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• Kush regained power after reign of Ramses the Great
• Free of Egyptians control by 1100 BC -
• Ramses’ successors faced challenges to authority
• Major invasions of Egypt
- Sea Peoples devastated empires
- Ended Hittite Empire, weakened Egypt’s control of Syria
Egypt broke into small states
- Many foreign rulers over next 700 years
- Libyans, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks
- Finally fell to Rome -
• New Kingdom Egyptians conquered Kush 1500 BC
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Hyksos ruled almost 100 years
• Not harsh, but resented
• Defeated by nobles from Thebes who became new rulers of Egypt -
- Discovered near Nile Delta village of Rosetta in 1799
- Long passages of writing on the broken stone • Same text in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek
- Using Greek as guide, hieroglyphs and demotic meanings revealed
- Unlocked the mystery of Egyptian writing
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-Strong leadership brought stability
-Trade with surrounding lands encouraged
• Trade routed not always safe
-Fortresses built along Nile
-The Hyksos invaded, conquered around 1650BC -
Warfare, economic strife for almost 200 years
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Many of the institutions of which the Egyptian civilization is known were created during the period which began around 2650BC
The Pyramids
The Pharaohs
Egyptian Bureaucracy -
• Two kingdoms unified around 3100BC
• Upper Egypt ruler Menes Conquered north
-Founded capital city of Memphis
-Adopted both symbols, the snake and the vulture
• First of 31 dynasties -
Two Kingdoms:
• Northern Kingdom, Lower Egypt
-Mild climate; cobra goddess worshipped
• Southern Kingdom, Upper Egypt
-Warmer climate; prayed to a culture goddess
