Days That Shook the World (2003) s01e08 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: The enigmatic ruins of Egypt
have long been objects of fascination.
Two days stand out in the quest
to understand this ancient civillsation,
the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen
and the deciphering
of the Rosetta Stone.
Two days that shrank
millennia to a heartbeat
and unravelled the mysteries
of life in Ancient Egypt.
This is a dramatisation of events
as they happened on those days.
It's 1922,
Gandhi is jailed for
questioning British rule in India.
Benito Mussolini is elected the first
fascist dictator in Europe.
The USSR has become
the world's first communist state.
And in Egypt,
Howard Carter is about to make
the most amazing
archaeological discovery of all time.
Valley of the Kings.
The ancient burial ground
of Egypt's Pharaohs.
Another day of work is about to start
on the latest archaeological dig
in this sun-baked valley
six miles outside of Luxor.
(MEN CHATTERING)
The design of the workers' hoes
and woven reed baskets
remains virtually unchanged
since the time of the Pharaohs.
Three thousand years ago, the kings
of Ancient Egypt were mummified
and laid to rest here in tombs furnished
with all the wealth and luxury
they would need
for the immortal afterlife.
Many have come here in search
of the riches of the Pharaohs.
So far, not a single tomb
has been found intact
Still, every day the Englishman
called Carter comes here
to dig in the Valley of the Kings.
For Howard Carter, this is his
seventh year excavating in the Valley.
It is very likely to be his last
With nothing more than a few broken jars
to show for his investment,
Carter's financial backer has told him
that this is the last season
he will fund the dig in the Valley.
For the self-taught archaeologist,
this is the last chance to prove
that there are undiscovered tombs
in the Valley of the Kings.
Carter's sponsor is up early.
George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert,
the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon,
developed his interest in Egyptology
after a near-fatal
motor racing accident
Recuperating in Luxor, he found hunting
burled antiquities the ideal sport
and employed Carter
as his archaeologist.
Now after spending £35,000 on the dig
in the Valley, he has had enough.
But three weeks ago,
he received a telegram from Carter
that overbrimmed with excitement.
CARTER: "At last have made
wonderful discovery in the Valley."
"A magnificent tomb with seals intact"
"Recovered same for your arrival
Congratulations, Carter."
NARRATOR: He arrived in Luxor
two days ago,
keen to see the source
of Carter's excitement.
Today, Carter is only too aware that his
telegram may have been premature.
He had started work on November the 1st
Three days later, his workers had found
the top of a sunken staircase
that bore all the hallmarks
of being a tomb entrance.
Carter had promptly
telegrammed his patron.
But further work had revealed
the entrance might not be
all he had hoped for.
CARTER: I was puzzled
by the smallness of the opening,
in comparison with
other royal tombs in the Valley.
Its design was certainly
of the 18th Dynasty.
Could it be the tomb of a noble
burled here by royal consent?
Or was it a royal cache?
There was nothing to tell me.
NARRATOR:
With the imminent arrival of his patron,
Carter is desperate to find out what, if
anything, lies at the end of the tunnel
In the tunnel, progress is slow.
Clearing the rubble is painstaking work.
(TOOLS CLANGING)
Unlike previous archaeologists, Carter
catalogues even the smallest find.
His foreman, Rels Ahmed Girigar is all
too aware of his meticulous methods.
He has worked for Mr Carter
for the last seven years.
The 58-year-old bachelor is all
too familiar with the solitary nature
of life in the Valley.
Before starting work this year,
he had bought himself a golden bird
in the market in Cairo for company.
His servant was convinced
it was a lucky omen.
Mr Carter, it is a golden bird.
This bird will bring you gold.
(BIRD TWEETING)
NARRATOR: Lucky for Carter,
but not the bird.
On the day that Carter discovered
the entrance to the tunnel,
the golden bird was killed in its cage.
In typical no-nonsense fashion,
Carter asked that the house
be checked for cobras.
