Original subtitles

I'm Alice Roberts and I'm on an adventure to look at

the world's oldest and greatest civilisation.

SHE SPEAKS ARABIC

I'm going to be travelling the length and breadth of Egypt by train

to discover its ancient past.

I want to understand how the tombs, temples and pyramids came to be made

and dig even deeper to understand what life was like

for the ordinary people who made them.

Along the way I'll be meeting archaeologists who are still working

to uncover the story of ancient Egypt.

I'll be looking at some familiar sights,

but also learning about new discoveries.

I'm now on the railway line that hugs the Nile

all the way to Aswan via Luxor.

In Luxor, I find out why it's known as

the world's greatest open-air museum.

In Aswan, I visit the land of the temples.

Today I'll be making my base in Cairo.

I'll visit the great Egyptian Museum...

...get up close with the pyramids...

...even going inside.

Down in a souk, I find a hidden gem...

...and off the beaten track, the hillside graveyard

where the elite are buried alongside the commoners...

...as I travel ancient Egypt by train.

My first stop is the country's capital city.

I started my journey in Alexandria, 140 miles away from Cairo.

After a quick stop in Tanta,

I'm now getting close to the Egyptian capital.

I've been intrigued by ancient Egypt since I was a child,

and it's down to one particular woman.

In my local churchyard was the grave of

the pioneering Egyptologist Amelia Edwards.

Amelia travelled to Luxor and Aswan, starting her journey in Cairo.

I'm sad to be saying goodbye to Alexandria

and the Mediterranean sea, but my journey now lies to the south.

I'm also leaving behind that more recent history,

the Mamluk rulers, the Greeks, the Romans,

and I'm going in search of the pharaohs.

I'm heading towards the pyramids.

This is the book that Amelia penned as she made her journey up the Nile.

Amelia Edwards wrote that the first glimpse that many travellers would

have of the pyramids was on this train ride from Alexandria to Cairo,

so I'm hoping I might see them myself.

And of course, they're the most famous landmarks in Egypt

and surrounded in myth and mystery still.

Some people say that they are the relics of

an ancient technologically-advanced civilisation,

others that they were built by aliens.

But the archaeological truth is much more interesting,

and I'm going to meet the experts who are delving into those secrets.

I'm also hoping to uncover the origins

of the great city of Cairo itself.

As I pass through the city, it becomes clear

that the pyramids can't be seen from the train any more.

Cairo has grown dramatically since Amelia was here over 100 years ago.

Egypt was the second country in the world,

after Britain, to have a railway.

It was built by British pioneer and designer Robert Stephenson.

Stephenson was also contracted to make the trains.

Cairo is the hub of the whole rail network,

with hundreds of trains passing through it every day.

Cairo station was renovated in 2014 and it is splendid.

As the nation's main station, this was a no-expense-spared revamp,

demonstrating just how proud the Egyptians are of their railways.

The station also has its own museum

dedicated to the nation's railway history.

Oh, look, there's the plate.

Robert Stephenson, Newcastle on Tyne.

And just when I thought I'd finished with trains today,

along comes Dianne from the museum to distract me.

This to make it move.

There it is.

Dianne, when did the railways first open in Egypt?

And where did it travel from and to?

It started from Alexandria in 1852.

From Alexandria, it reached Cairo, in stages, in 1856.

With an engine built by Robert Stephenson?

Yes.

Today the Egyptian railway spans over 4,000 miles

and every year more than 270 million journeys are taken by passengers.

Cairo and its sister city Giza,

directly across the Nile, form Greater Cairo.

With a population of around 21 million,

this isn't just the biggest city in Egypt,

it's the biggest city in Africa.

And yet, it's not big enough.

The city's traffic is congested 24/7,

making travelling anywhere quickly impossible.

So the Egyptian solution is build a brand-new capital,

New Cairo, just 30 miles away.

This is a nation that isn't afraid to think big.

I start this new chapter of my journey into the deep past

in the Egyptian Museum,

right in the heart of Cairo city centre.

I'm meeting Yossra Ibrahim...

Pleased to meet you. Very, very nice to meet you.

...an Egyptologist from the city

who now works at the University of Mainz in Germany.

INAUDIBLE

So, tell me about this, then. I mean, this is extraordinary.

When does it date to?

It dates from about Dynasty I.

