All language subtitles for Unearthed.2016.S09E07.Egypts.Cult.Kings.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Abydos,

Huge temples tower
Over an ancient necropolis

In the remote desert.

Under the sand here lie some
Of the oldest tombs in egypt.

[stephen]
This is extraordinary.

Obviously, a tomb
On a monumental scale.

[narrator] Buried
5,000 years ago,

They conceal
The hidden secrets

Of the first pharaohs.

[ayman] All the egyptian
Civilization start from here,

From abydos.

[narrator]
Abydos is the epicenter

Of a death cult
That inspires

Egypt's
Strangest superstructure.

[stephen]
This subterranean area

Is built of
These immense blocks,

And there's really nothing
Quite like it.

[narrator] How does
This massive sunken monument

Help egypt's greatest
Pharaohs rise to power?

Now, investigators use
High definition drone imaging

To investigate these
Extraordinary ancient ruins.

[stephen] There are these
Immense mounds here

That are clearly evidence
Of a lot of ancient activity.

Something is out there.

[narrator]
To reveal the secrets

Of this revolutionary city
Of the dead,

We digitally reconstruct
Its lavish temples.

We dive deep
To discover ancient remains.

And decode cryptic symbols
Hidden under the sand.

We rebuild the mysterious
Relics of an ancient cult.

And unearth traces
Of the first

And greatest kings
To ever rule ancient egypt.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator]
Abydos, southern egypt,

The remains
Of two colossal temples

Rise up
Out of the desert landscape.

Miles from egypt's
Ancient capital, thebes.

They are built
By two great rulers,

Seti I and his son,
Ramesses the great,

The most powerful kings
Egypt has ever known.

[dramatic music playing]

[stephen] Seti I
And ramesses the great

Built on a scale
That was almost unrivaled.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Over 1,000 years

After the giza pyramids
Are built,

Seti,
The great warrior king,

Constructs a magnificent
Temple here.

Huge, lavishly
Decorated pylons

Lead into vast halls

Filled with ornate columns.

Beyond this ancient
Megastructure,

He builds a mysterious
Subterranean labyrinth.

Alongside, his son,
Ramesses ii,

Known as egypt's
Greatest builder,

Constructs his own
Lavish temple.

Why do these two
Legendary pharaohs

Build spectacular monuments
So far from their power base?

Stephen harvey
Has been investigating

The mysteries of abydos
For over 30 years.

He believes answers
Lie in the function

Of these monuments
More than 3,000 years ago.

Stephen hunts for clues
In seti's colossal temple.

[stephen] What really strikes
Anyone who enters this room

Is this enormous stone ledge

With its overhang
Covered with inscriptions.

And we can see when we look
At the wall

That this is a large boat.

And there's even
A little figure

Of the king steering here.

But it's not
Being shown on water,

It's being shown
On top of carrying poles.

[narrator] Stephen believes
These boats

Are not meant for sailing.

They were models of boats
That contain

Small statues of the gods.

[narrator] The boats once sit

On top of the ledge
In this room.

Priests carry them
Out of the temple

In a sacred ceremony.

Where does their ritual
Procession lead?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] A sloping tunnel
At the back

Of the building
Catches stephen's eye.

[dramatic music playing]

This is an ascending
Corridor with staircase

And it's leading right
Out this way

At the rear of the temple.

So, the doorway here
Frames something special.

Something is out there.

[narrator] Looking out
Of the temple today,

The desert unfolds for miles.

But stephen thinks
This ancient procession

Has a destination
Hidden in the sands.

It could explain
Why seti and ramesses

Build their temples here.

Stephen launches a

Drone-mounted high-definition
Camera

To investigate
The layout of the whole site.

I can see on either side,

There are ancient buildings,

Temple,
Tomb constructions,

And nothing
In the middle at all,

Literally leading us toward
Something of great importance.

And we can tell then
That we have to follow

The path this way.

[narrator] Almost a mile
Into the desert,

Strange sandy dunes
Rear all around.

We're in
A completely flat area here

And yet there are these
Immense mounds here

That are clearly evidence
Of a lot of ancient activity.

It's just what everything
Has been leading to

Up to this point.

[narrator] Hidden
Beneath the sand here,

Archeologists discovered
Ten massive structures.

A sprawling complex
Of burial chambers.

Inside the largest one,
A mummified arm,

Wearing four elaborate

And richly
Decorated bracelets,

Sure signs
Of great wealth and status.

