Ancient Egyptian Achievements

NARRATOR: The mysteries of ancient Egypt and its hidden secrets. ADAMS: These tombs represent the technology of resurrection. STEVEN: They created truly amazing monuments. NARRATOR: Some of his greatest achievements, lost beneath the sand and water of the Nile Valley, until now. Imagine if we could drain the oceans, or empty the desert, to reveal the secrets beneath. Now we can. Using the latest underwater scanning technology, drilling into the oceans and sand, converting precise data into 3D images. This time: Can scientists solve the mystery of the Lighthouse of Alexandria and recreate one of the ancient wonders of the world? Why did a pharaoh build fifteen huge forts when none of them had ever seen a major battle? BESTOCK: It's a forgotten era in Egyptian history, because we lost access to these monuments. NARRATOR: And what does a fleet of ships buried 10 kilometers from the Nile, reveal about Egypt's original "Valley of the Kings"? Ancient Egypt, one of the greatest civilizations on Earth. It has existed for three thousand years. Its people developed a remarkable written language using images and symbols. They worship strange gods. And they build two of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The first, the great pyramids of Giza. STEVEN: The ancients determined the seven wonders, because they met certain criteria. It was the genius of the design, but it had to have been built on a truly colossal scale. NARRATOR: The second ancient wonder of the Egyptians is the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Known as the Pharos, it is built on a grand scale like the other wonders: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Colossus of Rhodes. Of the seven wonders, only the pyramids survive now. But as the waters of the Nile Delta are drained, can the architectural marvel, the Pharos, return to life from the seas surrounding Alexandria's harbor? And accurately recreated for the first time, a vision that once dazzled the world. STEVEN: Pharos was classified as one of the seven wonders of the world, because it was something that had never been seen before. Some people say the lighthouse could be seen 48 kilometers out to sea. NARRATOR: The Lighthouse of Alexandria is a technological and architectural masterpiece. Built in the 3rd century BC, it is the crowning glory of a new capital city, founded by the conqueror of ancient Egypt: Alexander the Great. STEVEN: Alexandria was everything back then. Something comparable to the Champs- Élysées in Paris or Times Square in New York. Alexandria was all that and more. It was the most beautiful city the world had ever seen. NARRATOR: Egypt's new rulers want the Pharos to send a big, simple message. KHALIL: They wanted to show how powerful the city was. And they needed a sign, a big banner that said, "Welcome to Alexandria." Pharos was created, primarily, as a landmark. NARRATOR: But once Egypt's power has faded, the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria falls into disrepair. The land beneath it slowly disappears into the sea, and in the 14th century, it finally collapses after being hit by an earthquake. The Pharos is believed to be lost here, under 7 meters of water, at the entrance to Alexandria's harbor. (music) Now, a French team of archaeologists is trying to rediscover its true magnificence. Using the latest underwater imaging technology, they are searching the seafloor for clues. Its goal is to digitally reconstruct, for the first time, this lost ancient wonder of the world. Leading the investigation is architect and archaeologist Isabelle Hairy. She has been searching for the truth about the Lighthouse of Alexandria for over twenty years. HAIRY: It's always very rewarding to work on one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. I would be lying if I said otherwise. NARRATOR: Isabele's team is working on one of the largest underwater archaeological sites in the world. They investigate some mysterious granite blocks. These remarkable remains are clearly man-made. Could they be from the ancient lost wonder? Isabelle's task is to discover the true dimensions and design of Pharos. But their job is made more difficult by conflicting accounts of what he was really like. HAIRY: We came across these extraordinary images of the lighthouse. NARRATOR: The differing impressions of past travelers and artists made the lighthouse's actual appearance a mystery. HAIRY: Here it is represented as the Tower of Babylon. Here is a very classic building with floors one above the other, with doors that open to very mysterious rooms. NARRATOR: Over time, ideas about Pharos became even more fantastic. KHALIL: One of the authors said that Pharos was so excessively high that if a stone were thrown from the top of the lighthouse, it would reach the ground in 2 or 3 days. It 's not true, but it says something about how those people viewed the lighthouse. NARRATOR: Where is the truth? Will underwater granite blocks provide the answer? To find out, Isabelle's team uses a technique called photogrammetry, capturing thousands of detailed images of the entire immense site. MAN: We have a closer view on the map. It is block number 1,003. HAIRY: Do you think we can go further, can we go further north? NARRATOR: After 