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 NEW
Book of

ANCIENT

EGYPT
Edition
Digital

PHAR AOHS PYR AMIDS HIEROGLYPHICS

EDITION
EIGHTH
 Welcome to
Book of

In 1922 a magnificent discovery captured the attention of the world.

As Howard Carter slowly unveiled the opulence of Tutankhamun’s
newly located tomb, people from every corner of the world were
enthralled. Egyptomania gripped the world. The rituals and beliefs
of a highly advanced society were once again exposed; this was the
most influential breakthrough in Egyptology since the Rosetta Stone
had been discovered by Napoleon’s men and later deciphered by
19th century scholars. In this sixth edition of All About History’s
Book of Ancient Egypt, we will step back in time and walk the banks
of the River Nile to learn what made this society one of the most
powerful ancient civilisations in history. We’ll introduce you to some
of the most iconic and infamous pharaohs, tour the awe-inspiring
landmarks raised in their honour and identify the religious tenets
that guided everyday life in Egypt. You’ll explore the grisly burial
rituals that ensured safe passage to the afterlife and even learn to
read the hieroglyphics that adorn surviving monuments and papyri
– all through amazing articles, illustrations and photography.
It’s time to walk like an Egyptian!
 Book of

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Book Of Ancient Egypt Editorial

Compiled by Alice Pattillo & Stephen Williams
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Part of the

bookazine series
Book of Ancient Egypt

CoNTENTs 3100-332 BCE

30

Step inside the ancient world through the eyes of one

of history’s most powerful civilisations

08 map of ancient Egypt 60 hatshepsut: The queen

who became king
10 historical timeline Discover the convoluted tale behind one
woman’s rise to the limelight as pharaoh
Get an overview of the period as a whole

12 Kingdoms of 66 ahmose I’s

ancient Egypt unifying power
Discover the historical periods when Egypt Follow in the footsteps of a king who defeated
enjoyed great power and influence invaders and merged a divided kingdom

Famous ThE
pharaohs pyramIds
22 power of the pharaoh 72 Inside the
Learn about the absolute power wielded by Great pyramid 42
the pharaoh, who ruled as god on Earth Get to grips with this awesome landmark that
attracts thousands of tourists every year
30 Cleopatra’s ruthless rise
to power 74 Building the pyramids
Revel in the dramatic life of a queen who Understand the feat of construction behind
the most iconic symbols of Ancient Egypt
would be the final pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
74
36 alexander: Liberator 80 pyramids of a polymath
of Egypt Meet the brilliant mind behind the impressive
Pyramid of Djoser
Grasp the true nature of the ruthless warlord
who ushered in Roman rule from Alexandria

42 The mighty pharaoh

ramesses II
Follow the lengthy reign of a pharaoh who
proved a great warrior and lived to 96

50 Nefertiti: Behind
the beauty
Find out about the woman beneath the
famously beautiful bust of a queen
LIFE & dEaTh
86 Inside the Nile
Navigate the landscape and the terrain of an
ancient world built around the Nile

56 peace & prosperity of 88 Life on the banks of

amenhotep III the Nile
Witness the period of rule that led a nation to Explore the rituals that guided everyday life
its peak as a political and economic power and ensured entry to the afterlife
 Contents

98 Gods of Ancient Egypt

Learn about how the myths and legends of
the gods guided every part of life
80
106 Inside the
Karnak Temple
Tour the vast and sacred temple of light

108 Sacred animals of

Ancient Egypt
Discover why the Ancient Egyptians held
some animals in such high regard

112 Magic & medicine

Learn about the gruesome medical treatments
of an advanced and educated society

112 118 Egypt’s medical

trailblazers
Step inside the professional office of the
world’s very first doctors

120 Death, burial &

the afterlife
144 Take a look at the extreme death rituals that
were conducted to achieve immortality

36
LEGACY
128 What did the Ancient
Egyptians do for us?
Identify the greatest inventions and
discoveries we have inherited from this
ancient society

136 Egyptology
through time
Discover how Egyptomania has gripped
archaeologists and fascinated the public

144 Inside the

Giza complex
See the enigma behind this
tourist landmark

146 Curse of the

boy king
Learn the full story behind the
curse of King Tut’s tomb

154 Decoding the

hieroglyphics
© Alamy

Take a lesson in deciphering

the mysterious hieroglyphics
 Map of
Ancient Egypt
From the Nile Delta to the fertile floodplains,
explore the setting that became the
birthplace of a great civilisation
© Abigail Daker
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt, 3300-30 BCE

The pyramids in Giza form part The Golden Age
of the Giza Necropolis, which 2613 BCE – 2494 BCE
also contains the Sphinx
The Fourth Dynasty is often
referred to as the Golden Age,
when the entire nation benefited
from a boom in arts and culture.
The relative peace of the
previous dynasties continued,
enabling the pharaohs of the
era to realise their architectural
aspirations. The Old Kingdom
(the third to sixth dynasties) is
The Age of the Pyramids often referred to as the Age of
2700 BCE – 2200 BCE the Pyramids; almost every ruler
Ancient Egypt saw a number of phases of pyramid building, but those had a pyramid tomb constructed
built during the third and fourth dynasties became the most iconic. Built in their honour). Such structures
almost solely as pharaohs’ tombs, the most famous are in Giza: the Great would have required huge work
Pyramid of Giza (Pyramid of Khufu), the Pyramid of Menkaure and the forces, with many Egyptologists
smaller Pyramid of Khafre. These colossal structures, built between 2560 believing a complex form of
BCE and 2510 BCE, are part of Seven Wonders of the World and stand as government must have been A lack of foreign incursions and major invasions left
the Old Kingdom a relatively peaceful period
a testament to the ingenuity of Ancient Egyptian society and culture. created to organise them.

● First hieroglyphics ● The Old ● Rejuvenation of ● Rise of Thebes ● Hyksos raiders ● King Thutmose
used Kingdoms the Faiyum For years, invade III rises to
Hieroglyphics During the Much of the Memphis has Hyksos raiders (a power
are first used by fourth to eighth Egyptians’ remained the Semitic people from One of the most
the many tribes dynasties, the longevity largest hub of the Asia) invade the powerful and
and peoples of Great Pyramids are comes from Egyptian realm, Delta. They establish long-lasting rulers,
Egypt during the erected in DahShur the successful but Thebes has themselves and Thutmose III’s
Predynastic period. and Giza. They implementation of now become the eventually introduce many successful
3300 BCE are considered agriculture – Faiyum Agriculture was largest and most the chariot. military campaigns
Hieroglyphics continued
one of the is a main site for this. a cornerstone of populous city. 1630 BCE bring new wealth
to be used up until the
Seven Wonders. 1900 BCE Ancient Egypt 1800 BCE to Egypt.
fourth century CE
2575-2150 BCE 1400 BCE

3300 BCE 3100 BCE 2900 BCE 2700 BCE 2500 BCE 2300 BCE 2100 BCE 1900 BCE 1700 BCE 1500 BCE

● Narmer becomes ● First pyramid built ● First intermediate ● Ahmose I unifies

first pharaoh
Narmer is believed to have
united the sophisticated
neolithic states into the
first Egyptian kingdom,
making Memphis his
new capital.
3100 BCE
The very first pyramid,
the Step Pyramid, is
erected in Saqqara
for King Djoser, the
second ruler of the
Third Dynasty.
2950-2575 BCE
period begins ● 11th-14th dynasties Egypt
After the government established With control of Upper
falls apart at the end The Middle Kingdom Egypt, Ahmose I
of the Old Kingdom, begins, and with it comes successfully drives the
Ancient Egypt a new era of stability as Hyksos from Lower Egypt
divides and civil the warring regions are to unify the country for
wars erupt. united once again. the first time in 160 years.
2125-1975 BCE 1975-1640 BCE Written in hieratic script, the 1523 BCE
Edwin Smith Papyrus is a
medical text

The Hyksos influence The Hyksos rule Rosetta Stone is carved

had a big effect on
Egyptian warfare
over Egypt 196 BCE
1650 BCE – 1550 BCE Commissioned and carved during the
It is estimated that the reign of Ptolemy V, the Rosetta Stone
invading Hyksos warriors is a relic of huge historic importance.
remained in power for 100 It was written in two languages
to 160 years. From a region (Egyptian and Greek) to reflect the
of Western Asia known as two main bloodline dynasties of
Canaan, they took advantage Egyptian history, and three separate
of civil unrest among the scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and
Egyptian states and conquered Greek) to represent the vast cultural
Lower Egypt. The 15th cross-section of the kingdom. Used as
Dynasty saw the introduction a religious document at the time, the
of chariots and composite Rosetta Stone has proved invaluable in
bows, as well as new advances The Rosetta Stone was thought helping modern linguists understand
lost until its rediscovery in 1799
in pottery and agriculture. the use of language in Ancient Egypt.

10

The Amarna
Revolution
1370 BCE
Setting aside foreign invasions
and occupations, some of the
biggest upheavals endured by
Ancient Egyptians came from
within and systematically altered
the very fabric of society. The
Amarna Revolution, which saw
the pharaoh King Amenhotep IV
outlaw the polytheistic practices
that influenced everything
from art to religion in favour
of worshipping a single god,
was one such upheaval. When
Amenhotep IV inherited the
throne from his father, he took
the name Akhenaten, moved
the country’s capital to present-
day Tel el Amarna and began
defacing temples across the land.
Such a central focus on domestic
changes caused a great deal of
territory in Asia to be lost.
● A peaceful
kingdom
Egypt continues
to prosper, with
King Amenhotep
III becoming
famous for
beautifying
the kingdom
The Luxor Temple is one
during his
of six that sit along the
peaceful reign.
East Bank of the Nile
1390 BCE
1300 BCE
● Tutankhamun
● Belief in one god
The son of Amenhotep
III, Akhenaten shocked
the Egyptian world by
discarding the old religious
doctrines and focusing on
one god, Aten.
1349 BCE
The Assyrians originally
attacked the Nubian-
ruled Egypt in 671 BCE
History of Ancient Egypt
The rule of the
Greeks
332 BCE – 30 BCE
The arrival of Alexander the
Great, a Macedonian conqueror
and member of the Argead
Dynasty, changed Ancient
Egypt forever in 332 BCE. It
brought about the end of the
classical Egyptian dynasties
(which had numbered 30) and
altered everything from laws
to education and culture. By
the time of Alexander’s arrival
in Egypt, the nation was under
Persian rule and its leaders had
no desire to go to war with the
vengeful Greek king, so control
of the country was handed
over peacefully. Under a new
Ptolemaic Dynasty (beginning
with Ptolemy I, naturally),
The revolution came to an end when Egypt received something of a Following Alexander’s death,
Tutankhamun inherited the throne, rejuvenation now that it formed Ptolemy Lagides became the
returning Egypt to polytheism new satrap of Egypt
part of the Alexandrian empire.
● Rameses II ● Persian king ● Alexander the ● Cleopatra VII ● Cleopatra and
rises to power Cambyses II Great conquers begins her Mark Antony
Known as invades Egypt reign lose the Battle
Rameses the The Egyptian The Macedonian The final of Actium
Great, he rules throne is conqueror monarch of Octavian, future
for a staggering transferred marches the Ptolemaic emperor, destroys
90 years. from pharaoh on Egypt, Dynasty begins the naval forces
1279 BCE Psamtik III encounters some with the of Egypt – this
following resistance, but Shakespeare- facilitates its eventual
Alexander’s acquisition
the Battle of is mostly hailed as muse Cleopatra. absorption into the
of Egypt was a relatively
Pelusium. a liberator. 51 BCE Roman Empire.
peaceful process
525 BCE 332 BCE 31 BCE
1100 BCE 900 BCE 700 BCE 500 BCE 300 BCE 30 BCE
● Nubians conquer ● Final dynasty ● The Ptolemaic line
becomes king Egypt The 30th and final begins
After the religious The 25th Dynasty begins dynasty before the Having become
upheaval of his father’s with the successful Ptolemaic era begins satrap in 323 BCE
tumultuous reign, the Nubian invasion by with the reign of after Alexander the
child prince becomes leader Kashta. Egypt Nectanebo I. The final Great’s death, General
king and returns Egypt becomes part of a much dynastic king is Darius Ptolemy Lagides
to polytheism. larger realm. III Codoman. declares himself king.
1333 BCE 1075-715 BCE 380 BCE 305 BCE Cleopatra VII was Egypt’s last
Nectanebo I started the
monarch before it became
30th Dynasty
part of the Roman Empire
Era of foreign rule Gaius Octavius eventually Battle of Actium
become Emperor Augustus 31 BCE
728 BCE – 332 BCE of Rome
The history of the Egyptian throne When Roman general-turned-
is a multicultural affair. For all politician Marc Antony married
the pharaohs who could call the queen Cleopatra VII, it seemed
land on which they ruled their the two nations would finally be
homeland, there were others who united. However, following the
simply invaded and took the entire assassination of Julius Caesar,
country, or a major portion of it for Rome was in turmoil. With
themselves. The biggest successive the Republic failing, Caesar’s
period of foreign rule started with maternal great nephew Gaius
the invasion by Nubian King Piy in Octavius challenged the might of
728 BCE. The Nubians were then Cleopatra’s naval fleet in 31 BCE.
driven out by Assyrians in 669 His forces crushed it, eventually
BCE, followed by the arrival of the leading to Egypt’s assimilation into
Persians in 525 BCE. the newly formed Roman Empire.
11
 Book of Ancient Egypt

“Ancient Egypt
became an epicentre
for culture and
religion”

12
 Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt

Kingdoms
of Ancient
Egypt
Spanning many eras, the New, Middle and Old
Kingdoms would see the pharaohs reach the
peak of their power and Egyptian culture soar

F
or 3,000 years the Ancient Egyptian empire Kingdom that iconic structures that have endured
endured. It emerged, like so many other millennia were built. The Middle Kingdom was
independent kingdoms, from the ruins of when a nation was unified and forged anew. Then
warring and fragmented fiefdoms and grew the realm was aggressively expanded and culture
into a nation that shook North Africa and fostered like never before in the New Kingdom.
the surrounding world to its core. It became an Ancient Egypt wasn’t just an era of military
epicentre for culture and religion, where conquest and expansion, it was a time of
science and magic were intertwined innovation too. The Egyptians invented
as one. But those golden ages, early forms of cosmetics, including
those heights of human
The invasions eye makeup; they were one of
achievement that challenged of Egypt led to the first civilisations (alongside
even those of Greece and new cultural aspects Mesopotamia) to evolve a robust
Rome at their peaks, were not written language; they created
being embedded into
achieved in a day. papyrus thousands of years
Before the Assyrians society, such as the before the Chinese produced
came, before the Persians use of horses and paper; they designed the basic
invaded, before the Greeks chariots calendar structure that we still use
conquered and the Romans today; they can even lay claim to
annexed, the Egyptians rose and inventing bowling and early forms of
fell all by themselves. While darker breath mints.
periods would form between them (three in fact, In short, they were a nation the like of which
known as the Intermediate Periods), the timeline of we’ve never seen before or again. Gods, pharaohs,
Ancient Egypt has been defined by three distinct pyramids, mummification, agriculture and much
eras: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and more helped to define the Ancient Egyptians
the New Kingdom. A time of cultural rebirth and as one of human history’s most fascinating and
monumental construction, it was during the Old intelligent civilisations.

13
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Famous faces
through time
Uncover the celebrities of each kingdom
of this great civilisation
The Old Kingdom
Djoser c. 2670 BCE
Of all the kings that ruled Egypt in the infant years of
the Old Kingdom, the pharaoh Djoser is perhaps the
most influential. He may not have been the man who
united Egypt as one in Narmer, but he typified two
characteristics that would go on to define
Ancient Egypt. He conducted Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu oversees
military campaigns that construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza
solidified and expanded
the borders of the
empire while nurturing
the growth of his
nation’s culture. He
also commissioned
the first pyramid
on Egyptian soil;
the Step Pyramid
at Sakkara was the
blueprint for pharaonic
splendour and inspired
future generations to build
even greater examples.

