Egypt was a great and powerful civilization in the Ancient World. With such a long and rich history it's inevitable that civil wars will also appear in its annals. During these civil wars, soldiers played an important role in society. Now Spanish archaeologists have unearthed the tomb of a soldier who lived during the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt, when the country was reunified after years of civil war. Read more in the full article.

Riddle me this: can the Sphinx actually swim to save its life? Apparently, the pyramids and the monumental Sphinx itself are being threatened by flooding waters in Egypt.

And yes. Floods do happen in Egypt, despite it being mostly rocks and sand. Where do the waters come from though? Read more for details.

Wondering about the real identity of the mummy that was just found in Egpyt? Recent CT scans reveal more information about the identity of the mummy that could possibly be Hatshetpsut, a queen as popular as Tutankhamun. Although, many are still not convinced with the developments of the expedition.

Details on the development after the Jump.

King Tut, one of Egypt's most famous boy king will finally be put on public display for the first time since he was unearthed 85 years ago. The body now lies in a climate-controlled case inside the tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings.

Tutankhamen ruled Egypt from 1333-1324 and is believed to have ascended to the throne around the age of nine. While he was only of moderate historical significance in life, it was his death and discovery in 19222 by British explorer Howard Carter that made him famous.

Check out the full article right after the jump!

One of the oldest and most puzzling mysteries in human history is the sudden death of Egypt's boy king Tutankhamen. His tomb was exhumed by archaeologist Howard Cater back in 1922 and experiments done on 1968 showed swelling at the base of the king's skull.

This gives the impression that he received a massive blow to the head. More recent studies, however, have revealed that King Tut also suffered a badly broken leg. Egypt Supreme Council of Antiquities General Secretary Zahi Hawass commented, "He was not murdered as many people thought. He had an accident when he was hunting in the desert."

Further investigation has shown that the chariots in his grave are not merely ceremonial ones but were actually used by the king while he was still alive. Cairo Museum Nadia Lokma argued that "these chariots are hunting chariots, not war chariots. You can see from the wear on them that they were actually used in life."

Aside from that, a garland of flowers consisting of cornflowers and mayweed were also found in the grave. According to botanists, these flowers were in bloom during the months of March and April. Since the mummification takes around 70 days, it can be assumed that he died around December which is the middle of the winter hunting season.

Second only to Rome during its time, Alexandria was one of the most beloved cities in the Hellenistic world. It was home to one of the seven wonders of the world, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and also housed the largest library of the world.

A new discovery suggests that the great city was not built purely from the greatness of Alexander the Great but that it was built alongside an already thriving town.

Alexandria was built by the great conqueror Alexander who left for Egypt and never returned after the city's foundation. It was known before that there was a community living in the site where Alexandria was built before Alexander came, but it was thought only to be a small fishing village named Rhakotis.

An accidental discovery when the Geological Society of America drilled in the city's harbor provided evidence that human activity in the village couldn't have been limited to just a small fishing town. Study of sediments from the seabed using carbon dating revealed "significant metallurgy and human activity" going back to 700 years before Alexander came. This suggests that either Alexandria was built on the foundations of another, or that it simply absorbed Rhakotis.

There is no conclusive proof as of yet. Mohamed Abdel-Masqud of Egypt's Council of Antiquities, approaches the evidence cautiously saying "There are signs of a flourishing settlement going back to Pharaonic times, but it's too early to say anything about it. We are still working [on it]." The work on the site is still ongoing since 1994.

Tired of waiting for Assassin's Creed? Perhaps a story of a real-life assassin's nest in Syria, which was erected during the era of the Crusades, will get you going.

Saladin, a great general who lived during the 12th century, was also the Sultan of Egypt and Syria during his time. He was the target of two known assassination attempts during one of his campaigns. The last one was almost successful, even managing to draw blood. It is believed that this was the initial cause of why he decided to besiege the castle of Masyaf, the Assassin's fort in Syria.

Even for Saladin, this was a hard decision to make. The Assassins of Masyaf, a sect of Nizari Ismaili of Islam, had a terrible reputation, and anyone daring to take the castle was as good as dead. In the end, even Saladin was not able to take the castle; the siege ended up in a truce. It was only finally conquered by the Mongols in 1260.

Apparently, assassins were really poor during that time, so in turn the castle's defenses were also inadequate. Although the castle had its own share of secret passageways and chambers, it was only the assassins' strength and posture of danger that was useful for defending the castle.

The castle's restoration finished last year, sponsored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Historic Cities Support Program, and is now open for visitors. The restoration started back in 2000.

Aside from its well-documented mythology, another thing mysterious and appealing about ancient Egypt is its gold. Just recently, archaeologists from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute have unearthed an ancient gold-processing and panning camp along the Nile River, revealing where the once-mighty kingdom obtained its resources.

The said camp is located about 800 miles south of Cairo, somewhere in the north region of Sudan. Archaeologists believe that this camp was utilized by Kushites who formerly ruled Sudan. Expedition co-leader Geoff Emberling explained,

Based on what we've found, the kingdom of Kush was significantly larger and more powerful than anyone thought. The process probably went like this: "We send you the trinkets, you send us the bags of gold and we give you more status". The kingdom of Kush and the Egyptians were close trading buddies.

Emberling added that the camp site simply looks like a field of rocks to the untrained eye. However, he shared that their team was able to locate a total of 55 two-foot grindstones used to crush gold ore. Water from the Nile may have been used to sift out the bounty.

However, the team of Emberling doesn't have enough time left to figure out the whole story behind the camp due to time restraints. A dam is currently being built upstream of the excavation site and around 2,500 untouched sites will be affected by it once finished. Emberling is saddened that a big slice of history will be lost despite the work they are doing.

It appears that scientists have finally solved the mystery of the Dakhla glass discovered in the Dakhla Oasis in 1987. The natural glass found in the Egyptian desert turned out to be products of a meteorite that crashed into Earth some 100,000 and 200,000 years ago.

According to Maxine Kleindienst, discoverer of the glass, "this meteorite event would have been catastrophic for all living things. Even a relatively small impact would have exterminated all life for [several] miles." The initial hypothesis was that the Stone Age glass could have been produced by burning vegetation or lightning strikes.

A chemical analysis, however, revealed a really high amount of temperature that there could be no other explanation for it except for a meteorite impact.

The detailed findings was published online in ScienceDirect.

Seems like there really is no stopping now the archaeologists from probing deep within the walls of the great Cheops pyramid. After failing to fully explore the pyramid back in 2002 from the Queen's chamber because of a stone wall or door with copper handles, the team is back, and armed with a new robot.

This robot will trek the same narrow passages in the Queen's chamber as the robot in the first expedition did. This time, however, it will be armed with tiny cameras, which can be inserted via a tiny hole drilled through the blockage. It is the archaeologists' hope that they will find more clues that will lead them to the discovery of the very tomb of Cheops.

The team will be composed of experts from Egypt, Singapore, Britain and Hong Kong. The robot will start its mission some time in February next year.