The New Kingdom comprises the Eighteenth to Twentieth Dynasties (1570-1070 BC). This stage was a moment of splendor, thanks to the work of the Theban princes of the Eighteenth Dynasty to strengthen the State, expel the Hyksos, restore international relations and reopen trade routes, also initiating an era of conquests abroad.
Characteristics of the New Kingdom
The new empire installed the capital in Thebes, in the south and the restoration of the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt was carried out, lost during part of the Second Intermediate Period, since as we said, Apopis, at least in the glass of Almuñecar, is called king of upper and lower egypt. From the beginning there was great activity to reorganize the country, which produced great prosperity, reflected in the construction of numerous monuments.
The new empire is characterized by the great importance of women and their role in inheritance problems. For the first time, a woman is named pharaoh with all the masculine titles: Hatshepsut, and also another queen, Nefertiti, appears represented in family scenes, on an equal footing, as does Queen Tiyi, with her husband Amen-Hotep/Amenhotep. III and mother of Amen-Hotep/Amenoiis IV.
International Situation of the New Kingdom
The international situation at this time of the new empire consisted of the Egyptian protectorate over the Canaanite cities. The last kings of the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom reigned in Assyria, and the Kassite rule in Babylon took place, also coinciding with the rise and fall of the Mycenaean kingdoms in Greece, the Exodus of Israel, and the so-called invasion of the peoples of the seaexisting only in Egyptian sources.
New Kingdom dynasties
Eighteenth Dynasty.
In the new empire, the study of this Dynasty is usually divided into three stages that include, firstly, the first kings: from the liberation to Amenhotep IV, secondly, the time of Amen-Hotep/Amenhotep IV and the stage of el-Amarna for finish with the last kings.
THE FIRST KINGS
The Eighteenth Dynasty began without change in relation to the previous one, since the first pharaoh, Amosis, or Ahmosiswas the brother of Kamose, the last pharaoh of the Seventeenth Dynasty, both sons of Sekenenra Taa II and Queen Ahhotep I.
the liberation war
as in the time of Mentuhotep, the reunification of Egypt started from the south. The account of Kamose’s campaign against these invaders describes a great battle whose location cannot be located and ends with a triumphant return to Thebes. The final expulsion was the work of his brother Ahmosis I Nebpehtira (1570-1546), first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Ahmosis undertook an offensive that we know from an account of an officer, named Ahmosis as the king, son of Abana, who participated in the I capture of Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos kingdom.
The Egyptian advance, which was carried out with numerous vicissitudes, reached Sharuhem (southern Palestine).
Ame-hotep I Dyeserkara (Amenophis or Amenotes) (1551-1524) did not carry out great foreign policy acts but dedicated himself to the reorganization of the country, which, grateful, instituted a festival in his honor that ended up giving its name to a month of the Egyptian calendar, the month of phamenoth. He and his mother Ahmosis-Nefertari had a common temple on the west bank of Thebes.
Both Ahmosis I and his successor, Amen-Hotep I, whom he associated with the throne during his reign, embellished the country with their construction of temples and other buildings, especially in Abydos and Karnak (temple of the god Amun, thus affirming the importance of this local god) initiating the reorganization of the administration.
The Thutmosids
The reign of the pharaohs of this family can be divided into several periods: Before Hatshepsut. the reign of Hatshepsut and after this queen.
Before Hatshepsut
The Egyptians in the new empire always considered that the reorganization carried out by Ahmosis and his expulsion of the Asians from the Delta area began a new era and for this reason he was considered the initiator of an 18th dynasty, although the first two kings were direct successors, without apparent break, of the Theban princes of the Seventeenth Dynasty. When a new family really ascends the throne it is with Thutmose I Ajeperkara (1524-1518), the first great conqueror among the Egyptian pharaohs, reaching in his conquests as far as the Euphrates River, with which, in reality, the Eighteenth Dynasty should begin.
As soon as he ascended the throne, Thutmose I issued a decree that, among other personalities, was sent to the governor of the southern countries named Thure, in which he announced the beginning of his reign and notified him of the exact title of his magistracy:
In this way the way of naming the pharaoh for the rest of Egyptian history was fixed. This decree is dated the day of the coronation festival, the first year, in the third month of the second season, the 21st.
On a stele engraved in the rocks of the island of Tombos, in the third cataract, it is read that Thutmosis I, in the second year of his reign, carried out a campaign in Nubia with brilliant military results and built a fortress in Tombos. He returned to Nubia the third year. With these campaigns came the ruin of what is supposed to have been the indigenous kingdom of Kerma. Pacified Nubia, Thutmose I went to Palestine and reached the Euphrates, hunted elephants and erected a stele. It seems that it was this pharaoh who abandoned the idea of burying himself in a pyramid and began the custom of the king being buried in a hypogeum dug into the slopes of the desert hills on the left bank of the Nile River, opposite Thebes. This type of burial would continue throughout the New Kingdom. The set of tombs is located in what is called the Valley of the Kings.
