The Nile: Egypt's Great River with Bettany Hughes (2019): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript

For 5,000 years, this land, Egypt,

and the epic civilization
it gave birth to,

has been shaped by one
thing more than any other,

this awesome river.

The River Nile.

The Nile helped temples to rise,

pharaohs to rule, and
pyramids to be built.

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

So I'm setting off on the
historical journey of a lifetime,

a 900-mile adventure along the Nile

across the whole of Egypt.



I'll explore Egypt's
greatest achievements.

It is truly wonderful, isn't it?

And find treasures hidden
for thousands of years.

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

This is my chance to
travel this fabulous land.

Oh, lovely!

And experience it as the
ancient Egyptians did

from the River Nile.

From pharaohs to slaves,
from facts to fantasies,

I want to explore firsthand

and to understand how this river shaped

one of the world's first
and greatest civilizations.

Join me as I uncover
5,000 years of history

along the River Nile.



For thousands of year,

this river has been
the lifeblood of Egypt.

My first taste of the
mighty Nile is its mouth.

I've hitched a lift on this fishing boat

to check out where the
river meets the sea.

These boats are coming
in from the Mediterranean

because I'm right at the very mouth

of the Nile on the Delta.

Since ancient times,

this has been Egypt's
gateway to the world.

And it was along these waters

the world connected to a civilization

that's had enormous
influence on all our lives.

For thousands of years,

the Nile has nourished culture

and civilization and technology.

But it's also been people's homes.

So over the next few weeks,
I'm gonna be leaving the land

and living on the water.

I hope to be meeting old friends
and perhaps making new ones

so I can try to understand
the power and the secrets

and the stories of this historical dynamo.

My journey proper begins on the other side

of the Nile Delta at Cairo,

where the mass of streams
and canals at the Nile's end

come together to form one glorious river.

From there, I'm sailing upstream,

using the river like a
historical treasure map

to investigate great sites

and new discoveries from ancient Egypt.

It's an adventure along
Egypt's river artery

all the way to its border with Sudan.

But to do any of this,

I'm gonna need more than
just a fishing boat.

Because I'm making a historical journey,

my home for the next couple of weeks

is gonna be a traditional
boat that, for centuries,

has sailed up and down the River Nile.

It's this beautiful thing, a dahabeah.

Part barge, part sailboat,

dahabeahs are unique to the
shallow waters of the Nile.

My goodness,
this is absolutely huge.

I wasn't expecting it to be so big.

Hello, hi, are you Osama?

- Please, nice to meet you.
- Thank you.

- Welcome, please.
- Thank you so much.

I will, gosh, this is so beautiful.

What an amazing boat.

I've seen them in pictures, these,

but I've never actually had the chance

to sail on one before.

Flat-bottom boats like this
have sailed up the Nile

for thousands of years.

In ancient Egypt, the symbol for any kind

of a journey was a boat.

All right, this is our captain.

- Hi, you're the captain?
- Hi, nice to meet you.

- Hi. I'm Bettany.
- Welcome.

Thank you, and this is your crew, is it?

- Yeah.
- Hi, gentlemen.

Hi, I'm Bettany, hi.

The ancient Egyptians were
a bit wary of ocean travel,

but when it came to the Nile,
they were in their element.

Bettany, let
me show you your cabin.

Cruises on dahabeahs like this

became popular 200 years ago,

as modern-day travelers
fell under Egypt's spell.

Pitch black in here, everybody.

I'll open the curtains for you.

Oh, my goodness.

Hello, Nile.

This is ridiculous.

What am I gonna tell my husband
and my kids when I get home?

They think I'm working very hard.

This is your private terrace.

Oh, I've
got my own little deck!

Oh, and it's not bad, Osama.

I do really love this river.

The River Nile is actually the father

of all of the rivers all over the world.

This is what I think about the River Nile.

Yes, yeah, well, it just
created a whole world,

didn't it, the Nile?

- There's no doubt.
- No, amazing.

And I'm going to explore its secrets.

One thing you learn quickly in Egypt

is that it's smart to
avoid the midday heat.

So as dawn arrives, the
crew get ready to depart.

And as the sun appears, we're on our way.

The Nile united ancient Egyptians

from north to south and bank to bank.

I want to try to understand these people

and the role this river
played in all their lives.

And I'll be exploring the land

that first got me hooked on history.

