King Amenemhat III

He was undoubtedly the most significant ruler of the Middle Kingdom. During his reign, Egypt experienced a period of great economic prosperity. He focused on mining in Sinai and land reclamation in the Fayoum. He constructed a magnificent palace known as the Labyrinth or (Al-Tayeh), which contained around 3,000 rooms. Herodotus, visiting the site over a thousand years later, described it as the most astonishing work of architecture in Egypt after the Great Pyramid. Strabo, in the Roman era, also witnessed the Labyrinth and referred to it as the Labrinth. The king ruled for approximately 45 years and built a dam in the Fayoum near Lake Moeris(Qarun), as well as a nilometer in Aswan to measure the Nile’s flood levels, which were used to determine land taxes.

A sphinx statue of King Amenemhat III, currently housed in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, was discovered in Tell Basta in Zagazig.