Ancient Egypt

The pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs and are enduring symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt.

Map of ancient Egypt, showing major cities and sites of the Dynastic period (c. 3150 BC to 30 BC). Cairo and Jerusalem are shown as reference cities.

Ancient Egypt was a civilization in northern East Africa concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River that reached its greatest extent in the second millennium BC during the New Kingdom. It stretched from southern Syria in the north to as far south as Jebel Barkal, located at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in modern-day Sudan. The fluid geographic range of ancient Egypt also included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant, the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula, and the oases of the Western desert.

Ancient Egyptian civilization began around 3150 BC with the political unification of the major Nile Valley cultures under the first pharaoh, and it developed over the next three millennia. Its history is divided into a series of golden ages, known as Kingdoms, that are separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods. After the end of the last golden age, known as the New Kingdom, the civilization of ancient Egypt entered a period of slow, steady decline, during which Egypt was conquered by a succession of foreign adversaries. The power of the pharaohs officially ended in 31 BC when the early Roman Empire conquered Egypt and made it a province.

The civilization of ancient Egypt was based on balanced control of natural and human resources under the leadership of the pharaoh, religious leaders, and court administrators. It was notable for many innovations: controlled irrigation of the fertile Nile Valley, mineral exploitation of the valley and surrounding desert regions, the early development of literature and an independent writing system, the organization of collective construction and agricultural projects, trade with surrounding regions in east and central Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, and finally, military ventures that defeated foreign enemies and asserted Egyptian dominance throughout the region. Motivating and organizing these activities was a bureaucracy of elite scribes, religious leaders, and administrators under the control of the divine pharaoh who ensured the cooperation and unity of the Egyptian people by means of an elaborate system of religious beliefs.

History

Main articles: History of ancient Egypt and History of Egypt

By the late Paleolithic, the arid climate of northern Africa had become increasingly hot and dry, forcing the population to concentrate along the Nile valley, and since nomadic hunter-gatherers began living in the region during the Pleistocene some 1.8 million years ago, the Nile has been the lifeline of Egypt. The fertile floodplain of the Nile gave humans the opportunity to develop a settled agricultural economy and a more sophisticated, centralized society that became a cornerstone in the history of human civilization.

Predynastic period

By about 5500 BC, small tribes living in the Nile valley had developed into a series of unique cultures demonstrating firm control of agriculture and animal husbandry and identifiable by their unique pottery and personal items, such as combs, bracelets, and beads. The largest of these early cultures in upper Egypt, the Badari, was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools, and its use of copper. Their burials, simple pit graves with signs of social stratification, suggest that the culture was coming under the control of more powerful leaders.

In southern Egypt, the Naqada culture, similar in culture to the Badari, began to expand along the Nile by about 4000 BC. Over a period of about 1000 years, the Naqada culture developed from a few small farming communities into a powerful civilization whose leaders were in complete control of the people and resources of the Nile valley. Establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile and engaged in trade with Nubia, the oases of the western desert, and the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean.

The Naqada culture manufactured a diverse array of material goods, reflective of the increasing power and wealth of the elite, which included painted pottery, high quality decorative stone vases, cosmetic palettes, and jewelry made of gold, lapis, and ivory. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last phase of the predynastic, the Naqada culture began using written symbols which would eventually evolve into a full system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language.

Early dynastic period

The Narmer Palette depicts the unification of the Two Lands.

The ancient Egyptians chose to begin their official history with a king named "Meni" (or Menes in Greek) who they believed had united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. The transition to a unified state actually happened more gradually than the ancient Egyptian writers would have us believe, and there is no contemporary record of Menes. Scholars now believe, however, that the mythical Menes may have actually been the pharaoh Narmer, who is depicted wearing royal regalia on the ceremonial Narmer Palette in a symbolic act of unification. The third century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the lengthy line of pharaohs following Menes into 30 dynasties, a system still in use today.

In the early dynastic period about 3150 BC, the first pharaohs solidified their control over lower Egypt by establishing a capital at Memphis, from which they could control the labor force and agriculture of the fertile delta region as well as the lucrative and critical trade routes to the Levant. The increasing power and wealth of the pharaohs during the early dynastic period was reflected in their elaborate mastaba tombs and mortuary cult structures at Abydos which were used to celebrate the deified pharaoh after his death. The strong institution of kingship developed by the pharaohs served to legitimize state control over the land, labor, and resources that were essential to the survival and growth of ancient Egyptian civilization.

Old Kingdom

Menkaura and his consort Queen Khamerernebty II

Stunning advances in architecture, art, and technology were made during Old Kingdom, fueled by the increased agricultural productivity made possible by a well developed central administration. Under the direction of the vizier, state officials collected taxes, coordinated irrigation projects to improve crop yield, drafted peasants to work on construction projects, and established a justice system to maintain peace and order. With the surplus resources made available by a productive and stable economy, the state was able to sponsor construction of colossal monuments and to commission exceptional works of art from the royal workshops. The pyramids built by Djoser, Khufu, and their descendants stand as eternal symbols of the power of the pharaohs.

Along with the rising importance of a central administration arose a new class of educated scribes and officials who were granted estates by the pharaoh in payment for their services. Pharaohs also made land grants to their mortuary cults and local temples to ensure that these institutions would have the necessary resources to worship the pharaoh after his death. By the end of the Old Kingdom, five centuries of these feudal practices had slowly eroded the economic power of the pharaoh, who could no longer afford to support a large centralized administration. As the power of the pharaoh diminished, regional governors called nomarchs began to challenge the supremacy of the pharaoh which, coupled with severe droughts between 2200 and 2150 BC, ultimately caused the country to enter a 140 year period of famine and strife known as the First Intermediate Period.

First Intermediate Period

After Egypt's central government collapsed at the end of the Old Kingdom, the administration could no longer support or stabilize the country's economy. Regional governors could not rely on the king for help in times of crisis, and the ensuing food shortages and political disputes escalated into famines and small scale civil wars. Yet despite difficult problems, local leaders, owing no tribute to the pharaoh, used their newfound independence to establish a thriving culture in the provinces. Once in control of their own resources, the provinces became economically richer—a fact demonstrated by larger and better burials among all social classes. In bursts of creativity, provincial artisans adopted and adapted cultural motifs formerly restricted to the royalty of the Old Kingdom, and scribes developed literary styles which expressed the optimism and originality of the period.

