---
title: "New Kingdom — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "New Kingdom Egypt (c. 1550-1070 BCE) is the era of Karnak, Hatshepsut, and the Amarna revolution. See how it shows up in AP Art History Unit 2."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-art-history/key-terms/new-kingdom"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP Art History"
unit: "Unit 2"
---

# New Kingdom — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

The New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BCE) is the third major era of dynastic Egyptian art, known in AP Art History for monumental temple architecture like Karnak, powerful pharaohs like Hatshepsut, and the Amarna period's radical break from Egypt's strict artistic conventions.

## What It Is

The New Kingdom is the stretch of Egyptian history (roughly 1550-1070 BCE) when Egypt was at its richest and most powerful, and its art shows it. This is the age of massive cult temples like the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, where features like the **[axial plan](/ap-art-history/key-terms/axial-plan "fv-autolink")**, the **hypostyle hall**, and the **clerestory** (a row of windows above eye level that lets in light) became defining architectural moves. It's also the age of pharaohs using art as propaganda, like Hatshepsut commissioning [sculpture](/ap-art-history/unit-1 "fv-autolink") that presented her, a woman, with the traditional regalia of a male king.

The twist that makes the New Kingdom famous on the AP exam is the **Amarna period**. The [pharaoh](/ap-art-history/key-terms/pharaoh "fv-autolink") Akhenaten replaced Egypt's traditional gods with worship of one solar deity, the Aten, and the art changed with the religion. Figures suddenly got elongated heads, curving bellies, and intimate family scenes, a complete reversal of the rigid, idealized formulas Egypt had used for over a thousand years. After Akhenaten died, Egypt snapped back to tradition (think Tutankhamun's golden coffin and the Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer), which proves just how strong those conventions were.

## Why It Matters

The New Kingdom lives in Topic 2.1 (Cultural Contexts of Ancient Mediterranean Art) in [Unit 2](/ap-art-history/unit-2 "fv-autolink"), and it's basically a case study for learning objective 2.1.A, explaining how belief systems shape art. When religion changed under Akhenaten, the art changed overnight. When the old religion came back, so did the old style. No other moment in Unit 2 shows the belief-to-art connection that cleanly. It also supports 2.1.B, since New Kingdom temple builders developed the [clerestory](/ap-art-history/key-terms/clerestory "fv-autolink"), which the CED flags as particularly important for the whole history of architecture (you'll see it again in Roman basilicas and Gothic cathedrals). Several required works in the 250 come from this period, so you can't skip it.

## Connections

### [Clerestory (Unit 2)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/clerestory)

The hypostyle hall at Karnak used a raised central roof with window openings to light a forest of columns. That clerestory idea travels forward through Roman basilicas all the way to Gothic cathedrals in [Unit 3](/ap-art-history/unit-3 "fv-autolink"), making this one of the longest architectural through-lines in the course.

### [Axial plan (Unit 2)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/axial-plan)

New Kingdom temples like Karnak march you down a single straight line from public courtyard to restricted sanctuary. The plan itself enforces religious hierarchy, since the deeper you could go, the closer you were to the god. That's [physical setting](/ap-art-history/unit-1/cultural-influences-on-prehistoric-art/study-guide/2QXmHz69vTrp9z7Z6DRt "fv-autolink") shaping meaning, exactly what 2.1.A asks you to explain.

### [Combined profile and three-quarter view (Unit 2)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/combined-profile-and-three-quarter-view)

This is the classic Egyptian convention (profile head and legs, frontal torso) that stayed locked in place for millennia. The Amarna period is the one moment it loosens, which is why the exam loves asking how pharaoh representation evolved from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom.

### [Benben stone (Unit 2)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/benben-stone)

Egyptian solar worship runs from the benben (the sacred mound linked to the sun god) through Old Kingdom [pyramids](/ap-art-history/key-terms/pyramids "fv-autolink") to Akhenaten's Aten. The Amarna revolution wasn't sun worship out of nowhere; it was making one solar god the only god.

## On the AP Exam

Multiple-choice questions on the New Kingdom usually test two things. First, change over time, like a stem asking how the representation of pharaohs evolved from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom and what that says about shifting ideas of divine kingship. Second, the Amarna period as the textbook example of cultural reform driving a stylistic revolution. You should be able to name what changed (monotheistic Aten worship, naturalistic elongated bodies, intimate royal family scenes) and why it reverted. For free-response questions, New Kingdom works like the Temple of Amun-Re or the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut are strong evidence when you need to connect form and function to belief systems or to argue how physical setting shapes a work's meaning.

## New Kingdom vs Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom (c. 2700-2200 BCE) is the pyramid age, when pharaohs were treated as living gods and art was rigid, idealized, and built for eternity (think Giza). The New Kingdom comes about a thousand years later, when pharaohs were framed more as the gods' chosen agents, and royal art got more political and, briefly under Akhenaten, more naturalistic. If a question shows pyramids, think Old Kingdom; if it shows giant cult temples or Amarna's curvy figures, think New Kingdom.

## Key Takeaways

- The New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BCE) is the era of Egypt's greatest wealth and its most monumental temple architecture, including the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak.
- The Amarna period under Akhenaten is the AP exam's go-to example of a belief-system change directly producing a stylistic revolution in art.
- New Kingdom temples introduced the clerestory and axial plan, architectural ideas that reappear in Roman basilicas and Gothic cathedrals later in the course.
- Hatshepsut's mortuary temple and sculpture show pharaohs using art to legitimize political power, a shift from the Old Kingdom's image of the pharaoh as a living god.
- Egypt returned to its traditional artistic conventions immediately after Akhenaten, which shows how unusually stable Egyptian style was across roughly 3,000 years.

## FAQs

### What is the New Kingdom in AP Art History?

It's the period of Egyptian history from about 1550 to 1070 BCE, covered in Unit 2, known for monumental temples like Karnak, powerful image-conscious pharaohs like Hatshepsut, and the Amarna period's artistic revolution under Akhenaten.

### Which Egyptian period is known for cultural reform and stylistic revolution?

The Amarna period, which happens within the New Kingdom. Akhenaten replaced Egypt's traditional gods with the Aten, and the art shifted to elongated, naturalistic figures and intimate royal family scenes before reverting after his death.

### Is the New Kingdom the same thing as the Amarna period?

No. The Amarna period is a short episode inside the New Kingdom tied to Akhenaten's reign. Most New Kingdom art, like the Karnak temple and Tutankhamun's coffin, follows traditional Egyptian conventions, not the Amarna style.

### How is the New Kingdom different from the Old Kingdom?

The Old Kingdom (c. 2700-2200 BCE) built pyramids and showed pharaohs as living gods in rigid, idealized form. The New Kingdom built huge cult and mortuary temples instead, and royal imagery became more political, with the Amarna period briefly breaking the old conventions entirely.

### What New Kingdom works are in the AP Art History 250?

The required image set includes the Temple of Amun-Re and its hypostyle hall at Karnak, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, the Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and three daughters relief, Tutankhamun's innermost coffin, and the Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer.

## Related Study Guides

- [2.1 Cultural Contexts of Ancient Mediterranean Art](/ap-art-history/unit-2/cultural-contexts-ancient-mediterranean-art/study-guide/KhkvkmZbJ8zV8aWNPu0J)

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