The Empires of Egypt and Nubia

Collide

Synopsis: Two empires along the Nile, Egypt and Nubia, forged commercial, cultural, and political connections.

The Age of Builders

The Empires of Egypt and Nubia CollidePart 4

Like the Old Kingdom with its towering Pyramids, rulers of the New Kingdom erected magnificent palaces, temples, and tombs. In search of security in the afterlife, they hid their splendid tombs beneath desert cliffs.

In this way, the tombs of the pharaohs would not be plundered by grave robbers and looters. The site they chose was the remote Valley of the Kings near Thebes.

Beside royal tombs, the pharaohs of this period also built great palaces and magnificent temples

. Indeed, the word pharaoh means “great house” and comes from this time period. The word became a royal title.

Ramses II, whose reign extended from approximately 1290 to 1224 B.C., stood out among the great builders of the New Kingdom. He lived to the age of 99 and was the father of 150 children.

At Karnak, he added to a monumental temple to Amon (AH muhn), Egypt’s chief god.

Ramses also ordered a temple to be carved into the red sandstone cliffs above the Nile River at Abu Simbel (AH boo SIHM buhl).

Egypt’s last great pharaoh ordered these temples decorated with enormous statues if himself.

The ears alone measured over three feet.