All language subtitles for Civilisation 2 Egypt

The gaze of this Pharaoh defies time.

Across the centuries.

his impassive face delivers the message

of a civilisation haunted by the beyond.

Tutankhamen's mysterious smile
reminds us of the riches of ancient Egypt.

but his empty eyes speak of death.

ln 1 922. the world was recovering
from the Great War.

Archaeologists were getting back to work
in their long-delayed digs.

ln Egypt. a darkness
intended for eternity

was pierced by the flickering light
of a candle.

The silence was broken in a tomb where
no one had set foot in almost 5000 years.

Howard Carter astonished the world.

After years of searching
without success.

he had uncovered. in the heart
of the Valley of the Kings.

the fabulous tomb of Tutankhamen.

Overnight. the treasures
in the young Pharaoh's tomb

cast their spell
on the Western world.

ln the public mind. Egypt became
the country of mysteries.

the land where humanity
must seek out the keys to its past.

Has anyone not dreamed
of the riches of Egypt?

Or visited the pyramids
without being moved?

Today. it seems everything
has been discovered.

Hordes of tourists hurry past.

taking pictures of everything
they can't commit to memory.

But modern Egypt offers a vision of a land
suspended between past and present.

a land where many mysteries
remain intact.

The history of civilisation
in this part of the world

is above all the history
of a giant river - the Nile.

lts legendary course will guide us
on a journey through time.

The green ribbon of the Nile Valley
has always held a fascination.

Ancient Greek explorers. accustomed
to rivers that flowed from north to south.

saw the Nile
as a thwarted force of nature.

And what a force!

lt stretches for 667 1 kilometres.

The power of the Nile seems irresistible.

Nomadic hunters were the first humans
to appear in the Nile Valley.

4000 years before Christ.

they fled arid lands and built camps
of reed huts beside the Nile.

There. over the next 2000 years.

an empire grew and prospered.

But what role did the Nile actually play
in the foundation of this society?

(Speaks French )
lf you look at a satellite photo
of Northeast Africa

and see the million
square kilometres of Egypt.

you see that the green ribbon
of the valley and the Delta

are only there
because of the river.

lt s obvious that in this desert.
the easternmost Sahara.

there would be nothing
without water.

The Nile is therefore
life itself to Egypt.

The Egyptians
recorded that very well

because when you see
purification scenes

where Pharaoh is purified
by gods on each side

who pour streaming water
across the king s body

in the form of life-signs
falling one after the other...

Water is life.

The source of that life
is in the mountains of Ethiopia.

2200 kilometres from the Delta.

The headwaters of the Blue Nile form
a vast lake between the mountains.

almost an inland sea.

Lake Tana. as it is called.
covers 3500 square kilometres.

Between June and September.

storms rage
over the high Ethiopian plateau.

Water streams down the slopes.

With the coming of the monsoon.
the lake overflows

and the water of the Nile begins
its journey down to the plains.

Plunging through the "smoking water"
of the Tisisat Falls.

it takes a month
to cross Ethiopia and Sudan.

The clear waters of Lake Tana
become a mighty. rushing torrent.

For several kilometres.

this raging tide tears whole blocks
of sediment out of the mountains.

ln some years. it carries
no less than 50 tonnes of silt

all the way
to the mouth of the river.

ln July. when the vast flood
reaches Egypt. the scene changes.

The Nile is now between
8 and 1 0 metres deep

and it spreads out across
several kilometres of the plain.

ln the four months
from July to October.

the Nile floods the arable land.
and turns villages into islands.

Every year.
the Nile widens enormously.

at the same time depositing layers
of silt that push back the desert.

The ancient Egyptians tried to keep
a record of the recurrent floods.

They tried to detect
the first signs of the flood

by building nilometers to measure
increases in the water level.

The moods of the Nile
were part of daily life.

The Egyptians soon realised that
the floods could never be controlled.

They would have to adapt their sowing
and harvesting to the floods' rhythm.

lmagine their wonder

when vast stretches of water
covered everything.

The flood was of course an important
source of wealth and prosperity.

but the Nile also had
a magical character.

