Sesostris

Sesostris (Greek: Σέσωστρις) was the name of a king of ancient Egypt who, according to Herodotus, led a military expedition into parts of Europe.

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 known to be Egyptian colonists.

According to Diodorus Siculus (who calls him Sesoösis), and Strabo, he conquered the whole world, even Scythia and Ethiopia, divided Egypt into administrative districts or nomes, was a great law-giver, and introduced a caste system into Egypt and the worship of Serapis. Herodotus also relates that when Sesostris defeated an army without much resistance he erected a pillar in their capital with a vagina on it to symbolize the fact that the army fought like women.Pliny the Elder also makes mention of Sesostris, who, he claims, was defeated by Saulaces, a gold-rich king of Colchis.

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

Sesostris is believed to be based on Senusret III, with the possible addition of memories of other pharaohs including the Twelfth Dynasty, Seti I and Ramesses II of the Nineteenth Dynasty. In Manetho, 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.

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