Egypt was a transcontinental nation located mostly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula lying in Asia.

The Oxyrhynchus papyri are the most numerous group of the earliest copies of the New Testament. They are surviving portions of codices (books) written in Greek language uncial (capital) letters on papyrus (see also Greek alphabet). The first of these were excavated by Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt in Oxyrhynchus Egypt, over the turn of the 20th century. Of the 118 registered New Testament papyri, 44 (37%) are from Oxyrhynchus. The earliest are dated to the middle of the second century, so were copied within a century of the writing of the original New Testament documents.

Grenfell and Hunt discovered the first New Testament papyrus (P1), on only the second day of excavation, in the Winter of 1896-7. This, together with the other early discoveries, was published in 1898, in the first volume of the now 70 volume work, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

It also includes numerous annotations identifying the features shown on the map, the destinations of the wadi routes, the distance between the quarry and mine, the location of gold deposits in the hills, and the sizes of the bekhen-stone blocks quarried. The top of the map is toward the south and the source of the Nile River. As currently reconstructed in the Turin Museum, the map measures 2.8 m long by 0.41 m wide. This arrangement of the map fragments is currently considered incorrect however. A new, more accurate reconstruction was proposed by Harrell and Brown (1992a, 1992b).

Besides being a topographic map of surprisingly modern aspect, the Turin Papyrus is also a geological map (the earliest known) because it accurately shows the local distribution of different rock types (with black and pink hills) and the lithologically diverse wadi gravels (with brown, green and white dots), and it contains information on quarrying and mining. The draughtsman clearly and carefully distributed distinctive features in accordance with the reality of a particular area, adding clarity by the use of legends and contrasting colors. In this respect, the Turin Papyrus may be regarded as the earliest known Geographic Information System.

Ancient Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper and Lower Egypt. The Nile river flows northward from a southerly point to the Mediterranean. The Nile river, around which much of the population of the country clusters, has been the lifeline for Egyptian culture since the Stone Age and Naqada cultures.

The area around the Nile was called Kemet ("the black land", in Ancient Egyptian Kmt, see: Kemetic Reconstructionism), the name for the dark soil deposited by the Nile floodwaters.

Nomadic hunter-gatherers began living along the Nile during the Pleistocene. Traces of these early peoples appear in the form of artifacts and rock carvings along the terraces of the Nile and in the oases.

Many theories have been proposed regarding the origins of early Egyptians, a subject still imbued with controversy today.

Egyptian society was a merging of North and Northeast African as well as Southwest Asian peoples. Modern genetics reveals that the Egyptian population today is characterized by paternal lineages common to North Africans primarily, and to some Near Eastern peoples. Studies based on the maternal lineages closely links modern Egyptians with people from modern Ethiopia. The ancient Egyptians themselves traced their origin to a land they called Punt, or "Ta Nteru" ("Land of the Gods"), which most Egyptologists locate in the area encompassing the Ethiopian Highlands.

A study based on stature and body proportions suggests that Nilotic or tropical body characteristics were also present in some later groups as the Egyptian empire expanded southward.

In c. 450 BC, Herodotus wrote, "the Colchians are Egyptians.. on the fact that they are swarthy (melanchrôs) and wooly-haired (oulothrix)" (Histories Book 2:104). Melanchros was also used by Homer to describe the sunburnt complexion of Odysseus (Od. 16.176).

Modern day professional Egyptologists, anthropologists, and linguists, however, overwhelmingly agree that the term referred to the dark soil of the Nile Valley rather than the people, which contrasted with dSrt or the "red land" of the Sahara desert.

Although analyzing the hair of ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet, mummies from circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anemia and hemolitic disorders

Egyptian culture was remarkably stable and changed little over a period of nearly 3000 years. This includes religion, customs, art expression, architecture and social structure.

