The Most POWERFUL Cities In Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was not only home to some of the most famous monuments in history, but also home
to some of the largest megacities the world has ever seen. Some of these cities were seats of
massive power themselves and had their own sway over the rest of Egypt and the entire world
and in this video, we’ll be going through some of the most powerful cities in Egyptian history:
10. Avaris
Avaris was one of the oldest cities in the Egyptian Civilization, with the earliest
settlements in this city dating back to the 18th century BC. The city was very strategically placed
in the Nile Delta, turning it into an eventual trading hub with much of Ancient Egypt’s foreign
trade passing through this city. During the rule of the Hyskos, Avaris was made the capital of the
entire Egyptian civilization and it transformed from a mere trading hub to the largest city in
the world. Due to its proximity with Asia, it attracted immigrants from Western Asia,
who moved to the city, only making it more powerful. After the downfall of the Hyksos
dynasty, the city eventually started to decline in power until it was almost completely uninhabited.
9. Pi-Ramses City
Long after the downfall of Avaris, when the former site of the city was completely abandoned
with most of its former splendor destroyed, the location of the city once again saw a
rise in prominence. During the rule of Ramses II, often considered the greatest ruler in
the history of Egypt, the site was revived and turned into the new capital city of Pi-Ramses.
It was located slightly further away from the city of Avaris, but still in the same general
region. This is the city where Ramses II primarily resided and the city where he wielded his massive
power over Egypt and the rest of the world from. It eventually attracted immigrants from Egypt and
all around the world and reached a population of over 300,000. The city sustained itself for over a
century after the death of Ramses II, something that was rare among newly created capitals.
8. Hermopolis
Hermopolis was one of the longest-lasting cities in Ancient Egypt. The city was an
important cultural, religious, and economic center. The city was thought to have been
watched over by eight deities in both Egyptian and Roman tradition. The city was an important
center in the time of the New Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Kingdom and retained its significance
during the Roman Egyptian period from 30 BC until the eventual Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD.
Since then, the city slowly lost its traditional religious status as more and more residents
converted to other religions and eventually, the city was abandoned. Most of the city is in
ruins today, but is a great site to explore some of Roman Egypt’s architecture and art.
7. Crocodilopolis
Crocodilopolis might sound like a made-up name for some sort of fictional Ancient Egyptian city,
but this was an actual city that was quite significant for its time. The Nile River crocodile
was one of the most feared and revered animals in Egyptian history. It is one of the largest and
fastest crocodile species in the world, and in ancient Egyptian times, there was an entire god
who was represented in the form of a Nile river crocodile called Sobek. The seat of this god was
the city of Crocodilopolis, which is one of the oldest cities in Egypt dating back to 4000 BC.
It was very prosperous as pilgrims from all across Egypt would come to this city with offerings,
and it was located on a very fertile piece of land that was known for being able to grow
all sorts of different crops which were then exported across Egypt and the world.
6. Kom Ombo
Kom Ombo was, in a sense, the Singapore of Ancient Egypt. The city was strategically located in the
middle of the busiest trading route between Egypt and the rest of Africa. It primarily handled
the trade between Ancient Egypt and the Nubian Empire, making it extremely rich in the process.
Some of the rarest artifacts ever found in Egypt have been found here,
mainly because this is the city where most African goods making their way into Egypt were first
checked. The city had such a strong reputation for its wealth that it was sometimes referred to,
by Egyptians, as ``Nubt”, meaning ‘The City of Gold’. The city is also home to the famous Temple
of Kom Ombo, which is still standing to this day.
5. Alexandria
Now on to one of the more recent cities on our list. Alexandria is a city that is still inhabited
to this day, and is one of Egypt’s largest cities. It’s located along the Mediterranean Sea,
and is the largest city on the sea itself, as well as Egypt’s largest city that isn’t located
on the Nile. The city was founded by Alexander the Great, after he had conquered much of southeastern
Europe, Anatolia, Persia, and even a part of India, before going back west and finally
conquering Egypt, naming himself the pharaoh, and establishing Alexandria as the capital of his
empire. It was later the capital of the succeeding Ptolemaic Empire as well, and eventually became
the single largest city on Earth. After conquests in the 7th century, the city slowly lost its
prominence, as did most of the Mediterranean, but remained an important city for Egypt overall.
4. Amarna
Amarna is another capital of ancient Egypt. Of all of ancient Egypt’s capitals, Amarna is one that
was around for the least amount of time, and the one we know least about. The city was established
by the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, the first and only ruler of Egypt to try to completely change
Egyptian religion and establish a monotheistic faith based on the worship of a god named
Aten. The architecture of this city was very different from what we’re used to in Egypt,
an architectural style called Akhetaten was used to construct most of the buildings in this city.
After the 20-year long rule of Akhenaten had ended, many of his successors tried to erase all
traces of the ruler and his monotheistic reforms. Many of the buildings and temples were destroyed,
and it wasn’t until thousands of years later that we would actually learn of this period.
3. Rosetta
Rosetta was a strategically important city that was located at the mouth of the Nile
River at the Mediterranean Sea. It was a sort of Geneva for ancient Egypt, as it was a city
used by Ancient Egyptians to conduct a lot of diplomacy with other Mediterranean powers.
Its position as a diplomatic city is the reason we know as much about ancient Egypt as we do,
because this city was the site of one of the most important discoveries in history,
the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone was a stab that carried a diplomatic decree by an
ancient Egyptian king that was meant to be sent to the Greeks. The text on the slab was written
in Ancient Egyptian with translations of Ancient Greek and an unknown language. Before Napoleon’s
campaign in Egypt in the late-1700s, ancient Egyptian had never been deciphered as a language.
But after the discovery of the Rosetta stone, the modern world was finally able
to decipher the ancient Egyptian language using our knowledge of Ancient Greek.
2. Thebes
Thebes is one of the most important, and by some accounts, the most important capital in Egyptian
history. It served as the capital for the entirety of 4 different major Egyptian dynasties, the 11th,
12th, 17th, and 18th dynasties. It’s located close to the modern-day Egyptian city of Luxor,
and has been the site of some of the most iconic discoveries ever made in ancient Egypt.
From the Karnak Temple to the Luxor Temple to the Valley of the Kings that contained the mummies of
dozens of different pharaohs, it’s important to understate the importance of this city.
It was the largest city in the world at numerous different points of its history,
and is thought to have eventually declined after the Greco-Roman era in Egypt had ended.
1. Memphis
And finally, the city that is sometimes considered the most powerful city in history and by far the
most powerful city in Egypt, Memphis. Memphis was the capital city of Egypt for over 700 consecutive
years, longer than any other city in Egyptian history. It’s presently located in the Giza
governorate of Egypt, alongside present-day Cairo, the current largest city in Egypt.
Memphis is thought to have been an extremely powerful city throughout its history in Egypt,
even when it wasn’t the capital, as sort of a New York City or London-like global superpower.
People from around the world had heard tales of its prosperity and wished to move here,
but the city eventually declined after the creation of Alexandria
moved traditional power away from the Nile and towards the Mediterranean Sea.
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