The Nile was a breadbasket for northeastern Africa, and various African tribes abandoned nomadic lifestyles and settled on its banks. Groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers frequented the Nile as early as the Middle Pleistocene around 120,000 years ago. At this period, northeastern Africa's climate was much different than it is today: where now there are sandy deserts peppered by oases, then it was home to vast grasslands and savannas. The climate began to change in the late Pleistocene, coming to resemble the Egypt we know today, and as this happened, those nomadic hunter-gatherers began settling along the banks of the Nile. Because the Nile regularly flooded its banks, depositing fertile silt before retreating back to its watery confines, the Nile was a consistent source of prime farmland. Tribes stretched up and down the Nile River, and they made good use of the nutrient-rich northern delta thrust against the southeast Mediterranean. Three major cultural groups arose: the Badari, the Amratian, and Gerzeh cultures. Over the breadth of a millennium, the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures (brothers of the Naqada culture) developed into a powerful, centralized civilization. Establishing their capital at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, their control spread northward along the Nile. The Naqada culture, perhaps seeing the value of writing in the cuneiform of eastern traders, developed its own style of writing that would later develop into full-blown hieroglyphs.
THE EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD: 3050-2686 BC
The Early Dynastic Period is more or less parallel with the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilization of Mesopotamia. The early kings of Egypt had their power-base in Upper Egypt (the southernmost part of Egypt; they viewed their world upside-down compared to how we see it) and sought to extend its control into Lower Egypt, where the Nile delta met the Mediterranean. This unification happened around 3100 BC under a king known by the Greeks as Menes; his Egyptian name was likely Narmer. Narmer is thus hailed as the first true king of Egypt. Narmer unified Upper and Lower Egypt and established his HQ at Memphis (known as Ineb-Hedg by Egyptians), where he could supervise both Egypt's agricultural economy and her trade routes into the Levant.
THE OLD KINGDOM: 2686 - 2150 BC
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| A Recreation of the Pyramids of Giza |
Egypt had been unified under Narmer and maintained by his successors, but it was during the Old Kingdom that ancient Egypt would reach its first "peak" of civilization. The beginning of the Old Kingdom doesn't mark a change in Egyptian dynasty nor a change in the Egyptian capital; the division, rather, has to do with a revolution in Egyptian architecture coupled with changes in Egyptian society and large-scale building projects. During the Old Kingdom, the Egyptian king assumed the role of a living god who enjoyed absolute and unfettered despotic rule. The Old Kingdom comprises the Third to Seventh dynasties; during this period, Egypt was divided into nomes ruled by nomarchs who were subservient to the Egyptian king; these nomarchs were charged with running their nomes and enforcing Egypt's tax collection. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the king's power would decline as the nomarchs' power increased. Any mental image of the Old Kingdom necessitates the pyramids, since it was during this point of time that Egyptian kings built their massive tombs. The kings of Egypt claimed to be living gods and believed that when they died they would be reunited with the gods. This happy afterlife wasn't for the common Egyptian but for the king alone (and, at times, some of his most trusted servants). Thus while the commoners had to make do with nasty graves, the kings felt compelled to build tombs that echoed their place in the cosmos.
Major Events of the Old Kingdom:
ca 2650 BC - King Djoser of the Third Dynasty built the first Egyptian pyramid, known as the "Step Pyramid," in Memphis' necropolis. Djoser's vizier (his highest ranking official) was Imhotep, who's known for both his role in the building of the Step Pyramid (and possibly being the one to invent using stone columns to support a building) and for his approach to medicine that was void of magical thinking. The Greeks would later equate him with Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine.
ca 2600 BC - King Sneferu outdid Djoser's Step Pyramid by building a series of three pyramids in Saqqara.
ca 2575 BC - Sneferu's son and successor, Khufu, outdid his father when it came to pyramids: he commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
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| A Recreation of the Sphinx |
ca 2550 BC - After Khufu's death, the Egyptian crown passed to his sons Djedefra and Khafra. Khafra went down in history for seeking to outdo his father and grandfather not by building a bigger pyramid but by building something altogether different: the Sphinx. However, some Egyptologists belief Djedefra built the Sphinx to honor his father Khufu.
ca 2500 BC - The Fourth Dynasty began around the turn of the 25th century, and the reign of the Fourth Dynasty saw a decline in pyramid building and a rise in worship of the Egyptian sun god Ra. Construction projects focused not on building tombs for the kings but on temples for the gods.
ca 2278-2184 BC - The long reign of Pepi II saw a rise in internal disorder within Egypt. The nomarchs had been gathering power among themselves at the expense of the monarchy. When Pepi II died in 2184 BC, the cement gluing Egypt together was coming undone. A horrible drought at the tail-end of Pepi II's reign prevented the normal flooding of the Nile for years, and thus Egyptian agriculture was hit hard. After Pepi II's death, Egypt fell from its lofty position and entered the turbulent years known as the First Intermediate Period.
THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD: 2150 - 2055 BC
The First Intermediate Period has been called a "Dark Age" for Egypt. It includes the Seventh through part of the Eleventh Dynasties. The Egyptian monarchy had lost much of his control over the nation as the nomarchs hoarded power for themselves, and centralized power became split between Upper and Lower Egypt. One power had its base at the city of Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt, and the other was stationed at Thebes in Upper Egypt. Both Heracleopolis and Thebes vied for power over Egypt, and the political fragmentation resulted in wide-scale vandalism of temples and statues from the Old Kingdom. It was inevitable that Upper and Lower Egypt would take their political rhetoric to a physical contest, and the eventual civil war engulfed Egypt. Thebes eventually came out on top, her armies led by King Mentuhotep II. Mentuhotep II consolidated his victory over Heracleopolis by unifying Upper and Lower Egypt once again and ushered in the Middle Kingdom.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: 2055 - 1759 BC
If the First Intermediate Period is known as an Egyptian "Dark Age," the Middle Kingdom could be called the Egyptian "Golden Age." The Middle Kingdom saw an explosion in art, literature, and the democratization of Egyptian religion: whereas in the Old Kingdom only the kings could experience a blissful afterlife, now the gates to paradise were opened to commoners, as well. Mentuhotep II reunified Upper and Lower Egypt, and in consolidating Theban power he started a new and prosperous age for Egypt. His successors would follow in his footsteps militarily, regaining and expanding Egyptian control to the south against Nubia, the west against the Oases tribes, and the east against the Asiatics (though in the latter case, Egypt took a defensive rather than offensive stance, perhaps because so much trade came from the east and there was no reason to jeopardize that). Egypt's Middle Kingdom prosperity would reach its height under King Amenemhat III, but his successor would stare into the Middle Kingdom's decline. Low flooding of the Nile led to widespread drought and famine, and Amenenmhat IV's lack of a successor only complicated problems (monarchies without known successors tend to be unstable). Because he lacked a successor, Amenemhat IV's throne went to his sister, Sobekneferu, who is the first known female ruler of Egypt. Her brief four-year rule didn't alleviate Egypt's ailing situation, and in her wake a series of short-lived kings rose and fall in Egypt for about fifteen years. Successive rulers couldn't forestall the inevitable, and bit-by-bit chunks of Egypt began to fall into independence. The collapse of Egyptian hegemony around 1795 BC marked the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period.
Major Events of the Middle Kingdom:
ca 2050 BC - After wiping out all rivals from the old Heracleopolian regime and unifying Upper and Lower Egypt, Mentuhotep II turned his attention to the south: he led campaigns into Nubia, which had been a vassal to Egypt in the Old Kingdom but which had attained independence during the First Intermediate Period. After reconquering Nubia, he restored Egyptian rule over the Sinai region, which had been lost to Egypt since the end of the Old Kingdom era. Mentuhotep II's son and successor, Mentuhotep III, would follow in his father's footsteps of consolidating Theban power by building a string of forts in the Nile delta to supervise the comings and goings of the Asiatics.
ca 1985 BC - Amenemhat I, who may have usurped the throne from the last of Mentuhotep's dynasty, continued rebuilding Egypt's defensive works. He built fortifications at the First Cataract of the Nile, in case of a Nubian uprising, and he strengthened the defenses between Egypt and Asia. He intensified Mentuhotep III's delta forts by building the "Walls of the Ruler" in the eastern delta, which was a series of forts within signaling distance of each other. Patrols traveled between the forts to keep an eye on happenings to the east. Amenemhat I moved the capital to Thebes (though the location of his new capital is unknown), and to defend against nomarchs hoarding power as they had done at the end of the Old Kingdom, he reworked the nomarch system into an essential feudal system. Amenenmhat I would be murdered in a palace coup.
ca 1950 BC - Senusret I, Amenemhat I's heir, pushed Egyptian control as far south as the Nile's Second Cataract, where he built a fortress in the face of Egyptian-controlled Nubia. He incorporated all of lower Nubia into an Egyptian colony. He consolidated Egypt's power against the Oases to the west, and he extended trade into Syria-Palestine.
