledge
by any means necessary.

- At his house in Mortlake,

strange experiments
were being conducted,

the sort of thing that
would've scared his neighbors.

- [Narrator] Some believe Dee

may have been engaging
in alchemical experiments

to find the elixir
of eternal life,

or even the philosopher's stone

which could turn base
metals into gold.

- His methods become
increasingly unconventional

the more he studies
this divine force,

as he realizes that he's
coming up against questions

that only God
Himself can answer.

- Dee develops a strong interest

in trying to
communicate with angels.

He wants to talk to this
kind of intermediate layer

between us and God.

He also wants to discover
the original language

that was spoken in
the Garden of Eden,

and his hope is
that in doing so,

he might learn about
the original wisdom

that created the universe.

- [Narrator] As he
continues his pursuit

to discover the
language of Adam,

Dee realizes that he cannot
achieve this knowledge

through conventional means.

Despite concerns over
his growing reputation

for dabbling in the dark arts,

Dee begins to work with
scryers, or mediums,

who he believes can
summon visions of angels.

- Dee uses all kinds of methods

to try and discover
the hidden truths.

And one of them is scrying,

which is looking into objects

in order to see
patterns and visions.

And the sort of things that
they use are crystal balls,

or Dee himself uses
an obsidian mirror.

- And you're peering
into these surfaces

to try to see visions
of potentially the
past, the future.

You're tapping into
this other realm.

- He's not by his own
admission a great scryer,

so he brings in a
procession of scryers

to try and help him.

- [Narrator] In March of 1582,

a 26-year-old man
named Edward Kelly

knocks on John Dee's door

and offers to work
as his new scryer.

- In Edward Kelly, John Dee
really finds a kindred spirit.

Here's someone else
who's interested in
pursuing knowledge,

not by conventional means,

but by whatever method
produces results.

- [Narrator] What happens
next convinces Dee

that Kelly can provide the
answers that others cannot.

- Kelly is clearly
keen to impress Dee.

And during one of
his scrying sessions,

he claims to make contact
with the Archangel Uriel.

This hugely impresses Dee

because Dee has been trying
to talk to angels for ages

and Kelly has managed
to bag an archangel.

- The fact that Dee could
not crack the scrying

with an angelic figure,

but Kelly could
on his first try,

it either says he is extremely
talented or he's a fake.

- [Narrator] By the end of
their first scrying session,

John Dee believes that Edward
Kelly has brought him closer

to learning the
language of Adam.

Kelly moves into his house,

and for the next several years,

the two of them work to
summon angels regularly.

- It's surprising that John Dee

isn't a little more
suspicious of Edward Kelly.

Here is a man who suddenly
turns up out of the blue

and says that he can
communicate with angels.

- Apart from anything
else, he has a missing ear.

Now, the reason for that could
be that the ear was cut off

as a result of a crime
like coin counterfeiting.

This was not the sort of person

that Dee should be
hanging around with,

and yet he ends up taking
him in as a trusted friend.

- When we're on the
quest for something,

when there's something we
desire or something we like,

like how John Dee wanted
to discover this language,

if there's this hint
that he's on the trail,

he can become very
blind to anything else,

including the possibility

that this person is
in fact conning them.

- Kelly is conjuring these
sort of fantastical visions

of what angels look like.

They are sometimes
sparkling-eyed,

long either gold
or purple robes.

Sometimes they're children

that are running
around mischievously,

and sometimes they're
terrifying spirits

that then end up going
on to haunt Dee's home.

- When he talks about what
he's seeing with the angels,

he sometimes takes things
that were actually in books

that he knows John Dee has read.

And this is really clever

because it kind of connects
with an image of reality

that John Dee has
already had in his mind.

It reaffirms to him,

"Oh, he really is
talking to the angels."

- [Narrator] Speaking
through Kelly,

the angels soon
deliver the very thing

that John Dee has been
seeking all these years:

The language of Adam.

(ethereal music continues)

- It's a language

that will eventually
be termed as Enochian.

It will exert a huge influence
on centuries of occultists

all the way down to the
notorious Aleister Crowley,

who will become
something of an obsessive

about the outpourings
in Enochian

that was given to Dee and Kelly.

- It is possible that he's just
an extremely good charlatan,

but at the same time, he
wouldn't have the education

to just be able to create
a language such as that.

Enochian is extremely
sophisticated.

- And what's
mystifying for John Dee

is even after he learns
the language of Adam,

he's still unable to unlock
the secrets of the universe.

