Christina Riggs - Egypt

EGYPT
LOST CIVILIZATIONS

C HRONOLOGY

c. 45003000 BC

Predynastic era

c. 30002600 BC

Early Dynastic Period, Dynasties 13
Step Pyramid of Saqqara

c. 26002180 BC

Old Kingdom, Dynasties 46
Pyramids of Giza; Tomb of Ti

c. 21802050 BC

First Intermediate Period

c. 20501650 BC

Middle Kingdom, Dynasties 1113

c. 16501550 BC

Second Intermediate Period

c. 15501070 BC

New Kingdom, Dynasties 1820
A list of kings in the temple of Seti I at Abydos stretches back to the earliest days of Egyptian history;
craftsmen working on tombs in the Valley of the Kings live and die in the village of Deir el-Medina

c. 1070712 BC

Third Intermediate Period, Dynasties 2124
The Greenfield Papyrus of Nestanebtasheru

712332 BC

Late Period, Dynasties 2530 and Persian occupation

33230 BC

Ptolemaic Period, ending with reign of Cleopatra VII contemporary with the Republican era in Roman Italy, when the Palestrina mosaic was created

30 BCAD 395

Roman Period, when Egypt was part of the Roman Empire;
Sigmund Freuds baboon, Herculaneum wall painting

395640s

Byzantine Period, when Egypt was part of the Byzantine Empire, governed from Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul);
Horapollo writes his guide to hieroglyphs

640s969

Umayyad, Abassid and Tulunid Caliphates include Egypt

9691171

Fatimid dynasty rules Egypt

11711250

Ayyubid dynasty, founded by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) rules Egypt

c. 1300

A Mappa Mundi made in England represents Egypt with the Old Testament granaries of Joseph

12501517

Mamluk rulers govern Egypt

1517

Conquest of Egypt by Ottoman sultan, Selim I

15th century

Renaissance Italy sees a rediscovery of ancient Greek and Latin texts, including several that discuss Egypt or originated there;
Pavement of Siena Cathedral

16th century

Egyptian obelisk imported during Roman times is re-erected as part of Berninis Four Rivers fountain in Rome

18th century

Freemasonry becomes popular among well-educated or aristocratic men in Europe and the new nation of America, which puts the Freemasonic symbol of an eye and a pyramid on the reverse of its Great Seal

17981801

Napoleons invasion of Egypt, ending in defeat and turning over to the British the Rosetta Stone and other antiquities;
Vivant Denon leads a groups of French scientists, engineers and artists seeking to map and record both modern and ancient Egypt

1805

Muhamed Ali becomes wali (governor) of Egypt, under Ottoman rule, and encourages European-style industrialization to help cement his own power

1809

Publication of the first volume of the Description de lgypte; during a vogue for Egyptian-style design in Europe

1822

Jean-Franois Champollion announces his decipherment of hieroglyphs, based in part on the Rosetta Stone

1849

Death of Muhamed Ali, who is succeeded by his son and grandsons

184951

Maxime du Camp undertakes a photographic mission to Egypt on behalf of the French ministry of education

1851

The Crystal Palace (Great) Exhibition in Hyde Park, London, includes an Egyptian Court designed by Owen Jones, based on the colourful temples and statues he had seen in Egypt

1858

Said pasha, son of Mohamed Ali, appoints the French scholar Auguste Mariette to oversee the conservation of antiquities and monuments in Egypt

1860s onwards

Increasing European and American investment in the Egyptian cotton and sugar cane industries and corresponding increase in travel and tourism. From the 1870s, steamboats in use for the first package tours to Egypt;
Victorian scientists develop schemes of racial classification which are exploited by some to justify colonization and slavery;
novels, paintings and popular culture depict a fantasy of ancient Egypt, with moonlit Nile views and barely clad Cleopatras

1867

The Ottoman sultan recognizes the title khedive (viceroy) for the rulers of Egypt, beginning with Saids successor Ismail

1869

Opening of the Suez Canal, funded by French shareholders, and celebrated with the premiere of Verdis opera Aida

1875

British government purchases khedive Ismail pashas shares in the Suez Canal, after a financial crisis

1882

British military occupation of Egypt, to suppress a revolt led by Egyptian general Urabi pasha;
establishment of the Egypt Exploration Society, a charity for British-sponsored excavations in Egypt. For the next forty years, the British government controls Egypt, and archaeological excavations extend throughout the country, with thousands of antiquities shipped to museums and collectors around the world