Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Ancient Egypt.

A civilisation immortalised by awe-inspiring monuments,

and priceless treasures.

Ruled by Pharaohs:

living Gods and legendary warriors.

But their wealth masks a darker truth:

power was bought with blood.

They assembled the greatest armies in history...

..revolutionised the art of warfare...

..and waged spectacular battles...

..and titanic conquests.

This is the hidden face of Egyptian history,

the story of the Pharaohs at War.

- (doors thud shut)

- (dramatic music)

- (soldiers shouting)

NARRATOR: Pharaoh Thutmose III

prepared to fight the Canaanite army.

- Thutmose III faced the Canaanite army

in a battle still famous today, the Battle of Megiddo.

NARRATOR: The fortress of Megiddo, in present-day Israel,

served as a base for dozens of kings,

determined to free themselves from Egyptian rule.

These kings came from all over Canaan,

a vast territory located between Lebanon,

Palestine, Syria and Jordan.

- This was the first time that such a massive allied force in Canaan

was rebelling against Egypt.

NARRATOR: 15,000 men on each side, thousands of chariots,

one of the greatest battles of ancient Egypt begins.

- It is considered to be the first big battle

that is recorded.

NARRATOR: A crucial battle for Thutmose III,

who had never faced such a powerful enemy.

- Thutmose III needed a great victory.

NARRATOR: If he wins, Egypt will acquire immense wealth and prosper.

But if he loses, his country will be greatly weakened.

The stakes are high.

Determined to win, Thutmose III is at the heart of the battle.

- Thutmose III, charging from his army,

glowing with the power of the God.

NARRATOR: Ready to do anything to win, he boldly reinvents

the military strategies of his ancestors.

- What Thutmose invented is something that was practiced

by later New Kingdom kings, and even was practiced

by historical armies up to Napoleon.

NARRATOR: His military genius earned him the nickname

"Napoleon of Ancient Egypt."

But will it be enough to guarantee victory?

Who are his enemies in West Asia, and what are they after?

Why is the battle of Megiddo so crucial for Thutmose III and Egypt?

NARRATOR: Clues to answer these questions can be found

along the Nile in this temple.

This grand monument, built to honour Thutmose mother-in-law, Hatshepsut,

explains why the young Pharaoh fought the Canaanites

whenever he had the chance.

- This is the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut.

It's where priests would celebrate her soul for the afterlife.

This is one of the most beautiful temples in ancient Egypt.

It's three levels with stunning column porticoes

against the bay of the cliffs.

And it's amazing that this was built 3,500 years ago,

but yet still stands so beautifully.

NARRATOR: Hatshepsut lived through

the beginning of Egypt's 18th Dynasty,

a golden age for the country.

- This is the holy of holies.

Through this door, there would have been the sacred image of the god.

This is the most sacred part of the entire temple.

And at the top, there's two kings on each side.

There's two kings here

because there were two kings at the time.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III was the only son of Thutmose II,

just a baby when his father died.

His mother was nothing more than a secondary wife,

so the regency fell to Thutmose II's great royal wife, Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut was not only the widow of Thutmose II,

but also his half-sister,

since they had the same father, the Pharaoh Thutmose I.

This dual status gives Hatshepsut immense power.

But it's not enough for her.

- She started as the regent, but then she decided

to be a Pharaoh in her own right.

Although Thutmose III continues to say that he co-ruled with her,

Hatshepsut portrayed herself as a solitary king.

- She takes on all the titles, all the duties

and responsibilities of an ancient Egyptian king.

- Hatshepsut was the first female king of Egypt.

NARRATOR: We are yet to understand

what prompted Hatshepsut to proclaim herself Pharaoh.

- Some Egyptologist think that she genuinely believed

that she was the rightful heir to the throne

because she was from the long line of 18th Dynasty kings.

NARRATOR: Others say she was thirsty for power.

Whatever her motives,

Thutmose III had to wait 22 years for her death,

before he could finally rule alone.

A long period that he put to good use.

- In the 18th dynasty, it was important

for kings to know a lot about the army

because, as Pharaoh, they were head of the army.

NARRATOR: He was renowned for his skills in combat,

and, at 16, became a general.

- He was a very skilful fighter.

He was reported to have been excellent with a bow and arrow,

he was good at hand-to-hand combat and chariotry.

NARRATOR: Although Hatshepsut prepared Thutmose III for war,

her reign was a peaceful period.

