The Nile River snakes over 6,800 kilometers from Lake Victoria in Tanzania to the Mediterranean Sea.
But, it's here in Egypt that witnessed the rise of the mightiest empire along its banks.
We start our journey in Luxor. You might know it by its ancient name, Thebes.
Present day, it's one of Egypt's main tourist hubs.
Luxor is the city of palaces.
This was the heart, the capital of the ancient Egyptian world, and Karnak Temple here is large.
It's massive. It's impressive.
But, I know nothing about it, so I'm gonna meet someone who does.
You are in Karnak. This is the largest religious complex of the ancient world.
This was like a blank piece of paper, where every king who ruled Egypt from the 11th Dynasty to the [30th] or 31st Dynasty marked his name on it one way [or another].
Egypt's ancient history plays out on the temple walls, telling stories of glory and betrayal.
Walking in here today, I saw a construction crane doing some restoration work.
They didn't have cranes thousands of years ago. How would they [have] built something this massive?
Ramps and... yeah, ramps made out of mud brick and rubble.
This was the way they [lifted] up these giant blocks of [stone] all the way up to the high heights.
It's the crown jewel of Luxor and a melting pot of languages, as tourists from around the world flock here to uncover the secrets of the pharaohs.
Doctoral student of Egyptology Andrew Schilling from the University of Memphis in the United States carefully records the descriptions and colors while checking for damage --
painstaking but important work.
Not all the damage is recent.
Take this part of the wall, for example.
It depicts one of the world's oldest family feuds.
An angry son and rightful heir to the throne overthrew his pharaoh mother and ordered her hieroglyphic removed.
Ancient Egyptians believed images on these walls are going to come alive with certain magical spells in the afterlife,
and erasing her like that means that she will never be able to come back again.
Untimely deaths are a theme in ancient Egypt,
as we find out across the river at Medinet Habu, or the mortuary temple of Ramses III.
This pharaoh wore his problems on his sleeves, or rather, walls.
They tell of constant war with the sea people.
And what happened to the prisoners would make anyone think twice about invading Egypt.
The reliefs served as the pharaoh's propaganda to the people, and even maybe a bit of a warning.
Despite being over 3,000 years old, much of the vibrant colors remain.
While Ramses III's temple brags about his might, it wouldn't save him from an assassination plot.
His royal harem who lived here, including one of his wives, killed the pharaoh to put her son on the throne.
Killing a god-king doesn't go over well, and everyone involved was put to death.
When pharaohs died, they took up residency in the Valley of the Kings.
More than 60 pharaohs that we know of call this place home.
In the Valley of the Kings, this tomb belonging to Ramses VI is considered one of the most beautiful.
Unfortunately, tomb robbers got here before Egyptologists.
We end our time in Luxor at, well, fittingly named Luxor Temple.
Today the site is sanctified by an early Christian church and a centuries-old mosque.
But, back in the Pharaoh's day, Ramses III kept his harem here too and made regular visits.