Ancient Top 10: Secrets of Egypt (Season 1, Episode 7) | Full Episode | History

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<i>male narrator: This week on "Ancient Top Ten"...</i> <i>The secrets of the Sphinx unveiled.</i> <i>- Sometimes what you think you know is called into question,</i> and the Sphinx is a perfect example of that. <i>narrator: The spine-chilling secrets of mummification.</i> <i>- They created over 70 million mummies.</i> Absolutely amazing. <i>narrator: An ancient scroll so controversial</i> <i>it's been called the first porn magazine in history.</i> - This sordid scroll has given us more insight <i>into the ancient Egyptians than any other discovery</i> <i>I can think of.</i> <i>narrator: And the most incredible ancient treasure</i> <i>of all time.</i> <i>- In terms of history,</i> <i>in terms of civilization,</i> this is priceless. <i>narrator: Where will they be ranked</i> <i>on the only top ten list</i> <i>thousands of years in the making?</i> <i>[dramatic music]</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: For 3,000 years,</i> <i>until Alexander the Great's armies</i> <i>conquered it in the 4th century B.C.,</i> <i>ancient Egypt was the most</i> <i>important civilization in the world.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> - When you hear ancient Egypt, you rightfully think of the pyramids, the Sphinx, the Nile river, Cleopatra, King Tut's tomb. But with all that body of knowledge we have, there are secrets we know nothing about. <i>narrator: This week's "Ancient Top Ten."</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The list is ranked by how each entry</i> <i>has shaped our understanding of ancient Egypt.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>At number 10, the Great Sphinx.</i> <i>- One of the most iconic and yet mysterious figures</i> from ancient Egypt is the Sphinx of the Giza Plateau. <i>narrator: The Great Sphinx sits at the foot</i> <i>of the pyramids near Cairo.</i> <i>Some Egyptologists believe it was carved</i> <i>during the reign of King Khafre in 2,500 B.C.</i> <i>and in his likeness.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>One of the pyramids to its rear is his tomb.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>With the head of a king and the body of a lion,</i> <i>the role of the Sphinx may have been</i> <i>to guard the pharaoh's final resting place.</i> <i>It is the largest statue ever carved out of</i> <i>a single piece of stone,</i> <i>240 feet long, 60 feet high,</i> <i>and wrapped in riddles.</i> <i>For one thing, the true size of the Sphinx</i> <i>was a mystery for millennia.</i> - Up to a century ago, the Great Sphinx was buried up to its neck in sand. <i>narrator: These photos show how the Sphinx looked</i> <i>circa the 1920s,</i> <i>its head and upper body visible.</i> <i>In 1925, an effort began to see more.</i> - Then archaeologists decided to dig and dig and excavate until the entire body was revealed. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: There are smaller sphinxes all over Egypt,</i> <i>and in the Temple of Luxor alone,</i> <i>there are over 1,300 statues of them,</i> <i>underscoring how important they were</i> <i>to ancient Egyptian culture.</i> <i>Beyond size, there is a second, bigger mystery.</i> - If you look closely at the surface of the Sphinx, you'll see tiny traces of paint <i>where 3,500 years ago,</i> <i>King Thutmose had the surface restored.</i> <i>Now, if you think about it,</i> 3,500 years ago it was in need of restoration. Just how old is this thing? <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: In the 1950s, new evidence</i> <i>further put into question the age of the Sphinx.</i> <i>- There are water erosion marks on the body</i> <i>of the Sphinx caused by rain.</i> But that level of rain hasn't been around Egypt for over 9,000 years. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: If these erosion marks were made</i> <i>9,000 years ago, long before</i> <i>this part of Africa was a desert,</i> <i>then Egyptian civilization is far older</i> <i>than previously thought.</i> <i>Or perhaps the civilization of the Pharaohs</i> <i>was born from an even older long lost civilization.</i> <i>That would be the biggest secret of them all.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>Number nine on our countdown</i> <i>can't match the wise Sphinx in age,</i> <i>but in height, there was no contest.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>It's the Pharos lighthouse.</i> <i>- The Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria</i> <i>is one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.</i> People would come from all over the globe to wonder at its splendor. <i>narrator: This is Alexandria, Egypt.</i> <i>In the third century B.C.,</i> <i>it was one of the greatest cities</i> <i>of the ancient world.</i> <i>It was built around a deep natural harbor</i> <i>where the Nile enters the sea.</i> <i>On an island in the harbor,</i> <i>at the end of a manmade causeway</i> <i>3/4 of a mile long,</i> <i>an incredible lighthouse was constructed,</i> <i>to guide ships safely in.