Free from their loyalties to the pharaoh, local rulers began competing with each other for territorial control and political power. By 2160 BC, rulers in Hierakonpolis controlled Lower Egypt while a rival clan based in Thebes, under the name Intef, took control of Upper Egypt. As the Intefs grew in power and expanded their control northward, a clash between the two rival dynasties became inevitable. Around 2055 BC the Theban forces under Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II finally defeated the Herakleopolitan rulers, reuniting the Two Lands and inaugurating a period of economic and cultural renaissance known as the Middle Kingdom.

Middle Kingdom

Mentuhotep II, the founder of the Middle Kingdom

The pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom restored the country's prosperity and stability, thereby stimulating a resurgence of art, literature, and monumental building projects. Mentuhotep II and his 11th Dynasty successors ruled from Thebes, but the vizier Amenemhet I, upon assuming kingship at the beginning of the 12th Dynasty around 1985 BC, shifted the nation's capital to the city of Itjtawy located in Faiyum. From Itjtawy, the pharaohs of the 12th Dynasty undertook a far-sighted land reclamation and irrigation scheme to increase agricultural output in the region. Moreover, the military reconquered territory in Nubia rich in quarries and gold mines, while laborers built a defensive structure in the Eastern Delta, called the "Walls-of-the-Ruler", to defend against foreign attack.

Having secured military and political security and vast agricultural and mineral wealth, the nation's population, arts, and religion flourished. In contrast to elitist Old Kingdom attitudes towards the gods, the Middle Kingdom experienced an increase in expressions of personal piety and a so-called democratization of the afterlife, in which all people possessed a soul and could be welcomed into the company of the gods after death. Middle Kingdom literature featured sophisticated themes and characters written in a confident, eloquent style, and the relief and portrait sculpture of the period captured subtle, individual details that reached new heights of technical perfection.

The last great ruler of the Middle Kingdom, Amenemhat III, allowed Asiatic settlers into the delta region to provide a sufficient labor force for his especially active mining and building campaigns. These ambitious building and mining activities, however, combined with inadequate Nile floods later in his reign, strained the economy and precipitated the slow decline into the Second Intermediate Period during the later 13th and 14th dynasties. It was during this decline that the foreign Asiatic settlers began to seize control of the delta region, eventually coming to power in Egypt as the Hyksos.

Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos

Around 1650 BC, as the power of the Middle Kingdom pharaohs weakened, Asiatic immigrants living in the Eastern Delta town of Avaris seized control of the region and forced the central government to retreat to Thebes, where the pharaoh was treated as a vassal and expected to pay tribute. These Asiatic Hyksos, or "foreign rulers", imitated Egyptian models of government and portrayed themselves as pharaohs, thus integrating Egyptian elements into their Middle Bronze Age culture.

After their retreat, the Theban kings found themselves trapped between the Hyksos to the north and the Hyksos' Nubian allies, the Kushites, to the south. Nearly 100 years of tenuous inaction followed, and it was not until 1555 BC that the Theban forces finally gathered enough strength to challenge the Hyksos in a conflict that would last more than 30 years. The pharaohs Seqenenre Tao II and Kamose were ultimately able to defeat the Nubians, but it was Kamose's successor, Ahmose I, who successfully waged a series of campaigns that permanently eradicated the Hyksos' presence in Egypt. In the New Kingdom that followed, the military became a central priority for the pharaohs seeking to expand Egypt’s borders and secure her complete dominance of the Near East.

The maximum territorial extent of Egypt (15th century BC)

New Kingdom

The pharaohs of the New Kingdom used military force to expand the country's borders and defeat its enemies. Campaigns waged under Tuthmosis I and his grandson Tuthmosis III extended the influence of the pharaohs into Syria and Nubia and commanded obedience and tribute from these neighbors. Strengthened diplomatic connections between the major Near East powers cemented loyalties among Egypt's allies and opened access to critical imports such as bronze, wood, and luxuries.

With prosperity secured, the New Kingdom pharaohs began an impressive building campaign to promote the newly ordained state god, Amun, whose growing cult was based in Karnak at Thebes. In addition to commemorating Amun, the pharaohs of the New Kingdom also prolifically built monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined. The female pharaoh Hatshepsut used such propaganda to legitimize her claim to the throne over her nephew-stepson Tuthmosis III, who was then a child. Despite Hatshepsut's successful reign—which included launching trading expeditions to Punt, building an elegant mortuary temple, and erecting a colossal pair of obelisks and a chapel at Karnak temple—Tuthmosis III eventually erased the legacy of this female pharaoh and usurper near the end of his reign.

Akhenaten and family receiving life from the rays of the Aten

In 1350 BC, the New Kingdom's prosperous expansion, construction, and accumulation of wealth, established over a period of nearly 200 years, was briefly jeopardized when Amenhotep IV unexpectedly ascended the throne and instituted a series of radical and chaotic reforms. Changing his name to Akhenaten, he touted the previously obscure god Aten as the supreme deity, suppressed the worship of other deities, and attacked the power of the entrenched priestly establishment. Moving the capital to the new city of Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna), Akhenaten turned a deaf ear to foreign affairs and absorbed himself in his new religion and artistic style. After his death, the cult of the Aten was quickly abandoned, and the subsequent pharaohs Tutankhamun, Aye, and Horemheb quietly erased all mention of Akhenaten's heresy, now known as the Amarna Period.

Four colossal statues of Ramesses II flank the entrance of his temple Abu Simbel.

The 18th Dynasty ended when its last three kings—Tutankhamun, Aye, and Horemheb—all died without an heir. The throne then passed to the military man Ramesses I, who founded the 19th Dynasty. His grandson Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great, ascended the throne around 1279 BC at the age of 18 and built more temples, erected more statues and obelisks, and sired more children than any other pharaoh in history.A bold military leader, Ramesses II led his army against the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh and, after fighting to a stalemate, eventually concluded the first recorded peace treaty in 1258 BC. Despite this temporary peace, however, internal struggles and foreign threats would again challenge the prosperity of the region.

Egypt's wealth made it a tempting target for invasion, and the pharaohs of the late New Kingdom were repeatedly challenged by the Libyans and a coalition of Asiatics known as the Sea Peoples. Initially, the military was able to repel these invasions, but Egypt eventually lost control of Syria and Palestine. The impact of external threats was exacerbated by internal problems of the kingdom: corruption within the administration, theft from the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, civil unrest, and political intrigue undermined the unity of the country and the authority of the Pharaoh. During the New Kingdom, the high priests at the temple of Amun in Thebes had accumulated vast tracts of land and wealth, and their growing power splintered the country during the Third Intermediate Period.

Third Intermediate Period

Libyans from the west and other political factions fractured the country during the Third Intermediate Period

Following the death of Ramesses XI and the end of the twentieth dynasty, Smendes, founder of the twenty-first dynasty, assumed nominal authority over all of Egypt. In reality, only the northern part of Egypt was under the governance of Smendes, who ruled from the city of Tanis; the southern part was effectively controlled by the High Priests of Amun at Thebes, who recognized Smendes in name and title only. However, this division had little actual impact on the country, as both pharaoh and priests belonged to the same family. The High Priest Piankh assumed control of Upper Egypt, ruling from Thebes, with the northern limit of his control ending at Al-Hibah. They were replaced without any apparent struggle by the Libyan kings who formed the twenty-second dynasty.

The Libyan king Shoshenq I, the first ruler and founder of the new dynasty, briefly re-unified the country and placed the Amun clergy under the control of his own son. However, the scant and patchy nature of the written records from this period suggests that it was an unstable time, and eventually a separate group of pharaohs, comprising the twenty-third dynasty, established control over Upper Egypt and ruled concurrently with the latter part of the twenty-second dynasty.

Under Piye, the Nubian founder of twenty-fifth dynasty, the Nubians pushed north in an effort to crush their Libyan opponents in the Nile Delta region, reaching as far as Memphis. The Libyan prince Tefnakhte ultimately submitted to Piye, but was allowed to remain in power in Lower Egypt, founding the short-lived twenty-fourth dynasty at Sais. Piye was succeeded first by his brother, Shabaka, and then by his two sons, Shebitku and Taharqa.

The far-reaching prestige of Egypt had declined considerably by the end of the Third Intermediate Period. Egypt's foreign allies had fallen under the Assyrian sphere of influence, and by 700 BC war between the two states had become inevitable. The reigns of both Taharqa and his successor, Tanutamun, were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians, against whom Egypt enjoyed numerous victories. Ultimately Thebes was occupied, and Memphis was sacked.

Late Period

From 664 BC, Egypt was ruled by the Assyrian-established client kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. The first such king to be recognized as ruler of all of Egypt was Psamtik I, who brought increased stability to the country during a 54-year reign from the new capital of Sais. Four subsequent Saite kings successively and peacefully guided Egypt from 610—526 BC, but by the end of this period, the new and growing power of Persia had emerged in the Near East. The pharaoh Psamtik III was defeated by the Persian king Cambyses II near Pelusium in 525 BC, and although he briefly escaped to Memphis, Psamtik III was ultimately captured and executed in the Persian capital of Susa. Cambyses II then assumed the formal title of Pharaoh, beginning a period of Persian domination of Egypt.

Following its annexation by Persia, Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. This first period of Persian rule over Egypt, also known as the Twenty-Seventh dynasty, ended in 402 BC, and from 380—343 BC the Thirtieth Dynasty ruled as the last native royal house of Egypt. A brief restoration of Persian rule, sometimes known as the Thirty-First Dynasty, began in 343 BC, but shortly after, in 332 BC, the Persian ruler Mazaces handed Egypt over to Alexander the Great without a fight. With the end of the Achaemenid Empire, Egypt became a satrapy of Alexander's empire, and later fell within the domains of the Ptolemaic and Roman Empires.

Ptolemaic dynasty

Cleopatra VII adopted the ancient traditions and language of Egypt

In 332 BC Alexander III of Macedon conquered Egypt with little resistance from the Persians and was welcomed by the Egyptians as a deliverer. He then visited Memphis and went on a pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun at the Oasis of Siwa, where he was declared by the oracle to be the son of Amun. Although Alexander conciliated the Egyptians by the respect which he showed for their religion, he appointed Greeks to virtually all of the senior posts in the country and founded a new Greek city, Alexandria, to be Egypt's capital. Using the wealth of Egypt to fuel his conquest of the rest of the Persian Empire, Alexander led his forces to Phoenicia in early in 331 BC, designating Cleomenes of Naucratis as the ruling nomarch of Egypt in his absence. Alexander never returned to Egypt alive.

Following Alexander's death and the Partition of Babylon in 323 BC, it was decided that Alexander's then-unborn son Alexander IV of Macedon and half-brother Philip III of Macedon would rule as joint-kings, with the military commander Perdiccas acting as regent and guardian for both. As regent, Perdiccas appointed Ptolemy, one of Alexander's closest companions, as satrap of Egypt.

Ptolemy ruled Egypt beginning in 323 BC, nominally in the name of the joint-kings Philip III and Alexander IV. However, as Alexander the Great's empire disintegrated, Ptolemy established himself as ruler in his own right. He successfully defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas in 321 BC and consolidated his position in Egypt and the surrounding areas during the Wars of the Diadochi from 322—301 BC. In 305 BC, Ptolemy assumed the title of King, founding the Ptolemaic dynasty that would rule Egypt for nearly 300 years. Later Ptolemies adopted Egyptian traditions of marrying their siblings, portraying themselves on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participating in Egyptian religious life.

Although Hellenistic culture thrived in Egypt well after the Muslim conquest, native rebellions and foreign and civil wars of the Ptolemaic Dynasty eventually led to the decline of the kingdom and its annexation by Rome.

Roman domination

Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire in 30 BC, following the defeat of Marc Antony and Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII by Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) in the Battle of Actium. Encompassing most of modern-day Egypt, excepting the Sinai Peninsula, and bordered by the provinces of Cyrenaica and Arabia, the Roman province of Egypt served as a major producer of grain for the empire. When the Roman Empire split into eastern and western halves following the death of Theodosius I in 395 AD, Egypt was included within the Eastern Roman Empire. As a result, Latin, never well-established in Egypt, disappeared within several years, while Greek predominated as the language of government. During the fifth and sixth centuries AD, the Eastern Roman Empire gradually became the Byzantine Empire—a Christian, Greek-speaking state that had little in common with the Western Roman Empire, and which disappeared in the face of the Islamic invasions in the fifteenth century. Another consequence of the triumph of Christianity was the final oppression and demise of Egypt's pagan culture; the ability to read Egyptian hieroglyphs disappeared along with the Egyptian priests and priestesses who officiated at the temples, which were converted to churches or abandoned to the desert.

