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The Predynastic Period (5000-3100BCE) was the beginning of Egypt. During this period, successors of the Paleolithic residents moved to Nile Valley.

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Predynastic Egypt

The peoples of predynastic Egypt were the successors of the Paleolithic inhabitants of northeastern Africa, who had spread over much of its area; during wet phases they had left remains in regions as inhospitable as the Great Sand Sea. The final desiccation of the Sahara was not complete until the end of the 3rd millennium bce; over thousands of years people must have migrated from there to the Nile valley, the environment of which improved as the region dried out. In this process the decisive change from the nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life of Paleolithic times to settled agriculture has not so far been identified. Sometime after 5000 bce the raising of crops was introduced, probably on a horticultural scale, in small local cultures that seem to have penetrated southward through Egypt into the oases and the Sudan. Several of the basic food plants that were grown are native to the Middle East, so the new techniques probably spread from there. No large-scale migration need have been involved, and the cultures were at first largely self-contained. The preserved evidence for them is unrepresentative because it comes from the low desert, where relatively few people lived; as was the case later, most people probably settled in the valley and delta.

The earliest known Neolithic cultures in Egypt have been found at Marimda Banī Salāma, on the southwestern edge of the delta, and farther to the southwest, in Al-Fayyūm. The site at Marimda Banī Salāma, which dates to the 6th-5th millennium bce, gives evidence of settlement and shows that cereals were grown. In Al-Fayyūm, where evidence dates to the 5th millennium bce, the settlements were near the shore of Lake Qārūn, and the settlers engaged in fishing. Marimda is a very large site that was occupied for many centuries. The inhabitants lived in lightly built huts; they may have buried their dead within their houses, but areas where burials have been found may not have been occupied by dwellings at the same time. Pottery was used in both cultures. In addition to these Egyptian Neolithic cultures, others have been identified in the Western Desert, in the Second Cataract area, and north of Khartoum. Some of these are as early as the Egyptian ones, while others overlapped with the succeeding Egyptian predynastic cultures.

In Upper Egypt, between Asyūṭ and Luxor (Al-Uqṣur), have been found the Tasian culture (named for Dayr Tāsā) and the Badarian culture (named for Al-Badārī); these date from the late 5th millennium bce. Most of the evidence for them comes from cemeteries, where the burials included fine black-topped red pottery, ornaments, some copper objects, and glazed steatite beads. The most characteristic predynastic luxury objects, slate palettes for grinding cosmetics, occur for the first time in this period. The burials show little differentiation of wealth and status and seem to belong to a peasant culture without central political organization.

Probably contemporary with both predynastic and dynastic times are thousands of rock drawings of a wide range of motifs, including boats, found throughout the Eastern Desert, in Lower Nubia, and as far west as Mount ʾUwaynāt, which stands near modern Egypt's borders with Libya and Sudan in the southwest. The drawings show that nomads were common throughout the desert, probably to the late 3rd millennium bce, but they cannot be dated precisely; they may all have been produced by nomads, or inhabitants of the Nile valley may often have penetrated the desert and made drawings.

Naqādah I, named for the major site of Naqādah but also called Amratian for Al-ʿĀmirah, is a distinct phase that succeeded the Badarian. It has been found as far south as Al-Kawm al-Aḥmar (Hierakonpolis; ancient Egyptian Nekhen), near the sandstone barrier of Mount Silsilah, which was the cultural boundary of Egypt in predynastic times. Naqādah I differs from its Badarian predecessor in its density of settlement and the typology of its material culture but hardly at all in the social organization implied by the archaeological finds. Burials were in shallow pits in which the bodies were placed facing to the west, like those of later Egyptians. Notable types of material found in graves are fine pottery decorated with representational designs in white on red, figurines of men and women, and hard stone mace-heads that are the precursors of important late predynastic objects.

Naqādah II, also known as Gerzean for Girza (Jirza), is the most important predynastic culture. The heartland of its development was the same as that of Naqādah I, but it spread gradually throughout the country. South of Mount Silsilah, sites of the culturally similar Nubian A Group are found as far as the Second Cataract of the Nile and beyond; these have a long span, continuing as late as the Egyptian Early Dynastic period. During Naqādah II, large sites developed at Al-Kawm al-Aḥmar, Naqādah, and Abydos (Abīdūs), showing by their size the concentration of settlement, as well as exhibiting increasing differentiation in wealth and status. Few sites have been identified between Asyūṭ and Al-Fayyūm, and this region may have been sparsely settled, perhaps supporting a pastoral rather than agricultural population. Near present-day Cairo-at Al-ʿUmāri, Al-Maʿādi, and Wādī Dijlah and stretching as far south as the latitude of Al-Fayyūm-are sites of a separate, contemporary culture. Al-Maʿādi was an extensive settlement that traded with the Middle East and probably acted as an intermediary for transmitting goods to the south. In this period, imports of lapis lazuli provide evidence that trade networks extended as far afield as Afghanistan.

The material culture of Naqādah II included increasing numbers of prestige objects. The characteristic mortuary pottery is made of buff desert clay, principally from around Qinā, and is decorated in red with pictures of uncertain meaning showing boats, animals, and scenes with human figures. Stone vases, many made of hard stones that come from remote areas of the Eastern Desert, are common and of remarkable quality, and cosmetic palettes display elaborate designs, with outlines in the form of animals, birds, or fish. Flint was worked with extraordinary skill to produce large ceremonial knives of a type that continued in use during dynastic times.

Egyptian clay vessel Holle Bildarchiv, Baden-Baden

Sites of late Naqādah II (sometimes termed Naqādah III) are found throughout Egypt, including the Memphite area and the delta region, and appear to have replaced the local Lower Egyptian cultures. Links with the Middle East intensified, and some distinctively Mesopotamian motifs and objects were briefly in fashion in Egypt. The cultural unification of the country probably accompanied a political unification, but this must have proceeded in stages and cannot be reconstructed in detail. In an intermediate stage, local states may have formed at Al-Kawm al-Aḥmar, Naqādah, and Abydos and in the delta at such sites as Buto (modern Kawm al-Farāʿīn) and Sais (Ṣā al-Ḥajar). Ultimately, Abydos became preeminent; its late predynastic cemetery of Umm al-Qaʿāb was extended to form the burial place of the kings of the 1st dynasty. In the latest predynastic period, objects bearing written symbols of royalty were deposited throughout the country, and primitive writing also appeared in marks on pottery. Because the basic symbol for the king, a falcon on a decorated palace facade, hardly varies, these objects are thought to have belonged to a single line of kings or a single state, not to a set of small states. This symbol became the royal Horus name, the first element in a king's titulary, which presented the reigning king as the manifestation of an aspect of the god Horus, the leading god of the country. Over the next few centuries several further definitions of the king's presence were added to this one.

Thus, at this time Egypt seems to have been a state unified under kings who introduced writing and the first bureaucratic administration. These kings, who could have ruled for more than a century, may correspond with a set of names preserved on the Palermo Stone, but no direct identification can be made between them. The latest was probably Narmer, whose name has been found near Memphis, at Abydos, on a ceremonial palette and mace-head from Al-Kawm al-Aḥmar, and at the Palestinian sites of Tall Gat and ʿArad. The relief scenes on the palette show him wearing the two chief crowns of Egypt and defeating northern enemies, but these probably are stereotyped symbols of the king's power and role and not records of specific events of his reign. They demonstrate that the position of the king in society and its presentation in mixed pictorial and written form had been elaborated by the early 3rd millennium bce.

During this time Egyptian artistic style and conventions were formulated, together with writing. The process led to a complete and remarkably rapid transformation of material culture, so that many dynastic Egyptian prestige objects hardly resembled their forerunners.

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Ancient Egypt - The Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods

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Ancient Egypt - Ancient Egypt - The Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods: The peoples of predynastic Egypt were the successors of the Paleolithic inhabitants of northeastern Africa, who had spread over much of its area; during wet phases they had left remains in regions as inhospitable as the Great Sand Sea.

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The first way of writing for the Ancient Egyptians was through ink. They made their ink substance out of burning wood and oil.

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An analysis of 12 ancient papyrus fragments has revealed some surprising details about how the Egyptians mixed their red and black ink - findings which could give us a lot more insight into how the earliest writers managed to get their words down on the page.

We know that ancient Egyptians were using inks to write at least as far back as 3200 BCE. However, the samples studied in this case were dated to 100-200 CE and originally collected from the famous Tebtunis temple library - the only large-scale institutional library known to have survived from the period.

Using a variety of synchrotron radiation techniques, including the use of high-powered X-rays to analyse microscopic samples, the researchers revealed the elemental, molecular, and structural composition of the inks in unprecedented detail.

"By applying 21st century, state-of-the-art technology to reveal the hidden secrets of ancient ink technology, we are contributing to the unveiling of the origin of writing practices," says physicist Marine Cotte from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France.

The red inks, typically used to highlight headings, instructions, or keywords, were most likely coloured by the natural pigment ochre, the researchers say - traces of iron, aluminium, and hematite point to this being the case.

More intriguing was the discovery of lead-based compounds in both the black and the red inks, without any of the traditional lead-based pigments used for colouring. This suggests the lead was added for technical purposes.

"Lead-based driers prevent the binder from spreading too much, when ink or paint is applied on the surface of paper or papyrus," the team writes in their study.

"Indeed, in the present case, lead forms an invisible halo surrounding the ochre particles."

As well as explaining how the ancient Egyptians kept their papyrus smudge-free, it also suggests some pretty specialised ink manufacturing techniques. It's likely that the temple priests who wrote using this ink weren't the ones who were originally mixing it.

"The fact that the lead was not added as a pigment but as a drier infers that the ink had quite a complex recipe and could not be made by just anyone," says Egyptologist Thomas Christiansen, from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

"We hypothesise that there were workshops specialised in preparing inks."

Interestingly enough, the preparation of red ink inside a workshop has also been mentioned in a Greek document dated to the third century CE, backing up the idea of specialised ink mixing in Egypt and across the Mediterranean.

This technique of using lead as a drying agent was also adopted in 15th century Europe as oil paintings began to appear - but it would seem that the ancient Egyptians discovered the trick at least 1,400 years earlier.

