Bronze Age (for deletion, kept for Palestinian details)

In ancient times Egypt consisted of two parts: the Nile Valley north of the First Cataract, a narrow deep trench only a few miles wide and 600 miles long; and the Nile Delta, an inverted triangle 150 miles across. The combined inhabited area of the valley and the delta was about 10,000 square miles.

As the ancient writer Diodorus pointed out, Egypt was "fortified by nature," with the cataracts in the south, the desert on the east and west, and the sea to the north — but it was also isolated by these natural barriers, with the result that there developed in Egypt a civilization that was quite different from the other cultures of the Near East. Moreover, dominating almost every phase of Egyptian culture was the Nile River, the most striking topographic feature of the country, which provided Egypt with its fertility and its principal means of communication.

The Nile Valley was not occupied by man until after the last Ice Age, when the Sahara Desert began to increase in size and drove the men and animals from northern Africa toward the Mediterranean coast or eastward to the banks of the Nile. The men of the Paleolithic Age lived on the high cliffs above the valley, but their successors, the agriculturalists of the Neolithic Age descended to the valley floor to plant their crops.

In prehistoric times, (8000-3200 B.C.), there were perhaps forty agricultural communities, or states, strung like beads along the ribbon of the Nile north of the First Cataract, but by about 5000 B.C. Egypt had been unified to the extend that there were two kingdoms: one in the delta (Lower Egypt) and one in the valley (Upper Egypt). After many centuries of warfare the two kingdoms were combined, traditionally by King Menes of Upper Egypt, into a single realm about the beginning of the Dynastic Period (3200 B.C.). For convenience in chronology, the rulers of Egypt are identified by dynasties, each dynasty being made up of a succession of rulers belonging to a single family or tracing descent to a common ancestor. Reigning dynasties came to an end as a result of the accession to the throne of rulers from another line or family. In the early Dynastic Period (3200-1900 B.C.), three main subperiods are of special interest and importance: the Old Kingdom (Dynasties III – VI, 2780-2270 B.C.); the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI – XII, 2143-1790 B.C.); and the New Kingdom, or Empire (Dynasties XVIII – XX, 1555-1090 B.C.). In these subperiods, Egypt was most completely unified and prosperous, and the most outstanding cultural advances were made. The Old Kingdom. The Pharoahs of the Old Kingdom were the famous pyramid builders: Zoser (Djoser) of the 3rd Dynasty, whose step pyramid was constructed at Saqqara, and Cheops (Khufu), Chephren (Kha-ef-Re) and Mycerinos (Men-kau-Re) of the 4th Dynasty, whose pyramids still stand at El Giza. During this period the capital of Egypt was located at Memphis, in the northern part of the Nile Valley. While agriculture flourished in Egypt itself, trade relations were established with Phoenicia, the islands of the eastern Mediterranean, and Nubia to the south. Sinai, important as a source of copper, was brought under Egyptian control. The great pyramids are not only symbolic; they are also indicative of the power and wealth of the 4th Dynasty rulers. It has been conjectured that the huge funds lavished upon these royal burial chambers were responsible for the gradual weakness and decline of the Old Kingdom, which became more and more apparent in the time of the 5th and 6th Dynasties, and culminated in political and economic collapse after 2300 B.C. At any rate, the central power waned while local authorities gained strength, with the result that Egypt fell into a disorganized feudalism which lasted for almost four centuries. The Middle Kingdom. This subperiod opened with the rise of a strong power at Thebes in the south. By the time of the 12th Dynasty (2000 B.C.), Egypt had progressed a long way on the road to reunification. Under Amenemhet (2000-1980 B.C.) and Sesotris I (Se’n-Wosret I) (1980-1950 B.C.), the feudal nobility were disciplined, and Egypt began to penetrate south of the First Cataract. Sesotris III (1887-1849 B.C.) even carried the Egyptian standards into Syria in the first military display of Egypt in that direction. The Middle Kingdom is the classic period of Egyptian art and literature, when the canons of Egyptian taste were established. Once more agriculture prospered, and trade with Syria and Nubia increased in volume. Egyptian merchants also began to appear along the Red Sea. The period