Original subtitles

[narrator] in ancient egypt, a revolution is brewing.

[dramatic music]

The most ambitious building project on the planet

Sets off a chain of events that will transform the country.

This would have been an epoch changing event.

[narrator] buried in the sands of egypt is a tale

Of a powerful pharaoh

Fwho would become a god and revolutionize egypt.

The legend of the world's first pyramid.

The story of the pyramids is one of innovation.

It was a resurrection machine.

[narrator] mysterious rituals.

These are things that help the deceased

Re-energize and live for eternity.

[narrator] back-breaking work and palace intrigue.

Unlock the deepest secrets of the pharaohs.

[man] every mummy is different,

You never know exactly what to expect.

[narrator] explore the lives of ancient workers

And uncover the remarkable story of egypt's old kingdom.

[woman] not only did ancient egypt make the pyramids,

The pyramids made ancient egypt.

[soft music]

[narrator] egypt's pyramid building age.

500 years of history during which builders constructed some

Of the world's most iconic monuments

Including the great pyramid of giza.

The only wonder of the ancient world still standing.

To understand how the pyramid age began

And how it transformed the country,

We need to travel some 4,700 years back in time

To the city of memphis and the palace of a powerful king.

His people call him netjerikhet meaning divine of body.

But today, we know this pharaoh as djoser.

Rules a country of more than 1 million people.

As pharaoh, his first priority is maintaining control

Of his kingdom and strengthening his dynasty.

Djoser was born into a life of privilege around 2,620 bc.

It was common for pharaoh to have multiple wives

But djoser was probably married to just one woman,

Hetephernebti, his half sister.

Normal people did not have incestual relationships

With their brothers and sisters in ancient egypt.

That wasn't a common thing to do.

[narrator] by marrying his sister, djoser ensures that only

His own blood will have a claim to the throne.

It's really a desire to keep power within the family.

[narrator] djoser's incestuous marriage reinforces

The immense power that he now enjoys.

The pharaoh in ancient egypt is everything,

Commander in chief, high priest, in charge of making

All the laws and decrees.

So, the most important person obviously in the land.

[narrator] and like other kings before him,

He claims to rule alongside the gods

Working together to keep order and unity in egypt.

From the very origins of ancient egyptian kingship,

The king is a mediator between humans and the gods.

And that seems to be something fundamental to ancient egypt.

>> the king was responsible for keeping the gods happy

And if the gods were happy, then the people would be fed

And the kingdom would continue to go on in a world of order.

[narrator] but a devastating catastrophe is about to put

Djoser's authority to the ultimate test.

Clues to the disaster lie 400 miles south

Of the ancient capital of memphis,

In a region called elephantine.

In the eyes of ancient egyptians,

This is the source of the river nile.

Egyptologist jean-pierre patznick is a specialist

In deciphering long-lost languages.

Today he's investigating a stone plaque known as a stela.

There it is, the famine stela.

[translator] this is an absolutely unique document,

Because it tells a story that would have happened

During the reign of djoser.

[narrator] the words engraved on this rock

Tell a story of death and disaster.

The nile is the life blood of egypt

Flowing from the south towards the north.

Every year, between June and September,

Floodwaters carried fertile silt and water towards farms

In the north where most people lived.

But in the 18th year of djoser's reign, the floods fail.

[translator] this stela tells us an absolutely amazing story.

A famine that would have lasted seven years.

Seven years of poverty.

Seven years during which the nile failed to water the crops.

For a pharaoh, there is nothing worse.

And naturally, djoser tries to figure out what is happening.

Why don't the waters of the nile arrive?

What's going on?

Why is there no flood?

[narrator] this stela was carved over

2,000 years after the event,

So for years, the story of the famine

Was dismissed as legend.

But the nile has many secrets...

And in washington dc, researchers

At the us geological institute have found evidence

That could support the famine stela myth.

Christopher bernhardt is a pollen specialist.

He has analyzed dirt containing pollen grains

That settled on the banks of the nile

During the pyramid building age,

Four and 1/2 thousand years ago.

Pollen is really cool. It's such a powerful tool.

