Editing Ancient Egypt (section)

===New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC)===
{{Main|New Kingdom of Egypt}}

[[File:CairoEgMuseumTaaMaskMostlyPhotographed.jpg|thumb|Pharaohs' tombs were provided with vast quantities of wealth, such as the [[Tutankhamun's mask|golden mask from the mummy of Tutankhamun]].]]

The New Kingdom [[pharaoh]]s established a period of unprecedented prosperity by securing their borders and strengthening diplomatic ties with their neighbours, including the [[Mitanni]] Empire, [[Assyria]], and [[Canaan]]. Military campaigns waged under [[Thutmose I|Tuthmosis I]] and his grandson [[Thutmose III|Tuthmosis III]] extended the influence of the pharaohs to the largest empire Egypt had ever seen.

Between their reigns, [[Hatshepsut]], a queen who established herself as pharaoh, launched many building projects, including the restoration of temples damaged by the Hyksos, and sent trading expeditions to [[Land of Punt|Punt]] and the Sinai.{{sfnp|Clayton|1994|pp=104–107}} When Tuthmosis III died in 1425{{nbsp}}BC, Egypt had an empire extending from [[Niya (kingdom)|Niya]] in north west [[Syria]] to the [[Cataracts of the Nile|Fourth Cataract]] of the Nile in [[Nubia]], cementing loyalties and opening access to critical imports such as [[bronze]] and [[wood]].{{sfnp|James|2005|p=48}}

The New Kingdom pharaohs began a large-scale building campaign to promote the god [[Amun]], whose growing cult was based in [[Karnak]]. They also constructed monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined. The Karnak temple is the largest Egyptian temple ever built.{{sfnp|Bleiberg|2005|p=49–50}}

Around 1350{{nbsp}}BC, the stability of the New Kingdom was threatened when Amenhotep IV ascended the throne and instituted a series of radical and chaotic reforms. Changing his name to [[Akhenaten]], he touted the previously obscure [[Solar deity|sun deity]] [[Aten]] as the [[God|supreme deity]], suppressed the worship of most other deities, and moved the capital to the new city of Akhetaten (modern-day [[Amarna]]).{{sfnp|Aldred|1988|p=259}} He was devoted to his new [[Atenism|religion]] and [[Amarna art|artistic style]]. After his death, the cult of the Aten was quickly abandoned and the traditional religious order restored. The subsequent pharaohs, [[Tutankhamun]], [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]], and [[Horemheb]], worked to erase all mention of Akhenaten's heresy, now known as the [[Amarna Period]].{{sfnp|O'Connor|Cline|2001|p=273}}

[[File:SFEC EGYPT ABUSIMBEL 2006-003.JPG|thumb|Two (north side) of the four colossal statues of [[Ramesses II]] flank the entrance of his temple [[Abu Simbel]].]]
Around 1279{{nbsp}}BC, [[Ramesses II]], also known as Ramesses the Great, ascended the throne, and went on to build more temples, erect more statues and obelisks, and sire more children than any other pharaoh in history.{{efn|With his two principal wives and large harem, Ramesses II sired more than 100 children. ({{harvp|Clayton|1994|p=146}})}} A bold military leader, Ramesses II led his army against the Hittites in the [[Battle of Kadesh]] (in modern [[Syria]]) and, after fighting to a stalemate, finally agreed to the first recorded [[Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty|peace treaty]], around 1258{{nbsp}}BC.{{sfnp|Tyldesley|2001|pp=76–77}}

Egypt's wealth, however, made it a tempting target for invasion, particularly by the [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] [[Berber people|Berbers]] to the west, and the [[Sea Peoples]], a conjectured confederation of seafarers from the [[Aegean Sea]].{{efn|From {{harvp|Killebrew|Lehmann|2013|p=2}}: "First coined in 1881 by the French Egyptologist G. Maspero (1896), the somewhat misleading term "Sea Peoples" encompasses the ethnonyms Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Teresh, Eqwesh, Denyen, Sikil / Tjekker, Weshesh, and Peleset (Philistines). Footnote: The modern term "Sea Peoples" refers to peoples that appear in several New Kingdom Egyptian texts as originating from "islands"... The use of quotation marks in association with the term "Sea Peoples" in our title is intended to draw attention to the problematic nature of this commonly used term. It is noteworthy that the designation "of the sea" appears only in relation to the Sherden, Shekelesh, and Eqwesh. Subsequently, this term was applied somewhat indiscriminately to several additional ethnonyms, including the Philistines, who are portrayed in their earliest appearance as invaders from the north during the reigns of Merenptah and Ramesses III."{{blist|From {{harvp|Drews|1993|pp=48–61}}: "The thesis that a great "migration of the Sea Peoples" occurred ca. 1200 B.C. is supposedly based on Egyptian inscriptions, one from the reign of Merneptah and another from the reign of Ramesses III. Yet in the inscriptions themselves such a migration nowhere appears. After reviewing what the Egyptian texts have to say about 'the sea peoples', one Egyptologist (Wolfgang Helck) recently remarked that although some things are unclear, "eins ist aber sicher: Nach den agyptischen Texten haben wir es nicht mit einer 'Volkerwanderung' zu tun." Thus the migration hypothesis is based not on the inscriptions themselves but on their interpretation."}}}} Initially, the military was able to [[Battle of Perire|repel]] these invasions, but Egypt eventually lost control of its remaining territories in southern [[Canaan]], much of it falling to the Assyrians. The effects of external threats were exacerbated by internal problems such as corruption, tomb robbery, and [[End of the 19th Dynasty|civil unrest]]. After regaining their power, the high priests at the [[Precinct of Amun-Re|temple of Amun]] in Thebes accumulated vast tracts of land and wealth, and their expanded power splintered the country during the Third Intermediate Period.{{sfnp|James|2005|p=54}}