own. The SEA PEOPLES, the SHERDEN PIRATES, and others
were challenging the might and will of these great
empires. Men like WENAMUN, traveling in the last stages
ofEgyptian decline, faced hostility and contempt in the
very regions once firmly within the Egyptian camp.
With the decline and fall of the Ramessid line in
1070 B.C.E., the imperial designs of Egypt faded. The
internal rivalries between Thebes and the Delta rulers
factionalized the military and political power of the
nation. City-states arose, and the nomarchs once again
fortified their holdings. TANIS,SAIS,BUBASTIS, and THEBES
became centers of power, but little effort was made to
hold on to the imperial territories, and Egypt settled for
trade pacts and cordial relations with surrounding lands.
When the Libyans came to power in 945 B.C.E., how-
ever, SHOSHENQ Imade successful campaigns in Palestine
and amassed vassal states. Others in that dynasty were
unable to sustain the momentum, however, and Egypt
did not affect the Near East but stood vulnerable and par-
titioned by local clans. The Twenty-third Dynasty (c.
828–712 B.C.E.) and the nation witnessed the disintegra-
tion. The Twenty-fourth Dynasty (724–712 B.C.E.), a con-
temporary line of rulers, joined with their counterparts in
facing the Nubian army, led into the various cities of
Egypt by PIANKHI(r. 750–712 B.C.E.).
Egypt was entering the historical era called the Late
Period (712–332 B.C.E.), a time of conquest by newly
emerging groups in the region. The ASSYRIANS, expanding
and taking older imperial territories, arrived in Egypt in
the reign of TAHARQA(690–664 B.C.E.), led by ESSARHAD-
DON. The Assyrian conquest of Egypt was short, but
other rising powers recognized that the Nile Valley was
now vulnerable.
The presence of large numbers of Greeks in Egypt
added to the relationship of the Nile Valley and the Near
East. The Greeks had NAKROTIS, acity in the Delta, and
were firmly entrenched in Egypt by the Twenty-sixth
Dynasty (664–525 B.C.E.). NECHO I, PSAMMETICHUS I,
APRIES, and AMASIS, all rulers of this line, used other city-
states and mercenaries to aid their own causes. They
joined confederacies and alliances to keep the Assyrians,
Persians, and other military powers at bay.
In 525 B.C.E., however, CAMBYSES, the Persian king,
marched into Egypt and began a period of occupation
that would last until 404 B.C.E. The Persians faced only
sporadic resistance during this period. In 404 B.C.E.,
AMYRTAIOSruled as the lone member of the Twenty-eighth
Dynasty (404–393 B.C.E.), and the Twenty-ninth Dynasty
(393–380 B.C.E.) arose as another native Egyptian royal
line.
The Persians returned in 343 B.C.E. and ruled in
Egypt until DARIUS III CODOMAN (335–332 B.C.E.) was
defeated by ALEXANDER III THE GREAT. Egypt then became
part of Alexander’s empire, and PTOLEMY I SOTER (r.
304–284 B.C.E.) claimed the land and started the Ptole-
maic Period that lasted until the suicide of CLEOPATRA VII.
Throughout the period, the Ptolemaic rulers aligned
themselves with many Greek city-states and conducted
wars over Hellenic affairs. In 30 B.C.E., Egypt became a
holding of the Roman Empire.Egyptian Empire During the Eighteenth and Nine-
teenth Dynasties (1550–1307 B.C.E., 1307–1196 B.C.E.),
when the empire was at its zenith, Egypt ruled over an
estimated 400,000 square miles of the Middle East, from
Khartoum in modern Sudan to CARCHEMISH on the
Euphrates River and westward to the SIWA OASIS. By the
Twentieth Dynasty (1196–1070 B.C.E.), however, the
empire was failing as new and vigorous nations chal-
lenged Egypt’s domain.
The rulers of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1307
B.C.E.), inspired by TUTHMOSIS I(r. 1504–1492 B.C.E.),
began the conquest and modernized the military machine
of Egypt. KAMOSE(r. 1555–1550 B.C.E.) had continued his
father’s war on the HYKSOSinvaders of the Delta with a
standing army. In the earlier times, the various nomes of
the nation had answered the call of their pharaohs and
had gathered small armies to join in military campaigns.
Such armies, however, marched behind nomarchs and
clan totems and disbanded when the crises were over.
Kamose and his successor, ’AHMOSE(r. 1550–1525 B.C.E.),
had professional soldiers, a corps of trained officers, and
an army composed of regular troops. Instantly, Egypt
became a first-class military power with innovative
weapons and various units that terrorized neighboring
states. From the start, Egypt’s foreign policy was based on
a firm control of Palestine, NUBIA, and Syria.
Pharaoh normally led campaigns in the field, with
the Tuthmossids and the Ramessids rising to the occasion
and accepting each challenge. If a pharaoh did commit
himself to participation in battle, he could rely on trusted
generals, veterans of previous campaigns. The fielded
army was organized into divisions, each consisting of
charioteers and infantry and numbering around 5,000
men or more.
The chaotic conditions of the Middle East at this
time aided the single-minded Egyptians in their quest for
power. The city of Babylon was in the hands of the Kas-
sites, the warrior clans from the eastern highlands. To the
north, the MITANNIEmpire stretched across Iraq and Syria
as far as the Euphrates (c. 1500–1370 B.C.E.). The Mitan-
nis were Indo-European invaders who came in the wave
of the migrating peoples from the Caucasus. The Mitan-
nis were enemies of Egypt and Egypt’s allies until accom-
modations were reached.
The HITTITES, Indo-Europeans who crossed the Tau-
rus Mountains to found the city of Hatti, were beginning
their migratory conquests. In time they would destroy the
Mitanni and then become an uneasy neighbor of Egypt.
The Eighteenth Dynasty cleared the Nile Valley of the
Hyksos and started the era of the greatest imperial126 Egyptian Empire