Senusret III

Senusret (III) Khakaure (Sesostris III) (1872-1853 BC)

Important king of the Twelfth Dynasty. He led many campaigns against Nubia, and built a chain of forts to secure a new fixed southern border at the Second Cataract around Semna. There are fundamental changes during his reign in material culture and in the administration. There is a major overhaul of burial customs, with the disappearance of wooden models and an end to the custom of writing extensive rituals and other funerary literature on coffins (Coffin Texts). The country became more centralised; the provincial centres declined in importance, as is reflected in the cemeteries - great rock cut tomb chapels are no longer cut for the highest officials of the provinces; by contrast, cemeteries in the Fayum-Lisht region (around the Residence of the kings) grew in scale and wealth.

Horus name: Netjerkheperu
Nebty name: Netjermesut
Golden Falcon name: Kheper
Prenomen: Khakaure
Nomen: Senusret

Burial place: Pyramid in Dahshur; tomb in Abydos

Attestations in the Petrie Museum:

cylinder seal from Harageh tomb 602	statue

compare: hymns to Senusret III

Further Attestations:

Blocks from a doorway found near Qantir (Habachi 1952: 46-56, pl. II-IV)
A tomb with temple and town at Abydos (Wegner 2000; Wegner 2001)
Temple building at Medamud (Bisson de la Roque/Clère 1928: 107-115)
Rock inscriptions near Sehel (de Morgan 1894: 86.20 - report on the cutting of a canal; 87.39)
A private stela mentioning military action against Palestine and Nubia (Baines 1987)

Bibliography:

Callender 2000: 165-167 (an introduction to his reign)
Simpson 1984c (useful summary of his reign)