It's a breathtaking moment for me.

NARRATOR: In the sands of the necropolis,

Basem has made an incredible discovery.

BASEM GEHAD: So what we are looking here

is one fragment of a mummy portrait

that is painted with the wax, the encaustic technique.

NARRATOR: Greek artists from Alexandria

traveled South through Egypt along the Nile.

People commissioned their portraits

from the artists, who painted with hot beeswax onto wood.

The lifelike portraits were unlike anything

in Egyptian art.

People hung their colorful portraits in their homes.

When they died, the portrait was put on their face

before they were mummified in the hope

their spirit would remember what they

looked like in the afterlife.

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It's really a masterpiece.

NARRATOR: Despite the layers of dust,

Basem can clearly make out the face of the woman it depicts.

BASEM GEHAD: We can realize all the detail--

the hairs, eyes, nose, lips, and even the necklace,

the green necklace from emerald.

And the tunic, the Greek tunic, which is painted in purple.

NARRATOR: It's a beautiful portrait of a Greek woman who

lived and died here at Philadelphia

around the time of Cleopatra some 2,000 years ago.

Basem thinks tomb robbers must have broken

the fragile painting when they tried

to remove it from the grave.

BASEM GEHAD: When it's broken into small fragments

or slides, for them, it's useless.

They could not sold it to the market.

So most probably, they left it at the site.

For us, it's a treasure.

I can't see any kind of object that could be

more beautiful than this face.

NARRATOR: It's a great discovery,

everything Basem has hoped for.

BASEM GEHAD: The aim of the mission--

we can say that it's accomplished.

This single piece makes our work here worth it.

Because it's-- in itself, it's unique.

NARRATOR: It's possible that Cleopatra

too would have been buried with a lifelike portrait of herself.

We know very well that ancient Egyptians

were very keen in keeping the picture of the deceased.

It seems that the tradition continued

during the Ptolemaic Period.

They kept the same tradition, but they

did it their own way using a new tradition of paintings.

And then they put these wonderful, amazing, awesome

portraits on the face and then they wrapped the whole mummy

in an Egyptian style.

NARRATOR: Basem's discovery suggests

that even outside Alexandria, the Greeks of her reign

followed Cleopatra's example and embraced Egyptian customs.

And Cleopatra's respect for the old ways

won her favor with the Egyptians,

allowing her to rule over a prosperous

multicultural empire.

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