Important Leaders
- Khufu was known for the monuments built for him, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza. There is some debate over whether he enslaved his people to build it for him. Khufu claimed that he was a god, but his reign was hardly remarkable.
- Ahmose kicked the Hyksos out of Egypt. He became king after the death of his brother, when he was still a boy. Years later, however, he managed to storm the Hyksos and liberate Egypt. By the time of his death, he had expanded Egypt's borders into Nubia.
- Queen Hatshepsut expanded trade (gold, copper, turquoise, timber). She "stole" the throne from her stepson and co-regent and ruled until her death; she was one of the most influential female leaders in Egypt's history.
- Nefertiti and her husband Akhenaten were known for their religious revolution, in which they ditched polytheism and worshiped a single god, Aten, the sun.
- Ramses the Great was a great military leader, and also had the longest reign in Egypt's history. He and his army fought many wars with the Hittites and eventually formed an alliance with them.
- Ahmose kicked the Hyksos out of Egypt. He became king after the death of his brother, when he was still a boy. Years later, however, he managed to storm the Hyksos and liberate Egypt. By the time of his death, he had expanded Egypt's borders into Nubia.
- Queen Hatshepsut expanded trade (gold, copper, turquoise, timber). She "stole" the throne from her stepson and co-regent and ruled until her death; she was one of the most influential female leaders in Egypt's history.
- Nefertiti and her husband Akhenaten were known for their religious revolution, in which they ditched polytheism and worshiped a single god, Aten, the sun.
- Ramses the Great was a great military leader, and also had the longest reign in Egypt's history. He and his army fought many wars with the Hittites and eventually formed an alliance with them.
This video highlights some of Queen Hatshepsut's history and her accomplishments as one of the greatest female pharaohs in all of Egypt.
Important Laws
From what we understand, the Egyptians did not operate on a court-trial system, but they did punish criminals harshly. Fines, confiscation, imprisonment, forced labor, beatings, mutilation, banishment, and death were all possible consequences.
"It was Amasis too who established the law that every year each one of the Egyptians should declare to the ruler of his district, from what source he got his livelihood, and if any man did not do this or did not make declaration of an honest way of living, he should be punished with death." - Herodotus, Histories II.
"Whenever any man of the Egyptians committed any transgression, he would never put him to death, but he gave sentence upon each man according to the greatness of the wrongdoing, appointing them to work at throwing up an embankment before that city from whence each man came of those who committed wrong." - Herodotus, Histories II.
Egyptian Pharaoh Horemheb laid down some severe penalties in an attempt to get rid of official corruption. Anybody guilty of blocking traffic on the Nile was to have his nose cut off and be exiled to a town in the Sinai desert on the shores of the Mediterranean. The theft of hides was punishable by one hundred blows and five open wounds.
"It was Amasis too who established the law that every year each one of the Egyptians should declare to the ruler of his district, from what source he got his livelihood, and if any man did not do this or did not make declaration of an honest way of living, he should be punished with death." - Herodotus, Histories II.
"Whenever any man of the Egyptians committed any transgression, he would never put him to death, but he gave sentence upon each man according to the greatness of the wrongdoing, appointing them to work at throwing up an embankment before that city from whence each man came of those who committed wrong." - Herodotus, Histories II.
Egyptian Pharaoh Horemheb laid down some severe penalties in an attempt to get rid of official corruption. Anybody guilty of blocking traffic on the Nile was to have his nose cut off and be exiled to a town in the Sinai desert on the shores of the Mediterranean. The theft of hides was punishable by one hundred blows and five open wounds.