CONCLUSION : Tacitus, a Roman chronicler of the second century AD, mainly compiling more ancient authors, could not know what Pharaoh Sesostris was concerned. If we choose the legendary Sesostris we have identified with Kamose-Tuthmose I of the 18th dynasty, the date would be around 1550 BC. Concerning Pharaoh Amasis, one can assume that he is the one of the 26th Dynasty, Ahmose Khnemibre, because the one of the 18th dynasty, Ahmose Nebpehtire, was a contemporary of Kamose. Pharaoh Amasis of the 26th Dynasty provides us with a date around 550 B.C., which gives an interval of 1000 years between the two appearances of the Phoenix. As for Ptolemy III, reigning circa 250 B.C. he lived only 300 years after Amasis. So, taking in account the imprecision of the dating provided by the pharaohs mentioned by Tacitus, we will only keep in mind the notion of resurrection attached to the character of the Phoenix. But the only historical figure corresponding to this model in Egypt is Kamose, deemed died (aged 27 in a fire ?) after a few years of rule, and reappeared after forty years on the throne of Thebes as Pharaoh Thuthmose** (I).
** "Son of Thoth" already engraved on the blade of a spear point of Kamose with the same design of god Thoth as an ibis on its perch.
We already proposed that Kamose Wadjkheperre declared dead in a fire for reasons of state had returned to Egypt after 40 years of banishment, to rule the vacant throne of Thebes under the name of Tuthmose I. He had been at the origin of the myth of the Phoenix bird rising from its ashes. In Egypt the Phoenix was the bird Bennu. He was represented as a gray heron wearing the Osiris' crown, symbol of rebirth after death.
In the Late Period, ancient authors had confused Tuthmose I Aakheperkare of the 18th dynasty with Pharaoh Sesostris I of the 12th dynasty whose reign name was Kheperkare ; especially as Kamose had reused a block labeled with Sesostris I's cartridge, in order to engrave his own exploits. For this reason, Kamose-Tuthmose I was called Sesostris by Herodotus (II, 102-110) and Sesoosis by Diodorus (I, 55-58).
Tuthmose I had married Princess Ahmes, a daughter of Queen Ahmose Nefertari (Kamose's eldest daughter), so his own grand-daughter.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book X. (I.) [1] : "India and Ethiopia mainly produce a variety of variously colored birds, and such that one can not describe. The most famous of all lives in Arabia : the Phoenix ; if however its existence is not a fable. In Arabia it is dedicated to the Sun and lives five hundred and nine years. When become old, it builds itself a nest of branches with cinnamon and incense, filled it with perfume, and died. From its bones and marrow forms first a kind of worm that became a young bird. Firstly he makes funeral honors to its predecessor and carries then the entire nest near the Panchaïe in the city of the sun, and places it on an altar. "
Tacitus, Annals, Book VI, 28 "The Phoenix is dedicated to the sun. Those who describe it all agree that it does not look like other birds, nor by the form, nor by the plumage. Traditions differ on the duration of its life. According to the most accredited opinion, it is five hundred years. Others argue that it is fourteen hundred and sixty-one years. The Phoenix appeared, they say, first under Sesostris, then under Amasis, and finally under Ptolemy, the third of the Macedonian kings. And every time it flew to Heliopolis (the city of the sun). "
Although usually herbivorous, the male hippo was a very aggressive animal who frequently attacked the man who had ventured into its territory.
Kamose was officially declared dead after the fire that could make him unrecognizable. By this ploy, another burned corpse was placed inside the royal coffin and buried in a pyramid with all the honors. But forty years later, Kamose ascended the throne of Thebes at the age of 67 and reigned under the name of Tuthmosis I, for thirteen years. Thus Kamose-Tuthmose I had been the first Phoenix (Phoenician ?) to rise from his ashes. His wife, Queen Ahmes, would have been his own granddaughter.
This reminds singularly the myth of Dr. Faustus, bluestem love with a young girl for whom he gave up his soul to the devil to regain his own youth. And that was the case for Tuthmose I, since according to Manetho I.1 who named him Menes*, become blind he had died in the swamps of Thebes devoured by a hippopotamus, the animal of god Seth (the Egyptian devil).
*Menes from "men nefer" the white wall = Kamose builder of the dike of Memphis (Herodotus II, 99).
Diodorus, I, 57: "On his return to Egypt after his great expedition, Sesoosis stopped at Pelusium, where he nearly died, he, his wife and children, in a dinner given by his brother. While they were overcome by the drink, the brother of Sesoosis advantaged of the night to set fire to dry reeds accumulated in advance around his tent. Sesoosis suddenly awoke to the firelight, but his drunk guards were slow in coming to the rescue. Raising then his hands, he begged the gods for the salvation of his children and his wife, and crossed the flames. Having thus be saved as by a miracle, he erected, as we said, monuments to the gods, but especially to Vulcan (Ptah), to whom mainly he owed his salvation. " (See also Herodotus, II, 107)
At the Origin of the Myth
of Rebirth in Egypt
Kamose-Tuthmose I: The Phoenix who rose from his ashes
Like Dr. Faustus, he married a very young girl
but at the time of his death, Seth, the Egyptian devil,
was waiting for him in the Thebes marshes...