List of Boxed Texts List of Summaries of Dynastic History Preface
1
Introductory Concerns
xviii xx xxi
1
1.1
What Is Ancient Egypt? Chronological boundaries Geographical boundaries What is ancient Egyptian history? Who are the ancient Egyptians?
1 1 3 4 5
1.2
Egypt's Geography The Nile River The desert Climate Frontiers and links
7 7 8 10 10
1.3
T h e M a k e u p of Egyptian Historical Sources Papyri and ostraca Monumental inscriptions Historical criticism
10 11 13 13
2
3
1.4
T h e Egyptians and T h e i r Past King lists Egyptian concepts of kingship
14 14 18
1.5
T h e Chronology o f Egyptian H i s t o r y Modern subdivisions of Egyptian history Absolute chronology
19 19 20
1.6
Prehistoric Developments The beginning of agriculture Naqada I and II periods
21 21 23
T h e Formation of the Egyptian State (ca. 3400-2686)
27
2.1
Sources
30
2.2
Royal Cemeteries a n d Cities The Late Naqada culture Dynasty 0
31 31 32
2.3
T h e First K i n g s Images of war The unification of Egypt
33 33 35
2.4
Ideological Foundations o f the N e w State Kings Cemeteries Festivals Royal annals and year names Gods and cults Bureaucracy
36 36 37 37 38 39 40
2.5
T h e Invention of W r i t i n g Precursors at Abydos Hieroglyphic script
42 43 43
2.6
Foreign Relations The Uruk culture of Babylonia Late-fourth-millennium Nubia Late-fourth-millennium Palestine
47 47 48 49
T h e Great P y r a m i d Builders (ca. 2686-2345) .
52
3.1
Sources
53
3.2
T h e Evolution of the M o r t u a r y C o m p l e x Djoser's step pyramid at Saqqara Sneferu's three pyramids The Great Pyramids at Giza Solar temples of the 5th dynasty
55 56 57 58 61
4
5
3.3
Administrating the O l d K i n g d o m State Neferirkara's archive atAbusir Officialdom
62 62 64
3.4
Ideological Debates? Problems of royal succession The gods Horus and Ra
66 67 69
3.5
Foreign Relations Contacts with Nubia Contacts with Asia
71 71 71
3.6
Later Traditions about the O l d K i n g d o m Djoser and Imhotep Sneferu The Great Pyramid builders
73 73 74 74
The E n d of the O l d Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2345-2055)
78
4.1
Sources
79
4.2
T h e Rise o f the Regions and Political Fragmentation Nomes and nomarchs Mortuary texts Officials'biographies Pepy II Why did the Old Kingdom dissolve?
80 80 81 84 84 86
4.3
Foreign Relations Nubian independence Beyond the Nile Valley Mercenaries
88 88 91 91
4.4
Competition between Herakleopolis and Thebes Herakleopolis Thebes
93 93 93
4.5
Appraising the First Intermediate Period Middle Kingdom literary reflections Historical critique
94 94 95 97
The Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650) 5.1
Sources and Chronology
5.2
Kings and Regional Elites Reunification and the 11th dynasty The start of the 12th dynasty and the foundation
98
of Itj-tawi
100 100 101
6
Provincial powers in the early Middle Kingdom Royal interference in the provinces Administrative centralization Royal power in the 13th dynasty
103 104 106 107
5.3
K i n g s as Warriors The annexation of Nubia
108 112
5.4
Egypt i n the W i d e r W o r l d The early Kingdom of Kush The eastern desert and Sinai Syria and Palestine The world beyond Rhetoric and practice in foreign relations
114 114 115 117 117 118
5.5
T h e C u l t o f Osiris
120
5.6
M i d d l e K i n g d o m Literature and Its Impact on Egyptian C u l t u r e
121
T h e Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos (ca. 1700-1550)
126
6.1
Sources and Chronology
127
6.2
Avaris: T h e M u l t i p l e Transformations of a Delta C i t y A history of Avaris Cultural hybridity Other immigrants
128 128 129 131
6.3
T h e Hyksos The name Hyksos Hyksos origins Egyptian cultural influences Political history The 14th and 16th dynasties Hyksos rule in Palestine?
