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(ambient flourish)
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- [Narrator] Ancient Egypt.
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For over 3,000 years,
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the world's most vibrant
and puzzling civilization
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flourished through war and peace.
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The Egyptians built great cities,
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enduring monuments.
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They advanced mathematics and technology.
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Their astonishing legacy
survives to this day.
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They attributed their prosperity
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to the thousands of gods they worshiped,
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who granted centuries of stability,
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until the reign of one man, Akhenaten,
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a heretic who dared to change it all.
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New excavations shed light
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on Egypt's most controversial pharaoh,
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who plunders the temples
and banishes the gods,
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triggering one of ancient
Egypt's biggest dilemmas,
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a crisis of faith.
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What happens when the
foundation of Egypt's success
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gets ripped away?
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Who rules in Egypt, men or gods?
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(ambient exotic music)
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The priest of Amun-Ra
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and the new king,
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the two most powerful men in Egypt.
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Pharaoh Akhenaten has come to power.
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His name means the living
spirit of the god Aten.
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For generations, kings and
priests have worked in harmony
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to benefit the people.
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Then came Amun, a god
that rose from obscurity
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to become the empire's untouchable deity,
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threatening to eclipse
even the pharaoh's power.
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But the young pharaoh has other ideas,
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blasphemous ones.
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He'll wield his ultimate authority
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to do battle against this upstart god
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and the priests who serve him.
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No one has ever dared to
challenge the gods before.
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It violates the very
core of Egyptian society.
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The deities, thousands of them,
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have ruled and protected the
Egyptians since the beginning,
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for more than 1,000 years.
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They represent all aspects of life.
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They keep the Egyptians safe.
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Like humans, gods can rise
and fall in importance.
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Amun was the god of
the capital city Thebes
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200 years earlier.
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Pharaohs fought and won
battles in his name,
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and built an empire.
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With Egypt's success, Amun's
significance rose fast,
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the source of the nation's strength.
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Eventually, Amun merges
with the sun god Ra,
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the sole ruler of the gods,
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to form the supreme god Amun-Ra.
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His temple becomes the
wealthiest in the land.
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And for the pharaoh, that is the problem.
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Akhenaten makes a bold
and frightening move.
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He wages war on the gods.
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Amun's name is gouged
from the temple walls.
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Every single image of Amun is destroyed.
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The priests do all they
can to save their god
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from their renegade pharaoh,
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and to save Egypt from Amun's wrath.
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No one has ever tried to destroy a god.
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Neither Akhenaten nor the
priests know what will happen.
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- Both sides feel threatened.
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I think that's the main thing.
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Akhenaten's certainly threatened
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because he's going against
the king of the gods
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of all things,
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a mysterious god who can attack him
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in ways he doesn't have any idea about.
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- [Narrator] To preserve his power,
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Akhenaten shatters 15
centuries of tradition.
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Generations of Egyptians
have built temples
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to worship their gods,
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and those gods have been generous.
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(gentle dramatic music)
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With the gift of the Nile,
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the Egyptians created paradise on Earth,
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and they know it.
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Everyone is fed.
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Everyone is protected.
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Everyone knows his place.
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- The Egyptians lived in
the best possible society
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and the best possible organization.
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And anyone who tried to change it
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was changing it for the worse.
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And they avoided that.
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People who advocated change
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were considered to be rebels,
almost, revolutionaries.
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That was a bad word for the Egyptians.
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- [Narrator] But now,
the pharaoh has become
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the most dangerous
revolutionary of all time.
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The priests of Amun-Ra must hurry.
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They must save the holy statues
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before the pharaoh closes
or defiles the temples.
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(gentle dramatic music)
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Akhenaten's radical break
with religious tradition
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doesn't happen overnight.
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It festered quietly for 30 years
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under the reign of his father.
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In Thebes, Egypt's political capital,
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stood Karnak, a
magnificent temple complex.
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Built to honor the god Amun-Ra,
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for centuries this was the center
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of Egypt's religious tradition.
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But slowly the focus started
to shift to the west,
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to the other side of the
Nile, where the sun sets
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and elaborate funerary temples rose.
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The biggest temple of them all
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belonged to Akhenaten's
father, Amenhotep the Third.
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He ruled over Egypt's
most prosperous time,
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made evident from the smoothness,
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softness, and sensuality
of Amenhotep's portraits,
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each cut from a single
piece of precious stone.
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(gentle music)
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The towering Colossi of
Memnon are the most famous.
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They once flanked the entry to his temple,
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which has all but disappeared.
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But in the last 10 years,
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archeologists have uncovered
this enormous building.
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Hundreds of workers unearthed
gigantic stone body parts,
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assembling dozens of colossal statues
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of Amenhotep and his queen.
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Almost all the figures
were shattered into bits
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and require painstaking
effort to make them whole.
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The fully-assembled statues
stand up to five stories tall.
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Archeologist Hourig
Sourouzian leads this dig.
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She sees a royal couple
that portrayed itself
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in a new, confident way, as individuals.
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And she sees a pharaoh
who aspired to be more.
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- [Interpreter] Of course,
these colossal statues
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represent Amenhotep,
but it is king as god.
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Or you could turn it around and
say this is the god as king.
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The gods take the form
which the king gives him.
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- [Narrator] Amenhotep sees
himself as god on Earth,
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and that's new.
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Up to then, pharaohs had
only been considered godlike.
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But the center of power in Egypt
is not his funerary temple.
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It is across the river in Karnak,
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the cult site of the imperial god Amun-Ra.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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This is where Amenhotep
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celebrates the most important
Egyptian festival, Opet,
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dedicated to the supreme deity.
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And his son Akhenaten joins in.
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The pharaoh, as both head of government
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and high priest of the
cult, leads the festival,
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just as his father did before him.
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And his son Akhenaten
will lead it after him.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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This is a glittering festival.
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The priests sacrifice hundreds of animals.
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The worshipers leave a
fortune in offerings.
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Dozens of musicians and ecstatic dancers
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join the sacred procession.
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(gentle ominous music)
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The god himself is carried from the temple
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in his own sanctuary, a holy skiff.
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Led by the pharaoh, the
priests bring the vessel
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out of Karnak's temple's inner sanctum.
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And on this rare day,
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the god Amun-Ra moves among
the people of the city.
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- The cult of Amun-Ra, king of the gods,
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became a kind of a national
outpouring of loyalty
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on the part of the Egyptians.
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He was the god of Egypt.
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He had made Egypt strong.
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If there ever was a
personification of the nation,
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it was he, Amun-Ra, king of the gods.
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- [Narrator] But behind the scenes,
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conflict is brewing.
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As Amun-Ra gets more popular,
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his priests gain wealth and power.
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They begin to wield their
influence on the royal family
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and decisions of state.
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Amenhotep watches his priests
carefully, suspiciously.
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A clash is coming,
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a struggle that will change everything.
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For now, thousands of
gods live on the Nile.
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Each city has its own
god, with its own temple.
