0:00:10 > 0:00:15Tutankhamun, Pharaoh of Egypt, died and was buried 3,300 years ago.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Exactly 50 years ago, his body was discovered in his unplundered tomb.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this, the greatest archaeological discovery of all time,
0:00:27 > 0:00:3250 of the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb have been brought to Britain.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38BOAC and the RAF mounted a classic cloak-and-dagger operation
0:00:38 > 0:00:41to fly the exhibits secretly to London.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50The M4 motorway from Heathrow Airport into London was closed to other traffic.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52Maximum security precautions were taken.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55All bridges were kept clear by police.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02The heavily guarded convoy sped into central London,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05arriving at one o'clock in the morning at the British Museum.
0:01:07 > 0:01:14Some weeks went by before it was announced that the treasures of Tutankhamun had in fact arrived.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18For Dr Eiddon Edwards, keeper of Egyptology,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23this was a moment almost as nerve-racking as the first moment of discovery 50 years ago.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27For the Egyptian experts travelling with the treasures, and Ian Pearson,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31in charge of packing and transportation, it was the culmination
0:01:31 > 0:01:33of many months of planning and skilled work.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42The press and television were invited to witness
0:01:42 > 0:01:45the unpacking of the most spectacular of all the treasures.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51It was the golden face mask of Tutankhamun himself,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54one of the greatest works of art of the ancient world.
0:01:55 > 0:02:01For the visitors at the British Museum this summer, it will be the prize piece
0:02:01 > 0:02:05in what could turn out to be the greatest exhibition of the century.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08TRUMPET PLAYS
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Treasures of Tutankhamun, and the gold and bronze trumpet
0:02:41 > 0:02:46found in Tutankhamun's tomb welcomes us to this marvellous exhibition.
0:02:46 > 0:02:52Tonight, Chronicle is privileged to invite you inside the British Museum for an exclusive view
0:02:52 > 0:02:58of an exhibition that people are queuing up to see at the rate of over 32,000 a week.
0:02:58 > 0:03:04Tutankhamun has been in the headlines ever since the sensational news of the discovery
0:03:04 > 0:03:08of a virtually unplundered tomb in Egypt broke on an astonished world.
0:03:08 > 0:03:14It was announced in an exclusive story in the London Times of November 30th 1922.
0:03:14 > 0:03:20"An Egyptian treasure, great find at Thebes, by runner to Luxor."
0:03:20 > 0:03:25But even the London Times, which, along with the Sunday Times, is jointly sponsoring this exhibition
0:03:25 > 0:03:28with the trustees of the British Museum,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31even they didn't know then just how great a find it was.
0:03:31 > 0:03:37The archaeologists at that time were just on the threshold of discovery, and it wasn't for several months
0:03:37 > 0:03:40before the full extent of the treasures was revealed.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Well, tonight, here in the British Museum, we too are on the threshold of discovery.
0:03:51 > 0:03:57The exhibition takes us into the heart of ancient Egypt, the Valley of the Kings at Thebes,
0:03:57 > 0:04:04for it was here that the British archaeologist Howard Carter searched for the last tomb of Tutankhamun
0:04:04 > 0:04:09for several seasons on behalf of Lord Carnarvon, a wealthy sportsman and patron of the arts
0:04:09 > 0:04:12who had gone to Egypt to convalesce after a motoring accident
0:04:12 > 0:04:15and developed an interest in Egyptology.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19They became familiar figures in the Valley of the Kings
0:04:19 > 0:04:23as they drove to their excavation sites for six fruitless seasons.
0:04:23 > 0:04:29Success came in November 1922 when Carter's workmen came across
0:04:29 > 0:04:32the top of a flight of steps hewn into the rock.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35It turned out to be the entrance to a tomb.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42It had been buried under the debris and huts of the builders of a later tomb,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45and so there was a chance that it had not been plundered.
0:04:45 > 0:04:53At the bottom of the steps, a plaster door with the seals of the necropolis guards apparently intact.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Behind this door was another passage,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00and beyond that, when Carter made a hole through a second door,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04he caught a glimpse of wonderful things,
0:05:04 > 0:05:10a fantastic jumbled treasury of furniture and works of art and everywhere, the gleam of gold.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16It turned out that robbers had managed to burrow into the tomb after the burial and ransacked it,
0:05:16 > 0:05:23but they'd been disturbed in time, and the tomb was virtually intact.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26The excitement was enormous.
0:05:26 > 0:05:32People flocked to the Valley of the Kings from all over the world, emperors and scholars and tourists.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36The Times newspaper had the exclusive contract for the coverage of the story
0:05:36 > 0:05:39as it developed day by day, and they really went to town on it.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43But even more sensational revelations were to come,
0:05:43 > 0:05:51for in one wall of this antechamber of wonderful things was a doorway, plastered up and sealed.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55On either side, two statues of Tutankhamun himself stood sentinel,
0:05:55 > 0:06:02and when the antechamber had been cleared, it was time to break down this door.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04A privileged few were allowed to attend.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09One of them was Alan Gardner, the leading Egyptologist of his day.
