Original subtitles

October, 1 1 1 1 BC.

The tombs of the Pharaohs are being plundered.

The holy city of Thebes is rocked by scandal.

A poor labourer is arrested.

This is a true story.

3,000 years later, the records of the investigation into his crime

still survive.

But his trial is no ordinary criminal case.

He's caught in a battle for supremacy

between two rival politicians.

He's a fall guy.

But he knows enough to bring down the most powerful men in Egypt.

ln a tomb carved into the hills of Thebes,

a Pharaoh lies in peace.

Sobekemsaf has been dead for 500 years.

But his journey through the afterlife is about to be interrupted.

Tomb robbers are after the treasure buried with him.

They'll stop at nothing.

ln an act of sacrilege,

they plunder the king's mummified body.

This is more than theft -

it's a crime against the gods.

Their souls will be damned for eternity.

But the thieves only care about the here and now.

No royal tomb is safe.

Amenpanufer, a quarryman with a young family,

is one of the gang.

Thebes is Egypt's religious capital.

lt's a sprawling city of 60,000 people,

run by a powerful class of rich aristocrats and priests.

Amenpanufer is a poorly paid labourer.

But he is also part of an underworld that is corrupting the holy city.

There's a thriving black market in sacred objects

stolen from the graves of Egypt's Pharaohs.

So far, Amenpanufer has kept out of trouble.

He's bribing Bakwerel, the chief of police.

Another man who is not put off by the fear of divine retribution.

The quarryman imagines he has bought himself immunity from prosecution.

But his days as a free man are numbered.

1 40 years ago, a papyrus document was dug up

near the site of Thebes.

lt's the full transcript of Amenpanufer's trial for tomb robbery.

Five other legal documents were found with the transcript of his trial.

Pieced together, they give a blow-by-blow account

of an extraordinary investigation.

This is the true story of the most serious tomb robbing scandal

in Egypt's history.

The case unfolded over the course of ten days

3,000 years ago.

Between the lines of the damning evidence against Amenpanufer,

the records reveal a corrupt world

in which nothing is sacred.

Across the River Nile from Thebes

lies Egypt's royal burial ground.

For 500 years,

the Valley of the Kings has been the final resting place of the Pharaohs.

The tomb of the current Pharaoh, Ramses lX,

has been under construction for 16 years.

lt will only be completed when he dies.

lt's a secret mausoleum carved deep into the hillside,

built and decorated by the finest craftsmen in Egypt.

The painter, Pentaweret,

is one of 60 or so men working on the Pharaoh's tomb.

He's one of the best artists in the kingdom,

hand-picked to work for the government.

lt's a job for life,

a job his son will take over one day.

The Egyptians believe their prosperity can only be assured

if every Pharaoh buried in the valley is left undisturbed for eternity.

The tomb is designed with false chambers

and booby-trapped passageways

to deter tomb robbers.

Working in the Valley of the Kings,

the builders have access to the largest treasure trove in the world.

And there's a ready market for stolen treasure.

Surrounded by such temptation,

not even the most highly valued craftsmen are entirely trusted.

Their boss in the Valley of the Kings is Harshire.

He's the site manager, in charge of every aspect of the project,

from materials to personnel.

Above all, he's in charge of security.

Harshire's prime concern

is that none of his men plunder any of the valley's other tombs.

At the end of each day, he carries out thorough security checks,

even logging in tools that could be used for breaking and entering.

ln spite of these measures,

Harshire's mind is never at rest.

A single lapse of security and he could face the death penalty.

He trusts no one.

On site, the builders are under surveillance 24 hours a day.

They are only allowed to leave

at the end of their eight-day working week.

On the journey home, they are escorted by a special police force,

the medjay, recruited from Nubia.

The tomb builders live with their families in a specially built secure compound

called Set Ma'at, the place of truth.

Even here, Pentaweret and his workmates are under observation.

And Harshire is never off duty.

Within the confines of their carefully regulated lives,

the tomb builders are the most pampered workers in Egypt.

The government provides all their basic needs.

Pentaweret and his family get free food, housing,

schooling and health care.

But all this privilege isn't enough for Pentaweret.

He isn't just building tombs,

he's also robbing them.

Harshire is right not to trust any of his workers.

Pentaweret isn't working alone.

Seven other families are in on a major racket.

