Egyptians

Egyptians (مَصريين Maṣreyyīn) (ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙ'ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ ni.Ramenkīmi)
Saad Zaghlul • Prince Rahotep of the Old Kingdom • Sherine • Muhammad Abduh • Boutros Boutros-Ghali • Nefertiti • Abraam Bishop of Fayoum • Abdel Halim Hafez • 2nd century Fayum mummy portrait • Naguib Mahfouz
Total population
76.4 million (2006)[1] plus 2.7 million in the diaspora (2004)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Egypt 76.4 million  Saudi Arabia 900,000 (2004) [3]  Libya 333,000 (1999) [4]  United States 318,000 (2000) [5]  Jordan 227,000 (1999) [4]  Kuwait 191,000 (1999) [4]  United Arab Emirates 140,000 (2002) [3]  Canada 110,000 (2000) [6][7]  Italy 90,000 (2000) [5]  Australia 70,000 (2000) [5]  Iraq 66,000 (1999) [4]  Greece 60,000 (2000) [5]  Germany 40,000 (2000) [8]  Netherlands 40,000 (2000) [5]  France 36,000 (2000) [5]  England 35,000 (2000) [5]  Austria 14,000 (2000) [5]  Switzerland 14,000 (2000) [5]  Spain 12,000 (2000) [5]  Israel 11,000 (2005) [9]
Language(s)
Egyptian Arabic, Egyptian/Coptic
Religion(s)
Predominantly Sunni Islam and Coptic Orthodox Christianity, with minorities of Sufism, Shiism, Coptic Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Baha'i Faith, and Atheism
Related ethnic groups
Berbers, Nubians

The Egyptians (Egyptian: rmṯnkm.t; Coptic: ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙ'ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ ni.ramenkīmi; Arabic: مِصريّون miṣriyūn; Masri: مَصريين maṣreyyīn) are a North African ethnic group native to Egypt. Egyptian identity is rooted in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivatable land stretching from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean Sea and enclosed by vast deserts. This unique geography has been the basis of the development of Egyptian society in antiquity.

The Egyptian people have spoken only languages from the northern branch of the Afro-Asiatic family throughout their history, from old Egyptian to today's vernacular Egyptian Arabic. Their religion is predominantly Sunni Islam with a Shia minority and a significant proportion who follow native Sufi orders.^[10][11] A large minority of Egyptians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, whose liturgical language, Coptic, is the latest stage of the indigenous Egyptian language.

Names of the Egyptians

• Rmṯ (n) km.t – This is the native Egyptian name of the people of the Nile Valley, literally 'People of Kemet' (i.e., Egypt). In antiquity, it was often rendered simply as Rmṯ or '(the) People.' The name is vocalized ramenkīmi ⲣⲉⲙⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ in the Coptic stage of the language, meaning Egyptian (Sahidic dialect: remnekēme ⲣⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲉ) — and ni.ramenkīmi ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ with the plural definite article, i.e., Egyptians,

• Copts (qibṭ, qubṭ قبط) – Under Muslim rule, the Egyptians came to be known as Copts, a derivative of the Greek word Αἰγύπτιος, Aiguptios (Egyptian), from Αἰγύπτος, Aiguptos (Egypt). The Greek name in turn may be derived from the Egyptian ḥw.t-ka-ptḥ, literally "Estate (or 'House') of Ptah", the name of the temple complex of the god Ptah at Memphis. After the majority of Egyptians converted from Christianity to Islam, the term became exclusively associated with Egyptian Christianity and Egyptians who remained Christian, though references to native Muslims as Copts are attested until the Mamluk period.^[12]

• Maṣreyyīn (مَصريين) – The modern Egyptian name comes from the ancient Semitic name for Egypt and originally connoted "civilization" or "metropolis". Classical Arabic Miṣr (Egyptian Arabic Maṣr) is directly cognate with the Biblical Hebrew Mitzráyīm, meaning "the two straits", a reference to the predynastic separation of Upper and Lower Egypt. Edward William Lane writing in the 1820s, said that Egyptians commonly called themselves El-Maṣreeyeen 'the Egyptians', Owlad Maṣr 'the Children of Egypt' and Ahl Maṣr 'the People of Egypt'. He added that the Turks "stigmatized" the Egyptians with the name Ahl-Far'oon or the 'People of the Pharaoh'.^[13]

Demographics and society

See also: Demographics of Egypt

Modern superstructures juxtaposed with traditional housing along the ancient Nile river are part of today's landscape in Egypt's capital city.

