History by the Numbers (2021) s01e09 Episode Script
King Tut
1
(bright cheerful music)
- King Tut, I think everyone's
heard of the name King Tut.
- King Tutankhamen.
- I guess he was
a pharaoh, right?
- When I was little, King Tut
was very fascinating to me.
- For being entombed,
that's the big one.
- For 3,000 years
existing in obscurity,
and then all of a sudden
your tomb is discovered
and you're like this celebrity.
- That is awesome.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Kate] King Tut ruled Egypt
more than 3,000 years ago,
but was his life all
that interesting?
Mmm, not really.
(tape whirring)
- Because during his reign, he
doesn't really do very much.
(exotic instrumental music)
- [Kate] Then they
shoved him in the ground
for 3,245 years with all
his royal possessions.
- No one really gets excited
about a 3,000-year-old skeleton
in the desert until
he's surrounded by gold.
- [Man] Ooh, shiny!
- [Kate] And he became
history's unlikeliest superstar.
(cameras snapping)
- He's up there
with sort of Jesus.
(angels singing)
Or Gandhi.
- [Man] Okay.
- It's just one of those names
that will have
absolute recognition
all around the world.
- You could ask any
person on the street,
"Tell me about Egypt."
They will know
the name King Tut.
- [Kate] It's been
100 years since
the modern world
first met King Tut.
- For 3,000 years, he
had a restful peace
and then he became thrown
into the spotlight.
(industrious instrumental music)
- [Kate] Since then,
he's been the subject of
more than 5,500 books.
- [Man] I'll take that one.
- [Kate] And 860,000
news articles,
or about three every day.
- [Man] Interesting.
- [Kate] He's also spawned
a multi-billion dollar
movie franchise.
- King Tut has had a huge
impact on our modern culture.
- His influence,
whether it's fashion,
clothing, architecture,
it's just gonna
continue to grow.
- [Kate] He's the Lost King.
- Tutankhamen was forgotten.
It's a really incredible story.
- [Kate] Who reappeared
out of nowhere
and changed the modern world.
- [Announcer] Hey,
look, It's King Tut!
- They say in ancient Egypt,
that if people keep
saying your name-
- King Tut.
- King Tut.
- Whilst you're
in the afterlife-
- King Tut.
- King Tut.
- King Tut.
- Then you will live forever.
(mummy growling)
- [Kate] This is the
story of King Tut,
the celebrity pharaoh.
(dramatic upbeat music)
(rocket whooshing)
(radio chattering)
(dials clicking)
(fire blowing)
- Ever look at an American
$1 bill and wonder,
"Why in the world is
there a pyramid on it?"
- [Man] That's weird.
- [Kate] It's there because of
a super celebrity influencer.
- It says "In God we trust"
right next to a pyramid.
(exotic instrumental music)
It's one of those things
we can associate with,
not only Egyptian history,
but King Tut's
discovery specifically.
- [Kate] As of 2020,
there are 13.1 billion
$1 bills in circulation.
All stamped with a
salute to ancient Egypt
because of King
Tut's popularity.
It takes some serious star power
to change the face of money,
especially another
country's money.
The story of how an
ancient Egyptian aristocrat
put his nation's stamp
on the U.S. greenbacks
starts with an English
aristocrat in 1901.
(upbeat old fashioned music)
- Lord Carnarvon is the
fifth Earl of Carnarvon
and his house is Highclere.
- [Crowd] Ooh!
- [Man] Oh, fancy.
- And you probably remember it
because it is on
"Downton Abbey."
- He was one of the
richest men in England,
and he was just a Playboy
really, earlier in life.
He owned race horses.
(horse whinnying)
He sailed around the world.
He got into all
kinds of adventures.
- [Man] Yeehaw!
- [Kate] Lord Carnarvon
liked his cars too.
He liked them expensive
and he liked them fast.
- He enjoyed speeding.
If he wasn't speeding, his
chauffeur was speeding.
And actually he was
bought up in front
of the magistrates on
numerous occasions.
- [Kate] Lord Leadfoot's
first speeding ticket
was for cruising at a
reckless 12 miles per hour.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Pip, pip!
- [Katie] And a second
time a downright
death-defying 25 miles per hour.
- [Police Officer]
Stop right there.
(whistle blowing)
- He led this very adventurous,
risky lifestyle until in 1901,
Carnarvon was speeding in a
motorcar down country lanes,
in the German countryside,
and there were a couple
of cattle-drawn carts
in a blind dip in the road.
He didn't see them until the
last minute, so he swerved.
(breaks squealing)
(cows lowing)
And ended up in the mud
with his car on top of him.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Ouch.
- He never fully
recovered from that.
His health was weak.
His lungs in particular were
damaged from the accident,
so he wasn't able to do a lot of
the activities that
he'd been doing before.
The winters in
England in particular
were very difficult for
him with his weak lungs,
so he started wintering in Egypt
and he became captivated
by Egyptology.
- [Kate] Egyptology
is the study of
all things ancient Egypt.
Gods, pharaohs
pyramids, hieroglyphics,
the whole shebang.
It's all the rage at the time,
and the former Mr. Fast
and Imperious is all in.
He sets himself the
lofty goal of finding
a lost pharaoh's tomb
full of treasure.
- And at the time, the
antiquity's service in Egypt,
they were collaborating
with rich amateurs
to fund the excavations.
- He had plenty of money to
underwrite an excavation.
Seemed like a natural
hobby for him to pick up.
(exotic instrumental music)
- [Kate] The civilization
we call ancient Egypt
lasted for more
than 3,000 years.
That's 13 times longer than
the United States
has been a country.
("The Star-Spangled Banner")
Over that time, it was ruled by
a succession of 30
separate dynasties
and at least 200 pharaohs.
When any Egypt Pharaoh died,
they checked out in style.
- He then had pyramids
and they'd create
these beautiful royal
tombs full of everything.
Just beautiful golden
items, treasures, jewelry.
All of those amazing
details of everyday life
to help him live
in the afterlife.
- [Kate] Later, many
pharaohs were entombed
in what's now called
the Valley of the Kings,
just outside modern day Luxor.
- It's sort of hidden
away behind the cliffs,
quite hard to get to.
And then they dug
their tombs into
the bedrock with these
hidden entrances.
So the idea was
that that would be
much more protected
against looters,
and they were more likely to
be able to keep their mummies
and all of their
possessions intact.
- [Kate] If Lord
Moneybags is going
to find his treasure tomb,
this is the best place to look.
Except he isn't exactly
a nine to five guy,
when it comes to putting
in a hard day's work.
(Lord Carnarvon yawning)
- He was very much upper class
and didn't want to get
his hands dirty at all.
But also he didn't
really understand
the process of
archeology at all.
So he needed a right-hand man.
His right-hand man to
do that was Carter.
- [Kate] Carnarvon teams
up with Howard Carter,
an archeologist
who's been working
in Egypt for 15 years
searching for treasure.
In particular, he's looking for
a little known Pharaoh whose
tomb has never turned up.
His name is Tutankhamen.
- There really wasn't
a lot that people
or academics or Egyptologists
knew about King Tut.
- There were only
a few references
to him found in
some other tombs.
- [Kate] Carter
figures Tut's tomb
is tucked away
somewhere under them
there hills in the
Valley of the Kings.
By the time the team
starts digging here,
61 tombs in the valley have
already been discovered,
numbered by archeologists
from to KV1 to KV61.
But so far they've
contained zero treasure.
(men sighing)
- These tombs were being looted
even in ancient Egyptian times,
so there was nothing
still in these tombs,
the mummies weren't
still in these tombs.
- [Kate] Undeterred,
the two men are
dead set on making
KV62 their number.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Quite right.
- [Howard Carter] Jolly good.
- It's a little weird that
white people, and Americans,
and Europeans just go around
digging up other people.
- What attracts so many people?
Probably the gold.
- But at the same time,
I also want to know
what's in that grave.
- There has to be something
to do with the aliens, right?
- It's rediscovering
past lives that
people completely forgot about.
(film reels clicking)
- In the Valley of
the Kings they found
very, very little for five years
and they were really
being ridiculed
by others around
them at the time.
(film reels clicking)
- [Kate] Disappointed
by the lack of progress,
Carnarvon spends more and
more time back in England.
He's ready to pull
the plug on Egypt
and find himself another hobby.
Carter implores him to keep
going for just one more season.
There's seven digging
in the valley.
- This really was the
last throw of the dice.
He's like, "Okay,
one more season."
- [Kate] King Tut has been
missing for over 3,000 years.
His fate now hinges on an all
or nothing bet on
lucky number seven.
(machinery clanking)
- So it was November, 1922,
when they finally started
on that last season.
And it was really Carter
who kept that going.
He had this conviction
that Tutankhamen
was going to be there.
(Carter humming)
- [Kate] It's the early
morning of November 4th, 1922.
Howard Carter steps out
of his mud brick house
on the banks of
the Nile to begin
another day's digging in
the Valley of the Kings.
History will record this
as the day that Carter,
the English archeologist,
finally makes his big discovery.
But the history books are wrong.
- [Man] Huh?
- [Kate] And the real
credit should go to
someone you've probably
never heard of.
- [People] Huh?
- [Kate] A 12 year
old Egyptian boy
named Hussain Abdul-Rasoul.
- [Man] Oh.
- He is a local
water boy bringing
water to the valley for
all the Egyptian team
that's working with Howard
Carter excavating this area.
And he needs to dig
a hole in the ground
in order to place the water
jug for it to stand upright.
(upbeat whistling music)
Using his foot to dig
a hole in the ground,
he discovers a cut stone ledge.
(donkeys braying)
- When Carter arrived
first thing that morning,
the team were very quiet.
At first, he was
worried that there
had been an accident, that
someone had been hurt.
And then they showed him that
they had uncovered a step.
