Mysteries of Egypt

No land on earth possesses | nore wonders than Egypt

Wonders long hidden

but revealed occasionally | in a glint of gold

or a curious tale.

Our story begins with a death

the death of an unusual boy.

Workshipped as the son of Ra, | the sun-god

he was a Pharoah of Egypt | 3,000 years ago.

We don't know how he died

only that his death was sudden | and mysterious.

His body was preserved | in the manner of other pharaohs

and priests anointed his coffin

to prepare him | for his final journey...

into the world of the dead.

The rituals had to be finished

before his father, the sun, | descended into darkness.

So this young pharaoh | was secured in his tomb

surrounded by kingly treasures

and his seal was pressed | into its entrance.

From that time on, | it was to be a place of peace

hidden and undisturbed | throught eternity.

This young king's name was...

Tutankhamen.

For 3,000 years, | King Tut and his tomb

in The Valley of the Kings

remained concealed | beneath shifting sands.

Other tombs were discovered | and completely pillaged

but not his.

Believeing he could find it

an Englishman | named Howard Carter

mounted five arduous expeditions

but they yielded nothing.

In 1922, he returned to Egypt | for a sixth attempt

That year, he brought | a beautiful canary

to brighten his spirits.

The workmen called it | "The Golden Bird"

and told Carter | it would bring him good luck.

But as work began

success seemed | a remote prospect

and time was running out

Carter's benefactor, | Lord Carnarvon

was an English earl | fascinated by Egypt

but even he was losing faith

and had threatened | to cut off the money.

Yes, Carter persisted

knowing that if found intact

the tomb would be filled | with amazing artifacts

that would help us peer | through the shadows of time...

to glimpse a world | of human splendor long lost..

to glimpse our very beginnings.

That's a great story, Grandpa, | but I want to know more.

You live here, and I know | you can tell me the real story.

About?

Well, my friends want me | to ask about The Curse

How anyone who entered | King Tut's tomb...

...will have some terrible | thing happen to them.

Yes, yes, I know.

I don't know | if I believe it

but will you | tell me about it?

So, the pharaohs, | the tomb, the monuments

the great civilization | who built them

you're not interested in

But The Mummy's Curse | you find...

...exciting.

Yes, I can see that

All right, then.

You shall hear | all about it, but first

we must take | a trip together.

Where will we start, then

At the source, of course.

The source of the Nile.

It is the longest river | on earth

the greatest river in Africa

crossing nearly half | the continent

It is born of ywo rivers:

The White Nile, which rises | near Lake Victoria

and heads north through Uganda

and the Blue Nile, | which descends

from the highlands of Ethiopia.

They must in the desert of Sudan

forming the main trunk | of the Nile.

By the time it deains | into the Mediterranean Sea

its waters have journeyed | more than 4,000 miles.

To the outside world

the source of the great river | was an enduring mystery

but to the ancient Egyptians, | the source was clear:

The Nile flowed from the realm | of the gods.

But what has the Nile to do | with mummies and curses?

Everything. There would be no | mummies, no ancient Egypt

in fact, no Egypt at all | without her.

You see, Egypt without the Nile | is a desert

suitable for camels | and scorpions

but not great civilizations.

It's only here, along | the floodplain of the Nile

that the desert's heat | is softened

and arid sand is turned | to rich farmland.

Nourished and irrigated | by the Nile

Egypt became the longest-lived

of all the great | early civilizations.

In ancient times, so much water

raced down from the lush valleys | of central Africa

that the Nile overflowed | its banks in seasonal floods.

Mineral-rich silt

was carried toward the desert | of Egypt from lands upstream

where wildlife flourished.

Rich land made possible | a vast farming culture

and a stable civilization

able to turn | from daily survival

to works of the mind.

Science, mathematics

engineering and astronomy.

They studied the heavens | and the seasons

gave us the 24-hour day | and a 365-day calendar.

Egypt, an old saying goes

was the gift of the Nile.

But the Egyptians believed

there was one thing even | mightier than the Nile

the sun-

the God they called Ra

the God who created everything.

Each morning, with its rising

the run-god would be born.

Each night, in setting

he would die.

But the next morning

he would rise again, | never failing.

He was eternal.

When a king died

It was believed | that he became one with Ra.

His son, the new Pharaoh, | became Horus, the falcon

the living God on earth.

And so, the Egyptians accorded | their rulers absolute power

which they used to build | an extraordinary empire.

An empire of bulidings | so enormous

and art so exquisite

we are still | trying to understand

how such wonders were created...

how stones from the desert

were tirmed | into timeless mounments.

Some of the oldest buildings | on earth are here

preserved by the desert air

and the skill | of their creators.

Some are so old that they had | already stood a thousand years

when Tutankhamen was born

The enormous obelisks of Karnak

were carved from sigle blocks | of granite

moved hundreds of miles by boat

rolled on logs and perhaps | levered up with huge timbers.

Giant statues | of Ramses The Great

carved at Abu Simbel are still | some of the largest fingures

ever sculpted from solid stone.

We don't know how they did it, | but we do know why

to honer the pharaohs, | both in life and after death.

Honor the pharaohs after | death...

Does that have anything to do | with mummies?

Yes.

Look at Tutankhamen, | for example.

When the young king died

the priests sought to create | a magical new body for him.

For 70 days they labored | drying and preserving

the royal body | with salts and ointments

then wrapping it | in hundreds of feet of linen

laden with protective jewels, | charms and amulets.

And finally crowning the mummy

with an exquisite | golden death mask.

Tutankhamen was ready | for the afterlife.

Had the boy lived and died | a thousand years earlier

he would have been buried | like pharaohs long before him...

in a mounment | of colossal proportions-

a man-made mountain of stone | called "the pyramids."

They probably saw | the pyramid shape

as a mystical link | beyween earth and sky

providing the pharaoh's soul | with a stairway to the heavens.

Of the fabled Seven Wonders of | the Ancient World

only the Pyramids of Giza | remain

made more than 4,000 years ago.

Nearly 500 feet tall

they contain some of the largest | pieces of stone

ever moved by humans

as much as 50 tons or more.

Yet, this was accomplished | without wheels or pulleys

or even hand-tools.

How in the world did | they do it without | modern machinery?

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