- This is about as far north in Egypt
as it's possible to get. Because out there
is the mediterranean.
To my west is Libya, to my east Palestine and Arabia.
While Egypt itself lies down there to the south
a thousand kilometers of desert cut right through the
center by the mighty river Nile.
And at its top lies this, the great port city of Alexandria.
It was ancient Egypt's last most influential capital.
It was a city of great power, wealth, and luxury.
The greatest in the world.
Alexandria was also home of one of Egypt's most famous
pharaohs, Cleopatra.
The final ruler of a Greek dynasty
and the last in a long line of foreign invaders
who each claimed Egypt for themselves.
Seduced by its legendary splendors.
By now the pyramids were already
thousands of years old.
They were the beginning of a seemingly
indestructible core belief.
That it survived chaos, famine and war.
It's as if they've been picked clean.
A belief that would shine even more brightly
in its fabled golden age.
Who's temples, tombs, and glittering treasures
had made Egypt an irresistible temptation.
As jealous foreign rulers eyed a weakened Egypt
how could it survive successive waves of foreign attack?
But Egypt had a secret weapon,
a culture so strong and deep rooted
that it seduced and then absorbed
all who would claim it as their own.
Welcome to my story of ancient Egypt.
Throughout the first millennium BC,
Egypt faced wave after wave of foreign invaders.
But in the face of such a strong and long lived culture
all who would try to take over Egypt,
would themselves be taken over.
Almost a thousand years before Cleopatra,
Egypt had entered its third intermediate period.
A time of political decline and vulnerability.
Or it's the beginning of the 22nd dynasty,
around 945 BC. The priests are in charge of the south
but in the north the vultures have started to circle.
Waiting for their chance to swoop
as a group of Libyan generals seize power
to rule as pharaohs of the divided land.
In many ways, Egypt's waning power
had been triggered by a loss of faith
and the authority of the new kingdom pharaohs
had begun to crumble. Egypt's once pious priests
had helped loot the royal tombs in the valley of the kings.
Systematically dismantling Egypt's previous late
unshakable belief in the afterlife.
With the decline in power of the new kingdom pharaohs
the Libyans who'd fought for the Egyptians
as mercenary generals, gradually infiltrated
Egypt's power structure and eventually took power
as the 22nd dynasty.
The first king of then 22nd dynasty Shoshenq
had a number of sons who helped him keep control of Egypt.
One of whom was called Nimlot and these are the bracelets
of prince Nimlot.
Egypt's Libyan rulers understood that looking and acting
Egyptian would help to keep the country under their control.
These beautiful bracelets are just a tiny fraction
of the golden treasures created for Egypt's Libyan royals.
Who on the surface at least, upheld many of Egypt's
most sacred traditions.
They are portraying a very small figure of the god Horus
who symbolized Egyptian kingship.
Shown as a young child emerging from a lotus blossom
and on either side it's protected by the rearing cobras.
The royal Horus symbol.
Yet in some ways, these images are simply window dressing.
Lip service to ancient Egyptian tradiitions
in order to claim a greater prize.
For the Libyans who'd organized nothing less
than the stakes sponsored plundering of Egypt's
royal tombs.
They were so transfixed by the wealth
by the gold, by the bling of ancient Egypt.
They wanted it for themselves and over their several
centuries rule, while they appeared to look like pharaohs
and to rule as pharaohs.
Egypt never feels to have been a cohesive united kingdom.
They weren't Egyptians at heart
and that's really what mattered.
In many ways, Libyan rule was destined to fail
because even if they were militarily superior.
Their adoption of Egyptian culture
was at best superficial.
It was insufficient to unite the country.
In the north the squabbling Libyan elite fought
amongst themselves while in the south.
The Egyptian priesthood including yet more Libyan princes
still clung to power. The fragmented Egypt
was easy pickings for any would be invader.
Egypt needed a regime that could reconnect with
its most powerful asset. Its history
and by 747 BC that's what happened.
When the Kushite rules of Nubia
made a direct spiritual connection
with Egypt's glorious past.
But the Kushites were Egypt's southern neighbors in Nubia
and from time in memorial. They and the Egyptians
had kind of battled around the southern border of Egypt.
By the 8th century BC however
the Kushites had the upper hand.
They were fervent believers in Egypt's traditional gods.
In some ways making them more Egyptian than the Egyptians.
The kingdom of Kush in Nubia
was at the very edge of Egyptian world.
Having been repeatedly conquered by Egypt
the Kushites had been hugely influenced by Egyptian beliefs.
Beliefs that centered on this great sand stone mountain
Gebel Barkal.