But his servant was convinced
it was a sign the tunnel
was protected by an ancient curse.
Carter arrives at the dig and checks
on progress with Rels Ahmed.
Morning, Rels. How's it going?
(AHMED PRODDING WORKERS)
NARRATOR: Things are not looking good.
Amidst the rubble in the tunnel,
his workers have found shards
bearing the names
of four different Pharaohs.
CARTER: These conflicting data
led us to believe
that we were about to open
a royal cache,
that, from the evidence,
had been probably opened
and used more than once.
(CHATTERING IN ARABIC)
NARRATOR: Not only is the intact tomb
he promised Carnarvon
looking less like a tomb
Very good, thank you.
(REPLYING IN ARABIC)
NARRATOR: It is far from intact.
Carnarvon's daughter
joins her father for breakfast
- So what's the plan for today?
- Well, I
NARRATOR: Lady Evelyn Herbert
has no interest in archaeology.
But given her father's fragile health,
she's come along to keep him company.
It is & mixture of intrigue
and sportsmanship
that has brought Carnarvon to Luxor.
Carter had cried wolf before.
He had found a tunnel in 1898, which he
thought was the entrance of a tomb.
But after two years of excavation,
it led to just an empty room.
Could Carter have discovered
an intact burial chamber this time?
Or will he be made a fool of again?
It was an interesting proposition
for a betting man.
For the last seven years, Carter has
been digging for one tomb in particular,
that of a lesser 18th-Dynasty Pharaoh
called Tutankhamen.
Not that he had told anyone.
Current archaeological wisdom holds
it has already been found.
Thirteen years ago, in 1909,
a ransacked burial chamber
was identified as the final resting
place of the mysterious boy Pharaoh.
But for Carter,
the evidence did not add up.
Based on the fragments
of funeral paraphernalia
bearing the Pharaoh's name he has found,
he is convinced Tutankhamen's tomb
remains undiscovered.
Might these 16 stone steps
lead him to it?
(TOOLS SCRAPING)
- Are things going well?
- MAN: Moving along.
NARRATOR: Carter ls worried.
The tunnel is smaller than
all the other royal tomb entrances.
And if it is, as he fears,
a cache of reburied treasure,
it is one that has certainly been
tampered with.
Far from an intact tomb,
he may be on the threshold
of a major disappointment.
- Carter!
- Carnarvon?
NARRATOR: Carnarvon arrives at the dig
in time for lunch.
EVELYN: Hello, Howard.
CARTER: How was your journey?
CARNARVON: Not too bad.
NARRATOR: Carter updates his patron on
the progress made clearing the tunnel
He omits to tell him
of his private fear.
If it does turn out to be
just a ransacked cache,
Carter will not only be humiliated and
embarrassed in front of Carnarvon,
it will be the end of his career.
As the temperature in the Valley soars,
the slow process
of excavation continues.
For Carnarvon,
it's an all too familiar game
that requires little more than patience.
A quality that Howard Carter
is running increasingly low on.
Then, just after 2:00,
Rels Ahmed calls Carter to the tunnel
Oh, Mr Carter, Mr Carter!
(SHOUTING IN ARABIC)
NARRATOR: The workers have come upon
a second sealed doorway.
But what lies behind it?
The entrance is so plain that Carter
remains convinced that he has found
not a royal tomb, but a cache.
He is also convinced that,
when they break through this door,
they will find it ransacked.
Carter prepares for the moment of truth.
(SLURPING)
Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn accompany
Carter down to the sealed doorway.
(GRUNTING)
(CARTER GROANING)
After making a tiny breach
in the top left-hand corner,
Carter uses a candle to ensure
that the air within is not toxic.
Finally, he peers in.
After what seems like an eternity,
Carnarvon can bear the suspense
no longer.
Can you see anything?
NARRATOR: Writing in The Times
shortly afterwards,
Carnarvon recalled
that Carter replied
There are some marvellous objects here.