28 weeks of diving and 50,000 photographs, Isabelle has the data she needs to finally unlock the secrets of Pharos. The combination of this unique data with state-of-the-art computer graphics means that, for the first time, the waters surrounding Alexandria Harbor can be drained. As the Mediterranean begins to empty, surprising shapes appear. Nearly three thousand granite blocks scattered across one hectare of the seabed. They are not natural rock formations , they are clearly the work of human hands. Statue bases, pieces of pillars. All in a building of monumental proportions. The submerged ruins of a true ancient wonder, the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Returned to daylight for the first time in 600 years. Isabelle's work has already delivered a revelation. Some of the drained landscape blocks are a crucial key to the shape of Pharos. HAIRY: Draining the site has allowed us to see the lighthouse. We have even found blocks that could have formed the cornerstones, but no blocks were found underwater to indicate that the walls were sloping. The walls were straight. NARRATOR: This is the first physical evidence of the lighthouse's design. A great advance in all previous knowledge. But piecing together the rest of the underwater puzzle remains a major challenge. KHALIL: It's a puzzle. Basically, one of 3,000 pieces that you have to try to fit together. And they might fit or they might not. NARRATOR: And what's more, some crucial pieces of the puzzle that were taken to museums during previous excavations are missing. But an important piece lies nearby, abandoned on the dock. HAIRY: This is probably the biggest discovery found at the site. NARRATOR: But what is it? HAIRY: Here we have a side section of a door frame. We know this because this is where the door would have been, so let's move on. NARRATOR: This slot is carefully carved like the frame for a huge door. And incredibly, Isabelle can match the frame's distinctive shape to other stones lying underwater. They must all be pieces from the same gate. HAIRY: By joining this enormous fragment, almost twelve meters long, together with all the other fragments, we can reconstruct a door. One of the most important pieces on the site. NARRATOR: Now, for the first time, it is possible to recreate the lighthouse door. The entrance to a wonder of the ancient world. HAIRY: Okay, now we can connect it to the lintels. Yes. The vertical one. MAN: Like this? HAIRY: Perfect. So. Excellent. NARRATOR: The drained site reveals the missing fragments of the giant door frame. Using scanned images of the seabed, its enormous blocks are revealed. Computer graphics technology turns back the centuries. The door frame pieces fit together perfectly. And inside the granite frame, a large wooden door once stood. All reaching 12 meters in height and weighing more than 200 tons. The entrance to the lighthouse is being restored to the spot where it fell. A monumental piece of architecture that dwarfs anyone who passes by it. For the first time, a portion of the Lighthouse of Alexandria has been accurately reconstructed. But what does the rest of the lighthouse look like? And does it really deserve its title as a wonder of the ancient world? (music) Archaeologist Isabelle Hairy continues her search for the truth about the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Historical reports are contradictory. But most agree on one thing, that Pharos has three distinct levels, each with a different shape. Isabelle heads to the place where the lighthouse is believed to have been. Now the site of another great building, the fort of Qaitba. Built in 1477, just 42 years after the lighthouse ruins were last seen. Inside, an intriguing clue. Isabelle believes her mosque is a small-scale replica of Pharos. HAIRY: You really get the impression of being in the old lighthouse, although the scale is not the same, but there is that sense of space, still present, that we can feel around us. NARRATOR: The main tower is square. Above, it is finished by an octagonal and then circular section. Isabelle's theory is that the architects of the mosque intended it to be a tribute to Alexandria's more famous building. So Pharos is shaped like this? To solve this mystery, Isabelle needs to compare her 3D data with historical reports and discover the true scale of Pharos. Some dimensions were recorded by medieval travelers. In 1166, Al-Balawi of Spain wrote an accurate description of the lighthouse, reporting that it was 300 cubits high. More than a century later, the Moroccan scholar, Ibn Battuta, recorded the thickness of the walls of Pharos at 10 palms. The problem is that these units have been lost to history. Until now. There is a preview from the reconstructed gate frame of Pharos. Its outer edge reveals the exact thickness of the outer wall of the lighthouse. The dimension also recorded by Ibn Battuta, centuries earlier. Its 10 'palms' are equal to two meters and 7 centimeters. HAIRY: It's an incredibly rewarding discovery. We can now decipher the texts of Ibn Battuta and the texts of Al-Balawi. NARRATOR: It's amazing progress. The conversion of medieval units to precise modern measurements reveals the true scale of Pharos for the first time. Combining all the underwater evidence with Al-Balawi's