Whenever I go traveling, I
always take one of these.

So I write notes on the
places I've visited.

I bring quotes from ancient
authors and sometimes photos.

But for this trip, I've
been asked to include

some photos of myself, and
there's a reason for this.

I was five years old when I
first saw the British Museum

and its amazing Tutankhamun exhibition.

That experience inspired
me to write my first book.

This is "My Busy Book" by Bettany.

And this is my theory on why
and how Tutankhamun died.

"Tutankhamun was a long time ago.

"He must have lots of
men because he was rich

"and he was very, very nice.

"But, one day, some," spelled S-U-M,

"mosquitoes that were very
germy bit him and he died.

"Somebody buried the jewelry

"and made doors for the jewelry.

"But, after, some men dug it up. "

So obviously archeologists.

"And lots and lots and
lots and lots of people

"went to the museum,

"and on the television, you can see it. "

The story of Tutankhamun
has captivated millions.

He's one of the reasons
I became a historian.

I've been tipped off that, this afternoon,

something rather
extraordinary is happening.

I've got an appointment

with one of the world's
leading Egyptologists

at the Egyptian Museum.

I can't tell you how much
this is my happy place,

because this museum is 5,000 square meters

and it's absolutely jam-packed

with artifacts and treasures and objects.

But even so, there's not
enough room for them all,

so they have to be stored
out here in the courtyard.

This magnificent museum holds
120,000 Egyptian antiquities.

Amongst them is the
world's greatest collection

of royal coffins.

And this afternoon, one of
them is going to be opened

for a very rare glimpse
of the mummy inside.

I think it's somewhere
'round here, I think.

Hi, Salima?

- Hello!
- Hi.

Professor Salima Ikram
and I share a passion

for the story of Egypt.

How lovely!

I'm so pleased that you could come.

Salima is a world
expert in mummification,

and, today, I'm joining her team.

Their subject is 3,400 years old.

She's called Thuya, and she's no less

than the great-grandmother of Tutankhamun.

I've never actually seen her face.

No, no.

'Cause this has not been opened for ages.

Salima needs to check on Thuya's body,

so her glass cabinet is being opened.

Her coffin lid will be removed,

and for the first time in years,

we'll be able to see her, mummified.

Oh, my goodness.

My heart is actually beating faster.

Why she's special, inside.

This is right.

And it's supposed to be one

of the best-preserved mummies.

It is, absolutely.

She is one of the best-preserved
mummies that we have.

This is Thuya.

She was discovered two decades
before her great-grandson.

When we look at her face,

do you think that could
give us any genetic clues

as to what Tutankhamun looked like?

I think that would be quite possible,

especially because they've got

the same sort of teeth sticking out a bit.

What's really extraordinary

is that she's not born royal.

There's a lot of social mobility.

I mean, she starts off quite common,

just as a priestess, and then
she's in this splendid tomb

with all of this gold and stuff.

Amazing.

Can you smell that?

It smells like resins and incense.

It does.

So, look down here.

That's actually the resins that are part

of the mummification and burial ritual.

And they were poured over,
and some of them are still.

You can see it must have
been in a funny position

because of the way it's dribbled.

Wow.

Can I just have a moment

just to get this millennia-old smell?

That is amazing.

This is closer than anyone
normally gets to Thuya.

I think all of
our conservators are ready.

It's time to see
how the lady herself is faring.

- Okay, all right.
- Coming up.

Oh, my God!

Look at her.

She's magnificent.

She's so tiny!

And so perfect.

And look at her hair.

She's got this beautiful thick head

of curly, kind of strawberry blond?

Is that the original color?

Well, we don't,

we're not 100% sure, but
when you're using natron,

which we use for
mummification, it's a bleach.

So it's like
putting salt on your hair

when you go to the beach.

And look at her.

She's got double pierced earrings.

She has.

She does have that Tutankhamun overbite.

She's even more beautiful
than in her pictures.

By Thuya's time,
mummification had been practiced

for at least 1,200 years.

The sophisticated process of preparing

and preserving the body would have taken

over two months to complete.

We know that she's a really
fine example of mummification,

but how can you tell that?

I mean, what here tells you

that this is a really,
really, really good job?

Well, I mean, it's a totally,

beautifully well-preserved,
recognizable face.

Completely,
you can see her eyebrows

and her cheekbones, and sometimes
the nose goes a bit weird.

