History Main / EgyptIsStillAncient

A Western variation of this would be associating UsefulNotes/{{Greece}} with its [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece ancient roots]] as if they still worship the pagan Olympian pantheon, in spite of the nation being {{UsefulNotes/Orthodox Christian|ity}} today and having been an part of an [[UsefulNotes/OttomanEmpire Islamic empire]] for centuries.

* In episode "Sphinx for the Memories" of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' the Duck family arrives to Egypt and although the urban centers more or less look Middle Eastern, Donald is kidnaped and taken to a community in the desert that is basically Ancient Egypt in everything up to having Pharaohs and mummies.

* ''Videogame/{{Overwatch}}'': The Amari family are a mother-daughter pair from Egypt, with their home stage called "the Temple of Anubis", showcasing an Egyptian temple TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (albeit, it's demonstrated to only be one location in Egypt--but still the main one for the game). The first character introduced, Pharah, has absolutely no contemporary Egyptian references about her whatsoever. Even her voice actress is an American doing a very non-Arabic accent, and her alternate costumes are very heavily based on either Myth/EgyptianMythology or Native American culture (the latter being the other side of her parentage). The second character, Ana, is voiced by a real-life Egyptian woman that speaks Arabic.

* ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'': This trope is played with, in a ''much'' earlier fashion than normal. A common point of criticism is that, despite being set in the time of the ride of the Roman Empire, the Egyptian models are still shown to be based on New Kingdom Egypt, looking like they did over a thousand years before the time of the game. When ''VideoGame/TotalWarRomeII'' came out, it fixed this, as Egyptians now look markedly more Hellenistic.

* Invoked in ''Literature/VivereMilitareEst'', an AlternateHistory story in which the revelation of the supernatural [[WeirdHistoricalWar during the closing days]] of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII leads to a UsefulNotes/ColdWar in which the world's major powers weaponize the supernatural. The political chaos of Egypt in TheSixties leads to the rise of a paranormal figure calling himself Akhenaten and claiming to be Aten made flesh (though WordOfGod is that he's something else entirely), telling his followers that the sorry state of modern Egypt is because the forces of ''isfet'' (chaos) have overtaken the forces of ''ma'at'' (order) and that it must return to the old ways. Upon taking over Egypt, he restores its ancient name Kemet, suppresses Islam in order to proclaim himself a new [[GodEmperor god-pharaoh]], and launches wars of conquest against Kemet's neighbors; while Israel [[BadassIsraeli (of course)]] successfully fights back by [[UsefulNotes/TheSamsonOption nuking Akhenaten's army of revenants]], and it's implied that Prester John's intervention managed to save Sudan from Akhenaten's clutches, Libya, Chad, and Niger all fall. Kemet, as the world's most powerful occult state, becomes an inspiration to other occult groups, with Nizam-i Zahhak in Iran imitating Akhenaten's anti-Islamic rhetoric in its calls for the restoration of Zoroastrianism (albeit worshiping the demonic figure Zahhak instead of the benevolent god Ahura Mazda).

* Shurima in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has an overriding ancient-Egyptian aesthetic that, while not ''as'' inappropriate for a fantasy setting as it is in a modern one, feels a little out of place in a world where knights and Vikings are regular features, one of the other notable locations is a Golden Age of Piracy port on crack, and another runs on {{Magitech}}. That being said, part of it might be that Azir, the last ruler of the ''first'' Shuriman empire, has come back, risen to some measure of power, and seems to be deliberately shaping the country to fit his vision of how it used to be; it's most obvious in ''VideoGame/LegendsOfRuneterra'', where the cards that draw from primarily ancient Egyptian aesthetics are all associated with Azir in some way, while other characters (such as Taliyah) draw from other traditions.

* Shurima in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has an overriding ancient-Egyptian aesthetic that, while not ''as'' inappropriate for a fantasy setting as it is in a modern one, feels a little out of place in a world where knights and Vikings are regular features, one of the other notable locations is a Golden Age of Piracy port on crack, and another runs on {{Magitech}}. That being said, part of it might be that Azir, the last ruler of the ''first'' Shuriman empire, has come back, risen to some measure of power, and seems to be deliberately shaping the country to fit his vision of how it used to be; it's most obvious in ''TabletopGame/LegendsOfRuneterra'', where the cards that draw from primarily ancient Egyptian aesthetics are all associated with Azir in some way, while other characters (such as Taliyah) draw from other traditions.

* Luxor City in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd: The Book of the Dead'' is a MegaCity shaped like a pyramid. The Judges have a helmet based on the kepresh (the Pharoah's war crown) and a badge showing Anubis. They also seem to be named after Pharoahs, worship the old gods, and still go in for mummification. (Admittedly, ''everywhere'' in Dredd's world is a ThemeParkVersion of what it was like before the Atomic Wars, but they usually base it around the 19th or 20th century.)

