Aknenaton was king in 1350 B.C.. Also known as Amenhotop IV, he changed the religion from the god Amon to the god Aton. He believed that Aton was the Sun, the only god. He moved his capital from Thebes to Aknenaton, and built a new temple. After Aknenaton's death, his son-in-law, Tutankhamen, moved the capital back to Thebes, and changed the religion back to Amon.

Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII. She lived from 69 - 30 B.C. She was famous for her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. When she was seventeen, her father died and she was forced to marry her brother, Ptolemy XIII, age twelve. In the third year of their reign, Ptolemy drove Cleopatra into exile. She gathered any army in Syria, but was unable to defeat her brother until the arrival of Julius Caesar. In 47 B.C., Ptolemy was killed and Caesar proclaimed Cleopatra Queen of Egypt. Cleopatra was again forced to marry her younger brother, Ptolemy XIV. She lived in Rome with Caesar and bore him a son, named Ptolemy XV . When Caesar was assassinated, she returned to Egypt and it is believed that she poisoned Ptolemy XIV and placed her son, Ptolemy XV on the throne. When Mark Antony summoned Cleopatra to explain her behavior, but her fell in love with her and married her after divorcing his wife, Octavia.

When Octavian became ruler of Rome, he sent word to Antony that Cleopatra had been murdered by Romans. Mark Antony killed himself. When Cleopatra discovered he had died, she committed suicide, believed to be with poison from an Egyptian asp (snake). Her son, Ptolemy XV, was put to death by Octavian, and Egypt became a Roman province. Ptolemy XV was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty.

Khufu was the second king of the 4th dynasty, also known as Memphite Dynasty. the outstanding event of his reign was the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza, near Cairo. the colossal monument became famous as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and remains one of the most notable structures in the history of architecture.

Nefertiti's mother was the queen's maid, and her father was a scribe. Around the age of fifteen, she was married to King Aknenaton. When Nefertiti fell out of favor, she was replaced by Meritaten, one of six daughters. A painted sarcophagus of her is in the Staatliche Museum in Berlin, Germany. It is one of the greatest arts of Egypt to survive.

Ptolemy V, the king of Egypt from 205-181 BC, was the grandson of Ptolemy ll Euegetes. At the beginning of his reign, Antiochus lll of Syria and Phillip V of Macedonia agreed to divide the foreign possessions of Egypt between them, and Egypt was greatly weakened. The official coronation of Ptolemy V was held in 197 BC. In 193 BC, Ptolemy V married the seleucid princess Cleopatra l.

Ramses III was the Egyptian Pharaoh in the twentieth dynasty. A military leader, he saved the country from invasion from Libyans in his fifth year of his reign, and again in his eleventh.

Thutmose I -  King of Egypt from 1524 B.C. to 1518 B.C. of the early 18th dynasty, Thutmose I was the successor of this brother-in-law, Amenhotep I. A noted soldier and commander of the armed forces, Thutmose I reconquered the Nubians of Northern Africa and later moved on to Asia as far as the Euphrates River. The remainder of his reign was devoted to various building projects. At Karnak, he raised two obelisks, one of which is still standing.