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It is 2,480 years B.C.
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and there is nothing to be
seen in this part of the
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Sahara desert, nothing
but the shifting sand,
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00:00:22,231 --> 00:00:26,070
but that is all about to change.
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When thousands of men are shipped here,
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from all the provinces of ancient Egypt,
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when they quarry millions of tons of stone,
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and drag it to this desert plateau,
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to construct a tomb for Khufu, their king.
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00:01:08,769 --> 00:01:13,769
Built, as they believe,
according to a secret code,
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00:01:14,368 --> 00:01:18,204
with the power to perform a miracle.
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00:01:31,502 --> 00:01:35,962
For more than 4,000 years,
humans have considered this
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00:01:35,963 --> 00:01:38,715
the oldest, and only one of
the seven ancient wonders
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to survive intact, as one of the greatest
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mysteries on Earth.
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00:01:44,439 --> 00:01:47,274
Now we can unravel that mystery
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in a way never attempted before.
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By combining the latest
historical research with the most
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up-to-date visual technology,
we can travel back in time,
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and see the Great Pyramid
of Giza through the eyes
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00:02:12,968 --> 00:02:15,679
of the men who built it,
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00:02:17,338 --> 00:02:20,221
and one man in particular.
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He's not a real historical
figure, but the events
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00:02:32,756 --> 00:02:35,992
in his life are based on real evidence.
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From the journey he travels,
and the clothes that he wears,
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00:02:39,995 --> 00:02:43,498
to the enormity of the
work that he's given.
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His name is Nakht.
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This is his story, and the
story of the monument
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00:02:52,716 --> 00:02:55,535
to which he devoted his life.
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It's more than 40 years
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since the king's men came for us.
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00:03:20,494 --> 00:03:24,748
They brought me here to labor
on a task that mystified me.
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My life's work has been an
attempt to understand it,
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00:03:30,036 --> 00:03:34,539
and now my life's work is complete.
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00:03:35,959 --> 00:03:39,511
They came for me one
evening, late in summer
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in the village where I was born,
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the only world I had ever known.
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In the name of the King.
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In the name of the King.
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They'd always used those words
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00:03:59,008 --> 00:04:03,150
when they'd come for my father,
and my grandfather before.
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00:04:07,279 --> 00:04:10,578
Now they had come for my brother Deba
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and for me.
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00:04:27,109 --> 00:04:30,187
I remember my sister cried when we left.
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00:04:31,148 --> 00:04:32,566
My mother didn't.
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00:04:33,941 --> 00:04:38,863
"You're the oldest," she
said, "Take care of Deba."
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They'd have arrived ever summer
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00:04:42,867 --> 00:04:47,079
in the early years of Khufu's
reign, royal officials
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00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,991
dispatched the length
and breadth of the Nile
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00:04:49,992 --> 00:04:54,629
selecting able bodied men for
the service of the King.
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00:04:57,048 --> 00:04:59,465
It was hard to leave.
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00:04:59,466 --> 00:05:03,930
We worried how the family would
cope until we came back.
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00:05:03,931 --> 00:05:07,888
I wonder what I'd have felt
if I'd known the truth,
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00:05:07,889 --> 00:05:11,231
that I was never coming back.
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As we sat there, I had this
sudden memory of stories
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00:05:29,321 --> 00:05:31,582
grandfather had told me
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about great stone steps,
he'd built into the sky.
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00:05:36,629 --> 00:05:39,749
I tried to imagine those steps.
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I couldn't.
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00:05:42,302 --> 00:05:45,804
The official, a man called
Kaem-ah, went to the
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00:05:45,805 --> 00:05:48,808
neighboring village for the others.
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Everyone chatted about where we going
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and what we'd have to do,
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00:05:55,272 --> 00:05:58,691
but no one really new, and Kaem-ah
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said nothing to explain.
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00:06:02,988 --> 00:06:06,116
Just that we owed everything to the King,
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00:06:06,117 --> 00:06:10,329
and that now we would have
the chance to repay him.
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00:06:19,747 --> 00:06:22,299
Young conscripts like Nakht and Deba,
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00:06:22,300 --> 00:06:23,895
had no reason to approach the start
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00:06:23,896 --> 00:06:27,137
of their journey with dread.
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00:06:27,138 --> 00:06:30,098
Contrary to popular myth,
not one of the people
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00:06:30,099 --> 00:06:33,269
who built the Great Pyramid was a slave.
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00:06:33,270 --> 00:06:36,313
Egypt had no need of slaves,
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00:06:36,314 --> 00:06:39,024
and all because of the Nile.
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00:06:43,947 --> 00:06:47,450
We joined in the familiar prayer.
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00:06:47,451 --> 00:06:52,329
Hail to you oh Nile sprung from the ground,
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00:06:52,330 --> 00:06:57,330
who produces the barley and
makes the wheat to grow.
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00:06:57,409 --> 00:07:02,005
You're eyes and the lands exalt,
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00:07:02,006 --> 00:07:04,675
and then everyone there is joy.
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00:07:16,604 --> 00:07:19,313
The river's annual flood, covering the land
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in fertile silt, made Egypt's
farmlands uniquely rich.
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One of the first countries in
history, where the work force
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00:07:27,865 --> 00:07:30,658
didn't have to spend all
its time growing food,
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but could labor on other things instead,
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00:07:33,829 --> 00:07:36,699
such as building pyramids.
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00:07:39,076 --> 00:07:42,629
Days passed and the
boat became like home,
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00:07:42,964 --> 00:07:46,383
but it was strange to have no work to do.
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00:07:46,384 --> 00:07:50,637
Landscapes didn't look like
it did near our village.
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00:07:52,807 --> 00:07:57,807
Cliffs, fields, and there
was always the river,
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00:07:58,053 --> 00:08:00,438
a ruled line of blue.
