Pass the mouse over the dots on the map for details. before 2200 B.C. : Predynastic period and Old Kingdom. ca. 2000 to 1780 B.C. : Middle Kingdom, including a few earlier years. ca. 1550 to 1080 B.C : New Kingdom. ca. 1080 to 332 B.C. : 3rd Intermediate Period and Late Period. ca. 332 B.C to 235 A.D. : Greco-Roman Egypt, from the Ptolemies to the Roman empire of the Severe.

Important notes:

On this map, the historical periods are marked according to 5 classes (table above). Select the option “Some dates" for more explanations about the egyptian periods).

This is obviously only a very approximate datation, and anyway many cities went through all periods from prehistory to nowadays, with times of glory and times of decline - in this case, we quoted them according to the most outstanding period from the historic point of view (exceptionally, two periods are sometimes mentioned).

Egypt has thousands of archaeological sites. Some show extremely well preserved monuments, others only scattered remains, but the most fabulous founds were often found in places which would today evoke only a "heap of stones" at first sight, and in addition some of the cities which were most prestigious disappeared sometimes without leaving any trace.

How did we choose those we show on the map?
Simply, by taking account of the three aspects, those which are significant because of their state of conservation, of the founds that were discovered there, or of their historical importance. We tried to locate them along the time, and if possible, to connect them to one another (for a city which was the capital of Egypt, we indicate for example which city was the capital before, and which was the next).