The New Kingdom (c. 1570- c.1069 BCE) is the era in Egyptian history following the disunity of the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1782-1570 BCE) and preceding the dissolution of the central government at the start of the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069-c. 525 BCE). This is the time of Imperial Egypt when it extended its reach beyond the former borders to create an empire. It is the most popular era in Egyptian history in the present day with the best known pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty such as Hatshepsut, Thuthmoses III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, those of the 19th Dynasty like Seti I, Ramesses II (The Great), and Merenptah, and of the 20th Dynasty such as Ramesses III. It is during the new kingdom that these Egyptian rulers are known as “pharaohs”, meaning “Great House”, the Greek word for the Egyptian Per-a-a, the designation of the royal residence. Prior to the New Kingdom Egyptian monarchs were known simply as “kings” and addressed as “your majesty”. The fact that the word “pharaoh” is so commonly used to reference any Egyptian ruler from any era attests to the impact the New Kingdom has had on the modern-day understanding of Egyptian history.