There are an estimated 79 million Egyptians in the world, but the vast majority live in Egypt where they constitute 97-98% (76.4 million) of the total population. Approximately 90% of Egyptians are Muslim and 10% are Christian (9% Coptic, 1% other Christian).^[1] Almost all live near the banks of the Nile River where the only arable land is found. Close to a half of the Egyptian people today are urban, living in the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities. Most of the rest are fellahin or farmers leading humble lives in rural towns and villages. A large influx of fellahin into urban towns and cities, and rapid urbanization of many rural areas since the turn of the last century, have shifted the balance between the number of urban and rural Egyptians.

Egyptians also form smaller minorities in the countries that neighbour them, in particular Saudi Arabia and Libya where they are mostly temporary professionals and workers, as well as in other countries as immigrants, notably in the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Greece and France. It is also a matter of dispute whether the Egyptian population of the Balkan states are ethnic Egyptians.

The Egyptians are an autochthonous people deeply attached to their land. Historically, it was rare for Egyptians to leave their country permanently or for an extended period of time—it was not until the 1970s that Egyptians began to emigrate in large numbers. Until only recently, a study on the pattern of Egyptian emigration was quoted as saying "Egyptians have a reputation of preferring their own soil. Few leave except to study or travel; and they always return... Egyptians do not emigrate."^[14] Egyptians also tend to be provincial, meaning their attachment extends not only to Egypt but to the specific provinces, towns and villages from which they hail. Therefore, return migrants, such as temporary workers abroad, come back to their region of origin in Egypt.

A sizable Egyptian diaspora did not begin to form until well into the 1980s, today numbering nearly 3 million (2004 est).^[2] Generally, those who emigrate to the United States and western European countries tend to do so with the intention of settling permanently, while Egyptians migrating to neighboring countries in the Middle East only go there to work with the intention of returning to Egypt:

Sixty percent of Egyptians are rural fellahin or farmers. The percentage was much higher at the turn of the last century, before rapid urbanization and large-scale in-migration shifted Egypt's demographics.

Egyptian emigration is primarily motivated by economic and political considerations. High rates of unemployment and population growth are two of the socioeconomic conditions that steadily deteriorated following the 1952 coup d'état, leading scores of Egyptians to seek better opportunities in foreign countries. Political repression and human rights violations by Egypt's ruling régime are other contributing factors (see Egypt#Human rights). Egyptians have also been impacted by the wars between Egypt and Israel, particularly after the Six-Day War in 1967, when migration rates began to rise. In August 2006, Egyptians made headlines when 11 students from Mansoura University failed to show up at their American host institutions for a cultural exchange program in the hope of finding employment.^[16] Many Coptic Christians also leave the country due to discrimination and harassment by the Egyptian government and Islamist groups.

Egyptians in neighboring countries face additional challenges. Over the years, abuse, exploitation and/or ill-treatment of Egyptian workers and professionals in the Arab Gulf States, Iraq and Libya have been reported by the Egyptian Human Rights Organization^[17] and different media outlets.^[18][19] Arab nationals have in the past expressed fear over an "'Egyptianization' of the local dialects and culture that were believed to have resulted from the predominance of Egyptians in the field of education"^[3] (see also Egyptian Arabic#Geographic distribution). Twice Libya was on the brink of war with Egypt due to mistreatment of Egyptian workers and after the signing of the peace treaty with Israel.^[20] When the Gulf War ended, Egyptian workers in Iraq were subjected to harsh measures and expulsion by the Iraqi government and to violent attacks by Iraqis returning from the war to fill the workforce.^[21]

Origins

See also: Egypt#Identity

Mummy of 19th dynasty King Ramesses II.