(industrious instrumental music)
- [Kate] Carter immediately
orders the team to get digging,
revealing a second
step, and then a third.
- The workmen continue
to dig and they,
that day, uncover
more and more steps.
(slide whistle whistling)
16 steps in all
leading down to a door
and they uncovered the
top part of that door.
Looks as if that
door is still sealed.
- [Kate] The archeologist
knows he could
be standing on the
threshold of something huge,
but there's just one problem.
- But Carnarvon isn't there.
("God Save the Queen")
- Carnarvon is back at home
on his estate in Berkshire.
(clock ticking)
- [Kate] Carter
can't go any further
and steal all the glory
from his money man.
So he sends Carnarvon
a telegram that says,
"At last, have made a wonderful
discovery in the valley.
Congratulations."
The Earl immediately hightails
it to Egypt. (laughing)
Sort of.
Leaving his partner stuck,
waiting to make history.
(Carter angrily grumbling)
- Carter has to
wait about two weeks
for Carnarvon to get there.
You can't just fly
from London to Egypt.
So they go back, they uncover
the lower part of the door.
And now there is the
name of Tutankhamen.
(dramatic instrumental music)
So they remove that
door and beyond it,
eventually they come
to a second door.
(slide whistle whistling)
Carter makes a small hole in
the top corner of the door.
- [Lord Carnarvon]
Huh, what's this?
- So then he gets a candle
and looks through the hole.
(angels singing)
- And inside he can just
see glimmers of gold
and just objects everywhere.
- He's speechless.
And he's just standing there for
moments without saying anything.
And Lord Carnarvon famously
tells Howard Carter,
"Oh, can you see anything?
What do you see?"
And it takes everything
in Howard Carter
just to utter, "Yes,
wonderful things."
(clocks ticking)
- [Kate] In KV62, Carter and
Carnarvon have hit the jackpot.
- [Crowd] Ah!
- [Kate] There are exactly 5,398
wonderful things in Tut's tomb.
- [Howard Carter] So
much shiny things.
- [Kate] Including
three golden chariots,
two life-sized statues
of the Pharaoh,
three golden couches, two beds,
two trumpets, and one throne.
(clapboard clapping)
- King Tut's tomb
really does stand as
pretty much the
biggest archeological
discovery of all time.
It's just all of this
incredible stuff.
(plodding instrumental music)
- So when the news actually
finally hits the outside world,
there's this mad rush to
the Valley of the Kings.
And this is the point where all
of the reporters would
stand there milling around,
waiting for a piece
of the action.
- [Kate] The whole world
wants a piece of Tut
(gong crashing)
and he's arrived at
the perfect time.
- The timing of the discovery,
when it happened, the
Telegraph was being introduced.
(film reels clicking)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- The first transatlantic cables
stretched over 2,500 miles,
at a depth of more
than two miles.
By the 1920s, news that
once took two weeks to cross
the ocean now takes
just two minutes.
- If it would've happened
10 years earlier,
it would not have been
a global phenomenon.
If it would have
happened 10 years later,
it might've been lost with
all the other information.
And it was the
perfect timing for
an event like this to occur.
- The whole place is like a big,
massive conglomeration
of paparazzi essentially.
I mean, what do you do?
- [Kate] Realizing he's
sitting on a goldmine,
in more ways than one,
Carnarvon cuts a deal with
the "Times of London."
He gives them exclusive
rights to photograph
the contents of the tomb
in return for £5,000,
the equivalent today
of around $360,000.
- All of the other
newspapers are
right royally
annoyed about this,
and they're trying
to find other stories
and other avenues to
kind of get through.
(film reels clicking)
(industrious instrumental music)
- [Kate] On the 22nd
of December, 1922,
exactly one month
after the tomb's entry,
the "New York Times"
runs a Tut story
that opens an
enduring can of worms.
- [Newspaper Salesman]
Extra, read all about it!
- [Kate] It includes a
bit of journalistic fluff
that will go on
to spawn at least
19 horror movies over
the next 100 years.
It's about
- The curse.
- The curse.
- The curse.
- The curse.
- The curse of Tutankhamen.
(ominous instrumental music)
- [Kate] When Lord
Carnarvon gives
the "Times of London" exclusive
access to the discovery,
its cross-Atlantic namesake,
"The New York Times,"
becomes desperate
for any story to keep
its Tut obsessed
readers satisfied.
- That's where you get the
first ideas of a curse.
If I can't get the real story,
then I'm going to
fabricate a story.
They try to
sensationalize it so that
they can sell papers as well,
to kind of latch on to this
huge find of Tutankhamen.
- It's all about
headlines, it's click bait.
It is early 1900s click bait.
The media hasn't changed much
in how they deliver
stories or titles.
It's just a matter of how
we get the information.
- [Kate] Tucked away in
the "Times" reporters'
description of the
tomb is the first
of many dubious
Tut tales to come.
- One of these stories included
Howard Carter's pet canary,
(Canary chirping)
which he kept with him at his
excavation house in Luxor.
- [Kate] The paper reports
that at the same moment
Carter and Carnarvon were
busting into Tut's tomb,
a real life cobra broke
into castle Carter.
- [Cobra] Is anybody home?
- It was reported that soon
after the tomb was opened
and Lord Carnarvon
and Howard Carter
had discovered tomb of King Tut,
that a cobra had
come into the house
and made its way into
the canary's cage
and ate the poor bird.
- [Cobra] Ha ha!
(cobra burping)
(canary chirping)
- [Kate] The cobra
was later discovered
still in the canary's cage,
with the bird in its mouse.
According to the "New York
Times," it's a sign of
- [Ominous Man] The wraith
of the ancient gods.
- So what they
wanted to do is they
wanted a sensational story.
How can we jazz up this
curse of Tutankhamen?
- A cobra sits prominently on
the head dress of King Tut.
We associate cobras
with the pharaohs.
So people got very nervous.
- [Kate] The cobra incident
is just the beginning.
Within weeks, one of
Tut's two discoverers
will follow the canary
into the great beyond.
- [Man] Uh oh.
(film reels clicking)
- Quickly after Carter and
Carnarvon discovered the tomb,
so towards the end
of that season,
something happened
that just changed
the entire course of the work.
(mosquito buzzing)
Which is that Carnarvon
got bitten by a mosquito.
(mosquito squelching)
- And unfortunately,
one morning as he's doing his
daily routine and shaving,
he cuts the mosquito
bite with his razor.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Oh dear.
- And it becomes infected.
- He ended up with
blood poisoning and
eventually pneumonia.
This is before the
time of antibiotics.
- [Kate] 17 days
later, Lord Carnarvon,
the career thrill seeker
and financier of the
excavation, dies.
- [Lord Carnarvon]
I regret nothing.
(Carnarvon puking)
- It's reported that
around the time that
Lord Carnarvon
actually died in Cairo,
his favorite pet dog back at
Highclere Castle in
Great Britain lets out
this huge howl and
then falls over dead.
(dog yelping)
(exotic instrumental music)
And it was also reported in
the news at the same time,
that Lord Carnarvon
passed away or died.
And then there was a
blackout throughout
the city of Cairo as well.
(crickets chirping)
- [Kate] The coincidences
made for sensational stories.
- [Newspaper Salesman]
Get your papers.
- [Kate] Even though
power outages in Cairo
back then were a dime a dozen
and the Earl himself was always
on the verge of switching off.
- He was quite a frail man,
but this whole idea of the curse
is embroiled in
his death as well.
It just, I suppose,
fuels the imagination
of all the people around
the world at the time.
(suspenseful instrumental music)
(record scratching)
- Sure, I believe in
the curse of King Tut.
Why not? (laughing)
- You should not
mess with a mummy
or you're going to
be cursed forever.
- I'm not really
very superstitious,
not since I stopped
playing baseball.
("Take Me Out to the Ballgame")
- Curse of King Tut.
(interviewee sighing)
It's a relic from an
ancient time, right?
That sounds pretty curseish.
- [Kate] All of a sudden,
King Tut has gone
from long loss Pharaoh
to an avenging spirit looking to
kick some major
archeologist ass.
- Even before Canarvon's death,
there was sort of unease
amongst a lot of the public.
This idea of violating
this king's resting place.
- They embellished storylines
and created conspiracy
theories and imagined curses.
You know, once you hear curse,
that catches my attention.
Even if I don't believe in it,
I want to read that article
'cause just in case.
(suspicious instrumental music)
(numbers clicking)
- [Kate] In 1934,
Herbert Winlock,
director of New
York's Met Museum,
tries to dispel the curse
with an op ed article
that includes an
eyeopening fact.
(upbeat instrumental music)
Of the 22 people
who are present at
the opening of Tut's
burial chamber,
six died over the
ensuing 11 years.
But if there really is a curse,
why didn't everybody die?
(suspicious instrumental music)
For all his good intentions,
Winlock's logic has
a snowball's chance
in the Sahara of
changing anybody's mind.
- In America, we do
believe in curses.
Ancient Egypt is so far removed,
they could've had
magic sorcerers.
Nobody knows.
- John Balderston,
a New York columnist
covering the Tut discovery,
is fascinated by
the curse story.
(upbeat piano music)
10 years later, he's
on Sunset Boulevard,
typing out his first
Hollywood screenplay.
He's been told to
adapt a story about
a magician in San Francisco.
(magic whizzing)
So he moves the story
to Egypt, ancient Egypt.
He changes the magician's
name to Imhotep.
- [Echoing Man] Imhotep.
- [Kate] And to
spice the story up,
Balderston invents
the curse of Thoth.
(creepy instrumental music)
In 1932, "The Mummy,"
starring Boris Karloff is
let loose on the world.
(dramatic instrumental music)
- [Translator] Death,
eternal punishment
for anyone who
opens this casket.
