Timeline: Ancient Egypt |
| 5000-3100 B.C. |
Predynastic Period
- Small farming villages develop along the banks of the Nile
|
| 3100-2755 B.C. |
Archaic Period (Dynasties 1 and 2)
- King Narmer unites Egyptian settlements under his rule
- System of writing (hieroglyphs) develops
- Mummification begins; linked to belief in many gods and life after death
|
| 2755-2230 B.C. |
The Old Kingdom (Dynasties 3-6)
- Kings buried in pyramid tombs
- Centralization of the state
|
| 2230-2040 B.C. |
First Intermediate Period (Dynasties 7-11)
- Leaders of provincial cities struggle for power with the pharaoh
|
| 2040-1786 B.C. |
Middle Kingdom (Dynasties 12-13)
- Classical period of ancient Egyptian literature
- The Egyptians prosper and build up their army
|
| 1786-1567 B.C. |
Second Intermediate Period (Dynasties 14-17)
- Foreign rulers take over, styling themselves as "kings of Egypt"
- Horse and chariot introduced from Palestine
|
| 1567-1085 B.C. |
New Kingdom (Dynasties 18-20)
- Thebes (today's Luxor) rises as power center and residence of most kings
- Pharaohs buried in rock-cut tombs in Valley of the Kings
- Queen Hatshepsut rules Egypt
- King Tutankhamun comes to throne at age nine
|
| 1085-656 B.C. |
Third Intermediate Period (Dynasties 21-25)
- Period of political instability; Egypt breaks into rival dynasties
- Nubian kings invade, defeat rival dynasties and unify Egypt
|
| 656-332 B.C. |
Late Period (Dynasties 26-31)
- Assyrians attack Egypt, expel Nubians
- Persians invade and occupy Egypt
|
| 332-30 B.C. |
Ptolemaic (Macedonian/Greek) Period
- Alexander the Great conquers Egypt for the Macedonians/Greeks
- Cleopatra VII, last Ptolemaic queen, dies (in 30 B.C.); Egypt becomes part of Roman Empire
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