Illustrated History - Ancient Egypt

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY
ANCIENT
EGYPT
Miguel Ángel Saura

KEY POINTS IN THE HISTORY
OF ANCIENT EGYPT
3400 BC
End of the Ice Age
3200 BC
First hieroglyphics
2686–2125 BC
Old Kingdom
30 BC
The Romans
invade Egypt.
End of Ancient Egypt
51–30 BC
Pharaoh
Cleopatra
196 BC
Creation of
the Rosetta Stone

2550 BC
Construction of
the Great Pyramid
of Cheops
2055–1650 BC
Middle Kingdom
1550–1069 BC
New Kingdom
525 BC
Persian invasion
1200 BC
End of
the Bronze Age
1334–1325 BC
Pharaoh
Tutankhamun

4
INDEX
WHO WERE THE EGYPTIANS?
The Flood
Predynastic Egypt
Agriculture and Trades
Rich Egypt, Poor Egypt
Egyptian Religion
The Mummification Process
Egyptian Hieroglyphics
The Thinite Period
An Empire Is Born
The Funerary Rites of the Thinite
Period
The Second Dynasty
6
10
11
12
14
16
22
24
26
28
30
31
Timeless Art: The Egyptian Style
The Fifth and Sixth Dynasties
Pepi II
Nitocris
The First Intermediate Period
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
Mentuhotep II and Thebes
Amenemhet I
Amun, the Hidden One
Sesostris I and Kush
Amenemhet III and Al-Fayum
The Second Intermediate Period
42
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
58
60
62
64
THE OLD KINGDOM
Djoser the Builder
Snefru
The Construction of the Great
Pyramid
32
34
36
38

5
THE NEW KINGDOM
Amosis I and the Expulsion
of the Hyksos
Deir el-Medina
Queen Hatshepsut and Punt
Djeser-Djeseru, the Sublime
Obelisks
Thutmose III, the Conqueror
Amenhotep III
Akhenaton the Reformer
Tutankhamun, the Boy King
Ramses II
Ramses III
Medinet Habu
The Third Intermediate Period
68
70
72
74
76
78
79
82
84
85
86
90
92
94
THE LATE PERIOD
The Persian Conquest
Hellenistic Egypt
Cleopatra and Caesar
Mark Antony and Cleopatra
Roman Egypt
The End of the Ancient World
Destruction and Plunder
Napoleon and the Rosetta Stone
Archaeology or Looting?
Belzoni and the Mummies
The Treasures of Tutankhamun
Popular Culture. Epilogue
96
98
100
102
104
106
108
110
112
114
116
118
120

WHO WERE
THE EGYPTIANS?
7
The Egyptians lived in an ancient and mysterious world. Their
civilization lasted longer than any other in recorded history.
Its three thousand years of continuous history made Egypt
a unique place, so distant in time that history and legend
often blur. All civilizations erected monuments, but none
created them as grandly and impressively as the Egyptians.
All cultures create their own art, but Egyptian art has characteristics
that make it very easy to recognize, even for those
who don’t know much about it. Their way of writing—with
elegant hieroglyphs—was still in use long after the
rest of the world adopted the alphabet. Their culture
captivated the Persians, Greeks, and Romans,
and it continues to fascinate us today.
Welcome to the land of the Nile.

8 WHO WERE THE EGYPTIANS?
The Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt “the gift of the
Nile.” And he was right, because the Nile is what made Egypt
unlike anywhere else.
For starters, it’s a strange kind of river. It begins deep in
Africa but flows north, cutting through a vast desert before
emptying into the Mediterranean. It’s the longest river in the
world and has a quirky habit: every summer, it floods. The
surrounding land drowns under a thick, black, sticky mud.
What might look like a mess was actually a miracle—the
Egyptians soon realized that if they planted seeds in that
muck, crops would grow like crazy.
It might seem obvious now, but this was the secret to their
civilization’s longevity. Normally, if you farm the same land
for years, it eventually wears out no matter how fertile it
is, and you have to move on. But in Egypt, the Nile’s annual
floods renewed the soil every year. The Egyptians never had
to leave—they just kept tossing seeds into the wet mud and
harvesting them six months later.
Another key detail? Egypt was split into two regions. Up
north was the Delta, near the sea, where trade caravans set
off and foreign invasions landed.
Further south lay the Nile Valley, a much longer, narrower
stretch of land. The Valley’s most important city was Thebes,
which served as Egypt’s capital for centuries. Beyond it,
farther south, were gold mines, gemstone quarries, and the
legendary kingdom of Kush (also known as Nubia for a time).

