ABSTRACT
At the latest with the unification of the state under the rule of a single kingaround 3000 BC, Egyptian theologians developed a sophisticated ideology of kingship that portrayed the pharaoh as the link between the spheres of men and gods (Baines 1995b: 95-7, 115; Dreyer and Ziegler 2002). This ideology justified his (officially) unchallenged rule at the head of the centralized state, and aided in its smooth functioning. Accordingly, various strategies were developed to express and reinforce this status, including royal dress and regalia, iconography, myths, rituals and propagandistic texts.
