However it was the influence of Christianity that effectively destroyed any last traces of the old ways, and the arrival of Islam from the Middle East in 642AD ensured any link with Ancient Egypt was lost.

The last Egyptian
The death of Nectanebo II and the subsequent Persian rule was not the first time that Ancient Egypt had come under the sway of foreign rule - the Persians had previously controlled Egypt as recently as 404BC - and for the majority of Egyptians life changed very little, with their daily life focused on agriculture and controlling the floods of the Nile. The Persian occupation of Egypt brought Alexander the Great to the region during his long campaign against the Greeks' bitter rivals, and saw the establishment of the last true dynasty of the pharaohs.

Alexander the Great's arrival
Alexander had already defeated the Persian King Darius III decisively at the battle of Issus in Asia Minor in 333BC before he reached Egypt. He founded the city of Alexandria, the first and greatest of the many cities thus christened, and revised the taxation system along Greek lines. However Alexander was prudent enough to visit the famous oracle of the god Amun-Ra at the Siwa oasis. The god apparently recognized Alexander as his son, which handily re-established the pharaonic line, and Alexander did not challenge the established Egyptian religion. The great general did not stay long in Egypt, moving eastwards in 331BC, but he was brought back to be laid to rest in Alexandria after his death in 323BC, and his tomb became a site of pilgrimage. Its location was lost in the early part of the last millennia.

The Greek era
After his death, the Greek empire fell apart, and in the resulting power vacuum the Ptolemaic dynasty was established by Ptolemy I, the son of one of Alexander's generals, in 305BC. Ancient Egypt was once more an independent kingdom. The Ptolemaic pharaohs brought little change to the way that Ancient Egypt conducted its business. The pharaohs might now speak Greek, but the Egyptian gods were respected; only a new god, Serapis, was added to the pantheon so that the two cultures might be linked.

Cleopatra
The last of the Ptolemies was perhaps the most famous; Cleopatra VII Philopator, more commonly known as Cleopatra. Although Rome was now the greatest power in the known world, Cleopatra fought skillfully to maintain her power in Egypt and Egypt's independence. Seducing Julius Caesar kept the Roman legions at bay, but her choice of lover after Caesar's assassination was Mark Antony, who had agreed to divide the Roman empire with Octavian. Antony fell under Cleopatra's spell, gifting her and her sons lands that belonged to Rome. Octavian, whose sister Octavia had been spurned by her husband Antony for the charms of Cleopatra, sent an army to Egypt to bring him to heel. After a series of skirmishes, the two fleets faced each other in 31BC; the battle rapidly ended after Cleopatra fled the scene and Antony followed in her wake.

The probable end
The flight of Antony and Cleopatra and their subsequent suicides ended any need for Roman pretence of Egyptian independence, and the Ptolemaic dynasty ended with the absorption of Ancient Egypt into the Roman empire in 30BC under Augustus, as Octavian was now known. Although subsequent Roman emperors were referred to as Pharaoh within Egypt, they did not visit the province, which was used as a grain store to feed their huge empire.

The end of the end
Ancient Egyptian culture remained much as it had been, however, until the coming of Christianity. The emperor Constantine converted the Roman world in the fourth century AD, and the Ancient Egyptians were forced to follow suit, although Christians were documented in Egypt from the second century onwards. The old ways lingered longest in the south of the country and around the remote Siwa oasis. The last hieroglyphs that have been discovered were carved sometime before 400AD, and the last pagan temple was forcibly shut down in the sixth century. In the seventh century, the rise of Islam saw yet another foreign culture sweep through Egypt, and the face of the country changed dramatically once more.