New TV series about Egypt

[Grandad]

Starting tomorrow Monday on BBC2 at 9.00 pm, a new series of four episodes 'Immortal Egypt', with Joann Fletcher.

It will probably cover much that we already know or maybe not. Joann Fletcher is an Egyptologist who exudes enthusiasm so hopefully she will make the series watchable.

Just thought I would give a heads up if you had not already spotted it.

[Horus]

Yes saw it on the Blue side and was just about to put it on here, thanks for saving me the trouble

[LovelyLadyLux]

Wish I could get it

BUT I'll keep it in mind and watch for it cause usually within a month or so anything you're getting there will make its way here

Sounds interesting.

[Horus]

LLL, I believe that now there is an app for BBC Iplayer for use in Canada which is free to download but you will need to subscribe to the service which costs $8.99 a month or $84.99 a year. The other thing to look into is a proxy ISP site that allows you to watch it because it shows you living elsewhere other than the USA or Canada.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Hmmmmm - will have to look into this. Intriguing.......

[Grandad]

Watched the last of the four episodes of this series this evening. Joann Fletcher reached Alexander the Great and Cleopatra to conclude her story. Very watchable and Professor Fletcher's enthusiasm for her subject added to the entertainment value of ,the programs.

[Horus]

I have watched the first three and have the last one recorded, I am saving them all for future viewing again and I agree she does make them interesting by covering some odd and not so common things.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I'd like them for viewing once and wish I could figure out how to record shows as some shows have just so much info I'd love to be able to watch them twice as I'd probably pick up lots more details I missed the first run through.

[Robbo70]

I think a lot of the critisism (coming mainly from the blue side) is that it wasnt factual enough or dipped in and out of different dynasties. I suppose on a forum set up about egypt where people have a more indepth knowledge of egypt, they would spot the inaccuracies quicker. What no one seems to get, is that these type of programs are not aimed at the budding archeologists, but at the general public who like a good story, want to see close up shots of nice walls painted or carved a few thousand years ago, and get a general gist of who did what and when. I found it gave a nice overall picture of the pharoahs and their movements.

Omar just enjoyed trying to spot anyone he knew or places he recognised, but last night admitted he had had no idea about alexander the great or the ptolomy reigns. He understood rameses and tut and thats about the sum total of his egyptian history He actually finished the series understanding a little bit more about the time differences from the pyramids to Alexandria becoming a great city. Joann beats Zawi hands down for holding Omars attention about a topic he has never had any interest what so ever in

[Grandad]

What I found particularly interesting was her visiting places into Nubia and the Western Desert that had equally amazing murals as those we are all familiar with. My knowledge of Egypt is little more than superficial tourist I could watch programs about this fascinating country again and again.

I have never been to The British Museum but those beautiful Ptolomy bangles alone mean it is on my urgent list.

[Kiya]

Missed the first one but caught up with the rest............ very interesting

[Robbo70]

I took Omar to the British Museum, and we went round it all with A4. He marvelled at it all, took a bit of interest in the sheer size of some of it all.... and finally said... wow and you call us Egyptians robbing b@stards I don't think he expected us to have quite such a large collection. Similarly, on the London tour bus, when they pointed out Cleopatras needle, and the nice chap said it was given to us, he bellowed out.. you robbed it from the beach at Alex, we didn't give it to you.

[Mad Dilys]

On our first visit to Egypt our Egyptian guide told us that Cleopatra's Needle was a pair with the one outside Luxor Temple, so Omar's outburst - it was indeed moved from Alexandria by the Brits) made me curious so I went to Wikipedia. The full story is fascinating.

[Robbo70]

The other one is in Central Park New York I believe, and the Egyptian antiquities people are a tad ****** off that we look after ours and keep it clean and preserved and the one in NY is deteriorating and looks like crap.

[Horus]

I enjoyed it because she visited and made reference to the tomb of Ankhtifi (sp) a person who we also covered in my Coursera Manchester UNI course (something else rubbished on the Blue side) and she brought another slant to the accepted interpretations of this person. To my mind he is little known to most people unless you DO have some in-depth knowledge of the subject, so how anyone can level the accusation of it being basic is beyond me. Ankhtifi's tomb is often quoted in more knowledgeable circles as referring to times that were so bad due to famine that Egyptians turned to cannibalism to survive, this is mainly down to certain hieroglyphs that when translated say "And the Egyptians were eating their children" plus depictions of humans with their rib bones visible.

