# Periodization of ancient Egypt

Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt :
All years are BC :
Predynastic Protodynastic 0 c. 3300–3150 :
Early Dynastic First Dynasty I c. 3150–2890 Second Dynasty II 2890–2686 :
Old Kingdom Third Dynasty III 2686–2613 Fourth Dynasty IV 2613–2498 Fifth Dynasty V 2498–2345 Sixth Dynasty VI 2345–2181 :
First Intermediate Seventh Dynasty VII spurious Eighth Dynasty VIII 2181–2160 Ninth Dynasty IX 2160–2130 Tenth Dynasty X 2130–2040 Early Eleventh Dynasty XI 2134–2061 :
Middle Kingdom Late Eleventh Dynasty XI 2061–1991 Twelfth Dynasty XII 1991–1803 Thirteenth Dynasty XIII 1803–1649 :
Second Intermediate Fourteenth Dynasty XIV 1705–1690 Fifteenth Dynasty (Hyksos) XV 1674–1535 Sixteenth Dynasty XVI 1660–1600 Abydos Dynasty 1650–1600 Seventeenth Dynasty XVII 1580–1549 :
New Kingdom Eighteenth Dynasty XVIII 1549–1292 Nineteenth Dynasty XIX 1292–1189 Twentieth Dynasty XX 1189–1077 :
Third Intermediate Twenty-first Dynasty XXI 1069–945 Twenty-second Dynasty XXII 945–720 Twenty-third Dynasty XXIII 837–728 Twenty-fourth Dynasty XXIV 732–720 Twenty-fifth Dynasty (Nubian) XXV 732–653 :
Late Period Twenty-sixth Dynasty XXVI 672–525 Twenty-seventh Dynasty (1st Persian Period) XXVII 525–404 Twenty-eighth Dynasty XXVIII 404–398 Twenty-ninth Dynasty XXIX 398–380 Thirtieth Dynasty XXX 380–343 Thirty-first Dynasty (2nd Persian Period) XXXI 343–332 :
Hellenistic Egypt Thirty-second Dynasty XXXII 332–305 Thirty-third Dynasty XXXIII 305–30 :
Roman Egypt Thirty-fourth Dynasty (Roman Pharaohs) XXXIV 30 BC – 313 AD :
Byzantine Egypt Thirty-fifth Dynasty (speculated) XXXV 379 AD – 641 AD :
See also: List of pharaohs by period and dynasty Periodization of ancient Egypt :
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The periodization of ancient Egypt is the use of periodization to organize the 3,000-year history of ancient Egypt. The system of 30 dynasties recorded by third-century BC Greek-speaking Egyptian priest Manetho is still in use today; however, the system of "periods" and "kingdoms" used to group the dynasties is of modern origin (19th and 20th centuries CE). The modern system consists of three "Golden Ages" (Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms), interspersed between "intermediate periods" (often, though not always, considered times of crisis or Dark Ages) and early and late periods.

## Old, Middle and New Kingdoms
### Bunsen

In his 1844–1857 Ägyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte, Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen became the first Egyptologist to propose what became the modern tripartite division for Egypt's history:
* Altes Reich ("Old Empire") = Menes until the beginning of the 13th Dynasty
* Mittleres Reich ("Middle Empire") = Hyksos until the 17th Dynasty
* Neues Reich ("New Empire") = from the 18th Dynasty onward
Bunsen explained, in the English translation of his 1844 work, how he came to derive the three Kingdoms:
   In 1834 I discovered in the list of Eratosthenes the key to the restoration of the first 12 Dynasties of Manetho, and was thereby enabled to fix the length of the Old Empire. These two points being settled, the next step obviously was, to fill up the chasm between the Old and New Empires, which is commonly called the Hyksos Period ... I have been fully convinced ever since my first restoration (in 1834) of the three Egyptian Empires, the middle one of which embraces the time of the Hyksos, that the 12th Dynasty of Manetho was the last complete one of the Old Empire, and that the throne of the Memphitic Pharaohs, according to the connection which that restoration enabled me to establish between Manetho and Eratosthenes, passed with the 4th King of the 13th Dynasty over to the Shepherd-Kings.
Compared to the modern arrangement, Bunsen's Old Empire included what is today known as the Middle Kingdom, whereas Bunsen's Middle Empire is today known as the Second Intermediate Period.

### Lepsius

Bunsen's student Karl Richard Lepsius primarily used a bipartite system in his 1849–1858 Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien:
* Altes Reich = dynasties 1–16
* Neues Reich = dynasties 17–31

### Other scholars

Auguste Mariette's 1867 Aperçu de l'histoire ancienne d'Égypte:
* Old Kingdom = Dynasties 1–10
* Middle Kingdom = Dynasties 11–17
* New Kingdom = Dynasties 18–30
Alfred Wiedemann's Ägyptische Geschichte:
* Prehistory = Dynasties 1–11
* Middle Kingdom = Dynasties 12–19
* New Kingdom = Dynasties 20–31
Henri Gauthier's 1907–1917 Le Livre des Rois d'Egypte:
* Ancien Empire ("Ancient Empire") = Dynasties 1–10
* Moyen Empire ("Middle Empire")= Dynasties 11–17
* Nouvel Empire ("New Empire") = Dynasties 17–25
* Époque saïto-persane ("Saito-Persian period") = Dynasties 26–31
* Époque macédo-grecque ("Macedonian–Greek period") = Dynasties 32 (Macedonian) and 33 (Ptolemaic)

## Intermediate periods
### First Intermediate Period

19th-century Egyptology did not use the concept of "intermediate periods"; these were included as part of the preceding periods "as times of interval or transition".
In 1926, after the First World War, Georg Steindorff's Die Blütezeit des Pharaonenreiches and Henri Frankfort's Egypt and Syria in the First Intermediate Period assigned dynasties 6–12 to the terminology "First Intermediate Period". The terminology had become well established by the 1940s.

### Second Intermediate Period

In 1942, during the Second World War, German Egyptologist Hanns Stock's Studien zur Geschichte und Archäologie der 13. bis 17. Dynastie fostered use of the term "Second Intermediate Period".

### Third Intermediate Period

In 1978, British Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen's book The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC) coined the term "Third Intermediate Period".