Egyptian Pharaohs Family Tree Dynasties 1 to 31

Hi, this is Matt Baker. Today, I'm going to show you a set of family trees that, taken together, are longer than any other set of historical trees that I have ever covered on this channel. I'm going to be going through the entire history of Egyptian pharaohs, all the way from Dynasty 1 to Dynasty 31. That's almost 3,000 years of history, so we've got a lot of ground to cover. I'll be using my Ancient History Family Trees chart, which is available as a poster from our website UsefulCharts.com. But since that chart only covers Dynasties 18 to 31, I'll also be using this chart, which was made by a fan, and which covers Dynasties 1 through 17. But first, let me introduce you to today's sponsor, Blinkist. Blinkist is an app that does something very similar to what I'm doing in today's video. It takes a massive amount of information and condenses it down so that you can get the main ideas from best-selling books in a short amount of time, sometimes in as little as 15 minutes. So, for example, in their library of over 5,500 books, I found several about Egypt, including this Introduction to Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw, this intriguing book about secret codes, and this one called When Women Ruled the World, which covers the history of six famous Egyptian queens. Blinkist gives you the option to either read the main ideas, which they call Blinks, or to listen to them. I chose to listen and was able to learn several interesting facts, which I will be incorporating into this video. Blinkist also has podcasts and a new feature called Blinkist Spaces, which allows you to share titles that you liked with others, even if they don't have a membership. So, to get 25% off Blinkist's annual premium, you can start your 7-day free trial right now by using the QR code on screen or by clicking the link in the description or pinned comment. Okay, the first thing I want to address is the word Pharaoh. This word was not actually used to refer to the ruler of Egypt until the 18th dynasty. Prior to this, the more accurate term for a ruler of Egypt would simply be king. Originally, the word Pharaoh referred to the entire royal palace, not just one person. Kind of like how nowadays we use the phrase the White House to refer to the US President's entire administration, instead of just the President. That said, in this video, I'm going to use the word Pharaoh from the very beginning because informally, that's the term that we usually use for any ancient ruler of Egypt. And I'm actually going to start with what some Egyptologists call Dynasty Zero. This includes a handful of pharaohs that we know ruled before Dynasty One, such as Irihor and Scorpion. What you see on the left is the name Irihor written in hieroglyphs. This is actually the earliest known writing we have of a person's name in all of world history so that's pretty cool. And the image on the right is the earliest depiction we have of a pharaoh. It's unclear whether his name was actually Scorpion or whether that was just some sort of nickname. Both of these Dynasty Zero pharaohs ruled from a city in Upper Egypt called Nakata. Now don't be confused by the fact that Upper Egypt is located below Lower Egypt. The names are based on the way that the Nile River flows, which is south. So think of it this way, Lower Egypt is downriver and Upper Egypt is upriver. Prior to Dynasty One, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt had separate rulers. The ruler of Lower Egypt wore a red crown that looked like this, whereas the ruler of Upper Egypt wore a white crown that looked like this. Once Egypt was unified, the pharaohs began wearing a double crown, which was a combination of the two. Which brings me to Narmer. Narmer was the first pharaoh to rule both Lower and Upper Egypt. He was likely a member of the same dynasty as Irihor and Scorpion, but he managed to conquer Lower Egypt and thus unite Egypt for the first time. This is why he's considered to be the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty. You can see him depicted here wearing the crown of Upper Egypt and then again here wearing the crown of Lower Egypt. Now you might have also heard of a pharaoh named Menes, who later sources credit with being the one to unite Egypt. Well, take note that nowadays, most Egyptologists think that Menes was simply another name for Narmer. We don't actually know much about Dynasty I, but we do know the names of each pharaoh thanks to various king lists made later, such as this one, located at the temple of Seti I. The first eight pharaohs on the list represent those from Dynasty I. The assumption is that these were all father-son successions, but we don't actually know for sure. So just keep in mind that a lot of these family trees, especially the oldest ones, involve quite a bit of guesswork. Even the dates are estimates and could vary as much as 100 years