Ancient Egyptian History

By Intrepid

Introduction

Western civilization has always been entranced by the splendor and magnificent of Ancient Egypt. Roman fascination with Egyptian culture led to the creation of the cult of Isis, one of the most powerful religious cults in the Roman Empire. Egypt’s mysterious led Napoleon to create the Institut de l’Égypte in Cario. This institution is famous for its discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a translation of Ancient Egyptian demotic script that allowed scholars to begin to decipher hieroglyphs. Even today there is still a fascination in regards to Ancient Egypt. For westerners, Egypt has always had a mysterious aura about it. This aura is largely created by the unique nature of Egyptian civilization and stunning and dramatically different Egyptian art. The nature of the history of Ancient Egypt makes it fairly easy to determine a period that can be called Ancient Egypt. For the purposes of this documentation of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egypt will be defined as the period ranging from 3100 to 31 BCE. This period covers the thirty dynasties of Egyptian rulers, the period of rule under the Persians, the Ptolemy’s and the finally the rule of the Romans. Despite the fact that his history will cover the period composing the thirty dynasties, it will not cover the rule of every Egyptian sovereign due to length constraints. Only the most influential Egyptian rulers will be examined. Historians of Ancient Egypt are blessed largely thanks to Egypt’s dry climate. It is this climate that has helped preserve the numerous monuments, tombs and inscriptions that have allowed scholars to derive the knowledge that they have. Though Ancient Egyptians scholars have numerous resources in which to analyze for facts, there are still many gaping holes in Egyptian history. The period of rule for many kings is largely guesswork, and many of the dates are only vague estimations.

This history of Ancient Egypt will look at Ancient Egypt from the period of 3100 to 31 BCE. This large section of history will be broken down into sections based on chronology. The first period, 3100 to 2345 BCE will cover the Early Dynastic Period, the unification of Egypt and the Old Kingdom. The second period, 2181 to 1650 BCE covers the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom. The third period, 1650 BCE to 343 BCE examines the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom and the Late Period.

Next: 3100 to 2345 BCE – The Early Dynastic Period, the Unification of Egypt and the Old Kingdom
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