About This Quiz
Mummies and pharaohs have captured the public's imagination for decades, leading to movies, TV shows and more. How well do you know this ancient civilization? Find out with this HowStuffWorks quiz!Egypt's rulers were called pharaohs. They were considered heads of both the state and religious figures.
The ancient Egyptian civilization thrived in northern Africa. Today the area is a part of the modern day country of Egpyt.
As far as we know, there were two female pharaohs. There was the very last pharaoh -- who was more or less powerless, Cleopatra. There was also Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, who had a powerful 15-year reign.
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Many ancient civilizations began and thrived by rivers. The Egyptians lived along the banks of the Nile in northern Africa.
Egyptians had a very strict social structure. The pharaoh was at the very top.
Egyptians had a god for everything, in order to try and help explain human experience. These gods include deities like Isis and Horace.
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These people had a complex religion with countless gods and ceremonies. Priests were incredibly powerful politically.
Egypt has several different periods, with these spanning from 2600 B.C.E. to 1000 B.C.E. These were some of the most prosperous times for the kingdom.
The famous Cleopatra was the last pharaoh, but it was just a title by the time she died. After her death, Egypt became a province of Rome.
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Overall, this civilization stood for over 3,000 years. It lasted from about 3150 B.C.E. to 50 B.C.E.
Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics as a writing system. However, it was only mostly scribes who could read and write.
Important and powerful rulers were occasionally buried in massive pyramid structures. These held their bodies, treasure and all sorts of things.
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While Egypt was powerful for a long time, eventually it was conquered by a series of outside forces. It was conquered by the Assyrians, Persians, Greece and eventually Rome.
Makeup was considered healing and used for protection from the sun. Both men and women wore it.
Cats were very important to ancient Egyptians. They considered them to have strong spiritual ties.
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King Tut was a famous boy king, murdered mysteriously at 19. His blue and gold death mask is world famous.
The Nile would flood periodically, which made the land around it fertile. It was here that ancient Egyptians grew their crops.
The ancient Egyptians considered their rulers to be descended from the gods. This gave them the divine right to do almost anything they wanted.
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Ancient Egyptians had a complex religion. They believed a person would need their body to navigate the afterlife, and mummification preserved it for this reason.
The most famous of the Egyptian pyramids are the Great Pyramids of Giza. The largest of these was considered to be the largest manmade structure on Earth for thousands of years.
The unification of these two kingdoms by the Pharaoh Menes created ancient Egypt. They were united around 3100 B.C.E.
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The Egyptians were a wealthy and powerful people and avid builders for thousands of years. Some of their most famous projects are the Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx.
Alexander the Great took Egypt without a fight. He installed the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ended with the famous Cleopatra.
Egyptian men dressed very androgynously by modern standards. They wore skirts and makeup.
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Egyptians invented toothpaste, but it did not look much like modern toothpaste. It was a powder they would apply with their fingers that contained myrrh and eggshells.
The Sarcophagi used in ancient Egyptian burials are famously ornate. They often included detailed art, precious metals and hieroglyphics.
King Tut's tomb is the most intact ever found in The Valley of the Kings. As well as his mummy, it contained riches, treasure, art and numerous tokens of ancient Egyptian life.
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In the early days of Egypt, when a ruler died his servants would be killed and mummified so they could be buried with him to continue service in the afterlife. While this stopped, pharaohs were buried with pets and treasures throughout all of Egypt's history.
Some tombs have been found containing toilets. Ancient Egyptians believed that they would be needed for use in the next life.
The Sphinx is a mythic creature with the body of a lion and head of a person. They are known for asking riddles and eating those who do not solve them.
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It is believed that Egyptians wore nothing at all until their teenage years. At this point men would get skirts and women would get dresses.
While pharaohs had ultimate power and the final say, they did not make every decision on their own. Rulers had a team of advisers at their disposal.
Slavery was common throughout the ancient world. Slaves were at the bottom of society in ancient Egypt.
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Most people would inherit their status and class from their parents. However, educated children could sometimes find work in government or skilled labor to climb up the ladder.