Over the years, the findings of archaeology, biological anthropology and population genetics have shed light on the origins of the Egyptians. The indigenous Nile Valley population became firmly established during the Pleistocene when nomadic hunter-gatherers began living along the Nile river. Traces of these proto-Egyptians appear in the form of artifacts and rock carvings in the terraces of the Nile and the desert oases. Beginning in the predynastic period, some differences between the populations of Upper and Lower Egypt were ascertained through their skeletal remains, suggesting a gradual clinal pattern north to south.^{[22][23][24][25]}

When Lower and Upper Egypt were unified c. 3150 BC, the distinction began to blur, resulting in a more "homogeneous" population in Egypt, though the distinction remains true to some degree to this day.^[26][27][28] Some biological anthropologists such as Shomarka Keita believe the range of variability to be primarily indigenous and not necessarily the result of significant intermingling of widely divergent peoples.^[29] Keita describes the northern and southern patterns of the early predynastic period as "northern-Egyptian-Maghreb" and "tropical African variant" (overlapping with Nubia/Kush) respectively. He shows that a progressive change in Upper Egypt toward the northern Egyptian pattern takes place through the predynastic period. The southern pattern continues to predominate in Abydos, Upper Egypt by the First Dynasty, but "lower Egyptian, Maghrebian, and European patterns are observed also, thus making for great diversity."^[30]

A 2006 bioarchaeological study on the dental morphology of ancient Egyptians by Prof. Joel Irish shows dental traits characteristic of indigenous North Africans and to a lesser extent Southwest Asian populations. Among the samples included in the study is skeletal material from the Hawara tombs of Fayum, which clustered very closely with the Badarian series of the predynastic period. All the samples, particularly those of the Dynastic period, were significantly divergent from a neolithic West Saharan sample from Lower Nubia. Biological continuity was also found intact from the dynastic to the post-pharaonic periods. According to Irish:

[The Egyptian] samples [996 mummies] exhibit morphologically simple, mass-reduced dentitions that are similar to those in populations from greater North Africa (Irish, 1993, 1998a–c, 2000) and, to a lesser extent, western Asia and Europe (Turner, 1985a; Turner and Markowitz, 1990; Roler, 1992; Lipschultz, 1996; Irish, 1998a). Similar craniofacial measurements among samples from these regions were reported as well (Brace et al., 1993)... an inspection of MMD values reveals no evidence of increasing phenetic distance between samples from the first and second halves of this almost 3,000-year-long period. For example, phenetic distances between First-Second Dynasty Abydos and samples from Fourth Dynasty Saqqara (MMD ¼ 0.050), 11-12th Dynasty Thebes (0.000), 12th Dynasty Lisht (0.072), 19th Dynasty Qurneh (0.053), and 26th–30th Dynasty Giza (0.027) do not exhibit a directional increase through time... Thus, despite increasing foreign influence after the Second Intermediate Period, not only did Egyptian culture remain intact (Lloyd, 2000a), but the people themselves, as represented by the dental samples, appear biologically constant as well... Gebel Ramlah [Neolithic Nubian/Western Desert sample] is, in fact, significantly different from Badari based on the 22-trait MMD (Table 4). For that matter, the Neolithic Western Desert sample is significantly different from all others [but] is closest to predynastic and early dynastic samples.^[31]

Egyptian students at a youth workshop.

A group of noted physical anthropologists conducted craniofacial studies of Egyptian skeletal remains and concluded similarly that "the Egyptians have been in place since back in the Pleistocene and have been largely unaffected by either invasions or migrations. As others have noted, Egyptians are Egyptians, and they were so in the past as well."^[32]

Genetic analysis of modern Egyptians reveals that they have paternal lineages common to indigenous North Africans/Berber populations primarily, and to Near Eastern peoples to a lesser extent. These lineages would have spread during the Neolithic and maintained by the predynastic period.^[33][34] Studies based on maternal lineages also link Egyptians with people from modern Eritrea/Ethiopia such as the Tigre.^[35][36]

University of Chicago Egyptologist Frank Yurco confirmed this finding of historical and regional continuity, saying:

