Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S06E17.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng] Movie Subtitles

00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,[dynamic music]
[transitions clacking]

00:00:03,542 --> 00:00:07,- It rises from the sands
of the Egyptian desert,

00:00:07,042 --> 00:00:10,seeming to guard the
Great Pyramids of Giza.

00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,But surprisingly little is known

00:00:12,042 --> 00:00:15,about this great wonder
of the ancient world.

00:00:15,458 --> 00:00:20,- How could ancient
Egyptians 4,500 years ago

00:00:20,958 --> 00:00:25,sculpt a statue as
mighty as the Sphinx?

00:00:26,125 --> 00:00:29,- It's just an amazingly
monumental [laughing] structure.

00:00:29,500 --> 00:00:30,But it's silent.

00:00:30,792 --> 00:00:34,It doesn't tell us exactly
everything we need to know.

00:00:34,333 --> 00:00:36,- For thousands of years,

00:00:36,125 --> 00:00:39,the Sphinx has guarded
its many secrets.

00:00:39,542 --> 00:00:40,- The prevailing view

00:00:40,667 --> 00:00:42,is that you had human workers

00:00:42,417 --> 00:00:44,carving it away to make this.

00:00:44,333 --> 00:00:45,Now another theory comes along

00:00:45,875 --> 00:00:49,that the bulk of it wasn't
even done by human beings.

00:00:49,917 --> 00:00:53,- Now, we'll explore
the top theories

00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:54,surrounding the origins

00:00:54,542 --> 00:00:57,and purpose of this
mysterious monument.

00:00:57,708 --> 00:01:00,- Was the Sphinx built
by the same person

00:01:00,708 --> 00:01:04,that killed his brother
to become the pharaoh?

00:01:04,375 --> 00:01:06,- It could be that the Sphinx

00:01:06,208 --> 00:01:09,is part of a celestial map.

00:01:09,542 --> 00:01:12,- In 1987, a team
of researchers

00:01:12,208 --> 00:01:14,think they've found
hidden secret chambers

00:01:14,542 --> 00:01:17,that were located
under the Sphinx.

00:01:17,042 --> 00:01:19,- Who built this massive statue

00:01:19,958 --> 00:01:21,and why was it made?

00:01:21,875 --> 00:01:24,[dynamic music]

00:01:35,333 --> 00:01:38,[pensive music]
[text beeping]

00:01:38,417 --> 00:01:43,- 1403 BCE, the Giza
Plateau of Egypt,

00:01:43,208 --> 00:01:45,home to the Great Pyramids.

00:01:45,875 --> 00:01:49,Pharaoh Amenhotep
II rules the land.

00:01:49,875 --> 00:01:52,His younger son,
Prince Thutmose,

00:01:52,125 --> 00:01:54,has come to Giza
to hunt gazelle.

00:01:54,875 --> 00:01:56,But this royal hunting ground

00:01:56,708 --> 00:01:58,has an extraordinary past.

00:01:59,417 --> 00:02:02,- If you go back
around 1,000 years,

00:02:02,042 --> 00:02:04,the Giza Plateau is a
very important place

00:02:04,167 --> 00:02:06,of monumental buildings.

00:02:06,458 --> 00:02:11,It's there that some amazingly
large pyramids are built.

00:02:12,167 --> 00:02:13,However, at this time,

00:02:13,375 --> 00:02:15,it's fallen into disrepair,

00:02:15,625 --> 00:02:18,most of the structures
have been covered

00:02:18,125 --> 00:02:21,or partially covered
by the desert sands,

00:02:21,208 --> 00:02:22,and it's largely ignored.

00:02:23,875 --> 00:02:25,- By the time of
Prince Thutmose,

00:02:25,250 --> 00:02:28,the Giza Plateau is already
over 1,000 years old

00:02:28,125 --> 00:02:29,and already ancient.

00:02:29,792 --> 00:02:32,It's become this playground
really for the royal family.

00:02:32,333 --> 00:02:34,They race their
chariots, they hunt,

00:02:34,708 --> 00:02:37,they use it for these
different expeditions.

00:02:37,333 --> 00:02:38,- So, according to legend,

00:02:38,458 --> 00:02:40,Thutmose was out
on a hunting trip

00:02:40,417 --> 00:02:41,and he was looking for a place

00:02:41,708 --> 00:02:45,to get out of the hot,
burning, Egyptian sun,

00:02:45,375 --> 00:02:48,and he found shelter
next to this object.

00:02:48,292 --> 00:02:49,And as he g***t closer to it,

00:02:49,917 --> 00:02:51,it turned out that this object

00:02:51,667 --> 00:02:54,was a massive stone head

00:02:54,333 --> 00:02:56,protruding from
the desert sands.

00:02:56,375 --> 00:02:58,- He falls asleep
and has a dream.

00:02:58,667 --> 00:03:01,And in dream, a
God comes to him,

00:03:01,833 --> 00:03:03,the God Horus, who says,

00:03:03,625 --> 00:03:06,"If you free my
body from this sand,

00:03:06,875 --> 00:03:08,I will make sure
that you're king."

