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Living Monolith

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The Living Monolith ( Ahmet Abdol ) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . He was created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Don Heck , and first appeared in The X-Men #54 (March 1969).

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87-734: Abdol is the Living Pharaoh while in his normal appearance, but once he obtained enough cosmic energy, he would increase in mass, size, and power, thus becoming the Living Monolith . Abdol has mainly been an X-Men villain, usually using Havok to become the Living Monolith. He has also used other superheroes, including the Fantastic Four (who gained their super powers from exposure to cosmic rays). He even killed his own daughter to achieve his goal. Ahmet Abdol

174-516: A CT scan had revealed a deep knife wound in the mummy's throat, indicating that Ramesses was indeed killed by the conspirators. He died in Thebes in the 32nd year of his reign and was succeeded by Crown Prince Ramesses IV . A number of raids by the Libyans and the sea people, more dangerous than those during the reign of Ramses III , drew the kingdom to more weakness. This increased the influence of

261-413: A central figure of the state, the pharaoh was the obligatory intermediary between the gods and humans. To the former, he ensured the proper performance of rituals in the temples ; to the latter, he guaranteed agricultural prosperity, the defense of the territory and impartial justice. In the sanctuaries, the image of the sovereign is omnipresent through parietal scenes and statues . In this iconography ,

348-604: A different passage where he asserts that Darius I was the first ruler of Egypt to be honored as a king. Even after the reign of the Egyptian kings and pharaohs, the notion of Pharaoh's self-notion as a divine being survived and is described in rabbinic literature . In these sources, the Pharaoh is described as hubristically asserting his own divinity and yet, compared to the one true God, is no more than an impotent human. Genesis Rabbah 89:3 invokes Pharaoh describing himself as

435-619: A distinctive new style (see Amarna Period ). By the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Egypt's status had changed radically. Aided by Akhenaten's apparent lack of interest in international affairs, the Hittites had gradually extended their influence into the Levant to become a major power in international politics—a power that both Seti I and his son Ramesses II would confront during the nineteenth Dynasty. The last two members of

522-516: A peak in Egypt's power and wealth during the reign of Amenhotep III. The term pharaoh , originally the name of the king's palace, became a form of address for the person who was king during his reign ( c.  1479 –1425 BC). Widely considered a military genius by historians, Thutmose III conducted at least 16 campaigns in 20 years. He was an active expansionist ruler. He is recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of

609-605: A planet's size before Thor throws him into outer space. Abdol's relative, Leila O'Toole / Plasma, joins the Cult of the Living Pharaoh and tries to capture Havok for the Pharaoh. During this time, it is revealed that Mister Sinister gave Abdol his powers by splicing his genes with Havok's. During the Monolith's time in space, the civilian Akasha acquires his staff and becomes the second Living Pharaoh. Spider-Man destroys

696-459: A relationship with Horus . Aha refers to "Horus the fighter", Djer refers to "Horus the strong", etc. Later kings express ideals of kingship in their Horus names. Khasekhemwy refers to "Horus: the two powers are at peace", while Nebra refers to "Horus, Lord of the Sun". The Nesu Bity name, also known as prenomen , was one of the new developments from the reign of Den . The name would follow

783-474: A single maxim: "Bring Maat and repel Isfet ", that is to say, promote harmony and repel chaos. As the nurturing father of the people, the Pharaoh ensured prosperity by calling upon the gods to regulate the waters of the Nile , by opening the granaries in case of famine and by guaranteeing a good distribution of arable land. Chief of the armies, the pharaoh was the brave protector of the borders. Like Ra who fights

870-403: A statue of Ramses II was erected. Thus he recaptured Qadesh and northern Amurru. Nevertheless, like Seti I, he found that he could not permanently hold territory so far from base and after years of conflict, a peace treaty was concluded between the two states. Egypt was able to obtain wealth and stability under the rule of Ramesses, for more than half a century. His immediate successors continued

957-472: A titanic fusion of himself and Juggernaut . However, he is depowered when Cyttorak returns the power to the original Juggernaut, Cain Marko. Ahmet Abdol possesses the mutant ability to absorb cosmic energy, transforming him into the Living Monolith. After genetically augmenting himself, he gains the additional ability to empower himself by absorbing energy and psychic abilities that enable him to read and control

