Part of the ruler's duties in Egypt was protecting his people from threats and danger at any cost. Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and the image of the king smiting and to deter a foreign adversary has become an icon for the Early Egyptian Dynasty until the Greco-Roman era. The heavy stress and validity are given to the king’s physical prowess as late as the 12th dynasty is illustrated in reliefs on the outer walls of the temples of king Ramses III at the famous historical site of Medinet Habu, which depicts Ramses crushing both humans, and animal forces threatening his rule of Egypt.

It was customary in Ancient Egypt back then, that the king is succeeded by his older son, his chief, wife. However, if the chief’s wife doesn’t get or deliver a son, then a son by one of his secondary wives was to be chosen. In the latter scenario, if the chief wife had a daughter, the heir could then be married to his half-sister. Power politics usually had a big role to play in the selection of the king. Some of that power play is what could have caused the assassination of King Ramses III around 1153 BC.

The process of choosing an Egyptian King is supposed to be like picking a new Pope nowadays, should be heavenly. However, humans and people and stakeholders had a hidden or behind-the-scenes role to play, when it came to the king's selection. Egyptian kings are looked at or viewed as the earthly incarnation of the falcon-god, Horus, but from the 4th Dynasty moving forward, the name “Son of Re” seems to show the king as the son rather than the incarnation of the Sun-God.

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When Akhenaten ruled Egypt, he attempted to reassert the king’s divinity by bringing the limelight back to the kingship concept from the time of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. however, his reforms didn’t outlast his reign. The view of the king as the earthly representative, of god continued to exist until 468 BC.

According to inscriptions found in Hatshepsut temple, in Luxor, Egypt, the Hyksos rulers lacked legitimacy. The idea of the divine duty, rather than a right, of the king is expressed in several texts as early as the existence of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. It is easy to dismiss the official theology of viewing the king as heavenly as just propaganda. however, interpretation of views is problematic causing further cynicism of religion of the society at the time, which believed in the divine intervention and involvement, of the Egyptian gods in their human affairs.

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