Upper Egypt

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Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt
All years are BC
Predynastic Protodynastic 0 c. 3300–3150
Early Dynastic First Dynasty I c. 3150–2890 Second Dynasty II 2890–2686
Old Kingdom Third Dynasty III 2686–2613 Fourth Dynasty IV 2613–2498 Fifth Dynasty V 2498–2345 Sixth Dynasty VI 2345–2181
First Intermediate Seventh Dynasty VII spurious Eighth Dynasty VIII 2181–2160 Ninth Dynasty IX 2160–2130 Tenth Dynasty X 2130–2040 Early Eleventh Dynasty XI 2134–2061
Middle Kingdom Late Eleventh Dynasty XI 2061–1991 Twelfth Dynasty XII 1991–1803 Thirteenth Dynasty XIII 1803–1649
Second Intermediate Fourteenth Dynasty XIV 1705–1690 Fifteenth Dynasty (Hyksos) XV 1674–1535 Sixteenth Dynasty XVI 1660–1600 Abydos Dynasty 1650–1600 Seventeenth Dynasty XVII 1580–1549
New Kingdom Eighteenth Dynasty XVIII 1549–1292 Nineteenth Dynasty XIX 1292–1189 Twentieth Dynasty XX 1189–1077
Third Intermediate Twenty-first Dynasty XXI 1069–945 Twenty-second Dynasty XXII 945–720 Twenty-third Dynasty XXIII 837–728 Twenty-fourth Dynasty XXIV 732–720 Twenty-fifth Dynasty (Nubian) XXV 732–653
Late Period Twenty-sixth Dynasty XXVI 672–525 Twenty-seventh Dynasty (1st Persian Period) XXVII 525–404 Twenty-eighth Dynasty XXVIII 404–398 Twenty-ninth Dynasty XXIX 398–380 Thirtieth Dynasty XXX 380–343 Thirty-first Dynasty (2nd Persian Period) XXXI 343–332
Hellenistic Egypt Thirty-second Dynasty XXXII 332–305 Thirty-third Dynasty XXXIII 305–30
Roman Egypt Thirty-fourth Dynasty (Roman Pharaohs) XXXIV 30 BC – 313 AD
See also: List of pharaohs by period and dynasty Periodization of ancient Egypt
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Upper Egypt (Arabic: صعيد مصر Ṣaʿīd Miṣr, shortened to الصعيد, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [es.sˤe.ˈʕiːd], locally: [es.sˤɑ.ˈʕiːd]) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus starts at Beni Suef and stretches down to Lake Nasser (formed by the Aswan High Dam).^[1]

In ancient Egypt, Upper Egypt was known as tꜣ šmꜣw,^[2] literally "the Land of Reeds" or "the Sedgeland", named for the sedges that grow there.^[3]

In Arabic, the region is called Sa'id or Sahid, from صعيد meaning "uplands", from the root صعد meaning to go up, ascend, or rise. Inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis and they generally speak Sa'idi Egyptian Arabic.

In Biblical Hebrew it was known as פַּתְרוֹס‎ Paṯrôs and in Akkadian it was known as Patúrisi.^[4] Both names originate from the Egyptian pꜣ-tꜣ-rsj, meaning "the southern land".^[5]

Upper Egypt is between the Cataracts of the Nile beyond modern-day Aswan, downriver (northward) to the area of El-Ayait,^[6] which places modern-day Cairo in Lower Egypt. The northern (downriver) part of Upper Egypt, between Sohag and El-Ayait, is also known as Middle Egypt.

Upper Egypt
Hedjet
Capital	Thinis
Common languages	Ancient Egyptian
Religion	Ancient Egyptian religion
Government	Monarchy
King
• c. 3400 BC	Scorpion I (first)
• c. 3150 BC	Narmer (last)
Preceded by Succeeded by Prehistoric Egypt Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)
Today part of	Egypt

It is believed to have been united by the rulers of the supposed Thinite Confederacy who absorbed their rival city states during the Naqada III period (c. 3200–3000 BC), and its subsequent unification with Lower Egypt ushered in the Early Dynastic period.^[7] Upper and Lower Egypt became intertwined in the symbolism of pharaonic sovereignty such as the Pschent double crown.^[8] Upper Egypt remained as a historical region even after the classical period.