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1044-419: A transition period between the reign of Horemheb and the powerful pharaohs of this dynasty, in particular, his son Seti I and grandson Ramesses II, who would bring Egypt to new heights of imperial power. Seti I fought a series of wars in western Asia, Libya, and Nubia in the first decade of his reign. The main source for knowledge of Seti's military activities are his battle scenes on the north exterior wall of

1131-424: A war crown by many, but modern historians refrain from defining it thus. Egyptologist Bob Brier has noted that despite their widespread depiction in royal portraits, no ancient Egyptian crown has ever been discovered. The tomb of Tutankhamun that was discovered largely intact, contained such royal regalia as a crook and flail , but no crown was found among his funerary equipment. Diadems have been discovered. It

1218-640: A word specifically referring to a building to a respectful designation for the ruler presiding in that building, particularly by the time of the Twenty-Second Dynasty and Twenty-third Dynasty . The first dated appearance of the title "pharaoh" being attached to a ruler's name occurs in Year 17 of Siamun (tenth century BCE) on a fragment from the Karnak Priestly Annals, a religious document. Here, an induction of an individual to

1305-610: Is a possibility that the title pr ꜥꜣ first might have been applied personally to Thutmose III ( c.  1479 –1425 BCE), depending on whether an inscription on the Temple of Armant may be confirmed to refer to that king. During the Eighteenth dynasty (sixteenth to fourteenth centuries BCE) the title pharaoh was employed as a reverential designation of the ruler. About the late Twenty-first Dynasty (tenth century BCE), however, instead of being used alone and originally just for

1392-417: Is a professor of Egyptology and archeologist with the ability to manipulate cosmic energy. Deciding to use his powers for personal gain, Abdol creates a cult around himself as the messiah , the Cult of the Living Pharaoh, intending to rule the world. Abdol discovers that another mutant, Alex Summers / Havok, can manipulate energy more easily than himself. Abdol kidnaps Havok to increase his power and battles

1479-849: Is also known as the Ramesside period . It is named after the eleven pharaohs who took the name Ramesses, after Ramesses I , who founded the Nineteenth Dynasty, and his grandson Ramesses II , who was its longest-reigning monarch. Possibly as a result of the foreign rule of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom saw a historic expansion into the Levant , thus marking Egypt's greatest territorial extent. Similarly, in response to attacks by

1566-531: Is an ornate, triple Atef with corkscrew sheep horns and usually two uraei. The depiction of this crown begins among New Kingdom rulers during the Early Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt . Also called the blue crown, the Khepresh crown has been depicted in art since the New Kingdom. It is often depicted being worn in battle, but it was also frequently worn during ceremonies. It used to be called

1653-487: Is presumed that crowns would have been believed to have magical properties and were used in rituals. Brier's speculation is that crowns were religious or state items, so a dead king likely could not retain a crown as a personal possession. The crowns may have been passed along to the successor, much as the crowns of modern monarchies. During the Early Dynastic Period kings had three titles. The Horus name

1740-600: Is the oldest and dates to the late pre-dynastic period. The Nesu Bity name was added during the First Dynasty . The Nebty name (Two Ladies) was first introduced toward the end of the First Dynasty. The Golden falcon ( bik-nbw ) name is not well understood. The prenomen and nomen were introduced later and are traditionally enclosed in a cartouche . By the Middle Kingdom , the official titulary of

1827-539: Is viewed to be the founder of the eighteenth dynasty. He continued the campaigns of his father Seqenenre Tao and of Kamose against the Hyksos until he reunified the country once more. Ahmose would then continue to campaign in the Levant, the home of the Hyksos, to prevent any future invasions on Egypt. Ahmose was followed by Amenhotep I , who campaigned in Nubia and was followed by Thutmose I . Thutmose I campaigned in

