02x06 - Egypt

[bunniefuu]

[siren]

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ We're going on a visit ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Come on,
let's go with him ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ What's that, you ask?
What is it? ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Well, no one
wants to miss it ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ We're going on a visit ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Have fun,
let's go with him ♪

♪ New places,
new faces ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

Inspector Gadget:
Inspector Gadget here,

high-stepping
the mountainous pyramids

of Giza and Egypt.

Wowsers! These pyramids
are wonderful!

No wonder.

They're the only
surviving wonders

of the seven wonders
of the ancient world.

It's time to investigate
this curious place

and many other
Egyptian treasures.

So bring your mommies
and your daddies

as we go, go,
Gadget field trip.

Egypt is nestled

between the mediterranean sea
and the red sea

in the northeast corner
of Africa.

Wowsers! Most of Egypt
is made up of desert.

That's why nearly all
of Egypt's 62 million people

live in a small area of the
country along the banks of

the Nile, the world's
longest river.

Egypt's capital city is Cairo...

Home to 7 million people.

Egypt's famous
ancient civilization

began about 5,000 years ago.

Egyptian kings and queens ruled
the land as early as 3100 B.C.

These supreme rulers left behind
some colossal monuments

which are still standing today.

But if you ask them,
they much rather sit.

In ancient Egypt,
it was believed

that people went on
to another life after they died,

so dying was almost
as big a deal as living.

The pyramids are kind
of like gigantic tombstones

built for the pharaohs.

Just outside of Cairo
is saqqara.

You can visit the very first
pyramid ever built.

It's called
the "step pyramid."

And it was constructed
around 2600 B.C.

As part of a whole complex
built in honor of king djoser.

Thousands of workers constructed
this 200-foot pyramid

by stacking layer
upon layer of stone.

Talk about a tomb with a view.

King djoser's body
was buried in a chamber

this six-layer pyramid.

My keen detective sense
has led us to the tomb's

secret entrance.

Well, I guess
the secret got out.

Hey, is that djoser?

He looks a little stone-faced
to me.

There's trouble in this rubble.
Let's get out of here.

Djoser's step pyramid
paved the way

for even larger pyramids
to come.

Just outside of Cairo are
the famous pyramids of Giza.

Wowsers!

Enormous blocks of limestone--

some weighing more
than 5,000 pounds--

were used to make
the pyramids.

But how did the workers
stack these colossal stones?

One theory is that the stones
were dragged up a gigantic ramp

which was built
alongside the pyramid.

Another idea
is that the workers

pulled the stones up
a wraparound ramp.

A third idea
is that they have no idea.

No wonder it took 20 years.

Not even the strongest pharaoh

could lift this mysterious
Egyptian monument.

Hmm...what could it be?

It has the body of a lion
with really long paws

and the head of a man
wearing a royal headdress.

It's about the length
of a city block,

the height
of a six-story building,

and is at least 4500 years old.

Give up?

It's called a sphinx.

And it's one of
the great mysteries of Egypt.

In Egyptian mythology,

the lion was said to be
a guardian of sacred places

and a symbol of kingship.

The sphinx's head
was that of a pharaoh,

and some believe the sphinx
represented superhuman powers.

No one knows for sure the exact
story behind the sphinx.

Coincidentally, no one
knows the exact story

in front
of the sphinx either.

Hey! Don't sit down yet.

There's lots more
Egyptian fun ahead.

But first, an Inspector Gadget
field trip fact.

Some of these secret passageways

inside the great pyramid
aren't so great.

In fact, they're so small

workers had to crawl
through them

just to get to the pharaoh's
burial chamber.

Sa'ida from Egypt.

That means hello
in Egyptian arabic.

I wonder how you say
it's time to investigate

the incredible city
of Cairo.

That sounds good enough to me.

Go, go, Gadget camelmobile.

Cairo isn't just
Egypt's largest city.

It's also the largest city
in all of Africa.

Cairo is a unique mix of both
ancient and modern life.

But whether it's new or old,
you can be sure to find

just about anything you're
looking for at the Cairo bazaar.

