New Kingdom

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

Dynasties of Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt

Predynastic Egypt

Protodynastic Period

Early Dynastic Period

1st 2nd

Old Kingdom

3rd 4th 5th 6th

First Intermediate Period

7th 8th 9th 10th

11th (Thebes only)

Middle Kingdom

11th (All Egypt)

12th 13th 14th

Second Intermediate Period

15th 16th 17th

New Kingdom

18th 19th 20th

Third Intermediate Period

21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th

Late Period

26th 27th 28th

29th 30th 31st

Græco-Roman Period

Ptolemaic Roman Empire

The New Kingdom is the period in Egyptian history between the 16th century BCE and the 11th century BCE, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. It followed the Middle Kingdom, and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period.

The New Kingdom saw Egypt 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.

One of the best-known New Kingdom pharaohs was 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 was Ramesses II ("the Great"), who sought to recover territories in modern Israel, Lebanon and Syria that had been held by Eighteenth-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.

Two other very important pharaohs were Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. 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.

New Kingdom timeline

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DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-1560 till:-1050 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:-1560 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:25 start:-1560

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

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
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 from: -1550 till: -1525 color:PA text:"Ahmose I"
 from: -1525 till: -1504 color:PA text:"Amenhotep I"
 from: -1504 till: -1492 color:PA text:"Thutmose I"
 from: -1492 till: -1479 color:PA text:"Thutmose II"
 from: -1479 till: -1425 color:PA text:"Thutmose III"
 from: -1479 till: -1457 color:PA text:"Hatshepsut"
 from: -1425 till: -1399 color:PA text:"Amenhotep II"
 from: -1399 till: -1389 color:PA text:"Thutmose IV"
 from: -1389 till: -1351 color:PA text:"Amenhotep III"
 from: -1351 till: -1344 color:PA text:"Akhenaten"
 from: -1336 till: -1334 color:PA text:"Smenkhkare"
 from: -1334 till: -1325 color:PA text:"Tutankhamun"
 from: -1325 till: -1321 color:PA text:"Kheperkheprure Ay"
 from: -1321 till: -1292 color:PA text:"Horemheb"

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

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

 barset:skip

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See also

• History of Ancient Egypt.
• Pharaoh (historical novel by Bolesław Prus, relating to the fall of Egypt's Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom).de:Neues Reich (Ägypten)

es:Imperio Nuevo de Egipto fr:Nouvel Empire égyptien it:Nuovo Regno dell'Egitto nl:Nieuwe Rijk no:Det nye rike i Egypt sr:Ново царство zh:新王國時期