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1914-595: The Tanhuma , in commentary on Ezekiel 29:9, Pharaoh is said to have proclaimed himself as lord of the universe. Pharaoh is represented as a heretical figure who presents himself as divine, and these texts then claim that his claims were exposed when he had to go to the Nile to relieve himself. New Kingdom of Egypt The New Kingdom , also called the Egyptian New kingdom Empire , refers to ancient Egypt between

2001-534: The Egyptian people and marked the peak of Egypt's power. In 1845, the concept of a "New Kingdom" as one of three "golden ages" was coined by German scholar Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen ; the original definition would evolve significantly throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The later part of this period, under the Nineteenth Dynasty (1295–1189 BC) and the Twentieth Dynasty (1189–1069 BC),

2088-733: The First Dynasty ( c.  3150 BCE ) until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Republic in 30 BCE. However, regardless of gender, "king" was the term used most frequently by the ancient Egyptians for their monarchs through the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty during the New Kingdom . The earliest confirmed instances of "pharaoh" used contemporaneously for a ruler were a letter to Akhenaten (reigned c.  1353 –1336 BCE) or an inscription possibly referring to Thutmose III ( c.  1479 –1425 BCE). In

2175-527: The First Dynasty . The was -scepter is shown in the hands of both kings and deities. The flail later was closely related to the heqa -scepter (the crook and flail ), but in early representations the king was also depicted solely with the flail, as shown in a late pre-dynastic knife handle that is now in the Metropolitan museum, and on the Narmer Macehead . The earliest evidence known of

2262-595: The Kushites , who led raids into Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, the rulers of the New Kingdom felt compelled to expand far into Nubia and to hold wider territories in the Near East , particularly on the Levantine frontier. The Eighteenth Dynasty included some of Egypt's most famous kings, including Ahmose I , Hatshepsut , Thutmose III , Amenhotep III , Akhenaten , and Tutankhamun . Ahmose I

2349-537: The Levant and reached as far as the Euphrates , thus becoming the first pharaoh to cross the river. During this campaign, the Syrian princes declared allegiance to Thutmose. However, after he returned, they discontinued tribute and began fortifying against future incursions. Hatshepsut was one of the most powerful pharaohs of this dynasty. She was the daughter of Thutmose I and the royal wife of Thutmose II . Upon

2436-712: The Narmer Palette . The white crown of Upper Egypt, the Hedjet , was worn in the Predynastic Period by Scorpion II , and, later, by Narmer. This is the combination of the Deshret and Hedjet crowns into a double crown, called the Pschent crown. It is first documented in the middle of the First Dynasty of Egypt . The earliest depiction may date to the reign of Djet , and is otherwise surely attested during

2523-553: The Near East from the Euphrates to Nubia during seventeen known military campaigns. He was the first pharaoh after Thutmose I to cross the Euphrates, doing so during his campaign against Mitanni . He continued north through the territory belonging to the still unconquered cities of Aleppo and Carchemish and quickly crossed the Euphrates in his boats, taking the Mitannian king entirely by surprise. The wealthiest of all

2610-506: The Pschent , the combination of both the red and white crowns became the official crown of the pharaoh. With time new headdresses were introduced during different dynasties such as the Khat , Nemes , Atef , Hemhem crown , and Khepresh . At times, a combination of these headdresses or crowns worn together was depicted. The word pharaoh ultimately derives from the Egyptian compound pr ꜥꜣ , * /ˌpaɾuwˈʕaʀ/ "great house", written with

2697-728: The Sea Peoples invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles (the Battle of Djahy and the Battle of the Delta ). He incorporated them as subject peoples and is thought to have settled them in Southern Canaan, although there is evidence that they forced their way into Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states, such as Philistia , in this region after

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2784-558: The Second Intermediate Period , thereby building the wealth of the Eighteenth Dynasty. She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt . After her death, having gained valuable experience heading up the military for Hatshepsut, Thutmose III assumed rule. Thutmose III expanded Egypt's army and wielded it with great success to consolidate the empire created by his predecessors. This resulted in

2871-605: The Septuagint , Koinē Greek : φαραώ , romanized:  pharaō , and then in Late Latin pharaō , both -n stem nouns. The Qur'an likewise spells it Arabic : فرعون firʿawn with n (here, always referring to the one evil king in the Book of Exodus story, by contrast to the good king in surah Yusuf 's story). The Arabic combines the original ayin from Egyptian along with the -n ending from Greek. In English,

