Conventional Chronology
Despite the amount of guesswork and inaccuracies in the conventional chronology, its general outline and dates have not fluctuated very much in the last 100 years. This can be seen by comparing the dates when Egypt's 30 dynasties began and ended from two different Egyptologists: the first writing in 1906, the second in 2000. (All dates are in BC.)
| dynasty | J. H. Breasted's dates | Ian Shaw's dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Dynastic Period of Egypt | 1st | 3400–2980 | c. 3000–2686 |
| 2nd | |||
| Old Kingdom | 3rd | 2980–2900 | 2686–2613 |
| 4th | 2900–2750 | 2613–2494 | |
| 5th | 2750–2625 | 2494–2345 | |
| 6th | 2623–2475 | 2345–2181 | |
| First Intermediate Period | 7th | 2475–2445 | 2181–2160 |
| 8th | |||
| 9th | 2445–2160 | 2160–2025 | |
| 10th | |||
| Middle Kingdom of Egypt | 11th | 2160–2000 | 2125–1985 |
| 12th | 2000–1788 | 1985–1773 | |
| Second Intermediate Period | 13th? | 1780–1580 | 1773–1550 |
| 14th? | |||
| 15th | |||
| 16th | |||
| 17th | |||
| New Kingdom of Egypt | 18th | 1580–1350 | 1550–1295 |
| 19th | 1350–1205 | 1295–1186 | |
| 20th | 1200–1090 | 1186–1069 | |
| Third Intermediate Period | 21st | 1090–945 | 1069–945 |
| 22nd | 945–745 | 945–715 | |
| 23rd | 745–718 | 818–715 | |
| 24th | 718–712 | 727–715 | |
| 25th | 712–663 | 747–656 | |
| Late Period of ancient Egypt | 26th | 663–525 | 664–525 |
The disparities between the two sets of dates result from additional discoveries and refined understanding of the still very incomplete source evidence. For example, Breasted adds a ruler in the Twentieth dynasty that further research showed did not exist. Following Manetho, Breasted also believed all the dynasties were sequential, whereas it is now known that several existed at the same time. These revisions have resulted in a shortening of the conventional chronology by up to 400 years at the beginning of Dynasty I.
Read more about this topic: Egyptian Chronology
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