Original subtitles

(birds twittering)

(water swishing)

For 5000 years this land, Egypt

and the epic civilization it gave birth to

has been shaped by one thing more than any other.

This awesome river,

the river Nile.

The Nile helped temples to rise,

pharaohs to rule

and pyramids to be built.

Without the Nile, there'd have been no ancient Egypt.

So I'm making the historical journey of a lifetime,

a 900 mile adventure along the Nile,

across the whole of Egypt.

I'll explore Egypt's greatest achievements.

It is truly wonderful, isn't it?

And find treasures hidden for thousands of years.

Oh my God, that's a sheer drop down there.

This is my chance to travel this fabulous land

Whoa lovely.

And experience it as the ancient Egyptians did,

from the river Nile.

From pharaohs to slaves

and facts to fantasies,

I want to explore firsthand

and to understand how this river shaped

one of the world's first and greatest civilizations.

Join me as I uncover 5000 years of history

along the river Nile.

(uplifting music)

I'm almost 600 miles into my journey up the Nile

and all along the way I've been given

the warmest of Egyptian welcomes.

Hello. Hello, good luck,

hope you have a good day.

What's your name?

Bettany, Bettany, salaam, salaam.

Showing kindness to strangers

is a huge part of Egyptian culture.

Come get some breakfast with us.

Thank you.

Welcome, welcome.

It looks like a lovely breakfast.

Isn't this amazing, wherever you go

the people on the banks invite you to come

and share their food, it is such a beautiful thing.

And of course, Egypt's hospitality has been matched

by the wealth of its epic history.

I'm now on the final leg of my journey,

where arguably the river is at its most beautiful

and you can explore ancient Egypt

at the very height of its powers.

(upbeat music)

I'm now well past the famous sites of Luxor

and heading to the intriguing treasures of southern Egypt.

In beautiful Aswan with its island temples,

I'll have to say goodbye to my lovely dahabeah boat

before crossing the Aswan Dam

to end my journey on the shores of Lake Nasser,

at the world famous temple of Abu Simbel.

(upbeat music)

30 miles north of Aswan though,

I'm enjoying the familiar rhythm of life on the river.

But there was a time when the locals wouldn't have looked

quite so relaxed near the water's edge,

thanks to the presence of a ferocious predator.

If I'd been sailing down here

at the time of the ancient Egyptians,

all these banks would have been thick with crocodiles.

I mean thousands and thousands of them

and this was a huge problem for the people

who lived on the river.

Crocodiles have now been hunted out of existence here

but for ancient Egyptians who traveled on the Nile,

fished in it, swam in it

and drank from it there was a constant threat

lurking just beneath the surface.

The ancient Egyptians were very clever

and they knew that they had to keep their enemies close.

So they ended up actually worshiping crocodiles

and sometimes they were kept in temples,

they were dressed in jewelry

and we're told that they were given wine and cakes to eat.

In fact, the Nile's ultimate predator inspired my next stop.

Kom Ombo, this temple was built

towards the end of the ancient Egyptian era,

2,300 years ago, by the family of Cleopatra.

And it was here that the crocodile headed god,

Sobek, was worshiped.

(dramatic music)

So there he is with his human body, very realistically done,

he's got lovely, knobbly knees

but that mad crocodile head and his scepter,

his staff of power.

(upbeat music)

But I'm here because for the past year,

a team of archeologists has been working

to save Kom Ombo from rising water,

which threatens to damage the temple and its foundations.

It's given the team an amazing chance to dig through layers

and layers of Egyptian history.

So I've made my way round to the back of the temple.

This is the outside wall

and the reason I'm here is that I've had a call

from one of the archeologists working here to say

that they've just discovered something rather exciting.

The mission is being led

by archeologist Dr. Abdel Moneim Saeed.

Hi, Bettany.

Nice to meet you, how you doing?

Welcome here in Kom Ombo.

So what have you found?

During their digging on the other side over there,

they found a group of steles.

So stele, like

big stone slabs. Big stones.