ca 1875 BC - Senusret III, the "warrior-king," led brutal expeditions into Nubia. He built a series of massive forts throughout Nubia. He also led a campaign into Palestine against the then-Canaanite city of Shechem. Back home, Senusret III divided Egypt into three administrative divisions: North, South, and Head of the South. He created a new bureaucracy to run the districts, and the powers of the nomarchs plummeted.
ca 1850 BC - The reign of Amenemhat III marks the height of Egyptian power in the Middle Kingdom. During his tenure, Egypt masterly engaged in trade and mining activities. Amenemhat III strengthened his forebears' Nubian forts and continued the reclamation of farming land in the Faiyum region began by Senusret II.
ca 1806 BC - Amenemhat III's successor, Amenhemhat IV, didn't have a male heir for the throne, so when he died the throne passed to his sister Sobekneferu. Sobekneferu is known in history for two things: first, she is the first recorded female ruler of Egypt; and second, her brief four-year reign marks the end of the "Golden Age" of the Middle Kingdom.
THE SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD: 1759 - 1539 BC
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| Egyptian warriors were no match for the Hyksos and their advanced weaponry, including chariots and composite bows (which the Egyptians would later copy for themselves in the New Kingdom) |
Egypt's fragmentation at the end of the Middle Kingdom opened the door for an invasion of Asiatics known as the Hyksos. The Hyksos seized Lower Egypt and they flourished, incorporating their Canaanite culture and religion into the fabric of lower Egyptian society. Though Upper Egypt wasn't conquered, it was destabilized, and a series of Upper Egypt kings tried to regain control. Such a goal was difficult, since the former vassal kingdom of Nubia threatened them from the south, the Hyksos threatened them from the north, and the Oases tribes did their own thing to the west. The Kingdom of Kush, flourishing in the wake of the collapse of Egyptian hegemony, gathered a number of Nubian contingents and attacked Upper Egypt. Upper Egypt resisted, pushing the Kushites back beyond the first cataract of the Nile. The Egyptian kings knew the Kushites would have to be dealt with before any serious operation could be leveled against the northern Hyksos; to move against the Hyksos without securing their southern borders could lead to disaster. To make matters worse, the Hyksos forged an alliance with Kush, keeping connected with them via the western Oases, in a desire to strangle Egyptian independence once and for all.
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| Egyptian raids against the Hyksos on the Nile |
King Seqenenra Taa of Upper Egypt was the first to mount a serious offensive against the Hyksos, and he fought on the front lines with his troops. He was killed in battle, his skull penetrated by an Asiatic axe, and his mummified remains still showcase the lethal blow. Taa's successor, Kamose, knew that Kush had to be dealt with first. He amassed such a large force that he was able to capture a key southern frontier fortress without a fight, securing Upper Egypt's rear. Kamose then moved against the Hyksos, sailing up the Nile. He attacked Egyptian towns that had cooperated with the Hyksos, razing them to the ground as an example to any other collaborators. He died prematurely, and the throne went to the young Ahmose, who was not yet of age. A decade of military stalemate passed before Ahmose could carry on the campaigns. He pushed against the Hyksos, leading a number of raids up the Nile. He broke open a path into the Hyksos heartland and defeated the Hyksos armies at the Battle of Hutwaret. The Hyksos scattered, running back to their homeland, and Ahmose pursued them across the Sinai. He besieged the Hyksos royalty in their nerve center at Sharuhen and sent his army rampaging through coastal Palestine, razing towns here-and-there to make sure the Asiatic locals thought twice before setting themselves against Egypt again. Having subdued the Hyksos in their homeland, Ahmose returned to Egypt and focused on Nubia. He sailed down to the Nile and built a massive fortress on the island of Shaat, midway between the second and third cataracts, and built a massive fortress. This carried Egyptian control deeper into Nubia than ever before. Nubian freedom fighters rose against Egypt, but Ahmose squashed them so completely that no major Nubian uprising would occur for half a millennia.
The Theban princes who ousted the Hyksos would be viewed on par with the legendary Menes, first king of Egypt, and with Mentuhotep II, who had brought Egypt's first civil war to an end and who had reunified Egypt to usher in the Middle Kingdom. The expulsion of the Hyksos marks the beginning of Egypt's New Kingdom.
THE NEW KINGDOM: 1539 - 1069 BC
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| The Height of Thebes during the New Kingdom |
Major Events of the New Kingdom:
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| Thutmose I subjugates the Nubians |
ca 1460 BC - Queen Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty seized the throne and had herself crowned king. She's remembered as a builder, repairing the damage wrought by the Hyksos and spearheading numerous beautifying projects throughout Egypt.