The Eastern Empire became increasingly "Oriental" in style as its links to the old Greco-Roman world faded; in 415 AD the religiously-motivated murder of the female philosopher Hypatia marked the end of classical Hellenic culture in Egypt. Moreover, the Greek political system of direct democracy had now entirely disappeared; offices, with new Byzantine names, were almost hereditary in the wealthy land-owning families; and Alexandria, the second city of the empire, continued to be a center of religious controversy and violence. Also in 415 AD in response to the Jews' nighttime massacre of many Christians, Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria, convinced the city's governor to expel the Jews from the city with the aid of the mob. A second religious schism instigated a prolonged civil war and further alienated Egypt from the Eastern Roman Empire.

Government and economy

Administration and commerce

Scribes were elite, educated members of society who assessed taxes, kept records, and were responsible for administration in ancient Egypt

The pharaoh was the absolute monarch of the country and, at least in theory, wielded complete control of the land and its resources. The king was also the supreme military commander, responsible for all military and policy decisions. The king relied on a bureaucracy of officials to manage his affairs, and in charge of the administration was his second in command, the vizier. The vizier acted as the king's representative and coordinated land surveys, the treasury, building projects, the legal system, and the archives. At a local level, the country was divided into administrative regions called nomes which, by the late period, had reached 42 in number. Each nome's governor, called a nomarch, was accountable to the vizier for his jurisdiction. The temples formed the backbone of the economy and were not only houses of worship, but were also responsible for collecting and storing the nation's wealth in a system of granaries and treasuries. From these central storage facilities, administered by overseers, grain and goods could be distributed to the populace.

Egyptian society was highly stratified, and social status was expressly displayed. Farmers made up the bulk of the population, but agricultural produce was owned directly by the state, temple, or noble family that owned the land. Most of the population did not have freedom of movement or a free choice of career. Farmers were also subject to a labor tax and were required to work on irrigation or construction projects in a corvée system. Artists and craftsmen were of higher status than farmers, but they were also under state control, working in the shops attached to the temples and paid directly from the state treasury. Scribes and officials formed the upper class in ancient Egypt, prominently displaying their social status in art and literature. Slavery was known in ancient Egypt, but the extent and prevalence of its practice are unclear.

The economy was centrally organized and strictly controlled. Although the ancient Egyptians did not use coinage, money was known in other forms: standard sacks of grain and the deben, a mass of roughly 91 grams, formed a common denominator. Laborers were paid in grain; a laborer might earn 5½ sacks (191 kg) of grain per month while a foreman might earn 7½ sacks (261 kg). Prices were fixed across the country and recorded in lists to facilitate trading; for example a shirt might cost five copper deben, while a cow might cost 140 deben. Grain could be traded for other goods, according to the fixed price list, but since it could not be kept indefinitely, the grain money system had a de facto negative interest attached to it.

Legal system

The head of the legal system in ancient Egypt was officially the pharaoh, who was responsible for proclaiming laws, delivering justice, and maintaining law and order, a concept the ancient Egyptians referred to as Ma'at. Though no legal codes from ancient Egypt survive, the many extant court documents of the period show that Egyptian law was based on a common-sense view of right and wrong that emphasized reaching agreements and resolving conflicts rather than strictly adhering to a complicated set of statutes.

The ancient Egyptians viewed men and women, including people from all social classes except slaves, as essentially equal under the law, and even the lowliest peasant was entitled to petition the vizier and his court for redress. Both men and women had the right to own and sell property, make contracts, marry and divorce, receive inheritance, and pursue legal disputes in court. Married couples could own property jointly and protect themselves from divorce by agreeing to marriage contracts, which stipulated the financial obligations of the husband to his wife and children should the marriage end.

Local councils of elders, known as Kenbet in the New Kingdom, were responsible for ruling in court cases involving small claims and minor disputes, although the Kenbet's ability to enforce its rulings was limited. Local Kenbets deferred serious or complicated cases involving murder, major land transactions, and tomb robbery to the Great Kenbet, over which the vizier or pharaoh presided. Plaintiffs and defendants were expected to represent themselves in legal matters and were required to swear an oath to an Egyptian deity that they had told the truth. In cases of tomb robbery or assassination plots, the state took on both the role of prosecutor and judge, and it could torture the accused with beatings to obtain a confession and the names of any co-conspirators. Whether the charges were trivial or serious, court scribes documented the complaint, testimony, and verdict of the case for future reference.

From the New Kingdom on oracles began to play a major role in the legal system, dispensing justice in both civil and criminal cases. The procedure was to ask the god, i.e. his statue, a question concerning the right or wrong of an issue, often in a form so that the answer was a simple "yes" or "no". The god, carried by a number of priests, rendered judgment by chosing one or the other, moving forward or backward, or pointing to one of the answers written on a piece of papyrus or an ostracon.

Punishment for minor crimes involved either imposition of fines, beatings, facial mutilation, or exile, depending on the severity of the offense. Serious crimes such as murder and tomb robbery were punished by execution, which was carried out by decapitation, drowning, or impaling the criminal on a stake. Punishment could also be extended to the criminal's family.

Agriculture

See also: Ancient Egyptian cuisine

A tomb relief depicts workers plowing the fields, harvesting the crops, and threshing the grain under the direction of an overseer

A combination of several favorable geographical features contributed to the success of the ancient Egyptian culture, the most important of which was the rich fertile soil resulting from annual inundations of the Nile river. The ancient Egyptians were thus able to produce an abundance of food, allowing the population to devote more time and resources to cultural, technological, and artistic pursuits. Land management was crucial in ancient Egypt because taxes were assessed based on the amount of land a person owned.

Farming in Egypt was dependent upon the cycle of the Nile River. The Egyptians recognized three seasons in their written records: Akhet (flooding), Peret (planting), and Shemu (harvesting). The flooding season lasted from June to September, depositing on the river's banks a layer of mineral-rich silt perfect for growing crops. After the floodwaters had receded, the growing season lasted from October to February. Farmers plowed and planted seeds in the fields, which were irrigated with ditches and canals. Egypt received little rainfall, so farmers relied on the Nile to water their crops. From March to May, farmers would use sickles to harvest their crops, which would then be threshed with a flail in order to separate the straw from the grain. Winnowing would remove the chaff from the grain, and the grain would then be ground into flour, brewed to make beer, or stored for later use.

