Egypt and the Levant in the Third Intermediate Period (Iron IB–IIIA)

Abstract

The Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1076–656 BCE; Iron Age IB–IIIA) in Egypt was defined by political shifts in fragmentation and unification, alterations in sociocultural concepts of foreignness and familiarity, and movements between the economic spheres of fungibility and intangibility. These undulations consistently impacted and regulated the relationship between Egypt and its Levantine neighbors. The definition of Egypt as a political, social, and economic unit was complicated and flexible throughout the Third Intermediate Period, with multiple dynasts from both native and foreign backgrounds ruling simultaneously across Lower, Middle, and Upper Egypt. These administrative and cultural shifts played a role in the exchange of fungible goods and immaterial services, as well as in the transfer of conceptual ideas, theoretical beliefs, and iconographic motifs.