The main city of prehistoric Upper Egypt was Nekhen.^[9] The patron deity was the goddess Nekhbet, depicted as a vulture.^[10]

By approximately 3600 BC, Neolithic Egyptian societies along the Nile based their culture on the raising of crops and the domestication of animals.^[11] Shortly thereafter, Egypt began to grow and increase in complexity.^[12] A new and distinctive pottery appeared, related to the Levantine ceramics, and copper implements and ornaments became common.^[12] Mesopotamian building techniques became popular, using sun-dried adobe bricks in arches and decorative recessed walls.^[12]

The proto-dynastic kings emerged from the Naqada region.^[13]

These cultural advances paralleled the political unification of towns of the upper Nile River, or Upper Egypt, while the same occurred in the societies of the Nile Delta, or Lower Egypt.^[12] This led to warfare between the two new kingdoms.^[12] During his reign in Upper Egypt, King Narmer defeated his enemies on the delta and became sole ruler of the two lands of Upper and Lower Egypt,^[14] a sovereignty which endured throughout Dynastic Egypt.

In royal symbolism, Upper Egypt was represented by the tall White Crown Hedjet, the flowering lotus, and the sedge. Its patron deity, Nekhbet, was depicted by the vulture. After unification, the patron deities of Upper and Lower Egypt were represented together as the Two Ladies, to protect all of the ancient Egyptians, just as the two crowns were combined into a single pharaonic diadem.

Several dynasties of southern or Upper Egyptian origin, which included the 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th and 25th dynasties, reunified and reinvigorated pharaonic Egypt after periods of fragmentation.^[15]

For most of Egypt's ancient history, Thebes was the administrative center of Upper Egypt. After its devastation by the Assyrians, the importance of Egypt declined. Under the dynasty of the Ptolemies, Ptolemais Hermiou took over the role of the capital city of Upper Egypt.^[16]

In the eleventh century, large numbers of pastoralists, known as Hilalians, fled Upper Egypt and moved westward into Libya and as far as Tunis.^[17] It is believed that degraded grazing conditions in Upper Egypt, associated with the beginning of the Medieval Warm Period, were the root cause of the migration.^[18]

In the twentieth-century Egypt, the title Prince of the Sa'id (meaning Prince of Upper Egypt) was used by the heir apparent to the Egyptian throne.^{[Note 1]}

Although the Kingdom of Egypt was abolished after the Egyptian revolution of 1952, the title continues to be used by Muhammad Ali, Prince of the Sa'id.

In Upper Egypt, the predynastic Badari culture was followed by the Naqada culture (Amratian),^[20] being closely related to the Lower Nubian;^{[21][22][23][24]} with some affinities with other northeast African populations,^[25] coastal communities from the Maghreb,^[26][27] some tropical African groups,^[28] and possibly inhabitants of the Middle East.^[29]

Mainstream scholars have situated the ethnicity and the origins of predynastic, southern Egypt as a foundational community primarily in northeast Africa which included the Sudan, tropical Africa and the Sahara whilst recognising the population variability that became characteristic of the pharaonic period.^{[30][31][32][33]} Pharaonic Egypt featured a physical gradation across the regional populations, with Upper Egyptians having shared more biological affinities with Sudanese and southernly African populations, whereas Lower Egyptians had closer genetic links with Levantine and Mediterranean populations.^[34][35][36]

UNESCO International Scientific Committee Chair and archaeologist, Augustin Holl, stated that Egypt was situated in an intersection between Africa and Eurasia but affirmed "Egypt is African" with a fluctuating distribution of African and Eurasian populations depending on historical circumstances.^[40]

In a chapter review of UNESCO General History of Africa Volume II (which featured the conclusions of the 1974 symposium) by antropologist and Egyptologist, Alain Anselin, the traditional historical view of a “wave of civilizing peoples” from the north to the south had been displaced by the weight of recent evidence in favour of a unifying movement from south to north.^[41] He stated that recent research accumulated over three decades had confirmed the migration of peoples from the Sahara and regions south of Egypt to the Nile Valley.^[42] This research had also situated Upper Egypt as the origin of pharaonic unification.^[43] Anselin argued that this aligned with the position of the late Cheikh Anta Diop, who had attempted to "restore Egypt to its southern African hinterland".^[44] Anselin referenced a range of specialist studies ( anthropology, linguistics, genetics and archaeology) presented at a triennial conference in 2005 which he stated was a continuation of the 1974 recommendations.^[45] This included a genetic study which quantified the "key impact" of Sub-Saharan populations and showed that the early pre-dynastic population of the Berber people of the Siwa Oasis in north-western Egypt had close demographic links with people of North-East Africa. He further described the value of other studies such as a Crubezy study which "traced the boundaries of the ancient Khoisan settlement to Upper Egypt, where its faint traces remain identifiable and Keita’s work, as the most groundbreaking", and that Cerny had identified close genetic and linguistic links between the peoples of Upper Egypt, North Cameroon (some of whom spoke Chadic languages) and Ethiopia (some of whom spoke Kushitic languages).^[46]