- [Narrator] Although the
mysteries of the universe

remain agonizingly elusive,

the angels are quick
to issue other commands

through Kelly.

At their instruction, the
men leave England behind

to pursue patronage at the
royal courts of Europe,

a voyage that will be
the beginning of the end

of their partnership.

- Dee and Kelly embark on
a kind of occult roadshow.

They tour the royal
courts of Europe

promising that they
can use alchemy

to transmute base metals
into gold and so on.

And the princes, the dukes,
the archbishops of Europe

are transfixed by all of this.

- Kelly starts to develop

an impressive reputation
as an alchemist,

and the power balance
between Kelly and Dee shifts,

with Kelly even treating
John Dee as an assistant.

- As so often happens
with the occult,

sex comes into the equation,

and Kelly tells Dee that he's
been informed by some force

that it's absolutely essential
that he and Dee swap wives.

And Dee goes along with this.

- This was deeply
disturbing to John Dee

because despite all
of his experiments
in the magical world,

he was also a deeply
religious man,

someone who very much believed
in the sanctity of marriage.

- [Narrator] Then,
in February 1589,

they go their separate ways.

Dee returns to England,

while Kelly goes on to
become the alchemist

for the most powerful
man in Europe,

the Holy Roman
emperor, Rudolf II.

- However, just a
few years later,

he's imprisoned by Rudolf.

He dies in this prison
in the Holy Roman Empire.

- [Narrator] John
Dee and his family

return to England in late 1589

only to discover his home

and the life he had
previously built in ruins.

His house has been ransacked.

Thieves have stolen his
astrological equipment,

his alchemical materials,

and over 500
manuscripts and books.

- His house in Mortlake

with his treasured
library is ransacked,

some people think
by an angry mob,

possibly by students

who just wanted to get
their hands on his books.

- John Dee was once a renowned
member of English society,

but now he has very few friends.

- And all of his years abroad

had essentially left him
penniless and destitute.

- [Narrator] After
her death in 1603,

Queen Elizabeth is
succeeded by King James I.

Unlike the
open-minded Elizabeth,

James I comes down firmly
against magic and superstition.

He enacts the
Witchcraft Act of 1604,

which calls for the execution
of anyone found guilty

of any invocation or conjuration

of any evil and wicked spirit.

- King James I is
somebody who's obsessed

with witch hunting.

And there really is an orgy of
witch trials under this king,

and yet he leaves
John Dee alone.

- You then see Dee
writing to King James

to get his name cleared

because people are
starting to accuse him

of trying to conjure the devil,
trying to conjure demons.

And this is quite
insulting to Dee

because he's trying
to contact angels,

he's trying to
contact the heavens.

- And the king simply
ignores the letter,

maybe thinking, why kick
a man when he's down?

- John Dee spends
the rest of his days

in relative obscurity
and in poverty.

His wife dies in 1604
from the bubonic plague,

and afterwards John Dee is
a shadow of his former self.

- [Narrator] John Dee
dies sometime around 1609.

Although his life
ended unceremoniously,

his reputation has
endured for centuries.

What was once the source of
trouble for him during his life

is what keeps him in
the history books today.

- In many ways, John Dee
had his feet in two worlds,

one side is the magical world,

and one side is something
that we would consider

the more traditional
scientific world,

but he wouldn't have
seen it that way.

To him, these were two
very legitimate ways

of pursuing knowledge.

It will only be centuries later

that we'll see the
true demarcation

between these two
areas of thought,

and magic will be put away
in the realm of superstition

forever separated from science.

- [Narrator] While John Dee
attempted to use a crystal ball

to seek knowledge,

other worldly creatures from
Japan seem to prophesize death.

(mysterious music continues)

1247, Japan, a villager walks
along the beach by the sea.

He trips over a strange mound
half buried in the sand.

He bends down to investigate

and notices the glint
of a scaly tail.

It is a large fish that
has washed up on the shore.

He continues to
brush the sand away

until he is confronted
with a horrific sight.

The creature has the body of
a fish but the face of a man.

- The ningyo is an omen of doom.

At least 10 more sightings of
this creature are reported.

And in its wake it leaves
chaos, destruction, and death.

- But what is a ningyo?

Is it a real creature?

And why does it keep showing up

right before terrible
things happen?

- [Narrator] The ningyo
has been written about

in Japanese history for
over a thousand years.

- Ningyo literally
means human fish.

