Rise The
Eighteenth Dynasty included some of Egypt's most famous kings, including
Ahmose I,
Hatshepsut,
Thutmose III,
Amenhotep III,
Akhenaten, and
Tutankhamun.
Ahmose I is viewed to be the founder of the eighteenth dynasty. He continued the campaigns of his father
Seqenenre Tao and of
Kamose against the
Hyksos until he reunified the country once more. Ahmose would then continue to campaign in the Levant, the home of the Hyksos, to prevent any future invasions on Egypt. Ahmose was followed by
Amenhotep I, who campaigned in Nubia and was followed by
Thutmose I. Thutmose I campaigned in the
Levant and reached as far as the
Euphrates, thus becoming the first pharaoh to cross the river. During this campaign, the Syrian princes declared allegiance to Thutmose. However, after he returned, they discontinued tribute and began fortifying against future incursions.
Hatshepsut was one of the most powerful pharaohs of this dynasty. She was the daughter of Thutmose I and the royal wife of
Thutmose II. Upon the death of her husband, she ruled jointly with his son by a minor wife,
Thutmose III, who had ascended to the throne as a child of about two years of age, but eventually she ruled in her own right. Hatshepsut built extensively in the
Karnak temple in
Luxor and throughout all of Egypt and she re-established the
trade networks that had been disrupted during the
Hyksos rule of Lower Egypt during the
Second Intermediate Period, thereby building the wealth of the Eighteenth Dynasty. She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the
Land of Punt. After her death, having gained valuable experience heading up the military for Hatshepsut, Thutmose III assumed rule. Thutmose III expanded Egypt's army and wielded it with great success to consolidate the
empire created by his predecessors. This resulted in a peak in Egypt's power and wealth during the reign of Amenhotep III. The term
pharaoh, originally the name of the king's palace, became a form of address for the person who was king during his reign (–1425 BC). Widely considered a military genius by historians, Thutmose III conducted at least 16 campaigns in 20 years. He was an active expansionist ruler. He is recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the
Near East from the
Euphrates to
Nubia during seventeen known military campaigns. He was the first pharaoh after
Thutmose I to cross the Euphrates, doing so during his campaign against
Mitanni. He continued north through the territory belonging to the still unconquered cities of
Aleppo and
Carchemish and quickly crossed the Euphrates in his boats, taking the Mitannian king entirely by surprise. The wealthiest of all the kings of this dynasty is
Amenhotep III, who built the
Luxor Temple, the
Precinct of Monthu at Karnak and his massive
Mortuary Temple. Amenhotep III also built the
Malkata palace, the largest built in Egypt. One of the best-known eighteenth dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to
Akhenaten in honour of the
Aten, a representation of the Egyptian god, Ra. His worship of the Aten as his personal deity is often interpreted as history's first instance of
monotheism. Akhenaten's wife,
Nefertiti, contributed a great deal to his new direction in the Egyptian religion. Nefertiti was bold enough to perform rituals to Aten. Akhenaten's religious fervour is cited as the reason why he and his wife were subsequently written out of Egyptian history. Under his reign, in the fourteenth century BC,
Egyptian art flourished in a distinctive new style (see
Amarna Period). By the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Egypt's status had changed radically. Aided by Akhenaten's apparent lack of interest in international affairs, the
Hittites had gradually extended their influence into the Levant to become a major power in international politics—a power that both
Seti I and his son
Ramesses II would confront during the nineteenth Dynasty. The last two members of the Eighteenth Dynasty—
Ay and
Horemheb—became rulers from the ranks of officials in the royal court, although Ay might also have been the maternal uncle of Akhenaten and a fellow descendant of
Yuya and
Tjuyu. Ay may have married the widowed Great Royal Wife and young half-sister of Tutankhamun,
Ankhesenamun, in order to obtain power; she did not live long afterward. Ay then married
Tey, who originally had been wet-nurse to Nefertiti. Ay's reign was short. His successor was Horemheb, a general during the reign of Tutankhamun, whom the pharaoh may have intended as his successor in the event that he had no surviving children, which came to pass. Horemheb may have taken the throne away from Ay in a
coup d'état. Although Ay's son or stepson
Nakhtmin was named as his father or stepfather's Crown Prince, Nakhtmin seems to have died during the reign of Ay, leaving the opportunity for Horemheb to claim the throne next. Horemheb also died without surviving children, having appointed his vizier, Pa-ra-mes-su, as his heir. This vizier ascended the throne in 1292 BC as
Ramesses I, and was the first pharaoh of the
Nineteenth Dynasty.
