History Main / AncientEgypt

* ''Imprisoned With the Pharaohs'', by Creator/HPLovecraft, is basically Indiana Jones (as played by CreatorHarryHoudini!) on a bad acid trip.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Standard practice for Pharaohs. This was because while the Pharaoh was AlwaysMale (with a few exceptions), succession to the throne passed through the daughter: the person who became Pharaoh was the man who married the eldest daughter of the senior wife of the previous Pharaoh (or something like that), meaning a lot of princes married their half-sisters to get the throne.
** That is in fact untrue, a 19th c. theory that has been very thoroughly exploded. The truth is that Pharaoh's eldest son by his Great Wife had first dibs on the throne followed by his younger full brothers. If there was no such son then one of Pharaoh's male offspring from one of his innumerable secondary wives would be tapped and usually married to the eldest available daughter of the Great Wife if there was such a woman. If Pharaoh had no sons at all he might select a trusted lieutenant as his successor creating him co-regent to secure his claim. OR a royal daughter might be in a position to claim the throne in an attempt to keep her dynasty in power. This worked once. Pharaohs apparently married their sisters not so much to secure their throne as because nobody else was considered worthy to be Queen of Egypt; because princesses were not normally allowed to marry men of inferior rank and because it kept the royal family united and strong - at least until and unless bad genes kicked in.
*** There was also a religious reason (or possibly excuse). The Pharaoh's family was supposed to be descended from Ra, the chief deity of Egypt (most of the time). Thus keeping it in the family meant less human blood to dilute the divine heritage.

* HistoricalInJoke: Comedies set in AncientEgypt often have a scene in which one of the protagonists knocks the Great Sphinx's nose off, leaving it in the form we know today . (Alternately, the story has it that one of [[NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon]]'s cannons blew it off.) However, the nose is documented to have been firmly attached at the time of the Arab invasion of Egypt in the seventh century AD (and detached by the time any Revolutionary Frenchmen got there). The most likely story is that a Muslim fanatic knocked it off about six hundred years after the Arab conquest--and then hanged by the Sultan for vandalism. (While normally being hanged for vandalism might normally seem like DisproportionateRetribution, most archaeologists and historians feel it to be entirely justified.)

* We can't forget {{Music/Dio}}'s "Egypt (the chains are on", also covered by Doro Pesch.

* A number of DCComics' legacies have their origin here: BlueBeetle, {{Hawkman}}, DoctorFate, BlackAdam...

Land of the original [[GodEmperor God-Emperors]] the Pharaohs, pyramids, sphinxes, and beautiful [[AmbiguouslyBrown brown-skinned]] seductresses with braided wigs and ''kohl''-painted eyes. Also home to fanatical bald priests in lapis collars and leopard-skin robes, who usually wind up being turned into mummies after calling down the wrath of the gods upon their heads (usually for getting involved with the aforementioned beautiful olive-skinned ''kohl''-painted seductresses in some way). Wretched slaves labour to build pyramids in the scorching sun beneath the whips of merciless overseers, despite the fact that the great monuments were actually built by paid labourers with their own guilds.

* Pretty much anything by Wilbur Smith.

* HistoricalInJoke: Comedies set in AncientEgypt often have a scene in which one of the protagonists knocks the Great Sphinx's nose off, leaving it in the form we know today . (Alternately, the story has it that one of [[NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon]]'s cannons blew it off.) However, the nose is documented to have been firmly attached at the time of the Arab invasion of Egypt in the seventh century AD (and detached by the time any Revolutionary Frenchmen got there). The most likely story is that a Muslim fanatic knocked it off about six hundred years after the Arab conquest--and then being hanged by the Sultan for vandalism. (While normally being hanged for vandalism might normally seem like DisproportionateRetribution, most archaeologists and historians feel it to be entirely justified.)

See also BuildLikeAnEgyptian, PyramidPower. For ''actual'' Ancient Egypt, see UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory.

* JonathanRichman and the Modern Lovers, ''Egyptian Reggae''.

** It also wasn't built by AncientAstronauts -- the plans have been found.

* ''{{Asterix}} and Cleopatra''.

* The ElizabethTaylor movie ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}''.

* Features prominently in Literature/TheBible. In ''Literature/{{Genesis}}'', Joseph ends up there after his brothers sell him to some Egyptian traders. He works his way up from slavery to prime minister. In ''Literature/{{Exodus}}'', another pharaoh has conquered and enslaved the Israelites, and Moses has to get him to let them go free. Elsewhere, Egypt is referred to, though often as a nation of godless heathens right along with the Canaanites, Assyrians, and other non-Yaweh-worshipping peoples, because of ValuesDissonance.

* ''TheRoyalDiaries'' series has a book about CleopatraVII that takes place mostly in Egypt.

* The classic {{shoujo}} manga ''OkeNoMonshou'' has a girl named Carol Reed thrown back in time, reaching AncientEgypt.

* The artwork of Music/IronMaiden's album ''Powerslave'' is an obvious homage to this period of time, complete with Pharaoh Eddie. And so is the title track.

* ''TheKaneChronicles'' takes place in the present day but has the Egyptian gods.

* ''Imprisoned With the Pharaohs'', by Creator/HPLovecraft, is basically Indiana Jones (as played by HarryHoudini!) on a bad acid trip.

-->-- '''GeorgeMacDonaldFraser''', ''The Hollywood History of the World''