Egypt: The New Kingdom Timeline

Egypt: The New Kingdom 50

1550 BC – 1070 BC Abu Simbel -- the greatest rock-cut temple Abu Simbel, cut from the sandstone cliffs of Nubia 280km south of Aswan by Ramesses II (c.1265-1244 BC), is the most spectacular temple complex in Egypt -- two temples carved directly from the living rock, the larger dominated by four colossal seated statues of Ramesses II, each 20 metres high. The Great Temple is aligned so that twice a year (20 February and 20 October -- traditionally believed to coincide with Ramesses's birthday and coronation day) the rising sun penetrates 60 metres into the mountain and illuminates three of the four statues in the innermost sanctuary (the fourth, the god of the underworld, remains in darkness). Threatened by the rising waters of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam, Abu Simbel was cut apart in 50-tonne blocks and reassembled on higher ground in 1964-1968 -- the most ambitious archaeological rescue operation ever undertaken.
1550 BC – 1525 BC Ahmose I -- founder of the New Kingdom Ahmose I (c.1550-1525 BC) is the pharaoh who expels the Hyksos from Egypt, reunifies the country and founds the Eighteenth Dynasty and the New Kingdom. Following his father Seqenenre Tao and brother Kamose, who began the liberation war, Ahmose completes it c.1550 BC: he besieges and takes Avaris (the Hyksos capital in the Delta), pursues the retreating Hyksos into Canaan, and crushes Nubian rebels in the south. His own autobiography (inscribed on the tomb wall of a soldier named Ahmose son of Ebana at El-Kab) is one of the most vivid military narratives of the ancient world: "I captured a man and cut off his hand; it was reported to the royal herald." The Hyksos experience transforms Egypt permanently -- adopting the horse, chariot, composite bow and bronze weapons that become the foundation of New Kingdom military power.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Deir el-Bahari -- the sacred cliff theatre Deir el-Bahari, a natural amphitheatre of vertical cliffs on the west bank at Thebes, is one of the most spectacular settings for religious architecture in the world. The site contains three mortuary temples: Mentuhotep II's terraced temple (Eleventh Dynasty, c.2050 BC -- the first great temple at Thebes); Hatshepsut's colonnaded temple (c.1470 BC -- the most perfectly preserved New Kingdom temple); and Thutmose III's small temple between them (largely destroyed). Hatshepsut's temple (Djeser-Djeseru, "Holy of Holies") is a masterpiece of New Kingdom architecture -- three colonnaded terraces rising against the cliff, decorated with reliefs depicting the queen's divine birth, the Punt expedition and her obelisks at Karnak. The cliff behind the temples is a natural pyramid shape -- the goddess Meretseger ("She Who Loves Silence") is said to inhabit it.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Deir el-Medina -- the artists' village Deir el-Medina, the workers' village on the west bank at Thebes, is home to the craftsmen who build and decorate the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings -- approximately 60-120 workers and their families, isolated in their own walled village, working 8-day weeks with 2-day rest and 20 days of religious holidays per month. The village is one of the best-documented communities of the ancient world: thousands of ostraca (pottery sherds and limestone flakes used as notepaper) record workers' wages, disputes, absences, legal cases, love poetry, medical prescriptions and shopping lists. The first recorded labour strike in history occurs at Deir el-Medina: in Year 29 of Ramesses III, the workers stop work because their grain rations are 18 days late -- a sit-down strike that succeeds in obtaining their back pay.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Egypt: The New Kingdom (1550–1070 BC) The New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC) is the imperial age of ancient Egypt -- 480 years in which Egypt controls an empire stretching from Nubia to the Euphrates, builds its most spectacular monuments, and produces its most celebrated pharaohs. Founded by Ahmose I, who expels the Hyksos c.1550 BC, the New Kingdom comprises three dynasties: the Eighteenth (1550-1295 BC) -- the dynasty of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamun; the Nineteenth (1295-1186 BC) -- the dynasty of Seti I and Ramesses II; and the Twentieth (1186-1070 BC) -- the dynasty of Ramesses III, the last great military pharaoh, who defeats the Sea Peoples. The New Kingdom collapses c.1070 BC under a combination of climate change, economic disruption, priestly power and the weakness of the late Ramesside pharaohs.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Egyptian love poetry -- the Song of Songs analogy The New Kingdom love poetry -- collected on papyri of the Nineteenth-Twentieth Dynasties but reflecting a long tradition -- is the most intimate and humanly recognisable literature of ancient Egypt: young men and women expressing desire, longing, jealousy and joy in direct, sensuous language. "My heart is not yet done with your lovemaking. My wolf-cub, my beloved, to me is your beauty; I will not leave off contemplating you..." The parallels with the biblical Song of Solomon (which draws on similar Near Eastern love poetry traditions) are striking -- many scholars believe the Song of Songs was directly influenced by Egyptian love poetry. The poems show Egyptians of the New Kingdom as emotionally recognisable individuals -- hungry for connection, anxious about rejection, physically aware of beauty in ways that transcend 3,000 years of time.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Grain prices in the Ramesside period -- economic crisis The economic crisis of the late New Kingdom (c.1150-1070 BC) is documented with unusual precision in the ostraca and papyri from Deir el-Medina, which record grain prices. Normal grain prices remain stable for much of the New Kingdom; under Ramesses IX (c.1126-1108 BC) prices begin to rise sharply, reaching 4-5 times normal levels by the reign of Ramesses X and XI. The causes: reduced Nile floods (drought); disruption of the state grain distribution system as central authority weakens; inflation caused by increased gold supply from temple hoards being released into circulation. The grain price crisis drives the tomb robbing trials (c.1112-1099 BC) in which workers from Deir el-Medina are convicted of robbing royal tombs to sell the gold -- desperate responses to economic hardship rather than mere criminality.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Karnak -- the greatest religious complex in history The temple complex of Amun-Ra at Karnak (Ipet-Sut) grows throughout the New Kingdom into the largest religious building complex in the ancient world -- a 1.5km² site that takes 1,500 years and thirty pharaohs to reach its final form. The key New Kingdom structures: the Great Hypostyle Hall (built by Seti I and Ramesses II), containing 134 columns, the largest 23 metres high, covering an area of 5,000 square metres -- the largest columned hall ever built; the obelisks of Hatshepsut (one of 4 pairs she erects -- two survive); the sixth pylon of Thutmose III; the sanctuary rebuilt by Philip III Arrhidaeus (Alexander's brother); the Sacred Lake; and the Avenue of Sphinxes connecting to Luxor Temple (3km south). The temple is still visited by 3 million tourists annually.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Khnum -- the potter god who creates humanity Khnum (the "Moulder"), a ram-headed god of the first Nile cataract region and the patron of the island of Elephantine, is one of the oldest deities in the Egyptian pantheon -- the divine potter who creates human beings on his wheel, fashioning each person's body (khat) and soul (ka) simultaneously from the Nile clay. He controls the source of the Nile inundation (believed in some traditions to flow from underground caverns beneath the First Cataract) and is therefore associated with the fertility and prosperity of Egypt. The Famine Stele at Sehel Island (near Aswan) records a legend in which Djoser asks Khnum to end a seven-year famine by releasing the Nile flood -- a story that has been compared to the biblical account of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream of seven fat and seven lean years. Khnum's cult at Esna (the Ptolemaic temple) is one of the best-preserved in Egypt.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Luxor Temple -- the temple of the royal ka Luxor Temple (Ipet-Resyt, "Southern Sanctuary"), located in the heart of modern Luxor, is one of the finest and best-preserved temples in Egypt -- built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II on the site of earlier Middle Kingdom structures. Unlike Karnak (dedicated to Amun-Ra as cosmic king), Luxor Temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of the royal ka -- the divine aspect of the pharaoh himself. The Opet Festival -- the most important festival in the Theban calendar, occurring annually during Akhet (flood season) -- involves the procession of the statues of Amun, Mut and Khonsu from Karnak to Luxor Temple and back, accompanied by musicians, dancers and enormous crowds. The 3km Avenue of Sphinxes connecting the two temples is the processional route. The temple's first pylon is fronted by two seated colossi of Ramesses II and (originally) two obelisks -- one remains; the other stands in Paris.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Manetho and the dynastic system -- organising history Manetho, an Egyptian priest of Sebennytos in the Delta (c.285-246 BC), wrote a history of Egypt in Greek (the "Aegyptiaca") in which he organises the 3,000 years of pharaonic history into 30 dynasties (with a 31st added later) -- a system so useful that it is still used by Egyptologists today. Manetho's original text is lost; it survives only in excerpts quoted by later Jewish and Christian writers (Josephus, Julius Africanus, Eusebius). Manetho's dynasties do not always correspond to biological families -- sometimes they represent a change of capital city, a change of policy or simply a break in the king list. The division into Old, Middle and New Kingdom (and Intermediate Periods between) is a modern scholarly addition, but the basic dynastic numbering remains unchanged. When Egyptologists say "Eighteenth Dynasty," they are using Manetho's framework.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Maya and the treasury -- the unseen bureaucracy Maya (c.1336-1304 BC), Treasurer of Egypt under Tutankhamun and Horemheb, is one of the most important officials of the late Eighteenth Dynasty -- the man responsible for managing the royal treasury and the restoration of the traditional religious monuments defaced during the Amarna period. His tomb at Saqqara (discovered by Alain Zivie in 1986 in a long-lost location) contains magnificent painted reliefs and a remarkable cache of objects. A box in Tutankhamun's tomb is inscribed with the name "Maya," suggesting he was personally involved in the hasty preparation of the young king's burial equipment. Maya represents the vast bureaucratic machinery that actually runs Egypt beneath the level of the pharaohs -- the literate administrators who manage the accounts, supervise the building works and maintain the state's functions regardless of who sits on the throne.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Medinet Habu -- the last great mortuary temple Medinet Habu, the mortuary temple of Ramesses III on the west bank at Thebes, is the best-preserved mortuary temple of the New Kingdom and the most complete representation of a New Kingdom palatial complex. Its outer enclosure wall encloses 7 hectares; the main temple is approached through a massive migdol gateway (based on Syrian fortresses) decorated with painted battle reliefs. The walls of the first and second courts show the battles against the Sea Peoples and Libyans in extraordinary detail -- the most comprehensive record of a Bronze Age battle in existence. The temple complex includes administrative buildings, storerooms, a small palace and the remains of a sacred lake. After the New Kingdom collapse, the temple serves as a refuge for the Theban population and eventually as a Coptic Christian church.
