BC), Thutmose II (1512–1504 BC), and Thutmose III (1504–1450). Babylon, Assyria, and the Hittite Empire were compelled to send tribute annually to Egypt.
One of the most interesting rulers of Egypt during the New Kingdom was Queen Hatshepsut (c. 1508–1458 BC). She was the daughter of Thutmose I and the half‐sister of her husband, Thutmose II, whom she married when she was only 12 years old. When Thutmose II died in 1479 BC, the heir was an infant son by one of his concubines. Hatshepsut assumed the role of regent for her stepson, Thutmose III. At some point, she assumed the role of pharaoh and co‐ruler with Thutmose III.
Hatshepsut's reign was a period of prosperity and peace for Egypt. She succeeded in restoring Egyptian culture and religion, which had been interrupted by the Hyksos, to their former glory. Her extensive efforts to expand Egypt's trade included an expedition she sent to the Land of Punt. The location of Punt is not known for sure, but is usually assumed to be the area of modern Somalia and Sudan. The expedition returned with live myrrh trees, frankincense, and other treasures. Trade between Egypt and Punt continued throughout the New Kingdom.
Upon the death of his stepmother in 1458 BC, Thutmose III became pharaoh in his own right. A gifted military commander, he led his armies north as far as Niya in northern Syria and south into Nubia as far as the fourth cataract. In all, Thutmose III led 17 campaigns during 20 years of his 46‐year reign. The Egyptian Empire reached its greatest extent under Thutmose III, who is referred to by some as “the Napoleon of Egypt.” He died at 90, a remarkable achievement even in the twenty‐first century AD.
If Hatshepsut has a rival for “most interesting of the pharaohs,” it is Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten (r. c. 1353–c. 1336 BC). Amenhotep IV attempted to replace the various gods of Egypt with one god, Aten, represented as the sun disk. He changed his name from Amenhotep, which means “Amun is satisfied,” to Akhenaten, meaning “Effective Spirit of Aten.” Beginning in the first year of his reign, Amenhotep IV built several structures at Karnak dedicated to Aten, including a temple. During the fifth or sixth year he constructed a new capital, Akhetaten (“Horizon of Aten”) on the east bank of the Nile, 194 miles (312 km) south of modern Cairo.
Akhenaten's religious revolution gave birth to a new style in art, one more realistic than the stiff, formal style normally associated with ancient Egypt. Traditional artistic styles emphasized the eternal, unchanging nature of the universe that was central to the Egyptian worldview as far back as the Old Kingdom. Akhenaten's new religion and new capital, well away from Thebes and the old gods, ushered in a new artistic style called the Amarna Renaissance that was more realistic. Art from the period includes scenes of Akhenaten, his queen Nefertiti, and their children in everyday settings, playing together beneath “the Aten.” Nature in all its beauty likewise became the subject of art. One need only compare the famous bust of Nefertiti6 with any traditional bust or statue made before or after Akhenaten to see how radically new were the artistic styles.
Literature embraced the artistry of the Amarna period. Akhenaten himself is believed to have written a number of hymn‐poems to Aten. The “Great Hymn to Aten,” found on the west wall of the tomb of Ay, Akhenaten's chief minister and pharaoh after the death of Tutankhamun (Tutankhaten), is the primary source for the new religion.
O sole god without equal!
You are alone, shining in your form of the living Aten.
Risen, radiant, distant, and near.
(Great Hymn, 47 & 73–74)
The noted Egyptologist Toby A.H. Wilkinson (b. 1969) says that “it has been called ‘one of the most significant and splendid pieces of poetry to survive from the pre‐Homeric world’” (Darnell and Manassa 2007, p. 41).
Akhenaten's religious reforms may represent a power struggle between the pharaoh and the powerful priesthood of Amun (Amen, Amen Re) at Thebes. Ahmose I emphasized the worship of Amun when he drove the Hyksos out of Egypt, perhaps as an attempt to unify the Egyptian people after roughly one century of foreign rule in Lower Egypt. By the beginning of the reign of Akhenaten, the power of the priests of Amun in Thebes rivaled that of the pharaoh. The fact that Akhenaten changed his name, built a new capital and center for the worship of Aten, and attempted to erase the worship of Amun and the other traditional gods, supports the theory that his religious reforms were a part of an effort to restore the pharaoh's historic position as the sole ruler of Egypt. Also, it is worth noting that the new religion was not in fact true monotheism. Only Akhenaten and his family worshiped Aten. All others worshiped the pharaoh, Akhenaten. The pharaoh was the only access to Aten.
Akhenaten's attempt to establish the worship of Aten did not survive him. His obsession with his new religion meant he neglected his responsibility to rule and defend Egypt. The resulting chaos or appearance of chaos no doubt contributed to the abandonment of Atenism and the restoration of Amun and his powerful priesthood. Akhenaten's son, Tutankhaten (c. 1341–c. 1323), ascended the throne at age nine or ten. The worship of Aten was abandoned along with Akhetaten, which was left to eventually disappear beneath the sand. The temples to Aten were abandoned as well and became the source of building materials for new construction. In the third year of his reign, Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun, meaning “Living Image of Amun.”
Tutankhamun was a minor pharaoh who likely would have been forgotten if the British archeologist Howard Carter (1874–1939) had not discovered his tomb in 1922. The discovery of the only intact tomb of a pharaoh was one of the greatest discoveries in the history of Egyptology. When one considers what was found in King Tut's tomb, one can only wonder what might have been found in the tomb of, say, Ramses II.
Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great (c. 1303–1213 BC), became pharaoh at 30 and reigned for 67 years. It is not just his longevity that makes him the most celebrated of Egypt's pharaohs. He reasserted Egyptian control over territories lost due to Akhenaten's neglect. He led successful campaigns north to Syria and south to Nubia. At the Battle of Kadesh (1258 BC) in Syria, Ramses II's forces engaged the Hittites led by King Muwatalli II (c. 1295–1272 BC). Ramses II hailed it as a great victory. He had his account of the battle carved on the walls of the great temple of Abu Simbel. Most scholars today believe the battle was indecisive. The Battle of Kadesh is significant because it resulted in the Treaty of Kadesh, the first known peace treaty in history.
Ramses II is considered by many the greatest pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. When his mummy was sent to Paris in 1974 to be treated for a fungus, he was issued an Egyptian passport that listed his occupation as “King (deceased).” Upon arrival at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, his mummy was greeted with full military honors and a red carpet.7 After Ramses II's death, the Egyptian Empire began a steady, prolonged decline. Ramses III (1217–1155 BC) was the last great pharaoh of the New Kingdom. He reigned 1186–1155 BC, during a period of economic decline and foreign invasions.
The whole of the Middle East, indeed the whole of the Mediterranean world, was experiencing a tidal wave of migration and invasion between 1250 and 900 BC. Indo‐European‐speaking people swept down from the north destroying everything in their path. On the Greek mainland, the Mycenaean civilization, the Greece of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, was destroyed by the invaders. The powerful Hittite Empire also succumbed. The Egyptians were driven back into Africa, but were able to beat back repeated assaults by invaders referred to as the “Sea People,” some of whom may have been refugees from Greece.
Of those civilizations that were present in 1200 BC, only weakened Egypt survived the cataclysm. In the Middle East, there was a power vacuum. Between c. 1250 and 750 BC, no one power exerted hegemony over the area. This period before the rise of the empires of the Assyrians, Chaldeans (Neo‐Babylonian), and Persians is referred to as the “era of
