Possibly no other culture with the exception of the Israelites has spawned so much interest.

Egyptian culture came into being around 3150 BCE with the political unification of Upper (Bandar peoples) and Lower Egypt (The Nevada people) under the first Pharaoh: Farmer. The history of ancient Egypt occurred in a series of stable Kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods. The Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age. Egypt reached the pinnacle of its power during the New Kingdom period, after which it entered a period of slow decline.

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The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River Valley. The predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which fuelled social development and culture. With resources to spare, the administration sponsored mineral exploitation of the valley and surrounding desert regions, the early development of an independent writing system, the organization of collective construction and agricultural projects, trade with surrounding regions, and a military intended to defeat foreign enemies and assert Egyptian dominance. Motivating and organizing these activities was a bureaucracy of elite scribes, religious leaders, and administrators under the control of a Pharaoh who ensured the cooperation and unity of the Egyptian people in the context of an elaborate system of religious beliefs. This formed the Old Kingdom 2686 BCE 2181 BCE. The many achievements of the ancient Egyptians include the quarrying, surveying and construction techniques that facilitated the building of monumental pyramids, temples, and obelisks; a system of mathematics, a practical and effective system of medicine, irrigation systems and agricultural production techniques, the first known ships, glass technology, and the earliest known peace treaty.

It is during the Old Kingdom that a man named Imhotep lived in the years 2655-2600 BCE. He served under the Third Dynasty king, Djoser, as chancellor to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis. He is considered to be the first architect and engineer and physician in early history. During the reign of Djoser there was a famine. Imhotep is credited with having been instrumental in ending it. One of his priests explained the connection between the god Khnum and the rise of the Nile to the king, who then had a dream in which the Nile god spoke to him, promising to end the drought.

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The Middle Kingdom lasted from 2055BCE to 1650BCE. Writing and literature increased greatly. It was around 1690BCE however that a group of people took over Egypt: The Hyksos. Some were warlords seeking employment by the Egyptians as mercenaries. Some were unemployed agricultural workers looking for work helping produce food and resorting to banditry, theft and other crimes when they did not get it. Some were skilled tradesmen, professionals, doctors, lawyers, scribes, priests, diplomats, accountants. Some were merchants importing raw materials: timber from Byblos, semi-precious stones from as far away as Afghanistan, tin, copper, bronze, medicines for the doctors, perfumes for the wigmakers, bitumen, natron, linen, frankincense and myrrh for the mummification industry at Karnak or exporting grain and beer to as far away as Greece.

The Hyksos had Canaanite names, as seen in those with names of Semitic deities such as Anath or Baal. They introduced new tools of warfare into Egypt, most notably the composite bow and the horse-drawn chariot. According to the Ipuwer Papyrus around the year 1600BCE the river became blood and one drinks from it. This is most likely referring to red mud that made the Nile red when it flooded. However events like this would be remembered. The New Kingdom Lasted from about 1550BCE to 1069BCE. In 1550BCE according to the Tempest Stele a great storm hit Egypt destroying tombs, temples and pyramids in the Theban region and the work of restoration ordered by the king. Another event that was preserved in historic memory.

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The Hyksos were expelled in 1540BCE and probably settled in Canaan and other nearby areas. Interesting the first Monotheism in religion took place around then. Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in honour of the sun god Aten and whose exclusive worship of the Aten is history's first instance of monotheism. Under his reign, in the 14th century BC, Egyptian art flourished and attained an unprecedented level of realism.

It was during his reign that Akhenaten composed a song to Aten.

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From 1303BCE to 1213BCE lived the greatest of Egypts rulers. Ramses II. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. His successors and later Egyptians called him the "Great Ancestor". Ramses II led several military expeditions into the Levant, re-asserting Egyptian control over Canaan. He also led expeditions to the south, into Nubia. He also constructed his new capital, Pi-Ramses where he built factories to manufacture weapons, chariots, and shields. The Instructions of Amenemopet were composed during his reign and came to be widely circulated proverbs. It was Ramses II who fought the battle of Kadesh. Ramses fought in Syria, against the resurgent Hittite forces. The pharaoh wanted a victory at Kadesh both to expand Egypt's frontiers into Syria and to emulate his father Seti I's triumphal entry into the city just a decade or so earlier. Although Ramses forces were caught in a Hittite ambush and outnumbered at Kadesh, the pharaoh fought the battle to a stalemate and returned home a hero. Ramses II's forces suffered major losses particularly among the 'Ra' division which was routed by the initial charge of the Hittite chariots during the battle. Once back in Egypt, Ramses proclaimed that he had won a great victory. It was from this battle that a Canaanite poem (Ex.15) was composed giving rise to an Exodus story.

Another interesting figure in Egyptian history is Chancellor Bay. Bay was an important Asiatic (Syrian) official in ancient Egypt, who rose to prominence and high office under Seti II. Bay is first attested in office as a scribe and butler--an important position in Egypt. It is likely that his mother was a Canaanite concubine of Seti II. Bay probably entered into Egypt's civil administration earlier under Ramses II. His tenure in office was a time when Egypt was in chaos and temple offerings were denied to the gods. Egypt seems to have fallen into anarchy, with many temples being looted by Syrian followers of Bay. Bay and Queen Twosret were lovers. During this period the chancellor encouraged her to take the throne as a full Pharaoh on the death of her stepson. Bay enjoyed an evil reputation: he reportedly seduced the pharaoh's widow, Twosret, who then gave him full control over Egypt's treasury. It should also be noted that Seti II expanded the copper mining at Timna in Edom, building an important temple to Hathor the cow goddess in the region. The temple seems to have been used by Midianite nomads, linked to the worship of a bronze serpent discovered in the area. It is likely then that Bay was a priest and scribe of this cult.

