Pharaoh was the title for the man (and, in some cases, woman) who was high priest and ruler of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was more than just a ruler. He or she was almost a god, descended from Re, the sun god.

The pharaoh wore the Double Crown. It combined the White Crown of Upper Egypt with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. This showed he was ruler of both Upper and Lower Egypt. The cobra on the rim of the crown represented the eye of Re. This protected him against his enemies.

History

By about 3400 BC Egypt consisted of two kingdoms, Upper and Lower Egypt. In about 3100 BC, Egypt was united, probably under the rule of Menes (also called Narmer), the first pharaoh. From then on, the history of Egypt was divided into three main periods: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. The Old Kingdom was the age of pyramid-building. In the Middle Kingdom, Egypt traded with other lands and conquered Nubia to the south.

Akhenaten

In 1352 BC Amenhotep IV succeeded to the throne of Egypt. Shortly afterwards, he changed his name to Akhenaten. This was because he believed in a single god, the sun-god Aten. The ancient Egyptians traditionally believed in many gods. The priests had become almost as powerful as the pharaoh himself. Akhenaten and his queen, Nefertiti, banned these beliefs and began a new religion based upon worship of Aten alone. This turned out to be unpopular.

The boy king

Akhenaten’s son, Tutankhamun, came to the throne in about 1336 BC. He was just nine years old, and so has become known as the "boy king". King Tut, as he is also sometimes called, is one of the most famous of all the pharaohs. This is because it was his tomb that was discovered, still with nearly all its treasures, in 1922.

When he became king, Tutankhamun married his half-sister Ankhesenamun. He was always in poor health and needed to walk with the aid of a cane. A leg infection may have been enough to cause his sudden death at the age of only 19. Preparations for his burial had not yet been made, which is probably why his tomb is smaller than most other pharaohs’ tombs. It had originally been made for someone else, a lesser figure than a pharaoh.

Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) was probably the most powerful pharaoh in ancient Egyptian history. His reign was extremely long, 67 years, and he lived to around the age of 90. Although he had many wives and children in the course of his long life, his Great Royal Wife, Queen Nefertari, was a well-loved and much respected figure. Ramesses had many magnificent monuments, including temples and statues, built to commemorate his rule.

Cleopatra

The last ruling pharaoh of Egypt was Cleopatra VII (69–30 BC). She was descended from a Greek king, Alexander the Great. The Roman general Julius Caesar helped her to become sole ruler of Egypt instead of her brother, Ptolemy XIII. After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she and her lover Mark Antony made an alliance against Octavian (later Augustus). Their forces were defeated at the Battle of Actium.