I'm continually fascinated by the depth of knowledge and the attention to detail in these Ancient Egypt videos. They truly bring the mysteries of the Nile to life!
History professor for 40 years. Now, at 79 yo going on Viking Cruise on the Nile. I have read several books and watched many Dr. Chris Naunton lessons. I am ready for Viking Hathor in Sept. 2024.
I'm Egyptian. I thank God that the Brits and French decided to ship those treasures away from Egypt. Egypt at the time -- and you could argue, still today -- dominated by an anti- enlightenment culture, namely Islam. People in my own country of birth were then -and to some extent, even today- clueless as to the importance of this history, when they are not actively trying to destroy this heritage in the name of some religious lunacy. So, stop being apologetic about this.
thats an interesting point aye and nice that something good came from it, but i still feel that shouldn't have been a choice for europeans to make and that it isn't exactly what they had in mind when they took most stuff, it was mostly for wanky white people to feel more cultured. plus the fact that many museums refuse to return items shows how they don't really care about cultural preservation but keeping the monitary value for themselves. I also imagine most other cultures whos treasures have been taken don't feel the same way and would like them returned. *don't mind my ranting i find this interesting* the opinion of preservation also differs between cultures eg, Pakeha in NZ "preserved" Maōri heads by capturing and beheading indigenous people, sure the heads are historical artifacts that now are surviving in museums, but the family (whanau) of the people and the culture would prefer returning to the earth once more and completing the circle of life. Its not preservation, its preventing rest and peace of the person who was decapitated. -- my point is: super cool that many items have been able to survive but still there is a lot for us europeans/ colonisers to be apologetic for, looting no matter who or how one does it is bad
The people insisting that artifacts must be repatriated are woefully naïve about the treatment of antiquities in the Middle East. Despite the best efforts of scholars, even in Turkey things have a habit of disappearing or not being studied or made available to the public.
@@beckyjordan2770 The “colonizers” in Egypt were acquiring items that the locals were either already selling or did not care that European archaeologists were taking back to Europe. The Islamic tradition that Egyptians were a part of at that time did not place substantial emphasis on the pre-Islamic past aside from the prophets and kings common to the Jewish and Christian traditions. Even today management of antiquities in the Middle East is highly politicized and prone to corruption.
“Return all the artifacts” is a nice sentiment until you have actually spent time in this region and understand how quickly things disappear into the hands of those connected with whatever government is in charge or have enough money to buy them. Then no one can appreciate or study them.
Imagine a vase you made during a pottery class becomes buried & uncovered thousands of years later, shipped to a country thousands of miles away, & put into a museum people pay to see almost every day & marvel at.
Well done documentary, but not once was an Egyptian person mentioned - not even the foreman of Carter's work crew, who supposedly is the one who found the stone step of Tutankhamen's tomb. For a modern piece of historical writing, that was a strange omission to me. Belzoni didn't "move the colossus" by his own strongman self! And many modern Egyptologists are Egyptians.
It's crazy, but if a country today just went and took a bunch of stuff from another country like they did back then....I think it wouldn't happen on such a large scale before it would be stopped...I hope...
Earliest form of "archaeology" was treasure hunting. Even though modern archaeology would never do this, native looters continue to actively cause much destruction. Given the immense amount of buried historical material, I'd be surprised if even 1% has been removed to other countries.
@@enriqueteruel6574 I would beg to differ. They knew it was there and just didn’t care as the Egyptian society collapsed. Few people could read or write and if those who could disappeared, knowledge is lost. Almost like Rome. Population didn’t suddenly vanish. Nobody knew and/or cared how to maintain what was there and didn’t care to rebuild what was destroyed. Also Athens, South America, Asia. Many places get abandoned outright and forgotten but, well, pyramids in the desert are hard to miss.
Egypt under successive Islamic rule had limited interest in the antiquity and many of the major sites today were under sand. The Ottoman historians native to Egypt prior to European archaeology did not take significant interest in the pre-Islamic period aside from how it related to the Koranic presentation of history.
The great favor done archeology and posterity by the French with their magnificent volumes, seems to myself as having been essentially selfless and serving of Necessity. As only one smaller example: the then somewhat surviving Theater at Antinopolis, built by command of Emperor Hadrian for his new city dedicated to the drowned Antinuous-Osiris, was very well documented. Today, there, the original is totally gone, it having been picked apart by builders using it for their material! But for the French of then and their exquisite work, we'd now know nothing of it. Hats-off to them, I say!
