New Kingdom | Egyptian history | Britannica (original) (raw)

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• major reference
  • 
    In ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom (c. 1539–c. 1077 bce)
    Although Ahmose (ruled c. 1539–15 bce) had been preceded by Kamose, who was either his father or his brother,
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• ancient Near East
  • 
    In ancient Middle East: New states and peoples
    …the Hyksos and founded the New Kingdom. The New Kingdom rulers moved back into Syria-Palestine and came into conflict first with the Hurrian state of Mitanni and later with the Anatolian Hittites, who were expanding into Syria from the north in the 14th century bce. The Amarna Letters (diplomatic correspondence…
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• dress
  • 
    In dress: Ancient Egypt
    …to be seen under the New Kingdom from about 1539 bce until the Egyptians were conquered by the Assyrians (671 bce), the Persians (525 bce), Alexander the Great (332 bce), and finally Rome (30 bce). During these later years Egyptian dress was strongly influenced by that of the conquerors. New…
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• priesthood
  • 
    In priesthood: The ancient Middle East
    …wealthy great temples in the New Kingdom (c. 1567–c. 1085 bce) there was an elaborate organization, and a large staff engaged in administrative, civil, and educational duties, as well as in their sacerdotal and mortuary functions. There were also a number of priestesses associated with the mother-goddess Hathor (wife of…
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• religious practices
  • 
    In ancient Egyptian religion: Influence on other religions
    During the New Kingdom, Egypt was very receptive to cults from the Middle East, while Egyptian medical and magical expertise was highly regarded among the Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians. The chief periods of Egyptian influence were, however, the 1st millennium bce and the Roman period. Egypt was…
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  • 
    In ancient Egyptian religion: Groupings of deities
    …common grouping, principally in the New Kingdom and later, was the triad. The archetypal triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus exhibits the normal pattern of a god and a goddess with a youthful deity, usually male. Most local centres came to have triads, the second and third members of which…
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• role of Thutmose III
  • 
    In Thutmose III
    …skilled warrior who brought the Egyptian empire to the zenith of its power by conquering all of Syria, crossing the Euphrates (see Tigris-Euphrates river system) to defeat the Mitannians, and penetrating south along the Nile River to Napata in the Sudan. He also built a great number of temples and…
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arts

tombs

• Ṣaqqārah

  • 
    In Ṣaqqārah
    In the New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075 bce), however, Memphis became a principal administrative and military centre, and a number of tombs from that period have been found, including the finely decorated tomb of the general, later king, Horemheb, rediscovered in 1975. Also, in that era and later…
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• Valley of the Kings

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    In Valley of the Kings
    The kings of the New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075 bce), fearing for the safety of their rich burials, adopted a new plan of concealing their tombs in a lonely valley in the western hills behind Dayr al-Baḥrī. There, in tombs sunk deep into the heart of the mountain, pharaohs were…
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• sculpture

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    In Egyptian art and architecture: Innovation, decline, and revival from the New Kingdom to the Late period
    Excellence of craftsmanship is the hallmark of 18th-dynasty sculpture, in a revival of the best traditions of the Middle Kingdom. Wonderfully sensitive statues of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III confirm the return of conditions in which great work could be…
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cities

• Memphis
  • 
    In Memphis: Later history
    During the New Kingdom, Memphis probably functioned as the second, or northern, capital of Egypt. At one time it seems to have been the principal residence of the crown prince. Several 18th-dynasty inscriptions mention royal hunting parties in the desert near the Sphinx. Amenhotep II (reigned _c._…
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• Thebes
  • 
    In Thebes: Archaeology of the Thebes
    In the New Kingdom, when the pharaohs hid their tombs in the secret Valley of the Kings (in western Thebes), ostentation had to be concentrated in their mortuary temples, which rivaled each other in size and magnificence. Although they were designed for the performance of rites connected…
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