And we have just uncovered it.

Can I come and have a look?

Of course, why not. Thank you.

Steles were like giant stone message boards

used to make public announcements.

So I'm hoping these finds might reveal something new

about life here in ancient Egypt.

How amazing.

I don't know if you can see this

it's an enormous slab of stone.

And the slab is not alone.

For some reason, several steles, some in pieces,

have been buried beneath the wall of the temple.

You had no idea these were down here?

No, no idea.

How brilliant.

It looks like a seriously dangerous job down there

because can you tell how much this weighs?

What do you think?

Almost three tons.

Three tons.

Yes.

Oh, that's so exciting.

Very exciting.

We're going to be the first people

to hear what it says, for 2000 years.

Of course, yes.

Amazing and so tantalizing.

What are you going to tell us, stone?

I feel like it's kind of teasing us.

And nine feet below ground level,

the dig is turning up more than just the stele.

Oh, oh.

There's a confusing mix of treasures here,

including more recent Roman pottery.

Why's the pottery here?

Judamy, why has it ended up underneath the stele?

The stele was like dumped here.

Dumped here, yeah, that's really interesting.

So because this is late Roman pottery,

but it's underneath the stele level

that shows us that the stele must have been just put down,

dumped for some reason.

So it starts out life as a work of art, this,

and it looks like it's ended up as

just a bit of a construction material, poor old stele.

I'm glad you're happy with this though.

Yeah. Beautiful.

It seems that all these intriguing artifacts have been

dumped here to help support the foundations of the temple.

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language) I can't bear to watch

because the idea of that coming down on people's arms,

it's actually my heart's in my throat watching them

because it's so perilous.

And these men they've been doing this all their lives,

so they're the experts.

They are strong men, who have good experience

not just the strength, both of them together.

Strong and wise- Exactly.

that's how we like men.

(laughing)

(speaking in foreign language)

So I've just seen the top of the steles.

I hadn't realized there's inscriptions, oh my God.

No just hieroglyphics

but it has a scene on it.

Yes, yes, yes, so you hieroglyphs and a scene, oh my.

Exactly.

Amazing.

(singing in foreign language)

(singing in foreign language)

Now out of the ground,

it's clear that two broken pieces actually fit together,

allowing an ancient stele to be reformed

after thousands of years in the dirt.

(singing in foreign language)

It's great to see that, I love it.

I love the fact that they are loving

the rescuing of this thing from the earth.

But what we don't know is what our ancient stone stele

may be about to reveal.

Just a stone's throw from the Nile,

at the crocodile temple of Kom Ombo,

I'm watching as a team of archeologists excavate,

a giant stone stele.

These were public message boards,

the press releases of ancient Egypt.

And I'm about to be one of the first people,

in over 2000 years, to see what's written on it.

So slowly, slowly, the hieroglyphs are coming out.

Look at the detail in that.

Is it painted?

Yes Yes, remains of colors.

This is amazing, the paint is still on it.

All of the colors they come from nature,

plants, trees, stones, mix it with water,

covered by honey to be very bright.

I'm blown away by the paint.

I've never seen it come out of the earth like that before.

It's unusual to find them,

they are still in a good condition

with the nice original colors like this.

Amazing, so you can just imagine it in its heyday,

glaring out with these jewel-like colors.

And then we spot a familiar face in the dust.

This is so big.

So this is just too exciting.

So what's just been cleaned is Sobek's face,

so the crocodile god.

Amazing and it's just all appearing,

right in front of our eyes.

Sobek's image is proof that this discarded stele

was originally made for this sacred site.

So how old is it?

(speaking in foreign language)

The Egyptologists have noticed the all important clue,

a Pharaoh's name.

You can see his name is here, Seti.

So which Seti?

The father of Ramesses II.

So this is the father of Ramesses II,

arguably one of the most powerful men on Earth.

Seti I ruled 3300 years ago,

he expanded the Egyptian empire and built beautiful temples.

It will be months before experts

can fully decipher this stele

but it's new evidence that his influence reached all the way

to this sacred spot on the Nile.

