01x09 - King Tut

[bunniefuu]

(bright cheerful music)

- King Tut, I think everyone's

heard of the name King Tut.

- King Tutankhamen.

- I guess he was

a pharaoh, right?

- When I was little, King Tut

was very fascinating to me.

- For being entombed,

that's the big one.

- For 3,000 years

existing in obscurity,

and then all of a sudden

your tomb is discovered

and you're like this celebrity.

- That is awesome.

(upbeat instrumental music)

- [Kate] King Tut ruled Egypt

more than 3,000 years ago,

but was his life all

that interesting?

Mmm, not really.

(tape whirring)

- Because during his reign, he

doesn't really do very much.

(exotic instrumental music)

- [Kate] Then they

shoved him in the ground

for 3,245 years with all

his royal possessions.

- No one really gets excited

about a 3,000-year-old skeleton

in the desert until

he's surrounded by gold.

- [Man] Ooh, shiny!

- [Kate] And he became

history's unlikeliest superstar.

(cameras snapping)

- He's up there

with sort of Jesus.

(angels singing)

Or Gandhi.

- [Man] Okay.

- It's just one of those names

that will have

absolute recognition

all around the world.

- You could ask any

person on the street,

"Tell me about Egypt."

They will know

the name King Tut.

- [Kate] It's been

100 years since

the modern world

first met King Tut.

- For 3,000 years, he

had a restful peace

and then he became thrown

into the spotlight.

(industrious instrumental music)

- [Kate] Since then,

he's been the subject of

more than 5,500 books.

- [Man] I'll take that one.

- [Kate] And 860,000

news articles,

or about three every day.

- [Man] Interesting.

- [Kate] He's also spawned

a multi-billion dollar

movie franchise.

- King Tut has had a huge

impact on our modern culture.

- His influence,

whether it's fashion,

clothing, architecture,

it's just gonna

continue to grow.

- [Kate] He's the Lost King.

- Tutankhamen was forgotten.

It's a really incredible story.

- [Kate] Who reappeared

out of nowhere

and changed the modern world.

- [Announcer] Hey,

look, It's King Tut!

- They say in ancient Egypt,

that if people keep

saying your name-

- King Tut.

- King Tut.

- Whilst you're

in the afterlife-

- King Tut.

- King Tut.

- King Tut.

- Then you will live forever.

(mummy growling)

- [Kate] This is the

story of King Tut,

the celebrity pharaoh.

(dramatic upbeat music)

(rocket whooshing)

(radio chattering)

(dials clicking)

(fire blowing)

- Ever look at an American

$1 bill and wonder,

"Why in the world is

there a pyramid on it?"

- [Man] That's weird.

- [Kate] It's there because of

a super celebrity influencer.

- It says "In God we trust"

right next to a pyramid.

(exotic instrumental music)

It's one of those things

we can associate with,

not only Egyptian history,

but King Tut's

discovery specifically.

- [Kate] As of 2020,

there are 13.1 billion

$1 bills in circulation.

All stamped with a

salute to ancient Egypt

because of King

Tut's popularity.

It takes some serious star power

to change the face of money,

especially another

country's money.

The story of how an

ancient Egyptian aristocrat

put his nation's stamp

on the U.S. greenbacks

starts with an English

aristocrat in 1901.

(upbeat old fashioned music)

- Lord Carnarvon is the

fifth Earl of Carnarvon

and his house is Highclere.

- [Crowd] Ooh!

- [Man] Oh, fancy.

- And you probably remember it

because it is on

"Downton Abbey."

- He was one of the

richest men in England,

and he was just a Playboy

really, earlier in life.

He owned race horses.

(horse whinnying)

He sailed around the world.

He got into all

kinds of adventures.

- [Man] Yeehaw!

- [Kate] Lord Carnarvon

liked his cars too.

He liked them expensive

and he liked them fast.

- He enjoyed speeding.

If he wasn't speeding, his

chauffeur was speeding.

And actually he was

bought up in front

of the magistrates on

numerous occasions.

- [Kate] Lord Leadfoot's

first speeding ticket

was for cruising at a

reckless 12 miles per hour.

- [Lord Carnarvon] Pip, pip!

- [Katie] And a second

time a downright

death-defying 25 miles per hour.

- [Police Officer]

Stop right there.

(whistle blowing)

- He led this very adventurous,

risky lifestyle until in 1901,

Carnarvon was speeding in a

motorcar down country lanes,

in the German countryside,

and there were a couple

of cattle-drawn carts

in a blind dip in the road.

He didn't see them until the

last minute, so he swerved.

(breaks squealing)

(cows lowing)

And ended up in the mud

with his car on top of him.

- [Lord Carnarvon] Ouch.

- He never fully

recovered from that.

His health was weak.

His lungs in particular were

damaged from the accident,

so he wasn't able to do a lot of

the activities that

he'd been doing before.

The winters in

England in particular

were very difficult for

him with his weak lungs,

so he started wintering in Egypt

and he became captivated

by Egyptology.

