Ancient Egypt



Ancient Egypt was a long-lived civilization in north-eastern Africa. It was concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River, reaching its greatest extension during the second millennium BC, which is referred to as the New Kingdom period. It reached broadly from the Nile Delta in the north, as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. Extensions to the geographical range of ancient Egyptian civilization included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant, the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula and the Western Desert (focused on the several oases)

Ancient Egypt developed over at least three and a half millennia. It began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around 3150 BC and is conventionally thought to have ended in 31 BC when the early Roman Empire conquered and absorbed Ptolemaic Egypt as a state. This last, however, did not represent the first period of foreign domination; the Roman period was to witness a marked, if gradual transformation in the political and religious life of the Nile Valley, effectively marking the termination of independent civilizational development.



Dynasties of Pharaohs
in ancient Egypt
Predynastic Egypt
Protodynastic Period
Early Dynastic Period
1st 2nd
Old Kingdom
3rd 4th 5th 6th
First Intermediate Period
7th 8th 9th 10th
11th ( Thebes only)
Middle Kingdom
11th (All Egypt)
12th 13th 14th
Second Intermediate Period
15th 16th 17th
New Kingdom
18th 19th 20th
Third Intermediate Period
21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th
Late Period
26th 27th 28th
29th 30th 31st
Graeco-Roman Period
Alexander the Great
Ptolemaic dynasty

Archaeological evidence indicates that a developed Egyptian society extends far into prehistory (see Predynastic Egypt). The Nile River, around which much of the population of the country clusters, has been the lifeline for Egyptian culture since nomadic hunter-gatherers began living along the Nile during the Pleistocene. Traces of these early peoples appear in the form of artifacts and rock carvings along the terraces of the Nile and in the oases.

Along the Nile, in the 10th millennium BC, a grain- grinding culture using the earliest type of sickle blades had been replaced by another culture of hunters, fishers, and gathering peoples using stone tools. Evidence also indicates human habitation in the southwestern corner of Egypt, near the Sudan border, before 8000 BC. Climate changes and/or overgrazing around 8000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, eventually forming the Sahara (c. 2500 BC), and early tribes naturally migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society. There is evidence of pastoralism and cultivation of cereals in the East Sahara in the 7th millennium BC.

By about 6000 BC, organized agriculture and large building construction had appeared in the Nile Valley. At this time, Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and also constructing large buildings. Mortar was in use by 4000 BC. The Predynastic Period continues through this time, variously held to begin with the Naqada culture. Some authorities however place the start of the Predynastic Period earlier, in the Lower Paleolithic.

Between 5500 and 3100 BC, during Egypt's Predynastic Period, small settlements flourished along the Nile. By 3300 BC, just before the first Egyptian dynasty, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper Egypt (Ta Shemau) and Lower Egypt (Ta Mehu). The dividing line was drawn roughly in the area of modern Cairo.

The history of ancient Egypt proper starts with Egypt as a unified state, which occurred sometime around 3150 BC. Menes, who unified Upper and Lower Egypt, was the first king. Egyptian culture was remarkably stable and changed little over a period of nearly 3000 years. This includes religion, customs, art expression, architecture and social structure.

Egyptian chronology, which involves regnal years, began around this time. The conventional Egyptian chronology is the chronology accepted during the 20th century, but it does not include any of the major revision proposals that have also been made in that time. Even within a single work, often archeologists will offer several possible dates or even several whole chronologies as possibilities. Consequently, there may be discrepancies between dates shown here and in articles on particular rulers. Often there are also several possible spellings of the names. Typically, Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's Aegyptaica (History of Egypt).

  • List of pharaohs: The time of the Pharaohs stretches from before 3000 BC to about 30 BC.
  • Dynasties (see also: List of Egyptian dynasties):
    • Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (1st to 2nd Dynasties; until ca. 27th century BC)
    • Old Kingdom (3rd to 6th Dynasties; 27th to 22nd centuries BC)
    • First Intermediate Period (7th to 11th Dynasties)
    • Middle Kingdom of Egypt (11th to 14th Dynasties; 20th to 17th centuries BC)
    • Second Intermediate Period (14th to 17th Dynasties)
      • Hyksos (15th to 16th Dynasties, c. 1674 BC to 1548 BC)
    • New Kingdom of Egypt (18th to 20th Dynasties; 16th to 11th centuries BC)
    • Third Intermediate Period (21st to 25th Dynasties; 11th to 7th centuries BC)
    • Late Period of Ancient Egypt (26th to 31st Dynasties; 7th century BC to 332 BC)
      • Achaemenid Dynasty
    • Graeco-Roman Egypt ( 332 BC to AD 639)
      • Macedonian Kings ( 332 BC to 305 BC)
      • Ptolemaic Dynasty ( 305 BC to 30 BC)
      • Roman Empire ( 30 BC to 639 AD)


