Line #46 Main/AncientEgypt


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4deb2855c94c0161c8a7bd45f8456f27.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Why are the pyramids in Egypt? Because they were too heavy to carry to the British Museum!]]
3
4	->''"Behold the glory, behold the wonder\
5	what we have made shall not be torn asunder\
6	Such vast achievement, scroll and papyrus\
7	beneath the gaze of Isis and Osiris.\
8	And the majesty, where the heavens smile.\
9	Jewel of history shining by the Nile!"''
10	-->-- Marketplace lyrics from ''WesternAnimation/JosephKingOfDreams''
11
12	Ah, Egypt! Vast country of sand, history, wonder and mystery, cut through by the nourishing course of the Nile. Land of the original [[GodEmperor God-Emperors]], the Pharaohs, who raised pyramids and sphinxes to say "LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair".
13
14	Venturing through this country, O Bold Troper, you will likely find [[IntrepidMerchant merchants from faraway lands]], wily thieves, ill-tempered camels, and [[AmbiguouslyBrown olive-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 loincloth-wearing 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.
15
16	Very rarely will it be acknowledged that "Ancient Egypt" spanned nearly 4,000 years. By the time of the New Kingdom era (starting around 1570 BC, and the golden age of Ancient Egypt that most resembles the fictional depictions), monuments like the pyramids were ''already considered ancient'', having been built over a thousand years earlier.
17
18	Often considered a culture so exotically different (especially in the field of architecture) to Western and Eastern civilizations alike that [[Franchise/StargateVerse some]] theorize [[AncientAstronauts outside inspiration]]. Ancient Egypt has frequently been packaged for export. If you're interested, consult Sally [=MacDonald=]'s ''Consuming Ancient Egypt''. This correlates with the fact Ancient Egypt has been the subject of American CyclicNationalFascination on two separate occasions: TheRoaringTwenties and TheSeventies.
19
20	See also BuildLikeAnEgyptian and PyramidPower. If Ancient Egypt is the object of SmallReferencePools, then you have EgyptIsStillAncient.
21
22	For ''actual'' Ancient Egypt, see UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory.
23
24	See also AncientRome and UsefulNotes/AncientGreece, two other famous civilizations that have significant overlap with Ancient Egypt, especially in the Ptolemaic era, and UsefulNotes/{{Cleopatra}} in particular always appears in stories set around this period. Also AncientPersia, one of its many occupiers.
25
26	----
27
28	!!Popular tropes from this time period are:
29	[[index]]
30	* AdaptationalModesty: Pretty much every depiction of Ancient Egypt downplays the prevalence of casual nudity. The lower classes went topless, and yes, this included the women. Upper-class women wore dresses, but they didn't always cover the breasts. Slaves and laborers typically went nude, as did children prior to puberty.
31	* AnachronismStew: The first contemporary use of the term "Pharaoh" to refer to the monarch seems to have first been used during the reign of Hatshepsut, of the New Kingdom Eighteenth Dynasty; the word (which literally means "palace") seems to have been used by patriarchal royal officials to talk around the fact that His Majesty (yes, ''[[SheIsTheKing His]]'' Majesty) was a woman. (Or maybe it was just changing fashions, who knows.) Either way, the usage persisted through the reign of her nephew Thutmose III and became common by the reign of his great-great-grandson Akhenaten. Despite this, some works feature monarchs before them being referred to as Pharaoh.
32	** This is far from the only anachronism that's common in fictional depictions of Ancient Egypt. Since the New Kingdom era was arguably the high point of Ancient Egypt (certainly it was in terms of military power and geographical extent) and included most of the best-known "Pharaohs,"[[note]]both before and after the term was actually coined, including the aforementioned Ramses the Great[[/note]] all of the earlier eras will often end up looking like the New Kingdom. Though aside from the Old Kingdom (since that's when [[PyramidPower the pyramids were built]]), most of the earlier eras are less likely to get depicted at all.
33	* AncientAstronauts: Often attributed to this time period, even though history and science have both marched well beyond believing in them. What you see in ''Series/StargateSG1'' is just similar, though.
34	* ArtisticLicenseEngineering: Ancient Egyptian royal palaces are uniformly portrayed as being built out of stone in fiction, making them look like temples. In reality, the palaces were made of mud-bricks just like commoners' houses were; stone was reserved exclusively for temples and statues, which were built to last forever as monuments to the gods. The Pharaoh's seat of power could change at any time, depending on where the current state clergy resided and where the capital was, and using mud-bricks was the quickest, most efficient way to build places for the Pharaoh's household to live. Expect this to be ignored in most works because of the RuleOfGlamorous.
35	* BrotherSisterIncest:
36	** With a religious reason (or possibly excuse). The Pharaoh's family was supposed to be descended from Ra, the [[TopGod chief deity]] of Egypt (most of the time). Thus keeping it in the family meant less human blood to dilute the divine heritage. This was also employed by some dynasties that were not of the native populace, for instance the Ptolemaic dynasty, who were ethnically Greek and related to UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat.
37	** Another theory suggests that marriages between siblings and half-siblings were about money. These marriages made sure that family riches couldn't be shared or claimed by outsiders.