Certainly there was some foreign admixture [in Egypt], but basically a homogeneous African population had lived in the Nile Valley from ancient to modern times... [the] Badarian people, who developed the earliest Predynastic Egyptian culture, already exhibited the mix of North African and Sub-Saharan physical traits that have typified Egyptians ever since (Hassan 1985; Yurco 1989; Trigger 1978; Keita 1990; Brace et al., this volume)... The peoples of Egypt, the Sudan, and much of East Africa, Ethiopia and Somalia are now generally regarded as a Nilotic (i.e. Nile River) continuity, with widely ranging physical features (complexions light to dark, various hair and craniofacial types) but with powerful common cultural traits, including cattle pastoralist traditions (Trigger 1978; Bard, Snowden, this volume). Language research suggests that this Saharan-Nilotic population became speakers of the Afro-Asiatic languages... Semitic was evidently spoken by Saharans who crossed the Red Sea into Arabia and became ancestors of the Semitic speakers there, possibly around 7000 BC... In summary we may say that Egypt was distinct North African culture rooted in the Nile Valley and on the Sahara.^[37]

History

Main article: History of Egypt

rmṯ (n) kmt (People of Egypt; "Egyptians") in hieroglyphs

Egyptians may have the longest continuous history of any people, spanning a period of some 7,000 years. The Egyptians' recorded history starts with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt c. 3150 BC, an event that sparked the beginning of Egypt's ancient civilization. A succession of thirty mostly native dynasties ruled for the next three millennia, during which Egyptian culture flourished and remained distinctively Egyptian in its religion, arts, language and customs. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC, giving rise to the Ptolemaic dynasty which introduced Hellenic culture to the Egyptians, but continued to rule according to ancient Egyptian traditions. This stability shifted when the Egyptians fell under Roman rule, most notably with the introduction of Christianity in Egypt by Saint Mark in the 1st century AD. The Egyptians were soon incorporated within the Byzantine fold and remained so until the 7th century AD, when Egypt became part of the Islamic Caliphate following Amr ibn al-As's conquest that brought Islam to Egypt. Egyptians were ruled by a succession of Arabs, Mamluk Circassians, Ottoman Turks and British until independence was reasserted in 1922 and a republic was declared in 1953.

Prehistory

Archaeological findings show that primitive tribes lived along the Nile long before the dynastic history of the Pharaohs began. By about 5500 BC, Egypt was inhabited by settled communities of people who cultivated emmer wheat and barley, made pottery, weaved linen and raised sheep, goats and cattle. Before the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, northern Egyptians seem to have been somewhat culturally distinct from their neighbors to the south. Surviving evidence for early settlement in Lower Egypt such as pottery, houses and burial sites appear different from those of the Upper Egyptians. The earliest known predynastic northern Egyptian site, Merimda, predates the earliest in Upper Egypt, the Badarian, by about 700 years.^[38] However, later predynastic Lower Egyptians were in contact with not only contemporaneous southern Egyptians, but also with people from the Levant and with the Sumerians of Uruk, as some of the plants cultivated and the pottery types found in Lower Egypt resemble those of neighboring cultures.^[39]

Prehistoric Lower Egyptians already believed in an existence after death, as attested by their grave goods.^[40] Each province before the unification of Egypt acquired its own animal deity. Uto and Bast were worshipped in the delta towns of Buto and Bubastis respectively, while Thoth and Wepwawet were the Upper Egyptian deities of Ashmounein and Asyut. The predynastic settlements of Upper Egypt displayed more elaborate funerary practices and artifacts that were more clearly the direct predecessors of those of the dynastic Egyptians. Significantly, the earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions appears on Naqada III pottery vessels dated to about 3200 BC.^[41] During the predynastic and protodynastic periods, the southern Egyptian cities of Nekheb, Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) and Abydos were major centers of power. The first attempt to conquer Lower Egypt seems to have been made by a king from Nekhen known as Scorpion, but it would be another 100 years or so before another upper Egyptian king successfully unified the two lands.^[42]

Dynastic period

Main articles: Ancient Egypt and History of Ancient Egypt

The Narmer Palette believed to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.

The beginning of the Egyptians' recorded history starts with the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt by the Upper Egyptian king Narmer (identified with the pharaoh Menes). He founded Ancient Egypt's 1st dynasty around 3150 BC. To strengthen his political role, King Menes/Narmer married the northern Egyptian princess Neithotep and took on the title of Two Ladies, i.e., Nekhbet, the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt and Uto the cobra goddess worshipped by the Lower Egyptians, as a symbol of the unification. Herodotus, like the Egyptian historian Manetho, associated the unification with King Menes. He also indicated that Menes founded the ancient city of Memphis in Lower Egypt, which became the new capital of the unified country. The Egyptians from this point onwards referred to the country as tAwy, Two Lands, a name that came to predominate until the New Kingdom period when the name km.t (Coptic: kīmi), Black Land, was more commonly used. The first two dynasties of Egypt were each ruled by eight kings and lasted for a combined period of nearly 400 years.

