Ancient Egyptian Conspiracy Theories: The History of the Most Popular Conspiracy Theories about Egypt in Antiquity

What makes the accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians all the more remarkable is that Egypt was historically a place of great political turbulence. Its position made it both valuable and vulnerable to tribes across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and Egypt had no shortage of its own internecine warfare. Its most famous conquerors would come from Europe, with Alexander the Great laying the groundwork for the Hellenic Ptolemy line and the Romans extinguishing that line after defeating Cleopatra and driving her to suicide.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of ancient Egyptian civilization was its inception from the ground up, as the ancient Egyptians had no prior civilization which they could use as a template. In fact, ancient Egypt itself became a template for the civilizations that followed. The Greeks and the Romans were so impressed with Egyptian culture that they often attributed many attributes of their own culture‒usually erroneously‒to the Egyptians. With that said, some minor elements of ancient Egyptian culture were, indeed, passed on to later civilizations. Egyptian statuary appears to have had an initial influence on the Greek version, and the ancient Egyptian language continued long after the pharaonic period in the form of the Coptic language.

Given how far back the Egyptian civilization goes, it’s no surprise that Egypt is still full of mystery, and the unknown continues to generate conspiracy theories that attempt to fill in the gaps. For example, generations have viewed Egypt’s pyramids and the Great Sphinx as symbols of a lost past, which in turn leads to Egypt’s portrayal as a world full of romance and mystery. The age and structural integrity of these magnificent structures also make them symbols of longevity and power, which is only fitting because those are two purposes the ancient pharaohs who commissioned them intended them to serve.

In fact, while the sphinx was a well-known mythological creature among various ancient civilizations, the Egyptian statue that is now most famously associated with the creature is full of mysteries that have been endlessly debated throughout the centuries and continue to be hotly contested among scholars. The famous “Riddle of the Sphinx”, told by Sophocles in his play Oedipus Rex in the 5th century B.C., characterized the sphinx as a clever and powerful creature, and the mysteries of the Egyptian statue were discussed even among the ancient Romans. Pliny the Elder, the famous Roman author and philosopher killed in Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., wrote in his Natural Histories that contemporary Egyptians considered the Sphinx a “divinity” and "that King Harmais was buried in it". Even the source of the damage suffered by the Sphinx has become the stuff of legend, as evidenced by the story of Napoleon’s French soldiers shooting off the Sphinx’s nose.

Of course, the Sphinx is merely one object in Egypt that has been the source of endless theories. The discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb revived the legends of pharaohs’ curses and mummies, and ancient Egyptian art has been analyzed in seemingly every conceivable way possible as people come up with alternate theories for how the Egyptians built their most famous buildings and forged their enduring civilization.

Ancient Egyptian Conspiracy Theories: The History of the Most Popular Conspiracy Theories about Egypt in Antiquity looks at some of the most intriguing conspiracy theories about Egypt, from theories about Moses’ Egyptian lineage to the curse of the pharaohs and ancient astronauts.