User Guide

257
A Quick Guide to the History of Egypt
Pharaohs commissioned huge temples throughout Egypt. Sculpture, too,
was done on a large scale, and several famous examples remain. The
Colossi of Memnon, for example, are statues of Amenhotep III that stand
65 feet high.
Art continued to thrive, and artisans began working with faience,
a type of glass. They cast the glass to make containers, and used faience
for inlays.
After the New Kingdom
The New Kingdom drew to a close at the end of the Twentieth
Dynasty. The balance of political power in Asia shifted, and Egypt,
plagued with a series of weak pharaohs after Ramesses III, lost much of its
land. Libyans to Egypt’s west were encroaching more on Egypt’s territory,
in search of fertile land. Internally, priests of Amun gained more power
and eventually usurped the throne.
After tempestuous rule by Libyans and Kushites, the Assyrians
invaded Egypt and assumed control. Unlike previous foreign invaders, the
Assyrians did not assume the title of pharaoh and considered Egypt to be
a province in their empire. The Assyrians, however, were not in power for
long. With continued unrest in Asia, Egypt passed through many hands
and was led at various times by Babylonians and Persians. An Egyptian,
Nectanebo, would briefly rule Egypt, but the country would again fall
under foreign leadership.
Alexander the Great seized Egypt in 332 BC, and after his death
Ptolemy rose to power. Greeks continued to rule Egypt until the Romans
came to power in 30 BC.
256
A Quick Guide to the History of Egypt
moved Egypt’s capital from Thebes to a new city, Per-Ramesses, near
Rowarty (Avaris). Ramesses I’s grandson, the familiar Ramesses II (known
as “the Great”), conquered new lands and signed new treaties with Asian
powers. He also commissioned a large number of construction projects,
and his likeness was found in a variety of monuments throughout Egypt.
Ramesses II’s military exploits culminated in the Battle of Qadesh,
the account of which is the first known detailed report of a major combat
engagement. The battle was fought against the Hittites, and it was the
first time that Egypt faced an enemy whose power rivaled its own. The
Battle of Qadesh could have been disastrous for the Egyptian army.
Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Ramesses II kept his troops’ morale
high by aggressively charging the enemy. The Egyptian army was spared a
crushing defeat when reinforcements arrived. The two sides fought to a
draw, and a treaty was drawn up dividing the contested land. Portions of
both copies of the treaty survive today.
With New Kingdom imperialism, Egyptians fought many ene-
mies, both known and unknown. In addition to the Hittites, the Mitanni
and the Babylonians each rivaled Egypt for control of western Asia. The
Sea Peoples, who seemed to have been an amalgamation of several cul-
tures including the Philistines and Minoans, also entered the fray.
While pharaohs led military expeditions, culture at home contin-
ued to thrive. The New Kingdom witnessed another shift in burial cus-
toms. Because they were plagued by continuous robberies, pyramids as
graves were abandoned by pharaohs. Instead, they favored tombs cut into
the cliffs of the Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings and the near-
by Valley of the Queens, which housed the pharaohs’ wives and children,
were well hidden from would-be grave robbers. To support the continual
construction at the valleys, the village of Deir el-Medina was founded,
which housed the craftsmen and laborers who worked in the Valley of the
Kings. Much of what we know about the life of the ancient Egyptian
commoner comes from artifacts recovered from Deir el-Medina.
The New Kingdom was also marked by a building boom.