</i> <i>- Twice the height of America's tallest lighthouse today.</i> The mighty Pharos. Alexandria's great lighthouse. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- The Pharos was 400 feet high.</i> That is the height of a 40-story building. Incredible. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: At 400 feet high,</i> <i>the Pharos may have been taller</i> <i>than the Statue of Liberty,</i> <i>and just like its modern counterpart,</i> <i>it was designed to welcome people and make a statement.</i> <i>- It would be the first thing that visitors would see,</i> this enormous, awe-inspiring monument that tells them that they have arrived. <i>narrator: The Pharos stood for over 1,500 years.</i> <i>For all that time, there was nothing like it.</i> <i>- The architectural sophistication</i> of this thing would just take your breath away. <i>narrator: The Pharos had a huge square base</i> <i>of granite blocks,</i> <i>sealed together with molten lead.</i> - Some of the blocks used to build the Pharos lighthouse were among the largest used in ancient construction. <i>They were 20 feet by 8 feet.</i> <i>They were massive.</i> <i>The size of shipping containers.</i> <i>- Even today, it would be thought of</i> as an amazing feat, the size of a modern skyscraper. <i>narrator: Tourists could even buy a ticket and go to the top,</i> <i>where there was an observation deck.</i> <i>This was the Empire State Building of its day.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>At night, a fire was lit to act as a beacon for shipping.</i> <i>- As a lighthouse, it's incredibly effective.</i> <i>That light could be seen over 35 miles.</i> <i>narrator: Amazingly, the light from the Pharos</i> <i>could be seen just as far in the daytime.</i> <i>This would have been impossible with just the light of a fire.</i> - How did the Pharos lighthouse possibly generate that much light? I mean, modern lighthouses can generate light to extend about 20 miles, and that's because they have these super powerful electric bulbs. <i>The Pharos lighthouse is essentially a mystery.</i> There must have been some advanced engineering involved. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Well, this is one of the things that's so mysterious</i> <i>and amazing about this site.</i> What was making that light 2,000 years ago? - We are told that the lighthouse of Alexandria had these specially designed mirrors attached to the top, <i>and the purpose of these mirrors was to</i> <i>focus the rays of the sun.</i> <i>narrator: Could there have been one giant mirror</i> <i>catching the sun's rays and bouncing them</i> <i>to another that was the beacon?</i> <i>They would each have had to rotate and be aligned</i> <i>and move together.</i> <i>That's the kind of sophistication we find today</i> <i>in modern solar power plants.</i> <i>Astonishingly, the lighthouse holds an even greater secret.</i> <i>The mysterious mirrors may have been much more</i> <i>than a beacon for ships at sea.</i> - There are actually ancient sources that say the lighthouse could focus <i>a lethal beam of light and aim it at enemy ships,</i> <i>burning them.</i> - This is the ancient equivalent of a laser beam, and considering this was thousands of years ago, it is a phenomenal achievement. <i>narrator: And why did the people of Alexandria</i> <i>need such a super weapon?</i> <i>Because they had the greatest library,</i> <i>and their enemies would do anything to get a hold</i> <i>of all the scientific knowledge it contained.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Everything that was written down was stored</i> in the Great Library of Alexandria. It was like a kind of living Internet of its day. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>There were 550,000 volumes,</i> and if you read a new one every day, you would be sitting in that library for over 1,500 years. <i>narrator: Alexandria would want to stop anyone</i> <i>from attacking its precious library.</i> <i>A super weapon would certainly discourage any attempts.</i> <i>- Stories of this ancient laser beam may not be true,</i> but if your enemy believes that it is, then that is enough of a deterrent. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: Just the idea of a death ray</i> <i>and complicated, revolving mirrors</i> <i>is enough to change our view of the ancient Egyptians.</i> - It's incredible to think that the mighty Pharos stood at the harbor in Alexandria for 1,500 years. It was so well built that it actually took a massive earthquake to finally finish it off. <i>♪ ♪</i> - There's never been anything like the Pharos before or since, for that matter. 2,000 years later, it's still the greatest lighthouse ever built, so much so, the word "pharos" in many languages, still means lighthouse. <i>narrator:</i> <i>narrator: This is "Ancient Top Ten's"</i> <i>top ten secrets of Egypt,</i> <i>ranked by experts, according to how</i> <i>they've shaped our view of this civilization.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The fertile Nile valley was a vibrant place,</i> <i>teaming with life.