Ancient Egypt

The photo above is of the northern side of the Cheops Pyramind on the Giza Plateau, very close to Cairo, Egypt.

The pyramids are the tombs of the pharoahs (kings) of Ancient Egypt. The style and size developed over a number of a centuries. The earliest is probably the Saqqara pyramid that was built for King Djoser in 2630 BC.

The most famous pyramids, and the ones that most tourists to modern Egypt visit, are the tombs on the plain of Giza, just outside Cairo, the capital of Egypt. The largest these is the pyramid of Cheops (or Khufu) that was built in approximately 2500 BC. (the close-up above gives some idea of the massive size of this pyramid).

Pyramid tombs were supposed to provide a safe burial place for the pharoahs (kings) of Egypt, where they could pass eternity in security and comfort. Unfortunately, due to the immense riches buried in the pyramids with these kings, the pyramid tombs were an irresistible magnet for thieves and robbers, who constantly succeeded in breaking into the tombs despite hidden burial chambers, priestly curses, severe punishments, and booby traps. So in later years the pharoahs were buried in the more secure Valley of the Kings near Thebes.

(Photo: Olaf Tausch.)

The civilization of Ancient Egypt lasted for just over 3,000 years (or 30 centuries!). Below are some of the key dates and events in its history:

Early Dynastic Period (c. 3050 -2686 BC)

3100 BC: Upper and Lower Egypt are united into one state by King Narmer.

Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC)

This period was known as the Age of Pyramids, as many pyramids -- such as the Step Pyramid at Saqqara and the three pyramids of Giza -- were constructed during this period. Severe droughts occurred in the later years.

First Intermediate Period (2181-1991 BC)

A period of famine and civic strife. Provinces broke away from central control. In this period of about 200 years many of the pyramid and tomb complexes were robbed.

Middle Kingdom (2134-1690 BC)

Under King Mentuhotep II of Thebes the country was reunited. Later kings began land reclamation and irrigation schemes. Mineral-rich Nubia was reconquered.

Second Intermediate Period (1674-1549 BC) and the Hyksos

A group of foreign invaders (the Hyksos, from Canaan) invaded the north of Egypt for more than a century. The Hyksos allied themselves with a group of Nubians (called the Kushites) against Egypt. The Hyksos and the Kushites were finally expelled from Egypt.

New Kingdom (1549-1069 BC)

This was a period of great prosperity. Egypt's empire extended to its furthest ever. The cult of the god Amun flourished and the pharaohs (kings) built monuments in Karnak to symbolize their achievements.

In 1350 BC King Amenhotep IV renamed himself Akhenaten and promoted the worship of the sun god Aten, suppressed the worship of other gods and attacked the power of the priests. This is seen as an early example of monotheism. After the king's death, subsequent pharaohs such as Tutankhamun returned to the worship of the old gods and tried to erase each and every mention of Aten.

In 1279 BC, the king Rameses II (Rameses the Great) came to power. He built more temples, statues and obelisks and waged war against the Hittites in the Near East.

In the last part of the New Kingdom, Egypt lost control of territories in the Near East to its enemies, the Hittites and the Assyrians, and was wracked by internal problems (corruption, civil unrest and tomb robbery).

Third Intermediate Period (1069 - 653 BC)

In this period Egypt was ruled by Libyan kings and then invaded by the Kushites (from Nubia in the south) and attacked by the Assyrians.

Late Period (672 - 332 BC)

Now Egypt was ruled by the Assyrian vassal Saite kings and then from 525 BC the Persians began to conquer Egypt.

Ptolemaic Dynasty (332 - 30 BC)

In 332 BC the Macedonian Greek Alexander the Greek defeated the Persians and gained control of Egypt. After the death of Alexander, the Ptolemies ruled Egypt from a new capital city, Alexandria (famous for its library and its lighthouse). In this period Greek culture and religion flourished beside Egyptian culture and religion.

This was the end of the era of Ancient Egypt. In 30 BC Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.

Above Photo: Four huge statues at the Temple of Ramesses II, Abu Simbel, Nubia [photo courtesy of Steve F-E-Cameron]

Ancient Egypt was a dry country (97% of its land was desert) but, thanks to the River Nile which flowed through its heart, it was still a fertile land.

The River Nile is the world's longest river, flowing from central Africa and down through today's Sudan and Egypt to finally empty into the Mediterranean Sea. In the time of Ancient Egypt all life and civilization depended on the Nile. It provided food (such as birds and fish), water (the annual flood waters were stored in ponds and lagoons until needed), tools, and materials for everyday use (such as papyrus for making paper).

