A Deep Dive into Ancient Egyptian History & Mythology

Knowing where to start outlining a history and evolution of Egypt is an impossible task. We are talking about a culture that had it's unified beginning around 3150 BC and carried on until the suicide of Cleopatra and the conquest of Rome around 30 BC. Even then, Egypt became one of the most central Roman Provinces, effectively being the granary of the Empire in the early days.

Like the other cultures here, Egypt did not spring out of a vacuum one day. We have evidence of occupation in the Nile Valley from the Palaeolithic onwards, however, Nubia and the Middle Valley seem to have played a much bigger role than Egypt in the Palaeolithic. It's equally worth taking the time to dispel a common misconception here. The Drying up of the Sahara Desert started in 7^th millennium BC and only fully dried up around 4000BC.  

The extreme dryness we see in Egypt today only really started around 2000BC. Given that the Early Dynastic Period began with the unification of the Two Kingdoms around 3150 BC, and the Pyramid Building Age was during the 4th Dynasty (2613-2494 BC), the people who built the pyramids actually lived in a far more luscious environment than we see today.

In other words. Back in the day, we are NOT really dealing with this:

It probably looked something more like this:

The Beginnings of Kingship: The Pre & Early Dynastic

While there is a whole history leading up to this point that I am skipping over (mainly in the way towards sedentary lifestyles, food projection and animal domestication), I'm electing to start from the time where distinct cultures start to appear that we might identify as "Egyptian". The period from 4500-2800BC is known as the Pre Dynastic (since there was no strict unified kingdom, just different tribes or communities centred around key resource centres in Upper & Lower Egypt), until around 3150 BC, where the legendary King Narmer unified Upper & Lower Egypt, becoming the first Pharaoh.

The Nile Valley was basically uninhabitable until the people living there worked to clear and irrigate the land along the banks of the river. However, it appears that this clearance and irrigation was largely under way by the 6th millennium, so they started early. By that time, Nile society was already engaged in organized agriculture and the construction of large buildings.

Now, there were a HUGE myriad of different cultures and people living along Nile, from the Badarians to the Naqadans in the south to Maadi & Buto in the north. I originally tried to write this overview including them and the evolution of the Egyptian state... but honestly, the Pre Dynastic is just far too complicated unless you already have a background in Egyptology, so, for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to focus on Narmer himself and his little posse.

The First Pharaoh

Towards the end of the Naqada III period and into the First Dynasty we see the emergence of kingship in Egypt. By the 33rd century BC, just before the First Dynasty, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, filled with independent tribes, known from later times as Upper Egypt to the south and Lower Egypt to the north (since they follow the flow of the Nile). The dividing line between the two was drawn roughly in the area of modern day Cairo.

Within the entrance hall of the Cairo museum lies an artefact so often overlooked by visitors, but yet so valuable that it has never been permitted to leave the country. Frequently ignored by the public in place of the burial mask of Tutankhamun or the Ramesside colossals, the Narmer Palette stands at the forefront of Egypt’s most famous museum, with good reason to do so. 

Discovered among a group of sacred implements by James Quibbel and Fredrick Green, having been ritually buried in a deposit at an early temple of the Celestial Horus at the site of Nekhen, this large ceremonial object is one of the most important artefacts from the dawn of Egyptian civilisation. The scenes show a king, identified by name as Narmer (in the little box at the top between the two cows), and a series of ambiguous scenes that have been difficult to interpret and have resulted in a number of theories regarding their meaning. 

Looking at this amazing thing we can see ideographical standards that would continue to be used over the course of the next 3000 years. This ancient masterpiece provides a much-needed glimpse into the origins of the position of kingship and convention on how the Egyptian state came to be unified.

Around 3150 BC, Narmer rallied the tribes of Upper Egypt together and moved on the people of Lower Egypt. The Palette is a artistic depiction of the king unifying these tribes. It's not as clear cut as you might imagine though. 

Whether the scenes show a record of actual events –i.e. a record of the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt through what appears to be military conquest, or whether the scenes are purely theological in nature is still up for debate. Key propagators of such arguments include Whiney Davis’ suggestions that the iconography on this and other pre-dynastic palettes has more to do with establishing the king as a visual metaphor of the conquering hunter caught in the moment of delivering a mortal blow to his enemies. Or Baines' ideas of ‘tokens of royal achievement’ and concepts of Order’s triumph over Chaos, personified through the king.

Either way, Narmer's unification of the Egyptian State resulted with the early dynasties, and for much of Egypt's history thereafter, the country becoming known as the Two Lands. Pharaohs after him established a national administration (splitting the country into districts called Nomes) and appointed royal governors. One of Narmer's first moves as king was to centralise authority by making a new capital, Memphis.

At this time, Abydos was one of, if not the most important religious site to the early Pharaohs. It's where we have the first burials of these early kings, especially monumental ones in the form of Mastabas that served as the prototype of the later Pyramids. 

