History Main / EgyptIsStillAncient

* Invoked in ''Literature/VivereMilitareEst'', an AlternateHistory story in which the revelation of the supernatural [[WeirdHistoricalWar during the closing days]] of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII leads to a UsefulNotes/ColdWar in which the world's major powers weaponize the supernatural. The political chaos of Egypt in TheSixties leads to the rise of a paranormal figure calling himself Akhenaten and claiming to be Aten made flesh (though WordOfGod is that he's something else entirely), telling his followers that the sorry state of modern Egypt is because the forces of ''isfet'' (chaos) have overtaken the forces of ''ma'at'' (order) and that it must return to the old ways. Upon taking over Egypt, he restores its ancient name Kemet, suppresses Islam in order to proclaim himself a new [[GodEmperor god-pharaoh]], and launches wars of conquest against Kemet's neighbors; while Israel [[BadassIsraeli (of course)]] successfully fights back by [[UsefulNotes/TheSamsonOption nuking Akhenaten's army of revenants]], and it's implied that while Prester John's intervention managed to save Sudan from Akhenaten's clutches, Libya, Chad, and Niger all fall. Kemet, as the world's most powerful occult state, becomes an inspiration to other occult groups, with Nizam-i Zahhak in Iran imitating Akhenaten's anti-Islamic rhetoric in its calls for the restoration of Zoroastrianism (albeit worshiping the demonic figure Zahhak instead of the benevolent god Ahura Mazda) and Word Of God mentioning a neo-Incan insurgency in Peru trying to do the same.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': ZigZagged. Mohammed Abdul wears an outfit inspired by Ancient Egypt and at the same time Egypt itself is portrayed as a modern nation.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'': Alfred visits modern-day Egypt to find a cure for his friend, a professor of Egyptology, inside one of the Pyramids. It turns out that the ancient Egyptians have preserved their culture into the present day and are maintaining TheMasquerade. These Egyptians return in a later episode, which provides more commentary on present-day Egypt and the manner in which flooding from the Aswan dam threatened to destroy the country's ancient artifacts.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'': Alfred visits modern-day Egypt to find a cure for his friend, a professor of Egyptology, inside one of the Pyramids. It turns out that the ancient Egyptians have preserved their culture into the present day and are maintaining TheMasquerade.

When people say the word "Egyptian" in popular culture, what pops into mind?

All of these answers refer to the [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory the ancient civilization of Kemet]], particularly the New Kingdom, which is considered to be Egypt's [[GloryDays Golden Age]][[note]]The trope's narrower name would have been "Egypt is Still the New Kingdom"[[/note]], and overlook its more modern cultures; for example, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} has been Islamicized for over 1200 years and before that was a Christian nation with a Hellenistic (Greekified) culture. For reference, England adopted Christianity at roughly the same time as the Arab conquests of Egypt, and that's ''twice'' the amount of time that Christianity has existed in the Americas. At present, over ''ninety percent'' of the Egyptian populace is some form of Muslim.[[note]]And the remaining 10% are typically some denomination of Christian.[[/note]] Egypt has undergone numerous radical changes since its Ancient period and was ruled by many foreign powers, yet, in fiction, it seems as none of these influences from the last two millennia ever touched the country at all.

A Western variation of this would be associating UsefulNotes/{{Greece}} with its [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece ancient roots]] as if they still worship the pagan Olympian pantheon, if not [[AncientGrome being merged]] with [[AncientRome Roman culture]], in spite of the nation being {{UsefulNotes/Orthodox Christian|ity}} today and having been a part of an [[UsefulNotes/OttomanEmpire Islamic empire]] for centuries.

Most commonly, Egypt exists in a form of pop cultural stasis where the [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel wardrobe]], themes, or even religion of AncientEgypt are all anyone knows about it. In a FiveTokenBand, or a [[AllStereotypeCast cast full]] of NationalStereotypes, the character with the gimmick of "Egyptian" has those attributes as their most prominent character trait. In other cases, the character is "modern", but still has no influences from Arab culture (or that of any prominent ethnic group, such as the Copts). Any references to these modern cultures are either severely downplayed or totally non-existent. Characters will usually not even speak Egyptian Arabic (nor Coptic which is actually the modern day descendant of the Egyptian language) but pepper their speech with Ancient Egyptian phrases.

This trope is '''NOT''' when one character in a plentiful cast of Egyptians happens to utilize an Ancient Egypt gimmick. It's also '''NOT''' for when the story [[PeriodPiece actually takes place in Ancient Egypt]]. It's for when Arabization, Islam, Christianity, the Ottoman and British conquests--or any other one of the many important parts of modern Egypt's cultural identity--is absent from portrayals of the modern population in whole or part, or when the sole "Token Egyptian" character has very few of those influences. If the character is a FishOutOfTemporalWater, lack of such influences is a given, so the character must be one of the few (if not the only) "Token Egyptians".

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': ZigZagged. Mohammed Abdul wears an outfit inspired by Ancient Egypt and at the same time portrays Egypt itself as a modern nation.

* Invoked in ''Literature/VivereMilitareEst'', an AlternateHistory story in which the revelation of the supernatural [[WeirdHistoricalWar during the closing days]] of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII leads to a UsefulNotes/ColdWar in which the world's major powers weaponize the supernatural. The political chaos of Egypt in TheSixties leads to the rise of a paranormal figure calling himself Akhenaten and claiming to be Aten made flesh (though WordOfGod is that he's something else entirely), telling his followers that the sorry state of modern Egypt is because the forces of ''isfet'' (chaos) have overtaken the forces of ''ma'at'' (order) and that it must return to the old ways. Upon taking over Egypt, he restores its ancient name Kemet, suppresses Islam in order to proclaim himself a new [[GodEmperor god-pharaoh]], and launches wars of conquest against Kemet's neighbors; while Israel [[BadassIsraeli (of course)]] successfully fights back by [[UsefulNotes/TheSamsonOption nuking Akhenaten's army of revenants]], and it's implied that Prester John's intervention managed to save Sudan from Akhenaten's clutches, Libya, Chad, and Niger all fall. Kemet, as the world's most powerful occult state, becomes an inspiration to other occult groups, with Nizam-i Zahhak in Iran imitating Akhenaten's anti-Islamic rhetoric in its calls for the restoration of Zoroastrianism (albeit worshiping the demonic figure Zahhak instead of the benevolent god Ahura Mazda) and WordOfGod mentioning a neo-Incan insurgency in Peru trying to do the same.