Ancient History: Egypt › War and Conflict
Artaxerxes III is most notable for __________.
leading the second Persian conquest of Egypt
leading the first Persian conquest of Egypt
establishing the first Libyan ruling dynasty in Egypt
establishing the first Nubian ruling dynasty in Egypt
establishing the first Assyrian ruling dynasty in Egypt
Artaxerxes III was a ruler of the Persian Empire during the fourth century BCE. When he came to power, Egypt had recently rebelled against the Persian Empire and was trying to re-establish itself as a strong, independent kingdom. Artaxerxes III led a successful Persian reconquest of Egypt and established himself as the first Pharaoh of the 31st Dynasty.
The rise of this empire in the seventh century BCE led to the end of the Third Intermediate Period in Egypt.
Assyria
Babylon
Hittite
Kushite
Ethiopian
During the seventh century BCE, the power of the Egyptian empire had waned substantially. The territory had been ruled by foreign invaders (from Libya and Nubia) for several generations and the state was greatly weakened by internal conflict and decentralization of power. The rising Assyrian Empire, which emerged in the Middle East, took advantage of this situation and conquered most of Egypt in the seventh century.
Thutmose I is remembered for __________.
his successful military campaigns against Nubia and the Hyksos
leading a failed rebellion against the Hyksos and being promptly executed
establishing the Hyksos capital city of Avaris
leading the Hyksos sack of the city of Memphis
leading the Assyrian sack of the cities of Memphis and Thebes
Thutmose I ruled during the early years of the 18th Dynasty (the first ruling dynasty of the New Kingdom). He led a series of successful military campaigns which expanded Egyptian power deeper into Nubia. He also contributed to the further destruction of the Hyksos people in the Middle East.
Which of these statements about the recording of military campaigns is most accurate?
Records of the Pharaoh’s military campaigns always credit him with being victorious.
None of these statements are accurate.
The recording of military campaigns was usually written by the Pharaoh himself.
The recording of military campaigns was primarily the responsibility of certain temple organizations.
It was forbidden to record the events of a Pharaoh’s military campaign and so such accounts are incredibly rare.
Accounts of the Pharaoh’s frequent military campaigns are legion. These accounts almost always convey that the Pharaoh had won a great victory, even if he did not. This demonstrates how the Egyptian government used propaganda to reinforce the notion of the Pharaoh’s absolute power and authority.
The Battle of Kadesh was fought during the reign of __________.
Ramasses II
Hatshepsut
Amenhotep IV
Amenhotep III
Thutmose III
The Battle of Kadesh was fought in the 13th century BCE, during the reign of one of the most powerful Egyptian rulers - Ramasses II. It was fought between the Egyptian Empire and their great rivals, the Hittites. It ended in something of a stalemate, although Ramasses II claimed a great victory.
What outside force conquered and consequently ruled Egypt during the 25th dynasty?
The Kingdom of Kush
The Levant
The Assyrians
The Hittites
The Greeks
King Kashta of Kush invaded Egypt during the 8th Century BCE, conquering the country. The emperors of Kush then ruled as pharaohs of Egypt for the 25th dynasty, until they were removed by the Assyrians.
This Egyptian ruler is generally credited with leading the Sack of Jerusalem in the tenth century BCE?
Shoshenq I
Thutmose IV
Hakor
Teos
Nectanebo I
The Sack of Jerusalem took place during the tenth century BCE. It is generally believed that the Egyptian forces were led by one of the Libyan rulers of Egypt, most likely Shoshenq I. Although, there is a considerate amount of disagreement among historians and Egyptologists owing to the paucity of reliable historical evidence from this time period.
Why were some southern Egyptian forts, like Iken, hard to defend?
They were built on flat ground.
They were rarely manned.
They were built on the banks of the Nile.
They were cheaply constructed.
None of these answers are accurate; they were very easy to defend.
During the Middle Kingdom period, the Egyptians constructed several forts along the border with Nubia. These fortresses were often ineffective and hard to defend. Iken, for example, was built on flat ground and so was not well-equipped to resist a sustained invasion. Because of this ineffectiveness, many Egyptologists believe that these forts were intended to instill fear and awe so as to discourage invasion, rather than to actually withstand invasion.
Which of the following are the Sea Peoples NOT often hypothesized by scholars to have been responsible for around the time of the Bronze Age Collapse, in addition to their frequent invasions of New Kingdom Egypt?
The consolidation of centralized power by strong states, each one an empire with its own sphere of influence
The settlement of the Philistines in the Levant, whose incessant conflicts with the Israelites are famously recounted in the Hebrew Bible
The destruction of the Mycenaean civilization, resulting in the Greek Dark Ages which lasted for centuries until the advent of the Archaic Period
The weakening of the Hittite Empire as a result of relentless attacks, which allowed it to be conquered and absorbed by the Assyrians
The dissemination of a common artistic, agricultural and ceramic tradition throughout the Eastern Mediterranean region
We know the most about the Sea Peoples from Egyptian accounts such as the Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah, although similar phenomena are described in Levantine, Anatolian and Mesopotamian sources, suggesting a massive marine migration of loosely affiliated peoples who disrupted the stability of the entire region. These migrations and invasions were an essential, although not the only, element in what is described as the Bronze Age Collapse. Rather than the powerful empires consolidating their strength and spheres of influences, instead this resulted in the destruction of long-standing states (the Hittite Empire and Mycenaean Greece), as well as the immense weakening of Egypt during its transition from the New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period. Egypt eventually weakened to the point that it became susceptible to conquest by the Assyrians, and then in turn the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. While the Sea Peoples are sometimes blamed from the collapse of Mycenaean civilization, an alternative postulation is that the Sea Peoples themselves consisted of native Greeks displaced by political and environmental factors, forcing them to travel by sea to populate and invade Egypt and the Levant. This is supported by linguistic and archaeological evidence of the Philistines, who appear to have spoken an Indo-European language related to Greek, and whose art and pottery strongly resembles earlier Greek forms.
Iken was __________.
a fortress
a temple complex
a deified bureaucrat
a canal
a harbor
Iken was a fortress built during the reigns of Senusret II and III, during the height of the Middle Kingdom. Iken was the largest fortress built during this period. It was built in southern Egypt, along the border with Nubia, to protect against Nubian invasion.