Here, we will learn about Egypt's ancient past, as well as some of the most important rulers and other people that made Egypt one of the world's most powerful countries thousands of years ago.

We can divide up Egypt's past into a number of parts, but it is important to remember that there is history, and the time before history, called prehistory. History is the period of time when humans made records by writing about events, while prehistory, is the time before people could write. Overall, we can divide Egypt's long past as:

• Prehistory - The time before writing
• The Dynastic Period - The time of Egyptian Pharaohs or Kings
• The Greco-Roman Period - Egypt ruled by Greek Kings and Roman Emperors
• The Archaic Islamic Period - After the Arab Invasion
• The Colonial Period - Egypt ruled by Europeans

During every period of Egypt's past there were a number of people who stand out from others. Most of them are kings or pharaohs, and the earliest ones that we know about were recorded to have ruled more than 5000 years ago. Because of the way the country was split up during ancient historical times, there could have been more than one king. We really do not know the exact number of kings Egypt has had. The kings were able to acquire some great power, and records even show that a few of the ancient pharaohs became Egyptian gods.