0:06:09 > 0:06:16Gardner described the occasion in a letter that he wrote to his wife on February 17th 1923.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18"The scene was a little theatrical.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21"First Carter got up and said a few words.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24"He was terribly excited, and there was a quiver in his voice.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27"'Perhaps,' he said, 'in a few minutes we'll find Tutankhamun
0:06:27 > 0:06:30"'buried in all his glory.'
0:06:30 > 0:06:34"Then he set to work with crowbar and chisel to cut away the plaster.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37"It was quite half an hour, full of tense excitement,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41"before a hole large enough was made to reveal anything of the content of the chambers.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45"Then Carter took an electric torch and threw in a ray of light.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50"'I see a great golden shrine,' he said."
0:06:50 > 0:06:57Well, as it happened, there was not one shrine, but four, fitting one inside the other like Chinese boxes.
0:06:57 > 0:07:04And inside, the coffin of Tutankhamun - again not one, but four, one inside the other.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08And inside the fourth one, the mummified body of the king.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14As the bandages were cut away, dozens of personal ornaments
0:07:14 > 0:07:18and possessions came to light, until finally all that remained
0:07:18 > 0:07:24of Tutankhamun, boy king of Egypt, 3,300 years after his death, was this.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33And so the king had been found. But what had he been like in life,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37this relatively insignificant pharaoh who had died about the age of 18?
0:07:37 > 0:07:42Well, his tomb was a sort of lumber room of his life,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46and as Howard Carter methodically sorted his way through all the material,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48a picture began to emerge of the king
0:07:48 > 0:07:53whose statues had guarded his own mortal remains.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Today his wooden statue still stands sentinel at this exhibition.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03He's precisely as large as life.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07He was five foot six inches tall, judging by his mummified remains.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10His face and body are coated with black resin
0:08:10 > 0:08:16to symbolise regeneration, like the dark soil of Egypt herself.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21The royal headcloth and the collar are covered with gold leaf,
0:08:21 > 0:08:27and so are the pleated kilt and the odd, jutting apron that he wears.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33In one hand, he carries a ceremonial mace,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37and in the other, his left hand, a long staff.
0:08:37 > 0:08:43Tutankhamun, he was so very young when he died, just a snub-nosed boy
0:08:43 > 0:08:47with sticking-out ears, but from the jumbled contents of his tomb,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51we can trace an outline at least of his brief life
0:08:51 > 0:08:53from the cradle to the grave.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59When he was just out of the cradle, this child's chair was made for him,
0:08:59 > 0:09:01a little footstool to go with it.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05There's no inscription on it, but why else should the priest
0:09:05 > 0:09:10in charge of the funeral have put it into that antechamber of wonderful things
0:09:10 > 0:09:14if it hadn't been a favoured memento of the king's childhood?
0:09:14 > 0:09:21It's made of ebony imported from tropical Africa inlaid with ivory ornamentation.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25The lion's paw legs, for instance, have ivory claws.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31And the sides have decorated panels in gilt,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34like this ibex on its knees.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39The footstool had been much repaired, with patches of new wood
0:09:39 > 0:09:42on the front, back and sides.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46It's a charmingly intimate object to find in a tomb,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49but not a particularly princely chair, one would think,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53for a child who became pharaoh at the age of only nine.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01But another momento of childhood certainly was princely,
0:10:01 > 0:10:06a heavy gold bracelet found in a special jewellery box in the tomb.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09It's decorated with a finely moulded gold scarab
0:10:09 > 0:10:12inlaid with lapis lazuli.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14The wrist fastening is so small
0:10:14 > 0:10:19that it could only have been worn by a child, not a grown man.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21And since it was in the special jewellery box,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26it must surely have been Tutankhamun's personal possession.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29But who was Tutankhamun?
0:10:29 > 0:10:34We get a clue, perhaps, to his identity from this little painter's palette.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Inscriptions show it was made for the eldest surviving daughter
0:10:37 > 0:10:40of Nefertiti and the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten,
0:10:40 > 0:10:46and this princess had been married to Akhenaten's co-regent, Smenkhkare.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51Later, she became Tutankhamun's sister-in-law when Tutankhamun came to the throne,
0:10:51 > 0:10:57but would she have presented the new pharaoh with such a child's toy?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Was Tutankhamun perhaps her little brother
0:11:00 > 0:11:01as well as her brother-in-law?
0:11:01 > 0:11:06Family relationships in ancient Egypt were extremely complex.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Succession to the throne passed through the female line,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13and the one sure way that a son could ensure his succession
0:11:13 > 0:11:16was to marry his own sister.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21It's a little hard to remember that Tutankhamun was still a child
0:11:21 > 0:11:23when he was crowned king,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27but these superb pendant earrings were a sign of his youth,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31for only boys wore earrings in those days.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36These massive pendants, each about five inches long, are made of gold
0:11:36 > 0:11:39and inlaid with semi-precious stones,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43and in the centre a duck's head of translucent blue glass.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47The fastenings show signs of friction, indicating much wear,
0:11:47 > 0:11:54so Tutankhamun probably wore them until he was 12 or 14 years old.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00When Tutankhamun became king, he ceased to be a boy and became a symbol.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03He was little more than a political puppet in the upheavals
0:12:03 > 0:12:08that followed the controversial reign of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11who was his father-in-law and perhaps also his father.
