All About Ancient Egypt - Egyptology for the rest of us
| Interesting
Facts about Ancient Egypt Look around you and you'll witness examples
of ancient Egyptian inventions. Many of today's household objects
were invented or used by the ancient Egyptians, including the lock
and keys, combs, scissors, wigs, makeup, deodorants, toothbrush and
toothpaste. |
Female
Rights in Ancient Egypt There appears to be no distinction between male and female rights in Ancient Egypt. Women had a unique position in comparison to other ancient societies. They could buy, sell and inherit land, the most valuable commodity of Ancient Egypt's slavery-feudal economic system. Women could initiate legal proceedings on... |
Ancient Egypt mummies are the earliest examples of the science of embalming, perfected and practiced by ancient Egypt priests since the first dynasties. Ancient egyptians were keen observers of all natural processes. The dry climate and other geographical conditions in ancient Egypt provide an environment... |
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Common ancient Egypt utensils were made from basic raw materials. Clay was used to create pots, spoons, ladles and other kitchen utensils. Palm leaves could be used to make baskets. Knives and hatches were made of stone and later of copper or bronze. Their blades grew dull quite fast. Late in the Roman period iron was finally... |
Ramses the Second, also known as Ramesses the Great and alternatively transcribed as Ramses and Rameses is the greatest pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, and one of the... |
Discovery
of the Bust of Nefertiti Ever since the amazing discovery of the bust of Nefertiti, this beautiful limestone portrait has been regarded as one of the greatest art masterpieces in the world. It was found in the atelier of the famed ancient... |
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How these incredible man made structures were built so early in history? What kind of social structure or system Egyptians had to make them capable of building them? These two questions deeply overwhelmed me the first time I gazed at the Giza Pyramids. Think of this: the Pyramids at Giza were built about 4500 years ago. They remained the tallest human made structure in the entire world for 3800 years. The Great Pyramid is made of... |
Thutmose
III - the Greatest Pharaoh This pharaoh is regarded by egyptologists and other experts in ancient Egypt history as the greatest of Egypt's kings, despite the fame of Ramses II. No doubt Thutmose III was Egypt's greatest warrior pharaoh. He transformed his country into the first great empire in the Ancient World, and was also a prolific builder of... |
The name of Amenhotep can be interpreted as "Amen is pleased" or "Amen is in Peace". In Greek, his name was called Amenophis or Amenofis. With his Chief Queen Tiye, the pharaoh fathered two sons: Thutmose, who predeceased his father and his second son Akhenaten,... |
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Egyptian art is unique in its approach
to visual representation. It follows a set of canons or strict rules
that cover a span of 3500 years. Ancient Egyptians knew nothing about
mathematical perspective, but then again, no one else did. Perspective
in art is a is a Renaissance discovery. |
Ramses the Great had a total of eight Royal Wives, but no doubt Nefertari was her most beloved. Nefer means beautiful in ancient egyptian, and she is thus portrayed in all statues and painted reliefs. Crowned by Isis and Hathor, an equal in the company of the great deities of Egypt, she is presented to... |
To the ancient Egyptians, animals were created by the gods and given rights equal to that of mankind. They saw animals not as their subjects, but rather as independent beings, and treated them with respect. The Nile served... |
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The names of great Ancient Egypt pharaohs are still mentioned these days, fulfilling their quest for immortality. Early in your Egypt tour you rapidly get acquainted with with Djoser and its magnificent Step Pyramid, as well as the family trio of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, builders of the Pyramids at Giza. The Sphinx's face is that of Khafre. Thutmose III, a... |
Here are some interesting Sphinx facts to know before your tour of the Giza necropolis. They will help you appreciate even more this fabulous Egypt icon. The Great Sphinx of Egypt is part of the funerary complex of the Egyptian pharaoh, Khafre, builder of the second Giza Pyramid, who reigned between 2558 and 2532 B.C. more than 4,000... |
Family
Structure in Ancient Egypt It is important to assert that much of the archaeological reference to family structure in Ancient Egypt reflects the life of well-to-do families. It it is fair, however, to assume that many of the habits and customs we find in text,... |
The
18th Dynasty - the Glory of Egypt King Ahmose is traditionally known as the founder of the 18th Dynasty, the first king of the New Kingdom, as he was the first of his family who ruled in Egypt without any opposition. The historical texts explain that Kamose did not complete the expulsion of the Hyksos, having died before he could finish the task. It was up to Ahmose to free the Two Lands of... |
Life after death in Egypt was not the compulsive obsession that many people ascribe to ancient egyptian civilization. This widespread misconception is perhaps explained by the fact that most Egypt tourists and travelers visit tombs and see funerary objects at museums. Life after death in Egypt was a preoccupation, but ancient Egyptians were perhaps more obsessed with life... |