- So Thutmose III didn't have a chance to be a military leader.

He didn't have a chance to go on campaigns and fight.

NARRATOR: But the death of his aunt in 1458 BCE reshuffles the cards,

and a rebellion breaks out.

- It was very common for rebellions to occur

when a new king would come to power,

to test the power of that king.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III was no exception to the rule.

At the beginning of his solo reign,

it was the subjugated Canaanite king,

also known as princes, who revolted.

For much of Egypt's history,

its borders extended from Nubia in the south to the Mediterranean Sea.

But from Thutmose I onwards, the grandfather of Thutmose III,

the Pharaohs also wanted to control the lands of the Levant,

located between present-day Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria,

the lands of the Canaanite people.

- There was a lot of control over these Canaanite states by Egypt.

The Egyptians also asked the Canaanites

to have taxation on behalf of Egypt.

So, after a while, the Canaanite princes start

to get a bit upset with this.

NARRATOR: The Canaanite kings gather in the city of Megiddo.

Determined to take advantage of the period of confusion

that follows the death of a Pharaoh,

they seek independence.

- We don't know the exact number of cities states

that rebelled against Thutmose III.

There was something in between the range of 13 and 300,

but it must have been a majority.

- This was the first time that such a massive allied force in Canaan

was rebelling against Egypt.

NARRATOR: These rebels are led by two particularly influential Kings,

kings whose names have been lost to history,

but who run two of the richest and most powerful cities in the Levant.

- Two of the larger cities states in the region

are Qadesh and Megiddo,

and these were located under key-trade-network access points.

So, they were able to amass a series of wealth.

So, Qadesh and Megiddo were able to be powerful enough

to call for a bit of unity

with the Canaanite city states to fight against Egypt.

NARRATOR: The insurgents choose Megiddo as their meeting place

because the city offers a number of strategic advantages.

Megiddo was close to Egypt, so the kings hoped to stop the Pharaoh

before he advanced further into the region.

In the south, the fortress is sheltered by large mountains,

difficult for the Egyptians to cross,

whilst, to the north,

flat lands were easily accessible to the Canaanite allies.

- (dramatic music)

NARRATOR: The ruins of the fortress of Megiddo reveal more

about the city-states of the Levant, their peoples,

their leaders, and what drove them to rebel against Egypt.

- Megiddo has been destroyed and rebuilt dozens of times,

in its thousand of years of history,

and that more or less explains why we're up high.

The city has kind of grown on top of itself.

But let me take you inside.

NARRATOR: The hilltop fortress protected a town

of around ten hectares,

and its king ruled over the whole region.

- Canaan at the time was structured more or less

as a bunch of independent city states.

A king would rule over his city, and be responsible for it,

plus some small villages around it.

There might be one on the other side of the valley, for example,

and another one in the hills to the south.

- The kings of Megiddo were rich

because Megiddo is sitting on the breadbasket of the land of Israel.

NARRATOR: Which meant Meggido's inhabitants prospered too.

- They were connected to the Mediterranean world.

And we know this because we find

some of their amazing objects in our excavations.

For example, let me show you this tomb that we excavated in 2016.

You wouldn't believe it.

Three individuals still positioned

as they were on the day they were buried.

A male figure had a golden torc around his neck,

a golden headband, golden bracelets.

Next to him was a woman who had these amazing bronze anklets.

This tomb would be rich even by most Egyptian standards.

NARRATOR: Egypt can control these powerful Kings in isolation,

but together they become formidable enemies.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III risks losing access to a major trade network.

- The power of Canaan was really its location.

- It was on the main highway of the antiquity.

And Megiddo sits right there, guarding the highway.

So, the location was prime location,

one of the best possible in the ancient Near East.

- They were at the centre of trade routes going north-south,

from Anatolia into Egypt.

They were also the centre of trade routes coming east from Mesopotamia

and then even the Mediterranean.

NARRATOR: Egypt was dependent on these routes

as it had no ports on the Mediterranean.

- All their ports were more inland on the Nile

along the river in the Delta.

So, a lot of the lucrative Mediterranean trade would come in

to the ports in Canaan and then go down overland into Egypt.

NARRATOR: Via these routes, Egypt imports the wood needed

to make bows and chariots, as well as copper and tin,

which are needed to cast deadly bronze weapons,

commodities that are in short supply in the Pharaoh's kingdom.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III,

in his official account of the battle of Megiddo,

says that he attacks the Canaanite kings,

when he learns that they are planning to rebel.

