IN the series of previous articles, we explored the parallels between the two civilizations: the Mesopotamian and the Ancient Egyptian across three millenniums BC. We saw how in the last millennium BC, the ancient world was transformed into a form of globalization, which started with the Assyrians taking over Mesopotamia as well as Syria and Palestine, extending to Asia Minor and Egypt then the Persians devastated the whole area from India to the east to Macedonia and Egypt to the west. Finally, Alexander the Great created the Hellenistic Empire that extended over the territories of the late Persian Empire.
Trying to reflect this on what happened in Egypt during the first millennium BC, we find that Egypt, at the beginning of that millennium and after the fall of the New Kingdom, was in a state of instability in what is known as the Third Intermediate Period. This period ended by the reunification of Egypt under king Shabaka of the 25th dynasty who is thought to be of Nubian origin. Shabaka started a new era known the Late Period. At the end of this dynasty, Egypt was annexed into the Assyrian Empire under Assurbanipal. Then King Psamtik, of Libyan origin, freed the country from the Assyrians and formed the 26th dynasty. Under the King Amasis of the same dynasty, Egypt extended its domination to cover other territories. In the middle of the millennium, the Persian Empire, as mentioned before, dominated the ancient world including Egypt and Persian kings like Cambyses, Darius, and Xerxes appeared on the temples as rulers of Egypt forming the 27th dynasty.
Egypt was then ruled back by Egyptian Pharaohs forming the 30th dynasty, the last of which was King Nectanebo II. Then Egypt fell under the domination of the Strong and last Persian Emperor Darius III, who was soon conquered by Alexander the Great who formed the Hel1enis1ic Empire. After Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic Empire was subdivided into four separate monarchies, one of which was that of the Ptolemies in Egypt.
Under the Ptolemies, Egypt found great prosperity. The capital became Alexandria, which developed to be the world center of knowledge. During the Reign of Ptolemy II, the Library’ of Alexandria was built as part of the famous museum. The Library at that time was, besides housing hundreds of thousands of scrolls, a place or a forum for thinkers, philosophers and scientists. It was in this atmosphere that Eratosthenes arrived to make the measurement of the circumference of the Earth by measuring the shadow of two sticks. Ptolemy me Astronomer was inspired to write his book Almagest which became the reference for star positions for the next thousand years. Also it is said that Euclid wrote his Book of Elements and that Archemedes discovered his laws of floating bodies.
Also during the Ptolemaic period, Upper Egypt witnessed the construction of good part of its Pharaonic temples like Edfu, Dendera, Komombo, Kalabsha and Philae. Those temples reflected the interwoven harmonious mixture between the Egyptian beliefs and the Hellenistic rulers, who chose to become part of those beliefs instead of replacing them. The last ruler of that period, Queen Cleopatra VII, was defeated at the end of this millennium by the Romans and so Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.
