6 - New Kingdom & 18th dynasty

• Ahmose Nebpehtire 1550-1525 BCE
• Amenhotep I Djeserkare 1525 – 1504 BCE
• Thutmose I Aakheperkare 1504 – 1492 BCE
• Thutmose II Aakheperenre 1492 – 1479 BCE
• Hatshepsut Maatkare 1479/1473-1458/57 BCE
• Thutmose III Menkheperre 1479 - 1425 BCE
• Amenhotep II Aakheperrure 1428 – 1397 BCE
• Thutmose IV Menkheperure 1397 – 1388 BCE
• Amenhotep III Nebmaatre 1388-1351/50 BCE
• Amenhotep IV Neferkheperure-waenre (Akhenaten) 1351-1334 BCE
• Semenkhkhare Ankheperure 1337 – 1334 BCE
• Tutankhamun Nebkheperure 1333-1323 BCE
• Ay Kheperkhperure 1323-1319 BCE
• Horemheb Djeserkheperure-setepenre 1319 – 1292 BCE
  • General debate if beginning of 19th dynasty?

• Kahmose tries to expel Hyksos in Delta who'd split Egyptian into 2 in (2nd I)
• Theban Kings try to defeat Hyksos, mentioned in inscriptions.
• Reunification under Ahmose 1550-1525BCE
• Avaris (Tell el-Dab’a) was captured. 
• Pushes the Hyksos fortress along Delta to Sharuhen (southern Israel), besieged for 3 years.
• Early stratigraphic material names Ahmose until Amenhotep II - ongoing/active until this time
• The defeat of the Hyksos is credited to Ahmose - seen in epigraphic material.
• Constructs palace at Minoan Frescos by painted with someone with knowledge of Greek pictoral art - had contact with Aegean
• Temple mnuments = traditional, honouring Ptah, Amun, Montu and Osiris (Bryan)
• Tomb of Queen Ahtoep had axe with Neferneche (great god), Peteryos (all Egypt) Griffin = very Aegean (man with hammer = Egypt)
• Capital Memphis (admin) repopulated - due to Nile shift creating new land

• Memphis still important – the administration was divided into 2
  • Northern and Southern counterpart offices
• Thebes = new religious capital - invested a lot of money here
  • Best known is temple to Amun-Ra at Karnak started previously in Middle Kingdom but expanded.
  • Does not survive. Every pharoh added to this temple.
• The Various Names of Thebes 
  • Waset (Dominion)
  • Niwt (The City)
  • Iunu Shemau (Southern Heliopolis)
  • Thebes (Greek Name) 

• The New Kingdom pharaohs placed an emphasis on the cult of Amun-Re. 
• Amun is also identified with Re and Min
• Amun-Re and Amun-Min Kamutef (bull of his mother) - composites 
• Wife of Amun = Mut, had parts of Amun-Ra temple dedicated to her/son
• The child of Amun and Mut was Khonsu
• Large areas of land and spoils of war (included human prisoners) were donated to the Karnak temple of Amun causing the temple and its priesthood to become economically powerful.
• Priests of Amun are often in high administrative offices - effectively took over and become on par with Pharaoh

• Religious life and royal ideology were linked to festivals and processions. 
• Sacred life meant to make most of passageways  - Opet and Valley festivals - royal rejuvenation from Karnak to Luxor. Connected by series of canals
• Royal funerary cults on the Best bank were linked with the cult of Amun-Re
• Creation of Mansions of Millions of Years on the Theban West Bank - mortuary temples, creation of Valley of Kings.
  • Behind mountains - secluded tombs of Kings of 18/19/20th dynasty.
• Prior to this tombs always had connected temples.
  • Mortuary temple now on West bank not just going to temples, going to tomb in symbolic way.
  • Still for offerings, just separate to temples. Most heavily destroyed
•  Most mortuary temples did not last as stone was expensive to quarry
  • Reused old ones
• Amenhotep II = colossi.