A 2006 bioanthropological study on the dental morphology of ancient Egyptians shows dental traits most characteristic of indigenous North Africans and to a lesser extent Near Eastern populations. The study also establishes biological continuity from the predynastic to the post-pharaonic periods. Among the samples included is skeletal material from the Hawara tombs of Fayum, which was found to most closely resemble the Badarian series of the predynastic. A study based on stature and body proportions also suggests that Nilotic or tropical body characteristics were also present in some later groups, as the Egyptian empire expanded southward during the New Kingdom.

Genetics analysis of modern Egyptians reveals that they are characterized by paternal lineages common to North Africans primarily, and to some Near Eastern peoples. These lineages spread during the Neolithic and were maintained by the predynastic period. Studies based on the maternal lineages also show that Egyptians are related to people from the Horn of Africa.

Champollion the Younger, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, claimed in Expressions et Termes Particuliers that kmt referred to a 'negroid' population. Modern day professional Egyptologists, anthropologists, and linguists, however, overwhelmingly agree that the term referred to the dark soil of the Nile Valley rather than the people, which contrasted with dSrt or the "red land" of the Sahara desert, a claim denied by Afrocentrists who contend that the term refers to the people.

In c. 450 BC, Herodotus wrote, "the Colchians are Egyptians... on the fact that they are dark-skinned (melanchrôs) and wooly-haired (oulothrix)" (Histories Book 2:104). Melanchros was also used by Homer to describe the sunburnt complexion of Odysseus (Od. 16.176).

Although analyzing the hair of ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet, mummies from circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anaemia and hemolytic disorders.

18 m (59 ft) high sandstone statues of Amenhotep III, flanking the entrance to his mortuary temple in Western Thebes - erroneously identified as the Colossi of Memnon by Greek travellers in antiquity

Administration and taxation

For administrative purposes, ancient Egypt was divided into nomes (the Greek word for "district"; they were called sepat in ancient Egyptian). The division into nomes can be traced back to the Predynastic Period (before 3100 BC), when the nomes originally existed as autonomous city-states. The nomes remained in place for more than three millennia, with the area of the individual nomes and their order of numbering remaining remarkably stable. Under the system that prevailed for most of pharaonic Egypt's history, the country was divided into 42 nomes: 20 comprising Lower Egypt, whilst Upper Egypt was divided into 22. Each nome was governed by a nomarch, a provincial governor who held regional authority. The position of the nomarch was at times hereditary, at times appointed by the pharaoh.

The ancient Egyptian government imposed a number of different taxes upon its people. As there was no known form of currency during that time period, taxes were paid for "in kind" (with produce or work). The Vizier (ancient Egyptian: tjaty) controlled the taxation system through the departments of state. The departments had to report daily on the amount of stock available, and how much was expected in the future. Taxes were paid for depending on a person's craft or duty. Landowners paid their taxes in grain and other produce grown on their property. Craftsmen paid their taxes in the goods that they produced. Hunters and fishermen paid their taxes with produce from the river, marshes, and desert. One person from every household was required to pay a corvée or labor tax by doing public work for a few weeks every year, such as digging canals or mining. However, a richer noble could hire a poorer man to fulfill his labor tax.


Ancient Egyptian constitutes an independent part of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. Its closest relatives are the Berber, Semitic, and Beja groups of languages. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3200 BC, making it one of the oldest and longest documented languages. Scholars group Egyptian into six major chronological divisions:

  • Archaic Egyptian (before 3000 BC)
Consists of inscriptions from the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic period. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing appears on Naqada II pottery vessels.
  • Old Egyptian (3000–2000 BC)
  • Middle Egyptian (2000–1300 BC)
  • Late Egyptian (1300–700 BC)
  • Demotic Egyptian (7th century BC–4th century AD)
  • Coptic (3rd–17th century AD)
An Obelisk with Egyptian writing.
An Obelisk with Egyptian writing.


For many years, the earliest known hieroglyphic inscription was the Narmer Palette, found during excavations at Hierakonpolis (modern Kawm al-Ahmar) in the 1890s, which has been dated to c. 3150 BC. However recent archaeological findings reveal that symbols on Gerzean pottery, c. 3250 BC, resemble the traditional hieroglyph forms. Also in 1998 a German archeological team under Günter Dreyer excavating at Abydos (modern Umm el-Qa'ab) uncovered tomb U-j, which belonged to a Predynastic ruler, and they recovered three hundred clay labels inscribed with proto-hieroglyphics dating to the Naqada IIIA period, circa 33rd century BC.


