The Periods of Egyptian History in Pictures

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Predynastic and Proto-Dynastic Egypt

Picture of the Narmer Palette from Ancient Egypt — Picture of a Facsimile of the Narmer Palette From the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto, Canada. Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikimedia.

Predynastic Egypt refers to the period before the pharaohs, before the unification of Egypt. Proto-Dynastic refers to the period of Egyptian history with pharaohs, but before the Old Kingdom period. At the end of the fourth millennium B.C., Upper and Lower Egypt were unified. Some evidence for this event comes from the Narmer Palette, named for the first known Egyptian king. The 64 cm high slate Narmer Palette was found at Hierakonpolis. The hieroglyphic symbol on the palette for Egyptian king Narmer is a catfish.

The culture of southern Egypt of the Predynastic period is described as Nagada; that of northern Egypt as Maadi. The earliest evidence of agriculture, which replaced the earlier hunting-gathering society in Egypt, comes from the north, at Fayum.

Predynastic Egypt
Narmer Palette

"The Egyptian Predynastic: A Review of the Evidence," by Kathryn A. Bard Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Autumn, 1994), pp. 265-288.
"The Final Phase of Predynastic Culture Gerzean or Semainean(?)," by Helene J. Kantor. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Apr., 1944), pp. 110-136.
"New Light on King Narmer and the Protodynastic Egyptian Presence in Canaan," by Thomas E. Levy, Edwin C. M. van den Brink, Yuval Goren and David Alon. The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 26-35.

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Old Kingdom Egypt

Step Pyramid Picture - Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara — Picture of an Egyptian Step Pyramid - Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Chris Peiffer Flickr.com

c.2686-2160 B.C.

The Old Kingdom Period was the great age of pyramid building that started with Djoser's 6-step pyramid at Saqqara.

Before the Old Kingdom Period were the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods, so the Old Kingdom did not begin with the first dynasty, but, instead, with Dynasty 3. It ended with Dynasty 6 or 8, depending on scholarly interpretation of the start of the next era, the First Intermediate Period.

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First Intermediate Period

Egyptian Mummy Picture — Egyptian Mummy. Clipart.com

c.2160-2055 B.C.

The First Intermediate Period began when the Old Kingdom's centralized monarchy grew weak as provincial rulers (called nomarchs) became powerful. This period ended when a local monarch from Thebes gained control of all Egypt.

Many consider the First Intermediate Period to be a dark age. There is some evidence that there were disasters -- like failure of the annual Nile flood, but there were also cultural advances.

More on the First Intermediate Period

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Middle Kingdom

c.2055-1650 B.C.

In the Middle Kingdom, a feudal period of Egyptian history, ordinary men and women were subject to corvee, but they also achieved some advances; for instance, they could share in funerary procedures previously reserved for the pharaoh or top elite.

The Middle Kingdom was composed of part of the 11th Dynasty, the 12th Dynasty, and current scholars add the first half of the 13th Dynasty.

More on the Middle Kingdom

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Second Intermediate Period

Picture of a Votive Barque Attributed to Kamose. Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

c.1786-1550 or 1650-1550

The 2nd Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt -- another period of de-centralization, like the first -- began when the 13th Dynasty pharaohs lost power (after Sobekhotep IV) and Asiatic "Hyksos" took over. The 2nd Intermediate Period ended when an Egyptian monarch from Thebes, Ahmose, having driven the Hyksos into Palestine, reunified Egypt, and established the 18th Dynasty, the start of the period known as the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.

More on the 2nd Intermediate Period
Hyksos

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New Kingdom

Picture of Tutankhamen. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

c.1550-1070 B.C.

The New Kingdom Period included the Amarna and the Ramessid Periods. It was the most glorious period in Egyptian history. During the New Kingdom period some of the most familiar names in pharaohs ruled over Egypt, including Ramses, Tuthmose, and the heretic king Akhenaten. Military expansion, developments in art and architecture, and religious innovations marked the New Kingdom.

Map Showing Egypt in About 1450 B.C.
Ramses
Pharaohs of the New Kingdom
Battle of Kadesh
Battle of Megiddo
Abu Simbel
Nefertiti
Who Was King Tut?
Mysteries of the Amarna Pharaohs

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Third Intermediate Period

1070-712 B.C.

Source: Allen, James, and Marsha Hill. "Egypt in the Third Intermediate Period (1070-712 B.C.)". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tipd/hd_tipd.htm (October 2004).

Also see National Geographic's February 2008 feature article Black Pharaohs.

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Late Period

712-332 B.C.

Kushite Period - Dynasty 25 (c.712-664 B.C.)
During this crossover period from the Third Intermediate, the Assyrians fought the Nubians in Egypt.
Saite Period - Dynasty 26 (664-525 B.C.)
Sais was a town in the Nile Delta. With the help of the Assyrians, they were able to drive out the Nubians. By this time, Egypt was no longer a world-class power, although the Saites were able to control the area governed from Thebes as well as the north. This dynasty is thought of as the last truly Egyptian one.
Persian Period - Dynasty 27 (525-404 B.C.)
Under the Persians, who ruled as foreigners, Egypt was a satrapy. Following the defeat of Persia by the Greeks at Marathon, the Egyptians mounted a resistance. [See Darius section in Persian Wars]
Dynasties 28-30 (404-343 B.C.)
The Egyptians repelled the Persians, but only for a time. After the Persians regained control of Egypt, Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and Egypt fell to the Greeks.

Map Showing Egypt in About 600 B.C.

Source: Allen, James, and Marsha Hill. "Egypt in the Late Period (ca. 712-332 B.C.) ". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lapd/hd_lapd.htm (October 2004)

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Ptolemaic Dynasty

332-30 B.C.

The son of Ptolemy Soter, Ptolemy II Philadelphos, co-ruled for the last 2 years of the reign of Ptolemy Soter and then succeeded him. The Ptolemaic rulers adopted Egyptian customs, like marriage to siblings, even when they conflicted with Macedonian practices. Cleopatra, the only one of the Ptolemies known to have learned the language of the subject people -- Egyptian -- was a direct descendant of the Macedonian general Ptolemy Soter and a daughter of Ptolemy Auletes 'flute-player'.