• The son of Amun Re 
• ‘Birth Legend’ which is depicted in the Luxor Temple (reign of Amenhotep III). 
• God Amun went to royal mother, slept with her and made new pharaoh. 
• Alexander later uses it

• Most kings created temples.
• Most didn't survive
  • Stone is hard to quarry so used bits from old temples.
• Amenhotep III - was equivalent to size of Karnak but didn't survive.
• Had tombs of nobles 

• Possible co-regency between Amunhotep I and Ahmose
  • Not an adult at accession?, older brother designated heir 5 years before (Bryan)
•  Ahmose Nefertari featured prominently in his reign.
•  Continued the building projects of his father Ahmose (especially on west bank)
• Deified on his death with his mother Ahmose Nefertari in Thebes, and worshipped at the tomb builders settlement at Deir el-Medina. 
  • Most houses had a scene honouring the two in the front room (Bryan)
  • Painted with blue or black skin (link to resurrection)
• Amenhotep had military successes in Nubia that improved economy (Bryan)
  • Tomb of Ahmose, son of Ibana telling this story constructed 60/70 years later, unreliable.
• Karnak featured a lot in building work (Bryan)
  • Limestone gateway with jubillee festival decoration - great gate of 20 cubits
    • Chapels depicting god's wife (Ahmose-Nefertari) performing ritual for Amun
    • Thutmose III dismantled this and rebuilt it in sandstone
  • Limestone jamb shows festival dates - linked to 12th dynasty (Spalinger)
    • Festival calendar suggests he wished to rework earlier calendars (Bryan)

• Located behind western mountains.
• Paths to valley of Kings.
• Builders of royal tombs stationed here from 18th to 20th dynasties.
• Excavated by French Mission.
• Shows examples of domestic living.
• Each home housed a family, enclosed by wall.
• Luxury - water by donkey. 
• Rations paid as building tombs.
• Lots of textual evidence - lots of ostrica (e.g. laundry lists, love songs).
• First strike protests in antiquity - no grain at end of New Kingdom.

• Stone built - may be not an organic settlement

• Titles held by these women and abscence of husbands other than kings - limitations
• Economic terms gains in war were not divided with other families
• Political/religious terms - women always in closed royal family
  • Family of Seqenenra and Ahhtotep estblished that only kings could marry princesses
  • Married non-kings after Ramesses II
  • Kings could marry non-royals e.g. Tetisheri (grandmother of Ahmose)
• Some were major Queens
  • Ahhotep - Ahmose's mother implicated de facto governance for pacifying Upper Egypt
    • Ahmose may have been a child on succession
  • Ahmose-Nefertari - Ahhotep's daughter?
    • Donation Stele Karnak - king's daughter, great wife & sister, mistress of U/L Egypt
    • God's wife of Amun - operated independently  (refelcts growing religious power)

• First succession not from father to son (Bryan)
• Thutmose I crushed resistance in Nubia at the capital of Kerma
• Expanded the southern campaigns into Nubia, and into Syria-Palestine
  • Led to later important role of trade/diplomacy in Late Bronze Age Near East (Bryan)
• Avoided direct confrontation with Mettani, went to Niy after local successes (Bryan)
  • Only mentionned years later, in tomb of Ahmose son of Ibana.
  • Overall contact limited, only conquered NE under Thutmose III
    • Could be due to technology, but Ahmose had chariots 
    • Not mentionned a lot so must have been superior military powers
• Building projects (Bryan)
  • At Kenisa and Napata - small in scale with stone elements in brick structures
  • Giza - linked to sphinx (god = Horemakhet (Horus of horizon))
  • Abydos - stele recording contributions to temple of Osiris
    • Linked himself to earth deities linked to this Geb & Tantjen rather than 2 previous monarchs, was not part of Ahmosid family - god descendance now common theme
• Fathered future Queen Hatshepsut with Ahmose Nefertari
  • Venerated Thutmose I - ancestral worship showing union of Amun/King since Ahmose

• Very short lived reign - 3 years
• Mentioned in few New Kingdom tomb autobiographies
  • Ahmose Pa-en-Nekheb at el-Kab, Ineni at Thebes, & Nebamun at Thebes. 
• For a short reign he is attested at Elephantine, Karnak, Coptos, and Helipolis. 
• Half sister, Hatshepsut acted as great royal wife & the gods wife of Amun. 
  • Hatshepsut commonly appeared on monuments of as a Gods Wife of Amun (Bryan)
• Only major monuments were from Karnak (Bryan)
  • Pylon shaped limestone gateway at front of 4th Pylon court
  • Actually finished Thutmose III, ha[shet also put hername  in cartouches upon her succession
• There is no identifiable tomb made for Thutmose II. 
• Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri may have begun in reign of Thutmose II. 
• Deir el-Bahri may have even been the funerary temple of both Thutmose II and Hatshepsut. 
• Thutmose II conducts an expedition to Nubia in his first year (Bryan)
  • Local uprisng where all but 1 ruler of Kush punished with death
  • Ended major probbems with Kush
  • Ahmose Pennekhbet refers to shasu prisoners (ethic term for Nubia?) but years after 

