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The New Kingdom, as archaeologists call it, was from about 1550 BC to 1070. This time in Egyptian
history is often called “The Golden Age” or “The Empire.” Egyptian culture flourished, the kingdom was
wealthy, the Egyptian empire extended from Syria to Nubia and the pharaohs commanded beautiful
temples to be built, honoring the gods who smiled on them.
During much of the New Kingdom, warrior pharaohs led victorious armies into far-flung areas of the
Mediterranean. While Egypt had been a nation before, it now became an Empire, ruling over people who
did not share the Egyptian religion or way of life. Beginning in 1546, Amenhotep I conquered the areas
of Palestine and Syria, leading to many more battles over the next centuries with the Mitannians for
control over the region. Later (1525), Thutmosis I extended the empire down past Nubia. Thus Egypt
was the greatest power in the world until around 1350 or so. It had extensive trade networks and was very
wealthy. Thebes, the capital, was the most impressive city in the world at that time.
Much of the history of this new Empire was recorded by the Pharaohs, so we have a good record of what
happened (though much of it was exaggerated a little by those scribes who wanted to gain favor from their
ruler). Many of Egypt’s most interesting Pharaohs ruled at this time.
One extraordinary individual was Pharaoh Hatshepsut (1473-1458), who was really a woman. She was
the wife of Thutmosis II, who died when his heir was still very young. She became regent (someone who
rules in place of a young person until they get older), but then later declared herself a man…and Pharaoh!
She wore men’s clothing and the traditional false beard. She did a fine job, from all the records found
about her. One of her most extraordinary adventures was her trip to the land of Punt (which is still not
identified exactly today), from which she brought back many riches and exotic items. However, the heir,
Thutmosis III, led a rebellion to reclaim the throne in 1458.
Thutmosis III (1458-1425) was often called The Great (as in military victories not humanitarian acts). He
conquered Canaan and marched northward to the Mitanni.
Amenhotep III (1391-1341) oversaw a tremendous level of building activity. His wife, Queen Tiye, was a
commoner who became quite powerful in her own right. They focused on diplomacy (over warfare) as
the means to hold onto the Empire.
In 1353-1335, Akhenaton came to power. He believed that the god Aten (the sun god) had talked to him
and told him that Aten was the one and only god. This was a change to monotheism, and was not
popularly accepted by the people, or the priests. The priests, who were very powerful, did not like having
their gods dismissed and they definitely did not like Akhenaton’s idea that the king was the only person
who could talk with the gods. His wife, Nefertiti, also shared in his rule. The capital of Egypt is moved
from Thebes to Akhenaton. Unfortunately, the Empire began to fall apart because Akhenaton focused on
religion more than government.
In 1333, Tutankhamun became Pharaoh. He was very young and died in 1323. He is very famous
because his tomb, of all the royal tombs, was the only one not plundered and ransacked in antiquity. It
was only discovered in 1922 and was full of incredible artwork.
In 1307, a series of very strong rulers returned Egypt to its status as Empire. Ramesses I, Sethos I,
Ramesses II and Ramesses III were strong warrior pharaohs (Ramesses III defeated the “Sea Peoples”
who devastated the rest of the Mediterranean area).
Timeline (B.C.)
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1550: New Kingdom begins
1473-1458: Pharaoh Hatshepsut
1458-1401: Thutmosis III The Great (extends Empire)
1391-1353: Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye
1353-1335: Akhenaton and Nefertiti
1333-1323: Tutankhamun
1307-1306: Ramesses I
1306-1290: Sethos I
1290-1224: Ramesses II
1194-1166: Ramesses III
1166-1094: Several more Ramesses, who become progressively weaker as rulers until the priests of
Amun seize power to rule south of Thebes in 1094. Egypt is once more divided into two halves.
1070-712: 3rd Intermediate Period (a time of chaos when no one really ruled the whole country)
712-664: Nubian rule of Egypt (a short time of a return to the “old ways” of Egyptian life, which had
been kept alive in Nubia)
664: Assyrians overrun Egypt and place a “puppet ruler” on the throne.
610-595: Necho II (who pays the Carthaginians to make a trip around Africa)
525: The Persians invade and conquer the old Assyrian Empire (which had been conquered by the
Babylonians only a short time before). Egypt then becomes part of the Persian Empire.
