‫العصر الحجري القديم قبل (‪2‬مليون سنة‪ 40-‬ألف سنة)‬

‫بداية ظهور النسان‪ :‬سللة النسان وجد أن (الهوموسابيان ينحدر من فصيلة الريكتوس) و هو ليس الموضوع ‪,‬‬
‫و لكن لماذا قسم علماء الثار التسمية الى هوموسابيان (جد النسان العاقل)‪ ,‬و الهومو هابيال المتوحش‪ ,‬على‬
‫وزن هابيل و قابيل أو شيث‪ ,‬و قالوا أنها تسمية فرنسية ل علقة لها بالدين‪.‬‬

‫العصر الحجري الفترة النتقالية ‪:‬قبل (‪ 40‬ألف سنة – ‪ 12‬ألف سنة)‬

‫الزراعة و التدجين و بداية بناء البيوت و الطقوس الجنائزية‪( ,‬ل بد أن هذا الزمن هو زمن ادريس عليه السلم)‪,‬‬
‫و ظهور التماثيل البدائية من الحجر‪.‬‬

‫العصر الحجري الحديث‪ 12( :‬ألف سنة – ‪ 8‬آلف سنة) (‪ 10‬آلف سنة قبل الميلد – ‪ 6‬آلف سنة قبل الميلد)‬

‫بداية ظهور القرى و المدن‪ ,‬و ترتيب المعابد‪ ,‬و التضحية الحيوانية‪ ,‬و هنالك أمر خطير جدا‪ ,‬و هو التضحية‬
‫النسانية‪ ,‬وجدت أهم القرى في الردن‪ ,‬و سوريا ‪ ,‬و فلسطين‪ ,‬طقوس ‪( .‬ل بد أن هذا الزمن هو زمن نوح عليه‬
‫السلم)‪ ,‬بداية ظهور الكتابة البدائية‪ ,‬النحاس اكتشف بشكل خام و لم يستخدم في صناعة الدوات‪.‬‬

‫العصر الحجري النحاسي (‪ 6‬آلف سنة ق‪.‬م – ‪ 3200‬سنة ق‪.‬م)‬

‫تراجع في العمارة‪ ,‬و مميز لهذا العصر القبور المنتشرة بشكل كبير (الجماعية و الفردية)‪ ,‬و اكتشاف النحاس و‬
‫استخدامه مميز لهذا العصر‪.‬‬
‫(ل بد أن هذا العصر هو عصر عاد ارم ذات العماد)‬

‫العصر البرونزي‪ 3200( :‬ق‪.‬م – ‪ 1250‬ق‪.‬م)‬

‫ظهور الحضارات الفرعونية و بلد ما بين النهرين‪ ,‬و أموروا ما وراء النهر (الموريين‪ -‬و ليس العموريين كما‬
‫في بعض الكتب مثل جذور الحركة الصهيونية‪ ,‬مع أنه كتاب قيم)‪ ,‬خلط النحاس مع معادن أخرى أنتج البرونز‪,‬‬
‫القوى من النحاس‪.‬‬
‫زمن إبراهيم عليه السلم و اسحق و إسماعيل و يعقوب و يوسف و السباط عليهم السلم و من بعدهم موسى‬
‫عليه السلم و شعيب عليه السلم‪.‬‬

‫العصر الحديدي ‪ 1250( :‬ق‪.‬م – ‪332‬ق‪.‬م)‬

‫الحديد من أكثر العصور جدل لن معظم الحداث التوراتية في هذا العصر قد حدثت‪ ,‬القضاة ‪ ,‬الملوك‪ ,‬داود و‬
‫سليمان عليهم السلم‪ ,‬و أيوب عليه السلم‪ ,‬و الياس و اليسع و ذي القرنين و ذي الكفل و يونس عليهم السلم و‬
‫غيرهم من النبياء‪ ,‬و سبي اليهود الول (الشوري) و الثاني (البابلي)‪.‬‬
‫‪ ,‬و زمن عودة بني اسرائيل من السبي في حكم قورش سنة ‪ 536‬قبل الميلد‬
‫العصر اليوناني‪:‬‬

‫احتلل السكندر المقدوني للشرق ‪ ,‬و زمن النباط‬

‫‪Hatshepsut‬‬

‫(‪also called Hatshopsitu, queen of Egypt )reigned in her own right c. 1472–58 BC‬‬
‫‪who attained unprecedented power for a queen, adopting the full titles and regalia of a‬‬
‫‪.pharaoh‬‬
Hatshepsut, the daughter of King Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose, was married to her
half brother, Thutmose II. Since her two brothers, who normally would have
succeeded to the throne, died prematurely, she and Thutmose II came to the throne
after King Thutmose died in about 1512. Her husband probably reigned no more than
three or four years, and Hatshepsut thereupon became regent for his son, Thutmose
III, born of a minor woman of the harem. Heiress to a line of influential queens,
Hatshepsut then took effective control of the government, while young Thutmose III
.served as a priest of the god Amon

For a short time Hatshepsut presented herself as the young king's regent, but
sometime in Thutmose III's first seven years she ordered herself crowned as pharaoh
and adopted aHorus name )a royal name limited to kings( and the full pharaonic
regalia, including a false beard, also traditionallyworn only by the king. An essential
element of Hatshepsut's success was a group of loyal and influential officials who
.controlled all the key positions in her government

Emphasizing administrative innovation and commercial expansion, Queen Hatshepsut

dispatched a major seaborne expedition to Punt, the African coast at the southernmost
end of the Red Sea. Gold, ebony, animal skins, baboons, processed myrrh, and living
myrrh trees were brought back to Egypt, the trees to adorn the foreground of the
Queen's famous Dayr al-Baḥrī temple in western Thebes. She also received large
.quantities of tribute from Asia, Nubia, and Libya

The numerous products of trade and tribute were partially devoted to the state god
Amon-Re, in whose honour Hatshepsut undertook an extensive building program. She
claimed that she restored the damage wrought by the Hyksos )earlier Asian kings(
during their rule in Egypt. In the temple at Karnak )Thebes(, she renovated her
father's hall, introduced four great obelisks nearly 100 feet )30 m( tall, and added a
fine chapel. At Beni-Hasan, in Middle Egypt, she built a rock-cut temple known in
Greek as Speos Artemidos. Her supreme achievement was the splendid temple at
Dayr al-Baḥrī. Designed as a funerary monument for Hatshepsut and her father, it
contains reliefs that record the major events of her reign. She also cut a large tomb for
herself in the Valley of the Kings, another strictly pharaonic prerogative. Its burial
chamber was intended to lie behind her funerary temple, and she also planned to
move her father's mummy into her own tomb. Her attention to Thutmose I was
intended to emphasize her legitimate succession directly from him through the agency
.of Amon-Re, whom she claimed as her actual father

Hatshepsut's ambition, however, encountered that of the energetic Thutmose III, who
had become head of the army. As she and her loyal officials aged, his party grew
stronger. The early death of her daughter, whom she married to Thutmose III, may
have contributed to her decline. Whether Hatshepsut died naturally or was deposed
.and slain is uncertain

Thutmose I

flourished 2nd millennium BC

18th-dynasty king of Egypt )reigned 1493–c. 1482 BC( who expanded Egypt's empire
.in Nubia )the modern Sudan( and also penetrated deep intoSyria

Although Thutmose was the son of a nonroyal mother, he strengthened his claim to
the throne by marrying his predecessor's daughter, probably some time before his
accession. He also possibly was associated with his predecessor as coregent for an
unspecified period, as is attested by a chapel found at Thebes. On his accession day,
.he communicated his new titulary and coronation in a letter to the viceroy of Nubia

In his second year Thutmose led a riverborne expedition deep into Nubia, beyond his
predecessor's frontier. As shown by inscriptions carved along the way, he thrust
pastthe Fourth Nile Cataract and set up a new boundary at KanisaKurgus. The venture
is attested by the biographies of two Upper Egyptians who were among the forces that
made the campaign. One reason for the deep thrust into Nubia was the land's rich gold
deposits, which were intensely exploited during the 18th dynasty. Another motivation
was the fact that a hostile Kushite kingdom, centred near the Third Cataract, had
.seriously menaced Egypt during the 17th dynasty

After his Nubian war Thutmose penetrated to the EuphratesRiver in the vicinity of
Carchemish in Syria as he continued the pursuit of the Hyksos, Asiatic invaders who
had recently dominated Egypt. One of the texts from Nubia states that already before
the Syrian foray, Thutmose claimed the Euphrates as his border. Although no evidence
of earlier campaigns survives, the Nubian text implies that deep penetration of Syria
.had already occurred

Within Egypt, Thutmose thoroughly renovated the Middle Kingdom temple of Amon
at Thebes. He erected an enclosurewall and two pylons at the western end, with a
small pillared hall in between. Two obelisks were added in front of the outer pylon.
.Thutmose created the axial temple, which became standard for the New Kingdom

Two crown princes predeceased the king. One had become commander of the armies
and was assigned to Memphis, near modern Cairo, which in the New Kingdom
became a military operations centre. Thutmose set the example for later kings, who
likewise assigned their crown princes to Memphis, where they were schooled in the
.military arts

Thutmose also was the first king to cut his tomb in the Valley of the Tombs of the
Kings at Thebes, probably to obtain greater security for it. It was also he who built the
cemetery workers' village at Dayr al-Madīnah, in western Thebes, and who probably
completed the organization of thenecropolis staff begun by his predecessor. The
.length of Thutmose's reign is still uncertain, and his highest attested date is year nine

Thutmose II

flourished 2nd millennium BC

18th-dynasty king of Egypt )reigned c. 1482–1479 BC( who suppressed a revolt in

Nubia, Egypt's territory to the south, and also sent a punitive expedition to Palestine
.against some Bedouins
Thutmose was born to Thutmose I, his predecessor, by a sister of his father's queen.
He married his fully royal half-sister, Hatshepsut, to solidify his claim to the throne.
According to an inscription from Aswān dated year one, a chief from northern Kush,
around the Second Nile Cataract, fomented a revolt against Egyptian suzerainty and
threatened the garrisons stationed in Nubia. The king dispatched a force with orders to
quell the rebels and execute their males. One of the chief's sons was brought captive
to Egypt, probably to be Egyptianized and returned to his country as a client ruler.
Some time later, as shown by the biography of one of the soldiers who had
accompanied his father, Thutmose II sent forces against some Bedouins in southern
.Palestine

Besides these references, little is known of Thutmose II's reign. His name appears on
a few Upper Egyptian and Nubianmonuments, but it perhaps was ordered cut by his
son, Thutmose III. In western Thebes he built a small funerary temple, which his son
later enlarged. No tomb has been positively identified as belonging to Thutmose II,
.although his mummy was discovered reburied in the royal cache

By a woman of his harem, Thutmose II left a son who was still very young at his
father's death. As indicated by the king's chief architect, although the young prince
was elevated to the throne, it was his stepmother and regent, Hatshepsut, who
.governed Egypt

There is doubt concerning the length of Thutmose II's reign. Only his first year is
positively attested, although around 1900 a scholar claimed to have seen an
inscription dated year 18. This text has never again been seen, however, and most
.modern scholars doubt its validity

Thutmose III

died 1426 BC

Egyptian king of the 18th dynasty )reigned 1479–26 BC(, often regarded as the
greatest of the rulers of ancient Egypt. Thutmose III was a skilled warrior who
brought the Egyptian empire to the zenith of its power by conquering all of Syria,
crossing the Euphrates to defeat the Mitannians, and penetrating south along the Nile
to Napata in the Sudan. He also built a great number of temples and monuments to
.commemorate his deeds

Thutmose's minority

Thutmose III was the son of Thutmose II; his mother was one of the king's minor
wives or concubines, named Isis. Since there was no prince with a better claim to the
throne, the boy was crowned king on the early death of his father; hewas about 10 at
the time and was betrothed to the heiress, his half-sister Neferure. Neferure's mother,
Hatshepsut, the daughter of Thutmose I and wife and sister of Thutmose II, acted as
regent. In the second year of his reign this strong-minded and ambitious woman
herself assumed the attributes, dress, and insignia of a king and to all intents and
purposes reigned in his stead. As one of her courtiers says, “she directed the affairs of
the whole land according to her wishes.” Still, Thutmose was given an education
befitting his royal station. He was taught all military skills, especially archery, which
he demonstrated in public display, and horsemanship, in which he showed
considerable prowess. Hewas later to boast that none among his followers could
.equalhim in physical strength and in marksmanship

As he grew up, Thutmose may even have been entrusted with command of the army
on campaign in Nubia; whether healso fought in Palestine is doubtful. His grandfather
Thutmose I had penetrated into northern Syria; Thutmose II, though far from a
weakling, had not followed this success, and Hatshepsut, as a woman, may have been
unwilling to send an army into the field. Thus, through inaction, Egyptian influence in
Syria and Palestine had declined. The sons and grandsons of the Syrian princes who
had surrendered to Thutmose I no longer sent tribute, and the king of Mitanni, a
powerful Mesopotamian kingdom with its capital beyond the Euphrates, was able to
.extend his control westward to the Mediterranean

In the 22nd year of Thutmose's reign, a formidable coalitionwas formed against

Egypt, led by the king of Kadesh in northern Syria, and no doubt supported by the
Mitanni. At this moment of crisis Hatshepsut died. Her death was opportune; whether
her nephew was responsible is a matter of surmise only, but later in his reign he
decreed that her name be obliterated on all her monuments, her statues smashed, and
.her figure erased from reliefs

Military campaigns

After a few months' preparation the king was ready to march at the head of his army.
The first campaign is recorded in some detail on the walls of the temple he built at
Karnak in Thebes, which depict the march to Gaza and thence to Yahmai south of the
Carmel Range, the council of war, and the king's bold decision to surprise the enemy
encamped at Megiddo, northeast of Carmel and about 18 miles )29 km( southeast of
the modern city of Haifa. Thutmose's approach was by the route least expected—a
narrow defile over the mountain. It was successful. The enemy was defeated, and
Megiddo was taken after a siege of eight months. In subsequent campaigns, which are
less fully described in the annals, ports on the Phoenician coast were converted into
Egyptian supply bases, and Kadesh and other cities in the al-Biqāʿ )Bekaa( Valley
.were taken

In the 33rd year of Thutmose's reign, the time was at last ripe for his most audacious
move, an attack on the kingdom of Mitanni itself, which had grown stronger since the
day when Thutmose I had taken its army by surprise. Thutmose planned the campaign
well; pontoon boats were transported across Syria on oxcarts for the crossing of the
Euphrates River. The ensuing encounter, which must have taken place on the eastern
bank, is not described by the annalist; it resulted in the precipitate flight of the
Mitannian king and the capture of 30 members of his harem and some hundreds of his
soldiers. Triumphantly, Thutmose set up hiscommemorative inscription by the river's
edge, next to that of his grandfather Thutmose I. It was his farthest point of advance.
On the homeward journey he also hunted elephant in the land of Niy, in the Orontes
Valley, and on his return he celebrated a great triumph at Thebes and dedicated
.prisoners and booty to the temple of the state god Amon
In later campaigns )there were 17 in all(, Thutmose III was content to consolidate
what he had won and to lay the foundations of an imperial organization of his Asian
possessions. Native rulers, members of local ruling dynasties, were henceforward set
to govern their own territories as vassals of Egypt and were bound by solemn oath to
keep the peace, render annual tribute, and obey the Egyptian representative in the
region, the “overseer of foreign lands.” Their sons were sent as hostages to Egypt and
educated at court, so that in due course they might return to rule their inheritance,
Egyptianized in outlook and sympathies. Fortresses were built, and Egyptian garrisons
.were stationed at key points along the coast and in the highlands

To the south, Thutmose reaffirmed the southern boundary of Egyptian domination

over Nubia as far as Kanisa Kurgus, and at Napata, near the Gebel Barkal, he built a
temple to Amon. He thoroughly subdued the turbulent Nubian tribes and employed
many of them in the gold mines, which from his reign on became the basis of
Egyptian wealth in foreign exchange with the princes of western Asia. For the last 12
years of his reign, he was content to enjoy the fruits of his victories. The tribute of
Syria and Palestine and of the Sudan poured into his treasury; the annals list huge
quantities of timber and metal ores, cattle, and grain delivered by the conquered.
Minoan Crete and Cyprus, Babylonia, Assyria, and the Hittites sent gifts. The tombs
of high officials of the reign are decorated with scenes depicting the reception of
foreign envoys coming from places as far away as the Aegean and the Greek mainland
to lay their rich and exotic gifts at the feet of the pharaoh. The prestige of Egypt had
.never been so high

Military campaigns

After a few months' preparation the king was ready to march at the head of his army.
The first campaign is recorded in some detail on the walls of the temple he built at
Karnak in Thebes, which depict the march to Gaza and thence to Yahmai south of the
Carmel Range, the council of war, and the king's bold decision to surprise the enemy
encamped at Megiddo, northeast of Carmel and about 18 miles )29 km( southeast of
the modern city of Haifa. Thutmose's approach was by the route least expected—a
narrow defile over the mountain. It was successful. The enemy was defeated, and
Megiddo was taken after a siege of eight months. In subsequent campaigns, which are
less fully described in the annals, ports on the Phoenician coast were converted into
Egyptian supply bases, and Kadesh and other cities in the al-Biqāʿ )Bekaa( Valley
.were taken

In the 33rd year of Thutmose's reign, the time was at last ripe for his most audacious
move, an attack on the kingdom of Mitanni itself, which had grown stronger since the
day when Thutmose I had taken its army by surprise. Thutmose planned the campaign
well; pontoon boats were transported across Syria on oxcarts for the crossing of the
Euphrates River. The ensuing encounter, which must have taken place on the eastern
bank, is not described by the annalist; it resulted in the precipitate flight of the
Mitannian king and the capture of 30 members of his harem and some hundreds of his
soldiers. Triumphantly, Thutmose set up hiscommemorative inscription by the river's
edge, next to that of his grandfather Thutmose I. It was his farthest point of advance.
On the homeward journey he also hunted elephant in the land of Niy, in the Orontes
Valley, and on his return he celebrated a great triumph at Thebes and dedicated
.prisoners and booty to the temple of the state god Amon

In later campaigns )there were 17 in all(, Thutmose III was content to consolidate
what he had won and to lay the foundations of an imperial organization of his Asian
possessions. Native rulers, members of local ruling dynasties, were henceforward set
to govern their own territories as vassals of Egypt and were bound by solemn oath to
keep the peace, render annual tribute, and obey the Egyptian representative in the
region, the “overseer of foreign lands.” Their sons were sent as hostages to Egypt and
educated at court, so that in due course they might return to rule their inheritance,
Egyptianized in outlook and sympathies. Fortresses were built, and Egyptian garrisons
.were stationed at key points along the coast and in the highlands

To the south, Thutmose reaffirmed the southern boundary of Egyptian domination

over Nubia as far as Kanisa Kurgus, and at Napata, near the Gebel Barkal, he built a
temple to Amon. He thoroughly subdued the turbulent Nubian tribes and employed
many of them in the gold mines, which from his reign on became the basis of
Egyptian wealth in foreign exchange with the princes of western Asia. For the last 12
years of his reign, he was content to enjoy the fruits of his victories. The tribute of
Syria and Palestine and of the Sudan poured into his treasury; the annals list huge
quantities of timber and metal ores, cattle, and grain delivered by the conquered.
Minoan Crete and Cyprus, Babylonia, Assyria, and the Hittites sent gifts. The tombs
of high officials of the reign are decorated with scenes depicting the reception of
foreign envoys coming from places as far away as the Aegean and the Greek mainland
to lay their rich and exotic gifts at the feet of the pharaoh. The prestige of Egypt had
.never been so high

Additional reading

There is no separate life of Thutmose III. His career and achievements are described
in some detail in general histories such as J.H. Breasted, A History of Egypt from the
Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest )1905, reprinted many times(; and, more
recently, A.H. Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs )1961(. The newly revised edition of
The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 2, part 1 )1971(, contains chapters by William C.
Hayes on the early part of the 18th dynasty; and by Margaret S. Drower on the
Egyptian Challenge and Egypt in Asia. The bibliographies to these chapters are very
full. The text of Thutmose's annals and other inscriptions may be found in J.H.
Breasted )ed.(, Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. 2 )1906, reissued 1962(. For a better
translation of the more important texts, see J.B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts
.)Illustrating the Old Testament, 3rd ed. with suppl. )1969

‫ و هم اليونيين وهم جزء من اليونان‬yavaniim ‫اليونان في العبرية‬

I set thy glory and the fear of thee in all lands, and the terror of thee as far as the four
supports of the sky. . . . the rulers of all foreign countries are gathered togetherwithin
.thy grasp. I stretch out my hands to bind them forthee
‫هذا المقطع متأثرة فيه التوراة بجمع بني اسرائيل من أربعة أركان الرض و دوسهم البلد بالنعل‬
7,8 ‫ و دانيال‬11 ‫سفر اشعياء‬
‫" و نفخهم بالبوق المصنوع من قرن الكبش‬... ‫و صلتهم عند حائط المبكى "تكاع شوفار جادول‬
Horemheb
also spelled Harmhab, or Haremhab, also called Djeserkhepere last king of the 18th
dynasty of Egypt )reigned 1319–1292 BC(; he restored the traditional Amon religion
.that a previous ruler, Akhenaton, had replaced with the worship of the god Aton

Having been general commander of the army in northern Egypt before he took the
throne, Horemheb appointed soldiers to major offices and made Memphis his capital.
He destroyed all symbols of the Aton religion, built and restored buildings in honour
of Amon, and removed the names of heretic kings from the list of pharaohs. As a gift
to Amon, Horemheb began work on the great hypostyle hall at Karnak, the largest
room ever constructed in Egypt. He restored Egypt's prosperity and its authority in
foreign lands by resuming the trading expeditions that had almost ceased during the
religious heresy. Ramses I, whom Horemheb had chosen as his vizier,became his
.successor and founded the 19th dynasty

A large tomb built by Horemheb before he took the throne was discovered in 1975 at
Ṣaqqārah, near Memphis. It remained unused, however, as Horemheb was buried in a
.royal tomb in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings

Ramses I

flourished 14th century BC

.king of Egypt )reigned 1292–90 BC(, founder of the 19th dynasty of Egypt

Probably descended from a non royal military family from the northeast Egyptian
delta, Ramses found favour with Horemheb, the last king of the 18th dynasty, who
was also a military man. As the elderly king had no son of his own, he made Ramses
coregent not long before his own death. By then Ramses also was of advanced age,
.but his son, Seti I, was in the prime of life

In 1292 Ramses I ascended the throne and shortly thereafter made Seti his coregent to
help him assume someof the more rigorous royal duties. While his son planned
campaigns against Syria in an attempt to regain Egypt's lost possessions there,
Ramses completed the decoration of thesecond pylon and its vestibule in the great
Karnak temple ofthe national god, Amon, at Thebes, which was built and
partlydecorated by his predecessor. He was also involved in the building of the great
colonnaded hall in the temple at Karnakand had begun its decoration just before his
.death in 1290

Inscriptions reveal that Ramses reigned about one year and four months. He was
buried in a small, hastily prepared tomb in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at
.Thebes

)Ancient )from Sudan, history of the

Ancient Nubia

The kingdom of Kush

Despite the Egyptian presence in upper Nubia, the indigenous culture of the region
continued to flourish. This culture was deeply influenced by African peoples in the
south and was little changed by the proximity of Egyptian garrisons or the imports of
luxury articles by Egyptian traders. Indeed, the Egyptianization of Nubia appears to
have actually been enhanced during the decline in Egypt's political control over Nubia
in the Second Intermediate Period )c. 1630–1540 BC(, when Nubians were employed
in large numbers as mercenaries against the Asian Hyksos invaders of Egypt. This
experience did more to introduce Egyptian culture, which the mercenaries absorbed
while fighting in Egyptian armies, than did the preceding centuriesof Egyptian
military occupation. Conversely, the presence of these mercenaries in Egypt
.contributed to the growing African influence within Egyptian culture

The defeat of the Hyksos was the result of a national rising of the Egyptians who,
once they had expelled the Hyksos from the Nile valley, turned their energies
southward to reestablish the military occupation of Nubia that the Hyksos invasion
had disrupted. Under Thutmose I )reigned 1493–c. 1482 BC( the Egyptian conquest
of the northern Sudan was completed as far as Kurqus, 50 miles south of AbūḤamad,
and subsequent Egyptian military expeditions penetrated even farther up the Nile.
This third Egyptian occupation was the most complete and the most enduring, for
despite sporadic rebellions against Egyptian control Nubia was divided into two
administrative units: Wawat in the north, with its provincial capital at Aswān, and
Kush )alsospelled Cush( in the south, with its headquarters at Napata )Marawī(. Nubia
as a whole was governed by a viceroy, usually a member of the royal entourage, who
was responsible to the Egyptian pharaoh. Under him were two deputies, one for
Wawat and one for Kush, and a hierarchy of lesser officials. The bureaucracy was
staffed chiefly by Egyptians, but Egyptianized Nubians were not uncommon.
Colonies of Egyptian officials, traders, and priests surrounded the administrative
centres, but beyond these outposts the Nubians continued to preserve their own
distinct traditions, customs, and crafts. A syncretistic culture thus arose in Kush,
.fashioned by that of Egypt to the north and those of African peoples to the south

Kush's position athwart the trade routes from Egypt to the Red Sea, and from the Nile
to the south and west, brought considerable wealth from far-off places. Moreover, its
cultivated areas along the Nile were rich, and in the hills the gold and emerald mines
produced bullion and jewels for Egypt. The Nubians were also highly valued as
.soldiers

As Egypt slipped once again into decline at the close of the New Kingdom )11th
century BC(, the viceroys of Kush, supported by their Nubian armies, became
virtually independent kings, free of Egyptian control. By the 8th century BC, the
kings of Kush came from hereditary ruling families of Egyptianized Nubian chiefs
who possessed neither political nor family ties with Egypt. Under one such king,
Kashta, Kush acquired control of Upper )i.e., southern( Egypt, and under his son
Piankhi )c. 750–c. 719 BC(, the whole of Egypt to the shores of the Mediterranean
was brought under the administration of Kush. As a world power, however, Kush was
not to last. Just when the kings of Kush had established their rule from Abū Ḥamad to
the Nile delta, the Assyrians invaded Egypt )671 BC( and with their superioriron-
forged weapons defeated the armies of Kush under the redoubtable Taharqa; by 654
.the Kushites had been driven back to Nubia and the safety of their capital, Napata
Although reduced from a great power to an isolated kingdom behind the barren hills
that blocked the southward advance from Aswān, Kush continued to rule over the
middle Nile for another thousand years. Its unique Egyptian-Nubianculture with its
strong African accretions was preserved, while that of Egypt came under Persian,
Greek, and Roman influences. Although Egyptianized in many ways, the culture of
Kush was not simply Egyptian civilization in a Nubian environment. The Kushites
developed their own language, expressed first by Egyptian hieroglyphs, then their
own, and finally by a cursive script. They worshiped Egyptian gods but did not
abandon their own. They buried their kings in pyramids but not in the Egyptian
fashion. Theirwealth continued to flow from the mines and to grow with their control
of the trade routes. Soon after the retreat from Egypt the capital was moved from
Napata southward to Meroe near Shandī, where the kingdom was increasingly
exposed to the long-established African cultures farther south at the very time when
its ties with Egypt were rapidly disappearing. The subsequent history of Kush is one
of gradual decay, ending with inglorious extinction in AD 350 by the king of Aksum,
who marched down from the Ethiopian highlands, destroyed Meroe, and sacked the
.decrepit towns along the river

Christian and Islāmic influence

Medieval Christian kingdoms

The 200 years from the fall of Kush to the middle of the 6th century is an unknown
age in the Sudan. Nubia was inhabited by a people called the Nobatae by the ancient
geographers and the X-Group by modern archaeologists, who are still at a loss to
explain their origins. The X-Group were clearly, however, the heirs of Kush, for their
whole cultural life was dominated by Meroitic crafts and customs, and occasionally
they even felt themselves sufficiently strong, in alliance with the nomadic Blemmyes
)the Beja of the eastern Sudan(, to attack the Romans in Upper Egypt. When this
happened, the Romans retaliated, defeating the Nobatae and Blemmyes and driving
.them into obscurity once again

When the Sudan was once more brought into the orbit of theMediterranean world by
the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 6th century, the middle course of the Nile
was divided into three kingdoms: Nobatia, with its capital at Pachoras )modern
Faras(; Maqurrah, with its capital at Dunqulah )Old Dongola(; and the kingdom of
ʿAlwah in the south, with its capital at Sūbah )Soba( near what is now Khartoum.
Between543 and 575 these three kingdoms were converted to Christianity by the work
of Julian, a missionary who proselytized among the Nobatia )543–545(, and his
successor Longinus, who between 569 and 575 consolidated the work of Julian in
Nobatia and even carried Christianity to ʿAlwah in the south. The new religion
appears to have been adopted with considerable enthusiasm. Christian churches
sprang up along the Nile, and ancient temples were refurbished to accommodate
Christian worshipers. After the retirement of Longinus, however, the Sudan once
again receded into a period about which little is known, and it did not reemerge into
the stream of recorded history until the coming of the Arabs in the middle of the 7th
.century
After the death of the Prophet Muḥammad P&PBUH in AD 632, the Arabs erupted
from the desert steppes of Arabia and overranthe lands to the east and west. Egypt was
invaded in 639, and small groups of Arab raiders penetrated up the Nile and pillaged
along the frontier of the kingdom of Maqurrah, whichby the 7th century had absorbed
the state of Nobatia. Raid and counterraid between the Arabs and the Nubians
followeduntil a well-equipped Arab expedition under ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī
Sarḥ was sent south to punish the Nubians. The Arabs marched as far as Dunqulah,
laid siege to the town, and destroyed the Christian cathedral. They suffered heavy
casualties, however, so that when the king of Maqurrah sought an armistice, ʿAbd
Allāh ibn Saʿd agreed to peace, happy to extricate his battered forces from a
precarious position. Arab-Nubian relations were subsequently regularized by an
annual exchange of gifts, by trade relations, and by the mutual understanding that no
Muslims were to settle in Nubia and no Nubians were to take up residence in Egypt.
With but few interruptions this peaceful, commercial relationship lasted for nearly six
centuries, its very success undoubtedly the result of the mutual advantage that both
the Arabs and the Nubians derived from it. The Arabs had a stable frontier; they
appear to have had no designs to occupy the Sudan and were probably discouraged
from doing so by the arid plains south of Aswān. Peace on the frontier was their
object, and this the treaty guaranteed. In return, the kingdom of Maqurrah gained
.another 600 years of life

Kush is Mentioned in the Bible as Ethiopia

‫ كوشي تعني مثل كلمة حبشي‬,‫ الكوشيين هم الحباش‬,‫مملكة كوش تعني الحبشة‬

:Cleopatra I Syra

died 176 BC

queen of Egypt )193–176 BC(, wife of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and regent for her minor
.son, Ptolemy VI Philometor

Daughter of Antiochus III the Great of the Syrian Empire, Cleopatra was married to
Ptolemy V in 193 as part of the Peace of Lysimacheia, concluding warfare and border
conflicts between Syria and Egypt. She brought as her dowry the revenues )but
apparently not the ownership( of Coele-Syria, a land that Egypt had long sought to
recover; and the total agreement helped to ensure Egypt's neutrality in Syria's
continuing struggles with the Romans. When Ptolemy V died )180(, Cleopatra
became the true ruler of Egypt as regent for her young son, and she ruled
equitably,keeping peace with Syria while doing nothing to alienate Rome, and thereby
.kept Egypt free of invasion

‫ لصناعة السفن لذلك تمدد النفوذ البطلمي حتى‬, ‫الخشاب من الغابات كانت من أهم المتطلبات في صفقة التبادل‬
‫ قبل الميلد و‬175 ‫منطقة (فيلدلفيا) و بعد أنطيوخوس الثالث ملك سلوقوس الثالث و بعده أنطيوخوس الرابع‬
.‫ضرب بيد من حديد على ثورة اليهود و استعاد المناطق السورية من أيدي البطالمة‬

‫كليوبترا السابعة‬-----------‫محبة حتحور‬--------:Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator

 born 69 BC
died August 30, 30 BC, Alexandria

Egyptian queen famous in history and drama, lover of Julius Caesar and later the wife
of Mark Antony. She became queen on the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, in 51 BC,
ruling successively with her twobrothers Ptolemy XIII )51–47( and Ptolemy XIV )47–
44( and her son Ptolemy XV Caesar )44–30(. After the Roman armies of Octavian
)the future emperor Augustus( defeated their combined forces, Antony and Cleopatra
committed suicide, and Egypt fell under Roman domination. Her ambition no less
than her charm actively influenced Roman politics at a crucial period, and she came to
represent, as did no other woman of antiquity, the prototype of the romantic femme
.fatale

The second daughter of King Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra was destined to become the last
sovereign of the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt between the death of Alexander
the Great in 323 and its annexation by Rome in 31. The line had been founded by
Alexander's marshal Ptolemy. Cleopatra was of Macedonian descent and had no
Egyptian blood, although she alone of her house took the trouble to learn Egyptian
and, for political reasons, regarded herself as the daughter of Re, the sun god. Coin
portraits of her show a countenance alive rather than beautiful, with a sensitive mouth,
firm chin, liquid eyes, broad forehead, and prominent nose. Her voice, says the Greek
biographer Plutarch, “was like an instrument of many strings.” He adds that “Plato
admits four sorts of flattery, but she had a thousand.” When Ptolemy XII died in 51,
the throne passed to his 15-year-old son, Ptolemy XIII, and that king's sister-bride,
Cleopatra. They soon had a falling out, and civil war ensued. Ptolemy XII had been
expelled from Egypt in 58 and had been restored three years later only by means of
Roman arms. Rome now felt that it had a right to interfere in the affairs of this
independent, exceedingly rich kingdom, over which it had in fact exercised a sort of
protectorate since 168. No one realized more clearly than Cleopatra that Rome was
now the arbiter and that to carryout her ambition she must remain on good terms with
Rome and its rulers. Thus when Caesar, the victor in the civil war, arrived in Egypt in
October 48, in pursuit of Pompey )who, a fugitive from his defeat at Pharsalus in
Thessaly, had been murdered as he landed four days before(, Cleopatra set out to
captivate him. She succeeded. Each was determined to use the other. Caesar sought
money—he claimed he was owed it for the expenses of her father's restoration.
Cleopatra's target was power: she was determined to restore the glories of the first
Ptolemies and to recover as much as possible of their dominions, which had included
southern Syria and Palestine. She realized that Caesar was the strong man, the
dictator, of Rome, and it was therefore on him that she relied. In the ensuing civil war
in Egypt Caesar washard-pressed by the anti-Cleopatra party, led by her brother,
Ptolemy XIII, but Caesar eventually defeated them and reestablished the joint rule of
brother and sister-wife. Caesar, having won his victory on March 27, 47, left Egypt
after a fortnight's amorous respite. WhetherCaesar was in fact the father of Cleopatra's
.son whom she called Caesarion cannot now be known

It took Caesar two years to extinguish the last flames of Pompeian opposition. As
soon as he returned to Rome, in 46, he celebrated a four-day triumph—the ceremonial
in honour of a general after his victory over a foreign enemy—in which Arsinoe,
Cleopatra's younger and hostile sister, was paraded. The Battle of Munda, in 45, was
the coup de grace. Cleopatra was now in Rome, and a golden statue of her had been
placed by Caesar's orders in the temple of Venus Genetrix, the ancestress of the Julian
family to which Caesar belonged. Cleopatra herself was installed by Caesar in a villa
that he owned beyond the Tiber. She was accompanied by her husband-brother and
was still in Rome when Caesar was murdered in 44. She behaved with a discretion
that she was later to discard, and her presence seems to have occasioned little
comment; officially she was negotiating a treaty of alliance. Cicero, the politician and
writer, mentions her in none of his contemporary letters, though his later references to
.her show that he regarded her, as most Romans did, with rancour

Caesar's assassination put an end to Cleopatra's first campaign for power, and she
retired toEgypt to await the outcome of the next round in the Roman political
struggle. When, at the Battle of Philippi in 42, Caesar's assassins were routed, Mark
Antony became the heir-apparent of Caesar's authority—or so it seemed, for his great-
nephew and personal heir, Octavian, was but a sickly boy. When Antony, bent on
pursuing the eternal mirage of Roman rulers, an invasion of Persia, sent for Cleopatra,
she was delighted. Here was a second chance of achieving her aim. She had known
Antony when he had been in Egypt as a young staff officer and she had been 14. She
was now 28 or 29 and completely confident of her powers. She set out for Tarsus in
Asia Minor, loaded with gifts, having delayed her departure to heighten Antony's
expectation. She entered the city by sailing up the Cydnus River in the famous barge
that Shakespeare immortalized in Antony and Cleopatra . Antony was captivated, and
Cleopatra subtly exploited his raffish and unstable character. Forgetting hiswife,
Fulvia, who in Italy was doing her best to maintain her husband's interests against the
growing menace of young Octavian, Antony put off his Persian campaign and
returned as Cleopatra's slave to Alexandria, where he treated her not as a “protected”
sovereign but as an independent monarch. “Her design of attacking Rome by means
of Romans,” as one historian put it, “was one of such stupendous audacity that we
must suppose that she saw no other way.” Her first effort had been frustrated by
Caesar's death; she felt now that she could win all by using the far more pliant and
apparently equally powerful Antony. In Alexandria Cleopatra did all she could to
pander to his weaknesses. They formed a society of “inimitable livers,” whose
members in fact lived a life of debauchery and folly. Cleopatra, however, knew how
to handle her catch. Yet the final struggle for the dominion of Rome was to last for 10
years and was to end in disaster for Cleopatra )no less than for Antony(,
.largelypromoted by Cleopatra herself

In 40 BC, Antony left Alexandria to return to Italy, where he was forced to conclude a
temporary settlement with Octavian, whose sister Octavia )Fulvia having died( he
married. Three years later Antony was convinced that he and Octavian could never
come to terms. He went east and again met Cleopatra; he needed her money for his
postponed Parthian campaign. He then took the fatal step of marrying her. The union
was not only utterly insulting to Octavia and her brother but in Roman law was also
.invalid. Henceforward, all Rome was united against him

Meanwhile, during Antony's absence, Cleopatra had committed another act of

disastrous folly. She had antagonized Herod of Judaea, by far the ablest, richest, and
most powerful of the “protected” sovereigns, or “client kings,” of Rome. Herod and
Antony were old friends; but in the year 40, after Antony's departure, Cleopatra
unsuccessfully tried to seduce Herodon his way through Egypt. Cleopatra never
forgave him for the rebuff. She went much further: when she and Antony were
reunited she persuaded him to give her large portions of Syria and Lebanon and even
the rich balsam groves of Jericho in Herod's own kingdom. But Antony refused to
sacrifice Herod wholly to Cleopatra's greed, whereupon she hated Herod more than
ever and even interfered in his unhappy family affairs by intriguing against him with
the women of his household. She made a tour of her new acquisitions, on which
Herod received her with simulated delight; but she remained as jealous and hostile as
ever, bitterly resentful that anyone other than herself should influence Antony. The
.fruit of her folly was soon to be gathered

Cleopatra had merely acquiesced in the Parthian campaign: she sought other ways of
spending her money. The campaign itself was a costly failure, as was the temporary
conquestof Armenia. Nevertheless, in 34 Antony celebrated a fantastic triumph in
Alexandria. Crowds beheld Antony and Cleopatra seated on golden thrones, with their
own three children and little Caesarion, whom Antony proclaimed to be Caesar's son,
thus relegating Octavian, who had been adopted by Caesar as his son and heir, to legal
bastardy. Cleopatra was hailed as queen of kings, Caesarion as king of kings.
Alexander Helios was awarded Armenia and the territory beyond the Euphrates, his
brother Ptolemy the lands to the west of it. The boys' sister, Selene, was to be ruler of
Cyrene. Octavian, now lord of the ascendant in Italy, seized Antony's will from the
temple of the Vestal Virgins, to whom it had been entrusted, and revealed to the
Roman people that not only had Antony bestowed Roman possessions on thisforeign
woman but had intended to transfer the capital from Rome to Alexandria, there to
.found a new dynasty

Antony and Cleopatra spent the winter of 32–31 in Greece amid revels and
dissipation. The Roman Senate deprived Antony of his prospective consulate for the
following year. When it finally declared war against Cleopatra the unwisdom of her
policy against Herod was revealed, for she had contrived to embroil him with the king
of Petra just when his ability and resources would have been of the utmost value to
Antony. At the naval Battle of Actium, in which Octavian faced the combined forces
of Antony and Cleopatra on September 2, 31, Cleopatra suddenly broke off the
engagement and set course for Egypt. Inevitable defeat followed. Antony went on
board her flagship and for three days refused to see her; but they were reconciled
before they reached Alexandria, styling themselves no longer “inimitable livers” but
“.“diers together

Cleopatra, with all her subtlety, all her political foresight, had backed two losers, first
Caesar and then Antony, to whose downfall she had notably contributed. Octavian
now became the magnet. Cleopatra realized that she could neither kill Antony nor
exile him. But she believed that if he could be induced to kill himself for love of her,
they would both win undying renown. She retired to her mausoleum, then sent
messengers to Antony to say she was dead. He fell on his sword, but in a last excess
of devotion had himself carried to Cleopatra's retreat, and there died, after bidding her
.to make her peace with Octavian

When Octavian visited her, Cleopatra tried yet once again to captivate the leading
Roman. She used all her arts; she failed. She knew, then, that Octavian intended that
she and her children should adorn his triumph. Rather than be dragged through the
city in which she had been borne as a queen, she killed herself, possibly by means of
an asp, symbol of divine royalty. Octavian, on receiving her letter asking that she
might be buried with Antony, sent messengers posthaste. “The messengers,” Plutarch
says, “came at full speed, and found the guards apprehensive of nothing; but on
opening the doors they saw her stone dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her
royal ornaments.” She was 39 and had been a queen for 22 years and Antony's partner
for 11. They were buried together, as both of them had wished, and with them was
.buried the Roman Republic

In retrospect, Cleopatra's political career ended in utter failure. Had she been less
ambitious she might have preserved her kingdom as a client, as her rival Herod did
with complete success. In overreaching herself she ruined all. And yet it was this
political failure that was to be transmuted into the grand original of the great lover,
consecrated by the art of Shakespeare himself. The best epitaph on Cleopatra is that of
the historian Dio Cassius: “She captivated the two greatest Romans of her day, and
“.because of the third she destroyed herself

:Caesar, Julius

[born July 12/13, 100? BC, Rome [Italy

died March 15, 44 BC, Rome

in full Gaius Julius Caesar celebrated Roman general and statesman, the conqueror of
Gaul )58–50BC(, victor in the Civil War of 49–46 BC, and dictator )46–44 BC(, who
was launching a series of political and social reforms when he was assassinated by a
.group of nobles in the Senate House on the Ides of March

Caesar changed the course of the history of the Greco-Roman world decisively and
irreversibly. The Greco-Roman society has been extinct for so long that most of the
names of its great men mean little tothe average, educated modern man. But Caesar's
name, like Alexander's, is still on people's lips throughout the Christian and Islāmic
worlds. Even people who know nothing of Caesar as a historic personality are familiar
with his family name as a title signifying a ruler who is in some sense uniquely
supreme or paramount—the meaning of Kaiser in German, tsar in the Slavonic
.languages, and qayṣar in the languages ofthe Islāmic world

Caesar's gens )clan( name, Julius )Iulius(, is also familiar in the Christian world; for in
Caesar's lifetime the Roman month Quintilis, in which he was born, was renamed
“July” in his honour. This name has survived, as has Caesar's reform of the calendar.
The old Roman calendar was inaccurate and manipulated for political purposes.
Caesar's calendar, the Julian calendar, is still partially in force in the Eastern Orthodox
Christian countries; and the Gregorian calendar, now in use in the West, is the Julian,
.slightly corrected by Pope Gregory XIII

‫عصيون جيبر هو ميناء داود عليه السلم في عقبة أيلة – فعليا يظهر في خريطة مملكة داود عليه السلم‬
‫ميناء عصيون جيبر شمال من عقبة أيلة—المنطقة اسمها تل الخليفي و هي بجانب مطار العقبة و ل يوجد بها‬
‫ و مناجم النحاس في فيدان و فينان جميع فترات استخلص النحاس‬,‫آثار تعود لنفس فترة داود عليه السلم‬
‫ و في فترة داود و سليمان عليهم السلم كانت‬, ‫فيها كانت في أزمنة قبل داود و سليمان عليهما السلم و بعدهم‬
.‫أقل استعمال‬

‫ عقبة أيلة‬,‫ وراء فندق الموفنبيك‬,‫عقبة أيلة الرومانية البيزنطية (ايلنا) موجودة في المنطقة الغربية في العقبة‬
.‫السلمية توجد على شاطيء العقبة بقرب فندق الموفنبيك من الشاطيء شرقا‬

Maximian

born , Sirmium, Pannonia Inferior

died 310

Latin in full Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Roman emperor with Diocletian from AD
.286 to305

Born of humble parents, Maximian rose in the army, on the basis of his military skill, to
become a trusted officer and friend of the emperor Diocletian, who made him caesar in 285
and augustus the following year. Maximian thus became in theory the colleague of Diocletian,
but his role was always subordinate. Assigned the government of the West, Maximian failed
to suppress revolts in Gaul and Britain; Constantius Chlorus, appointed caesar under
Maximian in 293, took charge of these areas while Maximian continued to govern Italy,
Spain, and Africa. Although long viewed by Christians as a persecutor of their religion,
Maximian seems to have done no more than obediently execute in his part of the empire the
first edict of Diocletian, which ordered the burning of the Scriptures and the closing of the
churches. On May 1, 305, the same day that Diocletian abdicated at Nicomedia, Maximian
abdicated, evidently reluctantly, at Mediolanum. As the new tetrarchy )two augusti with a
caesar under each( that succeeded them began to break down, Maximian reclaimed the throne
to support his son Maxentius' claim to be caesar. Persuaded to abdicate once more by
Diocletian in 308, he lived at the court of Constantine, who had recently married his daughter
Fausta. Maximian died, either by murder or by suicide, shortly after the suppression of a
.revolt raised by him against Constantine

