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47 Articles

Welcome to All About History Book of Ancient Egypt

In 1922 a magnificent discovery captured the attention of the world. As Howard Carter slowly unveiled the opulence of Tutankhamun’s newly located tomb, people from every corner of the world were enthralled. Egyptomania gripped the world. The rituals and beliefs of a highly advanced society were once again exposed; this was the most in uential breakthrough in Egyptology since the Rosetta Stone had been discovered by Napoleon’s men and later deciphered by 19th century scholars. In this second edition of All About History’s Book of Ancient Egypt, we will step back in time and walk the banks of the River Nile to learn what made this society one of the most powerful ancient civilisations in history. We’ll introduce you to some of the most iconic and infamous pharaohs, tour the…

Welcome to All About History Book of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt, 3300-30 BCE

The Age of the Pyramids 2700 BCE -2200 BCE Ancient Egypt saw a number of phases of pyramid building, but those built during the third and fourth dynasties became the most iconic. Built almost solely as pharaohs’ tombs, the most famous are in Giza: the Great Pyramid of Giza (Pyramid of Khufu), the Pyramid of Menkaure and the smaller Pyramid of Khafre. These colossal structures, built between 2560 BCE and 2510 BCE, are part of Seven Wonders of the World and stand as a testament to the ingenuity of Ancient Egyptian society and culture. The Golden Age 2613 BCE _ 2494 BCE The Fourth Dynasty is often referred to as the Golden Age, when the entire nation benefited from a boom in arts and culture. The relative peace of the…

Ancient Egypt, 3300-30 BCE

Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt

“Ancient Egypt became an epicentre for culture and religion” For 3,000 years the Ancient Egyptian empire endured. It emerged, like so many other independent kingdoms, from the ruins of warring and fragmented fiefdoms and grew into a nation that shook North Africa and the surrounding world to its core. It became an epicentre for culture and religion, where science and magic were intertwined as one. But those golden ages, those heights of human achievement that challenged even those of Greece and Rome at their peaks, were not achieved in a day. Before the Assyrians came, before the Persians invaded, before the Greeks conquered and the Romans annexed, the Egyptians rose and fell all by themselves. While darker periods would form between them (three in fact, known as the Intermediate Periods),…

Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt

The Old Kingdom

Prior to the Old Kingdom, in an era known as the Predynastic, Prehistoric or Protodynastic Period, Egypt was going through something of a transformation. The nation was divided into colonies, each with their own lords and rulers. The north and south of the country were also distinct in both practices and culture, with Hierakonpolis the capital of the south and Bes the capital of the north. Excavations over the last century have radically changed the way we view Egypt prior to the Old Kingdom, including the fact that the First Dynasty and the rise of Narmer was not an overnight process. Upper Egypt, the more affluent of the two states, had three main cities – Thinis, Nekhen and Naqada. One by one, these states conquered one another or merged, and…

The Old Kingdom

Famous faces through time

The Old Kingdom Djoser c. 2670 BCE Of all the kings that ruled Egypt in the infant years of the Old Kingdom, the pharaoh Djoser is perhaps the most influential. He may not have been the man who united Egypt as one in Narmer, but he typified two characteristics that would go on to define Ancient Egypt. He conducted military campaigns that solidified and expanded the borders of the empire while nurturing the growth of his nation’s culture. He also commissioned the first pyramid on Egyptian soil; the Step Pyramid at Sakkara was the blueprint for pharaonic splendour and inspired future generations to build even greater examples. The Middle Kingdom Mentuhotep II 2061 BCE – 2010 BCE The kingdom splintered after the prosperity and expansion of the Old Kingdom. This…

Famous faces through time

The Middle Kingdom

For every period of greatness and monumental achievement in Ancient Egypt’s history, there is a stretch of time where governments crumbled, territories divided and the nation fell into a dark lull. As the royal hold on the country fell apart towards the end of the Old Kingdom, Egypt was plunged into an era of uncertainty that is referred to as the First Intermediate Period. To make matters worse, the power of the pharaoh was splintered when two rival dynasties began vying for power – the Tenth Dynasty (based in Herakleopolis, the principal city of Lower Egypt) and the 11th Dynasty (centralised in Thebes, Upper Egypt). This period of conflict and dissention lasted for 125 years, until the reign of Theban pharaoh Mentuhotep II. Ascending to the Upper Egypt throne in…

