It is said even the longest journey begins with a single step. Over five thousand years ago, North African nomads took that first step and then many steps as they traveled to the fertile land of the Nile and began to build a great civilization. They would become deeply rooted to the land along the river and build massive pyramids, elaborate tombs, and the mighty Sphinx. Their rule of the land, known to them as Kemets but to us as Egypt, lasted so long that it leaves historical echoes and reminders even today.
Read on to explore the history of Egypt from its predynastic era to the end of the Bronze Age. You can learn even more about the history, religion, and culture of ancient Egypt from the library's collection:
Books and streaming videos about the history, culture, religion, and art of ancient Egypt.
An Island in the Desert: The Predynastic Period
To understand the formation of this unique civilization, we must first learn about the Sahara and the geography of North Africa. Thousands of years ago, North Africa was not a desert, but instead a landscape covered in greenery. From about 11,000 , opens a new windowto 5,000 years ago, North Africa had lakes, forests, and savannahs, much like sub-Saharan Africa of today. This Green Sahara period, opens a new window, which was produced by slight shifts in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, coincided with a population expansion of humans across North Africa. The people of the Green Sahara hunted, opens a new window animals, such as giraffes and elephants; herded sheep and goats; and built boats, opens a new window. As the Earth’s orbit, opens a new window around the Sun shifted to its present path, precipitation declined, and the land became dry. Eventually, the desertification of the Sahara became so severe that people fled to the land near the Nile River.
Fertile Kemet & Desert Deshret: "Black Land" & "Red Land"
The Nile would become central to the lives and cultures of those tribes that fled the once-green Sahara. The history of Predynastic Egypt, opens a new window began at roughly 5,000 BC, when the land near the river began to become heavily populated and shaped by human settlement. The settlers called the Nile Iteru (“river”), and the fertile land on both sides of the river Kemet (“black land”). Kemet was near-ideal soil for growing all manner of crops because of yearly inundation , opens a new windowfrom its two tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile, opens a new window is the tributary of Upper Egypt (actually the southern part of the Nile), and the Blue Nile, opens a new window is the tributary of Lower Egypt (the northern part). Though the beginning point of the Nile is the White Nile, the Blue Nile actually contributes most of the water; much of the White Nile’s water carries light-colored clay, opens a new window, giving it a lighter coloration.
Beyond the Nile’s floodplain and the Nile Delta, opens a new window, where the river empties into the Mediterranean, the landscape of Egypt is an inhospitable desert. The Egyptians called this land Deshret, opens a new window (“red land”). Deshret could not support farming or human habitation, but the dry landscape was excellent for preservation. Deshret came to be seen as a place for the dead, as Kemet was the place of the living, and the desert was where the Egyptians chose to build their tombs and monuments.
Deshret effectively made Egypt an island on the land, being so inhospitable that it could not support large populations living beyond Kemet, and also made it difficult for an attacking army to obtain provisions during wartime. The geography of the area protected Egypt from invasion and provided it rich farmland, allowing it to maintain its cultural traditions for millennia.
Upper and Lower Egypt
Over the centuries, settlements on the Nile eventually grew into cities, with distinct rulers, cult centers, and military forces. Villages and small settlements fell under the control of large cities, and Upper and Lower Egypt eventually became organized into separate kingdoms. Early attempts to unify the Two Lands seem to have begun around 3,300-3,200 BC, although information from this time is very fragmentary. A man who may have made an early attempt at unifying Egypt was Scorpion I, opens a new window, who ruled from the Upper Egyptian city of Thinis, opens a new window. He is believed to have conquered the land of Naqada, opens a new window in a great battle and became the sole ruler of Upper Egypt. The Hedjet, opens a new window (white crown) became solely associated with the one king of Upper Egypt following Scorpion I’s victory. The earliest known hieroglyphics, opens a new window in Egypt appear in Scorpion I’s tomb, making it feasible that writing developed as a means of keeping track of the property and lands of his kingdom. His tomb also features the earliest known wine, opens a new window in Egypt, although it was imported, and Egyptian vineyards had not been established yet.