NARRATOR: However,
Carter in his own journal
recalled a slightly different answer
to Carnarvon's question.
Can you see anything?
Yes. It is wonderful!
NARRATOR: But one year later,
in his official published
account of the discovery,
Carter will recall the event in the way
it will be immortalised.
CARVER: Lord Carnarvon,
unable to stand the suspense any longer,
inquired anxiously
Can you see anything?
CARTER: It was all I could do
to get out the words
Yes. Wonderful things.
NARRATOR: These three words
will become the most famous
in the history of archaeology.
Three words that barely hint at the true
wonder of what he has just discovered.
With the rest of the door cleared,
Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn
finally enter the chamber.
What they see is beyond
their wildest dreams.
CARTER: Our sensations were bewildering
and full of strange emotion.
Was it a tomb, or merely a cache?
NARRATOR: Crammed from floor to ceiling,
an awesome array of funeral furniture
and ritual objects.
Couches, thrones, chariots,
everything a king would need
to live in splendour in the afterlife.
Enough evidence for Carter to believe
he might just have found the tomb
of the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamen.
For Carnarvon, it is the Aladdin's cave
he has waited so long for.
CARNARVON: There's enough stuff here
to fill a whole floor
at the British Museum.
(LAUGHING)
NARRATOR: But Carter realises,
if it is Tutankhamen's tomb,
it is missing one key item.
There is no coffin,
no trace of any mummy.
CARTER: The explanation
gradually dawned upon us.
We were but on the threshold
of our discovery.
What we saw was merely an antechamber.
NARRATOR: In between the two lifelike
figures on the far wall of the chamber,
Carter discovers
another blocked doorway.
CARTER: Behind the guarded door,
we should find the Pharaoh lying.
NARRATOR: A year later,
in his published version of events,
Carter will write that
they resisted the temptation
to proceed further
in their explorations.
That they exited the tomb,
made it secure, left the Valley
and returned to his house,
strangely subdued.
- Carter, let's pause for a drink.
- Good idea.
NARRATOR: But that's not
the whole story.
- King Tut.
- King Tut.
NARRATOR: Back at Castle Carter,
they celebrate their discovery.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
Whisky is one of Carter's few luxuries
and one he always has at home.
It is what Carter will later describe
as the "day of days".
But, despite the wonderful things
he has seen, Carter is still perturbed.
If it is the Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb,
then why is the chamber so small?
And what if behind the next doorway
they do not find the Pharaoh
lying in his coffin?
Carnarvon needs no encouragement.
Howard Carter makes one of
the boldest decisions of his life.
One that contravenes
the strict rules governing the dig
and runs counter to his years
of good practice as an archaeologist
It's a decision
that must be kept secret.
But three months later,
on the very day of the official opening,
Lady Evelyn will tell the truth
about what she and her father did.
It is a thing I would never give away.
And it is one which, I think,
ought not to be known.
Or, at any rate, not at present.
Here is the secret.
We have both been
into the second chamber!
Well, after the discovery,
we had not been able to resist.
We made a small hole in the wall
and climbed through.
NARRATOR: Carter, Carnarvon
and Lady Evelyn
return to the Valley of the Kings.
Then, at the base of the wall,
between the two black sentinels,
they make a small opening.
(HAMMERING)
Crawling through the hole,
Carter finally finds
what he has been looking for.
A huge, golden sarcophagus
covered in the name
of the mummified Pharaoh within.
(EVELYN GASPING)
The final resting place of Tutankhamen,
undisturbed for 3,245 years.
When they squeeze
back into the antechamber,
they disguise the hole
with a basket and some rushes.
Several items are taken
during this secret visit
An ointment box
and a small ritual figure
are seen at Carter's house
over the next few days.
(LAUGHING)
Whether taken as souvenirs or to
authenticate the tomb is not known.
Both items will later be
dutifully catalogued.
The rest of the world
will have to wait three months
for its first glimpse
of Tutankhamen's sarcophagus,
when Carter will perform the authorised
opening of the burial chamber.