The Middle Kingdom

Mentuhotep II 2061 BCE – 2010 BCE
The kingdom splintered after the prosperity and Tomb art from the Old Kingdom
expansion of the Old Kingdom. This mini dark age of
sorts was known as the First Intermediate Period and

The Old Kingdom

saw Egypt divided by two competing dynasties. Lower
Egypt was controlled by the Tenth
Dynasty and Upper Egypt
by the Theban Dynasty.
About 14 years into his
reign, Mentuhotep II
had grown tired of
A time of rebirth, the Old Kingdom saw the introduction of the first
the stalemate and pharaoh, dynasty and pyramid to the world
attacked the Lower

Egypt capital of
Herakleopolis. He
eventually broke the
rival dynasty, unified
the two realms and
effectively founded the
era now known as the
Middle Kingdom.
The New Kingdom
Ramesses II 1279 BCE – 1213 BCE
Tutankhamun may be the most recognisable pharaoh, but
King Tut’s reign was a speck of Egyptian sand compared
the power, influence and achievement of Ramesses II. The
third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, Ramesses II took an
already prosperous kingdom
and made it greater and
grander than it had ever
been. He expanded its
borders, conquering
Canaan and subduing
everyone from the
Nubians to the
peoples of the
Levant. He was also
a prolific builder
of monuments
and temples and
even went as far as
constructing his very own
capital city, Pi-Ramesses.
P
rior to the Old Kingdom, in an era known as
the Predynastic, Prehistoric or Protodynastic
Period, Egypt was going through something
of a transformation. The nation was divided
into colonies, each with their own lords and
rulers. The north and south of the country were
also distinct in both practices and culture, with
Hierakonpolis the capital of the south and Bes the
capital of the north.
Excavations over the last century have radically
changed the way we view Egypt prior to the Old
Kingdom, including the fact that the First Dynasty
and the rise of Narmer was not an overnight
process. Upper Egypt, the more affluent of the
two states, had three main cities – Thinis, Nekhen
and Naqada. One by one, these states conquered
one another or merged, and by about 3100 BCE,
Egypt emerged as one whole state with the
warrior pharaoh Narmer at its head. Two dynasties
followed his founding during a period known as
the Early Dynastic Period, and it was here that
the blueprint for the Old Kingdom was forged.
Memphis became the capital and Abydos the
religious epicentre. Even architecture and the arts
began to approach the classical Egyptian form at
this time. The Old Kingdom began in about 2686
BCE, with the formation of the Third Egyptian
Dynasty. The term ‘Old Kingdom’ was introduced
by 18th-century historians and is used broadly
to signify the first of three peaks of Egyptian
civilisation. Often referred to as the ‘Age of the
Pyramids’, the Old Kingdom saw Egypt nurture
every aspect that would make it great. From the
Third Dynasty and its first pharaoh, Djoser, to the
apparent last king of the Sixth, Netjerkare Siptah,
the nation was transformed into a cultural and
military powerhouse.
The pyramids are a symbol of this era, and the
template for these monumental icons began in
the reign of Djoser. His vizier and closest adviser,
Imhotep (who would be deified in generations
to come as a demigod and god of healing) was
the architect behind the Pyramid of Djoser, and
his designs were a significant leap in engineering
in Ancient Egypt. Prior to Djoser, kings were
buried in rectangular, flat-roofed tombs called
mastabas, but the Third Dynasty’s founder desired
immortality in death by means of a tomb worthy
of a divine ruler. Imhotep’s revolutionary design,
stacking squared versions of mastabas on top of

14
 Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt

The Great Sphinx of Giza is believed

to have been built in the time of
Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khafra
Ancient Egypt’s
first pharaoh
Who was the man who unified two
distinctly different halves of the same
realm and set the stage for the Old
Kingdom period?
The Old Kingdom was the first true age of prosperity
and progress for Egypt, but it would have been nothing
without the two dynasties that came before it and the
man who founded the pharaonic line to begin with. That
man was Narmer and, much like many of the leaders
and radicals who changed history in the post-neolithic
world, he is a man steeped in myth, legend and mystery.
Nevertheless, his actions and decisions at the beginning
of the First Dynasty set the precedent for the 29 others
that would follow.
Narmer ruled sometime during the 31st century
BCE and became the first man to unite the states of
Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Of course, for an event
that happened so far back in prehistory, most of the
information we have comes from references found in
tombs and the conclusions drawn by Egyptologists and
historians, but there are some intriguing details we can
take from them.
Seal impressions found in tombs at Abydos linked to
the pharaohs Qa’a and Den (both of whom ruled, to the
best of our knowledge, after Narmer during the First
Dynasty) cite a list of ancient kings that name Narmer as
the first. There have even been stone vessels (elaborate
vases) found in the Step Pyramid tomb of Djoser that
pay tribute to Narmer, perhaps expressing an intended
connection with the founder and his way of life. Some
historians argue that a ruler by the name of Menes was
in fact the founder of founders, while others theorise
Narmer and Menes were one and the same.

one another to create a pyramid, created the jewel the pinnacle of pyramid design in Egypt and it
in the king’s rebuilt kingdom. A grand necropolis, would remain the tallest man-made structure for
a symbol of the enduring Ancient Egyptian a staggering 3,800 years. It served as a testament
reverence for death, surrounds it and the finished to the power of the pharaohs and the enduring
article would go on to inspire pharaohs for potency of the many Egyptian gods.
generations to come. The Fifth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (2498
The grandeur of the Step Pyramid (the Pyramid BCE – 2345 BCE) saw an evolution of theological
of Djoser) at Sakkara wasn’t lost on those who practices across the entire nation, with certain
followed in Djoser’s footsteps. By the time that cults growing in prominence (gods rose and fell
the Fourth Dynasty kings were ruling over in popularity, and usually those favoured by
Egypt (2613 BCE – 2498 BCE), a new a particular dynasty or geographically
set of pyramids were forming. The important location were able to
Fourth Dynasty is considered the survive obscurity). The Cult of Ra
‘golden age’ of the Old Kingdom,
The Old (god of the noon sun) and the
the very peak of prosperity. Kingdom boasted Cult of Osiris (god of the afterlife)
The economy was thriving a strong centralised rose significantly in popularity
thanks to a peaceful realm administration during this period of time.
and open trade routes with its The Egyptian economy was
neighbouring nations. As with from the capital of also booming, with the influx of
every peaceful period of Ancient Memphis goods like ebony, gold, myrrh and
Egypt, a spree of construction frankincense growing all the time.
swept the nation. The Egyptians pushed their trading
Khufu, the second pharaoh of the boundaries even further with agreements
Fourth Dynasty, was the man to create a with Lebanon and modern-day Somalia. In short,
monument so grand it would eventually be named it was a time of enterprise without the fear of
one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: invasion or war. This economic strength bled into
the Great Pyramid of Giza. Built over a two-decade the Sixth Dynasty (2345 BCE – 2181 BCE), as did
period, the 146.5 metre-high structure was a feat of the growing popularity of the inscription of spells
engineering that put even Imhotep’s Step Pyramid and incantations inside burial chambers and tombs. There’s even an argument that Narmer is a
in Sakkara to shame. Giza would become the site Known commonly as the Pyramid Texts, these pseudonym for the mysterious monarch King
Scorpion, but currently no evidence exists to
of many more pyramids and temples, known as inscriptions would form the basis of the Book of corroborate this claim
the Giza Necropolis. The Giza Pyramid became the Dead.

15
 Book of Ancient Egypt
The Middle Kingdom
Once again divided and once again whole, Ancient Egypt rose from its own ashes
to become a military and cultural powerhouse
F
or every period of greatness and monumental
achievement in Ancient Egypt’s history,
there is a stretch of time where governments
crumbled, territories divided and the
nation fell into a dark lull. As the royal
hold on the country fell apart towards the end
of the Old Kingdom, Egypt was plunged into an
era of uncertainty that is referred to as the First
Intermediate Period.
To make matters worse, the power of the
pharaoh was splintered when two rival dynasties
began vying for power – the Tenth Dynasty (based
in Herakleopolis, the principal city of Lower Egypt)
and the 11th Dynasty (centralised in Thebes, Upper
Egypt). This period of conflict and dissention lasted
for 125 years, until the reign of Theban pharaoh
Mentuhotep II.
Ascending to the Upper Egypt throne in 2055
BCE, Mentuhotep II watched as the Tenth Dynasty
began to destabilise with in-fighting and regular
riots. In his 14th year of regnal rule, the Theban
16
king took full advantage of revolt and attacked
Herakleopolis. By the time of his arrival, there was
barely a battle to be had, and the city, and the rest
of the region as a result, were taken. He quelled
what little resistance could be offered by the
remaining rulers of the decaying Tenth Dynasty
then set about reunifying the kingdom as one.
Such a task was not quick, taking a staggering
21 years to bring the Lower and Upper regions into
line. He began by conducting a series of military
campaigns to regain the territories lost during
the dark time of the First Intermediate Period. He
travelled south to the Second Cataract in Nubia,
a region that had gained independence from its
masters. Mentuhotep II brought the Nubians to heel
before restoring Egyptian authority in the Sinai
region. It was a ruthless expression of power in an
era when authority was a long forgotten force.
His consolidation of power in Egypt and efforts
towards unifying the nation ushered in what
we now know as the Middle Kingdom, and that
Rock tombs of Beni Hasan, an Ancient
Egyptian burial site primarily used
during the Middle Kingdom
effort was continued by his son and successor
Mentuhotep III. His rule was brief by pharaonic
standards (a mere 12 years) but he further
accelerated the unification, including an expedition
to retake Punt (an old trading partner of Egypt). The
throne then passed to Mentuhotep IV, whose reign
remains something of a mystery. His name is often
omitted from lists of kings found in tombs through
the Middle and New Kingdoms, suggesting his rule
was a short one and ended abruptly.
The Turin Papyrus (otherwise known as the
Turin King List) is one such document; it describes
the period following Mentuhotep III’s death as
“seven kingless years”. Information regarding the
‘missing king’ remains frustratingly scarce, but
some details suggest a coup of sorts may have
taken place.
Records found at Wadi Hammamat, a large
mining region in ancient times, do attest to his
reign and make reference to expeditions to quarry
stone for monuments. The records name a vizier,
 Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt

Amenemhat, as its commander. Whether or not rule with his successor, Senusret II. The new The Pyramid of Amenemhat I
this is the same Amenemhat that would eventually pharaoh focused mainly on the maintenance of began construction in Thebes. It is
assume the throne, we cannot know for sure. the realm, building a pyramid at el-Lahun as well not known why it was relocated,
along with the capital, to Lisht
However, it certainly seems likely. as attempting to convert the Faiyum oasis into
So began the next dynasty with Amenemhat I workable farmland.
at its head. He began by moving the capital back Under the sole rule of his successor Senusret
to Memphis (the capital during the Old Kingdom), III, the Middle Kingdom enjoyed the peak of its
as well as forming a standing army (an asset his power and influence. The new warrior king was
successors would maintain for the rest of unlike anything the era had seen before –
the dynasty). he represented a mind-set from a long
The new king began fortifying During forgotten era, an aggressive hunger to
the country’s borders, especially the Middle expand the kingdom and conquer
those between Egypt and Asia, new lands. He moved a huge
where he erected the Walls
Kingdom the army north of the kingdom and
of the Ruler in the East Delta. elevated flood levels attacked the Nubians relentlessly,
In fact, Amenemhat I rebuilt
or built new fortifications all
of the Nile boosted punishing them into surrender
before claiming considerable
The feudal
around Egypt, transforming
agriculture and
buoyed the
Nubian territories. governments
military strategy from
expansion to simple defence. economy
His successor, Amenemhat III,
is famed for his radical approach to of the Middle
Amenemhat I would eventually
begin a co-regency with his son,
construction. He took advantage of the
country’s limestone and sandstone quarries Kingdom
Senusret, before the elder king was assassinated like never before, beginning a huge programme of In the Old Kingdom before it and the New Kingdom that
– supposedly by his own guards. His successor, building that spread across the entire kingdom. followed, the pharaoh’s rule was absolute. Priests, nobles
now Senusret I, began a more expansive series His son, Amenemhat IV, has a poorly recorded and even the queen herself could act, with consent,
on the king’s behalf, but the for the most part, the
of military campaigns before eventually entering rule but his successor, Sobekneferu, became
pharaoh answered to no one but the gods. However, that
a co-regency with his own son, Amenemhat II. the first recorded female Egyptian ruler in the definitive rule came under threat when the Old Kingdom
His son enjoyed a relatively peaceful reign of his country’s history (although her reign lasted only crumbled and splintered into two separate realms.
kingdom and eventually chose a traditional joint four years). With two dynasties now vying for power, the normal
authoritative structure of the kingdom was in ruins.
Prior to the rise of the pharaohs, the entire country
Ancient Egyptian men building was divided into small administrative colonies known as
a wooden coffin in a Middle nomes. Each nome had an appointed leader (nomarch),
Kingdom carpentry shop and it was these independent city states that the first
pharaoh had to unite in order to establish Egypt as a
single nation.
Even after unification, the nomarchs – 20 of whom
were based in Lower Egypt and 22 in Upper Egypt
– remained. However, they existed more as regional
officials who would report directly to the royal court. As
the country entered the First Intermediate Period, these
nomes began to assume autonomy once again. By the
time of reunification, new sole pharaoh Amenemhat I
found these states unwilling to bend the knee entirely.
The position of nomarch was considered hereditary
(rather than being subject to the king’s discretion), an
issue made all the worse by marriages that created
powerful alliances between multiple nomes. In order to
maintain peace in the kingdom, Amenemhat was forced
to agree to an alliance of sorts, creating a bizarre feudal
system that lasted until the reign of Senusret III.

17
 Book of Ancient Egypt

The New Kingdom

The last great age of Ancient Egypt was its grandest
yet – an era of economic enterprise, domestic
beautification and military expansion

L
asting from the 16th to 11th century BCE, tributaries that led into the Mediterranean Sea).
the New Kingdom saw Ancient Egypt By the time the pharaoh in Thebes realised
transformed. Its kings and queens both what was happening, it was too late. The Hyksos
looked ahead at the promising future were fearsome warriors who used advanced
of the realm and back in the weaponry – mainly cavalry, chariots
hope of emulating the monarchs and powerful compound bows
Mortuary
of the past. The empire was – and who were comfortably
expanded by the sword of beliefs settled. The 15th Dynasty was
warrior kings, while the realm developed during established and lasted for more
itself was rebuilt from the this era, leading to an than 150 years, but the Hyksos
ground up by a new economic presence divided Egypt in two,
prosperity. This was Ancient
influx of talismans with the invaders controlling
Egypt at its peak, as reflected and amulets for Lower Egypt while the Thebans
in the resultant boom in arts protection in the ruled Upper Egypt. Kings made
and culture. afterlife many efforts to defeat the Hyksos,
The New Kingdom was preceded but the tribesman were seasoned
by another fracture known as the warriors and weren’t so easily deterred.
Second Intermediate Period. Towards the It wasn’t until the time of Ahmose I, the
start of the 16th century BCE, a small warrior first pharaoh of the 17th Dynasty, that everything
tribe known as the Hyksos had begun settling in changed. Having watched his family fail to A statue of Akhenaten from
his Aten Temple at Karnak
the fertile land of the Delta (a group of rivers and banish the Hyksos, Ahmose I raised a huge

18

army and met the Hyksos with unrelenting force.
Over many years he pummelled the borders,
slowly driving the Hyksos back. Eventually, the
Theban pharaoh drove the occupying forces from
his homeland and set about restoring Egypt to its
former glory.
With Egypt unified, the 17th Dynasty’s founder
began an expansive series of military campaigns
that added new territories to the realm while
regaining lands lost in the Second Intermediate
Period. These conquests brought new wealth into
the economy – it re-energised the construction of
temples and monuments and enabled Ahmose I to
rebuild the decorated nation of old.
Ahmose I’s desire to restore Egypt to its former
greatness would be reflected in the actions of the
kings and queens who followed. Amenhotep III
rebuilt monuments, tombs, and statues on a scale
never seen before, solidifying the bubbling new
culture of arts and expression.
Queen Hatshepsut was the first woman to take
the title of pharaoh, and she helped nurture the
country’s economy, including expeditions to Punt
and other trading posts. Thutmose III created one
of the most impressive armies ever assembled by a
pharaoh and used it to expand Egypt’s borders with
conquest after conquest. The 18th Dynasty was a
time of achievement on multiple fronts, but like any
age of success, there was also a catch.
That blip came in the form of Amenhotep IV,
also known as Akhenaten. A religious zealot who
despised the power of the Church of Amun (the
patron god of the Theban kings), Akhenaten did
not believe in the polytheistic practices that had
defined Egyptian theology since the country’s
earliest times. He outlawed the worship of any god
other than his chosen deity, Aten, and forced the
country into massive religious upheaval.
The Amarna Period, as it would come to be
known, only lasted 16 years, but the damage was
already done. The upheaval was so universally
despised that Akhenaten was branded the
‘Heretic Pharaoh’, even by his own son and future
pharaoh Tutankhamun. His legacy was summarily
expunged from many future histories and a course
was set to bring Egypt back to its former glory.
The dynasty that followed pushed Egypt’s
prosperity to new heights. The most notable
pharaoh of the period, Ramesses II, took the great
armies formed by Thutmose III and weaved a
military campaign that moulded Egypt into its
most powerful form. He sired a considerable
number of children (most of whom he outlived)
and built a huge tomb and necropolis in the Valley
of the Kings.
Like the 19th Dynasty, the 20th was also defined
by the legacy of one man: Ramesses III. However,
while Ramesses II would strengthen his nation,
his descendent would ultimately weaken it by
draining the treasury with unsuccessful military
campaigns and defensive operations. It was his
mismanagement of the crown that eventually set
about the slow decline of the New Kingdom and
the native pharaonic line as a whole.
Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt
What
happened
next?
Following the end of the
New Kingdom and its final
golden age, what was next
for this ancient civilisation?
While the period we know as Ancient
Egypt officially ended with the death
of Cleopatra VII and its addition to
the Roman Empire in 30 BCE, its
true demise could be attributed to
the death of Ramesses XI. The span
of time that followed, the Third
Intermediate Period, saw the power
of the pharaohs start to deteriorate
as political in-fighting took hold. The
period lasted about 350 years and
was split into three stages: the first
saw the rule of the country divided
between the 21st Dynasty (which
controlled Lower Egypt) and the High
Priests of Amun at Thebes (which
ruled most of Middle and Upper
Egypt). The two states existed in
relatively peaceful harmony.
The second period saw the
country reunited thanks to the rise
of the 22nd Dynasty and new king
Shoshenq I – the Libyan monarchy
came to power in about 945 BCE,
expanding out from the East Delta to
control the entire nation. Once the
country’s bitter enemy, the Libyans
now ruled Egypt as native Egyptians.
The country began to destabilise
once again under the rule of the 22nd
Dynasty in 850 BCE, and by 818 BCE,
a rival 23rd Dynasty had risen, which
then caused the nation to fragment
into warring states.
The country would eventually fall
to a Nubian invasion, lasting 25 years.
This marked a trend for the coming
centuries as Egypt’s grand native
history was buried by an Assyrian,
Persian and eventual Greek invasion
during the subsequent Late Period.
In short, the nation had fragmented
so far from the stable centralised
structure of the three kingdom eras
that it ultimately benefited from the
stability outside rule brought with it.
When the New Kingdom
era drew to a close with the
death of Ramesses XI, Egypt
would never again prosper
under native Egyptian rule
19
Book of Ancient Egypt

FAMOUS
PHARAOHS
Follow in the footsteps of Ancient Egypt’s most infamous and iconic leaders
and understand their bizarre rituals and beliefs

22 Power of the pharaoh 56 Peace and prosperity of

Learn about the absolute power wielded by the Amenhotep III
pharaoh, who ruled as god on Earth Witness the period of rule that led a nation to
its peak as a political and economic power
30 Cleopatra’s ruthless rise
to power 60 Hatshepsut: The queen
Revel in the dramatic life of a queen who
would be the final pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
who became king
Discover the convoluted tale behind a female’s
rise to the limelight as pharaoh
36 Alexander: Liberator
of Egypt 66 Ahmose I’s unifying
Grasp the true nature of the ruthless warlord
who ushered in Roman rule from Alexandria
power
Follow in the footsteps of a king who defeated
invaders and merged a divided kingdom
42 The mighty Ramesses II
Follow the lengthy reign of a pharaoh who
proved a great warrior and lived to 96

50 Nefertiti: Behind
the beauty
Find out about the woman beneath the
famously beautiful bust of a queen
 Famous pharaohs

36

42

30

60
 Book of Ancient Egypt

22
 Power of the pharaoh

Power of
the pharaoh
Over the course of more than 30 different dynasties,
the rulers of ancient Egypt became both conquerors
of the world and conduits of the gods

