01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

It's been a hundred years

since the discovery of
King Tutankhamun's tomb,

the boy king who
lived and died at one

of the most revolutionary times
in Ancient Egyptian history.

- King Tutankhamun ruled
Egypt from 1332 to 1323 BC.

I'm Dr. Yasmin El Shazly
I'm an Egyptologist.

I'm Mahmoud Rashad.

I'm a filmmaker and an
independent Egyptologist.

- As an Egyptian Egyptologist,

it is very important for
me to give Tutankhamun

back his voice by exploring

all the different
theories around him.

The whole Armana period

is attracting people because
it is the period of Akhenaten.

He said, There is
no God but this God.

It's a great revolution.

He must have been extremely
courageous to do this.

- You can't change
people's beliefs...

- And faith overnight.

- Overnight.

Rashad and I are on
a journey to find out

who the boy behind the mask was.

Who were his allies and
who were his enemies?

- Was he m*rder*d?

Did he die in an accident?

So many unanswered questions.

- I really believe Nefertiti,
she could be his enemy.

We learned about his family

in the first part
of our journey,

now we're going to find out more

about how and why
he died so young.

- All theories before that
Tutankhamun was m*rder*d,

it's an accident happened to
him two days before he died.

- Tutankhamun had many
people advising him.

We don't really know
the whole court,

but we all do know two
names, Ay and Horemheb.

- Some people look
at Ay as a villain,

but I'm not sure of that.

- We are bringing back
the face of Tutankhamun

and making a facial
reconstruction

based on scientific measures.

- I really want King
Tut to come to life

and create the most
definitive look

of one of the most famous
kings of all time.

- I like to look at the
eyes of the golden mask

and this mask reflects for
me the drama of his life.

At the same time, his yearning

with this young
face for eternity.

- Are you ready?
- Okay. Yes.

- Ready?
- Yes!

Oh my God.

Tutankhamun:

Allies & Enemies

was made possible in part by

contributions to
your PBS station

from viewers like you.

Thank you.

Have you been here before?

- Never.
- Never?

- Never.
- This is my second time here.

This is Carter's house.

This is where he lived
while he was excavating

for King Tut's tomb.

Can you just imagine
the conversations
that were happening

in this house while they
were searching for him?

Howard Carter
was a British Egyptologist

who discovered King
Tutankhamun's tomb

in the Valley of the Kings
on the West Bank of the Nile.

His dig was financed
by Lord Carnarvon

and had been going on
for almost five years.

- The bit that I like
the most about his story

is his obsession with King Tut.

I have so much respect for him.

He loved Tutankhamun,
he wanted to find him,

and he showed him the
respect he deserved.

In 1922, Lord Carnarvon wanted
to cancel the excavations,

and then Howard Carter begged
him for one last season,

and that's when
they found the tomb.

- Exactly.
- They found

these little steps and just
think about that minute

when he dug that
hole in the wall

and Lord Carnarvon asked
him, "What can you see?"

and he said-

- Wonderful things.

- I'm in the city of
Abydos in Southern Egypt

meeting Dr. Sameh
Iskander at his dig site,

which is dedicated

to the Ancient Egyptian god
of the underworld, Osiris.

They found evidence here that
within a couple of generations

after Tutankhamun's death,
all the gods were back,

and Akhenaten's religious
revolution was overturned.

- I'm Sameh Iskander,
Egyptologist,

affiliate research associate
at New York University,

currently working on the
temple of Ramses II in Abydos.

Abydos is the domain
of the God Osiris.

- Yes.

- Probably the most popular
god in Ancient Egypt.

The god of the afterlife.

'Cause Abydos was very
important site in Ancient Egypt

and still is a very
important site in Egypt now.

It was a site of pilgrimage.

Every Ancient Egyptian
person dreamed

that he would be able
to come to the site

and pay his or her
respect to Osiris.

100 years after the discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamun,

people believe this is
a chance for Tutankhamun

to give his story, but does it?

His tomb or his money or
the objects in his tomb

are giving us what
he really thought,

what he really wanted to say,

or is it us that actually
imposing it on him?

Here, I wanna show you here
a very, very important scene

right here on this wall that
gives an idea of, you know,

the energy in the temple
and what was happening.

It does. It
looks impressive so far.

- It is an impressive

and it's a sort of a
unique scene in Abydos.

Here is the symbol of Osiris
being carried by 24 priests

after a procession outside
for a certain feast,

and supposedly the head
of Osiris is buried there.

Which is why Abydos is so sacred

because they believe
the head of Osiris

is buried there.
- Is buried here.

- Yeah.
- Yes.

So we are here in the sort of
the sacred part of the temple.

But there's a lot was
happening outside.

Let's go and see.

I'll show you.
- Yes.