It will take Carter almost a decade
to record and remove
the contents of the tomb.
Lord Carnarvon will not live
to see his work through.
Within five months,
he will die of blood poisoning,
fuelling belief
in the curse of Tutankhamen.
Removed to Cairo,
where they remain to this day,
the amazing contents
of Tutankhamen's tomb
finally give immortality to a Pharaoh
who had long been forgotten.
No one would have even known his name,
had it not been for an amazing
breakthrough 100 years earlier.
It's 1822.
The Galunggung volcano erupts,
killing 4,000,
Brazil has declared independence
from Portugal
Mary Ann Mantell has discovered
the first dinosaur fossil
And in Paris, France,
one man is about to unlock
the mystery of Egypt's ancient language.
28, Rue Mazarine, Paris.
Jean-François Champollion has spent the
morning hard at work in his attic study.
He arrived in Paris a year and a half
ago, miserable and broke.
An ardent republican, he has lost
his university post in Grenoble
and narrowly escaped trial for treason
after supporting
an anti-monarchist uprising.
Leaving his wife behind,
he has fled to Paris
where he has relentlessly
pursued his obsession,
the successful translation
of the language of Ancient Egypt.
It is not a particularly novel quest
The hieroglyphics that adorn
the pyramids and temples of Egypt
have mystified the greatest minds
of the age.
Covered in a language of pictures
no one can understand,
Egypt's ruins are nothing more
than piles of enigmatic stone.
Even the most basic information
about this ancient world is unknown,
kept secret by a language
no one can read.
A language Jean-François Champollion
is on the brink of deciphering.
(GASPING)
(EXCLAIMING IN FRENCH)
Champollion has always believed
that the picture writing of
Ancient Egypt could be read.
Now he has made the breakthrough
he has spent two decades
of his life working on.
He has not just proved his theory.
He has found the key that will unlock
the mysteries of Ancient Egypt
There is only one person he can share
his breakthrough with,
his brother, the assistant to the
Secretary of the Institute of France.
Jean-Jacques Champollion is just
finishing off his morning's work,
in preparation for lunch.
His office is just around the corner
from Rue Mazarine.
Champollion covers the 403 metres
in just under a minute.
(EXULTING IN FRENCH)
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
The man who has just cracked
the secret language of the Pharaohs
appears to be taking his amazing
breakthrough to the grave.
(FAINT BREATHING)
(SHOUTING IN FRENCH)
The object that inspired Champollion
to start his quest
was made two millennia
before he was even born.
The Rosetta Stone.
A monumental tablet carved in the
Egyptian city of Memphis, 196 years BC.
The text on the Stone
was carved in three scripts.
The top section is in hieroglyphics,
the language of pictures and symbols
found on the ruins of Ancient Egypt
The middle section was
carved in Hieratic,
a joined-up written language
from the same period,
while the lower section of the tablet
was written in Greek,
the language of Egypt's rulers, 196 BC
Within a few hundred years
of its creation,
knowledge of the two Egyptian languages
and the civilisation that used them,
will have vanished.
Currently unconscious on the floor
of his brother's office,
Jean-François Champollion
was just eight years old
when the Rosetta Stone
dramatically came to light
In 1798, a group of French soldiers
unearth a mysterious stone monolith
near the Egyptian town of Rosetta.
Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion
of Egypt is in full swing.
With his army, come
151 scholars and scientists.
Their mission, to claim
the cradle of civilization for France.
The black basalt tablet is clearly
an object of significance.
It is 114 centimetres high,
72 centimetres wide,
27 centimetres thick
and weighs 720 kilos.
But it is the writing on it
that really interests them.
The first two sections are
indecipherable Ancient Egyptian,
but the lower section
is obviously Greek.
Translating it
they learn the stone tablet
is an expression of homage
to the ruler of Egypt. Ptolemy.
But it is the final sentence
that excites them.
It orders that the decree
be written in Greek
and both of Egypt's ancient languages.