1550 BC – 1070 BC New Kingdom Nubia -- a colonial province Under the New Kingdom, Nubia is not merely a trading partner but a colonial province -- administered by a viceroy (the "King's Son of Kush") who reports directly to the pharaoh. Temples are built throughout Nubia in Egyptian style (Abu Simbel, Soleb, Amara, Semna); Egyptian officials govern the nomes; Egyptian culture is imposed on the indigenous population. The gold of Nubia funds the New Kingdom's empire: the tribute lists in the Theban tombs show Nubian chiefs bringing gold, ivory, ebony, cattle and exotic animals year after year. Nubia is so thoroughly Egyptianised that its indigenous elite adopts Egyptian burial customs, Egyptian dress and Egyptian writing. Yet Nubian culture survives: the Kingdom of Kush (centred at Napata) eventually produces the 25th Dynasty pharaohs who conquer Egypt.
1550 BC – 1070 BC New Kingdom Nubian governors -- the viceroy of Kush The Viceroy of Kush (Imy-r Kush, "King's Son of Kush" -- though usually not literally the king's son), appointed by the pharaoh and reporting directly to the throne, is one of the most powerful officials in the New Kingdom -- governing a territory extending from the First Cataract south to the Fourth Cataract, approximately 1,000km of Nile valley. The viceroys administer the extraction of gold (Nubia provides approximately two-thirds of Egypt's gold), organize the delivery of tribute, maintain the chain of fortresses and Egyptian-style temples built throughout the territory, and manage the relationships with the Nubian chieftains who supply labour, goods and military contingents. The viceroy Amenhotep Huy (under Tutankhamun) is depicted in his Theban tomb receiving tribute from Nubian chiefs -- some arriving with animals, others with gold and precious goods.
1550 BC – 1070 BC New Kingdom art -- the apex of Egyptian aesthetics New Kingdom art achieves a synthesis of technical mastery and expressive richness that represents the apex of the Egyptian tradition. The tomb paintings of the nobles' tombs at Thebes (Rekhmire, Sennedjem, Nebamun and others) show extraordinary fluency and delicacy -- the famous Nebamun hunting scene (c.1350 BC, British Museum) in particular is considered one of the finest paintings of the ancient world. The Amarna period's naturalistic revolution -- though reversed politically -- leaves a permanent mark: post-Amarna New Kingdom art is subtly more naturalistic, slightly less rigidly frontal, than pre-Amarna. The tomb of Nefertari (wife of Ramesses II) in the Valley of the Queens contains what many Egyptologists consider the finest wall paintings in existence -- restored in the 1990s at a cost of $6 million.
1550 BC – 1070 BC New Kingdom women -- power and presence New Kingdom women occupy a more visible public space than their predecessors. The "Royal Wife" title becomes an instrument of diplomacy (Ramesses II's diplomatic marriages to Hittite, Mitannian and Babylonian princesses). The "God's Wife of Amun" -- a royal female who serves as the earthly consort of the god Amun -- becomes one of the most powerful religious offices in Egypt. Prominent queens: Ahmose-Nefertari (wife of Ahmose I, revered as a goddess after death); Tiye (wife of Amenhotep III, who participates in correspondence with foreign kings -- the Amarna Letters); Nefertiti (Akhenaten's wife, who appears equally with the pharaoh in religious scenes); Nefertari (Ramesses II's favourite wife, immortalised in the Valley of the Queens). Women in New Kingdom literature appear as intelligent, autonomous individuals -- the Love Poetry of the New Kingdom is the most personal and emotionally direct literature of ancient Egypt.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Pi-Ramesses -- the new capital in the Delta Pi-Ramesses (Per-Ramesses Aa-nakhtu, "House of Ramesses, Great in Victory"), Ramesses II's new capital city built at or near the Hyksos city of Avaris in the eastern Nile Delta, is one of the largest cities of the ancient world -- covering approximately 10 square kilometres, with a population estimated at 300,000. The city contains the royal palace, four great temples (dedicated to Amun, Ra-Horakhty, Ptah and Seth/Baal), massive stables for 460 horses, and the administrative machinery of the New Kingdom empire. The Exodus narrative in the Bible identifies the Israelites as building a city called "Pi-Ramesses" or "Ramesses" -- one of the most specific geographical details in the biblical text, and one that connects the Exodus story firmly to the Ramesside period. Pi-Ramesses is abandoned in the Twenty-first Dynasty (c.1070 BC) as the Pelusiac arm of the Nile shifts.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Setau -- viceroy of Kush under Ramesses II Setau (c.1279-1213 BC), Viceroy of Kush under Ramesses II, is one of the most extensively documented Nubian administrators of the New Kingdom. His inscriptions at the temples of Wadi es-Sebua and Gerf Hussein (both built by Setau for Ramesses II in Lower Nubia) record his military campaigns against Nubian chieftains who attempt to evade tribute payment, his organisation of construction projects, and his role in the conscription of Nubian prisoners to work on building temples. Setau's career spans approximately 30 years -- the latter half of Ramesses II's 66-year reign -- during which he transforms Lower Nubia into the most densely templed landscape in Egypt outside of Thebes. His personal inscriptions on the temple walls reflect the pride of a powerful official who has identified his own legacy with that of his pharaoh.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Seth -- the necessary god of chaos Seth (Egyptian: Sutekh), the red-haired god of storms, deserts, chaos, foreigners and violence, is one of the most complex deities in the Egyptian pantheon -- simultaneously feared and necessary. He is the murderer of Osiris and the eternal enemy of Horus, yet he is also the protector of Ra's solar bark against Apophis (the serpent of chaos who threatens to devour the sun each night). Without Seth, Ra cannot complete his nightly journey; without some chaos, the ordered world of Ma'at cannot be maintained. The Ramesside pharaohs (particularly the Nineteenth Dynasty, which came from the Seth-worshipping eastern Delta) actively promote Seth's cult. Seti I (Sety, "He of Seth") bears Seth's name. Ramesses II's personal weapon is dedicated to Seth. The erasure of Seth from later Egyptian religion is a New Kingdom development that follows the Seth-Horus conflict of the Early Dynastic period.