Old Kingdom

Prince Rahotep, possible son of King Sneferu, 4th dynasty.

Main article: Old Kingdom

By the end of the Early Dynastic period, a strong centralized government was firmly established with Memphis as its capital city, and the foundations of the first peak period of Egyptian civilization were laid. The following era in Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom (c. 2700−2200 BC), is particularly famous for its magnificent superstructures, many of which served as royal tombs for the pharaohs. They were state-sponsored projects built in the 3rd and 4th dynasties and in which the whole of the Egyptian population often participated. Building typically commenced during the Nile's Inundation when agricultural lands were submerged in water and people could not farm. King Djoser's step pyramid at Saqqara, engineered by the famous architect and physician Imhotep, and the Giza pyramids are among this period's most famous examples. They are a testament to the Egyptians' extraordinary competence in astronomy and mathematics very early in their history. It is believed that many parts of famous medical papyri that appear in later periods, particularly the Edwin Smith papyrus, were written during this period by Imhotep and other Egyptian doctors.^[43]

Seated statue of a scribe, 5th dynasty.

Egyptian religion and writing took definitive shape in the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods. The local pantheon, which had been in the predynastic period confined to sacred animal deities, expanded to include cosmic gods representing the sun, moon, sky and wind. This constituted an effort toward greater philosophical and intellectual development.^[44] Solar worship embodied in the cults of Ra and Atum—subsequently Atum-Ra—came to particular prominence in the Old Kingdom. Other important deities during this period were Hathor, Ptah and Horus. The art of mummification was also honed before the end of this period. The oldest known mummy dates to the 5th dynasty and was found in Saqqara.^[45] Lasting for an estimated 500 years, the Old Kingdom was the quintessential Egyptian civilization. Insular and unchallenged from abroad, the Egyptians enjoyed a time of continuous prosperity and stability unmatched by any other period, leading one historian to describe it as the "Peaceable Kingdom of historical memory."^[46]

Middle Kingdom

Amenemhat III depicted in statue: Lion-headed with flared mane, 12th dynasty.

Mummified head of King Ahmose I, c. 1525 BC.

Main article: Middle Kingdom of Egypt

A period of political fragmentation led to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt. It lasted for about 150 years during which central authority and social order were maintained by local governors. Stronger Nile floods and stabilization of government brought back renewed prosperity for the country in the Middle Kingdom c. 2040 BC, reaching a peak during the reign of Amenemhat III. Thebes (modern Luxor) became the new capital during the 11th dysnaty, though government administration remained in Memphis. Egyptians regularly traded with their neighbors to the south and east, and their political influence extended into those areas. However, land cultivation and stock raising remained the foundation of Egypt's economy, as they would during the course of Egyptian history. The state did not institute a system of coinage until the Late Period—most business hitherto was conducted by barter.^[47] The Middle Kingdom became a golden age of Egyptian literature thanks to a large body of textual evidence that made this stage of Egyptian (i.e., Middle Egyptian) the classical phase of the language.

The end of the Middle Kingdom was brought about by a decline in central authority which led to Egypt being occupied for the first time during its dynastic history. The Hyksos invaders were a Semitic people who took over much of Lower Egypt around 1650 BC, and founded a new capital at Avaris. They ruled as Egyptian pharaohs and their names were often inscribed on scarabs bearing both the their Semitic and Egyptian titles. Hyksos rule lasted just over 100 years when they were eventually driven out by the native Egyptian nobleman Ahmose I. Despite the Hyksos' attempt to rule according to native Egyptian traditions, the Egyptians' perception of them was consistently negative. They were depicted as "uncouth barbarians who 'ruled without Re.'"^[48] Ahmose took to the throne in a re-unified Egypt, and with his rule began a period of Egyptian independence as well as expansion into surrounding regions.

New Kingdom

Funerary golden mask placed over the mummy of King Tutankhamun, 18th dynasty, c. 1333 – 1324 BC.