So, it's not just this thing that every spring season

Makes you sneeze, right?

It provides so much information as it gets deposited.

[narrator] these are core samples from the nile delta,

Cylinders of earth bored out of the river's soil.

These cores are like time machines, they allow scientists

To peer back thousands of years,

Revealing the secrets of the nile.

We take a core and go through time looking at the pollen,

It can give you information about regional climate,

It can tell about sea level change,

You can reconstruct past environments.

We don't have the resolution in our records to get

To see how variations happen from year to year

Or even decade to decade, but there were actually

Some episodic droughts during the time

Of the pyramid building.

Our record shows that's definitely

Within the realm of possibility.

[narrator] the famine stela

Describes how seven years of drought

And poor floods bring chaos to djoser's kingdom.

Desperate to survive, brother turns on brother.

Law and order break down.

Egypt is on the brink of civil war.

Djoser asks his priests for guidance,

But they don't know what to do.

He's feeling the pressure.

Previous kings have been overthrown

In the turmoil of famine.

>> if the gods were unhappy with the king,

There would be retribution.

So there was a direct cause and effect relationship

Between the king doing his job properly

And the people being able to survive.

>> so the king would certainly be aware of what would result

From mismanaging such a situation.

[narrator] djoser summons his most trusted advisor,

A man called imhotep.

>> he's asking his vizier imhotep to find out

Why the flood is not coming.

[speaking in foreign language]

[narrator] the kingdom and both their lives may be at stake.

Imhotep travels to the supposed source of the nile

At elephantine island to investigate.

Here, legend has it

That imhotep bathes himself in the water

Of the nile and then falls asleep on the bank.

In his dream, imhotep is visited by a god called khnum.

>> he found out that the god who is controlling the nile,

God khnum, is unhappy because he is not receiving

The sufficient offerings that he should receive.

[narrator] imhotep wakes

Convinced he has found the answer.

[darnell] and if we're nice to khnum, khnum will be nice

And good inundations, good floods will come back.

[narrator] imhotep reports his vision to the king and djoser

Gives the order to repair and reinstate a temple for khnum

That had long been abandoned.

[distant speaking in foreign language]

[translator] this is djoser,

With the crown of upper and lower egypt.

He is making an offering to three deities,

Including an important one, khnum,

The god of the source of the nile.

[narrator] the famine stela says that djoser's intervention

Saves the day.

Khnum allows the nile floods to return.

One way or another, the famine ends.

And during djoser's reign there's an extraordinary change

In the way that ordinary people view the king.

[darnell] really, with djoser we see probably

A more powerful form of the king.

The idea not just that the king is an intercessor,

But that the king is a type of god on earth,

Probably in a way that it hadn't been expressed before.

[narrator] djoser may be part god

But he still must prepare for his own death.

In ancient egypt, the pharaoh djoser

Wants to become immortal so he turns

To the wise imhotep for help.

>> imhotep is one of the most important characters

In ancient egypt, he was a physician, he was an architect.

Most of what we know about imhotep

During the reign of djoser, whom he seems to have served

As vizier, is name and titles on a statue base.

[hartwig] in order for him to have his titles inscribed

On a statue base of djoser, he must have been

A very, very high official.

[narrator] djoser decides to entrust imhotep

With the care of his immortal soul.

He commands imhotep to build a tomb worthy of a god,

A landmark that will survive for eternity.

[darnell] we call tombs houses of the dead sometimes.

But I would say the egyptians don't think of them

Quite so much that way.

They are machines to help propel the deceased

From this world into the next

And to ensure a meaningful afterlife.

[anthony] this was one of their primary prerogatives in their lives,

Was to make sure that they would survive death

And so they could live on for eternity.

[narrator] traditionally, egyptians simply buried

Their dead in the sand.

The desert would naturally preserve the bodies

Which came to be an essential part of their religion.

>> they thought that by mummifying the body,

Keeping the body,

It would be very important for the afterlife.

This afterlife was everything to the egyptians,

Not only to the kings, but also to the individuals.

Those people were, somehow looking for immortality.