The history of ancient Egypt proper starts with Egypt as a unified state, which occurred sometime around 3000 BC. Narmer, who unified Upper and Lower Egypt, was the first pharaoh; though archaeological evidence indicates that a developed Egyptian society existed for a much longer period (see Predynastic Egypt).

Egypt unified as a single state circa 3000 BC. Egyptian chronology involves assigning beginnings and endings to various dynasties beginning around this time. The conventional Egyptian chronology is the accepted developments during the 20th century, but do not include any of the major revision proposals that have also been made in that time. Even within a single work, often archeologists will offer several possible dates or even several whole chronologies as possibilities. Consequently, there may be discrepancies between dates shown here and in articles on particular rulers. Often there are also several possible spellings of the names. Typically, Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's Aegyptaica.

History

Timeline

Predynastic

• 3500 BC: Senet, world's oldest (confirmed) board game
• 3500 BC: Faience, world's earliest known earthenware

Dynastic

• 3300 BC: Bronze works (see Bronze Age)
• 3200 BC: Egyptian hieroglyphs fully developed (see First dynasty of Egypt)
• 3200 BC: Narmer Palette, world's earliest known historical document
• 3100 BC: Decimal system, world's earliest (confirmed) use
• 3100 BC: Wine cellars, world's earliest known
• 3050 BC: Shipbuilding in Abydos
• 3000 BC: Exports from Nile to Canaan and Levant: wine
• 3000 BC: Copper plumbing
• 3000 BC: Papyrus, world's earliest known paper
• 3000 BC: Medical Institutions
• 2900 BC: possible steel: carbon-containing iron
• 2700 BC: Surgery, world's earliest known
• 2700 BC: precision Surveying
• 2700 BC: Uniliteral signs, forming basis of world's earliest known alphabet
• 2600 BC: Sphinx, still today the world's largest single-stone statue
• 2600s–2500 BC: Shipping expeditions: King Sneferu and Pharaoh Sahure.
• 2600 BC: Barge transportation, stone blocks (see Egyptian pyramids: Construction Techniques)
• 2600 BC: Pyramid of Djoser, world's earliest known large-scale stone building
• 2600 BC: Menkaure's Pyramid & Red Pyramid, world's earliest known works of carved granite
• 2600 BC: Red Pyramid, world's earliest known "true" smooth-sided pyramid; solid granite work
• 2580 BC: Great Pyramid of Giza, the world's tallest structure until AD 1300
• 2500 BC: Beekeeping
• 2400 BC: Astronomical Calendar, used even in the Middle Ages for its mathematical regularity
• 2200 BC: Beer Simon, Robinson (September 2006). Lambic Beer Focus. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
• 1860 BC: possible Nile-Red Sea Canal (Twelfth dynasty of Egypt)
• 1800 BC: Alphabet, world's oldest known
• 1800 BC: Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, generalized formula for volume of frustum
• 1650 BC: Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: geometry, cotangent analogue, algebraic equations, arithmetic series, geometric series
• 1600 BC: Edwin Smith papyrus, medical tradition traces as far back as c. 3000 BC
• 1550 BC: Ebers Medical Papyrus, traditional empiricism; world's earliest known documented tumors (see History of medicine)
• 1500 BC: Glass-making, world's earliest known
• 1300 BC: Berlin Mathematical Papyrus, 19th dynasty - 2nd order algebraic equations
• 1258 BC: Peace treaty, world's earliest known (see Ramesses II)Ramses II. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
• 1160 BC: Turin papyrus, world's earliest known geologic and topographic map
• 1000 BC: Petroleum tar used in mummification
• 5th–4th century BC (or perhaps earlier): battle games petteia and seega; possible precursors to Chess

By about 6000 BC, organized agriculture and large building construction had appeared in the Nile Valley. At this time, Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and also constructing large buildings. Mortar (masonry) was in use by 4000 BC. The Predynastic Period continues through this time, variously held to begin with the Naqada culture. Some authorities however place the start of the Predynastic Period earlier, in the Lower Paleolithic.