How did the men and women
of ancient Egypt see the river?

What place did it have
in their world?

As the Nile was Egypt s waterway

and as this mighty mass of water
turned into a sea during the flood.

the importance of the Nile
was felt everywhere.

lt took on a huge religious role.

The gods travelled on barges.

During the day
the sun moved on a barge.

then moved to an underground island
on a night barge.

The Nile generated
an incredible number of images.

including the cosmogonies.
the theories of Creation.

Every year.
before their very eyes.

they had this vast stretch of water
covering everything.

which inspired the idea
of the primordial ocean.

The mighty Nile. a wonder of nature.
swept across Egypt's scorched earth.

The flood was not a scourge.
but a godsend.

lt spread its blessings
all along the river.

Modern Egypt has inherited
this natural treasure.

lt too is sustained by the Nile.

6000 years ago. the banks of the Nile
saw the birth of early agriculture.

As new techniques developed.
so did Egyptian civilisation.

Production increased.

Egyptian farmers grew
barley. wheat and flax.

They produced the wine and beer
they loved.

They were goatherds and cowherds.

3000 years before Christ.
Upper and Lower Egypt were united.

From then on. all the peasants
shared the same culture.

There were not yet any large cities.

but the emergence of ceramics and
pottery and of large ceremonial centres

reflects the influence
of a centralised government.

Thousands of villages appeared
in the valley.

At the same time.
the spoken word was recorded

in inscriptions invoking the gods.

Writing. born out of worship.
was spread by commerce along the Nile.

the natural route
for travellers and traders.

4500 years ago.

the first royal tombs appeared
on the edge of the desert.

They were mastabas.
simple burial chambers

beneath flat-roofed
rectangular buildings of mud brick.

ln them. the kings lay isolated
in the silence of the dunes.

surrounded by their wealth.

But these displays of opulence reveal
the anxieties of the ancient Egyptians.

A whole people had begun
a quest for immortality.

4600 years ago.

Pharaoh was deemed
the son of Ra. the sun god.

He could be proud of his divine descent.
His power was immense.

He reigned over two million people.

His last resting place
soared toward the heavens.

lt consorted with the sun.
lt was a symbol of perfection.

This was the golden age
of ancient Egypt.

Today. it's hard to imagine
the wonder of the scholars

who accompanied Napoleon
to Egypt in 1 798.

That campaign led
to the Western world's rediscovery

of these extraordinary monuments.

Around the campfire at night.
the questions would have been endless.

Who built these gigantic pyramids?

What were they used for?

And above all.
what was inside them?

lf they were to unlock the secrets
of this vanished civilisation.

all these questions
would have to be answered.

Small parties of surveyors.
architects and mathematicians.

wearing high boots and
woollen uniforms with gold buttons.

ventured deep into the suffocating heat
of the largest pyramid.

With only candles to light their way.

it took them hours to work their way
through the immense labyrinth.

But they came up with the first answers
to the puzzles of the pyramids.

According to Napoleon's engineers.

the largest of the three pyramids
was 230 metres long.

lt was 1 47 metres high.

the equivalent
of a 40-storey building.

Construction of the mausoleum
had required great technical precision.

The angles at the base
were exactly 90 degrees

and the four sides were exactly aligned
with the four points of the compass.

To build it. the ancient Egyptians were
clearly not only architects and engineers.

they must also have been
excellent astronomers.

The pyramid was built
with three million blocks of stone.

each weighing over 21/2 tonnes.

and it stood on a base
of carved granite.

Two chambers. one above the other.
lay in its centre.

Legend had it that
the larger was the king's.

After following narrow passageways
for 40 metres.

the surveyors climbed to the larger
chamber via a 54-metre staircase.

one seemingly made for giants.

Here. the carved blocks fitted perfectly.
without the slightest gap.

At the end of this passageway
lay the king's chamber.

lnside was the granite sarcophagus
where his body was once laid.

But all other traces of the past
had vanished.

Nothing remained
of the ancient splendour.