The ancient Egyptians cultivated wheat, emmer, barley, and several other cereal grains, all of which were used to make the two main food staples of bread and beer. Flax plants, uprooted before they started flowering, were grown for the fibers of their stems. These fibers were split along their length and spun into thread, which was used to weave sheets of linen and to make clothing. Papyrus growing on the banks of the Nile River was used to make paper. Vegetables and fruits were grown in garden plots, close to habitations and on higher ground, and had to be watered by hand.

Natural resources

Ancient Egypt was also rich in building and decorative stone, copper and lead ores, gold, and semiprecious stones; these natural resources allowed the ancient Egyptians to build monuments, sculpt statues, make tools, and fashion jewelry. They were so thorough in the search for gold that no new deposits have since been discovered in Egypt. Embalmers used salts from the Wadi Natrun for mummification, which also provided the gypsum needed to make plaster.

The ore-bearing rock formations of ancient Egypt were found in distant, inhospitable wadis of the eastern desert and the Sinai and required large, state-controlled expeditions to obtain the gold, copper ores, and decorative stones found there. The Wadi Hammamat was a notable source of granite, greywacke, and gold. Whenever possible, prisoners and slaves were forced into mining service, but Egyptian peasants were also conscripted for this unpleasant labor.

Flint was the first mineral collected and used to make tools, and flint handaxes are the earliest pieces of evidence of habitation in the Nile valley. Nodules of the mineral were carefully flaked to make blades and arrowheads of moderate hardness and durability even after copper was adopted for this purpose. The Egyptians worked deposits of the lead ore galena at Gebel Rosas to make net sinkers, plumb bobs, and small figurines. Copper was the most important metal for toolmaking in ancient Egypt and was smelted in furnaces from malachite ore mined in the Sinai. Workers collected gold by washing the nuggets out of sediment in alluvial deposits, or by the more labor-intensive process of grinding and washing gold-bearing quartzite. Iron deposits found in upper Egypt were utilized in the Late Period.

High-quality building stones were abundant in Egypt; the ancient Egyptians quarried limestone all along the Nile valley, granite from Aswan, and basalt and sandstone from the wadis of the eastern desert. Deposits of decorative stones such as porphyry, greywacke, alabaster, and carnelian dotted the eastern desert and were collected even before the First Dynasty. In the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, miners worked deposits of emeralds in Wadi Sikait and amethyst in Wadi el-Hudi.

Language

Main article: Egyptian language

The Egyptian language belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language phylum and is related to the Semitic languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, as well as the Hamitic languages of North Africa, such as Berber and Cushitic. Used continuously from before 3000 BC to the 11th century AD, ancient Egyptian was, at one point, the longest-surviving language in the world. The language underwent major changes in its pronunciation and usage over the course of history and was spoken in many dialects. The oldest stage of the language, Old Egyptian, was used until about 2100 BC, when it was gradually displaced by Middle Egyptian. By 1600 BC Late Egyptian began to develop and was used until about 600 BC. Demotic developed from Late Egyptian and survived until the 5th century AD; it was at one time commonly used alongside Coptic, the final phase of the language that was used from the 1st to the 11th century AD. A dialect of Coptic remained in use for services of the Coptic church and is still in limited use today.

Writing

Painted hieroglyphs from the tomb of Seti I

See also: Egyptian hieroglyphs

The Rosetta stone enabled linguists to begin the process of hieroglyph decipherment.

The ancient Egyptian writing system is known as "hieroglyphic" (incorrectly termed "hieroglyphics") and is composed of some 500 symbols called hieroglyphs. There is no explanation for exactly how the system was devised, but it was suddenly adopted and developed shortly before 3000 BC. Each hieroglyph is a picture of a real thing—a bird, tool, or body part— and most of the common hieroglyphs correspond to a letter or letter combination in the alphabet. Words in the language are spelled out by stringing together the hieroglyphs whose sounds make up the word. Like the semitic languages, ancient Egyptian does not indicate vowels.

Hieroglyphs were a formal script, used on stone monuments and in tombs, that could be as detailed as individual works of art. In day-to-day writing, scribes used a cursive form of writing, called hieratic, which was quicker and easier. While formal hieroglyphs may be read in rows or columns in either direction, hieratic was always written from right to left, usually in horizontal rows. After Demotic became the dominant spoken language, a new form of writing, of the same name, became the prevalent writing style, and it is this form of writing—along with formal hieroglyphs—that accompany the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone. In the 1st century AD, Coptic Christians living in Egypt discarded the native demotic script and instead wrote their language, using a modified Greek alphabet, in a script also known as Coptic. Although formal hieroglyphs were used in a ceremonial role until the 4th century AD, towards the end only a small handful of highly educated priests could still read them; as the traditional religious establishments were disbanded, the knowledge of the hieroglyphs' meanings was lost. Only in 1822, after the discovery of the Rosetta stone in 1799 and years of research by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion, were the hieroglyphs deciphered.

The Edwin Smith surgical papyrus describes anatomy and medical treatments and is written in hieratic.

Literature

See also: Ancient Egyptian literature

Writing first appeared in association with kingship on labels and tags for items found in royal tombs. By the Old Kingdom, this tradition of writing had evolved into the tomb autobiography, such as those of Harkhuf and Weni. The genre known as Sebayt (Instructions) was developed to communicate teachings and guidance from famous nobles; the Ipuwer papyrus, a poem of lamentations describing natural disasters and social upheaval, is an extreme example of such an instruction. During the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom, the prose style of literature matured, with The Story of Sinuhe perhaps being the classic of Egyptian literature. Also written at this time was the Westcar Papyrus, a set of stories told to Khufu by his sons relating the marvels performed by priests. Towards the end of the New Kingdom, the Story of Wenamun was written. It tells the story of a noble who is robbed on his way to buy cedar from Lebanon and of his struggle to return to Egypt; the text also shows the end of united Egypt and the start of the Third Intermediate Period, a period of turmoil known as Wehem Mesut.

Culture

Hatshepsut's New Kingdom Temple at Dier al-Bahari

Architecture

See also: Ancient Egyptian architecture

The architecture of ancient Egypt includes some of the most famous structures in the world: the Great Pyramids of Giza, Abu Simbel, and the temples at Thebes. All major building projects were organized and funded by the state, and they not only fulfilled religious, military, and commemorative purposes, but also reinforced the power and reputation of the pharaoh to ensure his legacy for all time. The ancient Egyptians were skilled builders with expert knowledge of basic surveying and construction techniques. Using simple but effective measuring ropes, plum bobs, and sighting instruments, architects could build large stone structures with accuracy and precision.