The Two Lands Become Unified Under Narmer
The ruler who truly unified the Two Lands is generally believed to be Narmer, opens a new window, a later king of Upper Egypt. A number of important historical discoveries are dated to the reign of Narmer, including the world’s first large brewery,, opens a new window and the Narmer Palette, opens a new window, a stone palette depicting Narmer’s conquest of Lower Egypt. Narmer’s unification of Egypt is generally believed to have not been through a peaceful union, but by a military conquest. The imagery on the front side of the Narmer Palette depicts Narmer wearing the Hedjet and wielding a mace in his raised right hand while holding the head of a defeated foe in his left hand. The rear side of the Narmer Palette shows Narmer in a military procession, walking behind his sandal-bearer, opens a new window and four men wearing standards. On the rear side, Narmer wears the Deshret, opens a new window (red crown) associated with the ruler of Lower Egypt, indicating his status as the ruler of the Two Lands. Narmer’s appearance is otherwise consistent on both sides: shown in side profile, standing erect, and drawn at a much larger scale than any other person in the picture.
This idealized depiction of the pharaoh as being taller and stronger than any other man would remain standardized in Egyptian art for hundreds of years. Narmer continued his expansion after the conquest of Lower Egypt and progressed all the way to southern Canaan, opens a new window,* where he established colonies, trading posts, and military fortifications. As the first king of Egypt’s First Dynasty, Narmer’s reign marked the dawn of an Egyptian central state and pharaonic control over Egypt.
The Time of the Pyramids: Old Kingdom Egypt
Power and control over the Two Lands brought the pharaoh an exalted status beyond any prior ruler. The living pharaoh became seen as a god, and his death was seen as a transition towards another existence rather than the end of a life. The pharaoh’s body was not buried in the ground as were prior rulers, but preserved inside a monument. Before the perfectly formed pyramids of popular imagination, the Egyptians built mastabas in the Early Dynastic Period, opens a new window (First and Second Dynasties). A mastaba, opens a new window is a large tomb roughly in the shape of a flat-topped bench that was built from bricks. Though the bricks were shaped from Nile mud, they needed to be moved into the Red Land of the desert in order to build the structure in a place optimal for preservation.
By the Third Dynasty, the pharaohs had grown more ambitious and wanted even greater tombs. The pharaoh Djoser, opens a new window was not satisfied with the mastaba form, and ordered a new type of tomb constructed that was effectively a series of square shapes stacked on top of each other. Imhotep, opens a new window, Djoser’s architect, designed a structure made not from mud brick, but from limestone. Because the limestone was much heavier than mud bricks, the workers needed ramps, opens a new window and rollers to transport the stone to the construction site. Oxen were also used to help haul the stone over long distances, although there is no evidence oxen hauled stone up the pyramid ramps used to position the stone. About halfway through construction, the original shape of the structure (which resembled the earlier mastabas) was altered into a pyramid shape with the addition of larger limestone bricks. When it was finished, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, opens a new window stood 62.6 meters high. Built at Saqqara, opens a new window, the Step Pyramid inspired all future Old Kingdom pharaohs to build their monuments in Lower Egypt as well.
Thirsty Work
Building a stone monument was strenuous and dangerous work. Those who worked on the construction of the pyramids were provided not only food, but beer,, opens a new window as well, to bolster their morale. The beer of the Egyptians (bouza) had several important differences from popular beer today. The beer of Kemet did not use hops; hops were only incorporated into beer from the 9th century AD, opens a new window onwards. Egyptians brewed their beer in large ceramic urns and did not decant their beer from them, so beer drinkers had to gather around the urns and use drinking straws. Straws, opens a new window were typically made from reeds or clay. Egyptian beer was made from bread, opens a new window and barley and used a variety of fruits and herbs for flavoring, especially dates, opens a new window. The taste, opens a new window of the beer was likely tangier and sweeter than the popular beer of today.
