Ahmose I
fl. 1550 BCE - Egyptian
King. He liberated Egypt from the Hyksos (Semites who occupied Egypt for several hundred years), and in effect began the Egyptian Empire. Despite its initial success, this and most later empires exemplify the process by which a country loses or nearly loses its independence, becomes obsessed with the search for security, which in turn make its neighbors feel increasingly insecure, which eventually unites the neighbors or otherwise brings invasion and destruction.
Hatshepsut
1540–1481 BCE - Egyptian
Queen. She had herself crowned Pharaoh, an unheard of step for a woman.
Amenhotep III
1411–1379 BCE - Egyptian
King. His career expressed militarism, killing, conquest, self-aggrandizement, and vanity, but also confidence, courage, and strength. Like all Pharaohs, he poured Egypt's vast treasure, both from plunder and from the agricultural bounty of the Nile, into palaces, temples, and temple endowments, where it was effectively frozen. One can only imagine the enormous wealth and the changes in human welfare that might have resulted if these resources had been invested in private or public enterprises at the very dawn of recorded history.
Tutankhamen
fl. 1350 BCE - Egyptian
King. A "boy" pharaoh, he ended monotheism, and may have been murdered by an ambitious courtier. His intact tomb when discovered in 1922 dazzled the world with its rich artifacts.





