The Middle Kingdom

The New Kingdom

Lasting from the 16th to 11th century BCE, the New Kingdom saw Ancient Egypt transformed. Its kings and queens both looked ahead at the promising future of the realm and back in the hope of emulating the monarchs of the past. The empire was expanded by the sword of warrior kings, while the realm itself was rebuilt from the ground up by a new economic prosperity. This was Ancient Egypt at its peak, as reflected in the resultant boom in arts and culture. The New Kingdom was preceded by another fracture known as the Second Intermediate Period. Towards the start of the 16th century BCE, a small warrior tribe known as the Hyksos had begun settling in the fertile land of the Delta (a group of rivers and tributaries that…

The New Kingdom

Power of the pharaoh

Ancient Egypt was a kingdom like no other. For 3,000 years a nation united as one, it expanded its horizons across the face of the Earth, erected true Wonders of the World and became one of the most powerful empires history has ever seen. Yet for all those achievements, none would have been possible without the rulers at its head – the kings, the queens and the pharaohs. Through the actions and decisions of over 170 men and women, Egypt became an epicentre for culture and philosophical thinking. It became a place of polytheism, where a pantheon of gods lived in (relative) harmony and informed every facet of daily life. But who were these figureheads and what was their true role in everyday Egyptian society? How did a king or…

Power of the pharaoh

Cleopatra’s ruthless rise to power

Egypt was in turmoil. In the year 81 BCE Ptolemy IX, the pharaoh who had dared to melt down the gold coffin of Alexander the Great, was dead. A series of bloody and violent family feuds had robbed his dynasty of any legitimate male heirs, so his popular and beloved daughter, Bernice III became queen. Following the family tradition, she married her half-brother, Plotemy XI, but just 19 days after the ceremony, the groom had his new bride murdered and claimed the throne as his own. The citizens of Alexandria were furious, and an angry mob quickly seized the new pharaoh and lynched him. This left Egypt leaderless and seemingly out of control. As the commander of the army and the personification of god on Earth, a pharaoh’s presence was…

Cleopatra’s ruthless rise to power

All in the family

The Ptolemies of Egypt could trace their ancestry to Ptolemy I Soter, a Greek general of Alexander the Great who became ruler of Egypt in 323 BCE. After Alexander’s death, his most senior generals divided his vast territory between themselves. Completely oblivious to the dangers of interbreeding, it became customary for the Ptolemies to marry their brothers and sisters. It was convenient for them as not only did it ensure queens could be trained for their role from birth, but also established them as an elite, untouchable class far removed from the masses, similar to the revered Egyptian gods who married their sisters.…

All in the family

Alexander: Liberator of Egypt

Only one of Alexander the Great’s dreams has survived, and it tells how in 331 BCE a venerable old figure – possibly Homer himself – is said to have visited the sleeping conqueror and, with a recital of lines from The Odyssey, advised him on the site for his great Egyptian city, Alexandria. It is fitting that this sole recorded dream-memory should reference the epic poet, for Alexander strived to embody the Homeric ideal above a ll. Like Hector or Achilles, he would stand astride history as one of its most celebrated warriors, his deeds in life still echoing down to modern times. According to one of Alexander’s greatest modern biographers, Robin Lane Fox, the Macedonian king feasted upon the words of Homer, “not as a distant reader but more…

Alexander: Liberator of Egypt

Alexandria, 250 BCE

Cosmopolitan, free and prosperous, the ancient city of Alexandria combined the culture and society of two great civilisations – the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians. The city bears the namesake of its founder, Alexander the Great, who conquered the Nile Delta in 332 BCE and founded Alexandria at the location of a small Egyptian town called Rhacotis. As the city became part of the extended Greek Empire, Alexander personally approved its development and transformation into a great metropolis of culture and learning. Its streets were designed to reflect this reforming zeal, with its wide boulevards and Corinthian order columns surrounding a series of temples and vast meeting places. Egyptian and Jewish influences remained, creating a unique and diverse port that quickly became the centre of the ancient world through its trading…