Quest for a More Perfect Pyramid
Lithic (stone) construction technology became more advanced as the Old Kingdom continued. The pharaohs and their architects sought a more perfect pyramidal shape, with angular sides and a peak like a sharp mountain. The False Pyramid, opens a new window of Meidum was an early attempt at building the “perfect” pyramid. Built during the end of the Third Dynasty and the beginning of the Fourth, the False Pyramid was designed to have sloped sides, but its outer layer was made of sand, and its inner step pyramid was not properly formed. These design flaws caused its collapse. The first true “perfect” pyramid was the Red Pyramid, opens a new window of Dahshur. Constructed during the reign of Sneferu, opens a new window (also read as Snefru or Snofru) during the Fourth Dynasty, the Red Pyramid was built with a 43-degree slope rather than the 54-degree slope of the False Pyramid. This made the structure much more stable than the False Pyramid and paved the way for the later pyramids of the Fourth Dynasty.
Three Pyramids and the Sphinx
The greatest feat of Egyptian architecture during the Old Kingdom was the construction of the Giza Complex, opens a new window. All the structures of the Giza Complex were completed between 2,600 and 2,500 BC, a time that was the peak of Egypt’s prosperity and organization during the Old Kingdom.
The largest of the three pyramids at Giza is the Great Pyramid,, opens a new window which is actually the oldest. The Great Pyramid was about 146.5 meters high, compared to the Red Pyramid’s 105 meters, although erosion has reduced it to about 138 meters. The Great Pyramid’s sides are at 51.5 degree angles, making it appear even taller than the Red Pyramid. It served as the tomb of Khufu,, opens a new window also known by his Greek name, Cheops.
The Pyramid of Khafre, opens a new window, dedicated to Khufu’s successor, appears taller at first glance because its limestone peak was preserved, and it is on higher ground than the Great Pyramid. It is about 136 meters high currently, and it has a 53-degree slope, making it virtually as steep as the intended angle of the False Pyramid.
The Great Sphinx, opens a new window was most likely a tribute to Khafre, as well. It was not assembled from multiple stones like the pyramids, but carved from a monolith, opens a new window (single rock) and chiseled into the shape of a lion with a pharaoh’s head. Residues of pigment suggest the Sphinx was once painted, with a bright red head and a yellow and blue body.
The Pyramid of Menkaure, opens a new window, the smallest of the three pyramids, was the last to be completed. It is currently about 61 meters*, opens a new window tall. Menkaure’s pyramid is noted for its elaborate interior temple, opens a new window, where a cult for the dead pharaoh paid their respects for two centuries after his death.
Broken, Then Restored: Egypt of the Middle Kingdom
Though the time of the pyramids was over at the end of the Fourth Dynasty, the Old Kingdom continued on for hundreds of years afterwards. The central authority of the pharaoh only truly began to decline during the Sixth Dynasty, as priesthoods and court officials began to take increasing amounts of power. The god Re, opens a new window (also spelled Ra) was increasingly treated as a “high god” above the hundreds, opens a new window of other deities the Egyptians worshipped, and even pharaohs (who were considered to be living gods) frequently had praise of Re incorporated into their names. The true origin of the Old Kingdom was forgotten, replaced with a mythic story, opens a new window of Re reigning as the First Pharaoh of Kemet, then retiring to the sky and journeying across on his solar boat each day. Set, opens a new window (also called Sutehk) protected Re on the solar boat each day, warding off the night-serpent Apophis so that the sun could return each morning.
By 2181 BC, the power of the pharaohs over Kemet had diminished to the point that the “Lord of the Two Lands” was in name only. A line of kings still ruled from the Old Kingdom’s capital Memphis, opens a new window for a time, but they were later conquered by kings from Heracleopolis, opens a new window, another city in Lower Egypt. This was Egypt’s First Intermediate Period, opens a new window, and reliable records, monuments, and historical artifacts from this time are quite scarce.
