Imhotep (17th century BC)
The most famous scientist and architect of ancient Egypt
He was the chief priest of the god Ra and chief advisor to Pharaoh Djoser of the third dynasty. He is one of the few figures of ancient Egypt who was deified, and Imhotep was revered as the god of medicine.
It was Imhotep who built the first Egyptian pyramid by erecting several mastabas on top of each other. This first pyramid is called the step pyramid of Djoser and is located in the necropolis of Saqqara, 25 kilometers south of modern Cairo. It is surprisingly well-preserved externally, although the inside was looted during the First Transitional Period.
We know very little about it. It is most famous for the three parts of the movie “The Mummy”. The photo above is a still from that movie. What the real Imhotep looked like, it is difficult to say. We only have statues from the New Kingdom period, which are unlikely to depict him accurately.
Imhotep’s tomb has never been found, and we will probably still have a high-profile archaeological discovery related to his name.
Mohammed Ali of Egypt (eighteenth and fourteenth centuries AD)
Egypt’s most famous ruler of modern times
Muhammad Ali Pasha was an officer in the Ottoman army when he arrived in Egypt in 1798. He was sent here with a small detachment as a reinforcement in the war against Napoleon. Muhammad Ali did not succeed in the war with the French, but he began to make a political career in Egypt. By 1905, he was appointed governor of all of Egypt.
But this was not enough for Mohammed Ali Pasha; he was already hatching a plan for reform. In 1830 Egypt stopped paying tribute to the Ottoman Empire and began to assert its independence. During his reign the reforms of the army and administration were carried out, which made Egypt a modern country for its time. Egypt became de facto independent, though nominally considered part of the Ottoman Empire.
Rudolf Hess (20th century)
German politician, National Socialist.
Loyal associate of Hitler and one of the founders of the National Socialist Party in Germany. Rudolf Hess was born in Egypt in the city of Alexandria in 1894. He spent his earlier childhood in Egypt before returning back to Switzerland.
We don’t know how the Egyptian environment influenced him. We hope that Egypt had nothing to do with shaping his worldview.
Rudolf Hess became famous because he boarded a plane in 1941 and flew from Germany to England. At that time the countries had long been at war. Why did he do it and what did he want to achieve? We don’t know to this day, as all documents are classified by British intelligence. Hitler declared him insane and a traitor. In 2017 these documents should be declassified, then we will know the truth.
Gamal Abdel Nasser (20th century)
President of Egypt (1954-1970), Hero of the Soviet Union
In the mid to late 60’s Gamal Abdel Nasser became a hero of jokes in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Star of Hero of the USSR. The Soviet people could not understand this move, and this misunderstanding was expressed in satirical form.
For Egypt, it was a real hero. Gamal Abdel Nasser was a very skillful politician, masterfully playing world leaders like puppets. As a result of his rule, the Soviet Union built a large hydroelectric power plant for Egypt in the city of Aswan almost for free. The Warsaw Pact countries supplied Egypt with the latest weapons at low prices and with deferred payments.
Nasser led Egypt during the two Arab-Israeli wars of 1956 and 1967, and both wars were extremely unsuccessful. Nasser turned out to be a good politician, but not the most skillful military leader. Dozens of streets and a reservoir are named after him in Egypt.
Pharaoh Ramses II (13th century BC)
3rd pharaoh of the 19th dynasty of Ancient Egypt
Pharaoh Ramses II lived 90 years, and 66 of them he was the ruler of Egypt. He had 6 official wives and God knows how many concubines. The number of his children historians are still counting, and the figure has already passed the mark of 100. They call him Ramses II the Great.
Tourists know Ramses II by the famous temple of Abu Simbel, which was moved by scientists to a new place during the construction of the Aswan Dam. It is assumed that it was Ramses II who was the pharaoh of the exodus. The latter fact is not proven, but the timing fits. He defeated the Hittites at the battle of Kadesh, conquered Phoenicia and Syria.