A
ncient Egypt was a kingdom like no other. While pharaohs were often worshipped with
For 3,000 years a nation united as one, it the same religious fervour reserved for the gods
expanded its horizons across the face of the themselves (such devotion was common in both
Earth, erected true Wonders of the World life and in death – for instance, Ptolemy II, the
and became one of the most powerful second ruler of the Greek Ptolemaic Dynasty, had
empires history has ever seen. Yet for all those himself and his queen deified within two decades
achievements, none would have been possible of their rule and welcomed the cults that formed
without the rulers at its head – the kings, the around them), a pharaoh was still seen more as a
queens and the pharaohs. Through the actions divine conduit. They were viewed not as the equal
and decisions of over 170 men and women, Egypt of creationary gods such as Amun-Ra, but as a
became an epicentre for culture and philosophical manifestation of their divinity.
thinking. It became a place of polytheism, where a In death, a pharaoh was just as influential as
pantheon of gods lived in (relative) harmony they were in life – the Egyptians viewed death
and informed every facet of daily life. not as the end of all things, but the
But who were these figureheads immortalisation of the great and the
and what was their true just. Cults would worship a pharaoh
role in everyday Egyptian There are 225 long after their death, while their
society? How did a king or known names in the name and deeds would live on
queen rule a kingdom that in the constellations named
stretched from the Nile to the
annals of ancient Egypt after them and the monumental
Euphrates? These questions which can be traced back tombs erected to protect their
have fascinated historians for to pharaohs who ruled wealth and prestige. However,
centuries, and only now are over the kingdom the importance of an individual
we beginning to understand the pharaoh was often relative – cults
responsibilities of a monarch in an were sometimes disbanded so as to
age of deeply religious devotion and avoid undermining the sanctity of the
magical superstition. current regime, while countless tombs and
The role of a pharaoh in Ancient Egypt is cenotaphs were stripped of their stone and precious
a complicated one, full of responsibilities and limestone in order to facilitate the monumental
expectations, but it can be broadly defined by two building of later rulers.
distinct titles: ‘The Lord of Two Lands’ and ‘High As a mortal man, the pharaoh was the most
Priest of Every Temple’. Pharaohs were considered important individual on Earth; surrounded by
both divine figureheads and mortal rulers and servants and dignitaries, they would operate from
as such were involved in everything from godly opulent palaces and coordinate religious doctrine
rituals to dispensing justice. As king, the pharaoh with the help of the most prevalent church at the
was also the conduit of ma’at (truth, justice, time. Egyptian rulers often favoured a particular
prosperity and cosmic harmony – the key tenets god and through these deities certain churches
of Ancient Egyptian society), so his sovereignty rose to significant power, much in the same way
© Alamy

embodied both temple and state. Catholic and Protestant churches benefited or

23
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Djoser
Founder of the Third Dynasty, Djoser was the first
Egyptian monarch to commission a pyramid. He
was also a long-time sponsor of Imhotep, arguably
one of the most famous physicians and architects
to emerge from the ancient world. Djoser inherited
the throne from his father Khasekhemwy and ruled
Egypt for around three decades. Like his father,
Djoser was fond of architecture and construction, A deeply religious and spiritual
and soon set about adding his own monuments to individual, only the king could
the Egyptian landscape. envision something as grand as
His most famous construction was the Pyramid the pyramids
of Djoser, a large necropolis consisting of statues,
pillars and other decorations, all centred around a suffered from a given religious skew in Medieval usher in a new golden age during the 18th Dynasty
six-tiered step pyramid. Prior to this, pharaohs were
usually buried in rectangular, flat-roofed tombs Europe. For instance, the god Amun became the and spent a great deal of his reign beautifying the
known as mastabas. Under the direction of polymath patron god of the Theban kings for centuries, and land. Statues and temples were built, while an
genius Imhotep, who rose to become Djoser’s vizier his church became so powerful it caused one influx of wealth from military successes across the
and closest advisor, a total of six mastabas (in each
pharaoh (Akhenaten) to effectively outlaw it border had enabled him to adorn his palace
one decreasing in size) were shaped into squares
and stacked atop one another. The final monument and establish another in its place. and the capital of Thebes with gold and
was almost 21 metres (70 feet) tall, and was Egypt’s A pharaoh would also coordinate expensive cloth.
first true pyramid. the defence of the kingdom’s The daily life of a pharaoh
Despite his fascination with construction, Djoser Hatshepsut
borders while leading every would differ slightly between
was still no layabout monarch when it came to
foreign excursions. He conducted a number of military campaign personally.
was the longest the dynasties, but overall his
campaigns, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula (located What could be more frightening reigning female (or her) duties would remain
between the Mediterranean and Red Seas), where
he mostly subdued outspoken subjects.
to a rebellious state or pharaoh of Egyptian the same. Pharaohs would
neighbouring nation than a descent, with a rule often waken in a specially
resplendent tool of the gods designed sleeping chamber –
“The Egyptians arriving to cast them aside?
They would oversee irrigation
spanning around 22
years
the Ancient Egyptians were a
people deeply in touch with their
believed the dream and the inundation of the Nile River,
ensuring the fertile land along this
faith, a spectrum of dogma, science,
magic and superstition. Just because
world was where body of water was fresh for agriculture.
The king would even commission the building
a pharaoh was the divine manifestation of
godly will on Earth didn’t mean he was free from

gods, men and of new temples and the renovation of existing

monuments, with some rulers even destroying the
worry or concern. The Egyptians believed the
dream world was a place where gods, men and

demons walked work of their predecessors. Ancient Egypt was a

kingdom that embodied the personality of its ruler
demons walked the same path, so a pharaoh’s
sacrosanct sleeping quarters would be adorned

the same path” at that time. For instance, Amenhotep III wanted to with spells and incantations, and perhaps statues

Influential figure Influential figure

Narmer
31st century BCE
Less well known than some of the more outlandish and
well-documented kings, Narmer still remains one of the
most influential men to ever rule over Egypt. He was
the first king to unite all of Egypt, effectively ending the
Predynastic Era, and founded the first dynasty. Evidence
suggests Egypt also had an economic presence in
Canaan (home of the future invaders, the Hyksos). Some
historians argue the first king was a man called Menes,
while others reckon the two are one and the same.
Merneith
Khufu
2589-2566 BCE
A Fourth-Dynasty pharaoh who ruled during
the first half of the Old Kingdom era, Khufu
(originally Khnum-Khufu) is widely accepted
as the king who commissioned the Great
Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders
of the World. He was the son of Sneferu and
Queen Hetepheres I and is believed to have
had three wives. Very little is known about
his reign, and the only surviving statue of him
(found in a temple ruin in Abydos in 1903) is
one of the smallest ever found.
Huni

c. 2970 BCE c. 2600 BCE

31st century BCE
Hor-Aha
Considered the second
pharaoh of the very
first Egyptian dynasty,
Hor-Aha inherited the
throne from the man
who unified Predynastic
Egypt, Narmer. He
conducted campaigns
against the Nubians.
c. 2690 BCE c. 2670 BCE
Khasekhemwy
The father of Djoser
(who would go on to
build the first pyramid),
Khasekhemwy was the
archetypal leader for his
son to follow, conducting
military campaigns and
building monuments.
c. 2575 BCE
Djoser Djedefre
Djoser, founder of the The son and immediate
third Egyptian dynasty, successor of Khufu,
is most famous for his Djedefre is known for
step pyramid (the first to building one of the
be built on Egyptian soil) most impressive and
and his close relationship enduring Egyptian
with multi-talented monuments, Great
architect-priest, Imhotep. Pyramid of Giza.
c. 2570 BCE c. 2530 BCE
Khafre Menkaure
Djedefre’s successor, The son of Khafra
Khafre (or Khafra) and grandson of
built the second Khufu, Menkaure
largest pyramid at built a famous
Giza. He’s also linked monument at Giza,
to the creation of the the Pyramid of
Great Sphinx, but his Menkaure and a
involvement remains number of temples.
hotly contested.

24
 Power of the pharaoh

Symbols of a pharaoh
Exuding wealth and power was a key part of pharaonic propaganda.
Here are just a few of the items that did the job for them

Crook and flail

Originally linked solely to
the god Osiris, the crook and
flail later became a combined
symbol of pharaonic
authority. The shepherd’s
crook stood for the power and
responsibility of kingship,
while the flail was shorthand
for the fertility of the land.

Ankh
The ankh, which is usually
grasped in the left hand of a
pharaoh, is one of the most
important symbols associated
with the pharaohs. It represents
the concept of eternal life, a
state of being that was close
to the hearts of the pharaohs,
Nemes headdress as represented by their tombs
Less of a crown and more of symbol of a
and monuments. The ankh also
pharaoh’s power, the nemes was a headdress
represents religious pluralism
that covered the whole crown, the back of
(all gods as one).
the head and the nape of the neck. Usually
striped with gold (to represent the ruler’s
wealth), the nemes had two large flaps that
hung behind the ears and draped over the

© Abigail Daker
front of the shoulders.

2492-2487 BCE 2112-2063 BCE
Userkaf Intef II
He built a pyramid at The third ruler of the 11th
the mortuary complex Dynasty, Intef II ruled
at Sakkara, as well as Upper Egypt for the
beginning the tradition best part of 50 years.
of constructing sun He united most of the
temples at Abusir. southern families together
to strengthen the south of
the country as one.
2063-2055 BCE
Intef III
Ruled during the First
Intermediate Period as
part of the 11th Dynasty.
Despite inheriting a
mostly peaceful Upper
Egypt, Intef III was still
actively busy with military
campaigns in a hope to
reunite the nation.
2055-2010 BCE 1878-1839 BCE
Mentuhotep II
As part of the 11th
Dynasty, Mentuhotep
II ruled for just over
half a century. He
is credited as the
man who reunited
Egypt, thus ending
the tumultuous First
Intermediate Period.
1860-1814 BCE
Senusret III Amenemhat III
The fifth known monarch A pharaoh of the 12th
of the 12th Dynasty, Egyptian dynasty,
Senusret ruled during the Amenemhat III’s reign
most prosperous period of is considered the
the Middle Kingdom. He golden age of the
conducted vast military Middle Kingdom era.
campaigns that brought He erected pyramids
stability to the region and built and continued work
the Canal of the Pharaohs. on the Great Canal.

25
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Thutmose III “The visiting of temples was a vital part

Emerging from the shadow of arguably the most
ambitious and powerful woman to ever assume
the Egyptian throne, Thutmose III went from a
co-regent to the head of one of the most powerful
empires in the ancient world. As was tradition in
the 18th Dynasty, Thutmose spent the first 22 years
of his reign co-ruling with his aunt and stepmother
Hatshepsut. When his father Thutmose II died, the
prince was too young to inherit the throne, so his
aunt assumed his royal responsibilities. She would go
on to reject the title of regent and assume the title
of queen – however, Hapshetsut never denied her
nephew’s kinship and legitimacy, so the two ruled
peacefully together as he grew into a man.
When he inherited the throne in 1479 BCE,
Thutmose III began a rule defined by the activity of
his military. He conducted a total of 17 campaigns,
and his expansionist nature led to him being
described as ‘the Napoleon of Egypt’ by some
historians. He possessed a tactical genius that
enabled him to expand Egypt’s borders with fervour
and re-establish Egypt as one of the most powerful
empires that ever existed. As well as his conquest
of Syria, Thutmose III built a huge number of
monuments and put a great deal focus on adding to
the temple at Karnak.
©Markh
of a pharaoh’s roving duties – known
more commonly as ‘doing the praises’”
or busts of Bes (the god of repelling evil) or around the king and dress him for the day to
Nechbet (a goddess of protection) adorning the come. Instead of the opulent gowns and sashes of
walls and columns. formal wear, the king would have been dressed in
The pharaoh would then move into the nearby a similar fashion to his courtiers – a simple linen
Chamber of Cleansing, where he would stand tunic, sandals and a sash around the waist. He
behind a low stone wall to protect his royal wouldn’t have worn the heavy ceremonial crowns
modesty as a group of servants washed his body commonly seen on statues; instead he would have
with warm and cold water. After being dried worn a simple diadem most likely made of
with linen towels, the pharaoh would silver and gold with a uraeus (a coiling
move into the Robing Room. Here, The cobra) at the front.
the Chief of Secrets of the House From there, the pharaoh would
of the Morning (a man tasked
pharaoh proceed to the temple adjoining
with overseeing the monarch’s would rise at dawn the palace. He would pray to
garments for every occasion) to meet the sun, then the gods and pay tribute alone
would coordinate the careful he would don his before moving to the throne
clothing of the king by another room to conduct the first
crew of servants. cosmetics, jewellery meetings of the day. The king
Since we only have stone and perfume after would meet with his advisors
pictorials or statues to present bathing and dignitaries from across the
the image of the king, it’s easy to land every day, receiving reports from
assume the Egyptian monarch wore a across the kingdom and ordering his
ceremonial headdress and carried an ankh and officials to oversee certain aspects that require
cane or flail wherever he went, but this is far from further attention.
the reality. Of course, for official ceremonies, such Of course, while any citizen could petition for
as the meeting of dignitaries of public addresses, an audience with the king, not everyone made
the king would wear all the paraphernalia, but it to the throne room. Even those who did may
this was far from the case when it came to the well have only met with the vizier instead. The
laborious, day-to-day running of a kingdom. pharaoh would pass laws into effect, but it seems
The handlers of royal linen, the handlers of most likely that many of these were ratified by

the royal crowns and headdresses, and even his closest advisors so as not to drown the king in
the director of royal loincloths would all gather administrative duties.

Influential figure Influential figure

Ahmose I Hatshepsut
1539-1514 BCE 1473-1458 BCE
Founder of the 18th Dynasty and one of Hatshepsut (‘Foremost of Noble Ladies’) was
the most influential pharaohs, Ahmose I the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. She
successfully united his kingdom after more remains the longest-serving female pharaoh and
than a hundred years of division. The Hyksos, arguably the most successful. She was the Chief
a Semitic warrior tribe, had settled in the Wife of Thutmose II and, upon his death, she
Delta and used advanced weaponry such as became regent for his son Thutmose III. In an
compound bows and chariots. By sheer force unprecedented move, she installed herself as
of will, Ahmose I defeated the Hyksos and queen in 1473 BCE, but did so without denying
drove them out of Egypt. His military successes her own stepson’s legitimacy. As such, when
would infuse the nation with wealth and a new Thutmose III came of age, he and his aunt/
monument-building program rejuvenated the stepmother co-ruled until her death in 1458 BCE.
face of the kingdom.

1806-1802 BCE 1764-1759 BCE
Sobekneferu
A female ruler who ruled
Egypt for around four
years during the 12th
Dynasty, Sobekneferu
inherited the throne
when her predecessor
Amenemhat IV died
without a son.
1701-1677 BCE 1610-1580 BCE 1560-1557 BCE c. 1540 BCE 1506-1493 BCE
Khendjer Merneferre Khyan Seqenenre Tao Khamudi Thutmose I
The 21st pharaoh of An ancient Egyptian Khamudi was the last The third pharaoh of the
the 13th Dynasty, pharaoh of the mid-13th ruler of the Hyksos, 18th Dynasty, Thutmose I
Khendjer built a small Dynasty, he reigned otherwise known as the (or Tuthmosis) ruled during
pyramid for himself in over Upper and Middle 15th Dynasty. He and his the prosperous era known
the mortuary complex Egypt concurrently with people were driven from as the New Kingdom. He
at Sakkara. He’s the the pharaohs of the Egypt by the Theban conducted many military
earliest known Semitic 14th Dynasty. pharaoh Ahmose I. campaigns and expanded
king of Egypt. the boundaries of the
kingdom further than any
other previous monarch.

26
 Power of the pharaoh

The pharaoh was the arbiter of his people and Ahmose I is depicted expelling the
as such was always on the move. The Egyptians Hyksos invaders from Egypt
endured in the harsh environment of Northern
Africa not just because of their ability to adapt and
survive, but because of the ferocious activity of
their rulers. Simply sitting in state in the nation’s
capital would have been disastrous, so a successful
pharaoh would visit every corner of his kingdom,
inspecting the building of temples and overseeing
the construction of new fortifications to protect the
borders of his kingdom. The visiting of temples was
a vital part of a pharaoh’s roving duties – known
more commonly as ‘doing the praises’, it was an
awe-inspiring mark of respect to see the pharaoh
and his court visit a temple and offer tribute to a
local god.
Festivals were another important part of
Egyptian culture, especially those that celebrated
the sanctity of the pharaoh’s rule. The Opet festival,
usually held at the Luxor Temple, would represent
the renewal of the royal ka, or soul (the very life
force of Egyptian society) and by association
the power of the king himself. The Sed festival,
usually held in a king’s 30th year to celebrate their
continued rule, was another huge occasion that
would see the entire kingdom decked out in its
finest decorations. In short, these festivals were a
testament to the love and reverence the Egyptian Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)
people had for their ruler.
Few pharaohs made an impact on ancient Egypt quite as severely as the 18th Dynasty king Akhenaten. He didn’t
Yet, for all their influence and divine status, change the nation by his military campaigns or his desire to erect great and imposing monuments – his mark on
one man could not be in all places at all times. As history used the most powerful tool available: religion. For time immemorial, Egypt had celebrated and worshipped
such, a pharaoh would often deputise his priests, a host of different gods, each one representing the different facets of life, industry and human nature itself. The
rise of Theban pharaohs and their prosperity in the 18th Dynasty had elevated the god Amun to patron status.
tasking them with travelling to different corners of The Church of Amun had grown in power, too, and its gradual influence over the court of his father, Amenhotep
the kingdom to oversee new and existing temples. III, had soured the prince as a child. When he ascended to the throne in 1351 BCE, Amenhotep IV dismantled the
He would often pass a great deal of responsibility church that had irked him so much as a young man. He banned polytheistic practices (worship of multiple gods)
onto members of the royal family, most notably across the nation and forced his people, priests and family to worship one single god: Aten. He even moved the
capital from Memphis to Akhetaton, but ultimately his attempts to undo the theological fabric of his countrymen
the Great Royal Wife. A pharaoh would likely take failed and his Amarna Period was buried by future monarchs trying to erase his legacy.
multiple wives, but only one would be his true

Influential figure Influential figure

Amenhotep III
1391-1353 BCE
Otherwise known as Amenhotep III the Magnificent,
Amenhotep III was ninth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty.
Under his stewardship, Egypt saw a renaissance in
its arts and culture; he redecorated the kingdom
with monuments; vessels, statues and temples were
erected. Egypt rose to a new era of cultural awakening.
Amenhotep III inherited a relatively peaceful kingdom, so
he was able to focus most of his attention on beautifying
the kingdom. Over 250 statues bearing his name have
been discovered, proving him to be one of the most
prolific builders of the era,
Ramesses II
1279-1213 BCE
One of the most famous and recognisable
pharaohs (perhaps second only to
Tutankhamun), Ramesses II is celebrated
as the most successful and powerful of the
Egyptian kings. He led a large number of
military campaigns to the north and south
of the country, vastly increasing the size of
the kingdom as he conquered new lands.
He reigned for 66 years and celebrated an
unprecedented 14 Sed festivals. He was also
a prolific builder, his monuments including
the city of Pi-Ramesses.

