The New Kingdom (1550-1069 B.C.) was divided in three Dynasties: 18th, 19th and the 20th. The first ruler “Ahmose, and the other warrior kings of the early 18th Dynasty, took Egyptian armies as far as the Euphrates” (Pinch Geraldine, page 19). On late of the 16th century B.C., Thebes, now known as Luxor, became the principal religious capital.
The 18th Dynasty is often considered the high point of Egyptian culture, a lot of great art and architecture was built in this Dynasty. Luxor Temple, with its soaring columns and statues of Ramses II. The primary structures were built during the reigns of Amenhotep III and Ramses II, 1500 to 1200 B.C.
The Valley of the Kings was used to bury the royalty during much of the New Kingdom Era, rulers were entombed in elaborate underground structures, with chambers and passages decorated and filled with everything a pharaoh could need in his afterlife. The valley is best known for the tomb of Tutankhamun (1336-1327 B.C.), with its legendary treasures, discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Many other royals were buried here but few known tombs remained as unmolested as Tut’s, much due to tomb thefts.
“From the first Dynasty onward, every Egyptian king was called a Horus” (Pinch Geraldine, page 6), god of the sky, protection and war. This association of the pharaoh with the divine empowered themselves with much power, control and loyalty from the Egyptians. One of the great gods from this era was Amun, which was believed that his highlight was after he replaced the war god Montu as the center god of Thebes.
Amun was the creator god whose name meant “the hidden one” or “the secret one”. He was associated with the air as an invisible force and according to Egyptian myth, was self-created. It was beli...
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...ndbook of Egyptian Mythology. California: ABC-CLIO, 2002;
2 – http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/ancient-thebes/. National Geographic. (Assessed on 02-09-2014);
3 - http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/amun-re.htm. Jimmy Dunn. Egypt: The God Amun and Amun-Re, last updated August 4th, 2011. (Assessed on 02-10-2014);
4 - http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mut.htm. Caroline Seawright. Egypt: Mut, Mother Goddess of the New Kingdom, Wife of Amen, Vulture Goddess, last updated June 11th, 2011. (Assessed on 02-14-2014);
5 – Wilkinson R. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2003;
6 - http://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hathor.html. Ancient Egyptian Gods: Hathor. J. Hill. Last updated: 2010. (Assessed on 02-16-2014);
7 - http://www.touregypt.net/osirnam.htm. Egypt: Gods - The Names of Osiris. (Assessed on 02-16-2014).
Hawass,Zahi. Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twentity-first Century. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2000.
Amenhotep IV was born in c. 1365 BCE during the 18th dynasty in Egypt to Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye (Aldred 11). He was given his name in honor of the Gods Amun and Re whom Amenhotep III sought to be the earthly representative of (Bratton 17). Amun-Re was the creator God, and Re was the God of the sun (Assmann 485-6). Combined, these two deities were the most powerful God and are therefore normally referred to by their conjoined name of Amun-Re (Redford 97). Although Re was the sole Sun God, there were others under him who were individually responsible for a specific detail of the sun-God. Aten was an aspect of R...
Budge, E. A. Wallis. "Chapter III: The "Gods" Of the Egyptians." Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life: Egyptian Religion. New York: Bell Pub., 1959. 92-95. EBSCO. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. .
Lichtheim, M. and Fischer-Elfert, H., 2006. Ancient Egyptian Literature. 1st ed. Berkeley: University of California Press
Akhenaten, or Amenhotep IV as he was first known, reigned during the prosperous golden age of Egypt’s 18th dynasty. He is generally associated with the neglecting the empire in order to pursue his dreams as a religious philosopher; letting the Egyptian border crumble, and ignoring their foreign colonies and provinces. Akhenaten was married to the most beautiful woman of ancient Egypt, who also happened to be his sister, Nefertiti. Delving into the reasons behind Akhenaten’s brief reform of Egyptian religion and art and the impact this had on Egypt’s golden age.
The 18th dynasty, which only occurred from 1570 BC – 1365BC was regarded as one of the most prosperous and glorious periods in Ancient Egyptian History. It was also a period where some of the greatest pharaohs had made Thebes into a majestic capital and created one of the greatest Egyptian establishments in Ancient History, the temple of their God Amun Re. One of the more notable pharaohs was the founder of the New Kingdom Ahmose I. However, the question has been posed to what extent did Ahmose I contribute to the success of the New Kingdom? This article believes that Ahmose made a large contrivbution to the New Kingdom and was in fact a successful pharaoh for destroying the Hyksos, Liberating Egypt and rebuilding the nation.
