Egypt hasn’t always been controlled from Cairo – in fact the city only took on its capital city mantle in 969 AD. The ancient Egyptian empire went through over a dozen capital cities in its history, the most notable being Memphis, Thebes, Amarna and Alexandria. But how did power shift between these bustling ancient hubs? And what was life like as a resident of an ancient Egyptian capital? A Divided Land Before the empire was united in 3118 BC, it consisted of two separate kingdoms: Upper and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt consisted of the valley regions of the south, taking…
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Saqqara, located 40km south of Cairo, was a vast, 6km-long necropolis for the ancient capital of Memphis during the 1st and 2nd dynasties. It is most famously recognised for its step pyramid, built for the 3rd Dynasty pharaoh Djoser (2635 – 2610 BC) – but houses thousands of ancient burial sites, with many more submerged beneath the unerring depths of the desert. It stands as not only a memoriam to the time in which it was developed, but also as a yardstick against which all future Egyptian funerary ceremony would be placed. The City of the Dead Saqqara was originally…
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Signs O’ The Times Egyptian hieroglyphs – streams of sometimes heavily stylised pictograms and letters, carved into stone or drawn onto papyrus parchment – are instantly recognisable relics of one of the world’s oldest and most famous ancient civilizations. But what on earth do they mean? And what of their place in the development of the Egyptian language, written and spoken, as a whole? Origins and Development Examples of written Egyptian date back more than 3,400 years, making it one of the earliest known languages in human history. The oldest bands of script discovered to date comprise a primitive system…
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The pyramids of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs have long stood proud as some of the world’s greatest architectural achievements. The heralded leaders to whom they were devoted are known throughout the world, yet the stories of the men who built them have remained hidden until recent times. Who were these people, how did they construct these massive mausoleums – and why did they devote their lives to such a breathtaking task? Modern archaeology and ancient testament may hold the key to these questions. Who Were They? Age-old storytelling, myth and the mysticism of the structures themselves, has led many in…
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Few events in the history of archaeology have stirred so much interest or had such an impact as the discovery of the tomb of the boy king, Tutankhamun in 1922. For the first time since serious exploration of the Valley of the Kings began in the early 1800s an intact tomb had been found. The finding unearthed the mummified remains of a king of Egypt interred many thousands of years ago, and revealed to the world the true wonder and artistry of the ancient Egyptians. The treasures uncovered at King Tut’s tomb stunned the world, and even today we stare…
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The burial chamber is the only room of Tutankhamun’s tomb which was decorated. The early and unexpected death of the young king left little time for preparation and, from the modest size and arrangement it is clear that this is a hastily converted commoner’s tomb not intended for a royal burial. Despite the sparsity of mural paintings in King Tut’s tomb, they are an essential part of the funerary process, and should not be overlooked. Funerary Rituals For a Pharaoh, and indeed for Egyptians in general, life was a preparation for death, the Afterlife and immortality. The ceremonies of burial…
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Empire Fuel The Roman interest in conquering Egypt around two millennia ago was far more than the love interest of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in Cleopatra VII (Cleopatra). Egypt’s location as the gateway to the Middle East and Asia, together with its extremely productive agricultural sector and educated populace, satisfied some of the most pressing issues facing the Roman Empire in around 30BC. During the resulting 680 years or so of Roman rule before Egyptians once again ruled themselves, the country become predominantly Christian and lose most of its ‘old’ religious temples. It also enjoyed economic growth and played…
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Origin of the Species Ancient Egypt was the first culture to domesticate cats, between 4,000 to 3,500 years ago, and has long been associated with the animal. Some have suggested that cats were introduced to Egypt from Iran. However, archaeologists have found the remains of a cat in a burial mound in Mostagedda (near Asyut) which dates to around 6,000 years ago, so it is much more likely that cats are indigenous to Egypt. Of the two breeds known to have existed – the African wildcat (felis silvestris lybica) and the jungle cat (felis chaus) – it is said that…
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Holding the symbols of office, she ascended the throne. Once the place where her husband sat, it was now hers, by a right that she was about to assert… Turning, she chuckled to herself as the long beard attached to her chin brushed her chest. She’d put on all of her dead husband’s regalia, knowing that despite her female form, the symbols would connote their own power. “By order of the god Khnum who made the gods out of clay, and who appeared to me in a dream last night, I was told to assume the rule of Egypt. ‘I…
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Wrapped In A Mystery The Sphinx of Greek myth was a baffling creature. She ambushed unsuspecting travellers, and then ate them when they couldn’t answer her riddles. But the original Sphinx – a colossal statue located at Giza, Egypt – is in many ways more enigmatic, and a riddle in its own right. This Great Sphinx spent most of its history buried up to the neck in sand, giving no clues to the colossal body, and the layers of meaning, lying below. Tuthmosis IV, the pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, apparently excavated the Sphinx, as did the Romans. But shifting…