2958-519: The Uraeus —a rearing cobra—is from the reign of Den from the first dynasty. The cobra supposedly protected the king by spitting fire at its enemies. The red crown of Lower Egypt, the Deshret crown, dates back to pre-dynastic times and symbolised chief ruler. A red crown has been found on a pottery shard from Naqada , and later, Narmer is shown wearing the red crown on both the Narmer Macehead and

3045-626: The X-Men . He is captured by Sentinels , but escapes. Abdol later steals a ruby scarab and battled the Living Mummy . As the Living Monolith, he battles Spider-Man and Thor . Later, using the Cheops Crystal, he becomes the Monolith again and battles battled Luke Cage , Iron Fist , Cyclops , Storm , and Nightcrawler . Later, Abdol abducts the Fantastic Four to absorb cosmic radiation from their bodies. This causes him to grow to

3132-420: The priests of Amon which finally led to the control of the great priests on the throne. Ramesses III's death was followed by years of bickering among his heirs. Three of his sons ascended the throne successively as Ramesses IV , Rameses VI , and Rameses VIII . Egypt was increasingly beset by droughts, below-normal flooding of the Nile , famine, civil unrest, and corruption of officials. The power of

3219-491: The 16th century BC and the 11th century BC. This period of ancient Egyptian history covers the Eighteenth , Nineteenth , and Twentieth dynasties. Through radiocarbon dating , the establishment of the New Kingdom has been placed between 1570 BC and 1544 BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period . It was the most prosperous time for

3306-678: The Amun priesthood is dated specifically to the reign of "Pharaoh Siamun ". This new practice was continued under his successor, Psusennes II , and the subsequent kings of the twenty-second dynasty. For instance, the Large Dakhla stela is specifically dated to Year 5 of king "Pharaoh Shoshenq, beloved of Amun ", whom all Egyptologists concur was Shoshenq I —the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty —including Alan Gardiner in his original 1933 publication of this stela. Shoshenq I

3393-505: The Aten as his personal deity is often interpreted as history's first instance of monotheism . Akhenaten's wife, Nefertiti , contributed a great deal to his new direction in the Egyptian religion. Nefertiti was bold enough to perform rituals to Aten. Akhenaten's religious fervour is cited as the reason why he and his wife were subsequently written out of Egyptian history. Under his reign, in the fourteenth century BC, Egyptian art flourished in

3480-534: The Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of the difficulties is indicated by the fact that the first known labour strike in recorded history occurred during the twenty-ninth year of Ramesses III's reign. At that time, the food rations for Egypt's favoured and elite royal tomb-builders and artisans in the village of Deir el Medina could not be provisioned. Air pollution limited the amount of sunlight penetrating

3567-475: The Egyptian ruler Djoser , was cast as having had his mother as the Mesopotamian goddess Ninsun alongside his father, the previous human ruler of Uruk. Another Mesopotamian example of a god-king was Naram-Sin of Akkad . During the Early Dynastic Period , the Pharaoh was represented as the divine incarnation of Horus , and the unifier of Upper and Lower Egypt. By the time of Djedefre (26th century BCE),

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3654-530: The Eighteenth Dynasty— Ay and Horemheb —became rulers from the ranks of officials in the royal court, although Ay might also have been the maternal uncle of Akhenaten and a fellow descendant of Yuya and Tjuyu . Ay may have married the widowed Great Royal Wife and young half-sister of Tutankhamun, Ankhesenamun , in order to obtain power; she did not live long afterward. Ay then married Tey , who originally, had been wet-nurse to Nefertiti. Ay's reign

3741-613: The Hittites thanks to the arrival of the Ne'arin (possibly mercenaries in the employ of Egypt). The outcome of the battle was undecided, with both sides claiming victory at their home front, and ultimately resulting in a peace treaty between the two governments. He campaigned later in the Levant capturing Edom and Moab . New kingdom Egyptian stelae from this period have been found in Jordan . Later, Egyptians conquered Qatna and Tunip where

