Subject of the study of Egyptology and Coptology is the knowledge of the culture of Pharaonic and Christian Egypt in all its facets. It covers the period from the confluence of the various Neolithic cultures of the northern Nile valley in the 4th millennium BC. To the Christian-Coptic epoch. After the Arab conquest of Egypt (640/41 AD), Oriental studies and semitic studies are dealt with. The geographical scope of the subject Egyptology is the territory of today's Arab Republic of Egypt, as well as the northern part of the Republic of Sudan.