Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Abusir,

an ancient necropolis in the heart of Egypt,

where a dynasty of mysterious pharaohs,

the Sun Kings, turn Egyptian society on its head

and reimagine its iconic mega structures.

CéDRIC: This was the place where creation started.

This is the place where the world was born.

NARRATOR: Strange structures

stand alongside the pyramids here.

Now a team of experts has special

access to investigate this little known burial site.

We are on top of the Sun Temple of Niuserre,

and from here, we touch the sky and the sun.

NARRATOR: Who are the Sun Kings?

And why do they create these new structures

not seen in Egypt before?

This place is absolutely massive.

NARRATOR: And what can Abusir reveal about

the radical changes sweeping ancient Egypt

at the time of their construction?

To solve the mysteries of this extraordinary necropolis,

we blow Abusir apart.

We explore astonishing tombs,

investigate forgotten rituals,

decode ancient inscriptions,

and digitally reconstruct this lost wonder in its prime

to reveal the rise of the Sun Kings.

Abusir,

10 miles south of Cairo,

a mysterious necropolis between Giza and Saqqara.

It is one of ancient Egypt's great royal sites,

but one that is currently closed to the public.

Archaeologists only begin excavations at

this extraordinary cemetery in the 1900s.

Now, our cameras have been granted rare access

to follow teams as they investigate this site.

Much remains here to be uncovered.

The Abusir necropolis covers more than 400 acres.

Four millennia ago,

the ancient Egyptians build three huge pyramids here,

along with a host of smaller pyramids

and tombs scattered around them.

Each is a tomb designed to

Each is a tomb designed to

help the deceased journey into the afterlife.

In the north sit two mysterious

mega structures unlike anything else in Egypt.

These unique complexes feature enormous obelisks that

soar over 180 feet into the sky.

What are these mysterious monuments, and who builds them?

Max Nuzzolo has excavated here for most of his career.

This is really an impressive, huge site.

NARRATOR: He investigates the remains of

one of these mysterious structures.

You can see the rectangular-like shape

with a big enclosure wall,

paved area, and the kind of pyramid, which, in fact, was

probably not a pyramid,

but the trunk of pyramid with a huge obelisk on top.

NARRATOR: In the center of the enclosure,

an unusual feature stands out.

an unusual feature stands out.

And something even more interesting, before the obelisk,

which is the altar.

These are all features that look like temple.

NARRATOR: Max wants to know who builds this strange temple.

An impressive block of decorated stone

catches his eye.

This is a very interesting element of the site.

It's a door frame composed of two door jambs.

As you can see here, they are shaped to host a door.

As you can see here, they are shaped to host a door.

NARRATOR: Strange inscriptions are carved into the doorframe.

What is very interesting here is that one of these two

door jambs has a hieroglyphic inscription

with the name of King Niuserre.

NARRATOR: Niuserre rules ancient Egypt

in the 25th century BCE,

81 years after Pharaoh Khufu is entombed in Egypt's

famous great pyramid of Giza.

Max wants to know why Niuserre

builds this curious temple.

He examines the pharaoh's cartouche, an oval

box that contains his name, for clues.

This cartouche is associated with a specific element,

which is called Golden Horus name.

The Golden Horus is

one of the Sun God Ra's titles.

Niuse adopts the divine title

and becomes Niuserre.

Niuserre wanted to be presented as the direct son

of the Sun God Ra.

The ancient Egyptians believe the falcon-headed Ra

The ancient Egyptians believe the falcon-headed Ra

is the supreme divinity.

He creates every aspect of the living world.

From his own tears,

he creates humans.

Ra is one with the sun.

He crosses the heavens in the day and descends into

the underworld at night to rise again in the morning.

Ra also directs the three seasons

of the Egyptian calendar.

He makes the Nile flood every year

and is the energy that grows the crops.

and is the energy that grows the crops.

Ra is all powerful.

Niuserre claims to be his incarnation on earth,

allowing him to rule with absolute power.

Niuserre is a self-declared Sun King,

ruling with the power of Ra behind him.

Max believes Niuserre's association with

the all-powerful Sun God

could be the key to why he builds

this pioneering monument.

He searches for evidence among the ruins

He searches for evidence among the ruins

and finds hieroglyphic clues.