descriptions solves a centuries-old puzzle. Revealing three towers that match the mosque's design, making it possible to reconstruct a lost ancient wonder in exact detail. The statues in Alexandria's museums are returning to their original homes. Pharos, believed to have been clad in limestone, rose almost 100 meters into the sky. The size of a 32-story building. It is one of the tallest structures of the ancient world. (music) And it is believed that it is all crowned by a marvel of ancient technology, fires and iron mirrors that reflect the light and glory of Egypt to the world beyond. HAIRY: It could have resembled the first skyscrapers built in Chicago, in the late 19th century. It is really a fabulous structure. STEVEN: The ancients determined the seven wonders because they met certain criteria; So Pharos meets all the old criteria of innovative design, of something that was actually built and that was truly impressive. NARRATOR: Most importantly, Pharos marks the entrance to Ancient Egypt and the mighty Nile River. At over six thousand kilometers long, the Nile is the longest river in the world. HENDERSON: The Nile was central to Ancient Egypt. (music) It was the seasonal flooding that brought this rich black mineral mud and deposited it in the fields and made it fertile. In fact, that was what drove the civilization of Ancient Egypt. Without the Nile, that would not have happened. NARRATOR: 6,500 years ago, farmers made these banks their home and a civilization was born. Nine kilometers west of the Nile, draining not water but sand, reveals an ancient mystery, known as the Abydos boats. STEVEN: It was completely unexpected to find a ghost flotilla in the middle of nowhere. NARRATOR: Why is there a fleet of ships under the sands of the Egyptian desert? Egyptologist Matthew Adams has been excavating the mysterious Abydos ships for thirty years. ADAMS: You'd never know, looking at this flat piece of desert, that beneath the sand is one of the most remarkable discoveries ever made in Egyptian archaeology. NARRATOR: The ships he excavated have been reburied in the sand to help preserve them for the future. Before that, they had been undisturbed for 5,000 years. ADAMS: Was this the result of a major flooding of the river, that they were sailing through here and got stranded? It's a pretty strange environment for a group of ships like that. HENDERSON: You would think maybe it was a dry dock or maybe an area where the Nile once flowed. NARRATOR: Throughout its history, the Nile changed course. But it never flowed this way. Abydos islocated on a desert plateau out of reach of the river. So if the Nile didn't bring these boats here, what did? To find out, Matthew's team examines the location of the ships and the surrounding terrain. Precise satellite mapping can reveal the extraordinary world that lies below. Combining this data with the latest computer images allows the Egyptian desert to be emptied of sand, grain by grain, to solve an ancient mystery. The desert begins to reveal its secrets. Not one ship, not two, but fourteen. Surviving fragments of wood reveal that they measure 18 meters long. All carefully aligned in parallel. It is the oldest buried fleet ever discovered. But who does it belong to? Reconstructing the ships immediately reveals a clue. These are not simple canoes, nor are they boats made of reeds. They are large rowing boats , with room for up to 30 rowers. Even more revealing is the way they are made: from carefully crafted wooden planks, all held together with rope. HENDERSON: They're the first surf boats we've had in this area, and as status symbols, they're important. NARRATOR: Five thousand years ago, this was cutting-edge nautical technology. HENDERSON: It's like taking a sports car today and burying it in the desert somewhere. NARRATOR: And in ancient Egypt, only one person could afford such a huge investment. ADAMS: Only the king could expend resources at this level and was in a position to get rid of a fleet, a royal fleet, in this way. NARRATOR: The 14 ships belong to a pharaoh. But what are they doing abandoned in the desert? (music) To unravel the mystery of the Abydos ships, Egyptologist Matthew Adams searches for clues in the sand. Right next to the buried fleet is a huge adobe ruin. Here, Matthew finds evidence of an ancient belief system that could help explain this secret in the desert. ADAMS: These enormous walls created a kind of religious environment where one of the first kings of Egypt was venerated. NARRATOR: Excavations reveal ancient pots that once contained food and beer. ADAMS: The ceremonies took place here, focused on this king, as a kind of divine figure. In some ways, these ships are part of this religious expression and are connected to the activities of these ancient kings. NARRATOR This enclosure was built for the ancient Egyptians to worship their pharaoh as a God, since 2,700 BC. 200 years before the great pyramids. And more than a thousand before Tutankhamun. But what is the connection between this early worship of a pharaoh and the mysterious fleet? A closer examination of the drained ships reveals the answer. Around each one, there is a curious adobe covering. The brick walls follow the curve of the ships, covering them completely from stern to