Original subtitles

lf you look at a satellite photo of Northeast Africa

and see the million square kilometres of Egypt.

you see that the green ribbon of the valley and the Delta

are only there because of the river.

lt's obvious that in this desert. the easternmost Sahara.

there would be nothing without water.

The Nile is therefore life itself to Egypt.

The Egyptians recorded that very well

because when you see purification scenes

where Pharaoh is purified by gods on each side

who pour streaming water across the king's body

in the form of life-signs falling one after the other...

Water is life.

As the Nile was Egypt's waterway

and as this mighty mass of water turned into a sea during the flood.

the importance of the Nile was felt everywhere.

lt took on a huge religious role.

The gods travelled on barges.

During the day the sun moved on a barge.

then moved to an underground island on a night barge.

The Nile generated an incredible number of images.

including the cosmogonies. the theories of Creation.

Every year. before their very eyes.

they had this vast stretch of water covering everything.

which inspired the idea of the primordial ocean.

The image of the pyramid as the acme of what was...

perhaps the golden age of Egyptian civilisation.

at least on its Pharaonic side...

Because by then. Pharaoh had become a god.

He had a divine essence.

Of course we long ago discarded the image

of an enslaved. whip-driven people that we see in the movies.

Some show very fine wheels

when the wheel only appeared centuries later.

The king was sacred. Touching him. even inadvertently.

was punishable by death.

The cult of Pharaoh was probably more intense then

than any time in the 3000 years of the Egyptian civilisation.

lt could have been a surgical intervention

by the doctors of the time.

They could have tried to intervene

to relieve the pressure inside the skull

or something like that. to treat the condition.

We initially expected to find a group just of men.

who would be doing the work.

But the first skeleton discovered was a woman's.

That made us change our approach completely

and start looking at the ratio of women to men

and at whether they were a settled community

or had only come for the work.

When we discovered their skeletons

we found skeletons for women. men and children.

We did not find only men.

With slaves. they'd have brought a few males

to do the work and go back home.

But these men settled in the area.

They were living a settled life with their women and children.

They were surely not slaves.

ln ancient Egypt we find the paradox

that what appears to be an obsession with death

is in fact the desire to live on in the afterlife.

Likewise. nothing speaks more strongly of daily life

than the decoration and furnishing of the tombs.

The point of it was not storytelling

but to give the people buried in the tombs

everything that could recreate.

through the creative power of images and writing.

the life they'd led. which they wanted to continue in the afterlife.

The obsession with life.

leading to the obsession with eternity.

this notion of eternity that seems to be

the most Egyptian component of all this imaginary life.

is truly obsessional.

When you look at even the smallest figurine

showing a deceased couple. for instance.

one their son has dedicated with a tiny inscription.

perhaps with only three signs.

it will say "From their son. that their name may live."

What matters is to continue living in the afterworld.

As a corollary. there's also the harpist's song

that entices you to enjoy life

because no one's ever come back

to tell us that life goes on in the afterlife.

ln other words. it says

"Enjoy life. spend a wonderful day

"with the woman you love sitting by your side

" until the day you have to go aboard..."

There's this wonderful image of going on a barge

to be taken to the other side.

lt's a great metaphor for death.

Until that day comes. life has to be enjoyed.

They'll do everything they can.

they'll represent the life they led.

make all the necessary offerings...

in the simplest form. 1 000 beer jugs. 1 000 loaves.

1 000 pieces of fabric. etc... 1 000 head of cattle.

That's fine. everything will be put in the tomb

but "Make the most of it. because no one's ever come back."

l've often felt that today's Egypt is rather cut off from its past.

that the past is just another great resource.

that the monuments obviously attract people.

making tourism one of Egypt's main resources.

This was something that Champollion. a pioneer. understood

because when he left Egypt at the end of his journey in 1 829.

he left Mohamed Ali a note on the protection of monuments.

He listed the monuments to be protected.

Before the word even existed.

he understood what tourism would be

with its economic dimension. the spending of money.

He said "lt will attract educated people

"who will benefit the country with the money they'll spend."

This mass of stones is probably the most obvious symbol.

the most obvious image that we have

when we talk about ancient Egypt

with obelisks. sphinxes and such-like words

that fill us with fantasies and dreams.

Subtitles SBS Australia 2007