What do you know about ancient Egypt?

Question

I need some information on ancient Egypt for a fictional personal recount that I'm writing for school, and please don't suggest wikipedia because I need more than what they have there.

Like, did they have slaves?
What kind of names did they have? Like Cleopatra or Xara or something like that?
What is the olden name of the city Cairo?
Can you name another city near Cairo that is also along the Nile River? And how far is it- like how many days' journey on foot and horseback?
Is the time Queen Cleopatra was in reign called the Cleo Dynasty or else what is it?
Did Queen Cleopatra entertain envoys from other countries, especially European countries? If so, which countries specifically?
What are female Egyptian slaves in Egypt to do?

I have about 5 days to get this short story done, although I did ask for an extension. Please help! And serious answers, please.

I would just like to add that MY history book has none of these information. I repeat, I only have South-east Asia history plus Chinese dynasties. What years did Queen Cleopatra reign?

I'm completely confused now. But I guess I would be writing about Ptolemaic Egypt instead of ancient Egypt because Queen Cleo makes an appearance in my story and the main character is a female slave. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a writer...

Answer 1

Are you writing about ancient Egypt (~3000 BC - 343 BC) or Ptolemaic Egypt (305 BC - 30 BC)? You need to decide which you're writing about first, because their customs were quite different. Cleopatra was the last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt and not an Egyptian by blood at all.

Ancient Egyptian names were more like Babylonian or Hebrew names than our names; sometimes they were adjectives or strings of nouns, but often whole sentences. Looking at random, I found a pharaoh named Djehuty-mes (Thutmose) "born of Thoth" and another named Amenhotep "Amun is satisfied". The name Cleopatra, of course, is pure Greek.

Cairo didn't exist in this time period; it was founded by the Fatimid Dynasty in the tenth century AD. The closest substitute would be Memphis, capital of the Old Kingdom and about 12 miles south of modern Cairo. Thebes is another onetime capital of Egypt along the Nile, south of Memphis.

I doubt Cleopatra VII received any envoys from European countries other than Rome, as Thrace (the only other European state I can find at the time) was a Roman client state.

Ancient Egypt (not Ptolemaic Egypt so much) didn't have many chattel slaves.

Sorry I couldn't help you more.

Answer 2

To start with, Cleopatra was not entirerly Egyptian. She was from the ptolemy line decending from the general Ptolemy . He was one of Alex. the Great's favorite generals. He was given Egypt by Alexander. Cairo is a fairly new city in egyptian terms. Yes there were many slaves. Female slaves did what you would expect, cleaned, cooked, took care of childen,ect. Names that might help could be Saqqara, Memphes, Thebes. You will need to look at a map to check distances, if no one else has the answers. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

it's a story make it up. i've been there, for a week.

they had slaves, the jews. moses freed them and led them across the mediteranean sea or possibly a canal connecting the mediteranean to the sea on the far side of africa.

names: imoteph, cleopatra, tutenkamuhn,

name of cairo???
another important place is the temples at karnac, large sand stone pillars and temples, huge complexes.
Aswan is a city along the nile. however many days on horseback suits your story.

the only other large empires i can even think of from that time are early greeks or israelites, you could use the romans and a chinese dynasty for some flavor, doesn't have to be historically accurate.

women slaves can do anything, you can relegate them to food prep, water getting and supporting the laborers if you're a kind slave driver.

