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King List

Predynastic Nekhen

LATE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD
Dynasty 0 (Terminal Nagada): 3250-3050
About 9-13 kings ruling from Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt.
The last four have identifiable (although not always
legible) names:
 

ARCHAIC PERIOD
(a.k.a. EARLY DYNASTIC)

Dynasty I: 3050-2857

Dynasty II: 2857-2705

OLD KINGDOM
Dynasty III: 2705-2630

Dynasty IV: 2630-2524

Dynasty V: 2524 2400

Dynasty VI: 2400-2250?

Dynasty VII: 2250?-2230
A group of 10 kings are recorded in the Abydos kinglist but are
omitted in the Turin Canon of Kings (a Netjerkare [Abydos] = Neitiqerti [Turin]).
Contemporary sources record the prenomens: Neferkare II . . . . . Sekhemkare . . .
Wadjkare (sequence of rule uncertain).

Dynasty VIII: 2230-2213

Six kings, the last 4 of which are known from contemporary sources:

The attribution of the nomens Imhotep and Iti (from graffiti in the Wadi Hammamat)
is very uncertain. Neferkaure is generally identified with Horus Kha[bau?] and
Neferirkare II with Horus Demedjibtawy of the Coptus Decrees, but this is uncertain.
Horus Netjeribau definitely is Neferkauhor.

FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

Dynasty IX: 2213-ca. 2175
Four kings who ruled at Heracleopolis and were vaguely recognized throughout Egypt.
Their sequence is not clear:

Dynasty XI: 2134-1991

In many traditional chronologies, Theban Dynasty XI is included in the
Middle Kingdom, not the First Intermediate Period. However, in recent times
this notion has been revised among certain Egyptologists. The dynasty existed
about 143 years, of which 99 years were spent in a state of civil war with the
kingdom divided and only 44 years with the kingdom united in relative peace.
Importantly, those final 44 years were a period of political consolidation and
nation-building, which only came to fruition at the beginning of Dynasty XII.
It is unjustifiable then to consider Dynasty XI as the start of the Middle Kingdom.

MIDDLE KINGDOM
Dynasty XII: 1991-1784

Dynasty XIII: 1784-1668

At least 65 kings who ruled over all of Egypt for 116 years until about 1720
when they lost the Delta to invading Asiatics. The political capital was at
Itjy-tawy, and the dynasty was recognized in the far south as late as ca. 1675.
Only Neferhotep I, his son Sihathor and Neferhotep's brother, Sebekhotep IV,
were related by blood. Some kings were of lower-class or even foreign origin.
Only kings attested in contemporary records are listed here.

SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
Dynasty XIV: 1720-1665
Perhaps as many as 76 kings who ruled in Xois in the Delta. Only one is attested in contemporary sources.
He reigned less than one year and left his name on two monuments at Avaris in the Delta:

The other kings names are recorded in subsequent Egyptian lists.
Reliable dates cannot be established for them. Was Dynasty XIV
a catch-all for a number of small Delta principalities?

Dynasty XV: 1668-1560

The Hyksos--invaders of apparent North Syrian origin and arriving from
Palestine--established their capital at Avaris and maintained direct rule
over much of northern Egypt and loose suzerainty over Asiatic and
Egyptian vassals (including the Thebans of most of Dynasty XVII) in the
rest of the country. Earlier rulers identified in later lists and
un-dateable scarabs include:

The following Hyksos rulers are attested on contemporary monuments:

Dynasty XVI: 1665-1565
Hyksos vassals in Lower and Middle Egypt concurrent with Dynasties XV
and XVII. All contemporary attestations are on scarabs; none can be dated
precisely. Some bear Egyptian names; many have clearly Semitic names:

Dynasty XVII: 1668-1570
Current usage restricts this dynasty to the Theban contemporaries of the
Hyksos (Manetho included other Hyksos vassals). They ruled as far as
Abydos and had extended their domain to Cusae under Ta 'o II, then to
the head of the Delta under Kamose. Almost all are attested in
contemporary sources:

NEW KINGDOM
Dynasty XVIII: 1570-1293

Dynasty XIX: 1293-1185

Dynasty XX: 1185-1070

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
Dynasty XXI: 1070-946
(a) Kings in Tanis:

(b) Rulers in Thebes (HP = High Priest of Amun; K = King):

Dynasty XXII: 946-712
Libyan kings ruling in Tanis and Bubastis, recognized in all of
Egypt until 828, when a rival Libyan dynasty arose in Thebes.
In 814 another rival dynasty arose in Leontopolis in the Delta.
Dynasty XXII was still recognized in Memphis and parts of the
Delta until 735 and intermittently in Thebes until 787/783.

