Pharaoh Akhenaten, Imhotep, Hippocrates, Nefertari and Hashepsut are Egyptian leaders who served at different times. They served at various dynasties. For, example, Pharaoh Akhenaten was an Egyptian leader of the eighteenth dynasty of the Egyptian leaders. Records indicate that he ruled for seventeen years. However, when he died is not very clear. Some books show that he died between 1336 and 1334 BC.
Akhenaten was an Egyptian sun king who served the Egyptians between 13352-1336 BC. He was a monotheist ruler. He is the Egyptian pharaoh who introduced the worship system in Egypt thus the phrase ‘god of the sun’. In the fifth year of his leadership, Pharaoh Akhenaten decided to change his name from Amenhotep to Amarna or Akhenaten. In fact, Pharaoh Akhenaten coerced his people to accept and adopt his religious reforms. He faced out the Egyptian gods. To make this very compatible to his reign, he even changed some portions of his name that associated with traditional gods. This he did not only do to himself but he compelled other Egyptian leaders and citizens to follow suit. His wife was called Nefterli and together they worshiped Aten the sun god.
Imhotep was the royal chamberlain of the third dynasty to king Netjerkhet popularly known as Djoser. Egyptians also considered him as a philosopher. He was also called ‘the son of Ptah’ He also designed the step pyramid. He was a medicine man who cured Egyptian diseases. In fact, he was a very great physician who provided much information about African diseases and their diagnosis. He was also a mathematician who invented most of the earliest mathematical instruments. For instance, in tackling the problem of volume and space in his construction of the step pyramid he provided a unique strategy and did what others had never achieved before.
Asante, Molefi K. From Imhotep to Akhenaten: An Introduction to Egyptian Philosophers. Paris:
Menaibuc, 2004.
This step pyramid became a venue where so many activities were performed. The pharaoh could discuss some matters of the national interest. The king’s body would also be preserved in the step pyramid. Nunn says that by the thirteenth dynasty, Imhotep was addressed ‘as one who comes to one who calls him to cast off sickness and heal the body’. 2 (Nunn 2002)
Hippocrates was a great Greek physician born in the island of Cos. He lived between 470 and 460 BC. He was from a descent family of Aesculapius. He was a medicine man who inherited the practice mainly from the Herodotus. Hippocrates of Cos is generally referred to as the father of medicine. He distinguished the field of medicine from other disciplines. To echo his vision, he started a medical school which taught and established medicine as a profession. He came up with various laws to govern his medical practice. Some of these laws stated that a good medicine man must be posses a natural disposition, love of labor and a favorable condition for the study. His Hippocratic Oath is still applicable to the today’s practice of medicine in the world. Besides, he prescribed the various practices of physicians by providing a systematic clinical medicine study through his Hippocratic Corpus. 3 (Hippocrate and Potter 2010)
Nefertari was one of the renowned queens of the great Egypt. Her husband was called Ramesses II the Great. He was the third Pharaoh of Egyptian nation of the nineteenth dynasty. His greatness is attached to his numerous and great military expeditions that he led into the Levant, Nubia, Gerf Hussein and Beit-el-Wali. These expeditions restored the Egyptian control over these kingdoms. Besides, he is a Pharaoh who assumed leadership as a teenager. 4 (LLC 2010)
2 Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. illustrated. London: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.
3 Hippocrate and Paul Potter. Hippocrates. illustrated, reprint. Edited by Paul Potter. Translated by
Paul Potter. Vol. 9. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2010.
4 LLC, General Books. 13th-Century Bc Women: Nefertari. Memphis: General Books LLC, 2010.
Queen Hatshepsut is an Egyptian woman who defied all odds to ascend to power. Her husband was known as King Thutmore II. When the King died, she proclaimed herself the pharaoh blocking the King’s son from ascending to the throne. This made her the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty. She ruled between 1479 and 1458 BC. At her time, the political climate did not favor women leadership in Egypt. She ruled in Egypt for twenty years marked with tremendous economic growth in Egypt. She is therefore, the longest serving woman pharaoh of Egyptian nation. She established very expansive trading and commercial relations with Egyptian allies. Besides, she restored many temples as well as building new ones. She was not the first Egyptian woman pharaoh but the truth is that her reign out smarted the rest. Queen Hatshepsut is remembered for wearing a false golden beard to conform to the position of the Pharaoh. The Egyptian Pharaohs wore a golden beard that symbolized the authority of the Egyptian ruler. Since she snatched the leadership from the King’s legal son, she wore the golden beard to prevent criticism that she would have received from the Egyptians.5 (Catharine, Hershey and Roehrig 2005)
Generally, these Egyptian great ruler and philosophers left indelible landmarks. Many of them set the pace for the human civilization, economic revolution and scientific advancement. For instance, the Egyptian pyramids which are one of the great world historic structures were built under the leadership of some of these leaders.
5 Catharine Hershey Roehrig, Renée Dreyfus and Cathleen A. Keller. Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. illustrated. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005
Bibliography
Asante, Molefi K. From Imhotep to Akhenaten: An Introduction to Egyptian Philosophers. Pris:
Menaibuc, 2004.
Catharine Hershey Roehrig, Renée Dreyfus and Cathleen A. Keller. Hatshepsut: From Queen to
Pharaoh. illustrated. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.
Hippocrate and Paul Potter. Hippocrates. illustrated, reprint. Edited by Paul Potter. Translated by
Paul Potter. Vol. 9. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2010.
LLC, General Books. 13th-Century Bc Women: Nefertari. Memphis: General Books LLC, 2010.
Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. illustrated. London: University of Oklahoma Press,
2002.
