SESOSTRIS, the name of a legendary king of Egypt. Accord ing to Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus (who calls him Sesoosis) and Strabo, he conquered the whole world, even Scythia and Ethiopia, divided Egypt into administrative districts or nomes, was a great lawgiver, and introduced a system of caste and the worship of Serapis. He has been considered a compound of Seti I. and Rameses II., belonging to the XIXth Dynasty. In Manetho, however, he occupied the place of the second Senwosri (formerly read Usertesen) of the XIIth Dynasty, and his name is now usually viewed as a corruption of Senwosri. So far as is known no Egyptian king penetrated a day's journey beyond the Eu phrates or into Asia Minor, or touched the continent of Europe. The kings of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties were the greatest conquerors that Egypt ever produced, and their records are clear on this point. Senwosri III. raided south Palestine and Ethiopia,
and at Semna beyond the second cataract set up a stela of con quest that in its expressions recalls the stelae of Sesostris in Herodotus : Sesostris may, therefore, be the highly magnified por trait of this Pharaoh. Khian, the powerful but obscure Hyksos king of Egypt, whose prenomen might be pronounced Sweserenre, is perhaps a possible prototype, for objects inscribed with his name have been found from Baghdad to Cnossus. Sesostris is evi dently a mythical figure calculated to satisfy the pride of the Egyptians in their ancient achievements, after they had come into contact with the great conquerors of Assyria and Persia.
Herodotus ii. 102-I I I ; Diod. Sic. i. 53-59 ; Strabo xv. p. 687; see also article EGYPT ; and Kurt Sethe, "Sesostris," 19oo, in his (Inters. z. Gesch. u. Altertumskunde Agyptens, tome ii,