It marks the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.

So this is the very beginning of that Pharaonic period?

Yes, it's the beginning of a unified kingdom. Yeah.

We have the pharaoh Narmer or the pharaoh Menes.

He's the tallest one? Yes, he's the biggest character

to denote his importance and his power as well.

And who are these headless bodies over here?

Yeah, so these people are supposed to be

the enemies who were against Narmer or were against unification.

When are we talking about, fourth millennium?

Yes, possibly. BCE? Possibly, yes.

Yeah, yeah.

A very interesting detail - in the middle here, you see the circle?

This is where the make-up pot would be prepared.

It's a make-up pallet? It's supposed to be,

but we're not sure if it was used or not.

I'm drawn towards a face I'm familiar with.

It bears a striking resemblance to the bust of Queen Nefertiti

which resides in the Neues Museum in Berlin.

She's one of the most copied works of ancient Egyptian art.

This is Nefertiti, is it?

This is an unfinished bust of Nefertiti.

So the famous bust of Nefertiti currently in the Berlin museum...

It's recognisably the same face. Yes, yes. Yeah.

It's the same technique. The facial features are prominent.

And she is, you know, she's... Yeah.

...chin up, yeah, looking out.

Now that's really naturalistic.

It's very naturalistic.

Compared with these statues, which are quite bizarre.

They are quite unique with reference to the Egyptian art

because it's quite strange to see the pharaoh depicted in this manner.

The museum's collection is spellbinding.

They have artefacts from ancient Egypt spanning thousands of years.

Both large...

...and small.

But the treasures of one pharaoh in particular

draw in visitors in their millions - Tutankhamun.

Here we have the mummy mask.

Ah... Do you know, I've seen so many pictures of this,

but nothing quite prepares you for the real thing.

It's exquisite.

It's absolutely beautiful.

It's made of gold, and you can see a lot of details.

You can see a fake beard denoting the death of the pharaoh. Right.

You can also see the cobra and vulture at the top

or at the head in order to protect it.

Just layers and layers of symbolism. Yes.

And, you know, the symbolism of the wealth

that is poured into this tomb and almost saying,

"We can afford to just lose this,

"we can afford to put all this gold away..."

Yeah. "..and we're still rich

"and we're still powerful and this dynasty will continue." Exactly.

Now, can we see his name anywhere here? I really want to see the name.

You can. You can see it on a number of objects.

So this is a mummy case belonging to Tutankhamun,

and here you can find his name,

Twt-ankh-imn or Tutankhamun.

This is the meaning of his name. And what's giving you the sound of "Tut"?

So Tut is composed of these two semicircles, of the sound "T". Yeah.

And then the "W" - the quail, that's the "W" so "Twt".

The top one is the sound for the "M". Mm.

And the zigzag is the "N",

and the one on the right is the "E" or the "I", "Imn".

That's a feather?

That's a feather, yes.

Oh, it's just... Isn't it incredible?

Yes. You're making it a living language again. Ah, yeah.

I'm so... Honestly, it's wonderful.

Would you like to see the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun?

Yes, I would like to see the sarcophagus. Of course. Please.

Is this his sarcophagus as well?

Yes, this one was placed inside this.

How many sarcophagi, how many cases were there?

Well, these were several cases.

There were about four on the inside,

and then there are two surrounding,

or two emboxing the coffins.

And again, you've got these ornate patterns,

but you've also got hieroglyphs,

and these hieroglyphs are inlaid. Yes.

And even at his feet you've got that extraordinary detail.

This is the goddess Isis stretching her wings

in order to aid the protection of the deceased, of Tutankhamun.

And in the pantheon of Egyptian gods and goddesses,

what was the division of power?

How important were the goddesses compared with the gods?

I would say they assumed equal importance

because you have several female deities

and several male deities as well,

and Isis is a very important and a powerful figure

who doesn't just represent motherhood.

I just think that's such a wonderful image with those beautiful wings.

Isis was the goddess of fertility and motherhood,

death and rebirth, and this image of her

at the feet of Tutankhamun's sarcophagus is so beautiful.

It's night-time when the city really comes to life.

Cairo's souk is at least 600 years old.

A kilometre of shops and street traders.

And you couldn't ask for more of a contrast

from the tranquillity of the museum.

I love that one.

That's gorgeous.