In the glorious Eighteenth Dynasty, when Egypt became for the first time a world power, a young Pharaoh ascended the throne about 1375 B.C., who first called himself Amenhotep (IV) like his father, but later on changed his name to Akhenaten (1370-1358 B.C.). This king undertook to force upon his subjects a new religion, one contrary to their ancient traditions and to all their familiar habits. It was a strict monotheism, the first attempt of its kind in the history of the world, as far as we know; and religious intolerance, which was foreign to antiquity before this and for long after, was inevitably born with the belief in one god. But Amenhotep’s reign lasted only for seventeen years; very soon after his death in 1358 B.C. the new religion was swept away and the memory of the heretic king proscribed. From the ruins of his new capital, which he had built and dedicated to his god, and from the inscription in the rock tombs belonging to it, we derive the little knowledge we possess of him.1
During the New Kingdom of Egypt (from 1552 through 1069 B.C.), there came a sweeping change in the religious structure of the ancient Egyptian civilization. "The Hymn to the Aten" was created by Amenhotep IV, who ruled from 1369 to 1353 B.C., and began a move toward a monotheist culture instead of the polytheist religion which Egypt had experienced for the many hundreds of years prior to the introduction of this new idea. There was much that was different from the old views in "The Hymn to the Aten", and it offered a new outlook on the Egyptian ways of life by providing a complete break with the traditions which Egypt held to with great respect. Yet at the same time, there were many commonalties between these new ideas and the old views of the Egyptian world. Although through the duration of his reign, Amenhotep IV introduced a great many changes to the Egyptian religion along with "The Hymn", none of these reforms outlived their creator, mostly due to the massive forces placed on his successor, Tutankhamen, to renounce these new reforms. However, the significance of Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten as he later changed his name to, is found in "The Hymn". "The Hymn" itself can be looked at as a contradiction of ideas; it must be looked at in relation to both the Old Kingdom's belief of steadfast and static values, as well as in regards to the changes of the Middle Kingdom, which saw unprecedented expansionistic and individualistic oriented reforms. In this paper I plan to discuss the evolvement of Egyptian Religious Beliefs throughout the Old,
Seawright, Caroline. "Avatars of the Gods: The Animals of Ancient Egypt." Avatars of the Gods: The Animals of
In the south-western section of the area known as the Fertile Crescent, a civilization arose around 3500 BC. Known by most for their enormous works of construction, the pyramids, this civilization called the Egyptians, contributed largely to ancient society and the general development of the human race. Centralized around the Nile River, this civilization rose and fell, experience triumphs and catastrophes, and gradually created a legacy for themselves which we still remember and study today. The history of the ancient Egyptian civilization consists of five eras: the Pre-Dynastic period, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, the Hyksos Era, and the New Kingdom.
Egyptians worshiped many gods and goddesses. Some of the gods they worshiped were Ra the sun god, Isis the god of nature and magic, Horus the god of war and Osiris the god of the dead. The act of worshiping many gods is called polytheism. The Egyptians had a god for almost everything.
The unification of Ancient Egypt became the major foundation for which the way Egyptian and African history is taught in this day and time. The combination of the two dynamic kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt played a significant role in shaping Egypt’s impact on the early civilization of mankind. Before the unification can be explored, we must further understand the differences of the two kingdoms. This will allow us to better grasp the concept of how the two advanced kingdoms complemented one another during their unification. The geographical qualities/relationship with the Nile River, trade routes, symbols, and religious beliefs will be fully analyzed in order to compare and contrast the two kingdoms. King Narmer’s (Menes) role in the unification
The work I chose to analyze was from a wall fragment from the tomb of Ameneemhet and wife Hemet called Mummy Case of Paankhenamun, found in the Art Institute of Chicago. The case of the Mummy Paankhenamun is one of the most exquisite pieces of art produced by the Egyptian people during the time before Christ. This coffin belonged to a man named Paankhenamun, which translates to “He Lives for Amun” (Hornblower & Spawforth 74). Paankhenamun was the doorkeeper of the temple of the god Amun, a position he inherited from his father.
Thesis statement: In this research, I will investigate the basic concepts of the Egyptian mythology and its gods.