Ancient Egyptian History Timeline

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Ancient Egyptian History - A Timeline

It's quite difficult to give an accurate timeline of ancient Egyptian history due to the fact that the Egyptians themselves never had a standardized calendar.

The ancient Egyptians dated the years according to the ruling Pharaoh of that time, for example: year 2 of Menuhotep II.

The other thing is that some records are missing. Some kings are not recorded at all.

Some lengths of the rule are not exact. Ancient Egyptians also had a habit of erasing (or sometimes not even recording) the names of kings that were unpopular.

And on top of all that, another thing that makes it hard is the fact that there's just so much, over 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian history! Trying to make sense of all this is quite the task... Manetho had his work cut out for him!

Ma-who now?

Manetho: The Egyptian historian who formed the Dynastic chronological system.

The Ancient Egyptian Dynasties

The dynastic dating system is still used until today, and although Egyptologists have been able to add dates to the periods, they are not exact. The accuracy of the dates is still under research till today.

Manetho basically divided ancient Egyptian history into parts according to events that signify a large shift or change in Egypt.

Keep in mind we are talking here about the history of the Pharaonic period, there is a history in Egypt that is much older than that. However, the Pharaonic period began from when Menes (King Narmer) unified the land around 3150 BC till the Greeks took over in 332 BC.

Manetho divided all the Pharaohs into 31 dynasties - a dynasty could represent the unbroken line of a royal family, once the succession is broken a new dynasty is begun. These dynasties are then grouped into 3 main kingdoms and intermediate periods in between.

The following is a basic timeline starting from the pre-dynastic period when Egypt was still a collection of hunter-gatherer tribes until the late period up to the fall of the Pharaonic civilization.

Pre-dynastic period: Before the unification of Egypt (before 3100 BC)

Early dynastic period: Dynasties 0–2 (approx. 3150–2686 BC)

Old Kingdom: Dynasties 3-6 (approx. 2686–2181 BC)

First intermediate period: Dynasties 7-10 (approx. 2181–2040 BC)

Middle Kingdom: Dynasties 11-12 (approx. 2040–1782 BC)

Second intermediate period: Dynasties 13-17 (approx. 1782–1570 BC)

The New Kingdom: Dynasties 18-20 (approx. 1570–1070 BC)

Third intermediate period: Dynasties 21-26 (approx. 1080–525 BC)

Late period: Dynasties 27-30 (approx. 525–332 BC)

Fall of the Egyptian Empire - The End of an Era

Finally after over 3,000 years of continuation, over-ridden with invasions, Egypt finally succumbed to foreign rule. Assyrians then Persians dominated Egypt until Alexander III delivered the ancient Egyptians from their rule in 332 BC.

Alexander
But although the Egyptians loved him for respecting their religion and customs, his appointment of Greeks as the rulers of Egypt and his usage of Egyptian resources to fund his conquest of the Persian empire finally gave way to the first Ptolemaic dynasty - i.e. the end of the Pharaonic period...

...the end of ancient Egyptian History.

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