How Did Ancient Egyptians Build Cities in the Desert?

How do you build a city where nothing grows? Around 2500 BC, the pyramid builders of Giza needed thousands of loaves of bread, a river of water and a whole herd of cattle every single day. This video follows the evidence: the buried bakeries of the Lost City of the Pyramid Builders, the planned town of Kahun, the desert capital of Amarna built in about four years, the logbook of an inspector named Merer, and the first labor strike in recorded history. You'll learn how the Egyptians fed, watered and organized tens of thousands of workers in a desert, why they didn't use aqueducts or pipes, and what really happened when a late delivery of grain stopped a city. It is a story about supply lines more than stone, and it has a surprising answer that still applies to modern cities. Chapters: 0:00 The bread that shouldn't exist 0:32 The Lost City of the Pyramid Builders 1:16 The food bill 2:20 Kahun: a town built on a grid 3:13 The water problem 4:28 Amarna: a city in four years 5:41 Merer's logbook 6:49 The first strike in history 8:37 So how did they do it? 9:03 You live inside the same bargain Places, people and sources mentioned: Giza and Heit el-Ghurab, Mark Lehner and Ancient Egypt Research Associates, Richard Redding, Howard Vyse, Kahun and Flinders Petrie, Delphine Driaux, Deir el-Medina, Amarna and Akhenaten, Barry Kemp, Pierre Tallet and the papyri of Wadi al-Jarf, the Diary of Merer, the Turin Strike Papyrus and Ramesses III. Which part surprised you most? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe for more animated ancient history.