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00:08:00,439 --> 00:08:04,985
You could almost believe we
had come no distance at all
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00:08:04,986 --> 00:08:08,313
until one afternoon.
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00:08:14,036 --> 00:08:16,873
Twas the hottest part of the day,
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00:08:18,124 --> 00:08:20,375
set back in the desert high on the cliff,
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00:08:20,376 --> 00:08:24,128
was a great triangle of
stone-like mountain,
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00:08:24,129 --> 00:08:27,133
but a mountain made by men.
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00:08:27,967 --> 00:08:31,662
Of course I immediately
thought of my grandfather.
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00:08:31,663 --> 00:08:36,663
So, he had built his great stone steps.
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00:08:37,018 --> 00:08:41,105
I thought it's the same for they by me.
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That's what we're being sent to do.
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00:08:51,323 --> 00:08:54,570
That evening we moored nearby.
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I couldn't sleep.
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The stone steps Nakht had
seen, stand at Saqqara.
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00:09:11,961 --> 00:09:15,263
This is the oldest intact
stone monument in the world,
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00:09:15,264 --> 00:09:19,517
and the first key to unlocking
the mystery of the pyramids.
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00:09:19,518 --> 00:09:23,680
60 years before King Khufu, the
Egyptians first constructed
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00:09:23,681 --> 00:09:27,024
this now familiar shape, by
laying six great rectangles
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00:09:27,025 --> 00:09:30,321
of stone, one on top of the other.
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00:09:31,189 --> 00:09:33,824
This had enabled them to
create a monument that they
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believed possessed immense secret power.
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00:09:45,419 --> 00:09:49,005
At the beginning of time,
according to Egyptian myth,
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there was nothing but watery chaos.
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From that chaos had emerged
the first mound of dry land
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in the shape of a pyramid.
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00:10:06,941 --> 00:10:11,068
It was a shape that symbolized
life, but some impulse
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had made the Egyptians choose
that shape for a tomb,
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the tomb of their King.
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00:10:21,873 --> 00:10:26,313
60 years later, in 2,480 B.C.,
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the same impulse had brought
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00:10:27,802 --> 00:10:30,461
the new King, Khufu, out to the desert
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with a carefully chosen retinue.
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00:10:39,015 --> 00:10:41,590
He was here to witness the
first and most important
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00:10:41,591 --> 00:10:45,020
ceremony of his entire reign.
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00:10:49,108 --> 00:10:52,196
Contrary to some recent
theories, the pyramids weren't
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00:10:52,197 --> 00:10:55,530
built by people from outer
space, but they were built
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00:10:55,531 --> 00:10:58,827
by people obsessed with outer space.
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00:11:04,697 --> 00:11:08,492
The Egyptians measured
everything by the stars,
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00:11:08,493 --> 00:11:11,729
their calendar, the Nile's
flood, and they did so
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00:11:11,730 --> 00:11:15,258
by noticing that the stars all moved.
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00:11:15,259 --> 00:11:18,637
Everything in the night sky was in motion,
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00:11:18,638 --> 00:11:23,142
everything but for one dark, still point.
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00:11:26,302 --> 00:11:30,565
Around that dark, still point,
two especially bright stars
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00:11:30,566 --> 00:11:33,387
turned in a constant circle.
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00:11:33,388 --> 00:11:36,769
When one star was directly
above the other, a plumb line
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00:11:36,770 --> 00:11:38,907
could be held up against them.
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00:11:38,908 --> 00:11:42,317
It now passed through the dark, still point
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00:11:42,318 --> 00:11:44,947
with perfect accuracy.
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00:11:49,710 --> 00:11:52,132
The single most important
act in the building
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00:11:52,133 --> 00:11:54,923
of the Great Pyramid had taken place
140
00:11:54,924 --> 00:11:58,801
before a stone of it was laid, but of this,
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Nakht and his fellow builders, new nothing.
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00:12:14,061 --> 00:12:15,985
Seeing the stone steps had made me
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00:12:15,986 --> 00:12:18,988
feel if we were nearing our destination,
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00:12:18,989 --> 00:12:21,742
and suddenly the river was busy.
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00:12:22,568 --> 00:12:26,749
There were boats loaded with
everything you can imagine,
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00:12:26,750 --> 00:12:31,750
cattle and goats, pots, broad
juice, timber stone, so much.
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00:12:33,370 --> 00:12:37,300
More than any person could
use in a life time.
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00:12:41,095 --> 00:12:43,151
After 11 days, drifting north
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00:12:43,152 --> 00:12:45,739
on the Nile current, Nakht would have been
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a matter of hours from
his journey's end, Giza.
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00:12:57,945 --> 00:13:01,531
Today, a busy suburb, 10
miles to the south of Cairo,
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00:13:01,532 --> 00:13:03,742
it was then a loose,
rapidly growing settlement
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on the river's west bank.
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There would have been
boat loads of conscripts
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00:13:07,788 --> 00:13:10,124
arriving there every day.
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00:13:43,955 --> 00:13:47,911
In a Giza palace, Khufu's architects
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00:13:47,912 --> 00:13:51,998
had long been planning the perfect pyramid,
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00:13:51,999 --> 00:13:55,251
one that would dwarf all
pyramids that had gone before,
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00:13:55,252 --> 00:13:58,671
or were to come after it,
one that would remain
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the tallest structure on
Earth, until the Eiffel Tower
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00:14:02,407 --> 00:14:04,928
was built in 1889.
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00:14:07,764 --> 00:14:11,185
But first, they had to go back to basics.
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00:14:12,102 --> 00:14:15,807
The plan was to build
upward from a level base
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00:14:16,148 --> 00:14:19,470
gradually laying more than
200 horizontal courses
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of limestone blocks on top of one another,
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00:14:23,030 --> 00:14:27,169
each course a little smaller than the last.
