Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for about 3,000 years, from the unification of the country around 3100 BC until the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. Few civilizations have lasted so long or left so much behind: pyramids and temples, writing, art, medicine, mathematics and a calendar close to our own.
A gift of the Nile
The Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt “the gift of the Nile”. Every summer the river flooded and left a layer of rich black silt on the fields, so Egyptians could grow wheat, barley and flax in a land that is otherwise desert. The Egyptians called their country Kemet, “the black land”, after that soil.
The great periods
Historians divide Egyptian history into kingdoms, separated by intermediate periods of division. The Old Kingdom (about 2686 to 2181 BC) built the pyramids. The Middle Kingdom (about 2055 to 1650 BC) is known for literature and art. The New Kingdom (about 1550 to 1069 BC) was the age of empire and of the temples and tombs of Luxor. The Late Period was followed by Persian rule, Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies.
What they gave the world
The Egyptians developed one of the first writing systems, hieroglyphs, and papyrus to write on. They built in stone on a scale never seen before. Their calendar of 365 days was the ancestor of ours. Their doctors wrote medical texts, and their mathematics let them survey land and plan huge buildings.
See it for yourself
Explore daily life in ancient Egypt, or visit the monuments on our Egypt tour packages.