- [Kate] Egyptology

is the study of

all things ancient Egypt.

Gods, pharaohs

pyramids, hieroglyphics,

the whole shebang.

It's all the rage at the time,

and the former Mr. Fast

and Imperious is all in.

He sets himself the

lofty goal of finding

a lost pharaoh's tomb

full of treasure.

- And at the time, the

antiquity's service in Egypt,

they were collaborating

with rich amateurs

to fund the excavations.

- He had plenty of money to

underwrite an excavation.

Seemed like a natural

hobby for him to pick up.

(exotic instrumental music)

- [Kate] The civilization

we call ancient Egypt

lasted for more

than 3,000 years.

That's 13 times longer than

the United States

has been a country.

("The Star-Spangled Banner")

Over that time, it was ruled by

a succession of 30

separate dynasties

and at least 200 pharaohs.

When any Egypt Pharaoh died,

they checked out in style.

- He then had pyramids

and they'd create

these beautiful royal

tombs full of everything.

Just beautiful golden

items, treasures, jewelry.

All of those amazing

details of everyday life

to help him live

in the afterlife.

- [Kate] Later, many

pharaohs were entombed

in what's now called

the Valley of the Kings,

just outside modern day Luxor.

- It's sort of hidden

away behind the cliffs,

quite hard to get to.

And then they dug

their tombs into

the bedrock with these

hidden entrances.

So the idea was

that that would be

much more protected

against looters,

and they were more likely to

be able to keep their mummies

and all of their

possessions intact.

- [Kate] If Lord

Moneybags is going

to find his treasure tomb,

this is the best place to look.

Except he isn't exactly

a nine to five guy,

when it comes to putting

in a hard day's work.

(Lord Carnarvon yawning)

- He was very much upper class

and didn't want to get

his hands dirty at all.

But also he didn't

really understand

the process of

archeology at all.

So he needed a right-hand man.

His right-hand man to

do that was Carter.

- [Kate] Carnarvon teams

up with Howard Carter,

an archeologist

who's been working

in Egypt for 15 years

searching for treasure.

In particular, he's looking for

a little known Pharaoh whose

tomb has never turned up.

His name is Tutankhamen.

- There really wasn't

a lot that people

or academics or Egyptologists

knew about King Tut.

- There were only

a few references

to him found in

some other tombs.

- [Kate] Carter

figures Tut's tomb

is tucked away

somewhere under them

there hills in the

Valley of the Kings.

By the time the team

starts digging here,

61 tombs in the valley have

already been discovered,

numbered by archeologists

from to KV1 to KV61.

But so far they've

contained zero treasure.

(men sighing)

- These tombs were being looted

even in ancient Egyptian times,

so there was nothing

still in these tombs,

the mummies weren't

still in these tombs.

- [Kate] Undeterred,

the two men are

dead set on making

KV62 their number.

- [Lord Carnarvon] Quite right.

- [Howard Carter] Jolly good.

- It's a little weird that

white people, and Americans,

and Europeans just go around

digging up other people.

- What attracts so many people?

Probably the gold.

- But at the same time,

I also want to know

what's in that grave.

- There has to be something

to do with the aliens, right?

- It's rediscovering

past lives that

people completely forgot about.

(film reels clicking)

- In the Valley of

the Kings they found

very, very little for five years

and they were really

being ridiculed

by others around

them at the time.

(film reels clicking)

- [Kate] Disappointed

by the lack of progress,

Carnarvon spends more and

more time back in England.

He's ready to pull

the plug on Egypt

and find himself another hobby.

Carter implores him to keep

going for just one more season.

There's seven digging

in the valley.

- This really was the

last throw of the dice.

He's like, "Okay,

one more season."

- [Kate] King Tut has been

missing for over 3,000 years.

His fate now hinges on an all

or nothing bet on

lucky number seven.

(machinery clanking)

- So it was November, 1922,

when they finally started

on that last season.

And it was really Carter

who kept that going.

He had this conviction

that Tutankhamen

was going to be there.

(Carter humming)

- [Kate] It's the early

morning of November 4th, 1922.

Howard Carter steps out

of his mud brick house

on the banks of

the Nile to begin

another day's digging in

the Valley of the Kings.

History will record this

as the day that Carter,

the English archeologist,

finally makes his big discovery.

But the history books are wrong.

- [Man] Huh?

- [Kate] And the real

credit should go to

someone you've probably

never heard of.

- [People] Huh?

- [Kate] A 12 year

old Egyptian boy

named Hussain Abdul-Rasoul.

- [Man] Oh.

- He is a local

water boy bringing

water to the valley for

all the Egyptian team

that's working with Howard

Carter excavating this area.

And he needs to dig

a hole in the ground

in order to place the water

jug for it to stand upright.

(upbeat whistling music)

Using his foot to dig

a hole in the ground,

he discovers a cut stone ledge.

(donkeys braying)

- When Carter arrived

first thing that morning,

the team were very quiet.

At first, he was

worried that there

had been an accident, that

someone had been hurt.

