Guides
Plain explanations that link to the rulers and dynasties they mention.
How to read a cartoucheThe oval ring, the signs inside it, and which of a king's five names it holds.The pharaohs in order: a dynasty-by-dynasty timelineNine periods, thirty-one dynasties and the long order of kings, with the dating grade for each.Who built the pyramids, and whenThe kings who raised pyramids, from Djoser to the Kushite rulers, in order.Women who ruled EgyptQueens who ruled in their own right, and the Ptolemaic queens who shared the throne.The Ptolemies and Cleopatra VII in contextThree centuries of Macedonian Greek kings in Egypt, and where Cleopatra comes in.Egyptian chronology: why dates differ between booksWhy one book dates Khufu to 2589 BC and another to 2551, and how the grades work.Write your name in hieroglyphs: the sound rulesHow the Desk turns letters into Egyptian sound signs, and why there is no single right answer.Valley of the Kings: which pharaoh lies whereThe royal burial ground at Thebes, and where kings were buried before and after it.