The history of Ancient Egypt is not only mysterious, magnificent, and mind-blowing
but it is also much, much longer than anything that came after it. However, Ancient Egypt didn’t
survive for thousands of years without speed bumps and near-miss crashes that could have
ended the Egyptians long before it happened. How did Alexander save Egypt? How did Egypt survive
the collapse of the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom? Why couldn't Cleopatra save Egypt from
the Roman invasion? Welcome to Nutty History, and today let’s look at five Shocking Events
that nearly destroyed Ancient Egypt. The Libyans annexed Egypt in the year 943 BC and this led to
the establishment of a proper foreign monarchy in Egypt for the first time. Shoshenq the first,
one of the most famous Libyan leaders, managed to reunite the northern and southern parts of Egypt
and this peace lasted for almost a century, but in 853 BC, the Karma came for Libyans when the
Assyrians attacked Egypt. Once again, Egypt was split into two regions. By 700 BC, the Assyrian
forces secured a coalition with neighboring countries to conquer the entire Egyptian region.
Assyrians were also then toppled and replaced by yet another invader, the Persians. After a couple
of centuries each for the Nubian and Persian rulers, Egypt was exhausted of the foreign
monarchs but they still welcomed Alexander The Great with open arms. The anti-incumbency against
Persians was so strong in Egypt that they were ready to accept another foreign ruler. Alexander
was respectful of their religion and people, and it made him quite popular among Egyptians.
It is said that he was so charmed by their culture that he started to wear their traditional dress
and study many of their scriptures. Egyptians too showered him with adulation and proclaimed him as
a “god of two lands.” Thanks to Alexander, Egypt got its new capital, Alexandria,
which would soon become the richest city in the whole known world but sadly Alexander didn’t live
to see it. After Alexander’s death, Egypt fell to the hands of Ptolemy the first who would establish
a new dynasty of pharaohs in Egypt. This was more of a “no strings attached” kind of relationship,
as the Greek royal family enjoyed all the privileges that came with the title of the pharaoh
but hardly put any effort to connect with its subjects until Cleopatra ascended to the throne.
The Roman invasion of Ancient Egypt that ended with Cleopatra taking her life and
pretty much drawing the curtains on the rule of the Greek dynasty of Ptolemies,
was also the end of the line for Ancient Egyptian sovereignty. This wasn’t the first time for Egypt
to fall under the rule of a foreign power. There were Nubians, Kush Empire, Assyrians, Persians,
and also, in a manner, the Ptolemy dynasty wasn’t Egyptian either. But Ptolemies weren’t ruling
Egypt in the name of Greece. Egypt had somehow managed to survive all this battering and it came
out stronger from the setbacks, but not this time. Cleopatra’s story is of a tragedy as she and Egypt
both watched the sun set on the kingdom of the Nile helplessly. After her efforts to marry Rome
and Egypt in a long alliance came crashing down with Julius Caesar’s elimination in Rome’s senate,
those behind Caesar’s demise and his avengers lobbied for her support.
After careful consideration, Cleopatra decided to side with the avengers, Mark Antony, Octavian,
and Lepidus but there was a problem. With Caesar choosing Octavian as his heir,
Octavian and Cleopatra were in conflict over a dispute of the rightful heir.
Moreover, Mark Antony, who was named Triumvir of the eastern provinces including Egypt,
began a policy of expanding Cleopatra's possessions in the Levant, Asia Minor, and the
Aegean. This would not have irked Octavian, now known as Augustus if Antony wasn’t married to his
sister Octavia. When Anthony threatened to end his marriage with Octavia to marry Cleopatra instead,
Augustus got the excuse he needed to take out his brother-in-law. Augustus declared war on Egypt in
32 BC. Soon his navy was engaging with Cleopatra's fleet at Actium on September 31st of that year.
Cleopatra was aware that if her ships stayed too long in Actium,
Augustus would invade and annex Alexandria, so against her best judgment she and Mark Anthony
went home. Soon after returning to Alexandria, Cleopatra made futile attempts to flee to India
and set Caesarion on the throne. But her lover was depressed and ready to give up, on top of that
her attempts to negotiate and find a truce with Augustus failed. Augustus’s armies arrived at the
shores of Egypt in the summer of 30 BCE. Knowing that there was no way out of this, Cleopatra and
Mark Anthony both took their own lives after Augustus successfully seized Alexandria.
Ancient Egypt may have fallen to the winds of change with Cleopatra but it happened not because
Ancient Egypt was unfamiliar with such troubled times. It happened because time didn’t stop
knocking on Ancient Egypt’s doors after it took down every other cradle civilization of humanity.
Ancient Egypt was well familiar with politics and corruption leading the empire towards destruction.
The old Kingdom of ancient Egypt is the period between which the third to fifth dynasties ruled
the land of the River Nile. This was the time when Memphis was Egypt’s capital and the kings weren’t
exactly called Pharaohs. During the reign of Pharaoh Unas, in the middle of
the twenty-fourth century, the nomarchs, or officials, rebelled against the Pharaoh and
established autonomy in the central regions. However, by the time nomarchs took down Unas,
Egypt’s economy was in the gutter and the whole country was ailing with hunger and disease.
After the demise of many of its people, the food shortage and power crisis came to an end with
Teti taking over Egypt and establishing the sixth dynasty which would also be the first
dynasty of the middle kingdom. However, the start of the middle kingdom was shaky at best.
Egypt turned into a civil war zone and the decline of the population continued for another 200 years.
The upper and lower Egypt split again and the civil crusades only came to a halt
in 2055 BC as Mentuhotep II united Egypt again and laid foundations of the eleventh dynasty.
The 12th Dynasty of Egypt came to an end at the end of the 19th century BC
with the death of Queen Sobekneferu who apparently left no heir behind.
The nomarchs had an upper hand over pharaohs during this period but towards the 12th dynasty
their power started to decline, and this led to the fall of the Middle Kingdom. Soon, Egypt had
divided again and it was ruled by three parties. The Egyptians only had control over Thebes
while the Nubians had captured the south, but in the north, there was a new challenger,
Hyksos. Like the first Intermediate period, Egypt saw a lot of loss due to wars and exploitation
and massive corruption led to the failure of administrative institutions. It all started
with Egyptians setting up their capital at Thebes and as trade and immigration increased,
several Semitic people migrated to Egypt. Soon these immigrants rose in wealth and power
enough to gain influence in the system of the then Egyptian nation. The Egyptian people called them
Hyksos, or rulers of foreign lands, who brought destruction everywhere they went. And Egyptians
weren’t wrong, Hyksos ransacked temples, oppressed the weak, and abused their power, weakening the
Egyptian society and infrastructure from within. This could have been the very end of Ancient Egypt
as we know it but Ahmose of Thebes managed to drive Hyksos from Egyptian lands and claimed
the role of new Pharaoh. The reign of Ahmose of Thebes marked the beginning of the New Kingdom.
This was the golden age of ancient Egypt as growth and prosperity occurred all over Egypt as personal
wealth increased for subjects. In fact, some of the most powerful Egyptian pharaohs including
Ramses II, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Thutmose III belong to these dynasties. We hope you enjoyed
another video about fascinating Egyptians but if you would like to know more shocking events in
the history of other civilizations, let us know in the comments. Thanks for watching Nutty History.