Diocletian was the last reigning Roman emperor to visit Egypt, in ad 302. Within about 10 years of his visit, the persecution of Christians ceased. The end of persecution had such far-reaching effects that from this point on it is necessary to think of the history of Egypt in a very different framework. No single point can be identified as the watershed between the Roman and Byzantine period, as the divide between a brighter era of peace, culture, and prosperity and a darker age, supposedly characterized by more-oppressive state machinery in the throes of ... (100 of 38,470 words)Egypt’s role in the Byzantine Empire
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The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, 26th–25th century bc.
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Egyptian hieroglyphic numerals.
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Egyptian hieratic numerals.
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Illustration from an Egyptian Book of the Dead, c. 1275 bc, showing the jackal-headed god of the dead, Anubis, weighing the soul of the scribe, Ani.
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The Palermo Stone, first side
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The Rosetta Stone, basalt slab from Fort Saint-Julien, Rosetta (Rashīd), Egypt, 196 bce; in the British Museum, London.
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Howard Carter.
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Scientists X-ray a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy, Poznan Medical Academy, Poland.
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Sites associated with Egypt from Predynastic to Byzantine times.
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Sites associated with Egypt from Predynastic to Byzantine times, Nile delta region.
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Sites associated with Egypt from Predynastic to Byzantine times, Thebes region.
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Painted clay vessel with flamingos and ibexes, Gerzean culture, Egypt, c. 3400–c. 3100 bc; in the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Ger.
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Figure perhaps representing Menes on a victory tablet of Egyptian King Narmer, c. 2925–c. 2775 bce.
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The Blunted Pyramid of King Snefru, Dahshūr, Egypt, 26th century bc.
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The Great Pyramid of Khufu, flanked by those of his sons, Khafre and Menkaure, Giza, Egypt, 26th–25th century bc.
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Aerial view of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, Egypt.
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The Great Sphinx at Giza, Egypt.
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Nekhbet, the vulture goddess, hovering over Menkauhor, Egypt, 25th–24th century bc.
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c. 1900 bc"/> Sesostris I, detail of a limestone statue, Egypt, c. 1900 bc.
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The crown of Lower Egypt (left) and the crown of Upper Egypt (right), both worn by King Sesostris III, Egypt, 19th century bc; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
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Limestone sculpture of Amenhotep I, Egypt, c. 1500 bc.
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The ancient Egyptian empire during the rule of Thutmose III (1479–26 bce).
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Head of a queen, brown quartzite sculpture from Egypt, c. 1479–25 bce; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
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The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Dayr al-Baḥrī, Thebes, Egypt, 15th century bce.
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Thutmose III smiting his Asian foes, detail of a limestone relief from the Temple of Amon at Karnak, Egypt, 15th century bc.
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Gray granite sculpture of Thutmose IV, Egypt, 15th century bc.
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Detail of a wall painting from a tomb in Thebes, Egypt, c. 1450 bc.
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The Colossi of Memnon, stone statues of Amenhotep III, near Thebes, Egypt, 14th century bc.
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King Akhenaton and Queen Nefertiti, Egypt, 14th century bc.
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King Akhenaton (left) with Queen Nefertiti and three of their daughters under the rays of the sun god Aton, Egypt, mid-14th century bc; in the State Museums, Berlin.
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Gold funerary mask of King Tutankhamen, Thebes, Egypt, 14th century bc; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
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Tutankhamen’s tomb (lower left) in the Valley of the Kings, Thebes, Egypt, 14th century bc.
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Hallway in the temple of Seti I, Thebes, Egypt, 13th century bc.
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Detail of the face of the Colossus of Ramses II, Temple of Luxor, Thebes, Egypt, 13th century bc.
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Wall painting of Queen Nefertari from her tomb in the Valley of the Queens, Thebes, Egypt, 13th century bce.
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Entrance to the temple of Abū Simbel, near Aswān, Egypt, 13th century bc.
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Face from an Egyptian coffin, wood, gesso, and pigment, probably from Thebes, c. 1070–945 bce; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
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Feline on falcon heads, limestone relief from Egypt, 664–630 bce; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
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Egypt as part of Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, 6th–5th century bc.
