The New Kingdom of Egypt, also called the Egyptian Empire, was extant from roughly between 1550 - 1069 B.C. It was Egypt’s most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power. This period contains some of its most famous pharaohs, including Ahmose I (considered the first Pharaoh), Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on expanding Egypt's external trade by sending a commercial expedition to the land of Punt. Thutmose III (known as 'the Napoleon of Egypt') expanded the army and wielded it with great success to consolidate the empire created by his predecessors. This resulted in a peak in power and wealth during the reign of Amenhotep III. Moses (1525 - 1405 B.C.) lived at a time when Amenhotep I (1526-1506), Thutmose I (1506-1493) and II (1493-1479), Hatshepsut (1479-1458) and Thutmose III (co-regent from 1479-1458 and sole ruler 1457-1425) reigned as Pharoahs of Egypt. It was under Thutmose III, in 1445 B.C., that God through Moses led the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. It was not until 1405 B.C. that Israel, under the command of Joshua (1490-1380), entered the promised land of Palestine. It was the Babylonian Empire that broke the power of Assyria, and, in its westward sweep, destroyed Judah and conquered Egypt. Babylonia emerged as a powerful nation when the Amorite king Hammurabi created a short lived power out of the territories of the former Akkadian Empire. It lasted from 612 B.C. to 536 B.C. Cyrus, king of Persia, conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. The Mitannis were a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state. Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kassite Babylon. At the beginning of its history Mitanni's major rival were the Egyptians. However, with the ascent of the Hittites, Mitanni and Egypt made an alliance to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power, the Mitannis had outposts centered around its capital, Washukanni. Eventually, it succumbed to Hittite and later Assyrian attacks. The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia who reached the height of power around the 14th century B.C., in part due to the Hittite military's successful use of chariots. Civil war and rivaling claims to the throne, combined with the external threat of a confederacy of seafaring raiders, eventually weakened the Hittites and by 1160 B.C. they collapsed. Assyria was founded by colonists from Babylon and for many centuries was subject to, or in conflict with, Babylon. The Assyrians were a major world power from around 884 B.C. to the fall of its capital Nineveh in 612 B.C. |