0:12:11 > 0:12:17And this modest but elegant cedar and ebony cabinet symbolises the change.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20It would look not out of place in any Victorian drawing room,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24but it is, in fact, a political document.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28Inscriptions show that it was a piece of Tutankhamun's own furniture,
0:12:28 > 0:12:34but also that he had by now been converted back to the old religion of the Sun God Amun
0:12:34 > 0:12:40that Akhenaten had tried to overthrow in favour of the Sun Disc, the Aten.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43The black symbols are the life signs, the ankh,
0:12:43 > 0:12:49but the inscriptions also claimed, quite dishonestly, that Tutankhamun was a mighty king
0:12:49 > 0:12:53who subdued foreign lands, capturing those to the south
0:12:53 > 0:12:58and trampling those to the north, slaughtering his enemies.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Tutankhamun had grown up - for the record, at least.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05He was literally stepping into a dead man's shoes.
0:13:07 > 0:13:14In this curiously shaped bow-fronted box, the knob on the front of the box
0:13:14 > 0:13:16bears the name of Tutankhamun,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19but there had originally been another name there and erased,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22that of Tutankhamun's predecessor,
0:13:22 > 0:13:29Smenkhkare, whom Akhenaten had appointed co-regent but who seems to have died not long afterwards.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34Well, I don't suppose the palace carpenters had any particular political sensibilities.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39"The king is dead, long live the king! Hand me that sandpaper, will you?"
0:13:39 > 0:13:46It was this incredible amount of furniture found lying higgledy-piggledy in the chambers
0:13:46 > 0:13:52of the tomb that gives us our clearest picture of the life led by the young king Tutankhamun.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59This fine wooden casket, with its decorative ivory plaques,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02shows a king and his queen shooting in their pleasure garden,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05both at ducks and at fish.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11A scene of domestic bliss fit for any king,
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Tutankhamun sits on a cushioned chair firing off arrows.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20Notice how the artist didn't feel he could let the arrow or bow string
0:14:20 > 0:14:24to obscure the royal face, with rather peculiar results.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Meanwhile, the queen sits at his feet,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32a lotus flower in one hand and an arrow in the other,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35which she's about to hand to her lord and master.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42Tutankhamun seems to have been very keen on the bloodsports.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46The ostrich feathers of this ceremonial fan have long since decayed,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50but according to the inscriptions they were obtained by his majesty
0:14:50 > 0:14:53when hunting in the desert east of Heliopolis,
0:14:53 > 0:14:58and both faces of the palm are embossed with lively scenes of the king on an ostrich hunt.
0:14:58 > 0:15:04On one side, he's in his chariot, assaulting two stricken ostriches on the right.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10At the same time, he's being shaded by a small ankh figure
0:15:10 > 0:15:14in the left-hand corner, holding just this sort of fan.
0:15:14 > 0:15:21On the other side, he's returning home in triumph, while two servants of superhuman strength
0:15:21 > 0:15:26carry home the dead ostriches, each of which weighed 345lb.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33Among the 143 personal possessions that had been tucked
0:15:33 > 0:15:38into the bandaging of the mummified body, were two daggers.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42One of iron and one of beaten gold.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45The gold dagger was probably for ceremonial use,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47it's a beautiful use of craftsmanship.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52The sheath in particular is elaborately decorated with cameos
0:15:52 > 0:15:54and wild animals biting their prey.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03When he wasn't engaged in blood sports, the young king clearly enjoyed gaming.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06There were no fewer than four gaming boards found in his tomb.
0:16:06 > 0:16:13The top board on this table was for a game called Senate, which seems to been something like Halma.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18There are 30 squares, some inscribed with hazards and bonuses.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20It was a game of chance.
0:16:20 > 0:16:26The moves were determined by throwing knuckle bones or else casting sticks.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35One figure has remained rather shadowy all this while.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Tutankhamun's queen.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Her name was Ankhesenamon, and she was the daughter
0:16:41 > 0:16:45of the heretic pharaoh, Akhenaten and the beautiful queen, Nefertiti.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51Now, it looks as if she may have married her father when her mother disappeared from court circles.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55And then after her father died, she married Tutankhamun,
0:16:55 > 0:17:00who may have been her brother, in order to regularise the succession.
0:17:00 > 0:17:07And in this magnificent golden shrine, we see her in a number of scenes with her husband.
