 Nearly all of Egypt is desert, but the small part that isn't – the valley of the Nile River – is vital to the nation (95% of the population live within a few miles of the Nile's banks).
Most tours of Egypt, whether by cruise, via train on a bus or in a private car never stray too far from the river's shores where all the Egypt's ancient wonders built.
EGYPT'S HISTORY
We can divide up Egypt's history into a number of parts, but it is important to remember that there is history, and the time before history, called prehistory. History is the period of time when humans made records by writing about events, while prehistory, is the time before people could write. Overall, we can divide Egypt's long past as:
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Prehistory - The time before writing
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The Dynastic Period - The time of Egyptian Pharaohs or Kings
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The Greco-Roman Period - Egypt ruled by Greek Kings and Roman Emperors
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The Archaic Islamic Period - After the Arab Invasion
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The Colonial Period - Egypt ruled by Europeans
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Egypt is the epitome pot of different cultures as early as 5000 B.C the civilization emerged from the borders of the Nile river forming the greatest, richest , wealthiest chapters of its history, the land which has been ruled by the kings called themselves As Egypt's pharaohs, keeping the power for thousands of years as up & down ending with the Greed invasions by Alexandra the Great 332 B.C which has been ended by the Romans invasion 31 B.c ended by the Arab invasion in 642 Ad. ending the Roman reign & introducing the Islam as a religion & Arabic as an official language . which still both the official religion & language of the country.
Egypt in 1798 was invaded by the French " Napoleon Bonaparte ".
the French shortly occupied Egypt but left a lasting impression then Mohamed Ali in 1805 who was the son of tobacco merchant from kavala in Epirus , succeed to seize the power in Egypt, after eliminating the power of the Mamlouk.
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Mohamed Ali dynasty lasted until 1952 Mohamed Ali successors were the prisoners of new international relations. Egypt's frontiers had been opened by a free - trade treaty and no longer protected the national economy. the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869 placed the finances of Egypt under Franco - British supervision. until 1914 Egypt remained an Ottoman province, governed by a virtually independent viceroy but under British supervision. the in 1914 all links with Istanbul were finally severed but, although Egypt became a monarchy, British control became official and Egypt was declared a protectorate.
In 1952 a few young officers had taken over, abolishing the monarchy before taking up the reins of power. for the first time in its history, the future of Egypt was in the hands of the " sons of Nile peasants Colonel Gamal Abd el-Nasser assumed total power & became the representative of the third-world countries in Bandug. He obtained the departure of the last of the British troops before announcing the nationalization of the Suez Canal.
The government of Egypt today is headed by president Hosni Mubarak who has been forced to adopt a confrontational stance since 1990. today Egypt stands at a crossroads.
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MONUMENTS There are many different types of ancient Egyptian sites. Some can be considered monuments, while others are ancient towns that are more than a single monument. However, we can usually describe ancient monuments as temples, tombs, including pyramids, huge statues, government buildings, including palaces, and private property, such as houses.
Most of the best preserved monuments of ancient Egypt are Temples and tombs, because they were built to last longer than such places as houses or palaces. In fact, many temples and tombs were meant to last for a million years. Therefore, they built them out of tough stone, while they built houses, palaces and other government buildings out of bricks made of mud.
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Temples
We can divide the types of Egyptian Temples into three kinds, though all of them served ancient Egyptian "Gods" in one form or another. The largest and grandest of the temples were those built by the Egyptian State for important national "Gods". However, common people were usually not allowed into much of these temples. Therefore, a second type of temple, much smaller and less grand, were sometimes built by common people for their own worship of the gods. The final kind of temple was the mortuary temples, built for kings, who were also considered gods.
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In ancient Egypt, Temples were not built for the same reasons that we build Temples, Churches and Mosques today. The gods were not so much worshipped in Egypt's ancient temples as they were taken care of by the priests. Common people were usually not allowed into most of the temples, where priests washed, clothed and delivered food to statues of the Gods.
Most of the temples of ancient Egypt were fairly similar in many ways. They often had one or more open courtyards, one or more halls with columns that Egyptologists call hypostyle halls, in inner chapel known as a sanctuary, where the god's statue was placed, and they were often surrounded by a wall, with a large front part known as a pylon. However, some had many pylons separating many open courtyards. Most temples also had other buildings for storage and houses for the priests.
