Ancient Egypt for Kids

The essential facts to know about ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt spanned three millennia—more than 10 times the history of the US—but disappeared from the world's consciousness until the 18th century when it was rediscovered by Napoleon's army. Take a trip through the dynastic periods in this three-minute video.

A timeline of key events during each period of Egyptian history

This timeline shows the dates, periods, dynasties, and significant events in the history and art of ancient Egypt from the Predynastic Period (before 3100 BCE) to the end of the Roman Period (395 CE).

Reconstructing an average day in ancient Egypt

Egyptologists can reconstruct the intimate details of everyday life in the ancient civilization by studying the archaeological material preserved in tombs, monuments, and partially intact neighborhood layouts. Watch a comprehensive tour of the daily habits and lifestyles of ancient Egyptians with expert Dr. Joann Fletcher.

Explore the roughly 190 Egyptian pharaohs across 31 dynasties

The meticulous records kept by scribes in ancient Egypt allow contemporary historians the unusual ability to list the civilization's hundreds of monarchs, from the quasi-legendary Egyptian unifier Narmer (also known as Menes) all the way to the Roman emperors 3,000 years later.

To reach the afterlife, Egyptians lived in accordance with ma'at, or harmony

The ancient Egyptians held many beliefs about eternal life, fueling entire industries tasked with building tombs for the dead. Their leader, the pharaoh, was believed to be divine, and the lives of ordinary people were punctuated with ritual and myth. Learn more about their religion here.

Explore the major archaeological sites of Egypt's 3,000-year history

With this interactive map, you can see when and where every major monument was built, from the Great Pyramid in the Nile River delta to the Greek temple of Isis near contemporary Aswan.

Egypt's 'Books of the Dead' helped the dead pass through the underworld

During the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, elaborate burial rites included the incantation of magic spells to help those who had died navigate the underworld. Texts of these spell-binding funerary guidelines, widely known as the "Books of the Dead," have survived intact.

An Egyptologist answers questions from the internet

Professor of Egyptology and Archaeology Laurel Bestock answers your questions about ancient Egypt from X. What did ancient Egyptians sound like? Why is King Tut so enduringly popular? What ancient Egyptian medicine and tools do we still use in modern times?

See the major Egyptian monuments in high definition

The massive, hard-to-imagine mammoth structures can be viewed here in 4K, dramatic detail with this stunning video. Visit the Great Pyramids of Giza, the temples at Karnak and Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, and more millennia-old monuments.

Watch Mediterranean power shift over millennia with this animated map

The ancient Mediterranean holds a vast amount of history; from Egypt to Rome, the coasts of this sea are home to some of the most advanced ancient civilizations. This video displays on a map the many different civilizations that rose and fell around the fertile region, from the year 2500 BCE to 0 BCE.

Inside Saqqara, ancient Egypt's sprawling necropolis outside Memphis

Located 20 miles south of modern-day Cairo, the 4-square-mile site contains the oldest known stone complex in the world, the venue for royal tombs and monuments for one of the earliest Egyptian capitals, Memphis.

Wealthy Egyptians slept on woven beds to allow air circulation in hot climates

The history of beds is a fascinating look at economics, social science, and cultural beliefs around what takes place during sleep. This brief survey of the history of bed-making begins roughly 5,000 years ago and runs through ancient Egypt and Rome to modern Europe. Take a look here.

The Rosetta Stone helped scholars decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics

With the same verses written in three languages, the stone—discovered during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt—let scholars decipher hieroglyphics for the first time, unlocking the secrets of ancient Egypt. Learn why the task, originally expected to take two weeks, ended up taking 20 years with this fascinating essay.

Archaeologists race to record ancient Nubia

Long ignored by white archaeologists as a mere footnote, modern scientists are now racing to document what’s left of the African civilization. Evidence of ancient Nubia is at risk of vanishing under environmental, societal, and political pressures. This Undark Magazine article walks you through archaeologists' fight to record ancient Nubia.

The rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire

A short but informative TED-Ed video summarizing the most important aspects of Byzantine civilization: how it all started, why Constantinople was so special, a few remarkable Byzantine authors (including Princess Anna Comnena, historian of her father’s reign), the Ottoman conquest, and why don’t just call the Byzantines “Romans.”

Watch the history of human migration that led to civilizations

Starting in Africa where they hunted with spears and fires, humans would gradually move out of the continent over thousands of years as they navigated crossing deserts, rivers, uneven terrain, and shifting climates. Development of technology, language, farming, and other societal structures helped build up the first civilizations.

Egyptians called the Nile River the 'Ar,' meaning 'black'

The over 4,000-mile river would turn dark during its warm-season flooding as sediments flowed downriver. This nutrient soil, which would settle on the riverbank, was essential for farming in Egypt.

What can be found underneath the Saharan sands?

Watch this 19-minute video to learn more about what can be found under the Sahara Desert, which spans almost all of northern Africa and is one of the largest deserts in the world. Deep under the Sahara desert sands lies evidence of life that once...

The hour originated from an ancient Egyptian astronomical system

The movements of astronomical objects, measured in a day and a year, form the foundation of our sense of time. The Egyptians divided each day and night into 12 time eras, using arbitrarily selected stars as references rather than movements of specific celestial objects.

An interactive look at Earth's history

This interactive module allows students to explore the science of Earth’s deep history, from its formation 4.5 billion years ago to modern times.

A day in the life of an ancient Athenian during the Peloponnesian War

In 427 BCE, Athens was at war with Sparta and losing badly, and now its inhabitants had to decide the fate of another city that had revolted against Athenian rule. Follow along with the fictional Archias, Dexileia, and their three children as they live through the tumult of a city in conflict in this five-minute animation.

The Royal Game of Ur, which dates back as far as 2600 BCE, is believed to be one of the oldest board games in the world.

A pottery jar from the Naqada II period is the oldest depiction of a sailboat

The Egyptian artifact, made by the Gerzeh culture from 3650 BCE to 3300 BCE, provides the earliest evidence of humans harnessing wind power in a technological capacity.

Why do humans have such long childhoods?

Humans have over twice as long childhoods than other animals with similar lifespans like whales and elephants. A human child can grow for nearly 20 years before they become a reproducing adult. Researchers believe there's a connection between long childhoods and human's unusually large brain size, though the science is not totally clear. Dive into what scientists know here.

What techniques did cave painters use to create their work?

Cave paintings long predate local craft stores and premade paints, so what techniques and tools did cave artists use to create such long-lasting works? This video gallery details how ancient artists inscribed and painted their work on cave walls, specifically the Chauvet cave in France.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.