0:17:09 > 0:17:15When Tutankhamun went hunting birds with a boomerang, she was always there, just behind him.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23Or else she was at his feet,
0:17:23 > 0:17:29handing him an arrow while urging him to spare a nest of fledglings.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40At home, she rests her elbow most informally on his knee
0:17:40 > 0:17:43while he pours her a drink into her hand.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50Or else, she is tying his floral collar for him before going to a party.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Everywhere, she is the dutiful and submissive wife.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02But she seems to have been quite a character in her own right.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06She had had two children by Tutankhamun,
0:18:06 > 0:18:12but they were both stillborn and their tiny mummified bodies were buried in Tutankhamun's tomb.
0:18:12 > 0:18:19After Tutankhamun died, she was in no mood to retire into widowhood and obscurity.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23It seems that she wrote a letter to the King of the Hittites,
0:18:23 > 0:18:29saying, "Send me one of your princes to marry and I shall make him King of Egypt."
0:18:29 > 0:18:33But her plot was foiled, the mail-order bridegroom
0:18:33 > 0:18:37never reached his destination, no doubt ambushed on the way.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41They played for very high stakes in those days.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46These pastoral hunting scenes conceal the reality of power politics
0:18:46 > 0:18:52in the Egypt of the 18th Dynasty, just as carefully as the artist once again
0:18:52 > 0:18:57concealed the bow string behind the bland royal face of Tutankhamun,
0:18:57 > 0:19:02even though firing the bow in that position would have taken his head off.
0:19:05 > 0:19:12Now, despite this occupational hazard, Tutankhamun seems to have been inordinately fond of hunting,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16if one goes by the fact that some 50 bows were found in his tomb.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20This one is one of the most elaborate, it's a composite bow,
0:19:20 > 0:19:27that's to say it is laminated with sinew and tree bark, which gave it a greatly increased range.
0:19:27 > 0:19:34And it's intricately decorated with animal and flower motifs inlaid with gold.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42There was also a number of boomerangs, most of them fully practical,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46although this one made of ivory and capped with gold at one end,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49was probably made for ritual purposes.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54They used the boomerangs to stun birds rather than kill them.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58This helped solve the problem of keeping their meat fresh in hot weather.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04This bronze trumpet overlaid with gold is probably the nearest
0:20:04 > 0:20:08that Tutankhamun ever came to military action.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10We heard its notes at the start of this programme.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13TRUMPET SOUNDS
0:20:21 > 0:20:24This one sound, we can be sure,
0:20:24 > 0:20:30is precisely the same sound as the ancient Egyptians themselves heard.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34It's rather shorter than a modern trumpet, it's got no valves
0:20:34 > 0:20:38and its mouthpiece is a cylindrical sleeve
0:20:38 > 0:20:42with a silver ring at the outer end, fixed to the outside of the tube.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46The lowest note of which it is capable is D.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50And this is definitely Tutankhamun's trumpet, for his name is on it
0:20:50 > 0:20:55and he is depicted on it, helmeted, receiving the blessings of the gods.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02One elaborate piece of jewellery,
0:21:02 > 0:21:06a pectoral with solar and lunar emblems,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09seems to summarise the immense complexity
0:21:09 > 0:21:14of the symbolism of kingship and deity which Pharaoh represented.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18The central motif is a winged scarab beetle of chalcedony
0:21:19 > 0:21:24which is also a falcon. These are both symbols of the sun god.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28With its front legs, the scarab falcon of the sun
0:21:28 > 0:21:29supports a golden boat,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33which carries a silver disc and crescent of the moon.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41With its back talons, the falcon scarab of the sun
0:21:41 > 0:21:44grips the hieroglyphic sign for eternity.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50Every single piece in this complex work has a meaning, a hint, a clue.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54The whole adds up to a kind of anthology of myth and religion
0:21:54 > 0:21:57in ancient Egypt, a cosmic cryptogram
0:21:57 > 0:22:02in which the boy king had to carry a fearful burden of divinity.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08But above all, he was a human being.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13A person with whom today we can identify with in passion and affection.
0:22:13 > 0:22:19Three fine, gilded statues show the King in the full prime of his youth,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22erect, lithe and dignified all at once.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29This statuette shows the King wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt.
0:22:29 > 0:22:36In his left hand he holds a long, crooked staff, the Good Shepherd of Egypt.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41In his right hand he carries a flail, another emblem of royalty.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45He stands there, regal and upright, every inch a king.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50In this second gilded statuette,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54the King wears the white crown of Upper Egypt.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01What's surprising here, is the King is shown with female breasts.
0:23:01 > 0:23:07Now, Tutankhamun's father-in-law, Akhenaten was physically deformed.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11He was always represented as having breasts and a swollen pot belly,
0:23:11 > 0:23:16like Tutankhamun here. It's a bit of a mystery.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Either this isn't Tutankhamun, or it was made to emphasise
0:23:20 > 0:23:23the blood kinship between him and Akenaten
0:23:23 > 0:23:26by means of an artistic convention.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Another unusual aspect of this sculpture,
0:23:29 > 0:23:31is that the statue of the King
0:23:31 > 0:23:36is standing on the back of a leopard painted with a black resin varnish.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41Nothing in Egyptian mythology gives any clue to its significance.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45But the lope of the leopard is beautifully reproduced
0:23:45 > 0:23:48and the moulding of the leopard's face is superb.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57But the outstanding sculpture of the King
0:23:57 > 0:24:03is this lithe and active representation of Tutankhamun, the harpooner.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Most Egyptian statuary consists of stylised poses.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Here, the sculptor catches a moment of perfect physical co-ordination.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15The body poised in the most realistic way.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Tutankhamun balances himself on a papyrus boat
0:24:19 > 0:24:22to hurl a harpoon at a hippopotamus.
