List of pharaohs

Early dynastic: Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt, known as the Black Land, consisted of the northern Nile and the Nile Delta. The following list may not be complete:

Early dynastic: Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt, known as the Red Land, consisted of the southern Nile and the deserts. The following list may not be complete (there are many more of uncertain existence):

First Dynasty
The First Dynasty ruled from c.3050 BC to 2890 BC.

Second Dynasty
The Second Dynasty ruled from 2890 to 2686 BC.

Old Kingdom
The Old Kingdom is period in the third millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilisational complexity and achievement (the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods which mark the high points of civilization in the Nile Valley), spanning the period when Egypt was ruled by the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty (2630–2151 BC). Many Egyptologists also include the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in the Old Kingdom as a continuation of the administration centralised at Memphis. The Old Kingdom was followed by a period of disunity and relative cultural decline referred to by Egyptologists as the First Intermediate Period -- or, as the Egyptians called it, the "first illness."

The royal capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom was located at Memphis, where Djoser established his court. The Old Kingdom is perhaps best known, however for the large number of pyramids which were constructed at this time as pharaonic burial places. For this reason, the Old Kingdom is frequently referred to as "the Age of the Pyramids".

Third Dynasty
The Third Dynasty ruled from 2686 to 2613 BC.

Fourth Dynasty
The Fourth Dynasty ruled from 2613 to 2498 BC and included the pharaohs who had the Great Pyramids built, Khufu (Cheops), Khafra (Chephren) and Menkaura (Mycerinus).

Fifth Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty ruled from 2498 to 2345 BC.

Sixth Dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty ruled from 2345 to 2181 BC.

First intermediate period
The First Intermediate Period is the period between the end of the Old Kingdom and the advent of the Middle Kingdom.

The Old Kingdom rapidly collapsed after the death of Pepi II. He had reigned for 94 years, longer than any monarch in history, and died aged 100. The latter years of his reign were marked by ineffeciency because of his advanced age.

The Union of the Two Kingdoms fell apart and regional leaders had to cope with the resulting famine.

Around 2160 BC, a new line of pharaohs tried to reunite Lower Egypt from their capital in Herakleopolis Magna. In the meantime, however, a rival line based at Thebes was reuniting Upper Egypt and a clash between the two rival dynasties was inevitable.

Around 2055 BC, a descendant of the pharaoh Intef III defeated the Herakleopolitan pharaohs, reunited the Two Lands, founded the Eleventh Dynasty and ruled as Mentuhotep II, the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom.

Seventh and Eighth Dynasties (combined)
The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties ruled from 2181 to 2160 BC. (This table is based on the Abydos Table from the Temple of Seti I, taken from www.narmer.pl/main/abydos_en.html)

Ninth Dynasty
The Ninth Dynasty ruled from 2160 to 2130 BC.

Tenth Dynasty
The Tenth Dynasty was a local group that held sway over Lower Egypt that ruled from 2130 to 2040 BC.

Eleventh Dynasty
The Eleventh Dynasty was a local group with roots in Upper Egypt that ruled from 2134 to 1991 BC.

Middle Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom is the period from the end of the First Intermediate Period to be beginning of the Second Intermediate Period. In addition to the Twelfth Dynasty, some scholars include the Eleventh, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties in the Middle Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom can be noted for the expansion of trade outside of the kingdom that occurred during this time. This opening of trade eventually led to the downfall of the Middle Kingdom, induced by an invasion from the Hyksos.

Twelfth Dynasty
The Twelfth Dynasty ruled from 1991 to 1802 BC, and is considered by later Egyptians to have been their greatest dynasty.

Second intermediate period
The Second Intermediate Period is a period of disarray between the end of the Middle Kingdom, and the start of the New Kingdom. It is best known as when the Hyksos made their appearance in Egypt, whose reign comprised the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties.

The Thirteenth Dynasty was much weaker than the Twelfth Dynasty, and was unable to hold onto the long land of Egypt. The provincial ruling family in Xois, located in the marshes of the western Delta, broke away from the central authority to form the Fourteenth Dynasty.

The Hyksos made their first appearance during the reign of Sobekhotep IV, and around 1720 BC took control of the town of Avaris (the modern Tell ed-Dab'a/Khata'na). The Hyksos, led by Salitis, the founder of the Fifteenth Dynasty, overran Egypt during the reign of Dudimose I.

Around the time Memphis fell to the Hyksos, the native Egyptian ruling house in Thebes declared its independence and set itself up as the Seventeenth Dynasty. This dynasty eventually drove the Hyksos back into Asia

Thirteenth Dynasty
The Thirteenth Dynasty (following the Turin King List) ruled from 1803 to around 1649 BC and lasted 153 or 154 Yrs according to Manetho. This table should be contrasted with Known kings of the 13th Dynasty

The position of the following kings is uncertain:

Fourteenth Dynasty
The Fourteenth Dynasty was a local group from the eastern Delta, based at Xois (Avaris), that ruled from around 1705 to around 1690 BC.

