Secrets of the Dead (2000–…): Season 15, Episode 4 - Cleopatra's Lost Tomb - full transcript

Narrator: Egypt.

Of all its kings and queens,

one still remains
cloaked in mystery...

its last queen...

Cleopatra.

For centuries, archaeologists
have searched for clues

about this powerful leader's
life, yet evidence of the queen

has all but vanished
from history.

But that's about to change.

Out in the Egyptian desert,
archaeologist Kathleen Martinez

has found a long-lost temple
dating to Cleopatra's reign.



I look around where other
archaeologists have excavated,

and I immediately knew they were
searching in the wrong places.

Narrator: She has uncovered
stunning artifacts,

mysterious tunnels, and even
a vast city of the dead.

Kathleen is starting to
transform our understanding

of this enigmatic queen.

She was a mother.
She was a wife.

She was a queen.
She was a goddess.

Narrator: This amateur sleuth
from the Dominican Republic

has battled on
in the face of skepticism

from the archaeological
community.

They were not supportive.

They believed it was
a crazy idea.

Narrator: With the discovery



of a network of
underground chambers,

she believes she might have
found the final resting place

of Cleopatra herself.

I will never stop until I find
the tomb of Cleopatra.

"Secrets of the Dead"
was made possible in part by

the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting

and by contributions to your PBS
station from viewers like you.

Narrator: Kathleen Martinez

is a criminal lawyer
from the Dominican Republic,

but over the last 20 years,

she has used her experience
in the courtroom

to become
an archaeological sleuth.

She's searching for
the lost tomb of Cleopatra.

I don't think 100%
as an archaeologist,

because my first training is
as a criminal lawyer.

So I took Cleopatra as a case.

Narrator: Kathleen's obsession
with the last queen of Egypt

began when she read
Shakespeare's play

"Antony and Cleopatra."

She believes there's much more
to the queen's life and death

than the legend suggests,
and she believes

she knows where Cleopatra's
tomb lies hidden.

Kathleen's quest took her
to Alexandria, in north Egypt.

It's here in Cleopatra's
capital city

that most archaeologists believe
the queen was buried.

But more than 1,000 years ago,
the ancient city was hit

by a tidal wave and lost
beneath the water.

The experts believe so, too,
was the tomb of Cleopatra.

But Kathleen has other ideas.

She doesn't believe the queen
was buried in the city at all.

Defeated by the Romans
at the Battle of Actium,

Cleopatra famously
committed suicide.

Kathleen has a theory that
the queen planned for her body

to be taken out of Alexandria
and buried in a sacred temple.

When I studied carefully
the last days of Cleopatra,

I realized it was the beginning
of a religious act

that ended up with her being
buried in a temple...

and her lost tomb
could be found there.

Narrator: Studying
ancient Roman texts,

Kathleen investigated
21 temple sites

where Cleopatra could be buried,

but only one
fit with her theory.

25 miles west of Alexandria
lies a ruined temple complex

known as Taposiris Magna.

Kathleen suspects
this ancient pile of rubble

dates from the time of
Cleopatra's royal line.

Even though the site
is in ruins, its sheer scale

and its proximity
to Cleopatra's capital city

suggest to Kathleen that
the queen chose this site

to be her final resting place.

But over the last century,

several archaeological teams
have searched here

and found very little.

This is not a site that would
have piqued the interest

of the archaeological
community, particularly.

It didn't present any features

which captured
anybody's imagination.

Narrator: But could Kathleen's
hunch be true?

Could this be the site
of Cleopatra's lost tomb?

Kathleen: My first reaction
when I entered the temple

was to laugh because I knew
I was in the right place.

Narrator: The great walls
that surround the site

are different from those at
other ancient Egyptian temples

in one important way:
there are no inscriptions.

There's nothing to link the site
to any specific time or dynasty

in Egyptian history.

Kathleen: The most accepted idea
about this temple...

It was never finished.

All the scholars believed
it never functioned as a temple,

and I believe they were wrong.

Narrator: Experts had
written off Taposiris Magna

as unfinished and unimportant,

but Kathleen is
determined to prove

it's more than just
an ancient building site.

She applies to the Egyptian
Ministry of Antiquities

for permission to dig
at the site.

They're intrigued by her ideas,

but given her
unconventional background,

Kathleen is only given
two months by the authorities

to prove her theory.

Paying for the excavation
out of her own pocket,

Kathleen assembles a team of
Egyptians and local tribesmen.