This is kind of CVs or kind of boasty biography

of what Seti achieved.

So means a press release.

It's not just started now.

It dates back to 1300 BC.

Of course it did.

We're all weird showoffs, as a species,

we want the world to know how great we are.

And we now know that the crocodile god was worshiped here

over a thousand years before the current temple.

We'll have to start writing

all our press releases in stone

so that they survived 3300 years as well.

(uplifting music)

Honestly, gentlemen

thank you so much for letting me see this.

It's just the most incredible thing

and a real privilege to witness it.

I'm still completely reeling from today.

What an incredible experience

and I'm covered in sand and Nile mud

but watching those men, there was a lot of camaraderie

and support and laughter and that must have been the case

in ancient Egypt, too.

And those stone stele, they are beautiful things.

They are historical gold, they're going to tell us

so much about the land here thousands of years ago

and they've been hidden in the foundations

of this incredible temple of the crocodile god.

(dramatic music)

I'm genuinely sad to be leaving Kom Ombo,

but now I've got to head further south.

I'm entering one of the Nile's busiest stretches.

Hi.

I do love this river

'cause you never know quite who's going to come down it.

It feels very peaceful

and then suddenly there's a massive barge

carrying stones or sand or cement

or one of these modern day luxury liners

taking tourists on there voyage of a lifetime.

Many of us are heading to the same place.

30 miles south of Kom Ombo

is the great southern city of Aswan.

It once marked the border between ancient Egypt

and the rest of Africa

and remains the final stop for many great Nile journeys.

So I can just see the Aswan bridge, which means that soon,

I'm going to have to say goodbye to this beautiful boat,

goodbye to the dahabeah.

(dramatic music)

Just a few miles upstream,

the famous Aswan Dam means that this is as far

as large boats like mine can go.

I got to go, I've got to go.

Captain, thank you so much.

I enjoyed every moment. Hope to see you again.

Boys thank you so much.

It's been so lovely.

Bye bye, thank you, thank you guys.

You've been amazing, thank you.

Should we do a quick photo, d'you think?

Yeah. Okay.

I don't think you've got Saeed in.

(speaking in foreign language)

That's it? That's it.

What d'you say in Arabic?

Not cheese, it's something else.

(speaking in foreign language)

Okay, let's try one, two, three.

(speaking in foreign language)

(laughing)

Thank you, it was really great, thank you.

Bye, bye, see you, see you.

Bye, thank you, it's amazing.

With it's multitude of islands,

Aswan is considered by many

to be the Nile's ultimate beauty spot.

A reputation that helped create one Aswan icon,

the Old Cataract Hotel.

This place was built when Egypt

was the winter playground of the British Empire

and it's remained the place to stay

for over a hundred years.

Oh my goodness.

Hello.

Hi, hi, I'm Bettany.

And this is your key.

Thank you. Hope you enjoy.

Great.

1101, okay.

Now I've gotta try and find it.

I've been allowed to borrow the key

to one of the hotel's most famous suites

dedicated to none other than Winston Churchill.

I just hit a dead end up that way.

Churchill on the other hand

would have known this hotel like the back of his hand.

He first stayed here in 1902

when he was just 28 years old

and he returned many times.

Okay, how does this work?

A few things have been updated since though.

(laughing)

I'm always hopeless with these things

but that is definitely not letting me in.

Yeah. This is the master key.

Oh okay.

So- Yes.

And push. Good, ah.

Thank you very much.

That is ridiculously posh, isn't it?

So this is called the Winston Churchill suite

and this is where he came back

when he was Prime Minister, with his family.

It's a nice bathroom.

Ooh, very nice touch.

There's a little bag with a hairdryer and it says,

"Wonderful hair begins with a little wind."

I'll remember that, next time I'm getting ready to get out.

Oh it is lovely though.

(uplifting music)

Now that is how I like my views.

That really is something.

I'm very lucky in my life

and I spend my time traveling around to ancient sites

and fascinating places

but this is something else.

