what events contributed to the rise and fall of the Egyptian empire
Answers
The rise came from the certainty afforded to the civilization by the regular flooding of the Nile. With the basics down pat, they could focus on other things. Plato once said, next to the Egyptians, Greek mathematics were childish. The Egyptians dived deep into everything they possibly could. Astronomy, Science, Architecture, Art, Mathematics, Linguistics, Spirituality, they were the Renaissance before the Renaissance. They made the Greek green with envy.
Alas, all things come to an end, even the great, the mighty, and the wonderful. Their genetics were near eastern yet unique, their language ancient from the depths of Africa, and the only relative to their religion only found in India. They were a basin of civilization the likes of which will never be seen again. Roots so deep and ancient it echoes some of the earliest memories of man.
The fall came from the uncertainty of war. The Egyptians only had brief luck with war. Over the course of 3,000 years there were few instances where Egypt was worth anything in war. They were brains, not brawn. Their military technology came from those around them. The battering of military conquests of Egypt took a toll. Eventually, the truth be told, they would be conquered and erased eventually.
Then came the Ptolemies. The young Ptolemy ascended to the throne as co-ruler with his sister, Cleopatra. Their family had been instated as pharaoh coming from the times of the Macedonian conquest of Egypt. The line of Ptolemy did not even speak the Egyptian language, at least until Cleopatra. Cleopatra was frankly a genius.
She was not the dame people portray her as, nor was she ugly, but her charm lie in wit. She spoke countless languages as well as the language of the people, Egyptian. There came a civil war in Egypt. Some wanted the boy Ptolemy, others wanted the person who actually spoke their language. Could you imagine being ruled by someone who could not even understand what you’re saying?
The boy Ptolemy mysteriously died shortly after Cleopatra’s first interaction with Caesar. Egyptians never operated by war but rather by assassins, mercenaries. Cleopatra likely sent someone to do away with her brother, with him dead, she took absolute power.
Her fault was that she wanted more power, but also I believe she knew Egypt lacked the power to defend itself and so she allowed Egypt to be backed by the might of a Roman fist. Egypt was annexed into Rome. Cleopatra died, whether or not it was suicide or not is questionable considering she had more painless methods of suicide than a snake bite. With her died Egypt, Egypt’s heart died at this moment. Rome became absolute ruler over Egypt, her son took a brief reign as the last pharaoh.
Rome turned to Christianity shortly after the coming of Christ. Rome started to beat down Paganism. Thor, Odin, the Old Stone Gods were fast to the dark corners of the wood in Europe. Horus, Osiris, Ra, the Golden Gods were flung into the obscurity of the dunes. The gods of old were lost.
The last temple, the Temple of Ptah was the last standing and practicing temple to the old gods. The very temple of the god who gave Egypt the name Egypt, was thee last thread of Egyptian culture. It was forcibly shut down by the Romans and the peoples forced to convert to Christianity. It began with Ptah, and it ended in Ptah. This was when Egypt’s soul died. It was Rome’s final conquest of Egypt.
No one will acknowledge this though. They’ll cite wars and whatever else. No, this was the last piece of true Egypt. The Greek gave them the name of Egypt in reference to Ptah, and the Romans killed Egypt at the Temple of Ptah.
After that Kemet was truly Egypt, the culture gone, the gods, knowledge, language, lost to the centuries. It wouldn’t be until the Renaissance when all of the Egyptian technologies would be fully rediscovered.
The Coptic Church rose and Egypt was a shadow of Rome and Christendom. Then the Arabs came and held to blades to their throats and then they fell into a faceless Arab nation, a blur of the middle east that once housed the gem that was Egypt.