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00:03On the west bank of the Nile, a pharaonic construction of unprecedented refinement in the history of ancient Egypt
00:11dominates Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Hatshepsut. Built 3,500 years ago, it fascinates both
00:20Egyptologists and tourists who come from all over the world.
00:35But nothing could have predicted the extraordinary destiny of Hatshepsut, a queen who became king.
00:43I think Hatshepsut is a fascinating king. She is quite unique.
00:47It is obvious that she had an exceptional destiny, in common.
00:52At the dawn of the new kingdom, following a period of unrest and war, pharaoh Hatshepsut has a duty to
00:59re-establish Egypt's greatness.
01:02She instigates a massive construction program, building monuments that still stand today.
01:07She innovates throughout her reign, from the first prefabricated building in history to the creation of the Valley of the
01:13Kings.
01:18She builds extensively more than almost any other king before.
01:24But her most stunning achievement remains her temple of millions of years, the Jezer Jezeru, the Holy of Holies.
01:30This architectural gem is much more than a mortuary temple. It provides the people with proof of Hatshepsut's divine birth
01:38and affirms her legitimacy as the sole ruler of Egypt.
01:42The kingdom of Hatshepsut is a common kingdom, because it's a woman, because she took the power.
01:47She had to use all the forces of the country and show that she was able to federate her forces
01:51to accomplish extraordinary exploits.
01:53And it's the only woman in 3,000 years of history who has exercised the power for so long time.
01:58Mobilizing all the expertise of ancient Egypt, the temple of Hatshepsut is testament to the incredible engineering skills of the
02:04Egyptian people.
02:07But today's Egyptologists may be on the verge of providing a completely different interpretation of this temple's place in Egypt's
02:13history.
02:14A temple located at the foot of a superstructure.
02:33Egypt, the 15th century BCE.
02:37To the west of the Nile, at the foot of some imposing cliffs, stands one of the most beautiful constructions
02:43of ancient Egypt, the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut.
02:47Dominating the Nile, this majestic temple reflects the power of the kingdom of Egypt, only recently regained after two centuries
02:54of upheaval and invasions.
02:58It's the beginning of a period that modern Egyptologists will call the New Kingdom.
03:07Beginning in 1550 and ending in 1085 BCE, the New Kingdom marks a period of great prosperity.
03:16It's during this period that great pharaohs such as Tutankhamun and Ramesses II will reign.
03:21Egypt expands its borders, now extending from the kingdom of Kush in the south to Byblos in the northeast,
03:28thanks to the numerous military campaigns carried out in Nubia and the Middle East.
03:34The New Egyptian Empire is a period of Egyptian history where pharaohs and Tebans have taken power and unified Egypt.
03:42It follows a period of instability where foreign peoples dominated Egypt.
03:47Hatshepsut inherits a throne which has an important function to keep Egypt safe.
03:53There is recent memory of invasions of people like the Hexos from the Eastern Mediterranean.
04:00Egypt regains its might and becomes rich and powerful again.
04:04It is important for the pharaohs of the new empire, and particularly from the 18th dynasty, the dynasties of Hatshepsut,
04:10to affirm their power and affirm the power of Egypt in its environment, in its geopolitical context,
04:17to prevent Egypt being invaded and dominated by a foreign people.
04:21But it isn't until the 19th century and the rediscovery of this temple, buried beneath the sand,
04:27that it finally becomes possible to understand the place it holds in the history of Egypt and the secrets hidden
04:33within its walls.
04:36To begin with, Egyptologists realize to their great astonishment that the pharaoh who had it built is actually a woman.
04:49There has been nothing beforehand to hint at the existence of a queen who had become king.
04:58It's in the 19th century that a large number of discoveries would bring the story of Hatshepsut and her temple
05:04to light.
05:16Born probably in Thebes between 1508 and 1495 BCE, Hatshepsut, whose somewhat prophetic name means the first of the noble
05:25ladies,
05:26is the fifth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt.
05:30Hatshepsut is the daughter of King Thutmose I and Amos.
05:35At the time, pharaohs have several wives, and it's from a second union that Thutmose I fathers a son, Thutmose
05:42II.
05:45To preserve the royal blood, Hatshepsut marries her half-brother and has a daughter, Neferure.
05:52Like his father before him, from a second union, Thutmose II then fathers a son, Thutmose III, Hatshepsut's nephew,
06:01and destined by royal tradition to one day become pharaoh.
06:08History has been written, at least in theory.
06:12Hatshepsut has what it takes to become a powerful queen, but her ambition is greater, so great that it will
06:18turn Egyptian traditions completely upside down.
06:21What if Hatshepsut was to seize power from her nephew, Thutmose III, the legitimate heir to the throne of Egypt?
06:30Before Thutmose III is old enough to rule, Hatshepsut will arrange her own coronation in front of all the people
06:37of Egypt.
06:38She had a completely different vision for her rule. She took an opportunity and a chance.
06:53To pull off this political feat, Hatshepsut needs some powerful backing from a very influential caste, the priests of Amun
07:02in Karnak.
07:03The great priest, Amun, who led to Hatshepsut in his actions, contribute to expand her ideology.
07:11And in return, we find texts that these priests have received the favor of the queen.
07:19Hatshepsut becomes pharaoh, king of Egypt. The sheath dress is replaced by a loincloth. Some monuments will even show her
07:27with the famous false beard.
07:49Hatshepsut, the pharaoh, pursues her ambitious destiny, and launches a vast building program on both banks of the Nile.
07:57And one of the first largest pharaohs in the Middle East in the Middle East in the Middle East in
07:58the Middle East.
07:58One of the largest large-scale projects that she will embark upon is the construction of her mortuary temple, the
08:02one that will enable her to reach eternity, the sublime of sublimes, the holy of holies, the temple of millions
08:09of years.
08:15Like the kings before her, Hatshepsut builds a mortuary temple, a massive construction with ambitious and innovative architecture.
08:24It's within the rocky amphitheatre of Deir el-Bahri, across the Nile from Thebes, today's Luxor and the capital of
08:30ancient Egypt, that Hatshepsut builds her temple.
08:34It's a highly symbolic setting.
08:37The river river river, the north west, is the place where the sun is located.
08:42And they designed the future of the pharaoh as a voyage.
08:46The pharaoh identifies the sun, the sun is located in the west west, and will travel the world souterrain during
08:54the night to renaître from the east east to the end.
09:00This explains how the Técropole are rather installed from the west west of the Nile.
09:08The temple is a pedestal for the Theban mountain.
09:11Built shortly after 1479 BCE, this colossal monument, constructed over 15 years, has a dual function.
09:21It would allow Hatshepsut and her people to honour the gods during major religious ceremonies
09:25and be the medium upon which the extraordinary life of the queen would be depicted, the story of her accession
09:31to the throne of Egypt.
09:33Hatshepsut.
09:36Oriented east-west, aligned with the path of the sun, the temple was the culmination of a processional causeway one
09:43kilometer long,
09:44linking it on the other side of the Nile with the temple of Amun in Karnak.
09:48The temple is of an extraordinary size, 275 meters in length by 105 meters wide.
09:54Three terraces allow the building to reach a total height of 24.5 meters.
10:00Ramps 30 meters long gradually ascend towards the highest point of the temple, the most sacred place carved out of
10:08the cliff.
10:08The sanctuary of Amun, the king of the gods of ancient Egypt.
10:24The temple of Hatshepsut stands out from the other constructions of the New Kingdom.
10:28It dispenses with the pylons, the edifices that flank the entrances to temples as in Karnak.
10:36The predominant elements in this temple are two terraces, on which we can access with large ramps,
10:43and portiques that are in front of us, which are in front of these terraces.
10:47The temple of portiques is actually dictated by the nature of the place.
10:51In Derebari, the soil rises little by little.
10:54The portiques and the walls behind them are the equivalent of the pylons in a temple like Karnak.
11:02The porticoes, an unusual feature, are colonnades, marking the entrances to the different chapels dedicated to the gods.
11:09The famous Egyptologist August Mariette would say of Hatshepsut's temple that nothing could possibly look less like an Egyptian temple.
11:17We really have the impression of not being in a typically Egyptian temple,
11:20because we have no columns with floral chapters.
11:23We really have the impression that we have a kind of composition with horizontal horizontal and vertical lines.
11:28It's very modern.
11:33Designed by the architect Senenmut,
11:36the temple known as Jezer Jezeru, meaning the Holy of Holies,
11:42takes its inspiration from a temple in the immediate vicinity of Hatshepsut's,
11:46built five centuries earlier, during the Middle Empire.
11:57Hatshepsut is inspired by the Middle Kingdom.
12:00She built her very famous mortuary template Derebari right next to Mentuhotep II,
12:05and she used his innovative design as a template for her own terraced structure.
12:17The site is therefore a mortuary complex.
12:20Hatshepsut's temple isn't the only one sitting in front of the cliffs.
12:23The site of Dere el-Bahri accommodates three mortuary temples,
12:27that of Mentuhotep II from the XI dynasty,
12:32Hatshepsut's,
12:35and finally that of Thutmose III, the Queen's nephew.
12:42Built mainly of limestone from local quarries such as Gourna,
12:46the temple contains structural elements in granite and sandstone,
12:49brought in from quarries several hundred kilometres away.
12:57Hatshepsut's temple is highly innovative,
12:59and its astonishing architecture still fascinates Egyptologists from all around the world.
13:04The site is grandiose.
13:06It's a specific place, you know, full of magnetic power.
13:10There is something like this, for sure.
13:15Architecturalement, it's a splendor.
13:17L'émerveillement, it's intact.
13:19We're always impressed.
13:20The splendor, it's the frame, this big circle.
13:22This cooperation between the natural landscape and the building.
13:28And then, this mountain on the terrace with these portiques,
13:31which irritate the façades, it's absolutely fabulous.
13:34It hits because it's totally different from the other things we can see in Egypt.
13:38How could such an original building emerge onto the Egyptian landscape?
13:52Hatshepsut's mortuary temple is what's known as a mansion of millions of years.
13:58It's a type of monument that existed already since the ancient empire,
14:02for example, at the time of the pyramids.
14:05So, this type of temple evolves,
14:07and in the new empire, it takes the name of a chateau of millions of years.
14:14The pharaons are honored in these temples,
14:17God's living, but also after their death.
14:19The temple continues to work,
14:20and in fact, we're going to make them a funeral cult.
14:23Unlike the kings who were buried in mortuary complexes at the foot of a pyramid,
14:27the pharaohs of the new kingdom built their tombs separately from their mortuary temple,
14:32mainly to combat pillaging.
14:35Another particularity of the west bank mortuary temples
14:37is that they are meant to be built during the pharaoh's lifetime,
14:41which is not the case with the temples on the east bank,
14:43where the temples are the product of the cumulative work of several generations of pharaohs.
14:52The architecture of the temples of the new kingdom finds new forms.
14:56When we enter into the new empire, the architecture evolves considerably,
15:00since from the funeral point of view, we abandon the pyramids.
15:03In religious architecture, the temples will become more and more vast.
15:07Every kingdom will bring its contribution to, for example, the temple of Karnak,
15:11to grow considerably.
15:13We will have the biggest temples ever built in Egypt.
15:16The work takes from 10 to 15 years, from the plans to the extraction of the stone,
15:21cutting, transportation, assembly and decoration.
15:24It begins in year seven of Hatshepsut's reign.