</i> <i>Egyptian society was rich and colorful</i> <i>and apparently, not afraid to express itself.</i> <i>Coming in at number eight</i> <i>is a scandalous find.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The Turin Erotic Papyrus.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>At the beginning of the 19th century,</i> <i>a local farmer near the Valley of the Kings</i> <i>stumbled across an intriguing earthenware vessel.</i> <i>It was on the site of where the laborers lived</i> <i>who worked on the tombs.</i> <i>There was something hidden inside.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>It was an ancient papyrus,</i> <i>which shook the world of Egyptology to the core.</i> - When it was uncovered, it was described as an image of monstrous obscenity. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: The papyrus was covered</i> <i>in the most graphic, intimate pictures.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- The Turin Erotic Papyrus</i> <i>was discovered in a workman's village, Deir el-Medina.</i> <i>Now, it's possible that these men were all</i> passing this thing around to each other, so it could have been one of the first men's magazines. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: And this is it.</i> <i>These fragments of ancient scroll,</i> <i>over eight feet long,</i> <i>are 3,000 years old.</i> <i>It's called The Turin Erotic Papyrus</i> <i>because it's kept here in a museum in Turin in Italy.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>And it's recommended for adults only.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>Sex was often represented by the Egyptians in art,</i> <i>but in a very different way than the papyrus.</i> <i>- In ancient Egypt, we see sex depicted</i> <i>at the level of the gods in private spaces like temples,</i> but these are more symbolic. When we're talking about the papyrus, this much more closely resembles human pornography. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: So if it wasn't for religious purposes,</i> <i>it really may have been created</i> <i>for much more erotic uses.</i> <i>- The papyrus shows 12 raunchy scenes.</i> <i>We're talking older men with younger women.</i> <i>Sex of all sorts.</i> It's quite shocking, actually. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: This material is considered so vulgar</i> <i>that we can only show snippets.</i> <i>- I've seen quite a lot of ancient erotic art</i> <i>in my time, but for me,</i> the Turin Erotic Papyrus is quite frankly jaw-dropping. Basically anything that can happen is happening. <i>narrator: And this is why it makes it</i> <i>to the "Ancient Top Ten" list.</i> <i>It changes and humanizes our view of ancient Egypt.</i> <i>- This scroll has given us more insight</i> <i>into the ancient Egyptians than any other discovery</i> <i>I can think of.</i> <i>With this perspective, we now know</i> <i>that as spiritual as the Egyptians were,</i> they were also as human as us, with the same desires as us. And I find that kind of comforting. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: At number seven,</i> <i>a more G-rated secret.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The unfinished obelisk,</i> <i>one of the most amazing engineering feats</i> <i>from ancient Egypt.</i> - Obelisks were huge stone structures. They were monoliths found all over Egypt. They were absolutely incredible. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- In London, Paris and in Rome,</i> we find these incredible ancient Egyptian obelisks, <i>and each of them is a testament</i> <i>to the cult of the sun.</i> <i>They are absolutely mesmerizing,</i> and we remain in awe of them and for very good reason. <i>narrator: Obelisks were giant pillars</i> <i>pointing upwards towards the sun god, Ra.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>In a quarry here in Aswan, in southern Egypt,</i> <i>is the biggest obelisk of all,</i> <i>but it's still attached to the bedrock.</i> <i>If it had been finished and erected,</i> <i>it would have been nearly as high as Niagara Falls.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> - The unfinished obelisk is huge. <i>If it were finished, it would have been over 140 feet tall.</i> This thing would have surpassed any other obelisk made in ancient Egypt to this point. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- It would have weighed in</i> <i>at around 1,200 tons.</i> That's almost six times the weight of the Statue of Liberty. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: The modern world has its own obelisk</i> <i>inspired by ancient Egypt:</i> <i>the Washington Monument.</i> <i>It was built in the 19th century,</i> <i>but modern building techniques were unable</i> <i>to match those of the ancient Egyptians.</i> <i>- The Washington Monument is bigger, but it cheats.</i> <i>It's made with a steel frame and 30,000 separate bricks.</i> But this--this is the real deal. It's made out of one solid piece of granite. <i>narrator: And there were no metal tools back then.</i> <i>This was the 15th century B.C.</i> <i>They were hitting rock with rock.