The pyramid.
bare of all ornamentation.

had nothing to offer
seekers after treasure.

Yet there can be no doubt that the rooms
in which the Pharaoh was laid to rest

must have been magnificent.

For a long time. no one suspected

that just over the heads of visitors
to the royal tomb

there were discharge chambers

supporting the weight
of the tonnes of stone.

The logistics involved in the construction
of this room are staggering.

lt used 9-metre slabs.
each weighing several tonnes.

Amid the graffiti left
by the earliest modern visitors.

an inscription in red
catches the eye.

Here. in the very heart
of the pyramid.

workmen inscribed in red ink
the name of their master.

the man who had the pyramid built -

Cheops. one of the last rulers
of the Third Dynasty.

Were the pyramids
the Pharaoh's houses of eternity?

Did they represent the stairs
the dead king had to climb

to reach Ra. the sun god?

How do we explain the construction
of the pyramids 4600 years ago?

Who were the people who
accomplished this amazing feat?

The image of the pyramid
as the acme of what was...

perhaps the golden age
of Egyptian civilisation.

at least on its Pharaonic side...

Because by then.
Pharaoh had become a god.

He had a divine essence.

Of course we long ago
discarded the image

of an enslaved. whip-driven people
that we see in the movies.

Some show very fine wheels

when the wheel only appeared
centuries later.

The king was sacred.
Touching him. even inadvertently.

was punishable by death.

The cult of Pharaoh was
probably more intense then

than any time in the 3000 years
of the Egyptian civilisation.

lf the builders of the pyramids
were not slaves.

who were they?

For a long time. modern archaeologists
have been trying to find out.

Egypt still holds surprises.

even with millions of tourists
visiting every year.

She toys with us
and. when it suits her.

she reveals just a little
of her true face.

ln 1 991 . a tourist admiring the view
was thrown from his horse.

His mount had stumbled against
the remains of a low brick wall

that had begun to emerge
from the sand.

Archaeologists flocked
to begin excavations.

and dozens of tombs were uncovered
at the very foot of the pyramids.

Supervised by the site conservator.
Zahi Hawass.

these digs radically changed
our understanding of ancient Egypt.

Among the many bones uncovered
were objects used in everyday life.

and among them were tools that were
probably used in building the pyramids.

The archaeologists' brushes
also uncover touching relics.

Here. almost 4600 years ago.

men and women prayed for a glorious life
in the next world. after their deaths.

The echo of that prayer
is now being raised from the sand.

(Speaks English )
This is the new tombs that we found.

Very interesting tombs.
you never see tombs like this.

only in Aswan.
at Qubbet el-Hawa.

But this is very interesting
because this is the first time

that we know something
about the common people

the ordinary Egyptians
who built the pyramid.

This is why
this discovery is amazing

because from each bone.
and from each stone.

you can know something
about the people.

Every day. the excavations
yield something new.

Since 1 991 .

600 tombs and over 1 000 skeletons
have been found here.

The task is enormous.
but the archaeologists are in no hurry.

They don't want to miss
any messages from the past.

As they work among the tombs.
they maintain a respectful silence.

The dig quickly uncovered some amazing.
almost miraculous. finds.

They include the tombs of administrators.
public servants and ordinary labourers

who built the pyramid for Cheops
4600 years ago.

But what can these
human remains teach us?

Modern Cairo goes about its business
oblivious of the fact

that the history of mankind is slowly
being reconstructed at its heart.

Here. at the National Research Centre.

the bones exhumed at the foot
of the pyramids are analysed.

For Professor Azza Saary El-Din.

these bones are tangible proof that
the pyramid builders were not slaves.

Each skull and each bone
help her reconstruct lives

from thousands of years ago.

For example. her painstaking autopsies
reveal signs of ancient surgery.

(Speaks Arabic)
lt could have been
a surgical intervention

by the doctors
of the time.

They could have
tried to intervene

to relieve the pressure
inside the skull

or something like that.
to treat the condition.

The investigation reaches back in time.

Cancerous cells were eating away
at this skull.

The only way an ancient surgeon
could deal with them was...

to cut them out.

