0:00:10 > 0:00:13Egypt - a land of wonder and mystery
0:00:13 > 0:00:16that's too often misunderstood.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Over the years, the culture of ancient Egypt has
0:00:19 > 0:00:22hardened into a set of visual cliches - the pyramids,
0:00:22 > 0:00:26the great Sphinx, hieroglyphics, the golden mask of Tutankhamen,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28people in profile, mummies and pharaohs
0:00:28 > 0:00:31and strange animal-headed gods.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34But there is a reason why these things are so familiar.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37People say the history of art began in ancient Greece.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39But it didn't - it started here
0:00:39 > 0:00:42in the two lands of Upper and Lower Egypt.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52In this series, I've been tracking down 30 treasures that deserve to be
0:00:52 > 0:00:55celebrated not just as antiquities,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58but also as genuine masterpieces of art.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01The Egyptians didn't have a word for art
0:01:01 > 0:01:02but don't let that put you off
0:01:02 > 0:01:06because the craftsmen who worked for the Pharaohs and their noblemen
0:01:06 > 0:01:10fashioned a sophisticated visual culture that endured in triumph
0:01:10 > 0:01:12for thousands upon thousands of years.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17In this final episode, I'll be seeking ten treasures
0:01:17 > 0:01:20that reflect Egypt's transition during its last millennium
0:01:20 > 0:01:26from an all-powerful civilisation to a lackey state of the Roman Empire.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29The story begins when Egypt was a super-power
0:01:29 > 0:01:32ruled over by the mighty Pharaoh Ramesses II.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35You can see from these colossal awesome statues that this was
0:01:35 > 0:01:38a nation projecting an aura of invincibility.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42But in the centuries after Ramesses II's death, Egypt first teetered
0:01:42 > 0:01:45and then tumbled into this terminal decline.
0:01:45 > 0:01:46A curious thing, though,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50is that Egyptian art didn't suffer nearly so much.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55The conventional view is that as Egypt declined, so did its art.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59But far from being a static frieze of gods and pharaohs,
0:01:59 > 0:02:01the final phase of Egyptian art
0:02:01 > 0:02:05explodes with unruly vigour and touching humanity.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09With the foreign invaders who conquered Egypt came new styles
0:02:09 > 0:02:14that enriched the country's glorious artistic tradition.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36I'm starting my treasure hunt in Egypt's deep south,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39and travelling back to a time known as the New Kingdom,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43when the land of the pharaohs was at the height of its powers.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Ramesses II, or Ramesses the Great, ruled for 67 years
0:02:48 > 0:02:49in the 13th century before Christ
0:02:49 > 0:02:51and he's known as the great builder Pharaoh.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53His name is incised on more monuments
0:02:53 > 0:02:56than that of any other Pharaoh in ancient Egyptian history
0:02:56 > 0:02:59and he constructed several temples
0:02:59 > 0:03:04here in lower Nubia including these two behind me which were cut out of
0:03:04 > 0:03:07the sandstone cliffs bordering the Nile at Abu Simbel
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and the one to the left, the Great Temple, was once known as
0:03:10 > 0:03:13the "Temple of Ramesses beloved of the god Amun"
0:03:13 > 0:03:16and it's the quintessential expression
0:03:16 > 0:03:19of how pharaohs of the late New Kingdom chose to portray themselves.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24This magnificent temple is my first treasure.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Standing beneath these four seated colossi is actually quite
0:03:40 > 0:03:43intimidating because you're placed directly in the position of the
0:03:43 > 0:03:46enemies of Ramesses II about to be trampled underfoot,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48so this is truly art for an autocrat.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51It bludgeons you, as the viewer, into submission.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55It's art that tries in a weird way to actually beat you up.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58You realise that for Ramesses II, size did matter.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Stupendous scale was everything.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03From an artistic point of view,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05size isn't automatically successful.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08In this case, you could say it is slightly crude,
0:04:08 > 0:04:09even a little bit awkward.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12You sense that the craftsmen who created these colossi
0:04:12 > 0:04:15didn't make allowances for looking up at them from this angle,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18where you can see these thick tree-trunk legs like grain silos.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Really, you're staring straight up
0:04:20 > 0:04:23at Ramesses II's bulging eyes and into his nostrils.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25It's not very flattering.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28But it completely and effectively conveys the information about
0:04:28 > 0:04:32who's the boss here - the overlord warrior king, Ramesses II.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37As you walk up to the main entrance to the temple, you're
0:04:37 > 0:04:40flanked on either side by these sunk relief carvings depicting
0:04:40 > 0:04:42the enemies of Ramesses II.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Here you have a row of Nubians - they're bound and tethered,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47they're kneeling in humiliation.
0:04:47 > 0:04:48They're about to be crushed
0:04:48 > 0:04:52beneath the clod-hopping feet of the Pharaoh above.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05The Pharaohs understood the power of propaganda,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08but Ramesses II was the master.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15This temple contains a potent example of the dark art.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21This entire north wall of the inner hall of the temple is devoted
0:05:21 > 0:05:23to one of the defining events
0:05:23 > 0:05:28of the early years of Ramesses II's reign - it is the Battle of Qadesh.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31It is one of the most famous battles of antiquity
0:05:31 > 0:05:35and it records the campaign Ramesses waged against the Hittites
0:05:35 > 0:05:38as he tried to take the fortified town of Qadesh.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42You see here this panoply of activity, a whirl, a frenzy of
0:05:42 > 0:05:46all these different people, animals, chariots, and over here you've
0:05:46 > 0:05:51got the enemy who are, well, I mean they're being completely destroyed.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54But immediately the eye is drawn to the larger figures
0:05:54 > 0:05:58and surprise, surprise, the largest figures of all are those
0:05:58 > 0:06:02of the king, carved in this deep sunk relief fashion so that it could
0:06:02 > 0:06:06never be obliterated by future Pharaohs - quite a clever trick.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09He didn't capture Qadesh but you'd never know it
0:06:09 > 0:06:12if you looked at this wall.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17For me it's a bit like the Trajan's Column of Ancient Egyptian art.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25One of the big themes of this temple is domination -
0:06:25 > 0:06:29time and time again, we see Ramesses II in the guise
0:06:29 > 0:06:31of a very effective warlord.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36Here he adopts the classic Pharaoh pose - victorious, striding,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40smiting his enemies with a mace.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43And you can see, for instance, this thick tangle of bodies
0:06:43 > 0:06:47of people effectively cowering, about to be slaughtered at his feet.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03As you leave behind the pillared entrance hall,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06you head towards the much darker inner sanctum of the temple,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10where you encounter this moment of pure theatre.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14At the back you've got these four figures, hewn out of the rock.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18They represent some of the chief ancient gods of Egypt,
0:07:18 > 0:07:23and Ramesses himself, the king, suddenly identifying himself
0:07:23 > 0:07:26with the most venerable gods of Egypt's religion.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30This is his moment of apotheosis, he's now on a par with the gods.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33And you kind of get the sense
0:07:33 > 0:07:36that his megalomania really knew no bounds.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45This type of art leaves me with mixed feelings,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47a bit of a moral dilemma.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51This is quite a salutary lesson for any would-be tyrants -
0:07:51 > 0:07:55you can see the colossal head and crown of this sculpture here
0:07:55 > 0:07:58has landed with a great thump in front of the temple.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03That's the crown, here's the head of Ramesses, with his headdress,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05a giant ear, that's his brow,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07there's another ear around the corner.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10And in some ways, for me, it's a reminder that Abu Simbel
0:08:10 > 0:08:12is almost repellent.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14It's a bit of a blunt display of omnipotence
0:08:14 > 0:08:16and vainglorious chest thumping
0:08:16 > 0:08:19and it's decorated with all manner of propaganda
0:08:19 > 0:08:22so you don't come here looking for refinement.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26That said, these colossal sculptures are viscerally thrilling
0:08:26 > 0:08:28they really are impressive -
0:08:28 > 0:08:29it's impossible not to succumb
0:08:29 > 0:08:31to the shock and awe of this place.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The temples at Abu Simbel were just two of the many
0:08:38 > 0:08:42self-aggrandizing monuments that Ramesses built across Egypt.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47His capital, Thebes, is filled with vast statues that
0:08:47 > 0:08:49embody his overblown self-belief.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Looking at all this grandeur, it's easy to assume that Egyptians
0:08:54 > 0:08:58were obsessed with scale, but that wasn't always the case.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Now this...
