Old Kingdom lasted from
2649 to 2152
Middle Kingdom from
2040 to 1640
New Kingdom, so called because it is only
3,000 years old, lasted from 1550 to 1070 BCE
The king, or pharaoh, was either a god or very close to a god, he wasn't expected to
act like a person, he was expected to act like a god, which in ancient Egypt means acting like the Nile: calm, cool, benevolent
The Pyramids, represent a remarkable degree of
political and social control over the population
The most famous pyramids were built between
2575 and 2465 BCE
Sphinx was for
Khephren
Great Pyramid, was built for
Pharaoh Khufu
These pyramids were built partly by
peasants who were required by Egyptian law to work for the government a certain number of months per year, and partly by slaves
The god of Ra was
regional god over Heliopolis, but he eventually became really central to the entire pantheon of gods of ancient Egypt
Egyptian popular religion also embraced the belief in
amulets and magic and divination and the belief that certain animals, especially cats‚ had divine power
They had two forms of writing
hieroglyphics for sacred writing and then demotic script for recording contracts and agreements
In______there were a series of droughts and Pharaohs started fighting over who should have power giving us an intermediate period
2250
The Middle Kingdom restored Pharaonic rule in
2040 BCE
There were some distinct changes:
First, the rulers were outsiders, from downriver in Nubia. Second, they fostered a new pantheon of gods.
The Middle Kingdom also developed an interest in conquering, specifically
the new pharaoh's homeland of Nubia, and they developed a side interest in getting conquered, specifically by Semitic peoples from the Levant.
They were able to conquer much of Egypt using
superior military technology like bronze weapons and compound bows, and chariots.
Hyksos, were able to conquer all of Egypt, but
rather than like destroying the Egyptian culture, they just relaxed like the Nile and assimilated into the Egyptians.
Egyptians adopted their military technology. And then the Egyptians destroyed the
Hyksos and expelled them from Egypt. And then, by 1550 BCE, there was again an Egyptian pharaoh, Ahmosis.After all this conquering and being conquered, Egypt eventually emerged from its geographically imposed isolationism
New Kingdom Egypt continued this military expansion but it looked more like
an Empire, particularly when they headed south and took over land in an attempt to find gold and slaves.
New Kingdom pharaohs was Hatshepsut, a woman who
ruled Egypt for about 22 years, and who expanded Egypt not through military might, but through trade.
New Kingdom pharaohs, focused on military expansion, which brought Egypt into conflicts with the
Assyrians, and then the Persians, and then Alexander the Great, and finally, the Romans.
There was this crazy New Kingdom Pharaoh named Akhenaten, who
tried to invent a new god for Egypt, Aten.
Akhenaten was kind of the Kim Jong-Il of Ancient Egypt, like he had this feared police force and this big cult of personality. After his death he was replaced by his wife, and then a daughter and then a son, Tutankaten.
replaced by his wife, and then a daughter and then a son, Tutankaten.
King Tut died, probably around the age of
17.
Honestly, the only reason King Tut is famous is that most Pharaohs had their graves
robbed by ancient people; and King Tut had his grave robbed by 20th-century British people.
Tutankaten, who turned his back on
the weird god Aten and changed his name to Tutankhamen.