15:26The temple is arranged into terraces and porticos, made up of columns,
15:31opening onto five chapels dedicated to the gods and the royal family,
15:34and four rooms whose walls illustrate the major events in Hatshepsut's life.
15:40A processional causeway allowed access to the temple,
15:43and was lined with sphinxes with the body of a lion and the head of Queen Hatshepsut,
15:47wearing the nemes, a head cloth worn by pharaohs.
15:51We forgot that this temple for millions of years was connected by a chaussée,
15:55a chaussée of 2,000 feet, that is 1,053 meters, which is absolutely huge,
15:59to another temple, called the Temple of the Valley,
16:02which is located today at the level of the fields.
16:15The majority of the temple is built in limestone, abundant in the region,
16:19from the Gurna quarry, just a few kilometers from the site,
16:22and known as Hatshepsut's quarry.
16:24During the joint reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III,
16:28the facing of the temples was made either of limestone or sandstone.
16:38Some open air quarries allow us to understand the methods used by the Egyptians.
17:00Some open air quarries allow us to understand the methods used by the Egyptians.
17:07The Jebel el-Silsala site, 160 kilometers from the Deir el-Bahri temple,
17:13is one of the quarries used by Hatshepsut.
17:16Covering 38 square kilometers, it's the largest sandstone quarry in Egypt.
17:21Its location is ideal.
17:23Upstream of Thebes, the current was used to facilitate the transport of heavy loads.
17:32Already known during prehistory, it was used for centuries in the construction of Egyptian temples,
17:37and in particular those of the Middle and New Kingdoms.
17:40Sandstone was used both as a building material and in the creation of ornamental elements.
17:45Unfinished sculptures are still visible on the east bank.
17:48Hatshepsut will extract hundreds of thousands of tons from the Jebel el-Silsala quarry
17:53to supply her numerous constructions.
17:57The now abandoned site is a mine of information for archaeologists and modern architects
18:02interested in the methods used by the ancient Egyptians.
18:06When quarrying, the first step was to remove the block, which was the hardest and required the most people.
18:12So once the block was removed, they did want to shave off some of the weight
18:16and some of the bulkiness of the rock before they transported it.
18:19So probably miners would have done some chopping and finishing to even out the sides,
18:24and if they can remove some kilos from the rock before they transported it, that would be ideal.
18:29So certainly there was some degree of processing of the rocks in the quarry on-site before it was transferred.
18:40The quarrymen used rudimentary tools, such as copper or bronze chisels,
18:44with which they cut trenches in order to detach the blocks from the wall.
18:49By studying the remains of the quarrying site, by looking at all the chisel marks,
18:54the way the stones are cut, we can tell and get a good idea of what the ancient Egyptians did
18:58to mine the stones.
19:00And they would cut a line across and a line here to mark out the area of the block.
19:08And then they would cut with their chisels tons of tiny holes to free those spaces.
19:13And then they get to the bottom, where the bottom is still stuck to the rock.
19:17You've got the back and the sides free.
19:19So then they would start to take their chisel and they would cut into the rock to undercut it
19:24and remove the actual stone as a block.
19:31It's nice to see these ancient traces of the mining process and to see someone's tool marks from thousands of
19:37years ago.
19:49One of the things that I find remarkable is that ancient Egyptians were able to do stuff
19:54with fewer people than we would think and much faster than we would think.
20:01We think of these mining expeditions as being vast with thousands upon thousands of people.
20:06But archaeological excavations of mining sites show really small settlement areas where miners would have lived.
20:12So we think it would have been in the hundreds, not in the thousands.
20:16So it was probably a combination of a skilled workforce in small numbers,
20:21plus other people that were there as just, you know, manpower, pulling and dragging and smashing and things like that.
20:29But to support certain loads or to create entrances to sacred places,
20:33or even for voluminous sculptures made from single blocks such as obelisks,
20:38the Egyptians used a much more resistant material, granite.
20:46The granite is more resistant and more noble, in the Egyptian thinking, than the calcium.
20:51It will last, it is made to last forever.
20:53So red granite was usually used on the axis of the Egyptian temples
20:58because the red granite had a very straight solar connotation.
21:03So the location red granite portals on the axis of the temple
21:07let the solar god Ra enter to every single temple.
21:13Cutting granite presents different challenges to working with sandstone and limestone.
21:18It's thanks to a massive stone monument, found in another quarry in Aswan,
21:23that Egyptologists have unlocked the secret.
21:25The unfinished obelisk is colossal in size.
21:30A dizzying 42 meters tall and weighing 1,200 tons,
21:35it unfortunately split when workers tried to separate it from the quarry.
21:38We discovered the delirite balls.
21:40The delirite is a much harder stone than the granite.
21:43These balls of delirite, in fact, serve as a sort of big mass stone.
21:47The mass that we left on the granite,
21:50to be able, by percussion, to be able to cast it.
21:52It was a very long and laborious work,
21:54but at the end of the day,
21:55we could already have several centimeters cubed of granite.
21:58But to cut these granite giants in a reasonable time,
22:02the Egyptians also used another particularly effective method,
22:05which allowed them to complete an obelisk in less than a year.
22:23The great Egyptian temples present a series of technical challenges throughout the construction process,
22:30and stone quarrying and cutting are just the first.
22:32A new problem soon arises,
22:35transporting these blocks weighing several tons by boat to the construction sites.
22:48Hatshepsut reigned 1,200 years before the discovery of the Archimedes principle.
22:53However, for centuries, the Egyptians managed to build boats capable of transporting several hundred tons on the Nile.
23:02One of Queen Hatshepsut's most remarkable monumental projects in the 15th year of her reign
23:08was the construction of the two largest obelisks in Karnak,
23:12one of which still stands, the tallest in the whole of Egypt.
