The third millennium

The history of ancient Egypt is divided into periods in two different ways: on the basis of 'dynasties' and on the basis of 'kingdoms'. The division based on dynasties was devised by the Egyptian priest Manetho, who wrote a history of Egypt in Greek in the third century bc, in which he divided the chronology of Egypt between thirty dynasties or royal houses. The foundations for great civilisation had been laid in the fourth millennium already, but it was the Sumerians and then the Akkadians who brought it to fruition in the third millennium. The third millennium bc ended with a period of great confusion in the two most important cultural centres of the Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia. The third millennium also saw the rise of another great civilisation in the Near East – that of Mesopotamia.