Alexandria, 250 BCE

The mighty Ramesses II

RAMESSES II 1303_1213 BCE Ramesses II, known as Ramesses the Great, was one of the longest-reigning pharaohs in Egyptian history. Like other ‘greats’ of antiquity, he was worshipped by his people, feared by his enemies and adored by himself. This master of bronze-age propaganda erected countless stone memorials to cement his legendary status for the ages. Brief Bio The year was 1274 BCE and a god was on the march. Standing six-feet tall with a square jutting jaw, thick lips and a long sharp nose, Ramesses II rode his golden chariot ahead of an army of 20,000 archers, charioteers and sandalled infantrymen. Only five years into his reign as pharaoh, he had already established himself as a fierce warrior and strategic military commander, the rightful blood heir to the newly…

The mighty Ramesses II

Ramesses’ greatest constructions

Abu Simbel 1264 or 1244 BCE These two temples along the banks of the Nile are outsized paeans to Ramesses and Nefertari. Both temples are carved into a sheer rock face. The smaller features two 12m (40ft) statues of Nefertari flanked by four even larger colossi of Ramesses. Standing guard outside the big temple are four goliath seated statues of Ramesses, each nearly 21m (70ft) tall. Deep inside the larger temple – which places Ramesses II on equal footing with the gods – a ray of sunlight pierces twice a year: once on Ramesses’ birthday. Per-Ramesses (or Piramesse) 1280 BCE Ramesses II built this sprawling complex along the northeastern Nile Delta as the royal seat of the Ramessid Dynasty. The site originally held a modest summer palace constructed by Ramesses’…

Ramesses’ greatest constructions

Nefertiti: Behind the beauty

On 6 December 1912, an Egyptian workman digging along the banks of the River Nile unearthed one of the most precious treasures in the history of Egyptology. The man was one of many working on the excavation of an ancient sculptor’s workshop, a dig overseen by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. As he felt the knowing jolt of his pick against hard stone, he brushed away the earth to reveal the distinctive colours of ancient paintwork, and immediately called for his superior. Borchardt recalls: “The tools were put aside and the hands were now used,” revealing the slender neck of a limestone bust buried upside down in the dirt. Digging deeper, they revealed a pair of full, red lips; a dramatic, sloping nose; almond eyes; and dark, arching eyebrows. Finally, they…

Nefertiti: Behind the beauty

The search for Nefertiti

Since the discovery of Nefertiti’s bust, archaeologists have scoured the Egyptian desert in search of her resting place. Although no formal identification has been made, one Egyptologist believes she has found Nefertiti’s mummy in the tomb of Amenhotep II, the great grandfather of Akhenaten. The mummy, known as ‘The Younger Lady’, was discovered buried alongside Queen Tiye, Akhenaten’s mother, and a young boy, possibly his brother, back in 1898. The discoverer, Victor Loret, originally believed the mummy to be male, but a closer inspection by anatomist Dr Grafton Elliot Smith Tests concluded that it was a woman. The room containing the mummies was then sealed, and had been all but forgotten until 1993, when Egyptologist Joann Fletcher stumbled across one unlikely piece of evidence. Joann, who at the time was…

The search for Nefertiti

Peace & prosperity of Amenhotep III

When Amenhotep III, the ninth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, came to power he inherited a realm in its prime. The military successes instigated by his ancestor (and progenitor of the dynasty) Ahmose I, 150 years before, had kick-started the nation into an age of transformation. Nurtured by the rulers that followed, Egypt had cast aside the reclusive and insular policies of old and expanded the kingdom by trade and sheer economic might. The country had entered a new golden age and the politically savvy Amenhotep€III would preserve that prosperity not with blades and blood, but with marriage and diplomacy. The New Kingdom, one of the distinct eras when Ancient Egypt enjoyed a peak as a civilisation, was a stark contrast to the Second Intermediate Period that had preceded…

