Original subtitles

(dramatic music) 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.

(dramatic music)

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.

(dramatic music concludes)

(birds tweeting)

(creaking, clangs)

(tense music)

NARRATOR: June 22nd 217 BCE.

20 kilometres south of Gaza.

On the sand, blood is about to flow.

This desert land would become the scene

of one of the greatest battles of antiquity,

the Battle of Raphia.

Two sworn enemies are about to clash.

On one side, Pharaoh Ptolemy IV,

ruler of the Lagid dynasty that reigns over Egypt.

With...

..poised to fight.

(neighs) - (soldier shouts)

NARRATOR: On the other, Antiochus III,

nicknamed Antiochus the Great,

ruler of the immense Seleucid Empire.

With...

(clattering)

NARRATOR: The forces involved are extraordinary.

The value of the two enemies' armies

are as high as the stakes of the battle.

Antiochus, Pharaoh Ptolemy's number one enemy,

posed a direct threat to Egypt's survival.

(tense music)

Ptolemy and Antiochus were the heirs of Alexander the Great.

A century earlier, their great-grandfathers,

Generals Ptolemy I and Seleucus I,

fought alongside him.

Together, they forged one of the greatest empires in history.

When Alexander the Great died, they shared his empire.

(dramatic music)

Two immense and powerful forces emerge...

the Lagid Empire,

which controlled a large part of the Mediterranean,

and the Seleucid Empire,

which extended from modern-day Turkey to Central Asia.

But the brothers in arms soon became enemies.

Their descendants continued to clash,

and Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III thirsted for revenge.

At the heart of the conflict, West Asia.

For thousands of years, Coele-Syria was highly coveted.

(dramatic rhythm)

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Coele-Syria was a very rich region, essential for Egypt,

because it had numerous raw materials

that the Ptolemies lacked, such as wood.

NARRATOR: The stakes are also commercial.

Raphia lies on the route for spices, myrrh and incense.

- The area of Raphia was incredibly important

to be able to trade

all the resources that came from Petra and the East

towards the Mediterranean Sea.

(dramatic music)

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: If Ptolemy loses the battle,

he loses his economic resources, and likely, the means to pay his army,

and the Ptolemaic empire will collapse.

NARRATOR: The threat was not just to the economy of Ptolemaic Egypt.

Most importantly the pharaoh's lands had to be protected.

- For Ptolemy IV, Egypt's defence was at stake.

The area of Raphia was incredibly important,

considering that it was just the corridor

that led to Sinai and Egypt afterwards.

NARRATOR: Around 400 kilometres separate Raphia

from the capital of Pharaoh Ptolemy, Alexandria.

The Sinai is a strategic territory.

It is the gateway to Egypt.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: If Antiochus succeeded,

he could threaten Egyptian territory and the Ptolemaic dynasty.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: In the event of victory,

Antiochus III would unite the two greatest Hellenistic empires,

the Seleucid and the Ptolemaic.

He'd find himself head of the greatest power in the world.

So the stakes are colossal.

(neighs)

NARRATOR: Faced with Antiochus III,

Pharaoh Ptolemy IV was gambling the survival of his young dynasty.

He must draw on the strengths of the Egyptian empire

if he wants to become his own legend.

In Raphia, two brothers

face each other as enemies,

heirs of the same military traditions.

Since Ptolemy I,

the Egyptian army was transformed into something new.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The Lagid army, that of the Ptolemies,

was not an Egyptian-style army, but a Macedonian-style army.

They adopted the same formation as Alexander the Great's army.

- Macedonian phalanx had proved extremely efficient

in fighting and in gaining success.

Alexander the Great used it very efficiently

in his own war all over the world.

- (man shouts commands)

NARRATOR: The Macedonian phalanx

dominated the battlefields of the Mediterranean and West Asia

for more than two centuries.

In the phalanx formation,

the heavily equipped soldiers are organised in very close ranks.

Armed with large spears called sarissas...

..they form an impenetrable wall,

and perform perfectly coordinated movements.