From its prehistoric origin as a society of hunter-gatherers in the Nile delta valley, Ancient Egypt and government organization developed in a span of over 3,500 years, to create a hierarchy of power capable of controlling and placing raw materials and labor resources at the service of the head of... |
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To write a King Tut biography is rather peculiar, since his claim to fame is due more to his death and discovery of the treasures in his tomb than the actual life of the king. Not much is known about the life of Tutankhamen for Egyptologists to come up with a comprehensive King Tut biography. |
Social
Structures of Ancient Egypt The pyramid has been used as a visual metaphor to describe the social structures of ancient Egypt. The position of an individual in the social pyramid was determined by birth circumstances such as class, gender and race, and the relationship among social groups were determined by their... |
The most concrete source of information about the nature of ancient Egypt music lies in the actual musical instruments and paintings of musicians found in tombs. These include reed instruments, flutes, stringed instruments like harps, lyres and lutes, horns and a variety of percussion instruments. One particular instrument unique to ancient Egyptian music is the... |
| Living
in Maat - the Natural Order Ancient Egyptians observed early on that natural phenomena repeated itself in cycles. Maat was the name given to this concept of natural immutable laws, similar to the Greek concept of Cosmos. The annual flooding of the Nile was a recurrent event critical for the well being of the nation. Nobody knew the cause then, but the Nile always replenished the soil... |
Egyptian
Writing - Decoding the Past Egyptian writing is among the oldest forms of writing. It was employed everywhere, from religious texts to medicine, business and literature. Most of what we know about Ancient Egypt is thanks to those scholars who were able to decipher the ancient inscriptions, principally Champollion. Otherwise, Egyptian writing would mean to us merely a delightful ornament to temples and... |
Egyptian symbols and their associated myths arose from human observation of natural cycles and other natural phenomena. Ancient Egyptians drew parallels from certain characteristics of plants and behavior of animals to interpret their cosmological views. For example, the radiant yellow... |
| Hatshepsut
- The Female Pharaoh During the Eighteen Dynasty, something really unusual and extraordinary happened - a female took the title of King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and became the first great woman in recorded history. In ancient Egypt, women had a higher status than they did elsewhere in the ancient world, including the court-protected... |
A
Tour of Ancient Egypt History Egypt history is as fascinating as it is long. Pharaonic tours of Egypt take visitors to attractions that span the entire history of ancient Egypt. While not exactly chronological, most of these tours begin in Cairo and its surroundings, so visitors get to... |
Ancient
Egypt's Beauty Secrets The beauty treatments and procedures that many of us are enjoying nowadays are in fact inspired or derived from the practices of the old Egyptian civilization. It is not really surprising that Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony found Egypt as an interesting... |
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The Nebamun paintings are among the most famous images of Egyptian art, published in nearly every fancy illustrated book of ancient Egypt. These "jewels" of the British Museum have been part of the Egyptian collection since 1820. They depict different aspects of the idealized daily life of an 18th Dynasty noble, his family and friends in... |
Egypt
in the Popular Western Culture To the western imagination, ancient Egypt is often seen as an out of this world civilization. For centuries, the notion that religion, science, arts, agriculture and architecture developed in Africa long before Europe, has conjured up ideas of alien travelers from outer space or even a highly advanced civilization from... |
Akhenaten
- Heretic or Visionary? Akhenaten is an odd ball among Egyptian pharaohs. In a culture where adherence to tradition was a widely respected virtue, he skewed Egyptian belief right and left. As pharaoh, Akhenaten became a religious revolutionary, the so-called... |
The Great Pyramid - Building Theories
Most archaeologists agree that a system of ramps must have been used to drag the millions of blocks into their positions in the various pyramids. Previous theories have suggested that the Great Pyramid builders raised the man made structure’s millions of stone blocks using an external ramp, either extended, or spiral... |
Senet - The Game of the Pharaohs
It appears that Senet began as a simple game popular across all social classes and later acquired a symbolic, ritual function. |
The great discoverer of the treasures of King Tutankhamen, Howard Carter, was born on May 9, 1874 to Samuel John and Martha Joyce (Sands) Carter in Kensington, England. A sick, home schooled child, Carter learned to draw and paint from his father, an accomplished Victorian artist. These skills helped Howard... |
