101 Facts About Ancient Egypt

greetings mother factors my name is Sam and today I'm going to be talking to you all about Egypt but not just any Egypt ancient Egypt as one of history's greatest civilizations ancient Egypt has much to offer for the intrepid fact hunters among you and if you're not an intrepid fact hunter what the heck are you doing here clear off I must also thank our sponsors for this video who helped me out on our journey into the tombs of the pyramids the great courses plus the great courses plus provide on-demand video learning services in the form of first-rate lectures and courses from industry professionals as well as Ivy League professors and experts from respected institutions like the Smithsonian National Geographic and even the Culinary Institute of America tasty there's over 10,000 of these lectures - covering a wide range of topics like math science history literature and anything you can shake it stick at for instance I've just devoured their history of ancient Egypt course no particular reason why I just thought it might come in happy one day if you want to get major brain games like me you can get a free trial just visit the great courses plus com forward slash 101 facts if you're feeling a bit lazy just click the link in the or descripción e below you're welcome but back to business what on earth did the ancient Egyptians use as a cure for blindness why is it not entirely incorrect to say that the famous King to zinc our moon was buried with an alien and do you think one of you could build me a pyramid I honestly think would be a great living space and frankly the rent in London is astronomical two out of three those questions are going to be answered so dongseong Pharaoh God flirt cheekily with a sphinx and prepared to walk like an Egyptian racist a film's racist this is 101 facts about ancient Egypt number one ancient Egypt was a civilization located in ancient North Africa concentrated among the lowest stretches of the River Nile in the area that is now in the modern nation Egypt the civilizations full history spanned from roughly 30 150 BC to around 525 BC which is scientifically known as a very very bloody long time number two during the course of its history ancient Egypt was invaded and all conquered by a number of foreign entities including the Libyans the Nubians the Assyrians the Macedonians under the command of Alexander the Great's it lasted over two and a half thousand years so yeah you're gonna get invaded occasion day number three the success of the ancient Egyptian civilization was due in part to the bountiful agricultural advantages provided by the River Nile not to be confused with Niall Horan the guy from One Direction the predictable flooding allowed the ancient Egyptians to produce surplus food and resources using fairly basic irrigation systems facilitating greater social and cultural development and position this included the early development of an independent writing system sophisticated agricultural projects trade with surrounding areas and a beefy military that provided protection and asserted Egyptian dominance number four these super cool happenings and goings-on were initiated and organized by a bureaucracy of elite scribes administrators and religious leaders all of whom fell under the control of a pharaoh who reigned over the Egyptian people within the context of an elaborate religious system number five the many many achievements of the ancient Egyptians include efficient quarrying and the development of advanced construction techniques which supported the building of architectural marbles like monumental pyramids temples and herbalists the brainy ancient Egyptians also made significant strides in the fields of mathematics engineering agriculture medicine astronomy art and literature number six as a result ancient Egypt has left an indelible impression on the history of human culture the art and architecture of ancient Egypt has been widely admired written about and copied for centuries and it's juicy antiquities have been displayed throughout the world than a wider lab that sorry the scientific investigation of the ancient Egyptian civilization is now known as Egyptology number seven the civilization of Egypt was known by its inhabitants by a number of different names probably the most well known and now a frog is Kermit oh sorry no I read that wrong was canet which means the black land most experts believe this arrived from the dark fertile soil left over from the Niles regular floodings number 8 the history of ancient Egypt occurred as a series of three main kingdoms aptly named the old kingdom the Middle Kingdom and the new kingdom which were relatively stable and prosperous these were separated by periods of disorder and instability known slightly ominously as in turn periods number none somewhere around 3400 BC two separate kingdoms had been established the red land which was based at the Nile Delta in the north and the white land in the South somewhat