According to bioarchaeologist Nancy Lovell, the morphology of ancient Egyptian skeletons gives strong evidence that: "In general, the inhabitants of Upper Egypt and Nubia had the greatest biological affinity to people of the Sahara and more southerly areas", but exhibited local variation in an African context.^[47] S. O. Y. Keita, a biological anthropologist also reviewed studies on the biological affinities of the Ancient Egyptian population and characterised the skeletal morphologies of predynastic southern Egyptians as a "Saharo-tropical African variant". Keita also added that it is important to emphasize that whilst Egyptian society became more socially complex and biologically varied, the "ethnicity of the Niloto-Saharo-Sudanese origins did not change. The cultural morays, ritual formulae, and symbols used in writing, as far as can be ascertained, remained true to their southern origins."^[48]

The early megalithic complex of Nabta Playa located in the Aswan Museum, Upper Egypt has exhibited close resemblances to Sub-Saharan and Sahelian ceremonial centres including structures found in Ethiopia, Senegal, regions north to Morocco and West Africa.^[49] Anthropological studies have indicated linkages to Sub-Saharan and North African populations.^{[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]}

A 1992 study conducted by S.O.Y. Keita on First Dynasty crania from the royal tombs in Abydos, noted the predominant pattern was "Southern" or a "tropical African variant" (though others were also observed), which had affinities with Kerma Kushites. The general results demonstrate greater affinity with Upper Nile Valley groups, but also suggest clear change from earlier craniometric trends. The gene flow and movement of northern officials to the important southern city may explain the findings.^[58]

In 2005, Keita examined Badarian crania from predynastic upper Egypt in comparison to various European and tropical African crania. He found that the predynastic Badarian series clustered much closer with the tropical African series. The comparative samples were selected based on "Brace et al.'s (1993) comments on the affinities of an upper Egyptian/Nubian epipalaeolithic series".^[59]

In 2008, Keita found the early predynastic groups in Southern Egypt which included Badarian skeletal samples, were similar to Nile-Valley remains from areas to the south and north of Upper Egypt. Overall, the dynastic Egyptians (includes both Upper and Lower Egyptians) showed much closer affinities with these particular Northeast African populations. In his comparison to the various Egyptian series, Greeks, Somali/Horn, and Italians were used. He also concluded that more material was needed to make a firm conclusion about the relationship between the early Holocene Nile valley populations and later ancient Egyptians.^[60]

An anthropological study by Eric Crubézy (2010) on a Adaïma predynastic cemetery from 3700 CE, contained 6,000 skeletons, found affinities with a southerly African population.^[61] According to the study, 25% of the sampled children's teeth had "Bushmen" upper canines typical of people from Khoi-San which "confirmed the African origin of the Adamia population."^[61]

Shomarka Keita reported that a 2005 study on mummified remains found that "some Theban nobles had a histology which indicated notably dark skin".^[62]

Anthropologist Alain Anselin found the distribution of linguistic, archaeological data to be consistent with initial genetic findings on Upper Egyptian population in Gurna which had a remnant of high M1 haplogroup and sub-Saharan affinities.^[63] This has been interpreted to suggest that the current population structure of Egypt may be the result of neighbouring influences on the ancestral population.^[64] Anselin also suggested that the combination of historical genetics and recent archaeological excavations in the Western Desert could contribute to the peopling of Egypt for which Saharan affinities had been identified in a previous, interdisciplinary review.^[65]

In 2018, Godde assessed population relationships in the Nile Valley by comparing crania from 18 Egyptian and Nubian groups, spanning from Lower Egypt to Lower Nubia across 7,400 years. Overall, the results showed that the Mesolithic Nubian sample had a greater similarity with Naqada Egyptians. Similarly, Lower Nubian and Upper Egyptian samples clustered together. However, the Lower Egyptian samples formed a homogeneous unit, and there was a north–south gradient in the data set.^[66]

In 2020, Godde analysed a series of crania, including two Egyptian (predynastic Badarian and Nagada series), a series of A-Group Nubians and a Bronze Age series from Lachish, Palestine. The two pre-dynastic series had strongest affinities, followed by closeness between the Nagada and the Nubian series. Further, the Nubian A-Group plotted nearer to the Egyptians and the Lachish sample placed more closely to Naqada than Badari. According to Godde the spatial-temporal model applied to the pattern of biological distances explains the more distant relationship of Badari to Lachish than Naqada to Lachish as gene flow will cause populations to become more similar over time.^[67]