(film reel clicking)
- "The Mummy"
certainly helped to
promote this idea
of a pharaoh's curse
or the curse of a mummy
that can be reanimated
and track down his
enemies, if you will,
or those who
disturbed his burial.
- Hollywood then
embellishes that.
It ties into our fear.
It takes us back to childhood,
where we look under
our beds just in case.
- [Kate] 90 years later,
"The Mummy" franchise
is still going strong.
Since 1999, there has been
eight new "Mummy" movies.
Together, they have grossed
a total of $1.8 billion.
That's twice as
much as the current
insurance value of the
Tut tomb treasure trove.
(upbeat instrumental music)
(popcorn popping)
- I think of that
movie, "The Mummy,"
that I watched
entirely too young,
and then was scared
of toilet paper after.
- Is King Tut a mummy now?
There's like the new
versions of "The Mummy."
That guy was a grown ass adult.
Okay, all right.
- What the hell happened
to Brendan Fraser's career?
Where'd he go?
He was everywhere, now
he's gone. (laughing)
That's the curse of King Tut.
- [Kate] But what about the
mummy who started at all?
Who was the real pharaoh
behind the bandages?
- I think when people think
of ancient Egyptian mummies,
they do think of this kind
of strange zombiesque,
the Hammer Horror
kind of association.
If you unwrap the bandages,
you'd look on the
face of that person.
- [Kate] Writing in his diary,
Howard Carter calls
November 11th, 1925,
a great day in the
history of archeology,
because this is the day that
he begins to unwrap
Tut's bandages.
- This isn't just history.
You can unwrap the mummies
and see their
facial expressions,
bringing these kings
and queens of history
from thousands of
years ago to life.
- [Kate] Tut has been wrapped
up tight for 3,245 years.
And some of the ancient
embalming fluids used on him
have long since passed
their expiry date.
- The resins and
oils that have been
poured over the
mummy and the coffin,
they had set hard like glue.
- [Kate] The mummy, with
its burial mask in place,
is still lying in the
coffin, stuck to the bottom.
(man grunting)
Carter begins the
process of removing
the layers of linen
bandages one by one.
Underneath the first layer,
he discovers a gold amulet
tucked inside the bandages.
The farther he goes,
the more he finds.
A gold dagger, a bracelet,
a scarab beetle,
and a golden hawk.
- Unwrapping of the
mummy of King Tut,
they actually found
143 different amulets
and pieces of jewelry within
the wrappings of
the mummy itself.
And all of these
objects were meant
to serve as protection
for the king
and to help him transfigure
into a god in the afterlife.
- [Kate] Carter realizes they
are also signs of affection
for the dead Pharaoh from
those he left behind.
- It's your family.
It's your family members.
It's the funerary practice.
It's still very much the
person that you've lost,
and you grieved for,
and you've loved.
(suspicious instrumental music)
- [Kate] Finally, it's
time to pry off his mask
and reveal the real King
Tutankhamen to the world.
(creepy instrumental music)
In the words of Carter,
"He's beautiful."
- They unwrap the mummy,
looked at the body,
and they realized
that Tutankhamen died
when he was only 18.
- He came to the throne when
he was about nine years old
and he dies this kind
of mysterious death.
Nobody really knows why.
- [Kate] It's a mystery
science has yet to solve.
- There are so many theories.
There's been sickle cell
anemia, epilepsy, malaria.
- You might've been attacked
by a hippo in the Nile.
(hippo growling)
- There are other theories.
That he died whilst he
was hunting on a chariot.
Perhaps he died in battle.
This whole mystery
around his death
is really tantalizing
to lots of people.
- [Kate] There's another,
more controversial question,
whose answer remains locked
within 30,000 human genes.
- There is an
obsession by scholars
and researchers
to try to identify
the race of King Tutankhamen.
- Is Tutankhamen black?
Has he been depicted
as being too white?
I would say that
actually in reality,
it's somewhere in the middle.
And I think that we should
just be really happy that they
are part of the African diaspora
and that these
amazing people created
such fabulous cultures
on the African continent.
- In a way it,
probably would take
something away from
Tutankhamen if we did know.
I think it's precisely that
mystery, that uncertainty,
that ability to tell new
stories that has kept
him so much in this sort
of public fascination.
- [Kate] But back
in the early 1920s,
way before John
Balderston bashed out
his first draft of "The Mummy,"
Tut is a rising star
ready to go nova.
Get ready for Tut mania.
(exotic instrumental music)
- I would argue that King
Tut is a part of pop culture
because of the timing when
King Tut was discovered.
- This was an incredible moment.
(street car horns beeping)
You're just a few
years past the horrors
of the first World War.
You're into the
Roaring Twenties,
the age of jazz and flappers,
and everyone's looking for
glamor, luxury, fun, hope,
and Tutankhamen's tomb
just plays right into that.
It's beyond everyone's dreams.
And so this is exactly what
everyone has been looking for.
- In 1922, when the
world is suddenly
seeing Tutankhamen's
tomb being revealed,
it just has this huge influence
on the movie business.
(instrumental trumpet music)
- [Kate] On average,
50 million Americans
are going to the
flicks every week.
- Middle-class
America is thriving
and three out of four
people will visit
the movie theater at
least once a week.
I don't think we could
afford to do that now.
- [Kate] The movie
business is booming
and Hollywood wants
to keep it that way.
So it cashes in on the
coincidental crazes,
bringing the grandeur
of ancient Egypt
to main street in the form of
82 new temple-like cinemas.
- Suddenly all of these movie
theaters have been built,
not just in the US
but in the UK as well.
And they have these
beautiful kind of
ancient Egyptian echoes to them.
This whole idea of ancient Egypt
and how fabulous
and dazzling it is.
- [Kate] Tut isn't just changing
how people go to the movies.
He's changing the way we look,
thanks to two beautiful things,
hidden inside a whole lot fours.
(record scratching)
Um, to explain we
need to rewind a bit.
(exotic instrumental music)
When Howard Carter
gets his first glimpse
of the wonderful things
inside Tut's tomb,
it's only the beginning.
He'll eventually discover
there are four separate rooms.
He will break through
four separate seals,
before entering the
burial chamber itself.
Inside the chamber, there's
a huge gilt wooden shrine.
- And you see this
golden shrine.
But actually it's
not just one shrine.
There's four. (laughing)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Kate] Inside the
inner most shrine,
Carter finds a box shaped
sarcophagus, a stone coffin.
Opening this, he
discovers a second coffin
in the shape of a person.
Inside that is another, and
finally a fourth coffin.
When Carter opens this,
he reaches the innermost layer
and is met by the
mesmerizing eyes
of the golden boy king
staring back at him.
- [Tut] Hi there,
what took you so long?
- The mask, which is the
most famous symbolic artifact
that we think about when
we think about Tutankhamen.
It gave the divine attributes.
So protection and it enabled
you to see in the underworld.
- [Kate] A hundred years later,
we're still captivated
by his darkly lined eyes.
- I'm sure if you ask
anyone in the street
who is the first
to wear guyliner,
they would probably
say punk rockers,
goth kids, vamp kids.
But Egyptian men wore eyeliner
long before all of that.
So they definitely
started that trend.
Their influence on
not only makeup,
but beauty practices in general,
still is in the present day.
(upbeat synthesizer music)
- [Kate] Back in the
early days of Tut mania,
the pharaoh's eyeliner
is everywhere.
Thanks in part to the very
first it girl, Clara Bow.
Where she leads, millions
of flappers follow.
(upbeat jazz music)
- You've got things like the
popularity of sequins as well,
because some of the
items that were found
in Tutankhamen's
tomb are decorated
with thousands of delicate
beads and sequins,
like little discs of gold,
all feeding through people
wanting to get a piece of
of Tutankhamen
and ancient Egypt.
(film reels clicking)
- I mean, Egypt influencing
jewelry and design,
that's so cool.
- I do like the crazy eyeliner.
That's definitely
Egyptian inspired.
Thank you for the fashion
choices, King Tut.
(upbeat jazz music)
- Tut mania really
took off in the 1920s.
People wanted
Egyptian everything.
- There's even a famous brand
of condoms called Ramesses.
(stick vibrating)
That were made in
23 and they amass
a massive wealth in the 1930s.
- It makes sense that
marketing to young men
during a period of
sexual liberation
would appeal to
their interests in
being associated with
an Egyptian god king.
I guess you can make some
analogy about wrapping it up.
(crowd booing)
- [Kate] Sex and fashion aren't
the only things
Tut's influencing.
Remember the pyramid
on the dollar bill?
The federal reserve in
Washington DC adds it in 1935,
cashing in on the
pharaoh's soaring fame.
(Model T horns beeping)
But nowhere does Tut mania
quite like New York City,
where his star power will
do an end run around 1916ZL,
better known as the
1916 Zoning Resolution,
and change the Manhattan
skyline forever.
(machinery clicking)
- We see the obsession
with King Tut
having a lot of impact on style.
Clothing, women's dresses, but
especially architecturally.
American culture is often
about assimilating ideas
and patterns from elsewhere.
So it doesn't surprise
me that one of
our most iconic buildings
is really reflecting
our interpretation
of an Egyptian style.
- [Kate] It's the story
of how Tut took Manhattan,
and it goes like this.
The year is 1929
and architect William
Frederick Lamb has a dilemma.
- [Lamb] Hmm.
- [Kate] He's been
asked to design
a new building
for the Big Apple,
one taller than any
other in existence.
But there's a problem.
- In the early 20th
century, New York City was
a claustrophobic place because
of the dense cityscape.
It blocked out fresh air and
sunlight from the people below.
(dramatic instrumental music)
- [Kate] In response,
the city enacted
the 1916 Zoning Resolution,
putting strict limits on
the size of new buildings.
To get around it, Lamb goes
back to the drawing board
and takes inspiration
from ancient Egypt.
- [Lamb] I've got it!
