Akhenaten’s theology was closer to monotheism because, unlike traditional Egyptian deities, the Aten could not be imagined as taking on human or animal form. If this were not controversial enough, Akhenaten also celebrated his new religion by representing himself in a very unconventional way. In a complete departure from the divine virility of his ancestors—which even his ancestor Hatshepsut had emulated—Akhenaten had himself pictured as a normal human being with distinctive features: a family man enjoying the company of his wife, Nefertiti, and their children. This emphasis on his own humanity was an extension of his theology, which honored the life force within every being. But it was very dangerous to the ideology of royal power. The pharaoh was not supposed to be an approachable man with a quirky personality. He was supposed to be a god

Hatshepsut was routinely portrayed on monuments with the masculine figure and ceremonial beard characteristic of pharaohs

Under Thutmose’s leadership, the Egyptians’ conquest of the Nubians enabled them to seize control of gold mines. They also penetrated beyond their northeastern frontier, driving deep into the Levant. By the time of his death, Thutmose could claim to rule the land from beyond the Nile’s Fourth Cataract in the south to the banks of the Euphrates in the north.

By the end of the sixteenth century B.C.E., the pharaoh Ahmose had driven out the Hyksos, establishing the Eighteenth Dynasty and the New Kingdom.

Even those who prospered in the new economy were often subject to drastic fluctuations in their fortunes. A trader who did very well selling a luxury fabric might invest heavily in it, only to find that tastes had changed or that a ship full of his wares had sunk. An investor looking to make a fortune during an upward price spiral might go into debt to take advantage of the trend, only to find that supply exceeded demand, leaving him nothing.

At Antioch, the population quadrupled during a single century. The new city of Seleucia on the Tigris grew from nothing to a metropolis of several hundred thousand in less than two centuries.

Within just two generations, hundreds of thousands of migrants had joined a Greek diaspora (“dispersion”) that reduced the population of mainland Greece by as much as 50 percent in the century between about 323 and 275 B.C.E.

The Hellenistic world was prosperous. Alexander’s conquests had opened up a vast trading area stretching from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, dominated by Greek-speaking rulers and well-established merchant communities.