But the reality is much more complex.

- The Battle of Megiddo proved to be,

I think, an opportunity for Thutmose III,

rather than squashing the rebellion of the Canaanite kings.

- He goes to war almost immediately after the death of Hatshepsut.

And so, most likely, all the plans were already developed.

And, of course, also all the troops must have been trained,

and the chariots must have been built already beforehand.

- Thutmose III wanted to expand into Canaan

because he could control the trade.

And he could get very rich from this.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III needed the war to secure his power

in Canaan and enrich Egypt.

But he also had other, more personal motivations

for fighting in the Levant.

- This was his first year of his solitary reign

and he had to prove his legitimacy to rule.

- Thutmose III certainly presented this as a situation

that needed his intervention,

that these terrible, terrible chiefs of Canaan

were turning their backs against him.

Whether that was a historical reality, or not, is unclear.

NARRATOR: Whatever his reasons, the Pharaoh won't back down.

He can't lose control of this vital axis.

Although Egypt appears all-powerful,

250 years earlier,

the country experienced its most difficult period in its history,

and the cause originated from the same region.

NARRATOR: Around 1700 BCE,

a people called the Hyksos came from the West Asia via the Levant

and took power over the north of Egypt,

driving out the Pharaohs.

But who were the Hyksos?

How did they take control of northern Egypt?

At the Luxor Museum,

a stela erected by the Pharaoh Kamose

recounts this dark period in his country's history.

- Kamose in this stela

details all of his struggles against the Hyksos

who came from the area of Syria-Palestine,

and they settled in the Nile Delta in a town called Avaris.

- They became more elite.

At this time, the Egyptian political situation began to decline.

NARRATOR: A godsend for the Hyksos.

- At some point they had obviously decided to also go further south

and half of the country is being taken over.

And the Egyptians themselves are being confined

to rule just a small part in the south.

- And over time they started calling themselves kings.

- Those kings adopt Egyptian language, Egyptian titles.

They rule as Pharaoh, have their name written in hieroglyphs,

which must have been a very, very traumatic experience for Egyptians.

NARRATOR: An untenable situation for the kings of Upper Egypt.

Yet this new reign was long-lasting.

- It took very long for the king of Thebes to reclaim Egypt

because for 150 years

the Hyksos were controlling the international trade,

and the Egyptian king couldn't access the materials that he needed

to make weapons in order to fight against the Hyksos.

- When the Hyksos came to the Delta,

they brought in innovations in technology from the Near East.

They brought the horse, they brought the chariot.

They brought in new metal technology,

so they created daggers and axes that were stronger and sharper.

And this made a very difficult situation

for the kings in the southern part of Egypt

because they are late to the game with all of these things.

NARRATOR: It took the Egyptians 150 years

to regain control of their land.

At El Kab, a prestigious site,

where many important figures are laid to rest,

one tomb provides an insight into how they achieved this.

- Here we are in the tomb of Ahmose, son of Abana.

He was a soldier in Pharaoh's army,

and he was there when the king defeated the Hyksos,

and he tells us all of the details of how that happened.

This is his name here, Ahmose,

and this is the title of his son.

And this is his mother's name, Abana.

Here we have something very important.

This is the first depiction of a chariot inside a private tomb.

The Egyptians managed to take this technology from the Hyksos.

NARRATOR: Ironically, the Pharaohs drove the Hyksos out of Egypt,

thanks to the chariots,

a technology they had stolen.

- So, it's not exactly clear how they acquired the knowledge.

Did they steal them,

or did they just loot them?

Did they send out spies to find out how to make these items?

We don't know. Any one of those options is a possibility.

NARRATOR: What we do know, is that from this point,

the army became the centre of the pharaoh's power.

NARRATOR: During the Hyksos invasion,

Egypt went through one of the worst periods in its history,

and this had profound repercussions.

- There was a sort of national trauma.

- There was a huge embarrassment for generations.

Royal inscription after royal inscription,

you get this feeling of humiliation of this event in their history.

And I think this is one of the most important drivers

of Thutmose's campaign, to make sure that never happens again.

NARRATOR: The young Pharaoh came to power less than a century

after the departure of the Hyksos.

So, he was keenly aware of the importance

of a powerful and reactive military force.