The aim: to annihilate the enemy with a massive frontal assault.

These phalanxes formed the central core of both armies.

At Raphia, Ptolemy brought together 25,000 phalangites.

Antiochus' camp had 20,000.

Two armoured walls stood on the battlefield.

Vincent Torres Hugon practices experimental archaeology.

He dons the armour and weaponry of Hellenistic soldiers

in order to study them.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The phalangites' weapon of choice is the sarissa.

When primed, the sarissophoroi will hold the sarissa in both hands,

and protect themselves with a pelt,

protecting them from head to toe.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: Phalangites make all the difference on the battlefield.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: This sarissa had a spike.

The spike is needed to dig into the ground

in the event of a cavalry charge.

The phalangite will be able

to withstand a cavalry charge without problem.

The sarissa is securely fixed and supported by fins.

NARRATOR: This weapon is about to evolve beyond recognition.

- (speaks French) TRANSLATION: Initially,

Alexander's and his father's army had shorter sarissas.

But when his father died, the Greeks and the Macedonians

started fighting amongst themselves,

which led to a longer sarissa.

"He can touch me, but I cannot touch him, so what can I do?"

I'm going to make my weapon longer so that I can reach him.

And if possible, I'll make an even longer sarissa,

so that I'm out of range but I can touch him.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: A competition that reached new heights

at the time of Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: At Raphia, the spears were almost seven metres.

It's like adding this spear onto this one.

NARRATOR: The Battle of Raphia was a battle of superlatives,

a battle of military genius that pushed all limits.

Never before has a pharaoh assembled such a large army.

(dramatic music)

A tour de force made possible

by the immeasurable legacy of the Ptolemies,

and the dominant position they established in the ancient world.

stood out from all the others that had ruled Egypt before.

They set up their capital in Alexandria,

the city founded by Alexander the Great.

The Ptolemies transformed the city into a centre of learning.

It became the largest city in the world,

where the two most powerful civilisations of the times met.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The Ptolemies were both Greek rulers,

heirs to Alexander the Great,

and true Egyptian pharaohs.

They had a dual identity.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: Ptolemy IV was the great-grandson

of the founder of this Greek-Egyptian dynasty.

His accension to the throne was a bloodbath.

- When Ptolemy IV accesses his throne, he's quite young.

His advisor Sosibius takes advantage of his youth.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: Sosibius wanted to

take advantage of the king's youth to rule Egypt.

He wanted to clear the air around him.

He had Ptolemy IV's mother, uncle and his younger brother killed.

As a result, there was no other competition.

- He ensures that he has full control of the young king.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: In this family massacre,

only his sister Arsinoe was spared.

Ptolemy needed her to legitimise his power.

Traditionally, pharaohs ruled in pairs.

- The concept of a king and queen is not very common in Greece.

It's mostly men predominant.

You know, the king of Attica, the king of Troy, the king of whatever.

But in Egypt, kings and queens are alike.

So, the Ptolemies went all the way through,

applying this method, to keep the Egyptians happy,

and to avoid any riots or any instability.

WATT: In Ptolemaic tradition,

it is customary for a brother and a sister

to get married, to be wed.

This tradition of brother-and-sister king-and-queen duo

comes from the tradition of Isis and Osiris,

the gods of the beginning of times in Egypt.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Ptolemy IV married Arsinoe III,

and became a living god and king

with a goddess-queen by his side.

A new incestuous royal and divine couple reigned over Egypt.

(tense music)

(tense rhythm)

NARRATOR: But the Ptolemies did not originate from Egypt.

To rule Egypt, it's not enough to be king,

you have to be pharaoh.

When the Ptolemies took control of Egypt,

it had been 700 years since any large-scale construction programmes.

Under the Lagid dynasty,

Egyptian rituals were to be enhanced and renewed.

The Ptolemies wanted to reign over the whole of Egypt.

To gain control, they were going to re-write the rules

that had ensured the omnipotence of the pharaohs for 2,000 years.

- One of the roles of the ancient Egyptian kings was to be a builder.