This is where
the action takes place,

the activities of the temple

of the cult.
- Oh my God.

This is unbelievable.

We found over
2,000 mummies of rams.

Wow, that's incredible.

We keep finding new ones.

The rams were part
of ritual animal sacrifice

to the Ancient Egyptian gods.

Under Tutankhamun's father,

this would not
have been allowed.

This is more proof the old
religion was back in full force.

- The idea of
Akhenaten is long gone,

it's not there anymore.

As a matter of fact, there's
another temple of Ramses

in here about maybe
a kilometer or less,

and there are several
fragments from Amarna,

that they're found as part of
the foundation, as fillers.

And this helps your research.

- Definitely.
- Just in a graphic way.

- Yes.

- This piece was divine
and now it's just,

it's the foundation.
- Hidden.

- The filler.
- And useless.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Useless.

And this
summarizes the restoration

of the religion from Aten to
Amun that King Tut started.

But you know, there's more.

Let's go to the temple
city and I'll show you

the situation of the religion.

- What Tutankhamun did was
return to the old status quo,

which means that all the
temples throughout Egypt,

Amun and otherwise,
were all functioning.

All of this really brought
back a sense of unity and ease

for the Egyptians
because it was very weird

for them probably
after 2,000 years

to have their whole
world view changed.

- Before going to
the temple of Seti I,

Dr. Sameh invited
me for breakfast

with his Egyptian coworkers.

It's such a beautiful temple.

Oh it's incredible temple.

It's very special.

Yes.

- I find it one of the most
beautiful temples in Egypt.

This temple was built about
40 years after King Tut.

This temple is a culmination
of King Tut's attempt

to restore the religion.

- Dr. Sameh, you said that
this is the culmination

of Tutankhamun's restoration?

- Yes, when you think about it,

when King Tut and his
entourage started the process

of restoration, it took a while.

- But was it his
decision really?

How involved was
he in the process?

- Obviously he was not
involved because he was a kid.

- Yes.
- He was young.

- Yes.

So, I would say

this was a movement
by the priesthood.

- In Ancient Egypt, religion
has always been political.

When the king is a god,
then it is always going

to have a complete mixture
of sacred and secular.

And this had been going on in
Egypt since the dawn of time.

So, what you do with it,
how you manipulate it,

changes varying on
who the king is,

what role the
temples are playing,

and what the general
milieux is at that moment.

- You know, Seti built
this temple for six gods.

You see Ibis, Osiris,
Anubis, that over there.

Tut would have
loved to see this.

- Yes, all the
gods are all there.

- All the gods. Everything.

All the gods are bad.

This is what he wanted.

Only 30, 40 years
after his time.

- Seti I began a new
dynasty, the Nineteenth,

and would usher in a new
era after the disorder

of Akhenaten and the end
of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

I just arrived to Abydos to
the temple of King Seti I

to meet up with Dr. Yasmin.

In here, we have the first clue

to the second half
of King Tut's story.

Throughout our journey,
Yasmin and I have built

a very intimate relationship
with Tutankhamun.

Sometimes we feel
sympathetic of a boy

in the middle of
a power struggle,

and sometimes we're suspicious
of people around him

and how his life
was cut so short.

So, the whole temple really is
one of my favorites in Egypt,

but this room holds a very
special place in my heart.

This is the whole of the
ancestors in Seti I's temple.

And here we see Seti I
with his son, Ramses II,

and they're reciting
all of the names

of Egypt's previous kings.

Yes, they're
trying to associate themselves

with them as their descendants.

- I can just imagine both of
them here burning incense.

Ramses has the papyrus
in his hand reading the,

reciting the invocation in it,

and then they recite
each and every name

of each and every king.

Where is Tut?

Where is Tut
and where is Akhenaten?

- And where's Nefertiti?

- Yes.

- And where's Ay?

- Exactly.

- All the heroes of
our story are not here.

- Yes.

- They want to pretend
they never existed,

they were never here,
they never ruled Egypt.

They are not one of them.

- Yeah, they were
removed from history.

It is unfortunate that
Tutankhamun's name

does not appear
in this king list,

and the fact that Ay's
name, too, isn't there

makes us wonder if
Horemheb was responsible

for these omissions.

This would make him the
villain of the story,

even though so
far Ay seems to be

the apparent
conniving character.

All these points make
me want to explore

how Tutankhamun died and what
happens next in this story.

Driving in Cairo
is an adventure.

You have to have
very good reflexes.

Anything can happen anytime.

- I am going to meet Dr. Salima
Ikram who will talk to me

about Tutankhamun's
death and mummification.

So, Yasmin, I was
going to make some coffee.

Would you like some?

- Yes, please.

- My name is Salima Ikram
and I am an Egyptologist

at the American
University in Cairo

where I am a distinguished
university professor.

