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Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt: Nile-valley civilization of pharaohs, unified around 3100 BC by Narmer, lasting about 3,000 years through Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms; hieroglyphic writing, pyramids at Giza and Saqqara, and gods such as Osiris and Amun-Ra.
Ancient Egyptian architecture
Ancient Egyptian architecture is the building tradition of ancient Egypt, best known for its stone pyramids, mortuary complexes, and temples such as Karnak and Luxor.
Ancient Egyptian conception of the soul
Ancient Egyptian conception of the soul: ka, ba, and akh, with body, shadow, heart, and name, forming the multi-part Egyptian person. Distinguished from Greek body-soul dualism by Zabkar; ka fed by tomb offerings, ba as human-headed bird, akh as united effective spirit.
Ancient Egyptian creation myths
Ancient Egyptian creation myths: coexisting cosmogonies of Heliopolis (Atum and the Ennead), Hermopolis (the Ogdoad), and Memphis (Ptah's creative word), all rising from the primeval waters Nun onto a primordial mound.
Ancient Egyptian cuisine
Ancient Egyptian cuisine: the Nile-based food tradition of Pharaonic Egypt, centered on emmer-wheat bread and thick, nutritious beer, with meat largely elite fare, abundant temple food offerings, and dishes such as molokhia and bouza that continue in modern Egyptian eating.
Ancient Egyptian deities
Ancient Egyptian deities: over 1,500 gods of Egypt's polytheistic religion, from the 4th millennium BCE to Christianity, including Amun-Re, Horus, Osiris, Isis, and Akhenaten's brief Aten monotheism.
Ancient Egyptian funerary practices
Ancient Egyptian funerary practices centered on 70-day mummification with natron, canopic jars, amulets, and coffin burial to secure the afterlife, from Hierakonpolis origins to Roman-era decline.
Ancient Egyptian race controversy
The Ancient Egyptian race controversy disputes the racial classification and origins of ancient Egyptians. Key views: modern-Egyptian continuity, Afrocentric, Eurocentric; modern scholarship treats race as anachronistic, citing genetic continuity and Mesopotamian links in the Nuwayrat genome.
Ancient Egyptian religion
Ancient Egyptian religion, also known as Egyptian polytheism, is the set of beliefs and rituals practiced in Egypt for over 3,000 years, centered on the king and the gods.
Ancient Egyptian technology
Ancient Egyptian technology: Nile-valley tools and engineering from Predynastic times to 30 BCE, covering pyramid construction with ramps and lubricated blocks, irrigation, papyrus, glass, pottery, and medicine.
Ancient Egyptian units of measurement
Ancient Egyptian units of measurement were the systems of length, area, volume, and weight used in Egypt, organized around the cubit, setjat, heqat, and deben.
Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso
Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso: UNESCO World Heritage serial property (2019) of five sites, Douroula, Tiwêga, Yamané, Kindibo, Békuy, preserving standing iron-smelting furnaces and over 2,700 years of production, with living blacksmith traditions.
Ancient grains
Ancient grains: cereals and pseudocereals such as einkorn, emmer, spelt, teff, millet, sorghum, and quinoa, largely unchanged by modern breeding; no official definition, higher nutrients but lower yields than modern wheat.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece: several hundred independent city-states (poleis) including Athens and Sparta, home of demokratia from 508 to 322 BCE, the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, colonization and trade, and the Hellenistic koine world.
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek: the Greek language from Mycenaean Linear B records (c.1450 BCE) through the Archaic and Classical dialects to Hellenistic Koine (c. CE 300), with dialect diversity, epichoric alphabets, and the Attic-based koine as written standard.
Ancient Greek architecture
Ancient Greek architecture is the building tradition of the Greek world from the 8th to the 1st century BC, centered on stone temples and the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders.
Ancient Greek art (Αρχαία ελληνική τέχνη)
Ancient Greek art (Αρχαία ελληνική τέχνη): pottery, sculpture, and architecture from the Geometric through the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC), defined by the Archaic-to-Classical shift toward naturalism, black- and red-figure vase painting, and ongoing repatriation debates.
Ancient Greek coinage
Ancient Greek coinage: minted currency of the Greek poleis and kingdoms from the late 7th century BCE, beginning with Lydian electrum, through Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods of silver-dominated, city-stamped coins until Roman absorption.
Ancient Greek cuisine
Ancient Greek cuisine: food and eating customs of the Greek world, based on the Mediterranean triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine, with barley staples, opson accompaniments, symposia, and Archestratos' first cookbook.
Ancient Greek dialects
Ancient Greek dialects: the regional varieties of Greek (Attic-Ionic, Arcado-Cypriot, Aeolic, West Greek, plus Pamphylian) attested from Mycenaean Linear B until they levelled into the Hellenistic koine.
Ancient Greek economic thought
Ancient Greek economic thought is the writing of Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon on household management, wealth-getting, money, and price, treated as parts of ethics and politics.
Ancient Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature (ελληνική γραμματεία): works in Greek from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century CE, spanning Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, drama, and Hellenistic prose, divided into Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods.
Ancient Greek philosophy (Αρχαία ελληνική φιλοσοφία)
Ancient Greek philosophy (Αρχαία ελληνική φιλοσοφία) is the philosophical work written in Greek over a millennium, from Anaximander before 500 BCE to John Philoponus, who died in 570 CE.
Ancient Greek religion
Ancient Greek religion: the polytheistic cult system of the Greek world, also called Hellenic religion, centered on ritual sacrifice, civic festivals, household worship, and sanctuaries such as Delphi and Olympia, with no sacred text, church, creed, or professional priesthood.
Ancient Greek sculpture
Ancient Greek sculpture, c. 900–31 BCE: Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic statuary in bronze and marble; lost-wax casting, kouroi, polychromy, Phidias, Polykleitos, Praxiteles, Roman copies.
Ancient Greek temple
Ancient Greek temple (naos, ναός, "temple"): a sanctuary building housing a deity's cult image, not a congregational space. Doric and Ionic orders from the 6th century BCE, Corinthian later; Parthenon built 447–432 BC.
Ancient Greek units of measurement
Ancient Greek units of measurement were the systems of length, capacity, weight, and area used by the Greek city-states, with body-based length units and the talent-mina-drachma weight scale.
Ancient Greek warfare
Ancient Greek warfare: military practice of the poleis and Hellenistic kingdoms, built on hoplite citizen-soldiers in the phalanx, plus naval war, sieges, mercenaries, and the hoplite debate.
Ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii: pre-contact Hawaiian society founded by Marquesan Polynesian voyagers, organized under moku and ahupua'a land divisions, ali'i rule and kapu law, with taro agriculture and heiau temples, ending at contact in 1778 and the 1848 Great Mahele.
Ancient higher-learning institutions
Ancient higher-learning institutions: pre-university centers of advanced study such as Plato's Academy, Nalanda, Taxila, Gondishapur, the Han imperial academy, and madrasas, and the debate over whether they count as universities.