For centuries it had been regarded
as the mythical mound of creation.
The man from which Egypt's great creator god Amun was born.
- Here it is the holy mountain,
this is where the god lived in his primeval form.
- Doctor Tim Kendal has spent almost 30 years
working at the site.
- Being at the southern limit of the empire it was where
the Nile began, where fertility began and so it had to be
the place where creation began. So this was the,
they imagined this is the birth place of the god Amun.
And so this was the primeval Karnak.
- When the new kingdom pharaohs had arrived here in 1500 BC.
They built this temple and dedicated to Amun and his wife,
the goddess Mut and when the Egyptians withdrew from Nubia.
Some 400 years later, the native Kushites
continued to honor the sacred mountain and Egypt's
spiritual traditions.
As the Kushit kings gained increasing military power
they also claimed Egypt for themselves.
So when king Piye lead the Kushite invasion of Egypt
in 747 BC he didn't plunder or destroy
but restored and rebuilt and founded Egypt's 25th dynasty.
- The irony is that he's conquering Egypt
to put everything right I suppose.
- So it's all such a cycle of rebirth, regrowth,
redevelopment and the Kushite kings
are either kind of tapping in to that ancient power source.
And just sort of giving it back to the Egyptians.
- Like starting time all over again, they're doing it right.
- So they have that same sense of history and continuity
as the Egyptians. They are the natural successors of the
18th dynasty kings.
Fueled by a genuine desire to make their own mark in Egypt's
long story the Kushites began to rebuild Egypt,
here in their Nubian heartland.
King Piye expanded the existing temple of Amun
at Gebel Barkal to balance the original great temple
of Karnak in Egyptian thebes.
But while the Kushites had absorbed the culture of Egypt
they still had their roots here in Africa.
This cultural fusion is quite clearly expressed
in these extraordinary representation of the Egyptian
goddess Mut.
- The face of the goddess Mut
had tribal scars and look.
We'll see if it shows with this light,
you see the three lines on her face?
- So this is an Egyptian goddess with the Nubian makeup.
- Yeah she was a goddess of Nubia and it was appropriate
for Nubians to have tribal scars.
- So this is a very very graphic version
of the way in which local Nubians
s were making the traditional deities of Egypt their own.
Physically marking them, it's as if she's been
stamped as a Nubian.
- Yup.
- Incredible, this is such a land of surprises.
That is beautiful.
Yet this land of surprises has something else in store too.
Gale force winds whip up the worst sandstorm in years.
It's a powerful reminder that the ancients would also
had to deal with such dramatic natural phenomena.
You can certainly taste the grit on your teeth.
The ancients would have tackled this using spells, rituals.
They would also have made extra offerings
to specific deities. Most notably Osiris's brother.
God Set, the god of turbulence, the god of storms.
The god of red headed individuals
who were seen as somewhat turbulent too.
I can't imagine why.
I'm seeking shelter in this shrine
cut into the mountain by Piye's son Taharqa.
Which is currently undergoing major restoration
by an Italian mission. Its a parable that reveals
graphic evidence of Egypt's continuing powerful influence.
Never been here before, I have no idea what's going
on in here so. This will be as new to me as it is to you.
Oh flipping eh.
It's a real privileged to see the time blackened walls
finally giving up their secrets.
Wow, look at that, look at that.
Oh that is so beautiful.
They're bringing out, not just the golds but the blues.
These two colors, the bright blue of the sky and the Nile
and the gold. This sort of really powerful color
of the sun god.
This is Taharqa, the Kushite's most powerful
and important pharaoh.
In classic Egyptian style
he shown offering to the god Amun and his wife
the goddess Mut.
It's raised really, this is old school.
This is old school technique, this is skill
and they're all overlaying this yellow gold.
And you can even see the little scales on this corselet
that Amun's wearing. Every detail's here.
It's fabulous it's like Christmas morning.
This is just extraordinary.
Just look for yourselves, just look.
Look at that face, and look at that eyes.
This wall truly exemplifies Egypt's ancient magic
as those who tried to conquer it end up being seduced by it.
And then become a part of it.
It's a sincere attempt by Taharqa
to connect his kingship to the achievements of the pharaohs
of Egypt's past.
In particular, to the rulers of the new kingdom.
So although history records that Taharqa conquered Egypt.
This scene reveals it's actually Egypt
that conquered Taharqa.
It's as if Egyptian identity will always win out
no matter what. So much so that Taharqa
is even shown with the ram's horns of Amun.
By identifying him as the son of Egypt's god of gods.