Umm el-Qaab at Abydos became the first elite and royal cemetery due to local rulers exerting their authority. Many rulers buried here have subsidiary burials around them, with many occasions of human sacrifice. Thankfully though, this was a relatively short episode as the idea shortly died out after the 1^st dynasty and started to be replaced with Ushabti (little clay statues that just symbolise the worker). That kinda happens when you start mass murdering your workforce....

Later tombs developed around Umm el-Qaab as a nucleus and the site was seen as sacred, and remained a focus of attention for the next 3000 years. In the Old Kingdom, many pharaohs are seen journeying to Abydos in tomb carvings and the
tomb of king Djer was seen as the resting place of the God Osiris before he transcended to godhood.

The stratification of society at this time occurred either because of the stability of the Nile or the fact that the ideology was so secure and correct that it was highly cohesive, or both.

The mastaba was the standard type of tomb in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic for both the pharaoh and the social elite. The ancient city of Abydos was the location chosen for many of the cenotaphs. 

However, it appears the royal cemetery was at Saqqara, overlooking the capital, Memphis. These were massive superstructures with bigger tombs underneath. However, interestingly, we have more mastabas than rulers, so maybe not all of them were owned by rulers (maybe extended family or other nobles). Either way, having these things dot the landscape is a visible reminder of the state and authority at a monumental level, and the large labor levels expected.

By the end of the First Dynasty rulers stop being buried at Abydos, and get buried at Saqqara instead. 

The Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC)

The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as spanning the period of time when Egypt was ruled by the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty (2686–2181 BCE). The royal capital at this time remained at Memphis, where Djoser established his court. This was a time of royal authority and centralisation, with the development of monumental royal architecture and the royal mortuary cult. A centralised elite administration ruled provincial Egypt. 

Our key site for information in the Old Kingdom is Saqqara, that cemetery just outside of Memphis. The Old Kingdom is best known for all it's pyramids though, in fact, it's even called the Pyramid Age, because it's when the majority of the famous ones were built. The first notable pharaoh of the Old Kingdom was Djoser of the Third Dynasty, who ordered the construction of the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.

It was in this era that formerly independent states became Nomes (districts) ruled solely by the pharaoh. Former local rulers were forced to assume the role of nomarch (governor) or work as tax collectors. Egyptians in this era worshiped the pharaoh as a god, believing that he ensured the annual flooding of the Nile that was necessary for their crops.

However, while the capital may have been at Memphis, it doesn't seem kingship always was. We actually have a bit of a "Pyramid belt".

Starting up north between Giza and Saqqara, we've found construction sites consistently heading south. There is a straight/curved line of all the pyramids of the Old and Middle Kingdom. What this tells us is that kingship is mobile, moving from place to place wherever the king is. 

Now, it's time to talk about pyramids! And no, aliens did not build them. Slaves did not build them. Egyptians built them, because Egyptians experimented and messed up tons of times before getting it finally right because they are awesome.

Pyramid Complexes

While it's easy for us to look at a pyramid today and be like "ah yes, great pointy thing always been pointy" that isn't really true... there are actually different styles and kinds of pyramids, what we called "pyramid complexes".

The best example of Complex 1 is Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara. This was the first successful attempt to move up towards the sun. The pyramid is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration. Its architect was Imhotep, chancellor of the pharaoh and high priest of the god Ra. He was also the only person who is named in the entire complex of Djoser aside from the king. Imhotep was later defied as a god as an inventor and cultural facilitator.  So he's a big deal.

Hidden inside the pyramid is a Mastsaba ontop of another Mastaba. The tomb complex itself is similar/inspired by the Abydos tombs where the rooms are sunken underground, but access to the underground chambers are blocked. 

Underground galleries were decorated and painted and within Djoser’s complex, the majority of the layout is symbolic and religious. One of the most important artworks in the complex is that of Djoser's Heb-Sed festival. This was a festival for pharaohs similar to the modern day Jubilee. It occurs after 30 years, then whenever the pharaoh wishes (except the chad Amenhotep III who was a major party boy had one every 5 years).

The entrance of the tomb is highly reminiscent of a Serekh, with the step-architecture fascade building. Here the stepped architectural walls come from the mud brick designs of the Near East but these ones are in limestone.

The mortuary temple at the rear of the complex is not accessible on purpose. It takes the 2^nd place after all the main architecture and is not very prominent in its location. It's actually a proto-version of what we find in Giza later on. When we reconstruct it, the king would have been sitting in an inaccessible chamber called a Seredab.

The eating and sleeping of the king in death is the realm of the Ka. It must be present in order to receive offerings, as well as preserving the bodily image. The statue of the king is placed close by and inhabited by the Ka of the deceased while the festival takes place. 

Complex 2

The Old Kingdom and its royal power reached their height under the Fourth Dynasty. Sneferu, the dynasty's founder, is believed to have commissioned at least three pyramids; while his son and successor Khufu built the Great Pyramid of Giza, Sneferu had more stone and brick moved than any other pharaoh. Khufu, his son Khafre, and his grandson Menkaure all achieved lasting fame in the construction of the Giza pyramid complex. The Giza complex is the best example of Pyramid Complex Type 2.

