The New Kingdom

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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