And then they showed him that

they had uncovered a step.

(industrious instrumental music)

- [Kate] Carter immediately

orders the team to get digging,

revealing a second

step, and then a third.

- The workmen continue

to dig and they,

that day, uncover

more and more steps.

(slide whistle whistling)

16 steps in all

leading down to a door

and they uncovered the

top part of that door.

Looks as if that

door is still sealed.

- [Kate] The archeologist

knows he could

be standing on the

threshold of something huge,

but there's just one problem.

- But Carnarvon isn't there.

("God Save the Queen")

- Carnarvon is back at home

on his estate in Berkshire.

(clock ticking)

- [Kate] Carter

can't go any further

and steal all the glory

from his money man.

So he sends Carnarvon

a telegram that says,

"At last, have made a wonderful

discovery in the valley.

Congratulations."

The Earl immediately hightails

it to Egypt. (laughing)

Sort of.

Leaving his partner stuck,

waiting to make history.

(Carter angrily grumbling)

- Carter has to

wait about two weeks

for Carnarvon to get there.

You can't just fly

from London to Egypt.

So they go back, they uncover

the lower part of the door.

And now there is the

name of Tutankhamen.

(dramatic instrumental music)

So they remove that

door and beyond it,

eventually they come

to a second door.

(slide whistle whistling)

Carter makes a small hole in

the top corner of the door.

- [Lord Carnarvon]

Huh, what's this?

- So then he gets a candle

and looks through the hole.

(angels singing)

- And inside he can just

see glimmers of gold

and just objects everywhere.

- He's speechless.

And he's just standing there for

moments without saying anything.

And Lord Carnarvon famously

tells Howard Carter,

"Oh, can you see anything?

What do you see?"

And it takes everything

in Howard Carter

just to utter, "Yes,

wonderful things."

(clocks ticking)

- [Kate] In KV62, Carter and

Carnarvon have hit the jackpot.

- [Crowd] Ah!

- [Kate] There are exactly 5,398

wonderful things in Tut's tomb.

- [Howard Carter] So

much shiny things.

- [Kate] Including

three golden chariots,

two life-sized statues

of the Pharaoh,

three golden couches, two beds,

two trumpets, and one throne.

(clapboard clapping)

- King Tut's tomb

really does stand as

pretty much the

biggest archeological

discovery of all time.

It's just all of this

incredible stuff.

(plodding instrumental music)

- So when the news actually

finally hits the outside world,

there's this mad rush to

the Valley of the Kings.

And this is the point where all

of the reporters would

stand there milling around,

waiting for a piece

of the action.

- [Kate] The whole world

wants a piece of Tut

(gong crashing)

and he's arrived at

the perfect time.

- The timing of the discovery,

when it happened, the

Telegraph was being introduced.

(film reels clicking)

(upbeat instrumental music)

- The first transatlantic cables

stretched over 2,500 miles,

at a depth of more

than two miles.

By the 1920s, news that

once took two weeks to cross

the ocean now takes

just two minutes.

- If it would've happened

10 years earlier,

it would not have been

a global phenomenon.

If it would have

happened 10 years later,

it might've been lost with

all the other information.

And it was the

perfect timing for

an event like this to occur.

- The whole place is like a big,

massive conglomeration

of paparazzi essentially.

I mean, what do you do?

- [Kate] Realizing he's

sitting on a goldmine,

in more ways than one,

Carnarvon cuts a deal with

the "Times of London."

He gives them exclusive

rights to photograph

the contents of the tomb

in return for £5,000,

the equivalent today

of around $360,000.

- All of the other

newspapers are

right royally

annoyed about this,

and they're trying

to find other stories

and other avenues to

kind of get through.

(film reels clicking)

(industrious instrumental music)

- [Kate] On the 22nd

of December, 1922,

exactly one month

after the tomb's entry,

the "New York Times"

runs a Tut story

that opens an

enduring can of worms.

- [Newspaper Salesman]

Extra, read all about it!

- [Kate] It includes a

bit of journalistic fluff

that will go on

to spawn at least

19 horror movies over

the next 100 years.

It's about

- The curse.

- The curse.

- The curse.

- The curse.

- The curse of Tutankhamen.

(ominous instrumental music)

- [Kate] When Lord

Carnarvon gives

the "Times of London" exclusive

access to the discovery,

its cross-Atlantic namesake,

"The New York Times,"

becomes desperate

for any story to keep

its Tut obsessed

readers satisfied.

- That's where you get the

first ideas of a curse.

If I can't get the real story,

then I'm going to

fabricate a story.

They try to

sensationalize it so that

they can sell papers as well,

to kind of latch on to this

huge find of Tutankhamen.

- It's all about

headlines, it's click bait.

It is early 1900s click bait.

The media hasn't changed much

in how they deliver

stories or titles.

It's just a matter of how

we get the information.

- [Kate] Tucked away in

the "Times" reporters'

description of the

tomb is the first

of many dubious

Tut tales to come.

- One of these stories included

Howard Carter's pet canary,

(Canary chirping)

which he kept with him at his

excavation house in Luxor.