Peace & prosperity of Amenhotep III

Hatshepsut: the queen who became king

HATSHEPSUT c. 1507-1458 BCE A successful and longreigning pharaoh, Hatshepsut was also a prolific builder. Many statues of her survive, including those depicting her with the traditional false beard. Her grand mortuary temple was built on the West Back of the Nile and many pharaohs later followed suit. It is now known as the Valley of the Kings. Some of the most powerful individuals of the ancient world, the pharaohs of Egypt were believed to have inherited the throne by divine right and were worshipped as gods on earth. Huge temples were built in their honour, statues were carved in their image and pyramids were built in their memory to ensure their everlasting legacy. However, in what may be one of history’s biggest coverup operations, one of its greatest rulers…

Hatshepsut: the queen who became king

Ahmose I’s unifying power

Think of Ancient Egypt and you might very well imagine a vast empire ruled by godfearing monarchs; men and women who erected grand tombs and monuments in their honour. But that stereotypical snapshot of the Nile kings is only half the story – for every peaceful period of absolute rule, there was a time when Egypt was divided or controlled almost entirely by foreign powers. Ahmose I, who was the founding king of the 18th Dynasty, was born into such a time. The kingdom he was destined to inherit was bisected by invaders who had dominated Lower Egypt for over a century. And it would be his defence of this longstanding status quo that would define his position as one of Ancient Egypt’s most celebrated leaders. To appreciate the gravity…

Ahmose I’s unifying power

Inside the Great Great Pyramid

Layout of the Pyramid of Khufu The Great Pyramid has both ascending and descending chambers 01 The King’s chamber This is the main chamber of the pyramid. Unlike later pyramid chambers, its walls are blank. A granite sarcophagus sits inside, but no lid has ever been found. 02 The Queen’s chamber The name of this chamber is a misnomer. Many Egyptologists believe that it was originally built for Khufu. However, as he was still living when the chamber was finished, it was abandoned. 03 Un_ nished subterranean chamber This chamber lies below ground level. It may have been built in case Khufu died early, but he may have also simply changed his mind about where he wanted to be buried. 04 Relieving chambers Houdin believes that these chambers were built…

Inside the Great Great Pyramid

Building a pyramid

“Khufu has been planning his ‘house of eternity’ since ascending the throne” The god-king’s legacy is complete. The immense life-giving river that flows nearby – later to be called the Nile – has by now had people farming its banks for about two and half millennia. Like almost every pyramid, it rises from the Nile’s west bank, the place where the sun ‘dies’ each evening. Later visitors will see an exterior of ascending ochre-brown bricks, for its outer surface of reflective limestone will have long ago been stripped away. Today it gleams white in the sunshine. What will one day be called the Great Pyramid of Giza is located on a plateau, south of the future city of Cairo. Paintings and postcards will later on create an impression of windswept…

Building a pyramid

Pyramids of a polymath

Imhotep is one of Ancient Egypt’s most intriguing characters. Attributed with being one of the first physicians to step out of the shadow of antiquity, the low-born priest and scholar even helped a pharaoh design and construct the first true pyramid on Egyptian soil. Yet, after all those achievements in life, fate had a far more pivotal role for him in death. His accolades became legend, and in an age when gods walked on earth as kings, Imhotep was reborn a deity revered by and assimilated into many aculture. He may have been immortalised on the silver screen in the 20th century as an occult priest with a thirst for vengeance and immortality, but the reality we can discern from the records of the earliest of the Egyptian eras reveals…

Pyramids of a polymath

Inside the Nile: ‘Mother of all men’

Backbone Over the centuries, the Egyptian civilisation gradually settled along the banks of the final 1,300km (808mi) of the Nile. Farms dominated the landscape around its banks, and its waters were the primary means of communication. For daily tasks, small canoes were used; however, for trade or transporting passengers, strong sail boats were employed. Hub of transportation The River Nile was the link between the various Egyptian cities, from the Second Cataracts of Lower Nubia to the Mediterranean Sea. A whole host of vessels travelled the river, transporting people and goods from one side of the empire to the other. It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of the Nile to the Ancient Egyptians. The 7,507-km (4,665-mi) river literally brought life to an arid desert wasteland. Its fertile valleys provided protection…

Inside the Nile: ‘Mother of all men’