counter-intuitively the northern kingdom is now often known as Lower Egypt and the southern kingdom is Upper Egypt this is based on the flow of the Nile from the highlands of East Africa which are upstream down to the Mediterranean Sea which is downstream numbered said it is not conclusively known who first unified the two ancient Egyptian kingdoms as it's understandably difficult to piece together historical narratives from over 5000 years ago the unifying of ancient Egypt has been variously attributed to several leaders including scorpy in the second King Minos and nama many scholars believe that these are actually just different names for the same person number 11 both upper and lower egypt had their crowns red - red crown of lower egypt and the white head jet crown of Upper Egypt when the two kingdoms were unified so - with the Crown's forming the eva fashionable double crown known as the persians some historians credits Mena's as the inventor of the double crown though the first ruler to be depicted wearing it was the first dynasty pharaoh jet in roughly 20 980 BC number 12 thus began the archaic or early dynastic period of ancient Egypt which spanned the civilizations first two dynasties the city of Memphis no not that one was established as the region's capital close to the apex of the Nile River Delta the capital ultimately grew into a great metropolis that would come to dominate Egyptian society number thirteen this period also witnessed the development of the foundation to maintain Gyptian society including the all-important ideology of kingship the ancient Egyptians regarded the King as a god-like being who served as a mediator between the deities and the world of humans much like we view our queen in Britain actually number 14 the earliest known hieroglyphic writings also date to this period specifically the Egyptian hieroglyphics were made up of an eclectic range of symbols depicting birds snakes cats plants arms legs and faces while roughly six thousand individual symbols have been identified it's thought that only 1,000 were regularly juice number 15 the beginning of the old kingdom is generally thought to have occurred in roughly to 686 BC this period has come to be known as the age of the pyramids as it's this era that saw the construction of ancient Egypt's most iconic cultural symbols it's the pyramids guys I'm talking about the pyramids number 16 in around 26 30 BC King Djoser of the third dynasty tasked M attempt an architect priest and healer he must have had no spare time we're designing for him a funeral monument the result was the pyramid of djoser located at Sakura in Memphis which constitutes the world's first major stone building number 17 pyramid building reaches impressive cultural Zenith in the Fourth Dynasty with the construction of the Giza pyramid complex the oldest and largest of the three pyramids on this site the Great Pyramid of Giza originally stood at 481 feet in height and held the title for the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,800 years it was finally surpassed in 1300 with the construction of Lincoln Cathedral in England which stands at around 520 feet tall number 18 the Great Pyramid of Giza known as the Great Pyramid of Khufu is made up of an estimated two million three hundred thousand separate stone blocks each weighing an average of two and a half tons number 19 there's a pervasive belief that the pyramids were built almost entirely by slaves sometimes thought to be persecuted Israelites however modern research suggests that structures were built by tens of thousands of skilled Egyptian workers number 20 the Pyramids of Giza also hold the distinct honor of being the oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world they also hold a distinct honor of being the only one that still exists sucks to be you Hanging Gardens of Babylon number 21 not from the Giza pyramids is the Great Sphinx of Giza a massive sculpture that depicts a mythical creature with a human head on a lion's body hey whatever floats your boat measuring 240 feet in length from port to tail and 66 feet high it's thought to have been built during the reign of King Khafre in the Fourth Dynasty roughly four-and-a-half thousand years ago making it the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt number 22 the Great Sphinx of Giza is known today for its conspicuous missing nose which is often attributed to a cannonball fired from the army of Napoleon during his conquest of Egypt beginning in the late 18th century however sketches are the nose the Sphinx predates Napoleon's arrival in the region and there's evidence to suggest that the nasal appendage was chiseled off number 23 another story attributes the damage done a fanatical 14th century Sufi Muslim called Mohammed same elder who encountered peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest angered by their apparent idolatry he somehow destroyed the nose a crime for which he was set upon by the locals and lynched number 