Time of the Warlords
Eventually the rulers of Heracleopolis lost control of Upper Egypt, and the regional governors there became powerful warlords. As the warlords of Upper Egypt battled for control, the most successful of them developed greater ambitions, especially Intef the Elder, opens a new window, governor of Thebes. Though Intef’s memorials do not grant him the title of “pharaoh," he effectively organized the area around Thebes into an independent government, which his successors expanded by military conquest. The most successful of Intef’s descendants was Mentuhotep II, opens a new window, who defeated the kings of Heracleopolis and reunified Kemet in 2060 BC, beginning the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.
A Change in Beliefs
The events of the First Intermediate Period left a major mark on the religion of the Middle Kingdom. Because the concept of a central pharaoh had been greatly undermined during Egypt’s civil war, a much wider group of people became interested in the religious power and mysteries once reserved for the royal family. The secretive Pyramid Texts, opens a new window of the Old Kingdom pharaohs gave rise to the much more commonly used Coffin Texts, opens a new window of the Middle Kingdom. Coffin Texts were illustrated, opens a new window and painted on to the sides of a coffin, and were a series of spells and prayers to allow a person’s soul entrance to the afterlife. Unlike the earlier Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts were available to any Egyptian who could afford a decent funeral and coffin. A blessed afterlife was no longer the sole privilege of kings!
Though the lineage of pharaohs lost their sole claim on the afterlife, their importance to the religion and culture of Kemet remained strong in the Middle Kingdom. The green-skinned god Osiris, opens a new window, once associated solely with the dead pharaoh, became the lord of all who had perished. Anyone who died but had lived a good life could journey across the Duat, opens a new window to eventually find their loved ones dwelling with Osiris in the Field of Reeds, opens a new window (Aaru) and experience a joyous reunion. Since Osiris still represented the dead pharaoh, it was strongly implied that, to live a “good life,” a person would have to have good relations with the state in general and the pharaoh in particular. Those who were judged by Osiris and found wanting could never enter the afterlife with their loved ones, ensuring that the living pharaoh remained revered as a religious figure.
Unlike the monuments of the Old Kingdom, those of the Middle Kingdom largely did not stand the test of time. Some of the Middle Kingdom pharaohs continued to build pyramids, but with notable differences in construction techniques. The pyramids of the Middle Kingdom mostly had mud-brick, opens a new window cores rather than the stone cores of Old Kingdom pyramids. This made construction cheaper, but created a pyramid that was far less stable. Some, such as the pyramid of Senusret II, opens a new window, became very weathered once their outer layer of limestone was removed. Many of the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom look more like mounds or hills than the perfect triangles of the Giza pyramids.
Pharaoh Senusret III, a Warrior-King
Egypt prospered and expanded its power for hundreds of years in the Middle Kingdom. The most accomplished of all Middle Kingdom pharaohs may have been Senusret III, opens a new window, who reigned from 1878 to 1839 BC in the Twelfth Dynasty. One of Egypt’s greatest conqueror-kings, opens a new window, he launched campaigns south into Nubia and north into Canaan, building forts to secure his new territories.
Senusret III is noted for the unique art style of many of his portrayals. Unlike pharaohs before him, who were usually depicted with idealized youth, Senusret III was often depicted with a furrowed brow, opens a new window and an expressive face, opens a new window, suggesting a king weathered by duties of his rule.
He also excelled at construction and civil administration. He built a canal at Elephantine, opens a new window to make travel on the Nile more efficient and succeeded in breaking the power of Egypt’s regional governors, making his rule a time of economic growth and urban prosperity. For his many achievements, Senusret III was one of the few pharaohs worshipped during his lifetime, opens a new window, and his cult persisted 300 years after his death.
The Ill-Starred Thirteenth Dynasty and the Rise of the Hyksos
After the Twelfth Dynasty, disorder began to return to Kemet. The kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, opens a new window left poor records and had short reigns, suggesting the country was becoming destabilized and divided. Eventually, Lower Egypt seceded from the rule of the pharaohs at around 1638 BC, opens a new window. Lower Egypt’s new rulers were called the Hyksos (“rulers of foreign lands”) by the Egyptians and were presented as a barbarian invasion by Egyptian historians. Recent discoveries, opens a new window suggest the Hyksos had actually immigrated to Lower Egypt peacefully over three centuries earlier and had an uprising during a time of disorder. After their revolt, the Hyksos ruled Lower Egypt from the city of Avaris, opens a new window. Egypt was divided once more, and the Second Intermediate Period had begun.
