Egypt
is famous for its ancient civilization
and some of the world's most stunning
ancient monuments, including the Giza
Pyramids, the Karnak Temple and the Valley
of the Kings; the southern city of Luxor
contains a particularly large number of
ancient artifacts. Today, Egypt is widely
regarded as the main political and cultural
centre of the Arab and Middle Eastern
regions. Misr, the Arabic and official
name for modern Egypt, is of Semitic origin
directly cognate with the Hebrew Misráyim
meaning "the two straits", and
possibly means "a country" or
"a state." The ancient name
for the country, kemet, or "black
land," is derived from the fertile
black soils deposited by the Nile floods,
distinct from the 'red land' (deshret)
of the desert. This name became keme in
a later stage of Coptic. The English name
"Egypt" came via the Latin word
Aegyptus derived from the ancient Greek
word ????pt?? Aiguptos (see also List
of traditional Greek place names), which
in turn is derived from the ancient Egyptian
phrase ("Hwt ka Ptah") meaning
"home of the Ka (part of the soul)
of Ptah," the name of a temple of
the god Ptah at Memphis.
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