All language subtitles for Pharaohs.War.2021.720p.WEBRip.800MB.x264-GalaxyRG.

NARRATOR: Ancient Egypt.

For over 3000 years.

the world's most vibrant
and puzzling civilisation

flourished through war and peace.

The Egyptians built great cities.
enduring monuments.

they advanced mathematics
and technology.

Their astonishing legacy
survives to this day.

As the country grows richer.
its neighbours grow bolder.

Now. archaeologists have revealed

Egypt's brilliant strategy
to repel the foreign threat.

a strategy devised
by its greatest warrior king...

Thutmose lll.

By striking first.
Thutmose hopes to extend his empire

and stabilise Egypt's borders.

His plan is untested...

his generals are sceptical...

and he risks losing everything.

But his enemies
have left him no choice.

ln 1 457 BC.

Egypt finds itself in great danger.

The country's former allies
in the Near East have joined forces.

threatening Egypt's borders.

But Pharaoh Thutmose lll
and his soldiers

won't wait for the enemy to strike.

They head towards Megiddo.

a fortress city near the Carmel Mountains
in modern lsrael.

Beyond these hills.
the enemies of Pharaoh wait.

ready to attack.

Going out to meet them
is a high-risk strategy.

The future of the pharaoh
and of his empire depend on its success.

ln the face of this barrier.
Pharaoh's armies halt.

As they gather in the camp.

there is a critical disagreement
about the best route to take.

No one knows where the enemy
has positioned his forces.

His generals advise Thutmose
to send his men around the mountains.

Pharaoh must decide.

The fate of the empire is at stake.

The Egyptians are in Canaan.
four weeks' march from their own territory.

This region. now roughly
Palestine and Lebanon.

is Egypt's security zone.

The city-states here were neutral
or under Egyptian control...

until the Mitanni. Egypt's greatest rival.
stole their loyalty.

Meanwhile. in Egypt's capital Thebes.

the pharaoh's subjects eagerly
await news of the campaign.

Like all of Egypt.

Thebes' wealth depends on trade
and the tributes of subdued territories.

Now all that is at risk.

Bustling with more than 50.000 people.

this is one of the biggest cities
in the world.

Time hasn't diminished
its magnificence.

Even some of the bright paint
miraculously clings to the columns.

Triumphant reliefs
tell of Thutmose's glorious reign.

Yet with foreign powers
threatening the country.

the proud Egyptians
were forced to acknowledge

they weren't alone in the world.

This required an interesting
change in attitude

because in early periods
of Egyptian history.

the Egyptian word
for 'Egyptian'

was the same as the Egyptian word
for 'human being'.

ln the New Kingdom.
they began to recognise

the greater equality
of foreigners -

Syrians. Sudanese.
Cretans. whatever.

Egypt's neighbours enviously gazed
on the country's enormous prosperity.

While adjacent peoples
suffered from frequent droughts.

the Egyptians were blessed by geography
and enjoyed regular. plentiful harvests.

Though Egypt is g0% desert.

the Nile watered wide. fertile fields

that grew ample grain
to feed some 3 million people.

This easy abundance made the empire
one of the most stable societies

of the ancient world.

And through trade. the people of the Nile
magnified their wealth.

funding the world's largest monuments...

the pyramids.

Clearly. the gods must
have loved the Egyptians.

Egyptians were probably
a very arrogant people

because they were convinced that
no one had it better than the Egyptians.

The gods had given Egypt
the most wonderful country in the world.

And most foreigners who came here
said the same thing:

''You've got this wonderful river
that always provides water.

''You've got these wonderful fields
that always provide crops.

''You don't have to work very hard to grow
these things. This is heaven on earth.''

Thutmose grows up in a world
that knows neither famine nor war.

He comes to the throne as a child
after his father's early death.

But the little king
is far too young to rule.

So his aunt and stepmother. Hatshepsut.
takes over as regent.

Tradition dictates
that pharaohs be men

but Hatshepsut aspires
to divine authority

to rule for life.

She gathers power

and finally claims the throne
through classical political networking.

l've tried to put together myself

a list of all those governmental officials
and high nobility who stood behind her.

And that may be the secret.
There may have been a kind of...

l was going to say cabal.
but that may be too strong a word -

a coterie of supporters
who were quite influential.

more so than we think today.

To affirm her legitimacy as regent.

Hatshepsut alters her appearance
on temple reliefs and official statuaries.

At first. she's portrayed as a woman
with breasts and feminine features.

But soon she dons
the ceremonial beard

worn by pharaohs before her.