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| Thutmose III at the Battle of Megiddo |
ca 1345 BC - Pharaoh Amenhotep IV opposed the worship of the sun god Amon-Ra and proposed worshiping the aton, the physical disk of the sun, instead. With the support of his wife Nerfititi, Amenhotep IV inaugurated a new state religion and removed conservative restrictions on art. He changed his name to Akhetaton, hacked Amon-Ra's name off statues and monuments, and relocated the capital to a new city dedicated to the aton. His successors reversed his changes, restoring the traditional religion worshiping Amon-Ra, and they even went so far as to expunge Akhetaton's name from official Egyptian histories! Taking advantage of Egypt's weakened state because of Akhetaton's reforms, the rival empire of the Hittites had extended its control throughout Phoenicia and into Canaan, reaching up to the doorstep of Egypt. The Nineteenth Dynasty would have to deal with the Hittites to regain hegemony in the Near East.
ca 1330 BC - Pharaoh Tutankhamun, affectionately known as "King Tut," ruled for only a handful of years. He had a short-lived reign, and his tomb was placed in the Valley of the Kings, across the Nile from Thebes, which was the resting place for more than sixty Egyptian kings and nobles. Though he didn't accomplish much in life, he's become one of the most infamous of Egyptian kings, simply because his tomb was largely spared by the grave robbers of the Third Intermediate Period. His tomb became an epicenter of egyptology. His tomb was discovered in 1922, rejuvenating interest in ancient Egypt. However, eight people on the excavation team died within a number of years of the discovery, leading to reports of the "Curse of the Pharaohs."
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| The Battle of Kadesh |
ca 1175 BC - During the reign of Pharaoh Rameses III, the Sea Peoples (probably from Anatolia or Southern Europe) invaded Egypt by land and by sea. Rameses III defeated them in two major battles, and he deported the survivors into Canaan (which, at this point, was loosely governed by Egypt). Some theorize that these dislocated Sea Peoples eventually formed the infamous nation of the Philistines. Having dealt with an invasion from the north, Rameses III also had to deal with an invasion from the west: Libyan tribesmen foolishly set themselves against Egypt, and Rameses III put them in their place. But these countless wars drained the Egyptian economy, and Egypt's high point in the New Kingdom began to decline.
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| Shoshenq I Raids Judah |
After the death of the last pharaoh of the New Kingdom period (Rameses XI) in 1069, unified Egypt was split between Upper and Lower Egypt. The Libyans from the west had become a major minority within Egypt, and they had infiltrated all echelons of Egyptian society. They seized power after the death of Rameses XI and worked to decentralize Egypt. They didn't care to hide their culture, and their apathy regarding burials shocked the Egyptians. The days of fancy tombs were over, never to rise again. A Libyan king ruled over Lower Egypt, and in the south another de-facto king (known as the High Priest of Amun) ruled Upper Egypt. The ruler in the north took the title of King and the ruler in the south the title of Priest in a pleasant fiction of political unity, but in reality both kingdoms were quasi-independent and linked only by marriage. Both had their own systems of government, their own administrations, and their own ceremonial capitals.
In Lower Egypt the Libyan rulers wanted to make their own capital, Djanet, the jewel of the delta. Because Egypt's quarries were largely located in Upper Egypt, the Libyan kings were forced to ransack the buildings and decor of ancient Egyptian cities, stealing from them to beautify Djanet. In Upper Egypt the high priests took a similar route, but rather than robbing cities to fund their programs, enrich their coffers, and enjoy the good life, they robbed the tombs filled with treasure, most notably those of the Valley of the Kings across the Nile from Thebes. The sacred remains of former kings were interred together in the tomb of Amenhotep II and an Egyptian queen. The rulers built major fortresses throughout Upper Egypt as a reminder to the Egyptians that they were now in control. To legitimize their rule, they built major temples to the Egyptian gods and made oracles a part of their rule (e.g. the god Amun held audiences and made decrees).
In 945 BC, Egypt was temporarily reunited under Shoshenq I (also known as Shishak I). In an effort to show the world that Egypt remained a key player on the world stage, Shoshenq led raids into Palestine, where King Solomon's united Israel had splintered into northern Israel and Judah. Shoshenq marched into Judah, sacking a number of towns, and spared Jerusalem from a similar fate when the king fished out treasures to bribe him to leave. Shoshenq returned to Egypt in victory, convinced that Egypt's power remained uncontested. He died prematurely, however, and his successors weren't of the same caliber. Egyptian unification didn't last, and Upper and Lower Egypt split again under the rule of Shoshenq III around 815 BC. A brief civil war lasting two decades erupted in Upper Egypt over who should rule from Thebes, and the traditional ruler won out against the uprising faction. Upper Egypt's troubles weren't over, however, and the king began to lose power as various city-states vied for their own interests.