Bordering
forts
GIZA
THE DELTA
MEMPHIS
SAQQARA
Al-Fayun
Oasis
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
HELIOPOLIS
TURA
Bordering
forts
Copper
mines
9
CANAAN
THE VALLEY
Temple of Amun
in Karnak
Abydos
RED
SEA
Valley
of the Kings
THEBES
Temple of
Luxor
First
Cataract
ASWAN
Fort
at Buhen
Abu Simbel
KUSH
(NUBIA)
Second
Cataract
Gold mines in Kush

10 THE FLOOD
For thousands of years, North Africa was a
tropical region with heavy rainfall, vast rivers, and
enormous lakes. The people who lived there fished,
hunted, and traveled everywhere by boat. But
then, around seven thousand years ago, the rains
stopped. Most of those rivers and lakes dried up,
and what was once a lush landscape turned into a
desert. People eventually gathered around oases
and the last remaining river: the Nile.
Gradually, these communities realized the Nile’s
floods were perfect for growing crops.
The hunters and fishermen who had
once roamed in search of prey began to
change their way of life, building permanent
settlements and working the land.

PREDYNASTIC EGYPT
(Around 6000-3150 BC)
11
Fishing is hard when you live in a desert, and hunting isn’t
much easier among the endless sand dunes. Those Stone Age
Egyptians had to learn how to farm grain along the riverbanks
if they wanted to survive. And the thing is, near the
Nile, crops grew exceptionally well and could be stored to
provide food all year round.
But stockpiling food came with a problem: Someone
could always come and steal it. So, gradually, farmers began
banding together into larger communities. To better defend
themselves, they formed nomes—clusters of small villages
centered around a walled city.
Over time, some of these nomes grew powerful enough
to unite entire regions. These territories eventually became
Egypt’s two kingdoms: the Delta Kingdom and the Valley
Kingdom. Each had its own king and gods, and though they
were all Egyptians, there was always a divide between them.

12 AGRICULTURE AND TRADES
Growing grains that could be stored for a long time meant
many people didn’t have to farm anymore. This led to specialized
jobs, like carpenters and stonemasons. All these craftsmen,
builders, and artists created their own sophisticated
culture with Egypt’s famous art and massive monuments.
Other places had already built temples and structures, but
the Egyptians took it to another level!
Farmers worked the muddy Nile banks for six months each
year. The other six months, they had time for other work.
Rulers took advantage of this by having them dig canals or
construct buildings. With huge grain stores and plenty of
people following orders, Egyptian society became unequal—
but it could build incredible things.

13
Taxes
Since farmers produced more food than they could eat, others
took advantage—especially the nobles, who had soldiers
to protect them and lived off other people’s hard work. The
peasants not only had to put up with this unfair system, but
they also faced the dreaded yearly visit from tax collectors.
These officials would go from farm to farm, deciding how
much of the harvest would go to the pharaoh. Egyptian
farmers handed over their crops because they believed it
was their duty—and those who refused were beaten into
submission. There were even priests to convince people that
“this is just how things are” and couldn’t be changed. They
claimed to keep the gods happy, and everyone made sure to
follow their words. Since what they said benefited the rulers,
politics and religion were closely tied together.
COME HERE RIGHT
NOW AND PAY WHAT
YOU OWE!
WHY BOTHER?
YOU’RE JUST
GONNA BEAT ME
ANYWAY…