Reorganization of the empire

At the beginning of 286, Diocletian was in Nicomedia. In the interim, he and his lieutenants
had calmed the stirrings of revolt among Roman troops stationed on the frontiers. From that
point on, he dedicated himself to restoring civil order to the empire by removing the army
.from politics

Although he came from the army's ranks, Diocletian was not, properly speaking, a soldier. He
had scarcely come to power when he made an unexpected decision—to share the throne with
a colleague of his choice. The empire was too great for one man to administer; nearly every
week, either in Africa, or somewhere on the frontier that extended from Britain to the Persian
Gulf, along the Rhine, the Danube, the Pontus Euxinus )Black Sea(, and the Euphrates, he
was forced to suppress a revolt or stop an invasion. Diocletian, who was more attracted to
administration, required a man who was both a soldier and a faithful companion to take
responsibility for military defense. In 286 he chose Maximian, an Illyrian, the son of a
peasant from the area around Sirmium. A little later, though still keeping Rome as the official
capital, he chose two other residences. Maximian, who was responsible for the West, was
installed at Milan in northern Italy, in order to prevent German invasions. Diocletian
established himself at Nicomedia, in western Anatolia and close to the Persian frontier, in
order to keep watch on the East. Six years later, in 293, having taken the title of “Augustus”
and given it to Maximian as well, he added two more colleagues: Galerius, a former
herdsman, and Constantius I Chlorus, a Dardanian nobleman according to the legend of his
house, but a rather rude countryman also. These additional collaborators were each given the
title “Caesar” and attached to an Augustus, Constantius to Maximian )with a residence in
.)Trier(, and Galerius to Diocletian himself )with a residence in Sirmium

Thus, while the empire remained a patrimonium indivisum )undivided inheritance(, it was
nevertheless divided administratively: Diocletian, residing in Nicomedia, watched over
Thrace, Asia, and Egypt; Galerius, residing in Sirmium, watched over Illyria, the Danubian
provinces, and Achaea; Maximian, residing in Milan, over Italy, Sicily, and Africa; and
Constantius I Chlorus, residing in Trier, over Gaul, Spain, and Britain. In order to strengthen
the union of the colleagues, each Augustus adopted his Caesar. The relationships were further
cemented when Galerius married Valeria, Diocletian's daughter, and Constantius I Chlorus
repudiated his wife Helena, mother of the future emperor Constantine, in order to marry
Theodora, Maximian's stepdaughter. The empire now had four masters, celebrated by the
authors of the Historia Augusta )a collection of biographies of Roman emperors and caesars,
published in the 17th century( as the quattuor principes mundi )“four princes of the world”(,
and Diocletian consecrated this human unity by forming a religious bond. Because he
believed that he had come to power through divine will, as revealed by the “fateful” boar, he
regarded himself and Maximian as “sons of gods and creators of gods.” After 287,he called
himself Jovius )Jove( and Maximian was named Herculius )Hercules(, signifying that they
had been chosen by the gods and predestined as participants in the divine nature. Thus, they
were charged with distributing the benefits of Providence, Diocletian through divine wisdom,
and Maximian through heroic energy. Later designated as dominus et deus on coins and
inscriptions, Diocletian surrounded himself with pomp and ceremony and regularly
manifested his autocratic will. Under Diocletian, the empire took on the aspects of a
.theocracy

Diocletian's reforms were successful; they put an end to domestic anarchy, and elsewhere they
allowed Maximian to defeat the revolt in Gaul of the Bagaudae, bands of peasants who found
the tribute oppressive. Then, with peacescarcely restored after a campaign against the
Germans, Maximian had to battle Carausius, who, having fought for the empire in Britain
against the Frankish and Saxon pirates, revolted and named himself emperor in Britain in 287.
Carausius reigned in Britain for nearly 10 years until Constantius I Chlorus succeeded in
returning Britain to the empire in 296. Scarcely had troubles in Mauretania and in
theDanubian regions been settled when Egypt declared itself independent under the usurper
Achilleus. Diocletian reconquered the country in 296. Finally, in 297, he had to fight Narses,
king of Persia, who had invaded Syria. Since he was still occupied in Egypt, he assigned this
operation to Galerius, who, after a protracted campaign, finally won victory for the Romans.
Tiridates, the king of Armenia and a protégé of the Romans, was able to return to his throne;
the Tigris became the eastern border of the empire; and peace reigned in that part of the world
.)until the reign of Constantine I )306–337

Domestic reforms

Perhaps more important for the maintenance of the empire was Diocletian's program of
domestic reform. He was not a complete innovator in this area, for his predecessors had made
some tentative attempts in the same direction; the emperor Gallienus had excluded senators
from the army and separated military from civil careers. The Senate had progressively been
deprived of its privileges. Diocletian, however, systematized these arrangements in such a
way that all his reforms led toward a kind of centralized and absolute monarchy that put
effective means of action at his disposal. Thus, Diocletian designated the consuls; the senators
no longer collaborated in the making of laws; the imperial counsellors )consilia sacra( were
distributed among specialized offices, and their functions were strictly defined so that the
power of the praetorian prefects )personal bodyguards to the emperor( was limited; the
specialization of administrative work grew; and the number of bureaucrats increased. This
was the beginning of the bureaucracy and technocracy that was eventually to overrun modern
.societies

Such organization made it possible for administration to rely less on individual human beings
and more on the application of legal texts. In fact, it was during Diocletian's reign that the
Gregorian and Hermogenian codes, of which only fragments remain, were rewritten. But
1,200 extant rescripts show another aspect of the Emperor's personality. A conservative,
Diocletian was concerned with the preservation of the ancient virtues: the obligation of
children to feed their parents in old age; of parents to treat their children justly; of spouses to
respect the laws of marriage; of sons not to bear witness against their fathers, or slaves against
their masters; and of private property, creditor's rights, and contract clauses to be protected.
He forbade the use of torture if truth could be discovered otherwise and encouraged governors
.to be as autonomous as possible

The army was also reorganized and brought back to the old discipline. Sedentary troops )local
troops( were sent to the frontiers, and the ready army )main movable army( was made
domestic. Troop strength was increased by a fourth, not multiplied by four as Lactantius
claims. Here again, Diocletian's reforms were infused with a sense of human realities; he
exempted soldiers from duty after 20 years of service, and, if he limited the price of
commodities so as to reduce the cost of living, it was mainly to make life easier for the troops.
If one is to believe Lactantius, Diocletian divided the provinces “so as to make himself more
feared,” but in fact it was to bring the governors closer to those they administered and, by
fragmenting their power, to diminish their territorial strength. He undertook to facilitate
.economic development through a recovery of agriculture and a program of building

Such policies were expensive, as were wars and the legacy of an unstable financial situation.
Diocletian's fiscal solutions are still debated; they constitute a very difficult problem. Two
new taxes were instituted, the jugum and the capitatio, the former being the tax on a unit of
cultivable land, the latter, a tax on individuals. Taxes were levied on a proportional basis, the
amount of the contribution being determined by the productivity and type of cultivation. As a
rule, it was a sort of socioeconomic taxation based on the linkage between man and land in
terms of either ownership or productivity. Assessments were made every five years; later, the
system was consolidated into a cycle of 15 years called an indictio. This census of taxable
adults gave rise to violent criticisms but had the the oretical advantage of replacing the
arbitrary levies of the previous era. To be sure, the financial system was subject to excesses;
but Diocletian's purpose was to obtain funds, and he did not even spare Italy, which had until
.then been free of land taxation

This reform was accompanied by a monetary reform, including restoration of a sound gold
and silver coinage of fixed design, creation of a new bronze coin, circulation of small coins to
facilitate daily financial exchange, decentralization of minting, and an increase in the number
.ofmints from 8 to 15

All of these measures tended to stave off financial crises. The renowned Edictum de Maximis
Pretiis was issued in AD 301, fixing wages and establishing maximum prices, so as to prevent
inflation, abusive profits, and the exploitation of buyers. About 1,000 articles were
enumerated, and violation was punishable by death; severe penalties were exacted of black
marketeers. But even so, this regulation of prices and wages was not enforceable, and the
.edict was later revoked

Persecution of Christians

The end of the reign was darkened by the last major persecution of the Christians. The
reasons for this persecution are uncertain, but various explanations have been advanced: the
possible influence of Galerius, a fanatic follower of the traditional Roman religion; the desire
to restore complete unity, without tolerance of a foreign cult that was seen as separatist and of
men who were forming a kind of state within the state; the influence of anti-Christian
philosophers such as Porphyry and governors such as Hierocles on the scholarly class and on
the imperial court; the fear of an alienation of rebellious armies from emperor worship; or
perhaps the disturbances provoked by the Christians themselves, who were agitated by
doctrinal controversies. At any rate, some or all of these factors led Diocletian to publish the
four edicts of 303–304, promising all the while that he would not spill blood. His vow went
unheeded, however, and the persecutions spread through the empire with an extreme violence
that did not succeed in annihilating Christianity but caused the faith of the martyrs to blaze
.forth instead

Assessment

Diocletian had aged prematurely through illness. Perhaps hedecided that, after 20 years of
reign, his abdication was also “fateful.” Of his own volition he decided to entrust the affairs
of the empire to younger men and returned first to Nicomedia, then to the neighbourhood of
Salonae, on the edge of the Adriatic, where he had a magnificent palace built )the modern
town of Split, in Yugoslavia, occupies the site of its ruins(. He abdicated May 1, 305, and his
.death occurred almost unnoticed

Diocletian had reorganized the empire without political romanticism. His reforms had not
proceeded from a premeditated plan but had imposed themselves out of historical necessity.
He may be accused of several things: ofhaving been cruel, but his harshness was not the act of
deep-seated brutality; of being miserly, but this miserliness was inspired by the desire to
obtain resources for the state; of cutting a slightly muddle-headed, visionary figure, but these
were the traits that led him to reflect on better methods of governing an immense territory; of
having pavedthe way to bureaucracy and technocracy, but this was done with greater
efficiency in view. Personally, Diocletian was a religious man. No doubt he did not manifest
any unusual piety, but he always thought that the gods of the emperors governed the world.
He exercised an absolute, “divine right”monarchy, and he surrounded it with an almost
.Oriental majesty

Partially he failed in his task, and one can rightly say that thestate he created was not “the
new house he intended to build, but rather an emergency shelter,” which offered protection
against storms with the help of the gods. The fact remains that he was, in his actions, his
“.religion, and his time, vir rei publicae necessarius, “the man whom the State needed

Note: part of the prosecution was to send early Christian to the Copper Mines near Petra-Polis

The Later Roman Empire

)The recovery of the empire and the establishment of the dominate )270–337

Diocletian

Diocletian may be considered the real founder of the late empire, though the form of
government he established—the tetrarchy, or four persons sharing power simultaneously—
was transitory. His reforms, however, lasted longer. Military exigencies, not the desire to
apply a preconceived system, explain the successive nomination of Maximian as Caesar and
later as Augustus in 286 and of Constantius and Galerius as Caesars in 293. The tetrarchy was
a collegium of emperors comprising two groups: at its head, two Augusti, older men who
made the decisions; and, in a secondary position, two Caesars, younger, with a more
executive role. All four were related either by adoption or by marriage, and all were Illyrians
who had attained high commands after a long military career. Of the four, only Diocletian was
a statesman. The unity of the empire was safeguarded, despite appearances, for there was no
territorial partitioning. Each emperor received troops and a sector of operation: Maximian,
Italy and Africa; Constantius, Gaul and Britain; Galerius, the Danubian countries; and
Diocletian, the East. Practically all governmental decisions were made by Diocletian, from
whom the others had received their power. He legislated, designated consuls, and retained
precedence. After 287 he declared his kinship with the god Jupiter )Jove(, who Diocletian
claimed was his special protector. Diocletian, together with his Caesar Galerius, formed the
“Jovii” dynasty, whereas Maximian and Constantius, claiming descent from the mythical hero
Hercules, formed the “Herculii.” This “Epiphany of the Tetrarchs” served as the divine
foundation of the regime. The ideological recourse to two traditional Roman divinities
represented a break with the Orientalizing attempts of Elagabalus and Aurelian. Even though
he honoured Mithra equally, Diocletian wanted to be seen as continuing the work of
Augustus. In dividing power, Diocletian's aim was to avoid usurpations, or at least to
stiflethem quickly—as in the attempt of Carausius, chief of the army of Britain, who was
.killed )293(, as was his successor, Allectus )296(, after a landing by Constantius

The deification of the imperial function, marked by elaboraterituals, tended to set the
emperors above the rest of mankind. But it was still necessary to avoid future rivalries and to
assure the tetrarchy a legitimate and regular succession. Some time between 300 and 303
Diocletian found an original solution. After the anniversary of their 20-year reign the two
Augusti abdicated )Maximian quite unwillingly(, and on the same day )May 1, 305( the two
Caesars became Augusti. Two new Caesars were chosen, Severus and Maximinus Daia, both
friends of Galerius, whose strong personality dominated Constantius. In repudiating the
principle of natural heredity )Maximian andConstantius each had an adult son(, Diocletian
took a great risk: absolute divine monarchy, which Diocletian largely established, implies the
hereditary transmission of power, and the future was soon to demonstrate the attachment of
.the troops and even of the population to the hereditary principle

In order to create a more efficient unity between subjects and administrators, Diocletian
multiplied the number of provinces; even Italy was divided into a dozen small units of the
provincial type. Rome, moreover, was no longer the effective capital of the empire, each
emperor having his own residence in the part of the empire over which he ruled )Trier,Milan,
Sirmium, Nicomedia(. Although a few provinces were still governed by senators )proconsuls
or consuls(, the majority were given to equestrian praesides, usually without any military
power but with responsibility for the entirety of civil administration )justice, police, finances,
and taxes(. Thecities lost their autonomy, and the curiales administered andcollected the taxes
under the governor's direct control. The breaking up of the provinces was compensated for by
their regrouping into a dozen dioceses, under equestrian vicars who were responsible to the
emperor alone. The two praetorian prefects had less military power but played an important
role in legislative, judicial, and above all, financialmatters: the administration of the annona,
which had become the basis of the fiscal system, in fact gave them management of the entire
economy. Within the central administration the number of offices increased, their managers
being civilians who carried out their functions as aregular career. All officials were enrolled in
.the militia , whose hierarchy was to be outlined during the 4th century

Great efforts were devoted to strengthening the borders, andthe limes were outfitted with
fortresses )castella( and small forts )burgi(, notably in Syria. The army's strength was
increased to 60 legions )but with reduced personnel(; and, in principle, each border province
received a garrison of two legions, complemented by subsidiary troops. Adopting one of
Gallienus' ideas, Diocletian created an embryonic tactical army under the direct orders of the
emperor whose escort )comitatus( it formed. The troops were most often commanded by
duces and praepositi rather than by provincial governors and were mainly recruited from
among the sons of soldiers and from barbarians who enlisted individually or by whole tribes.
In addition, the landowners had to provide either recruits or a corresponding sum of money.
All of these reforms were instituted gradually, duringdefensive wars whose success
demonstrated the regime's efficiency. Constantius put down Carausius' attempted usurpation
and fought the Alemanni fiercely near Basel; Maximian first hunted down the Bagaudae
)gangs of fugitive peasant brigands( in Gaul, then fought the Moorish tribes in Africa, in 296–
298, triumphing at Carthage; and on the Danube, Diocletian, and later Galerius, conquered the
Bastarnae, the Iazyges, and the Carpi, deporting them in large numbers to the provinces. In
the East, however, the opposition of the Persians, led by the enterprising Narses, extended
from Egypt to Armenia. The Persians incited uprisings by both the Blemmyes nomads in
southern Egypt and the Saracens of the Syrian desert and made use of anti-Roman
propaganda by the Manichaeans and Jews. Diocletian succeeded in putting down the revolt in
Egypt andfortified the south against the Blemmyes. But in 297, Narses, the heir to Shāpūr's
ambitions, precipitated a war by taking Armenia, Osroëne, and part of Syria. After an initial
defeat, Galerius won a great victory over Narses, and in 298 the peace of Nisibis reinstated a
Roman protégé in Armenia and gave the empire a part of Upper Mesopotamia that extended
.even beyond the Tigris. Peace was thus assured for some decades

The wars, the reforms, and the increase in the number of officials were costly, and inflation
reduced the resources of the state. The annona , set up by Septimius Severus, had proved
imperfect, and Diocletian now reformed it through the jugatio-capitatio system: henceforth,
the land tax, paid in kind by all landowners, would be calculated by the assessment of fiscal
units based on extent and quality of land, type of crops grown, number of settlers and cattle,
and amount of equipment. The fiscal valuation of each piece of property, estimated in juga
and capita )interchangeable terms whose use varied by region and period of time(, required a
number of declarations and censuses similar to those practiced long before in Egypt. Each
year, the government established the rate of tax per fiscal unit; and every 15 years, beginning
in 312, taxes were reassessed. This complicated system was not carried out uniformly in
every region. Nevertheless, it resulted in an improved accounting of the empire's resources
and a certain progress in fiscal equity, thus making the administration's heavy demands less
unbearable. In addition, Diocletian wished to reorganize the coinage and stabilize inflation.
He thus minted improved sterling coins and fixed their value in relation to a gold standard.
Nevertheless, inflation again became disturbing by the end of the century, and Diocletian
proclaimed his well-known Edictum de Maximis Pretiis, fixingprice ceilings for foodstuffs
and for goods and services, which could not be exceeded under pain of death. The edict had
indifferent results and was scarcely applied, but the inscriptions revealing it have great
.economic interest

Diocletian's reforms adumbrated the principal features of late Roman society: a society
defined in all parts that could be useful to the state by laws fixing status and, through status,
responsibility. The persons owning grain mills in Rome were )to anticipate developments that
continued to unfold throughout the next two or three generations( responsible for the delivery
of flour for the dole and could not bequeath or withdraw any part of their capital from their
enterprise. Several other labour groups were similarly restricted, such as owners of seagoing
vessels that served the supply of Rome, bargees in the Tiber, Ostian grain handlers,
distributors of olive oil and pork for the dole, bath managers, and limeburners. A ban on
moving to some other home or job along with production quotas were placed on people in
trades serving state factories that made imperial court and army garments, cavalry equipment,
and arms. Diocletian built a number of such factories, some in his capital Nicomedia, others
in cities close to the groups whose needs they served. The laws imposing these obligations
affected only labour groups serving the army and the capital )or capitals, plural, after the
promotion of Constantinople(; and, to identify them, induce them to serve, and hold them in
their useful work, emperors as early as Claudius had offered privileges and imposed controls.
.Diocletian, however, greatly increased the weight and complexity of all these obligations

Diocletian also changed the administrative districts in Egypt, in keeping with the model found
elsewhere, by designating in each a central city to take responsibility for the whole. The last
anomalous province was thus brought into line with the others. Everywhere, the imperial
government continued to count on the members of the municipal senate to serve it, above all
in tax collection but also in the supply of recruits, in rural police work, billeting fortroops, or
road building. As had been the case for centuries, they had to have a minimum of landed
property to serve as surety for the performance of their administrative duties as well as to
submit to nomination as senator, if it was so determined by the Senate. There had never been
any one law to that effect, but by Diocletian's time the emperor had at his command a body of
long-established custom and numerous imperial decisions that served just as well. Local elites
.were thus hereditary, compulsory agents of his purpose, exactly like the Tiber bargees

Two other groups were frozen into their roles in the same fashion: soldiers and farmers. The
sons of soldiers were required to take up their fathers' occupation )a law to that effect was in
operation at least by 313(; and the natural tendency of tenant farmers )coloni( to renew their
lease on land that they, and perhaps their fathers and grandfathers, had worked was confirmed
by imperial decisions—to such effect that, in 332, Constantine could speak of tenants on his
Sardinian estates as bound to the acres they cultivated. Thisis the earliest explicit
pronouncement on what is called the “colonate.” Soon the institution was extended beyond
imperial estates to tie certain categories of tenants to private estates as well. The emperors
.wanted to ensure tax revenue and, for that, a stable rural labour supply

The empire, as it is seen in abundant legislation for the period of Diocletian and beyond into
the 5th century, has been called a “military dictatorship” or even a sort of totalitarian prison,
in which every inhabitant had his own celland his own shackles. This may well have been the
rulers' intent. By their lights, such a system was needed to repair the weaknesses revealed in
the 3rd-century crisis. The principle of hereditary obligations was not, after all, so very
strange, set against the natural tendencies of the economy and the practices that had
developed in earlier, easier times.Yet Diocletian's intentions could not be fully realized, given
.the limits on governmental effectiveness

After a period of initial indifference toward the Christians, Diocletian ended his reign by
unleashing against them, in 303, the last and most violent of their persecutions. It was urged
on him by his Caesar Galerius and prolonged in the East for a decade )until 311( by Galerius
as Augustus and by other emperors. As in earlier persecutions, the initiative arose at the heart
of government; some emperors, as outraged by the Christians as many private citizens,
considered it their duty to maintain harmony with the gods, the pax deorum, by which alone
the empire flourished. Accordingly, Decius and Valerian in the 250s had dealt severely with
the Christians, requiring them to demonstrate their apostasy by offering sacrifice at the local
temples, and for the first time had directly struck the church's clergy and property. There were
scores of Christians who preferred death, though the great majority complied or hid
themselves. Within a matter of months after he had begun his attacks, however, Decius had
died )251(, and the bloody phase of Valerian's attacks also lasted only months )259/260(. His
son Gallienus had issued an edict of tolerance, and Aurelian was even appealed to by the
church of Antioch to settle an internal dispute. Christianity had now become open and
established, thanks to the power of its Godso often, it seemed, manifested in miraculous acts
and to thefirmness with which converts were secured in a new life and community. The older
slanders—cannibalism and incest—that had troubled the Apologists in the 2nd century no
longer commanded credence. A measure of respectabilityhad been won, along with recruits
from the upper classes andgifts of land and money. By the end of the 3rd century Christians
actually predominated in some of the smaller Eastern towns or districts, and they were well
represented in Italy, Gaul, and Africa around Carthage; all told, they numbered perhaps as
many as 5 million out of the empire's total population of 60 million. Occasional meetings on
disputed matters might bring together dozens of bishops, and it was this institution or
phenomenon that the Great Persecutions sought to defeat. The progress of a religion thatcould
not accept the religious basis of the tetrarchy and certain of whose members were imprudent
and provocative, as in the incidents at Nicomedia )where a church was built across from
Diocletian's palace(, finally aroused Galerius' fanaticism. In 303–304 several edicts, each
increasingly stringent, ordered the destruction of the churches, the seizure of sacred books,
the imprisonment of the clergy, and a sentence of death for all those who refused to sacrifice
to the Roman gods. In the East, where Galerius was imposing his ideas more and more on the
aging Diocletian, the persecution was extremely violent, especially in Egypt, Palestine, and
the Danubian regions. In Italy, Maximian, zealous at the beginning, quickly tired; and in Gaul,
Constantius merely destroyed a few churches without carrying reprisals any further.
Nevertheless, Christianity could no longer be eradicated, for the people of the empire and
even some officials no longer felt the blind hatred for Christians that had typified previous
.centuries

Struggle for power

The first tetrarchy had ended on May 1, 305; the second did not last long. After Constantius
died at Eboracum in 306, the armies of Britain and Gaul, without observing the rules of the
tetrarchic system, had hastened to proclaim Constantine, the young son of Constantius, as
Augustus. Young Maxentius, the son of Maximian )who had never wanted to retire(, there
upon had himself proclaimed in Rome, recalled his father into service, and got rid of Severus.
Thus, in 307–308 there was great confusion. Seven emperors had, or pretended to have, the
title of Augustus: Maximian, Galerius, Constantine, Maxentius, Maximinus Daia, Licinius
)who had been promoted Augustus in 308 by Galerius against Constantine(, and, in Africa,
.the usurper Domitius Alexander

This situation was clarified by successive eliminations. In 310, after numerous intrigues, old
Maximian was killed by his son-in-law Constantine, and in the following year Alexander was
slain by one of Maxentius' praetorian prefects. In 311 Galerius died of illness a few days after
having admitted the failure of his persecutions by proclaiming an edict of tolerance. There
remained, in the West, Constantine and Maxentius and in the East, Licinius and Maximinus
Daia. Constantine, the best general, invaded Italy with a strong army of faithful Gauls and
defeated Maxentius near the Milvian Bridge, not far from Rome. While attempting to escape,
Maxentius drowned. Constantine then made an agreement with Licinius, and the two rallied
the Eastern Christians to their side by guaranteeing them religious tolerance in the Edict of
Milan )313(. This left Maximinus Daia, now isolated and regarded as a persecutor, in a weak
position; attacked by Licinius near Adrianople, he fell ill and died soon afterward, in 313.
This left the empire with two leaders, Constantine and Licinius, allied in outward appearances
.and now brothers-in-law as a result of Licinius' marriage to Constantine's sister
‫ بالقرب من البتراء—الرقيم—جبال‬,‫في مناجم النحاس عذب أوائل النصارى بالعمل بالسخرة في وادي فينان و فيدان‬-----
‫ و أن كهفهم في عمان و يحتمل أنهم بعثوا في عهد جوستين أو‬, ‫سعير—لذلك يحتمل أن الرقيم هي قرية أهل الكهف‬
---- ‫جوستنيان‬

Holy Roman Empire

German Heiliges Römisches Reich, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium the varying complex
of lands in western and central Europe ruled over first by Frankish and then byGerman kings
for 10 centuries, from Charlemagne's coronation in 800 until the renunciation of the imperial
title in1806. )For histories of the territories governed at various times by the empire

process philosophy

a 20th-century school of Western philosophy that emphasizes the elements of becoming,

change, and novelty in experienced reality; it opposes the traditional Western philosophical
stress on being, permanence, and uniformity. Reality—including both the natural world and
the human sphere—is essentially historical in this view, emerging from )and bearing( a past
and advancing into a novel future. Hence, it cannot be grasped by the static spatial concepts
of the old views, which ignore the temporal and novelaspects of the universe given in man's
experience. Foremost among the many modern thinkers who have contributed to process
.philosophy have been Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead

‫رعمسيس‬-‫ رعمسو الثاني‬Ramses II

‫ الله رع لدى قدماء الفراعنة تعني اله الشمس—رعمسو هو‬,‫ رع تعني الشر‬,‫عين رع بالعبرية تعني عين الحسد‬
‫المحب لرع‬

flourished 13th century BC

byname Ramses The Great, also called Usermare Ramses third king of the 19th
dynasty of Egypt, whose reign )1279–13 BC( was the second longest in Egyptian
history. In additionto his wars with the Hittites and Libyans, he is known for his
extensive building programs and for the many colossal statues of him found all over
.Egypt

.Background and early years of reign

Ramses' family, of nonroyal origin, came to power some decades after the reign of the
religious reformer, Akhenaton )Amenhotep IV, 1353–36 BC(, and set about restoring
Egyptian power in Asia, which had declined under Akhenaton and his successor,
Tutankhamen. Ramses' father, Seti I, subdued a number of rebellious princes in
Palestine and southern Syria and waged war on the Hittites of Anatolia in order to
recover those provinces in the north that during the recent troubles had passed from
Egyptian to Hittite control. Seti achieved some success against the Hittites at first, but
his gains were only temporary, for at the end of his reign the enemy was firmly
established at Kadesh, on the Orontes River, a strong fortress defended by the river,
.which became the key to their southern frontier

During his reign Seti gave the crown prince Ramses, the future Ramses II, a special
status as regent. Seti provided him with a kingly household and harem, and the young
princeaccompanied his father on his campaigns, so that when he came to sole rule he
had already had experience of kingship and of war. It is noteworthy that Ramses was
designated as successor at an unusually early age, as if to ensure that he would in fact
succeed to the throne. He ranked as a captain of the army while still only 10 years old;
at that age his rank must surely have been honorific, though he may well have been
.receiving military training

Because his family's home was in the Nile delta and in order to have a convenient
base for campaigns in Asia, Ramses built for himself a full-scale residence city called
Pi-Ramesse)House of Ramses; biblical Raamses(, which was famous forits beautiful
layout, with gardens, orchards, and pleasant waters. Each of its four quarters had its
own presiding deity: Amon in the west, Seth in the south, the royal cobra
goddess,Buto )Wadjet(, in the north, and, significantly, the Syrian goddess Astarte in
the east. A vogue for Asian deities had grown up in Egypt, and Ramses himself had
.distinct leanings in that direction
The first public act of Ramses after his accession to sole rule was to visit Thebes, the
southern capital, for the great religious festival of Opet, when the god Amon of
Karnak made a state visit in his ceremonial barge to the temple of Luxor. When
returning to his home in the north, the king broke his journey at Abydos to worship
Osiris and to arrange for the resumption of work on the great temple founded thereby
his father, which had been interrupted by the old king's death. He also took the
opportunity to appoint as the new high priest of Amon at Thebes a man named
.Nebwenenef, high priest of Anhur at nearby Thinis

Military exploits

It seems that, apart from his extensive building activities and his famous residence
city, Ramses' reputation as a great king in the eyes of his subjects rested largely on his
.fame as a soldier

In the fourth year of his reign, he led an army north to recoverthe lost provinces his
father had been unable to conquer permanently. The first expedition was to subdue
rebellious local dynasts in southern Syria, to ensure a secure springboard for further
advances. He halted at the Nahr al-Kalb near Beirut, where he set up an inscription to
record the events of the campaign; today nothing remains of it except his name and
.the date; all the rest has weathered away

The next year the main expedition set out. Its objective was the Hittite stronghold at
Kadesh. Following the coastal road through Palestine and Lebanon, the army halted
on reaching the south of the land of Amor, perhaps in the neighbourhood of Tripolis.
Here Ramses detached a special task force, the duty of which seems to have been to
secure the seaport of Simyra and thence to march up the valley of the Eleutherus
River )Nahr el-Kebir( to rejoin the main army at Kadesh. The main force then
resumed its march to the River Orontes, the army being organized in four divisions of
.chariotry and infantry, each consisting of perhaps 5,000 men

Crossing the river from east to west at the ford of Shabtuna, about eight miles from
Kadesh, the army passed through a wood to emerge on the plain in front of the city.
Two capturedHittite spies gave Ramses the false information that the main Hittite
army was at Aleppo, some distance to the north, so that it appeared to the king as if he
had only the garrison of Kadesh to deal with. It was not until the army had begun to
arrive at the camping site before Kadesh that Ramses learned that the main Hittite
army was in fact concealed behind the city. Ramses at once sent off messengers to
hasten the remainder of his forces, but before any further action could be taken, the
Hittites struck with a force of 2,500chariots, with three men to a chariot as against the
Egyptian two. The leading Egyptian divisions, taken entirely by surprise, broke and
fled in disorder, leaving Ramses and his small corps of household chariotry entirely
.surrounded by the enemy and fighting desperately

Fortunately for the king, at the crisis of the battle, the Simyratask force appeared on
the scene to make its junction with the main army and thus saved the situation. The
result of thebattle was a tactical victory for the Egyptians, in that they remained
masters of the stricken field, but a strategic defeatin that they did not and could not
take Kadesh. Neither army was in a fit state to continue action the next day, so an
armistice was agreed and the Egyptians returned home. Thisbattle is one of the very
few from pharaonic times of which there are real details, and that is because of the
king's pride in his stand against great odds; pictures and accounts of the campaign,
both an official record and a long poem on the subject, were carved on temple walls in
.Egypt and Nubia, andthe poem is also extant on papyrus

The failure to capture Kadesh had repercussions on Egyptianprestige abroad, and

some of the petty states of South Syria and northern Palestine under Egyptian
suzerainty rebelled, so that Ramses had to strengthen the northern edge of Egypt's
Asiatic realm before again challenging the Hittites. In the eighth or ninth year of his
reign, he took a number of towns in Galilee and Amor, and the next year he was again
on the Nahr al-Kalb. It may have been in the 10th year that hebroke through the
Hittite defenses and conquered Katna and Tunip—where, in a surprise attack by the
Hittites, he went into battle without his armour—and held them long enough for a
statue of himself as overlord to be erected in Tunip. In a further advance he invaded
Kode, perhaps the region between Alexandretta and Carchemish. Nevertheless, like
his father before him, he found that he could not permanently hold territory so far
from base against continual Hittite pressure, and, after 16 years of
intermittenthostilities, a treaty of peace was concluded in 1258 BC, as between equal
.great powers, and its provisions were reciprocal

The wars once over, the two nations established friendly ties. Letters on diplomatic
matters were regularly exchanged; in 1245 Ramses contracted a marriage with the
eldest daughter of the Hittite king, and it is possible that at a later date he married a
second Hittite princess. Apart from the struggle against the Hittites, there were
punitive expeditions against Edom, Moab, and Negeb and a more serious war against
the Libyans, who were constantly trying to invade and settle in the delta; it is probable
that Ramses took a personal part in the Libyan war but not in the minor expeditions.
.The latter part of the reign seems to have been free from wars

Prosperity during his reign

One measure of Egypt's prosperity is the amount of temple building the kings could
afford to carry out, and on that basis the reign of Ramses II is the most notable in
Egyptian history, even making allowance for its great length. It was that, combined
with his prowess in war as depicted in the temples, that led the Egyptologists of the
19th century to dub him “the Great,” and that, in effect, is how his subjects and
posterity viewed him; to them he was the king par excellence. Nine kings of the 20th
dynasty called themselves by his name; even in the period of decline that followed, it
was an honour to be able to claim descent from him, and his subjects called him by
.the affectionate abbreviation Sese

In Egypt he completed the great hypostyle hall at Karnak )Thebes( and continued
work on the temple built by Seti I at Abydos, both of which were left incomplete at
the latter's death. Ramses also completed his father's funerary temple on the west bank
of the Nile at Luxor )Thebes( and built one for himself, which is now known as the
Ramesseum. At Abydos he built a temple of his own not far from that of his father;
there were also the four major temples in his residence city, not to mention lesser
.shrines
In Nubia )Nilotic Sudan( he constructed no fewer than six temples, of which the two
carved out of a cliffside at Abu Simbel, with their four colossal statues of the king, are
the most magnificent and the best known. The larger of the two was begun under Seti
I but was largely executed by Ramses, while the other was entirely due to Ramses. In
the Wadi Tumilat, one of the eastern entries into Egypt, he built the town of Per-Atum
)biblical Pithom(, which the Bible calls a store city )Exodus 1:11( but which probably
was a fortified frontier town and customs station. In fact, there can have been few
sites of any importance that originally did not exhibit at least the name of Ramses, for,
apart from his own work, he did not hesitate to inscribe it on the monuments of his
predecessors. In addition to the construction of Pi-Ramesse and Pithom, his most
notable secular work, so faras is known, included the sinking of a well in the eastern
.desert on the route to the Nubian gold mines

Of Ramses' personal life virtually nothing is known. His firstand perhaps favourite
queen was Nefertari; the fact that, at Abu Simbel, the smaller temple was dedicated to
her and to the goddess of love points to real affection between them. She seems to
have died comparatively early in the reign, andher fine tomb in the Valley of the
Tombs of the Queens at Thebes is well known. Other queens whose names are
preserved were Isinofre, who bore the king four sons, among whom was Ramses'
eventual successor, Merneptah; Merytamun; and Matnefrure, the Hittite princess. In
addition to the official queen or queens, the king, as was customary, possessed a large
harem, and he took pride in his great family of well over 100 children. The best
portrait of RamsesII is a fine statue of him as a young man, now in the Turin museum;
his mummy, preserved in a mausoleum at Cairo, is that of a very old man with a long
.narrow face, prominent nose, and massive jaw

The reign of Ramses II marks the last peak of Egypt's imperial power. After his death
Egypt was forced on the defensive but managed to maintain its suzerainty over
Palestine and the adjacent territories until the later part of the 20th dynasty, when,
under the weak kings who followed Ramses III, internal decay ended its power
beyond its borders. Ramses II must have been a good soldier, despite the fiasco of
Kadesh, or else he would not have been able to penetrate so far into the Hittite Empire
as he did in the following years; he appears to have been a competent administrator,
since the country was prosperous, and he was certainly a popular king. Some of his
fame, however, must surely be put down to his flair for publicity: his name and the
record of his feats on the field of battle were found everywhere in Egypt and Nubia. It
is easy to see why, in the eyes both of his subjects and of later generations, he was
.looked on as a model of what a king should be

Hatshepsut

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hatshepsut )or Hatchepsut, IPA: /hætˈʃɛpsʊt/(,[3] meaning, Foremost of Noble

Ladies,[4] was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She is
generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning
longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty.

Although then records of her reign are documented in diverse ancient sources,
Hatshepsut was described by early modern scholars as only having served as a co-
regent from about 1479 to 1458 BC, during years seven to twenty-one of the reign
previously identified as that of Thutmose III.[5] Now it is known widely that
Hatshepsut assumed the position of pharaoh and her reign as king is usually given as
twenty-two years since Manetho assigns her a reign of 21 years and 9 months.
Manetho was a historian who lived during the Ptolemaic era, during the third century
B.C., and he had access to many records that are now lost. Her death is known to have
occurred in 1458 BC, which implies that she became pharaoh circa 1479 BC.

Although it was uncommon for Egypt to be ruled by a woman, this situation was not
unprecedented. Hatshepsut was the second known to have formally assumed power as
"King of Upper and Lower Egypt" after Queen Sobekneferu of the Twelfth Dynasty.
As a queen regnant she is preceded by Merneith of the first dynasty; and Nimaethap
of the third dynasty, who may have been the dowager of Khasekhemwy, but who
certainly acted as interregnum queen for her son, Djoser, during the third dynasty,
and—Nimaethap may have reigned as pharaoh in her own right.[6] Ahhotep I, lauded
as a warrior queen, may have been a regent between the reigns of two of her sons,
Kamose and Ahmose I, at the end of the seventeenth dynasty and the beginning of
Hatshepsut's own eighteenth dynasty. Amenhotep I, also preceding Hatshepsut in the
eighteenth dynasty, probably came to power while a young child, and his mother,
Ahmose-Nefertari, is thought to have been an interregnum queen for him.[7] Other
women whose possible reigns as pharaohs are under study include Nefertiti,
Neferneferuaten and Twosret. Among the later, non-indigenous Egyptian dynasties,
the most notable example of another woman who became pharaoh was Cleopatra VII,
the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

In comparison with other female pharaohs, Hatshepsut's reign was long and
prosperous. She was successful in warfare early in her reign, but is generally
considered to be a pharaoh who inaugurated a long peaceful era. She re-established
trading relationships lost during a foreign occupation and brought great wealth to
Egypt. That wealth enabled Hatshepsut to initiate building projects that raised the
calibre of Ancient Egyptian architecture to a standard, comparable to classical
architecture, that would not be rivaled by any other culture for a thousand years.

Identification of the Mummy

Hatshepsut's remains were long considered lost, but in June 2007 a mummy from
Tomb KV60, was publicly identified as her remains by Zahi Hawass, the Secretary
General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.[8][9] Evidence supporting this
identification includes the results of a DNA comparison with the mummy of Ahmose
Nefertari, Hatshepsut's great-grandmother and the matriarch of the 18th dynasty.[2]
Further conclusive evidence includes the possession of a molar with one root that fit
the mummy's jaw as it had a gap that had one root as well. This molar was found
inside a small wooden box inscribed with Hatshepsut's name and cartouche; Zahi
Hawass's team's CAT scan revealed that this tooth exactly matches this mummy's
jaw.[10] Modern CT scans of that mummy believed to be Hatshepsut suggest she was
about fifty years old when she died from a ruptured abscess after removal of a tooth.
Although this was the cause, it is quite possible she would not have lived much
longer; there are signs in her mummy of metastatic bone cancer, as well as possible
liver cancer and diabetes.[2] Egyptologists not involved in the project, however, have
reserved acceptance of the findings until further testing is undertaken.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Hatshepsut

Statue of Hatshepsut on display at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pharaoh of Egypt

Reign 1479–1458 BC,

18th Dynasty

Predecessor Thutmose II

Successor Thutmose III

Royal titulary[show]
 Consort)s( Thutmose II

Children Neferure

Father Thutmose I

Mother Queen Ahmose

Born c.1508 BC[2]

Died 1458 BC

Burial KV20 )re-interred in

KV60[2](

Monuments Temple of Karnak,

Deir el-Bahri, Speos
Artemidos
Fragmentary statue of Hatshepsut, quartz diorite, c. 1498-1483 BC - Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston

Hatshepsut )or Hatchepsut, IPA: /hætˈʃɛpsʊt/(,[3] meaning, Foremost of Noble

Ladies,[4] was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She is
generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning
longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty.

Although then records of her reign are documented in diverse ancient sources,
Hatshepsut was described by early modern scholars as only having served as a co-
regent from about 1479 to 1458 BC, during years seven to twenty-one of the reign
previously identified as that of Thutmose III.[5] Now it is known widely that
Hatshepsut assumed the position of pharaoh and her reign as king is usually given as
twenty-two years since Manetho assigns her a reign of 21 years and 9 months.
Manetho was a historian who lived during the Ptolemaic era, during the third century
B.C., and he had access to many records that are now lost. Her death is known to have
occurred in 1458 BC, which implies that she became pharaoh circa 1479 BC.

Although it was uncommon for Egypt to be ruled by a woman, this situation was not
unprecedented. Hatshepsut was the second known to have formally assumed power as
"King of Upper and Lower Egypt" after Queen Sobekneferu of the Twelfth Dynasty.
As a queen regnant she is preceded by Merneith of the first dynasty; and Nimaethap
of the third dynasty, who may have been the dowager of Khasekhemwy, but who
certainly acted as interregnum queen for her son, Djoser, during the third dynasty,
and—Nimaethap may have reigned as pharaoh in her own right.[6] Ahhotep I, lauded
as a warrior queen, may have been a regent between the reigns of two of her sons,
Kamose and Ahmose I, at the end of the seventeenth dynasty and the beginning of
Hatshepsut's own eighteenth dynasty. Amenhotep I, also preceding Hatshepsut in the
eighteenth dynasty, probably came to power while a young child, and his mother,
Ahmose-Nefertari, is thought to have been an interregnum queen for him.[7] Other
women whose possible reigns as pharaohs are under study include Nefertiti,
Neferneferuaten and Twosret. Among the later, non-indigenous Egyptian dynasties,
the most notable example of another woman who became pharaoh was Cleopatra VII,
the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

In comparison with other female pharaohs, Hatshepsut's reign was long and
prosperous. She was successful in warfare early in her reign, but is generally
considered to be a pharaoh who inaugurated a long peaceful era. She re-established
trading relationships lost during a foreign occupation and brought great wealth to
Egypt. That wealth enabled Hatshepsut to initiate building projects that raised the
calibre of Ancient Egyptian architecture to a standard, comparable to classical
architecture, that would not be rivaled by any other culture for a thousand years.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Identification of the Mummy

• 2 Family and early life
• 3 Rule
o 3.1 Dates and length of reign
• 4 Major accomplishments
o 4.1 Building projects
o 4.2 Official lauding vs. propaganda
• 5 Death
• 6 Burial complex
• 7 Changing recognition
• 8 Popular and fictional attention
• 9 See also
• 10 Notes
• 11 References

• 12 External links

[edit] Identification of the Mummy

Hatshepsut's remains were long considered lost, but in June 2007 a mummy from
Tomb KV60, was publicly identified as her remains by Zahi Hawass, the Secretary
General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.[8][9] Evidence supporting this
identification includes the results of a DNA comparison with the mummy of Ahmose
Nefertari, Hatshepsut's great-grandmother and the matriarch of the 18th dynasty.[2]
Further conclusive evidence includes the possession of a molar with one root that fit
the mummy's jaw as it had a gap that had one root as well. This molar was found
inside a small wooden box inscribed with Hatshepsut's name and cartouche; Zahi
Hawass's team's CAT scan revealed that this tooth exactly matches this mummy's
jaw.[10] Modern CT scans of that mummy believed to be Hatshepsut suggest she was
about fifty years old when she died from a ruptured abscess after removal of a tooth.
Although this was the cause, it is quite possible she would not have lived much
longer; there are signs in her mummy of metastatic bone cancer, as well as possible
liver cancer and diabetes.[2] Egyptologists not involved in the project, however, have
reserved acceptance of the findings until further testing is undertaken.[2]
[edit] Family and early life

Queen Ahmose, Pharaoh Thutmose I, and daughter Neferubity, the mother, father, and
sister of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut was the elder daughter of Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose, the first king
and queen of the Thutmoside clan of the eighteenth dynasty. Thutmose I and Ahmose
are known to have had only one other child, a daughter, Akhbetneferu )Neferubity(,
who died as an infant.[citation needed] Thutmose I also married Mutnofret, possibly a
daughter of Ahmose I, and produced several half-brothers to Hatshepsut: Wadjmose,
Amenose, Thutmose II, and possibly Ramose, through that secondary union. Both
Wadjmose and Amenose were prepared to succeed their father, but neither lived
beyond adolescence.

In her childhood, Hatshepsut is believed to have been favored by the Temple of

Karnak over her two half-brothers by her father. Hatshepsut apparently had a close
relationship with both of her parents. Among the official records of her reign are
assertions that her father, Thutmose I, named her as his direct heir and later, official
depictions of Hatshepsut show her dressed in the full regalia of a pharaoh, including
the traditional false beard of pharaohs to indicate that she ruled Egypt in her own
right.[citation needed]

Upon the death of her father in 1493 BC, Hatshepsut married her half-brother,
Thutmose II, and assumed the title of Great Royal Wife. Thutmose II ruled Egypt for
either three or thirteen years, during which time it has traditionally been believed that
Queen Hatshepsut exerted a strong influence over her husband.[citation needed]

Royal women also played a pivotal role in the religion of ancient Egypt. Often a
queen officiated at the rites in the temples, as priestess, in a culture where religion
was inexorably interwoven with the roles of the rulers. In Hatshepsut's time the royal
daughter acted in such a role as the God's Wife )Hmt nTr(, which is a sacral role
usually occupied by royal women during the 18th Dynasty. [11]

Hatshepsut had one daughter with Thutmose II: Neferure. Some scholars hold that
Hatshepsut and Thutmose II groomed Neferure as the heir apparent, commissioning
official portraits of their daughter wearing the false beard of royalty and the sidelock
of youth.[citation needed] Others speculate that she was being prepared to assume her
mother's own roles as queen, but to have Neferure prepared to be a pharaoh, if
necessary.[citation needed]
When Thutmose II died, he left behind only one son, a young Thutmose III to succeed
him. The latter was born as the son of Isis, a lesser wife of Thutmose II, rather than of
the Great Royal Wife, Hatshepsut, as Neferure was. Due to the relative youth of
Thutmose III, he was not eligible to assume the expected tasks of a pharaoh. Instead,
Hatshepsut became the interregnum queen of Egypt at this time, assumed the
responsibilities of state, and was recognized by the leadership in the temple. At this
time, her daughter, Neferure, took over the roles Hatshepsut had played as queen in
official and religious ceremonies. This political arrangement is detailed in the tomb
autobiography of Ineni, a high official at court:

He (Thutmose II) went forth to heaven in triumph, having mingled with

“ the gods; His son stood in his place as king of the Two Lands, having
become ruler upon the throne of the one who begat him. His (Thutmose
II's) sister the Divine Consort, Hatshepsut settled the affairs of the Two
Lands by reason of her plans. Egypt was made to labour with bowed head
for her, the excellent seed of the god (Thutmose I), which came forth from
him.[12] ”
Thus, while Thutmose III was designated as a co-regent of Egypt, the royal court
recognised Hatshepsut as the pharaoh on the throne until she died. It is believed that
Neferure became the royal wife of Thutmose III and the mother of his eldest son,
Amenemhat, who did not outlive his father.

Thutmose III ruled as pharaoh for more than thirty years after the death of Hatshepsut.
This relationship between Neferure and Amenemhat is debated among authors, but
since Neferure is depicted in her mother's funeral temple, there are some who believe
that Neferure was still alive in the first few years of the rule by Thutmose III as
pharaoh, that his eldest son, Amenemhat, was her child, and that he thereby was the
heir to the throne of Thutmose III until he died.[13]

[edit] Rule

[edit] Dates and length of reign

Hatshepsut was given reign about twenty-two years by ancient authors. Josephus
writes that she reigned for twenty-one years and nine months while Africanus states
her reign lasted twenty-two years, both of whom were quoting Manetho. At this point
in the histories, records of the reign of Hatshepsut end, since the first major foreign
campaign of Thutmose III was dated to his twenty-second year, which also would
have been Hatshepsut's twenty-second year as pharaoh.[14] Dating the beginning of her
reign is more difficult, however. Her father's reign began in either 1506 or 1526 BC
according to the low and high chronologies, respectively.[15] However, the length of
the reigns of Thutmose I and Thutmose II cannot be determined with absolute
certainty. With short reigns, Hatshepsut would have ascended the throne fourteen
years after the coronation of Thutmose I.[16] Longer reigns would put her ascension
twenty-five years after Thutmose I's coronation.[17] Thus, Hatshepsut could have
assumed power as early as 1512 BC or as late as 1479.
Modern chronologists, however, tend to agree that Hatshepsut reigned as pharaoh
from 1479 to 1458 BC, but there is no definitive proof of the beginning date. These
dates are derived from the closeness of length of her reign, related in the ancient
records of Manetho, Africanus, and Josephus and counting backward from the date of
her death, which is quite certain.[citation needed]

[edit] Major accomplishments

Trade with other countries was re-established; here trees transported by ship from
Punt are shown being moved ashore for planting in Egypt - relief from Hatshepsut
mortuary temple

Djeser-Djeseru is the main building of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple complex at Deir

el-Bahri. Designed by Senemut, her vizier, the building is an example of perfect
symmetry that predates the Parthenon, and it was the first complex built on the site
she chose, which would become the Valley of the Kings.

As Hatshepsut reestablished the trade networks that had been disrupted during the
Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, thereby building
a wealth of the eighteenth dynasty that has become so famous since the discovery of
the burial of one of her descendants, Tutankhamun, began to be analyzed.

She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt. The
expedition set out in her name with five ships, each measuring 70 feet )21 m( long
bearing several sails and accommodating 210 men that included sailors and 30
rowers. Many trade goods were bought in Punt, notably myrrh, which is said to have
been Hatshepsut's favourite fragrance.[citation needed]
Most notably, however, the Egyptians returned from the voyage bearing 31 live
frankincense trees, the roots of which were carefully kept in baskets for the duration
of the voyage. This was the first recorded attempt to transplant foreign trees. It is
reported that Hatshepsut had these trees planted in the courts of her Deir el Bahri
mortuary temple complex. Egyptians also returned with living Puntites )people of
Punt(. This trading expedition to Punt was roughly during Hatshepsut's nineteenth
year of reign.

She had the expedition commemorated in relief at Deir el-Bahri, which also is famous
for its realistic depiction of the Queen of the Land of Punt, Queen Iti, who appears to
have had a genetic trait called steatopygia. Hatshepsut also sent raiding expeditions to
Byblos and Sinai shortly after the Punt expedition. Very little is known about these
expeditions. Although many Egyptologists have claimed that her foreign policy was
mainly peaceful,[18] there is evidence that Hatshepsut led successful military
campaigns in Nubia, the Levant, and Syria early in her career.

[edit] Building projects

Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, commissioning
hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper and Lower Egypt, that were
grander and more numerous than those of any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors.

She employed two great architects: Ineni, who also had worked for her husband and
father and for the royal steward Senemut. During her reign, so much statuary was
produced that almost every major museum in the world has Hatshepsut statuary
among their collections; for instance, the Hatshepsut Room in New York City's
Metropolitan Museum of Art is dedicated solely to these pieces.

Following the tradition of most pharaohs, Hatshepsut had monuments constructed at

the Temple of Karnak. She also restored the original Precinct of Mut, the ancient great
goddess of Egypt, at Karnak that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the
Hyksos occupation. She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected
at the entrance to the temple. One still stands, as the tallest surviving ancient obelisk
on Earth; the other has since broken in two and toppled. Another project, Karnak's
Red Chapel, or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and may have stood
between her two obelisks originally. She later ordered the construction of two more
obelisks to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during
construction, and thus a third was constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was
left at its quarrying site in Aswan, where it still remains, known as The Unfinished
Obelisk, serving as a demonstration of just how obelisks were quarried.[19]

The Temple of Pakhet was built by Hatshepsut at Beni Hasan in the Minya
Governorate south of Al Minya. Pakhet was a synthesis that occurred combining Bast
and Sekhmet, who were similar lioness war goddesses, in an area that bordered the
north and south division of their cults. The cavernous underground temple, cut into
the rock cliffs on the eastern side of the Nile, was admired and called the Speos
Artemidos by the Greeks during their occupation of Egypt, known as the Ptolemaic
Dynasty. They saw the goddess as a parallel to their hunter goddess Artemis. The
temple is thought to have been built alongside much more ancient ones that have not
survived. This temple has an architrave bearing a long dedicatory text bearing
Hatshepsut's famous denunciation of the Hyksos that has been translated by James P.
Allen.[20] They had occupied Egypt and cast it into a cultural decline that persisted
until a revival brought about by her policies and innovations. This temple was altered
later and some of its inside decorations were usurped by Seti I, in the nineteenth
dynasty, attempting to have his name replace that of Hatshepsut.

The masterpiece of Hatshepsut's building projects was her mortuary temple complex
at Deir el-Bahri.[citation needed] It was designed and implemented by Senemut at a site on
the West Bank of the Nile River near the entrance to what is now called the Valley of
the Kings because of all the pharaohs who later chose to associate their complexes
with the grandeur of hers. Her buildings were the first grand ones planned for that
location. The focal point was the Djeser-Djeseru or "the Sublime of Sublimes", a
colonnaded structure of perfect harmony nearly one thousand years before the
Parthenon was built. Djeser-Djeseru sits atop a series of terraces that once were
graced with lush gardens. Djeser-Djeseru is built into a cliff face that rises sharply
above it. Djeser-Djeseru and the other buildings of Hatshepsut's Deir el-Bahri
complex are considered to be among the great buildings of the ancient world.[citation
needed]
Also another one of her great accomplishments is the Hatshepsut needle )also
known as the granite obelisks(.

[edit] Official lauding vs. propaganda

While all ancient leaders used propaganda to laud their achievements, Hatshepsut has
been called the most accomplished pharaoh at promoting her accomplishments.[21]
This may have resulted from the extensive building executed during her time as
pharaoh in comparison to many others because it afforded her with opportunities to
laud herself, but it also reflects the wealth that her policies and administration brought
to Egypt, enabling her to finance such projects. Aggrandizement of their achievements
was traditional when pharaohs built temples and their tombs. Hyperbole is common,
virtually, to all royal inscriptions of Egyptian history.

Large granite sphinx bearing the likeness of the pharaoh Hatshepsut, depicted with the
traditional false beard, a symbol of her pharaonic power, residing in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art

Women had a high status in ancient Egypt and enjoyed the legal right to own, inherit,
or will property. A woman becoming pharaoh was rare, however, only Khentkaues,
Sobeknefru, and possibly Nitocris[22] preceded her in known records as ruling solely in
their own name. The latter's existence is disputed and is likely a mis-translation of a
male king. Twosret, a female king and the last pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty, may
have been the only woman to succeed her among the indigenous rulers, although
research continues about others.[citation needed] At that point in Egyptian history, there was
no word for a queen regnant, pharaoh had become the name for the ruler. Hatshepsut
is not unique, however, in taking the title of king. Sobekneferu, ruling six dynasties
prior to Hatshepsut, also did so when she ruled Egypt. Hatshepsut had been well
trained in her duties as the daughter of the pharaoh. During her father's reign she held
the powerful office of God's Wife. She had taken a strong role as queen to her husband
and was well experienced in the administration of her kingdom by the time she
became pharaoh. There is no indication of challenges to her leadership and, until her
death, her co-regent remained in a secondary role, quite amicably heading her
powerful army—which would have given him the power necessary to overthrow a
usurper of his rightful place, if that had been the case.

Hatshepsut assumed all of the regalia and symbols of the pharaonic office in official
representations: the Khat head cloth, topped with the uraeus, the traditional false
beard, and shendyt kilt.[21] Many existing statues alternatively show her in typically
feminine attire as well as those that depict her in the royal ceremonial attire. Statues
portraying Sobekneferu also combine elements of traditional male and female
iconography and, by tradition, may have served as inspiration for these works
commissioned by Hatshepsut.[23] After this period of transition ended, however, all
formal depictions of Hatshepsut as pharaoh showed her in the royal attire, with all of
the pharaonic regalia, and with her breasts obscured behind her crossed arms holding
the regal staffs of the two kingdoms she ruled, as the symbols of the pharaoh were
much more important to be displayed traditionally.

The reasons for her breasts not being emphasized in the most formal statues were
debated among early Egyptologists who never drew a parallel to the fact that many
women and goddesses portrayed in ancient Egyptian art lack delineation of breasts
and that the gender of pharaohs was never stressed in ancient Egyptian Art.
Interpretations by these early scholars were that her motivation for wearing men's
clothing was a personal choice.[citation needed]
Osirian statues of Hatshepsut at her tomb, one stood at each pillar of the extensive
structure, note the mummification shroud enclosing the lower body and legs as well as
the crook and flail associated with Osiris

Modern scholars, however, have opted for an alternative theory: that by assuming the
typical symbols of pharaonic power, Hatshepsut was asserting her claim to be the
sovereign and not a "King's Great Wife" or Queen consort. The gender of pharaohs
was never stressed in official depictions, even the men were depicted with the highly
stylized false beard associated with their position in the society. Moreover, the
Osirian statues of Hatshepsut—as with other pharaohs—depict the dead pharaoh as
Osiris, with the body and regalia of that deity. All of the statues of Hatshepsut at her
tomb follow that tradition. The promise of resurrection after death was a tenet of the
cult of Osiris. Since there are so many of these, statues of Hatshepsut depicted in this
fashion have been widely published and put on display in museums and, viewers
without an understanding of the religious significance have been misled.

Most of the official statues commissioned of Hatshepsut show her less symbolically
and more naturally, as a woman in typical dresses of the nobility of her day. Notably,
even after assuming the formal regalia, Hatshepsut still described herself as a
beautiful woman, often as the most beautiful of women, and although she assumed
almost all of her father's titles, she declined to take the title "The Strong Bull" )the full
title being, The Strong Bull of his Mother(, which tied the pharaoh to the goddesses
Isis, the throne, and Hathor, )the cow who gave birth to and protected the pharaohs(,
by being her son sitting on her throne -- an unnecessary title for her, since Hatshepsut
became allied with the goddesses, herself, which no male pharaoh could. Rather than
the strong bull, Hatshepsut associated herself with the image of Sekhmet, the major
war deity in the Egyptian pantheon, having served as a very successful warrior during
the early portion of her reign as pharaoh.

Religious concepts were tied into all of these symbols and titles. By the time of
Hatshepsut's reign, the merger of some aspects of these two goddesses provided that
they would both have given birth to, and were the protectors of, the pharaohs. They
became interchangeable at times. Hatshepsut also traced her lineage to Mut, a primal
mother goddess of the Egyptian pantheon, which gave her another ancestor who was a
deity as well as her father, who would have become deified upon death.[citation needed]

While Hatshepsut was depicted in official art wearing regalia of a pharaoh, such as
the false beard that male pharaohs also wore, it is most unlikely that she ever wore
such ceremonial decorations, just as it is unlikely that the male pharaohs did. Statues
such as those at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, depicting her seated wearing a
tight-fitting dress and the nemes crown, are thought to be a more accurate
representation of how she would have presented herself at court.[24]

As a notable exception, only one male pharaoh abandoned the rigid symbolic
depiction that had become the style of the most official artwork representing the ruler,
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV )later Akhenaten( of the same eighteenth dynasty, whose
wife, Nefertiti, also may have ruled in her own right following the death of her
husband.
One of the most famous examples of the legends about Hatshepsut is a myth about her
birth. In this myth, Amun goes to Ahmose in the form of Thutmose I and awakens her
with pleasant odors. At this point Amun places the ankh, a symbol of life, to Ahmose's
nose, and Hatshepsut is conceived by Ahmose. Khnum, the god who forms the bodies
of human children, is then instructed to create a body and ka, or corporal presence/life
force, for Hatshepsut. Heket, the goddess of life and fertility, and Khnum then lead
Ahmose along to a lioness bed where she gives birth to Hatshepsut.[citation needed]

The Oracle of Amun proclaimed that it was the will of Amun that Hatshepsut be
pharaoh, further strengthening her position. She reiterated Amun's support by having
these proclamations by the god Amun carved on her monuments:

Welcome my sweet daughter, my favorite, the King of Upper and Lower

“ Egypt, Maatkare, Hatshepsut. Thou art the Pharaoh, taking possession of
”
the Two Lands.[25]

Hatshepsut claimed that she was her father's intended heir and that he made her the
heir apparent of Egypt. Almost all scholars today view this as historical revisionism,
or prolepsis, on Hatshepsut's part since it was Thutmose II--a son of Thutmose I by
Mutnofret--who was her father's heir. Moreover, Thutmose I could not have foreseen
that his daughter Hatshepsut would outlive his son within his own lifetime. Thutmose
II soon married Hatshepsut and the latter became both his senior royal wife and the
most powerful woman at court. Evelyn Wells, however, accepts Hatshepsut's claim
that she was her father's intended successor. Once she became pharaoh herself,
Hatshepsut supported her assertion that she was her father's designated successor with
inscriptions on the walls of her mortuary temple:

Then his majesty said to them: "This daughter of mine, Khnumetamun

“ Hatshepsut—may she live!—I have appointed as my successor upon my
throne... she shall direct the people in every sphere of the palace; it is she
indeed who shall lead you. Obey her words, unite yourselves at her
command." The royal nobles, the dignitaries, and the leaders of the
people heard this proclamation of the promotion of his daughter, the King
of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare—may she live eternally.[26] ”
American humorist Will Cuppy wrote an essay on Hatshepsut which was published
after his death in the book The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody. Regarding
one of her wall inscriptions, he wrote,

For a general notion of Hatshepsut's appearance at a certain stage of her

“ career, we are indebted to one of those wall inscriptions. It states that "to ”
look upon her was more beautiful than anything; her splendor and her
form were divine." Some have thought it odd that the female Pharaoh
should have been so bold, fiftyish as she was. Not at all. She was merely
saying how things were about thirty-five years back, before she had
married Thutmose II and slugged it out with Thutmose III. "She was a
maiden, beautiful and blooming", the hieroglyphics run, and we have no
 reason to doubt it. Surely there is no harm in telling the world how one
looked in 1514 B.C.[27]

[edit] Death

Hatshepsut died as she was approaching, what we would consider middle age given
typical contemporary lifespans, in her twenty-second regnal year.[28] The precise date
of Hatshepsut's death -- and the time when Thutmose III became pharaoh of Egypt --
is considered to be Year 22, II Peret day 10 of their joint rule as recorded on a single
stela erected at Armant[29] or January 16, 1458 BC.[30] This information validates the
basic reliability of Manetho's kinglist records since Thutmose III and Hatshepsut's
known accession date was I Shemu day 4.[31] )ie: Hatshepsut died 9 months into her
22nd year as Manetho writes in his Epitome for a reign of 21 years and 9 months( No
mention of the cause of her death has survived. If the recent identification of her
mummy in KV60 is correct,however, CT scans would indicate that she died of blood
infection while she was in her 50s.[2][32] It also would suggest that she had arthritis, bad
teeth, and probably had diabetes.[2]

For a long time, her mummy was believed to be missing from the Deir el-Bahri
Cache. An unidentified female mummy—found with Hatshepsut's wet nurse, Sitire-
Re, one of whose arms was posed in the traditional burial style of pharaohs—has led
to the theory that the unidentified mummy in KV60 might be Hatshepsut.[33] Don
Ryan working with Pacific Lutheran University and the Evergreen State College
reopened KV60 in 1989, which had been resealed after it was discovered at the turn of
the century.[34] The tomb had been damaged, but the mummies remained in site.

In March 2006, Zahi Hawass claimed to have located the mummy of Hatshepsut,
which was mislaid on the third floor of the Cairo Museum.[35] In June 2007, it was
announced that Egyptologists believed they had identified Hatshepsut's mummy in the
Valley of the Kings; this discovery is considered to be the "most important find in the
Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamun".[2][36] Decisive evidence
was a molar found in a wooden box that was inscribed with Hatshepsut's name, found
in 1881 among a cache of royal mummies hidden away for safekeeping in a near-by
temple. The tooth has been conclusively proven to have been removed from the
mummy's mouth, fitting exactly an empty socket in the mummy's jawbone.[32][2]

[edit] Burial complex

Hatshepsut's Temple

Hatshepsut had begun construction of a tomb when she was the Great Royal Wife of
Thutmose II, but the scale of this was not suitable when she became pharaoh, so a
second tomb was built. This was KV20, which possibly was the first tomb to be
constructed in the Valley of the Kings. The original intention seems to have been to
hew a long tunnel that would lead underneath her mortuary temple, but the quality of
the limestone bedrock was poor and her architect must have realized that this goal
would not be possible. As a result, a large burial chamber was created instead. At
some point, it was decided to dis-inter her father, Thutmose I, from his original tomb
in KV38 and place his mummy in a new chamber below hers. Her original red-
quartzite sarcophagus was altered to accommodate her father instead, and a new one
was made for her. It is likely that when she died )no later than the twenty-second year
of her reign(, she was interred in this tomb along with her father.[37]

The tomb was opened in antiquity, the first time during the end of the reign of
Hatshepsut's successor, Thutmose III, who re-interred his grandfather, Thutmose I, in
his original tomb, and may have moved Hatshepsut's mummy into the tomb of her wet
nurse, Sitre-Re, in KV60. It is possible that Amenhotep II, successor to Thutmose III
was the one motivating these actions in an attempt to assure his own succession.
Although her tomb largely had been cleared )save for both sarcophagi still present
when the tomb was fully cleared by Howard Carter in 1903( some grave furnishings
have been identified as belonging to Hatshepsut, including a "throne" )bedstead is a
better description(, a senet game board with carved lioness-headed, red-jasper game
pieces bearing her pharaonic title, a signet ring, and a partial ushabti figurine bearing
her name. In the Royal Mummy Cache at DB320 an ivory canopic coffer was found
that was inscribed with the name of Hatshepsut and contained a mummified liver.
However, there was a royal lady of the Twenty-first dynasty of the same name, and
this could belong to her instead.[38]

[edit] Changing recognition

Sphinx of Hatshepsut with unusual rounded ears and ruff that stress the lioness
features of the statue, but with five toes - newal post decorations from the lower ramp
of her temple complex
Toward the end of the reign of Thutmose III, an attempt was made to remove
Hatshepsut from certain historical and pharaonic records. This elimination was carried
out in the most literal way possible. Her cartouches and images were chiselled off the
stone walls—leaving very obvious Hatshepsut-shaped gaps in the artwork—and she
was excluded from the official history that was rewritten without acknowledgment of
any form of co-regency during the period between Thutmose II to Thutmose III.[citation
needed]

At the Deir el-Bahri temple, Hatshepsut's numerous statues were torn down and in
many cases, smashed or disfigured before being buried in a pit. At Karnak there even
was an attempt to wall up her obelisks. While it is clear that much of this rewriting of
Hatshepsut's history occurred only during the close of Thutmose III's reign, it is not
clear why it happened, other than the typical pattern of self-promotion that existed
among the pharaohs and their administrators, or perhaps saving money by not
building new monuments for the burial of Thutmose III and instead, using the grand
structures built by Hatshepsut.

Amenhotep II, who became a co-regent of Thutmose III before his death, however,
would have had a motive because his position in the royal lineage was not so strong.
He is suspected by some as being the defacer during the end of the reign of a very old
pharaoh. He is documented, further, as having usurped many of Hatshepsut's
accomplishments during his own reign. His reign is marked with attempts to break the
royal lineage as well.[citation needed]

For many years, Egyptologists assumed that it was a damnatio memoriae, the
deliberate erasure of a person's name, image, and memory, which would cause them to
die a second, terrible and permanent death in the afterlife.[citation needed] This appeared to
make sense when thinking that Thutmose might have been an unwilling co-regent for
years. This assessment of the situation probably is too simplistic, however. It is highly
unlikely that the determined and focused Thutmose—not only Egypt's most successful
general, but an acclaimed athlete, author, historian, botanist, and architect—would
have brooded for two decades before attempting to avenge himself on his stepmother.
According to renowned Egyptologist Donald Redford:

Here and there, in the dark recesses of a shrine or tomb where no

“ plebeian eye could see, the queen's cartouche and figure were left intact
... which never vulgar eye would again behold, still conveyed for the king
the warmth and awe of a divine presence.[39] ”
These two statues once resembled each other, however, the symbols of her pharaonic
power: the Uraeus, Double Crown, and traditional false beard have been stripped from
the left image; many images portraying Hatshepsut were destroyed or vandalized
within decades of her death, possibly by Amenhotep II at the end of the reign of
Thutmose III, while he was his co-regent, in order to assure his own rise to pharaoh
and then, to claim many of her accomplishments as his

The erasures were sporadic and haphazard, with only the more visible and accessible
images of Hatshepsut being removed; had it been more complete, we would not now
have so many images of Hatshepsut. Thutmose III may have died before his changes
were finished, or it may be that he never intended a total obliteration of her memory.
In fact, we have no evidence to support the assumption that Thutmose hated or
resented Hatshepsut during her lifetime. Had that been true, as head of the army, in a
position given to him by Hatshepsut )who was clearly not worried about her co-
regent's loyalty(, he surely could have led a successful coup, but he made no attempt
to challenge her authority during her reign and her accomplishments and images
remained featured on all of the public buildings she built for twenty years after her
death.

It is possible that Thutmose III, lacking any sinister motivation, decided toward the
end of his life, to relegate Hatshepsut to her expected place as queen regent--which
was the traditional role of powerful women in Egypt's court as the example of Queen
Ahhotep attests--rather than king. By eliminating the more obvious traces of
Hatshepsut's monuments as pharaoh and reducing her status to that of his co-regent,
Thutmose III could claim that the royal succession ran directly from Thutmose I to
Thutmose III without any interference from his aunt.[citation needed]

The deliberate erasures or mutilations of the numerous public celebrations of her

accomplishments, but not the rarely seen ones, would be all that was necessary to
obscure Hatshepsut's accomplishments. Moreover, by the latter half of Thutmose III's
reign, the more prominent high officials who had served Hatshepsut would have died,
thereby eliminating the powerful bureaucratic resistance to a change in direction in a
highly stratified culture. Hatshepsut's highest official and closest supporter, Senenmut
seems either to have retired abruptly or died around Years 16 and 20 of Hatshepsut's
reign and, was never interred in either of his carefully prepared tombs.[40] The enigma
of Senenmut's sudden disappearance "has teased Egyptologists for decades" given the
lack of solid archaeological or textual evidence" and permitted "the vivid imagination
of Senenmut-scholars to run wild" resulting in a variety of strongly held solutions
"some of which would do credit to any fictional murder/mystery plot."[41] Newer court
officials, appointed by Thutmose III, also would have had an interest in promoting the
many achievements of their master in order to assure the continued success of their
own families.

A more recent hypothesis about Hatshepsut suggests that Thutmose III's erasures and
defacement of Hatshepsut's monuments were a cold but rational attempt on
Thutmose's part to extinguish the memory of an "unconventional female king whose
reign might possibly be interpreted by future generations as a grave offence against
Ma'at, and whose unorthodox coregency" could "cast serious doubt upon the
legitimacy of his own right to rule. Hatshepsut's crime need not be anything more than
the fact that she was a woman."[42] Thutmose III may have considered the possibility
that the example of a successful female king in Egyptian history could set a dangerous
precedent since it demonstrated that a woman was as capable at governing Egypt as a
traditional male king. This event could, theoretically, persuade "future generations of
potentially strong female kings" to not "remain content with their traditional lot as
wife, sister and eventual mother of a king" instead and assume the crown.[43] While
Queen Sobekneferu of Egypt's Middle Kingdom had enjoyed a short c.4 year reign,
she ruled "at the very end of a fading [12th dynasty] Dynasty, and from the very start
of her reign the odds had been stacked against her. She was therefore acceptable to
conservative Egyptians as a patriotic 'Warrior Queen' who had failed" to rejuvenate
Egypt's fortunes--a result which underlined the traditional Egyptian view that a
woman was incapable of holding the throne in her own right.[44] Hence, few Egyptians
would desire to repeat the experiment of a female monarch.

In contrast, Hatshepsut's glorious reign was a completely different case: she

demonstrated that women were as equally capable as men in ruling the two lands
since she successfully presided over a prosperous Egypt for more than two decades.[45]
If Thutmose III's intent here was to forestall the possibility of a woman assuming the
throne, it failed. Two female kings are known to have assumed the throne after
Thutmose's reign during the New Kingdom: Neferneferuaten and Twosret. Unlike
Hatshepsut, however, both rulers enjoyed brief and short-lived reign of only 2 and 1
years respectively.

The erasure of Hatshepsut's name, whatever the reason, almost caused her to
disappear from Egypt's archaeological and written records. And, when nineteenth-
century Egyptologists started to interpret the texts on the Deir el-Bahri temple walls
)which were illustrated with two seemingly male kings( their translations made no
sense. Jean-Francois Champollion, the French decoder of hieroglyphs, was not alone
in feeling confused by the obvious conflict between words and pictures:

Hieroglyphs showing Thutmose III on the left and Hatshepsut on the right, she having
the trapings of the greater role
If I felt somewhat surprised at seeing here, as elsewhere throughout the
“ temple, the renowned Moeris [Thutmose III], adorned with all the
insignia of royalty, giving place to this Amenenthe [Hatshepsut], for
whose name we may search the royal lists in vain, still more astonished
was I to find upon reading the inscriptions that wherever they referred to
this bearded king in the usual dress of the Pharaohs, nouns and verbs
were in the feminine, as though a queen were in question. I found the
same peculiarity everywhere... ”
[citation needed]

The 2006 discovery of a foundation deposit including nine golden cartouches bearing
the names of both Hatshepsut and Thutmose III in Karnak may shed additional light
on the eventual attempt by Thutmose III and his son Amenhotep II to erase
Hatshepsut from the historical record and the correct nature of their relationships and
her role as pharaoh.[46]

Records of her reign, documented in diverse ancient sources, failed to generate much
research about this pharaoh by early modern Egyptologists and Hatshepsut went from
being one of the most obscure leaders of Egypt at the beginning of the twentieth
century—to one of its most famous, by the century's end.[citation needed] Archaeological
discoveries of the early twentieth century provided information that had been missing
from those records and, technical advances later in the century enabled better
identifications to make contemporary historical records more complete.

[edit] Popular and fictional attention

As the Feminist movement matured, prominent women from antiquity were sought
out and their achievements increasingly publicized. Biographies such as Hatshepsut
by Evelyn Wells romanticized her as a beautiful and pacifistic woman—"the first
great woman in History."[citation needed] This was quite a contrast to the nineteenth-century
interpretations of Hatshepsut as a wicked stepmother usurping the throne from
Thutmose III. The novel Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw,
maintains the wicked stepmother view by casting Hatshepsut as the story's villainess.
The plot revolves around the efforts of the slave girl Mara and various nobles to
overthrow Hatshepsut and install the "rightful" heir, Thutmose III, as Pharaoh. They
blame Hatshepsut's numerous building projects for the bankruptcy of the Egyptian
state and she is depicted as keeping Thutmose III as a prisoner within the palace
walls.[citation needed] At least four authors have written fictional novels featuring
Hatshepsut as the historical heroine: Hatshepsut: Daughter of Amun by Moyra
Caldecott, King and Goddess, by Judith Tarr, Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge,
and Pharaoh by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, as well as the Lieutenant Bak series of
mystery novels which is set during her reign.

Suzanne Frank has also written a time travel fantasy book about a young woman
being sent back in time to the time Hatshepsut reigned. This author depicted that
Hatshepsut was the ruler during the time Moses sent the plagues and freed the slaves.

There is a popular theory that before her father's death, Hatshepsut was the princess
who found Moses floating in the Nile, which has been largely debated by
Egyptologists, Muslim and Biblical scholars.[47] She is depicted in this role in Orson
Scott Card's historical novel Stone Tables.

In the video game, Civilization IV, Hatshepsut appears as one of the rulers of Egypt.
Also in the video game, Serious Sam: The First Encounter, Hatshepsut's temple was
designated as the first level of the game, set as the location of the Time Lock machine
mentioned in the game.
Thutmose III
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Thutmose III

Tuthmosis III, "Manahpi)r(ya" in the Amarna letters

Red granite statue of Thutmosis III

kneeling and bringing offerings.

Pharaoh of Egypt

Reign 1479–1425 BC, 18th

Dynasty

Predecessor Hatshepsut

Successor Amenhotep II

Royal titulary[show]
 Consort)s( Satiah[2], Hatshepsut-
Meryetre, Nebtu,
Menwi, Merti, Menhet

Children Amenemhat,
Amenhotep II,
Beketamun, Iset,
Menkheperre,
Meryetamun,
Meryetamun,
Nebetiunet, Nefertiry,
Siamun[2]

Father Thutmose II

Mother Iset

Died 1425 BC

Burial KV34

Monuments Cleopatra's Needles

Thutmose III )sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis III and meaning Thoth is
Born( was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. During the first twenty-two
years of Thutmose's reign he was co-regent with his stepmother, Hatshepsut, who was
named the pharaoh. While she is shown first on surviving monuments, both were
assigned the usual royal names and insignia and neither is given any obvious seniority
over the other.[3] He served as the head of her armies.

After her death and his later rise to being the pharaoh of the kingdom, he created the
largest empire Egypt had ever seen; no fewer than seventeen campaigns were
conducted, and he conquered from Niy in north Syria to the fourth waterfall of the
Nile in Nubia. After his years of campaigning were over, he established himself as a
great builder pharaoh as well. Thutmose III was responsible for building over fifty
temples in Egypt and building massive additions to Egypt's chief temple at Karnak.
New levels of artistic skills were reached during his reign, as well as unique
architectural developments never seen before and never again after his reign.

Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost fifty-four years, and his reign is
usually dated from April 24, 1479 to March 11, 1425 BCE; however, the first twenty-
two years of his reign was as the co-regent to Hatshepsut--his stepmother and aunt--
who was named as the pharaoh. During the last two years of his reign he became a
coregent again, with his son, Amenhotep II, who would succeed him. When he died
he was buried in the Valley of the Kings as were the rest of the kings from this period
in Egypt.

TuthmosisIII statue in Luxor Museum

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Family
• 2 Dates and Length of Reign
• 3 Thutmose's military campaigns
o 3.1 First Campaign
o 3.2 Tours of Canaan and Syria
o 3.3 Conquest of Syria
o 3.4 Attack on Mitanni
o 3.5 Tours of Syria
o 3.6 Nubian Campaign
• 4 Monumental Construction
o 4.1 Artistic developments
o 4.2 Karnak
o 4.3 Statuary
o 4.4 Tomb
• 5 Defacing of Hatshepsut's monuments
• 6 Death and burial
o 6.1 Mummy
• 7 See also
• 8 References
• 9 Further reading

• 10 External links

[edit] Family

Thutmose III was the son of Pharaoh Thutmose II and Iset )sometimes transliterated
Isis(, a secondary wife of Thutmose II.[4] Because he was the pharaoh's only
son/daughter/sister/wife, he would have become the first in line for the throne when
Thutmose II died; however, because he was not the son of his father's royal queen, his
"degree" of royalty was less than ideal. To bolster his qualifications, he may have
married a daughter of Thutmose II and Hatshepsut. It has been suggested that the
daughter in question may have been Neferure or Merytre-Hatshepsut II.

Regardless of this, when Thutmose II died Thutmose III was too young to rule, so
Hatshepsut became his regent, soon his coregency and shortly thereafter, she was
declared to be the pharaoh. Thutmose III had little power over the empire while
Hatshepsut exercised the formal titulary of kingship, complete with a royal prenomen
—Maatkare. Her rule was quite prosperous and marked by great advancements. When
he reached a suitable age and demonstrated the capability, she appointed him to head
her armies. After the death of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III ruled Egypt on his own for
thirty years, until the last two years of his reign, when his son became a coregent for
two years. He died in his fifty-fourth regnal year.
Beside the possible marriage to Neferure, Thutmose III had two known wives. Sat-jah
bore his firstborn, Amenemhet, but the child preceded his father in death. His
successor, Amenhotep II, was born to Merytre-Hatshepsut II.

[edit] Dates and Length of Reign

Thutmose III reigned from 1479 BC to 1425 BC according to the Low Chronology of
Ancient Egypt. This has been the conventional Egyptian chronology in academic
circles since the 1960s,[5] though in some circles the older dates 1504 BC to 1450 BC
is preferred from the High Chronology.[6] These dates, just as all the dates of the
eighteenth Dynasty, are open to dispute because of uncertainty about the
circumstances surrounding the recording of a Heliacal Rise of Sothis in the reign of
Amenhotep I.[7] A papyrus from Amenhotep I's reign records this astronomical
observation which, theoretically, could be used to perfectly correlate the Egyptian
chronology with the modern calendar, however, to do this the latitude where the
observation was taken must also be known. This document has no note of the place of
observation, but it can safely be assumed that it was taken in either a delta city such as
Memphis or Heliopolis, or in Thebes. These two latitudes give dates twenty years
apart, the High and Low chronologies, respectively.

The length of Thutmose III's reign is known to the day thanks to information found in
the tomb of the court official Amenemheb.[8] Amenemheb records Thutmose III's
death to his master's fifty-fourth regnal year,[9] on the thirtieth day of the third month
of Peret.[10] The day of Thutmose III's accession is known to be I Shemu day 4, and
astronomical observations can be used to establish the exact dates of the beginning
and end of the king's reign )assuming the low chronology( from April 24, 1479 BC to
March 11, 1425 BC respectively.[11]

[edit] Thutmose's military campaigns

The maximum territorial extent of Egypt )XVth century BC(

Widely considered a military genius by historians, he was an active expansionist ruler,

sometimes called Egypt's greatest conqueror or "the Napoleon of Egypt."[12] He is
recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the Near
East from the Euphrates to Nubia during seventeen known military campaigns. He
was the first Pharaoh after Thutmose I to cross the Euphrates, doing so during his
campaign against Mitanni. His campaign records were transcribed onto the walls of
the temple of Amun at Karnak, and are now transcribed into Urkunden IV. He is
consistently regarded as one of the greatest of Egypt's warrior pharaohs, who
transformed Egypt into an international superpower by creating an empire that
stretched from southern Syria through to Canaan and Nubia.[13] In most of his
campaigns his enemies were defeated town by town, until being beaten into
submission. The preferred tactic was to subdue a much weaker city or state one at a
time resulting in surrender of each fraction until complete domination was achieved.

Much is known about Thutmosis "the warrior", not only because of his military
achievements, but also because of his royal scribe and army commander, Thanuny,
who wrote about his conquests and reign. The prime reason why Thutmosis was able
to conquer such a large number of lands, is because of the revolution and
improvement in army weapons. He encountered only little resistance from
neighbouring kingdoms, allowing him to expand his realm of influence easily. His
army also had carried boats on dry land.

[edit] First Campaign

Annals of Tuthmoses III at Karnak depicting him standing before the offerings made
to him after his foreign campaigns

When Hatshepsut died on the tenth day of the sixth month of Thutmose III's twenty
second year--according to information from a single stela from Armant--the king of
Kadesh advanced his army to Megiddo.[14] Thutmose III mustered his own army and
departed Egypt, passing through the border fortress of Tjaru )Sile( on the twenty-fifth
day of the eighth month.[15] Thutmose marched his troops through the coastal plain as
far as Jamnia, then inland to Yehem, a small city near Megiddo, which he reached in
the middle of the ninth month of the same year.[15] The ensuing Battle of Megiddo
probably was the largest battle in any of Thutmose's seventeen campaigns.[16] A ridge
of mountains jutting inland from Mount Carmel stood between Thutmose and
Megiddo, and he had three potential routes to take.[16] The northern route and the
southern route, both of which went around the mountain, were judged by his council
of war to be the safest, but Thutmose, in an act of great bravery )or so he boasts, but
such self praise is normal in Egyptian texts(, accused the council of cowardice and
took a dangerous route[17] through a mountain pass which he alleged was only wide
enough for the army to pass "horse after horse and man after man."[15]

Despite the laudatory nature of Thutmose's annals, such a pass does indeed exist
)although it is not quite so narrow as Thutmose indicates([18] and taking it was a
brilliant strategic move, since when his army emerged from the pass they were
situated on the plain of Esdraelon, directly between the rear of the Canaanite forces
and Megiddo itself.[16] For some reason, the Canaanite forces did not attack him as his
army emerged,[17] and his army routed them decisively.[16] The size of the two forces is
difficult to determine, but if, as Redford suggests, the amount of time it took to move
the army through the pass may be used to determine the size of the Egyptian force,
and if the number of sheep and goats captured may be used to determine the size of
the Canaanite force, then both armies were around 10,000 men.[19] However most
scholars do believe that the Egyptian army was more numerous. According to
Thutmose III's Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, the battle occurred
on "Year 23, I Shemu [day] 21, the exact day of the feast of the new moon"[20] – a lunar
date. This date corresponds to May 9, 1457 BC based on Thutmose III's accession in
1479 BC. After victory in battle, however, his troops stopped to plunder the enemy
and the enemy was able to escape into Megiddo.[21]. Thutmose was forced to besiege
the city instead, but he finally succeeded in conquering it after a siege of seven or
eight months )see Siege of Megiddo(.[21]

This campaign drastically changed the political situation in the ancient Near East. By
taking Megiddo, Thutmose gained control of all of northern Canaan, and the Syrian
princes were obligated to send tribute and their own sons as hostages to Egypt.[22]
Beyond the Euphrates, the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Hittite kings all gave Thutmose
gifts, which he alleged to be "tribute" when he recorded it on the walls of Karnak.[23]
The only noticeable absence is Mitanni, which would bear the brunt of the following
Egyptian campaigns into Asia.

[edit] Tours of Canaan and Syria

Thutmose III smiting his enemies. Relief on the seventh pylon in Karnak

Thutmose's second, third, and fourth campaigns appear to have been nothing more
than tours of Syria and Canaan to collect tribute.[24] Traditionally, the material directly
after the text of the first campaign has been considered to be the second campaign.[25]
This text records tribute from the area which the Egyptians called Retenu, )roughly
equivalent to Canaan(, and it was also at this time that Assyria paid a second "tribute"
to Thutmose III.[26] However, it is probable that these texts come from Thutmose's
fortieth year or later, and thus have nothing to do with the second campaign at all. If
so, then so far, no records of this campaign have been found at all.[25] This survey is
dated to Thutmose's twenty-fifth year.[27] No record remains of Thutmose's fourth
campaign whatsoever,[28] but at some point in time a fort was built in lower Lebanon
and timber was cut for construction of a processional barque, and this probably fits
best during this time frame.[29]

[edit] Conquest of Syria

The fifth, sixth, and seventh campaigns of Thutmose III were directed against the
Phoenician cities in Syria and against Kadesh on the Orontes. In Thutmose's twenty-
ninth year, he began his fifth campaign wherein he first took an unknown city )the
name falls in a lacuna( which had been garrisoned by Tunip.[30] He then moved inland
and took the city and territory around Ardata;[31] unlike previous plundering raids,
however, Thutmose III subsequently garrisoned the area known as Djahy, which is
probably a reference to southern Syria.[32] This subsequently permitted him to ship
supplies and troops between Syria and Egypt.[31] Although there is no direct evidence
for it, it is for this reason that some have supposed that Thutmose's sixth campaign, in
his thirtieth year, commenced with a naval transportation of troops directly into to
Byblos, bypassing Canaan entirely.[31] After the troops arrived in Syria by whatever
means, they proceeded into the Jordan river valley and moved north from there,
pillaging Kadesh's lands.[33] Turning west again, Thutmose took Simyra and quelled a
rebellion in Ardata, which apparently had rebelled once again.[34] To stop such
rebellions, Thutmose began taking hostages from the cities in Syria. The cities in
Syria were not guided by the popular sentiment of the people so much as they were by
the small number of nobles who were aligned to Mitanni: a king and a small number
of foreign Maryannu.[33] Thutmose III found that by taking family members of these
key people to Egypt as hostages, he could drastically increase their loyalty to him.[33]
However, Syria did rebel yet again in Thutmose's thirty-first year, and he returned to
Syria for his seventh campaign, took the port city of Ullaza[33] and the smaller
Phoenician ports,[34] and took even more measures to prevent further rebellions.[33] All
the excess grain which was produced in Syria was stored in the harbors he had
recently conquered, and was used for the support of the military and civilian Egyptian
presence ruling Syria.[33] This furthermore left the cities in Syria desperately
impoverished, and with their economies in ruins, they had no means of funding a
rebellion.[35]

[edit] Attack on Mitanni

After Thutmose III had taken control of the Syrian cities, the obvious target for his
eighth campaign was the state of Mitanni, a Hurrian country with an Indo-Aryan
ruling class. However, to reach Mitanni, he had to cross the Euphrates river.
Therefore, Thutmose III enacted the following strategy. He sailed directly to Byblos[36]
and then made boats which he took with him over land on what appeared to otherwise
be just another tour of Syria,[34] and he proceeded with the usual raiding and pillaging
as he moved north through the lands he had already taken.[37] However, here he
continued north through the territory belonging to the still unconquered cities of
Aleppo and Carchemish, and then quickly crossed the Euphrates in his boats, taking
the Mitannian king entirely by surprise.[37] It appears that Mitanni was not expecting
an invasion, so they had no army of any kind ready to defend against Thutmose,
although their ships on the Euphrates did try to defend against the Egyptian
crossing.[36] Thutmose III then went freely from city to city and pillaged them while
the nobles hid in caves )or at least this is the typically ignoble way Egyptian records
chose to record it(.[37] During this period of no opposition, Thutmose put up a second
stele commemorating his crossing of the Euphrates, next to the one his grandfather
Thutmose I had put up several decades earlier.[37] Eventually a militia was raised to
fight the invaders, but it fared very poorly.[37] Thutmose III then returned to Syria by
way of Niy, where he records that he engaged in an elephant hunt.[38] He then
collected tribute from foreign powers and returned to Egypt in victory.[36]

[edit] Tours of Syria

Thutmose III returned to Syria for his ninth campaign in his thirty-fourth year, but this
appears to have been just a raid of the area called Nukhashshe, a region populated by
semi-nomadic people.[39] The plunder recorded is minimal, so it was probably just a
minor raid.[40] Records from his tenth campaign indicate much more fighting,
however. By Thutmose's thirty-fifth year, the king of Mitanni had raised a large army
and engaged the Egyptians around Aleppo.[41] As usual for any Egyptian king,
Thutmose boasted a total crushing victory, but this statement is suspect. Specifically,
it is doubted that Thutmose accomplished any great victory here due to the very small
amount of plunder taken.[41] Specifically, Thutmose's annals at Karnak indicate he
only took a total of ten prisoners of war.[42] He may simply have fought the Mitannians
to a stalemate,[41] yet he did receive tribute from the Hittites after that campaign,
which seems to indicate the outcome of the battle was in Thutmose's favor.[38]

The next two campaigns are lost.[38] His eleventh is presumed to have happened in his
thirty-sixth regnal year, and his twelfth is presumed to have happened in his thirty-
seventh, since his thirteenth is mentioned at Karnak as happening in his thirty-eighth
regnal year.[43] Part of the tribute list for his twelfth campaign remains immediately
before his thirteenth begins, and the contents recorded )specifically wild game and
certain minerals of uncertain identification( might indicate that it took place on the
steppe around Nukhashashe, but this remains mere speculation.[44]

In his thirteenth campaign Thutmose returned to Nukhashashe for a very minor

campaign.[43] The next year, his thirty-ninth year, he mounted his fourteenth campaign
against the Shasu. The location of this campaign is impossible to determine definitely,
since the Shasu were nomads who could have lived anywhere from Lebanon to the
Transjordan, to Edom.[45] After this point, the numbers given by Thutmose's scribes to
his campaigns all fall in lacunae, so campaigns can only be counted by date. In his
fortieth year, tribute was collected from foreign powers, but it is unknown if this was
considered a campaign )i.e. if the king went with it or if it was lead by an official(.[46]
Only the tribute list remains from Thutmose's next campaign in the annals,[47] and
nothing may be deduced about it, except that it probably was another raid to the
frontiers around Niy.[48] His final Asian campaign is better documented, however.
Sometime before Thutmose's forty-second year, Mitanni apparently began spreading
revolt among all the major cities in Syria.[48] Thutmose moved his troops by land up
the coastal road and put down rebellions in the Arka plain and moved on Tunip.[48]
After taking Tunip, his attention turned to Kadesh again. He engaged and destroyed
three surrounding Mitannian garrisons and returned to Egypt in victory.[49] However,
his victory in this final campaign was neither complete, nor permanent, since he did
not take Kadesh,[49] and Tunip could not have remained aligned to him for very long,
certainly not beyond his own death.[50]

[edit] Nubian Campaign

Thutmose took one last campaign in his fiftieth regnal year, very late in his life. He
attacked Nubia, but only went so far as the fourth cataract of the Nile. Although no
king of Egypt had ever penetrated so far as he did with an army, previous kings'
campaigns had spread Egyptian culture that far already, and the earliest Egyptian
document found at Gebel Barkal, in fact, comes from three years before Thutmose's
campaign.[51]

[edit] Monumental Construction

Depiction of Tuthmoses III at Karnak holding a Hedj Club and a Sekhem Scepter
standing before two obelisks he had erected there.