Surrounding
The central crypt

Are hundreds
Of smaller graves.

Each contains a skeleton.

These tombs lie at the end
Of the processional road.

What can they reveal
About abydos?

[dramatic music playing]

[stephen] This is truly
Extraordinary.

It's an immense hole
In the ground,

A tomb that is on a truly
Monumental scale.

[narrator]
Stephen investigates

One of the ten giant crypts.

[stephen] I'm seeing here
Something very telling.

This is a large
Burial chamber,

A structure built
Into the earth

And reinforced with simple
Mud bricks like these.

It's built of early materials.

[narrator]
The mud brick chamber

Is constructed
Long before the

Rock-cut tombs of ramesses
And seti's era,

And even before
The stone-built tombs

Of the pyramid age.

This predates all of that.

It's something
From the beginning

Of egyptian civilization.

[narrator] Stephen thinks
The smaller graves

That surround
The central chamber

Could pinpoint to more
Precise date

And reveal the truth
About abydos.

[stephen] They're all built
At the same level

And they were all roofed
Over at the same time.

[narrator] The multiple
Graves are evidence

Of a mass burial.

[stephen] They were
Probably human sacrifices,

Killed and put in the tombs
At the same moment.

[narrator] Human sacrifice
Is extremely rare

In ancient egypt.

It helps pinpoint the date.

[stephen] We know
That this is

A very early practice
In egypt,

Limited to the first
And the second dynasties.

This is the burial of one
Of egypt's first pharaohs.

[narrator] When archeologists
Excavate this tomb,

They discover
An inscribed ivory plaque.

It reveals the owner.

King den
Of the first dynasty.

He reigns around 2970 bc,

Over 1,500 years
Before seti I.

There was once an immense
Royal cemetery here,

A royal necropolis
For egypt's first pharaohs.

[narrator] King den is not
The only pharaoh buried here.

Archeologists
Have identified the occupants

Of almost
All of the ten crypts,

Including the tomb
With the mummified arm.

He is king djer
Who rules around 3,000 bc.

It was really these
Early royal tombs

Which attracted the interest
Of later pharaohs,

Seti and ramesses.

[narrator]
Abydos' processional road

Connects ramesses and seti's
Temples with the tombs

Of the first dynasty
Pharaohs.

[stephen] They built their
Temples directly aligned

And in relation to it
Because this is where

It all started and they
Traced their own lineage

Directly back to these
First kings of egypt.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator]
Millions of years ago,

A river flows
Through abydos' sands,

It carves out
A canyon that leads

Into the high desert
Before running dry.

Egypt's first kings
See the dried riverbed

As the entrance
To the underworld

And build their tombs
At the mouth of the canyon.

Abydos
Becomes a holy landscape

That attracts pharaohs
And paupers alike.

Worshippers build hundreds
Of chapels

Along the path
Of the riverbed.

The path
Becomes a sacred route

Where priests
Carry statues of gods

In an annual procession
From the temples

To the first tombs.

But there are clues
That someone else

Could lie
At the center of worship

In the temples of seti
And ramesses.

A sacred figure
Even more powerful

Than the first kings.

Who lies at the center
Of the abydos cult?

And how do they grow
To become

One of the greatest cult
Icons of the ancient world?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] At the ancient
Necropolis of abydos

Are the tombs of the very
First pharaohs of egypt.

They formed part
Of a sacred landscape

That inspires seti I
And his son

Ramesses the great
To construct massive temples.

But could a discovery
In the largest tomb

Built here reveal
A mysterious cult

At the core of their
Interest in abydos?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] As archeologists
Examine king djer's tomb,

They uncover
Something perplexing.

Along one side of the vault
Is a staircase

Added long
After djer's death.

It leads to a black
Basalt stone sarcophagus

Carved with a figure
Lying on a bed

Holding a flail and crook,
Ancient symbols of power.

And, perched on top,

A bird of prey
Watches over the figure.

Inscriptions reveal
The sculpture is installed

Over 1,000 years
After the death of djer.

What is this
Mysterious figure

And what's it doing here?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Stephen harvey
Believes clues could lie

In pharaoh seti's temple.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] The walls here
Are covered

In hundreds
Of ancient scenes.

He hunts for any images
Of the strange

Black stone figure.

On a huge wall carving,
He finds a match.

[stephen] This is the scene
We're looking for.