00:03:10,042 --> 00:03:11,- Because Prince Thutmose

00:03:11,500 --> 00:03:14,was not the heir apparent
for the throne of Egypt,

00:03:14,375 --> 00:03:16,this sounded like a
great deal for him.

00:03:16,292 --> 00:03:19,And so Prince Thutmose
then goes about

00:03:19,208 --> 00:03:21,restoring this giant statue

00:03:21,208 --> 00:03:22,to its former glory.

00:03:24,917 --> 00:03:27,- [Laurence] Once the prince
begins clearing away the sand,

00:03:27,667 --> 00:03:31,an extraordinary and mysterious
sculpture takes shape,

00:03:31,958 --> 00:03:34,a towering figure
carved from stone,

00:03:34,458 --> 00:03:38,now known as the
Great Sphinx of Giza.

00:03:39,375 --> 00:03:44,- Its body is about
250 feet long,

00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,which is nearly a
football field long,

00:03:46,958 --> 00:03:49,66 feet high,

00:03:49,250 --> 00:03:52,and the shape of it
is the head of a king

00:03:52,458 --> 00:03:54,and the body of a lion.

00:03:55,750 --> 00:03:57,- Some have estimated

00:03:57,208 --> 00:03:58,that it must've taken something

00:03:58,667 --> 00:04:01,like a million
man hours of labor

00:04:01,250 --> 00:04:02,to carve this thing.

00:04:02,958 --> 00:04:04,That would be the equivalent

00:04:04,417 --> 00:04:06,of something like 100 workers

00:04:06,500 --> 00:04:10,working full time over
the course of three years.

00:04:10,083 --> 00:04:12,- It is a marvelous statue,

00:04:12,542 --> 00:04:17,and it's all made from
one piece of limestone.

00:04:17,375 --> 00:04:20,And Thutmose calls
it Haremakhet,

00:04:20,375 --> 00:04:22,which means Horus
in the Horizon.

00:04:23,708 --> 00:04:26,- Horus, who spoke to
Thutmose in this dream,

00:04:26,375 --> 00:04:29,is a God associated
with kingship,

00:04:29,042 --> 00:04:31,but also with the sun god Ra.

00:04:31,167 --> 00:04:33,And so after clearing the sands

00:04:33,875 --> 00:04:36,around this giant sculpture,

00:04:36,042 --> 00:04:38,Thutmose's dream comes true.

00:04:38,292 --> 00:04:42,He does in fact become
king in around 1400 BCE.

00:04:42,708 --> 00:04:45,- As king, Thutmose
not only digs it

00:04:45,458 --> 00:04:46,out of the desert sands,

00:04:46,583 --> 00:04:48,but he also does
restoration work

00:04:48,875 --> 00:04:51,on the statue itself.

00:04:51,250 --> 00:04:52,- [Laurence] Analysis
of pink remnants

00:04:52,458 --> 00:04:53,discovered on the statue

00:04:53,958 --> 00:04:57,reveal a fascinating truth
about its appearance.

00:04:57,875 --> 00:05:01,Experts now believe the
face and body of the Sphinx

00:05:01,042 --> 00:05:03,were painted a striking deep red

00:05:03,042 --> 00:05:04,with dark eyeliner.

00:05:05,458 --> 00:05:08,While the nemes,
or royal headdress,

00:05:08,292 --> 00:05:10,bore the noble colors
of the pharaoh,

00:05:10,625 --> 00:05:13,a vibrant blue interlaced
with gold stripes.

00:05:14,750 --> 00:05:17,To commemorate his
accomplishment,

00:05:17,250 --> 00:05:19,Thutmose places an
engraved vertical tablet,

00:05:19,958 --> 00:05:21,known as a stele,

00:05:21,458 --> 00:05:24,between the statue's front paws.

00:05:24,208 --> 00:05:25,- King Thutmose,

00:05:25,500 --> 00:05:28,he put his dream on that stele

00:05:28,292 --> 00:05:29,and wrote it down,

00:05:29,292 --> 00:05:30,wrote exactly what happened,

00:05:30,500 --> 00:05:32,that he fell asleep,
that he had the dream,

00:05:32,792 --> 00:05:35,and the Sphinx made him
the next king of Egypt,

00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:38,all inscribed on
the dream stele.

00:05:38,542 --> 00:05:40,- Not only does this tablet

00:05:40,542 --> 00:05:44,establish a connection between
Thutmose and the Sphinx,

00:05:44,542 --> 00:05:48,but it really
contributes seriously

00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,to the legend of this
mysterious object

00:05:51,375 --> 00:05:53,known today as the
Great Sphinx of Giza.

00:05:53,958 --> 00:05:55,[pensive music]

00:05:55,667 --> 00:05:56,- For a few hundred years,

00:05:56,625 --> 00:05:58,you have people far and wide

00:05:58,208 --> 00:06:00,to come and see the statue.

00:06:00,417 --> 00:06:02,And that would
include also travelers

00:06:02,125 --> 00:06:04,from outside the
Egyptian kingdom.

00:06:04,500 -->...