Answer 4

Ok you need to so some more studying. I'm not saying your totally wrong but let me expound on a few things. To start off Romes Arches are one of the Greatest achievements ever, if not for their arches buildings like the coliseum would collapse under their weight. These along with columns, domes and vaulted ceilings became some of the defining characteristics of the Roman architectural style. What about Roman roads and highways? At its height, the Roman empire encompassed nearly 1.7 million square miles and included most of southern Europe. To ensure effective administration of this sprawling domain, the Romans built the most sophisticated system of roads the ancient world had ever seen. Then there's Roman concrete. Many ancient Roman structures like the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum are still standing today thanks to the development of Roman cement and concrete. Now there are quite a bit more accomplishments that were reached by Rome but one that I love the most and is

Answer 5

i found alot of good stuff on yahoo about "the"cleopatra(but there is more than one famous cleopatra and more than one ptolemy. i have found some other info. in some of my books about another cleo who was the daughter of antiochus the great(193bc). he gave her as a bride and a military tactic to ptolemy V . this was the fifth son in a direct line from ptolemy the general. one of the four generals that served under alexander the great and one of the four who undoubtedly helped to murder the half brother phillip, the son alexander, and the illegitimate son hercules and then split the greek empire into quarters. antiochus the great ruled in syria and after warring for ages through fathers and sons of many generations with egypt and the ptolemies he was hoping to secure his rear flank while attacking rome in the other direction. he also hoped she would nourish asyrian interests in egypt. he still planned to come back in the future and attack egypt , but she turned out to be a loyal wife. WHAT A GRAND WOMAN!!!
on the subject of female names - consider that they used names over and over again just like we do. but in the history of the descendants of these four generals was a bernice and a laodice. yeah , i know these names don't sound egyptian - they're not, neither is cleopatra. this ruling class had all come from across the mediterranian by way of conquest over land and time. but you could easily take a look at old egyptian mythology and pick a few miscellaneous names out . (maybe of old goddesses as they were a pagan society with a belief in pantheism.)these local inhabitants would most likely be the slaves of any conquering invaders.
old cairo comes from an arabic name al-qahirah and it means "the vanquisher" or "the triumphant". al-qahirah is still the modern arabic name for this city ,but it is commonly referred to as masr. (the name of the country itself)on an old map i have , in the same place (approx.) as modern cairo is On - (egyptian) - later heliopolis-which i believe is greek. there is also Noph - (egyptian) - later memphis -greek also..within a hundred miles.
and succoth and zoan - these names go back to the time of abraham which would be before arabic had reached it's way in to the country most likely. they are probably your best example of true egyptian names. one more female name hatshetput -daughter of pharoah(exodus2:5) who had the heart to raise a man named moses!
as far as slaves - have you ever heard of the book of EXODUS? 2nd book in the BIBLE - yes the egyptians had slaves , but by the time of the cleopatras and the anthonies egypts time as a major world power had come and gone( mainly due GOD's promise of judgement for what they did to HIS people ,the Jews-slavery) this promise stands to this day you see. at this time , after years gone by from their point of conquest if nothing else by the greeks , i would guess that they were the slaves now. what a funny turn of events?!
this cleo however is around 193bc and "the"cleo is around 63bc . so at this time europe didn't exist-not in a formal sense. rome was , at this latest time , just coming to the rule of julius caesar. and while rome was still an empire , the northern germanic tribes were just scattered tribes(you can picture them at this time similar to viking type people not that they were extremely sea faring - just in their cultures.
one last thing, in egypt i would not guess at this time that they had horses unless the greeks brought them theirselves. yet i would think along the lines of camels as they still use these animals today . they can weather the desert better.
good luck on your paper!! GOD BLESS YOU!!!

Answer 6

cleopatra certainly entertained marc anthony from rome. Saw a doco ontv that suggested they actually had a child together and said child either left or was banished to ancient eretria? Not sure of these facts but certainly had some substance.

Answer 7

But you will get all this in any History book!!

Why don't you try and play a game called Pharaoh? The demo version is available online for free and its quite an insight into what was expected of the members of the civilisation.

Answer 8

yes.
names?anything cool n nice they fancy..
cairo.
sure-Giza,LUxor.
it's called the Ptolemy dynasty.
yes,she did.from Rome,middle east n africa.
yes male n female slaves.females do household chores etc.

Answer 9

They had very few slaves, most of them were prisoners of war.
Ramses, Tutenkhamen, Hapshepsut
That's about all I know, good luck with your short story.

Answer 10

just little thing