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| Assyria vs Nubian Egypt |
Though Nubia was now the overlord of her mortal enemies, a bigger threat was rising to the east: Assyria. Egypt's international allies had submitted themselves to Assyria, and it was just a matter of time before Assyria reached Egypt's doorstep. Assyria's war machine made Egypt's look like child's play, and Assyria invaded Egypt in 670 BC. Egypt fought tooth-and-nail against the Assyrians, but in 664 BC Assyria sacked both Thebes and Memphis. The Third Intermediate Period thus came to an end.
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| The Battle of Pelusium in 525 BC |
The Late Period is marked by brief moments of Egyptian independence sandwiched between subjugation to rival empires (first Assyria, then Persia, and finally the Greeks). The Assyrians ruled Egypt by proxy, placing vassal kings over their newly-won territory. Assyrian rule of Egypt didn't last long, however: Assyrian rule was weakened by revolts and civil war over who would sit on its throne. The Egyptian vassal threw off his ties to the Assyrians, forged an alliance with the king of Lydia, and recruited Greek mercenaries to resist Assyrian attacks. Assyria was falling apart at the seams, and after the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC, Egypt was free to try and reassert itself on the world stage. Egypt tried to regain control in the Near East, but the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II put a stop to their efforts. Babylonia marched against Egypt, but Egypt was able to resist with the help of Greek mercenaries. Having expelled the Assyrians and beaten back the Babylonians, Egypt's victories in the Late Period were off-set by the Persians, who--under Cambyses II--brought Egypt to its knees at the Battle of Pelusium in 525 BC. 50,000 Egyptians fell with the Persians suffering only 7000 casualties. Egypt was brought low, Cambyses executed the Egyptian king (Psamtik III), and Egypt was annexed as a province of Persia.
The Persian Empire turned Egypt into a sapatry (or province), but the Egyptian people weren't keen to submit. Around 411 BC, King Amyrtaeus revolted against King Darius of Persia, leading a guerrilla war against the Persian overlords. When Darius died in 404 BC, Amyrtaeus proclaimed himself king of an independent Egypt. King Artaxerxes II of Persia organized an army in Phoenicia to reassert Persian rule, but drama at home with his brother Cyrus the Younger kept his army from marching out. Amyrtaeus' defeat would come from much closer to home: in 399 BC a man by the name of Nepherites rose up against Amyrtaeus, defeated him in open battle, and had him put to death to secure the Egyptian throne. Nepherites I was the first in a line of rival claimants to the throne, and this political instability opened the door for a Persian reconquest. Though Egypt prospered under Nectanebo II (the last independent Egyptian king for 2300 years!), Nectanebo II was betrayed by his former servant and defeated by a combined force of Persians and Greeks in the Second Battle of Pelusium (fought in 343 BC). Outnumbered 3:1, Nectanebo II didn't stand a chance. The Persians sacked Memphis and seized the rest of Egypt, and Nectanebo II fled into obscurity.
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| Alexander Hailed as Liberator In Front of the Sphinx |
Egypt had thrown off the Persian yoke once and had fallen under it yet again. But, as before, Persian dominance wouldn't last. In the time-span of two decades, an infamous Macedonian warlord known as Alexander the Great would turn the Near East upside-down. Alexander and his Greek armies invaded the Persian Empire in 334 BC, and following the conquest of Asia Minor he crippled the Persians in a series of battles, most notable of all those of Issus and Gaugamela. He overthrew the Persian king Darius III and took control of Persia and all her possessions, including Egypt. Though Egypt didn't gain independence, the Egyptians nevertheless hailed Alexander and his army as liberators, so deep was their hatred for all things Persia. Alexander founded the Egyptian city of Alexandria (named after himself) in 331 BC on the Mediterranean coast, and this city would house the famous Library of Alexandria (built in the 3rd century BC) and is now the second largest city in Egypt. When Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, his expansive empire was divided among his top-tier generals known as the Diadochi. These divisions weren't settled in diplomatic fashion but with the sword, and when the dust settled four major "empires" had been forged: the Antigonid Kingdom in Greece, the Seleucid Empire in modern Syria, the Attalid Kingdom in modern Turkey, and the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt.
THE PTOLEMAIC PERIOD: 323 - 30 BC
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| Ancient Alexandria in the 3rd Century BC |
