Timeline of Events

5300 BCE: Predynastic Period

People begin to settle down in the Nile valley, domesticating plants and animals, and beginning to produce pottery. The Nagada material culture is important in Upper Egypt, while Maadi-Buto material culture is important in the delta. Most of the archaeological material from this period is from cemeteries.

3200 BCE: Dynasty Zero

The predynastic cultures of Egypt unify into one state with a capital at Memphis. The country is ruled by a king who is considered to be divine, as he is Horus, the falcon god. The earliest hieroglyphic writing is found in Tomb Uj at Abydos. King Narmer rules as the last king of this period.

3000 BCE: Early Dynastic Period

This period consists of Dynasties One and Two. Memphis is the capital of Egypt. Royal tombs are built at both Abydos and Saqqara. The king’s mother, Meretneith, rules as the regent for her young son, King Den. The title of king’s wife appears for the first time.

2686 BCE: Old Kingdom

This period consists of Dynasties Three to Eight. Kings are buried in pyramids at Dahshur, Giza, Saqqara, and Abu Sir. The first pyramid is the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, and after that, true pyramids with smooth sides are built. Many women hold the title of Priestess of Hathor. Kings of the Fifth Dynasty build sun temples. Pyramid Texts begin to be inscribed in royal pyramids at the end of the Fifth Dynasty. Queen Ankhenespepy II rules as the regent for her young son, Pepy II, in the Sixth Dynasty.

2160 BCE: First Intermediate Period

This period consists of Dynasties Nine to late Eleven. Egypt is no longer unified under one king, and provincial rulers take over power. Climate change creates deserts on each side of the river, and Nile inundations are erratic at times. Societal changes seem to affect the independence and economic freedom of women, which is evidenced in the disappearance of titles they held in the Old Kingdom. Egypt is reunited by King Mentuhotep II in the late Eleventh Dynasty. The cult of the goddess Hathor is important at this time.

2055 BCE: Middle Kingdom

This period consists of the later Eleventh Dynasty ruling from Thebes, followed by the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties ruling from a new royal residence at Itja-tawy, north of the Fayum. Kings once again build true pyramids for their burials. The most common woman’s title is now “mistress of the house”; the title of “priestess” has largely disappeared. A queen named Sobekneferu rules as the last king of the Twelfth Dynasty; among other titles, she calls herself the

“female Horus.” The towns of Lahun in the Fayum and Wah-Sut at Abydos become important provincial centers.

1650 BCE: Second Intermediate Period

This period consists of Dynasties Fifteen to Seventeen. The Hyksos from Syro-Palestine take over and rule the delta. Egyptian kings rule at Thebes, and eventually King Ahmose chases the Hyksos back out of the delta and reunites Egypt. Royal females gain political and religious importance and are active participants in their husbands’ reigns. The position of God’s Wife of Amun is established.

1550 BCE: New Kingdom

This period consists of Dynasties Eighteen to Twenty. Egypt creates an empire in Syro-Palestine to the north and to the south in Nubia and the Sudan. The kings are buried in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes, and the village of Deir el-Medineh is established for the workmen who cut and decorate these tombs. The god Amun in the Temple of Karnak is considered to be the divine father of the king and the patron deity of the Egyptian empire. In the Eighteenth Dynasty, Hatshepsut rules as king in a co-regency with her stepson Thutmose III. King Akhenaten builds the city of Amarna, which also has a workmen’s village. In the Nineteenth Dynasty, Queen Nefertari is deified as Hathor in the small temple of Abu Simbel and has a beautiful tomb in the Valley of the Queens. In the Twentieth Dynasty, King Ramses III is assassinated in a harem conspiracy.

1069 BCE: Third Intermediate Period

This period consists of Dynasties Twenty-One to Twenty-Four. Egypt is now ruled by kings in the north and the High Priests of Amun in the south. The Valley of the King is no longer used. The population in the north has become increasingly Libyan. Female chantresses become important in temple ritual, especially in Thebes. A temple complex for the god Amun is built in the delta at Tanis where royal tombs are also built.

747 BCE: Twenty-Fifth Dynasty

A line of kings from the Sudan, devoted to the cult of Amun, comes north and reunites Egypt by defeating the Libyan kings in the delta. They rule in Egypt but are buried in a small pyramid in the area of the Fourth Cataract. The God’s Wife of Amun holds power in the city of Thebes, which is sacked by the Assyrians in 664 BCE, when they are pursuing the Sudanese kings south and out of Egypt.

664 BCE: Late Period

This last period of pharaonic power consists of Dynasties Twenty-Six to Thirty-One. Egyptian kings struggle to stay independent using Greek mercenaries. The cult of the goddess Isis becomes important, and her temple at Philae at the First Cataract is a focus of pilgrimages. The Persians rule Egypt in Dynasties Twenty-Seven and Thirty-One. The Thirtieth Dynasty, in particular, was a time of massive temple building. Alexander the Great takes Egypt from the Persians in 332 BCE, beginning the Greek or Ptolemaic Period in Egypt.