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3,500 years ago, Egypt entered the 18th Dynasty with a succession of kings and queens who were obsessed with wealth and power. They spent Egypt’s money on grandiose temple building projects at Karnak and Luxor on the River Nile, and extravagant tombs designed to bear witness to their magnificence.

The wealth of the kings came at a huge cost to the people of Egypt whose needs were not uppermost in the rulers' concerns. Neighbouring countries were held to ransom by the power of the Egyptian army and the wealth gained in response was used solely for the kings’ purposes.

They were the most powerful, successful and richest of Egypt’s long line of Pharaohs. They were usually short in stature, all had a tendency to buck teeth, and most of them married their siblings. They include the female ruler, Hatshepsut, the religious reformer Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti, and the most famous yet short lived of them all, the boy king Tutankhamun. Although his reign was insignificant the splendour of his tomb has been in the spotlight ever since it was discovered by Howard Carter.

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Deborah Findlay
Produced by Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4