131 131 132 132 134 135 135
6.4
N u b i a and the K i n g d o m of K u s h The independence of Lower Nubia The Kingdom of Kush Kerma The extent of the Kingdom of Kush
136 136 136 137 140
6.5
Thebes i n the M i d d l e Royal tombs Seqenenra Taa Kamose's war
141 141 142 143
6.6
7
T h e Hyksos i n Later Perspective Queen Hatshepsut The gods Ra and Seth Manetho and Josephus
The B i r t h of E m p i r e : T h e E a r l y 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550-1390)
8
144 144 145 147
151
7.1
Egypt i n a N e w W o r l d Order
154
7.2
Sources and Chronology
155
7.3
Egypt at War War and society in the New Kingdom The "war of liberation " The annexation of Nubia Wars in western Asia
157 157 159 161 164
7.4
Egypt and the Outside W o r l d
167
7.5
Domestic Issues Royal succession Hatshepsut Royal mortuary customs New Kingdom bureaucracy Building activity in the early 18th dynasty
169 169 171 175 111 180
The A m a r n a Revolution and the Late 18th Dynasty (ca. 1390-1295)
184
8.1
A n International Age The Club of the Great Powers The administration of Syria and Palestine The rise of the Hittites A failed marriage alliance
186 187 189 191 191
8.2
Amenhotep III: T h e S u n K i n g Amenhotep Ill's divinity and his building projects The king's family The king's court
192 193 196 197
8.3
F r o m Amenhotep III to Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten
199
8.4
Akhenaten Theban years (years 1 to 5) Akhetaten (years 5 to 12)
200 200 202
8.5
Turmoil (years 12 to 17) Akhenaten's successors
206 206
Akhenaten's M e m o r y
209
The R a m ess id E m p i r e (ca. 1295-1203)
213
9.1
Domestic Policy: Restoration and Renewal Sety I Rameses II
215 215 216
9.2
International Relations: Reforming the E m p i r e Wars in Syria Egyptian-Hittite peace A new imperial structure Foreigners in Egypt
219 219 222 223 225
9.3
Rameses's C o u r t Officials The royal family
227 227 230
9.4
A C o m m u n i t y of T o m b Builders
233
T h e E n d of E m p i r e (ca. 1213-1070)
•
240
10.1
Problems at C o u r t Sety II and Amenmessu Saptah and Tausret Sethnakht
242 242 243 244
10.2
Breakdown of Order Tomb robberies Workers' strikes
245 245 247
10.3
T h e Decline of Royal Power
247
10.4
Pressures from A b r o a d Libyans and Sea Peoples The end of the international system
250 250 255
10.5
E n d of the N e w K i n g d o m
256
The T h i r d Intermediate Period (ca. 1069-715) .
260
11.1
Sources and Chronology
261
11.2
T w i n Cities: Thebes a n d T a n i s (the 21st dynasty, 1069-945) Thebes Tanis The concordat
264 265 267 269
12
11.3
L i b y a n Rule (22nd to 24th dynasties, 945-715) Centralization and diffusion of power The God's Wife ofAmun
272 272 274
11.4
T h e E n d of the T h i r d Intermediate Period Nubian resurgence Sake expansion
276 276 278
Egypt in the Age of Empires (ca. 715-332)
283
12.1
Sources and Chronology
284
12.2
T h e Eastern Mediterranean i n the First M i l l e n n i u m
286
12.3
Egypt, K u s h , and Assyria (ca. 715-656) Military incidents
290 290
12.4
Egypt, Greeks, and Babylonians (656-525) Greek-Egyptian relations Military activity
295 295 299
12.5
Recollections of the Past under the Kings of K u s h and Sais
300
Egypt and Persia (525-332) Domination and resistance Mixing cultures
304 305 310
12.6
13
Greek and R o m a n Egypt (332
BC-AD
395)
316
13.1
Sources and Chronology
317
13.2
Alexandria and Philae Alexandria Philae
319 319 322
13.3
K i n g s , Queens, and Emperors The Ptolemies Queen Cleopatra VII Roman Egypt
325 325 327 328
13.4
Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians Administration Culture and religion
329 329 332
13.5
E c o n o m i c Developments: Agriculture, Finance, and Trade