In this hieroglyphic inscription,

we have the original name of the monument, described as

Shesep-ib-re --

that means something like "the place of

the joy of Ra," the Sun God.

NARRATOR: The inscription is proof that this mysterious

ruin is the sun temple of Niuserre.

MAX: So here, we really find a confirmation that this is

a sun temple,

the center of the sun culture during the Sun King time.

the center of the sun culture during the Sun King time.

Niuserre builds his sun temple in 2400 BCE.

He constructs a four-pillar portico

and an entrance sheathed in gleaming white limestone.

Beyond it, a 400-foot causeway ascends

to an impressive terrace.

Here, an imposing gateway leads into a vast enclosure,

dominated by a 65-foot truncated pyramid

and cased in lavish red granite.

Sitting on top is a monumental 118-foot-tall

obelisk made of solid white limestone.

What is the purpose of this strange temple?

Max investigates a key feature of the temple to find out.

This is an altar composed of four huge alabaster slabs.

This is an altar composed of four huge alabaster slabs.

NARRATOR: He thinks the choice of this rare

and precious stone and the altar's shape

are both significant.

Alabaster is the main symbol of purity, the symbol of

the Sun God, and these slabs are done in a peculiar shape,

with this rounded edge and elongated side,

which is a so-called hetep sign --

means offer -- offer to whom?

Offer to the Sun God, who is

represented in the center with this impressive and huge disk.

represented in the center with this impressive and huge disk.

NARRATOR: This alabaster altar at the heart of the temple

is where priests make offerings to Ra, the Sun God.

Max believes the temple marks a turning point in

ancient Egypt, the rise of the Sun Kings.

MAX: Here, we really see the apex of

the solar cult for the first time.

Here, we see the manifestation of the direct association

of the cult of the sun with the king.

Here we have, really, the center of the Sun King era.

Here we have, really, the center of the Sun King era.

NARRATOR: The Sun Kings put themselves at

the center of the cult and transform ancient Egypt.

We are actually on top of the obelisk of the sun temple

of Niuserre, and from here,

we really touch the sky and the sun.

For ancient Egyptians, afterlife was at the core

of their religious system and of their beliefs.

But here in the sun temple,

what is in the center of attention is everyday life, is

what is in the center of attention is everyday life, is

everyday cult of the sun, and the king connected to the sun.

NARRATOR: The pharaohs of previous dynasties are revered

as supreme leaders during their rule

and become gods in the afterlife.

But with the sun cult of Ra,

the pharaohs are now worshiped as gods in their lifetime.

What can a buried tomb reveal about this radical 5th dynasty?

And can a mysterious mummy help

And can a mysterious mummy help

identify more of these powerful god kings?

NARRATOR: Abusir -- a mysterious necropolis where

a pharaoh elevates himself to god status

and transforms ancient Egyptian civilization.

Cédric Gobeil wants to find out if these tombs

are connected to the cult

and if this entire necropolis is filled with Sun Kings.

He explores a vast stone structure

hidden in the sand here.

From above, he can see the interior layout

of a burial chamber,

along with the remains of a makeshift roof.

Very strangely, the top was capped

by pebbles, stone, and sand,

and the outside of the structure was cased with limestones.

NARRATOR: This is a mastaba, a single-story tomb.

NARRATOR: This is a mastaba, a single-story tomb.

They are built by the ancient Egyptians

throughout their civilization.

When archaeologists excavate here,

they make a remarkable discovery.

20 feet below ground,

deep inside the tomb,

they unearth pieces of a red granite sarcophagus,

fragments of four travertine canopic jars,

and pieces of a mummy, including a complete left hand.

and pieces of a mummy, including a complete left hand.

Hidden with these finds, buried in the heart of

the tomb, is a limestone block painted with

a mysterious black inscription.

Can these markings reveal the identity

of the pharaoh who is entombed here?

Cédric examines the evidence

discovered in the original excavation.

CéDRIC: The first one, really striking,

CéDRIC: The first one, really striking,

is a mummified hand,

and anthropological analysis have shown that this is

the left hand of a male individual

that died between the age 20, 23 years old.

NARRATOR: This is likely the hand of

the tomb's original occupant.

The excavators unearth a clue to his identity.