Hatshepsut has officially transformed
into a male pharaoh.

Although Thutmose
will be her future rival.

Hatshepsut employs
the country's best teachers for the boy.

He learns astronomy. mathematics.

religion and medicine.

They teach him
about Egypt's victories...

but they also warn him
about the great threat Egypt faces.

Foreign domination.

Only two centuries earlier.

a foreign tribe wrested control
of northern Egypt.

much to the shock of the people.

They had always believed
their country was invincible.

Yet. in 1 648 BC.

the Hyksos. a nomadic people
from the north-east. had moved in.

They split the empire
into two rival factions.

For millennia. the country had been
protected by its natural boundaries.

lnhospitable deserts flanked the empire
to the east and to the west.

making invasion almost impossible.

An army would die of thirst
before it came in sight of an enemy.

To the north. Lower Egypt was protected
by the marshes of the Nile Delta.

No enemy could cross them.

Or so it seemed.

And far to the south. the rocks
and rapids of the Nile cataracts

made the river unnavigable
along great stretches.

The Egyptians were fully aware
of their great good fortune.

Egypt is naturally protected.
and if the government of the day

simply keeps up a few border forts
with a handful of garrison troops.

that's all that's needed.
you can easily keep anybody out.

And they did. for the first
1 5 centuries of their history.

They were remarkably successful

in keeping all foreigners
that were unwanted out of the country.

But the Hyksos were different.

With just one technological advancement.

they infiltrated the delta

and then went on the attack

from inside the country.

To speed their invasion. the Hyksos
used a new and terrifying weapon...

the chariot.

With this superior technology.

they drove the Egyptian militias
far to the south.

On and on they rolled.
lt seemed nothing could stop them.

There was one attempt
to fight them off.

An ancestor of Thutmose.
King Sequenenre Tao. made a stand.

A pharaoh facing the impossible -

a full-scale invasion of his country.

But he had no chance against
this well-armed. superior fighting force

from distant lands.

Sequenenre Tao paid with his life.

His mummy clearly shows
the terrible wounds

that led to an agonising death.

That really had shaken the ego
of the Egyptians. you know.

to be invaded by these people
that they despised.

And successfully invaded.
for 1 08 years.

That was a blow to their pride
and a blow to their whole world vision.

After King Sequenenre Tao.
King Ahmose. the ruler of Thebes.

finally put an end
to the foreign domination.

Archaeologists pieced together this relief.

the only account of Ahmose's victory
over the Hyksos.

Ahmose had learned from his enemies
and beat them at their own game.

He built war chariots
to expel the invaders from his country.

Ahmose reunited
Egypt's north and south.

heralding what's known
as the New Kingdom

whose pharaohs swore
to restore Egypt's glory

and face down
all foreign threats... always.

But in the Near East. a new power
is already gathering strength...

the Mitanni. a warrior tribe
more formidable than the Hyksos

and bent on expansion.

The Mitanni are trying to weaken
Egypt's influence in the north-east.

They forge alliances with the rulers
of the Canaan region.

promising to free them
from the taxes imposed by Egypt.

As the Mitanni close in
on Egypt's borders.

their ranks swell
with their enemy's former vassals.

ln the Egyptian capital of Thebes.
time is running out.

But Thutmose. now grown.
and Hatshepsut

disagree on what to do.

He wants to mobilise
his army immediately

to intercept the enemy
before it reaches the borders of Egypt.

Hatshepsut prefers to wait.

She wants to avoid war at all costs.

especially a war
beyond the boundaries of the empire.

And even though
Thutmose is the rightful heir.

Hatshepsut has yet
to surrender the throne.

Thutmose insists that his strategy
is the only way to save Egypt.

But Hatshepsut calls the shots

and he must obey.

l think that that distinction
between Hatshepsut as a conservative.

looking backward. in a sense.
with her roots in the past...

as opposed to Thutmose lll
who... adopts this new outlook

of expansion and involvement
and a dynamic approach to life.

Thutmose. denied his war
against the Mitanni.

directs his attention elsewhere.

to the region between Egypt and Nubia.

a scene of constant conflict to the south.

His ancestors had already built
a chain of fortresses along the Nile.

But the young king wants
to reinforce them.

flexing his military muscle
and proving that Egypt is still strong.

The Nubians. fearsome warriors.
constantly raided Egypt from the south.

Today. most of Egypt's border fortresses
have disappeared.

Their remains were swallowed up
in the 1 g60s

when the Aswan Dam
created Lake Nasser.