I've been moving around.

I'm talking to different people-

- Yes.
- About the different theories

regarding Tutankhamun, and
there seems to have been

a lot going on in
the background.

- Oh yeah.
- At his death.

What do you think?

- I wish I knew.

Very hard to tell.

But no, I mean there must
have been such chaos in a way.

They didn't expect him
to die, one imagines,

unless he was k*lled,
and then poof.

Everything's gone.

- Everything's gone and then
we have Ay and Horemheb.

Yes, because Horemheb

was supposed to
be his successor.

- I suppose maybe it was
a gentleman's agreement.

"Let's put Ay there
for a little bit.

He's going to die anyway."

Ay was a relative of
Tutankhamun, much older,

sort of grandfather, great
grandfather kind of thing,

while Horemheb was a
military commander.

Probably they expected
him to have a successor,

but he didn't.

That's when it got interesting

and then you wind up
with Ay and Horemheb

maybe jockeying for position.

- What's your theory
about Tutankhamun's reign?

- Well, I mean, I think that
there's so little evidence

that we can make
up whatever we want

about that poor boy's reign.

Then people always talk about
how he was a sickly creature.

But I don't think so.

You don't think so?

- No, I don't.
- Okay, why?

- So he has all those sticks
in his tomb and everyone says,

"Oh my God, he couldn't walk."

But generally you have
sticks in your tomb

no matter who you are because
it's a mark of office.

Now, having studied the sticks,

you look at the base to
see if there's any wear,

and it's minimal.

Plus, he also had, in addition
to all the gold stuff,

he had a suit of armor that
was made out of leather,

which was a real suit of armor.

So he probably went to battle.

- He probably went to battle
because he has all the weapons.

Why would he have all
that armor in his tomb?

It doesn't make sense, you
would just have this state-

- Maybe he wanted to be
resurrected as a warrior.

Well I think he wanted-

- He wanted to go to
battle in the afterlife.

- Well, I mean a king had to
go to battle in the afterlife.

Yes, of course.

- That is what they did.

Milk?

Yes,
please. No sugar.

Okay. You
may have no sugar.

I find it's very espresso.

Darling, that way.

Come on in and let's
settle down here.

- About his health, what
do you think of the results

of, you know, the CT
scans that have been done?

- People tend to think, oh
it's science, it must be true.

Whereas scientists also
differ and disagree and argue.

But I mean right
now, there are ideas

that the leg was broken
and that caused septicemia,

which might have been
one of the reasons

for Tutankhamun's death.

What about the
clubfoot that people talk about?

- I myself am not a firm
believer in the clubfoot.

I have looked at his feet.

So, I think it could
also be a result

of the way he was mummified.

People often over or
underestimate things

because I have very
bad knees and legs

and I've had, you know,
five different operations

and I'm still not
properly functional.

But I still climb up
mountains, go down tomb shafts,

wiggle into holes, and carry
out my work as an Egyptologist,

where probably if you looked
at my body you'd think,

ooh, this person
can't do anything

because so many bits
have been replaced

or are broken or are
pinned together tenuously.

So I think saying
that Tutankhamun

couldn't do a lot of
things is probably wrong.

You don't see him
as a tragic figure or do you?

Having your father be
seen as a heretic king

and be erased from history and-

- Well, I mean, on one hand-

- I know this is
not very Egyptological.

We're trying to empathize

with Tutankhamun.
- But no, no,

I think it is totally
Egyptological.

Why study the Ancient Egyptians

if you don't think
of them as people?

Because why on earth
would I do Egyptology

if I did not love
and feel passionately

about the Ancient Egyptians?

All kings started
preparing for their death

as soon as they
ascended the throne.

Tutankhamun would not
have been any different.

How do you think he prepared

for his death and the afterlife?

- I think that Tutankhamun did
this in a very literal way.

- Mm-hmm. Tell me about it.

Because his
mummy is very Osirian

because it's completely covered
with this black material.

And that's not how other
kings were mummified.

His mummification was different.

- His mummification
was very odd.

That's the most peculiar
thing about him, I think.

It was so helpful
to talk with Dr. Salima Ikram

about the mysteries
surrounding Tutankhamun's

unusual mummification, and
that Tut's mummy may hold clues

to the battle for succession
after his untimely death.

Let me take the mug, sweetie.

- Thank you. Bye-bye.

Bye, thanks so much for coming.

My pleasure.

- We are here

at the National Museum
of Egyptian Civilization.

It opened in April 2021
to host the royal mummies

of the new kingdom, the family
of Tutankhamun among them.

My name is Sahar Saleem.

I'm Professor of Radiology,

Faculty of Medicine
Cairo University.

Let's go and have some coffee

because I have some more
CT scan images to show.