Most buildings in ancient Egypt, including the pharaoh's palace, were constructed from perishable materials such as mud bricks and wood and, for this reason, have not survived. Important structures such as temples and tombs were intended to last forever and were instead constructed of stone. The first large scale stone building in the world, the mortuary complex of Djoser, was built in the Third Dynasty as a stone imitation of the mud-brick and wooden structures used in daily life.

Karnak temple's hypostyle halls are constructed with rows of thick columns supporting the roof beams.

The architectural elements used in Djoser's mortuary complex, including post and lintel construction of huge stone roof blocks supported by external walls and closely spaced columns, would be copied many times in Egyptian history. Decorative styles introduced in the Old Kingdom, such as the lotus and papyrus motifs, are a recurring theme in ancient Egyptian architecture.

The earliest tomb architecture in ancient Egypt was the mastaba, a flat-roofed rectangular structure of mudbrick or stone built over an underground burial chamber. The mastaba was the most popular tomb among the nobility in the Old Kingdom, and the first pyramid, the step pyramid of Djoser, is actually a series of stone mastabas stacked on top of each other. The step pyramid was itself the inspiration for the first true pyramids. Pyramids were built by the pharaohs of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, but later rulers abandoned them in favor of less conspicuous rock-cut tombs. New Kingdom pharaohs built their rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and by the Third Intermediate Period, the pharaohs had abandoned building grand tomb architecture altogether.

The earliest preserved ancient Egyptian temples, dating back to the Old Kingdom, consist of single, enclosed halls with roof slabs supported by columns. The mortuary temples connected to the pyramids at Giza are examples of this early temple. During the Fifth Dynasty, pharaohs developed the sun temple, the focus of which was a squat, pyramid-shaped obelisk known as a ben-ben stone. The ben-ben stone and other temple structures were surrounded by an outer wall and connected to the Nile via a causeway terminating in a valley temple. In the New Kingdom, architects added the pylon, the open courtyard, and the enclosed hypostyle hall to the front of the temple's sanctuary. Because the common people were not allowed past the entry pylon, the deity residing in the inner sanctuary was distanced from the outside world. This type of cult temple was standardly used until the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods.

Art

See also: Art of Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians produced art to serve functional purposes rather than to express creative genius. For over 3500 years, artists adhered to artistic forms that were developed during the Old Kingdom, following a strict set of principles that resisted foreign influence and internal change. These artistic standards—simple lines, shapes, and flat areas of color combined with the characteristic flat projection of figures with no indication of spatial depth—created a sense of order and balance within a composition. Because of the rigid rules that governed its highly stylized and symbolic appearance, ancient Egyptian art served its political and religious purposes with precision and clarity.

Pharaohs used reliefs carved on stelae, temple walls, and obelisks to record victories in battle, royal decrees, and religious scenes. These art forms glorified the pharaoh, recorded that ruler's version of historical events, and established the relationship between the Egyptians and their deities. Common citizens had access to pieces of funerary art, such as shabti statues and books of the dead, which they believed would protect them in the afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians made little distinction between images and text, which were intimately interwoven on tomb and temple walls, coffins, stelae, and even statues. This mentality is evident even in the earliest examples of Egyptian art, such as the Narmer Palette, where the figures being depicted may also be read as hieroglyphs.

Religious beliefs

The book of the dead was a guide to the deceased's journey in the afterlife.

See also: Ancient Egyptian religion

Beliefs in the divine and in the afterlife were ingrained in the ancient Egyptian civilization from its inception. The pharaoh's right to rule stemmed from his connection to the gods, and he acted as a mediator between the material and spiritual realms. The Egyptian pantheon was populated by a diverse array of gods who had supernatural, though sometimes limited, powers and could be called upon for help or protection. However, the gods were not always beneficent, and they had to be appeased with offerings and prayers. The structure of this pantheon changed continually as new deities were promoted in the hierarchy, but priests made no effort to organize the diverse and sometimes conflicting creation myths and stories into a coherent system.

Officially, the gods were worshiped in cult temples by priests acting on the king's behalf. At the center of the temple, the cult statue of the god was placed in a shrine where the god could manifest himself. Temples were not places of public worship or congregation, and only on select feast days and celebrations would a shrine carrying the statue of the god be brought out for public worship. Normally, the god's domain was sealed off from the outside world and was only accessible to temple officials; common citizens seeking a more direct interaction with the gods could worship private statues and stelae in the home, and amulets offered continuous, personal protection against the forces of chaos.

The Ka statue provided a physical place for the Ka to manifest

After the New Kingdom, the pharaoh's connection to the divine, and thus his role as a spiritual intermediary, were de-emphasized as religious customs shifted to direct worship of the gods. As a result, priests developed a system of oracles to communicate the will of the gods directly to the people. An oracle could be a statue of the god which could be asked a yes or no question, to which it would "respond" by hidden manipulations of a priest; the priests could also pose questions to the oracle behind closed doors. Oracles became very popular for appealing legal verdicts or for justifying military actions and political decisions.

The Egyptians believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts, called aspects. In addition to the body, each person had a šwt (shadow), a ba (personality or soul), a ka (life-force), and a name. The heart, rather than the brain, was considered the seat of thoughts and emotions. After death, the spiritual aspects were released from the body and could move at will, but they required the physical remains (or a substitute, such as a statue) as a permanent home. The ultimate goal of the deceased was to rejoin his ka and ba and become one of the "blessed dead", living on as an akh, or "effective one". In order for this to happen, the deceased had to be judged worthy in a trial, in which the heart was weighed against a "feather of truth". If deemed worthy, the deceased could continue their existence on earth in spiritual form.

Burial customs

See also: Ancient Egyptian burial customs

Anubis was the ancient Egyptian god associated with mummification and burial rituals; here, he attends to a mummy.

The ancient Egyptians maintained an elaborate set of burial customs that they believed were necessary to ensure immortality after death. These customs involved preserving the body by mummification, performing burial ceremonies, and interring, along with the body, goods to be used by the deceased in the afterlife.

