Akhenaten
Akhenaten (c. 1353–1336 BC) was originally called Amenhotep IV. He decided to change the religion of Egypt, then based on the worship of many gods. He declared that Aten, the sun in the sky, was the only god and that no other god should be worshipped. He even changed his own name to Akhenaten in honour of this god. Ruling Egypt along with his wife Nefertiti, he moved from Thebes and established a new capital of Egypt further north at a place called Akhetaten, later known as Amarna. The worshipping of many gods was a centuries-old practice in Egypt and Akhenaten's changes were almost certainly deeply unpopular. Akhenaten was probably the father of Tutankhamun.
Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III (c. 1390–1352 BC) ruled Egypt during the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom for 38 years. According to records, harvests during much of his reign were rich and so Amenhotep became to be thought of as a fertility god. Known as Egypt’s Sun King, Amenhotep called his palace “the gleaming Aten” and favoured the worship of the various sun gods—foreshadowing the beliefs of his son Akhenaten, who attempted to change Egypt’s religion to the worship of a single sun god, Aten. Amenhotep III built the Colossi of Memnon near his mortuary temple. During the second year of his reign, he married Tiye. Although she was not of royal blood, Queen Tiye came from a powerful Egyptian family and was an influential figure in court. Most of Amenhotep’s accomplishments during his long peaceful reign focused on building and cultivating the arts, rather than military adventures.
Cleopatra VII
Cleopatra VII (ruled 51–30 BC) was the last active pharaoh before Egypt was conquered by the Romans (her son, Caesarion, was pharaoh at the age of 17 for only a few days after her death). Although descended from a dynasty of Greek origin, known as the Ptolemies, who spoke only Greek, Cleopatra learnt to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the Egyptian goddess, Isis. She formed a relationship with the Roman general Julius Caesar, enabling her to become sole ruler of Egypt instead of her brother, Ptolemy XIII. After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she and her new lover Mark Antony made an alliance against Octavian (later Augustus), but their forces were defeated at the Battle of Actium. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide—she, it was said, by means of the bite of an asp, a venomous snake—in 30 BC. The events of the last years of Cleopatra’s life were dramatized by William Shakespeare in his play, Antony and Cleopatra.
Djoser
Djoser was a pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty during the Old Kingdom. The first ever pyramid was built for Djoser, designed for him by a brilliant architect called Imhotep. The building was completed during the pharaoh’s 19-year reign, c. 2667–2648 BC. At the site in Saqqara, on the desert plateau overlooking the royal capital at Memphis, Imhotep built a huge enclosure surrounded by a stone wall, 10 metres (34 feet) high and 500 metres (1600 feet) long. Within the walls was a vast complex of pavilions, terraces and courtyards. Towering over them, rising to height of 60 metres (200 feet) high, was the Step Pyramid. Djoser also built many temples and shrines, including a great temple at Heliopolis.
Hatshepsut
Queen Hatshepsut (ruled 1478–1458 BC) was a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty during Egypt’s New Kingdom period. Her name means "Foremost of Noble Ladies". When her husband Thutmose II died, she took power and was made pharaoh. She wore the traditional clothing of a male pharaoh, including a false beard. Her reign began a long, peaceful era in Egyptian history. She re-established trade with other kingdoms and brought great wealth to Egypt. That wealth enabled her to fund many building projects in a classical architectural style, including her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri.
Khafre
The pyramid of Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BC), Khufu’s second reigning son, is a little smaller than his father’s, but was built on ground 10 metres (33 feet) higher on the same desert plateau as the Great Pyramid at Giza. Two descending passages led to an underground burial chamber.The Great Sphinx stands within the funerary complex of the pyramid of Khafre. Many Egyptologists think the Sphinx’s face is a depiction of Pharaoh Khafre and that the giant limestone sculpture was carved during his reign, in around 2550 BC.
Khufu
The son of Pharaoh Sneferu, Khufu (also known by his Greek name, Cheops, c. 2589–2566) is best known as the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza, the largest and most magnificent of all Egypt’s pyramids. Work commenced on the Great Pyramid soon after Khufu ascended to the throne in 2589 BC; it took about 20 years to complete it. Like Sneferu’s pyramids at Dahshur, it consisted of casing and core stones laid horizontally. Inside the pyramid were three chambers, together with several passageways and shafts. The King’s Chamber was reached via the Grand Gallery and three granite portcullis sliding slabs. Five chambers bore the weight of the pyramid above the King’s Chamber. Khufu also created the most elaborate of the funerary boats. Buried in a pit close to the Great Pyramid, it was intended to carry Khufu to the Sun God, Re.
Mentuhotep II
Mentuhotep II’s rule (c. 2055–2004 BC) marked the start of the 11th dynasty and the 400-year period that is known as the Middle Kingdom. King of Thebes during the First Intermediate Period (when Egypt was a divided country), Mentuhotep defeated the King of Lower Egypt, centred on Herakleopolis, in about 2055 BC. To reinforce his authority, he created the post of Governor of Lower Egypt, to add to the existing Governor of Upper Egypt. These officials ranked higher than the nomarchs (local rulers), who had grown too powerful since the collapse of the Old Kingdom. Later, he launched military campaigns against Nubia in the south and Sinai in the north. Mentuhotep, who sought to have his subjects regard him as a god, built a magnificent mortuary temple and tomb for himself on the west bank of the Nile opposite Thebes. This marked a break with the Old Kingdom tradition of building pyramids for their dead pharaohs.