The researchers are planning more tests and different kinds of analysis, but what they've found so far is already fascinating - another example of how modern-day scientific instruments can unlock even more secrets from the past, even down to coloured ink.

"The advanced synchrotron-based microanalyses have provided us with invaluable knowledge of the preparation and composition of red and black inks in ancient Egypt and Rome 2,000 years ago," says Christiansen.

The research has been published in .

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Researchers Decipher The Secret Ingredients of Ancient Egyptian Ink

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An analysis of 12 ancient papyrus fragments has revealed some surprising details about how the Egyptians mixed their red and black ink - findings which could give us a lot more insight into how the earliest writers managed to get their words down o

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The Early Dynastic (3100-2686BCE) period included the First and Second Dynasties. During the First Dynasty the capital of Egypt moved from Abydos to Memphis where an Egyptian God ruled. This Period lasted until 2686 BCE or the Old Kingdom.

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The The Predynastic Period of Ancient Egypt (prior to 3100 BC) is traditionally the period between the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the Pharaonic monarchy starting with King Narmer. However, the dates of the Predynastic period were first defined before widespread archaeological excavation of Egypt had taken place, and recent finds which show the course of Predynastic development to have been very gradual have caused scholars to argue about when exactly the Predynastic period ended. Thus, the term Protodynastic Period of Egypt (generally dated 3100 - 3000 BC) refers to the period of time at the very end of the Predynastic Period, equivalent to the archaeological phase known as Naqada III. During the Protodynastic Period, Egypt took the first steps toward political unification, leading to a truly unified state during the Early Dynastic Period. Also during this time, we see the Egyptian language first being recorded in hieroglyphs.

There is also strong archaeological evidence of Egyptian settlements in southern Israel during the Protodynastic Period, which may have functioned as colonies.

State formation began during this era with the rise of small city-states along the Nile. Centuries of conquest reduced Upper Egypt to three major states:Thinis, Naqada, and Nekhen.

Sandwiched betweenThinis and Nekhen, Naqada was the first of the Upper Egypt city-states to fall. Thinis then conquered Lower Egypt. Nekhen's relationship with Thinis is uncertain, but the two states may have merged amicably with the Thinite royal family ruling the whole of Egypt. The Thinite kings were buried at Abydos in the now famous Umm el-Qa'ab cemetery.

King Narmer. Most Egyptologists consider Narmer to be the last king of the Protodynastic period (although some experts place his reign during the First Dynasty), and the last of the so-called "Scorpion Kings", whose name may refer to, or be derived from, the goddess, Serket, a special early protector of other deities and the rulers.

Protodynastic Period, sometimes called Dynasty 0, has been used by scholars to name the part of the period which might be characterized as Predynastic by some and Dynastic by others.

ThePredynastic Period is generally divided into cultural periods named after the places where a certain type of Egyptian settlement was first located. However, the same gradual development that characterizes the Protodynastic Period is present throughout the entire Predynastic Period, and individual "cultures" must not be interpreted as separate entities but as largely subjective divisions used to facilitate easier study of the entire period.

The Archaic or Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt c. 3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the

Early Dynastic Period. First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis where an Egyptian god-king ruled a now unified polity that extended from the Nile Delta to the first cataract at Aswan. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south.

The distinctive hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion, took shape during theEarly Dynastic period.

Before the unification of Egypt, the land was settled with autonomous villages. With the early dynasties, and for much of Egypt's history thereafter, the country came to be known as theTwo Lands. The rulers established a national administration and appointed royal governors. The buildings of the central government were typically open-air temples constructed of wood or sandstone. State formation in Egypt was primarily indigenous in character, and it is likely that a common language, namely Egyptian, was spoken in Upper and Lower Egypt in variant dialects, which facilitated the unification. The earliest hieroglyphs appear just before this period, though nothing is certain about the spoken language represented by the writing at the time.

According to the historianManetho, the first king was Menes (likely reign circa 3100-3050 BC). However, the earliest recorded king of the First Dynasty was Hor-Aha (reign c. 3050-3049 BC), and the first king to claim to have united the two lands was Narmer (the final king of the Protodynastic Period). His name is known because it is written on a votive palette (the Narmer Pallette) used for grinding minerals for kohl, used by ancient Egyptians to outline the eyes. Funeral practices for the peasants would have been the same as in Predynastic times, but the rich demanded something more. Thus, the Egyptians began construction of the mastabas which became models for the later Old Kingdom constructions such as the Step pyramid. Cereal agriculture and centralization contributed to the success of the state for the next 800 years.

It has also so been interpreted that King Menes and the whole traditional story of an Egypt unified under a single conquering ruler, who led his armies and conquered lower Egypt to establish the first dynasty in the lower Egyptian city of Memphis, is just mythology as are the twin kingdoms story.

It seems certain that Egypt became unified as a cultural and economic domain long before its first king ascended to the throne in the lower Egyptian city ofMemphis where the dynastic period did originate.

Political unification proceeded gradually, perhaps over a period of a century or so as local districts established trading networks and the ability of their governments to organize agriculture labor on a larger scale increased, divine kingship may also have gained spiritual momentum as the cults of gods likeHorus, Seth and Neith associated with living representatives became widespread in the country.

During the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis where an Egyptian god-king ruled a now unified polity that extended from the Nile Delta to the first cataract at Aswan.

Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The distinctive hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period.

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Egypt: Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic Period

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The The Predynastic Period of Ancient Egypt (prior to 3100 BC) is traditionally the period between the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the Pharaonic monarchy starting with King Narmer.

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The Old Kingdom (2613-2181 BCE) was made up of the 4th-6th Dynasties. This period was also known as the Age of the Pyramid Builders. The 4th Dynasty was a time in which the Egyptian government was still pretty frail. This became even worse as during the 5th-6th Dynasties the government had completely collapsed,

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The Old Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2613-2181 BCE) is also known as the 'Age of the Pyramids' or 'Age of the Pyramid Builders' as it includes the great 4th Dynasty when King Sneferu perfected the art of pyramid building and the pyramids of Giza were constructed under the kings Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. The historical records of this period, the 4th-6th Dynasties of Egypt, are scarce and historians regard the history of the era as literally 'written in stone' and largely architectural in that it is through the monuments and their inscriptions that scholars have been able to construct a history. The pyramids themselves relay scant information on their builders, but the mortuary temples built nearby and the stelae which accompanied them provide king's names and other important information. Further, inscriptions in stone found elsewhere from the time record various events and the dates on which they occurred. Finally, the tomb of the last king of the 5th Dynasty, Unas, provides the first Pyramid Texts (elaborate paintings and inscriptions inside the tomb) which shed light on the religious beliefs of the time.

The pyramids, though, are primarily what the Old Kingdom is most famous for. Historian Marc van de Mieroop writes how the Old Kingdom is "possibly unparalleled in world history for the amount of construction they undertook" (52). The pyramids at Giza, and elsewhere, during this period required unprecedented bureaucratic efficiency to organize the labor force which built the pyramids, and this bureaucracy could only have functioned under a strong central government. Van de Mieroop continues:

Most of the 20-some kings compelled thousands of laborers to quarry, transport, put in place, and decorate vast quantities of stone in order to construct royal mortuary monumnets. They diverted enormous resources from the entire country for this purpose, filling a 70-kilometer-long stretch of the desert edge along the west bank of the Nile near modern Cairo with huge monuments still awe-inspiring today despite the ravages of time (52).

The 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom was a time of progress and a strong centralized government which could command the kind of respect necessary for such building projects. During the 5th and 6th Dynasty, however, the priesthood began to grow in power, primarily through their hold over the very mortuary practices which gave rise to the great pyramids, empowering the local officials of the districts and the kingship suffered. The Old Kingdom began to collapse as more and more local governors assumed more power over their regions, and the central government at Memphis was increasingly seen as irrelevant.

The 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom was a time of progress & a strong centralized government which could command the kind of respect necessary for huge building projects.

At the end of the 6th Dynasty, there was no longer a central government of note and Egypt entered a period of social unrest and reformation known as The First Intermediate Period (2181-2040 BCE) during which Egypt was ruled regionally by local magistrates who made and enforced their own laws. The rise of these local officials and the power of the priesthood were not the only causes of the collapse of the Old Kingdom, however, in that a severe drought toward the end of the 6th Dynasty brought famine which the government could do nothing to alleviate. Scholars have also pointed to the exceptionally long reign of Pepi II of the 6th Dynasty as a contributing factor because he outlived his successors and left no heir to the throne.

Many scholars today no longer see the end of the Old Kingdom as a 'collapse' so much as a transition to the new paradigm of the First Intermediate Period, when local rulers governed their districts directly and the kind of wealth previously only available to nobility became more widespread. The long-standing designation of a political and cultural collapse at the end of the 6th Dynasty is still considered viable, however, in that the central government's loss of power and wealth led directly to the regional rule of the district nomarchs.

The Third Dynasty & the Old Kingdom

The name 'Old Kingdom' was coined by archaeologists in the 19th century CE in an attempt to demarcate Egypt's long history. The Egyptians themselves did not refer to this period by that name and would have seen no difference between the period which preceded or succeeded it. Scholars traditionally included the Third Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2670-2613 BCE) in the period of the Old Kingdom because of the Pyramid of King Djoser at Saqqara, the first pyramid ever built in Egypt, seemed to link that dynasty to the building efforts of the 4th Dynasty, because the last king of the Third Dynasty was related to the first king of the 4th, and because Djoser and his successors ruled from Memphis ("the white walls") which remained the capital during the Old Kingdom. Recent scholarship, however, rejects that view as the construction of Djoser's pyramid is more in keeping with the Early Dynastic Period in Egypt (c. 3150-2613 BCE) than the Old Kingdom as are cultural practices and observances.

Djoser's architect Imhotep (c. 2667-2600 BCE) revolutionized construction in Egypt by building the king's tomb at Saqqara out of stone. Prior to Imhotep's innovation, tombs and other structures were built of mud brick. The early tombs of Egypt were mud brick mastabas, but Imhotep wanted a lasting memorial to his king and so created a complex with a stone pyramid as its center and surrounding temples; thus inventing the paradigm which would be followed by every dynasty which followed to greater or lesser degrees. Further, it was during the Third Dynasty that the independent states of the country came to be known as nomes (districts) directly under the rule of a centralized government at Memphis. These developments in architecture, politics, and also in religious practices - all a departure from the past - made it clear to Egyptologists that the Third Dynasty was the beginning of a new period in Egypt's history and should be included in the Old Kingdom rather than the Early Dynastic Period.