Before the Old Kingdom, bodies buried in desert pits were naturally preserved by desiccation. The arid, desert conditions continued to be a boon throughout the history of ancient Egypt for the burials of the poor, who could not afford the elaborate burial preparations available to the elite. However, many wealthier Egyptians lost the advantage of natural mummification by the desert when they began to bury their dead in stone tombs. As a result, the wealthy elite of the Old and Middle Kingdoms began to make use of artificial mummification, which involved removing the internal organs, wrapping the body in linen, coating it with plaster or resin, and sometimes painting or sculpting facial details. The body was then buried in a rectangular stone sarcophagus or wooden coffin. Beginning in the Fourth Dynasty, the intestines, lungs, liver, and stomach were preserved separately in canopic jars and symbolically protected by likenesses of the Four sons of Horus.

By the New Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians had perfected the art of mummification; the best technique took 70 days and involved removing the internal organs, removing the brain through the nose, and desiccating the body in a mixture of salts called natron. The body was then wrapped in linen with protective amulets inserted between layers and placed in a decorated anthropoid coffin. Mummies of the Late Period were also placed in painted cartonnage mummy cases. Actual preservation practices declined during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, while greater emphasis was placed on the outer appearance of the mummy, which was decorated with elaborate rhomboidal patterns formed by the wrapping bandages.

Wealthy members of society were buried with larger quantities of luxury items and furniture, but all burials, regardless of social status, included goods for the deceased, such as food and jewelry. Beginning in the New Kingdom, books of the dead were included in the grave and contained spells and instructions for protection in the afterlife. New Kingdom Egyptians were also buried with shabti statues, which they believed would perform manual labor for them in the afterlife.

All Egyptian burials was accompanied by rituals in which the deceased was magically re-animated. This procedure involved touching the mouth and eyes of the deceased with ceremonial instruments to restore the power of speech, movement, and sight. After burial, living relatives were expected to occasionally bring food to the tomb and recite prayers on behalf of the deceased.

Leisure and games

The ancient Egyptians maintained a rich cultural heritage complete with feasts and festivals accompanied by music and dance

The ancient Egyptians enjoyed a variety of leisure activities, including games and music. Senet, a board game where pieces moved according to random chance, was particularly popular from the earliest times; another similar game was mehen, which had a circular gaming board. Juggling and ball games were popular with children, and wrestling is also documented in a tomb at Beni Hasan. The wealthy members of ancient Egyptian society enjoyed hunting and boating as well.

Music and dance were popular entertainments for those who could afford them in ancient Egypt. Early instruments included flutes and harps, while instruments similar to trumpets, oboes, and pipes developed later and became popular. In the New Kingdom, the Egyptians played on bells, cymbals, tambourines, and drums and imported lutes and lyres from Asia. The sistrum was a rattle-like musical instrument that was especially important in religious ceremonies.

Foreign relations

Trade

The ancient Egyptians engaged in trade with their foreign neighbors to obtain rare, exotic goods not found in Egypt. In the Predynastic Period, they established trade with Nubia to obtain gold and incense. They also established trade with Palestine, as evidenced by Palestinian-style oil jugs found in the burials of the First Dynasty pharaohs. By the Second Dynasty the ancient Egyptians had established trade with Byblos, a critical source of quality timber not found in Egypt. In the Fifth Dynasty, trade was established with the Land of Punt, which provided gold, aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, and wild animals such as monkeys and baboons.

Egypt relied on trade with Anatolia for essential quantities of tin as well as supplementary supplies of copper, both metals being necessary for the manufacture of bronze. The ancient Egyptians prized the blue stone lapis lazuli, which had to be imported from far-away Afghanistan. Egypt's Mediterranean trade partners also included ancient Greece and Crete, which provided, among other goods, supplies of olive oil. In exchange for its luxury imports and raw materials, Egypt mainly exported grain, gold, linen, and papyrus, in addition to other finished goods including glass and stone objects.

Military

Main article: Military history of Ancient Egypt

Wooden figures of Egyptian soldiers, from the tomb of Mesehti, 11th Dynasty

The ancient Egyptian military was responsible for maintaining Egypt's domination in the ancient Near East. The military protected mining expeditions to the Sinai during the Old Kingdom and fought civil wars during the First and Second Intermediate Periods. The military was responsible for maintaining fortifications along important trade routes, such as those found at the city of Buhen on the way to Nubia. Forts also were constructed to serve as military bases, such as the fortress at Sile, which was a base of operations for expeditions to the Levant. In the New Kingdom, a series of pharaohs used the standing Egyptian army to attack and conquer Kush and parts of the Levant.

Typical military equipment included bows and arrows, spears, and round-topped shields made by stretching animal skin over a wooden frame. In the New Kingdom, the military began using chariots that were introduced by the Hyksos invaders of the Second Intermediate Period. Weapons and armor continued to improve after the adoption of bronze: shields were now made from solid wood with a bronze buckle, spears were tipped with a bronze point, and a type of scimitar made of bronze, the Khopesh, was adopted from Asian soldiers.

The Egyptian pharaoh was usually depicted in art and literature riding at the head of the army, and there is some evidence that at least a few pharaohs, such as Seqenenre Tao II and his sons, did in fact do so. Soldiers were recruited from the general population, but during, and especially after, the New Kingdom, mercenaries from Nubia, Kush, and Libya were hired to fight for Egypt while under the command of their own officers.

The great wall is in Egypt and Egypt is a little town in Germany

Traditional empiricism, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri (circa 1600 BC), is first credited to Egypt, and the roots of the scientific method can also be traced back to the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians created their own alphabet and the decimal system, although it is unclear—due to the margin of error in carbon-dating tests—whether the Egyptians were the first to do so.

Recent archeology has uncovered the remains of an ancient Egyptian glass factory, and glass-making is known to have been highly developed in ancient Egypt based on the glass beads, jars, figures, and ornaments discovered in the tombs.

Medicine

This wood and leather prosthetic toe was used by an amputee to facilitate walking

Ancient Egyptian physicians were renowned in the ancient Near East for their healing skills. Medical papyri show that they performed thorough examinations and treated patients using a combination of prayers, protective amulets, and remedies derived from natural products. Wounds were treated by bandaging with raw meat, honey was used to prevent infection, and opium was used to relieve pain. Garlic and onions were used regularly to promote good health and were thought to relieve asthma symptoms. Ancient Egyptian surgeons stitched wounds, set broken bones, and amputated diseased limbs, but they recognized that some injuries were so serious that the only course of action was to "Moor [the patient] at his mooring stakes, until the period of his injury passes by..." (that is, until the patient died).

