The Eighteenth Dynasty marks the beginning of the New Kingdom. Various pharaohs extended the control of Egypt further than ever before, retaking control of Nubia and extending power northwards into the Upper Euphrates, the lands of the Hittites, and Mitanni.The new kingdom period includes dynasties 18,19 and 20.

Eighteenth Dynasty

This was a time of great wealth and power for Egypt. Hatshepsut was a pharaoh at this time. Hatshepsut is unusual as she was a female pharaoh, a rare occurrence in Egyptian history. She was an ambitous and competent leader, extending Egyptian trade south into present-day Somalia and north into the Mediterranean. She ruled for twenty years through a combination of widespread propaganda and deft political skill. By the time of Amenophis III (1417 BC–1379 BC), Egypt had become so wealthy that he did nothing to further extend its powers and instead rested upon his throne gilded with Nubian gold. He was succeeded by his son Amenophis IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten. He moved the capital to a new city he built and called it Akhetaten. Here with his new wife Nefertiti, he concentrated on building his new religion and ignored the world outside of Egypt. This allowed various underground factions to build that were not happy with his new world. The new religion was something that had never happened before in Egypt. Previously, new gods came along and were absorbed into the culture, but no god was allowed to push out any old ones. Akhenaten, however, formed a monotheistic religion around Aten, the sun disc. Worship of all other gods was banned, and this move is what caused the majority of the internal unrest. The relationship between Akhenaten's introduction of monotheism, and the biblical character of Moses, who is located in Egypt at a similar (although not necessarily simultaneous) period, is both unclear and controversial.

A new culture of art was introduced during this time that was more naturalistic and a complete turnabout from the stylised frieze that had ruled Egyptian art for the last 1700 years. Concerning art and Akhenaten, an area of interest to many Egyptologists is the peculiarity of Akhenaten's physical features.

Many pharaohs are portrayed in a stylized manner however, Akhenaten is shown in paintings and carvings with unusually feminine features, specifically wide hips and elongated, delicate facial features.

Some theories assume that the depiction is accurate and not stylized, suggesting that Akhenaten suffered from birth defects which were common among the royal families.

Towards the end of his 17-year reign, Akhenaten took a co-regent, Smenkhkare, who is sometimes considered to be his brother. Their co-reign lasted only 2 years. When Akhenaten died, worship of the old gods was revived. In truth, their worship had never ended, but had instead gone underground. Smenkhkare died after a few months of sole reign, and in his place was crowned a young boy. He was not ready for the pressure of ruling this great country, and the advisors that surrounded him made the decisions for him. His given name was Tutankhaton, but with the resurgence of Amun, he was re-named Tutankhamun. One of the most influential advisors was General Horemheb. Tutankhamun died while he was still a teenager and was succeeded by Ay, who probably married Tutankhamun's widow to strengthen his claim to the throne. It is possible that Horemheb made Ay a monarch to act as a transitional king until he was ready to take over. In any case, when Ay died, Horemheb became ruler, and a new period of positive rule began. He set about securing internal stability and re-establishing the prestige that the country had before the reign of Akhenaten.

Nineteenth Dynasty

The Nineteenth Dynasty was founded by general Ramesses I, appointed heir by Horemhab. He only reigned for about a year and was followed by his son Seti I (or Sethos I). Sethos I carried on the good work of Horemheb in restoring power, control, and respect to Egypt. He also was responsible for creating the fantastic temple at Abydos. Seti I and his son Ramesses II are the only two pharaohs known to have been circumcised, although quite why they had this performed is somewhat of a mystery. Ramesses II, his son and successor, reigned for 67 years from the age of 18 and carried on his father's work and created many more splendid temples, such as that of Abu Simbel. Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a poem about him called Ozymandias.

The time frame for the reign of Ramesses II is often believed to have coincided with the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, as Rameses II built his capital Per-Ramses, on the site of Hyksos Avaris, shifting the capital of Egypt to the Delta (the land of Goshen). Others dispute this claim, setting exodus as an earlier or later event, or disputing whether Exodus was a historical event at all. There are no records in Egyptian history of any of the events described in the Bible, nor any archaeological evidence. Indeed, even though there are records so detailed as to describe the escape of a pair of minor convicts from Egyptian territory, there is no such record for hundreds of thousands of Israelite slaves. Linguistic studies have drawn certain potential origins for elements of biblical history, although they do conflict substantially with the biblical accounts - for example, records about the Sea Peoples may ndicate that the Israelite tribe of Dana and possibly Asher attacked Egypt during the later 19th and early 20th Dynasty, although they also indicate that these tribes were allied with the Philistines rather than against them.

Ramesses II was succeeded by his son Merneptah and then by Merenptah's son Seti II. Seti II's throne seems to have been disputed by his half-brother Amenmesse, who may have temporarily ruled from Thebes. Upon his death, Seti II's polio afflicted son, Siptah, was appointed to the throne by Chancellor Bay, an Asiatic commoner who served as vizier behind the scenes. On Siptah's early death, the throne was assumed by Twosret dowager queen of Seti II (and possibly Amenmesses's sister). A period of anarchy at the end of Twosret's short reign, saw a native reaction to foreign control, led by Setnakhte who reigned for less than 12 months before passing the throne to his mature son, Ramesses III. These last two kings were pharaohs of the Twentieth Dynasty. Rameses III, after saving Egypt through a number of battles, with Libyans and Sea People, was followed by a number of short-lived reigns by pharaohs all called Ramesses.

The twentieth dynasty

The Twentieth dynasty of ancient Egypt was founded by Setnakhte, but its only important member was Ramesses III, who modelled his career after Ramesses II the Great. This dynasty is considered to be the last one of the New Kingdom of Egypt, and was followed by the Third Intermediate Period.

The period of these rulers is notable for the beginning of the systematic robbing of the Royal Tombs. Many surviving administrative documents from this period are records of investigations and punishment for these crimes, especially in the reigns of Ramesses IX and Ramesses XI.

As happened under the Nineteenth Dynasty had, this struggled under the effects of the bickering between the heirs of its strongest ruler, a group whom Diodorus Siculus described as "confirmed sluggards devoted only to indulgence and luxury," without "any deed worthy of historical note."

However, at this time Egypt was increasingly beset by a series of droughts, below-normal flooding levels of the Nile, famine, civil unrest and official corruption – all of which would limit the managerial abilities of any king.

The power of the last king, Ramesses XI, grew so weak that in the south the High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the effective defacto rulers of Upper Egypt, while Smendes controlled Lower Egypt even before Ramesses XI's death.

Smendes would found the Twenty-first dynasty at Tanis.