• Reigned on behalf of nephew Thutmose III, but soon took control herself. 
  • After her death Thutmose III became sole ruler. 
• Legitimisation
  • Her name was Maatkare (prenomen) 
  • Emphasised her bloodline back to Akhmose
  • Scenes at Deir el-Bahri claim Thutmose I had proclaimed her as heir before his death. 
• Building Projects
  • Mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri - Influenced by temple of Monthepotep II. 
    • Chapels for ancestors and to Anubis
  • Includes places Ahmosid rulers favoured Kom Obo, Nekhen (Hierankopolis) and Elkab
  • Karnak - Oddlist - later disguised by other Pharaohs.
  • Chapel Rouge shows importance of her Sed festival
• Foreign Relations - Primarily Peaceful (Bryan)
  • Some Nubian uprisings but no interruption of overall administration of the south
  • Punt -  lots of insence. Start of consistent reports of Nubian tribute
  • Little contact with Aegean but some imported pottery from Cyprus/Levant

• Thutmose took sole kingship in 20th or 21st year of Hatshepsut’s reign. 
  • Hapshepsut disappeared: Neferu (Thutmose III's wife became god's wife - Bryan)
• Began to usurp the monuments of Hatshepsut in the latter years of his reign. 
• Covered her monuments with own, began building program- doesn't just hack name away.
  • Thutmose III = broader shoulders and wider torso  than Hapshepsut  (Bryan) 
• Also builds extensively at Karnak (Bryan)
  • Removed Amenhotep I's cult chapels in limestone, replaced them with sandstone 
  • Effective of Monuments - akh menu - them of renewal of kingship - sed festival at year 30
  • Annals in 42nd year of reign - lists king's conquests
• Also built small temple of Amun and memorail temple to father at Medinet Habu
• Campaigns in Syria-Palestine
  • Known for aggressive military policy
  • Set his sites of significant territorial gains in Levant - pushes out toward Euphrates area
  • 17 years of campaigning began almost immediately upon his sole rule. 
  • Contact with Mittani. Took control of NE Syrian cities & large parts of Levantine region. 
  • Warfare changes to chariots, Thutmose III smites enemies through holding hair.
    • Lavishes spoils on temple at Karna

• Amenhotep II was co-regent of Thutmose III in the 51st year of his reign
  • Shared the monarchy for two years. 
• Amenhotep II completed the usurpation of Hatshepsut’s monuments
  • Then Sed festival. Pavillion, relief carved square pillars @ 8th pylon, new gateway (Bryan)
• Amenhotep was a celebrated athlete
  • Emphasises this as couldn't really campaign anymore
• Peaceful reign = Amenhotep II conducted vast building program (Bryan)
  • Small temple to Horemakhet important to history of Sphinx as focus of worship
  • Also built temple to Amun, North Karnak - reused in Amenhotep III period
    • Developing north-south akis of central part of Karnak?
  • Campaign in Levant years 7-9 - change to setjetyu (genric Asiatic term) = peace (Bryan)
    • Nahrin offering gifts requesting breath of life between 4th/5th pylons where Thutmose III recieved divine oracle about kingship - appropriate place
• Made use of administration using men who had served his father (Bryan)
• Art style = more individualistic in non-royal contexts  (Bryan)

• Different to earlier part of the dynasty, pricesses no longer attested
  • Amenhotep, Thutmose, Ahmose few of those princes in Amenhotep II's reign
  • Scarcity of princes may have been due to preference for princess sisters as Queens
  • Lack of princess = rejection of role of gods wife of Amun - Dangerous Queens

• Dream stelae - Sphinx. Told if he cleared away sand he would be pharaoh
• Not originally meant to be pharaoh? - Legitimisation process 
  • But due to inceased warfare with Asiatics divine authority could have been needed even to ensure a legitimate heir's cause (Bryan)
• Monuments (Bryan)
  • Began construction at major temple sites and at 4 sites in Nubia
  • Worshipped all main gods
  • Interest in sun gods
    • Horemakhet (Heliopolis) but no reference to Amun-Ra on Sphinx stele
    • Northern gods dominated - reflects the politics?
    • Precursor to Amarna?
  • Shifted axis at Karnak back to east-west
    • Obelisk became focus on solar cult from Thutmose III
• Syria Palestine/Nubia (Bryan)
  • Scene in tomb of standard bearer Nebamun shows Egyptian superiority
    • Could be for marriage of Thutmose IV's marriage to Syrian princess rather than war
  • No clear atteststion for Nubia