23:18Hatshepsut's temple and the obelisks' portico give us valuable information
23:22about the methods the Egyptians used to transport these colossi to Karnak.
23:27The obelisks teaches us how technically an obelisk was taken and put in place,
23:34but it also teaches us that it was a whole ritual, a ceremony
23:37to show the importance of the pharaon.
23:43It's a massive project.
23:45Measuring 28.52 meters in height and weighing 325 tons each,
23:51the two granite obelisks were dedicated to the god Amun.
23:55Topped with a pyramidium made of electrum,
23:58an alloy composed of 75% gold and 25% silver,
24:01they could be seen from both banks of the Nile and reflected the first rays of the sun.
24:11The fresco shows a boat made of sycamore wood,
24:14resembling a flat-bottomed river barge,
24:1763 meters long and 21 meters wide,
24:20upon which the obelisks are placed one behind the other.
24:24So the ancient Egyptians found ways to displace the weight,
24:28so that they could place a wide layer of sandstone onto these boats and transport it.
24:35At the stern, two pairs of steering oars help combat the wind and currents.
24:41On board the boat, the obelisks remain on their sleds,
24:44which have been used to bring them from the quarry.
24:53Hatshepsut, the ambitious queen pharaoh,
24:55will continue to count on the ingenuity of her people
24:58and her best architects and craftsmen to carry out her vast building program.
25:08The temple of millions of years is not the only sign of her innovative architectural ambition.
25:15Throughout her reign, Hatshepsut will continue to break with tradition.
25:19Such is the case with the Red Chapel in Karnak,
25:21made of quartz diorite and originally located between the two obelisks.
25:25It's considered to be the first stone prefabricated building in history.
25:29The monument, built towards the end of Hatshepsut's reign,
25:32serves as an official resting place for Armand's sacred bark.
25:37The Red Chapel was made as a kit.
25:55Each block was cut to a uniform height of 59 cm and decorated before assembly.
26:05The blocks, now ready for use, were then placed according to a predefined plan.
26:10The engraved scenes fitted together perfectly to tell their stories.
26:15Thanks to this technique, the Red Chapel was completed at record speed.
26:21It was a completely new process for the time,
26:24which for unknown reasons were subsequently abandoned.
26:31But another innovation will mark the reign of Hatshepsut and all the pharaohs of the new kingdom.
26:40The famous Valley of the Kings.
26:44Located on the other side of Deir el-Bakhri and Hatshepsut's temple,
26:48the Valley of the Kings will become the burial site of the pharaohs.
26:53And according to some Egyptologists, it's Hatshepsut herself who inaugurated it.
27:00Was she the first king to have been buried in this valley, known today worldwide?
27:08The sovereigns of the New Empire are known to have been buried in the famous Valley of the Kings,
27:13which is located on the eastern valley of Thèbes.
27:16We call it the Valley of the Kings, but in reality,
27:19the first Egyptian sovereign to have been buried in the Valley of the Kings,
27:22is a queen, since it's at Hatshepsut.
27:27She maybe doesn't invent the Valley of the Kings as the royal burial place,
27:32but she certainly confirms the importance of the Valley of the Kings
27:37as the cemetery of pharaohs throughout the new kingdom.
27:42The Valley of the Kings is a dry watercourse.
27:46A lost gorge, which ends at the foot of a mountain topped by a natural pyramid called El Khurn, the
27:54peak.
28:00We're going to enter the very first tomb dug in the Valley of the Kings,
28:04a tunnel that's still difficult to navigate.
28:09The royal tomb of Hatshepsut and her father, Thutmose I, is identified by the number KV-20.
28:21It's a single descending corridor, 210 metres long.
28:32Undecorated, it's a tunnel with an uneven floor,
28:35which descends deep into the heart of the mountain.
28:50At the end is Hatshepsut's burial chamber, nearly 100 metres below the surface.
29:10And it's at the end of this corridor, the chamber funerary,
29:13with the royal treasure, and the sarcophage of the sovereign.
29:18The Archive of the King
29:19The Archive of the King
29:29The Archive of the King
29:36The Archive of the King
29:38The architecture and construction process of the temple in Dir-el-Bahri
29:41will not escape Hatshepsut's remarkable ambitions.
29:46The temple is built in several stages.
29:50The marking out of a final plan,
29:52the establishment of terraces and ramps,
29:54the erection of the porticos,
29:56cutting out of chapels,
29:57and finally, the wall decoration.
30:00Several of these works are carried out simultaneously.
30:08The Tomb of Rechamir.
30:10Now open to the public, this tomb,
30:12built for the eternal rest of Rechamir,
30:15one of Thutmose III's viziers,
30:17is in the Valley of the Nobles.
30:18It provides Egyptologists with valuable information
30:21about the techniques used by the Egyptians.
30:25To achieve monumental buildings,
30:28such as the temple of Hatshepsut,
30:30but also the transport and the obelisks
30:34or the pylones that we find in Karnak,
30:37the Egyptians put in place a system of ramps
30:41which is built by an empty brick.
30:44This ramp allows us to put a train
30:47that will go along and transport the block
30:51up to the destination chosen
30:53to assemble these blocks
30:54and create the building in question.
30:57The construction will be higher,
30:59the ramp will be bigger,
31:01the weight of the statue,
31:04the obelisks or the block is heavy,
31:07the construction will be solid
31:08and will solicit an important number of concrete bricks.
31:13The structural work was carried out by conscripted laborers,
31:16farmers made available for work each year
31:19when the Nile flooded their fields.
31:20It is necessary to imagine
31:21that the building of Deir el-Bahari
31:23will mobilise a lot of people.
31:25And the workers,
31:26in fact,
31:26we recruit them at the title of the corvée.