bow. (music) Returning them to their original state reveals even more. Built on the surface of the desert, each brick "box" completely encloses a single ship. And all are covered by a layer of white plaster, creating 14 ship graves. (music) ADAMS: When you put the frames back in place, you wouldn't have seen the ships, the wooden hulls, you would see the brick structures of the tombs. NARRATOR: Ship graves are designed to be highly visible. HENDERSON: This plaster would have caught the sunlight when they were built. ADAMS: Seen from a distance, they would all have shone in the desert. NARRATOR: And all to honor a pharaoh. ADAMS: Like the offerings that were given for him inside the monument— the bread, the beer, and the wine— the ships must represent some kind of offering to him. NARRATOR: What beliefs inspired the ancient Egyptians to create all this, and to place it so far from the Nile, where they actually lived? A mile and a half away, there is another track. This strange underground architecture was built at the same time that ships were left in the desert. It is the final resting place of one of the first pharaohs of Egypt. ADAMS: This is the place where the king ended his life and made the transition from here to the other world, where he would have his eternal life. NARRATOR: The tomb is designed to ensure that the deceased pharaoh passes on to another realm known as the afterlife, provided with all the essential possessions he needs: food, drink, and even his servants, ritually killed to serve their master beyond the grave. ADAMS: These are the chambers in which the courtiers and servants who were sacrificed to accompany the king to the next world were buried. And with all his consort, the king in his burial chamber, his burial enclosure, and the ships that were buried beside him, that whole ensemble is being transferred from this world to the next to be available to him. NARRATOR: Like dead courtiers, the royal fleet is there to serve the pharaoh in the afterlife. So that he may sail the celestial Nile for all eternity. The ships of Abydos mark the beginning of a belief in the afterlife that eventually led to the creation of the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings. And more signs of that connection are still hidden beneath the sand. This is why Matthew's team conducts magnetometry. This detects variations in the ground's magnetic field, revealing underground structures that have not been seen for thousands of years. ALEX: We walk by every day, but we don't see all this. NARRATOR: The data reveals the origins of Egypt's obsession with the afterlife. ADAMS: All these dark lines we can see here are walls of buried structures. There are big ones and small ones. We identified these as graves, which makes this a gigantic desert cemetery. NARRATOR: It's an astonishing discovery. Removing the sand from the rest of the plateau exposes the most remote royal cemetery of ancient Egypt. A landscape designed with a single purpose: Resurrection. Combining data from surveys and excavations with computer-generated images reveals the pharaoh's tomb below. But now, with the sand removed, nine other large underground complexes emerge. At least ten royal tombs litter the valley floor. Built more than a thousand years before the Valley of the Kings, this is the original City of the Dead of ancient Egypt. And nearby, more ritual enclosures where the pharaohs are worshipped, and the tombs of the royal ships. It is the landscape at Abydos that reveals the reason why all these structures are built so far from the Nile. Everything is located at the entrance to a narrow gorge, the gateway to the afterlife. ADAMS: I think it's likely that the ancient Egyptians saw this canyon as the road that led to the land of the dead. The sun set in the west, the west was where the dead were, that was the other world, and this canyon leads directly in that direction. NARRATOR: The people who built this sacred site believe that everything placed here is destined to join the pharaoh in the afterlife. HENDERSON: Abydos is vital because it's the first area where these pharaohs were laid to rest in tombs and treated in specialized ways with gifts for the afterlife, and that continues for millennia. NARRATOR: The tradition that began with the boats of Abydos can be seen 200 years later in the pyramid tomb of King Cheops. His mummified body was accompanied by a ceremonial boat. Around 1,200 years later, the boy king, Tutankhamun, is buried with 35 model ships. Making sure that, in the afterlife, every pharaoh can navigate the all-important Nile. (music) The ancient Egyptians are master builders. Its spectacular tombs and temples dot more than a thousand kilometers of the Nile Valley. But draining the waters behind the Aswan Dam reveals something very different. One of the largest construction projects after the pyramids, a series of fifteen gigantic forts. BESTOCK: When we think of ancient Egypt, we think of a peaceful society, of temples and tombs, we don't think of the military. NARRATOR: And the forts the Egyptian military built here are immense, as technologically advanced as the castles of medieval Europe, which weren't built for another 3,000 years. However, there is little evidence that any of them ever saw a battle. Could the draining