</i> <i>- 130 men in cramped conditions,</i> all trying to carve this thing out of the ground with only a slighter harder rock to cut it. <i>narrator: But the unfinished obelisk was left in place.</i> <i>Why was it abandoned after so much work?</i> - Chipping it away, day after day, week after week, month after month, possibly even for years. <i>Then they find the flaw.</i> <i>A crack in the obelisk.</i> <i>narrator: In their efforts to separate it</i> <i>from the bedrock, the obelisk had split.</i> - All of that work, all of that effort for nothing. <i>narrator: It earns its place on the "Ancient Top Ten" list</i> <i>because it would have been the greatest</i> <i>solid obelisk in history,</i> <i>reinforcing our view of ancient Egyptians</i> <i>as master builders.</i> - It's just mind-blowing to think they achieved some of the most incredibly refined stonework <i>with some of the simplest tools imaginable.</i> <i>It's a feat any modern day stonemason</i> <i>would steer well away from.</i> <i>narrator: This is Giza,</i> <i>the site of the pyramids near Cairo.</i> <i>The pyramids themselves were plundered in ancient times,</i> <i>all their treasures stolen.</i> <i>But in 1954 there was an amazing find here.</i> <i>An entire ship, buried in the desert.</i> <i>And it's our number six secret.</i> <i>[dramatic music]</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The Khufu Ship.</i> <i>- A ship buried in the desert outside the pyramid.</i> <i>And this was a huge vessel, bigger than the Mayflower,</i> and over 4,000 years ago. Incredible. <i>narrator: The ancient ship was buried around 2,500 B.C.,</i> <i>in a pit carved out of the solid bedrock.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>143 feet long, and just under 20 feet wide,</i> <i>now in a specially built museum on the site at Giza,</i> <i>it's the world's oldest intact ship.</i> <i>- The Khufu ship is one of the largest</i> <i>and best-preserved boats from antiquity.</i> It's incredible to think that this boat made of wood has survived 4,500 years. <i>narrator: The entire ship had been dismantled.</i> <i>Its wooden parts were stacked neatly in the pit.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>In re-assembling the ship,</i> <i>ancient techniques came to light.</i> <i>- What was particularly amazing about it</i> <i>was how this ship was built.</i> <i>There were no fixtures or fittings.</i> <i>It was all held together</i> <i>with beautifully crafted joints</i> and tied together with rope. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: The rope was made from grass.</i> <i>In total, there was over a mile of it.</i> <i>- Before this, we believe the Egyptians used reed boats.</i> <i>But this is the first significant wooden boat,</i> <i>and it's also the first construction of its kind</i> to be built without nails. <i>narrator: It was a sleek, beautiful design,</i> <i>and completely sea-worthy.</i> <i>But why was it buried in the middle of the desert?</i> <i>What was it for?</i> - The Khufu ship never actually went to sea, because it was a funeral barge. <i>narrator: The ship was meant to transport the dead pharaoh</i> <i>up to his place in the heavens.</i> <i>- Clearly, assembling the boat in the afterlife</i> wouldn't have been such a great task for a pharaoh. In fact, maybe he killed a handyman or two to go along with him. <i>narrator: The ship tells us about the Egyptians'</i> <i>deepest beliefs and is a landmark in engineering.</i> <i>It's so sophisticated,</i> <i>this knowledge and skill must have come</i> <i>from many centuries of ship building,</i> <i>which means Egypt must have been</i> <i>a great seafaring nation much earlier</i> <i>than previously thought.</i> <i>- It absolutely transformed our understanding</i> of seafaring 4,500 years ago, and that's why it's in my top ten. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: Another buried ship has now been found at the site.</i> <i>And it's thought there might have been</i> <i>up to seven in total at Giza.</i> <i>All for the benefit of the afterlife of the pharaohs.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>But at number five on our list</i> <i>is something that was an underground secret</i> <i>the size of a mountain.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>Early in the 19th century,</i> <i>a young Egyptian boy guided some archaeologists</i> <i>to a rock-face near his village.</i> <i>He had found some unusual carvings,</i> <i>exposed by the moving sands.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The archaeologists returned and began to dig.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>What emerged was one of the most</i> <i>amazing buildings in the world.</i> <i>It was carved straight into the rock-face,</i> <i>and it was the height of a ten-story building.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Imagine their excitement.</i> <i>They're unearthing this incredible</i> <i>monument in a mountain.</i> <i>It's the tip of the iceberg.</i> <i>And as the full scale of this discovery</i> <i>is made clear to them,</i> you know, they must have been just in awe. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: Abu Simbel.