- And I still have
so many questions.

- Okay, let's go.
- So let's go.

I spent a lot
of time with Tutankhamun.

I took thousands of CT scan.

This made Tutankhamun
like a family to me.

Dr. Sahar,
I think now we need

to start discussing why did
Tut die and how did he die?

- Tutankhamun, there were
a lot of theories, though,

about the cause of death.

And in this theory
I will show you,

there is a small bone fragment.

That is attached to the-

- To the resin.
- The resin.

And this resin that
appeared as if it is a blood

or dense material in the skull,

the theory that
Tutankhamun was m*rder*d-

- m*rder*d.

- By a blow at the
back of his head.

This theory was actually
totally refuted.

There is no evidence
of trauma to his skull.

All these are related to
either the mummification,

which is not blood, or-

- The excavation.

- The, yes.

But when we want to know, okay,

if this is not the cause,
what was the cause?

We found the one, the
injury at the knee-

- The kneecap.

- You see here, this fracture,

slipped inside it
a dense material,

which is the embalming material.

Which means
that the fracture was there

before mummification 'cause
there are no healing signs.

- No healing signs.
- Mm.

- So this must
have been inflicted

just prior to death before
the body was able to heal.

This type of fracture could
happen from falling down,

from example, from the chariots.

We know that Tutankhamun liked
racing as as any teenager.

So this bone-

- But it must
have been something

very intense
happened for the knee

to be fractured like that.

- Falling down from a
high impact from racing

and from the velocity
of the chariot.

But the point is this is
not the cause of death.

This fracture may
have been complicated,

for example, by infection.

- Yeah.

- The DNA showed that a
form of malaria was found

inside the body of
Tutankhamun that means

that he was infected
with malaria.

His cause of death, although
it's not very much clear,

it could be a combination
of different circumstances,

health issues that
Tutankhamun had suffered from.

- Dr. Sahar, I know
that you have a flight

to catch to Canada to
meet up with the artists

working on Tut's bust.

- Yeah, we are all working

on the facial reconstruction
of King Tutankhamun.

I really can't wait to see

what you guys come up with.

- Yeah.

- Until then, I
have to go catch up

with Dr. Yasmin in Luxor,
but thank you for everything.

I have all the
answers that I needed.

- Okay. Thank you.
- Thank you. Thank you.

- I have team with
Dr. Andrew Nelson,

a Professor of Anthropology

at the University
of Western Ontario,

as well as Christian
Corbet, a forensic artist.

- Ready to go.

Until next time, King Tut.
- We are teaming up together

in order to bring back
Tutankhamun from the dead.

- We'll see you with Christian.

- I received an email
from Dr. Andrew Nelson

and he had this
incredible message that,

"Are you interested in
doing a new project?"

and it's a major
important individual.

And so, I was interested,
and then the reply email was,

"It's King Tut,"
and I was onboard.

I'm Christian Corbet.
I'm a sculptor.

For anybody to think of
King Tut having come here

thousands of years later
in his own magical way,

is to me just an affirmation
that miracles do happen.

Finally we meet, King Tut.

So, I've been creating
creative works of art

for over 26 years.

This one is a fine example
of His Royal Highness,

the late Prince
Philip, but for now,

my heart and eyes are fully set

on creating a forensic facial
reconstruction of King Tut,

where it'll go forensic
first, then it'll go creative.

And I'm gonna show you a
few things with respect

to what I do in order to create

the forensic facial
reconstruction.

First step's going to be
landing tissue markers.

There are tissue marker
charts that you use

in order to find
out the measurements

and where they're
supposed to go,

and then we slowly build
up muscle by muscle.

The point of the
camera is to take

as many pictures as
possible of all the stages.

So the next stage
is finding the spots

where we are going to be
placing tissue markers.

Well, here we are a couple weeks

into the forensic
facial reconstruction
of King Tutankhamun.

This is the very early stage.

A lotta people think of King Tut

as the sort of the
golden mask image.

And it's almost idealized
with the bright colors

and the perfect features.

But here, we have something
completely different.

In the creating
part of it is that,

how do I depict Tut
after the forensic stage?

Do I make him smile?
Do I make him frown?

Do I make him look
worried, concerned?

I really want King
Tut to come to life

in a completely new
and exciting way,

and who knows,
perhaps create maybe

the most definitive look

of one of the most
famous kings of all time.

- There are many question marks
around Tutankhamun's tomb.

Many scholars believe that
it was not designed for him,

that originally it was the tomb
of Ay in the Western Valley

that was intended
for Tutankhamun,

and that the tomb of Tutankhamun

was originally intended for Ay.

Whether or not Tutankhamun's
tomb was built for him

or for Ay is important to
scholars for several reasons.

