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Egypt's ancient history covers a
huge block of time. Archaeologists noticed something very interesting. They
realized that much Egypt's ancient history could be divided into three
big blocks of time. In each block, all of the pharaohs behaved in a certain
way.
Scientists have named these blocks
"The Old Kingdom", "The Middle Kingdom", and
"The New Kingdom".
The
Old Kingdom (2700 BCE-2200 BCE): Pharaohs had absolute
power and were considered gods on earth. But that's not why this
kingdom is nicknamed "The Pyramid Age". Pharaohs were
buried in pyramids only during this time period in
history.
After building a few pyramids, at great
expense to the state, it occurred to pharaohs that pyramids were rather
easy to spot, and thus, much easier to rob than a hidden tomb.
Things changed during the middle kingdom.
The
Middle Kingdom (2100 BCE-1800 BCE): The middle
kingdom was Egypt's Golden Age. Trade flourished, arts and
literature flourished. Egypt built strong armies to defend herself
against her neighbors. During the time period of the middle kingdom,
pharaohs were expected to be good kings and wise rulers.
Instead of building huge expensive
pyramids, when pharaohs died, they were buried in hidden tombs.
These tombs were all over ancient Egypt. Most probably, there are
tombs yet to be discovered by modern archaeologists because they
were hidden so well.
The
New Kingdom (1500 BCE-1000 BCE): The new kingdom
was Egypt's expansion period. Egypt expanded her borders through
military conquest and became a world power.
During the time period of the new
kingdom, pharaohs were all powerful, and pharaohs were all buried in
the same geographic area called the Valley of the Kings.
Egyptian
Timeline (interactive)
Timeline
(story and activity)
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