Changes in Egyptian Life from Earlier Kingdoms
Egyptian life was very much like it had been in earlier times. However, some things did change.
Pharaohs, instead of building pyramids to be their tombs, began to build tombs dug deep into the cliffs of
the Armana, near Thebes. These tombs had elaborate passageways built very far below ground, with dead
ends and even some “booby-traps” to foil tomb-robbers (these didn’t work, in the end, because almost all
the tombs had been looted before 1 A.D.). Inside, the tombs were elaborately decorated. In conjunction
with the tombs, which were often built in secret locations, the pharaohs had huge temples built, both to
honor their special gods and to serve as a funerary monument to themselves.
Large obelisks covered in hieroglyphs and carvings became the most frequent monument found near these
temples, though huge statues of the pharaohs were also used regularly.
During the rule of Akhenaton, art style changed a bit away from the more formal and stylized mode of the
previous centuries. It became a little more natural, focusing on everyday sorts of things and events.
Motion was depicted, along with affection among relatives. Pharaohs and their families had always been
depicted idealistically. Akhenaton preferred to be depicted a little more realistically; though his statues
are of an elongated figure (experts still are arguing about whether or not this was a true depiction of
Akhenaton or merely a different stylization). Also, glass-working became incredibly complex and
beautiful during this time.
Religion
The same gods that had been worshipped for centuries continued to be worshipped in Egypt. Because the
history of Egypt covers such a long time, the study of their gods is very confusing. Different gods were
more important than others at different times, depending on who was Pharaoh. Gods’ roles,
characteristics and names overlap with each other because of regional interpretations.
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Generally, the creator of all things was Re, Amun, Ptah, Khnum or Aten. The Heavens were represented
by Hathor, Bat or Horus. Earth was Osiris or Ptah. Evil and confusion was Seth. The moon was Thoth
or Khonsu. The sun was Re, Aten, Amun-Re, or Horus. These were in a hierarchy of sorts, but the
position of who was on top would change over time.
But the most important god was a goddess, Ma’at. She was always at the top of the hierarchy. She
represented Truth and Order (and sometimes the idea of “balance”), which was to the Egyptians the most
important idea for both life and death. To them, the universe was an ordered and rational place, with
predictable cycles and a constant morality (good was rewarded, evil was punished). The Greeks may
have used this idea in their construction of the idea of “logos,” the underlying order of the universe.
During the reign of Akhenaton, the Pharaoh declared that there were no gods but Aten and that Pharaoh
alone could communicate with the Aten. Aten was an abstract idea and was represented by the sun disc
with rays ending in little hands (very different from the other gods, who were most often represented by
humans with animal heads).
Dynasty 18 (1567-1320)
1570-1546: Amosis I. The founder of the dynasty expels the Hyksos from Egypt and pursues them to
Palestine.
1546-1526: Amenhotep I. Lays the foundations for the Egyptian Empire with his conquests in
Syria/Palestine. He builds a rock-cut tomb, rather than a pyramid, at Dra'abu el-Naga, Thebes, and founds a
community of royal necropolis workmen.
1525-1512: Tuthmosis I. A grat warrior, he leads campaigns in Nubia and Syria. His tomb is the first in the
Valley of the Kings at Thebes.
c1512-1504: Thuthmosis II. Marries Hatshepsut.
1503-1482: Hatshepsut. After seizing the throne from her stepson, Tuthmosis III, she bcomes queen
regnant. She buiolds a fine temple at Deir el-Bahri, Thebes.
1504-1450: Tuthmosis III. Upon reaching adulthood, he regains power from Hatshepsut to become Egypt's
greatest military leader. He extends the empire in Syria, crossing the Euphrates River and defeating
Egypt's greatest enemy, the Mitannians. Embarks on major building program at Temple of Amun at Karnak
and elsewhere.
1450-1425: Amenhotep II. The son of Tuthmosis III is a great warrior and sportsman. His tomb in Valley of
the Kings is used during Dynasty 21 to rebury a cache of royal mummies.
1425-1417: Tuthmosis IV. Creates peace alliance with mitanni and marries a Mitannian princess. Aten starts
to become a seperate and important deity.
1417-1379: Amenhotep III. A great builder, he also promotes the cult of Aten. Tiye, his wife, is a powerful
queen despite her nonroyal origins. Egypt's power and wealth are at their zenith; diplomacy replaces
warfare.