</i> <i>A huge temple from the 13th century B.C.</i> <i>- One of the greatest buildings in ancient Egypt.</i> One of the greatest buildings in the world, surely. <i>narrator: It faced the River Nile</i> <i>and was built to amaze and intimidate</i> <i>Egypt's southern neighbors,</i> <i>and to show the authority of the pharaoh.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Suitably, it's one of the greatest</i> <i>monuments in ancient Egypt,</i> because it's dedicated to one of the greatest pharaohs. <i>narrator: The pharaoh was Ramesses II,</i> <i>also known as Ramesses the Great.</i> <i>He was the most powerful pharaoh ever</i> <i>and reigned for over 70 years.</i> <i>And at the front of the temple,</i> <i>giant statues of Ramesses</i> <i>a colossal 67 feet high.</i> - These figures at Abu Simbel are absolutely enormous. <i>Each statue is taller than the faces at Mount Rushmore.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: The giant carvings at Mount Rushmore</i> <i>were made with explosives.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>But that was in the 20th century.</i> <i>Abu Simbel was made over 3,000 years ago.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>They didn't even have iron tools.</i> <i>- The whole thing was made in just about 20 years,</i> <i>and of course this is long before</i> the age of modern machinery. We're still trying to figure out just exactly how they did it. <i>narrator: All the Egyptian workers had</i> <i>were small copper chisels</i> <i>to carve something the size of a mountain.</i> <i>Each workman would wear through them</i> <i>at the rate of about three a day.</i> <i>These weren't slaves, but they weren't</i> <i>paid workers either.</i> <i>This was well before the days of money.</i> <i>In return for their work,</i> <i>they received something refreshing</i> <i>and thirst-quenching.</i> <i>- Construction workers in ancient Egypt</i> <i>were compensated with food,</i> <i>but also with beer, possibly even</i> <i>a gallon and a half a day.</i> So can you imagine hauling rocks around in the hot sun all day? Beer would definitely lighten the load. <i>narrator: Once the construction was finished,</i> <i>the painting started.</i> <i>- We see them only as they are now,</i> <i>as a dusty brown color.</i> But they would have been brightly colored. So when we look at surviving Egyptian buildings, they are nothing like they used to have been. <i>narrator: They would have looked like this.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>And inside: a fabulous pillared hall.</i> <i>With wall carvings to show the glory of Ramesses.</i> <i>But amazingly, none of this is where it used to be.</i> <i>- In the 1960s, the Aswan Dam project</i> <i>flooded a lot of southern Egypt,</i> <i>and all the magnificent temples</i> <i>that were in the way of the dam had to be moved.</i> <i>Some of these were sold off to foreign governments</i> <i>and museums.</i> <i>But Abu Simbel, the work of Ramesses II,</i> <i>was so important that it was just moved</i> <i>690 feet away and 200 feet up,</i> where it stands majestically to this day. <i>narrator: Abu Simbel earns its place on the list</i> <i>for revealing the power of ancient Egypt</i> <i>and the power of the pharaohs.</i> <i>- It is simply one of the greatest endeavors</i> <i>of mankind, ever.</i> <i>It's towering, imposing, magnificent.</i> <i>We're not even sure what its true name is,</i> <i>for Abu Simbel refers to the name</i> <i>of the boy who discovered it.</i> And the fact that it was hidden in the sand for all those years, that's just mind-boggling. <i>narrat [dramatic music]</i> <i>Now we're into the top four,</i> <i>and it's time for a shocking secret</i> <i>that's become a symbol of ancient Egypt</i> <i>and a staple of horror films. [woman screams]</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Ask anyone what comes to mind when you say "ancient Egypt,"</i> and I would bet you that they say "mummies." <i>narrator: Mummies are the preserved bodies of the dead.</i> <i>The ancient Egyptians believed that preserving the body</i> <i>meant it would live on in the afterlife.</i> <i>This was true of everyone, not just pharaohs.</i> <i>So everyone wanted to be mummified after death.</i> <i>- The ancient Egyptians seemed to believe</i> that their physical body would be reunited with their soul in the afterlife. <i>narrator: Mummies are evidence of this.</i> <i>And it sets ancient Egypt apart from other civilizations.</i> <i>They believed that after death,</i> <i>the soul left the body,</i> <i>but that at night it would return to it</i> <i>to receive new life.</i> <i>That's why the body had to be preserved.</i> <i>- For the ancient Egyptians, life after death</i> is just as if not more important than life before death, and that's why mummies are a vital part of our countdown. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- The ancient Egyptians were obsessed with mummification.</i> In fact, some estimates suggest that they created over 70 million mummies. Absolutely amazing. <i>- There were so many mummies</i> <i>being produced in ancient Egypt,</i> <i>they got it down to an absolute art form.