Also, the Nile may help explain ancient Egypt's general optimism. While ancient Sumerian religion, for instance, saw the afterlife as this gloomy, dark place, Egyptians were often buried with things that were useful and pleasurable to them in life, because the afterlife was seen as a continuation of this life, which, at least if you lived along the Nile, wasn't half bad. Thanks, Thought Bubble. And now, my dear pupils, I shall terrorize you with the oppression of dates. No, dates. Yes, thank you. 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.