1550 BC – 1070 BC The Amarna Letters -- diplomatic correspondence The Amarna Letters are a collection of 382 clay tablets in cuneiform script, discovered at Akhetaten (Amarna) in 1887 -- the diplomatic correspondence of the Egyptian court with the kings of the great powers (Babylonia, Assyria, Mitanni, Hatti and Arzawa) and the vassal rulers of Canaan during the reigns of Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Smenkhkare (c.1360-1332 BC). The letters reveal the full complexity of Late Bronze Age international relations: the great powers address each other as "brothers," exchanging diplomatic gifts (gold, lapis lazuli, horses, women), arranging royal marriages and negotiating alliances. The Canaanite vassal letters -- 300 letters from city-state rulers in Canaan -- describe the deteriorating security situation during Akhenaten's reign, when Egyptian attention is absorbed by the religious revolution and the Canaanite city-states are raided by the Habiru (possibly the early Hebrews).
1550 BC – 1070 BC The Book of the Dead -- the guide to the afterlife The Book of the Dead (Egyptian: pert em heru, "Coming Forth by Day") is a collection of funerary spells used in the New Kingdom and later periods to help the deceased navigate the dangers of the afterlife and achieve eternal life. Derived from the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts and Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead is more accessible (written on papyrus rolls placed in the coffin) and more standardised -- eventually reaching approximately 200 standard chapters by the Late Period. The most famous chapters include: Chapter 125 (the Negative Confession -- "I have not killed, I have not stolen...") and the accompanying Weighing of the Heart scene; Chapters 17-18 (instructions for the deceased's transformation into various divine forms); and Chapter 72 (the spell for going out by day). Custom copies were expensive luxury items; cheaper versions left spaces for the purchaser's name to be filled in.
1550 BC – 1070 BC The Harem Conspiracy -- Ramesses III assassinated The Harem Conspiracy is the most dramatic political crime of the New Kingdom -- a plot by one of Ramesses III's secondary wives (Tiye) to assassinate the pharaoh and place her son Pentawere on the throne. The conspiracy is documented in the Judicial Papyrus of Turin (c.1155 BC) -- the trial record of 40 conspirators including palace officials, military officers and even one of the judges appointed to investigate the conspiracy. Most are sentenced to death (execution or forced suicide); some have their noses and ears cut off. The pharaoh's fate is revealed by CT scanning of his mummy (2012): his throat was cut so deeply that the windpipe and oesophagus were severed -- a wound inconsistent with survival. The conspiracy succeeds: Ramesses III dies, though his legitimate son Ramesses IV immediately takes the throne.
1550 BC – 1070 BC The Opet Festival -- the sacred marriage The Opet Festival (Ipet Festival, "Festival of Ipet"), held annually during Akhet (flood season) for a period growing from 11 days (in Thutmose III's time) to 27 days (in Ramesses III's time), is the most important religious event of the New Kingdom Theban calendar. The statues of Amun, Mut and Khonsu (the Theban triad) are transported from Karnak to Luxor Temple along the 3km Avenue of Sphinxes, accompanied by the pharaoh, priests, musicians, dancers and enormous crowds. At Luxor Temple the pharaoh undergoes a ritual renewal of his divine kingship -- a "sacred marriage" with the god Amun that regenerates the royal ka and confirms his divine nature for another year. The festival is a major public event -- food and drink are distributed to the crowds; Karnak records the donation of 11,341 loaves of bread and 385 jugs of beer for a single festival.