of the Nile reveal the true purpose of the mysterious forts? (music) For over 50 years, the forts of ancient Egypt have been lost beneath the waters of Lake Nasse. Its exact purpose is a mystery to archaeologists. Seeing them on the lake bed is impossible. The sediment makes the waters impenetrable to cameras. And diving here can be fatal. But, there is a clue. (music) Archaeologist Laurel Bestock is traveling to her remote location, deep in Sudan, near the southern end of Lake Nasser. The fort of Uronarti, one of the last surviving forts on the southern frontier of ancient Egypt. Laurel is fascinated by these forgotten forts and has been excavating the Uronarti for six years. BESTOCK: I thought I would never be able to see, let alone personally study, this place. And finally being able to come here was a truly profound discovery, a turning point in my career. NARRATOR: Laurel is searching for evidence that will help her uncover the secrets of the forts beneath the waters of Lake Nasser. Uronarti Fort was built around 1850 BC, during a period known as the Middle Kingdom. It is 300 kilometers south of the territory of ancient Egypt, in what was once a no-man's-land. BESTOCK: This represents the edge of the known world for the Egyptians. Egypt is behind me, by the Nile, that is the familiar world, where the Egyptians felt at home, they knew how to behave in this place. It is a culture and a landscape together. And that's where the rest of ancient Africa is, and that's a place that the Egyptians really conceive of as terrifying, where they see people and even the landscape as a threat to their order. NARRATOR: Beyond Egypt lies the land of Nubia and the kingdom of the Cushites. His fearsome warriors attack Egypt from the south. So the pharaohs need to secure their territory. Clues as to how they do this can be found in Uronarti. BESTOCK: Uronarti is built for defense. It's hard to imagine a more difficult space to attack. You reach this steep hill and you will find this huge fortified entrance. We are among the remains of what were once two towers, even thicker than the walls of Uronarti. You can see how big the brick is here. It 's even reinforced; you can see the remains of beams running through the walls, which would have acted as reinforcing bars along with the concrete. NARRATOR: The fort at Uronari is a powerful deterrent to hostile Cushites. But it is barely a fraction of the military might that ancient Egypt is about to unleash on its enemy. Most of that military equipment is now located beneath Lake Nasser, one of the largest reservoirs in the world. The forts were lost forever when Egypt built the Aswan High Dam in 1966 to produce hydroelectric power and control irrigation. Rising waters threaten some of Egypt's greatest monuments. And so begins one of the world's largest archaeological rescue operations , involving 15 countries and more than $72 million . Monuments that cannot be moved are excavated and recorded, including the lost fortresses of ancient Egypt. Today, one of the most complete archaeological sites from the period is preserved at the Egypt Exploration Society. CEDRIC: First, see how big these fortresses were. NARRATOR: And reveals some tantalizing clues. NAUNTON: But since this was taken, everything disappeared? CEDRIC: Completely flooded, yes, unfortunately. NAUNTON: Incredible. CEDRIC: This is why we are all very grateful to the mission that excavated and recorded all these forts. NARRATOR: Today researchers are analyzing this evidence to discover why the Egyptians needed as many as fifteen forts. With this data and the latest computer graphics technology, it is possible to drain the waters of Lake Nasser. 44 trillion gallons of water are withdrawn from the Nile, (music) slowly revealing a 4,000-year-old world. Traveling south, beyond ancient Egypt, comes Fort Iken. Then, Askut Fort. Further south are two more, the Kumma and Semna forts. In total there are 15 forts. Stretching 300 kilometers, it's the longest fortified border in the world, along this strategically important stretch of the Nile. STEVEN: Because the Nile River was the main route upriver, the forts were arranged north to south, stopping any invasion from the south going north. NARRATOR: The wall of forts transforms the Nile into a formidable barrier against the Cushites. But why did the ancient Egyptians need to dominate a territory that is far beyond their core? There is a clue in the inscription on a fort. It reveals that much of the border was created to satisfy the military ambition of a pharaoh. SESOSTRIS III: I have made my border further south than my parents. NARRATOR: And how he boasts of crushing the Cushite enemy. SESOSTRIS III: They are not people you respect. They are miserable. I captured their women, went to their wells, killed their cattle, cut down their grain and set it on fire. BESTOCK: They claimed that territory as their own by building these fortresses and said, "This is Egypt now." HENDERSON: These forts represent a kind of consolidation of the pharaoh's power. NARRATOR: But why did ancient Egypt need so many forts built on such a massive scale? Could they have been built to protect something even more valuable than a pharaoh's power? When the Aswan Dam in Egypt was built in 1960, the largest fort to