6 'Whoa' Facts About Ancient Egypt

How much of Egypt's utterly fascinating history do we really know?

Even though the famous queen was born in Alexandria, Cleopatra came from a long line of Greek Macedonians who were descended from Ptolemy I. Not only did the ever-so-charming queen order the exile of her sister, Arsinoe IV, to the Temple of Artemis in Roman-controlled Ephesus, for her role in the siege of Alexandria, but she also had Mark Anthony sentence her sister to death . The execution was done in 41 BC on the steps of the temple. Known for her utter ruthlessness, Cleopatra allegedly poisoned her brother, Ptolemy XIV, after the birth of her son.

Even though they regarded the pharaoh as a kind of living god, Egyptian workers were not afraid to protest for better working conditions. The most famous example came in the 12th century B.C. during the reign of the New Kingdom Pharaoh Ramses III. When laborers engaged in building the royal necropolis at Deir el-Medina did not receive their usual payment of grain, they organized one of the first recorded strikes in history. The protest took the form of a sit-in: The workers simply entered nearby mortuary temples and refused to leave until their grievances were heard. The gamble worked, and the laborers were eventually given their overdue rations.

Holding the highest political and religious roles, a pharaoh was often referred to as the "Lord of the Two Lands." They also never allowed their hair to be seen and wore a headdress called a "nemes," the striped cloth headdress made famous by Tutankhamen’s golden mask.

While the ancient Egyptians did not oppose slavery, they have been used mostly as domestic servants. Building the pyramids was no easy task and therefore, a mix of paid laborers were brought in – they were a mixture of artisans and strong hands. Graffiti that was found on nearby monuments suggest that the workers took pride of their work and dubbed themselves as the "Friends of Khufu" and " Drunkards of Menkaure ."

It is unknown who exactly destroyed the Sphinx's nose. Sketches of the Sphinx without a nose go back to the 18th century, more than 60 years before Napoleon invaded Egypt. The only known person to have damaged the marvelous Sphinx was Sa'im Al Dahr, an Muslim preacher who was executed in 1378 for his blatant act of vandalism.

Ancient Egyptians never used any punctuation and they never put any spaces between their words, alsothereareover700lettersinthehierglyphics. It is the oldest and longest documented language in history, and survives in part through the use of the Coptic language in Egypt's modern Coptic Church. While Coptic uses a new script, based off of the Greek alphabet, the grammar and majority of the vocabulary are directly descended from ancient Egyptian.