Today, however, scholars see the Third Dynasty as a transitional phase more closely linked to the earlier period than the latter. Even though Djoser's pyramid of stone was a wholly new creation it still utilized Early Dynastic Period techniques. The pyramid at Saqqara is actually a stack of mastabas rather than a true pyramid and, regarding the political reforms and creation of nomes, the central government of the Third Dynasty did not have the reach nor command the resources of the 4th Dynasty. For these reasons and others, the Old Kingdom is now thought to begin with the 4th Dynasty of Egypt, although, it should be noted, this claim is not at all universally accepted among scholars.

The First True Pyramid

The last king of the Third Dynasty, Huni (c. 2630-2613 BCE), was long thought to have initiated the massive building projects of the Old Kingdom in constructing the pyramid at Meidum, but credit for the Meidum pyramid goes to the first king of the 4th Dynasty, Sneferu (c. 2613-2589 BCE) who may have been Huni's son by one of his minor queens. Egyptologist Barbara Watterson writes, "Sneferu initiated the golden age of the Old Kingdom, his most notable achievements being the two pyramids built for him at Dahshur" (50-51). Sneferu began his work with the pyramid at Meidum now referred to as the "collapsed pyramid" or, locally, as the "false pyramid" because of its shape: it resembles a tower more than a pyramid and its outer casing rests around it in a gigantic heap of gravel.

The pyramid of Meidum is the first true pyramid constructed in Egypt but did not last. This is because modifications were made to Imhotep's original pyramid design which resulted in the outer casing resting on a sand foundation rather than rock, causing it to collapse. Scholars are divided on whether the collapse occurred during construction or over a longer period of time. Egyptologist Miroslav Verner cites the work of the archaeologist Borchardt in claiming that the pyramid was built in stages, which increasingly had the outer foundation resting on sand while the inner foundation was securely built on rock. When the workers reached the third stage of the building process, the outer casing, the structure lacked cohesion because it had no firm footing "with the result that during the final phase of construction a massive slippage buried the workers under the rubble" (162). Other scholars, however, disagree and claim that the outer casing lasted into the New Kingdom of Egypt (1570-1069 BCE). Still others, like historian Marc van de Mieroop, claim that it is impossible to tell when the outer casing collapsed.

Unfinished temples and other structures have been found at Meidum which suggest that the pyramid complex was never finished and so argue for an early collapse of the pyramid, most likely while it was still under construction. Sneferu learned from his mistake, however, and moved on to his next two pyramids at Dahshur.

King Sneferu & His Pyramids

Sneferu's pyramids at Dahshur are known as the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid (or North Pyramid). The Bent Pyramid is so called because it rises at a 55-dgree angle and then shifts to 43 degrees of smaller stones giving it the appearance of bending in toward the top. The workers had completed the foundation and the sides before realizing that a 55-degree angle was too steep and modified their plan to finish the project as best they could. Sneferu seems to have understood the problem and moved on to build his third pyramid.

According to inscriptions on the Palermo Stone, Sneferu was a much-admired king, who commanded great respect from his people. Barbara Watterson, commenting on the Palermo Stone inscriptions, writes:

He led military expeditions to Sinai to protect Egypt's interests in the turquoise mines, and to northern Nubia and Libya, bringing back from Nubia 7,000 prisoners and 200,000 head of cattle and, from Libya, 11,000 prisoners and 13,100 head of cattle. The prisoners were probably used to augment the work-force in quarries. In succeeding generations, Sneferu acquired the reputation of being beneficent and liberal and, according to a story recounted in the Westcar Papyrus, capable of the common touch in addressing one of his subjects as 'my brother.' (51)

Sneferu seems to have been a very accessible ruler who was undeterred by failure or disappointment. When the Bent Pyramid did not meet his expectations he simply started on a third attempt. The Red Pyramid (so called because of the use of reddish limestone in construction) was built on a solid base for greater stability, rising at a 43-degree angle. 344 feet (105 meters) high, the Red Pyramid was the first successful true pyramid built in Egypt. Originally it was encased in white limestone, as the other later pyramids were also, which fell away over the centuries and were harvested by locals for other building projects.

King Sneferu, through his military expeditions and judicious use of resources, established a powerful central government at Memphis which produced the kind of stability necessary for his vast building projects. Following the example of Djoser's complex at Saqqara, Sneferu had mortuary temples and other buildings constructed around his pyramids with priests taking care of the day-to-day operations once the Red Pyramid was finally completed. All of this argues for a stable society under his reign which he left to his son, Khufu, when he died.

Khufu & the Great Pyramid

Khufu (2589-2566 BCE) was known as Cheops by the ancient Greek writers and is best known for his Great Pyramid at Giza. The Greeks depicted him as a tyrant in their writings who oppressed the people and forced them to work for him against their will. This impression may have been made by the stories which make up the document known as the Westcar Papyrus, a collection of four stories written about the kings of the 4th Dynasty and discovered (or obtained from an antiquities dealer) in c. 1824 CE by Henry Westcar. The papyrus features four stories told by sons of Khufu and includes one where King Khufu calls a magician to court who claims to be able to reattach a severed head to a body, and some scholars have interpreted his actions in asking for a demonstration as cruel or thoughtless. According to Barbara Watterson, "the Westcar Papyrus portrays him as careless with life" and other inscriptions show him as "oppressive and autocratic" (51). In the story of the magician and the severed head, however, Khufu seems mostly skeptical of the seer's abilities, and the other stories, though related by Khufu's sons or successors, have to do with other kings. The Westcar Papyrus gives no indication that Khufu was a tyrant or oppressive in any way.

Most likely, the ancient Greeks who wrote of "Cheops" as a tyrant took their lead from Herodotus, who writes that Khufu brought to Egypt "every kind of evil" for his own glory, forcing "a hundred thousand men at a time, for three months continually" to work on his pyramid (II.124). Further, Herodotus claims, Khufu was so in need of money that he sent his daughter to work in the brothels of Memphis and demand a high price for her services (II. 124). His claims have been discredited through Egyptian texts, which praise Khufu's reign, and physical evidence, which suggests the workers on the Great Pyramid were well cared for and performed their duties as part of a community service, as paid laborers, or during the time the Nile's flood made farming impossible. Scholars Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs note:

Were it not for the two months every year when the Nile's water covered Egypt's farmland, idling virtually the entire workforce, none of this construction would have been possible. During such times, a pharaoh offered food for work and the promise of a favored treatment in the afterworld where he would rule just as he did in this world. For two months annually, workmen gathered by the tens of thousands from all over the country to transport the blocks a permanent crew had quarried during the rest of the year. Overseers organized the men into teams to transport the stones on sleds, devices better suited than wheeled vehicles to moving weighty objects over shifting sand. A causeway, lubricated by water, smoothed the uphill pull. No mortar was used to hold the blocks in place, only a fit so exact that these towering structures have survived for 4,000 years - the only Wonders of the Ancient World still standing today. (17-18)

The Great Pyramid, actually, is the only one of the structures at Giza which was considered one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World and with good reason: until the Eifel Tower was completed in 1889 CE, the Great Pyramid was the tallest structure on earth built by human hands. Historian Marc van de Mieroop writes:

The size boggles the mind: it was 146 meters high (479 feet) by 230 meters at the base (754 feet). We estimate that it contained 2,300,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2 and 3/4 tons some weighing up to 16 tons. Khufu ruled 23 years according to the Turin Royal Canon, which would mean that throughout his reign annually 100,000 blocks - daily about 285 blocks or one every two minutes of daylight - had to be quarried, transported, dressed, and put in place...The construction was almost faultless in design. The sides were oriented exactly toward the cardinal points and were at precise 90-degree angles. (58)

However Herodotus and the later Greeks viewed Khufu, his people admired him. During his reign, Egypt grew even more wealthy through his military campaigns against Nubia and Libya and his very prosperous trade agreements with cities such as Byblos. He also devoted resources to improving the lives of his subjects through agricultural innovations. Miroslav Verner writes, "during his reign the earliest known dam in the world was built in Wadi Gerawi, in the mountains west of modern Helwan" (155). This dam aided the farmers and others in the community by improving the water supply.

Although Memphis remained the capital of Egypt during Khufu's reign, he most likely lived in a palace at Giza to oversee the work on the Great Pyramid himself. In order to maintain maximum efficiency in government and waste as little time as possible, he gave the greatest amount of power to his most trusted family members, who must have been pleased with the arrangement as there is no record of internal strife during his rule.

Khafre, The Sphinx, & Menkaure

After Khufu's death, he was succeeded by a family member outside the legitimate line named Djedefre (2566-2558 BCE). Verner notes that early Egyptologists considered the destruction of this king's pyramid complex in Abu Rawash to be evidence of internal family strife but, actually, the "intensive devastation began in Roman times, when the monument degenerated into a stone quarry" and the Romans used the stone for other building projects (156). Djedefre was certainly Khufu's son, but it seems he was not his chosen successor. Theories regarding family conspiracies against him, however, appear unfounded.

The most important aspect of Djedefre's reign, however, is not his pyramid or the claim that he built the Sphinx but his association of the position of king with the cult of the sun god Ra. He was the first king of Egypt to apply the title "Son of Ra" to himself marking the kingship as subordinate to the sun god. In the Second Dynasty, king Raneb had linked his name to the gods and so established the king as the gods' representative on earth, the living embodiment of the gods. After Djedefre's reform, the king would still be seen as a divine representative but now in a more subordinate position as a child of god.

Djedefre is considered by some scholars (such as Dobrev in 2004 CE) the creator of the Great Sphinx of Giza while others attribute this monument to his brother, and successor, Khafre (2558-2532 BCE). The Sphinx is the largest monolithic statue in the world depicting a reclining lion's body with the head and face of a king. Traditionally this king's face is accepted as Khafre, but Dobrev and others claim it may actually be Khufu's. It seems likely that it was created by Khafre since it is perfectly in line with his pyramid complex and the Sphinx's face seems to resemble Khafre's more than Khufu's. Brier and Hobbs write:

Khafre's pyramid rises even higher than its famous neighbor, although it actually stood ten feet shorter when it was new. Its gleaming casing of white limestone, transported by boats from quarries across the Nile, still covers the top, laid over interior limestone blocks which were cut from the surrounding Giza site. Probably in the course of freeing these interior blocks, quarrymen struck a seam of harder rock they avoided, leaving a small hill. Khafre had this outcrop carved in the shape of a recumbent lion bearing his own face - the famous Sphinx. (16)

The pyramid of Khafre is the second-largest at Giza and his complex almost as grand as his father's. Little is known of his reign but the Greeks (who called him Chephren) viewed him just as they had his father: as a tyrant who oppressed his people in the interests of building his grand mortuary monument. Egyptian texts indicate he followed his father's policies and model of government in placing power in the hands of his closest family members and maintaining a tight control over policies and laws. Khafre associated himself with the god Horus (as earlier kings had done), and the Sphinx was considered an image of the king as the god Harmakhet ('Horus in the Horizon'). Unlike the kings of the Early Dynastic Period, however, Khafre - and those who came after him - referred to himself as a "Son of Horus", associated with the god but not the living god himself. The power of interpreting the will of the gods, though still within the king's sphere of influence, grew increasingly the provenance of the priests who served those gods.

Following Khafre's death, succession was again interrupted briefly when Baka, son of Djedefre, took the throne. He did not even reign a year, however, before Menkaure (2532-2503 BCE), Khafre's son, became king. Menkaure (known as Mykerinos by the Greeks) is viewed favorably by both the Greeks and the Egyptian texts. Like his father and grandfather before him, Menkaure began building his pyramid and temple complex at Giza. Although today the Giza plateau is an ancient sand-swept site on the outskirts of Cairo, in the time of Menkaure it was a city of the dead inhabited by the living who cared for it. Priests' homes, temples, workmen's housing, shops, factories, breweries, and all the aspects of a small city were present at Giza.

Contrary to the popular belief that the pyramids of Giza were built by slave labor (specifically Hebrew slave labor), they were actually constructed by Egyptians, many of whom were highly skilled workers who were paid for their time. The pyramids are thought to represent the primordial mound, the ben-ben, which first rose from the waters of chaos at the beginning of creation. Although slave laborers from Nubia, Libya, even Canaan and Syria, were most likely used in the quarries cutting rock or in the gold mines, they would not have been entrusted to create the king's eternal home in the image of the first earth to rise from the waters. No slave quarters have been discovered at Giza and no Egyptian records relate any event such as that set down in the biblical Book of Exodus. Workmen's quarters, supervisor's houses, overseer's homes have all been found and make clear that the work done at the Giza plateau in the Old Kingdom was performed by Egyptians working for compensation.

Menkaure's pyramid and complex is smaller than the other two and this signifies an important development in the history of the Old Kingdom and one of the reasons why it would collapse. The resources necessary for the building of the Great Pyramid were no longer available in Menkaure's time but he still drew on what he could to create an eternal home on par with his father's and grand-father's. Menkaure's son and chosen successor, Khuenre, died while the pyramid was being built, which upset the dynastic succession, and Menkaure himself died before the pyramid complex was completed. Although he reigned for some thirty years, he was not able to complete what his predecessors had done, and to many scholars (Verner and Watterson among them) this signifies the dwindling resources at his command. His successor, Shepseskaf (2503-2498 BCE), completed Menkaure's complex at Giza but was himself buried in a fairly modest mastaba at Saqqara.

The kings, as previously noted, were diverting enormous resources to their mortuary monuments and complexes, but these temples and shrines were increasingly no longer under the king's control but that of the priests who administered them. After Shepseskaf's brief reign the 4th Dynasty came to an end and the 5th began with much less promise than when Sneferu had succeeded Huni.

The 5th & 6th Dynasties & Collapse

It was Sneferu who had first associated his dynasty with the solar cult of the god Ra, but it was Djedefre who reduced the status of the king from a living god to the son of that god. The priests grew in power at the expense of the throne but, still, the king was the representative of the gods on earth and commanded respect and power. Exactly how much respect and power was waning, however.

The 5th Dynasty is known as the dynasty of the Sun Kings because the names of so many have the god Ra's name in them (usually given as Re). The first three of these kings (Userkaf, Sahure, and Kakai) would later be honored as divinely appointed in the story The Birth of the Kings from the Westcar Papyrus. The dynasty begins with the king Userkaf (2498-2491 BCE), but a woman named Khenkaues, most probably a daughter of Menkaure, features largely in the inscriptions of the time as "Mother of Two Kings of Upper and Lower Egypt" though it is unknown who those kings were. Her tomb is the fourth pyramid at Giza, and she was obviously a very important figure, but little is known of her.

Userkaf is best known for the construction of the Temple of the Sun at Abusir. This building marks an important departure from the role of the king at the beginning of the 4th Dynasty and the beginning of the end of Giza as the necropolis of the kings. The sun god Ra was now worshiped directly by the people through the offices of the priesthood and the king's role as direct representative of the god was diminished. Barbara Watterson comments on this:

In the Fourth Dynasty one of the components of the royal titulary, the nsw-bit (King of Upper and Lower Egypt) name was occasionally written inside a cartouche, thereby signifying that the king ruled over everything that the sun's disc, or Ra, encircled. The use of the cartouche became normal in the Fifth Dynasty, when kings adopted the title "Son of Ra". In previous dynasties, kings were deemed to be the earthly manifestation of the god Horus; but, in adding the new title to the royal titulary, they reduced their status from god to son of god. The king's divine authority was further eroded in the Fifth Dynasty when temples were erected at pyramid sites not, as before, for the worship of the king, but for the celebration of the cult of Ra. (52)

Userkaf was succeeded by his son Sahure (2490-2477 BCE) who built his mortuary complex at Abusir near the Temple of the Sun. Sahure was an efficient ruler, who organized the first Egyptian expedition to the Land of Punt and negotiated important trade agreements with other nations. Punt was among his greatest achievements, however, as it would become an important source of many of Egypt's most prized resources and, in time, regarded as a mythical land of the gods. Sahure built his own Temple to the Sun at Abusir and was the first to make use of the palmiform columns in architecture which would become standard for columns throughout Egypt from then on (the well-known columns whose tops are shaped like palm fronds). Sahure's military expeditions and prudent use of resources enriched the country as evidenced by the elaborate work done on his mortuary complex and inscriptions found.

He was succeeded by his son Neferirkare Kakai (2477-2467 BCE). Inscriptions indicate he was a good king and well respected, but little is known of his reign except that the priesthood grew even more powerful during his rule. His son, Neferefre (2460-2458 BCE), succeeded him but died a short time into his reign, probably around the age of 20. The king Shepsekare succeeded him, but nothing is known of his reign. He is succeeded by Nyussere Ini (2445-2422 BCE) during whose reign the priests of Ra gained even more power. The bureaucracy of the temples and mortuary complexes also increased, which placed increasing strains on the royal treasury which paid for the temple's upkeep and maintenance. The king Menkauhor Kaiu (2422-2414 BCE) succeeded him, but very little is known of his reign except that he was the last king to build a Temple to the Sun. He was succeeded by Djedkare Isesi (2414-2375 BCE).

Djedkare Isesi's origins are unknown. He is not considered the son of Menkauhor Kaiu but could have been related. His reign is marked by extensive reformation of the bureaucracy and the priesthood in an effort to maintain a stable economy. Djedkare Isesi rejected the traditional practice of building a temple to the sun god and reduced the number of priests necessary for the maintenance of mortuary complexes. He also organized the second expedition to Punt which enriched Egypt and further strengthened ties with Punt.

It is possible that Djedkare Isesi's departure from the cult of the sun god had to do with the development of the Osiris cult and their emphasis on eternal life through association with the god who had died and returned to life. Although the Osiris cult would not become popular until the period of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE), evidence strongly suggests that this former agricultural deity was already associated with death and resurrection during the Old Kingdom. The fact the Djedkare Isesi was venerated by his own cult for centuries after his death would support this claim. The Osiris cult eventually became more widespread and much more popular than the cult of Ra and Djedkare Isesi, as an early royal adherent of the cult, would have commanded great respect from later members.

The most significant aspect of Djedkare Isesi's reign, however, was the decentralization of the government at Memphis which placed greater power in the hands of local officials. This was done to lessen the costs of the massive bureaucracy which had grown up during the 4th and earlier 5th Dynasties. Although the idea might have made sense, it essentially gave more power to the regions where local priests were already influential enough to order governmental administrators about and so made the king's earlier efforts at curtailing priest's power almost irrelevant.

Djedkare Isesi was succeeded by his son Unas (2375-2345 BCE) about whose reign little is known. Unas was the first king of Egypt to have the interior of his tomb painted and marked with inscriptions which have come to be known as the Pyramid Texts. These inscriptions show the king in communion with Ra and Osiris which lends further support to the claim that Djedkare Isesi was influenced by the cult of Osiris in reforming the priesthood of Ra in that the king who succeeded him (Unas) placed the two gods on equal footing in his tomb.

The 6th Dynasty Decline & Collapse

When the 6th Dynasty began, the role of the king was already greatly diminished. During the reign of the first king, Teti (2345-2333 BCE), local officials and administrators were building more elaborate tombs than nobility. According to the 3rd-century BCE historian Manetho, Teti was murdered by his bodyguards, a crime which would have been unthinkable previously. He was succeeded by Userkare (2333-2332 BCE), who may have been behind the plot to assassinate the king. His reign was short, and he was then succeeded by Meryre Pepi I (2332-2283 BCE) under whose reign the nomarchs (local administrators of the nomes) became more powerful. This trend continued with the reign of Merenre Nemtyensaf I (2283-2278 BCE) and into that of Neferkare Pepi II (2278-2184 BCE), who came to the throne as a child and died as an old man, marking an incredible reign of close to a hundred years.