Beginning from around 2700 BC, Egyptians used pictograms to represent vocal sounds -- both vowel and consonant vocalizations (see Hieroglyph: Script). By 2000 BC, 26 pictograms were being used to represent 24 (known) main vocal sounds. The world's oldest known alphabet (c. 1800 BC) is only an abjad system and was derived from these uniliteral signs as well as other Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The hieroglyphic script finally fell out of use around the 4th century AD. Attempts to decipher it in the West began after the 15th century, though earlier attempts by Muslim scholars are attested (see Hieroglyphica).


  • c. 1800 BC: Story of Sinuhe and Ipuwer papyrus
  • c. 1600 BC: Westcar Papyrus
  • c. 1400 BC: Tulli Papyrus
  • c. 1300 BC: Ebers papyrus
  • c. 1180 BC: Papyrus Harris I
  • c. 1000 BC: Story of Wenamun


The Egyptian religion, embodied in Egyptian mythology, is a succession of beliefs held by the people of Egypt, as early as predynastic times and all the way until the coming of Christianity and Islam in the Graeco-Roman and Arab eras. These were conducted by Egyptian priests or magicians, but the use of magic and spells is questioned.

Every animal portrayed and worshipped in ancient Egyptian art, writing and religion is indigenous to Africa, all the way from the predynastic until the Graeco-Roman eras, over 3000 years. The Dromedary, domesticated first in Arabia, first appears in Egypt (and North Africa) beginning in the 2nd millennium BC.

The temple was a sacred place where only priests and priestesses were allowed. On special occasions people were allowed into the temple courtyard.

The religious nature of ancient Egyptian civilization influenced its contribution to the arts of the ancient world. Many of the great works of ancient Egypt depict gods, goddesses, and pharaohs, who were also considered divine. Ancient Egyptian art in general is characterized by the idea of order.

Evidence of mummies and pyramids outside ancient Egypt indicate reflections of ancient Egyptian belief values on other prehistoric cultures, transmitted in one way over the Silk Road. Ancient Egypt's foreign contacts included Nubia and Punt to the south, the Aegean and ancient Greece to the north, the Levant and other regions in the Near East to the east, and also Libya to the west.

Some scholars have speculated that Egypt's art pieces are sexually symbolic.

Ancient achievements

Louvre Museum antiquity
Louvre Museum antiquity

See Predynastic Egypt for inventions and other significant achievements in the Sahara region before the Protodynastic Period.

The art and science of engineering was present in Egypt, such as accurately determining the position of points and the distances between them (known as surveying). These skills were used to outline pyramid bases. The Egyptian pyramids took the geometric shape formed from a polygonal base and a point, called the apex, by triangular faces. Hydraulic cement was first invented by the Egyptians. The Al Fayyum Irrigation (water works) was one of the main agricultural breadbaskets of the ancient world. There is evidence of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty using the natural lake of the Fayyum as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during the dry seasons. From the time of the First dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in the Sinai Peninsula.

One of the more extreme claims of recent years is that the ancient "tet" or "djed" has been experimentally identified as an ancient battery. If true this technology would anticipate by thousands of years its rediscovery in the 19th century. The sarcophagus found in the great pyramid has been recently re-examined. According to the author Nigel Appleby ('Hall of the Gods') the holes drilled in the sides were considered to have been drilled at a speed and bore rate that cannot be reproduced today. Independent published corroboration by scientists and engineers is awaited for both of these claims.

The earliest evidence (circa 1600 BC) of traditional empiricism is credited to Egypt, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri. The roots of the scientific method may be traced back to the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians created their own alphabet (however, it is debated as to whether they were the first to do this because of the margin of error on carbon dated tests), decimal system and complex mathematical formularizations, in the form of the Moscow and Rhind Mathematical Papyri. The golden ratio seems to be reflected in many constructions, such as the Egyptian pyramids, however this may be the consequence of combining the use of knotted ropes with an intuitive sense of proportion and harmony.

Glass making was highly developed in ancient Egypt, as is evident from the glass beads, jars, figures and ornaments discovered in the tombs. Recent archeology has uncovered the remains of an ancient Egyptian glass factory.


(All dates are approximate; see Egyptian chronology for a detailed discussion.)


