The Middle Kingdom
After a long time of destruction, the Middle Kingdom came. Mentoehotep was the first pharaoh of this dynasty. He
reunited entire Egypt and built many temples. The Middle Kingdom had an unique sort of art, especially the
statues were beautiful. Mentoehotep built a temple in Deir-el Bahari that looked like a pyramid. After three
Mentoehoteps, there were three Sesostris'. All the Sesostris' built a pyramid for tomb and all the Sesostris'
became famous because of their conquers in other lands. There are even myths about them. In the Middle
Kingdom were the most beautiful hieroglyphs written. Even in the later periods was this style the most written
because it was classic. But everything comes to an end, even the Middle Kingdom. The pharaohs became weaker
and weaker and when a strange nation called the "Hyksos" tried to conquer Egypt, no-one could resist.
The New Kingdom
The Hyksos was the most in the North because the South was too strong. Thebes was still the capital of Egypt
(what was left of it) and the South tried to conquer the North almost all the time. The first pharaoh who really
tried to conquer the North died. On his mummy are huge scars from battle-axes and arrows. His brother, Ahotep
conquered the North. This was the beginning of the best period Egypt ever had, the New Kingdom. But it was too
the beginning of the greatest dynasty of Egypt, the eighteenth dynasty. Thutmose the first was the first pharaoh
that made his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. It was no special tomb. but it was cut out of the rock and was
painted white. All texts in it were hieriatic (cursive) and the pictures weren't very raffinated. Amenhotep the first
followed his example by building his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and he even built a village for the builders.
This village was called Deir el Medina and the villagers worshipped Amenhotep for his deed as a god, even after
hundreds of years. Thutmose II died very sudden. For successor he had only a son, but he was way too young to
be a pharaoh. That’s why Hatsepsut took over his throne. Hatsepsut was a very smart woman. She didn't conquer
anything, but she consulted with many lands like Punt and she built very beautiful temples like the Deir-el Bahari.
Her stepson, Thutmose III hated her because she wouldn't let him reign tough he was allowed to do it, that’s what
his father said. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but Hatsepsuts mummy is never found and her name is
erased everywhere it was possible. There are only some remaining, like in the Deir el Bahari. Thutmose had written
his name over Hatsepsuts name, but it was easy to see it. Tough Thutmose III might have been a killer, he still was
a very good pharaoh. He conquered Nubia and very much land in the Middle East. He also build a very big part of the
Karnak temple, where every eighteenth-dynasty king worked on.
Amenhotep III was a real builder. He gave very
much statues to the temple of Karnak, especially statues of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. Amenhotep III was
the greatest builder after Ramsess II, but we'll discuss him later. We don't know for sure, but it is possible that
Amenhotep III only did this because the power of the priests of Amun was too big. That might be the reason too
that Amenhotep IV changed his name into Akhenaten and started worshipping only one god; Aten. The priests of
Amun must have been really furious, not only because the living god now started to worship someone else, but
too because Akhenaten let all temples burn down. From now on it wasn't allowed to worship any other god than
Ten. Off course no-one really worshipped him, they all still worshipped the ancient gods, but now secretly. Tough
Akhenaten completely destroyed the power of the old priests, he was no good pharaoh. He had a very small army
and the communication between the other lands slackened. His general and right hand were probably the ones
who got rid of him. Akhenatens mummy is never found and after he died the new religion completely died with him.
Semenchare followed Akhenaten, but he reigned for only three years or something like that. After him followed
the most known tough most mysterious pharaoh Tutankhamun. He reigned for only eight years and was only eight
years old when he settled his throne as King of Upper and Lower Egypt. There's a mysterious ball on his back head
that might have been evidence. After Tutankhamun reigned Ay for only three years. In Tutankhamun’s tomb are
wallpaintings with Ay, which is very unusual. This was the end of the eighteenth dynasty.
The next pharaoh was Horemhab. He was general under Akhenaten, Semenchare, Tutankhamun and Ay and now
became a pharaoh. He's got a great tomb with beautiful wall paintings in the Valley of the Kings. His son Ramsess
the first reigned only a couple of years. Sethi II was a good pharaoh too. He built an extra large temple at Abides
for the god Osiris, his father and he built at the temple of Karnak. His son Ramsess II was probably the greatest
pharaoh in the entire history of Egypt. Ramsess II can be seen everywhere in Egypt. Everywhere are huge statues
with him and the gods. He also created a whole new capital of Egypt, (Pi-Ramsess) but that turned out to be no
success. He was the one who built the greatest part of the temple at Karnak and the one who built the temple of
Abu Simbel. Ramsess II was probably the first one who made an agreement to stop the war between Egypt and
Kadesh, tough he wrote on all the Egyptian temple walls about his successes on the battle field. His wife Nefertari
had the most beautiful tomb in Egypt. Ramsess III built the Medinet Habu because the gods were buried there. In
later periods, this temple was used as a fort. Eleven Ramsess have excised, but the later ones were real weak.
This can be read in "The impossible trip of Wenamun." Because there were so much tomb robbers, every mummy
of every pharaoh was transported and put into a secret tomb with all the other pharaohs. Such a tomb is called a
"cache."