In the long reign of Pepi II, the Old Kingdom steadily collapsed. The growing power of provincial nomarchs along with the priesthood eroded the authority of the central government and king. Barbara Watterson writes:

Towards the end of the Sixth Dynasty, royal power declined rapidly, due largely to the unsustainable charge on the royal exchequer of maintaining the funerary monuments of previous kings and making gifts to nobles of mortuary equipment and endowments of offerings. The endowing of mortuary priests who served increasing numbers of tombs transferred wealth away from the king to the priesthood. At the same time, the power of provincial governors gew until they became barons of their own fiefdoms. (52)

Pepi II was followed by Merenre Nemtyemsaf II (c. 2184 BCE) with a very short reign, and the dynasty ended with Netjerkare (also known as Neitiqerty Siptah, 2184-2181 BCE) who is identified by some scholars and Egyptologists (such as Percy E. Newberry and Toby Wilkinson) as the Queen Nitocris from Herodotus' account ( Histories, Book II.100) of an Egyptian queen who avenges her brother's murder by drowning his killers at a banquet. Newberry offers especially convincing evidence that Herodotus' report, considered by many a myth, is accurate even though there is no Egyptian record of such an event.

Pepi II had outlived any successors to the throne and, in his later years, appears to have been a fairly ineffective king. When a drought brought famine to the land, there was no longer any meaningful central government to respond to it. The Old Kingdom ended with the 6th Dynasty as no strong ruler came to the throne to lead the people. Local officials took care of their own communities and had no resources, nor felt the responsibility, to help the rest of the country. As the 6th Dynasty passed away, Egypt slowly tumbled into the era now classified by scholars as the First Intermediate Period.

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The Old Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2613-2181 BCE) is also known as the 'Age of the Pyramids' or 'Age of the Pyramid Builders' as it includes the great 4th Dynasty when King Sneferu perfected the art of pyramid building and the pyramids of Giza were constructed under the kings Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.

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The Egyptian calendar was invented in 2510, during the Old Kingdom. Like other countries in the world, the Calendar was regulated by the moon. Their were problems with the original calendar which used star Sirius, due to it being 12 minutes shorter than a true solar year. The Egyptians fixed their problem by inventing the first 365 day calendar. Unlike today, this calendar had 3 seasons instead of 4 although the months consisted of 30 days like today.

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The ancient Egyptians originally employed a calendar based upon the Moon, and, like many peoples throughout the world, they regulated their lunar calendar by means of the guidance of a sidereal calendar. They used the seasonal appearance of the star Sirius (Sothis); this corresponded closely to the true solar year, being only 12 minutes shorter. Certain difficulties arose, however, because of the inherent incompatibility of lunar and solar years. To solve this problem the Egyptians invented a schematized civil year of 365 days divided into three seasons, each of which consisted of four months of 30 days each. To complete the year, five intercalary days were added at its end, so that the 12 months were equal to 360 days plus five extra days. This civil calendar was derived from the lunar calendar (using months) and the agricultural, or Nile, fluctuations (using seasons); it was, however, no longer directly connected to either and thus was not controlled by them. The civil calendar served government and administration, while the lunar calendar continued to regulate religious affairs and everyday life.

In time, the discrepancy between the civil calendar and the older lunar structure became obvious. Because the lunar calendar was controlled by the rising of Sirius, its months would correspond to the same season each year, while the civil calendar would move through the seasons because the civil year was about one-fourth day shorter than the solar year. Hence, every four years it would fall behind the solar year by one day, and after 1,460 years it would again agree with the lunisolar calendar. Such a period of time is called a Sothic cycle.

Because of the discrepancy between these two calendars, the Egyptians established a second lunar calendar based upon the civil year and not, as the older one had been, upon the sighting of Sirius. It was schematic and artificial, and its purpose was to determine religious celebrations and duties. In order to keep it in general agreement with the civil year, a month was intercalated every time the first day of the lunar year came before the first day of the civil year; later a 25-year cycle of intercalation was introduced. The original lunar calendar, however, was not abandoned but was retained primarily for agriculture because of its agreement with the seasons. Thus, the ancient Egyptians operated with three calendars, each for a different purpose.

The only unit of time that was larger than a year was the reign of a king. The usual custom of dating by reign was "year 1, 2, 3,...of King So-and-So," and with each new king the counting reverted back to year 1. King lists recorded consecutive rulers and the total years of their respective reigns.

The civil year was divided into three seasons, commonly translated: Inundation, when the Nile overflowed the agricultural land; Going Forth, the time of planting when the Nile returned to its bed; and Deficiency, the time of low water and harvest.

The months of the civil calendar were numbered according to their respective seasons and were not listed by any particular name-e.g., third month of Inundation-but for religious purposes the months had names. How early these names were employed in the later lunar calendar is obscure.

The days in the civil calendar were also indicated by number and listed according to their respective months. Thus a full civil date would be: "Regnal year 1, fourth month of Inundation, day 5, under the majesty of King So-and-So." In the lunar calendar, however, each day had a specific name, and from some of these names it can be seen that the four quarters or chief phases of the Moon were recognized, although the Egyptians did not use these quarters to divide the month into smaller segments, such as weeks. Unlike most people who used a lunar calendar, the Egyptians began their day with sunrise instead of sunset because they began their month, and consequently their day, by the disappearance of the old Moon just before dawn.

As was customary in early civilizations, the hours were unequal, daylight being divided into 12 parts, and the night likewise; the duration of these parts varied with the seasons. Both water clocks and sundials were constructed with notations to indicate the hours for the different months and seasons of the year. The standard hour of constant length was never employed in ancient Egypt.
John D. Schmidt Colin Alistair Ronan

Ancient Greek calendars in relation to the Middle East

Earliest sources

The earliest sources (clay tablets of the 13th century bce, the writings of Homer and Hesiod) imply the use of lunar months; Hesiod also uses reckoning determined by the observation of constellations and star groups; e.g., the harvest coincides with the visible rising of the star group known as the Pleiades before dawn. This simultaneous use of civil and natural calendars is characteristic of Greek as well as Egyptian time reckoning. In the classical age and later, the months, named after festivals of the city, began in principle with the New Moon. The lunar year of 12 months and about 354 days was to be matched with the solar year by inserting an extra month every other year. The Macedonians used this system as late as the 3rd century bce, although 25 lunar months amount to about 737 days, while two solar years count about 730 days. In fact, as the evidence from the second half of the 5th century bce shows, at this early time the calendar was already no longer tied in with the phases of the Moon. The cities, rather, intercalated months and added or omitted days at will to adjust the calendar to the course of the Sun and stars and also for the sake of convenience, as, for instance, to postpone or advance a festival without changing its traditional calendar date. The calendric New Moon could disagree by many days with the true New Moon, and in the 2nd century bce Athenian documents listed side by side both the calendar date and that according to the Moon. Thus, the lunar months that were in principle parallel might diverge widely in different cities. Astronomers such as Meton, who in 432 bce calculated a 19-year lunisolar cycle, were not heeded by the politicians, who clung to their calendar-making power.

The year

The civil year ( etos) was similarly dissociated from the natural year ( eniautos). It was the tenure term of an official or priest, roughly corresponding to the lunar year, or to six months; it gave his name to his time period. In Athens, for instance, the year began on Hecatombaion 1, roughly midsummer, when the new archon entered his office, and the year was designated by his name-e.g., "when Callimedes was archon," or 360-359 bce. There was no New Year's festival.

As the archon's year was of indefinite and unpredictable length, the Athenian administration for accounting, for the dates of popular assemblies, and so on used turns of office of the sections (prytanies) of the Council (Boule), which each had fixed length within the year. The common citizen used, along with the civil months, the seasonal time reckoning based on the direct observation of the Moon's phases and on the appearance and setting of fixed stars. A device (called a parapēgma) with movable pegs indicated the approximate correspondence between, for example, the rising of the star Arcturus and the civil date.

After Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire, the Macedonian calendar came to be widely used by the Greeks in the East, though in Egypt it was supplanted by the Egyptian year at the end of the 3rd century bce. The Seleucids, from the beginning, adapted the Macedonian year to the Babylonian 19-year cycle ( see above Babylonian calendars). Yet, Greek cities clung to their arbitrary system of time reckoning even after the introduction of the Julian calendar throughout the Roman Empire. As late as about 200 ce, they used the antiquated octaëteris ( see above Complex cycles).

Months, days, seasons

The Athenian months were called Hecatombaion (in midsummer), Metageitnion, Boedromion, Pyanopsion, Maimacterion, Poseideion, Gamelion, Anthesterion, Elaphebolion, Mounychion, Thargelion, and Scirophorion. The position of the intercalary month varied. Each month, in principle, consisted of 30 days, but in roughly six months the next to last day, the 29th, was omitted. The days were numbered within each of the three decades of the month. Thus, for example, Hecatombaion 16th was called "6th after the 10th of Hecatombaion." The Macedonian months were Dios (in fall), Apellaios, Audynaios, Peritios, Dystros, Xanthicos, Artemisios, Daisios, Panemos, Loos, Gorpiaios, and Hyperberetaios. In the Seleucid calendar, Dios was identified with the Babylonian Tashritu, Apellaios with Arakhsamna, and so on.

Similar to the Babylonian civil pattern, the daylight time and the night were divided into four "watches" and 12 (unequal) hours each. Thus, the length of an hour oscillated between approximately 45 and 75 present-day minutes, according to the season. Water clocks, gnomons, and, after about 300 bce, sundials roughly indicated time. The season division was originally bipartite as in Babylonia-summer and winter-but four seasons were already attested by about 650 bce.
E.J. Bickerman

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calendar - calendar - The Egyptian calendar: The ancient Egyptians originally employed a calendar based upon the Moon, and, like many peoples throughout the world, they regulated their lunar calendar by means of the guidance of a sidereal calendar.

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The First Pyramid also known as the pyramid of medium, was the first true pyramid ever constructed in Egypt. The pyramid did not last due too a foundation made of sand causing the pyramid to collapse.

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Around 2200BCE, the Minoans became the first civilization to settle in Greece. After the Minoans, came the Mycenean civilization found mainland Greece. The Mycenean civilization were great soldiers and builders. They fought in the battle of Troy told by stories from the Greek writer Homer.

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Find out who the ancient Greeks were - when they lived, how they were ruled and how they spent their time with this year 5/6 primary history guide from BBC Bitesize.

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The Middle Kingdom of Egypt lasted through 2030BCE- 1650BCE. This period of ancient Egyptian civilization contained the 11th-13th Dynasties.

