The arise of Egypt

A very long time ago, Egypt was one big oasis. But this oasis dried up after a lot of years, so everyone had to go to the Nile, because this was the only place where something could live. Before this, the people in Egypt were all nomads, but when the Sahara turned into a desert they started to be farmers. The Nile flooded in every summer because the high mountains in the south would melt.

The Egyptian farmers used this to make the land fruitful. For this reason the Egyptians had to cooperate and that's why they picked a leader.
But off course the leaders wanted to have more power so they started wars against other leaders. At the end of long fighting, there were two lands, each with one leader.
This was Upper and Lower Egypt. The king of Lower Egypt (that’s in the south because the Nile streams to the north) won the war and became King of Upper and Lower Egypt, a title that still ran 3000 years after this.
The first king of Egypt was probably Narmer, who's probably the same as the legendary king Menes. Another symbol of Upper and Lower Egypt is the vulture and the snake, or the papyrus and the reed. Narmer was the first pharaoh of Egypt, and he had a lot successors (there were 30 dynasties).
This first period of Egypt (the first dynasty and before) is called the pre-dynastic period. People were still mummified in the hot sand with some artifacts.
The first pharaohs were buried in Abides, just like Osiris.


The Old Kingdom


The Old Kingdom started right after the first dynasty. This period is very famous because of the pyramids. The most important rulers of this period were: Djoser, who built the first pyramid, Snefroe, who built three (bad)pyramids, Choefoe, who built the largest pyramid and his sons Chefren and Mycerinus.
The first real tombs were the so-called "mastaba's." This were (huge) buildings with a flat roof and just one floor. These were created to make the offerings.
The real burial chamber was cut out of the rock meters underneath and was only connected through a shaft.
But Djoser wanted a different burial monument, so he asked Imhotep. Imhotep must have been the Leonardo Da Vinci of his time, because he knew all about healing, architecture and he was a priest.
This genius figured out the first pyramid (the step pyramid 'see Ancient Monuments') by piling up some mastabas. There was only one problem: Imhotep made his pyramid with brick and now his monument is not very strong. Djoser had a gigantic temple round his pyramid, as huge as an entire village.

Snefroe was a successor of Djoser who copied his monument. But Snefroe's plan didn't work out. He built three pyramids that were all no good. They were not strong enough and there is even a pyramid which has a crack.

Choefoe was the pharaoh with the largest pyramid. No-one knows how the pyramids were built, but there are some wild theories about it. The theory many believe in is that they were built by paid farmers, who would work during the flood season while their land was flooded.

Chefren built a pyramid too, only somewhat smaller. He still wanted his pyramid to look like the best so he built his pyramid on a high plateau (cheater). Chefren is probably the pharaoh who built the great sphinx of Giza. This sphinx is a lion with a human head, that guards the pyramids. Chefren’s son and successor, Mycerinus, built a pyramid too. This one wasn't as impressive as the ones of his ancestors, but it had a great and beautiful temple with it, with a lot of statues with him and two goddesses. The end of the Old Kingdom was very tragic.
The pharaohs had no power anymore and the provinces all started war with others.