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The Harris papyrus reads: "The land of Egypt was overthrown from without and every man was thrown out of his right; they had no chief for many years formerly until other times. The land of Egypt was in the hands of chiefs and of rulers of towns; one slew his neighbour great and small. Other times having come after it, with empty years, Bay, a certain Syrian was with them as chief. He set the whole land tributary before him together; he united his companions and plundered their possessions. They made the gods like men and no offerings were presented in the temples. It must be noted that Bay was executed under Pharoh Setnakhtes reign.. Bay, hence, was not buried in the dignified style which he sought and instead met a traitor's fate. Setnakhte's Elephantine stele records how he expelled these Asiatic rebels who, on their flight from Egypt, left behind much of the gold, silver and copper they had stolen from Egypt, and with which they had intended to hire reinforcements among the Syrians.

This is the historical Exodus!

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The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods, which were involved in all aspects of nature and human society. This polytheistic system was very complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many different manifestations, and some had multiple mythological roles. Conversely, many natural forces, such as the sun, were associated with multiple deities. The diverse pantheon ranged from gods with vital roles in the universe to minor deities or "demons" with very limited or localized functions. When envisioning the shape of the cosmos, the Egyptians saw the earth as a flat expanse of land, personified by the god Geb, over which arched the sky goddess Nut. The two were separated by Shu, the god of air. Beneath the earth lay a parallel underworld , and beyond the skies lay the infinite expanse of Nu, the chaos that had existed before creation. The Egyptians also believed in a place called the Duat, a mysterious region associated with death and rebirth, that may have lain in the underworld or in the sky. Each day, Ra traveled over the earth across the underside of the sky, and at night he passed through the Duat to be reborn at dawn.

In Egyptian belief, this cosmos was inhabited by three types of sentient beings. One was the gods; another was the spirits of deceased humans, who existed in the divine realm and possessed many of the gods' abilities. Living humans were the third category, and the most important among them was the pharaoh, who bridged the human and divine realms.

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Among the significant Egyptian myths were the creation myths. According to these stories, the world emerged as a dry space in the primordial ocean of chaos. Because the sun is essential to life on earth, the first rising of Ra marked the moment of this emergence. They believed that humans possessed a ka, or life-force, which left the body at the point of death. In life, the ka received its sustenance from food and drink, so it was believed that, to endure after death, the ka must continue to receive offerings of food, whose spiritual essence it could still consume. Each person also had a ba, the set of spiritual characteristics unique to each individual. Unlike the ka, the ba remained attached to the body after death. Egyptian funeral rituals were intended to release the ba from the body so that it could move freely, and to rejoin it with the ka so that it could live on. However, it was also important that the body of the deceased be preserved, as the Egyptians believed that the ba returned to its body each night to receive new life, before emerging in the morning. Originally, however, the Egyptians believed that only the pharaoh had a ba, and only he could become one with the gods; dead commoners passed into a dark, bleak realm that represented the opposite of life. The nobles received tombs and the resources for their upkeep as gifts from the king, and their ability to enter the afterlife was believed to be dependent on these royal favours. The Egyptians gradually came to believe that possession of a ba and the possibility of a paradisiacal afterlife extended to everyone. One major test was that the weight of their heart was compared to that of a feather. This was a test that everyone would fail. Egyptians believed that If the person had committed sin during his or her lifetime, then their heart would become heavier. The heart does naturally gain weight with age. The Egyptians might have noticed this and assumed that the weight gain was caused by the commission of sins. A second trial was that the deceased would have to recite a negative confession "when they descends to the hall of the Two Truths." In the statement, he or she swore that they had not engaged in specific behaviours while alive.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (From about 1800BCE) says: (Sound like the 10 commandments?)
"Hail the, great God, Lord of Two Truths. Ive come to you, my Lord, that you may bring judge me. I know you, I know your name, I know the names of the 42 Gods who are with you in this temple of the Two Truths . . . I have come you. I have brought you the truth; I have remove my sin for you. I have not sinned against anyone. I have not mistreated anyone. I have not done bad instead of righteousness . . . I have not cursed the Gods. I have not laid evil hands on an orphan. I have not done what the Gods forbid . . . I have not killed and I have not turned anyone over to a killer. I have not caused anyone's suffering . . .

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I have not copulated and I have not fornicated. I have not increased nor decreased the measure, I have not decreased the palm. I have not coveted upon the fields. I have not added to the balance weights and I have not tempered with the balance. I have not taken milk from a child' and I have not driven cows from their fields... I have not stopped the water in its seasons and I have not built a dam against flowing water. I have not put out a fire in its time . . . I have not kept cattle away from the God's property. I have not blocked the Gods in their justice.

If the deceased was judged worthy, his or her ka and ba were united. Often the dead were said to dwell in the realm of Osiris, a lush and pleasant land in the underworld. Now we can finally learn about the ancient Israelites!

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