0:00:02 > 0:00:08The civilisation of Ancient Egypt, with its dramatic spectacle and mystery, has always fascinated me.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13I've been travelling the country to explore some of the intriguing stories
0:00:13 > 0:00:15that have emerged from this historic land.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17In this programme,
0:00:17 > 0:00:21I'm setting off to discover how and why the Ancient Egyptians
0:00:21 > 0:00:25made things to last forever, fuelled by their belief in eternity.
0:00:41 > 0:00:48The remarkable thing about Ancient Egypt is that so much survives for us to marvel at,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51up to 4,600 years after it was created.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56Grand monuments, temples, tombs, we even have their bodies.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00But it's no accident that we have so much.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04They deliberately made things to last.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07It was because the Egyptians believed they could,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09in some sense, live forever.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11That death was not the end,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14it was followed by an afterlife,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17free of the limitations of age or poverty.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Crucially, that afterlife depended on preserving their bodies
0:01:21 > 0:01:25and monuments for as long as their spirits or souls would need them.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29And so they developed techniques of building for eternity.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And some of those techniques were ingenious.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37I want to see how these Egyptians prepared for the afterlife
0:01:37 > 0:01:43so I've come here to see the beginning of the desire to build for eternity.
0:01:43 > 0:01:49I'm at Saqqara, where, 4,600 years ago, the Pharaoh, Djoser,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52built this great pyramid.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58It marks the Pharaoh's burial place, where he would enter the afterlife.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Djoser believed his successful entry and survival in the afterlife
0:02:02 > 0:02:06depended on the survival of his body and of this monument.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09So instead of the usual mud-brick,
0:02:09 > 0:02:13this is the first major building in Egypt made out of stone.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16For me this pyramid is one of the greatest structures
0:02:16 > 0:02:18ever made by man.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Not only is it one of man's first masonry constructions
0:02:22 > 0:02:26but also just look at its sublime elemental geometry.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28It's so powerful, so beautiful.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35What's extraordinary about this pyramid, given its perfect form,
0:02:35 > 0:02:41is the way in which it evolved, developed in a rather ad hoc manner.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Originally there were these shafts dug below it,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48burial shafts and chambers in which to keep treasures
0:02:48 > 0:02:52and these shafts were topped by a mastaba, a sort of horizontal slab.
0:02:52 > 0:02:58A single horizontal slab was the traditional tomb monument at the time,
0:02:58 > 0:03:03but Djoser realised that by using stone he could build a larger, taller structure.
0:03:03 > 0:03:09A stairway to heaven that would carry him up to the realm of the gods, to immortality.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13Tier was built upon tier to form a strong and stable design.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15A step pyramid.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20As if to guarantee immortality,
0:03:20 > 0:03:26Djoser then increased the size of his pyramid to make it last even longer.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31The original smaller structure is still visible in the walls we see now.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36The pyramid is just part of a large funerary complex,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40which also shows Djoser's ambition to build for eternity.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Up till then, large structures had been made from materials that didn't last,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48such as reeds, timber and palm stems.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Djoser found a way to imitate these traditional, perishable materials,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55with something more permanent.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00The entire funeral complex was enclosed within a mighty wall,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03a fragment of which has been reconstructed.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Traditionally, such walls would have been built out of temporary materials -
0:04:10 > 0:04:11mud-brick and timber.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14But here, we see something fascinating happening.
0:04:14 > 0:04:21Those materials have been replaced by more permanent materials, wonderful stone here,
0:04:21 > 0:04:27and above me the ceiling appears to be made out of timber logs.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31They would have been in the old days, but here the timber logs were replaced by stone.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35So the old materials and forms of construction are remembered,
0:04:35 > 0:04:42even though replaced by new and more long-lasting materials.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45And we see something similar happening here.
0:04:45 > 0:04:51Amazing, a mighty symbolic gate, open,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53even it has great hinges,
0:04:53 > 0:04:59but rather than being made of timber, the leaves of this great gate are made of stone.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04Certainly a gate worthy of lasting for eternity.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09In this colonnaded hall, we can see more evidence.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14Traditionally, columns were made out of palm stems tied together.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Here we can see palm stems, but made in stone.