3828-531: The Hittites, Ramesses II had to deal with a raid by the Sherden sea people whom he defeated and incorporated into his army. His campaigns against the Hittites culminated in the Battle of Kadesh , where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II . Ramesses was caught in history's first recorded military ambush, although he was able to rally his troops and turn the tide of battle against

3915-597: The Karnak Hypostyle Hall, along with several royal stelas with inscriptions mentioning battles in Canaan and Nubia. The greatest achievement of Seti I's foreign policy was the capture of the Syrian town of Kadesh and neighboring territory of Amurru from the Hittite Empire. Egypt had not held Kadesh since the time of Akhenaten . Seti I was successful in defeating a Hittite army that tried to defend

4002-746: The Khat headdress, has been commonly depicted on top of the Nemes. The statue from his Serdab in Saqqara shows the king wearing the nemes headdress. Osiris is shown to wear the Atef crown, which is an elaborate Hedjet with feathers and disks. Depictions of kings wearing the Atef crown originate from the Old Kingdom. The Hemhem crown is usually depicted on top of Nemes , Pschent , or Deshret crowns. It

4089-514: The Pharaoh also ceased to have a father, as his mother was magically impregnated by the solar deity Ra . According to Pyramid Text Utterance 571, "... the King was fashioned by his father Atum before the sky existed, before earth existed, before men existed, before the gods were born, before death existed ..." According to an inscription on the statue of Horemheb (14th–13th centuries BCE): "he [Horemheb] already came out of his mother's bosom adorned with

4176-460: The Pharaoh was the supreme officiant; the first of the priests of the country. More widely, the pharaonic gesture covered all the fields of activity of the collective and ignored the separation of powers . Also, every member of the administration acts only in the name of the royal person, by delegation of power. From the Pyramid Texts , the political actions of the sovereign were framed by

4263-484: The archaeological complex of Abu Simbel , and the Mortuary temple known as the Ramesseum. He built on a monumental scale to ensure that his legacy would survive the ravages of time. Ramesses used art as a means of propaganda for his victories over foreigners, which are depicted on numerous temple reliefs. Ramesses II erected more colossal statues of himself than any other pharaoh, and also usurped many existing statues by inscribing his own cartouche on them. Ramesses II

4350-428: The archives and placed under the responsibility of the vizier , applied to all, for the common good and social agreement. Sceptres and staves were a general symbol of authority in ancient Egypt . One of the earliest royal scepters was discovered in the tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos . Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks -staff. The scepter with

4437-408: The atmosphere, affecting agricultural production and arresting global tree growth for almost two full decades, until 1140 BC. One proposed cause is the Hekla 3 eruption of the Hekla volcano in Iceland, but the dating of this remains disputed. Near the end of Ramesses III's reign, one of his secondary wives plotted to assassinate the king in her quest to place her son on the throne. Palace personnel,

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4524-413: The collapse of the Egyptian Empire (In the reign of Ramses III himself, Egyptian presence in the Levant is still attested as far as Byblos ). He later was compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his sixth year and eleventh year respectively. The heavy cost of this warfare slowly drained Egypt's treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of

4611-400: The country or attacking others when it was believed that this would contribute to Maat, such as to obtain resources. During the early days prior to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt , the Deshret or the "Red Crown", was a representation of the kingdom of Lower Egypt, while the Hedjet , the "White Crown", was worn by the kings of Upper Egypt. After the unification of both kingdoms,

4698-416: The death of her husband, she ruled jointly with his son by a minor wife, Thutmose III , who had ascended to the throne as a child of about two years of age, but eventually she ruled in her own right as king. Hatshepsut built extensively in the Karnak temple in Luxor and throughout all of Egypt and she re-established the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos rule of Lower Egypt during

4785-456: The deities were made of gold and the pyramids and obelisks are representations of (golden) sun -rays. The gold sign may also be a reference to Nubt, the city of Set. This would suggest that the iconography represents Horus conquering Set. The prenomen and nomen were contained in a cartouche. The prenomen often followed the King of Upper and Lower Egypt ( nsw bity ) or Lord of the Two Lands ( nebtawy ) title. The prenomen often incorporated