So you've got a little bit of history

just beyond your balcony rimmed by the waters of the Nile.

That is quite something.

It's scenes like this have made Aswan famous

but early British guests weren't just here for the view.

The 19th century saw a huge boom in health tourism.

with doctors prescribing their wealthier clients

a stay in Egypt as a cure for bronchitis, tuberculosis

and the ills of industrial Britain.

Visiting here became so popular that, in 1894,

a book was produced called "Wintering in Egypt"

and it gave the English visitor all kinds of tips

about how to have a marvelous time.

The climate here was described as dry and tonic,

and it was perfect as a counterbalance

to the gloom and rigors of an English winter.

It was particularly recommended

that men between the ages of 50 and 60 come here,

if they had a gouty tendency.

In the book, there's all sorts of recommendations as to what

women and men need to bring with them.

So a woman had to bring a deck chair and cushions,

parasol, a dressing gown and sketching materials, of course.

And for men, they had to bring all kinds of different suits,

for the evening and for the daytime.

I'm sorry to say two flannel shirts for shooting

and of course, tennis whites.

Well aware of this advice was Britain's

most famous travel agent, Thomas Cook.

He'd already pioneered the modern Nile cruise

and with his fleet of steam ships, ready to bring in guests,

his company opened the Old Cataract

as the ultimate health resort.

With all of this, it meant that this place

became a real trigger for that golden age of Egyptomania

where people loved everything

and anything to do with Egypt.

(dramatic music)

I may have had to leave my dahabeah behind

but that hasn't stopped my river journey through Aswan.

The city overlooks a unique stretch of the Nile

with many islands and narrow channels,

it's known as the Cataract.

A small boat is needed to explore these rocky outcrops

and shallow waters.

For the ancient Egyptians, the Cataract

formed a physical barrier,

a natural southern border to their land.

(birds flapping)

And it was here each year

that they experienced the first signs

of the annual Nile flood.

The flood meant fertile land, crops, food and prosperity

so monitoring the flood was vital.

The islands of Aswan were perfectly placed to do this

and the ancient Egyptians developed a nifty tool,

a nilometer.

Oh thank you.

This is how the waters would have flooded

into the nilometer.

Thank you Drokur.

So the river waters would come flooding up here

and as they raised,

the levels were marked by all these grooves in the wall.

So that meant that the powers that be could work out

exactly what the level of the floods were,

which meant they could estimate what the sediments

would be on the soil,

so they could work out how many crops could be grown.

And from that, it meant that they could predict

exactly how much they could tax the people.

But despite their clever nilometers,

the ancient Egyptians never worked out

where the energy of the floodwaters actually came from.

They rarely saw rainfall.

To them, water from the sky was a gift of the gods.

We now know that the monsoons of central Africa

cause the floods each year

but the ancient Egyptians believed the floodwaters

emerged from beneath the rocks of the Cataract.

Down here, there was a system of caves

and the crazy thing was

that you could actually hear the flood waters

before you could see them.

So for the ancient Egyptians,

this was a kind of magic moment

and they believed that the gods and goddesses of the Nile

and the Nile floods lived down here.

And that this was the source

of the life giving powers of the Nile.

(mysterious music)

Along with the ancient Egyptians,

the true cause of the floods, baffled Greeks and Romans

and remained a mystery for centuries.

But just over a hundred years ago,

the Nile flood was brought under control.

Ahead of me spans the great Aswan Dam

whose construction would threaten

one of the Niles most beautiful treasures.

(dramatic music)

I've reached the final city on my journey up the Nile.

The rocks and islands of Aswan,

make it quite unlike any other stretch of the river.

It's always been a natural stop off for travelers.

If you know where to look on these rocks,

you can find inscriptions that date

right the way back to the Pharaonic period.

And they were left by traders who traveled this stretch

of the Nile as kind of, "I was here" stamp

and we know that festival goers would come in order to mark

the fact they'd come to this sacred spot.

They're really amazing

and they carry on for around 3000 years

but you have to have quite keen eyes to find them.

