1088 B.C. was remembered by those who survived as the "Year of the Hyenas."  Famine ravaged the very heart of the Egyptian empire at Thebes.  Incursions of enemies from the desert were frequent, and the Pharaohs proved unable to hold the country together.  As the economy collapsed and chaos ensued, crime rates soared.  In the Valley of the Kings, professional tomb robbers appeared, pitting their wits against the necropolis guards.  Once safely inside, many resorted to torching the sacred tombs to melt the copious amounts of gold embedded in wooden artifacts — turning precious works of art to cinders, and committing the ultimate sacrilege: destroying the king's body and with it, his chances of surviving the afterlife.