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New Kingdom

The New Kingdom covers the time period from  around 1550 BC to 1070 BC, and it was a time of great political and cultural  achievements in Ancient Egypt. This period saw the rise of some of the most  famous pharaohs in Egyptian history, as well as significant developments in  art, literature, religion, and warfare.

The New Kingdom began with the reign of  Ahmose I, who drove out the Hyksos and reunited Egypt. This marked the  beginning of a period of unprecedented expansion and prosperity, during which  time the Egyptians established a powerful empire that extended from Nubia in  the south to Syria in the north.

The New Kingdom pharaohs were among the  most powerful rulers in the ancient world, and they presided over a period of  great artistic and cultural innovation. The period saw the emergence of iconic  works of art such as the tomb of Tutankhamun and the mortuary temple of  Hatshepsut, as well as important developments in literature, including the Book  of the Dead and the Amarna Letters.

The New Kingdom was also a time of  significant religious innovation. Pharaohs such as Akhenaten attempted to  reform the traditional polytheistic religion of Egypt, and established a  monotheistic cult around the worship of the sun-disk, Aten. This period also  saw the development of the cult of Osiris, the god of the dead, and the  emergence of the Apis Bull cult in Memphis.

In this section, we will explore the key  events and developments of Egypt's New Kingdom, including the reigns of some of  its most famous pharaohs, such as Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Akhenaten, and  Tutankhamun. We will examine the cultural and artistic achievements of the  period, as well as the religious and political developments that characterized  this time.

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Left, Tutankhamun golden funerary mask. Right, 2023 facial reconstruction of King Tutankhamun. Source: Left, merydolla / Adobe Stock. Right, C. Moraes et al.

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Aswan temple, completed by Ramses II of the Ramessid Dynasty.  Source: Konstantin / Adobe Stock

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Temple of Edfu passage with glowing walls of Egyptian hieroglyphs on either side.	Source: Konstantin / AdobeStock

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The discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun is one of the greatest archaeology achievements in history. Source: merydolla / Adobe Stock.

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Mask of pharaoh Tutankhamun. Source: Dieter Hawlan / Adobe Stock

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Cartouche found at the palace of Ramesses II

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Thousands of talatat blocks from Akhenaten's dismantled Aten temples lie in the precincts of Karnak complex; design by Anand Balaji

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