38	** Yet another that the terms "brother" and "sister" used between married couples were actually terms of endearment (akin to "darling"), and incestuous marriages were mostly in royal and very rich families.
39	* CoolCrown: Some of the coolest ever.
40	** To start with, there was the official crown of the Two Kingdoms (which the Greeks called the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pschent Pschent]]'' after mishearing the Egyptian word "Sekhmety"), which combined the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshret Deshret]]'', the conical Red Crown of Lower Egypt, with the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedjet Hedjet]]'', the tall, ninepin-shaped White Crown of Upper Egypt. Certain texts describing/depicting the [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning actual coronation of the monarch]] suggest that the ''Pschent'' was never actually a single crown but was literally created by placing the ''Hedjet'' inside the ''Deshret'' on the new king's head. In the New Kingdom[[note]]And possibly the Middle Kingdom, records are sketchy.[[/note]] this was given added significance because the ''Deshret'' was carried into the ceremony and placed on the king's head by the chief priest of the cult of Ra (a cult based at the Lower Egyptian city of Iunu/Heliopolis) and the ''Hedjet'' by the chief priest of the cult of Amun (a cult based at the Upper Egyptian city of Thebes), thereby symbolizing the political and religious unity of the Two Lands that made up Egypt.
41	** If the king wanted a less formal look, he went with the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khepresh Khepresh]]'' or Blue Crown, which was a [[BlingOfWar Pimped Out Helmet]]: a tall rounded hat sometimes covered with gold sequins and frequently decorated with a golden uraeus cobra. The Blue Crown was a particular favorite of UsefulNotes/RamsesII, to emphasize his YoungConqueror image.
42	** Best of all was the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atef Atef]]'' crown. In its simplest incarnation this consisted of a pair of rams' horns surmounted by a shape like the white crown but in reeds flanked by ostrich plumes and topped off by a sun disk. This usually wasn't worn by Egyptian kings, being a specific symbol of [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Osiris]], the Lord of the Dead and god of fertility (and one of several royal deities associated with the concept of kingship).
43	** A fancier version of the ''Atef'', the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemhem_crown Hemhem]]'', multiplied the reed thingies and sun disks and hung cobras all over it. The ''Hemhem'' was so cool that their neighbors noticed and adopted it for their own; one of the most famous depictions of UsefulNotes/CyrusTheGreat, a relief at Pasargadae (in modern Iran), shows him with a ''Hemhem'' even though he never ruled Egypt. (Persia did conquer Egypt, but only under Cyrus's son, Cambyses II, about five years after his death.)
44	** What these crowns were made of and how they were kept on is mostly unknown to science; it's likely that they were at least sometimes made at least partly of cloth or dyed leather. Interestingly, some texts suggest the crowns (as in the physical hats) were passed on from generation to generation like the crowns of today's monarchies. It is possible that some of the more elaborate structures were mere artistic convention never worn in Real Life.
45	** The queens were no slouches either, having the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulture_crown vulture crown]] as their headdress of choice. It originated in art as an accessory in depictions of the vulture goddess Nekhbet, but became a real head adornment for Pharaohs' wives and high-ranked priestesses to wear from the Fifth Dynasty and onwards. It was sometimes combined with horns or the sun disc, and the vulture's head on it was occasionally replaced with the uraeus cobra.
46	* CurseOfThePharaoh: Their tombs are always cursed for some reason.
47	* DatedHistory: Although slavery existed in Ancient Egypt [[note]]and much of it may have been closer to voluntary indentured servitude[[/note]], it is generally accepted by modern historians that its crowning achievement, the Great Pyramid of Giza, was ''not'' built by slave labour, but by the equivalent of paid contractors who were mostly skilled workers (the equivalent, because the pay took the form of food and other supplies). [[http://www.ancientegyptianfacts.com/ancient-egyptian-money.html Money was just getting started as a concept]] and coins didn't come into common use until Cleopatra's time.). Interestingly, actual slave duties in Egypt were rather simple. Slaves were mostly used as cooks, maids, brewers, nannies, gardeners, stable hands, field hands, etc.
