EGYPT - TOMBS
It’s probably the oldest cemetery in the world.
Five thousand years ago Saqqara was the last resting place for the dead Pharaohs from near by Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt.
Biggest of all their tombs the step pyramid, the oldest stone structure in the world.
But walk around Saqqara and it doesn’t take long to realise that the ancient Egyptians had a grave obsession, whether it was above ground or below it.
There seems to be no limit to the lengths people of Pharoanic times would go to for the sake of the afterlife.
Debbie Whitmont: This giant tomb contains the coffins not of people but of animals. On either side of this main chamber a series of caverns, each one dedicated to a sacred bull.
In each cavern a seventy tonne granite coffin. The Bulls are long since gone, stolen, eaten, or if the ancient Egyptians were right, perhaps reincarnated as Gods.
Only their coffins remain…far too heavy for even the most determined grave robbers.
But not all Egypt’s tombs are buried in the desert
Sometimes in Egypt it seems the dead are everywhere.
They are either being dug up displayed or celebrated with monuments. But while the tombs of the Pharaohs are often empty and their occupants tucked away in museums, the tombs in this part of Cairo are very much alive.
This is Iman al Sharfi, not one of Cairo’s most exclusive suburbs but certainly one of the most spacious.
For centuries Iman al Sharfi’s been a cemetery, a whole suburb of family tombs. But as Cairo’s grown more and more crowded, the living have begun to outnumber the dead.
Knock on any tomb and the chances are these days who’ll get an answer. This tomb is the home of Ahmen Atiyah. In the front room is one of the original inhabitants.
Ahmed says it’s his great great great grandfather.
Ahmed: I was born here and we were all born here, generations and generations, more than 200 years.
Fifty years ago, Ahmed bought his new bride Nour home to the tomb. Since then they’ve renovated the rooms and raised seven children.
Now they and their grandchildren watch CNN in what they call the living room.
Nour: I’ve been here since I was fourteen. I’m used to i. Its better than living with people who talk a lot and fight and watch you. These ones are asleep thank God. No talk no gossip, so I’ve gotten to like it.
Every day Ahmed leaves the cemetery he loves in to walk a few streets away to another one.
This one is far grander…and more deserted mausoleum
Inside, are forgotten tombs of Egypt’s nineteenth century royal family – the Kings and Queens that fell out of favour when Egypt became a republic in the nineteen fifties.
Ignored for decades…these rulers belong to a period of Islamic history the present government seems happy to abandon. The last person to be buried here, secretly, was King Farouk. Later his body was moved to a more important burial place. Ahmed Atiyah is a self appointed guardian of the tombs…and their only visitor.
Ahmed: When there’s a revolution the government takes everything…and the government controls everything.
Political change may have wiped out he royal fortune but for Ahmed and Nour and for crowded Cairo there’s still the wealth of the past…even if it has to be shared between the living and the dead.
Ahmed: To me, I thank God its good. When I die they’ll be able to bury me right over there. So it won’t cost me a lot of money. Laugh.
It’s probably the oldest cemetery in the world.
Five thousand years ago Saqqara was the last resting place for the dead Pharaohs from near by Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt.
Biggest of all their tombs the step pyramid, the oldest stone structure in the world.
But walk around Saqqara and it doesn’t take long to realise that the ancient Egyptians had a grave obsession, whether it was above ground or below it.
There seems to be no limit to the lengths people of Pharoanic times would go to for the sake of the afterlife.
Debbie Whitmont: This giant tomb contains the coffins not of people but of animals. On either side of this main chamber a series of caverns, each one dedicated to a sacred bull.
In each cavern a seventy tonne granite coffin. The Bulls are long since gone, stolen, eaten, or if the ancient Egyptians were right, perhaps reincarnated as Gods.
Only their coffins remain…far too heavy for even the most determined grave robbers.
But not all Egypt’s tombs are buried in the desert
Sometimes in Egypt it seems the dead are everywhere.
They are either being dug up displayed or celebrated with monuments. But while the tombs of the Pharaohs are often empty and their occupants tucked away in museums, the tombs in this part of Cairo are very much alive.
This is Iman al Sharfi, not one of Cairo’s most exclusive suburbs but certainly one of the most spacious.
For centuries Iman al Sharfi’s been a cemetery, a whole suburb of family tombs. But as Cairo’s grown more and more crowded, the living have begun to outnumber the dead.
Knock on any tomb and the chances are these days who’ll get an answer. This tomb is the home of Ahmen Atiyah. In the front room is one of the original inhabitants.
Ahmed says it’s his great great great grandfather.
Ahmed: I was born here and we were all born here, generations and generations, more than 200 years.
Fifty years ago, Ahmed bought his new bride Nour home to the tomb. Since then they’ve renovated the rooms and raised seven children.
Now they and their grandchildren watch CNN in what they call the living room.
Nour: I’ve been here since I was fourteen. I’m used to i. Its better than living with people who talk a lot and fight and watch you. These ones are asleep thank God. No talk no gossip, so I’ve gotten to like it.
Every day Ahmed leaves the cemetery he loves in to walk a few streets away to another one.
This one is far grander…and more deserted mausoleum
Inside, are forgotten tombs of Egypt’s nineteenth century royal family – the Kings and Queens that fell out of favour when Egypt became a republic in the nineteen fifties.
Ignored for decades…these rulers belong to a period of Islamic history the present government seems happy to abandon. The last person to be buried here, secretly, was King Farouk. Later his body was moved to a more important burial place. Ahmed Atiyah is a self appointed guardian of the tombs…and their only visitor.
Ahmed: When there’s a revolution the government takes everything…and the government controls everything.
Political change may have wiped out he royal fortune but for Ahmed and Nour and for crowded Cairo there’s still the wealth of the past…even if it has to be shared between the living and the dead.
Ahmed: To me, I thank God its good. When I die they’ll be able to bury me right over there. So it won’t cost me a lot of money. Laugh.