It's much smaller than
most pharaohs' tombs,

leading some to believe
it must have been

for a lesser official
or even a queen.

Some believe Ay
made a power grab

after Tut's untimely death
by taking a much larger tomb

in the Valley of the
Monkeys for himself.

Some believe he wanted
to associate himself

with Tut's grandfather,
Amenhotep III,

to take credit for the
restoration of the religion.

I'm meeting Dr. Mostafa
Waziri in Tutankhamun's tomb

to ask him about his theory

on whether or not this,
too, was meant for Tut.

We're in Tutankhamun's tomb,

and I find this
scene fascinating.

We see Ay performing

the Opening of the
Mouth on Tutankhamun.

Have you ever seen a scene like
this before or is it unique?

- He died in unexpected way.

So, who took over? Ay.

At that time, he
was a high priest

and then he became the king.

So now, he started this
ritual Opening of the Mouth.

- But that was to
legitimize his own rule.

- Yes.
- Yes.

The Opening of the Mouth
ceremony is a ritual

in order to help the
deceased breathe again

and see again and be alive
again in the afterlife.

- The fact that Ay pictured
himself in the tomb

performing the duties
of the Sem priest,

who was supposed to do the
Opening of the Mouth ceremony

for the king, he did
it himself to make sure

that he will inherit the throne.

Ay had ambition
and he was willing

to step over anyone and
anything to get more power.

- Some people they
think that he was

behind the death of
Tutankhamun to take over

and to be the king of Egypt.

He could have done it
after one year, but no way.

- It seems like it was
very hastily decorated.

So do you think that Ay
wanted to bury Tut quickly

so that he can claim the throne?

- The tomb was unfinished.

So there is no hieroglyphic
inscriptions here.

It's only drawings.

Which is much faster.

Which is much faster.

But why were they in a hurry?

The king died and they
needed to bury him.

But why did they need
to bury him in a hurry?

- Most of the tombs in
the Valley of the Kings,

most of them are unfinished.

- Yes, very true.
- So once the king die,

and then they have to shut
the tomb and that's it.

- You think this tomb
was made for Tutankhamun?

- This tomb is the tomb of
Tutankhamun from the beginning.

I personally don't think so.

- Most of the people,
they think that this,

it was the tomb of Ay,

and then after the death
of the Tutankhamun,

Ay decided to give it to him.

No.

- After getting Dr.
Waziri's thoughts

on King Tut's tomb,
Yasmin and I are meeting

with Dr. Aidan Dodson
to get his opinion

on whether or not Ay
usurped Tutankhamun's tomb

to help us understand the
battle for succession.

- Dr. Dodson, the
tomb of Tutankhamun,

do you think it
was made for him?

Because many scholars
believe that the tomb of Ay

was intended for Tutankhamun.

- That's an idea I
generally support.

Certainly the tomb, which
Tutankhamun was buried in,

was not intended for
a king originally.

It had been taken over for that,

but we think that there was
one begun at Amarna for him.

Of course, that was abandoned

when the whole Amarna
experiment was was terminated.

And the tomb which Ay was
buried in in the West Valley,

it certainly fits for
what one would expect

Tutankhamun's
original tomb to be.

And that the simplest solution
could be simply that Ay

and Tutankhamun did
a swap of tombs,

that the tomb which Tutankhamun
was actually buried in,

was intended for Ay,
and Ay decided he wanted

to have the royal
tomb in West Valley,

and they simply swapped over.

And certainly the tomb which
Tutankhamun was buried in,

is very much of the sort
you'd expect to find

for a high status
individual of that time.

There are other options,

and one possibility could
be that it was the place

where the mummy of and Nefertiti

was originally put, and
then she was simply removed

from the tomb when
it was decided

this was needed for Tutankhamun.

So, it clearly was
somebody else's.

We could debate until the
cows come home whose it was,

but then this burial chamber
was added and decorated

purely for Tutankhamun
as far as I'm concerned.

- Thank you, Dr. Dodson.

You and I have a lot
of notes to compare

and conclusions to come up with.

- Definitely.
- I'm looking forward this.

Thank
you, Dr. Dodson.

Thank you very much.

At this stage of our
journey with Tut,

the mystery remains
about whether or not

the tomb he was buried
in was meant for him.

Now Rashad and I are
heading to Ay's Tomb

to meet with Dr. Tarek
Tawfik to get his theory

on the matter.

- After the death
of Tutankhamun,

the picture becomes
a bit blurry.

Did he marry the widow of
Tutankhamun rather quickly

to become the next pharaoh?

It's not entirely asserted.

- I've never been to this tomb.

I studied it so much.

- And I'm actually

very embarrassed.

It looks unfinished.

- It's very interesting
because the color scheme

is very similar to that
of the tomb of Tut,

but the quality of the
decoration isn't as good.