And when we think of a mermaid,

we think of a beautiful
woman with luscious hair

and a siren-like voice.

But that's certainly
not the case here.

- The earliest
descriptions of the ningyo

offer an image of a
truly grotesque figure.

It's said to have
the body of a fish,

but a somewhat human-like face

or sometimes the
face of a monkey.

Some descriptions
describe protruding lips,

tiny, sharp teeth.

And in addition, the ningyo
is said to scream and cry

in a way that sounds
like a human baby.

(mysterious music)

- [Narrator] Seventh
century Japan,

a fisherman standing along
a canal pulls in his net.

He feels the net grow heavier.

He has a catch.

He excitedly pulls
the net towards him.

But as the net emerges from
beneath the murky water,

the fisherman realizes

that what he has caught
is not a fish at all.

- The fisherman has
caught a creature

that is described as
neither human nor fish.

And that same year, another
half-man, half-fish creature

is seen in the Gamo River.

- [Narrator] The earliest
written stories of the ningyo

trace back to the 600s,

and can be found in
an eighth century text

called the Nihon Shoki,

which chronicles 1,000
years of Japanese history.

Descriptions of the
creature are terrifying,

but even more terrifying

is what people will come
to believe it represents.

- There are a number of stories
involving the prince regent

and his encounters
with the ningyo.

- [Narrator] According
to some accounts,

the prince regent's sighting
of this strange creature

is followed by a
harrowing nightmare

and a lingering sense of doom.

Then, just two years later,
his wife meets a tragic death.

- There's this
association that's made

between these sightings
and that event.

- [Narrator] These haunting
tales are some of the first

to portray the ningyo
as an omen of death,

but they will not be the last.

(fire roaring)

Warfare and conflict
mark 13th century Japan.

Rival clans battle each other
for control of the country.

Mongols invade from the west.

It is a time of blood,
chaos, and uncertainty,

and the ningyo's presence
is never far behind.

- The historical records point

to at least 10 sightings of
ningyo during this period.

- One of them is in 1247
someone encounters a carcass.

Later that year,

there is a massive battle
between two warring clans,

and this development
is attributed

to the appearance of
the ningyo carcass.

- [Narrator] In 1203, a
ningyo was spotted in Tsugaru.

Soon after, the military ruler,

or shogun, Minamoto
Noriyori is assassinated.

In 1213, another
appears in Tsugaru.

Later that year,

there was a violent
insurrection from the Wada clan

against the ruling Hojo clan.

- Again and again, it
seems as though a ningyo

always appears right
before a horrific event.

- You can imagine
the people of Japan

were absolutely terrified.

Was the ningyo an omen
of things to come,

or was it to blame?

- If any of us wanna
become prophets today,

probably the easiest path
to do it is to predict

that horrible things are
going to happen in the future.

They always do.

And if a prediction is that
vague, as it is with this fish,

I see a fish, something
bad is going to happen,

I tell you what, something
bad is going to happen.

You're gonna be right.

- [Narrator] So great is
the fear of the ningyo

that special precautions are
taken to ensure its disposal.

Buddhist monks are dispatched

to cleanse the land of its evil

by performing exorcisms through
incantations and rituals

meant to calm the angry spirit.

Sightings of the ningyo
continue through the centuries,

however, attitudes toward
them begin to change.

- Over time, the meaning
of seeing a ningyo changes.

No longer does one have
to run to a Buddhist monk

to seek an exorcism.

Now when you see a
ningyo, you should eat it.

- [Narrator] Stories abound
about the magical properties

of this fish-like creature.

One of the most famous

circulates in and
around the 15th century,

claiming that a young
woman eats the ningyo

and lives for 800 years.

- In the tales of the ningyo,

we see something we've
seen played out many times,

which is this allure
of the exotic.

At first there's a fear of it.

That fear is one indication
that we think it has some power.

But sometimes we see the
mind kind of change and say,

"Well, if it has power,
I want that power."

- There's this association

that's made with these ningyo
and vitality and health.

So if you're able to eat one,

then you're able to live
forever, ward off disease.

(mysterious music)

- [Narrator]
Displaying all manner

of marvels and curiosities,

exhibitions known as misemono

are incredibly popular in Japan

between the 1600s and the 1800s.

- Between the 17th
to 19th century,

a misemono was a place
where you would see

what we'd understand to
be sideshow attractions:

snake charmers,
strong men, giants,

and if you were lucky,
a mummified ningyo.

