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Description
I cannot possibly summarize the whole of ancient Egyptian history in one blurb. Egypt is one of the world's most ancient, powerful, and culturally consistent civilizations in history, spanning a whopping three thousand years of Earth's story. Cleopatra, the last proper Pharaoh of Egypt, lived closer in time to us today than she did to the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Traditionally, the history of Egypt is usually divided into five parts, each more creatively named than the last: the Predynastic period, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, and the Late Period. How is it I'm still scraping by busting my ass in retail when clearly there's easier money to be made on the naming committee? Ah well, let's go through these periods one by one and I'll try my best not to skim over the highlights.

The Predynastic period is mostly resigned to prehistory, legend, and archaeology. The oldest known examples of hieroglyphic writing are found in inscriptions from the city of Abydos, dated to roughly 3200 BCE, which was right at the cusp of the rise of the first Pharaohs. The Egyptian language itself belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family tree, along with Hebrew, Ge'ez, Amazigh, Hausa, and other related tongues spread across the Middle East and Maghreb. As this is an extremely diverse and often under-studied family though, this doesn't really help us get any closer to the origins of the Egyptian people. The oldest conclusive ancestor culture to the Egyptians in archaeology is the Badarian Culture, which seems to have emerged around the Nile River in about 4400 BCE. Interestingly, this roughly corresponds to the end of the African Humid Period, a time when the Sahara was not the liminal hellscape of endless sun-bleached sand it is today, but rather a lush savanna with large lakes, rivers, and a diversity of wildlife. North Africa actually goes through natural cycles of greening and desertification every few thousand years, and our ancestors have been affected by this cycle for literally as long as we have existed on this planet. As the climate grew hotter, the greenery retreated, and the great lakes dried up, the ancient humans living in this area had to huddle around the few tiny oases where life was able to eke out an existence. None of these garden paradises could compare to the mighty Nile River, a region so lush and reliably seasonal that it is the beating heart that keeps Egypt alive to this day. It was, in short, the perfect place to settle down and start building a civilization.

By 4000 BCE, the Badarian Culture transitioned into the Naqada Culture, and it is here that we start to get the first glimpses of the classic staples of Egyptian civilization. The Naqada period saw the first precursors to Egypt's monumental tombs: small rectangular slabs of masonry called mastabas which served as the entrance to an underground chamber for the dead. As for the dead themselves, the first mummies were created circa 3400 BCE, based on finds from the site of Hierakonpolis. It's unclear how exactly this tradition got started, but the desert is the perfect environment for bodies to be naturally mummified in the scorching sands, so it may have something to do with imitating that phenomenon. Interestingly, this development roughly lines up with the timeline given by the Ptolemaic priest Manetho for the myth of Isis and Osiris, which describes how the god Osiris became the first mummy after being cut into pieces by his brother Set. Really just a curious coincidence in the application of real academia, but the historical fiction writer in me looooves a tasty coincidence like that. Speaking of Manetho, his account of early Egyptian history switches from a dynasty of gods and monsters to human beings who may or may not have existed by about the 3200s BCE. He identifies the first human Pharaoh as Menes, a sentiment echoed by the Abydos King List. This Menes, who may or may not be the same individual named "Narmer" in other documents, was the unifier of the previously independent kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, and by extension was the founder of Egypt's 1st Dynasty. Finally, as we trace his eventual descendants and successors, we enter the historical record, and the Old Kingdom.

