New Chronology of Egyptian Dynasties 1 through 5

With massive amounts of evidence pegging the 18th Dynasty to the 9th Century BC, our first attempt at a revised chronology for the ancient Dynasties of Egypt focused on the historical dates of the 12th Dynasty of Egypt to the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. This research puts the drought and famine after the 1159 BC climate catastrophe towards the end of the 14th Dynasty, and was the major factor that led to the disunity and the establishment of the concurrent 15th and 16th Dynasties.

Next we worked backward from there, pegging the famines after the 1628 BC climate cataclysm to the breakdown of the 6th Dynasty and the end of the Old Kingdom. According to this preliminary research, the historical dates of the 6th to 11th Dynasties of Egypt would then be from about 1740 BC to around 1386 BC.

Now we will try to ascertain the dates encompassing the era from the First Dynasty of Egypt to the Fifth Egyptian Dynasty, and this is the most difficult as these are the dynasties responsible for building the major pyramids, and most observers believe the pyramids are much older than this. As Mesopotamian society is said to have broken down circa 2200 BC, a time of global famine, we must search the first few dynasties to find a period of severe drought and famine, and tie that to around 2150 BC or thereabouts.

As little evidence remains of the first two dynasties, and human sacrifice and cannibalism appears to have ended then, the 3rd Dynasty of Egypt may have been the one who rebuilt the nation and the empire after the collapse of the earlier societies. Here is a very rough first draft:

Pre-Mesopotamian influence:

1st Dynasty - Circa 2550 BC to 2300 BC

2nd Dynasty - Circa 2300 BC to 2100 BC

Post-Mesopotamian influence:

3rd Dynasty - Circa 2100 BC to 2020 BC

4th Dynasty - Circa 2020 BC to 1900 BC

5th Dynasty - Circa 1900 BC to 1740 BC

I realize that much work needs to be done to refine these dates and eras, but I am quite comfortable doing this in the months ahead. One thing to be determined is the dates of the pre-dynastic ruling elites in Egypt, and these may actually be in the 2600-2400 BC era, pushing the 1st dynasty forward in history, closer to the cataclysmic events of the 2nd Dynasty.

Another project remaining is defining the dates of the 26th to 31st Egyptian Dynasties, but that's low-hanging fruit as those regimes are well documented and corroborated.

For those new to exploring relative dates of the revised chronology of Egyptian dynasties, pioneering work was done by people like David Rohl and Ahmed Osman, and carried forth by modern researchers such as Charles Pope of www.DomainOfMan.com . The main factor that contributed to the false chronologies and the impression that Egyptian history took place earlier than it actually did was chronology stacking. Most early attempts at dating dynasties stacked the length of each dynasty end-to-end, unaware that many of these dynasties were concurrent, with one ruling Upper Egypt including Thebes (the original Jerusalem - "To Teach Peace") and the other ruling Lower Egypt including the Nile Delta. The early teens dynasties and the early twenties dynasties were overlapping or concurrent, and when you take this into account, you have to remove about 500 to 600 years from the conventional chronology.

Peace 2 All,

Yuya Joe

Egyptian Dynasty Dating; 6th to 11th Dynasties

As noted in our previously posted Chronology of 12th Egyptian Dynasty to 25th Dynasty in Egypt, we have pegged the severe famine during the 14th Dynasty to the decades following the 1159 BC climate catastrophe. The next major job is deciphering which Dynasty was ruling during the disasters following the 1628 BC events; one scenario that seems plausible at this point is that 1628 BC marked the end of the 6th Dynasty and also signifies the close of the Old Kingdom.

After the 6th Dynasty, Egypt was divided into regional kingdoms, with rulers in Memphis, Thebes and by the 9th Dynasty, Heracleopolis, and was not fully re-united until the 11th Dynasty. According to ancient-Egypt.org, the breakdown of the Old Kingdom wasn't political but rather it was "more likely that climatic changes, resulting in a decrease of the Nile's inundation, impacted the Ancient Egyptian society. As the central government was unable to cope with the results of this change, it was up to provincial governors and other local rulers to come up with a solution to best irrigate their own territory. This, along with different geographical circumstances, caused some provinces and territories to be more successful in controlling the floods than others."