48	** There was a period in history, particularly during the time between the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt and deciphering the hieroglyphics, but later on as well, even well into the 20th century, when Egypt was widely considered to be the actual cradle of most if not ''all'' civilizations. It was partly due to the fact that nobody had the slightest clue what the hieroglyphics said, what the pyramids or Art/TheSphinx were for, nor anybody knew anything about the gods, the mummies or pretty much anything Egyptian that we take for granted nowadays. All that people saw was gigantic buildings and tombs left behind by a mysterious civilization, possibly well above the 19th century Europeans in terms of technological advancement. [[note]]Seeing as gigantic pyramid-shaped structures had been found in the Americas as well as Southeast Asia, it's rather easy to see where these ideas might have come from.[[/note]] In a scientific frenzy dubbed as "Egyptomania", lots of historians and archeologists maintained that the Greeks and Romans owed all of their knowledge to the Ancient Egyptians. It wasn't until much later that people started to analyze these assumptions critically, coming to the conclusion that, while undoubtedly advanced for its time, Ancient Egypt was no Atlantis of the sands and its direct impact on the classical European civilizations of Greece and Rome, while important, was limited. The ''indirect'' impact was much larger, but was filtered through several other peoples between the heyday of ancient Egyptian civilization (in the mid-to-late second millennium BCE) and the rise of Greek civilization about seven hundred years later. A prime example of this is writing: the Greek alphabet (and therefore the Latin alphabet, since the latter derives from the former) is a descendant of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but only distantly: the hieroglyphs were at first used to write a Semitic language by having the Egyptian logographic characters stand for Semitic consonants;[[note]]This is a little complicated, so to break it down: Each Egyptian hieroglyphic character had both a meaning and a sound associated with it, and moreover, some characters were used just for their (initial consonant) sound to make words. The Semites who cooked up the alphabet took the ''meaning'' of each character and applied it to the (initial consonant) ''sound'' of the equivalent word in their language. For instance, the ancestral form of "B" was originally an Egyptian character for the word usually transcribed as ''pr'' (and probably pronounced ''per'' or ''par'' or something like that) that meant "house" in Egyptian. The Semitic word for "house" is "''beyt''" or "''bet''" (as in modern Arabic and Hebrew), so when the Egyptian character was associated to a Semitic letter, it became associated with the sound "b".[[/note]] a different group of Semites then simplified the heiroglyphs but kept the sound associations to make the Phoenician abjad (consonantal alphabet), which the Greeks then modified (using some Semitic-only consonant letters to represent vowels)[[note]]The morphology of words in the Semitic languages means that writing the consonants and maybe the long vowels is enough for any speaker to understand the meaning of a written word--short vowels are generally used to create shades of meaning among related words in a Semitic language and can be inferred from context. This is true in other Afro-Asiatic languages, as well, including Ancient Egyptian--the phonetic mode of Egyptian writing also only used consonants, and it's possible if not probable that the Semitic inventors of the alphabet got the consonantal structure of their script from the Egyptians as well as the glyphs. Indo-European languages like Greek don't have this feature, so the Greeks invented vowel letters to compensate. (This isn't to say you ''can't'' write an Indo-European language with just consonants--several Indo-European languages (most notably Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Punjabi, and Sindhi) are written in Arabic script with implicit short vowels--but it isn't as natural a fit as with Semitic and other Afro-Asiatic tongues). Conveniently for the Greeks, however, the Northwest Semitic Phoenician language (and therefore the Phoenician alphabet) had about five consonant sounds that didn't occur in Greek, and Greek had about five basic vowel sounds. So the Greeks repurposed the "extra" consonant letters to represent their vowel sounds.[[/note]] to create their alphabet. The Etruscans then modified the Greek alphabet to fit their language, and when the nearby Romans started to write Latin, they modified the Etruscan script to create the Latin alphabet we know today.
49	* Myth/EgyptianMythology: Ancient Egyptians worshipped quite a few deities.
50	* EyeOfHorusMeansEgypt: Where the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus Eye Of Horus]]'' is being used to symbolize that something's Egyptian.
51	* EgyptIsStillAncient: Media portrays modern day Egypt as if it's still the New Kingdom period, with nary a hint of Islamic influence.
52	* {{Guyliner}}: Eyeliner was considered androgynous and both men and women wore it to make their eyes look bigger. And because it was made out of a substance that repelled flies. And because the stuff reduced the glare from the sun. A group of pyramid workers even organized a strike to get more make-up as eye protection.
53	* HistoricalInJoke: Comedies set in Ancient Egypt often have a scene in which one of the protagonists knocks the [[Art/TheSphinx Great Sphinx]]'s nose off, leaving it in the form we know today. (Alternately, a myth has it that one of [[UsefulNotes/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). Late Medieval Arab historians wrote that a Muslim fanatic (whose identity varies from one telling to the next) knocked it off about six hundred years after the Arab conquest -- and then was hanged by the Sultan for vandalism. (While being hanged for vandalism might normally seem like DisproportionateRetribution, most archaeologists and historians feel it to be entirely justified.) Simple exposure to the elements also could have done away with the Sphinx's nose. The entire structure has been slowly crumbling for the past 2,000 years and some ancient attempts at restoration have accentuated the damage over time.
54	* The {{Mummy}}: Shambling corpses wrapped in bandages.
55	** ChummyMummy: Mummies which are nice and friendly.
56	** MummyWrap: Mummies restraining their victims with bandages.
57	** SeductiveMummy: A female mummy depicted as a LoveInterest and/or MsFanservice.
58	* NephariousPharaoh: An evil pharaoh.
59	* PyramidPower: Pyramids possessing unique power or secrets, or harboring something that does.
60	* TheQueensLatin: Much like their Greek and Roman counterparts, it's rare to find any fictional work that has the Egyptians speak with their period-appropriate accents which means that English (usually RP) or any other accent is used for TranslationConvention between the characters instead.
61	* WalkLikeAnEgyptian: A stance or style of walking meant to resemble ancient Egyptian murals.