24 during the 3rd and 4th dynasties the Old Kingdom of Egypt enjoyed a golden age of prosperity and peace the kingdom faced no serious outside threats successful military campaigns in foreign regions like Libya and Nubia facilitated considerable economic prosperity and the absolute rule of the Pharaoh provided a stable governance however the King's wealth steadily diminished throughout the 5th and 6th dynasties due in part to the huge expense of pyramid building colossal geometry ain't cheap number 25 the absolute power of the Pharaohs venture be weakened in the face of emerging influence from the nobility and the priesthood following the death of the Six Dynasties King Pepe ii who in my mind is a prawn but that's because I'm obsessed with the muppets the region descended into chaos and Civil War and local Nobles vying for power signaling the end of the Old Kingdom splitting the nation into two once more number 26 incidentally King Pepe ii is often credited as the longest ruler in history with a reputed reign of 94 years however this is now disputed among some Egyptologists with many believing the actual reign was closer to 64 years number 27 happy ii was also known to hate fly so much that in order to deter them from landing on him he kept several slaves nearby who had been stripped completely naked and smeared in honey why not space something else in honey or just use a bowl of honey sounds like the manifestation of some unresolved issues to me number 28 with the collapse of the old kingdom came the first Intermediate Period which extended from the seventh ina seat at the 10th between the approximate date of 2181 and 25 be say the 7th and 8th dynasties witnessed a rapid succession of memphis-based rulers until around 2160 bc when the region again fell into civil war between provincial leaders which was intensified by bedouin invasions famine and disease the three biggest buzzkills in the world number 29 meanwhile two other centers of power emerged in heracleo Poly's in lower egypt and Thebes in upper egypt the 9th and 10th Egyptian dynasties reigned in Heraclitus which struggled for power with the Theban rules around 20 55 BC the Theban Prince meant to hotep defeated heraclio palace founding the eleventh dynasty reuniting Egypt ending the first intermediate period and beginning the Middle Kingdom number 30 ultimately however the last rule of the eleventh dynasty known as meant to hotep the fourth was assassinated the throne passed to his second-in-command known as his Vizier who became King Eminem it's the first the founder of dynasty 12 he reigned over a golden age of the Middle Kingdom in which a new capital was established south of Memphis at Italy number 31 during the Middle Kingdom Egypt pursued an aggressive foreign policy colonizing Nubia and driving out the pesky burner winds who had infiltrated Egypt during the first intermediate period the kingdom also developed diplomatic and trade relations with other regions such as Palestine in Syria and pursued lofty building projects in the form of quarries and military fortresses this included you guessed it a return to the Old Kingdom tradition of pyramid building because everyone loved pyramids number 32 the Middle Kingdom began its decline under amendment v in the 18th century BC this descent continued under the reign of his sister Queen Sabich neferu who was the first confirmed female ruler of Egypt surberg neferu would be the final ruler of the 12th dynasty as egypt again entered another chaotic era in the form of the second Intermediate Period number 33 the second Intermediate Period split Egypt into several spheres of influence after a rapid succession of 13th dynasty Kings failed to consolidate power the official seat of government was predicated to Thebes while the leaders of the rival 14th dynasty ruled from their strongholds in the Nile Delta weakened by disease and famine those two again these populations were left vulnerable to outside invasions and plot twist that's exactly what happened number 34 around 1650 BC Egypt was invaded by group known as hick sauce who took advantage of the region's instability just seized power unlike many historical invaders the Hyksos adopted and continued many of the existing Egyptian traditions and established the 15th dynasty of Egypt eventually subduing the Theban rulers of the sixteenth dynasty in southern Egypt number 35 eventually however the Thebans reclaim their independence in Upper Egypt and established the 17th dynasty of Pharaohs in 1570 BC these rulers launched a war against the Hyksos and succeeded in driving them out of the region to reunite Egypt once more and there was much rejoicing I mean I wasn't there but I imagine there was number 36 the New Kingdom began with the eighteenth dynasty during which Egypt began military campaigns in Palestine and regained control over Nubia yeah they lost control again I forgot to say that how whole New Kingdom rules I can Menatep the first foot most the first I'm gonna step the