They had to build temples for the gods.

(dramatic rhythm)

NARRATOR: Ptolemy IV in turn demonstrated his power.

He completed the construction of the temple of Edfu,

dedicated to Horus, warrior and god of the sky.

Identifiable by his falcon head,

he was the protector of Egyptian royalty and their avenger.

(dramatic music continues)

The great pharaohs of antiquity

used their spoils of war to promote their military exploits.

(dramatic, curious music)

Ptolemy IV also recorded his warrior legend in stone.

One exceptional stele has survived.

It tells the story of the Battle of Raphia.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: It's a bilingual document

inscribed in both Greek and Egyptian.

We even have two Egyptian versions...

one in hieroglyphics here,

and then, on the back,

the language spoken at the time.

On the sides is the Greek translation.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: This stone is

exceptionally rare and precious for Egypt,

because it allows Egyptologists to compare these three languages.

It's the same for the famous Rosetta Stone,

which enabled Champollion to translate the hieroglyphs.

NARRATOR: On this Stele,

Ptolemy IV occupies the function of a great pharaoh,

a warlord who protects Egypt from chaos.

He was responsible for maintaining a just order,

known as the Ma'at.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: This is the order willed by the gods.

And here, the creator god is represented.

It's the god Atum who hands a victory sword to the Pharaoh,

who is his earthly representative,

and who ensures Ma'at is upheld

by striking down Egypt's enemies.

Ptolemy is also represented as the heir to Alexander the Great,

Alexander was often depicted on his horse Bucephalus.

He's brandishing the Macedonian spear, the sarissa,

and impales a kneeling enemy.

So we have dual representation.

This is a Greco-Egyptian pharaoh.

(tense percussion)

NARRATOR: To keep their enemies at bay,

the Ptolemies established an unprecedented new system in Egypt.

Which both ensured their security,

and increased their prosperity.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: At its core, the Lagid army comprised

the phalanx, some horsemen, and clerics.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: These clerics were descendants

of Greeks and Macedonians who had emigrated to Egypt,

attracted by Ptolemy's promise.

They were given land

in exchange for joining the armed ranks in the event of war.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: It's a way of paying them and securing their loyalty,

as they came from all over the Greek world,

and even further afield, from Thrace and Asia Minor,

they came to settle in Egypt.

They were colonial soldiers.

The Ptolemies considered themselves fully Egyptian,

and protected the freedom and rights of Egyptian people.

So it was inconceivable to expropriate Egyptian subjects

to give these territories to Greek colonists.

Other land had to be found.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: The Ptolemies were to exploit a region

that had been neglected by the great dynasties,

the Faiyum.

They dug, channelled, and irrigated it,

making an immense desert territory fertile.

(tense music continues)

The clerics trained in the Macedonian phalanx.

At Raphia, tens of thousands responded

to the call of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV.

(tense music continues, fades)

(low, tense music)

NARRATOR: As well as the clash between phalanxes,

the armies of Ptolemy and Antiochus

were preparing for a much heavier cavalry clash...

a fearsome, frightening confrontation

between two battalions of war elephants.

- (Torres speaks French)

TRANSLATION: What's special about the Battle of Raphia

is that it's the biggest elephant battle in human history.

- Elephants were the ancient tanks.

They were heavy.

They were massive, they were impressive.

They had archers on their back,

and they were quite destructive.

- (Vincent speaks French)

TRANSLATION: They're prepared for combat.

Used to hearing the war drum, the beat of weapons

and moving around in formations,

and above all, their aggression is developed

to confront fellow soldiers.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: At Raphia, the elephant battalions

were positioned in the flanks,

on the front line ahead of cavalry and soldiers.

In all, 170 war elephants were assembled on the battlefield.

The Seleucids relied on Indian elephants,

which they had transported through their empire...

..while the Lagids had a battalion

of African elephants at their disposal.

- So the Northern African, which is a breed that is now extinct,

were smaller than the Indian elephants.