Kathleen: Maybe nobody ever
came to this site

with a clear idea of
what they were searching for.

Narrator: But the archaeological
community is skeptical.

Christopher: I think
Kathleen's ideas come across

as very sensationalist.

In the absence of anything
really scientific,

there was a lot of skepticism
about her work.

Narrator: Whatever
the academics think,

Kathleen is confident
in her theory.

Kathleen: And if we
remove this block...

Narrator: If she could find
the lost tomb of Cleopatra,

there's no telling what
secrets would be revealed

about the queen's life
and eventual death.

What people know about Cleopatra

is what we have seen
in the movies,

and this information is only
what the Romans wrote about her,

and it was propaganda.

Man: You are a goddess,
Cleopatra.

Everything is permitted
to a goddess.

Narrator: 2,000 years
after her death,

the legend of Cleopatra
still fascinates us.

Christopher: Cleopatra's
a pivotal figure

in Egyptian history.

She comes from a background
of the most turbulent,

dramatic, soap-operatic royal
family there has ever been.

Her story seems to have
absolutely everything.

It's got sex, it's got wealth,
it's got power.

Narrator: She was the lover
of Julius Caesar

and Mark Antony,

and at one time, she was
the richest woman in the world.

Cleopatra got what she needed.

Cleopatra got what she wanted.

Narrator: But following defeat

at the hands of
the Roman Empire,

she ended her life.

And one mystery
remains unsolved:

where was she buried?

Christopher: The truth is,

we don't exactly know
what happened

either around the time
of her death

or what happened
to her body afterwards.

Narrator: Barely any traces

of Cleopatra or her reign
survive today.

Christopher:
Victors write history,

and that means that
a lot of Cleopatra

has been... been swept away,

and that leaves us with a lot
of questions unanswered,

um, and it leaves us
with something of an enigma.

Narrator: Back at
Taposiris Magna,

Kathleen Martinez was given
just 8 weeks to find any proof

that Cleopatra could be
buried at the site.

With her permit about to expire,

she's found nothing of interest.

It looks like
she's going to fail,

just like all
the archaeologists before her.

Kathleen: Everybody here
at the site were disappointed

we didn't find anything.

We didn't even find
pottery or nothing.

Narrator: On the very last day,

Kathleen spreads her team
across the site.

Not far from the north door,

she stumbles on a curious
depression in the ground.

Kathleen: We started cleaning,

and then suddenly
a small hole opened,

and we start removing the sand,
and we found it was a shaft.

Man: OK. You can
come down and talk.

Kathleen: It has holes to go
down like in ancient times.

They never used a ladder.

It opens in two chambers,

one going north
and the other going south.

Narrator: This is
an astonishing discovery.

The shaft descends 16 feet
below ground level...

leading to two carved chambers.

But what were they for?

Kathleen: You can see

traces of color.

It was painted.

Narrator: It's possible
this could be a cistern

for storing water,
but why would it be painted?

None of the previous
archaeologists

who had excavated the site

came across underground
chambers like these.

It's enough to convince the
Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

to extend Kathleen's permit.

Kathleen: It was the happiest
day of my life.

Because of this shaft,

we continue our search
for Cleopatra.

Narrator: Kathleen has found
more beneath Taposiris Magna

than anyone imagined.

It keeps alive her hope
that the temple could be

the last resting place
of Cleopatra.

For Kathleen,
her research has revealed

that Cleopatra is much more

than the Hollywood
seductress of legend.

Kathleen: She was a musician.

She studied medicine.

She wrote about love.

There are so many qualities,
and she did so much

in a time where women
were so restricted.

Narrator: Kathleen is searching

for concrete facts
about Cleopatra

and is transforming
our understanding

of the enigmatic queen.

While Roman poets describe
Cleopatra as a sinful whore,

medieval Arab writers portray
her in a very different light...

As a philosopher, scientist,

and astute political leader.

At the New Library
in Alexandria,

curator Walaa Temraz has found
references to the queen

in ancient Arab texts.

One writer was a ninth-century
poet named Al-Masudi.

Walaa: Uh, well,
here in this chapter,

he, uh, talked about Cleopatra,

and he mentioned that she wrote
several books about medicine

and other fields of science.

We barely find a mention
in the Arabic sources

that she was a seducer
or something like that.

We only find mentions of her
either as a ruler, uh,

or a great monarch
who protected Egypt.