But it's just, she's got
a little bit of stuffing.

She looks absolutely gorgeous.

The ears are so well
preserved, it's not broken.

She's got her hair.

The kind of wrapping,
the individual wrapping

of her tootsies is so perfect.

The fact that she's wearing sandals.

And, really, every care
was taken with her,

and from the smell,

you can also tell that it was
really good quality resins.

Okay, okay, look, look,
this is really cool.

Okay, see, see?

Look at her eyes.

- Yeah.
- So, what they did was,

they lifted the lids up,

and then they put in pieces of cloth,

which they put a bit of resin onto

and made them look like eyes

so that she can see
things in her afterlife.

Just look at that face.

What she's seen, what she's lived through,

the world that she's experienced.

My God, if she could talk,
what she could tell us.

Salima will now check that
the humidity of the museum

hasn't been affecting Thuya.

But the signs are that, well
into her fourth millennium,

she's doing very well, indeed.

Just to be that close to her face,

it really makes you realize
this was a woman like me,

a woman who'd had children,
who'd lived through a life,

and was now going really happily

through death to another world.

And I think we've got to remember that.

That we think that mummies
are something kind of grisly

and gruesome and scary,
but for these people,

this is the beginning
of the best after party.

And whatever happened to her,

I hope that Thuya has
been enjoying herself.

The eternal afterlife and the
detailed preparations for it

make the ancient Egyptians
endlessly fascinating.

But they weren't death-obsessed.

They were great lovers of life, too.

From the Nile's water
levels to the sun's movement

and nature around them

they made detailed observations

of the world that they lived in.

I've brought something
slightly bizarre with me.

This is a replica of an
ancient Egyptian hedgehog.

The ancient Egyptians loved hedgehogs.

They thought they were slightly magical

because they hibernated

and then seemed to come back to life.

They're very resilient against snakebites.

And so the hedgehog was
a symbol of good luck.

And for good luck traveling the Nile,

ancient boats would often
carry an image of a hedgehog.

So while my friend keeps
an eye on the boat,

I'm disembarking to
investigate some monuments

that combine the Egyptian
fascination with death

with the pioneering work of the living.

It's difficult to imagine an ancient site

more iconic than the Pyramids of Giza.

Just look at these incredible things.

However many times I see them,

I'm never not blown away by them.

They just pound with human ambition.

The west bank of the Nile
boasts over 100 pyramids,

but none are as famous as these.

They've been astounding onlookers
for 41/5 thousand years.

And recent discoveries
mean we're finally able

to appreciate them properly.

We're so used to thinking
of these as desert monuments

in a desert landscape,

but when they were originally built,

it would have been completely
different 'round here.

So, the Nile now is about five miles away,

but at the time, it came right
up close to the Pyramids,

and when it flooded,
they'd have been reflected

in its glittering surface.

It's one of these structures in particular

I've come to see, the Great Pyramid

the eternal resting place
of the pharaoh Khufu.

Scaling almost 500 feet,

its completion set new
levels for human achievement.

It was the world's tallest structure

for nearly 4,000 years.

This is one of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World,

and it is the only one that
is still standing intact.

I'm obviously a huge
fan of the ancient world

and ancient civilizations,

and there are many amazing
things across the globe,

but this, it is truly wonderful, isn't it?

There are 2.3 million
blocks of stone here,

and each one has been perfectly sculpted

so it fits right next to its neighbor.

It's incredible.

The Great Pyramid took
two decades to complete.

With its original polished
white limestone casing,

it would have gleamed
out in the Egyptian sun.

Exactly who built it, and
how, has been the subject

of wild speculation for centuries.

It's been said that this was built

by aliens from outer space,

but, thank goodness, some
new historical evidence

has appeared that tells us without a doubt

that this pyramid was made by human hand.

And it's this remarkable thing.

This is a copy of an ancient papyrus.

Found just six years ago
in a cave near the Red Sea,

it's the 41/2-thousand-year-old journal

of a man called Merer.

Now, Merer was no less
than a project manager

for the Great Pyramid.

There is remarkable detail in here.

He's written down how they
made this beautiful thing.

And here, there's a
little line that tells us

that the limestone blocks
that covered the Pyramid

that made it that amazing gleaming white

were brought from 50 miles along the Nile.

