Senusret III
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Senusret III (also seen as Senwosret III or Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC, and was the fifth monarch of the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. He was a Great Pharaoh of the twelfth Dynasty and is supposed to be the most powerful Egyptian ruler of this time. For this, he is regarded as one of the sources for the legend about Sesostris. Other forms of the name Senusret are Senwosret and Sesostris.
Senusret III continued his Kingdom's expansion deep into Nubia (from 1866 to 1863 BC) where he erected massive River Forts including Buhen and Toshka at Uronarti. One stela mentions his military activities against both Nubia and Palestine [link]. Morgan, in 1894, reported rock inscriptions near Sehel Island documenting his digging of a canal [link]. He erected a temple and town in Abydos, and another temple in Medamud [link].
His pyramid was constructed at Dahshur. A papyrus in the Berlin Museum shows Year 20 of his reign is equivalent to Year 1 of his son Amenemhat III. This means that he initiated a coregency with his son in this year. According to Josef Wegner, a Year 39 hieratic control note was recovered on a white limestone block from "a securely defined deposit of construction debris produced from the building of the Senwosret III mortuary temple. The fragment itself is part of the remnants of the temple construction. This deposit provides evidence for the date of construction of the mortuary temple of Senwosret III at Abydos."(p.251) Wegner stresses that it is unlikely that Amenemhet III, Senusret's son and successor would still be working on his father's temple nearly 4 decades into his own reign and notes that the only possible solution for the block's existence here is that Senusret III had a 39 Year reign, with the final 20 years in co-regency with Amenemhet III. Since the project was associated with a project of Senusret III, his Regnal Year was presumably used to date the block, rather than Year 20 of Amenemhet III. This implies that Senusret was still alive in the first 2 decades of his son's reign prior to his death.
Visually, Senusret III is known for his somber sculptures in which he appears careworn and grave.
References
- W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History,Archaeology and Society, Duckworth, London 2006 ISBN 0715634356, 51-58
- Josef Wegner, The Nature and Chronology of the Senwosret III-Amenemhat III Regnal Succession: Some Considerations based on new evidence from the Mortuary Temple of Senwosret III at Abydos", JNES 55, Vol.4, (1996), pp.249-279
External links
| Preceded by: Senusret II | Pharaoh of Egypt 1878 – 1840 BC Twelfth Dynasty | Succeeded by: Amenemhat III |
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| Notable Ancient Egyptians |
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|---|---|---|
| Old Kingdom Rulers: Narmer | Hor-Aha | Djoser | Sneferu | Khufu | Khafra | Menkaura | Pepi II | ||
| Middle Kingdom Rulers: Mentuhotep II | Mentuhotep IV | Senusret III | Amenemhat III | Sobekneferu | ||
| New Kingdom Rulers: Hatshepsut | Thutmose III | Amenhotep III | Akhenaten | Tutankhamun | Ramesses I | Seti I | Ramesses II | ||
| Other Rulers: Shoshenq I | Piye | Taharqa | Psammetichus I | Ptolemy I | Cleopatra VII | ||
| Consorts: Tetisheri | Ahmose-Nefertari | Ahmose | Tiy | Nefertiti | Ankhesenpaaten | Nefertari | Mark Antony | ||
| Court officials: Imhotep | Weni | Ahmose, son of Ebana | Ineni | Senemut | Yuya | Maya | Yuny | Manetho | Pothinus | ||
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