[narrator] but sandstorms would devastate grave sites and

Scatter the remains,

Jeopardizing survival in the afterlife.

So long before djoser,

The egyptians had abandoned the sand

And begun to protect their pharaohs' bodies

Underneath tombs made of mud bricks called mastabas.

>> mastabas, the arabic word for bench.

They look like big bench tombs.

[anthony] so, there is a below-surface structure,

Which is a shaft and a small room that keeps

The sarcophagus and the body and the mummy underground.

And then above it, they had a place

For leaving offerings for the deceased.

[narrator] for the tomb of djoser,

Imhotep starts by thinking big.

First, he imagines the largest and most imposing

Brick mastaba ever built.

But then he has a revolutionary idea.

Instead of mud brick, he'll use stone.

[anthony] he changes history somewhat.

If the egyptians continued to build

All of their major structures in mudbrick,

We would know far less about them today because mudbrick,

When it rains, it disappears.

[hartwig] imhotep and djoser use stone because what they wanted

Was to build for eternity.

[narrator] it may sound like an obvious choice,

But in the time before the wheel, executing it would be

One of the greatest challenges in human history.

Imhotep's first task is to select a location

For djoser's mastaba tomb.

He needs a solid building platform and space.

[speaks in foreign language]

He settles on the saqqara plateau, a rocky escarpment

On the west bank of the nile.

[hartwig] saqqara was a great place to build simply

Because you had very solid bedrock there and you also had

Local stone that you could quarry

So you wouldn't have to go far afield

In order to quarry stone

That would be needed for structures.

[narrator] saqqara is in an elevated position

Overlooking the capital city of memphis

On the opposite shore of the nile.

>> so that meant that anything that was constructed

On this high plateau could be seen by the people below.

Plus, the fact it was very easy for the king to go

And visit his monument as it was under construction

Because his palace happened to be in memphis.

[narrator] imhotep plans to build a structure so daunting

And impressive that future generations would think

It could have only been built by aliens.

He'll need a strong team and plan to achieve his dream.

People to organize the stone quarrying,

Direct the cutting of building blocks,

Oversee their transport and manage the huge workforce

That imhotep will assemble.

This trusted group of men will form the elite

Of the emerging administration.

Taking on this construction project will call

For the mobilization of the entire country

And influence the very future of egypt.

[darnell] this would have been an epoch changing event.

This is not just the first time

That a major large freestanding stone monument

Is constructed in egypt, but the amount of labor

That would have to be harnessed, the number

Of people that would have to be housed and fed

In order to set it up, would have been rather staggering.

[narrator] the plan will bring revolutionary advances,

New engineering techniques, literacy,

A national census and unparalleled organization.

[hartwig] probably the most important thing

Is the administrative structure because the egyptians

Are known as bureaucrats and they took it to new heights.

[narrator] the success of the project will depend on

Good communication, so writing will be key.

The scribes are the literate class,

Trained to write hieroglyphs, but also

In the hieratic script, a more common form of hieroglyphs

Which are highly abbreviated, speeding up

The recording of information.

The scribes are an essential part of imhotep

And djoser's gigantic new project.

They need to know what resources

And which people are available to execute their plan.

So they create a census, drawn up by their scribes

To find out.

[translator] they started listing people;

Where they're from,

Where they live, what's their lineage.

Whole lists of people.

Because of this they go to look for them in the villages

Throughout egypt,

People who are going to be ordered to work.

If they had digital, they would have created

Massive databases.

A whole country is being mobilized

To supply this monument

With men, equipment, and provisions.

An unstoppable and relentless logistics network is in place.

[narrator] imhotep uses this network to gather

A huge workforce from all over egypt.

Now he needs them to carry out a seemingly impossibly

Ambitious design.

[narrator] imhotep gathers thousands of workers at saqqara

To build the pharaoh djoser's tomb.

Just getting them here is a monumental achievement.

But now, he has to build a monument fit for a king

Who was also a god.

Imhotep's plan is to carve a vertical shaft 92 feet

Into the bedrock.

His team will put the king's sarcophagus coffin

At the base of this shaft and then build

The massive stone mastaba over the top.

