Historians have divided Egyptian history into three broad categories, each with their own numbered dynasties, but only hardcore Egyptologists know the dynasties, and we're not trying to become hardcore Egyptologists. The Old Kingdom lasted from 2649 to 2152, the Middle Kingdom from 2040 to 1640, and the New Kingdom, so-called because it is only 3,000 years old, lasted from 1550 to 1070 BCE. In between, you have a couple so-called intermediate periods. Okay, Old Kingdom. This was really the glory age of ancient Egypt, when you got all the stuff that would later make Indiana Jones possible, like the pyramids at Giza, and the Sun King Ra, and the idea of divine kingship. The king, or pharaoh, was either a god or very close to a god, which seems like a good gig, except that it meant he wasn't expected to act like a person, he was expected to act like a god, which in ancient Egypt means acting like the Nile. Calm, cool, benevolent.