Life in Ancient Egypt revolved around the towns and villages of Egypt which
nestled alongside the River Nile. On either side of the river the lands were green
and fertile but beyond these narrow strips of land the hot dry desert stretched as far
as the horizon. Once the harvest had been collected even the fertile land became
hard and dry under the hot desert sun. By late Spring, when the land was
desperately parched, the River Nile began to rise. The waters rose gradually,     

                                                                                                                                               
slowly creeping over the land until the fields were hidden from view. The Egyptian section of the Nile was 1250 kilometers from the first Cataract to the Mediterranean and was in its formative stage, much wider than it is today, and bordered by marshland and swamps.

  Each year the land which had been dead was given new life, so at the time of the yearly flood the people celebrated the festival of
Osiris, the god of vegetation. The pharaoh, the priests and the people sang, danced and performed plays in his honor, praying for a rich
and fruitful harvest. Osiris would give new life to the land, he would also give new life to those who had died, for he was the god of the
underworld and he welcomed the dead to his land, the Land of the West.

  Egypt has two principal natural resources. One is the Nile alluvium, the basis of its agriculture, and until modern times an inexhaustible and annually renewed source for the manufature of the mud bricks which for millannia have been the basic componet in Egyptian architecture. the other natural resource is stone, availible in such quantity and variety that it is an admirable medium for building and for artistic purposes. Expect for the mountains in the Eastern Desert, the land surface of Egypt, from the Mediterranean to the area south of Luxor, is limestone; from Gebel Silsileh to Aswan, some 63 kilometers to its south, there is a belt of sandstone nad st Aswan, the limestone and sandstone layers have eroded to reveal the igneous rocks of the old continent-granite, diorite and dolerite.

  Modern Egypt : There are cities and towns now that live along or near the Nile. About 99 percent, it is the most denesly populated living spaces in the world. in the mid 1990's Egypt had a population of more thatn 61 million, making it the second most populated country in Africa after Nigeria. There is a saying in Egypt: "Every minute in Cairo, one person is born and two more arrive by train." That expression is derived from the fact that Cairro, founded in the tenth century, is Egypt's largest city with more that 15 million people living in and around the Greater Cairo area.

The Great Pyramid: The pyramids of Egypt are the word's oldest and largest stone monuments. Pharohs from the Fourth Dynasty built the most famous pyramids. The largest pyramid which was built to hold the body of King Cheops more than forty-five centuries ago in 2600 b.c. Each of the four sides of the Great Pyramid measures 756 feet (one seventh of a mile) at the base. The enitre pyramid covers 13 acres, or 7 city blocks. This mountain of stone consists of more than 2.3 million stones that weigh an average of 5,000 pounds each. The largest block weighs 30,000 pounds. The tip of the pyramid is 481 feet off the ground- higher than a 40 story skyscraper. The building and equipping of funerary sites such as the Great Pyramid represented the largest industry of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Vast amounts of Egypt's resources were channeled into building these tombs. Kings would fill their pyramids with riches, food, furniture, and pets all to assist them in the afterlife.

  There are many God's and Goddess's of Egypt here are some pictures and descriptions of some of them.

Osiris:

Counterpart Isis. Over-all God from including vegetaion and after life.

Matt :

Goddess of Justice and Devine Order.  She is the true balance of any situation. She plays no favorites and will dipense justice to all parties involved.  Be sure your own slate is clean before you call on her. Daughter of Ra and the wife of Thoth. 

Isis:

Represents the complete Goddess or the Triple Goddess connotation in one being.

Bast : Goddess of Protection and Cats. Bast is great for vehicle travel as well as walking down a dark alley. Call on her essence in the form of a giant panther to see you through to your destination.

Nephtys: Goddess of Surprises,  Sisters and midwives.

Anubis: Guardian of Isis. Jackal headed God of Protection. Call on him to protect both home and person.

Horus: Head of a Falcon and body of a man. God of all-seeing eye and healing.

Ptah: Expert craftsman and designer. God of creative enterprise with the hands.

Thoth: God of Reincarnation. Also a Moon God and favorable to science and wisdom.

Hathor: Mother Goddess; mother of all gods and goddesses; Queen of Heaven; Moon Goddess; similar to Aphrodite. Considerd self-produced. She carried the Sacred Eye of Ra. The mirror and sistrum were sacred to her.

Khepri: He who becomes; god of transformation; the srab beetle, symbol of creative energy and eternal life; a Creator GOd. Although Khepri was known as GOd of the Rinsing Sun, he was also known as God of the Moon. Exorism, healing, new beginnings, gentleness, literary abilities, miracles, compassion.

Net: THe Huntrss; opener of the Wasy; Great Goddess; Universal mother; Spirit behind the Veil of Mysteries,. Her name means "I have come from myslef", or self-begotten. The Greeks identified her with Pallas Athene, who also had a dual role of warriorand woman skilled in domestic arts.

Pasht: The destroying aspect, or the Dark Moon of Bast. Known as the Tearer or devouring Sphinx. Associated with cats, particularly the black cat. Healer-destroyer of diseases; remover of obstacles and barriers, particularly if these are people.

Cleopatra VII was born in 69 B.C. in Alexandria, which was then the capital of Egypt. Her father was Egypt's pharaoh, Ptolemy XII, nicknamed
Auletes or "Flute-Player." Cleopatra's mother was probably Auletes's sister, Cleopatra V Tryphaena. (It was commonplace for members of the
Ptolemaic dynasty to marry their siblings.)

There was another Cleopatra in the family - Cleopatra VII's elder sister, Cleopatra VI. Cleopatra VII also had an older sister named Berenice; a
younger sister, Arsinoe; and two younger brothers, both called Ptolemy. The family was not truly Egyptian, but Macedonian. They were descended
from Ptolemy I, a general of Alexander the Great who became king of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 B.C.

Ptolemy XII was a weak and cruel ruler, and in 58 B.C. the people of Alexandria rebelled and overthrew him. He fled to Rome while his eldest
daughter, Berenice, took the throne. She married a cousin but soon had him strangled so that she could marry another man, Archelaus. At some point
during Berenice's three-year reign Cleopatra VI died of unknown causes. In 55 B.C. Ptolemy XII reclaimed his throne with the help of the Roman
general Pompey. Berenice was beheaded (her husband was executed, as well).

Cleopatra VII was now the pharaoh's oldest child. When her father died in 51 B.C., leaving his children in Pompey's care, Cleopatra and her brother
Ptolemy XIII inherited the throne.