Ancient Egyptian Timeline

3100 BCE – 700 CE · 8 sites

All sites in this period

Continent Record

Oldest Necropolis in Africa

Pyramids of Giza

2580 BCE – 2510 BCE

The Pyramids of Giza, monumental tombs of Old Kingdom pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, represent the zenith of ancient Egyptian architectural achievement and religious expression.

Bronze AgeDynastic Egypt

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Continent Record

Earliest Known Site in Africa

Valley of the Kings

1539 BCE – 1075 BCE

The Valley of the Kings, ancient Egypt's primary royal necropolis during the New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075 BCE), conceals over 60 elaborately decorated tombs, including that of Tutankhamun, revealing profound insights into pharaonic afterlife beliefs and funerary practices.

Bronze AgeDynastic Egypt

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Country Record

Oldest Temple in Egypt

Abu Simbel

1264 BCE – 1244 BCE

The twin rock temples of Abu Simbel, carved by Ramesses II (c. 1264–1244 BCE) in Nubia, showcase colossal statues and a celebrated solar alignment; they were famously relocated in the 1960s to escape the rising Lake Nasser.

Bronze AgeDynastic Egypt

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World Record

Oldest Necropolis in the World

Saqqara

3100 BCE – 700 CE

Egypt's oldest major necropolis, home to the Step Pyramid of Djoser — the world's first large-scale stone monument, built c. 2650 BCE by the architect Imhotep.

Dynastic Egypt

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World Record

Oldest Temple in the World

Karnak

2055 BCE – 100 BCE

The Karnak Temple Complex, the largest religious site ever built, developed over two thousand years as the preeminent cult center of the god Amun-Ra, showcasing the architectural ambitions of dozens of pharaohs and the evolving political power of Thebes.

Bronze AgeIron AgeClassical

The colonnaded forecourt of Luxor Temple illuminated at night, Luxor, Egypt

Continent Record

Oldest Temple in Africa

Luxor Temple

1390 BCE – 30 BCE

The southern sanctuary of ancient Thebes — a colonnaded temple built by Amenhotep III and extended by Ramesses II on the Nile's east bank, connected to Karnak by a 3-kilometre sphinx-lined avenue and embedded inside a living city for three millennia, its innermost sanctuary repurposed as a Roman legionary shrine, then a Christian church, then a mosque.

Dynastic EgyptHellenisticRoman

The Temple of Isis at Philae on Agilkia Island near Aswan, Egypt

Country Record

Longest Recorded History in Egypt

Philae

380 BCE – 537 CE

The sacred island temple of the goddess Isis near Aswan in southern Egypt — a graceful complex built largely by the Ptolemies and Romans that was one of the last functioning temples of ancient Egyptian religion, closing only around 537 CE. In the 1970s the entire complex was dismantled and rebuilt stone by stone on a higher island to save it from the rising waters of the Aswan dams.

Dynastic EgyptHellenisticRoman

The great pylon of the Ptolemaic Temple of Horus at Edfu, Egypt

Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Egypt

Temple of Edfu

237 BCE – 57 BCE

The most completely preserved temple in all of Egypt — the great Temple of Horus at Edfu, built by the Ptolemies between 237 and 57 BCE. Its towering pylon, columned courts, and dark inner sanctuary survive almost intact, and its walls carry some of the most complete temple texts to come down from the ancient world.

Hellenistic