- (Schwentzel speaks French)

TRANSLATION: They were African elephants

that the Ptolemies had brought from present-day Somalia,

that travelled across the Red Sea

on large ships called elephant carriers.

Just as we have aircraft carriers today,

there were elephant carriers in ancient times.

(tense music)

- We have depictions, specifically from the Roman period,

some mosaics of ships carrying elephants.

And I always ask my students about this.

How can you fit an elephant in a ship?

NARRATOR: The Ptolemaic fleet was the forte of their army.

It was capable of transporting elephants,

and enabled them to establish their dominance at sea.

Under Ptolemy IV,

the Lagid Empire was at its height.

It stretches from Nubia, in present-day Sudan,

to the north of the Aegean Sea.

They controlled most sea routes.

With a primary motivation

of keeping their Macedonian and Seleucid enemies at bay.

Their empire was defensive.

- The Ptolemies wanted to create powerful naval power.

They built what is called a thalassocracy.

- TRANSLATION: Thalasso, 'the sea', and cratie, 'power'.

The control of maritime space.

NARRATOR: Ptolemy IV had an exceptional heritage.

The founder of his dynasty, Pharaoh Ptolemy I, was a great shipowner.

He had ordered the construction of a huge fleet.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: He had 330 warships,

and hundreds of other ships to transport troops and equipment.

There had never been such a powerful fleet.

- Even in land battles like the Battle of Raphia, for example,

all these troops went there by ships, by boats,

including their armours, their weapons,

their horses, their whatever, all went by boats.

We know that under Ptolemy IV,

the fleet of the Ptolemies exceeded up to 3,000 ships.

And this is a huge number.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Triremes were the most common warships in ancient time.

They first appeared in Athens in the 5th century BCE.

A replica has been built by archaeologists,

in an attempt to uncover the secrets

behind the success of this legendary ship.

- This boat, trireme Olympias, is unique in the world.

The length of the boat is 35 meters.

The maximum width is 5.5 metres.

We have 170 rowers.

These are the machine of the boat, they move the boat.

It's called the trireme because it has three lines of rowers.

NARRATOR: The construction of the Olympia

has enabled us to gain a better understanding

of the workings of the trireme, meaning class three,

the smallest boat in Ptolemy's fleet.

Faced with enemy threats,

the pharaoh embarked on a supersizing race

to maintain control over his maritime space.

- But then, we start seeing the quinqueremes,

septiremes and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger ships.

We start hearing of 15, 17, and the 20s.

(dramatic classical music)

- The ships acted as business cards in some kind of way.

The ship displayed and manifested

the power of the king that had built them.

The different kingdoms competed on naval warfare.

NARRATOR: They engaged in a boasting war,

which reached its peak during the reign of Ptolemy IV.

- We know that under the fourth Ptolemy,

the sizes of ships exceeded a limit that was never known before.

The sizes of ships went all the way until the 40,

which was two 20s connected together.

What do these numbers mean?

If we assume that the three

is a ship with three levels like the Olympias,

what would the 15 be?

NARRATOR: The architecture of the largest ships

is still poorly understood.

But we know their size must reflect

the destructive capacity of the Ptolemaic fleet.

With the largest war fleet ever built,

Ptolemy asserted his supremacy over the Mediterranean.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Naval battles enabled the Ptolemies

to conquer key territories,

such as Cyprus.

(tense rhythm)

The Greek pharaohs used the island

as a strategic military outpost.

Salamis is only 85 kilometres from the Syrian coast.

Paphos is 400 kilometres from Alexandria.

The Ptolemies set up a shipyard in Paphos,

and built a huge port.

Located at the southern tip of the island,

it made it possible to sail to Egypt in under two days.

A specialist in ancient cities and their defence,

Claire Balandier has been conducting

archaeological research in Paphos for 35 years.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Their aim was to protect the Nile valley, Egypt,

the heart of their kingdom.

So they tried to control the surrounding territories.

Cyprus formed part of this protective layer around Egypt.