</i> It must have been like a production line. A modern factory. A mummy factory. <i>narrator: In the Egyptian Museum in Cairo,</i> <i>you can see the mummies of the pharaohs.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The warrior king, Amenhotep II.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The great monument builder Ramesses II.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>And his father, Seti I.</i> <i>- Mummification was an incredibly intricate procedure.</i> All of the organs were removed with surgical precision, including the brain, which was extracted through the nose. <i>- They would soak the bodies in vats of chemicals</i> to dry them out and preserve the flesh. <i>narrator: And the body was packed with salt.</i> <i>This was a key to preserving it.</i> <i>- Next, the Egyptians would apply</i> <i>layer and layer of bandages.</i> And this is what allowed the body to be perfectly preserved for thousands of years. <i>narrator: And the Egyptians didn't let</i> <i>any part of themselves go to waste.</i> - There's evidence that the pharaohs and the queens even had their sex organs dried and wrapped. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: These incredibly preserved mummies</i> <i>have survived for millennia.</i> <i>Of course, the pharaohs were mummified</i> <i>better than anyone else.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The Egyptians believed that all living things had souls,</i> <i>so they wanted their pets mummified too.</i> <i>Then they could be together in the afterlife.</i> <i>Across Egypt, there were vast cemeteries</i> <i>filled with the mummified bodies</i> <i>of family cats and dogs.</i> <i>And even the crocodiles kept to guard the temples</i> <i>around ancient Egypt were mummified.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>Mummies have shaped our view of Egyptian belief.</i> <i>Because of mummies, we know that the Egyptians</i> <i>thought the afterlife was a physical place,</i> <i>as much for ordinary people and even animals,</i> <i>as for the pharaohs.</i> <i>And as an icon of ancient Egypt,</i> <i>they've thrilled generations</i> <i>and kept Egyptology very much alive and kicking.</i> <i>- It's absolutely iconic. The idea of these dead bodies</i> <i>preserved forever, wrapped in bandages.</i> All the gruesome stories are true. <i>narrator: While mummies have shaped our view</i> <i>of how Egyptians looked at the afterlife,</i> <i>our next secret helped to decode everything</i> <i>about the land of the living in ancient Egypt.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The key that unlocked ancient Egypt.</i> <i>The Rosetta Stone.</i> <i>- In the late 1700s, Napoleon and his troops</i> <i>are invading Egypt.</i> <i>Now they stumble across the Rosetta Stone</i> <i>while digging up fortifications.</i> Luckily for us, they realize that this stone was going to be <i>incredibly important.</i> <i>narrator: A piece of granite just three feet high,</i> <i>it's now the most visited exhibit</i> <i>inside the British Museum in London.</i> <i>- The importance of the Rosetta Stone can't be understated.</i> <i>Its discovery was the turning point in Egyptology.</i> This unlikely chunk of rock changed everything. <i>narrator: It was because of this rock</i> <i>that experts were able to understand hieroglyphics.</i> <i>Before the Rosetta Stone, no one could understand them.</i> <i>They were just strange shapes and symbols.</i> <i>The Rosetta Stone has three bands of writing,</i> <i>one above the other.</i> <i>- The key thing about it is that it has information</i> written in three languages: <i>ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs,</i> <i>Greek, and another ancient language called Demotic.</i> <i>narrator: When it was found, classical scholars</i> <i>could read the ancient Greek.</i> <i>It translated as a list of good works done by the pharaoh.</i> <i>And it was the name of the Pharaoh, Ptolemy,</i> <i>that eventually provided the breakthrough needed,</i> <i>because his name was uncovered in the hieroglyphs.</i> <i>- The fact that the same information is written</i> <i>in all three languages means that we could</i> <i>work out what the hieroglyphs say.</i> <i>And from that, you can understand</i> the whole of ancient Egyptian history. <i>narrator: Suddenly, all the hieroglyphs</i> <i>in Egypt became readable.</i> <i>- Imagine you can't read hieroglyphs and suddenly</i> <i>you can look at a temple</i> wall<i> and say, "That's Ramesses II,"</i> <i>or "That's Amenhotep III."</i> Now as an Egyptologist, I can't even imagine how we would have understood the Egyptian civilization without this. <i>narra Just missing out on the top slot</i> <i>is one of the greatest building projects of all time.</i> <i>Coming in at number two...</i> <i>[dramatic music]</i> <i>It's pyramids.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>Pyramids have defined our view</i> <i>of ancient Egypt.</i> <i>They are symbols of a civilization.</i> <i>- The pyramids embody everything</i> <i>we love about ancient Egypt.