These were worn by Amun the third at Luxor Temple
in the 18th dynasty. They were later worn by the great
Alexander to show he too was the son of Amun
and here we have Taharqa in all his finery
and all his splendor.
Who knew that they were here hidden away
in this special special rock.
We've come to the heart of Gebel Barkal now.
We've come to the heart of Egyptian religion
because this is the very birth place of Amun himself
and here he is just for us, right now emerging
from the world. Very few people have ever seen this.
Here inside the temple,
where only the most pious were allowed.
Taharqa is shown indifference to Egypt's most powerful god.
And outside on the mountain
he exhibits his devotion on a truly monumental scale.
By embellishing the very top of its pinnacle.
A 180m tall and 11m from the cliff face
it seems completely inaccessible.
But Taharqa pulled off an incredible technical achievement.
He built a crane arm and elaborate scaffolding
in order to make his own permanent mark on the mountain.
- What he did was he made an inscription for himself.
Commemorating his victories east and west
and then underneath is statuette a small statue of the king
and they covered the inscription with gold.
Today you can hardly see it
but in those days it would have been the most
conspicuous feature of the mountain.
- And then that's meant to be seen by the gods.
- Seen by the god.
- Of course no mortal eye could read this from the ground
but that wasn't the point.
This was a message to the gods,
carved on the monument built to impress.
Completely covered in gold, it reflected the sun's rays
and it's acted like a giant billboard as it telegraphed
Taharqa's message for miles around.
And this again harked back to Egypt's past
where previous pharaohs had placed guided cap stones
on their pyramids and obelisks to harness
the potent powers of the sun.
Just to the east of Gebel Barkal lies an acropolis of Nuri.
Where the Kushite king's transformation
into Egyptian pharaohs was finally completed.
For the dynasty who'd invaded Egypt
were now copying Egypt's ultimate symbol
and for the first time in over a thousand years.
The kings who rules Egypt were buried in pyramids.
- When the kings made their capital at Memphis
they were living right across the river
from the great pyramids.
Taharqa spent most of his life there
and was familiar with the great pyramids and so
when he died he needed a pyramid of commensurate scale.
And this he sort of established this new type
and it was followed by all of his successors.
The Kushites eventually built more pyramids here
in their Nubian homeland than the Egyptians
had built in Egypt.
And just as at Giza, Taharqa's pyramid
is precisely aligned to its environment.
From on the exact day when the Nile flood begins to recede
the sun sets just like this. Directly behind the
Gebel Barkal pinnacle.
Yet only on this specific day, and only when viewed
from the top of Taharqa's pyramid.
That is totally not just a skill a feat of engineering
but such devotion to the gods.
- Observing nature. I mean it would take huge
amount of observation to get the position just right.
To get the day just right.
- Surrounded by these pyramids, the images of the Amun
and Mut and their monumental temples.
It's easy to forget that the Kushites were actually
a foreign power who'd taken Egypt by force.
Yet it's almost as if Egypt was taunting its invaders.
While you may try and dominate our land,
our culture will ultimately dominate you.
And as such, the Kushites left a legacy of renewal
and resurrection.
But like all Egypt's conquerors the Kushite's moment
in the sun was fleeting. For their 25th dynasty
lasted but a century as a far more ruthless
and ambitious power now invaded.
In 674 BC the fearsome Assyrian army marched into Egypt.
As ruthless expansionists, they had little interest
in Egyptian culture. They graphically demonstrated their
contempt by sucking the sacred city of Thebes.
- The Assyrians unlike the Egyptians
are interested in expanding their empire
and really taking over other parts of the world.
And they do that by violence.
- This very un-Egyptian
bronze helmet was discovered in Thebes.
It is one of the very few objects
that reveal the Assyrian's take over of Egypt.
Despite possessing equally powerful iconography
of their own.
The Assyrians had little time to leave their mark.
They simply stamped their authority upon Egypt
by trying to rip out its religious heart.
- This holy complex, this really huge sacred space
had never been attacked in Egyptian history
and so far absorbed and damaged at the temple.
To damage statues perhaps
to damage precious things would really have been
absolute annulment to the Egyptians.
- What's really striking is it's obvious an un-Egyptian item
but the Egyptians didn't even wear helmets did they?
They relied on their thick hair didn't they?
So for me, it really evokes a completely alien image.
I mean the Assyrians,
I mean war was their business wasn't it?
With their sophisticated weapons and armor
the Assyrians were a war machine.
Who's unstoppable progress
seemed to spell disaster for Egypt.
It's after a little more than 20 years,
the Assyrians return east to tackle problems at home.
Leaving vassals in charge of Egypt.
Based at the delta city of Sais,
these were the Saite kings.