NARRATOR: The Ptolemies took possession of the island of Cyprus,

turning it into a guard post against the Seleucid threat.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: There seems to be a garrison established here,

a military colony,

a small town for soldiers to control the port in particular.

Then there was a real planned town,

a small Alexandria emerging from the ground.

NARRATOR: And building the world's largest navy

requires vast quantities of wood.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: There aren't any forests in Egypt.

So they had to look elsewhere for wood.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The Paphos site is very close to the Troodos mountains

and its beautiful forests.

So they can get sap, tar and wood for shipbuilding.

As well as timber, Cyprus is rich in resources.

It has large granaries and a wealth of minerals,

the most important of which is copper.

Copper takes its name from the island Kypros.

Copper is used to make bronze armour,

since both copper and tin are needed

to make the helmets and armour for the equipment of ancient armies.

(dramatic note)

(speaks French)

TRANSLATION: This is the gymnasium at Salamis in Cyprus.

Once the Ptolemies had established their power on the island,

these garrisons needed to train and prepare for war,

so there were gymnasiums,

a place where you would go naked,

to train and physically prepare.

NARRATOR: The soldiers train in a large central area

called the Palaestra.

It's in the open air,

covered in sand....

conditions similar to the battlefields'.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: It can be combat sports.

Pygmachia wrestling, where you fight and learn to take blows,

work on your balance and develop your strength and endurance.

It can also be practical sports such as javelin,

discus throwing, jumping, running, which prepare the fighter

for a whole range of activities they might encounter in war.

(dramatic music)

We know, inside the gymnasiums,

there were stones that you could carry above your head,

enabling combatants to develop their muscles

to endure the torments of war,

to carry the equipment, which was heavy,

and to do it for extended periods in the sun.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: In 222 BCE,

Ptolemy IV controlled the entire eastern Mediterranean.

He had solid military support,

which kept his enemies out of reach.

But just 100 kilometres away,

the archenemy Seleucid Empire

has just crowned its new King, Antiochus III.

Just 18 years old,

he is determined to restore his ancestors' Empire.

As soon as he ascended the throne,

Antiochus was thirsty for revenge.

He wanted to reconquer Coele-Syria and push back the Egyptian Empire.

Why not even crush Ptolemy IV?

In Seleucid tradition, a good ruler should excel on the battlefield,

in the image of Alexander the Great.

The war is on.

(low, tense music)

Antiochus first seized Seleucia of Pieria.

He breached Ptolemy's defences

and made dangerous progress towards Egypt.

- When Antiochus started progressing towards Egypt...

..Ptolemy IV, and especially his chief minister,

Sosibius, stalled for time.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: He was very skilful.

He entered into negotiations with Antiochus III.

There was even an armistice for several months

during the winter of 219-218.

This enabled him to send recruiters to Greece to recruit soldiers.

The aim was to build an army

capable of repelling the Seleucid invaders.

NARRATOR: Maritime dominance also provides access

to soldiers far from Egypt's borders.

The Lagids recruited highly specialised elite troops

to complete their army...

..among them, Cretan archers.

Well-versed in military exercises,

they are reputed to be formidable warriors.

- TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: They need to move easily

on the decks of ships, on top of fortifications,

or on the battlefield,

to be sent to the right or the left,

wherever they are needed.

They are extremely versatile and professional mercenaries.

These archers will use virtually the same equipment in every city.

Firstly, a double-curve bow,

a composite bow.

It will be made of sinew, wood and bone.

Then they're going to have an arrow.

These arrows here are historical reproductions with a beautiful tail.

Tar pitch to hold the feathers

and a triangular point at the front.

This is what we find in archaeology,

because everything else, unfortunately, has degraded.

NARRATOR: Archers are mercenaries,

professional fighters who are also prepared for hand-to-hand combat.

TRANSLATION: They will have short straight blades, xiphos and pelts.

For the Battle of Raphia,

these archers were one of the only units

capable of attacking the elephants.

Having good accuracy,

they could both shoot the mahouts to prevent the elephants being led,

and even shoot the soldiers in the towers above the elephants.

