iziko: social history resources: egyptian collection


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History – a history longer than the Nile!

The ancient Greeks called Egypt Aiguptos which in Egyptian means the ‘house of the god Ptah’ or ‘Hikuptah’, one of the ancient names of Memphis, a city in ancient Egypt.

The time before the unification is known as the Predynastic Period, meaning the time before any written records. The Dynastic Period, consisting of thirty-one dynasties, lasted from unification in c. 3050 BCE until 332 BCE. These dynasties are divided into shorter periods like the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and several Intermediate Periods.

Table 1: Dynasties and periods of Egypt

Predynastic Period	before 3050 BCE
Early Dynastic Period Dynasties I-II	3050-2686 BCE
Old Kingdom Dynasties III-VI	2686-2181 BCE
First Intermediate Period Dynasties VII-XI	2181-2040 BCE
Middle Kingdom Dynasties XI-XII	2040-1782 BCE
Second Intermediate Period Dynasties XIII-XVII	1782-1570 BCE
New Kingdom Dynasties XVIII-XX	1570-1070 BC
Third Intermediate Period Dynasties XXI-XXIV	1070-713 BCE
Late Period Dynasties XXV-XXXI	713-332 BCE
Graeco-Roman Period	332 BCE – CE 395