0:05:21 > 0:05:27Wherever you look here, you see reminders of fragile materials, but made to last longer.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30These beautiful stone-built shrines,
0:05:30 > 0:05:37again largely reconstructed, contain more very revealing details.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40In front of me is something very weird.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45In design, what appears to be a little timber gate.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49And I suppose in conception and design that's what it's meant to be,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52but a timber gate made out of stone.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57All this shows, very directly and dramatically,
0:05:57 > 0:06:04how building practice evolved to create a monumental stone-built architecture
0:06:04 > 0:06:06that would last for eternity.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12As for pyramids, Djoser promoted the idea that solidity and size mattered
0:06:12 > 0:06:14if you want to live forever.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20And that led to something staggering, a few miles down the Nile.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29The golden age of pyramid construction started at Saqqara,
0:06:29 > 0:06:36lasted for only around 100 years and reached its high-point here at Giza.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41The builders of these three giants aimed for permanence and succeeded.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Of the seven wonders of the ancient world,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47these pyramids are all that remain.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51The great pyramid at Giza was started about 70 years
0:06:51 > 0:06:54after the step pyramid at Saqqara.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59Certainly it is the epitome of pyramid architecture,
0:06:59 > 0:07:07designed and constructed with incredible accuracy and, of course, on an heroic scale.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12The pyramid's orientated very exactly to the four points of the compass
0:07:12 > 0:07:19and it is level to within two centimetres from one corner to the other.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Incredible accuracy.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28It's built with over two and a half million blocks of limestone
0:07:28 > 0:07:33and the weight of the structure is over seven and a half million tons.
0:07:33 > 0:07:40Almost certainly this was created by the Pharaoh Khufu to serve as his tomb,
0:07:40 > 0:07:45in which case, that man certainly had an eye to eternity.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50This thing really is a force of nature, built to last forever.
0:07:52 > 0:07:58It took a brilliant feat of engineering to turn Khufu's dream of immortality into reality.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00So how did the Egyptians do it?
0:08:00 > 0:08:06To start with, they had to cut and haul huge blocks of limestone.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I'm standing in the remains of an ancient quarry.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14I can see all around me these square areas.
0:08:14 > 0:08:20These represent the bases of great stones that once rose above me
0:08:20 > 0:08:24and these stones, this limestone, was cut away
0:08:24 > 0:08:28using the most basic, the most primitive of Bronze-Age technology.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Simply soft bronze or copper chisels,
0:08:31 > 0:08:38and then these great blocks had to be lifted using not pulleys or anything like that,
0:08:38 > 0:08:44simply wedges and rollers and levers, most simple stuff, incredible achievement.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48And look at the size of all these stones, monumental in scale.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53And to see where they went, you simply have to look over there.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00Working out how the limestone blocks were assembled to form the great pyramid
0:09:00 > 0:09:03has kept engineers and archaeologists busy for years.
0:09:03 > 0:09:10Most now believe that massive ramps was used to drag the limestone blocks up to the working area.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15It's reckoned that 20,000 people working on the entire project
0:09:15 > 0:09:18could have achieved it during the 23-year reign of the Pharaoh.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25The great pyramid may have ensured Khufu immortality and a place among the gods
0:09:25 > 0:09:32but its construction must have involved getting labour and funds from all over the country.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36No-one ever attempted anything on such a scale again.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Even Khufu's own son, Khafre,
0:09:39 > 0:09:45and his grandson, Menkaure, had to settle for smaller pyramids nearby.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48If it wasn't possible to build bigger, then new ways were needed
0:09:48 > 0:09:53to make the monuments last, such as using even tougher materials.
0:09:53 > 0:10:00Details of the three pyramids at Giza show a continuing obsession with eternity.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03The first two pyramids were clad with a fine limestone.
0:10:03 > 0:10:09That's still there, on top of Khafre's pyramid. There it is, a limestone.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15But here, a third pyramid, the pyramid of Menkaure, is clad not with limestone
0:10:15 > 0:10:18but with granite; granite much harder than limestone.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23And here you see these blocks rising up and then stopping.
0:10:23 > 0:10:29And more amazing, these great blocks of granite were to be smoothed off
0:10:29 > 0:10:37to give the pyramid a fantastic sheer surface and that's happened over here.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Look at this.
0:10:39 > 0:10:46The great block of granite smoothed to make this lovely facade.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48What ambition!
0:10:48 > 0:10:54Durable granite became the Egyptian's favourite material for everlasting monuments.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59It was used in tombs, temples and obelisks throughout the country.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01But what really impresses me
0:11:01 > 0:11:04is the effort that went into getting the stone.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07There is no granite suitable for building
0:11:07 > 0:11:09anywhere in northern Egypt.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11To trace the source of the rock,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15my journey took me 600 miles south of Giza, to Aswan.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24Here I found the only source of building granite in Egypt, a truly ancient quarry.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26It looked like it was still in use,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29and the stone cutters had just gone for a tea-break.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32And in the middle of a very large job.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Good Lord, this is the largest obelisk in the world.
