Egypt Timeline

Settlement in the Nile Valley Begins

5000 BCE

At around 5000 BC, the first Egyptians settled in the Nile Valley using the resources of the land to make a living. Early settlements would build their towns or villages around big water sources because it is important for food, drinking water, and cleanliness.

Invention of Writing

3320 BCE

This is one of the oldest known hieroglyphs that has been unearthed at Abydos, this is an ancient city that was a part of upper Egypt. Like many other developing languages, hieroglyphs used pictures to tell stories and myths about gods and historical events. The first unearthed hieroglyph was dated between 3320 BC and 3150 BC.

Upper and Lower Egypt Unites

3100 BCE

During the Early Dynastic Period, upper and lower Egypt were culturally different. They spent over a thousand years being separated and fought over land. Around 3100 BC, Narmer led his military to conquer lower Egypt and become the first king of both lands.

Advance in Mummification

2700 BCE

During the period of the Old Kingdom, mummification advanced into more rituals and traditions. They start to remove organs from someone who has passed, then dry the body with natural salts to start the wrapping process. They would then put the dried organs in a ceramic pot next to the mummy.

Old Kingdom

2686 BCE

The Old Kingdom lasted from about 2686 BC to around 2130 BC. This period of time started long-practiced traditions, monuments, and cultural concepts that would be taught for many generations. Many architectural pieces were made at the beginning such as mud brick houses, underground housing units, and cult buildings for the deceased king. The first pyramid would not be built until about 2630 BC for the 3rd Dynasty's king.

Great Pyramid

2600 BCE

After the first pyramid was built as a tomb for the 3rd Dynasty's king, architecture took off in Egypt. The first pyramid stands at a height of 204 ft and was the tallest building in Egypt at the time. This pyramid would be called "The Step Pyramid" with temples and shrines around it. The second pyramid called the "Red Pyramid" was known for its reddish color in the limestone blocks, this was used as a tomb for the first 4th Dynasty king. The last pyramid built was at Giza for Pharaoh Khafre.

Underworld

2100 BCE

As writing advanced, the stories about the underworld did with it. In coffins there would be writing on the walls of the tomb as "spells" to guide the dead person to the afterlife. This was usually seen in wealthy peoples tombs or people of royalty.

Middle Kingdom

2055 BCE

The Middle Kingdom went from 2055 BC to about 1650 BC. The Middle Kingdom is known as the transformational period, which started and fueled cultural principles, arts, and religious beliefs. The architecture keeps progressing in Egypt with more complex tombs, temples, and chapels for religious practices or burials for royalty. The reason why this civilization started becoming artisans and caring about architecture was because they didn't have to worry about food and basic survival.

First Woman Leader

1799 BCE

Queen Neferusobek was the first women to rule over Egypt and the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty during the Middle Kingdom period. She ruled over Egypt for about 3 years and was the first ruler to associate herself with the crocidile god by putting Sobek in her name.

Book of the Dead

1700 BCE

The book of the dead has about 200 spells that allegidly would protect the dead. Egyptians valued the afterlife and made sure that the people who passed were safe while they traveled to the afterlife, which is the reasoning as to why the book of the dead was made.

New Kingdom

1550 BCE

The New Kingdom, also known as the "golden age", was a ery successful period of time. By taking over Nubia this started the New Kingdom period starting the Egyptian expansion and many long lived kings.

Expanding Egypt

1500 BCE

The Egyptians set out for natural recources to claim and better their kingdom, in doing so they end up taking over Nubia. Gold and jewls were taken and harvested in Nubia and Ancient Egypt flourished.

Aten's Rule

1352 BCE

Aten, known as the sun disc, wanted to be worshipped as the only god in Egypt. You would be discouraged if you worshipped any other god or goddess. His rein did not last for long.

Tutankhamun (King Tut)

1336 BCE

Many people know King Tut as the boy king, his story being told all throughout history. He becomes king at the age of 9 and reverts Egypt back to their polytheistic ways which means they believed in multiple gods. King Tut died at around 18 years old with an nonroyal and incomplete tomb, it was later in 1922 when explorers found his incomplete tomb with King Tut as a mummy inside of it.

Kush Conquer Egypt

727 BCE

The Kushite Empire was settled along the Nile Valley or south of Egypt. After taking over Egypt slowly by controling upper Egypt then later controling lower Egypt, the Kush kings decided to divide Egypt up into 4 sections to let 4 kings control their own parts. This lasted until around 664 BC.

End of Native Rulers

332 BCE

After the Kushite Empire fell in Egypt, another foreign empire took over, the Assyrians invaded Egypt at around 673 BC and fell shortly after. Then the Persians directly ruled over Egypt from about 525 BC to 404 BC and went back after defeat to take control in 343 BC to 332 BC. After native rulers no longer sought out Egypt, they were safe from native rulers for awhile.

Alexander the Great's Legacy

332 BCE

King Alexander comes from greek to conquer Egypt and emerges successful. Once he's on the throne he makes many changes to Egypt to convert Egyptians to Greek customs. He changes the main government language to Greek and official documentations. The languages mix together creating a half Egyptian and half Greek language system. His ways and morals stick with Egypt for more than 300 years due to decendants keeping his beliefs after his passing.

Rosetta Stone

196 BCE

The Rosetta Stone is an agreement or more like a treaty. This stone is broken off of a bigger artifact stating the recordings of the whole agreement between one of King Alexander's decendants and the Egyptian priests. The Rosetta stone is written in 3 languages all in one form of writing, Greek, Demotic (Egytian), and Hieroglyphs.

Cleopatra

51 BCE

The most famous Egyptian ruler is Cleopatra, she is the last ruler of Egypt and soley ruled independantly. She mixed Greek customs and the language with Egyptian customs and language by being apart of both cultures. She was later defeated by Octavian and Egypt became apart of the Roman Empire.

Roman Egypt

29 BCE

After Cleopatra was defeated and the Roman Empire took over, Egypt became a producer to the Roman Empire by shipping big amounts of grain to the empire. Roman Egypt went through many hardships of native rulers and plauges but still emerged successful for awhile.