I am going to need a lot more data points to pull this together, but for now, as a first draft, here are my estimated historical dates for the 6th to 11th Egyptian Dynasties:

Sixth Dynasty - 1740 BC to 1620 BC

Seventh Dynasty - 1620 BC to 1590 BC

Eighth Dynasty - 1615 BC to 1580 BC

Ninth Dynasty - 1580 BC to 1495 BC

Tenth Dynasty - 1495 BC to 1420 BC

Eleventh Dynasty - 1420 BC to 1365 BC

Notes:

Comparison of 1628 BC calamities with 1159 BC disasters

Effects of Transit of Venus on Earth weather patterns

270 BC to 230 BC; Carthage Oligarchy to Canpus Decree

Around 270 BC, Carthage, already in control of Sardinia, southern Spain and Numidia, is ruled by an oligarchy of merchants under two Suffetes or chief magistrates. While Carthage's military commanders are strong, the state relies on mercenaries (including Spanish ones) for its soldiers.

About 268 BC, the Roman denarius coin is minted for the first time.

Research on Successor of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy Soter.

Research on Alexander the Great Successor's Antipater and Cassander

Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of theIndian subcontinent from 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India. Eventually espousing a form of societal cooperation and non-violence, Ashoka was a pioneering leader and revered in his time and beyond. An emblem excavated from his empire is today the national Emblem of India. In the History of Buddhism Ashoka is considered just after Gautama Buddha.

Circa 265 BC in China, the Confucian philosopher Xunzi visits the State of Qin. He writes of his and others' admiration for the government officials of Qin, whom he says are serious and sincere, free from the tendency to form cliques. The Qin officials are disciplined by ameritocracy of rather harsh methods imposed by the Legalist philosophy.

Around 250 BC, Ptolemy II encourages the Jewish residents of Alexandria to have their Bible translated into Greek. Because around seventy translators are used to achieve this, the translation is known as the Septuagint.

In Ptolemy III Euergetes' ninth regnal year (239 BC), a great assembly of priests at Canopus passed an honorific decree (the "Decree of Canopus") that, inter alia, conferred various new titles on the king and his consort, Berenice. Two examples of this decree are known, inscribed in Egyptian (in both hieroglyphic and Demotic (Egyptian)) and in classical Greek, and they were second only to the more famous Rosetta Stone in providing the key to deciphering the ancient Egyptian language.

During 230 BC, The Temple of Horus in Edfu (known then as Apollonopolis Magna), Egypt, is begun by King Ptolemy III, and in China, the state of Han is conquered by the state of Qin.

12th to 25th Egyptian Dynasties; Developing Chronology

On January 6th I posted a first draft of an attempt to peg the 15th to 18th Egyptian dynasties into the era from around 1145 BC to about 850 BC. Here we will try to expand it forward and backwards, using 701 BC as the date for Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Pharaoh Shebitku's rescue of Jerusalem, and an estimate of 670 BC for Pharaoh Tarhaqa's (the last fully Black African Pharaoh) retreat southward into Nubia.

A rough estimate of the eras for each Dynasty, and probable birth dates for major figures in the 18th Dynasty ruling elite:

12th Dynasty - 1395 BC to 1235 BC

13th Dynasty - 1235 BC to 1175 BC

14th Dynasty - 1190 BC to 1130 BC

15th and 16th (concurrent) Dynasty - c1145 BC to 1065 BC

17th Dynasty - c 1075 BC to c 1020 BC

18th Dynasty - c 1020 BC to 830 BC

Second draft of estimated birth dates for Eighteenth Dynasty luminaries:

Ahmose - 1045 BC

Amenhotep I - 1025 BC

Thutmose I - 1015 BC

Thutmose II - 1000 BC

Thutmose III - 985 BC

Thutmose IV - 968 BC

Amenhotep II - 952 BC

Yuya - 930 BC

Tuya - 923 BC

Amenhotep III - 918 BC

Kiya - 905 BC

Tiye - 901 BC

Aye - 899 BC

Amenhotep IV - 897 BC

Tutankhamun - 870 BC

REVISED estimates Feb 2010:

Ahmose - 1030 BC

Amenhotep I - 1010 BC

Thutmose I - 995 BC

Thutmose II - 980 BC

Thutmose III - 955 BC

Thutmose IV - 935 BC

Amenhotep II - 909 BC

Yuya - 907 BC

Tuya - 902 BC

Aye - 888 BC

Tiye - 886 BC

Amenhotep III - 885 BC

Kiya - 870 BC

Amenhotep IV - 869 BC

Smenkhare - 851 BC

Tutankhamun - 848 BC

Next section dates updated Feb 2010.