In the spring of 1457 BCE,

as soon as he discovered the rebellion of the Canaanite peoples,

he gathered his troops.

His decision was made: he would lead his army to the Levant.

- The reign of Thutmose III marks a changing point.

It's a time when the army is being professionalised.

- There was a need to create a very strong army

that could check anything coming in from Asia.

- The Egyptian army was comprised of different units.

We have conscripted units,

so these would be possibly farmers, or anyone from the countryside.

NARRATOR: Both professional and novice soldiers were equipped

with traditional weapons,

such as the axe...

or the bow.

- But they also incorporated new weapons

that they got from the Hyksos,

such as the sickle sword

and, especially, the chariots.

- Chariots and horses were fully incorporated into the Egyptian army,

and there was a chariotry corps that was very powerful.

So, the army was run by Thutmose III at the head,

a series of generals, and then officers,

chariot corps, and then underneath that infantry men.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III also uses very well-trained mercenaries.

The most formidable are the Medjai.

- These were people who were from Nubian origin.

And the Egyptians would hire them

to be their elite, specialist archery force.

The Medjai may also have been the personal guard

of the king, Thutmose III.

NARRATOR: The Pharaoh boasts of having nearly 15,000 men

and thousands of chariots.

The Egyptian chariots are fast and precise.

But the Canaanite's also possess them.

And the rebel Kings have an additional advantage

that could make all the difference -

the extraordinary fortress of Megiddo.

- We're right here on the city gate itself,

and we're standing on one of the pieces of the wall itself

which would have surrounded Megiddo.

You can see that the part that I'm standing on is made of stone,

but these are just the lowest courses,

kind of the foundation itself.

On top would have been an eight-metre wide mud brick wall

which surrounded the entire city.

NARRATOR: Houses are built in the shelter of the citadel,

giving it a very unusual appearance over time.

- And so, eventually, houses inside the city

were being built on top of the wall.

So, it was no longer a wall surrounding it,

it was like encountering a city on a cliff.

NARRATOR: With no room inside the fortress,

the numerous Canaanite kings

and their armies settle around the city.

This is where they wait.

The Egyptians were known as formidable fighters.

The kings of Qadesh, Megiddo and their allies gather their troops.

They must ensure that they are ready to fight together

against the Pharaoh's army.

- (speaks French)

INTERPRETER: The Canaanite army is made up of novices

and professionals from allied and subjugated cities.

- So, each Canaanite city state would have volunteer armies

that would be called up for its different campaigns,

or its different need to fight.

INTERPRETER: All these people are well armed.

They have chariots, bronze weapons.

They are numerous and unafraid of Thutmose

In fact, they are waiting for him with baited breath.

NARRATOR: They won't have to wait much longer.

The Pharaoh has put his army in marching order.

He will soon be approaching.

INTERPRETER: A characteristic of the Egyptian army

is that it walks a lot, apart from the Pharoah

who perhaps had the privilege of riding a chariot.

The whole army's on foot, and covers an average of 25 kilometres a day.

The infantry must carry everything they need:

weapons in case of ambush, water,

and, above all, a pack that he will use for most of the campaign.

Inside this pack, the soldier will carry food reserves,

cooking equipment...

..in particular, a terracotta pot...

..and fire-making essentials.

- (speaks French)

INTERPRETER: The Egyptians used a bow,

and would light a fire using string and tinder.

These soldiers set off as they were dressed in everyday life,

with their loin cloth

and white nemes.

During the night, which can be very cold in the desert,

this blanket is used as a pad, but also as a cover for the cold,

and even to make temporary shelter.

NARRATOR: The infantry don't march alone.

They are accompanied by troops in charge of logistics.

INTERPRETER: These are support troops

who are used to harvest the territory they travel through

and bring back food.

But, above all, they're used for transport.

They carry the heaviest food, bringing animals,

and the treasures and the chariots.

NARRATOR: For the first ten days,

the army managed to cover almost 250 km,

but the situation became complicated as they approached Megiddo.

Thutmose III had the story of the battle of Megiddo

engraved on the sacred walls of the Temple of Karnak.

Located in Luxor,

it is one of the most important temples in ancient Egypt.

A sacred space, 400 metres wide and 600 metres long.

It is monumental.

Here, the pharaohs had their greatest battles recorded.

- On this wall we have the text of the entire battle of Megiddo.

- One of the important things about the Battle of Megiddo

is that it is considered to be the first big battle

that is recorded historically in writing.