- [Kate] The paper reports

that at the same moment

Carter and Carnarvon were

busting into Tut's tomb,

a real life cobra broke

into castle Carter.

- [Cobra] Is anybody home?

- It was reported that soon

after the tomb was opened

and Lord Carnarvon

and Howard Carter

had discovered tomb of King Tut,

that a cobra had

come into the house

and made its way into

the canary's cage

and ate the poor bird.

- [Cobra] Ha ha!

(cobra burping)

(canary chirping)

- [Kate] The cobra

was later discovered

still in the canary's cage,

with the bird in its mouse.

According to the "New York

Times," it's a sign of

- [Ominous Man] The wraith

of the ancient gods.

- So what they

wanted to do is they

wanted a sensational story.

How can we jazz up this

curse of Tutankhamen?

- A cobra sits prominently on

the head dress of King Tut.

We associate cobras

with the pharaohs.

So people got very nervous.

- [Kate] The cobra incident

is just the beginning.

Within weeks, one of

Tut's two discoverers

will follow the canary

into the great beyond.

- [Man] Uh oh.

(film reels clicking)

- Quickly after Carter and

Carnarvon discovered the tomb,

so towards the end

of that season,

something happened

that just changed

the entire course of the work.

(mosquito buzzing)

Which is that Carnarvon

got bitten by a mosquito.

(mosquito squelching)

- And unfortunately,

one morning as he's doing his

daily routine and shaving,

he cuts the mosquito

bite with his razor.

- [Lord Carnarvon] Oh dear.

- And it becomes infected.

- He ended up with

blood poisoning and

eventually pneumonia.

This is before the

time of antibiotics.

- [Kate] 17 days

later, Lord Carnarvon,

the career thrill seeker

and financier of the

excavation, dies.

- [Lord Carnarvon]

I regret nothing.

(Carnarvon puking)

- It's reported that

around the time that

Lord Carnarvon

actually died in Cairo,

his favorite pet dog back at

Highclere Castle in

Great Britain lets out

this huge howl and

then falls over dead.

(dog yelping)

(exotic instrumental music)

And it was also reported in

the news at the same time,

that Lord Carnarvon

passed away or died.

And then there was a

blackout throughout

the city of Cairo as well.

(crickets chirping)

- [Kate] The coincidences

made for sensational stories.

- [Newspaper Salesman]

Get your papers.

- [Kate] Even though

power outages in Cairo

back then were a dime a dozen

and the Earl himself was always

on the verge of switching off.

- He was quite a frail man,

but this whole idea of the curse

is embroiled in

his death as well.

It just, I suppose,

fuels the imagination

of all the people around

the world at the time.

(suspenseful instrumental music)

(record scratching)

- Sure, I believe in

the curse of King Tut.

Why not? (laughing)

- You should not

mess with a mummy

or you're going to

be cursed forever.

- I'm not really

very superstitious,

not since I stopped

playing baseball.

("Take Me Out to the Ballgame")

- Curse of King Tut.

(interviewee sighing)

It's a relic from an

ancient time, right?

That sounds pretty curseish.

- [Kate] All of a sudden,

King Tut has gone

from long loss Pharaoh

to an avenging spirit looking to

kick some major

archeologist a*s.

- Even before Canarvon's death,

there was sort of unease

amongst a lot of the public.

This idea of violating

this king's resting place.

- They embellished storylines

and created conspiracy

theories and imagined curses.

You know, once you hear curse,

that catches my attention.

Even if I don't believe in it,

I want to read that article

'cause just in case.

(suspicious instrumental music)

(numbers clicking)

- [Kate] In 1934,

Herbert Winlock,

director of New

York's Met Museum,

tries to dispel the curse

with an op ed article

that includes an

eyeopening fact.

(upbeat instrumental music)

Of the 22 people

who are present at

the opening of Tut's

burial chamber,

six died over the

ensuing 11 years.

But if there really is a curse,

why didn't everybody die?

(suspicious instrumental music)

For all his good intentions,

Winlock's logic has

a snowball's chance

in the Sahara of

changing anybody's mind.

- In America, we do

believe in curses.

Ancient Egypt is so far removed,

they could've had

magic sorcerers.

Nobody knows.

- John Balderston,

a New York columnist

covering the Tut discovery,

is fascinated by

the curse story.

(upbeat piano music)

10 years later, he's

on Sunset Boulevard,

typing out his first

Hollywood screenplay.

He's been told to

adapt a story about

a magician in San Francisco.

(magic whizzing)

So he moves the story

to Egypt, ancient Egypt.

He changes the magician's

name to Imhotep.

- [Echoing Man] Imhotep.

- [Kate] And to

spice the story up,

Balderston invents

the curse of Thoth.

(creepy instrumental music)

In 1932, "The Mummy,"

starring Boris Karloff is

let loose on the world.

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Translator] Death,

eternal punishment

for anyone who

opens this casket.