- There's these
strange creatures that
are being displayed

and they're really
posed in different ways.

So there may be the screaming
ningyo or the crawling ningyo.

This vision or
view of the ningyo

is spreading around
through these shows.

- We are always looking
for physical proof

to back our belief.

So I think when they were
seeing these mummies,

it was like, "Ah, yes, I have
permission to believe this."

- [Narrator] Yet, despite
their terrifying appearance,

members of the public are told

that gazing upon
a mummified ningyo

will grant them long life
and protection from disease

without the need to
actually consume the ningyo.

- Of course, things change
because our human word changes

every time we tell
these stories.

Every time the story is retold,

it morphs into something else.

- It's easy to imagine

how people are enthralled
by a mummified ningyo.

And with modern eyes, it's
hard not to look at them

and think about
the Fiji mermaid.

- [Narrator] The Fiji mermaid
is a sideshow curiosity

displayed by P.T.
Barnum in the 1800s,

which captivates American
audiences for decades.

- At some point,

Barnum encounters one
of these ningyo mummies,

and acquires it and
incorporates it into his show

as the Fiji mermaid.

- The Little Mermaid or
these Western mermaids

are very much like
humanoid creatures,

but these creatures
like the ningyo

and the Fiji mermaid
are truly creatures.

They'd be more similar

to something like
the Loch Ness Monster

than your traditional
siren-like mermaid.

- Eventually some
scientific investigation

is done on the Fiji mermaid.

It is put through a CT scan,

and it turns out that
it's actually a salmon

sewn to an orangutan.

- [Narrator] Although many
of the mummified ningyos

displayed in misemonos

are works of art and
not works of nature,

what does that mean
for the legend itself?

- It's interesting to note

that the image of the
ningyo evolves over time.

Initially, it is portrayed as
a horrific monkey-fish hybrid.

But as Japan comes into
contact with Europe,

depictions start to match

that of a typically
European, Western mermaid

with the torso of a beautiful
woman and the body of a fish.

- And so one of the things

that the example of
the ningyo offers us

is an archive of how
mythological creatures

can endure over
long periods of time

by undergoing a series of
representational metamorphoses

in order to stay current
with the popular imagination.

- I actually love this idea
that ningyo has always existed.

To me, it's further proof

that there are
things in this world

that don't wanna be
seen all the time,

that don't want to
exist amongst us.

If you go hundreds
of years saying

that these things are
bad and wrong and evil,

these things are not
gonna come around.

Every single corner of the Earth

has these stories of
half-human, half-fish.

So why would we all
have these stories

if we weren't talking about
something that was real?

- Stories give
structure to our life.

And even if we talk about
dreams, for example,

the dominant notion of dreams

is that random things
get active in our brain,

but there's part of our brain

that then tries to
connect them into a story

because everything
has to be a story.

It gives us a beginning,
a middle, and an end.

A causal relationship for things

makes us feel like
we understand.

Early on in a time of
violence, the notion was

it was going to predict
violent events and such.

As things changed in the world

and the dominant fear became
one of plague and health,

suddenly we see the ningyo get
attributes related to health.

And so humans have fears,

and whatever their
dominant fears are,

we often project them on
these mystical objects we see.

- [Narrator] The
myth of the ningyo

has endured for
over a millennia,

and there are still many in
Japan who continue to believe.

- Many temples
throughout Japan today

still have mummified ningyos.

And even though some of these
have been analyzed by science,

they remain prized
possessions of the temple.

- They are spiritual
artifacts that carry magic

because of the belief in them.

- [Narrator] While the
ningyo represented doom

in the waters of Japan,

a queen seeks a prosperous
future from the gods of Egypt.

(mysterious music continues)

One of Egypt's first
female pharaohs

enters the temple
of Amun in Karnak

seeking wisdom from
the Oracle of Amun

to guide her through a
tumultuous time in her reign.

Here Hatshepsut performs the
secret rights and rituals

that promise to grant her access

to answers about her future.

- How does an Oracle have the
ability to command a pharaoh

with the authority of a god?

(mysterious music)

- [Narrator] 3,500 years ago,

ancient Egypt is in the
midst of its golden age.

- Egyptian religion
is polytheistic,

so they have a pantheon of gods,

and they all have different
areas of importance.

In Egypt at this time,

Amun is the most powerful
and important god.

He is the patron of Thebes,

and Thebes is now the most
important city in Egypt.