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Kate] He sketches a five
story base that fills the lot.
On top of that, he puts
a tower, but set back.
He adds additional set backs
making the tower narrower
and narrower at the 21st, 25th,
30th, 72nd, 81st
and 85th floors.
(metal screeching)
- It gradually recedes
from a base at the top,
just like a pyramid.
This was a plan to help shed
more light on Manhattan.
- [Kate] It's called the
Empire State Building.
And at 1,454 feet,
becomes the tallest
building in the world.
So tall, in fact, it
will tower three times
higher than the Great
Pyramid of Giza.
- This was a 4,500
year Egypt design
leaving its mark on the greatest
modern city in the world.
And all thanks to Tut mania.
- [Kate] For a guy who left such
a major mark on the Big Apple,
Tut's afterlife address
is pretty low key.
- It's much smaller than you
would expect for
a Pharaoh's tomb,
compared to a lot
of the other tombs
that have been found in
the Valley of the Kings.
- [Kate] There are
four rooms in the tomb
with dimensions that add up
to a total of 908 square feet.
To give you an idea
of how big that is,
compare it to your average
Manhattan one bedroom
apartment at 702 square feet.
Pretty modest for a
royal resting place,
especially compared to
one like the Taj Mahal.
That site is 42 acres,
or the same as about
31 football fields,
or the mausoleum of the
first Chin Emperor of China.
That site covers 20 square
miles, or half of Disney world.
By their standards,
King Tut's tomb isn't
even a broom closet.
- With Carter and Carnarvon
actually finding Tut's tomb,
and the fact that it was so
small and so inconspicuous
it's just hard to believe
that that they were so lucky.
- [Kate] But why is
Tut's tomb so small
compared to others in
the Valley of the Kings?
- His reign wasn't
very significant.
He only ruled for
about nine years
during the New Kingdom
in ancient Egypt.
- Did he do very much?
And the thing is, not really.
- [Kate] So that was kind
of us C minus sovereign,
a historical underachiever.
Try telling that to
the 1970s, (laughing)
when his tiny, but intact
tomb will launch Tut mania two
and make the pharaoh a
bigger star than ever before.
(record scratching)
- In 1973, there is
a war between Israel,
Syria, and Egypt called
the Yom Kippur War.
(dramatic instrumental music)
And then Nixon intervenes.
(phone ringing)
And supports the Israelis.
And because of this,
there's a real backlash
with the Arab states.
They don't take this too lightly
and decide not to
supply the US with oil.
(funky instrumental music)
- [Kate] The conflict sends
oil prices skyrocketing
from $3 a barrel to $12,
and causes long lines at
the pump across the nation.
- So Nixon's got a bit
of trouble on his hands.
He really has to make amends.
- [Kate] Nixon
comes up with a plan
to flip the script
with the Arab states.
- Presidents always
find unique ways to
find commonality
with other countries.
So he used the one thing
he probably thought
as a common ground to
establish some relationship
with the Middle East and
with Egypt in particular.
King Tut.
- So Nixon travels
to Egypt in 1974,
asking if these
treasures could come
for this touring exhibition,
because it was just
seen that it would
be an expression of goodwill,
of people getting
excited about Egypt,
a collaboration between
the two countries.
- [Kate] It's also
planned to beat
the competition
with simple numbers.
An exhibition of Tut's
treasures has recently completed
a three city tour
around the Soviet Union.
(man speaking foreign language)
(instrumental Russian music)
To outdo his Cold War rivals,
(phone ringing)
Nixon persuades the Egyptians to
put three more cities
on the US itinerary.
- [Nixon] That's right.
- [Kate] And on
top of the 50 items
that were sent behind
the Iron Curtain,
Nixon wheels and deals
an extra five for the US.
To be on the safe side, he
has the whole kit and caboodle
transported to America
in secret on a warship.
(air horn sounding)
- When the King Tut artifacts
and treasures come
to the United States,
and they do this three-year
tour throughout the country,
they were insured for over a
billion dollars in their value.
That's a staggering number.
And especially for
the time at the 1970s.
- [Kate] 50 Years after the
first wave of Tut mania,
the old pharaoh
is about to sweep
the world off its
feet once again.
(dramatic instrumental music)
(tape rewinding)
(upbeat synthesizer music)
- In 1976, this huge tour
of Tutankhamen treasures
just happens in the US
and it's like 1922
all over again.
Everybody goes nuts about it.
- [Kate] Tut mania is
back, bigger than ever.
And the proof is in the numbers.
(money crinkling)
- [Man] Hey, get your tickets!
- [Kate] In Washington DC,
the lineups circle
three whole blocks.
- [Man] Tickets here!
- [Kate] In Chicago, ticket
holders face a seven hour wait.
In Los Angeles, scalpers are
selling $2 tickets for $35.
- [Man] Get your tickets!
- [Kate] That's a markup
of more than 1,500%.
By the time the
exhibition closes,
after visits to
Seattle and New York,
more than 8 million people
will have come see Tut.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Nixon bringing a mummy on
tour as a political statement,
wouldn't have been
my first move.
- I don't think there
were many political tools
that Nixon didn't use.
- I guess that kind
of explains the curse.
We know Nixon didn't
didn't finish well,
as far as his job was concerned.
- I would've just gone for
the good old ninth grade
vote for me and I'll give
you a cupcake sort of thing.
- Isn't that all
American politics?
Isn't that the entire
Senate just like dry,
desiccated and mummified
old husks of humans?
That's the US Senate.
Yeah, no, not that weird.
- [Kate] Tut's smash hit
tour of the seventies,
culminates with a TV triumph.
- The high moment for
King Tut would have
to be when Steve Martin made
a song about him on "SNL."
That's how you know you made it,
when you're parodied
or there's satire
about you on
"Saturday Night Live."
(funky instrumental music)
- [Kate] The 1970s
won't be the last time
Tut finds himself
caught up in politics.
(tape rewinding)
In 2011, he'll be
called off the bench
to help rally his people
against an oppressive regime.
- The Arab Spring,
which took place in 2011
and the Egyptian
Revolution helped
to promote the emergence
of street artists.
The streets of Cairo became
a canvas, if you will,
for all these
different artworks,
by all these different artists.
(crowd chattering)
- [Kate] One known only
by his alias, Kaiser,
paints a familiar
image of protest.
(spray paint spraying)
The Argentinian
revolutionary, Che Guevara.
He's wearing his
trademark beret,
only this time
he's also sporting
King Tut's ceremonial beard.
(exotic instrumental music)
- I visited Egypt not that
long after the Revolution
and there was a lot of
graffiti that was around,
and one of the
images that you would
see as graffiti was the
mask of Tutankhamen.
(camera snapping)
- [Kate] Street,
artist Marwan Shahin
follows Kaiser's lead
and paints an image of
the fictional anarchist V,
from the "V for
Vendetta" comic series,
wearing his trademark
Guy Fawkes mask,
along with the headdress
of the teenage pharaoh.
(camera snapping)
- The mask of King Tutankhamen
is actually fused together
with the Guy Fawkes
mask from the UK.
And so by using this icon,
like the Guy Fawkes Mask,
which represents, the
people fighting against
their government
and fusing that with
the iconic funerary gold
mask of King Tutankhamen,
the artists were speaking
directly to the revolutionaries
to hold fast to
their ancestral roots
and to fight against
this oppressive regime
that was currently ruling Egypt.
(camera snapping)
- [Kate] The image
quickly becomes
a revolutionary signature piece,
emblazoned on walls as
a monochrome stencil,
painted mural or pop art poster.
- You've got a people rising up,
wanting to assert their
independence and their freedom,
and they're looking
back to this image
of Tutankhamen to
represent them in that.
(machinery whirring)
- King Tut being used
as a political symbol.
I mean, if he has
a problem with it,
he can't say anything now.
Being a mummy, you know?
- I'd rather King
Tut than Bieber.
(goofy cartoon music)
- [Kate] After 18
days of protest,
the Egyptian regime is toppled.
- Game over.
- [Kate] And Tut, he's still
just as popular as ever.
- The irony is
someone like King Tut
would be adamantly against
and oppressing a revolution,
but using his image
makes perfect sense,
because that is the one
image that everyone in Egypt
can get behind and
obviously understands.
(tape rewinding)
(dramatic instrumental music)
- [Kate] The great
pharaohs of ancient Egypt
went to epic lengths for
a shot at eternal life,
but all their best laid plans
were spoiled by looters.
By drifting into obscurity
for more than 3000 years,
young and insignificant
Tutankhamen may
be the only one who
truly succeeded.
- Because his tomb is so
small, and it's so iconic,
and also quite weird,
we are continuing to
say his name in history.
- The numbers just
give us a handle
on such an incredible find,
more than 5,000 objects
that came out of that tomb.
More than 100 objects just
found on the mummy itself.
The millions of people who
have visited the exhibits.
It just gives you a
sense of the scale
and the importance of
the entire phenomenon.
- You do not have
to rule the longest
and you do not have to be
the best at what you do.
You just have to
be the most famous.
Everyone will always
know that name.
I promise you I could step into
a classroom 50 years from now,
if I could say name
an Egyptian king,
they will know King Tut.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Interviewer] When I
say King Tut, you say?
- What?
- If I had to go
to the afterlife,
I would totally bring my
dog if he was already dead.
- Yeah, king at the age of nine.
I would have started wars
with Rome by my 10th birthday.
- I'm not killing
my dog to bring him.
- I remember Tut mania from when
I was a kid in the seventies.
And they were all, I think,
using a lot of cocaine.
- I guess my husband,
if you have to.
- I want flamingos and
polar bears in my court.
That's because I can,
and I'm nine years old.
- Oh, "Walk Like an
Egyptian," The Bangles.
Yeah, that was a good one too.
Walk like an Egyptian ♪
- Oh god. (laughing)
Terrible.