31:28Like it was already the case
31:29at the time of the pyramids,
31:30they are nourished,
31:31they are located,
31:32we give them the pants,
31:33the sandals,
31:34and the pharaon administration also
31:36provides all the tools
31:37that is necessary
31:38to do their work.
31:41Egypt had the means
31:42to build this type of temple,
31:43important monuments,
31:45but they had to align
31:46to the agriculture cycle
31:47to be able to mobilize the human forces.
31:49Then,
31:50there are more specialized workers
31:52who are in the field of artisanat
31:54and there are employees
31:56who are remunersed by the pharaon.
32:01It was to the north of the temple
32:02that the workers transported
32:04the calibrated limestone blocks.
32:06They slid the most precious parts
32:08of the temple along on sleds,
32:09the uprights,
32:10the lintel of the granite doors
32:12for the upper terrace
32:12and the statues.
32:15Once the structural work was completed,
32:17an edicule,
32:18a small temple was built
32:19beside a man-made canal
32:21to allow boats to dock.
32:22The construction of an Egyptian temple
32:24such as Dere Elbari
32:25had to need the work
32:27of several thousands of people.
32:29Some are employed
32:30to climb the rock of the circle
32:31to be able to maintain the temple.
32:34Some have brought blocks,
32:36some have raised some terraces.
32:37There are a sort of
32:39a sort of mousse.
32:41Within the foundation deposits
32:43of the temple,
32:44Egyptologists have also discovered
32:46miniature replicas
32:47of the rudimentary tools
32:48used by the builders,
32:49such as picks,
32:50mallets, chisels,
32:52brick moulds
32:53and even knotted ropes.
32:55We will also find
32:56particularly in the temple
32:58of Dere Elbari
32:59what we call
32:59a sort of berceau
33:01in wood
33:01whose function
33:02is enigmatic.
33:03Some imagine
33:04that this is an ascenseur
33:05also.
33:06It is to say
33:06that we put the block
33:07on the berceau in wood
33:09and the block
33:10we will make it
33:10like this.
33:11We will insert a cale
33:13and then we will make it
33:14to the other side
33:15and insert another cale
33:16and like that
33:16we will be able to
33:18up the block.
33:34The temples of ancient Egypt
33:36brought people together
33:37during large religious ceremonies.
33:43The traditional beautiful
33:44festival of the valley,
33:46one of the most important
33:47in the new kingdom,
33:48was a remembrance
33:49of the dead
33:49that lasted for several days.
33:55This fête
33:56had for but
33:58the temples funéraires
33:59of the west of Nile.
34:01There were tambourins,
34:03singing,
34:03dances,
34:04so we know
34:05there were a lot of animation
34:06around these festivities.
34:07This would be a major
34:10national event.
34:11There would be music,
34:12there would be dancing,
34:14there would be drunkenness
34:15because only through drunkenness
34:17would you experience the ecstasy
34:19of seeing the gods.
34:21It would be a crazy party
34:23and Hatshepsut probably was the one
34:25leading that ritual,
34:28that celebration in Thebes.
34:30It was an union of the people
34:32around his sovereign,
34:33and for Hatshepsut
34:34it was the opportunity
34:35to reaffirm his legitimacy
34:37and his link to the divinity.
34:42The festival was a symbolic journey.
34:45The festival was a symbolic journey.
34:45Amun's sacred bark left the temple
34:47of Karnak and was transported
34:48from the east bank of the Nile,
34:50the world of the living,
34:51where the sun rises,
34:52to the west bank,
34:53the world of the dead
34:54and the setting sun.
34:55The boat ended its journey
34:56in its sanctuary
34:57in the temple of Hatshepsut.
35:08The processional route,
35:09which brought the bark
35:10to the queen pharaoh's temple,
35:12is one kilometer long
35:13and starts at the temple
35:15of the valley.
35:17A dromos, an imposing avenue
35:20lined every 15 meters
35:22with majestic pink sandstone sphinxes,
35:24connects the dock to the temple.
35:27There was a long discussion
35:29about the number of sphinxes
35:30that stood there originally.
35:32It was suggested
35:33that there were over 100 sphinxes
35:36in total on both sides
35:38of this causeway.
35:42The excavation conducted
35:44by the Egyptian expedition
35:45from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
35:47in the 1930s,
35:48revealed especially the distance
35:50between the bases of the sphinxes,
35:52which was about 15,5 meters
35:55between every single pair of sphinxes,
35:58which gave us between 72 to 76 sphinxes
36:02in total.
36:04Armand's bark,
36:05measuring 4.5 meters,
36:07was a reduced version
36:08of a real boat.
36:09And there,
36:10a certain number of rites
36:12had taken place
36:13to renew the forces of the pharaon,
36:16to renew his divinity.
36:18Long poles allowed six priests
36:20to carry the bark
36:21to the sanctuary
36:21at the top of the temple.
36:23The stern and bow
36:24featured the head of a ram,
36:25the sacred animal of the god.
36:27A statue of Armand,
36:29richly adorned with jewels,
36:30was placed in the centre
36:31of the boat,
36:32housed in a naos,
36:33a miniature temple.
36:47Once it arrived at the temple gate,
36:49the procession continued its ascent
36:51up the long ramps
36:52until it finally reached the sanctuary,
36:55carved into the mountain.
36:57The bark and the statue
36:58spent a whole night there
36:59before returning to Karnak.
37:12The temple of Hatshepsut
37:13was designed as the end
37:14of a processional route,
37:16but it remains above all
37:17an open book,
37:18engraved in the rock.
37:21The three levels of the temple
37:23represent an ascent
37:24from terrace to terrace
37:25towards the god Amun,
37:27whose sanctuary
37:28is located
37:29at the highest point
37:30in the cliff.
37:32The lower terrace,
37:34which is 120 metres long,
37:35is surrounded by a high wall
37:37with a single gate
37:38two metres wide,
37:40providing the main access
37:41to the temple.
