| Egyptian Journeyswith Dan Cruickshank | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Documentary |
| Presented by | Dan Cruickshank |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producers | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Original release | 30 October – 4 December 2005 |
| Related | |
| Egypt | |
Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank is a BBC Television documentary series in which Dan Cruickshank explores the mysteries of Ancient Egypt.
The series was commissioned to accompany the docudrama series Egypt which ran concurrently on BBC One. [1]
Sam Wollaston writing in The Guardian complimented the series as "a more scholarly appendage to the BBC1 show," stating that "Cruickshank was charming, breathless and enthusiastic, whispering every sentence to the camera as if he's telling you, and only you, an amazing secret," before going on to comment that his favourite scene involved a donkey, "as favourite scenes often do." [2] David Chater writing in The Times complimented Cruickshank's "inimitable style". [3]
David Liddiment writing in The Guardian compliments the clever twinning of this more cerebral series with the docudrama on BBC One but he points out that this was done during the final stages of the BBC's charter renewal review and insists that the corporation should keep up standards after this process is completed. [4]
Cruickshank finds out about the mysterious people who built the spectacular underground tombs of the Pharaohs.
Cruickshank flies over the Valley of the Kings where the pharaohs hid their tombs over 3,500 years ago. Over 60 tombs are dug into the walls of the valley where the bodies and riches inside could be guarded from tomb robbers. Descending into the massive KV5, built by Rameses II for his sons, Cruickshank is able to admire the precise engineering skills of its builders. In the Tomb of Horemheb, sealed before it could be completed, he admires the unfinished work of the tomb artists. At Deir el-Medina he sees where the generations of builder, painters, sculptors and engineers who built the tombs lived with their families kept separate from the rest of the world.
From the wealth of archaeological evidence (scraps of cloth, fragments of wood, traces of paint) archaeologist have built up a detailed picture of the tomb builders' lives. Cruickshank ponders the life of an ancient family of tomb builders at the house of Senagem. The builders were highly literate and thousands of examples of their writing on limestone and pottery have been uncovered giving detailed and intimate insights into ancient Egyptian life. From these ostraca we can see that they were not slaves but well cared for state employees who held some of the most important secrets of the state but court documents reveal these were also the tomb robbers.
Cruickshank explains how this journey has changed his view of the valley from a place of death, afterlife, ritual and religion into a place of ordinary people and their daily lives. This insight into life in this land thousands of years ago is history from the bottom up a long way from the propaganda left behind by the pharaohs.
Cruickshank follows in the footsteps of Howard Carter to trace the life of the man who discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun.
Cruickshank attributes the discovery of the treasure of Tutankahmun to the sheer tenacity of Carter. Carter's solitary upbringing by maiden aunts in rural Norfolk is credited as the source of his self-reliance and sense of being an outsider. Carter left school aged 15 with little formal education but great artistic skills. Lord and Lady Amherst's Egyptian collection at nearby Diddlington Hall entranced Carter and they appointed him to a dig in Egypt. Arriving at the vibrantly decorated tombs at Beni Hasan he became disenchanted with the arid tracings he was instructed to produce and instead created beautiful watercolour renditions. Later he joined the dig at El Amarna and learned the scientific style of its leader Flinders Petrie.
At 19, Carter was appointed site artist at the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri winning great acclaim with his newly acquired archaeological skill and was running the dig within 6 years. His subsequent appointment as Chief Inspector in Egyptian Antiquities Service arose resentment amongst more experienced archaeologists and was soon forced to resign. The outcast Carter eventually teamed up with Lord Carnarvon and the two began the search for Tutankhamun which eventually succeeded thanks to Carter's stubbornness. The project took over the life of the meticulous Carter who fell-out with Carnarvon over the disposition of the find further isolating him.
Carter spent over a decade completing the excavation of the site before being gently pushed aside by the authorities and returning to a solitary existence in England where later he died leaving behind a magnificent archaeological legacy.
Cruickshank goes on the trail of Egypt's most controversial ruler and his beautiful wife Nefertiti.
The Pharaoh Akhenaten is described as a revolutionary whose dangerous ideas would change politics, religion, art and language leading the nation to the brink of catastrophe. Preserved statues of Akhnaten do not conform to the traditional depictions of a pharaoh highlighting his unconventional style. Early in his reign he underwent a religious conversion and proposed replacing the pantheon of gods with a single sun god. Wall paintings from the tomb of Chief Vizier Ramosa illustrate this overthrow.
Akhnaten left the ancient capital of Luxor to build a religious utopia in the desert to break from the past and honour his new monotheistic god. The great temple at Amarna opened up to the sun but only the Pharaoh and his family were allowed in. Akhnaton came to believe that he was the son of god and should be worshipped as such. He initiated a persecution of believers in the old gods and Egypt lost status as the Pharaoh became disassociated from the real world. Art works preserved at the site show unprecedented images of the royal family displaying humanistic emotions of affection and grief.