And it's the perfect place for the weary traveller

to part with some money at the end of a long day.

That's 50? What about...

.. 2577

307 Yeah.

Thank you.

There's so much to be tempted by, but one craftsman caught my eye.

Ah, isn't that lovely?

I've seen a design. I don't know... I don't know if you have it,

but it is on Tutankhamun's sarcophagus...

...Isis with her wings out. Can you do a plate with that on?

Yeah, OK. You can do that for me?

Yeah. Mumkin?

Ah, mumkin! Mumkin. Yeah.

"Mumkin" is a little bit of Arabic I picked up meaning "if possible".

Welcome. Thank you. Have a nice time. Thank you. See you later.

CALL TO PRAYER ECHOES

Beside the souk is a huge mosque

and I want to see if I can have a look around.

Is this the Qalawun mosque?

Yeah, this is the Qalawun complex.

So, it's the tomb of Qalawun himself? Yeah. And he built it?

He built this, yes, in 1285. Yeah.

He was a slave, but he became king.

He was a Mamluk? He was a slave soldier? Mamluk, yeah.

Yeah. He built this?

Yeah, the tomb.

The tomb over here.

Mm-hm. Here is the mosque and school. On that side.

And front, this is a hospital. You want to have a look?

I'd love to. Can I go and explore?

It's OK. Thank you. HE SPEAKS ARABIC

Built in the 13th century, this is a mosque with a school attached.

The student accommodation was arranged around this courtyard.

This is absolutely stunning, right in the centre of Cairo.

You can hear the traffic outside, you can hear the souk,

and then you come into this sacred space.

And this is all part of this complex

which includes the school, but it's also a mosque,

a place for learning about Islam.

And the architecture's so beautiful.

This really is a jewel of Islamic Mamluk architecture.

Another important part of this complex was a hospital,

which also functioned as a medical school.

And these buildings capture what has been going on in Egypt

for thousands of years - recycling and reusing features from the past.

This is such stunning medieval architecture.

But there are also more ancient elements here as well.

These pillars are Roman. They come from Alexandria.

And these huge columns here are Pharaonic, from Luxor.

The most elaborate architecture and decoration is seen in the mausoleum.

When Qalawun died, his body was kept nearby for two months

while they completed this tomb for him.

And later, his family members would be added.

So this is the tomb of Qalawun lying in the centre

of this complex that bears his name.

Just like the pharaohs in their pyramids,

he made sure that he'd be remembered.

The Qalawun mosque complex is a hidden gem,

a wonderful piece of history that is still functioning

in a contemporary world,

buried deep in a city that not only embraces change,

it thrives on it.

Before the night is done, there's just enough time for me

to check on my Tutankhamun plate design.

Is it nearly done? Oh, welcome back!

Oh, wow, look at that! You like it?

... I think it's absolutely beautiful. She's fantastic.

Thank you. You're welcome. Have a nice time.

Thank you so much for doing that. I really... That's lovely.

Nice to meet you. Bye. Thank you. Nice to meet you too. Bye-bye.

Today is the big day. It's all about the pyramids and the pharaohs,

and I'm heading for Saqqara to find out

where the idea of the pyramids came from.

But I also want to find out what was here in Cairo

before it was called Cairo.

The expansion of modern day Cairo

has consumed legendary cities from ancient times.

In the north of the city are the remnants of Heliopolis,

one of the oldest cities In ancient Egypt and a former capital.

This last remaining obelisk was one of many in Egypt.

A few were taken by the Romans to adorn other cities,

and one can even be seen on the Victoria Embankment in London.

Heliopolis is in what's now a small suburb of Cairo,

and from here it's a 40-minute drive to Saqqara,

right on the edge of the city limits.

Saqqara is a site of around 40,000 acres.

It has hundreds to tombs...

...and the very first pyramid ever.

Known as the Step Pyramid,

it was built almost 4,700 years ago for the pharaoh Djoser.

Look here. These niches, they had statues in here.

Yeah. All this.

I'm meeting Yomna Salama, an Egyptologist,

tour guide and university lecturer with a focus on

the role of women throughout Egyptian history.

They say sometimes it's older than Stonehenge.

Yeah, it is older than Stonehenge, and it's also... Yeah.

It's also more nicely made.

And this is a pharaoh's tomb?