CéDRIC: In another picture, I see hieroglyphs.

It's painted with black ink.

It clearly shows the name of

It clearly shows the name of

a king, because we see the cartouche.

There's the design Ra, nefer, and F,

so three signs.

This is the name of the king, Neferefre.

So this is it.

We are in the mastaba of Neferefre.

This royal name, Neferefre,

features the same distinctive ending as Niuserre.

This pharaoh makes the same statement of

his divine link to Ra, the Sun God,

his divine link to Ra, the Sun God,

and asserts his claim that he is also a living god.

This quarry mark is proof that the pharaoh buried

here is also part of the pioneering Sun Cult.

Neferefre is a pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty.

He rules for just two years

and dies prematurely at the age of 23.

Cédric suspects this whole necropolis could be filled

with the rulers of this mysterious Sun Cult.

with the rulers of this mysterious Sun Cult.

He hunts for more evidence in

the ruins of a once grand mortuary temple.

Oh, wow! There it is.

You see, this block actually is

giving me the name of another king.

So we clearly see the cartouche inside,

which you have then the hieroglyph signs,

giving the name of Sa-hu-re.

So the king, Sahure.

NARRATOR: Sahure is now the third king

NARRATOR: Sahure is now the third king

identified here, alongside Neferefre and his mastaba

and Niuserre with his sun temple.

Cédric investigates the connection between

these pharaohs.

He examines a huge inscription known as the King List,

discovered inside the temple of Abydos in southern Egypt.

Created by Pharaoh Seti I, it lists

the succession of kings throughout ancient Egypt.

It gives us the names of the king in chronological order,

It gives us the names of the king in chronological order,

and what I can see when I zoom in

is two names that catch my attention.

So Neferefre in a cartouche,

and in another cartouche, we see Sahure.

The list reveals a close connection.

There's only one king between those two.

So the impression I have is that they --

they could be part of the same family,

knowing that kings would succeed from father to son.

The king list enables Cédric to trace the line of Sahure.

The king list enables Cédric to trace the line of Sahure.

It reveals that Neferefre and Niuserre follow in

succession and are likely to be his grandsons, two brothers.

They are all in one same family.

Therefore, the Abusir site, the necropolis,

could be a necropolis of a royal family.

NARRATOR: Sahure is the second ruler of Egypt's 5th Dynasty.

He is father to Neferirkare

He is father to Neferirkare

and grandfather to Neferefre and Niuserre.

All Sun Kings,

they are buried beside one another in

Abusir, along with their wives and Children.

Abusir is the Sun King's family cemetery.

These radical pharaohs declare a new era for Egypt

with their Sun Cult at its heart.

They elevate themselves to a higher status

in life than any pharaoh before them.

in life than any pharaoh before them.

Their people worship them as Sun Gods

during their reign.

Their Sun Cult thrives for more than a century.

And the Sun Kings rule

over their people with divine authority.

Can discoveries beneath the sand reveal macabre new

rituals in the name of their Sun Cult,

and can evidence of an uprising expose why these

pharaohs go to such extreme lengths in pursuit of power?

pharaohs go to such extreme lengths in pursuit of power?

NARRATOR: At Abusir, Max Nuzzolo

investigates the mysterious pyramids

and mortuary temples

of the 5th Dynasty Sun Kings.

What we can see here is the remains of

the hypostyle hall of the pyramid complex

of King Neferefre.

Neferefre, a fourth generation Sun King, builds

this structure at the foot of his pyramid.

It is built largely from mud brick

It is built largely from mud brick

and has eroded over the millennia.

But the remains reveal

it is once an extraordinary feat of engineering.

In its prime,

this is a grand, columned hall,

the first of its kind discovered in ancient Egypt.

Twenty beautifully crafted wooden columns are set on solid

limestone bases and are painted in striking color.

In the main hall stands a life-size

statue of the pharaoh, seated on a golden throne.

Many more adorn the hall, made from wood

and polished limestone.

But beneath them are small wooden statuettes of

Egypt's enemies,

Nubians and Libyans, kneeling with their hands tied.

What can this sacred space reveal about

how the Sun Kings run their cult?

The hypostyle hall is at

the heart of Neferefre's mortuary temple.