- Yes.
- The first moment,

it strike us as very similar
to Tutankhamun's tomb,

but still there are
a lot of differences.

It's mainly the baboons.
- The baboons are similar,

of course.

I think that the
baboons is what gives it away.

- Yes.
- Exactly.

But other scenes
on the other walls

are quite different
than Tutankhamun.

There are
many scholars who believe

this tomb was intended
for Tutankhamun,

and that Tutankhamun's
tomb was intended for Ay.

What do you think?

- I would ask myself,

why should Tutankhamun be
buried here in the West Valley?

He is buried in the Valley
of the Kings where he belong.

- But maybe because he
wanted to associate himself

with Amenhotep III.

- His grandfather.

- Possible, but when
we look at the plan

of the tomb of Tutankhamun,

we will notice that this tomb
was actually, in my opinion,

really designed for him,

because this is the only tomb
in the Valley of the Kings

where we have a chamber to the
east of the burial chamber.

And in this tomb, in
the tomb of Tutankhamun,

the objects that are related
to the funeral procession

from east towards west.
- From east to west.

- I love this
interpretation. I love it.

- And this means
that he, Tutankhamun,

here is emphasizing the return
to the old afterlife belief,

which is associated to the west,

not with the east like
it was at the time of-

The tomb in the West Valley,

the Valley of the Monkeys
was made, planned, decorated,

all for Ay himself,
not for anybody else.

- This is amazing, but
let's go have lunch.

- I know the perfect
local place. Let's go.

- I think that's
a very good idea.

- I'm shaking.

- So now it's really
time for food.

- Yes.

- We heard a lot of theories
and read a lot of theories

about how Tut must have died,
how do you think he died?

- There could have been
many reasons for his death.

- Demise, yeah.

- I do not think that
there is evidence enough

to support that he was m*rder*d.

But weak health
condition could have led

to his rather early death.

So let's just
play devil's advocate

and assume that he was m*rder*d.

Who would've done it
if he was m*rder*d?

- Okay, just for the
sake of argument.

At this age as a teenager,
Tutankhamun would've started

to have his own opinions
and his own mind.

Tutankhamun, at
the age of 15, 16,

now he would have his own mind.

So he was
realizing that, you know,

"I'm king, so why am I not-"

He's king.

- Making my own decision.
- "Why do I need to listen

to these guys?"

- Exactly, and we
don't know exactly

where his mind was going.

He was not anymore
totally in line-

- With Ay and Horemheb.
- With Ay and Horemheb.

This could have been a
motive to start thinking

of getting rid of him, but
this is totally speculative.

- What about the
chariot accident?

- The gash in his knee.

- Of course the
idea of him having

an accident with a chariot-

- Is attractive.
- Is very attractive

and dramatic, but we
have really no proof.

He could have fallen
going down the stairs.

- I'm not a scholar
like you guys,

so I tend to run wild
with my imagination.

I tend to think that, okay,

King Tut did have
difficulty walking,

and I think this is a fact.

I can really imagine that
he liked nothing more

but to be strapped
onto a chariot

and to go for a run with
it every now and then,

especially that
most of his chariots

show signs of wear and tear.

They were used.

Now I'm adding to that your
theory, which I really like,

about him being a
rebellious teenager

that they wanted to get rid of.

Maybe instead of
preventing him from going

on these chariot rides
that are dangerous,

they encouraged it.

It could be, it could be.

So it was a convenient death.

- Yes! Yes.

- You are now really...

- I'm going into,
I'm writing a script.

Exactly. Exactly.

- I'm writing a script.

- We don't have the evidence
to support any of this.

- No.
- Yeah, of course.

- But the circumstances would
allow something like this.

- Yes. Yes, yes.

- There's no evidence
for or against,

so anything's possible.

- The thing with
Tut's story especially

is that everything is possible.

There are countless
possibilities

to what could have
happened, with equal chance.

After listening to
the different opinions

on the debate whether Tut's tomb

was meant for him or for Ay,

I believe Ay gave
Tutankhamun the smaller tomb

and claimed the bigger
tomb for himself

when he took the throne
to cement his kingship.

And now we turn to how he died.

Was it from natural
causes or was he m*rder*d?

Were Ay and Horemheb
Tut's allies or enemies,

and did they play a
role in his death?

I'm here at the Giza Plateau
to meet Dr. Zahi Hawass.

He has something very
interesting to show me.

It's the hunting lodge that
belonged to King Tutankhamun,

which contradicts his
incapability to walk,

to hunt, to ride a chariot.

So, I'm really curious to see

what he has to say
about this today,

and also who is the
villain of our story.

- Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist.

- Dr. Zahi, I came
back just to check out

the lodge of Tutankhamun
that is here.

