Mysteries of Egypt Page #3

to journey be boat | down the Nile.

You are now part | of the great national project

to build the Pharaoh's tomb

but you have no idea | what kind of a tomb.

And then you see...

a monument to the sun- | to life eternal.

How did they move | such heavy stones

to such great heights?

There are many theories

but they probably pulled | the blocks

up mud-slickened ramps.

Raising the ramps | as the pyramid grew

measons then set the stones | with such precision

a postcard couldn't fit | beyween them.

To creat the great pyramid | of Khufu, it took over 20 years

and more than ywo million stone | blocks and some 20,000 people

and they might have been slaves

but now we think they were | mostly peasant farmers

recruited to work here | part of the year.

With their help

the early pharaohs built | more than a hundred pyramids

80 of which survive today.

But what about the kings | who came later?

You told me King Tutakhamen | wasn't buried in a pyramid.

No, he wasn't

They stopped buliding them | and for good reason.

There were robbers who cared | far more about heaps of gold

than an eternal journey.

The pyramids, to these thieves, | were like enormous billboards

saying, | "We've buried the king in here

and all this treasure with him."

At any rate, a new plan | had to be devised.

That's why 500 years after | the last pyramids were built

a new era of kings decided | that instead of building tombs

which everyone could see

why not build tombs | which no one could see?

300 miles south | of The Great Pyramids

across the Nile from the modern | city of Luxor

is this barren maze | of valleys

in the shadow | of a natural pyramid.

Here, no thief could find | the royal tombs.

Here, the kings and queens | of Egypt would remain immortal

or so they thought

But greed breeds ingenuity.

Cleverly hiding | their devious enterprises

robbers scoured the Valley | of the Kings.

Over time, each of the Valley | tombs was found, broken into

and completely plundered

except for one.

Except for the tomb | of Tutankhamen.

That, at least, is what | Howard Carter believed

and if he was right

it would be the greatest | archaeological discovery

of modern times.

After five years, he still | hadn't found it

and the situation was | becoming desperate.

Then, on the morning of November | the fourth, 1922

a water boy trying to secure | his jug hit an unusual rock.

Carter sent a telegram | to Lord Carnarvon in England

to come quickly

and went to Cairo | to meet his benefactor

but while he was away

something very strange happened.

The golden bird that had | brought him luck

was killed by a cobra.

Well, now, the cobra was

a protector | of the pharaoh

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