Multiple forms of genetic analysis have been conducted on the 18th dynasty royal Amarna mummies (including pharaohs Tutankhamun, Amenhotep III and Akhenaten) that were based in Thebes, Upper Egypt with conflicting results.^[68][69]

Keita, Gourdine and Anselin performed STR analysis on the Theban royal mummies which derived from a 2010 genetic study performed by Zahi Hawass and his team to determine the population affinities. According to Gourdine (2025), this he analysis had found “that they had strong affinities with current sub-Saharan populations: 41 per cent to 93.9 per cent for sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 4.6 per cent to 41 per cent for Eurasia and 0.3 per cent to 16 per cent for Asia (Gourdine, 2018).”^[70] Gourdine also referenced supporting analysis conducted by DNA Tribes company, which specialized in genetic genealogy and had large datasets, with the latter having identified strong affinities between the Amarna royal mummies and Sub-Saharan African populations.”^[71]

Hawass and his team had produced another study in 2020 which identified haplogroup R1b and mtDNA K genetic markers in the Amarna royal mummies and interpreted this to show strong genetic affinities with European and West Asian populations.^[72][73]

In another 2025 multidisciplinary review, noting the R1b M89 haplogroup subtype identified among the three Amarna pharaohs (Tutankhamun, Amenhotep III and Akhenaten) was not further specified.^[74] The authors also stated that the R1b haplogroup usually interpreted as indicating a back migration to Africa from or via the Near East could have been attributed to Asian back migration or trans-Saharan connections as the genetic marker is found at relative high frequencies among Chadic populations.^[75] Referencing a Short Tandem Report (STR) autosomal background analysis on the Amarna royal mummies, performed by Keita in an earlier publication, the authors considered this analysis could suggest closer trans-Saharan connections.^[76] Ehret et al also disclosed through personal communication with the Gad team that "other eighteenth dynasty lineages in the Amarna period were found to be E1b1a (Gad et al 2020)".^[77] The authors further postulated that association of the palaeolithic Asian lineage (R1B) and an affiliation that is tropical African (E1b1a) is an example of admixture found in some Nile Valley populations, and that a mixture of lineages could illustrate Egypt being near a crossroads.^[78]

Genetic analysis of a modern Upper Egyptian population in Adaima by Eric Crubézy had identified genetic markers common across Africa, with 71% of the cases carrying E1b1 haplogroup and 3% carrying the L0f mitochondrial haplogroup.^[45] A secondary review published in 2025 noted the results were preliminary and need to be confirmed by other laboratories with new sequencing methods.^[45]

Excavations at Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt) found archaeological evidence of ritual masks similar to those used further south of Egypt, and obsidian linked to Ethiopian quarry sites.^[80] Frank Yurco stated that depictions of pharonic iconography such as the royal crowns, Horus falcons and victory scenes were concentrated in the Upper Egyptian Naqada culture and A-Group Lower Nubia. He further elaborated that "Egyptian writing arose in Naqadan Upper Egypt and A-Group Lower Nubia, and not in the Delta cultures, where the direct Western Asian contact was made, further vitiates the Mesopotamian-influence argument".^[81]

Anthropologist Joseph Vogel (1997) stated "The period when sub-Saharan Africa was most influential in Egypt was a time when neither Egypt, as we understand it culturally, nor the Sahara, as we understand it geographically, existed. Populations and cultures now found south of the desert roamed far to the north. The culture of Upper Egypt, which became dynastic Egyptian civilization, could fairly be called a Sudanese transplant."^[82]

Similarly, Christopher Ehret, historian and linguist, stated that the cultural practice of sacral chiefship and kingship which emerged in Upper Egypt in the fourth millennium had originated centuries earlier in Nubia and the Middle Nile south of Egypt. He based this judgement on supporting, archaeological and comparative ethnographic evidence.^[83] Ehret also reviewed the excavations from the neighbouring Lower Nubia which demonstrated that “The Qustul elite and ruler in the second half of the fourth millennium participated together with their counterparts in the communities of the Naqada culture of southern Egypt in creating the emerging culture and paraphernalia of pharaonic culture”.^[84] He also argued that the material cultural indicators of the Nabta Playa complex correspond with the conclusion that the inhabitants of the wider Nabta Playa region were a Nilo-Saharan-speaking population.^[85]

Stan Hendrick, John Coleman Darnell and Maria Gatto in 2012 excavated petroglyphic engravings from Nag el-Hamdulab to the north of Aswan, in southern Egypt, which featured representations of a boat procession, solar symbolism and the earliest known depiction of the White Crown with an estimated dating range between 3200 BCE and 3100 BCE.^[86]

