9
Fiendish Fact File
•
Powerful Ancient Egypt was created
through warfare when King Narmer,
or Menes, united north and south
Egypt in about 3100
BCE
.
•
Ramesses II was one of the most
fiendish pharaohs. He ruled for sixty-
six years, from 1279 to 1213
BCE
. This
was so long that his first three sons
died before he did. His fourth son,
Merneptah, succeeded him.
Now that I am pharaoh,
I CAN CHANGE THE RULES WHENEVER I WANT
.
So I am going to pass my title on to the son of
my favorite wife. She’s way below my Great Wife
in status, but I get along with her better. It
helps to be a man to become a pharaoh,
but there have been some very
powerful female pharaohs too. But
I have no daughters—yet.
YOU MAY WONDER HOW YOU
CAN TELL I AM THE PHARAOH.
Well, it is obvious who I am when I
emerge from my palace and visit my
lands. You cannot miss me as I wear
the most gorgeous clothes. I make
sure that no one else looks like me.
There are dress codes for every class
in society, which I can change whenever
I like. I enjoy seeing peasants and building workers in their simple
white flax clothes. Simple for them is good. As for me, I drip with gold
jewelry studded with precious stones. A gold cobra symbol curls around
my crown. My subjects believe it spits flames at our enemies. Of
course, I don’t actually mix with my subjects.