disappear under Lake Nasser was Fort Buhen. Hidden within is evidence of ancient Egypt's military secrets. Draining the water from Lake Nasser reveals traces of Fort Buhen, unseen for over 50 years. By combining archaeological data with 3D computer graphics, Buhe Fort is reconstructed. Revealing the nerve center of the ancient Egyptian frontier for the first time. And it is something colossal. The vast footprint of the Buhen covers an area twenty times larger than Fort Uronarti. Its perimeter wall, a kilometer and a half circuit. The 11-meter-high walls dominate the riverbank. This is Fort Buhen in all its original glory. And everything about it is designed to intimidate. BESTOCK: It really shows the power of the state. It exposes it, so it's not just a symbol for Egyptians, but for other people too. HENDERSON: These fortresses were about military power. They were about domination. BESTOCK: One of the purposes of the monument is to be imposing. NARRATOR: The monumental scale of the Buhen is designed to terrify the Cushite enemy, and to proudly display military architecture so advanced, it makes any attack on it futile. STEVEN: What's amazing is, if I told you that all the features you find in medieval European fortresses were already in place in those mud-brick forts from 2000 to 1800 BC in Egypt, you'd say, "No. You're wrong." NARRATOR: Three thousand years before the famous castles of Europe were built, Fort Buhen has a dry moat, a fortified entrance, defensive battlements, and sophisticated loopholes with a 180-degree firing arc. STEVEN: Basically, everything you could love about a medieval fort, they already had in the Middle Kingdom forts in Egypt. NARRATOR: It seems that the intimidating power of the strong achieves its objective. In archaeological investigations here, almost no evidence of fighting emerges. Is this lack of violence a clue that the Nile border has an entirely different purpose? The evidence lies deep inside Fort Buhen. Archaeologists believe that within the citadel lies a complex of enormous silos for storing precious grains. BESTOCK: Given the size of those granaries, they could have had a lot more food than would have been needed for the people who would have lived in Buhen, and that's an important clue in terms of economic activity at that time. NARRATOR: Egypt is exchanging grain for gold. The forts not only dominated ancient Egypt's southern neighbors, but also protected the trade routes to Nubia's gold mines. For the Egyptians, gold is very important. And Nubia is the main source. Pharaohs and their richest subjects used gold, and covered their coffins with it, as an ultimate symbol of power. BESTOCK: The construction of fortresses was an attempt to impose a trade monopoly on the gold coming from the south, and to ensure that everything went through the Egyptian state. NARRATOR: No one can cross this 300- kilometer stretch undetected. Filled with soldiers, the forts form an effective surveillance system designed to catch thieves, smugglers and invaders. By ensuring that all trade takes place within the fortresses, Egypt gets the best for itself. (music) These are the Fort Knox of the ancient Egyptian world, trading in gold and defending it from attack. Inside Fort Uronarti and Fort Buhen, there are clues about the scale of that operation. BESTOCK: This space was a barracks, and it's a pattern we see repeated throughout the fortress. NARRATOR: Buhen reveals many similar barracks divided into larger communal areas, and smaller rooms that archaeologists identify as dormitories. BESTOCK: We can calculate how many people may have slept in the fortress at any given time. The space here is pretty decent, and if you think of soldiers side by side, you could fit ten in this room without a problem. And I'm pretty tall for an ancient Egyptian, but if I'm standing here with my teammates by my side, there could be 10 more of them without a problem. NARRATOR: Adding them all together, it is estimated that Uronarti could house 400 soldiers. And Buhen to thousands more. STEVEN: So you're looking at a multifunctional, multipurpose facility that was vibrant and alive, like a little city within itself. NARRATOR: At full capacity, the entire fortress system could house ten thousand soldiers, scribes, and officials. Operating such an advanced frontier in remote lands is the pinnacle of ancient Egyptian military achievement. (music) An organizational feat on a scale similar to the construction of the great pyramids. BESTOCK: You can see how this architecture enables this activity and this bustling city on the edge of the Nile, here at the edge of the world. (music) NARRATOR: The forts of ancient Egypt protect its unique civilization from invasion and allow it to control the gold trade, bringing glorification to its pharaohs for centuries to come. (music) By the first century BC, the ancient Egyptians were no more. But the mysteries they leave behind beneath the Nile Valley are a permanent reminder of their extraordinary culture. (music) The legacy of ancient Egypt lives on. Its architectural treasures, remarkable beliefs, formidable state power, and its golden journeys between the world of the living and the dead. (music)

Transcript for:Ancient Egyptian Achievements

Transcript for:
Ancient Egyptian Achievements