But thanks to
old archaeological records.

we have a sense
of what these forts looked like.

Around 500 soldiers
lived in each fort complex.

which operated
like a small. walled tower.

They contained barracks
for the soldiers.

storehouses for food.
workshops and temples.

Watchtowers on the walls provided
an unobstructed view for kilometres.

But these forts weren't just
for defence against invasion.

They also protected the trade routes.

Every pharaoh. including Thutmose.

wanted access to the valuable
raw materials of Nubia.

including gold... and human beings.

Egypt basically and historically
looks south.

not only for its conquest
but also for where it got its products.

And one of those products
that we tend forget today was manpower.

They would send caravans down.

that we would perhaps today
call slave-raiding caravans.

and they would come back
with thousands of Nubians.

Thutmose's southern campaign
is successful.

He returns from Nubia
with large numbers of slaves.

His officers turn them
into paid. privileged soldiers

because Nubian warriors
are considered superb archers.

Equipped with newly designed bows.

they can inflict terrible injuries.
even from a great distance.

Quietly. Thutmose
builds a powerful army.

The pharaoh is convinced.
He can't avoid war with the Mitanni.

And for that. he'll need not just
good soldiers. but more weapons.

He fires up the foundries.

His military workshops in Memphis
forge axes and hatchets.

spears and arrowheads of bronze -

the weapons the Egyptians
have long relied on.

But Thutmose plays it
a little differently this time.

Taking a page from
Egypt's old enemy. the Hyksos.

he's equipping his army
with war chariots.

The Egyptians have taken
the old Hyksos chariot

and radically improved it.

We know what these chariots
looked like

from illustrations
on Egyptian temple walls.

And a perfectly preserved.
gilded ceremonial chariot

was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

lt demonstrates in every detail

how the Egyptians constructed
their war machines.

They built the chassis from bent wood.

Extra spokes strengthened the wheels.

The wide axle kept the chariot stable
even in sharp turns.

The leather fighting platform
could absorb blows.

And the chariot was held together
by pins. sockets and leather straps.

Damaged parts could be exchanged.

Soldiers could dismantle the chariot
and carry it over long distances.

Something never done before.

Manoeuvring this hi-tech apparatus
takes skill and lots of practice.

Two men have to work together
in a confined space.

the driver and the archer.

Chariot. horses and soldiers
have to form a single unit

to be able to react quickly in battle.

Years of training were needed
before they could go to war...

so they could be sure
of hitting their targets.

moving at high speed
over uneven ground.

The young pharaoh enjoyed
his time among his soldiers.

far from life in the palace.

Those two things.
the chariotry corps and the archers...

owed a debt to the Hyksos.
very definitely.

but the Egyptians now
developed these two arms

into very. very important
aspects of their army.

Thutmose has gathered more than
1 2.000 men under his command -

the biggest army of its time.

He now can put them to use

because the pharaoh
has received important news.

His aunt Hatshepsut is dead.

lt is the end of an era.

Her memorial
is a huge temple at Thebes.

Built in her own lifetime.
it celebrates the peaceful era

of the most powerful woman
in Egypt's history.

Her ships set out to distant lands...

and returned home.
loaded with exotic woods.

gold. and slaves.

Hatshepsut is laid to rest
in the Valley of the Kings.

According to custom. the country mourns
the regent's death for 70 days.

And that gives Egypt's enemies
to the north-east

the opportunity they've been waiting for.

lt was time to join forces.

With Hatshepsut's sickening.
the whole world began to know it.

l mean. there was communication.

And so it would appear to those forces
that wanted to get back into Egypt

that now was the time.

A powerful coalition of enemy princes
gathers close to Megiddo.

ready to strike west.

For years. Thutmose has failed
to take action against the Asian threat.

Now. he has to act swiftly
to forestall the enemy.

by attacking first.

The pharaoh leads his army
north-east from Memphis

through 400 kilometres
of barren. hostile landscape

to Gaza. in Canaan.

The desert has protected the Egyptians
for thousands of years.

Now they have to cross it.

They form a gigantic column...

1 2.000 men and 2400 animals.

An army this size
needs regular supplies.

including 50.000 litres
of fresh water every day.

Until recently. no one knew
how they managed it.

But new discoveries reveal
the level of foresight and planning

the Egyptians invested
in these desert campaigns.

Ancient stone route-markers

and millions of pottery fragments
strewn in remote parts of the Sahara

reveal forgotten trade routes.

Surprisingly. the ancient Egyptians
had no camels to make the journey.

