New Kingdom

:: This article is about a period in ancient Egyptian history. For the alternative-"rap" group, see New Kingdom (group)

The New Kingdom is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BCE and the 11th century BCE, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. The New Kingdom (1570-1070 BCE) followed the Second Intermediate Period, and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period.

Possibly as a result of the foreign rule of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom saw Egypt attempt to create a buffer between the Levant and Egypt, and attain its greatest territorial extent. It expanded far south into Nubia and held wide territories in the Near East. Egyptian armies fought Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria.

The Eighteenth Dynasty contained some of Egypt's most famous Pharaohs including Ahmose I, Hapshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on expanding Egypt's external trade, sending a commercial expedition to the land of Punt. Thutmose III ("the Napoleon of Egypt") expanded Egypt's army and wielded it with great success.

One of the best-known 18th Dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in honor of the Aten and whose exclusive worship of the Aten is often interpreted as history's first instance of monotheism (and was argued in Sigmund Freud's Moses and Monotheism to have been the ultimate origin of Jewish monotheism). Akhenaten's religious fervor is cited as the reason why he was subsequently written out of Egyptian history. Under his reign, in the 14th century BCE, Egyptian art flourished and attained an unprecedented level of realism.

Another celebrated pharaoh is Ramesses II ("the Great") of the 19th Dynasty, who sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by 18th Dynasty Egypt. His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II and was caught in history's first recorded military ambush. Ramesses II was famed for the huge number of children he sired by his various wives and concubines; the tomb he built for his sons, many of whom he outlived, in the Valley of the Kings has proven to be the largest funerary complex in Egypt. Still greater military ability, if less self-promotion, was shown by Ramesses III.

New Kingdom timeline

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DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:-1560 till:-1050TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:-1560ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:25 start:-1560

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from: -1550 till: -1292 color: 18 text:Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt from: -1292 till: -1185 color: 19 text:Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt from: -1186 till: -1072 color: 20 text:Twentieth dynasty of Egypt

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from: -1550 till: -1525 color:18 text:"Ahmose I" from: -1525 till: -1504 color:18 text:"Amenhotep I" from: -1504 till: -1492 color:18 text:"Thutmose I" from: -1492 till: -1479 color:18 text:"Thutmose II" from: -1479 till: -1425 color:18 text:"Thutmose III" from: -1479 till: -1457 color:18 text:"Hatshepsut" from: -1425 till: -1399 color:18 text:"Amenhotep II" from: -1399 till: -1389 color:18 text:"Thutmose IV" from: -1389 till: -1351 color:18 text:"Amenhotep III" from: -1351 till: -1344 color:18 text:"Akhenaten" from: -1336 till: -1334 color:18 text:"Smenkhkare" from: -1334 till: -1325 color:18 text:"Tutankhamun" from: -1325 till: -1321 color:18 text:"Ay" from: -1321 till: -1292 color:18 text:"Horemheb"

from: -1292 till: -1290 color:19 text:"Ramesses I (1292 BC – 1290 BC)" from: -1290 till: -1279 color:19 text:"Seti I (1290 BC – 1279 BC)" from: -1279 till: -1213 color:19 text:"Ramesses the Great (1279 BC – 1213 BC)" from: -1213 till: -1203 color:19 text:"Merneptah (1213 BC – 1203 BC)" from: -1203 till: -1199 color:19 text:"Amenmesse (1203 BC – 1199 BC)" from: -1199 till: -1193 color:19 text:"Seti II (1199 BC – 1193 BC)" from: -1193 till: -1187 color:19 text:"Siptah (1193 BC – 1187 BC)" from: -1187 till: -1185 color:19 text:"Twosret (1187 BC – 1185 BC)"

from: -1186 till: -1183 color:20 text:"Setnakhte" from: -1183 till: -1152 color:20 text:"Ramesses III" from: -1152 till: -1146 color:20 text:"Ramesses IV" from: -1146 till: -1142 color:20 text:"Ramesses V" from: -1142 till: -1134 color:20 text:"Ramesses VI" from: -1134 till: -1129 color:20 text:"Ramesses VII" from: -1129 till: -1125 color:20 text:"Ramesses VIII" from: -1125 till: -1107 color:20 text:"Ramesses IX" from: -1107 till: -1103 color:20 text:"Ramesses X" from: -1103 till: -1072 color:20 text:"Ramesses XI"

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External links

Photographs

* Middle East on the Matrix: Egypt, The New Kingdom — Photographs of many of the historic sites dating from the New Kingdom

See also

*History of Ancient Egypt
Pharaoh (historical novel by Bolesław Prus, relating to the fall of Egypt's Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom)