Scott's Ancient Eygptian Government Page

Scott's Ancient Eygptian Government Page

Kings

Egypts Founding Father!

Ramses II Usermaatre Setepenre, son of King Sethi I, was one of the longest reigning pharaohs of
Ancient Egypt. He reigned 67 years (roughly from 1290-1224 BC), in the he was
beginning co regent with his father. He was said to have lived for more than 80
years this must have made him seem even more than godly for the average life
expectancy was nearly half that.
During his life he made quite a reputation as a builder and a warrior, but also as
a ladies man. He had 5 or 6 main wives, foremost of all being Nefertari, but he is
also known to have had more than 100 children with all of his wives!
It seems that in Ancient Egypt people seemed to have made fun of this fact,
since the contemporary and famous Turin Papyrus features erotic scenes involving
a pharaoh --probably Ramses II--and several women.
Ramses II is, however, best known for all the buildings he had constructed in his
name across the country. Especially the monumental temples of Karnak (near
Luxor) and Abu Simbel (in the south of the country in so-called Nubia), and his
mortuary temple The Ramesseum (on the West Bank near Luxor) give evidence of
his love for grandeur.
In all of his monuments he had his name cartouche and texts engraved so deep
that no successor would be able to remove it.
Ramses' energetic building activities more or less, led to a degrading period of
Egyptian art as far as the engraving of texts and images on temple walls was
concerned. He demanded the monuments to be erected with greater speed than usual, the result was that
carefully engraved texts and images with many beautiful details were now made more superficially, a
practice which was unfortunately continued by his successors.
Most famous of his military engagements is the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites (from Western
Asia), with whom the Egyptians had been struggling for many years. He seems to have escaped with
nothing but pure luck, as his main force --the pharaoh himself commanding-- was ambushed by the
Hittites, and was only saved just in time by reinforcements while retreating. Both sides claimed the
victory in this battle, but it seems more likely to have ended in a status quo. Ramses II recorded 'his'
victory on several monuments, showing him slaying the Hittites in person.
The problems between Egyptians and Hittites were finally settled though, several years later, when
Ramses married a Hittite princess.
After he died, Ramses was buried in the famous royal necropolis of the Valley of the Kings, located in
the hills on the west bank of the Nile opposite the modern town of Luxor.
However, the mummy of Ramses II was not found on location in his tomb, but was discovered in
1881 among many other royal mummies in the so-called Royal Cache in Deir el-Bahri on the Theban
west-bank. According to a hieroglyphic text found on the mummy it was removed from the actual royal
tomb for safety reasons by Egyptian priests in the 10th year of the reign of king Pinodjem (around 1070
B.C.) after robbers violated the burial.
Though the text stated it was placed together with the body of his father, Seti, in the tomb of
Amenhotep I, it was apparently later moved again to its final resting place in the royal cache. The

The New Religion

Ankenaton, the tenth king of the 18th Dynasty, was perhaps the most controversial
because of his break with traditional religion. Some say that he was the most
remarkable king to sit upon Egypt's throne, others disagree.
Ankhenaten was traditionally raised by his parents, Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy, to
worship Amon. Ankhenaten, however, preferred the god Aten, the sun god that was
worshipped in earlier times.
Early in his reign he changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Ankhenaten, meaning
"He who is of service to Aten" and renamed his queen, Nefertiti, to Nefer-Nefru-Aten,
which is "Beautiful is the beauty of Aten."
The King and his Queen, leaving Thebes behind, built elaborate buildings at Amarna
meaning, "The Horizon of Aten."
He then sent his officials out to destroy Amons statues and to desecrate the
worship sites. These actions were so contrary to the traditional belief system that
opposition arose against him.
The estates of the great temples of Thebes, Memphis and Heliopolis reverted
back to the old religion. Corruption grew out of the mismanagement of such
large unattended groups.
Ankenaten is theorized as being the worlds first monotheist. A monotheist is
a person who tries to convert worship of deities to the worship of just one god
or deity. Ankenaton is credited for the beginning of monotheism. Christianity is
a very distinct form of monotheism.
Ankhenaten died in the 18th year of his reign. His successor, Horemhab, claimed his reign began from
the date of Amenhotep III, thus wiping out the entire rule of Ankhenaten for future generations.