1479-1425 BCE 1401-1391 BCE 1353-1336 BCE 1332-1323 BCE 1290 -1279 BCE
Thutmose III Thutmose IV Akhenaten Tutankhamun Seti I
The sixth pharaoh of the 18th The eighth pharaoh of the One of the most Arguably the most famous He was a pharaoh
Dynasty, Thutmose began 18th Dynasty, Thutmose controversial kings pharaoh of all, King of the 19th Dynasty,
his reign in a co-regency with IV erected the tallest ever of Egypt, Akhenaten Tut was the son of the which held power
his aunt and stepmother obelisk at the Temple at (formerly Amenhotep IV) heretic king Akhenaten. over Egypt during the
Hatshepsut. As a sole ruler, he Karnak. He was buried in rejected the polytheism He helped reverse much New Kingdom era.
helped to expand the nation’s the Valley of the Kings. that had defined the of his father’s actions He was the father of
territory like never before. nation since its inception and returned Egypt to its Ramesses II.
and enforced the worship traditional polytheistic
of a singular god, Aten. religious structure.

27
 Book of Ancient Egypt

The lives
of Egyptian
queens
With the exception of queens such as Cleopatra and
Hatshepsut, who took the most powerful seat for
themselves through guile and sheer will, the queens
of Ancient Egypt experienced very different worlds.
The royal women of the Old and Middle Kingdoms
were required to be passive, and expected to
provide male heirs without refrain or complications.
However, with these subservient requirements
came a deceptive amount of hidden power. Should
a queen hold the favour of her king, he might leave
the running of the kingdom in her stead while he left
the kingdom to conduct military campaigns or focus
on monument construction. She would also oversee
the running of the palace and ultimately act as regent
should the king die before a male heir was of age to
inherit the throne independently.
By contrast, the life of a queen in the New
Kingdom era was far different. Royal women were
afforded far more authority and prestige. The more
astute and popular queens were able to acquire their
own secular and religious titles, such as God’s Wife
of Amun, and receive with it the land, servants and
followers such a potent station could offer. Relief depicting the coronation of a pharaoh

Influential figure
Merneptah
1213-1203 BCE
The fourth ruler of the 19th Dynasty, Merneptah was
the 13th son of Ramesses II and only came to power
because all of his older brothers predeceased him – he
was over 60. He’s famed for his military campaigns,
including defending Egypt from a combined force of
Sea Peoples and Libyans. He also moved the capital
from Pi-Ramesses back to Memphis, where he built a
large palace next to the temple of Ptah.
Influential figure
Ramesses III
1186-1155 BCE
The second pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty, he is considered
the last great king to hold any substantial authority in the
prosperous New Kingdom era. Ramesses III is celebrated
for maintaining stability in the kingdom while it began to
suffer both economic strife and a constant threat of foreign
invasions. The Sea Peoples (a large group of seafaring raiders)
were constantly attempting to invade and eventually settled
in Canaan. Ramesses III is believed to have claimed he
defeated the Sea Peoples and granted them the land as an
act of kindness, but it seems likely he was instead unable to
halt their occupation.

1047-1001 BCE
Psusennes I
The third king of the
21st Egyptian dynasty,
Psusennes I was
most famous for the
discovery of his intact
tomb in 1940. He
reigned for just over
40 years.
943-922 BCE 690-664 BCE
Shoshenq I
Most famous for
suspending traditional
hereditary succession in
favour of a system where
the most powerful men
selected a new ruler.
This practice lasted for
around a century.
672-664 BCE 610-595 BCE
Taharqa Necho I Necho II
A pharaoh of the 25th Conducted a number
Dynasty, Taharqa spent of military campaigns
most of his campaign in across Asia, but is
conflict with the Assyrians. most famous for a
He’s also known for his surprise defeat to
impressive additions to the the Babylonians who
Temple at Karnak. subsequently drove
all Egyptian influence
from Syria.
570-526 BCE 525-522 BCE
Amasis II Cambyses II
A warrior king of Persia,
Cambyses invaded
Egypt in 525 BCE and
founded the First
Persian Occupation.
Defeated Psamtik III to
take the throne.

28
 Power of the pharaoh

queen, who would hold the most power outside of they hosted foreign dignitaries and entertained
her husband. While the lesser wives (who would kings with all the authority of their husband. Of
range from foreign princesses to a pharaoh’s own course, not all queens could boast such influence,
sisters and daughters) would often remain at one but those most favoured were still a formidable
of the king’s many palaces around the presence and influence in the royal court.
country, the Great Royal Wife would The hierarchy of the royal court, and
usually travel with the king as he
The Egyptian society as a whole, was
conducted his duties. fragmented often based upon an individual’s
Queens formed an important Palermo Stele importance and contributions.
part of a pharaoh’s persona. features the names Directly under the pharaoh
As the mother of princes, stood the queen, but in cases
a queen could inspire cults
of the kings of Egypt where the Great Royal Wife
and followings in her own between the First was not as elevated, a grand
right, and many of the Dynasty and the vizier would advise the king on
most influential kings were matters of state. Beneath the vizier
Fifth Dynasty
immortalised in pictorials and and advisors were the priests and
statues with their favourite consort nobility of the royal court. These were
at their side. When a pharaoh was the elite and were usually heads of the
busy elsewhere – usually with overseeing the most powerful families of the period. Beneath the
construction of a tomb or standing at the head of nobility and the holy men were physicians, sages
a foreign campaign – the running of the country and engineers, followed by scribes, merchants and
was often left to his queen. Some queens, such artists. Finally, at the bottom of the hierarchical
as Queen Tiye (the wife of Amenhotep III), were pyramid were the vast majority of the population –
elevated to such a high position of power that the everyday working people themselves.
From their inception with King Narmer and the
First Dynasty, to their conclusion with the suicide
Tutankhamun of Cleopatra VII and Egypt’s absorption into the
Perhaps the most recognisable pharaoh that ever lived, King Tut (as he’s colloquially known) reigned for 11 years Roman Empire, the pharaohs were the epitome of
during the New Kingdom (a period of time considered the second golden age in ancient Egyptian history). royal power in the ancient world. They commanded
Inheriting the throne at the age of nine or ten, Tutankhamun faced a similar situation to that of Elizabeth I when armies that conquered even the most bloodthirsty
she assumed the English throne from her sister Mary I over a thousand years later. His father, Akhenaten (formerly
Amenhotep IV), had sent the nation into upheaval, rejecting the multi-god practices that had defined Egypt since of enemies, orchestrated the construction of vast
its inception in favour of a single deity. When Tutankhamun became pharaoh in 1333 BCE he started dismantling and impressive monuments that have survived to
the efforts of his father – he abolished the single worship of the god Aten and re-elevated the god Amen to this day, and maintained over 30 dynasties that
prominence. The stranglehold on the priesthood of Amen was lifted and the capital was moved back to Thebes.
Some attribute the almost overzealous manner in which King Tut reversed his father’s reformation with one of his shaped the world around its majesty.
royal advisors/viziers, Horemheb, but whether the driving force was Tutankhamun’s alone or in conjunction with The pharaohs may now have been consigned to
his court, he still made every effort to effectively expunge his father’s reign from history. Ancient Egyptian history, but their mark upon that
history will last forever.

Influential figure
Alexander the Great
332-323 BCE
One of the most famous and dominant rulers of the
ancient world, Alexander the Great of Macedonia
eventually turned his attention to the land of the
pharaohs and conquered it in 332 BCE. While in a
constant state of military activity, Alexander still installed
himself as pharaoh for almost a decade. Egypt was
floundering under Persian rule at the time of his conquest
and his arrival was seen as something of a liberation. He
oversaw the integration of Greek culture into Egypt and
even created Alexandria, which became the capital for
© Alamy

Statues of pharaohs in the Temple of Ramesses II, Luxor the Ptolemaic kingdom that would follow.

Ptolemy V Ptolemy XI Ptolemy XV

204-181 BCE 80 BCE 44-30 BCE

423-404 BCE 404-399 BCE 360-342 BCE 358-338 BCE 323-283 BCE 283-246 BCE 51-30 BCE
Darius II Amyrtaeus Nectanebo II Artaxerxes III Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy II Philadelphus Cleopatra VII
Darius II is believed The first Ptolemaic During his reign, the literary Known more commonly
to be the last known king was a Macedonian and artistic splendour of the as simply Cleopatra, she
Persian king of general. Upon Alexandrian court thrived. He was the last queen of
the 27th Dynasty. Alexander‘s death, also oversaw the Great Library Egypt before it became
He was defeated he became satrap of of Alexandria and erected the an annex of Rome. She
by Amyrtaeus, Egypt and declared Great Mendes Stela. married Mark Antony and
effectively ending himself pharaoh in committed suicide after
the First Persian 305 BCE. false news of his death.
Occupation.

29
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Cleopatra’s
ruthless rise
to power
How the middle daughter of a despised pharaoh
fought, schemed and seduced her way to becoming
the most famous Egyptian ruler of all

E
gypt was in turmoil. In the year 81 BCE children, and Cleopatra VII was the second oldest
Ptolemy IX, the pharaoh who had dared after her sister, Berenice IV.
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beloved daughter, Berenice III became queen. were amazed by her aptitude for languages, readily
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army and the personification in a troublesome position. His
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\’e[d’/s’d;s/d;s.s;s.lfkdkd,dkfkflrpoeius hdjkfollefkdkmxjncbgdfrewqadgjl
mass unrest in Egypt and anyone, had chosen not to act on – not yet,
wertyuiop[]as df ghjanyone,
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illegitimate sons of Ptolemy IX, and Ptolemy XII happy was to ensure Egypt’s survival. He sent
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hardly the shining beacon the struggling country which secured the Romans’ support, but damned
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erutaefs ihtnineddihemans ihs ahsmailliwnehpetsmnbvcxzlkjhgfds apoiuytrewq

30
\’e[d’/s’d;s/d;s.s;s.lfkdkd,dkfkflrpoeius hdjkfollefkdkmxjncbgdfrewqadgjl
kdmkssss/dpllxmms ibcgfdnms iuyetsndjfk9-0ej2634dodviufnfjndndjcmc,dld’\
 Cleopatra’s ruthless rise to power

“The young princess

was clever and
quick-witted
with a curious
mind”

CLEOPATRA
69-30 BCE

As the last active

pharaoh of Ptolemaic
Brief Egypt, Cleopatra
Bio had to contend with
Julius Caesar during
her reign. Self-styled as a
reincarnation of the goddess
Isis, Cleopatra was later
challenged by Octavian after
Caesar’s assassination. Her
consort, Mark Antony, lost the
Battle of Actium and committed
suicide. Cleopatra proceeded to
follow suit.

31
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Roman army courtesy of the statesman Aulus into the background and established herself as sole
Gabinius, he discovered his oldest daughter monarch of the country. This was dangerous; the
Berenice sitting on the throne. Displaying the Alexandrian courtiers swarmed over the young,
brutal and uncompromising ferocity that ran impressionable king, filling his head with whispers
through his entire family, he had his daughter of sole rule and the dangers of his older sister. If
summarily executed. He then proceeded to Cleopatra had been more patient and attentive, she
reclaim the throne, from which he ruled could perhaps have trained a capable and obedient
until his death in 51 BCE. The crown and co-ruler in him, one who would have aided her
all the debts he had amassed became the rule, instead of bringing it crashing down. But that
property of his oldest surviving was simply not the Ptolemy way, and she
daughter, Cleopatra. was a Ptolemy in every sense of the
The 18-year-old was not – as word – daring, ambitious and deadly.
some expected – a naïve, She had four She dropped her brother’s image
wide-eyed child torn from children by two from coins and erased his name
her books to rule a kingdom from official documents. With
fathers – Caesar and
on the brink of war. She had her skill, drive and cunning she
served as consort to her father Mark Antony – but was perfect for rule; in her mind
for the final few years of his only one, Cleopatra she deserved Egypt and wasn’t
reign and all her education Selene, made it to prepared to share it.
since birth had been designed The early years of her reign
to mould her into a capable
adulthood would be testing, as not only was
queen. Queen, that was; not king, the country still struggling under
not pharaoh. Cleopatra was cursed by the father’s debts, but years of infrequent
the requirement of all Egyptian queens to floods of the Nile had led to widespread famine.
serve alongside a dominant male co-ruler and so Over her shoulder Cleopatra could feel the ever-
found herself burdened with the task of being a looming and rapidly expanding threat of Rome, and
subordinate co-regent to her ten-year-old brother, with a weak Egyptian army, her fertile land was
Ptolemy XIII. ripe for the picking. As hungry peasants flooded
Faced with a regency council full of ambitious into the cities, Cleopatra’s popularity plummeted,
men who ruled in her brother’s stead and led and her repeated decisions that seemed designed
by her own ruthless, impatient and intelligent to please Rome at Egypt’s expense reminded the
nature, Cleopatra pushed her brother-husband bitter population of her despised father.

A husband & two lovers

Ptolemy XIII Theos Julius Caesar Mark Antony

Philopator
Macedonian, 62-47 BCE
How did they get together?
The marriage between Ptolemy and
his sister was arranged, as was the
tradition with Egyptian royalty.
Was it true love?
Considering their joint rule erupted
into a brutal civil war, we can assume
there was little love lost between the
siblings. There is no evidence they
consummated their marriage.
How did it end?
Ptolemy was forced to flee
Alexandria when the forces of
Caesar and his sister-wife Cleopatra
claimed victory. He reportedly
drowned attempting to cross the Nile
when fleeing.
Roman, 100-44 BCE
How did they get together?
Cleopatra and her brother both
needed Caesar’s support. Cleopatra
met with Caesar before their
scheduled meeting and managed to
sway his vote. Her methods can be
left to the imagination.
Was it true love?
Although the union was initially
spawned from mutual political
gain and the two were forbidden
by Roman law to marry, Cleopatra
seemed to stay loyal to Caesar and
had his child.
How did it end?
This love affair was cut short when
Caesar was assassinated on the Ides
of March.
Roman, 83-30 BCE
How did they get together?
Antony summoned Cleopatra to see if
she would hold true in her promised
support during the war against the
Parthians. She reportedly charmed
him during this meeting, perhaps
much the same way she had Caesar.
Was it true love?
Although it may have been borne
out of political agendas, the two had
three children together, and Antony
risked everything to be with his
Egyptian queen.
How did it end?
After the ill-fated Battle of Actium,
Antony committed suicide upon
mistakenly hearing Cleopatra was
dead, and she quickly followed suit.

32
 Cleopatra’s ruthless rise to power

In the middle of this political turmoil, Cleopatra a ruse; a rival of Caesar’s was more valuable dead
found herself facing a familiar rival. Her brother than alive.
was back and, aided by his many guardians and When Caesar arrived in the harbour of
regents, was now a vicious and ruthless king who Alexandria four days later, he was presented with
was not afraid to wipe her from the land and from the head of his rival. However, in mere moments
history. He completely erased his sister’s name from Ptolemy’s advisors realised their mistake, for
all official documents and backdated his monarchy, the Roman general was completely and utterly
claiming sole rule since his father’s death. With her appalled. He wept loudly and openly before leading
popularity and reputation already in tatters, the his forces to the royal palace in Alexandria. As
disgraced queen fled the city of her birth before he observed the local resentment and civil war
an angry mob could storm the palace and inflict threatening to break the land in two he made a
upon her the same grisly fate as so many of her decision; he needed the wealth that Alexandrian
greedy and ill-fated predecessors. taxes would give him, and the only way
Having lost not only the support
Cleopatra
of increasing taxes was to establish Five myths
of her people but also the land
she so strongly believed was did not abandon
stability in the city. The sibling
rivalry had to end. He summoned
Cleopatra and Ptolemy to appear
unravelled
hers to rule, Cleopatra escaped
to Syria with a small band of her ambitions, but before him. This was easy for She was smuggled
loyal supporters. Fuelled by set about building Ptolemy who swiftly journeyed in a rug
The image of a dishevelled and flushed
outrage at her brother, and even the army she would to Alexandria, but Cleopatra
Cleopatra being unrolled from a Persian rug
more so at the advisors who would have to use all her
need to reclaim her at Caesar’s feet after being smuggled into the
had crafted him into a vicious cunning just to make it into the palace comes from the overzealous pen of Greek
enemy, Cleopatra did not abandon throne city alive. biographer Plutarch, but it’s difficult to prove this
happened. It seems unlikely that Caesar, one of
her ambitions, but set about building With the harbour blocked by her the most powerful men in the world, would have
the army she would need to reclaim brother’s ships, she slipped away from welcomed a suspicious package into his room and
her throne. As the female pharaoh amassed her her troops and travelled in a small boat along the even if so, there’s no reason for her not to have
emerged earlier and made a more elegant entrance.
forces in Syria, her young brother, barely 13 years coast in the dead of night. Her journey had been
old, became distracted by the ever-pressing Roman completely and utterly unfitting for a pharaoh of
civil war. After a humiliating defeat to Caesar in Egypt, a Ptolemy queen; but victory demanded She was a femme
Pharsalus, the Roman military leader Pompey the sacrifice and she was confident the streets and fatale
The idea that Cleopatra flittered between
Great fled to the one place he was assured he could waters she was being smuggled down would soon powerful men, wooing and manipulating with no
find refuge; his old ally, Egypt. be hers again. It had been a challenge to make it idea of who fathered her children, is the result
With his wife and children watching nervously into the palace district, but the real night’s work of an ancient smear campaign run against her by
Roman officials. In fact, there’s only evidence of
from afar, Pompey disembarked his grand ship was about to begin – she was about to go face to
her having been with two men: Julius Caesar and
to board a small fishing boat to the shore. The face with arguably the most powerful man in the Mark Antony.
Egyptian boy pharaoh, Ptolemy, sat on the shore known world.
in a throne fashioned specifically for the occasion. Her brother would bend over backwards, slay She was Egyptian
He watched Pompey closely, his face guarded and Caesar’s enemies and kiss his feet for his support, One of the most famous Egyptian
unreadable, but the men around him threw their but he was quick to panic, eager to please and pharaohs of all time wasn’t Egyptian at all
– she was Greek. Her family line is that of Ptolemy,
arms open and, with wide smiles, cried, “Hail, terrified of angering Rome. Her brother was a fool. one of the generals of Alexander the Great, and
commander!” It was not until the ship reached the Caesar needed Egypt as much as Egypt needed despite her family living in Egypt for over 300
shore that Pompey realised the murderous web Rome and she would use that fact to her advantage. years, she would have been regarded as Greek.
Cleopatra was actually rare in that she could speak
in which he was entangled. Before he could cry Egyptian, unlike many of her predecessors.
out he was ran through with a sword and stabbed
over and over again in the back. While the once- She wore a fake beard
great consul was decapitated and his mutilated The concept of female Egyptian queens
corpse thrown into the sea, Ptolemy did not sporting fake beards comes from the
Egyptian belief that the god Osiris had a grand
rise from his throne. The
beard, prompting Egyptian pharaohs to do the
ceremony had been same to establish themselves as divine beings. But
by the time of Cleopatra this tradition had all but
died out, and there’s no record of her donning a
fake beard. In fact, the only female pharaoh known
to have worn one is Hatshepsut.