The Nile was also a major transport artery. All sorts of products were carried along the river by boat and by barge. Even the rocks for the construction of the pyramids were hewn from quarries and taken along the Nile to where the pyramids were being built.

Every year, the Nile flooded between the months of June and October. This was a blessing for the Ancient Egyptians as the floods brought with them a rich, dark silt which spread across Egypt's plains (to a distance of about 10 km on either side of the river) when the river burst its banks during the floods. This silt was a rich fertilizer which allowed farmers to grow and harvest two crops (wheat, flax, papyrus, etc.) each year. Unfortunately, the floods were sometimes too large (washing houses and farms away) or too small (causing the crops to fail and people to starve for want of food).

One of the animals living along the Nile -- the hippopotamus -- was revered as a symbol of fertility by the ancient Egyptians. Artisans celebrated the hippopotamus, by making hippo-shaped earthenware icons and decorating the walls of tombs with hippopotamus images.

Above Image: Hunting fowl (shrike, wagtails and pintail ducks) in the reed beds beside the River Nile. This image is in the British Museum. (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.)

During Ancient Egypt's 3,000 year history, the people were ruled by rulers known as pharaohs (meaning "great house").. The pharaohs were believed to be divine -- the sons of Ra, the sun god -- and that after their death, they joined the gods in the next world.

For this reason, Ancient Egyptians took great care of the bodies of the pharaohs after they died, turning the bodies into mummies and placing them in magnificent tombs.

Pharaohs had absolute power. They had the power of life and death over all their subjects, who also had to pay annual taxes to the pharaohs. The pharaohs ruled over a society with a strict hierarchy (a strictly defined roles for each person). They lived in beautiful royal palaces, surrounded by a large staff of priests and administrators. The wife of the pharaoh was also regarded as divine and could be the sister of the pharaoh.

Some of the great pharoahs were:

-- Menes: united all of Egypt for the first time under a firm ruler (the pharoah)

-- Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure: three pharoahs of the Fourth Dynasty who built the amazing pyramids of Giza

-- Akhenaten: promoted the worship of the sun god Aten (an early form of monotheism)

-- Tutankhamun: his burial chamber was rediscovered in the 1920s

-- Rameses the Great: period of great prosperity and building and war against the Hittites

-- Cleopatra: the last pharoah of Ancient Egypt

Image: Akhenaten, Aten Temple at Karnak (courtesy Gerard Ducher).

The Ancient Egyptians worshipped almost 2,000 different gods and goddesses. Some of these gods and goddesses ruled in a local areas of Egypt, while others (such as Thoth, the god of wisdom) had wide powers over all the Egyptian world.

But they each god had a story that was told to each new generation by wonderful religious myths, which explained the meaning of life -- the cycle of birth and death, the rising and setting of the sun, the flooding of the Nile, and much more.

Some of the important gods and goddesses were:
-- Ra, the sun god
-- Osiris, the god of the underworld
-- Anubis, the god of the dead
-- Horus, the sky god
-- Thoth, the god of wisdom

The gods and goddesses were worshipped temples (for example, the temple of Karnak in the city of Thebes). These temples were run by priests, who kept them in good order, carried out daily religious ceremonies, and made offerings to the gods. Important temples were well built and ornate and their priests were rich and powerful.

The Egyptians believed that Ra, the sun god, traveled over the sky each day in his sun boat. This explained the sunrise, sunset and the sun passing overhead.

The Egyptians also believed in a life after death and that to reach the afterlife, people had to pass a test in which their heart was weighed by Anubis, the god of the dead. If their heart weighed more than a feather, they would be devoured by Ammut, the eater of hearts. Fortunately, people could undergo rituals during life and after death to prevent this fate.

Image: Painting of Imentet (on the left) and Ra in the tomb of Nefertari (c. 1298-1235 BC) (Public Domain picture)

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Ancient Egypt was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and it was the only one of the seven to have mostly survived to this day.

The first pyramids were built for the Pharaoh Djoser (or Zoser) during the Third Dynasty (2650-2575 BC). These early pyramids were called mustabas and were small stepped structures built over the underground tomb of the pharaoh. Originally pyramids had been built of mudbrick but Djoser's architect, Imhotep, began building them of stone. A famous example of these early pyramids is the Step Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara.

It was during the Fourth Dynasty that pyramid building was refined even more, with the design becoming a true pyramid with steeply sloping sides. It was during this dynasty that the Pharaoh Sneferu built Bent Pyramid -- about 100 meter (330 feet) high -- and the Red Pyramid and that the Pharaoh Khufu built the celebrated Great Pyramid at Gaza.