This sculpture found
In the tomb has a lot

Of similarities with what
We're seeing on the wall.

[narrator] The carving
Shows the same figure,

A mummy lying on a bed
With a long headdress

And bird hovering above.

Stephen
Examines the hieroglyphs

Next to the image.

What really firmly
Identifies this for us

Is the inscription up here.

Osiris existing eternally.

And here his wife, isis,

In the form of a falcon
Hovering over him.

And here, their son, horus.

[narrator] Osiris is one
Of the most powerful gods

In the egyptian pantheon,

The lord of the underworld.

But why is a massive
Sculpture of osiris

Installed in king djer's tomb

Over 1,000 years
After his death?

Stephen thinks
The answer could shed light

On how abydos
Becomes the focus of one

Of the greatest cults
In the ancient world.

To investigate,

He travels
Out to the desert

Where the osiris
Sculpture is discovered.

Today, king djer's tomb
Is hidden under the sand,

But clues on the surface
Still remain.

Abandoned across
The desert around the tomb

Are huge mounds
Of ancient pottery.

[stephen] This isn't just
A small skin

Of a few pots scattered
On top of a mound of dirt,

This is pots through
And through all the way down,

Literally millions of pots.

[dramatic music playing]

These are the testimony

Of thousands of pilgrims
Coming here

And leaving vessels
Like this behind

In honor of the people
Who were buried here.

[narrator] Stephen thinks
All these pots

Are not just for king djer,
They are for osiris.

[stephen] What happened
Was that this tomb

Which was made for a pharaoh
Of the first dynasty

Was later reopened
By the egyptians.

They saw an impressive sight,

A massive brick-lined tomb
That they took

For the burial
Of the god osiris himself.

[narrator]
In the 18th century bc,

Egyptian pharaohs excavate
The ancient tombs at abydos.

They think the largest tomb

Must belong
To the god osiris himself.

Inside the tomb they install

A fake sarcophagus
For the god.

They construct stairs
And restore the roof

So it's ready for visitors.

Pilgrims arrived from all over
Egypt to pay homage to osiris.

They leave millions
Of pots with offerings.

While the common man
Leaves pots,

Seti and ramesses
Build huge temples

Where priests practice
The cult of osiris.

[stephen] It's for this reason
That this place

Achieved a particular
Significance

As a center for the worship
Of osiris

For thousands,
If not millions, of pilgrims.

[narrator] The retrofitted
Stone sarcophagus

Helps make this spot
In the remote desert

The epicenter
Of the cult of osiris.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Since the great
Tombs of the first kings

Are rediscovered at abydos,

The desert necropolis
Inspires its own mythology.

It's a place
Where royalty and common folk

Travel from far and wide
To honor

Ancient kings
And the lord of the afterlife,

Osiris.

Why do seti and ramesses
Worship osiris

Above all other egyptian
Deities?

Can a baffling
Underground mega structure

At seti's temple reveal why
Osiris is king of the gods?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Abydos,

Beneath the desert here
Lie the 5,000-year-old tombs

Of egypt's first kings

And the traces
Of a mysterious cult

That dominates
The land of the pharaohs.

At its core, the lord
Of the underworld, osiris.

There are over 2,000 gods
In the egyptian pantheon.

Why do egypt's
Greatest kings, seti

And ramesses choose osiris
As their patron god?

Clues could lie
In one of the strangest

Subterranean structures
Ever found in egypt.

Behind his temple,

Seti begins an even more
Ambitious project.

He digs a pit
Over 60-feet deep

Designed to sit
Beneath the water table

So that it fills up.

Seti builds a sandstone island
Into this pool

And installs ten huge pillars
Carved of granite

To support massive
Stone ceiling beams.

Finally, he buries
This massive complex

Under the desert sand.

What is this
Sunken mega structure?

Seti's mysterious
Underground monument

Hides clues to explain
Why osiris

Becomes ancient egypt's
Most important god.

For centuries,

It is completely flooded
And inaccessible.

But now archeologists
Have pumped out the water.

Our cameras
Have exclusive access

To follow stephen
As he ventures inside.

[stephen] At the end
Of this long tunnel,

We've come to this room
And we see

These countless names
Of osiris

In different manifestations
And representations.

And then we come here
And there's an enormous image

Of osiris on his throne

With his son horus
In front of him.

And then, here,
We've got texts
From the book of the dead.