A mortuary temple in ancient Egypt is a highly sacred space.

It is a place to worship the reign of the pharaoh,

as well as to celebrate his journey into the afterlife.

The mortuary temple of a king in the 5th Dynasty

was a kind of the resurrection machine,

made through several steps.

First of all, specific rituals to be

carried out in individual part of the complex.

carried out in individual part of the complex.

Secondly, with a huge decoration showing the king as

the legitimate son of the Sun God

accomplishing all these tasks on Earth.

NARRATOR: The 5th Dynasty Sun Kings

make their pyramids smaller

than the massive mega structures

of the earlier pharaohs.

But they build their mortuary temples much bigger.

They fill them with powerful iconography of

conquered enemies,

so they are remembered as successful rulers.

so they are remembered as successful rulers.

Max visits a remote corner of

this vast pyramid complex to investigate further.

When we look at this site, the first impression is void,

emptiness, but, in fact, this is

only appearance, because here, below our feet,

once there was the Sanctuary of the Knife,

a very important monument

connected to the mortuary complex of King Neferefre.

NARRATOR: When archaeologists excavate the site,

NARRATOR: When archaeologists excavate the site,

they unearth the ruins of a mud brick building

over 65 feet long,

the Sanctuary of the Knife.

Near the entrance of one chamber,

they find sharp flint knives scattered in the sand.

In a neighboring chamber, they discover fragments of

a jar.

Close analysis reveals traces of beef fat inside.

In a final room, they unearth cattle horns

and part of an animal skull.

and part of an animal skull.

Are these macabre discoveries

evidence of extravagant rituals

invented by the Sun Kings?

This was a slaughterhouse, a big

area for slaughtering and production of meat.

NARRATOR: The size of the slaughterhouse

discovered here suggests it's used

for large-scale events, where huge numbers

of animals are sacrificed.

Extravagant rituals like these allow the Sun Kings

to demonstrate their divine status and political power.

This was, in the end, an important means to create

a social consensus and a political stability among

the people supporting the king.

NARRATOR: The Sun Kings live as self-proclaimed

divine rulers, descended from the Sun God,

and keep their memory alive through ritual

and keep their memory alive through ritual

sacrifices, offerings,

and worship with sprawling temple complexes bigger

than any before them.

Why do they introduce this radical new era of

pharaoh adulation?

Can an extraordinary buried tomb reveal

a threat to their power?

NARRATOR: Abusir, a necropolis spanning

more than 400 acres, packed with pyramids

and temples that honor the 5th Dynasty Sun Kings.

But in the heart of the royal cemetery,

one revolutionary structure reveals an existential threat

to their rule.

This is an exquisitely built tomb.

This is an exquisitely built tomb.

The entrance features a monumental portico held

by two 20-foot-tall, lotus-shaped columns.

This gateway leads to a large-scale

pillared courtyard, with 20 decorated limestone columns.

And deep underground lies a burial chamber

with two enormous red granite sarcophagi,

protected by a gabled ceiling of

monolithic limestone blocks.

Who is this extensive tomb built for?

And how do they threaten the Sun Kings?

Kimberley Watt is on a mission to find out.

She has been granted special access to explore this tomb.

This place is absolutely massive.

NARRATOR: The tomb is grand and imposing.

NARRATOR: The tomb is grand and imposing.

It includes royal architectural features

and extensive reliefs.

KIMBERLEY: This courtyard is filled with around 20 pillars,

and all of them are covered with the same figure.

It's a relief of a man.

NARRATOR: Kimberley spots an inscription above the relief.

It spells out his name in hieroglyphs.

His name up there is Ptahshepses.

Ptahshepses lives in the reign of the Pharaoh Niuserre,

the sixth Sun King.

This is at a scale that we normally see for royal people,

However, we don't know any royal by the name of

Ptahshepses -- this individual is not

a royal person, because he has a staff here,

which you can see in his left hand.

It's a sign that he's an official.

So this huge complex of nearly 40 rooms

belonged to an official that must have

belonged to an official that must have

been so high up in the administration, that he was

able to organize for himself

a tomb to this scale.

NARRATOR: It's a lavish tomb.

Ptahshepses clearly accumulates vast wealth in

his service of the Sun Kings.

