Dr. Zahi Hawass, Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, has signed an agreement giving Discovery Channel exclusive documentary television rights to the newly discovery KV63 tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Dr. Hawass has granted permission for news organizations to film and photograph, while Discovery Channel retains the only worldwide documentary television rights.

Effective immediately, Discovery Channel will chronicle each phase of the team of University of Memphis archaeologists as they explore KV63, culminating in a documentary to air on Discovery Channel in the US in early summer 2006. KV63 was first discovered on February 8, 2006 by a team of archaeologists from the University of Memphis...

Dr. Hawass stated, "This new discovery reveals more secrets from the Valley of the Kings. The valley has been silent for more than 83 years. Now the mystery begins, and the world will witness the magic of another great discovery..."

Dr. Zahi Hawass of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Grants Discovery Channel Exclusive Documentary Rights to Film KV63 in Valley of the Kings, PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance, USA, March 15, 2006.

cf. Dr. Zahi Hawass of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Grants Discovery Channel Exclusive Documentary Rights to Film KV63 in Valley of the Kings, PR Newswire, USA, March 15, 2006.

On the Ides of March (or March 15), 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated, at the foot of a statue of Pompey where the senate was meeting...

The Ides of March, N.S. Gill, About Ancient / Classical History Blog, About.com, March 12, 2006.

cf. Ides of March Marked Murder of Julius Caesar, National Geographic News, District of Columbia, USA, March 12, 2004.

N.S. Gill has also recently posted a Cleopatra Study Guide.

... The drive from Nasr-city, where my hotel was located, to the Giza Plateau, west of the River Nile, bordering the Sahara Desert, where the pyramids stand, took about one hour on impressive multi-laned causeways that made me feel a tinge as I thought of our dilapidated roads.

We turned off the Pyramids Road – Shara El-Haram into a confusing maze of narrow roads before reaching an open unpaved area lined with shops selling hieroglyphics on papyrus, Egyptian jewellery and perfumes "extracted from Nile plants", as the sales pitch went...

The place was anything but sedate. A very busy market place in the middle of the desert was more like it. Horses, donkeys, camels and their handlers crowded the sandy place. Aggressive guides and hawkers competed for your attention...

Wonder At the Great Pyramids of Egypt, The Nation, Nairobi via allAfrica.com, March 12, 2006.

Europe's best ancient history documentaries are on show here this weekend at the debut edition of Rome's International Archaeology Cinema Festival.

The four-day event, which kicks off Friday at the city's posh new Auditorium Music Park, has a fascinating programme of film screenings, meetings with directors and debates.

"Paradoxically, our city has never had an archaeology cinema festival, though archaeology is an integral part of the territory," said Rome Culture Councillor Vincenzo Vita...

Archaeology film fest in Rome, ANSA, Italy, March 15, 2006.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, one of the most famous monuments of Pharaonic Egypt, is to get a facelift, the Egyptian ministry of culture said on Tuesday.

Restoration work on the noseless creature undertaken by the High Council for Antiquities is to focus on the beast's neck and chest, rendered fragile by the erosion of desert winds.

Egyptian antiquities boss Zahi Hawass said the last restoration work on the half-man half-lion statue was carried out in 1996...

Facelift on the cards for Giza Sphinx, Independent Online, South Africa, March 15, 2006.

cf. Egypt's Sphinx to get facelift, Yahoo! News, USA, March 14, 2006.