37:44two ponds planted with papyrus
37:46and flowers greet the visitor.
37:49At the bottom,
37:51two porticos with 22 columns
37:5325 metres tall,
37:54divided into two rows,
37:56depict two episodes
37:57from Hatshepsut's life.
38:00A hunting and fishing scene
38:02to the north,
38:05and to the south,
38:06the transportation of two obelisks
38:08to the Temple of Amun in Karnak.
38:12The two porticos
38:13on the first terrace
38:14depict events witnessed
38:15by the people.
38:18Two imposing statues
38:20of reclining lions
38:21flank the base
38:22of the first ramp,
38:2330 metres long,
38:24leading to the second terrace.
38:26The middle terrace
38:28is similar to the lower one,
38:29with a double portico
38:30of 22 columns,
38:32pillars,
38:32and a ramp.
38:34But instead of lions,
38:36this time there are
38:36two majestic falcons.
38:38The major difference, however,
38:40two additional chapels,
38:42dedicated to the gods Anubis
38:43and the goddess Hathor,
38:45have been added
38:45to the central porticos.
38:51The cult of the goddess Hathor
38:53at Deir el-Bahri,
38:55greatly predates
38:56Hatshepsut's reign.
38:58A place of worship existed
39:00long before the temple,
39:01and modern Egyptologists
39:03think that,
39:04during Hatshepsut's reign,
39:05the chapel had its own
39:06access ramp,
39:07so that people
39:08could enter it freely.
39:09Del-Bahri was the temple
39:11of the state,
39:13so the god Amun Ra
39:14was worshipped there.
39:15But on the other side
39:16we have the Hathor shrine,
39:18where the common people
39:19could come and pray
39:20and leave the votive offerings
39:23to her.
39:24So we have this combination
39:25of these two types
39:27of religion in Egypt.
39:29We don't have many temples
39:31where we can find
39:32both of them together.
39:35But celebrating
39:36the cult of Amun
39:37isn't the only objective
39:38of the temple.
39:39Within its walls,
39:40one ambition is clear,
39:41to prevent anyone
39:42from questioning
39:42the legitimacy of
39:43Pharaoh Hatshepsut.
39:46Egyptologists view
39:46the two porticos
39:47of the second terrace
39:48as an ensemble
39:49designed to convince
39:50the Egyptian people
39:51of her rightful place
39:52as Pharaoh,
39:53chosen by the gods.
39:54The north and the south
39:56are linked
39:57by their representation.
39:58One represents
39:59the expedition
40:00to the country
40:00and the other
40:01which represents
40:02the Théogamie
40:02of Hatshepsut.
40:04The Théogamie
40:04is the union
40:05of the dieu Amun
40:06with the mother
40:06of Hatshepsut,
40:07giving birth to Hatshepsut.
40:10The Théologians
40:11will react to
40:12the ancient rites
40:12which is a very important
40:14rite of the birth
40:15which is the rite
40:16which was a little
40:17a little bit
40:17on the ovelet,
40:18which means
40:19that Pharaoh
40:20was engendered
40:21by the gods.
40:21So the queen
40:22is the queen
40:24of the dieu Amun.
40:27So this idea
40:28of a female member
40:30of the royal family
40:31being married
40:32at once
40:33to a king
40:34but also married
40:35to the god
40:36is very important
40:37for rituals.
40:41Hatshepsut
40:41is therefore
40:42born of the god Amun
40:43but to leave
40:44no room for doubt
40:45for the south portico
40:46on the other side
40:47of the ramp
40:47to the left
40:48of the theogamy text
40:49she recounts
40:50the successes
40:50of her trade policy
40:51through the story
40:52of the expedition
40:53in the eighth year
40:54of her reign
40:54to the land of Punt,
40:56God's Land.
40:59The land of Punt
41:00or Tarn at Jair
41:02is a trading place
41:03for precious resources.
41:05Somewhere between
41:05myth and legend
41:06it's regarded
41:07as a land of plenty.
41:08It's most often
41:09situated on the African
41:11coast of the Red Sea.
41:12One of the most defining
41:14parts of the reign
41:15of Hatshepsut
41:16is her expedition
41:18or expeditions
41:19to a mysterious place
41:22called God's Land
41:24or a place called Punt
41:25and in this exchange
41:28this trade network
41:29the Egyptians get hold
41:31of incense trees
41:33and they love incense trees
41:34because when you burn incense
41:36it's the smell of the gods.
41:37But the incense is also
41:39an important product
41:41because it tells us
41:42that this incense
41:42has a divine power.
41:45And as we know
41:46it's because it tells us
41:46that it will regularly
41:47take care of the body
41:48with this incense.
41:49And so by doing that
41:50through this act
41:51it's supposed to be
41:53more divine.
41:53All of this is evidenced
41:55in her temple
41:57her mansion
41:58of millions of years
41:59at Deir el-Bakri
42:00where she's really boasting
42:02to the gods
42:03about what an effective
42:04king she was
42:06how she outdoes
42:07great kings from the past.
42:10Not only does the trip
42:11to the land of Punt
42:12bring material wealth
42:13to the Egyptian people
42:14it becomes a powerful anchor
42:16for Hatshepsut's
42:17divine reality.
42:21At the end of the second ramp
42:23twenty-six columns
42:24and twenty-six
42:25Osiric statues
42:26combining both
42:27Osiris and Hatshepsut
42:285.2 meters high
42:30greet the visitor.
42:31These colossi
42:32guard the entrance
42:33to the festival courtyard.
42:35Thirteen in the north
42:36wear the Desheret
42:37representing Lower Egypt
42:38and thirteen more
42:39the Hetjet
42:40the headdress
42:41of Upper Egypt.
