Ancient Egypt was a civilization along the Nile that lasted roughly thirty centuries, from unification around 3100 BCE to the conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. Its rulers, the pharaohs, were regarded as god-kings, and the Great Pyramid of Giza, the civilization's best-known monument, was built for King Khufu around 2560 BCE.
A Civilization Along the Nile
According to History.com, ancient Egypt emerged as a unified kingdom around 3100 BCE, when King Menes brought together the regions known as Upper and Lower Egypt and founded the capital at Memphis. The civilization then endured, with changes in strength and territory, until Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE — a span of close to thirty centuries.
Old, Middle and New Kingdoms
Historians divide this long span into three main periods. The Old Kingdom was the era of the great pyramid builders; the Middle Kingdom was a period of expansion and diplomacy; and the New Kingdom marked the civilization's largest territorial reach, according to History.com.
The Three Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt
Period
Approximate dates (BCE)
Notable rulers or features
Old Kingdom
c. 2686–2181
Age of pyramid building, including King Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza
Middle Kingdom
c. 2055–1786
12th Dynasty rule; expansion into Nubia and diplomatic contacts across the Mediterranean
New Kingdom
c. 1567–1085
Empire stretched from Nubia to the Euphrates; rulers included Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and Ramses II
Pharaohs: Rulers Described as Living Gods
The word "pharaoh" originally meant "Great House," a reference to the royal palace, according to National Geographic Education. Pharaohs served simultaneously as heads of state and as religious leaders, and Egyptians regarded them as intermediaries between gods and people. In practice, a pharaoh made laws, waged war, collected taxes and was formally considered the owner of all land in Egypt.
History.com adds that pharaohs held what it describes as absolute power and were treated as godlike figures, with religion and government deeply intertwined throughout the civilization's history.
Narmer, also known as Menes, traditionally credited with unifying Upper and Lower Egypt around 3100 BCE
Khufu, the Old Kingdom ruler for whom the Great Pyramid of Giza was built
Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh of the New Kingdom whose monuments were later defaced after her death
Thutmose III and Ramses II, New Kingdom rulers associated with Egypt's greatest territorial extent
Tutankhamun, who became pharaoh as a child and died at the age of nineteen
Cleopatra, described by National Geographic Education as the last reigning pharaoh of ancient Egypt
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid, the largest of the Giza monuments, was built for King Khufu, also known by the Greek name Cheops, who reigned from roughly 2589 to 2566 BCE, according to World History Encyclopedia. Construction is estimated to have taken about twenty years, with the pyramid completed around 2560 BCE.
World History Encyclopedia gives the pyramid's height as 479 feet (146 meters) and its base as 754 feet (230 meters) per side. It states that the structure contains an estimated 2.3 million stone blocks averaging about 2.75 tons each, with some individual blocks weighing up to 16 tons; the site separately describes the granite slabs inside the King's Chamber as being of immense size and weight, without giving an exact figure for them. The exterior was originally faced with white limestone.
How the blocks were moved and raised remains debated among researchers cited by World History Encyclopedia. The site notes that a single external ramp long enough to reach the pyramid's apex would have required nearly as much material as the pyramid itself, which is one reason some engineers, including Robert Carson as cited by the site, have proposed that builders may have used the area's high water table together with internal ramps and hoists. World History Encyclopedia presents this as one hypothesis among several, not an established conclusion.
The Great Pyramid is the only one of the ancient world's Seven Wonders still standing, World History Encyclopedia notes, and it held the record as the tallest human-made structure for over 3,000 years, until being overtaken — the site cites conflicting accounts — by either the Lincoln Cathedral spire around 1300 CE or the Eiffel Tower in 1889. Its limestone casing was stripped away over the centuries and reused in later construction around Cairo.
A Protected Landscape From Giza to Dahshur
The Giza pyramids sit within a larger area that UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site in 1979 under the name "Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur," according to the travel and heritage site Everything Everywhere. The listed area includes the three major pyramid complexes at Giza, the Great Sphinx, workers' villages, and multiple cemeteries, as well as the Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid at Dahshur, described by the site as among the oldest and largest pyramids in Egypt.
Decoding a Lost Language
For centuries after the civilization ended, no one could read Egyptian hieroglyphs. That changed after soldiers in Napoleon's army discovered the Rosetta Stone near the town of Rosetta in 1799, as reported by The Jerusalem Post. The stone carries the same official decree in three scripts — hieroglyphs, the Demotic script and ancient Greek — and dates to the period of the Ptolemaic ruler Ptolemy V. After France's defeat, Britain took the stone, and it has been held by the British Museum since 1802.
Earlier researchers, including Thomas Young, had identified some phonetic elements in the script but assumed, incorrectly, that only royal names were written phonetically, The Jerusalem Post reports. French scholar Jean-François Champollion announced to a Paris academy on September 27 that he had cracked the system; JSTOR Daily dates this announcement to 1822 and names the venue as the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, while The Jerusalem Post gives the year as 1814 and names the venue as the Académie royale des Inscriptions et Médailles. Drawing on his knowledge of the Coptic language, Champollion showed that hieroglyphic signs could function as phonetic letters capable of spelling out the entire Egyptian language.
The signs were phonetic letters that could spell out the entire language.
— The Jerusalem Post, summarizing Champollion's conclusion
That breakthrough gave scholars access to Egyptian inscriptions, papyri and monument texts for the first time, opening the civilization's own written record to modern study, JSTOR Daily notes.
How the Civilization Ended
History.com states that the outward aspects of ancient Egyptian culture came to an end with the Arab conquest of the seventh century CE and the introduction of Islam, long after the pharaonic political system itself had already given way to Greek and then Roman rule following Alexander's conquest in 332 BCE.
Questions
How long did ancient Egyptian civilization last?
According to History.com, it lasted from unification around 3100 BCE to the conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE — close to thirty centuries.
Who built the Great Pyramid of Giza, and why?
World History Encyclopedia states it was built for King Khufu of Egypt's 4th Dynasty as his tomb, intended to serve as his eternal home in the afterlife.
How long did it take to build the Great Pyramid?
World History Encyclopedia estimates construction took about twenty years, with the monument completed around 2560 BCE.
Were pharaohs really considered gods?
National Geographic Education and History.com both describe pharaohs as rulers regarded as godlike intermediaries between the divine realm and the Egyptian people, holding political and religious authority at once.
How were Egyptian hieroglyphs deciphered?
Using the trilingual Rosetta Stone found in 1799, French scholar Jean-François Champollion announced on September 27 that hieroglyphic signs functioned as phonetic letters, finally allowing scholars to read ancient Egyptian texts. JSTOR Daily dates the announcement to 1822, while The Jerusalem Post gives the year as 1814.
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