Thutmose III was a great builder pharaoh and constructed over fifty temples, although
some of these are now lost and only mentioned in written records.[6] He also
commissioned the building of many tombs for nobles, which were made with greater
craftsmanship than ever before. His reign was also a period of great stylistic changes
in the sculpture, paintings, and reliefs associated with construction, much of it
beginning during the reign of Hatshepsut.

[edit] Artistic developments

Glass making advanced during the reign of Thutmose III and this cup bears his name

Thutmose's architects and artisans showed great continuity with the formal style of
previous kings, but several developments set him apart from his predecessors.
Although he followed the traditional relief styles for most of his reign, after his forty-
second year, he began having himself depicted wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt
and a šndyt-kilt, an unprecedented style.[52] Architecturally, his use of pillars also was
unprecedented. He built Egypt's only known set of heraldic pillars, two large columns
standing alone instead of being part of a set supporting the roof.[53] His jubilee hall
was also revolutionary, and is arguably the earliest known building created in the
basilica style.[53] Thutmose's artisans achieved new heights of skill in painting, and
tombs from his reign were the earliest to be entirely painted, instead of painted
reliefs.[52] Finally, although not directly pertaining to his monuments, it appears that
Thutmose's artisans finally had learned how to use the skill of glass making—
developed in the early eighteenth dynasty—to create drinking vessels by the core-
formed method.[54]

[edit] Karnak

Thutmose dedicated far more attention to Karnak than any other site. In the Iput-isut,
the temple proper in the center, he rebuilt the hypostyle hall of his grandfather
Thutmose I, dismantled the red chapel of Hatshepsut, built Pylon VI, a shrine for the
bark of Amun in its place, and built an antechamber in front of it, the ceiling of which
was supported by his heraldic pillars.[53] He built a temenos wall around the central
chapel containing smaller chapels, along with workshops and storerooms.[53] East of
the main sanctuary, he built a jubilee hall in which to celebrate his Sed festival. The
main hall was built in basilica style, with rows of pillars supporting the ceiling on
each side of the aisle.[53] The central two rows were higher than the others to create
windows where the ceiling was split.[53] Two of the smaller rooms in this temple
contained the reliefs of the survey of the plants and animals of Canaan which he took
in his third campaign.[55]
Thutmose's tekhen waty, today standing in Rome. The move from Egypt to Rome was
initiated by Constantine the Great )Roman Emperor, 324-337( in 326, though he died
before it could be shipped out of Alexandria. His son, the Emperor Constantius II
completed the transfer in 357. An account of the shipment was written by
contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus.

East of the Iput-Isut, he erected another temple to Aten where he was depicted as
being supported by Amun.[56] It was inside this temple that Thutmose planned on
erecting his tekhen waty, or "unique obelisk."[56] The tekhen waty was designed to
stand alone, instead as part of a pair, and is the tallest obelisk ever successfully cut. It
was not, however, erected until Thutmose IV raised it,[56] thirty five years later.[57] It
was later moved to Rome and is known as the Lateran Obelisk.

Another Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I re-erected another obelisk from the
Temple of Karnak in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, in 390 CE. Thus, two
obelisks of Tuthmosis III's Karnak temple stand in Papal Rome and in Caesaropapist
Constantinople, the two main historical capitals of the Roman Empire.

Thutmose also undertook building projects to the south of the main temple, between
the sanctuary of Amun and the temple of Mut.[56] Immediately to the south of the main
temple, he built the seventh pylon on the north-south road which entered the temple
between the fourth and fifth pylons.[56] It was built for use during his jubilee, and was
covered with scenes of defeated enemies.[56] He set royal colossi on both sides of the
pylon, and put two more obelisks on the south face in front of the gateway.[56] The
eastern one's base remains in place, but the western one was transported to
hippodrome in Constantinople.[56] farther south, alone the road, he put up pylon VIII
which Hatshepsut had begun.[53] East of the road, he dug a sacred lake of 250 by 400
feet, and then placed another alabaster bark shrine near it.[53]
Obelisk of Thutmosis III, at the base showing showing Theodosius the Great )Roman
Emperor, 379-395(. The obelisk is located in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. In
390, Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople.
Only the top section survives, and it stands today where he placed it, on a marble
pedestal.

[edit] Statuary

Following the tradition of earlier pharaohs, Thutmose III placed statues inside his
temples to show his strength and to portray him as a devout pharaoh who worshipped
the deities. Stylistically, many of his statues share many of the same features of his
immediate predecessor, Hatshepsut, and the only statues with solid attributions to
either pharaoh are those that were inscribed with the individual pharaoh's name.

Statuary of both of these rulers often share the same almond-shaped eyes, arching
browline, moderately aquiline nose and a gently curved mouth with a slight smile.[58]
Systematic studies of the inscribed statues of these two pharaohs have been developed
that provide a set of stylistic, iconographic, contextual, and technical criteria
necessary to identify uninscribed statues of these pharaohs with some degree of
certainty.[59]
Tomb image of Thutmosis III being suckled by the goddess Isis in the form of a tree

There are many examples of statues depicting Thutmose III kneeling down in an
"offering" position, typically offering milk, wine, or some other food substance to a
deity. While examples of this style may be found with some of the earlier pharaohs of
the New Kingdom, it is thought that the emphasis on this style marks a change in the
increasingly public aspects of the Egyptian religion.[60] These positions include the
form called "offering to an altar" and show the pharaoh both in the kneeling and
standing positions. Thutmose is shown in other statues offering geese and, possibly,
oil.[61] The faces of the statues are idealized to portray both a traditional view of kings
and the contemporary idea of beauty; this first was apparent in statues of Hatshepsut,
but is more obvious in statues of Thutmose III and his immediate descendants
Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, and Amenhotep III. Another important development that
relates to this form of statuary is that at least one instance of this type represents the
first known royal statuette that was cast in bronze.[62]

[edit] Tomb

A scene from the Amduat on the walls of the tomb of Thutmose III, KV34, in the
Valley of the Kings

Thutmose's tomb, discovered by Victor Loret in 1898, was in the Valley of the Kings.
It uses a plan which is typical of eighteenth dynasty tombs, with a sharp turn at the
vestibule preceding the burial chamber. Two stairways and two corridors provide
access to the vestibule which is preceded by a quadrangular shaft, or "well". The
vestibule is decorated with the full story of the Book of Amduat, the first tomb to do
so in its entirety. The burial chamber, which is supported by two pillars, is oval-
shaped and its ceiling decorated with stars, symbolizing the cave of the deity Sokar. In
the middle lies a large red quartzite sarcophagus in the shape of a cartouche. On the
two pillars in the middle of the chamber there are passages from the Litanies of Re, a
text that celebrates the later sun deity, who is identified with the pharaoh at this time.
On the other pillar is a unique image depicting Thutmosis III being suckled by the
goddess Isis in the guise of the tree.

Thutmose III's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, )KV34(, is the first one in which
Egyptologists found the complete Amduat, an important New Kingdom funerary text.
The wall decorations are executed in a simple, "diagrammatic" way, imitating the
manner of the cursive script one might expect to see on a funerary papyrus rather than
the more typically lavish wall decorations seen on most other royal tomb walls. The
colouring is similarly muted, executed in simple black figures accompanied by text on
a cream background with highlights in red and pink. The decorations depict the
pharaoh aiding the deities in defeating Apep, the serpent of chaos, thereby helping to
ensure the daily rebirth of the sun as well as the pharaoh's own resurrection.[63]

[edit] Defacing of Hatshepsut's monuments

Djeser-Djeseru is the main building of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple complex at Deir

el-Bahri; designed by Senemut, the building is an example of perfect symmetry that
predates the Parthenon, and it was the first complex built on the site she chose, which
would become the Valley of the Kings

Until recently, a general theory has been that after the death of her husband Thutmose
II, Hatshepsut 'usurped' the throne from Thutmose III. Although Thutmose III was a
co-regent during this time, early historians have speculated that Thutmose III never
forgave his stepmother for denying him access to the throne for the first two decades
of his reign.[64] However, in recent times this theory has been revised after questions
arose as to why Hatshepsut would have allowed a resentful heir to control armies,
which it is known he did. This view is supported further by the fact that no strong
evidence has been found to show Thutmose III sought to claim the throne. He kept
Hatshepsut's religious and administrative leaders. Added to this is the fact that the
monuments of Hatshepsut were not damaged until at least twenty years after her death
in the late reign of Thutmose III when he was quite elderly and in another coregency
—with his son who would become Amenhotep II—who is known to have attempted
to identify her works as his own.

After her death, many of Hatshepsut's monuments and depictions were subsequently
defaced or destroyed, including those in her famous mortuary temple complex at Deir
el-Bahri. Traditionally, these have been interpreted by early modern scholars to be
evidence of acts of damnatio memoriae )condemning a person by erasure from
recorded existence( by Thutmose III. However, recent research by scholars such as
Charles Nims and Peter Dorman, has re-examined these erasures and found that the
acts of erasure which could be dated, only began sometime during year forty-six or
forty-seven of Thutmose's reign )c. 1433/2 BC(.[65] Another often overlooked fact is
that Hatshepsut was not only one who received this treatment. The monuments of her
chief steward Senenmut, who was closely associated with her rule, were similarly
defaced where they were found.[66] All of this evidence casts serious doubt upon the
popular theory that Thutmose III order the destruction in a fit of vengeful rage shortly
after his accession.

Currently, the purposeful destruction of the memory of Hatshepsut is seen as a

measure designed to ensure a smooth succession for the son of Thutmose III, the
future Amenhotep II, as opposed to any of surviving relatives of Hatshepsut who may
have had an equal, or better, claim to the throne. It also may be likely that this
measure could not have been taken earlier—until the passing of powerful religious
and administrative officials who had served under both Hatshepsut and Thutmose III
had occurred.[67] Later, Amenhotep II even claimed that he had built the items he
defaced.

[edit] Death and burial

According to the American Egyptologist, Peter Der Manuelian, a statement in the

tomb biography of an official named Amenemheb establishes that Thutmose III died
on Year 54, III Peret day 30 of his reign after ruling Egypt for 53 years, 10 months,
and 26 days. )Urk. 180.15( Thutmose III, hence, died just one month and four days
shy of the start of his fifty-fifth regnal year.[68] When the co-regencies with Hatshepsut
and Amenhotep II are deducted, he ruled alone as pharaoh for just over thirty of those
years.

[edit] Mummy

Mummified head of Thutmose III

Thutmose III's mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut in 1881. He was interred along with those of other
eighteenth and nineteenth dynasty leaders Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Thutmose I,
Thutmose II, Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses IX, as well as the twenty-
first dynasty pharaohs Pinedjem I, Pinedjem II, and Siamun.

While it is popularly thought that his mummy originally was unwrapped by Gaston
Maspero in 1886, it was in fact first unwrapped by Émile Brugsch, the Egyptologist
who supervised the evacuation of the mummies from the Deir el-Bahri Cache five
years previously in 1881, soon after its arrival in the Boulak Museum. This was while
Maspero was away in France, and the Director General of the Egyptian Antiquities
Service ordered the mummy re-wrapped. So when it was "officially" unwrapped by
Maspero in 1886, he almost certainly knew it was in relatively poor condition.[69]

The mummy had been damaged extensively in antiquity by tomb robbers, and its
wrappings subsequently cut into and torn by the Rassul family who had rediscovered
the tomb and its contents only a few years before.[70] Maspero's description of the
body provides an idea as to the magnitude of the damage done to the body:

His mummy was not securely hidden away, for towards the close of the 20th
dynasty it was torn out of the coffin by robbers, who stripped it and rifled it of
the jewels with which it was covered, injuring it in their haste to carry away
the spoil. It was subsequently re-interred, and has remained undisturbed until
the present day; but before re-burial some renovation of the wrappings was
necessary, and as portions of the body had become loose, the restorers, in
order to give the mummy the necessary firmness, compressed it between four
oar-shaped slips of wood, painted white, and placed, three inside the
wrappings and one outside, under the bands which confined the winding-
sheet.[71]

Of the face, which was undamaged, Maspero's says the following:

Happily the face, which had been plastered over with pitch at the time of
embalming, did not suffer at all from this rough treatment, and appeared
intact when the protecting mask was removed. Its appearance does not answer
to our ideal of the conqueror. His statues, though not representing him as a
type of manly beauty, yet give him refined, intelligent features, but a
comparison with the mummy shows that the artists have idealised their model.
The forehead is abnormally low, the eyes deeply sunk, the jaw heavy, the lips
thick, and the cheek-bones extremely prominent; the whole recalling the
physiognomy of Thûtmosis II, though with a greater show of energy.[71]

Maspero was so disheartened at the state of the mummy, and the prospect that all of
the other mummies were similarly damaged )as it turned out, few were in so poor a
state(, that he would not unwrap another for several years.[72]

Unlike many other examples from the Deir el-Bahri Cache, the wooden mummiform
coffin that contained the body was original to the pharaoh, though any gilding or
decoration it might have had had been hacked off in antiquity.
In his examination of the mummy, the anatomist, G. Eliot Smith, stated the height of
Thutmose III's mummy to be 1.615m )5ft. 3.58in.(.[73] This has led people to believe
that Thutmose was a short man, but Smith measured the height of a body whose feet
were absent, so he was undoubtedly taller than the figure given by Smith.[74] The
mummy of Thutmose III now resides in the Royal Mummies Hall of the Cairo
Museum, catalog number 61068.

Ramesses II

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"Ramses II" redirects here. For the armoured vehicle, see Ramses II Main Battle
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Ramesses II )also known as Ramesses The Great and alternatively transcribed as

Ramses and Rameses *Riʕmīsisu; also known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources,
from a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses' throne name, User-maat-re
Setep-en-re([4] was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often
regarded as Egypt's greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh.[5] Even his
successors and later Egyptians called him "Great Ancestor" and regarded him as a
father of a nation. We know from ancient sources that his courtiers nicknamed him
"Sese". Ancient Greek writers such as Herodotus attributed his accomplishments to
the semi-mythical Sesostris. He is traditionally believed to have been the Pharaoh of
the Exodus.

He was born around 1303 BC and at age fourteen, Ramesses was appointed Prince
Regent by his father Seti I.[5] He is believed to have taken the throne in his early 20s
and to have ruled Egypt from 1279 BC to 1213 BC[6] for a total of 66 years and 2
months, according to Manetho. He was once said to have lived to be 99 years old, but
it is more likely that he died in his 90th or 91st year. If he became king in 1279 BC as
most Egyptologists today believe, he would have assumed the throne on May 31,
1279 BC, based on his known accession date of III Shemu day 27.[7][8] Ramesses II
celebrated an unprecedented 14 sed festivals during his reign—more than any other
pharaoh.[9] On his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings;[10] his
body was later moved to a royal cache where it was discovered in 1881, and is now on
display in the Cairo Museum.[11]

As king, Ramesses II led several expeditions north into the lands east of the
Mediterranean )the location of the modern Israel, Lebanon and Syria(. He also led
expeditions to the south, into Nubia, commemorated in inscriptions at Beit el-Wali
and Gerf Hussein.

The early part of his reign was focused on building cities, temples and monuments.
He established the city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta as his new capital and main
base for his campaigns in Syria. This city was built on the remains of the city of
Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos when they took over, and was the location of the
main Temple of Set.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Family and life

• 2 Campaigns and battles
• 3 Religious impact
• 4 Building activity and monuments
• 5 Death and legacy
• 6 Mummy
• 7 Pharaoh of the Exodus
• 8 Connection with the Biblical king Shishak
• 9 Popular legacy
• 10 See also
• 11 Notes & references
• 12 Further reading

• 13 External links

[edit] Family and life

See also: Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree and List of children of
Ramesses II

Ramesses II was the third king of the 19th dynasty, and the second child of Seti I and
his Queen Tuya.[12] His only definite sibling was Princess Tia, although Henutmire,
one of his Great Royal Wives, may have been his younger half-sister.[13]

Ramesses had numerous consorts, the most famous being Nefertari.[14] During his long
reign, eight women held the title Great Royal Wife )often simultaneously(: Nefertari
and Isetnofret, whom he married early in his reign; Bintanath, Meritamen and
Nebettawy, his own daughters who replaced their mothers Nefertari and Isetnofret
when they died or retired; Henutmire; Maathorneferure, Princess of Hatti and another
Hittite princess whose name is unknown.[15]

The writer Terence Gray stated in 1923 that Ramesses II had as many as 20 sons and
20 daughters but scholars today believe his offspring numbered over 100. In 2004,
Dodson and Hilton noted that the monumental evidence "seems to indicate that
Ramesses II had around 110 children, [with] 48–55 sons and 40–53 daughters."[16] His
children include Bintanath and Meritamen )princesses and their father's wives(,
Sethnakhte, Amun-her-khepeshef the king's first born son, Merneptah )Ramesses'
13th son, who would eventually succeed him(, and Prince Khaemweset. Ramesses II's
second born son, Ramesses B, sometimes called Ramesses Junior, became the crown
prince from Year 25 to Year 50 of his father's reign after the death of Amen-her-
khepesh.[17]
[edit] Campaigns and battles

Early in his life, Ramesses II embarked on numerous campaigns to return previously

held territories back to Nubian hands and to secure Egypt's borders. He was also
responsible for suppressing some Nubian revolts and carrying out a campaign in
Libya. Although the famous Battle of Kadesh often dominates the scholarly view of
Ramesses II's military prowess and power, he nevertheless enjoyed more than a few
outright victories over the enemies of Egypt.

[edit] Battle against Sherden sea pirates

In his second year, Ramesses II decisively defeated the Shardana or Sherden sea
pirates who were wreaking havoc along Egypt's Mediterranean coast by attacking
cargo-laden vessels travelling the sea routes to Egypt.[18] The Sherden people probably
came from the coast of Ionia or possibly south-west Turkey. Ramesses posted troops
and ships at strategic points along the coast and patiently allowed the pirates to attack
their prey before skillfully catching them by surprise in a sea battle and capturing
them all in a single action.[19] A stela from Tanis speaks of their having come "in their
war-ships from the midst of the sea, and none were able to stand before them". There
must have been a naval battle somewhere near the mouth of the Nile, as shortly
afterwards many Sherden are seen in the Pharaoh's body-guard where they are
conspicuous by their horned helmets with a ball projecting from the middle, their
round shields and the great Naue II swords with which they are depicted in
inscriptions of the Battle of Kadesh.[20] In that sea battle, together with the Shardana,
the pharaoh also defeated the Lukka )L'kkw, possibly the later Lycians(, and the
Šqrsšw )Shekelesh( peoples.

[edit] First Syrian campaign

The immediate antecedents to the Battle of Kadesh were the early campaigns of
Ramesses II into Canaan and Palestine. His first campaign seems to have taken place
in the fourth year of his reign and was commemorated by the erection of a stela near
modern Beirut. The inscription is almost totally illegible due to weathering. His
records tell us that he was forced to fight a Palestinian prince who was mortally
wounded by an Egyptian archer, and whose army was subsequently routed. Ramesses
carried off the princes of Palestine as live prisoners to Egypt. Ramesses then
plundered the chiefs of the Asiatics in their own lands, returning every year to his
headquarters at Riblah to exact tribute. In the fourth year of his reign, he captured the
Hittite vassal state of Amurru during his campaign in Syria.[21]

[edit] Second Syrian campaign

Further information: Battle of Kadesh

The Battle of Kadesh in his fifth regnal year was the climatic engagement in a
campaign that Ramesses fought in Syria, against the resurgent Hittite forces of
Muwatalli. The pharaoh wanted a victory at Kadesh both to expand Egypt's frontiers
into Syria and to emulate his father Seti I's triumphal entry into the city just a decade
or so earlier. He also constructed his new capital, Pi-Ramesses where he built
factories to manufacture weapons, chariots, and shields. Of course, they followed his
wishes and manufactured some 1,000 weapons in a week, about 250 chariots in 2
weeks, and 1,000 shields in a week and a half. After these preparations, Ramesses
moved to attack territory in the Levant which belonged to a more substantial enemy
than any he had ever faced before: the Hittite Empire.[22]

Although Ramesses's forces were caught in a Hittite ambush and outnumbered at

Kadesh, the pharaoh fought the battle to a stalemate and returned home a hero.
Ramesses II's forces suffered major losses particularly among the 'Re' division which
was routed by the initial charge of the Hittite chariots during the battle. Once back in
Egypt, Ramesses proclaimed that he had won a great victory, but in reality all he had
managed to do was to save his army from destruction.[23] In a sense, however, the
Battle of Kadesh was a personal triumph for Ramesses, as after blundering into a
devastating Hittite ambush, the young king courageously rallied his scattered troops to
fight on the battlefield while escaping death or capture. Although the pharaoh claimed
that he had won the battle, the victory was a pyrrhic one, and he was unable to occupy
the city or territory around Kadesh.

Ramesses decorated his monuments with reliefs and inscriptions describing the
campaign as a whole, and the battle in particular as a major victory. Inscriptions of his
victory decorate the Ramesseum[24], Abydos, Karnak, Luxor and Abu Simbel. For
example, on the temple walls of Luxor the near catastrophe was turned into an act of
heroism:

His majesty slaughtered the armed forces of the Hittites in their entirety, their great
rulers and all their brothers ... their infantry and chariot troops fell prostrate, one on
top of the other. His majesty killed them ... and they lay stretched out in front of their
horses. But his majesty was alone, nobody accompanied him ...[25]

[edit] Third Syrian campaign

Egypt's sphere of influence was now restricted to Canaan while Syria fell into Hittite
hands. Canaanite princes, seemingly influenced by the Egyptian incapacity to impose
their will, and goaded on by the Hittites, began revolts against Egypt. In the seventh
year of his reign, Ramesses II returned to Syria once again. This time he proved more
successful against his Hittite foes. During this campaign he split his army into two
forces. One was led by his son, Amun-her-khepeshef, and it chased warriors of the
Šhasu tribes across the Negev as far as the Dead Sea, and captured Edom-Seir. It then
marched on to capture Moab. The other force, led by Ramesses, attacked Jerusalem
and Jericho. He, too, then entered Moab, where he rejoined his son. The reunited
army then marched on Hesbon, Damascus, on to Kumidi, and finally recaptured
Upi.[26]

[edit] Later campaigns in Syria

Relief from Ramesseum showing the siege of Dapur

Ramesses extended his military successes in his eighth and ninth years. He crossed
the Dog River )Nahr el-Kelb( and pushed north into Amurru. His armies managed to
march as far north as Dapur,[27] where he erected a statue of himself. The Egyptian
pharaoh thus found himself in northern Amurru, well past Kadesh, in Tunip, where no
Egyptian soldier had been seen since the time of Thutmose III almost 120 years
earlier. He laid siege on the city before capturing it. His victory proved to be
ephemeral. In year nine, Ramesses erected a stela at Beth Shean. After having
reasserted his power over Canaan, Ramesses led his army north. A mostly illegible
stela near Beirut, which appears to be dated to the king's second year, was probably
set up there in his tenth.[28] The thin strip of territory pinched between Amurru and
Kadesh did not make for a stable possession. Within a year, they had returned to the
Hittite fold, so that Ramesses had to march against Dapur once more in his tenth year.
This time he claimed to have fought the battle without even bothering to put on his
corslet until two hours after the fighting began. Six of Ramesses' sons, still wearing
their side locks, took part in this conquest. He took towns in Retenu,[29] and Tunip in
Naharin,[30] later recorded on the walls of the Ramesseum.[31] This second success here
was equally as meaningless as his first, as neither power could decisively defeat the
other in battle.[32]

[edit] Peace treaty with the Hittites

Tablet of treaty between Hattusili III of Hatti and Ramesses II of Egypt, at the
Istanbul Archaeology Museum

The deposed Hittite king, Mursili III fled to Egypt, the land of his country's enemy,
after the failure of his plots to oust his uncle from the throne. Hattusili III responded
by demanding that Ramesses II extradite his nephew back to Hatti.[33]

This demand precipitated a crisis in relations between Egypt and Hatti when
Ramesses denied any knowledge of Mursili's whereabouts in his country, and the two
Empires came dangerously close to war. Eventually, in the twenty-first year of his
reign )1258 BC(, Ramesses decided to conclude an agreement with the new Hittite
king at Kadesh, Hattusili III, to end the conflict. The ensuing document is the earliest
known peace treaty in world history.[34]

The peace treaty was recorded in two versions, one in Egyptian hieroglyphs, the other
in Akkadian, using cuneiform script; both versions survive. Such dual-language
recording is common to many subsequent treaties. This treaty differs from others
however, in that the two language versions are differently worded. Although the
majority of the text is identical, the Hittite version claims that the Egyptians came
suing for peace, while the Egyptian version claims the reverse.[35] The treaty was
given to the Egyptians in the form of a silver plaque, and this "pocket-book" version
was taken back to Egypt and carved into the Temple of Karnak.

The treaty was concluded between Ramesses II and Hattusili III in Year 21 of
Ramesses' reign.[36] )c. 1258 BC( Its 18 articles call for peace between Egypt and Hatti
and then proceeds to maintain that their respective gods also demand peace. The
frontiers are not laid down in this treaty but can be inferred from other documents.
The Anastasy A papyrus describes Canaan during the latter part of the reign of
Ramesses II and enumerates and names the Phoenician coastal towns under Egyptian
control. The harbour town of Sumur north of Byblos is mentioned as being the
northern-most town belonging to Egypt, which points to it having contained an
Egyptian garrison.[37]

No further Egyptian campaigns in Canaan are mentioned after the conclusion of the
peace treaty. The northern border seems to have been safe and quiet, so the rule of the
pharaoh was strong until Ramesses II's death, and the waning of the dynasty.[38] When
the King of Mira attempted to involve Ramesses in a hostile act against the Hittites,
the Egyptian responded that the times of intrigue in support of Mursili III, had passed.
Hattusili III wrote to Kadashman-Enlil II, King of Karduniash )Babylon( in the same
spirit, reminding him of the time when his father, Kadashman-Turgu, had offered to
fight Ramesses II, the king of Egypt. The Hittite king encouraged the Babylonian to
oppose another enemy, which must have been the king of Assyria whose allies had
killed the messenger of the Egyptian king. Hattusili encouraged Kadashman-Enlil to
come to his aid and prevent the Assyrians from cutting the link between the Canaanite
province of Egypt and Mursili III, the ally of Ramesses.

[edit] Campaigns in Nubia

Photo of the free standing part of Gerf Hussein temple, originally in Nubia

Ramesses II also campaigned south of the first cataract into Nubia. When Ramesses
was about 22, two of his own sons, including Amun-her-khepeshef, accompanied him
in at least one one of those campaigns. By the time of Ramesses, Nubia had been a
colony for two hundred years, but its conquest was recalled in decoration from the
temples Ramesses II built at Beit el-Wali[39] )which was the subject of epigraphic work
by the Oriental Institute during the Nubian salvage campaign of the 1960s(,[40] Gerf
Hussein and Kalabsha in northern Nubia.

[edit] Campaigns in Libya

During the reign of Ramesses II, there is evidence that the Egyptians were active for a
300-kilometre )190 mi( stretch along the Mediterranean coast, at least as far as
Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham.[41] Although the exact events surrounding the foundation of
the coastal forts and fortresses is not clear, some degree of political and military
control must have been held over the region to allow their construction.

There are no detailed accounts of Ramesses II undertaking large military actions

against the Libyans, only generalised records of his conquering and crushing them,
which may or may not refer to specific events, otherwise unrecorded. It may be that
some of the records, such as the Aswan Stela of his year 2, are harking back to
Ramesses' presence on his father's Libyan campaigns. Perhaps it was Seti I who
achieved this proposed control over the region, and it was he who planned to establish
the defensive system, in a manner similar to which he rebuilt those to the east, the
Ways of Horus across Northern Sinai.
[edit] Religious impact

Ramesses was the pharaoh most responsible for erasing the Amarna period from
history.[citation needed] He, more than any other pharaoh, sought deliberately to deface the
Amarna monuments and change the nature of the religious structure and the structure
of the priesthood, in order to try to bring it back to where it had been prior to the reign
of Akhenaten.[citation needed]

[edit] Sed festival

Further information: Sed festival

After reigning for 30 years, Ramesses joined a selected group that included only a
handful of Egypt's longest-lived kings. By tradition, in the 30th year of his reign
Ramesses celebrated a jubilee called the Sed festival, during which the king was
ritually transformed into a god.[42] Only halfway through what would be a 66-year
reign, Ramesses had already eclipsed all but a few greatest kings in his achievements.
He had brought peace, maintained Egyptian borders and built great and numerous
monuments across the empire. His country was more prosperous and powerful than it
had been in nearly a century. By becoming a god, Ramesses dramatically changed not
just his role as ruler of Egypt, but also the role of his firstborn son, Amun-her-
khepsef. As the chosen heir and commander and chief of Egyptian armies, his son
effectively became ruler in all but name.

[edit] Building activity and monuments

The Younger Memnon part of a colossal statue of Ramesses from the Ramasseum,
now in the British Museum

Ramesses built extensively throughout Egypt and Nubia, and his cartouches are
prominently displayed even in buildings that he did not actually construct.[43] There
are accounts of his honor hewn on stone, statues, remains of palaces and temples,
most notable the Ramesseum in the western Thebes and the rock temples of Abu
Simbel. He covered the land from the Delta to Nubia with buildings in a way no king
before him had done.[44] He also founded a new capital city in the Delta during his
reign called Pi-Ramesses; it had previously served as a summer palace during Seti I's
reign.[45]

His memorial temple Ramesseum, was just the beginning of the pharaoh's obsession
with building. When he built, he built on a scale unlike almost anything before. In the
third year of his reign Ramesses started the most ambitious building project after the
pyramids, that were built 1,500 years earlier. The population was put to work on
changing the face of Egypt. In Thebes, the ancient temples were transformed, so that
each one of them reflected honour to Ramesses as a symbol of this divine nature and
power. Ramesses decided to eternalize himself in stone, and so he ordered changes to
the methods used by his masons. The elegant but shallow reliefs of previous pharaohs
were easily transformed, and so their images and words could easily be obliterated by
their successors. Ramesses insisted that his carvings were deeply engraved in the
stone, which made them not only less susceptible to later alteration, but also made
them more prominent in the Egyptian sun, reflecting his relationship with the sun god,
Ra.

Ramesses constructed many large monuments, including the archeological complex of

Abu Simbel, and the mortuary temple known as the Ramesseum. He built on a
monumental scale to ensure that his legacy would survive the ravages of time.
Ramesses used art as a means of propaganda for his victories over foreigners and are
depicted on numerous temple reliefs. Ramesses II also erected more colossal statues
of himself than any other pharaoh. He also usurped many existing statues by
inscribing his own cartouche on them.

[edit] Pi-Ramesses

Further information: Pi-Ramesses

Here once stood some of the greatest monuments and buildings that Ramesses was
building all across Egypt. The city was called Pi-Ramesses Aa-nakhtu, meaning
"Domain of Ramesses II, Great in Victory"[46] Although Pi-Ramesses was mentioned
and named in the Bible, as a site where the Israelites were forced to work hard for the
pharaoh, for many centuries it was lost, considered nothing more than a myth.[47] For a
time it was misidentified as being in Tanis, due to the amount of statuary and other
material from Pi-Ramesses found there. But after 20 years of excavation, it was
finally found in the eastern Delta.[48] Its foundations lie hidden several feet beneath
lush farmland. The colossal feet of the statue of Ramesses are almost all that remains
above ground today, the rest is buried in the fields. The ancient city was dominated by
huge temples and the king's vast residential palace, complete with its own zoo. The
city also had a massive chariot base, as described in the Bible.[46]

[edit] Ramesseum

Further information: Ramesseum

The temple complex built by Ramesses II between Qurna and the desert has been
known as the Ramesseum since the 19th century. The Greek historian Diodorus
Siculus marveled at the gigantic and famous temple, now no more than a few ruins.[49]

Oriented northwest and southeast, the temple itself was preceded by two courts. An
enormous pylon stood before the first court, with the royal palace at the left and the
gigantic statue of the king looming up at the back. Only fragments of the base and
torso remain of the syenite statue of the enthroned pharaoh, 17 metres )56 ft( high and
weighing more than 1,000 tonnes )980 LT/1,100 ST(. The scenes of the great pharaoh
and his army triumphing over the Hittite forces fleeing before Kadesh, represented on
the pylon. Remains of the second court include part of the internal facade of the pylon
and a portion of the Osiride portico on the right. Scenes of war and the rout the
Hittites at Kadesh are repeated on the walls. In the upper registers, feast and honor of
the phallic god Min, god of fertility. On the opposite side of the court the few Osiride
pillars and columns still left can furnish an idea of the original grandeur.[50]
Ramesseum courtyard

Scattered remains of the two statues of the seated king can also be seen, one in pink
granite and the other in black granite, which once flanked the entrance to the temple.
Thirty-nine out of the forty-eight columns in the great hypostyle hall )m 41x 31( still
stand in the central rows. They are decorated with the usual scenes of the king before
various gods.[24] Part of the ceiling decorated with gold stars on a blue ground has also
been preserved. Ramesses' children appear in the procession on the few walls left. The
sanctuary was composed of three consecutive rooms, with eight columns and the
tetrastyle cell. Part of the first room, with the ceiling decorated with astral scenes, and
few remains of the second room are all that is left. Vast storerooms built in mud bricks
stretched out around the temple.[50] Traces of a school for scribes were found among
the ruins.[51]

A temple of Seti I, of which nothing is now left but the foundations, once stood to the
right of the hypostyle hall.[24]

[edit] Abu Simbel

Further information: Abu Simbel

In 1255 BC Ramesses and his queen Nefertari had traveled into Nubia to inaugurate a
new temple, a wonder of the ancient world, the great Abu Simbel. It is an ego cast in
stone; the man who built it intended not only to become Egypt's greatest pharaoh but
also one of its gods.[52]

The great temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel was discovered in 1813 by the famous
Swiss Orientalist and traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. However, four years passed
before anyone could enter the temple, because an enormous pile of sand almost
completely covered the facade and its colossal statues, blocking the entrance. This
feat was achieved by the great Paduan explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni, who
managed to reach the interior on 4 August 1817.[53]

[edit] Other Nubian monuments

As well as the famous temples of Abu Simbel, Ramesses left other monuments to
himself in Nubia. His early campaigns are illustrated on the walls of Beit el-Wali
)now relocated to New Kalabsha(. Other temples dedicated to Ramesses are Derr and
Gerf Hussein )also relocated to New Kalabsha(.

[edit] Tomb of Nefertari

 Further information: Tomb of Nefertari

Tomb wall depicting Nefertari

The most important and famous of Ramesses' consorts was discovered by Ernesto
Schiaparelli in 1904.[53][50] Although it had been looted in ancient times, the tomb of
Nefertari is extremely important, because its magnificent wall painting decoration is
regarded as one of the greatest achievements of ancient Egyptian art. A flight of steps
cut out of the rock gives access to the antechamber, which is decorated with paintings
based on chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead. This astronomical ceiling represents the
heavens and is painted in dark blue, with a myriad of golden five-pointed stars. The
east wall of the antechamber is interrupted by a large opening flanked by
representation of Osiris at left and Anubis at right; this in turn leads to the side
chamber, decorated with offering scenes, preceded by a vestibule in which the
paintings portray Nefertari being presented to the gods who welcome her. On the
north wall of the antechamber is the stairway that goes down to the burial chamber.
This latter is a vast quadrangular room covering a surface area of about 90 square
metres )970 sq ft(, the astronomical ceiling of which is supported by four pillars
entirely covered with decoration. Originally, the queen's red granite sarcophagus lay
in the middle of this chamber. According to religious doctrines of the time, it was in
this chamber, which the ancient Egyptians called the golden hall that the regeneration
of the deceased took place. This decorative pictogram of the walls in the burial
chamber drew inspirations from chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of the Dead: in the
left half of the chamber, there are passages from chapter 144 concerning the gates and
doors of the kingdom of Osiris, their guardians, and the magic formulas that had to be
uttered by the deceased in order to go past the doors.[53]

[edit] Tomb KV5

Further information: KV5

In 1995, Professor Kent Weeks, head of the Theban Mapping Project rediscovered
Tomb KV5. It has proven to be the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and
originally contained the mummified remains of some of this king's estimated 52 sons.
Approximately 150 corridors and tomb chambers have been located in this tomb as of
2006 and the tomb may contain as many as 200 corridors and chambers.[54] It is
believed that at least 4 of Ramesses' sons including Meryatum, Sety, Amun-her-
khepeshef )Ramesses' first born son( and "the King's Principal Son of His Body, the
Generalissimo Ramesses, justified" )ie: deceased( were buried there from inscriptions,
ostracas or canopic jars discovered in the tomb.[55] Joyce Tyldesley writes that thus far

"no intact burials have been discovered and there have been little substantial
funeral debris: thousands of potsherds, faience shabti figures, beads, amulets,
fragments of Canopic jars, of wooden coffins ... but no intact sarcophagi,
mummies or mummy cases, suggesting that much of the tomb may have been
unused. Those burials which were made in KV5 were thoroughly looted in
antiquity, leaving little or no remains."[55]

[edit] Colossal statue

Further information: Statue of Ramesses II (Mit Rahina)

The colossal statue of Ramesses II was reconstructed and erected in Ramesses Square
in Cairo in 1955. In August 2006, contractors moved his 3,200-year-old statue from
Ramesses Square, to save it from exhaust fumes that were causing the 83-tonne
)82 LT/91 ST( statue to deteriorate.[56] The statue was originally taken from a temple
in Memphis. The new site will be located near the future Grand Egyptian Museum.[57]

[edit] Death and legacy

By the time of his death, Ramesses was suffering from severe dental problems and
was plagued by arthritis and hardening of the arteries. When he finally died, he was
about 90 years old. He had outlived many of his wives and children and left great
memorials all over Egypt, especially to his beloved first queen Nefertari. Nine more
pharaohs would take the name Ramesses in his honour, but few ever equalled his
greatness. Nearly all of his subjects had been born during his reign and thought the
world would end without him. Ramesses II did become the legendary figure he so
desperately wanted to be, but this was not enough to protect Egypt. New enemies
were attacking the empire which also suffered internal problems and it could not last.
Less than 150 years after Ramesses died, the Egyptian empire fell, his descendants
lost their power and the New Kingdom came to an end.

[edit] Mummy

Ramesses II was buried in the tomb KV7 in the Valley of the Kings. His mummy was
placed in Cairo's Egyptian Museum, where it can be found today.

The pharaoh's mummy features a hooked nose and strong jaw, and is below average
height for an ancient Egyptian, standing some 1.7 metres )5 ft 7 in(.[58] His successor
was ultimately to be his thirteenth son: Merneptah.
Mummy of Ramesses II

In 1974, Egyptologists visiting his tomb noticed that the mummy's condition was
rapidly deteriorating. They decided to fly Ramesses II's mummy to Paris for
examination.[59] Ramesses II was issued an Egyptian passport that listed his
occupation as "King )deceased(". The mummy was received at Le Bourget airport,
just outside Paris, with the full military honours befitting a king.[60]

In Paris, Ramesses' mummy was diagnosed and treated for a fungal infection. During
the examination, scientific analysis revealed battle wounds and old fractures, as well
as the pharaoh's arthritis and poor circulation.

President Sadat visiting Ramesses II's mummy

For the last decades of his life, Ramesses II was essentially crippled with arthritis and
walked with a hunched back,[61] but a recent study excluded ankylosing spondylitis as
a possible cause of the pharaoh's arthritis.[62] A significant hole in the pharaoh's
mandible was detected while "an abscess by his teeth was serious enough to have
caused death by infection, although this cannot be determined with certainty."
Microscopic inspection of the roots of Ramesses II's hair revealed that the king may
have been a redhead.[63] After Ramesses' mummy returned to Egypt, it was visited by
the late President Anwar Sadat and his wife.

[edit] Pharaoh of the Exodus

For more details on this topic, see Pharaoh of the Exodus.

At least as early as Eusebius of Caesarea,[64] Ramesses II was identified with the

pharaoh of whom the Biblical figure Moses demanded his people be released from
slavery.

This identification has often been disputed, though the evidence for another solution
is likewise inconclusive as critics point out that Ramesses II was not drowned in the
Sea. The primary Exodus account itself makes no specific claim that the pharaoh was
with his army when they were "swept ... into the sea";[65] only Psalm 136 makes this
claim.[66][67]

Critics of the theory also emphasize that there is nothing in the archaeological records
from the time of Ramesses' reign to confirm the existence of the Plagues of Egypt.
However, this is not surprising since few pharaohs wished to record natural disasters
or military defeats in the same manner that their rivals documented these events )as in
the Biblical narratives(.

In the 1960s and 1970s, several scholars such as George Mendenhall[68] associated the
Israelites' arrival in Canaan more closely with the Hapiru mentioned in the Amarna
letters which date to the reign of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten and in the Hittite
treaties with Ramesses II. Most scholars today, however, view the Hapiru or Apiru
instead as bandits who attacked the trade and royal caravans that travelled along the
coastal roads of Canaan. Ramesses II's late 13th-century BC stela in Beth Shan
mentions two conquered peoples who came to "make obeisance to him" in his city of
Raameses or Pi-Ramesses but mentions neither the building of the city nor, as some
have written, the Israelites or Hapiru.[69]

‫العبيرو كانوا قد جاؤوا الى بيسان و المناطق الفلسطينية في زمن أمنحوتوب الثالث و اخناتون‬.

[edit] Connection with the Biblical king Shishak

For more details on this topic, see Shishak.

The Shishak of the Bible has generally been associated with Shoshenq I of Egypt
instead. A fragment of a stela bearing Shoshenq I's name has been found at Megiddo
which affirms this king's claim, in several Karnak temple walls, that he invaded the
land of Israel and conquered 170 towns there.[70] Shoshenq's Karnak triumphal
inscription goes on to list the towns in alphabetical order including Megiddo.
Jerusalem is not seen among this list of towns but the Karnak reliefs are damaged in
several sections and some town's names were lost, so many scholars suggest that
Jerusalem is mentioned in the damaged part.[71]

However, David Rohl, controversially proposed a massive revision of the traditional

chronology of the ancient Near East, and attempted to identify Shishaq with
Ramesses II. A few scholars, such as Peter James, who accept Rohl's criticism of
identifying Shishaq with Shoshenq I while not his other theories, have sought to
identify Shishaq with one of the other Ramesses kings of this period with varying
success. The so-called "James" chronology was first developed by Michael Sanders
and published in "Catastrophism and Ancient History" [72] in 1985 many years before
James published his revision.

[edit] Popular legacy

Ramesses was considered the inspiration for Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous poem
"Ozymandias". Diodorus Siculus gives an inscription on the base of one of his
sculptures as: "King of Kings am I, Osymandias. If anyone would know how great I
am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works." [73] This is paraphrased in
Shelley's poem.
The life of Ramesses II has inspired a large number of fictional representations,
including the historical novels of the French writer Christian Jacq, the Ramsès, series,
the graphic novel Watchmen, the character of Adrian Veidt uses Ramesses II to form
part of the inspiration for his alter-ego known as 'Ozymandias' and Norman Mailer's
novel Ancient Evenings is largely concerned with the life of Ramesses II, though from
the perspective of Egyptians living during the reign of Ramesses IX, and Ramesses
was the main character in the Anne Rice book The Mummy or Ramses the Damned.
Although not a major character, Ramesses appears in Joan Grant's So Moses Was
Born, a first person account from Nebunefer, the brother of Ramoses, which paints the
picture of the life of Ramoses from the death of Seti, with all the power play, intrigue,
plots to assassinate, following relationships are depicted: Bintanath, Queen Tuya,
Nefertari, and Moses.

In film, Ramesses was played by Yul Brynner in the classic film The Ten
Commandments )1956(. Here Ramesses was portrayed as a vengeful tyrant, ever
scornful of his father's preference for Moses over "the son of [his] body".[74] The
animated film The Prince of Egypt, also featured a depiction of Ramesses )voiced by
Ralph Fiennes(, portrayed as Moses' adoptive brother.

‫ ميلدي بعد ثورة اليهود الولى‬70 , ‫يوسفيوس فلفيوس مؤرخ يهودي متحيز لليهود في القرن الول الميلدي‬
‫في العهد الروماني‬
‫ قبل الميلد‬1400 ‫بالضافة أن حسب التقويم العبري هجرة بني اسرائيل يؤرخها اليهود الى‬
‫ لنها تقع على‬,‫الثمد قلعة عسكرية فرعونية يحتمل أن بني اسرائيل تجنبوها في رحلتهم الى الراضي المقدسة‬
‫الطريق الفرعوني السريع الى فلسطين‬
‫ يعود للبرونزي المتأخر و يؤرخ بذلك التأثير المصري‬,‫طبقة فحل وجد بها اجزاء من صندوق فرعوني خشبي‬
‫على منطقة بلد الشام‬
‫قصة رعمسيس الثاني أقرب الى رواية التوراة عن فرعون‬