All language subtitles for Legends of the Pharaohs Series 1 Part 2 Curse of the Pyramid 1080p

[narrator] in ancient egypt,
the pyramid age has begun.

Now, a new pharaoh
ascends the throne.

To hold onto power,
he will marry his sister,

Conquer new territories...

-[men yelling]
-[swords clanging]

...Reorganize his
entire country.

[dramatic music]

The members of the
royal house can't

By themselves control all this.

[narrator] and build not one
but three giant pyramids.

You have to think as the
architects of the engineers did.

Their life's on the line.

[narrator] the story of the
pyramids is one of innovation.

It was a resurrection machine.

[narrator] mysterious rituals.

[dramatic intense music]

[salima ikram] these are things
that help the deceased

Re-energize and live for
eternity.

[narrator] back-breaking work...

[men screaming]

...And palace intrigue.

Unlocked the deepest
secrets of the pharaohs.

[frank] every
mummy is different.

You never know exactly
what to expect.

[narrator] explore the
lives of ancient workers

And uncover the remarkable
story of egypt's old kingdom.

[darnell] not only did ancient
egypt make the pyramids,

The pyramids made ancient egypt.

[echoing whoosh]

-[dramatic mysterious music]
-[sand blowing]

[narrator] in the
scorching egyptian desert,

A stone mountain rises almost
350 feet from the sand.

This is the red pyramid
at dahshur,

Some 60 million
cubic feet of rock.

It's the first flat-sided
true pyramid in egypt,

The work of a powerful
pharaoh called snefru.

[bright percussive
mysterious music]

At the cairo museum,
egyptologist salima ikram

Is investigating the greatest
pyramid builder in history.

The statue of king snefru comes

From his temple at dahshur.

He's wearing the
crown of upper egypt.

He was once beautifully
painted.

You can still see
the paint in his eyes

And the redness of his skin.

But now, barely anyone
has heard of him.

Snefru, who is the person who
really laid the foundations

For great pyramid building,
lots of monuments,

Ideas of kingship,
is all but forgotten.

-[wind blows]
-[slow dramatic music]

[narrator] to solve the
mystery of why snefru built

Not one but three
record-breaking pyramids

And how his ambition brought
cultural revolution to egypt,

We need to travel more than
4,600 years back in time.

-[dramatic music]
-[gold garments jangling]

When snefru was a young
boy, the largest pyramid

That exists is the
step pyramid at saqqara,

The first pyramid
ever built in egypt.

[soft dramatic music]

A king called djoser

Had ordered it constructed
70 years earlier,

[bird squawking in distance]

Kicking off the
pyramid age in egypt

And revolutionizing
the country's government

And building capabilities
in the process.

-[birds chirping]
-[water rushing]

The step pyramid must've
made a strong impression

On the young snefru,

Compelling him to
dream of an even bigger

And more beautiful
pyramid for himself.

An ambitious dream,
especially because snefru

Does not begin life as the
heir to the throne of egypt.

[soft dramatic music]

He's thought to have been born

To a secondary wife of
his father, king huni,

And he has brothers who are
closer in line to the throne.

[peter der manuelian]
and of course, that would lead

To some struggles
for succession.

Children of one
queen or one woman

Might be in competition
with others.

Legitimation is a key
element in kingship.

[megahed] if he's not the
eldest son or he's outside

Of the dynasty or the family,
he should invent a story.

He should come with
something, with a reason

To tell the people that he
has a right to be the king.

[echoing boom]

[narrator]
history doesn't record

How an adult snefru eventually
pushes aside his brothers

To ascend the throne
or at what age.

[dramatic egyptian music]

But he did, and to reinforce
his legitimacy,

He chooses a queen with
unquestionable ancestry,

His half sister, hetepheres,

Daughter of his father
and the great royal wife.

It's a clever move by snefru

Because marrying his own sister
also reinforces his image

As a god in the
eyes of his people.

[colleen darnell]
from the very beginning

Of ancient egyptian kingship,

The king is seen as
a personification

Of the falcon god, horus.

[narrator] his queen,
hetepheres,

Was also believed to be divine.

[darnell] the queen,
as the consort,

Is the personification
of the goddess hathor.

Hathor and horus,
they're both children of ra,

And so they're siblings.

And so actually having brother

And sister king and queen
was not taboo at all.