[narrator] The book
Of the dead is a collection

Of almost 200 spells
The deceased must know

If they are to enter
The afterlife.

It makes clear that only
Osiris can grant eternity.

[stephen] This really
Gives us an idea

That this structure is about
Osiris and the transformation

That the king makes
Into an eternal being.

[narrator]
Seti builds this structure

To worship osiris and secure
His own afterlife.

No other pharaoh
In egyptian history

Builds anything like this.

[stephen] It was an
Incredible engineering feat.

One of the most
Impressive things

About this structure
Is the water everywhere.

It surrounds
This main central area

And we see steps cut down
That lead to the water.

[narrator] Stephen believes
This is all part

Of a symbolic design.

[stephen] It ran
All the way around here,

Leaving this central area
As an island

And that symbolism
Is very important

In egyptian religion.

[narrator] The ancient
Egyptians believe

That in the beginning
There is a sea of chaos.

Out of these primeval waters
Rises a pyramid shaped mound,

The first land.

On this mound, the gods shu
And tefnut come into being,

God of the air
And god of moisture.

Their children
Are the gods nut and geb.

Nut, god of the sky,
Who makes the rains,

And geb, god of the earth,
Who makes plants grow.

From them comes the pantheon
Of egyptian gods,

Including osiris,
Lord of the afterlife.

[stephen] What we understand
From this kind

Of architectural symbolism
With the water

Around the central island,
A mound of creation,

Is that this is meant
To be the burial place

For the god osiris himself.

It's a huge,
Monumental version.

[narrator]
Seti hopes his creation

Will win him favor
With osiris.

Does he have another reason
To recreate the god's tomb?

To investigate,
Stephen returns

To the king's
Great mortuary temple.

He finds a clue
On a relief carving

In the corner
Of the great hall.

It shows a mother figure

Sitting with someone
On their lap.

[stephen] It's actually
The pharaoh seti.

The mother here
Is actually isis,

The wife of osiris.

[narrator]
Seti represents himself

As their son, horus.

It's a clue the pharaoh
Doesn't hope

For just any place
In the afterlife.

He wants to be in the pantheon
Of egyptian gods.

[stephen] Seti's construction
Makes sense when we realize

That he really saw himself

As part of the sacred family
Of abydos.

In fact, upon his death,

Seti will view himself
As osiris himself.

[narrator] At abydos,

Seti builds a revolutionary
Megastructure

In the hope it will help him
Become an immortal god king.

But there are signs here
Of another innovation

That helps the pharaoh's
Rise to ultimate power.

Could mysterious symbols

Buried in a 6,000-year-old
Tomb

Reveal how his son,
Ramesses,

Becomes the greatest
Egyptian king ever known?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Abydos,
A city of the dead.

A 5,000-year-old tomb
In this ancient necropolis

Inspires the rise of
The mysterious cult of osiris,

Lord of the underworld.

An intriguing discovery
In an even older tomb here

Could reveal the secrets of
Egypt's most powerful pharaoh,

Ramesses the great.

Beneath the sands at abydos,

Buried in a grave
Almost 6,000-years-old,

Investigators find the remains
Of an ancient ruler.

By his side are finely
Carved hippopotamus figurines

And piles of pots
Bearing mysterious etchings.

One shows a human figure.

He wears a feathered headdress
And wields a huge club.

He towers above a group
Of smaller figures.

This is the earliest
Known image

Of an egyptian ruler
Victorious in battle.

How does this
Ancient drawing

Pave the way for ramesses'
Rise to greatness?

In the abydos desert,

Ramesses builds
His own monumental temple,

Right next to his father's.

Archeologist ayman damarany

Works with the egyptian
Ministry of antiquities here.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator]
The king portrays himself

Double the size
Of the tied-up prisoners

Alongside him,
A clear statement

Of his power to anyone
Who enters his temple.

Ayman thinks this scene
Shows striking similarities

To the one on the pot
In the 6,000-year-old tomb.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator]
These two scenes are created

Over 2,500 years apart.

Ayman believes they deliver
A powerful message.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] This image
Is universally understood

In ancient egypt.

A symbol
Of the pharaoh's power

And success,
Created by some of egypt's

Earliest rulers
Before the first hieroglyphs

Are invented.

It is copied
And used by each pharaoh

For thousands of years.

But to become
Egypt's most powerful king,

Ramesses needs to take
This royal propaganda

To a new level.

