Senusret I (c.1971-1926 BC), also known as Sesostris I or Senwosret I, was perhaps one of the most-important Egyptian kings of all time. He ruled the country for more than 40 years, during which period Egypt changed in many ways, becoming what we regard as typically Middle Kingdom. However, despite his many monuments and inscriptions, it remains difficult fully to assess his reign. The personality behind the statues and depictions remains unknown. Unlike Thutmose III, Amenhotep III or Ramesses II, Senusret I is not seen as one of the famous Egyptian kings. While we have some hints of the characters and personalities of the great New Kingdom pharaohs, the kings of the Old and Middle Kingdom remain in the shadows – often merely names.
Early life
Senusret I was the son of Amenemhat I (c.1991-1962 BC), the founder of the Twelfth Dynasty. He was named after his grandfather Senusret, who appears in a few later sources as ‘god’s father’, and as the founding figure of a new line of kings. The mother of Senusret I was a woman called Neferitatjenen. Her name sounds somehow strange, and is indeed only known from a 19th-century copy of a statue inscription. The statue depicted the queen, but is now lost, so there is no way to check if the name is correct. The woman herself remains a mystery.
Nothing can be said about the king’s childhood. We do not know where and when Senusret I was born. At the beginning of his reign, Amenemhat I moved Egypt’s capital from Thebes to the North, founding a new city Itj-tawy (‘seizer of the Two Lands’) about 60km south of modern Cairo. Itj-tawy’s exact location is still unknown, but it was highly symbolic: sited at the border between Upper and Lower Egypt in the area regarded by the ancient Egyptians as the middle of their country. We do not know exactly when this happened or whether or not Senusret had been born by that time.