on either side. Note that this chart highlights Queen Merneith, the wife of Pharaoh Jet. She's the first queen mentioned in the book When Women Ruled the World because she is the earliest known example of a queen regent. Basically, Jet died when their son Den was still a child and therefore Merneith ruled until which time Den was old enough to take over the throne. Note also that both Jet and Merneith were the children of Pharaoh Jer. This means that they were both husband and wife AND brother and sister, a practice that was actually common for Egyptian pharaohs, all the way to the time of Cleopatra. So yeah, if you thought the Habsburgs were gross, well, they ain't got nothing on these guys. One other thing we know about Dynasty I is that they practiced human sacrifice upon the death of a pharaoh. They believed that the pharaoh would need help in the afterlife. So when a pharaoh died, they killed some of his servants and soldiers and buried them alongside him so that he wouldn't be alone. For example, in Pharaoh Jer's tomb, archaeologists found over 500 other bodies, some of whom appeared to have been strangled. Fortunately, this practice was abandoned during Dynasty II when real humans were replaced by mini-figurines called ushabti. We actually know even less about Dynasty II than we do about Dynasty I. It is even unclear exactly how many pharaohs there were and how they were related to each other, which is why there's no lines shown in this section. However, things change when we come to the final ruler of Dynasty II, Pharaoh Khazak Khamene. Large building projects started during his reign and he is the first known pharaoh to commission statues of himself. He was perhaps the father of the next pharaoh, Djoser, who is notable for many reasons. Not only is Djoser considered the founder of a new dynasty, Dynasty III, he's also considered the founder of the Old Kingdom. Basically, in the history of ancient Egypt, there were three periods during which Egypt was exceptionally strong and prosperous. These are called the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. Whereas the center of royal power during Dynasties I and II was mostly based in Upper Egypt, by the time the Old Kingdom began, it had been moved to Lower Egypt. It was there that Djoser built the very first Egyptian pyramid, known as the Step Pyramid. It's less than half the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza but still ranks number 10 on the list of the tallest surviving pyramids in Egypt. The architect of this pyramid was a high priest named Imhotep who was also a physician. He was later deified and worshipped as a god. But don't get him confused with the main bad guy character from the 1999 movie The Mummy. That Imhotep is based on a fictional character from the much later 19th Dynasty. Anyhow, the rest of the pharaohs in Dynasty III are, once again, difficult to place on a tree. Although the last one, Huni, may have been the father of the first It was during the Fourth Dynasty that the Old Kingdom reached its peak and it was this dynasty that built the most famous pyramids. Sneferu built at least three – the Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid at Dahshur and the Collapsed Pyramid at Midun. But it was his son Khufu who built the most famous pyramid of all, the Great Pyramid of Giza, which for about 4,000 years held the record for the tallest human structure ever built. It, like most other Egyptian pyramids, was built to serve as a tomb for the pharaoh. The next tallest pyramid, also located at Giza, was built by his son Khafre. But what most people don't know is that Khafre was actually preceded by his older brother Jadephri and that Jadephri built a pyramid too, although he built his 8 km north of Giza. Jadephri's pyramid is known as the Lost Pyramid because while it is known to have been completed, it was, at some point, completely destroyed. And all that remains of it today is this. Originally, it, as well as all the other pyramids in Egypt, would have looked something like this. However, for whatever reason, Jadephri died and was replaced by his brother Khafre, who decided to build his pyramid right next to that of his father Khufu. But he didn't stop there. Khafre also built the famous Sphinx statue next to his pyramid. Now, there are all sorts of theories out there about how the Sphinx may actually have been built much, much earlier. But these are all dismissed by serious scholars who virtually all agree that it was built by Khafre. The third and smallest pyramid at Giza was built by Khafre's son Menkaure, who was the next pharaoh. He, in turn, was followed by his son Shepseskif who, for some unknown reason, did not build himself a pyramid but rather a much smaller tomb instead. Maybe the economy was getting weaker or the power of the dynasty was declining because it was after his death that we get a new dynasty – Dynasty 5. The first pharaoh of that