The Four Main Pharaohs
Hatshepsut ruled from 1473 to 1458 B.C.E. Hatshepsut was also female, the first to be exact. One of Hatshepsut’s greatest accomplishments was just gaining her power. At first she shared power with her male relatives but, then she took over. She strengthened her position in many ways. Like how she filled her government with loyal advisors and how she demanded the same respect as a male ruler. She sometimes wore male clothing and even a fake beard. And she spread stories that her father was a god. She also promoted trade with other countries and her biggest expedition was to the African kingdom of Punt, at the southern end of the red sea. Her monument that she left behind was a great temple at Dayr al-Bahri. They built a cliff above the Nile River. The entrance had two tall, thin monuments called obelisks. The entrance also had 200 sphinx statues. Scenes from Hatshepsut’s reign decorated the temple walls. The decorations showed amazing things that the Pharaoh’s traders had brought back to Egypt.
Ramses II ruled from 1290 to 1224 B.C.E. during the new kingdom. Ramses is one of the most famous pharaohs. He reigned for more than 60 years, longer than almost any other pharaoh. He also did everything in a big way and had over 100 statues of himself, some were 60 feet high. He was a captain of a Egyptian army at age 10. Ramses tried to defend an Egyptian empire that extended north into Canaan. His most famous military campaigns were against the Hittite empire in Anatolia. Ramses was also a peacemaker. He and Hittites signed the first peace treaty. Ramses also had many impressive projects. One of them was the temple complex at Abu Simbel. Four giant statues of Ramses framed the entrance to the main temple. The inside of the temple had three large rooms called halls. Ramses built more temples and monuments than any other pharaoh in history. When he died he was buried in a tomb that he had constructed for himself.
Senusret ruled from 1971 to 1926 B.C.E, during the middle kingdom. He was a strong leader who ruled a stable, unified Egypt. Art, artwork decorated the chapel’s pillars, literature, for example they had many great stories like “The story of Sinuhe”, and architecture, he built and improved temples, shrines, and religious monuments, flourished during his reign. Craftspeople thrived under Senusret’s rule. He controlled mines with gold, copper, and gems such as purple amethyst. Senusret’s finest architectural achievement was the White Chapel. It was made of alabaster. Beautiful artwork was decorated around the chapel. Senusret wanted his memory to live on through his monuments. Archaeologists later discovered the pieces and reconstructed the White Chapel.
King Tut’s real name is King Tutankhamen. He was only nine years old when he became pharaoh! But, he died when he was a teenager. Usually the builders in Egypt had a long time to build the pharaoh a huge tomb, but because King Tut died so early, they had to finish a smaller tomb. This was good because grave robbers couldn’t find it until thousands of years later. This was bad because archaeologists could not find it either.