Ancient Egypt
                     ANCIENT EGYPT
INTRODUCTION
• Egyptian civilization has flourished continuously since prehistoric times. While the civilization's 
rulers, writing, natural climate, religion and borders have changed many times over the millennia, 
Egypt still exists as a modern-day country. 
Source: www.livescience.com
ANCIENT EGYPT 
• The civilization has always been strongly connected with other parts of the world, bringing in and 
exporting goods, religions, food, people and ideas. 
• At times ancient Egypt ruled territory outside the modern-day country's border, controlling 
territory in what is now Sudan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Palestine. 
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POPULAR ANCIENT NAME 
• A number of names were used for Egypt in ancient times. A popular ancient name for Egypt was 
"Kemet," which means the "black land." 
• Scholars generally believe that this name derives from the fertile soil that is left over when the 
Nile flood recedes in August. 
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FLOODING OF THE NILE 
• The flooding of the Nile occurred between June and August and the fertile soil it created was vital 
to ancient Egypt's survival, with fertility playing an important role in Egyptian religion. 
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ANCIENT RULERS 
• The country's ancient rulers are referred to today as "pharaohs," although in ancient times they 
each used a series of names as part of a royal titular, wrote Ronald Leprohon, an Egyptology 
professor at the University of Toronto, in his book "The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal 
Titulary" (Society of Biblical Literature, 2013). 
Source: www.livescience.com
PREHISTORY
• When exactly early hominids first arrived in Egypt is unclear. The earliest migration of hominids 
out of Africa took place almost 2 million years ago, with modern humans dispersing out of Africa 
about 100,000 years ago. Egypt may have been used to reach Asia in some of these migrations. 
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EGYPT'S 30 DYNASTIES
• Egypt’s history has traditionally been divided into 30 dynasties. This tradition started with the 
Egyptian priest Manetho, who lived during the third century B.C. 
• His accounts of ancient Egyptian history were preserved by ancient Greek writers and, until the 
deciphering of hieroglyphic writing in the 19th century, were one of the few historical accounts 
that scholars could read. 
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RELIGION
• Throughout much of Egypt’s ancient history its people followed a polytheistic religion in which a 
vast number of gods and goddesses were venerated. One of the most important was Osiris, god 
of the underworld.
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EGYPTIAN WRITING
• The earliest inscriptions date back about 5,200 years and were written in a hieroglyphic script. 
• Egyptian language changed over the millennia, with scholars often sub-dividing the surviving 
writings into categories such as "Old Egyptian," "Middle Egyptian" and "Late Egyptian."
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LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT
• Ancient Egypt can be thought of as an oasis in the desert of northeastern Africa, dependent on 
the annual inundation of the Nile River to support its agricultural population. 
• The country’s chief wealth came from the fertile floodplain of the Nile valley, where the river flows 
between bands of limestone hills, and the Nile delta, in which it fans into several branches north 
of present-day Cairo.
Source: www.livescience.com