NARRATOR: Writing in which Thutmose III tells how suddenly,

12 km south of Megiddo,

his troops are stopped in their tracks.

Facing them is the Carmel mountain range.

- In these mountains, there are three different passes.

Two of them are kind of wide,

and one of them is very narrow.

And on the other side of this is Megiddo.

NARRATOR: The passes to the north and south are longer,

but wide enough for the army to respond in the event of an attack.

The central route, called the Aruna Pass,

is shorter and quicker.

But it's so deep and narrow that it puts them in danger of an ambush.

- Thutmose III brought his officers together to ask them:

"What do you think I should do?"

And they said to him, "You should choose the north pass,

"or you should choose the south pass,"

because these were the safest ones.

"We can protect ourselves. We can fight if anyone attacks us."

- The generals, according to the annals, plead with Thutmose III:

"Please don't make us go straight through the mountains.

"All of our men will have to go one by one."

"We're going to be vulnerable, we'll be in a really tough position."

- And Thutmose III thinks, and he says:

!No, I don't think that this is the right choice."

What he chooses is the difficult path,

the narrow one.

And his officers are very concerned.

They're afraid. They don't really trust his decision.

And this is a problem for Thutmose III

because this is his first campaign.

And he really has something to prove here.

And he's asking his officers and his soldiers to trust him.

And they don't.

- But Thutmose III said, "No, no, no, no, no.

"I am the strong king," and this was a moment for him

to prove that he wasn't a coward,

that he was, indeed, brave, and that he was also the divine chosen King,

the son of Amun, so he told everyone...

- "Listen! I will walk ahead of everybody else.

"I will lead the soldiers

"and I will go first, and I will put myself in the greatest danger.

This is how he convinces his soldiers.

NARRATOR: As promised, the next morning Thutmose III led his army

and advanced into the Aruna Pass.

Behind him, 15,000 worried men followed.

They only have 17 kilometres to go,

but if the Pharaoh has made the wrong choice,

this short march will prove fatal.

The path taken by Thutmose III and his men

is still clearly visible today.

- This is exactly the road that Thutmose and the army came on.

Just along the tree line here, the whole army coming single file

because of the narrowness of the pass.

Nobody would bring an army through here,

if you're trying to attack Megiddo.

NARRATOR: But apart from a skirmish at the exit of the pass,

the Egyptian army met no resistance.

- The enemy was waiting

where they thought that Thutmose III could have arrived.

NARRATOR: Thanks to his audacity,

Thutmose III succeeded in catching his enemies off guard.

- The Canaanites have their army stationed

a kilometre or two in that direction,

And a kilometre, two, in that direction guarding the other routes.

- So, Thutmose III was at the back of the Canaanite king's troops.

BRAND: So the Canaanites were in quite the panic,

and it was chaos, and then they rushed back to Megiddo.

- Probably they thought that Thutmose III's army

was already assaulting the city,

and they didn't know what to expect when they arrived.

NARRATOR: The Canaanite kings and their 15,000 men

rush towards Megiddo.

The fortress, their greatest asset, is at the mercy of the Pharaoh.

If Thutmose III takes it,

they will lose the battle and their chance of independence.

But the Pharaoh does not attack.

Instead of making the most of his advantage,

he sets up camp.

His army gathers behind the River Qina,

which flows close to Megiddo.

From there, the Pharaoh assesses the fortress

and the camp of his enemies.

- It's possible that he chose to do this

because it was the fair thing to do.

The ancient Egyptians had this belief

that they needed to conduct themselves fairly.

NARRATOR: Another more pragmatic reason

could explain the Pharaoh's surprising choice.

- Thutmose III wants to wait for the rebellious Canaanite princes

because they're the reason why he's there to fight.

He wanted to beat them up. He wanted to fight them and punish them.

So he waited.

NARRATOR: The Pharaoh uses the time to prepare his attack

with his generals.

Thutmose III studied the terrain around the fortress

and worked out his military strategy.

- (dramatic music)

NARRATOR: Finally, in the early hours of April 16th 1457 BCE,

the two armies come face-to-face on the plain of Megiddo.

30,000 men in all,

15,000 Egyptians, and as many Canaanites.

- The Canaanites are ready on their chariots.

They have plenty of chariots. They have a thousand, at least.

- And Thutmose III puts himself in the vanguard of the charge.