third and queen hatshepsut established New Kingdom Egypt as the world's first great Empire things were going well number 37 however unsettled times followed with the rise of the controversial I'm an attempt the 4th in the 14th century BC who launched a religious revolution that removed Egyptian society's traditional polytheism in favor for the exclusive worship of another Sun God 8 on no 8 on that's a calm thank you a minute up the 4th we named himself Akhenaten meaning servant of the Aten he also closed most temples and built a new capital in middle Egypt could akka tartan known later as a mana upon Akhenaten's death he was succeeded by a son the fabled tooten car moon who returned the Egyptian capital to Thebes and the Egyptians quickly returned to their worship of their beloved Pantheon number 38 the 18th dynasty known as the 3rd missed' dynasty after the four pharaohs named Thutmose several of the rulers in this dynasty had characteristic overbites including Tutankhamun should have got braces boy number 39 most people today have heard of to trick a moon in his contemporary nickname of the boy king owing to his descendants of the throne no later than the tender age of 10 he died only a few short years later likely due to a combination of ailments including scoliosis malaria and deformed foot which was frequently infected ill number 40 DNA research conducted in 2008 suggested that Tutankhamun's Mantha was not one his father's known wives but one of his five sisters making Tutankhamun the product you know what the study also indicated that you do come oon married his half-sister though this research has been criticized it does let some credence of the sad circumstances of his two stillborn daughters which is sometimes the result of incestuous pregnancies number 41 the 19th and 20th dynasties now known often as the Rama seed period I mean to the line of Kings named ramasees once again saw the restoration of a weakened Egyptian Empire which involved fresh military conquests and the construction of great temples and cities incidentally this is the area in which biblical chronology places the exodus of Moses and the Israelites from Egypt possibly during the reign of Ramses the second between 1304 and 1237 BC the meaning of life it was also during ramasees the second reign the temple of Abu Simbel was created which featured enormous figures of colossal statues of Ramses at the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt facing Nubia incredibly the temple figures were relocated in their entirety in the late 1960s moving them 200 meters back from the rising waters of the River Nile caused by the creation of the Aswan High Dam number 43 all of the New Kingdom rulers with the exception of the troublemaking Akhenaten were interred in deep rock-cut tombs in a burial site on the west bank of the Nile opposite Thebes known as the Valley of the Kings in the centuries that passed almost all of these tombs were raided with a notable exception of the tomb and treasure of undoubtedly the most well known Egyptian King Tutankhamun the fact that his tomb was top discovers from 1922 is basically the only reason it's famous number 44 the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs and Nobles contain everything that they might need in the afterlife including furniture Thrones weapons and even wine in fact many Egyptian tombs included toilets number 45 many ancient Egyptian tombs also contain shabti which are small models of servants which would work for them as a devoted minion in the afterlife however rulers of the first thinnest a sometimes had their actual servants killed a mummified within them when they died luckily for the ancient egyptian servants this practice died out very early on number 46 Ramses the third who ruled during the first half of the 12th century BC is perhaps the last great king of the 20th dynasty and the new kingdom evidenced by his splendid mortuary temple which indicates the prosperity Egypt still enjoyed throughout his reign subsequent leaders were less successful Egypt phony lost provinces in Syria and Palestine and suffered yet again from foreign invasions notably by tapsa Libyans number 47 incidentally Ramses the third was also implicated in the earliest known example of industrial action in the form of a strike carried out by laborers in the 29th year of his reign the workers who had been building the rule necropolis did not receive their usual payment of grain and responded by saying up yours Pharaoh only in pictures of animals and stuff instead of words number 48 it was also around this time that Egypt was attacked by groups known only as the sea people culminating in two major battles the battle joy and the Battle of the Delta during which agent manager repelled the Sea Peoples and saved their civilization despite the significance of Egypt's encounters with this group their origins remain unidentified and the identity of the sea people is unknown to this day though I've got my eye on this guy