[darnell] so the king and queen
together are essential

To the way the egyptians
presented their politics

As well as their religion.

[narrator] hetepheres will rule

Alongside snefru as a demi god.

-[soft mysterious music]
-[flames flickering]

[ikram] at this time period,
women had a lot more power

Than their contemporaries
anywhere else in the world did,

And especially royal women.

[footsteps lightly shuffling]

We know that a lot of
these women helped rule.

They were really sometimes
powers behind the throne

And sometimes equal partners
with their husbands.

[narrator] of course, as
the king's main royal wife,

She is also expected
to produce a son

Who will inherit the throne.

[couple kissing]

-[slow dramatic music]
-[water rushing]

Snefru rules over a
vast land split up

Into districts called nomes.

[john darnell]
each district of egypt,

Each nome has its capital city,

No doubt numerous small villages

And farming communities
spread around the nile valley.

[megahed] we can compare the
nome with a city,

And we can compare the villages
to a district in the city.

[water rushing]

[narrator] but full
and ultimate power lies

With the pharaoh.

[melinda hartwig]
the economy in egypt

Was very centralized,

Meaning that a lot of the
goods that were farmed

Or harvested found their
way into the capital.

Your average egyptian

Was living pretty subsistence
wise, pretty meager.

[narrator] as taxes in the form

Of grain and goods
are amassed by snefru,

He decides to funnel his vast
wealth into tomb building.

-[dramatic music]
-[flames whooshing]

In the royal palace,
the king summons a man

That many believe to be his son.

His name is nefermaat.

Snefru appoints his son vizier,

The second-most powerful
position in the country.

If we can compare an ancient
egyptian vizier to nowadays,

He is a kind of a prime minister

With all ministers
underneath him.

[john darnell] so snefru seems
to be trying to keep

At least a lot

Of the important
positions in the country

Within the control
of the family.

[anthony] the reason that you
would want to do this

Is so that power doesn't
become spread out

And doesn't become a problem
where it fractures the kingship.

-[muffled chatter]
-[dramatic music]

[narrator] but with great power
comes great responsibility

And nefermaat faces
a daunting task.

[muffled speaking]

Snefru has commanded his
son to build a pyramid tomb

That will surpass anything
ever built before.

The tallest pyramid
on the planet

Is djoser's six-step monument.

Snefru's will have eight steps

And be more than
100 feet higher.

[muffled speaking]

[der manuelian]
you could look at this

As a bit of a competition

In pyramid building with each
succeeding pharaoh trying

To outdo the predecessor.

[colleen darnell] snefru knows
the bigger his pyramid,

The greater his legacy,

The longer he's going
to be remembered.

What he's looking
for is something new,

Exciting, bigger,
better, and more perfect

Than anyone has
ever created before.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] djoser's step
pyramid is built at saqqara.

Snefru's pyramid will be at
meidum, 40 miles to the south.

As work begins,
nefermaat and his team

Must know that they have
a huge challenge ahead.

-[wheelbarrow rattling]
-[muffled chatter]

-[slow dramatic music]
-[tools banging]

In ancient egypt,
the king's son, nefermaat,

Has brought together
a huge workforce

To build a pyramid tomb
fit for his father.

It's a big task.

Thousands of egyptian civilians

Will be drafted into service.

-[muffled chatter]
-[rock and tools banging]

[soft dramatic egyptian music]

To keep control over his people,

Snefru seeks to
emphasize his role

In maintaining order
and prosperity.

He changes his name
to horus neb ma'at,

Meaning horace,
the master of the ma'at.

Ma'at is the concept
of truth or justice,

Or you might think of it as
universal order or harmony.

[anthony] it is the king's
most important role

On earth to maintain ma'at.

Ancient egyptians saw the world

Through this lens
of order and chaos.

[megahed] the opposite of
the ma'at is chaos.

If you have chaos,
there is no order,

And the order that
is above everything.

[john darnell]
so for the king to say,

"I am the lord of ma'at,"

Means basically he wants
his reign to be very even

And balance everything
out properly.

-[muffled chatter]
-[dramatic music]

[narrator] snefru is giving
his subjects little choice.

They either obey him or risk
the entire universe collapsing,

Good motivation for the
thousands of citizens he compels

To work on his grand new
construction project.