Between 5500 and 3100 BC, during Egypt's Predynastic Period, small settlements flourished along the Nile. By 3300 BC, just before the first Egyptian dynasty, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper Egypt (Ancient Egyptian: Ta Shemau) and Lower Egypt (Ancient Egyptian: Ta Mehu). The dividing line was drawn roughly in the area of modern Cairo.

The history of ancient Egypt proper starts with Egypt as a unified state, which occurred sometime around 3000 BC. Narmer, who unified Upper and Lower Egypt, was the first king. Egyptian culture was remarkably stable and changed little over a period of nearly 3000 years. This includes religion, customs, art expression, architecture and social structure.

Egyptian chronology, which involves regnal years, began around this time. The conventional Egyptian chronology is the chronology accepted during the 20th century, but it does not include any of the major revision proposals that have also been made in that time. Even within a single work, often archeologists will offer several possible dates or even several whole chronologies as possibilities. Consequently, there may be discrepancies between dates shown here and in articles on particular rulers. Often there are also several possible spellings of the names. Typically, Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's Aegyptaica (History of Egypt).

List of pharaohs:
See Pharaoh

The time of the pharaohs stretches from before 3000 BC to about 30 BC.

Egyptian history is broken into several different periods according to the dynasty of the ruling pharaoh. The dating of events in Egyptian history is still a subject of research. The conservative dates are not supported by any reliable absolute date for a span of about three millennia. The following is the list according to conventional Egyptian chronology.

• Predynastic Period (Prior to 3100 BCE)
• Protodynastic Period (Approximately 3100 - 3000 BC)
• Early Dynastic Period (1st–2nd Dynasties)
• Old Kingdom (3rd–6th Dynasties)
• First Intermediate Period (7th–11th Dynasties)
• Middle Kingdom (12th–13th Dynasties)
• Second Intermediate Period (14th–17th Dynasties)
• New Kingdom (18th–20th Dynasties)
• Third Intermediate Period (21st–25th Dynasties) (also known as the Libyan Period)
• Late Period (26th–31st Dynasties)

Predynastic Period

Ongoing excavation in Egypt continually reshapes scholars' views about the origins of Egyptian civilization. In the late 20th century archaeologists discovered evidence of human habitation before 8000 BC in an area in the southwestern corner of Egypt, near the border with Sudan. Nomadic peoples may have been attracted to this southern area of Egypt because of the hospitable climate and environment. Now exceptionally dry, that area once had grassy plains and temporary lakes that resulted from seasonal rains. Scientific analysis of the remains of their culture indicates that by 6000 BC they were herding cattle and constructing large buildings.

Early Dynastic Period

The unified state seems to have arrived at the same time as the development of writing, the start of large scale construction and the venturing out from the Nile Valley to trade (or perhaps campaign) in Nubia and Syria/Palestine.

Old Kingdom

There are many modern techniques for preserving a body, however, these were not available to the ancient Egyptians (freezing, pickling etc). The only method they were aware of was drying the body out in the hot sand. This left the body looking most un-lifelike, and not a very suitable home for the Ka. The answer came from the Nile.

Once the water had evaporated it left behind a white crystalline substance called natron. The most notable thing about this substance is that it is highly hygroscopic: it will draw and absorb moisture. During the Old Kingdom, Queen Hetepheres' internal organs were removed and placed in a solution of natron (about 3%).

When the box was opened it contained just sludge, which was apparently all that remained of the Queen. Early attempts at mummification were total failures. This was recognized by the embalmers, so they took to preserving the shape of the body. They did this by wrapping the body in resin soaked bandages. They became so good at this that one example from the Fifth Dynasty of a court musician called Waty still holds details of warts, calluses, wrinkles and facial details.