0:09:01 > 0:09:05is called a shabti - it's a mini mummy,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08a funerary figurine that was once placed in a tomb.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11The shabtis were mass produced, you could say they were the first
0:09:11 > 0:09:14mass-produced works of art in history and often, like this one,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18they appear just a little bit rudimentary, quite rough and ready,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22but they played an essential role in Egyptian religious beliefs -
0:09:22 > 0:09:25people genuinely believed that shabtis
0:09:25 > 0:09:27were imbued with magical powers.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33And it's the shabtis that are my second treasure.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Shabtis were servants in the afterlife who would help
0:09:39 > 0:09:42the owner of the tomb with daily chores.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45So these are all made out of faience...
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Out of faience, which is this glassy ceramic material.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Here you have the normal servants, and then the overseers.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55They have like these kind of skirts. They are the organisers.
0:09:56 > 0:10:03So let's see some here. I will give you an example of one of them,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06which is quite nice, from the late dynasty,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09so I would say 2,400 years old.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11The colour is just beautiful,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13the way it changes.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Yes, they mastered the use of these chemicals and minerals.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21And the material is essentially clay stuffed into a mould like this...
0:10:21 > 0:10:26No clay whatsoever. It's pure sand.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Is it? It's just the desert.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Just the desert - crushed sand with the addition of some alkali
0:10:33 > 0:10:38that acts as a flux to melt the sand and form this glassy layer.
0:10:38 > 0:10:39I love the fact that the material
0:10:39 > 0:10:42is so simple and just comes from the world of Ancient Egypt.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Absolutely, it's magical.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46The name of faience in ancient Egypt is "tjehenet",
0:10:46 > 0:10:48which means the dazzling, the sparkling.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52And the idea was to replicate semi-precious stones.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56They wanted turquoise lapis lazuli, all the way from Afghanistan,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58so it was more expensive than gold.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02And then all of a sudden by this kind of magical alchemy
0:11:02 > 0:11:06they could turn the sand, which is available everywhere,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09into this magical precious material.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Here we have a hedgehog, who is a baby hedgehog,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14and what is the fascinating thing about that,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17this is like a rattle, so if you shake it.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21So inside there are little balls of clay,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23to entertain a little child.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28That is the sweetest thing I have ever seen.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31But does that mean that this was made
0:11:31 > 0:11:33to go in the tomb of a baby?
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Possibly, but then why sadness -
0:11:35 > 0:11:39it was associated with a little child, a favourite toy,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41or something like that.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43- Actually, that is quite an affecting thing, isn't it?- Yes.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47To look at that little face, I think that is really beautiful.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Do you think that ancient Egyptians considered them as works of art?
0:11:50 > 0:11:52Or did they just have a practical, religious function?
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Both - look at this example, this is from a late dynasty.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Look at the details here, this is a work of art.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02It makes you realise why people could believe in gods
0:12:02 > 0:12:04and the afterlife, because if something so magical
0:12:04 > 0:12:06could happen turning sand into that,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08then why couldn't people live for ever?
0:12:08 > 0:12:09In a way they lived.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12You know, this is 4,000-year-old objects,
0:12:12 > 0:12:13and they impress us in the same way
0:12:13 > 0:12:16that they impressed the Egyptian at the time.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21Zahed is also an artist who creates his own shabtis with a modern twist
0:12:21 > 0:12:26using the same ingenious recipe as the ancient Egyptians.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30So what goes in our mixture is 90% silica,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34which comes from the sand,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37and then we add the crushed fine natron salt...
0:12:37 > 0:12:40That's my flux,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43and what we found out from the chemistry,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45they add a bit of limestone, crushed limestone.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48OK, this is like the arts Great British Bake Off.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Here we are, normally is the colour blue,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53comes from the copper oxide, pure copper oxide.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56- Should I put this in? - Absolutely, yep, go ahead.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00So we'll give it a good mix to start
0:13:00 > 0:13:03and then add some water to make it into a paste.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09- OK, mix this all in. - We mix it all in.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11You need to mix it a bit more.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15OK, I can see you itching to do some mixing.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19You need to get the water everywhere.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25That's quite good. It's all come together in a big ball.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27This is as good as it gets.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Pushing, pushing into all the details.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36'The secret ingredient is natron salt - a kind of baking soda
0:13:36 > 0:13:38'that rises to the surface
0:13:38 > 0:13:40'and lowers the temperature
0:13:40 > 0:13:42'at which the sand melts and becomes glass.'
0:13:47 > 0:13:49- Hey, here he is. - Here we are.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Our little alien.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53'The next stage is to leave the little alien
0:13:53 > 0:13:59'standing for a day to allow a magical chemical reaction to occur.'
0:13:59 > 0:14:02When we get it out and start drying,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05you see all the salt growing on the surface.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08How odd. It's like it's rusted.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10The longer you leave it, the more flow of air,
0:14:10 > 0:14:16the more florescence, and you have more salt and more salt...
