One of the ancient world's most fertile regions was Egypt's Nile Valley. Monsoon rains grew the Nile each summer, flooding the surrounding fields and leaving behind a thick layer of silt. In ancient times, individuals settled along the waterway and started developing wheat and grain and building heaps of papyrus. A king from Upper Egypt invaded Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta around 3000 B.C. and established the first of more than 30 dynasties that would rule this region for the next 3,000 years.
Around 2050 B.C., rulers from Thebes started the Middle Kingdom, which was expanding after Egyptian troops conquered a lot of Nubia. In addition, the Lords of Thebes fought off an invasion by warriors known as Hyksos around 1630 B.C. Thebes became the capital of the New Kingdom, when Egypt was at its most powerful. Ramses II and other leaders of the New Kingdom sent armies to fight the Hittites and other enemies in the Middle East. By 1000 B.C., be that as it may, Egypt was losing strength. It came under the control of a foreign power after another over the following centuries.
WHO WERE THE PHARAOHS?
Along the Nile Stream, water system permitted Egyptian rancher to expand how much land under development and to create sufficient food to help individuals engaged with different pursuits, including ministers and rulers. Influential men called pharaohs(a term signifying "extraordinary house") gathered charges as grain and drafted troops and workers for military missions and public undertakings. Both the king and his palace came to be referred to as "pharaohs" over time.
Egypt entered its first great era of power and prosperity, known as the Old Kingdom, around 27000 B.C. It was characterized by the construction of massive royal tombs like the Great Pyramid at Giza, which was finished around 2500 B.C. Pyramids represented the pharaohs' lofty goals, which were associated with the sun god Re. A royal scribe promised in a hieroglyphic text that the pharaohs' spirit would "ascend to heaven as the eye of Re" after ascending the pyramid.
WHAT'S A MUMMY?
Egyptians wanted to keep the body after death because they were worried that the wandering soul might get lost if it didn't have a body to go back to. The practice of mummification, in which perishable internal organs are removed and the body is embalmed, was originally reserved for royalty. In order to prevent decay, poor people buried their dead in the sand.
However, in later times, many Egyptians were mummified and buried in coffins with spells written on them to ward off evil and safely send the spirit to heaven. One verse read, "I shall sail lightly in my bark". "In the crossing of the sky, I am lord of eternity." As an offering to deities like Bastet, the cat goddess, mummified animals were buried.
RAMSES II / PHARAOH OF EGYPT :
Although it was common for Egyptian kings to have multiple wives and children, Ramses II went above and beyond by having over 100 children during his lengthy reign. His primary wife, Queen Nefertari, had to share his with numerous secondary wives, including his sister. (The royal family was notorious for incestuous unions.) In homes known as harems, secondary wives often cohabited with their children and performed useful tasks like weaving. Subsequent to fighting Hittites at kadesh in Syria in 1285 B.C., Ramses wiped the slate clean with the Hittite lord by drawing in to marry his oldest girl. After that, he prayed to the gods for her safe return to Egypt: “May you not send rain, icy blast or snow, until the marvel you have decreed for me shall reach me!”
