Egypt: Rediscovering a Lost World - Episode two: The Curse of Tutankhamun

2 months ago
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In 1922 Carter goes to the Egyptian Antiquities Service in Cairo to announce his discovery but disagrees with Director Pierre Lacau over the clearance and cataloguing of the contents. The discovery revealed a dark time in the history of Egypt and the death of its boy king. Carter assembles an international team of experts to commence the work under the unwelcome scrutiny of Lacau's inspector and the western press. Carnarvon's cavalier attitude to the finds he considers his property starts to infuriate both Carter and Lacau.

As the finds are slowly catalogued and removed Carter becomes close to Carnarvon's daughter Lady Evelyn but his strictness begins to alienate his team. Tutankhamun was married to his own sister but the union failed to produce an heir to secure the future of the kingdom. Stories of the curse begin to circulate as Carter breaks through into the burial chamber to reveal an intact tomb. As Lacau threatens to take over the excavation and several of the experts quit, Carnarvon questions Carter over his leadership and his relationship with Evelyn. When he came of age Tutankhamun took over control of the kingdom from his military advisor Ay only to die from unknown causes shortly thereafter. Carter rushes to Carnarvon's death-bed where the two make-up. Upon Tutankhamun's death Ay seized the throne and married the widowed queen. Carter, disappointed by Evelyn's engagement to another man, returns to continue his work. Tutankhamun's death came before the royal tomb could be completed so he was hastily buried in the tomb Ay had prepared for himself. Lacau takes over the running of the tomb in 1924 when Carter and his team stop work to protest continued Egyptian interference.

The following year Carter is called back by Lacau to reopen the tomb with funding from Lady Carnarvon. The team start to extract the nested coffins revealing one of them to be made of pure gold that confirms the presence of a Pharaoh. The team begin to notice evidence that the burial was done in a hurry as the body itself is finally uncovered. When Ay died without heir a new dynasty took to the throne that erased all references to the Boy King. In 1932 with his work complete Carter leaves the tomb for the last time and hands the key to Lacau.

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