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Portrait of Ptolemy I Soter on a silver tetradrachm coin, Alexandria, Egypt, 3rd century bc.
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c. 188 bc"/> Egypt as part of the Hellenistic world, c. 188 bc.
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bc"/> Arsinoe II, Egyptian coin, 270–250 bc.
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Fragment of a relief of Cleopatra VII, Egypt, c. 1st–c. 3rd century ad.
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Mark Antony, detail of a marble bust; in the Vatican Museum, Italy.
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Bowl of pressed mosaic glass, believed to be from Alexandria, Egypt, 1st century ad; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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Apis, the ancient Egyptian bull deity, painted on the bottom of a wooden coffin, c. 700 bc; in the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Ger.
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c. 565 ad"/> Egypt as part of the Byzantine Empire, c. ad 565.
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Some ancient symbols for 1 and 10.
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The Egyptian sekedThe Egyptians defined the seked as the ratio of the run to the rise, which is the reciprocal of the modern definition of the slope.
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Egypt as part of the Ottoman Empire.
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Akhenaton, sandstone pillar statue from the Aton temple at Karnak, Egypt, c. 1370 bce; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
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Side view of the Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) rising in the background, Al-Jīzah (Giza), Egypt.
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Shaykh al-Balad, wood statue from Ṣaqqārah in Memphis, Egypt, 5th dynasty (c. 2400 bce); in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
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Woman wearing sheathlike gown held up by shoulder straps, typical of Egyptian dress of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Painted wood statue from the tomb of Meketre, Dayr al-Baḥrī, Egypt, 11th dynasty (2081–1938 bc). In the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
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A discussion of some of the most important sites associated with ancient Egypt.
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Papyrus and other agricultural crops were vital to the development of Egyptian civilization.
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Depiction of ancient Egyptian gods as forms of nature.
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Djoser’s step pyramid, Ṣaqqārah, Egypt, late 27th century bc.
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The Valley of the Kings, Thebes, Egypt, 16th–11th century bc.
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Founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria was destined to become one of the great cities of the ancient world.
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Overview of the Alexandrian Museum, founded c. 280 bc, Alexandria, Egypt.
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Overview of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, founded early 3rd century bc.
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The Pyramids at Giza are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
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The building of the pyramids is regarded as man’s first full-scale application of technology.
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The ancient Egyptians had an ingenious way of constructing the burial chambers at the center of each pyramid.
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Chephren’s pyramid is guarded by the Great Sphinx.
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The pyramid of Mycerinus is small in size but is considered to be the finest pyramid at Giza.
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The construction of the Pyramids had an enormous impact on the economy of ancient Egypt.
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Learn about the evolution of the pyramid’s architecture and design.
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Imhotep is credited with the design of Djoser’s pyramid, located at the necropolis of Ṣaqqārah in Memphis, Egypt, which dates to the 27th century bce.
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Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty was renowned for its large stone pyramids.
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Discover the ancient empire of Thebes.
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Temple of Amon-Re at Karnak and the Temple of Luxor, Egypt.
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Hundreds of skilled craftsmen and seasonal laborers were needed to build the pyramids.
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Learn about the rituals that took place inside a Pharaoh’s burial chamber.
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The pyramids of Egypt are as impressive now as when they were first built.
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From prehistoric to modern times, gambling has been popular around the world.
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Learn about the influence of the Nile on ancient civilization.
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The Nile River, in Egypt.
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Archaeologist Patrick Hunt, professor of Classics at Stanford University and author of "Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History", relates the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in Egypt, Orphan Compassion, San Francisco, 10/06/08. Click here to view the video at Fora.tv.
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Egyptian rope pullers constructing a right triangle.
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Before precision machine parts could be made for clocks, people generally relied on the passage of the Sun through the sky to tell time. Among the most important early devices for telling time were the Egyptian shadow clock, the Greek hemispherium, and the Islamic (modern) sundial. Click on these devices in the illustration to see animations of how the Sun’s orientation in the sky was used to mark the daylight hours.