Here is where the whole "Ancient Aliens" stuff falls down, it doesn't account for Sneferu. This dude was a major innovator and built (and messed up) at least three pyramids before he finally got it right. Once he did, his kids copied him and built Giza. 

First, he tried to build the Pyramid of Meidum, which ended up being a construction disaster. Firstly, the outer layer was founded on sand and not on rock, like the inner layers. Secondly, the inner step pyramids had been designed as the final stage. Thus, the outer surface was polished and the platforms of the steps were not horizontal, but fell off to the outside. This severely compromised the stability and is likely to have caused the collapse in a downpour of rain while the building was still under construction:

Undeterred, Sneferu embodied that Disney Goofy Meme and was like "I'll fu*** do it again" and this time ended up with the Bent Pyramid of Dahshur because he started with too steep a gradient and his team messed up the math, so they had to bend it at the top:

Finally, they got their sh*t together and built the Red Pyramid, which was the first successful one: *yay sounds*

Finally, we have complex type 3:

These pyramids have both a pyramid and Sun Temple and started to be built from the 5^thDynasty onwards. The Complex contains smaller valley temples and pyramid temples, but Sun temples get bigger and more important, reflecting a shift in religion away from the king and more towards Ra as the main focus.

The stereotypical temples we see when we think of Egypt did not come about till the New Kingdom. The Old Kingdom temples were extremely basic and usually cut into the natural rock.  Apart from the mortuary temples of the kings, the temples for gods were pretty simple. No one seemed to really care about the gods in the Old Kingdom, they were much more focused on the king.

Once the 5th Dynasty rolled around, this changed. Consequently, less effort was devoted to the construction of pyramid complexes and more to the construction of sun temples in Abusir. The decoration of pyramid complexes grew more elaborate during the dynasty and its last king, Unas, was the first to have the Pyramid Texts inscribed in his pyramid.

Egypt's expanding interests in trade goods such as ebony, incense such as myrrh and frankincense, gold, copper and other useful metals compelled the ancient Egyptians to navigate the open seas. Evidence from the pyramid of Sahure, second king of the 5th Dynasty, shows that a regular trade existed with the Syrian coast to procure cedar wood.

During the 6th Dynasty (2345–2181 BCE), the power of pharaohs gradually weakened in favour of powerful local rulers (the Nomarchs). These no longer belonged to the royal family and their charge became hereditary, thus creating local dynasties largely independent from the central authority of the pharaoh. 

Internal disorders set in during the long reign of Pepi II (over 62 years!) towards the end of the dynasty. His death, likely created succession struggles and the country slipped into civil wars only decades after he passed away. The final blow came when the 4.2 kiloyear event struck the region in the 22nd century BC, producing consistently low Nile flood levels. The result was the collapse of the Old Kingdom followed by decades of famine and strife.

The First Intermediate Period

Following the collapse of a centralised state, Egypt fell into chaos for 200 years. We know this time today as the First Intermediate Period, which is generally thought to include a relatively obscure set of pharaohs running from the end of the 6th to the 10th and most of the 11th Dynasties. Most of these were likely local Nomarchs who did not hold much power outside of their Nome. 

One of the most important sources for this time are are a number of texts known as "Lamentations" from the early period of the subsequent Middle Kingdom that may shed some light on what happened during this time. Some of these texts reflect on the breakdown of rule, others allude to invasion by "Asiatic bowmen". In general, the stories focus on a society where the natural order of things in both society and nature was overthrown. So it was an all round bad time. 

We have some famous ones like the Dialogue of a Man and His Ba, where he says:

"To whom can I speak today?
(One’s) fellows are evil;
The friends of today do not love.
To whom can I speak today?
Hearts are rapacious:
Every man seizes his fellow’s goods.
(To whom can I speak today?)
The gentle man has perished,
(But) the violent man has access to everybody.
To whom can I speak today?
(Even) the calm of face is wicked;
 Goodness is rejected everywhere."

It is also highly likely that it was during this period that all of the pyramid and tomb complexes were looted. Further lamentation texts allude to this fact, and by the beginning of the Middle Kingdom mummies are found decorated with magical spells that were once exclusive to the pyramid of the kings of the 6th Dynasty in order to protect them.

By 2160 BC, a new line of pharaohs, the 9th and 10th Dynasties, consolidated Lower Egypt from their capital in Heracleopolis Magna. A rival line, the 11th Dynasty based at Thebes, reunited Upper Egypt, and a clash between the rival dynasties was inevitable. Around 2055 BC, the Theban forces defeated the Heracleopolitan pharaohs and reunited the Two Lands. Their leader was Mentuhotep II, who became the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom. 

The Middle Kingdom (2030-1650 BC)

Under Mentuhotep II Millitary campaigns to foreign countries increased, and Egypt really started to expand and enter a Golden Age.