She died from an asp

bite
This myth has gained momentum due
to paintings of Cleopatra holding a snake to her
bosom as she passes away. However, the accounts
of this event are in some doubt, mainly because
an asp will not cause a quick death as Cleopatra’s
was reported to be. It is more likely she drank
a combination of poisons. The idea that the asp
bit her breast is certainly incorrect, as all ancient
sources state it bit her on the arm.

33
/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrewq/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrew
][poiuytrewqasdfghjkl;’\/.,mnbvcxz][poiuytrewqasdfghjkl;’\/.,mnbvcx
Book of Ancient Egypt
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod4362je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\

All in the family

The Ptolemies of Egypt could trace their ancestry to Ptolemy I Soter,
/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrewq/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrew
a Greek general of Alexander the Great who became ruler of Egypt
in 323 BCE. After Alexander’s death, his most senior generals divided
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
his vast territory between themselves. Completely oblivious to the
dangers of interbreeding, it became customary for the Ptolemies to
Follow Cleopatra’s family tree and discover just how close-knit
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod4362je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
marry their brothers and sisters. It was convenient for them as not only
the Ptolemies really were… did it ensure queens could be trained for their role from birth, but also
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
established them as an elite, untouchable class far removed from the
masses, similar to the revered Egyptian gods who married their sisters.
/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrewq/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrew
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod4362je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
Ptolemy VIII UNCLE Cleopatra III
/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrewq/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrew
182-116 BCE MARRIES 161-101 BCE
NIECE
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod4362je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
SISTER SISTER
Cleopatra IV MARRIES Ptolemy IX MARRIES Cleopatra Selene Ptolemy X
/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrewq/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrew
138-112 BCE BROTHER 143-81 BCE BROTHER 135-69 BCE ?-88 BCE
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod4362je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
][poiuytrewqasdfghjkl;’\/.,mnbvcxz][poiuytrewqasdfghjkl;’\/.,mnbvcx
COUSIN Ptolemy XI
Berenice III MARRIES 115-80 BCE
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
COUSIN
115-80 BCE
UNCLE/
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod40kk62je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
NIECE/
STEPFATHER/
/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrewq/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrew
UNCLE
STEPDAUGHTER
Ptolemy XII MARRY
MARRIES Cleopatra V
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
117-51 BCE NIECE 95-? BCE
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmstephenwilliamshashisnamehiddeninthisfeature
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
SISTER
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod4362je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
SISTER MARRIES Ptolemy XIV
Arsinoe IV Berenice IV Ptolemy XIII MARRIES BROTHER
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmstephenwilliamshashisnamehiddeninthisfeature
BROTHER 60-44 BCE
?-41 BCE 77-55 BCE 62-47 BCE
/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrewq/.,mnbvcxz\’;lkjhgfdsa][poiuytrew
][poiuytrewqasdfghjkl;’\/.,mnbvcxz][poiuytrewqasdfghjkl;’\/.,mnbvcx
Cleopatra VII
69-30 BCE
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\
\’dld,cmcjdndnjfnfuivdod4362je0-9kfjdnsteyuismndfgcbismmxllpd/sssskmdk
ljgdaqwerfdgbcnjxmkdkfellofkjdhsuieoprlfkfkd,dkdkfl.s;s.s;d/s;d’s/’d[e’\

She would not wait to bow and plead her case had been granted all the charm, intelligence and The apparent peace did not last long. Already
alongside a child, she was going to speak to the ambition of her forefathers. She would steal Caesar poisoned by the ambitious whispers that had
Roman general that night. She sneaked into and Rome’s support while her brother slept; fed his youth, Ptolemy joined with his rebellious
the palace and managed to find her her charisma would succeed where her sister Arsinoe IV. Between them they amassed
way into Caesar’s private chamber. brother’s sword had failed. an army large enough to challenge Cleopatra and
The ‘dictator in perpetuity’, as The young Ptolemy XIII awoke Caesar’s forces in Egypt. The country they fought
he would come to be known in the next day, not expecting his for would pay the price, and in December of 48
Rome, towered over the small dangerous older sister to have BCE the famous stone city of Alexandria was set
woman; she would have to even made it to the palace. When alight, destroying not only the lives of hundreds
crane her head to look him in he discovered that not only was of citizens, but also the world-famous library that
the eye, she realised instantly. she there, but had also seduced housed countless priceless manuscripts. When
He was far older than the Caesar overnight into joining Caesar’s reinforcements poured into the city from
young, bold Egyptian queen and her cause, it was the final straw. Pergamum, Ptolemy’s forces were finally defeated.
his receding hairline was poorly Screaming in desperation, he fled The young and impetuous king tried to flee across
disguised. The general was past his from the palace, tore his crown from the Nile in an overcrowded boat, but his vessel
physical prime, but he had just won Cleopatra’s image on a his head and fell to his knees. His sister sank, dragging him and his elaborate, heavy golden
his greatest victory. This was her first silver coin showed her had done it again. She was completely armour down with it.
to have a hooked nose
time gazing upon the Roman celebrity and utterly impossible to get rid of and, One Ptolemy was dead, but another still lived.
known the world over, but this was even as the crowd surged forward in Ptolemy XIV, Cleopatra’s 13-year-old brother,
also the first time he was facing her. Her brother protest, Caesar could not be swayed. The siblings became her husband and co-ruler immediately
was a child, a mere puppet pharaoh on strings, would rule Egypt together, just as their father had after her brother’s death. She might have had
dancing to the pulls of his corrupt advisors, but she intended. Rome had spoken. Caesar’s support, but tradition was still tradition

34

Cleopatra was as much an
intellectual and scholar as
a passionate fighter
and a lone woman could not rule Egypt. As for
Caesar, he had put in place a reliable partnership
and Egypt was, for all intents and purposes, a
Roman territory. In a lavish display of the new
union, a fleet of Roman and Egyptian ships sailed
down the Nile accompanied by the grand royal
barge where Cleopatra and Caesar sat together.
Egypt and Rome were united, but Cleopatra still
found herself co-ruler to another Ptolemy who
would inevitably grow up to be ambitious and
treacherous. She could not allow another brother to
be swayed by advisors and driven against her. As
long as Ptolemy XIV lived, her rule was threatened.
She wasn’t a fool, she knew Egypt would never
accept a solitary female queen, but there was a
technicality that would ensure her effective sole
rule. Her partnership with Caesar had provided
more than his political support; she was pregnant
and in 47 BCE she gave birth. The gods’ will was in
her favour – the child was a boy. She named him
Caesarion, or ‘Little Caesar’, and now had an heir.
For three years Cleopatra tightened her grip on the
Cleopatra’s ruthless rise to power
She penned
Cosmetics, a book
of pharmaceutical
treatments for such
ailments as hair loss
and dandruff
Egyptian throne, slowly winning the love of the
Alexandrian mobs that had previously screamed
for her head. She travelled to Rome with her son
and resided in Caesar’s country house as heated
rumours about the paternity of her son gained
speed. She did little to squash them; a possible heir
of Caesar was a very powerful tool to have.
When Caesar was assassinated on 15 March
44 BCE, Cleopatra left Rome and returned to
Alexandria. If there was ever a time to act, it was
now. Without her powerful Roman lover by her
side she needed an ally who could assure her rule,
one who wasn’t going to lead a rebellion against
her. Brothers, she had learned, could not be trusted.
Later that year the youngest Ptolemy was found
dead, seemingly poisoned. The people’s grief was
muted; the death of Ptolemies, however young, was
not so uncommon in Egypt, and the people had a
new pharaoh to replace him: the young Caesarion.
Cleopatra had finally done it, she was Egypt’s
pharaoh, and with her son an infant she was ruling
alone in all but name. The power of Egypt was hers.
End of an Era
Cleopatra’s surviving children were adopted by
Octavia, sister of Augustus. They became Roman
citizens and faded quickly into obscurity. Egypt,
now a Roman province, was ruled by a prefect.
Greek remained the official language. While
Alexandria continued to flourish, it became a site
of many religious and military uprisings.
In 269 CE, Alexandria was claimed by yet
another woman, when Zenobia, the ferocious
warrior queen of Palmyra, conquered Egypt.
Zenobia, who was an admirer of Cleopatra, was
quick to behead her detested Roman foes. She
ruled Egypt until 274, before she herself was
taken hostage by the Roman Emperor Aurelian.
In an ironic twist of fate, Zenobia appeared in
golden chains during Aurelian’s Triumph in Rome.
The legacy of Greco-Roman Egypt still
survives. It can be seen in a series of magnificent
temples that were built along the River Nile.
These include the Temple of Hathor at Dendera,
where fabulous images of Cleopatra and
Caesarion still dominate the walls therein.
The delicate amalgamation of the
Egyptian and Roman cultures can also
be seen on many mummy portrait
panels from the Greco-Roman
period. Contrasts are visible
in paintings and sculptures
where traditional Egyptian
iconography is paired with
Roman symbolism. The
result – a hybrid blend of
the ancient and even more
ancient – is now all that
remains of the former
bond between Rome and
Egypt, Antony
and Cleopatra.
35
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Alexander

Alexander:
loosened the
impregnable Gordian
knot, which bound a
sacred chariot to its
yoke, with a stroke

Liberator
of his sword

of Egypt
A shrewd and far-sighted ruler or a pitiless warlord,
Alexander the Great’s military prowess led him to
conquer the powerful kingdom of Egypt

O
nly one of Alexander the Great’s dreams the battle of Chaeronea, which ultimately brought
has survived, and it tells how in 331 BCE Athens under the Macedonian yoke.
a venerable old figure – possibly Homer In 336 BCE, Philip was murdered. His son
himself – is said to have visited the sleeping inherited the throne and his father’s Persian
conqueror and, with a recital of lines from campaign. Upon his accession, a confederacy of
The Odyssey, advised him on the site for his great enemies menaced the young king on all sides,
Egyptian city, Alexandria. though he quickly crushed the irksome Illyrians
It is fitting that this sole recorded dream-memory and razed rebellious Thebes to the ground. In 334
should reference the epic poet, for Alexander BCE he crossed the Hellespont into Asia Minor and
strived to embody the Homeric ideal above all. Like in Cilica earned one of a number of key victories
Hector or Achilles, he would stand astride over the Persians. More victories followed,
history as one of its most celebrated before he then besieged Tyre and Gaza.
warriors, his deeds in life still The conclusion to the siege of Gaza
echoing down to modern times. Alexander’s saw its male population slaughtered
According to one of Alexander’s father, Philip II and the women and children sold
greatest modern biographers, into slavery, as was the custom of
Robin Lane Fox, the
of Macedon, hired the time. The fate of the town’s
Macedonian king feasted upon the great philosopher governor, or certainly the legend
the words of Homer, “not as a Aristotle to tutor his that survived, recalls the climax
distant reader but more in the to Homer’s Iliad and Achilles’
spirit of a marcher baron living
son from the age
treatment of his vanquished
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
out the ballads which mirrored
of 13 enemy Hector: Alexander passed
Greek, 356-323 BCE

his home world.” thongs around his enemy’s feet and

Becoming king of
The seed of that home world was dragged his battered body through the Macedon after his
Macedonia, a kingdom lying to the north of dust in his chariot’s wake. Brief father’s murder,
Greece. In 356 BCE its king, Philip II, and his queen, The fall of Gaza flung open the road to Egypt Bio Alexander led the
Greeks into war
Olympias, welcomed the birth of Alexander, who and in November 332 BCE Alexander entered the against the powerful Persian
grew up a strong and able-bodied young man. At most powerful kingdom in the Persian Empire. Empire. With charisma and
the age of 16 he acted as regent while his father With their Persian overlord, Darius III, absent cunning, he led from the
frontline to build an empire that
waged war against the Persians. Two years later following Alexander’s victory at Issus during the stretched from Libya to India,
he won the Great Triple Laurel Crown Ribbon previous year, the Egyptians had no protection creating a new golden age for
Hellenic culture.
commanding the left wing of King Philip’s army at from this battle-hardened invader and his well-

36
Alexander: Liberator of Egypt

Although the
most famous stood
in Egypt, Alexander
founded 70 cities
commemorated with
his own name

37
 Book of Ancient Egypt

“Alexander travelled to the oasis of Siwah,

home to the oracle of the mysterious
ram-headed creator god, Amun”
marshalled troops. Alexander’s navy, meanwhile, Mareotis and the sea, facing the island of Pharos,
was already at anchor in the strategically important where book four of The Odyssey spoke of the
city of Pelusium. Hence, the Persian satrap in stranding of Menelaus. It was here at Pharos that
Egypt, Mazaces, sought only to win Alexander’s the world’s first lighthouse would arise in the
grace and favour. “The fact that Phoenicia, Syria following century, claiming immortality as one of
and most of Arabia were already in Macedonian the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
hands,” writes the ancient historian Arrian, a Historians argue over Alexander’s intentions
key source for Alexander’s story, “induced him behind the foundation of the eponymous city,
[Mazaces] to receive Alexander with a show of some claiming that he hoped it would supersede
friendship and to offer no obstacle to his free entry Memphis as the new capital of Egypt. Whatever the
into Egypt and its cities.” case, Alexandria’s power and prosperity across
Mazaces met Alexander in the the next two millennia would likely
Egyptian capital of Memphis, and outstrip even its founder’s ambitions.
His Egyptian in the home of the pharaohs the Alexander’s It replaced Tyre as the pre-eminent

successor invader sacrificed to the native

gods. This show of piety won
first wife,
Roxanne, was
international marketplace,
working against the commercial
A general in Alexander’s army, Ptolemy him good favour with the vitality of the Phoenicians and
fought bravely at Issus and travelled natives who, according to some reputedly the most boosting that of the Greeks.
with his king to the Siwah oasis, where
Alexander is thought to have confirmed his sources, still held a festering beautiful woman in As building work on his
divine heritage. resentment against the Persian illustrious city began, Alexander
He became ruler of Egypt upon king Artaxerxes III, who after
Asia. Her Iranian departed and travelled west
Alexander’s death in 323 BCE. In 304 BCE
reconquering Egypt 11 years name was ‘little with a group of attendants before
he adopted the title of pharaoh and
established the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which previously had eaten the sacred bull star’ heading south for 300 miles through
lasted until the death of Cleopatra VII in of Apis. Whatever the veracity of this the desert to the oasis of Siwah, home
30 BCE and Egypt’s incorporation into the tale, its purpose served Alexander well as to the oracle of the mysterious ram-headed
Roman Empire.
He is widely regarded as a wise and far- ‘the acclaimed avenger of Persian impiety’. creator god, Amun (also known as Amen, or
sighted ruler, taking control over Cyprus, From Memphis he sailed down the Nile and Ammon), whose name meant ‘the Hidden One’.
Palestine and portions of Asia Minor. The stepped ashore at Canopus, where, in 331 BCE, The reasons for Alexander’s journey are unclear;
people of Rhodes whom he defended from
attack by his Macedonian rival Demetrius he commenced work on one of his crowning seldom did he depart from a militarily strategic
bestowed his title of Soter, or saviour, upon achievements, the founding of Alexandria. With course. The historian Callisthenes of Olynthus,
him in 305 BCE. those Homeric verses perhaps ringing in his head, writing just 20 months after Alexander’s visit,
He began construction on the Great
he chose its location on the ground between Lake believed that “it was Alexander’s glorious ambition
Library at Alexandria, a dream Alexander
himself was unable to realise during
his lifetime, and the city became a Defining moment
centre of learning with a reputation that
spread across the Mediterranean world Alexander’s accession to the
and beyond. The Great Library would Macedonian throne
incorporate the private library of Aristotle,
the great philosopher.
336 BCE
The assassin Pausanias murders Philip II on the day of his wedding to l Siege of Tyre
It is thought that Ptolemy’s son (Ptolemy As Alexander marches
II) most likely completed the library upon the concubine, Cleopatra (not to be confused with the famous Egyptian
through Phoenicia, the
his father’s death. Ptolemy Soter died queen). The author of the plot remains unknown, though both Olympias great cities of Sidon and
at 84. The library was later destroyed and Alexander invite suspicion. It is argued that Alexander is vindicated Byblos surrender, though
some time between 48 BC and 642 AD by the allegiance shown to him by Philip’s loyal generals, Antipater and mighty Tyre refuses him
according to historians and Egyptologists. Parmenio. The Greek states subjugated by Philip see a chance to throw entry and resists his siege.
off the Macedonian yoke, while in Asia Cleopatra’s father champions the When the Persian fleet
claim of his daughter’s infant son. However, Alexander soon reminds his joins Alexander, however,
subjects of Macedonia’s pre-eminence. the tide turns in his favour.