In Joanne’s program she visited the tomb with another archaeologist who's name I missed and his interpretation was somewhat different and even made more sense to me. He described Ankhtifi as being a powerful war lord type at a time when Egypt was very fragmented, but he was a good provider and protector of his particular ancient Egyptian 'Nome'. The archaeologist gave the alternative and the probably more accurate interpretation of the hieroglyphs in his tomb as being nothing more that a boast about how good he had been to his people, in other words "While everyone else was starving (eating their own children) I kept you all fed" So I think that there is always something new to be learned and we should not always accept the facts we are given by a particular section, Egyptologists included. That latest interpretation in light of the typical boastfulness of all pharaohs about their earthly achievements holds more truth than the accepted version of cannibalism.

Robbo, I am glad that Omar was interested and especially in his trip to the BM with A4, I can imagine that was extremely interesting for you both, he is very knowledgeable and that pisses many of the know-alls off quite a bit, I just wish he would not waffle so much and get to the point. Omar is of course correct about the Obelisks and many other things that were collected from Egypt, but that of course was in a different time and culture and you cannot turn the clock back. In fact with all this unrest in the Middle East it is probably just as well that we in the West do hold a lot of the treasures in order to keep them safe, I have visited the museum many times but not in recent years, I must plan another one.

Regarding the Obelisks, I once did a thread with pictures of quite a lot of the famous ones and how they had been transported, such as the one in London and the missing one from Luxor temple that resides on the Plas de la Concorde in Paris.
See WI, we can talk about Egyptology, now wait for the new membership to go through the roof.

[Robbo70]

Its quite sad we have to hold on to such treasures, and i know the guardians try and look after their temples and tombs and museums etc in Egypt, but lets be honest here, wave a 10LE note at them and you can do what you like within reason. The temple of Ptah is one such case in Karnak temple. Padlocked up, no entry... but if you wave a 20LE the magic key arrives and for another 10LE the nice policeman will guard your 3 minute walk through the maze of bricks to a little shack... and there stands the most beautiful statue of Sekmet i have ever seen. another 5LE gets you a photo opportunity, and as its dark in there, you can use a flash I opted for a torch to light it up enough to get poorer quality but less damaging photos.

I was always told Luxors twin pointy thing was in Paris, who in fairness look after it as well as we look after ours, but in the middle of London, Paris and New York, fumes and poor air quality are never going to be good for them. I dont have faith in Egypt looking after them any better though.

[Grandad]

Just enjoyed reading your exchanges folks.

It is Joanns enthusiasm that I like, she obviously 'lives' her subject.

[Horus]

Just watched the last one tonight and as usual enjoyed it, I liked the fact that she was talking about a 26th dynasty Kushite Pharaoh ‘Taharka’ I wonder how many people when they walk around Karnak Temple realise that the single column with a square top that you see standing alone near to the statue of the priest/Pharaoh ‘Pinejm’ just as you enter, is the last remaining item belonging to a columned hall built by the same Kushite Pharaoh Taharka?

Takarkas column left with Pinedjem's statue on the right under the palm tree


I know what you mean Robbo, like this one

[LovelyLadyLux]

Interestingly I got into the same 'off limits' place with the same $$ ('cept in USD) and I DID use flash on my camera.

One of the few pluses I see in having some of Egypt's artifacts NOT in Egypt is that hopefully they won't one day in the near future get blown to bits by ISIS.

I don't believe Canada has much in the way of Egyptian antiquities - definitely not here on the Island.

Always enjoyable to watch shows where the Commentators are enthusiastic about the subject matter too.

Hopefully it'll be on TV here soon.

[Grandad]

And the column from a different angle H.


Robbo and Horus have mentioned Sekhmet, I believe this also is Sekhmet but at Mut. (Please correct me if this is not Sekhmet. Second from the left )


This was in 1997, Temple of Mut I believe? Early days when we were persuaded by any story of 'Come I show you something' The bones might be authentic but the location is certainly not.