When was the decline of the ancient Egypt we look back on today?

Question

Such as their use of Pharaohs, building pyramids and so on?

Answer 1

This ole' Protestant is going to do my best to refrain from interjecting my own opinion about the Holy Romans, and their role in eradicating Pharaoh.


The last Native born Pharaoh was the 3rd (and last) King of the 30th Dynasty.
.. Nectanebo II. (Nakhthoreb)
He was defeated by the Persians, (ancient Iran) in 343 b.C. Three Persians ruled (making up the 31st, and last) Dynasty.

In 332 b.C, Alexander III of Macedon (Greece) conquered,.. well, everywhere. Including Egypt, forming Alexandria.
Alexander ruled. Then his brother Philip Arrhidaeus, and finally Alexander's son, Alexander IV.
During his reign, Alexander III, had an adviser, and ended up befriending Lagus' son. Alexandrian born, Ptolemy I Soter, would be the first ruler of the Ptolemaic (Hellenistic/Greek) Dynasty, beginning around 305 b.C. This empire lasted thru the suicide of Cleopatra VII in 30 a.D, when the Emperor Augustus (Octavius) began Roman rule.

Which of course lasted until Constantine, separated from the Holy Roman Empire and, created Byzantium.

So, in my opinion, the decline of the Ancient empire began with the conquest by the Persians, continued with the suicide of Cleopatra, and came to fruition with the Macedonian/ Roman War.

Answer 2

The building of pyramids was a form of monument used for burial of the Pharoahs prodominatly in the Old Kingdom.
By the middle of the 1st Intermediate Period,the form of royal burial was a terraced temple complex. With either a flat topped or pyramid shaped structure in the centre.
This idealised the primal mound, that is central to the ancient Egygptian creation myth.
The decline of ancient Egypt had come about long before the last Pharaoh Ptolemy Xl(Caesar) took the throne under the might of the Roman Empire.
The last Dynasty to rule Egypt,the Ptolemies were not Egyptian but Macedonian.
Descendants of Alexander the Great, who had conquered Egypt which was already under the control of the Persian Empire.
The 28th Dynasty saw the last Egyptian Pharaoh Nakhthorheb 360-342 BC.But Egypt had to all intensive purposes, only just held on to the throne and a pheuso-independence, since the 26th Dynasty which saw the invasion of the Persians.
Egypt's independence was threatened from invaders from all sides.
The major concern being the might of Babylon. Several Saite princes of the delta region had already given their allegiance over to the Assyrians,another contender for Egypt's land and wealth.
While in the south allegiances were being made with the Kushite powers of Lower Nubia. Thebes has been adhered into the Kushite empire, through an act of marriage.
Foreign affairs were now essentially concerned with maintaining the country's failing independence.Trade and advancement of its wealth had become secondary.
A major fort building programme was begun to protect diminishing Egypt, from the power of Libya and some of the fugitive Delta princes who had found sanctuary there.
Pharaoh Psametik l,664-610BC mounted a land and sea campaign that ended in a disastrous failure.
This resulted in the Pharaoh being overthrown by one of his generals.
This outcome led to a civil war in Egypt, that it never recovered from.
All future Pharoah's would rule only under the direction of a foreign invader.

Answer 3

The civilisation of ancient Egypt can be traced back in recognisable form to around 3000 BC. It was to endure for over three millennia and it is perhaps the most instantly recognisable of all ancient cultures today. The question of how it came to an end is a perennially popular one, but actually quite difficult to answer, as it is by no means agreed as to what constitutes 'the end' of Egypt as an ancient civilisation.
Is it the definitive end of native Egyptian rule (at least until the 20th century)? In this case the answer would be the flight of King Nectanebo II in 342 BC. Is it Egypt's absorption into the Roman Empire in 30 BC? Or the last appearance of the ancient hieroglyphic script just before AD 400? Or the closure of the last pagan temples in the sixth century?
In many ways the last suggestion is perhaps the most appropriate, as in all the other cases, the core religious and artistic values of the country continued on, albeit increasingly debased and under pressure. However, the demise of the hieroglyphs was a manifestation of the decline and fall of the ancient religion in the face of Christianity, itself ultimately to be supplanted by Islam.

Answer 4

Ancient Egypt as we recognise it nowadays lasted for around 3000 years and during that time it went through many periods of decline and success. This was due to many differing factors including famine due to drought, weak rulers, disease and invasion from other countries. However up until the Roman conquest, the civilisation recovered to a greater or lesser degree, returning to their original religious ideas and traditional ways of life. The ancient life changed very little in that time. new ideas were brought into the country and new inventions but essentially the civilisation remained stable. the last pyramid was built in around 1500 bc and pharohs began using tombs, after all there wasnt much point in collecting a mound of treasure and then building a large pyramid shaped sign on top which basically said here it is come and steal it. tombs were meant to be hidden away so that no one knew where they were. except of course for the builders who systematically robbed them for ever more. And Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh though not strictly speaking Egyptian but the descendant of Ptolemy, Alexandra's general and therefore Greek.
After cleopatras death the romans took over the rule of egypt, and Egypt did not return to the old ways but the civilisation slowly changed, the old religion gradually died out until its language, its writing and its rights and rituals became complete forgotten. New religions played their part including roman gods, Christianity (which endevoured to destroy the old temples and religion) and Islam. new conquerors came from many countries.
yet strangely when you go to parts of Egypt today you can still find parts of ancient Egypt, They still paint wadjets on the Nile sailing boats, you can still see shadoofs in use.and you can still see men and woman working in the fields with tools that would have been recognisable thousands of years ago. hope that gives you an idea

Answer 5

Ancient Egypt was in decline (the final decline that is) before Alexander The Great conquered the country around 300bce. One period of decline was during and after the time of Akhenaten, who became Pharaoh about 3,500 years ago. He was the father of Tutankhamen.
By the time of Cleopatra it was ripe for picking off by the Romans, and after the battle of Actium in 31bce, it became the personal property of Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus.

Answer 6

The basic structures of Later Egyptian were formed in prehistoric times, from about 5500bc to 3050bc.

Later Egyptians, 5000 to 3000 BC Predynastic period, (god ruled as apposed to kingship earthly rulers) Earliest "Followers of Horus"

There's a lot of varied evidence but its suggested that the written word is connected with the administrative period of the Early Dynastic period 2950 - 2640 BC

The pyramid builders were from the forth dynasty 2575 BC to 2465 BC

The fifth 2465 - 2325 BC During this period most monarchs built temples to the sun god Re.


Although there is much contesting to the precise dates of the building I've always found that the Sphinx is very interesting as its points Aline with the star constellation Leo an that wasn't visible in Egypt since some 15 000 years before.

Answer 7

The decline was after the last Pharaoh, Cleopatra, had a lot to do with it, as she wanted out of her kind, a foreigner.
I could give you pages of history dating back 7,000 years.
your Question was when,

Answer 8

You have all the pertinent information covering roughly 5000 years. But bottom line the empire comes to an end by 1000 bc. From then on it's under one form of occupation or another.

Answer 9

Have a look at history most civilisations last a maxium of 2 thousand years................... We are on borrowed time.Has anyone else started to notice the cracks or is it just me?