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The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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The Middle Kingdom designates a period of ancient Egyptian civilization stretching from approximately 2030 to 1650 B.C. (Dynasty 11 through Dynasty 13). During this era, the cultural principles set out at the beginning of Egyptian civilization and codified during the Old Kingdom were reimagined, including the ideology of kingship, the organization of society, religious practices, afterlife beliefs, and relations with neighboring peoples. These transformations are attested to in architecture, sculpture, painting, relief decoration, stelae, jewelry, personal possessions, and literature.

Many Middle Kingdom monuments are poorly preserved, which contributes to the era's relative lack of modern prominence. Because Egyptian temples dedicated to deities were often replaced by succeeding kings, almost no Middle Kingdom temples remain standing. Many Middle Kingdom pyramids were constructed with mud-brick cores that eroded after their limestone casing was removed by ancient stone robbers. The lack of attention to Middle Kingdom monuments is unfortunate, as this was a period of beautiful artworks rendered with great skill and sensitivity ( 14.3.17).

The preceding Old Kingdom appears to have been an age of supreme confidence-at least through the scrim of five thousand years. This is exemplified by the pyramids, soaring monuments of solid stone that attest to the sophisticated organizational skills of the era; sculptures that portray youthful, self-assured individuals; and reliefs and paintings depicting abundant landscapes. The most accomplished artworks of the era project an arresting individuality and an overall impression of serenity and poise ( 52.19).

At the end of the Old Kingdom, centralized political control disintegrated and local rulers came to the fore, ushering in an era we call the First Intermediate Period. The collapse was perhaps the result of poor harvests caused by low Nile floods, although the reasons have been debated. Political power coalesced around two centers, Herakleopolis in the north and Thebes in the south, with the southern rulers eventually defeating the Herakleopolitans ( 57.95). In some sense, ancient Egyptian culture never seemed to completely recover from this cataclysm; in fact, according to the surviving Middle Kingdom texts, there was a more pronounced fear of chaotic forces and an emphasis on unity within the country. At the same time, the memory of upheaval may have proved inspiring to the ancient Egyptians, as it showed them that they could recover from periods of disorder. Perhaps this is at least part of the reason the Middle Kingdom was viewed in subsequent eras as an ideal epoch.

While Middle Kingdom culture represents a significant transformation of Old Kingdom society, the period itself underwent three distinct transitions, the first occurring between the end of Dynasty 11 and the beginning of Dynasty 12. Although within the norms of Egyptian representation, southern Theban art at the very beginning of the Middle Kingdom displays distinct local traits, including figures with attenuated limbs and emphasized eyes, and forms with a high degree of interior patterning ( 14.2.7). Some two-dimensional representations that seem to have little precedent are particular to the Theban area, including depictions of intriguing rites connected with the goddess Hathor and the beautification of queens. Tombs and temple have dramatic pillared facades, and these are set against the sheer limestone cliffs that are an impressive feature of the southern landscape. As the reunification of the country proceeded under Mentuhotep II ( 26.3.29), and closer connections were established with the north and its traditions, Theban artworks melded the styles and iconography of the two regions.

The early Middle Kingdom revival of Old Kingdom forms continued at the start of Dynasty 12 under kings Amenemhat I and Senwosret I, when a new capital was established in the north at Itjtawi, near the center of Old Kingdom political power. Sculpture, relief, painting, and architecture show clear affinities with Old Kingdom traditions, though some influence of Dynasty 11 remains ( 08.200.5). During these reigns the building of pyramid complexes resumed, accompanied by mastabas constructed as memorials and burial places for the elite.

While there is evidence that Old Kingdom pharaohs contributed artworks to temples dedicated to deities, royal patronage of such monuments expanded considerably in the Middle Kingdom. Particularly during the reign of Senwosret I, we find the first substantial remains of god's temples with stone walls, extensive relief decoration, and sculpture programs. Thebes witnessed the inception of one of the greatest temples of ancient Egypt, the Karnak complex, dedicated to the increasingly powerful god Amun. The presence of deity temples in important locations throughout Egypt can also be understood as a means to unify the populace and stress the king's dominant role in regional centers.

Much of our fascination with the Middle Kingdom lies in the dramatic shift that occurred in mid- to late Dynasty 12, during the reigns of Senwosret II, Senwosret III, and Amenemhat III. Unfortunately, no text explains these transformations, which are manifested in the remains of architecture, tombs and their grave goods, relief decoration, literature, and, most vividly, the sculpted faces of the kings and their courtiers ( 56.136). These changes must reflect profound alterations in religious beliefs and practices, the king's role as a political and spiritual leader, and the relationship between the king and his people.

Most intriguing is that these developments seem to have been pervasive and perhaps interconnected. For example, the more mature faces on statues of Senwosret III ( 26.7.1394) and Amenemhat III likely embody new ideas concerning kingship, in relation to either political power or the ruler's religious role. At the same time there were significant alterations in the form of the royal cult complex, which saw the emergence of different temple types, the shrinking of older ones, and changed location of the complexes. New types of symbolic jewelry worn as sets were deposited in the burials of royal and elite women, indicating further alterations in religious practice ( 16.1.6; 16.1.7a). There was a vast increase in the number of private monuments constructed at sacred sites such as Abydos and Elephantine, and these memorials feature depictions of large and extended family groups, including associates who were not kin. The larger family groups depicted on stelae find a contemporary parallel in tombs that accommodated multiple individuals. Beyond the religious sphere, around the reign of Senwosret III the political office of nomarch, or regional governor, was suppressed or phased out, a development that corresponded to the disappearance of elaborately decorated regional tombs. Concurrently, the production of certain types of objects ceased, including models of workshops, food-production facilities, and domestic structures ( 20.3.13), which first appeared in late Old Kingdom tombs and were prevalent in Dynasty 11 and early Dynasty 12.

The final era of Middle Kingdom transformation occurred in Dynasty 13, when about fifty kings ruled over approximately 150 years. While a few occupied the throne for longer periods, some reigned for a year or less. Kingship in Dynasty 13 certainly did not pass serially from father to son or even within a single family, but rather seems to have circulated among the leading families. It is unclear what happened to these short-reigning kings. One might speculate that the role of the king had become largely ceremonial, with rotating pharaohs serving for a limited amount of time and high-ranking officials wielding true political power. But surviving records do not substantiate such practices.

Imagery in Dynasty 13 transitions between the idealizing and humanizing tendencies of art from Dynasty 12, often combining the two. Magnificent statues of the kings were still created, despite the fact that most royal tombs seem to have been left unfinished and temple additions were limited. The numerous statues and stelae of nonroyal elite are often as fine as those of the earlier Middle Kingdom.

During the Middle Kingdom, monumentality achieved a greater balance between architecture and sculpture. While large temples, pyramid complexes, and tomb superstructures were built, none of these buildings had the same massiveness as their Old or New Kingdom counterparts. At the same time, overlifesize and monumental sculptures-largely, though not exclusively, depicting the pharaoh-became widespread ( L.2011.42). Monumentality was a device used by Middle Kingdom kings to stress their dominion over the entire country.

Contrasting with monumentality in Middle Kingdom art is a penchant for delicate, intimate detail ( 26.7.1275a-j). In some cases, Middle Kingdom artists lavished extraordinary attention and labor on parts of objects that were not easily visible. For example, Middle Kingdom jewelry was not only covered with impossibly tiny inlays, but the backs of the best pieces were embellished with elaborate chased decoration visible solely to the women who wore them ( 16.1.3a, b).

The Metropolitan Museum has long been at the forefront of the excavation and study of Middle Kingdom art and archaeology. Between 1906 and 1934 excavations were undertaken in the temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahari; the tombs of officials on the West Bank at Thebes; the pyramid complexes of Amenemhat I and Senwosret I at Lisht; and the mastabas of officials built at Lisht. In the last thirty years, excavations at Lisht and the pyramid complex of Senwosret III at Dahshur have brought to light fresh information about Middle Kingdom architectural forms, iconography, and artistic development. The Museum's collection of Middle Kingdom art is among the most important outside of Egypt, and includes pieces found during earlier excavations, when Egypt allowed finds to be divided with excavating institutions.

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Egypt in the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030-1650 B.C.) | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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The Middle Kingdom (mid-Dynasty 11-Dynasty 13, ca. 2030-1640 B.C.) began when Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II reunited Upper and Lower Egypt, setting the stage for a second great flowering of Egyptian culture.

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The Trojan War was a conflict between the early Greek civilization, and the people of Troy. The war started after the abduction of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris. After the Trojans were defeated, the Greek slowly made their way home.

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(1100-750BCE)
During the Dark ages of Greece, many important settlements in Greece were abandoned. This caused the population to decline at aa rapid rate. Due to the abandonment, the Mycenean writing system was lost so no written documents have ever been found.

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When we think of the heroes of Ancient Greece, chances are pretty good that most of those stories originated during the Mycenaean Age, which is considered to be a high time during Ancient Greek History. However, we do know that the civilization didn't last and when it collapsed, what followed was a period in history known as the Greek Dark Ages. Here's more information about this time period:

Characteristics of the Dark Ages

During the Dark Ages of Greek history, many significant settlements were abandoned, and the population continued to decline at a drastic rate. The Dark Ages lasted for about 300 years, and many people of Greece lived in small communities that moved accordingly. The people lived a more pastoral lifestyle and based their lives around their livestock needs.

During this time, the Greeks didn't leave behind any written records, and because of that, many historians believed them to be illiterate. However, later on in the Dark Ages, the Greeks appeared to have relearned how to write and adopted a new alphabet by the Phoenicians. This version of the alphabet and the language formed the basis for the modern Greek language.

Collapse of the Mycenaean Economic Structure

Before the Dark Ages, the Greeks followed the Mycenaean economic and social structure, which is filled with a strict class hierarchy and rule. The Dark Ages are the interval between the collapse of the old Mycenaean civilization, which was around 1200 B.C., and the Archaic, which happened circa 800 B.C. Almost all dominant Mycenaean settlements except for Athens, collapsed, and this led to many Greek people suffering. The oldest writing system of the Mycenaeans, the Linear B script, was lost around 1200 B.C. This is why it is tough for historians to have first-hand accounts of what happened during the Dark Ages.

Evidence of the Dark Ages

If there are no written records, how do historians know that the Dark Ages existed? Well, our understanding of the Dark Ages relies heavily on archaeological research. One of the significant features of this period is the iron working that is found on many sites. This gives the Dark Ages another, the Early Iron Age. Iron working seems to have been imported into Greece and appears to have come from the Near East. The metalworking methods during the Dark Age were not as impressive when compared to the previous Bronze Age practices.

