0:00:02 > 0:00:04The great civilisation of Ancient Egypt
0:00:04 > 0:00:10with its dramatic spectacle and mystery has always fascinated me.
0:00:10 > 0:00:15I've been travelling the country to explore some of the intriguing
0:00:15 > 0:00:18stories that have emerged from this historic land.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22In this programme, I'm off on the trail of Egypt's
0:00:22 > 0:00:27most controversial ruler and his beautiful wife, Nefertiti.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Of all the stories that come out of the great land of Ancient Egypt,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52one that I find most fascinating is the epic tale of the ruler
0:00:52 > 0:00:56who had everything, but ultimately sacrificed it all.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01He was a rebel, a revolutionary.
0:01:01 > 0:01:07To the ancient Egyptians, he was a heretic - a man with very dangerous ideas.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Ideas that would lead his nation to the very brink of catastrophe.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18But this man was a pharaoh, a living god,
0:01:18 > 0:01:24and he could and did change everything - religion, politics, art,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27even language.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30This pharaoh is now probably best known through his connection
0:01:30 > 0:01:35with another man - Tutankhamun - who was probably his son.
0:01:35 > 0:01:42My pharaoh's name though was Akhenaten and I'm fascinated to find out more about him.
0:01:44 > 0:01:51My first stop is to see some of the rare statues of Akhenaten still in existence.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55In this gallery are four colossal statues of Akhenaten
0:01:55 > 0:01:58and are they not sensational? Just look at this.
0:01:58 > 0:02:04What an amazing expressionistic piece of sacred art.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08Here you're seeing a pharaoh as he'd never been shown before
0:02:08 > 0:02:11and would never be shown again. Just look!
0:02:11 > 0:02:17Usually, pharaohs are depicted as conventionally handsome, strong and manly.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22But Akhenaten's statue is completely different.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25So strange. Look at the elongated head,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30pouting lips, almond eyes and the form of the body,
0:02:30 > 0:02:34the bulging stomach and great hips.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39He seems to combine both male and female qualities.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42These images have worried people, disturbed people,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45ever since they were discovered in the early 20th century.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49But I guess one thing we know about Egyptian sacred art -
0:02:49 > 0:02:52nothing happens by accident, everything has a meaning.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Akhenaten clearly meant to be seen as different from all other pharaohs.
0:02:58 > 0:03:05His strange enigmatic portrait looks serene, but in fact, he threw Egypt into chaos.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13To understand what happened, I have to go back to the beginning of Akhenaten's reign,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17to the golden years of the Ancient Egyptian Empire.
0:03:19 > 0:03:27At that time, nearly 3,500 years ago, Egypt was the richest and most powerful empire in the world.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42It had vast resources and wealth.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47Its people were well fed and the harvests were plentiful.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55The pharaoh's sumptuous royal temples and palaces were laden with treasure.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58The Egyptian army was all-conquering.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03The Egyptians believed that all this wealth,
0:04:03 > 0:04:08all this success, was only theirs because they kept the gods happy.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12There were priests to ensure that the deities
0:04:12 > 0:04:17were worshipped in exactly the right way to keep Egypt stable and prosperous.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23There were about 2,000 gods in all, governing every aspect of life.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27The king of the Gods was called Amun.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30But in this deeply religious country,
0:04:30 > 0:04:35to displease any of these gods could bring bad luck to the whole nation.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40Virtually everything left to us from Ancient Egypt bears witness to
0:04:40 > 0:04:45the importance religion played in the lives of the people in this land.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50Great temples like this, tombs and pyramids.
0:04:51 > 0:04:58Then, when this religion, these gods were at least 1,500 years old,
0:04:58 > 0:05:03Akhenaten came along and changed everything.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14From very early in his reign, the Pharaoh Akhenaten
0:05:14 > 0:05:16and his beautiful wife Nefertiti
0:05:16 > 0:05:22decided to challenge the entire belief system of Ancient Egypt.