</i> <i>The mystery, the lost technology,</i> <i>the unfathomable effort that must have</i> <i>gone into their creation.</i> This is why they have to be on our list. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: Ancient pyramids are found all over the globe.</i> <i>From Central and South America,</i> <i>to the Middle East,</i> <i>even all the way to Asia.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>But no one built them on the same scale</i> <i>or sophistication as the Egyptians.</i> <i>As this map shows,</i> <i>there's a lot more pyramids in Egypt</i> <i>than the three famous ones at Giza.</i> <i>In fact, there are over a hundred ancient pyramids</i> <i>still standing, all over Egypt.</i> - These pyramids have enough material in them to build a wall <i>ten feet high and five feet wide</i> <i>all the way from New York to LA.</i> <i>Just incredible.</i> [men shouting together] <i>narrator: Pyramid building started over 4,500 years ago,</i> <i>and they may have built as huge tombs for the pharaohs.</i> <i>The pharaohs believed they lived on after death,</i> <i>and it could be that the pyramids</i> <i>were lavish homes for them.</i> <i>But it's also thought that they might have been built to help</i> <i>the dead pharaohs up to the heavens.</i> <i>- The earliest pyramids are over 4,500 years old,</i> and they're stepped, supposedly, so that the soul of the pharaoh could rise up to heaven. <i>narrator: The ancient Egyptians were building with stone</i> <i>when other civilizations were just using mud bricks.</i> <i>The oldest?</i> <i>Here at Saqqara, 19 miles south of Cairo.</i> <i>Building started around 2,660 B.C.</i> <i>It's the world's first stone superstructure</i> <i>and was originally over 200 feet high.</i> <i>- It may have started out as a flat-roofed tomb,</i> <i>and then another smaller tomb</i> built on top of that, until hey, presto, you've got a pyramid. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: The first pyramids were built like this.</i> <i>Layer upon layer.</i> <i>But the pyramid builders went underground, too.</i> <i>Beneath the Saqqara pyramid, shafts 100 feet deep,</i> <i>and two tombs carved from the rock.</i> <i>One for the body and one for the cleaned,</i> <i>dried organs, carefully removed and stacked in boxes.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>These were just part of an amazing network of tunnels</i> <i>that stretched out for three and a half miles.</i> <i>The original pyramid architect, Imhotep,</i> <i>was so important to the Egyptians</i> <i>they made him into a god.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>Later pyramids had the stepped sides</i> <i>filled in and smoothed over,</i> <i>then coated with polished limestone</i> <i>and capped with solid gold.</i> <i>These pyramids shone brightly, beacons for miles around,</i> <i>perhaps linking the dead pharaoh</i> <i>with the mighty sun god.</i> <i>- Or were they ritual centers, used to project</i> the pharaoh's soul into the constellation of Orion? As you can probably tell, we're not entirely sure. <i>narrator: But building the perfect pyramid</i> <i>didn't come right away.</i> <i>First, came the collapsed pyramid,</i> <i>abandoned halfway through,</i> <i>but still over 200 feet high,</i> <i>and at the time the tallest structure in the world.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The Bent Pyramid.</i> <i>344 feet high.</i> <i>Then the Red Pyramid.</i> <i>Copper chisels were being used now and bigger blocks.</i> <i>The base? The size of</i> <i>ten football fields.</i> <i>- And of course the greatest pyramid of all,</i> The Great Pyramid of Giza. Pyramid perfection. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: The tallest structure in the world</i> <i>for nearly 4,000 years.</i> <i>This was the pinnacle of pyramid building in Egypt.</i> <i>To get to this point took six generations</i> <i>and six pharaohs.</i> <i>- The remarkable thing is, when the ancient Egyptians</i> <i>were building the pyramids, they were adding</i> <i>one or two stone blocks every few minutes.</i> I mean, that's incredible. <i>narrator: These amazing structures</i> <i>have stood the test of time</i> <i>like nothing else on Earth.</i> <i>The question is, why did the Egyptians stop building them?</i> <i>- The ancient pyramids of Egypt were plundered in antiquity,</i> <i>and that's why it's theorized that</i> later pharaohs buried themselves and their treasures in the Valley of the Kings in hidden tombs. <i>narrator: By 600 B.C., pyramid building in Egypt</i> <i>was coming to an end.</i> <i>The power and prestige of the pharaohs was waning.</i> <i>The Pyramids were a truly incredible achievement</i> <i>and the most iconic symbol of ancient Egypt.</i> <i>Even today, pyramids are everywhere,</i> <i>even on the dollar bill.</i> <i>- The ancient Egyptians' engineering prowess</i> <i>was just astonishing</i> and way ahead of its time. <i>Buried in the mysterious Valley of the Kings,</i> <i>laid hidden and undiscovered for 3,000 years</i> <i>is the incredible treasure</i> <i>of the most famous pharaoh in history.