42:41On this statue
42:43Hatshepsut is represented
42:44in Osiris
42:46she has four attributes
42:47of royal,
42:49of divin
42:49and it is important
42:51to know that Osiris
42:52is the die
42:53of the dead
42:53but beyond that
42:54it is one of the rare
42:55die to have
42:56governed on earth
42:57like Pharaon.
42:58So it brings a
42:59additional legitimation
42:59to Hatshepsut
43:00which is not only
43:01attached to Hamon
43:02and his father
43:04but also attached
43:04directly to the
43:06first king of the
43:07Egyptian line
43:08to Osiris.
43:14Access to the third
43:15and final level
43:16is through an
43:17imposing granite
43:18portal.
43:20This gate
43:21led to the
43:22festival courtyard.
43:24The rectangular
43:26courtyard
43:26surrounded by columns
43:28leads to the
43:28solar cult complex
43:29to the north
43:30the mortuary cult
43:31complex to the south
43:32and finally
43:33the sanctuary
43:34of Amon
43:35cut into the mountain.
43:37Large granite
43:39statues of
43:39Hatshepsut kneeling
43:40and offering wine
43:41dominated the
43:42central isle
43:43which was lined
43:44with smaller statues
43:45of the queen pharaoh.
43:50The temple of
43:51Hatshepsut is a
43:52hemispiot.
43:54These are temples
43:55in which the most
43:56sacred rooms are
43:57partially cut into the
43:58rock while the
43:59reception areas are
44:00built outside in the
44:02open air.
44:02The most important
44:05piece
44:05that is located
44:06at the heart of the
44:07temple is the last
44:08piece.
44:09It is not built
44:10but built
44:11in the mountain.
44:13The sanctuary of
44:15Amon is the
44:15ultimate point of the
44:16site.
44:17It received Amon's
44:18bark each year
44:19during the beautiful
44:20festival of the valley.
44:21The main sanctuary of
44:23Amon was constructed of two
44:25main parts.
44:26The first one when we
44:27entered this part of the
44:29temple was the bark wall.
44:31Then the last and the most
44:33sacred space in the temple
44:35of Hatshepsut was the so-called
44:37statue room but probably the
44:39statue of Amon stood in one
44:42of the niches curved in the
44:43walls of this room.
44:44And this piece would
44:47be logically
44:48consacred to Hatshepsut.
44:49We are still in the
44:49temple.
44:50And she would prefer
44:51to give her place to Amon
44:52and this is a
44:53pretty genius.
44:56In fusion with the
44:58ensemble,
44:59it shows the
45:00very important rapport
45:01that she entretied
45:02with the
45:02Amon.
45:07Amon,
45:08it is a
45:08name in Egyptian
45:09the cachet.
45:10So Amon is cachet
45:11and it is normal
45:11that the chapel is at the
45:12bottom of the temple
45:13is not visible.
45:14In addition,
45:16there is a progression
45:17between the
45:18public spaces,
45:19the spaces where
45:19only some people
45:20can access,
45:21and the Naos,
45:23which is really
45:23the place where the
45:23god is,
45:24where there is only a
45:25very limited number
45:26of priests and the
45:27pharaons can access.
45:29Hatshepsut had
45:30two openings made
45:31at the entrance to
45:32the chapel.
45:34Although archaeoastronomers
45:35and contemporary
45:36Egyptologists
45:36still don't know
45:37the exact date,
45:38although it is
45:39probably around
45:39the winter solstice,
45:40two skylights on
45:42either side of the
45:43first room would
45:44allow the sun's rays
45:45to shine directly
45:46into the sanctuary
45:46and illuminate
45:48a small statue
45:49of the god
45:49Amon.
45:51Usually
45:52it was very dark
45:53and we can only
45:54imagine how
45:55remarkable was
45:56even this moment.
45:58We could see
45:58a very shining statue
46:00thanks to
46:01these two
46:01small windows.
46:03in the spios of
46:05Hatshepsut's temple
46:06Amon reaches the
46:07end of his journey
46:08before being reborn.
46:10But many mysteries
46:12remain concealed
46:13within the mountain.
46:14Hatshepsut may still
46:15have some secrets
46:16in store for us.
46:17What if the
46:18Egyptologists of
46:19the 21st century
46:20were about to
46:21reconsider this
46:22temple's place
46:22in the geomorphology
46:23of the Deir el-Bahri site?
46:30For the ancient Egyptians
46:32death
46:32is not an end.
46:34By linking her temple
46:36to that of Karnak
46:37on an east-west axis
46:38on a course
46:39similar to the path
46:40of the sun
46:40Hatshepsut brought
46:41the dynastic god
46:42Amon back to life.
46:44It's Hathor,
46:46the goddess of the sky
46:46depicted as a cow
46:48who swallowed the
46:49setting sun in the west
46:50every evening
46:50and gave birth to it
46:52again each morning.
46:57Hathor's shrine
46:58has a special significance
46:59in Hatshepsut's temple.
47:02Hathor plays a
47:03regenerative role
47:04meaning that Hatshepsut
47:05could be reborn
47:06in this cycle
47:07for eternity
47:08from her tomb
47:09in the Valley of the Kings
47:10on the other side
47:11of the cliff.
47:16Amazingly,
47:17the burial chamber
47:18of KV-20
47:19is perfectly orientated
47:21towards Hatshepsut's
47:22mortuary temple.
47:25His tomb
47:26is located
47:27on the other side
47:28of the mountain
47:30Thébène
47:31the other side
47:32being occupied
47:33by the temple
47:33of Der Elbari.
47:34Some say
47:35that Hatshepsut
47:35had the ambition
47:36to create a corridor
47:37between his temple
47:38and his tomb.