Main article: New Kingdom

The New Kingdom is perhaps the most celebrated period of Egyptian history. Lasting from roughly 1550 to 1070 BC, the period marked the rise of Egypt as an international power. Ahmose founded the 18th dynasty and relocated the capital to Thebes, though once again Memphis remained the administrative capital. The Egyptians emerged from the shock of the Hyksos invasion determined to protect Egypt's national and territorial integrity. The Egyptian army developed into a well-organized service made up of professionally trained soldiers. International relations became a primary concern for the New Kingdom pharaohs. Egyptians were introduced to many foreign ideas, some of which they adopted and incorporated into their lifestyle. As in most periods, agriculture and stock farming continued to be the mainstays of Egyptian economy. The introduction of the shaduf from western Asia helped develop more efficient methods of irrigation. Amun rose to become a state god and was syncretized with Ra as Amun-Ra. The main Temple of Amun built in Thebes is the largest structure in the Karnak complex.

Perhaps this period is best known for some of its rulers. Queen Hatshepsut was one of only a few Egyptian female rulers and their most influential. She sent trade missions as far south as the coast of modern Eritrea, and her numerous building projects, most notably her mortuary temple complex at Deir el-Bahri, were rivaled only by those of her Old Kingdom predecessors. Thutmose III, dubbed the Napoleon of Egypt, pushed Egypt's southern frontier to the Fourth Cataract in Nubia, then conquered and subsequently founded protectorates in the Levant. He undertook a building program at Karnak, including the festival temple "Effective of Monuments" in the precinct of Amun.^[49] Akhenaten with his wife Nefertiti revolutionized Egyptian religion, albeit briefly, with the solar monotheism of Aten. Young King Tutankhamun is world famous for his magnificent tomb found intact. Ramesses II conducted many successful military campaigns and signed what may be the world's first peace treaty.^[50] He constructed many impressive monuments, including the renowned archaeological complex of Abu Simbel and the memorial temple of Ramesseum. Ramesses III was the last of the great pharaohs of the New Kingdom, under whose rule Egypt reached a peak of prosperity.^[51]

Late period

King Nectanebo II was Egypt's last native Pharaoh, 360 − 343 BC.

Main article: Late Period of ancient Egypt

When the New Kingdom came to an end, the priests of Amun and the military had become powerful and independent at the expense of the throne. By 1200 BC, Egypt was under repeated attacks by Libyans from the west and invaders from the Aegean region referred to as the Sea Peoples. The country fell into the chaos of the Third Intermediate Period during which authority was divided among several competing nomarchs. The 22nd through the 25th dynasties were made up entirely of Libyan and Nubian/Kushite rulers. The Assyrians invaded and took of control of Egypt in the 7th century BC, but soon a native Egyptian dynasty drove out the Assyrians and reclaimed the throne. The 26th dynasty began the Saïte period which witnessed another period of Egyptian independence as well as a cultural revival. The first Saïte king, Psamtek I, founded a new capital at Saïs and reunified upper and lower Egypt. Egyptians looked at the Old Kingdom, by then a 2000-year-old civilization, for inspiration in their artistic and religious expression to cope with the repeated foreign assaults on their country at the close of the Pharaonic era.

Society

Farm scene from the burial chamber of Sennedjem, reign of Ramesses II, c. 1279–1213 BC.

Throughout the Pharaonic epoch, divine kingship was the glue which held Egyptian society together. It was especially pronounced in the Old and Middle Kingdoms and continued until the Roman conquest. The societal structure created by this system of government remained virtually unchanged up to modern times.^[52] The role of the king, however, was considerably weakened after the 20th dynasty. The king in his role as Son of Ra was entrusted to maintain Ma'at, the principle of truth, justice and order. His job also entailed maintaining and enhancing the country's agricultural economy by ensuring regular annual Nile floods on which the people depended for sustenance and their very livelihood. Ascendancy to the Egyptian throne reflected the myth of Horus who assumed kingship after he buried his murdered father Osiris. The king of Egypt, as a living personification of Horus, could claim the throne after burying his predecessor, who was typically his father. When the role of the king waned, the country became more susceptible to foreign influence and invasion.

Boat scene, tomb of Nebamun, 18th dynasty, Thebes.