dynasty, Userkaf, was perhaps married to one of Shepseskif's sisters. But keep in mind that this, like many parts of these trees, is speculative. The 5th dynasty pharaohs built pyramids as well but theirs were much smaller than those from the 4th dynasty. The most important pharaoh of this dynasty was Userkaf's son Sahuray. His mortuary temple included over 100,000 square feet of stone carvings like this one and its architectural style was copied by other pharaohs for many centuries. It was also during his reign that Egypt's navy really started to venture far and wide, from what we now call Lebanon in the north to what we now call Eritrea in the south. He was followed by his son, Neferir-Keray, who built the largest pyramid of the 5th dynasty, slightly larger than the smallest pyramid at Giza. He in turn was followed by his son, Neferefra, although a brother may have ruled briefly in between. Neferefra holds the distinction of being the earliest pharaoh for whom bodily remains have been found. As you probably know, the ancient Egyptians are well known for having preserved the bodies of important people in the form of mummies. Due to grave robberies, very few mummies from before the New Kingdom have survived and in fact we have only partial remains of two pharaohs. One of those is Neferefra and the other is his grandson, Jidkari-Essesi. Jidkari-Essesi was followed by his son, Unas, who is notable because in his tomb were found the earliest examples of pyramid texts. These were religious spells that were meant to help guide the pharaoh's spirit out of the tomb and into the afterlife. Unas did not have any heirs so at this point, they'd thrown past to his son-in-law, Teti, and thus a new dynasty was born. During the 6th dynasty, the politics in ancient Egypt experienced a major shift, with court officials, local administrators, and religious leaders gaining more power. Especially important were the nomarchs, the hereditary rulers of each gnome or province. But something else occurred during the 6th dynasty that might explain why the Old Kingdom came to such an abrupt end at this point. It was the event that most scholars now call the 4.2-kiloyear event because it occurred approximately 4,200 years ago. This major climate event caused dry conditions worldwide, which resulted not only in the fall of the Egyptian Old Kingdom but also the fall of the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization in South Asia. Interestingly, the pharaoh who ruled just prior to this event was Pepi II, who is said to have reigned for a record 94 years. This is almost certainly an exaggeration though as most scholars estimate that the length of his reign was closer to 64 years. Still, that's pretty good for an early Bronze Age ruler. The next four dynasties make up what's called the First Intermediate Period, a sort of Dark Ages between the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom. We know next to nothing about these dynasties and in fact, the 7th dynasty might not have even existed at all. According to the Ptolemaic historian Manetho, the 7th dynasty consisted of 70 rulers in 70 days, which was probably just a poetic way of saying that things got really, really bad. The 8th, 9th, and 10th dynasties were all very minor and were limited to Lower Egypt. In contrast, the 11th dynasty was based in Upper Egypt and started out as a rival to the 10th dynasty. In fact, its first five rulers should not really be considered pharaohs but rather nomarchs. But that all changed with Mentuhotep II. He managed to defeat Lower Egypt and unite the country once again. This marks the start of the Middle Kingdom when, once again, power was centralized in the hands of the pharaoh. Mentuhotep II was followed by his son, Mentuhotep III, and then by his son, Mentuhotep IV, before power then shifted to a new dynasty, Dynasty XII. The 12th dynasty began with Pharaoh Amenemhat I, who had previously been the vizier or prime minister under Mentuhotep IV. Whether he took control because Mentuhotep IV did not have any sons or whether he usurped the throne is unknown but what we do know is that he and his descendants helped the Middle Kingdom to reach new heights. For the first time ever, Egypt had a standing army and they used it to expand their borders into Nubia, to the south. They also built a canal parallel to the Nile that connected the Nile River to Lake Morris, thus creating what is today known as the Fayyum Oasis. And they revived the practice of building pyramids as tombs, although their pyramids weren't quite as big as the Old Kingdom ones and most of them have since fallen apart. One example of this is the Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III. The most important pharaoh of this dynasty, however, was Senusret III. He is thought to be the pharaoh upon which the later Greek legend of Sesostris was built. According to the Greeks, this pharaoh led an army all the way