Ancient Egypt
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Khafre's Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Giza, built about 2550 BC during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, are enduring symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt
Khafre's Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Giza, built about 2550 BC during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom,[1] are enduring symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was a civilization in Northeastern Africa concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River, reaching its greatest extent in the second millennium BC, during the New Kingdom. It stretched from the Nile Delta in the north as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, in modern-day Sudan. Extensions to the geographic range of ancient Egyptian civilization included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant, the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula, and the oases of the Western desert.[2]

The civilization of ancient Egypt developed over more than three and a half millennia. It began with the political unification of the major Nile Valley cultures under one ruler, the first pharaoh, around 3150 BC,[3] and led to a series of golden ages known as Kingdoms separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods. After the end of the last golden age, the New Kingdom, the civilization of ancient Egypt entered a period of slow, steady decline, when Egypt was conquered by a succession of foreign adversaries. The power of the pharaohs officially ended in 31 BC, when the early Roman Empire conquered Egypt and made it a province of the Empire.[1]

The civilization of ancient Egypt was based on balanced control of natural and human resources under the leadership of the pharaoh, religious leaders, and court administrators, characterised by controlled irrigation of the fertile Nile Valley; the mineral exploitation of the valley and surrounding desert regions; the early development of an independent writing system and literature; the organization of collective construction and agricultural projects; trade with surrounding regions in east and central Africa and the eastern Mediterranean; and finally, military ventures that defeated foreign enemies and asserted Egyptian domination throughout the region. Motivating and organising these activities was a bureaucracy of elite scribes, religious leaders, and administrators under the control of the quasi-divine pharaoh (becoming divine upon death), who ensured the cooperation and unity of the Egyptian people by means of an elaborate system of religious beliefs.[2][4]
Contents
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* 1 History
o 1.1 Predynastic period
o 1.2 Early dynastic period
o 1.3 Old Kingdom
o 1.4 First Intermediate Period
o 1.5 Middle Kingdom
o 1.6 Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos
o 1.7 New Kingdom
o 1.8 Third Intermediate Period
o 1.9 Late Period
o 1.10 Ptolemaic dynasty
o 1.11 Roman domination
o 1.12 Muslim conquest
* 2 Government and economy
o 2.1 Administration and taxation
o 2.2 Legal system
o 2.3 Agriculture
o 2.4 Natural resources
* 3 Language
o 3.1 Writing
o 3.2 Literature
* 4 Culture
o 4.1 Architecture
o 4.2 Art
o 4.3 Religious beliefs
o 4.4 Burial customs
o 4.5 Leisure and games
* 5 Foreign relations
o 5.1 Trade
o 5.2 Military
* 6 Achievements and unsolved problems
o 6.1 Medicine
o 6.2 Mathematics
o 6.3 Open problems and scientific inquiry
* 7 See also
* 8 Notes and References
o 8.1 References
o 8.2 Bibliography
o 8.3 History
+ 8.3.1 Pharaonic Egypt
+ 8.3.2 Ptolemaic Egypt
+ 8.3.3 Roman Egypt
o 8.4 Literature
o 8.5 External links


History
Dynasties of Pharaohs
in Ancient Egypt
Predynastic Egypt
Protodynastic Period
Early Dynastic Period
1st 2nd
Old Kingdom
3rd 4th 5th 6th
First Intermediate Period
7th 8th 9th 10th
11th (Thebes only)
Middle Kingdom
11th (All Egypt)
12th 13th 14th
Second Intermediate Period
15th 16th 17th
New Kingdom
18th 19th 20th
Third Intermediate Period
21st 22nd 23rd
24th 25th 26th
First Persian Period
Late Period
28th 29th 30th
Second Persian Period
Graeco-Roman Period
Alexander the Great
Ptolemaic Dynasty
Roman Egypt
Arab Conquest