History of Egypt, a Brief Summary by JB

History of Egypt

The history of Egypt spans thousands of years.  It is not reasonable to describe Egyptian history in one page, however I include this summary here to put into perspective how long sophisticated civilization has existed prior to the meager 200 years of the United States.

The period of history that is of interest when visiting the antiquities of Egypt is from approximately 3100 BC to the present.  The pharaohs (or kings) lived from about 3100 BC to 300 BC.  There were also 5 queens.  The years are divided into a number of periods, and subdivided into dynasties of kings.  For example, the First Dynastic Period runs from 3100 BC to 2181 BC, and consists of 6 dynasties.  Each dynasty has a number of kings, and a dynasty ends when one king (or queen) is superseded by another, by battle or lack of successor.  A new king would generally leave the earlier buildings or tombs, building alongside or on top of them, but he also may start new projects.

There are 3 major periods of the pharaohs, the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom.  After each of them are the First, Second and Third Intermediate Periods, respectively.  Alexander the Great came along in 332 BC and after that time there were a succession of other invading civilizations from Greece, Macedonia, Rome, and finally Muslims from the area of Mecca, now in Saudi Arabia, about 640 AD.  Various Islamic (Muslim) cultures ruled until 1517 AD, when the Ottomans came to town.  Napoleon Bonaparte took over from 1798 to 1802.  Then Mohamed Ali reasserted Ottoman rule.  Unfortunately, It is difficult to get the similarly named American boxer out of your mind when reviewing the many accomplishments of the original very prominent historical figure.

The pyramids are generally acknowledged to be tombs constructed by about 100,000 well-treated slaves.  The large pyramids in Giza (northern Cairo) are very huge and required a monumental expenditure of time and engineering.  The theories cannot fully explain how they were built.  Other exotic ideas have emerged:  the pyramids were built by aliens; there are yet undiscovered machines the ancient Egyptians used.  None has been confirmed as the final answer.

Putting the other explanations aside, most agree that the pyramids and other tombs were built for burial of the pharaohs.  After coronation, a pharaoh started building his tomb.  If he lasted a long time, the tomb was large.  If not, it was small, and if he died suddenly, workers generally had only 70 days to finish up the construction and decoration while the body was mummified.  Some tombs are therefore not as complete or perfect as others.

In Cairo we visited are the Pyramids at Giza, which were constructed during the 4th dynasty in the Old Kingdom Period (which consisted of dynasties 1-6).  The largest is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and was constructed in the 2500s BC.  In Luxor are the Temples of Karnak and Luxor, which were constructed during the New Kingdom Period (think: King Tut), starting in 1500 BC.