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Glossary

Military Leader

Seti I, was the second king of the 19th Dynasty, the son of Ramesses I and Queen Sitre. Like his
father before him, Seti was a good military leader.
On a campaign in Asia, Seti took three divisions of 60,000 men each into battle. He reoccupied
Egyptian posts and garrisoned cities in the Syrian territory. He plundered Palestine and brought Damascus
back into Egyptian control. He reconciled with the Hittites who were becoming the most powerful state in
the region. Seti I and his heir, Ramesses II campaigned against Kadesh.
In Karnak he completed his father's plan by converting the court between the second and third pylons
into a vast hypo style hall. He built his vast mortuary complex at Abydos. In Thebes, he built his tomb,
located in the Valley of the Kings. Cut 300 feet into the cliffs, it was the largest tomb in the area.
Buried with him were over 700 Shabti. These were carved stone or wooden figures that were to
accompany him to the afterlife to comply with the requests from the gods.
His tomb in the Valley of the Kings was vandalized and his body was relocated to
Deir el Bahri. It is currenlty located in the Cario Museum.

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The Commoner Come King

The third king of the 18th Dynasty was a commoner by birth. He married Ahmose, a sister of
Amenhotep I, and was named king when the his prodecessor died childless. Ahmose bore him two sons
who were surprisingly passed over for Thutmose II, who was born to Mutnofret.
Thutmose built an extension to the temple of Amon at Karnak. He added pylons, courts and statues.
He led a campaign into Nubia where he penetrated beyond the Third Cataract. He defeated the Nubian
chief in a hand to hand combat and returned to Thebes with the body of the fallen chief hanging on the
prow of his ship. His greatest campaigns were in the Delta. Warring against the Hyksos he subdued tribes
and finally reached the Euphrates River.
To commemorate his victory he built a hall at Karnak, made entirely of cedar wood columns.
His remains were found in the cache, with others, at Deir el Bahri. Thutmose brought Egypt a sense of
stability and his military campaigns healed the wounds of Thebians.

The Warrior Pharaoh

Hatshepsuts sucessful reign was followed by that of the great warrior pharaoh, Thutmose III.
It is a tribute to Hatshepsuts ability, that she had been able to keep this able young soldier under her
thumb even after he came of age. The new kings frustration at having been kept from his rightful throne
for so long was quickly shown by his having Hatshepsuts name erased from all public inscriptions and
replaced either with his own name or those of his ancestors.
Thutmose III spent much of his reign restoring Egyptian power in Syria and Palestine.
He waged six campaigns there, and another eleven against the Hurrians who had settled down to found
the powerful kingdom of Mitanni. Much of this required long drawn out sieges, such as that of Megiddo,
which lasted eleven months and involved building a wooden palisade and moat to completely cut the city
off.
Sometimes trickery was used. At the siege of Joppa, Egyptian troops supposedly got into the city by
hiding in grain bags going in through the gates. At other times, the Egyptians found themselves involved in
some pretty hard fighting.
Thutmose III reign was one of extream millitary expertise.

Tutankhamen

The Boy King

The 12th king of the 18th Dynasty was only eight or nine years old at his
succession. His father, Smenkhare, died at the age of 25, the cause remains a
mystery.
Tutankhamun was married to Ankhesenamon, the third daughter of
Akhenaten and Nefertiti. The couple originally lived at Amarna but later moved
to Memphis where they refurnished the apartments of Amenhotep III.
The Restoration Stele gives an account of his effort to stabilize the
government and to restore the temples and honors of the old gods after the
Amarna period. He paid the priest and palace staff from his own pockets.
Tutankhamen built a mortuary temple close to Medinet Habu, with two colossal
statues, but they were usurped by his successors.
Tutankhamun died at the age of 19 by a head injury. He was buried in the
Valley of the Kings. Two mummified fetuses were found in coffins that had
been sealed by his name. These are believed to have been his children that were born prematurely.

Queens
The Woman Who Was Pharaoh

Who was the first female Pharaoh?

Hatshepsut

Long excluded from the top rung of power, women have pressed hungrily into history's leadership vacancies
when circumstances have been ripe. Few have been as successful as the great ruler Hatshepsut, whose reign
brought Egypt 22 years of peace and prosperity and some of its finest monuments.
The pharaoh of Egypt was an icon, much as the Queen of England or even the president of the United States
sometimes appears to be.
But, how far can icons be stretched? Pharaoh could have been anything: he could be old, lazy, incompetent,
boring, alcoholic or insane, but he would still be pharaoh.
Examples of all these types are known, or hinted of in many text and records. So naturally this question arose:
could he be female? The answer to this question just may be yes.
Female rulers are indicated in the long history of dynastic Egypt, and later tradition puts the names of queens
near both the ends of the Old Kingdom and surprisingly the middle kingdom, some five centuries later.
Egyptian society gave many remarkable freedoms and legal rights to women--far more than the rest of the
Near East or in the classical world--but limits were limits. . .even by the Nile.

Deir el-Bahri

Once having proclaimed herself king,
Hatshepsut had a tomb excavated for herself
in the Valley of the Kings near Thebes.

