A settlement that would later become Egypt emerged from the fertile and life-giving Nile valley and delta about 5,000 years ago, and for 30 centuries it was the principal civilisation in the ancient Mediterranean. Ancient Egypt’s history, language, religion, and architecture continue to capture the imagination of archaeologists and historians, and has given rise to a specific field of study called “Egyptology”. Egypt was the site of one of the world’s oldest urban and literate societies. Its wealth, prior to the creation of large empires in the 1st millennium BC, was the greatest of any known state in the ancient Middle East. Its riches was largely derived from its annual crops, thanks to the fertile land near the Nile. High productivity ensured that Egypt had large surpluses that they could store to guard against famine or crop failure. Egypt cultivated flax, a plant with edible grain, and it held a special place in Egyptian culture, society, and economy, according to Kassia St Clair The Golden Thread (2018, p. 43). Linen was imbued with magical meaning (p. 39). Egyptians used linen to wrap their dead—as can be seen in the excavated tombs of Egyptian mummies—and used it as currency in trade. Majority of the population was involved in agriculture, and the centralised state mobilised this huge labour force–who otherwise would be idle during the months when the Nile River flooded–to build Egypt’s massive monuments. (Recent discoveries have shown that the pyramids’ builders were not slaves but paid workers.) The most recognisable of these monuments was the 146-metre-high Great Pyramid of Giza, which remain standing to this day. It was the largest human-built structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889. The symmetry and majesty of the ancient Egyptians’ stonework, inscribed with a pictorial writing system called hieroglyphs, mirrored their belief that their perfect fertile region was a gift from the gods, and therefore should be honoured with these equally perfect monuments. Modern historians say ancient Egypt had 31 dynasties (with the rulers later called pharaohs, from per aa, “great house” or “great estate”), and these dynasties were divided into several periods or kingdoms. The legendary king Menes was said to be the first ruler of the first dynasty, but there had been rulers before him, lost now to history. The pyramids of Giza were built during the age of the Old Kingdom (circa 2650–2150 BC). An ancient Egyptian medical text, the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, is considered the oldest known surgical treatise and dates back to the Middle Kingdom (circa 2030–1640 BC)–one of the many testaments to ancient Egypt’s advanced civilisation.