(film reel clicking)

- "The Mummy"

certainly helped to

promote this idea

of a pharaoh's curse

or the curse of a mummy

that can be reanimated

and track down his

enemies, if you will,

or those who

disturbed his burial.

- Hollywood then

embellishes that.

It ties into our fear.

It takes us back to childhood,

where we look under

our beds just in case.

- [Kate] 90 years later,

"The Mummy" franchise

is still going strong.

Since 1999, there has been

eight new "Mummy" movies.

Together, they have grossed

a total of $1.8 billion.

That's twice as

much as the current

insurance value of the

Tut tomb treasure trove.

(upbeat instrumental music)

(popcorn popping)

- I think of that

movie, "The Mummy,"

that I watched

entirely too young,

and then was scared

of toilet paper after.

- Is King Tut a mummy now?

There's like the new

versions of "The Mummy."

That guy was a grown a*s adult.

Okay, all right.

- What the hell happened

to Brendan Fraser's career?

Where'd he go?

He was everywhere, now

he's gone. (laughing)

That's the curse of King Tut.

- [Kate] But what about the

mummy who started at all?

Who was the real pharaoh

behind the bandages?

- I think when people think

of ancient Egyptian mummies,

they do think of this kind

of strange zombiesque,

the Hammer Horror

kind of association.

If you unwrap the bandages,

you'd look on the

face of that person.

- [Kate] Writing in his diary,

Howard Carter calls

November 11th, 1925,

a great day in the

history of archeology,

because this is the day that

he begins to unwrap

Tut's bandages.

- This isn't just history.

You can unwrap the mummies

and see their

facial expressions,

bringing these kings

and queens of history

from thousands of

years ago to life.

- [Kate] Tut has been wrapped

up tight for 3,245 years.

And some of the ancient

embalming fluids used on him

have long since passed

their expiry date.

- The resins and

oils that have been

poured over the

mummy and the coffin,

they had set hard like glue.

- [Kate] The mummy, with

its burial mask in place,

is still lying in the

coffin, stuck to the bottom.

(man grunting)

Carter begins the

process of removing

the layers of linen

bandages one by one.

Underneath the first layer,

he discovers a gold amulet

tucked inside the bandages.

The farther he goes,

the more he finds.

A gold dagger, a bracelet,

a scarab beetle,

and a golden hawk.

- Unwrapping of the

mummy of King Tut,

they actually found

143 different amulets

and pieces of jewelry within

the wrappings of

the mummy itself.

And all of these

objects were meant

to serve as protection

for the king

and to help him transfigure

into a god in the afterlife.

- [Kate] Carter realizes they

are also signs of affection

for the dead Pharaoh from

those he left behind.

- It's your family.

It's your family members.

It's the funerary practice.

It's still very much the

person that you've lost,

and you grieved for,

and you've loved.

(suspicious instrumental music)

- [Kate] Finally, it's

time to pry off his mask

and reveal the real King

Tutankhamen to the world.

(creepy instrumental music)

In the words of Carter,

"He's beautiful."

- They unwrap the mummy,

looked at the body,

and they realized

that Tutankhamen died

when he was only 18.

- He came to the throne when

he was about nine years old

and he dies this kind

of mysterious death.

Nobody really knows why.

- [Kate] It's a mystery

science has yet to solve.

- There are so many theories.

There's been sickle cell

anemia, epilepsy, malaria.

- You might've been attacked

by a hippo in the Nile.

(hippo growling)

- There are other theories.

That he died whilst he

was hunting on a chariot.

Perhaps he died in battle.

This whole mystery

around his death

is really tantalizing

to lots of people.

- [Kate] There's another,

more controversial question,

whose answer remains locked

within 30,000 human genes.

- There is an

obsession by scholars

and researchers

to try to identify

the race of King Tutankhamen.

- Is Tutankhamen black?

Has he been depicted

as being too white?

I would say that

actually in reality,

it's somewhere in the middle.

And I think that we should

just be really happy that they

are part of the African diaspora

and that these

amazing people created

such fabulous cultures

on the African continent.

- In a way it,

probably would take

something away from

Tutankhamen if we did know.

I think it's precisely that

mystery, that uncertainty,

that ability to tell new

stories that has kept

him so much in this sort

of public fascination.

- [Kate] But back

in the early 1920s,

way before John

Balderston bashed out

his first draft of "The Mummy,"

Tut is a rising star

ready to go nova.

Get ready for Tut mania.

(exotic instrumental music)

- I would argue that King

Tut is a part of pop culture

because of the timing when

King Tut was discovered.

- This was an incredible moment.

(street car horns beeping)

You're just a few

years past the horrors

of the first World w*r.

You're into the

Roaring Twenties,

the age of jazz and flappers,

and everyone's looking for

glamor, luxury, fun, hope,

and Tutankhamen's tomb

just plays right into that.

It's beyond everyone's dreams.

And so this is exactly what

everyone has been looking for.

- In 1922, when the

world is suddenly

seeing Tutankhamen's

tomb being revealed,

it just has this huge influence

on the movie business.