Aswan once mark the edge of the Egyptian world,

the gateway to the rest of Africa.

(tuk tuk hooting)

(chattering) (laughing)

Gemstones, ebony, incense,

and ivory flowed through this city,

along with Egypt's most revered

and precious item, gold.

Tutankhamen's funeral mask is one

of the few golden treasures

to have escaped the robbers and raiders.

But here in this part of ancient Egypt,

gold was once said to be as common as dirt.

(ladies chattering)

So these lovely ladies have just come in and I think

because she's got this black henna on her hand,

she's must be choosing a wedding or an engagement ring.

Are you getting married?

(speaking in foreign language)

It's like engagement.

Engagement.

Gold jewelry has been found in Egypt

that predates Tut's treasure, by more than 2000 years.

Super special for the ancient Egyptians

because they also thought it was sacred

and they believed that gold came from

the flesh of the sun god, Ra

and that because it didn't tarnish in the ground

it had magical properties.

So it was a status symbol

but it was also something spiritual.

(upbeat music)

For many of us Aswan isn't known for its gold

but for a famous engineering project, the Aswan Dam.

Just over a century ago,

the British were in control here

and changed the Nile forever.

In 1902, a dam opened here just south of the city

but 60 years later, the Egyptians added another,

the High Dam.

Sandwiched precariously between them though

was a small island with a big treasure,

the temple of Philae.

(dramatic music)

Reflected in the waters of the Nile,

this temple is truly romantic.

I think there's something a bit magical about

all ancient Egyptian temples

but this one is particularly special

because when I was a teenager,

it was 15 feet submerged underwater,

and it's been moved block by block, over 37,000 blocks

and jigsaw puzzled together to be in its new place here.

As the second dam was completed in 1970

and the reservoir between the two dams rose,

all but the uppermost parts of the temple

disappeared beneath the water.

The only way to save it was to move it to a higher island.

(birds twittering)

The ancient Egyptians dedicated Philae to Isis,

a goddess of resurrection

and the temple now has a new life at a new location,

allowing visitors to appreciate one of Egypt's

most famed beauties.

This place felt so perfect,

it was described as the pearl or the jewel of the Nile

and it attracted travelers across the centuries.

One of the English visitors who came here,

was Florence Nightingale.

She spent three months traveling the Nile

and she thought that Egypt was a place full of life

and lights and beauty

but her heart was really taken by Philae.

She described it as having a kind of super sacred sense

and it was actually here in Egypt that she followed

what she thought was a calling from God to become a nurse.

And she went straight from here to train for five years

on the shores of Alexandria.

(calming music)

This place hasn't just enchanted with its beauty,

it has a fascinating tale to tell

about the last days of ancient Egypt.

Just over 2000 years ago,

with the death of the last great pharaoh, Cleopatra,

the Romans seized control of Egypt

but they weren't here just to conquer and suppress,

they were massive fans of ancient Egyptian culture

and even made their own additions to this temple.

Archeologist, Fatma Magdy Anwar,

has invited me to see the evidence.

Fantastic, thank you so much

because I've read a lot about this

but I've never seen it so-

This will be pleasure for me to show you.

Thank you.

Come after me.

Watch your step.

I will.

Thank you very much.

As you can see here, this is Augustus, emperor.

Uh-huh.

And how do you know that is definitely Augustus?

You can see, that's his name,

he's written it in hieroglyphic letters.

Augustus was the first emperor of the new power, Rome

but he chose to mark his presence here

using the ancient language of Egypt.

He couldn't be looking more Egyptian.

He's standing in that really typical Egyptian pose

and he's making offerings to the gods

as a good Pharaoh would do.

And I mean, the Romans are kind of more

than half in love with Egypt.

They love the fact it's very wealthy

but they love everything about it.

Yes, when they came to Egypt

they wanted to win the hearts of the Egyptians

so they worshiped the same gods of the Egyptians.

So it's a kind of hearts and minds campaign

'cause they're already in power.

Not just power cause he needed to be loved.

