3100 BC

Events in 3100 BC 3

• 3100 BC – 30 BC Ancient Egypt (3100–30 BC) Ancient Egypt is one of the longest-lasting and most influential civilisations in human history -- 3,070 years from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Narmer (c.3100 BC) to the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman annexation (30 BC). In that span Egypt produces the pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, Karnak, Abu Simbel, the Valley of the Kings, the Book of the Dead, hieroglyphic writing, papyrus, the 365-day calendar, advanced medicine, monumental sculpture and painting of unsurpassed quality, and a religious system of extraordinary sophistication. At its height under the New Kingdom pharaohs (1550-1070 BC) Egypt controlled an empire stretching from Nubia to the Euphrates. Its art, religion and political concepts influence Greece, Rome, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
• 3100 BC Narmer unifies Egypt -- c.3100 BC King Narmer (c.3100 BC) unifies Upper and Lower Egypt into a single state, an achievement commemorated on the Narmer Palette, the earliest historical document in the world. The palette shows Narmer wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt on one side and the red crown of Lower Egypt on the other -- smiting enemies and inspecting decapitated captives. The unification creates the template of Egyptian kingship: the pharaoh as living Horus, mediator between cosmic order (Ma'at) and human chaos, wearing the double crown of the Two Lands. This template persists for 3,000 years.
• 3100 BC – 2181 BC The Pyramid Age (3100–2181 BC) The first millennium of Egyptian civilisation spans from Narmer's unification to the collapse of the Old Kingdom -- the period in which the foundations of Egyptian civilisation are laid and the pyramids are built. The Early Dynastic period (3100-2686 BC) establishes the pharaonic state, hieroglyphic writing, the nome administrative system and the religious ideology of divine kingship. The Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC) is the Pyramid Age: Djoser's Step Pyramid, Sneferu's three pyramids, Khufu's Great Pyramid of Giza, Khafre's pyramid and the Sphinx, and Menkaure's pyramid. The Old Kingdom collapses c.2181 BC into the chaos of the First Intermediate Period.