Egypt’s Last Golden Age: The New Kingdom
Through diplomacy and warfare, the Hyksos attempted to expand southward. They brought with them new technologies from the Levant and new ways of warfare. It was they who introduced the chariot, opens a new window and horses to Egypt; before them, Egyptian armies had to rely on donkey-pulled carts in war. Unlike Egyptian soldiers, who favored a spear and shield, the Hyksos warriors used an axe, opens a new window with a unique, duckbill-shaped head. They also did not build temples to the old gods of Egypt, but instead worshipped a Canaanite storm god.
The primary enemies of the Hyksos were a series of native Egyptian kings who ruled from Thebes, opens a new window in Upper Egypt. The Hyksos and native Egyptians fought a nearly century-long civil war. Eventually, the Theban forces under Ahmose I, opens a new window succeeded in capturing Memphis and driving the Hyksos out of Egypt. The Egyptians would co-opt many Hyksos technologies, especially the chariot and battle axe, for military use during the New Kingdom, opens a new window era that followed.
The reign of the Hyksos also forever changed Egyptian religion. The storm god of the Canaanites became conflated with Set, the Egyptian god of storms. No longer was Set the noble protector of Upper Egypt and guardian of Re’s solar boat. Set was recast in the role of a god of foreigners, opens a new window and the one who first brought murder to Kemet when he slew Osiris.
Hidden Tombs in the Valley of the Kings
The pharaohs of the New Kingdom did not build pyramids. These monuments were expensive, difficult to maintain (especially with the mud-brick cores used in the Middle Kingdom) and were often targeted by tomb raiders. The New Kingdom pharaohs instead chose to build hidden tombs in the Valley of the Kings, opens a new window, across the Nile from Thebes.
The mountain known today as “Al Qurn, opens a new window” (“the horn” in Arabic) towers over the Valley, its pyramidal shape preserving the sacred symbolism of the place. Over 80 people, opens a new window were buried in the Valley, not all of whom were pharaohs. In the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, members of the royal household and certain important court officials were buried there, as well.
A Female Pharaoh Rules Alongside Her Son
One of the most notable and unique pharaohs of the New Kingdom was Hatshepsut, opens a new window of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Female rulers were extremely rare in Egyptian history because the usual path of succession to the throne was to make the pharaoh’s eldest son, opens a new window the heir. Since pharaohs typically had multiple wives, most pharaohs had a surplus of male children to inherit their throne, if needed. Hatshepsut was originally the Great Royal Wife of Thutmose II, opens a new window, but he died at roughly the age of 30.
His oldest son, Thutmose III, opens a new window, was not yet old enough to rule on his own, so Hatshepsut became the regent, opens a new window in charge of Egypt as he grew to maturity. By the seventh year of her regency, she declared herself pharaoh, opens a new window, claiming she had been uniquely blessed by the gods to rule Kemet. This act did not break the path of succession for Thutmose III, who was co-pharaoh with Hatshepsut for her entire reign, beginning in 1479 BC.
They were a formidable pair, with Thutmose III embarking on dozens of successful military campaigns,, opens a new window while Hatshepsut focused on building massive temples, opens a new window and monuments and restoring Egypt’s trade networks. Hatshepsut died about 22 years into Thutmose III’s reign, leaving him as sole pharaoh.
Statues, opens a new window and artwork of Hatshepsut often depict her wearing male clothing, and she performed religious rites typically reserved for men at temples, reflecting her unique status as the highest authority in a patriarchal society. Sadly, many of Hatshepsut’s monuments, opens a new window and records were vandalized towards the end of Thutmose III’s reign in an attempt to erase her from the historical record. New discoveries, opens a new window from the reign of Hatshepsut continue to be made, including blocks and tools from her mortuary temple.
