Sesostris
- a celebrated king of Egypt, Luc. 10, 276.—Abl. Sesostre, Plin. 33, 3, 15, § 52.—Gen. Sesosidis, Plin. 36, 11, 15, § 74 (al. Sesothis) Sillig N. cr.—Abl. Sesoside, Tac. A. 6, 28 Orell. N. cr.
(Σέσωστρις). The name given by the Greeks to the great king of Egypt who is called in Manetho Ramses or Ramesses. Ramses (Egypt. Ra-messu Meri-Amen) is a name common to several kings of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties; but Sesostris may perhaps be identified with Ramses, the third king of the nineteenth dynasty, the son of Seti and the father of Menephthah II. (about B.C. 1333). Sesostris was a great conqueror. He is said to have subdued Ethiopia, the greater part of Asia, and the Thracians in Europe (Herod.ii. 102-111; Diod.i. 53-59). He returned to Egypt after an absence of nine years, and the countless captives whom he brought back with him were employed in the erection of numerous public works, such as those of which ruins still exist at Karnak, Luxor, AbuSimbel, Memphis, and Thebes. Memorials of Ramses-Sesostris still exist throughout the whole of Egypt, from the mouth of the Nile to the south of Nubia, as also in the rock-tablets at Beyrut. An epic poem of one Pentaur, found on the monuments, celebrates his victories over the Kheta (i. e. Hittites). By some he has been identified with the Pharaoh of Exodus, but Lepsius thinks that the accounts of him confuse reminiscences of Sethos I. and Rameses II. See Aegyptus.
- his conquests: Hdt. 2.102-104
- his monuments: Hdt. 2.106
- his life attempted by his brother: Hdt. 2.107
- canals made by him: Hdt. 2.137
- colossus said to represent: Paus. 1.42.3