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In southern Egypt, on the
island of Elephantine,
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one of the empire's
most ancient holy sites
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was already 1,500 years old
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by the time of Pharaoh Amenhotep.
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For generations, priests have prayed here
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for the Nile's nourishing floodwaters,
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always worshiping on
behalf of the pharaoh,
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the only mortal who can
communicate with the gods.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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As Egypt prospers, more and more temples
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spring up on the banks of the Nile,
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run by an increasing number of priests.
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- Certainly from the
time of the new kingdom,
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from the empire,
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the priesthood was a
very genuine way of life
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for a huge segment of the population.
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And from that point on,
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we can speak of a professional priesthood,
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with whole families of priests,
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that generation after generation
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function in the same temple.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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- [Narrator] The most powerful
serve in the capital, Thebes,
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in the temple of Amun-Ra, Karnak.
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Today, Karnak is one of the grandest
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archeological sites in the world.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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During Amenhotep's time, the
period of the new kingdom,
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it is a gigantic complex with bakeries,
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breweries, huge grain silos,
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thousands of priests, and
80,000 temple workers.
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The temple controls 400,000 animals,
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240,000 hectares of land.
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It is a state within a state,
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a world within a world,
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and dedicated to one god,
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the powerful but inaccessible Amun-Ra.
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At Karnak's Opet festival,
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average Egyptian citizen can
get closer to their chief deity
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before the priests shuttle
him back to his home
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in the dark inner sanctum of the temple.
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Only the priests and the pharaoh
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have access to the holy of holies.
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They protect the god, and so
the god protects the people.
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In gratitude, the citizens
leave offerings for Amun-Ra,
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which the priests record
in the temple walls.
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The generous display not
only pleases the god,
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but encourages the people
to open their purses wider.
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(gentle dramatic music)
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Gifts of meat, grain,
wine, beer, and much more
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flood into the temples to
win the god's good will.
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- These offerings, of course,
would then be redistributed
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to the priests, to their families,
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to the people who worked on
the farms owned by the temples,
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to the people who worked in the workshops
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or led training expeditions
on behalf of the temples.
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It was an army of people
who had to be supported.
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The temples were, in a very real sense,
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one of the most important
economic elements
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in the entire bureaucracy of Egypt.
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- [Narrator] By the time
of Pharaoh Amenhotep,
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the priests of Amun-Ra
control much of the economy.
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By employing a large percentage
of the Egyptian people,
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the priests take credit
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for maintaining the
empire's crucial balance,
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keeping Egypt the paradise on Earth.
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They represent this stability
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through a feathered goddess called Maat.
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- Maat was supposed to
be presented to the god
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every morning when he woke up,
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in the form of a little goddess
255
00:15:25,983 --> 00:15:28,181
sitting on a plate with
a feather on her head.
256
00:15:28,181 --> 00:15:30,002
That was Maat personified.
257
00:15:30,002 --> 00:15:31,133
And the priest,
258
00:15:31,133 --> 00:15:34,111
as soon as he had opened the
doors of the shrine at dawn,
259
00:15:34,111 --> 00:15:36,000
would immediately present Maat,
260
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,452
to prove to the god that
in the darkness hours
261
00:15:39,452 --> 00:15:43,535
evil had not triumphed
and order was still there.
262
00:15:45,340 --> 00:15:47,349
- [Narrator] The priests
dedicate their lives
263
00:15:47,349 --> 00:15:50,372
to rituals designed to
maintain this order,
264
00:15:50,372 --> 00:15:54,372
and to please the gods
who guarantee prosperity.
265
00:15:55,313 --> 00:15:58,745
The people are taught that if
they neglect their deities,
266
00:15:58,745 --> 00:16:02,912
the gods can die and chaos
will rule their country.
267
00:16:03,792 --> 00:16:07,070
For over 1,000 years,
no one has ever dared
268
00:16:07,070 --> 00:16:09,342
to challenge the system.
269
00:16:09,342 --> 00:16:12,283
The Egyptians make daily
offerings to the gods,
270
00:16:12,283 --> 00:16:15,200
which are collected by the priests.
271
00:16:17,336 --> 00:16:19,749
- There is a whole
process in ancient Egypt
272
00:16:19,749 --> 00:16:22,742
of what is called the
reversion, the reversion,
273
00:16:22,742 --> 00:16:25,939
which means that once the
offerings have been placed out
274
00:16:25,939 --> 00:16:29,819
and the god has been satisfied
with their counterparts,
275
00:16:29,819 --> 00:16:33,986
then the offerings revert to
the priests as their salaries.
276
00:16:34,872 --> 00:16:37,064
Or anybody working in the temple.
277
00:16:37,064 --> 00:16:39,372
He gets part of the
offerings as his salary.
278
00:16:39,372 --> 00:16:41,922
And they sign a contract with the temples,
279
00:16:41,922 --> 00:16:44,813
saying you will get, I don't know,
280
00:16:44,813 --> 00:16:48,980
1/64th of all the offerings
that are presented.
281
00:16:51,624 --> 00:16:53,084
- [Narrator] The greatest offerings
282
00:16:53,084 --> 00:16:56,131
come after a successful military campaign.
283
00:16:56,131 --> 00:17:00,298
When an enemy begs for
peace, he must pay tribute.
284
00:17:01,453 --> 00:17:03,804
The pharaoh makes sure that the priests
285
00:17:03,804 --> 00:17:05,847
collect their share of the spoils,
286
00:17:05,847 --> 00:17:07,653
to thank Amun-Ra for victory
287
00:17:07,653 --> 00:17:12,001
and to help guarantee
the continuation of Maat.
288
00:17:12,001 --> 00:17:15,551
(gentle exotic music)
289
00:17:15,551 --> 00:17:18,045
With every success, the
pharaoh and the priests
290
00:17:18,045 --> 00:17:20,378
amass more wealth and power.
291
00:17:23,127 --> 00:17:25,484
As long as there are battles to fight,
292
00:17:25,484 --> 00:17:28,627
the pharaohs could ride
the wave of military glory,
293
00:17:28,627 --> 00:17:30,731
protecting Egypt from foreign enemies
294
00:17:30,731 --> 00:17:33,564
and becoming heroes to the people.
295
00:17:36,113 --> 00:17:40,280
(horses galloping)
(yelling)
296
00:17:41,226 --> 00:17:45,351
(gentle dramatic music)
297
00:17:45,351 --> 00:17:47,080
Pharaohs portrayed themselves
298
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:49,616
through showy marketing campaigns,
299
00:17:49,616 --> 00:17:53,783
carved into temple walls like
billboards on Times Square.
300
00:17:54,824 --> 00:17:56,972
- What we moderns do not realize
301
00:17:56,972 --> 00:17:59,770
is that all these relief
scenes in antiquity
302
00:17:59,770 --> 00:18:02,079
were brightly colored.
303
00:18:02,079 --> 00:18:05,563
Lavish, lurid, poster color type paints
304
00:18:05,563 --> 00:18:08,350
were applied all over these scenes,
305
00:18:08,350 --> 00:18:10,803
for the Egyptian artist's palette
306
00:18:10,803 --> 00:18:14,296
was very highly-keyed
with red, yellows, blues.