up to Anatolia and then crossed over into Europe, reaching as far as what is today Bulgaria. Tales of his exploits were so famous that Alexander the Great was initially called the new Sesostris. That said, it is extremely unlikely that Senusret or any other ancient pharaoh ever did reach Europe. However, we do have evidence that he campaigned in the land of Canaan, about 500 years before the arrival of the Israelites. Senusret III was followed by his son, Amenemhat III, who, unlike his father, was not militaristic and simply ruled peacefully during the height of the Middle Kingdom's power. Amenemhat III was followed by his son, Amenemhat IV, but apparently, Amenemhat IV died without heirs. So the throne went to his sister-wife, Sobekneferu, who became the first-ever female pharaoh to reign in her own right. She's the second of the six queens discussed in the book When Women Ruled the World. However, her reign lasted less than four years and thus, with her, the 12th dynasty came to an end. The next pharaoh was Sobekhotep I and while he might have been a son of Amenemhat IV, his reign is seen as being the beginning of a new dynasty and the end of the Middle Kingdom. At this point, Egypt entered its second intermediate period and fell into at least two parts. While the 13th dynasty continued to rule in Upper Egypt, a rival 14th dynasty eventually took over Lower Egypt, although not much is known about them since, as I mentioned earlier, these intermediate periods were kind of the equivalent of Dark Ages. The 15th dynasty, however, is very important. This was the dynasty of the Hyksos, the first foreign dynasty to rule Egypt, although take note that they were restricted to Lower Egypt. The Hyksos were basically Canaanites from what would later be known as the Land of Israel and thus there has always been a lot of speculation about how they might relate to the stories told in the Bible. Some have suggested that the story of Joseph matches well with the time period of the Hyksos because Joseph, who originally lived in the land of Canaan, ended up becoming the second command in Egypt. This would make more sense if Egypt was being ruled by fellow Canaanites. In Upper Egypt, the 13th dynasty was eventually replaced by the 16th dynasty and then by the 17th dynasty. Let's start with Pharaoh Tau, also known as Sekhnenra. There's an ancient Egyptian story called The Quarrel of Apophis and Sekhnenra. Apophis was the last major ruler of the Hyksos dynasty. In the story, he sends a letter to Sekhnenra in Thebes complaining about a pool of hippopotamuses that Sekhnenra has. Apophis claims that he can hear the noisy hippopotamuses all the way down where he lives and that they are preventing him from sleeping. While obviously not a real story, this may symbolize the growing conflict between Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt at this point because when Tau's son Kamos took over, he went to war against Apophis. However, he died before he could defeat him and therefore the task was taken over by his brother who founded the next dynasty. It's at this point that we can now switch to our Ancient History Family Trees chart, which starts with almost the first of the 18th dynasty, who was actually the son of the second-to-last pharaoh of the 17th dynasty. However, since he defeated the Hyksos and reunited Egypt, his reign marks the beginning of a new dynasty as well as the beginning of the New Kingdom. Of the three ancient Egyptian kingdoms, the New Kingdom was the largest and most powerful and therefore it is also sometimes called the Egyptian Empire. Amos I was followed by his son Amenhotep I and then by Thutmose I, who was probably his son-in-law, being the husband of his daughter Amos. However, I need to remind you that even at this point, there are still a lot of question marks when it comes to these family trees. Sometimes, a link shown on this chart between two people is just one possibility among many. So just keep that in mind going forward. Anyhow, Thutmose I was followed by his son Thutmose II but then we get one of the most famous female pharaohs of all time. When Thutmose II dies before his son, Thutmose III is ready to take the throne. What happens is that his half-sister Hatshepsut, who was also one of his wives, took over and ruled until Thutmose III came of age. And unlike her sickly brother, who didn't accomplish much, Hatshepsut took Egypt to new heights. However, when she died and Thutmose III finally took over, he proceeded to try and erase any memory of her. This of course didn't work though because we know today that Hatshepsut truly was one of the most influential pharaohs of this dynasty. But Thutmose III accomplished a lot too, especially militarily. He's been called the Napoleon of Ancient Egypt, which is a bit silly because it's probably better to say that Napoleon was the Thutmose III of modern Europe. He campaigned up as far as Syria and was one of the few pharaohs to cross the Euphrates River. Which means that he's not actually a very good candidate for being the pharaoh of the Exodus, even though, according to some literal interpretations of the Bible, the Exodus would have occurred during his reign. The reason why this doesn't make sense is that Egypt controlled pretty much all of Canaan at this time. So, if the Israelites did leave Lower Egypt during the reign of Thutmose III, they would have simply ended up in a different part of the Egyptian Empire once they reached Canaan. I'll return to this topic in a bit but first, let's continue down the tree. Thutmose III was followed by Amenhotep II, who made peace with the kingdom of Mitanni, which at the time was the main power to the north of the Egyptian Empire. He was then followed by Thutmose IV, who is known for restoring the Sphinx and for commissioning the Dreamstele, which is located between the paws of the Sphinx. Next came Amenhotep III, also known as Amenhotep the Great, who presided over the apex of ancient Egyptian art and culture. He was followed by his controversial son Akhenaten, originally known as Amenhotep IV, who decided to change the state religion so that only one god, Aten, was worshipped. This was not monotheism per se, but rather henotheism, which is the worship of only one god while acknowledging the existence of others. The timing of this religious experiment in Egypt is interesting because just a few centuries later, the idea of worshipping only one god would pop up again in the nearby kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Whether or not there is a direct link is unknown but it's certainly interesting to think about considering that the Israelite religion went on to birth Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Akhenaten is also important because of his connection to the Amarna Letters, one of the most important archaeological finds when it comes to the history of ancient Egypt. Discovered in 1887, the Amarna Letters consist of hundreds of clay tablets that record diplomatic correspondence between mostly Akhenaten and various rulers of Mesopotamian states. These letters have greatly assisted historians and linguists in understanding the culture and language of this time period. The decades following Akhenaten's reign are a bit difficult to understand as there were two short-reigning pharaohs whose identities are debated. The first of these is Smenkhare, who may have been the husband of Akhenaten's daughter Meretaten or perhaps Meretaten herself. Then there was Neferneferuaten, who may have been the same person as Smenkhare or may have been somebody totally different. One popular theory is that Neferneferuaten was actually Nefertiti, the wife of Akhenaten, perhaps pretending to be a man. Whoever Neferneferuaten was, he or she was followed by one of the most well-known pharaohs of all time, Tutankhamun, or King Tut. He was actually a rather unimportant pharaoh, as pharaohs go, and is only famous because his tomb was one of the very few pharaonic tombs to be discovered almost entirely intact. Unfortunately for archaeologists, most tombs and other sites in Egypt have been robbed many times over the millennia so finding one that is mostly intact is next to impossible. But in the 1920s, archaeologists found this door with an unbroken seal leading to a room that hadn't been entered for over 3,000 years. Inside, they found artwork like this and rooms full of ancient objects like this. But perhaps most importantly, they found this box, which inside had this box, which inside had this box, which inside had this box, which inside had this final box, which inside had a mask. Lots of studies have been done on King Tut's remains and one thing we know for sure is that he was very unhealthy, probably due to all the inbreeding. We also now know, thanks to advances in DNA research, that King Tut's mother was not Nefertiti but rather a woman previously labelled as the Younger Lady and we also know that his mother and father were full siblings. Due to his poor health, King Tut only lived to be 19 and following his death, it appears that Nefertiti's father, who was also Akhenaten's uncle, took over for a few years. He was then followed by Nefertiti's brother-in-law, Horemheb. One of the most important things Horemheb did was start to erase all evidence of Akhenaten's deviant religion. By this point, Egypt had reverted to its usual polytheism so anyone who continued to support the worship of only one god was considered a heretic. Dynasty 18 had run out of possible heirs so when Horemheb died, his former vizier took over and became Ramses I, thus establishing a new dynasty, Dynasty 19. Ramses himself did not reign long but as soon as his son Seti I took power, the new dynasty really started to take off. Seti I would probably have been remembered as one of the greatest pharaohs ever if it had not been for the fact that