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The government of Ancient Egypt was known as a theocratic monarchy. This is a form of government in which a god or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage important affairs of the government. The ruler of Ancient Egypt was known as a 'king' up until the New Kingdom of Egypt (lasting from 1570 to 1069 BCE) when the term 'pharaoh', meaning 'Great House,' came into use. The king/pharaoh was an essential part of Ancient Egypt, as he was the one initially seen as an intermediary between human beings and the divine. The pharaoh ruled by a mandate from the gods and was supposed to represent the gods' will through the passing and approval of laws and policies. The first king was Narmer, also known as Menes, who established a central government after uniting the country, most likely by military means.

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There were three main periods/kingdoms of Ancient Egypt:

The Old Kingdom (about 2,700-2,200 B.C.E.) - The start of the Old Kingdom happened about 300 years after Menes united Egypt when its rulers formed a central government in which they held supreme power. During the Old Kingdom, there were many strong pharaohs and pyramid building flourished. Cheops had the six-million-ton Great Pyramid of Giza constructed as his tomb. Under Chephren, a Fourth Dynasty ruler, the Great Sphinx was built. The end of the Old Kingdom was marked by civil wars between pharaohs and nobles.

The Middle Kingdom (2,050-1,800 B.C.E.) - Mentuhotep II, an Eleventh dynasty pharaoh (2,007-1,956 B.C.E.), was the last ruler of the Old Kingdom and the first ruler of the Middle Kingdom. He and his successors restored political order and brought unity to Egypt.
The Middle Kingdom is memorable for its time of flourishing arts, particularly in jewelry making. Egypt also became a great trading power during this period and continued massive construction projects. Amenemhat III of the Twelfth Dynasty (1817-1772 B.C.E.) was one of the great rulers of the Middle Kingdom and was responsible for the construction of two great projects during his time as pharaoh. He completed the construction of the giant waterwheels of the Faiyum region that diverted the floodwaters of the Nile, as well as the Pyramid of Hawara, which became known as the Labyrinth.
Eventually, the long reign of prosperity gave way to old problems such as crop failures, economic distress, power struggles, and foreign invaders.

And the New Kingdom (about 1,550-1,100 B.C.E.) - The New Kingdom is remembered as a time of renaissance in artistic creation, but also as the end of dynastic rule. This period was marred by corrupt priests and tomb-robbing by government officials as well.

A famous pharaoh of this new period was Amenhotep IV, who triggered a religious revolution. Before Amenhotep's rule, Egypt was a polytheistic society that believed in many gods, the most important being Amon. But, Amenhotep only believed in Aton, the sun god. This belief in only one god, known as monotheism, was a radical concept. The pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaten ("he who is loyal to Aton") to show his devotion to Aton, and moved his capital from Thebes, the place where Amon was worshipped, to Tell el Amarna. The priests who represented the other gods did not like nor agree with the change at all. Many Egyptians also didn't like the pharaoh discrediting their gods. After the death of Akhenaten, the powerful priests forced the new capital to be moved back to Thebes.

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The ancient Egyptian civilization was located along the Nile river, inside of the eastern desert. The Nile river flowed towards the north, making northern Egypt lower Egypt and southern Egypt upper Egypt. The Egyptians relied heavily on the Nile's fertile lands to grow crops to feed their civilization. Because the Egyptians were located in a desert, they were rarely attacked.

-Nathan Nguyen

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Ancient Egyptian art includes paintings, sculptures, and architecture, along with many other arts. Some famous archeological monuments were the Great Sphinx of Giza, Temple of Debod, Karnak, etc.

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Egypts earliest calendar was organized according to the cycles of the moon. many agree that the Egyptian day began at dawn before that sun rose rather then sunrise. Since the lunar calendar could not predict the flooding of the nile the Egyptians came up with a 365- day calendar, they called it the solar calendar. It began in 4236 B.C.E.

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In ancient Egypt, people were ruled by the pharaoh. The pharaoh was someone god had chosen, they were honored as a god and were praised with riches. The people who did hard labor, like craftsmen and farmers were at the bottom.
-Nathan Nguyen

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The ancient Egyptians were polytheistic and their religion was centered around the pharaoh or ruler of Egypt. They were believed to be divine and acted as bridges between the people and the gods. Their role was to sustain the gods so that they could maintain order in the universe.
-Nathan Nguyen

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-The economy of Egypt was based on agriculture and used a barter system, an old method of exchange. The lower-class peasants farmed the land for crops such as wheat and barley, then gave the wheat and other produce to the noble landowner (keeping a modest portion for themselves), and the landowner then turned the produce over to the government to be used in trade or in distribution to the wider community.
-Egypt was known as the "bread basket" since farmers grew crops such as wheat, flax, and barley.
-The soil in Egypt was also fertile and easy to farm with because of the Nile River. This helped Egyptians gain surpluses of food.

