New Kingdom Egypt to the Death of Thutmose IV

New Kingdom Egypt to the Death of Thutmose IV is one of the Historical Periods options in Section IV (25 marks). You write one extended response (one of two alternatives), about 1,000 words. Study the period through the archaeological and written evidence, organised around:

• Historical context: the geography of Egypt, Nubia and the Levant; the Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos.
• The nature of power and authority: the pharaoh and the ideology of kingship; the role of Amun and the temples; royal women and the God's Wife of Amun; officials (viziers, the King's Son of Kush); the army.
• Significant developments: the expulsion of the Hyksos; expansion into Nubia and the Levant; Hatshepsut's reign; Thutmose III's campaigns; relations with Mitanni; building programmes; the Valley of the Kings.
• Evidence and interpretations: royal inscriptions (Kamose stelae, the Annals of Thutmose III, the Sphinx and Dream stelae), tomb autobiographies (Ahmose son of Ebana, Ineni), tomb paintings (Rekhmire), temples (Karnak, Deir el-Bahri) and modern interpretations.

Dates follow a common chronology and are approximate (BC).

• The Hyksos (‘rulers of foreign lands’), of Western Asian origin, ruled the north from Avaris in the eastern Delta (15th Dynasty, about 1650–1550). A kingdom of Kush, centred on Kerma, ruled Nubia.
• Thebes (17th Dynasty) controlled Upper Egypt. Seqenenre Tao probably died fighting the Hyksos (his mummy has severe head wounds). Kamose's stelae at Karnak complain of sharing Egypt with ‘an Asiatic’ and ‘a Nubian’ and describe a captured letter from the Hyksos king Apepi to the ruler of Kush.

The pharaoh

• The king was son of Re, the living Horus, and guardian of maat (order, truth, justice) against chaos — symbolised by foreigners.
• New Kingdom kings stressed the warrior role: ‘extending the borders of Egypt’, smiting enemies, chariot and bow (Amenhotep II's Sphinx Stela).
• Legitimacy also came from the gods: divine birth (Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri), oracles of Amun (Hatshepsut; Thutmose III's account of being chosen as a young priest), and in Thutmose IV's case a dream of the Sphinx (Horemakhet).

Amun and the temples

• Amun-Re of Thebes, the dynasty's god, credited with victory; Karnak became the state temple.
• Kings gave Amun booty, captives, land and buildings; the high priest of Amun became a powerful official.
• Festivals: Opet (Karnak to Luxor) and the Beautiful Festival of the Valley.

Royal women

• Ahhotep: praised on a stela of Ahmose for caring for Egypt and its soldiers.
• Ahmose-Nefertari: great royal wife; God's Wife of Amun (Donation Stela); later deified at Deir el-Medina.
• Hatshepsut: God's Wife of Amun, queen, regent and then king.

Officials and army

• Viziers of the south and north ran justice and administration (the tomb of Rekhmire, vizier of Thutmose III, records the ‘Duties of the Vizier’).
• King's Son of Kush: viceroy of Nubia.
• The army: chariots and composite bows; professional soldiers rewarded with the ‘gold of valour’, land and captives (Ahmose son of Ebana, Ahmose Pen-Nekhbet).

Nubia

• Reconquered from Ahmose onwards; Kerma defeated by Thutmose I; southern limit at Napata (Gebel Barkal) under Thutmose III.
• Controlled by the viceroy, fortresses (e.g. Buhen) and temple towns; supplied gold, ivory, ebony, cattle.

The Levant and Syria

• Campaigns from Ahmose (Sharuhen) to Thutmose I (the Euphrates). Thutmose III's Megiddo campaign defeated a coalition led by the ruler of Kadesh; the city surrendered after a seven-month siege.
• Methods of control: local rulers as vassals, oaths of loyalty, tribute (inu), garrisons, and sons of rulers raised in Egypt.
• Mitanni in northern Syria was the main rival until Thutmose IV made peace and married a Mitannian princess.

Punt

Hatshepsut's expedition (about her ninth year) to Punt, probably on the southern Red Sea coast, brought back incense, myrrh trees, ebony and exotic animals, shown on the walls of Deir el-Bahri.

• Karnak: pylons and obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut; Hatshepsut's Red Chapel; Thutmose III's Akh-menu and Annals.
• Deir el-Bahri: Hatshepsut's terraced temple (Djeser-djeseru).
• Valley of the Kings: royal tombs hidden in the desert from Thutmose I on (the exact first tomb is debated); separate mortuary temples on the west bank.
• Deir el-Medina: the village of the royal tomb-builders.

• Royal inscriptions (Kamose stelae, the Annals of Thutmose III, the Sphinx and Dream stelae) are propaganda: they show what kings wanted believed, and they exaggerate (e.g. impossible captive totals).
• Private tomb autobiographies (Ahmose son of Ebana, Ineni) give individual careers but also celebrate their owners.
• Tomb paintings (Rekhmire's foreign tribute) show the ideal of empire.
• Interpretations (credited if used): the damage to Hatshepsut's monuments is now usually dated to late in Thutmose III's reign (around his year 42), not to the start of his sole rule; historians debate whether Thutmose IV was the intended heir and whether his interest in the sun god reflects tension with the Amun priesthood.

1. Unpack the question: the command verb and the focus (kingship, Amun, women, the army, the empire, a reign).
2. Thesis: a clear judgement at the start.
3. Paragraphs by argument, with specific evidence (kings, dates, monuments, inscriptions).
4. Range: use examples from several reigns.
5. Sources: comment on the nature of royal and private inscriptions.
6. Conclusion: answer the question.

• Confusing Kamose with Ahmose, or Megiddo (Thutmose III) with Kadesh (Ramesses II).
• Treating royal inscriptions as neutral records.
• Writing only about Hatshepsut when the question covers the whole period.
• Calling the Hyksos ‘invaders’ in a simple way — they were probably a Western Asian population that had settled in the Delta before taking power.
• Running into Amenhotep III's reign, which belongs to the next option.

• Learn a short list of kings with one or two achievements each.
• Use terms accurately: maat, inu (tribute), viceroy (King's Son of Kush), God's Wife of Amun, vizier, oracle, sed festival.
• Questions on power usually reward linking the king, Amun and the army.

• New Kingdom Egypt society to the death of Amenhotep III (Ancient Societies) and Hatshepsut (Personalities): society and a ruler in the same period.
• New Kingdom Egypt from Amenhotep III to the death of Ramesses II: the next period.