Aten: One God Raised Above the Others
Akhenaten, opens a new window of the Eighteenth Dynasty was perhaps an even more unconventional ruler than Hatshepsut. For millenia, the cults of pharaohs existed alongside dozens of priesthoods and thousands of gods, with temples spanning all of Kemet. Born Amenhotep IV, Akhenaten changed his name in the 5th year of his reign, reflecting his interest in a new religious order he began to create.
For much of Egyptian history, the Aten, opens a new window was typically represented as a solar disc above Re’s head and was a much less significant god than Re himself. Akhenaten chose to worship only the Aten disc and declared all other gods unworthy of worship, changing the Egyptian state religion to Atenism, opens a new window. He even created a new capital city at Amarna, opens a new window to serve as his temple complex and a new art style, opens a new window to represent his royal household that was different from all other Egyptian art.
His Great Royal Wife, Nefertiti, opens a new window, also had an important role in the Aten religion and was often represented in artwork worshipping the sun with her arms raised. The Aten religion was later abolished by Akhenaten’s son, Tutankhamun,, opens a new window* before the Eighteenth Dynasty ended.
Ramesses the Great Versus the Hittites
The Nineteenth Dynasty was the peak of Egypt’s power in the New Kingdom, and Ramesses II, opens a new window (also known as Ramses II) was its most powerful pharaoh. Akhenaten’s line of Amarna pharaohs had been inward looking and interested mostly in religion, and Egypt’s power abroad had declined. Ramesses II reversed this with military campaigns far into the Levant, up to the borders of the rival Hittite Empire, opens a new window. Artwork from the time of Ramesses II often depicts the Battle of Kadesh, opens a new window, a massive battle between the armies of Egypt and the Hittites in which both forces had 2,000 chariots and over 10,000 infantry.
Though Ramesses II did not actually conquer Kadesh, he did commission the creation of many stone tablets and monuments, opens a new window hailing his victory and showing him slaying many foes. After the Battle of Kadesh, he signed the world’s oldest known peace treaty, opens a new window with the Hittites, allowing him to profit off his conquests of Palestine and Syria without fear of attack.
The wealth from his victories allowed him to finance a construction boom to rival the time of the pyramids, and he built massive temples, opens a new window all over Egypt, with tales of his feats cut into stone so deeply they could not be erased. He died in 1213 BC at the age of 90, and his life was so legendary that he is still called “Ramesses the Great” in the present day.
Ancient Egypt’s Last Glory: The Bronze Age Collapse
Though the reign of Ramesses the Great was long and prosperous, the peace and wealth it brought did not last forever. The stable world of late Bronze Age empires was about to come to a chaotic collapse in Egypt’s Twentieth Dynasty. Records of what actually caused the Bronze Age Collapse, opens a new window are fragmentary and often debated among historians. What is known is that the late Bronze Age featured large cities; long-distance trade, opens a new window of precious metals, such as copper; and writing systems and priesthoods in many cultures.
At some point between 1250 and 1150 BC, the trade system collapsed, urban centers declined, and marauders appeared in the Mediterranean Sea. Who would save Egypt from the wrath of the Sea Peoples?
The Invasions: Libyans, Sea Peoples
The reign of Ramesses III, opens a new window was defined by his attempts to keep Egypt from falling into the disorder that plagued other world powers of the time during the collapse. He became pharaoh in 1186 BC, and his first opponents were a coalition of Libyan tribes who attacked in year five of his reign. They were soundly defeated, but they were only a prelude to the Sea Peoples, opens a new window, who began their invasion in year eight of his reign.
The Sea Peoples launched a two-pronged invasion of Egypt, attacking by a land route through the Levant and sending a fleet of ships to seize the Nile Delta. Ramesses III set up a defensive line at the southern border of Palestine and sent most of his navy to defend the mouth of the Nile Delta. The first battle fought was the land battle, known as the Battle of Djahy, opens a new window.