Yes, that's King Djoser, the founder of the third dynasty

so we're talking about 2700 BC.

It's astonishing, isn't it?

I mean, it's absolutely enormous.

I mean, that took a lot of work to create.

We actually consider the building of Djoser's pyramid

as a revolution in architecture in Egypt,

because before the time of Djoser, it was mainly mud brick

and wood used in the construction and building. Right.

So, actually, the first time to construct something in stone,

limestone, was here.

This is the first pyramid?

Yes, that's the first pyramid in the world.

This idea of the pyramid. Do we have any idea where it comes from?

It actually started with a pit under the ground

and then a shaft leading to this pit

and then a mastaba, which is a rectangular superstructure... Right.

...on top of this shaft and the burial pit.

And it's interesting cos it's quite steep-sided, isn't it,

when you look at each layer? Mm.

If you look, it's nothing but six mastabas,

six rectangular superstructures above each other.

There is all solid stone.

The burial chamber is underneath.

Here in Saqqara, also it's not just a necropolis for people.

We have burial shafts for birds and animals,

and last year we discovered a mummified small lion,

baby lion. Really?

Yes, so it's birds, animals, cats and falcons,

hundreds of mummified animals.

Do we have literature from ancient Egypt telling us... Yes.

...you know, why these animals are being given very similar treatment?

The Egyptians, for the soul of the dead person,

they made sacrificial gifts and the mummified cats and falcons,

those were actually sacred animals.

But to mummify falcons and cats,

this is something very unusual and very Egyptian.

Yes. I like that, very Egyptian.

Everything in ancient Egypt is related to one concept,

life after death and the circle of life.

And it's incredible to come here,

actually, and realise that it isn't...

I mean, I say "just the pyramid."

The pyramid's really impressive, but this is... wWell, yeah.

This is all fantastic as well, this archaeology.

You need to stay at least one month with me here to see everything.

That sounds great! But we'll try to cover the highlights. Yeah, we'll do that, then! Yeah!

Coming here to Saqqara, there's so much.

What is all this around the pyramid?

Well, this is very important, actually, what you mention.

Pyramids are one architectural component of what we call a burial

or a funeral complex of the pharaoh.

So here, for example, in Saqqgara, you see the open court,

you see a temple, you see gates leading to the complex.

This is a funerary complex that has all kinds

of wonderful architectural features.

This gateway leads into a narrow colonnaded room.

This is the door or entrance,

the only true entrance of the 14 gates.

And that's the wall that used to surround the entire complex.

So 13 of these gates are just false entrances?

Yes, just to amaze the tomb robbers and the thieves.

Wow, yeah. And here you can see the columns

on the right and on the left side,

they are imitating a bunch of papyrus reeds tied together.

Yes.

And of course, the gaps here, right and left,

were occupied by statues of the pharaoh sitting on his throne.

The courtyards and walkways would be places for festivals,

but there are also areas for quiet reflection and paying respects.

Look at this. We have here a frieze of cobra snakes.

And it's just a feature along the top of the wall all the way around?

All the way round. Thousands of cobras for protection.

That's why you see cobras on the forehead of the pharaohs,

hey are protective.

At the end of the Saqgara site, pyramids of ancient rulers

can easily be mistaken for mounds of earth.

This is the tomb of King Teti, who died more than 4,000 years ago.

It certainly hasn't stood the test of time.

But Yomna is taking me to a well-preserved tomb

of one of King Teti's employees.

So whose tomb is this?

This is the tomb of the high official Mereruka.

He is the Prime Minister

or the supervisor of all the work of King Teti.

Is this him?

That's him represented in a noble style.

He's wearing a stretched kilt with a walking stick and a sceptre.

And who's this here under his skirt?

This is his wife. Here she's very small.

Here she's small because the tomb belongs to him originally. Yeah.

But inside you will see her as equal.

Can we go in?

Yes, let's go inside the silence of the dead.

And here you will see Mereruka and his wife holding hands.

Oh. They are represented as equal.

Ah, so this time she's the same height as him?

Yes, and they're holding hands, a very loving and caring attitude.

And all the men are in action,

so that shows you the daily life in Egypt.

This man, for example, is giving his master water to drink.

And you can see the lotus flowers

are beautiful here in the River Nile. Yeah, yeah.

Fishing scenes with nets.

