ancient Egypt: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 12, 2026

News •

Mysterious 2,600-year-old Egyptian building discovered from space — and it could be an ancient tomb or shrine • Nov. 2, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (Live Science)

Ancient Egypt’s first female king revealed by long-lost royal seals • Oct. 22, 2026, 6:30 AM ET (Scientific American)

Facts

Date	3000 BCE - 332

Did You Know?

The earliest recorded peace treaty was made in Egypt.
Egyptian men and women both wore makeup and perfume.
Egyptian workers organized the first labor strike recorded in history.
Egyptian workers had the first recorded health care plan.

Photos and Videos

Side view of the Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu rising behind it on the Giza Plateau near Cairo, Egypt.

Nile River valley in ancient Egypt

A chart showing ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic numerals, with symbols representing 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000, plus an example using these symbols to form the number 258,458.

A chart displays Egyptian hieratic numerals for units, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, with each value represented by a unique red symbol in handwritten script.

Ancient Egyptian illustration from the Book of the Dead showing Anubis weighing the soul of the scribe Ani, with gods seated above and hieroglyphic text throughout.

The first side of the Palermo Stone, a dark, irregularly shaped stone slab inscribed with rows of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Howard Carter wearing a suit, bow tie, and tall top hat, poses for a formal portrait.

Map showing historical sites associated with Egypt from Predynastic to Byzantine times, spanning the Nile River valley and delta, Sinai Peninsula, and surrounding regions including Libya, Nubia, the Levant, and the eastern Mediterranean. Major ancient cities, archaeological sites, cataracts of the Nile, and neighboring civilizations are labeled.

Map of northern Egypt highlighting major archaeological and historical sites from the Predynastic to Byzantine periods. The map focuses on the Nile delta region, showing ancient cities and settlements such as Alexandria, Memphis, Giza, Heliopolis, and Tanis, with rivers and major branches of the Nile depicted.

Stone with Egyptian hieroglyphs and a pottery shard with Greek script, linked by a blue arrow; faint pyramids in the background.

A split image of a lion and an orange cat are shown against a vintage map.

Making ancient Egyptian beer

Travel down the Nile to discover important ancient Egyptian cultural sites such as the Pyramids of Giza

Learn how Cleopatra used her influence over Julius Caesar to stay in power

See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Topics

Egyptian art and architecture ancient Egyptian religion hieroglyphic writing Library of Alexandria Egyptology Pyramid sphinx Amarna style Egyptian language Grand Egyptian Museum Ottoman Empire Biafra Belgian Congo Mali Nubia Aksum Songhai empire Congo Free State Darfur German East Africa

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Major Events

Battle of Kadesh

Battle of Kadesh

Step Pyramid of Djoser

Ṣaqqārah

archaeological site, Memphis, Egypt

Kiosk of Trajan

Philae

island, Egypt

Dayr al-Baḥrī: temple of Hatshepsut

Dayr al-Baḥrī

archaeological site, Egypt

Bubastis

Bubastis

ancient city, Egypt

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Oxyrhynchus

ancient city, Egypt

Hierakonpolis, Egypt

Hierakonpolis

ancient city, Egypt

Dayr al-Madinah

Dayr al-Madīnah

ancient settlement, Egypt

blunted pyramid

Dahshūr

archaeological site, Egypt

Beni Hasan

Beni Hasan

archaeological site, Egypt

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Pelusium

ancient city, Egypt

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Sais

ancient city, Egypt

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Gezer

ancient city, Israel

Canopus, ancient Egyptian city

Canopus

ancient city, Egypt

Al-Lahun: pyramid of Sesostris II

Al-Lāhūn

ancient site, Egypt

Antinoöpolis historic site, Egypt

Antinoöpolis

historic site, Egypt

Key People

Ptolemaic sculpture

Ptolemaic dynasty

ancient Egypt

Moses and the Ten Commandments

Moses

Hebrew prophet

Sculpted head of Akhenaten, ancient Egyptian pharaoh, with elongated facial features and a tall, ornate headdress, displayed at the Alexandria National Museum.

Akhenaten

king of Egypt

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Plotinus

ancient philosopher

Ramses II

Ramses II

king of Egypt

Map showing the extent of the Ancient Egyptian Empire during the New Kingdom period of Thutmose III, highlighted in orange, covering Egypt, the Nile River valley, Sinai, and stretching northeast through Palestine, Phoenicia, and Syria. The map also marks the Fertile Crescent and neighboring regions such as Assyria and Babylonia in pink, with key cities and geographic features labeled.

Thutmose III

king of Egypt

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Nebuchadnezzar II

king of Babylonia

Sir Flinders Petrie, detail of an oil painting by George Frederic Watts, 1900; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Sir Flinders Petrie

British archaeologist

Tutankhamun: gold funerary mask

Tutankhamun

king of Egypt

Egyptian amulet

Hyksos

Egyptian dynasty

Sesostris III

Sesostris III

king of Egypt

blunted pyramid

Snefru

king of Egypt

Norman de Garis Davies: Dragging a Statue of Thutmose I

Thutmose I

king of Egypt

Sesostris I

Sesostris I

king of Egypt

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Thutmose IV

king of Egypt

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Merneptah

king of Egypt

Amenhotep III

Amenhotep III

king of Egypt

Thutmose II

Thutmose II

king of Egypt

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Ramses IV

king of Egypt

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Psamtik I

king of Egypt

Three flint axes from the stone age. (prehistoric, tools, early humans, culture, archaeology, implements)

Ancient Civilizations

Gold funerary mask of King Tutankhamen, buried in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings in southern Egypt north of Luxor, 14th century BC. Valley of the Kings. King Tut's Tomb. Funeral mask of King Tutankhamen. King Tut funeral mask. King Tut funerary mask

Walk Like an Egyptian

Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)

History Buff Quiz

Tutankhamen. Modern copy of Tutankhamun's sarcophagus aka funeral mask of king Tutankham. King Tut, Pharaoh, Egypt, mummy, Mummified, gold mask, Egyptian

Egyptian History Quiz

Hatshepsut. Hatchepsut. Pharaoh. Ancient Egypt. Carving. Statue.

Hatshepsut

Ancient Egyptian carving of Pharaoh Seti I holding his flail before the god of the underworld Osiris with Horus behind him. Abydos Temple, Egypt. Ancient carving, on public display for 2,000 years

Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Al-Jizah. Giza Necropolis, Giza Plateau, Cairo, Egypt. Side view of Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) rising in the background. The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids are astronomically oriented to be north-south, east-west (see notes)

Pop Quiz: 18 Things to Know About Ancient Egypt

Mamluk (Mameluke) of Ottoman Imperial Guard. The Mamluk fought Napoleon when he invaded Egypt but lost power in massacre of 1811 instigated by Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849). Aquatint c1820

Egypt Since the Pharaohs