0:05:22 > 0:05:28This golden couple were prepared to rock the very foundations of the Egyptian world view.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34And all because Akhenaten had undergone an extraordinary personal religious conversion.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41He had a dramatic, revolutionary idea.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47He wanted to replace the pantheon of Egyptian gods with just one god.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52And at the time he proposes, this idea was heresy.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57For the first time in history, a pharaoh was suggesting
0:05:57 > 0:06:03that there might be just one god - the creator of everything.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Akhenaten's one god was the Sun. It was called the Aten.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Akhenaten decreed that the 2,000 traditional gods who had protected Egypt
0:06:13 > 0:06:16for over a thousand years, were to be eliminated.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Can you imagine what the ordinary people of Egypt felt?
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Their traditional beliefs challenged, swept away.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32From now on, everyone was only to believe in the sun god, the Aten.
0:06:34 > 0:06:40There's one place in Egypt where I can see that remarkable moment of religious change as it happened.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45I've come to the tomb of Akhenaten's vizier, the chief minister, Ramose,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48where the sudden shift from the old religion to the new
0:06:48 > 0:06:52is captured right here on the walls of the tomb.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57To proclaim his high status for eternity - vizier to the pharaoh -
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Ramose has himself shown in his tomb with a pharaoh, Akhenaten.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Here he is. Behind Akhenaten
0:07:05 > 0:07:09sits Ma'at.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Ma'at was a traditional goddess of Egypt.
0:07:11 > 0:07:18So on this wall, carved when the tomb was first being created, Ramose had the old gods depicted.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23But a dramatic change takes place as I walk across.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30This image could only have been created a few months, maybe a few years later.
0:07:30 > 0:07:36But a revolution has taken place in art, and indeed in theology, I suppose.
0:07:36 > 0:07:42In front of me is Akhenaten, but above all is the Aten.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The gods have gone. The gods of Ancient Egypt,
0:07:45 > 0:07:51the gods in human and animal form were replaced by the abstract single god of the Aten.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55The sun, pouring down rays of life upon the king.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57This is an amazing image.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01From one to the other one sees, at a glance,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05the revolution that took place during the reign of Akhenaten.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12For the traditional priests, who's entire lives were devoted to the old gods,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15and who had been extremely powerful up to that point,
0:08:15 > 0:08:21Akhenaten's earth-shattering new religion was a catastrophe.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24The priests had practically run the whole country,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27but now they'd been made redundant.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Akhenaten was already beginning to make dangerous enemies.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39But the royal couple's next announcement would be even more shocking.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Akhenaten now abandoned the ancient, sacred city of Thebes,
0:08:45 > 0:08:51the heart of the whole nation, and headed north along the river to found a new utopia.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55And that's just where I'm going.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I'm following in the footsteps of Akhenaten.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03In the fourth year of his reign,
0:09:03 > 0:09:09he chose to leave Thebes, present day Luxor, city of his ancestors,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14to sail up the Nile in search of a location for a new city.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17He clearly wanted a clean break with the past.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23He wanted a break with the old gods, to found a new city for his new god, the Aten.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28He travelled north for about 200 miles along the river,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31away from Thebes, looking for the perfect spot
0:09:31 > 0:09:34for his magnificent new metropolis.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40Eventually he ended up here, at modern day El Amarna.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44And he built a city, the remains of which can still be seen.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52It's in ruins now.
0:09:52 > 0:09:59But Akhenaten and Nefertiti chose this bleak, lonely piece of desert for their vast new sacred city.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06I couldn't help wondering why they built their paradise here,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10so far away from civilisation and comfort.
0:10:13 > 0:10:19Up in the hills that surround the ancient metropolis, there's a place to start looking for the answers.
0:10:22 > 0:10:28In front of me is the site of Akhenaten's great new city.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33In the distance I can see the fertile plains of the Nile.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38The site of the city itself now is incredibly arid.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43In the rocks up here is a huge engraved stone called a stela.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48This one carries a public proclamation composed by Akhenaten himself.
0:10:48 > 0:10:56We know exactly why Akhenaten chose this site because he explains it on the stela in front of me.
0:10:56 > 0:11:02The site was chosen by him alone and he was following the dictates of the Aten.
0:11:02 > 0:11:08The great sun god said, "build here", and it came to pass.
