The New Kingdom Dynasties 18 to 20 comes next.
The history of this period is marked by the appearance of
several powerful royal figures whose distinctive personalities,
beliefs, and actions greatly affected
the direction that Egypt's civilization took during this time.
It lasted almost 500 years.
Some of these individuals had a profound effect on their immediate generation.
Others set the stage for the following reigns.
One ruler introduced an innovative concept that while not enduring in terms
of ancient Egyptian culture may ultimately have played
a significant role in the development of Western religious thought.
In the eighteenth dynasty,
Egypt's borders were extended in every direction.
The military rule of Thutmosis III,
whose prowess was unlike that of any other leader,
is sometimes referred to today as Egypt's Napoleon.
Amenhotep III, leader in the dynasty,
maintained the advances of his predecessors and ushered in
a long peaceful reign that relied in
large part on international diplomacy as never before.
A long peace existed within Egypt and
the country experienced a golden age of arts and literature.
Early in the eighteenth dynasty,
these kings established a separate Theban royal burial area
called the Valley of the Kings,
and it would remain the favored location through the end of the Twenthieth Dynasty.
After the death of Amenhotep III,
his son and successor,
Amenhotep IV, soon advanced a revolutionary idea and system.
We will talk more about this time period in a later class.
His changes affected all areas of Egyptian life and beliefs but it did not last,
and his son and eventual successor,
Tutankhamun, would help lead
the counter reformation that would restore traditional ideology to Egypt.
The discovery of his fabulous tomb in 1922 astounded the world,
and the dynasty ended with two military men not
related to their predecessors, Ay and Horemheb.
Dynasty 19 followed with its first ruler,
the elderly Ramesses I.
He was another military leader.
He was soon succeeded by his son Seti I,
and then his son Ramesses II.
The latter is known as the longest ruling Pharaoh;
he reigned into his 67th year.
He extended the empire to such a degree that
military action with Western Asia was constant.
He fought against Asiatic peoples,
the sea people, and the Libyans,
the Hittites, and even others.
Some confrontations were successful, others were not.
The first recorded peace treaty appears at Abu Simbel
and it relates to his less-than-decisive battle with the Hittites.
His son Merneptah followed the path of
his military predecessors and records of
his battles appear on buildings during his reign.
His palace, the only surviving one of its type in the world,
was excavated by the Penn Museum and is in the collection for you to see.
Merneptah also took over and re-inscribed a sphinx.
It was originally produced several hundred years earlier in
the middle kingdom and was first appropriated by Ramesses II, his father.
It is also the largest in the western hemisphere.
Some political intrigues followed with Seti II's queen having an independent reign.
Just exactly how the Nineteenth Dynasty ended is a matter of debate,
but it seems to have involved a dispute with supporters of at least two major factions.
The rulers of the Twentieth Dynasty were not as successful as their predecessors,
except for Ramesses III,
known as the last great warrior Pharaoh.
And he represents the end of the line of
successful military pharaohs of the Egyptian Empire begun by Tuthmosis III.
Ramesses III ruled during
chaotic time in the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world,
and he faced hostility from the Libyans,
tribes of the West,
and the Sea Peoples.
These were formidable forces from the eastern Mediterranean,
Asia Minor, and the Aegean.
Despite his many successes and the ability to overcome difficulties from within,
like a harem conspiracy to kill him,
his successors were not as capable.
They were unable to maintain the empire and suffered
from the strains of a rapidly changing external world.
In addition, they could not deal appropriately with
a continuously fractious relationship between the monarchy and the clergy.
The heights of the Twentieth Dynasty were soon to fall,
and upon the death of its last ruler,
Ramesses XI, yet another intermediate period,
the third one, began.