Timeline 332 BCE

356 BCE
l Alexander of Macedon
is born
Philip II of Macedon and his
queen, Olympias, welcome
the birth of their son. Philip’s
statesmanship and military
power eventually give him
control of independent
Greece before he launches
his Persian crusade.
356 BCE
l Battle of Chaeronea
Philips’s victory against
Athens, in which Alexander
commands the heavy cavalry
that protect the phalanx,
ensures the hegemony of
Greece – which has passed
successively from Athens
to Sparta to Thebes – now
belongs to Macedonia.
338 BCE
l Alexander invades l Battle of Issus
Persian empire
Having spent the winter
making his preparations,
Alexander crosses the
Hellespont in the spring
with 30,000 infantry,
including six regiments of
the Macedonian phalanx,
and 5,000 cavalry.
334 BCE
After defeating the
Persians at Granicus and
capturing Miletus, he takes
on for the first time Persian
King Darius III at Issus,
where he wins a great
victory. Darius flees from
the field, leaving behind
his wife and mother.
333 BCE

38
 Alexander: Liberator of Egypt

to go up to Amun because he had heard that

Perseus and Heracles had gone there before him.”
them, although Alexander’s system did little to
disrupt the life of the country. Darius
Writing much later, Arrian claims, “Alexander
longed to equal the fame of Perseus and Heracles;
Traditionally the Egyptian economy had not
been run by coin but by trade in kind, and the
III, King
the blood of both flowed in his veins and just as loss of the Nubian gold mines many years before of Persia,
legend traced their descent from Zeus, so he, too,
had a feeling that in some way he was descended
had deprived the pharaohs of a source of precious
metals. The hiring of soldiers and the raising Pharaoh of
from Amun.”
Modern historians follow a different logic,
of fleets, however, required hard currency and,
even before the arrival of the Persians and then
Egypt
claiming that he set out with envoys from the Greeks, the pharaohs had in recent times When Alexander launched his famous
Cyrene in a bid to secure his western frontier employed a Greek general to raise bullion from conquest of Asia, it was the Persian king
Darius III who would feel the brunt of the
with Libya. His detour added to his those who held it – namely the nobility
Macedonian military might. Darius himself had
legend, however, and Zeus-Amun (the and the priesthood. Alexander enjoyed a notable career as a soldier and was
two gods becoming intertwined) continued this tradition, appointing reputed to have distinguished himself during
battle against a rebellious tribe in central Iran.
was eventually said to have Considered the a special minister, Cleomenes, to
His empire also included Egypt, which came
visited his mother, Olympias, in raise money for the fleet and
order to sire her son.
greatest military mercenary battalions.
into the Persian fold in 343 BCE, courtesy of
Artaxerxes III’s significant defeat of Pharaoh
Leaving the desert and genius of the ancient Revolt in Samaria, far to Nectanebo II.
Alexander’s first victories in Asia came
returning to Memphis, “the world, Alexander did the north, saw Alexander against Darius’ satraps, though the great
new son of Zeus relaxed, giving not lose a single battle leave Egypt, never to return. king took to the field in 333 BCE, fighting
free rein to his generosity and His remarkable ambitions and Alexander at the Battle of Issus. Despite
his sense of myth,” writes Fox.
in 15 years of war talents carried him instead into outnumbering the enemy, Darius’s army
was routed and he left his shield and robe
“Sacrifice was offered to Zeus the further war against Darius and to on the field. Ancient historians claimed that
King, the Greek god whom Alexander his campaigns beyond the Indus. His roughly 110,000 Persians perished compared
believed that he had visited at Siwah in a great victory against the Persian king came to an estimated 300 Macedonians.
Alexander’s victory at Issus threw open the
Libyan form.” He enacted various games and poetry at Gaugamela in 331 BCE. A little over three years road to Syria, whose fall in turn lay Egypt
recitals before setting about the arrangement of his later, Alexander set out on his ill-fated conquest of open to his advance. When his conquest
Egyptian administration. India, which precipitated his death in Babylon in of Asia resumed in 331 BCE, Alexander and
Darius met again at the battle of Gaugamela,
“Alexander was deeply impressed by Egypt,” 323 BCE, aged just 32.
arguably the Macedonian king’s most famous
writes Arrian. “The potential strength of the In Egypt, meanwhile, Cleomenes continued his victory. The ancient historians numbered the
country induced him to divide the control of it duties, overseeing the completion of the mighty Persian troops at 1 million strong – a ridiculous
among a number of officers, as he judged it to be city of Alexandria. Such was the prosperity born figure, though few modern historians would
deny that they greatly outnumbered the
unsafe to put it all in the hands of one man.” In from his position that when Alexander’s successor Greeks who totalled around 47,000 men.
truth, Alexander followed the lead of the Persians in Egypt, Ptolemy, put Cleomenes to death and Darius again fled the battle before its
and the native pharaohs by dividing the country inherited his vast wealth, he is said to have taken conclusion, though his subsequent murder
by his own courtiers deprived Alexander of
into two – Upper and Lower Egypt, it is thought – 8,000 talents. As the Ptolemaic dynasty prospered, his desire to take the king alive. Alexander
with two native ‘nomarchs’ to administer justice Egypt, with Alexandria a shining jewel in its returned his body to Persepolis and ordered
and day-to-day governance. Two Macedonian commercial crown, stood as a land of vast power that he be buried like his predecessors
and potential. Alexander married Darius’ daughter Stateira at
generals, meanwhile, were appointed to oversee
Susa in 324 BCE.

Defining moment Defining moment

The Sogdian Rock l Battle of the Hydaspes
Crossing the Indus,
327 BCE Alexander takes on the
Alexander pushes on to conquer the far East, taking Hyrcania, Areia, Bactria ruler Porus, who brings
and Sogdiana. In modern-day Samarkand, in central Asia, he faces a final 200 war elephants into
clutch of Sogdian rebels under the leadership of Oxyartes. The significance battle. Alexander’s light-
here is not the size of the force, but its location in the seemingly impenetrable armed troops attack
the advancing Indian
natural fortress of the Sogdian Rock. Arrian records how 300 men scale the
forces before the phalanx
rock, signalling their success to the troops below by waving bits of linen. advances and drives the
Alexander sends a herald to tell the defenders that his ‘winged men’ have beasts back upon their
arrived. The defenders surrender. Alexander then marries Oxyartes’ daughter, own men.
Roxanne, uniting Europe and Asia. He sets out to conquer India. 326 BCE
Death of Alexander
323 BCE
While preparing for an Arabian expedition, Alexander falls ill
in Babylon and dies in his 32nd year. In 12 years of conquest he
has taken western Asia, though so many of his ambitions remain
unfulfilled. In what would stand as a tragedy in the great king’s eyes,
the unity of his empire crumbles upon his death, broken up between
a clutch of hard-headed Macedonians. These are capable men and
many prove practical rulers, but none shares Alexander’s talent or
vision. Still, Alexander’s legacy prepares the road for the Roman
Empire, and then the Christian world that follows.

l Conquest of Egypt
After taking Gaza, the
great city of the Philistines,
Alexander marches
unopposed into Egypt,
whose satrap offers a quick
surrender. Alexander, now
lord of Egypt, Phoenicia
and Syria, then marches on
the Persian heartlands.
332 BCE
l Battle of Gaugamela
Darius had been granted 18
months to raise a new army
after Issus and his mighty
force opposes Alexander
at Gaugamela. Alexander’s
skirmishes break the charge
of the Persian scythed
chariots and his phalanx and
Thessalian cavalry win the day.
331 BCE
l Legend of the Branchidae
massacre
Though widely dismissed as untrue,
this massacre stands as one of the
most lurid chapters in the Alexander
legend, the conqueror allegedly
slaying a town of innocents in
revenge for their ancestors’
decampment from Greece to Asia
during the Persian Wars.
327 BCE
323 BCE
l The conquest halts l The desert march l Death of Hephaestion
Hydaspes is a Alexander’s return to While encamped at
watershed and the Babylon is tarnished by the Median capital of
victory accrues many his decision to march Ecbatana, Alexander is
losses. The army through the Gedrosian shattered by the illness
refuses to go any desert. Many of his and death of his beloved
further and Alexander, battle-weary troops friend and soulmate
though almost at the succumb to the heat, Hephaestion. It is said that
‘world’s end’, is forced energy-sapping dunes Alexander crucifies the
to return to Babylon. and lack of water. physician who fails him.
326 BCE 325 BCE 324 BCE

39
 Book of Ancient Egypt

Technology
Alexandria became the centre of advanced
learning during this period and, as a result,
many scholars and philosophers travelled
to the city to develop theories. Hipparchus
studied in Alexandria’s observatory and
proposed theories on distances between the
Earth, Moon and Sun.

The astronomer
Hipparchus in Education Religion
Alexandria Alexandria boasted a library the Religion was of paramount
likes of which the ancient world had never importance for the Alexandrians. Ptolemy
seen. Its students, however, were only able combined the gods and goddesses of
The library contained to study in Greek. Since Alexandria had Greece with their Egyptian counterparts,
scrolls from around
large Egyptian and Jewish populations, creating new cults and temples of worship.
the world
this often limited access to higher learning The god of the dead, Osiris, became the
to the Greek population. more Greek-looking Serapis.

The art and architecture

of Alexandria was unique
in its mix of Greek and
Egyptian styles

Hellenic soldiers
with their iconic
shields and spears

Government
Alexandria was ruled by the
Greek King Ptolemy II who, adopting
the customs of Egypt, made himself
pharaoh and dressed in Egyptian styles.
Egyptians had to worship him as a god,
but the Greeks were given a higher status
Pharaoh King and were not subject to his absolute rule.
Ptolemy II
Military
Alexandria’s rulers had to
muster their own forces from the
populace to defend the city. The
army was based around the model of
Alexander, with armoured spearmen
forming a phalanx. These men were
usually Greek rather than Egyptian.

40
 Alexander: Liberator of Egypt

Industry
Trade of material and grain
exchanges around the city port helped
build Alexandria into one of the world’s
most important ports. Alexandria
represented one of the main gateways to
vast supplies of food in the Nile Delta that
could be exported abroad.

The Greek god Serapis and

the Egyptian Osiris were both
worshipped in Alexandria

The great fleets of trade, with

Art the Pharos lighthouse safely
guiding them into Alexandria
The art of the city
reflected the taste of the
Greek invader, but the
city catered for different

Alexandria, 250 BCE

minorities, including the
Egyptians. The city was full
of Greek-style busts, but
within the interiors of official
residences, hieroglyphics of
the pharaohs could be found. Experience the vibrant pace and diverse culture of
the ancient world’s most prosperous city, where many
different cultures coexisted

C
osmopolitan, free and prosperous, the ancient
city of Alexandria combined the culture
and society of two great civilisations – the
Ancient Greeks and Egyptians.
The city bears the namesake of its founder,
Alexander the Great, who conquered the Nile
Delta in 332 BCE and founded Alexandria at
the location of a small Egyptian town called
Rhacotis. As the city became part of the extended
Greek Empire, Alexander personally approved
its development and transformation into a great
metropolis of culture and learning. Its streets
columns surrounding a series of temples and vast
meeting places.
Egyptian and Jewish influences remained,
creating a unique and diverse port that quickly
became the centre of the ancient world through its
trading power and intellectual institutions.
By the time Ptolemy II ruled the city, Alexandria
was the biggest metropolis in the ancient world,
its sprawling suburbs and great thoroughfares
surpassing Carthage and Rome in their grandness.
As empires came and went, Alexandria remained
as a golden gateway to the rich and abundant lands
© Alamy

were designed to reflect this reforming zeal, of the Nile, and as an independent city until the fall
with its wide boulevards and Corinthian order of Cleopatra in 30 BCE.

41
 Book of Ancient Egypt

RAMESSES II
1303-1213 BCE

Ramesses II, known

as Ramesses the
Brief Great, was one of
Bio the longest-reigning
pharaohs in Egyptian
history. Like other ‘greats’ of
antiquity, he was worshipped
by his people, feared by his
enemies and adored by himself.
This master of bronze-age
propaganda erected countless
stone memorials to cement his
legendary status for the ages.

42
 The mighty Ramesses II

The mighty
Ramesses II
Immortalised in legend and poetry as Ozymandias,
king of kings, Ramesses II was arguably the greatest
and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire

T
he year was 1274 BCE and a god was on the century of abortive attempts. But as soon as Seti
march. Standing six-feet tall with a square returned victorious to Egypt, the scheming rulers
jutting jaw, thick lips and a long sharp nose, of Kadesh re-pledged their allegiance to the Hittites.
Ramesses II rode his golden chariot ahead Ramesses had returned to Syria to salvage two
of an army of 20,000 archers, charioteers tarnished reputations: his father’s and that of his
and sandalled infantrymen. Only five years into previously great empire.
his reign as pharaoh, he had already established Ramesses and his army had been marching for
himself as a fierce warrior and strategic military a month. They departed from the pharaoh’s royal
commander, the rightful blood heir to the residence along the eastern edge of the lush
newly established 19th Dynasty and a Nile Delta in April, cutting across the
true spiritual son of the goddess Isis After 30 Sinai peninsula, following the curve
herself. Ramesses’ soldiers would of the Mediterranean coastline
have seen their commander-in-
years of rule, up through Canaan, past the
chief as the rest of Egypt did: as Ramesses was strategic highland outpost
a god in the flesh possessed of inducted into a group of Meggido, into the fertile
legendary strength and bravery, of longest serving valleys of Lebanon and finally
incapable of error and on a arriving in the forests outside
divine mission to re-establish
kings. He would rule Kadesh. The pharaoh’s scouts
Egypt as the dominant for another 36 fanned out to assess the enemy’s
superpower of the Middle East. years preparations for battle. The locals
Ramesses’ destination was painted a deceptively favourable
Kadesh, a heavily fortified Syrian city picture. The Hittite king Muwatalli was so
in the Orontes River valley. Kadesh was an afraid of the great Ramesses and his legendary
important centre of trade and commerce and the charioteers that the Hittite army was biding its time
de facto capital of the Amurru kingdom, a highly a hundred miles away.
coveted piece of land sandwiched on the border Ramesses had been living the life of a god for so
between the Egyptian and Hittite empires. As a long that perhaps he believed a little too much in
boy, Ramesses had ridden alongside his father Seti his own divine intimidation. While still an infant,
I, when the elder Egyptian king finally wrested his grandfather helped forge a revolutionary new
Kadesh from the Hittites after more than half a dynasty in Egypt, one based on military might and

43
 Book of Ancient Egypt
Nemes
The headdress was a
mainstay throughout most of
Ancient Egypt’s dynasties.
Godlike
image
The various details in
and on the pharaoh’s
royal appearance were
specifically designed
to elevate his status as
a god among men.
absolute royal authority. Ramesses’
grandfather was born Paramessu, a
Sceptre foot soldier who had worked his way
In Egyptian society up to general in the Egyptian army. He
the sceptre was a found favour with Horemheb, another
sign of leadership. lifelong military man who had become
pharaoh after the untimely death of the
teenage king, Tutankhamun. Horemheb,
who had no sons of his own, saw a
disciple in Paramessu, someone who
would carry on his aggressive campaign
of brutal subjugation of rebellious tribes
in Nubia, Libya and distant Syria in the
name of strengthening the kingdom.
When Horemheb died, Paramessu
Anatomy ascended the throne and changed his
name to ‘Ramessu beloved of Amun,’ the
of the Great man history knows as Ramesses I.
From birth, Ramesses II was groomed to
Pharaoh be pharaoh. His father Seti I inherited the
throne 18 months after Ramesses I became
king and his son was raised in the lavish
royal palaces of the pharaohs, waited upon by
nurses and handmaids and trained by tutors
in writing, poetry, art and, most importantly,
combat. Seti named Ramesses the
commander-in-chief of the army when the boy
prince was only ten years old. At 14, Ramesses
began to accompany his father on military
campaigns and witnessed the overwhelming
power of the Egyptian charioteers in combat on
more than one occasion.
44
More construction was completed in
Ramesses’ reign than any other pharaoh
Now he was no longer a boy watching such
campaigns but a man – a god – leading them. He
was an hour’s march from Kadesh and heartened
to hear his enemies were rightfully trembling at
his godly might. Ramesses ordered his troops to
make camp. The royal tents were raised, the horses
watered at a gentle tributary of the Orontes, and
the soldiers circled the chariots as a half-hearted
barricade against the unlikely possibility of attack.
In reality, an attack was not only likely, it was
imminent. It turned out the locals rounded up by
the Egyptian scouts were planted by the Hittites.
King Muwatalli and his large force of Hittite
charioteers, archers and infantrymen were camped
on the far side of Kadesh, hidden from view in the
river valley. Luckily for Ramesses, a second wave of
Egyptian scouts captured a pair of Hittite spies and
beat the truth out of them. Muwatalli was planning
an ambush. The target wasn’t Ramesses’ camp, but
the legions of unsuspecting Egyptian infantrymen
still marching. Ramesses dispatched his speediest
messengers to warn the approaching troops, but
it was too late. Thousands of Hittite charioteers
descended upon the unprotected infantry. The
Hittites rode three to a chariot: one driver, one
archer and one spear-wielding warrior to cut down
foot soldiers at close range. They wore ankle-length
chain-mail armour, while the Egyptian infantry
were naked to the curved blades of the Hittite
scimitars. The heavy chariots ploughed through
the ranks, littering the hillside with corpses and
sending the survivors fleeing for Ramesses’ camp.