307
00:18:14,296 --> 00:18:17,194
The whole purpose was to cause the scene
308
00:18:17,194 --> 00:18:20,273
to almost bounce out
at you from the stone,
309
00:18:20,273 --> 00:18:23,696
and to cause the entire
courtyard almost a glow.
310
00:18:23,696 --> 00:18:26,434
This was all, of course, in
the service of propaganda
311
00:18:26,434 --> 00:18:29,219
to promote the king as a heroic figure,
312
00:18:29,219 --> 00:18:33,713
a conquering heroic figure
who could not be resisted.
313
00:18:33,713 --> 00:18:35,416
(horses galloping)
314
00:18:35,416 --> 00:18:37,529
- [Narrator] These kings were
shown on the front lines,
315
00:18:37,529 --> 00:18:40,965
fighting side-by-side with their men.
316
00:18:40,965 --> 00:18:43,798
But Amenhotep has no war to fight.
317
00:18:44,957 --> 00:18:47,660
No foreign power threatens Egypt.
318
00:18:47,660 --> 00:18:50,890
He has no traditional path to glory.
319
00:18:50,890 --> 00:18:54,035
So he decides to elevate
the status of pharaoh
320
00:18:54,035 --> 00:18:55,452
to that of a god.
321
00:18:59,219 --> 00:19:03,646
And for this new god, he plans
to build the biggest temple
322
00:19:03,646 --> 00:19:05,313
Egypt has ever seen.
323
00:19:06,984 --> 00:19:09,248
Today, Amenhotep's complex,
324
00:19:09,248 --> 00:19:12,107
the most expensive since the pyramids,
325
00:19:12,107 --> 00:19:16,293
is one of the largest
excavation sites in Egypt.
326
00:19:16,293 --> 00:19:18,908
(speaking in foreign language)
327
00:19:18,908 --> 00:19:22,383
It takes 100 people to
put but one of his statues
328
00:19:22,383 --> 00:19:23,774
back together.
329
00:19:23,774 --> 00:19:26,191
To erect them took many more.
330
00:19:27,186 --> 00:19:29,353
And he erected over 1,000.
331
00:19:32,746 --> 00:19:35,140
Each represents Pharaoh Amenhotep,
332
00:19:35,140 --> 00:19:39,057
designed to confirm his
status as god on Earth.
333
00:19:41,906 --> 00:19:45,426
- [Interpreter] Everyone knows
that a pharaoh was human,
334
00:19:45,426 --> 00:19:48,274
but in office he's godlike.
335
00:19:48,274 --> 00:19:51,633
When he's clothed in his
regalia, in his royal garb,
336
00:19:51,633 --> 00:19:54,808
then he appears to be divine.
337
00:19:54,808 --> 00:19:57,392
In time, he becomes the son of god.
338
00:19:57,392 --> 00:19:59,682
And by the time of Amenhotep the Third,
339
00:19:59,682 --> 00:20:00,849
he is the god.
340
00:20:04,314 --> 00:20:06,857
- [Narrator] Amenhotep
built his funerary temple
341
00:20:06,857 --> 00:20:11,078
as the physical expression
of his boundless ambition.
342
00:20:11,078 --> 00:20:15,245
The temple walls, 750 meters
long and eight meters thick,
343
00:20:16,450 --> 00:20:19,161
were adorned with colorful painted reliefs
344
00:20:19,161 --> 00:20:21,982
and statues of the pharaoh.
345
00:20:21,982 --> 00:20:25,593
All made from precious red
granite, white alabaster,
346
00:20:25,593 --> 00:20:29,380
and quartzite from the north
and south of the country,
347
00:20:29,380 --> 00:20:33,213
he fashioned a masterpiece
built for eternity.
348
00:20:37,726 --> 00:20:40,368
But today's dig reveals something more
349
00:20:40,368 --> 00:20:44,826
than the monumental statues
that dominate the terrain.
350
00:20:44,826 --> 00:20:48,743
(speaking in foreign language)
351
00:20:51,671 --> 00:20:55,143
Hourig Sourouzian and her
team have made subtler finds
352
00:20:55,143 --> 00:20:58,560
that expose another side of this pharaoh.
353
00:21:00,491 --> 00:21:02,863
They're digging out
illustrated blocks of stone
354
00:21:02,863 --> 00:21:07,030
that show intimate scenes from
the pharaoh's personal life,
355
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,194
scenes unthinkable for a pharaoh to reveal
356
00:21:13,194 --> 00:21:15,194
before Amenhotep's time.
357
00:21:20,790 --> 00:21:22,317
- [Interpreter] There is a pool
358
00:21:22,317 --> 00:21:24,969
with three naked girls swimming in it.
359
00:21:24,969 --> 00:21:26,363
That's unique.
360
00:21:26,363 --> 00:21:28,576
We were so happy to find that.
361
00:21:28,576 --> 00:21:30,752
There are no names, but we assume
362
00:21:30,752 --> 00:21:32,918
that they are the king's daughters,
363
00:21:32,918 --> 00:21:34,751
swimming on a hot day.
364
00:21:41,472 --> 00:21:42,768
- [Narrator] For the pharaoh,
365
00:21:42,768 --> 00:21:45,345
even mundane scenes from his family life
366
00:21:45,345 --> 00:21:47,012
are worth recording.
367
00:21:48,770 --> 00:21:50,543
His young son Akhenaten,
368
00:21:50,543 --> 00:21:54,231
growing up in the shadow of
his father's gigantic temple,
369
00:21:54,231 --> 00:21:57,206
learns the importance
of pictures and symbols
370
00:21:57,206 --> 00:21:58,706
in religious life.
371
00:22:02,149 --> 00:22:04,786
Inside and out, his father's temple
372
00:22:04,786 --> 00:22:09,359
incorporates the traditional
elements of cosmic harmony.
373
00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:13,558
(gentle orchestral music)
374
00:22:13,558 --> 00:22:16,975
The pillars represent Egypt's plant life.
375
00:22:23,153 --> 00:22:27,320
The temple's ceilings recall
the sky and the heavens.
376
00:22:28,776 --> 00:22:32,943
The floor symbolizes the
Nile and its fertile mud.
377
00:22:34,256 --> 00:22:36,654
- The art is a reflection
of this orderliness
378
00:22:36,654 --> 00:22:40,466
that we called Maat, that the
ancient Egyptians called Maat.
379
00:22:40,466 --> 00:22:42,126
You see it in Egyptian temples,
380
00:22:42,126 --> 00:22:43,945
where on the outer walls of the temple
381
00:22:43,945 --> 00:22:45,262
you have battle scenes,
382
00:22:45,262 --> 00:22:47,877
with pharaoh going after
the enemies of Egypt,
383
00:22:47,877 --> 00:22:50,371
and of course always winning the battle.
384
00:22:50,371 --> 00:22:51,685
You go inside the temple,
385
00:22:51,685 --> 00:22:54,416
and you find peace and tranquility.
386
00:22:54,416 --> 00:22:55,747
You're in the home of a god,
387
00:22:55,747 --> 00:22:57,311
and the scenes are very different.
388
00:22:57,311 --> 00:23:00,564
You have moved from the
symbols of disorder and chaos
389
00:23:00,564 --> 00:23:04,731
to the symbols of order,
peace, tranquility, Maat.
390
00:23:11,881 --> 00:23:14,987
- [Narrator] Entering a
traditional Egyptian temple,
391
00:23:14,987 --> 00:23:18,215
the priests transition from light to dark
392
00:23:18,215 --> 00:23:21,414
as they approach the holy of holies.
393
00:23:21,414 --> 00:23:24,664
(gentle ambient music)
394
00:23:26,917 --> 00:23:29,005
It's where the gods live,
395
00:23:29,005 --> 00:23:31,922
hidden from the eyes of the people.
396
00:23:40,065 --> 00:23:43,912
But Amenhotep re-imagines the temple.
397
00:23:43,912 --> 00:23:46,829
He wants to let the light shine in.
398
00:23:47,937 --> 00:23:52,391
He identifies himself
with Aten, the Sun Disk,
399
00:23:52,391 --> 00:23:54,733
another form of the sun god.
400
00:23:54,733 --> 00:23:58,900
He even has himself addressed
as Shining Sun Disk.
401
00:24:02,282 --> 00:24:03,876
(speaking in foreign language)
402
00:24:03,876 --> 00:24:06,651
What goes on in a boy's
mind when he sees his father
403
00:24:06,651 --> 00:24:08,651
turn himself into a god?
404
00:24:09,693 --> 00:24:12,418
For Akhenaten, the message is clear.
405
00:24:12,418 --> 00:24:16,085
The Sun Disk now rises
above all other gods.
406
00:24:18,580 --> 00:24:21,413
The sun is the source of all life.
407
00:24:23,002 --> 00:24:25,251
It feeds the people of the empire,
408
00:24:25,251 --> 00:24:29,418
it makes the cattle thrive
and the harvests abundant.
409
00:24:31,322 --> 00:24:33,905
(gentle music)
410
00:24:35,324 --> 00:24:39,491
Aten is a god who is
everywhere, visible to everyone,
411
00:24:42,005 --> 00:24:46,128
a god of every day life, always present.
412
00:24:46,128 --> 00:24:48,711
No need for priests to mediate.
413
00:24:50,811 --> 00:24:53,611
And so Amenhotep's new Aten cult
414
00:24:53,611 --> 00:24:58,216
is a not-so-subtle threat
to the priests of Amun-Ra.
415
00:24:58,216 --> 00:24:59,982
To control them, he also appoints
416
00:24:59,982 --> 00:25:02,057
loyal friends and family members
417
00:25:02,057 --> 00:25:03,911
to some of the highest positions
418
00:25:03,911 --> 00:25:06,788
at the temples of Luxor and Karnak.
419
00:25:06,788 --> 00:25:10,558
By altering the politics and
the scope of throne and temple,
420
00:25:10,558 --> 00:25:14,725
Amenhotep tips the balance of
power away from the priests.
421
00:25:16,171 --> 00:25:20,043
- He did, at one point, this is true,
422
00:25:20,043 --> 00:25:24,210
sort of engineer a shift in
the status of the pharaoh,
423
00:25:25,552 --> 00:25:26,778
the god king,
424
00:25:26,778 --> 00:25:30,079
by considering himself,
to a certain extent,
425
00:25:30,079 --> 00:25:31,412
an enhanced god.
426
00:25:32,707 --> 00:25:35,184
Now, every Egyptian pharaoh was a god,
427
00:25:35,184 --> 00:25:37,144
a perfect god or the great god.
428
00:25:37,144 --> 00:25:40,656
But Amenhotep Third did
something more than that.
429
00:25:40,656 --> 00:25:44,489
He considered himself
in a special way divine.
430
00:25:46,034 --> 00:25:48,405
- [Narrator] The priests
of the old cult of Amun-Ra
431
00:25:48,405 --> 00:25:53,215
see this new sun god pharaoh
eclipsing their power.
432
00:25:53,215 --> 00:25:54,965
They are not pleased.
433
00:25:56,393 --> 00:25:59,836
As Akhenaten grows up
and marries Nefertiti,
434
00:25:59,836 --> 00:26:02,586
he has a difficult act to follow.
435
00:26:03,838 --> 00:26:06,382
Eventually he will succeed his father,
436
00:26:06,382 --> 00:26:10,549
but how can he outshine a
man who is already a god?
437
00:26:14,638 --> 00:26:18,805
Amenhotep, pharaoh, family
man, and self-made deity,
438
00:26:19,737 --> 00:26:22,237
dies at the peak of his power.
439
00:26:23,442 --> 00:26:25,601
He has obtained immortality
440
00:26:25,601 --> 00:26:30,011
by building more than
any pharaoh before him.
441
00:26:30,011 --> 00:26:33,043
By redefining what it means to be a god
442
00:26:33,043 --> 00:26:36,543
and by revealing more of himself as a man,
443
00:26:37,650 --> 00:26:40,897
he leaves behind an
incredibly rich country
444
00:26:40,897 --> 00:26:43,053
and a simmering conflict,
445
00:26:43,053 --> 00:26:47,220
the rivalry between the pharaoh
and the priests of Amun-Ra.
446
00:26:48,219 --> 00:26:51,229
As his son Akhenaten ascends the throne,
447
00:26:51,229 --> 00:26:54,314
what do the priests expect of him?
448
00:26:54,314 --> 00:26:56,808
Perhaps he'll want to avoid confrontation
449
00:26:56,808 --> 00:26:58,808
and reconcile with them.
450
00:27:02,582 --> 00:27:07,173
But instead, Akhenaten will
take his father's policies
451
00:27:07,173 --> 00:27:09,590
and extend them even further.
452
00:27:12,305 --> 00:27:16,472
If pharaoh is a god, then
he must have no competition.
453
00:27:20,395 --> 00:27:23,130
(speaking in foreign language)
454
00:27:23,130 --> 00:27:27,297
Akhenaten will attack the
cult of Amun-Ra head-on.
455
00:27:31,084 --> 00:27:35,251
In the process, he will undo
1,500 years of tradition
456
00:27:39,533 --> 00:27:42,450
and rattle Egypt to its foundation.
457
00:27:43,509 --> 00:27:46,662
(thunder rolling)
458
00:27:46,662 --> 00:27:49,606
He starts be escalating
his father's conflict
459
00:27:49,606 --> 00:27:50,809
with the priests,
460
00:27:50,809 --> 00:27:54,976
ordering the temples of Amun-Ra
closed and banning the god.
461
00:27:58,699 --> 00:28:01,007
His supporters storm the sacred sites
462
00:28:01,007 --> 00:28:04,590
and confiscate the
toppled god's treasures.