• Golden Age - primarily a period of peace in Egypt  (Bryan)
  • Granary official Khamhet boast crops in year 30, remembered 1k years for fertility but bias
• Extensive building programmes across Egypt (Bryan)
  • Space for eternal divinity, focus on sun god - amun and Thoth became solarised
  • Focus on Thebes - Colossi of Memnon and palce of gleaming Aten
  • Luxor temple - birth room born of union of Amun-Ra and mother - focus on original gods
• Develops international relations through scarabs
  • Mail with inscriptions (been married, gone hunting)
  • Year 5 Nubian campaign, fortress of Khaemmaat at Soleb to stop U nubia attacks (Bryan)
  • Names of Aegean cities including Mycenae plus letters from Babylon, Mittani
• Divinity
• May have been deified during his lifetime in Egypt and Nubia - constructs temple at Soleb
• Link to sun god = deification, later transformed into solar disc Aten by son (Johnson)
  • From 1st jubilee festival, scenes show him taking place of god Ra in solar boat. (Bryan)
  • No text/imagery from Egypt identifying a cult of Amenhotep III during his lifetime.  (Bryan)
• Amarna shows Amenhotep recieving food offerings  (Bryan)
  • Against Johnson's thesis that Amenhotep was the Aten
  • But in late years of reign - deceased? Marks start of intercession?

• Focuses on sun disk - Aten
• Construction of an Aten Temple at Karnak outside enclosure of Aten
• Cult of the sun disk did not start with Akhenaten 
• Movement of the Capital to Akhetaten (Amarna in Middle Egypt)
  • Bounded by boundary stelae. 
• Built new temples, houses, but not straight away.
• Exclusivity of the cult to the royal family (no other gods worshipped)
  • Monotheism

Amarna Revolution

• Political agenda? Coercion necessary? Remained for less than 20 years?
• Akhenaten buried in Thebes?
• Art = strange. Did Akenaten have Marfans?

• Movement of capital back to Thebes 
• Development of tomb architecture (Dijk)
  • Memphis acquired free standing rock tombs 
  • Osiris - nocturnal manifestation of Ra, tombs focussed on adoring Ra not career
  • Book of the dead dominated post Amarna tombs
  • Reactions against Akhenaten's monopolisation of the funerary cult
  • Theban theocracy - Amun himself ruled Egypt with intervention via oracles

• Originally called Tutankhaten changed to Tutankhamun (Karnak as centre of cult of sun god Amun-Ra added to it - Dijk)
• Restoration stelae - presents Akhenaten's reforms as cause for gods leaving
• Horemheb (military regent) - renowned in land of Hittites - must have had confrontations (Dijk)
• Attempts to re-establish dominance in Nubia = successful (Dijk)
• Treasurer Maya sentfrom Delta to Elphantine to levy taxes on temples (Dijk)
  • Also destruction of Akhenaten's temples
• Unexpected death of Tutankhamun 

• Senior court advisor Ay ascended the throne
  • Was old when he took the crown but reigned for only 3years
  • Ay may have usurped Tutankhamun's tomb as well
• Onwards = Dijk
• Ay may have been an interim king for Tuntankhamun's widow Ankhesenarnun was trying to negotiate a peace with the Hittites (offered marriage so they could be one country)
  • But prince murdered en route - Ay denied all responsibility

• Horemheb was a army general under Tutankhamun, but not involved with the burial arrangements for Tutankhamun 
• He had started a tomb for himself at Saqqara. 
• Horemheb succeeded to throne after Ay, despite Ay trying to prevent this. 
  • Appointed army commander Nakhtmin as heir (Dijk)
• Defaced the monuments of Ay 
• Uneventful reign 
  • Ruled for only 13 years - unfinished tomb at Valley of Kings suggests short reign (Dijk)
  • Trouble with Hittites unsuccessful attempt to reconquer Qadesh and Amurru (Dijk)
  • Came to agreement? Text mentions treaty that was broken from Sety I (Dijk)
• Several builds - including Great Hypostle Hall at Karnak
• Great Edict - legal measure to remove abuses such as unlawful requisitioning of boats (Dijk)
• Legitimisation - chosen by god Horus of Hetnessu (prepared through being Tutankhamun's regent) presented to Amun during Opet Festival and crowned King
• Horemheb elected a non-royal heir (general of the army)
  • Was named prince during his lifetime. 
  • The man he chose was the vizier Ramesses comes from Delta