Saturday, December 31, 2005

Timeline: Egypt

Only a small chunk of Egyptology, but to celebrate the New Year, here's a chronology of Egypt from 7000BC to the present day:

"circa 7,000 BC - Settlement of Nile Valley begins. Egypt's pyramids served as tombs for her dead kings
circa 3,000 BC - Kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt unite. Successive dynasties witness flourishing trade, prosperity and the development of great cultural traditions. Writing, including hieroglyphics, is used as an instrument of state. Construction of the pyramids - around 2,500 BC - is a formidable engineering achievement.
669 BC - Assyrians from Mesopotamia conquer and rule Egypt.
525 BC - Persian conquest.
332 BC - Alexander the Great, of ancient Macedonia, conquers Egypt, founds Alexandria. A Macedonian dynasty rules until 31 BC.
31 BC - Egypt comes under Roman rule; Queen Cleopatra commits suicide after Octavian's army defeats her forces.
642 AD - Arab conquest of Egypt.
969 - Cairo established as capital.
1250-1517 - Mameluke (slave soldier) rule, characterised by great prosperity and well-ordered civic institutions.
1517 - Egypt absorbed into the Turkish Ottoman empire.
1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte's forces invade but are repelled by the British and the Turks in 1801. Egypt once more becomes part of the Ottoman empire."

And much more - see the above page on the BBC website for the full chronology.

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