It's stylised, but there's also these naturalistic elements to it,

and the fish are brilliant. All the different kinds of fish.

There's a catfish! There is the catfish.

Isn't it wonderful? It tells a story, doesn't it?

Exactly.

So, here we have a big statue of Mereruka right here,

the owner of this tomb, to your right.

And to your left-hand side, you see him represented in a noble style.

He's wearing the panther skin.

Oh, yes. You can see the head of the panther up there. Exactly.

So wearing the panther skin shows his status.

There's all these animals here. I can see some COWS.

Yes, and even you can see they are turning ones upside down

to be slaughtered, to be given as sacrificial gifts.

It's brilliant to have such a detailed record of life

in ancient Egypt, and not just for the elite but the whole economy.

Exactly.

And where was his actual tomb, then? I mean, obviously this whole thing

is his tomb, but where is... Was there a sarcophagus?

Yes, there is a shaft in this tomb, in this room behind us,

and his sarcophagus or coffin should be in this shaft.

It was inserted down into the floor?

Yeah, under the ground. Yeah.

Was it sealed after his death or did people come in?

No, no, no. After the burial,

the tomb will be sealed and shall never be entered again.

They have only 40 to 70 days, the mummification time,

to bring all the furniture and the personal belongings

of the dead person and all the sacrificial gifts,

and then the tomb will be sealed and closed.

I mean... And that sealing of these tombs,

that's why they've been so well preserved

and that's why we get this astonishing insight

into ancient Egypt through them.

That's one of the major reasons and also because of documentation.

They documented everything, so we can tell what's missing. Yeah.

I've been in Cairo for a couple of days now

and I'm already getting a good feel for it.

There's a fascinating old European grandeur to its architecture.

The broad city streets carry a seemingly endless flow

of traffic day and night.

Today I'm heading to the other half of Greater Cairo,

directly across the Nile - the city of Giza.

At the edge of this vast city, where it meets the desert,

it reveals its claim to fame...

...the Great Pyramids of Giza...

...as well as the Sphinx.

Giza is a big draw for tourists.

I'm getting there early to avoid the crush.

I'm meeting Ashraf Mohie EL-Din,

the man with the best job title in the world...

...the Director of the Pyramids.

Ashraf, this is beautiful. And I think...you see the Sphinx,

but actually there's so much more around the Sphinx as well.

Yes.

This was remains of ancient harbour. Oh, really?

So the boat which bring the blocks was parked here.

So there was a river just here? Yes.

On the right-hand side, we have the Sphinx temple.

It is the oldest and the first sun temple

to worship when the sun rises and to worship when the sun sets.

Yeah, yeah.

You have to remember everything started,

created on this land! Right here?

Yes!

It's really a huge temple.

Ashraf, what is this temple, then? What was it for?

This the Valley Temple of the King Kha-ef-ra,

Khafre. Khafre. It's a huge temple.

Dates back to Dynasty IV, 4,600 years.

The temple itself, it was built from limestone

and was cased inside and outside with granite blocks.

Each pillar, it's about 60 tonnes.

If you have a look from here,

you can see all the pillars in one straight line.

That's amazing, isn't it? I mean, that engineering. Yes.

And that degree of precision.

It's exactly one straight line.

Yeah. It's almost like brutalist architecture.

It's very simple and very powerful.

Yes.

This would have been roofed over?

Yes. It would have been a dark, mysterious place.

That's right, but there are some niches in the ceiling over there...

Yeah, yeah. ..to bring the sun rays to the statues, who were shining,

because when the sun rays went to the statues, we get the reflection.

So do you think right at this point, then,

there's that kind of identification of the sun as a deity

and the king as, effectively, that deity?

Of course, yes, because the king, he's the son of the god.

After the death, he became the god himself. Yeah.

So all the people come to worship the god,

bring offerings to the god, to where? In his temple. Mm.

And it's so perfectly fitted. I mean, do you think they were

finishing these blocks once they'd placed them in situ?

We have workshops. We have workshops outside. Yeah.

So they brought the granite, cut it and polish it,

and after they finish it, they brought the block to here.

I mean, it's so neat. I mean, look at these joints

and you just see that precision. Just incredible.

It's really perfect.

This is so beautiful and enormous.

I mean, it's just amazing

to even think about how they started this sculpture.

Sphinx was cut from one single rock, just one piece.