The Great Pyramid originally rose to a breathtaking 146 meters (479 feet) in height. It was constructed of 6.5 million tonnes of stone and took 2,000 workers (plus 25,000 support staff) approximately 20 years to build. The stone was limestone which was quarried some distance away and transported to the constructed site using boats along the River Nile.

The exact building methods of the pyramids are now unknown but it is thought that each stone was probably raised to its position in the pyramid using sleds and ramps and brute force (probably 250 workers being needed to move the largest stones). Originally the exterior of the Great Pyramid was covered with a surface layer of glittering white limestone.

In the pyramids of the Fourth Dynasty the tomb of the pharaoh was hidden deep inside the pyramid, at a locattion at the long, narrow passages and chambers. Unfortunately, these tombs were easily and frequently robbed. For this reason later pharaohs were buried in unmarked tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Image: Charles Piazzi Smyth, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid (3rd ed., 1877)

Ancient Egyptians believed that there was a life after death and that the body of the deceased had to be carefully handled to ensure that it could make an untroubled journey to the next world.

First, embalmers would remove the body's internal organs (liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines), placing them in jars and leaving just the heart (believed to be the seat of the soul) behind. They would then preserve the corpse in natron (a mineral that prevented decay) and then wrap it in linen bandages. The body, thus wrapped, was then known as a mummy.

Then, the perserved mummy then had to undergo sacred rituals and was then encased inside a series of decorated cases (often painted with a picture of the dead person and decorated with writing, lucky charms, and images of the gods), which were then put inside a stone coffin (called a sarcophagus) and hidden inside a tomb.

It was believed the Anubis, the jackel-headed god, would oversee these rituals and guide the soul of the dead person to the next world.

Supplies of food, drink and the dead person's favorite belongings would be put in the tomb along with the mummy.

Photo: The above photo shows an Egyptian mummy of Ptolemaic era, (3rd-2nd century). It is now located in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Louvre Museum, Paris, France. Photo courtesy of Dada.

Around 3000 BC the Egyptians developed a form of writing called hieroglyphics.

This was a form of writing using pictures. Originally each object ("man", "woman", "house") was represented by a simple picture (pictograph). As time went by, some of the pictographs came to stand for sounds and groups of these "sound hieroglyphs" (phonograms) were used to spell words.

Hieroglyphics were mainly used to write sacred texts and tomb inscriptions. In Ancient Egypt only the scribes (clerks) and priests could read and write the hieroglyphics. This made these groups of people more powerful in their society.

Hieroglyphics came in two other forms: heiratic (a faster, script used in business and literary documents) and demotic.

Over the centuries people forgot how to read ancient Egyptian writing. It was only with the discovery of the Rosetta Stone during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1799, which contained the same text written in hieroglyphics, demotic and ancient Greek that modern scholars -- especially Jean-François Champollion in the 1820s -- were finally able to decipher the meaning of this ancient language and read all the ancient Egyptian inscriptions found all over Egypt.

Image: Cursive hieroglyphs from the Papyrus of Ani, an example of the Egyptian Book of the Dead held by the British Library (Public domain image)

Most ordinary people in Ancient Egypt had a hard life as peasant farmers working out in the fields or working as fishermen, sailors, craft workers, etc.

Farmers would grow such crops such as barley, wheat and various kinds of vegetables (including beans, onions and cucumbers) and fruits (such as dates and melons).

Their land was fertile, being fertilized by the flooding River Nile every year. They would irrigate their land by bringing water from the Nile using channels to bring in the flood waters trapped in nearby lagoons and ponds and by using water-lifting devices called the shadoofs. The land was plowed using wooden plows pulled by oxen. Farm workers would be paid by being given part of the crops that they grew on the land that was usually owned by the wealthy.

Fishermen went out on the Nile in papyrus-reed boats and caught fish using nets, spears and hooks. Traders also went along the Nile in barges and around the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea in boats. They would trade for goods using the barter system.

Richer Egyptians -- such as the royal family, priests, royal courtiers, large land owners and scribes (clerks, administrators) -- lived at a more leisurely pace.

Houses in Egypt were made of mud bricks with the exterior surfaces covered with plaster. Food and drink included bread (made from wheat or barley), vegetables and beer.

Image: Statuettes representing everyday life of working class people in Ancient Egypt (Source: H. G. Wells, The outline of history, being a plain history of life and mankind. New York, Macmillan, 1921)