All rights reserved. When National Geographic caught up with Cooney by phone in Los Angeles, she explained why Hatshepsut was so perfect; how Cleopatra grew up in a family that makes the Sopranos seem like lambs; and what these women symbolize for their society—and ours. Every Ptolemy son or daughter had their own entourage, their treasuries, their own sources of power and also shared power, but within a very exclusive system of siblings. And killed each other with impunity and regularity. My favorite Ptolemaic story is Cleopatra II, who was married to her brother. They got in a massive argument and the brother was killed. Then she married another brother. The uncle then sent her Cleopatra II a package containing her own son, cut up into little bits, as a birthday present.

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Derived forms of Pharaoh
The word came to be used metonymically for the Egyptian king under the New Kingdom starting in the 18th dynasty , — bce , and by the 22nd dynasty c. The last name was given to him at birth, the others at coronation. The Egyptians believed their pharaoh to be the mediator between the gods and the world of men. After death the pharaoh became divine, identified with Osiris , the father of Horus and god of the dead, and passed on his sacred powers and position to the new pharaoh, his son. As a divine ruler, the pharaoh was the preserver of the god-given order, called maat. His will was supreme, and he governed by royal decree. To govern fairly, though, the pharaoh had to delegate responsibility; his chief assistant was the vizier , who, among other duties, was chief justice, head of the treasury, and overseer of all records. Below this central authority, the royal will of the pharaoh was administered through the nomes , or provinces, into which Upper and Lower Egypt were divided.
Whether alive or dead, pharaohs were the source of all law and order in ancient Egypt.
All rights reserved. From then on, different pharaohs would bring their own approaches to law and order. Pharaohs held supreme authority in settling disputes, but they often delegated these powers to other officials such as governors, viziers, and magistrates, who could conduct investigations, hold trials, and issue punishments.
As ancient Egyptian rulers, pharaohs were both the heads of state and the religious leaders of their people. As the religious leader of the Egyptians, the pharaoh was considered the divine intermediary between the gods and Egyptians. As a statesman, the pharaoh made laws, waged war, collected taxes, and oversaw all the land in Egypt which was owned by the pharaoh. Many scholars believe the first pharaoh was Narmer, also called Menes. Pharaohs were typically male, although there were some noteworthy female leaders, like Hatshepsut and Cleopatra.