And are there any other emperors represented

anywhere else in the temple?

Yeah, we have Nero there.

Nero? I would love to see Nero as

an Egyptian pharaoh. Okay, let's go and see it.

Nero was notorious.

Known for his lavish lifestyle and tumultuous reign.

He's got a particularly splendid headdress on, hasn't he?

Yes he's loving to be showoff.

Yeah, well, I love the fact that he's not even

just represented as a pharaoh here,

he's trying to show himself to be an Egyptian god.

As you can see he's wearing the crown of god Amun.

Everybody wants to be like an Egyptian.

Yes.

And it must make you proud,

I'd imagine as an Egyptian woman,

the fact that people come here, not just today as tourists

but through history.

Yes, from every ages and from every country,

there is another people want to be Egyptians

and want to involve with Egyptian culture.

You look very proud, you're actually filling up.

Yes.

No but it is, it's a great thing

and we're very lucky to be able to share it today.

Thank you. So thank you.

Thank you for looking after it.

(laughing)

Oh, well thank you.

Thank you for looking after it.

It's great.

Really beautiful, thank you.

Thank you, fantastic.

On my Nile journey,

I've met so many people like Fatima

who are incredibly proud of their country's history.

And it's understandable since this amazing civilization

endured over 5000 years

and has been celebrated ever since

by everyone, from the Romans right through to us.

There's one final treat here at Philae,

a tiny detail that bears witness

to the dying breath of ancient Egyptian culture.

The whole of this temple is covered

with historical clues and information

so it might seems slightly perverse to pick this one,

which isn't particularly pretty

but what I'm looking at here is really significant.

These are the last Egyptian hieroglyph

ever carved on a wall in Egypt.

They date from 394 AD

and they were put here by somebody

who was a member of a dynasty,

a priest who served the goddess Isis.

Now it's really poignant

because what it says here is that this is a cult

that is going to carry on forever and ever.

But that's not the case

because increasingly the Roman Empire

and Rome-dominated Egypt at this time,

is becoming Christian.

And within just a few generations, Paganism was outlawed

and this temple was turned into a Christian church.

(uplifting music)

Philae marks an endpoint for ancient Egypt.

and for many Nile journeys.

But for me there's one last stop on the river

I want to show you.

It reveals just how captivated we still are by Egypt.

(dramatic music)

Many travelers end their Nile journeys here, in Aswan

but I've got one more treat in store

and getting there takes me away from the river.

(upbeat music)

I'm heading to a special place for a very special date.

This drive allows me to get around Aswan's mighty dams

and press on 180 miles, in fact, where the ancient

Nile Valley is now engulfed by Lake Nasser.

(water splashing)

This is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world,

created by the second of those dams downstream.

From the time of the ancients onwards

Egypt always seems to have attracted these

massive, ambitious construction projects.

And that tradition continues

and Lake Nasser or Lake Nubia, as some call it,

is 340 miles long and it took six years to fill.

But I've come this far south to see one of ancient Egypt's

most impressive engineering feats.

There's a temple coming up just here,

which symbolizes Egypt's glory days.

(dramatic music)

Abu Simbel, without a doubt

one of the most striking of Egypt's ancient temples.

Unusually, it was built in one reign, by one pharaoh.

Abu Simbel encapsulates the glory days of Egyptian rule.

Now we're used to the leaders of nations

making shouty statements of power

but even today, you cannot argue with this.

This is Egypt telling the world that she is in charge

and the incarnation of her power

is this man, it's Ramesses II,

the pharaoh also known as Ramesses The Great

and Ramesses is so certain of his potency,

there isn't just one of him here,

there's one, two, three, four, all set in stone.

(dramatic music)

3300 years ago, Ramesses enjoyed

one of the longest reigns in history.

Over 67 years, he proved a great leader on the battlefield

and a famous builder of enormous temples.

Ramesses left Egypt with more statues of himself

than any other pharaoh

and it was said that he fathered a hundred children.