0:11:08 > 0:11:09The city was built.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18Akhenaten called his city 'Horizon of the Aten'.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22But why did he think the Aten was telling him to build here?
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Well, it appears that he'd seen a sign.
0:11:28 > 0:11:34Standing here, looking ahead into the mist now,
0:11:34 > 0:11:40but there's a range of hills around the site, one can see up there
0:11:40 > 0:11:44a cleft in the hills and it forms a shape rather like this.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53At certain times of the year
0:11:53 > 0:11:56the sun, the Aten, rises
0:11:56 > 0:12:01between the peaks in this cleft, creating this shape,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and that is the hieroglyph
0:12:04 > 0:12:07for horizon.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11A hieroglyph which incorporates the sun, the Aten.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23And so Akhenaten believed
0:12:23 > 0:12:26that the Aten was telling him this was the place
0:12:26 > 0:12:31in which to build this sacred site, this sacred city.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37The great city was built at breakneck speed.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41It took thousands of people, dragged in from far off Thebes,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45to build it, decorate it, administer it.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52Against all the odds, Akhenaten's vision of a religious utopia
0:12:52 > 0:12:56was becoming a living, breathing city.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01Wells were dug, trees and gardens planted.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03The arid desert burst into bloom.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12There were imposing villas and palaces all over the city.
0:13:12 > 0:13:19They were beautifully decorated, as these wall paintings, discovered amongst the ruins, clearly show.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Up to 50,000 people came to live here.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Courtiers, administrators, advisors.
0:13:29 > 0:13:35This became the new political and religious heart of the nation, the centre of the new cult.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40Akhenaten vowed never to leave this place and, as far as we know, he never did.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47I'm on the king's highway, the royal road, running through the city.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51And each side of me are the remains of a bridge.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55These are the footings of piers that rose up.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59And this bridge linked two of the palaces.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04The king's house over here and the great palace over there.
0:14:06 > 0:14:12Detailed carvings discovered here at Amarna have revealed how the royal family lived.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14These incredibly tender images
0:14:14 > 0:14:19show Akhenaten and Nefertiti cuddling their six little daughters.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23It's so intimate. It's like a family snapshot.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29There's one daughter on Nefertiti's shoulder,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32while she cradles another on her lap.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37And here her daughter hugs the Pharaoh Akhenaten himself.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46No royal family had ever been depicted showing affection like this before.
0:14:50 > 0:14:56But the place the royal family spent most of their time was here, worshipping.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59This is one of the temples to the Aten.
0:14:59 > 0:15:04The main entrance was through a mighty pylon standing here,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08and these are the mud brick remains of the pylon,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11once rising right up high above me.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15In that respect, this temple would have looked outwardly
0:15:15 > 0:15:18much like the traditional temples to the old gods.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22But once one got in here, all was very, very different indeed.
0:15:22 > 0:15:28The old temples culminated in a series of increasingly small and dark rooms.
0:15:28 > 0:15:34But here all was open to the sky, to the life-giving
0:15:34 > 0:15:38rays of the sun, to the Aten. And here,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42a series of altars. These are stones marking the sites of the altars,
0:15:42 > 0:15:48and here worshippers would have placed their offerings to the great sun, to the Aten,
0:15:48 > 0:15:56and stood and basked in the energising life-giving rays.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09However, the only worshippers allowed
0:16:09 > 0:16:14in this and all the other temples were Akhenaten and his family.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17By now, Akhenaten and Nefertiti
0:16:17 > 0:16:22had come to believe that only they could communicate with the Aten.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26In fact, we know from writings and carvings, that Akhenaten
0:16:26 > 0:16:31now believed he was the son of God and that Nefertiti was also divine.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34They were both to be worshipped as gods.
0:16:36 > 0:16:42In the tombs of Amarna, you can see carvings of the citizens bowing down to the royal couple,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45praying through them to the Sun God, the Aten.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50This was the pinnacle of the royal couple's fabulous dream.
0:16:53 > 0:16:59Akhenaten had successfully established a new city, a religious paradise in the desert.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06He had declared himself the son of God
0:17:06 > 0:17:10and he seemed to have brought about a religious revolution in Egypt.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15But then it all started to unravel.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21It soon became obvious that most of Akhenaten's subjects,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25even those living right here under his nose in Amarna,
0:17:25 > 0:17:30didn't really believe in the Aten, the Sun God, at all.
