Pharaoh Ay must have been quite old when he ascended the throne in about 1323 BCE. After his death a certain Horemheb seized power. He was both a high-ranking general and a commoner, and it was his control of the army that made his coup possible. Horemheb was also the…
During his long reign (ca. 1479-1425 BCE) pharaoh Thutmose III had turned Egypt into a superpower. Egypt was a rich kingdom thanks to its control of the goldmines of Nubia. The kingdom was able to enforce its authority from around the fifth cataract of the Nile in the south to…
The history of the New Kingdom of Egypt starts with the first pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Ahmose I (ca. 1549-1524 BCE). During his reign and that of his son Amenhotep I (ca. 1525-1506 BCE) a process of standardisation was launched for the recently reunited country. Legislation, administration, the calendar…