Toby A. H. Wilkinson - The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

A LSO BY T OBY W ILKINSON

Early Dynastic Egypt

Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt

Genesis of the Pharaohs

The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Ancient Egypt

Lives of the Ancient Egyptians

The Egyptian World (editor)

Copyright 2010 by Toby Wilkinson

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

R ANDOM H OUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, Plc., London, in 2010.

All images reproduced in the insert sections are courtesy of the Werner Forman Archive, with the exception of the pectoral of Princess Mereret, which is reproduced courtesy of Sandro Vannini/Corbis.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Wilkinson, Toby A. H.
The rise and fall of ancient Egypt / Toby Wilkinson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN: 978-0-679-60429-7
1. EgyptHistoryTo 332 B.C. 2. EgyptHistory33230 B.C. I. Title.
DT 83. W 658 2011 932dc22 2009047322

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Maps by John Gilkes

v3.1

F OR B EN AND G INNY

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

P ERCY B YSSHE S HELLEY , Ozymandias

All dates are B.C . The margin of error is within a century or so circa 3000 B.C. and within two decades circa 1300 B.C. ; dates are precise from 664 B.C . The system of dynasties devised in the third century B.C. is not without its problemsfor example, the Seventh Dynasty is now recognized as being wholly spurious, while several dynasties are known to have ruled concurrently in different parts of Egyptbut this system remains the most convenient method for subdividing ancient Egyptian history. The broader periods are more modern scholarly conventions.

EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD, 29502575

OLD KINGDOM, 25752125

FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 21252010

MIDDLE KINGDOM, 20101630

SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 16301539

NEW KINGDOM, 15391069

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 1069664