0:11:38 > 0:11:44Or would have been, if completed and erected. It's absolutely huge.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50This monster was carved out on three sides,
0:11:50 > 0:11:54around 3,500 years ago, and then abandoned.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59If it had been finished, it would have weighed more than 1,100 tons
0:11:59 > 0:12:02and stood 42 metres high.
0:12:02 > 0:12:08Most probably it was commissioned by the Pharaoh, Tuthmosis III.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11It's a marvellous snapshot of Egyptian technology,
0:12:11 > 0:12:15preserved simply because granite is so good at resisting erosion.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22This is absolutely awe-inspiring.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28Towards its tip, the obelisk would have been well over two metres wide,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31two or three metres down here.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37Incredible. And this very, very hard granite would have been cut
0:12:37 > 0:12:42using nothing other than harder stones, pounding stones, like dolerite.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45This was of course the Bronze Age, no iron,
0:12:45 > 0:12:50and copper and bronze chisels would have been useless on this material.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Utterly, utterly fantastic.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57But something went horribly wrong.
0:12:57 > 0:13:04This great obelisk, almost reaching its bottom here for the fourth face to be cut,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08was abandoned because it was discovered
0:13:08 > 0:13:12that there were several frightful faults running through the stone.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17If it had been lifted it would have fallen into pieces.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22So this mighty obelisk, the largest single stone actually ever quarried
0:13:22 > 0:13:26in the ancient world, was abandoned,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30left here for us to discover and for us to wonder at.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35So I'd found the source of thousands of tons of granite,
0:13:35 > 0:13:41used to help ensure a long afterlife for many Pharaohs.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44The granite must have been carried to temples and tombs
0:13:44 > 0:13:48throughout the country by floating it down the Nile.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52It would have been an extraordinary operation, taking many months,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55to make the 600-mile journey to the pyramids at Giza.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00It's fitting that the most eternal of building stone
0:14:00 > 0:14:02was carried along this great river
0:14:02 > 0:14:08because it was the Nile that inspired the belief in the afterlife in the first place.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12It's not surprising that the Nile
0:14:12 > 0:14:14was so important to Egyptian religion.
0:14:14 > 0:14:21Without the Nile, there would have been no Ancient Egyptian civilisation, no gods.
0:14:21 > 0:14:28It seemed to them to be the fertile centre of the world, a wondrous paradise.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And now I see how the Nile could have led to the idea of eternity,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38because they'd seen the continuing cycles of life on the river.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43The Nile is also like a great natural clock,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45marking the turning of the world.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Seasons coming and going, and coming again.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53The annual flood of the Nile bringing life to parched land.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56They would have seen plants germinating
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and dying and living again.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02And of course that gave the idea of the cycle of life,
0:15:02 > 0:15:07of man also living and dying and enjoying an afterlife.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10This idea comes from the Nile,
0:15:10 > 0:15:16and from nature brought to life by the Nile.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21It's not such a big step to imagine that something similar
0:15:21 > 0:15:23could happen to human life.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27I can see why, just as the crops were renewed each season,
0:15:27 > 0:15:32Ancient Egyptians should believe that after death, they too could be renewed.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41But crucially, for them to be renewed
0:15:41 > 0:15:46and to attain afterlife, the body had to be preserved
0:15:46 > 0:15:51so that a new, finer being, could grow from it, could germinate.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01This was a real challenge, to stop the body decomposing.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06They would have noticed that when the dead were buried in the desert sand,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09they were preserved naturally.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11The bodies dried out before they could decay.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16So the Ancient Egyptians developed mummification,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20a technique that preserved the human body in a similar way.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23It's another example of how their great practical skills
0:16:23 > 0:16:26were put to the service of their belief in eternity.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34In front of me lies the body of a young woman.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39She died around 2,000 years ago.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43She's been mummified. The process of mummification
0:16:43 > 0:16:46is absolutely fascinating.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50They realised that the decay of the body starts within the organs.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53The organs had to be removed, but very carefully indeed.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58The brain had to be extracted without damaging the skull,
0:16:58 > 0:17:03with a special tool inserted usually up the left nostril,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05and the brain would be pulled out.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10In the process of this extraction, the brain would be virtually destroyed.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15It didn't matter, though. They didn't reckon the brain was very important.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Other organs though are preserved.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Inside here, the heart, the liver, the lungs, the intestines all had to be taken out.