(instrumental trumpet music)

- [Kate] On average,

50 million Americans

are going to the

flicks every week.

- Middle-class

America is thriving

and three out of four

people will visit

the movie theater at

least once a week.

I don't think we could

afford to do that now.

- [Kate] The movie

business is booming

and Hollywood wants

to keep it that way.

So it cashes in on the

coincidental crazes,

bringing the grandeur

of ancient Egypt

to main street in the form of

82 new temple-like cinemas.

- Suddenly all of these movie

theaters have been built,

not just in the US

but in the UK as well.

And they have these

beautiful kind of

ancient Egyptian echoes to them.

This whole idea of ancient Egypt

and how fabulous

and dazzling it is.

- [Kate] Tut isn't just changing

how people go to the movies.

He's changing the way we look,

thanks to two beautiful things,

hidden inside a whole lot fours.

(record scratching)

Um, to explain we

need to rewind a bit.

(exotic instrumental music)

When Howard Carter

gets his first glimpse

of the wonderful things

inside Tut's tomb,

it's only the beginning.

He'll eventually discover

there are four separate rooms.

He will break through

four separate seals,

before entering the

burial chamber itself.

Inside the chamber, there's

a huge gilt wooden shrine.

- And you see this

golden shrine.

But actually it's

not just one shrine.

There's four. (laughing)

(upbeat instrumental music)

- [Kate] Inside the

inner most shrine,

Carter finds a box shaped

sarcophagus, a stone coffin.

Opening this, he

discovers a second coffin

in the shape of a person.

Inside that is another, and

finally a fourth coffin.

When Carter opens this,

he reaches the innermost layer

and is met by the

mesmerizing eyes

of the golden boy king

staring back at him.

- [Tut] Hi there,

what took you so long?

- The mask, which is the

most famous symbolic artifact

that we think about when

we think about Tutankhamen.

It gave the divine attributes.

So protection and it enabled

you to see in the underworld.

- [Kate] A hundred years later,

we're still captivated

by his darkly lined eyes.

- I'm sure if you ask

anyone in the street

who is the first

to wear guyliner,

they would probably

say punk rockers,

goth kids, vamp kids.

But Egyptian men wore eyeliner

long before all of that.

So they definitely

started that trend.

Their influence on

not only makeup,

but beauty practices in general,

still is in the present day.

(upbeat synthesizer music)

- [Kate] Back in the

early days of Tut mania,

the pharaoh's eyeliner

is everywhere.

Thanks in part to the very

first it girl, Clara Bow.

Where she leads, millions

of flappers follow.

(upbeat jazz music)

- You've got things like the

popularity of sequins as well,

because some of the

items that were found

in Tutankhamen's

tomb are decorated

with thousands of delicate

beads and sequins,

like little discs of gold,

all feeding through people

wanting to get a piece of

of Tutankhamen

and ancient Egypt.

(film reels clicking)

- I mean, Egypt influencing

jewelry and design,

that's so cool.

- I do like the crazy eyeliner.

That's definitely

Egyptian inspired.

Thank you for the fashion

choices, King Tut.

(upbeat jazz music)

- Tut mania really

took off in the 1920s.

People wanted

Egyptian everything.

- There's even a famous brand

of condoms called Ramesses.

(stick vibrating)

That were made in

23 and they amass

a massive wealth in the 1930s.

- It makes sense that

marketing to young men

during a period of

sexual liberation

would appeal to

their interests in

being associated with

an Egyptian god king.

I guess you can make some

analogy about wrapping it up.

(crowd booing)

- [Kate] Sex and fashion aren't

the only things

Tut's influencing.

Remember the pyramid

on the dollar bill?

The federal reserve in

Washington DC adds it in 1935,

cashing in on the

pharaoh's soaring fame.

(Model T horns beeping)

But nowhere does Tut mania

quite like New York City,

where his star power will

do an end run around 1916ZL,

better known as the

1916 Zoning Resolution,

and change the Manhattan

skyline forever.

(machinery clicking)

- We see the obsession

with King Tut

having a lot of impact on style.

Clothing, women's dresses, but

especially architecturally.

American culture is often

about assimilating ideas

and patterns from elsewhere.

So it doesn't surprise

me that one of

our most iconic buildings

is really reflecting

our interpretation

of an Egyptian style.

- [Kate] It's the story

of how Tut took Manhattan,

and it goes like this.

The year is 1929

and architect William

Frederick Lamb has a dilemma.

- [Lamb] Hmm.

- [Kate] He's been

asked to design

a new building

for the Big Apple,

one taller than any

other in existence.

But there's a problem.

- In the early 20th

century, New York City was

a claustrophobic place because

of the dense cityscape.

It blocked out fresh air and

sunlight from the people below.

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Kate] In response,

the city enacted

the 1916 Zoning Resolution,

putting strict limits on

the size of new buildings.

To get around it, Lamb goes

back to the drawing board

and takes inspiration

from ancient Egypt.

- [Lamb] I've got it!

(upbeat instrumental music)

- [Kate] He sketches a five

story base that fills the lot.