number 49 and so the Egyptians moved into the third intermediate period within the era of the 21st and 22nd dynasties the latter of which was ruled by a libyan king called shawshank the first veronik rules once again forced to share power following the resurgence of local leaders in the form of 23rd and 24th in asti's and incursions by foreign powers from Nubia and Libya number 50 in the late eighth century BC Nubian Pharaohs established their own 2015 C at Thebes beginning with PI beginning with PI a ruler of the Nubian kingdom of cush under Kushites rule Egypt clash with a growing Assyrian Empire and in the 7th century BC the Assyrian ruler SR Adan drove out the crusade King taharka out of Memphis and destroyed the city bit of a over-reaction they appointed local leaders as the founders of the 26th dynasty who once again United Egypt and forces Syrians out noticing a pattern here by the way number 51 however the year were known as the late period of Egypt began at this time when the 27th dynasty was established with the invasion of the Persians under King can be seized in the 6th century BC making Egypt part of the Persian Empire like the Hyksos before them the Persian rule is largely maintained the native Egyptian culture while strengthening the economy and restoring temples number 52 after a century of rule the Persians were overthrown by a mateus the sole native Egyptian ruler of the 28th dynasty hoping keeping countless a lot of dynasties huh a Mateus was then himself overthrown leading to the foundation of the 29th and 30th dynasties which constitute the final period of native rule in ancient Egypt ending with nectar Nebo the second number 53 Egypt was briefly reoccupied by the Persians before Alexander the Great of Macedonia defeated the armies of the Persian Empire and conquered Egypt for himself barely a decade later Archer Alexander's death Egypt is ruled by a succession of Macedonian Kings beginning with one of Alexander's generals and subsequently by his descendants the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt was the legendary Cleopatra the seventh who famously committed suicide in 30 BC after the defeat of her forces to the Roman Emperor Octavian in 31 BC at which point ancient Egypt officially ceased to exist number 54 contemporary interest in ancient Egypt was renewed in the 20th century with the discovery to Dakar moons almost intact tomb in 1922 by the British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter Avant staring into the tomb which had been sealed from the outside world for roughly three thousand two hundred fifty years Carter was asked if you could see anything inside to which he famously responded yes wonderful things number 55 he wasn't lying either Tutankhamun's tomb was so densely packed with various treasures that it took Carter 10 years to meticulously catalogue its contents which ranged from jewelry musical instruments and weapons to shrines Thrones and statues much of it decorated with gold since their discovery the relics found in Tutankhamun's tomb have become some of the most widely traveled artifacts in the world number 56 one of the most interesting items found in Tutankhamun's tomb was a dagger with a blade made of kept this meteorite which was proven in 2016 with the use of a non-invasive x-ray technique yep King Tut was so fancy he even owned an extraterrestrial knife number 57 much of what we know about ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics comes from the discovery of the Rosetta Stone which allowed experts to decipher the ancient writing script importance of this invaluable artifact was apparently lost on the Ottoman Turks who were knowingly used a rosetta stone is a building slab in the foundations of a military fort idiots number 58 throughout the history of ancient Egypt free main writing systems were used the earliest of these were hieroglyphic and hieratic which developed concurrently and independently of one another and were used between 3,200 BC until 400 a day generally speaking hieroglyphics was used for monumental inscriptions and decorative texts whereas hieratic would use for a minister to text that would be written quickly by hand number 59 the third main writing system domotics emerged in 600 BC is a highly cursive script such that the pictographic element of many symbols was lost demotic slowly replaced higher attic writing in the administrative context before it fell from use alongside hieroglyphic an heretic writing in favor of Coptic which remains in use by some Egyptian groups today number 60 Mont at the contemporary knowledge we have regarding ancient Egypt it's thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte and his conquest of Egypt Napoleon took with him a team of 160 scientists engineers architects interpreters artists and Printers to record and document what they found eventually producing the description delete it a series of publications that substantially influence our understanding of Egypt in its ancient