Merer says it takes one day's
sail for this special stone

to reach the site,

confirming the Nile's crucial role

in the Pyramid's construction.

It's really a thrilling time
to be studying the pyramids.

Professor Mark Lehner
has spent his career

investigating the Giza Plateau.

So, if we'd been standing
here 41/2 thousand years ago,

what would be the landscape
that we'd be looking at?

You would have seen
harbors and waterways

and Nile barges coming in
from Aswan, bringing granite.

You would have seen
seagoing ships coming in

from Lebanon, bringing timber.

You would have had a
multiethnic community here.

And not just men, men, women, families.

It was a busy, bustling scene,

with fires and bakeries and butchers.

It's almost like a whole
civilization and culture

that's growing around the
creation of the Pyramid.

They conscripted people
from towns and villages

all throughout Egypt.

Then they come here, and they are embedded

and integrated into a project

that involves tens of thousands of people.

So I'm still interested

in how the Egyptians built the pyramids,

but I'm almost more interested, Bettany,

in how the pyramids helped to build Egypt.

Building the
world's first skyscraper

was a transformational
moment in human history.

The city of workers that settled here

collaborated in a game-changing way.

And with Mark's help, I'm
getting a privileged look

behind the scenes

to get a glimpse of
their remarkable world.

So, welcome to our field lab.

Wow, thank you so
much for letting me in here.

For the past 30 years,

thousands of artifacts found at Giza

have been brought here to
be assessed and studied

in the archeologist's storeroom.

You can see it's much bigger

than you would think from outside.

One of the things we
find all over the site

are what we call dolerite hammer stones.

- Mm-hmm.
- Here.

Ooh, yeah.

I knew it was gonna be heavy.

I didn't know it was gonna be that heavy.

That's actually straining my arms.

So, that's like a cannonball.

Well, when they started using it,

it is like a cannonball.

But when they started, it
was probably pear-shaped,

and they'd just use it to
smash stone surfaces away.

And then they'll turn
it, they keep turning it,

so in the end, they get
kind of a ball shape.

In Mark's latest excavation,

he's found remarkable evidence

of how the people
constructing the Pyramid lived

and what they ate.

We found this enormous dump,

and it was so much animal bone,

- sheep and goat and cattle.
- Yeah.

And there was something
very curious about it.

Whenever we separate out
the good meat-bearing bones,

we find that the ends are broken off.

Two of our Egyptian field
school students said,

"Oh, that's easy, it's"

Which is Arabic for, like,
gelatin soup, knucklebone soup.

And the evidence is that somebody, elites,

people of higher status,
were eating the meat

off the long, good
meat-bearing parts of the bone,

but people of lower status

are eating very high-fat,
high-protein knucklebone soup.

Mark's found the casseroles

this soup was served in.

It's so beautiful, that.

And even their bespoke stands.

It's almost
like a Tupperware set.

So, actually, it seems like

they're getting a pretty good diet.

Indeed.

That casserole's interesting

'cause that's just, like,
a family-sized casserole,

but are they mass-producing food, as well?

They were taking your standard,

average kitchen bread mold and bread loaf,

and then, if I may, over here.

- Mm-hmm.
- They were increasing it.

They were reaching for an economy of scale

by making these gigantic bread molds.

Yeah, yeah.

Take a feel, just.

Oh, my gosh.

That is quite a responsibility.

You can have it back, thank you.

But the big picture here

is that they didn't have bread factories.

They were creating the
world's first bread factory.

It's all a long
way from the stereotype

of sweating slaves toiling
away under the pharaoh's whip.

Even the tiniest finds are captivating.

So, tubular beads.

We find these beads everywhere.

Look at the color.

Such a tiny little thing.

But, I mean, who's wearing these?

And we're finding them
in the workers' barracks,

right where we find all the
big, heavy dolerite pounders.

So, what, are you pounding stone

as you're wearing your
beaded neck, we don't know.

Finds like these speak volumes,

helping to jigsaw a puzzle together

a picture of life for those
at the bottom of the pile.

Upstream, though, I'm about to witness

the terrifying power of the pharaoh,

as I adventure right inside
a very special pyramid.

So, I've said goodbye
to Cairo, and we're off,

and it's 500 miles of the Nile to come.

From here to the southern city of Aswan,

my riverboat will be following

in the footsteps of pharaohs,
warriors, and traders.

