the dissolution of the central government at the start of the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069-c. 525 BCE). This is the time of Imperial Egypt when it extended its reach beyond the former borders to create an empire. It is the most popular era in Egyptian history in the present day with the best known pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty such as Hatshepsut, Thuthmoses III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, those of the 19th Dynasty like Seti I, Ramesses II (The Great), and Merenptah, and of the 20th Dynasty such as Ramesses III. It is during the new kingdom that these Egyptian rulers are known as “pharaohs”, meaning “Great House”, the Greek word for the Egyptian Per-a-a, the designation of the royal residence. Prior to the New Kingdom Egyptian monarchs were known simply as “kings” and addressed as “your majesty”. The fact that the word “pharaoh” is so commonly used to reference any Egyptian ruler from any era attests to the impact the New Kingdom has had on the modern-day understanding of Egyptian history.
The New Kingdom is the most completely documented period in Egyptian history. Literacy had expanded during the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) and Second Intermediate Period so that, by the time of the New Kingdom, more people were writing and sending letters. Further, Egypt was now in contact with other foreign powers through diplomatic relations and trade which necessitated written contracts, treaties, letters between kings, and bills of sale. The operation of the empire also required a large bureaucratic network which, of course, generated a vast amount of written material much of which is still extant.
THE NEW KINGDOM EMPIRE WOULD ELEVATE EGYPT’S STATUS ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE, MAKING HER A MEMBER OF THE COALITION MODERN HISTORIANS CALL THE “CLUB OF GREAT POWERS”
During the Second Intermediate Period the foreign kings known as the Hyksos ruled in Lower Egypt from Avaris, the first time outsiders had managed to amass the kind of wealth and power to enable them to become a political force in Egypt. The Hyksos were driven out by Ahmose I (c. 1570-1544 BCE), founder of the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom period, who instantly set about securing and then expanding the borders of Egypt to provide a buffer zone against any further invasions. Later pharaohs, most notably Thuthmoses III, expanded these buffer zones into an empire. This empire would elevate Egypt’s status on the international stage, making her a member of the coalition modern historians call the “Club of Great Powers” along with Assyria, Babylon, the Hittite New Kingdom, and the Kingdom of the Mitanni all of whom participated in trade and diplomatic relationships.
The 18th, 19th, and early 20th Dynasties brought Egypt to its height of power but during the latter part of the 20th Dynasty (known as the Ramessid Period) that power began to wane as the priests of Amun gained greater wealth and influence and the status of the pharaoh diminished. The power of the Cult of Amun can best be appreciated by the size of the temple to the god at Karnak which every ruler of the New Kingdom contributed to. By the end of the New Kingdom there were over 80,000 priests employed by the temple at Thebes alone, not counting other cities in various districts. The most notable of these priests were richer and owned more land than the pharaoh.
Hatshepsut’s Temple, Karnak
The unity and strength which characterized the 18th and 19th Dynasties steadily was lost during the 20th. The New Kingdom ended when the priests of Amun grew strong enough to assert their power at Thebes and divide the country between their rule and the pharaoh’s at the city of Per-Ramesses. With the loss of a strong central government and monarch, Egypt entered the era known as the Third Intermediate Period which is characterized by a steady decline in power and concludes with the Persian invasion of Egypt in 525 BCE
