Ancient Egypt - The king and ideology: administration, art, and writing

ancient Egypt

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions
Introduction to ancient Egyptian civilization
- Life in ancient Egypt
- The king and ideology: administration, art, and writing
- Sources, calendars, and chronology
- The recovery and study of ancient Egypt
The Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods
- Predynastic Egypt
- The Early Dynastic period (c. 2925–c. 2575 bce)
  - The 1st dynasty (c. 2925–c. 2775 bce)
  - The 2nd dynasty (c. 2775–c. 2650 bce)
  - The 3rd dynasty (c. 2650–c. 2575 bce)
The Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2130 bce) and the First Intermediate period (c. 2130–1938 bce)
- The Old Kingdom
  - The 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 bce)
  - The 5th dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce)
  - The 6th dynasty (c. 2325–c. 2150 bce)
  - The 7th and 8th dynasties (c. 2150–c. 2130 bce)
- The First Intermediate period
  - The 9th dynasty (c. 2130–2080 bce)
  - The 10th (c. 2080–c. 1970 bce) and 11th (2081–1938 bce) dynasties
The Middle Kingdom (1938–c. 1630 bce) and the Second Intermediate period (c. 1630–1540 bce)
- The Middle Kingdom
  - The 12th dynasty (1938–c. 1756 bce)
  - The 13th dynasty (c. 1756–c. 1630 bce)
- The Second Intermediate period
The New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075 bce)
- The 18th dynasty (c. 1539–1292 bce)
  - Ahmose
  - Amenhotep I
  - Thutmose I and Thutmose II
  - Hatshepsut and Thutmose III
  - Amenhotep II
  - Thutmose IV
  - Foreign influences during the early 18th dynasty
  - Amenhotep III
  - Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton)
  - The aftermath of Amarna
  - Ay and Horemheb
- The Ramesside period (19th and 20th dynasties) (1292–1075 bce)
  - Ramses I and Seti I
  - Ramses II
  - Merneptah
  - Last years of the 19th dynasty
  - The early 20th dynasty: Setnakht and Ramses III
  - Ramses IV
  - The later Ramesside kings
Egypt from 1075 bce to the Macedonian invasion
- The Third Intermediate period (1075–656 bce)
  - The 21st dynasty
  - Libyan rule: the 22nd and 23rd dynasties
  - The 24th and 25th dynasties
- The Late period (664–332 bce)
- Egypt under Achaemenid rule
  - The 27th dynasty
  - The 28th, 29th, and 30th dynasties
  - The second Persian period
Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt (332–30 bce)
- The Macedonian conquest
- The Ptolemaic dynasty
- The Ptolemies (305–145 bce)
- Dynastic strife and decline (145–30 bce)
- Government and conditions under the Ptolemies
  - Administration
  - Economy
  - Religion
  - Culture
Roman and Byzantine Egypt (30 bce– 642 ce)
- Egypt as a province of Rome
- Administration and economy under Rome
- Society, religion, and culture
- Egypt’s role in the Byzantine Empire
- Byzantine government of Egypt
- The advance of Christianity

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Travel down the Nile to discover important ancient Egyptian cultural sites such as the Pyramids of Giza

For Students

Al-Jizah. Giza Necropolis, Giza Plateau, Cairo, Egypt. Side view of Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) rising in the background. The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids are astronomically oriented to be north-south, east-west (see notes)

Pop Quiz: 18 Things to Know About Ancient Egypt

Read Next

An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

This extremely well preserved Egyptian mummy is that of a man who lived during the Ptolemaic Period. His name, written hastily, can be read as either Pachery or Nenu; in the collection of the Musee du Louvre, Paris, France.

7 Surprising Uses for Mummies

Sunset over the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt.

Were All Egyptian Pharaohs Buried in Pyramids?

Cleopatra hieroglyphic carving the Ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Wall of the Temple of Horus at Edfu, Egypt.

What Did Cleopatra Look Like?

Olduvai Gorge or Olduwai Gorge, Tanzania, Africa (eastern Serengeti Plain) Where fossil remains of more than 60 hominins provides the most continuous known record of human evolution. Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey made discoveries here. Archaeology

7 Amazing Historical Sites in Africa

Discover

Aphrodite. Greek mythology. Sculpture. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

12 Greek Gods and Goddesses

solar eclipse, sun, moon, astronomy, space

How Do You Tell the Difference Between Total, Annular, Solar, and Lunar Eclipses?

Artist interpretation of a Space meteoroid impact. Meteor impact. Asteroid, End of the world, danger, destruction, dinosaur extinct, Judgement Day, Planet Earth, Doomsday Predictions, comet

10 Failed Doomsday Predictions

How Is Coffee Decaffeinated?

Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)

All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained

Still from the film Deliverance, 1919. The story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. View shows Keller in the cockpit/front seat of an airplane.

How Did Helen Keller Fly a Plane?

Pluto. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.

10 Important Dates in Pluto History

In cosmogonical terms, Egyptian society consisted of a descending hierarchy of the gods, the king, the blessed dead, and humanity (by which was understood chiefly the Egyptians). Of these groups, only the king was single, and hence he was individually more prominent than any of the others. A text that summarizes the king’s role states that he “is on earth for ever and ever, judging mankind and propitiating the gods, and setting order [maʿat, a central concept] in place of disorder. He gives offerings to the gods and mortuary offerings to the spirits [the blessed dead].” The king was imbued ...(100 of 34953 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.