- [Narrator] Ancient
Egyptians believe

that the connection
between the gods and man

is represented by the pharaoh.

- The pharaoh sits in between

the divine realm
and the human realm

negotiating a relationship
between the two.

- In the entire history
of ancient Egypt,

only a handful of women
have ever been pharaohs.

At the time of Hatshepsut,

the last female pharaoh
reigned 300 years ago

and for only four years.

- [Narrator] Hatshepsut's
rise to power

is as unorthodox as her rule,

as a crisis of succession

leaves a vacuum of power
for her to exploit.

- Hatshepsut was the
daughter of Thutmose I.

She marries her half
brother, Thutmose II.

When her father dies, Thutmose
II becomes the pharaoh.

However, not long into his
reign, Thutmose II also dies.

Hatshepsut and Thutmose
II only had a daughter,

which meant that the throne
then passed to Thutmose III.

- The only problem
is that Thutmose III

is around three years old.

Hatshepsut is made
the queen regent

with the idea that she will
manage the affairs of the state

on behalf of her nephew
until he is of age.

- Although he's only a child,

Thutmose III is
depicted as the pharaoh

using the state iconography
reserved for the pharaoh.

In these depictions, Hatshepsut
also sometimes appears,

but always to the side in a
somewhat subservient role.

- [Narrator] For the first
few years of his reign,

Hatshepsut acts as a
conventional queen regent

for Thutmose III.

But by the end of the
seventh year of his reign,

she will no longer be sidelined.

- Seemingly out of nowhere
there's this massive change.

Hatshepsut is no longer
the queen regent.

She's the pharaoh.

(mysterious music)

- The pharaoh is the
living embodiment

of the male god Horus.

Well, this posed a bit of
a problem to Hatshepsut

because she's a woman.

So how is she going
to overcome this?

In her depictions as a pharaoh
on monuments, in the temples,

she is shown as a man.

And so she even has a beard,
she has a manly chest.

She has become as a god male.

- I mean, we could
be really inspired

by this story in one way,

and then in another way it's
still kind of disheartening

because she didn't get to
be herself on the throne.

In order to take the throne,

she still had to
be seen as a man.

- Thutmose III is not out of
the picture at this point.

He is still technically
the co-ruler.

But at this time he
is rarely depicted

in the position of the
all-powerful ruler.

- We have to think about how
dangerous a moment this was

for Hatshepsut to
move from being regent

to claiming the rule of pharaoh.

After all, Thutmose
III was the pharaoh.

He was the one who the
god Horus had legitimized.

That could only
happen to one ruler.

Now, how will Hatshepsut
construct her own
divine authority?

- [Narrator] The solution

to Hatshepsut's issue of
legitimacy is so momentous,

she will later have it
inscribed on the walls

of her funerary tomb in Thebes.

- Hatshepsut would
turn to the oracle

to construct her authority.

- And it is this oracle
that comes through

that says, "Actually Amun
was disguised as your father

"and then you were born, so
you are of divine parentage,"

which then legitimizes
it being said

that Amun wishes her
to occupy the throne.

- So it's important that she's
not making the claim herself,

that would be seen
as sort of usurping,

but some external force

that the people of
Egypt generally revere

gives her at least the first
step she needs to be seen as,

"Okay, maybe you can be
pharaoh for a while."

(mysterious music)

- [Narrator] The Oracle of Amun

has given Hatshepsut
crucial information

to solidify her
legitimacy as a ruler

and maintain her power.

But who or what is
the Oracle of Amun?

- The term oracle
means different things

across different
cultures over time.

In ancient Egypt, an
oracle isn't a person.

It's actually a statue
or a cult image of a god.

And they believed that the
oracles are the mouthpieces

for the gods here on Earth.

- Now, it was genuinely believed

that the god resided
inside the statue.

And if the litter

on which the statue is
being carried by the priests

swayed this way
or swayed that way

that indicated a message
from the god in the statue

to everybody present.

- The interpretation of
these particular oracles

can be understood as part

of a series of
divination practices

that interpret the movement
of material objects

as some kind of communication
from unseen or divine forces.

Other examples of this
are pendulum swinging,

forms of automatic writing,
or even Ouija boards.

- Hatshepsut's recognition
by the Oracle of Amun

is the first written
example we have

of a pharaoh consulting
with an oracle.

Through this act, she
potentially changes

the religious landscape
of Egypt forever.

- After Hatshepsut has

this successful consultation
with the oracle,

oracle readings become
very popular in Egypt.