62	[[/index]]
63
64	----
65
66	!!Works that are set in this time period include:
67
68	[[foldercontrol]]
69
70	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
71	* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' Ancient Egypt is the origin of a few of the major characters, the [[MacGuffin Millennium artifacts]], and the children's [[TabletopGame/YuGiOh trading card game]].
72	* The classic {{shoujo}} manga ''Manga/OukeNoMonshou'' has a girl named Carol Reed thrown back in time, reaching Ancient Egypt.
73	* The title character from ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'' has an ancestry that traces back to Ancient Egypt.
74	* While she has not appeared in the series ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', WordOfGod is that the personification of Ancient Egypt was the mother of the present-day personification of Egypt.
75	* The story of ''Manga/ImGreatPriestImhotep'' is based on Ancient Egyptian history and mythology, with fictional versions of the High Priest Imhotep and Pharaoh Djoser being the protagonist and antagonist respectively.
76	* ''Manga/{{Aoi Horus no Hitomi}}'' by Chie Inudoh centers on UsefulNotes/{{Hatshepsut}}'s life and struggles as the female pharaoh in the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Comic Books]]
80	* A few villains from Creator/MarvelComics have their origins here:
81	** ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} was born in Aqaba thousands of years ago and taken in by a desert tribe with rather harsh SocialDarwinist beliefs. It was also here that he (of course) picked up technology from Marvel's resident AncientAstronauts, the Celestials.
82	** Kang, ConquerorFromTheFuture, spent a good deal of time in ancient Egypt as pharaoh Rama-Tut. In fact, he went back specifically in an attempt to recruit Apocalypse.
83	** The Sphinx was a court wizard to Rameses II until he was fired after a certain Hebrew mystic showed him up. Then he wandered into the desert and found a magic stone that made him immortal.
84	** The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Living Mummy]] is more of an AntiHero.
85	** Marvel's pre-Fantastic Four [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster]] stories featured at least ''two'' stories about ''giant, alien'' mummies getting revived in the present day and causing havoc.
86	* A number of Creator/DCComics' characters have their origin here: ComicBook/BlueBeetle, ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}, ComicBook/DoctorFate, [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Ibis the Invincible,]] the old wizard [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Shazam,]][[note]]Though post-Crisis, he was retconned to be a Canaanite, and the New 52 made him an Aboriginal Australian.[[/note]] ComicBook/BlackAdam...
87	** As the ComicBook/PostCrisis Amazons no longer had a fleet of air craft and a robust aeronautical engineering group in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' Diana got her invisible plane from the animal headed Lansinarians who used to hang out in Ancient Egypt and be mistaken for gods.
88	* ''ComicBook/AlbertEinsteinTimeMason'': Albert is sent to Ancient Egypt in one story to stop a thieving Nazi. Both he and the Nazi are captured by guards at the Gate of Duat, and brought before Cleopatra as prisoners.
89	* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and Cleopatra''.
90	* The Belgian comic ''ComicBook/{{Papyrus}}'', which also spawned an AnimatedAdaptation.
91	* The [[ComicBook/DieAbrafaxe Abrafaxe]] have an adventure during the Amarna period, where they meet Queen Nefertiti (''ComicBook/{{Mosaik}}'' No. 234-254).
92	* The eight-part series ''Sur les Terres d'Horus'' ("In the lands of Horus") by Isabelle Dethan, as well as its spin-off ''Khéti, fils du Nil'' ("Kheti, son of the Nile") are set during the reign of Ramses II. The main series deals with the investigation of various crimes that lead to a major conspiracy.
93	* The country Stygia of ''ComicBook/RedSonja'' is ancient Egypt in all but name, from the pyramids to the fashions to the slave labor.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Fan Works]]
97	* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13598286/1/Egyptian-Hedgehogs Egyptian Hedgehogs]]'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fanfic by Creator/GothNebula, takes place in 130 AD in an AlternateHistory timeline in which four new kingdoms of Ancient Egypt were founded after Cleopatra's death.
98	* ''Fanfic/{{Maat}}'': The protagonist is TrappedInThePast of Egypt circa "approximately 3016 B.C.E."
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
102	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', an animated movie about the story of [[Literature/BookOfExodus Exodus]].
103	* ''WesternAnimation/JosephKingOfDreams'', a prequel to the above film that tells the story of Joseph from the Literature/BookOfGenesis.
104	* It's supposedly set in ArabianNightsDays, but ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' has the aforementioned "character makes the Sphinx's nose fall off" gag. Art/TheSphinx would have already been covered over with sand by the medieval period, not still being worked on.
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
108	* Most {{mummy}} movies, including ''Film/TheMummy1932'', ''Film/TheMummysHand'', ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' and ''Film/TheMummy2017'', have scenes which take place in Ancient Egypt, considering it's obviously the location for the backstory.
109	* The Creator/ElizabethTaylor movie ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}''.
110	* The opening of the movie ''Film/{{Mannequin}}''.
111	* ''Literature/TheEgyptian''.
112	* ''Film/{{Pharaoh}}'', the adaptation of the novel by Bolesław Prus (see Literature below) is about a power struggle between a (fictional) young heir to the throne and the Egyptian priesthood, in the 11th century BC.