0:14:16 > 0:14:19The salt is the natron - that fuses with the sand.
0:14:19 > 0:14:20It fuses with the sand.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23- And melts at a lower temperature and turns into glass.- Turns into glass.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26So this one has been drying for how long?
0:14:26 > 0:14:29- That's been one day. - That's 24 hours of drying.
0:14:29 > 0:14:30- 24 hours of drying. - And he becomes furry.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32And that's ready to be fired.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37- Can I put him in? - Yes, go ahead. He will stand.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39It's completely white, but when you put it in the kiln...
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Because the property of the glass,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44that white salty layer,
0:14:44 > 0:14:46will show the colour blue. It's an optical thing.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51- How long does it take to do that? - About 6 hours. 900, you just start.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Shall I do it?
0:14:53 > 0:14:57'Six hours later, Zahed's new-born figurine is ready
0:14:57 > 0:15:00'to join his army of free modern-day shabtis.'
0:15:00 > 0:15:04So it is a piece of magical transformation, then?
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Yes, from sand to semi-precious stone.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Shabtis were servants in the afterlife,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15but my next treasure was made by workers in this life.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19And to find it, I'm off to a village near the Valley of the Kings...
0:15:20 > 0:15:22if my donkey, Pops, has the energy.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Just over the hill in the desert on the west bank of Thebes
0:15:31 > 0:15:33is the village of Deir El Medina,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35which was home to the artists and craftsmen who created
0:15:35 > 0:15:37the temples and tombs for Ramesses II.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41It's a bit like the ancient Egyptian equivalent of those great
0:15:41 > 0:15:4319th century model villages for workers,
0:15:43 > 0:15:44Bourneville or Port Sunlight.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47But to the Egyptians this was no ordinary village.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53It was a sort of gated community, an exclusive place actually filled with
0:15:53 > 0:15:58stonemasons, draughtsmen, sculptors, and they had a very important task.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02They had to ensure the safe passage to the afterlife of the kings
0:16:02 > 0:16:04who ruled over Egypt.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Now I'd quite like to go and see it, Pops, shall we give it a go?
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Not far to go now, come on, don't give up at this point.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18What's great about this place is that we know
0:16:18 > 0:16:21the names of the artists as well as where they lived.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29They even have tombs, cut out of the rock, some capped by small pyramids.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33It's a bit like a toy town Egypt - a relief from some
0:16:33 > 0:16:36of the overpowering places I've visited so far.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43Deir el Medina is a very special place because it gives us real
0:16:43 > 0:16:46insight, a rare glimpse into the working practices and daily lives of
0:16:46 > 0:16:51artists, but it also lets us see how they decorated their own tombs,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53in other words, what they painted
0:16:53 > 0:16:55when they were left to their own devices.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02I'm hoping to see a departure from the sometimes stifling
0:17:02 > 0:17:05conventions of official painting as I head down into the tomb
0:17:05 > 0:17:07of a stonemason called Pashedu.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18This is where the burial chamber proper begins, and you can tell
0:17:18 > 0:17:22because you are greeted by these two jackal-headed gods, Anubis,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27on either side guarding the tomb,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29against a very colourful background.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32And you come through, into the chamber proper...
0:17:34 > 0:17:36and...
0:17:36 > 0:17:41you've got all the usual gods, Osiris, Hathor,
0:17:41 > 0:17:42there's an ankh sign, hieroglyphics,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45but the thing that really strikes me
0:17:45 > 0:17:50is this bright yellow which links the entire painting of this tomb.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55It's a very lively colour. It's the antithesis of death, I guess,
0:17:55 > 0:17:56it's sunlight.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59This feels like a quite late spring,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02early summer vision of the afterlife.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06It's like coming across a nugget of gold buried deep within the rock.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10And you can see the way, even with these hieroglyphics,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12that they've been painted
0:18:12 > 0:18:17in quite a seemingly spontaneous rapid, brushy feel
0:18:17 > 0:18:24and that gives the whole space an atmosphere, I think, of informality,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26intimacy which aids the scene in a sense
0:18:26 > 0:18:29because you have Pashedu's family.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32You can see his father there with his snow-white hair.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34It's actually quite a down-to-earth tomb.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37It's been painted by a friend for a friend
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and the fact that they have left things slightly spontaneous
0:18:41 > 0:18:45gives it a freedom like the backgrounds here behind Anubis -
0:18:45 > 0:18:47they are really wonderful.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50You can see the speed with which this has been painted.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56And it's not someone who can't paint a geometric zigzag to kind of help
0:18:56 > 0:19:01create this pattern, it's someone who likes that slightly deliberately
0:19:01 > 0:19:06artless effect and thinks that it really adds something and it does.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09It's got that winning charm, the same kind of charm you might
0:19:09 > 0:19:12find in, say, a homespun patchwork quilt.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23It's a rare and special thing to see the art of the workers.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25In other tombs at Deir El-Medina,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the paintings are just as fresh and vibrant,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32but they don't break free from the age-old rules of Egyptian art.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36My next treasure does just that
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and it was also found in the workers' village.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Life in Deir El-Medina wasn't all that easy.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46It was difficult simply transporting water up into the settlement
0:19:46 > 0:19:49so the villagers decided to construct an enormous well.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53After they'd dug down for round about 50 metres, though,
0:19:53 > 0:19:54they had to admit to defeat
0:19:54 > 0:19:56but their bad luck was our good fortune
0:19:56 > 0:20:00because they started using this great pit as a rubbish dump
0:20:00 > 0:20:02and the scraps and odds and ends that were discovered
0:20:02 > 0:20:04down there during the 20th century
0:20:04 > 0:20:07transformed our understanding of ancient Egyptian art.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11What the ancients threw away turned out to be
0:20:11 > 0:20:15manna for Egyptologists who discovered thousands of ostraca,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17like these replicas.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23An ostracon is either a pottery shard or a limestone flint
0:20:23 > 0:20:28which has been used to write down letters, lists, or also sketches.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32- So these are a bit like the e-mails of the day.- Oh, definitely.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Tell me who this bloke is, because he looks like you could
0:20:35 > 0:20:37meet him down your local boozer sinking a few pints of beer.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41This one is a caricature of a stonemason, actually.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44So you see the toughness of his daily routine
0:20:44 > 0:20:48and he's very muscle man because actually his work is very tough.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51This presumably is a chisel and a kind of hammer...
0:20:51 > 0:20:55And a hammer, exactly, his tools for his daily work.
0:20:55 > 0:20:56So what does that tell us?
