EGYPT  WENT THROUGH PERIODS OF SUCCESS AND DECLINE. IT ROSE AND FELL THREE TIMES BETWEEN 3100 BC AND 525 BC.

OLD KINGDOM

DYNASTIES 0-6 COMRPISE THE OLD KINGDOM. AMONG THE CHIEF PERSONALITIES OF THIS PERIOD ARE NARMER, HORAHA, DJOSER, HIS ARCHITECT IMHOTEP (STEP-PYRAMID AT SAKKARRA), SNEFERU (DYNASTY IV), KHUFU, KHAFRE, MENKAURE. DYNASTY IV WAS IN POWER FROM C. 2613-2500 B.C. DYNASTY IV IS REMEMBERED FOR THE GREAT PYRAMIDS AT GIZA.

HORAHA IS THOUGHT BY SOME TO HAVE BUILT A CAPITAL CITY NEAR MODERN DAY CAIRO. THE EGYPTIANS CALLED THE CITY MEN-NEFER (THE GOOD PLACE). IT IS SAID THAT HORAHA (MENES) DAMMED THE NILE TO DRAIN THE AREA WHERE THE CITY IS LOCATED. ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND THAT THE COURSE OF THE NILE HAS IN FACT SHIFTED EASTWARD OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THE GREEKS CALLED IT MEMPHIS. ALTHOUGH NARMER CAME FROM HIERAKONPOLIS, IN THE DEEP SOUTH, THE EARLY PHARAOHS FELT THE NEED TO PLACE THE CAPITAL IN THE NORTH.
COLLAPSE OF DYNASTY VI

BY DYNASTY VI EGYPT FALLS INTO A PERIOD OF WEAKNESS. WHEN EGYPT WAS WEAK POWER DRIFTED FROM THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO THE PROVINCES, AND EGYPT REVERTED BACK TO A NORTHERN KINGDOM AND A SOUTHERN KINGDOM. THE LAST RULER OF DYNASTY VI WAS PEPI II, WHO SUPPOSEDLY CAME TO THE THRONE WHEN WE WAS ONLY A CHILD AND REIGNED FOR 94 YEARS [HARD TO BELIEVE]. IF HE REALLY DID REIGN SO LONG, HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN TOO FEEBLE AT THE END TO BE AN EFFECTIVE RULER.**
 THE FIRST  INTERMEDIATE PERIOD.

FOR ALMOST 140 YEARS EGYPT SUFFERED CHAOS AND DIVISION, WITH RIVAL DYNASTIES RULING DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTRY. (FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD).
RECONSOLIDATION

EGYPT WAS REUNIFIED AGAIN IN DYNASTY 11, BY A SERIES OF RULERS NAMED INTEF (I, II, III), BEGINNING ABOUT 2060 B.C. THESE WERE PRINCES OF WOSE, OR THEBES, IN THE SOUTH.
EGYPT ALMOST ALWAYS WAS REGENERATED FROM THE SOUTH.
DYNASTY XI (11) USHERS IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM (PERIOD OF UNITY). THE FOURTH RULER OF DYNASTY 11 WAS NAMED MENTUHOTEP I (2060-2010 BC). HE  REIGNED FOR 50 YEARS. HE WAS ACTUALLY THE FIRST RULER OF THAT PERIOD TO VANQUISH ALL THE OTHER RIVAL RULERS AND REUNITE THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. FROM THIS PERIOD A TOMB WAS FOUND THAT SHOWS TOY WOODEN SOLDIERS. THERE ARE 40 BROWN EGYPTIAN ARCHERS. AND 40 DARK BROWN NUBIAN SPEARMEN (PICTURE). AGAIN, THERE IS NO DOUBT AS TO WHAT THE NUBIANS LOOKED LIKE, AND THEY WERE UNMISTAKABLY BLACK.

