The Tomb of Queen Hetepheres Facts and Secrets

The Tomb of Queen HetepheresThe concealed entrance to a 99-ft (30.2-m) deep shaft was found by accident, disguised with plaster, by a photographer in 1925 during survey work in the Giza area. At the bottom of the shaft was a small chamber which, to judge from the blocking that had to be removed to reach it, had remained intact since the day it was sealed during the Old Kingdom. It contained a large alabaster sarcophagus with a canopic chest and a quantity of furniture which included a large dismantled canopy frame, two armchairs, a bed (shown restored, above right, Cairo Museum,) and a carrying chair. The wood of all these items had...

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The Step Pyramid of Saqqara

The Step Pyramid of Saqqara Today, Djoser's pyramid and its surrounding mortuary complex is recognized as the first stone building in the world. (Although stone had been used for certain features in earlier tombs, this was the first to be constructed entirely of stone.) The genius who produced this vast monument for Djoser was his vizier, Imhotep, who seems to have been a man of many parts. His high standing at court is indicated in the inscription on the base of a brolcen-off statue of Djoser where, after the name of the king, Imhotep's titles read: 'The Treasurer of the King of Lower Egypt, the First after the King of Upper Egypt,...

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Sanakhte and Djoser Pharaohs

Djoser and Sanakhte Pharaohs The Egyptian Pyramids Builders Sanakhte Pharaoh  The first king of the 3rd Dynasty, Sanakhte (also given as Nebka) is little known, despite a reign of some 18 years. Presumably the foundation of the dynasty was cemented by marriage with the female heir of the last king of the 2nd Dynasty, the matrilineal nature of ancient Egyptian society being evident from very early times. Sanakhte is thought to be the brother of his famous successor Djoser (or Zoser), who became the second king of the dynasty and built the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Both these kings began the exploitation in earnest of the mineral wealth...

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The Egyptian Pyramids Builders in the Old Kingdom

The Egyptian Pyramids Builders | The Old Kingdom 2686-2181 BC Dynasty    : 3 Period      : 2686-2616 BC Pharaohs : Sanakhte -2686-2668                     Djoser ( Netjerikhet ) -  2668-2649 Egyptian Pyramids Builders During the old Kingdom Egyptian civilization really came of age. The power of Egypt expanded considerably through the four dynasties it comprised, probably due in large part to the increasing centralization of government and the creation of an efficient administrative system. The concept...

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Nynetjer, Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy Pharaohs

The third king, Nynetjer, ruled for 47 years according to Manetho's calculations. Little happened during most of these: the Palermo Stone records events between Years 6 and 26 of his reign, including various feasts of gods; a 'running of the Apis bull' in Year 9; a military campaign in Year 13 when there occurred the 'hacking up of the city of Shem-Re' and the 'House-of-the-North',- and in Year 15 the birth of Khasekhemwy, next king but one. Manetho also adds that it was decided that women could occupy the throne, but Merneith had apparently pre-empted this in the previous dynasty. Cartouche name of Nynetjer in the Abydos list The...

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Hotepsekhemwy and Raneb Egyptian Pharaohs

Dynasty : 2 Period : 2890 -2686 BC Kings : Hotepsekhemwy, Raneb, Nynetjer, Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy Manetho tells us that the 2nd Dynasty consisted of nine kings, ruling for 302 years, but it is difficult to reconcile his statement with the surviving archaeological and written evidence. According to current thinking, six kings reigned in the 2nd Dynasty, which lasted little more than 200 years. The names and sequence of the first three rulers are inscribed on the back of a statue of a priest called Hotep-dif (opposite). The names are, right to left, Hotepsekhemwy, Raneb and Nynetjer. Hotep-dif Hotepsekhemwy is little known....

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Djer , Djet and Den Kings of Ancient Egypt

Djer , Djet and Den Kings  Djer (probably Manetho's Athothis) succeeded Hor-Aha and is said to have reigned for 57 years. Once more, we rely on the evidence of the ivory and wood labels from Abydos and Saqqara for information. The hieroglyphs on all these labels are at an early stage in the development of writing and are often difficult to make out and prevent us from being positive as to their full meaning. One of these - an example in ivory from Abydos - has four lines of characters which include two ships, the sign for town and Djer's name in a seiekh. It appears to record a visit to the northern Delta cities of Buto, one of...

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Anedjib, Semerkhet and Qa'a Kings of Ancient Egypt

Anedjib, Semerkhet and Qa'a The next king of the 1st Dynasty reigned for 26 years, if we identify Anedjib with the Miebidos of Manetho. There is some evidence at this period of a dynastic struggle, of north versus south. Anedjib seems to have come from the area of Abydos known as This and is recorded as a Thinite king on the Saqqara King List from the tomb of Thunery (p. 12). Many stone vases bearing his name had their inscriptions erased under his successor Semerkhet, who was himself omitted from the Saqqara List. The Saqqara tomb of the noble Nebitlca, previously ascribed to Anedjib (no. 3038), has an interesting architectural feature,...

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The Founding of Memphis

The Founding of Memphis Hor-Aha's greatest achievement Hor-Aha's greatest achievement was the founding of the capital city at Memphis, just south of the apex of the Delta. This was to endure throughout Egypt's history and become one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. The site was obviously chosen initially for its geographical and thus political importance in a newly unified country, rather than its situation as a good building site, which it was not. Herodotus records (Bk 2: 99) that Menes dammed the Nile just south of the future site of the city, diverting it so that he could build on the reclaimed land. A strict watch...