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00:14:27,170 --> 00:14:29,286
The theory was simple.
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00:14:29,703 --> 00:14:34,408
Putting it into practice must
have seemed almost impossible.
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00:14:38,128 --> 00:14:42,631
Preparations had begun in the
first year of Khufu's reign.
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00:14:42,632 --> 00:14:45,799
On the Giza plateau, high
above, the site had been
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leveled and swept.
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00:14:48,502 --> 00:14:52,460
Then specialist masons had
laid out the pyramid base,
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the perfect square of
finished limestone blocks.
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00:14:59,107 --> 00:15:03,361
Within that square was a
natural limestone outcrop
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which other masons had already
cut into regular steps
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to form the pyramid core.
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00:15:11,321 --> 00:15:15,774
The greatest of all building
projects was ready to begin.
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All that was needed, were the builders.
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00:15:23,423 --> 00:15:28,044
Late that morning, we arrived at Giza.
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00:15:54,164 --> 00:15:56,873
I didn't understand what I was seeing.
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00:15:56,874 --> 00:15:59,417
How could I?
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We left the river behind
us and started to climb
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to the desert plateau above.
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I was, I was uneasy.
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00:16:21,274 --> 00:16:24,776
The desert was where the
sun died each night.
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00:16:24,777 --> 00:16:29,406
We all knew the stories of
the ghosts that haunted it.
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00:16:38,866 --> 00:16:41,667
We'd been told there was a
place for us up on the plateau
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near the end of a row of.
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00:17:03,274 --> 00:17:06,735
No one took any notice of us.
190
00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:16,240
It turned out we had to share
a reed mat on the ground.
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00:17:21,499 --> 00:17:23,251
We didn't know what we were supposed to do,
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00:17:23,252 --> 00:17:25,713
or what would happen next,
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00:17:33,512 --> 00:17:38,512
but my real journey was just beginning.
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00:17:46,067 --> 00:17:50,061
In the morning, we were
roused just after sunrise.
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00:17:51,021 --> 00:17:54,984
It was obvious we were going
to have to earn our keep.
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00:18:07,246 --> 00:18:11,341
I thought that Giza could
hold no more surprises.
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00:18:11,968 --> 00:18:13,635
I was wrong.
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00:18:42,539 --> 00:18:46,876
The thing I remembered most
clearly, was the noise.
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00:18:48,711 --> 00:18:52,590
We were put to work at
once, carrying water,
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00:18:52,591 --> 00:18:55,177
which was back breaking.
201
00:19:04,602 --> 00:19:08,730
A quarry seems like
(mumbles), but before long
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00:19:08,731 --> 00:19:12,236
I began to make it count.
203
00:19:12,352 --> 00:19:16,156
It's very highly controlled,
the King's work.
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00:19:16,157 --> 00:19:19,367
Everyone has a place, and a purpose.
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00:19:27,209 --> 00:19:29,668
Five million tons of stone would be needed
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00:19:29,669 --> 00:19:31,129
for the Great Pyramid.
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00:19:31,130 --> 00:19:35,508
The vast majority quarried on site at Giza.
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00:19:37,594 --> 00:19:40,713
It's currently estimated
that it took around 1500 men
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00:19:40,714 --> 00:19:42,589
to quarry it.
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00:19:42,590 --> 00:19:45,726
There's was a skilled job,
not one for royal conscripts
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00:19:45,727 --> 00:19:48,020
like Nakht and Deba.
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00:19:48,021 --> 00:19:51,525
Each quarry man was issued
with a proper chisel.
213
00:20:00,283 --> 00:20:03,953
Another specialist group in
the quarry, was the scribes.
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00:20:03,954 --> 00:20:06,872
To ensure that it'd reach
it's correct destination,
215
00:20:06,873 --> 00:20:08,868
every block was marked
with a different symbol,
216
00:20:08,869 --> 00:20:12,815
ready to be transported
to the pyramid itself.
217
00:20:13,122 --> 00:20:16,048
The question, when an average block weighed
218
00:20:16,049 --> 00:20:19,302
two and a half tons, was how.
219
00:20:26,927 --> 00:20:28,603
Within a few days, we went from
220
00:20:28,604 --> 00:20:31,522
bringing water to the
sharpeners to serving a gang
221
00:20:31,523 --> 00:20:35,110
who called themselves Khufu's Drunkards.
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00:20:35,736 --> 00:20:39,322
They were a tough lot, and
their job was to haul stones
223
00:20:39,323 --> 00:20:43,027
from the quarry face to the pyramid itself.
224
00:20:46,371 --> 00:20:51,250
Our foreman had singled
us out as quick learners.
225
00:20:51,251 --> 00:20:54,795
Grandfather had always said,
"If you want to get on,
226
00:20:54,796 --> 00:20:57,298
keep in with the boss."
227
00:21:00,260 --> 00:21:03,971
We soon worked out, there was
a real knack to this work.
228
00:21:03,972 --> 00:21:07,559
Without water the sledge would stick fast.
229
00:21:08,185 --> 00:21:11,688
Add just enough, and it slid easily.
230
00:21:11,689 --> 00:21:15,899
It's the tufra, the clay you get at Giza.
231
00:21:15,900 --> 00:21:19,529
Once it's wet, everything will slide on it.
232
00:21:29,289 --> 00:21:32,033
The best part of a working day was evening
233
00:21:32,034 --> 00:21:35,330
when we washed and ate.
234
00:21:35,331 --> 00:21:39,675
We'd work nine days and rest on the 10th.
235
00:21:44,304 --> 00:21:48,758
I never felt lonely because of Deba.
236
00:21:53,730 --> 00:21:56,857
At night we'd hear the
lions out in the desert
237
00:21:56,858 --> 00:22:00,403
and we would talk of our religions.
