16 Facts About Senusret III

Senusret III ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom.

Senusret III was a great pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty and is considered to be, perhaps, the most powerful Egyptian ruler of the dynasty.

Senusret III was among the few Egyptian kings who were deified and honored with a cult during their own lifetime.

Senusret III was the son of Senusret II and Khenemetneferhedjet I, called Khenemetneferhedjet I Weret.

Senusret III cleared a navigable canal through the first cataract of the Nile River,.

Senusret III relentlessly pushed his kingdom's expansion into Nubia where he erected massive river forts including Buhen, Semna, Shalfak and Toshka at Uronarti.

Senusret III carried out at least four major campaigns into Nubia in his Years 8,10,16, and 19.

Such was his forceful nature and immense influence that Senusret III was worshipped as a deity in Semna by later generations.

Senusret III erected a temple and town in Abydos, and another temple in Medamud.

Wegner interprets this as an implication that Senusret III was still alive in the first two decades of his son's reign.

Senusret III's pyramid is 105 meters square and 78 meters high.

Senusret III is well known for his distinctive statues, which are almost immediately recognizable as his.

Scholars could only make assumptions about the reasons why Senusret III chose to have himself portrayed in such a unique way, and polarized on two diverging opinions.

Some argue that Senusret III wanted to be represented as a lonely and disenchanted ruler, human before divine, consumed by worries and by his responsibilities.

Face of a king, probably Senusret III, wearing the nemes royal headdress, Quartzite, Twelfth Dynasty, From Egypt, Presented by Guy Brunton, The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.

Senusret III is a major character in Christian Jacq's historical fiction series The Mysteries of Osiris.