The Birthplace of Afterlife Thought | The Story of God

Here we are at Saqqara. That's a step pyramid of Kings Osa, and it's one of the first pyramids. It is the first pyramid ever to be built. That one is over there. Yes, this entire site is a big cemetery. So the ideas that people now have about rebirth and resurrection all started here in Saqqara about 5,000 years ago, not earlier. So this is maybe the birth of afterlife thought. Yeah, you could say that.

Egyptologist Salima Ikram is taking me to see the tomb of a pharaoh who ruled almost 4,400 years ago. Inside it are humanity's oldest written descriptions of the afterlife. And this is a causeway, and we're going to the temple of Ouna's. This part is where they would be dragging the body of the king once it had been mummified.

Up here, I'm looking here with these stones. I know I couldn't lift one, and this looks like it was built in the 50s or 60s, but it is actually built about 4,000 years ago, more than that. Unbelievable. Still unbelievable.

We go up here; you can see there's the pyramid, and it doesn't look like very much right now. It looks really like a hill. Yep. But what's important about it is what's inside. You're going to have to mind your head.

Well, there's little people in here my size, so you'll have to duck again. This bit, it's also you have to bend to show that you're being respectful to the Great God Kings. That's what this is all about, partially. Yeah, and here we are. And this, oh my goodness, look at all this fabulous, huh?