Modern scholars divide the history of Egypt into thirty dynasties, following the practice of a third century B.C.E. historian named Manetho. He was an Egyptian who wrote in Greek for the Ptolemaic kings.

Ancient Egypt was also a theocracy, controlled by the clergy. The Pharaoh’s advisors and ministers were almost always priests, who were considered the only ones worthy and able to carry out the god-king¹s commands. As in most religious ancient societies, priests had a special status above the rest of the citizens, forming a kind of nobility.

Ancient Egyptian art was a direct reflection of the political state of the different kingdoms. In the Old Kingdom, the Pharaoh’s position was absolute, divine in nature. He was a supreme ruler and a god. The dominance of the Pharaoh was illustrated in funerary paintings by his placement on the picture plane and his large size in comparison to the other figures.

Famous Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

Akhenaten (“He who is of service to the Aten” or “Effective Spirit of Aten”) is one of the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt, despite the attempts of later rulers to omit him from the lists of kings. Akhenaten built several structures at Karnak during the early part of his reign. Even in the New Kingdom, when Akhenaton forced the people to put aside the ‘old gods’ in favor of a single god, religion and government were tightly entwined.

When the Pharaoh was weaker, especially in the First and Second Intermediate Periods, sometimes he (or she) could not make the rich people do what he (or she) wanted them to. Unlike Mesopotamia and the Middle East, where an original river-valley basis to civilization ultimately gave way to the spread of civilization throughout an entire region, Egyptian civilization from its origins to its decline was focused on the Nile River and the deserts around it.

Ancient (and Baladi) Egyptians, married couples live with the wife’s family. Living with the bride’s parents is the preferred rule. Additionally, the children of the family are brought up close to their maternal uncles. A matrilocal community generally consists of a number of extended matrilineal families who share the same female line, living in compounds clustered within a narrow area or scattered about in groups.

Some scholars have seen even larger links between Egypt’s stable, centralized Egyptian politics and its fascination with an orderly death, including massive funeral monuments and preservation through mummification. Death rituals suggested a concern with extending organization to the afterlife, based on a belief that, through Egyptian politics, death, as well as life, could be carefully controlled.