The legacy of Egypt.

A. Greeks and Romans were impressed, even dazzled, by the Egyptians, as have been most visitors to Egypt since antiquity.

B. Seeing just what influence Egypt actually had, however, is not so easy.
1. Political control lasted a short time.
2. Divinized kingship recurred but not necessarily because of the Egyptians.
3. No new literary forms were added.
4. Monumental architecture as propaganda recurred, but this idea is not “Egyptian.”

C. Early Egyptologists were eager to claim the ancient Egyptians for the West.
1. After World War II, as colonial empires crumbled and black consciousness arose, some people claimed that Egypt was an African civilization, indeed, that Egypt was Africa and vice versa.
2. In its most extreme forms, this view has held that Western civilization was stolen from the Egyptians by the Greeks.
3. This view again puts a sharp focus on Egypt but without solid reasons for doing so.