The pharaohs may have believed that it was their links with the gods that kept Egypt going, but really it was the hard work of the ordinary people. It was they who dug the soil, worked in the mines and quarries, sailed the boats on the river Nile, marched with the army into Syria [...]

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Yesterday, I wrote the following:
I need to be productive and feel that what I’m doing is a worthy past-time. I need to write.
Therefore, starting tomorrow I am going to make an effort and return to Cat’s Eyes and see if I can lose myself in a fantasy world of my own creation.
Tonight, I kept to [...]

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…Upper Egypt is actually the southern part of Egypt.
…that papyrus is a tall reedy plant that grows in the river Nile. It is used for making paper.
…that canopic jars are made of pottery and are used to hold the lungs, liver, intestines and stomach of a dead person.
…that concubine is a term applied in [...]

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Skilled workers formed a middle class between the poor labourers and the rich officials and nobles. Wall paintings and models show us craft workers carving stone and wood, making pottery, or working precious metals. There were boat builders, and chariot makers, too.
Artists and craft workers could be well rewarded for their skills, and [...]

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For many years the Great Pyramid at Giza was the largest building in the world. Its base is about 230m square, and its original point was 147m high. It is made up of about 2,3000,000 massive blocks of stone, each one weighing about 2.5 tonnes. It was the oldest of the seven [...]

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The word pharaoh comes from the Egyptian per-aa, which meant great house of palace. It later came to mean the man who lived in the palace, the ruler. Pictures and statues show pharaohs with special badges of royalty, such as crowns, headcloths, false beards, screptres and a crook and flail held in each [...]

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The story of ancient Egypt began about 8,000 years ago when farmers started to plant crops and raise animals in the Nile Valley. By about 3400BC the Egyptians were building walled towns. Soon after that the northern part of the country (Lower Egypt) was united with the lands upstream (Upper Egypt) to form [...]

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In 1550BC, the capital of Egypt moved south to Thebes. This marked the beginning of the New Kingdom. The ancient Egyptians no longer built pyramids as they were obvious targets for tomb robbers. The people still raised great temples to honour their dead rulers, but now the pharaohs were buried in secret [...]

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When they were on campaign, Egyptian soldiers made camp every night. Workers piled up a mound of earth and planted shields on top to form a defensive wall. This protected the troops within from all but the most determined attack. Behind the wall, troops erected tents in neat rows with the king’s [...]

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New Kingdom infantry contained three kinds of soldiers. The elite troops were the “Braves” - the commandos of the day. Few in number, they undertook the most dangerous assignments. The bulk of the army were the “Veterans”, seasoned troops who formed the front ranks in battle. Then there were the “Recruits”, [...]

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