Ancient Egypt (Rev, 1977)

[Music] the Sands of the Sahara cover much of what remains of one of the great civilizations of the ancient world Egypt here as they have for thousands of years stand the Sphinx and pyramids the Sphinx is carved out of a single Hill of sandstone and the nearby pyramids are among the most massive structures ever built exactly how these great burial monuments were built we just don't know for sure the pyramids stand as great puzzles to historians and archaeologists who are slowly unraveling their secrets piecing together the story of a great civilization from its [Music] ruins the story of Egypt is a story of the ancient past of North Africa and the Nile River farming began to develop in the Middle East around 8,000 BC and then spread after 3,000 years into the Nile River Valley and the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers there the Mesopotamian city states would evolve but in the Nile Valley a unified Kingdom of Egypt would come into being it's believed that the people who settled Egypt had been forced by the advancing deserts of North Africa into the valley of the Nile the people found the river a plentiful source of water for their herds they discovered that they could irrigate the land and grow crops they were among the first of the ancient peoples to become food producers instead of food gatherers they rapidly developed the science of Agriculture the more ambitious projects the digging of irrigation ditches and canals demanded large scale planning and the cooperation ation of many people this helped build up a sense of community among the [Music] Egyptians the Egyptians invented new tools and developed many basic skills like brick [Music] making over the centuries this ancient process has not changed [Music] baked in the sun until hard the bricks were used as they still are today to build houses mastabas the structures that covered tombs were at first built of bricks but later ones were made of stones like the pyramids those great tombs Were Meant to house the bodies of the dead pharaohs for eternity beside this step pyramid lie many tombs of Nobles in beside these and other tombs relics have been found Clues to the way Egyptians lived and worked ancient Hammers and chisels show us how they carved words and pictures into stone molds for making bricks show that ancient brick makers worked much like brick makers still do in Egypt models of ancient Egyptian homes found in the tombs are similar to the mud brick homes in many villages today hoes like this Relic were used by ancient Farmers to cultivate the land from the handheld hoe the Egyptians developed the plow that could be pulled by animals a great step forward in the progress of civilization the Egyptians celebrated the plow in Tomb paintings [Music] with the plow they could cultivate more land and grow the large amount of food that was needed to support a great population the yearly Nile floods made the soil in the valley Rich to predict the floods the Egyptians developed a device we call a nyom as the River Rose it passed marks on the wall that indicated when the floods could be expected the Overflow of the river also marked the first of ancient Egypt's three seasons the flooding the second season was named the coming forth for the coming of the crops the third season was called The Harvest the Egyptians developed a calendar based on these three seasons each 4 months long they made up the Egyptian year and were Illustrated frequently in their art the the Egyptians also developed a system of writing called hieroglyphics that was originally designed to be carved on Stone and was also used later for recording important religious works such as the Book of the Dead a simplified form of hieroglyphics was written on paper another ancient Egyptian invention the paper came from the Papyrus plant that still flourishes along the banks of the Nile the ancient Egyptians gathered the Woody stems split them and pounded them together when dried the pulp formed a matted flexible material that could be written [Music] on the dramatic developments of writing and paper occurred during a period of five centuries that marked the start of recorded history and is called the pyramid age even though it was a time of many significant achievements a dynasty of all powerful pharaohs ruled the country they claimed their Authority directly from the gods Egyptians had many gods Osiris was the god of the Dead the Egyptians believed that nothing really died at all if it was given proper care the bodies of the Dead were carefully wrapped for long preservation as mummies ornate beautifully decorated mummy cases were prepared for the Nobles the gold mummy case of King tutank amen is one of the great archaeological discoveries of ancient Egypt later in Egyptian history scenes from The Sacred Book of the Dead were depicted in many tombs to guide the souls through an elaborate ritual of death figurines of servants scribes and Priests were buried with the Dead the figurines show that there were many skilled groups of Egyptian workers organized by their crafts and trades to meet the needs of the Pharaohs and Nobles powerful in death as they were in life personal articles have been found in the tombs Combs and mirrors and exquisite jewelry that had been worn by The Nobles and Pharaohs of the pyramid age partly because of the high cost in labor and resources pyramid building stopped the pyramid age came to an end achievements in Fresco art marked the Second Great period that came between two intermediate ones the Middle Kingdom during the seven centuries of these three periods the Pharaohs built great cities and by 1500 BC Egyptian trade had expanded to all the peoples of the ancient [Music] world the wealth and armies of the Pharaohs created a vast Empire called the New Kingdom with thieves its capital here people of many races and nationalities walked along the Avenue of sphinxes to trade and pay homage to the gods of the Egyptians in their Splendid temples Egyptians developed great columns like these at the Temple of Ammon to support massive roofs the Egyptians pioneering use of columns influenced the later Greek and Roman architecture [Music] some pharaohs built temples to themselves leaving etched into the walls records of their accomplishments in the 6th Century BC the Egyptian Empire was destroyed by the Assyrians from the north the Egyptians made great contributions to the advancement of civilization in right in mathematics architecture statecraft and religious thought slowly archaeologists and historians are uncovering more and more information about this great civilization of the ancient past [Music]