Sesostris

Sesostris, the Greek name of a celebrated Egyptian monarch, whose name has passed into the series of those conquerors who have almost achieved universal empire. According to the Greek legendary history, Sesostris at the head of a large army invaded Libya, Arabia, Asia (penetrating farther east than Darius), Europe, Thrace, and Scythia, leaving a colony at Colchis on his return. In the south he subdued Ethiopia, and, placing a fleet on the Red Sea, conquered the adjacent isles, and extended his dominions to India itself. He brought back with him large numbers of captives, who were employed on public works, the building of temples, and the construction of canals and mounds. Memorials of his reign were left as steles or tablets in the conquered countries; Herodotus saw some in Palestine, which in reality are supposed to have been the tablets of Rameses II. Sesostris is said to have grown infirm and blind after a reign of thirty-three years, and to have ended his days by his own hand. There has always existed the greatest divergence of opinion amongst historians as to the identity of Sesostris. Herodotus places his reign long before that of Cheops of the 4th dynasty. Dicaearchus makes him rule 3712 B.C., and is followed by Aristotle and other authors. Bunsen supposes that there were more than one monarch of this name, and that one was a king of the 3d dynasty, another a king of the 12th dynasty. Lepsius conjectures that his exploits are confused reminiscences of Sethos I. and Rameses II. of the 19th dynasty—the most reasonable explanation.