“Ancient Egypt And Its History”

According to Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the pharaonic period dates possibly around 5500 B.C. to 332 B.C. Of course, this can be debated because what is generally accepted is that the pharaonic period began with Narmer around 3200 B.C. But what’s fascinating about Bibliotheca Alexandrina is that it commemorates the Library of Alexandria, once one of the largest libraries worldwide.

The Beginning

According to Britannica, Homo sapien-sapiens, the sub-species of the homo-sapiens, “is thought to have evolved sometime between 160,000 and 90,000 years ago in Africa before migrating first to the Middle East and Europe and later to Asia, Australia, and the Americas.”

The Nile river gave the hunter-gatherers, the first peoples of “Africa,” the opportunity to develop a settlement that led to what is famously known as ancient Egypt. Even though the pharaonic period started possibly around 5500 B.C., those hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley some 120,000 years ago.

There were about 170 pharaohs.

The ancient Egyptians left behind many monuments along with artifacts honoring these pharaohs. Many of these were covered with hieroglyphs, the old Egyptian writing system.

Many people believe the ancient Egyptian civilization came before the Sumerian civilization, and like all civilizations, the ancient Egyptians had their own religious beliefs.

Upper / Lower Egypt

According to many different sources, ancient Egypt was divided into two kingdoms: Upper and Lower Egypt. The pharaohs were known as rulers of the Two Kingdoms.

Lower Egypt, the northern region, was located downriver and is home to the Giza pyramids. The southern part was called Upper Egypt, the area closer to Kush.

Upper and Lower Egypt are named as so because of their relation to the Nile’s flow, and each also had its color crowns that the kings wore.

Lower Egypt’s crowns were red, while upper Egypt was white, and each crown was worn by different pharaohs or deities, along with its significance and symbolic meaning.

Birth of the GODS

The birth of the “Egyptian gods” goes back to prehistoric times when humans were trying to find the meaning of life, which eventually brought us the Egyptian gods. There were about 1500 gods and goddesses who were worshiped throughout ancient Egypt.

According to Richard H. Wilkinson, the author of The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, “Through the various sources at our disposal we know that some of Egypt’s deities originated before the beginning of recorded time and survived to the very end of the ancient world – having been worshipped for fully three-fifths of recorded human history.”

Many similarities are found worldwide, leading back to ancient Egypt and its gods. For example, many people believe Enki, an Anuna/Anunnaki god from the Sumerians, is the same god as the Egyptian god Ptah.

Kemet The Black Land

Many people are only aware of the time of the ancient Egyptians and aren’t aware of the time before it was known as Egypt but was instead known as Kemet. So, being curious about the origins of the name Egypt taught me that ‘Egypt’ comes from the Greek Aegyptos, which was the Greek pronunciation of the ancient Egyptian name ‘Hwt-Ka-Ptah’ (“Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah”), originally the name of the city of Memphis.

There were many groups of people throughout the land of Kemet; one of them I learned about was the Dogon people.

Dogon People

The Dogon people are an ethnic group indigenous to Africa who currently resides in the central plateau region of Mali in West Africa. There are many books about the Dogon people, but a quick google search provides enough information about their history.

Regarding the Sumerians and the ancient Egyptians, I’ve noticed many debates about the founders of the first civilization. However, I learned about what happened to the Dogon people who once resided in Kemet (the time before the ancient Egyptian civilization) and how they fled the land to avoid converting to Islam, possibly 1000 years ago.

There are many theories about the founders of the first civilization.

Suppose humankind started in Africa, possibly a few million years ago. In that case, understanding precisely who these gods or “extraterrestrials” are, requires more research throughout the African continent, the possible origin of all myths.

Until next time Knowledge is Power.