Ahmose’s reign marks the start of the 18th Dynasty and the beginning of the New Kingdom.
The kings of this dynasty were warrior pharaohs, dedicated to protecting Egypt’s borders and increasing the wealth of the land by expanding their empire. The Middle Kingdom forts to the south were re-occupied, and new ones were built. Military sorties were carried out regularly to the north, pushing eventually all the way to the Euphrates River.
Much of the spoils of war went into building monuments for the glory of the gods, with Amun of Thebes accorded the lion’s share. Every king of the dynasty built in honor of Amun, who became syncretized with Re of Heliopolis to become Amun-Re, king of the gods.
The majority of these monuments were in the Theban area, especially at Amun-Re’s principal cult center of Karnak. The god was worshipped here with his consort, Mut, and their son, the moon-god Khonsu.
Ahmose was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep I, but then the direct line appears to have come to an end. The next king was an older man, a general in the army named Tuthmosis I. His principal queen was named Ahmose, and likely was a member of the previous royal family. Followed on the throne by his son, Tuthmosis II, and then his grandson, Tuthmosis III, this man founded a line that would rule for almost two centuries, and usher in Egypt’s Golden Age.
Tuthmosis I was a great warrior, and during his eleven year reign marched his army all the way to the Euphrates River in the north and far down into Nubia. It would still be several generations until this empire was secure, but its foundations were solid and Egypt was both powerful and wealthy. After a reign of about a decade, Tuthmosis I died, leaving the throne to Tuthmosis II, his son by a minor wife. Tuthmosis II married his half-sister Hatshepsut, daughter of the prin-
cipal queen Ahmose and a powerful woman in her own right. After a short reign, Tuthmosis II died, and the Double Crown of the Two Lands passed to a young child, Tuthmosis III, son of a minor wife named Isis. Hatshepsut, the new king’s stepmother and aunt, became regent. After several years, this extraordinary woman took the reins of Egypt into her own hands, ruling with the full titulary of a pharaoh. Tuthmosis III remained her co-king, but stayed in the shadows for about twenty years. Hatshepsut’s reign was one primarily of peace, and she was most proud of her trading expeditions and building exploits. After many years on the throne, Hatshepsut disappeared from the historical record and Tuthmosis III became sole pharaoh. Late in his reign, possibly to make room for his own son, Amenhotep II, to become his co-king, Tuthmosis III desecrated the monuments of his stepmother, and tried to erase her name from the annals of history.
When, most likely at the death of his stepmother, Tuthmosis III came into sole possession of the throne, he wasted no time in embarking on a series of ambitious military campaigns. His first battle was an unabashed triumph, as he defeated a coalition of Near Eastern princes at the fortress of Megiddo by a combination of brilliant strategy and great daring. Tuthmosis III and his direct descendants succeeded in securing Egypt’s empire. His son, Amenhotep II, was also remembered as a great warrior, and his grandson, Tuthmosis IV, was both a soldier and a diplomat. By the reign of Amenhotep III, his great-grandson, the land was at peace, with tribute from foreign lands flowing into Egypt’s coffers. Rather than fighting with the other superpowers, Egypt married their queens and princesses, and forged diplomatic ties.
40 Tuthmosis I came to the throne in later life, but succeeded in expanding Egypt’s borders and founding an empire. This grey granite statue celebrates his relationship to Amun. (Turin Museum)
41 Discovered at Karnak, this painted limestone head is thought, on stylistic grounds, to depict Amenhotep I, second king of the 18th Dynasty. It may have formed part of an Osiride figure in the white crown of Upper Egypt. (Luxor Museum)
There
were most likely settlements and palaces associated with all of the major pyramid complexes of the Old Kingdom. Some of these are known only from textual sources, such as an inscription from the tomb of Senedjemib Inty at Giza. On the façade here is a letter from 5th Dynasty king Djedkare-Isesi thanking his royal architect for the plan of a palace to be built within his mortuary complex at South Saqqara. Another 5th Dynasty palace, that of Sahure, is mentioned in texts. This was born out archaeologically when the Czech team excavating at Abusir found traces of column bases near this king’s pyramid.
In addition to the settlement associated with the royal administration and the construction crew associated with each pyramid, priestly towns grew up around each complex where the cult continued for any length of time. Such small, organic villages have been excavated at Dahshur, Abusir, and Saqqara.
At Giza, we have found examples of each of these types of settlements. In the late 1980s and 1990s, during construction of a new sewage system below the modern suburbs that press against the plateau at Giza, we were able to catch tantalizing glimpses of an Old Kingdom settlement, perhaps the “downtown” of Egypt’s capital city at the time. This lies east of the pyramids, and covers more than 6 kilometers. We were able to clear several areas, and found evidence that there was a town here, made up of groups of mud-brick buildings. The artifacts we uncovered included many Old Kingdom potsherds, mostly from domestic vessels such as beer jars, but also some fine tableware and pottery in which goods from Upper Egypt were imported. There were animal bones showing signs of butchering, and the microscopic remains of pollen.
area where the royal court and administration was centered. Unfortunately, the modern houses above make it impossible to excavate here.