- And he says that he's on his very fine electrum chariot

that's glinting in the sunlight, blinding the enemy.

NARRATOR: The battle is imminent.

And Thutmose III is counting on his ultimate weapon,

the chariot, to win it.

He has transported several thousand of them from Egypt,

hoping to overwhelm his enemies.

- (speaks French)

INTERPRETER: At the Battle Of Megiddo

Thutmose attacked the Canaanites with javelins, bows

and the new indispensable weapon - the chariot.

So, what is a chariot?

First and foremost, it's a mobile platform designed

to attack opponents where they least expect it.

And it's driven by a charioteer.

He has two roles.

The first is to identify the best place

on the battlefield to lead the attack.

Secondly, he carries a shield,

which will enable him to protect his passenger.

The passenger has another role.

This role, taken by the Pharaoh, is to carry out the attack.

He's going to attack his opponent with javelins

that are attached to the chariot, or with arrows.

And to fire his arrows he would use a bow.

- (speaks French)

INTERPRETER: The traditional Egyptian bow is one straight piece

that is easy to produce

and roughly the size of the fighter.

It had been commonly used on foot since ancient times.

NARRATOR: But the Egyptian bow is huge.

How can it be used effectively on a small chariot?

INTERPRETER: When you're on the chariot,

there are several considerations to make. First of all,

the ground is irregular, so there's a lot of vibration.

Secondly, the enemy is trying to hit you.

So you'll be protected by your driver,

and you'll have to fire quickly at moving targets.

This type of bow will hit the chariot,

so you have to get over it to shoot.

Them if you want to change sides,

you will be hampered as you will have to move around your team-mate

to the other side to shoot.

NARRATOR: This bow is difficult to handle.

So the Egyptians adopted a new, much shorter bow,

a copy of the one used by the Hyksos.

INTERPRETER: This bow has a huge advantage.

It's very light.

So, the archer can pick up his arrow,

and shoot easily, quickly passing his arm over his team-mate,

or even behind him.

We call it a composite bow.

Unlike the previous bow, which was made from a single piece of wood,

this one is made from a combination of horns, wood and tendons.

The whole thing is glued together.

Its power is similar to that of previous large bows.

The bow was light, mobile and highly effective,

and became the famous weapon of the pharaohs.

NARRATOR: At Megiddo, Thutmose III launched the assault.

Armies traditionally fought head-on,

but due to the terrain - a field surrounded by mountains -

and his unique armoury of bows and chariots,

the young Pharaoh decided to attack

in a completely new way.

- So, now we're on the north side of the city.

One of the most important parts of the battle

took place here in this field.

- Thutmose III does something rather innovative.

He divides his army into three divisions.

BRAND: One going to the south, one to the north,

and one for a centre charge.

And Thutmose III led the centre division.

INTERPRETER: This military strategy is the first time

we've seen it mentioned in sources.

- Having different divisions attacking

different flanks of your opponent

is something that was practiced by historical armies up to Napoleon.

JACKSON: Thutmose III, he first charges with his own division.

INTERPRETER: When the Canaanites realised that Thutmose was alone

with a third of his army in the centre,

they rushed forward to attack him.

This is exactly what the Pharoah wanted.

NARRATOR: The Canaanites rush into the trap set by Thutmose III,

and quickly what the young Pharaoh was hoping for happens.

- Behind the Canaanite army there was the city of Megiddo,

which was a large city and then their camp behind them.

So there was, really, no place.

- They were kind of stuck in this area.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III and his generals tightened their flanks.

INTERPRETER: In this configuration, the Canaanites can't escape.

They will have to attack with their chariots.

But the Egyptian flanks are protected by steep terrain

that prevents the Canaanite chariots from charging.

The Canaanite chariots were blocked,

and, worst still, they were in the way of their own infantry.

NARRATOR: The rebels are in a state of panic.

Deprived of their chariots,

the Canaanites were now surrounded by the Egyptians.

The rebel kings and their soldiers are completely thrown

by this turn of events.

However much they resist, they realise they are losing the battle,

and that if they continue to fight, they will be slaughtered.

- And according to Thutmose III,

the Canaanite princes could not stand the sight

of the mighty Thutmose III glowing with the power of the God.

They freak out and run away, and they all scamper,

and they're falling over chariots, tripping over weapons.

- It seems that the battle was extremely quick.

The Egyptians, with their chariotry,

seem to have been so efficient

that the Canaanite had basically just to run away,

just to save their lives.