The Egyptians were well prepared and deployed their best charioteers to crush the advancing forces of the Sea Peoples. Then, the Egyptians fought the enemy navy at the Battle of the Delta, opens a new window. They were able to lure the ships of the Sea Peoples close to shore, into range of hundreds of Egyptian archers. The ships that attempted to flee were rammed by the Egyptian navy, their crews slain by ruthless Egyptian boarding parties.
Ramesses III had succeeded where the Hittities, Mycenean Greeks, and other Bronze Age civilizations had all failed. The Egyptians alone had stemmed the tide of the Sea Peoples, ensuring the language and culture of Kemet would not be lost. But many lives had been lost in the battles, and much of Egypt’s treasury, opens a new window had been spent in the massive mobilization of its army.
The later years of Ramesses III’s reign were marred by economic strife. During the construction of his tomb, opens a new window, the workers were so poorly paid that they went on the first strike, opens a new window in recorded history! Ramesses III did not enjoy a peaceful end to his reign. He was assassinated in the 32nd year of his reign, falling victim to the “harem conspiracy” launched by Tiye, opens a new window, one of his secondary wives. Though Tiye’s scheme did not succeed in getting her son to replace Ramesses IV as chosen successor, it did end the life of Egypt’s last great warrior king.
Rediscovering a Lost Age: Ancient Egyptian Artifacts
Ancient Egypt survived as a proud and distinct culture, but would never again be an empire with the military might of the ancient pharaohs. As the centuries rolled on, it was dominated by foreign rulers, including the Persian Empire, Alexander and his successors, and the Romans. During the 1st century AD, Christianity, opens a new window came to Egypt, eventually driving out the old religion and ending the last legacy of the pharaohs. Many of the pharaohs’ tombs were raided, opens a new window long before the coming of the new faith, and cultural artifacts and historical memories were lost forever.
But from the 18th century onward, a new interest in ancient Egypt took root in societies across the globe. It was Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt (1798-1801) that found the Rosetta Stone, opens a new window, the obelisk that allowed modern societies to read Egyptian writing. The Rosetta Stone dated from the time of the Ptolemaic, opens a new window pharaohs, who were successors of Alexander and spoke Greek as well as Egyptian. Because the same text on the stone was written in Greek, Demotic (the “commoner” script of Egypt, and hieroglyphics, scholars were able to decipher the royal names in the text. The French scholar Jean-François Champollion, opens a new window discovered in 1822 how the hieroglyphs rendered both the sounds of ancient Egyptian speech and ideas, allowing people to finally read hieroglyphics once more!
From the early 20th century to the present day, exciting new discoveries have continued to be made dating to the time of the pharaohs. Although Tutankhamun had not been a long-lived and well-remembered pharaoh in his time, his tomb would inspire interest in Egyptology for generations. When British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb, opens a new window in 1922, he found an amazing set of artifacts, ranging from wooden figures and gilded furniture to a golden sarcophagus with a fully intact mummy. The “Curse of Tutankhamun," a superstition that developed because of the death of Carter’s benefactor Lord Carnavon after the tomb’s discovery, inspired the 1932 film The Mummy, opens a new window. The mummy makeup Boris Karloff wore in the film strongly resembled the mummy of Ramesses III, opens a new window.
New tombs continue to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings. In 2025, the burial chamber of Thutmose II, opens a new window, Hatshepsut’s husband, was discovered, as well as a mysterious tomb, opens a new window from the Second Intermediate Period. To see ancient Egyptian artifacts near you, visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, opens a new window (VMFA) and the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History, opens a new window in Washington, D.C., and go to their ancient Egyptian galleries, opens a new window. Both the Smithsonian's museums and the VMFA's general collections are free for the public to visit!
Links to articles marked with an asterisk (*) are available in full text via the JSTOR, opens a new window online resource, which may be accessed with your CRRL card., opens a new window
For more information on the world of millennia past, visit any library branch, opens a new window and take a look at the nonfiction collection.
(Hint: You will discover a significant amount of relevant material beginning at the call number 932. You can also browse this range of adult-level books online., opens a new window)