113	* ''Film/TheTenCommandments1923'' -- the first half at least.
114	* ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956'' -- which used so many costumes, sets and props[[note]]and a couple of actors, although [=DeMille=] tried to avoid this[[/note]] from ''Film/TheEgyptian'' that it created a sense of continuity unintended by the producers.
115	* The ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' movie got most of its mojo from here, and ''Series/StargateSG1'' expanded on it.
116	* ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' involves robots hidden in the Great Pyramids.
117	** Not to mention a giant machine for [[spoiler:blowing up the Sun]].
118	* ''Film/ExodusGodsAndKings''
119	* ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': The DistantPrologue takes place in 3600 BC somewhere in the Nile Valley, and En Sabah Nur rules the region as a god-king.
120	* ''Film/NefertitiQueenOfTheNile''
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Literature]]
124	* The most important sources:
125	** Creator/{{Herodotus}} spends a lot of time talking about Egypt in ''Literature/TheHistories''.
126	** It also figures prominently in Literature/TheBible. In ''[[Literature/BookOfGenesis The Book Of 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/BookOfExodus The Book Of 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.
127	* In the third book of ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'' there are parts set in Ptolemaic Egypt. They're backstory bits of Bartimaeus with his long dead, and much cared for, master...Ptolemy.
128	* ''The River God'' and its sequels by Creator/WilburSmith supposedly based in Egypt 1780 BCE, and follows a slave eunuch with magical powers.
129	* ''Literature/TheKaneChronicles'' takes place in the present day but with Egyptian gods.
130	* The ''[[Literature/TheVampireChronicles Queen of the Damned]]'' novel by Creator/AnneRice reveals Kemet (Ancient Egypt) to be birthplace (undeathplace?) of the original vampire, Akasha, the titular queen, although Akasha herself is not originally Egyptian. A good chunk of Maharet's story takes place in Kemet or around it.
131	** She also wrote ''The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned'', in which Ramses the Great and Cleopatra have both been made immortal.
132	* In ''Literature/TheRedTent'', Dinah starts a new life in Egypt with her [[BitchInSheepsClothing mother-in-law]] after her husband is killed by her brothers.
133	* The Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' sends up Ancient Egypt to way past eleven. Terry Pratchett creates a country where building pyramids is all and everything and which is up to 3,000 years behind the rest of the Discworld. It takes a gifted Assassin to bring it all crumbling down.
134	* "Imprisoned With the Pharaohs", a supposedly true story, ghostwritten by Creator/HPLovecraft, is Indiana Jones (its "author" Creator/HarryHoudini) on a bad acid trip.
135	* ''Literature/DeathComesAsTheEnd'' by Creator/AgathaChristie.
136	* ''Literature/TheRoyalDiaries'' series has a book about UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII that takes place mostly in Egypt.
137	* ''Literature/{{Pharaoh}}'' by Bolesław Prus
138	* ''Literature/{{Uarda}}'' a now-dated romance set in the reign of Rameses II.
139	* ''A God Against The Gods'' and its sequels by Alan Drury, about UsefulNotes/{{Akhenaten}}, his family, and their attempt to institute the worship of one God, Aten, the Sun Disk.
140	* ''Literature/TheEgyptGame'' by Zilpha Keatley Snyder has a group of children enchanted by the Land of the Pharaohs, pulling out every trope they can think of in a mix of imaginative play and attempts at re-creating actual artifacts and situations.
141	* ''Literature/MaraDaughterOfTheNile'' is set here, obviously.
142	* Creator/EstherFriesner's ''Princesses of Myth'' series takes a turn here with a duology focusing on Queen Nefertiti as a young woman. The books are called ''Sphinx's Princess'' and ''Sphinx's Queen''.
143	* ''The Lost Queen of Egypt'' by Lucile Morrison, with exquisitely stylized illustrations by Franz Geritz, returns to the fascinating 18th Dynasty and Akhenaten's family. Inspired by the famous golden throne of Tutankhaten which shows Akhenaten's daughter Ankhsenpaaten as a cheerful and lively girl, pouring perfume to anoint her mate, Morrison wrote the third princess as an athletic tomboy who ultimately found a way to survive. She also tells the story of the funerary mural for Meketaten, with its naturalistic postures.[[note]] You'll have to find a used copy, read the one online copy at the Internet Archive, or consult your local public library; no one has ever persuaded Morrison's estate to re-issue any of her books. The copies that exist are all that will ever be. When they're gone, that's it.[[/note]]
144	* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, it's mentioned that Ancient Egyptian wizards liked to [[CurseOfThePharaoh put curses on their tombs to mutilate Muggle grave robbers]]. Ron's brother Bill works in Egypt as a "curse-breaker," which is apparently the wizarding equivalent of being an AdventurerArchaeologist.
145	* Egypt of the New Kingdom era, more precisely the beginning of the 18th Dynasty, is constantly referred to in the Bronze Age series ''Literature/GodsAndWarriors'', and the penultimate book, ''The Crocodile Tomb'', takes place there. The Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos are vaguely referred to when it's mentioned the Perao (Pharaoh) drove away eastern foreigners with the help of the bronze provided by [[BigBad Koronos]] a few years earlier. The Egyptian gods are called by their Ancient Egyptian names instead of their modern versions which are derived from Greek versions.