47:39It's difficult
47:40to say
47:40whether it's true
47:41or not,
47:41but symbolically
47:42the great proximity
47:44between the two
47:44would allow
47:45from the religious
47:47and ritual
47:48that the offerings
47:48brought to the
47:49sovereigns
47:50would allow
47:51the survival
47:52of Hatshepsut
47:53more easily.
47:53His vital energy
47:55can easily
47:56communicate
47:59between the tomb
48:00and the temple.
48:02In this way,
48:03Hatshepsut
48:04symbolically
48:05connected her tomb
48:06to her temple.
48:07we should therefore
48:08see the valley
48:09of the kings
48:09as part of a more
48:10general plan.
48:13But according
48:14to recent discoveries
48:15that plan
48:16may have been
48:16even more ambitious.
48:19In the Theban
48:20mountains
48:21a remarkable mountain
48:22peak
48:22has long intrigued
48:24Egyptologists.
48:25Culminating
48:26at 463 metres
48:28El Khun,
48:29the peak
48:29is a natural pyramid
48:31which is said
48:32to have inspired
48:32the Egyptians
48:33to dig their tombs
48:34nearby.
48:35What if El Khun
48:36was more
48:37than just an inspiration?
48:39Recent studies
48:40raise the idea
48:41that the temple
48:42of Hatshepsut
48:42adopts a plan
48:43well known
48:44to Egyptologists.
48:45That used by
48:46the pharaohs
48:47of the Old Kingdom.
48:48A high
48:49or mortuary temple.
48:51A processional path
48:52and finally
48:53a valley temple
48:54where boats docked
48:55all oriented
48:56on an east-west axis.
48:58With one major difference
49:01Hatshepsut
49:01did not have
49:02a pyramid built
49:03to house her tomb.
49:05Unless
49:05the pyramid
49:07is not quite
49:08what we're expecting.
49:10It was suggested
49:11a few years ago
49:12that she even
49:13copied
49:13the whole arrangement
49:15of the pyramid
49:16complexes
49:17to Del Bahri.
49:20And the suggestion
49:21was
49:21that the top
49:23of the pyramid
49:24known in the
49:25Theban necropolis
49:25as El Khun
49:26it was only
49:28the top
49:28of the pyramid
49:29known Pyramidian
49:30while the other walls
49:33of the pyramid
49:34were the whole mountain.
49:37So that's why
49:37when we copied it
49:39to the complexes
49:40of the Old Kingdom
49:41we have the same example.
49:43The mortuary temple
49:44was located
49:45on the eastern side
49:46next to the eastern wall
49:48of the pyramid
49:49as we had
49:50in the pyramid complexes
49:52of the Old Kingdom.
49:54El Khun
49:55El Khun
49:55is therefore
49:55the pyramidion
49:56of a geological
49:57superstructure
49:58against which
49:59the funerary temple
50:00of Hatshepsut
50:01stands
50:02like the mortuary temples
50:03of the pyramids
50:04of Giza.
50:07A mountain pyramid
50:09an idea
50:10which may reveal
50:10the true meaning
50:11of the valley
50:12of the kings
50:13not only to deter
50:14looters
50:14but a place
50:15in which to be buried
50:16like the pharaohs
50:17of the Old Kingdom
50:18in the very heart
50:19of the pyramid.
50:21She copied also
50:22the place
50:23of her tomb.
50:24During the Old Kingdom
50:26the royal tombs
50:27were located
50:28under the pyramid
50:29or in the pyramid.
50:30In the same case
50:32we have
50:33the explanation
50:33why Hatshepsut
50:34located her tomb
50:36in the later
50:37called
50:38Valley of the Kings.
50:39She kept her tomb
50:40under the pyramid
50:41which was
50:42the whole mountain.
50:45But Hatshepsut
50:46may not be
50:47the first pharaoh
50:48to have devised
50:49this system.
50:51The Temple
50:52of Montuhotep II.
50:54Hatshepsut
50:55adopts part
50:56of its design.
50:57She revives
50:58the beautiful festival
50:59of the valley
50:59initiated by
51:00this same pharaoh.
51:02Unlike Hatshepsut
51:04Mentuhotep II
51:05was buried
51:06in his temple
51:07but at the end
51:08of a 152-meter-long tunnel
51:10which placed his tomb
51:12directly under
51:13the mountain.
51:14Five centuries
51:16centuries before
51:16Hatshepsut
51:17could he have been
51:18the first pharaoh
51:19of the future
51:19valley of the kings?
51:21We are suggesting
51:22that the first person
51:23who curved the tomb
51:24in the valley
51:25of the king
51:25was Hatshepsut.
51:26But the first person
51:28who we can say
51:29that copied
51:30or was inspired
51:31by the old kingdom
51:32traditions
51:33locating the royal tomb
51:34under the pyramid
51:36was actually
51:37Mentuhotep II
51:38whose tomb
51:39is exactly curved
51:42under the mountain.
51:45The rocky amphitheatre
51:47of Deir el-Bahri
51:48and Queen Hatshepsut's
51:49temple of millions
51:50of years
51:51still have some secrets
51:52left in store.
51:57Today
51:58the temple of Hatshepsut
51:59remains one
52:00of the most beautiful
52:01constructions
52:02of ancient Egypt.
52:04Thanks to the work
52:05of Egyptologists
52:06the chapels,
52:08porticoes
52:08and frescoes
52:09have regained
52:10their symbolic dimensions
52:11bringing the flamboyance
52:13of Hatshepsut's
52:13extraordinary reign
52:14back to life.
52:17Three and a half
52:18thousand years
52:19after its construction
52:20the originality,
52:22audacity
52:22and architectural ambition
52:24of Queen Hatshepsut's
52:25temple
52:25have elevated her
52:27to the ranks
52:27of the greatest pharaohs
52:28of Egypt
52:29for eternity.
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