Egyptian History

Ancient Egypt lasted for over three thousand years, and during this time the Ancient Egyptians changed many things in how they lived. However, there were still many things the Ancient Egyptians kept the same.

 
The Stone Age
The Ancient Egyptian civilisations started with Stone Age Egypt around 10,000 B.C. and finished around 2,686 B.C. (when the Old Kingdom started). The main event in the Stone Age was when Egypt became over-populated, and consequently many Egyptians having to grow their own food instead of only hunting and gathering it. It is likely that they already knew how to grow crops and food from seeds but they found it a lot easier to hunt and gather it. The reason they were forced to grow their own crops was that, with all the people living in Egypt, more houses were built. Consequently, the wild food did not grow in those places anymore.

The Old Kingdom

After the Stone Age a new civilisation arose which is called the Old Kingdom which started around 2,686 B.C. and ended 2,160 B.C. During that time the Pharaohs formed a system which would allow people use of the Nile for their crops so they would not starve. This allowed more people to live in Egypt because there was a greater abundance of food.

Pharaohs of this time also practiced human sacrifices. In addition to Egypt another major civilisation existed in North-West Africa called Sumer.

The last Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom was Pepy II, although Pepy was only at the age of six when he became Pharaoh, so his mother, Ankhesenpepi II advised Pepy. Consequently it was basically her who governed Egypt. However, later on when Pepy II lost his mother others started to take over parts of Egypt and rule it themselves.

The First Intermediate Period

Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, there were many people rioting because they thought that the Pharaoh was too powerful. The majority of the people who were rioting were rich. The Pharaohs turned would look for advice from their officials, and these men consequently became quite powerful. In some parts of Egypt law and order disappeared creating a time of chaos, where siblings would kill siblings, and buildings of importance were destroyed.

The Middle Kingdom

The Middle Kingdom started around 2,040 B.C. and ended around 1,633 B.C. Approximately 2,000 B.C. Lower Egypt (north) and Upper Egypt (south) were brought together in peace after many battles by the ruler of Upper Egypt. Upper Egypt’s capital was first at Thebes but was then later, after the wars, moved to Memphis. These Pharaohs were not all-powerful God-Kings, they were more like leaders who gave their people a good example of how to live their life. The Egyptians would look up to them. After this the Ancient Egyptians started to take over other places north of Egypt such as Jerusalem, Jericho and Syria.

The Second Intermediate Period

The end of the Middle Kingdom came after an attack from the Hyksos, who subsequently conquered Egypt and  ruled over it, creating the Second Intermediate period. The Hyksos origin is unknown but it  is thought that they came from around Syria and Israel. For the first one hundred years or so the Hyksos ruled over Egypt with no difficulty, however later on from southern Egypt, Egyptian armies arose and retook Egypt once again. This kingdom was called the New Kingdom.

The New Kingdom

After the defeat of the Hyksos, the Egyptians built a civilisation called the New Kingdom. There was a lot of trading between this new Egypt and West Asia. Also during this time Egypt conquered Israel and Syria, however the people were continuously battling against the Hittites and Assyrians, defending their land. In addition, at the time, Egyptian Queens were becoming more and more powerful, subsequently around 1,490 B.C. an Egyptian Queen, called Hatshepsut, became Pharaoh of Egypt herself. She made Egypt better through many trade agreements with African Kingdoms south of Egypt. Later on in the New Kingdom, in 1,363 B.C. another the famous Pharaoh Akhenaten worshipped a different sun God and created new art styles. He also moved the Egyptian capital from Memphis to Amarna. With his wife Nefertiti they had no sons, therefore, Akhenaten had to look towards his son-in-law, Tutankhamen, to become his successor.

Much later in 1,303 B.C. the Egyptian dynasty was taken over by a family of Pharaohs from northern Egypt. The capital of Egypt was moved back to Memphis and the fighting between the Egyptians and the Hittites carried on.

Next, around 1,200 B.C. Egypt was subject to many attacks, first from Libya, but then afterwards from a group of people called the Sea People.

The Third Intermediate Period

The Third Intermediate Period was full of wars and non-stop battling over Egypt. The wars started when the Sea People (made up of – Philistines, Lycians, Achaeans, and maybe Trojans) invaded Egypt, and took it as their own country. Subsequently, Egypt lost control of Israel and Lebanon, which were soon afterwards ruled again by different kings.

Like many other countries Nubia got back it’s independence back. About 715 B.C. a Sudanese king, Piankhy, conquered the Sea People and took over Egypt, resulting in the 25^th dynasty. However, a new group of people came along, called the Assyrians who took over Egypt in 664 B.C. but the Assyrians did not rule Egypt for that long as another group of Libyan kings came and took over Egypt, creating the 26^th dynasty. After, that in 605 B.C. a Babylonian king defeated the Egyptians and took over Israel and Syria. In 525 B.C. a group of West Asian warriors, known as the Persians, finally occupied Egypt.   

Persian Rule

After conquering Egypt the Persians ruled over Egypt, fighting off all threats, until the Egyptians in 404 B.C. took back Egypt for themselves and became and independent country once more. They went through three dynasties which were 28, 29 and 30. To make sure that the Persians wouldn’t take back Egypt they made an alliance with Sparta as long as the Egyptians provided Sparta with wheat. However, this did not go to plan as the Persians cut off Sparta’s supply of wheat by invading the ships containing wheat that crossed over the sea. The Egyptians still managed to fight off the Persians but in 341 B.C. the Egyptians were once again conquered and the Persians ruled Egypt again, but not for long as Alexander then Great, then took over Egypt as part of his campaign to conquer the Persian Empire.

Greek Rule

The Greek Rule was formed by Alexander the Great and his Greek army. It was thought by the Egyptians that he would then leave Egypt to become an independent country once again, however he did not keep his promises. Egypt was under Geek rule until 30 B.C. when Roman Augustus conquered it from the king of Egypt.

Roman Rule

About 50 B.C. Julius Caesar visited Egypt and when he got there Cleopatra implored him to help defeat her husband and brother, Ptolemy. He agreed and, together they defeated Ptolemy, however when Julius left Egypt he left Roman warriors all over Egypt. He also took Cleopatra back to Rome with him as his girlfriend. He was later assassinated in 44 B.C. Afterwards, Cleopatra left Rome and returned to Egypt with another boyfriend of hers, called Mark Anthony. They ruled over Egypt for 14 years. Although, in 30 B.C. they were defeated in a civil war against Julius’ nephew, Augustus.

Egypt was well considered by the Romans as it provided a lot of food and had fertile lands which were good for farming. Between 300-400 A.D. many Egyptians became Christians, however there was some debate on whether you should be an Arian or Catholic Christian.

In 476 A.D. Rome was defeated to the Ostrogoth’s, which changed the Egyptian grain journey as they would be transporting grain to Constantinople instead of Rome. Egypt was part of the Roman Empire until 700 A.D. when the Arabs conquered it.

Islamic Rule

After Egypt was taken over by the Arabs most people in Egypt converted faiths from Christian to Muslim, and spoke Arabic. The capital was moved again from Memphis to Cairo. Egypt became an independent country once more from 1,000 A.D. to 1,300 A.D. by the Shiite Fatimid dynasty. After their reign Egypt cam under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.