- He loved hunting.

It's because of that desert.

This is a valley of gazelles.

It was full of animals.

- Dr. Zahi, then how do you
explain the hunting scenes

of Tutankhamun while
he's sitting down?

- Actually, that hunting
scene for him sitting down,

it proves that he did hunt.

- Yes.

- But in his tomb,
found 130 sticks.

And this to show that even he
had some physical problems,

but still he can walk in a stick

sh**ting wild animals seated,

and beside him, the queen.

We know that everything
in Ancient Egypt

had to have advisors
to ask for decisions.

And therefore, I think
that Horemheb and Ay

had nothing to do with the
death of Tutankhamun at all.

In Ancient Egypt, the
pharaoh is a pharaoh.

No one really can
disobey a pharaoh.

All of them have to bow

in front of the king.
- True. True.

- All the theories
before that was published

by many people that
Tutankhamun was m*rder*d,

it is not true.

Tutankhamun died on an accident,

and this can be
proved by the fracture

that he had in his left leg,

but he suffered from malaria.

And that was the thing
that really made him to die

because of the accident.

You're saying that he died

in a combination of an
accident and malaria together.

The malaria was the major thing.

In that time, the malaria
became the disease

that everyone suffered, not
only Tutankhamun but others.

- Dr. Zahi, a lot of
researchers and scholars

tend to believe that Ay is
the villain of our story.

Do you agree with them?

- First of all, I
never read a story

from any scholar who said that.

- Okay.

- Maybe some people say that,

but there is no evidence at all.

On the contrary, there is
evidence to prove the opposite.

Ay tried his best to prove
that he's the legal one

to be the king of Egypt.

And for him to restore that,

he has to show his
loyalty to Tutankhamun.

- My impression so far
of Tut on this journey

is that it was a
bit of a tragedy.

Do you agree?
- Not at all. No, no.

Was not a tragedy
at all. It's normal.

And he died because he
suffered from malaria.

We had many kings who suffered
from many other things.

Then it doesn't mean that
he died because of malaria

and an accident that
he could be a tragedy.

Not at all.

- Thank you, Dr. Zahi.
- Thank you.

- Thank you for your
time. Thank you.

Dr. Zahi had very interesting
insights on Tut's story.

He doesn't think
Ay was the villain,

and I think this is where
the beauty of Tut lies.

Everyone interprets him the
way he imagines him to be.

Did you know that
this movie theater

is actually modeled after
Radio City in New York?

- I had no idea.
- It is, it is.

It's a very
famous movie theater,

but I never knew this about it.

What are you doing?

- I'm going through
all the notes I took

regarding Tutankhamun, and
it's so interesting, you know,

all these different
theories about how he died.

Did he die of malaria?

Did he die from a
chariot accident?

- From the amazing
Egyptologists we sat with,

Dr. Zahi, I think, believes
it was a chariot accident,

and so does Dr. Waziri.

- Yeah.

- I don't think it was a m*rder.

- No. No, no.
- This is too farfetched.

They would never
have k*lled a king.

How do you think he died?

I think it was a combination

of malaria complications
and the knee injury.

But in a way, because
people who don't understand

our fascination with this,

I don't think it's a
fascination with death.

It's a fascination with life.

Just like the Ancient Egyptians.

We think they were
obsessed with death,

they were actually
obsessed with life

and they wanted their afterlife
to be just like this one.

- Exactly, but also
concerning Tut's death,

I find it super interesting
because it will tell us so much

about the people
that were around him.

So it will tell us a lot
about Ay, about how Horemheb,

who are the allies and
who are the enemies.

Yes, very true.

- Who do you think
were the enemies?

- Well, I don't know.

I don't even know if Ay and
Horemheb were really enemies.

- Oh, come on.
- They're not.

No, we don't know.

- Come on, Ay is the perfect
villain of the story.

All the evidence we have so far.

Evidence we have-
- What's the evidence?

- He marrying Ankhesenamun,

the tomb.
- That doesn't say anything

about how-
- The tomb,

him performing the Opening
of the Mouth ceremony

inside the tomb.

He was the bad guy.

Not necessarily.

- Burying him so quickly.
- It doesn't mean

he was an enemy.

- Jumping on
opportunities like that

is definitely not a trade
of a well-intent man.

Maybe he felt that
was what was best for Egypt.

- No, that was what
was best for him.

- He wanted to guarantee
a smooth succession

and he wanted to be king.

That doesn't mean he
was Tutankhamun's enemy.

I'm always waiting for the
new evidence to come out.

- Well, yes, yes,
the more the merrier.

But for now, he is
definitely the bad guy.

- Well, not definitely.

I don't like the
word definitely.

- For me.

- Possibly.

We will continue
to guess forever.

