The Rise and Fall of Cleopatra's Egypt

Nowadays, in the 21st Century everyone is busy with the future, and only very few take a moment to look back to the past and think about what really happened. Let me guide you and take your hand, together we will travel back in time. We will resurrect the dead and see how life really was hundreds and thousands of years ago.

Cleopatra VII (69 BC - 30 BC), the last Pharaoh of Egypt, was a very educated, crafty, ambitious and clever woman. Her intellect and charisma-far greater than her beauty and sexuality-allowed her to keep the power for nearly...

Nefertiti's Mysterious Origins

For centuries, the beautiful, mysterious Queen Nefertiti, has captured our imaginations. We do not know very much about the woman's origins, or her demise, which only adds to her mysterious appeal. What we do know, however, is that she was the wife of one of the most controversial and radical of all of ancient Egypt's Pharaohs.

Her husband, Akhenaten, often referred to as the "Heretic King" started a revolution for the proto-monotheistic cult of Aten, the sun disk. This revolution led to dramatic social and political changes during what was later...

The Mysterious Reign of King Tutankhamen

Upon the opening of the famous tomb of King Tutankhamen, Carter and his team found a huge array of sumptuous grave goods. However, they also found a very small tomb, lacking the well-known royal depictions and wide array of different paintings and inscriptions. Even the grave goods, while luxurious, did not seem fit for a king for his journey to the afterlife.

Much evidence indicates that the tomb was not actually originally intended for the young king. The size of the tomb, the lack of details, and even the sarcophagus itself have led to the...

Hatshepsut was arguably the most powerful female to rule as pharaoh during its long and storied history in the wealthy Egypt of the New Kingdom. Her rule was highly unconventional, yet she had the support of the power brokers at the time. Somehow, during her long reign as pharaoh with her stepson, she managed to maintain positive relationships with the right constituency, as well as her co-ruler. It would seem likely that, if there was internal strife within the royal house as to the moves made by Hatshepsut, there would be some documentation or indication of this tension in the historical...

Ramses the Great

In all of Egypt's long and storied history, Ramses the Great stands out as one of the best known and successful of all. Ruling the country for some 67 years, Ramses II ruled over Egypt during a time of stability and prosperity. His rule was marked by economic prosperity, successful military campaigns, and impressive building projects. He wanted from the very beginnings of his long reign, to ensure that his legacy was sealed, literally in stone, and that reminders of his rule were so ubiquitous that he would not be forgotten. In this, like many other elements of his...

Become an Egyptologist
Our fascination with ancient Egypt actually extends back to the dynastic periods itself. Royal family members and key princes during some New Kingdom eras were very interested in the mysterious and storied history of their home land and worked to preserve monuments, stories, temples, etc. When the Arabs finally ended the Egyptian culture, for all intents and purposes, the interest in the history of the nation did not die with the end of dynastic Egypt. The Arabs themselves were highly fascinated with the enduring and rather strange culture they bore witness to....

The Napoleon of ancient Egypt

Thutmose III was one of the most known and respected of all of Egypt's pharaohs, regardless of dynasty or time period. He ruled during the New Kingdom, which is often seen as the "star-studded" dynasty in ancient Egyptian history because that's the dynasty where many of the "big names" come from. He had the benefit of a lengthy co-rule that allowed him to develop and hone his military skills which would serve him incredibly well during his time in power.

His early life and rule were rather unusual, and he was a powerful person, even when he was just a...

The Introspective Man
The philosophy of Socrates glitters until today and will continue doing so in the future. Socrates is not the actual founder of philosophy, as is sometimes claimed. Preceding him, and as the name suggests, there were the pre-Socratic philosophers. Some of them are Pythagoras, Thales, Empedocles, Parmenides and Heraclitus of Ephesus. However, Socrates is the founder of the logos (discourse). For example, a rational, coherent thought, which gradually releases the myth. He distrusted writing and teaching and was therefore exclusively oral. Everything we know about him...

Immortalized by intellectual activity. We have all heard of Aristotle. A pillar of the classical world of ancient Greece, he was one of the first and greatest philosophers to ever exist. Without him, our world and the Western intellectual tradition would be simply unrecognizable. Aristotle studied, and wrote and lectured on, every academic discipline you could probably ever imagine. His existence and work were critically important parts of the foundation of every subject of philosophy and science in existence today.

Aristotle might seem like merely a great name from a foggy, incredibly...