Narrator: It's a view that's
gained ground among historians

in recent years.

Kathleen is not the only person
on Cleopatra's trail.

Dr. Dorothy Thompson
studies ancient papyrus

and is finding new insights
about the queen

from rare written accounts.

My interest is in the queen
actually in Egypt,

not the queen who's constructed
for us by others,

not the mirage of the queen,

but the queen we can tell
from the texts.

Narrator: In the Berlin Museum,

fragile scraps of
2,000-year-old papyrus

give a glimpse of the political
control Cleopatra wielded

during her reign.

Dorothy: This dates
from 50 B.C.

It's from within
a year and a half

of her coming to the throne,
and it says at the top

the queen...

That's Cleopatra...

Made this royal order.

Cleopatra is concerned that
the people of the capital city

should have enough to eat.

Narrator: An astute leader,
Cleopatra made the proclamation

when Egypt was under
severe threat of famine.

She was well aware that hunger
could lead to dangerous unrest.

Dorothy: She's making a decree

saying that no one
who purchases corn may take it

either to the north
or to the south.

Everybody must bring it
to the capital city,

and anyone who disobeys this
is to be punished by death.

Narrator: This is Cleopatra

far removed from the Hollywood
glitz and glamour.

Dorothy: This is
a real politician,

somebody who's aware of problems

and prepared to do
something about them.

This isn't Cleopatra

the seductress.

This is Cleopatra,
the working queen.

Narrator: Cleopatra's influence

extended far beyond
the borders of Egypt.

It was during her reign
that Egypt and Rome

were both enemies
and bedfellows.

In 48 B.C., just 3 years after
Cleopatra came to the throne,

Julius Caesar conquered Egypt.

But rather than surrender,
the queen sought an audience

with the great general.

Cleopatra would prove to be

a clever and talented
politician,

able to forge strong
political alliances,

even with her enemies.

When we think about
the relationship

between Julius Caesar
and Cleopatra,

on the one hand we talk
about seduction,

and on the other hand we talk
about political maneuvering.

We can actually have both.

Rome is the biggest power
in the Mediterranean.

Egypt needs someone like that to
ensure that its power remains.

And at the same time,
Julius Caesar wants to have

Egypt in his back pocket

because it's the breadbasket
of the Mediterranean.

Narrator: The alliance
became a love affair,

and Cleopatra bore Caesar a son.

He brought her to Rome
and showered her with gifts,

even building a temple
in her honor.

Darius: Julius Caesar
is rebuilding Rome,

and he builds his own
Roman forum...

The Forum lulium, attached to
the great Roman Forum.

And in it he adds
his own temple,

and inside that temple he places
a statue of Cleopatra.

It's a really bold move to place
a statue of your foreign queen,

lover, mistress inside
your brand-new temple.

This is someone that has
a special privileged position

with Julius Caesar,
the ruler of the Roman Empire.

Narrator: Cleopatra's
influence on Caesar

upset many in the Roman Senate.

But the queen had something
to give in return:

a wealth of scientific
knowledge.

She offered her lover
the secrets of time.

In Caesar's day,
the Roman calendar

was based on
the phases of the moon.

The 28-day lunar cycle meant
the months and seasons

drifted each year.

Darius: You didn't have a fixed
number of days per year.

Sometimes the whole system
can get out of whack.

Narrator: But Cleopatra
came from a seat

of great learning and knowledge.

The Egyptian calendar was based
on the Earth's orbit

around the sun.

By adopting the practices
of the astronomers

under Cleopatra in Egypt,
Julius Caesar finally had

a solar cycle system based upon
the movement of the sun

and gave Romans stability...
365 days a year,

and every fourth year,
you have a leap year.

This is the modern
calendar cycle.

Julius Caesar
brought it to Rome,

the Empire, and the world.

Narrator: Sadly, in 44 B.C.,

Cleopatra's alliance
with the Roman general

came to an abrupt end
with his murder.

Cleopatra fled back to Egypt.

Perhaps she found solace in
the temple at Taposiris Magna.

Kathleen Martinez thinks so.

In fact, Kathleen believes

Cleopatra felt such a strong
connection to the temple

that years after her suicide,
Kathleen theorizes

her body was brought here
from Alexandria

to be buried.