But this journey was also
made by tourists of the past,

and their vessel of
choice was the dahabeah.

I'm still a bit embarrassed
by the luxury of this boat,

but, actually, it is quite appropriate

for how people used to sail down the Nile.

Dahabeah gets its name

from the Arabic word

Which means golden, because these boats

are always supposed to be so luxurious.

And we have amazing accounts

of 18th and 19th-century
travelers who use them.

Let me just tell you some of
the things they brought on.

So, one packed 100 bottles
of wine, champagne,

a piano for entertainment,

and there was even a British family

who brought their own cow

so that they could have
fresh milk every morning.

These cruises could last for months

on a river famed from
ancient times onwards

for its hidden and unexpected dangers.

Hi, boys, is everything okay?

Oh, my God.

There's somebody down in
the Nile down here, look.

Two of them, what's happening, Mohamed?

They're in very shallow water.

Yeah.

And one of the ropes go around the fan.

Okay.

It seems that the tugboat that
helps pull the dahabeah along

has got stuck on one of
the Nile's many sandbanks.

Its towrope is now wrapped
around its propeller.

Tim, our cameraman, he's decided to go in,

see if he can help.

There's loads of people just
doing that classic thing

when something bad happens,

they're just sort of standing around.

The Nile is such a perilous river,

so there are sandbanks and cataracts,

but isn't it interesting
that this can still happen?

You get the feeling this
isn't the first time

the crew have dealt with
something like this.

It's all very new to us,
though, especially Tim.

You know the funniest thing, Bettany?

What?

Like a plonker, I left my wallet in.

But with the propeller freed

and some British cash drying in the sun,

we're on our way.

10 miles south of Cairo,

I'm heading to the vast royal
burial ground of Saqqara.

But, first, there's just
time to share with you

one of the biggest breakthroughs ever

in our understanding of ancient Egypt.

The people who lived
around the Nile Valley

were some of the very first
to do an incredible thing.

They put their spoken
language into something

that could be recorded, writing.

And, of course, that's
amazing for us historians

because we get to understand their lives

and how they lived and
what mattered to them.

Now, of course, the
language that they used

was Egyptian hieroglyphics,
which is very beautiful,

but the problem is that
we lost the ability

to translate it for centuries,

which is one of the reasons
that the ancient Egyptians

were such a mysterious civilization.

Then, in 1799, there was
the most amazing discovery

on the Nile Delta.

It was this thing.

This is the Rosetta Stone.

In 1802, the real Rosetta
Stone was snaffled by the Brits

and ended up in the
British Museum in London.

Covered in writing,

it's been a vital key to
understanding ancient Egypt.

Because it's got two languages on it,

so Egyptian and Ancient Greek,

it means it can act as
a kind of codebreaker.

The problem was, of course,

that people could read Ancient Greek,

but not the Egyptian hieroglyphics.

And there was this race on
between France and England

to see who could crack the code first.

Sorry to say, but the French won.

And what they did was that
they found this word here

which in Greek says "day
of birth" or "birthday. "

And they matched that up
with this hieroglyphic here,

which says birthday, too.

So, at once, we could
start to piece together

the story of the ancient
Egyptians in their own words.

This is a thing that stopped
the Egyptians being a mystery

and meant that they were people

that we could really
get to know intimately.

And there's a prime example of that

at my next stop along the Nile.

They were building
pyramids here at Saqqara

a whole century before Giza.

I've come to find one of
Saqqara's hidden gems,

and I'm gonna need some desert transport.

Hello, sir.

Hello, lady.

- Hello, hi.
- Hi, nice to meet you.

- Nice to see you.
- Hello.

How are you?

You and your beautiful camel.

- What's his name?
- Ramesses II.

Ramesses II, so a very powerful pharaoh.

- How old?
- 10 years.

10 years.

Oh, you're so gorgeous, aren't you?

- Oh, hello, darling.
- Hello.

Oh, oh, lovely!

Kiss you.

Kissing me and a little bit
of camel slobber in my ear.

- Yeah, of course.
- Just, I miss that feeling.

Hello, yes, oh, and a little.

And camel slobber on my
cheek, that's beautiful.

He's very, very lovely.

Thank you.

But, sadly, I'm not gonna
be going on this camel today.

Thank you, thank you so, so much.

