ABSTRACT
The vast span of Egyptian prehistory and history is divided up by Egyptologists into a series of periods – how and why we consider shortly. The basic unit is the dynasty. The most recent literature may have as many as thirty-three of these, numbered from ‘00’ to 31. These dynasties are then grouped together into Kingdoms and Intermediate Periods, preceded and followed by other unnumbered dynasties and periods (in some nineteenth-century works the Ptolemaic and Roman dynasties were given numbers as well). The result (detailed further in the Appendix: King List) is:
– Prehistoric Period – Predynastic Period – Early Dynastic Period (older books call it Archaic): dynasty ‘00’
to dynasty 2 – Old Kingdom: usually beginning with dynasty 3, but lasting
until dynasty 6, 7 or 8 (depending which book you look at) – First Intermediate Period: dynasty 7/8 to dynasty 11 part 1 – Middle Kingdom: dynasty 11 part 2 to early dynasty 13 – Second Intermediate Period: dynasty 13 to dynasty 17 – New Kingdom: dynasty 18 to dynasty 20 – Third Intermediate Period: dynasty 21 to dynasty 24 (or 25) – Late Period: dynasty 25 or 26 to dynasty 31. – Macedonians – Ptolemies – Roman Period – Byzantine (or Late Antique) Period – Arab Conquest
3 4 51 6 7 8 9 10111 11 2 311 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
tied to the king list. This is a fundamental point because, ultimately, all artefacts in Egypt are tied directly, or indirectly, to material that is dated by royal association. This material is used to date Egyptian material in contexts outside Egypt, and also the cultures in which that material appears.