- The thing about
the priests is,

they were very secular
minded in their own way.

They were immensely wealthy.

They were immensely powerful.

They were immensely political.

And it might just so happen
that they'd make the god sway

in a direction that
benefited their interests.

- In later years,

there are some examples of
oracles being corrupted.

There's a record
of a temple priest

who is charged with the crime
of manipulating an oracle.

- [Narrator] During
Hatshepsut's reign,

the high priest of Amun
is named Hapuseneb,

who also works as the Overseer
of the Works of the King.

- There is some evidence

that there may have
been an early alliance

between Hatshepsut and
the head priest Hapuseneb

dating back to her
time as regent.

(mysterious music)

- [Narrator] Not long after,
Hatshepsut's divine legitimacy

is confirmed by
the Oracle of Amun,

the Oracle issues
her another command,

"Seek ways to Punt,

"open roads to the
terrace of myrrh,

"and lead the army on
the water and the land

"to bring marvels from the
land of the god to this god."

- But at this point,
ancient Egyptians

haven't been to Punt
for hundreds of years.

So the question is,

why does Amun want
Hatshepsut to go to Punt?

Or alternatively, why does she
want to go to Punt herself?

- [Narrator] Hatshepsut
receives this prophecy

soon after she ascends to power,

which may provide a clue.

- Punt was supposed to be
a land of great riches,

and to lead a successful
expedition there

and to come back with treasures

would be an indication that
she was blessed by the gods.

- You can easily imagine that
this soon after seizing power

Hatshepsut's control over the
throne is still not secure.

She might need a win.

And there are some
historians who even speculate

that she may need to
keep her army busy

so they don't turn against her.

- Pharaohs were
military leaders.

We have to remember
that rulers in this time

were associated with
peacekeeping and war-making.

So Hatshepsut, as a
woman in particular,

had to embrace all those
facets of the role,

including proving that she
could protect her people

and expand the kingdom.

- [Narrator] The
expedition to Punt

is an incredible success.

They return with a
bounty of raw materials,

luxury goods, and exotic
plants and animals,

and Hatshepsut dedicates
all of it to Amun.

- The success of
that expedition,

the wealth it brought back,

the promise of even more riches

if the Egyptians
went back there,

she had unlocked

the key to her future
survival as a pharaoh.

- [Narrator] Hatshepsut reigns
for approximately 20 years

and leads Egypt through
a time of prosperity.

- The record suggests

that Hatshepsut was in fact
an incredibly able ruler,

that she was able to bring

a great deal of
prosperity to Egypt.

She certainly
expanded its borders.

We know that she
was a great builder,

many of them temples of Amun.

She would help to promote
that cult in particular.

- [Narrator] Though
there is a female pharaoh

that predates Hatshepsut,

many historians agree

she is the first female
pharaoh to truly lead.

(majestic music continues)

But Hatshepsut's
glory is not a given.

For at least a time history
does not remember her.

- After Hatshepsut dies,

Thutmose III finally
becomes the king.

But about 20 years
after her death,

he suddenly tries
to have every image

and monument of her destroyed.

(hammer thuds)

- Her statues are smashed
and thrown in a ditch.

Their heads are cut off,
their eyes are gouged out.

The memory of
Hatshepsut is wiped out.

- The natural
suspicious mind thinks

that he uncovered
some deception,

which maybe goes back to the
Amun ritual in the first place.

Some deception that
makes him now bitter

and feel that she was not
deserving of the pharaoh title.

- Perhaps it's not
Hatshepsut herself

that he's trying
to have destroyed,

but the precedent
of a very powerful

and successful female pharaoh.

- [Narrator] Whatever
his motivations,

Thutmose III was successful.

Hatshepsut's memory is
tragically lost to time.

That is until 19th
century archeologists

rediscover her story.

- Fortunately, over
the last 200 years,

archeologists have been able
to put together enough pieces

that we now know quite
a lot about her legacy.

She was a remarkable pharaoh

whose consultation
with the oracles

left a lasting
impression on Egypt,

both physically and spiritually.

(soft majestic music)

- [Narrator] Throughout history,

humanity has yearned for
other-worldly wisdom,

consulting ancient gods,
heeding mystical creatures,

and clinging to the
visions of divine scryers.

Yet as deception seeps
into these encounters,

the promise of prophecy
remains forever tempting,

yet equally suspect.

(soft majestic music fades)

(majestic music)

(majestic music fades)