True Egyptian politicians
who first appeared to serve their Assyrian masters
but soon became strong enough to declare their independence.
Egypt was now back in Egyptian hands.
The Saite's instigated a spectacular renaissance
in native culture at the heart of which.
Lay Egypt's most powerful symbol of national identity.
Mummification,
but no longer limited to humans.
There was an explosion of animal mummification.
Everything from dogs, cats, crocodiles, Abis,
and even tiny shrews.
The ancient Egyptians had always mummified their dead.
Both human and animal
and with the Saites we can almost see it as a way of
the Saite kings trying to declare we are Egypt.
We are important, this is what makes us special.
No one else in the ancient world can mummify like the
Egyptians and so they rolled it out a million fold.
With animals specifically bred for mummification
and then sold as offerings at temples.
The Saites had reinvigorated Egypt's oldest industry.
Death was once again big business.
Now this might look pretty silly
but around 2000 years ago here at Saqqara.
This would have been a very common sight.
This place would have been packed with pilgrims
with priests making animal mummies
and they'd be trundling the mummies across the landscape
in carts like this one.
So we must get out of our minds this idea of Egyptian
priests as these pious quiet figures,
wafting through the hole landscape.
When at about this time,
it was all carried out in great numbers.
And it was Egypt's endless ability
to reinterpret its core beliefs that was the key
to its longevity.
For millennia the Egyptians had believed
that the pharaoh was a living god
who embodied the soul of Egypt.
When the king died their soul lived on
in their mummified body.
Which must be kept safe to guarantee
the continuity of Egypt.
So they'd always buried their rulers
in the safety of pyramids or elaborate rock cut tombs.
But in times of increasing unrest and foreign rule
the Egyptians could no longer rely on even having
a pharaoh to bury.
And so they turned to another centuries old practice.
The Serapeum at Saqqara is a huge subterranean tomb complex
in which the concepts of kingship
and animal mummification were fused together.
For each of these giant granite sarcophagi
once contained an animal believed to embody
all the qualities of kingship.
This is the burial site of the sacred Apis bull.
These were the bodies or mummified bulls
of such importance to the Egyptian mindset.
They extended all this effort and cost
to create a suitably impressive burial site
and they've done in this space.
As one bull dies and is mummified and buried
the other one is then worshiped in life
and at death mummified and buried again.
And so there's a real progression.
The call of the Apis bull, dates right back
to the beginning of Egyptian history
and it's closely linked to the pharaoh.
It was believed that when the sacred bull died
it became one with the Osiris. The god of the afterlife
and so became an Osiris Apis, Osiripis for short.
And these sacred bulls became hugely important
under the Saites. During the times of foreign occupation
when Egypt was increasingly being ruled
by pharaohs in Absentia be it in Persia
or wherever else.
For the Egyptians they needed a physical presence
and the Apis bull provided this presence.
Because they could see it with their own eyes,
they could celebrate rituals in its company
and at death it would be mummified and then buried
in the manner of pharaohs going back for millennia.
So it was crucial to have this creature here,
each one successively buried in a sarcophagus
just like this one. We're looking at some serious devotion
to this sacred creature and everything
it represented for Egypt.
In many ways, the serapeum is Egypt written large
in which its core beliefs are taken to extremes.
Being down here really makes you feel minuscule.
You realize you're now walking amongst the gods.
Words fail me frankly because of the enormity of it all
but that was the thing. That was the skill of the Egyptians
they batter you over the head with this idea of the colossal
the monumental, the spectacular.
Yet the Egyptian's devotion to the Apis bull
had left them vulnerable.
By embodying to power of Egypt
within a single living animal.
They had created an easy target.
Given the Apis bull's divine status
harming it would have been completely unthinkable.
But when the Persian king Cambyses invaded Egypt.
He had other plans.
The Persian empire is swept west taking all before it
and then into Egypt itself. The Persian king Cambyses
entered Egypt in 525 BC and destroyed the Saite dynasty.
Much like the Assyrians
the Persians were ruthless expansionists.
Chiefly interested in enlarging their empire
and Cambyses seemed to have trampled all over Egypt's
ancient traditions.
Having taken Egypt by force, Cambyses burned the mummy
of the previous Saite pharaoh
before stabbing the Apis bull.
Which slowly bled to death
and by doing this Cambyses was sending a very clear message
to the Egyptians. I am now in charge.
For the next 200 years, the Egyptians were little more
than the heavily taxed servants for the Persian empire.
And with all attempts at rebellion
met with extreme retaliation.
Egypt needed a savior, an outsider who could be transformed
by Egypt's powerful ideology
and in return could transform Egypt.