With patient detective work.

the anthropologists reconstruct
what happened to the bones.

This arm bone suffered
multiple fractures.

lt still shows the signs of a procedure
to put it back together.

The patient not only
had to wear a splint.

he also needed a graft
to help the bones re-knit.

X-rays confirm the diagnosis.

5000 years ago.

this man underwent a long
and complex surgical procedure.

He could well have been a worker

who was taken to the doctor
after a slab fell on his arm.

Would a slave have got
that kind of care?

Another discovery revealed
new information

when archaeologists exhumed
the remains of a mother

and her young child.

At the foot of the pyramids.

craftsmen. stonecutters and masons
lived and died near their work.

We initially expected to find
a group just of men.

who would be doing the work.

But the first skeleton discovered
was a woman s.

That made us change
our approach completely

and start looking
at the ratio of women to men

and at whether they were
a settled community

or had only come for the work.

For centuries. historians
supported the slavery theory

to explain the monumental constructions
of ancient Egypt.

They were mistaken.
The workmen were not slaves.

ln fact. a whole village was built
at the foot of the pyramids.

Large families - men. women
and children - lived in it.

When we discovered their skeletons

we found skeletons for women.
men and children.

We did not find only men.

With slaves.
theyd have brought a few males

to do the work and go back home.

But these men
settled in the area.

They were living a settled life
with their women and children.

They were surely not slaves.

The British Museum. in London.

Researchers here have delved
even deeper.

By piecing together
and translating texts from the era.

they have recreated part of the daily lives
of these men and women.

WOMAN:
There s not many sheet joins on here.

MAN:
l think it s a fairly good quality papyrus.

They might be just long sheets.

Yes... good. good.

And the hieroglyphs line up beautifully.

lt doesn t want to go
on that one either. does it?

The museum archives
hold a rare treasure.

The sands of Egypt recently yielded up
a perfectly flat piece of stone

that lists the names
of certain workers.

lt is an attendance record
5000 years old

and it records. day by day.

the date and the reason
for each workman's absence.

lt is inscribed on both sides

and contains records
of about 40 names of workmen.

l think this kind of document
is particularly interesting

because it is a document
of the ordinary people of ancient Egypt.

The scribe's stylus faithfully recorded.
in black ink. the name of each worker.

Underneath. he inscribed
the date of absence. also in black.

The cause of absence
was recorded in red.

ln half the cases.
the main reason given was illness.

This incomparable document takes us
right into the world of ancient Egypt.

2500 years before Christ.

a young man called Sebah
was away from work for one day.

What reason did he give
for his absence?

ln the case
of a worker called Sebah.

whose name is written
at the beginning of this line.

he was off for one day because
he was bitten by a scorpion.

This is the kind of accident
which could have happened

even in the house in the village.

The village where these workers lived
was situated on the desert

where scorpions are quite common.

ln the case of the worker called Consu.
whose name is written here.

he was absent firstly because
he was ill for some days here.

but then more interestingly. later on.

we are told he is at his festival.
at this point.

And this may be
a family or personal celebration

such as a birthday. for example.

The pyramid workers
had a wide variety of reasons.

Pusair left the workers' village when
he heard that his young son was sick.

From the details of the life
of these workers on this record

we can see that
they were free people.

They had their own lives. which were
reasonably pleasant for the time.

They had their own possessions.

lt was a hierarchical society.

There s no escape from the fact

that there were people
at various levels of society.

But having said that.

it was a much freer and equal society
than certain others.

The names on the stone
are like a mirror of the past.

Nepherub left. in mourning.
to have his brother embalmed.

Death was everywhere.
an inescapable part of life.

ln ancient Egypt
we find the paradox

that what appears to be
an obsession with death

is in fact the desire
to live on in the afterlife.

Likewise. nothing speaks
more strongly of daily life

than the decoration
and furnishing of the tombs.

The point of it was not storytelling

but to give the people
buried in the tombs

everything that could recreate.

through the creative power
of images and writing.

the life theyd led. which they
wanted to continue in the afterlife.

