Kings of the Third Intermediate Period: Dynasties 22–24

Prof. Aidan Dodson, Professor of Egyptology, University of Bristol

03 February 2026

01:00 PM

Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference Center, Meeting Room (C)

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum affiliated to the Cultural Outreach Sector organizes a lecture entitled “Kings of the Third Intermediate Period: Dynasties 22–24”; on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, at 1:00 pm, in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference Center, Meeting Room (C). The Lecture is delivered by Prof. Aidan Dodson, Professor of Egyptology, University of Bristol. The speaker sheds light on some strands of the often-ignored Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egyptian history, including how modern historians and archaeologists rediscovered its protagonists.

The Third Intermediate Period lasted from the tenth through the seventh centuries BC, and Egypt was ruled by a series of pharaohs of Libyan ancestry. The Libyans had hitherto been enemies of the Egyptians, with conflicts going back into the third millennium BC. Yet early in the tenth century BC, the first of a long series of pharaohs of Libyan descent ascended the Egyptian throne.

Although the earlier Libyan pharaohs seem to have maintained the tradition of a unitary Egyptian state, Libyan ideas of decentralized control became more prevalent over time. As a result, we find individuals holding both Libyan and Egyptian titles, controlling distinct territories around Egypt, some of whom assumed the names and titles of a pharaoh. Conflict sometimes accompanied this process, including a long civil war fought for the control of southern Egypt and the great religious capital of Thebes. Some degree of central control was imposed with the advent of a further set of rulers from Nubia during the eighth century, but a single Egyptian state would not be restored until the middle of the seventh century.