Enter the Macedonian superman,
enter Alexander the Great.
Alexander was one of the world's greatest military leaders
and during his short life, amassed an empire that stretched
across three continents. Founding over 70 cities
that bore his name.
After his initial defeat of the Persian king,
Alexander marched unopposed into Egypt in 332 BC.
The world's most successful empire builder had arrived.
Not only transforming Egypt's future
but preserving its ancient past.
It really is no exaggeration to say
that Alexander the Great is one of the most remarkable
people who ever lived. He really was the superhero
of the ancient world. So you'd think that Egypt
would be filled with his images. After all,
he had saved them from the hated Persians.
And yet other than the great city of Alexandria
that bears his name. He is remarkably hard to find
within Egypt's traditional temples.
Except here, in his modest little shrine
at the heart of Luxor Temple.
Alexander was not only a brilliant soldier
but a master politician.
Marching into Egypt's ancient capital Memphis
amid rumors he was the song of Egypt's last native pharaoh.
This instantly plucked him into Egypt's long native history
and he was crowned as a traditional pharaoh.
Here is the great man, repeatedly across the walls
of this lime stone shrine.
And yet you'd never know it was Alexander
simply by looking. Because it looks like
every other Egyptian pharaoh but he knew their secret
that to rule Egypt you had to appear to be an Egyptian.
And he did this brilliantly, to the extent that
he had his name, his Greek name Alexandros written
in the Egyptian tradition even in a royal cartouche
and it's the only giveaway that this is Alexander the Great.
Because there's his name, Alexandros written
in typical Egyptian style and there he's even wearing
the red and the white jewel crown of the united land
and something encapsulating everything that it was.
To be an Egyptian pharaoh.
Just like the Kushite king Taharqa at Gebel Barkal,
Alexander is shown offering incense
to the king of the gods Amun.
But simply connecting with the god wasn't enough,
Alexander understood that real power
came from becoming a god.
And so he undertook perilous journey
across the Libyan desert
to the remote oasis shrine of Siwa.
Where he could commune with the oracle of the moon himself.
And it's said in this legendary story
that the god actually said to him you are my son.
And from then on, something clicked in Alexander's mind
and he went off to conquer the rest of the ancient world.
Truly believing he was divine and he had the full blessing
and support of Amun himself. The king of the gods of Egypt.
Alexander would only stay in Egypt
for six short months.
But during his time here
he founded a city that would be his lasting legacy.
The great city of Alexandria.
Built on the Mediterranean coast
to create trading and through the rest of the ancient world.
The later historian Arian recorded that Alexander
had laid out the city's general plan himself.
But lacking chalk or other means
he resulted to marking it out with grain.
When a flock of birds began eating the grain,
Alexander regarded this as a bad omen.
Yet his religious advisor quickly spun bad news into godd
and interpreted this as a sign that the new city
would soon prosper and would one day
feed the whole world.
A remarkably accurate prophecy.
For within a very few years, Alexandria
would not only be Egypt's new capital
but the greatest city on Earth.
And though Alexander himself would never see it.
Yet despite his pious nature
Alexander was essentially a soldier
and his quest to conquer the Persian empire.
He left Egypt in 331 BC never to return alive.
Moving as far east as India he conquered an empire
of 2 million square miles before dying in Babylon
aged only 32. But still undefeated
and still the pharaoh of Egypt.
At death, Alexander was mummified and his body
became the focus of a power struggle.
Some of his officers wanted him buried
in his Greek homeland but for others
he had to return to Egypt and be buried as a pharaoh.
Thereby preserving Egypt's long traditions.
But it obviously meant that anyone who possessed
his mummified body could also claim the throne of Egypt
and clues to this drama can be found here in the wind
swept desert of Saqqara.
Ten years after he'd left Egypt alive,
Alexander returned here for his body
had been mummified Egyptian style
and it became a hugely powerful talisman
for whoever held the body of Alexander the Great held Egypt.
While on route to Greece,
his cartage was diverted and his mummified body
brought here to Egypt's ancient acropolis of Saqqara.
Exactly where his tomb itself was remains a mystery.
Although situated just meters from the serapeum
is this collection of very un-Egyptian looking statues.
And it's these somewhat sandblasted statues
that give us a real clue that Alexander
may initially have been buried somewhere close by.
Because these are the sculpted images
of some of the greatest scholars
and artists of ancient Greece.
Although exactly who is who has kept academics
scratching their heads for years.
Their likely identities reveal a direct link
to the world in which Alexander grew up and was educated.
