Middle Kingdom: Did you mean...?

The gods of ancient Egypt freely gave their bounty to the people who worked the land, but this did not exempt those farmers from paying taxes on that bounty to the government. Egypt was a cashless society until the Persian Period (c. 525...

Although the ancient Egyptians are often depicted as death-obsessed and dour, they actually had a great appreciation for life and their culture reflected their belief in existence as an eternal journey imbued with magic. Inscriptions, artwork...

The Coffin Texts (c. 2134-2040 BCE) are 1,185 spells, incantations, and other forms of religious writing inscribed on coffins to help the deceased navigate the afterlife. They include the text known as the Book of Two Ways which is the first...

The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt (2000 BCE – 1700 BCE) saw the start of more formal writing which included religious scripts, administrative notes, and more in-depth fictional writing. One of the most iconic pieces of writing to...

The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant is a literary work from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE) which illustrates the value society placed on the concept of justice and equality under the law. In the story, a peasant named Khun-Anup...

The Westcar Papyrus, dated to the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt (1782 - c.1570 BCE), but most likely written during the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE), contains some of the most interesting tales from ancient Egypt. The papyrus takes...

A story on a papyrus dating from the 2nd century CE relates that the goddess Isis, bestowing gifts on humanity, gave as much power and honor to women as she did to men. This tale reflects the high status women enjoyed in ancient Egypt. Although...

This is a steatite statuette which depicts 3 standing persons. The woman stands in the middle (her name is Aa-Nubt) and her sons (Khenti-Khati-Hetep and Maat-Neferu) flank her on either side. From Egypt, precise provenance of excavation is...

This Introduction to the Ancient Egyptian Civilization is a compact guide to the main time periods, events and pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Narrated by DW Draffin, learn all about the beginnings of the Old Kingdom of Egypt with the first pharaoh...

This video describes a number of great engineering achievements completed by various pharaohs in an attempt to build an Empire. Menes, the founding king of the First Dynasty oversaw the construction of the world's first dam. The Pharaoh...