Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the Fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance

by Aidan Dodson

During the half-millennium from the eleventh through the sixth centuries BC, the power and the glory of the imperial pharaohs of the New Kingdom crumbled in the face of internal crises and external pressures, ultimately reversed by invaders from Nubia and consolidated by natives of the Nile Delta following a series of Assyrian invasions. Much of this era remains obscure, with little consensus among Egyptologists. Against this background, Aidan Dodson reconsiders the evidence and proposes a number of new solutions to the problems of the period. He also considers the art, architecture, and archaeology of the period, including the royal tombs of Tanis, one of which yielded the intact burials of no fewer than five pharaohs. The book is extensively illustrated with images of this material, much of which is little known to non-specialists of the period. By the author of the bestselling Amarna Sunset and Poisoned Legacy.

Genres: Egypt, History, Egyptology, Ancient History, Archaeology, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2012

About the author

Aidan Dodson is Honorary Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Bristol, UK, was Simpson Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo in 2013, and Chair of the Egypt Exploration Society during 2011–16. Awarded his PhD by the University of Cambridge in 1995, he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2003. He is the author of some twenty-five books, including Sethy I, King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife (AUC Press, 2019), Rameses III, King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife (AUC Press, 2019), Amarna Sunrise: Egypt from Golden Age to Age of Heresy (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2016), Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the Fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2020), Poisoned Legacy: The Fall of the 19th Egyptian Dynasty (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2016), Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2018), and Monarchs of the Nile (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2015). Professor Dodson has also written on naval history from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day.

Reviews

[Sense of History]

I guess this is a necessary book that clears out the chaotic period of the Third Intermediate in Ancient Egyptian History, 1000-700 bce. Dodson dives deep into the endless issues of identifying and dating the pharaohs and high priests in this period. Highly detailed on politics, nothing on economy, social and cultural themes. Lavishly illustrated, though. But to me, this was too specialized. No rating, out of fairness.

[Paul Pfeiffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense and complicated read but this is a complicated period. Not for the general reader but it will be THE book on the Third Intermediate Period for years to come.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this as much as I have Aidan Dodson's other publications – namely, Amarna Sunset and Poisoned Legacy . Possibly this is because I'm largely unfamiliar with the time period Afterglow of Empire covers and Dodson tends to launch straight in. This lack of knowledge is also compounded by the fact that Afterglow of Empire is more about puzzling out the details than presenting the story of the fall of the New Kingdom until the Saite renaissance.

That said, if you know a lot about the Third Intermediate Period, this book will be an excellent resource for you. The more casual reader will probably find the text a struggle.

[Rob Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are deeply interested in ancient Egypt this is an excellent book. If you are only casually interested, skip this book. This book is not about the greatness of the Pharaohs, but rather the decline of pharonic power after the Rameses. The only bright spot in this sad tale is an invasion from Kush that tried to save the remnants of greatness.

[DAJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Third Intermediate Period was often a confusing tangle of overlapping reigns. As Dodson's preface notes, the evidence is so problematic that the agreed-upon interpretations of the period that held sway in the late 20th century, represented by Kenneth Kitchen's immense book on the subject, collapsed during the 2000s. Dodson attempts to piece together a narrative of events that takes the uncertainties into account. On that score, it's a valiant attempt. For instance, the first chapter argues compellingly that regional splits in authority appeared even before what is usually considered the collapse of the New Kingdom: Ramesses IX reigned at the same time as Ramesses X and XI, with the "repeating of births" era during Ramesses XI's reign starting when he took control of the whole country. On other bedeviling issues, such as the succession of Herihor and Piankh or the relationship of Shoshenq I to the "Shishak" mentioned in the Bible, Dodson is less radical, simply reporting the range of possibilities rather than coming down strongly on one side or the other.

But here's the rub: if you don't know what I was talking about in the previous sentence, you're not likely to get much out of this book. Dodson says he wants to make this an accessible history. To that end, he includes occasional asides about the culture of the times (the conflict between Paser and Paweraa over the tomb robberies at the end of the New Kingdom, the Nubian king Piye disparaging the Egyptian rulers he conquered by saying they were too ritually impure to worship their own gods) and consigns the really hard-core chronological details to an appendix. But despite those efforts, the book is much more a scholarly effort to determine which political events happened when than an accessible description of the period. The best example may be its treatment of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (the titular Saite Renaissance), a period when Egypt was unified and relatively stable. It took up roughly a fifth of the timespan the book covers and was marked by widespread efforts to evoke Egypt's past days of glory, as well as a large influx of people from elsewhere in the Mediterranean, so it's an interesting moment for Egyptian culture. Yet Dodson gives it only 12 pages, seemingly because it's not cursed with the chronological uncertainties we find in the Third Intermediate Period.

That said, if you take the book as the scholarly work that it actually is, it's very worthwhile, possibly the best treatment of the subject that we currently have. Those looking for an uncomplicated introduction to the Third Intermediate Period will have to look elsewhere.