146	* In ''Literature/{{Soulmate}}'', Hannah's second incarnation, Ha-nahkt, lived in Ancient Egypt in an unspecified time period, with a flashback revealing some of her life and her death in that time. In this lifetime she was a priestess dedicated to the goddess Isis.
147	* Creator/DavidGemmell's ''Literature/TroySaga'', one of the main character is an exiled prince on the run from Ramses. Egypt in general plays an indirect in the events of the series, primarily in the first book when it's believed Hector fell in battle in the real-life Battle of Kadesh fighting the Egyptians.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
151	* ''Series/TheCleopatras''
152	* Some parts of the ''Series/{{Rome}}'' TV series.
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Music]]
156	* Music/MichaelJackson's music video for "Music/RememberTheTime" is set in Ancient Egypt at the court of the Pharaoh.
157	* ''Music/{{Nile}},'' obviously.
158	* "Tutankhamen", "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion", and "Sahara" by {{Music/Nightwish\|Band}}
159	* "King Tut" by Creator/SteveMartin, produced during the "Tut-mania" of the 1970s when Tutankamen's treasures went on tour.
160	* Music/EarthWindAndFire used a lot of Egyptian themeology in their album covers, stage sets and stage costumes.
161	* 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.
162	** The Egyptian theme carried over to their stage set for the ensuing tour. It can be seen in their concert video, "Live After Death". The stage set was re-created for their 2008 Somewhere Back In Time tour (which coincided with the DVD release of "Live After Death") and can be seen in the documentary, ""Flight 666".
163	* {{Music/Dio}}'s "Egypt (The Chains Are On)", also covered by Doro Pesch.
164	** Dio's stage set for the Last In Line tour had an Egyptian theme, to tie in with the song. It can be seen in the concert video, "A Special From The Spectrum".
165	* Music/PinkFloyd's ''The Nile Song'' from ''Music/{{Meddle}}''.
166	* Music/JonathanRichman and the Modern Lovers, ''Egyptian Reggae'' and ''Abdul and Cleopatra''.
167	* Music/TheBangles, ''Walk like An Egyptian''.
168	* Both Richman and the Bangles, for those with long memories, were drawing on music hall act of the 1930's, ''Wilson, Keppel and Betty''.
169	* "Spirits Of Ancient Egypt", by {{Music/Wings}}.
170	* "Valley Of The Kings" by Blue Murder, led by John Sykes of Music/{{Whitesnake}} and Music/ThinLizzy fame.
171	* Music/SunRa built this trope into an entire concept. He claimed to have been born on Saturn and been abducted by aliens to come to Earth and spread a message of universal brotherhood so that mankind could be transported to another and better place in space. He mixed UsefulNotes/AncientEgypt mythology and imagery with space concepts in his work and laid the foundations for the ''Afro-futurism'' movement in music.
172	* The utterly bizarre (and weirdly erotic, especially for 1963) "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er8PN385PEA Egyptian Shumba]]" by the Tammys, Lou Christie's backup singers. If this did not exist, it would have been necessary to invent it.[[note]]If you were around in '63 but never heard it, you're not alone. Fans believe it was banned on a number of radio stations, mostly at the behest of the [[MoralGuardians Catholic Church]], which ''did'' get a couple of Christie's own songs banned.[[/note]]
173	''Music/NautilusPompilius'': ''Nautilus'' has a song about VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory Tutankhamun.
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Podcast]]
177	* The ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' episode “City of Pyramids” takes place in a world where Egypt was the only civilization to survive the Bronze Age Collapse. 12,000 years later, not much has changed. Well, apart from the new ice age and all that.
178	** “May His Kay Endure Forever” takes place in a world where a warrior pharaoh spread Egypt’s empire from Ethiopia to the Pillars of Hercules. You are sent to investigate his vast underground necropolis.
179	* The [[https://www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com/ History of Egypt Podcast]] is a podcast about Ancient Egypt's history, loosely inspired in format by Mike Duncan's ''Podcast/TheHistoryOfRome''. It's creator, Dominic Perry, is himself a professional Egyptologist.
180	[[/folder]]
181
182	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
183	* The Tomb Kings of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' are an {{exaggerat\|edTrope}}ion of this. The liche-priests told the pharaohs that they knew how to prepare bodies for life after death, ensuring them a heavenly afterlife. Unfortunately, it turns out they were only capable of raising them as mummies. Now the Tomb Kings war with ''each other'', as every one of them still thinks himself the rightful king of Khemri with a bunch of related usurpers to eliminate.
184	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' had plans for an ancient Egypt inspired plane for decades, and finally achieved it in Amonkhet. Uniquely, it is mostly focused on a fictional Egypt as a living culture rather than as the {{Precursors}}. Until Hour of Devastation rolled along and it became an Old Testament disaster movie.
185	* Several tabletop roleplaying systems, including (inevitably) ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', have supplements or setting books for Ancient Egypt or some very thinly disguised imitation thereof.
