History.—The history of Egypt and its civilization covers a period that the most recent studies estimate as extending over 10,000 years. From this, according to Petrie, should be de ducted the 3,500 years that witnessed the first stumbling prehistoric effort at expression, and in addition the centuries of Gravo-Roman domination, and the period from the beginning of Christianity down to our days. This leaves a period of over 50 centuries during which the religious, artistic, social and political ideas of the people underwent little change, and did not absorb any elements of the civilization of Asia and the rest • of the Mediterranean littoral. Egyptian chronology, to which reference is constantly made in treating of the monu ments executed during the 30 dynasties deemed historical, arrives only at exact historical certi tude from the period of the conquest of Alex ander the Great (about 340 'a.c.). The divi sions established by historians and archxolo are based chiefly on the fragments of Egyptian history written in Greek in the 3d century B.C. by Manetho, priest of Heliopolis. It contained the lists of the kings, from the 1st dynasty down to Alexander. But unfor tunately only about one-third of the original has come down to us. (The fragments and lists of kings were published in' Miiller's 'Frag ments historicorum Paris 1848). The exactitude of the periods at which began the several dynasties varies greatly. The lens divided the solar day into 24 hours, they subdivided into minutes, seconds and thirds of seconds; 10 days formed a week, and 3 weeks one month, 12 months (360 days) and 5 complementary days formed the Egyp tian year. In remote times the year consisted of 360 days, but the premature arrival of the seasons being noted; in the reign of Pepi II (6th dynasty) the five complementary days were added. he year was divided into three seasons: the first (Shat), commenced 19 July, terminated about 15 November and corresponded to the period of the inundation of the Nile; the second (Pert) from 15 November to 15 March, and the third (Shmu) from 15 March to 19 July. There is as we have noted above consid erable difference among Egyptologists in re gard to fixing the dates of the various dynas ties. Myer and Sethe have assigned the begin ning of the 1st dynasty to a date correspond ing approximately to the year 3400 n.c. Breasted, Erman and Steindorff also favor this date. A noteworthy circumstance in this con nection is the complete lack of any reference to eclipses in the Egyptian texts so far interpreted. The history proper divides itself into six great periods: (1) The Pharaohs or native kings; (2) the Persians; (3) the Ptolemies; (4) the Romans; (5) the Arabs; (6) the Turks.
The Pharaohs.— The main sources of its his tory under the Pharaohs are the Scriptures, the Greek writers Herodotus, Diodorus and Eratos thenes, and fragments of the writings of Mane tho (an Egyptian priest in the 3d century B.c.). From the Scriptures we learn that the Hebrew patriarch Abraham went into Egypt because of a famine that prevailed in Canaan. He found the country ruled by a Pharaoh, Egyptian per da, meaning "Great house," the Egyptian term for king. The date of Abraham's visit, accord ing to the chronology of the Hebrew text of the Bible, was 1920 B.c.; according to the Sep tuagint, 2551; while Bunsen fixed it at 2876. Nearly two centuries later Joseph, a descendant of Abraham, was sold into Egypt, as a slave to Potiphar, the captain of the guards of another Pharaoh, whose prime minister or grand vizier the young Hebrew eventually became, Joseph's father, Jacob, and his family, to the number of 70, accompanied, as Bunsen conjectures, by 1,000 or 2,000 dependents, followed their for tunate kinsman into Egypt, where they settled in a district called the land of Goshen. There they remained until their numbers had multi plied into two or three millions,. when under
the lead of Moses they revolted and quitted Egypt to conquer Canaan.
Ptolemaic Period.— When Alexander's army occupied Memphis the numerous Greeks who had settled in Lower Egypt found themselves the ruling class. Egypt became at once a Greek kingdom, and Alexander showed his wisdom in the regulations by which he guarded the preju dices and religion of the Egyptians. He founded Alexandria as the Greek capital, which became the emporium of commerce and centre of learn ing for several centuries. Ptolemy I was suc ceeded by Ptolemy II, Philadelphus. He was successful in his external wars, built the Mu seum, founded the famous library of Alexan dria, purchased the most valuable manuscripts, engaged the most celebrated professors, and had ordered 70 Hebrew sages to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek language, hence known as the Septuagint, and the Egyptian his tory to be written by Manetho. His successor Ptolemy III, Euergetes, pushed the southern limits of his empire to Axum. Ptolemy IV, Philopator (221-204 B.c.) warred with Antio chus, persecuted the Jews and encouraged learning. Ptolemy V, Epiphanes (204-180 B.c.) experienced repeated rebellions, and was suc ceeded by Ptolemy VII, Philometor (180-145 ac.) and Euergetes (145-116 n.c.) by Ptolemy X., Soter II and Cleopatra, till 106 B.C. and by Ptolemy XI, Alexander 1 (87 a.c.) under whom Thebes rebelled; then by Cleopatra, Berenice, Ptolemy XII, Alexander II (80 B.c.), and Ptolemy XIII, Neos Dionysius (51 n.c.), and finally by the celebrated Cleopatra. After the battle of Actium (31 n.c.) Egypt passed into the condition of a province of Rome, governed always by a Roman governor of the eques trian, not senatorial, rank.
The Egyptians had continued building tem ples and covering them with hieroglyphic in scriptions as of old; but on the spread of Chris tianity the older religions lost their sway. Then the Christian catechetical school arose in Alex andria, which produced Clemens and Origen. Monasteries were built all over Egypt ; Chris tian monks took the place of the pagan hermits, and the Bible was translated into Coptic. See EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY and EXPLORATION; EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE; EGYPTIAN ARTS; EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE and WRITING; EGYPTIAN LITERATURE; EGYPTIAN MUSIC; EGYPTIAN RELI GION AND SOCIOLOGY; MOSES; PHARAOH; PTOL EMY ; CLEOPATRA.
Christian Era.— On the division of the great Roman empire by Theodosius (337 A.D.) into the Western and Eastern empires, Egypt became a province of the latter, and sank deeper and' deeper in barbarism and weakness. It then be came the prey of the Saracens, 'Amribu-el-asr, their general, under the Caliph Omar, taking Alexandria, the capital, by assault. This hap-., pened 641 A.D., when Heraclius was the emperor of the East. As a province of the caliphs it was under the government of the celebrated Abbassides — Harun el-Rashid and Al-Mamon and that of the famous Sultan Saladin. The last dynasty was, however, overthrown by the Mamelukes (1240), and under those formidable despots the last shadow of former greatness and civilization disappeared. Selim, Sultan of the Turks, eventually (1516-17) conquered the last Mameluke sultan, and Egypt became a Turkish province, governed by a pasha. After this it was the theatre of internal wars by the Mameluke beys against the Turkish dominion, which was several times nearly extinguished. Confusion and civil war between the different factions of the Mamelukes continued to prevail till 1798, when the French invasion under Napoleon Bonaparte united their chiefs in self defense ; but the Mameluke army was all but annihilated in the battle of the Pyramids. The French then conquered the whole of Egypt and held it till 1801, when they were driven out by the British under Abercromby and Hutchinson.