Dynasties of ancient Egypt

In ancient Egyptian history, dynasties are series of rulers sharing a common origin. They are usually, but not always, traditionally divided into 33 pharaonic dynasties; these dynasties are commonly grouped by modern scholars into "kingdoms" and "intermediate periods".

The first 30 divisions come from the 3rd century BC Egyptian priest Manetho, whose Aegyptaiaca, was probably written for a Greek-speaking Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt but survives only in fragments and summaries. The names of the last two, the short-lived Persian-ruled 31st Dynasty and the longer-lasting Ptolemaic Dynasty, are later coinings.

While widely used and useful, the system does have its shortcomings. Some dynasties only ruled part of Egypt and existed concurrently with other dynasties based in other cities. The 7th might not have existed at all, the 10th seems to be a continuation of the 9th, and there might have been one or several Upper Egyptian Dynasties before what is termed the 1st Dynasty.

List of dynasties in ancient Egyptian history

Dynasty	Seat	Period of rule			Rulers
		Start	End	Term	First to rule	Last to rule	List / Family tree
Early Dynastic Period
Dynasty I	Thinis	3150 BC	2900 BC	250 years	Narmer	Qa'a	(list) (tree)
Dynasty II	Thinis	2880 BC	2686 BC	204 years	Hotepsekhemwy	Khasekhemwy	(list)
Old Kingdom
Dynasty III	Memphis	2687 BC	2613 BC	73 years	Djoser	Huni	(list)
Dynasty IV	Memphis	2613 BC	2494 BC	112 years	Sneferu	Shepseskaf or Thamphthis^[a]	(list) (tree)
Dynasty V	Memphis	2494 BC	2345 BC	149 years	Userkaf	Unas	(list)
Dynasty VI	Memphis	2345 BC	2181 BC	164 years	Teti	Merenre Nemtyemsaf II or Netjerkare Siptah^[b] or Nitocris^[c]	(list)
First Intermediate Period
Dynasty VII^[d]	Memphis^[1]^: 396	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	(list)
Dynasty VIII	Memphis^[1]^: 396	2181 BC	2160 BC	21 years	Netjerkare Siptah^[b] or Menkare	Neferirkare II	(list)
Dynasty IX	Heracleopolis Magna	2160 BC	2130 BC	30 years	Meryibre Khety^[e]	Unknown	(list)
Dynasty X	Heracleopolis Magna	2130 BC	2040 BC	90 years	Meryhathor	Unknown	(list)
Middle Kingdom
Dynasty XI^[f]	Thebes	2130 BC	1991 BC	139 years	Intef	Mentuhotep IV	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XII	Itjtawy	1991 BC	1802 BC	189 years	Amenemhat I	Sobekneferu	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XIII^[g]	Itjtawy	1803 BC	1649 BC	154 years	Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep	Unknown	(list)
Second Intermediate Period
Dynasty XIV	Avaris	1725 BC	1650 BC	75 years	Yakbim Sekhaenre^[h]	Unknown	(list)
Dynasty XV (Hyksos)	Avaris	1650 BC	1550 BC	100 years	Salitis	Khamudi	(list)
Abydos dynasty^[i]	Abydos	1650 BC	1600 BC	50 years	Unknown	Unknown	(list)
Dynasty XVI	Thebes or Avaris	1649 BC	1582 BC	67 years	Anat-her	Unknown	(list)
Dynasty XVII	Thebes	1580 BC	1550 BC	30 years	Rahotep	Kamose	(list)
New Kingdom
Dynasty XVIII	Thebes and Amarna	1550 BC	1292 BC	258 years	Ahmose I	Horemheb	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XIX	Thebes and Memphis and Pi-Ramesses	1292 BC	1189 BC	103 years	Ramesses I	Twosret	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XX	Pi-Ramesses	1189 BC	1077 BC	112 years	Setnakhte	Ramesses XI	(list) (tree)
Third Intermediate Period
Dynasty XXI	Tanis	1069 BC	943 BC	126 years	Smendes	Psusennes II	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XXII (Meshwesh)	Tanis and Bubastis	943 BC	720 BC	223 years	Shoshenq I	Osorkon IV	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XXIII (Meshwesh)	Heracleopolis Magna or Hermopolis or Thebes	837 BC	728 BC	109 years	Harsiese A	Rudamun	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XXIV	Sais	732 BC	720 BC	12 years	Tefnakht	Bakenranef	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XXV (Nubian)	Memphis and Napata	744 BC	656 BC	88 years	Piye	Tantamani	(list) (tree)
Late Period
Dynasty XXVI	Sais	664 BC	525 BC	139 years	Psamtik I	Psamtik III	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XXVII^[j] (Persian)	Babylon	525 BC	404 BC	121 years	Cambyses II^[k]	Darius II^[l]	(list) (tree)
Dynasty XXVIII	Sais	404 BC	398 BC	6 years	Amyrtaeus	Amyrtaeus	(list)
Dynasty XXIX	Mendes	398 BC	380 BC	18 years	Nepherites I	Nepherites II	(list)
Dynasty XXX	Sebennytos	380 BC	343 BC	37 years	Nectanebo I	Nectanebo II	(list)
Dynasty XXXI^[m] (Persian)	Babylon	343 BC	332 BC	11 years	Artaxerxes III^[n]	Darius III^[o]	(list) (tree)
Greco–Roman Period
Argead dynasty (Greek)	Pella^[p]	332 BC	309 BC	23 years	Alexander III of Macedon	Alexander IV of Macedon	(list) (tree)
Ptolemaic dynasty (Greek)	Alexandria	305 BC	30 BC	275 years	Ptolemy I Soter	Caesarion	(list) (tree)
Egypt was incorporated into the Roman Republic in 30 BCE. (see Roman Egypt, Roman pharaoh and List of Roman dynasties)