The Old Kingdom roughly corresponds to the 27th to 22nd centuries BCE, with exact dates depending on who you ask. It is during this era that Egypt reached new heights, literally. Djoser, first Pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty and the Old Kingdom as a whole, was the first to sponsor the absolutely ludicrous building projects which would define the grandeur of Egypt for millennia. Legend has it that when it came time to build a mastaba for Djoser, his lead architect Imhotep felt that this would not suffice for a king as grand as he. Instead, Imhotep did the math and found out how to stack multiple mastabas on top of one another, giving rise to the famous Step Pyramid which still stands today. Imhotep's architectural genius would continue to be expanded on over the next few centuries. Through many a trial and error, the Egyptians learned how to smooth down the step pyramid concept into a perfect geometric pyramid. This leads us directly into what I unapologetically believe is one of the greatest works ever crafted by human hands: the Great Pyramid of Giza. This is the last of the Seven Wonders to remain standing to this day, and it likely will continue to stand for thousands more years. This incredible monument was built as the resting place of the Pharaoh Khufu, who lived during the 26th century BCE. At 481 feet tall and 756 feet wide, the Pyramid's base is only 5 inches from being a perfect square, and the monument was the tallest building on planet Earth until the 14th century CE. It is an absolutely gorgeous testament to human gumption and engineering, and no, it wasn't built by aliens. I could debunk every conspiracy theory about that one by one, but I honestly think all I need to do is point out the audacity Khufu's son Khafre had to one up his father by building his pyramid structurally smaller, but built on a higher hill so that it looks taller. Only human beings are capable of that level of middle finger.

Ultimately, for all its grandeur, regional politics seems to have brought down the Old Kingdom. Feel free to insert your own joke here. The First Intermediate Period was a hazy time in which the two major power centers in Upper and Lower Egypt vied for dominance. In 2060 BCE, the Pharaoh Mentuhotep II finally brought things back under the control of one ruler, marking the dawn of the Middle Kingdom. As Mentuhotep was from Thebes, this began the city's rise as a cultural powerhouse that held sway over the entire kingdom. Admittedly, there's not many famous names or big events famous of the Middle Kingdom. Though, this is about the time frame when the famous Medjay were first employed as mercenaries by Egyptians. Originally, the Medjay were actually an ethnic group native to Nubia, and generally mistrusted by the often xenophobic land of the Pharaohs. Nonetheless, they came to be revered as elite warriors and skilled archers, who anyone in their right mind would rather have working for them than against them. This revelation would come in handy after the collapse of the Middle Kingdom in the 17th century BCE. It is at this time that an influx of Asiatic peoples known as the Hyksos "invaded Egypt without battle", whatever that means. These Hyksos immigrants came into extremely powerful positions in Egyptian society, before ultimately overturning the 14th dynasty circa 1650 BCE. The Pharaoh Ahmose I, with the help of Medjay mercenaries, launched a successful rebellion circa 1550 BCE that saw the Hyksos expelled back across the Sinai. What relation, if any at all, the rise and fall of the Hyksos has with a supposed historical equivalent to the Biblical Exodus story is unclear.

The historical Exodus, though, is an entirely different can of worms that if I try to open now, we'll be here even longer than we already are, so let's instead fast forward through all the famous names of the 18th Dynasty which was founded by Ahmose. The rise of this dynasty marks the start of the New Kingdom, and includes such recognizable names as: Hatshepsut, Egypt's most famous female Pharaoh after Cleopatra, and her step-son Thutmose III, a military genius who fought at the Battle of Megiddo in 1457 BCE and may or may not be the Pharaoh of Exodus depending on which Biblical chronology you roll with. His descendant, Amenhotep IV, was a delirious mad man who tried to abolish all of Egypt's gods in favor of his new god OC do not steal, the sun-disk Aten. He even named himself after his OC, changing it to Akhenaten. That's cringe, and he was punished for his cringe by having his name nearly wiped from all records. His son, Tutankhaten, being only 18 when he died in 1323 BCE, was easily manipulated into reversing his father's policies. To prove he was totally on board with bringing back Amun as the hottest cock of the block, the boy king had his name changed to Tutankhamun, before promptly dying of recessive genes. His tomb in the Valley of the Kings is probably the most famous in all of Egypt, if not the world, being nearly intact and full to the brim with such wondrous treasures that I would've called bullshit if it was in a fantasy story.