1379-1362: Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten). A religious revolutionary, he disbands the traditional priesthoods
and introduces an exclusive, near-monotheistic worship of the Aten. The court and capital are moved to
Akhetaten (Tell el-Amarna), where he and his queen, Nefertiti, pursue the cult. Akhenaten produces no
male heirs.
c.1364-1361: Smenkhkare. Son-in-law of, possibly half-brother of, and perhaps coregent with Akhenaten.
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1361-1352: Tutankhamun. Another son-in-law of Akhenaten, he begins the gradual restoration of the
traditional religion and returns the religious capital to Thebes. He dies young, leaving no heirs; his tomb
and treasure are discovered in the Valley of the Kings in AD 1922.
1352-1348: Ay. An elderly courtier, he inherits the throne and continues the restoration of religious
traditions.
1348-1320: Horemheb. Of obscure, non-royal parentage, he was previously the army command er under
Akhenaten. In his Edict, Hotemheb takes firm measures to restore the traditional religion as well as law and
order. He obliterates traces of Atenism, and Akhetaten is finally deserted.
Dynasty 19 (1320-1200)
1318-1304: Sethos I. A warrior king, he reestablishes the empire in Syria/Palestin, which had been allowed
to slip away during Akenaten's reign. Along with Ramesses II, he undertakes major building programs,
including temples at Thebes and Abydos. His tomb is the largest in the Valley of the Kings.
1304-1237: Ramesses II. A noted warrior and prolific builder, he is possibly the pharaoh of the Old
Testament's Exodus. Egypt wars against Hittites before eventually making a peace treaty with them.
1236-1223: Merenptah. Son of Ramesses II, he defeats the threat posed by a coalition of Libyans and Sea
Peoples.
Dynasty 20 (1200-1085)
1198-1166: Ramesses III. The last great warrior king defeats the Libyans (years 5 and 11) and Sea Peoples
(year 8). He builds a magnificent temple at Medinet Habu, Thebes, and his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
The royal necropolis workforce conducts strikes. The so-called Harem Conspiracy fails to assassinate the
king.
1160-1156: Ramesses V. The Turin Papyrus and the Wilbour Papyrus are written.
1140-1121: Ramesses IX. Tomb robberies occur, while royal workman strikes continue.
1113-1085: Ramesses XI. The kingdom is virtually divided in half: the king rules the north, but the high
priests of Amun seize power and attain near-equal status, effectively ruling the south from Thebes.
Ramesses XI's royal burial is the last in the Valley of the Kings.
3rd Intermediate: 1085-650
Late Period: 650-
After the collapse of the Nineteenth Dynasty, the so-called Ramesside kings, Egypt descended into
another period of political chaos. This chaos literally began during the kingship of the last Ramesside
king, Ramsses XI. After the death of Ramsses XI, a man named Smendes, who lived in the town of Tanis,
claimed the throne. From this point on, no-one was really in charge of Egypt.
For a brief time, Libyans controlled Egypt. These Libyan chiefs made up the Twenty-second Dynasty
and ruled Egypt at the same time as the kings of the Twenty-third Dynasty.
In 728 BC, after three hundred years of political chaos, Egypt was invaded by its sister civilization to the
south, Nubia. The Nubians had built a civilization on the model of the Egyptians and had maintained
Egyptian values and culture with a high degree of conservatism. Under the command of Piankhy, the
Nubians rushed northwards and conquered Egypt. The Nubians wanted to return Egypt to traditional
Egyptian ways and Egyptian religious practices. Many Egyptian traditions that had died out were restored
by the Nubian conquerors. But the Nubian renaissance lasted for only the blink of an eye, for they wilted
under the ferocity of the Assyrians and their king Ashurbanipal. Ashurbanipal placed another Egyptian
on the throne of the Two Lands and so established the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. It took a couple generations
to bring peace once again to Egypt, but the country would never accede to its former power and influence.
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Soon, the empire of the Babylonians fell to the Persians, and Egypt came under the control of Persia. The
Egyptians writhed and suffered under Persian control so much so that in 332 BC they welcomed the
Greek conqueror of Persia, Alexander the Great, into their country as their great liberator. But Egypt was
to become a Greek kingdom under a series of Greek kings. After 332, no Egyptian would be king of
Egypt until the nineteenth century AD.