0:17:22 > 0:17:28Now, four of these organs are preserved in these Canopic jars.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34These have lovely little lids showing the four sons of Horus.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39Horus, of course, the son of Osiris, lord of the underworld.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43The heart, though, is treated differently.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45That's preserved and then re-inserted
0:17:45 > 0:17:48into the empty husk of the body.
0:17:48 > 0:17:54The heart was very important cos that was seen as the place
0:17:54 > 0:18:00where the soul resided and the soul had to face judgment in the underworld.
0:18:00 > 0:18:06The body is then preserved by being packed with natron.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11Natron's a form of natural salt, it removes the water and preserves the flesh.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16And so there, this body is wrapped in bandages.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19The last thing, the most moving thing in a way,
0:18:19 > 0:18:24is this, the mask that's placed over the head of the mummy.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Here we can see the dead... the dead person.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31An idealised representation, I guess,
0:18:31 > 0:18:38but nevertheless there is the young girl looking at me, staring into infinity, into eternity.
0:18:38 > 0:18:44The final phase of burial was the opening of the mouth ceremony.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48That would take place just before the tomb was sealed.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54A priest would approach the mummy bearing a selection of special instruments
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and the object was to re-animate the dead,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01to allow their senses to work in the afterlife,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04so they could hear and see and take nourishment.
0:19:04 > 0:19:11In a sense, it allowed the dead to live in the land of Osiris.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15So preparing for a life in eternity
0:19:15 > 0:19:18didn't just depend on the skills of the embalmers.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21The rituals associated with burial were vital
0:19:21 > 0:19:25if the person was to live on in the afterlife.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28We know many of these rituals from tomb paintings.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32For instance, here, the opening of the mouth ceremony
0:19:32 > 0:19:35is being performed on the dead Pharaoh, Tutankhamen.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43Tombs also give us an idea of what living in the afterlife was like.
0:19:44 > 0:19:50It was shown as an agricultural paradise, sometimes called "the field of reeds",
0:19:50 > 0:19:54where life was an idealised version of the existence the dead had left behind.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59But what really fascinates me,
0:19:59 > 0:20:04is the help the dead were given to ease their life in the field of reeds.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Entombed with the mummy were small helper figures
0:20:07 > 0:20:12that would be animated by magic spells when things got arduous in the underworld.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Here's a model granary.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21It shows people preparing grain and storing grain up here, a grain store.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23And here's someone grinding up the grain.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26So this really would ensure that the dead person,
0:20:26 > 0:20:31with whom this was entombed, had sustenance in the next world,
0:20:31 > 0:20:33would have bread, something to eat.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37These are called shabti figures.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38These are very important.
0:20:38 > 0:20:46A number of these would be buried in the tomb with the dead and they have a very specific function.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49This one has a spell carved into it here,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53a shabti spell, and this explains what it does.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56It toils, it works for the dead,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59to relieve the dead of the need to labour in paradise.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04This one, it says, shifts sand
0:21:04 > 0:21:08and he's carrying the tools of his trade here, a little hoe.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Shifting sand to create irrigation ditches.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Always the same, water, fertility, as in Egypt around the Nile.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Water is life, so digging irrigation ditches is very important in paradise.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26This one has a name of the dead, lovely little blue figure.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Oh, look, a little sort of work basket for carrying the sand,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34just to make sure that the dead person,
0:21:34 > 0:21:39entombed with this figure, could have a relaxing time
0:21:39 > 0:21:42in the kingdom of Osiris. Very nice.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49For the most important people in Ancient Egypt, like the Pharaohs,
0:21:49 > 0:21:54much more was done to ensure survival in the afterlife.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58A preserved body and a well-supplied tomb was just the start.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00For the Pharaoh to live on,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04his name had to live on, in speech and writing.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07The names of Pharaohs are found all over Egypt,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11inscribed in oval-shaped cartouches.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Tuthmosis III,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Ramesses II,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Tutankhamen,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Horemheb.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26The shape is based on the circular hieroglyph meaning "eternity",
0:22:26 > 0:22:31so by placing the name within it, the Pharaoh symbolically lived forever.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37But for Ancient Egyptians, for all their sense of eternity,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40for all their great monuments and the mummified bodies,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45the onward march of time couldn't be taken for granted.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51The annual flooding of the Nile, even the rising of the sun,
0:22:51 > 0:22:56depended on pleasing the gods with rites and rituals in temples.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Temples were the engines of eternity where the forces of chaos
0:23:03 > 0:23:08and darkness were kept at bay, where divine harmony was maintained,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12and the safety of the living and those in the afterlife preserved.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15So a temple had to last forever.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Even the Ancient Egyptian word for a temple means
0:23:18 > 0:23:21"house of the millions of years."
0:23:22 > 0:23:25I travelled down the Nile to the temple at Dendera.
0:23:27 > 0:23:33Here you can tell from the massive architecture that it's made to last.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36The solid temple building represented order and stability...
0:23:38 > 0:23:39..while surrounding it,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44is a gigantic perimeter wall keeping out the forces of chaos.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Temples provided a route from the world of man
0:23:57 > 0:24:02to the world of the gods, from the profane to the sacred.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04And this route is marked,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08explicit in the architecture of temples such as this.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13The outer parts were open to the sky, light, airy, relatively public.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18As one penetrates, though, the temple becomes smaller,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21more intimate, the space is darker.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Only the privileged, the high and mighty of the land,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26can go into the very heart of the temple.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30And all of this, of course, served a very particular purpose.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33It was to act as a machine, really,
0:24:33 > 0:24:38a machine for regulating the earth, for renewing the earth.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Nature was observed, the cycle of life observed and followed.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46And in front of me is the shrine of Hathor.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51This is the powerhouse of the temple, the holy of holies.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58This is the culmination of the sacred route,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01the smallest of the main halls.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Great doors would have originally
0:25:03 > 0:25:05enclosed this space.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06Only the priests would enter here.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11Over there, would have been an image of the goddess.
0:25:11 > 0:25:18On the walls her story is told, her powers made plain.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Now to worship the goddess here was really to worship nature,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25to ensure that the world continued to exist,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29to ensure that the world that man enjoyed would be here
0:25:29 > 0:25:34for future generations, and ensure the sun would rise on the morrow.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40So the apparatus of eternity was all there.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44The great temples keeping the forces of chaos at bay,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48the mummies, the names, and the giant funerary monuments,
0:25:48 > 0:25:53all ensured an eternal life for the most important people of the country.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56But how long could eternity stay the course?
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Eventually, the idea that things could last forever
0:26:00 > 0:26:02was severely tested.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07The Egyptian civilisation lasted a very long time.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12When Ramesses II started this mortuary temple for himself,
0:26:12 > 0:26:19now known as the Ramesseum, the step pyramid at Saqqara was already 1,300 years old.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24This long period of time allowed certain ideas
0:26:24 > 0:26:27about eternity to be challenged.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30Some people would have noticed
0:26:30 > 0:26:36that tombs had been abandoned and robbed, mummies unwrapped,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38and the jewels plucked from within them,
0:26:38 > 0:26:45and temples themselves abandoned and left to fall into decay.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49This temple of Ramesses II was most probably damaged
0:26:49 > 0:26:54by an earthquake in antiquity and its collapse hastened by its later use
0:26:54 > 0:26:57as a quarry for building stone.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Many Ancient Egyptians would surely have shared the sentiments
0:27:03 > 0:27:08expressed in the early nineteenth century by the English poet, Shelley,
0:27:08 > 0:27:13when he contemplated drawings of this mighty fallen statue,
0:27:13 > 0:27:18once rising 16 metres high.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22It's an image of Ramesses II,
0:27:22 > 0:27:28but better known to Shelley by one of his Greek names, Ozymandias.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36"My name is Ozymandias King of Kings
0:27:36 > 0:27:38"Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair
0:27:38 > 0:27:41"Nothing beside remains
0:27:41 > 0:27:46"Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
0:27:46 > 0:27:48"the lone and level sands stretch far away."
0:27:53 > 0:27:57Many of the marvels of Ancient Egypt have disappeared,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02yet much lives on as intended.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07People still speak the names of the Pharaohs and their gods
0:28:07 > 0:28:12in temples such as these, the houses of the millions of years.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Ramesses II and Tutankhamen are once again household names
0:28:17 > 0:28:22and while their names live on, so, in a sense, do they.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Next time, I'm following the story of one intriguing woman
0:28:32 > 0:28:39who tried to seize power in Ancient Egypt through black magic and, perhaps murder.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd