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Pharaoh of the Exodus

 

 
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In the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
, the name of the Pharaoh of the Exodus is not given. He is simply called "Pharaoh." Muslims also believe in the exodus, as the story is told in the Muslim holy book the Qur'an
Qur'an

The Qur?an is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur?an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God....
 (Koran), although some details of the story are different. Candidates for the identity of the King of Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
 at the time of the Exodus
Exodus

Exodus is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. It tells how Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Mountain of God Sinai....
 include:



The most commonly imagined figure in popular culture is Ramesses the Great
Ramesses II

Ramesses II was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt. He is often regarded as Ancient Egypt's greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh....
, although there is no documentary or archaeological evidence that he had to deal with the Plagues of Egypt
Plagues of Egypt

The Plagues of Egypt , the Biblical Plagues or the Ten Plagues are the ten calamities imposed upon Ancient Egypt by Names of God in Judaism in the Bible , in order to convince Pharaoh of the Exodus to let the poorly treated Israelite slaves go...
 or anything similar or that he chased Hebrew slaves fleeing Egypt.

In the 1960s and 1970s, several scholars such as George Mendenhall associated the Israelites' arrival in Canaan
Canaan

Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt....
 (many scholars now view the Israelites as native to Canaan) more closely with the Hapiru mentioned in the Amarna letters
Amarna letters

The Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Ancient Egypt administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom....
 which date to the reign of Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III

Amenhotep III was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1391 BC-December 1353 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC after his father Thutmose IV died....
 and Akhenaten
Akhenaten

Akhenaten , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, who died 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheism worship of Aten, although there are doubts as to how successful he was at this....
 and in the Hittite treaties with Ramesses II. Most scholars today, however, view the Hapiru or Apiru instead as bandits who attacked the trade and royal caravans that travelled along the coastal roads of Canaan.






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In the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
, the name of the Pharaoh of the Exodus is not given. He is simply called "Pharaoh." Muslims also believe in the exodus, as the story is told in the Muslim holy book the Qur'an
Qur'an

The Qur?an is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur?an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God....
 (Koran), although some details of the story are different. Candidates for the identity of the King of Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
 at the time of the Exodus
Exodus

Exodus is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. It tells how Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Mountain of God Sinai....
 include:

  • Amenemhat IV
    Amenemhat IV

    Amenemhat IV, alt. Amenemhet IV or Sobehneferu, was Pharaoh, likely ruling between ca. 1815 BC and ca. 1806 BC. He served first as the junior coregent of Amenemhat III and completed the latter's temple at Medinet Maadi, which is "the only intact temple still existing from the Middle Kingdom" according to Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General o...
     (1815 BC to 1806 BC)
  • Tutimaios (circa 1690 BC)- also known as Dudimose
    Dudimose

    Dudimose was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He was the last king of Egypt's Thirteenth dynasty of Egypt, during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt....
  • A Hyksos
    Hyksos

    The Hyksos were an Asiatic people who invaded the eastern Nile Delta, in the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt initiating the Second Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....
     king (circa 1648 BC to 1540 BC)
  • Ahmose I
    Ahmose I

    Ahmose I was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He was a member of the Thebes, Egypt royal house, the son of pharaoh Tao II the Brave and brother of the last pharaoh of the Seventeenth dynasty of Egypt, King Kamose....
      (1550 BC to 1525 BC)
  • Thutmose I
    Thutmose I

    Thutmose I was the third Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt of History of Ancient Egypt. He was given the throne after the death of the previous king Amenhotep I....
  • Thutmose III
    Thutmose III

    Thutmose III was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. During the first twenty-two years of Thutmose's reign he was co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh....
     (1479 BC to 1425 BC)
  • Amenhotep II
    Amenhotep II

    Amenhotep II was the seventh Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt of History of Ancient Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few military campaigns in Syria; however, he fought much less than his father, and his reign saw the effective cessation of hostilities between Egypt a...
     (1427 BC to 1401 BC)
  • Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten
    Akhenaten