Giza is also the site of one of the most spectacular finds of recent years, the most completely excavated example of a settlement for pyramid builders. In 1990, a woman riding a horse in the desert south of the Great Sphinx was thrown when her mount stumbled over a low mud-brick wall. This turned out to be part of a tomb belonging to one of the pyramid builders. Subsequent excavations have revealed that the entire area is a necropolis filled with hundreds of tombs, and my team has been working here for over a decade now. In the low desert east of the cemetery is a large settlement site, which is being excavated by Mark Lehner.
Lehner’s work is uncovering the royal installation serving the crew that built the pyramids. The settlement is bounded on the north by a great wall (the Wall of the Crow), and on the west by a smaller enclosure. Inside, a number of long galleries have been laid out along wide east-west streets. These galleries, arranged in blocks of eight, are each about 15 feet wide (east-west), and 103 feet long (north-south). The galleries were most likely barracks in which temporary workmen sent from the provinces slept, about 55 to each barracks, and might also have served as workshops. A columned hall nearby may have been a cafeteria where the workers ate. Larger houses at the ends of the main streets may have been the homes of officials, administration buildings, or both; in either case, they would have controlled the gates in and out of the installation.
In 1994, I discovered part of a monumental building of mud-brick faced with limestone laid on a basalt foundation about 1250 meters from the Great Pyramid. This was more than 300 feet long, and I believe that it may be the remains of Khufu’s palace. Nearby should be the
Other houses inside the complex are simple affairs, built with rough fieldstone foundations, and may have been workers’ housing. West of the entire gallery complex are some small chambers, also of fieldstone, arranged around an open courtyard, which may have been storerooms.
Dominating the southern part of the site is a monu-
78 This detail of a slaughtering scene from the mastaba of Princess Idut shows three men involved in butchering an ox: one sharpens the knife; another holds the foreleg while the third cuts it.
mental building with buttressed stone walls. This has only been partly excavated, as it runs under a modern soccer field. The visible part is 45 meters wide and 35 meters from north to south; it may be as long as 100 meters. It was used during the reigns of Khafre and Menkaure for administration and storage. One of the most interesting features of the building is a sunken court containing round silos used to store grain.
79 Reconstruction of the pyramid complex of Khufu at Giza showing the locations of various additional structures, such as a harbor and palace complex.
To the east, the site continues under the houses of the nearby village. Lehner has caught glimpses of what look like houses here; these may have served as living units for the artisans and higher-level crew chiefs. It is also likely that this settlement joins with the pyramid town glimpsed during the sewage sondages.
Faunal remains found in the Royal Installation tell us that cattle were being butchered every day here, so that the inhabitants, who needed a great deal of strength to drag the stones for the pyramid, would eat very well. The animals slaughtered here—11 cows and 33 goats a day—would have fed 10,000 people, the most likely estimate for the size of the team employed in building each pyramid. These workers were the elite construction crew for the Giza kings, and they were treated well.
Priestly towns were clustered around the valley temples of both Menkaure and Khentkawes I (a queen regnant from the end of the 4th Dynasty), to house the men and women who served the royal cults. In both of these towns, the houses are small, consisting generally of two small rooms in the front and a large room (which can be a hall or a court), in the back. Larger houses were found in the complex of Khentkawes. These have an elongated central chamber with a portico at the south end and private chambers, one of which has a sleeping niche.
114 Small gilded wood shrine decorated with images of Tutankhamun and his queen, Ankhesenamun. A statuette base with footprints was found inside, but it may never have held a statue. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
115 left Ka-statue of Tutankhamun, one of a pair of statues found guarding the entrance to the king’s burial chamber. Made of wood coated with resin and gilding, its black coloring is symbolic of rebirth. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
115 right These two scenes from the tomb of Rekhmire, dating from the reign of Tutankhamun’s ancestor Tuthmosis III, show artisans working on a statue (above) similar to the ka figure (left), and a shrine (below) identical to the outermost of the shrines surrounding Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus.
150-151 This corselet of glass, semiprecious stones, and gold was probably worn by Tutankhamun for ceremonial occasions. It consists of a broad collar in the front and back, linked to a flexible chest protector decorated in a feather design. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
151 top Gold necklace with pendants in the form of flies, found in the coffin of 17th Dynasty Queen Ahhotep at Thebes. This type of necklace was awarded to soldiers for bravery in battle. (Luxor Museum)
Hermopolis in Middle Egypt was another site with a strong creation tradition. According to the mythology developed by the priesthood here at least as early as the Middle Kingdom, the limitless water and darkness that pervaded the universe before creation contained eight gods (known as the Heh gods): Nun and Naunet, Amun and Amaunet, Huh and Hauhet, Kuk and Kauket. The males of these pairs are generally shown with the heads of frogs, and the females have serpent heads. After working together to create the ordered world, these eight deities retired to the Netherworld. From here,
they continued to make the sun rise each day and thus renew their creation.