Life on the banks of the Nile

Human culture has been a part of the Nile Valley as far back in time as 6000 BCE. That’s long before the time period commonly thought to have seen the dawn of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation at about 3000 BCE. At this time, the various communities of the Nile Valley were brought together by King Narmer. The society that emerged would continue to develop for several millennia, all the way up until 30 BCE, when Egypt was in the throes of being colonised by the Roman Empire. Like so many cultures around the world, the beginning of human settlement is typically profoundly dominated by proximity to a river. The River Nile, one of the most famous rivers in the world, became the lifeblood of the people of Ancient Egypt, who…

Life on the banks of the Nile

Gods of Ancient Egypt

As early as 17,000 BCE, carvings of wild cattle alongside strange hybrid creatures at the site of Qurta in southern Egypt suggest an early belief in the hidden forces of nature. With Egypt’s earliest stone sculpture at about 7,000 years old believed to represent a cow, it is clear this was an animal that played an important role in the lives of the early Egyptians. So too did their desert environment, in which the dominant Sun was worshipped as a variety of gods, much like the River Nile, whose annual life-bringing floodwaters were likewise venerated as divine. As these aspects of the natural world gradually developed into individual gods, each region of Egypt also had their own local deities whose characters evolved through stories and myths. One of the key…

Gods of Ancient Egypt

RA God of the Sun Ra was Egypt’s most important Sun god, also known as Khepri when rising, Atum when setting and the Aten as the solar disc. As the main creator deity, Ra also produced twin gods Shu and Tefnut. GEB God of the Earth As the grandson of Ra and the son of Shu and Tefnut, greenskinned Geb represented the Earth and was usually shown reclining, stretched out beneath his sister-wife Nut. NUT Goddess of the sky As granddaughter of Ra, Nut was the sky goddess whose star-spangled body formed the heavens, held above her brother Geb by their father Shu, god of air. ISIS Goddess of motherhood and magic The daughter of Geb and Nut, Isis was the perfect mother who eventually became Egypt’s most important deity,…

Temples of the gods

As early as c. 3500 BCE, the Egyptians built temples for their gods. Initially made of wood and reeds, these soon became permanent structures of stone that formed the centre of almost every settlement throughout the Nile Valley. Evolving over time into ever more elaborate structures, the Egyptians aligned their temples to their environment, to the cardinal points, and to the movement of the Sun and stars. Each temple’s sacred space was also enclosed by a huge exterior wall of mud-brick, within which the temple itself was made up of a series of successive stone-built shrines and courtyards. Accessed through pylon-shaped gateways once flanked by tall cedar wood flag poles and secured by huge cedar wood doors, the temple walls were covered in brightly painted scenes of gods and kings,…

Temples of the gods

Power of the priests

Each successive pharaoh was regarded as a child of the gods, and as the gods’ representative on Earth, was also the supreme high priest of every temple. However, with so many different temples throughout Egypt, the pharaoh’s duties had to be delegated to each temple’s high priest, who was often a royal relative selected by the king_to guarantee their loyalty. Within large temples like Karnak or Memphis, the power of the priests was considerable, since the temples owned much land and the temple treasuries were very wealthy. The priests also controlled the gods’ cult statues, which functioned as oracles, whose pronouncements were interpreted by the priests, and could pass judgment in legal cases and even influence royal succession. At times when the crown was weak, the high priests’ powers became…

Power of the priests

DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HIGH PRIEST

Night Ritual ablutions Since the priests had to bathe twice a day and twice at night, a fourth bath maintained ritual purity, while the hour priest astronomers monitored the night sky from the temple roof ‘observatory’. Sunset Evening ceremony In a reverse of the morning ceremony, the high priest once more entered the shrine to put the god’s spirit to rest, burning spicy kyphi incense to create a restful environment. Evening Ritual ablutions To maintain ritual purity throughout the day, the priests had to bathe once again before re-entering the gods’ presence. Various times Various rituals With numerous rituals performed by the high priest and clergy at various times, these were not only set by the ‘Hour Priest’ astronomers but carefully measured with clepsydra water clock.s. Before dawn Ritual ablutions…

DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HIGH PRIEST

Inside the Karnak Temple

In ancient times the temple at Karnak was known as Ipet-Isut – ‘most divine of places’. The temple housed the cult of Amun-Re, the most important deity in Thebes and dedicated to various gods and goddesses Egyptian cult temples all share a similar design. However, as Karnak began to grow in importance, the edifice grew larger and more complex. Each pharaoh extended the temple in an attempt to outdo their predecessors in personal piety. Eager to impress the gods, each king embellished the temple with beautiful masonry and enormous pylons, and decorating the complex with elaborate imagery and military texts. The temple acted as a ‘generator’ of spiritual energy. It was seen as a bridge between the Earth and cosmic realms. Highly visible to the populace, its walls were designed…

Inside the Karnak Temple

Sacred animals of Ancient Egypt

There are various symbols that define Ancient Egypt’s spectacular place in history. The civilisation is remembered for the pyramids, the Sphinx, hieroglyphics, pharaohs and distinct afterlife beliefs. Another enduring element of Ancient Egypt is the role that animals played. Ranging from household pets to sacred figures, animals, both domesticated and wild, played a major part in the civilisation’s evolution from small settlements on the banks of the Nile, into a sprawling kingdom. Like today, cats and dogs were popular residents of Ancient Egyptian households. Many families had dogs as pets, but they also accompanied groups on hunts as well as being trained as guard dogs. It is thought that Egyptian hounds were ancestors of today’s basenjis, greyhounds and mastiffs, and ancient inscriptions and hieroglyphics have included dog names like ‘Brave…

Sacred animals of Ancient Egypt

Gods in the sky

Falcon Falcons and hawks were the spiritual guardians of the pharaohs. Hieroglyphs show the birds of prey spreading their wings behind rulers and they were believed to be an incarnation of Horus, the god of the sky as well as Montu and Socar, the gods of protection and strength respectively. Vulture Vultures were important birds to the Ancient Egyptians and stood for not one, but two gods. They portrayed the ideas of royalty and protection and the gods they illustrated were Nekhbet and Mut. Often depicted on temple ceilings, they were drawn with their wings stretched out. Ibis Now extinct in modernday Egypt, ibis were linked to Thoth, the god of knowledge. Common on the banks of the Nile, many have been found buried and mummified in ancient catacombs. They…

Gods in the sky

Magic & medicine

Take a stroll through the history books and it’s hard to ignore just how weird and gruesome the world of medicine was in ages gone by. And the kingdoms of Ancient Egypt were no exception, either. Over its 3,000 years of existence, Ancient Egypt became an epicentre for culture, art, architecture and engineering. Records, such as the Edwin Smith Papyrus, have revealed that the time of the pharaohs also produced an incredibly broad approach to ailments and disease. This was an age where science, magic and religion were one. Sages, physicians and healers were all part of the same potent superstition and created an ancient medicinal cabinet that aided health. However, those medical treatments were all well and good if you could last long enough to actually receive it. The…

Magic & medicine

Tools of the trade

Scalpels and blades While cutting tools were common in the practice of mummification, they were also an important part of a healer’s medicine bag. Blades such as these would have been used to bleed blisters, cut away abscesses and more. Prosthetics Since amputations were a common procedure performed by healers, prosthetics also played an important part in the rehabilitation process. Some were made of wood or wax, but many were made of leather and animal hide, such as this prosthetic toe. Pestle and mortar The mortar and pestle played a vital part in a healer’s everyday life – salves and pastes were often made from natural resources.…

Tools of the trade

Egypt’s medical trailblazers

01 Washing hands Egyptian doctors understood that hygiene was vital. However, they mistakenly believed that the water from the Nile was purified. 02 Utensils Surgical materials were improved and become more precise due to the anatomical knowledge gained from the mummification process. 03 Professionals Doctors were some of the most well-respected figures in Egyptian society. In their clinical practices they used medical equipment, remedies and prayers to the gods. 05 Convalescence The Egyptians did not know about anaesthesia, so patients would be conscious when operated on and treated. However, they did use different types of painkillers and drugs which helped to numb the patients’ pain. 04 Assistants Most doctors would have assistants to keep the patient immobilised and help with equipment. An assistant was also a sign of status. 06…