Take Homer for example, his great warrior hero Achilles
was Alexander's lifelong role model.
Plato, who had tutored Aristotle
who in turn had tutored Alexander.
And Pindar who's poetry had appraised Alexander's
Macedonian ancestors.
As for who placed these statues here,
the most likely candidate is Alexander's general
and probably half brother Ptolemy.
For by burying Alexander here
close to Egypt's ancient capital Memphis.
Ptolemy could legitimize his own take over of Egypt.
And by laying claim to Alexander's body
and to Egypt he founded the dynasty named after himself.
The fabulous and outrageous Ptolemy.
Ruling Egypt for the last three centuries BC
the Ptolemy dynasty would be Egypt's final flowering.
15 male kings all named Ptolemy
with their female co-rulers.
Half of whom were called Cleopatra.
Macedonian Greek by decent, their dynasty would bring
Greek style, culture, knowledge, and fabulous wealth
into Egypt while at the same time.
Immersing themselves in Egypt's irresistible religion
and customs. They were very very sensitive
to the cultural practices and the religious sensibilities
of the Egyptians. They knew that to control this ancient
land of Egypt they had to tap into what made Egypt powerful.
What made Egypt special.
They wore the right clothes, the right crowns,
they built the right temples, they worshiped the right gods.
And Ptolemy relocated Egypt's capital from Memphis
to their new super city Alexandria.
Built to Alexander's original plan
it was one of the most lavish
construction projects on Earth.
The historian Streba would like to comment
that the city had magnificent public precincts
and royal palaces that covered a fourth
or even a third of the entire area.
The column aided marble streets
were over ten meters wide.
There were public baths, a huge gymnasium
and one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world.
The 135m tall pharaoh's lighthouse
that guided ships safely into port.
And at the center of the city
Alexander himself.
Who's mummified body had been exhumed from Saqqara
and brought here.
Ptolemy had built a capital unlike anything Egypt
had ever seen before. For in Alexandria a new Egypt
was being born.
The creation of Alexandria and the great influx
of immigrants gave it a freshness, a vivacity,
and really kind of transformed the ancient culture.
Whereas previously Egyptian civilization had developed
along the Nile and in many ways was quite inward looking.
Quite insular I think the fact that Alexandria
was open to so many diverse influences, religiously,
culturally and this gave it a real air of tolerance.
I think I'd have felt very at home here.
There's a real sense of culture and learning
and appreciation of life.
Today Alexandria is the largest city on the mediterranean.
Stretching for over 20 miles along the coast.
As Egypt's largest sea port it caters for over 80%
of the country's imports and exports.
A legacy that reaches directly back to Ptolemy.
Having improved Egyptian agriculture
by reclaiming new farmland through increase irrigation.
They supplemented the Egyptian staples
with new crops such as cotton and better grapes
for wine production.
And today the markets of Alexandria still buzz
with some of the early city's lively cosmopolitan style.
I'm gonna try and find the nearest equivalent
to ancient Egyptian delicacies and these are dates
and the ancient Egyptians used to make pastries
and bread from them. Because they had a very sweet tooth.
I think I might have to taste one just for quality
controlling you understand.
See how authentic they are.
They are very nice,
this is incense in its raw state
and of course this was burned in temples
and in funerary rights.
The port city of Alexandria became a huge hub
of international trade.
Establishing routes with Greece, the Middle East,
India and even Britain.
And as native Egyptian goods like papyrus and perfume
flowed out of the country.
New exotic luxuries like spices, silks, and wines poured in.
The Greeks loved olives and so these were imported
and the Egyptians started to grow them.
I'll definitely have some of these delicious.
Oh we've got to get some black pepper.
This is one of the really really popular things
certainly in Ptolemaic times because markets
had opened and certainly as far east as India.
And the Greeks went crazy for this stuff.
It's certainly lively shopping in Egypt,
never a dull moment.
With Alexandria now at the heart of the ancient world
the rest of Egypt benefited too.
For determined to honor their adopted country's
long history Ptolemy undertook a massive temple rebuilding
and restoration program.
Indeed, modern visitors can often fail to realize
that many of the places they visit were either built
or restored by Ptolemy.
Esna, Edfu, Dendera, Kom Ombo, all of these
are Ptolemy buildings that tourists and scholars
admire so much and yet. They really don't give
sufficient credit to the people who's vision created them.
The most impressive of all such temples
lies the farthest from Alexandria.
Deep into upper Egypt close to Aswan
is the stunning temple of Philae.
Which in Egyptian meant the end
since it was located at the very southern edge of Egypt.
Much of the temple was built by Ptolemy the second
and his co-ruler and sister Hatshepsut.
