Watch Egyptian Journeys online: Episode 4 Building for Eternity

Cruickshank explores how and why the ancient Egyptians made things to last forever, fuelled by their belief in eternity. Egyptian belief in an after-life led to the development of ingenious techniques that have preserved much of their culture to this day. At Saqqara the Pharaoh Zoza built upon the traditional stone monument to create Egypt's first step pyramid as part of a stone complex designed to last forever. Zoza continually expanded his pyramid confirming the importance of size that culminated with the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. Later monuments use granite ferried down the Nile from distant Aswan to achieve the same level of eternity. The Nile was the fertile centre of the Egyptian world and its seasonal cycle inspired the very idea of eternity. They developed mummification to maintain the body for this continuing renewal. Following preservation the heart was reinserted as the seat of the soul and rituals were conducted to reawaken the senses of the deceased. Ancient Egyptians also believed such rituals necessary for the annual flooding of the Nile and the rising of the sun and great temples such as the one at Dendera were built to facilitate this. The temples were the engines of eternity built on massive scale to last forever as a route from the world of man to that of the gods with only the most privileged allowed access. The longevity of the Egyptian civilisation allowed some to question the very nature of eternity as they witnessed the desolation of ancient monuments but much has survived allowing the ancients to live on.

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