Mathematics

Texts such as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and the Berlin Papyrus show that the ancient Egyptians understood basic concepts of algebra and geometry, in addition to several advanced principles, such as solving simple sets of simultaneous equations. They could use fractions, perform the four basic mathematical operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—compute the volumes of boxes and pyramids, and calculate the surface areas of rectangles, triangles, circles and even spheres. The Moscow Mathematical Papyrus suggests that they could also calculate the volumes of frustums.

The ancient Egyptians could approximate the area of a circle,

Area of Circle ≈ [ (Diameter) x 8/9 ]²

and the Rhind Papyrus shows that the ancient Egyptians could also closely approximate pi. Additionally, the golden ratio seems to be reflected in many Egyptian constructions, including the pyramids. Use of the golden ratio may have been a consequence of an ancient Egyptian practice of combining the use of knotted ropes with an intuitive sense of proportion and harmony.

See also

• Egypt
• History of Egypt
• Architecture of ancient Egypt
• Art of Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Egyptian burial customs
• Racial characteristics of ancient Egyptians
• Egyptian Museum
• Ancient Egyptian religion
• Egyptians
• Egypt in the European imagination
• Egyptology
• List of Ancient Egyptians
• List of Ancient Egyptian Sites
• List of pharaohs

Notes and references

History

Ancient Egypt has inspired a vast number of English-language publications, ranging from scholarly works to generalised accounts (in addition to a large number of speculative, supernatural, or pseudo-scientific explorations). A selection of generally reliable survey treatments, published within the last two decades, includes:

Pharaonic Egypt

• Adkins, L. and Adkins, R (2001). The Little Book of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. London: Hodder and Stoughton.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Andrews, Carol (1994). Amulets of ancient Egypt. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70464-X.
• Baines, John and Jaromir Malek (2000). The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt (revised edition ed.). Facts on File. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Bard, KA (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. NY, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18589-0.
• Bierbrier, Morris (1984). The Tomb Builders of the Pharaohs. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-18229-7.
• Booth, Charlotte (2005). The Hyksos Period in Egypt. Shire Egyptology. ISBN 0-7478-0638-1.
• Callender, Gae (2000). The Middle Kingdom Renaissance. Oxford: The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt.
• Cerny, J. Egypt from the Death of Ramesses III to the End of the Twenty-First Dynasty' in The Middle East and the Aegean Region c.1380-1000 BC. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-08691-4.
• Clarke, Somers (1990). Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-26485-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |couthors= ignored (help)
• Clayton, Peter A. (1994). Chronicle of the Pharaohs. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05074-0.
• Dodson, Aidan (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Edgerton, William F. (1951). "The Strikes in Ramses III's Twenty-Ninth Year". JNES 10 (No. 3 ed.). {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Gillings, Richard J. (1972). Mathematics in the Time of the Pharaohs. New York. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |publiser= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Greaves, R.H. (1929). Gold Resources of Egypt, Report of the XV International Geol. Congress, South Africa. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Grimal, Nicolas (1992). A History of Ancient Egypt. Blackwell Books.
• Harris, Geraldine (1990). Ancient Egypt. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-1971-1.
• Herodotus ii. 55 and vii. 134
• Kemp, Barry (1991). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. Routledge.
• Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson (1996). The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC) (3rd ed. ed.). Warminster: Aris & Phillips Limited. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Lehner, Mark (1997). The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson.
• Lucas, Alfred (1962). Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 4th Ed. London: Edward Arnold Publishers.
• Dr. Peter Der Manuelian (1998). Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs. Bonner Straße, Cologne Germany: Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. ISBN 3-89508-913-3.
• Myśliwiec, Karol (2000). The Twighlight of Ancient Egypt: First Millennium B.C.E. (trans. by David Lorton). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
• Nicholson, Paul T.; et al. (2000). Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)
• Robins, Gay (2000). The Art of Ancient Egypt. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00376-4.
• Ryholt, Kim (1997). The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period. Museum Tusculanum. ISBN 8772894210. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Scheel, Bernd (1989). Egyptian Metalworking and Tools. Haverfordwest, Great Britain: Shire Publications Ltd.
• Shaw, Ian (2003). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-500-05074-0.
• Wasserman, James; Faulkner, Raymond Oliver; Goelet, Ogden; Von Dassow, Eva (1994). The Egyptian Book of the dead, the Book of going forth by day: being the Papyrus of Ani. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-0767-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Wilkinson, R. H. (2000). The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames and Hudson.
• Wilkinson, R.H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames and Hudson.
• Yurco, Frank J. (1999). "End of the Late Bronze Age and Other Crisis Periods: A Volcanic Cause". SAOC 58.

Ptolemaic Egypt

• Bowman, Alan K (1996). Egypt after the Pharaohs 332 BC – AD 642 (2nd ed. ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 0520205316. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Lloyd, Alan Brian (2000). The Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC) In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
• Stanwick, Paul Edmond (2003). Portraits of the Ptolemies: Greek kings as Egyptian pharaohs. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292777728.

Roman Egypt

• Günther Hölbl (trans. Tina Saavedra) (2001). A History of the Ptolemaic Empire. London: Routledge.
• Peacock, David (2000). The Roman Period (30 BC–AD 311). In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Literature

• Gardiner, Alan (1964). Egypt of the Pharaohs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Lichtheim, Miriam (1975). Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol 1. London, England: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02899-6.
• Simpson (2003). Simpson, William Kelly (ed.). The Literature of Ancient Egypt. Ritner, Tobin & Wente. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

External links

• Ancient Egypt — maintained by the British Museum, this site provides a useful introduction to Ancient Egypt for older children and young adolescents
• BBC History: Egyptians — provides a reliable general overview and further links
• Ancient records of Egypt; historical documents from the earliest times to the Persian conquest. Volume I: The first to seventeenth dynasties, Volume II: The eighteenth dynasty, Volume III: The nineteenth dynasty, Volume IV, Volume V, by James Henry Breasted (1906) — A reference work on Egyptology.
• Texts from the Pyramid Age Door Nigel C. Strudwick, Ronald J. Leprohon, 2005, Brill Academic Publishers
• Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book Door Marshall Clagett, 1989
• Digital Egypt for Universities. Outstanding scholarly treatment with broad coverage and excellent cross references (internal and external). Artifacts used extensively to illustrate topics.
• Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy A site that shows the history of Egyptian metalworking