Shifting politics eventually brought the 19th Dynasty to power in 1292 BCE. This, along with the 20th Dynasty, is known as the Ramesside Period, probably because of all the kings named Ramesses, but hey let's not jump to conclusions. The most famous of these was Ramesses II, who reigned from 1279 to 1213 BCE. He is mostly remembered for battling Egypt's biggest rival at this time, the Hittites, crossing blades with them at the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE. Incidentally, this battle gave us the world's oldest recorded peace treaty, and since everyone involved is dead and their civilizations collapsed, I guess that technically means it's still in effect. Good job, everyone. Speaking of total societal collapse, the Ramesside Period was the last leg of the New Kingdom, because they had to contend with the surreal apocalypse that was the Bronze Age Collapse. Egypt actually got off lightly, you know when compared to civilizations like the Hittites and Ugarit which were completely wiped off the map by Sea Peoples, peoples from the sea. Still, the seat of the Pharaoh was destabilized, and Egypt would never truly again be the powerhouse on the world stage it once was. Most of the Late Period that succeeded the New Kingdom is defined by either foreign invasions coming up from Nubia and Kush, or shaky politics with the rising powers of Mesopotamia like Assyria and Babylon. This is also, interestingly, the time period in which we see the only named Pharaohs in the Bible. Pharaoh Shoshenq I, who ruled from 943 to 922 BCE, is actually the earliest person in the entire Hebrew Bible whose existence can be proven with archaeological documentation, though we don't necessarily have evidence of the relationships he had with the Kingdom of Israel as described in scripture.

Ultimately, Egypt was dealt a shittier and shittier hand over the next few centuries, until they were finally forced to fold when the Achaemenid shah Cambyses II invaded in 526 BCE. Pharaoh Amasis II and his descendants were all either overthrown and murdered, marking one of the last native dynasties to control the region for the rest of time. There would be uprisings, some more successful than others, but by the 4th century BCE, the title of Shah and the title of Pharaoh were functionally the same. Then Alexander the Great came in, flipped the table over, grabbed the game board, and proceeded to use it to beat the shit out of everyone in the room. After the Battle of Issus, Alexander was free to march in and liberate Egypt, as it were, by bringing it under his control. He even went the extra mile of trekking into the desert wasteland to meet the Oracle at Siwa, who told Alexander he was the son of Zeus Ammon, and Alexander's ego never came back down. Alexander was crowned Pharaoh, and when he died in 323 BCE, his body was entombed in his sparkling new city of Alexandria, by order of one of his generals, Ptolemy. Ptolemy managed to secure the pharaonic throne while he squabbled with the other generals over the pieces of Alexander's fractured empire. While his dynasty tried to appease the people by adopting the customs expected of a Pharaoh, even those taboo to Greek culture like… um… let's call it "intermarriage", there was still much unrest. Eventually, Ptolemy XII had to call in the support of Rome to keep his seat in 55 BCE. When he died, his successors, Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII would bicker over the throne like the teenage siblings they were.

Cleopatra took a book from her father's page by recruiting the aid of an up-and-coming Julius Caesar, and while Ptolemy died in 47 BCE, Caesar also died mysteriously in 44 BCE. Historians aren't quite sure what did him in, but it may have something to do with him getting stabbed 23 times on the floor of the Roman Senate. The world may never know. Caesar's death left a power vacuum in one of the largest empires in Mediterranean history, and many factions splintered over its control. Cleopatra threw her hat in with Mark Antony, but that led to both of them getting steamrolled by Augustus at Actium in 31 BCE. The two of them committed suicide shortly thereafter, with Cleopatra herself deciding to go out on the bite of an asp like the badass bitch she was. While Cleopatra did have a son, Caesarion, who was expected to succeed her as Pharaoh, Augustus was advised that "too many Caesars is not good", so he made sure that Caesarion would… stay out of the way. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Egypt was thus incorporated as just another province of the ever-expanding Roman Empire, putting the final nail in its sarcophagus once and for all. Technically, the office of Pharaoh was abolished, but the people continued to recognize the Roman Emperors as the legitimate Pharaohs up until Constantine came to power in 312 CE. Constantine was all hot for that hip new Jesus craze that was sweeping the Empire, and thus Christianity really took off in Egypt, severing the last cultural ties which kept the idea of a Pharaoh alive at all. This is really where ancient Egypt finally come to a book end, and I can finally put down this goddamned blurb to go eat some cookie dough.