The tombs of the Pharaoh's servants
show us an Egypt that no longer exists.

lmages of papyrus and lotus blossoms
are seen alongside sacred animals

that are now extinct.

ln the fields. men and women
sow wheat and harvest crops.

while the frescoes' explosion of colour
reflects their zest for life.

At the centre of it all. the Nile
sets the rhythms of everyday life

and the winegrowers appear delighted
at the quality of the grapes.

The family was very important.

Family statues were taken
right into the tomb.

This loving father faces eternity
with his two daughters.

At the gates of an eternity
they had constructed for themselves.

the Pharaoh's subjects
seemed to be obsessed with life.

The obsession with life.

leading to
the obsession with eternity.

this notion of eternity
that seems to be

the most Egyptian component
of all this imaginary life.

is truly obsessional.

When you look at
even the smallest figurine

showing a deceased couple.
for instance.

one their son has dedicated
with a tiny inscription.

perhaps with only three signs.

it will say "From their son.
that their name may live. "

What matters is to continue living
in the afterworld.

As a corollary.
there s also the harpist s song

that entices you to enjoy life

because no one s
ever come back

to tell us that life goes on
in the afterlife.

ln other words. it says

"Enjoy life.
spend a wonderful day

"with the woman you love
sitting by your side

"until the day
you have to go aboard... "

There s this wonderful image
of going on a barge

to be taken to the other side.

lt s a great metaphor for death.

Until that day comes.
life has to be enjoyed.

They ll do everything they can.

they ll represent the life they led.

make all the necessary offerings...

in the simplest form.
1 000 beer jugs. 1 000 loaves.

1 000 pieces of fabric. etc...
1 000 head of cattle.

That s fine.
everything will be put in the tomb

but "Make the most of it.
because no one s ever come back. "

To accept the idea of death.

the Egyptians built tombs
that looked like houses.

They preserved the image
of a sunny universe

and so paid tribute to Ra.
the sun god.

Yet how do we explain the fact

that hundreds of thousands of men
and women worked to build a monument

that may never have been occupied?

Were the pyramids
the triumph of life over primeval chaos.

or did they represent something
more symbolic. more esoteric?

2500 years before Christ.
in what would become Europe.

populations of hunters lived
in primitive wooden huts.

ln Giza. at the same time.

hundreds of thousands of workers
were beginning their gigantic task.

This was Egypt's golden age.

Her merchants ventured
into the Mediterranean.

their caravans journeyed
as far south as Sudan.

and all along these routes.
trade flourished.

Pharaoh held absolute power.

Were the pyramids the symbol
of this unequalled power?

When his officers decided
to climb the pyramids at Giza.

Napoleon calculated that the three
together contained enough stone

to build a wall 3 metres high
and 30 centimetres wide.

right around France.

How long did these huge projects
go on for?

For the last 200 years
there have been many theories.

but we still don't have an answer.

Given the scorching desert heat.
why did free men agree to build them?

The pyramids are still an enigma.

Every day. as they catch
the last rays of the sun.

their giant shadows
blot out our questions.

What we are sure of is that to get
the raw materials to the pyramid site

the Egyptians had to wait
for the flood.

From July to October. the barges
were berthed on the edge of the desert.

The entire valley was covered
in water during those months.

and the peasants
had to wait for it to recede.

During this long period of idleness.

the Pharaoh's servants had an extremely
large labour force available to them.

During digs at the burial sites
beside the pyramids.

Zahi Hawass worked out
how the builders were recruited.

This is our most recent discovery.
a tomb that was found.

This is the tomb of Kai.
who was a priest.

And this tomb dated to Dynasty Four.
about 4600 years ago.

The Pharaohs' priests
were excellent administrators.

On the walls of the tomb of Kai.
who served Cheops.

the whole peasant population
walks in procession.

lnscriptions in Kai's tomb tell us precisely
when they joined the building site.

And it s telling us here

that he paid them beer and bread.

And he made them to make an offer

and say that they re very happy.
they re satisfied.

That they... about this payment.

They re saying
they swore that they were satisfied.