NARRATOR: Mahouts are elephant trainers.

Sitting on the animal's head, they lead them into battle.

Without them, the elephants become uncontrollable,

and can turn against their own side.

In Raphia,

the archers are mainly positioned around the elephants,

ready to defend their battalion and attack the opposing unit.

3,000 archers will join the pharaoh's army.

They will fight alongside tens of thousands of other mercenaries

from the farthest reaches of the empire.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Soldiers were recruited from Greece

with various backgrounds.

There were also Thracians from what is now Bulgaria,

and Galatians, in other words Celts, Gauls in fact,

but Gauls who lived in Asia Minor where they had settled.

(dramatic choral music)

NARRATOR: Minister Sosibius also decided to train 20,000 Egyptians

for the Macedonian phalanx, the machimoi.

Until then, the Egyptians had been confined to stewardship roles.

This was the first time they had taken up arms.

- (speaks French) TRANSLATION: Before this,

it was only citizens of Greek and Macedonian descent

who formed the ranks of the army.

Because the Ptolemies did not want any civic demands

to arise from military training.

NARRATOR: These machimoi will be trained for several months

in the greatest secrecy.

(dramatic music)

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: So, let's go!

The bottom of the sarissa needs to be next to your right foot, always.

En garde!

The machimoi play a crucial role in the Battle of Raphia.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: In the spring of 217 BCE,

the pharaoh's army sets off eastwards.

70,000 soldiers, 5,000 horsemen and 73 elephants

travelled by land and sea.

Conflict was inevitable.

Ptolemy IV did not go to war alone.

Pharaohs ruled and fought in pairs.

His sister-wife Arsinoe also went to the battlefield.

NARRATOR: June 21st, 217 BCE...

As the enemy troops set up their respective camps

just a few kilometres apart...

..tensions are at their height.

It was then that Theodotus, a traitor,

challenged the security of the Lagid camp.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Very early in the morning,

Theodotus managed to break into Ptolemy IV's camp,

with the aim of assassinating him.

He entered the royal tent,

but Ptolemy IV was nowhere to be seen.

Actually Ptolemy's doctor, Andreas, was there.

And it was he who Theodotus murdered.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: A murder that will precipitate the battle.

War is imminent.

The next day, Ptolemy's army faces Antiochus' army on the battlefield.

A total of 130,000 men, 11,000 horsemen

and 175 war elephants prepared to fight.

(dramatic music)

WATT: The Battle of Raphia starts with Antiochus III.

He launches his war elephants

on the Ptolemaic war elephants.

- (neighing) - (men shouting)

NARRATOR: The fight is colossal.

These are living tanks,

with mercenaries mounted on them who are hard to reach.

(dramatic music)

WATT: Never before in history have so many elephants

been present on a battlefield.

NARRATOR: The Indian elephants in the Seleucid camp

quickly get the better of the African elephants.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Antiochus III had more elephants,

around 100, compared to Ptolemy's 73.

- (elephant trumpets)

NARRATOR: The elephants in Ptolemy's camp panicked

when Antiochus' elephants charged them.

- (speaks French) TRANSLATION: The problem is that,

when an elephant panics, it's impossible to regain control

and it often turns against its own side.

Ptolemy's formation will be completely broken

when his own elephants turn and run.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: This disruption of the ranks favoured Antiochus' charge,

which crushed the Ptolemaic left wing.

Frightened by the elephants,

Ptolemy's cavalry fled several kilometres.

- (horses neighing)

NARRATOR: At that very moment, Antiochus made a serious mistake.

He set off in pursuit of the routed cavalry.

- Antiochus followed the cavalry fleeing,

because he was sure that Ptolemy IV was among the cavalry.

NARRATOR: If he manages to reach the pharaoh,

he could hail victory with a minimum loss.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: But Ptolemy was hiding behind his phalanx

in the centre of his line of battle.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: With Antiochus away from the battlefield,

the Seleucid camp was weakened.

The advantage could swing in favour of Ptolemy.

