African History in Credo: Ancient History

Officially Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; Republic, 471,776 sq mi (1,221,900 sq km), NE Africa. Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city. The first kingdom for which there is documentary evidence is that of Aksum (Axum), a kingdom which probably emerged in the 2d cent. A.D., thus making Ethiopia the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the most ancient in the world.

It was not until c.3000 B.C. that the Sahara transformed into its present arid state. The camel was introduced probably in the 1st cent. A.D. and facilitated occupation by nomads.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Ancient state of NE Africa. At the height of its political power Nubia extended, from north to south, from the First Cataract of the Nile (near Aswan, Egypt) to Khartoum, in Sudan.

River in Africa, the world's longest, 6,695 km/4,160 mi; flows northward from its sources in eastern Africa toward the Mediterranean Sea. Considering the great importance of the Nile to Egypt, it is not surprising that in ancient times it was deified, and it has always been regarded with the utmost reverence. Each year the Nile floods its banks and the height of the flood has been recorded annually since at least 3600 BC.

Far down the Nile River from Cairo is the ancient Egyptian temple city of Thebes and Luxor. Modern visitors will find three ancient temple areas in the modern city of Luxor: Luxor Temple, the temples of Karnak, and the complex of Thebes across the Nile River.

Nebkheperara Tutankhamen (1342-1323 BC) was a short-lived and relatively insignificant ruler during a troubled time in the history of Kernet.

From Encyclopedia of African History
King of the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty, Akhenaten reigned from approximately 1360 to 1343bce. Akhenaten is notable for having briefly replaced the entire Egyptian pantheon with a single deity, the Aten, the physical manifestation of the sun.

From The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Nefertiti was the Great Wife of the Egyptian king Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)), whom she seems to have married soon after his accession. Her origins remain a matter of debate, but she was certainly not the child of a king; it has been suggested that she may have been the daughter of the army officer Ay, who later became king.

Ramses II, also known as “Ramses the Great,” was one of the most famous pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty of Egypt (1570–1070 bce). He established numerous building projects, conducted aggressive war campaigns, and created international ties that are still discussed today.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
D. 229 or 228 B.C., Carthaginian general. Father of Hannibal.

Queen of Egypt, one of the great romantic heroines of all time. Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes, who died in 51BC. By the terms of his will he appointed her joint successor, as Cleopatra VII, with her younger brother as Ptolemy XIII.

From Encyclopedia of the Ancient World
Carthaginian military leader during the Second Punic War. As chief military commander for the North African state of Carthage, Hannibal Barca led over 40,000 troops and 38 elephants from Spain to Italy over the Alps during the Second Punic War with Rome.

Christian philosopher, theologian, and scholar. His full name was Origines Adamantius, and he was born in Egypt, probably in Alexandria. His writings include Hexapla, a synopsis of the Old Testament, Contra Celsum, a defence of Christianity, and De principiis, a statement of Christian theology.

(Claudius Ptolemaeus) celebrated Greco-Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. He made his observations in Alexandria and was the last great astronomer of ancient times. His Geography was the standard geographical textbook until the discoveries of the 15th century.

Augustine was born and died in North Africa [Tagaste, Numidia (modern Algeria)], then part of the Roman Empire. He taught philosophy in Rome and Milan where he converted to Christianity in 387. He returned to North Africa to spearhead the assault on the Manichean religion and the Donatist and Pelagian heresies. He was consecrated bishop of Hippo in 395.

Ancient civilization, based around the River Nile in Egypt, which emerged 5,000 years ago and reached its peak in the 16th century BC.

From Chambers Dictionary of World History
Predynastic Period; Early Dynastic Period; Old Kingdom; First Intermediate Period; Middle Kingdom; Second Intermediate Period; New Kingdom; Third Intermediate Period; Late Period.

Ancient Phoenician port in North Africa founded by colonists from Tyre in the late 9th century BC. A leading trading centre, it was in conflict with Greece from the 6th century BC, and then with Rome, and was destroyed by Roman forces in 146 BC at the end of the Punic Wars.

From Encyclopedia of African History
Roman rule in North Africa was based on a system of land appropriation.

In Encyclopedia of African History

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Ra, the sun god, and Osiris, god of the dead, were the chief deities, but many gods were believed to control birth and death and various aspects of everyday life. The gods were depicted with the heads of the animals sacred to them. The hawk was sacred to Ra and Horus, the ibis to Thoth, and the jackal to Anubis. Later the local deity of Thebes, Ammon, became supreme as Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, a symbol of national unity. Immortality was originally the preserve of the pharaohs, but under the New Kingdom all who could afford mummification could achieve it.

Horus was a solar and sky god and one of the most important Egyptian gods associated with kingship.

Isis was one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt. She was the daughter of Nut, the sky goddess, and Geb, the earth god, and the sister and consort of Osiris, the chief deity of death. Isis and Osiris's son, Horus, became the ruler of Egypt.

Dead human or animal body preserved by embalming or by unusual natural conditions. Refers primarily to the burials found in Egypt, where the practice of mummification was perfected over the centuries to an extreme of elaboration.

Ancient Egyptian god, the embodiment of goodness, who ruled the underworld after being killed by Set. The pharaohs were believed to be his incarnation.

In The Classical Tradition
Architectural form consisting of a square or trapezoidal base with four triangular sides meeting at a central point or apex. The pyramid achieved its characteristic form in pharaonic Egypt, where edifices of this type were employed as sepulchral monuments.

Mythological creature, depicted in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek art as a lion with a human head. One of the oldest monuments is the Great Sphinx at El Gîza, Egypt, which was probably built about 2900-2750 BC.

Formerly Hamito-Semitic languages hămʹĭtō-səmĭtʹĭk, family of approximately 250 Afroasiatic languages, spoken by about 340 million ethnically and racially different people, occupy today the major part of the Middle East, all of North Africa, much of North-East Africa and a considerable area in what may roughly be defined as the northwestern corner of Central Africa.

Extinct language of ancient Egypt. Developed during four periods: (1) Old Egyptian (3d millennium B.C.); (2) Middle Egyptian (2134-1354 B.C.) (3) Late Egyptian (to 12th cent. B.C.); and (4) demotic (8th cent. B.C.-5th cent. A.D.).

Extinct language of Ethiopia belonging to the North Ethiopic group of the South Semitic (or Ethiopic) languages, which, in turn, belong to the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages.

A type of writing used in ancient Egypt. Similar pictographic styles of Crete, Asia Minor, and Central America and Mexico are also called hieroglyphic. Egyptian hieroglyphics appear in several stages: the first dynasty (3110–2884 B.C.), when they were already perfected; the Old Kingdom; the Middle Kingdom, when they were beginning to go out of use; the New Empire, when they were no longer well understood by the scribes; and the late hieroglyphics (from 500 B.C.), when the use of them was a tour de force.

From the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Inscribed stone slab, now in the British Museum, that provided an important key to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. An irregularly shaped block of black basalt with inscriptions in hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and Greek, it was discovered by Napoleon's troops near the town of Rosetta (Rashid), northeast of Alexandria, in 1799.