Egyptian History
The
first major world power was
The Rosetta Stone, The
Papyrus growing outside the
Amenhotep III (1415 BCE,18th dynasty) was one of the most prodigious builders in Egyptian History, many of his statues and temples surviving even today. He had a long and successful reign. He inherited a stable and prosperous empire effectively founded by his great-grandfather Tuthmose III (1504-1450 BCE; mummy is in Cairo; incidentally, Egyptian records, describing Thutmose III at Megiddo in 1479 BCE as his Egyptian army defeated a Syrian force, reads "like Horus armed with talons," possibly the first reference to a military chaplain). The tomb of Amenhotep III in the valley of the kings was discovered by a French expedition in 1799 and is still one of the most impressive today.
Amenhotep III, The British The Bitter Lake, Sinai (where many scholars believe God
Museum,
A Faluka ride on the Nile
Many scholars believe the exodus
occurred during the reign of his grandfather, Amenhotep II (1450-1420 BCE),
which would make Tuthmose III the great oppressor of
The River Nile and the Red Sea Marah, Sinai, where the water was bitter
The Great Pyramids, Cairo, Egypt (the last of the The Great Pyramids, taken from
Seven Wonders still intact) Space Station Alpha
Mummy of Rameses II, at the Egyptian Museum, Inside the smallest of the
Cairo, Egypt (Moses may have looked into this face) Great Pyramids, Mycerinus
The Sphinx, carved from a single stone in the quarry Chephren used when building his tomb
(Chephren was the son of Cheops). Really, no one knows who built the Sphinx or why it was built.
Ancient Rameses is located at Tell el-Dab‘a in the eastern Delta, approximately 100 km northeast of Cairo. In antiquity, the Pelusiac branch of the Nile flowed past the site, giving access to the Mediterranean. The reason why it took so long to find the city? It is hard work looking for mud bricks in mud. Rameses II (19th dynasty, 1304-1235 BCE) ruled for 65 years, and was one of the greatest of the pharaohs. He was a great builder, but somewhat of a plagiarist also. He occasionally claimed credit for the accomplishments of his predecessors. His mummy is in Cairo. His son Merneptah (1235-1220 BCE, mummy also in Cairo) is thought by some to be the pharaoh during the exodus (which would mean Rameses II was the great oppressor of Israel). In 1906, Sir Flinders Petrie found a slab of black syenite containing a record of Merneptah's victories, made in the 5th year of his reign. The word "Israel" occurs in the middle of the second line from the bottom. It says: "Plundered is Canaan. Israel is desolated; his seed is not. Palestine is become a widow for Egypt." Scholars who hold to the earlier exodus date consider this a reference to a raid of Mernepta's into Palestine some 200 years after Israel had settled in the land. The decline of Egypt began shortly after the 19th Dynasty, perhaps as a result of the plagues. Rameses III began the 20th dynasty.
Merneptah's Stele, Egyptian Museum Smoking a water pipe in a bedouin tent, Sinai
Looking west from the top of Mount Sinai (or, Mt. Horeb, the traditional place where Moses received the
Ten Commandments). In 1 K 19:8, Elijah journeyed there when he was running from Jezebel.
Note: While I make every effort to produce an error-free document, errors occasionally creep in. I would appreciate you bringing any to my attention so that I may make the necessary corrections.
Ancient World History
Egyptian (YOU ARE HERE)
Renaissance/Reformation World History
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
WW2