(exotic instrumental music)
(bright cheerful music)
- King Tut, I think everyone's
heard of the name King Tut.
- King Tutankhamen.
- I guess he was
a pharaoh, right?
- When I was little, King Tut
was very fascinating to me.
- For being entombed,
that's the big one.
- For 3,000 years
existing in obscurity,
and then all of a sudden
your tomb is discovered
and you're like this celebrity.
- That is awesome.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Kate] King Tut ruled Egypt
more than 3,000 years ago,
but was his life all
that interesting?
Mmm, not really.
(tape whirring)
- Because during his reign, he
doesn't really do very much.
(exotic instrumental music)
- [Kate] Then they
shoved him in the ground
for 3,245 years with all
his royal possessions.
- No one really gets excited
about a 3,000-year-old skeleton
in the desert until
he's surrounded by gold.
- [Man] Ooh, shiny!
- [Kate] And he became
history's unlikeliest superstar.
(cameras snapping)
- He's up there
with sort of Jesus.
(angels singing)
Or Gandhi.
- [Man] Okay.
- It's just one of those names
that will have
absolute recognition
all around the world.
- You could ask any
person on the street,
"Tell me about Egypt."
They will know
the name King Tut.
- [Kate] It's been
100 years since
the modern world
first met King Tut.
- For 3,000 years, he
had a restful peace
and then he became thrown
into the spotlight.
(industrious instrumental music)
- [Kate] Since then,
he's been the subject of
more than 5,500 books.
- [Man] I'll take that one.
- [Kate] And 860,000
news articles,
or about three every day.
- [Man] Interesting.
- [Kate] He's also spawned
a multi-billion dollar
movie franchise.
- King Tut has had a huge
impact on our modern culture.
- His influence,
whether it's fashion,
clothing, architecture,
it's just gonna
continue to grow.
- [Kate] He's the Lost King.
- Tutankhamen was forgotten.
It's a really incredible story.
- [Kate] Who reappeared
out of nowhere
and changed the modern world.
- [Announcer] Hey,
look, It's King Tut!
- They say in ancient Egypt,
that if people keep
saying your name-
- King Tut.
- King Tut.
- Whilst you're
in the afterlife-
- King Tut.
- King Tut.
- King Tut.
- Then you will live forever.
(mummy growling)
- [Kate] This is the
story of King Tut,
the celebrity pharaoh.
(dramatic upbeat music)
(rocket whooshing)
(radio chattering)
(dials clicking)
(fire blowing)
- Ever look at an American
$1 bill and wonder,
"Why in the world is
there a pyramid on it?"
- [Man] That's weird.
- [Kate] It's there because of
a super celebrity influencer.
- It says "In God we trust"
right next to a pyramid.
(exotic instrumental music)
It's one of those things
we can associate with,
not only Egyptian history,
but King Tut's
discovery specifically.
- [Kate] As of 2020,
there are 13.1 billion
$1 bills in circulation.
All stamped with a
salute to ancient Egypt
because of King
Tut's popularity.
It takes some serious star power
to change the face of money,
especially another
country's money.
The story of how an
ancient Egyptian aristocrat
put his nation's stamp
on the U.S. greenbacks
starts with an English
aristocrat in 1901.
(upbeat old fashioned music)
- Lord Carnarvon is the
fifth Earl of Carnarvon
and his house is Highclere.
- [Crowd] Ooh!
- [Man] Oh, fancy.
- And you probably remember it
because it is on
"Downton Abbey."
- He was one of the
richest men in England,
and he was just a Playboy
really, earlier in life.
He owned race horses.
(horse whinnying)
He sailed around the world.
He got into all
kinds of adventures.
- [Man] Yeehaw!
- [Kate] Lord Carnarvon
liked his cars too.
He liked them expensive
and he liked them fast.
- He enjoyed speeding.
If he wasn't speeding, his
chauffeur was speeding.
And actually he was
bought up in front
of the magistrates on
numerous occasions.
- [Kate] Lord Leadfoot's
first speeding ticket
was for cruising at a
reckless 12 miles per hour.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Pip, pip!
- [Katie] And a second
time a downright
death-defying 25 miles per hour.
- [Police Officer]
Stop right there.
(whistle blowing)
- He led this very adventurous,
risky lifestyle until in 1901,
Carnarvon was speeding in a
motorcar down country lanes,
in the German countryside,
and there were a couple
of cattle-drawn carts
in a blind dip in the road.
He didn't see them until the
last minute, so he swerved.
(breaks squealing)
(cows lowing)
And ended up in the mud
with his car on top of him.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Ouch.
- He never fully
recovered from that.
His health was weak.
His lungs in particular were
damaged from the accident,
so he wasn't able to do a lot of
the activities that
he'd been doing before.
The winters in
England in particular
were very difficult for
him with his weak lungs,
so he started wintering in Egypt
and he became captivated
by Egyptology.
- [Kate] Egyptology
is the study of
all things ancient Egypt.
Gods, pharaohs
pyramids, hieroglyphics,
the whole shebang.
It's all the rage at the time,
and the former Mr. Fast
and Imperious is all in.
He sets himself the
lofty goal of finding
a lost pharaoh's tomb
full of treasure.
- And at the time, the
antiquity's service in Egypt,
they were collaborating
with rich amateurs
to fund the excavations.
- He had plenty of money to
underwrite an excavation.
Seemed like a natural
hobby for him to pick up.
(exotic instrumental music)
- [Kate] The civilization
we call ancient Egypt
lasted for more
than 3,000 years.
That's 13 times longer than
the United States
has been a country.
("The Star-Spangled Banner")
Over that time, it was ruled by
a succession of 30
separate dynasties
and at least 200 pharaohs.
When any Egypt Pharaoh died,
they checked out in style.
- He then had pyramids
and they'd create
these beautiful royal
tombs full of everything.
Just beautiful golden
items, treasures, jewelry.
All of those amazing
details of everyday life
to help him live
in the afterlife.
- [Kate] Later, many
pharaohs were entombed
in what's now called
the Valley of the Kings,
just outside modern day Luxor.
- It's sort of hidden
away behind the cliffs,
quite hard to get to.
And then they dug
their tombs into
the bedrock with these
hidden entrances.
So the idea was
that that would be
much more protected
against looters,
and they were more likely to
be able to keep their mummies
and all of their
possessions intact.
- [Kate] If Lord
Moneybags is going
to find his treasure tomb,
this is the best place to look.
Except he isn't exactly
a nine to five guy,
when it comes to putting
in a hard day's work.
(Lord Carnarvon yawning)
- He was very much upper class
and didn't want to get
his hands dirty at all.
But also he didn't
really understand
the process of
archeology at all.
So he needed a right-hand man.
His right-hand man to
do that was Carter.
- [Kate] Carnarvon teams
up with Howard Carter,
an archeologist
who's been working
in Egypt for 15 years
searching for treasure.
In particular, he's looking for
a little known Pharaoh whose
tomb has never turned up.
His name is Tutankhamen.
- There really wasn't
a lot that people
or academics or Egyptologists
knew about King Tut.
- There were only
a few references
to him found in
some other tombs.
- [Kate] Carter
figures Tut's tomb
is tucked away
somewhere under them
there hills in the
Valley of the Kings.
By the time the team
starts digging here,
61 tombs in the valley have
already been discovered,
numbered by archeologists
from to KV1 to KV61.
But so far they've
contained zero treasure.
(men sighing)
- These tombs were being looted
even in ancient Egyptian times,
so there was nothing
still in these tombs,
the mummies weren't
still in these tombs.
- [Kate] Undeterred,
the two men are
dead set on making
KV62 their number.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Quite right.
- [Howard Carter] Jolly good.
- It's a little weird that
white people, and Americans,
and Europeans just go around
digging up other people.
- What attracts so many people?
Probably the gold.
- But at the same time,
I also want to know
what's in that grave.
- There has to be something
to do with the aliens, right?
- It's rediscovering
past lives that
people completely forgot about.
(film reels clicking)
- In the Valley of
the Kings they found
very, very little for five years
and they were really
being ridiculed
by others around
them at the time.
(film reels clicking)
- [Kate] Disappointed
by the lack of progress,
Carnarvon spends more and
more time back in England.
He's ready to pull
the plug on Egypt
and find himself another hobby.
Carter implores him to keep
going for just one more season.
There's seven digging
in the valley.
- This really was the
last throw of the dice.
He's like, "Okay,
one more season."
- [Kate] King Tut has been
missing for over 3,000 years.
His fate now hinges on an all
or nothing bet on
lucky number seven.
(machinery clanking)
- So it was November, 1922,
when they finally started
on that last season.
And it was really Carter
who kept that going.
He had this conviction
that Tutankhamen
was going to be there.
(Carter humming)
- [Kate] It's the early
morning of November 4th, 1922.
Howard Carter steps out
of his mud brick house
on the banks of
the Nile to begin
another day's digging in
the Valley of the Kings.
History will record this
as the day that Carter,
the English archeologist,
finally makes his big discovery.
But the history books are wrong.
- [Man] Huh?
- [Kate] And the real
credit should go to
someone you've probably
never heard of.
- [People] Huh?
- [Kate] A 12 year
old Egyptian boy
named Hussain Abdul-Rasoul.
- [Man] Oh.
- He is a local
water boy bringing
water to the valley for
all the Egyptian team
that's working with Howard
Carter excavating this area.
And he needs to dig
a hole in the ground
in order to place the water
jug for it to stand upright.
(upbeat whistling music)
Using his foot to dig
a hole in the ground,
he discovers a cut stone ledge.
(donkeys braying)
- When Carter arrived
first thing that morning,
the team were very quiet.
At first, he was
worried that there
had been an accident, that
someone had been hurt.
And then they showed him that
they had uncovered a step.
(industrious instrumental music)
- [Kate] Carter immediately
orders the team to get digging,
revealing a second
step, and then a third.
