352 pharaoh to represent the pharaoh during those early dynasties Sphinx is a Greek name; it is unclear what the Egyptians called it and unknown whether the face of the Sphinx is meant to be that of Khafra or perhaps his father, or even Sneferu, the dynastic founder Pepi II A Sixth Dynasty pharaoh whose reign began at age six and lasted for 94 years (2278–2184 b.c.e.), Pepi enjoyed the longest reign of any monarch in history It was not a strong reign: Pepi’s rule is associated with the decline of the Old Kingdom, as power, influence, prestige, and wealth shifted from the pharaoh to the nomarchs (provincial governors) It is not clear whether Merenre Nemtyemsaf II or Nitiqret succeeded Pepi Nitiqret The last pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty is believed to have been a woman named Nitiqret Her existence is attested both by Greek historian Herodotus and in detail by third-century b.c.e Egyptian historian Manetho Manetho credits her with the third pyramid at Giza, while Herodotus describes her fratricide and subsequent suicide Many modern Egyptologists believe that Nitiqret never existed, and that “Nitiqret” originated as a bad transliteration of the male pharaoh Netjerkare Siptah I Sobekneferu Sobekneferu, on the other hand, was certainly a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty, and the first known female ruler of Egypt She was most likely the daughter of Amenemhat III, whose son (her brother, Amenemhat IV) died without a male heir She reigned for just less than four years, and the Twelfth Dynasty ended with her Akhenaten Originally called Amenhotep IV at the beginning of his Eighteenth Dynasty reign, Akhenaten is a complicated figure The son of Amenhotep III and Tiy, and possibly a co-regent in the last few years of his father’s reign, Akhenaten was a religious heretic whose beliefs would become the central focus of his reign He revered the obscure solar deity Aten; for Akhenaten the Aten was not simply a deity of the Sun but the solar disc itself and the properties of light responsible for sustaining life The Aten had previously been associated with a syncretic deity, a combination of Horus, Ra, and Amun, but Akhenaten dismissed those humanoid gods in favor of the disc itself and eventually declared the Aten the only true deity Atenism, also called the Amarna heresy, thus began as a henotheistic faith, one that acknowledged the existence of other gods but did not worship them (an unusual stance in the ancient world) Akhenaten emphasized a personal relationship with the divine Aten over the rituals that had so dominated Egyptian spiritual life—something which modern commentators have fixated on, sometimes calling him “the first individual.” While Sigmund Freud argued that Akhenaten’s monotheism inspired Judaism, there is no reasonable evidence for this, and the theory ignores the significant evidence that Jewish monotheism developed out of early henotheistic (and perhaps polytheistic) traditions that predate Akhenaten’s reign It is also unlikely that Akhenaten is either of the two pharaohs referred to in the biblical book of Exodus Tutankhamun After Akhenaten’ and the Amarna heresy Egypt returned to traditional worship under Tutankhamun, best known now as “King Tut.” Howard Carter discovered his well-preserved tomb at the apex of Egyptology’s hold on the popular imagination, in 1923, leading to urban legends of “the mummy’s curse” and inspiring a new generation of tomb raiders Cleopatra VII Generally referred to now simply as Cleopatra, Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last Hellenistic ruler of Egypt, the last member of the Ptolemaic dynasty that had begun when Ptolemy, a Macedonian general to Alexander the Great, declared himself ruler of all Egypt in the aftermath of Alexander’s death The Ptolemaic dynasty had included seven queens, all named Cleopatra (Greek for “father’s glory”) All the kings were named Ptolemy Though perhaps not technically a pharaoh, Cleopatra is significant in the discussion of Egyptian monarchic rule, not for her romances with Roman general Mark Antony and Julius Caesar, but because with her suicide Egypt passed into Roman hands While Roman rulers proclaimed themselves “Pharaoh of Egypt” from that point until the fall of the empire, there was never again a true pharaoh See also Ptolemies; pyramids of Giza Further reading: Arnold, Dieter Building in Egypt: Pharaonic Stone Masonry Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991; Dodson, Aidan Monarchs of the Nile London: Rubicon Press, 1995; Hobson, Christine The World of the Pharaohs London: Thames and Hudson, 1987; Hornung, Erik The Valley of the Kings New York: Timken, 1990; Quirke, Stephen Who Were the Pharaohs? New York: Dover, 1990; Shaw, Ian The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt Oxford: Oxford University