his son Ramses II was even greater, which is why he's called Ramses the Great. Part of the reason for that is that he lived for a really long time, probably more than 90 years, resulting in a reign of 66 years. During this time, he fought against the Hittites, led by King Hattusili III. But eventually, the two powers negotiated a peace treaty, which involved Ramses marrying Hattusili's daughter Mathurnapheru. He had previously been married to a woman named Nefertari, who he obviously respected quite a bit because for the first and only time in Egyptian history, the pharaoh built a statue of her that was the same size as his own. But I don't mean to give the impression that Ramses was humble because he was not. He built lots of massive statues of himself, including these ones of him sitting, located in Nubia. Then there was this one, now broken, the head now displayed at the British Museum. It's the statue that Persebyshe Shelley wrote the poem Ozymandias about, Ozymandias being the Greek name for Ramses. According to most scholars, Ramses the Great was probably also the inspiration for the character of Pharaoh in the Bible's Exodus story. The context for that story fits much better with the reign of Ramses than it does with the earlier mentioned Thutmose III. Not that I'm saying that the Exodus story should be taken literally. I don't think that it should be. But it is likely that the story does contain a kernel of a historical memory and that that memory probably has something to do with the Israelites being subjugated sometime during the 18th and 19th dynasties. In fact, we have written evidence that Ramses' son and heir, Merneptah, at least claimed to have subjugated the Israelites. He says so in the Merneptah Stele, which contains the earliest known mention of the people of Israel outside of the Bible. But the archaeological record also shows that after this point, Egypt lost control of Canaan, which allowed the Israelites to flourish, indicating that this sequence of events around this time might be what the Exodus story is really all about. After Merneptah, two of his sons fought for the throne, with Seti II emerging as the victor. But when Seti II died and then his heir Sipta died, one of Merneptah's daughters, named Tuosret, ended up on the throne. However, this led to another civil war, which ended with a relative named Setnakte on the throne. Setnakte was either a grandson of Ramses the Great, via another line, or perhaps a lower-ranking son of Merneptah. Either way, his ascension marks the beginning of a new dynasty, Dynasty 20, during which time Setnakte's son, Ramses III, became the last great pharaoh of the New Kingdom. This is because it was during his reign that one of the most important events in ancient history occurred, the Bronze Age Collapse. For some reason, all of the major civilizations along the eastern Mediterranean Sea, such as the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Hittites, all rapidly declined at the exact same time, resulting in what's been called the Greek Dark One of the reasons for this decline, or perhaps one of the results, was the emergence of the Sea Peoples. Ramses III was suddenly forced to defend Egypt against a massive attack from the sea. He managed to repel the attack but in the decades that followed, Egypt got weaker and weaker. This was not helped by the fact that after his death, four different branches of the family fought for power. After Ramses III came a Ramses IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI. With the death of Ramses XI, Egypt once again effectively split in two, ushering in the Third Intermediate Period, yet another Dark Ages. This time, Lower Egypt continued to be ruled by pharaohs, Dynasty 21. But Upper Egypt was, for the first time, ruled by priests, the High Priests of Amun. Note that both Smendes I, the founder of the 21st Dynasty, and Penedjem I, the High Priest of Amun, married daughters of Ramses XI. This period of disunity ended with the rise of yet another foreign dynasty, this time from Libya. Originally, they had held the title Great Chiefs of Mah but eventually, Shawshank I, who had served as Egypt's top general, became pharaoh, ushering in the 22nd Dynasty. He named one of his sons as High Priest of Amun, thus bringing both Upper and Lower Egypt under his control. Shawshank I also holds the distinction of being the first pharaoh to be mentioned by name in the Bible. This is because it is at this point in the biblical story that the narrative moves from legendary material to more historical material. So basically, it was the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt that overlapped with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as well as the rise of the Assyrian Empire. If you want to learn more about the various pharaohs mentioned by name in the Bible, you can check out our video on that topic, which I'll link to in the description. The