In 2018, American anthropologist Stuart Tyson Smith, reviewed evidence which indicated linkages between the Upper Egyptian region, the Sahara and the Sudanese Nubia.^[87] He argued that the cultural features which characterised the Egyptian civilisation were "widely distributed in north-eastern Africa but not in western Asia" and this had earlier origins in the Saharan wet phase period.^[88]

The following list may not be complete (there are many more of uncertain existence):

Name	Image	Comments	Dates
Elephant			End of 4th millennium BC
Bull			4th millennium BC
Scorpion I		Oldest tomb at Umm el-Qa'ab had scorpion insignia	c. 3200 BC?
Iry-Hor		Possibly the immediate predecessor of Ka.	c. 3150 BC?
Ka[89][90]		May be read Sekhen rather than Ka. Possibly the immediate predecessor of Narmer.	c. 3100 BC
Scorpion II		Potentially read Serqet; possibly the same person as Narmer.	c. 3150 BC
Narmer		The king who combined Upper and Lower Egypt.[91]	c. 3150 BC

Number	Ancient Name	Capital	Modern Capital	Translation	God
1	Ta-khentit	Abu / Yebu (Elephantine)	Aswan	The Frontier/Land of the Bow	Khnemu
2	Wetjes-Hor	Djeba (Apollonopolis Magna)	Edfu	Throne of Horus	Horus-Behdety
3	Nekhen	Nekhen (Hierakonpolis)	al-Kab	Shrine	Nekhebet
4	Waset	Niwt-rst / Waset (Thebes)	Karnak	Sceptre	Amun-Ra
5	Harawî	Gebtu (Coptos)	Qift	Two Falcons	Min
6	Aa-ta	Iunet / Tantere (Tentyra)	Dendera	Crocodile	Hathor
7	Seshesh	Seshesh (Diospolis Parva)	Hu	Sistrum	Hathor
8	Ta-wer	Tjenu / Abjdu (Thinis / Abydos)	al-Birba	Great Land	Onuris
9	Min	Apu / Khen-min (Panopolis)	Akhmim	Min	Min
10	Wadjet	Djew-qa / Tjebu (Antaeopolis)	Qaw al-Kebir	Cobra	Hathor
11	Set	Shashotep (Hypselis)	Shutb	Set animal	Khnemu
12	Tu-ph	Per-Nemty (Hieracon)	At-Atawla	Viper Mountain	Horus
13	Atef-Khent	Zawty (Lycopolis)	Asyut	Upper Sycamore and Viper	Apuat
14	Atef-Pehu	Qesy (Cusae)	al-Qusiya	Lower Sycamore and Viper	Hathor
15	Wenet	Khemenu (Hermopolis)	Hermopolis	Hare[92]	Thoth
16	Ma-hedj	Herwer?	Hur?	Oryx[92]	Horus
17	Anpu	Saka (Cynopolis)	al-Kais	Anubis	Anubis
18	Sep	Teudjoi / Hutnesut (Alabastronopolis)	el-Hiba	Set	Anubis
19	Uab	Per-Medjed (Oxyrhynchus)	el-Bahnasa	Two Sceptres	Set
20	Atef-Khent	Henen-nesut (Heracleopolis Magna)	Ihnasiyyah al-Madinah	Southern Sycamore	Heryshaf
21	Atef-Pehu	Shenakhen / Semenuhor (Crocodilopolis, Arsinoë)	Faiyum	Northern Sycamore	Khnemu
22	Maten	Tepihu (Aphroditopolis)	Atfih	Knife	Hathor

Nowadays, Upper Egypt forms part of these 7 governorates:

• Beni Suef
• Minya
• Asyut
• Sohag
• Qena
• Luxor
• Aswan

Large cities located in Upper Egypt:

• Beni Suef
• El Fashn
• Beni Mazar
• Minya
• Mallawi
• Dairut
• Asyut
• Tahta
• Sohag
• Girga
• Nag Hammadi
• Qena
• Luxor
• Edfu
• Aswan

• Sa'idi people
• Copts
• Egyptians
• Lower Nubia
• Ta-Seti
• Nubian people
• Beja people
• Upper and Lower Egypt
• Geography of Egypt

• Edel, Elmar (1961) Zu den Inschriften auf den Jahreszeitenreliefs der "Weltkammer" aus dem Sonnenheiligtum des Niuserre Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, OCLC 309958651, in German.

• References to Upper Egypt in Coptic Literature—Coptic Scriptorium database