List of pharaohs

This is a list of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. It starts in the Early Dynastic Period, before 3100 BC. It ends with the Ptolemaic Dynasty, when Egypt became a province of Rome under Augustus in 30 BC.
The dates given are approximate. The list of pharaohs uses the dates of Ancient Egypt, developed by the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.
Old lists of pharaohs
There are old lists of pharaohs which have been discovered. These are not complete:
Palermo Stone
Turin King List
Manetho's book, Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt)
Abydos King List
Karnak Tablet
South Saqqara Stone (discovered 1923, includes the Sixth Dynasty kings)
Saqqara Tablet (discovered 1861, includes dynasties from 1-12)
Other lists can be found in Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Eratosthenes. Two other lists are not believed to be reliable, these are the work of "the Arabic writers", and the Book of Sothis.
List
In the legendary period, there were eight god kings who ruled over Egypt. The Palermo, Turin and Manetho king lists, have different names for the eight god kings.
The god kings were followed by kings who were part god and part human. The old lists are different in naming these rulers.
Archaic period
The Archaic period includes the Early Dynastic Period, when Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt were ruled as separate kingdoms.
Early Dynastic: Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt was the northern Nile and the Nile Delta. The list may not be complete:
Early Dynastic: Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt was the Nile Valley, south of the Delta. The following list may not be complete (there are many more of uncertain existence):
First Dynasty
The First Dynasty ruled from about 3150 to 2890 BC.
In the interregnum between the first and second dynasties, two short lived pharaohs may have reigned :
Second Dynasty
The Second Dynasty ruled c. 2890-2686 BC.
Old Kingdom
The Old Kingdom was a peak of civilisation and achievement. This was the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods which mark the high points of civilization in the Nile Valley. It began when Egypt was ruled by the Third Dynasty through the Sixth Dynasty (2686-2181 BC). Many Egyptologists also include the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in the Old Kingdom. The Old Kingdom was followed by a period of disunity called the First Intermediate Period, or as the Egyptians called it, the "first illness."
The royal capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom was at Memphis. This is where Djoser set up his court. The Old Kingdom is known for the large number of pyramids. These were built as tombs for the pharoahs. The Old Kingdom is called "the Age of the Pyramids".
Third Dynasty
The Third Dynasty ruled from 2686 to 2613 BC.
Fourth Dynasty
The Fourth Dynasty ruled from 2613 to 2498 BC. It included the pharaohs who had the Great Pyramids built, Khufu (Cheops), Khafra (Chephren) and Menkaura (Mycerinus).
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|Sneferu|| || Built the Meidum Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid (341 ft/103m from the base to the tip). The Bent Pyramid has normal angles at the bottom but changes at the top. He also built the first "true" pyramid, the Red Pyramid. Some say that he was buried in the Red Pyramid, while others say that he was buried in the Bent Pyramid. Bones have been found at the Red Pyramid, but there is no evidence that this is Sneferu's body. || |2613-2589 BC
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|Khufu|| || Greek form: Cheops. Built the great pyramid of Giza. In some early sources, Khufu is listed as the "third" of his family to rule, but there is no known record of a pharaoh between Sneferu and Khufu. It is possible that there might have been a short reign of some elder brother of Khufu, whose inscriptions, names, and monuments have gone for one reason or another. || 2589-2566 BC
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|Djedefra (Radjedef) || || Believed to have created the Great Sphinx of Giza as a monument to his father. He also created a pyramid at Abu Rawash. The stones from this pyramid were reused by the Romans. The pyramid may have been the highest ever built, about 20 meters taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza, because of its elevated location rather than the size from base to tip. || 2566-2558 BC
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|Khafre|| || Greek form: Chephren His pyramid is the second largest in Giza. Some Egyptologists say he was the builder of the Great Sphinx of Giza. || 2558-2532 BC
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| -- || - || Here some sources have Bikheris, following Manetho || --
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|Menkaura|| || Greek form: Mycerinus. His pyramid is the third and smallest in Giza. || 2532-2503 BC
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|Shepseskaf|| || Did not build a pyramid and instead had the Mastabat el-Fara'un made for himself || 2503-2498 BC
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|Djedefptah|| - || Here some sources put Djedefptah also known as Thampthis, following Manetho || --
|}
Fifth Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty ruled from 2498 to 2345 BC.
Sixth Dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty ruled from 2345 to 2181 BC.
First Intermediate Period
The First Intermediate Period (2181-2060 BC) is between the end of the Old Kingdom and the start of the Middle Kingdom.
The Old Kingdom rapidly collapsed after the death of Pepi II. He had reigned for 94 years, longer than any monarch in history, and died aged 100. The latter years of his reign were marked by inefficiency because of his advanced age.
The Union of the Two Kingdoms fell apart and regional leaders had to cope with the resulting famine.
Around 2160 BC, a new line of pharaohs tried to reunite Lower Egypt from their capital in Herakleopolis Magna. Another line of pharaohs at Thebes was reuniting Upper Egypt and a clash between the two rival dynasties was inevitable.
Around 2055 BC, Mentuhotep II, the son and successor of pharaoh Intef III defeated the Herakleopolitan pharaohs and reunited the Two Lands. This was the start of the Middle Kingdom.
Seventh and Eighth Dynasties (combined)
The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties ruled from c. 2181 to c. 2160 BC. Many of the kings only ruled for a short time from Memphis, with Egypt divided into competing regions.
This table is based on the Abydos King List dating to the reign of Seti I, and the Turin canon.
Ninth Dynasty
The Ninth Dynasty ruled from 2160 to 2130 BC. The Turin King List has 18 kings in the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties. Of these, twelve names are missing and four are not complete.
Tenth Dynasty
The Tenth Dynasty was a local group that ruled over Lower Egypt from 2130 to 2040 BC.
Eleventh Dynasty
The Eleventh Dynasty was a local group from Upper Egypt that ruled from 2134 to 1991 BC. The 11th dynasty came from a group of Theban nomarchs who served the kings of the 8th, 9th or 10th dynasty.
The successors of Intef the Elder, starting with Mentuhotep I, eventually conquered Egypt under Mentuhotep II.
Middle Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom (2060-1802 BC) started at the end of the First Intermediate Period to the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period. Some scholars include the Eleventh, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties in the Middle Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom began to trade outside of the kingdom. This opening of trade led to the downfall of the Middle Kingdom, caused by an invasion from the Hyksos.
Eleventh Dynasty continued
The second part of the Eleventh Dynasty is considered to be part of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.
Twelfth Dynasty
The Twelfth Dynasty ruled from 1991 to 1802 BC. It is considered by later Egyptians to have been their greatest dynasty.
Second Intermediate Period
The Second Intermediate Period (1802-1550 BC) was a time of chaos between the end of the Middle Kingdom, and the start of the New Kingdom. During this time, the Hyksos, who later became the Fifteenth Dynasty, arrived in Egypt.
The Thirteenth Dynasty was much weaker than the Twelfth Dynasty, and was unable to hold onto the two lands of Egypt. Either at the start of the dynasty, c. 1805 BC or toward the middle of it in c. 1710 BC, the ruling family in Xois, located in the marshes of the eastern Delta, broke away from the central authority to form the Canaanite Fourteenth Dynasty.
The Hyksos made their first appearance during the reign of Sobekhotep IV. About 1720 BC they took control of the town of Avaris (the modern Tell el-Dab'a/Khata'na), conquering the kingdom of the 14th dynasty. About 1650 BC the Hyksos, perhaps led by Salitis the founder of the Fifteenth Dynasty, conquered Memphis, which ended the 13th dynasty. When the 13th dynasty collapsed, the 16th dynasty to declared its independence in Thebes. It was soon taken over by the Hyksos kings..
When the Hyksos left Upper Egypt, the Egyptian ruling house in Thebes set itself up as the Seventeenth Dynasty. This dynasty under Seqenenre Tao, Kamose and Ahmose, first pharaoh of the New Kingdom, forced the Hyksos out of Egypt and back into Asia
Thirteenth Dynasty
The Thirteenth Dynasty (following the Turin King List) ruled from 1802 to around 1649 BC. Manetho said it lasted for about 154 years.
The position of the following kings is uncertain:
Fourteenth Dynasty
The Fourteenth Dynasty was a local group from the eastern Delta, based at Avaris. They ruled from either from 1805 BC or c. 1710 BC until around 1650 BC. The dynasty had many rulers with West Semitic names and is believed to have been Canaanite in origin.