463
00:28:06,276 --> 00:28:09,499
Amun-Ra is struck from history,
464
00:28:09,499 --> 00:28:12,571
his name obliterated
from the temple walls.
465
00:28:12,571 --> 00:28:14,821
Egypt has only one god now,
466
00:28:17,467 --> 00:28:19,050
Aten, the Sun Disk,
467
00:28:20,511 --> 00:28:22,844
the supreme and final ruler.
468
00:28:25,904 --> 00:28:28,650
No pharaoh had ever dared to attack
469
00:28:28,650 --> 00:28:31,983
the cherished pantheon of Egyptian gods.
470
00:28:33,206 --> 00:28:37,436
Nothing will remain now but
the Sun Disk and his children,
471
00:28:37,436 --> 00:28:39,436
Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
472
00:28:43,744 --> 00:28:45,918
- With the removal of the gods,
473
00:28:45,918 --> 00:28:48,336
their mythology went, too.
474
00:28:48,336 --> 00:28:50,162
There was no more mythology.
475
00:28:50,162 --> 00:28:53,782
He didn't have a myth
about the Sun Disk at all.
476
00:28:53,782 --> 00:28:56,694
And so we're told that the
Sun Disk created the world.
477
00:28:56,694 --> 00:28:58,203
We're not told how.
478
00:28:58,203 --> 00:29:02,370
All the old creation stories,
the mythology is gone.
479
00:29:05,508 --> 00:29:08,749
- [Narrator] For the priests
of Amun-Ra, it spells disaster.
480
00:29:08,749 --> 00:29:13,274
They stand to lose power,
money, and authority.
481
00:29:13,274 --> 00:29:16,336
Secretly, they try to save
some statues of their god,
482
00:29:16,336 --> 00:29:19,314
hoping to stay in his favor.
483
00:29:19,314 --> 00:29:21,335
"Look upon us, Amun-Ra.
484
00:29:21,335 --> 00:29:23,190
"You were here when there was nothing,
485
00:29:23,190 --> 00:29:25,349
"and you will be here for eternity.
486
00:29:25,349 --> 00:29:26,849
"Banish our fear."
487
00:29:28,553 --> 00:29:31,664
Their prayers go unanswered.
488
00:29:31,664 --> 00:29:33,467
Akhenaten closes the temples
489
00:29:33,467 --> 00:29:37,194
and sentences the priests to hard labor.
490
00:29:37,194 --> 00:29:39,781
Now, offerings flow to the new god
491
00:29:39,781 --> 00:29:41,198
and to Akhenaten.
492
00:29:47,427 --> 00:29:51,689
- Immediately, the tax
revenue, as he calls it,
493
00:29:51,689 --> 00:29:55,033
that poured into the
granaries of the Sun Disk
494
00:29:55,033 --> 00:29:56,832
was enormous.
495
00:29:56,832 --> 00:30:01,019
And all other temples
were very quickly pushed
496
00:30:01,019 --> 00:30:02,778
into economic hardship.
497
00:30:02,778 --> 00:30:05,794
Their doors closed, they
couldn't sustain themselves,
498
00:30:05,794 --> 00:30:07,294
and they lay idle.
499
00:30:09,098 --> 00:30:12,356
(gentle dramatic music)
500
00:30:12,356 --> 00:30:14,831
- [Narrator] But
Akhenaten hasn't finished.
501
00:30:14,831 --> 00:30:17,453
He envisions grand temples to Aten,
502
00:30:17,453 --> 00:30:20,831
to rival the gigantic complex of Karnak.
503
00:30:20,831 --> 00:30:24,789
He wants to outdo even his
father's colossal constructions,
504
00:30:24,789 --> 00:30:26,456
and he wants it now.
505
00:30:27,507 --> 00:30:30,840
(gentle dramatic music)
506
00:30:33,339 --> 00:30:35,997
The quickest way to build in ancient Egypt
507
00:30:35,997 --> 00:30:37,450
is with mud bricks,
508
00:30:37,450 --> 00:30:40,283
which take no time to manufacture.
509
00:30:43,203 --> 00:30:46,871
But mud bricks don't last for eternity,
510
00:30:46,871 --> 00:30:50,371
and so they're unfit for building temples.
511
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:54,903
So the resourceful young pharaoh
512
00:30:54,903 --> 00:30:58,047
builds with smaller,
easier-to-carry blocks
513
00:30:58,047 --> 00:31:00,630
instead of massive stone slabs.
514
00:31:04,184 --> 00:31:06,245
With these sandstone blocks,
515
00:31:06,245 --> 00:31:09,599
Akhenaten can erect an
enormous temple to Aten
516
00:31:09,599 --> 00:31:11,266
in just a few years.
517
00:31:12,898 --> 00:31:15,345
And he builds it right next to Karnak,
518
00:31:15,345 --> 00:31:17,762
the old seat of Amun's power.
519
00:31:18,711 --> 00:31:20,889
He envisions a revolutionary temple
520
00:31:20,889 --> 00:31:22,889
with a new architecture.
521
00:31:23,750 --> 00:31:27,917
His god, the Sun Disk Aten, is
worshiped under an open sky.
522
00:31:29,595 --> 00:31:32,073
The whole complex has no roof,
523
00:31:32,073 --> 00:31:36,497
so the sun god's rays
can flood the interior.
524
00:31:36,497 --> 00:31:37,646
After a short time,
525
00:31:37,646 --> 00:31:41,175
Akhenaten has already
surpassed his father's temple.
526
00:31:41,175 --> 00:31:43,258
But then, he abandons it.
527
00:31:46,329 --> 00:31:49,047
Perhaps to show his
defiance of the old order
528
00:31:49,047 --> 00:31:52,254
or to demonstrate the
strength of his new god,
529
00:31:52,254 --> 00:31:55,915
Akhenaten decides to leave Thebes,
530
00:31:55,915 --> 00:31:59,387
where the air is still thick
with the spirit of the old god,
531
00:31:59,387 --> 00:32:01,413
and starts from scratch.
532
00:32:01,413 --> 00:32:03,811
He relaunches a new Egyptian society
533
00:32:03,811 --> 00:32:06,841
400 kilometers north of Thebes,
534
00:32:06,841 --> 00:32:09,205
in an almost-deserted region,
535
00:32:09,205 --> 00:32:11,538
creating a new capital city.
536
00:32:13,110 --> 00:32:17,308
It's a crazy idea, a complete
break from tradition.
537
00:32:17,308 --> 00:32:20,192
Akhenaten takes his
architects into the desert,
538
00:32:20,192 --> 00:32:23,383
where his vision will become reality.
539
00:32:23,383 --> 00:32:27,740
(dramatic orchestral music)
540
00:32:27,740 --> 00:32:32,204
Akhetaten rises on the
eastern bank of the Nile,
541
00:32:32,204 --> 00:32:35,490
a sprawling metropolis to rival Thebes.
542
00:32:35,490 --> 00:32:37,990
It boasts 50,000 subjects,
543
00:32:37,990 --> 00:32:41,506
colossal temples dedicated to Aten,
544
00:32:41,506 --> 00:32:44,173
a vast palace, and wide streets.