The attention paid to the dead, and the veneration with which they were held, were one of the hallmarks of ancient Egyptian society. Egyptians built tombs for their dead that were meant to last for eternity. This was most prominently expressed by the Great Pyramids. The ancient Egyptian word for tomb pr nɦɦ means 'House of Eternity.' The Egyptians also celebrated life and this is attested by tomb reliefs and inscriptions, papyri and other sources depicting Egyptians farming, conducting trade expeditions, hunting, holding festivals, attending parties and receptions with their pet dogs, cats and monkeys, dancing and singing, enjoying food and drink, and playing games. The ancient Egyptians were also known for their engaging sense of humor, much like their modern descendants.^[53]

Another important continuity during this period is the Egyptian attitude toward foreigners—those they considered not fortunate enough to be part of the community of rmṯ or "the people" (i.e., Egyptians.) This attitude was facilitated by the Egyptians' more frequent contact with other peoples during the New Kingdom, when Egypt expanded to an empire that also encompassed Nubia through Jebel Barkal and parts of the Levant. The Egyptian sense of superiority was given religious validation, as foreigners in the land of Ta-Meri (Egypt) were anathema to the maintenance of Maat—a view most clearly expressed by the admonitions of Ipuwer in reaction to the chaotic events of the Second Intermediate Period. Foreigners in Egyptian texts were described in derogatory terms; e.g., 'wretched Asiatics' (Semites), 'vile Kushites' (Nubians), and 'Ionian dogs' (Greeks). Egyptian beliefs remained unchallenged when Egypt fell to the Hyksos, Assyrians, Libyans, Persians and Greeks—their rulers assumed the role of the Egyptian Pharaoh and were often depicted praying to Egyptian gods.

Wall painting from tomb of Antefoker depicting dancing Egyptians, Middle Kingdom, c. 1950 BC.

The ancient Egyptians used a solar calendar that divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each, with five extra days added. As with nearly every other aspect of Egyptian society, the calendar revolved around the annual Nile Inundation (akh.t), the first of three seasons into which the year was divided. The other two were Winter and Summer, each lasting for four months. The modern Egyptian fellahin calculate the agricultrual seasons, with the months still bearing their ancient names, in much the same manner. The importance of the Nile in Egyptian life, ancient and modern, cannot be overemphasized. The rich alluvium carried by the Nile inundation were the basis of Egypt's formation as a society and a state. Regular inundations were a cause for celebration; low waters often meant famine and starvation. The ancient Egyptians personified the river flood as the god Hapy and dedicated a Hymn to the Nile to celebrate it. km.t, the Black Land, was as Herodotus observed, "the gift of the river."

Persian Achaemenid period

Main article: History of Egypt under Achaemenid Persian domination

Soon Egypt fell to the Persian Achaemenid Empire led by Cambyses in 525 BC, marking more than a century of Persian rule. Constant revolting by Egyptians through the 5th century BC culminated in the Egyptians reasserting their independence briefly under Amyrtaeus, who led a revolt from the Delta and took control of Memphis and Upper Egypt.^[54] Egyptians remained independent until the reign of King Nectanebo II, who was to be the last native ruler of pharaonic Egypt. The country prospered during his reign (360−343 BC) and he undertook large building and sculpture construction comparable to those of the Saïte period.^[55] The Persians under Artaxerxes III dealt a final blow to the Egyptians' independence when they reconquered Egypt in 343 BC. Alexander the Great, on his way to conquer and dismantle the Persian Empire, arrived in Egypt in 332 BC. After Alexander's death, the Greek Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty was established by one of his generals, which continued to rule the country along pharaonic traditions. Alexander founded the city of Alexandria which became the new capital of Egypt until the Byzantine period. When the last and most famous of the Ptolemies, Queen Cleopatra VII, was defeated along with Mark Antony by the Roman Emperor Octavian in the Battle of Actium, it marked the end of 3000 years of Dynastic Egyptian history.

Graeco-Roman period

An Egyptian-style black basalt statue of Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII, c. 51 − 30 B.C.