0:20:57 > 0:21:01Well, it appears that actually the ancient Egyptians,
0:21:01 > 0:21:05the draughtsmen here, they were able as well to deal with
0:21:05 > 0:21:10the daily realistic images as well as,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I would say, more idealistic images,
0:21:13 > 0:21:18like what we are most used to see on temples and inside the tombs.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Obviously this isn't entirely real,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23because still the conventions of Egyptian art apply.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26- Of course.- Are there any moments within ostraca
0:21:26 > 0:21:28where you feel that the artist
0:21:28 > 0:21:32actually instinctively breaks free of some of those rules?
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Definitely - you have that on this particular ostracon here.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38This is a really nice example of what
0:21:38 > 0:21:40we call a tipsy-turvy...
0:21:40 > 0:21:43- Topsy-turvy. - Topsy-turvy world, sorry...
0:21:43 > 0:21:45because the usual iconography
0:21:45 > 0:21:48of that is that you see the king in his chariot
0:21:48 > 0:21:50riding a glorious horse,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54but instead of that you have a mouse riding just a donkey,
0:21:54 > 0:21:59so it's like a mockery, or a very high sense of humour of the scribe.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01These discarded fragments give us
0:22:01 > 0:22:04a glimpse into the inner thoughts of the artists.
0:22:06 > 0:22:07Witty, irreverent, free -
0:22:07 > 0:22:09they offer a welcome contrast
0:22:09 > 0:22:12to the straitlaced formality of Egyptian art.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20And in the Cairo museum, there are even more exquisite examples.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23There's a wonderful dog here,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27and there's tremendous observation that's gone into that small drawing.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30And you really feel close here to the artist's hand.
0:22:30 > 0:22:31And this is a really great cabinet.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33You see a whole variety here.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36This is typical of a big theme of the ostraca.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40You have a cat on its hind legs driving a flock of geese.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44In the ordinary world, in our world, cats chase geese and eat them
0:22:44 > 0:22:46but here it has been flipped on its head
0:22:46 > 0:22:50and the cat has adopted the human role as the protector of the geese.
0:22:50 > 0:22:51It's a paradox.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54And then here, down here right at the bottom,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58appallingly displayed, is one of the most beautiful ostraca of all.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02You can see this female musician,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05with very slender elegant limbs,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10the ringlets of her wig coming down and then this quite transparent,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14quite revealing, clinging dress and she's playing a lute.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17And she's fully frontal which is quite rare in Egyptian art -
0:23:17 > 0:23:19mostly people are shown in profile.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23And the immediate thing you think is that it looks very modern,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25it feels like it could have been a sketch
0:23:25 > 0:23:29done by Modigliani in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40CAR HORNS HOOT
0:23:47 > 0:23:48Things are very volatile here
0:23:48 > 0:23:51and one of the ways that that manifests itself
0:23:51 > 0:23:54is that all around the place I've seen lots of examples
0:23:54 > 0:23:58of really quite exciting street art, graffiti on the walls.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05I can't help thinking that the ostraca are the sort of ancient
0:24:05 > 0:24:08equivalent of graffiti but this is really fascinating because
0:24:08 > 0:24:11contemporary street artists, like this one,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14have in turn been influenced and inspired
0:24:14 > 0:24:16by the art of ancient Egypt.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24I meet the artist who painted this graffiti, Alaa Awad.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Do you remember when you were a boy
0:24:28 > 0:24:31and you first saw Ancient Egyptian art?
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Do you remember how you felt?
0:24:43 > 0:24:45So, I wonder whether at all you have been inspired
0:24:45 > 0:24:47by the ancient Egyptian ostraca?
0:25:21 > 0:25:25One of Alaa's works I saw in Cairo shows a pharaoh,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29like Ramesses II, smiting Egypt's enemies.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43It sounds to me you are very proud of Egypt's past.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01One thing that Egypt's past does tell us
0:26:01 > 0:26:04is that triumph in war comes at a price.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Ramesses III's campaigns against his enemies
0:26:07 > 0:26:09led to economic disaster at home.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18The artists' village at Deir El-Medina
0:26:18 > 0:26:20became the focal point of the looming crisis.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24It all started when the workers' pay and rations were late.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Now as a result, they organised the first recorded
0:26:27 > 0:26:31strike in history - they staged sit-ins,
0:26:31 > 0:26:33they marched on royal temples, and they held demonstrations.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35They were protesting, "we're hungry, we're thirsty,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39"there's no more oil, there's no more fish, no more vegetables."
0:26:39 > 0:26:41One worker even threatened to attack a royal tomb,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43which would have been total sacrilege.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49In the end, some say that Ramesses III had his throat slit
0:26:49 > 0:26:53by members of his harem in about 1155 BC.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58It marked the beginning of a long, slow decline for Egypt.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09I've been thinking about this final millennium
0:27:09 > 0:27:11of ancient Egyptian history
0:27:11 > 0:27:14and it's often written off as a period of political fragmentation,
0:27:14 > 0:27:19social turmoil, of decline - it was a chaotic time of power struggles
0:27:19 > 0:27:21and invasions that ultimately brought about
0:27:21 > 0:27:23the downfall of the Pharaohs.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26The economy was faltering, the gifts of the Nile seemed to have
0:27:26 > 0:27:29withered and dried up, and Egypt appeared to be in constant peril.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32The curious thing, as far as art history is concerned,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36is that all of this conflict and confusion sometimes galvanised
0:27:36 > 0:27:39and reinvigorated Egyptian culture.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Many of the foreign strongmen who invaded Egypt
0:27:41 > 0:27:43and came to dominate the country wanted to present
0:27:43 > 0:27:46themselves as more Egyptian than the Egyptians,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49none more so than their neighbours up the Nile,
0:27:49 > 0:27:50the Nubians or the Kushites,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54who I saw being trampled underfoot beneath Ramesses II.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58In a remarkable reversal of fortune, the Kushites -
0:27:58 > 0:28:02an African people from what is today Sudan -
0:28:02 > 0:28:04seized Egypt in around 750 BC.
0:28:05 > 0:28:10Not surprisingly, my next treasure is a piece of Nubian art...
0:28:10 > 0:28:14and at the Cairo museum, the director, Mohammed Ali,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16is initiating me in the wonders
0:28:16 > 0:28:19of a little-known cultural renaissance.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55Yes, he does! Don't you think it's a distinctive face?
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Which parts of it are Egyptian,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08and which parts of it are more Nubian?
0:29:31 > 0:29:33What shall I say?
0:29:33 > 0:29:35I can't. I'm finding it hard.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Which one do you like the most, if you had to choose one?
0:29:39 > 0:29:40Can you choose one?