I'd love to say that I'm doing

this "Lawrence of Arabia" moment,

gonna travel across the desert on a camel,

but the problem is, when the
pyramids were first built,

there were no camels here, we think.

There's no evidence of
them, there are no bones.

There's no camels in hieroglyphs.

It took another 2,000 years
or so for them to come here.

But at the time of the first pyramids,

hello, good afternoon, sir.

What you did have was a donkey.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- Lovely to meet you.
- Thank you.

Lovely to see you.

This morning, my authentic
Bronze Age desert transport

is called Whiskey and Soda.

I'm not sure they had
stirrups, then, but, you know,

I think, in the name of
security, I can do this.

- One.
- Okay, two, three.

One, three, oh!

- Yeah, Yeah.
- Lovely.

- Oh, perfect.
- All right.

I'm excited, can we go?

Bye, Ramesses.

See you in 2,000 years, bye.

Come on, darling.

Up you go.

Oh, she's great, isn't she?

She's a natural historian,
she wants to get there.

This empty desert landscape
would once have played host

to massive funeral processions

as dead pharaohs were carried

to their show-off newly
designed tombs, pyramids.

This is the very first pyramid ever built.

It's the Step Pyramid.

So, you've got a tomb
laid out at the bottom,

and then the pharaoh decided
to build another one on top,

and another one, and another one.

It becomes like some kind
of massive wedding cake.

You can see it as a kind
of experiment, really.

It's when they're going,

"I'm the most powerful man on earth.

"Look at me, I can reach up to the sky.

"I can reach up to the gods. "

What I've come to see, though,
is another first for Egypt

on the other side of the Step Pyramid.

- Thank you.
- Okay, yeah.

Thank you, darling.

You've been beautiful.

These are the sorry ruins

of the pyramid built for the pharaoh Unas.

People are being allowed back in here

for the first time in two decades

because it wasn't safe and
there was restoration work done.

When it was built 4,350 years ago,

this was the smallest pyramid of its era,

but it was a game changer.

This is an extra special treat for me

because this is the first time

since I've been coming to Egypt

that I've been allowed in.

- Hi, how are you?
- I'm very good.

- You're from where?
- London.

- London, welcome.
- Nice to see you, thank you.

So, you've got the key to go in?

- Yes.
- Amazing, thank you.

The unique treasure of Unas'
pyramid is found underneath it.

Amazing, thank you.

Pitch black in here.

This 30-meter tunnel is leading me

right under the center of the pyramid.

Three granite slabs once
blocked this passage,

separating the outside world

from the burial chambers of Unas.

Oh, my goodness.

This is so beautiful.

I've seen pictures of this,
but I've never been in here.

Floor to ceiling,

you've got the walls
covered in hieroglyphs.

Look at the state of them.

They're so beautifully preserved.

This was the first pyramid
ever to be decorated

in carved hieroglyphic writing.

Ritual spells for the dead.

Unas was, I'd say, a
man with quite an ego,

and we can tell this here
because this is his name.

So, here, this is the name of Unas.

It's in what's called a cartouche,

which is French for bullet.

It's a kind of bullet-shaped thing.

And once you start to look,

you can see the name of
Unas absolutely everywhere.

So, it's Unas, Unas, Unas, Unas, Unas.

It just goes on.

And I don't know if you can see it.

There's another symbol
that keeps on appearing.

It's these waves of water.

So, there are two here.

There's one here.

There's one here, there's
one here, there's one here.

The importance of water and
rivers couldn't be clearer.

One spell even claims

Unas is "he who has caused
the land to be underwater. "

Not only did Unas tell us

that he was the most powerful king,

but that he had divine powers,

and what he's saying here

is that it's him who caused
the Nile itself to flood.

These hieroglyphs don't always
make for pleasant reading.

They show that the ancient Egyptians

often blended brilliance with brutality.

He says that he holds the hearts

of his enemies in his fingers.

That he burns their houses to the ground.

But there's something else,

and, actually, if you read
it, it's really shocking.

It's really upsetting,

because it's Unas using
his sex as a weapon.

It says that Unas
copulates with his penis.

Unas is lord of his seed.

Unas takes the wives of
husbands whenever he wants,

whenever his heart desires.

This is not a man

that I would have liked
to have met in the flesh,

and it seems as though
he's no longer here.

We don't have his body.