The Middle Kingdom is like Classical Egypt. It spans the period of the 11th Dynasty to the end of the 13th Dynasty, roughly between 2030 and 1650 BC. The period comprises two phases, the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes, and then the 12th Dynasty, whose capital was Lisht.

It's also the time when most of the literature and texts are written. The language at this time, Middle Egyptian, is their golden standard (think like what Latin is to English), so most people usually start learning Middle Egyptian when they first learn hieroglyphs.

There was also a new admin system throughout the land (gotta get rid of all of those pesky Nomarchs right...) and the Vizier was at the top of this admin.

Mentuhotep II was succeeded by his son, Mentuhotep III, who organized an expedition to the Land of Punt (which we still don't know the location of). His reign saw the realisation of some of the finest Egyptian carvings. He was succeeded by Mentuhotep IV, the final pharaoh of the 11th Dynasty. Despite being absent from various lists of pharaohs, his reign is attested from a few inscriptions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the Red Sea coast and to quarry stone for the royal monuments.

The leader of this expedition was his vizier Amenemhat, who is widely assumed to be the future Pharaoh Amenemhat I, the first pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty. Amenemhat is therefore assumed to have either usurped the throne or assumed power after Mentuhotep IV died childless. Amenemhat I built a new capital for Egypt, Itjtawy, thought to be located near the present-day Lisht. 

Amenemhat forcibly pacified internal unrest, curtailed the rights of the Nomarchs, and is known to have launched at least one campaign into Nubia. His son Senusret I continued the policy of his father to recapture Nubia and other territories lost during the First Intermediate Period. 

He also started a big building program, mainly his pyramid. He copied the complex of the Old Kingdom but also started building temples everywhere across the country, so everyone kinda liked him. A settlement program also seems to be apparent. The Early Middle Kingdom saw the rise of planned settlements and towns built on grid patterns, rather like New York is today. Some good examples of this are Tel el Dab'a and Ezbet Rushi.

During the 12th Dynasty, Senusret III (1878–1839 BC) lead his troops deep into Nubia, and built a series of massive forts throughout the country to establish Egypt's formal boundaries with the unconquered areas of its territory, especially like the one at Buhen.

One thing that I always find really interesting is how the image of the king changed in this period. Rather than being shown as this super macho, god figure, Senusret III's statues depict him as very human... someone with the burden of responsibility and who is struggling to live and rule right:

See how he looks pretty solemn and moody? That's what being a strong leader does you eventually.

Anyway, Egypt's population began to exceed food production levels during the reign of Amenemhat III (everyone was gettin' busy) so he ordered the exploitation of the Faiyum and increased mining operations in the Sinai Peninsula. He also invited settlers from Western Asia & Canaan to Egypt to work on Egypt's monuments (remember that for later). Late in his reign, the annual flooding of the Nile began to fail, further straining the resources of the government. 

The 13th Dynasty and 14th Dynasty witnessed the slow decline of Egypt into the Second Intermediate Period, in which some of the settlers invited by Amenemhat III began to seize power. These people became known as the Hyksos.

The Second Intermediate Period (1677 BC–1550 BC)

The S.I.P is characterised by a break up of centralised control in the Egyptian State.

The 12th Dynasty of Egypt came to an end with the death of Queen Sobekneferu. Apparently she had no heirs, causing the 12th Dynasty to come to a sudden end, and, with it, the Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom; it was succeeded by the much weaker 13th Dynasty. Retaining the seat of the 12th Dynasty, the 13th Dynasty ruled from Itjtawy for most of its existence.

The 13th Dynasty proved unable to hold on to the entire territory of Egypt however, and a provincial ruling family, located in the Nile Delta, broke away from the central authority to form the 14th Dynasty. What's interesting is that these 14th Dynasty rulers had Canaanite names, so were most likely from the Levant. They set themselves up around Avaris. While the 14th Dynasty was Levantine, the Hyksos first appeared in Egypt around 1650 BC when they took control of Avaris and rapidly moved south to Memphis, thereby ending the 13th and 14th Dynasties.

Even though Manetho and traditional accounts describe this as an invasion, recent evidence from Avaris (mainly dental records) implies it was an internal takeover, and the Levantines were likely the ones invited by Amenemhat III earlier. The origin and identity of the Hyksos is something I don't have space to go into, but it is fascinating!

The Hyksos princes and chieftains ruled in the eastern Delta with their local Egyptian vassals. The 15th Dynasty rulers established their capital and seat of government at Memphis and their summer residence at Avaris. The Hyksos kingdom was centered in the eastern Nile Delta and central Egypt but relentlessly pushed south for the control of central and Upper Egypt. Around the time Memphis fell to the Hyksos, the native Egyptian ruling house in Thebes declared its independence and set itself up as the 16th Dynasty.

By 1600 BC, the Hyksos had successfully moved south in central Egypt, eliminating the Abydos Dynasty and directly threatening the 16th Dynasty. The latter was to prove unable to resist and Thebes fell to the Hyksos for a very short period c. 1580 BC. The Hyksos rapidly withdrew to the north and Thebes regained some independence under the 17th Dynasty. From then on, Hyksos relations with the south seem to have been mainly of a commercial nature.

Ahmose I completed the conquest and expulsion of the Hyksos from the Nile Delta and drove them back to Canaan. He then restored Theban rule over the whole of Egypt and successfully regained Egyptian power in its formerly subject territories of Nubia and the Southern Levant. His reign marks the beginning of the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom.

The New Kingdom: The Global Age (1550 BC–1069 BC)

Likely as a result of the rule of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom saw Egypt attempt to create a buffer between the Levant and themselves, and attain its greatest territorial extent. It expanded far south into Nubia and held wide territories in the Near East. Egyptian armies fought Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria.

It is during this period that Egypt became globalised and effectively an Empire. The Hyksos ended up bringing many advancements to Egypt from the Levant, despite being "enemies", especially advances in warfare. These innovations included the compound crossbow, the duckbilled axe and most importantly, the horse-drawn chariot.

So, one easy way to tell how old something Egyptian is is to see if there's a chariot involved. Any pharaohs or artwork that show a chariot are New Kingdom or later, because the Egyptians didn't have them before the Hyksos. If Middle Kingdom rulers didn't want to walk, they used a carrying chair or a donkey. Although saying that, the earliest archaeological evidence for a horse in Egypt comes from a late stage refuse heap in the Middle Kingdom fortress of Buhen.

The 18th Dynasty was a time of great wealth and power for Egypt. Some of the most important and best-known pharaohs ruled at this time, like Hatshepsut. This girlboss was one of the best, extending Egyptian trade south into present-day Somalia and north into the Mediterranean. In fact, her reign was one of the most prosperous and peaceful for all of Egyptian history.

She ruled for twenty years through a combination of widespread propaganda and great political skill. Her co-regent and successor Thutmose III expanded Egypt's army and wielded it with great success. However, late in his reign, he got jealous and ordered her name hacked out from her monuments so history would forget about her.

The later pharaoh Amenhotep III built extensively at the temple of Karnak including the Luxor Temple, which consisted of two pylons, a colonnade behind the new temple entrance, and a new temple to the goddess Maat.

The Karnak Temple is probably the stereotypical Egyptian temple, and is the best example of a New Kingdom religious place that we have. Although a part of the courtyard was begun in the Middle Kingdom, it was expanded hugely in the New. 

It's important to recognise that temples don't exist in isolation, they a features of a wider cultural and religious landscape. 

In the case of Karnak, this landscape included other temples on both the East & West banks of the Nile as well as little settlements on both banks and a royal cemetery on the Western bank.

Amun Ra

The temple at Karnak was dedicated to Amun Ra, who became the most important god of the New Kingdom. He is often represented as fully human with a double plumed crown. His skin was often shown as blue, representing his connection with hiddenness and concealment, as well as the thought colour of the air. He is The Hidden One, who's breath is the Wind.

At Karnak he was part of a Triad of Gods, the others being: Mut, a female god (his wife) and their child Khonsu (the moon god from Moon Knight). Amun was the patron god of the rulers of the 18th Dynasty and they sought to associate themselves with him through emulating and pushing the Myth of the Divine Birth. Essentially, it's the idea that the king is the son of an earthly mother and Amun Ra, and thus of divine origin.

Over time, every ruler built a new section at Karnak to show their piety and faith to Amun Ra, so the temple grew over time. 

Akhenaten: The Heretic Pharaoh (1373-1356 BC)

One of the best-known 18th Dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in honour of his god Aten. He is famous today for his exclusive worship of Aten, sometimes called Atenism. The Aten originally began in the Middle Kingdom as an aspect of Ra before he took it and elevated to a god in itself.

While Atenism is often seen as history's first instance of monotheism, this isn't really true. From what we can see, it was probably more henotheistic, with Akhenaten worshipping Aten, but not necessarily denying the existence of other gods. We also have no idea what the normal, every day people were doing at this time. So it's possible he was just living in his bubble, building everything to his god while other people were carrying on as usual.

Atenism and several changes that accompanied it seriously disrupted Egyptian society. Akhenaten built a new capital city at the site of Tel Amarna, which gives his reign and the time that followed it, the modern name of the "Amarna Period." 

His site of Armana was not just his and Queen Nefertiri's residence, but also the central religious site of the Aten. It's also important archaeologically because there was no previous occupation at Armana, and it was left abandoned after his death. What this means is that we have an exact snapshot window into something of the 18th Dynasty. No ifs, no buts. Everything from there is 18th, so it's of incredible value to knowing what was going on during the period from the perspective of a regional capital.

The complex is huge, and up until today, over 1000 houses have been excavated there. Due to their preservation and the great textual records, the Armana houses give us a great insight into urban life in Egypt at this time. 