The ancient egyptians
believed that,

By constructing a
tomb for the king,

That they were enhancing the
order of the cosmos itself.

So pyramid construction
during the reign of snefru

Can in some ways be seen as a
fulfillment of his own name,

The lord of ma'at, the lord
of cosmic harmony or order.

[narrator] crucially,
snefru is not the only one

Who will benefit.

[mark lehner]
the point of the pyramid

Was to get the king
resurrected

On the other side of death,

For him to join the
stars and the gods,

And for him to take his
entire community with him,

Nothing less than the
entirety of egypt.

[dramatic music
with choral vocals]

[hartwig] it's almost an
ideological idea

That they are building
something for the pharaoh

Who is a living god,
and they hope, the workers,

Upon their death,
that they will be part

Of the pharaoh's reconstituted
kingdom in the hereafter.

[lehner] life and death for
them was totally intertwined.

That's why it looks like
it's they're so obsessed

With death and tombs.

[tools banging against rock]

[narrator] using the
building know how

And supply chains
set up by previous pharaohs,

Nefermaat's workers
make fast progress.

-[tools and rocks banging]
-[muffled chatter]

In just seven years, the
project is nearing completion.

[dramatic music]

This is the monument that
nefermaat was building,

The largest pyramid of the
time, rising eight steps,

The so-called meidum pyramid.

[hartwig] when we look at the
meidum pyramid today,

The first thing you'll see is
you'll see the massive steps,

But then you'll also see
that there's a pile of rubble

That just sits around the
bottom of the pyramid.

[narrator] today, only the
stone core remains standing.

It reaches 230 feet
above the ground.

But when this
pyramid was complete,

It was higher still, 305 feet.

During the middle ages,
builders removed much

Of the collapsed exterior
and reused the stones

In their own constructions.

It is literally a
monumental achievement,

Seemingly the ultimate
tomb for a god king.

But snefru has other ideas.

-[slow dramatic music]
-[tools banging]

[hartwig] he started with
meidum, and that was conceived

From the very beginning
as a step pyramid.

And he works there for a bit

And decides that it's
not really adequate.

[muffled speaking]

[narrator] the king sets his
vizier, nefermaat,

An even greater challenge.

-[dramatic music]
-[footsteps shuffling]

Snefru demands an
entirely new monument,

An even bigger
pyramid with smooth

And flat sides instead of steps.

It's a revolutionary idea,
the first true pyramid in egypt.

[muffled speaking]

To design this second pyramid
and meet his father's demands,

Nefermaat must
start from scratch.

He begins by choosing a
new site 30 miles north

Of his first pyramid
at dahshur.

[tools banging]

This new construction site
is close to the fine limestone

That nefermaat will need to
create the flat outer casing.

-[muffled speaking]
-[tools banging]

You have to create
smooth-sided casing stones.

So this is going to be
increasing yet more the amount

Of work that you have
to do in the quarrying

And dressing of stones.

[narrator] but as work
begins on the new site,

The team doesn't completely

Abandon snefru's
original pyramid at meidum.

-[tools banging]
-[muffled chatter]

[hartwig] so what they did as
an insurance policy,

They go back to the first
pyramid that he started building

At meidum and finish
that up in case he dies.

[john darnell]
so the infrastructure

That is required not just

To build two enormous
monuments but to build them

Not that close one
to the other really

Would be something unheard of.

[narrator] two giant
pyramid building sites

At the same time.

-[muffled shouting]
-[stone thuds heavily]

Snefru and nefermaat
are taking on

Perhaps the biggest logistical

And engineering challenge
in human history so far.

You can be pretty sure that
there is a huge expense

In terms of labor,
in terms of goods

That are needed to fund these
particular building projects.

-[dramatic music]
-[birds chirping]

[narrator] to fund his
two building projects,

Snefru sets up
more royal estates,

Farms dedicated to the cause.

[hartwig] royal estates

Were the ones that provided
the food,

The beer, the cattle
that was needed

For the workers that were
building his various monuments,

But he expanded it tenfold,
particularly in the nile delta.

So snefru's pyramid
projects aren't just

About the stone of the
pyramids themselves.

They're about the farmland
and the herds of cattle

And all of the people
associated with those estates.

