Ancient Egypt

The Egyptian calendar, which was 365 days long and started on the day that Sirius rose in line with the sun, was instituted around 4,241 B.C. [ Calendars | Ancient Egypt ] (source)

The great Egyptian architect Imhotep, who lived almost 5,000 years ago, is the earliest scientist who is known by name today. We also know the names of other Egyptian architects, scientists, and mathematicians, such as the scribe Ahmes. On the other hand, China, Sumeria, and Babylon did not record the names of their early scientists. [ Ancient Civilisations | Ancient Egypt ] (source)

The tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops) has not been found in his pyramid. It is not known if it is in an unexplored chamber in the tomb, if he was buried in a secret place, or if died in such a manner that his body was lost. (source)

The use of cosmetics dates from around 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Their original use was to protect skin from sunlight, rather than for beauty care. (source)

Hatshepshut (reigned circa 1494–1482 B.C.) was not the only female pharaoh of Egypt nor the first. Sobeknefru reigned from approximately 1790–1782 B.C., and there is evidence to suggest that Nitokris reigned from around 2184–2181 B.C.

The Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) at Giza, built around 2,570 B.C., used 2,300,000 huge stone blocks, weighing 7 million tons in total.

In terms of volume, the largest pyramid in the world is in Mexico. Called Quetzalcoatl, it was built around the year 100 by the Maya out of sun-dried bricks and earth. Although only 177 feet high, less than 40% of the height of Egypt's Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) at Giza, it covers an area of 45 acres. In contrast, the Great Pyramid is 480 feet high but covers an area of "only" 13 acres. It has been estimated that the Mexican pyramid is a million cubic yards greater in volume than the Great Pyramid. [ Ancient Egypt | Incas, Aztecs, and Maya ]

There are cavities in the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) at Giza, possibly totalling up to 15 to 20 per cent of the structure, that appear to contain sand, not from the site of the pyramid but from another part of Egypt. (source)

The pyramids of Egypt, the oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world, are the only one of those wonders to survive to the present day.

The earliest last will known was made by Nek'ure (died circa 2601 B.C.), the son of the Egyptian Pharaoh Khafre. It was carved on his tomb. Beginning with the assertion that Nek'ure had made his decisions about his property "while living upon his two feet and not ailing in any respect", it goes on to dispose of 14 towns and two estates to his wife, three children, and another female. [ Lasts | Ancient Egypt ] (source)

Pharaoh Pepi II of Egypt, who reigned from around 2294 B.C. to about 2220 B.C., had the longest known reign of any monarch (74 years). Other long-reigning monarchs are: King Alfonso I of Portugal (1112–1185, 73 years), King Louis XIV of France (1643–1715, 72 years), and Prince John II of Liechtenstein (1858–1929, 71 years). [ Ancient Egypt | Monarchs ] (source)

In order to deter flies from landing on him, Pepi II of Egypt always kept several naked slaves nearby whose bodies were smeared with honey. (source)

In the oldest surviving work about mathematics (the Rhind papyrus, written by the ancient Egyptian scribe Ahmes around 1650 B.C.), there is a section on arithmetic headed "Directions for Knowing all Dark Things". [ Ancient Egypt | Mathematics and Mathematicians ]

When the troops of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose I invaded Syria and Carchemish on the upper Euphrates in 1525 B.C., they were astounded to see the Nile "falling from the sky" and the river that "in flowing north flowed south." The soldiers had only known the Nile and the cloudless land of Egypt, and so were fascinated to encounter rain (the Nile falling from the sky) and the direction of the flow of the Euphrates, which flows south, which to the Egyptians meant "upstream", so they saw the Euphrates as flowing "backwards". [ Ancient Civilisations | Exploration | Ancient Egypt ] (source)

Pharaoh Ramses II was soundly defeated by the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh in 1294 B.C. Undaunted, the Egyptian ruler erected a memorial to commemorate his magnificent "victory". The monument endured, and generation upon generation of historians paid tribute to Ramses' military triumph. Only recently have archaeologists unearthed the truth about the Battle of Kadesh.

The oldest recorded death sentence is contained in the Amherst papyri, dating to 1500 B.C., which listed Egyptian state trials. A teenaged male, convicted of "magic", was sentenced to kill himself by either poison or stabbing. [ Ancient Egypt | Laws and Customs ] (source)

In ancient Egypt, slaves are known to have been murdered to accompany their deceased owners to the afterlife. [ Ancient Egypt | Slavery ] (source)

Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (reigned circa 1351–1334 B.C.) was the first recorded monotheist. He decreed that Aten was the only god that was to be worshipped, and the images of the old official god, Amun, were destroyed. However, this revolution did not affect the general population, who continued to worship their own regional gods, and after his death the old gods were reinstated. [ Philosophy and Religion | Ancient Egypt ] (source)

The ancient Egyptians played a game like bowling using large stones set up as pins and small stones as a ball. [ Ancient Egypt | Sports and Games ]

Some ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made out of stone.

While the use of antibiotics did not begin in the 20^th century, early folk medicine included the use of mouldy foods or soil for infections. In ancient Egypt, for example, infections were treated with mouldy bread. [ Ancient Egypt | Medicine ]

The ancient Egyptians used heiroglyphics only for ritual purposes and official inscriptions. For more mundane use, from around 1500 B.C., a script known as was used, and starting around 700 B.C., a second script known as demotic was used. Both of these scripts were written using a brush on papyrus. [ Ancient Egypt | Languages of the World ] (source)

The earliest known standard of weight is the beqa, an ancient Egyptian unit which equals from less than 0.5 ounce to 7.5 ounces. It is still generally used in weighing gems, precious metals, and stones in troy weight. [ Ancient Egypt | Numbers and Measurement ]

More damage has been done to Cleopatra's Needle, a hieroglyphic-covered granite obelisk, in the 125 years it has stood in pollution-filled, weather-beaten New York City than in thousands of years in dry Egypt. [ Buildings, Structures, and Monuments | Ancient Egypt ] (source)

The ancient Egyptians defined the hour to be one-twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset. So, as the days grew longer in winter and spring and shorter in summer and autumn, the length of the hour varied from one day to the next. [ Ancient Egypt | Calendars ]

It is not known who destroyed the nose of the Sphinx. There are sketches of the Sphinx without a nose in 1737, over 60 years before Napoleon reached Egypt and hundreds of years before the British and German armies of the two World Wars. The only person known to have damaged it was an Islamic cleric, Sa'im al-dahr, who was lynched in 1378 for vandalism.