The Pyramid Age

For five centuries Egypt was the most stable state on Earth. Its king was a god on earth, and its rich harvests fed an army of builders, scribes and priests.

The pyramids show this power at its peak. Within a century of Djoser's step pyramid, Khufu's builders stacked millions of blocks with near-perfect precision.

But power slowly moved to the provinces. When the Nile floods failed around 2200 BC, the central state broke apart.