186	* Any proper TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons setting needs an Egypt-based area so the heroes can meet mummies.
187	** The TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms has Mulhorand as an Ancient Egypt-based locale.
188	** D&D's gothic horror setting [[TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} Ravenloft]] has one too, which might seem odd compared to most of the setting's 19th's century European vibe, except that you just can't do a comprehensive gothic horror setting without mummies.
189	* ''TabletopGame/{{Nyambe}}'': Based on ''sub-Saharan'' Africa, doesn't deal with the Egyptian-themed civilization directly, but makes it clear that yes, there is a fantasy Egypt-type nation in the northeastern part of the continent. As Nyambe is an independent d20 game clearly designed to be fit into the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms's fantasy Earth, the Egypt-themed nation in question would presumably be Mulhorand.
190	[[/folder]]
191
192	[[folder:Theatre]]
193	* Music/GiuseppeVerdi's 19th century opera set in ancient Egypt, ''Theatre/{{Aida\|Verdi}}''. It was adapted by Music/EltonJohn and Creator/TimRice into the Broadway musical ''Theatre/{{Aida\|JohnRice}}''.
194	* Creator/WilliamShakespeare[='s=] ''Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra''
195	[[/folder]]
196
197	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
198	* [[Ride/BuschGardens Busch Gardens Tampa]] has an Egypt-themed area, that's naturally based around its ancient roots.
199	* Ride/ParcAsterix (based off the Franchise/{{Asterix}} franchise) has an Ancient Egypt district, with its biggest ride being the rollercoaster "[=OzIris=]", which is built around the Egyptian magician Iris from ''WesternAnimation/TheTwelveTasksOfAsterix''.
200	* [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios Singapore]] also has an Egypt area, that's outright called "Ancient Egypt", themed around Film/TheMummyTrilogy.
201	[[/folder]]
202
203	[[folder:Video Games]]
204	* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI'' has Egyptians as a playable faction and uses the Egyptian campaign as an extended tutorial. They have powerful chariots, but limited late-game units.
205	* ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' has Egyptians as a playable faction, using cheap but weak soldiers, a variety of units based on Egyptian myths, and a Pharoah who can speed up worker unit tasks.
206	* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''
207	** Egyptian inspired furniture and clothing can be obtained in most of the games of the series.
208	** Ankha, a snooty cat villager, has a design heavily inspired by Cleopatra, right down to having a house that resembles the inside of a pyramid. Her species is also a reference to the fact that Egyptians worshipped cats. Her English name is based on "ankh", which is s hieroglyphic character that means "life", her Japanese name is "Nairu", which is a reference to the river Nile, her Italian, Korean and Spanish names reference Cleopatra, and lastly her French name is "Neferti", which is derived from Queen Nefertiti.
209	** Lucky, a lazy dog villager, is a BandageMummy who has had an Egyptian themed house in all of the games he has appeared in (except in ''New Horizons'', in which is themed after a graveyard).
210	* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' is set in Ptolemaic Egypt, during the reign of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII. It's much more recent and modern than most examples, though the spirit and aesthetic remain especially in the non-Greco Roman areas such as Siwa where the setting is more akin to the pre-Prolemaic period.
211	* ''VideoGame/BigKarnak'', like the title implies, is set in the ancient Egyptian city of Karnak, where you're a pharaoh warrior out to save your abducted brides from rogue Egyptian gods. Osiris serves as the final boss, by the way.
212	* In the ''VideoGame/CityBuildingSeries'':
213	** ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'' is, astoundingly enough, set in most of Ancient Egypt, spanning several dynasties of pharaohs. The expansion has you play as Cleopatra VII and build several monuments in Alexandria (and [[spoiler:veer off into AlternateHistory when you win the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Actium Battle of Actium]]]]).
214	** The expansion of the next game in the series, ''VideoGame/PoseidonMasterOfAtlantis'', has you visit Egypt and South America and build some pyramids there, inspiring the locals to do the same.
215	** ''VideoGame/ImmortalCitiesChildrenOfTheNile'': The main campaign is set in Egypt and covers the time period from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom. The expansion adds an element of UsefulNotes/AncientGreece, as Alexandria was founded by UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat.
216	* On of the common playable factions in the ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series are the Egyptians, who generally speaking hew to the ancient parts of history. For instance, in ''Civilization 5'', their unique unit is a superior version of the war chariot, their unique building is a burial tomb (provides faith and happiness, but is worth a lot of gold if an enemy captures it), and their unique power is to build Wonders faster.
217	* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' has four levels set in Ancient Egypt: Tomb Time, Sphynxinator, Tomb Wader, and Bug Lite. The fourth warp station is Ancient Egyptian-themed too. The levels feature many stereotypical traits like sphinx decorations, deadly traps like spears and crushing objects, and hieroglyphic drawings in the walls.
218	* ''VideoGame/AnEgyptianTale'' is set entirely in ancient Egypt. The player controls an Egyptian Princess who must avenge her father's death after the Pharaoh is killed by an evil cult who wants to rule the entire kingdom. It's a BeatEmUp game that's really, really shallow on plot.
