HK+Rulers+Greatest+Pharaohs?

  S o m e G r e a t R u l e r s …


 * Hatshepsut **

With a name that meant 'Foremost of ladies', Hatshepsut was born c. 1508 to Pharaoh Tuthmose I and Queen Ahmose. Tuthmose I had another wife who gave birth toTuthmose II. Tuthmose II married his step-sister Hatshepsut who gave birth to Tuthmose III. When Hatshepsut's husband died, their son was to young to rule so mother and son co-ruled for approximately one year. Hatshepsut took complete control and began her twenty-two year reign under which Egypt prospered, grew and pushed beyond previous boundaries.

Hatshepsut built some amazing temples like her mortuary temple at Dier el-Bahari and her famous underground temple for the goddess Phaket. She also built two twin obelisks at the Karnak temple complex and another two obelisks to mark her sixteenth year as pharaoh. One of them broke while being constructed and is still there at its quarrying site.

Hatshepsut is also well known for her expedition to the land of Punt, a well known trading partner of the ancient egyptians. She took five ships, each 21 metres long, with many sails and 210 men. Hatshepsut returned with 31 live Myrrh trees, which were transported in buckets to keep them from dying. They were later planted in her mortuary temple and was the first recorded attempt to transplant non-native trees. She also returned with slaves, ebony, ivory, copper, gold, exotic animals and skins, perfume, incense, amulets and bracelets.


 * Tutankhamun **

Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in 1992, sky-rocketing from the tomb known as simply KV62 to the one of the most famous historical findings ever. Archeologist Howard Carter, the expedition leader, who discovered the boy-kings tomb later quoted:

"...as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold - everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment - an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by - I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, 'Can you see anything?' it was all I could do to get out the words, 'Yes, wonderful things." The tomb was unique because of the amount of treasure left behind by tomb robbers, even though approximately 60% of the jewellery is missing. Carter found about 700 artefacts inside the antechamber including four chariots; one for war, one for hunting and two for parades. All together, there were more than 7,000 artefacts found. Things like bracelets and amulets, weapons, shields, statues, canopic jars, board games, one-hundred and thirty nine walking sticks made from gold, silver or wood, writing and musical equipment, couches and chairs.

One of the most popular finds was Tutankhamun's funerary mask which weighed 11 kg and was inlaid with Lapis Lazuli, Quartz, Gold, Obsidian and Turquoise. His inner most sarcophagus was made of 110.4 kg of pure gold.

Tutankhamun's cause of death is unknown, though there have been a few proposals for his death. These include assassination, deformities or problems due inbreeding or due to a hole found in his skull. The last theory was proven false by CT scans done in 2005. The CT scans did find that the young king had a badly fractured foot. DNA testing performed in 2010 found that King Tut was suffering from Malaria and other parasites. It is thought that these two factors combined killed Tutankhamun.


 * Ramses the Great **

Living for an estimated 90 years, 66 of which were spent as pharaoh, fathering at least 90 children with seven known wives, Ramses the Great was a commoner with no royal blood. When Tutankhamun died with no children, his vizier became pharaoh for 16 months followed by the commander of the army, Horemheb. Horemheb, like Tutankhamun and his successor, fathered no children, but appointed his vizier, a man named Parramesse, as next in line. When Horemheb died, the 18th dynasty came to a close and Parramesse rose to the throne as the first pharaoh of the 19th dynasty. He also changed his name to Ramses I and ruled for a short time before his son, Seti I, became pharaoh. Ramses II became pharaoh when he was about 24 years old.

Ramses II was bent on expanding Egypts borders and defeating the Hittites. In his second year of rule, he fought and defeated the Sherden sea pirates who kept on sinking egyptian cargo ships. He defeated them by letting them attack their ships and then ambushing them. Inthe 5th year of his reign, Ramses faught against the Hitittes at the Battle of Kadesh. Ramses was greatly out numbered, 20,000 men to 40,000- 50,000 men, but he somehow fought the battle into a dead lock and returned home. Ramses returned home saying that he was victorious even though he suffered huge casualties. In the 7th year of his reign, he went back to fight the Hitittes. This time he changed his tactics and split his army into two, one controlled by his son, Amun-her-Khepeshef and the other by himself. Amun-her-Khpeshef captured towns all the way to the Dead Sea, while Ramses II captured Jeruselum and Jericho. They rejoined later and marched on to capture Damascus, Kumidi and Upi.   Ramses also built his own city, called Pi-Ramses. Pi-Ramses had factories that could produce 1000 shields and 1000 swords a week and 250 chariots i two weeks. The city also had very large residential palace and its own Zoo.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">In his 21st year of rule, Ramses formed a peace treaty with the Hitittes. It was the earliest known peace treaty in the world.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Around his 24th year of reign, the Great Temple at Abu Simbel was completed. It was cut out of a moun <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">tainside and took about 20 years to build. The temple <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">was dedicated to himself and the gods Amun, Ra-Harakhty and Ptah. The great temple also depicts Ramses'so called "victory" at the battle of Kadesh. There was another temple built about one hundred meters north-east which was dedicated to Ramses' main wife, Nefertari, and the goddess Hathor. The temples entrance had two ten meter statues of Ramses, followed by two ten meter statues of Nefertari and then two of Ramses. It was the first and only egyptian temple where the pharaoh and his wife are the same size. In 1968, when the Aswan High dam was built, the temples had to be moved brick by brick to a location that was 65 meters higher and 200 meters back. The relocation cost an estimated $40 million(Of that time).

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">There is <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">also a solar phenomenon connected with the positioning of the temple. Ancient Egyptian architects built the ﻿ temple in such a way that 61 days before and after the winter solstice(21st February and 21st August), sunlight shines on all the statues on the back wall except the statue of Ptah(A god related to <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">the Afterlife).

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Ramses' death was the cause of old age, arthritis and dental problems. He lived for about ninety years and ended his great, prosperous reign with one last record: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings. It contained between 150 and 200 corridors and chambers, and more arebeing excavated. The tomb also contains remains of approximately 52 of Ramses' sons. The tomb was excavated and rediscovered by Dr. Kent Weeks.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">3253 years later, Ramses the Great had one more trip to go on. In 1974, Egyptologist studying him found that his mummy was rapidly deteriorating, so they flew his mummy to Paris. To fly, Ramses was issued an Egyptian passport that listed his occupation as: King(deceased).

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
 * Compared to Modern **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Today, we still have monarchs and royals in some countries. A great example of this is the English Royal family which recenty celebrated the marraige of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. In Japan there is also a royal family. In the 21st century, royal families don't hold as much as power as the Egyptian pharaohs did when they ruled. Royal families, like the English royal family, don't hold much power, while ancient pharoahs had all the power and commanded and controlled the entire population. One similarity between the royal family now and the royal family then is that they demand and receive respect.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Home Page