238
00:22:00,945 --> 00:22:03,989
We may have said we were
home sick, but in truth
239
00:22:03,990 --> 00:22:07,693
we had become each others family.
240
00:22:08,739 --> 00:22:11,539
We had all grown used to
the rhythm of our backs
241
00:22:11,540 --> 00:22:13,375
and our work.
242
00:22:14,865 --> 00:22:19,865
Rhythms that never changed,
until one morning.
243
00:22:23,427 --> 00:22:26,804
We'd been at Giza a
little less than a year.
244
00:22:26,805 --> 00:22:30,475
Twas nearly noon and we had
broken for something to eat
245
00:22:30,476 --> 00:22:33,270
when Yunu came to us.
246
00:22:33,721 --> 00:22:36,480
We were to report for a new job
247
00:22:36,481 --> 00:22:40,318
away from our designated
corner of the quarry.
248
00:22:43,313 --> 00:22:45,689
The quarry at Giza was about half a mile
249
00:22:45,690 --> 00:22:48,910
to the south of the actual pyramid site,
250
00:22:48,911 --> 00:22:52,162
and because of strict
demarcation, those working around
251
00:22:52,163 --> 00:22:53,863
the quarry face would not have set foot
252
00:22:53,864 --> 00:22:56,625
on the pyramid itself.
253
00:22:56,626 --> 00:23:00,838
The site could only be accessed
by means of two huge ramps,
254
00:23:00,839 --> 00:23:03,875
one running up directly from
the quarry to the pyramid,
255
00:23:03,876 --> 00:23:06,885
the other running from
the pyramid to the Nile.
256
00:23:06,886 --> 00:23:10,639
They met at the pyramid's southwest corner.
257
00:23:19,024 --> 00:23:20,899
I'll never forget climbing the ramp
258
00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:22,819
for the first time.
259
00:23:22,820 --> 00:23:25,538
I had never been so high in my life,
260
00:23:25,539 --> 00:23:27,172
and it was the first time we had seen
261
00:23:27,173 --> 00:23:29,742
the pyramid from close up.
262
00:23:29,743 --> 00:23:33,121
Just took your breath away.
263
00:23:36,041 --> 00:23:39,669
The pyramid already towered
above the desert floor.
264
00:23:41,212 --> 00:23:44,548
Without cranes or levers, the
only way the pyramid builders
265
00:23:44,549 --> 00:23:48,510
could of raised stone to
such a height was on ramps
266
00:23:48,511 --> 00:23:50,930
made of the desert Earth
and compacted rubble,
267
00:23:50,931 --> 00:23:54,185
and held together with gypsum mortar.
268
00:24:06,019 --> 00:24:09,698
Each and every working
day for around 16 years
269
00:24:09,699 --> 00:24:13,174
a thousand tons of stone were
quarried, cut and dragged
270
00:24:13,175 --> 00:24:18,040
up onto the service of this
immense construction project.
271
00:24:23,839 --> 00:24:26,299
And constructing the outer
part of the pyramid was not
272
00:24:26,300 --> 00:24:30,636
the whole task that
confronted Khufu's builders.
273
00:24:30,637 --> 00:24:34,883
From outside, the pyramid
looks like a solid structure,
274
00:24:34,884 --> 00:24:39,227
but as a tomb, it had to
contain a burial chamber.
275
00:24:39,228 --> 00:24:42,097
Uniquely, the Great Pyramid
was to accommodate
276
00:24:42,098 --> 00:24:44,942
not one, but three.
277
00:24:45,651 --> 00:24:47,653
One chamber was raised some 100 feet
278
00:24:47,654 --> 00:24:50,406
up in the actually masonry,
and directly beneath it
279
00:24:50,407 --> 00:24:54,785
was another dug into the
rock of the desert floor.
280
00:24:58,207 --> 00:25:03,207
By 2,474 B.C. the third and
most important chamber
281
00:25:03,420 --> 00:25:07,339
was under construction, and so
was a huge internal gallery
282
00:25:07,340 --> 00:25:09,842
by which it would be reached.
283
00:25:14,890 --> 00:25:18,260
The top of the pyramid in
progress was a plateau,
284
00:25:18,261 --> 00:25:22,847
roughly the size of 10 football
fields joined together.
285
00:25:26,192 --> 00:25:28,939
At its center was the internal gallery
286
00:25:28,940 --> 00:25:30,687
where teams of specialist were preparing
287
00:25:30,688 --> 00:25:34,325
for the construction of
the upper burial chamber.
288
00:25:45,837 --> 00:25:47,879
Yunu enrolled Deba and me
289
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:52,051
in a work gang hauling blocks
in a great central passageway
290
00:25:52,052 --> 00:25:56,723
for a chamber that was being
constructed at the very top.
291
00:25:57,214 --> 00:25:59,183
He explained that this chamber would be
292
00:25:59,184 --> 00:26:02,812
the final resting place of the King.
293
00:26:20,246 --> 00:26:24,825
The steep slope of the passageway
made the work exhausting.
294
00:26:25,085 --> 00:26:30,085
At the end of the day we longed
to return to our barracks,
295
00:26:31,316 --> 00:26:34,677
but Yunu had other ideas.
296
00:26:43,644 --> 00:26:45,386
Of course we knew of the compound
297
00:26:45,387 --> 00:26:49,358
where all the full-time workers
and the supervisors lived,
298
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,445
but we'd never been there,
299
00:26:55,524 --> 00:26:59,494
and who was there, but Kaem-ah.
300
00:26:59,495 --> 00:27:04,495
He was as always at the center of things.
301
00:27:11,422 --> 00:27:14,883
He told us to sit, and
we did as we were told.
302
00:27:14,884 --> 00:27:18,262
He tried to put us at all ease.
303
00:27:24,227 --> 00:27:29,227
"Live life to the full," he
said, "Live life to the full,"
304
00:27:30,138 --> 00:27:33,152
and then he drank a toast in our honor.