Every week, priceless stolen grave goods

are being smuggled through the village to Thebes and beyond.

And it's all happening right under the noses of the medjay police.

Harshire has seen enough.

His worst suspicions are confirmed.

lf he doesn't act now, he would lose his job

and his life.

ln Thebes, Amenpanufer is fast becoming a career criminal.

Unlike the pampered tomb builders in the Valley of the Kings,

he has no state benefits to support his family.

As an unskilled labourer, he earns next to nothing.

Without his sideline, yet another mouth to feed would be a disaster.

But robbing tombs means Amenpanufer can even afford a few luxuries.

Like imported poppy seeds.

The cocktail of beer and opium helps to dull his wife's labour pains.

When a child is born, seven gods decide how it will die.

A child born on the 23rd of the month will be killed by a crocodile,

on the fourth, by fever,

and on the fifth, by love.

But half of all Egyptian children die before the age of five.

Amenpanufer's tomb robbing has kept his children alive.

But it's about to seal his own fate.

ln the Valley of the Kings, Harshire, in charge of surveillance,

knows that some of his workers are robbing the royal burial ground.

Now it's his sworn duty, on pain of death,

to tell his boss everything he knows.

Pawero is the governor of the tombs,

one of the Pharaoh's most trusted officials.

He has absolute authority over the valley.

But despite the penalty he could face,

Harshire decides not to confide in his superior.

Suspicious as ever, he now fears that what he saw in the village

was part of a campaign to strip the royal tombs

and that his own boss may be part of the racket.

Risking everything, Harshire leaves the valley

and, defying all protocol,

takes his allegations to Pawero's rival.

Paser is the mayor of Thebes.

He's a loyal man who plays by the rules.

His family have served the Pharaohs for generations.

He and Pawero are of equal rank.

One responsible for the holy city, the other for the sacred tombs.

Their worlds rarely meet.

As a god-fearing Egyptian,

Paser is horrified by what Harshire has to say.

lf he doesn't intervene,

he'll be allowing the worst kind of sacrilege to go unchecked.

But if he acts on Harshire's allegations,

he will trigger a battle with his political rival, Pawero.

News of Harshire's treachery quickly reaches Pawero.

While Paser hesitates,

Pawero decides to act,

and police chief Bakwerel is a willing accomplice.

They need a fall guy to take the heat off the tomb builders' village

and to protect themselves,

a petty criminal with no ties to the workers in the Valley of the Kings.

The policeman has just the man in mind.

Amenpanufer's crimes have caught up with him.

On October 1st,

he is arrested for robbing the tomb of King Sobekemsaf.

Now the fate of an entire city

will turn on the outcome of this one man's trial.

Within the walls of the great Temple of Karnak,

Amenpanufer the quarryman is being questioned.

Pawero, the governor of the tombs, has a plan.

Amenpanufer is clearly guilty of tomb robbery,

so, once a confession has been extracted,

all he will need to do is to show that his crime was a one-off.

Case closed.

Pawero's tomb builders will be off the hook. And so will he.

Amenpanufer's crime is an affront to all that Egypt stands for.

This high-profile case will be closely monitored by the Vizier, Khaemwese.

He's the Pharaoh's prime minister,

the second most powerful man in all Egypt.

The Temple of Karnak is his headquarters.

lt's the most sacred religious building in Egypt

and the nerve centre of Egyptian law,

a sanctuary of truth, order

and divine justice.

The royal scribe, Nesamun, is on hand to record Amenpanufer's words.

lf he doesn't confess,

he knows his family will be next.

ln his transcript, the scribe carefully notes

that every last detail of correct legal procedure has been followed

to extract the confession.

With the confession secured, Amenpanufer is taken across the river.

He's led to King Sobekemsafs tomb

to make sure that his confession matches the evidence

at the scene of the crime.

Watching every move is a high-powered investigating committee

made up of the Vizier, Pawero and police chief Bakwerel.

The quarryman is dragged to the back of the tomb

where the gang broke in.

Sure enough, the tomb has been desecrated

just as Amenpanufer described.

He is guilty as charged.

The first part of Pawero's plan is in place.

Now all he has to do is take the Vizier on a tour of the other royal tombs

and assure him that this crime really was an isolated incident.

The Vizier leaves satisfied.

Pawero can see his plan falling into place.

