Indholdsfortegnelse for Secrets of the ancient EGYPTIANS i Inside History Collection

In 1637, the English professor John Greaves surveyed the Great Pyramid of Giza. He carefully noted the length, width and slope of the mighty monument. He also explored its narrow passages, groping his way through the darkness. What most fascinated the Oxford academic, however, was the precision and accuracy with which the approximately two million multi-tonne stones were put together. He couldn’t even fit the blade of a knife between the blocks. “The structure of it hath been the labour of an exquisite hand, as appears by the smoothness and evenness of the work, and by the close knitting of the joints,” he wrote in his book Pyramidographia, which was published five years later. Greaves was neither the first nor the last to be impressed by the pyramids. Over time,…

According to the ancient Egyptians, the gods had created the order of the universe, which they also kept in balance. The Egyptians gave a name to the harmony that existed between all the elements and beings of the world, living and dead, between the passage of time, night and day, and the rhythm of the life-giving floods of the Nile: maat. The order of the universe was constantly in danger of being hit by chaos, and to uphold maat, the gods needed earthly helpers. They appointed the pharaoh – the mighty ruler of the kingdom – as a shepherd to watch over the course of life on Earth. He was to be the link between the gods and the people. Egyptian murals and reliefs show pharaohs laying the foundation stones…

Whoever held power in Syria ruled the world. That was the opinion of leaders in the ancient Middle East. The land along the east coast of the Mediterranean, which today makes up Lebanon and Syria, was the undisputed trading hub of the time, with luxury goods imported from the East arriving by caravan. Here, ivory, copper, tin, earthenware and precious stones changed hands from merchant to merchant before being shipped west across the Mediterranean or through the desert. Around 1300 BC, the region was split between two superpowers: Egypt in the south and the Hittite kingdom in the north. They’d been fighting for power over Syria for centuries. Shortly after 1300 BC, the power struggle culminated in the largest chariot battle in history, on a plain near the city of…

Suffering from malarial fever and a painful femoral fracture, the divine boy king, Tutankhamun, breathed his last at only 19 years old, in the year 1323 BC. He left behind a wife – and a half-sister. His young queen, Ankhesenamun, was not only united with her husband in marriage – they also shared the same royal blood. King Tutankhamun and Queen Ankhesenamun were both children of the late Pharaoh Akhenaten. During his reign, he had turned Egypt upside down and shocked the population by abolishing the kingdom’s traditional polytheism in favour of a single god, Aten. But no one raised an eyebrow at the many intermarriages of the royal family. It was not only a custom but also to some extent expected for royalty to marry within their family, so…

Each year in June, the monsoon blows over the Ethiopian Highlands. Near the Indian Ocean, the wind hits the mountains, which in places extend more than 4,550 metres into the sky. Where it meets the mountains, the monsoon sends cascades of rain over the surrounding flat, green plains and down into Lake Tana, a huge body of water in the north-west of Ethiopia. From here, the water flows into the Blue Nile and on northwards. At Khartoum, the present-day capital of Sudan, the river becomes the White Nile. From there, in ancient times – before the Aswan Dam tamed the mighty power of the river – the mass of water continued to swell and rush through Nubia and Egypt. There, the water flowed over the banks and flooded the surrounding…

THE OLD KINGDOM 2686-2160 BC ■ The pharaohs in the Nile Valley established a centrally controlled kingdom to collect taxes and recruit manpower for construction projects. The first architectural behemoths, such as the Pyramid of Djoser, the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids at Giza, all rose from the desert sands. While artisans and slaves worked on the building sites, traders flocked to big cities like Thebes and Memphis. TOMB THE MIDDLE KINGDOM 2055-1650 BC ■ After a century of unrest and civil war, Pharaoh Mentuhotep I succeeded in reuniting the kingdom and restoring single, centralised rule. Mining, pyramid construction and artisan products once again flourished. A large area near the oasis city of Faiyum was drained to allow the Egyptians to expand agricultural land. CRAFTS THE NEW KINGDOM 1550-1070 BC…

The attack began in the early morning hours. Horses trotted across the plain near the fortified city of Megiddo in Syria. Behind them, Egyptian chariots rumbled forth in a crescent formation. Pharaoh Tuthmosis III was enthroned on his gilded chariot at the head of 10,000 animated warriors. With shouted commands, he urged his soldiers to attack. Megiddo’s defenders were forced back and soon fled through the city gate, which they slammed behind them. Pharaoh Tuthmosis III had his account of the Battle of Megiddo, which took place in 1468 BC, carved into the walls of the Temple of Karnak. This is how historians know that the well-organised Egyptian army sneaked unnoticed into Megiddo along a narrow pass, and how the warrior pharaoh proudly led his troops to victory. With the…

