Ten Ancient Egypt Facts You Need to Know: Fun Trivia About Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt is defined as the civilization that flourished in North Africa between circa 6000 and 30 BCE – from the Predynastic Period in Egypt (circa 6000 to circa 3150 BCE) through the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE) before Egypt became a province of Rome. Roman Egypt (30 BCE to 646 CE) afterwards fell to the invasions of the Muslim Arabs.
For thousands of years, the civilization of Egypt was among the most significant in the ancient world, and its kings were considered the living representatives of the divine on earth. The central value of Egyptian culture was balance – personified by the goddess Ma'at – and this encouraged a stable social platform from which people could explore the world and advance their understanding of how to live in it and, further, what waited in the afterlife beyond death.
The ancient Egyptians developed a highly sophisticated culture, which made significant advances in medical practices and procedures, architectural and construction innovations, the development of literary motifs in poetry and prose, religious belief and tradition, and a vision of the afterlife, which was grander and more comforting than any other of its time.
The following are ten facts about Egypt in answer to the most commonly asked questions:
What Is the Difference Between Kingdom Periods & Intermediate Periods?
The ancient Egyptians had no demarcations between eras of their civilization. Events were dated from the rule of kings or memorable events, whether natural – such as floods, bad harvests, especially good harvests, or 'signs' attributed to the gods – or historical, such as great military victories or building projects. Designations such as 'kingdoms' and 'intermediate periods' come from scholars in the modern day in an effort to make it easier to study the immense breadth of Egyptian civilization.
The history of ancient Egypt is therefore broken into different eras. The dates differ sometimes owing to the system scholars choose to use, but the generally accepted dates are:
Predynastic Period: circa 6000 to circa 3150 BCE
Early Dynastic Period: circa 3150 to circa 2613 BCE
Old Kingdom: circa 2613-2181 BCE
First Intermediate Period: 2181-2040 BCE
Middle Kingdom: 2040-1782 BCE
Second Intermediate Period: circa 1782 to circa 1570 BCE
New Kingdom: circa 1570 to circa 1069 BCE
Third Intermediate Period: circa 1069-525 BCE
Late Period of Ancient Egypt: 525-323 BCE
Ptolemaic Egypt: 323-30 BCE
The difference between 'kingdoms' and 'intermediate periods' has to do with the centralization of rule. During the kingdoms, there was a monarch governing from a central location, the economy and society were stable, and there was discernible cultural progress.
During the intermediate periods, the Egyptian government was divided between different locations, there was less stability, and physical evidence shows fewer cultural advances. Even so, the intermediate periods were nowhere near as chaotic as the scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries interpreted them.
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⇒ Ten Ancient Egypt Facts You Need to Know: Fun Trivia About Ancient Egypt