Christopher: I think if
Kathleen Martinez were to find

the tomb of Cleopatra intact,

I mean, it would be a discovery
on a par with

Howard Carter's discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Narrator: As she
continues her search,

Kathleen turns her attention
to the ruins of a building

unearthed by a previous
team of archaeologists.

It's thought this was a temple
dedicated to the god Osiris,

the god of the dead,

the source of the temple's
name... Taposiris Magna.

But just who built it
remains a mystery.

There's very little left
of the building,

but just beneath the surface,

Kathleen makes a major
breakthrough.

She discovers a set of rare
and fragile tablets.

Kathleen: Well, this is
the magical moment.

I have to be very careful.

They are made of clay
and semiprecious stones,

like Lapis Lazuli
and turquoise and glass.

Narrator:
These stunning artifacts

are known as
foundation deposits.

Christopher: It's incredibly
important if you can't find

that foundation deposit
because that's what gives you

your information about when
the temple was first built.

Narrator: The writing
is barely legible,

but Kathleen can just
make it out.

Kathleen: We can see
the inscriptions are not clear.

They are written in Greek,

and it refers to,

which means King Ptolemy.

Narrator: The text reveals
the foundation deposits

were laid around 2,200 years ago

by Ptolemy IV,

Cleopatra's great-great-
great-grandfather.

It's the first direct link
between the temple site

and Cleopatra's family line.

What is important about
the foundation deposit...

It was, uh, touched
by the pharaoh itself,

and it was dedicated
to the sun Ra,

and then it was hidden by the...
By the pharaoh there

and then covered
with big blocks.

Narrator: Kathleen's find
stunned the archaeology world

and strengthened her hunch

that the temple was used
by Cleopatra herself.

We were already proving,
with archaeological evidence,

that everything that was written
about this temple was wrong.

Narrator: Dating the Osiris
temple was just the stare start.

Extending her excavation north,

Kathleen makes another
important breakthrough.

D in this direction,

and I found this block.

We continued cleaning,
and we found the remains

of a wall, and then we opened
to the north,

and we found the size
of the building,

and it had a door.

Narrator: Kathleen finds
a second building,

and she believes this one
has all the hallmarks

of the cult of the goddess Isis.

Isis temples are known to have
3 separate rooms,

with one acting as
a holy sanctuary.

Kathleen thinks she's
found a good match.

Isis was wife to the god Osiris.

She was Egypt's most
potent mother goddess.

In her lifetime, Cleopatra
had a close link to Isis.

She would often portray herself

as the earthly embodiment
of the goddess.

Joyce: Isis was a really
important goddess

to the Egyptians.

She seemed to really resonate
with ordinary people.

So for Cleopatra to ally herself
with this goddess

to the point of declaring
herself to be

the living Isis was
a really important matter,

and I think it was something
that she took really seriously.

Dorothy: To present herself
as Isis is clearly

a very canny move.

It's an obvious thing

for somebody who wishes to be
accepted by her people.

Narrator: Finding the Isis
temple was a tantalizing link

to Cleopatra.

Kathleen unearths what she
thinks is a holy shrine

and hits the jackpot.

Kathleen: We cleaned it inside,
and inside the shrine

it has around 200 coins.

Some of them were
in very good condition,

and we could see immediately
it has Cleopatra's face.

You cannot imagine
the happiness when I discover

inside the sanctuary of Isis
the face of Cleopatra in a coin.

It was beautiful Cleopatra.

Narrator: At last Kathleen comes
face to face with her heroine.

This is a major find.

The coins match other known
coins from Cleopatra's reign.

Their discovery suggests
the temple was in active use

from the time
of the queen's rule.

We believe the coins were there

as offering to the goddess Isis.

Narrator: Bronze coins
like the ones Kathleen found

reveal a manipulative queen

keenly aware of the power
of brand management.

Man: Coins are useful
in understanding history

because they
tell us things about

what people wanted to say
about themselves.

Narrator: Cleopatra's ancestors
only put their faces

on high-value silver coins
used by the rich.

But Cleopatra wanted her face
seen and adored

by all her subjects.

Andrew: What Cleopatra
did that was new

was introduce her own portrait

onto this bronze,
low-value coinage,

and that's an important step
because it made sure

that her image reached
a much broader public.

Anybody conducting
a day-to-day transaction

with a coin like this

would be confronted
with Cleopatra's image.

Narrator: Rich or poor,

Cleopatra wanted
her whole country to know

who was in charge.

Later in her reign,
while Cleopatra was living

with her new lover, Mark Antony,

she even started producing
Roman coins.