305
00:27:33,153 --> 00:27:36,030
We couldn't understand it.
306
00:27:44,081 --> 00:27:48,584
We were all a little drunk
by now, but gradually
307
00:27:48,585 --> 00:27:53,585
it dawned on me, Kaem-ah
had something in mind.
308
00:27:54,006 --> 00:27:58,629
Even Yunu, old stone face,
seemed pleased about it.
309
00:28:07,387 --> 00:28:10,647
She is a fertile field.
310
00:28:10,648 --> 00:28:14,194
A fertile field for her Lords,
311
00:28:16,779 --> 00:28:20,491
and she was Yunu's youngest daughter.
312
00:28:22,076 --> 00:28:25,120
Her name was Baratsa.
313
00:28:25,947 --> 00:28:29,875
It was Deba who'd been
chosen as her husband.
314
00:29:23,471 --> 00:29:26,382
Gerget Khufu, the settlement of Khufu,
315
00:29:26,383 --> 00:29:30,059
was the compound of the
King's permanent work force.
316
00:29:30,060 --> 00:29:33,315
These people were part of his court.
317
00:29:40,315 --> 00:29:44,500
They were an elite far fewer
in number than the conscripts.
318
00:29:44,501 --> 00:29:47,119
They had special skills, and
their children would've been
319
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,028
apprenticed here to masters
320
00:29:49,029 --> 00:29:52,291
to ensure those skills were passed on.
321
00:29:56,171 --> 00:29:59,507
Every aspect of their
lives was taken care of,
322
00:29:59,508 --> 00:30:02,336
from fabric weaving for their
clothes, to the preparation
323
00:30:02,337 --> 00:30:07,014
of wheat and barley for their
stables of beer and bread.
324
00:30:09,058 --> 00:30:11,559
A regular item on their diet was meat,
325
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,564
normally a luxury in the ancient world.
326
00:30:14,565 --> 00:30:16,398
Khufu had established
ranches all over Egypt
327
00:30:16,399 --> 00:30:19,943
to breed animals for his workforce.
328
00:30:19,944 --> 00:30:24,030
This was centralized
organization on a new scale.
329
00:30:24,031 --> 00:30:26,594
Khufu's workers were building a pyramid,
330
00:30:26,595 --> 00:30:30,245
but to do so, they were
also unifying their nation,
331
00:30:30,246 --> 00:30:35,246
consolidating a true state,
the first in history.
332
00:30:40,549 --> 00:30:42,790
Deba and I were as happy that morning
333
00:30:42,791 --> 00:30:46,087
as we had been since arriving at Giza.
334
00:30:46,088 --> 00:30:49,224
I just felt so proud.
335
00:30:50,308 --> 00:30:54,136
Me, Nakht, from a little village,
336
00:30:54,137 --> 00:30:57,940
one of the King's men now.
337
00:30:57,941 --> 00:31:00,484
No more work in the quarry.
338
00:31:00,485 --> 00:31:05,485
Work on the pyramid,
responsibilities, we belonged.
339
00:31:18,670 --> 00:31:21,453
Preeminent among Khufu's master craftsmen
340
00:31:21,454 --> 00:31:25,426
were the masons who worked
up on the pyramid itself.
341
00:31:29,222 --> 00:31:31,548
It was their responsibility
to finish the blocks
342
00:31:31,549 --> 00:31:33,384
that had been brought up from the quarry
343
00:31:33,385 --> 00:31:36,563
before they were set in
the pyramid's outer wall.
344
00:31:38,272 --> 00:31:41,057
All the extraordinary precision
of the Great Pyramid
345
00:31:41,058 --> 00:31:43,902
is down to the craftsmanship of its masons
346
00:31:43,903 --> 00:31:46,405
and was achieved with
the simplest of tools,
347
00:31:46,406 --> 00:31:49,032
the most important of
which was the set square,
348
00:31:49,033 --> 00:31:50,826
which enabled the all
important right angles
349
00:31:50,827 --> 00:31:53,704
to be laid out and checked.
350
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,459
Simple plumb bobs and
wooden A frames would also
351
00:31:59,460 --> 00:32:03,798
have been used to check that
each block was laid level.
352
00:32:11,381 --> 00:32:14,516
Once the stone was finished
to the mason's satisfaction,
353
00:32:14,517 --> 00:32:15,517
the setters could at last
354
00:32:15,518 --> 00:32:18,270
fit in in the pyramid's outer wall.
355
00:32:18,271 --> 00:32:20,146
They probably started this process
356
00:32:20,147 --> 00:32:23,975
at the corner of each pyramid
face and worked inwards.
357
00:32:26,737 --> 00:32:30,365
Hand finishing over two million
blocks was an immense task
358
00:32:30,366 --> 00:32:33,326
even by the standards of the Great Pyramid.
359
00:32:33,327 --> 00:32:35,830
How the masons did so in the allotted time,
360
00:32:35,831 --> 00:32:38,707
long remained a mystery.
361
00:32:39,658 --> 00:32:43,128
A clue, visible today on the
Great Pyramid's south side
362
00:32:43,129 --> 00:32:45,756
provides the answer.
363
00:32:47,009 --> 00:32:50,177
There is a gash about 30 feet
high, where a 19th century
364
00:32:50,178 --> 00:32:54,723
explorer tried to blast
his way in with dynamite.
365
00:32:56,851 --> 00:32:59,394
It's the only place where we
can see beyond the pyramid's
366
00:32:59,395 --> 00:33:04,275
outer membrane, and it reveals
that the core is much rougher
367
00:33:04,859 --> 00:33:07,528
with blocks of different
sizes jumbled together,
368
00:33:07,529 --> 00:33:09,487
and some pieces so small,
they're little more than
369
00:33:09,488 --> 00:33:11,907
builder's rubble.
