Upper and Lower Egypt

Ancient Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper and Lower Egypt. The Pharaohs were known as the rulers of the Two Kingdoms, viz. upper and lower Egypt. While the labelling of "upper" and "lower" might seem counterintuitive, with Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the north, the terminology derives from the flow of the Nile from the highlands of East Africa (upstream) to the Mediterranean Sea (downstream).

Related Topics:
Ancient Egypt - Pharaoh - Nile - East Africa - Mediterranean Sea

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Lower Egypt is to the north and is that part where the Nile Delta drains into the Mediterranean Sea. Upper Egypt is to the south from the Libyan desert down to just past Abu Simbel.

Related Topics:
Nile Delta - Mediterranean Sea - Libya - Desert - Abu Simbel

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Today there are two principal channels that the Nile takes through the river's delta: one in the west at Rashid and one in the east at Damietta. In ancient times,

Related Topics:
River - Rashid - Damietta

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Pliny the Elder (N.H. 5.11) said that upon reaching the delta the Nile split into seven branches (from east to west): the Pelusiac, the Tanitic, the Mendesian, the Phatnitic, the Sebennytic, the Bolbitine, and the Canopic.

Related Topics:
Pliny the Elder - Pelusiac - Tanitic - Mendes - Phatnitic - Sebennytic - Bolbitine - Canopic

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Upper Egypt was known as Shemau and was divided into twenty-two areas called nomes. The first nome was roughly where modern Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih, just to the south of Cairo.

Related Topics:
Nome - Aswan - Atfih - Cairo

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The capital of the Middle Kingdom was at a place known as The Fayyum. This is an area of about 850 mile² (2,200 km²) of land that are wartered by an offshoot of the Nile called the Bahr Yusuf.

Related Topics:
Middle Kingdom - Fayyum - Bahr Yusuf

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Lower Egypt was known to the Pharaohs as To-Mehu. This part of the country was also divided into nomes; however, as the place was mostly

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undeveloped scrubland, the organisation of the nomes underwent several changes. Ultimately there were twenty nomes and the first of these was at Memphis.

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Taken together, the Two Kingdoms formed Kemet ("the black"), the name for the dark soil deposited by the Nile floodwaters. The desert was called Deshret ("the red"), c.f. Herodotus "Egypt is a land of black soil...We know that Libya is a redder earth." (Histories, 2:12). However, Champollion the Younger (who deciphered the Rosetta Stone) in Expressions et Termes Particuliers (Expressions and Particular Terms) claims that Kmt does not actually refer to the soil, but to a negroid population in the sense of "Black Nation".

Related Topics:
Herodotus - Rosetta Stone

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Egyptian history is divided into periods that reflect the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under one king. Intermediate periods of Egyptian history were times when Upper and Lower Egypt were not unified under one king.

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