1550 BC – 1070 BC The Sea Peoples -- civilisational collapse avoided The Sea Peoples are a confederation of maritime raiders and migrants who sweep across the eastern Mediterranean c.1200-1150 BC, destroying the Hittite empire (Hattusa is sacked c.1180 BC), burning Ugarit (c.1185 BC), devastating Cyprus and threatening Egypt. Their origin is debated: ancient Egyptian texts describe them as coming from "the islands" and from "the north" -- modern scholarship identifies various groups with the Philistines (Peleset), Mycenaean Greeks, Anatolians and others displaced by the broader Bronze Age collapse. Ramesses III defeats them in two major battles (land and sea, c.1175 BC) at the Egyptian border and settles some groups (particularly the Peleset/Philistines) as mercenaries in Canaan -- where they become the biblical Philistines. Egypt survives but is weakened permanently.
1550 BC – 1070 BC The Turin King List -- Egypt's ancient annals The Turin King List (Turin Royal Canon), a papyrus document composed in the reign of Ramesses II (c.1260 BC), is the most complete ancient Egyptian list of pharaohs -- recording the names, regnal years and in some cases the months and days of reign of kings from the legendary predynastic period through the Seventeenth Dynasty. It is the primary source for Egyptian chronology before the New Kingdom and contains much information found nowhere else. Unfortunately the papyrus was found already fragmentary (in Drovetti's collection, purchased by the King of Sardinia in 1824), and hundreds of small fragments have never been correctly matched to their positions in the document. The list's preamble lists the gods who ruled Egypt before the human pharaohs -- Ra, Shu, Geb, Osiris, Seth, Horus and Thoth -- each reigning for thousands of years.
1550 BC – 1070 BC The Valley of the Kings -- royal tombs in secret The Valley of the Kings (Biban el-Muluk, "Gates of the Kings") on the west bank at Thebes is the royal necropolis of the New Kingdom -- a remote limestone valley in the hills above the desert where 64 tombs are cut into the cliffs, mostly for pharaohs of the Eighteenth-Twentieth Dynasties. The decision to abandon pyramids (too visible and too easily robbed) in favour of deep rock-cut tombs hidden in a remote valley represents a radical change of royal funerary strategy. Each tomb is a long descending corridor with chambers for the burial and funerary equipment, their walls painted with texts and images from the Book of the Dead, the Book of the Amduat, the Litany of Ra and other funerary texts. Despite the precaution, every tomb was robbed in antiquity -- except Tutankhamun's, which was sealed under the rubble of a later tomb.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Thoth -- the divine scribe and patron of knowledge Thoth (Egyptian: Djehuty), depicted as an ibis-headed man or as a baboon, is the god of writing, wisdom, knowledge, measurement, the moon and magic -- the divine scribe who records the judgments of the gods and the years of the pharaoh's reign. He is associated with the moon (whose phases are used for timekeeping), with the art of writing (he invents hieroglyphs according to one tradition) and with the protection of scribes, physicians and scholars. At Hermopolis Magna, his cult centre, he leads the Ogdoad (the eight primordial gods) and is credited with creating the world through the power of his voice. The Greeks identify him with Hermes and develop the syncretic figure of Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice-Greatest Hermes") -- the legendary author of the Hermetic writings that influence Renaissance philosophy and continue to influence occult traditions today.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Thutmose III's annals -- the earliest military history The Annals of Thutmose III, inscribed on the walls of the sanctuary of Amun at Karnak, are the most detailed military records of the ancient Near East -- a year-by-year account of 17 campaigns covering Thutmose's entire military career. The account of the first campaign (culminating in the Battle of Megiddo) is the most detailed: the military council's debate about which route to take through the Carmel ridge, Thutmose's courageous choice of the narrowest (most dangerous) pass, the ambush of the enemy, the siege of the city, the capture of the spoils. The annals record booty lists (horses, chariots, prisoners, cattle, grain) with the precision of an accountant and the pride of a victorious general. They are the first extended work of military historiography in the ancient world.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Tutankhamun's discovery -- the greatest find The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb (KV62) by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon on 4 November 1922 is the most famous archaeological discovery of the 20th century. Carter's diary entry for 26 November 1922 records the moment he makes a hole in the sealed inner doorway and Lord Carnarvon asks if he can see anything: "Yes, wonderful things." The tomb had been entered twice in antiquity but resealed; the robbers took only small objects and oils. What remained was extraordinary: 5,398 objects in four small rooms, including the nested golden shrines, the canopic chest with its golden goddesses, the golden throne and 130 walking sticks. The curse allegedly affecting those who opened the tomb is journalistic invention -- of the 22 people present at the opening of the inner chamber, most lived to old age.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Valley of the Queens -- royal women remembered The Valley of the Queens (Ta Set Neferu, "Place of Beauty"), located near the Valley of the Kings on the west bank at Thebes, contains approximately 90 tombs of New Kingdom queens, princes and princesses. The most celebrated tomb is that of Nefertari, favourite wife of Ramesses II (QV66, c.1255 BC) -- considered the most beautiful painted tomb in Egypt, its walls covered in vibrant scenes from the Book of the Dead showing the queen in interaction with the gods. The Ramesseum Conservation Project (Italian Archaeological Mission, 1986-1992) restored the paintings at a cost of $6 million using Italian restoration techniques. Other notable tombs include those of Tyti (wife of Ramesses III) and the princes Amunherkhepshef and Khaemwaset (sons of Ramesses III) -- both with remarkably tender depictions of fathers leading their sons into the afterlife.
