"Egypt's Greatest Pharoah?" Topic

A recent book proclaims Tuthmoses III as Egypt's greatest "military king."

Who would you select as the greatest pharoah of them all?

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For the win.

Pat

Alexander? Trajan? Marcus Aurelius?

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Disputed win. So it is written, So it is done.

Horemheb…Managed to get the country working again after the disaster of Akhenaten

According to the vast building projects and relief depictions he commissioned, it was Ramesses II himself …

(he also won his battles single-handedly)

There is that – he was certainly tops at self-promotion (and that's saying a bit, in that company).

Doug

Nobody beat Yul Brynner

Eric

Except Charlton Heston.

Doug

Charlton had God on his side, so the result was rigged.

Hatshepsut.
Or as she is fondly known to archaeologists, "Hotsheepsh1t"

"The Pharaohs wore artificial beards to symbolise artificial wisdom."
(Will Cuppy)

This guy…
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I hear he was born in Arizona…

King Rhuhtan Tuhtan.

Gotta go with Yul, er… Rameses.

Thutmose III, the real kingdom builder.

or Cleopatra (Liz Taylor and Lyndsey Marshal trump Yul Brenner ^,^ )

Thutmose III stands out as Egypts conquering Pharaoh, without much competition. He took a back seat to his aunt, Hatshepsut however. But there are others, like Menes who first (?) united the two kingdoms. I am surprised (or not so surprised, this is TMP) that no one mentioned Akhenaton aka Ikhnaton aka Amenophis IV the supposed monotheist.

I'll see your Yul Brenner and raise you a Kharis Borloff. YouTube link

Hatshepsut.

Rameses II, just ask him.

Elvis:

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Thutmose II was pretty cool, but I've always had a soft spot for Ramses II. Ok, so maybe he did brag a bit, but I think that was par for the course for pretty much all rulers of his time. Besides, didn't they find a lot of old battle scars all over his body when they examined him? So there must have been at least a bit of truth to some of his wild tales.

Rameses? Not after you see this:

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King Scorpion was (possibly) the first Pharoah. You have to give him credit for getting the whole ball rolling.

"Besides, didn't they find a lot of old battle scars all over his body when they examined him?"

Either that or he had a really high-maintenance harem…

Egypts "greatest" pharoah based on what criteria? Military genius/prowess, diplomacy,civil infrastructure, civil governance, how much cool stuff they left behind in a tomb etc.And from which era ? Probably some great early ones lost in the dust of history. So much is unkown, or speculation.
To answer your question, I'll go with Cleopatra (not the Liz Taylor version). Apparently a linguist, a seasoned diplomat, builder of temples, beloved of her people(generally speaking), intellectually curious,well travelled and a supporter of the arts and sciences (such as they were then). Also, dare I say it, a pretty good roll in the papyrus.

Old Kingdom;Khufu. Middle Kingdom,unsure. New Kingdom;Seti I,Rameses II,Thutmose III, Ptolemaic;Cleopatra (the one who was there with Julius Caesar.)

Osmosis III.

Thutmose III

Shishak should get a nod for managing to swipe all the loot from the Temple in Jerusalem.

And according to Speilberg, swiping the Ark of the Covenant at the same time . . .

Always been a fan of Thutmose III — invented the military pontoon bridge and brought the engineering train with him to take the army across the Euphrates.
<3

Akhenaton, hands down.

All the others are pikers compared to him.

Rameses II- you gotta love a guy who can get his butt kicked on the battlefield and then turn around a build a huge monument claiming he won. That level of chutzpa just cries out for recognition.