Egyptian Pharaohs Timeline

Ahmose I completed the liberation of Egypt by capturing Avaris and driving the Hyksos out of the Delta. He founded the Eighteenth Dynasty and launched the New Kingdom, an era of empire, wealth, and monumental achievement.

Image source: Ahmose I

Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh for over two decades, initially as regent for Thutmose III before declaring herself king. She sponsored the famed expedition to Punt and built her magnificent terraced mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari.

Image source: Hatshepsut

Thutmose III crushed a Canaanite coalition at Megiddo through a daring march through narrow mountain passes. He went on to lead seventeen campaigns, forging an empire stretching from the Euphrates to Nubia and earning the title 'Napoleon of Egypt.'

Image source: Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC)

Amenhotep III presided over unprecedented prosperity, commissioning the Colossi of Memnon and lavish palaces at Malkata. Diplomatic correspondence with Babylon, Mitanni, and other powers shows Egypt at the apex of its international influence.

Image source: Amenhotep III

Akhenaten abandoned the traditional gods in favor of exclusive worship of the sun disk Aten, moving the capital to the newly built city of Akhetaten (Amarna). His radical religious revolution was largely reversed after his death.

Image source: Akhenaten

The boy king Tutankhamun reversed Akhenaten's reforms, restoring Amun and the old priesthood and returning the capital to Thebes. Though minor in life, the discovery of his intact tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 made him the most famous pharaoh today.

Image source: Tutankhamun

Ramesses II clashed with the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at Kadesh in one of the largest chariot battles in history. Though tactically inconclusive, Ramesses proclaimed a great victory and later signed the first known peace treaty with the Hittites.

Image source: Battle of Kadesh

Ramesses II, the Great, erected the colossal rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum, and a new capital at Pi-Ramesses. His 66-year reign made him arguably the most celebrated builder among all Egyptian pharaohs.

Image source: Abu Simbel

Merneptah repulsed a coalition of Libyans and Sea Peoples invading the Delta. His Victory Stele contains the earliest known mention of Israel outside the Bible, making it a key document for biblical archaeology.

Image source: Merneptah

Ramesses III turned back a massive invasion by the Sea Peoples, preserving Egypt during the Late Bronze Age collapse. Often called the last great pharaoh, he was later assassinated in a palace conspiracy known as the Harem Conspiracy.

Image source: Ramesses III

Shoshenq I, a Libyan chieftain's descendant, seized the throne and founded the Libyan Twenty-second Dynasty. He campaigned into Judah and Israel, and many scholars identify him with the biblical Shishak who plundered Jerusalem.

Image source: Shoshenq I

Piye, king of Kush (Nubia), marched north and conquered Egypt, establishing the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of black pharaohs. His victory stele vividly describes the campaign, and Kushite rulers revived Old Kingdom artistic traditions.

Image source: Piye

Taharqa, the greatest Kushite pharaoh, fought successive Assyrian invasions under Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal. Despite initial successes, the Assyrians eventually sacked Memphis and Thebes, ending Kushite rule over Egypt.

Image source: Taharqa

Psamtik I gradually drove out Assyrian garrisons and reunified Egypt under the Twenty-sixth Dynasty from Sais. His long reign inaugurated a cultural renaissance and renewed trade with Greece and the Levant.

Image source: Psamtik I

Necho II launched ambitious projects including a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea, a precursor to the Suez Canal, and reportedly sent Phoenician sailors on a circumnavigation of Africa. He also defeated Josiah of Judah at Megiddo.

Image source: Necho II

Cambyses II of Persia defeated Pharaoh Psamtik III at the Battle of Pelusium and annexed Egypt as a satrapy, beginning the First Persian Period. Persian pharaohs of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty ruled Egypt intermittently for two centuries.

Image source: Cambyses II

Amyrtaeus of Sais expelled the Persian occupiers and founded the Twenty-eighth Dynasty, restoring native rule. The following dynasties maintained independence until Artaxerxes III reconquered Egypt in 343 BC.

Image source: Amyrtaeus

Alexander the Great entered Egypt in triumph, was welcomed as a liberator, and was crowned pharaoh at Memphis. He founded Alexandria, which became the greatest Hellenistic city, and visited the oracle of Amun at Siwa, where he was declared son of the god.

Image source: Alexander the Great

After Alexander's death, his general Ptolemy declared himself King of Egypt, founding the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Greek-speaking pharaohs. He established the Library and Museum of Alexandria, making the city the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean world.

Image source: Ptolemy I Soter

Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, allied herself with Julius Caesar and later Mark Antony in a bid to preserve Egypt's independence. Her defeat alongside Antony at Actium sealed the fate of both her kingdom and pharaonic rule itself.

Image source: Cleopatra

Following Cleopatra VII's suicide, Octavian annexed Egypt as a Roman province, bringing three thousand years of pharaonic rule to an end. Egypt thereafter became the personal domain of the Roman emperor and a vital source of grain for Rome.

Image source: Roman Egypt