0:24:22 > 0:24:29The harpoon and the coil of rope in his left hand are made of bronze.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31But this is no ordinary hippopotamus hunt,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Tutankhamun is performing a religious rite
0:24:34 > 0:24:40in which the hippopotamus is the embodiment of Seth, the god of evil.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45In this brilliant reflecting room, we get a marvellous glimpse
0:24:45 > 0:24:47of the young king in action
0:24:47 > 0:24:49with all the vigour and grace of an athlete.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57But, in the flower of his youth, the boy king died.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59We have no idea why or how.
0:24:59 > 0:25:06He may even have been murdered, for there were ambitious and ruthless men who coveted his throne.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Whether by accident or design,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12his death certainly took people by surprise.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17Whatever happened, at the age of 18 or so, after a reign of only nine years,
0:25:17 > 0:25:22the next sculpture of the King is an effigy of death.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29Pharaoh, lying on his funeral bed after mummification, wrapped in a shroud
0:25:29 > 0:25:32and bandaged with inscriptions.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35At each side of the carved wooden figure,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39a human-headed bird and a falcon,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43spread their protective wings across his chest.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46These were two of the forms which the disembodied King
0:25:46 > 0:25:51might adopt when visiting his own mummified remains.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54The process of mummification took 70 days.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58The internal organs were removed and treated with natron
0:25:58 > 0:26:03to prevent putrefaction and then carefully wrapped in separate linen packages
0:26:03 > 0:26:09and encased in four, beautifully fashioned miniature coffins of solid gold.
0:26:09 > 0:26:15This one, we think, held Tutankhamun's lungs and it is an exact replica, in miniature,
0:26:15 > 0:26:20of the second of the mummiform coffins in which the King himself was buried.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25And yet, curiously enough, the inscription on the inside
0:26:25 > 0:26:30shows that it was originally made for his predecessor, Smenkhkare.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34The miniature coffins were placed in four cylindrical compartments
0:26:34 > 0:26:38in a magnificent chest carved out of a block of alabaster.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43And each compartment was stoppered with a bust in full royal regalia.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Once again, this is probably a portrait of Smenkhkare
0:26:47 > 0:26:51and the striking facial resemblance to Tutankhamun
0:26:51 > 0:26:55suggests they must have been at least half brothers, as well as brothers-in-law.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01At every stage of the mummification of the body itself,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04large quantities of ointments and unguents were applied.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09Some 50 alabaster vases for unguents were found in the tomb -
0:27:09 > 0:27:14many of them marvellously ornate - with a capacity of some 400 litres in all.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17But nearly every one of them was empty.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23Unguents were extremely precious, made from animal fats and resin or balsam, and cedar oil,
0:27:23 > 0:27:28perfumed with flowers and left to mature like vintage brandy.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33The tomb robbers in antiquity ignored many things that we would think more valuable
0:27:33 > 0:27:38and stole unguents instead, leaving behind the beautiful alabaster vases
0:27:38 > 0:27:42with their own thieving fingerprints on one of them.
0:27:42 > 0:27:50Eventually, 70 days after death, the King's mummified remains left the aptly-named House of Vitality.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01A painted wooden model of a barge found in the tomb symbolises
0:28:01 > 0:28:07a journey across an isle that his predecessors had to make 1,000 years earlier.
0:28:07 > 0:28:13It was the start of the last journey to the Valley of the Kings and everlasting life.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23After the ceremonies of internment were over, the King's journey to the other world
0:28:23 > 0:28:28would be accomplished with the help of a sacred cow associated with Hathor,
0:28:28 > 0:28:33tutelary goddess of the Theban necropolis in which Tutankhamun's tomb was sited.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43The divine cow is also represented in one of the most spectacular
0:28:43 > 0:28:47of the exhibits here, a magnificent gilded bed.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51Dr Edwards, you managed to bring these exhibits over from Cairo
0:28:51 > 0:28:55for this exhibition. What is the significance of this particular bed?
0:28:56 > 0:29:03Well, it's not, as you can see, just an ordinary bed for sleeping in.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06It is a magical bed.
0:29:06 > 0:29:13And its significance is really shown by the inscription on the top of the mattress.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18There, it tell you that the King is under the protection
0:29:18 > 0:29:22of a goddess, Isis-Meht.
0:29:23 > 0:29:31Now, the goddess Meht, who was associated with Isis in this case, was a lioness goddess.
0:29:31 > 0:29:38Now, that doesn't really quite make sense when you've got two cows, one each side of the bed.
