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Ancient Egypt Timeline: Kingdoms, Intermediate Periods and Dynasties

An ancient Egypt timeline from unification to Cleopatra: the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, the intermediate periods, the 30-odd dynasties, and why dates differ.

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Key takeaways

  • Egyptologists group Egypt's dynasties into kingdoms and intermediate periods, from the Early Dynastic Period to the Late Period, followed by Ptolemaic rule (305–30 BC).
  • The dynastic numbering goes back to Manetho, a priest writing in Greek in the early third century BCE, whose original text is lost.
  • Wikipedia notes that leading chronologies can differ by about 300 years for the Early Dynastic Period but only up to 30 years for the New Kingdom.
  • Shaw (2000) dates the 18th Dynasty from 1550 BC; Hornung (2006) from 1539 BC; an EBSCO Research Starter starts the New Kingdom about 1570 BCE.
  • Some dynasties ruled at the same time in different regions, one of the revisions that, Wikipedia says, lowered the conventional dates by up to 400 years at the start of the 1st Dynasty.
  • Pharaonic rule ended with Macedonian conquest in 332 BC; the Ptolemaic dynasty ended with the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC.

Ancient Egypt's history is conventionally divided into three "kingdoms" separated by "intermediate periods", with an early phase before them and a late phase after, all built from about thirty numbered dynasties of rulers. The order is settled. The dates are not: Wikipedia's article on Egyptian chronology notes that respected chronologies differ by about 300 years for the Early Dynastic Period, up to 30 years for the New Kingdom and only a few years in the Late Period. This timeline gives the sequence, shows how much the numbers move, and explains why.

The sequence, period by period

The table below follows the grouping in Wikipedia's Egyptian chronology table, with Ian Shaw's dates (2000), one of the scholarly schemes it compares.

Period Dynasties Shaw (2000), BC
Early Dynastic 1st–2nd 3000–2686
Old Kingdom 3rd–6th 2686–2181
First Intermediate 7th(?)–10th 2181–2125
Middle Kingdom 11th–12th 2125–1773
Second Intermediate 13th–17th 1773–1550
New Kingdom 18th–20th 1550–1069
Third Intermediate 21st–25th 1069–664
Late Period 26th onward from 664

Groupings vary even within Wikipedia. Its History of ancient Egypt article puts the 11th Dynasty in the First Intermediate Period and the 13th in the Middle Kingdom, and its Middle Kingdom article says that period ended in 1782 "or 1700 BC (depending on the definition)". The Late Period, it says, ran from 664 BC to 332 BC and included Achaemenid Persian rule after Cambyses II conquered Egypt in 525 BC. Ptolemaic Egypt followed, from 305 to 30 BC.

The labels themselves are modern. Wikipedia's Middle and New Kingdom articles credit the idea of three "golden ages" to the German scholar Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen in 1845, and the term "First Intermediate Period" was coined in 1926 by Georg Steindorff and Henri Frankfort. The Egyptologist Ludwig David Morenz, arguing it was not a dark age, proposed calling it the "Period of Regions" instead.

Manetho and the numbered dynasties

The dynasties come from Manetho, an Egyptian priest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom active around 290–260 BCE, who wrote a history of Egypt in Greek, the Aegyptiaca. Wikipedia notes that none of his original text survives; it is known only from fragments transmitted by later authors, including Eusebius and Sextus Julius Africanus, and the reign length given for the same pharaoh "often varies substantially" depending on which intermediary you read.

Native king lists help but have their own gaps. Wikipedia describes the Turin King List as comprehensive but damaged, and the Abydos King List and Palermo Stone as complete as texts but missing rulers. The general method of counting by reigns is covered in regnal years and dynastic dating.

Three chronologies side by side

Wikipedia's chronology table compares James Breasted (1906), Ian Shaw (2000) and Erik Hornung (2006). A few rows show the drift:

Dynasty Breasted (1906) Shaw (2000) Hornung (2006)
1st 3400–2980 (with 2nd) 3000–2890 2900–2730 (± 25)
3rd (start of Old Kingdom) 2980–2900 2686–2613 2592–2544 (± 25)
18th (start of New Kingdom) 1580–1350 1550–1295 1539–1292
26th 663–525 664–525 664–525

The gap narrows as you move forward in time: by the 26th Dynasty the three schemes differ by a single year at most. An EBSCO Research Starter adds another variant: it dates the Old Kingdom to roughly 2687–2125 BCE and counts it as the Third to Eighth Dynasties, while its New Kingdom entry starts that period about 1570 BCE. Wikipedia's New Kingdom article says radiocarbon dating places the start between 1570 and 1544 BC.

A worked example shows what that means for a single figure. Old Kingdom length in Shaw's scheme: 2686 − 2181 = 505 years. In Hornung's, from the 3rd Dynasty's start to the 6th Dynasty's end: 2592 − 2118 = 474 years. The New Kingdom comes out at 1550 − 1069 = 481 years for Shaw and 1539 − 1077 = 462 for Hornung. Same pharaohs, same order, a difference of a generation. When you meet two figures like this, what to do when two sources disagree on a date sets out how to handle it.

Why the early dates moved down

Wikipedia gives three reasons the numbers have changed over a century.

Overlapping dynasties. Following Manetho, Breasted assumed all the dynasties were sequential. It is now known that several ruled at the same time in different regions. Revisions like this lowered the conventional dates by up to 400 years at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty (a statement Wikipedia currently marks as needing a citation).

Inferring reign lengths. Where a king's total years are unknown, Egyptologists use proxies. For the Old Kingdom, inscriptions mention a periodic cattle census. Early scholars assumed it was held every second year, so 24 recorded censuses gave Sneferu a reign of 24 × 2 = 48 years. Later research showed the censuses were sometimes held in consecutive years and sometimes at longer intervals, so the multiplier itself is uncertain.

Changing anchors. The Sothic cycle, an astronomical calculation once used to fix dates, has lost favour: Wikipedia says experts have moved away from relying on it. Radiocarbon and tree-ring work now provide independent checks, such as a coffin dated 2073 ± 9 BC.

The end of pharaonic Egypt

Wikipedia dates the pharaonic period from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt in the 32nd century BC to Macedonian conquest in 332 BC, when Alexander the Great took Egypt from the Persians. The Ptolemaic Kingdom, founded in 305 BC by his general Ptolemy I Soter, lasted until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC; Wikipedia calls the Ptolemies the longest and final dynasty of ancient Egypt. Her story is in Cleopatra beyond the legend, and the 25th Dynasty of rulers from Kush, who governed Egypt late in the Third Intermediate Period, is covered in Kush and the Nubian pharaohs.

Browsing Egypt's periods in the app

World History Timeline Sim, our own app, organises major events chronologically and lets you browse them by year, era, region, country or category; its timeline ordering games suit a sequence like this one. Treat any single date it shows for early Egypt as one scheme among several. Time Travel Mode's consequences are simulations, not what happened. The app is free on Google Play, supported by ads, with optional in-app purchases; the listing presents it as a companion to coursework rather than a replacement, so the Egyptological chronologies above remain the reference for any contested date. Related titles are in education and brain training.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

What are the main periods of the ancient Egypt timeline?
In conventional order: the Early Dynastic Period (1st–2nd Dynasties), the Old Kingdom (3rd–6th), the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom (12th–13th, with the late 11th), the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom (18th–20th), the Third Intermediate Period (21st–25th), the Late Period (26th–31st) and then Ptolemaic Egypt, 305–30 BC.
Why do books give different dates for ancient Egypt?
Because the chronology is rebuilt from incomplete king lists, regnal years on inscriptions and a few astronomical and radiocarbon anchors. Wikipedia notes that reign lengths often vary between versions of Manetho, that some dynasties overlapped, and that coregencies are hard to detect. As a result scholarly chronologies differ by about 300 years at the start but by decades or less later on.
What is an intermediate period in Egyptian history?
A modern label for an era when Egypt was divided between rival rulers rather than unified under one king. The term First Intermediate Period was coined in 1926 by Georg Steindorff and Henri Frankfort, and the Third Intermediate Period label was popular by 1978. Some scholars object to the implication of decline; Ludwig David Morenz proposed calling the first one the Period of Regions.
When did ancient Egypt end?
It depends on what you count. Wikipedia dates the pharaonic period from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt in the 32nd century BC to Macedonian conquest in 332 BC. The Ptolemies, a Macedonian Greek dynasty, then ruled until Cleopatra VII died in 30 BC, when Rome conquered Egypt, which Wikipedia uses as the end of ancient Egypt.

Sources

  1. Egyptian chronology (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  2. History of ancient Egypt (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  3. Manetho (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  4. Old Kingdom Period in Egypt (Research Starter) (opens in a new tab)EBSCO — accessed
  5. New Kingdom Period Begins in Egypt (Research Starter) (opens in a new tab)EBSCO — accessed
  6. Middle Kingdom of Egypt (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  7. New Kingdom of Egypt (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  8. First Intermediate Period of Egypt (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  9. Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  10. Late Period of ancient Egypt (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
  11. Ptolemaic Kingdom (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed

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