There was a law passed by her husband Ptolemy
to say a statue or Hatshepsut
had to be erected in every single temple in Egypt.
She had to become its resident goddess.
Asenerae was a powerful female pharaoh
associated with the goddess Isis.
A role the famous Cleopatra would adopt
two centuries later.
And under Ptolemy, Philae became a major center
of the Isis cult
and here in the heart of Philae temple.
Arenerae's golden statue would have stood
side by sis with that of Isis.
So the walls are full of images of Isis and her fellow gods.
According to myth, Isis was responsible
for the vital Nile flood.
Swelling the river as she wept tears of sorrow
for her murdered husband Osiris.
Who she then resurrected
and with its spectacular location.
Philae still retains its hugely spiritual atmosphere.
It gives that sense of continuity,
you really feel when you're up here.
You feel like you're at the center of the world.
I suppose for the ancient Egyptians you were.
The center of their religious world
and at this point which was the heart of ancient Egyptian
religion way to the Christian era, way to the 6th century AD
kind of messes with your heard.
It's a very very holy place this.
But while Philae was becoming an increasingly important
center of Egyptian religion.
Its new capital Alexandria
had become the leading center of knowledge.
For Ptolemy created some of the first scholarships
attracting academics from across the world
to study a wide range of subjects.
Biology, theology, astronomy, geometry,
anatomy, philosophy, and of course my own personal favorite.
History.
And at the center of this intellectual hot house
was the famous royal library.
Up to half a million works
were once housed within
to compete with the famous school of Plato and Aristotle
in Athens and today that legacy lives on.
With Alexandria striking new library.
Ptolemy really did appreciate that knowledge was power
and they wanted that power so they brought together
in this once single place some of the greatest works
in human history. The plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles,
and Euripides. The works of Aristotle the philosopher.
The old testament scriptures
and all the accumulated knowledge from the temples
of ancient Egypt. All brought into this one single building.
The great library also contained the works of Herodotus.
A Greek historian who traveled the length of Egypt
over a century before Ptolemy had come to power.
His accounts sum up the Greek fascination
with Egyptian society.
Not only is the climate different
from that of the rest of the world
and the river unlike any other river.
But the people also in most of their manners and customs
exactly reverse the common practice of mankind.
For the women attend the markets and trade
while the men sit at home and do the weaving.
Indeed, the level of equality of Egypt's women
shocked Herodotus. Something he vividly records
when he witnessed a group of men and women
traveling together by boat to the delta city of Bubastis.
Some of the women make a noise with clappers.
Others play the oboe while the rest of the women and men
sing and clap their hands.
Some of the women shout mockery
to the women of that town they are passing.
Whilst other dance and others stand up
and expose their private parts.
In temples the length of Egypt,
Ptolemy ensured they were portrayed as Egyptian pharaohs
making them almost indistinguishable
from their native Egyptian predecessors.
Yet in Alexandria the blend of Greek and Egyptian
could sometimes create a hybrid
of rather strange results.
Hi Loreen.
- Hi how are you?
- Nami Sammi is a local historian
who spent years studying this remarkable tomb complex.
Built just after the Ptolemaic period.
- And here we come to the unique burial,
main burial channel.
(laughing)
- That is fabulous.
Guarded by Greek Doric columns the entrance is covered
in images of Egyptian gods. Who would ensure safe passage
into the afterlife.
It's like a tomb but it's also like a temple.
- A temple it's also a temple
but a typical Egyptian style.
- It's really.
- With Horus protecting the...
You know why cobras
choosing to be presented in the tombs.
Because and the cobra has no eyelashes.
It keeps your eyes open 24 hours which means
awake to protect the tomb for 24 hours a day and night.
- I love these snakes.
That's a very Greek looking snake
but it's wearing a very little ancient Egyptian crown.
- Exactly.
- They literally are throwing everything
they've got at this tomb. I mean Medusa, Horus, Sun Disk.
- To guarantee safety.
- This is the best guarded door I've seen in Egypt.
It's got everything here and these statues.
They represent the inhabitants of the tomb.
A single wealthy family. These two exhibit an odd mix
of the Greek and Egyptian.
I think the bodies are ancient Egyptian.
The stance is ancient Egyptian, the man's kilt is Egyptian.
From the neck down they're Egyptian
but from the neck up they're European.
It's clear the two amomas had done everything
they could to ensure safe passage
into the Egyptian afterlife. Oh look.
Even if they didn't quite understand how it all worked.
All the features are there,
you've got with presenting the oils
and Anubis doing the same. Mummifying the dead.
You've even got jars underneath.