Akhenaten had the site demarcated with a series of Boundary Stele that were cut into the surrounding cliffside. They were more than 7 meters high. These are incredibly important for understanding the language during the period (Late Egyptian) since they display key grammar and syntax changes that distinguishes them from Middle Egyptian. 

The city grew around the Great Aten Temple at the centre. The area south of it is for admin, and has storage facilities, workshops and smaller temples and palaces. Non-royal residences extend to the north and south of the city too. The south suburbs would have been beautiful, with streets, large mansions surrounded by enclosure walls and denser areas for people on other sides of the economic spectrum. All in all, there seems to have been 8 different kinds of house, depending on what you could afford.

The famous Queen Nefertiti (Akhenaten's wife, and Tutankhamen's mother) came from this south suburb!

About 50% of the houses at Armana belong to the smallest type, 30% were House Type 2 and only 12% were the big mansions. What this tells us -along with some other factors, is that roughly 54-60% of the population of Armana were of a lower social class or poorer economic background, around a third of people (33%) there were middle class and less than 10% were nobles or well off/upper class people.

What we don't really know at the minute is which groups were which. Which artisans or builders lived in or had access to which areas? And where is the boundary between middle and upper class? Equally, there are debates over whether differentiating someone purely on house size or type is actually accurate in practice. 

Anyway back to history...

Under a series of successors, of whom the longest reigning were Tutankhamun and Horemheb, worship of the old gods was revived and much of the art and monuments that were created during Akhenaten's reign was defaced or destroyed and everyone just left Armana and let it die. Akhenaten was branded a heretic and effectively removed from history. 

When Horemheb died without an heir, he named as his successor Ramesses I, who was founder of the 19th Dynasty.

Ramesses I reigned for two years and was succeeded by his son Seti I. Seti I carried on the work of Horemheb in restoring power, control, and respect to Egypt. He also was responsible for creating the new temple complex at Abydos.

Arguably Ancient Egypt's power as a nation-state peaked during the reign of Ramesses II ("the Great") of the 19th Dynasty. He reigned for 67 years from the age of 18 and carried on his father Seti I's work and created many more splendid temples, such as that of Abu Simbel temples on the Nubian border.

He sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the 18th Dynasty. His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II and was caught in history's first recorded military ambush and got WRECKED, even though he put out propaganda that said he actually won....

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 son Siptah, who may have been afflicted with poliomyelitis during his life, was appointed to the throne by Chancellor Bay, a West Asian commoner who served as vizier, pulling strings from behind the scenes. At Siptah's early death, the throne was assumed by Twosret, the queen dowager of Seti II and possibly Amenmesse's sister.

A period of anarchy at the end of Twosret's short reign saw a native reaction to foreign control leading to the execution of Vizier Bay and the enthronement of Setnakhte, establishing the 20th Dynasty.

The last "great" pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely considered Ramesses III, the son of Setnakhte who reigned three decades after the time of Ramesses II. In Year 8 of his reign, the infamous "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt.

Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles. He claimed that he incorporated them as subject people and settled them in Southern Canaan, although there is evidence that they forced their way into Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states in this region such as Philistia after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire.

The heavy cost of these battles slowly exhausted Egypt's treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of these difficulties is stressed by the fact that the first known strike action in recorded history occurring during Year 29 of Ramesses III's reign, when the food rations for the Egypt's favoured and elite royal tomb-builders and artisans in the village of Deir el-Medina could not be accounted for. Something in the air also prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground and also arrested global tree growth for almost two full decades until 1140 BC.

At this time Egypt was increasingly beset by a series of droughts, below-normal flooding levels of the Nile, famine, civil unrest and official corruption. The power of the last pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty, Ramesses XI, grew so weak that in the south the Theban High Priests of Amun became the effective de facto rulers of Upper Egypt, while Smendes controlled Lower Egypt even before Ramesses XI's death. Smendes would eventually found the 21st Dynasty at Tanis.

The Third Intermediate Period: The Black Pharaohs (1070-710 BC)

The T.I.P comprised Dynasties 21-24. The politics during this time is an absolute mess, and we have Dynasty after Dynasty, mostly resulting from random foreign rulers taking the throne and then deposing each other. 

All of the Rammeside Kings ruled from the capital or Per-Rammeses in the East Delta, while Upper Egypt remained under the control of the High Priests at Karnak. After the death of Ramesses XI, his successor Smendes ruled from the city of Tanis in the north, while the High Priests of Amun at Thebes had effective rule of the south of the country, whilst still nominally recognizing Smendes as king. The country was once again split into two parts with the priests in Thebes and the pharaohs at Tanis.

It's worth pointing out that the High Priests weren't the nicest bunch, they even stole a bunch of New Kingdom mummies and stored them in a cache at Dier el Bahari.

Eventually, the 21st Dynasty rulers were replaced without any apparent struggle by the Libyan kings of the 22nd Dynasty. Shoshenq I, the first king of the 22nd Dynasty  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.