19th Dynasty - 830 BC to 790 BC

20th Dynasty - 820 BC to 765 BC

21st Dynasty - 760 BC to 710 BC

22nd Dynasty - 760 BC to 705 BC

23rd Dynasty - 755 BC to 710 BC

24th Dynasty - 730 BC to 720 BC

25th Dynasty - 735 BC to 655 BC

Peace 2 All

310 BC to 270 BC; Crucial Points in Human History

In this organic review of the past 3,000 years of global history, posts are intended to evolve and to evoke commentary from you the reader. If you know of important events from this era, or have insight into the events posted, please contribute via the Comments section below.

Circa 300 BC in China, the state of Qin attacks eight cities of the state of Chu. Chu then sends an envoy to ask the King of Huai to go to Qin to negotiate peace. Qu Yuan risks his life to go up to the court to persuade the King of Huai not to go to the negotiation.King Wuling of Zhao abdicates the throne of Zhao to his son. Six years later, he State of Qin, lead by commander Bai Qi, wins a decisive victory over the States of Wei andHan in the Battle of Yique. As part of the terms of defeat, Han and Wei are forced to concede land to Qin.

Around the same time in India, Bindusara succeeds his father Chandragupta Maurya as emperor of the Mauryan Empire, ascending to the Pataliputra throne,.while Chandragupta Maurya goes to Sravana Belagola near Mysore to live in the way of Jains.

About 295 BC, Athens falls to Demetrius Poliorcetes after a bitter siege, and its tyrant Lachares is killed. A year or so later, Alexander V of Macedon is ousted by his brother, Antipater II. Therefore Alexander V turns to Demetrius Poliorcetes for help in recovering his throne. However, Demetrius Poliorcetes establishes himself on the throne of Macedonia and then murders Alexander V. Antipater II loses the throne of Macedonia but is able to survive.

In Persia, when an invasion of nomads threatens the eastern possessions of his realm (i.e. between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea and the Indian Ocean), Seleucus hands over the government of these lands west of the Euphrates to his son Antiochus. Antiochus is appointed co-regent and commander-in-chief of these territories.

Further west on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, in 290 BC Berenice, wife of Ptolemy, is proclaimed queen of Egypt. Ptolemy has the city of Berenicebuilt on the Red Sea in her honour. It becomes a great emporium for Egyptian trade with the East.

In 288 in Greece, the Macedonian King, Demetrius Poliorcetes, faces a combined attack from Lysimachus andPhyrrhus, king of Epirus, after Seleucus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus form a coalition to block plans by Demetrius to invade Asia Minor. Ptolemy's fleet appears off Greece, inciting the cities to revolt. Athens revolts and Demetrius besieges the city. Pyrrhus takes Thessaly and the western half of Macedonia and, with the assistance of Ptolemy's fleet, relieves Athens from Demetrius' siege. After the Egyptian fleet participates decisively in the liberation of Athens from Macedonian occupation, Ptolemy obtains the protectorate over the League of Islanders, which includes most of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. Egypt's maritime supremacy in theMediterranean in the ensuing decades is based on this alliance.

Also about this time, the Sri Maha Bodhi Sacred Fig tree is planted at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

On June 26 in 285 BC, Egypt's Ptolemy I Soter abdicates. He is succeeded by his youngest son by his wife Berenice, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who has been co-regent for three years. After this, Ptolemy I's eldest (legitimate) son, Ptolemy Keraunos, whose mother, Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater, had been repudiated by the new King Ptolemy II, flees Egypt to the court of Lysimachus, the king of Thrace, Macedon and Asia Minor.

Circa 283 BC, The canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, initially started but not completed by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II and repaired by the Persian king Darius I, is again repaired and made operational by Ptolemy II. Ptolemy II enlarges the library at Alexandria and appoints the grammarian Zenodotus to collect and edit all the Greek poets. Arsinoe, daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, marries Ptolemy II of Egypt as part of the alliance between Thrace and Egypt against Seleucus.

The Battle of Corupedium in Lydia is the last battle of the Diadochi, the rival successors toAlexander the Great. It is fought between the armies of Lysimachus, King of Thrace andMacedonia, and Seleucus, ruler of Eastern Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Babylonia andIran. Seleucus kills Lysimachus during the battle.

Following the Battle of Corupedium, Lysimachus' widow, Arsinoe, flees to Cassandrea, a city in northern Greece, where she marries her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos. This proves to be a serious misjudgement, as Ptolemy Keraunus promptly kills two of her sons, though the third is able to escape. Arsinoe flees again, this time to Alexandria in Egypt.

Around 281 BC, Seleucus is succeeded as ruler of the Seleucid empire by Antiochus. He is immediately beset by revolts in Syria (probably instigated by Ptolemy II of Egypt) and by independence movements in northern Anatolia.

280 BC saw the passing of Herophilus, Alexandrian physician who has been an early performer of public dissections on human cadavers; often called the father of anatomy.

The aggression of Ptolemy II of Egypt continues to cause friction with Antiochus, who losesMiletus, in south-western Asia Minor, to Ptolemy. Antigonus concludes a peace with Antiochus who surrenders his claim to Macedonia. Thereafter Antigonus II's foreign policy is marked by friendship with the Seleucids.

In China the region of Chu's heartland in the modern Hubei province is overrun by the powerful state of Qin from the west under Bai Qi's leadership. The Chu government moves to the east in various temporary capitals until settling in Shouchun in 241 BC.Around 278 BC marked the death of Qu Yuan, Chinese poet from southern Chu who lived during the Warring States Period. His works are mostly found in an anthology of poetry known as Chu Ci.

By 276 BC the Egyptian King Ptolemy II's first wife, Arsinoe I (daughter of the late King Lysimachus ofThrace) is accused, probably at instigation of Ptolemy II's sister (who also has the nameArsinoe), of plotting his murder and is exiled by the King. Arsinoe then marries her own brother, a customary practice in Egypt, but scandalous to the Greeks. The suffix "Philadelphoi" ("Brother-Loving") consequently is added to the names of King Ptolemy II and Queen Arsinoe II. The former queen, Arsinoe I, is banished to Coptos, a city of Upper Egyptnear the Wadi Hammamat, while her rival adopts her children.

Within a couple of years, Magas of Cyrene marries Apama, the daughter of Antiochus and uses his marital alliance to foment a pact to invade Egypt. He opens hostilities against his half brother Ptolemy II, by declaring his province of Cyrenaica to be independent and then attacks Egypt from the west as Antiochus I takes the Egyptian controlled areas in coastal Syria and southern Anatolia, after which he attacks Palestine. Magas has to stop his advance against Ptolemy II due to an internal revolt by the LibyanMarmaridae nomads.

Impressed by Rome's defeat of Pyrrhus, Ptolemy II sends a friendly embassy. The visit is reciprocated. The Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter is defeated by Egypt's Ptolemy II during the First Syrian War. Ptolemy II annexes Miletus, Phoenicia and western Cilicia from Antiochus. As a result, Ptolemy II extends Egyptian rule as far as Caria and into most of Cilicia.

Egypt's victories solidify the kingdom's position as the undisputed naval power of the easternMediterranean; the Ptolemaic sphere of power now extends over the Cyclades to Samothrace, and the harbours and coastal towns of Cilicia Trachea, Pamphylia, Lycia and Caria.

In India, The Mauryan emperor, Bindusara, sends the Mauryan army to conquer the southern kingdoms, and Kadamba is conquered.

By 270 BC the Mediterranean port City-State of Carthage, already in control of Sardinia, southern Spain and Numidia, is ruled by an oligarchy of merchants under two Suffetes or chief magistrates. While Carthage's military commanders are strong, the state relies on mercenaries (including Spanish ones) for its soldiers.