Andrew: This is
a Roman denarius.

What marks this out
as really unusual

is that it bears portraits
on both sides of it.

Narrator: Cleopatra is
on one side of the coin,

and Mark Antony on the other.

To have a foreign queen
on a Roman coin

was unheard of, but what's
even more intriguing

is who's on top.

The curvature of the coin
suggests that Cleopatra occupies

the "heads" side, with her Roman
lover demoted to "tails."

Andrew: It seems
that on these coins,

Cleopatra occupies
that dominant position.

Narrator: Cleopatra's
involvement with Rome

was a complex affair.

During the time she was
lover to Mark Antony,

she was despised by many
in the Roman Senate.

But this didn't stop her
from using her political wiles

to keep building alliances.

At the Berlin Museum,
historian Dr. Dorothy Thompson

uncovers a second papyrus.

It shows Cleopatra trying
to gain allies in Rome.

Dorothy: It's an agreement
by the queen

that a Roman... and this is
the real interest of the text...

That a Roman is being given very
significant tax concessions.

She's allowing him to export
a whole barge load of corn

and to import 5,000
jars full of wine,

and he's able to do this
without paying any taxes.

Narrator: At the end
of the decree,

Dorothy notices
something intriguing.

Dorothy: Right down
at the bottom of the text

is the one word.

In English, that means
"so be it, let it happen."

Cleopatra's seal of approval
for the decree

that's recorded above.

Narrator: This word
is written differently

from the rest of the document,
and it has prompted speculation

as to who might have written it.

Dorothy: The exciting
question is,

is this Cleopatra's own hand
that's used here?

It would be nice, wouldn't it,
if she'd written that?

But we can't really be sure.

Narrator: Back
at Taposiris Magna,

Kathleen is spurred on by her
discovery of the Isis temple

and the coins bearing
Cleopatra's face.

She continues her search
for Cleopatra's lost tomb.

Poking around just outside
the temple enclosure,

Kathleen notices a strange
indentation in the ground.

She soon realizes
these could be tunnels.

Kathleen: So we start
cleaning it,

and then we realized
it went down 25 meters.

I've been searching
for shafts, tunnels,

passages underground,
and chambers,

so this was a big hope

this could be what
we were looking for.

Who would like to go
inside the shaft with me?

Kathleen: Albert, are you
ready to risk your life...

for Cleopatra?

Narrator: Kathleen has already
excavated tons of rubble,

sand, and rock out of the shaft.

Today she's extending her dig.

Man: Don't put your hands
on the wall.

Kathleen: OK. Fine.

OK.

Man: I'm coming... coming in.

Kathleen: OK.

Narrator: At the bottom, she
uncovers two secret passageways.

She hopes that one might lead
to a hidden tomb.

Kathleen: So first we will go
in this direction,

to the north, and then we
will go to this direction.

Narrator: These passageways
are also blocked.

Kathleen wonders if someone
was trying to conceal something.

80 feet below ground level,

the tunnel is chiseled
out of the bedrock,

and along the passageway,

Kathleen finds more
vertical shafts

leading back to the surface.

Kathleen: Can I have
the light here?

Man: Yeah.

Kathleen: You see
it has the steps
going down

in this side?

Yes. Yes.

Kathleen: Why
did they need

several entrances?

Why? Because anybody
can find or discover
the entrance.

Narrator: The tunnels appear
to run north to south,

parallel to the temple.

Kathleen considers the
possibility they were part of

a sophisticated
water transport system.

But there is very little
evidence of any plaster

to seal the walls,
or any erosion.

Kathleen: Carefully.

Ah. This is where
we stopped,

these big blocks, and...

Narrator: In among
the remaining debris

still blocking the tunnels,
she stumbles on more clues.

Kathleen: Yeah.

Look.

It's part of the temple.

Narrator: Was the temple
destroyed at some point

and the rubble
dumped underground?

Kathleen: Bye!

Narrator: Returning
to the surface,

Kathleen quickly
inspects her finds.

Kathleen: We found marble
that belongs, probably,

to Isis chapel.

And the pottery will
help us to date

exactly when the tunnels
were revealed.

Narrator: Even more exciting,
Kathleen and her team

also recover some human remains.

Kathleen: We found...

a piece of skull.

Skulls, a skeleton.

Narrator: Who do these
bones belong to?