The embalming process took 70 days. A few centuries later came a new technique for mummification. First, the embalmers would wash the inside and outside of the body and fill it with special wine and spice mixtures. They would then take out all the internal organs, removing the brain with a hook through the nose, and stuff the body with a natron salt solution. The heart was left inside the body because the Egyptians believed it was where the person's Ka resided. When this was done they would put all the organs pulled from the body in canopic jars to be buried with the body

They would then leave the body to dry for about 40 days, then wash it out again with wine and spice mixtures. The body would be wrapped in wet bandages and dried. This procedure ensured that the body would not swell, but rather retain its normal shape and size. The embalmers would then put scented oils, perfumes and jewelry on the body, put it in a coffin, and bury it.

Upper and Lower Egypt

It was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyptian states became known as nomes, ruled solely by the pharaoh. Subsequently the former rulers were forced to assume the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection. Ancient Egyptians in this era emphatically believed that their pharaoh could assure the annual flooding of the Nile for their crops. They also perceived themselves as a specially selected people, "as the only true human beings on earth". There is some evidence that around 2675 BC, Egypt started to import timber from Lebanon.

Pyramids

One notable example is the Bent Pyramid—about halfway up it appears that the builders feared they would not be able to maintain the angle they were already building and decided to change it to a less steep angle. This resulted in an odd looking pyramid, whose top sloped in suddenly. The Pharaoh Khufu was also responsible for sending expeditions into Nubia for slaves and anything else of value. It is unlikely that these people would have been used for the building of the monuments, at least not at first, as there would not have been enough of them. One popular and convincing theory is that the peasant farmers of Egypt built all of the temples and monuments during the floods. This is an attractive theory for many reasons.

During the inundation season, the Nile flooded up to the edge of the desert and would have covered all of the farm lands. If there was work to be had building monuments during the inundation season, then the peasant farmers would have had the chance to feed their family. This would also account for how the country had become, and stayed, so stable for several hundred years. Pyramid building continued for some time, in fact there are 80 known pyramid sites; although not all of them are still standing.

The Old Kingdom continued with the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. The last pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty was Pepi II, who was believed to have reigned for 94 years, longer than any monarch in history. He was 6 when he ascended the throne and 100 years old when he died. The latter years of his reign were marked by inefficiency because of Pepi's advanced age. When he died the Old Kingdom collapsed.

First Intermediate Period

Around 2160 BC, a new line of pharaohs tried to reunite Lower Egypt from their capital in Herakleopolis Magna. In the meantime, however, a rival line based in Thebes was reuniting Upper Egypt, and a clash between the two rival dynasties was inevitable.

The pharaohs from Herakleopolis descended from a pharaoh named Akhtoy and the first four pharaohs from Thebes were named Inyotef or Antef.

Middle Kingdom

Amenemhat I moved the capital to North Egypt (Lower Egypt). His son, Senusret I, co-reigned with him until Amenemhat was assassinated. Senusret I was able to take control immediately without the country degenerating into unrest again. Senusret I continued to wage war on Nubia.

In 1878 BC, the Pharaoh Senusret III became king. He continued the military campaigns in Nubia and was the first to try to extend Egypt's power into Syria. Later, Amenemhat III came to power. He is regarded as being the greatest monarch of the Middle Kingdom and did much to benefit Egypt. He ruled for 45 years. During the Middle Kingdom, the next phase in tomb design was the rock-cut tomb. The best examples of these can be seen in the Valley of the Kings. They still had grand temples built in more visible areas. Much of the greater activities done by the Twelfth Dynasty kings took place outside the valley of the Nile. As before, there were many expeditions into Nubia, Syria, and the Eastern Desert, searching for valuable minerals and timber. Also, trade was established with Minoan Crete.

The Thirteenth Dynasty is often considered part of the Middle Kingdom, although the period seems to be a time of confusion and of migration into Lower Egypt by Semitic tribes from Western Asia.