They had to rely
on oxen and donkeys.

And so they developed
a sophisticated water-supply system.

Huge caravans headed out
in front of the army.

loaded with thousands
of litres of water.

creating artificial rest stops
in the desert.

Every 70 kilometres. these advance units
would set up stores of water.

providing vitally needed refreshments
for the following troops.

Today. the millions of pottery fragments

clearly indicate the ancient trade routes
through the Sahara.

They demonstrate the unquestioned
coordination and cooperation

so typical of ancient Egypt.

After ten days. Thutmose
and his army reach Palestine.

They have defeated
the desert of Sinai.

But 1 1 days' strenuous marching
still separate them from their target.

Megiddo.

A fortified town perched
strategically on a hilltop

in modern-day lsrael.

lts lofty position makes sneak attacks
against it virtually impossible.

Today. fields carpet the area.

Then. it was a vital part
of the trade route.

lt was here
that Thutmose's enemies gathered.

lf you're just here at Megiddo.
you can command the Jezreel Valley.

And if you command the valley.
you command this whole region.

So Megiddo is an extremely
strategic place.

Thutmose lll knew it.
so did the Canaanite rebels.

That's why they meet here.
lt's not only a great place to fight

but whoever wins
controls the entire area.

Thutmose's army is just
30 kilometres from Megiddo.

But now the Carmel Mountains
stand in their way.

The pharaoh faces three choices.

He can bypass the rugged hills.

taking the northern
or the southern route.

Or... he can attempt
to cross them. head on.

While the soldiers rest. Thutmose
summons his generals to a war council.

The mountains are treacherous.
he is told.

Crossing them is a fool's errand.

His generals are quite clear about it.

The soldiers have already endured
a four-week march.

Traversing the mountain would only
exhaust them before the coming battle.

But Thutmose sees it differently.
more strategically.

The pharaoh's plan of action
at this crucial moment

is immortalised
on the temple walls of Karnak.

So important was his decision
that the fate of Egypt depended on it.

At moments like this. history is made.

As we see
in this hieroglyphic record here.

which actually are excerpts
from the king's own diary.

Pharaoh said ''No. l am going
to go through the narrow pass.

''so as not to give any impression
to the enemy that l am weak or cowardly.''

Thutmose orders the advance.
straight over the mountains.

A narrow and extended column of troops
snakes its way uphill.

Dismantled chariots slow their progress.

As they crawl over the rocks.
the troops are vulnerable to attack.

But Thutmose knows
it's too late to turn back.

There's no time for second-guessing.

His men follow without question.

but surely some believe
they are marching to their deaths.

The pharaoh suspects the enemy's
leader. Canaanite King of Kadesh.

positioned his troops along the northern
and southern approaches to Megiddo.

He can only hope the king
left the mountain route undefended.

The Egyptian troops struggle

as the mountain pass
squeezes tighter at every corner.

Any moment now.
the coalition forces could attack.

The route is almost impassable.

The soldiers barely make any progress.

As tempers fray.

Pharaoh is forced to acknowledge
this may be a terrible mistake.

But. miraculously.

the Egyptians reach
the end of the pass.

Ahead of them spreads
the Plain of Megiddo.

They made it past this obstacle

but the hardest work still lies ahead.

The crucial battle is about to begin.

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At daybreak. the Egyptians launch
a surprise attack on the enemy camp.

Too late. the King of Kadesh
realises that he's been outwitted.

He has allowed Thutmose
and his 1 2.000 troops

to cross the mountains unimpeded.

He has seriously underestimated
the pharaoh's ability as a war leader.

lt spells disaster

as the Egyptians hopelessly outnumber
the Canaanite units on the plain.

With no time to call for reinforcements.
the Canaanite coalition must retreat.

The victorious Egyptians seem to be
entering a deserted enemy camp.

ln fact. the King of Kadesh
is waiting for the chance

to follow his fleeing troops to safety.

Suddenly. the moment
for the escape arrives

as greed gets the better
of Thutmose's army.

lnstead of pursuing the enemy.

the Egyptian troops stay behind
to plunder the camp...

to the fury
of their general and emperor.

ln Pharaoh's own words.
Thutmose lll's own words.

taken from his daybook. which
we see here in this hieroglyphic text.

he said ''lf only my army
had not given its attention

''to the plundering
of the enemy camp.

''Megiddo would have
been taken in a single day.''

Thutmose has won
his first great battle.

But his inexperience
and his troops' lack of discipline

have let the enemy escape.