[hartwig] he was following what had been done previously

Where the kings were buried underground.

[narrator] when the underground burial chamber is complete,

Imhotep turns his attention to the stone monument above.

Stone is not an entirely unknown

Building material for the egyptians.

For more than a century,

Craftsman had been carving stone vases

For use in temples.

>> ancient egyptians were already experienced in using

The stones, manufacturing of the stone, they were making

Stone vessels, they were making also small pieces

And even we have some sculptures made of limestone

And different stones.

[narrator] but now, for the first time in the world,

Imhotep would need to turn stone masonry into an industry.

The first challenge: Getting the huge stones

Out of the ground and to the site.

Today, their quarry is filled with sand but part of it

Once encircled djoser's tomb like a giant overlapping moat,

Over a mile long on each side.

The snaking quarry cleverly reduces the distance

They have to haul the stone.

In the cairo museum, egyptologist salima ikram

Is investigating ancient technology.

[ikram] this is one of my favorite cases

In the egyptian museum

Because it has all the tools that the egyptians used.

Some are very basic, where you have even now

People use the plumb bob to see if things are straight.

Over here we have measuring tools,

Where you have pieces of wood linked by rope and that,

Though it's marked in a particular way so you can say

It's a cubit, basically this long.

We have chisels, just like you have them today.

[narrator] ancient quarry workers

Used copper chisels and saws

To cut their blocks into shapes suitable for building with.

It's estimated that some 140,000 pounds of copper

Were needed for the construction of djoser's tomb.

No wonder people say "ah, the pyramids are made by aliens

Or people from outer space."

Because nowadays in the world of technology that we live in

It's very hard to imagine that such basic simple tools

Could achieve such great and beautiful stuff.

[narrator] so who were the workers

Who toiled to build this giant

And unique tomb for the pharaoh djoser?

[anthony] they really came from everywhere around egypt.

So this project was one that was national.

>> we know that during the nile flood

When it was impossible for farmers to work,

Some of those people

Would have provided an excellent base of workmen.

[hartwig] it's estimated that for the building

It was roughly 1% of the egyptian population

Close to about 5,000 to 10,000 people

Working over a period of time.

[der manuelian] people were conscripted to build the pyramids.

So, yes, someone living in a village 400 miles south

Probably didn't have much of a choice

When the administrators came by and said,

"for the next season we need you."

[narrator] the egyptians don't use money

So the pyramid builders are paid with goods

Bread and beer in particular.

[megahed] beer for ancient egyptians was something very important,

Because it represents for them a kind of food

Because beer was made of bread, it was not the same beer

That we have today, it was thicker, maybe whiter.

So, it was somehow a kind of food for ancient egyptians.

[narrator] ancient egyptian home brew has a hidden

And surprisingly beneficial side effect.

>> one of the really significant aspects of beer

In ancient egypt is that the fermentation process

Also decreases the number of microbes in the water.

[anthony] the fermentation process made it so that you weren't able

To get the diseases that were in the nile naturally.

So, if you couldn't boil your water, you had to ferment it

To be able to drink nile water.

[narrator] the workers may get food and drink, but this new

Industrial scale quarrying is dangerous work.

[screaming]

[megahed] accidents happened, people were injured,

Arms were broken,

Legs were broken, stones were falling down

So it was a kind of a dangerous work.

[narrator] despite the injuries that workers must have been

Sustaining, imhotep is able to keep his project on track.

Until finally six years after work had begun,

The cut stone mastaba tomb is complete.

The monument is colossal.

It rises over 25 feet in height.

It's base stretching over 200 feet in length

But inspecting his completed work, imhotep isn't satisfied.

[anthony] imhotep had really high aspirations.

So, when djoser asked him to create a space

For the eternal world that's really something

Like nobody has seen before, I think he takes this to heart.

[narrator] imhotep approaches djoser

With an ambitious new idea

That will transform the course of history.

[narrator] in ancient egypt, the architect imhotep

Is pitching an innovative new idea to his king, djoser.

The rectangular mastaba tomb that he's built from stone

Isn't grand enough for a god on earth.