- Kind of big jars and feather or might.
The goddess of justice without her approval
you will never cross to the other side.
He didn't forget to add a Greek touch in the lower part.
Two depictions of the Dionysus.
- Dionysus was the Greek god of wine and fertility.
Clearly these two occupants intended to continue
the lives they lived in Alexandria into the beyond.
- I want to, all what I enjoy in life
to be with me in other side.
- Especially the wine.
A great place to spend eternity.
Despite its rather cartoon like quality,
the apparent opulence of this tomb
demonstrates the desire of the Alexandrian elite
to integrate into Egyptian culture.
Yet in may ways,
it was little more than a veneer
hiding the real force that would ultimately destroy Egypt.
For where the external invaders
had largely tried and failed.
Egypt's real nemesis would be the Ptolemy's famous love
of luxury and excess.
Much of this luxury was just a facade
for the royals of Alexandria notorious
for their love of display. Were like actors on a stage.
As one ancient commentator observed,
everything in Egypt is simply play acting
and painted scenery.
A comment which cuts to the heart of this melodramatic
monarchy for whom image was everything.
Because while the ruling elite were living it up
in Alexandria, other parts of Egypt were far from content.
By the end of the third century BC.
Egypt was once more ridden with civil war.
Upper Egypt began to rebel and it fell to Ptolemy
the fifth to try and fight the fires of anarchy.
So not only did he portray himself as an Egyptian,
he went even further in his support
for Egypt's ancient beliefs.
In doing so he left the world
one of its most famous ancient artifacts.
The Rosetta Stone.
It's best known as the means
by which the French scholar Champollion
was first able to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs
in 1822 and we can tell that the inscription on the stone
was of huge importance. Because it was written out in
three types of script. Greek, Demotic, and Hieroglyphic.
In a way, you could almost describe it
as a kind of news bulletin.
It's the priests of Memphis issuing this decree
to let as many people know exactly
what the religious and the political policy
was of crown and clergy.
And it particularly focuses on Ptolemy the fifth's
generous patronage.
The priests are appraising him
because he's the one that gives wealth
to the temple and gives due honor
and respect to the sacred animals
which were such an integral part of Egyptian religion.
The priests really are grateful to their Ptolemaic
pharaoh who they see as wanting
to sort of tap to the ancient Egyptian culture
and ancient Egyptian religion much like Alexander had.
Much like the Saites had and the Kushites had.
They knew that to attain true power,
true control in Egypt you had to do things the Egyptian way.
Yet Ptolemy the fifth's philanthropy came at a price.
Keeping the peace in Egypt proved cripplingly expensive.
So the second half of the Ptolemaic dynasty
was ridden with debt, corruption, and vicious civil war.
Soon the expanding Roman empire
bore down on a divided Egypt.
Only the famous Cleopatra stood in their way.
In the mold of great uncle Alexander she believed herself
divine and managed to hold the Romans at bay
for over 20 years.
But not even the great Cleopatra could prevent
the inevitable.
And so it was,
that in August 30 BC Cleopatra's famous suicide
brought an end to ancient Egypt as we know it.
This epic culture which had lasted for 3000 years
came to an end in a matter of days
when on the 31st of August Egypt
was formally annexed by Rome.
This was Egypt's point of no return.
A slow painful decline of Egyptian beliefs
and culture until the arrival of Christianity
with its numerous temples abandoned.
Built over, or simply destroyed.
Egypt's glories began to fade from memory.
But Egypt's great story can now be traced back 20,000 years
to the very origins of its magical culture
which it evolved from its unique environment.
Creating a series of sophisticated beliefs
able to unite a country to build great monuments.
It had survived chaos and famine
only to rise again in a glorious center of rebirth
and resurrection.
Even waves of foreign invasions were ultimately assimilated
by Egypt's powerful traditions
and despite being eventually absorbed into the Roman empire.
The ancient culture had continued until the arrival
of Christianity. It has the Egyptians had always believed,
there would be a life after death.
Cleopatra's needle on London's embankment
had lain forgotten in Egypt until the 19th century.
But as pioneering Egyptologyists began
a 200 year process of rediscovery.
Ancient Egypt was reborn and this time it went global.
And what a privilege for us today
to be able to see such wonderful things
and capture just a glimpse of this fascinating
ancient culture.
The culture of a people that won with their environment
and who captured through their timeless monuments
their own unique view of the world.
In fact the story of Egypt is far from over
for its rediscovery means that it is only just beginning
and it's the things that made the Egyptians so very special.
Eventuate that they're now known right across the world
and they've achieved their ultimate goal. To live forever.