Who Smashed the Black Pharaohs?
Echoes of the Frame
1,649 views
In January 2003, archaeologists at Doukki Gel in northern Sudan broke into a pit full of black granite: about forty pieces of seven royal statues, deliberately smashed. Some of these kings had once ruled Egypt as pharaohs. Who broke them, and why? This film follows the evidence: the rise of Kush, Piye's conquest of Egypt, Taharqa and the wars with Assyria, a suspect that does not fit the dates, a march south recorded in stone, and a final twist in the pit itself.
CHAPTERS
0:00 A pit full of broken kings
1:00 The land south of Egypt
2:07 Piye's victory stela
5:16 The Black Pharaohs
6:40 Taharqa
8:46 The first suspect
12:29 Closer to home
14:44 Back to the pit
17:05 Standing again
Dates are approximate and some differ by source. Where the evidence is disputed, the film says so; the link between the broken statues and a specific campaign is the excavators' reading, not proven by any inscription.
AI DISCLOSURE: Narration is a synthetic voice. Many scenes are AI-generated reconstructions, not historical photographs or footage. Real objects and sites are credited below.
SOURCES
Kerma excavation mission (Swiss-Sudanese), Doukki Gel and the 2003 statue cache: kerma.ch
Victory Stela of Piye (Cairo Museum): English translation (attalus.org)
Assyrian royal inscriptions of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal (as reported in COJS and standard references)
The Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings 18-19; Isaiah 37; Nahum 3. Herodotus, Histories II
The Greek inscription of Psamtik II's soldiers at Abu Simbel
Smarthistory, "Who was king Piye?"; Wikipedia: Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt; Piye; Taharqa; Psamtik II; Jebel Barkal; Nubian pyramids
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access
IMAGE CREDITS
Objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)
Victory Stela of Piye (squeeze by T. Devéria, 1864, Louvre E 6165.2) and Louvre reconstruction: Tangopaso, public domain
Pyramids of Jebel Barkal: Maurice Chédel, public domain
Pyramids at Jebel Barkal / Nubian pyramids of Meroë in 1821: Frédéric Cailliaud, Voyage à Méroé (1826), public domain
Rulers of Kush, Kerma Museum: Matthias Gehricke, public domain
Taharqa portrait and the seven Doukki Gel statues, Kerma Museum: Matthias Gehricke, CC BY-SA 4.0
Greek inscription at Abu Simbel: facsimile, public domain
Stela of Esarhaddon, Berlin: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, CC BY-SA 4.0
Kiosk of Taharqa, Karnak: Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0; Rabax63, CC BY-SA 4.0
Taharqa and the gods of Gematen, Kawa shrine: Anthony Huan, CC BY-SA 2.0
Ashurbanipal, City of Nineveh relief: Anthony Huan, CC BY-SA 2.0
Shabaka Stone, British Museum: Markh at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0
Sennacherib annals prism, WA 103000: Zunkir, CC BY-SA 4.0 Licences: CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... · CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... · CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... · CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Images via Wikimedia Commons unless noted; cropped and animated. Maps, charts and cards made for this film.
#AncientEgypt #Kush #BlackPharaohs
1 Comments
Who Smashed the Black Pharaohs?
Echoes of the Frame
1,649 views
In January 2003, archaeologists at Doukki Gel in northern Sudan broke into a pit full of black granite: about forty pieces of seven royal statues, deliberately smashed. Some of these kings had once ruled Egypt as pharaohs. Who broke them, and why? This film follows the evidence: the rise of Kush, Piye's conquest of Egypt, Taharqa and the wars with Assyria, a suspect that does not fit the dates, a march south recorded in stone, and a final twist in the pit itself.
CHAPTERS
0:00 A pit full of broken kings
1:00 The land south of Egypt
2:07 Piye's victory stela
5:16 The Black Pharaohs
6:40 Taharqa
8:46 The first suspect
12:29 Closer to home
14:44 Back to the pit
17:05 Standing again
Dates are approximate and some differ by source. Where the evidence is disputed, the film says so; the link between the broken statues and a specific campaign is the excavators' reading, not proven by any inscription.
AI DISCLOSURE: Narration is a synthetic voice. Many scenes are AI-generated reconstructions, not historical photographs or footage. Real objects and sites are credited below.
SOURCES
Kerma excavation mission (Swiss-Sudanese), Doukki Gel and the 2003 statue cache: kerma.ch
Victory Stela of Piye (Cairo Museum): English translation (attalus.org)
Assyrian royal inscriptions of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal (as reported in COJS and standard references)
The Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings 18-19; Isaiah 37; Nahum 3. Herodotus, Histories II
The Greek inscription of Psamtik II's soldiers at Abu Simbel
Smarthistory, "Who was king Piye?"; Wikipedia: Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt; Piye; Taharqa; Psamtik II; Jebel Barkal; Nubian pyramids
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access
IMAGE CREDITS
Objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)
Victory Stela of Piye (squeeze by T. Devéria, 1864, Louvre E 6165.2) and Louvre reconstruction: Tangopaso, public domain
Pyramids of Jebel Barkal: Maurice Chédel, public domain
Pyramids at Jebel Barkal / Nubian pyramids of Meroë in 1821: Frédéric Cailliaud, Voyage à Méroé (1826), public domain
Rulers of Kush, Kerma Museum: Matthias Gehricke, public domain
Taharqa portrait and the seven Doukki Gel statues, Kerma Museum: Matthias Gehricke, CC BY-SA 4.0
Greek inscription at Abu Simbel: facsimile, public domain
Stela of Esarhaddon, Berlin: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, CC BY-SA 4.0
Kiosk of Taharqa, Karnak: Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0; Rabax63, CC BY-SA 4.0
Taharqa and the gods of Gematen, Kawa shrine: Anthony Huan, CC BY-SA 2.0
Ashurbanipal, City of Nineveh relief: Anthony Huan, CC BY-SA 2.0
Shabaka Stone, British Museum: Markh at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0
Sennacherib annals prism, WA 103000: Zunkir, CC BY-SA 4.0 Licences: CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... · CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... · CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... · CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Images via Wikimedia Commons unless noted; cropped and animated. Maps, charts and cards made for this film.
#AncientEgypt #Kush #BlackPharaohs