Ancient Egypt
Who hasn’t heard about the Pyramids, the Sphinx or King Tut?
Ancient Egyptian civilization and its great achievements are the subject of study in schools around the world from the early grades up. But what most people are familiar with regards to ancient Egypt revolves around a few specific periods of a long history encompassing around 3,000 years. Back to the examples mentioned above, the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx belong to the beginnings of the Nile civilization, from the 4th dynasty. On the other hand, Tutankhamen was a pharaoh at the end of the 18th dynasty. In other words, for King Tut, as he’s generally known today, the Pyramids where already ancient monuments forgotten in time.
Herodotus, the famous Greek traveler called Egypt the Gift of the Nile and, in fact, this great civilization would not have existed without its presence. Another factor made possible the development of early settlements into great cities and that was the constant yearly inundation of its waters that turned the barren desert into rich fertile soil around its banks. There was plenty of crops to sustain an ever growing population that could diversify its activities and develop skills for organizing into complex systems of government, religion, military, construction, writing and the arts. This evolution went slowly and steady with but few interruptions.
Egypt was once the largest and richest world empire, but that happened long long time ago. Throughout Egypt history, many pharaohs conducted military campaigns that extended the borders of Egypt from Nubia in the South, in present day Sudan, to Syria in the North, with the capital in Thebes, the present day Luxor. These military campaigns brought so much wealth to the country that pharaohs began a monument building program unparalled in history, the remains of which we tour today. Egypt today is an open air museum, with ancient monuments scattered along the east and west banks of the Nile, from the Pyramids of Giza at the North to the Great Temple of Abu Simbel near the present day border of Sudan.
Like all empires, Egypt entered a slow but inevitable descent that gave way, first to the Persian conquest, and then to the next world power, the empire of Alexander the Great. The Great Conqueror was so seduced by the wonders of Egypt that he instead became conquered. Alexander established a dynasty of Greek rulers, the Ptolemies, ending with Cleopatra.
After the Greeks, came the Romans and then, a long period where the glories of Egypt faded into oblivion. Its monuments were covered in the Saharan sands and its language forgotten. Then came the Arab conquest and Islam.
For centuries, ancient Egypt was a distant civilization lying dormant beneath the desert sand. But ancient Egyptians had been clever enough to bury their dead in lavish tombs complete with their possessions and depictions of their daily activities on its walls. They knew that, one day, after a long wait of thousands of years, the writing on the walls would speak again and they would come back to life.
Interesting Facts about Ancient Egypt
Look around you and you’ll witness examples of ancient Egyptian inventions. Many of today’s household objects were invented or used by the ancient Egyptians, including…
Pyramids - the Apex of Ancient Egypt man made Structures
How these incredible man made structures were built so early in history? What kind of social structure or system Egyptians had to make them capable of building them? These two questions deeply overwhelmed me the first…
Egyptian Art - Did they really walk like that?
Egyptian art is unique in its approach to visual representation. It follows a set of canons or strict rules that cover a span of 3500 years. Ancient Egyptians knew nothing about mathematical perspective, but then again, no one else did. Perspective in art is a…
Ancient Egypt Music
The most concrete source of information about the nature of ancient Egypt music lies in the actual musical instruments and paintings of musicians found in tombs. These include reed instruments, flutes, stringed instruments like harps, lyres and lutes, horns and a variety of percussion…
Pharaohs - Sons of the Sun
The names of great Ancient Egypt pharaohs are still mentioned these days, fulfilling their quest for immortality. Early in your Egypt tour you rapidly get acquainted with…
Living in Maat - the Natural Order
Ancient Egyptians observed early on that natural phenomena repeated itself in cycles. Maat was the name given to this concept of natural immutable laws, similar to the Greek concept of Cosmos. The annual flooding of the Nile was a recurrent event critical for…
Sphinx Facts
Here are some interesting Sphinx facts to know before your tour of the Giza necropolis. They will help you appreciate even more…
Life After Death in Egypt - Eternal Bliss
Life after death in Egypt was not the compulsive obsession that many people ascribe to ancient egyptian civilization. This widespread misconception is perhaps explained by the fact that most Egypt tourists and travelers visit tombs and see…
Social Structures of Ancient Egypt
The pyramid has been used as a visual metaphor to describe the social structures of ancient Egypt. The position of an individual in the social pyramid was determined by birth circumstances such…
Egyptian Writing - Decoding the Past
Egyptian writing is among the oldest forms of writing. It was employed everywhere, from religious texts to medicine, business and literature. Most of what we know about Ancient Egypt is thanks to those scholars who were able to decipher the ancient inscriptions, principally Champollion. Otherwise, Egyptian writing would mean to us merely a delightful ornament to temples and…
Ancient Egypt Mummies - Wrap it up, I’ll take it
Ancient Egypt mummies are the earliest examples of the science of embalming, perfected and practiced by ancient Egypt priests since the first dynasties. Ancient egyptians were keen observers of all natural processes. The dry climate and other geographical conditions in ancient Egypt provide an environment…