At the start of his reign,

Ramesses uses
A traditional form

Of carving in his iconography.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] But at the eastern
Edge of the temple,

Ayman finds a different style.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] How does this
Simple change of technique

Help ramesses rise to power?

Khaled nassar wants to test
The time it takes

To produce the two styles.

He thinks the new technique
Could help ramesses

Spread his propaganda
More quickly.

He enlists the help of a stone
Carver to investigate.

[khaled] So, we've got
Two pieces of limestone, uh,

Very similar to what
We would have found

In abydos and we'll try
And scribe the symbol of life,

The ankh symbol.

[narrator] First,
They carved the symbol

In raised relief,
Seti's style.

-khaled starts the clock.
-[khaled] And go.

[banging]

[narrator] After ten minutes,

The image
Is only half complete.

[khaled] So you can see now

The detailed part
Of carving out,

The raised-relief is done.

And now it's the
Labor-intensive part,

The need to carve out

The rest of the stone
From the face.

There's a lot more stone
To carve out here.

[narrator] It takes almost
Half an hour

To finish the symbol.

And stop.

And you can see how much area

That was carved out
From the face

In order to create
The raised-relief.

And you can imagine
How much time

This would take if you have
To do this for a whole temple.

[narrator] On a second slab
Of limestone,

They carve
The same image again.

And go.

[narrator]
But this time

They use ramesses
Sunken relief technique.

So you can see
He's carving the symbol itself

Rather than
The stone around it.

And stop.

[narrator]
After only 12 minutes,

The symbol is complete.

A dramatic difference.

It's the same symbol,

Same size,
Looks just as good,

And half of the time.

[narrator] Ramesses
New inscription technique

Cuts the time it takes
To decorate a temple in half.

He uses this method
To inscribe hundreds

Of monuments across egypt.

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] Ramesses ii
Takes royal propaganda

To new heights,
Training huge workforces

To build temple statues
In his image

On a scale
Never seen before.

He spreads his work
All the way down the nile,

From the delta,
Where he builds new cities,

To abu simbel in the south.

Ramesses orders his workers

To spread his propaganda
Far and wide.

The imagery
He takes from the tomb

Of a long-dead ruler
Projects strength and power

And proclaims him as the
Greatest pharaoh of all time.

Not only does
Ramesses the great

Depict himself
But also osiris.

At abu simbel
He fuses his own face

With the features
Of the lord of the dead.

These 30-foot sculptures
Epitomize ramesses' attempt

To place the osiris cult
At the center of his reign.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] Why do seti
And ramesses

Need to go
To such extreme lengths?

Clues from ramesses temple
At abydos

Could reveal the hidden role
Of the famous boy king,

Tutankhamun.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Abydos,

The necropolis
Of egypt's first kings.

The spiritual home
Of the god osiris,

Lord of the underworld.

Seti I builds
An ingenious subterranean

Megastructure
In his honor here.

Right next to it,
Seti's son,

Ramesses the great,

Builds a second huge monument.

It could reveal
A secret motive

Behind the two pharaohs'
Deep devotion to this god.

Ramesses builds a hidden clue
Into his magnificent temple.

Beyond the grand courtyard
Filled with statues

Of the god osiris,

Buried in the foundation
Of the western wall,

Is the first stone
Laid in the construction

Of the temple.

Carved into it are cartouches

With two of the pharaoh's
Many names.

On the right, a rare form

Ramesses only uses
In his first year as king.

This means the temple
At abydos

Is the first structure
The young pharaoh ever builds.

Why is he in such a rush?

Ayman damarany believes
There must be a reason

For his urgency.

He returns to ramesses'
Father's monument at abydos,

Seti I's temple,
To investigate.

Across one of the lavishly
Carved walls

He examines
An iconic inscription.

The king list.

[suspenseful music playing]

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] The king list
Contains the names

Of 76 pharaohs that ruled
Before seti and ramesses.

It reads like a family tree
Of blue blood

That runs
Back almost 2,000 years.

Seti and ramesses are two
Of the few kings

To ever produce these tables.

But it's not the kings
Listed here that reveal

A dark secret
Behind this hall of fame.

It's the kings
That are missing.

[ayman speaking]

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] Akhenaten
Is a pharaoh

Who rules egypt
Around 1350 bc,

Only 50 years
Before seti and ramesses.

He builds a city
In the desert, amarna.

