The Greatest Pharaohs

The Greatest Pharaohs is a 1997 American educational documentary film about Ancient Egypt distributed by A&E and narrated by Frank Langella with commentary by experts in the field. It is 200 minutes long and split into four parts, with each part explaining the lives of four Egyptian pharaohs.

In education

The film uses interviews of historians, re-creations through CGI, location footage, and archaeological and scientific evidence to tell the story of these Egyptian monarchs. It has been made available for instructional use by A&E, and is now being used in anthropology and archaeology courses at colleges and universities, such as the University of Vermont, San Francisco State University, Oriental Institute of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and University of California, Berkeley, as well as smaller colleges such as Blue Ridge Community College. It is available in public libraries across the United States, and in archives such as La Bibliographie nationale française.

4-part series

The documentary series The Greatest Pharaohs chronicles the lives of the men and women who built and maintained the Egyptian dynasties and the resources and power of ancient Egypt. Footage is included of the recently opened pyramid complex of the Pharaoh Sneferu and the rarely seen ancient burial ground of Abydos.

Part 1

Follows the birth of Egyptian civilization and the origins of the pharaohs and their legacy of the pyramids. It begins with the story of how the first pharaoh, the warrior Narmer, united Upper and Lower Egypt and began the first dynasty. Covers Narmer, Hor-Aha, Djoser, Sneferu, and Khafre.