In the days when the Egyptians and the Hebrews ruled the ancient world, there was a kingdom in the desert that rivaled that of any major civilization. They were known as the Kushite and lived in what we now call Nubia. Archaeological evidence suggests that the first Kushite societies began to take shape before 3100 BC. Most of what we know of these people come from the ancient Egyptians themselves, however, the Kushites are mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the 8^th century BC, a Nubian king by the name of Piye took advantage of the warring rulers of Egypt and conquered the land, becoming the first Kushite Pharaoh of Egypt. Kushite rulers also built pyramids in the desert, but had their own style in doing so. Out of the 220 pyramids built by this amazing culture, 14 were made specifically for their queens.

One of the most powerful Pharaohs to rule ancient Egypt was not a man, but a woman who we know today as Queen Hatshepsut. When her husband, the Pharaoh, died, his only heir was a mere child. Queen Hatshepsut took control as regent, but when the time came for her to move aside for her step-son, she refused and took over the title as Pharaoh. Upon her death, her name was all but erased from the memories of her people. There were only a few places in which her name could still be found, but her mummy was lost to history. That is until April of 2007, when 5 mummies were studied and tested for DNA. It was announced in June of 2007 that one of the mummies was the queen herself, and was identified by a broken tooth found in a canopic jar bearing her royal cartouche.

If you’ve ever seen anything about ancient Egyptian writing, you know that they wrote in a style called Hieroglyphs. This is a pictographic style, based on earlier forms of communication. Scholars believe that all forms of writing began as early humans drew out their ideas for others to understand. There is a place online where you can see what your name looks like in Egyptian hieroglyphs. It’s called Prenom.com, and is french in origin. However, even if you don’t speak a word of french, you can still figure out how to see your name in hieroglyphic form. The picture associated with this post is my name spelled out in ancient egyptian. Give it a shot, and see how the ancients would have posted your name, had you been alive in their time.

The ancient Egyptians were one of the most advanced civilizations of their time. Though they lived on the banks of the Nile river, they were still basically in the desert. Yet, they were still able to thrive as any other nation. One of the things that the Egyptians are credited with inventing is beer. Not the beer we think of in modern terms, but a fermented liquid called Mead. Interestingly, this drink was not something that the men drank after a hard day at work, this was a staple of the common peoples’ diet. Men, women, and even children, drank mead with every meal. Though it wasn’t something one would find in the homes of much of the elite, it was common part of the Egyptian way of life.