4872-534: The divinity of the Pharaoh, though this may reflect Greek notions of divine kingship just as much as it could reflect Egyptian ones. The historian Herodotus explicitly denies this, claiming that Egyptian priests rejected any notion of the divinity of the king. The only explicit classical Greek source which describes the divinity of Pharaoh is contained in the writings of Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BCE, who in turn relies on Hecataeus of Abdera as his source of information. Diodorus slightly contradicts himself in

4959-408: The early dynasties, ancient Egyptian kings had as many as three titles : the Horus , the Sedge and Bee ( nswt-bjtj ), and the Two Ladies or Nebty ( nbtj ) name. The Golden Horus and the nomen and prenomen titles were added later. In Egyptian society, religion was central to everyday life. One of the roles of the king was as an intermediary between the deities and the people. The king thus

5046-402: The glyphs for the "Sedge and the Bee". The title is usually translated as king of Upper and Lower Egypt. The nsw bity name may have been the birth name of the king. It was often the name by which kings were recorded in the later annals and king lists. The earliest example of a Nebty ( Two Ladies ) name comes from the reign of king Aha from the First Dynasty . The title links the king with

5133-431: The god over the Nile river. In Exodus Rabbah 10:2, Pharaoh boasts that he is the creator and owner of the Nile. God is then said to have responded to this statement by challenging the Pharaoh over who owns the Nile, as God proceeds to create a disaster by bringing forth frogs from it that consume Egypt's agriculture. In other midrashic texts, Pharaoh asserts himself as the creator of the universe and even of himself. In

5220-407: The goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nekhbet and Wadjet . The title is preceded by the vulture (Nekhbet) and the cobra (Wadjet) standing on a basket (the neb sign). The Golden Horus or Golden Falcon name was preceded by a falcon on a gold or nbw sign. The title may have represented the divine status of the king. The Horus associated with gold may be referring to the idea that the bodies of

5307-414: The gods and man. This institution represents an innovation over that of Sumerian city-states where, though the clan leader or king mediated between his people and the gods, did not himself represent a god on Earth. The few Sumerian exceptions to this would post-date the origins of this practice in ancient Egypt. For example, the legendary king Gilgamesh , thought to have reigned in Uruk as a contemporary of

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5394-511: The harem, government officials, and army officers participated in the plot . A special court of 12 judges was formed to try the defendants who were sentenced to death. Written sources show that the coup failed and that the conspirators were successfully tried. However, it is not clear from the documents whether Ramses survived the assassination attempt. The king's mummy showed no visible wounds, and questions about his fate were left open to speculation for many years. In 2012, researchers announced that

5481-407: The kings of this dynasty is Amenhotep III , who built the Luxor Temple , the Precinct of Monthu at Karnak and his massive Mortuary Temple . Amenhotep III also built the Malkata palace, the largest built in Egypt. One of the best-known eighteenth dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in honour of the Aten , a representation of the Egyptian god, Ra. His worship of

5568-419: The longest history seems to be the heqa -sceptre, sometimes described as the shepherd's crook. The earliest examples of this piece of regalia dates to prehistoric Egypt . A scepter was found in a tomb at Abydos that dates to Naqada III . Another scepter associated with the king is the was -sceptre . This is a long staff mounted with an animal head. The earliest known depictions of the was -scepter date to

5655-433: The military campaigns, although an increasingly troubled court—which at one point put a usurper ( Amenmesse ) on the throne—made it increasingly difficult for a pharaoh to effectively retain control of the territories. Ramesses II built extensively throughout Egypt and Nubia, and his cartouches are prominently displayed, even in buildings that he did not construct. There are accounts of his honor hewn on stone, statues, and

5742-430: The minds of others. Additionally, he is a skilled scientist specializing in archaeology, genetics, and radiation. Pharaoh Pharaoh ( / ˈ f ɛər oʊ / , US also / ˈ f eɪ . r oʊ / ; Egyptian : pr ꜥꜣ ; Coptic : ⲡⲣ̄ⲣⲟ , romanized:  Pǝrro ; Biblical Hebrew : פַּרְעֹה ‎ Parʿō ) is the vernacular term often used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt , who ruled from