0:30:03 > 0:30:06I think it is very beautiful.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10I believe you.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14I must admit I feel a bit punch-drunk after
0:30:14 > 0:30:16Mohammed Ali's performance.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18But he does have a point.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21While the black pharaohs harked back to the Egyptian past,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24they reinvigorated the art of the portrait
0:30:24 > 0:30:27and created a fascinating hybrid.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31This alabaster statue of a Kushite princess called Amenirdis
0:30:31 > 0:30:37is imperious yet sexy, though I'm not quite sure about her big ears.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40The Kushites were proud of their African origins
0:30:40 > 0:30:41and didn't hide them.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45This pink granite bust of the Pharaoh Shabako
0:30:45 > 0:30:47is inspired by the art of the Middle Kingdom,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50but his facial features are undeniably Nubian.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57And of all these Kushite works in the Cairo museum,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01the one I most admire is the face of Mentuemhat.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06He looks wise, yet tough, thick-skinned yet astute.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09He has the aura of a man who actually lived
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and was capable of ruling a great city like Thebes.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17It's a fascinating fusion of two different artistic styles.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21And this sphinx with the face of the Nubian pharaoh Taharqo
0:31:21 > 0:31:23proves to me that Egyptian art
0:31:23 > 0:31:26really benefited from a bit of foreign DNA.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41Kushite rule over Egypt lasted about a century.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43But Egypt was easy prey
0:31:43 > 0:31:46and faced repeated invasions from other enemies.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51The Egyptians returned to their ancient gods for succour.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55This spawned a bizarre cult - the worship of animal mummies.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58One of its main centres was Tuna al-Gebel.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19I'm heading deep under the desert sands into 2,500-year-old
0:32:19 > 0:32:25catacombs that were held sacred by the ancient Egyptians.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44I have visited catacombs in the past and they are always so spooky
0:32:44 > 0:32:46because you feel immediately that you've
0:32:46 > 0:32:49stepped into the realm of the dead, these subterranean chambers.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52But this one, this is a catacomb with a difference
0:32:52 > 0:32:57because it was a cemetery for millions, quite literally,
0:32:57 > 0:33:02of mummified animals who were placed in these niches.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05The animal mummies were votive offerings
0:33:05 > 0:33:09given as gifts to the gods to bring health, good luck and protection.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12It's like shopping for a loaf of bread in a bakery.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14This looks like a nice chunky baguette.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21If you have a look, this is one of the animals.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23This is actually a mummified bird.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26It's a sacred ibis and you can just about make out
0:33:26 > 0:33:31the head of the bird curled in on itself, swaddled all around with
0:33:31 > 0:33:37the mummy wrappings and then left, placed in this niche for eternity.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40I'd better put it back and see what else I can find.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49In the 4th century BC, these animal cults became immensely popular.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52It was a huge business for the priests.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55They actually bred baboons and ibises
0:33:55 > 0:33:58just so the pilgrims who came here could buy them.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02This is much, much smarter in here -
0:34:02 > 0:34:07you can see these more carefully cut blocks, I suppose of limestone.
0:34:08 > 0:34:14And then these shrines, steps, leading up to - oh look,
0:34:14 > 0:34:16leading up to a baboon.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18That is a mummified baboon.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24And this is a sort of chapel, a shrine to the God Thoth,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27and this would have been an offering to the god.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32I don't know if I'm supposed to go over here.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34Let's see if we can find a baboon.
0:34:39 > 0:34:40And here is the god.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43He is squatting - you can see a very thick muzzle
0:34:43 > 0:34:46and snout, a sun disk on top of his head.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52Original paintwork, a red for his skin this almost
0:34:52 > 0:34:56like a sort of feathery cloak that he has around his shoulders.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59And then look at the eyes. It looks like mother-of-pearl,
0:34:59 > 0:35:01and it's a reminder that this isn't just a piece of art,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03it's an article of belief.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10Mummification was most certainly an art form for the ancient
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Egyptians. I am sure that there were very many different ateliers,
0:35:14 > 0:35:16vying with each other for being known
0:35:16 > 0:35:20for the best embalming in Thebes or Memphis, or wherever.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24And the late period is very peculiar in the way that the ancient
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Egyptians archaised.
0:35:26 > 0:35:27They went back to the past
0:35:27 > 0:35:31to think of a great time of their civilisation.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35This was just after they had been invaded by the Nubians
0:35:35 > 0:35:39and had kicked them out, had kicked out the Syrians as well,
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and so this was a moment of great national pride and a re-crafting
0:35:43 > 0:35:44of national identity,
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and so by doing this they went back to traditions
0:35:47 > 0:35:51that they knew had been common in earlier periods of Egyptian
0:35:51 > 0:35:56culture, and so this sort of made them grand again in their eyes.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59The ancient Egyptians mummified all types of animals
0:35:59 > 0:36:02because they believed the gods could come down in animal form.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05And animals are neither human, nor quite divine
0:36:05 > 0:36:08because they live on this earth, so they are this intermediary group,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10and they can speak to the gods.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14For example, in the morning the baboons would turn to the sun,
0:36:14 > 0:36:15raise up their hands and cry out,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19and that would help the sun rise, according to the Egyptians.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22And so the baboons became associated with the sun god Ra.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24So there were very few animals
0:36:24 > 0:36:26that weren't mummified in religious rituals.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32It's debatable whether they are works of art.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36though this menagerie of the dead reminds me of Damien Hirst.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40As well as mummies, the obsession with animals
0:36:40 > 0:36:42produced refined sculptures
0:36:42 > 0:36:46like this delightful cat that was discovered at Saqqara.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48But my next treasure is no pussy cat.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52It's arguably the weirdest masterpiece of all Egyptian art.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05Allow me to introduce you to a very distinctive deity called Tawaret.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08She's hardly the sexiest of Egyptian Goddesses.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10In fact, she looks quite terrifying.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13She's a composite of several different beasts.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15She has a head of a hippopotamus
0:37:15 > 0:37:17along with a hippo's swollen body.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20She has the paws of a lion, and then some human
0:37:20 > 0:37:24attributes as well, including those pendulous breasts.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28The thing about Tawaret is that, although she looks terrifying,
0:37:28 > 0:37:30she was actually a protective goddess,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33who protected women during childbirth.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37And she's been sculpted from a very hard stone called greywacke, and
0:37:37 > 0:37:42the sculptor's done a tremendous job because he's managed to manipulate
0:37:42 > 0:37:49tough material into plump, soft, Mrs Blobby-like forms - she's swollen,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52almost pneumatic, there's a sense of pressure from within ballooning
0:37:52 > 0:37:57outwards, which is a really effective trick to have pulled off.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59You have to look beyond that slightly grisly,
0:37:59 > 0:38:03scary visage and see the inner beauty within and once you do,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06I think you'll quite like Tawaret as well.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12One of the big turning points in Egypt's long history
