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Timeline of the Egyptian pharaohs

13 October 2026

Pharaohs ruled Egypt for about three thousand years, from Narmer around 3000 BC to the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. Historians count 31 dynasties of kings, followed by the Macedonian and Ptolemaic rulers, and group them into kingdoms, when one king held the whole country, and intermediate periods, when power split.

All dates before 664 BC are approximate. Scholars disagree by decades, and by more for the earliest kings. The dates here follow one standard chronology, Ian Shaw's Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, so they agree with each other even where another book differs.

Manetho numbered the dynasties

The numbered dynasties come from Manetho, an Egyptian priest who wrote a history of his country in Greek for the first Ptolemies, in the early 3rd century BC. His book is lost. Later writers quoted his lists of kings. A dynasty in his sense is a run of rulers with a shared origin or capital, which can mean one family or several.

Modern historians added the bigger blocks. Kingdoms are the long stretches of one strong state. Intermediate periods are the gaps between them, with rival kings in different cities.

Early Dynastic Period, 1st–2nd Dynasties: c. 3000–2686 BC
Old Kingdom, 3rd–8th Dynasties: c. 2686–2160 BC
First Intermediate Period, 9th–10th Dynasties and the first Theban kings of the 11th: c. 2160–2055 BC
Middle Kingdom, 11th–14th Dynasties: c. 2055–1650 BC
Second Intermediate Period, 15th–17th Dynasties: c. 1650–1550 BC
New Kingdom, 18th–20th Dynasties: c. 1550–1069 BC
Third Intermediate Period, 21st–25th Dynasties: c. 1069–664 BC
Late Period, 26th–31st Dynasties: 664–332 BC
Ptolemaic Period, Macedonian and Ptolemaic Dynasties: 332–30 BC

Famous kings run from Narmer to Cleopatra

The 1st Dynasty (c. 3000–2890 BC) begins with Narmer, often counted as the first king of a united Egypt. His name sits in a serekh, a palace front topped by the Horus falcon. In the Old Kingdom, Djoser of the 3rd Dynasty built the Step Pyramid, Khufu of the 4th the Great Pyramid, and Unas, last king of the 5th Dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BC), had the Pyramid Texts carved inside his tomb.

The Middle Kingdom is the age of the Amenemhats and Senusrets of the 12th Dynasty. After them, the 13th Dynasty had many short reigns as royal power weakened, and the Hyksos took the north. Theban kings of the 17th Dynasty, Seqenenre and Kamose, fought back, and Ahmose I, king from about 1550 BC, drove the Hyksos out.

His New Kingdom holds most of the names people know: Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun in the 18th Dynasty, then Seti I and Ramesses II in the 19th. In the 21st Dynasty (c. 1069–945 BC) kings like Psusennes I ruled from Tanis, while the high priests of Amun held Thebes. Kings of Libyan descent came next, then kings from Kush, Taharqa among them. Psamtik I founded the 26th Dynasty in 664 BC and reunited the land. The 31st Dynasty was Persia's second rule (343–332 BC). Then came Alexander the Great, and the Ptolemaic Dynasty ended with Cleopatra VII.

A cartouche dates the wall it is on

A king's name carved on a wall puts the wall in time. Take mn-ḫpr-rꜥ, said Menkheperre: the sun disc (N5) for Ra, written first out of respect, the game board (Y5) with the ripple of water (N35) for mn, "lasting", and the scarab (L1) for ḫpr, "form". Read in Egyptian order it means "Lasting is the form of Ra". It is the throne name of Thutmose III, 18th Dynasty, c. 1479–1425 BC.

Now ḫpr-kꜣ-rꜥ, Kheperkare: the sun, the scarab and the raised arms of the ka (D28). It belongs to Senusret I of the 12th Dynasty, around 1950 BC, nearly five hundred years earlier. And mn-kꜣw-rꜥ, Menkaure, with the game board and three ka signs, goes back to the 4th Dynasty, before 2500 BC.

Kings reused the same few words for a thousand years, so only the whole name dates a wall.

Sun Game board Ripple of water Scarab beetle Raised arms

Some dynasties overlap

Dynasties overlap. The 23rd ruled at the same time as the 22nd. The 13th and 14th share the same years, one in the old capital and one in the eastern Delta. The 7th Dynasty may never have existed: later writers remembered many kings in a few days.

Dates also shift with the book. For the 3rd Dynasty, Shaw gives c. 2686–2613 BC. Another standard chronology starts it nearly a century later. Dates firm up in the New Kingdom, and from 664 BC, the start of the Late Period, they are close to exact.

Spelling helps with the last period. Ptolemies and Cleopatra had Greek names, so scribes spelled them out sound by sound: Kleopatra begins with the sandy hill (N29) for q and the lion (E23) for l. A cartouche full of alphabet signs is often late.

Sandy hill Recumbent lion Cartouche

Every dynasty opens into its kings

On the site's timeline every period opens into its dynasties, and every dynasty into its kings, with each famous name drawn in hieroglyphs. Start at Narmer's serekh and scroll down to Cleopatra's cartouche. The names change shape as you go, from the serekh to the cartouche, which was the usual frame for the king's name by the 4th Dynasty.

Open the timeline of the pharaohs

Questions

How many pharaohs ruled Egypt?

The count depends on how you treat rivals, co-rulers and kings known only from a single list. Seti I's king list at Abydos has 76 cartouches, his own and 75 predecessors he counted as legitimate, and leaves many others out.

Who was the first pharaoh of Egypt?

Narmer is usually counted first, around 3000 BC. Later Egyptians named the first king Menes, and many Egyptologists think Menes and Narmer are the same man, though the question is not settled.

Who was the last pharaoh?

Cleopatra VII, who died in 30 BC, is usually counted as the last. Egypt then became a Roman province, though Roman emperors still appear as pharaohs on temple walls such as Dendera's.

What is the Ptolemaic dynasty?

The family of Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals, who ruled Egypt from Alexandria from 305 to 30 BC. They spoke Greek but built temples in the old style, at Edfu, Dendera and Philae.

Glossary

dynasty: A line of kings counted together, usually one family. Egyptologists number Egypt's kings in about 30 dynasties, following the priest Manetho.
First Intermediate Period: The years after the Old Kingdom, about 2160 to 2055 BC, when Egypt split between rival kings in Herakleopolis in the north and Thebes in the south.
Late Period: The last age of native Egyptian kings and of Persian rule, from 664 to 332 BC, when Alexander the Great took Egypt.
Middle Kingdom: The age when Egypt was united again, about 2055 to 1650 BC. Its texts became the classic form of the language that later scribes copied.
New Kingdom: Egypt's age of empire, about 1550 to 1069 BC, the time of Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ramesses II.
Old Kingdom: The age of the pyramid builders, about 2686 to 2181 BC, from the 3rd to the 6th Dynasty.
pharaoh: The king of Egypt. The word comes from per-aa, "great house", a name for the palace that came to mean the king himself in the New Kingdom.
priest: A servant of a god in a temple, who washed, dressed and fed the god's statue each day. A high priest led the staff of a great temple.
pyramid: A royal tomb with four sloping sides meeting at a point, built in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest.
Pyramid Texts: The oldest religious spells of Egypt, carved in the burial rooms of pyramids from the reign of Unas, around 2350 BC, on.
serekh: A frame showing the front of a palace, with a king's Horus name written above it and the Horus falcon on top. The oldest royal names are written in serekhs.
tomb: A burial place: a pit, a mastaba, a pyramid or rooms cut into rock. Its chapel was where the family brought offerings.