5829-410: The name of Re . The nomen often followed the title, Son of Re ( sa-ra ), or the title, Lord of Appearances ( neb-kha ). In Ancient Egypt , the Pharaoh was often considered to be divine. This precept originated before 3000 BCE and the Egyptian office of divine kingship would go on to influence many other societies and kingdoms, surviving into the modern era . The Pharaoh also became a mediator between

5916-430: The palace, it began to be added to the other titles before the name of the king, and from the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty (eighth to seventh centuries BCE, during the declining Third Intermediate Period ) it was, at least in ordinary use, the only epithet prefixed to the royal appellative. From the Nineteenth dynasty onward pr-ꜥꜣ on its own, was used as regularly as ḥm , "Majesty". The term, therefore, evolved from

6003-491: The period of Persian domination of Egypt. The Persian emperor Darius the Great (522–486 BCE) was referred to as a divine being in Egyptian temple texts. Such descriptions continued and were designated to Alexander the Great after his conquest of Egypt, and later still for the rulers of the Ptolemaic Kingdom that succeeded Alexander's rule. Descriptions of the divinity of the Pharaoh are much more infrequent in sources from Classical Greece . One Ptolemaic-era hymn describes

6090-423: The pharaoh is invariably represented as the equal of the gods. In the religious speech, he is however only their humble servant, a zealous servant who makes multiple offerings. This piety expresses the hope of a just return of service. Filled with goods, the gods must favorably activate the forces of nature for a common benefit to all Egyptians. The only human being admitted to dialogue with the gods on an equal level,

6177-405: The prestige and the divine color ..." Inscriptions regularly described the Pharaoh as the "good god" or "perfect god" ( nfr ntr ). By the time of the New Kingdom , the divinity of the king was imbued as he possessed the manifestation of the god Amun-Re ; this was referred to as his 'living royal ka ' which he received during the coronation ceremony. The divinity of Pharaoh was still held to during

6264-429: The reign of Den . The khat headdress consists of a kind of "kerchief" whose end is tied similarly to a ponytail . The earliest depictions of the khat headdress comes from the reign of Den , but is not found again until the reign of Djoser . The Nemes headdress dates from the time of Djoser . It is the most common type of royal headgear depicted throughout Pharaonic Egypt. Any other type of crown, apart from

6351-614: The reign of Ay, leaving the opportunity for Horemheb to claim the throne next. Horemheb also died without surviving children, having appointed his vizier, Pa-ra-mes-su, as his heir. This vizier ascended the throne in 1292 BC as Ramesses I , and was the first pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty . The Nineteenth Dynasty was founded by the Vizier Ramesses I , whom the last ruler of the eighteenth dynasty, Pharaoh Horemheb, had chosen as his successor. His brief reign marked

6438-546: The remains of palaces and temples —most notably the Ramesseum in western Thebes and the rock temples of Abu Simbel . He covered the land from the Delta to Nubia with buildings in a way no king before him had. He also founded a new capital city in the Delta during his reign, called Pi-Ramesses . It previously had served as a summer palace during the reign of Seti I. Ramesses II constructed many large monuments, including

6525-456: The royal palace and not a person. Sometime during the era of the New Kingdom , pharaoh became the form of address for a person who was king. The earliest confirmed instance where pr ꜥꜣ is used specifically to address the ruler is in a letter to the eighteenth dynasty king, Akhenaten (reigned c.  1353 –1336 BCE), that is addressed to "Great House, L, W, H, the Lord". However, there

6612-438: The ruler consisted of five names; Horus, Nebty, Golden Horus, nomen, and prenomen for some rulers, only one or two of them may be known. The Horus name was adopted by the king, when taking the throne. The name was written within a square frame representing the palace, named a serekh . The earliest known example of a serekh dates to the reign of king Ka , before the First Dynasty. The Horus name of several early kings expresses

6699-399: The serpent Apophis , the king of Egypt repels the plunderers of the desert, fights the invading armies and defeats the internal rebels. The Pharaoh was always the sole victor; standing up and knocking out a bunch of prisoners or shooting arrows from his battle chariot . As the only legislator, the laws and decrees he promulgated were seen as inspired by divine wisdom. This legislation, kept in