0:38:12 > 0:38:17came in 332 BC with another invasion -
0:38:17 > 0:38:21this time by one of the most famous names from antiquity,
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Alexander the Great.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27The Greek hero swept into Egypt and was greeted by the people
0:38:27 > 0:38:31as a liberator from the Persians who had been ruling the country.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35Alexander - seen here in Luxor Temple - did the politic thing
0:38:35 > 0:38:38and paid tribute to the Egyptian gods.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43And his arrival had an immediate and surprising impact on Egyptian art.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47To witness it, I return to Tuna El-Gebel to visit
0:38:47 > 0:38:49the tomb of a priest called Petosiris.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54This tomb is very rare and it's fascinating
0:38:54 > 0:38:57because of the decoration in this inner porch.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00You have these scenes of daily life, everyday scenes
0:39:00 > 0:39:04which, in itself, is quite a traditional Egyptian subject.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08So it's reviving this old Egyptian tradition, and yet the style
0:39:08 > 0:39:12of the scenes doesn't really look Egyptian at all, it looks Greek.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18So if you have a look down here, here are some labourers.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20They're harvesting grapes, they're about to make wine,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23and yet it could be a sort of Bacchic scene,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26these could be followers of Dionysus, surrounded by very lush,
0:39:26 > 0:39:32scrolling vines, there's a sense of energy, a greater movement
0:39:32 > 0:39:35and an attempt at naturalism, which is a sort of Greek trait.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40You can see this go that the artist has had at trying to show
0:39:40 > 0:39:43the drapery as it folds over the human form
0:39:43 > 0:39:47and here there's a naked man, who's plucking grapes,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49but that torso is very different
0:39:49 > 0:39:52to the kinds of torsos you normally find
0:39:52 > 0:39:55in Egyptian art, often quite rigid, blank, little schematised.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59Here, there's an attempt to actually show the musculature.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02You can see, over on the other wall, more of these scenes.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07So for instance, up here they're collecting grain.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09There's a sense of something quite new,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12a glimmer of a whole different style
0:40:12 > 0:40:16that's trying to be grafted onto the Egyptian canon
0:40:16 > 0:40:20with its registers and bands, with its baselines and profiled feet.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23And in many ways it's a little bit awkward,
0:40:23 > 0:40:24it's a little bit misshapen.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27I'm not convinced that this is great art,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31but it is fascinating art and the reason is Petosiris has commissioned
0:40:31 > 0:40:35an artist or a designer, who may have been Egyptian, but he was
0:40:35 > 0:40:39undoubtedly influenced by Greek art and he's trying to demonstrate that
0:40:39 > 0:40:42in the way that he's representing this wall, these scenes.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44And the reason Petosiris did that is
0:40:44 > 0:40:50because he lived at a very important crossroads in history.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54All of a sudden, Alexander the Great had swept in and conquered Egypt
0:40:54 > 0:40:58and no one was quite sure what way the wind was blowing.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01It's possible that the Greeks, the Macedonians,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05wouldn't have lasted and that one day the Egyptians would come back
0:41:05 > 0:41:08into power but for now Greek culture was very much in vogue
0:41:08 > 0:41:12and this is what Petosiris wanted to broadcast.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24I guess it's no surprise that the politically astute Petosiris
0:41:24 > 0:41:26wanted to imitate the art of his new overlords,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29but what about the Greeks themselves?
0:41:29 > 0:41:31They were no strangers to beauty.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Perhaps they'd fall for the charms of Egyptian art?
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Alexander the Great is a little bit of a glamorous enigma to me
0:41:38 > 0:41:41because obviously he's the peerless warrior king
0:41:41 > 0:41:44but he was dead at 32, and you could argue that he
0:41:44 > 0:41:46destroyed as much as he created,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49most infamously when he sacked the magnificent city of Persepolis
0:41:49 > 0:41:51in 330 BC.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54But he was a man of culture, he had great artists in his entourage,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57he had people like Lysippus and Apelles.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01And he lived at the beginning of this new phase in classical art,
0:42:01 > 0:42:03the so-called Hellenistic style,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05this great thunderous, tumultuous,
0:42:05 > 0:42:06almost Baroque type of art
0:42:06 > 0:42:09that couldn't be more different from that ordered
0:42:09 > 0:42:12and sometimes quite restrained tradition of Egyptian art.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15So I'm really intrigued to find out what happened
0:42:15 > 0:42:18when those two styles came together.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Did they clash or did they fuse, and ultimately, which one won out?
0:42:27 > 0:42:30After the death of Alexander, one of his generals,
0:42:30 > 0:42:32Ptolemy, became Pharaoh.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35He was the first of a dynasty of 15 Ptolemies who ruled
0:42:35 > 0:42:38Egypt for the next 300 years.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42They based themselves in Lower Egypt, in the north of the country.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Before he left Egypt to carry on conquering the known world,
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Alexander had a vision of a vast metropolis built here
0:42:49 > 0:42:52on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and the city
0:42:52 > 0:42:56that he founded here still bears his name today, Alexandria.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Alexandria was the powerbase of Ptolemaic Egypt
0:43:01 > 0:43:04and one of the great cities of antiquity.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08Undoubtedly, the most spectacular sight at Alexandria once towered for
0:43:08 > 0:43:12hundreds of feet into the sky, just over there on the Island of Pharos.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15And it was a great lighthouse, topped with this mighty beacon
0:43:15 > 0:43:18that was visible from miles and miles out to sea.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21It was once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24It must have been a colossal statement
0:43:24 > 0:43:26of Ptolemaic power over Egypt.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31The lighthouse was constructed out of these whopping great blocks
0:43:31 > 0:43:34of red granite, each one weighing about 75 tonnes.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39And it was destroyed by successive earthquakes in later centuries
0:43:39 > 0:43:43and most of it's now underwater.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45When marine archaeologists excavated
0:43:45 > 0:43:47the ruins of the lighthouse recently,
0:43:47 > 0:43:51they discovered ancient works of art languishing on the seabed.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55One of the colossal statues that they dredged up from the base
0:43:55 > 0:44:00of the lighthouse is just over there and it's a curious hybrid really
0:44:00 > 0:44:05because it presents Ptolemy II in the traditional guise of a pharaoh.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07You can see the pillar supporting his back.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10He's got the double crown of upper and lower Egypt,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13he's wearing a pharaoh's kilt, he's got that very stiff,
0:44:13 > 0:44:17non-naturalistic torso fully frontal with arms clenched at either side.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21But there is a glimmer of a new style creeping into the statue.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24If you look at the face, which admittedly is quite eroded
0:44:24 > 0:44:26because it's been immersed in the sea, you can
0:44:26 > 0:44:28make out these locks of hair,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31flickering from beneath the headdress - they're very Greek,
0:44:31 > 0:44:33very Alexander the Great.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36In one sense, it's a brilliant metaphor for what happened to Egypt
0:44:36 > 0:44:38in the next few centuries because it's a Greek head
0:44:38 > 0:44:42on an Egyptian body, just as you had this Greek Macedonian
0:44:42 > 0:44:45elite ruling the Egyptian people, but from an art historical
0:44:45 > 0:44:48point of view, it's perhaps slightly less successful,
0:44:48 > 0:44:50because the two styles, Greek and Egyptian, jar,
0:44:50 > 0:44:52they butt up against each other.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57To find my treasure, I am going to have to leave Egypt briefly.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06I return to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin,
0:45:06 > 0:45:09home to the world-famous bust of Nefertiti.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13This time, I'm here to see a less well-known work of art.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18I defy anyone looking at this head to deny that it is a
0:45:18 > 0:45:20masterpiece of world sculpture.
