The book presents a critical evaluation of the sources relating to the
end of the Ramesside period in Egypt. The events which led to the fall
of the Ramessides can be compared only with the twilight of the
Tuthmosides under the last rulers of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and to some
extent also with the end of the XIXth Dynasty, when usurpers and other
powers behind the throne played a dominant role. If the crisis of the
monarchy at the end of the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties was finally
overcome, with the result that new ruling families started a fresh
policy of revival, the decline of the XXth Dynasty marked the end of the
glorious epoch of the New Kingdom and the devastating collapse of
political and social order in Egypt.