Kings and Queens

 

Menes:

       He was the first king of Egypt. He founded the 1st dynasty. He had a son called Djer. King Menes was the first to combine Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt into one kingdom. He wore a combined crown consisted of a red and a white crown; the red crown was the symbol of Lower Egypt, the white crown was the symbol of Upper Egypt. In that time the Egyptian army attacked the Nubians in the south. He was the one who founded the city of Memphis which was an island in the Nile. No one knows how he died but the legend says that he was killed by some crocodiles which attacked him. He died at age sixty three, and he was buried in saqqara.

 

 

Snefru:

        He was the first king of the 4th dynasty. He attacked the Nubians and the Libyans. The Nubian campaign was more effective as it brought many people and cattle. He built the Red pyramid, Bent pyramid and the Maidum pyramid. He began trade between Egypt and the Mediterranean nations. He sent forty ships to Lebanon to provide Egypt with timber. In return an expedition to Lebanon came to Egypt with great amount of cedar wood which was used in building ships and other constructions.

 

 

Khufu:

        He was also known as Cheops, he was the second king in the 4th dynasty, and he was Snefru's son. He built the great pyramid in Giza which was 481 feet tall. A small statue for that king was found at the temple of Osiris in Abydos. He led campaigns into Sinai, Libya and Nubia. He had many sons; Djedefre who was the oldest son, khafre who built his pyramid beside his father's pyramid. Khafre's son who was Menkaure built the smallest pyramid at Giza.

 

 

Khafre:

     He was also known as Chephren, he was the fourth king of the 4th dynasty, and as we mentioned before he was Khufu's son, he was the one who built the Chephren pyramid and the sphinx at Giza. He became the ruler after the death of his half brother Djedefre. There is a statue of Khafre under the protective shadow of a falcon in the Cairo museum.

 

 

 

Pepi I:

      He was also known as Meryre, he was the first king of the 6th dynasty. He became a king at a very young age and ruled for about 50 years. There was a conspiracy against him by one of his wives but it failed. He sent different expeditions which came back to Egypt with fine stones used in construction projects. He built a pyramid but it didn't last for a long time.

 

 

 

Pepi II:

       He was also known as Neferkare, he was the fifth king and the last one of 6th dynasty. He was Pepi I's son. He became the ruler of Egypt at six years old, and he ruled Egypt for 94 years. He sent expeditions to Punt and Nubia. He built a pyramid in Saqqara but it didn't last. After he died the central government collapsed and the old kingdom ended.

 

 

Mentuhotep I:

       He was also known as Nebhetepre. He was a king of the 11th dynasty, and he ruled Egypt for 39 years. He had three titles; The first title was "He who gives heart to the two lands", it was followed by "Lord of the white crown" which meant that after being the ruler of all Egypt he became the king of Upper Egypt only, the third title was "Uniter of the two lands" which marked to the unification of Egypt as Mentuhotep defeated the Herakleopolitans and that was the beginning of the middle kingdom. He fought the Libyans in delta and the Asiatics in Sinai. He built a mortuary complex at Deir El-Bahari, in which he and his wives were buried.

 

 

 

Amenemhet I:

     He was also known as Sehetepibre. He was a king of 11th dynasty, and he became the ruler after the death of Mentuhotep IV. He attacked the Libyans and the Asiatics in Sinai. He built the wall of the prince to protect the eastern borders, and he built a trading post in Nubia at Kerma. He named the capital city which was between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, "Itj-Tawy" it meant the seizer of the two lands. He had a son called Senusret.

 

 

Senusret I:

        He was also known as Sesostris I. He was the second king of 12th dynasty. He worked as a co-regent with his father and he became the ruler after his father's death, and he ruled Egypt for 34 years. He led different expeditions to the south and to the oases. He built his pyramid at Lisht which was 1mile south his father's pyramid. He built at Heliopolis two red granite obelisks. When he died he was buried in his pyrmid at Lisht.  

 

 

Senusret III:

    He was also known as Sesostris III. He is a king of the 12th dynasty. He was described as a "Great Warrior". He built his pyramid at Dahshour, his Statues were placed at the temple of Mentuhotep II at Deir El-Bahri. He also built a temple to Mont, the god of war, at Medamud near Karnak. He attacked the Nubians several times. He widened and repaired the canal which bypassed the first cataract of the Nile. He built eight mud brick fortresses between Semna and Buhen. He had to deal with his southern neighbours when he became the king. And the old threat in the middle kingdom appeared once again which were the Nomarchs, but Senusret was able to defeat them. He divided Egypt into three administrative parts: North, south and north head.

 

 

  

         

 

Ahmose:

       He was also known as Amosis I. He was considered the one who founded the 18th dynasty. He fought in the final battle between the Egyptians and the Hyksos who stayed at the country for more than 100 years and chased them outside the country in Palastine, and he defeated them. He started campaigns to solidify the border in Syria to prevent any possible invasion from Nubia. When he died he was buried near Dar Abu El-Naga in the Theben necropolis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amenhotep I:

      He was also known as Amenophis I. He was the second king of 18th dynasty. He was Ahmose's son. He went southward into Nubia, and he invaded Syria as far as the Euphrates. He built extensively at Thebes, Luxor and Karnak; he built complexes at the Karnak Temple in Thebes. He repaired many ancient temples along the Nile. He was the first to build his tomb separate than his temple and it was in Thebes. And after his death his military commander Thutmose took the throne because Amenhotep's son died.

 

 

Hatshepsut:

      She was also known as Maatkare. She was the fifth ruler of 18th dynasty. She was Thutmose I's daughter, and she married her half brother Thutmose II who had a son called Thutmose III from another wife. When Thutmose II died his son became the ruler but due to his young age Hatshepsut was appointed as a regent, and they ruled together until she announced herself the Pharaoh. She built a temple in Deir El-Bahari at Thebes, and she built two obelisks of red granite. She made relief about her birth as the daughter of Amon. There was a threat of revolt as Thutmose III grew old. There were no wars when she was a ruler but she sent an expedition to the land of punt in search of the ivory, animals, spices, gold and aromatic trees that Egyptians coveted. Hatshepsut disappeared when Thutmose III led revolt. And after her death, Thutmose III destroyed her shrines and statues and her mummy wasn't found.         

 

 

 

Akhenaten:

        He was called Amenhotep IV but he changed it to honor the god Aton. He was a king of the 18th dynasty. He shared the throne with his father Amenhotep III, but after his father's death he took the throne. He abandoned polytheism to embrace monotheism; he believed that Aton was the only god and that he was Aton's son. He named his new capital Akhetaton in honor of the god Aton. The Aton cult ended with the death of Akhenaton.    

 

 

Tutankhamen:

        He was a king of 18th dynasty. He was the son in law of Akhenaton. When he was the king, Aton was replaced by Amon, and he changed his name Tutankhaton to Tutankhamen. His tomb was found in the Valley of the Tombs near Luxor. He abandoned the capital Akhetaton and returned it to Thebes.

 

 

 

 

Ramses II:

        He was the third king of 19th dynasty. He was Seti I's son. When his father died he became the king, and he began a series of campaigns against the Syrians. He fought to regain the territory in western Asia and Africa that Egypt had taken in 16th and 15th centuries. He fought against the Hittites in a long war, and the main battle of this war was in Kadesh in northern Syria and it ended by the victory of Ramses. However a treaty was signed between them and Ramses married the daughter of the Hittites king. He built the rock hewn temple of Abu Simbel, the great hypostyle hall in the temple of Amon at El-Karnak, and the mortuary temple Ramasseum at Thebes.

 

 

Shabaka:

        He began the 25th dynasty. He was from Nubia. He had a sister called Amunirdis, and she was called "God's wife of Amun" at Thebes. And he had a brother called Piye who was the Kushite king, and he conquered Upper and Lower Egypt. He started working in the second pylon in front of the Thutmose III's temple at Medinet Habu. Kabasha ruled from Waset although his brother chose to rule from Kush.

 

 

Nectanebo I:

        He was also known as Nakhtnebef. He was a king of the 30th dynasty. When Achoris died he ousted Achoris's son and became the king. He restored temples across Egypt, and he built a kiosk in Philae. When he was ruling Egypt was attacked by a combined force of Persians and Greeks, the Egyptian army was able to counterattack and drive the attack out. After his death his son Teos became the king.                                                        

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