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Sesostris (‹See Tfd›Greek: Σέσωστρις) is the name of a legendary king of ancient Egypt who, according to Herodotus, led a military expedition into parts of Europe. Tales of Sesostris are probably based on the life of Senusret I, Senusret III and perhaps other Pharaohs such as Shoshenq I^[1]^[2] and Ramesses II.^[3]

Sesostris' name is also given as Sesoösis or Sesonchosis in other sources.^[1]

Account of Herodotus

In Herodotus' Histories there appears a story told by Egyptian priests about a Pharaoh Sesostris, who once led an army northward overland to Asia Minor, then fought his way westward until he crossed into Europe, where he defeated the Scythians and Thracians (possibly in modern Romania and Bulgaria). Sesostris then returned home, leaving colonists behind at the river Phasis in Colchis. Herodotus cautioned the reader that much of this story came second hand via Egyptian priests, but also noted that the Colchians were commonly believed to be Egyptian colonists.^[4]

Herodotus also relates that when Sesostris defeated an army without much resistance he erected a pillar in their capital with a vulva on it to symbolize the fact that the army fought like women.^[5] Pliny the Elder also makes mention of Sesostris, who, he claims, was defeated by Saulaces, a gold-rich king of Colchis.^[6]

Herodotus describes Sesostris as the father of the blind king Pheron, who was less warlike than his father.

According to Professor Alan Lloyd 'The core of Herodotus’ narrative is provided by an Egyptian tradition which presented Sesostris as a model of the ideal of kingship. This certainly contained an historical element, but it has been supplemented and contaminated by folklore, nationalist propaganda, and Greek attitudes."^[7]

Diodorus Siculus

According to Diodorus Siculus (who calls him Sesoosis) and Strabo, he conquered the whole world, even Scythia and Aethiopia, divided Egypt into administrative districts or nomes, was a great law-giver, and introduced a caste system into Egypt and the worship of Serapis.^[8] Diodorus also wrote that "with regard to this king not only are the Greek writers at variance with one another, but also among the Egyptians the priests and the poets who sing his praises give conflicting stories” (1.53).^[9]

Modern research

In Manetho's Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt), a pharaoh called "Sesostris" occupied the same position as the known pharaoh Senusret III of the Twelfth Dynasty, and his name is now usually viewed as a corruption of Senusret/Senwosret/Senwosri. In fact, he is commonly believed to be based on Senusret III, with the possible addition of memories of other namesake pharaohs of the same dynasty, as well as Seti I and Ramesses II of the much later Nineteenth Dynasty.^[10]^[8]

The images of Sesostris carved in stone in Ionia which Herodotus said he had seen^[11] are likely to be identified with the Luwian inscriptions of Karabel Pass, the Karabel relief, now known to have been carved by Tarkasnawa, king of the Arzawan rump state of Mira.^[12] The kings of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties were possibly the greatest conquerors that Egypt ever produced, and their records are much clearer than the older dynasties^[8] on the limits of Egyptian expansion. Senusret III raided into the Levant as far as Shechem,^[13] also into Aethiopia, and at Semna above 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.^[8]

Sesostris is also mentioned in the Alexander Romance where Alexander is described as "the new Sesostris, ruler of the world.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Jacco Dieleman; Ian S. Moyer (10 May 2010). "Egyptian Literature". In Clauss, James J.; Cuypers, Martine (eds.). A Companion to Hellenistic Literature. John Wiley & Sons. p. 441. ISBN 978-1-4051-3679-2. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
^ Clauss, James J.; Cuypers, Martine (2010-05-10). A Companion to Hellenistic Literature. John Wiley & Sons. p. 441. ISBN 978-1-4051-3679-2.
^ Bull, Christian H. (24 September 2018). The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom. BRILL. p. 94. ISBN 978-90-04-37084-5. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
^ "For it is plain to see that the Colchians are Egyptians; and what I say, I myself noted before I heard it from others." Herodotus Histories 2.104
^ Herodotus Histories 2.102
^ Rackham, Harris, ed. (1938). Pliny Natural History I. Harvard University Press. p. 43.
^ Alan Lloyd (30 August 2007). "Book II". In Moreno, Alfonso; Murray, Oswyn; Brosius, Maria (eds.). A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV. OUP Oxford. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-19-814956-9. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Griffith, Francis Llewellyn (1911). "Sesostris". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 701.
^ Jay, Jacqueline E. (10 June 2016). Orality and Literacy in the Demotic Tales. BRILL. p. 316. ISBN 978-90-04-32307-0. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
^ Silverman, David P., Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press (5 Jun 2003), ISBN 978-0-19-521952-4, p. 29
^ "Most of the memorial pillars which King Sesostris erected in conquered countries have disappeared, but I have seen some myself in Palestine with the inscription I mentioned and the drawing of a woman's genitals. In Ionia also there are two images of Sesostris cut on rock, one on the road from Ephesos to Phocaea, the other between Sardis and Smyrna; in each case the carved figure is nearly seven feet high and represents a man with a spear in his right hand and a bow in his left, and the rest of his equipment to match – partly Egyptian, partly Ethiopian." Herodotus II.106
^ "Hittite Monuments - Karabel".
^ Aldred, Cyril (1987). The Egyptians (second ed.). Thames and Hudson. p. 130.

Bibliography

Herodotus ii. 102-111
Diodorus Siculus i. 53-59
Strabo xv. p. 687
Kurt Sethe, "Sesostris," in Unters. z. Gesch. u. Altertumskunde Agyptens, tome ii. Hinrichs, Leipzig (1900).