Egypt’s medical trailblazers

Death, burial & the afterlife

The Ancient Egyptians worshipped more than 1,400 gods and goddesses Beneath the burning hot sands of the Eastern Desert lie the remains of one of the greatest civilisations the world has ever seen. The Ancient Egyptians flourished along the banks of the River Nile between the third and first millennia BCE, with an empire that stretched as far north as modern-day Syria and as far south as Nubia in northern Sudan. These people led rich lives. The fertile soil gave rise to a thriving agricultural society that developed some of the most advanced farming techniques of the ancient world. Their building projects were unparalleled, and they forever altered the Egyptian skyline with their towering temples and imposing pyramids. Their armies were undefeated, their science was revolutionary, and their art provided…

Death, burial & the afterlife

Eternal life wasn’t just about preserving the spirit. The deceased’s body also had to preserved, as the Ancient Egyptians believed the soul (ba) and life force (ka) had to return to it regularly to survive. To prevent the body decaying, it underwent a lengthy and gruesome mummification process. Developed and refined over millennia, it allowed Ancient Egypt to produce some of the best-preserved mummies in the world, and we can now gaze upon the faces of men, women and children almost exactly as they were more than 2,000 years ago. The first mummies in Egypt date back to approximately 3500 BCE. Before that time, all citizens regardless of social status were buried in desert graves, which allowed natural preservation to occur through dehydration. An artificial method known as embalmment was…

The many layers of a mummy

01 Objects for the afterlife Once the body had been wrapped in layers of linen, items like jewellery and daggers were placed on the mummy for use in the afterlife. A scarab amulet was hung from the neck to help guide the soul during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony. 02 Cartonnage case After mummification, a cartonnage case was created. This was formed around a straw and mud core, to which plaster and linen bandages soaked in resin or animal glue was applied, similar to papier mâché. Once it set, the case was split open, the stuffing removed and the body placed inside. 03 Decoration Another cartonnage case was added and then a layer of plaster or gesso – made from resin and chalk powder – was painted over the…

The many layers of a mummy

What did the Ancient Egyptians do for us?

The Ancient Egyptians’ fascination with science and new technology resulted in inventions – such as the calendar and door lock – which are still used today. In some cases, their innovations combined form and function in quite beautiful ways. Of a culture aware of its own processes and history, scholar Ian Shaw has commented that “The Egyptian sense of history is one in which rituals and real events are inseparable – the vocabulary of Egyptian art and text very often makes no real distinction between the real and the ideal.” The inventions and discoveries listed here indicate the modest and the more expansive ways in which the Ancient Egyptians pulled together the real and the ideal. From developments in personal hygiene, to projects as globally meaningful as the calendar or…

What did the Ancient Egyptians do for us?

Egyptology through time

Few other civilisations have ignited as much intrigue and hype as Ancient Egypt. A new discovery or even just a new theory about the lost kingdom draws just as much attention from the general public as it does academics. Children, meanwhile, seem to have an almost innate fascination with it. Whether it is the eeriness of its mummies or the engineering prowess of the pyramids, there is something about this ancient kingdom that has truly captured the imagination of people from all walks of life. Egyptomania, as this fascination has become known, reached fever pitch in 1922 when Howard Carter, arguably the most famous Egyptologist of all time, discovered the intact tomb of Tutankhamun. However, the interest in the history of Egypt spans back as far as antiquity itself. The…

Egyptology through time

Modern Egyptology

The birth of modern Egyptology in the early 19th century was motivated not by scholarship, but by politics. In 1798, the French Republic was at war with Britain. Unable to target it directly, the French chose to instead seize Egypt, thus breaking Britain’s overland communications with the jewel in its crown, India, while at the same time gaining France a valuable colony. An army of 17,000 led by Napoleon Bonaparte landed near Alexandria on 1 July and quickly captured the town. With them were 150 civilians who made up the Commission of Sciences and Arts, chosen for their abilities to assess Egypt and develop it into a prosperous province. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient World still standing Instead, it…