- They leave everything and run back into the city.

NARRATOR: In the midst of the chaos,

a few Canaanites manage to find shelter in the city.

But the majority can't.

- They can't get inside because, unfortunately,

the people in Megiddo close the gates.

- (gates thud shut)

NARRATOR: To save the kings and soldiers trapped outside,

the people of Megiddo craft ropes with which they hoist soldiers,

and also the chariots, weapons of great value,

to bring them back inside the fortress.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III had the upper hand;

he was in the process of overthrowing his enemies.

But just as he is sure of his victory,

he loses control of his men.

- The Egyptians, going after the fleeing Canaanites,

passed by the camps of the kings, and they did a mistake.

The soldiers stopped to loot all of the chariots

and weaponry that the Canaanites have left behind.

- The Egyptian army was so overjoyed by seeing the Canaanite princes flee

and dropping all of their possessions,

they're taking everything and stuffing their pockets with it,

and meanwhile they're not mounting the important offence they need to,

to finish the job

and to actually put the Canaanite princes in a defeat.

- And they did this against the orders of Thutmose III.

He lost control of his soldiers.

He admonished them, but they ignored this, anyway.

NARRATOR: Looting was common practice at the time,

but normally soldiers waited until the end of the battle

to collect their treasures.

- Thutmose III actually complains

that if they had not looted,

he would have been able to defeat the Canaanite army.

NARRATOR: The helpless Pharaoh watches the rebels escape

to the fortress of Megiddo.

- So, this leads to a situation

where Thutmose III has all the Canaanite army

in the city of Megiddo,

and his army is outside.

Now he's at a stalemate.

So, on the one hand, it's a victory, but it's also not a victory.

He didn't get what he wanted. The rebel princes were still alive.

They still had their armies. So Thutmose III knew

that if he didn't actually stop the Canaanite princes,

then this rebellion would continue.

NARRATOR: But how can he get to the princes inside their fortress?

- Thutmose III can't take Megiddo by storm

because there is only one way into Megiddo, and it was sealed.

And there was no way that they would be able to scale the walls,

certainly not safely.

NARRATOR: But he can't back out.

- It was Thutmose III's first campaign as sole ruler.

So, for the first battle really fought by him,

he needed to great victory.

NARRATOR: There was only one solution:

to lead the siege of Megiddo.

NARRATOR: According to the annals of Thutmose III,

written on the walls of the Temple of Karnak,

the siege lasted seven long months.

- I would be frankly surprised

if there really was a seven-month siege here.

Undoubtedly, the people inside would have gotten hungry

and wanted out much sooner.

Remember, it's not just the people of Megiddo here.

There are soldiers from the King of Qadesh's army,

and from this city state and that city state.

The city was really packed.

- Regardless of how long the siege may or may not have been,

the end result is still the same.

All the kings, the only way they were going to get out of here alive

was to pay homage and allegiance to Pharaoh.

- When the gates of Megiddo opened,

the rulers came out crawling,

starved and thirsty,

hoping that Thutmose III would spare them.

- And they apparently crawled on their bellies,

begging Thutmose III, for peace.

NARRATOR: From now on, they will have to be totally submissive.

And to ensure this,

Thutmose III took away the Canaanite kings' means to oppose him.

- The Egyptians left here with a lot of spoils of war,

chariots, gold, all kinds of things.

- It's all listed here on this wall.

We have 2,000 horses,

almost a thousand chariots,

weapons, tens of thousands of sheep, thousands of cows.

NARRATOR: The Pharaoh doesn't just weaken them financially,

he takes away everything they hold dear in the world.

- One of the most important things that they left with

were the eldest children of some of these Canaanite kings.

NARRATOR: Hidden in the Egyptian desert,

opposite the ancient city of Thebes,

now known as Luxor,

is the tomb of the Vizier Rekhmire.

He is the most important man in the country after Thutmose III.

And the walls here tell the story of the young prisoners

taken away from their fathers.

- This is a procession of prisoners from the Canaanite city states.

And this procession has a group of women.

And in front of them there's a group of men.

And they're all being led in front of the Vizier Rekhmire.

NARRATOR: The Egyptians routinely captured prisoners as slaves.

But the women painted on these walls

are different from traditional captives.

- These women are fantastic.

They're dressed in an elaborate outfit

that has three tiers of cloth folded over.