545
00:32:49,192 --> 00:32:51,942
And yet at the site of Akhetaten,
546
00:32:52,796 --> 00:32:55,379
today's Amarna, little remains.
547
00:32:56,351 --> 00:32:59,101
(birds tweeting)
548
00:33:05,619 --> 00:33:09,184
Egyptologist Barry Kemp has
spent his professional life
549
00:33:09,184 --> 00:33:11,351
studying Akhenaten's city.
550
00:33:12,900 --> 00:33:14,302
We know its borders,
551
00:33:14,302 --> 00:33:17,368
marked by boundary plaques
carved deep into the rock face
552
00:33:17,368 --> 00:33:19,785
of the surrounding mountains.
553
00:33:20,714 --> 00:33:23,287
They proclaim that the god of the Sun Disk
554
00:33:23,287 --> 00:33:25,870
told the pharaoh to build here.
555
00:33:29,135 --> 00:33:32,503
- He tells us in the boundary text,
556
00:33:32,503 --> 00:33:35,131
the Boundary Stelae, in his own voice,
557
00:33:35,131 --> 00:33:38,542
that the Aten directed him here.
558
00:33:38,542 --> 00:33:42,148
And that he had certain, he Akhenaten,
559
00:33:42,148 --> 00:33:44,317
had certain criteria in mind.
560
00:33:44,317 --> 00:33:48,221
It had to be on the east
side, in a mountainous area,
561
00:33:48,221 --> 00:33:50,229
and it had to be a place
562
00:33:50,229 --> 00:33:53,382
which had not belonged
to any god or goddess
563
00:33:53,382 --> 00:33:55,927
or king or queen or anyone before.
564
00:33:55,927 --> 00:33:57,894
So it was a clean, pure place
565
00:33:57,894 --> 00:34:00,859
that had not been claimed by anyone.
566
00:34:00,859 --> 00:34:02,988
(speaking in foreign language)
567
00:34:02,988 --> 00:34:06,856
- [Narrator] In the fifth
year of his reign, 1347 BC,
568
00:34:06,856 --> 00:34:10,189
Akhenaten dedicates his city, Akhetaten.
569
00:34:13,146 --> 00:34:14,657
To the tens of thousands of people
570
00:34:14,657 --> 00:34:16,504
he has forced to move here,
571
00:34:16,504 --> 00:34:20,277
he announces a new beginning
in Egypt's history.
572
00:34:20,277 --> 00:34:23,284
From now on, they are
all under the protection
573
00:34:23,284 --> 00:34:24,951
of the sun god Aten.
574
00:34:26,177 --> 00:34:29,844
It's a time of new
opportunity and equality.
575
00:34:35,266 --> 00:34:37,947
Today, archeologists preserve the remains
576
00:34:37,947 --> 00:34:39,614
of Akhenaten's city.
577
00:34:40,919 --> 00:34:44,836
(speaking in foreign language)
578
00:34:46,734 --> 00:34:48,823
After years of studying the foundations
579
00:34:48,823 --> 00:34:51,166
and thousands of area photographs,
580
00:34:51,166 --> 00:34:52,879
they have traced the outlines
581
00:34:52,879 --> 00:34:56,546
and finally know what
Akhetaten looked like.
582
00:34:59,137 --> 00:35:03,304
The officials live in the north,
beside the palace complex.
583
00:35:07,896 --> 00:35:10,813
Every day, Akhenaten
and his wife Nefertiti
584
00:35:10,813 --> 00:35:14,980
travel the broad avenues to
show themselves to the people.
585
00:35:18,313 --> 00:35:21,146
(birds squawking)
586
00:35:22,504 --> 00:35:24,829
On many of the Aten temple walls,
587
00:35:24,829 --> 00:35:29,661
reliefs depict the royal
couple praying to the sun god.
588
00:35:29,661 --> 00:35:32,994
(gentle dramatic music)
589
00:35:35,540 --> 00:35:38,437
The palace and the
temple are both arranged
590
00:35:38,437 --> 00:35:40,771
so that at sunrise and sunset,
591
00:35:40,771 --> 00:35:44,938
Aten's rays flood the sacred
buildings of the new capital.
592
00:35:46,142 --> 00:35:49,475
(gentle dramatic music)
593
00:36:00,547 --> 00:36:03,241
Akhenaten and Nefertiti are obsessed
594
00:36:03,241 --> 00:36:07,074
by their holy role as
children of the sun god.
595
00:36:08,602 --> 00:36:11,492
They've replaced the crowded
pantheon of Egyptian gods
596
00:36:11,492 --> 00:36:13,575
with the single god Aten.
597
00:36:16,086 --> 00:36:17,669
It's a simple idea,
598
00:36:18,578 --> 00:36:21,728
foreshadowing the monotheism
of later religions,
599
00:36:21,728 --> 00:36:23,645
but radical in its day.
600
00:36:25,380 --> 00:36:28,434
However, in spite of their
promise of a better society,
601
00:36:28,434 --> 00:36:32,022
the royal couple shows no
interest in their subjects,
602
00:36:32,022 --> 00:36:35,522
putting their own immortality in jeopardy.
603
00:36:40,405 --> 00:36:43,572
- I don't think he was
intending to reform society.
604
00:36:43,572 --> 00:36:45,799
It's a very personal reform
605
00:36:45,799 --> 00:36:49,966
of how the state god should
be defined and approached.
606
00:36:52,822 --> 00:36:54,316
And an important part of that approach
607
00:36:54,316 --> 00:36:57,135
is to create a special place.
608
00:36:57,135 --> 00:36:59,540
- [Narrator] Akhenaten
decorates this special place
609
00:36:59,540 --> 00:37:01,399
with a new form of art,
610
00:37:01,399 --> 00:37:05,566
no more strange animal gods or
victorious warrior pharaohs.
611
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:08,657
For the first time in Egypt's history,
612
00:37:08,657 --> 00:37:11,088
the pharaoh is depicted as an individual
613
00:37:11,088 --> 00:37:13,464
with human emotions,
614
00:37:13,464 --> 00:37:15,965
and shown in the circle of his family
615
00:37:15,965 --> 00:37:18,548
as a loving husband and father.
616
00:37:22,322 --> 00:37:24,466
And always the royal family is seen
617
00:37:24,466 --> 00:37:27,441
basking in the light of the sun god Aten,
618
00:37:27,441 --> 00:37:30,608
who caresses his family with his rays.
619
00:37:31,452 --> 00:37:35,300
Akhenaten's art is all
about the here and now,
620
00:37:35,300 --> 00:37:38,217
not about eternal life or the gods.
621
00:37:45,117 --> 00:37:48,829
- One aspect of his reign
that I find intriguing
622
00:37:48,829 --> 00:37:52,986
is that some of the courtiers,
the officials in their tombs,
623
00:37:52,986 --> 00:37:57,153
claimed to have been guided
by him in moral instruction,
624
00:37:58,395 --> 00:38:00,728
that he was the one that helped them
625
00:38:00,728 --> 00:38:03,574
to distinguish between right and wrong.