Temples were given much farm land and sometimes treasures, mostly by the king, so that the temple would have money to pay the priests and run the temple. Much of the time, the temples were the largest land owners in ancient Egypt
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Tombs, Including Pyramids
There are many types of tombs in Egypt. However, throughout Egypt's past, the tombs of kings and high officials, upper class artists and craftsmen, and the very poor people were very different. For very poor people, the types of tombs they used stayed about the same.
During a period known as the Old Kingdom, the kings decided to be buried in a more northern location around the capital of Egypt. This was a city called the White Walls, but the Greeks called it
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Memphis. There were several cemeteries used around Memphis. The first was a place called Saqqara, where the earliest pyramids were built. These were not true pyramids, because they had stepped sides rather than being smooth.
Later kings experimented with true pyramids at a place called Dahshure, where they finally built the first true pyramid tomb. However, the largest and grandest pyramids where later built at a place called the Giza Plateau, which is now just outside of the modern city of Cairo, Egypt. However, there were a number of other locations where the kings of Egypt built pyramids, but almost all of these were built near
Today, we have discovered many other ancient sites in Egypt. Some are palaces, while others are entire towns, including public buildings, agricultural buildings, common houses and other buildings. Some of the most famous are the worker's villages, where the craftsmen, artists and laborers who build the tombs (including pyramids) lived. Others include famous forts and huge statues.
Unfortunately, many of these buildings were not built as well as ancient tombs and temples. The Egyptians used bricks made out of mud to build these types of buildings. Temples and tombs were usually built out of stone which lasts much longer.
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After the Pharaohs in Egypt
Egypt's history is very long, and even after the pharaohs there are many important ancient sites. For example, there are Roman fortresses, ancient Christian monasteries and churches, and more recently, famous old Mosques (where Muslims pray) and Mausoleums, which are Islamic tombs. Unlike Christian monuments, which often are decorated with religious paintings..
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Egyptian clothes and make-up
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Egyptian clothes were often decorated with pleats. Notice that the Egyptians used to wear a wig, which would have been made from human hair. Egyptians usually kept their own hair short or their heads shaved. Both men and women also wore make-up. Palettes, , were used to grind mineral pigments for make-up. The ground powder was probably mixed with animal fat and then applied to the face. the face. Black and green eye make-up were especially popular. They also adorned themselves with jewelry, including necklaces, earrings, armlets, bracelets, anklets, and rings.
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Work Much of what has been learned of the types of work done by ancient Egyptians has been gathered from the collections of the artifacts found inside their burial chambers. What is known is that there were several classes of workers, both an upper and lower class. The upper class workers consisted
of the scribes and priests. The lower class usually consisted of the merchants and farmers
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EDUCATION of course, covers both the general upbringing of a child and its training for a particular skill. The upbringing of males was left largely in the hands of their fathers, that of females was entrusted to their mothers. Parents acquainted their children with their thoughts about the world, with their religious outlook, with their ethical principles, with correct behavior toward others and toward the super-natural beings in whom everyone believed. They taught them concerning folk rituals and so forth.
ART&CULTURE Ancient Egypt is perhaps the most fascinating of the ancient civilizations. Even the Ancient Greeks looked at themselves as a young and unknowing society compared to the Egyptians. Indeed, the Ancient Egyptian civilization
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was one of the most extended in the west, beginning in approximately 3000 B.C., and lasting until nearly 300 B.C. What is amazing about the Egyptian's culture is not their rapid growth and development, but their ability to retain the past and prevail with relatively little change. Egyptian attire did not vary over the thousands of years. Theirs was a civilization where ancient was still modern.
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THE PEOPLE OF MODERN EGYPT.
The people of Egypt are a very steadfast culture, with the ancient Egyptians dating back several thousand years B.C. Family and religion are two important societal values that make Egyptians who they are today. Family: Large families are important to many Egyptians, especially for those who live outside of the major cities. The father is the head of the house, and sons respect and answer to their fathers. The women follow the men, and once married move to their husband's house. A typical family may consist of a father and mother, their married sons and wives, their unmarried sons, and any unmarried daughters.
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Religion:
Egypt's constitution grants freedom of religion, and there are many religions being practiced in Egypt today. Islam is the main religion, about 90% of Egyptians are Muslim. The Christians are part of the Coptic Church, and make up about 8% of the population. Completing the religious minority in Egypt are Protestants and Jews, together claiming about 2% of the population.
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