Design notes, this one was actually surprisingly tricky. Most ancient Egyptian depictions of warfare tend to portray the soldiers in relatively simple garb, not too dissimilar from the clothing of your everyday schmo. Normally, I don't like portraying warriors as going into battle with just a loincloth and their bare chests exposed, both because… frankly I'm just too lesbian for that, and because it often rings of the colonial perception of "primitive barbarians" which I prefer to avoid at all costs. Still, when the majority of the depictions show the warriors like this, I can be persuaded to roll with it. There are a handful of depictions with heavier armor, though it often seems to be some sort of hide or leather. To be fair, leather armor can be extremely effective and relatively cheap to boot, so I'm not here to knock that. The weirdest part of the get up is honestly that tear-shaped cloth shield thing that hangs in front of the family jewels. It's big, wonky, and difficult to incorporate into a design without looking kind of dumb, but it's historically accurate so… there's that? The elite is mostly based on the armors that Pharaohs are often depicted in. They're these absolutely gorgeous pieces of scale armor that I have absolutely no clue how they're supposed to actually be constructed in real life but man do they look cool. The agile is primarily based on the Nubian archers whom the Egyptians often employed in their armies. These men were masters with the bow, and have a shared history with the aforementioned Medjay. Not gonna lie, kinda wished we'd gotten more lore on the Medjay based on their real history in Assassin's Creed: Origins, but oh well, I can't always get what I want. At least I get to crawl around in an archaeologist's wet dream.

Description
I cannot possibly summarize the whole of ancient Egyptian history in one blurb. Egypt is one of the world's most ancient, powerful, and culturally consistent civilizations in history, spanning a whopping three thousand years of Earth's story. Cleopatra, the last proper Pharaoh of Egypt, lived closer in time to us today than she did to the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Traditionally, the history of Egypt is usually divided into five parts, each more creatively named than the last: the Predynastic period, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, and the Late Period. How is it I'm still scraping by busting my ass in retail when clearly there's easier money to be made on the naming committee? Ah well, let's go through these periods one by one and I'll try my best not to skim over the highlights.

The Predynastic period is mostly resigned to prehistory, legend, and archaeology. The oldest known examples of hieroglyphic writing are found in inscriptions from the city of Abydos, dated to roughly 3200 BCE, which was right at the cusp of the rise of the first Pharaohs. The Egyptian language itself belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family tree, along with Hebrew, Ge'ez, Amazigh, Hausa, and other related tongues spread across the Middle East and Maghreb. As this is an extremely diverse and often under-studied family though, this doesn't really help us get any closer to the origins of the Egyptian people. The oldest conclusive ancestor culture to the Egyptians in archaeology is the Badarian Culture, which seems to have emerged around the Nile River in about 4400 BCE. Interestingly, this roughly corresponds to the end of the African Humid Period, a time when the Sahara was not the liminal hellscape of endless sun-bleached sand it is today, but rather a lush savanna with large lakes, rivers, and a diversity of wildlife. North Africa actually goes through natural cycles of greening and desertification every few thousand years, and our ancestors have been affected by this cycle for literally as long as we have existed on this planet. As the climate grew hotter, the greenery retreated, and the great lakes dried up, the ancient humans living in this area had to huddle around the few tiny oases where life was able to eke out an existence. None of these garden paradises could compare to the mighty Nile River, a region so lush and reliably seasonal that it is the beating heart that keeps Egypt alive to this day. It was, in short, the perfect place to settle down and start building a civilization.