0:45:21 > 0:45:26Now it's a portrait of a middle- aged bald man, probably a priest,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29and it's made from this highly polished hard stone called
0:45:29 > 0:45:32greywacke, and it's slightly smaller than I had expected,
0:45:32 > 0:45:36it's less than life-sized, but it is still this ball of concentrated
0:45:36 > 0:45:40expression and energy, there's such a palpable sense of character here.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44He has this fierce gaze, like a political bruiser, and those
0:45:44 > 0:45:47heavy lips that feel like he is about to argue or remonstrate.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50At any minute he's about to speak to us,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52so that it feels like portraiture
0:45:52 > 0:45:55in a modern sense, in the sense that we would understand today.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59You've got all of these Egyptian traits like the supporting
0:45:59 > 0:46:03back pillar, his outlined eyes, the smooth bald head.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05But you have something else as well,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09the influence of art from the Mediterranean elsewhere in that
0:46:09 > 0:46:13sense of realism - the crows-feet, the wrinkles, the furrows, and
0:46:13 > 0:46:18most important for me, the way that this skin is soft and supple, yet
0:46:18 > 0:46:22stretched tight across all of these different dithers of his cranium.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24That is a brilliant piece of sculpture.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29And in that sense, he is this wonderful amalgamation of two
0:46:29 > 0:46:32different traditions that usually didn't really go very well together.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37So if you still have questions about the lifelessness, supposedly,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40of ancient Egyptian art, just ask our chap here,
0:46:40 > 0:46:44because I suspect he'd give you an answer that would be curt,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47but which you would find pretty persuasive.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57The Green Head is a genuine masterpiece,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01but it didn't herald a new dawn for Egyptian art.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05And I've got a theory that what we call Egyptomania,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09that fascination with the magical and mysterious world of the pharaohs
0:47:09 > 0:47:14actually began long ago in antiquity itself, long before Napoleon,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18English lords, or Hitler became obsessed by Egyptian treasures.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21The foreign conquerors who ruled Egypt were equally inspired
0:47:21 > 0:47:25and seduced by the past of this great country.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29Under the Ptolemies, Egyptian culture
0:47:29 > 0:47:30returned to its archaic roots again.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40Instead of mimicking the classical style of Athens,
0:47:40 > 0:47:44they gave Egypt beautiful temples where the Pharaohs of old
0:47:44 > 0:47:46would have felt quite at home.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49My next treasure is one of the greatest of these -
0:47:49 > 0:47:51the temple of Horus at Edfu.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01Built by the Greeks but dedicated to one of Egypt's oldest
0:48:01 > 0:48:05and most revered gods - Horus the falcon.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08It's fascinating to see how the Ptolemies embraced Egypt's
0:48:08 > 0:48:11well-established visual language with new vigour.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15They needed the powerful Egyptian priests on their side,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19so what better than to give them a temple like this?
0:48:19 > 0:48:22This is probably the best preserved temple in Egypt
0:48:22 > 0:48:25and it provides this wonderful impression
0:48:25 > 0:48:27of the grandeur of the temples
0:48:27 > 0:48:31that was experienced by the ancient Egyptians themselves, because every
0:48:31 > 0:48:35surface is covered with decoration. You can see these sumptuous
0:48:35 > 0:48:40sunk relief carvings and actually, in places, traces of pigment.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43All of this would have been a polychrome display,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45visually magnificent.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47And there's a detail about this colonnaded court that
0:48:47 > 0:48:49I particularly like, which is
0:48:49 > 0:48:53that each of the capitals on the columns is different.
0:48:53 > 0:48:58And the craftsmen have relished the decoration of those capitals.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01They are individual as a snowflake, they are beautiful.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04And over here, there's a surviving colossal,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08black granite statue of the falcon god Horus,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11wearing the double crown of Ancient Egypt,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14upper and lower Egypt combined.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18And it fuses divinity and kingship. It's a very powerful piece.
0:49:18 > 0:49:19It's a very beautiful piece, sleek.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22I bet Brancusi would have loved something like this.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24If you have a look at his expression,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26he looks slightly grumpy, I think!
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Perhaps he's sad that he's rooted to the spot,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34and can't take off and soar above the temple.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37Oh look! There's Horus, look, look, look!
0:49:43 > 0:49:47As in all Egyptian temples, the centrepiece is the sanctuary,
0:49:47 > 0:49:49the holy of holies.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54It contains a replica of Horus's sacred boat.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56But if you look over here, right at the back,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00you've got possibly the most revealing artefact in the temple,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04because this thing is the oldest part of the temple,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and it doesn't date from the Ptolemaic period at all.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12It must have been the shrine of the temple that was on this site,
0:50:12 > 0:50:15before the current temple was built.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20And it's highly instructive that the Ptolemies have decided to keep it
0:50:20 > 0:50:23because this is a statement of intent on their part.
0:50:23 > 0:50:29They're saying that we want to feel continuous with Egypt's past.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40This way?
0:50:40 > 0:50:43This is a piece of luck really, I've bumped into Mohammed,
0:50:43 > 0:50:48the chief inspector of the temple and he's offered to take me this
0:50:48 > 0:50:52special route, which looks like it involves, well, actually clambering
0:50:52 > 0:50:54up the side of the wall of the temple,
0:50:54 > 0:50:55to get a proper view from the top,
0:50:55 > 0:50:59but it's quite special because people don't normally see this.
0:51:00 > 0:51:01Keep on going?