This is literally carved out of the mountain in situ?

Yes.

It represent the King Khafre as the sun god.

It takes the face features of Khafre and the body of a lion.

It's a combination between the wisdom of the human face

and the power, strength of the lion.

It's really complex beliefs, isn't it? Really complex symbolism.

Yes, of course.

Do you get the impression that this religion was something

which inspired fear or joy?

The workers, they have a strong belief in god,

they have a belief in the afterlife,

they believe in rebirth and resurrection,

so they were doing this by their desire.

They were not forced, they were not slaves.

If you have the belief, you will do miracles.

We do many studies, we do many excavations,

and from excavations we found loads of information

telling us about the history. This is what I think is so incredible

about ancient Egyptian archaeology

is that you have this documentary evidence that goes alongside it.

You've got the writing, you've got the written word,

you've got what was in the minds of the makers.

We were lucky, because they were recording everything on papyri,

on the walls of the tombs, so we got loads of information.

From 4,500 years ago. I mean, it's incredible.

And in terms of this miraculous construction,

what kind of tools are they using?

Actually, this is limestone.

Around, you know, we found workshops,

and in the workshops, we found tools from granite,

because granite's harder than limestone.

So they're not using metal tools?

Not, because wasn't invented at this early time yet.

Just across from the Sphinx are the Pyramids.

Their enormous scale is all about the status of the Pharaoh,

whose body is entombed deep inside.

But they also stand as testament to the ancient Egyptians' ability

to construct monumental architecture on a superhuman scale.

They're saying, "Look at us.

"We can make the greatest buildings in the world."

It's really difficult to get a sense of scale, isn't it?

It's really huge. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I can see there's a little horse-drawn cart

just disappearing over there. Yeah.

And suddenly you actually appreciate the...

...the immensity. They are huge.

We have three big pyramids of Giza.

Khufu.

And the second one, his son is Khafre,

or Kha-ef-ra.

And the grandson is Menkaure.

And the small pyramids for the queens, the wives of Menkaure.

And this is a family

and their tombs just kind of securing that idea

of a dynasty in the landscape.

Yes, this is one dynasty,

dates back - Dynasty IV - 4,600 years.

Oh, it's just incredible!

Museums here and across the world

are full of artefacts from ancient Egypt,

and yet it's estimated they've only found a tiny fraction

of the archaeological remains under the sands.

There is still so much more to be discovered.

Presumably the pharaoh has to start the work on this

when he comes to the throne? Of course, yes.

Building a pyramid takes about 20 years.

And the Khufu pyramid's about 2.3 million blocks.

It's about 13 acres square.

Yeah. It's really huge.

Do they build the chamber first

and then start accumulating the pyramid around the chamber? OK.

How does it work?

It's a very good question. I will answer to you.

This is the base of the pyramid.

They make a ramp from sand.

So this ramp goes up in a circular way around the pyramid

and start to build the chambers, the tunnels, the passages. Yeah.

And they're going up course by course, level by level.

So it all has to be planned out from the very beginning? Yes.

That's right. And they're going up course by course.

So this ramp goes up in a circular way to be easy for the sledges

which hold, you know, the blocks to go up

until they reach the top of the pyramid.

So they start to case the pyramid from outside

with fine and white limestone

and were removing the ramp from the top to the bottom down there.

Oh! So, if you imagine how the pyramid looked like in ancient time,

it was so smooth, so flat. Yeah, yeah. So white.

So what's happened to the casing?

Because, you know, that middle one has still got some casing. Yes.

But most of it's gone.

They were stripped out to be used in the modern buildings. Right.

They didn't care about the pyramid. They used the pyramid as a quarry.

So what we see of the surface today, that stepped effect,

that wouldn't have been there. It would have been completely smooth.

Smooth and flat.

And you can see remains of the outer casing on the top of Khafre. Yeah.

Because the robbers didn't go to the top of the pyramid.

So we can imagine it.

We can imagine what it would have looked like. Yes.

I'm lucky to have been given half an hour to see the tomb of Khufu

deep inside the Great Pyramid before it opens to the public.

I'm told it's a bit of a steep climb,

around 70 metres and over 400 steps.

And I'm just about to leave all the tourists behind

because thanks to Ashraf, I'm incredibly privileged

to be going inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu on my own.