-[muffled chatter]
-[hens clucking]

[dramatic music]

[narrator] the sheer scale
of the operation is too much

For the royal family
to manage alone.

[der manuelian] the food and
nutrition, the raw materials,

The chisels, the hammers,
the limestone.

[narrator] all over the country,

Snefru drafts in
new civil servants

To enforce palace orders.

[men arguing indistinctly]

[lehner]
bureaucracy is increasing.

That's why the state is
becoming more complicated,

And that's why the
members of the royal house

Can't by themselves
control all this.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] snefru will
need to recruit manpower

From lower ranks, paving the way

For a new social class
to emerge.

Now historians are unpacking
the remarkable story

Of one individual who
rose through the ranks.

[grain sifting]

It's a story that exposes
the silent revolution

Taking place in egypt.

[basket lid softly rustles]

[soft dramatic music]

In ancient egypt,

Snefru's two
pyramid construction projects

Are too much for the
royal family to manage alone.

Now, the remarkable rise
of one non-royal man

Is exposing how egypt's
administration is changing.

[grain sifting]

His name is metjen.

[soft mysterious egyptian music]

Clues about metjen's
life are inscribed

On the walls of his tomb
discovered at saqqara

But now at the egyptian
museum in berlin.

[anthony] typically,

Administrators left
a list of titles

That they held when
they were alive.

But with metjen, he actually
fleshes out the works

From his lifetime.

[narrator] the hieroglyphs
reveal that metjen was born far

From the splendor
of the royal palace,

-[goat bleats]
-[muffled chatter]

Probably in a village
in the nile delta.

[goat bleats]

His father, a judge,

Ensures that metjen
receives a good education.

He learns to read,
write, and keep accounts.

We know that the ancient
egyptians prized literacy.

We even have texts that say,
"you shall love a writing more

Than your mother for it is the
greatest of all professions."

[megahed] if you are a scribe,

It means you can get a very
important position

In the state administration
because reading

And writing was very
rare in ancient egypt.

-[writing utensil scribbling]
-[soft ethereal music]

[narrator] metjen begins by
working in a supply store,

Perhaps supplying workers

At the pharaoh's
construction site.

[grain sifting]

He's a tiny cog in a vast
pyramid building machine

But a cog that is getting
noticed by his superiors.

[muffled speaking]

Soon, the ruling elite, perhaps
even a royal family member,

Promotes metjen, giving him
the title of rural judge.

-[birds and insects chittering]
-[tools hitting ground]

His job is to determine
the boundaries

Of fields and other land,

A vital role in an economy
based on agriculture.

[muffled speaking]

Once again, he stands out
and gets another promotion.

Metjen becomes administrator
of the city of xois,

A city in the heart of
the nile delta region.

It's his first
government position.

[muffled speaking]

So an individual
administrator might be

In charge of several
different districts,

Apparently at the same time.

[narrator] to reward the
loyalty and work of people

Like metjen, snefru
creates a new social class

By giving people
land of their own.

The pursuit of pyramid building

Is transforming the
administration of egypt.

The king is juggling now,
maintaining as much control

As possible, keeping as
many things as possible

Within the family,
and yet, at the same time,

Inevitably trying
to maintain control

Of these growing non-royal
families of administrators

Who are coming to be much more
powerful in the provinces.

-[muffled chatter]
-[tools banging]

[narrator] the huge changes
in society are mirrored

By innovation at
snefru's pyramid sites.

The outside of snefru's new
pyramid isn't the only feature

Undergoing a radical
overhaul and design.

[dramatic music]

Snefru's vizier, nefermaat,
has built the funeral chamber

Underneath the pyramid,
as is tradition.

[muffled speaking]

But snefru wants
something revolutionary.

He is adamant that
the funeral chamber

Is built within the masonry
of the pyramid itself.

[writing utensil scribbling]

He has good reason
to be concerned

About the chamber's location.

Tomb raiding is rampant,

Often inside jobs by
the builders themselves.

Raiders destroy
mummies in their hunt

For jewelry and other
treasures or amulets.

[anthony] royals knew,
essentially,

That creating these
large monuments

That drew attention
to themselves would also

Draw attention to the goods
that were buried there.

[narrator] deterring these
robbers becomes a top priority.

In new kingdom egypt, a number
of the tomb robbers we know

Were set to be
impaled, apparently,

So it didn't
necessarily go well.