What happened next says more about Ramesses
II than perhaps any other event in his long reign as
pharaoh. The Hittite forces pursued the decimated
Egyptian army all the way to Ramesses’ camp,
crashing easily through the porous Egyptian
defences and battling their way toward the royal
tents themselves. Then, according to a first-hand
account known as the Poem of Pentaur, Ramesses
emerged from his tent and single-handedly faced
down the enemy hordes: “Then His Majesty
appeared in glory like his father Mont, he assumed
the accoutrements of battle, and girded himself
with his corslet, he was like Ba’al in his hour.”
This was the moment that saw the birth of
Ramesses the Great. The pharaoh took to his
chariot and sliced through the Hittite ranks, cutting
down the foe with his bow while rallying his
troops to battle. The image of Ramesses on his
golden chariot — his bow drawn back in deadly
fury, his wheels rolling over the crushed bodies
of his enemies — is carved into the walls of more
Egyptian temples than any other story in the
empire’s 3,000-year history. If you believe the
Poem of Pentaur, which adorns the walls of temples
at Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel and more, then King
Muwatalli was so cowed by Ramesses’
superhuman strength that he immediately
petitioned for surrender.
But is that really how the Battle of Kadesh went
down? Do historians believe the account of the
Poem of Pentaur, that a single man defeated an
Ramesses’ favourite wife Nefertari,
depicted in her royal chariot
The mighty Ramesses II
Wives and offspring
A pharaoh is expected to provide lesser wives and untold numbers of bloodline. He gave his male heirs
suitable heirs to the throne, and concubines. He is believed to have high-ranking administrative posts
Ramesses the Great approached fathered an estimated 80 sons and and trained each of his first 12 sons
this royal task with particular gusto. 60 daughters, an impressive and as possible successors, but none of
During the first ten years of his father somewhat excessive number, even them managed to outlive Ramesses.
Seti I’s reign as pharaoh, a teenage by pharaoh standards. Ramesses The thirteenth son, Merenptah,
Ramesses sired ten sons and at least had good reason for spreading his assumed the throne around 1214
as many daughters. Over the course seed. Although he was born into BCE, but despite Ramesses’ best
of his long lifetime, Ramesses had six a common family, Ramesses was efforts, the Ramessid Dynasty
to eight principal wives, dozens of intent on reinstating a pure dynastic withered away in only 150 years.
entire Hittite army? Hardly. Ramesses the Great, image, they would have no choice but to believe
most Egyptologists now believe, deserves his title the statue’s unspoken message: here stands your
not for his heroics on the battlefield or his potency king, your ruler, your god. What’s more, Ramesses
as a patriarch – he allegedly fathered well over 100 ruled as pharaoh for a staggering 66 years. His
children – but for his flair for propaganda. Ramesses reign spanned several lifetimes for the average
was, quite literally, the greatest image-maker of Egyptian, reinforcing the idea that his rule really
antiquity. Those visiting the ruins of the great was eternal. The sheer length of his reign largely
Egyptian temples today are sure to find themselves accounts for the grand scale of his construction
in awe of a seated stone statue of Ramesses II projects and the ubiquity of his image. The ancient
guarding the gate, or a series of identical Ramesses pharaoh Khufu was only king for 23 years and
sculptures supporting interior pillars. To everyday he built the Great Pyramid at Giza. Imagine what
citizens staring up at his colossal and unblemished Ramesses was able to accomplish in 66.
“The heavy chariots ploughed
through the Egyptian ranks,
littering the hillside with corpses”
45
Another random document with
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some time kept in suspense as to their fate, but were at last suffered
to leave the city unencumbered by any property whatsoever. The
proceedings would have been more thoroughly reminiscent of the
Middle Age but for the fact that, in spite of the inexorable pastry-
cook’s warnings, there were now found Christians humane enough
to feed and to shelter the miserable exiles. The pastry-cook and his
party ruled Frankfort with impunity for a whole year.
Meanwhile similar things happened at Worms. There also the
Jews were hated as competitors and detested as infidels; but the
anti-Jewish movement in that town was led by a learned lawyer; not
by an honest, if stupid, confectioner. Consequently the warfare
assumed a different character. Instead of open assault, the lawyer
preferred a siege. He closed the outlets of the town to the Jews, and
hindered them from procuring even milk for their children. These
subtle preliminaries were followed by an ultimatum addressed to the
Jews, bidding them to evacuate the city, bag and baggage, within an
hour. The wretches departed, leaving behind them
1615
their synagogues and cemeteries to the fury of the
populace. The fugitives were allowed by the Archbishop of Mayence
and the Count of Darmstadt to take up their abode in the villages and
hamlets of the neighbourhood, where they met some of their brother-
sufferers from Frankfort.
Soon afterwards the Council of Worms, indignant at its
humiliation, invited the Elector of the Palatinate to take possession of
the town. The prince accepted the invitation, and a few months later
the Jews were permitted to return. Not long after the Jews of
Frankfort also were re-admitted by the Electorate of Mayence and
Darmstadt, to the sound of trumpets. The heroic pastry-cook was
hanged and quartered, his house was razed to the ground, and his
family banished. The city was compelled by the Emperor to pay to
the Jews a large indemnity for their losses and sufferings, and they
expressed their joy by ordaining that the eve of their return should be
observed as a fast and the day itself as a feast. However, the social
position of the Jews both in Frankfort and in Worms remained the
same. In both towns they continued to live on sufferance. Only a
limited number of families was allowed to reside, and only a limited
number of individuals to marry.
1620–1648 The terrible Thirty Years’ War caused less suffering
to the Jews of Protestant Germany than to the
Christians. While Protestants and Catholics, animated by a spirit of
intolerance and the lust for power, were eagerly butchering each
other and devastating each other’s territories, the Jews made their
fortunes by impartial speculations in the booty of both sides. Their
opportunities must have been considerable; for it was during this war
that the English and other European tongues were enriched with the
German word “plunder.”
 CHAPTER XV

CATHOLIC REACTION

But if the Reformation brought with it Protestant hostility and new

tribulations to the outcasts of humanity, it also proved the cause of
fresh persecution on the part of Catholicism. Even while the Popes
at Rome tolerated or cherished the Jews, their agents abroad, the
wandering Friars, and all those soldiers of orthodoxy by whose
fanatical zeal the fabric of Papal supremacy had been reared and
was maintained, exerted themselves strenuously and furiously to
oppose the spreading epidemic of rebellion. In their eyes the Jews
were the most implacable enemies of Christ and the eternal
promoters of dissent and heresy. It was, therefore, against the Jews
that they directed their deadliest shafts. The belief prevailed that the
first step to the conquest of Judaism was the cremation of Jewish
books, which after the invention of the printing press had multiplied.
This new attack on Judaism, as so many other attacks in the past,
was led by a renegade Jew, John Pfefferkorn by name, and a
butcher by trade—also convicted of burglary and otherwise an
123
1509 unlimited miscreant. This gentleman, acting in
concert with the Dominicans of Cologne, obtained from
the Emperor Maximilian authority to confiscate all Hebrew writings
opposed to the Christian faith—a very comprehensive sentence
which would have been carried out, but for the efforts made on
behalf of literature and commonsense by John Reuchlin, the Father
of German Humanism. This great scholar had restored Hebrew and
promoted Greek studies in Germany. He was attracted by Hebrew
mysticism and had many friends among the Jews. In 1490, whilst on
a visit in Italy, he had made the acquaintance of Pico de Mirandola
whose Cabbalistic doctrines he embraced and expounded in his
work De Verbo Mirifico. In 1492 he was employed on a mission to
the Emperor at Linz, and it was there that he met Jacob Loans, the
Emperor’s Jewish physician, under whose guidance he began to
read Hebrew. Although a good Catholic, Reuchlin was a broad-
minded man, and his leaning to Cabbalistic theosophy and the
esoteric wisdom of the Rabbis, without making him an admirer of the
Jews as a people, induced him to defend their books. Summoned by
Maximilian to express his opinion on Pfefferkorn’s proposal, Reuchlin
did so in a manner which, while saving the Jewish writings from the
fire, exposed the defender to the utmost rigour of the disappointed
Dominicans; from whose clutches, however, after a severe struggle,
he was rescued by the enthusiastic assistance of his brother-
humanists.
The outbreak of the Lutheran rebellion paralysed the forces of
Catholicism for a while. But it was not long ere the Papacy recovered
from its panic. The latter half of the sixteenth, and the first half of the
seventeenth century—the hundred years between the rise of the
Order of Jesus and the peace of Westphalia—form a period of
unprecedented activity for the conversion of the world to the one true
faith. The Catholic sovereigns were at the zenith of
1540–1648
their power and bigotry, and both their consciences
and their swords lay under the absolute control of the Pope; for on
the triumph of Dogmatism depended the realisation of their own
dreams of Despotism at home and conquest abroad. On the other
hand, Protestantism was grimly determined to conquer or die. If one
half of Western Christendom was passionately attached to the
traditions made dear by the familiarity of ages, the other half was no
less passionately attracted by the novelty of the prospect which had
just unfolded its charms to their vision. The result of this antagonism
was the most faithful imitation of hell on earth that the modern world
has witnessed. Europe, convulsed by revolt and made desolate by
barbarous repression, presented a scene for which, fortunately, it
would be hard to find a parallel even in the annals of civilised
mankind. While the Inquisition was revelling in human hecatombs in
Spain, the Spanish general Alva was ravaging heretical Holland, and
a Spanish Armada was preparing to assail heretical England.
Religious motives receded further and yet further into distance as
time went on; but the slaughter begun for the glory of God was
continued for the love of power; and those who were formerly burnt
as heretics were now butchered as malcontents. The Titanic feud
culminated in the Thirty Years’ War, during which no fewer than ten
millions of Christians were massacred in the name of Christ.
The Treaty of Westphalia staunched the flow of blood for a
moment, but did not heal the wound. Open violence was aided by
patient intrigue, and the monks carried on the enterprise wherein
monarchs had failed. Meanwhile, as though the legions of St.
Dominic, of St. Francis, and the other monastic orders were not
sufficient for the work of destruction, to them was added, as we have
seen, the more formidable Society of Jesus. By this time also the
Spanish Inquisition had accomplished its special mission of blotting
out the Morescos and Marranos, and had entered into an alliance
with Loyola’s legion; the two bodies forming together a two-edged
sword in the hand of the Catholic reaction.
Between Martin Luther and Ignatius Loyola there is commonly
supposed to gape a very wide chasm. However that may be, there is
one point at which the two apostles meet—hatred of Israel. Loyola’s
disciples penetrated by degrees into every realm in Europe, and into
every realm they brought with them that supple and sinuous spirit
which was destined to dominate European history for ages, and to
endow the European languages with a new word of evil import. In
them Israel found an enemy powerful as Fate, and, like Fate,
everywhere present, everywhere invisible and inexorable. Thus
those Jews who had escaped from the zeal of nascent Protestantism
were doomed to fall a prey to the zeal of reanimated Catholicism.
As in Italy, so in Central Europe, the reign of Pope Paul IV.
marks the revival of Catholic Obscurantism. In 1557 the Inquisition
was introduced into France under Henry II.—a prince who could be
profligate without being gay, and who atoned for his gloomy
immorality by so genuine a horror of heresy and culture that at his
accession both Huguenots and scholars thought it advisable to quit
Paris. In 1559—four years after the creation of the Ghetto in Rome—
all Hebrew books were confiscated in Prague, at the instigation of a
baptized Jew named Asher. A fire that soon after broke out in the
Jewish quarter afforded the Catholics of Prague an opportunity of
exhibiting their piety. They plundered the houses of the Jews, and
even threw their women and children into the flames. At the same
time the Emperor Ferdinand I. ordered the expulsion of the Jews
from Prague and the rest of Bohemia, imposed many restrictions on
those of Austria, and drove them from Lower Austria.
1569
Ten years later the Jews of Avignon and Venaissin,
which, besides Marseilles, were the only communities left in France
after the expulsion of 1395, and which, favoured by the enlightened
Popes Leo X., Clement VII., and Paul III., had acquired great wealth,
were ordered to quit the country, and, like the refugees from Spain
and Italy, they sought and found a haven of refuge in the Sultan’s
dominions.
1620–1648 During the Thirty Years’ War the Catholic Emperor
Ferdinand II. protected the Jews, forbidding their
coffers to be robbed except by himself. The Bohemian Jews alone,
after having paid a certain sum, are known to have bound
themselves to contribute forty thousand gulden a year towards the
expenses of the war. In Vienna also, now the headquarters of
Catholicism, the Jews were allowed to grow fat. The
1624
Emperor permitted them to build a synagogue and to
discard the badge; but the Christian citizens protested, demanding
their banishment. In face of this opposition the Court acted with
admirable tact. To the Christians it said: “You shall see the Jews
banished, if you pay twenty thousand florins,” and to the Jews it
whispered: “You need not fear, if you pay more.” To judge from the
result, the Jews must have outbidden the Christians.
1630 Not long after, at Prague, an internal feud between
rival factions of the Jewish community led to the
interference of the authorities, and the Emperor ordered that the
Jews should every Sunday morning submit to sermons preached for
their conversion. Absentees were fined a thaler a head, and a higher
sum on repetition of the offence. Inattention and slumber during the
performance were also visited with a fine. However, the Jews had
not suffered through so many centuries without learning how to dull
the edge of persecution. Corrupt courtiers defeated the devout
Emperor’s policy, and the Jews were allowed to remain in spiritual
darkness and in peace.
1648 Despite this cruel treatment, the Jews of Prague
fought valiantly in defence of the city against the
Swedes, and in recognition of their loyalty and gallantry received
from the Emperor, Ferdinand III., an imperial standard which can still
be seen in the old synagogue of the town.
In the meantime the Jesuits continued their restless, though
noiseless, campaign. Even the one traditional refuge of Israel in
Europe was poisoned by their preaching. In Poland the Jews had for
centuries prospered and enjoyed a kind of autonomy. The Kings
protected them, and the nobility, thriftless and extravagant itself,
found the sober, industrious, and keen-witted Jews invaluable as
bailiffs and financial advisers. Beneath the wing of princes and
nobles the Jews acquired great influence. It was to this influence
precisely that the Jesuits attributed the rise of heresy in that country,
and it was this influence that they now decided to use as a means to
their undoing. The rivers of bitterness that flowed from the Stygian
fountain of Jesuitism found the field ready to be fertilised. The
German traders and artisans, settled in various parts of Poland, had
already encountered in the Jews formidable rivals. Commercial envy
was invigorated by the pious prejudices which these immigrants had
imported, along with their guilds, from the Fatherland; and these
feelings often induced them to make common cause with the clergy.
Under the joint pressure of the two classes, Casimir
1496–1505
the Great’s successors had deprived the Jews of their
privileges and confined them to special quarters, or even expelled
them from certain towns. A period of toleration came with Sigismund
I. This sovereign’s good-will towards the Jews was
1507–1548
aided by the Polish nobles, who, hating the Germans
bitterly, were glad to support their rivals—an inclination which they
had ample means of gratifying, as the execution of the anti-Jewish
laws was largely in their own hands. Thanks to the friendship of the
nobility Poland continued to offer an asylum to the persecuted
children of Israel.
1575–1586
 Stephen Bathori, who was elected to the Polish
throne three years after the death of Sigismund Augustus, the last
native King of Poland, showed great favour to the Jews. He guarded
the race in Lithuania against the effects of the blood-accusation, and
bestowed many benefits upon them, to the disgust of his Christian
subjects, who in Poland, as elsewhere, envied the Jews for their
prosperity and hated them for their usury and arrogance. This
prosperity lasted even under Sigismund III., a zealous
1587–1632
Catholic brought up by Jesuits. He confirmed to the
Jews their ancient privileges, but introduced a measure indicating his
religious bias and fraught with disastrous possibilities.
1592
He ordained that for the building of a new synagogue
the permission of the Church should be obtained. About this time the
Reformation had lost much of its vigour in Germany; but in Poland,
through the German immigrants, it was beginning to create a great
spiritual agitation and to find favour among the nobles. Some of the
Polish sectarians went to the extreme of Unitarianism and were
stigmatised as semi-Judaei.
To all these sources of danger for the Jews—the hatred towards
them entertained by the natives on account of their usurious
extortions, by the Germans on account of their commercial ability, by
the Jesuits on account of their infidelity, and of the Judaic proclivities
of some of the Dissenters—was added another, which proved the
immediate cause of persecution.
Upon the banks of the lower Dnieper and the north shore of the
Black Sea there gradually arose several colonies or settlements
formed partly by runaway slaves and convicts in quest of freedom,
and partly by adventurers from many countries and classes in quest
of fortune. These were the ancestors of the Cossack race. Their life
was such as their antecedents promised. Independent and idle, they
knew only one industry—brigandage. The exercise of this industry
brought them into frequent collision with their Tartar neighbours and
supplied them with their one recreation—war. The Kings of Poland,
thinking to make use of these hardened and reckless outlaws for the
defence of their eastern frontiers, granted to them a semi-
autonomous constitution under a freely elected hetman or chieftain.
Unfortunately the Cossacks were for the most part members of the
Eastern Church, and were therefore hated by the Jesuits, who, after
having crushed the Polish heretics, turned their attention to these
schismatics. King Sigismund III. began the crusade by oppressing
the colonists with heavy taxes.
Now, these colonies were under the control of several noble
Polish families which sold the lease of the imposts to their Jewish
bailiffs. The latter were intended to act the part for which the training
of a thousand years had so well qualified them—the part of the
sponge. Thanks to this arrangement, Jewish communities rapidly
sprang up and spread in the Ukraine and Little Russia, and to them
was entrusted the odious privilege of collecting and even of inventing
taxes. How galling these burdens were may be gathered from the
following example: The Cossacks were bound to pay a duty on every
new-born infant and on every wedding. As a safeguard against
evasion, the Jewish tax-farmers kept the keys of the churches, and
on each wedding or baptism the clergyman was obliged to apply to
them for admittance into his own church. Nor were these tax-farmers
scrupulous or lenient in the exercise of their privileges. Slaves to
everybody else, they were eager to play the despots over those
whom fate had placed under themselves. In their lust for profit and
power, they readily helped the nobles in plundering and the Jesuits
in tormenting the Cossacks. Hence the position of the Jews in the
Ukraine and Little Russia became one of extreme danger, and the
resentment which their conduct excited soon translated itself into
acts of vengeance. And vengeance, when it fell on Jews, did not
restrict itself to the individuals who had deserved it. “All Israelites are
surety one for the other” was the Rabbinic motto of solidarity. The
Cossacks were now to give a new meaning to this maxim. Where
single units had offended, whole communities were punished.
During a brief revolt of the Cossacks, in 1638, two hundred Jews
were slain and several synagogues destroyed. The Jews, not
warned by this omen, continued to provoke severer punishment with
a recklessness which was partly derived from the belief in the near
advent of the Messiah. The year 1648 had been fixed by the mystics
124
as the era of triumph and universal sovereignty for Israel. The
expected date came, but it brought with it, not redemption, but
retribution. In that year there broke out an insurrection led by a
Cossack who, having been cheated out of his wife and property by a
Jew, had no cause to love the race. Chmielnicki, in declaring to his
compatriots that “they had been delivered by the Poles into bondage
to the cursed breed of the Jews,” was voicing their wrongs with a
conviction deepened by personal suffering.
After their first victory, the wild Cossacks let themselves loose
upon the Jews, many of whom were massacred, while others saved
themselves by embracing the Orthodox faith. Four Jewish
communities, in their anxiety to escape death, gave themselves and
their belongings up to the Tartars, who accepted the gift and sold the
givers as slaves in Turkey, where they were ransomed by their
brethren. The rebellion continued with a ferocity and ruthlessness
such as might have been expected from the character of the rebels
and the magnitude of the wrongs which they had to avenge. Long
oppressed by Papists and Jews, in slaying them they not only
gratified their personal animosity, but felt that they were chastising
the enemies of their Church. In this somewhat hackneyed work they
displayed considerable originality and variety of cruelty. Every
guerilla chief had his own favourite instrument of torture; one of them
affecting the lasso, by which the women of the enemy were caught
and dragged to shame.
Shortly after the first victory, a detachment of Cossacks captured
by stratagem a fortress where six thousand Jews had taken refuge,
and put them all to torture and death. Another detachment attacked a
town harbouring six hundred Polish nobles and two thousand Jews.
The two classes, bound together by a common danger, offered a
stout resistance, until the crafty Cossacks succeeded in dividing
them. They assured the nobles that their sole object was to punish
the Jews, promising to withdraw if the latter were surrendered to
them. The Jews were persuaded to deliver up their arms; the
Cossacks were admitted into the town, robbed the Jews of all their
belongings, and then set before them the alternative of baptism or
death. Three-fourths of the whole community were tortured and
executed. Then the Cossacks turned their wrath against the Polish
nobles, whom they easily overpowered and slaughtered.
A third body of insurgents was at the same time wreaking a
similar vengeance upon the Jews of Little Russia, where many
thousands perished, and the havoc spread as widely as the
rebellion, until the whole country, from South Ukraine to Lemberg,
was marked with traces of massacre—here in pools of Jewish and
Polish blood, there in heaps of Jewish and Polish bodies. At last
peace was concluded on condition that no Papist or
1649 Aug.
Jew should reside in the Cossack provinces.
Meanwhile thousands of Jewish fugitives who had saved their
lives by baptism, of women who had been violated by the Cossacks,
and of children whose parents had been slaughtered, swarmed into
Poland, where King John Casimir allowed them to return to Judaism,
for, being a Roman Catholic himself, he naturally regarded the Greek
baptism as worse than valueless.
After a few months’ pause the war between the Cossacks and
the Poles broke out anew, and it was now transferred to Polish
territory. Again the first victims were Jews, but the slaughter was
necessarily limited by the comparatively small number of people left
to slay. This second rebellion ended in the defeat of
1651 Nov.
the Cossacks, and one of the terms of peace was that
the Jews should be allowed to settle again, and resume their
financial oppression, in the Ukraine. However, the Cossacks felt
bound by the treaty only so long as they felt unable to break it. As
soon as the opportunity offered, they once more raised the standard
of revolt, and Chmielnicki, aided by the Russians, carried victory and
devastation far and wide. The Jews who were beyond
1654–1655
the reach of the Cossacks succumbed to the fury of
their Russian allies, and thus the community of Wilna was
completely wiped out.
Then to the enemies of Poland was added Charles X. of
Sweden, Charles XII.’s grandfather; “a great and mighty man, lion of
the North in his time.” The battle of Warsaw, which
1656
lasted three days, resulted in a splendid victory for this
“imperious, stern-browed, swift-striking man, who had dreamed of a
new Goth empire.” In that battle the chivalry of Poland was broken,
and John Casimir, the most brilliant cavalier of all, was nearly ruined.
The Jewish communities which had been spared by Cossack and
Russian were impoverished by the Swede. But even this fresh
calamity did not exhaust the measure of their woes. Those who had
escaped slaughter at the hands of Cossacks, Russians, and Swedes
were now exposed to the hatred of the Polish general, Czarnicki,
who attacked them on the ground that they had acted in collusion
with the Swedish invaders. And while Poland was turned into a vast
battlefield, whereon the nations cut each other’s throat, the Jews
were treated as common foes by all. During these ten years of
international manslaughter, no fewer than a quarter of a million of
Polish Jews were massacred.
The humiliation of Poland brought lasting ruin to the Jews.
Fugitives, reduced to the verge of starvation, were scattered over
Europe seeking shelter—from Amsterdam and the Rhine in the north
and west, to Italy, Hungary, and Turkey in the south and east.
Everywhere they were welcomed by their brethren, who fed and
clothed them, and many of the funds intended for the maintenance of
the Jews in Palestine were diverted to the relief of these helpless
wanderers.
In the midst of their sufferings the Polish Jews heard of the
Messiah of Smyrna. One of Sabbataï Zebi’s apostles, Jacob
Leibovicz Frank by name, founded a curious sect, which, among
other things, believed in a kind of Trinity, abolished the Law, and
carried on a fierce warfare against the orthodox Rabbis. In the
middle of the eighteenth century these Frankist dissenters revived
one of the ancient denunciations of the Talmud, and tried to induce
the Polish Government to confiscate all the Rabbinical writings. But
finally, as Sabbataï and his immediate followers in Turkey were
absorbed by Islam, so Frank’s disciples were absorbed by
Catholicism.
While the Jews of Poland were sinking into destitution or flying
into exile, their brethren of Austria also were experiencing the hatred
of the Jesuits. At the instigation of the latter the Empress Margaret
 demanded their banishment from Vienna. The
1669
Emperor Leopold I. was at first averse from the
measure, because he derived an annual revenue of 50,000 florins
from the Austrian Jews. But the Empress insisted, her fanaticism
receiving fresh impulse from a narrow escape which she had
experienced at a ball accident. Attributing her preservation to a
miraculous intervention of the Deity, she was anxious to show her
gratitude by a sacrifice of the Jews, whom her father confessor had
taught her to regard as the enemies of Heaven. The piety of the
Empress proved too powerful for her consort’s avarice. Leopold
yielded at last, and the Jews were ordered to leave Vienna. In vain
did they try prayers and presents. In vain did they turn every stone
both at home and abroad. Their gifts were accepted by the Emperor
and Empress, but the decree remained unrevoked, for the influence
of the Jesuits was invincible. The Jews had to go and
1670
seek new homes in Moravia, Bohemia, and Poland.
Their quarter was bought by the magistrates of Vienna for the
Emperor, and was christened Leopoldstadt. Their synagogue was
levelled to the ground. On its site was built a church dedicated to the
Emperor’s patron saint; and the glorious event was commemorated
by a golden tablet whereon the Jewish house for prayer was
described as a “charnel-house.”
The degradation of Israel was now complete. Persecution, cruel
and, through all changes, consistent beyond a parallel in history, had
at last achieved its demoralising work. The Jews, treated as pariahs
throughout Southern and Central Europe, lost all feeling of self-
respect. Spurned and dishonoured everywhere, they became day
after day more and more worthy of contempt: slovenly in dress and
dialect, dead to all sense of beauty or honesty, treacherous, and
utterly broken in spirit. “Zeus takes away the half of his manhood
from a man, when the day of slavery overtakes him,” says the wise
old poet. The Jews now furnished a melancholy proof of the truth of
the saying. Among the other gifts of servitude they acquired that of
cringing cowardice. So little manliness was left in them that they,
who had once astonished Rome with their dogged valour, dared not
defend themselves even against the attacks of a street urchin; and
the prophet’s terrible prediction was fulfilled: “You shall speak humbly
from the ground, and from the dust shall proceed your word.”
The dispersion of the Polish refugees over Europe resulted in
the subjugation of Judaism in all countries to the sophistical and
soulless teaching of Polish Talmudism. The long-ringleted Rabbis of
Poland carried into every country their narrow subtlety and hatred of
secular studies, so that at a time when the Middle Age was passing
away from Christendom they restored it to Israel.
From the sixteenth century the Jews fell completely under the
domination of the Synagogue. Having abandoned all hope of being
allowed to participate in the life of the Gentiles, they withdrew more
and more severely behind the old moat by which their ancestors had
surrounded themselves. Tribalism was their only alternative to utter
extinction; and they seized upon it, nothing loth. They grew fanatical,
entrusted the education of their children to none but the Polish
Rabbis, clung to their bastard Germano-Hebrew jargon (Jüdisch-
Deutsch or “Yiddish”), and even in writing a European language they
employed the Hebrew characters. The Jewish literature of the period
reflects the social and intellectual condition of the race. When it
deals not with subjects of Biblical exegesis, it consists of rude
popular songs and stories drawn from Talmudic and Cabbalistic
sources or from German and Oriental folk-lore. But this Cimmerian
darkness contained in it the promise of a dawn. The light of the
eighteenth century was sooner or later to penetrate the mists of
bigotry and to bring the Jewish Middle Age to an end. For while the
Jew shares the general effects which persecution long drawn out
inflicts, yet there is in him a power of resiliency which is his own
peculiar possession and which saves him from falling permanently
into the slough of degradation and disgrace. This power he derives
in part from his religion, in part from his history. His religion gives him
steadfastness; his history teaches him to hope.
 CHAPTER XVI