- The workmen continue
to dig and they,
that day, uncover
more and more steps.
(slide whistle whistling)
16 steps in all
leading down to a door
and they uncovered the
top part of that door.
Looks as if that
door is still sealed.
- [Kate] The archeologist
knows he could
be standing on the
threshold of something huge,
but there's just one problem.
- But Carnarvon isn't there.
("God Save the Queen")
- Carnarvon is back at home
on his estate in Berkshire.
(clock ticking)
- [Kate] Carter
can't go any further
and steal all the glory
from his money man.
So he sends Carnarvon
a telegram that says,
"At last, have made a wonderful
discovery in the valley.
Congratulations."
The Earl immediately hightails
it to Egypt. (laughing)
Sort of.
Leaving his partner stuck,
waiting to make history.
(Carter angrily grumbling)
- Carter has to
wait about two weeks
for Carnarvon to get there.
You can't just fly
from London to Egypt.
So they go back, they uncover
the lower part of the door.
And now there is the
name of Tutankhamen.
(dramatic instrumental music)
So they remove that
door and beyond it,
eventually they come
to a second door.
(slide whistle whistling)
Carter makes a small hole in
the top corner of the door.
- [Lord Carnarvon]
Huh, what's this?
- So then he gets a candle
and looks through the hole.
(angels singing)
- And inside he can just
see glimmers of gold
and just objects everywhere.
- He's speechless.
And he's just standing there for
moments without saying anything.
And Lord Carnarvon famously
tells Howard Carter,
"Oh, can you see anything?
What do you see?"
And it takes everything
in Howard Carter
just to utter, "Yes,
wonderful things."
(clocks ticking)
- [Kate] In KV62, Carter and
Carnarvon have hit the jackpot.
- [Crowd] Ah!
- [Kate] There are exactly 5,398
wonderful things in Tut's tomb.
- [Howard Carter] So
much shiny things.
- [Kate] Including
three golden chariots,
two life-sized statues
of the Pharaoh,
three golden couches, two beds,
two trumpets, and one throne.
(clapboard clapping)
- King Tut's tomb
really does stand as
pretty much the
biggest archeological
discovery of all time.
It's just all of this
incredible stuff.
(plodding instrumental music)
- So when the news actually
finally hits the outside world,
there's this mad rush to
the Valley of the Kings.
And this is the point where all
of the reporters would
stand there milling around,
waiting for a piece
of the action.
- [Kate] The whole world
wants a piece of Tut
(gong crashing)
and he's arrived at
the perfect time.
- The timing of the discovery,
when it happened, the
Telegraph was being introduced.
(film reels clicking)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- The first transatlantic cables
stretched over 2,500 miles,
at a depth of more
than two miles.
By the 1920s, news that
once took two weeks to cross
the ocean now takes
just two minutes.
- If it would've happened
10 years earlier,
it would not have been
a global phenomenon.
If it would have
happened 10 years later,
it might've been lost with
all the other information.
And it was the
perfect timing for
an event like this to occur.
- The whole place is like a big,
massive conglomeration
of paparazzi essentially.
I mean, what do you do?
- [Kate] Realizing he's
sitting on a goldmine,
in more ways than one,
Carnarvon cuts a deal with
the "Times of London."
He gives them exclusive
rights to photograph
the contents of the tomb
in return for £5,000,
the equivalent today
of around $360,000.
- All of the other
newspapers are
right royally
annoyed about this,
and they're trying
to find other stories
and other avenues to
kind of get through.
(film reels clicking)
(industrious instrumental music)
- [Kate] On the 22nd
of December, 1922,
exactly one month
after the tomb's entry,
the "New York Times"
runs a Tut story
that opens an
enduring can of worms.
- [Newspaper Salesman]
Extra, read all about it!
- [Kate] It includes a
bit of journalistic fluff
that will go on
to spawn at least
19 horror movies over
the next 100 years.
It's about
- The curse.
- The curse.
- The curse.
- The curse.
- The curse of Tutankhamen.
(ominous instrumental music)
- [Kate] When Lord
Carnarvon gives
the "Times of London" exclusive
access to the discovery,
its cross-Atlantic namesake,
"The New York Times,"
becomes desperate
for any story to keep
its Tut obsessed
readers satisfied.
- That's where you get the
first ideas of a curse.
If I can't get the real story,
then I'm going to
fabricate a story.
They try to
sensationalize it so that
they can sell papers as well,
to kind of latch on to this
huge find of Tutankhamen.
- It's all about
headlines, it's click bait.
It is early 1900s click bait.
The media hasn't changed much
in how they deliver
stories or titles.
It's just a matter of how
we get the information.
- [Kate] Tucked away in
the "Times" reporters'
description of the
tomb is the first
of many dubious
Tut tales to come.
- One of these stories included
Howard Carter's pet canary,
(Canary chirping)
which he kept with him at his
excavation house in Luxor.
- [Kate] The paper reports
that at the same moment
Carter and Carnarvon were
busting into Tut's tomb,
a real life cobra broke
into castle Carter.
- [Cobra] Is anybody home?
- It was reported that soon
after the tomb was opened
and Lord Carnarvon
and Howard Carter
had discovered tomb of King Tut,
that a cobra had
come into the house
and made its way into
the canary's cage
and ate the poor bird.
- [Cobra] Ha ha!
(cobra burping)
(canary chirping)
- [Kate] The cobra
was later discovered
still in the canary's cage,
with the bird in its mouse.
According to the "New York
Times," it's a sign of
- [Ominous Man] The wraith
of the ancient gods.
- So what they
wanted to do is they
wanted a sensational story.
How can we jazz up this
curse of Tutankhamen?
- A cobra sits prominently on
the head dress of King Tut.
We associate cobras
with the pharaohs.
So people got very nervous.
- [Kate] The cobra incident
is just the beginning.
Within weeks, one of
Tut's two discoverers
will follow the canary
into the great beyond.
- [Man] Uh oh.
(film reels clicking)
- Quickly after Carter and
Carnarvon discovered the tomb,
so towards the end
of that season,
something happened
that just changed
the entire course of the work.
(mosquito buzzing)
Which is that Carnarvon
got bitten by a mosquito.
(mosquito squelching)
- And unfortunately,
one morning as he's doing his
daily routine and shaving,
he cuts the mosquito
bite with his razor.
- [Lord Carnarvon] Oh dear.
- And it becomes infected.
- He ended up with
blood poisoning and
eventually pneumonia.
This is before the
time of antibiotics.
- [Kate] 17 days
later, Lord Carnarvon,
the career thrill seeker
and financier of the
excavation, dies.
- [Lord Carnarvon]
I regret nothing.
(Carnarvon puking)
- It's reported that
around the time that
Lord Carnarvon
actually died in Cairo,
his favorite pet dog back at
Highclere Castle in
Great Britain lets out
this huge howl and
then falls over dead.
(dog yelping)
(exotic instrumental music)
And it was also reported in
the news at the same time,
that Lord Carnarvon
passed away or died.
And then there was a
blackout throughout
the city of Cairo as well.
(crickets chirping)
- [Kate] The coincidences
made for sensational stories.
- [Newspaper Salesman]
Get your papers.
- [Kate] Even though
power outages in Cairo
back then were a dime a dozen
and the Earl himself was always
on the verge of switching off.
- He was quite a frail man,
but this whole idea of the curse
is embroiled in
his death as well.
It just, I suppose,
fuels the imagination
of all the people around
the world at the time.
(suspenseful instrumental music)
(record scratching)
- Sure, I believe in
the curse of King Tut.
Why not? (laughing)
- You should not
mess with a mummy
or you're going to
be cursed forever.
- I'm not really
very superstitious,
not since I stopped
playing baseball.
("Take Me Out to the Ballgame")
- Curse of King Tut.
(interviewee sighing)
It's a relic from an
ancient time, right?
That sounds pretty curseish.
- [Kate] All of a sudden,
King Tut has gone
from long loss Pharaoh
to an avenging spirit looking to
kick some major
archeologist ass.
- Even before Canarvon's death,
there was sort of unease
amongst a lot of the public.
This idea of violating
this king's resting place.
- They embellished storylines
and created conspiracy
theories and imagined curses.
You know, once you hear curse,
that catches my attention.
Even if I don't believe in it,
I want to read that article
'cause just in case.
(suspicious instrumental music)
(numbers clicking)
- [Kate] In 1934,
Herbert Winlock,
director of New
York's Met Museum,
tries to dispel the curse
with an op ed article
that includes an
eyeopening fact.
(upbeat instrumental music)
Of the 22 people
who are present at
the opening of Tut's
burial chamber,
six died over the
ensuing 11 years.
But if there really is a curse,
why didn't everybody die?
(suspicious instrumental music)
For all his good intentions,
Winlock's logic has
a snowball's chance
in the Sahara of
changing anybody's mind.
- In America, we do
believe in curses.
Ancient Egypt is so far removed,
they could've had
magic sorcerers.
Nobody knows.
- John Balderston,
a New York columnist
covering the Tut discovery,
is fascinated by
the curse story.
(upbeat piano music)
10 years later, he's
on Sunset Boulevard,
typing out his first
Hollywood screenplay.
He's been told to
adapt a story about
a magician in San Francisco.
(magic whizzing)
So he moves the story
to Egypt, ancient Egypt.
He changes the magician's
name to Imhotep.
- [Echoing Man] Imhotep.
- [Kate] And to
spice the story up,
Balderston invents
the curse of Thoth.
(creepy instrumental music)
In 1932, "The Mummy,"
starring Boris Karloff is
let loose on the world.
(dramatic instrumental music)
- [Translator] Death,
eternal punishment
for anyone who
opens this casket.
