List of historical capitals of Egypt explained

The current capital of Egypt is Cairo. Over the course of its history, Egypt has had many capitals. Its earliest capital was Tjenu, better known as Thinis, which may have been the capital of the hypothetical Thinite Confederacy prior to Egypt's unification. During the First, Second and Third Intermediate Periods, Egypt had multiple capitals held by rival dynasties.

Thinis was Egypt's first capital following its unification in c. 3100 BCE. The country's current capital is Cairo, and this has been the case since 972. This makes Cairo Egypt's longest-running capital city, having retained this status for over 1,050 years under the rule of six dynasties followed by the British protectorate of Egypt and the Republic of Egypt.

Alexandria was the second longest-lasting capital of Egypt, being used for the entirety of the Greco-Roman period, which lasted for 973 years. Memphis was the capital of Egypt for over 700 years and was the seat of the power for the whole of the Old Kingdom period. Thebes was used as the capital for approximately 485 years, mostly during the Middle and New Kingdoms.

List of Egyptian capitals

!Name!Time Period!Ruling Dynasties!Ref.

Tjenu (Thinis)	c. 3150–2686 BCE	First Dynasty Second Dynasty	^[1]
Men-nefer (Memphis)	c. 2686–2160 BCE c. 720–664 BCE 525–404 BCE 343–332 BCE	Third Dynasty Fourth Dynasty Fifth Dynasty Sixth Dynasty Seventh Dynasty Eighth Dynasty Twenty-fifth Dynasty (Kush Empire) Twenty-seventh Dynasty (Achaemenid Empire) Thirty-first Dynasty (Achaemenid Empire)	^[2]
Henen-Nesut (Heracleopolis Magna)	c. 2160–2040 BCE	Ninth Dynasty Tenth Dynasty	^[3]
Waset (Thebes)	c. 2130–1991 BCE c. 1650–1346 BCE c. 1332–1279 BCE 664–656 BCE	Eleventh Dynasty Sixteenth Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty Eighteenth Dynasty Nineteenth Dynasty Twenty-fifth Dynasty (Kush Empire)^[4]
Itjtawy	c. 1991–1650 BCE	Twelfth Dynasty Thirteenth Dynasty	^[5]
Avaris	c. 1725–1550 BCE	Fourteenth Dynasty Fifteenth Dynasty (Hyksos)
Akhetaten (Amarna)	c. 1346–1332 BCE	Eighteenth Dynasty (Amarna Period)	^[6]
Pi-Ramesses	c. 1279–1077 BCE	Nineteenth Dynasty Twentieth Dynasty
Tanis	c. 1077–943 BCE	Twenty-first Dynasty	^[7]
Per-Bast (Bubastis)	c. 943–720 BCE	Twenty-second Dynasty
Leontopolis	c. 837–720 BCE	Twenty-third Dynasty
Sais	c. 732–720 BCE 664–525 BCE 404–398 BCE	Twenty-fourth Dynasty Twenty-sixth Dynasty Twenty-eighth Dynasty	^[8]
Djedet (Mendes)	398–380 BCE	Twenty-ninth Dynasty
Sebennytos (Samannud)	380–343 BCE	Thirtieth Dynasty	^[9]
Alexandria	332 BCE–641 CE	Macedonian Egypt Ptolemaic dynasty Roman Empire Palmyrene Empire Byzantine Empire Sasanian Empire
Fustat	641–750 905–972	Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Ikhshidid Dynasty Fatimid Caliphate
Al-Askar	750–868	Abbasid Caliphate
Al-Qata'i	868–905	Tulunid Dynasty
Cairo	972–present	Fatimid Caliphate Ayyubid Dynasty Mamluk Sultanate Ottoman Empire Muhammad Ali Dynasty British protectorate of Egypt Republic of Egypt

See also

• List of cities and towns in Egypt
• New Administrative Capital
• Chronology of ancient Egypt

Notes and References

1. Book: Wilkinson, Toby A.H. . Early Dynastic Egypt . Routledge . 2000 . 0-415-26011-6 . Abingdon . 67.
2. Shaw, Ian (2003). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, p.279
3. Book: An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, 2008 . Blackwell Publishing . 2008 . Oxford.
4. Book: Török, László . The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization . BRILL . 1998 . 90-04-10448-8 . Leiden . 185.
5. Arnold, Dorothea . Dorothea Arnold . 1991 . Amenemhat I and the Early Twelfth Dynasty at Thebes . Metropolitan Museum Journal . The Metropolitan Museum of Art . 26 . 5–48 . 10.2307/1512902 . 1512902 . 191398579.
6. Web site: The Official Website of the Amarna Project . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20081008002752/http://www.amarnaproject.com/ . 8 October 2008 . 2008-10-01 . dmy-all.
7. Book: Snape, Steven . The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt . Thames & Hudson . 2014 . 978-0-500-77240-9 . 335.
8. Ian Shaw & Paul Nicholson, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, British Museum Press, 1995. p.250
9. Book: Gray . Leon . The New Cultural Atlas of Egypt . 2010 . . 9780761478775 . 143.