It was at this point that Arsinoe,

the pharaoh's sister and wife, arrived.

TORRES (translated): And this played a very important role,

according to Polybius, where to boost the morale of the army,

she promised gold during a powerful speech.

- It was tradition in ancient kingdoms

for rulers in general to give a speech to their troops.

- (speaks French) TRANSLATION: Generally,

mercenaries are paid in silver coins.

She promises them gold coins to motivate them.

"If you win, you'll be paid in gold coins".

- (men shouting)

NARRATOR: ..a strategy that will pay off...

(dramatic music)

The horsemen of Ptolemy's right wing launched their attack.

To avoid the elephants of Antiochus,

they would bypass the Seleucid wing

and cause a debacle of these outside units.

Ptolemy then ordered a frontal assault

with his Greek phalanx and his new Egyptian recruits.

(dramatic music)

The battle then swung in favour of the Lagidians,

who flanked their enemies.

But how can the Seleucids' retreat be explained?

(dramatic music continues)

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The great disadvantage of the Macedonian phalanx

is that it cannot pivot to the left.

If the phalanx is caught flanking

and suddenly wants to tilt the lances,

they will be blocked by their companions.

Example: "Gentlemen, pivot to the left!"

It can't work. The sarissas are far too big.

NARRATOR: At Raphia, the sarissas are the longest they've ever been.

They protrude five metres at the front

and almost a metre at the back.

Any rotation greatly weakens the phalangites.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: If they want to rotate the formation,

they're going to have to straighten the sarissa...

..make a quarter turn left,

and tilt the sarissas again.

This is extremely difficult if the formation is very long.

With a single line, it's possible,

but with a phalanx that can exceed several thousand fighters,

it's much harder.

If one of the phalanges is bypassed, it's death.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: Antiochus finally understood his mistake...

Ptolemy was not ahead of him.

In the distance, he could see clouds of dust

rising and closing in on his camp.

- (horse neighs)

NARRATOR: Something was wrong.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: When Antiochus III,

far from the battle, finally returned to the fight,

it was too late, his army had retreated

and he realised he had made a huge mistake

thinking he was pursuing Ptolemy.

It's a serious mistake, especially as at the time,

the Hellenistic king had to be present at the battle,

like Alexander the Great.

He led his men, and so Antiochus III's troops

fled all the more easily without their king in sight.

NARRATOR: The Ptolemaic cavalry

pursued and massacred the fleeing Seleucids.

Antiochus could do nothing more.

He too was forced to flee.

TORRES (translated): And so, the Seleucid army collapsed.

And despite heroic resistance, the losses on the Seleucid side,

especially in the phalanx, were enormous.

- (Schwentzel speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The battle resulted in losing

all the territories he had conquered in the last two years,

except for Seleucia.

He could keep Seleucia of Pieria.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Some 13,000 men were killed in the battle,

alongside 1,000 horses and 20 elephants.

The pharaohs have once again defeated their hereditary enemy.

(sombre music)

With this victory,

not only was the Ptolemaic domination of the region saved,

but the whole of Egypt.

(music fades out)

NARRATOR: Queen Arsinoe's promise of gold

had crucially impacted the outcome of the battle.

Would she keep her word?

The Richelieu Library holds

one of the largest collections of Greek coins in the world,

with over 120,000 pieces.

The sinew of war,

money has played an essential role in ancient history.

But the Battle of Raphia changed this for good.

Julien Olivier manages the collections in the Coin Department.

He is one of the few people authorised to handle this treasure.

Some of the coins Arsinoe promised on the battlefield

have survived 2,200 years of history.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: These are the heavy Ptolemaic gold coins,

which weigh around 27.8 grams,

which are gigantic for the Hellenistic period.

In this period, it was more like eight or nine grams.

Here we're at 28.

So these are really big coins that represent enormous value.

NARRATOR: To understand the coins in more detail,

researchers recreated a minting workshop

identical to those that existed in Alexandria.

- (speaks French) TRANSLATION: Historically,

we have very few archaeological or written sources

on the manufacturing of money.

