Ancient Egyptians — Season 1, Episode 2: Tomb Robbers
Drama, Documentary • 49 min • 1 season, 4 episodes • ★ 7.2/10
Episode synopsis
The great tomb robbing scandal of the 20th Dynasty. October 1111 BC. The holy city of Thebes is rocked by scandal. The tombs of the Pharaohs are being plundered of priceless treasure. A labourer called Amenpanufer is arrested for tomb robbery, and tortured. Three thousand years later, the records of his trial still survive. But this is no ordinary criminal case. It's the true story of the greatest tomb robbing scandal in Egypt's history. The poor quarryman is just a fall guy, hauled in to cover up a web of lies and corruption - but he knows enough to bring down the most powerful men in Egypt.
About Ancient Egyptians
Each of the four separate episodes -rather independent chapters- presents some of the findings of Egyptology, largely in the form of realistically presented docudrama, a splendid spectacle by peplum-standards, yet unusually true and hence surprising for non-specialist viewers in various details. Remarkable is the revealed contrast between the image-building clichés presented by the official, mostly monumental sources, glorifying deified pharaohs' glorious reign and triumphs and 'celestial' deities, and the more mundane reality, deduced largely from other archaeological findings, showing more human vices, misery, crime