civilization number 61 hey get this apparently the ancient Egyptians believed that the earth was a flat square with the Nile flowing through the center of it and mountains at the edges that formed the foundations of the sky yes that's right the Egyptians were flat earthers number 62 relatively speaking women in ancient Egypt enjoyed rights and entitlements not available to those incomparable ancient societies ancient Egyptian women could own property and sign contracts and were treated equally in court however Raleigh old men still dominated Egyptian society and with only a few notable exceptions women were barred from important administrative positions number 63 both men and women in ancient EBIT wore makeup which frankly sounds great but that's neither here nor there the people of the old a II used paint containing copper and lead to decorate their eyes in green and black and was also believed that the green color invoked the Eye of Horus the god of the sky and the Sun as well as healing so there's that too as such the ancient Egyptians believed their green paint would protect those who wore it in no one had copper and lead in it Nintendo 64 in ancient Egypt marriage was far less of illegal and social to do than it is today often couples were considered married when they moved in together as wedding ceremonies were the reserved of the upper classes who could have for expensive parties and chopped at fountains number 65 in ancient Egypt men would sometimes take time off work to care for menstruating wives and daughters hashtag quote - tech feminism number 60 say number 66 ancient Egypt at a relatively advanced understanding of Medicine which later influenced other civilizations such as that of the Greeks they even had specialized medical practitioners including proctologists who are known as narrow foo yet this literally translates to Shepherd of the anus having called worse in my time number 67 the ancient Egyptians were also the creators of the earliest living prosthesis in the form of a wooden toe worn by an Egyptian woman in roughly 1000 BC number 68 those the use of antibiotics didn't arise until the 20th century ancient people employed the use of moldy foods or soil for infections as the fungi and bacteria would kill whatever was causing the infection in ancient Egypt for example infections were treated with the liberal application of moldy bread nowadays luckily we don't have to resort to using rotten food as medicine just eat it instead vicars we can't afford anything else number 69 aubergine hieroglyphic the ancient Egyptians also created the first known examples of toothpaste which consisted of an extremely unpleasant sounding mixture of ox hooves myrrh powered it and burnt eggshells and pumice number 70 though ancient Egyptian art often depicts Pharaohs as trim in statuesque as they literally statues the diet of beer wine bread and honey enjoyed by ancient nobles was high in sugar and examinations that preserved mummies indicate that many Egyptian brawlers one particular healthy some even suffered from diabetes so yes I just thought showing the nobility of any danger - what are they gonna do strike me down with some kind of horrible Egyptian curse loaders Oh God these not the number 71 the ancient Egyptians also created rudimentary forms of contraception though it doesn't sound particularly pleasant by modern standards let me tell ya in order to prevent pregnancy Egyptian women inserted a mixture of honey and crocodile dung into their air it's thought that the acid in the crocodile feces acted as a spermicide but had a horrible horrible cast number 72 the ancient Egyptians were also responsible for possibly the earliest known pregnancy tests on record women who suspected they might be pregnant would urinate on wheat and barley seeds over the course of several days if the barley sprouted they were pregnant with a boy and if the wheat sprouted it would be a girl if none of these seeds sprouted the woman wasn't pregnant awfully silly Egyptians what a waste of wheat number 73 except term from that last fact they apparently weren't that silly because somehow that worked in 1963 some scientists with clearly a lot of spare time in their hands decided to test the peeing on seeds theory and found that 70% of the time the urine of pregnant women did promote growth whereas the urine of non pregnant women and men did not it's thought the denervated level to be sturgeon responsible for the increased seed growth number 74 however the ancient Egyptians weren't entirely clued up medically one ancient Egyptian cure for blindness was to pour the mashed up either Pig mixed with honey and red ochre into the patient's ear yeah Tenten that worked somehow number 75 Egyptian children wore no clothing at all until they were at least six as the temperature in Egypt made it largely unnecessary however they would wear items of jewelry such as anklets bracelets a collars and hair accessories number 76 and old men wore skirts known as Shen