His organizing work for the kingdom continued that of his predecessors, emphasizing the role of the city of Memphis. He died after three years and a few months of reign. He succeeded him his son, Thutmose II Ajeperenka (1518-1504).
Hatshepsut-Maat-ka-Ra
Thutmose II took as his principal wife hatshepsut, his half-sister, eldest daughter of Thumosis I, with which he became the direct heir of this king, legitimizing his ascension to the throne through the royal blood of his wife. On the death of Thutmosis II, this queen relegated the young Thutmosis III to the shadows, after two years of co-reign or regency, and ruled as king for twenty-two years.
Hatshepsut Makara (1498-1483) took, when ruling, all the royal title of the pharaohs with the names:
female Horus Uosretkau, King of Upper and Lower EgyptMakare or Maatka-Ra, Truth is the soul of Ra and Jnemethamon Hatshepsut. The one who embraces Amun, the main one among the noble women, being the true ruler of the country, supporting herself to reign in a group of faithful officials to whom she entrusted the highest positions of the State. The queen dressed as a man and suppressed the feminine endings in her names and titles, adopting the full protocol of the kings of Egypt with the exception of the traditional epithet of mighty bull. His reign seems to have interrupted the policy of conquest of his three direct predecessors, contenting himself with exploiting the quarries and organizing commercial expeditions. The most famous, immortalized in the magnificent reliefs of the queen’s temple in Deir el-Bahari, is the one organized at Country of Punt, where the queen of this distant country is represented.
Seconded by her favourite, Senemut, she built many temples, including her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, famous for the originality of its plan and the beauty of its decoration. The best known of this temple of Deir el-Bahari is the relief of the expedition to Punt, that place that has left such abundant literature since the Old Kingdom.
Hatshepsut relegated the young king Thutmose III Menjeperra (1504-1450) to the shadows, and he reigned alone. It must be said that throughout the history of Egypt, women played a very prominent role, but this importance is seen with special clarity at the beginning of the New Kingdom, there has already been talk of lahotep, but there are many more that have numerous and egregious servants. They intervene in affairs of state and other women who reigned as kings. Thutmose, in these dark years, is believed to have engaged in military affairs in Memphis.
Hatshepsut, with the real name of Maat-ka-Ra Truth is the soul of RaHe had a peaceful reign abroad and in the interior he dedicated himself to organizational and administrative tasks.
Thutmose III
It is not known how Maat-ka-Ra Hatshepsut’s reign ended. It is believed that he had perished in an uprising by supporters of Thutmose. This hypothesis was based on the consideration of the violently destroyed monuments, both those of the queen and those of her favorite Senemut of hers.
Thutmose IIIwhen Hatshetsut disappeared from the public scene, in the year 22, according to the Stele of Erment, which contained a kind of summary of his reign, he was finally able to assume his role as king and he did it so well and in such a way during this stage , which lasted thirty years and changed the course of Egyptian history, taking his country to heights of power and extension never surpassed by any other pharaoh, dividing this stage into two parts: the first twenty-one years dedicated to the conquests and campaigns in Asia above all and his last twelve years, calmer.
At the beginning of his reign, the situation in Asia was serious, since the Mitannians had formed a great coalition taking advantage of the sometimes questioned passivity of Hatshepsut’s reign. The pharaoh organized some seventeen expeditions to Asia, recounted in a completely objective way on the walls of the corridor that surrounds the most interior and sacred part of the temple of Amun in Karnak, the Sanctuary of the Boat, on the wall that, by these engravings, receives the name of Wall of Annals.
The king’s goal was the Euphrates. He wanted to break the power of the Mitanni and although the first coalition against Egypt was organized by the prince of Kadesh, all of Pharaoh’s campaigns can be reduced to a Mitanni-Egypt duel which the latter country won.
At the end of the campaigns, some of them before the fortress of Kadesh, on the Orontes river, in Syria, the reputation, power and wealth of the Egyptian king were considerable: his Asian provinces sent him regular tributes and the great neighboring states such as Babylon, Assur and the defeated Mitanni sent him frequent gifts seeking his friendship. He also maintained good relations with the Aegean islands, producing a First International Equilibrium in 1464.
This is the moment in which one can speak of the Egyptian empire since under the rule of the Theban monarchy there are peoples of different languages, races and cultures. From north to south, the country covered 3,200 km. The peoples included in it were of very different cultural levels and also differed in social and political organization. Egypt will exploit and plunder all this immense territory, achieving greater wealth for the State, which is reflected in the Egyptian territory itself due to the enormous constructive activity of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom,…