Ancient Egyptian history is divided into three large parts, known as the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Smaller parts are known as periods. The pharaohs are ordered into 31 dynasties, or groups. This simplified table lists the dynasties, their approximate dates and the dates that some pharaohs reigned.
All dates are BCE (before [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
For European explorers in the 18th century, it was difficult to make sense of the ancient monuments. They couldn’t tell who had built them, when or why, because they couldn’t read hieroglyphs, the Egyptian picture writing.
Then, in 1798, Britain and France went to war, and fought in Egypt. Napoleon, the French general, took [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
The most common textile in Egypt was linen. It was mostly a spotless white. Dyes such as iron (red), indigo (blue) and saffron (yellow) were sometimes used, but coloured and patterned clothes were usually the mark of a foreigner.
However, the Egyptians did decorate their clothes with beads and beautiful feathers. Wool was [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
Working people in Egypt were often paid in food. They ate bread, onions and salted fish, washed down with a sweet, grainy beer. Flour was often gritty and the teeth of many mummies show signs of severe wear and tear. Dough was kneaded with the feet or by hand, and pastry cooks [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
…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 [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | 2 Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Egyptian | No Comments »
All rights reserved.
Banner and Content © Copyright 2004 - 2008 Scribe’s Writing Desk and Karen Lee Field.
Nothing can be copied and reused elsewhere without written consent from the author.
visitors since 6 April 2002.