The Old Kingdom CA. 2650 to 2100 B.C.

I visited Egypt in 2018 in a Cultural and Language Immersion study abroad program sponsored by the American Middle East Institute while I was a PhD student at Howard in African Studies. The experience was the opportunity of a life-time and most informative. I visited Cairo, Memphis, Giza, and Alexandria. The part most significance of the program was seeing the undeniable existence of people of Black African descent as founders of these ancient civilizations.

The Pyramids of Giza

The Old Kingdom was a time in the Egyptian civilization that produced innovative and tremendous progress that set the foundation for the Middle and New Kingdom that followed. Unification of the Upper and Lower Nile region bought about long-term stable governance. Advances in agriculture made it possible to sustain larger populations. Mastery of mathematical, scientific, and astrological knowledge led to the construction of the Step Pyramids and the Great Pyramids of Giza. The emergence of a written communication system, hieroglyphics, conveyed important information that could record philosophical and historical messages for future generations.

The picture on the left shows a statue of the builder of the second pyramid, King Chephren or Khafre.

Below: Image Gallery of the Old Kingdom of the Egyptian civilization.