Ruler
Senusret III
King of the Twelfth Dynasty
c. 1870 – 1831 BCE
Approximate regnal dates after Shaw (2000); other authorities differ by a few decades.
Biography
He campaigned in Nubia and set up a stela at Semna defining Egypt’s southern border. His statues are known for weary, serious faces unlike the calm, idealised faces of earlier kings.
Key facts
Certainty: Established
The Semna stela dated to his 16th regnal year fixes Egypt’s southern border and urges his successors to hold it.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (exhibition record) “Semna Boundary Stela of Senwosret III (Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Berlin)” metmuseum.org
- Miriam Lichtheim (1973) “Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms” University of California Press, Berkeley