219	* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth II: Art of Supremacy'': The first campaign is set in Egypt around the end of the 6th dynasty. While there are no animated mummies, one level features starving peasants so desperate for food they break into the tombs and haul out the preserved corpses to feed on them.
220	* The first world of ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'' takes place here. Appropriately enough almost all the zombies are [[{{Mummy}} mummies]], and specialized zombies include stone slab workers, a zombie based on Ra that steals sun, another based on Anubis that creates tombstones, a Pharaoh with a heavily armored sarcophagus, and [[AnachronismStew modern pyramid explorers]] carrying deadly torches.
221	* ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' has the Sandopolis Zone, which is Ancient Egypt [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace ON A FLOATING ISLAND!]]
222	* ''VideoGame/SphinxAndTheCursedMummy'', as could be expected, with several Egyptian gods featured as characters.
223	* Most desert worlds in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series are based on Egyptian imagery; the first world of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' is even explicitly based on real-life Egypt. The first major subversion comes in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'''s Sand Kingdom. The most Egyptian things are a Sphynx and some mummy enemies, but the rest is based on Mexican and {{Mayincatec}} theming, with a step pyramid taking prominence and an Olmec-statue god serving as the boss.
224	* ''VideoGame/TotalWarPharaoh'' as the name implies is set at the tail end of the New Kingdom of Egypt and challenges the player to not only survive the Bronze Age Collapse, but rise above it.
225	* ''VideoGame/Waxworks1992'' features a level set in a mazelike pyramid, chock full of booby traps, hostile guards, and [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakes and a crocodile.]]
226	* ''[[VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997 Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?]]'' goes through history chronologically. The first level is set in Ancient Egypt, circa 1490 BC. After the Book of the Dead is stolen by Carmen's thief, it's up to you to mummify Queen Hatshepsut's recently-deceased husband.
227	[[/folder]]
228
229	[[folder:Webcomics]]
230	* ''Deities'' has an arc set in Ancient Egypt where Chaos and Law/Order discuss the building of the pyramids.
231	* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', a flashback of a golem [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2018-05-04 takes]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2018-04-07 place]] in Ancient Egypt.
232	[[/folder]]
233
234	[[folder:Web Original]]
235	* [[RunningGag Repeatedly]] lampshaded in ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall''. Linkara points out all the traps and tricks and concludes that it's a death trap. Now when it appears, a picture of the pyramids appears with the Imperial March from Star Wars accompanying it.
236	* The eighth ''Literature/ChronoHustle'' story is set in Ancient Egypt. Jack meets Imhotep.
237	* The French {{edutainment\|Show}} ConfessionCam parody web-series ''WebVideo/ConfessionsDHistoire'' has an episode about UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII and the end of Ptolemaic Egypt. Once she dies, she's surprised that Anubis comes to seek her soul, as she believed she would face Greek or Roman gods. About the latter, Anubis reminds her that she's Queen of ''Egypt''. Also, Horus was supposed to come but he's on a day off, hence Anubis replacing him.
238	[[/folder]]
239
240	[[folder:Western Animation]]
241	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Papyrus}}'', a French/Canadian animated series adapted from the aforementioned Belgian comic book of the same name.
242	* Certain episodes and sketches on ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}'', of course.
243	* French animated series ''La Princesse du Nil'' (lit. Princess of the Nile) is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin about Ancient Egypt]]. It is specifically set during the 19th dynasty, during the reign of Ramses II, during Nefertari's time as Great Royal Wife.
244	* ''WesternAnimation/MummiesAlive'' has many flashbacks to the lives of the characters in Ancient Egypt.
245	* The fourth episode of ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois'' focuses on early civilizations, including Ancient Egypt.
246	* The people of ''WesternAnimation/{{Egyxos}}'' originally lived in Ancient Egypt, before finding a new home on a new planet.
247	[[/folder]]
248
249	----
250	!!Series that are influenced by this time period include:
251
252	[[foldercontrol]]
253
254	[[folder:Comic Books]]
255	* ''ComicBook/CleopatraInSpace'': A graphic novel depicting UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII flung millennia into the future after finding and touching a mysterious stone tablet.
256	[[/folder]]
257
258	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
259	* ''Series/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher2023'': The series contains many Ancient Egyptian imagery and allusions. With two of the main characters collecting many Egyptian artifacts and one of the deaths of the series being inspired by the embalming practice of dead Pharoah's.
260	[[/folder]]
261
262	[[folder:Webcomics]]
263	* ''Webcomic/TheGreenEyedSniper'' is a webcomic set in a parallel universe, where Ancient Egypt has influenced the rest of the world for a very long time period. All commercial and public signs are written both in hieroglyphs and in English. Several people, such as Sekhmet (see the characters' page for ''Characters/TheGreenEyedSniper''), carry Egyptian names.
264	[[/folder]]
265
266	[[folder:Western Animation]]
267	* ''WesternAnimation/CleopatraInSpace'': An AnimatedAdaptation of the graphic novel of the same name.
268	[[/folder]]
269

Context Main / AncientEgypt