unification ushered in by Shawshank I lasted only about 100 years. Eventually, his tree split in two directions, with one part controlling Upper Egypt as Dynasty 23 and the other part continuing to rule Lower Egypt as Dynasty 22. The situation became even more complicated when a third dynasty, called Dynasty 24, started to rule as well. However, Dynasties 22, 23, and 24 all came to an end when Pie, the King of Kush, also known as Nubia, came north and managed to defeat them all. He founded the 25th Dynasty, during which time Egypt was simply a part of the much larger Kushite Empire. This is why the of the 25th Dynasty are sometimes called the Black Pharaohs, indicating that they were probably darker-skinned. However, this feeds the idea that all the other pharaohs of Egypt were white, which they most likely were not. But I'm not saying that they were black either. The fact of the matter is that the concept of race as we understand it today didn't exist then and the best that we can determine from DNA studies is that most pharaohs were not too different from Middle Eastern people today, who are quite varied in their appearance. Here's how various Egyptians were depicted during the Roman era. This should give you an idea of what some of the pharaohs probably looked like too. The most powerful of the Kushite pharaohs was Taharqa, who is mentioned in the Bible under the name Tirhaka. During his reign, Egypt experienced a bit of a renaissance and managed to hold off the growing Assyrian Empire for several decades. But eventually, the Assyrians got a foothold in Egypt and in 664 BCE, they placed a puppet pharaoh named Psamtik I on the throne, establishing Dynasty 26. Dynasty 26 marks the shift from the Third Intermediate Period to what's called the Egyptian Late Period. At the start of this period, Assyria experienced a rapid decline and therefore Psamtik I went from being a puppet ruler to being an independent ruler. He was followed by his son, Necho II, who, among other things, is remembered for having killed King Josiah of Judah. However, the greatest pharaoh of this dynasty was Amos II, who actually may not have been a male line of Psamtik I. His exact connection to the tree is unknown but at the very least, he was married to one of the daughters of the previous pharaoh, Aprys. Amos II is often considered to have been the last great native pharaoh because after his death, Egypt fell to the Achaemenid Persians. The Achaemenid Empire was established by Cyrus the Great but Cyrus himself never managed to conquer Egypt. This task was left to his son, Cambyses II. Cambyses became pharaoh in 525 BCE and this marks the beginning of the 27th Dynasty of Egypt, which consisted of whoever was king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire. So, in addition to Cambyses II, this dynasty also included Darius the Great, Xerxes the Great, and Artaxerxes I. However, during the reign of Artaxerxes' son, Darius II, Egypt managed to revolt and achieve independence under a pharaoh named Amorteus, who may have been a descendant of the 26th. However, his reign is considered to be the 28th dynasty, even though it wasn't actually a dynasty at all since he was the only member of it. His reign was followed by the reign of another general, Nephthysratus I and his son Hacorus, who together make up Dynasty 29. Then we get another general taking over, named Nectanebo I. He and his son Teos and his grandson Nectanebo II make up Dynasty 30, which was the last native dynasty of Egypt because in 342 BCE, Egypt was once again conquered by Persia under the reign of Artaxerxes III. Artaxerxes III, Artaxerxes IV, and Darius III make up Dynasty 31, the last of the numbered dynasties of Egypt because after this, Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great. Note that he and his initial heirs are not considered Dynasty 32. Of course, soon after Alexander the Great, Egypt came to be ruled by the Ptolemies, the descendants of Ptolemy I, who had been one of Alexander's generals. I'm not going to go through the Ptolemaic dynasty because we've already done a video on them, which I'll simply link to in the description. But I'll go ahead and tell you how the story ends because you likely already know. The Ptolemaic dynasty eventually leads to the famous female pharaoh named Cleopatra, who was lovers with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Following her death, Egypt became part of the Roman Empire. And while the Roman emperors did technically hold the title of pharaoh, this practice was eventually abandoned following the reign of Maximinus Daza in 313 CE and was never resurrected. So that was a look at some of the family trees of Egyptian pharaohs, all the way from Dynasty I to Dynasty 31. If you like getting a bunch of knowledge in a short amount of time, don't forget to check out Blinkist by clicking the link in the description or pinned comment. Thanks for watching.