But there's something that's
recently been discovered

that, if you look on the
wall, if you can see that,

there, indented in, is the ghost of Unas.

So he's still here with us.

Unas has left a mighty legacy,

and along the Nile,

there are other treasures that
are still as vibrant today

as they have been for thousands of years.

The River Nile has always
been the lifeblood of Egypt,

and I'm exploring the sights
and the people who made up

a great civilization along its banks.

The many sights and treasures
around Cairo are behind me,

and this is my first taste
of a much quieter river.

Is that okay, Tamam, you sure?

Bakkar has been working on dahabeahs

since he was 12 years old.

I've done a bit of sailing, too,

but never anything like this.

So I was sort of hopelessly
trying to help with the tiller.

It's quite hard, this river.

It's a difficult river to sail on.

Yes.

So, how old are you?

And the rest of your family have

all worked on boats, have they?

Okay, is your plan to become a captain?

- Yes, yes.
- Yeah, very good.

We are actually heading into the bank now.

Sorry, I'm really sorry.

I was pulling the wrong rope.

This is getting us in the
right direction, is it?

Yeah, good.

21/2 thousand years ago,

Egypt was described as
the gift of the Nile.

And that's not changed.

Life just bursts out of the banks.

You can see why the ancients called Egypt

the Red Land for the desert

and the Black Land for the
fertile strips along the river.

This is a really lovely,
typical Nile scene,

with farm animals and
palm trees and reeds.

And, actually, if you start to look,

you'll see that there
are people everywhere,

because in Egypt, 96% of the population

live near or next to the Nile.

And that's because there's
just so little waterfall here.

This river really is the
source of life for Egypt.

And, actually, the water in
this river, almost all of it,

comes from 1,500 miles south
in the Ethiopian Highlands.

For thousands of years, the
rainy season in the Highlands

led to Egypt's annual flood.

By late summer, the water level here

could have risen eight or nine meters,

feeding the valley.

It was food nourished by the Nile

that powered a great civilization.

And the crew have tipped me
off that right now is the time

for harvesting an ancient Egyptian crop

still being fed by the
Nile's waters, dates.

They've been cultivating dates
here for over 6,000 years,

always fed by the waters of the Nile.

The ancient Egyptians
used dates for everything.

For building, for furniture, for food,

for magic, for medicine.

And it was said that the date
was the bread of the desert.

From Stone Age coffins
made of date palm leaves

to dates themselves left as
offerings in the Step Pyramid

and even for Tutankhamun himself

this fruit has been the
super food of ancient Egypt

since the very beginning.

The reason is simple.

Dates can be dried, stored,
and carried across the desert.

In bad times, as well as good,

dates have kept this civilization going.

They're a super food in
the modern sense, too.

They're full of fiber and potassium,

and, it's said, can even
lower blood pressure.

Morning, girls.

But if you want to taste
a truly fresh date,

you've got to be here at harvest time.

Eat it?

Is it nice?

Okay, here we go, first fresh date.

Slightly grubby.

No, not sweet.

Quite bitter, but very good.

Very nice, and completely
white on the inside.

Thank you, ladies.

The date harvest was always
an excuse for a good time,

for weddings and family get-togethers.

And it's still the case today.

And he's learning.

- You're teaching him.
- Yeah, he's doing, yeah.

Yeah.

He'll be a good
captain one day, I hope.

You will.

Tonight, some of the crew
have invited me to join them.

This looks delicious.

Have you got some?

For a feast of traditional dishes.

Is this hummus?

- I love this.
- Yeah, hummus.

We think

that we invented the idea of super foods.

I love the notion that
the ancient Egyptians

actually got there first.

And in a way, the date was the fuel

of ancient Egyptian civilization.

And whether you were
an all-powerful pharaoh

or one of those workers

who labored away to
build the Giza pyramids,

you knew that you lived
in a land of plenty.

And we know that on
beautiful nights like this

under a full moon,

men and women would get together to share

and to celebrate the gifts of the Nile.

As we are tonight.

I can't eat another
date, I've had so many.

Why not, It's nice.

I know,
maybe it's better for you

than the biscuit.

Next time, I'm on the trail of Cleopatra,

I'll brave the longest tomb in Egypt.

The only thing I don't
like is small dark spaces.

Excuse me, thank you.

And I'll discover how mummification

wasn't just for humans.

Its eye sockets are staring
at me across 2,000 years.