If the two other sections are
translations of the Greek text,
then the stone found in Rosetta offers a
prospect as simple as it is spectacular.
Using the Greek, it should be possible
to decipher
the two Ancient Egyptian texts.
The soldiers despatch the tablet
to the French Institute in Cairo.
It will soon become apparent that
finding the Stone was the easy bit
Twenty three years later, and the man
who has just unlocked the language
of the Rosetta Stone, lies unconscious
in his brother's office.
Having called for a doctor, Jean-Jacques
desperately tries to revive him.
He has encouraged and supported
his brother throughout his life.
When the younger Champollion
was just nine years old,
it was Jean-Jacques who arranged
for his private tuition in Latin.
It was 1798,
the same year the Rosetta Stone was
due to arrive in Paris from Egypt
Already hailed as the gem of antiquity,
academics eagerly awaited
the Stone in France.
It never arrived.
In Egypt. Nelson defeated the French
at the Battle of the Nile
With British soldiers
at the gates of Cairo,
the French petitioned for an armistice
that would allow them
to keep the Rosetta Stone
and other treasures they had acquired.
(LAUGHING)
The British commander, Lieutenant
General Sir John Hely-Hutchinson,
would have none of it
Since the fate of arms
has decided against you,
I demand the execution
of the surrender on this point.
I demand all these objects and you
may be sure that I shall not let
a single part of them leave for France.
NARRATOR: The Rosetta Stone
arrived in London in 1802.
The race to translate it was on.
(SCREAMING)
Twenty years later,
no one knows that
Jean-François Champollion,
has finally unlocked
the lost language of Ancient Egypt
The last hieroglyphs had been inscribed
just before 400 AD.
But knowledge of the script died out
after the Arab conquest of Egypt
By the time Renaissance travellers
in the 17th century
encountered the man-made mountains
of the pyramids,
Arabic was the language of Egypt
The strange pictures inscribed
on obelisks and temples
were thought of as magical symbols
that could not be spoken at all
Champollion's fascination
with hieroglyphics
started when he was just 14.
At the age of just 18, he was made
professor of ancient history
in Grenoble.
The following year, in 1810, he had
delivered his first paper on the Stone.
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
JEAN-FRANÇOIS:
The inscription on the Rosetta Stone
presents the Greek name of Ptolemy.
It could not be expressed in
the hieroglyphic part of this monument,
if these hieroglyphs did not have
the power to produce sounds.
NARRATOR: Not just a written
but a spoken language.
Champollion believed that hieroglyphs
could create sounds.
It was a radical proposition.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
Today, 12 years later,
Champollion has finally
proved his theory.
But since his breakthrough,
he has remained unconscious.
The first man since antiquity to read
a hieroglyph has been rendered mute.
Champollion had never been to Egypt,
never seen a hieroglyph in situ
and certainly never seen
the real Rosetta Stone.
For over a decade, he had to base his
studies on the engravings of hieroglyphs
made by Napoleon's academics in Egypt
Frustrated by the copy of the Stone
that he worked from
and by the lack of comparative material
At the same time, he was haunted by
the fear of being beaten in his quest.
In 1816, Champollion faced
a significant challenge from a rival
Worse, an Englishman.
Thomas "Phenomenon" Young. A physician,
philosopher and physics teacher.
Young counted each time a word
appears in the Greek text,
found the Egyptian symbol that appears
the same number of times,
and assumed they meant the same thing.
Splendid!
(CHUCKLING)
NARRATOR: He successfully correlated
the words "And, " "King, " and "Egypt"
But Young's guesswork could only
locate words, not read them.
Six years later, and Champollion
has successfully read a hieroglyph.
Quite how, remains trapped
in his unconscious mind.
(LABOURED BREATHING)
From reading
the Greek section of the Stone,
it was assumed that the lozenge-like
cartouche contained the name of Ptolemy.
Champollion believed
that the signs in the cartouche
each represented a different sound.