Egyptian artists have passed
their traditions down

for generations.

This craftsman is carefully
tapping copper

into a beautiful brass tray.

And this bazaar craftsman
is practicing the art

of balancing a bundle
on his head.

Don't make any sudden moves.

This guy's got a lot
on his mind.

Mm, I wonder
if that pita bread

tastes as good
as it smells.

Ah, another sweet smell
is just around the corner.

It's time to follow our noses to
Cairo's famous perfume factory.

That's the way it go-ses
when you follow your noses.

Ancient Egyptian women
used to wear perfume in cones

on top of their heads,

which would slowly melt
as the day wore on.

Needless to say,
these sweet-smelling coneheads

didn't smell as sweet
on cloudy days.

Much of what we know
about ancient Egyptians

is from what they left behind
in their well-decorated tombs.

Thousands of these
incredible discoveries

can be found in Cairo's
Egyptian antiquities museum.

So, let's go, go,
Gadget King Tut strut.

I am here to investigate the
whereabouts of King Tutankhamen,

also known as King Tut,
the boy pharaoh.

But all I see are some mummies.

I want my daddy.

To make a mummy,
the ancient Egyptians

would place the body
on tables like this one

and remove the organs,
including the brains.

The organs were stored
in canopic jars like these.

The heart was one of the
only organs left in the body.

After all, who wants
a heartless mummy?

The body would then be
wrapped in gauze bandages

and placed in a colorful coffin.

If you were really important,

your coffin would be placed
in a sarcophagus.

If you were really,
really important,

the sarcophagus would be placed
in another sarcophagus.

I wonder which lucky mummy
lounged in these sarcophagi.

Wowsers!
It's Tut! King Tut!

It was his coffin that was found
inside the sarcophagi.

I think I've cracked the case
of the missing boy pharaoh.

Or at least I've struck gold.

This is incredible.

King tut's coffin
is made of solid gold.

His likeness is pictured
on the outside holding a

royal scepter and wearing a
collar of multicolored stones.

And inside the coffin
was even more gold.

A golden death mask
was placed upon King Tut's

mummified head and shoulders

and 143 amulets
and pieces of jewelry

were found in the bandages
wrapped around tut's body.

Wowsers! Tut did pretty well
for himself considering

he became king when he was
just 9 or 10 years old.

And now an Inspector Gadget
field trip fact.

Tutankhamen was one of Egypt's
youngest known pharaohs,

but he only ruled Egypt
for less than 10 years.

Tut died of unknown causes

When he was just

Welcome back to our field trip
through Egypt.

Inspector Gadget here

investigating the mysteries
of belly dancing.

Actually, I'm just trying to
loosen up my mysteriously

stiff Gadgets.

I don't even think I have a
belly button for belly dancing.

It's time to leave modern Cairo
and its belly dancers

and travel back in time
across the Nile river

into the belly
of pharaonic Egypt.

The pharaonic period
was when pharaohs ruled Egypt

and Egypt's ancient civilization
was in high gear.

It all began about 5,000 years
ago in the year 3100 B.C.

Wowsers!
Are we in a time capsule?

At dr. ragab's pharaonic village
near Cairo,

you can experience
what Egyptian life

was really like
over 3,000 years ago.

Aha! This must be
the ancient way of fishing.

Ouch! I wouldn't wanna
be a fish in that water.

This is how Egyptians
made perfume, wove fabrics,

and painted reliefs
on their temple walls.

What a relief.

Now I know how fire was made.
Free matchbook, of course.

Dear chief,
greetings from Egypt.

Oh. hello.

I'm here taking
a little postcard break

with the village scribe.

But how do you
describe a scribe?

In pharaonic Egypt,
it was the scribe's job

to record everything
that happened

in order to report back
to the king.

As scribe, he even
had his own library.

But instead of bookshelves, he
had cubbyholes

filled with scrolls of papyrus.

And he used writing utensils
like these.

I wonder if his mummy
was the librarian.

Scribes often wrote on paper
called papyrus.

Papyrus is just about
everywhere in Egypt.