0:29:38 > 0:29:44But there were, of course, two other beds of this kind found in the tomb.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47One of them did have lioness signs.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51If you look at the inscription on that, you will find that the King
0:29:51 > 0:29:59is under the protection of the sacred cow, Mehturt, which, again, does not make sense.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04Clearly, what happened was that when these beds were made at the factory,
0:30:04 > 0:30:08the craftsman put the inscription
0:30:08 > 0:30:12on this mattress which should have gone on the lioness bed
0:30:12 > 0:30:16and on the lioness bed, the inscription which should have gone on this one.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20It's nice to see that they were human and could fail occasionally.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Oh, yes, that happened not infrequently.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24Anyhow...
0:30:25 > 0:30:32now that we know who the cow was the purpose of the bed becomes clear.
0:30:32 > 0:30:37Because Mehturt was the form of Hathor
0:30:37 > 0:30:41on which the King, the Sun God,
0:30:41 > 0:30:45when he ceased being king on earth, mounted to heaven,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48rather like a chariot of fire.
0:30:48 > 0:30:54And so, Tutankhamun no doubt hoped that he would rise to heaven
0:30:54 > 0:30:56lying on this bed.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01One of the aspects of this exhibition that I find most intriguing, Dr Edwards,
0:31:01 > 0:31:05is that every single object in the tomb had a purpose,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10a significance, like this splendid alabaster casket, for instance.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Yes, indeed, this illustrates it very well.
0:31:14 > 0:31:22Howard Carter found this casket with its contents undisturbed.
0:31:22 > 0:31:27They were, first of all, a layer of linen on the bottom and then some hair.
0:31:27 > 0:31:34And, most interesting, I think, of all, two balls of human hair wrapped in linen.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39Now, one way by which the Egyptians
0:31:39 > 0:31:42indicated the signing of a contract
0:31:42 > 0:31:48was by the exchange of balls of hair by the contracting parties.
0:31:48 > 0:31:54Now, in this casket, if you look at the head end, under the knob,
0:31:54 > 0:31:59you will see there are three cartouches.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03Two of them have the names of the King,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05one has the name of the Queen.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09There were thus two people.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13And it makes one ask whether the fact that you have two balls of hair
0:32:13 > 0:32:20and two names, whether one ball did not belong to each person named.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22The King and the Queen.
0:32:22 > 0:32:28If so, what was the contract that was signed?
0:32:28 > 0:32:31At first, I thought it was the marriage contract
0:32:31 > 0:32:35and then I realised that the names in the cartouches
0:32:35 > 0:32:39were not those that they used at the time of their marriage.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44However, they are the names that they used at the time of the coronation.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47And I think it is possible,
0:32:47 > 0:32:52I won't say more than that, that this was part of the coronation ceremony,
0:32:52 > 0:32:54a contract signed then.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00A lock of human hair to seal a coronation,
0:33:00 > 0:33:06such then was the king Tutankhamun, this obscure boy king at the tail end of a dying dynasty,
0:33:06 > 0:33:12who acted out his brief charade of immortality before death caught him in his teens.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14History has no cause to remember him,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18except as a symbol of the restoration of an old order.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23It was only the accident of his survival that has made him so intensely memorable.
0:33:23 > 0:33:29It was archaeology, as much as religion, that has given him a second lease of life.
0:33:29 > 0:33:35So, let's now tread the path that 2 million visitors or more will be treading before this summer is out.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37A walk back through eternity.
0:33:37 > 0:33:43Because Tutankhamun was the only Pharaoh of ancient Egypt for whom the elaborate rituals,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47designed to transcend death and oblivion, really worked.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52His grave survived undisturbed for more than 30 centuries.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57And now, thanks to the Department of Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt,
0:33:57 > 0:34:02who have loaned these 50 priceless treasures of Tutankhamun for this display,
0:34:02 > 0:34:05we can see for ourselves the astonishing grandeur
0:34:05 > 0:34:08of the Egyptian concept of royal immortality.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13Everything here is 3,300 years old.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Everything is genuine, just as it came from the tomb.
0:34:16 > 0:34:21And Tutankhamun here, sentinel to the last, symbolises it.
0:34:25 > 0:34:26And, first glimpse,
0:34:26 > 0:34:31the handsome black and gilded holy cow that carried him to heaven.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42The painted model boat, carved from a single block of wood,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45to symbolise that last journey on the Nile.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52And here is the floral unguent vase of alabaster,
0:34:52 > 0:34:57incorporating the symbolic statement "100,000 times eternity."
0:34:57 > 0:35:04A container for the unguents which gave a man's earthly remains at least a kind of immortality.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11And another delightful unguent vase carved in the form of a lion,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15its chest inscribed, albeit incorrectly, I am told,
0:35:15 > 0:35:20with the names and royal titles of Tutankhamun and his determined widow.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28The painted alabaster casket we've been discussing with Dr Edwards,
0:35:28 > 0:35:34the coronation contract of the man that the inscriptions name as the "Good God, Lord of the two lands"
0:35:34 > 0:35:39and the woman they call, "The great royal wife."