626
00:38:03,574 --> 00:38:05,322
And Akhenaten, through that,
627
00:38:05,322 --> 00:38:09,155
becomes perhaps a teacher,
a guider of people.
628
00:38:12,824 --> 00:38:14,850
- [Narrator] In the rock tombs of Amarna,
629
00:38:14,850 --> 00:38:17,183
a new elite presents itself.
630
00:38:19,431 --> 00:38:23,106
Proud of the exalted position
Akhenaten has granted them,
631
00:38:23,106 --> 00:38:26,025
they are unified in their belief in Aten,
632
00:38:26,025 --> 00:38:30,471
from their worship through
splendid festivities.
633
00:38:30,471 --> 00:38:33,721
(gentle ambient music)
634
00:38:36,499 --> 00:38:38,328
- There're also a couple of letters
635
00:38:38,328 --> 00:38:40,847
from a very ordinary
person that have survived,
636
00:38:40,847 --> 00:38:43,796
which were sent from Amarna to Thebes,
637
00:38:43,796 --> 00:38:46,927
in which the writer
claims to have been guided
638
00:38:46,927 --> 00:38:49,364
in personal decisions by the Aten,
639
00:38:49,364 --> 00:38:53,271
as if the Aten is becoming
the man's conscience.
640
00:38:53,271 --> 00:38:58,270
And perhaps that was some
aspect of Akhenaten's teaching.
641
00:38:58,270 --> 00:39:01,147
- [Narrator] We don't know if
this is what they really felt
642
00:39:01,147 --> 00:39:03,945
or if they wrote it to win favor.
643
00:39:03,945 --> 00:39:05,913
But either way, as never before,
644
00:39:05,913 --> 00:39:09,516
the emphasis is on the individual.
645
00:39:09,516 --> 00:39:12,471
Perhaps life in Akhetaten
is best understood
646
00:39:12,471 --> 00:39:14,740
by looking at how it ended,
647
00:39:14,740 --> 00:39:16,240
in its cemeteries.
648
00:39:18,567 --> 00:39:20,928
Unlike other periods of Egyptian history,
649
00:39:20,928 --> 00:39:25,095
most people were buried
straight into the desert soil.
650
00:39:28,869 --> 00:39:33,036
This rare wooden sarcophagus
probably held a high official.
651
00:39:37,534 --> 00:39:40,128
The more they dig, the
more Barry Kemp's team
652
00:39:40,128 --> 00:39:42,371
realizes it's witnessing a brief,
653
00:39:42,371 --> 00:39:44,954
unusual moment in Egypt's past.
654
00:39:48,976 --> 00:39:51,885
- Almost invariably, ancient cemeteries
655
00:39:51,885 --> 00:39:54,480
cover a period of time.
656
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:56,691
Whereas here the period of time,
657
00:39:56,691 --> 00:39:59,932
it's so short that it is a real population
658
00:39:59,932 --> 00:40:03,172
of people alive more or
less at the same time,
659
00:40:03,172 --> 00:40:06,815
many of them probably
related, knowing one another.
660
00:40:06,815 --> 00:40:09,630
So if you study the people from here,
661
00:40:09,630 --> 00:40:14,630
you really are studying a
cross-section of a population.
662
00:40:14,630 --> 00:40:17,691
(birds tweeting)
663
00:40:17,691 --> 00:40:19,345
- [Narrator] Most surprisingly,
664
00:40:19,345 --> 00:40:22,503
many of the remains Kemp
and his team have unearthed
665
00:40:22,503 --> 00:40:25,003
were young children or babies,
666
00:40:27,162 --> 00:40:29,579
like this 15-month-old child.
667
00:40:34,161 --> 00:40:37,744
Ancient sources say an
epidemic raged here.
668
00:40:39,287 --> 00:40:41,320
This seems to be accurate,
669
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:44,358
as evidenced by these decaying bones,
670
00:40:44,358 --> 00:40:47,108
here being gathered for analysis.
671
00:40:51,095 --> 00:40:53,560
- The opinion of the anthropologists
672
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,554
is that the pattern of death,
673
00:40:56,554 --> 00:40:58,980
with a peak amongst young people,
674
00:40:58,980 --> 00:41:02,230
matches records of death of populations
675
00:41:03,592 --> 00:41:06,175
in whom an epidemic is running.
676
00:41:08,430 --> 00:41:11,470
- [Narrator] But back
then, was this pestilence
677
00:41:11,470 --> 00:41:13,870
seen as a curse from Amun-Ra,
678
00:41:13,870 --> 00:41:16,620
the god abolished by the pharaoh?
679
00:41:20,863 --> 00:41:23,737
Akhenaten and Nefertiti
worship only themselves
680
00:41:23,737 --> 00:41:25,654
and their new god Aten.
681
00:41:27,209 --> 00:41:30,128
But behind their backs,
most of their subjects
682
00:41:30,128 --> 00:41:31,817
disobey their sovereign
683
00:41:31,817 --> 00:41:35,295
and secretly worship their old gods.
684
00:41:35,295 --> 00:41:38,628
(gentle dramatic music)
685
00:41:41,393 --> 00:41:43,307
- Even in his own new city,
686
00:41:43,307 --> 00:41:46,678
the extent to which his
new religion took root
687
00:41:46,678 --> 00:41:48,806
is very minimal.
688
00:41:48,806 --> 00:41:51,585
Because in certain suburbs of the city,
689
00:41:51,585 --> 00:41:54,941
we can see the fetishes and little idols
690
00:41:54,941 --> 00:41:59,908
and other paraphernalia of
the old cults still there.
691
00:41:59,908 --> 00:42:01,698
The people are still worshiping.
692
00:42:01,698 --> 00:42:03,288
What the people don't have, of course,
693
00:42:03,288 --> 00:42:04,945
are the big temples of the gods,
694
00:42:04,945 --> 00:42:06,602
where they can go and worship
695
00:42:06,602 --> 00:42:10,352
or where their relatives
can find employment.
696
00:42:12,253 --> 00:42:14,567
- [Narrator] Akhenaten will die young,
697
00:42:14,567 --> 00:42:17,794
after just 17 years in power.
698
00:42:17,794 --> 00:42:20,877
And his revolution will die with him.
699
00:42:22,007 --> 00:42:23,767
Shortly after his death,
700
00:42:23,767 --> 00:42:28,698
his subjects abandoned the
capital city Akhetaten.
701
00:42:28,698 --> 00:42:31,371
The survivors returned to Thebes.
702
00:42:31,371 --> 00:42:33,670
There wasn't much else they could do.
703
00:42:33,670 --> 00:42:38,649
Akhenaten's self-important
cult was nothing without him.
704
00:42:38,649 --> 00:42:40,901
- There seems to have
been no provision made
705
00:42:40,901 --> 00:42:42,699
for the succession.