Second Intermediate Period

New Kingdom

Eighteenth Dynasty

A new culture of art was introduced during this time that was more naturalistic and a complete turnabout from the stylised frieze that had ruled Egyptian art for the last 1700 years. Concerning art and Akhenaten, an area of interest to many Egyptologists is the peculiarity of Akhenaten's physical features. Many pharaohs are portrayed in a stylized manner however, Akhenaten is shown in paintings and carvings with unusually feminine features, specifically wide hips and elongated, delicate facial features. Some theories assume that the depiction is accurate and not stylized, suggesting that Akhenaten suffered from birth defects which were common among the royal families.

Towards the end of his 17-year reign, Akhenaten took a co-regent, Smenkhkare, who is sometimes considered to be his brother. Their co-reign lasted only 2 years. When Akhenaten died, worship of the old gods was revived. In truth, their worship had never ended, but had instead gone underground. Smenkhkare died after a few months of sole reign, and in his place was crowned a young boy. He was not ready for the pressure of ruling this great country, and the advisors that surrounded him made the decisions for him. His given name was Tutankhaton, but with the resurgence of Amun, he was re-named Tutankhamun. One of the most influential advisors was General Horemheb. Tutankhamun died while he was still a teenager and was succeeded by Ay, who probably married Tutankhamun's widow to strengthen his claim to the throne. It is possible that Horemheb made Ay a monarch to act as a transitional king until he was ready to take over. In any case, when Ay died, Horemheb became ruler, and a new period of positive rule began. He set about securing internal stability and re-establishing the prestige that the country had before the reign of Akhenaten.

Nineteenth Dynasty

The time frame for the reign of Ramesses II is often believed to have coincided with the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, as Rameses II built his capital Per-Ramses, on the site of Hyksos Avaris, shifting the capital of Egypt to the Delta (the land of Goshen). Others dispute this claim, setting Exodus as an earlier or later event, or disputing whether the Exodus was a historical event at all. There are no records in Egyptian history of any of the events described in the Bible, nor any archaeological evidence. Indeed, even though there are records so detailed as to describe the escape of a pair of minor convicts from Egyptian territory, there is no such record for hundreds of thousands of Israelite slaves. Linguistic studies have drawn certain potential origins for elements of biblical history, although they do conflict substantially with the biblical accounts - for example, records about the Sea Peoples may indicate that the Israelite tribe of Dana and possibly Asher attacked Egypt during the later 19th and early 20th Dynasty, although they also indicate that these tribes were allied with the Philistines rather than against them.

Ramesses II was succeeded by his son Merneptah and then by Merenptah's son Seti II. Seti II's throne seems to have been disputed by his half-brother Amenmesse, who may have temporarily ruled from Thebes. Upon his death, Seti II's polio afflicted son, Siptah, was appointed to the throne by Chancellor Bay, an Asiatic commoner who served as vizier behind the scenes. On Siptah's early death, the throne was assumed by Twosret dowager queen of Seti II (and possibly Amenmesses's sister). A period of anarchy at the end of Twosret's short reign, saw a native reaction to foreign control, led by Setnakhte who reigned for less than 12 months before passing the throne to his mature son, Ramesses III. These last two kings were pharaohs of the Twentieth Dynasty. Rameses III, after saving Egypt through a number of battles, with Libyans and Sea People, was followed by a number of short-lived reigns by pharaohs all called Ramesses.

New Kingdom mummies

It is from this time that most mummies have survived. The soft tissues like the brain and internal organs were removed. The cavities were washed and then packed with natron, and the body buried in a pile of natron. The intestines, lungs, liver and stomach were preserved separately and stored in Canopic jars protected by the Four sons of Horus. Such was the perceived power of these jars that even when the Twenty-First Dynasty started to return the organs to the body after preservation instead of using the jars, the jars continued to be included in the tombs.