The Turin King List provides an additional 25 names, some fragmentary, and no dates. None are attested to elsewhere, and all are of very dubious provenance.

Fifteenth Dynasty
The Fifteenth Dynasty arose from among the Hyskos people: desert Bedouins who emerged out of the Fertile Crescent to establish a short-lived governance over much of the Nile region, and ruled from 1674 to 1535 BC.

Sixteenth Dynasty
The Sixteenth Dynasty was a local group based on the north coast of the Sinai (Pelusium) and ruled from 1663 to around 1555 BC:

Some sources include as many as six more names – Semqen, Khauserre, Seket, Ahetepre, Amu, and Nebkhepeshre (Apepi III) – who are not attested elsewhere. This group seems to have disappeared entirely by 1555 BC.

Seventeenth Dynasty
The Seventeenth Dynasty was based in Upper Egypt and ruled from 1650 to 1550 BC:

New Kingdom
The New Kingdom is the period covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, from the 16th century BC to the 11th century BC, between the Second Intermediate Period, and the Third Intermediate Period.

Through military dominance abroad, the New Kingdom saw Egypt's greatest territorial extent. It expanded far into Nubia in the south, and held wide territories in the Near East. Egyptian armies fought with Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria.

Two of the best known pharaohs of the New Kingdom are Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, whose exclusive worship of the Aten is often interpreted as the first instance of monotheism, and Ramesses II, who attempted to recover the territories in modern Israel, Lebanon and Syria that had been held in the Eighteenth Dynasty. His reconquest led to the Battle of Qadesh, where he led the Egyptian armies against the army of the Hittite king Muwatalli II.

Eighteenth Dynasty
The Eighteenth Dynasty ruled from 1550 to 1295 BC:

Nineteenth Dynasty
The Nineteenth Dynasty ruled from 1295 to 1186 BC and includes one of the greatest pharaohs: Rameses II the Great:

Twentieth Dynasty
The Twentieth Dynasty ruled from 1185 to 1070 BC:

Third intermediate period
The Third Intermediate Period marked the end of the New Kingdom after the collapse of the Egyptian empire. A number of dynasties of Libyan origin ruled, giving this period its alternative name of the Libyan Period.

Twenty-first Dynasty
The Twenty-first Dynasty was based at Tanis and was a relatively weak group. Theoretically, they were rulers of all Egypt, but in practice their influence was limited to Lower Egypt. They ruled from 1069 to 945 BC

Twenty-second Dynasty
The pharaohs of the Twenty-second Dynasty were Libyans, ruling from around 945 to 720 BC:

Twenty-third Dynasty
The Twenty-third Dynasty was a local group, again of Libyan origin, based at Leontopolis, that ruled from 836 to 720 BC:

The Libu
Not reckoned a dynasty as such, the Libu were yet another group of western nomads (Libyans) who occupied the western Delta from 805 to 732 BC.

Twenty-fourth Dynasty
The Twenty-fourth Dynasty was a short-lived rival dynasty located in the western Delta (Sais), with only two Pharaoh ruling from 732 to 720 BC.

Late period
The Late Period runs from 732 BC to Egypt becoming a province of Rome in 30 BC, and includes periods of rule by Nubians, Persians, and Macedonians.

Twenty-fifth Dynasty
Nubians invaded Egypt in 732 BC and took the throne of Egypt, establishing the Twenty-fifth Dynasty which ruled until 656 BC.

They were ultimately driven back into Nubia, where they established a kingdom at Napata (656-590), and, later, at Meroë (590 BC-4th cent. AD).

Twenty-sixth Dynasty
The Twenty-sixth Dynasty ruled from around 672 to 525 BC.

Twenty-seventh Dynasty
Egypt was conquered by the Persian Empire in 525 BC and annexed by the Persians until 404 BC. The Achaemenid shahs were acknowledged as pharaohs in this era, forming a "Twenty-seventh" Dynasty:

Twenty-eighth Dynasty
The Twenty-eighth Dynasty lasted only 6 years, from 404 to 398 BC, with one Pharaoh:

Twenty-ninth Dynasty
The Twenty-ninth Dynasty ruled from 398 to 380 BC:

Thirtieth Dynasty
The Thirtieth Dynasty ruled from 380 until Egypt once more came under Persian rule in 343 BC:

Thirty-first Dynasty
Egypt again came under the control of the Achaemenid Persians. After the practice of Manetho, the Persian rulers from 343 to 332 BC are occasionally designated as the Thirty-first Dynasty:

Argead Dynasty
The Macedonians under Alexander the Great ushered in the Hellenistic period with his conquest of Persia and Egypt. The Argeads ruled from 332 to 309 BC:

Ptolemaic Dynasty
The second Hellenistic dynasty, the Ptolemies ruled Egypt from 305 BC until Egypt became a province of Rome in 30 BC (whenever two dates overlap, that means there was a co-regency):