diets that were belted round the waist while women wore more conservative dresses could callous iris that covered most of their bodies number 77 the Pharaoh never allowed their hair to be seen hiding it from view with a headdress could an amis this is the striped covering by the way that can be seen on Tutankhamun's solid-gold death mask number 78 the ancient egyptians are known for their polytheistic religion known in particular for its wide pantheon of vividly depicted deities the people of ancient egypt were known to have worshipped over a thousand different gods and goddesses though most of these were relatively minor local deities number 79 their various gods represented natural Fortis and phenomena which the Egyptian supported worshipped and a peace through offerings and rituals throughout the three thousand year span of ancient Egypt various gods were held at the highest position and divine society including the Sun God rod the creator deity a moon and the mother goddess Isis Damodar SAS demonetized now is lip number eighty many of the major ancient Egyptian deities are depicted with the human bodies and animal heads often relating to their particular theological purpose for instance the god of embalming Anubis had the head of a jackal representative of Death owing to their scavenger behavior the god of the Nile so Peck is depicted with the head of a crocodile number 81 there is a narrative within the religion of ancient Egypt involving a conflict between the gods Horus and set the two deities battled for dominion over Egypt by attempting to force each other to ingest ingest s semen I'm not getting it the tip the whole thing number 82 it's well known today that ancient Egyptians loved cats and in fact considered them sacred worshipping them as part of their religion Kant were useful for killing mice venomous snakes and other pests and ultimately became symbols of grace and poise the ancient Egyptians were so fond of their felines they even mummified them yep that's right mummy cat number 83 in fact whenever a cat did eventually kick the bucket in ancient Egypt their human owners would enter a deep mourning as if for a relative this involved Taming of their eyebrows and continuing in their grief until they grew back number 84 not only that the act of harming a cat was so serious that the penalty for doing so was very often death the Greek historian diodorus siculus describes an incident when a Roman soldier accidentally killed a cat which was viewed as such a monstrous act that he was engulfed in a mob and murdered numbering among other animals the ancient Egyptians also revered the scarab beetle though historians are not entirely sure the reason for the insect of philic devotion it's no doubt connected to the Khepri who was often depicted as a man with the scarab beetle for a head not the head of a scarab mind you his head was a whole beetle number 86 the ancient Egyptians are also known for the elaborate mummification process applied to the bodies of deceased rules and Nobles the preservation of the body was thought to be critical to the person's entry into the afterlife and Egyptian citizens would pay handsomely to make sure their corpses what properly mum I'd number 87 allow me to explain it in horrible detail the process of mummification the first squishy bits to be removed was the brain is received Lee done by forcing a metal rod up through the nostril and breaking into the skull after which the brain was blended up into mush and flushed out using water or palm wine the ancient Egyptians thought the brain was of little importance believing instead that the heart was the center of thoughts emotions and personality which is lovely and everything but I mean so so wrong number 88 the next step was to remove the organs from the abdominal cavity in order to do this an incision will have to be placed on the corpse when you actually presented somewhat of a moral dilemma for the ancient Egyptians given how highly they valued the integrity of the human body cutting into a dead person was necessary for the mummification process but feud which holistically as an act of defilement and as science the top of making the first incision was carried out by a slitter who was ceremoniously chased away and pelted with stones immediately afterwards for the crime of harming a corpse which doesn't seem fair number 89 the lungs liver stomach and intestines were then removed and placed in special ceremony containers called canopic jars the heart was left inside as it was believed that in the afterlife the heart was used in an elaborate Judgment ceremony in which would be weighed against a special further if the heart was lighter than a feather they were deemed to have lived a virtuous life and entered into paradise hearts heavier than the feather though were eaten by the goddess and met dooming their owners to an eternity in the underworld cool-ass own metal number 90 after the organs were removed the body was rinsed and cleaned with wine and