All of these answers refer to the [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory the ancient civilization of Kemet]], and overlook its more modern cultures; for example, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} has been Islamicized for over 1200 years and before that Egypt was a Christian nation with a Hellenistic (Greek) culture. For reference, England adopted Christianity at roughly the same time as the Arab conquests of Egypt, and that's ''twice'' the amount of time that Christianity has existed in the Americas. At present, over ''ninety percent'' of the Egyptian populace is Muslim.[[note]]And the remaining 10% are typically some denomination of Christian.[[/note]] Egypt has undergone numerous radical changes since its Ancient period and was ruled by many foreign powers, yet, in fiction, it seems as if Islam, or any of the other influences from the last two millennia, never touched the country at all.

Most commonly, Egypt exists in a form of pop cultural stasis where the [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel wardrobe]], themes, or even religion of AncientEgypt are all anyone knows about it. In a FiveTokenBand, or a [[AllStereotypeCast cast full]] of NationalStereotypes, the character with the gimmick of "Egyptian" has those attributes as their most prominent character trait. In other cases, the character is "modern", but still has no influences from Muslim culture (or that of any prominent ethnic group, such as the Copts). Any references to these modern cultures are either severely downplayed or totally non-existent. Characters will usually not even speak Egyptian Arabic (nor Coptic which is actually the modern day descendant of the Egyptian language) but pepper their speech with Ancient Egyptian phrases.

This trope is '''NOT''' when one character in a plentiful cast of Egyptians happens to utilize an Ancient Egypt gimmick. It's also '''NOT''' for when the story [[PeriodPiece actually takes place in Ancient Egypt]]. It's for when Islam--or any other important part of modern Egypt's identity--is absent from portrayals of the modern population in whole or part, or when the sole "Token Egyptian" character has very few of those influences. If the character is a FishOutOfTemporalWater, lack of Muslim influences is a given, so the character must be one of the few (if not the only) "Token Egyptians".

* Discussed in ''Series/AmericanGods2017'': When Egyptian-American Immigrant and devoted muslim Mrs. Fadhil dies she expresses some concern when Anubis comes to guide her to the afterlife, rather than some muslim entity. He explains that when she was a child "she listened to their stories and kept them alive in her heart". Anubis, a starving {{Psychopomp}} due to GodsNeedPrayerBadly couldn't exactly wait for a devoted believer in Ra or Isis to die.

* ''Videogame/{{Overwatch}}'': The Amari family are a mother-daughter pair from Egypt, with their home stage called "the Temple of Anubis", showcasing an Egyptian temple TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (albeit, it's demonstrated to only be one location in Egypt--but still the main one for the game). The first character introduced, Pharah, has absolutely no Islamic references about her whatsoever. Even her voice actress is an American doing a very non-Arabic accent, and her alternate costumes are very heavily based on either Myth/EgyptianMythology or Native American culture (the latter being the other side of her parentage). The second character, Ana, is voiced by a real-life Egyptian woman that speaks Arabic, but beyond that also lacks any Islamic influences.

** Comicbook/DoctorFate is an Ancient Egyptian sorceror named Nabu that inhabits the helmet of modern American protagonist Kent Nelson. Neither Nelson nor Nabu have anything to do with modern Egypt. (More recently they've introduced the LegacyCharacter Khalid Nassour, an Egyptian-American Muslim who inherited the helmet.)

** Comicbook/DoctorFate is an Ancient Egyptian sorceror named Nabu that inhabits the helmet of modern American protagonist Kent Nelson. Neither Nelson nor Nabu have anything to do with modern Egypt.

All of these answers refer to the [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory the ancient civilization of Kemet]], and overlook its more modern cultures; for example, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} has been Islamicized for over 1200 years and before that Egypt was a Christian nation with a Hellenistic (Greek) culture. For reference, England adopted Christianity at roughly the same time as the Arab conquests of Egypt, and that's ''twice'' the amount of time that Christianity has existed in the Americas. At present, over ''ninety percent'' of the Egyptian populace is Muslim.[[note]]And the remaining 10% are typically some denomination of Christian.[[/note]] Egypt has undergone numerous radical changes since its Ancient period and ruled by many foreign powers, yet, in fiction, it seems as if Islam, or any of the other influences from the last two millennia, never touched the country at all.

** ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'' downplays this. It does not detail the Christianization of Scandinavia and its aftermath, focusing everything on the Norse mythology and the Vikings. However, it does mention about the Kievan Rus', a Slavic polity founded by a Nordic ruling class in the 9th century CE. One major character, Samirah al Abbas, is a descendant of Ahmad ibn Fadlan, an Arab who traveled to and wrote extensively about the Kievan Rus'.