ended in confusion and was followed by the invasion of the delta by the Hyksos from Syria, and the collapse of the central authority in the valley. The New Kingdom. The interval between the invasion by the Hyksos and the rise of the New Kingdom is rather shorter than the period which divides the Old Kingdom from the Middle Kingdom. By 1600 B.C., the presence of the Hyksos in the Delta had led to the development of a strong Egyptian nationalist movement aimed at the explusion of the invaders. Led by Sekhem-Re, a good soldier who became the first Pharoah of the XVII Dynasty, the Egyptians drove out the Hyksos (1600 B.C.). The new ruler then uprooted the last of the feudal lords and confiscated their lands. With unity and order re-established in Egypt, the government was centralized and administered by an extensive bureaucracy. Under the Pharoahs of the XVIII Dynasty (1555-1350 B.C.), Egypt acquired an empire in Syria and became the most powerful state in the Near East. Amenhotep I (1555-1540 B.C.) was the first of the Egyptian rulers to reach the Euphrates, but it was a later ruler, Thutmose (Djehuty-moses) III (1501-1448 B.C.) who conquered Syria in the course of almost two decades of annual campaigning. Thutmose was the victor at Megiddo (Armageddon) and Kadesh, and the scourge of the Mitannians; his favor was sought even by the then remote Hittites of Asia Minor. His gains were consolidated by his successors, Amenhotep II (1448-1420 B.C.) and Thutmose IV (1420-1411 B.C.). The latter allied himself with the Mitannians against the Hittites and married the daughter of the Mitannian king. Under Amenhotep III (Memnon) (1411-1375 B.C.), the political influence of Egypt reached its highest point. Amenhotep’s reign was noted for its peace and prosperity; all other nations feared Egypt and courted the favor of her rulers. After Amenhotep’s death, however, and with the accession of his son, Amenhotep IV, decline was rapid. While Amenhotep IV, who for religious reasons changed his name to Ikhnaton, ignored the empire and devoted himself to religious reforms, the Hittites won over the Mitannians and the Syrian princes, and began to penetrate the northern boundaries of the Egyptian empire. The boy-king Tutankhamen fared no better. The process of disintigration was temporarily stayed by the general, Horemheb, and his successors of the XIX Dynasty, who ascended the throne in the latter part of the 14th century B.C. Seti I temporarily halted the advance of the Hittites, and his son, Rameses II (1292-1225 B.C.), met them in a great battle at Kadesh in 1288 B.C. Unable to push the Hittites from Syria, Rameses signed a treaty with them in 1266 which recognized their claim to the northern area and retained southern Syria for Egypt. The end of the 13th century B.C. found Egypt threatened by new perils. The sea raiders (Philistines and others from the north) were plundering the Delta as the Libyans pressed in from the west. The Hittites, who might now have become valuable Egyptian allies, were even more harried than the Egyptians by peoples from the north. The great Pharaoh of the XX Dynasty, Rameses III (1198-1167 B.C.), repelled the worst of the invasions, but the empire was lost, and the drain on Egyptian finance and manpower occasioned by continuous wars at last brought complete collapse at the end of the 12th century B.C. For the next four hundred years, Egypt was weak and disorganized under a succession of Egyptian, Libyan and even Nubian kings. The halfhearted Assyrian occupation of Egypt (671-663 B.C.) was terminated by a revival of Egyptian nationalism somewhat like that which had accompanied the expulsion of the Hyksos, although it lacked the intensity of the earlier movement. The new leader of the Egyptians was Psammeticus (or Psametik) of Sais, in the western Delta, who had been appointed governor by the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal. After the Assyrian yoke had been cast off, Psammeticus unified Egypt once more and became the first ruler of the XXVI, or Saite Dynasty. The Saite period of Egyptian history (663-525 B.C.) represents a temporary revival of Egypt as a world power, a role which she was to share with the Neo-Babylonians, Medes and Lydians. Although the Saite culture is often criticized for its sterile archaism—an attempt to recreate the glories of the Empire—it is nevertheless interesting, especially in its literary aspects. The greatest prosperity of the Saites was during the reign of Ahmoses II (569-525 B.C.), when Egypt traded not only with the Near East but also with the rising Greek states of Asia Minor, the Aegean islands and European Greece. Many professional Greek soldiers found employment in the Egyptian armies of this period. In the end, however, Egypt, like Media, Lydia and Babylonia, was incorporated into the expanding Persian Empire. In 525 B.C. Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, fought his way past Pelusium and into the Nile Valley. Egypt was organized as a Persian satrapy and had to submit to the indignity of having a Persian governor and Persian garrisons stationed throughout the land. Despite several revolts in which the Egyptians temporarily expelled the Persians, Egypt remained a Persian province until the coming of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. When Alexander died in 323 B.C., the rich prize of Egypt was taken by one of his generals, Ptolemy, son of Lagus. Successfully holding Egypt against his rivals, Ptolemy eventually took the title of King about 306 B.C., and his descendants ruled Egypt as the successors of the Pharaohs until the death of Cleopatra in 30 B.C. Under the Ptolemies, Egypt was once more an imperial state controlling Cyrene, Cyprus and southern Syria. In the Ptolemiac period all Egypt was turned into a vast plantation, which was operated for the benefit of its Macedonian rulers. The land, the chief source of wealth, was considered the property of the king. Some land he retained and rented out for cultivation by the royal serfs (the Egyptian peasantry); other land, given to the nobles or to military (mostly Greek and Macedonian) colonists, was subject to taxation. The external trade of the country was a state monopoly, while all internal trade was taxed. There were also numerous lucrative state monopolies: salt, papyrus, linens, oils, mines and banks. For the administration of this great business enterprise, an extensive bureaucracy was built up. While foreign affairs, the armed forces, and the administration of justice were handled by ministers with great authority, the financial affairs were under the supervision of an official called the dioecetes, whose bureau directed the activieits of the royal officials in the provinces (nomes) and their territorial subdivisions. Agricultural production was carefully planned in advance of each growing season, and it was possible to estimate the revenues long before they were received. Alexandria, the great city in the Delta founded by Alexander, was made the capital of Egypt as well as the center of literary and scientific activity in the Hellenistic world. In the Library and the Museum at Alexandria famous scholars and scientists—Euclid, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus and many more—lived and worked under Ptolemaic patronage. In Ptolemaic times, Greek was the official language of Egypt, and although the natives retained their own language, they acquired a veneer of Greek culture and began to assume Greek names in addition to their Egyptian ones. Under the Romans after 30 B.C., Egypt was the private possession of the Roman emperor and was governed by a special equestrian prefect appointed by him. The bureaucracy of the Ptolemaic period was retained and amplified by the Romans, who exploited Egypt more thoroughly than the Ptolemies had done. As a matter of fact, the tribute exacted by the Romans was four times that received by the Ptolemies. In addition to duties on imports and exports, taxes and assessments paid in coin, there were fifty varieties of taxes paid in kind, and two hundred miscellaneous taxes. Thus, Egypt sent to Rome a revenue equivalent to twenty million dollars a year, in addition to five million bushels of wheat, as an annual tribute. Alexandria, organized as a municipality on the Greek order, was a large city with a population of perhaps 300,000 in the Roman period. Cosmopolitan, with a large foreign population, the city was the scene of numerous riots and disorders; the Jewish colony was large and cordially hated by the pagans; anti-Jewish riots were common. In the 3rd century of the Christian Era, Egypt began to show definite effects of the Roman exploitation; productivity declined, and the peasants often fled from their holdings. In the time of Zenobia of Palmyra, Egypt was temporarily attached to that state. In the reign of Diocletian a serious Egyptian revolt was quelled with great difficulty. Independence was declared by Achilleus (L. Domitius Domitianus) in A.D. 296, and Diocletian was forced to punish the Egyptians severely when he retook the country in 297. After this, Egypt was divided into three provinces, a number which later was increased to five. In the 3rd century also, the new Christian faith gained many converts in Egypt. As a result, widespread Roman persecutions of