And by the looks of it,

this is an expensive garment.

This would have taken a lot of cloth and expertise to make.

And then the women are holding their toddlers by the hand,

and they are going with them in this procession.

So, this shows that, after a battle like Megiddo,

women would have been brought in

from elite households with their children to Egypt.

NARRATOR: Children who were of great value to Thutmose III.

- They were, essentially, hostages,

so, kind of, holding their fathers

and their fathers' city states to their allegiance.

But also the Egyptians did a very smart thing.

- Thutmose III wanted to bring back the sons

of the Canaanite princes to Egypt,

to be educated at an institution called the kap.

NARRATOR: Although he cruelly tore these children from their families,

Thutmose III gives care and respect to them

in honour of their rank.

- These princes were educated along with the high-ranking elite.

- They were raised with kids of the king themselves.

- So, we can imagine a sort of institution

where these young children, all sitting around,

learning how to write hieroglyphs,

learning Egyptian literature, learning Egyptian political thought.

There's over 700 signs in the hieroglyphic language

that they had to master, both in the hieroglyph form

and in the cursive script.

So these boys would have had a rigorous education.

NARRATOR: A thorough education with only one objective.

- The princes would learn the ways of Egypt and become Egyptianised.

- And the goal with this is that these foreign chiefs' sons,

when they got older,

they could be placed back in Canaan to rule on behalf of Egypt.

- So, they will not just switch their allegiance

to any enemy just like this,

but they will stay with Egypt.

NARRATOR: Others, instead of going back to the land of Canaan,

choose to stay in Egypt.

- And they married Egyptian women.

They put themselves into Egyptian society,

making the society of Thutmose III multicultural.

It was entirely possible

for a young boy to have been kidnapped,

raised in the kap, and then rise up to a very high position

like the Treasurer of Egypt, or even the Vizier.

NARRATOR: In any case, Thutmose III is the winner.

- This approach that was,

on the one hand, very cruel, and on the other hand, open minded,

tells us a lot about Thutmose III.

That he was not just a bloody warrior,

he was a strategist, he was a politician.

- He was also a great diplomat,

and he could see far into the future.

NARRATOR: A diplomat who doesn't hesitate to use the fear of war.

Since his victory at Megiddo,

every year the Pharaoh forces the kings,

who are now totally stripped of power,

to celebrate and pay him with gifts.

After the battle of Megiddo,

rich with the spoils of war brought back to Egypt,

Thutmose III can lead other military campaigns.

He returned to the Levant 16 times,

where he conquered new cities, and recorded their names

on the temple at Karnak.

- He went back, for example, to Megiddo,

written up there.

He also went to other cities, such as this one here, which is Hebron.

As well as Beirut.

He travelled to all of these sites to make sure

that these cities remained loyal to Egypt.

He set a standard

for Egypt's presence and dominance in the Near East.

- But he did not just go to war in the north.

He also went to the south in Nubia,

the area where all the gold comes from.

NARRATOR: These expeditions filled the state's treasury,

and allowed Thutmose III

to build huge monuments to celebrate his glory.

- He collected a lot of treasure, and he used this

to fund all of his building projects throughout Egypt.

And this is the Ankh Menou which is in the Karnak temple complex.

This is one of his constructions that was a very important building

throughout Egyptian history because Pharaohs, after him,

were all crowned in this beautiful construction.

NARRATOR: Among them, Tutankhamun and Ramses II.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III went from strength to strength.

More money, more construction,

and more military expeditions.

- He's on campaign continuously.

It was an expansionist policy

that had a long-lasting impact and influenced later kings.

NARRATOR: Little by little, the country's borders expand,

making Egypt an empire.

- Never had Egypt been so extensive.

Thutmose III was nicknamed the Egyptian Napoleon.

- This was the beginning of the Egyptian Empire,

which continued for something like 350 years.

NARRATOR: Thutmose III reigned for around 30 years.

When he died, he left Egypt richer

and more powerful than it had ever been.

- Thutmose III ushers in the golden age of the New Kingdom,

which lasts all the way up until the end of the 18th Dynasty.

So, for more than 100 years, this is an incredible time of prosperity.

NARRATOR: But this golden period doesn't last.

A century after the glorious reign of Thutmose III,

the 18th dynasty comes to an end,

plunging the country into chaos.

It would take a new warrior king to make the star of Egypt shine again,

a powerful and fearsome king.

His name - Ramses II.

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