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The Royal Canon of Turin | Egyptian Chronology

Egyptian chronology : The Royal Canon of Turin The finest record of the chronology of the Egyptian kings is unfortunately the most damaged and now incomplete. It is a papyrus known as the Royal Canon of Turin, in which museum it is to be found. Originally the property of the king of Sardinia, tragically, it was badly packed and severely damaged during transportation. The list of the kings, originally over 300 of them, is written in a fine literate hand in the hieratic script on the back of a long Ramesside papyrus which has accounts on the front, or recto side. This dates it to having been written about 1200 BC. Like the scraps remaining...

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Egyptian Chronology and the Evidence from Inscriptions

Egyptian chronology : the evidence from inscriptions From an incomplete and variously corrupt literary history it is possible to examine some of the actual written sources. Whilst these had survived from ancient Egyptian times, after about the end of the 4th century ad they could no longer be read. The latest dated inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs occurs on the temple of Philae in ad 394. Thereafter the 'key' was lost although many scholars during the European Renaissance, and later the Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher (1602-80), made valiant attempts at decipherment, often with incredible results. In 1761 another priest, the Abbe...

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Manetho King List Facts

Manetho and the history of Egypt Manetho's Egyptian History (also known as Notes about Egypt) gives us the basic structure or skeleton of Egyptian chronology that we use today. He divided Egyptian history into dynasties (essentially, ruling houses) and we recognize 30 of them from the unification of Egypt in c. 3100 BC down to the death of the last native Egyptian pharaoh, Nectanebo II, in 343 BC. Sometimes the last phase of ancient Egyptian history after this date has two dynasties added - the 31st and 32nd - which are the Second Persian Period, and the Macedonian rulers linked with the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ends with the suicide...

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Fixing true dates by the stars | Egyptian Chronology

Fixing true dates by the stars Even with the chronological information available, as outlined above, it may come as a surprise to realize that it is extremely difficult to fix true or absolute dates in Egyptian chronology. Most of the information given in the inscriptions mentioned is relative, in that it shows a sequence of kings relative to each other with sometimes a length of time between each reign, but to fix them in an absolute framework is a different matter altogether. Absolute dates from ancient Egypt rely on astronomical dating. This is done by reference to the civil and astronomical calendars in a complicated calculation...

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El Mamura at Alexandria Egypt

Just two miles east of El Mamura lies Abu Qir, the scene of a famous battle. On August 1, 1798, Admiral Nelson of the British fleet, defeated Napoleon’s navy after a major sea-battle. This established British naval supremacy. One of the islands along the coast is named Nelson Island in commemoration of the battle and its commander. It was while Napoleon’s engineers were stationed forty miles east of Alexandria at Rosetta that they discovered the famous Rosetta Stone in 1799. Today Abu Qir is a tiny fishing village with a fine beach and numerous restaurants which serve delicious and really fresh fish. The village children will...

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The Montazah Palace in Alexandria Egypt

The Montazah Palace, formerly the residence of Farouk, is surrounded by a large garden, with a number of other buildings standing nearby. The palace itself has been converted into a museum, and one of the buildings in the grounds is now a casino. The walls of the galleries in the three-story palace are hung with pictures, some depicting love scenes from the Middle Ages. The Montazah Palace in Alexandria Twelve miles east of the Montazah Palace lies the El Mamura coast, where Sadat has his country retreat. I was fortunate on one occasion to interview the president’s wife, Jehan, there. My real objective was an interview with...

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Pharos | How and why did the lighthouse and the island disappear ?

How and why did the lighthouse and the island disappear ?  Strangely enough, the answer appears only in legends. The lighthouse continued to fulfill an important military function after Egypt was conquered by the Islamic armies. As part of a carefully thought out plot, a rumor was circulated during the days of the Christian emperor, Constantinople, that a great hoard of treasure had been hidden beneath the lighthouse. In their lust for the treasure, the Arabs began to dismantle the lighthouse, only to realize halfway through the prodigious task that the rumor had been a ruse. They reconstructed the lighthouse but as they...

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Egyptian Nile River and God Kings of Ancient Egyptian

Egypt and the Nile You will find below Egyptian Nile River Map, Egyptian Nile River in Aswan and Egyptian Nile River in Evening Egypt is a land of extreme geographical contrasts, recognized by the ancient Egyptians in the names that they gave to the two diametrically opposed areas. The rich narrow agricultural strip alongside the Nile was called Kmt, 'The Black Land', while the inhospitable desert was Dsrt, 'The Red Land'. Often, in Upper Egypt, the desert reaches the water's edge. There was also a division between the north and the south, the line being drawn roughly in the area of modern Cairo. To the north was Lower Egypt...

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God Kings of Ancient Egyptian Nile River | Facts and Secrets

God Kings of Ancient Egyptian Nile River Egyptian civilization was one of the greatest in the ancient world, and certainly the most long lived, lasting for more than 3000 years. In the popular mind the immediate images are those of the pyramids, the great Sphinx at Giza, the enormous temples and the fabulous treasures that have been preserved in the dry sand of Egypt. But what of the people who were responsible for such splendours? Copper alloy kneeling statuette of Amenemhet III (1842-1797 BC), part of a rare group of figures in this metal of the king, his wife and chief scribes. George Ortiz Collection, Geneva. The ancient Egyptian...

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