Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was one of the world's oldest and most famous civilizations. It grew up along the Nile River in northeast Africa, in what is now the country of Egypt. It began around 3100 BCE, when a king named Narmer united the upper and lower parts of Egypt into a single kingdom. It ended in 30 BCE, when the Roman Empire conquered it. Between those two dates, ancient Egypt lasted for about three thousand years and built some of the most amazing structures in human history.

The Nile

Everything in ancient Egypt depended on the Nile River. Egypt is mostly desert, but the Nile flooded its banks once a year. It left behind rich black soil that was perfect for farming. Without the Nile, nobody could have lived in Egypt. The Greek writer Herodotus called Egypt "the gift of the Nile."

Pharaohs

Ancient Egypt was ruled by kings called pharaohs. Egyptians believed a pharaoh was not just a ruler but a god-king — a living link between the gods and people. A pharaoh had total power over the country. When a pharaoh died, Egyptians believed he kept ruling from the afterlife.

Some of the most famous pharaohs were Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid; Hatshepsut, one of the few women to rule as pharaoh, who ruled for more than 20 years; Tutankhamun, known as King Tut, a boy pharaoh whose tomb was found almost untouched in 1922; and Ramses II, who ruled for 66 years and built more temples and statues than any other pharaoh.

Pyramids

The pyramids of Egypt were giant tombs built for pharaohs. The biggest and most famous is the Great Pyramid of Giza. It was built around 2560 BCE for Pharaoh Khufu. It stood 481 feet tall. For nearly 4,000 years, it was the tallest building made by humans anywhere in the world. It was built out of about 2.3 million stone blocks. Some of the blocks weighed as much as 15 tons each.

How did the Egyptians build the pyramids? Nobody is completely sure. For a long time, people believed the pyramids were built by slaves. But modern evidence shows that the workers were actually paid Egyptian laborers who lived in organized camps and ate well. How they moved the biggest stones, and how they lifted them so carefully into place, is still debated. Some scientists think they used long straight ramps. Others think they used ramps that wrapped around the pyramid like a spiral. Some think they used ramps built through the inside. We may never know for sure.

Mummies and the afterlife

Egyptians believed in life after death. To get ready for it, they preserved the bodies of important people as mummies. Priests took out the inside organs (except the heart), dried the body with a special salt called natron for forty days, and wrapped it in hundreds of yards of linen. They tucked good-luck charms and prayers between the layers. Then they put the mummy in a decorated coffin and sealed it in a tomb, often with food, clothing, tools, and treasures for the person to use in the afterlife.

Gods

Ancient Egyptians worshipped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses. Some of the most important were Ra, the sun god, who crossed the sky each day; Osiris, god of the afterlife, who judged the souls of the dead; Isis, goddess of magic and motherhood; Anubis, the jackal-headed god who guarded tombs; and Horus, the falcon-headed god of the sky and kings.

Writing

Egyptians invented one of the world's first writing systems. It is called hieroglyphics, and it used hundreds of picture-like symbols. Only trained scribes could read and write, and they had high status in society. After ancient Egypt ended, nobody could read hieroglyphics for more than 1,400 years. The knowledge was lost. In 1799, French soldiers found a slab of rock called the Rosetta Stone. It had the same message carved in three different scripts, including hieroglyphics. This let scholars finally crack the code in the 1820s.

End of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt lasted for about 3,000 years — longer than the Roman Empire, and many times longer than the United States has existed. But it did not last forever. After many foreign invasions, Egypt fell to Rome in 30 BCE, after the death of its last pharaoh, Cleopatra. Over time, Egyptian religion gave way to Christianity and later Islam. The ancient Egyptian language was forgotten. But the pyramids still stand, the mummies still rest in their tombs, and archaeologists are still uncovering Egypt's secrets today.