Third Intermediate Period

Egypt has long had ties with Libya, and the first king of the new dynasty, Shoshenq I, was a Meshwesh Libyan, who served as the commander of the armies under the last ruler of the Twenty-First Dynasty, Psusennes II. He unified the country, putting control of the Amun clergy under his own son as the High Priest of Amun, a post that was previously a hereditary appointment. The scant and patchy nature of the written records from this period suggest that it was unsettled. There appear to have been many subversive groups, which eventually led to the creation of the Twenty-Third Dynasty, which ran concurrent with the latter part of the Twenty-Second Dynasty. After the withdrawal of Egypt from Nubia at the end of the New Kingdom, a native dynasty took control of Nubia. Under king Piye, the Nubian founder of Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, the Nubians pushed north in an effort to crush his Libyan opponents ruling in the Delta. He managed to attain power as far as Memphis. His opponent Tefnakhte ultimately submitted to him, but he was allowed to remain in power in Lower Egypt and founded the short-lived Twenty-Fourth Dynasty at Sais.

Late Period

The Thirtieth Dynasty was established in 380 BC and lasted until 343 BC. This was the last native house to rule Egypt. The brief restoration of Persian rule is sometimes known as the Thirty-First Dynasty.

Open problems

There are several events concerning ancient Egyptian history that are questioned. The exact nature of the reign of Pharaoh Smendes I's is unknown. It is unknown if Egypt was split during his governance. The facts are obscure as to whether Ramesses II defended Egypt against the Sea People because they were invading, or if they were people fleeing to Egypt in the middle of a war. Data is either not available or not known as to if Ramesses III or Amenemhat I were assassinated. The exact causes concerning the disappearance of Nefertiti are unknown. It is debated if Necho II really sent out an expedition that sailed from the Red Sea around Africa back to the mouth of the Nile. The Tulli Papyrus is a controversial topic and it is debated if it comes from the reign of Thutmosis III.

The events that Herodotus records of Egypt are suspicious to some scholars, and there is question on what he actually witnessed in Egypt. Exactly who Herodotus exchanged ideas with and had conversations with is debated. It is uncertain who Sonchis was, an Egyptian priest of Thebes, and why Plato wrote about Atlantis as described by this priest. It is questioned if Solon met Sonchis. It is unclear why Solon visited Egypt (if he really did).

People of Ancient Egypt

Egyptian society was a merging of North and East African as well as Southwest Asian peoples. Modern genetics reveals that the Egyptian population today is characterized by paternal lineages common to North Africans primarily, and to some Near Eastern peoples. Studies based on the maternal lineages closely links modern Egyptians with people from modern Eritrea and Ethiopia. The ancient Egyptians themselves traced their origin to a land they called Punt, or "Ta Neteru" ("Land of the Gods"), which most Egyptologists locate in the area encompassing Eritrea and the Ethiopian Highlands and as far south as Somalia.

A recent bioanthropological study on the dental morphology of ancient Egyptians confirms dental traits most characteristic of North African and to a lesser extent Southwest Asian populations. The study also establishes biological continuity from the predynastic to the post-pharaonic periods. Among the samples included is skeletal material from the Hawara tombs of Fayum, which was found to most closely resemble the Badarian series of the predynastic. A study based on stature and body proportions suggests that Nilotic or tropical body characteristics were also present in some later groups.

Champollion the Younger, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, claimed in Expressions et Termes Particuliers that kmt referred to a 'negroid' population. Modern day professional Egyptologists, anthropologists, and linguists, however, overwhelmingly agree that the term referred to the dark soil of the Nile Valley rather than the people, which contrasted with dSrt or the "red land" of the Sahara desert.

In c. 450 BC, Herodotus wrote, "the Colchians are Egyptians.. on the fact that they are swarthy (melanchrôs) and wooly-haired (oulothrix)" (Histories Book 2:104). Melanchros was also used by Homer to describe the sunburnt complexion of Odysseus (Od. 16.176).

Although analyzing the hair of ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet, mummies from circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anemia and hemolytic disorders.