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Hatshepsut, the daughter of King Thutmose I, became queen of Egypt when she married her half-brother, Thutmose II, around the age of 12. Upon his death, she began governing Egypt for her stepson as the infant Thutmose III grew older, but later took on the full powers of a pharaoh and became co-ruler of Egypt around 1473 B.C. As pharaoh, Hatshepsut extended Egyptian trade and oversaw notorious building projects, including the Temple of Deir el-Bahri located in western Thebes, where she would be buried. Depicted as a male in many contemporary images and sculptures, Hatshepsut remained largely unknown to scholars until the 19th century. She is one of the few and most famous female pharaohs of Egypt, and did a tremendous job as ruler for almost 20 years.

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Hatshepsut, the pharaoh that wouldn't be forgotten - Kate Green

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Hatshepsut, the pharaoh that wouldn't be forgotten - Kate Green

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The pharaoh that wouldn't be forgotten - Kate Green

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-Trade began in the Predynastic Period in Egypt (6000 - 3150 BCE) and continued through Roman Egypt (30 BCE-646 CE). Ancient Egypt's economy mostly operated on a barter system without cash. It was not until the Persian Invasion of 525 BCE that a cash economy was established in the country. Prior to this time, trade flourished through an exchange of goods and services based on a standard of value both parties considered fair.
-Goods and services were valued on a unit known as a deben. The deben functioned as currency, and one deben was approximately 90 grams of copper. More expensive items could also be priced in debens of silver or gold with proportionate changes in value.

-Trade began between Upper and Lower Egypt, and by the time of the First Dynasty of Egypt (3150 - 2890 BCE), trade was already long-established with Mesopotamia. A strong central government was created by the First Dynasty kings at their capital of Memphis, and a bureaucracy soon developed. It handled the details of running the country, including trade with neighboring lands. Mesopotamia was an early trade partner whose influence on the development of Egyptian art, religion, and culture has been noted and debated upon by many different scholars over the last century. However, it's clear that the earlier Mesopotamian culture, especially the Sumerian, had a significant impact on the developing culture of Egypt.
-By the time of the First Dynasty, international trade had been initiated with the regions of the Levant, Libya, and Nubia. Egypt had a trading colony in Canaan, a number in Syria, and even more in Nubia. The Egyptians had already advanced from building papyrus reed boats to wooden ships. The overland trade route through the Wadi Hammamat wound from the Nile to the Red Sea, and the goods were packed and tied to the backs of donkeys.

-Trading led to many advancements and the spreading of different ideas, which promoted cultural diffusion.

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The Economy of Ancient Civilizations of World History Egypt, Egyptian Trade Activity Instructomania

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The ancient Egyptians used methods of embalming, or treating the dead body, which is called mummification. The Egyptians removed all the moisture from a body using special processes, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay. It was important in their religion to preserve the dead body in as life-like a manner as possible. The ancient Egyptians' mummification and preservation of bodies were so successful that today people can still view the mummified body of an Egyptian and be able to visualize what they looked like in life thousands of years ago.

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-Ancient Egypt had three main social classes; upper, middle, and lower. The pharaoh was at the top of the pyramid as ruler. The upper class consisted of the nobles, rich landowners, government officials, important priests, and army officers/generals. The middle class was chiefly made up of merchants, manufacturers, and artisans. The lower class, also the largest class, consisted of unskilled labourers. Most of them were farmers. Prisoners captured in foreign wars became slaves.

-The society was dominated by men. The man was the head of the family, but women had extensive rights, and could own and inherit property and participate in trade.

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Hieroglyphics is a form of writing in Ancient Egypt that appears as pictures of people, animals, and objects. Hieroglyphic writing, whose name comes from hieroglyphikos, the Greek word for "sacred carving," has been found carved into stone walls more than 5,000 years ago, and was used up until the 4th century A.D.

The Egyptians adorned the insides of their temples, monuments, and tombs with hieroglyphic writing and wrote it on papyrus, a type of paper made from reeds.

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When ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were discovered, nobody knew how to read them. However, the Rosetta Stone became a valuable key to deciphering the hieroglyphs because the inscriptions say the same thing in three different scripts, and scholars could still read Ancient Greek, which allowed them the ability to translate hieroglyphs.

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-The pyramids in Egypt, especially the Great Pyramids of Giza, are some of the most magnificent man-made structures in history. Their massive scale reflects the unique role that the pharaoh, or king, played in ancient Egyptian society. Even though pyramids were built from the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the close of the Ptolemaic period in the fourth century A.D., the peak of pyramid building began with the late third dynasty and continued until roughly the sixth (2325 B.C.). More than 4,000 years later, the Egyptian pyramids still stand with much splendor, providing a glimpse into the country’s rich and glorious past.

-The largest and most famous of all the pyramids, the Great Pyramid at Giza, was built by Snefru's son Khufu, also known as Cheops. The pyramid's base covered over 13 acres and its sides rose at an angle of 51 degrees and were over 755 feet long. It originally stood over 481 feet high, but now it is around 450 feet high. Scientists estimate that its stone blocks average over two tons apiece, with the largest weighing as much as fifteen tons each. Two other major pyramids were built at Giza for Khufu's son, King Khafre (Chephren), and a successor of Khafre, Menkaure (Mycerinus). The famous Sphinx is also located at Giza, and it was carved during the time of Khafre.