They said "By the name of God.
we are very happy. "

ln exchange for their labour.

Egyptian workmen received
the basic necessities of life.

They were grateful to the Pharaoh
and devoted to him.

The construction of the pyramids
was made possible

by this contract of mutual assistance
that they had with their sovereign.

Modern Giza now lives and dies
in the shadow of the pyramids.

They are testimonials in stone

to the social organisation
of ancient Egypt.

But can we believe
that the pyramids were built

only to occupy the Egyptian people
during the four months of flood time?

Zahi Hawass argues

that the building program
had another. much stronger purpose -

a symbolic one.

The pyramid is their national project.
Then all of them. they unite. all of them.

King. noblemen. official.
workmen. farmers.

all of them together work
to help the king to be a god.

And that s why my idea that
the pyramid was a national project.

lt is the most important thing
to the mind of the Egyptian.

Without this help. the king would
never have built this pyramid.

And is this why
the pyramid was the symbol

of unification of the two countries.
Upper and Lower Egypt.

So. part of the veil
has now been lifted.

For over 2000 years. the Egyptians united
to accomplish a common project.

a symbol of their strength and unity.

From the stone mastabas
to the Giza site.

almost 1 00 pyramids
were built in Egypt.

They were the first stone monuments
in the history of mankind.

The Egyptians built a symbol
of the power of their nation

in the heart of their land.

ln this land. the pyramid.
the king's house for eternity.

rose like a drop of radiant light
toward the heavens.

ln the history of ancient Egypt.
the Nile was all.

lts course tells us
more than any epic.

lt was the frontier
between life and death.

the path to the sun and the stars.

lt was more than a river.

lt was a god
whose will was carved in stone.

The untameable Nile was
an integral part of ancient Egypt.

( EXPLOSlON )

Yet the Nile was tamed.

ln 1 961 . under President Nasser.
construction of the Aswan Dam began.

lt took ten years to complete.

ten years of hard labour
to control the annual flood.

The Nile is no longer a god.

lt has become a tame. quiet river.

( SHlP'S HORN )

The Nile. like the pyramids.

had to pay tribute
to the modernisation of Egypt.

To harness its energy.

modern-day Egyptians
had to give up some of its benefits.

Today. the land of the valley
is no longer fertilised by silt

borne away
from the mountains of Ethiopia.

Fertiliser has replaced the flood.

What became of the legacy
of ancient Egypt?

What do the pyramids stand for today?

lve often felt that today s Egypt
is rather cut off from its past.

that the past is
just another great resource.

that the monuments
obviously attract people.

making tourism
one of Egypt s main resources.

This was something that Champollion.
a pioneer. understood

because when he left Egypt
at the end of his journey in 1 829.

he left Mohamed Alia note
on the protection of monuments.

He listed the monuments
to be protected.

Before the word even existed.

he understood
what tourism would be

with its economic dimension.
the spending of money.

He said
"It will attract educated people

"who will benefit the country
with the money they ll spend. "

This mass of stones is probably
the most obvious symbol.

the most obvious image
that we have

when we talk about ancient Egypt

with obelisks. sphinxes
and such-like words

that fill us with fantasies
and dreams.

Ancient Egypt gave way
to a cosmopolitan nation.

Turkish. then Arab.
a land of explorers.

Egypt will benefit from its heritage
for a long time to come

because much still lies
beneath the desert sands.

Today. Cairo has become
a megalopolis.

stretching along a quiet river.

Modern Egyptians are builders too.

4600 years ago.

the Pharaohs' subjects
left us proofs of their prestige.

their technical prowess.
their grandeur.

With the help of the Nile.

the Egyptian civilisation
united men and women

in a community
of enormous achievement.

On the edge of the desert.

three sacred mountains remind us
of the destiny of a people

born on the banks of the Nile.

The pyramids have remained
the symbol. throughout the ages.

of our fear of death.

They rise like beams of light
pointing to the hereafter.

When we look at them.

we are reminded that they will always
keep the secret of eternal life.

Subtitles SBS Australia 2007