By 4000 BCE, the Badarian Culture transitioned into the Naqada Culture, and it is here that we start to get the first glimpses of the classic staples of Egyptian civilization. The Naqada period saw the first precursors to Egypt's monumental tombs: small rectangular slabs of masonry called mastabas which served as the entrance to an underground chamber for the dead. As for the dead themselves, the first mummies were created circa 3400 BCE, based on finds from the site of Hierakonpolis. It's unclear how exactly this tradition got started, but the desert is the perfect environment for bodies to be naturally mummified in the scorching sands, so it may have something to do with imitating that phenomenon. Interestingly, this development roughly lines up with the timeline given by the Ptolemaic priest Manetho for the myth of Isis and Osiris, which describes how the god Osiris became the first mummy after being cut into pieces by his brother Set. Really just a curious coincidence in the application of real academia, but the historical fiction writer in me looooves a tasty coincidence like that. Speaking of Manetho, his account of early Egyptian history switches from a dynasty of gods and monsters to human beings who may or may not have existed by about the 3200s BCE. He identifies the first human Pharaoh as Menes, a sentiment echoed by the Abydos King List. This Menes, who may or may not be the same individual named "Narmer" in other documents, was the unifier of the previously independent kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, and by extension was the founder of Egypt's 1st Dynasty. Finally, as we trace his eventual descendants and successors, we enter the historical record, and the Old Kingdom.

The Old Kingdom roughly corresponds to the 27th to 22nd centuries BCE, with exact dates depending on who you ask. It is during this era that Egypt reached new heights, literally. Djoser, first Pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty and the Old Kingdom as a whole, was the first to sponsor the absolutely ludicrous building projects which would define the grandeur of Egypt for millennia. Legend has it that when it came time to build a mastaba for Djoser, his lead architect Imhotep felt that this would not suffice for a king as grand as he. Instead, Imhotep did the math and found out how to stack multiple mastabas on top of one another, giving rise to the famous Step Pyramid which still stands today. Imhotep's architectural genius would continue to be expanded on over the next few centuries. Through many a trial and error, the Egyptians learned how to smooth down the step pyramid concept into a perfect geometric pyramid. This leads us directly into what I unapologetically believe is one of the greatest works ever crafted by human hands: the Great Pyramid of Giza. This is the last of the Seven Wonders to remain standing to this day, and it likely will continue to stand for thousands more years. This incredible monument was built as the resting place of the Pharaoh Khufu, who lived during the 26th century BCE. At 481 feet tall and 756 feet wide, the Pyramid's base is only 5 inches from being a perfect square, and the monument was the tallest building on planet Earth until the 14th century CE. It is an absolutely gorgeous testament to human gumption and engineering, and no, it wasn't built by aliens. I could debunk every conspiracy theory about that one by one, but I honestly think all I need to do is point out the audacity Khufu's son Khafre had to one up his father by building his pyramid structurally smaller, but built on a higher hill so that it looks taller. Only human beings are capable of that level of middle finger.

Ultimately, for all its grandeur, regional politics seems to have brought down the Old Kingdom. Feel free to insert your own joke here. The First Intermediate Period was a hazy time in which the two major power centers in Upper and Lower Egypt vied for dominance. In 2060 BCE, the Pharaoh Mentuhotep II finally brought things back under the control of one ruler, marking the dawn of the Middle Kingdom. As Mentuhotep was from Thebes, this began the city's rise as a cultural powerhouse that held sway over the entire kingdom. Admittedly, there's not many famous names or big events famous of the Middle Kingdom. Though, this is about the time frame when the famous Medjay were first employed as mercenaries by Egyptians. Originally, the Medjay were actually an ethnic group native to Nubia, and generally mistrusted by the often xenophobic land of the Pharaohs. Nonetheless, they came to be revered as elite warriors and skilled archers, who anyone in their right mind would rather have working for them than against them. This revelation would come in handy after the collapse of the Middle Kingdom in the 17th century BCE. It is at this time that an influx of Asiatic peoples known as the Hyksos "invaded Egypt without battle", whatever that means. These Hyksos immigrants came into extremely powerful positions in Egyptian society, before ultimately overturning the 14th dynasty circa 1650 BCE. The Pharaoh Ahmose I, with the help of Medjay mercenaries, launched a successful rebellion circa 1550 BCE that saw the Hyksos expelled back across the Sinai. What relation, if any at all, the rise and fall of the Hyksos has with a supposed historical equivalent to the Biblical Exodus story is unclear.

