Auerbach - Ancient Egypt: A Guide to the Gods, Pharaohs, Dynasties, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt

What makes Egypt so fascinating to us that there is a branch of archaeology called Egyptology? What did the ancient Egyptian culture have that makes it worth studying? Sun, sand, and pyramids await visitors in Egypt today, but what about the civilizations Egypt was built on? What did they find 5000 years ago to make them want to build a life in Egypt? To understand Ancient Egypt, one must also have a basis in time. When did the first settlers arrive in Egypt? When were the first pyramids erected? When did the first Pharaoh start ruling Egypt as a country in its own right? All of these questions and more will be answered for you, to help you understand that sometimes history has lessons for us- perhaps forgotten lessons that need to be brought back.

A Timeline of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt is considered to be the period in time from 5000 BC to 332 BC. Little is known about the pre-dynastic period because few records exist. However, the period lasted for nearly 2000 years. Civilizations cropped up around the Nile and in Northern Africa along other water sources. These communities were based on agriculture and hunting. Trade between the groups occurred in order to share resources, and it opened the way for arts and crafts, politics, religion, and technology to develop.

Approximately 300 years before the pre-dynastic period ended in 3100, two kingdoms rose to power. One was called the Red Land, which was in the north of Egypt along the Nile River Delta, perhaps extending as far as what is now Atfih. The other kingdom was the White Land in the south, which was probably the area between Atfih and Gebel es-Silsila.

Did you know: Hollywood movies like The Mummy and The Mummy Returns are based on facts pulled from Ancient Egyptian history. The King of the southern kingdom was known as Scorpion. Scorpion tried to conquer the Red Land in 3200BC. However, he was not successful.

It was a century later before the two kingdoms would become one under King Menes. King Menes assumed the title of Pharaoh, which meant King in Egyptian, and he ruled over the first dynasty of Egypt.

King Menes began the Archaic Period, which lasted from 3100 to 2686 BC. King Menes lived and ruled Egypt in White Walls. White Walls, now called Memphis, was the capital of Ancient Egypt. It rests on the apex of the Nile Rivers delta. It was this capital that arose as a metropolis, dominating Egyptian society during the Old Kingdom Period. It was this period that was responsible for founding the Egyptian Society, the ideology of kingship and the religious beliefs in the gods like Horus. Irrigation, fertilization and better farming were discovered during this period.

Egypt is broken into periods by archaeologists. The next periods were as follows:

Old Kingdom - 2686 to 2181 BC

First Intermediate Period - 2181 to 2055 BC

Middle Kingdom The 12 th Dynasty - 2055 to 1786 BC

Second Intermediate Period - 1786 to 1567 BC

New Kingdom - 1567 to 1085 BC

Third Intermediate Period - 1085 to 664 BC

Late Period - 664 to 332 BC

Most of the following chapters will concentrate on the Old Kingdom period. It is the age of the pyramid builders, and it is also considered the third dynasty of Pharaohs. You might recognize a few names from this period such as Imhotep, who was highlighted in the Hollywood films. King Djoser was ruling at the time and asked Imhotep to create a funerary monument for him. The result was the Step-Pyramid at Saqqara.

For the third and fourth dynasties, Egypt was considered a place of prosperity and peace. It was also the time when most of the pyramids were built. This age started to end towards the 5 th and 6 th dynasties, and the wealth of the King was starting to disappear due to the expensive pyramid building. Power was also starting to falter for the Pharaohs with more nobility and priests taking over the power stating that the Sun God Ra was the true power. At the end of the 6 th dynasty King Pepy II died. He was in rule for nearly 94 years.

The period Egyptologists call Ancient Egypt ended when Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire. Alexander ruled Egypt until his death then Ptolemy took over control, leaving his descendants in charge. The last Ptolemaic Egyptian ruler was Cleopatra VII - she surrendered to Octavian, known later as Augustus in 31 BC, leaving Egypt under Roman rule for six centuries. When Arabs defeated Roman rulers in the 7 th century AD, Islam was introduced to the country and most of the Egyptian way of life disappeared.

Egypt was not the only civilization to be advancing in 5000 BC. Numerous cultures around the world started to settle, to use their own concepts of agriculture and to trade between various cities as trade routes started to open up. China, Egypt, Europe, and even early civilizations in the Americas existed. But what fascinates us the most about the Ancient Egyptian culture is their advancement in various areas including agriculture, architecture, womens roles and politics. Think about how women are treated in certain cultures even today. Remember how recently American women won the right to vote, and then consider the daily life of Egyptians over 5000 centuries ago that you will learn about in this book.

Keep in mind these other cultures as you explore the daily life, pyramids, architecture, dynasties and Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Consider what life might be like today if Egyptian ways of life had survived instead of being stamped out by Alexander the Great and the Islamic rule. It is the advancements of ancient Egypt that truly grab Egyptologists attention.