Administration and taxation

The ancient Egyptian government imposed a number of different taxes upon its people. As there was no known form of currency during that time period, taxes were paid for "in kind" (with produce or work). The Vizier (ancient Egyptian: tjaty) controlled the taxation system through the departments of state. The departments had to report daily on the amount of stock available, and how much was expected in the future. Taxes were paid for depending on a person's craft or duty. Landowners paid their taxes in grain and other produce grown on their property. Craftsmen paid their taxes in the goods that they produced. Hunters and fishermen paid their taxes with produce from the river, marshes, and desert. One person from every household was required to pay a corvée or labor tax by doing public work for a few weeks every year, such as digging canals or mining. However, a richer noble could hire a poorer man to fulfill his labor tax.

Language

1. Archaic Egyptian (before 3000 BC)

   Consists of inscriptions from the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic period. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing appears on Naqada II pottery vessels.

2. Old Egyptian (3000–2000 BC)

   The language of the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. The Pyramid Texts are the largest body of literature written in this phase of the language. Tomb walls of elite Egyptians from this period also bear autobiographical writings representing Old Egyptian. One of its distinguishing characteristics is the tripling of ideograms, phonograms, and determinatives to indicate the plural. Overall, it does not differ significantly from the next stage.

3. Middle Egyptian (2000–1300 BC)

   Often dubbed Classical Egyptian, this stage is known from a variety of textual evidence in hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts dated from about the Middle Kingdom. It includes funerary texts inscribed on sarcophagi such as the Coffin Texts; wisdom texts instructing people on how to lead a life that exemplified the ancient Egyptian philosophical worldview (see the Ipuwer papyrus); tales detailing the adventures of a certain individual, for example the Story of Sinuhe; medical and scientific texts such as the Edwin Smith Papyrus and the Ebers papyrus; and poetic texts praising a god or a pharaoh, such as the Hymn to the Nile. The Egyptian vernacular already began to change from the written language as evidenced by some Middle Kingdom hieratic texts, but classical Middle Egyptian continued to be written in formal contexts well into the Late Dynastic period (sometimes referred to as Late Middle Egyptian).

4. Late Egyptian (1300–700 BC)

   Records of this stage appear in the second part of the New Kingdom, considered by many as the "Golden Age" of ancient Egyptian civilization. It contains a rich body of religious and secular literature, comprising such famous examples as the Story of Wenamun and the Instructions of Ani. It was also the language of Ramesside administration. Late Egyptian is not totally distinct from Middle Egyptian, as many "classicisms" appear in historical and literary documents of this phase. However, the difference between Middle and Late Egyptian is greater than that between Middle and Old Egyptian. It's also a better representative than Middle Egyptian of the spoken language in the New Kingdom and beyond. Hieroglyphic orthography saw an enormous expansion of its graphemic inventory between the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods.

5. Demotic Egyptian (7th century BC–4th century AD)

   Demotic refers to both the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, as well as the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. By convention, the word "Demotic" is capitalized in order to distinguish it from demotic Greek.

6. Coptic (3rd–17th century AD)

   Coptic is the most recent phase of ancient Egyptian. It is the direct descendant of the ancient language written in Egyptian hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic scripts. The Coptic alphabet is a slightly modified form of the Greek alphabet, with some letters (which vary from dialect to dialect) deriving from demotic. As a living language of daily conversation, Coptic flourished from ca. 200 to 1100. The last record of its being spoken was during the 17th century. Coptic survives today as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Egyptian Arabic is the spoken and national language of Egypt today.

Writing

Egyptologists refer to Egyptian writing as hieroglyphs, today standing as the world's earliest known writing system. The hieroglyphic script was partly syllabic, partly ideographic. Hieratic is a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs and was first used during the First Dynasty (c. 2925 BC – c. 2775 BC). The term Demotic, in the context of Egypt, came to refer to both the script and the language that followed the Late Ancient Egyptian stage, i.e. from the Nubian 25th dynasty until its marginalization by the Greek Koine in the early centuries AD. After the conquest of Amr ibn al-A'as in the 7th century AD, the Coptic language survived as a spoken language into the Middle Ages. Today, it continues to be the liturgical language of the Christian minority.