But he had no idea what each symbol
sounded like.
To enable, and to prove,
the decipherment of a word,
Champollion realised that he needed
to compare a pair of names
in which the same signs recur.
(LAUGHING)
Champollion had arrived in Paris in 1821.
Broke, alone,
and shunned by fellow academics,
he still clings to his theory.
JEAN-FRANCOIS: I have analysed
this language so much
that I could teach it in a single day.
I shall prove that words are composed
of a series of signs
that represent sounds.
NARRATOR: On December 23rd,
he celebrates his 31st birthday alone.
A simple idea crosses his mind.
To count the individual characters
in the inscriptions.
He works out that 486 Greek words
correspond to 1,419 hieroglyphs.
It seems, to him, now obvious.
Hieroglyphs cannot represent
a full word.
Each one must represent & sound,
a part of the word.
But still he lacked the evidence
to prove his theory.
(BLOWS)
The material Champollion
so desperately needed
arrived earlier today, on the morning
of September 14th, 1822.
He receives a letter from his friend
Nicolas Huyot.
Huyot has recently returned
from an expedition to Egypt,
travelling south in the Sudan to the
recently excavated ruins of Abu Simbel.
Champollion has never been to Egypt.
His work has had to rely
on other people's accounts.
Huyot's drawings capture
the mysterious temple complex.
But it is a small detail on the side
of one of the sculptures
that catches Champollion's attention.
Champollion spots a cartouche
amidst the numerous hieroglyphics.
He knows from the cartouche of Ptolemy
on the Rosetta Stone
that these lozenge shapes contain names.
Champollion is drawn to one of
the individual hieroglyphs,
a circle within a circle.
JEAN-FRANÇOIS:
If the circle were the Sun,
what sound could it represent?
NARRATOR: Of all the languages
he has studied,
Champollion has always believed Coptic,
the language of early Christian Egypt,
to be closest to Ancient Egyptian.
In Coptic, the word for the sun
is "Rah."
Ra.
Ra.
Ra, Ra.
NARRATOR: Change the pronunciation
of "Rah" slightly,
and you have the name
of one of Egypt's ancient deities.
Ml
He thinks he has found the symbol
that represents the word for
Egypt's sun god, in a cartouche.
He hazards a guess.
If the second sign, is an "M,"
and the last two signs are both "S"..
Ess.
It means he has
successfully deciphered
one of the most famous
Ancient Egyptian royal names.
Mmm
Sess
Rameses! Rameses!
NARRATOR: Rameses.
(EXCLAIMING IN FRENCH)
Champollion has not just found
the name of an Egyptian Pharaoh,
he has done something no one else
thought possible.
Rameses.
He has read a hieroglyph.
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
His mounting excitement is tempered
by the dreadful fear
that this flash of inspiration
may be a fluke,
a lucky coincidence to mock his
22 years of fruitless study.
Searching the rest of the drawings
sent by Huyot,
his eye is caught by another cartouche.
Above the same signs that he has just
assumed to be an "M" and an "S"
is a picture of a bird.
What sound might that represent?
The bird of the Nile is the Ibis,
and, in the ancient world,
the Ibis was used to represent
Thoth, the god of scribes.
If the bird is an Ibis, then Champollion
can read the name in the cartouche.
Thuth Moses.
Thuthmoses.
NARRATOR: Another Royal Egyptian name.
At last, he has confirmed
and proved his theory.
Hieroglyphs represent sounds
which work together to make words
which can be spoken.
Thuthmoses.
(EXCLAIMING IN FRENCH)
(EXULTING IN FRENCH)
(LABOURED BREATHING)
NARRATOR: Champollion spends
the next four days in bed.
But, by September 27th,
he will have recovered enough
to announce his findings
to the Institute of France
and the rest of the world.
His breakthrough is the first step
in the successful translation
of the hieroglyphic language
of the Rosetta Stone
and will provide the foundation for the
subsequent exploration and understanding
of life in Ancient Egypt.