New Kingdom and Amarna Period Notes

NEW KINGDOM

  • Ideology: Dynasty 17 established core ideas:
    • Egyptians vs. others.
    • Pharaoh's sovereignty.
    • Economic/architectural development.
  • Economic Development:
    • Manufacturing (blue dye production mentioned).
    • Imports.
    • Imitations.
    • Exports.
    • Building projects.
    • Texts.
  • Standards to Remember:
    • Royal priorities.
    • Pharaoh's relationship with god.
    • Pharaoh's relationship with foreign rulers.
    • Temple design (living vs. dead).

EARLY THUTMOSIDS

  • Ahmose 1: 1549-1524 BCE
  • Thutmose 1: 1503-1493 BCE
  • Hatshepsut: 1479-1458 BCE
  • Thutmose 3: 1479-1425 BCE
  • Amenhotep 3: 1388-1351 BCE

AMARNA RESTORATION PERIOD

  • Akhenaten: 1351-1334 BCE
  • Tutankhamun: 1332-1323 BCE
  • Horemheb: 1319-1292 BCE

AMARNA PERIOD

  • Background:
    • Amenhotep 3 = pivotal figure.
    • Egypt at its most resplendent and possibly most influential on the international stage.
    • “Balance of powers”.
    • Takes pharaonic ideology to new extremes.

AMARNA ARCHIVE

  • International correspondence spanning reigns of Amenhotep 3 and Akhenaten.
  • Discovered at Amarna, Akhenaten’s capital.
  • 310 complete tablets.

AMARNA REVOLUTION

  • New Religion: Atenism
    • One god Aten.
    • Defund the temples.
    • New capital, royal court, architectural, iconography.
    • Letters found in “Hall of Royal Correspondence”.
  • Amenhotep IV: In the shadow of the Sun King
  • Consequence of isolationism -> focus on self-sufficiency caused Egypt to struggle to rely on outside resources and hinder its ability to anticipate or respond to external threats
  • Royal cache: tomb of Amenhotep 2 repurposed for royal mummies

19th DYNASTY MODIFICATIONS

  • Egyptian “Identity” -> less clear cut, selective defecation of the pharaoh (all rulers uses Ramesses name)
  • Hallmark of Ramesses 2 monuments: size, legibility

RAMESSES 2: WARRIOR KING

  • 1300 BCE: Major Players
    • Hittites
    • Egypt (Dynasty 19)
    • Assyria (Middle Assyrian Period)
    • Syrian/Canaanite City States
    • Mycenaeans
  • Hatussa = capital of Hatti

BATTLE OF KADESH

  • Hittites vs Egyptians
  • Ramesses 2 led attack

HABIRU

  • Raiders

SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

  • Political fragmentation (legitimacy and kingship)
  • Theban resistance: 17th dynasty
  • Pragmatic syncretism
  • Religion: rise of Amun in Thebes
  • Ideology of resistance
  • Order (Ma’at) vs Chaos (Isfet)

NEW KINGDOM

  • Pharaoh = divine figure on earth (tie to Horus, Amun, Re)
  • Egypt expands to Nubia
  • Foreign lands depicted as chaos
  • Priesthood of Amun
  • Afterlife becomes accessible to not just royals
  • Akhenaten -> introduced radically monotheistic religion Aten (suppressed Amun)
  • After Amarna period Tutankhamun restored traditional cults

RESTORATION STELA AT KARNAK

  • Catalogs primary deities of the most powerful temples as enforcers of stability.
  • Amun-Re, Thoth, Mut, Horus, Atum