He's represented on all the walls,

and actually, the courtyards, they go into this direction.

NARRATOR: Kimberley follows the direction indicated by

the reliefs and heads to the heart of the tomb.

the reliefs and heads to the heart of the tomb.

KIMBERLEY: This is the burial chamber of Ptahshepses.

We see the huge sarcophagus in red granite.

Just next to it, there's a smaller one.

NARRATOR: The smaller sarcophagus

is an intriguing discovery.

Kimberley heads deeper into the tomb to

hunt for clues to Ptahshepses' companion.

They could reveal more about this unique

official and how he becomes so powerful.

Here, we see him again in the entrance hall of

Here, we see him again in the entrance hall of

the funerary chapel,

and, as you can see, the colors are extremely

well preserved.

We can see here that he is seated, and we may

have found the identity of the person

who has a second sarcophagus.

NARRATOR: Kimberley decodes the hieroglyphs to decipher

their identity.

This is his wife, Khamerernebty,

and she is not just his wife, she is also,

and we can see it here in the inscription,

and we can see it here in the inscription,

in the second column here,

she is a princess.

She is a daughter of a king.

NARRATOR: It's an incredible revelation.

It's one of the first times in the history

of ancient Egypt that a princess marries a commoner.

Kimberley wants to find out how Ptahshepses rises to

this remarkable position and what it means

for the Sun Kings.

She hunts for further hieroglyphic clues.

So here, we find Ptahshepses.

You can see his name just here, and then we have a very

interesting title -- he is a iry nfr .

Iry nfr means that he is the keeper of the hairdress,

so the wig of the king, and that gives him

very close proximity to the king.

NARRATOR: Kimberley uncovers a series of hieroglyphs

that reveal Ptahshepses's final status.

Two of the titles that we see here are very important.

He's a judge, and he's a vizier,

He's a judge, and he's a vizier,

so the highest official in the entire government in Egypt.

NARRATOR: Ptahshepses starts his career as

the Pharaoh Niuserre's hairdresser and manicurist.

The role gives him special access to the pharaoh

and smoothes the path to ever-higher offices

of the royal court.

He rises through the ranks to become

overseer of all royal construction projects in Egypt,

including those in Abusir.

Finally, Ptahshepses becomes vizier to the king,

the equivalent to a modern-day prime minister.

He only answers to the pharaoh himself.

Ptahshepses becomes so influential in the royal

court that Niuserre has him marry his daughter,

Khamerernebty,

to guarantee his allegiance and loyalty.

The rise of Ptahshepses reveals a power shift taking

place where even a god king finds himself compromised.

place where even a god king finds himself compromised.

When all the kings built their pyramids and their temple,

every time, they use the resource of the country.

The resource were overstretched.

What happened after this overstretching resource of

the kings, they relied

on the loyalty of their officials, and that's how

we see it in Ptahshepses's tomb, that he

made sure that this very high official actually was loyal to

him by marrying his daughter to him.

NARRATOR: The 5th Dynasty pharaohs suffer

NARRATOR: The 5th Dynasty pharaohs suffer

the consequences of centuries of excess.

In Egypt's 1st and 2nd Dynasties, the pharaohs build

simple single-story mastabas,

but by the 3rd Dynasty, the pharaohs start to build

elaborate step pyramids.

By the 4th Dynasty, the construction of

the giant pyramids at Giza nearly bankrupts the state.

So the Abusir pyramids are much smaller.

To combat their waning authority,

the 5th Dynasty pharaohs claim they are Sun Kings,

and they secure the loyalty of

powerful officials like Ptahshepses

through royal marriage.

Their Sun Cult revolution is a desperate

attempt to cling on to their rule.

Do these god kings manage to hold onto their power,

or is the Sun Cult destined to fall?

or is the Sun Cult destined to fall?

NARRATOR: Abusir, a royal necropolis and power base

to a family of self-appointed god kings.

Their rule relies on an elite class of royal courtiers.

Max Nuzzolo investigates how the sun finally

sets on the rule of the Sun Kings.

He heads two miles south of Abusir

to Saqqara to examine the tomb of Ty,

one of the most spectacular tombs from the 5th Dynasty.

Ty is a powerful official.

He rises to high priest under the rule of

the Pharaoh Niuserre, the 6th Sun King.