On top of that, he puts

a tower, but set back.

He adds additional set backs

making the tower narrower

and narrower at the 21st, 25th,

30th, 72nd, 81st

and 85th floors.

(metal screeching)

- It gradually recedes

from a base at the top,

just like a pyramid.

This was a plan to help shed

more light on Manhattan.

- [Kate] It's called the

Empire State Building.

And at 1,454 feet,

becomes the tallest

building in the world.

So tall, in fact, it

will tower three times

higher than the Great

Pyramid of Giza.

- This was a 4,500

year Egypt design

leaving its mark on the greatest

modern city in the world.

And all thanks to Tut mania.

- [Kate] For a guy who left such

a major mark on the Big Apple,

Tut's afterlife address

is pretty low key.

- It's much smaller than you

would expect for

a Pharaoh's tomb,

compared to a lot

of the other tombs

that have been found in

the Valley of the Kings.

- [Kate] There are

four rooms in the tomb

with dimensions that add up

to a total of 908 square feet.

To give you an idea

of how big that is,

compare it to your average

Manhattan one bedroom

apartment at 702 square feet.

Pretty modest for a

royal resting place,

especially compared to

one like the Taj Mahal.

That site is 42 acres,

or the same as about

31 football fields,

or the mausoleum of the

first Chin Emperor of China.

That site covers 20 square

miles, or half of Disney world.

By their standards,

King Tut's tomb isn't

even a broom closet.

- With Carter and Carnarvon

actually finding Tut's tomb,

and the fact that it was so

small and so inconspicuous

it's just hard to believe

that that they were so lucky.

- [Kate] But why is

Tut's tomb so small

compared to others in

the Valley of the Kings?

- His reign wasn't

very significant.

He only ruled for

about nine years

during the New Kingdom

in ancient Egypt.

- Did he do very much?

And the thing is, not really.

- [Kate] So that was kind

of us C minus sovereign,

a historical underachiever.

Try telling that to

the 1970s, (laughing)

when his tiny, but intact

tomb will launch Tut mania two

and make the pharaoh a

bigger star than ever before.

(record scratching)

- In 1973, there is

a w*r between Israel,

Syria, and Egypt called

the Yom Kippur w*r.

(dramatic instrumental music)

And then Nixon intervenes.

(phone ringing)

And supports the Israelis.

And because of this,

there's a real backlash

with the Arab states.

They don't take this too lightly

and decide not to

supply the US with oil.

(funky instrumental music)

- [Kate] The conflict sends

oil prices skyrocketing

from $3 a barrel to $12,

and causes long lines at

the pump across the nation.

- So Nixon's got a bit

of trouble on his hands.

He really has to make amends.

- [Kate] Nixon

comes up with a plan

to flip the script

with the Arab states.

- Presidents always

find unique ways to

find commonality

with other countries.

So he used the one thing

he probably thought

as a common ground to

establish some relationship

with the Middle East and

with Egypt in particular.

King Tut.

- So Nixon travels

to Egypt in 1974,

asking if these

treasures could come

for this touring exhibition,

because it was just

seen that it would

be an expression of goodwill,

of people getting

excited about Egypt,

a collaboration between

the two countries.

- [Kate] It's also

planned to beat

the competition

with simple numbers.

An exhibition of Tut's

treasures has recently completed

a three city tour

around the Soviet Union.

(man speaking foreign language)

(instrumental Russian music)

To outdo his Cold w*r rivals,

(phone ringing)

Nixon persuades the Egyptians to

put three more cities

on the US itinerary.

- [Nixon] That's right.

- [Kate] And on

top of the 50 items

that were sent behind

the Iron Curtain,

Nixon wheels and deals

an extra five for the US.

To be on the safe side, he

has the whole kit and caboodle

transported to America

in secret on a warship.

(air horn sounding)

- When the King Tut artifacts

and treasures come

to the United States,

and they do this three-year

tour throughout the country,

they were insured for over a

billion dollars in their value.

That's a staggering number.

And especially for

the time at the 1970s.

- [Kate] 50 Years after the

first wave of Tut mania,

the old pharaoh

is about to sweep

the world off its

feet once again.

(dramatic instrumental music)

(tape rewinding)

(upbeat synthesizer music)

- In 1976, this huge tour

of Tutankhamen treasures

just happens in the US

and it's like 1922

all over again.

Everybody goes nuts about it.

- [Kate] Tut mania is

back, bigger than ever.

And the proof is in the numbers.

(money crinkling)

- [Man] Hey, get your tickets!

- [Kate] In Washington DC,

the lineups circle

three whole blocks.

- [Man] Tickets here!

- [Kate] In Chicago, ticket

holders face a seven hour wait.

In Los Angeles, scalpers are

selling $2 tickets for $35.

- [Man] Get your tickets!

- [Kate] That's a markup

of more than 1,500%.

By the time the

exhibition closes,

after visits to

Seattle and New York,

more than 8 million people

will have come see Tut.