The creator of all things was either Re, Amun, Ptah, Khnum or Aten, depending on which version of the
myth was currently in use. The heavens were represented by Hathor, Bat, and Horus. Osiris was an earth
god as was Ptah. The annual flooding of the Nile was Hapi. Storms, evil and confusion were Seth. His
counterpart was Ma'at, who represented balance, justice and truth. The moon was Thoth and Khonsu. Re,
the sun god, took on many forms, and transcended most of the borders that contained the other gods. The
actual shape of the sun, the disk (or, aten), was deified into another god, Aten.
EW YORK -- A FEW years ago there was a traveling exhibition, "Egyptomania," which showed how
Greeks and Romans, then Italians, French, Russians and Americans borrowed, copied and stole from
ancient Egypt, or what they believed was ancient Egypt because after a while the copies and adaptations
got mixed up with originals and became part of the evolving culture.
Obelisks, pyramids and all the other Egyptian-derived forms, which for centuries, even before the great
excavations of the 19th century, permeated Western art and architecture (the Egyptian Hall in London, the
original Tombs in lower Manhattan, the old suspension bridge over the Neva in St. Petersburg, the
Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris and on and on) proved that the Egyptians succeeded, to a degree probably
even they didn't anticipate, in leaving a legacy to outlast themselves.
"The Egyptians say that their houses are only temporary lodgings and their graves are their real houses,"
is how Diodorus Siculus, the ancient Greek historian, famously put it (although he might have added that
this sufficed nicely for kings, queens and high officials with big graves, while for the masses of
Egyptians, home for eternity was a shallow pit).
The New Kingdom, 18th to 20th Dynasties (c. 1650-1085 B.C.)
Soon after 1580 B.C., the Egyptian princes of Thebes
succeeded in expelling the Hyksos (“Rulers of Foreign Lands”)
and liberating the country, opening the period of Egyptian
history known as “The Empire.”
Once again there was a reunification, and the pharaohs consciously revived the traditions
of
the early 12th Dynasty. Art regained the traditional aesthetic it had possessed in the time of
King Senwosret I.
For almost 500 years the country, enriched by victorious wars (the Thutmosid and
Ramesside
Campaigns), was to enjoy a period of prosperity and building activity unmatched in its
history.
Innumerable stone temples and rock-cut tombs were built, many of which are still around
today.
The 18th Dynasty (c. 1580-1315 B.C.)
Egypt was freed from the Hyksos by Ahmose, ruler of Thebes. Under his leadership, his
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victorious military campaigns resulted in the extension of Egypt’s borders northwards
across
the whole of Palestine and part of Syria as far as the Euphrates and Orontes rivers, and
southwards along the Nile to the Fourth Cataract more than 500 miles south of Aswan.
All the early kings of the dynasty up to Amenhotep III played some part in these wars.
Military operations were lessened during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, wife and
halfsister
of Thutmose II, who was appointed regent during the minority of her nephew,
Thutmose III.
In fact, she proclaimed herself pharaoh and reigned for twenty-two years in his stead.
She can be seen in the temple reliefs, dressed as a man and not as a woman, fulfilling the
responsibilities before her ancestral gods. She chose to focus on the internal development
of Egypt instead. After her death, Thutmose III resumed the military policies of his
ancestors
and became a renowned warrior.
During the reign of his grandson, Amenhotep III, a profound cultural change came into
being, extending the ideas of the divinity of the king, at least partly in response to the
greatly increased power and wealth of the priesthood of Amun at Karnak Temple which
began to interfere with the activities of the Royal House. His son Amenhotep IV
(Akhenaten)
carried to its extreme limits the theological doctrine of the divine nature of the kingship.
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He appointed himself sole high priest of a new monotheistic
faith which saw in the physical sun disk the only divine power
which the Egyptians should worship as their unique creator.
The names of most of the other gods were removed from
monuments. The court left Thebes, the city of Amun, and
took up residence in the newly created capital of Akhetaten
(El Amarna) in Middle Egypt near Hermopolis. In the fields of
art, sculpture, architecture, and literature there was new-found
freedom from the old traditions. Images became more naturalistic and architectural forms
related more to human needs.