-[flames whooshing]
-[footsteps shuffling]

[narrator] at the time, the
egyptians believed that

If a body is desecrated,

The soul would not
survive in the afterlife.

[flames whooshing]

So protecting the mummy
within an inaccessible vault

Would have been of critical
importance to the pharaoh.

[dark dramatic music]

Snefru orders his
funeral chamber hidden

In the heart of his new pyramid

And for elaborate blocking
mechanisms to be built,

Protecting the passageways
with giant stone blocks.

When you look at the
outside of the pyramid,

You don't really think
about the engineering

That was required in order
to create these inner rooms,

Essentially the
burial of the king.

[narrator] nefermaat
must build a space that

Will withstand the weight of
thousands of tons of stone.

Get it right, and he'll create
a unique funeral chamber

For the king.

[blocks clatter]

Get it wrong, and the
king's very survival

In the afterlife is in danger.

[soft dramatic egyptian music]

[footsteps shuffling]

In dahshur, at snefru's
second pyramid,

Egyptologist vassil dobrev
is investigating the secret

Behind the monument's
revolutionary funeral chamber.

The entrance is high up on
the pyramid's north face,

But inside, a steep passageway
first plunges 300 feet down

Into the bedrock
beneath the pyramid.

Then the route
climbs back upwards

Until it reaches a chamber
that pokes above ground level.

Vassil has reached
the first chamber

That ancient builders needed
to keep safe from collapse.

The room measures just 13
feet wide but 55 feet high.

[footsteps thudding]

Reaching this point
is quite challenging.

We went up dozens of feet.

We went down almost 300
feet into the ground,

But here, we are
at ground level.

But the problem is
that the whole pyramid

Was going to be placed
directly on this void,

And how do you
protect that void?

How did they make sure
it doesn't collapse?

And that's where they came up

With this very
ingenious solution.

[mysterious music]

[narrator] the builders'
solution is a corbeled ceiling,

A room where the walls
gradually get closer together

As each layer of blocks is
added until the sides meet

At the top, forming a
vault that supports itself.

[dobrev] this chamber is the
first test.

It worked, and they
enlarged it.

Because they'd already
planned another chamber,

Which this time would
be the burial chamber

Within the body of the monument
itself above ground level.

[footsteps thudding]

[narrator] the ancient
engineers realized

That the wider the floor space,

The higher the corbeled
ceiling needs to be.

So when they build
a final chamber

Within the body of
the pyramid itself,

They choose modest dimensions.

[soft percussive
mysterious music]

Finally, we arrive in
snefru's burial chamber.

We must not forget that there
is still almost 230 feet

Of monument above this chamber.

[bats squeaking]

[narrator] the long
wooden beams they use

To reinforce the room
still survive today.

They are cedar wood shipped
in from outside egypt.

[bats squeaking]

These beams that are placed
in the four walls act

As a surrounding wall that
protects the sarcophagus.

Much later in history,
we have a spell,

In what is called
the book of the dead,

A very well-known list
of resurrection spells,

And it says very clearly,
"put cedar beams in the wall,

Throw water over it,

And that's what protects
you from your enemies."

And that's very interesting
because that's a magic spell

That's been passed down for
centuries and centuries.

In fact, maybe here is the
first time it was used.

[bats squeaking]

[narrator] but despite
the huge engineering

And magical effort,
archaeologists now believe

That snefru's mummy wasn't laid

To rest in this
revolutionary chamber,

And that could be because
the second pyramid

Didn't turn out as planned.

[dark dramatic music]

The pyramid was a bit of
a architectural disaster.

[narrator] as snefru's
engineers build ever higher,

Cracks began to form.

You have to think, I think,
as the architects,

The engineers did.

Their life's on the line.

They're building this pyramid
for the body of the king,

And so they're trying
and trying to cure

Whatever happens to be
going on within the pyramid.

They're always
looking for new ideas

To save the pyramid so
that it can be used.

[narrator] nefermaat and
his engineers realize

That the angle they're
building at is too steep.

The added weight could
cause complete collapse.

They have no choice but to
scale back their ambitions

And change the angle
of the pyramid sides.

[dramatic music]

[lehner] snefru starts with a
pyramid of 60 degrees.

It's slipping and sliding
'cause he's building

On a natural desert surface.

