The Impact of Ancient Egypt

The Impact of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt is a civilization of wealth and structure that flourished along the Nile River in northeastern Africa from about 3300 B.C to 30 B.C. In over 3,000 years, one of the most sophisticated and creative societies advanced where no other civilization did. 2,000 years later, it would be hard to think about the world without the impact of ancient Egypt, because it seems to have significantly affected every field of our American culture. The Egyptians have heavily influenced our culture’s literature, architecture, art, film, and politics. The western world’s fascination with Ancient Egypt began in the 19th century. The reason for this fascination first began with two separate literary works. The first was entitled “Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte”, and was written by Dominique Vivant; published in 1802. The second was the Institute of Egypt 's “Description de l 'Egypte” that was published in 1809. Because of these publications, people became more and more interested in Egyptian culture and everything related to it. They brought life back to the deceased civilization of 2,000 years. Ancient Egyptian images and representations were integrated into a wide variety of cultural sectors and immortalized through literature. Not only are the Ancient Egyptians immortalized through current day literary works, but their hieroglyphs may be man’s first attempt to write. Deciphered in 1822 by Jean François Champollion, Ancient Egyptian language can now teach us what they knew then. Much of what we know about them was learned through these ancient writings; their government, class system, day to day activities, religion, wars, philosophy etc. Our history books wouldn’t be the same without them. Ancient Egyptian architecture was greatly ahead of its time and took a high degree of architectural and engineering skill. “Ancient Egyptians actually reached unmatched high levels in architectural design and construction

Cited: Ancient Egypt, Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007. http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Beck, Roger B., and Linda Black. Patterns of Interaction. McDougal Littell, 2007. 26-50. Green, Peter. “Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age”. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. 661–664. The Egyptian Government. "Construction in Ancient Egypt." (2005).http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/construct.htm. Trafton, Scott Driskell. Egypt Land: Race and Nineteenth-Century American Egyptomania. New Americanists. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004. A History of the Washington Monument: 1844–1968 by George J. Olszewski. April 1971. National Park Service. (Retrieved January 3, 2007).