AHC/WI : Permanantly divided Ancient Egypt

Either Mesopotamia-scale, or definitive Upper/Lower Egypt division (no, "It was OTL : Intermediary Periods", please), would have it been possible to have a politically (and possibly culturally) divided Ancient Egypt?

I suppose being more prone to foreign invasions would be a huge factor, but I'm not sure it would be enough (critically giving that Egypt was invaded several times).

The OP isn't about not having regular cycles of unification, Sargon or Hammburabi-style, but Ancient Egypt should be associated ITTL with at least two distinct entities (that doesn't have to be the same).

Eventually, what would be the consequences? (Giving the butterflies, I'll spare you "up to nowadays", let's focus on relativly immediate and regional consequences)
 
Well if we compare to Mesopotamia Egypt was much more linguistically homogenous and removing that would be a good step on having greater disunity/separate identities (not to say that did not exist OTL just stronger).
 
Do we know what caused the initial union?
Anything that causes one not to have a "claim" on the other would hinder unification.
 
Do we know what caused the initial union?
Anything that causes one not to have a "claim" on the other would hinder unification.

Narmer decides that this crown doesn't fit his look. :p
Double_crown.svg
 
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GdwnsnHo

Banned
Possible? Yes.

Easy? No.

The problem in my mind is that Egypt itself (as in the Nile Valley, its heart) is REALLY SMALL.

And without significant obstruction, or physical changes, then any territory traversable by the Nile is likely to try and unite.

I can't see two distinct Nile Polities unless we get a new Cataract to separate the two, as they both provide too much of a threat to the other, within a set of natural borders.

The First Cataract does that for Egypt and Kush, and the Sinai between Egypt and the East (and the Western Desert between Egypt and Libya for that matter).

So yeah, 2 states in the same natural borders? You'd have to have an incredibly stable balance of power to pull that off. IMO
 
According to the Kamose stelae, many of Kamose's council were content to rule Upper Egypt and let the Hyksos have Lower Egypt, pointing out that they had grazing rights in the Delta and that "[the Hyksos king] has the land of the Asiatics, we have Egypt." Some historians believe that this was propaganda designed to burnish Kamose's reputation by painting him as a warlike hero who faced down his pusillanimous council, but it may also have reflected genuine dissension, or possibly a belief that conflict with the Hyksos would end badly. If so, then a possible POD might involve the peace faction prevailing in Waset, leading to a permanent division between Hyksos-ruled Lower Egypt and a native Upper Egyptian kingdom.
 
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