The Egyptians were generally a peaceful and practical people. They spent time perfecting their arts and crafts and were excellent engineers and builders. The great Egyptian pyramids were built of stone. The stone was shaped by highly skilled stonemasons. In 1798 when Napoleon landed in Egypt with his army they discovered a large stone called the ‘Rosetta Stone’, which showed examples of hieroglyphics.

From time to time there were invasions and civil wars, which disrupted the early Egyptian way of life but leaders and rulers always sought to restore unity and peace. Eventually the Egyptians established professional armies to defend the country and people. The Pharaoh who was also the king and a God to the people was the supreme ruler.

The early Egyptians were people who first lived in the area through which the longest river in the world, the Nile, flows. They were among the first people to change from a food gathering way of life to a food producing way of life. Egyptians depended upon the cycles of nature, particularly the regular yearly flooding of the Nile to grow and harvest their crops and graze their animals successfully.