1550 BC – 1070 BC Wenamun -- the last adventure in the old style The Report of Wenamun (c.1075 BC), a literary or semi-documentary text describing the journey of an Egyptian priest to Byblos to buy cedar wood, is one of the most revealing documents of the New Kingdom's twilight. Wenamun represents the temple of Amun at Karnak -- still the wealthiest religious institution in Egypt -- but he travels without proper credentials, is robbed of his silver and gold in the harbor of Dor, and is treated with barely disguised contempt by the prince of Byblos ("Is he not the host of ten thousand ships? And is this the way he sends to me?"). Egypt's reduced international prestige in c.1075 BC -- contrasting with Thutmose III's era when Egyptian ambassadors were welcomed as representatives of the world's greatest power -- is the text's real subject. It is the last great narrative of the New Kingdom.
1525 BC – 1504 BC Amenhotep I -- consolidating the New Kingdom Amenhotep I (c.1525-1504 BC), son and successor of Ahmose I, consolidates the New Kingdom by campaigning in Nubia (advancing to the Third Cataract and establishing Egyptian control of the gold-rich territory beyond), raiding in Libya and possibly conducting the first New Kingdom campaign in Canaan. He is notable for being the first pharaoh to separate his mortuary temple from his tomb -- placing the temple in the cultivated valley and cutting his tomb into the rocky cliff of the Valley of the Kings (if the traditional attribution is correct). He is deified after his death as the patron of the workers' village at Deir el-Medina -- the community of craftsmen who build and decorate the royal tombs -- worshipped there for the rest of the New Kingdom.
1504 BC – 1492 BC Thutmose I -- Egypt reaches the Euphrates Thutmose I (c.1504-1492 BC) is the first New Kingdom pharaoh to conduct a major campaign into the Near East -- pushing the Egyptian army to the Euphrates River in Syria, erecting a triumphal stele on its banks "as a boundary of Egypt." This campaign -- a raid rather than a conquest, but an unprecedented demonstration of Egyptian military reach -- establishes the ambition that will characterise the Eighteenth Dynasty's foreign policy. He also conquers Nubia to the Fourth Cataract, the deepest Egyptian penetration of Nubia in history. His domestic programme is equally impressive: at Karnak he erects two obelisks (one survives) and builds extensively. He is buried in the Valley of the Kings -- the first pharaoh certainly buried there.
1479 BC – 1458 BC Hatshepsut -- the female pharaoh Hatshepsut (c.1479-1458 BC) is the most successful female ruler in Egyptian history -- a woman who declared herself pharaoh and ruled Egypt as full co-regent, then sole pharaoh, for approximately 21 years. The daughter of Thutmose I and wife of Thutmose II, she is initially regent for her stepson Thutmose III, then declares herself pharaoh c.1473 BC -- wearing the double crown, the khat headcloth and the false beard of kingship in official depictions (while private depictions show her as a woman). Her reign is prosperous and peaceful: she builds the magnificent mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, erects four obelisks at Karnak (two survive, the tallest standing obelisks in Egypt), and sends the famous expedition to Punt (c.1470 BC). After her death, Thutmose III destroys her monuments and erases her name.
1479 BC – 1458 BC The Punt expedition -- Hatshepsut's greatest adventure Hatshepsut's expedition to the Land of Punt (c.1470 BC), depicted in remarkable detail in the reliefs of her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, is the most fully documented Egyptian expedition to Punt. Five large ships sail south on the Red Sea to Punt, where they are met by the chief of Punt (Parehu) and his famously obese wife (depicted in the temple reliefs with extraordinary specificity -- she has been diagnosed retrospectively with Dercum's disease or Madelung's disease). The Egyptians exchange goods for 31 living myrrh trees (to be transplanted at Deir el-Bahri), ebony, elephant ivory, gold, exotic animals, and "eye paint." The trees are planted in the temple garden -- the first botanical garden in history. The expedition demonstrates the logistical ambition of Hatshepsut's administration.
1458 BC – 1425 BC Thutmose III -- the Napoleon of ancient Egypt Thutmose III (c.1458-1425 BC) is the greatest military commander in Egyptian history -- the pharaoh who conducts 17 campaigns in the Near East and creates the largest empire Egypt ever achieves. His first and most celebrated campaign (Year 23, c.1457 BC) culminates in the Battle of Megiddo -- the first battle in history recorded in sufficient detail to be reconstructed. Faced with a coalition of Canaanite and Syrian princes assembled at Megiddo, Thutmose chooses the most difficult approach (through a narrow mountain pass, surprising the enemy) and routs the coalition. He then lays siege to Megiddo for seven months, capturing it and establishing Egyptian hegemony over Canaan and Syria. His Annals (inscribed on the walls of Karnak) are the most detailed military records of the ancient Near East.