Is it possible
they were temple priests

who met a grisly end,

perhaps protecting
the tomb of their queen?

The discovery of a network
of tunnels and chambers

reinforces Kathleen's hunch.

Cleopatra's tomb could be
hidden underground.

Cleopatra's final days
are shrouded in mystery.

We don't have a clear account

of what happened
when Cleopatra died

because nobody at the time
wrote it down.

Narrator: We know
that in 31 B.C.,

the Roman Empire was
in the midst of a civil war.

With Cleopatra by his side,

Mark Antony faced Roman
General Octavian

at the Battle of Actium

and was defeated.

Fleeing to Egypt,
Antony fell on his sword.

Stricken by grief,

Cleopatra, too, took matters
into her own hands.

In the classic telling
of the story,

she then committed suicide
by clasping a poisonous snake,

an asp, to her bosom.

Narrator: But what happened
next remains unclear.

Christopher: We simply
don't know

what happened to
Cleopatra's body.

The events around her death are
quite confused and conflicting,

and they don't really give us
any clear pointers

as to where she was buried.

All we can do is keep looking
and piecing together

little clues from
the evidence that we have.

Narrator: Digging in the ruins
of Taposiris Magna,

Kathleen Martinez is unearthing
dozens of stunning artifacts.

All date from the time of
Cleopatra's royal line.

Kathleen: This is one of
my favorite artifacts...

The bust of this
Ptolemaic queen.

So this is a liner to do
the makeup in the eyes.

It was very easy for me
to recognize when I saw it.

You can see it's a weight.

They were selling something.

This is the bust
of Alexander the Great.

This is a penis belonging
to an Egyptian god of fertility.

Narrator: Just to the south
of the Osiris temple,

Kathleen discovers a
square-shaped sunken structure.

She thinks it held water
and was used

in a ritual
purification process.

Kathleen: What happened here,

the priest, before they
go to worship Osiris,

they need to take a bath
to clean themselves,

and they go to the temple.

Narrator: The artifacts
and temple structures

create a picture for Kathleen
of an important temple site,

one that was active
during the time of Cleopatra.

Digging down near the north
door of the complex,

Kathleen makes another
surprising discovery.

Beneath 10 feet
of earth and sand,

she uncovers a row of 14
curiously shaped stone plints.

Kathleen: What is important
about this is that

all of them has a different
geometrical shape.

This is unique.

So far we have
uncovered 14 bases,

so maybe it could be related to
the Ptolemies itself

because they were
14 rulers of Egypt.

Narrator: Cleopatra came
from the Ptolemy family line.

And at the base of one
of the plints,

Kathleen discovers a statue

carved in the style
of a Ptolemy pharaoh.

She believes this was
a grand avenue

leading to the temple.

Kathleen starts to attract
global interest in her quest

for the lost tomb.

An archaeologist in Egypt
claimed today

to be on the verge of finding
the burial place of Cleopatra...

Different announcer:
Archaeologist Kathleen Martinez

says the old theory
doesn't make sense.

Third announcer:
displayed artifacts found

in an ancient temple
near Alexandria.

She could not use
the same cemetery.

She needed a special place.

Different announcer: And this
could be that special place.

Narrator: Kathleen's hunch
that Cleopatra is buried

at the temple site is about to
get a significant boost.

Digging in the rubble
just behind the plints,

Kathleen stumbles upon something

that shocks the
archaeological community...

A large inscribed limestone
tablet called a stele.

Like the world-famous
Rosetta Stone,

the inscription appears
in both hieroglyphics

and Demotic script,

the everyday written language
of ancient Egypt.

Kathleen: Can you believe
that this piece of block

has changed the history of
Taposiris Magna?

I already named Stele Magna.

Narrator: The stele
dates from 196 B.C.,

7 years into the reign
of Ptolemy V,

predating the Rosetta Stone
by two years.

Translating the hieroglyphics
reveals a decree

written by the pharaoh that
the temple was dedicated

to the worship
of the goddess Isis.

Kathleen: The decree
by Ptolemy V

is the declaration of
Taposiris Magna

as a religious center for Isis,
for worshiping Isis,

and the land, it was
considered sacred land.

And everything around the temple
was used to worship Isis.

Narrator: Cleopatra
portrayed herself

as the earthly
embodiment of Isis.

It is as queen and goddess that
she was revered by her people.

Christopher: This is
an important text.

It shows us that this
is a temple which is

very much part of the royal
institution at that time,

very much an important place.

