Egypt

جمهورية مصر العربية Gumhūriyyat Misr al-Arabiyyah
Flag	Coat of Arms
Capital	Cairo
Government	Semi-Presidential republic
Language	Arabic (official)
President	Hosni Mubarak
Prime minister	Ahmed Nazif
Area	386,660 sq mi
Population	80,335,036 (2007)
GDP per capita	$4,836 (2006)
Currency	Egyptian pound

The oldest non-nomadic civilization in the world which still exists today. Egypt is located in north-east Africa.

The earliest known archaeological record of human culture in Ancient Egypt dates to between 13,000 and 9,000 B.C..

Ancient Egyptian culture had a great influence on early Greek and Roman cultures. Many scholars suggest that its influence has been underestimated.. Whether or not the Exodus narrative of the Old Testament is literally true, it at least demonstrates that ancient Israel felt the need to define themselves against the Egyptians. This may have been because the latter had repudiated monotheism following the deaths in the 14th century B. C. of their Pharaoh Akhenaten and his consort Nefertiti, the first monotheist monarchs (as distinguished from prophets or patriarchs) of recorded history.

More probably, the Hebrews actually resided in Egypt following the death of Akhenaten and held to a progressively more idiosyncratic version of his beliefs, with their prophet Moses leading the Exodus of Israel in the 13th century B. C. following the building to a crescendo of persecution as the Bible story indicates, or perhaps a civil war.

See also

• Medicine in Egypt
• Aton
• Battle of Actium

External links

• Ancient Egypt The Trustees of the British Museum.
• Egypt Egypt State Information Service.