MENTUHOTEP WAS FOLLOWED BY MENTUHOTEP II AND III.
AMENEMHET I
BUT MENTUHOTEP III WAS FOLLOWED BY HIS PRIME MINISTER, OR VIZIER, AMENEMHET I. THIS AMENEMHET WAS FROM ABOUT AS FAR SOUTH AS YOU CAN GO IN EGYPT, FROM ASWAN OR ELEPHANTINE. HE BECOMES THE FIRST RULER OF DYNASTRY 12 (XII).
HE WORSHIPPED AMUN, AND IT IS FROM THE TIME OF DYNASTY 12 THAT AMUN BEGINS TO BE PROMOTED TOWARD THE TOP OF THE PANTHEON.
A LATER RULER OF DYNASTY 12, SENUSRET III, CONQUERED NUBIA AND OCCUPIED IT PERMANENTLY. HE CONTROLLED NUBIA AS FAR AS THE SECOND CATARACT. HE BUILT A SERIES OF 13 FORTS IN NUBIA.
SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

BY 1782 B.C. EGYPT FELL INTO ANOTHER PERIOD OF DIVISION AND WEAKNESS. THEN DISASTER FELL. ABOUT 1663 B.C. FOREIGNORS INVADED EGYPT AND TOOK CONTROL OF THE DELTA, IN THE NORTH. THESE FOREIGNERS WERE CALLED HIKAU-KHOSWET OR HIK-KHASE, OR “RULERS OF THE FOREIGN HILL COUNTRY” (OF PALESTINE-SYRIA). THEY WERE SEMITIC PEOPLE WHO SPOKE AMORITE. HISTORIANS CALL THEM AMORITES, OR HYKSOS (THE EGYPTIAN RENDERED INTO GREEK INTO ENGLISH). THE HYKSOS WERE SKILLED AT THE USE OF CHARIOTS PILLED BY HORSES. SOME SCHOLARS THINK THE EGYPTIANS INITIALLY USED DONKEYS TO PULL THEIR CHARIOTS. THE HORSE IS NATIVE TO ASIA, NOT AFRICA. AND THE HORSE IS BIGGER, STRONGER AND MORE AGILE THAN THE DONKEY (SEE DOANLD REDFORD, Egypt, Canaan and Israel in Ancient Times.

THE HYKSOS RULED THE DELTA AS DYNASTY 15 FOR ABOUT 100 YEARS (1663-1555 BC). THEY RULED FROM THE CITY OF AVARIS. A SHADOW DYNASTY 16 EXISTED IN THE DELTA.
DYNASTY 17

THE PRINCES OF THEBES LED THE RESISTANCE AS  DYNASTY 17. PHARAOH SEQENENRE TAO II (1574 BC) WAS KILLED IN BATTLE FIGHTING AGAINST THE HYKSOS. HIS SON KAMOSE CONTINUED THE WAR.

AHMOSE I, DYNASTY 18

IT WAS THE SECOND SON OF TAO II, AHMOSE I, WHO RESUMED HE WAR AGAINST THE HYKSOS AND SUCCESSFULLY DROVE THEM OUT. HE RIEGNED FROM 1570-1546 B.C. HE IS REGARDED AS A GREAT FIGURE OF NATIONAL LIBERATION. THE EGYPTIANS HATED THE HYKSOS, AS FOREIGNERS, AND DESTROYED EVERY BUILDING OR INSCRIPTION THAT THEY COULD FIND THAT BORE WITNESS TO THE EXISTENCE OF THE HYKSOS OCCUPATION. ALTHOUGH AHMOSE IS THE SON OF TAO II, MANETHO NAMES AHMOSE AS THE BEGINNING OF ANEW DYNASTY, DYNASTY 18. AND THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW KINGDOM, ALSO CALLED THE EGYPTIAN EMPIRE (C. 1570).

EGYPT REACHED THE PEAK, OR ZENITH, OF HER POWER IN DYNASTY 18. THE RULERS BORE NAMES SUCH AS AMENHOTEP (AMUN IS PLEASED) I, II, III AND IV. KING TUT, THE SON OF AMENHOTEP IV (AKHENATEN), WAS A RULER OF DYNASTY 18.
THE EMPIRE IN ASIA
UNDER DYNASTY 18, THE EGYPTIANS BELIEVED THAT THEY HAD TO CONTROL CANAAN-PHOENICIA, AS THE DOORWAY OR GATEWAY TO EGYPT. IT WAS THEIR BUFFER, THROUGH WHICH THE HYKSOS HAD ENTERED.
IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE THAT THE HEBREWS, AS SEMITIC RELATIVES OF THE HYKSOS, FROM THE SAME REGION, ENTERED EGYPT WHILE THE HYKSOS  RULED THE DELTA. THIS MAY ALSO BE WHY THE EGYPTIANS, ACCORDING TO THE OLD TESTAMENT, WERE HOSTILE TO THE HEBREWS AND USED THEM AS FORCED LABOR IN DYNASTY 19.
STORY OF HATSHEPSUT

