Discovery to air special series on Egypt

Discovery to air special series on Egypt

MUMBAI: Discovery will premiere a special series Egypt Week, from 24-27 April at 8 pm.

The show will revisit the absorbing controversies surrounding Egypt's history, and their foregone conclusions. It will also investigate using new facts, discoveries and scientific techniques.

A team of investigators, egyptologists, historians, archaeologists and toxicologists together examine the theories and present new possibilities on controversies. These include the death of Cleopatra, the riddle of the Sphinx, life along the Nile, and, based on a recent discovery in an Egyptian tomb, a 3,000-year-old mystery that could have ties to the story of Exodus

On 24 April Rameses: Wrath Of God Or Man airs. It features the discovery of a skull that could have ties to the biblical story of Exodus. Rameses, one of Egypt's greatest kings, has long been considered the pharaoh described in the book of Exodus. His firstborn son may have been struck down by God during the 10 deadly plagues, when Moses asked the ruler to free Hebrew slaves for the Exodus.

From remains recently found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, egyptologist Kent Weeks attempts to determine whether he does have the skull of Rameses' firstborn son. And, investigative reporter Charles Sennott tracks the highlights of Exodus at the Nile Delta, the dry deserts of southern Egypt and Mt. Sinai on the edge of the Red Sea.

The Mysterious Death Of Cleopatra which airs on 25 April tackles a cold case of royal proportions. Cleopatra inherited the throne of Egypt at age 17, before dodging assassination to rule for more than 20 years. Her life is filled with the enigmatic and the unexplained as is her untimely death.

For two millennia, only one cause has been recorded - suicide by snakebite. Now, using techniques of 21st century criminal investigations, criminal profiler Pat Brown and a team of experts, including an underwater archaeologist and a toxicologist, re-examine the circumstances of her alleged suicide. Meanwhile Sphinx Unmasked strives to unlock the true origins, purpose and identity of the largest freestanding stone sculpture on Earth. For its 4,500 years of existence, the Sphinx has been shrouded in mystery.

Now Egyptologist and old Kingdom expert Dr. Vassil Dobrev of the French Institute in Cairo is on the verge of cracking its riddles. As Dobrev's plot unfolds, carefully crafted dramatisations complemented by computer generated imagery from a special effects team, resurrect the Sphinx in all its former painted glory and answer questions that have baffled Egyptologists for centuries.