spices it was then sewn up with various aromatic plants inside and rubbed with oil before being wrapped in strips of linen giving that classic mummy appearance all the linen strips used to wrap a mummy often measured over hundreds of metres in length number 91 according to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus the bodies are beautiful and high-ranking women who had died were sometimes left to decay for three to four days before being sent off to be embalmed this is done to discourage the apparently very real threat of the embalmers engaging in necrophilia because even in death women still have to worry about creepiest dudes number 92 several thousands of years after being buried many ancient Egyptians mummies were Exuma and subjected to an almost criminal degree of disrespect by Renaissance artists who ground up the pilfered bodies to create a prized shade of paint called mummy Brown good grief number 93 the ancient Egyptians were responsible for a number of impressive firsts in the history of humanity including the construction of the first known plank boats which included the royal barge of the pharaoh Khufu which dates back to around 2600 BC number 94 ancient Egypt is also implicated in the earliest peace treaty of which the text belonging to both parties are known to have survived known as the Kaddish peace treaty their court dates back to 12 69 BC and is signed by Hattusa lists the third king of the Hittites and Rama T the second the third Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty number 95 in the old kingdom of ancient Egypt people with shortened stature as a result of dwarfism often enjoyed elevated social standing free from the social stigma that many such people experienced today the ancient Egyptians believed that dwarves possessed divine gifts and wharfing employed to school as tailors in craftsmen this is likely owing to their belief in gods like pears and tar who were often depicted as dwarves number 96 between bending or fairies invasion - constructing mind-blowing architectural masterpieces people of ancient Egypt also contributed to the world of light competitive entertainment by creating a board game played in a narrow 10 by 3 grid called sunette which translates to game of passing sadly the rules have now been lost since its invention roughly 5,000 years ago so experts only have a best guess of how sunette was played number 97 not only that the oldest known 20-sided die comes from the late period of ancient Egypt so they must have really liked their board games number 98 at some point in the early history of civilization roughly the first half of the third millennium BC the ancient Egyptians attempted to construct a 360 footlong dam to control the Nile River known as the sad Alcazar meaning dam of the pagans the structure was under construction for over a decade before it was destroyed ironically in a flood number 99 the practice of exchanging wedding rings dates back to ancient Egypt papyrus scrolls dating back to 6,000 years ago describe the exchange of braided rings of Hempel reeds between spouses the ancient Egyptians also originated the wearing of a wedding ring in the third finger of the left hand as they believed this finger contained a special vein known as the venner amorous oh that's so adorable and factually inaccurate number one Han apparently fancy Egyptian women would sometimes keep a scented pouch inside there you know I mean they seem to keep everything up there it seems this was done prior to encounters with potential lovers in order to avoid a disagreeable bouquet shall we say number 100 and mom the English word nihilist arrived from somatic Nahal meaning River yes the River Nile literally means River River surely the ancient Egyptians can't have been that redundant no they call it it Aroo which means a great river Wow humanities files creative and I thought so that was 101 fact about ancient Egypt which part was your favorite was that the bit about the mummification bit the make up the stuff up don't you know or all the dynasties let me know in the comments down below also let us know what you want to see next and while you're at it click on one of these two Studios on screen now you're gonna really love them I can guarantee it remember to Like and subscribe if you haven't done so already - I River dirty

Channel: 101Facts

Views: 130,213

Rating: 4.7352777 out of 5

Keywords: 101 facts, 101, 101facts, ancient egypt, ancient egypt history, ancient egypt documentary, facts about ancient egypt, ancient egypt facts, ancient egypt facts for kids, the great courses plus, ancient egyptian gods, egyptian gods, egyptian mythology, ancient egyptian mythology, ancient greece, ancient rome, pyramids of giza, facts, cat worship, cleopatra, ptolemy, khufu, assassins creed origins, sphinx egypt, pyramid conspiracy, ancient egypt secrets, mummification, tutankhamun, nile

Id: 7TtNLktgBeg

Length: 36min 7sec (2167 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 25 2018