IN HOLLAND

Holland was at this time the one European country in which man
was allowed to worship his Maker according to the dictates of his
conscience. Commercial activity in Europe has always been
accompanied, or followed, by speculative freedom, and where these
two forms of national vigour flourish religious bigotry languishes. The
Dutch, like the Italians, and even in a higher degree, had from the
earliest times shown a spirit of insubordination to papal authority.
The decrees of the Holy See had frequently met with a stubborn
resistance in which beggars and princes, prelates and burgesses
heartily participated. The long feud between Guelf and Ghibelline,
stirred up by Gregory Hildebrand’s overweening ambition, had found
both the people and the clergy of Holland on the side of the Pope’s
enemies. And not only the decrees but also the doctrines of Rome
had often failed to command obedience in this undutiful daughter of
the Church, who from the very first lent an attentive ear to the
whisperings of infidelity. All the heresies that sprang up in Europe
from the beginning of the twelfth century to the beginning of the
sixteenth—from Tanchelyn to Luther—had been welcomed by the
Dutch. Wickliffe found numerous sympathisers in the Netherlands;
and the victims of the Holy See eager avengers. Many Hollanders,
who had taken part in the crusade against Huss and his followers in
Bohemia, returned home horror-struck at the cruelty of those under
whose banner they had fought. Scepticism grew with the growth of
ecclesiastical depravity and persecution with the growth of
ecclesiastical authority, so that in no other region, not even excepting
Spain, was the infernal ingenuity of the Inquisition more severely
taxed than in Holland. It was here that the longest anathemas were
pronounced, and the most hideous tortures endured. The annual
returns of the banned, fleeced, flayed, and burnt, amounted to
thousands. But at last tyranny bred despair, and despair rebellion.
People and nobility were united in a common cause. If the burgesses
hated the priests for their persecuting spirit, the barons hated them
as cordially for the wealth and power which they had contrived to
usurp. And then came the invention of the printing press to prepare
the way for the great day of the Reformation, on which was signed
the death-warrant of mediaeval Catholicism.
In Holland alone rebellion did not degenerate into a new species
of despotism. While the hidalgos of Castile, impelled by lust for glory
and gold, carried into a new world the cross and the cruelty of the
old, conquering kingdoms for Charles and Philip, souls for Christ and
wealth for themselves; while even in England one sovereign was
engaged in persecuting Popery, another Puritanism, and a third both,
the citizens of the Netherlands were laying the foundations of a less
splendid but far more solid prosperity. As in the Venetian, so in the
Dutch Republic, integrity and intelligence in the individual were
esteemed more highly than orthodoxy, and an extensive commerce
was regarded as more valuable to the State than a rigid creed—an
attitude which earned the Hollanders a reputation for worldly
weakliness and carnal self-seeking among our stern upholders of
sanctity and inspired their brother-Protestants of Barebone’s
Parliament to denounce them as enemies of Christ. Briefly, the
Dutch had never submitted to the suicidal necessity of extinguishing
liberty at home in order to achieve greatness abroad, nor had they
subscribed to the mad doctrine which, under one form or another,
had obsessed Europe during so many centuries: that it is a good
man’s duty to make a hell of this world in order to inherit paradise in
the next.
It was in Holland, accordingly, that the Jews of Spain and
Portugal, fleeing from the holocausts of the Holy Office, found a
harbour of safety. Whilst the Netherlands lay under Spanish rule
these emigrants were repeatedly expelled from various Dutch cities,
owing to the citizens’ dread of seeing the Inquisition—which had
been introduced into the country by Charles V. in 1522—established
amongst them. But the liberation from the foreign yoke was to
change all this—not without a struggle. In 1591 a Jewish consul of
the Sultan of Morocco proposed to the burgesses of Middelburg that
they should permit the Portuguese Marranos to settle in their town.
The shrewd burgesses would gladly have welcomed these
commercial allies, but they were obliged to yield to the prejudices of
the Protestant clergy, not unnaturally embittered by their long fight
for liberty. The opposition, however, was short-lived. The Dutch
recognised kindred spirits in the Jews. They shared their implacable
hatred of the Spanish tyrant and of Catholicism, as they shared their
aptitude for trade. Under William of Orange the dream of toleration
became a political reality, and in 1593 the first contingent of
Portuguese pseudo-Christians landed at Amsterdam.
But, though the flames of the Quemadero had been left far
behind, the fear which centuries of ill-usage had instilled into the
Jews’ hearts remained with them. The secrecy, with which these
hunted refugees at first deemed it necessary to meet and worship,
excited the suspicion of their Christian neighbours, who, not
unreasonably, concluding that so many precautions covered a
sinister design, informed the authorities. On the Fast of
1596
Atonement the Jews, while at prayer, were surprised
by armed men. The appearance of these myrmidons awakened
memories of the Inquisition in the breasts of the worshippers, who
fled, thereby deepening the suspicion. And while the Jews were
trying to escape from imaginary Papists, the Dutch officers searched
the Jewish prayer-house for crucifices and wafers. An explanation
ensued, the prisoners were released, and the congregation returned
to its devotions. After this incident, which made it clear to the Dutch
that the Marranos were not Papist conspirators, but only harmless
hypocrites, the latter were allowed to stay, under certain restrictions,
and a synagogue was inaugurated in 1598 amid great enthusiasm.
The good news drew more refugees from Spain and Portugal to
Holland. The persecuted crypto-Jews of the Peninsula began to look
upon Amsterdam as a new Jerusalem, or rather as a new world—so
different and so novel was the treatment which they met with there
from that to which they were accustomed in every other Christian
country. To Amsterdam, therefore, they continued to flee from the
racks and the stakes of the Inquisition—men, women, and even
monks—in ever increasing numbers, so that a new synagogue had
to be built in 1608. Six years afterwards they secured a burial ground
in the neighbourhood of the town. The community rejoiced
exceedingly in the acquisition of this cemetery, though on every body
carried thither they had to pay a tax to each church that the funeral
procession passed on its way. Tolerated though they were, these
Peninsular exiles were still distrusted by the common people as
Catholic spies in disguise, and it was not till 1615 that they were
officially recognised as settlers and traders. Before long a Hebrew
printing press was established in Amsterdam, and gradually mere
tolerance grew into warm welcome. The community was about this
time joined by immigrants driven out of Germany by the ravages of
the Thirty-Years’ War. These German Jews formed the mob of the
colony; despised by their cultured brethren as uncouth and, in turn,
despising them as spurious Jews. Hence arose a schism, and the
German section set up a synagogue of their own. But community of
creed and the subtle affinity of blood, reinforced by the necessity of
presenting a united front to a hostile world, overcame the prejudices
of class, and a reconciliation was effected in 1639. Amsterdam
speedily became the seat of a prosperous and united Hebrew
congregation, and the stronghold of a vigorous and uncompromising
Judaism. The colony consisted of men and women, everyone of
whom had suffered for the faith. It was natural, therefore, that they
should strive to safeguard by all means in their power a treasure
preserved at so enormous a cost of blood and tears. Faith,
unfortunately, is not far removed from fanaticism, and the victims of
tyranny are only too prone to become its ministers. The Jews of
Amsterdam had undergone a long and severe course in the most
distinguished school of cruelty and bigotry, and it is no wonder if they
graduated with high honours. The Rabbis enjoyed an immense
power over the souls and the purses of their disciples; they levied
heavy fines upon members of the Synagogue who incurred their
displeasure; and in their promptitude to stifle freedom of thought they
rivalled the Satraps of the Church. A sad illustration of Hebrew
intolerance is supplied by the story of the hapless Uriel Acosta.
 He was a gentleman of Oporto, one of those Marranos whose
fathers had been taught to love Christ by torture, and who had
bought the right of residence in their native land by baptism. Though
brought up as a devout Catholic and destined for a clerical career,
Uriel was repelled by the mechanical formalities of Catholicism, and
he reverted to the old faith; thus escaping from the meshes of the
Church only to fall into those of the Synagogue. On his
1617
arrival at Amsterdam the idealist was rudely awakened
to the meanness of reality. He found actual Judaism widely different
from the picture which his vivid imagination had drawn of it, and he
was, unfortunately for himself, too honest to conceal his
disappointment. The independence of character which had induced
Uriel to give up social position, home, and fortune for the sake of
conscience, also caused him to disagree with the pious mummeries
of the Hebrew priests. A long contest between the individual and the
institution ended in an inglorious victory for the latter. Uriel Acosta’s
rebellion was visited with excommunication and social ostracism. He
was figuratively extinguished in more senses than one. All his friends
and relatives shunned him as a leper, or rather ignored him as if he
had ceased to exist. It was death in life.
Alone in a city whose language he could not speak, stoned by
those for whom he had sacrificed all, spurned even by his nearest
and dearest, Uriel was driven to the publication of a book which cost
him imprisonment and a fine; for the Rabbis denounced it to the
Dutch authorities as hostile not only to Judaism, but also to
Christianity. This widened the breach between him and his brethren.
Thus fifteen years of misery and loneliness dragged on, till, unable to
bear his awful isolation any longer, this poor outcast from a people of
outcasts tried to regain the favour of the Synagogue and the society
of his fellow-men by feigned repentance. There ended
1633
the second part of the trilogy. The third began when
Uriel’s simulated conversion was seen through. The discovery led to
new persecution and insults innumerable. He was again ostracized
by his relatives, robbed of his betrothed, and excommunicated by the
Synagogue.
 Seven years of suffering elapsed, and the victim at last, worn out
by a fight to which his sensitive nature was unequal, prematurely
aged and longing for rest, once more offered to sign a recantation.
Pardon was granted, but not without terrible penalties and fresh
humiliation. The penitent was made to read aloud his confession of
sin; he was subjected to a public castigation—thirty-nine lashes—
and was obliged to lie prone across the threshold of the synagogue
for all the congregation to walk over and trample upon him. This
disgrace drove Uriel to despair, attempt at murder, and suicide.
These things happened in 1640. In the ensuing year John
Evelyn, whom we have seen at Venice, paid a visit to the community
—probably to the very synagogue—that had witnessed poor Uriel’s
sufferings, and he enters his impressions in his Diary as follows:
“August 19. Next day I returned to Amsterdam, where I went to a
synagogue of the Jews, being Saturday; the ceremonies, ornaments,
lamps, law, and scrolls afforded matter for my wonder and enquiry.
The women were secluded from the men, being seated above in
galleries, and having their heads muffled with linnen after a
fantastical and somewhat extraordinary fashion.
“They have a separate burying-ground, full of sepulchres with
Hebrew inscriptions, some of them very stately. In one, looking
through a narrow crevice, I perceived divers bookes lye about a
corpse, for it seems when any learned Rabbi dies, they bury some of
his books with him. With the help of a stick I raked out some of the
leaves, written in Hebrew characters, but much impaired.”
“Aug. 28. I was brought acquainted with a Burgundian Jew who
had married an apostate Kentish woman. I asked him divers
questions; he told me, amongst other things, that the world should
never end, that our souls transmigrated, and that even those of the
most holy persons did pennance in the bodies of bruits after death,
and so he interpreted the banishment and salvage life of
Nebucodnezer; that all the Jews should rise again, and be lead to
Jerusalem.... He showed me severall bookes of their devotion, which
he had translated into English for the instruction of his wife; he told
me that when the Messias came, all the ships, barkes, and vessels