In the mythology of ancient Egypt, where religion played a central role at all levels of society, the Egyptian heroes were often priest-magicians. The citizens of Egypt thought that the pharaohs were gods, the assistants of Amen-Ra. One famous reign was that of Rameses. That dynasty had about 30 rules. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and became its ruler for a short time until the Egyptians took it back from him.

The pharaohs of ancient Egypt ruled over one of the oldest and most spectacular civilizations in the world, spanning an astonishing period of more than 3,000 years. During this time a succession of 31 dynasties ruled the land, beginning with Menes himself in 3100 B.C. and ending with the last ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Nectanebo II, in 343 B.C.

One of the famous rulers of ancient Egypt was Tutankhamen. At the age of nine, Tutankhamen became pharaoh. King Tut, as a lot of people call him, was too young to rule Egypt so his uncle Ay, who was the highest minister, ruled for him while he was a boy. Tut married Ankhsenoomun. Tutankhamen died at 18.

Only a person of great importance could get near enough to harm him, one of them would have been Ay.

Egyptian Heroes

One of the first women to hold the rank of the pharaoh was Hatshepsut, who began her rule in about 1,500 B.C.E. Hatshepsut took care of her people and built temples to the gods as well as other public buildings.

Nefertiti was another Egyptian ruler.

Cleopatra became the most famous of Egypt’s female leaders. She was a mathematician and a very good business woman. She was extremely intelligent and ambitious and spoke several languages – she even studied astronomy. At 18, she became queen of Egypt.

During the New Kingdom, Ramses II and his successors were unable to pull Egypt out of what would prove to be a long and steady decline, bringing to an end the glorious age of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.

In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great, scored a series of victories against the Persians and heralded in a new phase of the history of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Alexander was the young ruler of a group of united Greek city states. He had shown himself to be a brilliant military commander and was in the process of building himself a huge empire.

Ptolemy was the next in series. The Egyptians, unaware of the extent to which they would lose their independence, were quite happy to accept him as Alexander’s heir and to proclaim him their new pharaoh.