The Three periods of Egyptian History

The long history of ancient Egypt is divided into three parts:

Period One: The Old Kingdom

“The Old Kingdom” between 2686-2181 BCE, covers the period from the Third to the Sixth Dynasties. The Old Kingdom of Egypt reached its height under the Fourth Dynasty (2613-2494 BCE) when the Great Pyramids at the Giza and Sphinx were also erected. During the Fifth Dynasty (2949-2345 BCE) trade links brought great wealth to Egypt. Egyptians ships brought goods such as ebony (a kind of black wood), ivory, incense, and metals such as gold and copper, and travelled as far as Lebanon and to the kingdom of Punt (possibly modern Somalia). The Sixth Dynasty (2345-2182 BCE) saw the Old Kingdom collapse into civil wars, famine, and drought.

Period Two: The Middle Kingdom

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is the period from 2055-2165 BCE and includes the reigns of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties. Thebes was the most powerful of the Egyptian states. In his 39th year, Mentuhotep II, the King of Thebes, succeeded in reuniting the whole of Egypt under his rule, establishing the Eleventh Dynasty. 

Mentuhotep II also led expeditions aiming to re-establish Egyptian control over Nubia. King Sunruset III of the Twelfth Dynasty, also led campaigns into Nubia, and encouraged the mining of natural resources in the Sinai Desert. At the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, Egypt once again declined and fell into disunity.

Period Three: The New Kingdom of Egypt

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The New Kingdom of Egypt covers the period between roughly 1572-1540 to 1069 BCE and the reigns of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties. Under the Eighteenth Dynasty (during which Tutankhamen reigned briefly for 10 years as a child king), the Egyptian army became more powerful and Egyptian rule extend into Asia.

The Nineteenth Dynasty reinforced Egypt’s status as a great military power, and the Twentieth Dynasty succeeded in successfully driving out hostile invaders. However, so many wars drained the Egyptian treasury of money. After the end of the New Kingdom period, Egypt was eventually conquered, first by the Persians, then by the Greeks, and lastly by the Romans. It was not to be independent again until the twentieth century CE.