Beginning from around 2700 BC, Egyptians used pictograms to represent vocal sounds -- both vowel and consonant vocalizations (see Hieroglyph: Script). By 2000 BC, 26 pictograms were being used to represent 24 (known) main vocal sounds. The world's oldest known alphabet (c. 1800 BC) is only an abjad system and was derived from these uniliteral signs as well as other Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The hieroglyphic script finally fell out of use around the 4th century AD. Attempts to decipher it began after the 15th century.

Literature

• c. 1800 BC: Story of Sinuhe and Ipuwer papyrus
• c. 1600 BC: Westcar Papyrus
• c. 1400 BC: Tulli Papyrus
• c. 1300 BC: Ebers papyrus
• c. 1180 BC: Papyrus Harris I
• c. 1000 BC: Story of Wenamun

Culture

Every animal portrayed and worshipped in ancient Egyptian art, writing and religion is indigenous to Africa, all the way from the predynastic until the Graeco-Roman eras, over 3000 years. The Dromedary, domesticated first in Arabia, first appears in Egypt (and North Africa) beginning in the 2nd millennium BC.

The temple was the center of ancient Egyptian settlement. It served as a town hall, college, library and was used for religious functions.

The religious nature of ancient Egyptian civilization influenced its contribution to the arts of the ancient world. Many of the great works of ancient Egypt depict gods, goddesses, and pharaohs, who were also considered divine. Ancient Egyptian art in general is characterized by the idea of order.

Evidence of mummies and pyramids outside ancient Egypt indicate reflections of ancient Egyptian belief values on other prehistoric cultures, transmitted in one way over the Silk Road. Ancient Egypt's foreign contacts included Nubia and Punt to the south, the Aegean and ancient Greece to the north, the Levant and other regions in the Near East to the east, and also Libya to the west.

Some scholars have speculated that Egypt's art pieces are sexually symbolic.

Medicine

While ancient Egyptian medicine had some effective practices such as many of the surgical procedures given the Edwin Smith papyrus it was not without its ineffective and sometimes harmful practices. For example, Homer's Odyssey declared regarding the ancient Egyptians that "the Egyptians were skilled in medicine more than any other art". However, medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian pharmacology was largely ineffective. For example, according to a paper published in the 10th Annual Proceedings of the History of Medicine Days by Michael D. Parkins, 72% of medical 260 prescriptions in the Hearst Papyrus had no curative elements. Also according to Michael D. Parkins, sewage pharmacology first began in ancient Egypt and was continued through the middle ages. While the use of animal dung has curative properties it is not without its risk. For example, Mamtani, Malhotra, Gupta, and Jain found in their comparative study of urban and rural tetanus in adults that practices such as applying cow dung to wounds, ear piercing and tatooing, and chronic ear infections were important factors in developing tetanus. Frank J. Snoek, PhD wrote that Egyptian medicine used fly specks, lizard blood, swine teeth, and other such remedies which he believes could have been harmful.

Ancient achievements

One of the most profound discoveries of recent years would be that the ancient "tet" or "djed" has been experimentally identified as a battery by some of the most repected archaeologists and scientists in the field, attributing to their technological brilliance.

The earliest evidence (circa 1600 BC) of traditional empiricism is credited to Egypt, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri. The roots of the scientific method may be traced back to the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians created their own alphabet (however, the Phoenicians are credited with creating the first), decimal system and complex mathematical formularizations, in the form of the Moscow and Rhind Mathematical Papyri. The golden ratio seems to be reflected in many constructions, such as the Egyptian pyramids, however this is most likely simply the consequence of combining the use of knotted ropes with an intuitive sense of proportion and harmony.

Glass making was highly developed in ancient Egypt, as is evident from the glass beads, jars, figures and ornaments discovered in the tombs. Recent archeology has uncovered the remains of an ancient Egyptian glass factory.

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see also: Timeline of Christianity