Ramesses II
A pharaoh of the 19th dynasty in the New Kingdom, Ramesses II (ruled 1279–1213 BC) was probably the most powerful ruler in ancient Egyptian history. He vowed to recapture the territories of Palestine and Syria, then ruled by a people called the Hittites, for the Egyptian Empire. Ramesses II, who reigned for 67 years, living into his late eighties, was responsible for more building projects than any other Egyptian ruler. He also built a new capital, named Per-Ramesse, on the site of the old Hyksos city of Avaris in the Nile Delta. This remained Egypt’s capital until the end of the New Kingdom. Although Ramesses had many wives and children in the course of his long life, his Great Royal Wife, Queen Nefertari, was a well-loved and much respected figure. He had a temple built specially for her at Abu Simbel.
Ramesses III
Ramesses III (c. 1184–1153 BC) was the second pharaoh of the 20th dynasty. During his long reign, Egypt suffered a series of invasions and severe economic problems. In 1176, Ramesses III defeated the Sea Peoples in two great land and sea battles. He lined Egypt’s shores with ranks of archers, who fired continuous volleys of arrows at the enemy ships as they attempted to land in the Nile Delta. Then the crew of his own ships used grappling hooks to haul in the enemy ships, overcoming the invading soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.But the heavy cost of these battles exhausted Egypt's treasury. In the first recorded strike in history, tomb-builders and craftworkers downed tools when their food rations were not supplied. For about 20 years from around 1160, Egypt’s crops failed year on year—perhaps due to changing weather patterns as a result of a massive volcanic eruption somewhere in the world (possibly Hekla in Iceland). These difficulties are, however, completely ignored in the magnificent monuments built during Ramesses III’s reign, including the pharaoh’s palace at Medinet Habu.
Seti I
Seti I (c. 1294–1279 BC), the son of Ramesses I, was the second pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, during the New Kingdom. To raise money for his building projects, Seti I conducted many military campaigns. Keen to restore the empire to the glory years of the 18th dynasty, he personally led his army into Syria and Libya. His forces came up against the Hittites, a constant menace on the northern frontier, in battle. Seti was also responsible for restoring Egypt’s architectural glories as well—including the sculptures and paintings vandalized during Akhenaten’s reign. Many of his building projects were continuations of work left incomplete by previous rulers, including the great hypostyle hall at Karnak. Seti began the construction of the Great Temple of Abydos, but left it to be completed by his son, Ramesses II. Seti’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings is one of the richest of all the pharaohs' tombs, containing a spectacular display of paintings covering the walls, columns and ceilings.
Sneferu
Sneferu (c. 2613–2589 BC), the first pharaoh of the 4th dynasty in the Old Kingdom, was the greatest of the pyramid-builders, responsible for the construction of three of them. He was the first to build smooth-sided pyramids. He also introduced the internal design in which a long descending passage ran down to a burial chamber at ground level. Sneferu's first pyramid, at Meidum, was originally a step pyramid like Imhotep’s, but he decided to abandon it in favour of a second pyramid at another site, Dahshur. Problems arose during its construction, however, resulting in the “Bent Pyramid”—the top half is built with a gentler slope than the lower half. Sneferu ordered yet another pyramid to be constructed. With a gentler slope planned from the outset, the Red Pyramid was successfully completed without mishap. In the last years of his rule, Sneferu returned to his Meidum step pyramid which he converted to a smooth-sided pyramid.
Thutmose III
Thutmose III (also known as Tuthmosis III, c. 1479–1425 BC) was the sixth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, during the New Kingdom. He succeeded his father while he was still a child, so his aunt Hathsepsut ruled as regent, then as pharaoh herself, for the first part of his reign. During his 32-year rule as pharaoh in his own right, he conducted many military campaigns, conquering most of Palestine for the Egyptian Empire. He extended the boundaries of his empire as far as the River Euphrates in the north and Nubia in the south. In his 17 campaigns, frequently directed against the Mitanni and Hittites, he never lost a battle. By the time of his death, Egypt’s empire had reached its greatest extent. Thutmose’s feats are recorded in detail in Karnak, on the walls of the temple he built there. One of the strongest pharaohs in Egypt’s history, he earned the loyalty and respect of his people for bringing great peace and prosperity to the nation. Accomplished horseman, athlete and lover of the arts, Thutmose III also built many beautiful temples and obelisks across Egypt.
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (sometimes known as "King Tut", or the "Boy King", c. 1336–1327 BC) became pharaoh at the age of nine and ruled for only ten years during the New Kingdom. He is one of the most famous of all the pharaohs because it was his tomb that was found, still intact with nearly all its treasures, in 1922. When he became king, Tutankhamun married his half-sister Ankhesenamun. They may have had two daughters; if so, both were stillborn. Tutankhamun had powerful advisers, among them Ay, his vizier, and Horemheb, head of the army. He reversed many changes Akhenaten (probably his father) had brought about. Tutankhamun ended the worship of the sun god Aten and restored the god Amun to supremacy. Egypt's capital moved back to Thebes.
Tutankhamun was constantly in poor health and he needed to walk with the aid of a cane. He suffered from malaria, or possibly sickle cell disease. On top of these, a leg infection may have been enough to cause his sudden death. Preparations for his burial had not yet been made, which is probably why his tomb is smaller than most other pharaohs’ tombs: it had originally been made for someone else, a lesser figure than a pharaoh.
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