  • 3500 BC: Senet, world's oldest (confirmed) board game
  • 3500 BC: Faience, world's earliest known earthenware


The Great Pyramid of Giza.
The Great Pyramid of Giza.
Egypt was first to create glass objects. [citation needed]
Egypt was first to create glass objects.
3D red_cyan glasses recommended for your viewing pleasure
  • 3300 BC: Bronze works (see Bronze Age)
  • 3200 BC: Egyptian hieroglyphs fully developed (see First dynasty of Egypt)
  • 3200 BC: Narmer Palette, world's earliest known historical document
  • 3100 BC: Decimal system, world's earliest (confirmed) use
  • 3100 BC: Wine cellars, world's earliest known
  • 3050 BC: Shipbuilding in Abydos
  • 3000 BC: Exports from Nile to Palestine and Levant: wine (see Narmer)
  • 3000 BC: Copper plumbing (see Copper: History)
  • 3000 BC: Papyrus, world's earliest known paper
  • 3000 BC: Medical Institutions
  • 2900 BC: possible steel: carbon-containing iron
  • 2700 BC: Surgery, world's earliest known
  • 2700 BC: precision Surveying
  • 2700 BC: Uniliteral signs, forming basis of world's earliest known alphabet
  • 2600 BC: Sphinx, still today the world's largest single-stone statue
  • 2600s– 2500 BC: Shipping expeditions: King Sneferu and Pharaoh Sahure. See also,
  • 2600 BC: Barge transportation, stone blocks (see Egyptian pyramids: Construction)
  • 2600 BC: Pyramid of Djoser, world's earliest known large-scale stone building
  • 2600 BC: Menkaure's Pyramid & Red Pyramid, world's earliest known works of carved granite
  • 2600 BC: Red Pyramid, world's earliest known "true" smooth-sided pyramid; solid granite work
  • 2580 BC: Great Pyramid of Giza, the world's tallest structure until AD 1300
  • 2500 BC: Beekeeping
  • 2400 BC: Astronomical Calendar, used even in the Middle Ages for its mathematical regularity
  • 2200 BC: Beer
  • 1860 BC: possible Nile-Red Sea Canal ( Twelfth dynasty of Egypt)
  • 1800 BC: Alphabet, world's oldest known
  • 1800 BC: Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, generalized formula for volume of frustum
  • 1650 BC: Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: geometry, cotangent analogue, algebraic equations, arithmetic series, geometric series
  • 1600 BC: Edwin Smith papyrus, medical tradition traces as far back as c. 3000 BC
  • 1550 BC: Ebers Medical Papyrus, traditional empiricism; world's earliest known documented tumors (see History of medicine)
  • 1500 BC: Glass-making, world's earliest known
  • 1300 BC: Berlin Mathematical Papyrus, 19th dynasty - 2nd order algebraic equations
  • 1258 BC: Peace treaty, world's earliest known (see Ramesses II)
  • 1160 BC: Turin papyrus, world's earliest known geologic and topographic map
  • 1000 BC: Petroleum tar used in mummification
  • 5th– 4th century BC (or perhaps earlier): battle games petteia and seega; possible precursors to Chess (see Origins of chess)

Open problems

There is a question as to the sophistication of ancient Egyptian technology, and there are several open problems concerning real and alleged ancient Egyptian achievements. Certain artifacts and records do not fit with conventional technological development systems. It is not known why there seems to be no neat progression to an Egyptian Iron Age nor why the historical record shows the Egyptians possibly taking a long time to begin using iron. A study of the rest of Africa could point to the reasons: Sub-Saharan Africa confined their use of the metal to agricultural purposes for many centuries. The ancient Egyptians had a much easier form of agriculture with the annual Nile floods and fertile sediment delivery. They thus had no impetus for the development of agricultural implements that would have spurred the adoption of iron. It is unknown how the Egyptians shaped and worked granite. A clue is found in the exquisite granite carvings of the Yoruba in West Africa. For years researchers could not fathom how they were carved so smoothly until contemporary workmen demonstrated the simple system of rubbing the quartz with sand and water. The exact date the Egyptians started producing glass is debated.

There is some question whether the Egyptians were capable of long distance navigation in their boats and when they became knowledgeable sailors. It is also contentiously disputed as to whether or not the Egyptians had some understanding of electricity and if the Egyptians used engines or batteries. The relief at Dendera is interpreted in various ways by scholars. The topic of the Saqqara Bird is controversial, as is the extent of the Egyptians' understanding of aerodynamics. It is unknown for certain if the Egyptians had kites or gliders.

Beekeeping is known to have been particularly well developed in Egypt, as accounts are given by several Roman writers — Virgil, Gaius Julius Hyginus, Varro and Columella. It is unknown whether Egyptian beekeeping developed independently or as an import from Southern Asia.

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