Cheap Egypt's Golden Empire (DVD) (Ciara Byrne, James Hawes, Richard Bradley (II)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Egypt's Golden Empire

A serious con for me was the major overuse of the same 'Last of the Mohicans' theme. It was used over, and over again, often, I found distracting from what I was watching. Perhaps because I'm a soundtrack nut though, the music stuck in my head too much. And there were only three or so pieces of music used overall it sounded like. I think I've heard the Gladiator theme used on another documentary like this as well.

I also found that music was used too often in this documentary. It's important to know when to use music and when not too. Would it have been too much to devote a little more of the budget to getting some different pieces of music created.

Keith David is a great narrator and takes his time, providing a welcome balance to the overused music.

Again, good visuals, informative, and the stories are pretty easy to follow, but with a bit of tweaking, this could have been a really great documentary.

A chronicle of the first political and economic superpower
The wealth and power that the Egyptian Empire wielded under the mighty pharaohs is still impressive after three thousand years. The structures that the Egyptians built to honor their leaders and Gods are remarkable feats of engineering achievement. I have seen some of the artwork from that era in museums and they still exude the power of the civilization that created them. Fortunately for us all, many of the events that went into the building and maintenance of the Empire were written down in permanent form and from this tape, we can see how the empire was built, maintained and eventually collapsed.
Like all true empires down through history, the Egyptian Empire was created by conquest. However, what made it an ancestor of the modern superpower was that it was maintained by a combination of force, economics and diplomacy. Messages were exchanged between the pharaohs and the rulers of the neighboring states, and many of them have been preserved. When examined, they reveal a form of diplomatic correspondence quite similar to the forging of modern alliances. With their control of the Nubian gold mines, the Egyptians were able to maintain alliances by shipping gold to their allies.
However, as always seems to be the case, the fall of the Egyptian Empire seems to have been largely due to internal political difficulties. The tales of some of these rulers strike notes of modernity with their actions. Ramesses the Great seems to have been the first ruler to use mass media techniques to forge public opinion into a light favorable to him. Along with the images of him dealing death to his enemies, there are pictures of Ramesses and his Queen playing with their children. In attempts to expand and maintain their political base, the pharaohs altered the worship structure and even built a brand new city for the imperial capital. That city was eventually abandoned in place when a new ruler came to power.
As the narrators repeat many times, the Egyptian Empire was very much a modern state. Giant public works, extensive records of commerce and civil problems, a lengthy diplomatic history, the first recorded strike conducted by workers and even gossip and scandal are found in the records. In the last years of the empire, the workers who were constructing the tombs went long periods without payment and they recorded their frustration on the stone walls of their city. Those records can still be read and they reveal messages that could be plucked from modern newspapers. Men sleeping with the wives of other men, graft and corruption and frustration over low wages are all topics described on the walls.
The empire built by the pharaohs was the first true political and economic superpower to exist in human history. It lasted for nearly five centuries and yet it fell apart rather quickly. It took only a few decades for the records to go from a description of wealth and plenty to one of deprivation and near starvation. In order to survive, the tomb builders became grave robbers, plundering the tombs for the treasures buried with the occupants. What is most telling about these stories is that they are not followed by stories of governmental retribution. This lack of punishment is the strongest indicator of how weak the central government had become.
This tape is a fascinating account of the history of what probably was the most powerful empire before the Christian era and certainly the first modern political state. If you have any interest in ancient Egypt, then you should watch this tape. Some of the "acting" is rather poor, but that is incidental compared to the quality of the history.

Well produced, interesting documentary
The "Empires" series on PBS has has several great episodes. This is among the better ones. Egypt's history spans thousands of years, and to make a reasonably-lengthed DVD (and to fit in with the general parameters of the series) this one simply covers the New Kingdom -- a brilliant moment in Egypt's long and glorious history. So while we don't see anything about the pyramids (already a thousand years old by the New Kingdom), we do see some of the most interesting (and popular) characters who lead Egypt at its peak of power... Thutmosis, Hatchepsut, Akhnaten, Rameses II. Nice touches like the inclusion of correspondence bewteen Egyptians and foreign leaders and discussion about the life of commoners helps round things out. All in all, visually interesting, great fun, and lots of good info make this a great documentary. Highly recommended, but those drawn to Egypt by the pyramids or, say, Cleopatra should look into other DVDs.

And I should point out to a previous reviewer that "corn" doesn't just refer to the yellow vegetable we all know and love... the word has long been used to refer to any generic food crop, similar to the word "grain."