One July day in 1799, a most unusual object appeared in Napoleon’s camp near the port city of Rosetta, in Egypt. While rebuilding Fort Julien nearby, Napoleon’s engineering troops encountered a large, black boulder, densely inscribed with mysterious characters. The officer on duty knew immediately that this was a matter for his superior, so he had stone, which measured 114 centimetres and weighed over 750 kilograms, dragged to General Jacques-François Menou’s tent. Upon closer inspection, Napoleon’s team of scholars was able to establish that the spectacular stone was adorned with three different types of characters. First, text consisting of Egyptian hieroglyphs – simplified drawings of birds, waves and other symbols – then some unusual scrawls and, finally, recognisable Greek letters. Although the French soldiers probably sensed that they’d dug a…

Under cover of twilight, a figure snuck up to the mighty palace that housed Caesar. He carried a rolled-up blanket in his arms and was permitted to pass the armed guards under the pretext of bringing a gift to the powerful general. Within the safety of Caesar’s rooms, the man dropped his bundle at the feet of the Roman. Out rolled a young woman with dark hair and olive skin, a soft white fabric – traditional Greek dress – draped around her body. To Caesar’s astonishment, he found himself meeting the 18-year-old Cleopatra for the first time. She’d been smuggled into his room by a loyal supporter, the Sicilian merchant Apollodorus. Cleopatra had come to win Caesar’s favour through her renowned charm and wit. The Roman, 30 years her senior,…

According to ancient Egyptian legends, the god Osiris inherited power over the world from his father, the earth god Geb. Together with his sister-wife, Isis, Osiris ruled over the earth, where humans lived in peace and harmony. But Osiris’s brother Set, the god of chaos and disorder, was jealous of his siblings’ happiness and made plans to assassinate Osiris so he could take the throne himself. Set invited Osiris to a sumptuous banquet along with 72 co-conspirators. Beforehand, the god of chaos had secretly measured Osiris’s body and made a beautifully decorated sarcophagus. In the middle of the party, Set brought in the exquisite casket and offered it as a prize to anyone who fitted perfectly inside. All the guests tried without success. When Osiris’s turn came, he crawled into…

Parties in ancient Egypt often ended with what today seems like a macabre ritual: a small coffin with a fake mummy was mournfully carried in a procession between the stuffed, happy guests. The purpose, however, was not to kill the mood. On the contrary, the rite acted as a reminder of how short and fragile life was, and the importance of enjoying it while you could – a doctrine that permeated the minds of the Egyptians. The fertile soil along the Nile Delta secured so much wealth and prosperity that the Egyptians had a surplus. This enabled them to develop a society that was capable of supporting art and culture, and that gave the land’s inhabitants a comfortable lifestyle – at least, it did for those who belonged to Egypt’s…

It was early morning when Pharaoh Ramesses stepped out of the royal tent beside the Orontes River, south of the town of Kadesh. Around the red-haired ruler, the camp was already buzzing with energy. Soldiers prepared their weapons and saddled their horses. Others packed the tents and loaded them on to ox-carts. The 30-year-old Ramesses felt well rested. It had been a good month since he’d left Egypt with his troops, and now they were finally close to their destination: Kadesh. The city stood in the Amurru region (in today’s Syria) and Ramesses was determined to take it from his old rivals, the Hittites, and their king, Muwatalli. It was 15 years since Ramesses had stood on the same riverbank with his father, Seti I. Back then, father and son…

The inhabitants of the Nile Valley were beside themselves. The river that cut through the barren desert landscape was their very life source – without the river, they couldn’t cultivate their fields, go fishing or quench their thirst. But now, as the Egyptians looked on in horror, the water turned red and shoals of fish floated dead on the surface. Ancient Egypt forms the backdrop for several stories from the Bible’s Old Testament, including one about the Nile’s water turning into blood. According to the book of Exodus, pharaoh refuses to release his Jewish slaves, prompting God to send ten plagues to ravage Egypt. In an attempt to clarify whether the Bible’s stories are simply wonderful tales or are rooted in fact, scientists have spent centuries combing Egypt’s desert sands…