Egypt

'Pay careful attention to the history of Ancient Egypt, Agent. Ophelia Chill could do some serious historical damage here!' The ancient Egyptians were ahead of their time in many ways. They had a great interest in science and medicine, and kept careful records. These records have helped to give us a clear picture of what life was like for these ancient people.

The Land of Ancient Egypt
As you know, Egypt is a country located on the northeastern edge of Africa. The history of Egypt begins with the Nile River. The Nile is actually made up of two African rivers, the White Nile and the Blue Nile.

The White Nile flows roughly north across the country of Sudan to join with the Blue Nile at Khartoum in Sudan. The Blue Nile flows roughly northwest across the country of Ethiopia to join with the White Nile at Khartoum. The Blue Nile contributes most of the water to the Nile River. Around 5000 BC, civilization began along the banks of the Nile River. For about two months each year, the banks of the river would flood, spreading water over the dry fields nearby. When the flood waters went away, a rich, dark soil was left behind. The settlers used this soil to grow crops such as wheat and barley.

'The history of the ancient Egyptian people is a history of dynasties. As you know, Agent, a dynasty is a family that rules for generations.'

The First Pharaoh
Until about 3100 BC, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms: Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt. Each king wore a different type of crown. The ruler of Upper Egypt was named Menes. He fought a war against the Lower Egypt kingdom and won. After the war, Menes built a city he called Memphis, and ruled all of Egypt as its first pharaoh. He combined the crowns of the two kingdoms into one. Menes started the first dynasty in Egypt, and ruled for sixty-two years.

The Old Kingdom
The period between the third and sixth dynasties in Egyptian history is known as the Old Kingdom. During this time, the pharaohs began to use pyramids as royal tombs.

Khufu
During the 4th Dynasty there was a pharaoh named Khufu. He was also known as Cheops. He had an enormous pyramid built for himself at the town of Giza.

When it was finished, it stood almost 500 feet tall. It was known later as the Great Pyramid, and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The Old Kingdom ended around 2100 BC, when the capital of Egypt was moved to Thebes in 2060 BC, and civil war broke out across the country.

The Middle Kingdom
The period of The Middle Kingdom included the 11th and 12th dynasties. During the rule of the 13th dynasty, the Hyksos gained power and Egypt came under their rule.

The New Kingdom
The New Kingdom was between the 18th and 21st dynasties. The Hyksos ruled Egypt until 1570 BC, when the king of Thebes led a successful revolt, restoring power to the dynasties.

The New Kingdom pharaohs built tombs for themselves on the west bank of the Nile River in what they called the Valley of Kings. After the pharaohs had gone, the tombs lay hidden beneath the sand until 1817, when an Italian explorer named G. B. Belzoni uncovered the tomb of Seti I. The discovery of Seti's tomb was the start of a massive effort to discover all of the secrets of the Valley of Kings.

Hatshepsut
From about 1503 to 1482 BC, Egypt was ruled by a woman pharaoh named Hatshepsut.

Until Hatshepsut, there had never been a woman pharaoh. Women who ruled Egypt had always been queens, and were not thought of as equals of the pharaohs.

Hatshepsut made herself a pharaoh instead of a queen, and was the only woman ruler to have a tomb in the Valley of Kings. She also had a great temple built there for herself. During her rule, Hatshepsut sent out explorers to travel across the world. They went to the land of Punt, which is now called Somalia, and brought back trees, spices, and gold.

Tutankhamen, The Boy King
In the year 1370 BC, a boy named Tutankhamen was born. At age nine, Tutankhamen became pharaoh, and he ruled Egypt for nine years, until his death at the age of 18.

Tutankhamen's rule was not particularly important, but the discovery of his tomb was.

His tomb was found in the Valley of Kings in 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon.

The entire world was astonished at the incredible treasures which were found in the tomb. There were thousands of artifacts in the tomb, including the solid gold coffin in which Tutankhamen's mummy lay.

Ramses II
A pharaoh named Ramses II ruled Egypt for sixty-seven years, beginning in 1304 BC. He became known as Ramses the Great because of his leadership during years of war against the Hittite armies. He ended the war with the Hittites in 1283 BC.

He was also famous for the many temples and monuments he had built during his reign, which included the Temple of Amon in Karnak.

It is speculated that Ramses II was the pharaoh described in the Old Testament when Moses led the enslaved Jews out of Egypt.

The Late Period
The period in Egyptian history from the 21st dynasty until 641 AD is known as The Late Period.

Cleopatra
The last ruler of the 32nd (and final) Egyptian dynasty was Cleopatra. She met and fell in love with the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, who declared her queen of Egypt. She became queen in 51 BC at the age of seventeen, and ruled Egypt for twenty-one years.

After Caesar was killed, she married the Roman general Marc Antony.

Marc Antony's brother-in-law, Octavion, was furious with him for marrying Cleopatra, and declared war on Egypt. The combined forces of Cleopatra and Mark Antony were defeated by Octavian's fleet in the Battle of Actium in the sea off the west coast of Greece.

Marc Antony heard a false rumor about Cleopatra's death while he was in Rome, and killed himself. Cleopatra killed herself soon after in 30 BC, and Egypt became a Roman province.

Science and Inventions
The ancient Egyptian people discovered how to make a type of paper from the papyrus plant around 2800 BC. They created a written language based on little pictures known as hieroglyphs.

The language was a complete mystery to archaeologists and scholars. Then, in 1799, French troops discovered a slab of stone near the Egyptian town of Rosetta.

The Rosetta Stone, as it is now called, had a message carved into it in three languages: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and a later form of hieroglyphs known as demotic.

By using the Greek version, scholars were able to decipher the other two languages and unlock the mysteries of the ancient Egyptian language.

The Egyptian rulers had scribes, whose job was to keep written records of each harvest and other information, such as progress reports on the construction of the pyramids. They also wrote down the laws set by the pharaoh.

Mummies
The people of ancient Egypt believed that a pharaoh could bring his wealth into the afterlife when he died, and so they buried each pharaoh in a tomb containing his treasures.

To prepare the pharaoh's body for the journey to the afterlife, it would first be made into a mummy. Egyptian priests would remove all of the organs from the body and place them in jars to be buried with the pharaoh. Then they would wrap the body in strips of linen, and place it in a wooden or metal coffin. The coffin was then placed into a carved and painted wooden case known as a sarcophagus.