Hard Times Ahead

After the collapse of Mycenaean culture and life, most of the buildings were left unoccupied. However, some of the sites were occupied, but they were not rebuilt. It is thought that the collapse was likely due to instability with the Aegean. Different wars, fights, and raids have led to the destruction of a vast civilization. Even though life became harder and things did change, some aspects of Mycenaean culture, such as pottery, did survive throughout the Dark Ages.

Settlement placement also became very interesting as people began to centralize themselves on remote and defensible areas. These areas were not occupied before 1200 B.C.. This showed that there was still turmoil during the Dark Ages, and people had to find defensive and strategic ways to live.

Restoration of Greek Culture

Around 800 B.C., the number of settlements did begin to rise again. Transitioning into the Archaic period, the Greeks were able to regain their ability to write by obtaining the Phoenician alphabet. They were able to restore contact with outsiders, and there was a new form of political institution, what we know today as the early poleis. This was a society leaving their dark times and going into a new way of life of a booming population and a higher level of social complexity.
Sources: Wikipedia - Mycenaean Greece Wikipedia - Dark Ages

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When we think of the heroes of Ancient Greece, chances are pretty good that most of those stories originated during the Mycenaean Age, which is considered to be a high time during Ancient Greek History. However, we do know that the civilization didn't last and when it collapsed, what followed was a period in history known as the Greek Dark Ages.

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The New Kingdom (1550-1070BCE) is known as the Egyptian Empire. This period covered the 18th-20th dynasties in Egypt. This was Egypt's most famous era with famous pharaohs including Ahmose I, Thutmose III, and Amenhotep III.

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The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt.

The New Kingdom (1570-1070 BC) followed theSecond Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the zenith of its power.

Possibly as a result of the foreign rule of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom saw Egypt attempt to create a buffer between the Levant and Egypt, and attained 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.

TheEighteenth Dynasty contained some of Egypt's most famous pharaohs including Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amunhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.

Though his name is not as well know as his successors, it was Ahmose I who set the nation on a course, continued by Thutmose III ("the Napoleon of Egypt": reign 1479-1425 BC) expanded Egypt's army and wielded it with great success to consolidate the empire at the peak of Egypt's power and wealth during the reign of his successors

Amunhotep II (reign 1427-1401 BC or 1427-1397 BC), Thutmose IV (reign 1401 - 1391 BC or 1397 - 1388 BC) and Amunhotep III (reign 1391-1353 or 1388-1351 BC).
Amunhotep I (probable reign 1526-1506 BC) and Thutmose I (probable reign 1506-1493 BC), under which Egyptian power reached its zenith.

The daughter ofThutmose I and consort of his successor Thutmose II, Queen Hatsheput (reign 1479-1458 BC) was one of the most successful of all pharaohs. Best remembered for holding power longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty, Queen Hatsheput strengthened Egypt by expanding external trade and sending a commercial expedition to the land of Punt.

Akhenaten is often misinterpreted as history's first practitioner of
A glimpse atmonotheism (the belief that only one God exists) and the precursor of Judeo-Christian monotheism. But Akhenaten did did not deny the existence of other gods. Eighteenth Dynasty power and wealth is possible by examining the headgear and jewelry of Tiye, the first consort and Great Royal Wife of the child Pharaoh Amunhotep III.

Matriarch of theAmarna family from which many members of the royal family of Ancient Egypt were born, one of Queen Tiye's sons Amunhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten, became one of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs, as did her grandson Tutankhamun ("King Tut") whose father was Akhenaten and whose mother was another of Tiye's daughters (Henuttaneb, Nebetiah, Iset, Baketaten, or Sitamun, who was also a ceremonial wife of her father, and Tiye's husband, Amunhotep III).

Amunhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten (reign 1353 BC - 1336 BC or 1351-1334 BC) in honor of the Aten. His exclusive worship of the Aten, which began during the fourth year of his reign, changed Egypt's religion from a polytheistic (worship of multiple dieties) religion to a henotheistic religion (worshipping a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities).

Akhenaten's Akhenaten's and Nefertiti's Great Royal Wife Nefertiti (c. 1370 BC - 1330 BC), played a prominent role in her husband's Aten worship, but is more famous today as the subject of the painted bust portrait, attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, one of the most reproduced works of ancient Egypt.

Found in Thutmose's workshop, the bust exemplifies the realistic portrayals of theAmarna style of painting and sculpture oracticed during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly after Akhenaten's death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, taking the name Smenkhkare (this identification remains an hypothesis and is a matter of ongoing debate).

Akhenaten's and religious fervor, which the priests found threatening, is cited as the reason why some of the art and building infrastructure created during Akhenaten's reign was defaced or destroyed in the period following his death and subsequent attempts were made to write him out of Egyptian history. Yet under his reign, during the 14th century BC, Egyptian art flourished in drama, literature and music and attained an unprecedented level of realism painting and sculpture that will forever be associated with his name.

Nefertiti's son and successor, Tutankhamun (reign 1333-1324 BC) was nine years old when his father did and became pharaoh and reigned for approximately ten years.

In historical terms, Tutankhamun is significant for his rejection of the religious innovations introduced byAkhenaten and the fact that his tomb (small relative to his status, probably because he died unexpectedly was discovered by archaeologist Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings almost entirely intact, including the fabulous royal sarchophagus and thousands of objects, which have been exhibited around the world.

Tutankhamun was one of the few kings worshiped as a god and honored with a cult-like following during his short lifetime.

While the cause of the death of "King Tut" may never be known with certainty, the most scientific conclusion to date was made by a team of Egyptian scientists working with Egyptian archaeologistZahi Hawass, who concluded, ased on CT scans made in 2005, that Tutankhamun died of gangrene after breaking his leg.

Towards the end of theEighteenth Dynasty, the situation had changed radically. Helped by Akhenaten's apparent lack of interest in international affairs, the Hittites had gradually extended their influence into Syria and Palestine to become a major power in international politics-a power that both Seti I and his son Ramesses (or Ramses) II would need to deal with during the Nineteenth Dynasty.

Ramesses II ("the Great": reign 1279-1213 BC) sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the Eighteenth Dynasty. His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh, on the banks of the Orontes Reiver in Syria, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II and was caught in history's first recorded military ambush. Thanks to the arrival of the Ne'arin (Canaanite mercenaries who swore allegiance to Egypt), Ramesses II rallied his troops and turn the tide of battle against the Hittites. The outcome of the battle was undecided, both sides claiming victory, which ultimately resulted in a peace treaty between the two nations.

Ramesses II was famed for the huge number of children he sired by his various wives and concubines. The tomb he built for his sons, many of whom he outlived, in theValley of the Kings has proven to be the largest funerary complex in Egypt.

His immediate successors continued military campaigns, though an increasingly troubled court [which at one point put a usurper (Amunmesse) on the throne] made it increasingly difficult for a pharaoh to effectively retain control without incident.

The last "great" pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely regarded to beRamesses III (reign 1186-1155 BC), whose long tenure in the midst of the surrounding political chaos of the Greek Dark Ages, saw Egypt beset by foreign invaders (Lybians aot the west and seafaring pirates known as the Sea Peoples), which set the stage for increasing economic difficulties and internal strife that eventually caused the collapse of the Twentieth Dynasty. I

In eighth year ofRamesses III's reign, the Sea Peoples invaded Egypt by land and sea and were defeated in two great land and sea battles. He claimed that he incorporated them as subject peoples 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. He also fought invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his Year 6 and Year 11 respectively.

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The cost of these battles gradually exhausted Egypt's treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. The first known labor strike in recorded history occurred 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 provisioned, and famine ensued.

After Ramesses III's death, endless bickering between his successorsRamesses IV (reign 1155-1149 BC), Ramesses V (reign 1149-1145 BC) and three short-term successors Ramesses VI, Ramesses VII and Ramesses VIII (whose one-year reign ended 1129 BC) enabled the priesthood of Amun to expand its control over the temple lands and state finances at the expense of the Pharaoh. Egypt was also beset by droughts, below-normal flooding levels of the Nile, famine, civil unrest and official corruption.

The power of the last pharaoh, Ramesses XI, became so weak in the south that the High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the effective defacto rulers of Upper Egypt, while a governor namedSmendes I controlled Lower Egypt even before Ramesses XI's death. Smendes eventually founded the Twenty-First Dynasty at Tanis - a very important royal necropolis of the Third Intermediate Period, which contains the only known intact royal Pharaonic burials, all earlier and later tombs, including the tomb of Tutankhamun, having been entered during antiquity.

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TheThird Intermediate Period usually refers to the time in Ancient Egypt from the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI (reign 1107-1078/77 BC) during the Twentieth Dynasty to the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC, following the expulsion of the Nubian rulers of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty.

The Third Intermediate Period is characterized by the slow motion fracturing of Egyptian kingship. Even during Ramesses XI's day, the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt was losing its grip on power in the city of Thebes, whose priests were becoming increasingly powerful. After Ramesses XI's death, his successor Smendes I ruled from the city of Tanis, and the High Priests of Amun at Thebes ruled the south of the country during the Twenty-First Dynasty. But this division may have been less significant than it seems to us today, since both priests and pharaohs came from the same family.

Egypt was reunited in theTwenty-Second Dynasty founded by Shoshenq I (who was probably the same as the Biblical Shishak) in 945 BC (or 943 BC). Descended from Meshwesh immigrants, originally from Libya, Shoshenq brought stability to the country that lasted well over over a century. But three pharaohs later, after the demise of Osorkon II (reign 872-837 BC), who joined an allied force that was defeated by Shalmaneser III of Assyria at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC, Egypt was shattered and split into two states with Shoshenq III of the Twenty-Second Dynasty controlling Lower Egypt by 818 BC and Takelot II and his son Osorkon, the Crown Prince and High Priest of Amun (and future Osorkon III), ruled Middle and Upper Egypt during the Twenty-Third Dynasty.