We will never know for sure,

and that's the
beauty of Egyptology.

Hello!

Christian, Sahar.

- Sahar, finally nice
to meet you in person.

Good to see you again, Andrew.
- Nice to see you, my friend.

- Come on in.

All the way to New Brunswick,
I appreciate you coming.

- It's great to be
here, Christian.

Nice to you.
- Thank you.

- Sahar, Andrew, this
is, I'll show you now.

This first one is
the forensic version

that I created of
King Tutankhamun.

And this is what I found.

Whoa.

- So this is the culmination
of several weeks worth of work.

Many, many, many hours.

- So really, at this stage,

the whole shape of the face
is governed by that skull.

- Absolutely.
- That we made the 3D print

from the CT scans, and then
the tissue thickness markers

that we had so much
discussion about

which was the most
appropriate ones to use,

and people have used German ones

and have used American ones,

and we opted to go
with the Egyptian ones.

They were a little hard to
figure out how to place.

But I think that has really
helped to shape a face.

So as an Egyptian, what
does it mean to you

to see this ancient
pharaoh come to life?

- Tutankhamun to me is not like
any other mummy or pharaoh.

Tutankhamun represents
my childhood.

This was important for me
to relate him as a boy.

I was a child and
he was a child.

Now, bringing
Tutankhamun back to life

and to have this honor
and this privilege

to be part of this project,

working on Tutankhamun,
my hero of childhood,

and to celebrate with
him his 100 year.

So, happy anniversary, Tut.

- So Dr. Sahar Saleem
finally sent us the bust

to take a look at.

They've been working
on it for months,

and the hard work
really shows on it.

It was very emotional
when I first saw him,

and I can't wait to bring in
Yasmin to see him with me.

Have you been here before?

Never.

- This is downtown Cairo,

and this company renovating
a lot of the abandoned spaces

turning them into art
spaces, galleries.

It really is a bigger project

to revive downtown
Cairo in general.

This is finally it.

Are you ready to see him?

I am. I think so.

- Are you nervous?

- Well, not nervous. Excited.

- Okay, good.

Are you ready?

- Yes.

- Ready?
- Yes!

Oh my God.

- I know.

- Wow.

- He's brilliant, huh?

- Yeah.

It looks like a real person.

- It does.
- Yeah.

- One thing I really like
about this reconstruction

is that it reminded
me of the mummy.

I can see similar features
between him and the mummy.

The brow bone, that
area really does

look like the mummy.
- The bone structure

is very similar to the mummy.
- The bone structure

is very good, very well done.

The lips, I'm so happy they
didn't give him thin lips.

I love the piercings.

And he looks very Egyptian.

He does.

He looks like modern Egyptians.

- He really does.

Like I know people
who look like him.

- Yes, yes.

The forensic artist
that worked on this,

he didn't see any of the
other reconstructions

that were made for Tut, so this
is a very fresh perspective

on what he would
have looked like.

And the crown is fantastic.

- It is, it's beautiful.
- It is.

- Beautiful crown.
- It is.

And do you know what
else is brilliant?

It's reminding me of some of
the later busts of Akhenaten.

So he does look like
his father after all.

The monochrome is still leaving
so much to our imagination

in terms of his skin
color, his eye color.

And I like that.

I like that, too.

We should always leave a
bit for our imagination

when it comes to King Tut.

- Definitely.
- Always.

I love how
they use scientific data

to come up with
this reconstruction.

It's not just, you
know, a work of art.

No, it science and art,

and they come up with
something like this.

So, question.

If you were to imagine
what Tut looked like,

is this similar to what you

would have been
thinking of or no?

It's more similar than the other

reconstructions.
- Reconstructions, right?

What about you?

Maybe not how I
imagined him to look like,

but I think this is
more accurate than
what I had in mind.

- I feel excited.

I feel like, you know,
we finally have a face

to associate with all the
stories we've been telling.

On the mystery surrounding
the life and death

of Egypt's most famous
king, Tutankhamun,

we looked at who he might
have been as a human being,

the man behind the mask.

I now empathize with him.

I empathize with the person
who lost most of his family

at a young age.

I empathize with someone
who had to denounce

his own father as a heretic.

As an Egyptologist, and more
importantly as an Egyptian,

I will never look at
Tutankhamun the same way again.

- One thing I hope we
learned from this journey

with King Tut is to never
judge a book by its cover.

King Tut on face value
looks like this privileged,

well-off, pampered king.

But in reality, it was
such a tragic story.

And through our journey, I
really wanted to emphasize

on the human side of King Tut
and the tragedy of his life.

For the coming generations,

I know that we haven't
answered most of the questions,

but we've given them
enough to think about.

We've given them enough to
keep looking, keep searching,

keep asking questions
about King Tut

and about Ancient Egypt.