Almost everything that could be looted was looted already. Selling mummies to make paint pigment (mummy brown). Locals weren’t maintaining anything and well, they were occupied too.
And the only reason it took the English so long was because the Chrsitian religion suppressed history and ancient knowledge for almost 1,000 years - wild. The Christians and governments even spread myths of Giants when people asked about roman structures in England Napoleon had access to this information and he didnt care what the politcal and religious powers told him - he was against the supression
So, Champollion beat out the Brit in the translation game but, did not Howard Carter more than make up for it? I'd say. WHY no "Sir" Howard Carter??? Might have there been special honors and recognition granted him by H.E.M. King Fuad? Well at that time political factors were intervening, which might well have gotten in the way in both cases. (Lecau!) How about a posthumous granting of knighthood to Carter by the present H.M. King Charles? So many questions; so few answers.
Ugh! The British Museum is a blight on modern civilized society! It should have been emptied out, everything boxed up, organized and shipped promptly back to its original owners just as systematically as when it was stolen. (If not more so.) I always go right to the obligatory example of Stonehenge, well aware of how cliché, because it's as true as anything. The U.K. wouldn't tolerate for a second some foreign people coming in, condoning off, and then hauling away the ancient megalithic structure back to their country, whether they invoked; "conservation," or tried using posterity as a justification or not. The fact is; the historical artifacts kept locked up inside the British Museum, (let alone all of the other Museums and Universities around the Western World, particularly in the United States, Canada, France, Australia, etc.,) no more belong uprooted from their points of origin than Stonehenge, if it were to be dug up and carted away somewhere else. And that should be obvious, especially to such a supposed; "educated," civilization. Since the proliferation of the internet, especially, and the ability for just about every human being to have access to any information available therein, with modern computer and cell phone technology, there hasn't been any justification whatsoever for those significant cultural artifacts to NOT be sent back to their rightful owners. Beginning with the British Museum. Then, Berlin the Louvre and all the way down to the most relatively obscure, like Eugene Oregon, Carson City Nevada, and of course Philadelphia, New York and Washington DC. (And every one in between. Correcting the mistakes of the past, colonialism in particular, (and there are some atrocities that can never be fully made up for,) was never going to be easy, but that one effort would be a start. If healing the world's deep divides is ever to stand a chance. (I'm just sayin' ✌️) #ConstructiveCriticism #DontShootTheMessenger
This statement is so dumb. The archeologists would not have been allowed to find anything if not invited. Nothing would have been found if they did not come, there was no real interest in looking. All European’s aren’t evil. Just sayin’.
I disagree with you on so many levels. Museums around the world educate and inspire people. Without the European interest who knows what would have happened to the Egyptian artifacts? They have been cared for and studied and saved, as World treasures. Would it be better King Tut's mask had been found by people who would melt it for cash? Lord Carnarvon financed that dig and then the treasures went to the Egyptians. There are enough treasures to go around the world. I should not have to go to Egypt to see a sarcophagus. However, seeing Egyptian treasures might inspire me to go and see more. If any country wants things back they can pay the going price for them if they come up at auction.
Egyptians had to have been Saharians heirs? What lies to the west the direction Egypt dedicated to death and a symbolic setting sun. What lies still undiscovered buried deep in ancient valleys beneath the sand and sand dunes ?
4:15 What? Are we seriously going to conflate King Tutankhamun with the Pyramids? One minute in and I want to say Good Bye,...yet I am hungry so I will continue to watch... I hope there are no more confabulations dressed up as history for the lay viewer Edit: I apologize just after five minutes. Disculpe, Disculpe, Maximus Disculpe
The title should be more fitting like : history of looting and colonization in Egypt... The only good thing this petty thieves did was at least document what they stole. One day all those museums will be almost empty, I'm hoping to be alive to see it.
It's sad to see all the looted treasure still sitting in British museums as a national point of pride. It belongs to Egypt you greedy bastards, give it back already.
Of course the items should be returned to their home countries. Taking items to western countries was part of colonialism. No matter if the items were ‘gifted’ or ‘sold’, because of the power imbalance the trades can’t be considered fair, equal nor freely consented to. It’s up to the home countries to decided how and if they want to preserve their cultural items. To say another country knows better than them what their history is worth, is simply patronising and part of the infantalising colonialist mindset. Finally, I have seen plenty of mummies in Britain that are visibly rotting away because the damp climate is not suitable to preserving them 🤡