In a unique collaboration with top archaeologists at new excavation sites in the Nile Delta, experts in the history of religion, and natural scientists investigating today’s ecological catastrophes, this series provides answers to some of the most intriguing questions of world history: did the Ten Plagues really happen? Were the Hebrews ever slaves in Egypt? Was there ever an Exodus? The film re-creates the Plagues themselves with state-of the-art CGI, the latest research of scientists, who at last understand what made these disasters occur.
Episode 2: Darkness over Egypt
For a long time, scientists have tried to prove that nine of the Ten Plagues described in the Old Testament point to a serious breakdown of the climate, triggering an ecological chain reaction. Apart from theological considerations, scholars all over the world have studied individual phenomena, trying to explain the causes of this Biblical disaster. There is no doubt in their minds that Nature’s rage must have reached terrifying proportions. Ancient papyri testify to this horrific scenario, which shook the very foundations of Egypt’s economy and engrained itself deep in the memory of the people. The authors of the Old Testament were also familiar with the plague stories told in their neighboring country, since Canaan and the kingdom of the pharaohs had by then been in close contact over many centuries. In the Book of Exodus, these events were depicted as the “wrath of God,” forming the prelude for the actual exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to their new homeland.