MAX: The outstanding quality of the decoration

and architecture of his tomb demonstrated Ty

was really a very powerful man,

even competing somehow with the king, because he had inside

even competing somehow with the king, because he had inside

elements of royal architecture.

The tomb of Ty is as lavish as that of Ptahshepses.

It is evidence of yet another

radical shift in ancient Egyptian society.

Max ventures deeper into the very heart of the tomb.

He examines the walls for reference to the Sun God Ra,

but can't see any.

MAX: We are now in the inner chamber,

inner offering chamber of the tomb of Ty.

Here on the first door,

we have the entire career of the life of Ty.

On the top of the first door, on the [indistinct],

we have the very, very first mention

known so far of the god Osiris.

NARRATOR: Osiris is a new and powerful god

in Egyptian belief.

Ancient Egyptian mythology describes Osiris

Ancient Egyptian mythology describes Osiris

as a king who brings

the Egyptian people new laws and teaches them about

agriculture and civilization.

His brother, Seth, grows jealous of his power.

He cruelly murders and dismembers

Osiris and scatters his body across Egypt.

The wife of Osiris, Isis,

sews the pieces of his body back together.

She wraps them in linen and uses

a powerful spell to bring him back to life.

a powerful spell to bring him back to life.

Osiris is unable to stay in the world of the living.

He travels to the underworld to become king of

the afterlife.

In a way, we can say that this is

the beginning of the end of the Sun Kings.

NARRATOR: The promotion of Osiris over Ra in Ty's tomb

marks the end of the 5th Dynasty Sun Cult

and heralds a revolution in ancient Egypt.

and heralds a revolution in ancient Egypt.

Ty is not just worshiping a new god.

He plans to join Osiris in the afterlife.

In this moment in the middle of the 5th Dynasty,

one private individual is able to take over royal prerogatives

and the cult of a very important

god like the god Osiris, to whom

you want to be assimilated in the afterlife,

exactly as kings wanted to do.

Resurrection -- once the gift of Ra

and the preserve of royalty -- is now for commoners, too.

and the preserve of royalty -- is now for commoners, too.

Ty and Ptahshepses can now rise in life and in death.

The pharaohs, the Sun Kings, are losing their unique

authority and their grip on the levers of power.

Saqqara has more to reveal about the end of the Sun Kings.

Max ventures inside the pyramid of

the last pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty, Unas.

the last pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty, Unas.

Unas is buried here in Saqqara, not in

the family necropolis in Abusir.

Clues here could reveal

the Sun King's ultimate fall from power.

Oh, wow.

This is astonishing, incredibly amazing.

The room looks like a small one, but it's full of

funerary offering formula.

funerary offering formula.

Every single space of this room is packed with inscription,

because this is about funerary formulas for the afterlife.

In the end, the purpose of all of

this was to allow the resurrection of the king.

Here, you can see the name of the king

and Osiris, to whom the king wants to be assimilated.

NARRATOR: It's evidence Unas puts his faith in Osiris, too.

What we have here on this wall

is the final assimilation of King Unas.

is the final assimilation of King Unas.

You see here the cartouche and the god Osiris.

So Unas has now become the god Osiris.

NARRATOR: Unas now embraces Osiris,

the god of the afterlife.

He never builds a sun temple.

The 5th Dynasty Sun Cult is over,

and with it, the era of the Sun Kings.

This is definitely the turning point of Egyptian history

and the end of the solar time and the Sun King's era.

Now the dominant god is Osiris,

Now the dominant god is Osiris,

and the king wanted to be assimilated to Osiris.

This is evidently the beginning of

a new phase of Egyptian history.

NARRATOR: Unas dies without a male heir,

and the 5th dynasty ends,

now only remembered through its family necropolis.

Egypt's great dynasties come and go over the millennia,

Egypt's great dynasties come and go over the millennia,

but the pyramids they build remain.

They are ancient engineering wonders.

Cédric believes the ruins at Abusir hold one final mystery

that could unlock secrets of all the pyramids in Egypt.

Why is the necropolis built here, in this exact location?

Can an aerial investigation shine new light

on Egypt's underlying obsession with the sun?

Abusir -- this ancient necropolis charts

the rise and fall of Egypt's Sun Kings.