(film reel clicking)
- "The Mummy"
certainly helped to
promote this idea
of a pharaoh's curse
or the curse of a mummy
that can be reanimated
and track down his
enemies, if you will,
or those who
disturbed his burial.
- Hollywood then
embellishes that.
It ties into our fear.
It takes us back to childhood,
where we look under
our beds just in case.
- [Kate] 90 years later,
"The Mummy" franchise
is still going strong.
Since 1999, there has been
eight new "Mummy" movies.
Together, they have grossed
a total of $1.8 billion.
That's twice as
much as the current
insurance value of the
Tut tomb treasure trove.
(upbeat instrumental music)
(popcorn popping)
- I think of that
movie, "The Mummy,"
that I watched
entirely too young,
and then was scared
of toilet paper after.
- Is King Tut a mummy now?
There's like the new
versions of "The Mummy."
That guy was a grown ass adult.
Okay, all right.
- What the hell happened
to Brendan Fraser's career?
Where'd he go?
He was everywhere, now
he's gone. (laughing)
That's the curse of King Tut.
- [Kate] But what about the
mummy who started at all?
Who was the real pharaoh
behind the bandages?
- I think when people think
of ancient Egyptian mummies,
they do think of this kind
of strange zombiesque,
the Hammer Horror
kind of association.
If you unwrap the bandages,
you'd look on the
face of that person.
- [Kate] Writing in his diary,
Howard Carter calls
November 11th, 1925,
a great day in the
history of archeology,
because this is the day that
he begins to unwrap
Tut's bandages.
- This isn't just history.
You can unwrap the mummies
and see their
facial expressions,
bringing these kings
and queens of history
from thousands of
years ago to life.
- [Kate] Tut has been wrapped
up tight for 3,245 years.
And some of the ancient
embalming fluids used on him
have long since passed
their expiry date.
- The resins and
oils that have been
poured over the
mummy and the coffin,
they had set hard like glue.
- [Kate] The mummy, with
its burial mask in place,
is still lying in the
coffin, stuck to the bottom.
(man grunting)
Carter begins the
process of removing
the layers of linen
bandages one by one.
Underneath the first layer,
he discovers a gold amulet
tucked inside the bandages.
The farther he goes,
the more he finds.
A gold dagger, a bracelet,
a scarab beetle,
and a golden hawk.
- Unwrapping of the
mummy of King Tut,
they actually found
143 different amulets
and pieces of jewelry within
the wrappings of
the mummy itself.
And all of these
objects were meant
to serve as protection
for the king
and to help him transfigure
into a god in the afterlife.
- [Kate] Carter realizes they
are also signs of affection
for the dead Pharaoh from
those he left behind.
- It's your family.
It's your family members.
It's the funerary practice.
It's still very much the
person that you've lost,
and you grieved for,
and you've loved.
(suspicious instrumental music)
- [Kate] Finally, it's
time to pry off his mask
and reveal the real King
Tutankhamen to the world.
(creepy instrumental music)
In the words of Carter,
"He's beautiful."
- They unwrap the mummy,
looked at the body,
and they realized
that Tutankhamen died
when he was only 18.
- He came to the throne when
he was about nine years old
and he dies this kind
of mysterious death.
Nobody really knows why.
- [Kate] It's a mystery
science has yet to solve.
- There are so many theories.
There's been sickle cell
anemia, epilepsy, malaria.
- You might've been attacked
by a hippo in the Nile.
(hippo growling)
- There are other theories.
That he died whilst he
was hunting on a chariot.
Perhaps he died in battle.
This whole mystery
around his death
is really tantalizing
to lots of people.
- [Kate] There's another,
more controversial question,
whose answer remains locked
within 30,000 human genes.
- There is an
obsession by scholars
and researchers
to try to identify
the race of King Tutankhamen.
- Is Tutankhamen black?
Has he been depicted
as being too white?
I would say that
actually in reality,
it's somewhere in the middle.
And I think that we should
just be really happy that they
are part of the African diaspora
and that these
amazing people created
such fabulous cultures
on the African continent.
- In a way it,
probably would take
something away from
Tutankhamen if we did know.
I think it's precisely that
mystery, that uncertainty,
that ability to tell new
stories that has kept
him so much in this sort
of public fascination.
- [Kate] But back
in the early 1920s,
way before John
Balderston bashed out
his first draft of "The Mummy,"
Tut is a rising star
ready to go nova.
Get ready for Tut mania.
(exotic instrumental music)
- I would argue that King
Tut is a part of pop culture
because of the timing when
King Tut was discovered.
- This was an incredible moment.
(street car horns beeping)
You're just a few
years past the horrors
of the first World War.
You're into the
Roaring Twenties,
the age of jazz and flappers,
and everyone's looking for
glamor, luxury, fun, hope,
and Tutankhamen's tomb
just plays right into that.
It's beyond everyone's dreams.
And so this is exactly what
everyone has been looking for.
- In 1922, when the
world is suddenly
seeing Tutankhamen's
tomb being revealed,
it just has this huge influence
on the movie business.
(instrumental trumpet music)
- [Kate] On average,
50 million Americans
are going to the
flicks every week.
- Middle-class
America is thriving
and three out of four
people will visit
the movie theater at
least once a week.
I don't think we could
afford to do that now.
- [Kate] The movie
business is booming
and Hollywood wants
to keep it that way.
So it cashes in on the
coincidental crazes,
bringing the grandeur
of ancient Egypt
to main street in the form of
82 new temple-like cinemas.
- Suddenly all of these movie
theaters have been built,
not just in the US
but in the UK as well.
And they have these
beautiful kind of
ancient Egyptian echoes to them.
This whole idea of ancient Egypt
and how fabulous
and dazzling it is.
- [Kate] Tut isn't just changing
how people go to the movies.
He's changing the way we look,
thanks to two beautiful things,
hidden inside a whole lot fours.
(record scratching)
Um, to explain we
need to rewind a bit.
(exotic instrumental music)
When Howard Carter
gets his first glimpse
of the wonderful things
inside Tut's tomb,
it's only the beginning.
He'll eventually discover
there are four separate rooms.
He will break through
four separate seals,
before entering the
burial chamber itself.
Inside the chamber, there's
a huge gilt wooden shrine.
- And you see this
golden shrine.
But actually it's
not just one shrine.
There's four. (laughing)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Kate] Inside the
inner most shrine,
Carter finds a box shaped
sarcophagus, a stone coffin.
Opening this, he
discovers a second coffin
in the shape of a person.
Inside that is another, and
finally a fourth coffin.
When Carter opens this,
he reaches the innermost layer
and is met by the
mesmerizing eyes
of the golden boy king
staring back at him.
- [Tut] Hi there,
what took you so long?
- The mask, which is the
most famous symbolic artifact
that we think about when
we think about Tutankhamen.
It gave the divine attributes.
So protection and it enabled
you to see in the underworld.
- [Kate] A hundred years later,
we're still captivated
by his darkly lined eyes.
- I'm sure if you ask
anyone in the street
who is the first
to wear guyliner,
they would probably
say punk rockers,
goth kids, vamp kids.
But Egyptian men wore eyeliner
long before all of that.
So they definitely
started that trend.
Their influence on
not only makeup,
but beauty practices in general,
still is in the present day.
(upbeat synthesizer music)
- [Kate] Back in the
early days of Tut mania,
the pharaoh's eyeliner
is everywhere.
Thanks in part to the very
first it girl, Clara Bow.
Where she leads, millions
of flappers follow.
(upbeat jazz music)
- You've got things like the
popularity of sequins as well,
because some of the
items that were found
in Tutankhamen's
tomb are decorated
with thousands of delicate
beads and sequins,
like little discs of gold,
all feeding through people
wanting to get a piece of
of Tutankhamen
and ancient Egypt.
(film reels clicking)
- I mean, Egypt influencing
jewelry and design,
that's so cool.
- I do like the crazy eyeliner.
That's definitely
Egyptian inspired.
Thank you for the fashion
choices, King Tut.
(upbeat jazz music)
- Tut mania really
took off in the 1920s.
People wanted
Egyptian everything.
- There's even a famous brand
of condoms called Ramesses.
(stick vibrating)
That were made in
23 and they amass
a massive wealth in the 1930s.
- It makes sense that
marketing to young men
during a period of
sexual liberation
would appeal to
their interests in
being associated with
an Egyptian god king.
I guess you can make some
analogy about wrapping it up.
(crowd booing)
- [Kate] Sex and fashion aren't
the only things
Tut's influencing.
Remember the pyramid
on the dollar bill?
The federal reserve in
Washington DC adds it in 1935,
cashing in on the
pharaoh's soaring fame.
(Model T horns beeping)
But nowhere does Tut mania
quite like New York City,
where his star power will
do an end run around 1916ZL,
better known as the
1916 Zoning Resolution,
and change the Manhattan
skyline forever.
(machinery clicking)
- We see the obsession
with King Tut
having a lot of impact on style.
Clothing, women's dresses, but
especially architecturally.
American culture is often
about assimilating ideas
and patterns from elsewhere.
So it doesn't surprise
me that one of
our most iconic buildings
is really reflecting
our interpretation
of an Egyptian style.
- [Kate] It's the story
of how Tut took Manhattan,
and it goes like this.
The year is 1929
and architect William
Frederick Lamb has a dilemma.
- [Lamb] Hmm.
- [Kate] He's been
asked to design
a new building
for the Big Apple,
one taller than any
other in existence.
But there's a problem.
- In the early 20th
century, New York City was
a claustrophobic place because
of the dense cityscape.
It blocked out fresh air and
sunlight from the people below.
(dramatic instrumental music)
- [Kate] In response,
the city enacted
the 1916 Zoning Resolution,
putting strict limits on
the size of new buildings.
To get around it, Lamb goes
back to the drawing board
and takes inspiration
from ancient Egypt.
- [Lamb] I've got it!
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Kate] He sketches a five
story base that fills the lot.