I'm climbing deep inside the Great Pyramid,

looking for the tomb of Khufu.

I can see a shaft descending down there...

...to a chamber far below me, but I'm...

...heading up to the King's Chamber.

This is just incredible.

It's like being in a cave or a mine...

...but actually, I'm going deep inside a pyramid.

It's opening out.

Oh, my God! Look at this space.

It keeps on going into the heart of the pyramid.

It's getting hotter and hotter the higher I climb.

Phew!

And now a bit of a crawl.

This is it.

This is the central chamber right in the heart of the pyramid.

And this space is...

...is incredible. It's austere.

There's nothing on the walls,

no inscriptions, no carving.

But we know that this was the resting place of Khufu

because of graffiti elsewhere.

And this is his great granite sarcophagus

and it would have held his mummy.

But when the chamber was opened just over 200 years ago,

it was like this. It was just as I'm seeing it now, empty.

It had been plundered centuries before.

It's completely awe-inspiring.

But there's also something quite terrifying about it.

I'm getting quite a strong sense that I shouldn't be here.

The Great Pyramid is a monumental piece of history,

a statement from a civilisation whose kings were all-powerful,

whose architects were heroic.

It feels incredibly special to be this close to it,

to be able to touch it. But there are some rules.

That sign definitely wasn't here

when Amelia Edwards came to visit in 1873.

Amelia did her whole journey up the Nile

and then comes back to the Pyramids at Giza,

and she climbs this one, the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

"The view from this place is immense." she writes.

"The country is so flat, the atmosphere is so clear,

"the standpoint so isolated that one really sees more and sees further

“than from many a mountain summit of 10,000 or 12,000 feet.

"The ground lies, as it were, immediately under one,

"and the great necropolis is seen as in a ground plan.

"Without ascending the pyramid, it's certainly not possible

"to form a clear notion of the way in which

“this great burial field is laid out.

"We see from this point how each royal pyramid is surrounded

"by its quadrangle of lesser tombs, some in the form of small pyramids,

"others partly rock-cut, partly built of massive slabs

“like the roofing stones of the temples.

"We see how Khufu and Khafre and Menkaure lay

"each under his mountain of stone

"with his family and his nobles around him.

"They are the grandest graves in all the world."

Back on the train, and this next journey is symbolic.

I'm following the Nile south from Cairo to Min ya.

This is such a beautiful, fertile landscape,

and here on the banks of the Nile are some of the most iconic temples

and the most prestigious tombs in all of ancient Egypt.

The railway crosses from Lower Egypt to Upper Egypt,

and Min ya is a border town that links the two.

I'm not too far now from the land of the temples,

the Valley of the Kings and Queens. They're next.

But now I'm going somewhere well off the main tourist trail.

A short trip from the station brings me to a place called Beni Hasan.

I suspect there's a lot more steps to come.

It's an ancient Egyptian cemetery.

Here the tombs are protected

and well away from the flood plain of the Nile.

The cemetery dates back around 4,000 years

and, in more recent times, some kind person has built

a long set of steps.

Now, the name of Beni Hasan comes from that town over there,

that abandoned Arab town.

I'm down amongst the graves of the lower cemetery here

and these are all shaft graves.

There's about 900 of them across this hillside.

This whole site was excavated by John Garstang

from Blackburn, Lancashire at the beginning of the 20th century.

He discovered two separate areas for burials.

Here, all over the hillside, is for the ordinary people -

small rectangular holes one after the other.

I'm heading up to the upper cemetery, and that's where the elite

were buried in these rock-cut tombs. I can just see the entrances.

At the very top are 39 tombs for the upper echelons of society.

Ah!

Made it to the upper cemetery.

This is the tomb of Amenembhat, a local ruler and priest.

The tomb artwork reflects his interests and hobbies in life.

He seems to have liked music, wine and sport.

There are also some wrestling or fighting scenes.

Khnumhotep Il was buried in this one.

He came from a family of local governors.

The scenes in here tell the story of a group of traders,

perhaps coming from the eastern desert,

bringing pigment for eye paint.

Each tomb also contains a burial shaft

for the sarcophagus of the mummified body.

Thank you so much.

Cairo, Giza and Beni Hasan have given me an incredible insight

into ancient Egypt.

My next location is Luxor, the Valley of the Kings,

the Temple of Karnak, and the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media