EGYPT BEFORE THE PHARAOHS

The period of time we normally think of as ancient Egypt is the time when Egypt was ruled by the pharaohs, after 3000 B.C. A question many people ask is who lived in Egypt before the pharaohs? In the early Stone Age people in Egypt lived high up on the land above the Nile from the Delta to Aswan. From about 5000 B.C., settlers arrived from Palestine and Syria, from the Libyan tribes living to the west, and from Nubia in the south. Sometime after 3000 B.C., traders from southern Iraq also sailed to Egypt. Soon these early settlers started to grow crops such as barley. They also started to build small villages.

Ancient Egypt had two parts called Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt . Upper which was in the south, stretched for more than five hundred miles from the first cataract to the north to the beginning of the Nile delta. Lower Egypt which was in the north was the Nile delta itself. Though it was only a hundred miles long Lower Egypt is many times wider than Upper Egypt.

By about 3300 B.C., both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt had kings. The king of Lower Egypt wore a short, boxy looking, red crown with a tall spike at the back and a curlicue at the front. The king of Upper Egypt wore something quite different, he wore a tall , white, pear shaped crown.

Most of the things we know about prehistoric Egypt is all mixed up with legends . One of the famous legends tells about King Menes who ruled Upper Egypt. At around 3100 B.C., King Menes defeated the king of Lower Egypt. After this he united both lands and called himself king of both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

The legend goes on to tell you how King Menes even designed a new crown to celebrate his victory. This double crown was there for the union of the two lands. King Menes and his family formed the first ever Egyptian dynasty. A dynasty is when you have a series of rulers who all come the same family. After King Menes died his son became king, when his son died his grandson became king. It went on like that and throughout the history of ancient Egypt thirty different dynasties had ruled. The Egyptians believed that the royal family descended from the gods and had royal blood, because of this sometimes people had to marry their brother or sisters.

King Menes chose the city Memphis to be the capital of his country. Memphis is surrounded by desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

Some people believe that "Menes" of this legend may have been a real king, possibly Narmer . They also believe it wasn't King Menes who first wore the red and white crown, but a later one.