Amphora, New Kingdom

Amphora, New Kingdom

 Indurated limestone
 New Kingdom
 Dynasty 18
 ca. 1550–1295 B.C.
 Geography Egypt, Memphite Region, Saqqara, Teti Pyramid Cemetery

New Kingdom

Possibly as a result of the foreign govern of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom saw Egypt attempt to create a cushion between the Levant and Egypt, and gain its greatest territorial extent. It expanded far south into Nubia and made wide districts in the Near East. Egyptian armies pushed Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria.

Eighteenth Dynasty:


This was a time of great wealthiness and power for Egypt. Some of the most important and best-known Pharaohs ruled at this time. Hatshepsut was a pharaoh at this time. Hatshepsut is different as she was a female pharaoh, a rare occurrence in Egyptian history. She was an hard and competent leader, extending Egyptian trade south into present-day Somalia and northern into the Mediterranean. She ruled for twenty years through a combination of gross propaganda and deft political skill. Her co-regent and heir Thutmose III ("the Napoleon of Egypt") extended Egypt's army and managed it with great winner. Late in his reign he ordered her figure hacked out from her memorials. He fought against Asiatic souls and was the most made of Egyptian pharaohs. Amenhotep III built extensively at the temple of Karnak accepting the Luxor temple which lay of two pylons, a colonnade behind the new temple entrance, and a different temple to the goddess Ma'at.

Nineteenth Dynasty:

Ramses I reigned for two years and was succeeded by his son Seti I. Seti I carried on the work of Horemheb in reconstructing power, control, and honor to Egypt. He likewise was sure for making the temple complex at Abydos. Arguably Ancient Egypt's power as a nation-state upset during the reign of Ramses II (the Great) of the 19th Dynasty. He ruled for 67 years from the years of 18 and carried on his immediate predecessor's work and created many more splendid temples, such as that of Abu Simbel on the Nubian border. He sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been made by 18th Dynasty Egypt. His efforts of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II and was caught in history's first recorded military ambush. Ramses 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 pharaohs has tried to be the largest funerary complex in Egypt. His immediate heirs continued the campaigns, though an progressively careful court complicated matters. Ramses II was succeeded by his son Merneptah and then by Merenptah's son Seti II. Seti II's throne seems to have been disputed by his half-brother Amenmesse, who may have temporarily governed from Thebes. Upon his dying, Seti II son Siptah, who may have been afflicted with poliomyelitis during his life, was appointed to the throne by Chancellor Bay, an Asiatic commoner who served as vizier behind the scenes. At Siptah's early death, the throne was assumed by Twosret, the dowager queen of Seti II (and possibly Amenmesses's sister). A period of anarchy at the close of Twosret's short reign saw a native reaction to foreign control leading to the performance of the chancellor, and placing Setnakhte on the throne, establishing the Dynasty 20.

Twentieth Dynasty:

The last "great" king from the New Kingdom is widely regarded to be Ramses III, the son of Setnakhte who reigned three decenniums after the time of Ramses II. In Year 8 of his rule, the Sea People, invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramses III sunk them in two great land and sea battles. He claimed that he incorporated them as open people and established them in Southern Canaan, although there is prove that they forced their way into Canaan. Their front in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states in this area such as Philistia afterwards the break of the Egyptian Empire. He was also compelled to fight offensive Libyan tribesmen in two leading campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his Year 6 and Year 11 respectively. The heavy cost of these battles slowly exhausted Egypt's treasury and put up to the gradual decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of these difficultness is stressed by the fact that the first known labour strike in recorded history occurred during Year 29 of Ramses III's reign, when the food rations out for the Egypt's favored and elite royal tomb-builders and craftsmen in the village of Deir el Medina could not be purveyed. Something in the air kept much sunlight from reaching the ground and also got global tree development for almost two full decenniums until 1140 BC. One advised cause is the Hekla 3 blast of the Hekla volcano in Iceland, but the dating of that event remains in dispute.

Next Ramses III's last there was endless fuss between his heirs. 3 of his boys would go on to assume power as Ramses IV, Ramses VI and Ramses VIII respectively. However, at this time Egypt was likewise increasingly beset by a series of drouths, below-normal flooding levels of the Nile, famine, civil agitation and official subversion. The power of the last king, Ramses XI, grew so weak that in the south the High Priests of Amun at Thebes got the effective defacto rulers of Upper Egypt, while Smendes controlled Lower Egypt even before the death of Ramses XI. Smendes would finally found the dynasty 21 at Tanis.