What is "pharaoh"

Pharaoh \Pha"raoh\, n. [Heb. par[=o]h; of Egyptian origin: cf. L. pharao, Gr. ?. Cf. Faro.]

1. A title by which the sovereigns of ancient Egypt were designated.

2. See Faro.

   Pharaoh's chicken (Zo["o]l.), the gier-eagle, or Egyptian vulture; -- so called because often sculpured on Egyptian monuments. It is nearly white in color.

   Pharaoh's rat (Zo["o]l.), the common ichneumon.

title of the kings of ancient Egypt, Old English Pharon, from Latin Pharaonem, from Greek Pharao, from Hebrew Par'oh, from Egyptian Pero', literally "great house."

n. 1 The supreme ruler of ancient Egypt; a formal address for the sovereign seat of power as personified by the 'king' in an institutional role of Horus son of Osiris; often used by metonymy for Ancient Egyptian sovereignty 2 (context uncountable English) The card game faro.

Pharaoh (, or ) is the common title of the monarchs of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty (c. 3150) until the Macedonian conquest in 305 BCE, although the actual term "Pharaoh" was not used contemporaneously for a ruler until circa 1200 BCE.

In Latter-day Saint theology, Pharaoh is the proper name of the first king of Egypt, as found in the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price.

Pharaoh is the fourth and last major novel by the Polish writer Bolesław Prus (1847–1912). Composed over a year's time in 1894–95, serialized in 1895–96, and published in book form in 1897, it was the sole historical novel by an author who had earlier disapproved of historical novels on the ground that they inevitably distort history.

Pharaoh has been described by Czesław Miłosz as a "novel on... mechanism[s] of state power and, as such, ... probably unique in world literature of the nineteenth century.... Prus, [in] selecting the reign of ' Pharaoh Ramses XIII' in the eleventh century BCE, sought a perspective that was detached from... pressures of [topicality] and censorship. Through his analysis of the dynamics of an ancient Egyptian society, he... suggest[s] an archetype of the struggle for power that goes on within any state."

Pharaoh is set in the Egypt of 1087–85 BCE as that country experiences internal stresses and external threats that will culminate in the fall of its Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom. The young protagonist Ramses learns that those who would challenge the powers that be are vulnerable to co-option, seduction, subornation, defamation, intimidation and assassination. Perhaps the chief lesson, belatedly absorbed by Ramses as pharaoh, is the importance, to power, of knowledge.

Prus' vision of the fall of an ancient civilization derives some of its power from the author's intimate awareness of the final demise of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, a century before the completion of the novel.

Preparatory to writing Pharaoh, Prus immersed himself in ancient Egyptian history, geography, customs, religion, art and writings. In the course of telling his story of power, personality, and the fates of nations, he produced a compelling literary depiction of life at every level of ancient Egyptian society. Further, he offers a vision of mankind as rich as Shakespeare's, ranging from the sublime to the quotidian, from the tragic to the comic. The book is written in limpid prose and is imbued with poetry, leavened with humor, graced with moments of transcendent beauty.

Pharaoh has been translated into twenty languages and adapted as a 1966 Polish feature film. It is also known to have been Joseph Stalin's favourite book.

Pharaoh is an isometric city-building game that was released on October 31, 1999, created by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Entertainment, for Microsoft Windows. Using the same game engine and principles of Caesar III (also by Sierra Entertainment), it is the first such game in Sierra's city Building series to focus on another civilisation of ancients times, with players overseeing construction and management of cities and settlements in Ancient Egypt, micro-managing every aspect of the city, while also ensuring its citizens are fed, employed, healthy and protected from diseases, disasters and wars.

The game was complemented with an expansion pack called Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, developed by BreakAway Games the following year, which extended the game's main campaign into the Hellenistic period. Both the original game and expansion pack are commonly referred to, and may be purchased as one, under the title Pharaoh and Cleopatra.

Pharaoh is a 1966 Polish film directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz and adapted from the eponymous novel by the Polish writer Bolesław Prus. In 1967 it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also entered into the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.

Pharaoh is an American power metal band.

Pharaoh is a mixtape by rapper Ronald. It is his seventh mixtape and his first mixtape under "Privacy Records." The mixtape will be released sometime in 2013 and will feature local collaboratores Young Squlla, Brandon J. and Matt Fab.

Pharaoh is the editorial name given to a fragmentary, eight-line Old English poem on folio 122r of the later tenth-century anthology known as the Exeter Book.

Pharaoh is the title of ancient Egyptian monarchs. Pharaoh, Pharoah, or pharao, may also refer to:

• Pharaoh ant, a small, yellow, almost transparent ant known for being a major indoor nuisance pest, especially in hospitals
• Pharaoh Hound, a Maltese hunting dog breed
• Pharaoh (Book of Abraham), in Mormonism, a proper name of the first king of Egypt
• Pharaoh's Adventure Park, a water theme park in Redlands, CA
• Pharaoh (film), a 1966 Polish film adaptation of Prus' novel
• Pharaoh (video game), a 1999 video game
• Pharaoh (card game), a late 17th century French gambling card game
• Pharaoh (module), an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game
• The Pharaohs, a fictional street gang in the 1973 film American Graffiti
• The Danish ship Færøe, often erroneously 'translated' as Pharaoh
• The Pharaohs, a nickname of the Egypt national football team