1390 BC – 1352 BC Amenhotep III -- the sun king Amenhotep III (c.1390-1352 BC) presides over the most prosperous and artistically sophisticated reign in Egyptian history -- a 38-year era of diplomatic brilliance, monumental building and cultural flowering known as the "Amenhotep III era." His empire is so secure that he fights no major battles; instead he manages his relationships with the great powers (Mitanni, Babylon, Hatti, Arzawa, Alashiya/Cyprus) through an elaborate system of royal correspondence, diplomatic marriages and gift exchange documented in the Amarna Letters. He builds the Colossi of Memnon (two 18-metre quartzite statues of himself), his mortuary temple (the largest in Thebes), Luxor Temple and a palace at Malqata. His correspondence with foreign kings reveals a confident, even arrogant ruler fully aware of his supreme position in the ancient world.
1370 BC – 1330 BC Nefertiti -- the queen who may have ruled Nefertiti (c.1370-1330 BC), chief wife of Akhenaten, is one of the most famous women in ancient history -- known primarily from the iconic painted limestone bust discovered at Amarna in 1912 (now in the Neues Museum, Berlin). She plays a uniquely prominent role in Akhenaten's religious revolution -- appearing as often as the pharaoh himself in Amarna reliefs, performing religious rituals usually reserved for the king alone, and depicted smiting enemies (a pose normally restricted to pharaohs). After Akhenaten's death she disappears from the record -- or does she? Some Egyptologists identify her with the obscure pharaoh Neferneferuaten, who briefly rules before Tutankhamun, making her the first queen regnant of the New Kingdom.
1353 BC – 1336 BC Akhenaten -- the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten (c.1353-1336 BC) is the most controversial pharaoh in Egyptian history. Born Amenhotep IV, in the fifth year of his reign he changes his name, abandons the traditional gods, moves the capital from Thebes to a new city (Akhetaten, modern Amarna), and declares the Aten (the sun disc) to be the sole god -- creating what may be the world's first monotheistic state religion. The Hymn to the Aten, inscribed in Akhenaten's tomb, is a poetic masterpiece describing the creation and sustaining of the world by the sun disc, with striking parallels to Psalm 104. Amarna art, with its fluid naturalistic depictions of the royal family in intimate domestic scenes (the pharaoh and Nefertiti playing with their daughters, kissing, holding hands), is the most radical break in 3,000 years of Egyptian artistic convention.
1332 BC – 1323 BC Tutankhamun -- the boy king whose tomb survived Tutankhamun (c.1332-1323 BC) is a minor pharaoh who reigned for approximately nine years, died at 18-19, and is now the most famous of all pharaohs -- because his tomb in the Valley of the Kings was discovered essentially intact by Howard Carter on 4 November 1922. The tomb contained 5,398 objects packed into four small chambers: the golden death mask (the most iconic artefact of the ancient world), golden shrines nested like Russian dolls, a golden throne, chariots, weapons, wine, food, linen, games, musical instruments and the king's personal possessions. His significance in his own time is as the pharaoh who reverses Akhenaten's religious revolution -- restoring the traditional gods and the old administrative and religious system.
1305 BC – 1290 BC Horemheb -- the general becomes pharaoh Horemheb (c.1321-1295 BC), a military general who served under Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, becomes the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty -- an energetic ruler who systematically dismantles Akhenaten's religious revolution, demolishes Amarna, reuses its stones as fill in the pylons at Karnak, and begins the comprehensive damnatio memoriae (erasure from history) of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Smenkhkare and Tutankhamun. Horemheb issues a Great Edict reforming the Egyptian legal and administrative system, addressing corruption among local officials and soldiers. He appoints his general Paramessu (who becomes Ramesses I) as his successor -- founding the Nineteenth Dynasty. Horemheb's systematic erasure of the Amarna period is so thorough that later Egyptians know nothing of Akhenaten.
1290 BC – 1279 BC Seti I -- the warrior and builder Seti I (c.1290-1279 BC), second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty, is one of the finest military rulers and most accomplished builders of the New Kingdom. He reconquers the Levant (lost during the Amarna period), campaigns against the Hittites (capturing Kadesh temporarily), subjugates Nubia and Libya, and restores the carved names of the traditional gods wherever Akhenaten had defaced them. His mortuary temple at Abydos is the finest temple of the New Kingdom -- its painted reliefs are so well-preserved and of such extraordinary quality that they are regularly cited as the finest wall paintings in Egypt. His tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV17, discovered by Belzoni in 1817) is the longest, deepest and most beautifully decorated in the valley -- its Astronomical Ceiling one of the most important astronomical documents of the ancient world.
1279 BC – 1213 BC Ramesses II -- the greatest builder Ramesses II (c.1279-1213 BC) rules for 66 years -- the second longest reign in Egyptian history -- and builds more monuments, erects more colossal statues of himself and leaves more inscriptions than any other pharaoh. His building programme: Abu Simbel (two temples carved from a cliff face in Nubia), the Ramesseum (his Theban mortuary temple), Pi-Ramesses (his new Delta capital, containing some of the most elaborate architecture in Egypt), the completion of his father's Abydos temple, the hypostyle hall at Karnak. He fathers over 100 children by multiple wives -- his favourite queen Nefertari has her own magnificent tomb in the Valley of the Queens. His mummy (found in the Deir el-Bahari cache) shows him to have been approximately 1.7 metres tall, with fine aquiline features and red hair.