Papyrus plants grow along
the banks of the Nile river.

Making papyrus paper is
an ancient Egyptian art.

First the plants
are harvested

and the reeds are cut
into slim strips.

The strips are laid out
symmetrically and pounded

so that the natural glue
in the plant

bonds the strips together.

It's pressed under a stone
for 6 days and...

Ta-da! Paper fit for a pharaoh.

Well, if I could just find
my papyrus pen.

Oh, scribe.

Hmm. investigate the mystery
of the hiero--oh! Hello, again.

I was just reading my top secret
message from the chief.

On papyrus, of course.

But it's written
in hieroglyphics,

so I can't quite understand it.

There's never a scribe around
when you need one.

It's time to crack the code
of the hieroglyphics.

For more than 1500 years,
it was almost impossible

to understand
the ancient hieroglyphic symbols

that were written
all over Egypt.

The code that cracked the case

was on a hunk of black rock
called the rosetta stone

found in Egypt in 1799.

On the stone, the same message
was written in 3 languages

greek, hieroglyphics,
and a third Egyptian language.

Since scholars understood
the meaning of the greek words,

they were able to figure out
what the hieroglyphics meant.

Like magic, the word
Cleopatra and lots

of other Egyptian symbols
were translated into words.

This meant a celebration
and a feast.

This is a warrior standing
over his defeated enemy.

And this must have been
an Egyptian line dance.

I can do that.

But what does this mean?

When we return, we'll
check the water level

of the Nile river and
jump on a camel's hump.

But first, another Inspector
Gadget field trip fact.

Today there are about 800
different hieroglyphic symbols,

and they can be written
right to left, left to right,

or top to bottom.

Just don't write them
upside down.

Inspector Gadget here,

back on our pharaonic field trip
through Egypt.

Wowsers! This must be the rest
of the sphinx family.

You know, relatives of Mr Sphinx
from the Giza pyramids.

This avenue of sphinxes
is actually quite a ways

up the Nile from Giza--
about 620 miles.

Let's explore this sandy street.

These colossal statues, colossal
columns, and colossal obelisks,

are all part of the colossally
cool temple of Karnak.

Over the course of nearly

added his own personal touch
to this elaborate temple.

It was the most impressive
temple in all of Egypt.

Karnak's hypostyle hall looks
like a forest of columns.


In fact, some of these columns

were 75 feet high
and 49 feet around.

They were so huge
that it took 6 people

with outstretched arms
to encircle each one.

I guess column-hugging
was big in those days.

The decorated columns once
supported a stone slab roof.

Looks like these columns could
support anything they want.

Just down the avenue
of the sphinxes

is the temple of luxor.

Boy, these pharaohs really
tried to outdo each other.

Would you believe
that just 100 years ago

this temple was buried
under stone and rubble?

So what did they
uncover at luxor?

You guessed it,
more massive columns.

Huge statues,
and pointy obelisks.

And if you're the type that
likes looking at the pictures

instead of reading,

there are plenty of
hieroglyphics to enjoy.

Riding a camel is a great way
to get around Egypt.

Horses and buggies
aren't bad either.

But the only way to travel

up and down the river Nile
is by boat.

Egyptian sailboats
are called Feluccas.

For thousands of years,

Egyptians have been
feluccaing up and down the Nile.

The Nile is the life force
of Egypt.

For thousands of years,
Egyptians have invented clever

ways of pumping and
diverting the Nile water

to irrigate their crops.

To measure the levels
of the Nile water,

Egyptians have been using
a handy Gadget

called a nilometer.

This is one Gadget I don't have.

I don't think it would fit
in my trenchcoat.

As the water rushed in from the
river through these chambers,

the column in the center here

would measure the height
of the flow.

Looks like the river rose higher
than a sphinx's toes.

Well, as the sun
sets over the river,

it's so long, Nile,
and so long, Egypt.

I hope you had a good time
poking around the pyramids,

careening with the camels,

strutting with King Tut,

boogieing with the
belly dancers,

and flying by in the Feluccas.

Until next time.

Go, go, Gadget field trip!