Broadcast TV

Women Pharaohs

Release Date

2001

Client

The Discovery Channel

The names are legendary - Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Nefertari and Hatshepsut. All were icons of beguiling beauty and supreme power that once dominated ancient Egypt, their command rivaling that of the mightiest male rulers in history. A startling new discovery unveils the secrets of their seductive charms and awesome authority.

Narrated by Kyra Sedgwick.

Women Pharaohs

Today, in spectacular finds in the famed Temple of Karnak and across the Nile in the necropolis at Thebes, archaeologists have uncovered a major power source of these well-known women rulers in a previously little-known cult. Inside tombs and temples replete with magnificent statues and vivid hieroglyphs, they are finding evidence of a 400-year period when this mysterious female cult -- the Gods Wives of Amun -- usurped the supremacy of male Pharaohs and ruled all of Egypt. From Nubia to the Nile Delta, and from the origins of Egyptian civilization to its demise, WOMEN PHARAOHS traces the history of this female cult and their influence on Ancient Egypt's greatest women rulers.