A plague sweeps the land, taking Akhnaten's wife and children, and the Pharaoh is held responsible as social order begins to fall apart. Akhnaten's death, possibly at the hands of his own courtiers, leads to his successor Tutankhamun abandoning Amarna and restoring the old gods. All trace of Akhnaten was buried, ironically preserving it for modern archaeologist.
Cruickshank explores how and why the ancient Egyptians made things to last forever, fuelled by their belief in eternity.
Egyptian belief in an afterlife led to the development of ingenious techniques that have preserved much of their culture to this day. At Saqqara the Pharaoh Zoza built upon the traditional stone monument to create Egypt's first step pyramid as part of a stone complex designed to last forever. Zoza continually expanded his pyramid confirming the importance of size that culminated with the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. Later monuments use granite ferried down the Nile from distant Aswan to achieve the same level of eternity.
The Nile was the fertile centre of the Egyptian world and its seasonal cycle inspired the very idea of eternity. They developed mummification to maintain the body for this continuing renewal. Following preservation the heart was reinserted as the seat of the soul and rituals were conducted to reawaken the senses of the deceased. Ancient Egyptians also believed such rituals necessary for the annual flooding of the Nile and the rising of the sun and great temples such as the one at Dendera were built to facilitate this.
The temples were the engines of eternity built on massive scale to last forever as a route from the world of man to that of the gods with only the most privileged allowed access. The longevity of the Egyptian civilisation allowed some to question the very nature of eternity as they witnessed the desolation of ancient monuments but much has survived allowing the ancients to live on.
Cruickshank goes on the trail of a pharaoh's wife who committed a crime so terrible they tried to wipe her name from history.
The last of the great pharaohs Ramesses III died in mysterious circumstances surrounded by enemies and civil disobedience. In the first year of his reign he ordered the construction of Medinet-Habu filled with great depictions of his huge wealth and military victories and unprecedented depictions of his prowess with women. Ancient papyri bought on Cairo's black market in the 19th century however tell of an indecisive man unable even to choose between Tiye and Isis as his great queen.
Tiye and Isis compete to have their son named as heir of Ramesses III and the Pharaoh eventually chooses Isis. Tiye plots to murder the Pharaoh and seize the country in a military coup. Tiye uses spells stolen from the Pharaoh's own library against him and recruits many important generals and courtiers into her conspiracy (including the food-taster). Ramesses's failing health and poor political decisions lead to civil disobedience and revolt across the country. Ti seizes the opportunity and within the month Ramesses III is dead presumably from poisoning.
The subsequent coup however fails and Isis's son Pharaoh Ramesses IV round up the conspirators and puts them on trial. The harem women's final plot to seduce the judges is discovered and all the conspirators are executed. Isis and her son Pentawere are chiselled from history and only the papyri survive to tell their story.
Cruickshank travels the length of the country to find out what brought this remarkable civilisation to an abrupt and tragic end.
The arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 BC ushered in the 300 years rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty where Greek culture would challenge the old beliefs. The Greeks however were seduced by the mystery and magic of Ancient Egyptian and erected statues to the old god in their temples. Cleopatra, despite her Greek blood, became the archetypal Egyptian with even her legendary death at the bite of a sacred asp designed to usher her into the eternal pantheon of Egyptian deities.
The Romans marched into Egypt in 30 BC intent on turning it into an imperial province and bled the country dry to sustain the Empires extensive territories. The vast resources of Egypt supplied one third of Romes grain as well as gold and granite. The country was bankrupted, the temples neglected and the priests disregarded but the beliefs lived on to seduce the Roman oppressors with some even being mummified.
Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire and enforced upon the Egyptians. Greeks and Romans could blend their own pantheons with those of Egypt but Christianity was monotheistic and intolerant regarding old gods as devils. Ancient rituals were appropriated and transformed, including the Ptolomeic idea of monasticism, finally defeating the old gods by the mid-4th century when over half the Egyptian population had converted to Christianity and the rest were persecuted.
The last of believers in the old faith retreated to the Island of Philae, where the last Demotic hieroglyphs were carved in 394 AD, and when this bastion finally fell a 3000-year-old culture had been wiped out and its knowledge forgotten.
Tutankhamun, Tutankhamon or Tutankhamen, also known as Tutankhaten, was the antepenultimate pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. His death marked the end of the dynasty's royal line.
Akhenaten, also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning c. 1353–1336 or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the fifth year of his reign, he was known as Amenhotep IV.
Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted the earliest known form of monotheism, Atenism, centered on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history. Some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as Neferneferuaten after her husband's death and before the ascension of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate. If Nefertiti did rule as Pharaoh, her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes.
