[1650 BCE – 1070 BCE] Empire of the Sun

Our story begins in a fractured Egypt, around 1650 BCE. The northern lands, the fertile delta, are ruled by foreign kings—the Hyksos. The south, the traditional heartland of Thebes, chafes under this indignity. For a century, the proud descendants of the pharaohs have been vassals. But a new dynasty, the 17th, feels the stirrings of rebellion. It is a bloody affair, costing one Theban king his life in battle. But his son, Ahmose I, will not be denied. Leading an army armed with superior technology learned from their oppressors—the horse-drawn chariot and the powerful composite bow—Ahmose drives the Hyksos from Egyptian soil, chasing them back into Asia. He reunites the Two Lands, North and South, under his single crown and in doing so, he doesn't just restore the past; he forges a new future. This is the birth of the New Kingdom, an era not of isolation, but of empire. The 18th Dynasty, founded by Ahmose, unleashes Egypt's ambition. The pharaoh is no longer just a divine shepherd of his people; he is a warrior god, a conqueror. Armies march south into Nubia, securing its vast gold mines which would fund the empire's golden age. They march northeast into the Levant, creating a buffer zone and demanding tribute from Canaanite and Syrian princelings. Wealth pours into Egypt like never before: gold from Nubia, cedarwood from Lebanon, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, exotic animals from central Africa. The capital city of Thebes becomes the most magnificent city on earth, its heart the sprawling temple complex of Karnak, dedicated to the now supreme state god, Amun-Ra, King of the Gods. Then, a generation after these initial conquests, a woman of breathtaking audacity takes the throne. Her name is Hatshepsut. Daughter of one pharaoh and wife to another, she is meant to be regent for her young stepson, Thutmose III. But Hatshepsut is not content to rule from the shadows. In an unprecedented move, she declares herself pharaoh, adopting the full five-fold titulary, the royal kilt, and even the ceremonial false beard. Her reign is not one of war, but of peace, prosperity, and propaganda. She builds magnificently, her masterpiece being the stunning mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, a terraced sanctuary carved into a cliff face. She commissions a daring trade expedition to the fabled Land of Punt, a journey of over 1,000 miles, bringing back incense, myrrh, and living trees to be planted in the courts of her temples. For over two decades, Egypt flourishes under her guidance. Upon her death, her stepson, Thutmose III, finally ascends to the throne he was denied. Any fear that he was a lesser man was quickly dispelled. He becomes Egypt's greatest military leader, a tactical genius who leads at least 17 campaigns into Asia. He erases his stepmother's name from many monuments, a political act to legitimize his own dynastic line, not necessarily an act of personal hatred. Thutmose solidifies the empire, transforming Egypt into a true superpower whose influence stretches from the Euphrates River in Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia. The royal court at Thebes dazzles with its wealth, and the pharaohs of this era are laid to rest not in pyramids, but in secret, lavishly decorated tombs cut deep into the rock of a desolate valley—the Valley of the Kings. By the reign of Amenhotep III, around 1390 BCE, the empire is at its zenith. It is an age of unparalleled luxury and diplomatic might. Foreign kings write to Amenhotep as equals in title, but as beggars in practice, pleading for a shipment of Egyptian gold, which they claimed was "as common as dust" in his lands. He is a prolific builder, commissioning hundreds of statues and constructing the Colossi of Memnon, two 60-foot statues of himself that guarded the entrance to his now-vanished mortuary temple. Life for the elite is one of comfort. They wear fine, pleated linen, adorn themselves with intricate jewelry, and live in spacious villas with painted walls. For the common farmer, life remains tied to the eternal rhythm of the Nile's flood, their labor fueling the empire with grain, which is baked into bread and brewed into the staple drink, beer. This golden age of stability is shattered by Amenhotep's own son, Amenhotep IV. He is not a warrior or a builder in the traditional sense; he is a revolutionary, a mystic. He begins a religious transformation that rocks Egypt to its core. He rejects the pantheon of gods, especially the powerful and wealthy priesthood of Amun-Ra. He declares that there is only one true god: the Aten, the physical disk of the sun. He changes his name to Akhenaten, meaning "Effective for the Aten," and moves the entire capital from Thebes to a brand new, hastily built city in the desert called Akhetaten (modern Amarna). With his beautiful queen, Nefertiti, he presides over a strange new world of art and religion. The formal, rigid art of the past is replaced by a naturalistic, almost intimate style, showing the royal family in candid moments. But his revolution is a disaster for the empire. With the pharaoh focused on his new religion, the carefully managed territories in Asia begin to break away. For seventeen years, this storm of bronze and faith rages, but it does not outlive its creator. Akhenaten's death brings chaos, but eventually, his young son, Tutankhaten, takes the throne. Guided by the old guard of priests and generals, he abandons the city of the sun disk, moves the court back to Thebes, and changes his name to Tutankhamun, "Living Image of Amun." The old gods are restored, the temples reopened, and a fragile order returns. He would be a minor footnote in history were it not for a single, miraculous fact: the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922, a small treasure box that gives us our only complete glimpse into the staggering wealth buried with a New Kingdom pharaoh. His death at around age 19 marks the end of the great Thutmosid line of the 18th Dynasty. A new military dynasty, the 19th, rises to restore Egypt's glory. Its titan is Ramesses II, known to history as Ramesses the Great. He reigns for an astonishing 67 years and seeks to surpass all who came before him. He is a master propagandist and an obsessive builder, his name carved onto more monuments than any other pharaoh, including the magnificent rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel. His defining military moment comes at the Battle of Kadesh around 1274 BCE, where he faces the mighty Hittite Empire. Ambushed and surrounded, Ramesses claims to have single-handedly fought his way out with the help of Amun, a scene he plasters on temple walls across Egypt. While in reality the battle was more of a strategic draw, it cemented his image as the ultimate warrior king and eventually led to the world's first known peace treaty. But even the might of Ramesses cannot stop the slow erosion of power. His long reign is followed by a succession of weaker kings. The world is changing. A mysterious confederation of raiders known as the Sea Peoples terrorizes the Mediterranean, toppling the Hittite Empire and testing Egypt's defenses. Though Ramesses III successfully repels them, the wars are costly. At home, the power of the priesthood of Amun has grown so immense that they control nearly a third of Egypt's arable land, creating a state-within-a-state. By 1070 BCE, the last Ramesside pharaoh rules only in name. The High Priest of Amun controls the south, and a northern dynast controls the delta. The New Kingdom, the glorious empire of the sun, fades not in a single cataclysm, but in the long, slow twilight of economic strain, internal division, and the loss of an empire that had once seemed eternal.