This period lasted only twenty years or so. The new town of Akhetaten was abandoned in
the time of the young Tutankhamen, the name of Akhenaten was obliterated, and the old
gods were restored to their former state. Everything went back to the polytheistic beliefs
of
prior periods.
19th and 20th Dynasties (c.1315-1085 B.C.)
When the dynasties changed, the throne passed to able military leaders, first to Horemheb,
Prime
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Minister of Tutankhamen, then to Sety I and eventually to Rameses II (the Great). The
Egyptian
armies again marched to Palestine and Syria to consolidate the weakened empire which
was now threatened by the Hittites, a more powerful enemy than Thutmose III had
confronted.
The climax of this period was the long reign of Rameses II, which lasted 67 years. This
king
built more monuments that have survived than any other pharaoh. Even though Rameses
had more than 100 children he still outlived his thirteen eldest sons. Following Rameses II
there were nine more kings named Rameses, most of whom ruled no more than a few
years.
Soon after his death the country was attacked by a large confederation of dispossessed
peoples from the eastern Mediterranean called “The Sea Peoples.” Merneptah and
Rameses III successfully warded off the danger in about 1185 B.C. and helped Egypt to
regain part of its glory and its empire.
In the following period, in the reigns of Rameses IV to XI, there is documentary evidence
that Egypt suffered from severe economic difficulties, including inflation and famine, and
political setbacks such as the robbery of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, strikes, and
administrative and judicial scandals.
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Countless foreigners, including a large proportion of people
from the East, settled on the banks of the Nile as farmers,
prisoners of war, or political refugees.
The victories of this period resulted in the capture or recapture of
rich Syrian cities together with some of their inhabitants and
herds, and the imposition of an annual tribute payable by towns
which sought the protection of Egypt against their enemies. This
wealth poured into the royal treasury and into officials’ pockets.
The chief beneficiaries of these victories, however, were the gods who had given the
pharaoh
the power to conquer. Indeed, the chief feature of the New Kingdom was the economic
growth
of the temples. Gifts of land increased along with the number of buildings.
This society of prosperous, learned scribes for whom “a book is better than a painted stele
or a wall covered with inscriptions,” took inspiration from the texts of the Middle
Kingdom.
The New Kingdom ended in crisis with the country splitting into two lands, one in the
south
ruled by the high priests of Amun at Thebes and the other a dynasty of weak kings at Tanis
in the eastern Delta (10th century B.C.).
Late Period (712-332 B.C.)
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After the Third Intermediate period, Egypt was unified again under a combined Nubian
and
Egyptian kingship. However, most of the power lay with local families in Thebes. For
instance,
the priest Mentuemhat was called “the prince of the City,” and his tomb was on a grander
scale than any New Kingdom tomb.
Egypt was attacked by the only other strong state in its area, Assyria, in 674 B.C. Lower
Egypt
was taken. Fighting continued for some time, but by 653 B.C. Egypt had its independence
again under the Cushite kings. The 25th Dynasty was wealthy, and its prosperity continued
into the 26th Dynasty.
Egypt was invaded again, this time by the Persians, in 525 B.C. Persian rule was cruel, and
was only tolerated until the Egyptians found strength to drive them out. When the Greeks
defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Egyptians began their
eighty-year resistance. The entire country was freed from Persian rule by 400 B.C.
Persia continued to attack Egypt, however, and in 343 B.C. the country belonged to the
Persians again. Persian rule was so harsh and brutal that the people of Egypt were willing
to accept alternatives. In 332 B.C., the young Macedonian-Greek King Alexander the
Great defeated the Persians and became ruler of Egypt, having himself declared king. This
began the Hellenistic Period of Egyptian history.
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THE NEW KINGDOM 1550–1100 B.C.
1552–1306 B.C. (The 18th Dynasty)
•End of control of Egypt by the Hyksos.
1557–1494 B.C.
•Pharaoh Amenhotep I worked to bring political stability
to Egypt. Egyptian military forces reached the Euphrates
River in northern Syria.
1490–1468 B.C .
•Egypt was ruled by Queen Hatshepsut.
1402–1364 B.C.
•Egypt reached the peak of its glory and splendor. The
temple of Luxor was built at Thebes.
1347–38 B.C.
•Pharaoh Tutankhamon (King Tut) ruled Egypt.
•Books on medicine and surgery were being written in
Egypt on papyrus scrolls.