TUTHMOSE I (TUTHMOSIS TO THE GREEKS) WAS THE FATHER OF TUTHMOSE II AND A DAUGHTER, HASHEPWOSE (HATSHEPSUT). BUT TUTHMOSIS II DIED YOUNG, LEAVING BEHIND AN INFANT SON. HATSHEPSUT BECAME REGENT OR GUARDIAN UNTIL THE YOUNG PRINCE TUTHMOSE (TUTHMOSE III) BECAME GROWN.
SHE PROCLAIMED HERSELF FEMALE HORUS, OR CO-PHARAOH. SHE WAS THE REAL RULER WHILE HER NEPHEW WAS YOUNG. SHE BUILT A MAGNIFICENT TEMPLE AT LUXOR, NEAR THEBES. TO SYMBOLIZE HER AUTHORITY AS PHARAOH, SHE COMMISSIONED STATUES THAT DEPICTED HER WITH A BEARD- A SYMBOL OF PHARAONIC AUTHORITY.
TUTHMOSE III

AS TUTHMOSE III GREW TO MANHOOD HE RESENTED HIS AUNT AS A USURPER. ABOUT YEAR 24 OF THEIR CO-REIGN, SHE DIED. SOMETIME AFTER, TUTHMOSE III HAD HER NAME OBLITERATED FROM EVERYTHING, AND HIS OWN NAME INSCRIBED OVER IT OR IN ITS PLACE. HER STATUES WERE TOPPLED OVER, AND BURIED IN A QUARRY. SHE VANISHED FROM THE OFFICIAL  RECORD, UNTIL HER STATUES WERE UNEARTHED ALMOST 3000 YEARS LATER.

DESPITE HIS JEALOUS STREAK, TUTHMOSE III WAS THE GREATEST WARRIOR-KING IN EGYPTIAN HISTORY. HE HAS BEEN CALLED THE NAPOLEON BONAPARTE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. HE CONQUERED AND OCCUPIED CANAAN AND PHOENICIA. AND HE EXPANDED THE BORDERS OF EGYPT TO THE EUPHRATES  RIVER. HE ALSO FOUGHT A MONUMENTAL BATTLE AT MEGIDDO, NEAR MODERN-DAY TEL-AVIV. HE FOUGHT THE MITANNI EMPIRE TO A DRAW. ANCIENT EGYPT WAS THE GREATEST POWER IN THE MEDITERRANEAN IN THE TIME OF TUTHMOSE III.
EGYPT TRANSPORTED HER ARMY BY SHIP TO THE PORTS OF PHOENICIA, IN ADDITION TO ADVANCING OVER LAND, WHICH WAS FASTER. HE EVENTUALLY ENTERED INTO ALLIANCE WITH MITANNI TO CONTAIN THE GROWING THREATS OF ASSYRIA AND THE HITTITES. TUTHMOSE III REIGNED FROM 1504-1450 BC. IN THE TIME OF DYNASTY 18, THE EGYPTIANS MAINTAINED AGARRISON OF TROOPS AT BETH SHEAN, JUST SOUTH OF THE SEA OF GALILEE, IN WHAT TODAY IS ISRAEL-WEST BANK.
 TUTANKHAMEN
KING TUT REIGNED BRIEFLY FOR 9 YEARS, FROM 1334-1325. HE WAS A CHILD, AND GREW INTO A TEENAGER AND YOUNG MAN. PROBABLY THE SON OF AKHENATEN AND A LESSER WIFE, KIYA. HE RESTORED THE WORSHIP OF THE TRADITIONAL GODS AND MOVED THE CAPITAL BACK TO THEBES. HE DIED FROM A HEAD INJURY, AND MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABOUT 17 OR 18  YEARS OF AGE. THERE IS THE SUSPICION THAT HE WAS MURDERED.
 
AY
AKHENTEN’S MOTHER WAS QUEEN TIYE, THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN NUBIAN. IT APPEARS THAT A BROTHER OF QUEEN TIYE, AY, ASCENDED TO THE THRONE AFTER TUTANKHAMEN DIED.  HE WAS AN OLD MAN, AND REIGNED BRIEFLY FOR 4 YEARS.
 