370
00:33:12,784 --> 00:33:15,243
This was the means by which
the pyramid builders
371
00:33:15,244 --> 00:33:18,163
could keep up the pace,
372
00:33:18,789 --> 00:33:20,958
but working in the central gallery
373
00:33:20,959 --> 00:33:25,959
accuracy was required,
and so too was caution.
374
00:33:39,686 --> 00:33:42,647
Ahhh
375
00:34:17,432 --> 00:34:19,599
All these years I had been working
376
00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:24,600
on a tomb, but until now I
had never thought of death.
377
00:34:27,191 --> 00:34:32,070
When Deba died a vision came back to me.
378
00:34:32,947 --> 00:34:37,947
Once, when we were tiny, we had
seen a great glittering boat
379
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,613
sweep past our village.
380
00:34:47,170 --> 00:34:50,296
Our mother told us it
must have been the King,
381
00:34:50,297 --> 00:34:52,007
and that we should have bowed because
382
00:34:52,008 --> 00:34:55,468
we owed him everything.
383
00:34:55,469 --> 00:34:58,846
But now it seemed, everything
that mattered to me
384
00:34:58,847 --> 00:35:01,767
had been taken away,
385
00:35:02,935 --> 00:35:07,189
and all in the name of the King.
386
00:35:15,573 --> 00:35:19,200
All this sacrifice for the sake of one man.
387
00:35:19,201 --> 00:35:21,869
It is certain that Khufu himself
would have been brought up
388
00:35:21,870 --> 00:35:24,999
from his palace at Giza to
observe the construction
389
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:26,875
of the pyramid.
390
00:35:26,876 --> 00:35:30,329
It was certainly his greatest
undertaking as a king.
391
00:35:30,746 --> 00:35:33,624
In the desert, there is an outcrop of rock,
392
00:35:33,625 --> 00:35:36,176
the only place at Giza from
which the entire pyramid
393
00:35:36,177 --> 00:35:38,679
landscape is visible.
394
00:35:41,140 --> 00:35:44,017
The King would have been
attended by his main architect,
395
00:35:44,018 --> 00:35:46,720
his cousin, Hemiunu.
396
00:35:59,950 --> 00:36:02,465
Beneath them, the King would
have been able to see
397
00:36:02,466 --> 00:36:05,330
some 25,000 workers,
398
00:36:05,331 --> 00:36:08,250
conscripts, quarry men, stone haulers,
399
00:36:08,251 --> 00:36:12,378
setters, masons, for whom he
was responsible, whom he had
400
00:36:12,379 --> 00:36:17,379
brought to Giza to collaborate
as humans never had before.
401
00:36:20,838 --> 00:36:24,225
What had driven him to do it?
402
00:36:25,843 --> 00:36:27,436
To answer that question, long seemed
403
00:36:27,437 --> 00:36:30,021
only a distant possibility
404
00:36:30,022 --> 00:36:33,766
until just over a century ago,
archaeologists working on the
405
00:36:33,767 --> 00:36:36,403
pyramid of a later king called Unas,
406
00:36:36,404 --> 00:36:38,821
unearthed a chamber whose
walls were covered
407
00:36:38,822 --> 00:36:41,590
in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
408
00:36:41,591 --> 00:36:45,120
The pyramid text provided
tantalizing glimpse into
409
00:36:45,121 --> 00:36:48,456
the minds of the men who
built the pyramids.
410
00:36:48,457 --> 00:36:51,793
From these spells,
incantations, and riddles,
411
00:36:51,794 --> 00:36:56,507
a story emerges, the story of a journey.
412
00:36:56,832 --> 00:37:00,719
The King travels, and travels up.
413
00:37:00,753 --> 00:37:04,889
His journey is described
in many ways, as a falcon
414
00:37:04,890 --> 00:37:07,809
or with the aid of natural
storms of wind, and hail,
415
00:37:07,810 --> 00:37:09,512
and lightening.
416
00:37:25,152 --> 00:37:28,454
The pyramid text always describe
the end of this journey
417
00:37:28,455 --> 00:37:31,040
in the same mysterious way,
418
00:37:31,041 --> 00:37:36,041
that the King can now go forth
among the indestructibles.
419
00:37:44,963 --> 00:37:48,016
To understand this mystery,
is to understand the
420
00:37:48,017 --> 00:37:50,979
very purpose of a pyramid.
421
00:37:53,355 --> 00:37:57,902
But these mysterious beliefs
were not widely understood.
422
00:37:57,903 --> 00:38:01,863
They were the preserve of an initiated few.
423
00:38:01,864 --> 00:38:05,032
Khufu's workers had more ordinary concerns,
424
00:38:05,033 --> 00:38:08,620
ensuring that 1,000 tons of
stone were moved each day
425
00:38:08,621 --> 00:38:11,874
onto the pyramid's slowly rising surface.
426
00:38:20,090 --> 00:38:24,010
Five years past after Deba's death.
427
00:38:24,011 --> 00:38:28,757
I was one of the experienced
men on site when Yunu
428
00:38:28,758 --> 00:38:31,436
accorded me a special honor.
429
00:38:33,020 --> 00:38:37,899
I had seen Hemiunu on the
outcrop, but had never imagined
430
00:38:37,900 --> 00:38:41,435
that I would be introduced to him.
431
00:38:41,436 --> 00:38:44,855
He had a special task
for me, one that could
432
00:38:44,856 --> 00:38:48,787
only be understood with a special blessing,
433
00:38:49,695 --> 00:38:53,999
words that but changed my life.
434
00:39:01,165 --> 00:39:03,007
Some 10 years after work began
435
00:39:03,008 --> 00:39:06,052
on the Great Pyramid, a
barge approached Giza
436
00:39:06,053 --> 00:39:08,513
with a special cargo.