0:35:40 > 0:35:46and here...look, here is the dream of immortality made explicit.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49This is a carved wooden statuette of the god Ptah,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53the principal god of the ancient capital city of Memphis.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58And down there on the pedestal, in yellow paint, you have the precise promise,
0:35:58 > 0:36:05"The good God, Tutankhamun, beloved of Ptah, Lord of truth, given life forever."
0:36:05 > 0:36:07He was given life forever.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13And we ought to stop here too. This is a marvellous little thing.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15This translucent alabaster chalice,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19carved in the shape of a single bloom of the white lotus.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22The inscription round the rim of the bowl,
0:36:22 > 0:36:27"May thy ka live and mayst thou then spend millions of years,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31"our lover of Thebes, sitting with thy face to the north wind.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34"thine two eyes beholding happiness."
0:36:34 > 0:36:35Millions of years.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40Well, he's had 3,300 already, and that is something to be going on with!
0:36:40 > 0:36:43And there is the miniature canopic coffin
0:36:43 > 0:36:49in which his lungs lay breathless and the canopic stopper of alabaster...
0:36:50 > 0:36:53of Smenkhkare.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56Now, we've already contemplated this effigy of death,
0:36:56 > 0:37:00but what I didn't mention before is that this particular piece
0:37:00 > 0:37:04was a funeral gift of the superintendent of building works in the necropolis.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06A gentleman called Maya.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10And we probably have him to thank for the fact that the tomb robbers
0:37:10 > 0:37:17of antiquity were foiled soon enough to leave this great treasure trove intact for posterity.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19And then, standing just behind him,
0:37:19 > 0:37:25we have a shabti figure of the King. It's a sort of deputy, or substitute
0:37:25 > 0:37:29to carry out some of the more arduous duties expected of one in the next world,
0:37:29 > 0:37:33like tilling the fields or digging the garden.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43The bed of the divine cow, the one that got the inscriptions mixed up.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46Must have taken the edge off his magical properties a bit!
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Incidentally, there were no fewer than eight beds in all
0:37:49 > 0:37:54in Tutankhamun's tomb, including a sort of folding camp bed
0:37:54 > 0:37:58This is what I think of as the Bond Street room, the fine furniture department.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02This handsome piece has got a couple of carrying poles attached,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05a relic from the days when you could get porters,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08but it is, in fact, a unique survival of a portable chest.
0:38:08 > 0:38:09And the inscriptions,
0:38:09 > 0:38:17they, as usual promise that Tutankhamun will live as long as the sun and be born daily, like the sun.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22We have our elegant Victorian cabinet with its bombastic boastings about Tutankhamun.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28And this much more intimate child's chair, with its worn and patched foot stool.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32And this funny bow-shaped box, I wonder what it held?
0:38:32 > 0:38:34Probably hats.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37And the child's palette and the gaming table
0:38:37 > 0:38:41and a very uncomfortable-looking ornate royal chair.
0:38:41 > 0:38:47Then, one remembers from the scene on the ornamented chest here, that when Tutankhamun went out
0:38:47 > 0:38:50on shooting practice at the ducks and the fish in the lake,
0:38:50 > 0:38:52he used a cushion on his stool.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02The golden shrine, with its domestic scenes of the King and his queen.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07Originally, inside that shrine there was a solid gold statuette of the King.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11That was one that the robbers of antiquity did get away with.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13But they didn't get away with these,
0:39:13 > 0:39:18these three statuettes of the King in the prime of his youth.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20The King, erect and regal...
0:39:21 > 0:39:23the King as the harpooner...
0:39:24 > 0:39:27in his papyrus boat,
0:39:27 > 0:39:28going for the hippopotamus.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33And this strange statuette of the King,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36the statue standing on the leopard's back.
0:39:40 > 0:39:45If the furniture room was Sotheby's, We are now in Tiffany's,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49a chamber of magnificent jewellery and personal ornaments.
0:39:49 > 0:39:50The gold collar.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56How immensely important this was for the rituals of immortality.
0:39:56 > 0:40:01No fewer than 17 of these collars were tucked amongst the bandages
0:40:01 > 0:40:03that covered Tutankhamun's neck and chest.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07It was the absolute divine protection against mortality.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14The solar and lunar pectoral we have already studied...
0:40:18 > 0:40:22and the triple scarab pectoral necklace in the same case,
0:40:22 > 0:40:26which reiterates the theme, dark with magic,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30this insistence on the promise of millions of years.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35This necklace of the rising sun
0:40:35 > 0:40:39repeats the concept of the scarab grabbing hold of the sun
0:40:39 > 0:40:42with its forelegs and eternity with its hind legs.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45And on either side of it, a sacred baboon,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48whose function it was to greet the rising sun.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56Another rising sun theme in a necklace.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00There was to be no sunset, ever, for Tutankhamun.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06A decorated scarab.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10It may seem strange that the ancient Egyptians
0:41:10 > 0:41:14should adopt a scavenger beetle as a symbol of the deathly Sun God,
0:41:14 > 0:41:19but they were entranced by the sight of the beetle rolling a ball of dung along the ground,
0:41:19 > 0:41:25for this action reminded them of the invisible power which rolled the sun daily across the sky.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29And when the beetle eggs hatched, out of the dung came life.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Now, this ivory piece... here is something different.