0:17:30 > 0:17:37Buried in the back rooms of people's houses, archaeologists have found statues of the old gods.
0:17:37 > 0:17:44It seems that Akhenaten must have found out about his people's disloyalty.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49He became grimly intolerant of those who didn't believe in his new cult.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53He ordered that all images of the old Gods were to be found
0:17:53 > 0:17:58and destroyed, especially those of the chief of the old gods, Amun.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Even their names were to be obliterated.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11Here you can see evidence of the intensity of the campaign
0:18:11 > 0:18:16of obliteration that Akhenaten launched against the old god, Amun.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21This is the top of an obelisk that once stood 27 metres high and here,
0:18:21 > 0:18:27at its very tip, one can see this cartouche here that's been cut away.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Simply the surface of the granite, the very hard granite, removed, chipped.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34This was achieved by Akhenaten's soldiers climbing
0:18:34 > 0:18:38to the top of this obelisk, which was standing in Akhenaten's time.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Incredible - chipping, chipping, chipping,
0:18:41 > 0:18:43to consign the god
0:18:43 > 0:18:47to obliteration.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50To remove his memory, to literally kill him.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55Sometime later, someone's tried to recut the name, I think.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57You can just make it out.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01This sort of eradication, this attack, was happening throughout the land.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05It's clear evidence that towards the end of Akhenaten's reign,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08his revolution was turning very nasty indeed.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18The Army was now called in to help find and destroy
0:19:18 > 0:19:23every trace of the old gods, rather than defending Egypt's borders.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30And because Akhenaten refused to leave his beloved city,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34he was seen as weak and the country vulnerable to invasion.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42A fascinating archaeological find here in Amarna sheds light
0:19:42 > 0:19:46on the problems Akhenaten's policies were causing Egypt and its empire.
0:19:51 > 0:19:59In 1887, peasants digging around here found a remarkable treasure,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01not of gold,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03but of clay.
0:20:03 > 0:20:10Clay tablets on which was written fascinating and revealing information.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15These, I guess, are the walls of one of the archive rooms.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18And the tablets they found were like this.
0:20:18 > 0:20:24These are exact replicas of some of the tablets.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28These tablets are very, very revealing, about the nature
0:20:28 > 0:20:34of his court, about his diplomatic relations, about his foreign policy.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38This letter is from the ruler of one of Akhenaten's vassal states,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41a neighbouring country protected by Egypt.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46He's asking Akhenaten for troops to help ward off the Hittites - Egypt's arch-enemies.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52This poor king is begging Akhenaten to send troops.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55He says, "I've asked you and I get no reply.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57"You won't send me the aid I need".
0:20:57 > 0:21:04Akhenaten doesn't and this vassal state falls into the hands of the Hittites - lost to Egypt.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09It's incredible, so obviously what the picture gives is of Akhenaten
0:21:09 > 0:21:15not coming to grips with the real world, the temporal world, the world of power, the world of politics.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18He seems to be too busy with his god, with his religion.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20He won't leave his sacred city.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23He won't see to affairs of state.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25And for that reason, Egypt is the loser.
0:21:25 > 0:21:31It loses power, it loses possessions, it loses income, it loses its status in the world.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33It's very very serious indeed.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47It seems that in his remote desert utopia, Akhenaten's dream was beginning to crumble.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53And then personal tragedy struck.
0:21:53 > 0:21:59It's a tragedy that is heart-breakingly depicted on the walls of Akhenaten's own tomb.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Despite being terribly damaged, these images do offer
0:22:05 > 0:22:10startling insights into Akhenaten's solar-based utopia.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Here, we see a scene of mourning.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17One of the princesses has died.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21I can just about make out figures of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25There's something very strange about this depiction here.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30We see the royal family showing grief, literally crying.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32That's unprecedented in Egyptian art.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34The royal families are never shown
0:22:34 > 0:22:38displaying such human emotion.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44They're weeping, they're crying over the death of one of their children.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49There's a small body lying dead on a little bed here.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57There's evidence to suggest that Akhenaten didn't lose just one daughter.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01It seems that another princess died at around the same time.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05But what was it that was killing Akhenaten's family?
