Theban Empire

Scholars say they know Egypt's glorious 18th or Theban Dynasty well, the time of Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh; the great conqueror Thutmose III, who brought the whole of Syria and Palestine under Egyptian domination; and the 'heretic' pharaoh Akhnaton, who instituted a new monotheistic religion and launched an artistic revolution. But why did Hatshepsut's journey to Punt show such striking parallels with the biblical Queen of Sheba's journey to Israel? How can David's Kingdom of Israel be kept in the history books if the dates of the Theban Dynasty of Egypt is not corrected? Why did Akhnaton's worship of the sun-god so closely resemble the sun-worship of the Persian prophet Zoroaster? And who were the Mitanni and the Hittites, who seem to be identical to the Medes and Lydians who flourished in the 7th/6th centuries BC? These questions are answered in Emmet Sweeney's stunning reinterpretation of this most dramatic period of ancient Egypt's history.