Egyptologist Fact Checks Egyptian History Slop

- Let's take a look at this scene. Where to start? The headdresses that these guys are wearing are completely nuts.

[light thoughtful music] Where are the other pyramids here? What's wrong, however, is this sort of yellow hat.

This has nothing to do with ancient Egypt. I'm archeologist Laurel Bestock. I study ancient Egypt. Let's fact-check some AI slop.

[pen scrapes] Okay, first video. What's the most difficult part of being a pharaoh? - No one ever builds statues of me smiling.

I'm divine, not miserable. - I find this line hilarious because, in fact, most statues of ancient Egyptian kings do have a slight smile on them.

We as Egyptologists recognize a particular era late in what we call the 12th Dynasty when statues are frowning, and we have an enormous difficulty explaining why these kings made statues where they weren't smiling, because most kings did smile in their statues.

- What's your job like? - Well, I lift stones all day so a dead man can feel tall forever. - So the whole construct of "What's your job?

How do you make a living?" Doesn't really apply to ancient Egypt. This is a very modern way of understanding what professions are and how we work in the world.

- What's your role in society? - I am Ra, bringer of the sun. But I also run the fish stall on weekdays.

- This is nonsense. Ra is a god, and the people who would have served as priests for the gods are definitely not the guys who are selling fish in the marketplace.

- [Interviewer] How's the flooding season treating you? - Well, the Nile gave us water, took the house, and drowned the goat.

But the barley's optimistic. - And this is, of course, hilarious way of putting it, but the importance of the flood in ancient Egypt was real.