On top of that, he puts
a tower, but set back.
He adds additional set backs
making the tower narrower
and narrower at the 21st, 25th,
30th, 72nd, 81st
and 85th floors.
(metal screeching)
- It gradually recedes
from a base at the top,
just like a pyramid.
This was a plan to help shed
more light on Manhattan.
- [Kate] It's called the
Empire State Building.
And at 1,454 feet,
becomes the tallest
building in the world.
So tall, in fact, it
will tower three times
higher than the Great
Pyramid of Giza.
- This was a 4,500
year Egypt design
leaving its mark on the greatest
modern city in the world.
And all thanks to Tut mania.
- [Kate] For a guy who left such
a major mark on the Big Apple,
Tut's afterlife address
is pretty low key.
- It's much smaller than you
would expect for
a Pharaoh's tomb,
compared to a lot
of the other tombs
that have been found in
the Valley of the Kings.
- [Kate] There are
four rooms in the tomb
with dimensions that add up
to a total of 908 square feet.
To give you an idea
of how big that is,
compare it to your average
Manhattan one bedroom
apartment at 702 square feet.
Pretty modest for a
royal resting place,
especially compared to
one like the Taj Mahal.
That site is 42 acres,
or the same as about
31 football fields,
or the mausoleum of the
first Chin Emperor of China.
That site covers 20 square
miles, or half of Disney world.
By their standards,
King Tut's tomb isn't
even a broom closet.
- With Carter and Carnarvon
actually finding Tut's tomb,
and the fact that it was so
small and so inconspicuous
it's just hard to believe
that that they were so lucky.
- [Kate] But why is
Tut's tomb so small
compared to others in
the Valley of the Kings?
- His reign wasn't
very significant.
He only ruled for
about nine years
during the New Kingdom
in ancient Egypt.
- Did he do very much?
And the thing is, not really.
- [Kate] So that was kind
of us C minus sovereign,
a historical underachiever.
Try telling that to
the 1970s, (laughing)
when his tiny, but intact
tomb will launch Tut mania two
and make the pharaoh a
bigger star than ever before.
(record scratching)
- In 1973, there is
a war between Israel,
Syria, and Egypt called
the Yom Kippur War.
(dramatic instrumental music)
And then Nixon intervenes.
(phone ringing)
And supports the Israelis.
And because of this,
there's a real backlash
with the Arab states.
They don't take this too lightly
and decide not to
supply the US with oil.
(funky instrumental music)
- [Kate] The conflict sends
oil prices skyrocketing
from $3 a barrel to $12,
and causes long lines at
the pump across the nation.
- So Nixon's got a bit
of trouble on his hands.
He really has to make amends.
- [Kate] Nixon
comes up with a plan
to flip the script
with the Arab states.
- Presidents always
find unique ways to
find commonality
with other countries.
So he used the one thing
he probably thought
as a common ground to
establish some relationship
with the Middle East and
with Egypt in particular.
King Tut.
- So Nixon travels
to Egypt in 1974,
asking if these
treasures could come
for this touring exhibition,
because it was just
seen that it would
be an expression of goodwill,
of people getting
excited about Egypt,
a collaboration between
the two countries.
- [Kate] It's also
planned to beat
the competition
with simple numbers.
An exhibition of Tut's
treasures has recently completed
a three city tour
around the Soviet Union.
(man speaking foreign language)
(instrumental Russian music)
To outdo his Cold War rivals,
(phone ringing)
Nixon persuades the Egyptians to
put three more cities
on the US itinerary.
- [Nixon] That's right.
- [Kate] And on
top of the 50 items
that were sent behind
the Iron Curtain,
Nixon wheels and deals
an extra five for the US.
To be on the safe side, he
has the whole kit and caboodle
transported to America
in secret on a warship.
(air horn sounding)
- When the King Tut artifacts
and treasures come
to the United States,
and they do this three-year
tour throughout the country,
they were insured for over a
billion dollars in their value.
That's a staggering number.
And especially for
the time at the 1970s.
- [Kate] 50 Years after the
first wave of Tut mania,
the old pharaoh
is about to sweep
the world off its
feet once again.
(dramatic instrumental music)
(tape rewinding)
(upbeat synthesizer music)
- In 1976, this huge tour
of Tutankhamen treasures
just happens in the US
and it's like 1922
all over again.
Everybody goes nuts about it.
- [Kate] Tut mania is
back, bigger than ever.
And the proof is in the numbers.
(money crinkling)
- [Man] Hey, get your tickets!
- [Kate] In Washington DC,
the lineups circle
three whole blocks.
- [Man] Tickets here!
- [Kate] In Chicago, ticket
holders face a seven hour wait.
In Los Angeles, scalpers are
selling $2 tickets for $35.
- [Man] Get your tickets!
- [Kate] That's a markup
of more than 1,500%.
By the time the
exhibition closes,
after visits to
Seattle and New York,
more than 8 million people
will have come see Tut.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Nixon bringing a mummy on
tour as a political statement,
wouldn't have been
my first move.
- I don't think there
were many political tools
that Nixon didn't use.
- I guess that kind
of explains the curse.
We know Nixon didn't
didn't finish well,
as far as his job was concerned.
- I would've just gone for
the good old ninth grade
vote for me and I'll give
you a cupcake sort of thing.
- Isn't that all
American politics?
Isn't that the entire
Senate just like dry,
desiccated and mummified
old husks of humans?
That's the US Senate.
Yeah, no, not that weird.
- [Kate] Tut's smash hit
tour of the seventies,
culminates with a TV triumph.
- The high moment for
King Tut would have
to be when Steve Martin made
a song about him on "SNL."
That's how you know you made it,
when you're parodied
or there's satire
about you on
"Saturday Night Live."
(funky instrumental music)
- [Kate] The 1970s
won't be the last time
Tut finds himself
caught up in politics.
(tape rewinding)
In 2011, he'll be
called off the bench
to help rally his people
against an oppressive regime.
- The Arab Spring,
which took place in 2011
and the Egyptian
Revolution helped
to promote the emergence
of street artists.
The streets of Cairo became
a canvas, if you will,
for all these
different artworks,
by all these different artists.
(crowd chattering)
- [Kate] One known only
by his alias, Kaiser,
paints a familiar
image of protest.
(spray paint spraying)
The Argentinian
revolutionary, Che Guevara.
He's wearing his
trademark beret,
only this time
he's also sporting
King Tut's ceremonial beard.
(exotic instrumental music)
- I visited Egypt not that
long after the Revolution
and there was a lot of
graffiti that was around,
and one of the
images that you would
see as graffiti was the
mask of Tutankhamen.
(camera snapping)
- [Kate] Street,
artist Marwan Shahin
follows Kaiser's lead
and paints an image of
the fictional anarchist V,
from the "V for
Vendetta" comic series,
wearing his trademark
Guy Fawkes mask,
along with the headdress
of the teenage pharaoh.
(camera snapping)
- The mask of King Tutankhamen
is actually fused together
with the Guy Fawkes
mask from the UK.
And so by using this icon,
like the Guy Fawkes Mask,
which represents, the
people fighting against
their government
and fusing that with
the iconic funerary gold
mask of King Tutankhamen,
the artists were speaking
directly to the revolutionaries
to hold fast to
their ancestral roots
and to fight against
this oppressive regime
that was currently ruling Egypt.
(camera snapping)
- [Kate] The image
quickly becomes
a revolutionary signature piece,
emblazoned on walls as
a monochrome stencil,
painted mural or pop art poster.
- You've got a people rising up,
wanting to assert their
independence and their freedom,
and they're looking
back to this image
of Tutankhamen to
represent them in that.
(machinery whirring)
- King Tut being used
as a political symbol.
I mean, if he has
a problem with it,
he can't say anything now.
Being a mummy, you know?
- I'd rather King
Tut than Bieber.
(goofy cartoon music)
- [Kate] After 18
days of protest,
the Egyptian regime is toppled.
- Game over.
- [Kate] And Tut, he's still
just as popular as ever.
- The irony is
someone like King Tut
would be adamantly against
and oppressing a revolution,
but using his image
makes perfect sense,
because that is the one
image that everyone in Egypt
can get behind and
obviously understands.
(tape rewinding)
(dramatic instrumental music)
- [Kate] The great
pharaohs of ancient Egypt
went to epic lengths for
a shot at eternal life,
but all their best laid plans
were spoiled by looters.
By drifting into obscurity
for more than 3000 years,
young and insignificant
Tutankhamen may
be the only one who
truly succeeded.
- Because his tomb is so
small, and it's so iconic,
and also quite weird,
we are continuing to
say his name in history.
- The numbers just
give us a handle
on such an incredible find,
more than 5,000 objects
that came out of that tomb.
More than 100 objects just
found on the mummy itself.
The millions of people who
have visited the exhibits.
It just gives you a
sense of the scale
and the importance of
the entire phenomenon.
- You do not have
to rule the longest
and you do not have to be
the best at what you do.
You just have to
be the most famous.
Everyone will always
know that name.
I promise you I could step into
a classroom 50 years from now,
if I could say name
an Egyptian king,
they will know King Tut.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Interviewer] When I
say King Tut, you say?
- What?
- If I had to go
to the afterlife,
I would totally bring my
dog if he was already dead.
- Yeah, king at the age of nine.
I would have started wars
with Rome by my 10th birthday.
- I'm not killing
my dog to bring him.
- I remember Tut mania from when
I was a kid in the seventies.
And they were all, I think,
using a lot of cocaine.
- I guess my husband,
if you have to.
- I want flamingos and
polar bears in my court.
That's because I can,
and I'm nine years old.
- Oh, "Walk Like an
Egyptian," The Bangles.
Yeah, that was a good one too.
Walk like an Egyptian ♪
- Oh god. (laughing)
Terrible.
(exotic instrumental music)