The historical Exodus, though, is an entirely different can of worms that if I try to open now, we'll be here even longer than we already are, so let's instead fast forward through all the famous names of the 18th Dynasty which was founded by Ahmose. The rise of this dynasty marks the start of the New Kingdom, and includes such recognizable names as: Hatshepsut, Egypt's most famous female Pharaoh after Cleopatra, and her step-son Thutmose III, a military genius who fought at the Battle of Megiddo in 1457 BCE and may or may not be the Pharaoh of Exodus depending on which Biblical chronology you roll with. His descendant, Amenhotep IV, was a delirious mad man who tried to abolish all of Egypt's gods in favor of his new god OC do not steal, the sun-disk Aten. He even named himself after his OC, changing it to Akhenaten. That's cringe, and he was punished for his cringe by having his name nearly wiped from all records. His son, Tutankhaten, being only 18 when he died in 1323 BCE, was easily manipulated into reversing his father's policies. To prove he was totally on board with bringing back Amun as the hottest cock of the block, the boy king had his name changed to Tutankhamun, before promptly dying of recessive genes. His tomb in the Valley of the Kings is probably the most famous in all of Egypt, if not the world, being nearly intact and full to the brim with such wondrous treasures that I would've called bullshit if it was in a fantasy story.

Shifting politics eventually brought the 19th Dynasty to power in 1292 BCE. This, along with the 20th Dynasty, is known as the Ramesside Period, probably because of all the kings named Ramesses, but hey let's not jump to conclusions. The most famous of these was Ramesses II, who reigned from 1279 to 1213 BCE. He is mostly remembered for battling Egypt's biggest rival at this time, the Hittites, crossing blades with them at the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE. Incidentally, this battle gave us the world's oldest recorded peace treaty, and since everyone involved is dead and their civilizations collapsed, I guess that technically means it's still in effect. Good job, everyone. Speaking of total societal collapse, the Ramesside Period was the last leg of the New Kingdom, because they had to contend with the surreal apocalypse that was the Bronze Age Collapse. Egypt actually got off lightly, you know when compared to civilizations like the Hittites and Ugarit which were completely wiped off the map by Sea Peoples, peoples from the sea. Still, the seat of the Pharaoh was destabilized, and Egypt would never truly again be the powerhouse on the world stage it once was. Most of the Late Period that succeeded the New Kingdom is defined by either foreign invasions coming up from Nubia and Kush, or shaky politics with the rising powers of Mesopotamia like Assyria and Babylon. This is also, interestingly, the time period in which we see the only named Pharaohs in the Bible. Pharaoh Shoshenq I, who ruled from 943 to 922 BCE, is actually the earliest person in the entire Hebrew Bible whose existence can be proven with archaeological documentation, though we don't necessarily have evidence of the relationships he had with the Kingdom of Israel as described in scripture.