Pharaoh Cheops (26th century BC)
2nd pharaoh of the 4th dynasty of ancient Egypt
The pyramid of Cheops is known to everyone, but few readers can say anything about him himself. He is rarely mentioned in written sources, and the funerary temple near the pyramid has hardly survived. The only image of him is a small statuette measuring only 7.5 centimeters, found in one of the temples at Abydos. You can see this statuette in the photo above.
But it was his pyramid that became the tallest structure on Earth at the time of its construction and remained as such for more than four millennia. The reign of Cheops is the apogee of Egypt’s development during the Ancient Kingdom.
Queen Nefertiti (14th century BC)
The wife of Pharaoh Ehnaton of the 17th dynasty
It’s amazing how a wife who did nothing important in her life has surpassed her husband, Egypt’s great religious reformer, in popularity.
Pharaoh Ehnaton carried out an important reform in Egypt – he introduced the worship of the one god Aton, that is, he introduced monotheism. The reform was “stalled,” which we will not discuss in detail now. Ehnaton would have been fine, but he had no heir. And his wife Nefertiti gave him six daughters and no son. The probability of this coincidence is 1 in 64.
After the death of Queen Nefertiti in the 13th or 14th year of Ehnaton’s reign, the pharaoh married his daughter, but no heir was born. Incest never did anyone any good. After Ehnaton himself died, the priests of Amon, formerly persecuted by him, put his name into oblivion.
But the memory of Nefertiti has remained for centuries, as one of the most beautiful women in ancient Egypt.
Sultan Saladin (12th century AD)
Egypt’s most famous ruler in the Middle Ages
First mentioned in classical English literature by Walter Scott, Sultan Saladin (Salah ad-Din) became a symbol – the main enemy of the Crusader knights.
Later his image began to appear in any works relating to the Crusades. And, no matter what period. In most cases, authors confuse his actual time of life, and in the works he fights with all the crusaders, from the very first to the last. The most recent high-profile appearance of this character in popular culture is the film Kingdom of Heaven, directed by Ridley Scott. The role of Sultan Saladin was played by Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud.
It was Sultan Saladin who built the Cairo Citadel, which has long been a mandatory part of the tour program in Cairo. Tourists also know him by the fortress named after him near the resort of Taba on the Sinai Peninsula.
Pharaoh Tutankhamen (XIV century BC)
The most famous pharaoh of ancient Egypt.
This is amazing! Pharaoh Tutankhamun did not actually rule Egypt. He nominally came to the throne at the age of 10 years old, the regents ruled for him. At the age of 19 he died, and it’s not clear exactly from what. Perhaps he died falling from his chariot while hunting, or perhaps from illness. He was so quickly prepared for burial that they poured oil over his mummy. The mummy was badly damaged at the time of extraction, and it is impossible to determine the cause of death.
He became famous because of the occasion. Almost all of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were looted in antiquity, and only one archaeologist found almost intact, and that was the tomb of Tutankhamun. Its contents were found intact and are now preserved in the Cairo Museum. The most famous find in the tomb is a funerary mask, made of gold and weighing more than 10 kilograms. This mask is depicted on a coin of 1 Egyptian pound.
Cleopatra (first century BC)
Egypt’s most famous ruler.
Feminists, rejoice! First place on the list of the most famous Egyptians is held by a woman. This is not our fad, it really is.
In the royal family of the Ptolemies, all men were called Ptolemies and all women Cleopatra. It is correct to call the woman we know as “Cleopatra VII.” She reigned on the Egyptian throne at a time when the country was already dependent on Rome. Her whole life was connected with the Romans. She was civilly married to Julius Caesar, and even bore him a son. After Caesar’s assassination, she married the Roman general Mark Antony and bore him three children. After Antony’s defeat, the queen parted with her life by giving herself a snake bite.
The image of Cleopatra has always been surrounded by romance, and that is why it has become so popular in mass culture. Dozens of literary works have been written about her, and she appears in dozens of movies.