As the Egyptians gather their loot.

the Canaanite coalition
holes up inside Megiddo.

Throughout its long history.
Megiddo has been a formidable fortress.

Today. a team of students
excavates the city. level by level.

They dig through the sand
of thousands of years of civilisation...

before reaching the city foundations
from the time of Thutmose lll.

The fragments of pottery they collect

are the best way
to date the different layers.

When they find foundations
from more than 3000 years ago.

they reconstruct the shape of the fortress
and of the buildings inside.

lt turns out that Megiddo was not
a fortress with great defensive walls.

They weren't necessary.

There was a palace
in a certain part of the city.

We know where the gate was.
We know where the temple was.

So the two most important
components of a city like this.

their location is well known.

And then we know that there was
no major fortification surrounding this site.

but houses built.
connected to each other.

and forming some sort
of a belt of houses

which gave protection
to the people inside.

Megiddo's fortified houses
perched atop a steep hill

protect the King of Kadesh
and his men.

According to ancient sources.
the siege lasts for seven months.

How they could hold out for so long
has always been a mystery.

Until archaeologists discovered

remnants of a sophisticated
supply system.

A huge tunnel.
dug deep into the mountain.

supplied the city with water.

Thutmose lll says
they held out for seven months.

so they obviously had
enough water and enough food.

Now. what he doesn't say
is how they finally captured the city.

They must have breached the walls.
must have knocked down the city gates

or they paid somebody
to open up the gates.

Something very common in antiquity.
they must have done.

Whatever happened.
Megiddo finally fell.

The Egyptians at last
defeat their enemies.

The King of Kadesh and his allies
are brought before the pharaoh.

lt's time for Thutmose
to show his skills as statesman.

to find a way to rule
this conquered territory

so far away
from his capital in Thebes.

Challenging the pharaoh
is like blasphemy.

Violators can expect no mercy.

The generals demand
their enemies be put to death.

But the King of Kadesh
begs for the lives of his family.

Once more.
Thutmose ignores his generals

and follows his own instincts
dealing with his enemies.

At that point. what happened

became standard imperial practice
for four centuries.

They were forced
to take an oath immediately.

never again to rebel
against Pharaoh and Egypt.

At the same time they were...

it was made plain to them
that they had to hand in taxes.

the same kind of taxes that
the Egyptian peasants had to hand in.

whenever Pharaoh
or his ministers asked for them.

And finally. they were obliged
to give up their young children.

Thutmose spares the lives
of the rebel leaders.

But he sends their children
to Egypt as hostages.

They will guarantee that their fathers
never again disobey

the pharaoh's commands.

On the Nile.
they will be raised as Egyptians.

The girls will stay in Egypt.

The boys will one day
return to their homeland

as vassal kings
in the service of the pharaoh.

As an Egyptian. if you're trying
to conquer this region.

it makes much more sense
to capture the cities

and then turn them into an Egyptian
capital city. an Egyptian stronghold.

and then rule it.
which is what they do.

They rule this area. they rule Canaan
for the next 300 or 400 years

from cities like Jerusalem.
like Megiddo. like others.

lt makes perfect sense.

Why would you destroy it when it makes
much more sense to occupy it?

Thutmose returns home in triumph.

proving himself a worthy pharaoh
and a powerful general.

Throughout the land. Egyptians hail
the victory over the King of Kadesh

and the conquest of Megiddo.

Priests throw open the doors
to the sanctuaries of the imperial gods.

The spoils of war. the enemy's gold.

are offered to the god
who made this victory possible...

Amun. supreme god of the kingdom
and of the fledgling empire.

ln Thebes. the capital.
life feels safer. more secure.

But that feeling is deceptive.

The main enemy. the Mitanni.
have by no means been vanquished.

And they are plotting their revenge.

Thutmose tightens his hold
on Canaan.

But his victory is fragile.

He decides to crush the Mitanni
in their own country.

He did it only after
the first four or five campaigns

that consolidated
his hold on Palestine -

what we would call today
Palestine. in the south.

Then he directed his next campaigns
against the Lebanese coast.

And to do that. it would be
much more useful. and easier. perhaps.

to load his army into transports
and send them by water.

Ancient records show that
Thutmose planned a land-sea campaign

against the Mitanni.

But archaeologists weren't convinced

it was possible.

Hundreds of model boats
found in tombs

and countless temple reliefs

show how important ships were
to the lives of every Egyptian.

But could they sail the high seas?

We know. for example.
that Thutmose lll and his men

are in contact with Crete.
with mainland Greece.

At this time.
you can only get there by ship.