Cédric Gobeil believes one final

mystery remains to be solved here,

more than 4,000 years after this site is abandoned.

He's on a mission to investigate why the pharaohs of

the 5th Dynasty build their eternal homes

in this exact location.

He thinks Abusir could be linked to

the wider landscape of Egypt's most famous pyramids.

CéDRIC: The site of Abusir covers many acres.

Walking through the pyramids doesn't give us that many clue

and understanding

of why this site has been built here, right between Giza

and Saqqara.

NARRATOR: Abusir sits between Giza,

home of the great pyramids, and Saqqara, where the first

step pyramids are built.

All three sites are on the Nile's west bank,

All three sites are on the Nile's west bank,

where the sun sets.

The ancient Egyptians believe this is

where the dead can enter the underworld

as the sun goes down.

Cédric hunts for more clues about

the precise position of each pyramid.

I'm looking at a satellite image of the Cairo area, and we

can see clearly the pyramids of Giza and the pyramids of

Abusir, and when we look at the pyramids of Giza,

Abusir, and when we look at the pyramids of Giza,

we know that they are facing in a particular direction,

and the pyramids of Abusir

are also facing in that same direction.

NARRATOR: The aerial evidence reveals that the northeast

corners of the pyramids

at Giza and Abusir all aligned in one

particular direction.

So when you take these two lines,

you see that they are converging

in one particular spot.

NARRATOR: Cédric heads 17 miles northeast to examine

what lies at the point

on the map where all the sight lines of the pyramids converge.

He hopes to find ancient clues here that could reveal

why the Sun Kings align their tombs to this point.

This is remarkable, absolutely.

This is remarkable, absolutely.

A huge obelisk,

standing there since millennia.

Wow.

All the pyramid sides are pointing to that very spot.

NARRATOR: The pyramids at Abusir and Giza

are all orientated to face this obelisk.

Cédric scours the ruins around its base

Cédric scours the ruins around its base

for clues to this iconic monument's purpose.

Sitting right in front of the obelisk, we have here

the depiction of the god Ra himself,

easily recognizable with his falcon head carrying

the sun disk above his head.

NARRATOR: The evidence suggests this location has

special meaning for the Sun Kings and the Sun God Ra.

Looking at the inscriptions, it was built roughly around

Looking at the inscriptions, it was built roughly around

1950 BC -- clearly, this is an ancient place,

and the name of this place is Heliopolis,

the City of the Sun.

NARRATOR: Heliopolis, the Sun City,

is the birthplace of the world.

It's one of Egypt's oldest cities,

the old capital of lower Egypt.

It's also ancient Egypt's great religious center,

and this granite colossus at its heart

and this granite colossus at its heart

is the oldest surviving obelisk in the world.

CéDRIC: The sun was born here,

and an obelisk is the perfect symbol of this sun.

Like when you're a child, you draw a sun right?

You have a circle with all the rays around.

Well actually, the obelisk is just a petrified ray

of sunlight -- this is what it symbolizes.

Clearly, there was a temple of the sun right here.

So Ra, the god Ra,

So Ra, the god Ra,

one of the most important of ancient Egypt, he was worshiped

here, and this place must have been unique to the ancient

Egyptians, because in their mind,

this was the place where creation started.

This is the place where the world was born.

NARRATOR: The Sun Kings of the 5th Dynasty

hold Heliopolis in especially high regard.

What links these kings to this place is actually this

What links these kings to this place is actually this

is the place where the sun was being reborn every day.

So these kings were also being reborn like the sun forever.

NARRATOR: Abusir -- an enigmatic necropolis

filled with pyramids,

elaborate mortuary temples, and sun temples.

An ancient site that sees the rise of the Sun Kings,

where the pharaohs rule as gods with the cult of Ra,

where the pharaohs rule as gods with the cult of Ra,

until its collapse and fall to

the cult of Osiris, god of the underworld.

A site of amazing discoveries and home to a dynasty of

kings who promote themselves

with extravagant events and costly rituals,

at the expense of the state.

A site where an emerging class of elite officials attain high

status and compete with the pharaohs for wealth,

power, and a place in eternity and transform

power, and a place in eternity and transform

ancient Egypt forever.