Good morning teachers! I am still kicking off the year with documentaries about the ancient world in preparation for the next school year. Sure, it is early but I believe in gathering ideas and preparing ahead of time, so I am going to work through the ancient world in January. The documentary is called Heliopolis – The City of the Sun and the run time for this documentary is 52:43.
In March 2017, in Cairo Egypt, construction workers made an intriguing discovery underneath a pile of rubble. At the bottom of the pit was a giant head. The head had a crown. Nearby the head was a torso. What was discovered was the remains of a statue that was nine meters high. Archeologists race against the clock to discover more about this statue and the city that it called home. Cairo has been rapidly expanding and threatens to bury ancient sites. Now the race is on to excavate one of Ancient Egypt’s most holy sites: the city of the Sun. Heliopolis is one of Ancient Egypt’s mysteries. Now a team of German and Egyptian archeologists is going on a rescue dig before the site is lost forever. Not much is known about Heliopolis other than old descriptions. This dig will be one last opportunity to learn more about Heliopolis from the site itself. Much of Heliopolis is buried under an ever-expanding Cairo. Heliopolis was built at a strategic point in Egypt along the Nile River. The ancient city made headlines in 2017 when the remains of a statue were discovered. The statue was used to stand guard in front of a temple in Heliopolis. When it was discovered, archeologists thought it belonged to the period of Ramses II. However, the style did not fit and it was when the inscription was found it was discovered to have belonged to Pharoah Psamtik I from the 26th Dynasty. Egypt had ceased to be a world power by the 26th Dynasty. Egypt had been conquered and controlled by foreign governors. The Upper Kingdom was controlled by Assyria and the Lower Kingdom was controlled by the Nubians. However, things changed with Psamtik. He was a man who wanted to reunite Upper and Lower Egypt once again. He would become the leader of a new dynasty and to commemorate his leadership he would build a statue at Heliopolis. However, learning more about Heliopolis does not come without its challenges. With the high water table, archeologists find their site routine flooded and soaked with water. They routinely have to take core samples around the site. These samples show the history of the area over the years and show how the Nile flooded over the years. According to ancient traditions, Heliopolis was founded on a hill. Then the gods emerged from this hill and these gods would rule the world together. They would then give the Pharaoh dominion over the lands. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the sun traveled across the sky using a boat. The worship of the gods was to encourage the sun to travel across the city. When Cairo was established, the Egyptians would mine the Heliopolis site for building materials. Stones from the temples at Heliopolis would make their way into buildings in Cairo. Experts in Ancient Egyptian work, point out engravings on the bricks that were used in the city. Before this emergency dig, the only discovery of note at Heliopolis was done by an Italian archeologist. His discoveries are at a museum in Turin. One of the artifacts was the earliest depiction of an Egyptian god in human form. Among the finds was also a plan for the temples of Heliopolis. These finds also hint at how the Pharaohs recognized the religious importance of the Heliopolis site. Then there is a discussion on Imhotep. He was an architect to the pharaoh and an observer of the skies. He was also the high priest of Heliopolis and he would use his talents to develop a calendar and predict the flooding of the Nile. So how would Imhotep continue to serve the Pharoah? What else will be discovered about the Heliopolis site? This is one neat documentary about rescue archeology and the work done on the Heliopolis site. This would be a good documentary to consider for showing to a history classroom.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |