National Geographic: Mysteries of Egypt Page #3

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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.

Masons then set the stones

with such precision a postcard

couldn't fit between them.

To create the

Great Pyramid of Khufu,

it took over 20 years...

more than two 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 Tutankhamen

wasn't buried in a pyramid?

No, he wasn't.

They stopped building 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 his 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.

Three hundred 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 archeological

discovery of modern times

But after five years

he still hadn't found it,

and the situation

was becoming desperate.

Then, on the morning of

November the 4th, 1922,

a waterboy trying to

secure his jug hit

an unusual rock.

Carter sent a telegram

to Lord Canarvon 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 them luck

was killed by a cobra.

Well, now the cobra was

the protector of the pharaoh.

And the canary represents those

who had entered the tomb.

So the cobra ate the canary

because of the mummy's curse.

More likely he ate it

because he was hungry.

I like the curse idea better!

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