HOREMHEB

GENERAL HOREMHEB SEIZED THE THRONE AFTER THE DEATH OF AY, AND RULED FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS. HE MIGHT HAVE MARRIED A RELATIVE OF QUEEN TIYE. AKHENATEN AND TUT WERE ERASED FROM HISTORY. BUT WHEN HOREMHEB DIED, DYNASTY 18 CAME TO AN END.
 DYNASTY 19
RAMESSES I

FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF HOREMHEB, A GENERAL IN THE ARMY, RAMESSES I, TOOK THE THRONE. HIS BACKGROUND WAS LIBYAN. THE LIBYANS WERE LIGHT, WITH  HOOKED NOSES, AND SOMETIMES RED-BLOND HAIR.

RAMESSES I (1293-1291 BC) BEGINS DYNASTY 19. HE WAS FOLLOWED BY SETI I (1291-1278), AND THEN THE MOST FAMOUS OF THE PHARAOHS, RAMESSES II.
RAMESSES II (R. 1279-1212 BC) LIVED TO BE MORE THAN 90 YEARS OLD, AND REIGNED FOR 67 YEARS. HE HAD MORE THAN 8 WIVES AND MORE THAN 100 CHILDREN. BECAUSE HE LIVED SO LONG, HIS FIRST 12 SONS PREDECEASED HIM (DIED BEFORE HE DID). HIS 13TH SON, MERNEPTAH, SUCCEEDED HIM. RAMESSES II IS BELIEVED BY SOME SCHOLARS 9BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGISTS) TO BE THE PHARAOH OF THE EXODUS (C. 1263 BC). WE KNOW MORE ABOUT RAMESSES II THAN ANYBODY ELSE BECAUSE HE BUILT MORE MONUMENTS TO HIMSELF THAN ANYONE ELSE DID.

MERNEPTAH  (1212-1202)

MERNEPTAH REIGNED BRIEFLY FOR 9 OR 10 YEARS. A STELA FROM 1207 IS THE OLDEST SURVIVING EGYPTIAN OBJECT THAT MENTIONS ANY SUCH THING AS ISRAEL, AND DESCRIBES MERNEPTAH’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL ACROSS THE SINAI PENINSULA.
RAMESSES III

THE NEXT SIGNIFICANT FIGURE IS RAMESSES III, FROM DYNASTY 20 (R. 1182-1151 BC). HIS REIGN IS FAMOUS BECAUSE EGYPT WAS INVADED BY INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLE DISPLACED FROM TURKEY AND THE AEGEAN REGION (POSSIBLY BY SOME ECOLOGICAL DISASTER). THEY DESTROYED THE PHOENICIAN CITIES AND C. 1174 BC. (YEAR 8 OF HIS REIGN) INVADED EGYPT BY LAND ANY BY SEA. THE INVASION FORCE THAT CAME BY LAND WAS ANNIHILATED. ON THE WALLS OF T TEMPLE OF MEDINET HABU, RAMESSES III RECORDS STONE CARVINGS OF A GREAT NAVAL BATTLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE NILE. EGYPTIAN SHIPS WITH GRAPPLING HOOKS ARE SHOWN FIGHTING WITH FOREIGN SHIPS, AS EGYPTIAN ARCHERS LINE THE SHORES AND RAIN DOWN  ARROWS AT THE ENEMY.
THE INVASION BY THE “SEA PEOPLES” WAS TURNED BACK. THIS  IS ROUGHLY THE SAME TIME PERIOD DESCRIBED BY HOMER IN THE FALL OF TROY, AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE HITTITE EMPIRE. RAMESSES III WAS THE LAST GREAT EGYPTIAN RULER UNTIL THE NUBIANS OF DYNASTY 25.
AFTER RAMESSES III  EGYPT WILL WEAKEN ONCE AGAIN, AND SLIP INTO DIVISION AND DECLINE. BY THE TIME OF RAMESSES XI, IN 1080 BC, THE PRIESTS OF AMUN AT THEBES REVOLTED AGAINST PHARAOH AND SET THEMSELVES UP AS AUTONOMOUS RULERS. AND NUBIA BROKE FREE TO BECOME INDEPENDENT ONCE AGAIN.