•Egyptians were building water clocks and making things
out of glass.
•Egypt controlled Syria, Palestine and Nubia—this was the
time of Egypt’s greatest geographical expansion.
1306–1186 B.C. (The 19th Dynasty)
•1290–1224 B.C. Ramses the Great ruled Egypt. The
great temple of Abu Simbel was built.
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1186–900 B.C.
•Egyptian power declined: End of the New Kingdom period
in Egypt.
900–851 B.C.
•A symbol for zero was being used in India for the first
time in the world’s history, making great advances possible
in mathematics.
900–600 B.C.
•There were no more conquests or expansions by Egypt
after this time.
•Power in Egypt was split between princes in the Delta
and the High Priest of Amun at Thebes; later on, kings from
Libya and Ethiopia ruled Egypt.
800–751 B.C.
•The Olmecs were building the first pyramids in Mexico.
776 B.C.
•The first Olympic games were being held at Olympia in
Greece in honor of the god Zeus.
663 B.C.
•The great Egyptian city of Thebes was sacked by the
Assyrians.
600 B.C.
•Phoenecian sailors were travelling by ship all around Africa.
586 B.C.
• Jerusalem was destroyed by King Nebuchanezzar of
Babylonia.
585 B.C.
•May 28th of this year is believed to be the first accurately
known date in human history.
500 B.C.
•Certain people in Greece were teaching that the earth is
ball shaped, not a flat disc. The first steel was being made in
India.
483 B.C.
•The Buddha, founder of Buddhism, died in India.
457 B.C.
•Beginning of the “Golden Age” of Athens under Pericles.
400 B.C.
•The Persians invaded Egypt.
390 B.C.
•A Greek astronomer suggested that the planets Venus
and Mercury may orbit the sun.
332 B.C.
•The Macedonian Greek, Alexander the Great, conquered
Egypt, bringing Greek culture to that land. The Egyptians
believed he was a god and made him pharaoh. Alexandria,
a great city of science and culture, was founded in Egypt in
honor of Alexander.
324 B.C.
•Greece declared Alexander the Great to be a god.
323 B.C.
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•Alexander the Great died. The Macedonian rulers called
the Ptolemies began to govern Egypt.
260 B.C.
•The great wall of China was begun.
170 B.C.
•The first paved roads were being built in Rome.
148 B.C.
•Macedonia became a Roman province.
146 B.C.
•Rome destroyed the Greek city state of Corinth.
91 B.C.
•The great wall of China was completed.
31 B.C.
•Rome conquered Egypt and made it a province of Rome.
30 B.C.
•The death by suicide of the queen Cleopatra, the last
Ptolemy, marked the end of independent rule for Egypt up
New Kingdom: The New Kingdom was the most glorious period in Egyptian history. It began with the
Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1295 B. C. E.), a dynasty of many famous kings: Amunhotep I, Thutmose I,
Thutmose II, Queen Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amunhotep II, Thutmose IV, Amunhotep III, Akhenaton,
Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb. Queen Hatshepsut ruled as king. Her images on monuments were later
defaced, probably for political reasons. Akhenaton (originally called Amunhotep IV) abolished all of the
Egyptian Gods except for Aton, the visible disk of the sun, and established the capital at Akhetaton
(Amarna). Egypt went into decline during his reign. After Akhenaton's death Tutankhamun reestablished
the capital in Thebes, and destroyed all mention of Akhenaton and Aton. Egypt slowly returned to glory.
Tutankhamun is most famous for his tomb, which was the only royal tomb not completely looted by
robbers, and was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. The Nineteenth Dynasty (1295-1186 B. C. E.)
began with Ramses I, and Seti I. Seti's son Ramses II built more and bigger monuments than any other
king. He personally won the battle of Kadesh from the Hittites. He went on to rule for 67 years. After
Ramses II, Egypt went very slowly into decline. Famous kings were Merenptah, Seti II, Ramses III
(Twentieth Dynasty), and Queen Tiy.
Third Intermediate Period: In this period (1069-525 B. C. E.), Tanis became the capital city. One
famous king was Sheshonq I. Other cities became the capital.
Nubian Period: Blacks from Kush (Nubia) to the South invaded and ruled (747-656 B. C. E.). This was
followed by a period of Egyptian rule.
Egyptian religion is difficult to understand, for there are dozens of gods whose functions often
overlap. Egyptians would worship one god, the god of their village or city, but recognized a
pantheon of gods that had a hierarchy. The highest god in the hierarchy was the sun-god:
either Horus, Re, or Amun-Re. In later Egyptian history, this sun-god was collapsed with local
gods, which can really confuse the picture.
But this hierarchy of gods with the sun-god at the top doesn't quite match the picture
exactly. For at the top of the universal order stood a goddess, a teenage girl goddess who was
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often represented as a pair of twins, Ma'at. This unprepossessing goddess literally ruled
everything. She was not the sun and she was not power and strength; she represented, rather,
an abstraction. She was "Truth" or "Order." For the Egyptian believed that the universe was
above everything else an ordered and rational place. It functioned with predictability and
regularity; the cycles of the universe always remained constant; in the moral sphere, purity
was rewarded and sin was punished. Both morally and physically, the universe was in perfect
balance.
The Egyptian word for this balance was the Egyptian word for "truth," ma'at; this is
perhaps the single most important aspect of Egyptian culture that you can learn. For once you
really understand this concept, the whole of Egyptian culture begins to make sense. The order
of the universe (ma'at ) functioned with unswerving accuracy; it was maintained by the
goddess Ma'at. This meant that the concept of "truth" meant for the Egyptian the the rational
and orderly working of the universe rather than its diverse phenomena. The Egyptian, then,
believed that he or she understood how the universe operated; all phenomena could be
explained by an appeal to this understanding of the rationality of the universe.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important this concept of ma'at is to subsequent
history. This idea that the universe is rational and that the "truth" of the universe is the
underlying rationality and order of the universe rather than its diverse phenomena, passed
from the Egyptians to the Greeks. The Greeks called the underlying order of the universe,
logos, or "meaning," "order," "pattern." The early Christians adopted the logos in order to
explain the moral order of the universe; the first line of the Gospel of John is, "In the
beginning was the logos , and the logos was with God, etc." But the concept for the Greeks
and the Christians was more or less the same as ma'at . The Egyptians believed that the ma'at
of the universe was a god that benevolently ruled all aspects—human, material, and divine—
of the universe; the Christians would likewise make the underlying rationality of the universe
into God: "And the logos was God."
Now lying in pieces, the giant red-granite statue inspired the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley
to craft the poem "Ozymandias" (the Greek form of User-maat-Re, one of Ramses II's many
names):
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
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Akhenaten brought about a new style of art that rejected the 2,000 year old conventions of
Egyptian art. For the first time, paintings showed intimacy and illustrated motion.
Regardless of their actual appearance, pharaohs had always been depicted as handsome and
athletic. Now, in a radical departure from tradition, the Royal family was shown with spindly
arms and legs, obvious breasts, and prominent hips.
When historians first looked at statues of Akhenaten they assumed his portrait was of a
woman because of his strange androgynous shape.
To further enhance her status, Hatshepsut also made use of her army, not in battle but for a trading
trip to the land of Punt, where no Egyptian had been for more than 500 years. This mission was
highly successful. Hatshepsut returned with exotic goods such as ivory, leopard skins and incense.
As well as legitimising Hatshepsut’s position as pharaoh, the expedition set her apart as a ruler who
had reached out to distant foreign lands.
After 22 years of reign Hatshepsut died and her son, Tuthmosis III, gained the throne that had
rightfully been his. Years later, his resentment toward Hatsheput became evident when he deleted
her name from monuments attributed to her so that people would forget her reign.
It was not until 1903 that British archaeologist Howard Carter came across the name of Hatshepsut
and the mystery of the unknown pharaoh was solved.
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Hatshepsut ordered many obelisks in her reign to be carved with her name and propaganda.
Weighing more than 300 tons and standing 30 metres tall, obelisks became the defining
monument of the New Kingdom.
Hatshepsut ordered carvings that praised her beauty but in an attempt to strengthen her
position as pharaoh, also had herself depicted as a man.
Hatshepsut’s architect, Senenmut, had a meteoric rise to fame, which led to questions about
their relationship – even more so when his tomb was built next to hers. Some of the crude
3,000 year-old graffiti suggests these rumours were rife.
The name Hatshepsut roughly translates to “the most noble of ladies”.