Land of the Pharaohs

Rosetta Stone Stone slab, carved with three different scripts, which provided the key to deciphering hieroglyphs in the 19th century.

Rosetta Bastet Cat goddess who represented the power of the Sun to ripen crops. People worshiped statues of her at Bubastis.

Bubastis Tanis Avans Sinai Colossus of Memnon One of two great statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, built about 1350 BCE. Karnak Temple Largest temple complex in Egypt, dating from the Middle Kingdom.

Great Pyramid One of the Seven

Wonders of the World, this is the largest and oldest pyramid at Giza.

Lower Egypt

Giza Heliopolis

Memphis

Saqqara

Crocodilopolis

Hermopolis Nefertiti Queen of Egypt in 1353–36 BCE, when her husband Akhenaten moved the capital to Amarna. Nefertiti is famous for a beautiful sculpture of her, now in a museum in Berlin.

Amarna

Upper Egypt

Thebes

Sphinx

Great statue of a lion with a human head, built 4,500 years ago. Sobek In Crocodilopolis, people prayed to statues like this, which shows Sobek the Crocodile, god of rivers and lakes. Valley of the Kings

Burial ground of pharaohs of the New Kingdom. Tutankhamun's tomb was found, untouched, containing the golden mask of his mummy, in 1922.

“If anyone would know how great I am, let him

surpass one of my works.”

Thoth Baboon god of wisdom whose cult center was at the ancient city of Hermopolis, where people prayed to statues like this.

Narmer Palette Decorated stone that depicts the victories of King Narmer, the pharaoh who first united Egypt.

Pharaoh Ramesses II, inscription in his memorial temple, the Ramesseum, 13th century BCE

3100–

30 BCE Land of the pharaohs

Egypt was a narrow strip of fertile land along the Nile River, surrounded by desert. It was in the Nile Valley that the Egyptians built their immense pyramids, colossal temples, and secret tombs, containing mummies of their dead, cut deep into hillsides. Pharaohs were the rulers of Egypt for more than 3,000 years, from around 3100 BCE until the country became a province of Rome in 30 BCE.

Major city Pyramid Built as tombs for the pharaohs. Pyramids of the Old Kingdom sit near Memphis; those of the Late Period are in Nubia, or Kush (in modern Sudan). Temple Sacred monuments dedicated to the gods and goddesses of Egypt. Temples were built in every major city in both Egypt and Nubia.

Amada

Abu Simbel

Red Sea

Philae Island in the Nile River, near Aswan, that houses a complex of temples built in Greek and

Roman times to worship the goddess Isis.

Abu Simbel

Two huge temples carved out of a mountainside in 1264–44 BCE in honor of the reigning pharaoh, Ramesses II.

3,000 years of history

Ancient Egypt was one of the great civilizations of the world. It survived many invasions but ended when the Romans conquered it in 30 BCE.

YEARS BCE

30

332 ROMAN CONQUEST Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, ending 3,000 years of rule by pharaohs. GREEK PERIOD Greek pharaohs, installed by Alexander the Great, ruled Egypt.

747

1069

O L D E R 1550

1650

2055

2181

2686

3100 LATE PERIOD Period when Egypt was controlled alternately by native rulers and the rulers of foreign powers.

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD Egypt conquered by various civilizations, such as the Libyans, the Nubians, and the Assyrians.

NEW KINGDOM Era of wealth and good relations with other countries.

SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD Period when Egypt was again split into Upper and Lower parts.

MIDDLE KINGDOM Return to rule by pharaohs, bringing stability and wealth.

FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD First of three periods of instability and power struggles between different rulers.

OLD KINGDOM All-powerful pharaohs ruled and were buried in vast pyramids.

EARLY DYNASTIC Period following the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Nubia, or Kush

Gebel Barkal

Kerma Nile River

Kawa El-Kurru Nuri

King Taharqa Pharaoh of both Egypt and Nubia, shown in this statue, worshiping an Egyptian falcon-god. He made Nuri his capital and his pyramid was the first to be built there. Nile River

Meroë

Meroë Ancient city that was capital of Nubia during the Greek period of Egypt. It is the site of over 200 pyramids built as burial chambers.