There appears to have been many subversive groups, which eventually led to the creation of the 23rd Dynasty, which ran concurrent with the latter part of the 22nd Dynasty. The country was reunited again by Shoshenq I in 945 BC. 

After the withdrawal of Egypt from Nubia at the end of the New Kingdom, a native dynasty took control of the country. 

Under king Piye, the Nubian founder of 25th Dynasty, the Nubians pushed north in an effort to crush his Libyan opponents ruling in the Delta. Piye 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 24th Dynasty at Sais. The Kushite kingdom to the south took full advantage of this division and political instability and defeated the combined might of several native-Egyptian rulers. 

Piye was succeeded first by his brother, Shabaka, and then by his two sons Shebitku and Taharqa. Taharqa reunited the Two Lands of Northern and Southern Egypt and created an empire that was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. 

Pharaohs such as Taharqa built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal. It was during the 25th Dynasty that the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) since the Middle Kingdom.

The Late Period (671 BC onwards)

While all this was going on inside Egypt, the country's international allies had fallen under the influence of Assyria and from about 700 BC the question became when, not if, there would be war between the two states. Taharqa's reign and that of his successor, Tantamani, were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians against whom there were numerous victories, but ultimately Thebes was occupied and Memphis was sacked.

The Assyrians eventually expelled the Nubians and handed over power to client kings of the 26th Dynasty. Psamtik I was the first recognized as the king of the whole of Egypt, and he brought increased stability to the country during a 54-year reign from the new capital of Sais. Four successive Saite kings continued guiding Egypt successfully and peacefully from 610–526 BC, keeping the Babylonians in certain measures away with the help of Greek mercenaries.

However, during this period the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC) campaigned against the Egyptians and drove them back over the Sinai. In 567 BC he went to war with Pharaoh Amasis, and actually invaded Egypt himself. By the end of this period a new power was growing in the Near East: Persia. 

The Pharaoh Psamtik III had to face the might of Persia at Pelusium; he was defeated and briefly escaped to Memphis, but ultimately was captured and then executed.

Alexander the Great

In 330 BC, Alexander the sorta Great conquered the Persian capital, thereby unifying Greece, the Near East and Egypt as part of the same empire. This unification is characterised by the spread of Greek Material Culture, language and population all over the place in the Near East and as far as India. 

This spread of Greek influence resulted in the founding of various cities that followed the Greek city plan, mainly the multiple Alexandrias. A lot of these cities are still in use and occupied today. Through the population movements, archaeologists have been able to identify elements of strong syncretism and hybridisation, especially in philosophy and religion. While hybridisation is present nearly 2000 years before Alexander, it hugely stepped up during this time. 

One of the first things Alexander did was visit Memphis, and went on a pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis. The oracle declared him the son of Zeus Amun and he conciliated the Egyptians by the respect he showed for their religion by sacrificing to the Apis Bull. This is important, because sacrificing to animals is NOT a Greek thing, it's a very Egyptian thing. Alex wanted the support of the Egyptians, so he acted like an Egyptian Pharaoh rather than a Greek Archon.

He appointed Greeks to virtually all the senior posts in the country, and founded a new Greek city, Alexandria, to be the new capital. Alexander seems to have been welcomed by the Egyptians because they both hated the Persians.

The wealth of Egypt could now be harnessed for Alexander's conquest of the rest of the Persian Empire. Early in 331 BC, he led his forces away to Phoenicia, never returning to Egypt.

Following Alexander's death in Babylon in 323 BC, a succession crisis erupted among his generals. Perdiccas ruled the empire as regent for Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus, who became Philip III of Macedon, and Alexander's infant son Alexander IV of Macedon. Perdiccas appointed Ptolemy, one of Alexander's closest companions, to rule Egypt in the name of the joint kings. 

Now, I am going to differentiate things a bit. People will often call this period Graeco Roman Egypt (like in the case of the Graeco Egyptian Magical Papyri), but I'm going to say Ptolemeic and Roman instead. This is because in some areas (mainly administration and politics) there were distinctions between the two, but in other, especially religion, there was much more of a continuum. We're looking at a period of roughly 600 years, 300 of Ptolemeic rule and 300 of Roman.

As Alexander's empire disintegrated, Ptolemy soon established himself as ruler in his own right. Early on he called himself Satrap (the old Persian word for governor), it's only when his power was more consolidated that he started calling himself a pharaoh (Ptolemy I Soter).

Ptolemy successfully defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas in 321 BC and consolidated his position in Egypt and the surrounding areas during the Wars of the Diadochi (322–301 BC). In 305 BC, Ptolemy took the title of Pharaoh. As Ptolemy I Soter, he founded the Ptolemaic dynasty that was to rule Egypt for nearly 300 years. He also introduced the god Serapis.

From the mid 2nd century onwards, Rome also started influencing Egypt. 

The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life. Hellenistic culture thrived in Egypt well after the Muslim conquest. The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC.