0:41:35 > 0:41:41To the Egyptians, the head, and not the heart, was the seat of life.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45After death, it was essential that the head continued to function
0:41:45 > 0:41:50with the help of magic. This was a magic headrest.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Tutankhamun's royal sceptre.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02The Egyptian texts call a sceptre like this either the Controller, the Powerful,
0:42:02 > 0:42:07or the Commander. The inscription on the other side reads,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11"The good God, the beloved dazzling face like the atun when it shines,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15"the sun of our moon, living forever."
0:42:16 > 0:42:17The controller,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20the powerful, the commander,
0:42:20 > 0:42:24row upon row of bulls, trussed and slaughtered.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29There is an irony here when you remember that intensely young face.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34Another one of those indispensable protective collars,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37this time in the form of the vulture goddess,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41with outspread wings that enfold the shoulders of the wearer.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48A necklace with a vulture goddess pendant of solid gold.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Grasping eternity in its talons.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56Or a winged scarab pectoral of solid gold.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00That beetle again, with eternity clenched in its back legs.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06The royal crook and the royal flail,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10the insignia of Tutankhamun's kinship.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14The really interesting thing about the flail is that it bears on it
0:43:14 > 0:43:19the name of the King in its earlier form of Tut Ankh Atun.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23Now, you remember that when the boy king ascended the throne of Egypt,
0:43:23 > 0:43:28it was in the aftermath of the revolutionary, or heretic pharaoh's reign.
0:43:28 > 0:43:35Akhenaten, who tried to overthrow the worship of the Amun, in favour of Atunism.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39But when the old priesthood of the Amun make their comeback,
0:43:39 > 0:43:45Akhenaten was discredited and the boy king's name was changed to Tut Ankh Amun,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48which means "The living image of Amun".
0:43:48 > 0:43:54It was a deliberate attempt to write Atunism out of history, but it failed.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59And it failed because of a glorious accident of archaeology.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04The climax of the exhibition, of this journey back through eternity,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07is perhaps the most celebrated work of art of the ancient world,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11The golden face mask of Tutankhamun.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15It was placed over the head and shoulders of his mummified body,
0:44:15 > 0:44:19as the ultimate earnest of immortal life.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21Now, more than 30 centuries later,
0:44:21 > 0:44:25it has achieved at least some of its purpose.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31It is that familiar, intensely vulnerable face.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35On the brow, those twin insignia of divine royalty,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37the vulture and the cobra.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41The eyes and the eyeballs dramatically made-up,
0:44:41 > 0:44:45the ears pierced for those heavy pendant earrings of childhood.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48He was too young when he died to have accumulated a beard
0:44:48 > 0:44:50of such formidable length,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53and indeed it is a detachable, false beard,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57the symbol of death, the beard of Osiris.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12It is all solid gold, beaten and burnished.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16The vulture's head and the cobra head are also of solid gold,
0:45:16 > 0:45:21intricately inlaid with glass and semi-precious stones.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24The stripes of the headdress are a blue glass
0:45:24 > 0:45:26in imitation of lapis lazuli...
0:45:27 > 0:45:30and the collar is encrusted with segments of lapis lazuli,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34quartz and green feldspar with a lotus bud border.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38"Thy soul liveth...", says the inscription.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40'..and thy veins are healthy.'
0:45:40 > 0:45:43But that was more a pious hope than a statement of fact.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47Because, today, Tutankhamun still lives in our imagination,
0:45:47 > 0:45:50because his veins have been drained of blood,
0:45:50 > 0:45:55and because his soul had been commended to all the tutelary deities
0:45:55 > 0:46:01and because his mortal remains had been placed under the loyal vigilance of Maya,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05superintendent of the public works at the necropolis.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08It turned out to be a very satisfying joint operation.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13It was Maya who fended off the tomb robbers of antiquity.
0:46:13 > 0:46:18It was Howard Carter who, after years of failure, found a hidden tomb.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23It was the Egyptian Museum in Cairo who loaned these beautiful things
0:46:23 > 0:46:25for exhibition here in London.
0:46:25 > 0:46:30And it is the British Museum that has been host to this splendid display.
0:46:30 > 0:46:31We have them all to thank.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35But there's one thought we perhaps ought to end up with,
0:46:35 > 0:46:40as a result of this exhibition, the British Museum hopes to hand over
0:46:40 > 0:46:43a profit of anything up to £1 million to UNESCO,
0:46:43 > 0:46:48to help finance the rescue the treasures of Philae in Egypt.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51£1 million.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54And for that, we have to thank this man.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Tut Ankh Amun.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01The boy king who, despite everything, achieved immortality.
0:47:30 > 0:47:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:47:37 > 0:47:41E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk