The Kings of Egypt

The Kings of Egypt
The Kings of Egypt were the rulers of Egyptian dynasties. The ancient Egyptian Dynasties consisted of a succession of kings from the same family who succeeded each other on the throne of Egypt by right of inheritance. The history and civilization of ancient Egypt endured for over 3000 years and the Kings of Egypt helped to build a powerful empire.

List of all the Kings of Egypt - How many Kings of Egypt?
A chart containing a list of the Kings of Egypt can be found at the end of this article. How many Kings of Egypt were there? Well, our list provides 225 names of Kings of Egypt. However, there were many unsettled periods in ancient Egyptian history due to internal conflicts between different families and many foreign rulers. So kings were apt to be replaced after very short reigns. The records of the ancient Egyptians did not provide a comprehensive list all the names of the foreign kings but our list certainly contains details of all the known names of the Kings of Egypt.

The Kings of Egypt - Kings or Pharaohs?
The Kings of Egypt are often referred to as Pharaohs. Which is the correct title? Should the rulers of ancient Egypt be referred to as Kings or Pharaohs? The kings of Egypt were not called 'Pharaohs' until the time period called the New Kingdom 1550 -1069 BCE following the reign of Queen Hatshepsut in the Eighteenth Dynasty. The title 'Pharaoh' literally means "great house" as a reference to the residence of the royal palace. The title of Pharaoh was added to the other titles before the ruler's name following the expulsion of the Hyksos (meaning "foreign rulers") at the end of the 17th dynasty to indicate that the king was Egyptian and descended from the sun god Ra. 'Pharaoh' is the term we commonly use today to describe all of the kings of Egypt but, strictly speaking, this should be confined to the monarchs who reigned after Queen Hatshepsut.

The Kings of Egypt -v- Queens of Egypt
On the subject of the Queens of Egypt it is interesting to note that the ancient Egyptians had no word that was equivalent to "Queen". There were women that ruled in their own right, but they usually faced considerable opposition, especially from the high court officials and some of the priests. The title of a female ruler was the same as a man - King or Pharaoh. The queens of ancient Egypt were depicted in the same manner as the Kings, complete with the false beard that hooked behind the ears, which was a symbol of royal authority.