This is a History Extra production.

From the secrets of the pyramids to the mysteries of mummification, ancient Egypt has captivated the popular imagination for centuries.

In this History Extra podcast series, we're looking back at this remarkable culture,

which has left such a significant mark on history. I'm your host, Emily Griffith, and I'm joined by

Dr Campbell Price, curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum. In this first episode,

we're charting the rise and fall of ancient Egypt, getting to grips with

the where, why and when of this long-lived civilization. Hello, Campbell. Thank you for joining me.

Hi, Emily. Great to be here. Brilliant. We're going to probably start by laying out the land here.

So we need to talk about the timeline of ancient Egypt. When and how did it start and end?

Well, it lasts a long time. Ancient Egypt is unique, you might say, in its longevity.

And I think it's seen by lots of people around the world as a real symbol of stability.

So the beginning point, much debated, is the appearance

of the first pharaoh, and we can fix that to about 3,000 BCE. And the end, if you like,

although we'll come back to why it's not really the end, is Cleopatra, the seventh Queen

Cleopatra, when she dies in 30 BCE.

So you've got three millennia of time. And I always like to remind people that Cleopatra the

seventh lived closer in time to us than she did to the building of the pyramids. So that gives you a sense

of just how long ancient Egypt was. That's an incredibly cool fact. Why wasn't this end technically the end?

Because, you know, historians, especially Victorian historians, like to talk about rise and fall.

You know, you have this great emergence and you have decline.

Human civilization, human cultures, human beings.

Society is much more complicated. So I think you have, I like to say, you have change more than decline.

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