</i> <i>- Coming in at number one are some of the treasures</i> <i>discovered in one of the most amazing</i> <i>archaeological discoveries in history.</i> It's the treasures of the tomb of Tutankhamun. <i>[dramatic music]</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- The treasures of King Tutankhamun are the single most</i> <i>sensational find in Egyptology.</i> That's why it just had to be our number one. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: In the 1920s, the British archaeologist</i> <i>Howard Carter began one of the most</i> <i>incredible explorations of ancient Egypt.</i> <i>After years of searching</i> <i>and on the verge of giving up,</i> <i>he discovered a secret hidden tomb</i> <i>which would change history.</i> <i>When he finally broke open the tomb in 1922,</i> <i>the world for the first time saw the real secrets of Egypt.</i> <i>- For me, it doesn't get any more exciting than this.</i> And Carter is the only Egyptologist to have done this, discovered the last resting place of a pharaoh intact. <i>narrator: It was brimming with treasure</i> <i>and priceless artifacts.</i> - The Egyptians buried 5,000 treasures in this tomb, many of which are pure gold. <i>- Gold wasn't all about just showing off your wealth.</i> To the ancient Egyptians, it was the key to immortality. <i>- Life and death in ancient Egypt</i> <i>were really closely intertwined,</i> so the pharaohs would take with them things from life into death. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: The treasure was beyond anyone's wildest dreams.</i> <i>Jewelry,</i> <i>two thrones,</i> <i>six war chariots.</i> <i>Everything the young pharaoh would need</i> <i>in the next life... and even more.</i> <i>- It had spare pairs of underwear,</i> new clothes, it even had a linen condom so that he could <i>enjoy safe sex in the afterlife.</i> <i>narrator: And for even more protection,</i> <i>King Tut's outer coffin was covered in gold.</i> <i>- Tutankhamun was buried in a series of coffins,</i> <i>one inside of another, like a Russian doll.</i> And the last one, the most precious one, the amazing one was made of solid gold, weighing over 250 pounds. <i>narrator: Inside this golden coffin</i> <i>was an even greater treasure.</i> <i>It was the face of a 3,000-year-old pharaoh.</i> <i>It was an amazing secret of Egypt, now revealed.</i> <i>The incredible golden death mask of Tutankhamun.</i> <i>- It's rare that there's genuine perfection in art,</i> but if anything comes close, it's gotta be the death mask of Tutankhamun. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Even by modern standards,</i> this is an extraordinary piece of sculpture. As a piece of portraiture, it is a beautiful portrait of a young, Egyptian boy. <i>narrator: Tut's death mask was surrounded</i> <i>by precious stone.</i> <i>The stunning blue is lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.</i> <i>Quartz and obsidian in the eyes</i> <i>that came across the Mediterranean.</i> <i>It weighs 24 pounds</i> <i>and is an ancient masterpiece.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Can you imagine what it must have been like</i> to hold up that mask for the first time and stare King Tutankhamun square in the eyes? <i>- The moment I laid eyes</i> <i>on King Tut's golden death mask,</i> I fell in love with the treasure of ancient Egypt. <i>- In terms of history, in terms of civilization,</i> this is priceless. <i>narrator: Imagine what the tombs</i> <i>of the other, greater pharaohs</i> <i>might have contained before they were robbed.</i> <i>- It just makes the mind boggle</i> <i>when you think this was what was left for the dead.</i> So just imagine what wealth there was in the land of the living. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>- Tutankhamun had vanished from history.</i> Now, thanks to this treasure, his face is immortal. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>narrator: A fantastic treasure,</i> <i>and a worthy and undisputed number one.</i> <i>Because of this undreamt of secret find,</i> <i>we can get a true feeling for the might</i> <i>of the pharaohs and the power and the glory of ancient Egypt.</i> <i>There has been no civilization like Egypt before or since.</i> <i>Its incredible buildings and treasures can't be matched.</i> <i>It's a land of mystery and a land of secrets,</i> <i>and it will continue to amaze and astonish</i> <i>for millennia to come.</i>
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Views: 750,238
Rating: 4.6254096 out of 5
Keywords: THC, History, Ancient Top 10, Secrets of Egypt, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, ancient aliens, ancient aliens full episodes, ancient aliens clips, aliens, aliens video, extra terrestrials, extraterrestrials, ufo video, ancient ufos, ancient ufo video, ancient aliens history channel, Alien Transports, ancient aliens season 1, ancient aliens s1, anicent aliens s01, Kebra Nagast, ancient aliens season 1 episodes 7, flying airship, ancient aliens s1 E7clips
Id: -pOk0oHNmYg
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 39min 54sec (2394 seconds)
Published: Tue Oct 08 2019
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