The new kingdom period of Egypt is the period between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC

The expulsion of the Hyksos, began during the late 17th Dynasty by Seqenenre or by Kamose and completed by 18th Dynasty monarch Ahmose in 1522, was the start of a series of conquests that would bring Egypt peace and prosperity. This was finally accomplished by Ahmose I, who reunited Egypt, ushering in the New Kingdom-the third great era of Egyptian culture.

Around this time the Hittites had become a dominant Asiatic power. An uneasy balance of power developed between the two New Kingdom, which was punctuated by wars and treaties.

Great temples were built all over Egypt. The Egyptian queens were very powerful at this time, and in 1490 BC one of them, Hatshepsut, became Pharaoh herself.

Egypt’s stability was briefly ruptured when the late 18th Dynasty king Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten, changed the Egyptian religion and had most temples closed, favoring one new god, the solar-deity Aton. During this period of turmoil and upheaval, the so-called Amarna-revolution, Egypt lost a lot of its former influence in Asia and Nubia.

Setnakht ruled for only a few years but restored order after a period of chaos. His son Rameses III was the last great king. He gave Egypt a final moment of glory by defeating Sea Peoples who had utterly destroyed Hittite Empire and swept all before them on their march south.

Deserts of Nubia

To the south, in the deserts of Nubia, gold mines gave Egypt the unimaginable wealth that formed the real power behind the throne. The same gold also saw the start of a golden age for Egyptian art and architecture, as Pharaohs built magnificent temples and tombs for themselves and their families.

The 20th dynasty Pharaohs, around 1200 BC, continued the same policies and were all called Rameses. There were many attacks on Egypt, first from Libya to the west and then from West Asia, by a group that the Egyptians called the Sea Peoples.

The pharaoh headed Egypt’s armed forces as commander-in-chief. As the warrior king, he led a highly organized and professional standing army and navy. Tactics and strategies were decided upon by the pharaoh, in consultation with his war council. During the time of Thutmose III, there appears to have been only two army divisions: Amun based in Thebes and Ra based in Heliopolis.

Mortuary Temples

The pharaohs built their mortuary temples here and were buried in huge rock-cut tombs decorated with finely executed paintings or painted reliefs illustrating religious texts concerned with the afterlife. A town was established in western Thebes for the artists who created these tombs. At this site (Deir el-Medina), they left a wealth of information about life in an ancient Egyptian community of artisans and craftsmen.

Women were given importance during this period. Egyptian religion gave women a central role in the divine order and they were seen as central to their husbands’ success.