With open-air temples
To worship the sun god,

The aten.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] Akhenaten
Is a heretic.

The pharaohs
That followed destroy

His new city and religion.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] Seti and ramesses
Build great monuments

To osiris at abydos
To align their rule

With egypt's
Traditional religion and gods.

But ayman thinks there
Could be another reason

For ramesses' decision
To build his temple here

So quickly.

Akhenaten's son, the most
Famous pharaoh in history.

[suspenseful music playing]

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] Tutankhamun,
The boy king,

Is also erased
From the king list.

Ayman thinks the fate
Of tutankhamun helps explain

Seti and ramesses
Building at abydos.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] Tutankhamun's
Military commander-in-chief,

Horemheb,
Ultimately seizes power,

Installing himself as pharaoh.

But horemheb also has no sons.

So, he appoints his vizier
Ramesses to be his successor.

Ramesses is followed
By his son, seti

And grandson ramesses
The great,

A line of kings with
No legitimate royal blood.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] Seti and ramesses
Must always legitimize

Their rule.

It is a smart move
For ramesses to build

His first temple
Near the burial of osiris.

Osiris is the mythical
First king,

The ideal candidate
To help him and his father

To assert
Their royal authority.

The tomb of osiris
Becomes the site

Of a sacred ritual
That ramesses himself

Likely takes part in.

The high priests pour water
Over the mouth

Of osiris
From 14 heart-shaped vessels.

The great pharaoh ramesses
Declares himself

The living
Form of the god osiris,

Legitimate king of egypt.

To assert his
Self-proclaimed legitimacy,

Ramesses repeats this ceremony
Every year until his death

At the incredible age of 90.

At abydos,
Seti and ramesses'

Dedication to osiris is more
Than a fast track

To becoming gods
In the afterlife.

They use it to legitimize
Their place

In the long line
Of great egyptian kings.

Under ramesses the great,

The osiris cult
At abydos reaches a pinnacle.

But could recent
Discoveries reveal

Pilgrimages
To this sacred site

Continue right
Up to modern times?

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] The first kings
To rule egypt

Build their tombs at abydos.

For thousands of years,
Royal dynasties

Come to worship the dead here.

Under seti I
And ramesses the great,

It is the holiest place
In all of ancient egypt.

And there are clues
That the allure of abydos

Never completely fades.

Ayman damarany explores the
Walls at the temple of seti.

Hidden among
The dense egyptian decoration

He spots strange markings.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] The graffiti
Is written in aramaic,

One of the languages
Of the persian empire.

In 525 bc,
The persians conquer egypt.

The invaders defeat
The egyptians

But at the great temples
Of abydos

They pray
To their enemy's gods.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] The marks left
By the newcomers reveal

How the king
Of the dead retains his crown

Long after his priests
Have abandoned the temple.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] But in the
Centuries that follow

The cult of osiris
Dies out across egypt.

At abydos the desert gradually
Reclaims the temples.

When french archaeologist
Auguste mariette

First discovers
Seti's complex in 1865,

It is buried in the sand.

But now, a new discovery
Inside it could reveal

How fascination
With abydos is reignited.

When ayman and his team
Explore a hidden room

In seti's temple,

They find bundles
Of documents.

They include papers
And reports

Of the first archaeologists.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] Among hundreds
Of notebooks

Are lists of visitors' names.

One entry reveals recent kings
Continue

To be drawn to abydos.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] The collection
Doesn't just list visitors

But thousands of records
From the first

Egyptian-run excavations
At abydos.

Ayman thinks they are packed
With clues to new discoveries.

[ayman speaking]

[narrator] When the first
Egyptian kings

Choose this sacred location
For their burials,

The construction
Of a sacred landscape

Like no other in egypt begins.

Even today,
Over 5,000 years later,

Abydos retains its allure.

It has become
A pilgrimage site

For groups like new age
Seekers and imseti

Who believes she was a
Reincarnated temple priestess.

[stephen] Abydos
Is extraordinary because

There are over 4,000 years
Of egyptian civilization

Is represented here.

It's a complex place
With a lot of stories to tell.

[narrator] At abydos,
The treasure-filled tombs

Of the first kings

Mark the start of egypt's
Royal dynasties

And are home
To one of the biggest cults

In the ancient world.

It inspires egypt's
Greatest kings

To build incredible monuments.

Empowered by the god osiris,

They drive egypt
Into its golden age.

[suspenseful music playing]