0:23:08 > 0:23:10It seems likely it was plague.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17Archaeological evidence suggests that plague was sweeping the country at the time.
0:23:17 > 0:23:23And this type of epidemic could have killed up to 40% of the population.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30Because he was the pharaoh, Akhenaten would have been held
0:23:30 > 0:23:33personally responsible for any plague in his reign.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40People would have begun to believe that this catastrophe was because the old gods were offended
0:23:40 > 0:23:45because Akhenaten had replaced them with a single deity.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50But just when it seemed that nothing could get any worse,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55Akhenaten lost the woman who had been at his side from the start.
0:23:55 > 0:24:02This is, as far as we know, one of the last images of the great Queen Nefertiti.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07She seems to have disappeared around the 13th year of the reign.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Presumably she died.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Therefore this, these are probably the last depictions
0:24:13 > 0:24:17ever made of the great queen.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20What we get from this,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24is the idea that something is going wrong in the land.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27It's ravaged by the plague, royal children are dying -
0:24:27 > 0:24:33as if to say that the great Aten was not bathing the land
0:24:33 > 0:24:40and the royal family merely with energising rays of light.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44Something was definitely amiss.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50Perhaps the implication is that Akhenaten himself was wrong.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Akhenaten's paradise was now on the verge of collapse.
0:25:02 > 0:25:08For those around him, his advisors and courtiers, he must have seemed a dangerous liability.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13The country was losing its wealth and power.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Perhaps the pharaoh had to be replaced.
0:25:18 > 0:25:2313 years after the foundation of the city, Akhenaten died.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Some people believe he was murdered by courtiers or generals
0:25:28 > 0:25:33who felt that the circumstances of Akhenaten's reign could not continue.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38They believed that Egypt was losing power, prestige and wealth.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43The old gods had to be reinstated - their favour was needed.
0:25:45 > 0:25:52Akhenaten's death meant the cult of the Aten was over and Amarna lost its purpose.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57The city died, was abandoned,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and I imagine the population was quite glad
0:26:00 > 0:26:04to leave this strange site,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07no doubt feeling the city was cursed,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10cursed by the old gods.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12And then,
0:26:12 > 0:26:17all was systematically demolished, obliterated.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21The idea, I suppose, was to remove the memory of this city,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25along with the memory of Akhenaten
0:26:25 > 0:26:28and the memory of the heresy of the Aten.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40It was Tutankhamun, Akhenaten's probable son,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42who was Pharaoh when Amarna was abandoned.
0:26:44 > 0:26:51He restored the old gods and set Egypt back on the path to power and prosperity.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59He took the court, the army, and the entire population of Amarna
0:26:59 > 0:27:02back to the ancient capital city of Thebes.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06The priests returned, more powerful than ever.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10And life in Ancient Egypt returned to normal.
0:27:14 > 0:27:21No Egyptian pharaoh ever again tried to change the established order or challenge the traditional gods.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33Those who came after Akhenaten tried to destroy all trace of him and his heretical cult.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37His statues were toppled, his image was plastered over,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40his name chipped out of every carving.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47Then they used his toppled statues and temple blocks as rubble to fill the walls of new temples.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53The very stones had to be robbed of meaning.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56They had to be buried from the sight of man.
0:27:56 > 0:28:02This was done by taking the stones from the temples of Akhenaten
0:28:02 > 0:28:07and building them into new structures with their carved faces concealed.
0:28:07 > 0:28:14And ironically, that's exactly what preserved Akhenaten's image for us today.
0:28:14 > 0:28:20In the 1920s, the stones from the temples to the Aten started to emerge,
0:28:20 > 0:28:26and now we know much about Akhenaten and the Aten from these stones.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30And so the strange irony, by burying the stones,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Akhenaten and the cult of the Aten
0:28:33 > 0:28:38have lived on for posterity, for eternity.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Next time, I explore how the beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians
0:28:48 > 0:28:52led them to make monuments and mummies that would last for eternity.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd