List of ancient Egyptian dynasties

This chart shows the 31 pre-Ptolemaic dynasties by the length of their rule (in 25-year bins).^{[example 1]} Each dynasty is a coloured box. The early dynasties and the three Kingdoms are blue, with darker colours meaning older. Intermediate periods are red, orange, and yellow. Note that multiple dynasties could reign from different cities simultaneously in intermediate periods and at the end of the Middle Kingdom. Further, dynastic reigning times are often very approximate; this chart uses the years of the Egyptian dynasty list template.

In Ancient Egyptian history, dynasties are series of rulers sharing a common origin who are usually of the same family.

Ancient Egypt's historical period is traditionally divided into thirty-one pharaonic dynasties. These divisions are due to the 3rd century BC Egyptian priest Manetho, and first appeared in his work Aegyptiaca, which was perhaps written for the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic Egyptian ruler of the time. The thirty-first dynasty's name is not due to Manetho and is a later coining.

While widely used and useful, the system does have its shortcomings. Some dynasties only ruled part of Egypt and existed concurrently with other dynasties based in other cities. The Seventh might not have existed at all, the Tenth seems to be a continuation of the Ninth, and there might have been one or several Upper Egyptian Dynasties before the First Dynasty.

This page lists articles on dynasties of Ancient Egypt. The cities in which power was held during these dynasties follow their names, in parentheses.

Late prehistory

• Protodynastic Period of Egypt
  • Upper Egyptian protodynastic (several concurrent centres of power: Thinis, which succeeded from Abydos, was northernmost, followed by Naqada and Nekhen)

Early Dynastic Period

• First Dynasty of Egypt (Thinis)
• Second Dynasty of Egypt (Thinis)

Old Kingdom

• Third Dynasty of Egypt (Memphis)
• Fourth Dynasty of Egypt (Memphis)
• Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (Memphis)
• Sixth Dynasty of Egypt (Memphis)

First Intermediate Period

• Seventh Dynasty of Egypt (Memphis), perhaps spurious^[1]
• Eighth Dynasty of Egypt (Memphis)
• Ninth Dynasty of Egypt (Herakleopolis Magna)
• Tenth Dynasty of Egypt (Herakleopolis Magna), continuation of the ninth^[2]

Middle Kingdom

• Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt (Thebes)
• Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt (Itjtawy, Faiyum region)
• Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt (Itjtawy)

Second Intermediate Period

• Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt (Avaris)
• Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (Avaris)
• Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt (obscure, Thebes or Avaris)
• Abydos dynasty (obscure, Abydos)
• Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (Thebes), concurrent to the Fifteenth Dynasty

New Kingdom

• Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (Thebes, Amarna, then again Thebes)
• Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (Thebes, Memphis, then Pi-Ramesses)
• Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (Pi-Ramesses)

Third Intermediate Period

• Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt (Tanis)
  • High Priests of Amun at Thebes
• Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt (Bubastis)
• Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt (obscure, perhaps Herakleopolis Magna, Hermopolis Magna, or Thebes)
• Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt (Sais, Western Nile Delta)
• Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (Memphis, under foreign control of Napata, Nubia)

Late Period

• Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (Sais)
• Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt or the First Egyptian Satrapy (under control of the First Persian Empire)
• Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt (Sais)
• Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt (Mendes)
• Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt (Sebennytos)
• Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt or the Second Egyptian Satrapy (under control of the First Persian Empire)

Graeco-Roman Period

• Ptolemaic dynasty (Alexandria)
• Roman Period (Alexandria, under control of Rome)

See also

• List of Pharaohs
• Egyptian chronology
• Conventional Egyptian chronology

Chart example

1. Starting on the far right of this chart, only one dynasty lasted over 250 years (18th dynasty). Two dynasties lasted between 200 and 225 years (two boxes). One dynasty lasted between 175 and 200 years (one box, etc.)

References

1. Wilkinson, Toby (2010). "Timeline". The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. New York: Random House. p. xiii. ISBN 9781408810026. The system of dynasties devised in the third century B.C. is not without its problems—for example, the Seventh Dynasty is now recognized as being wholly spurious, while several dynasties are known to have ruled concurrently in different parts of Egypt...
2. Seidlmayer, Stephan (2000). Shaw, Ian, ed. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. p. 118. ISBN 0-19-815034-2. After the 8th Dynasty power was held by a succession of rulers originating from Herakleopolis Magna, which was located in northern Middle Egypt. These kings appear as both the 9th and 10th Dynasties in Manetho's history, having been mistakenly subdivided in the course of the transmission of the original king-list.