Cleopatra Lived Closer in Time to the Moon Landing Than to the Pyramids
A timeline ribbon with the pyramids on the far left, Cleopatra in the middle, and the Apollo 11 landing on the right, showing the surprising distances
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2560 BCE. Cleopatra lived around 30 BCE, and the Moon landing was in 1969 CE. That means roughly 2,500 years separated Cleopatra from the pyramids, but only about 2,000 years separate her from Apollo 11.
Why Itβs Interesting
It shatters our compressed mental timeline of 'ancient history.' We lump Egypt into one era, but Egyptian civilization spanned so long that the pyramids were as ancient to Cleopatra as Cleopatra is to us. The past is deeper than we imagine.
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