Egypt

The more than 3000 year long history of Ancient Egypt has been divided into 8 or 9 periods, sometimes called Kingdoms. This modern-day division is somewhat arbitrarily based on the country’s unity and wealth and the power of the central government. The Ancient Egyptians themselves did not group their rulers according to such criteria. They rather seem to have developed the notion of dynasties throughout their history. The Palermo Stone simply lists the kings one after the other, without any aapparent need of grouping them. The Turin Kinglist, which is more recent, has grouped the kings according to their descendance or origin. Thus, Amenemhat I and his descendants, are described as the kings of Itj-Tawi, the capital whence they ruled. We owe the division into 30 dynasties as we use it now to Manetho, an Egyptian priest who lived at the beginning of the Ptolemaic Era. In many cases, however, it is not clear why Manetho has grouped some kings iinto one dynasty and other kings into another. The 18th Dynasty, for instance, starts with Ahmose, a brother of the last king in Manetho’s 17th Dynasty. Theoritically, Ahmose and Kamose should thus have been grouped in the same dynasty. Thutmosis II, on the other hand, does not appear to have been related to his predecessor, Amenhotep I, but still both kings are grouped in the 18th Dynasty.

The ancient Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for the pharaohs and their queens. The pharaohs were buried in pyramids of many different shapes and sizes from before the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the end of the Middle Kingdom.

There are about eighty pyramids known today from ancient Egypt. The three largest and best-preserved of these were built at Giza at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. The mostwell-known of these pyramids was built for the pharaoh Khufu. It is known as the ‘Great Pyramid’.

The Sphinx

A gigantic statue, with lion body and tthe head of a man. The Great Sphinx is located in Egypt on the Giza (Gizeh) plateau, situated about six miles west of Cairo. This area is part of the necropolis of ancient Memphis, the seat of power for the pharaohs. The Sphinx faces due east a short distance from a trio of large pyramids (Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaura (Mycerinus)). Giza is a rich archaeological site which also contains the smaller Queen’s pyramids, temples, causeways, aand numerous rectangular tombs (mastabas) for attendants and other family members.