Third Intermediate Period of Egypt in the context of "Capital of Egypt"

The Greek Dark Ages (c. 1180–800 BC) was a period in Ancient Greece characterized by societal collapse of civilization, where the palaces and cities of the Mycenaeans were either destroyed, abandoned, or both.

At around the same time, the Hittite civilization in modern-day Turkey also suffered serious disruption and collapse, with cities from Troy to Gaza being destroyed. Moreover, in Egypt, the New Kingdom fell into disarray, leading to the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. Following this mass destruction, there were fewer, smaller settlements, which suggests widespread famine and depopulation. On the Greek mainland, the Linear B script, used by Mycenaean bureaucrats to write the Greek language, ceased to be used. The later Greek alphabet did not develop until hundreds of years later, in the beginning of the Protohistoric Iron Age, c. 800 BC.

The New Kingdom, also called the Egyptian Empire, refers to ancient Egypt between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC. This period of ancient Egyptian history covers the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties. Through radiocarbon dating, the establishment of the New Kingdom has been placed between 1570 and 1544 BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was the most prosperous time for ancient Egypt and marked the peak of its power.

In 1845, the concept of a "New Kingdom" as one of three "golden ages" was coined by German scholar Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen; the original definition would evolve significantly throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The later part of this period, under the Nineteenth Dynasty (1295–1189 BC) and the Twentieth Dynasty (1189–1069 BC), is also known as the Ramesside period. It is named after the eleven pharaohs who took the name Ramesses, after Ramesses I, who founded the Nineteenth Dynasty, and his grandson Ramesses II, who was its longest-reigning monarch.

The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties together constitute an era known as the Ramesside period owing to the predominance of rulers with the given name "Ramesses". This dynasty is generally considered to mark the beginning of the decline of Ancient Egypt, coinciding with the Bronze Age Collapse which led to the end of the New Kingdom and the onset of the Third Intermediate Period. During the period of the Twentieth Dynasty, Ancient Egypt faced the crisis of invasions by Sea Peoples. Though the dynasty was able to successfully defend Egypt, it left the kingdom seriously crippled.

The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Kushite invasion.

The 25th dynasty was a line of pharaohs who originated in the Kingdom of Kush, located in present-day northern Sudan and Upper Egypt. Most of this dynasty's kings saw Napata as their spiritual homeland. They reigned in part or all of Ancient Egypt for nearly a century, from 744 to 656 BC.

Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (1932 – 6 February 2025) was a British biblical scholar, Ancient Near Eastern historian, and Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England. He specialised in the ancient Egyptian Ramesside Period (i.e., Dynasties 19-20), and the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt, as well as ancient Egyptian chronology, having written over 250 books and journal articles on these and other subjects since the mid-1950s. He has been described by The Times as "the very architect of Egyptian chronology".

The Sargonid dynasty was the final ruling dynasty of Assyria, ruling as kings of Assyria during the Neo-Assyrian Empire for just over a century from the ascent of Sargon II in 722 BC to the fall of Assyria in 609 BC. Although Assyria would ultimately fall during their rule, the Sargonid dynasty ruled the country during the apex of its power and Sargon II's three immediate successors Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BC), Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BC) and Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631 BC) are generally regarded as three of the greatest Assyrian monarchs. Though the dynasty encompasses seven Assyrian kings, two vassal kings in Babylonia and numerous princes and princesses, the term Sargonids is sometimes used solely for Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal.

Though the Sargonid dynasty only encompasses the reigns of a few kings, their rule saw the borders of the empire grow to encompass the entire Ancient Near East, the East Mediterranean, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, and they witnessed the subjugation of rivals such as Babylonia, Elam, Persia, Urartu, Lydia, the Medes, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Israel, Judah, Phoenicia, Chaldea, Canaan, the Kushite Empire, the Arabs, and Egypt, as Assyria's rivals were either completely conquered or made vassals.

The Twenty-third Dynasty was an Ancient Egyptian dynasty of ancient Libyan origin which is usually classified as the third dynasty of the ancient Egyptian Third Intermediate Period in modern periodization. This dynasty consisted of a number of Meshwesh-descended kings ruling over parts of Egypt in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. Scholars are divided on the definition and composition of what they label the 23rd Dynasty.