And so he puts a casing or a
girdle around it at 54 degrees,

But now the pyramid's
getting really huge.

As he's going up at 54 degrees,

They're still having problems.

[narrator] so nefermaat
decides to change

The slope of the summit.

The changing angle
transforms the pyramid

Into the bent shape
we see today.

It may not have been
snefru's original plan,

But it was still a
success of sorts.

-[muffled chatter]
-[tools banging]

[dobrev] it's a change
that's perfectly planned

And so well done

That the monument has lasted
for millennia.

This is the first time
that snefru decides

To make a smooth pyramid.

Of the 120 or so
pyramids known in egypt,

It is the best preserved.

It still has almost
70% of its covering,

So even after 4,600 years,

We can still see it
almost as it was then.

[dark dramatic music]

[narrator] this double
sloped pyramid is set

To become the tallest man-made
structure on the planet,

Exceeding snefru's meidum
pyramid by almost 40 feet.

But snefru is either
hungry for a new record

Or doesn't consider the
bent pyramid worthy because,

Once more, he orders nefermaat
to build a new pyramid.

You have to wonder what
the workers thought.

Here they'd built two pyramids,

And now they're off
to build a third one.

[tools banging]

[narrator] once again,
nefermaat chooses

To build at dahshur, barely
a mile from his bent pyramid.

And once more,

He doesn't abandon work
at his previous site.

Snefru is now running three
huge projects at the same time,

And he has a problem.

Egypt is running out of
manpower to support the workers.

-[dramatic music]
-[tools banging]

In ancient egypt, king snefru
needs to find new resources

And manpower to support
his three pyramid projects,

So he looks outside his kingdom.

[colleen darnell] we have
hieroglyphic records

That indicate successful
military campaigns

During the reign of snefru.

[narrator] snefru invades
the area of modern day libya

In the west
and nubia in the south

And is said to return
with thousands of captives.

[muffled speaking]

[colleen darnell]
I think it's a pretty good guess

That they would've
been put to work

For the egyptian
state in general,

Probably in an
agricultural capacity

Or in some sort of estate that

Would have been adding
extra economic resources

For snefru's pyramids.

By capturing foreigners,

Snefru is probably
expanding his economic base,

His labor base.

[narrator] records of how
these people were treated

Haven't been found,
but the practice

Of bringing back
manpower from conquests

Was well established.

In addition to
this new workforce,

They captured
200,000 cows as well

As raw materials like copper,
stone, and precious metals.

[megahed] and this adds to the
wealth of the country,

And it adds to the wealth
of the king himself,

And it helps him to
build his pyramid faster.

[bright dramatic music]

[narrator] the new elite of his
administration also benefit.

The elite people who are members

Of the royal court
constructed their own tombs,

And they decorated
the walls with images

Of their day-to-day life.

So we see farmers
working on their estates,

People herding their cattle,

But we get these great
little details of what life

Was like for a member of the
nobility in ancient egypt,

Music performances, dancing
performances, banquets.

We really get these details
of a life of luxury.

-[people clapping rhythmically]
-[cups clinking together]

[anthony] they had fine
clothes, fine jewelry,

And the ability to have
freedom, essentially,

Which is not something
that a commoner would have.

-[drink pouring]
-[people laughing and talking]

[narrator] metjen is now an
important figure in the kingdom.

He has a title,
"friend of the king."

-[muffled chatter]
-[people clapping rhythmically]

-[women laughing]
-[water sloshing]

Metjen also holds
the position of head

Of the palace of the cities
of the southern lake.

This is the palace inhabited

By snefru's various
wives and consorts.

[soft egyptian music]

We have abundant evidence
that queens had economic power

And their own estates.

So rather than
thinking about a harem,

A place where
queens were secluded

And had to be looked after to
maintain their sexual purity,

Obviously they were expected
to remain faithful to the king,

But the queen's palace was
also its own economic entity.

[anthony] the women, whether
they be concubines or queens,

Actually did live in a area
of the palace together.

But the idea of that space
is probably lot less alluring

Than the word harem indicates.

This situation is not one
that is primarily sexual.

So we just have to
reframe the way we think

Of the women's quarters that
are connected to the palace.