So we've got
the representations on the walls

of Rekhmire and
other officials of Thutmose lll

showing the ships
docked at the Egyptian ports.

Despite images and inscriptions.
there was no archaeological proof

that Egyptians could build
seagoing ships.

Then. a few years ago
beside the Red Sea.

researchers discovered remnants
of an Egyptian sea port.

one of only two ever found.

A network of at least seven galleries
dug deep into fossilised coral.

Tangible evidence that Egyptians
could not only sail on the Nile

but also on the open sea.

lnternational experts found pottery.
the remains of ships' timbers

and texts recording
state-sponsored trading ventures.

But the caves held
an even bigger surprise.

Deep inside these storehouses.
scientists found the proof.

Cargo and equipment
left by Egyptian sailors.

hundreds of metres
of ancient ships' ropes.

remains of a seagoing people.

The Egyptians built cargo ships
that were capable of long journeys

hundreds of years
before Thutmose lll.

Marine archaeologist Cheryl Ward

has excavated
sections of wooden planks.

She needs just a few fragments
from the stern

to reconstruct the entire ship.

These vessels were
much sturdier and bigger

than the boats used on the Nile.

Each ship was made from 20 trees.

lt could carry 40 people
and 1 7 tons of freight.

With 1 4-metre-wide sails.
the ship could travel at 6 knots.

three times faster than donkeys on land.

Another reason
this piece of wood is really special

is that it's got great examples of the way
the Egyptians held their ships together.

They used big pieces of wood
we call tenons

and they fit inside holes in each plank.

We see the ends of each tenon here.

They're in pairs. and you can imagine
another plank jammed up here next to it

with these great pieces of wood
holding it together.

There's also here
what we call a ligature.

They threaded strips of copper
through here like ribbon

and tied the end of another plank to it.

so that the seam between that plank
and the keel was as tight as possible.

This construction-kit approach

made it possible
to easily dismantle the ships.

just like the Egyptian chariots.

Sailors could transport
the pieces over land

and reassemble the ship
at their destination.

That destination was
the empire of the Mitanni.

Thutmose's arch-enemy.

g00 kilometres from Egypt.

Thutmose sails north
with 1 70 ships and a huge army.

They disembark. carrying
a few disassembled ships with them.

to cross the River Euphrates.

Gathering on the far side of the river.
the Egyptian soldiers prepare for war.

But the great battle the Egyptians
geared up for never happens.

The Mitanni have retreated
into the Asian plains.

Thutmose destroys their cities.

staking his territory
and declaring victory.

His war diaries end
soon after his Euphrates campaign.

A royal stele on the Euphrates shore

marks the furthest boundary
of his empire.

Thutmose has reached the geographical
limits of his military power.

Egypt too will never reach further.

At last. Thutmose and his soldiers
can return home.

No Egyptian wants to live here.
so far from Egypt.

The Nile is the centre of their world.

Paradise on earth.

And so this ancient superpower
kept mainly to itself.

expanding only when it was
reasonable and necessary.

Thutmose lll seems to exemplify
that old Egyptian interest

in surrounding territories
as a sphere of influence only.

Not a formal empire
but just a sphere of influence

in which the Egyptian messenger
can go and tell the local chief

''l want so and so. You have
to comply with Pharaoh's wishes.''

And the chief will say
''Yes. sir. yes. sir'' and do so.

Once again. Thutmose returns
to Thebes in triumph.

expanding the Egyptian
sphere of influence as never before.

No pharaoh's power
had ever been greater.

Thutmose has accomplished
his life's work

and banished the danger
of foreign domination.

To thank the gods for his victories.
he extends the Temple of Karnak.

And he decorates the walls with images
of the exotic animals and plants

he discovered on his campaigns.

Like all of his ancestors. Thutmose
is portrayed in the temple reliefs

as the conqueror of Egypt's enemies.

But he was more than that.

He used his victories
to link Egypt with the outside world

for the first time in 1 500 years.

During the New Kingdom. when Egypt
became a much more international power

and extended its authority
far into western Asia.

into the Mediterranean.
into the Sudan.

this gradually changed.

Egypt became much more
aware of foreigners

and became
more accepting of them.

Thutmose is remembered
as the greatest Egyptian general

and as an astute politician.

His 54-year reign
over 3 million people

was unprecedented and brilliant.

By understanding
the limits to foreign conquest.

Thutmose made Egypt
more stable and secure than ever before.

Egypt could now enter
its Golden Age.

Subtitles SBS Australia 201 1

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