437
00:39:08,514 --> 00:39:10,766
It had come more than 500 miles,
438
00:39:10,767 --> 00:39:13,227
from the quarries at Aswan.
439
00:39:13,228 --> 00:39:17,230
On board was a single granite block.
440
00:39:22,445 --> 00:39:25,489
The block was one of nine that
were being brought to Giza.
441
00:39:25,490 --> 00:39:28,157
Together the most vital nine
blocks of all the millions
442
00:39:28,158 --> 00:39:31,579
that make up the Great Pyramid.
443
00:39:33,780 --> 00:39:38,076
Each one weighed upward of
50 tons, and 200 men would
444
00:39:38,077 --> 00:39:41,296
be required to move it.
445
00:39:49,513 --> 00:39:53,432
King Khufu's upper burial chamber
was ready to be completed,
446
00:39:53,433 --> 00:39:57,012
and the nine granite blocks
would form its roof.
447
00:39:57,013 --> 00:40:00,023
Each block had to be dragged
across the unfinished pyramid,
448
00:40:00,024 --> 00:40:03,352
and put in place above the chamber beneath.
449
00:40:07,365 --> 00:40:09,532
I had the scribes draw a reference
450
00:40:09,533 --> 00:40:13,819
in red ochre down the exact
center of each block,
451
00:40:13,820 --> 00:40:16,081
and I seated myself on
top of the first block
452
00:40:16,082 --> 00:40:19,042
at one end of the chamber.
453
00:40:21,128 --> 00:40:25,069
I held up a plumb bob and
I aligned it with both
454
00:40:25,070 --> 00:40:27,292
the red reference mark
on the incoming block,
455
00:40:27,293 --> 00:40:30,763
and the center mark of post beyond.
456
00:40:30,764 --> 00:40:33,923
That way I could keep the
block exactly central
457
00:40:33,924 --> 00:40:37,102
as it passed over the chamber.
458
00:40:40,439 --> 00:40:44,651
Such a vast weight had to
be perfectly distributed.
459
00:40:45,820 --> 00:40:50,657
The words of Hemiunu's blessing
were ringing in my ears.
460
00:40:51,159 --> 00:40:56,159
So this holy chamber was
the center, the purpose,
461
00:40:56,580 --> 00:40:58,790
of the whole pyramid.
462
00:40:58,791 --> 00:41:01,961
It had to be protected.
463
00:41:02,528 --> 00:41:04,829
In order to protect it, the Egyptians
464
00:41:04,830 --> 00:41:07,416
added four more roofs.
465
00:41:07,417 --> 00:41:10,927
In the spaces between them, it
is still possible to glimpse
466
00:41:10,928 --> 00:41:14,807
the lost world of the pyramid makers.
467
00:41:15,015 --> 00:41:18,392
Graffiti left behind by
the workers spell out
468
00:41:18,393 --> 00:41:20,561
the names of the gangs.
469
00:41:20,562 --> 00:41:25,016
This is the mark of the
strong boatmen of Khufu.
470
00:41:26,102 --> 00:41:30,030
Here, simply, the pure.
471
00:41:33,116 --> 00:41:36,744
It is even possible to see the
red ochre reference marks.
472
00:41:36,745 --> 00:41:40,373
The means by which four and
half thousand years ago,
473
00:41:40,374 --> 00:41:43,743
master stone movers, guided
in the granite blocks
474
00:41:43,744 --> 00:41:47,005
with such phenomenal precision.
475
00:42:04,474 --> 00:42:06,649
The last third of the pyramid
could not be reached
476
00:42:06,650 --> 00:42:09,194
by the main ramp.
477
00:42:12,614 --> 00:42:15,116
Instead a spiral ramp was used
478
00:42:15,117 --> 00:42:17,660
supported on the stepped
sides of the pyramid
479
00:42:17,661 --> 00:42:20,705
and climbing up with it.
480
00:42:23,659 --> 00:42:26,377
Up this spiral ramp the most experts,
481
00:42:26,378 --> 00:42:29,923
stone hauling gang was
dragged the final blocks
482
00:42:29,924 --> 00:42:32,926
until the very top was reached.
483
00:42:37,681 --> 00:42:42,268
It fell to my gang to
lay the cap stone.
484
00:42:42,269 --> 00:42:45,272
It had been prepared by
the masons more carefully
485
00:42:45,273 --> 00:42:48,275
than all the others.
486
00:42:51,695 --> 00:42:56,184
Its sides were perfectly
smooth, but beneath
487
00:42:56,199 --> 00:42:59,787
there was a plug of rock left protruding.
488
00:43:01,497 --> 00:43:04,248
We rotated the block until
the the block fitted into
489
00:43:04,249 --> 00:43:08,295
a groove carved in the block beneath.
490
00:43:25,186 --> 00:43:29,316
All those years of labor
seemed concentrated
491
00:43:29,609 --> 00:43:32,902
in these final moments.
492
00:43:59,388 --> 00:44:01,880
After the cap stone was placed
493
00:44:01,881 --> 00:44:03,682
the ramps were stripped away,
494
00:44:03,683 --> 00:44:05,601
and the stepped outer stones were cut
495
00:44:05,602 --> 00:44:10,222
so that they all continued
downwards at one perfect angle.
496
00:44:10,223 --> 00:44:13,151
Each block was then highly
polished and smoothed
497
00:44:13,152 --> 00:44:17,447
to create four glittering
triangles of stone.
498
00:44:18,323 --> 00:44:21,242
The affect would have been
blinding, quite different
499
00:44:21,243 --> 00:44:24,496
from the pyramid we see today.
500
00:44:28,124 --> 00:44:33,124
In about 2,463 B.C. Khufu
set out once again
501
00:44:33,380 --> 00:44:35,799
from his palace.
