85 Incredible Facts From the Cradle of Humankind – Africa – Part 2

In ancient Egypt, any books found in ships coming into port would be brought immediately to the library of Alexandria and be copied. The original would be kept in the library and the copy given back to the owner.

52. The Ottoman Turks unknowingly used the Rosetta Stone as a building slab for a military fort. The French captured the fort and became fascinated with the Stone, which unlocked the lost secrets of Ancient Egypt.

53. Between Egypt and Sudan, there is a strip of land that neither country will acknowledge as part of their territory. It is one of the few unclaimed regions on earth.

54. Many ancient Egyptian Pharaohs were overweight and unhealthy, in contrast to their typical depiction. That was likely due to a sugary diet of alcohol, bread, and honey.

55. In Ancient Egypt, dwarfs were seen as people who had celestial gifts, were treated with the greatest respect and enjoyed the highest social positions.

Anwar Sadat of Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979, the first Arab nation to do so. For this, Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize, Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, and Sadat was assassinated.

57. There is evidence to support that Ancient Egypt had proctologists and their term for the position literally translates to "shepherd of the anus".

58. A Roman envoy stopped the Seleucid invasion of Egypt by drawing a circle around their king and daring him to literally cross the line.

59. The Slaves Didn't Build Pyramids of Egypt. They were laborers who were respected for their work and were bestowed the honor of being buried in the tombs near the sacred pyramids of their pharaohs.

60. Over 2000 years ago, Eratosthenes estimated the Earth's circumference using good old math, without ever leaving Egypt, and he was accurate to within 2%

The pyramids were built by slaves is a myth caused by Herodotus the Greek historian and explorer when he visited Egypt 2000 years after they were built.

62. Israeli secret service, the Mossad, hatched a plan in the 1950s to bomb areas in Egypt where Americans gathered, and make these attacks appear to be the work of Muslim extremists. The plot was discovered and it's known as 'The Lavon Affair'.

63. Ancient Egyptians used meteorites as jewelry

64. Ancient Egypt was formed from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt around 3000 BC, and the pharaohs wore a double crown, with one-half, the White Crown, representing Upper Egypt, and the other half, the Red Crown, representing Lower Egypt.

65. The first documented cases of cancer were found on papyrus manuscripts in Egypt dating back to 3000 BC. In these manuscripts, 8 cases of breast tumors are mentioned that were removed by cauterization with a tool called the fire drill. The writing says about the disease, “There is no treatment.”

In 2009, a Polish woman filed a lawsuit against a hotel in Egypt after claiming that sperm in the swimming pool got her 13-year-old daughter pregnant.

67. The oldest surviving pair of cloth socks were found in Egypt were actually designed to wear with sandals.

68. In 1798, Napolean Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt brought a team of 160 scientists, astronomers, engineers, architects, artists, interpreters, and printers to record and document what he found.

69. The last ruling king of Egypt, King Farouk once had a nightmare about lions attacking him and decided to go to the Cairo zoo and shoot two lions while they were in their cages.

70. There are more pyramids in one small section of the northern Sudanese desert than there are in the whole of Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians measured the flood levels of the Nile and levied taxes according to how high water levels were. If the water level indicated there would be a strong harvest, taxes would be higher.

72. The Egyptian word for cat is Mau and is pronounced 'Meow'

73. Immediately after the founding of Israel on May 14, 1948, before their defense force was even founded, five Arab nations (Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan) declared war on it

74. The first pregnancy tests on record were in Ancient Egypt. Women would pee on a field of wheat and barley. If the wheat sprouted, it was going to be a girl. If the barley sprouted, it was going to be a boy. If neither sprouted, the woman wasn't pregnant.

75. One of the first examples of monotheism in history was in Egypt. Akhenaten attempted to change from the traditional faith to sole worship of the sun god Aten.