Episode Details

Tutankhamun was a minor pharaoh who died at nineteen and was largely forgotten by ancient Egypt within a few generations. That obscurity saved him. While every other royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings was looted in antiquity, Tut's was buried under rubble from later construction and lay undisturbed for over three thousand years — until Howard Carter opened it in 1922 and found the most spectacular archaeological discovery in history.

This episode traces Tutankhamun from the religious revolution of his father Akhenaten through his brief reign, his early death, and the rediscovery that made a forgotten teenager the most famous pharaoh in the world.

• Akhenaten's religious revolution and the chaotic world young Tutankhamun inherited
• Tut's brief reign, the restoration of traditional Egyptian religion, and his death at nineteen
• Howard Carter's years-long search and the 1922 discovery that stunned the world
• The curse mythology, the golden death mask, and why obscurity became Tut's greatest gift