Who Were the Pharoahs? A History of their Names with a List of Cartouches

Om ancient Egypt the name did not merely label a person or thing, it formed a profound element of identity itself. Names of kings carried particular force, because the king of Egypt acted as earthly counterpart to the sun-god. At his accession to the throne Pharoah took five fixed titles to express his divine power. One of these titles introduced the names he had held from birth, while the other four titles stood with four names newly composed for the royal coronation. With the help of ancient hieroglyphic texts and recent research, this book traces the evolution of the royal names from their genesis in the dawn of Egyptian writing c3000 BC, across Pharaonic history, to their last use under the Roman Emperors who ruled and built in Egypt. An extensive list of the royal names concludes the book, giving the principal cartouches for all the major kings of Egypt and a selection of less well-known Pharoahs...