Modern Egyptology

Treasures of Ancient Egypt

Tutankhamun’s death mask 1922 When Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the almost intact tomb of the Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun, the object that received the most attention was the magnificent death mask they found placed over the mummy’s head. This is solid gold and weighs about 24 pounds. Although it is difficult to judge how much it resembles the young pharaoh himself, the narrow eyes, nose, lips and chin all match the features of his mummy. Because of the discovery of this stunning artefact, Tutankhamun has become the most recognisable pharaoh in Egyptian history, and the mask itself has become a symbol for Ancient Egypt and Egyptology around the world.. In 2015, Tutankhamun’s mask was permanently damaged when its beard was knocked off during cleaning Heracleion 2000 During the…

Treasures of Ancient Egypt

Inside the Giza complex

The Great Sphinx is the huge monolithic statue of a human-headed lion that was carved into a single mass of limestone bedrock on the western bank of the Nile during the third millennium BCE. The Sphinx faces directly east and its stonework features once included a cobra-embellished headdress and a beard. Although neither the Sphinx nor its principal architect were cited within the content of any hieroglyphs from the time, the ‘foreman’ of the project is widely regarded to be Pharaoh Khafre (c. 2558-2532 BCE), the ruler of the Old Kingdom, which was a period of early Egyptian civilisation that endured for 2,500 years. Incidentally, Khafre’s father – Khufu (c. 2589.2566 BCE) – built the Great Pyramid at Giza approximately 400 metres (1,300 feet) from where the Sphinx statue would…

Inside the Giza complex

Curse of the boy king

It had taken an eternity, at least it seemed, for the debris that lay in front of the large stone doorway to be removed. Lord Carnarvon had been pacing back and forth in the tiny passageway, while his daughter, Lady Evelyn, anxiously fiddled with her hair. But Howard Carter had stood still, watched, and waited. When the whole door was finally clear he moved toward it. As he reached forward with his chisel he discovered his hands were trembling. There was a quiet ‘chink’ as he chiselled away the plaster, opening the smallest of holes. Inserting a long iron rod confirmed that whatever lay beyond was, thank goodness, not filled with rubble, and candle tests proved there were no villainous gases lingering beyond. In silence he widened the hole a…

Curse of the boy king

Inside the tomb

01 Staircase 16 steps descend through bedrock toward a doorway. This doorway was sealed and plastered but showed signs that it had been penetrated by ancient gravediggers at least twice. 02 Entrance corridor This corridor has a steady descent and was originally filled with limestone chips and rubble to prevent grave robbers. There is a second plaster door at the end, stamped with King Tutankahmun’s royal seal. This door too shows signs of having been opened. 03 Antechamber This chamber was found in a state of organised chaos, packed full of an array of precious items including King Tut’s throne, two life-sized statues of the king and a selection of chariots. The walls are unusually rough and undecorated, adding to the idea that it was a speedy, unexpected burial. 04…

Inside the tomb

Decoding the hieroglyphics

The written language of Ancient Egypt is a visually enchanting form and, as such, it has held understandable allure in the imaginations of scholars and non-scholars alike. It’s a written language that just seems so very different to anything that we recognise in modern times. The hieroglyphs attest to the human capacity for invention, creative flair and the desire to express as precisely as possible what we think and feel about, and perceive in our immediate and less immediate circumstances. Just what do all of those carved images mean, though? Who wouldn’t enjoy solving such a puzzle? Imagine, then, being part of the race to crack the code of a mysterious language that dated back several thousand years BCE. Imagine the excitement, the astonishment and wonder when the opportunity to…

Decoding the hieroglyphics

Wondrous words revealed

ahhh’) Egyptian vulture. This ominous bird is associated with both battlefields and graveyards. i A flowering reed. The reed was used to make arrows and writing tools. y (‘eee’) Two flowering reeds or strokes that may have represented the sound of the wind on rushes. c (e) The arm is often used in the Egyptian language to represent might or power. w (‘ooo’) The quail chick adds a pleasant sound. It is often employed among signs that represent time. b The foot and leg. Egyptians became familiar with human anatomy through mummification. p A seat, stool or throne. A sign in Ancient Egyptian used frequently in royal titles. f The horned viper is one of many snakes used in Ancient Egyptian. It is often attached to a verb. m The…

Wondrous words revealed

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