_History._--In the hot, dry sands of Upper Egypt, which preserve the dead
from decay, have been found the bodies of large numbers of pre-dynastic
Egyptians. They were of the type known as the 'Mediterranean race'. The
contents of their stomachs have yielded husks of barley and millet and
fragments of mammalian and fish bones. Circumcision was practised, and some
men shaved. These people used malachite as an eyelid paint. When they
discovered that copper could be extracted from malachite, it was used at
first like gold, as has been stated. The production of copper implements
and weapons was followed by the conquest of Lower Egypt by the copper-using
Upper Egyptians. After the latter moved north, they found that the bodies
of their dead decayed, and the practice of mummification was introduced.
Before 3000 B.C. the broad-headed, long-bearded Armenoid type began to
filter into Lower Egypt. The blending of Armenoids and Arabians in Syria
produced 'the hybrid race of Semites'. In Egypt the ethnic fusion was most
marked at the commercial capital, Memphis, and especially during the time
of the pyramid builders (_c._ 2900-2750 B.C.). The spread of 'copper
culture', and the importation into Egypt of timber from Lebanon, apparently
brought the ancient races into close contact. Withal, shipbuilding and the
art of navigation had advanced by leaps and bounds. Before the Pyramid Age
there were sea-traders on the Mediterranean, and the Egyptians imported
copper from Sinai across the Red Sea. The legendary Pharaoh who united
Upper and Lower Egypt was Mena or Menes. From his time (_c._ 3400 B.C.)
till the close of the sixth dynasty (_c._ 2475 B.C.) the capital was
Memphis. This period is known as that of the 'Old Kingdom'. Among its
outstanding monarchs were Khufu, Khafra, and Menkure of the fourth dynasty,
the builders of the largest pyramids. Herodotus refers to them as _Cheops_,
_Chephren_, and _Mykerinos_. The 'Middle Kingdom' begins with the rise of
Thebes in Upper Egypt as the centre of political power. During this period
the nobility became so influential that the Pharaohs had to recognize their
rights and privileges. In the period of the famous twelfth dynasty (_c._
2000-1788 B.C.) the Theban monarchs established a uniform control of Egypt.
The later kings of this dynasty were unable, however, to withstand the
inroads of Asiatics, and the Middle Kingdom came to an end with the Hyksos
invasion. Of the Hyksos, the so-called 'Shepherd Kings', little is known.
They were civilized Asiatics, and during their overlordship of Egypt, which
embraced the thirteenth till the seventeenth dynasties (_c._ 1800-1575
B.C.), the horse and chariot were introduced into Egypt. A Theban royal
house rose into prominence during the latter part of their sway, and the
Hyksos were finally expelled by Pharaoh Aahmes, who founded the eighteenth
dynasty. The Empire period was then inaugurated. Egypt's greatest emperor,
Thothmes III (1515-1461 B.C.), extended his conquests to the borders of
Asia Minor, and received tribute from the Hittites, and even from Cyprus
and Crete. During the reign of Akhenaton, the Hittites and their allies,
the Amorites, seized the Egyptian sphere of influence in Syria and Northern
Palestine.
In the nineteenth dynasty (1350-1205 B.C.) much of the lost territory was
recovered. Rameses II (1325-1258 B.C.) fought his Waterloo at Kadesh, but
found it necessary about 1300 B.C. to conclude a treaty of peace with the
Hittites, the Assyrian Power at the time becoming very powerful and
aggressive. Rameses III of the twentieth dynasty was the last great Pharaoh
of the Empire period. He successfully resisted the threatened invasions of
naval and military peoples from Greece and Anatolia in 1200 B.C. It is
believed that the Trojan War (1194-1184 B.C.) was waged by the same
confederacy which had attempted to invade the Delta region. No fewer than
nine Pharaohs named Rameses ruled in Egypt after Rameses III. Most of these
were priest-kings. A Libyan dynasty held sway for about two centuries
(950-750 B.C.). One of its Pharaoh-Sheshhonks was the 'Shishak' who was an
ally of Solomon; after the death of that monarch he invaded Palestine. The
Ethiopians of Nubia (Sudan) subsequently overran Egypt. One of its
Pharaohs, Shabaka, was the ally of King Hosea of Israel against Assyria; he
was defeated at Raphia by Sargon in 720 B.C. The last Ethiopian Pharaoh,
Taharka, was in 662 B.C. overcome by the invading army of the Assyrian
Emperor, Ashur-banipal. The northern royal family of Sais then came into
power, and the twenty-sixth dynasty, which lasted for about 130 years
(662-525 B.C.), was inaugurated by Psamtik I. Pharaoh-Necho, referred to in
the Bible, was the second ruler. It was during Necho's reign that his
Phoenician mariners circumnavigated Africa. Egyptian culture was at the
time spreading far and wide along sea and land routes. Trade was
flourishing. The greatest world-power at the time, however, was Persia, and
in 525 B.C. Egypt was conquered by Cambyses and became a Persian province,
with short interruptions of weak native dynasties (the twenty-eighth to
thirtieth), until in 332 B.C. Alexander the Great seized it and founded
Alexandria. The Ptolemaic dynasty afterwards held sway for about three
centuries. During this period learning and the arts flourished. Alexandria
was not only a commercial town, but a centre of culture and the capital of
Egypt. Osiris was worshipped there in the form of Serapis. During the
latter part of the dynasty the native Egyptians were using Greek and
Graecized names, and the whole country was more or less Hellenized. The
fifteenth Ptolemy was the younger brother of the famous Cleopatra, the
seventh of her name. He vanished, and was succeeded by Cleopatra's son,
Caesarion--Ptolemy XVI--whose father was Julius Caesar. Both Cleopatra and
her son perished when Egypt became a Roman province in 30 B.C. A daughter
of Cleopatra and Antony became the wife of Juba, King of Morocco.
[Illustration: Queen Ahmes (wife of Thothmes I)
From a relief on the wall of the temple at Der-el-Bahari. The face is of
Mediterranean type. She represents the royal line which soon afterwards
fused with a foreign strain, so that the facial type changed.]
[Illustration: Head of Rameses II