Ultimately, Egypt was dealt a shittier and shittier hand over the next few centuries, until they were finally forced to fold when the Achaemenid shah Cambyses II invaded in 526 BCE. Pharaoh Amasis II and his descendants were all either overthrown and murdered, marking one of the last native dynasties to control the region for the rest of time. There would be uprisings, some more successful than others, but by the 4th century BCE, the title of Shah and the title of Pharaoh were functionally the same. Then Alexander the Great came in, flipped the table over, grabbed the game board, and proceeded to use it to beat the shit out of everyone in the room. After the Battle of Issus, Alexander was free to march in and liberate Egypt, as it were, by bringing it under his control. He even went the extra mile of trekking into the desert wasteland to meet the Oracle at Siwa, who told Alexander he was the son of Zeus Ammon, and Alexander's ego never came back down. Alexander was crowned Pharaoh, and when he died in 323 BCE, his body was entombed in his sparkling new city of Alexandria, by order of one of his generals, Ptolemy. Ptolemy managed to secure the pharaonic throne while he squabbled with the other generals over the pieces of Alexander's fractured empire. While his dynasty tried to appease the people by adopting the customs expected of a Pharaoh, even those taboo to Greek culture like… um… let's call it "intermarriage", there was still much unrest. Eventually, Ptolemy XII had to call in the support of Rome to keep his seat in 55 BCE. When he died, his successors, Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII would bicker over the throne like the teenage siblings they were.

Cleopatra took a book from her father's page by recruiting the aid of an up-and-coming Julius Caesar, and while Ptolemy died in 47 BCE, Caesar also died mysteriously in 44 BCE. Historians aren't quite sure what did him in, but it may have something to do with him getting stabbed 23 times on the floor of the Roman Senate. The world may never know. Caesar's death left a power vacuum in one of the largest empires in Mediterranean history, and many factions splintered over its control. Cleopatra threw her hat in with Mark Antony, but that led to both of them getting steamrolled by Augustus at Actium in 31 BCE. The two of them committed suicide shortly thereafter, with Cleopatra herself deciding to go out on the bite of an asp like the badass bitch she was. While Cleopatra did have a son, Caesarion, who was expected to succeed her as Pharaoh, Augustus was advised that "too many Caesars is not good", so he made sure that Caesarion would… stay out of the way. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Egypt was thus incorporated as just another province of the ever-expanding Roman Empire, putting the final nail in its sarcophagus once and for all. Technically, the office of Pharaoh was abolished, but the people continued to recognize the Roman Emperors as the legitimate Pharaohs up until Constantine came to power in 312 CE. Constantine was all hot for that hip new Jesus craze that was sweeping the Empire, and thus Christianity really took off in Egypt, severing the last cultural ties which kept the idea of a Pharaoh alive at all. This is really where ancient Egypt finally come to a book end, and I can finally put down this goddamned blurb to go eat some cookie dough.

Design notes, this one was actually surprisingly tricky. Most ancient Egyptian depictions of warfare tend to portray the soldiers in relatively simple garb, not too dissimilar from the clothing of your everyday schmo. Normally, I don't like portraying warriors as going into battle with just a loincloth and their bare chests exposed, both because… frankly I'm just too lesbian for that, and because it often rings of the colonial perception of "primitive barbarians" which I prefer to avoid at all costs. Still, when the majority of the depictions show the warriors like this, I can be persuaded to roll with it. There are a handful of depictions with heavier armor, though it often seems to be some sort of hide or leather. To be fair, leather armor can be extremely effective and relatively cheap to boot, so I'm not here to knock that. The weirdest part of the get up is honestly that tear-shaped cloth shield thing that hangs in front of the family jewels. It's big, wonky, and difficult to incorporate into a design without looking kind of dumb, but it's historically accurate so… there's that? The elite is mostly based on the armors that Pharaohs are often depicted in. They're these absolutely gorgeous pieces of scale armor that I have absolutely no clue how they're supposed to actually be constructed in real life but man do they look cool. The agile is primarily based on the Nubian archers whom the Egyptians often employed in their armies. These men were masters with the bow, and have a shared history with the aforementioned Medjay. Not gonna lie, kinda wished we'd gotten more lore on the Medjay based on their real history in Assassin's Creed: Origins, but oh well, I can't always get what I want. At least I get to crawl around in an archaeologist's wet dream.