Deir el-Bahri, opposite Luxor on the west bank
of the Nile River, is the site of two ancient temples
of Upper Egypt. The site's name is derived from
the Coptic monastery built there in the 7th century
but long since dismantled in the course of modern
excavations. Cliffs at the site form a natural
semicircle into which Mentuhotep II of the Middle
Kingdom built his mortuary temple.
Elaborate colonnade terraces and ramps were erected at the entrance to the chamber tomb, which is sunk
deep into the side of the cliffs. During the New Kingdom the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, designed by
the architect Senenmut that includes the famous series of reliefs of Hatshepsut's trading expedition to the land of
Punt.
After her death her memory was execrated by Tutmose III, who caused her name to be erased from the
monuments wherever it could be found.
The bodies of the New Kingdom Pharoahs survive, and are now on display at the Cario Museum. As far as
we know, hers is not among them. But what we do know about her has been gained by excavation and careful
research over the past 100 years. Perhaps this is how it should be, since the late 20th century is a better time than
most to think about the importance and meaning of her reign.

If you are interested in reading a great book about Hatshepsut here is one of the best that I have found:
Hatchepsut By Joyce Tydsley
Look in it for more information on this interesting female figure in history!

Queen of the Nile

When Cleopatra VII ascended the Egyptian throne, she was only seventeen. She reigned as Queen
Philopator and Pharaoh between 51 and 30 BC, and died at the age of 39. Hence the controversy over
Cleopatra's real motives. Was she trying to save her throne, or did she have a more noble cause? Was she
protecting her Dynasty, or was she preventing more interference from the Romans in Egypt? As children,
Cleopatra and her siblings witnessed the defeat of their guardian, Pompey, by Julius Caesar in a duel.
Meanwhile, Cleopatra and her brother/husband Ptolemy XIII were dueling, albeit silently, over the
throne.
In the middle of all this turmoil, Julius Caesar left Rome for Alexandria in 48 BC. During his stay in the
Palace, he received the most famous gift in history: an oriental carpet... with a 22 year old Cleopatra
wrapped in. She counted on Caesar's support to alienate Ptolemy XIII. With the arrival of Roman
reinforcements, and after a few battles in Alexandria, Ptolemy XIII was defeated and killed.
In the summer of 47 BC, having married her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, Cleopatra and Caesar
embarked for a two month on a trip along the Nile, aboard a legendary boat. Together, they visited
Dendara, where Cleoptara was being worshipped as Pharaoh, an honor beyond Caesar's reach. They
became lovers, and indeed, she bore him a son, Caesarion. In 45 BC, Cleopatra and Caesarion left
Alexandria for Rome, where they stayed in a palace built by Caesar in their honor.
Caesar's acts were anything but overlooked by the Romans. In 44 BC, he was killed in a conspiracy by
his Senators. With his death, Rome split between supporters of Mark Antony
and Octavian. Cleopatra was watching in silence, and when Mark Antony
seemed to prevail, she supported him and, shortly after, they too became
lovers.
Mark Antony's alliance with Cleopatra angered Rome even more. The
senators called her a sorceress, and accused her of all sorts of evil. The
Romans became even more furious as Antony was giving away parts of their
Empire - Tarsus, Cyrene, Crete, Cyprus, and Palestine - one after the other to
Cleopatra and her children.
It was the boiling point when Octavian declared war on Cleopatra, and off
the coast of Greece in the Adriatic Sea they met in one of the most famous
battles in history: Actium. The Egyptian defeat was often attributed to the early
withdrawal of a coward Cleopatra from the battle scene, although this claim is
now discredited by most historians.
Octavian waited for a year before he claimed Egypt as a Roman province.
He arrived in Alexandria and easily defeated Mark Antony outside the city,
near present day Camp C�sar. Antony was asked to be taken to Cleopatra. He died in her arms and was
buried as a King.
Ocatvian entered Alexandria in 30 BC. Cleopatra was captured and taken to him, and the Roman
Emperor had no interest in any relation, reconciliation, or even negotiation with the Egyptian Queen.
Realizing that her end is close, she decided to put an end to her life. It is not known for sure how she
killed herself, but many believe she used an asp as her death instrument.
With the death of Cleopatra, a whole era in Egyptian history was closed. Alexandria remained capital
of Egypt, but Egypt was now a Roman province. The age of Egyptian Monarchs gave way to the age of
Roman Emperors, and Cleopatra's death gave way to the rise of Rome. The Ptolemies were of
Macedonian descent, yet they ruled Egypt as Egyptians- as Pharaohs. And, indeed, Cleopatra was the last
Pharaoh.