High Priests of Amun at Thebes

In a unique power-sharing arrangement between the royal government
and the temple hierarchy, the High Priests of Amun were often appointed
from among the royal princes of Dynasties XXI and XXII
(until the Thebans established their own Dynasty XXIII in 828).
The high priests were the virtual rulers of Thebes, usually autonomous
of the royal government in the Delta. While many high priests took
on the outward trappings of kingship, most apparently recognized
the Egyptian king as a nominal overlord; (n.b., "s." = "son of"):

Dynasty XXIII (Thebes): 828-765?

In its earlier years, this dynasty held Thebes only intermittently and
presumably had a safer headquarters to the south; after 787,
Dynasty XXII is no longer attested at Thebes. See HP, below, for details.
By the time of Osorkon III, this dynasty ruled as far north as Heracleopolis.

The High Priests of Amun of this dynasty were:

Dynasty XXIII (Leontopolis): 814-730?

Dynasty XXIII (Hermopolis): 760-665?

Dynasty XXIII (Heracleopolis): 740-665?

Dynasty XXIII (Tanis): 710?-665?

This is Manetho's Dynasty XXIII, which rules at Tanis between the
end of Dynasty XXII and the rise of Dynasty XXVI under Psammetichus I.
The following kings attested archaeologically at Tanis seem to belong
to this group (sequence unknown):

Dynasty XXIV

Dynasty XXV (Kushite Era): 767-656

Nubian kings from Kush contemporary with (and more or less effective
overlords of) the petty kings of Dynasties XXII-XXIV.
Manetho includes only those who were recognized in Memphis;
we add those who were recognized in Thebes. Kashta's rule in
Nubia might have begun earlier, and that of Tanwetamani ended
later than the dates indicated here.

Dynasty XXIII

Dynasty XXIV: ca. 760-685

A Libyan dynasty of "Great Chiefs of the West" (abbr. GCW), some of
whom assumed the title of "King" (abbr. K); contemporary with
Kushite Dynasty XXV. After considerable vicissitudes (including
falling to the Kushites), members of this family finally managed (with
Assyrian help) to displace the Nubians as rulers of Egypt and develop
into Dynasty XXVI:

LATE PERIOD
Dynasty XXVI (Saite Era): 685-525

Dynasty XXVII (First Persian Domination): 525-332
Egypt was first invaded by the Persians in this period and became a satrapy of the great Persian Empire.

Certain Egyptian kings ruled sporadically in revolt during this period; dates uncertain:
In Marea (West of Alexandria):

In Sais:

Dynasty XXVIII: 405-399
In this period the Persians were first expelled from Egypt

Dynasty XXIX: 399-380

Dynasty XXX: 380-343

Dynasty XXXI (Second Persian Domination): 343-332
Egypt was invaded again and reconquered by the Persians, although
at times, they could not fully dominate the entire country.

An Egyptian king (of possibly Nubian origin) briefly controlled most
of Egypt during the Persian Dynasty XXXI. He was the last native
ruler of ancient Egypt:

GREEK AND ROMAN PERIOD
Macedonian Dynasty: 332-304

Three kings consisting of Alexander the Great, his half-brother, and
his son--they never resided in Egypt but governed from Babylon, the
capital of Alexander's Macedonian Empire. Alexander was said to
have been buried in Alexandria, Egypt. In this period, Egypt was directly
administered by the satrap, Ptolemy Lagos, the friend of Alexander
who later proclaimed himself king of Egypt.

Ptolemaic Era: 304-30
Dynasty founded by Ptolemy Lagos with its capital at Alexandria.
It consisted of 19 kings and queens-regnant, all of pure Macedonian origin;
characterized by frequent intermarriage between the king and his sister,
often with the queen or queen-mother as coregent ruling with the king.
Overweaning ambition and greed in the royal family was the cause of
frequent palace coups and assasinations, with kings and despots frequently
losing and regaining the throne (all of which tends to confuse the
chronology).