    Akhenaten , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, who died 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheism worship of Aten, although there are doubts as to how successful he was at this....
      (1352 BC – 1336 BC)
  • Horemheb
    Horemheb

    Horemheb was the last Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt from 1319 BC to late 1292 BC, although he was not related to the preceding royal family and is believed to have been of common birth....
     (circa 1319 BC to 1292 BC)
  • Ramesses I
    Ramesses I

    Menpehtyre Ramesses I was the founding Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt. The dates for his short reign are not completely known but the time-line of late 1290s BC is frequently cited as well as 1290s BC....
     (circa 1292 BC to 1290 BC)
  • Ramesses II
    Ramesses II

    Ramesses II was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt. He is often regarded as Ancient Egypt's greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh....
     (1279 BC to 1213 BC)
  • Merneptah
    Merneptah

    Merneptah was the fourth ruler of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt of Ancient Egypt. He ruled Egypt for almost ten years between late July or early August 1213 to May 2, 1203 BC, according to contemporary historical records....
     (1213 BC to 1203 BC)
  • Amenmesse
    Amenmesse

    Amenmesse was the 5th ruler of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt in Ancient Egypt, possibly the son of Merneptah and Queen Takhat. Others consider him to be one of the innumerable sons of Ramesses II....
     (1203 BC to 1199 BC)
  • Setnakhte
    Setnakhte

    Userkhaure-setepenre Setnakhte was the first Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and the father of Ramesses III....
     (1190 BC to 1186 BC)


The most commonly imagined figure in popular culture is Ramesses the Great
Ramesses II

Ramesses II was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt. He is often regarded as Ancient Egypt's greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh....
, although there is no documentary or archaeological evidence that he had to deal with the Plagues of Egypt
Plagues of Egypt

The Plagues of Egypt , the Biblical Plagues or the Ten Plagues are the ten calamities imposed upon Ancient Egypt by Names of God in Judaism in the Bible , in order to convince Pharaoh of the Exodus to let the poorly treated Israelite slaves go...
 or anything similar or that he chased Hebrew slaves fleeing Egypt.

In the 1960s and 1970s, several scholars such as George Mendenhall associated the Israelites' arrival in Canaan
Canaan

Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt....
 (many scholars now view the Israelites as native to Canaan) more closely with the Hapiru mentioned in the Amarna letters
Amarna letters

The Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Ancient Egypt administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom....
 which date to the reign of Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III

Amenhotep III was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1391 BC-December 1353 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC after his father Thutmose IV died....
 and Akhenaten
Akhenaten

Akhenaten , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, who died 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheism worship of Aten, although there are doubts as to how successful he was at this....
 and in the Hittite treaties with Ramesses II.
Exodus Map
Most scholars today, however, view the Hapiru or Apiru instead as bandits who attacked the trade and royal caravans that travelled along the coastal roads of Canaan. Ramesses II's late 13th century BC stela in Beth Shan mentions two conquered peoples who came to "make obeisance to him" in his city of Raameses or Pi-Ramesses but mentions neither the building of the city nor, as some have written, the Israelites or Hapiru
Hebrews

Hebrews are an ancient people defined as descendants of biblical Patriarch Abraham , a descendent of Noah.In the Bible, the patriarch Abraham is referred to a single time as the ivri, which is the singular form of the Hebrew-language word for Hebrew ....
".

The Bible states that the Israelites toiled in slavery and built "for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom
Pithom

Pithom also called Per-Atum or Hero?polis or Heroonopolis , is an ancient city of Egypt known from both Bible and Ancient Greece and Roman Empire sources....
 and Ra'amses
Avaris

Avaris , was located near modern Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern region of the Nile Delta. As the main course of the Nile migrated eastward and the delta sedimented up and moved with the river, its position at the hub of Egypt's delta emporia made it a major administrative capital of the Hyksos "Phoenician kings" and other traders....
" in the Egyptian Delta. The latter is possibly a reference to the city of Pi-Ramesse Aa-nakhtu or the "House of Ramesses, Great-of-Victories"--i.e. ancient Pi-Ramesses (modern day Qantir) --which had been Seti I's summer retreat. Ramesses II greatly enlarged this city both as his principal northern capital and as an important forward base for his military campaigns into the Levant and his control over Canaan. According to Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Kitchen

Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool, England....
, Pi-Ramesses was largely abandoned from c.1130 BC onwards; as was often the practice, later rulers removed much of the stone from the city to build the temples of their new capital: Tanis
Tanis, Egypt

Tanis , the Greek language name of ancient Djanet , is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta of ancient Egypt. It lies on the Tanitic branch of the Nile ....
. Therefore, if the identification of the city is correct, it strengthens the cases for identifying Horemheb, Ramesses I, or Ramesses II as the Pharaoh who ruled Egypt during Moses' lifetime as construction occurred in Pi-Ramesses during each of their reigns.

His son and successor, Merneptah, mentions in the so-called Merneptah Stele
Merneptah Stele

The Merneptah Stele ? also known as the Israel Stele or Victory Stele of Merneptah ? is an inscription by the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah , which appears on the reverse side of a granite stela erected by the Pharaoh Amenhotep III....
 that the ancient Israelites already lived in Canaan during his reign. Merneptah's reference to their destruction, according to Michael G. Hasel
Michael G. Hasel

Michael Gerald Hasel is an United States archaeologist and Egyptologist. He completed his PhD in 1996 at the University of Arizona under William G....
, probably refers to the Egyptian military strategy of routing an ethnic group and destroying its grain, instead of the destruction of their offspring or progeny. Merneptah's inscription uses a parallel structure which contrasts the city-states with the Israelites within the territory of Canaan/Kharu. This prompts one to remember that the books of Joshua and Judges both paint pictures of the Israelites as tribes acting independently or in small coalitions against their enemies and wonder how fast they could have coalesced to the point where an ancient and mighty nation such as Egypt would consider them worth mentioning.

A 2006 Canadian documentary Exodus Decoded
Exodus Decoded

The Ex?odus Decoded is a 2006 History Channel Documentary film created by Jewish Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and the producer/director James Cameron....
 argues that Ahmose I
Ahmose I

Ahmose I was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He was a member of the Thebes, Egypt royal house, the son of pharaoh Tao II the Brave and brother of the last pharaoh of the Seventeenth dynasty of Egypt, King Kamose....
 is the Exodus Pharaoh, given that the title Pharaoh was applied only to Pharaohs after Thutmose III and was used only in place of the throne name of the Pharaoh from the Late Period
Late Period of Ancient Egypt

The Late Period of Egypt refers to the last flowering of native Egyptian rulers after the Third Intermediate Period from the 26th Saite Dynasty into Persian Empire History of Egypt under Achaemenid Persian domination and ended with the death of Alexander the Great....
 (for example the Assyrians referred to Per'o).

Muslim version


According to the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an (Koran), an exodus did take place as Moses took his people out of Egypt. The Qur'an also does not name the Pharaoh, but it gives new and interesting information and a slightly different version of events compared to the Bible. The Quran says that the Pharaoh died while he was pursuing Moses, he died by being drowned, and that his body was preserved. It also says that the Pharaoh's wife believed in the one true God of Moses. The Pharaoh who picked Moses from the Nile is the same person who died at the Exodus.

See also

  • Ipuwer Papyrus
    Ipuwer papyrus

    The Ipuwer Papyrus is a single surviving papyrus holding an ancient Egyptian poem, called The Admonitions of Ipuwer or The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All....
  • Shiphrah
    Shiphrah

    Shiphrah was one of two midwives who helped prevent the genocide of Hebrew children by the Egyptians, according to Exodus 1:15-21. The name is found in a list of slavery in Egypt during the reign of Sobekhotep III....
  • Thrasyllus of Mendes
    Thrasyllus of Mendes

    Thrasyllus of Mendes whose full name was Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus . Thrasyllus was an Egyptian Greeks who originally came from a Greek family in Mendes, Egypt....