SESOSTRIS

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 701 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SCY-SHA

SESOSTRIS , the name of a legendary king of Egypt. According to Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus (who calls him Sesoosis) and Strabo, he conquered the whole world, even

Scythia

SCYTHIA (Gr. EKuOia)

and Ethiopia, divided Egypt into administrative districts or nomes, was a

great

GREAT

law-giver, and introduced a system of caste and the

worship

WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

of Serapis. He has been considered a compound of Seti I. and Rameses II., belonging to the XIXth Dynasty. In

Manetho

MANETHO (Mav40cov in an inscription of Carthage; MaveBees in a papyrus)

,however, he occupied the place of the second Senwosri (formerly read Usertesen) of the XIIth Dynasty, and his name is now usually viewed as a corruption of Senwosri. So far as is known no Egyptian king penetrated a day's journey beyond the Euphrates or into

Asia

ASIA

Minor

, or touched the continent of Europe. The kings of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties were the greatest conquerors that Egypt ever produced, and their records are clear on this point. Senwosri III. raided

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

Palestine and Ethiopia, and at Semna beyond the second cataract set up a stela of conquest that in its expressions recalls the stelae of Sesostris in Herodotus: Sesostris may, therefore, be the highly magnified portrait of this Pharaoh. Khian, the powerful but obscure

Hyksos

HYKSOS

king of Egypt, whose prenomen might be pronounced Sweserenre,is perhaps a possible prototype, for objects inscribed with his name have been found from Bagdad to Cnossus. Sesostris is evidently a mythical figure calculated to satisfy the

pride

of the Egyptians in their ancient achievements, after they had come into contact with the

great

GREAT

conquerors of Assyria and Persia. When we recollect that the Ethiopian Tearchus (Tirhaka) of the 7th century B.C., who was hopelessly worsted by the Assyrians and scarcely ventured outside the Nile valley, was credited by Megasthenes (4th century) and Strabo with having extended his conquests as far as India and the pillars of Hercules, it is not surprising if the dim figures of antiquity were magnified to a less degree. In the case of Tearchus, the miscellaneous levies which he employed himself and those which composed the Egyptian and Assyrian armies opposed to him, and the lands that Egypt and Ethiopia traded with, must all have been counted, partly through misunderstanding, partly through wilful perversion, to his empire.
Herodotus ii. 102-III ; Diod. Sic. i. 53-59; Strabo xv. p. 687; see also article EGYPT; and Kurt Sethe, " Sesostris," 1900, in his Linters. z. Gesch. u. Altertumskunde Agyptens, tome ii. (F. L1. G.)

End of Article: SESOSTRIS

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/SCY_SHA/SESOSTRIS.html">
SESOSTRIS
</a>

(Previous)
SESAME

(Next)
SESSA AURUNCA

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email