But what's really interesting is that

despite all of his power

Ramesses still needs to keep the Nile on side.

So at the entrance to the temple here,

you've got an inscription showing

Hapi the god of the Nile and of the Nile's flood

and he's binding together the country,

uniting it with the power of the river.

Inside, the temple stretches 185 feet into the mountain

and, as you might expect, eight more massive images

of Ramesses flank the entrance hall.

There's also a wealth of historical clues.

Like many in power Ramesses was no stranger to propaganda.

Now there's absolutely no mistaking the message that is

being sent out by these, frankly, quite disturbing images.

This is the almighty pharaoh smiting his enemies,

but you've actually got to read these pictures

really carefully.

So if you look at this wall, the whole of this space

has been used to commemorate a very famous battle.

The battle of Kadesh,

between the Egyptians and their archenemies, the Hittites.

Now what's really interesting is that

this is portrayed as a glorious victory

but the truth is the Egyptians probably didn't win.

I mean, if anything, this was a kind of messy draw.

So this isn't quite fake news

but it's Ramesses II being very economical with the truth.

(curious music)

(curious music)

One rather amazing thing did come out

of the battle of Kadesh.

Years later, the two sides signed the "Eternal Treaty",

which has been described as the world's first peace treaty.

And actually there's a copy of it

that sits inside the UN building in New York.

It's full of very beautiful words and ideas,

there's talk of the need for the lands

and the people within it to flourish.

Mind you, it makes for devastating reading now

because Kadesh is in what is modern day Syria.

So 3300 years on that promise of peace has been shattered.

One thing that hasn't changed in all that time though,

is the aura that Ramesses worked so hard to create

and here there's a unique bit of ancient Egyptian magic.

So I've got to go back to my hotel room now to get some rest

because I have to be back here

really, really, really early tomorrow morning

because I've actually timed my visit

because something rather unique is gonna happen.

(calming music)

Twice a year, this remote spot in southern Egypt

fills with thousands of people.

They come from all over the world to witness an event

that's been going on for over three millennia.

(uplifting music)

(people chattering)

(uplifting music)

In a few minutes, a shaft of direct sunlight

will pierce the temple,

shine right through the hypostyle hall

and hit the far wall of the inner sanctuary.

There it will illuminate the face of Ramesses The Great

as he sits in line with Egypt's most powerful gods.

There'd have been great excitement in Ramesses' time

because the moment when the sun hit his face

was thought to be the moment

that it was proved that he was divine.

The moment of alignment is set to happen

on Ramesses birthday and on his coronation day

but it doesn't last for long.

No standing, no standing.

(tourists chattering)

(dramatic music)

As the sun crosses the doorframe,

the light strikes the back of the temple

(dramatic music)

and Ramesses glows in the sun.

(dramatic music)

(tourists chattering)

Once again he displays his godlike power

just as he did to the ancient Egyptians over 3000 years ago.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

And then as quickly as it started, the moment is gone.

(festive music)

Outside the festivities continue

on the shore of Lake Nasser.

And in the past, this event would have been

the cause for huge celebration too.

It's really great to see this kind of

party festival atmosphere carrying on outside

because the ancient Egyptians loved a party,

they loved a festival

but we know

because it's inscribed to some of the temples

that what they called the "common people"

were only allowed into certain spaces

and never into the inner sanctuary itself.

But with Ramesses desperate to be considered immortal.

I think he'd have loved this modern crowd

turning up to honor him.

(crowd cheering)

(musician whistling)

(crowd singing)

At the end of my epic journey along the Nile,

here's more proof that we're still fascinated

by the great civilization that this river gave birth to.

(dramatic music)

Coming here

and making this journey has taught me a huge amount.

I've always known from the history books

that Egypt is described as "the gift of the Nile"

but now I really get it,

I understand what that actually means.

The Nile didn't just shape Egypt,

it nourished the lives

and life experience of millions of rich and poor alike.

The Nile really is the gift that keeps on giving

because its treasures are shared across the millennia,

not just by the ancients

but by all of us.

(dramatic music)