Egypt: Engineering an Empire

It is with great hubris that we who are living in the twenty first century feel that our feats of engineering are the best ever. Once again the History Channel does what seems impossible; they entertain, educate and take our pride in our times down a few well deserved notches. Long before the Sears Tower, Hoover Dam or Golden Gate Bridge other civilizations have created works that not only stood the test of time but where incredible marvels of engineering that are amazing even by today’s technological standards. After the success of the show, ‘Rome: Engineering an Empire’ the History Channel decided that there is enough examples of how engineering helped to spread a world empire and they came up with a series that holds more promise than any on broadcast television. This series will take on such world greats as Great Britain, the Aztecs, Maya, Carthage and the Byzantines. To start things off they have a look at the Egyptian culture and the fantastic feats and accomplishments they made over five millennia ago.

Egypt may be best known for their pyramids but as this series will demonstrate they did a lot more building miracles. Over twenty centuries before the Roman forebears were to build simple dwellings in the mud the Egyptians where well on their way to conquering the known world. These people worked on projects that stood as monuments not only to their kings and gods but to the ingenuity of human imagination and drive.

For example consider a name that may not be well known outside of historical circles, Menes. He lived around 3,100 BCE as a pharaoh of the First dynasty. There was a problem; rain in Ethiopia on the southern border of Egypt swelled the rivers to overflow. As the Blue Nile feed into the White Nile the waters where almost uncontrollable by the time they feed into the Egyptian Nile the waters would spill out over its banks and level all the fertile land would be washed away. Villages would be destroyed and the economy disrupted. This was just about an annual event and the people looked to their pharaoh for salvation. Menes came up with a solution. He was not only an accomplished soldier but he had a passion for building. He had plans made to create man’s first dam. His engineers where tasked with creating a blockade to protect the capital city of Memphis. While this dam has been lost to time there is another in the area that has revealed many of the techniques used at that time. Two stone walls where erected over 35 feet high and 80 feet thick at the base. Dirt and loose stones where used to fill in the gap that was created. This took over 100,000 tons of rock and it is known that the surviving dam was smaller than the one first created by Menes. There were no cranes or huge machines back then. This was done on the backs of human laborers. Once tamed the river would become a steady and safe source of water and transport.

Not only did the early Egyptians use their engineering skills to make conquest and life easier some of their most impressive structures where dedicated to the dead. In 2668 BCE an ambitious young pharaoh named Djoser was concerned with the after life. He ordered the construction of a great and massive tomb. The resultant structure was to become the first stone building in history and the first of the almost 100 pyramids in Egypt. The art of building pyramids grew especially under the rule of Pharaoh Snefru. The technology for building these now famous structures was brought to its grandest measure under Khufu, son of Snefru. It was under his reign that the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed. Of all the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World it is the only that still stands today. Built around 2560 BCE it took almost twenty years to complete. Each block weighed about 1.5 tons and took 25 men just to move it. The entire project would require over 300,000 men on site and another 60,000 off site, mostly in the quarries, to finish. Over two million blocks where required for this tomb. Each of the building’s four 700-foot sides was almost perfectly symmetrical, and each corner of the pyramid was level within fractions of an inch. This was not only amazing from the technical aspects but also the social. It took an amazing hierarchy to coordinate, feed and house that many workers. If you have ever had construction in your home you know how difficult any project can be, just imaging getting one of this grand scale done.

Of course there were a lot more practical uses to the engineering genius present in Egypt. Pharaoh Sesostris III who ruled in the mid 1800 BCE created a sprawling fortress network with 17 units extending this fortress system well into enemy territory. Akhenaten (father of Tutankhamen) decided to move the capital to a remote part of the desert. Within the brief span of only two years he turned a barren environment into a busy city housing over 20,000 people.

As always the History Channel provides some of the best television has to offer. With their now famous combination of talking head experts and re-enactments they give the audience something that is actually worth while to watch. You get the feeling that you have stepped into a time machine and was transported back to the days when these impressive structures where being built. They have such an eye for detail that you often forget you are being taught something about a world long ago gone.

For the host of this series the History Channel selected actor Peter Weller. While most will remember him from RoboCop there is a lot more to this man. While he still acts he has an advanced degree in Roman and Renaissance art and is working on his PhD. He also is a professor of fine arts in Syracuse University. This is a man who can appreciate the content here and was obviously hired for a lot more than his resounding voice.

Having been impressed with the previous show on Rome and the episode of this new series I look forward to watching this series each and every week. It is fascinating how well the History Channel presents this type of information. If you were ever bored to tears in an ancient history class don’t worry, there is nothing boring here. Forget the crime investigations and night time soap operas and enrich your minds while you are being entertained. This is truly something for that the whole family will benefit from.

Posted 10/9/06