Additional versions of this myth include the “Cosmic Egg,” laid either by a heavenly goose or by an ibis, the bird associated with Thoth, god of wisdom and writing. This egg is the source of all creation. In another variation, a lotus rises from the primeval waters and opens, allowing either Re as a child or the scarab beetle to emerge. The scarab beetle becomes a male child, and his tears (like the tears of Atum in the Heliopolitan cosmogony) create humanity.
238 The god Thoth is most often represented with the head of an ibis, as in this image from the tomb of Amenherkhepshef in the Valley of the Queens. As the god of writing, he can be shown holding a reed pen, ready to serve as the divine scribe.
239 The long beak of the ibis can be seen clearly in an amulet from the tomb of Tutankhamun. It has been suggested that this bird was chosen because of this long beak, which imitates the long reed pens used by scribes.
(Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
The goddesses Bastet and Sekhmet were both feline in nature, shown most often with the head of a cat and lioness respectively. Bastet’s main cult center was at Bustabas (Tell Basta) in the Delta. She was also worshipped elsewhere, as catacombs of cat mummies, dating to the later periods of Egyptian history, were found at other sites, including Saqqara. Considered the daughter of the sun god and identified with the “eye of Re,” by the New Kingdom, Bastet had become a gentler incarnation of the lioness goddess, Sekhmet. Also a daughter and a manifestation of the eye of Re, Sekhmet had a dual nature, like that of the lioness: terrifying in her ability to destroy, but also fiercely protective and nuturing. Consort of Re, her principal temple lay at Memphis. Numerous statues representing Sekhmet, a sun-disk surmounted her feline head, were found in Thebes, both in the Mut precinct at Karnak and on the west bank, in the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. Hourig Sourouzian, who is currently excavating the latter site, discovered 41 Sekhmet statues in the 2006 season alone.
258 Detail from the Coronation Pectoral of Tutankhamun, showing the goddess Sekhmet making a protective gesture. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
259 left Small bronze cats, sacred to Bastet, were common in the Late Period. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
259 right This golden figure of the lioness-headed Sekhmet, crowned with sun disk and uraeus, was found at Tanis. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
338 This detail of the back of a pectoral found in the tomb of Princess Mereret, daughter of Senwosret II, shows the king as a sphinx trampling on his enemies. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
339 top left A cache of jewelry, missed by tomb robbers, was found in the tomb of Sithathor, daughter of Senwosret III. Included was this necklace of lotus flowers and a sistrum with the head of the cow goddess Bat. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
339 bottom left This pectoral from the tomb of Mereret shows the birth name of Amenemhat III, Nimaatre, flanked by images of the king smiting foreign enemies. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
339 right Mereret’s treasure contained this girdle, formed of amethyst beads alternating with panther’s heads, which acted as protective symbols. (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
Senwosret III’s second mortuary monument lies in the desert south of the town of Abydos. This is an immense complex, focusing on a stone-lined tomb carved deep into the bedrock just below the cliffs of the high desert. About 170 meters long, this culminates in a burial chamber containing a hidden sarcophagus and canopic chest. The subterranean tomb is protected by dummy chambers, shafts, and blocks, and the entrance to the burial chamber is hidden high in its walls. However, ancient robbers found their way in, and took everything of value.
Within the T-shaped mud brick enclosure that surrounds the tomb are a number of additional structures, including a large raised platform for cultic activities, storerooms, and four mastabas. Two of these were filled with limestone chippings; the other two have complex interiors, and probably date to the 13th Dynasty.
A long dromos leads 750 meters from the tomb enclosure to a mortuary temple at the juncture between
the low desert and the floodplain. Built of mud brick and limestone, this temple is approached through a pylon and surrounded by an enclosure wall. The central part, entered through a columned forecourt, is on a raised platform. It is decorated with scenes similar to those found in other pyramid temples of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, but with the addition of specific references to Osiris and his cult at Abydos. An altar or offering table was placed in the northwest part of the court. Two large seated statues of the king in quartzite stood in the forecourt, with additional, smaller statues of calcite in the cult chapel.
Surrounding the temple were houses for its priests, magazines, rooms where offerings were prepared, and kitchens for brewing and baking. Archaeological evidence here indicates that the royal cult continued for two centuries. The current excavator, American Josef Wegner, believes that Senwosret III was buried here at Abydos, and that his tomb at Dahshur was a cenotaph.