Back in the village, the tomb builders have heard the news.

They think they are now in the clear

and decide to head off across the river to Thebes.

Paser, the city's mayor,

has done nothing about the allegations against them.

lf it is true that Pawero, his opposite number, is involved in corruption,

he needs to play his hand carefully.

But on the evening of October 6th,

the builders end up outside his house.

Overconfident, and possibly drunk, they taunt him.

lt's a bad mistake.

3,000 years later, the actual words of their confrontation

have survived in this witness statement.

At last, the mayor has been goaded into action.

Now he's going to take his allegations directly to the most powerful man in Egypt,

the Pharaoh himself.

Pawero witnessed the whole argument.

Mayor Paser is threatening to blow the tomb-robbing racket wide open.

He needs to think fast.

lronically, Paser's decision to go straight to the Pharaoh,

over the Vizier's head,

gives Pawero one last chance.

He needs to turn the Vizier against Paser

before the mayor has a chance to set out his allegations.

That night, he writes to the Vizier.

A copy of his actual letter survives in the records of the case.

The letter is carefully crafted,

both to discredit Paser

and really get under the Vizier's skin.

And it works.

The Vizier is outraged.

A mayor cannot be seen to go over the head of the prime minister of Egypt.

Paser must be put in his place.

Thanks to Pawero,

Amenpanufer's trial will now be the setting for a political showdown.

October 8th, 1 1 1 1 BC.

Two days after Pawero sent his incendiary letter to the Vizier,

the high court gathers in the Temple of Karnak for the trial of the quarryman,

Amenpanufer.

lt's seven days since he was arrested for tomb robbery.

But now his trial is a political battle

between the three most powerful men in Thebes.

The Vizier,

Paser,

and Pawero.

Amenpanufer is on trial for his life.

But Pawero's future is also at stake.

The proceedings begin with an oath.

But this courtroom has no witnesses

and there's no counsel for the defence.

This is Egyptian justice.

All that's required is for Amenpanufer to repeat his confession.

A word for word account of Amenpanufer's courtroom confession

has survived through the centuries.

The actual words of a working-class Egyptian,

a lone voice from an ancient world

whose history is dominated by the rich and powerful.

The best Amenpanufer can hope for now

is a quick and clean execution.

But the Vizier has unfinished business.

This is his chance to humiliate Paser publicly

and put him in his place.

The Vizier's message is clear -

this is an isolated incident.

There is no scandal,

no corruption,

no organised crime in the tomb builders' village.

Pawero has got away with it - or so he thinks.

He's reckoned without Amenpanufer.

The condemned man has nothing to lose now.

He knows the holy city is riddled with corruption

and he starts to name the officials he's bribed.

Amenpanufer goes on to name others who have also been robbing tombs.

Pawero's fall guy hasn't stuck to the script.

Thebes's dirty little secret is out.

Everybody's at it,

rich and poor alike.

Now that Amenpanufer has spoken out in court,

the Vizier can no longer ignore Paser's allegations.

He'll have to act.

The quarryman's trial forced the Vizier to launch a cleanup operation.

All the eight families in the tomb builders' village were arrested.

Chief among them, the family of Pentaweret the painter.

A search of every house unearthed dozens of copper and bronze grave goods,

perfumed oils, fine linen,

as well as 40 pounds of silver

and more than ten pounds of gold.

Treasures from the royal tombs turned up all over the city of Thebes.

The list of culprits survives.

lt includes 29 merchants,

1 7 weavers,

eight scribes, eight priests,

seven temple guards,

two medjay policemen, a doctor,

as well as soldiers, slaves, servants,

farmers and fishermen.

Even the wife of one of Karnak's most senior priests was arrested

for receiving stolen goods.

But none of this would save Amenpanufer.

The poor quarryman would have no tomb

and no hope of an afterlife.

Along with his accomplices,

Amenpanufer was taken beyond the city limits

and impaled on a sharpened spike

while he was still alive.

His body was left to rot

and his soul was damned for all eternity.

And so Egyptian justice took its course.

And who got the job of cleaning up the sacred city?

Not Paser.

He disappears from the records.

Perhaps the Vizier never forgave him for going over his head

to the Pharaoh.

lnstead, the job was handed to the man in charge of securing the tombs.

The Pharaoh's most trusted official.

Pawero.

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