[3] The "Koiné" dialect of the Greek language was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the philosophy and science of that culture, and was later studied by Arabic scholars.

[4] In the upper Nile Valley, southern Egypt, around Kom Ombo and south of Aswan, there are about 300,000 speakers of Nubian languages; mainly Noubi, but also Kenuzi-Dongola.

The oldest extant Egyptian literature is the Pyramid Texts: the mythology and rituals carved around the tombs of rulers.

In contemporary times, Egyptian novelists and poets were among the first to experiment with modern styles of Arabic-language literature, and the forms they developed have been widely imitated.

Other Egyptian writers include Nawal El Saadawi, known for her feminist works and activism, and Alifa Rifaat who also wrote about women and tradition.

Vernacular poetry is said to be the most popular literary genre amongst Egyptians, represented by Bayram el-Tunsi, Ahmed Fouad Negm (Fagumi), Salah Jaheen and Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.

An example of modern poetry in classical Arabic style with themes of Pan-Arabism is the work of Aziz Pasha Abaza.

Painting achieved its greats height in Dynasty XVIII during the reigns of Tuthmose IV and Amenhotep III.

Some well-known names include Mahmoud Mokhtar, Abdel Hadi Al Gazzar, Farouk Hosny, Gazbia Sirry, Kamal Amin, Hussein El Gebaly, Sawsan Amer and many others.

There has also been a tendency to use the World Wide Web as an alternative outlet for artists and there is a strong Art-focused internet community on groups that have found origin in Egypt.

These were built with a distinctive repertoire of elements including pylon gateways, hypostyle halls, obelisks, and hieroglyphic decoration.

During the Mamluk period (13th–16th centuries), a wealth of monumental religious and funerary complexes were built, constituting much of Cairo's medieval heritage today.

Egypt's cultural contributions have included great works of science, art, and mathematics, dating from antiquity to modern times.

Imhotep is also believed to have founded Egyptian medicine, being the author of the world's earliest known medical document, the Edwin Smith Papyrus.

It is usually assumed to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt after his father had set up the Temple of the Muses or Museum.

Alexandria, being the center of the Hellenistic world, produced a number of great mathematicians, astronomers, and scientists such as Ctesibius, Pappus, and Diophantus.

In this work, one of the most influential books of antiquity, Ptolemy compiled the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Greek and Babylonian world.

In his Optics, a work which survives only in an Arabic translation, he writes about properties of light, including reflection, refraction and colour.

Ahmed Zewail (Arabic: أحمد زويل) (born February 26, 1946) is an Egyptian chemist, and the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry.

Born in Damanhur (60 km south-east of Alexandria) and raised in Disuq, he moved to the United States to complete his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

It can be viewed as a highly sophisticated form of flash photography In 1999, Zewail became the third Egyptian to receive the Nobel Prize, following Anwar Sadat (1978 in Peace) and Naguib Mahfouz (1988 in Literature).

In modern times, archaeology and the study of Egypt's ancient heritage as the field of Egyptology has become a major scientific pursuit in the country itself.

The study of Egyptology, however, has in recent decades been taken up by Egyptian archæologists such as Zahi Hawass and the Supreme Council of Antiquities he leads.

The ability to decipher hieroglyphics facilitated the translation of hundreds of the texts and inscriptions that were previously indecipherable, giving insight into Egyptian culture that would have otherwise been lost to the ages.

[citation needed] Since the early 1990s, the Egyptian national handball team has won regional and continental tournaments as well as reaching fourth place internationally in 2001.

[20] As a result, the Egyptian capital has been dubbed the "Hollywood of the Middle East", where the world-renowned Cairo International Film Festival is held every year.

As early as 4000 BC, ancient Egyptians were playing harps and flutes, as well as two indigenous instruments: the ney and the oud.

[citation needed] Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of Abdu-l Hamuli, Almaz, Sayed Mikkawi, and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by Khedive Ismail and who influenced the later work of Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez and other Egyptian musicians.

The most popular Egyptian pop singers are Amr Diab, Tamer Hosny, Mohamed Mounir, Angham and Ali El Haggar.

The hijab became more popular in the 1970s, with women choosing to adopt it due to the surge of pan-Arabism (especially its islamically rooted side) and Wahabbism as a result of the returning Egyptian migrants from Gulf Arab countries who got influenced by their beliefs & cultural set during their stay there.