So this is not a temple
which is a backwater.

This is an important spot.

Narrator: The stele
that Kathleen found

has rewritten history.

It reveals that Taposiris siris,
dedicated to Isis,

was the most important Ptolemaic
temple in northern Egypt.

Kathleen: It's so important
for the Ptolemies

that it was the most important
center of adoration of Isis

in the north.

Narrator: With Taposiris Magna

so close to Cleopatra's
Alexandria power base

and with such a profound link
to the goddess Isis,

the evidence is mounting
that Cleopatra herself

could have been
a frequent visitor,

but is she buried here?

Kathleen decides to cast
her net wider.

A stone's throw from the temple
is an ancient monument.

It's a copy of the famous
Alexandria Lighthouse.

Here she spots odd sunken areas
in the desert floor.

Kathleen: Well, we start
excavating here, close...

Between the lighthouse
and the temple,

and we uncover the first steps.

Narrator: At the bottom
of the steps,

she discovers a set of chambers
cut deep into the bedrock...

burial chambers.

Kathleen: OK, we have to check
these blocks, but please,

wear your masks and gloves
when you go down.

Narrator: Kathleen
is worried that bacteria

from any dead bodies
could be dangerous.

Kathleen: Let's see.

Narrator: The rock-cut tombs
yield the first evidence

of ritual burials,

all within sight of
the temple complex.

Further excavation
slowly reveals

a labyrinth of
ancient catacombs.

Many contain skeletons;
others, mummies.

Kathleen: We didn't know
how big it was,

but now we have more
than 800 skeletons.

Narrator: Kathleen has unearthed
a huge necropolis,

an ancient Egyptian
city of the dead.

It covers hundreds
of square yards.

Kathleen: This can be
the equivalent

of the Valley of the Kings
for the Ptolemies.

Narrator: But who
is buried here?

After years of skepticism,
the archaeological world

is now paying attention.

Woman: Well, this
looks fantastic.

Narrator: Dr. Salima Ikram
is an expert

in ancient Egyptian burials.

Salima: Oh, my God.
Look at that.

They're fabulous!

Narrator: Some of
the mummies' skulls

appear to be encrusted in gold.

Salina: Here you've got
all this gilding on them.

What you do is you coat the face

with this sort of
oil/resin mixture,

sometimes even with beeswax,

and that gives you
a very tacky substance,

and then you have these
small squares of gold leaf

which you can just attach,

and sometimes they overlap.

Narrator: These were clearly
wealthy people,

but there's more than meets the
eye to these blackened mummies

with their gold-covered skulls.

During the later Ptolemaic
and early Roman period,

we notice that the mummification
is not so well done.

If a body is not
properly desiccated

and then it's wrapped up,

there is a kind of
internal combustion,

and so that's when you wind up
with these blackened bodies.

Narrator: To make up for
their apparent lack of skill

with the mummification process,
the priests appear to have

overcompensated
with additional decoration.

Salima: So lots
of oils and unguents

are poured over the body.

You have fancy wrapping.

You have glittery, you know,
gold and this and that

to sort of make up for the fact
that you're not quite sure

as to what you're
supposed to do.

Narrator: Clues drawn
from the site

suggest to Salima
the burials date directly

from the time of Cleopatra.

Salima: It's a wonderful
necropolis.

It's a really fabulous

late Ptolemaic,
early Roman necropolis

which is still filled
with all kinds of goodies

and, you know,
bodies to be found.

Narrator: Salima believes
the necropolis would have been

an important burial site

and one in active use
during Cleopatra's time.

Salima: It's a holy place.
It's a sacred place.

It's a significant place.

So people wanted to be
buried here

so that they could get
the sort of good vibes.

You would have
the gods' blessing,

and the god Osiris
and the goddess Isis were here,

so of course these are funerary
deities par excellence,

so anyone who was buried here
was definitely having

a straight shot to eternity.

Narrator: The presence of such
an elaborate necropolis

so close to the temple
suggests to Kathleen

that she's closing in
on her ultimate goal...

The tomb of Cleopatra herself.

Kathleen: These
people knew about

this important person
who was buried

and wanted to be close to them.

Narrator: In ancient Egypt,
kings, queens, and nobility

have been found
buried in pyramids

and in valleys full of
rock-cut tombs.

But they're also known
to have been buried

beneath temples.

540 miles south of Alea
lies the ancient city of Luxor,

with the famous
Ramesseum temple.

