Twelve Great Dynasties of Egypt Gallery

Stela of King Djet, from his tomb at Abydos

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• 1st Dynasty
• Egypt was unified around 3000 BC, when the kings of the south of the country absorbed their northern neighbours into a single state, with a newly-founded capital in the north, at Memphis (about 20km - 12 miles - south of modern Cairo). It was after this event, during the first two dynasties, that the ground-rules of Egyptian society were laid and the hieroglyphic script developed.

The kings of the 1st Dynasty were buried in the heart of the old southern kingdom, at Abydos, in brick-lined tombs out in the desert, with an offering place flanked by stelae bearing their names. Perhaps the finest is the one shown here, of King Djet. This was found in 1898, and is now in the Louvre in Paris.