Egypt, Ancient

One of the world's earliest, most stable and durable civilizations. Ancient Egypt was blessed with annual floods of the Nile, which brought fertile silt and water, making the lower Nile valley the most favorable agricultural area in the ancient world. After 2,500 years of settled cultivation, a unified Egyptian kingdom was created by Narmer (r.c.3000 BC). The Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system and styles of art and architecture emerged with unification. Ancient Egypt was a highly centralized state focused on the semi-divine king (or pharaoh, as he was later called). The kings displayed their authority through grand building projects, such as pyramid complexes and temples. Egypt enjoyed long periods of stability (under the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom), broken by periods of fragmentation (Intermediate periods). Egyptian society was highly ritualized; every activity was related to the gods, who were appeased through elaborate rituals in temples or by means of magic and spells in the home. Those who behaved correctly were promised an afterlife, though this depended on their body being preserved through mummification after death. The Egyptians were experts in sculpture, architecture, painting and jewelry-making. They also had a reputation for wisdom in science, astronomy, mathematics and medicine, though there is little evidence of creative thinking in these areas. By 1070 BC Egypt was in decline and after the 8th century BC it was usually under foreign rule, but its civilization survived until it was undermined by Christianity in the fourth century AD, which sought to eradicate Egypt's pagan past.