In Thebes, a civil war engulfed the city between the forces ofPedubast I, who had proclaimed himself Pharaoh, versus the existing Takelot/Osorkon line of succession. The conflict between these two factions was resolved in the 39th year of the reign of Shoshenq III when Osorkon III obliterated his enemies amd founded the Upper Egyptian Libyan Dynasty, ruled by Osorkon III, followed by Takelot III and Rudamun, the final pharaoh of the Twenty-Third Dynasty. But this kingdom quickly fragmented after Rudamun's death with the rise of local city states under petty kings such Peftjaubast of Herakleopolis, Nimlot of Hermopolis, and Ini at Thebes.

The Nubian kingdom to the south took full advantage of this division and political instability. Prior to Piye's Year 20 campaign into Egypt, the previous Nubian ruler - Kashta - had already extended his kingdom's influence over Thebes when he compelled Shepenupet, the serving Divine Adoratice of Amun and Takelot III's sister, to adopt his own daughter Amenirdis, to be her successor.

Twenty years later, around 732 BC, his successor, Piye, commanded an army that marched north and defeated the combined might of several native Egyptian rulers: Peftjaubast, Osorkon IV of Tanis, Iuput II of Leontopolis and Tefnakht of Sais. Piye established the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and appointed the defeated rulers as his provincial governors. He was succeeded first by his brother, Shabaka, and then by his two sons Shebitku and Taharqa respectively.

The international prestige of Egypt had declined considerably by this time. The country's international allies had fallen firmly into the sphere of influence of Assyria and from about 700 BC the question became when, not if, there would be war between the two states.

Despite Egypt's size and wealth, Assyria had a greater supply of timber, while Egypt had a chronic shortage, allowing Assyria to produce more charcoal needed for iron-smelting and thus giving Assyria a greater supply of iron weaponry. This disparity became critical during the Assyrian invasion of Egypt in 670 BC.

Consequently, PharaohTaharqa's reign and that of his successor, (his cousin) Tantamani (also called Tanutamun), were consumed by conflict with the Assyrians.

In 664 BC the Assyrians dealt the final blow in its war with Egypt by sacking Thebes and Memphis. The dynasty ended with its rulers stuck in the relative backwater of the city of Napata.

War with Assyrian caused rule in Egypt to shift (from 664 BC, a full eight years prior to Tanutamun's death) to the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, which was made up of client kings established by the Assyrians.Psamtik I was the first to be recognized by them as the King of the whole of Egypt, and he brought increased stability to the country in a 54-year reign from the city of Sais.

Four successive The Persians had already taken Babylon, and Egypt was no match. Psamtik III was defeated and briefly escaped to Memphis, before he was ultimately imprisoned and, later, executed at Susa, the capital of the Persian king Saite kings continued guiding Egypt into another period of unparalleled peace and prosperity during the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, from 610-526 BC. Unfortunately for the Saite kings, a new power was growing in the Near East - Persia. Pharaoh Psamtik III had succeeded his father Amasis II (Ahmose II) for only six months before he had to face the Persian Empire at Cambyses II, who now assumed the formal title of Pharaoh. Pelusium.

The historiography of the Third Intermediate Period is disputed for a variety of reasons, the first being the wisdom of using a single artificial term to cover one of the longest and more complicated periods of Egyptian history. Problems also exist about the basic chronology of events, which stem from the difficulties in dating, common to all of Egyptian chronology, and the lack of agreement in the dates of known events found in Biblical and Egyptian archaeology and early histories of Egpyt that we should not be to quick to discount.

For Ancient Egypt, the transitiion from the Third Intermediate Period to the Late Period was the last flowering of native rulers and truly indigenous culture on Egyptian soil.

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Egypt: New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period (1550-712 BC)

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The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. The New Kingdom (1570-1070 BC) followed theSecond Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period .

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Alexander The Great arrived in Egypt in 332BCE. During the time, Egypt was a satrapy in the Persian Empire due to the decline of Ancient Egyptian Empire. Alexander The Great would eventually conquer Egypt declaring himself the pharaoh Egypt.

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The last day of Ancient Greece came before the battle of Corinth in 146BCE. After the Romans won the war, they went on to destroy every last bit of Greece.

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Decline and Fall of Greece

Ancient Greece was an important factor in the development of Western Civilization in future.

Ancient Greece though was never a country but a series of city-states, each with its own form of government or rule of law.

The only time all the city-states of ancient Greece were unified was when Alexander the Great conquered and ruled the region for 12 years beginning in 338 B.C.E.

Instead we refer to ancient Greece as a civilization.

Ancient Greek culture was a springboard for Western Civilization because of its influence in the arts, philosophy, science, language, literature, political systems, theater, mathematics, and educational systems.

Most historians refer to ancient Greece beginning around 800 B.C.E. after the creation of hundreds of city-states.

Ancient Greece flourished between 800 B.C.E. and 146 B.C.E. but like most civilizations ancient Greece began to decline and fall, eventually being conquered by the ancient Romans.

The beginning of the decline

For years ancient Greece was hampered by internal strife between the various city-states.

These internal wars weakened ancient Greece after time. Around 338 B.C.E. King Philip II of Macedon came into power.

He proceeded to conquer much of ancient Greece including Thebes and Athens.

When King Philip II passed away his kingdom was passed down to his son Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great was an exceptional military leader.

After Alexander the Great finished conquering ancient Greece he proceeded to conquer Egypt and India. His rule was in place over much of the known world at the time.

Alexander the Great was instrumental in allowing a city's or country's culture to continue to exist after being conquered as long as the people stayed loyal to him. Therefore, he helped spread ancient Greek culture to many places in the known world.

The Hellenistic Period

After the passing of Alexander the Great, his empire was divided up between his generals.

At this point ancient Greece began experiencing a division in power among the city-states.

The city-states once again began fighting against each other.

Ancient Greece lost its grip hold on success and started to decline.

This period of ancient Greek history is referred to as the Hellenistic Period.

Alexander the Great was instrumental in spreading ancient Greek culture to places around the known world.

He built huge new cities like Alexandria in Egypt, Ephesus in Turkey, as well as Antioch in Turkey.

These cities became the center pieces of ancient Greek culture during this time period.

Ancient Rome rises to power

As ancient Greece declined during the Hellenistic Period, a new type of civilization was raising to power which was ancient Rome.

As ancient Rome grew in power the ancient Greeks grew weary of their threat.

A series of wars started beginning in 215 B.C.E. when ancient Greece partnered with Carthage against the ancient Romans.

This action forced ancient Rome to declare war on Macedonia in northern Greece. Several years later the ancient Romans defeated the Macedonians at the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 B.C.E.

The ancient Romans again won a crucial battle in 168 B.C.E. in Pydna.

The ancient Roman armies continued to pummel ancient Greece city-states as they marched.

The final demise of ancient Greece came at the Battle of Corinth in 146 B.C.E. After conquering Corinth the ancient Romans plundered the city and wrecked the city making ancient Greece succumb to ancient Rome.

Even though ancient Greece was ruled by ancient Rome, the ancient Romans kept the culture intact.

Over time ancient Rome wove much of the ancient Greek culture into their society which left a mark on future civilizations in the world.

Factors in the decline and fall of ancient Greece

There were several primary causes for the decline and fall of ancient Greece. Some were more important than others. Here is a short list of reasons that helped with the decline and fall of ancient Greece;

Ancient Greek city-states were ruled by different forms of government. Some by monarchs, others by oligarchies, and yet others by democracy or the people.

City-states always changed alliances with other city-states.

The constant fighting between the various city-states made ancient Greece weak over time.

Poor people in ancient Greece began to have uprising against the more wealthy classes of society.

Although the city-states shared much of the same culture they did not have loyalty to one another or for ancient Greece as a whole.

The ancient Greek city-states were not able to band together against a common opponent like ancient Rome.

Facts about Decline and Fall of Greece

Ancient Greece was never a country but instead a region with various city-states.

Ancient Greece is considered to be a civilization more so than a country or empire.

Ancient Greece flourished from 800 B.C.E. until 146 B.C.E.

The city-states of ancient Greece had different forms of governments such as king, oligarchies, and even democracy.

The only time ancient Greece was controlled by one ruler was during the reign of Alexander the Great.

Fighting between the various city-states weakened ancient Greece.

Ancient Greek city-states shared the same culture but had weak relations with each other.

The individual city-states of ancient Greece could not bond together to stop a stronger opponent like ancient Rome.

FAQ's
When did ancient Greece fall?
In 146 B.C.E. after ancient Rome conquered the various city-states and demolished the city of Corinth.
What caused the decline of ancient Greece?
There were many reasons for the decline of ancient Greece. One primary reason was the fighting between the various city-states and the inability to form alliances with each other during a time of invasion by a stronger opponent like ancient Rome.

Another reason was rebellions by the poorer people against the wealthier social classes.

Lastly after the death of Alexander the Great, ancient Greece was divided amongst his generals which led to more fighting between the various city-states.
How long did ancient Greece last?
Ancient Greece lasted from 800 B.C.E. until 146 B.C.E. But ancient Greek culture was imitated by numerous civilizations and kings including the ancient Romans and Alexander the Great.
Who was the ruler during the decline of ancient Greece?
The only time ancient Greece was unified was under the reign of Alexander the Great.

The ancient Greek city-states had many forms of government including kings, oligarchies, and democracy. The different forms of government in each city-state led to the demise of ancient Greece.

What Did You Learn?

Which empire conquered ancient Greece?

Ancient Rome

What was the last city demolished in ancient Greece when the ancient Romans conquered ancient Greece?

Corinth

What is the name of the period in ancient Greece after the death of Alexander the Great?

Hellenistic Period

How long did ancient Greece survive?

800 B.C.E. until 146 B.C.E.

Who did the ancient Greeks team with to fight the ancient Romans?

Carthage

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Decline and Fall of Greece - History for kids

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Ancient Greece was an important factor in the development of Western Civilization in future. Ancient Greece though was never a country but a series of city-states, each with its own form of government or rule of law. The only time all the city-states of ancient Greece were unified was when Alexander the Great conquered and ...

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http://blog.myparea.com/greek-dark-ages/

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mking/hd_mking.htm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z87tn39/articles/zxytpv4

https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/egypt02-02enl.html#:~:text=The%20Archaic%20or%20Early%20Dynastic,beginning%20of%20the%20Old%20Kingdom.

https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/The-Egyptian-calendar

https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/The-Egyptian-calendar