Today, the only means we have to understand it is to study the coin,

allowing us to understand how it was made.

NARRATOR: Researchers are interested in

the tool used to create coins, called a die,

an object which strikes and imprints to denote money.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: The point of experimentation

is to understand the wear and tear of the die.

The die will eventually wear out,

whether it's the bottom or top corner.

When several thousand coins are struck...

..the wedge eventually breaks,

making it impossible to continue using it.

NARRATOR: A new corner is then engraved.

By studying these different dies,

researchers can calculate the number of coins produced at a given time.

They were able to study these series of large gold coins

and discovered they were mass produced.

And they're all connected.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: All this gold, all this coinage,

was produced in one block,

in an extremely short period of time.

And it corresponds to the reward distributed

at the end of the Battle of Raphia.

(curious music)

NARRATOR: Ptolemy and Arsinoe were determined to use this victory

to elevate themselves to the rank of the gods

and great pharaohs of antiquity.

In the aftermath of the battle,

they ordered the construction of the Raphia stele.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III

are not just portrayed as great military victors,

but pious rulers,

who defended Egyptian religion and temples.

The rulers are both victorious and pious.

(low, tense music)

- (choral singing)

NARRATOR: But Ptolemy was not content with a decree.

He wanted his legend inscribed alongside

the great ancient warrior pharaohs,

in the heart of the new empire,

in the sacred temple of Karnak.

Here, they built the largest sanctuary in Egypt.

Ptolemy IV restored the central structure

and engraved his name and image on the top of the columns.

He rose to the heights of pharaohs

like Thutmose III and Ramses II.

- (choral singing continues)

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The great pharaohs of the New Kingdom

used all their wealth,

their empire's spoils,

and gifts from conquered people,

to build this great temple in honour of Amun.

This was the God of Heaven,

a great creator who was considered to be the equivalent of Re,

the god of the sun.

It was on the walls of this temple

that they glorified themselves,

displayed their military glory

and inscribed their legend.

NARRATOR: Ptolemy tried to bring back the prestige of the new empire,

but this was not enough to keep the peace.

After the Battle of Raphia,

a wave of revolt swept through Egypt.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: The Battle of Raphia was a paradoxical victory.

Undoubtedly a great victory for Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III,

who saved their kingdom,

but the consequences were disastrous for the Ptolemaic kingdom.

There were tax revolts,

because Ptolemy IV and Sosibius had to raise taxes

to finance the war effort

and maintain their unique lifestyle.

(lively percussive rhythm)

NARRATOR: A lifestyle of royal splendour,

made up of all kinds of excess...

(upbeat strings instrumental)

..far from the concerns of the people,

Ptolemy IV ordered the construction of a floating palace,

the Thalamos.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Thalamos in Greek means the bedroom,

the palace, and it's a colossal boat,

the biggest ship ever built.

It's not a warship, it's a state ship.

(upbeat music continues)

NARRATOR: Faced with this reckless extravagance

and contempt for the people,

the Egyptians became angry,

particularly the machimoi,

the soldiers enlisted in Raphia.

They did not get the land they were promised.

Karnak, Edfu, Abu Simbel...

All the major sites in southern Egypt

are about to fall into the hands of the insurgents.

- (speaks French)

TRANSLATION: Upper Egypt became an independent kingdom.

The rebels demanded a pharaoh

chosen from the local elite,

named Horwennefer.

Ptolemy IV would never regain control the region.

NARRATOR: Ptolemy IV died prematurely,

at just 34 years of age.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: In the end,

Ptolemy IV died just 13 years after the battle of Raphia.

It was his sister and wife Arsinoe III

who acted as Queen for the child they had had together.

- After the death of Ptolemy IV,

Sosibius again leveraged his power

to murder the ruling Queen Arsinoe,

to gain power over the new King, Ptolemy V.

TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: In the end, Egypt was weakened by all this,

and a few decades later,

these Hellenistic kingdoms gave way to a new arrival

in the eastern Mediterranean...

Rome.

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