This temple was originally built
in 1275 B.C. by Ramesses II,

but it was still in use
centuries later.

In 2014, a shaft was discovered
leading to an underground tomb.

Christopher: This
sensational discovery

was of a Princess, um, Karomama,

who was an extremely
high-ranking priestess.

Narrator: Karomama's secret
underground tomb

dates to 900 years before
the death of Cleopatra.

Might Cleopatra have revived
an ancient royal tradition

to be buried beneath
Taposiras Magna?

It's very possible Cleopatra
could have been buried

in a similar shaft
underneath a temple.

There are actually quite
a lot of examples

of high-status, royal,
even, individuals,

royal women in particular,
being buried in shaft tombs,

um, within temple complexes.

Narrator: At Taposiris Magna,
Kathleen has already found

a number of shafts
and underground chambers,

and she's still finding more.

Kathleen: I will go down.

Narrator: In a wide chamber
by the west door,

she discovers the body
of a woman.

Kathleen: We found
the skeleton of this woman

who was carrying a baby.

Narrator: The bones reveal
the pregnant woman

is too young to be Cleopatra,

but the discovery
raises many questions.

Kathleen: We can see
she was married.

She had a ring in her hand

and an amulet in her ankle.

This woman is still
a puzzle for us

because we don't know
what happened to her.

Narrator: Whoever she was,
the skeleton is a clue

that Kathleen is
on the right track.

It's the first indication
that burials had taken place

inside the temple.

Kathleen's hunt for
Cleopatra's lost tomb continues.

In the northwest corner
of the enclosure,

Kathleen discovers
a set of steps.

They lead down to a wide cavity.

Kathleen: We start
cleaning around,

but it's 10 meters
by 10 meters by 9 meters.

It was very deep,
and it was a big cut.

Like the tombs of
the Valley of the Kings.

So we thought...
We were thrilled.

"This is it!"

Narrator: But there are
more surprises.

She uncovers a second opening.

Excavations in the hole
reveal a vertical shaft

cut into the bedrock
nearly 100 feet deep...

and more human remains.

Kathleen: We start
cleaning the shaft,

and at the depth of 23 meters,
we found two skeletons,

and that make us
still more excited

because we thought,

"What if this means
we're seeing the tomb?"

Narrator: Such a deep
vertical shaft

in combination with a huge
subterranean chamber

usually means one thing.

Christopher: The most striking
feature of this shaft

is just its massive size.

It's a huge opening cut
into the bedrock.

Um, you don't see those
very often.

When you do see them,
they are the shafts that lead

to tombs... to burial chambers,
to bodies.

Narrator: As
a last-ditch attempt

to see even deeper
beneath the temple,

Kathleen decides to bring in
some scientific help.

She's using the latest
in ground-penetrating radar

to probe the area
around the shaft,

hoping to reveal
any concealed chambers.

We're trying to use
our geophysical methods

to help the people who
work in the archaeology

to find, where is
the mummy of Cleopatra?

Narrator: The results
are encouraging.

Kathleen: The GPR reveal
important cavities

big enough to be the final
resting place of a pharaoh.

Mohamed: I can confirm
to you something...

That somebody
is hiding something.

What is it?
We don't know.

Maybe it's the mummy
of Cleopatra... maybe.

Narrator: Kathleen has found

tunnels, shafts,
and underground rooms

hidden beneath the temple
at Taposiris Magna,

with more concealed chambers
still to investigate.

But for this year,
the dig has ended.

Just as Howard Carter followed
tantalizing clues for 6 seasons

until he found King Tut,
Kathleen now feels

her goal is within her grasp.

I think Kathleen has
taken us closer to finding

the tomb of Cleopatra
than we've ever been before.

It's the beginning of a journey

that will end
with a big discovery.

Narrator: She has proved

the site is one of
the most important temples

of the Ptolemaic dynasty
and found compelling evidence

there is a burial chamber
concealed deep underground.

Christopher: I think
if Kathleen found

the tomb of Cleopatra intact,

she would be elevated
to the status

of the most famous
archaeologist in the world.

Kathleen: I feel
connected with her

in a way that experience
that I lived

searching for her

give me strength to continue.

I feel in my heart the tomb
of Cleopatra is under my feet

at Taposiris Magna.

"Secrets of the Dead"
was made possible in part by

the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting

and by contributions to your PBS
station from viewers like you.