This documentary depicts a time period in Egypt starting in 1560 BC, 1000 years after the large pyramids where built, which is known as the rise of the “Golden Age” New Kingdom where there was an explosion of wealth, creativity and power due to expansion and consolidation of the surrounding areas.  It is a 2001 PBS “Empires” series, narrated by Keith David.

Points talked about in this episode:

— In 1560 BC, Egypt was divided, in crisis, and on the verge of extinction due to being invaded and occupied in the North and South by foreigners

— The King of Thebes and his two sons attempted to revive Egypt by attempting to retake those parts, with his son Ahmose attacking and overtaking the Hiksos in the north and then becoming the pharaoh of the newly united Egypt.

—Ahmose then attacked to the south into Nubia which was a source of a lot of wealth such as gold.

— Pharaoh Hatshepsut was a female who crowned herself King due to being the daughter of Thutmose I, and she sent the army on a mission south to Punt, which brought back plunder and opened Egypt to foreign lands.

— When Hatshepsut died after 22 years on the throne, her stepson Thutmose III took control and aligned himself with previous warrior pharaoh, as well as attempting to erase all evidence of the rule of Hatshepsut from history.

— Thutmose went on a campaign to the north up the Mediterranean coast to take the city of Megiddo in a battle which was later referred to in the Bible as “Armageddon.”

— By the end of Thutmose’s reign, Egypt had controlled to the north the Mediterranean coasts of Syria, Israel, and parts of Palestine, and to the South to Nubia— going from being on the verge of extinction one hundred years previously to being the largest empire in history up to that time.