The world is inundated on documentaries about Ancient Egypt and
even though this documentary doesn't offer much with new
information, it successfully bridges the life and death of
Egyptians who lived over 3500 years ago. This DVD contains
collects both episodes from this popular series and follows
Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher who takes the viewer on an
amazing journey about what it was like to live in Ancient Egypt
and what the Egyptians believed was waiting in the afterlife.
In
the first episode, Fletcher gives a great picture of how the
Egyptians lived and focuses on an Egyptian architect called Kha
and his wife Meryt who lived near the Valley of the Kings where
their tomb was discovered and untouched in 1906. More importantly,
these two Egyptians left the world a detailed snapshot from not
just their lives but also what waited them in the afterlife.
Even thousands of years later after their deaths, we can still
see what motivated them, what foods they ate and how they worked
and worshipped the Pharaohs. One of the highlights from the
first episode was the love of poetry that the Egyptians had and
really makes you look at these ancient people as people, opposed
to some mysterious civilization.
The second episode focuses more
on the afterlife as we follow Fletcher into a variety of tombs
as she shares with us a wealth of knowledge and some beautiful
artefacts to showcase the journey after life. Another highlight
of the series is that Fletcher normalises the information by
focusing on the everyday individuals like Kha and his wife. She
also raises some interesting questions to the viewer that in
turn relate to modern society and even though we are superior
with technology and medicine, we still share many commonalities
and listening to the stories on how Kha and Meryt courted really
tugs at your heartstrings.
Final Thoughts?
Beautifully presented on DVD, Ancient
Egypt Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings is a very
insightful documentary that focuses more on emotions but
successfully showcases the information in a positive new light.
