Egypt -- Ancient History Encyclopedia

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Timeline

c. 3414 BC - c. 3100 BC

Xois founded as a city during the 1st Dynasty.
3200 BC

Hieroglyphic script developed in Egypt.
3150 BC

Early Dynastic period in Egypt. First Pharaos.
3100 BC - 2181 BC

Xois inscribed on Palermo Stone as an ancient city during the 5th Dynasty.
2630 BC

First pyramid is built at Saqqara, Egypt.
2584 BC - 2561 BC

The Great Pyramid is constructed by Pharaoh Cheops.
2575 BC - 2134 BC

The Old Kingdom in Egypt.
c. 2500 BC

The Great Sphinx is built at Giza.
2040 BC - 1640 BC

The Middle Kingdom in Egypt.
1800 BC

Bronze working introduced to Egypt.
1650 BC - 1550 BC

Xois serves as capital of the 14th Dynasty.
1523 BC - 1070 BC

The New Kingdom of Egypt.
1504 BC - 1492 BC

Egyptian empire reaches greatest extent under Tuthmosis I.
1500 BC

Egyptian empire extends to the Euphrates.
c. 1457 BC

Battle of Megiddo: Thutmose III of Egypt defeats a coalition of Canaan, Kadesh, Mitanni, and Megiddo led by Durusha, king of Kadesh.
c. 1450 BC

Kadesh and Megiddo lead a Canaanite alliance against the Egyptian invasion by Thutmose III.
c. 1303 BC

Birth of Ramesses II of Egypt.
1274 BC

Battle of Kadesh between Pharaoh Ramesses II of Egypt and King Muwatalli II of the Hittites.
1213 BC

Death of Ramesses II.
1180 BC

Egyptians defeat the Sea Peoples.
1180 BC

Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty fortifies Xois against the threat of the invading Sea Peoples.
1178 BC

Rameses III defends Egypt from the Sea Peoples on the shores at Xois, defeating them completely.
750 BC

Iron working is introduced to Egypt.
712 BC - 671 BC

Egypt is ruled by the Kushite dynasty.
671 BC

Egypt is conquered by Assyria.
667 BC

Ashurbanipal wages war in Egypt to put down a rebellion.
651 BC

Egypt expels Assyrians.
601 BC

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon unsuccessfully attempts to invade Egypt.
525 BC

Cambyses II of Persia conquers Egypt.
525 BC - 404 BC

Persia conquers Egypt.
520 BC

Darius of Persia links the Nile and the Red Sea by a canal.
c. 398 BC - c. 380 BC

Plato travels in Egypt, Cyrene, Italy, Syracuse and Sicily.
332 BC

Alexander the Great conquers Syria and Egypt. Alexandria is founded.
304 BC - 30 BC

Rule of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt.
300 BC

Ptolemy I founds the Museum of Alexandria.
277 BC - 276 BC

4,000 Celts are employed in Egypt under Ptolemy II.
275 BC

The lighthouse at Alexandria is completed.
259 BC

Celts in Egypt fail to overthrow Ptolemy II and are starved to death on an island.
217 BC

14,000 Celts serve under Ptolemy IV in his victory at Raphia over the Seleucid King Antiochos III.
32 BC - 31 BC

Battle of Actium: Octavian (the later Emperor Augustus) defeats Cleopatra of Egypt.
30 BC

Egypt becomes part of the Roman empire.
c. 1 AD

First non-stop voyages from Egypt to India.

Definition

A country in North Africa on the Mediterranean sea which boasts one of the oldest extant civilizations on earth. Traces of early habitation in Egypt date back 700,000 years and evidence of overgrazing of cattle on the land which is now the Sahara Desert has been dated to about 8,000 BCE which, along with artifacts discovered, points to a thriving agricultural civilization in the land at that time.

The name 'Egypt' comes from the Greek 'Aegyptos' which was the Greek pronunciation of the Egyptian name 'Hwt-Ka-Ptah'(which means House of the Spirit of Ptah. Ptah was a very early god of the ancient Egyptians). In the early Old Kingdom Egypt was simply known as 'Kemet' which means 'Black Land' so named for the rich, dark soil along the Nile River, and, later, the country was known simply as Misr which means 'Country', a name still in use by Egyptians for their country in the present day.

The history of Egypt is vast, encompassing some 10,000 years, and their architecture, mathematics, skill in construction, administrative skills and mythology influenced both Greece and Rome and still astound and fascinate people today. The pyramids of the Giza plateau, the temple at Abu Simbel, the tomb of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, amaze still, even in ruin and, although many theories abound, modern architects are from from agreement on how these structures were built considering the technology of the day.

From approximately 3150 BCE, when the semi-mythological King Menes ruled Egypt to 525 BCE when the Persian General Cambyses II defeated the Egyptians at Pelusium, Egypt was a powerful sovereign nation. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE and the country remained under Greek influence by way of the Ptolemaic Dynasty until the death of the last of the Ptolemaic rulers, Cleopatra VII in 31 BCE (defeated at the Battle of Actium by Octavius Caesar) after which it became a province of the Roman Empire.

The historian Will Durant writes, "The effect or remembrance of what Egypt accomplished at the very dawn of history has influence in every nation and every age. 'It is even possible', as Faure has said, 'that Egypt, through the solidarity, the unity, and the disciplined variety of its artistic products, through the enormous duration and the sustained power of its effort, offers the spectacle of the greatest civilization that has yet appeared on the earth.' We shall do well to equal it" (Our Oriental Heritage, 217).

Written by JPryst.

Articles

The Forty-Two Judges

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The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Epic

The Tale of The Ship-Wrecked Sailor is an epic tale written on papyrus around the year 2000 BCE, during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Contemporary with the rise...
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The Pyramid Texts: Guide to the Afterlife

The Pyramid Texts are the oldest religious texts in the world (some scholars cite the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh as the oldest, though it is debatable whether the Epic of Gilgamesh...
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The Battle of Kadesh & the Poem of Pentaur

The Poem of Pentaur is the official Egyptian record (along with The Bulletin) of Rameses II The Great’s victory over the Hittite King Muwatalli II at the Battle...
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The Gifts of Isis: Women's Status in Ancient Egypt

A story on a papyrus dating from the 2nd century CE relates that the goddess Isis, bestowing gifts on humanity, gave as much power and honor to women as she did...
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