> Also, I would like to know more about Senwosre - you said he was
the
legendary founder of Athens (I couldn't find him in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica). Was this a Greek legend? Did the Athenians believe that
their city was founded by an Egyptian pharaoh?
Hakan, regarding Senwosret I Keperkare (1917-1872 BCE), he was the
second king of the 12th Dynasty was the son of Amenemhet I and Queen
Nefrutoten. Senwosret served as co-ruler with his father for more
than
ten years. He received news of his father's death while away on a
campaign. During his reign he extended Egypt's borders to the
area
between the Second and Third Cataract. He established the fortress of
Kerma. Senwosret mined gold, copper and granite. After securing
Egypt's borders he erected buildings along the Nile and
refurbished
existing temples. He built a funerary complex at Lisht. His pyramid
consisted of separate compartments filled with sand and then covered
with limestone. A second layer of stone completed the structure. His
son, Amenemhet II, served with him as co-ruler and assumed the throne
when Senwosret died in the 45th year of his reign.
Within Egypt, Senwosret worked the granite quarries at Aswan and gold
mines and quarries in the Wadi Hammamat, east of Coptos in Upper
Egypt, while he pursued an active building program. In the year 3 of
his reign he rebuilt a major sanctuary at Heliopolis, near Cairo. At
Thebes he built in the temple complex of Karnak, where the cult and
temple of Amon began to flourish. Senwosret also brought several of
the western oases under his jurisdiction, as is shown by messengers
and police officials who traveled there. Senwosret maintained
peaceful
relations with Palestine and Syria. As shown by The Story of Sinuhe,
the fictional biography of a court official, the king did not profess
a desire to acquire territory in Asia, although his emissaries
traversed its lands and sought to exert diplomatic pressures. In
reality, he seems to have conducted campaigns there.
There is no evidence that he, nor any of his subjects ever sailed
across the Mediterranean. The myth that he founded Athens is based
upon the spurious missassociation of his prenomen Keperkare
(mistranslated as Karekeper) with Kekrops, the mythical alf man half
serpent who is reputed to have found Athens.
Then again it might have been his son Senwosret II Kakepperre who was
the fourth king of the 12th Dynasty. He ruled the country from 1842
till 1836 BC. The king ruled the country before he claimed his throne
during the period when his father, Amenemhet II, was ill before he
died. Senwosret II conducted many agricultural projects in Faiyum
that
transferred thousands of marshlands into fields. His goal was to
establish a strong economic base for Ancient Egypt. The king
conducted
many military campaigns in Nubia and extended his kingdom's border
further south. Also, Senwosret II protected the minerals in Nubia and
Sinai and continued extracting natural resources from them. He built
a
pyramid near Faiyum which was destroyed by Ramesses II.
Senwosret II seems to have given rise to a Helenistic "myth of
Sesostris", which had the pharaoh sailing to Malta and building the
neolithic Hal Tarzien temple there.
Perhaps Dennis was referring to Senwosret III Kakaure (1836-1813 BCE)
the fifth king of the 12th Dynasty was the son of Senwosret II. Being
a "man of the people" he supported the rise of the middle
class. These
people were farmers, artisans, merchants and traders. Also active
militarily, he extended Egypt's borders in Nubia to Wadi Halfa.
He
built mortuary complexes at Dashur for his wives and daughters. He is
famous for a sphinx in which the individuality of Senwosret's
careworn
face is unusual in Egyptian art, but seemingly distinctive features
are typical of the royal heads of the later Twelfth Dynasty. It is
not
known whether the expressive lines of his face imitate actual
physical
characteristics or whether they may express the king's concern for his
people. He is a;lso famous for building the biggest (underground)
mortuary temple of any pharaoh (at Abydos - the home of Osiris - who
rose to prominence first at this period).
The "fact" that an Egyptian built Athens is about as crazy as
assuming
that the Phoenician Kadmus built Thebes, or that King Brutus sailed
from the burning Troy to build London. All these "myths" have been
believed at one time or another.
Regards
John