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Glossary

Nefertiti first appears on the scene when she becomes the Great Royal Wife of
Akhenaten. Scholars still debate her origins, some believing that she was a princess
from another land. Those believing her to be of Egyptian origin are also divided.
One camp claims her as the daughter of Aye and Tiy, and the other claims her as
the oldest daughter of Amenhotep III and another wife besides Tiye, possibly
Sitamun.
Whatever her parentage, Nefertiti was married to Akhenaten and while living in
Memphis gave birth to six daughters. It is possible that she also had sons, although
no record has been found of this. It was a practice in Egyptian art not to portray
the male heirs as children, therefore it is possible that Tutankamen was her son.
Nefertiti moved with her husband to Akhetaten and is shown there participating in all the religious
ceremonies. It was only through the combined royal pair that the god Aten's full blessing could be
bestowed.
Nefertiti is displayed with a prominence that other Egyptian queens were not. Her name is enclosed in
a royal cartouche, and there are in fact more statues and drawings of her than of Akhenaten. Some have
even claimed that it was Nefertiti, not Akhenaten, who instigated the monotheistic religion of Aten.
It is around Year 15 that Nefertiti mysteriously disappears from view. It could be that she died,
although no indication of this exists to this date. Some scholars think that she was banished for some
reason, and lived the rest of her years in the northern palace, raising Tutankaten.
Reasons given for the banishment are two-fold. One, it could be that she disapproved of the slow
return to the worship of Amun, which was taking place at that time, with Smenkhkare becoming
co-regent and moving back to Thebes to reopen some temples. Or, perhaps she was of the opinion that
Akhenaten was losing touch with his people and angering them by destroying all other gods besides his
own.
She could have been banished by Akhenaten for going against his beloved religion. Whatever the case,
she is replaced by her oldest daughter, Meritaten, and we hear no more of her.

Here are Akhenaten's Own Words at Describing Nefertiti:

"The Hereditary Princess, Great of Favor, Mistress of Happiness, Gay with the two feathers, at
hearing whose voice one rejoices, Soothing the heart of the king at home, pleased at all that is said, the
Great and Beloved Wife of the King, Lady of the Two Lands, Neferu-aten Nefertiti, living forever."

Dynastys 2920-2575 bc ARCHAIC PERIOD

2920-2770 1st Dynasty
2770-2649 2nd Dynasty
2649-2575 3rd Dynasty
2630-2611 Djoser
2611-2603 Sekhemkhet

2575-2134 bc OLD KINGDOM

2575-2465 4th Dynasty
2551-2528 Khufu
2520-2494 Khephren
2490-2472 Menkaure
2465-2323 5th Dynasty
2323-2150 6th Dynasty
2289-2255 Pepy I
2255-2152 Pepy II
2150-2134 7th-8th Dynasties

2134-2040 1ST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
9th-10th Dynasties
11th (Thebian) Dynasty

2040-1640 bc MIDDLE KINGDOM

2040-1991 11th Dynasty (all Egypt)
2061-2010 Mentuhotpe
1991-1783 12th Dynasty
1991-1962 Amenemhet I
1971-1926 Senwosret I
1929-1892 Amenemhet II
1897-1878 Senwosret II
1844-1797 Amenemhet III
1799-1787 Amenemhet IV
1787-1783 Nefrusobk
1783-1640 13th-14th Dynasties

1640-1550 bc 2ND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

15th (Hyksos) Dynasty
16th-17th Dynasties

1550-1070 bc NEW KINGDOM

1550-1307 18th Dynasty
1550-1525 Ahmose
1525-1504 Amenophis I
1504-1492 Thuthmose I
1492-1479 Thuthmose II
1479-1425 Thuthmose III
1473-1458 Hatshepsut
1427-1401 Amenophis II
1401-1391 Thuthmosis IV
1391-1353 Amenophis III
1353-1335 Amenophis IV/Akhenaten
1335-1333 Smenkhkare
1333-1323 Tutankhamun
1323-1319 Aya
1319-1307 Haremhab

1307-1196 19th Dynasty
1307-1306 Ramesses I
1306-1290 Sethos I
1290-1224 Ramesses II
1224-1214 Merneptah
1214-1204 Sethos II
1204-1198 Siptah
1198-1196 Twosre

1196-1070 20th Dynasty
1196-1194 Sethnakhte
1194-1094 Ramesses III-XI

1070-712 bc 3RD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

21st-24th Dynasties

712-332 bc LATE PERIOD

712-657 25th Dynasty
(Nubia and Egypt)
712-698 Shabaka
690-664 Taharqa

664-525 26th Dynasty
610-595 Necho II
570-526 Amasis

525-404 27th Dynasty (Persian)
521-486 Darius I
486-466 Xerxes I

404-399 28th Dynasty

399-380 29th Dynasty

380-343 30th Dynasty
380-362 Nectanebo I

343-332 31st Dynasty (Persian)

332 bc-ad 395 GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD

332-323 Alexander III the Great
304-284 Ptolemy I
246-221 Ptolemy III
51-30 Cleopatra VII Q
30 bc-ad 14 Augustus

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