After the death of Cleopatra (the famous one, who was actually the 7th) and Mark Antony, Egypt became a Roman Province. In the early 4th century AD, the centre of political gravity moved from Rome in the West, to Constantinople in the East (the "New Rome") and from 330 AD onwards, it get's called the Byzantine period rather than the Roman.

As well as archaeology, the main way we can reconstruct this period is through papyri and documents. Most of these texts are written in Koinic Greek & Demotic Egyptian. Many of the papyri of this period were looted or found in illegal excavations and stolen and are now sadly dispersed around the world in private collections.

One thing that does start getting popular is Cartonage, mummy casing that was made from recycled papyrus, particularly no longer required admin records. Rather than be discarded, these papyri were collected and pulped together as a kind of papier mache cast to wrap bodies in. But we can deconstruct them to read the original texts.

Christian & Islamic Egypt up to Modern Day

As Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire it continued to grow and be used as the granary of the Empire. However, with the division of the Roman Empire         after the death of Theodosius I, Egypt became a Byzantine Province from 395–642 AD.

In 642 AD the Islamic Empire reached Egypt and conquered it, meaning that it now was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. Within this mix, Christianity also emerged and became prominent. Of notable date for Egypt, in 451 AD the Council of Chalcedon elected to split the Coptic church from the Byzantine, which meant Egypt became a monophysitic Coptic church (with patriarch in Alexandria).

The final nail in the coffin for Egyptian religion and identity came in 535 AD when Emperor Justinian decreed that the temple of Philae to Isis was to be closed for good. It has remained shut ever since.

The Spiritual Dynamics of Death & Immortality in Egypt: The Archaeology of Death & Burial

It's easy for us to look back now and think, "man they were obsessed with death huh", but I should point out, people died far more often in Egypt than in modern time. The average age would have been around 28-40 years old, many children didn’t survive past 5 so dying was an everyday experience that formed a core part of their culture.

In the Old Kingdom Pyramid Complexes and tombs, tombs had two main functions. The first is practical, to get rid of the body. The second is religious and spiritual, to remain connected to the dead, and to ensure their soul's continued existence.

The Soul in Egyptian Cosmology

The Soul was made up of multiple parts in Egyptian Philosophy. Of these, the Ka (the vital life force) must be sustained in order for soul to remain in the afterlife. In the Old Kingdom, this was done by making regular offerings to a statue of the king in his tomb that had the Opening of the Mouth ceremony performed on it, thereby allowing the Ka of the ruler to inhabit it and actually eat and drink the offerings.

Aside from the Ka, we also had a Ba, a you headed bird version yourself. This is the aspect of mobility in your soul –it is not tied to a palce, but able to leave and enter the tomb and body at will. In the New Kingdom especially, the Ba is depicted as being able to move around and follow people.

We then had a Shūt, the Shadow Self. This is actually more theological and not as central the religious practice, but effectively takes the form of the deceased shortly after death.

Another element of the soul was the Ren, the name. This part is very important as it gives power over a person or thing. Knowing the Secret Name of something is a powerful thing in Egyptian Magic. It also allows you to direct objects in tombs towards the individual. At Giza, we have the Tomb of Meritites, and her stele shows her soul listening to offerings that are being spoken to her. This implies that writing things down makes them last for ever.

Finally there is the Akh. This is the spirit and ascended form of ourselves, the venerated form of a spirit who has become "true of voice", having gone through the judgment and passages of Maat & succeeded, now living with Osiris in Aaru, the Field of Reeds. 

From the 5^th Dynasty onwards, we get an explosion of decorated space and art inside tombs. For the first time, the tomb is exploited as a means of decoration that shows the wealth and power of an individual. 

Democratising the Afterlife?

Up to this point, only the king can become one with Osiris once he died. After the Old Kingdom however, there was a change, and everyone could "become" Osiris. This is manifest through Coffin Texts, where people are syncretised with Osiris and called “OSIRIS-insert-your-name-here”, which displays a wide erosion of resources on behalf of the king and an increasing amount of access to commoners.

The 5^th and 6^th Dynasties saw many changes. What was a centralised cult culture in the 4^th dynasty was now spreading and widening into the hinterland and being used by commoners.

During the First Intermediate Period, there were two types of tomb, a Saaf tomb (with rows and pillars) or a rock cut burial.

During the Middle Kingdom, the cemetery of Beni Hassan was one of the most important sites. Each Nome had a province where the Nomarchs and viziers built their own tombs. Beni Hassan is often called the Graveyard of Nomarchs.

Beni Hassan tomb 17, BN17, (of a guy called Khety) actually displays false columns and decorated walls with the central part being the image of the tomb owner receiving offerings and presiding over everything else.

In comparison BN02, the tomb of Amenemhat has the statue open to walk in and out rather than in a closed off room. In total, Beni Hassan has 39 elite tombs and 900 shaft tombs. The 39 elites are positioned on the high end of the slope to indicate importance, while the shaft ones are all further down. Some of the people buried at the bottom of the slope also appear in iconography of the elite on the upper slope indicating a link between the cemeteries.