706
00:42:42,699 --> 00:42:44,310
Who was going to follow him?
707
00:42:44,310 --> 00:42:45,579
And was he going to be
708
00:42:45,579 --> 00:42:47,988
the beautiful child of the Sun Disk, too?
709
00:42:47,988 --> 00:42:52,517
What would the role be
of the new king coming?
710
00:42:52,517 --> 00:42:54,345
- [Narrator] Back in the old capital,
711
00:42:54,345 --> 00:42:56,868
the priests bring the images of Amun-Ra
712
00:42:56,868 --> 00:42:58,925
out of their hiding places.
713
00:42:58,925 --> 00:43:02,008
For them, Akhenaten meant only chaos.
714
00:43:05,169 --> 00:43:08,836
Now, true order, Maat,
can be reestablished.
715
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:12,027
The priests and the people
716
00:43:12,027 --> 00:43:16,140
can celebrate the gods openly once more.
717
00:43:16,140 --> 00:43:19,140
(upbeat drum music)
718
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:30,588
The Egyptians believe that Amun-Ra
719
00:43:30,588 --> 00:43:33,758
cursed their late pharaoh
and all his works,
720
00:43:33,758 --> 00:43:36,536
so they tear down Akhenaten's sun temples
721
00:43:36,536 --> 00:43:38,953
just as fast as they went up.
722
00:43:40,717 --> 00:43:43,813
And thousands of ready-made
sandstone blocks,
723
00:43:43,813 --> 00:43:46,396
called talatat, find a new use.
724
00:43:48,511 --> 00:43:50,352
- The very practical Egyptians
725
00:43:50,352 --> 00:43:54,519
decided to use this masonry
as fill and core material,
726
00:43:56,612 --> 00:44:00,530
in later walls and pylons and under floors
727
00:44:00,530 --> 00:44:02,105
and things like that.
728
00:44:02,105 --> 00:44:05,718
The result is that in the Karnak area,
729
00:44:05,718 --> 00:44:07,885
well over 100,000 talatat,
730
00:44:10,384 --> 00:44:12,927
each with a fragment of relief,
731
00:44:12,927 --> 00:44:16,279
has been preserved and has been secreted
732
00:44:16,279 --> 00:44:19,196
in their new beds within the pylons
733
00:44:20,211 --> 00:44:23,853
and under the floors and so forth.
734
00:44:23,853 --> 00:44:26,848
- [Narrator] Ironically,
the decay of Karnak's temple
735
00:44:26,848 --> 00:44:28,927
over the centuries has been a godsend
736
00:44:28,927 --> 00:44:32,290
for archeologists researching this period.
737
00:44:32,290 --> 00:44:33,883
As its walls collapsed,
738
00:44:33,883 --> 00:44:37,216
they exposed Akhenaten's talatat blocks.
739
00:44:38,744 --> 00:44:40,342
Donald Redford and his colleagues
740
00:44:40,342 --> 00:44:42,809
have spent decades cataloging them.
741
00:44:42,809 --> 00:44:45,694
Piecing together tens
of thousands of photos,
742
00:44:45,694 --> 00:44:48,279
they've reconstructed
some of the temple walls
743
00:44:48,279 --> 00:44:49,946
of the heretic king.
744
00:44:53,466 --> 00:44:57,407
The mighty reliefs that
adorned Akhenaten's cult sites
745
00:44:57,407 --> 00:45:00,131
show an uncompromising pharaoh
746
00:45:00,131 --> 00:45:04,298
who insisted that everything
revolve around the god Aten.
747
00:45:08,026 --> 00:45:11,112
Akhenaten was convinced that
the rays of the Sun Disk
748
00:45:11,112 --> 00:45:14,779
would grant him and his
family eternal life.
749
00:45:16,193 --> 00:45:20,360
His goals were grandiose,
but his fall was complete.
750
00:45:23,818 --> 00:45:27,366
Even his heir, the boy king Tutankhamen,
751
00:45:27,366 --> 00:45:28,866
curses his legacy.
752
00:45:32,132 --> 00:45:34,491
To distance himself from his father,
753
00:45:34,491 --> 00:45:38,488
he erects plaques listing
all of Akhenaten's abuses.
754
00:45:38,488 --> 00:45:42,794
(dramatic orchestral music)
755
00:45:42,794 --> 00:45:45,767
- He complains, in his
great reformation stela,
756
00:45:45,767 --> 00:45:48,365
that the gods had turned
their back on Egypt.
757
00:45:48,365 --> 00:45:50,377
If the Egyptian Army went into Syria,
758
00:45:50,377 --> 00:45:52,449
they would be defeated all the time.
759
00:45:52,449 --> 00:45:54,710
And other disasters would follow
760
00:45:54,710 --> 00:45:57,510
because the gods had turned their backs.
761
00:45:57,510 --> 00:46:00,033
And now I'm gonna make them turn around.
762
00:46:00,033 --> 00:46:02,533
I'm gonna re-open the temples.
763
00:46:04,696 --> 00:46:07,910
- [Narrator] After a period
of drastic harmful change,
764
00:46:07,910 --> 00:46:12,238
the priests and pharaoh
embrace conservatism,
765
00:46:12,238 --> 00:46:13,905
a time-tested order.
766
00:46:18,010 --> 00:46:20,009
In their magnificent temples,
767
00:46:20,009 --> 00:46:22,105
the illustrations depict the pharaoh
768
00:46:22,105 --> 00:46:24,756
in his renewed role as high priest,
769
00:46:24,756 --> 00:46:27,134
talking to the gods.
770
00:46:27,134 --> 00:46:30,035
And the gods in return
guarantee the prosperity
771
00:46:30,035 --> 00:46:32,035
of Egypt and its people.
772
00:46:34,675 --> 00:46:36,290
Akhenaten never appears
773
00:46:36,290 --> 00:46:38,959
in the official list of Egypt's kings,
774
00:46:38,959 --> 00:46:41,880
carved into the temple at Abydos.
775
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,963
His name is obliterated from history.
776
00:46:47,093 --> 00:46:49,940
1,500 years of tradition are stronger
777
00:46:49,940 --> 00:46:52,190
than the mightiest pharaoh.
778
00:46:53,107 --> 00:46:57,274
The old rituals will continue
for another 1,000 years.
779
00:46:58,575 --> 00:47:01,186
Akhenaten's dangerous vision of a single,
780
00:47:01,186 --> 00:47:04,811
all-seeing god was
repellent to most Egyptians,
781
00:47:04,811 --> 00:47:07,894
who worshiped at thousands of altars.
782
00:47:10,051 --> 00:47:14,142
We will never know what
motivated him to empower Aten,
783
00:47:14,142 --> 00:47:16,400
but the pharaoh was a visionary,
784
00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:19,116
a monotheist born too soon,
785
00:47:19,116 --> 00:47:23,283
long before the idea took
hold in much of the world.
786
00:47:27,394 --> 00:47:31,061
(dramatic orchestral music)
787
00:47:56,636 --> 00:47:58,937
(ambient flourish)
61280
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