EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT EGYPTIAN PHARAOHS

Professor Joyce Tyldesley answers key questions about Egypt's ancient rulers and the power they wielded

- CHARLOTTE HODGMAN

Q: What does the word 'pharaoh' mean and when was it first used?

A: It comes from the ancient Egyptian for 'great house', but what it actually means is 'king'. And it's a word that today we use to describe ancient kings of Egypt, but the Egyptians themselves didn't always use it.

Q: When did the era of the Egyptian pharaohs begin?

A: The first person we can really say ruled all of Egypt was Narmer in about 3100 BC. Before that, the land we now know as Egypt was made up of independent cities and satellite communities along the Nile and in the Nile Delta. So, the era of the pharaohs can really be seen to have begun with political unification of the country and continued to the reign of Cleopatra, who died in 30 BC. And there was never any real determination to break away from having a king, or pharaoh, of Egypt during this time.

Q: How many pharaohs ruled Egypt between c3100 BC and 30 BC?

A: It's very difficult to tell. For some periods, we have really good records, but for other periods we don't have any records at all, so it's very hard to trace king after king. What's more, during the times when Egypt was split into two separate kingdoms, there were two rival pharaohs on the throne at the same time, which also confuses things. And there were also occasions when kings ruled together, as well as regencies. But I would say there were probably at least 300 pharaohs during this period, possibly more, although they were not all from the same family line.

Q: Why did the pharaonic era last so long?