Height of power The Nineteenth Dynasty was founded by the Vizier
Ramesses I, whom the last ruler of the eighteenth dynasty, Pharaoh Horemheb, had chosen as his successor. His brief reign marked a transition period between the reign of Horemheb and the powerful pharaohs of this dynasty, in particular, his son
Seti I and grandson Ramesses II, who would bring Egypt to new heights of imperial power. Seti I fought a series of wars in western Asia, Libya, and Nubia in the first decade of his reign. The main source for knowledge of Seti's military activities are his battle scenes on the north exterior wall of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall, along with several royal stelas with inscriptions mentioning battles in Canaan and Nubia. The greatest achievement of Seti I's foreign policy was the capture of the
Syrian town of
Kadesh and neighboring territory of
Amurru from the Hittite Empire. Egypt had not held Kadesh since the time of
Akhenaten. Seti I was successful in defeating a Hittite army that tried to defend the town and erected a victory stela at the site which has been found by archaeologists. Kadesh, however, soon reverted to Hittite control because the Egyptians did not or could not maintain a permanent military occupation of Kadesh and Amurru which were close to the Hittite homelands. storming the
Hittite fortress of
Dapur Ramesses II sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the 18th Dynasty. In his second year, before confronting the Hittites, Ramesses II had to deal with a raid by the
Sherden sea people whom he defeated and incorporated into his army. His campaigns against the Hittites culminated in the
Battle of Kadesh, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the
Hittite king Muwatalli II. Ramesses was caught in history's first recorded military ambush, although he was able to rally his troops and turn the tide of battle against the Hittites thanks to the arrival of the Ne'arin (possibly mercenaries in the employ of Egypt). The outcome of the battle was undecided, with both sides claiming victory at their home front, and ultimately resulting in a peace treaty between the two governments. He campaigned later in the Levant capturing
Edom and
Moab. New kingdom Egyptian stelae from this period have been found in
Jordan. Later, Egyptians
conquered Qatna and
Tunip where a statue of Ramses II was erected. Thus he recaptured Qadesh and northern Amurru. Nevertheless, like Seti I, he found that he could not permanently hold territory so far from base and after years of conflict, a peace treaty was concluded between the two states. Egypt was able to obtain wealth and stability under the rule of Ramesses, for more than half a century. His immediate successors continued the military campaigns, although an increasingly troubled court—which at one point put a usurper (
Amenmesse) on the throne—made it increasingly difficult for a pharaoh to effectively retain control of the territories. Ramesses II built extensively throughout Egypt and Nubia, and his
cartouches are prominently displayed, even in buildings that he did not construct. There are accounts of his honor hewn on stone, statues, and the remains of palaces and
temples—most notably the
Ramesseum in western
Thebes and the rock temples of
Abu Simbel. He covered the land from the
Delta to
Nubia with buildings in a way no king before him had. He also founded a new capital city in the Delta during his reign, called
Pi-Ramesses. It previously had served as a summer palace during the reign of Seti I. Ramesses II constructed many large monuments, including the archaeological complex of
Abu Simbel, and the
Mortuary temple known as the Ramesseum. He built on a monumental scale to ensure that his legacy would survive the ravages of time. Ramesses used art as a means of propaganda for his victories over foreigners, which are depicted on numerous temple reliefs. Ramesses II erected more colossal statues of himself than any other pharaoh, and also usurped many existing statues by inscribing his own
cartouche on them. Ramesses II was also 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.
Civil war The immediate successors of Ramesses II continued the military campaigns although an increasingly troubled court complicated matters. He was succeeded by his son
Merneptah and then by Merneptah's son
Seti II. Seti II's right to the throne seems to have been disputed by his half-brother
Amenmesse, who may have temporarily ruled from Thebes. Upon his death, Seti II's son
Siptah, who may have been afflicted with
poliomyelitis during his life, was appointed to the throne by
Bay, a chancellor and a West Asian commoner who served as vizier behind the scenes. Siptah died early and throne was assumed by
Twosret, who was the royal wife of his father and, possibly, his uncle Amenmesse's sister. A period of anarchy at the end of Twosret's short reign saw the enthronement of
Setnakhte, establishing the
Twentieth Dynasty.
Final years The last "great" pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely considered to be
Ramesses III, a
Twentieth Dynasty pharaoh who reigned several decades after Ramesses II. In the eighth year of his reign, the
Sea Peoples invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles (the
Battle of Djahy and the
Battle of the Delta). He incorporated them as subject peoples and is thought to have settled them in Southern Canaan, although there is evidence that they forced their way into Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states, such as the
Philistian pentapolis, in this region after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire (In the reign of Ramses III himself, Egyptian presence in the Levant is still attested as far as
Byblos). He later was compelled to fight invading
Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's
Western Delta in his sixth year and eleventh year respectively. The heavy cost of this warfare slowly drained Egypt's treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of the difficulties is indicated by the fact that the first known labour strike in recorded history occurred during the twenty-ninth year of Ramesses III's reign. At that time, the food rations for Egypt's favoured and elite royal tomb-builders and artisans in the village of
Deir el Medina could not be provisioned. Air pollution limited the amount of sunlight penetrating the atmosphere, affecting agricultural production and arresting global tree growth for almost two full decades, until 1140 BC. One proposed cause is the
Hekla 3 eruption of the Hekla volcano in Iceland, but the dating of this remains disputed. Near the end of Ramesses III's reign, one of his secondary wives plotted to assassinate the king in her quest to place her son on the throne. Palace personnel, the harem, government officials, and army officers participated in
the plot. A special court of 12 judges was formed to try the defendants who were sentenced to death. Written sources show that the coup failed and that the conspirators were successfully tried. However, it is not clear from the documents whether Ramses survived the assassination attempt. The king's mummy showed no visible wounds, and questions about his fate were left open to speculation for many years. In 2012, researchers announced that a CT scan had revealed a deep knife wound in the mummy's throat, indicating that Ramesses was indeed killed by the conspirators. He died in Thebes in the 32nd year of his reign and was succeeded by Crown Prince
Ramesses IV. A number of raids by the Libyans and the Sea Peoples, more dangerous than those during the reign of
Ramses III, drew the kingdom to more weakness. This increased the influence of the
priests of Amon, which finally led to control of the throne by the great priests.
Decline into the Third Intermediate Period Ramesses III's death was followed by years of bickering among his heirs. Three of his sons ascended the throne successively as
Ramesses IV,
Rameses VI, and
Rameses VIII. Egypt was increasingly beset by droughts, below-normal flooding of the
Nile, famine, civil unrest, and corruption of officials. The power of the last pharaoh of the dynasty,
Ramesses XI, grew so weak that in the south the
High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the
de facto rulers of
Upper Egypt, and
Smendes controlled
Lower Egypt in the north, even before Rameses XI's death. Smendes eventually founded the
twenty-first dynasty at
Tanis. ==Gallery==