* Invoked in ''Literature/VivereMilitareEst'', an AlternateHistory story in which the revelation of the supernatural [[WeirdHistoricalWar during the closing days]] of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII leads to a UsefulNotes/ColdWar in which the world's major powers weaponize the supernatural. The political chaos of Egypt in TheSixties leads to the rise of a paranormal figure calling himself Akhenaten and claiming to be Aten in the flesh (though WordOfGod is that he's something else entirely), telling his followers that the sorry state of modern Egypt is because the forces of ''isfet'' (chaos) have overtaken the forces of ''ma'at'' (order) and that it must return to the old ways. Upon taking over Egypt, he restores its ancient name Kemet, suppresses Islam in order to proclaim himself a new [[GodEmperor god-pharaoh]], and launches wars of conquest against Kemet's neighbors; while Israel [[BadassIsraeli (of course)]] successfully fights back by [[UsefulNotes/TheSamsonOption nuking Akhenaten's army of revenants]], Libya and Chad both fall. Kemet, as the world's most powerful occult state, becomes an inspiration to other occult groups, with Nizam-i Zahhak in Iran imitating Akhenaten's anti-Islamic rhetoric in its calls for the restoration of Zoroastrianism (albeit worshiping the demonic figure Zahhak instead of the benevolent god Ahura Mazda).

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': A FantasyCounterpartCulture example is present in the novel ''Discworld/{{Pyramids}}''. Djelibeybi at first seems to have experienced negligible change over the past millennium, [[spoiler: thanks to an immortal high priest]]. But it is later shown that they've had linguistic shifts when a bunch of mummies wake up and the various gods worshipped over the centuries start wrestling over the sun.

* Inverted by ''Series/TheJewsAreComing'': Almost all Ancient Egyptian characters speak in ArabBeobleTalk, and the one exception — an Austrian-accented dream interpreter who claims Pharaoh's "seven thin cows eating seven fat ones" dream stands for [[AllPsychologyIsFreudian a desire to kill his father and sleep with his mother]] — is stated to come from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharm_El_Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh]].

* ''Videogame/EmpireEarthII'': Territory and city names for the Egypt civilization come from all over Egyptian history (including AncientEgypt, AlexanderTheGreat's conquest, and post-Islam) no matter the time period, so it's possible to have Al Qahirah (Cairo) and Al-Iskandariyah (Alexandria) in 2000 BC or Bubastis and Abu Simbel in 2000 AD. There is no mention of Islam either way, and their buildings share models with the other Middle Eastern civilizations (Turkey and Babylon), so no BuildLikeAnEgyptian except in the campaign.

A Western variation of this would be associating UsefulNotes/{{Greece}} with its [[AncientGreece ancient roots]] as if they still worship the pagan Olympian pantheon, in spite of the nation being {{UsefulNotes/Orthodox Christian|ity}} today and having been an part of an [[UsefulNotes/OttomanEmpire Islamic empire]] for centuries.

All of these answers refer to the [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory the ancient civilization of Kemet]], and overlook its more modern cultures; for example, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} has been Islamicized for over 1200 years and before that Egypt was a Christian nation with a Hellenistic (Greek) culture. For reference, England adopted Christianity at roughly the same time as the Arab conquests of Egypt, and that's ''twice'' the amount of time that Christianity has existed in the Americas. At present, over ''ninety percent'' of the Egyptian populace is Muslim.[[note]]And the remaining 10% are typically some denomination of Christian.[[/note]] Egypt has undergone numerous radical changes since it's Ancient period and ruled by many foreign powers, yet, in fiction, it seems as if Islam, or any of the other influences from the last two millennia, never touched the country at all.

* Discussed in ''Series/AmericanGods2017: When Egyptian-American Immigrant and devoted muslim Mrs. Fadhil dies she expresses some concern when Anubis comes to guide her to the afterlife, rather than some muslim entity. He explains that when she was a child "she listened to their stories and kept them alive in her heart". Anubis, a starving {{Psychopomp}} due to GodsNeedPrayerBadly couldn't exactly wait for a devoted believer in Ra or Isis to die.

* Discussed in ''Series/AmericanGods2017: When Egyptian-American Immigrant and devoted muslim Mrs. Fadhil dies expresses some concern when Anubis comes to guide her to the afterlife, rather than some muslim entity. He explains that when she was a child "she listened to their stories and kept them alive in her heart". Anubis, a starving {{Psychopomp}} due to GodsNeedPrayerBadly couldn't exactly wait for a devoted believer in Ra or Isis to die.

* Discussed in ''Series/AmericanGods2017: When Egyptian-American Immigrant and devoted muslim Mrs. Fadhil dies, she expresses some concern when Anubis comes to guide her to the afterlife. He explains that when she was a child "she listened to their stories and kept them alive in her heart". Anubis, a starving {{Psychopomp}} due to GodsNeedPrayerBadly couldn't exactly wait for a devoted believer in Ra or Isis to die.