The position and identity of the following pharaohs is uncertain:
The Turin King List has extra names, but no other evidence has been found.
Fifteenth Dynasty
The Fifteenth Dynasty was started by the Hyksos people who emerged from the Fertile Crescent. They ruled over much of the Nile region, from 1674 to 1535 BC.
Abydos Dynasty
The Second Intermediate Period may include an independent dynasty reigning over Abydos from c. 1650 BC until 1600 BC. There are four known kings in the Abydos Dynasty, the order in which they ruled is unknown:
Sixteenth Dynasty
The Sixteenth Dynasty was a native Theban dynasty. It began during the collapse of the Memphis-based 13th dynasty c. 1650 BC and finally conquered by the Hyksos 15th dynasty c. 1580 BC. The 16th dynasty only ruled over Upper-Egypt.
The 16th Dynasty may have included the pharaohs Sneferankhre Pepi III and Nebmaatre. Their chronological position is uncertain.Jurgen von Beckerath: Chronologie des pharaonischen Agyptens, Munchner Agyptologische Studien 46. Mainz am Rhein, 1997
Seventeenth Dynasty
The Seventeenth Dynasty was based in Upper Egypt and ruled from 1650 to 1550 BC:
The early 17th Dynasty may also have included Nebmaatre, whose dates are uncertain.
New Kingdom
The New Kingdom (1550-1077 BC) includes the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, from the 16th to the 11th century BC. It is between the Second Intermediate Period and the Third Intermediate Period.
During the New Kingdom, Egypt's armies were able to capture nearby countries. Egypt controlled Nubia in the south, and held territories in the Near East. Egyptian armies fought with Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria. During the New Kingdom, Egypt controlled more territory than at any other time in its history.
Two of the best known pharaohs of the New Kingdom are Akhenaten and Ramesses II. Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, worshipped the god Aten. This is seen as the first monotheistic religion. Ramesses II was a powerful military ruler. He tried to recapture the territories in what is now modern Israel/Palestine, Lebanon and Syria that had been held in the Eighteenth Dynasty. At the Battle of Qadesh he led the Egyptian armies in battle against the Hittite king Muwatalli II.
Eighteenth Dynasty
The Eighteenth Dynasty ruled from c. 1550 to 1292 BC:
Nineteenth Dynasty
The Nineteenth Dynasty ruled from 1292 to 1186 BC and includes one of the greatest pharaohs, Rameses II the Great:
Twentieth Dynasty
The Twentieth Dynasty ruled from 1190 to 1077 BC:
Third Intermediate Period
The Third Intermediate Period (1077-732 BC) marked the end of the New Kingdom. After the collapse of the Egyptian empire, some dynasties of Libyan origin ruled Egypt. This is also known as the Libyan Period.
Twenty-First Dynasty
The Twenty-First Dynasty was based at Tanis and was a relatively weak group. They were rulers of all Egypt, but in practice their influence was limited to Lower Egypt. They ruled from 1069 to 943 BC
Twenty-Second Dynasty
The pharaohs of the Twenty-Second Dynasty were Libyans, ruling from around 943 to 728 BC:
Twenty-Third Dynasty
The Twenty-Third Dynasty was another Libyan group, based at Herakleopolis and Thebes. They ruled from 837 to c. 735 BC:
Rudamun was succeeded in Thebes by a local ruler:
The Libu
Not really a dynasty, the Libu were another group of western nomads from Libya who controlled the western Delta from 805 to 732 BC.
Twenty-Fourth Dynasty
The Twenty-fourth Dynasty was a short-lived rival dynasty in the western Delta (Sais). There were only two Pharaohs, ruling from 732 to 720 BC.
Late period
The Late Period runs from 732 BC to Egypt becoming a province of Rome in 30 BC, and includes periods of rule by Nubians, Persians, and Macedonians.
Twenty-fifth Dynasty
Nubians invaded Lower Egypt and took the throne of Egypt under Piye although they already controlled Thebes and Upper Egypt in the early years of Piye's reign. Piye's conquest of Lower Egypt established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty which ruled until 656 BC.
They were forced from Egypt back into Nubia, where they set up a kingdom at Napata (656-590), and, later, at Meroe (590 BC - 4th century AD).
Twenty-sixth Dynasty
The Twenty-sixth Dynasty ruled from around 672 to 525 BC.
Twenty-seventh Dynasty
Egypt was conquered by the Persian Empire in 525 BC and ruled by the Persians until 404 BC. The Achaemenid shahs were the pharaohs in this era, forming a "Twenty-seventh" Dynasty:
Twenty-eighth Dynasty
The Twenty-eighth Dynasty lasted only six years, from 404 to 398 BC, with one Pharaoh:
Twenty-ninth Dynasty
The Twenty-ninth Dynasty ruled from 398 to 380 BC:
Thirtieth Dynasty
The Thirtieth Dynasty ruled from 380 until Egypt once more came under Persian rule in 343 BC:
Thirty-first Dynasty
Egypt again came under the control of the Achaemenid Persians. The Persian rulers from 343 to 332 BC are sometimes listed as the Thirty-first Dynasty:
Argead Dynasty
The Macedonians under Alexander the Great brought in the Hellenistic period with his capture of Persia and Egypt. The Argeads ruled from 332 to 309 BC:
Ptolemaic Dynasty
The second Hellenistic dynasty, the Ptolemies, ruled Egypt from 305 BC until Egypt became a province of Rome in 30 BC. If two dates overlap, that means there was a co-regency. The most famous member of this dynasty was Cleopatra VII. In modern times she is known simply as Cleopatra. She was the consort of Julius Caesar and after Caesar's death, of Mark Antony, and had children with both of them. Cleopatra tried to create a dynastic and political union between Egypt and Rome. This failed with the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of Mark Antony. Caesarion (Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar) was the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. He reigned jointly with his mother Cleopatra VII of Egypt, from September 2, 47 BC. He was the eldest son of Cleopatra VII, and possibly the only son of Julius Caesar, after whom he was named. Between Cleopatra's death on August 12, 30 BC, up to his own death on August 23, 30 BC, he was the sole pharaoh. It is tradition that he was hunted down and killed on the orders of Octavian, who would become the Roman emperor Augustus, but there is no evidence.
Rome
Cleopatra VII had affairs with the Roman Dictator Julius Caesar and Roman General Marc Antony. She killed herself when Antony was defeated by Octavian (later be Emperor Augustus). Egypt then became a province of Rome in 30 BC. Roman Emperors were given the title of Pharaoh, although exclusively while in Egypt. One Egyptian king-list lists the Roman Emperors as Pharaohs up to and including Decius. See the list of Roman Emperors.
Notes
References
J. H. Breasted, History of Egypt from the Earliest Time to the Persian Conquest, 1909
J. Cerny, 'Egypt from the Death of Ramesses III to the End of the Twenty-First Dynasty' in The Middle East and the Aegean Region c.1380-1000 BC, Cambridge University Press,
Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004.
Sir Alan Gardiner Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, Third Edition, Revised. London: Oxford University Press, 1964. Excursus A, pp. 71-76.
Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, (Blackwell Books: 1992)
Murnane, William J. Ancient Egyptian Coregencies, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization. No. 40. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1977
Michael Rice, Who's Who in Ancient Egypt, Routledge 1999
Ryholt, Kim & Steven Bardrum. 2000. "The Late Old Kingdom in the Turin King-list and the Identity of Nitocris." Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 127' Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt., Oxford University Press, 2000.
Shaw, Garry. The Pharaoh, Life at Court and on Campaign, Thames and Hudson, 2012.
Toby A. H. Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, Routledge 1999,
Verner, Miroslav, The Pyramids - Their Archaeology and History, Atlantic Books, 2001,
Egypt, History & Civilisation'' By Dr. R Ventura. Published by Osiris, PO Box 107 Cairo.
Other websites
Egyptian chronology site
Egyptian Royal Genealogy
Manetho and the King Lists Review of different primary king lists
Chronology Table - 0 Dynasty&History Period, by Dariusz Sitek Multi-pages of list of pharaohs in different king lists, without the god kings, in Egyptian hieroglyphs and English
Egyptian Journey 2003: History: King Lists Hyperlink texts of the Manetho, Abydos & Turin king lists, without the god-kings
Digital Egypt for Universities
List of all female Pharaohs
Pharaohs