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The Christian Copts trace their ancestors directly to the ancient Egyptians.  Unlike the Muslims in Egypt, who consider themselves Arabs, the Christian Copts do not consider themselves to be Arabs and the Christian Copts still use ancient Egyptian surnames.  They cite the sojourn by Jesus' family in Egypt to escape Herod, and the proselytizing in Egypt by Saint Mark the Evangelist, who wrote the Gospel and was martyred at Alexandria, Egypt.  He is considered the first leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, followed by an unbroken line of 117 successors to the present Pope Shenouda III.  A pharaoh was considered to be a sun god, and eventually monotheism (one all-powerful god) became popular in Egypt, with the sun god Aton commanding all Egyptians' attention.   

The Christian Copts trace their ancestors directly to the ancient Egyptians.  Unlike the Muslims in Egypt, who consider themselves Arabs, the Christian Copts do not consider themselves to be Arabs and the Christian Copts still use ancient Egyptian surnames.  They cite the sojourn by Jesus' family in Egypt to escape Herod, and the proselytizing in Egypt by Saint Mark the Evangelist, who wrote the Gospel and was martyred at Alexandria, Egypt.  He is considered the first leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, followed by an unbroken line of 117 successors to the present Pope Shenouda III.  A pharaoh was considered to be a sun god, and eventually monotheism (one all-powerful god) became popular in Egypt, with the sun god Aton commanding all Egyptians' attention.   

''Language'': The Egyptians developed a written language consisting of hieroglyphics, which are pictographs.  It originated around 3100 B.C.  It was written on papyrus as a kind of paper; papyrus is a thin parchment constructed from reeds near the Nile river.  Historians could not understand hieroglyphics until the discovery of the "Rosetta Stone" by Napoleon's troops in 1799 near the seaside town of Rosetta, located in northern Egypt.  It sits in the British Museum today.  It consists of a slab of black basalt inscribing a royal decree to the king Ptolemy V, dating from 196 B.C.  The Stone is marvelous in inscribing the same message three times: once in Greek, once in Demotic (a simple form of hieroglyphics used 700 B.C. to A.D. 400), and once in hieroglyphic.  This enabled a French expert in the Greek language, Jean Francois Champollion, to determine what the hieroglyphic characters mean, and build a dictionary that could be used to translate other works written in hieroglyphics.  Champollion had been a child prodigy in learning numerous languages while still a teenager.

''Language'': The Egyptians developed a written language consisting of hieroglyphics, which are pictographs.  It originated around 3100 B.C.  It was written on papyrus as a kind of paper; papyrus is a thin parchment constructed from reeds near the Nile river.  Historians could not understand hieroglyphics until the discovery of the "Rosetta Stone" by Napoleon's troops in 1799 near the seaside town of Rosetta, located in northern Egypt.  It sits in the British Museum today.  It consists of a slab of black basalt inscribing a royal decree to the king Ptolemy V, dating from 196 B.C.  The Stone is marvelous in inscribing the same message three times: once in Greek, once in Demotic (a simple form of hieroglyphics used 700 B.C. to A.D. 400), and once in hieroglyphic.  This enabled Frenchman Jean Francois Champollion to determine what the hieroglyphic characters mean, and build a dictionary that could be used to translate other works written in hieroglyphics.   

Egypt's complex, picture-based language probably hindered its growth.  The picture-based language was not as easy to use as the alphabet-based Phoenician language later adopted by the Greeks and Romans.  How would one express Christian concepts like salvation, faith, hope and redemption in hieroglyphics?  It seems impossible.

Egypt's complex, picture-based language probably hindered its growth.  The picture-based language was not as easy to use as the alphabet-based Phoenician language later adopted by the Greeks and Romans.  How would one express Christian concepts like salvation, faith, hope and redemption in hieroglyphics?  It seems impossible.

''Trade'' and ''Inventions'':  Egypt was not as advanced as Mesopotamia in trade and inventions.  Egypt's trade did improve during the New Kingdom and some commerce with Sumer was established then.  Egyptians invented our 365-day solar calendar, based on 12 months of about 30 days each.  But we owe our "base 60" system for our clock (60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour) to Mesopotamia.  Egyptians lacked money, and relied on primitive barter (selling a good in exchange for a different good in return).  The Egyptian Old Kingdom lacked the wheel; the pyramids were built without use of the wheel!

''Trade'' and ''Inventions'':  Egypt was not as advanced as Mesopotamia in trade and inventions.  Egypt's trade did improve during the New Kingdom and some commerce with Sumer was established then.  Egyptians invented our 365-day solar calendar, based on 12 months of about 30 days each.  But we owe our "base 60" system for our clock (60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour) to Mesopotamia.  Egyptians lacked money, and relied on primitive barter (selling a good in exchange for a different good in return).  The Egyptian Old Kingdom lacked the wheel; the pyramids were built without use of the wheel!

== References ==

== References ==

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[[Category:World History lectures]]

[[Category:World History lectures]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:World History Lecture 01}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:World History Lecture 01}}