6786-538: The staff, leaving Akasha with only fragments of the Pharaoh's power. In the Apocalypse: The Twelve storyline, the Living Monolith is among the mutants who Apocalypse captures in an attempt to gain omnipotence. Apocalypse then attempts to possess Nate Grey before the process is interrupted, forcing him to possess Cyclops instead. Abdol later obtains the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and becomes

6873-604: The term was at first spelled "Pharao", but the translators for the King James Bible revived "Pharaoh" with "h" from the Hebrew. Meanwhile, in Egypt, *[par-ʕoʔ] evolved into Sahidic Coptic ⲡⲣ̅ⲣⲟ pərro and then ərro by rebracketing p- as the definite article "the" (from ancient Egyptian pꜣ ). Other notable epithets are nswt , translated to "king"; ḥm , "Majesty"; jty for "monarch or sovereign"; nb for "lord"; and ḥqꜣ for "ruler". As

6960-399: The throne seems to have been disputed by his half-brother Amenmesse , who may have temporarily ruled from Thebes. Upon his death, Seti II's son Siptah , who may have been afflicted with poliomyelitis during his life, was appointed to the throne by Bay , a chancellor and a West Asian commoner who served as vizier behind the scenes. Siptah died early and throne was assumed by Twosret , who

7047-538: The town and erected a victory stela at the site which has been found by archaeologists. Kadesh, however, soon reverted to Hittite control because the Egyptians did not or could not maintain a permanent military occupation of Kadesh and Amurru which were close to the Hittite homelands. Ramesses II sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the 18th Dynasty. In his second year, before confronting

7134-634: The two biliteral hieroglyphs pr "house" and ꜥꜣ "column", here meaning "great" or "high". It was the title of the royal palace and was used only in larger phrases such as smr pr-ꜥꜣ "Courtier of the High House", with specific reference to the buildings of the court or palace. From the Twelfth Dynasty onward, the word appears in a wish formula "Great House, May it Live, Prosper, and be in Health ", but again only with reference to

7221-577: Was also famed for the huge number of children he sired by his various wives and concubines ; the tomb he built for his sons (many of whom he outlived) in the Valley of the Kings has proven to be the largest funerary complex in Egypt. The immediate successors of Ramesses II continued the military campaigns although an increasingly troubled court complicated matters. He was succeeded by his son Merneptah and then by Merneptah's son Seti II . Seti II's right to

7308-474: Was deputised for the deities in a role that was both as civil and religious administrator. The king owned all of the land in Egypt, enacted laws, collected taxes, and served as commander-in-chief of the military . Religiously, the king officiated over religious ceremonies and chose the sites of new temples. The king was responsible for maintaining Maat ( mꜣꜥt ), or cosmic order, balance, and justice, and part of this included going to war when necessary to defend

7395-399: Was short. His successor was Horemheb, a general during the reign of Tutankhamun, whom the pharaoh may have intended as his successor in the event that he had no surviving children, which came to pass. Horemheb may have taken the throne away from Ay in a coup d'état . Although Ay's son or stepson Nakhtmin was named as his father or stepfather's Crown Prince, Nakhtmin seems to have died during

7482-481: Was the royal wife of his father and, possibly, his uncle Amenmesse's sister. A period of anarchy at the end of Twosret's short reign saw the enthronement of Setnakhte , establishing the Twentieth Dynasty . The last "great" pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely considered to be Ramesses III , a Twentieth Dynasty pharaoh who reigned several decades after Ramesses II. In the eighth year of his reign,

7569-636: Was the second successor of Siamun. Meanwhile, the traditional custom of referring to the sovereign as, pr-ˤ3 , continued in official Egyptian narratives. The title is reconstructed to have been pronounced *[parʕoʔ] in the Late Egyptian language , from which the Greek historian Herodotus derived the name of one of the Egyptian kings, Koinē Greek : Φερων . In the Hebrew Bible , the title also occurs as Hebrew : פרעה [parʕoːh] ; from that, in

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