the Christians, especially those instigated by Decius and Diocletian, caused much suffering in Egypt. After Christianity was graned equality with the other religions in the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great, Egypt, and especially Alexandria, became an important Christian centre. It was in Egypt in the 4th century that there originated the famous controversy between the orthodox Christians and the Arians which was to divide the Christian world for many centuries. On the orthodox side was the young Alexandrian deacon, Athanasius, later Bishop of Alexandria, and on the other side was the Alexandrian presbyter, Arius. As time passed, the native Egyptian church, the Coptic, became more and more a nationalist organization which was hostile to Greek influences. During the Byzantine period, Egypt was governed by Constantinople, but the hold of the Eastern Roman Empire over the country was gradually weakened. Early in the 7th century, the Persians penetrated as far as Egypt and had to be expelled by the Emperor Heraclius. Then, with the rise of Islam, Egypt was lost. In December 639, the Ommiad commander, Amr-ibn-al-As, led an army from Palestine into Egypt. By September 642, conquest was complete, the Byzantine government having agreed to a fixed payment of tribute in return for the Moslem promise to leave the Christians in possession of their churches and not to interfere in the administration of their communal affairs. From this time, Egypt was a province of the Eastern caliphate and was ruled by governors. However, in 868 Egypt was given in fief to a Turkish general Bayikbeg who entrusted Egypt to his stepson Ahmad ibn Tulun. The latter founded a quasi-independent dynasty known as the Tulunid. The period of Tulunid power ended in 935 when Muhammed ibn Tughj conquered Fostat and established the rule of the Ikshidite Dynasty. In 969, Egypt was invaded from the west by Jauhar el-Kaid, a Fatimid general, and Cairo was made the capital of the Fatimid caliph Mo’izz. Under the first two Fatimid caliphs, Egypt enjoyed a sound administration, but with the third, al-Hakim (985-1021), there began a period of repressive government and an increasingly bad economic situation. Although during the reign of al-Hakim’s grandson, al-Mustansir (1036-1094), his general, Badr al-Jamali, restored order within Egypt, he was unable to prevent the Seljuks from usurping Fatimid power in Syria and Palestine. Jerusalem was recovered from the Turks, but it was lost again in 1099 to the Crusaders, who also obtained other Fatimid territory in Palestine. The Fatimid rulers were by this time too weak to cope with the combined problems of the Seljuk Turks, the Crusaders, and the internal strife in Egypt, and the last of the Fatimid caliphs, Adid, was forced to ask for help from Nureddin (1118-1174), Seljuk ruler of Syria. In 1169, Adid appointed a powerful Seljuk general, Shirguh, as vizier of Egypt. Shirguh was succeeded, on his death two months later, by his nephew Saladin (1138-1193), who still professed to be only a deputy of Nureddin. Saladin, with the help of Nureddin, kept the Franks out of Egypt, deposed the caliph Adid, and gradually substituted the Sunnite form of Islam for the previously dominant Shiite form. After the death of the ex-caliph, he was given the prefecture of Egypt as deputy of Nureddin, and after the latter’s death in 1174, he took the title of Sultan, which officially started the Ayyubid Dynasty, in Egypt. By 1183, he had extended his rule to include North Syria. The rest of his life is notable primarily for his wars with the Crusaders. He died in 1193, only a few months after a temporary peace between the Franks and the Moslems had been established. The heirs of Saladin ruled Egypt and varying parts of his empire, until they were supplanted in 1250 by the Mamelukes, the name given to the enfranchised slaves who, under the Ayyubids, had made up the court and officered the army. The period of the Mamelukes lasted until 1517, and was marked by a succession of wars, internal struggles for power, and general tumult. The first period of Mameluke rule was under the Bahri Mamelukes (to 1382), the second under the Burji Mamelukes. A long struggle between the Egyptian and Ottoman sultanates ended in the defeat of the Egyptians in 1517. After that time, Egypt has been nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire. However, even after the conquest the Mamelukes retained their power, and Egypt’s importance to the Ottoman Empire, apart form the tribute which it paid, was mainly that it served as a base of operations for the maintenance of Ottoman power over Syria and Arabia.