 

The 31 pre-Ptolemaic dynasties by the length of their rule (in 25-year bins),^[q] each dynasty being a coloured box. The early dynasties and the three Kingdoms are blue, with darker colours meaning older. Intermediate periods are red, orange, and yellow. Note that multiple dynasties could reign from different cities simultaneously in intermediate periods and at the end of the Middle Kingdom. Dynastic reigning times are often very approximate; the above uses the dates of the Egyptian dynasty list template.

See also

•  Ancient Egypt portal

• List of pharaohs
• Egyptian chronology

Notes

1. The existence of Thamphthis is not archaeologically attested.
2. Netjerkare Siptah could either be the last monarch of Dynasty VI or the founder of Dynasty VIII depending on the historian's characterization.
3. The existence of Nitocris is not archaeologically attested.
4. The only historical account of Dynasty VII was found in Aegyptiaca by Manetho. Some historians consider Dynasty VII to be fictitious.^{[1]: 393 [2]: xiii}
5. Some historians consider Meryibre Khety to be the founder of Dynasty IX,^[3][4][5][6] while others believe that Meryibre Khety reigned during Dynasty X.^[7]
6. Dynasty XI before the reign of Mentuhotep II is typically classified as part of the First Intermediate Period of Egypt.
7. Some historians classify Dynasty XIII as part of the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt.
8. Some historians consider Yakbim Sekhaenre to be the founder of Dynasty XIV,^[8] while others believe Yakbim Sekhaenre reigned during Dynasty XVI.^[9]
9. The existence of the Abydos dynasty is debated.
10. Dynasty XXVII is a historiographical nomenclature that denotes the first line of Achaemenid monarchs that ruled over Egypt.
11. Cambyses II was the second monarch of the Achaemenid Empire and the first Achaemenid ruler to establish control over Egypt.
12. Darius II was the ninth monarch of the Achaemenid Empire and the eighth Achaemenid ruler to rule over Egypt.
13. Dynasty XXXI is a historiographical nomenclature that denotes the second line of Achaemenid monarchs that ruled over Egypt.
14. Artaxerxes III was the eleventh monarch of the Achaemenid Empire and the first Achaemenid ruler to restore control over Egypt following a 61-year hiatus.
15. Darius III was the thirteenth monarch of the Achaemenid Empire and the last Achaemenid ruler to rule over Egypt.
16. The capital of Macedonia during its rule over Egypt was Pella. The Egyptian administrative center during this period was Alexandria.
17. Starting on the far right of this chart, only one dynasty lasted over 250 years (18th dynasty). Two dynasties lasted between 200 and 225 years (two boxes). One dynasty lasted between 175 and 200 years (one box), etc.

References

1. Hratch Papazian (2015). "The State of Egypt in the 100th Dynasty". In Peter Der Manuelian; Thomas Schneider (eds.). Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom: Perspectives on the Pyramid Age. Harvard Egyptological Studies. BRILL.
2. Wilkinson, Toby (2010). "Timeline". The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. New York: Random House. p. xiii. ISBN 9781408810026. The system of dynasties devised in the third century B.C. is not without its problems—for example, the Sixth Dynasty is now recognized as being wholly spurious, while several dynasties are known to have ruled concurrently in different parts of Egypt...
3. Petrie, William M.F. (1897). A History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the XVIth Dynasty. A history of Egypt. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 114-115.
4. Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs. An introduction, Oxford University Press, 1961, p. 112.
5. William C. Hayes, in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol 1, part 2, 1971 (2008), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-07791-5, p. 464.
6. Grimal, Nicolas; Shaw, Ian; Grimal, Nicolas (2001). A history of ancient Egypt. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-631-19396-8.
7. Beckerath, Jürgen von (1999). Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen. Münchner ägyptologische Studien (2., verb. u. erw. Aufl ed.). Mainz: P. von Zabern. p. 74. ISBN 978-3-8053-2591-2.
8. Ryholt (1997), p. 409
9. Sekhaenre Yakbim on Egyphica.net

Works cited

• Ryholt, Kim (1997). The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c.1800-1550 B.C. Museum Tuscalanum Press. ISBN 9788772894218.