When Alexander died, a story began to circulate that Nectanebo II, the last indigenous monarch, was Alexander's father. This made Alexander in the eyes of the Egyptians a legitimate heir to the native pharaohs.^[56] Alexander may have been hailed as a liberator for freeing Egypt from Persian Achaemenid rule, but his Macedonian successors, however, did not live up to his legacy as they proved to be no better than the previous Persian rulers in Egypt. The Ptolemies exploited Egypt for their own benefit and a great social divide was created whereby Egyptians were reduced to second-class citizens.^[57] Frequent revolting by the Egyptians against the Greeks took place under Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205 − 180 BC), whose coronation had earlier been commemorated by erecting a stele inscribed in Greek as well as hieroglyphic and demotic Egyptian. When the stele was discovered by the French in the 19th century, it came to be known as the Rosetta Stone and was key to deciphering hieroglyphs.

But while Egyptians lost their national independence to the Macedonian Greeks, the priesthood continued to wield power as they had during the dynastic age. Under the Ptolemies, Egyptians practiced their religion undisturbed and largely maintained their own separate communities from their foreign conquerors.^[58] The Ptolemaic rulers all retained their Greek names and titles, but projected a public image of being Egyptian pharaohs. Much of this period's vernacular literature was composed in the demotic phase and script of the Egyptian language. It was focused on earlier stages of Egyptian history when Egyptians were independent and ruled by those they viewed as great native pharaohs such as Ramesses II. Many prophetic writings circulated among Egyptians promising expulsion of the Greeks.^[59] The language of administration became Greek, but the mass of the Egyptian population was Egyptian-speaking and concentrated in the countryside, while most Greeks lived in Alexandria and only few had any knowledge of Egyptian.^[60] A revival in animal cults, the hallmark of the Predyanstic and Early Dyanstic periods, is said to have come about as Egyptians became increasingly disillusioned and sickened by successive waves of foreign invasions. Feeling a spiritual void, the Egyptians turned to the most characteristic feature of their ancient religion, the worship of sacred animals which were mummified after death.^[61]

Roman-era portrait of an Egyptian man from the Fayum tomb collection, c. 125 − 150 CE

When the Romans annexed Egypt in 30 BC, the social structure created by the Greeks was largely retained, though the power of the Egyptian priesthood diminished. The Roman emperors lived abroad and did not perform the ceremonial functions of Egyptian kingship as the Ptolemies had. Egypt became further stratified with Romans at the apex of the social pyramid, Greeks and Jews in the middle, and Egyptians, who constituted the vast majority, at the bottom. At one point, the Roman emperor Caracalla advocated the expulsion of all ethnic Egyptians from the city of Alexandria, saying "genuine Egyptians can easily be recognized among the linen-weavers by their speech."^[62] This attitude lasted until 212 AD when Roman citizenship was granted to all the inhabitants of Egypt, though ethnic divisions remained largely entrenched.^[63] The Romans, like the Ptolemies had before them, treated Egypt like their own private property, a land exploited for the benefit of a small foreign elite. The Egyptian peasants, pressed for maximum production to meet Roman quotas, suffered greatly and many fled as a result to the desert.^[64] Under Roman rule, Egyptians paid a poll tax at full rate, Greeks paid at half-rate and Roman citizens were exempt.^[65] While Egypt largely retained its integrity and had a stable economy during Ptolemaic rule, it was reduced to an impoverished country cut off from its identity under Roman occupation.

Byzantine and Coptic Christian period

A typical example of early Coptic art reflecting a blend of Egyptian and Christian elements, as the ankh was "Christianized" into the Coptic cross.

The cult of Isis, like those of Osiris and Serapis, had been popular in Egypt and throughout the Roman Empire at the coming of Christianity, and continued to be the main competitor with Christianity in its early years. The main temple of Isis remained a major center of worship in Egypt until the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in the AD 6th century, when it was finally closed down. Egyptians, disaffected and weary after a series of foreign occupations, identified the story of the mother-goddess Isis protecting her child Horus with that of the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus escaping the emperor Herod.^[66] Consequently, many sites believed to have been the resting places of the holy family during their sojourn in Egypt became sacred to the Egyptians. The visit of the holy family later circulated among Egyptian Christians as fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1). The feast of the coming of the Lord of Egypt on June 1 became an important part of Christian Egyptian tradition. According to tradition, Christianity was brought to Egypt by Saint Mark the Evangelist in the early 40s of the AD 1st century, under the reign of the Roman emperor Nero. The earliest converts were Jews residing in Alexandria, a city which had by then become a center of culture and learning in the entire Mediterranean oikoumene.