(upbeat instrumental music)

- Nixon bringing a mummy on

tour as a political statement,

wouldn't have been

my first move.

- I don't think there

were many political tools

that Nixon didn't use.

- I guess that kind

of explains the curse.

We know Nixon didn't

didn't finish well,

as far as his job was concerned.

- I would've just gone for

the good old ninth grade

vote for me and I'll give

you a cupcake sort of thing.

- Isn't that all

American politics?

Isn't that the entire

Senate just like dry,

desiccated and mummified

old husks of humans?

That's the US Senate.

Yeah, no, not that weird.

- [Kate] Tut's smash hit

tour of the seventies,

culminates with a TV triumph.

- The high moment for

King Tut would have

to be when Steve Martin made

a song about him on "SNL."

That's how you know you made it,

when you're parodied

or there's satire

about you on

"Saturday Night Live."

(funky instrumental music)

- [Kate] The 1970s

won't be the last time

Tut finds himself

caught up in politics.

(tape rewinding)

In 2011, he'll be

called off the bench

to help rally his people

against an oppressive regime.

- The Arab Spring,

which took place in 2011

and the Egyptian

Revolution helped

to promote the emergence

of street artists.

The streets of Cairo became

a canvas, if you will,

for all these

different artworks,

by all these different artists.

(crowd chattering)

- [Kate] One known only

by his alias, Kaiser,

paints a familiar

image of protest.

(spray paint spraying)

The Argentinian

revolutionary, Che Guevara.

He's wearing his

trademark beret,

only this time

he's also sporting

King Tut's ceremonial beard.

(exotic instrumental music)

- I visited Egypt not that

long after the Revolution

and there was a lot of

graffiti that was around,

and one of the

images that you would

see as graffiti was the

mask of Tutankhamen.

(camera snapping)

- [Kate] Street,

artist Marwan Shahin

follows Kaiser's lead

and paints an image of

the fictional anarchist V,

from the "V for

Vendetta" comic series,

wearing his trademark

Guy Fawkes mask,

along with the headdress

of the teenage pharaoh.

(camera snapping)

- The mask of King Tutankhamen

is actually fused together

with the Guy Fawkes

mask from the UK.

And so by using this icon,

like the Guy Fawkes Mask,

which represents, the

people fighting against

their government

and fusing that with

the iconic funerary gold

mask of King Tutankhamen,

the artists were speaking

directly to the revolutionaries

to hold fast to

their ancestral roots

and to fight against

this oppressive regime

that was currently ruling Egypt.

(camera snapping)

- [Kate] The image

quickly becomes

a revolutionary signature piece,

emblazoned on walls as

a monochrome stencil,

painted mural or pop art poster.

- You've got a people rising up,

wanting to assert their

independence and their freedom,

and they're looking

back to this image

of Tutankhamen to

represent them in that.

(machinery whirring)

- King Tut being used

as a political symbol.

I mean, if he has

a problem with it,

he can't say anything now.

Being a mummy, you know?

- I'd rather King

Tut than Bieber.

(goofy cartoon music)

- [Kate] After 18

days of protest,

the Egyptian regime is toppled.

- Game over.

- [Kate] And Tut, he's still

just as popular as ever.

- The irony is

someone like King Tut

would be adamantly against

and oppressing a revolution,

but using his image

makes perfect sense,

because that is the one

image that everyone in Egypt

can get behind and

obviously understands.

(tape rewinding)

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Kate] The great

pharaohs of ancient Egypt

went to epic lengths for

a shot at eternal life,

but all their best laid plans

were spoiled by looters.

By drifting into obscurity

for more than 3000 years,

young and insignificant

Tutankhamen may

be the only one who

truly succeeded.

- Because his tomb is so

small, and it's so iconic,

and also quite weird,

we are continuing to

say his name in history.

- The numbers just

give us a handle

on such an incredible find,

more than 5,000 objects

that came out of that tomb.

More than 100 objects just

found on the mummy itself.

The millions of people who

have visited the exhibits.

It just gives you a

sense of the scale

and the importance of

the entire phenomenon.

- You do not have

to rule the longest

and you do not have to be

the best at what you do.

You just have to

be the most famous.

Everyone will always

know that name.

I promise you I could step into

a classroom 50 years from now,

if I could say name

an Egyptian king,

they will know King Tut.

(upbeat instrumental music)

- [Interviewer] When I

say King Tut, you say?

- What?

- If I had to go

to the afterlife,

I would totally bring my

dog if he was already dead.

- Yeah, king at the age of nine.

I would have started wars

with Rome by my 10th birthday.

- I'm not k*lling

my dog to bring him.

- I remember Tut mania from when

I was a kid in the seventies.

And they were all, I think,

using a lot of cocaine.

- I guess my husband,

if you have to.

- I want flamingos and

polar bears in my court.

That's because I can,

and I'm nine years old.

- Oh, "Walk Like an

Egyptian," The Bangles.

Yeah, that was a good one too.

Walk like an Egyptian ♪

- Oh god. (laughing)

Terrible.

(exotic instrumental music)