1274 BC Battle of Kadesh -- the world's first recorded battle The Battle of Kadesh (c.1274 BC), fought between Ramesses II and the Hittite king Muwatalli II on the Orontes River in modern Syria, is the largest chariot battle in history (an estimated 5,000-6,000 chariots combined) and the first battle in history described in sufficient detail to reconstruct. Ramesses, advancing with his four divisions widely separated, is ambushed by Hittite chariots while the main Hittite army remains hidden. Surrounded and nearly captured, Ramesses (according to his own account, recorded in poetry at five temple sites) fights his way out through personal heroism -- charging the Hittites alone when his troops flee. The result is strategically inconclusive: neither side wins decisively. Both claim victory in their own records -- the first known example of official propaganda on both sides of a conflict.
1259 BC The Egyptian-Hittite Treaty -- the world's first peace treaty The Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty (c.1259 BC), negotiated between Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III approximately 15 years after the inconclusive Battle of Kadesh, is the world's oldest surviving international peace treaty -- the first recorded example of mutual arms limitation, non-aggression and extradition agreements between sovereign states. The treaty is inscribed on silver tablets (now lost) and copied in hieroglyphs at Karnak and Abu Simbel and in cuneiform at the Hittite capital Hattusa (modern Boghazkoy, Turkey). The two versions differ in minor details -- each ruler emphasises the other's initiative in seeking peace -- but the content is substantively the same: mutual non-aggression, military alliance against third parties and extradition of political refugees. A replica of the treaty now hangs in the United Nations headquarters in New York.
1213 BC – 1186 BC Merneptah -- the pharaoh of the Exodus? Merneptah (c.1213-1203 BC), thirteenth son of Ramesses II and his eventual successor (he is approximately 60 when he becomes pharaoh), is best known for the Merneptah Stele -- a granite victory monument from his fifth regnal year (c.1208 BC) recording his campaign in Canaan and Libya. The stele contains the only mention of "Israel" in any ancient Egyptian text: "Israel is laid waste, its seed is no more" -- evidence that by c.1208 BC a people called Israel existed as a distinct group in Canaan. Merneptah is one of the candidates for the pharaoh of the biblical Exodus (though the identification is contested -- most modern scholars place the Exodus, if historical, in the Nineteenth Dynasty). His tomb in the Valley of the Kings contains one of the earliest complete versions of the Book of the Dead.
1186 BC – 1155 BC Ramesses III -- the last great warrior pharaoh Ramesses III (c.1186-1155 BC) is the last great warrior pharaoh of Egypt -- the ruler who defeats the Sea Peoples in two major battles and saves Egypt from the fate of the other Bronze Age civilisations (Mycenaean Greece, Hittite empire, Ugarit) that collapse c.1200-1150 BC. His naval battle against the Sea Peoples (depicted in the reliefs of his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu) is the first naval battle in history recorded in sufficient detail to reconstruct: Egyptian archers on shore and on boats catch the Sea Peoples' vessels in a pincer movement and destroy them. He also defeats Libyan invasions in Years 5 and 11. His reign is commemorated in the Harris Papyrus -- the longest known papyrus in existence (40 metres), recording his benefactions to Egypt's temples.
1070 BC High Priest Herihor -- the end of the New Kingdom Herihor (c.1080-1074 BC), High Priest of Amun at Karnak under Ramesses XI, is the official who effectively ends the New Kingdom by assuming royal titles and governing Upper Egypt as an independent power. His inscriptions at Karnak show him with a cartouche (the oval loop enclosing a royal name -- reserved for pharaohs) around his own name -- the first non-pharaoh to use this symbol. He uses the title "High Priest of Amun, Commander-in-Chief" -- combining religious and military authority. His contemporary Smendes rules the Delta independently. Egypt is divided: Thebes under the High Priests of Amun; the Delta under Smendes (who founds the Twenty-first Dynasty). The Third Intermediate Period begins. The 480-year New Kingdom -- the greatest age of Egyptian imperial power -- is over.
1070 BC The New Kingdom collapse -- the Bronze Age catastrophe The New Kingdom collapses c.1070 BC at the end of a period of general Bronze Age civilisational collapse (c.1200-1070 BC) that destroys the Mycenaean, Hittite and Ugaritic civilisations. The causes in Egypt are multiple: the Sea Peoples' invasions (c.1208-1175 BC) disrupt trade routes; a prolonged drought (evidenced by Nile flood records and tree-ring data) reduces agricultural output; the cost of Ramesses III's wars bankrupts the treasury; the Theban priesthood of Amun accumulates wealth equal to or exceeding the pharaoh's; a succession of weak Ramesside pharaohs (Ramesses IV-XI, 1155-1070 BC) lose control of the administration. The High Priest Herihor of Amun eventually rules Upper Egypt in fact if not in name, while the pharaoh Smendes rules in the Delta -- Egypt is divided again.