He wants to stack several mastabas one on top of the other

Forming a step pyramid.

>> one of the beauties of the step pyramid is that

You can see how imhotep was thinking

Through every single one of the stages.

They build mastaba on top of mastaba,

Each one slightly smaller than the rest.

And so, we see that imhotep has this brilliant idea

Of really creating the first pyramid

In permanent material in ancient egypt.

The question is why?

Why did they pick this form?

And the idea is that it literally in hieroglyphs,

The step pyramid hieroglyph has to do with ascend.

And so, it's literally djoser's stairway to heaven.

[narrator] imhotep's plan may seem simple but stacking

Each layer flat could cause the monument to collapse

Under its own weight so once more

He solves the problem with innovation.

Imhotep develops an entirely new construction technique.

He will place the stones so they're inclined

Towards the center of the monument.

The arrangement directs forces

To the heart of the pyramid, preventing it from collapsing.

By carefully distributing the forces, imhotep ensures that,

As the pyramid takes shape, it doesn't collapse

Under its own weight.

When this second phase of the project is complete,

The first pyramid in history has taken shape.

It's formed from four stepped levels.

But imhotep is still not content.

Emboldened by the stability of his innovative new building,

He gives orders to add two more steps to the top.

Imhotep must have decided that he has enough time left

To complete these new changes before the king dies.

After some 19 years of toil,

Imhotep's masterpiece is complete.

He succeeded in his mission to create a grand

And brand new type of tomb out of stone.

Something never seen before in the history of mankind.

And it's still standing today, almost 4,700 years later.

Imhotep's team built a pyramid that stands

Over 200 feet high with sides over 330 feet long

Said to contain 850,000 tons of limestone blocks.

This marvel of engineering still inspires awe today

But incredibly the step pyramid is only a small part

Of the work carried out by imhotep and his team at saqqara.

[anthony] so not only do you have six layers

Of this really large structure,

But you also have an entire set of other buildings

In this mortuary space surrounding the tomb.

[lehner] there's nothing like djoser, I mean,

The djoser complex covers 16 hectares,

The size of a small town for that period.

[narrator] imhotep's team was transforming the style of

Building in egypt with innovative stone buildings

But also elaborate new architectural features.

[lehner] so, it wasn't just an explosion of stone building

On a gigantic scale, the artistic motifs had such finesse

That they impressed and put their stamp

On egyptian architecture for the next three millennia.

[hartwig] his pyramid complex

Required a new kind of professionalism.

Craftsman, architects,

Basically people who were brought in

To create the monument and professionalize the workforce.

[narrator] djoser has his monumental tomb

But what happens inside is just as important.

[der manuelian] all of these buildings are meant to ensure immortality.

And this is where the funeral services

And the rituals are held and the king's cult

Is perpetuated, ideally forever, for generations.

[narrator] the king wants to make sure

He is worshiped long after death.

[hartwig] you have to think of pyramids as resurrection machines.

They were a place that would preserve the king's body.

Also, it was a place to celebrate the king's cult.

And make no mistake, it was also a way to show

The power of the pharaonic state.

[narrator] if djoser is to successfully become immortal,

He'll need to ensure that his body and soul

Are looked after for eternity.

Egyptians believed that when a pharaoh dies,

His soul is divided into two parts, the ba and the ka.

These two elements of the human spirit that live on,

The ba and the ka, are separate but they're both necessary

To live on into eternity.

[narrator] the ba rises to the heavens to join the gods,

While the ka remains in the tomb.

They painted their tombs with images of offerings

Such as meat and wine that they believed were essential

To feed the ka soul and keep it alive.

So, the whole offering formula at a tomb

Is just to provide for the sustenance of the deceased.

[narrator] but the ka is more than just a prisoner in a temple.

On the north side of the complex is the serdab,

A sealed chamber with a small hole in the front.

[translator] this is the statue of djoser,

The statue of the royal ka.

It's in the serdab, an enclosed place devoted

To the statue and to the worship of it

Because this statue is alive.

[narrator] the hole isn't to see in,

It's so that djoser's ka soul

Can oversee the rituals being held in his honor

Ensuring that his legacy lives on.