0:51:15 > 0:51:16It's a little bit hairy there.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21What a fantastic vista.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23This is a great vantage point to get a sense of the plan,
0:51:23 > 0:51:25the layout of the temple.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29You can see this mass of the pylon, the colonnaded court.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32I mean, it's a spectacular temple,
0:51:32 > 0:51:35but I'll tell you what I find quite curious about it is that this
0:51:35 > 0:51:38was built over a period of around 180 years
0:51:38 > 0:51:42during the reigns of the Ptolemies, who were Greek Macedonian
0:51:42 > 0:51:47and I was expecting to see some evidence of that Hellenistic culture
0:51:47 > 0:51:51in the architecture and the decoration but you can't find it.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Everything here is traditionally on the nose Egyptian.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59And I guess what it suggests is that the Ptolemies didn't feel
0:51:59 > 0:52:02so powerful that they could impose wholesale
0:52:02 > 0:52:04their foreign culture on Egypt.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07Instead they had to embellish and lavish money
0:52:07 > 0:52:11and funds to create enormous temple complexes just like this one,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15essentially to keep the Egyptian priests sweet.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24In the end, it wasn't the Egyptian priests that the Ptolemies had
0:52:24 > 0:52:28to worry about, but a new superpower in the Mediterranean - Rome.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32The Egypt of the Pharaohs was about to
0:52:32 > 0:52:34complete its epic 3,000-year journey.
0:52:36 > 0:52:41Its end came in Alexandria and it couldn't have been more dramatic.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44The scenario pitted the Ancient World's most famous woman,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Cleopatra, against Octavian, the future Augustus,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50first emperor of Rome.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54The trouble with Cleopatra is that despite her legend,
0:52:54 > 0:52:56she remains elusive.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59In popular culture, she appears as this ravishing temptress,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02so by rights we should be ending the series with
0:53:02 > 0:53:04a beautiful image of Egypt's most famous queen.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07But the trouble is, not many contemporary likenesses of her have
0:53:07 > 0:53:11survived, and of those that have, one of the most reliable is this.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18It's an image on a coin, and as you can see, she was no beauty.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22This is not how Elizabeth Taylor appears playing the role.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25She's got a hooked nose, this very pointy chin,
0:53:25 > 0:53:29she looks really like a wicked stepmother in a fairy-tale.
0:53:29 > 0:53:30Legend has it,
0:53:30 > 0:53:35after defeat by Octavian, Cleopatra committed suicide in her
0:53:35 > 0:53:38mausoleum which is thought to lie beneath the waves in the harbour.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45I leave Alexandria behind in the quest for my final treasure
0:53:45 > 0:53:47and head to a town called Dendera
0:53:47 > 0:53:49where Cleopatra built a temple
0:53:49 > 0:53:51dedicated to the mother goddess Hathor.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59It's one of ancient Egypt's last great temples and it's very special.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05The interior is a stunning multi-coloured visual feast,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09the like of which I've not seen anywhere else in Egypt.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14It's a very vivid space, with bright blues, some of the reds
0:54:14 > 0:54:16and ochres still apparent.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18It's been recently cleaned. You can
0:54:18 > 0:54:22see there's the dark film of filth on one side and it's left
0:54:22 > 0:54:25this visual spectacle of what this temple must have been like.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40Cleopatra features in a massive relief on the back wall
0:54:40 > 0:54:43of the temple with her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47In artistic terms, it's nothing new.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54I'm here to meet someone else, a character who would have an
0:54:54 > 0:54:58important role to play in Christian art in the future.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02I'm here to meet the forefather of the Devil.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05One of the innovations of temple design under the Ptolemies
0:55:05 > 0:55:07was this building.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10It's known as the Mammisi, or birth house, and it's a smaller
0:55:10 > 0:55:14temple, usually placed at right angles to the big building,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17and it celebrates rituals associated with the birth
0:55:17 > 0:55:19of the child God Horus,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23and his relationship with the mother goddess, Isis or Hathor.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27But my favourite part of the birth house is this guy,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30who's one of the most curious of Egyptian gods.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33He's my favourite member of the Egyptian religious pantheon.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36He's a dwarf god. He's known as Bes.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40Once you've started to see him, then in sites like this,
0:55:40 > 0:55:42he suddenly seems to appear everywhere.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05You see, here he is again, this is Bes, and yep, you can see he's
0:56:05 > 0:56:10got all of his classic attributes here. He's really ridiculously
0:56:10 > 0:56:14ugly, he's got this bushy beard, he's fat, he's squat, he's
0:56:14 > 0:56:18often standing there with his great tongue lolling out of his head,
0:56:18 > 0:56:23you often see his penis, and unlike most of the gods in Egyptian art,
0:56:23 > 0:56:25he is face on, he's full frontal.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28There is something unashamed about Bes.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30And the reason I like him
0:56:30 > 0:56:33is because he's got this real whiff of anarchy and mischief.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37He's so ugly that he's a prototype for devils and medieval gargoyles.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40But in ancient Egypt he was actually a sort of protector god.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42He was on the side of the people.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45He warded off evil spirits during childbirth.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48He was a god associated with music and dancing and sex
0:56:48 > 0:56:51and drinking, all of the good things, and I think of him
0:56:51 > 0:56:54as like the grit in the pearl of Egyptian art.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04I return to Britain and to Kingston Lacy,
0:57:04 > 0:57:09the home of a 19th-century adventurer called William Bankes,
0:57:09 > 0:57:11where I had my first taste of Ancient Egypt.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15Now I've been to many of the places that Bankes explored,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18I feel very different about the art of that great civilisation.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22A powerful Mesopotamian king
0:57:22 > 0:57:25once said that gold in ancient Egypt was as plentiful as dirt,
0:57:25 > 0:57:27and he was right.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30During three spectacular millennia, ancient Egyptian art reached
0:57:30 > 0:57:34uncharted summits of luxury and magnificence and colossal scale.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37But during my travels I've discovered something a little
0:57:37 > 0:57:41less shiny and bombastic, like the vigorous dwarf god Bes,
0:57:41 > 0:57:44friend alike to expectant mothers and beer-swilling carousers,
0:57:44 > 0:57:46or those homely visions of paradise
0:57:46 > 0:57:49in the workers' tombs, humble shabti figurines,
0:57:49 > 0:57:54scraps of pottery decorated with delightfully rapid sketches
0:57:54 > 0:57:57that are thrilled about the texture of a bird's wing
0:57:57 > 0:57:58or the fur of a dog.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01And I used to think that I had something of a handle on what
0:58:01 > 0:58:04ancient Egyptian art was all about, but now I realise
0:58:04 > 0:58:07that to really understand it would take several lifetimes.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09It could be intimate, as well as intimidating,
0:58:09 > 0:58:12it was down to earth, as much as it was divine.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15And why not? Because the ancient Egyptians held fervent,
0:58:15 > 0:58:17profound beliefs about the afterlife, so of course,
0:58:17 > 0:58:21they understood that there could be more than one route to eternity.