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monarch of the New Kingdom to wield any substantial authority over Egypt.
Tiye was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of pharaoh Akhenaten and grandmother of pharaoh Tutankhamun; her parents were Yuya and Thuya. In 2010, DNA analysis confirmed her as the mummy known as "The Elder Lady" found in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) in 1898.
Articles related to Egypt include:
Amenhotep III, also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC, or from June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC, after his father Thutmose IV died. Amenhotep was Thutmose's son by a minor wife, Mutemwiya.
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers and an entrance staircase and corridor. It is smaller and less extensively decorated than other Egyptian royal tombs of its time, and it probably originated as a tomb for a non-royal individual that was adapted for Tutankhamun's use after his premature death. Like other pharaohs, Tutankhamun was buried with a wide variety of funerary objects and personal possessions, such as coffins, furniture, clothing and jewelry, though in the unusually limited space these goods had to be densely packed. Robbers entered the tomb twice in the years immediately following the burial, but Tutankhamun's mummy and most of the burial goods remained intact. The tomb's low position, dug into the floor of the valley, allowed its entrance to be hidden by debris deposited by flooding and tomb construction. Thus, unlike other tombs in the valley, it was not stripped of its valuables during the Third Intermediate Period.
Horemheb, also spelled Horemhab or Haremhab was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled for at least 14 years between 1319 BC and 1292 BC. He had no relation to the preceding royal family other than by marriage to Mutnedjmet, who is thought to have been the daughter of his predecessor Ay; he is believed to have been of common birth.
Ay was the penultimate pharaoh of ancient Egypt's 18th Dynasty. He held the throne of Egypt for a brief four-year period in the late 14th century BC. Prior to his rule, he was a close advisor to two, and perhaps three, other pharaohs of the dynasty. It is speculated that he was the power behind the throne during child ruler Tutankhamun's reign. His prenomenKheperkheperure means "Everlasting are the Manifestations of Ra," while his nomenAy it-netjer reads as "Ay, Father of the God." Records and monuments that can be clearly attributed to Ay are rare, both because his reign was short and because his successor, Horemheb, instigated a campaign of damnatio memoriae against him and the other pharaohs associated with the unpopular Amarna Period.
Menpehtyre Ramesses I was the founding pharaoh of ancient Egypt's 19th Dynasty. The dates for his short reign are not completely known but the timeline of late 1292–1290 BC is frequently cited as well as 1295–1294 BC. While Ramesses I was the founder of the 19th Dynasty, his brief reign mainly serves to mark the transition between the reign of Horemheb, who had stabilized Egypt in the late 18th Dynasty, and the rule of the powerful pharaohs of his own dynasty, in particular his son Seti I, and grandson Ramesses II.
The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of Egypt. Radiocarbon dating places the beginning of the New Kingdom between 1570 BC and 1544 BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Ancient Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power.
The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten in what is now Amarna. It was marked by the reign of Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in order to reflect the dramatic change of Egypt's polytheistic religion into one where the sun disc Aten was worshipped over all other gods. The Egyptian pantheon was restored under Akhenaten's successor, Tutankhamun.
The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is an area in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and powerful nobles under the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt.
Egypt is a BBC television docudrama serial portraying events in the history of Egyptology from the 18th through early 20th centuries. It originally aired on Sunday nights at 9 pm on BBC1 in 2005. The first two episodes explored the work of Howard Carter and his archaeological quest in Egypt in the early part of the twentieth century. The next two episodes focused on the eccentric explorer "The Great Belzoni" played here by Matthew Kelly. The final two episodes dramatise the discovery and deciphering of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion.
Beketaten (14th century BCE) was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 18th Dynasty. Beketaten is considered to be the youngest daughter of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife Tiye, thus the sister of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Her name means "Handmaid of Aten".
The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty spanned the period from 1550/1549 to 1292 BC. This dynasty is also known as the Thutmosid Dynasty for the four pharaohs named Thutmose.
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore together constitute an era known as the Ramesside period. This dynasty is generally considered to be the start of the decline of Ancient Egypt.
This page list topics related to ancient Egypt.
The Amarna Era includes the reigns of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun and Ay. The period is named after the capital city established by Akhenaten, son of Amenhotep III. Akhenaten started his reign as Amenhotep IV, but changed his name when he discarded all other religions and declared the Aten or sun disc as the only god. He closed all the temples of the other Gods and removed their names from the monuments. Smenkhkare, then Tutankhamun, succeeded Akhenaten. Discarding Akhenten's religious beliefs, Tutankhamun returned to the traditional gods. He died young and was succeeded by Ay. Many kings did their best to remove all traces of the period from the records. The Amarna art is very distinctive: the royal family was portrayed with extended heads, long necks and narrow chests. They had skinny limbs, but heavy hips and thighs, with a marked stomach.