502
00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:38,625
He crossed the desert along
the very route he traveled
503
00:44:38,626 --> 00:44:41,846
with his astronomers some 17 years before,
504
00:44:41,847 --> 00:44:46,847
to look on the tomb that
would immortalize him.
505
00:45:03,988 --> 00:45:06,537
In the pyramid's shadow, there were also
506
00:45:06,538 --> 00:45:10,708
three smaller pyramids for his queens.
507
00:45:12,002 --> 00:45:15,672
To the east of the pyramid, a
great stone causeway stretched
508
00:45:15,673 --> 00:45:18,915
down to a temple, by the edge of the Nile.
509
00:45:18,916 --> 00:45:22,544
This was the place to which
Khufu's body would be brought
510
00:45:22,545 --> 00:45:26,017
when the day of his death came at last.
511
00:45:34,357 --> 00:45:36,309
It was in the early morning of a spring day
512
00:45:36,310 --> 00:45:41,310
around 2,457 B.C., that it finally did.
513
00:46:03,428 --> 00:46:06,472
The King's coffin was of aromatic cedar,
514
00:46:06,473 --> 00:46:09,267
a rare and precious wood.
515
00:46:09,268 --> 00:46:12,270
It's likely that little else
would have accompanied it.
516
00:46:12,271 --> 00:46:14,813
The extravagant gold and
riches that we associate with
517
00:46:14,814 --> 00:46:19,194
Tutankhamen, belong to a much later age.
518
00:46:32,500 --> 00:46:35,996
The coffin was unloaded on the key side.
519
00:46:36,503 --> 00:46:38,796
It was as if the last stone
of the whole structure
520
00:46:38,797 --> 00:46:43,797
was being put in place, and the
most important stone of all.
521
00:47:01,862 --> 00:47:04,446
According to the ancient ritual, the coffin
522
00:47:04,447 --> 00:47:05,989
would almost certainly have been taken
523
00:47:05,990 --> 00:47:08,868
to the subterranean chamber first, and then
524
00:47:08,869 --> 00:47:11,621
to the chamber above it.
525
00:47:12,623 --> 00:47:14,666
The final part of the
journey, would have been
526
00:47:14,667 --> 00:47:18,160
to take the coffin to the third chamber.
527
00:47:19,629 --> 00:47:22,673
It would have passed up
this soaring gallery,
528
00:47:22,674 --> 00:47:26,170
once just a rough chasm of rock.
529
00:47:36,722 --> 00:47:39,941
At last the coffin was brought
into the upper chamber,
530
00:47:39,942 --> 00:47:42,360
the King's chamber itself.
531
00:47:42,361 --> 00:47:45,071
And beneath Nakht's great granite roof,
532
00:47:45,072 --> 00:47:48,616
it was laid in the sarcophagus.
533
00:47:53,497 --> 00:47:57,291
The Great Pyramid was about
to fulfill the purpose
534
00:47:57,292 --> 00:48:00,662
for which it had been built.
535
00:48:18,648 --> 00:48:23,648
The King had finally gone forth
among the indestructibles.
536
00:48:31,368 --> 00:48:34,486
This was the reason for
locating the dark, still point
537
00:48:34,487 --> 00:48:37,197
all those years before.
538
00:48:37,198 --> 00:48:40,876
Because it never moved, the
Egyptians revered that point
539
00:48:40,877 --> 00:48:45,122
as eternal, the location of heaven itself.
540
00:48:45,123 --> 00:48:48,969
They also revered the
stars that circled it.
541
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:54,265
Today we call them the circumpolar
stars, but the Egyptians
542
00:48:54,266 --> 00:48:59,266
awed by their constancy, called
them the indestructibles.
543
00:49:00,147 --> 00:49:04,568
The Egyptian's believed they
had not just located heaven,
544
00:49:04,569 --> 00:49:08,147
but constructed the means to get there,
545
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:13,106
and the proof of that fantastic
ambition is built into
546
00:49:13,107 --> 00:49:16,705
the very fabric of the pyramid itself.
547
00:49:17,706 --> 00:49:21,783
In the north wall of the
King's chamber is a tiny vent,
548
00:49:21,784 --> 00:49:24,586
the beginning of a narrow shaft,
that penetrates through the
549
00:49:24,587 --> 00:49:29,425
mass of masonry, to the
pyramid's outer wall.
550
00:49:29,426 --> 00:49:33,179
It is trained, like a
telescope, at just one part
551
00:49:33,180 --> 00:49:37,433
of the night sky, at the circumpolar stars,
552
00:49:37,434 --> 00:49:40,471
the indestructibles.
553
00:49:44,734 --> 00:49:47,985
Khufu's builders believe
they had constructed
554
00:49:47,986 --> 00:49:52,986
a resurrection machine, a
machine that secured eternity,
555
00:49:53,534 --> 00:49:57,278
and not just for their king.
556
00:50:06,046 --> 00:50:10,090
So Hemiunu's blessing
has proven to be true.
557
00:50:10,091 --> 00:50:12,634
The gang will rise again,
558
00:50:12,635 --> 00:50:17,515
and any who shall cause his
pyramid to be good and sturdy,
559
00:50:17,516 --> 00:50:20,851
they too will rise with him.
560
00:50:20,852 --> 00:50:25,273
They will share eternal
possession of his crown.
561
00:50:29,569 --> 00:50:32,488
In the name of the King.
562
00:50:32,489 --> 00:50:34,865
It's clear now.
563
00:50:34,866 --> 00:50:38,235
In the name of the King.
564
00:50:38,236 --> 00:50:41,955
Through us, he became indestructible,
565
00:50:41,956 --> 00:50:46,752
and we indestructible through him.
566
00:50:47,670 --> 00:50:52,050
Yunu, Kaem-ah,
567
00:50:53,501 --> 00:51:01,968
Deba, myself, all of us, Egypt.
45964
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