Explore Egypt

Author: Duan Wujun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-22
Features: Reviewed by a professor of history from Peking University, the material is detailed and authoritative. The ancient Egyptian civilization, after enduring more than 3,000 years of storms, suffered an unprecedented "catastrophe" in 332 BC. With Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt, the political life of the Egyptian pharaohs came to an end. "When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the pond suffers too," the splendid culture created during the pharaoh era also declined sharply. Under the massive "invasion" of Greek culture, the hieroglyphs, once a source of pride for the Egyptians, were forced to yield to the Greek alphabet. By the 4th century AD, they disappeared entirely, becoming unreadable texts for the next 1,500 years. The polytheistic beliefs of ancient Egypt, under the impact of Christianity and the Islamic religion of the 7th century, lost their vitality, leaving behind only the stone ruins of temples that could not be destroyed. The ancient Egyptian culture—literature, painting, sculpture, and more, rooted in hieroglyphs and polytheistic beliefs—also died out, and Egypt no longer became a center of world civilization's development. Under the successive impacts of Greek-Roman civilization and Islamic civilization, the ancient Egyptian civilization was completely lost, leaving behind on the banks of the Nile the pyramids, temple ruins, and ancient artifacts buried in the desert. However, the influence of ancient Egyptian civilization on the world is eternal.