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| Egypt Today - About Egypt |
| A Historical Background |
| The history of Egypt goes back to about five thousand years B.C. The history of the pharaohs falls
into three main eras: |
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| The Old Kingdom |
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| The capital was Memphis established by king mina, the first king of the dynasty who unified Upper and Lower Egypt .
Of the most famous kings of that epoch was king Zoser who built the Sakkara Pyramid, which is known to be the first stone structure in history. Pharaonic Egypt reached
the apex of its civilization in the era of the pyramid builders. |
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| The Middle Kingdom |
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| The capital was Thebes . That epoch was noted for the flowering of arts, agricultural projects and commercial exchange
with neighboring countries. |
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| The New Kingdom |
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| It began with the eighteenth dynasty established by King Ahmos. The capital was Thebes . The capital was transferred
for a short period during the reign of Akhenaton and his wife from Thebes to Tal Al-Amarna. Of the most famous kings of the new kingdom was Ramses II. He left great
monuments the most famous of which are the two Abu-Simbel temples. |
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| The Greco – Roman Era : |
The conquests of Alexander the Great brought Egypt within the orbit of the Greek world for the next 900 years. After 300
years of rule by the Macedonian Polemics, Egypt was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 30 BC , and was ruled first from Rome and then from Constantinople until the
Arab conquest in AD 639 The Coptic Era :
The ancient Egyptian civilization under the rule of the Pharaohs lasted for approximately 3000 years. |
| Many Copts accepted the teachings of Christianity, possibly because the ancient Egyptian religions believed in life after
death. Like other early Christians throughout the Roman Empire , the Copts suffered from the persecution perpetrated against the new religion. Many Copts shed their blood
in testimony for Jesus Christ. Saint Mina or Menas is one of the major Coptic saints. He was martyred 309 A.D. The Copts history continues through the present as Father
Mina the Anchorite led the Coptic Orthodox Church, who was named as Pope Cyril the 6th 1971 A.D. He is considered to be a contemporary saint and among the great leaders of
the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Coptic or Egyptian history continues from circa 3050 B.C. through the present. Many cotemporary Copts continue to carry ancient Egyptian
names such as Mina, Ahmos, and Ramesses for men, Isis, Nofert, Nefertiti, and Nitocris for women. |
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| The Arab Islamic Fat'h (Conquest) |
It started in Egypt In 641 A.D. under the leadership of Amr Ibn Al-Aas. Egypt became great
Islamic center. This was succeeded by different eras and rulers of whom the most prominent was Salah El-Din Al-Ayubi. In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte conducted his famous
expedition to Egypt and Egypt 's contact with western civilization began. In 1805 Mohamed Aly set up his dynasty which ruled Egypt for more than a century.
In July 1952 the Revolution broke out and put an end to the monarchy. With this started a new era in Egypt 's history, the Republican regime. |
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