triedtorestoreEgypttoherpastglory.However,havingbeenweakenedbythesocialandpolitical
turmoilofwars,AncientEgyptfelltothePersiansoncemore.ThePersiansconqueredthecountry
untiltheGreeks,underAlexander,conqueredthem.TheRomansfollowedtheGreeks,andfinallythe
Arabsconquered the land of Egypt in 640 A.C.E to the present.
However,thehistorywhichhasbeenclassifiedaboveisonlythehistoryofthe“DynasticPeriod.”It
reflectstheviewoftraditionalEgyptologistswhohaverefusedtoaccepttheevidenceofaPredynast-
icperiodinAncientEgyptianhistorycontainedinAncientEgyptiandocumentssuchasthePalermo
Stone,RoyalTabletsatAbydos,RoyalPapyrusofTurin,theDynasticListofManetho.Theeye-wit-
nessaccountsofGreekhistoriansHerodotus(c.484-425B.C.E.)andDiodorus(Greekhistoriandied
about 20 B.C.E.)corroboratethestatusandmakeupofKemeticcultureinthelatedynasticperiod
whichsupporttheearlieraccounts.ThesesourcesspeakclearlyofaPre-dynasticsocietywhich
stretchesfarintoantiquity.TheDynasticPeriodiswhatmostpeoplethinkofwheneverAncient
Egyptismentioned.Thisperiodiswhenthepharaohs(kings)ruled.ThelatterpartoftheDynastic
PeriodiswhentheBiblicalstoryofMoses,Joseph,Abraham,etc.,occurs(c.2100?-1,000?B.C.E).
Therefore,thosewithaChristianbackgroundgenerallyonlyhaveanideaaboutAncientEgyptasitis
relatedintheBible.Althoughthisbiblicalnotionisverylimitedinscope,thesignificantimpactof
AncientEgyptonHebrewandChristiancultureisevidentevenfromthebiblicalscriptures.Actually,
EgyptexistedmuchearlierthanmosttraditionalEgyptologistsarepreparedtoadmit.Thenewarche-
ologicalevidencerelatedtothegreatSphinxmonumentontheGizaPlateauandtheancientwritings
byManetho,oneofthelastHighPriestsofAncientEgypt,showthatAncientEgyptianhistorybegins
earlier than 10,000 B.C.E. and may date back to as early as 30,000-50,000 B.C.E.
ItisknownthatthePharaonic(royal)calendarbasedontheSothicsystem(starSirius)wasinuseby
4,240B.C.E.Thiscertainlyrequiredextensiveastronomicalskillsandtimeforobservation.There-
fore,thehistoryofKamit(Egypt)mustbereckonedtobeextremelyancient.Thus,inordertograsp
theantiquityofAncientEgyptianculture,religionandphilosophy,wewillbrieflyreviewthehistory
presented by the Ancient Egyptian Priest Manethoand some Greek Historians.
ThecalendarbasedontheGreatYearwasalsousedbytheAncientEgyptians.The
Greatyearisbasedonthemovementoftheearththroughtheconstellationsknown
astheprecessionoftheEquinoxesandconfirmedbytheHistorygivenbytheAn-
cientEgyptianPriestManethointheyear 241 B.C.E.EachGreatYearhas25,860to
25,920yearsand 12 arcsorconstellations,andeachpassagethroughaconstellation
takes2,155–2,160years.Thesearethe“GreatMonths.”Thecurrentcycleoryear
beganaroundtheyear10,858B.C.E.Ataroundtheyear36,766B.C.E.,according
toManetho,theCreator,Ra,ruledtheearthinpersonfromhisthroneintheAncient
EgyptiancityofAnu.Bythisreckoningourcurrentyear(2,000A.C.E.)isactually
the year 38,766 based on the Great Year System of Ancient Egyptian history.
Figure 3: The land of Ancient Egypt