[light pleasant egyptian music]

[narrator] as well as
working at the palace

And enjoying its luxuries,
egyptologists think

That women here were probably
dedicated users of makeup.

[anthony] makeup use
was very common

For the ancient egyptians

For women and men.

They put eye makeup
around their eyes,

And this was a
type of protection,

Both spiritually
and physically.

We see it aesthetically as
something that's beautiful,

But it also helped
protect their eyes

From eye disease and from flies.

[soft thumping dramatic music]

[narrator] metjen's life has
taken him from rural scribe

To supply clerk to
friend of the king,

A radical rise to the
upper-class

Powered by the pyramids.

-[dramatic music]
-[tools banging]

[muffled shouting]

Back at the construction site
of snefru's third pyramid,

The builders have
been hard at work.

[tools banging]

18 years after they
began his third pyramid,

Snefru's last great
monument is complete.

Today, this pyramid is called
the red pyramid of snefru,

So it's a bit strange
when you see the stones

Because they are rather yellow,

But there are reddish veins
like this, as you can see here.

The layer that has
been deposited on them

Maybe gives a slightly
reddish appearance today,

But, in fact, that's not
how it appeared at the time.

If you were in snefru's
time at the end

Of his reign when all
this was complete,

It would have been
a beautiful pyramid,

Smooth with a white coating.

[narrator] the red pyramid
is the first of its kind,

The first successful move
away from a step pyramid

To one with smooth
and flat sides.

Like many pyramids in egypt,
later builders have removed

And reused almost all
the smooth casing stones

That once covered it.

-[footsteps crunching in sand]
-[slow dramatic music]

This block has an
angle of 43 degrees,

So this is a block from
the casing of this pyramid.

Once complete, it was covered

In these white limestone blocks

That shown like the sun's rays.

That's the idea, in fact,
because this pyramid acts

As a solid form
of the sun's rays.

[narrator] with the red pyramid,

Snefru seems to
finally be satisfied.

The completed red pyramid

Was the first
smooth-sided pyramid

That really had been finished
during the reign of snefru.

And that's the one that we think

That the king was
actually buried in.

[anthony] snefru and his chief
architect took the form

Of the step pyramid
and evolved that form

Into a pure geometric pyramid,

And that's why we
still remember snefru

For this moment of genius.

[hartwig] once the red pyramid
was done,

You can just imagine
the architects

And the engineer and the
workers standing back

And taking a look at this
magnificent monument.

Here they had the absolutely
perfect resurrection machine

For the pharaoh for eternity.

[bright dramatic music]

[narrator] snefru's red pyramid

Beats his own record
one last time.

This pyramid is even
higher and wider

Than its bent neighbor.

To construct snefru's
three pyramids,

Builders needed to use more

Than 120 million
cubic feet of stone.

If you wanna talk about moving
cubic tons of limestone,

Probably the award
has to go to snefru.

It's amazing.

In fact, we couldn't
believe in earlier eras

That one king could
build so many pyramids.

[dark dramatic music]

[narrator] egyptologists
believe snefru reigned

Between 30 and 40 years,

A lifetime during which
he instigated changes

That would influence
egypt for millennia.

[lehner] people focus only on
the pyramids and wonder

About the challenges, but
it's not just the pyramid.

We have to think about the
changes that are taking place

To the egyptian economy
and the egyptian society.

So egypt itself is changing

Because of the emergence
of the gigantic pyramid.

Well, it was the time of snefru,
the country's getting bigger.

The administration offices
are getting bigger,

And it was difficult
for the royal family

To keep control of everything.

[colleen darnell]
snefru's pyramid projects

Changed society

Because not only do you have
to create the organization

To quarry and move
all the stones,

The most stone volume ever
moved in ancient egypt

In a single king's reign,
but you also have to put

In place the
agricultural estates.

[john darnell] increasingly

In the northern part
of the nile valley,

We're starting to see
these new cities set up,

These big plantation complexes
that are being established

To support the pyramid
complexes of egypt.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] after snefru,
it will be his son khufu

Who will take on the
task of bringing egypt

And its pyramid-building
people to new heights.

[lehner] it was in the reign
of snefru

That all the research and
development was worked out,

All the mistakes were made, and
the corrections were devised

In order to make it
possible for

Khufu to come to the throne
and build the biggest

And most gigantic pyramid ever.

[dramatic music]