[translator] what's interesting with this statue,

Is that it looks towards the northern sky.

That's where you have a group of very special stars.

[narrator] these northern stars, which the egyptians call

The imperishable ones are the constellation of orion

And the star sirius,

The brightest star in the night sky.

[darnell] so, by facing the statue towards those stars,

They were associating djoser's spirit with astral bodies

That never disappeared from the horizon.

[narrator] after some two decades on the throne

And overseeing the construction of the world's first pyramid,

Djoser dies around 2,560 bc and joins the eternal gods.

Priests mummify his body,

Preserving it so that it remains recognizable to the ka soul.

Archaeological evidence suggests that djoser's pyramid

Was nearly complete upon his death and that was significant

So that the pyramid, the tomb, was ready to receive

Djoser's mummy as well as any of the burial goods

That would have accompanied him to the afterlife.

[narrator] djoser's carefully prepared body

Is transported to his grand pyramid,

Which hides one last secret.

[narrator] at djoser's step pyramid,

Egyptologist jean-pierre patznick

Has been given special access to investigate

Mysterious passages hidden underneath.

[translator] oh, wow, this is superb.

[narrator] concealed beneath the world's first pyramid

Is a network of tunnels and chambers stretching

Nearly four miles.

The tunnels were built to hide the burial chambers

Of djoser's royal family and warehouses

Packed with offerings.

Imhotep's workers carved these mysterious tunnels

Through solid bedrock reaching 145 feet below ground level.

[translator] this is incredible.

[narrator] the pyramid builders carved this central shaft

In the open air before building the monument on top,

Allowing them to lower these massive granite blocks

Into place to create an immense sarcophagus

For the mummy of their pharaoh.

[translator] this is over four and a 1/2 thousand years old.

It's like a big vault that shuts

From above with a granite cap that seals everything.

[narrator] djoser's body no longer lies inside this sarcophagus.

It was probably looted by tomb raiders in ancient times.

One special passageway once completely covered

In expensive blue tiles contains a secret.

[translator] wow.

[narrator] a chance to come face to face

With the great pharaoh himself.

[translator] so here, we have king djoser.

I am absolutely amazed to see him like this

Because it is such high-quality, such great finesse.

It's an incredible artwork.

The detail of the lines!

Look at his face!

The nostril is so well represented

That you can still feel the breath of life.

We see a muscular, slender, athletic body.

We see a living king and that's what they wanted to depict.

[instrumental music]

[narrator] djoser has been celebrated in saqqara

For thousands of years.

His aim was to be remembered forever and thanks

To the first pyramid in history, it worked.

>> it's a commemorative monument because in ancient egypt,

A man lives when his name is called.

And so, this was also a guarantee by djoser

That people would remember him.

[narrator] but it isn't just king djoser who will achieve

An immortality of sorts.

Imhotep, his genius architect, will become

Worshiped as a god too.

>> imhotep actually enjoys a legacy even greater

Than the king for whom he worked.

[anthony] the legend of this man's brilliance continues on

Into the greek period.

So eventually, imhotep merges with the greek god of medicine

Because his brilliance was just so well known

For thousands of years.

[narrator] with innovative engineering, a massive workforce

And an organized structure to deploy them,

Imhotep and djoser's pyramid plan transforms the country.

[megahed] I think they know, by building the step pyramid,

They are building egypt,

They are building the future of egypt.

[anthony] there are so many new options for what future kings

Are going to be able to do.

They've really started the pyramid age.

[narrator] this organizational structure will be key to egypt's future.

>> in terms of the organization of the workforce,

This is when it all started.

[darnell] an increasing number of people are employed by the state

And are then available and trained

For state-sponsored projects.

[anthony] for the commoner during the reign of djoser,

If they were to look upon this new exciting step pyramid,

Would they be able to understand

How much life is changing, how much society is changing?

They have no idea what's to come.

[narrator] soon, new and even more mighty pharaohs

Will stretch the limits of their power

And their imagination.

How far will they go?

Where will their extraordinary expansion stop?