Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt: Encyclopedia - Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Eighteenth Dynasty.

The Eighteenth, Nineteen and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom.

The Eighteenth Dynasty is perhaps the most famous of all the dynasties of ancient Egypt. It included Tutankhamen, whose relatively undisturbed tomb was one of the greatest of all archaeological discoveries, Akhenaten, widely held to have promoted the first expression of monotheism, as well as a number of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs. Although modern students of Egyptology consider the monotheism of Akhenaten the most important event of this period, for centuries this period was best known as when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt.

It was founded by Ahmose, the brother of Kamose, the last ruler of the Seventeenth Dynasty. Ahmose finished the campaign to expel the hated Hyksos rulers. With this dynasty, the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt ended, and the New Kingdom of Egypt or the Egyptian Empire began.

Highlights of this dynasty include: Queen Hatshepsut, who effectively ruled during the minority of her stepson, but was later considered a usurper; the first formal relations with foreign countries under Amenhotep III, of which some records were included in the el Amarna letters; Akhenaten, whose religion offended many in power, and who later suffered damnatio memoriae. Scholars believed that Akhenaten caused a great deal of antipathy by his devotion to his God Aten, which contributed to the end of this dynasty.

Its final years were clearly shaky: the unidentified widow of King Nibhururiya (identified with either Akhenaten or Tutankhamun) wrote to Suppiluliumas I, king of the Hittites, asking him to send one of his sons to be her husband and rule Egypt. Suppiluliumas sent an ambassador to investigate, who reported that the situation was accurately described; however the destined Hittite prince Zannanza was murdered enroute on the borders between the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, and the last two members of this dynasty – Ay and Horemheb – came from officials of the royal court. Suppiluliumas I reacted with rage at the news of his son's death by going to war against Egypt's vassal states in Syria and Northern Canaan and captured the city of Amki. Unfortunately, Egyptian prisoners of war from Amki carried a plague which would eventually ravage the Hittite Empire and kill both Suppiluliumas I and his direct successor.

The Nineteenth dynasty of Ramesses I succeeded it in 1292 BC.

See also

• History of Ancient Egypt
• Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree

Category: Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki