Ancient Egyptians

March, 632 BC.

Priests gather to plot a murder.

For decades they've been under the thumb of a wealthy family,

backed by the power of Egypt's Pharaoh.

Now the time is ripe for revenge.

This is a true story,

written down on a piece of papyrus that has survived for 2,500 years.

lt's the story of a murder, the final act of a 30-year feud,

that tears apart a city and brings down a dynasty.

For 400 years Egypt has been ravaged by civil war and foreign invasion.

Libyan invaders have swept in from the north.

Nubian armies have conquered the south.

With the kingdom in chaos,

a wealthy priesthood turns itself into an independent political force.

The priests of the god Amun become power brokers between rival warlords.

For 450 years they are answerable to no one.

But in the seventh century BC, Psamtek, a ruthless warrior,

storms to power and reunites the kingdom.

Egypt has a new Pharaoh.

No part of the country will be left untouched by the new regime.

660 BC. A stranger arrives in Teudjoi.

Petiese is the Pharaoh's cousin.

He's been dispatched to take control of the town.

Teudjoi is home to one of the great temples of Amun

and its priests have to be brought to heel.

Petiese orders his men to search the temple.

This is more than a place of worship.

Temples own most of the land in Egypt

and control most of its wealth.

Petiese knows from its accounts just how rich this temple is.

He is under orders to redirect its wealth to the Pharaoh.

lf he delivers, he will also make his own fortune.

Petiese has two priests beaten.

lt's a brutal demonstration of the Pharaoh's power.

The message is clear. After four centuries of independence

the power of the priesthood of Amun is at an end.

ln Teudjoi the priests will now take their orders from Petiese.

2,500 years ago Petiese's great-great-grandson

wrote down his family's history.

lt unfolds in a papyrus 1 4 feet long that was discovered in the late 19th century.

The story he tells is a tragic saga of political and personal revenge,

the seeds of which were sown when Petiese first took control of the temple.

lt's 1 1 years since Petiese arrived in Teudjoi and the temple is flourishing.

The wealth of the whole region flows in from the temple's vast estates

in the form of grain.

Petiese is now the self-styled prophet of Amun,

the highest-ranking priest in the temple of Teudjoi.

Amun is Egypt's state god.

Every morning Petiese ritually awakens his effigy.

He is attended by his junior priests,

including the young boy he'd had savagely beaten a decade ago.

Just in case the priests should forget where the power really lies,

Petiese has installed a statue of himself right next to the shrine of the god Amun.

An inscription lists the titles he has granted himself.

At the temple's expense

he has also granted himself a fifth of the temple's vast income,

making him one of the richest men in Egypt.

Petiese is now the father of three sons and a daughter - Nitemhe.

Nitemhe is now old enough to marry.

For Petiese her coming of age is a chance to start his dynasty in Teudjoi.

ln his account his great-great-grandson describes the day in 649 BC

when Petiese brings an outsider to the family home in Teudjoi.

Horudj is a minor official from a nearby town.

Petiese met him a year ago when he began looking for a husband for his daughter.

Horudj has no money.

ln fact he has debts which Petiese agrees to pay off.

But his family were once priests here.

He has the ideal pedigree to be Petiese's deputy in Teudjoi.

This isn't about love. lt's about politics.

The papyrus records the actual words of the deal.

Under the terms of the marriage,

Petiese will pass on all his titles and his wealth from the temple

to Nitemhe and Horudj.

The dynasty is secure.

Petiese's thoughts now turn to his own future.

He's been in the provinces for 1 1 years.

lt's been long enough.

Petiese plans to move to Thebes, closer to the centre of political power.

He'll leave his son-in-law in charge of the temple.

Horudj is anxious.

Petiese reassures him that he'll always be protected by the Pharaoh.

A year ago Horudj was a minor public official.

Now he finds himself in sole control of one of the great institutions of Egypt.

He's inherited Petiese's power and the riches of his lifestyle,

but with them a legacy of simmering resentment.

For 1 7 years, under the Pharaoh's protection,

Horudj has enjoyed the fruits of the power he has gained from his marriage.

But the passage of time has done nothing

to temper the bitter memories of Petiese's brutal regime.

His daughter, Nitemhe, is now the mistress of the largest household in Teudjoi.

Over the years she has become a shrewd businesswoman.

Through her agents she trades food and textiles up and down the Nile,

produce of the family estate,

adding further to the dynasty's considerable fortune.

For the other priests' families life is much harder.

To top up their meagre salaries

they have to work their own small plots of land outside the town.

Nitemhe now has a family of her own.

Two sons who one day will inherit their grandfather's fortune,

and his power over the priesthood.

As Petiese's grandsons, these boys have known nothing but a life of luxury.

While the rest of the country makes do with bread and beer,